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amarayys · 1 month ago

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DRDT CHP 2 EPISODE 15 REACTIONS - SO OBVIOUSLY SPOILERS

disclaimer - this post is quite long. like 12 doc pages long. so yeah

in this post, i predicted that the culprit would be ace. and, well....yeah! IT WAS!!! AND I FEEL REALLY GOOD ABOUT THAT!!!! AND IM REALLY HOPING THAT THE FACT THAT AREI'S MISSING GLOVE AND THE MISSING SCRUM DEBATE DONT MEAN ANYTHING!!!

....i got it right.

I ACTUALLY GOT IT RIGHT??? NO FUCKING WAY???

Anyway, I'm gonna make a short post (post editing amari here - this post is in no way short. why did i think it would be???) of my reactions to the episode. And trust me, there were reactions.

Ace: You're going to call me the murderer just because Eden said so?! That's so inane I don't even know where to start!

...I feel ashamed to admit I had to google what "inane" means. Basically, it means "Lacking sense or meaning," which, true, actually! I can't deny suspecting Ace JUST because of Eden's crying is a little weird. Not to say that Eden is malicious or something, though.

J: I'm not saying Eden did it, but are you sure the killer is Ace?

This line isn't insanely relevant or something, I just wanted to point out that I was pretty confused here. Why is J defending Ace??? Uh???

Eden: It was him! (Ace) He was the one stalking me!

Aha, I thought so! I've seen a few people theorise that the person "stalking" Eden was the culprit, and I agree. It just makes the most sense - so I'm glad we were right!

Teruko: Could it be that Ace switched targets from Eden to Arei? (paraphrased)

Oh, I didn't even consider that! We see later in the trial this isn't true, but I'm surprised that nobody (to my knowledge) brought this theory up. Though I don't really see why he would switch targets.

Ace: S-so?! Nico could have taken it or lied about the fish disappearing. (paraphrased)

100% True! But Ace seems to be using this argument solely to accuse Nico...which he sure does a lot. While screaming. A lot.

*discussion about ace making a murder plan after nearly being murdered*

Teruko makes a good point here - He could have made the plan the day following his near-murder.

Teruko: Most people wouldn't like going back to the scene of their almost-murder. (paraphrased)

...Teruko, you're projecting. Hard. Like, really hard.

Ace: ...

Ace: Y-yeah! Exactly! There's no reason for me to take the tape unless I made a plan to kill her in a few seconds. (paraphrased)

Hesitation spotted! And a stutter! I freaked out over this on call for no reason, but that is VERY suspicious, dude.

Arturo: Who uses non-medical tape for first aid? That's sickening.

Teruko: It's not that weird, I do it all the time.

...AUWVGGHHHHH. Teruko you make me ILL. This is probably referencing how she didn't have money for medical supplies in the regular world so she had to use regular tape for wounds, since her luck hurts her often, which cannot be good/safe for injuries. I nearly cried here, because I'm very dramatic when it comes to Teruko. YOU DESERVE BETTER.

Ace: What is this, some sort of Devil's Pubes?

...What the fuck?? What??? I am not kidding when I tell you I was drinking water during this line and fucking choked. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN??? HELLO?? CAN SOMEBODY TELL ME WHAT HE MEANT??

Ace: Everyone is always attacking me for stupid reasons. (paraphrased)

He's not wrong, actually. Everyone is always attacking him - Though not always for stupid reasons.

Ace: Do you even hear yourself right now? I'm a murderer because of my "personality"?!

I've got to agree with him here - that's a pretty stupid argument to make. As much as I don't want to slander Min, did her personality seem like the type to murder?

Teruko: Show me your neck scars.

...That's a little invasive, no?

*discussion about scratched neck*

I also believe some people pointed out Ace's bloody fingers, but I haven't seen anyone mention scratches on his neck! To be fair, that is a VERY small detail that's quite easy to miss.

Teruko: But you probably never forgot. After all, you have to live with your scars every day. Even if you've been pretending it's fine, it still hurts, right? (paraphrased)

...Ohmygod she's projecting again. Is she insecure about her scars?? Or do they just remind her of bad situations? Teruko, I love you so so much you make me SOB.

Ace: I thought I was supposed to be the stupidest one here! What the fuck is this?!

...He just called himself stupid. He is NOT beating the idiot allegations.

the whole veronika spiel**

Well, yeah, I'd imagine being almost murdered is somewhat traumatising.

turpentine, jockey and strangling arguements:

This post is going to get VERY long soon, so sorry for the massive skip lmao.

Turpentine: Correct - How would have Ace kept Arei unharmed apart from her neck wounds without her being unconscious due to turpentine? I really don't have any clue.

Strangling: Strangling her?? I didn't see THAT coming. But yeah, I suppose it works. I really don't have much to say here, tbh.

Jockey: Basically, Ace is stronger than Eden and can therefore knock her out. True, I suppose, but it's a shaky argument based off assumptions.

Charles: Ace was trying to imitate Nico's murder.

I can see this being the case - Ace using that to frame Nico. Ace HAS been blaming Nico quite a bit, huh?

Ace's injury argument*

Good points made by both Eden (for some reason??) and Teruko. Yes, Ace was bleeding out and in a lot of pain, but the wound was not severe enough to limit either his speech or his movement. The murder might have hurt, but he'd be able to do it.

J: Isn't Ace...too stupid?

I burst out laughing...that's quite direct, J! But also mean. Ace is literally right there. Also, that is not a proper argument!

Ace's whole dignity thing*

Jeez, I used to despise Ace, but I'm liking him more and more. He has some really funny lines, and his development is REALLY good.

I think it's super interesting that ACE, who everyone believes is dumb and rude and unable to take criticism, is letting himself be called stupid for the sake of being declared innocent. It really shows how his character is more than just "I'm rude and I hate you all!" DRDTDev, your writing is so good.

Charles' explanation*

Now, I'm split on this part.

For one, I agree that his IQ would not have much to do with how Ace carried out the murder and is irrelevant. However, the whole argument of "Ace rides horses, he is strong!" thing isn't really accurate - in chapter 1, he describes how he never actually practices jockeying.

**also, the acevi fans are in pain. i see you looking at how levi said ace wasnt dumb. I SEE YOU

Non-stop debate with ball of clothes as bullet*

I was WONDERING WHEN THE CLOTHES WOULD COME IN!! Again, I'm not original, so I've seen theories regarding the ball being thrown over the railing. But...the railings pretty high. I don't think you could just throw it.

Bullet is used*

Oh, so Teruko is using the "ball of clothes was thrown" argument? It still seems very high up..

Ace: How could I have thrown it up that high?

Aha, so they are addressing that issue! I'm glad.

Ace tangent*

Again, I'm sorry for having to reduce this AMAZING character development down to a "tangent", but this post is already WAYYY too long.

He definitely has a point, though. Just because he's a jockey doesn't automatically make him the murderer. Just because he's somewhat athletic doesn't mean he could've thrown the ball of clothes.

And, as much as I REALLY don't want to admit this...Teruko's reasoning for siding with Eden was a little shaky. At first, Teruko believed Eden because Eden believed her in the first trial. Adorable, yes, but you could argue that was unfair towards Ace. However, there is definitely concrete evidence against Ace at this point and Teruko is valid for siding with Eden at this point in the trial.

Not to say I don't understand why Teruko sided with her - I totally understand. And she did say she'd keep an open mind. I still love how this was all done - Teruko siding with Eden was a nice touch.

Argument Armament or however the fuck its spelt.*

Wait what?? I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING\??? that AA came out of absolutely nowhere but i am here for it! The art is fantastic as always - i especially love the horse!

Final blow; using a sling shot*

...I'm sorry? What??

OH! THE FITNESS BAND!

I knew it must've come in somewhere! This trial has been so satisfying so far...God I love this fangan.

So, Ace tied the fitness band around the...bar things in the playgroud and flung the ball of clothes up. ...I still don't really get it, but it's definitely better than just yanking it up there!

Teruko, interrupting Ace: SHUT UP, ACE!

...eh? EH??? TERUKO??

Teruko: Do you even understand what this class trial is? Tell me, how do we decide who's the murderer? We determine who lives and dies by a majority vote. YTTD REF?? In other words, the opinion of everyone who *isn't* you.

I...woah. I didn't see that coming. Like, at all. Let's see what else she has to say.

Teruko: Who cares where you stored the water jugs? That doesn't matter. (paraphrased)

Um...I'm pretty sure it matters, Teruko. Though I can see where she's coming from - she wants this trial over with and she thinks discussing minor details is a waste of time.

This line makes you seem like the culprit, but she has protag privileges, so yeah. Just Teruko going off again.

Teruko: The point of the trial is to determine who the killer is, not to determine every single little detail of what happened.

Aha, so I'm correct. She doesn't want to discuss "minor details".

Teruko: It doesn't matter that you're not convinced. It's not going to help you, nor change your fate. No matter how you feel or what you think, nothing will change.

You think that your whining and screaming is going to change our minds? That if you call us all stupid and wrong, we're going to magically decide to not vote for you out of the goodwill of our hearts?

...Okay, so. I think she's projecting here. Again. She knows that screaming wont do anything for him - It never did anything for her. She knows that people vote stop deciding the culprit's you out of the goodwill of her heart - They didn't do that for her.

Maybe I'm reaching, who knows.

Teruko: Come on Ace! Don't you want to live?! Defend yourself!

Oh, she's desperate. She really wants to be wrong here, huh? She doesn't really want him to be a culprit.

Ace: I'm such a piece of shit.

...is that a confession?? IS IT??

Ace: Yeah, you're right. There's no way I'm making it out this trial alive.

Okay this could still be interpreted as him just giving up on trying to find the actual culprit but-

Ace: I killed Arei. That's exactly right.

....OH. I...WHAT??

That...wow. I don't even know what to say! Before this point in the trial, I was kind of suspicious he was an accomplice, but hey...that's a confession for sure!

Ace: I was scared of dying. That's all.

Yeah, I've definitely seen a theory on that somewhere. And it fits his character - But jeez. I'm gonna be sad to see him go.

Ace: I'm fucking terrified of dying! I can't sleep at night because I keep thinking about how I'm going to die young in this goddamn killing game! I didn't want to die!

Ace: Live, and escape this killing game, and go back to my shitty life where I can't do anything on my own because I can't control myself.

Ace: Back to that life where I can't do anything but a sport that I hate because I suck shit at everything else.

Wow, it sounds like he really didn't think he had any way of enjoying life, whether in the killing game or not. I feel so bad...We knew from Chp. 1 that he was quite the scaredy-cat, but to make that a motive into killing? Like...I'm not sure what to say. /pos The character development is SO good though I am HERE FOR THIS!!

J: So what? Get over yourself.

...J?

J: Murder is unacceptable, no matter what.

Oh! I see what's happening! This is a super interesting way for a character to think. This makes me think that sometime later on, a murder will be done on accident in some way, (maybe by herself - THAT would be a twist for sure) but she still refuses to forgive the culprit. I really love J getting character development!

Ace: Arei…she was a piece of shit too. Just like me. Eden if she said all that nice bs to Eden, there was no guarantee she was actually going to change. (paraphrased)

…Ow. “Piece of shit” really is becoming the new “Good person”, huh? /hj

And, I suppose Ace is right in that there wasn’t any way to tell if Arei *was* going to change for certain - But I think she was genuine!

Ace: But at least she (arei) was trying. And I can’t change even one thing about myself. Not my shitty job, nor my shitty personality, nor my shitty life.

OH OKAY OUCH AUGH. This…is painful. Here’s my (not very good) interpretation of this:

Ace doesn’t trust that people will be able to change. Sure, there’s a chance - but no guarantee. However, he applauds Arei because at least she was trying to be better. He thinks it’s pointless for him to try to be better - everything bad in his life, he cannot change. And that scared him, and that is what led him to murder.

“...” said by Levi and Nico*

Wow, going to the two people who have the most to do with his character right after he says that is crazy. /lh

But yeah, I can’t even imagine what was going through their heads… The person who reprimanded them for killing others (and in Nico’s case - trying to kill him) actually ended up being the killer of Arei - and intended to kill everyone in order to escape the killing game. It sure must be a lot to process, huh?

Ace: Just vote me already! Put me out of my damn misery!

…Damn. This really hurts…

He’s obviously terrified of dying. He probably wants it over with. He doesn’t want to wait in anticipation for his death. He just wants it over with…I feel SO bad.

Teruko: Before we do that, allow me to go over the case one more time, to confirm we all understand this murder.

Ace: Why? Why do you have to remind me of the fucked-up shit I did? I already feel like crap. I don't... I don't want to think about what I've done. Not now, nor ever.

Ah, so there’s also guilt involved. I mean, of course he’d feel guilt - but he probably felt killing Arei and escaping the killing game was his only option, excluding death.

Teruko: …

Teruko: Sorry, but it has to be done.

AGH. Teruko feels bad for having to make him relive his murder…dangit this cast makes me ILL /pos

Teruko: Confront the mistakes you've made. Then accept death. That's the fate of everyone who chooses to participate in this killing game.

I meannn…she isn’t wrong. But I still feel horrible for Ace.

**Closing argument**

Oh cool!!! Here we go - I can’t wait!

GIRLKISSERS!!! oh, and ace ig. /j

This is probably my favourite cg from the closing argument. It’s just….Idk. Arei’s expression is sort of funny to me.

The way Arei’s hanging body appeared in the middle and lifted up slowly…that was disturbing. But in a really, really good way. DRDTdev is super creative with these closing arguments!

Cut her free…with what, exactly??

Also, Teruko calling the carousel a spinner is hilarious to me. Not even a spinny thing anymore - just a spinner.

I burst out laughing at this cg…because I DIDN’T EXPECT HIM TO BE UPSIDE DOWN??? I giggled a lot at this, it’s really not that funny - but I didn’t expect him to go full monkey style in order to tie the rope.

And…there it is. Sorry folks, but I really doubt Ace isn’t killer after getting the “trial close” screen and the…end of closing argument cg??? Thing??? I have no clue what it’s called.

Wow, this episode was a rollercoaster ride. I love love love love LOVED it. I can’t wait for the next one!

Before this episode, I really didn’t like Ace. At all. I just found him annoying. But DRDTdev did his character arc SO well - he’s really grown on me! Now time to see him get executed…oh.

Also, I realise I forgot to comment on the new cgs,,, whoops. They’re all super good though - I LOVED Teruko’s.

Anyway, I think that’s all….this took SO incredibly long lol. I don't really know what to say in order to end this post. So. Yeah.

#drdt #danganronpa despair time #despair time #teruko tawaki #fanganronpa #drdt theory #drdt spoilers #ace markey #eden tobisa #levi fontana #nico hakobyan #charles cuevas #arei nageishi #j moreno #teruko tawaki the things id do for you #<333

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sineala · 3 years ago

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Tony Stark and Arthuriana

Coming to you by special request, a very long post about 616 Tony's interest in Arthuriana, with a focus on all of Tony's run-ins with Morgan le Fay!

I feel like I should disclaim the extent of my knowledge here, which is that I still haven't managed to read anywhere near every issue of Iron Man -- at least, not yet, anyway -- so I'm just going by the things I know I've read, and Morgan le Fay's Marvel wiki entry is frustratingly under-cited, so it's very possible I've missed something relevant, but I'm pretty sure I've got the big stuff down. My other disclaimer here is that I'm not as big an Arthurian nerd as Tony is, which is to say that most of my familiarity comes from modern retellings -- T. H. White's The Once and Future King, Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave, Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset -- and not so much the usual classic sources on the Matter of Britain, though I've read bits and pieces of them.

(This is because I wanted to read versions of them that were as close to the original as possible but so far have not ended up finishing any of them because, well, that's hard. So I've never read the Mabinogion because I do not know Welsh. I've got the Norton Critical Edition of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, which is probably the best student edition if you're looking for something without modernized spellings, as I was. I've also got -- well, okay, it's my wife's but I'm borrowing it -- a relatively recent Boydell & Brewer edition (ed. Reeve, tr. Wright) of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), which is, you guessed it, in Latin with a facing English translation. I haven't gotten very far in it because, in case you didn't know this about Latin texts, the beginning is pretty much always the hardest, so I gave up and read some Plautus adaptations instead. Anyway, if for some reason you too want to read Geoffrey of Monmouth in the original Latin I'd recommend that one, but I can't recommend any particular English translations because I've never read one by itself. I bet you didn't think you'd be getting Latin prose recommendations in this post. I mean, maybe you did; it is me, after all.)

Okay. Right. King Arthur. Here we go.

We've got:

Flashbacks to Tony's childhood in late Iron Man volume 1

A brief discussion of Morgan's origin story and Avengers #187

Iron Man vol 1 #149-150: Doomquest

What If vol 1 #33: What if Iron Man was trapped in the time of King Arthur?

Iron Man vol 1 #249-250: Recurring Knightmare

Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #1-4

Avengers vol 3 #1-4: The Morgan Conquest

Civil War: The Confession

Mighty Avengers vol 1 #9-11: Time Is On No One's Side

In terms of universe-internal chronology, we know from Iron Man #287, from 1992, that Tony has been a fan of King Arthur since childhood. This is an issue of a fandom-favorite arc which features Tony having a lot of childhood flashbacks, including the famous "Stark men are made of iron" line (in #286) that for some reason MCU fandom decided it loved; I mean, seriously, I've seen that quoted in way more MCU fic than 616 fic. But slightly later, in #287, we get an entire page devoted to Tony's love of King Arthur.

The narration reads: "Over the next few years, I learned as my father intended. Discipline of body. Strength of character. But in what free time I was allowed, I worked my way through the school's library. At thirteen, I discovered Mallory [sic], who showed me a whole new world. A world of dedication to a cause greater than oneself. Of chivalry and honor. And the fantastic deeds -- of armored heroes."

The art shows Tony as a child sitting under a tree, reading a book labeled Mort D'Arthur by Mallory [sic] -- no, don't ask me why nobody at Marvel checked how to spell either the name of the book or its author -- and daydreaming of King Arthur, the Sword in the Stone, knights, et cetera. Just in case you somehow missed the extremely blatant hint that we are meant to understand that Tony's knight obsession heavily influenced him becoming Iron Man as an adult, we see one of his armors mixed in with all the drawings of knights. So, yes, canonically Tony is Iron Man at least partly because he's a giant King Arthur nerd, which I think is so very sweet. I love him. He's such a dork!

(This issue is currently in print in the Iron Man Epic Collection War Machine, should you need your own copy.)

This isn't actually the only reference to Tony as a King Arthur fanboy in this era of canon, either; a little later, in IM #298, we see that one of Tony's passwords is actually "Mallory." (Yeah, no, they still couldn't spell. But it's cute.)

But in terms of actual publication order, this is definitely not the first time we have seen in canon that Tony is into Arthuriana, as I'm sure you all know. I would assume, in fact, that giving Tony a childhood interest in Arthuriana is because Doomquest is one of the most beloved Iron Man story arcs of all time, and that all started at least a decade before IM #287 here was published.

The villain of Doomquest -- the one who isn't Doctor Doom, at least -- is Morgan le Fay. Yes, that Morgan le Fay. Yes, Arthur's evil half-sister Morgan le Fay. Yes, all of this King Arthur stuff is canonically real history on Earth-616. Morgan's first appearance in Marvel, per the wiki, was in Black Knight #1 (1955), which I have not read, and judging by the summary I feel like this is probably just supposed to be a straight-up comic retelling of Arthurian legends for kids; I don't think Marvel really had the whole Marvel Universe in mind as a concept in 1955, so I'm not sure this was meant to connect to anything else. I feel like this is another one of those instances of Marvel discovering that they can write comics about characters in the public domain for free -- like, I'm pretty sure that's how we also ended up with, like, Norse, Greek, and Roman mythology wedged into 616.

As far as I can tell from the wiki, the first time Morgan tangled with the Avengers (or indeed the larger 616 universe) in any way actually predated Doomquest -- it was in an early arc in Spider-Woman (#2-6) and then Avengers #187, which came out in 1979, actually right when Demon in a Bottle was happening over in Iron Man comics. If you read #187, Iron Man is not in it because he's off the team due to his drinking problem and also his accidentally murdering the Carnelian ambassador problem. So Wonder Man's filling in instead. This issue is part of Michelinie's rather sporadic Avengers run, which makes sense, I guess, considering where we see Morgan next.

Anyway, Avengers #187 is the classic issue where Wanda is possessed by Chthon, but what you may not remember from Chthon's backstory (I sure didn't!) is that he was summoned by Morgan le Fay because she was the first person who tried to wield the Darkhold to summon him. As you can imagine, this did not work out especially well for her and her followers and they had to seal Chthon away in Wundagore Mountain, which was where Wanda found him. (The Spider-Woman stuff is only slightly earlier and also appears to be about Morgan and the Darkhold; the Darkhold is not one of the areas of 616 canon I am especially conversant with, alas. It's on my to-read list.)

Doomquest, as you probably know, was a classic Iron Man two-parter in Layton & Michelinie's first Iron Man run that set up Tony and Doom as rivals; Doomquest itself was IM #149-150, in 1981, and then in their second IM run they came back and did a sequel in 1989, Recurring Knightmare (IM #249-250), and then the much later four-part sequel to that was the 2008 miniseries Iron Man: Legacy of Doom, which was also by Layton & Michelinie but generally does not seem to be as popular as the first two parts. They've all been reprinted, if you're looking for copies; I have a Doomquest hardcover that collects the first four issues and then a separate Legacy of Doom hardcover. Currently in the Iron Man Epic Collection line there's a volume called Doom, which confusingly only collects the 249-250 part of the storyline (as well as surrounding issues), because for some reason the first Layton & Michelinie run isn't in Epics yet but the second one is. So the beginning of Doomquest isn't currently in print, as far as I can tell. I'm sure you can find it anyway.

So what's Doomquest about? Okay, so you remember how Doctor Doom's mother's soul is stuck in hell for all eternity? Well, Doom's obviously interested in getting her back, and the strategy he has embarked on is to try to team up with other powerful magicians who can help him out, and he thinks Morgan le Fay would be a good choice, for, uh, his quest. Doom's quest. A Doomquest, if you will. (If you've ever read Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph & Torment, you're familiar with the part where he later ends up waylaying Strange for this and they go to hell together. And if you haven't read Triumph & Torment, you really should, because it's amazing.)

So Doom is off to his time machine to go team up with Morgan le Fay and Tony thinks Doom is up to something -- Doom has been stealing components for his time machine from a lot of people, including Tony -- and he follows him and it turns out one of Doom's lackeys has a grudge and wants to trap Doom in the past forever, and Tony gets caught up in it. Now they're both in Camelot. Surprise! #149 is actually all setup; they don't get to Camelot until #150.

IM #150 begins with Doom and Tony thrown back into the past; there's a fandom-famous splash page of them locked in combat, only to realize that they have found themselves in Camelot.

They are then discovered by knights; Doom would very much like to attack them, but Tony, who naturally would be happy to LARP Camelot forever, persuades him to play nice. Also Doom thinks Iron Man is only Tony's bodyguard so he keeps referring to him as "lackey," much to Tony's annoyance. Somehow everyone thinks they're sorcerers. Can't imagine why. The knights take them to meet King Arthur himself, and Tony has clearly had his introduction all ready to go, as he introduces himself in a timeline-appropriate manner, says he's here to apprehend Doom, and demonstrates his "magic" by levitating Arthur's throne. Doom's response is essentially "I'm the king of Latveria," which is, y'know, also valid. So they're guests at Camelot for the night while Arthur figures out what to do with them.

We then have a page devoted to Tony alone in his room, musing sadly about how alien he feels, how he doesn't know if he'll ever get home, how he could never fit in here without his beloved technology. Then a Sexy Lady shows up to keep him company for the night, and he decides maybe it's not all bad. Thanks, Marvel. I guess they can't all be winners.

Doom is using his evening much more productively; he compels one of the servants to tell him where Morgan's castle is, because he's still interested in having that team-up. Then he jets off. Literally. He has a jetpack.

The next morning Arthur's like "one of you is still here and one of you has punched a hole through the castle wall and flown off to join Morgan so I guess I know which of you is more trustworthy." He then explains to Tony who Morgan is, because Tony professes ignorance, because clearly we had not yet retconned in Tony's love of Arthuriana. Tony offers to go fight Doom and Morgan with Arthur; meanwhile, Morgan and Doom have teamed up and Morgan has offered to help get Doom's mother out of hell if he commands her undead armies against Arthur because for Reasons she can't command them herself anymore. So that's a thing that happens.

So, yes, it's Tony and Arthur versus Doom and Morgan. Fight fight fight!

Tony tries Doom first but then decides to hunt Morgan down, and in the ensuing fight we get what I think is Tony's first ever "I hate magic," a complaint that we all know he still makes even to this day.

Anyway, Tony freezes a dragon with Freon (mmm, technology) and Morgan gets upset and disappears, so the battle comes to an end, and of course Doom is extremely mad at Tony because he blames Tony for Morgan not sticking around to save Doom's mom, because I guess Doom trusted her to keep her word? Weird. (Like I said, for the next chapter of Doom saving his mother, go read Triumph & Torment.)

Doom says if he and Tony work together, the components in both of their armors can send them both home. So Tony has to trust Doom. Which he does, because he really has no other choice. They build a time machine and Tony makes Doom agree to a 24-hour truce when they get back, so they can both get home. So it all works out okay, and they end up in the present, and Doom tells him, ominously, that they will meet again. Okay, then. That concludes the original Doomquest. It's fun! You can see why fandom likes it.

So that's all well and good, but you might have noticed that Tony's ability to get home hinged on Doom actually being trustworthy. And Doom was. But what if Doom hadn't been? What if he'd just stranded Tony in Camelot forever As you may have surmised from the form of that question, that is in fact a question Marvel asked themselves, because, yes, there's a What If about this! What If v1 #33 is "What if Iron Man was trapped in the time of King Arthur?"

The divergence point from canon, as you can probably guess, is the very end of Doomquest. Instead of Doom bringing Tony home, he deceives him and leaves him in Camelot. And since Tony cannibalized a lot of the tech from his armor to make the time machine, he doesn't have a way to go home.

This is not a story where Tony comes up with a way to go home after all. He really doesn't get to go home. But instead of drowning his sorrows in mead -- because, remember, Demon in a Bottle has already happened and Tony is sober now -- he decides he might as well just play the hand he's dealt. So with what's left of his armor, he defeats some enemies that Morgan rounds up to send against Camelot. And for his services, he's knighted. He is now Sir Anthony.

Tony acknowledges that he is both living the dream and would also like very, very much to go home.

He does end up having some fun in Camelot; it's not all miserable. But he obviously doesn't want to be there.

So if you're at all familiar with King Arthur, you know how this goes, right? Arthur fights Mordred and Mordred kills him. And that does happen in this version. Except Tony is right there, and with his dying words, Arthur asks Tony to rule Camelot... and Tony agrees.

So, yes, Tony Stark becomes king of the Britons after Arthur's death and he never goes home again. The end. Man, I love What Ifs.

Heading back to main 616 continuity, there is still more of this arc to go. The original Doomquest was only two issues, yes, but it was popular enough that Layton & Michelinie did a sequel a hundred issues later, in their second run of Iron Man, and that's Iron Man #249-250, Recurring Knightmare. (In the intervening issues were Denny O'Neil's IM run, specifically the second drinking arc (#160-200), and then Layton & Michelinie came back and most famously gave us Armor Wars (#225-232). I would have to say that Armor Wars is definitely the standout fandom-favorite arc of their second IM run; for their first one, I think a lot of people would have a hard time choosing between Doomquest and Demon.) But anyway, yes. Recurring Knightmare.

Recurring Knightmare is... well, the best way I can describe it is "a trip." It is definitely a sequel to Doomquest, and it is also definitely not a sequel you would ever have expected to see for Doomquest.

Much like #149, #249 is pretty much just setup. Fun setup, but the big action is in the next issue. We open with Doom in Latveria, on his throne, pondering which of his servants he should have disintegrated. Anyway, he's just hanging out there when a mysterious object appears. In California, Tony is suited up and entertaining the crowd at a mall opening when the same object also appears! He takes it to his lab. Please note that this is after the Kathy Dare incident, so Tony is still recovering and is walking with a cane. Doom sees on the news that Iron Man has found the same object, which cannot be carbon-dated, and he shows up at Tony's house. He criticizes Tony's taste in art.

Anyway, Doom basically orders Tony to work with him. Tony refuses, and then Doom sends some robots to attempt to steal Tony's version of the object because he thinks if he has them both he will be powerful. Doom manages to steal it, and when he puts the pieces together, both he and Tony disappear.

So where do they go, you might ask? Camelot?

Not exactly. The future! There is a great callback to the Doomquest splash page.

It turns out they are in London in 2093. Merlin brought them there. Tony still hates magic. And in the future, King Arthur is still there, except he is now a child, because he has been reborn. But he does remember Tony from Doomquest, at which point Tony kneels. Doom, of course, is not impressed. He asks why they have been brought to the future.

The answer is that things are going wrong in the future. If you do not personally remember United States politics in the 1980s, I need you to google the words "Strategic Defense Initiative" right now. I'll wait.

Back with me? Okay, so this is a future where Reagan's Star Wars program actually happened the way he wanted it to, and the satellites are still hanging around the Earth in the future and messing everything up, and Arthur and Merlin need Tony and Doom's help to stop them. Doom once again flies away with his jetpack, of course.

Tony is game to help, but he's not in an armor that can stay in space for long. This is when Merlin takes him and Arthur to the mall and Tony manages to get everything to upgrade his armor at Radio Shack. You see what I meant about this issue being weird.

Tony is out in space trying to disarm the SDI platform, which is where he runs into his future descendant, Andros Stark, who is in armor you will probably recognize from Iron Man 2020. He is referred to as "the resurrected spawn of Iron Man 2020" so I assume he's actually directly related to Arno rather than a direct descendant of Tony; Wiki confirms that Arno is his grandfather. This is all from way before Arno was contemporaneous with Tony in canon. Anyway, he's fighting Tony.

Oh, by the way, Future Doom exists. Future Doom would like to rule this future Earth and for some reason Andros would like to help him. Meanwhile, Present Doom finds out from Merlin that he can't leave except by magic and he can't leave without Tony, so he is reluctantly on Tony's side.

They need help from the Lady of the Lake, except the lake has been paved over and is now a parking lot. Merlin makes the lake come back and then of course they get Excalibur. Arthur is a kid, so he can't wield a longsword; Doom assumes he's going to take it because he is basically a king, and he's pretty grumpy when the sword picks Tony. Tony then uses Excalibur to destroy the space lasers, and I bet that is a sentence you never thought you would read. It's pretty cool. Tony concludes that magic has its good points. Tony stops Andros and Doom stops, uh, himself, and the world is saved and they get to go home. Also, Doom finds out Tony is Iron Man, but when Merlin sends them back he conveniently erases their memories, so neither of them remember anything about this and Tony's secret is still safe. And that's the sequel to Doomquest.

And if you think that's weird, wait until you see Legacy of Doom.

Iron Man: Legacy of Doom is a four-issue miniseries from 2008, also by Layton and Michelinie. Even though it's from 2008, it's set during a much more classic time in Iron Man, continuing on from where we left off in this Doomquest saga. We start with a framing story in 2008. Tony, who has Extremis now, is busy scrapping some of his older armors and reviewing his logs when he suddenly remembers that there was a whole thing with Doom that happened that he seems to have forgotten about until right now. So the whole thing is narrated by Tony in flashback.

Tony's in space fixing a satellite when a hologram of Doom shows up and summons him to Latveria. It's not really clear why Doom needs Tony's help in particular here, but Doom tells Tony that he's discovered that Mephisto would like to bring about the end of the world, which Doom finds, and I quote, "presumptive." So Doom has his Time Cube, and with it he takes Tony to hell.

(Yes, I promise this is relevant to Doomquest. There will be some Arthuriana shortly.)

Doom brings Tony to Mephisto, and it turns out it's a setup! Doom trades Tony for an item he wants from Mephisto, leaves, and Tony's going to be trapped in hell forever! Oh no! (I mean, he's not. But it's quite a cliffhanger.)

At the beginning of issue #2, we find out what the Arthurian connection is, which is that we learned that after the events of Doomquest, Morgan had been granted sanctuary by Mephisto in exchange for a shard of Excalibur that she had somehow stolen. Doom still wants Morgan's help with some magic -- he doesn't mention what it is here, but he says he needs someone of Pendragon blood, and that'd be her -- so he traded Tony to Mephisto in exchange for, I'm guessing, Morgan and the Excalibur shard.

I have probably mentioned this elsewhere, but Legacy of Doom #2 is one of my favorite issues of Iron Man ever, solely because of the next scene. We return to Tony in hell. Howard Stark is also in hell, and he is now a demon, and Tony has to fight him. Mephisto brings popcorn and watches. This is the one time in canon when Tony actually confronts his father, and okay, yes, it's a fistfight in hell and Howard is a demon, but that's comics for you. Howard spends several pages insulting Tony -- specifically insulting his masculinity, but that's a whole other essay -- until he finally insults Maria too, and that's when Tony fights back, because his mother taught him to be good. Honestly if you're a Tony fan I'd recommend this issue just for that scene.

Anyway, we go back to the Doom and Morgan plot, and Morgan casts the spell Doom wanted, which was fusing the Excalibur shard with Doom's armor. Then Doom sends her back to Camelot rather than hell, because he's still mad that she never helped him get his mom out of hell like she said she would.

Tony freezes Howard with Freon -- yes, the same trick he pulled on the dragon back in Doomquest -- and tells him, "You're no father of mine." It is immensely satisfying.

(I had been going to mention that I thought it was a shame that neither canon nor fandom seems to have really engaged with this confrontation, and I know canon never believes in narrative closure but fandom sure does -- and then, anyway, it occurred to me that since the framing story of Tony remembering this is set when Tony has Extremis, there's a very good chance that he no longer remembers remembering it. Goddammit, Marvel.)

(If I got to retcon one canon thing about Tony, I think "the entirety of World's Most Wanted" is up there. I mean, okay, a lot of things are up there, but WMW is definitely on the shortlist.)

Okay. Tony has now engineered his way out of hell, and he's back with Doom in Latveria. Doom has Excalibur. Doom would very much like to fight him. While wielding Excalibur. You get the sense that this is going to be bad. Another cliffhanger!

Legacy of Doom #3 opens with Tony destroying Doom's lab to buy time and running away from Doom and Excalibur. I should probably mention that Doom still doesn't know Tony is Iron Man (anymore), so he thinks he is dealing only with Iron Man, Tony Stark's lackey. Meanwhile, some scientists at SI think there's something weird going on with space. Meanwhile meanwhile, Tony is in a forest taking a breather when a mysterious old man walks up to him.

It's Merlin! Surprise! Merlin wants Tony's help to stop Doom from doing whatever he's doing with Excalibur. The sword makes you invincible and the scabbard makes you invulnerable, so Merlin sends Tony to Scotland on a fetch quest for the scabbard. Doom has now magically sent the sword in search of the scabbard, so the sword flies away to meet it and Doom follows. Turns out the thing that's wrong with space is a thing that's going to hit Earth at the exact place Tony and Doom are. What a coincidence! So Tony and Doom get trapped in a stone circle and fight some stone warriors and then Tony ends up with the scabbard. And by "ends up with," I mean it fuses to his armor. Next issue!

Legacy of Doom #4 is when things really, really get weird. A giant demon made of eyes (???) appears, and this demon is apparently what Doom had been preparing to fight (because it's mad that Doom stole one of its spellbooks), and now he can't, because the sword and the scabbard aren't together. Thanks, Shellhead.

That's when Merlin shows up and says all is not lost. They can defeat the demon... if they put the sword into the scabbard.

"But I'm the scabbard now!" Tony says, uncomprehending.

"Yes," Merlin says. "You are."

Then Tony gets it.

So, yes, Doom has to, um, penetrate Tony. With Excalibur. I love comics. I love comics so much.

So that's a thing that happens.

And then Tony flies off and, I guess, resolves to never, ever think about any of this again.

We head back to the framing story, in which Tony, now having remembered all of this, flies to Britain, buys the land the lake is on, and paves it over, presumably so it will be there for Merlin to bring back in Iron Man #250. The end.

Whew.

Okay, yeah, I know I didn't have to summarize the whole thing, but Legacy of Doom here really is one of my favorite Iron Man miniseries. And I just want to share the love. Please read it. It's great.

But the Arthuriana fun doesn't end there! In fact, now we get an Arthurian-themed arc that actually isn't in Iron Man comics. It's in Avengers! Iron Man is involved, though.

(There is also apparently a Morgan arc in Avengers #240. I actually haven't read it. It seems to be yet another Spider-Woman arc. I get the impression that this isn't really Arthuriana other than having Morgan in it fighting Jess, though, so it doesn't seem quite as relevant. Morgan also apparently has some appearances in FF, Journey into Mystery, and Marvel Team-Up, but those seem like more of just basic villainy. Also, probably not involving Tony.)

Kurt Busiek's 1998 Avengers run, volume 3, is in large part the kind of Avengers run that is a nostalgic love letter to older comics. Heroes are heroes and villains are villains and good triumphs over evil. The Avengers all live in the mansion and are BFFs. I love it. It does assume that you are already a fan of the Avengers, because it starts out by summoning pretty much everyone who has ever been an Avenger and is available to the mansion, and that is... a lot of people. Thirty-nine, by my count. Also, when the entire team is magically whisked away, we are treated to the following narration, as Steve disappears: "And Captain America's last thought, as the world goes white around him, and he with it -- is that Iron Man would hate this."

The narration doesn't tell you why Iron Man would hate this, or how Captain America would know that Iron Man hates this. This is not explained later on. But if you have read comics -- or if you have read the above summary of Doomquest -- you know that Tony is absolutely, one hundred percent, thinking, "I hate magic." And Steve knows it.

The reference is not relevant to the plot; if you don't get it, you'll be fine. But that's what I mean when I say this is a nostalgia run. There are definitely Easter eggs for people who have read a bunch of comics. Busiek does this a whole lot in his work -- there's a reason you can buy an annotated edition of Marvels -- and, yeah, it happens here too. Just know that there will be references you're not getting, if you're new to comics.

Anyway. So Busiek's run actually starts out with an Arthurian arc, #1-4, "The Morgan Conquest." The name is a dead giveaway. Yes, Morgan le Fay is back. Again. For once, Doom is not involved.

The Avengers are all back from their sojourn on Counter-Earth after fighting Onslaught -- don't worry about it -- and mysterious things are happening. There are a lot of monster attacks. So pretty much everyone who has ever been an Avenger is summoned to the mansion, at which point we learn from Thor about some mystical artifacts that are being stolen. (They are the Norn Stones and also the Twilight Sword. That sounds like something from a Zelda game, doesn't it?) The Avengers go to try to stop this, end up in Tintagel, and then they run into Mordred. He wants to capture Wanda, presumably for Magic Reasons. Morgan le Fay casts a spell on all of them, reshaping reality. Yes, all of them. Surprise!

So now all the Avengers are living in a medieval castle and/or town; Morgan is their queen, and thanks to the power of mind-control they are all basically living in Ye Olden Times. The Avengers are all some variety of knight, except for Wanda, who is chained up in the dungeon so Morgan can steal her magic and use it to fuel all this reality-warping.

Wanda calls for help, and that snaps Steve (Yeoman America!) out of the mind control (or altered reality or whatever you want to call it) pretty fast, because Steve's always been very good at resisting mind control, and then Steve promptly goes and snaps Clint out of it, because I guess Steve is also good at inspiring people to snap out of mind control. "Oh, man!" Clint says. "Not another alternate reality! Not again!" (I assume he's referring to Counter-Earth? Maybe?)

So Steve and Clint go around reassembling the Avengers and orienting them as to reality. They get Jan and Monica easily, but then Steve insists on trying to get Tony because, I guess, he likes Tony and would really like to hang around Tony, who is half-naked and asleep in his bedroom, and certainly I am reading nothing whatsoever into this. Clint tells Steve it's not going to work. Tony has historically been fairly susceptible to mind control; it was only pretty recently at this point that he'd been doing Kang's bidding in The Crossing. But the more serious impediment is that this is Tony Stark and he would obviously like to LARP being a knight forever and ever. Tony, therefore, does not believe Steve, and throws him and Clint out of his bedroom and into the barracks.

"Iron Man's a good guy, normally," Clint says. "But he's waaay too into his whole nobleman/lord of the manor trip. That spell musta hit him right where he lives!"

Clint speaks the truth, clearly.

Anyway, they go around and manage to make pretty much every Avenger in the room other than Tony snap out, and attempt to rebel against Morgan while Tony is stil fighting them because he is Still A Knight. There's a lot of punching, because some of the Avengers still aren't free; they weren't ones Steve found.

The day is saved when Wanda manages to channel Wonder Man and break free. This gives the Avengers a fighting chance against Morgan and the Avengers are all lending Wanda their power when Tony finally snaps out of it and is on the side of good.

Then they take Morgan down, go home, and attempt to figure out which of these thirty-nine people should be on the active Avengers team. Hooray.

But that's not the end of Morgan le Fay showing up to screw around with Tony's life! There's more to come! Not much, but there is one that I know of, and at least one more memorable reference.

(I haven't read all her appearances or anything, but one of them definitely involves Tony; I can't swear that he doesn't appear in any of the other books Morgan shows up in, but it'd be a cameo for him, because I only know of one more arc that she's in in a book that Tony stars in.)

In a few more years, we have now entered the part of Marvel Comics history where Brian Michael Bendis writes all the Avengers books at the same time for, like, seven years running. It was sure A Time. There were a lot of word bubbles.

And the thing about Bendis is, Bendis looooooves Doomquest. If you're familiar with the very end of his tenure at Marvel where he made Doom be Iron Man after Tony got knocked into a coma in Civil War II, you have probably figured out already that he likes Doom. But he also likes Doomquest, specifically.

I mean, if nothing else, the giant splash page in The Confession where Maleev redrew the climactic Doomquest fight while Bendis had Tony talk about how deeply meaningful to his understanding of the world this all was -- and how it allowed him to predict Civil War -- was probably a big clue, right?

As far as I am aware, Morgan le Fay makes exactly one more appearance in Tony's life. And that's in Mighty Avengers vol 1 #9-11. Only one of those issues is named, so I'm going to assume the arc is named after it: Time Is On No One's Side.

You remember Mighty Avengers, right? The deal with the Avengers books at the time was that after Bendis exploded the mansion and made the team disband in Avengers Disassembled, the main Avengers book was no longer called just Avengers. Instead, the main Avengers book was New Avengers, and that was the only Avengers book. Then Civil War happened, Steve got killed, and New Avengers became the book about what was left of the SHRA resistance (i.e., Steve's side) after the war. So about halfway through New Avengers, Mighty Avengers starts up, and Mighty Avengers is about an extremely fucked-up and grief-stricken Tony Stark trying to run the official government-sanctioned Avengers team, with Carol's help. This is the comic with the arc where Tony turned into naked girl Ultron. You remember.

So, anyway, there's this Mighty Avengers arc where Doom is Up To Something (there are symbiotes and a satellite involved) and somehow Tony and the Avengers end up in Latveria, punching Doom. Also, by the way, Doom is visiting Morgan in the past because he likes her. The Avengers attacking his castle made him have to come back to the present, so he's kind of cranky. And he fights Tony, and in the course of the fight, his time platform explodes and sends Doom and Tony and also the Sentry to... the past.

This is one of those times where you should definitely look up the comics if possible because the way the past is visually indicated here is that it's colored with halftone dots the way you would expect old comics to be colored, although they have modern shading and color palettes. It's very charmingly retro.

So the three of them are stuck in New York in the past, and naturally they would like to leave. There's one person in this time who has a time machine and it is, of course, Reed Richards. Doom and Tony have a lot of banter in this arc; I think it's entertaining.

Sentry has to be the one to break them all into the Baxter Building because of that power he has where no one will remember him. So they do that, travel forward in time, and end up in Latveria in the present again except Doom is gone and also things are currently exploding where they are.

Doom, of course, has made a side trip to visit Morgan again and he asks her to help him build an army, because I guess this is what their relationship is like. So the rest of the Avengers are captured by what look to me like Mindless Ones and are in a cave in magic bondage, because comics. Jess comments that at least they aren't naked, because she too is remembering that memorable New Avengers trip to the Savage Land. Doom threatens Carol in some creepy sexist ways and eventually it turns out that Tony and the Sentry are fine and everyone kicks Doom's ass. Business as usual.

And the last page of the arc is Morgan alone, wondering where Doom is. So technically Morgan and Tony don't come face to face here, but I think she counts as being at least partially responsible for ruining Tony's day here. And then Secret Invasion happens and Tony has a very, very bad day.

There are a few more Morgan appearances after this, but, as I said, I don't think any of them involve Tony. She shows up in Dark Avengers, apparently, which was one of the post-Civil War Avengers titles I didn't read, and I know that recently, on the X-Men side of things, she's been in Tini Howard's Excalibur one, which I have only read a little of. No Tony there. Just a lot of Morgan and Betsy Braddock and Brian Braddock and the Otherworld.

If you are interested in Morgan's other appearances, you might like this Marvel listicle that is Morgan le Fay's six most malicious acts. I pulled some of the Darkhold backstory from their discussion, but it's not really focused on Morgan and Tony.

So there you have it! That's everything I know about Tony's love for King Arthur and every run-in I know about that he's had with Morgan le Fay! One of two terrible people in Tony's life named Morgan! Actually, I don't think we've seen Morgan Stark in a while. I wonder if he's alive. There should be a Morgan & Morgan team-up. I should probably stop typing and post this.

The tl;dr point is that you should all read Doomquest and its sequels, especially Legacy of Doom. They're great!

#posts i actually wrote

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5-falsehoods-phonated · 4 years ago

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When Our Hands Next Meet

Series summary: Soulmates are given memories of their past lives when their hands touch. For Virgil and Logan, each memory is happier than the last.

This series was created for @analogicalweek and made in collaboration with the lovely @birdsongisland! They made this amazing piece for this this work; go support them with reblogs so it can be seen!

Credit to birdsongisland for beta reading this as well! You’re input means a lot and I’m truly grateful.

Chapter 2: The Lines Trace Back to You

Chapter Summary: Logan and Virgil share a quiet moment away from their ship as Logan tells stories with the stars.

Day 2 Prompt: Song/Stars

Warnings: none. If there are others please let me know!

WC: 1349

AO3 link

Taglist (ask to be added or removed): @ace-in-a-shopping-cart @janus-is-an-adorable-snek-boi @logans-library @im-an-anxious-wreck @edupunkn00b

The night was still and calm, bringing a quiet respite for the crew of a ship docked on the beach nearby. Waves lapped quietly at the ships hull and lulled even the most dutiful night watcher into a light slumber, entrusting the safety of their fellow shipmates to the vast expanse of peaceful nothing that lay beyond the beach. Soft winds whistled through the sparse trees and kicked up the sand at their bases, irritating the crabs hiding underneath as they hastened to rebury themselves before sunrise. Crickets sang out the last notes of their songs while birds chirped the first of theirs. Up on a nearby hill a man sighed blissfully, hidden from view even from the keenest of eyes and leaning back to relax into the sturdy chest behind him.

Virgil felt a low rumble against his back and smiled, tilting his head back to look at what his designated pillow could be laughing at. Deep green eyes met a deeper blue and not for the first time he felt himself get lost in the other’s gaze. He would sooner throw himself off his own ship in a storm than admit he might be a sap but those eyes had always compromised any notion he might have had that his heart was anything other than soft. A hand came up to cup his jaw and he closed his eyes to feel the ghost of a kiss brush against his forehead. Too soon the feeling passed, replaced instead with the hand crossing over to grip his shoulder and pull him tighter into the heat that radiated off the body behind him. In the chill of the early morning he had never been more grateful to have a living space heater to call his own.

Nuzzling back as Logan rested their chin on top of his head he sighed happily, pouting slightly as another chuckle jostled his position somewhat. He brought his hand up to tap at Logan’s arm to get their attention, snapping out quick motions with his fingers when he was sure he had it.

"What’s so funny?"

“You’re too easy to rile up.” Logan answered affectionately. “I was just thinking how lucky I am to see this side of you. You give orders all day like you were born to the violence of the sea and yet cling to me like a damsel in distress when away from prying eyes. It’s cute.”

Laughing outright as their forearm was bit gently in warning they brought their other hand up to comb through Virgil’s fluffy hair, earning a content purr for their efforts which they figured meant their apologetic offer had been accepted. They leaned back against the tree again, tightening their grip to bring Virgil with them so they could gaze up at the sky. It was still dark enough to see the stars relatively clearly, the barely there threat of dawn lighting the horizon just enough to show the purple of the other’s hair. They hummed softly in triumph as they found what they were looking for, bringing their hand up to point at a cluster of stars.

“Can you see that bright star there? Slightly left of the treeline?” They waited until Virgil tapped his confirmation before continuing. “There are three more dimmer stars that sort of make a line see? And crossing them are three stars with a row of three set right on the edge making a curve shape. Altogether they resemble a swan.”

Virgil tapped their arm again that he understood as he relaxed completely into the secure hold. He always loved to hear Logan talk about stars- a lot of the time the only thing they were used for was navigation, old stories forgotten and rewritten to better suit a life of sailing the seas. But when Logan talked about them there were always stories attached that dated back to Roman philosophers or amazonian astrologists. Where Virgil had been trained to see calculations in the sky Logan told of great battles won and lost, of Great Hunts led by archers on elk and bears doomed to wander the void for eternity- all told with the deep rumbling voice he had grown accustomed to falling asleep to when the night allowed it.

“It’s called Cygnus.” That voice called Virgil’s attention back from his wandering thoughts. “It’s Greek history is quite dreary, as the stories of their gods tend to be. But it’s relevance in Hinduism is quite lovely. It correlates with Brahmamuhurtha which translates to ‘a moment in the universe’. Between 4:24 and 5;12 in the morning is supposed to be a favorable time to do anything important or get a running start to the day. It’s a much better story to whatever family drama the Greek Gods had to earn them a constellation.”

Virgil snorted at the last bit; even if Logan knew almost everything there was to know when it came to Greek, Roman and Norse mythology they held a particular disdain for the dramatic and hyperbolized tragedy that made up the majority of the former’s myths and legends. Often if he needed a distraction from something Virgil would start them up on a rant about who should have talked to who about this certain subject so that this group of people wasn’t doomed to be cursed because of those people’s actions. Once Virgil had left the room to do a small task in the next one over, surprisingly unnoticed by Logan who had continued pacing and ranting like he had never left, voice carrying clearly through the walls all while ripping Zeus a new one for not being able to quote “Just keep it in his pants.”

Deciding the air was much too peaceful to start up another one of those discussions he instead raised his hands so Logan could see them, black nail polish glinting in the first rays of dawn as he signed. “What would you be doing right now, with your moment in the universe? Would you be back home waking up at dawn to feed the cows instead of leading a life of crime?”

Smiling, Logan shook their head. They hadn't thought when they were a teenager that someday they'd be sailing around on a pirates’ ship with one of most ruthless (as far as rumors went) crews in all the seas. They’d been trying to swipe Virgil’s coinpurse, not knowing who he was at the time, and had of course been caught before the bag had even left the pirate’s belt. The moment their skin had touched however, a thousand and one lives had flashed in an instant, leaving them blinking in astonishment into green eyes that glimmered with reserved mischief and buried kindness.

Prayers they hadn’t even known they had had been answered that day as an anonymous envelope containing the money their family had needed was found on their doorstep along with hidden coordinates along the edge that was thankfully overlooked by their mother. They missed her some days but their life had taken a better turn when they had turned up on the boat at the crack of dawn, hauling themself over the railing and waving the envelope at the person who had their face pinned to the deck with their sword before they could breathe a word. Home? That was with Virgil. Looking down at the man still curled comfortably in their lap worrying at his bottom lip they expressed as much in earnest.

“I’d be right here, doing exactly as I am right now. You are my moment always, and there’s nowhere else in the universe that I’d rather be.”

Tracing lines in the freckles on their cheeks, Logan felt Virgil spell out “sap” on their cheekbones, making them grin and lean over to cup the other’s cheeks in their own hands.

“All the lines between the stars- they all trace back to you my love.”

The hill obscured the kiss shared between them from any eyes that may have wandered in their direction, allowing only the stars to bear witness to their moment in the universe.

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#false writes #analogical week #analogicalweek #sanders sides #sanders sides fic #logan sanders #pirate Logan #virgil sanders #pirate virgil #mute virgil #nonbinary logan #collab #analogical #virgil x logan #ao3

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gaylorlyrics · 4 years ago

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Folklore Songs - what are they about??

This is a developing thread, but I’ve been listening all day so I’m taking a stab at it.

1."The 1"

Common consensus is that this is about Dianna Agron and what they could have been. Telling lyrics are the general idea that the relationship wasn’t truly given a chance (”it would've been sweet, If it could've been me”) and “Roaring Twenties”, referring to the below circus themed party pics with Diana dressed like a flapper

tbh im not totally sold on this - most because it seems more recent with lyrics like, “In my defense, I have none for never leaving well enough alone” sounds like a reference to ME! and “Roaring twenties” sounds like a reference to something that happened this year (2020). Also “throwing pennies in the pool” could be a reference to throwing Penni (Karlie’s agent) in the pool. Finally, Route 1 is the road along California’s coast, where Tay & Karlie drove on their legendary road trip...this makes my lil Kaylor heart worry.

2. Cardigan

This is the first installment in the Teenage Trio, which also includes August and Betty, and is told from the perspective of Betty. It’s about feeling so loved by someone but then being betrayed by them (”Chase two girls [Betty + August’s narrator] lose one”). The line ”And you'd be standin' in my front porch light” foreshadows to James professing love in “Betty”. Potentially Taylor is Betty - but I’m still thinking about that theory.

3."The Last Great American Dynasty"

We <3 a Rhode Island throwback. Here Taylor tells the story of her house in Rhode Island that Rebekah “Betty” (??!?!??!! more on that later) Harkness used to live in. Rebekah married an heir to Standard Oil which made her one of the wealthiest women in the USA at the time. She was also known for making a scene (”She had a marvelous time ruining everything”). Additionally, she founded the Harkness Ballet (”And blew through the money on the boys and the ballet”). After Rebekah’s death Taylor purchased the house and it is now best known as the place of many epic 4th of July parties.

4. Exile

Such a sad song! This is a duet between Taylor and Bon Iver, telling the story of a failed relationship that they have tried to mend many many times. Interestingly, this is also about a love triangle (like the teenage trio) - "I can see you starin' honey/Like he's just your understudy." This line specifically feels like it could be about bearding, and seeing someone else with the person you love, but feeling like - or knowing - it’s fake. “You were my town Now I'm in exile seein' you out” references and end to the relationship Taylor discussed in False God “Staring out the window like I'm not your favorite town I'm New York City”. To me this indicates that it is about Karlie and them breaking up or going through a rough patch - continually trying to fix things - and eventually being unsure that it could ever be repaired.

5."My Tears Ricochet"

This is pretty clearly about Scott & Scooter - “And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake? Cursing my name, wishing I stayed” and “You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same” seem to be a reference to them trying to exploit her work and how her leaving Big Machine really ruined the business - plus there’s some LWYMMD imagery. “You wear the same jewels that I gave you as you bury me” also seems to be a clear reference for trying to use Taylor’s own work against her, taking the profits, and pushing her out of the deal. As if we needed more evidence “You hear my stolen lullabies” clearly references her stolen masters.

6."Mirrorball"

Big 80s prom vibes from this song. Mirrorball is about being famous and all of her work - her most personal thoughts and dreams - just becoming different ways for other people to see themselves once she releases her music into the world. Part of being an artist is knowing that your work will reflect more of who the viewer is than who you are yourself. Here she uses the metaphor of a disco ball to explore that idea, and worries that she is losing her own identity through it “I'm still trying everything to keep you looking at me”. She also alludes to her fears that she will age out of relevancy “I know they said the end is near”, something she discussed in her documentary Miss Americana. Obviously this is internalized misogyny because we love Taylor and will listen to her music always and do not subscribe to the belief that women need to be young to be relevant because if they were a man then they'd be the man, and tay’s the man <3

7. “Seven”

Personally, this is one of my favorite songs on the album. It’s so sweet and pure and lovely. This is about young love, with imagery of summer, toys, and child’s dreams to runaway together. Many people have speculated that it is about the same girl that the two unreleased Taylor songs “Sweet Tea and Gods Graces” and “Me & Britney” are about.

[Side note: initially I wondered if Me & Britney was about Britany Maack, Taylor’s long time friend who recently got married, but the names are spelled differently. Also the line in Seven “I can’t recall your face” indicates that this is about someone who Taylor is not currently in touch with.]

Both M&B and STAAG seem to be about the Seven relationship because there are general parallels with outdoor scenery, childlike wonder, and ( in the case of STAGG) sweet tea. Also all three songs indicate a gay relationship: STAGG - “And you can love like a sinner and lose like a winner”, M&B - “That boy she went ran off with, well, I thought he was crazy. Maybe I was just jealous that he'd come between me and Britney”, and Seven - “You won't have to cry or hide in the closet And just like a folk song our love will be passed on”.

8. “August”

This is the second installment in the Teenage Trio, told from the perspective of the “other woman” who James meets while on summer vacation. The other woman (she doesn’t seem to have a name...unless it is August...which it could be? idk) is in love, but realizes that James isn’t in love with her - “Will you call when you're back at school? I remember thinkin' I had you”. The line “Remember when I pulled up and said "Get in the car" references the same incident which is retold in Betty, but this time with James telling Betty it was just a summer fling that didn’t mean anything.

9. This Is Me Trying

Here we have a break up song, about Taylor trying to win her lover back and feeling completely lost without them, unable to concentrate or be around people, and turning to self sabotage. It’s about the general loneliness that one feels when they’ve lost someone they truly love, and the miscommunication that can happen in a relationship when you’re not understanding each other or receiving love in the same way (hence the song’s title). I think this could be about Karlie, it seems clear that their relationship has not been smooth and that they have had many on-and-off times. It could also be serving a purpose of building the Joe break up narrative, but only time will tell for that.

10. “Illicit Affairs”

Taylor loves her secret love - this song reads like a sad version of “I Know Places”. It seems clear that this is about Karlie Kloss. “Tell your friends you're out for a run” is one of my favorite lines because Karlie started Klossy run club, where you commit to running a certain distance in a month - and she posts about it on instagram CONSTANTLY. But overall, the song details a relationship of a woman being with someone she doesn’t love (kushnerd) and sneaking around to meet up with the person she does love (tay!). The line “Tell yourself you can always stop” is so sad to me, the idea that Karlie got into this and keeps telling herself that it will only be a little longer and she can leave when she wants, but staying in her fake marriage anyway.

11. Invisible String

This is pretty much the only pure love song on the album - about feeling connected to someone throughout your whole life, knowing that that somebody is out there, and then finally finding them. Taylor talks about being in Centennial Park in Nashville as a teen, and then eventually showing her lover around. The song is really self referential, with lots of easter eggs for her past work, including Bad Blood and Delicate. She also references Joe Jonas with the line “Cold was the steel of my axe to grind For the boys who broke my heart Now I send their babies presents”.

Some people have pointed out that there is a similar idea presented in Jane Eyre - when the protagonist says to her love interest “I have a strange feeling with regard to you. As if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly knotted to a similar string in you."

12."Mad Woman"

Another Scooter one - “It's obvious that wanting me dead has really brought you two together”. “The master of spin” is word play referencing the masters records scandal. “Watching you climb over people like me” points out that agents and labels are making money off the performers they find and pushing them around. There’s also a reference to Scooter’s wife Yael and how he cheats all the time, but she doesn’t do anything likely because of her own internalized misogyny - “has a couple side flings. Good wives always know. She should be mad, should be scathing like me”.

13. “Epiphany”

The first verse of this touching ballad is about Taylor’s grandfather in WW2, storming the beaches at Normandy - “Crawling up the beaches now "Sir, I think he's bleeding out"”. The second verse is about a nurse helping patients with Covid-19 - “Holds your hand through plastic now "Doc, I think she's crashing out"”. The bridge here talks about wishing there was some great epiphany, some magical solution for the suffering in the world. The chorus refers to experiencing trauma with others and staying loyal even in the hardest times, even if it means literally dying. Although this seems like a departure from the themes of rest of the album, the whole album examines loyalty and considering what you would do for the people you love - so I really don’t think it’s a departure at all.

14. “Betty”

Obviously this is the gayest song on the album and an early fan favorite. It is the final song in the teenage trio, told from the point of view of James, going to win Betty back after betraying her and sleeping with someone else (August!?) over the summer. The line "Will you kiss me on the porch in front of all your stupid friends?”, a line that is very clearly about wanting to kiss a woman, is especially striking (& gay!) when sung by Taylor. The clearest version of this plot is someone begging for forgiveness after betraying the person they love.

There is also a bit of a nod to a line in “Picture to Burn”, a break up song off Taylor’s first album. In PTB Taylor says “So go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy that's fine, I’ll tell mine you’re gay”. This lyric has since been changed in versions available online, but on the original album that's what it was. This is interesting because she’s calling attention to knowing that someone is gay and hasn’t told their friends...which you would definitely know if you had dated them.

The names “James” and “Inez” are both mentioned in the song, which are the names of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynold’s daughters. James was already featured on a Taylor Swift album, as the lil baby voice at the beginning of “Gorgeous”. Worth noting that “James” is traditional a male name, but that this character is named after a female.

ALSO I have this theory I’m working on that Taylor is Betty and this whole album is in the same world with the same people, but WILL POST MORE ON THIS LATER.

15."Peace"

Ok - this is Archer 2.0 for me, about how she is worried about how no one will ever love her or stay with her because its too much work - “the rain is always gonna come if you're standin' with me” and “No, I could never give you peace” are pretty telling lines about her concerns that people will think it is not worth it to be friends with or in a relationship with her due to all of the baggage that comes with it.

The opening lines - “Our coming-of-age has come and gone Suddenly this summer, it's clear” feed into my emerging theory that all of these songs exist in the same universe and are about the same three characters...but I’m still figuring that one out. The line “And you know that I'd swing with you for the fences Sit with you in the trenches” reference Seven and Epiphany, respectively - further supporting that all of these songs are in the same world.

16. “Hoax”

Out of all of the songs that make my little Kaylor heart ache - this is the most heartbreaking. Specifically the line “My eclipsed sun” refers to Karlie, who Taylor has called “sunshine” on multiple occasions, and her light being covered up by her contract with Kushnerd and Scooter. The line “Don't want no other shade of blue But you” makes it clear that this song is in reference to the muse for the album “Lover” - aka Karlie.

However, this is a song about betrayal and completely trusting someone, only to find that they stabbed you in the back, as is clear by the line ”Your faithless love's the only hoax I believe in”.

Additionally, the line“You knew it still hurts underneath my scars” seems to again feed into the idea that all of the songs on the album involve the same characters. This one is a bit more clear, it seems that - if this theory is correct - Betty is the narrator of this song, as she referenced her scars before “Drew stars around my scars” in Cardigan.

OK- I'm going to go deep into song by song later, but I just wanted to get something out there!!! Also def interested in hearing what everyone else thinks!

EDIT: I just found some lyrics from The Lakes in an article from Billboard. I wanted to add them in even though we don’t have the full song because I felt like we really ended on a sad note with hoax and then when I saw these I was like there is hope!!

SO the lyric Billboard included in their review was “A red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground / With no one around to tweet it” which is a continuation from the line from “Hoax” - “ This has frozen my ground”. What I’m taking from this is that in the final song Taylor finds hope <3

#folklore #kaylor #Taylor swift #Karlie kloss #betty

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blooming5th · 4 years ago

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THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.

My muse is: canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless /

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO.

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK.

Is your character considered strong in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK.

Are they underrated? YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main story? YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG.

Are they widely known in their world? YES / NO.

How’s their reputation? GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL.

How strictly do you follow canon? — Pretty strictly, I think? I mean... I do always try my best to stick to canon events because although I am a big fan of AUs, I absolutely suck at writing canon-divergent characters. I also look out for possible dialectisms that come from Hinamori & put some work towards Hinamori’s personal development; all of this according to whatever has happened to her in canon / is shown by her in canon.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals. — There’s an entire world waiting beyond Hinamori’s pretty face? She’s still pretty much just a baby when in comparison to many other Lieutenants (being the second youngest, right after lil Yachiru), which makes her super innocent and funny. She’s also very upbeat, easy-going, and friendly! She’s such a devoted Lieutenant and honestly a great worker? Super strong with her kido spells, too! A great student?! A very, very good girl, honestly! She’s the greatest person you will ever meet, I swear to GOD !!

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?). — Most of the people, from what I can perceive from reading different opinions and have read through my years in Bleach forums and such, is that she’s pretty mentally weak. Hinamori seems to be extremely unbalanced and the previously mentioned devotion actually becomes... a weakness? Although I don’t agree with it ( mostly because I do believe her devotion towards Aizen was induced and not... something natural ), I can understand what people mean by this. Also, she mostly uses magic spells and keeps herself at a certain distance when in combat;; which people might easily perceive as her being weak when it’s just... her fighting style and body stature.

What inspired you to rp your muse? — I have roleplayed Hinamori for over 6 years now? almost 7, actually. I made this blog in 2014, however, I was supposed to be writing Hitsugaya. I ended up changing my entire blog’s aesthetics, not even a week later, to match Hinamori and decided to try her out. Why? Well... long story short... the fandom was full of Hitsugaya blogs. asjhdfasjdhfg I didn’t want simply be just one more in the ocean of amazing Hitsugaya writers;; so I decided to write someone who gave me access to heavy development ( because there was so little content back then ) and fun times ! lil peach was the obvious answer!

What keeps your inspiration going? — Most of the time its music? Whenever I decide to focus on an rp blog, I create a go-to playlist that helps me channel the muse’s traits and helps me write with more ease! That... and re-reading manga pages that might make me come up with headcanons, which I, later, always tend to apply to threads. Oh yeah, uh... LMAO! How could I forget? Talking to friends and discussing things with them, also often lets my creativity soar and helps me channel my muse’s persona. uwu

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice? YES / NO.

Do you frequently write headcanons? YES / NO.

Do you sometimes write drabbles? YES / NO.

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO.

Are you confident in your portrayal? YES / NO.

Are you confident in your writing? YES / NO.

Are you a sensitive person? YES / NO.

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal? — Honestly, yes? I am a person that needs to receive constant criticism & is very open about it, too. I often find myself asking for criticism & find myself craving for bigger improvement.

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character? — HELLS TO THE YES !! But then again... who doesn’t? It makes me so so happy whenever I receive a question or a simple message that might help me develop Hinamori’s character traits or behaviours? I love my girl so much;; knowing that others want me to gush about her amazingness & make her grow even more is nothing but an honour to me, tbh.

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why? — Well... yeah? But not in a bad way, of course! I absolutely love discussing headcanons and getting different points of view from things ( such as headcanons, in this specific topic ) so I can center myself and find a clearer way to analyze things! Discussing headcanons is dope, man!

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it? — This is going to be a pretty short response cause ;; I don’t care? I’m not here to really... please others. I’m here to have fun for my own self and to enjoy writing with other amazing fellas. Ain’t nobody gonna rain on my parade with unnecessary negativity;;

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it? — I haven’t ever seen many people hate Hinamori’s character? However, I do have seen quite the few people disregard her as the important character she is, or reduce her to a level that doesn’t... entirely fit the reason why she was created. Still, it’s none of my business. I don’t let it get to me or feel... the need to do anything about it? Or even talk about it? I can’t really change people’s views, so I often would just rather love my baby peach and let others do as they please.

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors? — ABSOLUTELY? It’s even part of my rules like ;; please tell me if you ever find a grammatical error ANYWHERE in my blog. English isn’t my mother tongue and thus it can be very difficult for me to keep up with fancy writing while also sticking to correct grammar? idk if this makes sense but... yknow.

Do you think you are easy going as a mun? — I do think I am very easy going kind of fella? Sometimes it takes me forever go get to messages ( both through discord & IMS ), but I think that’s because lately I’ve been feeling super emotionally drained ;; I haven’t been out of my goddamn house for three months and I sincerely miss seeing faces that aren’t my parents. I did take a drive the other day but... sobs... it left such a bittersweet taste. ANYWAY !! Yes. I’m very easy going and talkative. Also a big, big enthusiastic? And positivist! I am someone who always prefers to stick to the bright side of life and ignore anything that might be the least problematic so yeah ~ I am uwu. Come meet me. I’m cool. I swear.

That’s about it, congrats for filling out!

Tagged by: @hirako5hinji ( aka the greatest taichō ever. uwu go to bed harder next time, Anna. ♡ ) Tagging: ANYONE WHO WANTS TO DO IT !! just steal it from me. be gay. do crimes.

#🌺 ✖ ✖ 𝕗𝕚𝕗𝕥𝕙'𝕤 𝕡𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕙 — ♡ ic challenges //#🌺 ✖ ✖ 𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕚𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕟'𝕤 𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖 — ♡ ooc challenges //#( this was so much fuuuuuuuuuuuuun omg I'm cryin #but it took me forever to get to ?? so OOF )

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crycsis-aa-blog · 5 years ago

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MOBILE RULES

rules are simple -- sorry they’re so long-winded! But they’re important.

I’m Tea! She/They 27 years old!

Because so little is known about Geten, their portrayal will be HEAVILY HEADCANON BASED. If you don’t like this, turn away now.

MY PORTRAYAL OF GETEN IS TRANS!! They are Non-binary, so please respect this! You may use he/him and they/them but they are still NON-BINARY.

If you steal my headcanons i’m coming for your kneecaps. Right now there really aren't many of this muse in the rpc, but it’s only a matter of time. I have spent a lot of time on this muse and working these headcanons into their story and developing them so please do not steal my headcanons. ;-;

If we aren’t Mutual’s, don’t like my starter calls, reblog open starters, or send ic asks. These are all reserved for mutuals only. Anons are encouraged so long as they’re not hateful.

I am selective. My muse comes and goes and this goes for threads too. I’m slow as fuck lmao. I’m also very slow at checking my followers, so if you’re a new follower and haven’t received a follow back it’ll probably take a while. But take note that I am not follow for follow.

I have a life outside of roleplay. I work full-time Monday - Friday, so i’m usually too tired to do much during the week. Weekends are my only time off, so I try to get around to doing things then --- but even then my activity can be spotty. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND that just because i’m writing on the dash doesn’t mean i’m always up for ooc interactions. I’m low energy a LOT, so socializing can be difficult for me. If I don’t reply, it doesn’t mean I HATE YOU or that i’m IGNORING you. I’m simply waiting to reply for when I have the energy and inspiration to.

No password. I don’t send in passwords.

Geten and I are both of age. However I will be HIGHLY SELECTIVE with shipping. Shipping may or may not occur at all, it really depends on how comfortable I am with you! I am not actively seeking to ship, but if something happens to form between our characters then i’ll take it. I WILL NOT BE DOING NSFW CONTENT OUTSIDE OF GORE AND DARK THEMES ON THIS BLOG.

Geten is a villain. They may not exactly see themself as that, and more along the lines of a vigilante trying to CHANGE society, but they certainly have villainous behavior. Do not expect them to be anything outside of their character. Bonds may develop with time, or with much consideration and ooc discussion! Keep in mind that because of the nature of Geten’s beliefs and their character I am HIGHLY selective when it comes to shipping! There 100% has to be chemistry.

If I see you vagueblogging or posting a lot of drama I will either hardblock or unfollow. don’t approach me about why I unfollowed, it’s usually for a good reason. Guilt tripping is a no go either. That’s not going to fly here. Period. If I see it on dash or in my DM’s you’ll be blocked.

Oc’s are cool. Multiverse and crossovers are cool. But if I don’t know how our characters could interact or I’m unfamiliar with your characters universe I likely won’t follow back.

If you are an OC, please have an about page I can easily find! If I cannot find an about page anywhere on your blog, I will not follow you back. It can be DIFFICULT for me to interact with OC’s due to bad past experiences. But the easiest way to interact with me is to TALK to me, and plot with me. I have an easier time writing with people I can talk to!

However, there are certain fandoms I will NOT interact with and for my own comfort please do not follow me or interact with my posts. You will be blocked.

Fandoms I won’t interact with:

Undertale.

JJBA.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

L4D.

Steven Universe.

FNAF.

Attack on Titan.

Killing Stalking.

Berserk.

Rick and Morty.

YouTubers/Real Life people.

Hazbin Hotel

No godmodding, infomodding. All that jaz. Respect me and I’ll respect you. Trim your posts. I’m pretty chill.

Don’t follow me if you age characters up for smut, write smut with underage characters or you actively write or support student x teacher or child x adult ships. That’s nasty. Don’t be nasty. Don’t interact with my posts either.

DO NOT FOLLOW ME if you are a Yandere stan/support the Yandere trope. I have BPD, therefore I will not tolerate it. It's a toxic stereotype often correlated with my disorder and it's incredibly damaging and overall problematic. On this note, I'm okay with Togas following me, but i'll be picky with which ones I follow back. If I see you romanticizing the Yandere trope/BPD/or anything else related to this topic you will be blocked.

On that note, do not follow me if you ship Twice and Toga. I don’t care if you age her up, I don’t care if it’s ‘The legal age of consent in Japan’ It’s not an excuse for pedophillia. This should go along with the aforementioned rule of shipping children and adults together, but I feel the need to state it again. If you see them as anything more than a brother/sister dynamic, BLOCK ME.

I will be very selective when following Endeavor blogs. This also goes for Mitsuki and Kotaro blogs. It’s for my own comfort.

If you ever notice im interacting with someone who does any of the above, or are problematic, etc. PLEASE LET ME KNOW PRIVATELY. I do my best to avoid blogs like this, but sometimes I miss them.I have some triggers!

Child abuse - do not interact with me with anything of this nature unless it’s VAGUE (if you’re unsure about something PLEASE ASK). Do not talk to me about anything of this nature ooc. Please.

Animal death/abuse

Creepypasta (mostly imagery like the horror faces/Jeff the killer type stuff. I’m okay with watching or reading it on my own time, but don’t bring it to me unexpectedly. Seeing it unexpectedly can mess with my anxiety)

FNAF

Alcohol (please tag any and all mentions)

Real life gore (mostly things like intestines and broken bones and deep wounds where the muscle is visible, etc. things of that nature.)

Religion and politics. Do not talk to me about these things unless it’s relevant to a PLOT or your character. Characters that are heavily influenced by religion or religious themes I likely will not follow.

I’ll add more when I can think of any but these are my major ones.

#mobile rules #mobile law #rules #law #guidelines

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ibitchytimemachine · 6 years ago

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I haven't been reading fanfic as much lately due to some real life BS and I have been working extra hard on a piece for the @vegebulocracy mini bang! If you don't know what it is, you can check out my review of the Big Bang fics by clicking here, or you can check out the FAQ for the VBO Mini Bang by Clicking here. (once the fics drop, I will voraciously consume them and write up an overview for y'all!)

Now, with that out of the way, ON TO THE REVIEW. There will, as always, be Spoilers below the cut!

The first thing that stands out to me is the world building of this story. The palace feels like a real place. It is huge and even though (through POV) we are only privy to a small slice of the space, it feels vast. The exploration of the races is really interesting to me. I really am nerdy when it comes to this type of thing, and the variety of humanoid races in the piece is fantastic. There isn't just one or two races that are explored, and the writer is really smart how they introduce and develop the important characters. Also interesting are the dynamics between Vegeta and his Father, and the Saiyan race and the Colds/other races (Im not gonna get into this in the review, but its an interesting dynamic set up that I want to see explored more).

So diving in a little deeper. Humans are practically extinct, but Saiyan males are like uber attracted to the women AND the Human-Saiyan hybrids are good match. The Saiyans like humans so much, that most of the human men are killed and one of the only ones left, Yamcha is being forced to impregnate as many of the female left as many time as possible. The way that the writer treats Yamcha is fantastic. I am granted not a huge Yamcha fan, but through the story events, you just can not hate him. He is being molded by his circumstances, and boy howdy Yamcha’s circumstances are pretty fucking terrible. Can I say how much I love the fact that in this society a hybrid is not looked down upon? Like whoa racial acceptance and diversity FTW! Now there have definitely been hints at the fate of acceptance of our Prince Trunks, but that is a problem for pretty far off.. maybe.

God I hate how much of a hoe Vegeta is. He fucks so many different women, and there is legit a plot bunny that literally explores the palace brothel and its treatment of the whores the Prince is down with/what he likes and doesn't (random tangent - like whoa, this flashback with his father and the princess who kisses him, damn - I thin I would be fucked up too Veggie, but I still have issue with who you have turned out to be). I think that you are supposed to have a love hate relationship with him, because one second he is acting incredibly out of character (for him) and lovey dovey and the next he is verbally/physically or emotionally abusing poor Bulma. While I understand WHY Vegeta is written this way, I low-key hate him. Two instances where I LOATHE him stick out to me, the first being when he fucks a chick while he forces Bulma to lay in bed with them and watch him (the subtext of him not being able to enjoy himself without watching/being near Bulma is interesting though) and then the next morning when he sexually assaults her for a little hand-gooing is just yuck. I will say that I think that if/when Bulma gets her head out of her ass SHE will be the link Veggie needs to finally stand up to and defeat his asshole father.

He does end up having to save and protect her a whole hell of a lot. Bulma is take from her home really kind of young, so she doesn't have the technological genius going for her in this story (and can I say I think this is an interesting exploration of how she would have developed away from her planet and in this hostile environment) and in fact she is dumb as shit. Like teasing the princess of a warrior race, who is supposed to be getting pregnant by Vegeta due to a treaty the two planets have set up, hello Bulma, WAR is in the races name - leave the crazy royal alone. Also wandering around LOOKING FOR THE DUNGEONS?! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot woman! You legit brought that shit upon yourself. Also what kind of terrible servant mother fucking FALLS ASLEEP in their masters beds? Like before he starts making her do it (a trope that I gotta say I hate to love) this stupid woman is CONSTANTLY FALLING ASLEEP IN VEGETAS BED. and then she is all like “no, I know I am being super disrespectful to you, and I know that you really want to do stuff with me, but I am gonna give you the worst bluebells of your life” like thank you @lightphyre for not having his outright rape her, which I unfortunately think would be very much in character for him in this story. anyway can we talk about the moment that made me think “imma write a review for this story?” So Bulma had just saved ChiChi from Yamcha (OMG Goku is a teacher to little kids? like this is him as the good dad to Gohan I know he can be - its far enough off but I just see all the fluffy moments in my head- love the treatment of Goku here) and Vegeta sees the danger IMMEDIATELY and has to drag Bulma away (come on Queen B, you are WAY smarter than you are being in this story, even without living with your parents and getting all the expensive education) then Vegeta, without prompting or even explaining what he is doing JUST MOTHER FUCKING TEACHES HER HOW TO GET OUT OF BASIC HOLDS. This was the moment that I was like... ok so maybe I only 90 percent hate him. He is mean as hell to her here, but like, she's a fucking idiot and needs him to be straight to the point, this also is the turning point for their relationship dynamic (he's still an ass, but what are you gonna do?) and leads to a mother fucking confusing, but kind of (in its own way) sweet moment between the two. This happens in Chapter 9, so if you don't read anything else, go read that shit... here Imma link the chapter for you... RIGHT HERE.

This shit is a low burn... Like Damn. I thought that Drought was killing me getting to the point (another great read I have linked the title for you), but like... even with all the kissing and the sexual assault and the consensual jacking off, its still leaving you just utterly frustrated. Like remember when I said Bulma was a fucking moron? She won't fuck Vegeta (even though she REALLY FUCKING WANTS TO) because she is a virgin (I get that part) but she wants to “be with” the father of her kids. But she mother fucking knows that she is about to be raped in front of like the whole Planet’s Elite forces to make more Human ladies for them to pound. She knows that literally no one she could be with will be faithful to her (although, I gotta be honest, I legit think if she would put out to Veggie, he would put the breaks on the Whores quite a bit - if not all together) She knows that she is in the best position she can be in, she knows her fate completely, and she is still not taking what she wants by the reins and saying, hey I am in this shitty situation, Why not do something that I want to for once and take a little control of my life? Like she's scared and weak here and I am not a fan of this particular characterization of her. I think she is too flawed. Do I still love her? Well yeah. I mean I hate Vegeta here too, but I think that it is nice that these characters have been made so flawed (and lets be real, the reasons behind their flaws are explained nicely) and they don't get together and instantly all their flaws are gone. It makes to story so much more real feeling. Its authentic how fucked up these two people are, and it keeps the reader reading. Shit I started this story last night around 10pm, and couldn't sleep until I ran out of story to read. Then I let for two hours and HAD to vomit all my feeling out on this blog. So that should say something about the quality of this story.

Two quick criticisms. The first is I am not sure if there is a beta, and if there is, he or she is not doing their job very well. There are a lot of spelling errors, and it is obvious where the writer had issues figuring out exactly what they wanted to say, because a string of thought will begin, and then the writer will double back and try again. so you will have one sentence with two beginnings. Its just really raw, almost like reading one of my reviews - where I type the way I would talk or how I am thinking. There is quite a bit of refined writing, and the world is amazing, but there are plenty of spots that need a polish that comes with a careful beta. It’s really easy to miss these types of issues without one, which makes me think that the writer is indeed without one. The second is that the story starts with this exposition dump that is entirely necessary for the story, but is just freaking painful to read. Like I almost didn't read the story at all because I began reading the first chapter three or four times and it is just boring. You don't care at the beginning of the story, and it is hard to read this kind of thing without giving a fuck about what is happening. I will say that it is all plot relevant and important, HOWEVER I do think that the writer has peppered this information throughout the story really well, and the information would have been more easily digested AND interesting to the reader if we had gotten into the story instantly. I might go as far to say that all of the information in the exposition MIGHT be unneeded as we get so much of the information from the exposition throughout the characters thoughts, reactions and actions.

Anyway - this story is fantastic. If you are looking for a really richly planned UNIVERSE and a dark AU that explores characters in a really interesting way, then you should give this story a shot. There are some pretty big triggers in it, if you couldn't guess from the discussion above, so if some of these things bother you, maybe stay clear of the story. I do indeed recommend this story though. Its well written (problems aside), well planned, full of plot bunnies that hopefully get resolved (Im looking at you War princess) and authentic. It has all the elements you need for a long running and successful story, and if my caffeine IV is anything to go by - it is completely binge-worthy!

If you liked this review, after you check out this fic, head over to my A03 and check my stuff out too!

#BTM Fic Review #Vegeta x Bulma #Dark AU

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swiftsgetawaycar · 7 years ago

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NATIONAL PUMPKIN DAY FT. TAYLOR SWIFT’S PUMPKIN PATCH

So, apparently it’s national Pumpkin Day and in honour of that (and RFI’s MV coming out later one) I wanted to do The Pumpkins™ Explanation & Appreciation post. Starting noowwwwwwwww….!!

Okay, well, a while ago now, I was going about my daily Tumblr routine of reflagging and liking posts related to Her Majesty Queen @taylorswift when I stumbled upon a post about it be autumn and Red (2012) season. Being my fall-loving self, I reblogged the post with a comment and it then turned into something way bigger than mere Red appreciation. @spoookyswift whose post it was, messaged me and we very swiftly (wink wink) became friends. (Flora is my amazing pumpkin mama but we’ll come onto that in a bit!) She told me that she had just made a group chat and asked if I wanted to join, I jumped at the opportunity because I didn’t really have many swiftie friends, and after an annoying process trying to get a group me account, I was in!

Not long after I joined, we decided we needed a better name than “the group chat” because that’s not catchy at all and our girl @taylorswift would not appreciate our hook-less existence so we started talking about names and for a while it looking like it’d be #justiceformeredeth or 80% Gay Swifties (which we all still think is relevant tbh ahah) but THEN because we’re the people we are, we got into a heated discussion about whether The Nightmare before Christmas is indeed a Christmas movie or rather a halloween movie, our division led to Flora (our fearless leader) casually typing in “controversial pumpkins” and THAT WAS THE MOMENT I KNEW and I said “OMG THATS IT”. Then there were multiple more polls for voting on a name, my favourite of them all being ‘the gay pumpkins Meredith disapproved of, until we settled almost unanimously (there was one controversial pumpkin who voted against the name) on the Controversial Pumpkins™. Thus, the Pumpkin Patch was born and the 10 of us at the time quickly threw around “pumpkin” like Taylor uses “dude”. So that’s how we got the name, but what the patch is and always has been even since it’s nameless days with only Meredith as our icon pic (what? It’s an ICONIC PICTURE OF MEREDITH!) is a place of love, joy and all-round positive vibes. It’s somewhere where we all can share stuff about ourselves free of judgement, a place where we can get advice about sticky situations we’ve stumbled into, somewhere safe enough for us to be honest and to know that there is a whole bunch of people with nothing but love and support for us. Yet, it’s also a place of endless joking around, meme-sharing and boy-hating. It’s a family of people from all across this crazy world who came together because of Taylor Alison Swift but have stayed together because of each other. I am so SO lucky to have these amazing people in my life, they bring me so much happiness and joy every single day and I have no clue what I’d do without them. In short, @spoookyswift, we owe you big time for choosing us to be a part of the secret session that is The Pumpkins™. Speaking of Flora……

Flora // @spoookyswift

My darling Flora, where do I even begin? Oh, wait, I know, with that time WE WERE BOTH IN TAYLOR SWIFT’S FUCKING LIVING ROOM LISTENING TO REPUTATION AND EATING COOKIES AND WE DID NOT KNOW WE WERE BOTH FUCKING THERE BECAUSE WE KEPT IT SO SECRET AND WERE STUPID PUMPKINS AND SO I’VE NEVER GOTTEN TO HUG YOUR PUMPKIN ASS?!?!?! (Yeah, I’m not still bitter or anything hhahahahhah) No, but seriously, you’re Mama Pumpkin and we have you to thank for The Pumpkins™, I will be forever grateful that you picked me to be a part of the patch and that ever since you’ve been the greatest friend a girl could ask for! You’re my snake buddy although you’re convinced you’re a bean we both know you’re just as snakes as I am!! YOUR TAYLOR’S PUMPKIN BITCH WHICH MAKES ME EXPLODE WITH JOY AS WELL AS KIND OF WANT TO HURT YOU BUT DW I WOULD NEVER! My weird heart loves you weird heart forever 💖

Ceci // @cats-and-wildest-dreams

CECI, YOU ARE THE LITERAL CUTEST! You went away for like 24hrs and I almost died from missing you!!! You are an absolutely GORGEOUS pumpkin and make me smile so hard on a regular basis. I know you think that Tay will never notice you but I promise that she loves you just as much as I do and you’ll get your moment with her even if I have to fly to Nashville myself and speak to Taylor Nation!!

Megan // @sweetteaswift

My first memory of Megan is when she was chasing down a UPS truck in her Speak Now t-shirt to get a photo with it because it had Reputation on the side and my snap chatting her from the library where I was supposed to be studying advising her on how to get the girl the perfect shot. I think that basically describes our relationship since. Although, she’s the only pumpkin who has appreciated my dogs and I’m still waiting for her to get her Pumpkin butt on a plane to meet them! SHE IS THE EXTRA PUMPKIN!

Nikki // @greysswifts

NIKKI IS MY GAY ASS AUNT AND IM NOT EVEN CLOSE TO SAD ABOUT IT!! Seriously, Nikki is our resident LGBT Pumpkin Queen and is always up for dragging boys like Taylor does in her songs, unapologetically and with all the dignity in the world. SHE HAS THE VOICE OF AN ANGEL and always brightens up the Pumpkin Patch. AND I WANT HER HANDLE COZ DAMN IT’S COOL! In short, I stan Nikki!

Aislinn // @theyhaventyet

Our lovely Canadian Pumpkin, Aislinn, WAS THE ORIGINAL CONTROVERSIAL PUMPKIN, I REPAT THE OG CONTROVERSIAL PUMPKIN WAS AISLINN!!!!! The first thing that comes to mind when I think of her is Thanksgiving and me talking to her about it because I LOVE CANADA and my boarding school experience happened there and that’s about me not her so back to Aislinn WHO IS THE BEST AND I LOVE HER SO MUCH AND I WIL FIGHT ANYONE WHO HURTS HER PURE LITTLE CLOUD OF JOY ASS!

Ozge // @wildestgiraffe

OZGE! MY TURKISH PUMPKIN FLOWER BUTTON BALL OF POSITIVITY AND JOY! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND YOU’RE SO SWEET TO ALL OF US AND YOU MAKE THE PATCH SUCH A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO BE A PART OF AND I KNOW THIS IS ALL IN CAPS WITH NO PUNCTUATION BUT I JUST AM EXPLODING WITH LOVE FOR YOU!

Yolanda // @sadbeautifultragicswift

This genius invented the Speak Now Pumpkin™ karaoke challenge which has blessed us with so much pure happiness and the cutest and most gorgeous voices ever so THANK YOU GENIUS GODESS FOR THAT! You’re always so incredibly lovely to all of us and I appreciate that more than you know! ALSO, YOU KNOW LIKE EVERYTHING and I love your messages because they make me laugh as well as feel inadequate for having the memory of a donut! AND YOU ARE THE CALENDAR PUMPKIN AND WE APPRECIATE YOUR SERVICE FOR OUR COUNTRY!! I still laugh over how you didn’t realise I went to the SS and told me I “DIED DED” LOVE YOU - DON’T EVER CHANGE OKAY?!?!

Katie // @these-sick-beats

You are the cutest and I love you like a lot and thank you for being such a supportive and wonderful pumpkin! Although we haven’t chatted much you’ve been nothing but nice and you’ve kept secret my secret if you know what I mean!

Janessa // @fifth-harmony

Although you stan not just Queen Taylor, you’re a swift through and through! YOU ARE SO FUNNY AND KIND AND WE MISS YOU ON THE CHAT COME BACK BE (T)HERE!!

Julia // @fragileswiftie13

JULIA BLESS YOUR CONTROVERSIAL PUMPKIN HEART!! You’re amazing drawings for whatever-the-fuck-science-of-cells-is-called class started the whole donuts vs nuclei debate which I am happy to report ended in a CLEAR victory for donuts (or as Flora says Dough-nuts) but seriously, you’re such an amazing person who I’m lucky to have met, YOU LOOK GORGEOUS WITH YOUR BRACES ON I’LL PUNCH WHOEVER SAYS DIFFERENT! Please don’t ever forget how wonderful you are!!

Laura // @swiftslastkiss

FIRSTLY YOUR PIC WITH TAYLOR IS THE ABSOLUTE GREATEST TO EVER EXIST YOU LUCKY PUMPKIN!!! You’re such an incredible friend and your heart is pure goodness and I cannot wait for the day I get to hug you because you’re the best and the Patch would not be the same without you, you make us all better pumpkins!

Lina // @confesswift

THE VIOLENT PUMPKIN OF THE PATCH AND THE

Sarah // @thatwasthenightthingschanged

GERMAN PUMPKIN, you sent the funniest messages and your Red poll was iconic! Not to mention how GORGEOUS of a person you are inside and out! Also, you’re my name twin pumpkin because although I’m Sara (SAH-RA) people call me Sarah so much it may as well be my name aha! you dragging

Sammy // @theswiftreputation

Steve Irwin Pumpkin, I’m so glad I met your Aussie pumpkin ass - we’ll have to become Roos on January 26th ahah and show the Patch a real party!! YOU ARE AN AMAZING BEAUTIFUL PUMPKIN WHO DESERVES ALL THE GOOD IN THE WORLD AND I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! YOUR LITTLE LAMBY IS THE CUTEST EVER I JUST WANNA SNUGLLE UP WITH HER!! All my fingers are crossed that your march order gets to you problem free aha

Talia // @locketswifts

TALIA BABE YOU’RE AMAZING AND I CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR BEING YOUR BEAUTIFUL PUMPKIN SELF! I LOVE YOU - ENOUGH SAID!

Safira // @acciothirteen

I’m so relieved you’re NOT a kiwi despite living in NZ otherwise there would’ve been some interesting sport related convos aha! BUT the minute your username came up in conversation I knew I’d like you and you haven’t proven me wrong! You’re sure sweet and smart and I LOVE HAVING YOU IN THE PACTH KIDDO!

Emily // @enchanteds

FAMOUS KERMIT GIRL TURNED INTO PUMPKIN YOU’VE BEEN IN THE CHAT FOR LIKE 3 DAYS AND I ALREADY ADORE YOU AND THINK YOU’RE THE BEST PERSON EVER! LONG LIVE YOUR KERMIT MEMES AND YOUR INCREDIBLE ICON

Dacia // @fifteenmp3

YOU ARE ALSO NEW BUT FABULOUS! YOU’VE MADE ME SMILE SO MUCH OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS, YOU FIT INTO THE PATCH PERFECTLY, IT’S LIKE YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN A PUMPKIN AND WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH! Thank you for existing!

Morgan // @teylors

ANOTHER NEW PUMPKIN WHO I LOVE AND WHO LOVES TREE!! YOU ARE ALSO FAMOUS TUMBLR THAT WE TRIED REALLY HARD TO ACT COOL FOR AND I’M SURE BY NOW YOU’VE REALISED ‘COOL’ ISN’T HOW MOST PEOPLE WOULD DESCRIBE US BUT WE’RE ALL COOL ASS PUMPKINS IN THE PATCH! YOUR KERMIT POSTS ALSO MAKE MY DAY AND I’M GLAD THAT YOU AND EMILY PROVIDE A LITTLE GREEN AMONGST ALL THE ORANGE!

Okay, I think that’s the whole patch and if not, I AM SO SORRY PUMPKIN I PROMISE IT’S NOT BECAUSE I DON’T LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOU MY BRAIN IS JUST NON-FUNCTIONING A LOT OF THE TIME!!!

In conclusion, seeing as this has turned into an essay, these people make my day every day. I am so very lucky to have them in my life and everytime I see I have notifications from our chat I automatically smile. MY HEART IS FULL OF LOVE FOR MY PUMPKINS - IMMA SLUT FOR ALL OF YOU!! So, dear Pumpkins, thank you so very much for these past few months and for allowing me somewhere to be understood, laughed with not at and loved for my weird and wild ways. I LOVE YOU GUYS. THANK YOU ALSO TO OUR QUEEN, LORD AND SAVIOUR @taylorswift FOR OWNING ALL OUR ASSES IN THE FIRST PLACE AND THUS MAKING US FAMILY!

14 DAYS TILL THE PUMPKINS DIE BUT HEY, RIGHT NOW WE’RE THE LUCKY ONES!

LOVE FROM ALL MY PUMPKIN HEART,

Sar xxx

#controversial pumpkins #the swiftie pumpkins #taylor swift’s pumpkin patch #national pumpkin day

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perdizzion · 7 years ago

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I just happen to stumbled upon ur account and saw that you'll be quitting med school. I have a dilemma that I want to share with someone. Im a newly enrolled first yr med student and classes just started a week before. But I'm starting to form some doubts whether I really want to be a doctor or not. Its not that I cant handle the academics its just that do i really see myself being a doctor in the future and actually feel happy about it.

I dont even know if being a doctor is my dream anymore or just my parent’s.

Hiya! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me, anon! I don’t know if my answer will help you or not, but I will try to do my ABSOLUTE BEST to reply!!

Ok so. Med school. Tricky stuff. I’ll tell you a little bit about my background and what I’m up to right now to give you a Good Feel about how things are going after the decision I’ve taken and whatnot.

I got into med school about 4 and a half years ago, and like any student who worked their asses off for their desired universities’ entrance exams, I was beyond ecstatic when I found out that I had gotten in. I started attending lectures, group discussions, student projects, and for the first few years, I felt like hey, I think I can actually do this! The exams were pretty tough, I can’t say I liked pharmacology and neurology, but I passed just fine and so I thought that things were going to be fine.

[Narrator voice] things were, in fact, not fine.

I started having doubts around..3rd year, I think? Everything just started to become so dull no matter how much free time I was using to do my hobbies (drawing and doing art in general) and I think that was when my depression started to really rear its ugly head. I started to miss classes, isolate myself from my friends, stay in bed all day, and the only people that had kept me sane were my family and a few close friends of mine telling me to take care of myself when I was too depressed to do so. I tried thinking about whether I’ll be happy being a doctor in the future, and then I noticed that I couldn’t even imagine myself in a white coat, working in a clinic and talking to a patient.

This is when I finally realized that all this time, my wanting to go to med school wasn’t even because it was my dream. It was my parents’.

I struggled a lot to get through some of the days, but I managed to keep up the facade in front of my uni friends until I finished 4th year and received a “degree”. (In Indonesia, finishing 4th year of med school grants you a “bachelor of medicine” though you can’t really use it for anything yet until you’ve finished 2 more years of clerkship and get a “dr” in front of your name).

Clerkship happened after 4th year. If I had to use one word to describe clerkship, it would be hellish. I don’t know if this is how it works in every country, but in Indonesia, clerkship demands med students to attend hospital shifts with inhuman amount of working hours. We had to do 36 hour shifts every twice a week, and 9 hour shifts every other day. This might sound pretty light to some people, but it was super tough for me what with the amount of additional assignments and exams that we still had to do during our rotations.

After 2 months of clerkship, my depression grew so much worse to the point where my best friend (bless her heart) had to call me almost everyday to help me sleep at night because the thoughts in my head wouldn’t leave me alone. Finally, I called my sister who lives in a different city to fly to where I was living in to take me to see a psychiatrist. It didn’t help because my doctor was super shitty about my condition (“all med students experience depression at one point because med school is just that hard, don’t worry, I’ve been there”) but I did take the meds. And I was planning to carry on with clerkship, until one day the meds gave me orthostatic hypotension (it was one of the side effects of the drug that I was taking) and I fainted in the middle of a surgery. When my mom (who lives in another city) found out about this, she was livid. She flew to my place right on that exact same day to take care of me, though she hadn’t known about my depression yet at the time.

The next day, I told her everything. Like, everything. About how med school had truly been stressing me out, about how I didn’t feel like med school was the right place for me anymore, about how clerkship had been making me feel like I was a worthless piece of shit because the doctors kept yelling at me, about how clerkship had also been making me realize that I wasn’t good with patients and that their lives are literally in my hands and that a single mistake could lead to their death and how I could never live with that much guilt in my life, about how I was so tired of being too sleep-deprived to properly function everyday, let alone to stitch a patient’s cut-up hand back together.

I told her that I wanted to quit. And so I did.

And you know what? It feels amazing.

I’ve been sleeping regularly for the past few months. I get to draw everyday now, and still make money out of doing commissions. I interact with my family a lot more and I don’t check up on them only when I need them to transfer me some money to buy food. I eat three meals a day like a normal human being and it feels so, so good. I applied for a scholarship so I could earn a Master’s degree in biomedicine abroad (it’s not art school, which is where I actually want to go to, but it’s not med school either so I’ll take it), I passed the first stage and now I’m just trying to do my best to pass the next two stages so I could get a full-ride.

Things are okay. Things are good.

Things haven’t always been good, of course. People tell me that I was “so close to reaching my dreams!”, that my parents “must be so shattered to hear that you wanted to quit!”, that I am just “wasting away my potential.” My grandparents called me a disappointment a few weeks ago while telling me that I should just give up on my scholarship application and go back to med school. My dad told me that he wished I could “go back to the way I was and be happy again.” My mom cried multiple times. It hasn’t been easy on my mental health, but honestly? Fuck it. Fuck every single guilt-trip that my parents have had to put me through. Fuck everyone at uni who’s been spreading false rumors about how I quit med school because “I got cancer” or “I got knocked up.”

I absolutely hated how the doctors did anything back in the hospital. The rich patients got immediate treatment, and the poor got dismissed. The mentally ill were mocked behind closed doors, and med students were treated like trash. Rooted seniority where the senior doctors hazed junior doctors were still a thing (in Indonesia, at least). Literally everyone in the hospital had a superiority complex and I fucking hated it. Neither my parents nor my grandparents will have to be the ones to experience this on a daily basis for years though, so fuck outta here with your negative comments about my decision.

I quit med school because I did it for me, and only me.

This is by no means supposed to scare you away from med school just so you could jump into my bandwagon, heck no. I’m telling you this because nobody told me that this could be a possibility. Everybody I knew kept telling me that the only thing you’ll need to succeed med school is firm determination and hard work, and while that may be true for some people, I required a lot more than that, like a stable mental health, a good support system, etc. I failed to meet these requirements, and so everything turned into a shipwreck for me. My other friends, however, who were well-prepared with all of these, are managing to continue med school just fine.

That being said, this answer is definitely supposed to make you think about your decision more thoroughly. One of the most often things that people tell me post-med school is that “you should’ve quit earlier if you hadn’t liked it; it would’ve saved you a lot of time.” I hate the fact that I agree with this. If I had quit years ago, I would’ve still had time to search for a school that was more relevant to my interests and start over from a blank slate. If I had quit years ago, I would’ve been able to graduate from a new school and earn an actual proper job by now so I could help my parents out with our finance. Of course, my parents would’ve been way more harsh on me if I had told them that I wanted to quit so early on, but if you own the privilege of having parents that would genuinely and willingly listen to you, please talk about it with them. I had a friend who quit med school around a few months before 1st year ended; he’s in business school now and from what I’ve heard, he’s pretty happy with where he is right now.

Whew, that was long. I swear I didn’t mean for it to be this long!! Let me know if any of that helped or if you just want to talk off anon with me in general! I know firsthand how this kind of dilemma can eat you up whole, and it’s not a fun experience, so just hmu if you want to chat

Have a nice day!!

#THIS GOT SO LONG OMG LKSDJFSD IM SO SORRY #I GOT CARRIED AWAY #i just....really wanted to explain everything as descriptive as possible #so i could help at least a little bit #aAAA #anonymous #answers

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comicteaparty · 6 years ago

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February 21st, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on February 21st, 2019, from 5PM - 7PM PST. The chat focused on Teasday by FeatheryJustice.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB START!

Good evening, everyone~! This week’s Thursday Book Club is officially beginning! Today we are discussing Teasday by FeatheryJustice~! (https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/teasday/list?title_no=169870)

Remember that Thursday discussions are completely freeform! However, every 30 minutes I will drop in OPTIONAL discussion questions in case you’d like a bit of a prompt. If you miss out on one of these prompts, you can find them pinned for the chat’s duration. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is fun and respectfully appreciating the comic. All that said, let’s begin!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

Draco Plato

I really like the most recent scene with Vander because I'm really looking forward to where it's going to lead to, it left me with a feeling of suspense

I also enjoyed the scene with Calen and Folen

FeatheryJustice

My favourite scene is actually Anton and Spyder, especially trolling Spyder with salt instead of sugar. I do love drawing Calen and Folen :3

Also what tea is everyone drinking today?

Cheshire777

Nothing right now- out and about but when I get back chai.

FeatheryJustice

What kind of chai? Traditional or like the new form types?

Draco Plato

peppermint XD

FeatheryJustice

Ohh classic. Plain peppermint or mixed with other stuff Draco?

Draco Plato

just plain, it's pretty watery too since it's the keurig one

Cheshire777

Loose leaf (masala I think?) w/ sugar, vanilla, nutmeg and cream.(edited)

FeatheryJustice

Ohh that sounds so good

Cheshire777

And cinnamon.

RebelVampire

my favorite scene is probably the one with calen and folen. i think they add a lot of dynamic to camellia since before she was just grumpy tea witch. now shes grumpy tea witch with a past. plus i really loved that appearance change because just so many questions. tea party host plot twist: i actually hate tea. long live the coffee witch.

FeatheryJustice

There is a coffee witch

She's cool

RebelVampire

which incidentally i did enjoy the dialogue about the coffee witch and the whole description of camellia's interaction with her. it made me laugh.

Cheshire777

Beat me to it @RebelVampire.

naomi

I always look forward to the author note at the end - it makes me imagine what they are drinking in the story

Also sorry I revealed my tea in general already - but I might make some hojicha for the occasion

FeatheryJustice

/o/

Draco Plato

haha I do really enjoy the author notes at the end too, I've learned so much about tea

Cheshire777

Eeesh, will be going through a dead zone soon for a few mins, don't freak if I stop talking.

mathtans

Here for the moment. Yeah, I liked the tea witch/coffee witch thing where they each made the offer and declined, I can totally relate to that. Coffee is just a no for me.

(I don't drink tea much either, but never coffee.)

RebelVampire

im really hoping well meet the coffee witch and see the spark of rivalry to a degree. friendly rivalry, but rivalry none the less

another less scene but more moment i enjoyed was at the end of sweet tea where the spider is just using multiple arms to pour in more sugar than should ever be allowed in anything ever

mathtans

Random surprise twist, Calen inherits the coffee witch title.

FeatheryJustice

Lol

mathtans

I also thought it was a nice touch in the night scene to have Camillia without her gloves. One wonders if she had a tea mishap in her past... or maybe she worked in fast food and gave it up.

There was more sugar than cup, I think. ^.^

Cheshire777

Ack..

FeatheryJustice

Yeah they are really good friends, the coffee witch and Cam

nintendonut1

I like the lullaby sung in Tea Cocktails. makes me think of how a lot of our childhood songs can get a little creepy

FeatheryJustice

That song is plot important

mathtans

We've also seen a fruit witch. Is there a veggie witch?

FeatheryJustice

In like three seasons ahha

There is one!

Draco Plato

oh i was thinking it had plot relevance, the song

mathtans

(I'm randomly reminded of a bake shop near me called "The Scone Witch".)

FeatheryJustice

That is a good name lol

And yeah of course it has plot relevance, I mean I wouldn't invent a random song without meaning XD

naomi

I hope it's clear when I said I liked the author's notes that it doesn't get in front of the content for me! Although I do think it gives each page something extra

RebelVampire

idk i could head canon camellia just invented it to troll ppl and creep them out

naomi

Same

FeatheryJustice

She would XD

Also I think I want to do a recap section for the longer ones so people can get read through it and get the tdlr

Like I should recap the herbal arc hha

mathtans

She sings it to people who come in and ask for coffee.

Kabocha

Hellooooo~ Favorite Scene? Vander's hiring. Camelia went through so many applicants that it was silly, and then this guy can pick up the simplest lavender tea

Also, aaaaa, I still need to read from the herbal arc. I fell behind a while ago T_T;;;

naomi

I am still reading but I really liked the getting ready to go out/meeting Anton

RebelVampire

i also liked how kind of shrug no big deal vander was about knowing the tea

Kabocha

I think Vander was expecting something more challenging, because he's got some sort of tea magic, but... Camelia has long dealt with normal people, who don't know it well

naomi

Yeah I would be a lot more... I think the word is chuffed? If I guessed a tea challenge

FeatheryJustice

Actually there is a thing why she was so surprised actually

Kabocha

also urgh, is it Camellia or Camelia... I keep forgetting which words have two ls some nights

FeatheryJustice

It was barely hinted at

RebelVampire

QUESTION 2. As hinted by the name, one of the comic’s goals is to focus on all topics related to tea. What is one interesting fact that you learned about tea thanks to the comic? Of the episodes, which episode did you find to be the strongest in terms of how it delivered educational, tea related information? Alternatively, of the episodes, which one did you find most entertaining on how it tackled a certain topic of tea and tea brewing? What other tea brews or information are you hoping to see the comic tackle? Lastly, which of the brews presented so far is your favorite?

mathtans

Well, as I recall it was diluted all to heck. Camillia was waiting for someone to say "it's water, not tea".

RebelVampire

yeah id call that more than a hint XD

FeatheryJustice

It was diluted

Kabocha

I really did like the intro to herbals, though Feather had told us a bit about it in IDC some time ago

also the process of tea flavoring is fascinating!

mathtans

I'd never considered the difference between infusers and the little collander thing that sits on a teapot. Surface area and such.

Draco Plato

I'd never heard of a lot of the tea combinations before so it gave me a lot to try

FeatheryJustice

And yeah it was more than a hint haha XD but people gloss over it a lot

Draco Plato

the banana tea particularly fascinated, and the chocolate tea

Kabocha

the fact that coconut tea is so oily wasn't... surprising

Draco Plato

yeah it was!

Kabocha

I'm shocked it goes with chocolate though

FeatheryJustice

Lol XD

Kabocha

chocolate is a pain to clean up after in my mug XD

FeatheryJustice

Yeah somrtimes you oh

You can put the chocolate tea in a tea bag and then into an infuser XR

Kabocha

...that would keep the oil from escaping wouldn't it

FeatheryJustice

Yup

mathtans

Oh yeah, banana tea, what was up with that. Did not anticipate.

RebelVampire

i have learned all the tea facts. as someone who doesnt like tea and thus doesnt make it, my knowledge equates to basically 0 on anything involved with making tea. like didnt even know there were different ways to flavor things. so all in all the comic has been educational as a whole to me

FeatheryJustice

I am glad I am teaching people!

Kabocha

wait, rebel, you don't like tea?! whaaaaaaaaat

FeatheryJustice

Also man I had to research so much for the herbal flavouring thing

mathtans

It's a "steep" learning curve.

RebelVampire

the research really shows through though because i think in comparison to the other strips this one has been the most thorough

FeatheryJustice

I love that pum

Also I was trying to do a different format as well that time CD

RebelVampire

and no i dont like tea. but tbf to tea i dont like hot beverages in general. even coffee which i do like i take it iced.

FeatheryJustice

Iced tea episode hahaha

mathtans

Funny thing about tea for me. I don't like hot tea. I definitely don't like iced tea. I'll tend to drop an ice cube into tea shortly before drinking it (it melts, admittedly diluting) to split the difference.

Kabocha

yeah, I let my tea cool before drinking it in many cases -- but some just taste better hot

but compared to rebel, I live in the arctic I think

FeatheryJustice

Lukewarm tea is okay

mathtans

Exactly. Gotta go for lukewarm.

RebelVampire

in terms of education, i also liked the alcohol tea drinking. cause it was educational and entertaining. cause idk what it was about the scene, but i got kind of a bar feeling. like camellia suddenly the bartender just serves alcohol tea

to rebel most ppl live in the arctic in comparison XD

mathtans

That reminds me, when Camellia's with her family they call her Amellia. Is she undercover with her C?

Kabocha

I'd honestly never had tea with alcohol... that sounds... pretty good imo

RebelVampire

i assumed it might have been a nickname cause it seems like most charas have their own nickname for her

but then again

she did change her appearance

suspicious

FeatheryJustice

Amelia is what they call her and Ilia is what Anton and Spyder call her

mathtans

Oh, good point, the llia hadn't consciously registered.

She looks different to tend bar.

FeatheryJustice

Yeah becuase she actually attempted to dress up XD

Also I need to bring back Galene sometime soon

RebelVampire

she looked very pretty in those scenes too

i was hoping wed see galene again cause i really like galene's design

FeatheryJustice

I had fun drawing her but I was also like "OH GOD WHY DID I DO THIS TO MYSELF"

mathtans

Galene is Calen's secret informant.

FeatheryJustice

Fun fact, they don't know of each other's existences yet.

Galene and Calen never met in story

Same as how Vander never met Anton and Spyder yet, and Rhurbi only seen Spyder and Anton like once

Also the fun thing about alcohol with tea is that you can put it in hot tea and burn off the alcohol content. Or cook it

RebelVampire

oh man i cant wait till vander meets spyder and anton then. partly cause i wonder who might teach who about tea.

Kabocha

https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/teasday/herbal-part-3/viewer?title_no=169870&episode_no=24 Vander's real shady in this page ಠ_ಠ

mathtans

Maybe Vander already knows Spyder by reputation. "Oh, you're the sugar daddy."

Cheshire777

I'm back!

FeatheryJustice

LOLLLL

You almost made me choke on my tea there Math

RebelVampire

vander knows cause hes seen how much sugar inventory they have to keep and its abnormally high

FeatheryJustice

Fun fact, Vander HATES sweet things most of the time.

mathtans

Don't get him a cute teddy bear for his birthday then.

Kabocha

ahahaha

RebelVampire

i agree with kabo that vander was super suspicious in that one panel. but honestly vander seems suspicious in general cause he seems to know little about making tea at all but somehow was able to recognize a diluted mixture that nobody else could

Kabocha

maybe he's a tea-witch in training

Draco Plato

maybe it's just part of an ability his species has

mathtans

He said he knew tea stuff though, didn't he?

Cheshire777

Hyper taste?

yeah people say things

Draco Plato

i thought he said he was learning from Camellia

Kabocha

theory time

he's a business rival

Draco Plato

ooooooo

mathtans

tries to remember why Vander was looking for a job

Kabocha

he just kind of wandered in, I thought

mathtans

Kabocha: That seems plausible. Guess he's playing the long game rather than trying to buy her out.

Kabocha

https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/teasday/herbal-part-4/viewer?title_no=169870&episode_no=25 oh look at that

support for my theory as I'm reading

Draco Plato

maybe he's related to one of the people calen killed

FeatheryJustice

Pffft, Calen doesn't kill people, no she's an angel Coughlaugh

Draco Plato

O_O suuuuure

mathtans

She outsources.

FeatheryJustice

Folen does it for her

That

Draco Plato

loooool

FeatheryJustice

Also I am laughing because I want to say things, but can not because well that's Spoilers~

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. Despite the tea focus, the comic does take some time to add in a few character mysteries. What do you think Camellia past is with Calen and Folen? Why is Camellia so ardent about not going back to work with Calen? Also, why do you think Camellia changed her appearance to pay a visit to the two? What do you make of the scars depicted on Camellia’s hands? Besides Camellia, there is also her new assistant Vander. Do you believe that Vander can be trusted, or do you believe Calen will find out something shady about him? How will his continued presence affect Camellia and/or himself?

Kabocha

I THINK FOLEN wanted to marry camellia(edited)

FeatheryJustice

Leans back to watch fan theories steep

naomi

Kabocha went there

FeatheryJustice

Kabo did.

Kabocha

I always go there.

FeatheryJustice

Welll

I would show you a clip of the next episode talking about cups

Becuase literally it's all Folen and Camellia that episode hahah

Kabocha

Camellia turned Folen down, though, because... Well. She honestly doesn't want that romance stuff. Just give her the tea, dammit.

Folen, on the other hand, is interested in magic, and hey, tea magic is magic... yes right?

Draco Plato

that's pretty much what I had but I think overall the three of them are like family too

so there's probably a deeper connection there

mathtans

As I recall, Calen said that Camellia and Folen used to date, or something. Maybe he runs a fast food place.

Kabocha

Maybe he likes flavored Coffee

mathtans

Doesn't go well with tea.

FeatheryJustice

LOL I wish there was a fast food witch somewhere XD

mathtans

Wendy's, the good witch?

FeatheryJustice

HAHAHA XD I'm laughing so hard

Cheshire777

Obsessed with hair nets... I can picture it now...

FeatheryJustice

"Do you want fries with that?"

Cheshire777

They're magic!

FeatheryJustice

Magic Fries for everyone

RebelVampire

the veggie witch and fast food witch must be friends

to make all those french fries

Cheshire777

Makes you crave more magic fast food

FeatheryJustice

Real potato fries, so real they will teleport out of your stomach

Kabocha

Sweet potato fries are the veggie witch's favorite, I'm sure

put cinnamon on 'em

Draco Plato

Yum yum

FeatheryJustice

Veggie witch was actually schdueled to come around earlier in devlopement but I wanted her to be more placed later in the story as like, weird wacky aunt who visits

She bringing a lot of onions with her

Kabocha

She would invite people over, but she's got a leek problem

FeatheryJustice

LOL

Cheshire777

Onion tea?

FeatheryJustice

Yes!

There is onion tea

RebelVampire

wait theres onion tea

what

Cheshire777

Onion and ginger might be good

FeatheryJustice

Yup

It's made like a cold remedy

But I like Onion tea by itself

Draco Plato

It's full of tears

FeatheryJustice

Tea-rs

Layers of flavour

Cheshire777

Is there tea made with bacon?

FeatheryJustice

I think so

I seen that in like, a weird tea thing

They used like, bacon bits with black tea to get a smoky flavour

RebelVampire

interesting

so anyway camellia's hands: scars from tea brewing or scars from something else? O_O

FeatheryJustice

Also Lapsang Sochong (One of the teas from an episode, has a good smoky taste so you can add bacon to it and give it a try???)

Cheshire777

Maybe!

FeatheryJustice

And I can't confirm or deny why she has those scars, other than man it's hard to draw them all the time

I keep forgetting they exist XD

Cheshire777

So It's a plot point

FeatheryJustice

(Everything I do is a plot point, only when it isn't then it isn't for a plot point XD)

RebelVampire

im personally leaning towards the latter. although i could see the former. like idk how someone becomes a witch in this world, but maybe camellia wasnt meant to be a tea witch. like she had to work super super super super duper hard to be a tea witch.

Kabocha

She burned her hands on tea didn't she

Draco Plato

The scars probably relate to a murder

Kabocha

GASP

maybe she was trying to work with Folen and it didn't work out

Cheshire777

A ERRENT STRAND OF HAIR!! IT WILL BE A PLOT POINT! THERE WILL BE A QUIZ!

FeatheryJustice

Also all witch related questions will be answered soon, after the wrap up of season 1

Cheshire777

What are your views on infusing tea into other food?

rice, cakes,

RebelVampire

i hope that if her scars relate to murder she didnt infuse the victim into tea or something. cause yes i went the dark route

FeatheryJustice

Delicious, I have recipes with tea for DAYS!

:3c

Also there are

Many screams

Draco Plato

Don't give feather ideas XD

FeatheryJustice

Pfft, it was already set in stone lol!

Scalded laps, SCALDED LAPS FOR DAYS

Draco Plato

Omg XD

Cheshire777

So tea infusions in other things?

mathtans

Flower witch too, maybe?

Cheshire777

Probably

FeatheryJustice

There is a flower witch

And also fun fact about the scars, Camellia actually has enough fingerless gloves to match her entire wardrobe, all in the basic colours XD

And my favourite thing to do right now is to try to use teas in savoury dishes

Recently made broiled chicken with a lemon chili pepper white tea, and that was so good

(Be right back, grabbing another cup of tea, getting some apple chamomile cinnamon roobios)

RebelVampire

i hope we can meet the flower witch

although i wonder if witches have to be female

cause part of me wants it to be a guy who wears a flower crown

FeatheryJustice

Well.

Actually.

I wonder if I can say.

Well you will have it explained during the episode of the origins of how these particular witches came to be.

But I haven't designed the Flower Witch so I will keep that in mind.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 4. The story has its fair share of shenanigans while having a lot of future potential. Insofar, which character do you enjoy seeing the most in the comic and why? Are there any potential future scenarios you’re hoping to see them in? Are there any other sort of witch types you’re hoping exist in the world that could play a role in the comic? What about creatures? In the long term, do you think Camellia will keep her current tea brewing style of life, or will something come along and change it in contrast to all the shenanigans? Finally, in general, what other scenarios do you see popping up for the story given any story fact?

i enjoy seeing vander cause he really is a suspicious mofo.

maybe vander is a world reknown thief

and he thinks camellia keeps her treasures in that backroom

and now he finds out nah she just has tea and more tea

so has to convenient go on vacation to never return

FeatheryJustice

Reminds me of the Tuxedo Mask Meme

"My job here is done" "But you didn't do anything" Whoosh

I personally just can't wait to finish Season 1, and then get into the really good stuff in Season 2. I also can't wait to kinda fix my old art ahhahahha XD

But I wouldlike to introduce more of towns folk, becuase there is a good amount of diversiTEA in the town Camellia resides, which is far away from the big city of where Folen and Calen are

Kabocha

What will Camelia think when someone serves her Coffee Puerh

FeatheryJustice

Also Vander being a Phantom Thief really makes me have ideas though haha

The same thing Camelia thinks when people give her Tawinese Coffee Milk Tea. "....Thanks but no." And Coffee tea is going to be an episode on it's own as well.

RebelVampire

i hope thats the episode where we meet the coffee witch

Kabocha

You gonna call $CanadianTeaRetailer out lol

RebelVampire

as they both stare in horror

FeatheryJustice

Yes you are

Kabocha

I actually like the Coffee Puerh tbh! It's tasty. But I can see why Camellia might not. Is she not a fan of high caffeine, or does she prefer smaller doses at once

FeatheryJustice

Yes, they look at that and is like "Are they shipping us?" "Probably?" "Weird."

Camellia can not drink coffee because she is allergic.

Like how the Coffee Witch is allergic to tea, but can at least have herbals XD

mathtans

(Back from crib.) I suspect Vander is a spy from the warlocks. Only witches are female, the guys want in on the action.

I love diversiTEA.

RebelVampire

vander can be both, be a spy and a phantom thief. cause who is going to expect the spy is actually a thief

or maybe vander is a secret evaluator

like an undercover food safety inspector

but for tea

hes juding camellia and her knowledge

FeatheryJustice

Vander could also be a student in debt trying to get a part time job and is lucky Camellia doesn't look at resumes becuase he doesn't have any experience

RebelVampire

idk vander seems like he dresses too nice to be a student in debt. O_O unless that is the actual answer in which case vander please, sell your clothes and downgrade

FeatheryJustice

Oh god Vander is one of those guys who are like "I spend all my money to look good and now I am broke" XD

Also maybe Vander is a food inspector waiting for that one bug from the other episode to show up and he never does

Vander also at first wasn't going to be a character actually. It was only after I realized I needed an every day man type character for reasons to exposition at did I create him.

I'm glad people like him

RebelVampire

one thing from the story im really curious about is the vampires apparently? since there was that one dude who showed up and needed tea cause someone named krys was grumpy. im really curious about all that stuff cause i wanna know who this krys person is

FeatheryJustice

OH YEAH KRYS

mathtans

I do kinda wonder about Calen and her sword fighting in the house.

FeatheryJustice

HAHAHAAAA I love Krys, they are great

You will see them later.

And Calen was killing things with a coat hanger actually

mathtans

Just gotta listen for the Krys Anthem - Mum.

FeatheryJustice

Very sturdy coat hanger

mathtans

I guess if you don't have a coat, why not.

FeatheryJustice

Oh yes, and the random sword

That was just from off the wall

Like you know when you have like swords on display

mathtans

So, are we shipping Camellia and Rhurbi? Fruit and tea mix well, as we've been told. ^.^

Cheshire777

Reminding me of Narbonic- kinda creeping me out... @FeatheryJustice

mathtans

They've got that whole "I hate you when you don't call" vibe going too.

Cheshire777

Ping was supposed to be at front?

FeatheryJustice

Lol, Camellia isn't very good at remembering phones exist

And what is Narbonic?

RebelVampire

camellia watched too much harry potter and only sends messages by owl

FeatheryJustice

Also Draco also said they ship Cam and Rhubi

And yes, Camellia would do owl mail

mathtans

Camellia travels by unconventional means too.

Cheshire777

Old webcomic that finished, I'll find the link if you want?

FeatheryJustice

Yup, by the friend express

mathtans

Okay, Cam and Rhubi ftw. Vander will have to make due with Spyder.

Cheshire777

Mad scientists.

FeatheryJustice

LOL

Cheshire777

This conversation is rather disjointed.(edited)

FeatheryJustice

Yeah it is, alright, reeling it back in

mathtans

I gotta get my ships in before time elapses.

FeatheryJustice

So far, that's a popular ship

And I haven't seen that webcomic but I will check it out Cheshire

Cheshire777

Or three conversations...

RebelVampire

i will accept the vander and spyder ship

FeatheryJustice

Well it will be fun when they meet

mathtans

As far as the tea brewing life, I feel like she already had a change in her past. Maybe related to the injury. I don't see her deviating any more.

FeatheryJustice

And no one mentions mysterious person on the other side of magical tea cup

mathtans

Which, the logo?

Cheshire777

I'll put the link on general.

FeatheryJustice

Yup

mathtans

Hm, not sure it consciously registered.

That was the dude by the seaside or whatever.

FeatheryJustice

Don't worry

It's a really long sideplot

Kabocha

I can't wait to read more

FeatheryJustice

But yeah it's a cup that you can share liquids with another person on the other side

mathtans

Interesting how much got set up. Oh, that's clever.

Gotta make sure when you're rising it out that the person on the other end doesn't drink sudsy dishwater.

FeatheryJustice

I tend to write in a way where I am like "Here is Plot point A, which goes into A-A, into A-B, into A-C" Meanwhile "Plot B-G is with plot point G-A"

mathtans

Best with it!

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB END!

Sadly, this wraps up this week’s Thursday Book Club chat for now. Thank you so much to everyone for reading and joining us! We want to give a special thank you to FeatheryJustice, as well, for making Teasday. If you liked the comic, make sure to support FeatheryJustice’s efforts however you’re able to~!

Read and Comment: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/teasday/list?title_no=169870

FeatheryJustice’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FeatheryJustice

FeatheryJustice’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/FeatheryFern

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #bookclub #book club #webcomic bookclub #webcomic book club #comic tea party #ctp #teasday #featheryjustice

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blue-ocean-strategist-blog · 4 years ago

Video

youtube

Mainunstream Ep09 Paul Lange with JoAnna "JJ" Ferrari on trust, business, diversity, transitions ...

www.mainunstream.com

Today I'm joined on the MainUNStream mic by JoAnna “JJ” Ferrari

This conversation is a business growth and personal development course condensed into a (less than) one hour conversation that is both as detailed and comprehensive as it is easy to comprehend. JJ has an exceptional capacity to bring focus and brevity to concepts like few other people … including me … in some circumstance ... especially :-)

JJ is more widely known for being the transition specialist because of her journey to transition her gender over the last six years.

She is one of the most genuine and truly professional people you’ll meet.

In this conversation we cover topics ranging from business (and JJ has an uncommonly large wealth account of business experience), to diversity, to gender and generally what it is to be a human being.

Through her transition she lost everything, at least everything that seems to matter to most people. Part of being genuine though is recognition that life is fluid and in a constant state of change and the losses were simply part of the journey to transition way more than just gender.

To quote JJ from the conversation …

“I was adamant that I was not going to get stuck in [the label of transgender]. So I realized that it wasn't who I was. It wasn't what I was. That transitioning my gender was simply a process that I needed to go through so that I could live the way that I always knew myself. … and it's not, what's the word we use all the time? It's not authentic. This is not authentic. The word that I use for it is genuine, and you might say, well, what's the difference? Well, they're not the same word. Authentic people say, now I'm being authentic. Does that mean you were lying before? I don't know. Right? But genuine to me means fluidity, it means that I'm always in the constant state of change, and I don't stop and go now I'm authentic, because when you do that, that's actually being, you know, not authentic.”

JJ has done more stuff in business than most people will ever dream of doing. We’ll get to that around the 23 minute mark BUT DON’T JUMP AHEAD or you’ll miss out some diamonds of personal growth along the way.

JJ on trust ...

Having an inspiring professional career, doesn’t mean it was always easy. When JJ transitioned, people fled from her circles, and as she says it's really it's simple to understand and it’s about trust. How do you trust a person when they say “I'm not this, I'm this!” … and you bought into and trusted that first person and they’re telling you they are no longer that person.

The natural reaction of people is “How do I trust you if you don't trust you" and JJ says you have to find a way to learn to love, trust, accept and believe in yourself again, and when you do, like anything else, and in any other situation, people will follow suit and trust you too. This message is especially powerful and independent of gender. It’s something many people go through as they discover themselves and who they really are and why they are here and why they are in business.

JJ says … “That's where JJ came from. JJ was me saying, I trust who I was. I trust what I've been through, and I now bring all of me to the world. I bring John and Joanna also known as, aka, JJ”.

JJ on diversity (freedom) ...

Before we get into business we have a brief discussion about diversity. There’s a lot of focus on diversity these days and has been for a number of years. It’s also one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) albeit in my (less than) humble opinion [IM<HO] the UN doesn’t go anywhere near far enough.

JJ says, and I agree, she thinks “we've got diversity wrong. Diversity is not about people. Diversity is about diversity, and so what we've actually done with diversity, as it is, we've actually done something brilliant that people don't actually understand; and so they actually see it as a soapbox for them to stand on to get their rights met for their specific group. But if diversity is not about people, you have to ask, what is it about?”

You've got all these people jumping on and saying diversity and inclusion is what we need to actually be who we are and you need to meet our rights - government, business, society - right? That's wrong, because one group's thinking about diversity and their rights typically interferes or steps on another group’s rights.

So we hear about women, we hear about transgender, we hear about LGBTI and we think that's what diversity is. That's not what diversity is. We've actually left off a lot of different groups of people. What about people who aren't involved in anything like transitioning their gender or a woman who doesn't want to go and become successful at work? How did those soapboxes then meet that person's needs? They really don't, right?

So what we have to look at is called diversity, something different and diversity is actually freedom. Okay, inclusion is choice. But we're not giving people choice.

We're actually taking diversity and saying, ‘You believe in what I say about diversity, or you're part of the opposition!’. So we actually take away people's ability to choose to be included by actually giving this narrow idea of diversity. So diversity is freedom.

Think about it this way. If diversity is freedom, and I'm working on a project at work, for example, it doesn't mean that I need to have somebody from India, somebody from China, somebody from wherever. I don't need to do that. I need diversity of ideas, so that I can actually grow at the best possible rate, make sure that it's sustainable. I need an influx of new ideas. That's diversity!

It doesn't mean that the best ideas are going to come from a man or a woman or someone who's transgender, or someone you know who's non binary. Those don't make any difference at all.

What's important is that we understand the freedom that comes with diversity and human beings have a tendency to create chaos versus innovation when they've got an abundance.

Now, watch this equation. If I have, I give you an abundance of freedom and I give you an abundance of choices, as an equation, it can only equal one of two things, chaos or innovation.

“So what we have to do, and what you're seeing is, that human beings will come back out of this, they will, because (this way that I would phrase it to you) even Martians, aliens passing by Earth are like lock the fucking doors because that that plane is crazy!

We're in this state of growth and when you're in a growth state - new freedoms, new choices - everybody wants to rule and so we're not actually using the right definitions. We'll come back around to it where we'll actually look at the freedoms and go oh, wait a minute. If we were actually playing nice, we'd be actually doing a better job of diversity and creating freedom for all of us, not just for this small pocket of people.

JJ in and on business ...

JJ has worked with pretty much everyone who is anyone in the personal development space. She was CEO of Tony Robbins’s organisation in Australia and VP of Sales for Nightingale Conant, she toured with Brian Tracy, and many many more. She’s worked with over 1,800 businesses as either a trainer or a coach or a consultant.

She’s one of these people who understands business at what I call the molecular level and knows how that translates into tangible outcomes and can do it and has done it.

JJ says … “In the current economic environment we’re seeing businesses are doing what they've always done namely pulling back on spending, and people are really starting to do a lot more analysis. But if you don't know how to do analysis, right, you won't do a good analysis.”

Some people will do quantitative, some people will do qualitative, but very few businesses will actually pull both of those types of information together and get a combined insight so that they can look at their business from this unique lens. When you do that, you’re actually able to very quickly eliminate a lot of the potential problems that happen in a business.

JJ on purpose …

“There are two things that preclude us from succeeding that I've seen in working in over 1800 businesses. What you see is that most people don't actually understand the idea of a purpose. They think it's this cute little sentence that you write down and that you tell everybody, but you don't know what to do with it.

Purpose is really a measurement tool and what you actually have to do is think through it, talk through it, act through it, and measure through it. When you do that with a purpose you quickly find out that you don't have a purpose, because you can actually measure your purpose against those. Would you want to act from it? Would you want to think from it? Do you talk through it?

I love debate and negotiation because it's where you find out whether or not you know your purpose stands up and whether or not what you're working on is real and true. I also love making sure that people have got a purpose, but once you've got an overall purpose, every single day all you're doing is working on that to improve it. Not just for yourself, also for the purpose of taking care of your clients, or your future clients or your employees, as well as your vendors. Your purpose should take care of all of those.”

JJ on goals …

A goal is a relevant and powerful promise I make to myself about a must have experience

“I would actually say that there's a simple way to learn to create propelling goals, not just generalised goals, and you can do it as an individual, you can do it as a team, or you can do it as a business.

The quickest way to create propelling goals is number one to pick a goal. There are a lot of business owners who have a tendency to set a million goals. They set hundreds of goals or thousands of goals and the thing is that we don't actually work on 100 or 1000 of goals. It comes back to that same idea of diversity. When you've got too much freedom in your thinking you create more chaos than you do innovation.

So pick a single goal and make sure that you can actually communicate the specifics. There are three things that you need to communicate. Most people though will actually pick really ridiculous things like, I want to grow by 10 times or 20 times in the next 30 days. But you’ve only gone 10 times down and now you want to go 1,000 up. It doesn’t work.

Your personal goal or your business goal is a team sport. You want to hit a goal and you’re never going to do it all on your own. But we never figure out who can actually give us the best result; get us there faster, get us there with the least amount of time, get us there for the least amount of cost and keep us there when we get there. We actually choose the wrong type of experts to bring into our life or into our business and it becomes really important to learn, how do we choose a coach or consultant, or the people who are going to be on your team.

Tune in for the rest of this part in the conversation and the entire conversation including the distinction between ‘experts’ and professionals (pros) and why you should care. You’ll love it! Promise!

MainUNstream is always free of hype and hidden agendas so it can and often does go in any direction. One thing is for certain, they are always informative, insightful and entertaining.

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