#and i used her in battle and thus know her connection to Sam

[killjoy-prince]

This was really really cute!!!!

[starry-bi-sky]

Danyal Al Ghul: Incorrect Quotes and Miscellaneous Thoughts

Incorrect quotes-style snippets specifically for my danyal al ghul au here (which i really need to come up with a unique au name for atp). Because I thought it'd be funny. And also some miscellaneous headcanons thrown into the mix. Some context for the au: - Danyal is 5 years older than Damian (so 10 and 15) - Danny faked his death when he was 10. Talia knows and helped him with it. - Jazz, Sam, and Tucker do not know he's an ex-assassin.

-------- Snippet 1

Danny, dryly tapping his temple: I have, as the Americans say, irreparable psychological damage, right here.

Jazz, an older sibling first and foremost: well, it's good that you're self-aware.

-------- Snippet 2

Danny, aged 10, in the American foster planning to just age out of the system: *emanating Bad Vibes. Pure, Little Orphan Tom Riddle Energy*

Jazz, aged 12, coming in to adopt a new sibling with her parents: Him. This is my brother now :)

Danny: ...what

--------

Lilo and Stitch is Danny's favorite Disney movie. He watched it when he was 11 with Jazz when she was attempting to connect with him, and by this point Danny was becoming receptive to her efforts. They had a movie marathon in the living room one night.

Safe to say? It resonated with his little 11 year old heart strongly, and he related very strongly with both Nani and Stitch. He got unexpectedly emotional and hid in his room for the rest of the night. Jazz felt really bad, but it had the intended (but kinda unexpected) effect of him trying to be nicer to her afterwards.

-------- Snippet 3

Dash, aged 12, causing trouble again and getting intercepted by Danny: *scaling up a desk* AHHHHH! GET YOUR LITTLE FREAK, FOLEY!

Tucker: Hey! Danny is not a freak!

Dash: GET HIM TO BACK OFF

Tucker, was the kid Dash was messing with: ....whats in it for me

-------- Snippet 4

Danny, saying some questionably immoral shit: What. Why are you looking at me like that.

Tucker: Bro. I mean this as kindly as possible; what the fuck?

Sam: yeah, I'm with Tuck on this one.

-------- Snippet 5

Danny, ranting about Vlad: if it weren't for the laws of this land, I would have slaughtered him

Sam, painting his nails black: I'm pretty sure you'd slaughter him regardless of the laws of the land -- and quit moving, you're gonna mess me up.

Tucker: we've literally seen you debate yourself about this, Dan

Danny: ...you are correct, but it is the principle of things.

-------- Snippet 6

Vlad: I have experience my child, and the money and power attained through using those powers for personal gain, you say. I could train you, teach you everything I know! And all you have to do is renounce that idiot adoptive father of yours.

Danny, was already contemplating committing a Violence: ....

Danny, internally: I'm going to stab him *turns into Phantom*

--------

Funny contrast I realized between Danyal and Vlad that iirc I haven't pointed out yet is that imo, Danyal doesn't rely on his powers nearly half as much as canon Danny does. He falls back instinctually on his League training, and thus sometimes forgets to use his powers in battle. This was prevalent especially early on when he was still getting used to the whole 'halfa' thing.

He incorporates them more often after a year, but still for the most part relies on his own physical hand-to-hand combat. He trusts those skills much more than he does his powers. I'm not sure where he is on a technical level compared to canon, but just to stay safe I'll say he's similar in power skill as canon Danny. Perhaps a little more finessed than him because his League training would probably have him trying to figure out his powers as soon as possible.

But in summary? Danny is strong in hand-to-hand combat, weak in powerset.

Meanwhile Vlad is the opposite. I can't recall if he even knows hand-to-hand in canon, but it makes total sense to me that Vlad Masters wouldn't because he's so confident in his monetary influence and ghost abilities that he sees no need for it.

And he's kinda got some merit behind it. He's very powerful and has 20 years of experience to experiment and fine tune his powers. He's got bite to follow up his bark. He's perfected long-range combat and his ability to phase through walls makes it impossible to corner him, but if you can manage it, then one good hit could probably knock him on his ass.

So in summary, Vlad is strong in powerset, weak in hand-to-hand combat.

And it casts a good contrast between the two of them in that regard. Danny, as a fellow halfa, can follow Vlad when he phases through walls and is fast enough to land a hit on him. His league training as an assassin, albeit rusty, is still deep ingrained enough in him that he can hold up as a rather veritable threat against Vlad without needing his powers.

But Vlad can force Danny to use his powers more often through use of his own. The duplication is the first thing to come to mind: Danny's fast enough to dispel them on his own without powers, and smart enough that he could figure out who the real one is if given a few minute. But that's not always efficient enough.

Good foils for each other that way. Also Vlad's Plasmius design mimics Ra's juuust enough that he looks like Ra's knockoff loser second cousin no one talks about, which only fuels Danny's hatred.

-------- Snippet 7

Danny, ranting about Vlad for the first time: --and it's only made worse by the fact that the little ingrate resembles a cheap knock-off of my grandfather!--

Sam, choking on her water: he what--

Tucker, doing a spittake: HE DOES?

[tea-with-eleni]

Whenever I see posts mentioning Darmok, I always think of one of the best teachers I ever had.

Ms Goodloe taught world literature in tenth grade. She knew the curriculum, and more importantly, she knew the WHY of the curriculum. It was SUPPOSED to overlap with all of our other classes to the point where it wasn't entirely clear where english stopped and history or art began.

When we did the Epic of Gilgamesh, for example, we not only read the text and learned the history of mesopotamia and Ur and so on. We also built artifacts from the text -- statue heads, chariot wheels, robes, and in one case, a 3-meter battle axe. (I still don't know how Sam made that one -- dude bicycled to school every day. How do you get a 3 meter battle axe to school on a bike? I get why nobody stopped him, he was a crazy guy with a giant axe, but how did he DO it?!)

She also told us, with a more-than-slightly insane grin, that she had something EXTRA special one day. She got an ancient projector working, loaded up a VHS tape (we still had a few in 2010, although not many) and we watched Darmok.

I'm not sure how much of it was that she just liked Star Trek, how much of it was connecting the curriculum to pop culture, how much of it was to keep us off balance and thus keep discipline (it was a VERY effective strategy), and how much of it was to point out that the rising language of communication-via-memes wasn't something our generation invented. But it was a very memorable class.

She retired after us, because the school system was becoming increasingly hostile to teachers. I should have taken that as a cue, in retrospect -- I worked for the same school system, albeit mostly at a different school, ten years later and it just about killed me.

I wish I had her address or something. I'd like to send her a letter some time and tell her just how much I think about her class even now.

[dreamsmp-au-ideas]

Ok, basics of Soul Eater. This is a world where people can be born with the ability to transform into magical weapons, known as Demon weapons. They can come to this school called the DWMA (Death Weapon Meister Academy) and find a partner who’s able to wield them, called a meister. If their soul wavelengths are compatible, they’ll become a pair. These weapon-meister pairs are then tasked with going out into the world and fighting off kishin eggs, which are people who have strayed onto the path of evil by eating human souls. If they aren’t hunted down and eliminated, they will eventually form into a kishin – a creature of pure madness that would destroy the world.

There are also Witches, beings of magic who are kind of like a third party – some want the kishin to be revived because it causes chaos, but others are chill and actually on the side of the DWMA. Witches are important because their souls are the key to a Demon weapon awakening their true form, and gaining extra powers. Defeating a witch and consuming their soul makes the weapon into a Death Scythe, a weapon powerful enough to be wielded by Death himself, the god of the world.

For my AU, I’m just taking the premise of the world and replacing the characters with DSMP/MCYT characters, so I won’t explain much there. Great show, would recommend highly, it’s on Netflix, read the manga as well if you’re disappointed by the ending of the anime.

Anyways, I’d like to use more MCYT characters than just DSMP peeps, like some Hermitcraft folks, but I know nothing about them really, so I just have DSMP stuff for now.

Phil is Death, because I can’t help but make him immortal in every AU I make. He’s the one who determines who has started to go down the path of the kishin and makes the order for them to be taken out. (Sounds kinda intense, but in this universe souls of people like this actually look different to healthy human souls).

Dream and George are a meister-weapon pair. George is a Demon Axe, and they are classified as a Three-Star pair (the highest ranking a meister can achieve, and second only to being a Death Scythe for a weapon.)

Techno is also a three-star meister, although his situation is a little different. He doesn’t wield a Demon weapon, but instead he wields a legendary sword called Harpe, which is a shapeshifting weapon that can take different forms. (So, in the series, they have Excalibur, who is this really powerful sword that anyone is compatible with, wavelength wise, but he himself is really freaking annoying so nobody can stand using him as a partner. I wanted to give Techno something different, but I wanted to tie in his connection with Greek mythology, so I created my own legendary weapon. Harpe is Perseus’s sword in the mythology, what he used to decapitate Medusa. Harpe is the same as Excalibur in that it can match anyone’s wavelength, but instead of just being annoying like Excalibur, Harpe allows Techno to hear the voices of the dead. Wherever he goes, there are people who speak to him, and usually it’s just idle chatter and he pretends he can’t hear them, but they seem to know that he can because he always seems to attract them wherever he goes.) Harpe usually takes the form of a sword, but it can also become a trident, a spear, and a pickaxe.

Then there are the two-star pairs, who are a level above the regular students and able to take on more dangerous missions. There’s Sapnap and his two weapons Karl and Quackity, who wield fire and water/ice (not sure yet) respectively. Sapnap and Karl were partners first, before Quackity came to the school, and he was a menace. Sapnap is a very powerful meister, but also very destructive due to his partner being fire and him not knowing how to hold back sometimes. When Quackity became a student and the teachers learned that he was a water weapon, he was begged to partner with them to try and reduce the amount of damage Sap does on lessons, and generally chill them out. Of course, the teachers didn’t account for Quackity being just as chaotic, if not more, than his partners, and thus begun the most chaotic trio at the school.

Bad and Skeppy are partners, and originally I was gonna have Skeppy as the meister with a reluctant Bad who gets pulled into Skeppy’s pranks, but then I remembered that IRL!Bad is a badass who throws knives and shoots guns and stuff, so I changed it so Bad’s the meister and Skeppy’s his knife weapon. Bad still gets dragged around with Skeppy’s shenanigans though.

Punz and Ant are partners, mostly because I needed them to be in the AU somehow and they both needed a partner. Honestly don’t know much about either of them, and I don’t know what kind of weapon Ant is, but they’re strong enough to be two-star.

Then there are the one-star meisters, which is the ranking all students start as. You have Tubbo and Tommy, Wilbur and Fundy, Niki and Jack, Puffy and HBomb, and Purpled and Hannah(hannahxxrose).

To the surprise of most people who meet them, Tubbo is actually the meister in their pair. Which makes it very funny when Tommy’s being his usual bombastic, irritating self and picks a fight with another pair who they may not know, and when they get ready to fight Tommy calls over this innocent looking kid and starts glowing in his transformation, becoming a crossbow that can shoot explosive shots (like a firework crossbow).

Fundy is an interesting case, because he is actually a Witch (using the fact that Fundy’s character on the SMP is ftm trans, and because witches in this world are animal-themed and it just made too much sense with his fox connection. He has ears that he hides with a hat and a tail that he hides.) He’s partnered with Wilbur, who is a set of oversized gauntlets that have claws at the end. Yes, he gets furry jokes, no, he’s not amused, but he deals.

Niki and Jack are the weapon I’m probably most excited about. Jack can transform into a big shield, Steven Universe style, but it also has another ability. Niki can strike it with a mallet in different ways, and the sound that emanates from it has a different affect on her enemies/their attacks. She can ring it so that it resonates at a frequency that can break glass, can stun her enemies, etc. A lot of people think she’s weak or not as good as others because her weapon is defensive, but she just smiles and knows that if they ever see her fight, they’ll think differently.

Puffy and HBomb is half a joke, but also serious. HBomb is some sort of spiked whip/lasso, but many people joke that he’s a glorified fishing rod because Puffy once used him for that and he never lived it down. (Because Puffy’s a captain, but also because HBomb has his podcast and it just seemed to fit). Puffy is also a sheep witch, and bonds with Fundy over it since nobody else at school knows about their heritage (given that Witches are usually an enemy of the DWMA)

Purpled and Hannah, I will admit, are only a pair because they’re both bedwars players and it seemed appropriate? No idea what kind of weapon Hannah would be though.

Real quick, here are some other character roles. Ponk is the school nurse, Sam is a technician who is supposedly working to make sure the school is functioning, maintaining the old pipes and stuff, but he has a lot of secret work that Death has him do on the side of that. Alyssa and Callahan are a Death Scythe pair (Alyssa as a meister) who work on another continent and aren’t ever around, cause I thought it would be funny.

Ranboo is a special case of being his own meister? If anyone reading knows the series, he’s basically like Crona. But instead of madness from the black blood, it’s his enderwalk state that he eventually gets snapped out of in an epic battle with Tommy/Tubbo. He has two non-demon weapon pickaxes that he fights with, as well as the enderman powers from the SMP, and some mild telepathy.

In terms of other MCYT, I don’t know much about the hermits but most seem like they would be good teachers? The only one I was told had to be a meister was Falsesymmetry, because she’s a pvp god. And her weapon is Rendog, because I was told he’s supportive of her and also goes feral if needed? So there’s that. Ren is a transforming weapon, it’s a bow that can disconnect at the middle and become two swords connected by a magic chain that can extend as far as needed.

I have no idea what to do with Eret or Schlatt, they feel like they should have important roles but the “corrupt politician” or “the traitor who became king” bits don’t work super well in this universe. Well, traitor does, but I also love Eret and want to give them a good ending. And I could easily use Schlatt’s normal video persona rather than his SMP character, because that would be kinda funny and not something I see as often. - 🐉

Oooooooh. This is super interesting. This is super interesting. I really love this concept already!

[breynekai-tfc]

Threw all my stories into picker wheel, and it told me to write “Hunger”, so I said, “Okay, mysterious forces of the universe, I’ll write that first chapter.”  

Not even one page in, and I’ve made myself cry.  

That’s how you know it’s good.  👍

---------

Here’s some insights.  Welcome to the Parasite AU.   Let’s meet the Armageddon Worm.  

In this AU, Danny Fenton is living in Amity Park, which is one of the last civilizations on the planet.  About 20 years earlier, a parasite appeared.

This parasite is carried by animals but does not affect them in any way.  Mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians; there is nothing that does not become a carrier.  Soon, the entire ecosystem is infected, across the globe.  

Animals carry the parasite, but it thrives in humans.  It enters the human body when humans ingest meat.  The parasite is a nasty little guy, too; like the tardigrade, they can withstand extreme temperatures, radiation, vast amounts of pressure, and can go for ten years (or more) without food or water and still be able to bounce back and reproduce.  In the human body, they can utilize blood and energy to rapidly heal their hosts.  Really, the only way to kill a human infested with the parasite is to destroy the brain (thus rendering the nervous system useless) and then destroy the body by incineration at a high temperature.  Cutting out the parasite is ineffective, because it has infected the blood and will simply grow back.  Also, removing it from the nervous system is almost always fatal to the host. 

Once inside a human, it begins growing in their stomachs and hijacks their nervous system.  It eats and replaces the majority of their internal organs, leaving only the heart and lungs behind.  The host gains heightened senses and physical abilities and miraculous regenerative abilities, but they become ruled by hunger and lose most of their cognitive function.  

In the final stage of its development, the parasite processes the consumed organs, expands its size, attaches itself to the severed blood vessels, and finishes developing the iconic “devouring arm”.  The arm sits at the base of the throat, and during feeding/hunting, can extend from the host’s mouth and use its sharp masticators to cut food and the internal teeth to move it into the main body of the parasite.  There, the food is processed for energy, and anything the body can’t use is hacked up.  Very soon after ejecting the waste, high levels of ghrelin are produced, and the host is once again stimulated to hunt.

(Think Guillermo del Toro’s “The Strain”, except they’re not vampires.)  

Anyhow, about 20 years ago, this parasite appeared.  It can infect humans through bites from one to another, contact with infected blood, or ingesting an infected animal; so for some time, people did not know where it was coming from.  Birds, insects, fish, and international shipping methods helped to infect the whole world within a few weeks.  Chaos and violence ensued, and even when people had no contact with the infected, cases continued.  

Scientists had conflicting reports of what carried the parasite.  Certain insects.  Rodents.  Birds.  Biologist Maddie Fenton, working with her husband Jack, made the connection.  They tested a number of species, and realized that ALL non-human animal species larger than houseflies were carriers.  

At this point, civilization had already broken down.  But they spread the word, and soon, strongholds were able to develop, including Amity Park, the stronghold of the Midwest.  It consists of two concentric structures; the center is a bubble-city, with artificial atmosphere, weather, and farming techniques.  Anyone who goes in is sterilized before entry, so that they can’t bring insects inside.  The second layer is a mile-thick area of suburban ruin, which has been cleared of Eaters.  It is surrounded by a wall, for defense.  If there is a breach, the hope is that this inner region will allow a barrier against the main city, a safe zone to hunt the Biters while the wall is repaired.  This ruin is called the Outskirts of Amity Park.   

Jack and Maddie Fenton developed the city’s defenses, while Damon Gray leads the community in food production for a safe and vegan lifestyle.  The Fentons continue to produce weapons against the infected and are trying to find a way to eradicate the parasite from the ecosystem.  So far, 20 years have passed, and they have made little progress.

Enter Danny, Sam, and Tucker.  Despite the world having gone to hell in a handbasket, they are teenagers who are going to school.  While some of their lessons are traditional, many involve science and technology, and P.E. supplements a soldier training period for those who wish to battle against the Biters on the outside.  They train in high school, run missions outside the wall for one year, guard the wall for one year, patrol the Outskirts for one year, and those who are still alive move to the inner city to become guards there or decide where to be stationed as a general.  (I imagine Jazz training to be a psychiatrist for PTSD sufferers.)  A certain number of people have to apply for the program when they enter high school.  If they don’t, there is a mandatory draft.    

Danny lives under the shadow of his parents’ great success and subsequent frustrations.  He feels like he should doing something useful to help the town, but he’s a bit of a dreamer instead.  He is really interested in the world from before he was born and spends much of his time looking into it.  Researching at the library – watching old news reports and movies – exploring ruins in the inner-wall region.  He thinks it’s amazing that people once went to outer space.  Now, they’ll never leave Amity Park.  

Tucker and Sam are his friends, of course.  Tucker is really interested in technology and is training to enter the weapons and communication development field.  Sam is into plant sciences and wants to enter the field of food science.  Danny – well, he honestly doesn’t know.  He figured he would train to be a soldier, but then his parents forbid it.  No big loss there – he isn’t the most physically adept person.  But, he doesn’t seem to have a calling, besides history.  Mr. Lancer thinks he should be a teacher. 

But of course, he wouldn’t be Danny Fenton if he didn’t somehow lose his humanity.  

🙈 

That’s as much as I’ll share for the premise without getting into any important spoilers.  Inspiration for this au from:  The Strain, Attack on Titan, Ao no Exorcist, D.Gray Man, and a fanfic I was writing for Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters back in college.  

[surelookbutnothingtoseehere]

About the importance of taking care of nature in the words of Tolkien

Isengard depicts in the world of Tolkien what happens when people lose the love for nature. It becomes a mess, one loses the connection and for some more important: one will eventually lose the battle against nature. From my perspective, that’s actually a good thing, but for Saruman it was clearly not a good thing when the ghosts of the forests, the Ents, were finally at his doorstep when nature hit back against the one who destroyed their place. 

Nature is one of the most important things we got. My blog is full of things I find in nature and in general I love all there is there. Nature has one big enemy: men. As humans, we want the world to be as cleaned up as possible. And that is nice, when it involves trash. The whole world is full of trash, plastic soup and other mess that people have dumped in the nature. Last summer I saw this. 

At the side of the road, was the trash dump of some towns. Of course, the trash spread through all of the surrounding, including the nearby sea. Swimming there was hardly possible because of all the trash, but also: collecting trash was actually useless because it would end in nature no matter what. But in Europe we also ruined a lot by wanting to regulate things like nature. Or pour trash over it from the sky, killing vulnerable plants. Or worse, in cities, where garden change into stone desserts because ‘it takes less work.’

In the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien lets Gandalf say: 

“It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.’

A painting by Alan Lee, depicting Gandalf and a tree. 

He wrote this in the 1940′s - speaking of course from the perspective of Gandalf, but the message is clear. We who are at the earth now, have to make sure the generations after us still have an earth to live on, and one that’s actually livable.  But it’s interesting what he says. We cannot master all the tides of the world. This implicates also that we have to do the best as we can now. Some people claim that we should wait to protect the environment until there are new technologies. Tolkien clearly disagreed. Every generation has to do their best for the world and to keep it clean and beautiful.

A not so well known book of Tolkien, is ‘The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.’ In this book, you can follow Tolkien from his time at the front of the First World War to literal days before his death, when he goes to a house to rest a bit and dies there. The Letters show a lot of the person Tolkien was (It includes for example a letter to The Third Reich, saying that he is sad to say that he has no Jewish blood, because they are talented people - quite brave in the time that Hitler ruled) but also show his chaotic personality, his way of dealing with things he did not like (such as movies) that he could write into pieces, but also his deep love for nature. A great letter he wrote in 1962..

There was a great tree – a huge poplar with vast limbs – visible through my window even as I lay in bed. I loved it, and was anxious about it. It had been savagely mutilated some years before, but had gallantly grown new limbs – though of course not with the unblemished grace of its former natural self; and now a foolish neighbour was agitating to have it felled. Every tree has its enemy, few have an advocate. (...) This fool* said that it cut off the sun from her house and garden, and that she feared for her house if it should crash in a high wind. It stood due east of her front door, across a wide road, at a distance nearly thrice its total height. Thus only about the equinox would it even cast a shadow in her direction, and only in the very early morning one that reached across the road to the pavement outside her front gate. And any wind that could have uprooted it and hurled it on her house, would have demolished her and her house without any assistance from the tree. I believe it still stands where it did. 

Tolkien did not mean he hated the neighnor: in a sidenote he wrote that she was a nice person, except from this. But Tolkien does find a true problem here in this letter. 

‘Every tree has its enemy, few have an advocate.’

It’s maybe the most powerful quote of Tolkien that I know, because it’s so true. We all know the examples of trees going down, sometimes being replaced by a small tree, sometimes not being replaced at all. Often because it creates a mess (or, actually, that what keeps forest growing forever and is a perfect circular system), because it creates shadow (very much needed in the world that keeps getting hotter and makes cities livable in summer) or because there needs to come a new road (making the city even hotter). This particular tree survived a lot of things, but the neighbor in question wanted it down because it could fall on her house. Tolkien writes it amazingly: any wind that could have unrooted it, would demolish her house as well.  He clearly shows by that how ridicolous it is to remove trees: they give so much to us. And trees will die at some point and than give way to new trees. 

Tolkien’s love for trees went deep. So deep that he wrote the Ents in the Lord of the Rings as guardians of nature, and presented them as some of the wisest creatures in the books. He wrote them as protectors of the forest. They had to defend the forests against other creatures, and in particular dwarves, who would try to cut down trees. The Ents were literally meant to defend the forests against deforesting. 

But another clear sign we find in an little book of hardly 50 pages that Tolkien Wrote: Leaf by Niggle. Niggle is a painter, who is really busy painting a tree, but never finishes it. Until he dies and goes to another world, where he can live in his painting and enjoy the true majesty of his tree. 

Source: https://ar.pinterest.com/pin/691935930228115781/

But it also becomes clear in the Scouring of the Shire, the last Chapter of The Lord of the Rings, in which the Hobbits return to the Shire and find that it has been changed. The agricultural area has changed into an industrial area, full of smoke and machines. Tolkien clearly uses that to show that this industrialisation is a bad thing - and in particular industrialisation for the cause of industrialisation. Sam get’s the chance to restore the Shire.

All in all, we can still learn a lot from Tolkien about trees. His love for trees and the forest, but also on how to deal with them: with respect. If the books of Tolkien should teach us anything, it’s respect for the woods, respect for the tree and the love for nature.  

[wingletblackbird]

The Inheritance of the Shapeshifter Gene

Since I have been enjoying the laughs the Twilight Renaissance has granted me: Here is my contribution. It is not hilarious, but I think it is interesting. I tried to apply a bit of science and realism into S. Meyer’s world…

Sex-Linked Traits

In Twilight, S.Meyer suggests, both in canon and through provided family trees, that the wolf-shapeshifter gene can be inherited from father to son. However, I think this is unlikely as the gene is almost exclusively expressed amongst males. In fact, until Leah Clearwater, no woman has ever phased. Given the significantly disproportionate expression in males as compared to females, I think the shapeshifting is an X-linked recessive trait.

This means that men who inherit an X-chromosome with the gene will phase in adolescence, if presented to the appropriate stimulus. (I do not believe it is exclusively vampires.) However, for a female to phase, she must have two X-chromosomes with the gene. I think this must be what happened to Leah. She inherited the gene from both sides. This, combined with the increased threat, led to her unprecedented phasing. (Also this means that we don’t have to worry about Embry’s paternity. He gets the gene from his mom.)

Why This Makes Imprinting Important

The unique inheritance of X-linked conditions makes sense in the context of imprinting. Men can pass down the gene to their daughters who will become carriers. However, they cannot pass it on to their sons. This means that if they want their sons to inherit the responsibility of protectors, they must reproduce with a woman who is a carrier to have a chance.

When one looks at wolves in nature, a pack is typically made up of the parents and their cubs. The parents are faithful to each other, as a general rule, until their partner dies. They also seem to pair up based upon genetic compatibility, and stay together for the cubs. In captivity, where wolves cannot easily leave a pack to form their own, usually it is only the alpha male and female who reproduce. In some cases, the beta may as well. In the rarest of cases, other wolves may.

If we translate this to the human context of Twilight, I imagine that typically it is only the chief, or the alpha of the pack, who imprints. Noticeably, Emily’s home has become pack central and she is the one caring for the pups who call each other “brother.” It does make for a mirror of a real wolf pack. Sam and Emily are the alpha pair. Now Sam’s kids will likely be able to inherit the responsibility as they age. 

Before the modern age, I imagine the pack typically was a father and his sons, even more reminiscent of a normal wolf pack, with some cousins and/or kids of the beta as needed. We know that wolves phasing has become rarer in the last couple centuries for the Quileute. Prior to Ephraim’s grandfather’s generation, however, a pack of three wolves was typically maintained.  Most likely encounters with Europeans decimated them and certain traditions were lost. I cannot imagine the gene got any less potent given the increased phasing we see in Breaking Dawn. Consequently, it is most likely that, historically, the sons of the chief/alpha were exposed to some kind of danger or test to get them to phase. If they did not, the next most likely adolescents, maybe a cousin or a child of the beta, were taught to phase until there were three wolves. They were trained by their fathers, and the traditions and responsibilities were passed down. Hence, the title of alpha, unless challenged, may be passed down the male line, but the genetic inheritance is owed to the mothers, quite possibly she was imprinted on. The modern-day pack had to fight as teenagers without training since that tradition was lost. It stopped getting passed down father to son/nephew/cousin etc.

I despise the way imprinting seems to take away your choice about who to love, and even alters your character, nor do I believe love can be compelled. I am far more inclined to think that imprinting is just a biological imperative to protect a female who is a carrier for an important gene. In the modern day, that can just mean she especially comes under the wolves protection. Historically, when arranged marriages were the norm in Quileute culture, marrying the woman you imprinted on likely was standard. This would make sense in the context of only the Chief imprinting, especially if they noticed marrying the imprintee meant his sons were more likely to be wolves. It was what was best for the tribe. Marriage has also historically been about protection/security in many cases too, for better or worse. Moreover, in the Quileute creation story, (the real one, not the one S. Meyer gave us), Kwati indicated that it should be one woman for every man, except the chief who could have several. Thus, if the chief/alpha was not in love with the imprintee, he could always marry another, (although marrying for love is a fairly modern notion.) Way back when, even eventually marrying a girl you knew as a child would not be utterly unheard of. In no way, however, do I think that means Jacob and Quil are going to naturally end up with the kids they imprinted on. Nope. They might feel inclined to protect these kids, but that is it. Yes, they do have free will. They could even ignore the imprinting if they chose. We can all ignore things our biology tells us. It’s just annoying and uncomfortable sometimes. (Hey, if the Cullens can ignore bloodlust, the wolves can definitely override imprinting.)

With imprinting acting as a means of preserving genetic expression, it does make sense that the number of cases of imprinting would increase with a heightened threat. I imagine imprinting is rare, generally reserved for the chief/alpha of the pack only, like what initially happened with Sam Uley. However, with newborn armies and more vampires in the area, imprinting went up. It is telling to me that the people who imprinted were the higher ranking and/or older wolves too.

Imprintees and Female Shapeshifters

The historical practice of ensuring there were always three wolves likely prevented any of the few females who might have shapeshifted from phasing. There would be no need for them to phase if the threat were already taken care of. Apart from men genetically being more likely to phase, it just makes more sense. You do not want women on the frontlines.  You can repopulate your people far more easily with a handful of men and many women, but it is harder the other way around. Also, who is going to nurse the young if all the women run off and get killed in battle? Women would not have been tested for phasing even if they could. 

Hence, while Leah is the first female to phase, I do not believe that Leah was the first female to have the potential to. She phased because there was an increased threat level. She was the right age with the right genes. (Plus, no one had a clue what was going on making things worse.) Her phasing is also why Leah does not get imprinted on, even though her male kids are guaranteed to carry the gene. The imprinter is not likely to pass on a gene to surviving kids if their mother gets killed in combat. Ironically, looking at the family trees, I think there is a good chance Emily might have two copies of the shapeshifting X-chromosome. However, if that was the case, Emily was just old enough to escape the effects. She got imprinted on instead. (Given that even the increased threat level in Breaking Dawn did not result in any more girls transforming, it continues to support the theory that phasing is an X-linked recessive trait.)

This leads me to Re-name-me Cullen. If she got imprinted on by Jacob, she must be a genetic carrier. This means that Bella was a carrier, and likely that Charlie was too. Given that Charlie seems to have a cousin who married into Quil’s family, I imagine he must have inherited the gene through some kind of Quileute connection in the past. Naturally, Charlie has no clue. It is hilarious to me to picture Charlie phasing all of a sudden though.

I imagine the odds of ignorant people phasing and not having a clue why could become a problem. When the tribe married within the tribe, people knew what was going on. In the modern age, as people who are unknown carriers for the gene leave, marry outsiders, and possibly never return...Well, I pity their poor kids!

[gaybutterflynerd]

Ok hot take: The Eggpire should’ve won at the banquet.

Gonna be honest I really want the Eggpire to win in a major stream. It’s just... I guess I’ve always had trouble taking them seriously and antagonistic force? Let me explain why.

One of the things I love about The Dream SMP is the fact that the antagonists have a long history of winning. When it’s a battle between 2 conflicting sides it feels like battle, and (in the older streams especially) because of the improvised status people didn’t hold back, and it felt like if someone managed to win organically there would be no chance of retcons. Anything can happen. That’s the best part of it being streams, there’s no “oh there’s a bunch of episodes left with ‘insert thing here’ in the title, so they to win”. There are real, unpredictable stakes. Not to mention, every major antagonist has done something tangible, and had something that makes them a real threat. Let’s look at the antagonists thus far:

Dream (l’mansburg independence war):

Actively prevented L’mansburg from becoming a thing. He was the admin, it was his say.

Had stolen the Discs back in the disc war

Got Eret to betray everyone, causing all of the members to die

Blew up the nation itself

Killed Tommy in a duel

Got power over Tommy via the discs

Basically won the war

Final Explanation: Though this was back when there was less roleplay there was still tangible acts and reasons to take him seriously. Not only did he have a past with conflict with the current “protagonist”, he basically won at every step of the way. He was bad, because he stood in the way of the “protagonists” getting what they want, and he had real power to do that.

Jschlatt:

Had the presidency, and by the viewer vote rather than a simple power seize (legitimacy as a threat)

Had the charisma/intimidation to get the citizens of L’mansburg to enforce an exile of Tommy and Wilbur

The speech. You know the one.

 Was abusive to Quackity

Killed cats

Taxed Niki (and got her to pay said taxes)

Caused Wilbur’s downward spiral

Manipulated Tubbo, and purposefully kept him from Tommy

Had the intimidation/charisma/perceived power to get Techno to kill Tubbo (his ally) at the festival.

Was directly responsible for Tubbo loosing his cannon lives, this would later be one of the reasons he was so vulnerable to Dream

Warped the nation into something that felt wrong

Got Dream to betray Pogtopia

Final Explanation: While Jschlatt didn’t have a lot of power tangibly, he had a ton of power in convincing others to do things, and was very good at seeming powerful. That being said the effects of this persuasion had the tangible consequences of lives lost, and lost allies. Not to mention he wasn’t even the main antagonist on Doomsday, I’d argue that goes to...

Wilbur Soot:

Blew up L’mansburg

Lied to Tommy, and betrayed him on Doomsday

Was someone the audience saw as a good person before Wilbur’s downward spiral (legitimacy)

His speeches were some of the most iconic in the series

Was someone Tommy looked up to

Worked with Dream, a known antagonist

Actively egged on Tommy’s anger in the pit

Kept trying to pressure Tommy to do things he repeatedly said he didn’t want to do

Actively staged the blowing up if L’mansburg so that Tommy would be onstage when it blew up. Tommy who also only had one cannon life. Even if it didn’t succeed, attempted murder to prove a point is not okay.

Didn’t care when Tubbo died in the festival

Didn’t care that Tubbo was onstage

Didn’t care that Tubbo was onstage when he blew up L’mansburg

Final Explanation: Even if you don’t view Wilbur as a bad person, he has done some bad things, and was most certainly an antagonist. He destroyed the nation we worked to build, and his paranoia caused him to do actions that could be described charitably as questionable.

.

Dream (exile conflict and beyond):

(Oh boy, this is gonna be a long list...)

Did everything himself (legitimacy x10, especially after Jschlatt’s power and downfall being reliant on others)

Previous history as an antagonist

Super skilled and powerful. One of the best fighters on the server. Extremely powerful. (legitimacy)

Took 2 of Tommy’s cannon lives. Eventually took all 3.

Used the threat of Tommy’s death to get him to go what he wanted. A threat caused by said taking of 2 cannon lives.

Built walls around L’mansburg, and forced Tubbo to exile Tommy for him to stop

Blew up Tommy’s armor (and other stuff) every day in Exile

Manipulate Tubbo into thinking he was his friend.

Told ghostbur to go into the forest and leave Tommy so he would be alone at the party

Kicked George off the thrown

Payed Sam to make Pandora’s Vault to imprison all his enemies. Actively helped with the construction.

Telling Tommy his friends hated him

Telling Tommy that Tubbo never actually visited to make him question his sanity

Just, his entire abuse and manipulation of Tommy

Overall, just exile (I’m not going to list everything, there’s too much)

Seemingly having no points of attack against him (legitimacy)

The scenes of Techno to get Techno to hand over Tommy (legitimacy)

Getting Techno to team with him to blow up L’mansburg (legitimacy)

Blowing up L’mansburg for a final time

The fact that him, Techno, and Phil won against the entire rest of the server (legitimacy)

His manipulation and control of Ranboo

The Vault, and him getting Tubbo and Tommy into a vulnerable position despite their preparations

The fact he was going to force Tommy to be completely isolated in a prison with the only think he could do is think about how it’s kind of his fault his friend died

The fact he was going to kill Tubbo

The fact he was going to keep Skeppy in a 1 by 1 cage to blackmail BBH

The fact he was going to steal all the server’s most valuable possessions to control them

Manipulating Sapnap during his prison visit, so he could facilitate further manipulation of Ranboo

Killing Tommy in the prison

Laughing after her killed Tommy in prison

Saying he was going to kill him again as an experiment

Saying he was going to brung back Wilbur, specifically after Tommy begged him not too

His reaction to people finding out about Tommy’s death and revival was “do they think it’s cool”

You get the point, Dream was done a lot. Its a very long list.

Final Explanation: Dream is powerful because he physically does everything himself. He has no apparent weakness. He’s manipulative, seemingly obsessed with hurting Tommy, physically powerful, and is the primary antagonist to the server. He wins the majority of the time, and when he wins it doesn’t feel like anything could be done to prevent it. He also relies on himself for basically everything. Overall, Dream does an amazing job of being an effective threat.

While I could go into the other characters that are more controversial as being classified as “antagonists”, I think you get the point. What makes antagonists on the sever intimidating is the tangible things they do. Every good antagonist on the server has a list of mostly irreversible tangible effects of the plot. Jschlatt got Tubbo executed, Wilbur blew up L’mansburg, Dream did... a lot of things. Every major antagonist has succeeded in some way at successfully irreversibly hurting or destroying something the audience had an active attachment to. However in my eyes the egg has not done this as well as the other antagonists.

What makes the egg different from any other antagonist as its fundamentally a bunch of blocks, rather than an actual person. Not to say the egg can’t work because of it, but in general selling the audience of the idea that it’s am actual dangerous force is extremely important. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really succeed in doing so.

Let’s attempt what we did for all the other antagonists, but this time apply it to the Eggpire. Let’s see what they have they done:

The Eggpire (feel free to add anything I miss):

The egg warps the mind of those on the server. It can generally influence people into either loving or seemingly into hating it.

It twisted Bad (an previously wholesome character, but with hints of a darker side) into someone willing to do some pretty bad things, including murder (legitimacy)

It brainwashes its members into working for it

The Egg took Skeppy, this is likely why Bad is willing to work for it

They tried to kill Tommy multiple times simply for the fact he’s immune to the egg

They celebrated Tommy’s death due to his connection with the egg

They tried to feed Puffy (someone originally a part of the Eggpire) to the egg. They eventually send a mercenary after her as well.

They put Sam in a hole with The Egg overnight. Though he did not join, he ate his own skin, however this has not been mentioned as a persisting injury, or even been mentioned again to my knowledge.

They stuck Ranboo in the hole near the Egg. This caused him to freak out and later try to destroy it.

They stuck Hannah in a box near The Egg despite her allergy to it.

The egg blew up a statue in the Foolish confrontation.

They trick and trap everyone at the Red Banquet

They planned to execute a room full of people

They Killed Foolish

So on the surface, it looks like they’ve done a lot of bad things on par with the others. However upon a closer look you will realize something: almost everything on this list either failed, or was something that had no importance established before The Egg plot started. Let me explain why with all the corresponding bullets:

The egg warps the mind of those on the server. Yes, it technically does, but when you think about it no one who actively was against the egg has been forced to join it. The only person was Bad and it wasn’t The Egg’s control, it was Skeppy. Even those left overnight with it haven’t joined. We can only conclude it’s abilities are fairly weak.

It twisted Bad. Actually this is a fair one, though it should be noted Bad had basically no plot relevance before this arc. However, though this one is a legitimate source of legitimacy for The Egg, it’s a bit counteracted by all the other points.

It brainwashes its members into working for it. Does it really though? Basically everyone but Bad was influenced by it offering power. No one who actively hated the idea of joining the Egg has joined it, despite Bad’s claims. They mostly all joined for power, power they seemingly have no gotten. But still not much has changed as The Badlands was already power hungry before The Egg. It can be argued that thats the point, but it still fails in relation to all the other Eggpire failures.

The Egg took Skeppy, this is likely why Bad is willing to work for it. This is another good one... except it happened 4 months ago...

They tried to kill Tommy multiple times. Yes they tried. And failed. Multiple times.

They celebrated Tommy’s death due to his connection with the egg. While this is bad as an action, it’s more of a “look how x has effected these characters” than an actual tangible bad act. It’s more of a dick move than evil.

They tried to feed Puffy to The Egg. They eventually send a mercenary after her as well. Yes they tried. And failed. And yes they did try to send a mercenary. A mercenary who not only failed, but betrayed them.

They put Sam in a hole with The Egg overnight. You know this could be good if it left a scar, or became a big thing in Sam’s character. However it was never mentioned again.

They stuck Ranboo in the hole near the Egg. He got out after immediately, they didn’t even close the hole. Also I don’t see “one of the most rich people on the server now wants to destroy you” as a win. They seemingly gained nothing from this.

They stuck Hannah in a box near The Egg despite her allergy to it. Okay finally they turned someone. Someone completely new to the server. Someone who was not involved in any events before this. You know, like every other Eggpire member.

The egg blew up a statue in the Foolish confrontation. This is the only display of power we have ever gotten from The Egg, and Foolish out completed them with the “Totem of Death” thing. It wasn’t even an important statue.

They trick and trap everyone at the Red Banquet. They do that. Then they loose and get The Egg itself captured by all of their enemies directly after pissing them off.

They planned to execute a room full of people. They did plan to do that. Then they failed. They failed partially to do with the act of poking Techno with a stick that was his visit with Ranboo.

They Killed Foolish. This would be a lot more impressive if Foolish didn’t have all 3 cannon lives left, and if it wasn’t followed by them failing to kill an entire room of unarmed people, and having one of their own members loosing a cannon life. And they lost the godamn egg itself

Basically everything done was either to something newly introduced to the roleplay, or it failed. The Eggpire keeps repeatedly failing every step of the way, and has yet to have a major success. What makes it not work it though it may win some battles, it’s never at a state of winning the war. It makes it so hard to take them seriously when they make a threat. They have the success rate of Team Rocket from Pokemon, and seemingly every stream has them blasting off again. There are plenty of things that could be done to remedy this: they could get someone with heavy plot armor previous establishment to the lore under their control, they could make a plan that actually succeeds, they could successfully pull of an execution like the one at the banquet, or anything that physically effects the characters on the server. However they need to succeed in something. The problem with the failure at the banquet was that it further proved that the Eggpire will never succeed. It could’ve been a killing on par with Doomsday, yet instead we got deus ex Techno and Quackity.

I rest my case. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

(But anyway that’s just my view of why I never could really be intimidated by the egg, I’m open to counter arguments and suggestions. Lol I really just want the egg to successfully do something)

[captainpikeachu]

So Natasha Romanov can blow up a building knowing that an innocent child is still there and fans worship the ground she walks on, but John Walker kills one surrendering grown ass terrorist in a fit of rage after said terrorist attempted to kill him and thus indirectly caused the death of his best friend, and suddenly, he is Hitler. Ok Jan.

As I've always said, it's really just all about whose story the audience is asked to root for and the perspective that it's told. Natasha was introduced to us unequivocally as a "heroic" character, and because there's been basically a decade of her being a hero and her character has since sacrificed herself to save the universe, when we see her do this horrible act, the minds of the audience automatically goes to find ways to justify things to make it okay. It's the same way that a person would judge a friend less harshly than they'd judge a stranger. And the filmmakers know this. Fans already have a decade of loving Natasha, one bad thing that we see in a character we already connect with and knows has had to do horrible things because of her horrible life is far more excusable and understandable to many people. And Yelena by extension of being the sister of Natasha, automatically gets points in the minds of the fans, and also because she's sassy and funny and when a character can make people laugh, that makes it easier for people to connect with as well. And because the prisoners and soldiers aren't given POVs for the audience to care about, ultimately the actions that Natasha and Yelena does is painted and viewed as a "necessary" thing.

John, unfortunately, is introduced with very little POV, very little establishment of his "goodness" to the audience. He was fighting an uphill battle from Day 1 because of how he was introduced. And because the fans already didn't want a new Captain America, he was always going to end up failing in the shadow of a hero that people already spent over a decade emotionally connecting with and loving. And when the fans already barely trust him and then they have him kill someone, it almost becomes a case of confirmation bias. I guarantee that if John had been introduced into the MCU as just John Walker, a regular soldier, and we were established with him in the battle field saving lives with actions that earned him his Medals of Honor, and we see his relationship with Lemar, and then saw him being pulled out of missions to be Captain America, people's reactions to him would have been different. Their views on him would have been different. The Medals of Honor would have stood out more, Sam and Bucky's treatment towards him would have seemed far more callous, and his eventual public downfall and him killing Nico out of anger due to Lemar's loss would have been contextualized differently after fans having an emotional attachment to John and Lemar as people and seeing what they went through.

There's a reason they always say "show, not tell", fans got to see ten years of Natasha doing what she does, and ultimately that already existing love means her horrible actions can be justified, but because fans didn't see ten years of John being a heroic soldier risking everything to save lives and they were simply told, that lack of emotional connection and attachment means when the horrible stuff comes, it only confirms the worst of what people think.

Story framing and emotional attachment are clever storytelling tricks and the MCU has been able to wield it very well in getting the audience to react in certain ways.

[jack-is-lost]

Warning: this is David x Michael pairing. Expect the vampire gayness.  Had a random story idea, and I'm not entirely sure if it has been done or not. If so someone link me cause I want to read it! Even if it isn’t e x a c t l y the same premise but somewhat close. 

Anyway, a mid-twenty female character from our world (where TLB is a movie), wakes up one day in the TLB universe reincarnated as Michael Emerson. I'm talking right from the baby stage. Of course, going by some logic here, they don’t know much of anything clearly till probably around the age of six. Up till then the original female character is somewhat aware that they are a boy and that’s about it. Which, that alone takes some getting used to.  Once reaching the age where they are past the fuzzy toddler brain stage is when they put two and two together. Especially when they realize their baby brother is Sam, and that their last name is Emerson. Sure, it could all be a coincidence, but the older they get the more ‘this’ version of Michael is just trying to fool himself. 

Now, with a complete understanding what world they live in — that vampires do exist and probably other supernatural creatures do too, Michael starts to learn more about lore and such from a kid age. Constantly reading books and watching horror movies. Treating it pretty similar to the Frog Bros but less obsessively preparing for a battle, and more wanting knowledge for protection and understanding. Their old life also helping with that. This Michael knows that if things keep going the way they are, he will eventually end up in Santa Carla. And with his dad picking up the habit of drinking more and losing jobs, it really seems like it will.  The day comes, the divorce happens, and Michael internally prepares himself to walk right into vampire territory. The old life within him, the lady who had probably died too young and magically teleported into a different alternate world/timeline, is entirely too aware of how things are unfolding. At first it feels like a 3D experience of the movie — life like, too surreal, and straight from the perspective of Michael. Except they have been living his life, their new life, since day one now. This is their life and their choices.    Michael ignores Star the night his brother drags him off to the concert. It isn’t because she’s not pretty. Especially when the light of a bonfire nearby danced upon her feminine frame. A part of him just wants to ignore that moment, the potential building connection between such characters. The other part just doesn’t.. exactly have the sudden desire to trail after her swishing broom skirt. It might be because he isn’t the ‘original’ Michael anyway. Or it might be his old life inside his brain that doesn’t have that sexual attraction to her.  Still, he knows his mother will catch the eye of a certain nerdy-looking old vampire if he didn’t intervene. So he drags his brother off to the VHS rental store. Only to be a couple minutes too late and walking into a room full of vampires and unexpected customers. Michael reached for his mother’s arm, to gain her attention and maybe coax her to leave early without seeming to weird and suspicious. Yet, at the same time, bright cool eyes lock onto his and something within Michael’s gut flares. It turns and sinks and thrashes like a beast trying to claw its way out. Maybe it is fear, awareness of what everyone in this small movie store is, but Michael can’t look away. Just as Max can’t look away from Lucy, David’s gaze tares into him.  It isn’t Star that leads him on with soft words and equally gentle dark eyes. Quite the opposite. The movie would diverge from this point on, lasting longer than a weeks time frame. It is David that seems to coax him further into the fray, a genuine interest in him joining the fun. At least it would seem that way but Michael knows it has to do with Lucy — with Max’s orders. That is why he declined the bottle at first, playing it off as a complete disinterest in ‘wine’. So David had to try a different way, a more blatant way. Of course, it doesn’t come up again, surprising Michael the longer their fun goes on, until a noticeable connection between David and him. It is obvious there is chemistry going on. Michael blushing when David swings his arm across his shoulders, pulling him in closer to his side, is a dead give away.  Eventually shit goes down hill when somehow Sam turns into a half-vamp, and there is legit fear Lucy might be tricked by Max soon. Michael tries to help Sam, roles almost entirely reversing in this scenario. He ends up protecting him from the Frog Bro’s who catch on a little too quick to his little brothers change. The Lost Boys are not too far behind on helping too, surprised Max did some of the dirty work. It was unusual for their Sire to do something and not just delegate. In the end, Michael takes blood directly from David, avoiding being sired by Max — breaking the power the older vampire would have hold of him, so he can beat the dudes ass without issue! Rest assured, at this point, the end of the movie never truly happens. Not exactly, anyway. Instead a whole battle at Max’s place ensues instead, causing enough damage the place is on fire at the end. It was necessary, like a card up a sleeve, for Michael to be free from Max’s power. The old vampires words causing all the lost boys to freeze when they attempted to attack, and Michael being the final blow to him. Star, Laddie, and Sam become all human again. Which equals out to a pretty happy ending, and of course Lucy becomes aware of things in the midst of all this. Especially with Sam’s odd behavior. The last one still half is Michael and he can’t turn back without killing David, and at this point he doesn’t want to kill the vampire. Their bond is too strong, their growing love well established. It is without some issues, but Michael decides to fight against fully changing for as long as possible. Eventually he cannot and thus he takes the final plunge to internal darkness.    His family still loves him and understand Michael’s choice. Overall it is a pretty happy ending with a side dish of angst. Through out the final chapters, Michael entirely forgets he was once a woman in another life. That past life almost a foggy, distant dream at this point. He is Michael Emerson and as David pulls him into a bloody heated kiss, it feels like he was born for this.  Now, who wants to help flesh this story out??? =D

[theotheroccassionalfanficwriter]

Spring Weddings and Pomegranate

Summary: In which a marriage still occurs on NRC but it isn’t Eliza and Idia getting married.

Tags: Established Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Scheming! Reader, Marriage Proposal via Pomegranates, Big Dick Energy! Reader

Rated: M for the things bought at Sam’s shop and implied sex.

A/N: Written before the entire translations came out. m(_ _)m

---Idia knew that his face was beet red and that his hair had already gone red from embarrassment. Your hands were gripping his waist tightly and though you were shorter than him, he couldn't help but admire how cool you were with your white and gold trimmed twin tailed tuxedo along with the collar cuffs he recognized as his.

"I'm sorry Miss Eliza but this 'prince' is already taken" You apologetically told Eliza.

From the side, the other "Princes" were shocked at this particular development. 

"Lies!" Eliza cried as she gripped Idia's free arm.

The other dorm leaders present could feel the temperature drop and couldn't help but wonder how things went to this point.

It had been a fine day, as far as you know, since Idia had happily invited you to his room. As his significant other you had happily agreed and rejoiced over the fact that he had taken initiative, as a purehearted human in love you had come prepared for the day he would take initiative in regards to your relationship. Thus you had come prepared for the date in your most cute, comfy and seductive clothes along with an equally cute and comfy sleepwear. Naturally, you didn't forget to bring the battle weapons of L*be and C*nd*m*.

'At times like this, it never hurt to be prepared' You thought serenely as you calmly and happily bought the items from the Shop.

Your smile was bright as Sam handled your purchases and like a through professional businessman, he even offered you a few toys which you also bought for future uses. The few Ignihyde students who saw your purchase silently prayed for your success and at the same time silently agreed to keep Ortho occupied.

As for the other students from other dorms? They all silently cursed you for having a girlfriend while the rest of them had to settle for a pure loving friendship among men.

In this way, the world rearranged itself to ensure that your desires would be fulfilled. You had stopped by the dorm kitchen to take out the pomegranate napoleons you made before heading to Idia's room. 

“Idia~ I’m home!”

“We-welcome home...” 

His face was bright red as he greeted you back, compared to his flustered face when you had first done such a thing Idia was calmer now. Though the bashful and joyful emotions in his eyes couldn’t be concealed.

“Isn’t this domestic play so fun?” You asked as you set your clothes down and Idia started to arrange the food and drinks you had brought.

The items you bought from Sam’s shop had been skillfully hidden in calculated places, meant to stimulate your beloved Idia when you weren’t around thus you hummed a soft tune as you plastered yourself at Idia’s back and admired his pleased and flustered look. He really had a face where you can’t help but just want to bully him a little bit.

“Mmnn...you...you shou-shouldn’t just keep on sta-sta-staring at me!” He squeezed his eyes when your hands moved at one of his sensitive spots.

“But I missed you so much! And it’s rare for you to ask me out on date so I want to engrave this particular look of yours in my mind~!” You honestly told him and then tugged at his clothes to make him duck down to your level.

You cheekily looked at his eyes and planted a quick kiss on his lips and stood back as he hid behind the sleeves of his hoodie.

“Tha-that! You shouldn’t just kiss me so easily!” He whined to hide his embarrassment.

“Ara? Then Idia-san should I kiss you deeper then?” Your tone of voice made him know you were teasing him further even so he couldn’t help but want to pay you back thus with great courage he replied,

“Tha-that’s right! Slowly and dee-mphf!!!”

Quickly grabbing the opportunity you did as he told and Idia ended up having a lapful of you on the floor. Idia did his best to hold on as both of you engaged in a heated make-out session but the feel of your ass wiggling on his crotch and the overwhelming feeling of your passionate kiss made him weak.

Seeing that he was at his limit you kiss him for one last time and admired the thin string of saliva that was now dripping from his lips, the flushed look on his face, the dazed look on his eyes and the undeniable hard-on that was poking you on the ass.

“Hehe~ Idia-chan lasted longer this time~♡” 

He shyly wiped the drool off his lips and sulked at you. 

“Ah~! Idia-chan’s angry look still looks cute!♡” You gently peck him on the forehead before getting out of his lap.

Helping him get off the floor, you guided him to he large bean bag he had ordered for both of you to cuddle on, and gently placed him there. Giving him sometime to finish sulking before you began another round of Private Displays of Affection. At this point in time, you were still confident that your relationship with Idia was unshakable.

 There were no threats to his future status as your husband and you had simply continued your usual date routine of flirting, pampering, loving, and doting upon your beloved. The night had been filled with the sweet air of love and Idia had even managed to not shake that much as he held your hand in the middle of a romantic cut scene.

You had kissed him good night after casting a protection spell on him as you slept on his bed and Idia took a nap before heading out to buy his game.

That was the last time you saw him.

“How could my darling be taken?” Eliza pouted as tears gathered on the corners of her eyes.

You felt your heart soften at her heartbroken look before steeling yourself,

“That’s because he’s my lover of 2 and a half years”.

From the sides you could hear Azul’s glasses breaking in shock, the loud gasp from Vil, and Lilia’s words of “So that was who you bought those toys for?”

You made a mental note to drop by Diasomnia once this was over, to bribe Lilia into silence as well as future cooperation. There was certain merit in building connections with someone of Lilia’s peerage.

“Miss Eliza, just like how you wish to wed your ideal beloved, I, as well, wish to do so” You turned and looked at Idia, channeling all the love you felt for him in your eyes before turning to Eliza, “For me, no one else but Idia would do that’s why...as recompense let me help you find your true love!”

You smiled brightly and made sure to up your charm.

Ortho had come to wake you up in tears, effectively rousing you from your sweet dream of eating and enjoying Idia’s body.

“Wa-wake up!!! Nii-san was taking by ghosts!!!” Ortho cried as he shook you awake and you blearily looked at him.

“Idia...got taken by ghosts? Was he mistaken as one of them again?” You asked as you got up and calmed Ortho down.

“Please hurry up! Nii-san was taken by a ghost bride!” Ortho cried harder as he pushed you out of the room and you stumbled as you got dressed.

“Wa-wait! Ortho-chan at least let me put on a jacket!” You begged as tried to stop him from pushing you out.

“Okay! But hurry up! Who knows what’s gonna happen to Nii-san!”

“Got it! Got it! Please stop pushing me already.”

Ortho carried you away as soon as you said you were ready, the next thing you knew, you were already standing right in front of the Headmaster and watching the CCTV recordings with the Headmaster and the young prefect of Ramshackle Dorm once again.

“Yuu-chan since you’re helping us out, you should come and stay over our dorm while Ramshackle is on loan” You kindly offered one of the unused rooms of Ignihyde.

“Sempai! You’re a lifesaver!”

“Not at all, this is just me repaying you for your help later on~ I can’t have my Idia end up on someone else’s hand after all” You smiled.

From the side, Headmaster Crowley watched your clenched fist and hoped that things would end peacefully. Before he could even advise you to not take things too far later on, he was disrupted by the ruckus outside. Angrily opening the door he was once more, greeted by another problem.

“I won’t hand over my love so easily!” Eliza cried and tugged Idia away from you.

“Ara~Ara~In that case, shall we fight for his hand then?” You asked as you let go of Idia to prevent him from getting hurt.

“Ha! Someone like you who can let him go easily won’t win!”

“I’d rather my beloved Idia not get hurt even the tiniest bit, please don’t mistake my utmost consideration for him to be a sign of weakness.” You replied coldly as you took out your magic pen.

“I-Isn’t there another way?!” Idia panicked, “U-um I-I only want to marry (your name) so please stop this already!!!”

You paused at the sudden declaration and beamed at Idia before turning your smug look at Eliza, “Well then, Idia has spoken, so kindly removed your hand from his arms!”

“No, before that, shouldn’t you put down your magic pen?” Azul reminded you, his composure made it look like his earlier reactions were nothing but a hallucination.

“Shut up, this looks interesting. Seeing that bastard get this agitated...heh” Leona stood on the side and watched the show with keen interest.

“No...didn’t we all agree to put that ring on her finger?” Riddle reminded everyone.

Hearing the silence that greeted him, he looked at his companions and glared at them with annoyance as he demanded,. 

“Headmaster Crowley! Hurry up and stop those two before worse come to worst!”

“I name this plan…. “Operation: Propose!” Crowley declared and you clapped on the side to show your support for his efforts.

“Are you actually fine with this?” Rook asked you, eyes sharper than usual and you knew that you couldn’t hide anything from him. 

So you hadn’t bothered and instead confessed, “I’m a little bit annoyed that someone can easily take Idia from me but I know that right now Idia must be feeling the worst of it.”

“Oh my, what sweet words coming from you, souverain de la mort”

“Fufufu~Is that so but this would also be a good learning experience for Idia, He needs to be aware of his surroundings when I’m not there~”

“There it is~ that tough love that I expect from someone like you!” Rook cheered.

You laughed at his antics and decided to join in on the discussion to take back your boyfriend. It really wouldn’t do if he ended up on someone else’s hand after you took so much time and effort on laying the ground work after all.

Thus all of you burst into the reception hall and began the operation.

You waved at Idia and signaled him to be at ease while each of the dorm leaders and the first years tried their luck.

Ignoring the sound of slaps, you comforted your boyfriend who was near tears. Idia despite standing tall over you acted like an over sized dog and hid his face on your chest. He held on your clothes tight and whined about everything that happened to him.

“I was so scared! I thought I got mistaken for a ghost again and would end on the Underworld once more! I don’t like going there!”

You calmly rubbed his back up and down, occasionally planting kisses on his flaming hair. and generally soothing him to a much calmer state.

“It’s fine, I’m sure our friends wouldn’t fail our expectations and if worse comes to worst...I’ll deal with it personally” You promised him and held him tight.

Ortho came over to hug you both and you welcomed him and pulled him close as well. You wouldn’t deny that both siblings had occupied the soft parts of your heart and you couldn’t help but indulge them every now and then.

“I won’t give up! My love for my darling won’t lose to you!” Eliza declared, grip growing tighter on Idia’s arm.

“In that case, I challenge you to a duel for Idia’s hand in marriage!”

“Eh?! Wa-wait why a-are you shuddenly proposing?” Idia stammered as he ran over to you.

‘He bit his tongue...’ Azul, Leona, Rook, Vil, Jade, Floyd, Lilia, Sebek, Cater, Trey, Ace, and Deuce thought.

“It’s fine to do this but please avoid damaging the school buildings~!” Crowley shouted from a safe vantage point.

You calmly looked at Idia and said, “ I can’t just stand to see the man I love get married to someone else.”

You took a strand of his hair and placed a kissed on it, the warmth of his flaming hair made your lips tingle as it slowly turned red in embarrassment, “Idia, please wait for my triumphant return.”

Idia blushed and quickly peck you on your forehead and said, “For good luck...”

From the side Yuu commented, “If Sempai was single...they would have easily made Eliza-san accept the ring right?”

“What are you talking about?” Ace asked grumpily.

“What sharp eyes you’ve got!” Rook replied, “As a child of the Goddess of Love it’s natural to for them to be brimming with charm however from the looks of it...they might just use their Unique Magic.”

“If that is truly the case, then we are in for a good show.” Lilia floated over, “Their Unique Magic is one of the kind after all, fufufu~ Sebek you should try learning from them~”

“Lilia-sempai just what is Sempai’s Unique Magic?” Yuu asked.

“Hmmm...it’s hard to explain but their Unique Magic is something close to a God’s powers~”

Everyone who heard that looked at you at a new light. Idia and Ortho were the same though for entirely different reasons. Idia had never thought you were considering marriage with him, he was content with being your boyfriend and eventually breaking up once you were tired of him but seeing your gallant figure raising your magic pen he couldn’t help but fall deeper in love with you.

Ortho had been happy seeing how you easily got his brother to go out and mingle with people occasionally and how good you were to his brother but he hadn’t held much hope that you’d stay for forever. He was prepared to do anything to protect his brother’s smile and seeing how you finally stepped up to fight, Ortho could be at ease.

“Well then, I’ll finish this quickly,” You said apologetically to Eliza, “Crush Thy Heart!”

“In life you couldn’t find your love however in the Underworld, your beloved has been eagerly waiting for you, therefore let go of those regrets and pass over. Crush Thy Heart and Free Thy Soul!”

Eliza disappeared in a soft gentle particles of light, her eyes seeing someone who was not visible in their eyes. Dressed in white and smiling with happiness, the Ghost Bride had finally settled her business.

You smiled at her gently, offering a silent prayer to your mother and the God of the Underworld to look after her upon arriving. Then you headed towards Idia and swept him off his feet, uncaring of the public spectacle you were making you kissed his cheek and said,

“Idia Shroud, this event led me to realize I can’t put my guard down when it comes to you.”

Idia was still stunned at being carried by you so easily that his eyes were only looking at you in a daze. You sighed at him, helplessly fond of his endearing traits.

“That’s why let me stay by your side as your spouse, let me dine with you and partake in your wine, share your hearth by your side and that we may welcome Hestia’s and Aphrodite’s blessing upon us.”

Idia, who had understood what you were doing, trembled in your arms and with his shaking hands clutched your lapels and kissed you on your lips. 

“If-if you’re fine with me the-then I happily accept!”

“Congratulations on your marriage, Nii-san!” Ortho said as he jumped with joy.

"Husband, it's not that I enjoy being under you but why am I being tied as well?"

Idia merely glared at you, pouting with embarrassment. You observed his flickering hair and noted that only the tips were dyed in red.

'He's not that mad then' you thought as you wiggled around the newly bought queen sized bed that replaced Idia's former bed.

"My love? my Darling dove? Beloved Idia? My Dear Husband? Idia-chan?" You called out to him.

"How could you just se-send the betrothal gifts to my home without telling me!"

"...I didn't...but my mother probably did..." You weakly answered as you magically undid the ropes and pulled him to lie on the bed with you.

He snuggled closer to you like a cat and whined, "It was so scary! Hearing that I had to bring you back home with me! What if you didn't agree!"

With a snap of your fingers, a couple of pomegranate seeds appeared on your palms and you took it from the palm with your mouth. Idia looked at you in confusion and suddenly found himself being kissed. Your tongue swiped on his bottom lip, silently asking, and Idia obliged opening his mouth and letting your tongue in his mouth.

The taste of pomegranates spread inside his mouth as he sunk into the plush bedding. You were straddling his waist as your tongue entwined with his while your hands were already undressing him deftly. Idia could feel his brain turn into mush with your skillful ministrations upon his body.

With a loud pop and the saliva that connected your mouth to his, you ended the kiss knowing that Idia was already at his limit. You wiped the drool off his mouth and said, "You don't have to worry about me leaving your side anymore."

Your pleased smile and gentle reassurance, like always, didn't fail to make his heart skip a beat.

"Mou...you're the more dangerous one..."

[theyre-just-blocks]

Sam and Tony parallels.

This is strictly for my own enjoyment seeing as Tony Stark and Awesamdude are probably my favorite comfort characters (even though both of them cause me a lot of pain).

But anyways, I’ve seen a handful of people draw the parallels between the two characters (Even Tommy saw it, bless you Tommy) and I just want to put my own ideas out there on how these two are pretty similar.

Again, this is about c!Sam, not Sam the CC.

First off, both of them could be considered to be mechanics. They both are pretty handy when it comes to machines and both of them are often described as being rather intelligent when it comes to machines. I think this is the most obvious similarity between the two of them is their abilities with machines and big brains.

I think the next obvious thing is that both of them become father figures to someone who really needs it. Tony to Peter and Sam to Tommy. Both Tommy and Peter needed that mentor, father-type figure in their lives and got Tony and Sam in return. Both of them strived to be the best for their kid and both of them lost their kid at one point, only to get the back and then lose them again. Sam lot Tommy in the prison to Dream like Tony lost Peter on Titan to Thanos, and then when both came back, Tony died and Sam became dead to Tommy.

Then you’ve got Tony’s suits/AIs and Sam Nook. Both of these things were created to benefit someone (Tony’s suits/AI helped him and Sam Nook helped Tommy) and are both impressive works of machinery made by both of them respectfully.

Oh, and let’s not forget that the two have similar fears/traumas. While the situation in which they earned these fears and traumas are different, both of their anxieties are essentially pretty similar. Sam gets his trauma from the Egg, Tommy’s death, and Dream himself, while Tony’s came from the cave he was held hostage in, flying into the portal from the Battle of New York, and the vision of seeing all his friends dead in AoU. As a result of these events, both of them turn to busying themselves with projects that they believe will protect themselves and or others. Tony makes a bunch of suits to protect himself (IM 3) and Sam turns to prioritizing keeping Dream in the prison above all else.

As a result of their insecurities and trauma, they made things that they thought would protect the people they loved and cared for, but ultimately it didn’t work out the way that they wanted it to. Tony had Ultron, a program he hoped to use to protect from future alien attacks and Sam has Pandora’s Vault to keep the biggest villain on the server in captivity. Ultron corrupted and nearly destroyed life on planet earth as we know it and Sam got corrupted by the prison to the point where he’s lost sense of what’s morally right and wrong.

Basically, both of them have somehwhat unhealthy coping mechanism where they preoccupy themselves with work to ignore what's going on in their life, so much so that they push everyone who's trying to help away and end up making things worse for themselves since they end up forgetting to worry about themselves once in a while. Both of them need some self care,,

Their projects also ruined their love life (granted Tony was able to recover his afterward). Pepper got annoyed with how much time Tony was spending with the suits, making them and whatnot, to the point where Tony had to choose between her and the suits (IM 3). Ponk got killed, tortured, and his arm chopped off because of all the time that Sam was spending in the prison, thus ruining their relationship. (Not to mention, Tony calls Pepper ‘Pep’ and Sam calls Ponk ‘Ponkie’)

I think both of them can also be seen as Lawful Good. Doing whatever they can legally to make sure that things go well. We see it in Captain America: Civil War when Tony wants to side with the government and create the Sokovia Accords, guilty about all the damage he has caused to the world due to Ultron and his company prior to becoming Iron Man. Then we see it with Sam dedicating himself to the role as “The Warden” and keeping justice and law in order on the server to any means necessary.

Aside from actions and events, both of them also have somewhat of a similar personality as well, though one could argue that this isn’t the case. However, like Tony, Sam cares deeply about those he loves and feels the need to protect them at all costs. Tony’s greatest fear (revealed by Wanda’s mind tricks in AoU) was losing his friends and it could be argued that that’s the same with Sam. In his case, the Egg would be Wanda, putting thoughts into his head that he is unable to protect those he loves.

They’ve also got quite the ego. Though I can see why one would think that Sam doesn’t really have one, I can assure you that he does. It’s even on the wiki as his biggest weakness (or it was before he started to corrupt and spiral). Though maybe Tony is more sassy and cocky than Sam is, both of them have an ego and it’s somewhat of a hubris to them. If anything, their ego makes it harder for them to share burdens, making them think that they should be the only one to carry burdens and protect everyone else instead of looking after themselves every once in a while.

Oh, also they’re the characters that tend to get a lot of dislike/hate for certain actions. Granted, Sam’s most recent actions don’t have any reason to be defended (torture and cutting off your bf’s arm? I don’t think so.) but before that, at the start of the prison arc, there were several people who didn’t like his character because they believed that Dream shouldn’t have been treated the way they thought he was being treated. Because to them, Sam was torturing Dream, when in fact, that wasn’t the case until Quackity. Tony also got a lot of shit, being blamed for just about anything, with most Marvel villains becoming villains because Tony had wronged them in some minor way (Looking at you, Mysterio). If anything, I think Sam is what people who hate Tony think that Tony is. Some cold-hearted bastard who loves money and could care less about people. And that’s totally not the case.

Also, both of them are perfectionists with an eye for aesthetic and design. Sam spends a lot of time on his projects making things look nice and Tony likes to look nice as well (Come on, his three-piece suit in CA:CW? Man’s got style).

And I guess another obvious connection that I should’ve mentioned before was both of them being super rich. Granted, Tony is rich in the real world sense, being a billionaire and all while Sam is more ‘Minecraft rich’ with all the materials and tridents that he has, but they’re both rich and that’s what counts (Capitalism, y’know).

Stark Industries and Awesamdude Construction. Or at least, both of them are in charge of some kind of industry, Tony weapons manufacturing, Sam sever builds. So in a way, both of them are business men who know how to handle companies.

Last but not least, both of them have fat asses. (CANONICALLY SAM HAS A DUMPY DO NOT COME FOR ME)

Anyways, in short, my favorite kind of character is a traumatized smart father-figure and I can’t wait till the next similarity I have to add to these two is that they both have died.

Aha, that was a joke, but Sam really needs a break.

[recommendedlisten]

A couple years back, Recommended Listen introduced an appendex to its annual Best of albums list with a focus on all of the darker, heavier music it wanted to recommend from over the course of the year, because let's face it: Between the polarities of indie rock and poptimism, sometimes the loudest sounds don't get a fair shake on year-end coverage. It took last year off to focus on rounding up the decade's best albums instead, but it's back in 2020 to highlight the best albums in the realms of hardcore, punk, metal, experimental noise, even hip-hop, and beyond. Given the year it has been, the context of what constitutes a heavy listen has very much taken on a totally different meaning, but at the same time, has made these sounds all the more wild. Here's to the albums of Heavy '20...

Backxwash - God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It [Self-released]

God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It challenges the notion that hip-hop -- especially the kind that is executed as masterfully in its artform and intentionally as that created from the caverns of Backxwash’s lost soul -- can’t be heavy music, too. The breakthrough album from the self-made, self-produced Montreal-by-way-of-Zambia artist is raw in texture and a carnal mean-mugging in its energy just like the unapologetic eye of its creator. The listen does not repent on the brooding weight of Backxwash’s confessional rhymes and the beat soundscape -- a playground built from pieces of the goth, trap, and industrial underworlds -- she sets them along is a 22-minute thriller through damnation.

clearbody - One More Day [Smartpunk Records]

One More Day, the debut album from shoegazing emo-punks clearbody, bears down on you from above from its very opening moments. Much like scene luminaries Superheaven and Cloakroom, the Charlotte trio’s grizzled, reverb-soaked rock aspires to fill the whole sky, yet with its melodic density in tow, much of that is consumed into our own claustophobic insularity. Thus, brings the hearth from the trio’s vacuous sound into our own desolate realm of darkness wholly, and lets it burn within. It makes for a blurring firestorm of palatable gloom that at least offers you comfort in spite of each daily struggle.

Code Orange - UNDERNEATH [Roadrunner Records]

As most of the world remained stuck inside throughout 2020 and unsure of what it will look like when we actually do see that light at the end of the tunnel, the corrosion of the self through our addicted virtual identities has come back karmically to torture us on UNDERNEATH. Code Orange’s latest transformation is a series of shock therapy treatment and defiant self-immolation tailored for their largest stage to date as well. The Pittsburg band’s sound continues to thrive off pure hybrid chaos that reflects pitch black nihilism with frayed wired nü-metal connections, dramatic, brutalist metalcore maximalsm, and towering new power that shakes the fault lines. A collective machine built from not only their own individual might, UNDERNEATH hears the ills of humanity sink deep into Code Orange’s skin and again change their DNA.

Deftones - Ohms [Warner Records]

Ohms, the ninth studio effort from Deftones, is a masterful display of the sheer sonic velocity which the metal-gazing hydra-heads still have the power to conduct through the atmosphere, even 25 years after they broke new ground with their definitive album White Pony. It could be, in parts, due to the fact that Ohms reunites the Chino Moreno’s atmosphere-defying vocals and guitarist Stephen Carpenter’s monochromatic electricity with classic era producer Terry Date, but there’s a newfound wisdom on balance (”balance, balance, balance!…”) heard in their alternative rock innovations that turns Ohms into an infinite current every future heavy artist will be keen to draw from.

DRAIN - California Cursed [Revolution Records]

Santa Cruz thrashers DRAIN have been seething to make their official first move in the hardcore scene since amassing a cult following within its DIY circles and becoming fest highlights over the last few years. Their debut full-length for venerable hardcore label Revolution Records does no hold back on that feeding frenzy. Rattling influence of NYC hardcore as well as a high voltage metallic intensity, California Cursed is a filthy homage to their home state that chomps with disgust and reckoning for its polluted air and water. Frontperson Sam Ciaramitaro’s sneering performance ups the confrontation with a tidal wave of chaos backs up his audacity. Washed ashore at its end, you won’t know what hit you.

ENTRY - Detriment [Southern Lord]

It only takes 15-minutes of ENTRY’s Detriment to turn your body’s nervous system inside-out. Formed in Los Angeles between PA punk scene veteran Sara Gregory, Touché Amoré guitarist Clayton Stevens, Sean Sakamoto of the indie-pop band Sheer on bass, and drummer Chris Dwyer, the band’s arrival spills all of the very heaviest-hitting emotions being burdened within our bodies in a terrifying year into an onslaught of scathing screams and brutalist hardcore. Their exorcism might wreck everything, including you. Burn it down. Start over. ENTRY’s means justify its ends.

Gulch - Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress [Closed Casket Recordings]

You will experience instantaneous confrontation when pressing play on Gulch’s Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress. The Santa Crus five-piece’s debut full-length is a scourge of corrosive electricity and piston drums played at excess speed with an ugly, nihilist end destination. All this is placated with album art that projects Gulch’s binary of strange, carnal beauty and a grotesque allegory of life gnarled through reckless hardcore merrymaking, making the whole of the 15-minute listen resonate much deeper than its temporal intentions. Paired with the production of Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Loma Prieta), Gulch are able to see their vision through the flames fanned on their 2018 EP Burning Desire to Draw Last Breath, and incinerate you from a stereo’s distance.

HEALTH - DISCO4 :: PART I [Loma Vista Recordings]

Normally, HEALTH’s DISCO series involve remixes of their own work, but its latest installment is a very, very different, more abrasive monster. Instead of reimagining existing work, the Los Angeles industrial trio set out to create new music with an esoteric cast of abrasive misfits and other sonic outliers, including the likes of Soccer Mommy, Xiu Xiu, 100gecs, FULL OF HELL, and Youth Code. The culmination of those efforts on DISCO4 :: PART I is a fascinating experiment in new possibilities, as each of the artists are able to explore new layers within existence’s darkness (and their own) by merging their creative identities into HEALTH’s futuristic noise.

Higher Power - 27 Miles Underwater [Roadrunner Records]

Built with just the right amount of progressive hardcore groove and big anthem gloss, Higher Power’s 27 Miles Underwater has the ability to command pits digging up the underground as well as those soaring above the masses. The super power distinguishing the UK bunch from the growl of their peers is the vocally amorphous presence of frontman Jimmy Wizard as it polarizes itself over sawing riffs and cosmic spaces with both raw and aerodynamic plasticity. His existential primal screams compliment the overarching soundscape guitarists Louis Hardy and Max Harper, drummer Alex Wizard and bassist Ethan Wilkinson create as it zig-zags from melodramatic hardcore into ambiguous psychedelic wavelengths being resonated through the depths of the universe.

Hum - Inlet [Earth Analog Records]

In the 22 years that Hum have gravitated away from our orbit, their mark on rock music has at least been apparent from down here on Earth. There is however, a greater reach from Hum’s orbit down to our terrain here on their return Inlet. No longer glossed with the major label studio sheen that gave them alternative FM dial hits, the Champaign space-rock quartet sound at home reconvening in a more ornate, dynamic form through their second life. For 55 minutes, it feels like every detail on Hum’s International Space Station is visible from the ground as it makes passage right outside your window, humanizing their future sound as something tangible with a touch of fragility.

METZ - Atlas Vending [Sub Pop]

METZ have never ceased to take artistry into account in the loud volume of their noisemaking, where as many of their peers have fallen by the wayside for relying too, er, heavily on their ability to make the room shake and bowl over listeners. Atlas Vending, the Toronto trio’s third full-length effort, is what noise-rock sounds like when all of its moving parts work in unison as one well-oiled machine. Guitarist and vocalist Alex Edkins, bassist Chris Slorach and drummer Hayden Menzies have not only refined their decibel-crushing sound by pushing it even further into the sky, but they do so by delivering their hookiest material yet without disregarding their innate ability to rattle through any surface, be it in the flesh or through the speakers.

Moor Mother - Circuit City [Don Giovanni Records]

Camea Awaya’s work as Moor Mother feels endless and interconnected, even when she veers off course into cosmic experimentalism or joins forces with creative forces outside her own body. The sounds which the avant-noise artist has already assembled especially move differently when she reconnects with them, as is the case Circuit City, a production originally staged in front of a festival audience and now given a proper recording which brings a different source of energy into the composition. Awaya fills every second with its own purpose, struck by calamity in an avant-jazz fusion of brass and percussive confusion mirroring her own. Her words and the fury of sound battle with the darkest of American injustices – All of the shattered wishes, dreams, and right. Constantly surrounded by a war for her own being, Circuit City connects the outside world’s noise with an anxiety that has becomes too daunting to ignore.

Narrow Head - 12th House Rock [Run for Cover Records]

The second 12th House Rock lifts off with “Yer’ Song”, Narrow Head have left our atmosphere. With the Houston rockers’ sophomore effort and first for Run for Cover Records, the five-piece take homage with the mightiest of the ‘90s alternative’s big riffed work heard in the currents of everything from Hum, the Deftones, My Bloody Valentine, and Brit pop fully amped. With a little rewiring of their electric diagrams, Narrow Head rips through huge hooks and dizzying spins of their own gravity. In these times, 12th House Rock’s energy is the kind of escapist album direly needed in 2020 when you need to put something on loud to drown out the rest of the world.

Nothing - The Great Dismal [Relapse Records]

There is probably never going to be a moment in time where Nothing change their tune on the inevitable collision between our lives and oblivion, and The Great Dismal is the period on that statement that makes it reverberatingly loud that won’t be happening any time soon, if ever at all. The Philly shoegazing punk band’s fourth full-length effort piles on heavier dark matter and churns up the velocity as they plummet into the big black hole sucking us all in more by the day. The songs on this album are also beautiful sinks into the void as well, containing the four-piece’s most accessible work to date. Their sound – muscled in hook-laden feedback, adorned by touches in oddity from Alex G and Mary Lattimore, and confident in boldness – can hold its own even in zero gravity.

Record Setter - I Owe You Nothing [Topshelf Records]

Despite having clashed with their sound in the past through grungy post-hardcore and atmospheric math-rock, Record Setter’s I Owe You Nothing is arguably the first obvious moment of clarity for the Denton, TX four-piece even if their sound veers off into varying gravities of screamo, post-hardcore, and cavernous emo rock. The emotional weight anchored behind each track is what grounds the listen onto the same landing space regardless. A catharsis in identity and by Judy Mitchell’s living truth, approaching their art with this intention has emancipated the band’s second-guessing. Be it the chaos in motion, melodic turnstiles, or vulnerabilities impressed close to the surface, Record Setter attach a heaviness to their sound created not by decibel or amplification (although, the use of added weight in their crushed guitars and crash cymbals adds the album’s turbulence…,) but by human forces bleeding themselves into it.

Shamir - Cataclysm [Self-released]

On Cataclysm, the darker side of two very different albums from Shamir this year, the genre ambiguous artist embraces death through distortion, and that it renders both an anomaly in his catalog by way of stylistic consistency as well as some of his most hook-driven rockers to date makes this turn toward sonic violence stick. In listening to tracks like the static-drenched menacing bop of “Hell”, the desolate post punk atmosphere of “Scream”, or a queer take on Nada Surf popularity in “Feminine Guy”, you can hear how these songs exist to hex listeners into Shamir’s heathenry as he channels an unconventional lightness in his vocals through beefed up muscularity in guitar electricity. If the butterfly must die, then it will never be in vain, for this incarnation of Shamir creates something remarkably outside this world when baring all of its weight.

SOUL GLO - Songs to Yeet At The Sun [Secret Voice]

Even in its rapid fire 12-minute length, Songs to Yeet At The Sun, the latest EP from SOUL GLO, is one of the most vital pieces of heavy music this year. Chomping from the fringe as artists mutating the look and sound of the modern punk community in both its vantage point and a forward-thinking clash of style, the Philly four-piece’s latest offering slams like a poetry of Pierce Jordan’s own Black American experience through a rapid scene-changing stream of conscious, as the five-track listen surges in with adrenaline junky hardcore before recoiling into noisy raptures, then back into bulldozing mode before. What’s left behind is a sludgy pile of bones and guts that will surely be used to reshape the scene from here on out.

Sparta - Trust the River [Dine Alone Records]

Between the band’s 2006 effort Threes and their return in Trust the River, Sparta’s Jim Ward has ventured off the beaten path with his songwriting by delving into folk and indie rock with his other projects under his own name and the band Sleepercar, respectively. Some of those homegrown hints have seeped into Sparta’s water on their first album in 14 years on what is a fitting return to ground-level after gravitating far above the horizon for so long in the band’s early catalog. Trust the River communicates with these times’ political landscape as well as the complexities of our own personal relationships in that way where Sparta’s roughened melancholia can feel like a faded picture. This time, it’s easier to see the faces from down here on Earth, and they’re wearing heavy emotion.

SPICE - SPICE [DAIS Records]

There are five members in the pan-Californian band SPICE who’ve contributions lay equally on the surface of their eponymous debut album’s crackling, rocky complexion. At its epicenter of those fault line is most notably that of vocalist, CEREMONY frontman Ross Farrar alongside fellow CEREMONY drummer Jake Casarotti, bassist Cody Sullivan (No Sir, Sabertooth Zombie), guitarist Ian Simpson (Creative Adult,) and violinist Victoria Skudlarek. The collective’s “deliberate isolation of pain” through a fascia of hardcore and indie rock channel themselves through in non-stop urgency that makes for one of the year’s most rewardingly thrill rides in anxiety-riddled head charges and whirring melodies. Pop-induced, billowing in the air, and heavy like a pile of bricks at once, and when all of these elements atomize onto one slab, we hear how pain even in isolated form comes in many forms.

Sprain - As Lost Through Collision [The Flenser]

Sprain’s As Lost Through Collision is an album that will test your patience. Across seven tracks in super-length spans, the listen lingers, reawakens, and stretches out time to defy the space is consumes. Alex Kent and April Gerloff, who early on the band’s catalog sought to realign elements of slowcore and post-hardcore in a meditative sense, now have piled on a heavier rig of louder influences pulling from the Flenser universe of black metal and post-rock, with the addition of second guitarist guitarist Alex Simmons and drummer Max Pretzer assisting in the moving of concrete walls and steel beams in their sound. Whatever they are building, they eventually redesign or break down, leaving your bereft in its glum.

Touché Amoré - Lament [Epitaph Records]

Touché Amoré’s fifth studio effort Lament is a duality in natural evolutions for the Los Angeles post-hardcore band. In one respect, it deals with the fallout of grief laid bare on the band’s 2016 album Stage Four and in learning to coexist with those emotions, for better or for worse. In another, the listen marks another seismic shift in pushing the boundaries of their progressive hardcore sound into bigger, more ambitious territories with the help of veteran rock producer Ross Robinson, who has guided genre classics by everyone from Korn and Slipknot to the Blood Brothers and At the Drive-In. In giving themselves a larger arena to shout into, there still is no ceiling too high in sight for how far Touché Amoré can climb out of life’s murk.

Thou & Emma Ruth Rundle - May Our Chambers Be Full [Sacred Bones Records]

Emma Ruth Rundle’s manifestation of doom unfurls naturally through knots of haunted folkwork and sludgy feedback, while the heavy experimental metallic atmosphere of Thou has proven to have a way of melding itself around whatever surroundings its thicker air seeks out. On May Our Chambers Be Full, a collaborative effort between the two forces in metal, the two build a monument for the human experience’s polarities in its joyous desperation and immense sorrow through a sound formed in grungy pits and sky-scaling alternative anthemry. If this one feels like it’s tearing every emotion straight from the chest, it’s only because Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou have a natural sense as to where they beat most heavily.

Truth Cult - Off Fire [Pop Wig Records]

Truth Cult is breaking out of the Baltimore hardcore scene with their debut full-length Off Fire, released fittingly on local scene label Pop Wig Records (the label ran by members of Turnstile and Angel Du$t.) Its membership is familiar with spaces that form pits, as it collects members of Give, Pure Disgust, and Red Death, and their sound touches on the gruff post-hardcore rumblings of its surrounding environment. For context, they’ve opened for Lifetime, and have a very Dan Yemin-like energy to their sound that deadlifts a weight similar to what Paint It Black and Open City are throwing down. Off Fire is similarly politicized and swings hard, but that takes nothing away from the melodic gravity of the LP in a way that hears Truth Cult’s sound living up to the elements of its title.

Uniform - Shame [Sacred Bones Records]

Shame, the third studio effort from combustible Brooklyn industry noise torchers Uniform, sets out to rid the self of that which destroys us from the inside out. What’s different about this beastial incantation from the trio’s past releases is how it much raw the internal wounds look on the surface, as the album unburdens itself of conditioned self-hate and constructs a effigy for all that pain to set into flames. It’s a self-immolation of the soul in which frontperson Michael Berdan screams through the smoke, his voice often engulfed and dissipated in a razor burn of guitars and fuel-doused drums. To free themselves it all, Uniform sees no other way out beyond setting themselves on fire -- and burn gloriously, at that.

War On Women - Wonderful Hell [Bridge Nine Records]

Wonderful Hell was released days ahead of this year’s critical presidential election, and War On Women had a concentrated reason as to why: The rallying cries and calls for action hurled into the masses by Shawna Potter made for one last push of resistance against these last four years. Now that we’ve overcome the first hurdle, the Baltimore punk band’s third album serves as a reminder as to how much more work there is to be done. Their agenda hasn’t changed all that much since 2017′s breakout Capture the Flag – defeat fascism, fight for equality for both women and the marginalized, make misogyny and any form hate extinct – and they’ve sharpened the edges of their razor-backed melodic punk anthems here to make their ultimate end-game clear.

[gondorosi]

The gradual separation of show!Jon from book!Jon - Part II

Magic

The showrunners deciding that magic is an unimportant part of the saga and to be relegated to the background is utter horseshit. There’s a bloody REASON direwolves and dragons reappeared in the world when they did, more or less at the same time. There’s a fucking reason why in Martin’s version Dany’s fireproof nature was a one-time thing, the dormant magic in her reawakening as needed BECAUSE dragons needed to be brought back into the world. Dany, Jon and Bran are the three most magic-sensitive characters in the whole story - and only one of them have anything to do with it in a significant manner (though significant might be stretching it). With Dany, her magical nature is only sporadically referred to (the dragons are the be all and end all) and Jon has nothing.

Show!Jon is a mortal man on every level, without a drop of magic in him. Book!Jon is no Bran, but there are three fundamental factors which show how deeply he is connected to the land.

Ghost: Removing Ghost's importance to Jon is akin to removing part of his soul. He isn't just 'big, white fluffy doggo'. Ghost is part of him, his familiar. Ghost is the physical personification of the magic running in Jon's blood, the proof of the Old Gods awareness running through Stark children's veins. Direwolves have a deeper, subtler and less apparent magic than dragons, but no less potent, and no less essential to Jon than her dragons are to Dany. Out of all the Stark siblings, Jon’s connection with Ghost and Bran’s connection with Summer seem to be the most symbiotic. All the siblings have strong bonds with their direwolves, molded to their own personality - Arya’s connection with Nymeria persists even across the sea in Essos, all legends of Robb in battle are accompanied by legends of Grey Wind and poor Rickon becomes so enmeshed in Shaggydog’s mind that there’s little to distinguish between boy and beast. However, perhaps due to the nature of their POVs and story arcs, none of the Starks save Bran and Jon have their journeys so closely aligned to their wolves. Which is why it’s nigh impossible to even consider Jon’s story moving forward without Ghost, especially post resurrection. The show omitted the obvious implication that Jon warged into Ghost before he died, had no role for him in the BoB, completely erased him in S7 and relegated him to a damn stray in S8. On the other hand, the show AMPED up the Dragon Queen part of Dany to the detriment of all other aspects of her character.

Warging: In a universe where Martin has tried his best to weave in strong magic with actual medieval politics, concentrating all Northern magic into one single character (whose surface they barely scratched) is utterly lazy storytelling. Jon's warging abilities are mighty and second perhaps only to Bran, though I hold the belief Arya is as powerful a warg. But unlike both of them, Jon seems to actively resist exploring his warging possibilities. Some of the resistance may be explained by his environment - with both the NW and the Freefolk considering warging to be something of a ‘black’ art or dark magic. Sure, the Free Folk are more open about it, with Varamyr envying Jon’s gift with Ghost in his thoughts:

“He had known what Snow was the moment he saw that great white direwolf stalking silent at his side. One skinchanger can always sense another. Mance should have let me take the direwolf. There would be a second life worthy of a king. He could have done it, he did not doubt. The gift was strong in Snow, but the youth was untaught, still fighting his nature when he should have gloried in it.”

The show makes NO mention of it. Jon being considered a warg is a major reason behind half the NW hating and fearing him. I don’t remember the show ever bringing up the fact that Jon was feared - they seemed to make Thorne and Slynt’s animosity out of sheer spite and disgust at his bastardy. 

The Lord Commander's Raven: This is a favourite obsession of mine. Old Mormont’s raven pops out at Jon at seemingly random moments, but for the reader bursting with conspiracy theories, the raven is just another nod to the fact that Jon has a far greater role to play in the story than is visible to the eye. There's a popular theory that Bloodraven wargs him from time to time, since Jon is the secondary piece on his chessboard. The raven has come to Jon’s aid atleast twice that I can remember:

When Mormont is attacked by the wight:

Jon tried to shout, but his voice was gone. Staggering to his feet, he kicked the arm away and snatched the lamp from the Old Bear's fingers. The flame flickered and almost died. "Burn!" the raven cawed. "Burn, burn, burn!"

Spinning, Jon saw the drapes he'd ripped from the window. He flung the lamp into the puddled cloth with both hands.

During the election for Lord Commander when Mormont’s raven flying to his shoulder is used as a sign by Sam to argue for Mormont’s approval of Jon as the choice.

Bastardy

Jon's entire sense of self is centered around two things:

Ned Stark is his father

He's a bastard

His entire character arc is trying live up to one of those and distance himself from the connotations of the other. His bastardy is the formative lodestone of his character and moral compass but in the EXACT opposite of how Catelyn and Westerosi society as a whole expect it to be.

However, there's a twist to that. Jon's inner desire is EXACTLY what Catelyn feared. He DOES want to be Lord of Winterfell. He DOES harbour resentment that Robb (seemingly) has everything handed to him while the best Jon can hope for is to die at his post, unknown and unsung. He DOES want glory and power and to exact some kind of revenge on a society which deemed him vile and detestable for no fault of his. All the elements for him to become the Starks' own Daemon Blackfyre is already present.

But there's one difference - Ned Stark is no Aegon the Unworthy. Even more than all of the above heart's desires, Jon wants to be like his father. He wants to do what is right. He wants his father to be proud of him. He wants to be nothing like the greedy, vengeful and lusty creature he's always been told he is. He wants to help people and stand up for the weak because that's who he is. At the very heart of it, he just wants to be loved by Ned as much as his trueborn sons. And thus he takes Tyrion's words to heart and wears his bastardy like impenetrable armour.

In show!Jon, ALL of this inner struggle is lost. Jon's bastardy is rarely affixed other than as a side. Show!Jon is a 'good' man. Yes, undoubtedly. But what makes book!Jon a great man is that he masters his baser desires to focus on what's more important. THAT'S what Jeor, Mance and Stannis all saw in him. That's why the Free Folk follow him. That's why half the NW will die for him (yes I know the other half will kill him).

When you have spent most of the show without anywhere referencing how vital the armour of bastardy, and being Ned Stark’s son is to Jon's psyche and sense of self, even the best directors will not be able to depict WHY the news of his parentage will have ripped out the ground from under him. Dany's quest for the throne is out there glaring at us thus atleast on paper making sense that having her undeniable right threatened will rattle her (I personally hate hate HATE the creative decision that Dany's immediate reaction to find out Jon's a Targaryen will be paranoia and concern for HER throne but I digress).

Intelligence, ability and cunning

Up until S4 and most of S5, show!Jon and book!Jon exhibited similar levels of intelligence and cunning. One of my favourite scenes is Sam trying to stop Jon from marching into Mance's camp to try and assassinate him. Jon gets in his face with his frustration and despair boiling and asks if he has any better ideas. At this point he's done a superb job commanding the defence of Castle Black but has also just lost Ygritte, Pyp and Grenn all in one night, a significant portion of the meagre Castle Black forces and is fully aware that they cannot survive another charge. He's beyond desperate and aware that his efforts are likely suicidal but he can't just retreat, lick his wounds and do nothing. 

The show labours under the popular delusion that truly good guys can't be really smart, as being smart means preserving yourself and truly good guys will always jump into danger first to protect other people. Politics is bad so if you're a good strategist then you can't be a good person. 

Both book and show characterizations of Jon have been criticized for being examples of the ‘Chosen One’ the ‘reluctant hero’ who turns out to be the right man for the job, and for painting ambition and the quest for power as negative pursuits. In the book however, Jon’s ambitions never really had a chance to form. He’s prideful enough in his abilities to believe he would be an immediate select into the elite Ranger ranks and is devastated when that doesn’t work out. By the time he’s come to terms with the fact that being Mormont’s steward means being groomed for command, the truth of the White Walkers is in front of him and that becomes his sole consideration.

To many readers, Jon’s election to Lord Commander was ‘contrived’ though I do believe Sam played the long political game as he believed his friend being in a position of power would lead to an easier path for him. However, Jon doesn’t crumple under the weight of the responsibility - his actions as Lord Commander are revolutionary enough to completely destabilize his support. The show entirely omits all the strategic parts of his negotiations with both Stannis and the Freefolk. Unlike show!Jon, book!Jon does not allow the Freefolk through the Wall only on the account of goodwill and the fear of a common enemy. He takes their children hostage to ensure compliance. He negotiates with the Iron Bank for a loan to stave off starvation come winter. He repopulates the Gift with Free Folk. He shelters, counsels and aids Stannis. He addresses almost every logistical and material issue he can think except for the most fundamental - his people. 

On the other hand, there’s no strategic and political angle to Show!Jon in S6 and S7, instead being posited only as warrior extraordinaire.

'The greatest swordsman in the North' - but too naive to not keep the sister who tricked him almost to his death at arm's length. Brave, loyal and courageous beyond belief - but completely befuddled by politicking. Immediately trusting a sister he’s never been close to and who has been Littlefinger’s pupil for a considerable time. 

Book!Jon's abilities as a leader are sorely underappreciated, especially considering that his tenure as Lord Commander saw the status quo of almost every aspect of NW life upended. The previous LC is killed in a mutiny. The Wildling army launch an attack. The Others finally rise. A King/King Claimant FINALLY takes the NW's warnings seriously. The Wildlings are brought south of the Wall.

Despite being a new beginning for all recruits, the Night's Watch is the one order in Westeros whose traditions and rules have not changed in millennia. Understaffed, under-resourced and facing a threat the likes of which people would struggle to comprehend, Jon does the best he can. His major mistake is one most young leaders make, and that is assume all of those under automatically understand his reasons for doing what he does. 

Relationships

Brother:

If there's one role Jon takes more seriously than 'Ned Stark's son, it's that of brother. Book!Jon is pretty much the pinnacle of brotherly love - Robb's right hand, Arya's champion and dutiful protector to both Bran and Rickon. There's a subtle tragedy in this too - despite how much his siblings love him, all of them, including Arya, have othered him. He's brother, but only half. Snow, not a Stark. The last in the list. 'The last brother left to me' - as felt by both Robb and Sansa.

Book!Jon and Show!Jon are both shown to be loving, dutiful brothers but once again the show is incapable of portraying more than one character at a time in a certain way. Thus all of Jon's brotherly love is concentrated on Sansa, the sibling he was least close to. Show!Jon never mentions Robb after his death mentions Arya not at all when book!Jon never stops thinking about the two of them.

Maybe, maybe if the show had bothered to flesh out Jon Snow's emotional attachment to his home and siblings, his dilemma between his family and Dany wouldn't have been so shoddy.

Friend:

Book!Jon, despite his aloof demeanour attracts fast friends. His staunchest supporters in the NW are those who he befriended when he first stepped within the gates. He's the only one to ever have stood up for many of them. And it's his NW friends who do become truly brothers, as they see and stand beside him during his rise to leadership.

Show!Jon is no different - he's got his loyal friends but there was no apparent discord after him being elected LC. Which is surprising considering that this is the moment that Jon effectively decides to ‘Kill the boy.’ The Gilly baby switch storyline is completely done away with, probably because it is the one decision that very clearly paints Jon as grey. The book Sam struggles to understand this decision - in his mind his best friend would never have done that. Maester Aemon is the one who sets him straight - Jon is no longer just a brother of the Watch, he’s the Lord Commander now. He can no longer be taking decisions just as Sam’s friend.

The show never really dwelt on the chasm Jon’s position as a leader would have created with his brothers who till them were his equals. Book!Jon knowingly starts distancing himself and this is a flaw that comes back to stab him in the chest - again a misstep in one raised to leadership at a young age.

Lover:

This part will be a bit of a cop-out since at this point the only common love interest between the books and the show is Ygritte. The show axed Val, who’s one of my favourite secondary characters and my main preference for a Jon pairing pre-Dany. And of course, there’s far too much plot to cover before Jon and Dany even meet in the book (if they’re ever finished).

There are factions of the fandom who don’t think the Jon and Dany romance in S7 was set up convincingly. Admittedly that’s going to be hard for me to judge fairly as I’ve been in the Jonerys camp ever since ADWD made it clear how Jon was growing as a leader and as a magical touchstone in direct parallels to Dany. It definitely helped that Kit’s portrayal of Jon had FINALLY started to appeal to me once The Watchers of the Wall aired. I’d been one of the many fans who had been waiting for these two to meet on the show - and though I personally found the Jon-Dany relationship progression to be one of the few good things about S7, I can perhaps get why many neutral fans (i.e not commited to any rival ships for either Jon or Dany) think its out of character for them to be so involved so soon.

There are plenty of popular assumptions perpetuated by the show which have no backup in the original material - one of them is ‘dumb, lovable idiot’ Jon paired with the ‘awkward and oblivious as fuck with women’ Jon. Now, I’ll not deny that the latter portrayal works QUITE well with show!Jon (Kit’s face is the perfect cast for this characterization) but I just don’t see it working with book!Jon. The boy isn’t seeking out women but its not like he’s not around them. Alys Karstark was quite obviously taken with him, and I doubt Jon missed it, but there were far greater things of import to consider for both of them - I saw no awkwardness in the text. Jon dislikes Selyse and manages to be both cordial and deferential as required. Melisandre makes no secret of her fascination with him - there’s no bumbling awkwardness there either. And Val - he’s quite smitten and there’s some awkwardness there, sure but its hardly the bumbling variety.

As for Dany - considering that at this point the 7 seasons of the show is all we will ever have, I somehow think the softer show!Jon makes a much better pairing with the more hardened show!Dany. Its as if certain aspects of their personalities were flipped in the show - book!Dany is definitely much softer and gentle without her power and strength being diminished, whereas book!Jon is far more calculated and ruthless without compromising on his honour and integrity. 

[drsilverfish]

The Cast of Heroes in 15x11 The Gamblers

So, following straight on from 15x10 The Hero’s Journey, we encounter the Goddess Fortuna in Alaska, who compares Sam and Dean to three mythological heroes.

Heracles/ Hercules and Iolaus (one of his male lovers) fighting the Hydra (one of the twelve labours of Hercules).

Malibu 83.AE.346, Caeretan hydria, c. 525 B.C. Main panel: Hercules slaying the Lernean hydra

Gilgamesh and Enkidu fighting the “Bull of Heaven

The Gilgamesh Cylinder Seal - Assyrian 7thC BC

Cú Chulainn carrying Ferdiad’s body (sculpture in Co Louth. Ireland) 

I’m even later to the party than usual this evening because it’s a particularly hectic work period. 

Looking forward to seeing all your takes on The Gamblers!

Firstly, I am ecstatic, as I’m sure many of you are - THANKYOU Meredith Glynn and Davy Perez - they friggin’ mentioned GILGAMESH. 

We’ve been talking about The Epic of Gilgamesh as the closest model in world literature for the epic-heroic love story between Dean and Cas for years. 

Gilgamesh, Hercules,  Cú Chulainn - those are the heroes Fortuna mentions. 

Three heroes from three different mythologies. What is their significance?

Cú Chulainn (Irish mythology) was a handsome warrior, the lover of many women, but with a true love, the lady Emer. He was the son of the God Lugh, God of the harvest. Tragically he killed his own son, Connla, not knowing who he was. 

He may also have been bisexual. His relationship with Ferdiad, his best friend and foster-brother, is described by Cat Mount in a scholarly article, “The Three Loves of Cúchulainn: The Impact of Warrior Relationships in The Táin” (2012) as follows:

“Cúchulainn’s relationships with Fergus, Laeg, and Ferdia demand attention. Each is different not only because each man is different, but because they depict separate types of relationships. The relationship with Fergus is based in the familial, while the relationship with Laeg is one of friendship. The relationship with Ferdia falls somewhere between the other two and, yet, is neither. Romantic is a term that can be used to describe this friendship.”  

http://loki.stockton.edu/~kinsellt/ulsterrising/ulsterrising.pdf 

Tragically,  Cú Chulainn kills Ferdiad in battle. 

Heracles/ Hercules (Greek/ Roman mythology) was also the son of a God, Zeus. In Greek mythology he was also bisexual, taking many male and female lovers. His most well-known male lovers were Iolaus and Hylas.

https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/art/2013/08/14/golden-age-denial-hercules-bisexual-demigod?pg=8 

Hercules also undewent great suffering. His famous twelve labours were penance for having killed his sons whilst in a state of madness induced by Zeus’ wife Hera (jealous as usual of Zeus’ eternal philanderings).  

Gilgamesh, from the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, was, like Cú Chulainn and Hercules, part divine and part human. Enkidu was a “wild man” fashioned by the Gods to be his companion. Gilgamesh’s mother, Ninsun, interpreted her son’s dream which foretold the coming of Enkidu to him thus:

“This star of heaven which descended like a meteor from the sky; which you tried to lift,- but found too heavy, when you tried to move it it would not budge, and so you brought it to my feet; I made it for you, a goad and spur, and you were drawn as though to a woman. This is the strong comrade, the one who brings help to his friend in his need. He is the strongest of wild creatures, the stuff of Anu; born in the grass-lands and the wild hills reared him; when you see him you will be glad; you will love him as a woman and he will never forsake you. This is the meaning of the dream.”

http://www.aina.org/books/eog/eog.htm

Why Reference These Particular Heroes?

Well, yay for bisexual heroes - the queer subtext of S15 continues apace. 

Also, there are three of them, so we could, perhaps, map them to Sam, Dean and Cas.

But, I think there’s more than that. 

These heroes are part divine and part human. That fits with the alchemical themes of S14 and 15, where alchemy is a symbolic map of the soul’s journey to God, but also represents the recognition of the spark of divinity in man. This fits with the cosmic and earthly planes mirroring one another, which has been a feature of Supernatural (as above, so below) since Chuck tried to make Sam and Dean vehicles for a cosmic show-down between Michael and Lucifer, and, more rescently, the way Chuck and Amara’s break-up mirrored Dean and Cas’ break-up, and Sam’s direct human-divine connection to Chuck via the God-wound.

Chuck, so I think the ending goes, needs to recognise the “divine spark” in his creations (free will) instead of treating them as characters in his story and as “toys” (as Dean said in 15x09 The Trap). In other words, God needs to recognise the “divinity” in our heroes (just like Cú Chulainn and Hercules and Gilgamesh are part divine).   

And that’s the other element that’s interesting - because heroes lead epic but tragic lives in mythology. All these heroes killed people they loved - sons or comrades-in-arms/ lovers. 

That’s the ending Chuck wants for Sam and Dean - one brother kills the other. 

So, in as much as Chuck needs to recognise the “divine spark” in his creations, Sam and Dean need to recognise that they don’t have to be heroic tragic archetypes, they can instead, embrace the gloriousness of their humanity. 

Heroes get tragic endings, humans sometimes get happy ones. 

So there’s an as above, so below symmetry happening through the invocation of these three mythic heroes - God must come to recognise the divinity in his creations, and our heroes must come to recognise they don’t have to be larger-than-life (part divine) heroes forever, but can just, at the end, win their freedom to be free humans.  

I’ll say more about hero paralllels and Jack in another post. Suffice it to say that I don’t think Jack killing Chuck will turn out to the the “correct” doorway to cosmic and earthly freedom.     

[laur-rants]

Transfiguration -- Ch 1: Awake

Fandom: Doom Rating: Mature, because violence against demons Pairing: Sam/Slayer [eventually] Summary: The Slayer has beaten the Icon of Sin, but the work is far from over. There is still much, MUCH to be done. Notes: Yeah. I said I’d write Doom fanfic. Why? Because it’s gay to travel between dimensions and realms just to meet back up with the demigod you helped create, and are determined to save humanity because of him. Anyway enjoy I don’t know what I’m even doing with this. *throws it into the void* AO3 Link Next Chapter

---------- "There is a common saying among the peoples of humanity; 'history is written by the victors.' It is one of their species's constants, a phrase found across the divides. Thus, it can be gleaned that regardless of realms, of region, that history is full of lies. Only those who lost their respective battles yet still managed to survive those considered to be the holders of the more accurate accounts of events. But how many survivors never tell the truth? How many live in fear, unable to share the knowledge they have born witness to?

"I refute being a fearful survivor. Though the 'victors' may say otherwise, I was advised to disappear by the Father himself, to run from my own species in order to save it. The words of prophecy have been set into motion; there are coming events even he cannot stop. I have seen the future, infallible now. The battle is lost, but not the war.

I am Samur. I am the holder of the witnessed truth. I will profess it to you as long as I am alive, and as long as I am able.

Father, if you are listening, please have mercy on my consciousness."

-- Book of the Maykr Samur, pt 1

When he wakes up, it is not in the bed he fell asleep in. He stares up at the bright white of a too-clean ceiling, hears the steady beep of machinery and -- voices, there were voices nearby. Too many for him to still be in the lonely fortress he calls home, a fact that is enough to clear any fog clouding his mind. In one swift movement he's sitting up, his body aching and protesting this sudden change in verticality but he ignores the pain entirely, legs swinging over the side of the bed in an effort to move.

One of the earlier voices shouts, clearer and sharper now-- definitely real and not like the fabrications he's used to. He ignores them for now nonetheless; more urgent is the machinery yelling at him from the bedside. He frowns, pulling off cords and sensors, highly disapproving of the medical gown he's found himself in. Damnit, where the fuck is my suit, he thinks, even as a doctor with black hair and green eyes behind jeweled glasses rushes over to put a hand on his chest and try and push him back down to a prone position.

"Ah, sorry, mister Slayer, sir," the doctor fumbles, trying and failing to even budge the man, the wall of muscle staying stubbornly in place. The aforementioned Slayer watches her take a step back, purse her lips, then push against him, a little more insistently. "I really need you to lay back down. You're already starting to bleed through your bandages."

He blinks and looks down through the smock; most if not all of his upper body was bandaged and wrapped. A particular wrapping on his left arm was indeed bleeding, the pain barely registering even as the splotch of red grows, spreading fast through the fabric. He lets out a small noncommittal noise (causing the doctor to jerk back suddenly in surprise) as he starts to unwrap the bandages himself. A group of nurses and medical staff immediately crowd into the room, urging the Slayer to please stop, to let them handle such work.

Sure enough, as the medical staff peel away the sticky fabric, a nasty gash is revealed, running from the top of his bicep to the underside of his arm all the way to the armpit. It had been sutured shut but as the Slayer had stood up it had easily popped open and was now bleeding freely. He looks to the rolls of soaked bandages, looks to his seeping arm, and appears... apologetic, of all things. The doctor sighs, gives the man known only as the Doom Slayer a quick look over, then fetches new bandages and sutures.

"You're probably wondering why you're here, and have a lot of questions." She looks over to him, expecting some sort of response-- but when he says nothing or doesn't refute her words, she clears her throat, pushing a lock of hair behind an ear. "Or perhaps not. Either way, we received a distress signal, and found your ship. You were in a rough state, possibly connected to the recent fight with the Icon of... Sin…"

She trails off as she sees the Slayer's face harden like stone. She coughs lightly a second time, the color rising to her cheeks. "Apologies. The original transmission was sent by Dr. Hayden himself, so ARC forces immediately responded -- but we did not expect to find you in an alien ship bleeding out on the floor, nor did we expect to see it powered by the Crucible, or to hear Hayden communicating from--" The doctor continued on, but the Slayer was far past the point of listening. Instead, his brow furrows, trying to recall what had happened post attack.

The fight itself had been a blur. The demons had fallen before his wrath and Dr. Samuel Hayden had been in his ear, egging him on until the end, when finally the Icon was there, the only obstacle still standing. It was only so long before the huge titan of Hell itself was falling to his might. He had stood tall, victorious, fueled by rage and adrenaline. And then Hayden had portaled him back... but from there, his memory begins to blur. How had he been injured, exactly? Surely he had at least made it back to his room before--

"Slayer? Sir?"

His eyes flick to the doctor and again his gaze is enough to make her flinch. His fist clenches before relaxing again. He sighs. He closes his eyes, steadying himself, before tilting his head at her in question.

Her throat clears. "You zoned out, my apologies. I wanted to let you know that your stitches are fixed and you're rebandaged. We recommend a few days bed rest -- you may not feel the pain and you will not die from the wounds but--" her eyebrows go up, shaking her head in mild disbelief, "--regardless of your perceived immortality... you are human and you need rest. Now. Do you have any questions?"

The Slayer scowls at her, and the longer she waits for an answer the deeper the scowl grows. Eventually he rolls his eyes, then gestures to his body. She seems to get the hint.

"Oh, your suit?" He nods. "It is in the other room, currently being cleaned. We can bring it in here if you'd like?" The Slayer nods, then crosses his arms --carefully, so the doctor didn't have to re-stitch his arm a third time. "I can also assure you that your ship is secure; Hayden made sure of that, and he is also currently working with ARC scientists to repair the parts of his body that were broken."

As the woman talked, her face grew more flushed, and she continued to avert her eyes. It was at this point that the Slayer realized her voice was familiar. He scrutinizes her, unblinking, head tilted, arms still crossed, before he finally clears his throat, prompting her to stop any rambling she was currently involved in. She squeaks and her cheeks go a bright red, but it is enough to stop her momentarily.

"Oh! Do you need water? Can you speak?"

Not to you, lady, is what he would've said, but instead he simply thinks it to himself while managing to shake his head in response to both. He sighs, sitting back. When even was the last time he was in a hospital? It was more than a lifetime ago, on a different Earth, in a different realm, with different doctors with similar agendas looking him over, wondering his secrets when he argued that he had none to give.

Now he had too many secrets and a vow of silence keeping him from spilling any of them. Not that he'd want to, anyway. And definitely not to this doctor in over her head.

"Of course, of course. Well, ah, if you need anything, my name is Dr. Elena Richardson. Feel free to call if anything, anything at all, is needed." She pats his arm awkwardly and it clicks in his memory; the audio logs. Good Lord, it was her. He gives her a brief nod and smile before looking away and she backs off, blessedly leaving him alone.

He sits there.

Then, less than a minute later, Slayer decides he's been sitting long enough.

Lost in thought, he swings his legs over the side of the bed, taking in the surroundings more fully. His room was isolated, a few monitors tracking not only his vitals, but a few other things, such as blood type, foreign bodies, a chart detailing his wounds. The room smells too clean, like when someone needs to disinfect every inch of every surface, but at least it wasn't tainted with the smell of blood and corruption. At least, not yet.

Or perhaps, not anymore.

Perhaps there was a reason for the burning scent of bleach in his nose, after all.

His fingers tap against the mattress, keeping time with an unheard beat, but then the tempo quickens to impatience. This was not going to be a place he wanted to stay, and certainly not for a few more days, let alone a few more hours. He looks around, glances at the ceiling and windows, checks his condition, and plans.

------

In a different room, in a different part of the complex, in a very different condition...the body of Dr. Samuel Hayden awakens.

Well. Perhaps awaken is not the right word. Waking up implies the lack of a consciousness, whereas Hayden has always been quite aware of his surroundings. For the past seven years or so he's been vaguely aware of scientists watching his body, was even roughly aware of the Doom Slayer as he pulled the remnants of his body away from ARC tech, tossing him unceremoniously through a portal onto the fortress ship the Slayer called home. Things became much clearer and sharper after connecting with the ship and drawing power from it; however, there was a difference between living within the confines of a ship's mainframe for the better part of a month, and being within a body that now fully functioned, with joints that bent when he willed them to. Having a robot chassis did make life complicated sometimes… but being able to return to functional legs years after they'd been ripped off, was definitely a bonus.

With the return of his fully-functioning cyborg body, the sleek black-and-white frame towering 3 feet over the next tallest person, he did feel conscious again for the first time in years-- so if that counted towards "awake", then the word was fitting for his current mental state after all.

"Thank you, Simon," Hayden says, refitting his right arm with his left, his blue LED blinking bright inside his skull. The bald doctor, overseeing the reattachment of the arm, just nods, fixing his glasses. "I think for now, that'll be all. Keep studying the ship while you can; if it can help rebuild me, it can help rebuild others."

His voice was deep, warbled, slightly digital; like it was still getting used to speaking from the chassis, and not from the ship's internal comm system. Nevertheless the scientist didn't seem to mind. He just responds with "of course, sir," and heads off in the direction of the door, passing many other scientists deep in their work as he does so. Hayden rubs a wrist and, --as a few ARC scientists flit around him, removing cables and wires full of man-made Argent-- he takes his first steps with his new pair of legs.

"We have much to do," Hayden states, with an air of authority and urgency. "With the Icon of Sin dead, we need to move towards eradicating any remaining demonic forces before those in space can return to Earth." He turns to the nearest scientist, a woman with bushy red hair and freckles. "How is our guest holding up?"

"Richardson has reported that he is awake and responsive, but we do not know how long he will tolerate being subject to more tests. He's already popped sutures simply by trying to get up."

Hayden tilts his head. "How long ago was this report?"

"An hour ago now." She checks her notes and then looks up at the towering cyborg. "Why?"

As if on cue, an alarm goes off. Hayden looks over, checking a nearby monitor: as suspected, it's from Medical Bay H. The redhead looks incredibly concerned, her eyes going wide.

"O-oh," she says, as a hulking form of muscle and sinew, dressed only in a medical gown, struts past a security camera. The subject looks around then walks up to a nearby doctor, tapping them on the shoulder before "borrowing" their key card lanyard. He uses it on a nearby door, tossing the lanyard back to doctor before entering the room and surveying the object of his desire: a powerful space-faring suit of alien make and design.

Hayden sighs. Of course. He turns away and walks towards the door.

"Sir?" Says the scientist manning the security camera. "Should we… can we… stop him?" There was a futility to his tone; everyone here had a right to be concerned. Even if the humans in ARC weren't corrupt or demonic, the collateral damage the Doom Slayer could cause was well-documented. The hole Mars now sported was evidence enough of what he was capable of.

"Invite him to see me in Complex Wing B, room 235. Don't try and stop him; I can guarantee you won't be able to." There's a dark chuckle there, a dry amusement, but Hayden shakes his head anyway. He continues his trajectory, leaving the room where had been reassembled, opening up a comm line with the Slayer directly.

"Long time no see, so to speak. How about we meet, face to face, one more time? There's much we need to discuss."