#Might as well have been listening to Surface Pressure from Encanto

[thegoddessprose]

Usually do new ones with Chiasa, but the heraldry theme has me feeling Fabian

Lions: Bravery 🦁

1. I don't know about brave... Fabian's no coward, but I don't know about brave in the traditional way. The better word would probably be resilient. I guess he can be in the right situation, especially when his family and livelihood are on the line.

2. Fabian's greatest fear is failing his family and the legacy. In a way he did confront it with his sister being on the lam and having a psychotic breakdown; both were times he thought he failed to protect her. While his fear of carrying on the family legacy hasn't been realized, it still looms in the back of his mind, especially since he took over the business a lot sooner than intended.

3. What keeps Fabian from curling up in a corner is remembering how many people are counting on him. Granted, that could give him even more anxiety, but it also kicks him in the head and reminds him that wallowing doesn't help anybody, even himself.

4. It's hard for Fabian to be vulnerable, but not because of pride. It's up to him to put on a brave face because some people will mistake vulnerability for weakness. He's able to be vulnerable with his sister. However, even when he gets into a serious relationship, it takes a while for him to open up about his fears and insecurities.

5. He was raised to be strong and again, put on a brave face. However, he's not the kind of guy who faces absolutely everything head on either. Having lost everything; his home, his parents, his livelihood and having to be isolated for his own safety because of it screwed him up a bit. He got his home and livelihood back thanks to the rebels tribunal and laws, but of course, his parents weren't coming back. He's a little bit paranoid when his loved ones are in dangerous situations and still doesn't trust the new government after seeing the other side of the coin (Pun intended) even though thankfully the extremists were unsuccessful in seizing power.

6. Being in a leadership role, it's part of Fabian's job to "rally the troops" as they say. The way he does it is just saying the right things and putting together a plan to solve the problem.

Dogs: Faithfulness and Reliability 🐶

1. Fabian does the best he can to be reliable, but nobody's perfect. He can be prone to forget something if it's not written down unless it's very important to him.

2. Fabian is quite loyal to his family in particular, and that's very difficult to break. However, in other cases, if someone does something super immoral or stands in his way, loyalty can go out the window. A few examples: He got rid of a CFO who might have been a distant relative because the man was involved in wage theft. He was also willing to shoot Coin and try to turn District 3 against 13 because she wanted to seize what was owed to him and his sister.

3. That depends... Serious partner? No, he'd break up if someone caught his eye that much. Casual? Maybe... Well, it wasn't a serious relationship anyway.

4. Not really sure... Fabian's family had a tentative alliance with 13, as with the rest of the Capitol rebels, but he didn't have much power in swearing it, not did he trust them from the beginning, so I don't know if that really counts.

5. A little more direct, his sister Minerva does rely on him for emotional support along with her boyfriend and money. Being the owner of a company, the board and employees rely on him to run a functional ship, or they'd all be out of a job. I've said in another question that letting any of them down is Fabian's greatest fear.

6. It's very important for Fabian to be seen as a trustworthy person, since he's the face of his company and mouthpiece of his family. Screwing up wouldn't just badly reflect on him, but everyone he represents. However, he also wants to lean in the new direction the rebels put forward rather than the other patricians' old-fashioned values.

Stag: Wisdom and Long Life🦌

1. The biggest thing Fabian inherited was to be resilient and to not let anything knock him down or aside.

2. Fabian is polite by default, but doesn't universally respect his elders, particularly his grandfather or some of the older patricians. There are a few he genuinely respects, though.

3. Briefly after the war, Fabian had heard another rebel from the Districts ponder about what it meant to feel joy in life. The man acknowledged that the hardship wasn't over, but it didn't mean there couldn't be happiness on the horizon and joy in everyday life again.

4. At the moment, Fabian expects to live a long life. Being still pretty young, he doesn't have a complete plan for old age, but it's to be expected he'll have plenty for retirement.

5. That would be a very hard choice for him... Being successful is very important to him, but his personality probably wouldn't allow him to live a full life comfortably. Maybe he'd choose the former, and let his future wife do the shining for him.

6. Fabian believes that wisdom is the "what" and cleverness is the "how" knowledge-wise. He thinks both can be valuable, and one shouldn't go without the other.

Eagle: Power and Nobility 🦅

1. Being raised around them (And raised to be one to boot), Fabian doesn't have a problem dealing with powerful people. While he was raised to be a polite gentleman, he wasn't raised to bow down to others, only to play the game better than they can.

2. Fabian is powerful. He owns a multi-million dollar company that's a big employer in District 3 and has the final word on what direction it will go in. He's also a patrician and a paterfamilias, which puts him pretty damn high on the Capitol food chain in general. Luckily, he wants to use his power for good.

3. Fabian was constantly reminded about where he and others stand, having to live in a pretentious and propaganda-heavy city. However, he was still brought up to show respect to others beneath him, as his parents were with the rebels and his mother was born middle class. His girlfriend was actually born working class and (Gasp) in District 8, and he doesn't expect her to cover up her background for him.

4. Fabian does believe in social mobility, especially with more of it happening after the war, it doesn't bother him as much as it does other patricians. He does see a difference between patricians and the nouveau riche, having been around a lot of that kind of talk, but he doesn't look down on the latter for the most part.

5. Fabian, being a charismatic and charming person, would rather be loved. He honestly thinks a healthy dose of both is necessary, but hates the idea of being only feared.

6. To Fabian, nobility is the way one acts rather than something one is born with. It's being well-mannered, loyal, kind, and resilient.

Hares: Speed 🐰

1. Fabian very much values efficiency, especially being in the tech business, but recognizes that some situations don't call for it.

2. Fabian's only a fast talker when he's very excited. Otherwise, he does his best to calm himself and speak clearly so others understand him.

3. Fabian can be impatient, as it's in his nature for him to want others to keep up with him, but is a little more understanding when there's a good reason they can't.

4. Kinda both. In college, he rushed through an assignment because he wanted nothing to do over the weekend but party and hook up. He missed a very important detail in his presentation and his grade suffered. On the other end, when he was shadowing his father, he was afraid to screw up and concentrated on a lot of unnecessary details. He missed the deadline and his father wasn't happy, but thankfully found something to work with.

5. Fabian has to do both, but all in all, he prefers work that requires a little bit of planning, so he doesn't feel like he's glossing over anything that could be important. When he's off the clock, he most certainly prefers slower and contemplative activities.

6. Fabian kinda has to bounce back no matter what, and for the most part he does. When he doesn't, he's at least good at faking it in front of others.

Badger: Endurance 🦝 (I know it's a raccoon, just go with it)

1. Being a dancer in his spare time, Fabian has pretty decent stamina. While he doesn't do a lot of physical work, he's strong enough to lift an average-sized person.

2. On the big things, again, he has to be so people don't think him weak. On some more trivial things or when he's around people he trusts, he feels freer to complain and vent.

3. The most difficult time was when him and his parents were arrested. Fabian thought he was going to die with them until the rebels got him out. Even so, even though he was safe, he had to deal with the loss and uncertainty alone for the most part. While he's in a better place, he hasn't quite recovered but is working on it.

4. Fabian has a pretty big personality and can often "take over" interactions... And can be a drama queen sometimes, but most of the people around him know when to tell him he's being a little too much. He can also be stubborn about certain things, and the best way to get through to him is to find out why.

5. Fabian has a fairly high pain threshold, although muscular injuries are still no joke. He's a pretty decent patient, but can also downplay his physical and mental pain sometimes. He's not great at masking the physical, however, and people close to him can usually tell if he's in mental distress.

6. For Fabian, pretty obviously resilience/stubbornness. A lot of "this doesn't end with me" and "I can't stop now, nothing will get done that way"

Heraldic OC Questions.

Here is a little list of OC Questions based on some Animal Charges used in Gallo-British Heraldry (obviously this is not an exhaustive list and there are plenty of other Heraldic traditions, such as German-Nordic, Latin and East European).

Lions: Bravery.

Is your OC seen by others as particularly brave or courageous? Is this view accurate?

What is their greatest fear? Have they ever had to confront this?

How do they steel themselves to overcome something they fear?

Are they too proud to admit to being scared? Or are they happy to admit when something frightens them?

Have they always been particularly brave or cowardly? Or has this changed over the course of their journey? Have the things they have seen and overcome inured them to things that would terrify the average person? Or have their experiences so damaged them that they are precipitated into anxiety by things that others would take in their stride?

Are they good at helping others to master their fear and able to encourage them to be brave in the face of danger or anxiety? What is their strategy for achieving this?

Dogs: Faithfulness and Reliability.

Is your OC someone that others can rely upon? Is this true in all situations or only certain ones? Can they (for example) be relied upon to back up their friends in a fight, but not to remember their birthdays?

Is your OC loyal to their friends or their family, regardless of the rights and wrongs of a specific situation? Or can they set aside personal loyalty when judging a person's actions or behaviour?

Has your OC ever been unfaithful to a partner? What led to this?

Has their faithfulness to another person ever been tested? What might tempt them to cheat on a partner or betray an oath in the future?

Who relies most upon your OC? Is it their children? A partner or lover? An employer or leader? How does the idea of letting this person (or people) down feel to them?

Is your OC as faithful (whether to another person or to a set of beliefs or principles etc.) as they like others to believe? How important is it to them to be seen as trustworthy or pious? Alternatively, how important is it to them that others see them as an unprincipled rake or scoundrel?

Stags: Wisdom and Long Life.

Has your OC inherited any traditional or "folk" wisdom from their upbringing? What value do they place upon this?

Does your OC have a notable respect for their elders? Do they believe that older people have the wisdom of experience? Or do they tend to think that older people have just had longer for their stupidity to become ingrained?

Has your OC ever been told something that they consider particularly wise? Did they think so at the time? Or is it only with the benefit of hindsight that they see the truth of it?

Does your OC expect to live a long life? Do they take active steps to ensure they will be healthy and comfortable in old age? Or do they believe that they will die before then, perhaps violently, as a consequence of their lifestyle or role?

Would your OC rather have a long, but dull or unremarkable, life or to burn brightly for a shorter time? If the latter, then what would they like to achieve or experience that is more important to them than living into old age?

What distinction does your OC make between "wisdom" and "cleverness"? Do they see one or the other as more valuable or worthy of respect?

Eagles: Power and Nobility.

How comfortable is your OC around those who are politically or socially powerful? Do they make a point of being especially deferent? Are they interested (or particularly capable) in playing the social game by being obsequious to their "betters"?

Does your OC consider themselves to be powerful? If so, then how important is it to them that others see them as such? If not, then would they like to be more powerful than they are? Would this be to feel safer? Or in order to impose their will upon others?

How aware of social class is your OC? Are they conscious of their position in society? Do they look down upon certain social groups (such as tradespeople or servants)?

Do they believe that it is achievable to move between social classes? For example, would they see it as possible (or even desirable) for someone of a lower social class to join the upper classes if they suddenly became very wealthy? Or do they make a distinction between class and (for example) the mere wealth of the nouveau riche.

Given the choice, would your OC prefer to be loved or feared by others?

What does "nobility" mean to your OC? Is there a moral or social code by which they live? What values drive them? Are there some that they reject?

Hares: Speed.

How important is efficiency to your OC? Will they always choose the fastest route or the least wasteful approach to a task? Or do they prefer to dawdle whenever possible?

Is your OC a fast talker? Or do they take their time over their words? Does this change when they are excited or anxious?

Is your OC particularly impatient with those slower than themselves? Or are they able to make allowances for them in accordance with their needs or age?

Has your OC ever rushed to complete something and then regretted missing out a detail or opportunity as a result? Or have they ever taken too long over a task or decision and lost out on a possible reward or outcome that they now regret?

Does your OC prefer activities or jobs that are frantic or require quick responses and decisions? Or are they more drawn to slow and contemplative roles, with more planning and reflection?

How quickly does your OC bounce back from failure or rejection? Do they appear to recover faster to others than is actually the case?

Badgers: Endurance.

Does your OC have notable stamina or a particularly hardy constitution? Are they able to undertake hard physical work when required?

Is your OC stoic in the face of adversity? Are they able to manage hardship without complaint? Or do they tend to moan and complain? Does this depend on the nature of the challenge? Or even on who is around at the time?

What was the most difficult time of your OC's life? What helped them to get through this? Have they recovered fully?

What is the most difficult thing about your OC that others around them have to put up with? Are they remotely aware of this (alleged) fault? And do they have the slightest intention of addressing it?

Does your OC have a particularly high pain threshold? Are they a good patient? Do they ever exaggerate an illness or injury for attention? Conversely, do they ever minimise the seriousness of their pain in order to avoid worrying others?

When your OC is enduring hardship or suffering, what do they hold onto in order to get through it? Is there a particular philosophy they reflect upon? A mantra they repeat to themselves? Or are they driven more by bitter spite? Or a stubborn refusal to allow themselves to be defeated?

[littlesmartart]

I'm pretty sure I'm w o r t h l e s s if I can't be of s e r v i c e

a genius anon suggested "surface pressure" from encanto as a 3zun song and I've not actually seen the movie but the moment I listened to the song I was like OH NO. TIME FOR FEMALE 3ZUN FEELS (under a cut, because it turns out I have a lot of them)

I've seen a good few AUs exploring different gender dynamics with 3zun but here are my personal thoughts:

I don't think Mingjue's life would change a huge amount if she were a woman - you don't mess with a person who's six foot, jacked as fuck, and carries a giant semi-sentient murdersaber, no matter what their gender is - I think she'd just have even LESS time for JGS and politics in general, and be just like... one rung further down on the privilege ladder than canon Mingjue. if Huaisang is male, it's possible she could be considered to be a stop-gap until he's old/capable enough to take up leadership, and that would likely make their relationship more strained than canon.

Xichen's life would still be very privileged, but as part of a sect where the very conservative elders seem to have strong influence, I imagine she'd have to fight pretty hard to be taken seriously as a leader (look what a mess Lan Yi got into! this is what happens when you let women be in charge!), not to mention be constantly dodging marriage proposals, as the elders would likely prefer she marry an outer cousin who could take over leadship whilst keeping power in the main family line. she would definitely struggle to get out of the shadow of the other notorious Lan women, and her fear of fucking up is even greater than canon Xichen's, as there's always been a little part of her mind utterly petrified that if she does something bad enough she will just get locked away forever - after all, isn't that what happened to Lan Yi? isn't that what happened to her mother?

JGY's life would change a lot and could go in so many different directions; for one thing, I cannot believe that Meng Shi would have raised a daughter the same way as she raised a son, and would have been much much less likely to put such a strong emphasis on joining the Jin sect. I feel like her priority would have been to educate Meng Yao as much as possible, and then get her out of the brothel as soon as possible. from there, I think it's possible that she could have gone on a pretty similar path to canon JGY, either as herself or dressed as a man, with the main difference being that a female Mingjue would likely be a great deal more sympathetic towards a female Meng Yao killing the guard captain (MY: he would not acknowledge my authority, called me and my mother whores, and stole all my ideas! Mingjue: [shocked pikachu face with angry eyebrows drawn on] okay you shouldn't have killed him but like... fuck that guy!!! what a prick!!!) and female Xichen would have a much greater understanding of her perspective (MY: I have to fight for even the most basic of respect and everyone looks at me like I'm a pastry they're saving to eat later! Xichen: I personally choose to repress my negative emotions as a coping mechanism but I can certainly see that such a position might drive you into a murderous rage). if she got as far as being acknowledged by JGS, I imagine he'd immediately start looking to marry her off - because a war hero daughter is still a daughter, and he doesn't like smart women - at which point... well, let's choose a happy ending and say one of her sworn sisters volunteers :)

[khaleesiofalicante]

“I’m going to name it Pressure,” Lexi said.

“What?”

“The sword. I’m going to call it Pressure,” Lexi explained, picking up the golden sword. “I can’t change my last name. It’s not easy for me. It's never been easy for me. But it’s not easy for whoever is going to come after me either, isn’t it? This pressure won’t go away. We’ll just keep passing it down. So, we might as well pass something else too. A good pressure. Something they don’t have to fight. Something they can fight with.”

Is this a reference to surface pressure from Encanto?

The idea actually came up when I was listening to Under Pressure by Queen, but yes! Sort of.

Both Rafe and Lexi remind me a lot of Luisa.

[obsidiancreates]

Sorry to hear how your family got cheated with the cleaning “service,” it wasn’t right that girl bailed on you and your mom. Hoping she doesn’t get paid.)

Encanto is meant to be a musical, so you wouldn’t be missing out too much by only listening to the soundtrack (which is a BANGER!)

Lin Manuel Miranda wrote all the music, who is the same gentleman that wrote Hamilton. So, you know it’s going to be good!

Here’s a few songs that I recommend—

“Family Madrigal” — Introduces everyone to the main cast and explains everyone’s gifts, which are somewhat similar to the Descendants of the trio AU. Can you imagine Eric or Space trying to introduce all the egos—Their very large, extended family?

“Surface Pressure” — It’s about Luisa, a middle-sibling with super-strength, becoming overwhelmed with acting as the literal beast-of-burden for her family. If you’re looking for angst, the lyrics, “I’m pretty sure I’m worthless if I can’t be of service,” hits FEELS. Might work best with Blue!Google. As he is everyone’s go-to for assistance and likely fears any flaws would render him obsolete.

“What Else Can I Do?” — About learning to seize the moment. Very catchy. I feel like it could go with Host and his adjustment into becoming blind—He’s figuring out his narrative abilities or at the very least he’s maturing out of the Author’s need for perfection. (Bonus points: I may have been reading a few old fics, so picture Bing in the chorus, “Bring it in, bring it in!”) Probably effecting the weather and colors of the sky instead of flowers.

“Dos orguitas” — LITERAL TEARS. It’s even worse when the main characters of the video have triplets, just like in the variations of the Descendants of the trio AU. Just Damien holding Celine’s children if she were to get killed and the Manor corrupting him into Dark—Isolating space to make a whole new town. You have to watch the song-scene posted by DisneyMusicVEVO, because it provides context for the story as well as the Spanish lyrics.

Also, for “Dos orguitas,” obviously I’m not shipping Damien and Celine. lol. Just sayin’, in my mind if the events during the music were to take place, I’d imagine that it would show the rise and fall of Celine and Actor’s relationship—Not to mention, the twins reconciling after not hearing from one another in a while. Celine realizes she’s pregnant after separating from Actor and goes to her brother to help her figure things out.

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I'll take your word for it, Anon! These sounds like fun scenerios, well... fun for us XD Not all of them so fun for the Lads... sorry lads.

[symeraid-s]

2021 Retrospective Final: Other Stuff

Movies

2021 marked the year where I finally went to the cinema again. Though I didn’t see many movies. I didn’t watch Shang-Chi, Eternals or No Way Home, though I still want to watch Spiderman. I also didn’t watch any of the Disney+ series. So, what movies did I watch?

Dune

I heard this movie adapts what is basically only the setup for the plot of the novel. But if this is the setup, then I can’t wait what the actual plot will look like. It’s simply amazing how they made a three-hour movie not feel bloated. I love how this movie feels and looks, and if the second movie keeps this up, then it might just become one of my favourite movies of all time.

The Mitchells vs. the Machines

This movie was fantastic. Watching a family overcome their problems to save the world was very satisfying and I know this may be controversial, but I prefer this movie over Spiderverse.

James Bond: No Time to Die

To quote my father: “They don’t know if they want to make Bond movies for the people that have seen every movie, or for the 20-year-olds that want some action.” The movie feels incredibly disjointed and the best thing I can say about it is that the scene with Ana de Armas rocks and she should be in more of the movie (and maybe get a girlfriend…)

House of Gucci

This is the most recent movie I have seen, but somehow, I don’t remember much of it. I remember liking Adam Driver and Lady Gaga in their performances, but all in all it felt like a very weak mafia movie. Also, they should have gotten an Italian actor to play at least the father.

Encanto

I actually haven’t watched Encanto yet, but I still want to mention it, because damn, the Soundtrack is full of Bangers. We Don’t Talk About Bruno and Surface Pressure are probably my favourites, but all other songs are just as good.

Normal Pop Music

There wasn’t a lot of pop music this year that I liked. I just really want to talk about two songs:

Ed Sheeran – Bad Habits

This song is catchy. It’s one of Ed Sheeran’s best. The biggest problem holding this song back is that it’s massively overplayed. I think I’ve heard this song like 5 times a day at work.

Imagine Dragons feat. J.I.D – Enemy

Imagine Dragons for me was always Lightning in a Bottle. Either their songs suck, or they are some of the coolest shit ever. This is on the cool side of the spectrum. I don’t think there would have been a better song fit for Arcane and this song really puts the cherry on top of an already great cake.

TV Shows

2021 marked the moment of me finally getting Netflix and with it access to a lot of stuff. Yet, I still rarely use it. I don’t even know why. It’s probably because most shows I want to watch aren’t on Netflix but rather on some other streaming services. But anyhoot:

Arcane

I’m not that interested in League of Legends. Yet, after both my colleague and my sister bugged me, I watched Arcane, and I wasn’t disappointed. Even without having played League, this show is amazing. The Animation is clean (The Micro expressions!!!), the OST is amazing, they even got MIYAVI for a scene, and the story is very well told. Also, a shout out to Ella Purnell who voices Jinx: She’s amazing.

Manner of Death

I already talked about this one, so I’ll keep it brief: It’s a wild ride from start to finish. Max and Tul have amazing chemistry and the plot is suspenseful. Whenever an episode aired, tumblr lost their minds and the next day I ranted to my co-worker, who just listened with a smile (I love him for that, thank you!). It really is a one-of-a-kind experience and if you haven’t watched it yet, please do.

The Witcher Season 2

All in all, I prefer this season over the first. It’s very well made, and Henry Cavill continues to impress as Geralt, but honestly Joey Batey as Jaskier takes the cake in this season. I loved his character so much and Burn Butcher Burn is a banger.

Zettai BL Naru Sekai vs Zettai BL Naritakunai Otoko/The Man who Defies the World of BL

This four-episode show was just way too funny. It’s about a guy realising that he’s living in a BL manga. But he doesn’t want to, so he just tries to minimalize all interactions with guys just to stay straight. This could easily be a homophobic mess, but instead it portrays the main character as supportive. It’s basically one man’s journey to overcome his own internalised homophobia and it’s just very fun and engaging to watch. A second season was announced a few weeks ago and I couldn’t be happier.