#also i must make a stance. neutral as it is

[succubaby]

Bubbles

Pairing: Buggy x gender neutral!Reader

Summary: While he's being held captive by the Straw Hats, Buggy won't shut up, which gives you an idea.

Warnings: none, this is all fluff, some mentions of insecurities from Buggy but nothing too angsty

Word Count: 4.2k

Author's note: This idea came to me while I was daydreaming the other day, and I just had to write it down. This is based off of the live-action Buggy, although I am only on the second episode so it may not be canon-accurate. Also, he has long hair in this cause I said so (begging to see Jeff Ward with long hair next season). Hope y'all enjoy and let me know if you want to be added to the tag list! There will be a part 2, don’t worry <3 (The banners are from cafekitsune)

Edit: part two is up!

“So now what?”

The collection of Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, and yourself stood in a circle, discussing what to do with a certain clown pirate’s head. Usopp is the first to speak up after Luffy asked the question.

“Well, we can’t leave him unsupervised; who knows what he’d get up to.” Everyone turned to look at Buggy’s detached head, which wore a cheeky look, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

“I vote Y/N to take care of it,” Zoro states blankly, crossing his arms as he speaks.

“Hey! I’m still a person, even without the body, so don’t refer to me as it!” The objection comes from the animated head, vexation seeping through his tone. Your mouth momentarily twitches upward at his little outburst, it was almost reminiscent of a kitten hissing after unwanted pets.

“Why do I have to babysit him?” You turn to Zoro, matching his apprehensive stance. He meets your gaze with a cold look. You hadn’t been a part of the straw hat crew for long, and Zoro was taking his sweet time warming up to you.

“Because you’re the newest here, and that’s how hierarchy works.” 

His tone left no room for argument. Your shoulders slump, and you let out an irritated sigh, eyebrows furrowing in annoyance.

“Fine.” Rolling your eyes, you walk over to pick up Buggy, making sure to be gentle. The clown winks at you, a flirty smile on his face. You take him back to your cabin, not wanting to risk accidentally dropping him overboard. Despite only being a head, a smug aura radiates around him, already planning ways to mess with you. 

You reach your cabin and kick the door open with your foot. Being the newest member of the straw hat crew, you were given the smallest room, not that you really minded. You place Buggy down on your bed, moving to sit at the small desk in the corner of the room. 

“So what are we going to do first, darling?” Buggy smirks as he talks, clearly trying to get under your skin. 

“We? There is no we. You’ll sit there quietly while I go over these maps.” You bark, not even bothering to spare him a glance. 

“Aww, but where’s the fun in that?” You can hear the tease in his tone and can tell that he’s grinning without having to look at him.

“You’re not here to have fun. You’re being held captive, remember?” Smoothing your fingers out over the maps, you tilt your head, trying to focus.

“Yes, but who says captivity can’t be enjoyable?” His question shocks you, and you turn to gaze at him with an unamused look. Realizing that he’s completely serious, you let out a scoff.

“You really are crazy, clown.”

He smiles smugly, not bothered by your comment.

“It’s more fun that way.” 

You roll your eyes and turn back to the maps, choosing to pretend he’s not there. ‘He must really like the sound of his own voice’, you think to yourself. The clown continues to talk your ear off, but after a while, you’re able to tune him out. Before long, you’ve analyzed all the maps. Turning back to him with a curious look, you realize he’s gotten to the end of some story you couldn’t care to listen to.

“And that’s why you don’t fall asleep on the beach.” Buggy smiles at you, enjoying your annoyance, watching you tilt your head at him.

“Cat got your tongue?” He purrs. Rolling your eyes, an idea pops into your head. 

“Hey… I think I know how to get you to be quiet.” A sly smirk crawls its way across your face, and the clown’s chipper mood falters.

“Oh yeah? What might that be?” He tries to keep his confident demeanor, but the look on your face scares him.

You nibble on your bottom lip without responding before walking over to him and picking him up. This immediately wipes the smirk off his face, and he looks up at you, suddenly concerned for his safety. 

“Hey now, what are you doing?” He asks nervously, secretly afraid you’ll throw him overboard for talking so much. You place him on top of your desk and move to grab the empty basin in the corner of the room.

“I’m giving you a bath,” you shrug nonchalantly, a cheeky smile on your face. He pales at that and laughs nervously. 

“Wait, what do you mean? Are you going to waterboard me or something?” The look on the clown shows that he thinks it’s a real possibility, which causes you to chuckle.

“No, I’m just going to give you a bath; you smell like you could use one.” He just stares at you silently, quickly dropping his playful persona.

“What, cat got your tongue?” You mock him, and he gulps quietly. The fear in his eyes is quite amusing, you admit to yourself.

“You mean you’re literally going to bathe me?” A confused look crosses him, all the confidence in his voice gone.

“Yes.” You nod. “You look like you haven’t showered in weeks. Besides, now I’ll finally get some peace and quiet.” A smirk crawls across your visage, enjoying seeing the trickster squirm. It wasn’t often the clown had the tables turned on him, and he definitely didn’t expect it coming from you.

“Now, wait a minute, I can be quiet without that.” He looks up at you worriedly, the idea of a bath visibly rattling him.

“But I thought you wanted to have fun?” Your smirk widens and you put a hand on your hip.

“Okay, I take it back. I’ll be good, I swear.” A nervous laugh emerges as he tries to break the tension.

“Too late.” His face drops, triggering a small chuckle from you. 

“Oh, relax, will you? I’m technically doing you a favor.” This time, a genuine smile graces your face, which does nothing to calm his nerves. “Now stay.” You put your hand up as if you were talking to a canine, to which Buggy rolls his eyes, your other hand holding the metal basin.

“I’m not a dog,” he mutters softly, not having the courage to stand up to you entirely.

You leer at him, opening the door to leave before shutting it behind you. Sitting there quietly, Buggy questions how he even got here. Not before long, you return, the bucket full of warm water. You place it on the ground, grab the towel off your shoulder, fold it, and lay it on the bed. 

“You’re serious?” He says quietly, watching you semi-curiously, shocked that you weren’t kidding. You hum softly and nod your head.

“I am.” Looking up at him, you can see the fear on his features, and your eyes soften a bit. “I’ll be gentle, I promise.”

He eyes you suspiciously, not sure whether or not to believe your words. Grabbing a small pouch, you pull out a bar of soap and a small bottle, which Buggy assumes is shampoo. Lastly, you grab a small wooden board and place it over the center of the tub.

“So you don’t drown,” you utter, his question practically visible on his face. He nods slowly in response, having a hard time believing the situation.

“I’ll have to take this off,” you gesture to his bandana and he bows his head in agreement, deciding not to fight it as you seem pretty determined. Gently removing the striped cloth, you fold it nicely and place it on the other side of the desk. Secondly, you remove the hair tie that kept his bright blue mane in a ponytail. Buggy watches you silently, interested in your next move. Softly grabbing the sides of his head, you place him on the wooden board that lies across the center of the tub. 

“I’m going to wash your hair first, okay?” 

He nods in response, curious eyes never leaving your face. You grab a small cup and fill it with warm water, asking him to lean his head backward so it doesn’t get in his eyes. The clown does as you say, though instead of closing his eyes, he keeps them glued on you, not trusting that you won’t dunk him in the water. You gently pour the water over his hair, moving your other hand to shield his eyes as he seems to want to keep them open. The usually talkative clown stays silent, not wanting to admit to himself that the warm water feels quite pleasant.

“When was the last time you actually washed your hair?” 

He raises an eyebrow at your question, pondering it momentarily before replying.

“I, uh, I’m not sure.” A nervous chuckle escapes his lips, expecting you to laugh at him. Instead, you smile gently and continue pouring water onto his hair. 

“I can tell.” The words contain no malice as you utter them, merely expressing an observation. Seeing that his hair was now thoroughly damp, you grab the small bottle of shampoo, pouring some out into one hand. Rubbing your hands together to form some bubbles, you move to start massaging the soap onto Buggy’s head.

“Were you born with this?” You ask curiously, referring to the cerulean color of his tresses. He raises his eyebrow at you, not expecting the question.

“I was.” Nodding as he speaks, his eyes continue to analyze your face as if you were a puzzle he was trying to solve. You smile at him, continuing to lather the shampoo into his hair. 

“It’s pretty. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Your words are soft, making sure that his whole scalp is covered in suds. He scoffs at this, thinking that you’re making fun of him. Momentarily pausing your movements, you lower your gaze to meet his eyes, finding insecurity dancing through them.

“I’m being serious. I wish I had brightly colored hair, maybe purple or something. Guess I wasn’t so lucky.” Going back to massaging his scalp, he looks up at you, utterly flabbergasted. 

“You really think so?” He asks softly, timidity laced through his tone. You nod in response, a gentle smile on your face. Humming softly, the clown takes in the new information, wondering what else you think about him. He didn’t want to admit it, but the way your fingers carefully danced across his head felt incredible, not being able to remember the last time someone treated him so gently. 

Reasoning that his hair was thoroughly soapy, you dunk your hands in the warm water to get rid of the remaining suds and quickly dry them with a towel. Subsequently grabbing the cup, you fill it with water and begin to wash the shampoo out of his hair. He stares at you all the while as if he is trying to commit your face to memory. After all the soap is washed out, you squeeze the ends of his hair to rid it of any excess water and grab a towel to wrap around his head. Leaning back to get a good look at him, you smile, finding his curious expression cute.

“Now for the face,” you utter, moving to grab a fresh towel and the bar of soap. 

“Wait a second, you’re going to wash my face too?” asks Buggy, his timbre uneasy. You nod in response, replying in a steady tone.

“You’ve been wearing the makeup for so long that it’s partially gone.” Smiling at him softly, not expecting him to be so nervous. He laughs bitterly, not an ounce of humor in his voice.

“Can… can you just leave it?” His question is soft, and your surprise is visible on your face.

“You do know that leaving makeup on for too long is bad for your skin right?” You quip, trying to lighten his mood. Letting out a shaky breath, he shakes his head softly, and you can tell he doesn’t know what to say. Your smile drops, and you watch him for a moment, figuring out what to do next. His face paint seems to be a sensitive topic, and you don't want to push him too far.

“How about this,” you start, a kind smile returning to your face, “If you let me wash off this old makeup, I’ll redo it for you so it’s nice and fresh.” Sitting across from him calmly, you try to give off a safe and non-threatening aura to make him feel more comfortable around you. He stares at you for a moment, astonished that you would offer such a thing. You stay silent, patiently waiting for a response.

“You’d do that for me?” he asks after a moment, the surprise in his voice evident. You nod, making sure to maintain the soft smile on your face. “You’re in luck because I just got some new face paints.” Leaning over to open the drawer of your desk, you pull out a palette with every color of the rainbow on it and some clean brushes, holding them up so he could see. He tilts his head in response, trying to discern whether or not you were serious. After what feels like forever, he finally returns your smile and nods. 

“Deal. Can you make it match how it normally looks?” He looks up at you with a soft smile, secretly hoping that you’ll do a decent job. 

“Of course.” Grinning, you grab the towel and soap, excited that he’s letting you do this. You wet the soap bar, rubbing it between your hands to generate some bubbles, and gently start the wash the old makeup off his face. The clown continues to stare at you, though his energy is much more relaxed than before. 

“You’re really pretty,” he comments after a moment, causing your hands to falter. Feeling the heat rise to your face, you smile, taking a moment to meet his gaze. 

“You’re pretty too,” you mutter softly. Now that his face is mostly clean, you see a light blush begin to form on his cheeks.

“I’m nowhere near as pretty as you.” The confidence is back in his voice, and he winks at you flirtily. You can help breaking out into a smile, choosing not to say anything in response. He watches you quietly as you wash the soap off of his face. Unbeknownst to you, Buggy never let anyone see him without makeup, but something about you told him that he could trust you. He’d also be lying if he said that he didn’t enjoy the view of your face being so close to his.

“Now for the fun part.” Grabbing the palette with one hand and a brush with another, you grin at him, excited to replicate his face paint. Truth be told, you loved doing makeup, but the only person who would let you do it was Luffy. There was one time Nami let you do hers, but it was after everyone else went to bed and she wiped it off immediately after. Your smile faltered at the thought of the orange-haired girl, and you remembered why Buggy was with your crew in the first place. The clown immediately noticed and looked up at you inquisitively.

“You okay?” He asks softly, already missing your smile. You nod and debate on telling him the truth, ultimately deciding that you should.

“I’m just thinking about Nami.” You force a smile back on your face, but Buggy can tell it’s not real. 

“That’s the girl Arlong took, right? Fiery personality with hair to match?” He asks, and the description of her causes a genuine smile to come across your face. You nod softly.

“That’s the one.” Staring at him with interest, you wonder if he’ll tell you Arling’s location since he clearly knows it.

“We both know I know where they are, and truth be told I had no intention of telling any of you, but something about you is special.” Your eyes widen at his words, was he really going to give it up that easily?

“He’s at Arlong Park, and I’ll bet she’s with him. I’ll take you there, as a thank you for all this.” You beam at him, ecstatic at the thought of saving Nami. It’s at that moment when Buggy decides your smile is the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” You rush out, your excitement getting the best of you. He chuckles at your enthusiasm and nods, a smile on his face as well.

“Now be quiet so I can do your makeup,” you say cheekily, dipping the brush into the white knowing that it’s the base for his signature look. He laughs in response but has one last thing to say.

“Do you need me to tell you how to do it?” He looks at you as you shake your head, your smile still prevalent.

“I’ve seen so many of your bounty posters, I’ve practically got it memorized.” His eyes widen at this, and his grin gets bigger.

“Oh, do I have myself a secret admirer?” The clown asks smugly, and he notices the blush that falls upon your face. If he knew it was so easy to make you flustered, he would have done it far sooner, finding you absolutely adorable.

“Shut up and let me work.” You bark, your tone not holding any aggression. He laughs again but does as you say, and you begin to paint his face white. For once, he remains silent, watching you work. Before long, the base is done and you move on to the blue triangles above and below his eyes. You stay silent as your brush runs along his face, wanting to make it look perfect until a thought comes into your head.

“You know something?” He hums, prompting you to continue. “You have the most captivating eyes I’ve ever seen.” Said eyes widen, never having been told that before. Buggy silently thanks the universe for the makeup covering his face because he can feel the heavy blush rising to his cheeks. 

“Th-thanks,” he mutters quietly, not sure how to respond. You tilt your head at him, curiously studying his face. 

“You’re not used to receiving compliments, are you?” Smiling at him softly, you watch as he shakes his head, letting out a nervous laugh.

“Usually I’m the one giving the compliments.” He looks up to meet your gaze, partially expecting you to laugh at him. You do nothing of the sort, instead smiling at him gently.

“Well, that’s a shame because I think you’re pretty handsome.” You wink at him, wanting to make him feel more comfortable since flirting seems to be one of his pastimes. His eyes widen again, the surprise written all over his face. Without saying anything else, you finish the blue around his eyes and move on to the red, cleaning the brush and dipping it into the face paint. The clown stays silent as you work on the red smile around his mouth, internally wondering if you meant what you said. When you get to his nose, he tenses up, a clear indicator that he’s insecure about it. You make sure to be extra careful as you paint the red onto his skin. 

“I meant what I said, I do find you quite attractive.” His eyes search yours for any hint of insincerity but find none. The king of flirting himself is stunned into silence, feeling his heart flutter at your words. You say nothing else and go back to finishing the makeup. Deciding to observe your face while he had the opportunity, he notices that you stick your tongue out slightly when concentrated, and he swears he’s never seen anything cuter. 

“All done!” You pull away proudly, assessing your work. It looks almost identical to his bounty picture, and you internally pat yourself on the back for your memory. Getting up to grab a mirror, you find one in the small dresser and bring it towards Buggy, holding it up so he can see his reflection. He looks in the mirror and instantly grins, impressed with your makeup skills.

“You know, you would be a wonderful addition to my crew.” You chuckle in response, not thinking that he’s being serious.

“You need a professional makeup artist?” You joke, internally glad he thinks you did a good job.

“No really, we could use someone like you.” His proposal shocks you, not expecting him to say something like that. 

“You don’t know me,” you speak quietly. He just smiles at you, taking in your beauty. 

“I know enough. You’re kind, funny, and great at makeup.” The clown winks at you, enjoying the surprise on your face. “I’ve also heard you are quite the fighter.” Smirking at you, he gives you a look that tells you he means what he says. You just stare at him in silence, having a hard time believing your ears. 

“So, sweetness, what do you say?” Gaping at him, you blink a few times, processing his offer. After a moment, you sigh, indecision written all over your features.

“I don't know, I��d have to leave the straw hats, and I’m not sure I could do that.” Surprisingly, his face softens at your words.

“Tell you what, let’s head off to save your friend and find my body, and then you can decide.” His smile remains soft, which is unusual for the clown. “I don’t think your current crew appreciates you. I mean, look at today, they gave you the task of babysitting me when you have so much more to offer.” Eyes widening at his words, you realize that maybe he’s right.

“Luffy appreciates me,” you whisper softly, though you’re not sure whether you’re trying to convince him or yourself.

“He might, but grass head certainly doesn’t.” You want to smirk at the nickname for Zoro, but there’s too much going on in your mind for your facial muscles to pull through.

“All I’m going to say is this, you’d have a real place in my crew, and not just on the bottom of the totem pole. Besides, I think you like my company just as much as I like yours.” He gazes at you, studying your body language, and you realize that he’s right, you do enjoy his company. You start nibbling on your lip out of nervous habit, and he picks up on it immediately.

“You don’t have to decide now, we can go rescue your friend first, okay?” He watches your shoulders visibly relax at that, and smiles in return.

“Okay.” You say softly, smiling back at him. “Your hair should be dry now.” Moving closer, you carefully take the towel off his head and giggle at the fluffy blue mess. 

“Thank the stars I have a brush.” Buggy chuckles at the comment and watches you grab the hairbrush with a smile on his face. Softly working through the tangles, you watch as his hair goes from frizzy to smooth. As you’re running the brush through his mane one last time, the door opens, revealing a shocked and somewhat appalled Zoro.

“What the hell is going on in here?!” Yells the swordsman, and you turn to him with a confused look.

“Well, you told me to watch him so I did.” You shrug, not liking the attitude coming from your crewmate.

“I said watch him, not give him a makeover! Did you do his makeup too?” The horrified look on Zoro’s face made Buggy laugh, not used to seeing the man lose his cool.

“You guys never let me do your makeup, so I had to improvise!” You bark back, crossing your arms. Zoro just stares at you silently, clearly having difficulty processing your kindness towards the clown. After a while, he rolls his eyes and scoffs.

“Whatever. Luffy needs him so we can find out where Nami is.” He mirrors your stance, crossing his arms.

“I already know where she is,” you spit, growing tired of the way he speaks to you. The swordsman scoffs, not believing you for a second.

“Oh, really? How?” A faux smile creeps onto his face, prepared to catch you in a lie.

“Because Buggy told me.” Zoro’s face drops and the man is stunned into silence. The clown immediately bursts into laughter, enjoying Zoro’s dumbfounded look. The green-haired man gawks for a moment, before moving his hands around, silently asking the question ‘how’.

“Because they’re nice and you’re an asshole,” Buggy says smugly, and you can tell he’d be crossing his arms if he had the rest of his body. You break out into a soft chuckle at this, which snaps Zoro out of his trance. 

“I’m not explaining this to Luffy, so you better take the head and go find him.” The swordsman scoffs again before leaving the room, shaking his head the whole time. Rolling your eyes, you move back toward the clown, mumbling to yourself while putting his hair back in a ponytail. 

“Don’t let him get to you, he won’t know what he has until it’s gone.” Buggy’s cheeky grin triggers your own, and you laugh softly, gently picking him up to go find Luffy. 

©️ succubaby, 2023

Please do not replicate/repost :)

[hopefulleafva]

Papyrus Wrote the UTDR Mystery Valentine

Okay so with a 2025 release for Deltarune chapters 3&4 confirmed I want to get this off my chest and document it for future me to either feel vindicated by or have a good laugh at how wrong it was. This has been eating me alive since the Valentine’s newsletter and I never said anything but I want this out there before anything new comes out.

Disclaimer: I have no idea if this is a theory other people have already made posts on or not because all I ever see is “it’s Gaster!” or “It’s not Gaster, it’s Dess/Egg Man/[Insert mysterious character here!]”. If someone has posted this theory before I missed it entirely. Not looking to steal anyone’s theory thunder here.

I’ve convinced myself this is Papyrus and just want to get my thoughts down here.

So. I see a lot of people talk about how the flippant and humorous way it’s written makes them think this isn’t Gaster. To get the Gaster stuff out of the way, my stance is that everyone has their own preferred idea of how they think Gaster acts and whether or not he could have a sense of humor, but we really have yet to learn a lot about him in canon. I don’t love us trying to make rules about what is and isn’t “in character” for him when we really haven’t met properly and have very little dialogue to go off of. I get a lot of people are basing their ideas of him being serious off Entry 17 and the popular assumption that the intro voice is Gaster. I think that’s fair and very understandable, but even still it’s only an extremely limited peek at what the guy is like. Point is, maybe he does have a silly sense of humor and maybe he doesn’t. I don’t want to entirely dismiss the idea that Gaster wrote this based on “it’s too silly, Gaster is serious!”. But I also think that the idea that because the speaker is a mysterious voice with meta knowledge of Deltarune that it MUST be Gaster is also a bit shaky.

Anyway.

Is it just me or does the bizarre roundabout way of phrasing things in the letter perfectly fall in line with how Papyrus speaks?

One of my favorite notes in the Undertale Legends of Localization book (HIGHLY recommend by the way, a really fascinating read) was this:

While yes, it’s important to bear in mind that this was the quote of a localizer and not Toby directly, I think it still rings very true for Papyrus’s character. Don’t really think I need a laundry list of examples for this point, right? Papyrus’s fun and unique way of speaking is such a memorable part of his character that you encounter in all routes.

Which is why it’s so interesting to me that this mystery writer seems to have a highly similar way of phrasing things in a unique and playful way.

The first one that really sticks out to me is the “I never forget someone I don’t remember.”

Really reminded me of the little bit you get after a post neutral run reset.

While not something I originally weighed in to my theory, it is worth noting that this bit between Papyrus and Sans occurs immediately after Papyrus has recognized Frisk after seeing them for this “first” time. This makes the mystery valentine writer’s preceding comment that they will know the forgotten person they are looking for immediately upon seeing them extra interesting.

This bit also stood out to me:

Because it also felt like very familiar phrasing. It took me a while to realize what it was making me think of.

Down to the quotations around a common phrase like it’s an alleged thing not a very common thing??? Like MAN.

While these were the only two parts I felt directly and strongly paralleled specific phrasing Papyrus has used before in canon, there were a few other things that caught my eye.

A faith in the power of love, and the power of belief.

(Yes, I realize the “even if you don’t think so” appears to negate the idea of Frisk’s beliefs being an important part of their ability to change, but I’d say Papyrus is still emphasizing that his beliefs are significant in this.)

Very strange that the writer doesn’t dismiss the idea that the person they have forgotten they wanted to help could be themself. How could you forget yourself? But then again…

And while not really the same degree of strength in a parallel, I just want to bring up that the letter writer remarks that the reader is odd yet reliable for responding out loud to a piece of written communication.

It is strange that the author seems to have still heard the reader’s out-loud reply to the letter. A weird instance where a mode of communication that has limits on what SHOULD be able to be perceived by the other person somehow has those limits broken and allows that person to comment on something they shouldn’t be able to perceive.

Kind of like if you were having a phone call with someone far away from you but they still seemed to somehow be able to know exactly what you were looking at and where you were. Where have we heard that before…?

Also come on. You can’t tell me “PUT ON YOUR COAT AND WASH YOUR FACE! OR, PUT ON YOUR FACE AND WASH YOUR COAT. NOT NECESSARILY IN THAT ORDER. OR, IN ANY ORDER AT ALL.” doesn’t sound like a Papyrus-ism.

I know some people may point out that Papyrus already has Valentines that are very explicitly from him in the newsletter, so it would be weird to have three that are and one that wasn’t. But I don’t think that necessarily should refute this idea. It could be possible the “signed” valentines are from Undertale’s Papyrus, and this one is from Deltarune’s Papyrus. Even if you subscribe to the idea that UT Papyrus IS DR Papyrus, this could simply be a letter sent from a different point in time.

Anyway, this has been eating me alive since February so I wanted to get it off my chest. Maybe this is completely off base, but interesting to think about.

[what-eats-owls]

I've already gotten a couple nastygrams about this, so I want to address something since that post is breaking containment. (Also, anon asks are off for a bit, sorry not sorry.)

There's a post in my drafts from this morning. It's a reply to someone who brought up Palestine and Gaza. In it, I expressed admiration and respect for the Uncommitted Movement and what they've accomplished, as well as their current stance that while they cannot endorse Harris, Trump must not be allowed to return to power. I started to write about how 46% of registered Democrats in a recent AP poll opposed providing Israel with more weapons, but 30% were in favor, and 20% were neutral. I started to write about how that could be related to the significant generational divide in attitudes towards Israel and Palestine. And how, when 52% of all ballots in 2020 were cast by people over the age of 50, that's whose vote is gonna get courted, whether I like it or not.

I was gonna talk about my parents, two classic white liberal boomers who are appalled at the atrocities the government of Israel is openly and proudly committing. I was gonna talk about how bitter it is to get a female candidate who I cannot give my unrestrained, enthusiastic support to, because her boss's administration has enabled the murder of over 43,000 Gazans and even though I understand the rationale behind trying to please voters on both sides, it's always going to be a stain on this campaign.

And then I took a step back, and asked myself if any of that is going to matter to someone who can't find the correct configuration of buzzwords on the social media platform I use primarily for fandom shitposting, and decides that gives them moral ground to send self-gratifying abuse into my inbox. It wouldn't matter what I said, only that I had provided an opening. (I'm a veteran of YA twitter. I know how this game works.)

So that post stayed in the drafts. But here we are.

My post about voting doesn't mention Palestine because, in my direct experience, it doesn't matter what cause you're trying to help by withholding a vote, especially not during the general election. If I didn't care about Palestine, why the fuck would I open myself up for harassment to let y'all know that voting abstention doesn't have the effect you want it to? It would be so much easier to let you keep tilting at windmills, riding high on the fantasy that disengagement divorces you from complicity.

Unfortunately for all of us, I actually want more leftist voters engaged in national, state, and local-level civic decision-making, so the Democratic party doesn't win without you. This isn't 4D chess. They pander to the people who reliably show up. That's all.

[zorosbeau33]

Alpha Laxus Dreyar + Courting Headcanon

❖ Fairy Tail, Laxus x Gender Neutral Reader

❖ Headcanon, Fluff, Comedy

❖ Tw: Mentions of fighting

❖ wc: 1777

❖ @tojiseviltwin @kimnamshiks ❖ Masterlist Natsu~❖

. ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

I was supposed to do a strictly Courting Headcanon but uh I got distracted...SO I shall put a strictly nsfw courting (and maybe some more bonus sfw) headcanon on my to-do list X.X Sorry

. ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

We are going to do Laxus post his first fight for this one~ Because we love character growth in this universe~

Laxus is an alpha, a seemingly calm alpha with a selective and secretive short fuse. 

He has no time anymore for meaningless violence. Laxus is too busy looking towards the future and doing whatever is within his power from behind the scenes to make the lives of his guildmates better

However if you purposely put yourself in his way, by threatening his assumed fairy tail this man will assert himself as the alpha and without letting that sink in he will strike

One blast of lightning is all it takes to fry most, and just to be a disrespectful shit, he will let his scent out so they are stuck smelling like the alpha who kicked their ass so easily and warning any of their buddies there is a Fairy Guardian ready to kick ass if they try to lay a hand on them

Unlike Natsu or Rogue he is not hiding or ignoring his alpha status, he doesn’t necessarily think it makes him better than anyone anymore. However He knows that secondary gender often leads people to be naturally stronger in terms of strength and scent

He is very mindful of how much force he puts into everything, from opening doors to helping someone up who fell. It would bother and upset him if he accidentally caused injury to someone who did not deserve it

Unlike how Natsu just has a generally lower scent unless he’s angry, Laxus’s scent is strong and he has gone through time to learn how to keep it calmer and not overpowering for those around him. In fact it is a rather grounding and calming scent that makes you feel you can rely on this man

He takes pride in his scent but understands not everyone wants to smell him 24/7 so he hardly ever pushes his scent out(except as a power move on assholes), and never scent marks not even the Thunder legion 

Although awkward when it comes to expressing affection, Laxus is a very passionate alpha it comes across in the tiny turns of his lips, the stance he takes to protect others, and the crackling of his lightning (it differs in fights against guildmates vs enemies you can feel his ferocity)

This goes for shows of affection to his guild mates too, he plays with them like a jock big brother would the youngest sibling. He treasures them but also this usually comes through him unintentionally teasing them or pissing them off by how he interacts with them

Alpha Laxus is not looking for power, he is looking for a family. A place to rest and a place he can protect with everything inside him

If he is needed to lead then he will but it will not be from the thought of I am alpha so you will listen, but because he wishes to protect and he will serve the role of protector (not alpha) but protector for those who he has come to accept as family regardless of their secondary genders, primary genders, sexuality, or magical ability

He has learned to protect the strong as well as the weak and he cherishes each one even if he does not know them personally all that well, when family views them as his family thus he will protect them

As for Laxus as an alpha to be with you, well you must be a member of Fairy Tail plain and simple, or someone Fairy Tail sees as family

If you are seen as family but a part of another guild it won’t work for him. He has to be able to protect you and while he does see other guilds as friends he can’t trust them with your safety

Civilian? Oh guess who just got the best gig ever? Working at Fairy Tail! Congratulations~

He is a quiet partner at first, he speaks with his body and actions. You’ll need to learn to notice his glances because they speak volumes about whether he is watching you lovingly, worried for you, or just perplexed by your behavior.

Same for his body positioning, he tends to linger closer to you not like hovering beside you, but same side of the room as you. Sitting just a seat or two away, or positioned so he can be beside you in an instant if anything happened

Laxus is not huge on PDA, he just is a bit awkward because he doesn’t really crave skinship in the way many do

He prefers to gently fix your hair as a way of giving you affection before moving on to the next objective. Or cup your cheek and smile for a moment before he walks away to go get you food or one of his jackets 

He will on occasion stand just a half step behind and to the side so he can rest one of his gargantuan hands on your hip and bask in your presence

Laxus will actually commit murder if he sees you crying. The snarls and way he snaps you up into his arms is terrifying enough to his guild members let alone the stranger who had hurt your soul thusly

He feels helpless but will be there to hold you and offer soft words of encouragement and protection. This is one of the times you would hear him give you verbal affirmations without having to ask for them. He will get revenge for you unless you stop him

If its because of unfortunate events, nature is nature after all Laxus will steal you away to somewhere safe preferably your nest so he can just be a strong shoulder to cry on, and later cook for you. Expect the best cuddles, kisses, and home-cooked food, unintentionally becoming more like husband material by the day

It's much later on in your relationship when he starts to act on certain alpha impulses

One of those is kissing you, he found you too cute before and he was in no rush to claim you. If you wanted him like he did you it would happen in time

When he finally acts on it, it is probably after a heated battle or moment where he feels he had nearly failed to be the man (not alpha) he wanted to be for you and is so desperate and filled with all the love he has been storing up inside for you

It’s a claiming and dominant kiss and later he will apologize if that wasn’t the sort of kiss you wanted your first kiss with him to be

Now he seeks you out sometimes tugging you in gently by your hips or cupping the back of your head while he presses slow claiming steamy kisses to your lips (or if he is feeling needy or worried about you to your throat by your scent glands)

If someone in the guild is getting too close or handsy expect his jealousy to leak out slightly in a small scent flare and him coming over to kiss your forehead and cheek and suggest you both go “-get a drink” “show him that thing you were talking about” or if they really pushed it “to our Home”

Another impulse he is acting on? Scenting for the first time in years! He wants to leave his scent lingering on you so that you know he is never too far away

It does ward off others as well, being an alpha but it was more because it's his way of claiming his mate as a man who is terrified to lose you and his family again

The times it is as an alpha is if you have to go into battle and either of you are worried about the other's safety. He hopes his alpha scent could deter any harm that might come to you, he knows it can't always but even if it helps a little it's worth using his secondary gender then. Please scent him back, it helps calm his mind that you will be okay while he has to fight. He also fights six times harder with your scent on him subconsciously fighting to defend his mate with all the deadly precision he has learned over the years as an s class wizard

If he knows you are okay with it he will often wrap you up in some of his clothes

It tickles his heart seeing you drowning in his huge things

He’s unaware of it but the others see that alpha light in his eyes when you wear something of his. All the pride and love of an alpha watching their mate but they really want to tease him for this behavior he's unaware of

Alpha status can sometimes be used by him without thinking if it can make your or the guilds lives easier or safer. It is less OOO I’m a big scary alpha and “Oh? Scared of alpha’s huh? Then get the fuck out of here before I show you what an alpha really is, scum.” 

Would not appreciate being referred to by his secondary gender, it brings up bad memories and discredits his actual prowess and growth. Use his name, or his position as a s class Fairy Tail wizard not “Alpha”.

Is re-assured if you like his secondary gender but it's something he wouldn’t realize he finds relieving until it happens and you tell him as such. Although he would still prefer if it was not one of your favorite things about him

Not the greatest at understanding what the other positions need, but he is trying to learn every single day. Has gone to the library to try and find books that aren't archaic so he can be sure to provide the family or you with whatever you require at any time. He still gets surprised by things, like why your little clicks and prrts can grab his attention from across a battlefield. Doesn’t realize that is his mate's way of calling to him and him alone and he is responding to it the right way, he may ask you to be more careful about when you make those noises after he accidentally gets distracted by it while you were cheering him on and Natsu socked him in the jaw

I’ll do a more courting one but I think this is more than I had meant to do for just him as an alpha lol XD Heres a few little more but I’d be willing to do a courting headcanon, or nsfw mate headcanon if people are curious

[marvelstars]

Anakin Skywalker, the Republic and Politics

Shmi cut me off. “The Republic doesn’t exist out here, ” she said sharply. “We must survive on our own.”

I have placed all my faith in the Republic. Its laws are formalized, enforced throughout the galaxies. Yet there are places, whole worlds, where they are ignored.

Am I placing too much faith in the Senate? It is all I have. But is depending on it to right the wrongs of the Naboo asking too much?

Padmé Amidala | Episode I Journal: Queen Amidala

It´s quite simple really why would a former slave trust the Republic to enforce their laws if they failed so epically at enforcing their "no slavery allowed" law on Tatooine and other planets and not only that but part of their politicians openly practice it? and as a Jedi he wasn´t asked to help free slaves on Tatooine as a guardian of peace and justice but he was made to save the heir of the main slaver in his home planet.

No wonder Anakin was of the mind that Republic citizens need to be given the tools to take care of their own needs, see security during the clone wars, because the alternative, the republic doing something about it, was next to zero.

He became authoritarian because of Palpatine but even as Vader if he didn´t trust a Grand admiral he didn´t just let them know that but it was kind of Vader´s job to keep them in line or be done with them which the Emperor allowed, we can´t allow an admiral become too powerful to become a menace for the Emperor, the only untouchable one was Tarkin and still I am pretty sure the main reason Vader was on Death Star I was to make sure Tarkin didn´t got any ideas about using the weapon agaisnt Palpatine to take over the Empire with the power of the Death Star. As Vader he believed he could bring order to the galaxy with the power of the Empire but also wanted a Senate to represent the system, Vader didn´t agree on the use of the death star or the dissapareance of the Senate.

Anakin Skywalker at heart wasn´t left or right, he certainly hold ideals "The biggest problem in the galaxy is that no one helps each other" and "Lest free all the slaves" but I don´t think he believed politicians from either ideology truly represented those ideals and star wars is pretty vague about the ideology of the politicians during Republic time, in fact neither did Obi-Wan and that´s quite interesting given they expend a lot of time around politicians and using diplomacy, they didn´t get those ideas from ignorance, they got those ideas from interacting with politicians and most often than not, they saw Politicians used those ideals to get power and didn´t care for much else besides that.

Anakin looks to me like an idealist - realist who later became a pragmatic who supported an authoritation regime, his heart was idealist but his mind told him the galaxy moved to the sound of realpolitik and that´s what he practiced as General in the clone wars and later as Darth Vader.

He loved and trusted Padme because he knew with every fibre of his being that she was honest and truly cared and that´s the example he wanted Ahsoka to learn from, that´s why he send Ahsoka to learn politics from Padme, not from Palpatine but he trusted and listened to Palpatine because he appealed to his more pragmatic side.

Anakin would have loved to think the galaxy worked as Padme wanted it to work but his mind and his past told him that in practice power was what truly moved the galaxy highest espheres just as it worked when he was a kid. His actions in the clone wars reflect that, he served all his orders but also made an extra effort to help those who were not the priority of anybody in a position of power, be it Plo Koon and his men, the clones, Saw Guerrera, Neutral planets in the war, citizens with no bone to pick with either side, etc.

TBH while he probably didn´t agree with Satine on her peaceful stance towards the war, he didn´t criticize her for seeking a peaceful end to the war as Obi-Wan did, in fact he tried to talk with her on her terms, telling her they were at her service as guardians not soldiers even if she and he knew what he really meant, Anakin certainly approved of her distrust towards the Republic and didn´t argue with her about the Jedi becoming soldiers because that was exactly what they had become, Anakin doesn´t argue with reality, he just did´t think that was permanent and that they could get back to what they were once the war was done. He also agreed with Satine wish to keep her people out of the war "She is a remarkable woman" Anakin told Obi-Wan.

His problem was that he didn´t got to voice those oppinions or discuss them in a serious way with Padme or Obi-Wan because he knew they probably woulnd not agree with him and promptly expect him to follow their lead, he only did so with Palpatine because he apparently listened to him or at least let him express himself Anakin truly wanted to agree with the people he loved most in the galaxy but he didn´t ,not on this matter.

I believe fandom and sometimes the clone wars and new material doesn´t truly explore Anakin´s political ideas in part because Lucas made the mistake of reducing them to a tease between Anakin and Padme on their firt date to give more chance to the tragic part of his story but originally (OT)Vader fell to the darkside because of his politics and his relationship to the Emperor, the story is still there and it´s a real shame fandom just makes fun of them when they add so much to the story, Anakin brings the realism into the fairlytale in many ways, including the political one.

[aurekiwi]

Hello kiwi ! Can you do fs reading on jk ?

Thnk you 😇🙏

𝐣𝐞𝐨𝐧 𝐣𝐮𝐧����𝐤𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞

welcome to another reading by your favorite intuitive reader, kiwi! i was quite hesitant about this reading because of how tense bts tarot feels, but i realized that i'll have requests about jungkook and bts regardless in the future and thought i might as well try it out.

𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐤𝐢𝐰𝐢 | masterpost | support kiwi

before you read: please remember that i'm only one tarot reader. this reading was done with the best of my abilities and intentions, and i most definitely do not want to cause problems for jungkook, the future spouse, or any of you.

to start off, i asked my tarot deck Yume for a figure card that represents jungkook's future spouse. i received Balance, and the back of the deck was Harpy Eagle.

Balance: Balance sits outside of this duality. They follow their vibration, their own story. They can often be positive, revealing the good that sits inside us all. They can also be gloomy as they give in to the dark emotions that lie feral, waiting to attack. Balance sits somewhere in between. They know what it is like to carry both sides. Balance blends the best and the worst presenting us all a new opportunity to experience the whole of creation.

jungkook's future spouse is an open-minded individual who is emotionally intelligent, striving for balance within their every day life. they are aware of the fact that life has both its positives and negatives, and they must learn to adapt to them and find the greatness within each new experience. jungkook's future spouse is one who does not let their troubles stop them from moving forward towards what they truly love. others may perceive that they are ever-changing and mysterious- they have learned to maintain a neutral perspective and stance no matter the situation. i am sensing that jungkook's future spouse may be spiritual or religious due to the card's imagery of a woman whose hands are in the shape of yin and yang, with the universe making up her body. they are very wise and caring, feeling driven to help provide their sense of balance to others, whatever form that may be.

Harpy Eagle: The Harpy Eagle comes to you via visions in your sleep time and your waking days. When it appears, heed the message and take a good look at what is out of balance in your life. Take stock of your life. Are you where you want to be emotionally, physically, and financially? Now is the time to envision where you want to be and who you want in your life.

jungkook's future spouse seems to put a lot of focus on the idea of "balance," as it is mentioned by this card as well. they are very reflective of their circumstances in their day-to-day life and strive to improve by thinking about what they insight they may be lacking. this card also seems to clarify that jungkook's future spouse is a spiritual or religious person who has spiritual dreams that guide them in times of need. jungkook's future spouse desires to take control over their life, giving me a feeling that they may struggle with issues of control, power dynamics, addiction(s), and unhealthy habits. they may be a logical person and very hard on themselves, often moving through a hard situation without complaints by focusing on this idea of "balance" and "self-improvement." they are a future-oriented thinker, and they are excited to see how their current actions towards change will impact their future. in terms of their views on love, my understanding is that the future spouse wants deep and committed love but is currently unavailable to it due to past hurts and their dreams and career aspirations.

next, i asked my tarot deck Snow White for some cards that would help us learn about jungkook's future spouse. i received: temperance, two of pentacles, the tower, three of wands, and the star.

jungkook's future spouse is a very balanced and fair individual. as mentioned above, they may have had unhealthy habits and tendencies in the past, or they may have been exposed to an unhealthy power dynamic that has resulted in them focusing heavily on their idea of "balance." they try to stray away from substance abuse and other unhealthy habits/decisions by pursuing the temperance energy. in general, they are a very busy person. i see them being very quick with their decisions. the ace of swords card to me within this context, makes me think that jungkook's future spouse is often someone who gets into their head and likes to think and reflect about a lot of different things. once they make a decision, i see them being very fast about chasing after their goals and making their decision become their reality as quick as possible. that makes them pretty pre-occupied, however, they work very hard to make sure to spend time with their friends and loved ones. they may keep a small circle of close friends and have them as their support system, and they are the type of person who would be truly happy for your accomplishments and successes rather than being jealous. they have a lot of love for those that matter a lot to them and make sure to show that those they love, are loved.

the tower tells me that they have had quite a turbulent life which explains the unhealthy dynamics and habits that i sensed in a previous portion of the reading. i asked for some clarification, and i received the three of swords and the empress, which makes me think that their love and support has oftentimes been taken for granted and unappreciated. they may have found that they are usually the nurturing, caring, and understanding mother figure in many people's lives. with friends, that would mean the "mom friend" or "the therapist friend" who is always there to listen to your worries. i'm also sensing that within a family setting, it would be the person who is holding the family together, the bandange, or the mediator who has to step in whenever there is conflict. their life has been full of being broken down to the ground and constant rebuilding, each time an improved version of themself. this is actually quite admirable of them, and this signifies to me that regardless of their actual age, they are a very wise and mature person. plus, jungkook's future spouse seems to embody the empress energy, so they may attract a lot of people in general or people may really like them for those qualities as well.

the three of wands signifies a visionary, also higher studies/education and traveling. they may travel to different countries/land either to pursue higher studies or they may just like traveling or have family members scattered in different parts of the world. i'm also sensing that they may come from a diverse background, as in they may be living in a country that is not their culture's or their home country, motherland, or mother tongue. intuitively, they seem surrounded by wand or fire energy, so a city/state/province/country that has quite strong masculine/patriarchal energy. it can also mean that the place they are from is generally dry/warm/hot. they are obviously a very intelligent individual, so higher education also seems quite possible. this means that they are not "too" young as some may wish- they are probably at a minimum in college, or are in professional/graduate school or working. they are a very respectable person, and after interacting with their energy, it makes me understand why so many people are already so interested in them.

lastly, the back of the deck was the star. the star card comes after the tower in the major arcana- it represents a sense of hope, enlightenment, and happiness after a storm has passed. jungkook's future spouse seems to have a positive mindset about their struggles. people around them may perceive as someone who learns to see the good in any situation and appreciate the good of their current circumstances, even if it may be horrible for them. they are humble and are very patient. they choose to believe that the chaos and disaster breed blessings and good fortune (wheel of fortune) within their life. they always learn to be grateful and resilient. they shine bright like a star as well, and i suddenly see jungkook's eye and how they turn wide at the sight of his future spouse. they seem to have this glow around them... a beautiful, mysterious, alluring aura that makes them so attractive in his eyes. the imagery of the star card also makes me think that they have a very feminine energy, and they are an empath and a healer. there is lots of water which i interpret as intuition, emotions, and creativity, which are qualities that they may have that sets them aside from others. their career or area of study may be related to the star card's qualities.

[moral-autism]

things I have learned from doing a web search for "general dni criteria"

you should not interact if you're anti-kink in any way! you should also not interact if you are A NSFW, kink, regressor, or fetish account … OR if you support, participate in, take a neutral stance on, tolerate, or justify any of the above. in conclusion it's okay to do some consensual sadism in real life but we must all take a firm stance against people who post online about thinking latex outfits look nice.

you should not interact if you are a proshipper. a proshipper may support a problematic ship that is problematic/ILLEGAL. i have a friend who is a fan of holmes/watson, which would obviously violate historic british law on homosexuality, and thus it is obviously a problematic ship. (i in fact support much more 'problematic' ships than this but also, like, come on.)

you have to be an antinatalist to interact with blogs that are concerned for basic DNI criteria! otherwise you are, after all, pro-birth. (this is probably actually about opposing abortion rights.)

supporting russia is zionist now apparently. also possibly going "severe weather isn't that big a deal" might be antisemitic? i'm not sure. i can't figure out what "extreme periodic events" is supposed to refer to here.

if you're anti tone indicators that's ableist.

font users are ableist. this is actually really interesting, because another DNI complains of fonts on acc (screenreaders cant read them). which makes me think this is about using unicode special characters to mimic font use, when fonts are a screenreader-friendly solution to 'how do i make this text have serifs'.

DNI Definitions explains 'sysmeds'. meanwhile multiple other DNIs are mad at endogenic systems.

the green-white-blue gay flag is either fake or harmful. not sure which.

oh and also basic DNI include people who make 9/11 jokes.

[xxscarletxrosexx]

Spy x Family Ch. 99 Thoughts + Analyses

God, this entire chapter has been an extreme roller coaster from feeling excitement to sobbing--I'm terribly emotional when it comes to reading war stories must be from all the times I was forced to read war stories throughout my English education program to anger to resignation.

... but this is why I love Spy x Family and the brilliant storywriting of Tatsuya Endo.

Ch. 99 Spoilers ahead.

There's a level of depth and care put into these characters that make them feel so real. If you have someone who has family serving in the army or if you are someone who has read countless accounts of war, then surely you are affected emotionally by the horrors of war. In my case, war stories are what made me look at life and identify the meaning of it. Although I won't go into too much detail about my findings, I did walk away having a deeper appreciation for literature and for humanity itself, in other words, I cry easily to war stories. Hence the case of this chapter.

I was already prepared that Ch. 99 would be a devastating chapter considering that Ch. 98 ends with a cliffhanger in which the alarms go off just as Martha was going to confess her feelings for Henry, and that this 'side mission' story is expected to conclude before Ch. 100. And it truly did not disappoint.

As mentioned earlier, this chapter is a jam-packed rollercoaster ride with previous expectations motivating my excitement as well as my dread for the inevitable.

First, I'd like to address a part that excited me: parallelism.

What quickly striked me was how similar Henry was drawn to Twilight after departing his jail cell. Even the context of the chapter leading up to this physical change indicates that sacrificing oneself for the best outcome/greater good was a theme echoed by these similar character designs.

There is also a third "similar character design" which has become a popularized theory in a possible relationship between the Captain and Twilight. However, I'm starting to see that these similar drawing styles don't identify relationships, but alignment in sacrificing oneself.

I see this as an alignment amongst the three because we now have two lores that shared the impact of war and the injuries sustained, whereas the Captain/First Lieutenant has yet to have his lore addressed. We can surmise based off Twilight and Henry's background that their experiences from war is what continues to drive them in their chosen field/occupation. I'm excited for the day that we learn the Lieutenant's real name and his POV from war. It is then that we will finally get three POV's:

The West / WISE - [Redacted]/Twilight/Loid

The Neutral Civilian - Henry

The Ostanian / SSS - Lieutenant

This is the perfect time to segway to my next excitement: symbolism.

Even though the lore on the unnamed First Lieutenant/Captain has not yet been addressed, his scars tell me that he's experienced a similar outcome. Tell me, have you guys noticed that all 3 men had experienced the same injury found on the left side of his face?

When I looked into the symbolism behind it, I found that the left side of our brain is responsible for processing emotions. The injury to the left side of the face signifies an emotional trauma in which their emotional side had to be silenced. Given what we've already learned about Twilight and Henry's backstories, their personalities and thinking are often stemming from an analytical/logical approach.

Of course, old wives' tales are not always scientifically supported, so I was prompted to research more, and I stumbled across an interesting one regarding emotions found in different parts of the brain:

Since this is a theory, it should not be taken as a fact without repeated research and evidence to support the claim. I, myself, do not claim to be an expert when it comes to neurology or psychology. But this information, when taken from a creative writing/literary analytical stance, can support that the left-face injuries had essentially damaged the positive facial expressions--which can support Twilight and Henry's experience. Thus, we can also surmise that the Captain had experienced a similar fate.

Another thing that we can learn from these injuries (at the time that they were present) is that the character is currently experiencing a time of vulnerability--[Redcated] after returning from battle and Henry, who is still in mourning, is still a bit withdrawn from his students.

Another symbolism that I got excited about is the dichotomy between Henry and his father in character design.

Notice Henry's hair is straight and tied up in contrast to his father who has his hair wavy and loose. Although subtle, I found this character design beautiful for its ability to show a dichotomy in their social/political views.

Wavy hair can be perceived as something flowy, as in going with the flow. Because it isn't tied up, I see that Henry's father doesn't need to hold himself back, and is free to express himself and his views. In contrast, Henry's hair is straight and tied back. Straight hair can be perceived to support Henry's straightforward nature (which is also one of his weaknesses as well as covered in the previous chapters). When his hair is tied up, he gives an air of elegance and looks like he's got everything together. However, his hair tied back could also illustrate imprisonment of the mind, where his views cannot be vocalized at a time when tensions were high during the first war. Furthermore, his "rebellious" behavior resulted in him ultimately being tied down to what was imposed on him (marrying the person his father picked).

I love the detail in which Henry is drawn with his hair untied and unshaven. He's broken at this point, and as we all witnessed at the assembly, he loses control of himself over this grief that he's taken into custody and slandered a traitor. The next time we do see him is when his long hair is chopped off and traded for an undercut--a telltale sign that he was starting anew, and looking awfully like Twilight.

During this social climate, Henry was perceived as the 'villain' in the Henderson family due to his 'bad' behavior. But let me, just say that Endo-san loves to remind us through character design just who is the true villain. Did you notice it, too? It's the nose. Henry's father has a pointy nose, reminiscent of a witch, whereas he inherited his mother's round nose. Another small detail, but it made me laugh. This is why I love Endo-san.

Above, I have addressed what made me happy. Now, I will address what brought me to tears, that being Martha and Henry.

I mean, it's no surprise that they wouldn't have a happy ending. I was well prepared with the knowledge I know about them from present-day story that mentions of Henry's daughter, cameos of his wedding ring, and Martha working with the Blackbells, and recently reveals that she had an old crush on Henry. The absence of their love being pursued led us to believe that Martha may have had a one-sided romance. But ch. 99 confirms that Henry reciprocated his feelings for her due to yearning her letters.

It wasn't until news of Martha's life-threatening decision did it impact Henry significantly, and then his breaking point to realization that he loved her too late was when Martha showed her vulnerable side in her letter with the following:

I practically balled right here. I was teary-eyed leading up to it because war stories are always so heartbreaking, especially to those who sacrifice or don't make it home alive.

We now learn why Henry ended up marrying someone else is due to Martha's "inevitable" death--unbeknownst that her decision not to volunteer would also result in death. From what we read, Martha was too emotional to vocalize her situation clearly, and even if she did, her message would be blacked out, unfortunately. So it is evident that Martha was trapped and had no way out other than choosing to volunteer and ultimately "die" in battle.

Henry, on the other hand, could not fight the system, despite that he became a History teacher just to do that. He failed because his countrymen and the system failed him. He lost his beloved and if he were to continue holding onto his belief, he'd lose his ability to teach. Essentially, he lost the fight (to change history/improve the situation through education during that social climate), but not the war (in which there is still hope for history to change). Heny, ultimately, shared a similar fate as Martha through self sacrifice of his livelihood.

I was and still am completely discombobulated by the war and its impact on Martha and Henry that, to be honest, I completely disregarded Donovan Desmond.

I know I won't be able to capture the importance of his lines as eloquently and moving as I did with Martha and Henry, the former pair leaving a moving impact on me during this chapter, so I'd like to recommend my dear friend, @yumeka-sxf 's, analysis which covers more of Endo's brilliant story writing and character development decisions.

After rereading the chapter as well as her analysis, I agree with her point that Donovan Desmond was made to be the antagonist of the story. I believe Donovan's view of liars and holding absolutely no hope for them is a necessity for readers to continue perceiving him as a villain in the series. This is because we cannot perceive good and evil as simply black and white in the series when we have both Yor and Loid dirtying their hands in the name of protecting their countries/loved ones. We hold love for the characters in this series because of their personalities, values, and moral compasses amidst taking life after life. In their social climate they must always choose to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, which is why their tainted actions can be perceived as forgiven. Donovan Desmond, on the other hand, cannot share that 'exception' because an action/drama story needs a villain.

If you made it to the end, thank you so much for your time! I hope you enjoyed my analyses and thoughts on Ch. 99! What do you guys think about the chapter and my analyses? I'd love to hear more from you! :3

[theblueseassoul]

“Patience.”

Eetu x na’vi!reader

No use of names. Gender neutral reader. Read in the second person.

You ran a hand through your thick hair, closing your eyes, your free hand tightening around the bow you were trying so desperately to use. It was frustratingly difficult, you were taught to use guns, not these things. You wanted to learn, but it also felt almost shameful to ask for help from the others. You’d been trying almost all morning to hunt, and at this point it would be luck just to hit something other than a tree or the ground.

“Ma’ eylan, there you are.” The sound of a familiar voice cuts through the silence. You open your eyes and turn to see the hunter Eetu, who you had been told frequently to ask to teach you, however you felt almost nervous asking him of such a thing. He had a soft smile on his lips as he approached, and you gestured from your forehead and out in greeting as you replied “I am just.. hunting.” He mirrored the gesture with a widening grin, glancing from you to your bow, and the arrow dug into a trees bark not too far away. “Are you?” Eetu asked, his tail flicking behind him, telling you of his amusement at your poor bowmanship.

You couldn’t help but chuckle airily “it’s not going very well.” You told him as you pushed your hair from your face and looked down at the bow in your hand. You wanted to reconnect with your identity after it was taken away from you by the RDA, Mercer and his stories demonizing na’vi and their culture. Your culture. He stole you from your mother, your home, brainwashed you, though it didn’t seem to work very well. You tried to learn their ways, to take back what was so wrongfully pulled from your arms, but it was so very hard to learn after all these years. Eetu could feel your irritation practically radiating from you, and so he placed a gentle hand on your shoulder “Let me help you. We will make you an amazing arched yet. Patience will take you very far.” He offered, his gaze softening ever so slightly.

You couldn’t refuse, you could never say no to him. He knew you, how you worked and how to every so skillfully convince you to let him help you. You were very stubborn, as you always had been. It was nice though, how much he cared, and he didn’t get frustrated with your stubbornness. He simply found other ways to help you. Just like now, as you pulled the arrow you retrieved back with the bow string, shifting so your legs were what felt like in the right position.

Eetu was right behind you, hands hovering over your skin as he first looked at your aim. He had you pointing your arrow towards a simple target, one of the bright orange shelter fruit hanging from a tree. As you tried to steady your breathing, his hands gently rested against your arms, lifting the elbow that was drawing the arrow back up and slightly in “You have a too wide stance. That is one of the problems. You are too tense.” He said, adjusting your body into the correct form. His warm hands danced over your body expertly, and you would be lying if you said it didn’t make your heart race. Eetu was someone who knew how to press your buttons, how to make your heart race and cheeks flush without doing much of anything. It would be infuriating if he wasn’t good at making you laugh.

“The other problem?” You asked, almost whispering as you tilted your head towards him. He hummed in response, and you could almost feel it resonating in his chest because he was so close. “You are too hasty, anxious. You need to relax, and trust in yourself.” Eetu instructed as he moved to next to you, pressing his hand against your heart. “Focus on your breathing. Picture the arrow piercing the fruit. You must believe that you have the capability. I can tell you that I believe in you, but that will do nothing. you must believe in yourself. You are na’vi.” Your eyes met, and his held nothing but belief and something that felt like fondness as he continued to feel your heart.

If only you could tell him that it was him that caused your heart to act in such a way. You followed what he had told you, deep slow breaths and making the image of the arrow piercing the fruit and watching the juice flow from it. One of his hands stayed firmly against your lower back, before it was to keep your back straight and now you weren’t sure. You pull the arrow back, and send a small prayer to Eywa to guide your arrow before letting it fly through the air. And it had hit the shelter fruit. A grin spread across your face and you turned to Eetu, who nodded, matching your smile and patting your cheek proudly “You did well.” You placed your hand over his for a brief moment and replied “Thank you, ma’yawntu.” Your voice was softened, and your smile was as well before you rushed to get the arrow, and the fruits for a well deserved celebration snack.

Eetu had paused for a moment, replaying your words through his head. Ma’yawntu, a term that meant my beloved, or loved one. He took a deep breath and placed a heart over his racing heart, turning away. He decided that you had simply been speaking with Nefika too much, who had a horrible habit of giving anyone and everyone little pet names. When you returned to his side, offering a shelter fruit for the walk back, he took it graciously and walked beside you. You walked close to each other as you spoke about nothing very important as many of your conversations went, shoulders gently brushing against each other, tails grazing the other as they swayed happily behind. You set your racing, bewitched heart to the side for a moment and simply appreciated his presence, and the patience he had granted you to teach you even a small bit of archery. And then you remembered you had let a sweet name pass your lips when speaking to him, wincing as you realized that he might’ve found it strange. Uncomfortable.

You looked over at him and met his curious eyes, filled with fondness and the both of you stopped talking for a moment before laughing. Eetu’s arm wrapped around your shoulders and he squeezed you close as you walked, “you are a joy to be around.” He told you. You gently leaned your head against him for a moment in thanks as you said “as are you. Thank you for having the patience to teach me. I know I have gotten on So’lek’s last nerve with wanting to learn.” Eetu shook his head slightly and said “you only need to ask and I will do anything I can for you. You could never irritate me, taronyutsyip.” He had called you little hunter, perhaps to make the pet name you’d given him less awkward. You nodded thankfully, loosely wrapping your tail around his waist to thank him as you filled your mouth with the delicious shelter fruit.

He was a wonderful teacher. And perhaps you will ask him more often to teach, for both his company and to finally re-learn how to be you. To be a true Na’vi.

[sugar-crash]

🍬King Candy (Wreck-It Ralph) x (gn) Reader👑

(Reader Who Mythologizes Turbo Edition)

(Picture’s not mine!)

(Request here! Alright, did someone order a dosage of existentialism in their King Candy headcanons?)

- When he finds out about this aspect of your personality and opinion I believe he for sure plays along with it but doesn’t outright say anything that confirms or denies the validity of the RoadBlasters incident due to the fact that he isn’t really supposed to know anything.

- In general he’s trying to have a neutral stance on it to separate himself from Turbo as much as possible, to keep the game going, the ongoing dance that must be done perfectly.

- Even with that he loves to play it up alongside you, uttering the “going Turbo” phrase with a wiggle of his fingers and a faux serious voice before a delighted laugh leaves his lips with a hand he clasps it over his mouth.

- Yeah, he’s loving this way too much. His more malicious side comes out as he humors you, but of course he makes sure there’s a limit, the invisible line that he occasionally brings up in a nonchalant way when you get a bit too raunchy about it for his taste.

- Finds himself biting back an insult or two as you ramble about just how stupid the story is over some tea with the king, I mean— Who’d be so stupid to have not just one game cabinet unplugged but two?? Bafflingly foolish.

- …. Just one more thing on his ever growing list of things he won’t ever openly admit to anyone, hiding behind a somewhat strained smile he hides as he lifts a cup up to his lips with a dainty hand.

- To save face I believe he adds in a comment or two about the message behind the story, that people must keep it in mind before they act, putting on a kingly spiel of being responsible and mindful… Yeah right.

- He’s so fucking two-faced it’s insane. Acts as if he’s the voice of reason in the relationship even though that’s FAR from true, gently nudging you into the opinion that Turbo was something that was born from the stigma of game jumping... But of course there are people who were from the that time who were there and could confirm it!

- Fix-It Felix for example is one who wouldn’t stray from telling others of a more detailed story of what happened that day, much to King Candy’s chagrin.

- And he isn’t exactly known for being a liar, but he’s also bit of a pushover, not forcing you to believe it, but rather hoping you keep the warnings the story has in the back of your mind if you feel yourself wanting to stray away from your game for “greener pastures”.

- Of course King Candy is easily able to sway you back into your way of thinking by telling you that, yeah, it may have been based off of true events but aren’t almost all horror stories or folklore?

- Basically uses the boogeyman allegory to sweep any wariness you may have after speaking with Felix, tries his best to stir you away from actually believing it but of course, he also uses the story to his advantage and manipulating it like he has done to so many other things in his reach.

- Fear-mongering is basically what he does with it, using it against his people as a means to an end… Much like what he does with Venallope albeit on a smaller scale due to his desire of wanting to keep the idea of Turbo light so people don’t see the parallels between the two, no matter how insignificant the similarities may be… Though I may be giving him too much credit.

- He eventually gets overzealous with it, letting those things pop up as you two have some witty banter between the two of you which strikes you a bit as the feeling of recognition dawns on you as you find yourself connecting your partner to this man of myth…

- Those random spouts of anger, those cutthroat and bitter words of sarcasm that contrast deeply with his usual sugary sweetness.

- Bear with me, I’M MAKING A POINT, to quote The Crucible, “; no crack in a fortress may be accounted small.” In context to what I’m saying, his facade is imperfect even as strong as he makes it out to be, his metaphorical fortress is more akin to a piece of porcelain that does have it’s cracks.

- As dense as you may or may not be for not believing people who were there you’d have to be one of the most foolish people to not realize King Candy isn’t who portrays himself to be.

- Who knows if you figure it out fully by the time it’s revealed, but at the very least you have a suspicion and suspicion could lead to you rethinking your opinion on the tale you had come to love for its mysteriousness and tragedy, fiction and fantasy melding into one another in a way you can’t find yourself comprehending till it is too late.

- Who knows how it feels to see your lover shifting in out of his form, making way for the creature that you had only heard stories and secondhand accounts from. Do you feel sad? Full of rage??

- Or does the feeling of your favorite story finally being confirmed to be real help better your feelings? Aiding your obsession? Did you get your fill of the mystery? The tragedy??

(.-- .... --- / -.- -. --- .-- ...)

[thecircularsystem]

I cannot recommend enough the abandonment of syscourse labels.

In system spaces, it often feels necessary to label oneself to be a certain syscourse stance. Pro-endo, anti-endo — I even said and popularized, “coined,” endo-neutral (I was the first to say it that I saw, at the very least). I endorsed and wore “syscourse-unaligned” as a badge.

But the core of all of these are that they are non-nuanced labels that could mean such varied things that… at this rate, they’re largely simply virtue signaling. After all, labeling yourself as anti or pro allows all syscoursers to immediately be able to make a judgement call on the “type of person you are” — are you The Good Guy or The Bad Guy?

Endo-neutrals had a difficult path as well, because the point of it was originally to be that you didn’t have an opinion, or had mixed feelings about the tumblr community of pro-endos — and now it’s spiraled into something else entirely.

Syscourse unaligned also branched out; I’ve seen apathetic used a lot too, and I’m certain people have found fault with that too.

It seems that, for many in these spaces, if you aren’t labeling yourself as explicitly for something, then clearly, you’re against it. And to some degree, I get it with the label endo-neutral. I worded it that way due to the discourse stances being centered on endogenic systemhood.

And that, ultimately, shows the problem with the labels to me. I am not an endogenic system; it is not my place to even have an opinion on that. I do, but I would much rather focus my blog around… me? Not what they’re doing over there. I only want to discuss it in regards to how it affects CDDs, and my own recovery; and THAT is the syscourse I like.

You do not need to have your syscourse label. You don’t need to share one publicly, or even waste the time thinking of what label might fit you best. If you find solace in the label, please, use one! But never feel you must.

Anyone who says you must have a label is trying to force you to debate with them, or else is trying to assess your safety for their wellbeing.

You do not owe people debates. You can just ignore.

If someone feels unsafe, it is their job to moderate themselves.

There are ways to show your safety and care and kindness without adding an arbitrary label onto your blog that could mean anything at this point.

These communities — anti, pro, neutral — all of syscourse has harmed people. The communities have distinct problems, and shared problems.

Don’t feel like you must participate, and don’t let people force you to. Step back if you’re already entrenched and take a good look at yourself.

Is this the person you want to be right now?

[satohqbanana]

This won the recent poll, so I will delight you with a bit more lore and worldbuilding... based on the old poll.

Luishreya TL;DR:

War Queen Luishreya is a balding green-haired, brown-skinned amputee and warrior who not only led at least 11 troops, but also became queen of a kingdom and gained the attention of at least two gods. By the power of both knowledge and wisdom, she led the nation of Verforlea for a long time and left behind three heirs.

Political background TL;DR:

The Endless Wars between multiple nations and city-states during Luishreya's time established the nation of Verforlea. With no suitable heirs to follow into her grand footsteps, Verforlea eventually became susceptible to enemies. Upon its fall, the Emerald Kingdom arose.

Thanks to its predecessor's prior wealth, the Emerald Kingdom became very rich and powerful, but it also got cocky and aggressive towards other nations. The Platinum Fort eventually got fed up of its antics and voiced out their opposition to the kingdom's predatory practices. Soon, a war sparked, covering the real reason why using the debate of alchemy VS magic. Due to this, they began seeking allies and sympathizers to their plight. To protect their maritime trade and tourism industries, the Damasqus Network, which lay between the two, decided to hold a neutral stance and opted to offer hospitals and clinics for wounded soldiers on both sides.

For a time, the biggest question was what the Kingdom of Prisma, the floating nation of Crystallistes, and the city-state of Kaleidopolis will do... until former Prismatic princesses and sisters Head Mage Grace and Queen Charity decided they were going to side with the Platinum Fort.

At the present time of Liberatio, the situation had been at a standstill, both sides silent but agitated, awaiting each other's next moves.

Extra Game Stuff:

The icon for Magia contains the Shruysi character for A.

Surprise screenshot of a room in the Heartwood Academy basement:

Homework:

Unlock more lore and worldbuilding by rearranging the following statements in a meaningful manner:

Insightful Reflections - Gentle is the darkness where the dust settles, and great is the wisdom you have earned.

Ephemeral Journeys - Just as everything has its start and its end, it also has a median where one must make crucial decisions.

Reinvigorated Hopes - Rejoice in your regenesis, and be reborn anew as the cycle of time restarts.

Breathtaking Discoveries - Wide is the world that awaits you, and boundless is the knowledge under the light.

Peaceful Reveries - Trust in the curtain call of time; permit the cycle to reach another graceful end.

Arcanium Masterpost || Current Tag List: Feel free to ask to be tagged!

General Tags:

@philosophika, @amaiguri, @thecomfywriter, @wyked-ao3, @kingragnarok-writes

[sysmedsaresexist]

We really need to come up with better terms for syscourse stances because the main ones aren't cutting it

Anti endo can mean everything from staunch disbelief and bad, aggressive posts to completely believing that endogenic systems are real and valid but not wanting them to interact with CDD-specific content

Being pro endo can mean someone believes DID is caused by trauma and that the CDD community must be protected above all else, to people actively villainizing CDD systems and everything in-between

Endo neutral can mean everything from not caring at all about syscourse and refusing to engage, to allowing interaction from all sides without judgement despite personal beliefs

Anti-misinformation had promise at one point in reference to the massive amounts of misinformation in both communities, but it wasn't working

Any and all of these labels can mean you think the DSM or ICD directly affirms endogenic systems and they can also mean that person has never picked up a DSM in their life

NONE OF THESE ARE WORKING

None of them are accurate

None of them convey the full picture

These are useless labels

(I don't want to hear a peep about the syscourse code, that's not cutting it either, no one has time for that)

People getting upset over pro endo mods on anti endo blogs don't realize that you can share the exact same beliefs about science and the communities and use opposing labels.

Some pro endo blogs should try putting an anti endo on their team to control misinformation and point out ableism, seriously, interaction is how you start learning, anti endos seem more willing to take that step than pro endos and that's pathetic

I also think it might be good to remove the focus from the validity and acceptance of endogenic systems (anti/pro endo) and place it back on what's important-- protecting traumatized individuals

Maybe something like "#CDDs first" can convey that your intention, attention, and audience will always prioritize the CDD community and their safety, but even that... someone can be well-intentioned when they misquote things

I don't know, I'd love to hear the communities' thoughts-- both pro and anti, I'd like this to spread around a bit, I think it's important that people realize that labels don't mean there's disagreement on ideas and concepts-- a pro endo can share the same goals and ideas as an anti endo and vice versa

For example, at this point, I'll happily interact with anyone who agrees that DID is a childhood trauma disorder. That's it. That's my bar. No more, no less. There are pro endos who believe the exact same things I do on all fronts, despite calling me anti endo.

It really just doesn't make sense.

Maybe together we can come up with something better

[writingonjorvik]

Can We Discuss Narrative Incompetence?

I want to go off on this thought a little longer, but it would be a hard tangent from the previous post I commented on about male characters in SSO being written to be incompetent (that's the summary of the thought) to go into this, so it's its own post now.

It is so frustrating because there is a purpose for narrative incompetence. It can help regulate tone, and lower the sense of threat, both of which are important for this being a kids' game. It can provide comic relief and relieve tension. But it has to be handled with balance.

The glaring problem with overusing narrative incompetence in a character who is supposed to be taken seriously, which the villains of a story should be, is that it will eventually circle back onto the main characters. Because if the villains are utterly incompetent, then why can't the heroes defeat them already? And if we add on the layer of issues with SSE's current stance on feminism and girl power : if all of the men are too incompetent to do anything, then what does it say about the competence of the women who still haven't stopped them?

It's one of the reasons that I've felt a particular disconnect with the overconfidence of the Soul Riders lately. Despite us seeing the absolute magical havoc the Dark Riders can cause, the Soul Riders are almost boastfully confident in themselves. In one of the recent quests with growing the seed for the Wild Weave, where we'd mostly been following Linda and the MC, they get cornered in a 2v1. And then Lisa shows up and tells Katja to scram, and Katja just does. Just like that. This also gets into the lack of definition in the full scope of the Soul Riders' abilities beyond "primary trope," but for the purpose of this discussion, it makes no sense for Lisa to be as confident as she is. Why couldn't the MC and Linda handle it on their own? It was a 2v1. Even with one of them protecting the seed, it's not an even match.

We are told over and over throughout the story that the druids, and thereby the current Soul Riders, are keeping the Dark Riders at bay. Not on the backfoot, at a neutral standstill. Worse, we see more examples in the story of the druids taking losses than we see examples of the Soul Riders winning. The lose of the Light Ceremony book, the capture of Lisa and Anne by Dark Core specifically, the Baroness feeling threatened enough by DC/Sands to imprison Linda, the death of Concorde, the death of Elizabeth, the kidnapping Justin for so long as to distract from dealing with the Light Ceremony book or rescuing Lisa and Anne, DC being allied with several witches as to have resources and allies that the druids don't, the discovery of Drakeonium, the restoration of three generals and the return of the fourth. To highlight on that too, the druids don't have any allies outside the druids currently. Tentatively they might have Ydris now, and Mrs. Holdsworth. But there is very little evidence in the narrative of how the druids are even holding their own with no outside help (in fact, there's now further division within the druids and the Keepers as these aren't the same thing) or ready supply of resources.

And yet when we interact with the Dark Riders and DC, they are largely incapable of stopping us in the moment. Their goons are inept, Darko is laughably emo and never shown as a serious threat (let alone shown any reason why he could unseat Sands), and Sands, despite his position as the current commander of Garnok's army, concedes his responsibilities to let his grandson escape. The latter would be an amazing point of interest to follow and talk about inner turmoil Sands is perhaps having now and internal shakeups within DC, but instead we have zeroed in on a cartoon villain level of evil that the other four must always be engaging in by monologuing and then being momentarily foiled by the MC. Because the villains can't be threats when we engage with them.

All of this circles back around to the Soul Riders and makes them look worse for not being able to handle these threats. They feel more and more like they are fumbling backwards into handling these issues, and it brings out their worse traits. Alex is incredibly clumsy and brash, Anne is almost mindlessly angry, Lisa's "eh"ness becomes more glaringly apparent, Linda seems excessively cautious. And none of these traits, individually, are bad. The exploration of them all would make sense in the narrative. Alex is afraid of letting everyone down but she struggles to be a forward thinker. Anne is justifiably upset about the death of her best friend and her imprisonment and desperately needs an outlet to direct that anger. Lisa is, as the party healer, always seeking to be the peacemaker and meet everyone at their needs, at the risk of becoming a people-pleaser herself and losing her identity. And Linda is a young person who can see the future, to include very likely the injuries (some of which are likely fatal) of her and her friends, to the point of fearing taking the wrong course of action.

Each of those would be fascinating to explore. But because the threat they're facing is so unable to actually feel like it's any danger, all of the Soul Riders' fears, their weaknesses and shortcomings, go unchallenged by the narrative. Thus highlighting their weaknesses over their strengths. There is no room to grow, because the force they are fighting against has not been serious enough that they've needed to. So they remain stagnant as characters, which is the worst thing for a main character to be.

And this isn't to say that so incompetent yet still able to pull off their goals can't be a seriously scary situation to be in. But that requires an incompetent head of the evil supported by a competent team of generals, of which we haven't gotten. All of the villains fluctuate on their competency on and off screen. And if the goal was to do this with Sands, Darko would have to seem more competent than him and he is not remotely close to being scarier than Sands. There is in fact no reason for Darko's character that couldn't be written in as being Sands. Every one of his scenes could be replaced and he could be written out entirely. That should say something about how useless he is as a character.

Circling back to the point about this being a broader issue with men in SSO not being able to be intelligent unless they're eccentric old men, this is incredibly damaging to little girls too. SSE has the prime opportunity to highlight healthy masculinity, men comfortable in being masc and femme and themselves, to show little girls (just to follow target audience) what healthy masculinity looks like so that they can set proper boundaries with the men in their lives. That doesn't require writing more male characters or not centering the female main characters. All it requires it writing the existing men in the story well. Showing them trying to help people, like the arcs I suggested for Justin training as a Wild Whisperer bonding people with horses, or Raptor taking over as a record label to help young women enter the industry like Lisa. And this is to gloss over entirely what it does to have those examples for little boys and how that is an important part of feminism too.

Because little girls do need to see those examples too. Most of them will grow up interested in men. That is just statistics. If they grow up thinking purely "men are just too inept to know any better" then we continue to prepare femme people to expect less than the bare minimum because "what else would you expect from a man?" And directly through that message, SSE perpetuates sexism and misogyny. And that message gets women killed every day.

[monstersdownthepath]

Herald of Abadar: Lawgiver

CR 15

Lawful Neutral Gargantuan Construct

Inner Sea Gods, pg. 276

Well, I suppose we have to get this guy out of the way at some point, so why not put him at the start of Monitors and Misfits Month? It's especially fitting considering Abadar is the first core god that most people will see in just about every list of deities thanks to his name! The God of Civilization has done a lot for the mortal world and for the Perfect City of Axis alike, with the implacable Lawgiver being one of his simpler creations, made to enforce the peace of Axis and to act as Abadar's strongarm in the mortal world. Much like its fellow "boringly-named Construct in service to a Lawful god crafted for the express purpose of combat" the Grand Defender, the Lawgiver was not born, but made, crafted directly from the metals of Axis to serve as its defender and to hit Chaotic creatures with a huge hammer. It's got a lot in common with the GD!

Including being very boring. If you put the Hand of the Inheritor on one side of a Venn diagram and the Grand Defender on the other, the Lawgiver would be dead in the center right under the topic of 'statistically boring.' This isn't to say it's weak, far from it! But the Lawgiver is as every bit as stuffy, practical, and to-the-point as its creator, eschewing having any unique abilities or equipment or any bombastic spells in favor of a handful of generically useful spells and the aforementioned hammer. It doesn't even have an interesting personality, the book outright noting the thing almost never speaks, and when it does it's almost entirely passages from Abadar's holy books and manuals which are relevant to the current situation.

You can, perhaps, sense my frustration with and boredom towards Lawgiver here, a feeling that appears to be shared with the staff of Archives of Nethys, who haven't updated its statblock since its original release in Curse of the Crimson Throne: Seven Days to the Grave back in 2008, forcing me to keep Inner Sea Gods open in my other hand to make sure my data is accurate. As you may expect from such a forgettable entity, this won't be a particularly interesting article, but it is one that must be written to set the stage for the rest of the Heralds this month. So, let's take a look at the Big Man With A Hammer which, as we'll find out, is all it needs to smash most proteans and demons to paste.

Let's get the big hammer out of the way, first. The guy is stanced up in his picture for a reason! He's winding up for a big, two-handed slam with a +1 Axiomatic Warhammer sized for a Gargantuan creature, the heavy weapon dealing 4d6+10 (+2d6 vs Chaotic) damage upwards to four times a round and triple damage on a critical hit. Should it prize power over accuracy, the Lawgiver can use Power Attack to take a -4 penalty to its attack rolls for +8 to the damage, a trade it will typically make without hesitation against Chaotic Outsiders.

With a 20ft space and 20ft reach, Lawgiver shrouds entire battlefields in its threat radius, being one of the largest Heralds yet one of the few who can take its foes by surprise; it's not only capable of freezing completely stock-still and pretending to be a statue, but it can freely Change Shape into a large eagle to scout or hide from prying eyes, typically doing so when patrolling Axis to keep an eye out for trouble. It can also be considerably less subtle by turning into a two-headed golden eagle, which most sane beings would recognize as an omen that something very bad was about to happen to them if they don't turn and leave.

Even in its natural statue state the Lawgiver can fly 60ft a round, letting it get really goofy with its Full-Attacks if it wants, slamming its hammer down on its enemies from above while they're stuck on the ground, Medium-sized foes unable to fly made completely worthless by its superior reach... though this is used more often to catch up to flying enemies than it is to let it safely attack ground-bound foes, because every protean flies and they're by far Axis' most common enemy. And if someone's got magical flight to keep up with it, it really has nothing to say to that.

It's got a huge pile of spell-likes, more than almost any other Herald, but they're all for the good of the people of Axis and the mortals fighting alongside the Lawgiver than for the Herald itself. Just take a look at the healthcare you get on Axis' battlefield: Cure Serious Wounds, Neutralize Poison, Remove Blindness/Deafness, Remove Curse, Remove Disease, and finally Remove Paralysis, ALL of these spells usable 3/day! Paizo should have saved time and just given it Heal and Greater Restoration; mostly the same effect, less text.

You'll notice that every single one of those spells is useless to the Lawgiver, who--as a Construct--is immune to basically anything but HP damage. That spell list is exclusively for the mortals fighting alongside it and citizens harmed in the crossfires of the war on chaos! And speaking of Construct defenses, the Lawgiver is a fairly sturdy robot, all things considered: 34 AC, immunity to Acid and Electricity, 10 Cold and Fire Resistance, and 26 Spell Resistance overall. It's also got All-Around Vision to deny flanking bonuses and is immune to critical hits, and uniquely is also impervious to rust, something I assume many proteans hoping to erode the city of Axis found out all too late.

It's a pretty sturdy robot! Even if it is undecorated. Function over form, and all that; Abadar knew what he wanted when he built it, and it's no more than that. And that's more or less it!

You can sort of read more about it here; you'll need to use the d20pfsrd version to actually see its updated stats.

[atopvisenyashill]

I am a Dany!Chosen One truther. I think her arc ends with her saving the world. I also think Aerys-wanting-to-blow-up-the city + the-wildfire-is-still-there + Dany-has-dragon + competing-claims= Big Green Boom. Why do people ignore this?

First - I am a Dany chosen one truther too it’s just that i think what she’s chosen for is bad! Think more along the lines of Anakin and Paul Atreides than Aragorn and Alina Starkov.

Second - no one is ignoring the wildfire, that’s actually a large part of people’s theories as to why KL is gonna Kaboom. it’s not that anyone is ignoring that it’s likely the pots of fire that are going to destroy KL. rather, it’s that people are theorizing on What is going to set them off! If a dragon fight happens over King’s Landing, well that makes sense as to being what sets the pots off and destroys the city.

Third - You say “dany’s competing claims” as if it’s a value neutral thing. We are in the middle of a show in this universe airing where every other scene is someone lamenting the horrors of war, the terrors of dragon fire, and the sin of kinslaying. So what happens when Dany gets to KL and finds Aegon has set up shop, gained most of Westeros as allies, and is beloved by the smallfolk? She just murders him, unknowingly setting the city on fire in the fight that happens between their dragons, and then gets to be the undisputed hero? Why is she justified for murdering him if he’s a good ruler with a better claim that hers? How does she not hold responsibility for the damage they do to KL if she’s using her dragon to burn him out, whether or not she knows about the wildfire pots?

What if it happens like in the show, where she shows up and in attempt to root out the Lannisters, she sets off the wildfire? Is it Cersei’s fault for refusing to give over the city? Is it Jaime’s fault for not telling anyone about the pots? Is it Dany’s fault for escalating the fight to dragon fire in the first place? Does it matter that it’s an accident? It doesn’t matter for other characters - Robb doesn’t mean to make the Riverlands a hellscape yet that’s what he helps to accomplish, regardless of his motivations! Stannis doesn’t mean to lead his men to ruin on the Blackwater yet that’s what he accomplishes! - so why would it matter for Dany? Why is she the exception? Simply because she’s The Prophecied Hero?

My stance on that is the same as my stance on tyrion as the third head of the dragon bc his dad is aerys - if a world requires three separate women to be raped in order to survive, that world doesn’t deserve to survive! If, in order for Dany to be the hero, she must not be held accountable for the mass death she’s going to have some sort of hand in and must not ever learn from her plethora of mistakes, than maybe she’s not all that heroic at all! Maybe, as Jon Snow says, she’s just more of the same.