#and only sort of related to the point of this post which is v good

[cfv-week]

We're back for the third time! Here are the how to, rules and prompts for Cardfight Vanguard Prompt Week 2024! Mark October 7th - 13th in your calendars!

How it works:

Chose a prompt that speaks to you and create something related to that theme. You can also combine several prompts if you so chose.

Post your creation on the day the prompt is assigned to, right here on tumblr.

Tag the post with #cfvweek2024

We will reblog all contributions in the tag onto this blog. Make sure to follow us so you can see them all!

If you post fanfiction to AO3, add them to the collection "CFV Prompt Week 2024".

Any and all sorts of contributions are welcome. Fanart, fanfictions, edits, moodboards, memes, playlists, headcanon posts, gifs etc.

If you end up missing the date of the prompt, don’t worry! We accept late entries as well.

Rules:

Please note that this week is specifically for the original CFV, CFV G and the V series reboot (which includes Shinemon and IF). This means no Overdress. Apologies to Overdress lovers, but it’s the former series that we want to keep alive in the present age.

We don't accept AI-generated content.

NSFW (violence, gore, M or E rated fics and such) content is allowed, but only if tagged appropriately.

You're welcome to combine your entries for this event with any other prompt events, writing or art challenges you want to participate in, such as Whumptober, Fictober, Flufftober, Omnious October etc.

Transcription of prompts under the cut:

Day 1: Favorite Minor Character | Sick Fic | Pets

Favorite Minor Character:

We Vanguard fans are SERIOUS about our side characters! Let's show some love to the fantastic characters that were given a jarring lack of content in the series! Maybe your favorite character overall is a member of the main cast, but now it's time to pick somebody from the sidelines to appreciate just as much!

Sick Fic:

What a classic we've got here today, folks. You don't necessarily have to write a fic for this (though it's totally encouraged)! Just create anything you want involving those down days. Characters getting sick in fiction can help show off so many neat and hidden traits, so be creative and make whatever you see fit (or not fit, because somebody is sick)!

Pets:

PETS! What more could you even ask for? We've got only a few pets to thrive off of in the show, so lets show some love to them… or maybe think up some original ones! Maybe somebody has a secret pet, or maybe there was a random line of dialogue about a pet at some point? Who knows what could happen, but it ought to be great.

Day 2: Favorite Team | PSYqualia | Memories

Favorite Team:

We've got SO many to choose from! And not even just the main teams like Q4 and TRY3; how about silly little teams like the iconic Miwa-Morikawa-Izaki-Emi squad? Go wild! Whether it be a competitive Vanguard playing team, or just characters that work well together, there's bound to be some really great teams to make stuff for!

PSYqualia:

Now here's something real intriguing… PSYQualia was the fictional power used to communicate with the Planet Cray and the illustrated cards that came from it, but it had drawbacks. Will you represent it in its corruptive origins, or its positive future? Go for it!

Memories:

I'm sure everyone has some kind of fond memories that came from Vanguard, or maybe you'll want to represent how memories are presented by the characters! A large amount of the series revolves around memories, surprisingly enough- Misaki's whole life is pretty much centered around them, and Seasons 2 and 4 seriously threw us for a doozy. Let's make this a day to remember!

Day 3: Favorite Outfit | Fluff | Magic AU

Favorite Outfit:

YIPPEE!!! Maybe that's a little exaggerated, but c'mon- who doesn't love a good outfit. Vanguard's got some seriously cool fits, if not just for the characters, then on the card art! Look around and find your inspiration, or maybe even create an outfit you'd think would be a fan favorite!

Fluff:

No one could ever lie and say they don't like fluff. Sweetness, love, care, and everything in-between. It can be soft, tooth-rotting, comforting! Do as you please and pick out your favorite fantasies for this one, we're sure it'll be more than appreciated.

Magic AU

Vanguard has its fair share of magical elements! But what if they got taken in slightly different way, a step to the left? Or maybe even a leap! Are they all wizardly figures? Magical girls? Maybe there's just something 'magical' in the air? Go wild, throw out a magic-based alternate universe!

Day 4: Favorite Relationship | Betrayal | Cray & Lore

Favorite Relationship:

Besties, lovers, enemies, and everything in-between, everyone loves a compelling relationship. But which one is your favorite? Are you enamored with the way some characters hate each other? Or maybe you just really want to show off your favorite ship! Pick your favorite Vanguard relationship, and if you have multiple? The more the merrier!

Betrayal:

Uh oh… There's no shortage of evil in Vanguard, and betrayal can come from anywhere. Does it coincide with the Reverse, PSYqualia, or maybe just human nature? Pick an act of betrayal or make up your own, because - no matter what, it's gonna hurt real good.

Cray and Lore:

The planet Cray is SO COOL and SO UNEXPLORED! Delve deep into the lore of the planet, or think up something fresh and cool for it! Blaster Blade and Dragonic Overlord are only the tip of this awesome iceberg, and there's endless things to explore!

Day 5: Favorite Episode | Family | Birthday

Favorite Episode:

Can you even believe there's 196 episodes JUST in the original run, and hundreds more after that? With all that Vanguard, you're bound to have some favorite episodes! Let's all skim through the runs and pick a favorite to represent, there's so so so many to enjoy!

Family:

Family comes in all shapes and sizes, and the Vanguard characters became a family over and over again, without a doubt. Choose a family in Vanguard, by blood or not, to create for, and enjoy!

Birthday:

We've got TWO BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK! Today is Mamoru Anjou's birthday, and Kourin Tatsunagi's is on the 13th of October! Show them some extra love, or maybe pick another birthday to celebrate! We love our characters, and their birthdays, whether fictional or not, are always fun.

Day 6: Favorite Clan | Crossover | Secret Identity

Favorite Clan:

I know, I know… This might be an impossible task. But we have to try! Pick a Vanguard clan that you can call your favorite, and show it some appreciation! This can extend out to newer or old standards of clan systems, in any way you like!

Crossover:

Vanguard has endless opportunities to pair up with other series, it's all pretty open! Crossovers are ALWAYS FUN, and it's refreshing to play with other media that we also love! Maybe one of your favorite shows has Vanguard cards in it now, or maybe Vanguard characters are in the book you're reading or new anime you're watching! Who knows, have fun!

Secret Identity:

Oooh… A secret! There's already representation of this trope in Vanguard plenty of times! Remember Ninja Master M, and the Team Unknown debacle? The time Kyou was the Abominable Snowman? Maybe even make up your own, go wild! Whether it's online or behind a mask, there's plenty of ways to hide your identity. But remember- it's a secret!

Day 7: Favorite Parallel | Endings & New Beginnings | FREE

Favorite Parallel:

Contrasting motives in media is probably one of the most exciting things I could ever think of. What contrasts and parallels do you see in Vanguard? Blaster Dark and Blaster Blade, perhaps? Character arcs, episode structures, the lore of the cards and the journey of our protagonists... There's parallels everywhere. Delve deep for this one, and find something really interesting to analyze!

Endings and New Beginnings:

Vanguard has some of our absolute favorite endings and beginnings ever, so why not go ahead and show them off? The transition of each arc, each era, each generation, is something to be celebrated. May it be the end of a big tournament, or the beginning of a new season altogether, or something totally different and unexpected!

FREE!

YOU'RE FREE! Do literally anything you want for this last day of CFV Week! Doodle assisticat, make a cool edit, take a picture of your CFV merch, throw out a moodboard, write a 200k word fic (okay, maybe don't try to do that in just one day). But, whatever you choose to do, let's end this week with a bang!

We cannot wait to see what you guys come up with!

Lots of Love, the mod team

PS: Don't forget to use #cfvweek2024 so we can easily find your contributions!

Additionally, you can tag us if you’d like, to make sure we see your posts!

[miss-mossball]

hi!! im the same anon who sent that ask, that makes me really happy to hear!! we were worried it may have come across as rude somehow but we're glad it meant well as intended!!! and heck yeah!! we're so glad to hear you're doing good.

DID rep is something that matters a lot to us,, to where we were actually very nervous engaging with the idea and showing our own perspectives on it. because we somehow got it in our head that people would accuse us of faking it. or misrepresenting, or whatever the sort. which! seems a little silly, now that it's put into words,

but those types of insecurities rule over us, so seeing it elsewhere is very deeply encouraging!! we're two years out of our bad life, and like... a year into figuring out who we are. so i think that'd be a good start! ehehe...

it's hard to accept the idea of being treated softly, even Now, but maybe it'd be easier to get used to the idea and the feeling if it's not.. Directly us experiencing that gentleness. hard to say, but an exciting experiment to conduct in soon time.

....this got deep i initially came here to make an amusing observation,

wanted to say 'wassup fellow ally of the Moss Allegiance' because i used to be called moss online, so my partner whose also been very deeply supportive of us and our explorations of our everything calls us marimo!

I only took your ask as something nice, please don't worry <3

DID rep is super important for me too! (which is why I have a review blog specifically for reviewing DID in media - @bunnidid-reviews ) I haven't done a proper review in a while, but I'm always trying to sniff out pieces of media that treat DID with compassion most of all

About your insecurities of being fakeclaimed, I can relate to that. I've done many things to mitigate ever being directly pointed at for having DID, like partitioning off my parts stuff and integrating them into stories so they're more like OCs, as well as changing details so when people do get nasty, at least I have some distance. It's not a silly fear, it can be very destabilizing when the disorder is based on denial itself. However, I've only ever had two people try to fakeclaim me, and one is a stalker who doesn't understand DID but I trusted with details with, and the other was someone who seemed very insecure about their own DID. Both those people don't know me well enough to actually say if I do or not, when I've been knowing and working around this for about 8 years.

And as for not feeling worthy of being treated softly, you are. But I also understand the struggles with not feeling worthy or conflicted about it, which is a major theme of my art. It might be worthwhile exploring the darker themes of the disorder in your art and stories. I find it helps me a lot to put my feelings into some sort of form that I can also look at later.

Also, no one says you have to post it publicly! I have dozens of writings that the public will never see. I have art I don't share with anyone at all. I just post here so Rou and Chime can see it without me shoving it in their face =v= )b (I also cant tell when im developing OCs or if parts are drawing always)

Ummm anyway thank you for your asks <3 Sorry for the super long ramble, this is stuff I'm passionate about. Much love and care your way fellow Moss!! (moss is great, I love Marimo as a name)

[dapg-otmebytheballs]

something ig is a bit of a hot take (maybe not on twt tho) is the whole people speculating about dan’s gender. it all just feels a bit off because i sort of think of it as his whole sexuality journey and how people were so onto him. he has said that he is comfortable as a man but obviously if that were to change it would be fine and we would be accepting.

as well as saying phil is autistic or neurodivergent based on some behaviours and videos. he has not stated it so we don’t know but if he came out and said he was it would all be fine. i just feel weird about the whole speculating aspect of it.

It's fine to not want to engage with particular kinds of fandom activities, you can always curate your experience so that you don't see people posting that

It's odd that you throw this at me though, who has a whole autism tag for keeping track of these instances where Phil does things that make autistic me feel represented

No one is pressuring them, no one is tagging them, this is just what marginalised people are Like when we see kindred spirits and go all Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme at them. We aren't trying to get personal info from them, nor are we trying to spread misinformation about them. It is something of interest to me though that when people try to shut down speculation because 'we shouldn't assume', they don't realise that you are taking being cis and being allistic and otherwise neurotypical as the 'normal' there. "They haven't said they are trans so you should assume they are cis" "They haven't said they're gay so we shouldn't assume they are" what should we assume in these scenarios? That they are the 'normal thing to be'? Because people are hardly ever uncomfortable about speculation when it's shit like 'maybe they like cats more than dogs' 'do you think this celebrity is gonna marry his girlfriend this year? I think he is' etc etc it's somehow always only when marginalised people are like 'ooh I really relate to those experiences and went through that phase of discovery, wonder if they are also a part of this group' that people start being uncomfortable. Which is like. Honestly, genuinely, betraying some internalised queerphobia and ableism.

If you have your reasons for it good for you, yk, you can learn to make it so you don't see shit that makes you uncomfortable. It's just v weird to go to marginalised people of that group to say 'hey it made me uncomfortable that you even suggested that someone might be like you'. Yeah we know, we hear that like. All the time. Lol.

This askbwasn't worded very hostile so I'm taking in good faith and assuming you just didn't think about it this way before, so like. Anon if you see this please do a bit of introspection about this. We are tired of having our identities treated like they're radioactive

[darkcircles4lyfe]

Hii I’ve stumbled across a few of your posts and haven’t even gleaned the tip of the iceberg that is your blog, but I would love to hear a more fleshed version of your Bakugo with AFO post (if you have more that you wanted to share), because that is such a cool concept???

Like, it’s such a nice way to address the symbiotic nature of the two quirks + Bakugo’s relationship with Midoriya at the same time, and there’s also so much to explore in terms of the repercussions of that (not just the symbolism of it, but also the parts you’ve mentioned like what that would mean for people who’ve had their quirks stolen, how they will deal with all the stockpiled quirks, or even on a wider scale of how the media would react if AFO/OFA is leaked/ revealed to the public).

Just imagine the amount of continued exploration in terms of the nature of quirks v nurture of society, because AFO/OFA has so far been (imo) one of the few evidence that quirks carry personality, which is so awesome because it’s like saying a quirk literally holds a part of you through the vestiges while demolishing this idea through basically the entire plot of the manga loll. (To phrase it slightly better, the manga is sort of reaching the conclusion that a quirk is a part of you and you only, without being all of you, and that it’s exactly what the name says it is: a quirk.)

The thing I don’t really like about this conclusion is the blatant disregard for the quirkless community, which was the initial point of discussion and social commentary in bnha. This is why I think Bakugo being given AFO would be great fuel for the debate of should we be allowed to mess with the quirks we are given.

As in, who gets to decide? Who gets to play god? How will it be regulated? Should it even be regulated? How do you do all that without dehumanising Bakugo the same way society dehumanised pro heroes? (Bonus points for linking this to real life because I’m all for social commentary/ reflections in fictional media)

And then on a personal level, what will it take for Bakugo to be able to control AFO’s personality (hello, eye symbolism + name symbolism) within the quirk? How will All Might handle this info? How does this all relate to the conflict of children in war? The development of the league of villains’ character plots (esp Tomura’s)?

I have a lot of questions with very few answers loll, I would love to hear your thoughts on this!!

this post, for reference

Gosh, I am so sorry for taking forever to answer this. But you ask so many good questions! And I think this is actually a pretty good time, after 419.

I guess where I stand with the idea now is still somewhat ambiguous. All for One as a power is too big and interesting to go away--or at least, if it did go away, it would speak volumes. It feels like an almost elemental, fundamental, and even spiritual power, something beyond the man himself. So I'm still wondering about its future.

While a lot of other characters' narratives, including Katsuki's, are about this "nature of quirks vs. nurture," with the original Japanese name for quirks literally meaning "individuality" ("個性" or "kosei"), All for One (the power) oddly represents a lack of individuality. Like a shapeshifter with no form of its own. With that in mind, might we actually compare it to quirklessness? This is worth considering if we're trying to guess who might be a fitting person to inherit it.

I'm at least certain that Tenko shouldn't keep it, since he was literally groomed for it, to be a vessel. For him it represents a lack of individuality in the absolute worst way: a lack of agency, and an identity determined by/in the image of someone else since before even the moment of conception. Actually, as of 419, it seems like if there is any echo of him left after being possessed again, Tenko needs to get rid of the quirk. If he is able to regain control for even a second, the most logical action he can take to save himself and do something of his own free will for once, is to pass the quirk on to someone else.

What I'm a little less certain about is who should get it. On the one hand, Katsuki has a very strong sense of self, especially now. As I said before, this would make him an interesting candidate because he wouldn't want AFO, and thus wouldn't use it for his own gain, on principle. However...

In between now and when I wrote that little post, the future of One for All has also become ambiguous. Does Tenko have it even though All for One does not? (because of Izuku's intent in passing it on?) I've wondered for a long time what would happen if OFA and AFO combined. Would they become more than the sum of their parts, creating something new? Maybe something that can connect with other people and build them up? Perhaps it would develop some aspect of agency that takes away its capacity to exploit people. I'm just speculating...

And I haven't wanted to talk about it, but I'm ambivalent about Izuku becoming quirkiness again. As in, I think Horikoshi could pull it off either way. So this is just an idea:

Izuku could also be a candidate for AFO because he lacks a sense of self, in his own way, as I've gone into before. At best, this means a lack of an ego, the opposite of AFO's personality. In AFO's words, Izuku is the boy born with nothing, who now has less than nothing. There's also a nice symmetry to this idea: Izuku giving OFA to Tenko, then Tenko giving AFO to Izuku. It would be interesting to see what the power would be like in the hands of its antithesis.

But like I said, if you ignore AFO's own selfish interpretation of the power as a tool for domination and a sign of his natural superiority, its essence is a lot more comparable to quirklessness. Just as one's quirk does not encompass one's entire self even though it is unique to them, so too does the quirk have potential beyond its user's point of view. It is potentially ideal for someone who wouldn't make it a part of who they are or use it to enforce their desires, and this applies to both Izuku and Katsuki.

The final thing to mention from your question is the possibility that whoever received AFO would have to deal with overcoming his possession. Maybe this is too much for one person to handle. Maybe Katsuki plays into this either way.

[noname-nonartist]

I was sent here by @hxhhasmysoul after seeing them reblog one of your artworks. It was nice looking. You did good. 👍

I’m curious on what exactly is “Project Sekai” I was told it was an online game of some of that sort.

O///O

H-Hi!

Sorry taking so long to answer this! It’s just- I didn’t expect an actual ask about this! (And also to like. Collect my thoughts since I have so much to say about Project Sekai)

Umm!!! Thank you for liking that art of my favorite Project Sekai characters with my favorite Jujutsu Kaisen characters btw! >///<

Okay. Where to start?! I guess we can start what’s Project Sekai is and then later talking about the plot! :Dc

Let’s go!!! Project Sekai Lore 101! Or like. My attempt to explain it! •v•;

(More under the cut if you’re interested! ^w^/)

What is Project Sekai?

Well, it’s a mobile rhythm game where you tap/slide/flick on the notes to the beat of the song! However it’s also technically a sort of visual novel game too!

The gameplay revolves around the rhythm game, but the story is very much a visual novel! And you generally unlock the story through getting points via playing the rhythm game portion of Project Sekai (for the main story and during the event stories when live).

Oh. And it’s technically a Gacha game too, where ya pull cards of the characters (the art usually relates to the story/have a general theme for each set).

Of course, I could explain more about the general gameplay, but that’s not what this post is gonna be about, so let’s move on!!! >v<

What’s the Story of Project Sekai?

Okay, before I even talk about the story, I would need to give you some context on a bit of the world building within Project Sekai! Soooo…

Project Sekai Lore/World! (Or like as best I can explain anyway lol)

There is this plane called “In Between Worlds” which is essentially sort of like empty space where the OG Vocaloids resides (Miku, Kaito, Luka, Mekio, Rin, and Len). This place is where SEKAIs can form.

What are SEKAIs? Well they are essentially little tiny world that’s form!

Within those SEKAIs, there are essentially alter versions of Vocaliods depending on the group of people’s views on the Vocaloids, but mostly based on who themselves wanna be like (e.g. WxS Kaito being a good older brother role model, something Tsukasa strives to be) or based on people the group knows (e.g. VBS Meiko being based on An’s views of Nagi Kotaki, her aunt).

How does do these SEKAI form? Well they form when a group of people have a similar feeling/ambition/dream that they all wanna achieve!

However! There’s been cases where a Whole SEKAI are formed due to only one person’s intense feelings! But those are extremely rare since only a person’s feelings/emotions can create a Fragment SEKAI, if their feelings are strong enough at that moment. However unlike a fully developed SEKAI, a Fragment Sekai are pretty fragile and doesn’t last that long. While a complete SEKAI can last forever in theory iirc. :oc

But yeah! SEKAI are essentially mini worlds that are based on a group of people common feelings where the group can come in anytime they want via their phone/devices! The group usually first enters in via clicking on a mystery song that popped up within their playlist called “Untitled”. And Bada-Bing! Bada-Boom! They get to meet that world’s version of Hatsune Miku, and get a free therapist! XD

Of Course, this isn’t a well known thing in the general public, so the groups generally keeps the knowledge about their SEKAIs hush-hush. Which makes sense since like… how the hell would ya explain this to someone without them looking at ya strange? XD

What’s the Story of Project Sekai? (For Reals this time lol)

So, from what ya can gather from the worldbuilding/lore. Ya can probably guess that the general plot and goal of the story is for the Vocaloids to help guide the main casts towards their goals, and have them understand and express their feelings freely. Since once the group comes to an understanding of each other feelings, the Untiled song will then changed into an actual song that expresses the groups’ feelings!

So! Let’s dive into the Main Story within Project Sekai!

There are a total of 5 groups that we focus on! Each group contains 4 members! So that’s a total of 20 main characters! @v@

The Groups being…

Leo/need! (the typical band)

MORE MORE Jump! (the idol group)

Vivid BAD SQUAD (the street music group)

Wonderlands x Showtime (the theater/troupe group)

Nightcord at 25:00 (the online music video group)

And of course, the members within these groups has names~

L/N: Ichika Hoshino (vocalist/main guitarist), Saki Tenma (pianist), Honami Mochizuki (drummer), Shiho Hinomori (bass guitarist).

All of them were also childhood friends before they slowly drifted apart during Middle School due to Saki getting really sick due to her chronic illness, Shiho distancing herself from the group due to increased rumors about her, and Honami grew distant due to being ostracized for being too much of a people pleaser and thus people called her two faced. Ichika was the only one who didn’t know what happened, thus blamed herself for the rift. (Don’t worry, they get together of course ;3c)

Their goal is to become a professional and legit band~

MMJ: Minori Hanasato (the newcomer but with extreme hope and determination), Hakura Kiritani (retired idol before joining due to guilt of failing to look after a member within her old group), Airi Momoi (also left the industry before joining due to the industry never seeing her as a real idol thus letting her always play the role as a fool), Shizuku Hinomori (was still an idol during the main story before quitting her old group to joins MMJ)

Their goal is to bring hope and inspiration to their fans and to overcome the struggles within the idol industry~

VBS: Kohane Azusawa (a shy newcomer but with immense talent in singing), An Shiraishi (her whole life is street music and is considered a prodigy due to her being the daughter of a well known musician within the setting), Akito Shinonome (got into street music when he’s in middle school, sort of the underdog within the setting), Toya Aoyagi (the son of a really strict and famous classical musician, he met Akito while running away after getting sick of being focused to practice constantly and thus got introduced to street music)

Their goal is to surpass this super famous street music Event called RAD WEEKEND, that the RADer (the group that contains An’s dad, Ken Shiraishi, Taiga Kotaki, and Nagi Kotaki) and other well known street music groups did a few years ago that deeply inspired An and Akito~

WxS: Tsukasa Tenma (Actor who wants to be a star but originally forgot why at first until he remembers it was so Saki, her younger sister, would smile and be happy), Emu Otori (the daughter of the popular theme park, Phoenix Wonderland, she also strives to put a genuine smile on people’s faces to make them happy), Nene Kusanagi (the singer who love musical and always dreams of doing one to bring joy, but she has stage fright that she struggles to overcome at first), Rui Kamishiro (the director who loves to build extraordinary gadgets and equipments to make the show out of this world to bring excitement and joy for those who would watch)

Their goal is to save the old stage play within Phoenix Wonderland and to bring smiles and joy to everyone~

N25: Kanade Yoisaki (Composer who’s determined to constantly make music to save people after she felt immense guilt when her father, who’s also a music composer, fell into a coma due to stress), Mafuyu Asahina (the lyrics writer and vocal mixer who originally contacted Kanade after one of her songs made her feel something, thus make music to try and see if she can still feel since she can’t due to her intense depression for constantly wearing the “perfect daughter” mask), Ena Shinonome (the artist who’s strive to be a pro artist out of spite after her own father, who’s a famous artist, told her that she doesn’t have the talent to be one and shouldn’t try and be one, but she struggles with getting validation for her art which is the only thing she has), Mizuki Akiyama (the editor/animator who cares deeply for the group and even considered them all their friends, but they are scared to tell any of them about their secret due to fear of being ostracized due to them being outcasted in school)

Their goal? Well, technically is to keep making music to save people, but in actuality it’s mostly them actually improving their mental health and help them with their issues/problems lol~

And the Main Story is all about the formation of all of these groups! With the expectation being N25, since they were already a group in the beginning of the main story, but their story is about maintaining the group after Mafuyu disappeared mysteriously for days.

However, that isn’t where the story ends! Oh noooo! Far from it! Within the game there are these Event Stories that continues the story of all the group after the Main Story!

These Event stories usually focused on one particular character at a time, but overall expands and continues the story/arc of all the characters! :3c

Thus there’s a lottttt of story content within Project Sekai! In fact, not even I have read all of them yet! @v@;

But from what I read, I’m really really loving it! Like! Sure the pacing be a slow burn, but the moments that the story be building up to is sooooo worth it!!! And like all the characters be having depth~

Oh! Also alsooo!

What I really love about the story is that the some of the characters have relationships/friendships outside of their unit group! Like An and Haruka were middle school friends who like to have contest in random things on who’s the best, and that knew each other since elementary school! Another example would be how Mizuki and Rui were also middle school friends that bonded over being both outcast.

There’s also siblings within the main cast with different dynamics! Like the Hinomori’s (Shizuku and Shiho), the Shinonome’s (Ena and Akito), and the Tenma’s (Tsukasa and Saki)!

And like the characters later get introduced and meet other characters later on in the stories! Like how Shizuku and Airi meets Mizuki for the first time through Ena (Ena and Airi are friends since middle school), and how An and Shiho became friends after bonding over their love and passion for music and how they value their friends/group so much!

Conclusion

Basically… Project Sekai is my current hyperfixations and I’m loving it! *w*

Of course I would still need to read all of the story since I’m no where nearrrr caught up! @v@;

But like, I’m having a blast so far! :Dc

Thank you for asking and being slightly interested in this game anon! ^w^/

[burinazar]

I'm sure you've mentioned it before, but I was wondering who your favorite Made in Abyss character is and why they're your favorite? :3

I love all the main kids as well as many other characters so it's hard to choose but I think I'd have to say mine is Faputa. Not only is she a super interesting and cool character, but she's also A Creature. A little ball of fluff that can kill

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Thank you very much for the ask, anon! haha, "little ball of fluff that can kill"...yes, Faputa is great, and I think the main cast of Abyss is very endearing and very well fleshed-out. I was having a nice exchange on AO3 the other day regarding how GOOD the characterization of Abyss is and how it's often overlooked in favor of the also-extremely-good worldbuilding and plot, and why that might be, and was considering how it links together with some of my other Thoughts about ways this fandom is different from my other ones as far as what people are into (I need to finish the self-reblog I was gonna do about that on a recent related post actually). Anyway, pretty much the whole cast is endearing and/or enjoyable to watch in some capacity. But there is a definite answer as to favorite(s).

I put these up on my wall this evening, which may help to answer your question.

(Please note the scrolls. I missed the Amiami preorder period for those two because they closed earlier than the rest for some reason, but was able to get them from Suruga-ya eventually. They'll be on the wall at some point too.)

The story and cast prior to s2 I enjoyed in a, like, normal way, and then the Ganja squad arc hit me like a damn asteroid. These people...I've thought and felt and said so much about them, and after a year and a half I'm still brimming with something that feels like it has to be poured out, onto blank canvases and into the written word, and there's no end in sight. I have never had characters that were such good muses to me except perhaps for a couple I made up myself. Belaf has to be called my favorite at this point, but for a long time it was Vueko, and I really, really like Waz too; the manner in which these three characterize one another makes it a little painful to try to separate and rank them, but yes, that's the order. I dote on B and V in particular.

(Self portrait circa August 2023.)

At this point I have so much to say about them that being asked why I like them is hard to answer succinctly. Belaf is so, so sweet, but in an unusual weird, intense nerd way that I find incredibly endearing .....and then that kindness and strength of character fucking destroys him and it's tragic and beautiful and there is so much to pick apart in the manner and meaning of his transformation and his absolution, and it's also a great deal of fun to depict him as he was before. "Before" Belaf is such a fun sort of quirky nerd and his relationships wth Waz and Vue and Iru offer, like, SO much to turn over and look upon fondly, humor and friendship and loyalty and love.

And yet, when I write about his years of friendship with and loyalty and closeness to Wazukyan and Vueko and his parenthood and tutelage of Irumyuui and (note: hallucinatory) camaraderie with the other Ganja, hanging over my shoulder always is his downfall and it makes all of those things so much more beautiful, the tinny note of tragedy that is always playing at the edge of our hearing once we see it all and know how it must end.

(Another crispy fried self portrait from last year. I don't really draw myself these days at all EXCEPT in the context of making fun of my sages obsession.)

As for Vueko, since she's fairly popular maybe explaining her appeal isn't needed...or maybe it is, because it's so much more than the shy and gentle and somewhat silly person she is on the surface, it is so, so much more. Under the Layer of Fuheh she's made of steel --it's just that she's very, very softspoken, which people mistake for passivity and spinelessness. Even fans who purport to like her sometimes reduce her to victimhood and weakness. Perhaps because it's a misconception she clearly holds about herself, and a viewer can be forgiven for not putting together that Vueko might literally be the sage that acts with the most agency. There's so much more I can say that I love about her and her story, especially in the context of the other characters and the way she subtly skews some narrative and trope-related expectations, but I think that's the heart of it -- yes, she was endearing as soon as I met her, but when I saw the subtle yet unmistakeable strength under it all (and parsed that she never saw it herself, I think that little pop of tragedy really makes it hit for me lol), I think that's what made me adore her.

This next little bit might be kind of fucked up but what really makes that strength into something that haunts and compels me is that Vueko has so much determination and strength of character that she will unhesitatingly act to destroy the people she cares about very very much if she has decided at that moment that it is the best thing for them (Irumyuui, Belaf, Irumyuui again.) I can trace the real beginning of my obsession with these characters to when s2e8 aired and this is pretty much why.

So...yeah. Belaf and Vueko! Aaaand there's no way I can write about Waz here without making this post way too fucking long but.

One more shitty self portrait from earlier in the obsession should do it.

Yep!

[aprillikesthings]

s5 ep2 Launch

ey did you see I posted some cosplay progress

I am v excited :D

anyway time for more She-Ra re-watch

My semi-frequent reminder that these are a re-watch, spoilers ahoy, I make a lot of dumb jokes and talk about other stuff

eugh

man I know I keep saying this but they REALLY lean into the allusions to Christianity, like he straight up says "remade in my image"

"But first, you must prove yourselves worthy. Your leader, your...She-Ra, she would see you suffer in darkness for her sake" okay Satan in the Garden of Eden

"Cast aside this false hero and deliver her to me" like is he talking about She-Ra or is he Pontius Pilate talking about Jesus (...actually a better analogy is probably Pharaoh talking about Moses)

"Prime sees all. Prime knows all. They will not escape my judgement"

OKAY not to get into religion TOO much, but I keep wanting to point out that the version of Christianity they're repeatedly and non-subtle-y alluding to is absolutely one that exists and gives people a shit-ton of religious trauma. The writers etc are clearly doing this in response to that kind of Christianity. We know Nate grew up in that kind of church.

BUT. It's just so foreign to me.

Like, I've talked to a lot of my friends about how I have what feels a lot like survivor's guilt, because I didn't grow up religious at all--much less in a high-control church. (I was baptized in one, but we left before it could do any harm.) My personal experience of Christianity in the churches I've attended has been really good, non-judgey, and full of queer folks.

So I'm fully aware that the lines about "I see everything and I'M JUDGING YOU (and you are going to special space hell)" is referencing the way a lot of churches portray God. And I'm just like...but that's....not the God I know. That's not the God my church teaches.

But also UGGGH there's a ton of churches that DO portray God this way and I don't want to diminish the harm they do by pulling some "Not All Churches" bullshit! D:

I'm not doing a good job explaining myself. Blargh.

relatable.

OH HEY they fixed Mara's ship

Daci and I had a conversation just last night about how, of the few times I have actually yelled at them, it was because I was trying to sleep and they were being noisy, and now if I'm trying to sleep and other people are being noisy Daci will shush them.

The only thing that excites Entrapta more than robots is space, apparently

But yeah everyone has a conversation about how she did betray them to join the Horde and it's reasonable to worry she might do it again.

LOL

don't be a creep, Catra

okay I can't get a representative screenshot, but the bit where Horde Prime takes over a clone's body to in order to tell Catra I'M ALWAYS WATCHING YOU is creepy as SHIT

Anyway he grabs Glimmer and walks off which can't be good

The way Mermista keeps calling Entrapta "geek princess" is kind of cute

ANYWAY Horde Prime is laying it on thick again. "Worlds I brought into my eternal light."

"I take no joy in destruction."

BLEHHHHHHH

Glimmer lemme use your weapon. If everyone is fuckin' dead there will be peace and won't that be nice :D

I'm...horribly reminded of my Dad's opinion of the middle east, which was "just kill them all and let God sort them out." He was only slightly joking. Ugh.

...and this is how she finds out her Dad is still alive D:

Yeah, I'd feel like shit too

Anyway she says she won't help him, but shattering the pretty globe was unnecessary

True story: I was on a leash for a bit as a kid. I'm actually not mad about that at all--I had a tendency to wander off (...I still do) and one of my very earliest memories is realizing I was lost in a mall, and going into a hair salon to tell them I was lost because that's what Sesame Street said to do--tell someone who works there. But my memories are still from a toddler's POV--everything in the salon is HUGE and I could stand under the counter.

Anyway leashing Entrapta was a good idea

LISTEN. I know I've made this joke before. But Entrapta has absolutely made herself robots for sex reasons.

Either that, or she's made Hordak role play. Possibly both.

😬

And Entrapta's response of genuine surprise and "are you all...mad at me??"

I remember it was this scene, the first time through, that made me really realize: oh it's not just my headcanon that she's autistic. This was intentional, from the start.

Honestly this whole scene is just too good:

Mermista: "You’re seriously just realizing that? Yeah, we’re mad!" Perfuma: "You don’t consider how your actions affect other people! Even people who are supposed to be your friends." Frosta: "Like us. The ones getting beat up by your dumb bots. And whose kingdoms you almost destroyed." Entrapta: "I’m not good at people. But I am good at tech. I thought maybe if I could use tech to help you, you’d like me. But I messed that up, too. (she runs off) Mermista: "Entrapta, no! I said we have to leave! Can you listen for once in your life?" Entrapta: "I’m sorry I’m bad at listening! I’m sorry I mess everything up!"

Mermista: "You’re still trying to get the signal?" Entrapta: "Of course. Glimmer needs us."

OH GOD it's so funny Entrapta walks up to a structure made by Horde Prime and does sexy-voice "ooooh what's inside of youuuu" then slaps herself with her own hair LOLOL

Anyway she figures out where Horde Prime's ship is but also finds out they're sending more ships to Etheria

it's like the dream she keeps having but she's awake!!

too many damn portals in this show

something about how leaving high-control religious groups sucks because for a lot of people it feels like losing your sense of purpose (I'm mutuals with a bunch of exvangelicals on twitter okay)

"It wasn’t my destiny to be She-Ra, was it? It was random. Light Hope brought me through the portal because she needed to use the weapon. That’s the only reason I’m here. I don’t know what my destiny is anymore. But I know my friends need my help. I guess I’ll just figure it out from there. Thanks for everything."

OH she was asleep after all.

(I hate it when I have those dreams where I get up and start getting ready for my day and then realize I'm still actually asleep. I've had dreams where I do it over and over, too! Not restful at all!)

LOL

Adora: lol I feel great damn Bow: oh thank god BECAUSE WE HAVE TO LEAVE RIGHT NOW AHHHH ALSO THE SHIP IS WORKING AND WE FOUND GLIMMER BUT YEAH WE GOTTA GO RIGHT THIS SECOND

I love Mermista

Also, show of hands, how many of us were weird fucking kids and would've killed for someone in our peer group to tell us "you being weird is a good thing"

Thank God for adulthood and finding people who like me the way I am

(but also thank God for learning some social skills)

yeah. I know that feeling. ;_;

LOL

but yeah Adora, Bow, and Entrapta take off on the ship :D

aaaahhhh the moment when Glimmer asks Catra to stay. "Just...for a little." And Catra's tiny, quiet, "...okay."

AND END OF EPISODE, ROLL CREDITS

MAN. this is such a turning point for Glimmer and Catra.

Because at the end of s4 we had this:

Glimmer: "Guess you wanted all my attention for yourself. Your troops are gone. You're all alone. You've lost." Catra: "What are you waiting for? Do it. Looks like we're both alone, Sparkles."

But as she'd just said to Scorpia--"We're the good guys, remember?" So she doesn't hurt Catra. And instead they both get raptured onto Horde Prime's ship, and here they are.

Most of this post is about Shadow Weaver, but I think he's right:

I think it's less "mental gymnastics" and more that she'd literally just been asked by Scorpia not to hurt her and did the "nah, we're the good guys" line. I do wonder if she regretted not doing it at any point, but I think she's too eaten up by the fact that she set off the Heart of Etheria to worry about whether or not she should've murdered or imprisoned Catra.

But at this point (in s5) they're both terrified: Horde Prime could just kill both of them any time he wanted. He doesn't actually need either of them after all. They're just bait at this point, hoping to get She-Ra, and he's pretty sure either of them will work. (Though does Adora even know Catra is on the ship? I don't think so???) But if it hadn't been for Mara's ship he would have eventually found Adora, at least.

But yeah Glimmer and Catra are both just scared and lonely and and even an enemy is better than no one if they're someone familiar (and not trying to hurt you).

UGH THIS SHOW IS SO GOOD

[goddevouringserpent]

👾 for kaija!

Handshake with Hell, by Arch Enemy! possible CW for flashing lights, didn't affect me but my photosensitivity is a bit weird regarding screens (as in, it's most often triggered by stuff I see IRL instead) so better safe than sorry.

And after all is said and done Since the moon eclipsed the sun Can you feel the wrath of truth? Does it burn you like abuse?

so a lot of Kaija's character arc involves the fact that being the Knight-Commander of the Fifth Crusade is… kind of an emotional rollercoaster, to put it mildly.

she craves independence, she hates commitments and being tied down and having things expected of her, but she's also not above a good old power trip; and being in a position like that, where people look upon her with respect, with awe, makes her feel—not good, per se, but validated in a way that is born entirely out of jaded bitterness. like, "ha, you idiots spent so long treating me like shit because I'm a tiefling, and now that I'm of use to you somehow, now that you see my 'true' potential, you're falling over yourselves to worship me." it annoys her as much as it makes her unbearably smug.

she wants people to look at her and see not just the Knight-Commander but someone they would've spit on in the past, and she wants them to feel burning shame and regret. can you tell why she gets along so well with Woljif lol

in this case, despite her overall personality not fitting the Moon archetype, she'd be the moon that eclipsed Galfrey's sun—Kaija is the morally questionable, ethically reprehensible tiefling that took over the Crusade and made it work.

And after all is said and done When the dark delays the dawn Walk your path towards the reaper Learn that hell is other people

Kaija, uh. does not get along with most council members she's assigned, lol. as well as the whole deal with Galfrey sending her into the Abyss, which breeds a resentment so deep that the only reason why Kai doesn't go apeshitt and attack Galfrey upon meeting her at Iz is that at that point in her timeline she is extremely high on the "I AM BETTER THAN YOU" juice and thinks Galfrey is not even worth her time, lol. (and also because Irabeth is there and, differences aside, Kai has a lot of appreciation and respect for Irabeth, and she wouldn't want to strike her down after everything they went through together.)

but also this particular lyric is heavily heavily related to Areelu—at her worst moments Kaija sees Areelu as some sort of twisted mirror of herself, and the later revelations about the source of her mythic power do not help at all, hence why she drops them as soon as she gets the chance

Fool me once and I'm numb Twice and I'm dumb Thrice, I won't be fooled again Fool me once and I'm done Twice I succumb To a handshake with hell

so remember the emotional rollercoaster I mentioned above? the power trip is there sometimes, and other times it feels like she's just a pawn on a chess board, being dragged around according to someone else's will. and it pisses her off very, very badly. and when Kaija is pissed off, she, uh. takes drastic measures, so to speak.

at first it just leads her to antagonise people and get all belligerent when she really shouldn't, then in the Abyss she gets actively violent and indulges in her worst desires and impulses, then in Act V/post-game she declares Drezen's independence out of spite. #girlboss.

In the end, we only reap what we have sown Can't leave well enough alone

and lastly, although still related to the above—she's a firm believer of "fuck around and find out", lol. "we only reap what we have sown" is just the more diplomatic way of putting that. 😌

[piraticoctopus]

Froslass headcanons

Alrighty, here’s a condensed version plus some folklore stuff. (The WIP long version goes into way more detail on certain things because I can't control myself. Hopefully I'll get around to posting it eventually.)

(Sorry about the formatting, but I couldn't get multi-level bullet points to work.)

Solitary-living, mostly nocturnal omnivore with meat as an important part of its diet; Diet shifts to almost fully meat-based during the coldest months; (I like to imagine that “souls”/“life energy” are separate from physical calories; since they can and do also eat actual food)

Tend to inhabit more forested areas, whereas Glalie prefer open habitats; This reduces resource competition between the two

Hunting method: manipulate prey by various means to lure them in, then incapacitate them by draining "life force", body heat, or directly freezing (or some combination)

Employ different tactics based on target, and thus have to be intelligent enough to learn from experience and observation; Some tactics might fall under aggressive mimicry

May alter the terrain to passively direct prey (for example, by making the route of easiest travel lead toward their dens; easiest route is where Froslass wants you to go)

Notable moves learned by level-up: Confuse Ray (since Gen IV), Captivate (from Gen V until its removal from the games in Gen VIII) (note: only works on opposite gender), Draining Kiss (since Gen VI), Will-o-Wisp (since Gen IV) (I just think this one's interesting for an Ice type)

Prey availability varies by proximity to human-inhabited areas; those living closer to humans have more room to be picky (better variety)

Humans (usually) know better than to fall for their tricks, but aren't off the table; Actual documented cases of humans killed by wild Froslass are few, but missing people are often attributed to them anyways

Teeth built for crunching frozen stuff (see wolverines as a real life example); Base Attack and Special Attack are equal, and it has access to Bite, Crunch, and Ice Fang through Snorunt; However, usually rely on Special moves

The way their mouths work means they'd either have to use the middle part of the "mask" like a weird beak, or would have to always bite off to one side or the other

Extra/unfinished food is frozen and kept for later, but will be arranged in an aesthetically pleasing way; They keep durable, non-edible remains to use as decorations

Collect non-food-related items of interest, too, such as rocks or man-made objects

Have an eye for finding beauty in the morbid and grotesque; Understanding of visual balance might make them good at things like flower arranging

Possibly possess some method for detecting thermal energy (heat) (This one is purely speculative and has no basis in canon); Seen in certain snakes and in vampire bats (only mammals to do this!); Physical mechanisms of how it works in animals might align nicely with Ice-type traits (requires heat-sensing organ and surrounding areas to maintain a cooler temperature); The diamond shape on its forehead could function as a heat pit??

Red possibly serves as an attractant of sorts?; Presence of a visually-obvious color is irrelevant if being seen by prey isn’t a bad thing (in fact, if you’re trying to bring prey to you, perhaps it's best if they DO notice you); This possibly conflicts with Snow Cloak? (unless they make themselves completely invisible to hide); Conclusion: 🤷‍♀️

I imagine that they sort of have a “torso”, but that at least the lower half of their body is hollow

Temperament generally calm, level-headed; Introverted but not inherently “shy”

Limited emotional displays and minimal outward expression; Hard to read

Face mostly obscured; Hand over mouth is a common pose, which hides it further

Capable of feeling emotion, just don’t tend to show it (there’s no need to do so if solitary, and doing so may even be detrimental)

Solitary traits impact their social behaviors: Generally bad at communicating, prefer to avoid conflict when possible, likely to stay quiet when upset

Cohabiting with others can be hit-or-miss; Will often simply maintain acquaintance-level relationships with others, apart from select individuals they decide they like; Do best when given time and space for themselves

Value self-sufficiency and tend not to seek help; Relationship with trainer may take some work because of this, especially if not caught as a Snorunt (requires patience)

Froslass would likely consider chilling in the same area as someone else while doing separate activities or just zoning out to be “bonding” (no judgment from me, because same)

Pain in the ass to do field research on, because they’re aware of observers and (like many Ghost-type Pokémon) find amusement in messing with equipment like trail cameras

Wild Froslass do not occur naturally in Hoenn

The not-headcanons-but-other-stuff:

Pokémon as a series is full of chances to explore the dangers of anthropomorphism and I could talk about it for ten years; Pokémon don't have human morals, yet some of them operate at a nearly-human level of intelligence, which is kind of terrifying to think about

Froslass is based on the yuki onna of Japanese folklore (see here for a good overview); It seems to largely be inspired by two varieties that make for an interesting combination: 1) The forest-dwelling, soul-sucking ones from Aomori/Niigata/Miyagi Prefectures, and 2) the version first written by Lafcadio Hearn [x], (this is the yuki onna story, and is the one where the yuki onna marries a human man)

Specific Pokédex entries seem to draw from other varieties, as well

If the Pokédex is taken at face value, Froslass is out here selectively hunting down physically attractive human men to take them home and eat their souls; This is exactly the image the devs have been going for this entire time, and no one can convince me otherwise

If the “Traces of a Lost Village” quest in Legends: Arceus is taken as true (and there’s no reason to believe otherwise), it implies that Froslass (or at least the one in question) is not only capable of physically disguising itself as human, but also imitating human speech and behaviors convincingly enough to pull off said disguise for years; I have seen no one talk about this particular detail despite all of the things it could do with such abilities, and it’s driving me crazy

To make that clear: the game devs of Legends: Arceus looked at Froslass, which has been stated more than once to prey on/victimize human men in some way (including in said game), and gave it the ability to convincingly disguise itself as a human woman; Combine this with the previous point about the Pokédex and Froslass is now an even more dangerous catfisher than it arguably already had the potential to be

[journalofimprobablethings]

I think the thing about your first response that is provoking knee-jerk reactions (at least, it did for me) is that it implies that character death's only purpose in fiction is to "maximize pain" for the readers, and that any other purpose it might serve can be found through other means. And I don't think that's true at all.

To a certain extent I agree with the OP commenter that it's not necessary to kill a character simply for 'emotional impact' or 'realism'. If an author's main goal with a character death is just to "inflict maximum pain" on the reader, then that's probably not very good writing, and not "necessary". The death needs to do more than just hurt the reader; it should affect the story in some way, either in how other characters react to the death, or how events change because of it.

But I also agree with friskdaferret's argument that some character deaths are necessary for the story that the author is trying to tell. That's the key. Could they choose to write it a different way? Sure. They're the author, it's their story, it's all made up. But then it would be a different story.

I know that you consider the Holes argument to be a bit of a tangent, but for the sake of using an example that's already been brought up, Sam's death in Holes serves a particular purpose in the story. It reflects real-world racism in a very direct way: black men being lynched for having a relationship with a white woman (or after being accused of assaulting/touching a white woman, whether they did or not) is a real fact of American history. It's an ugly fact, and it's something that Louis Sacher decided was important to include in the story. For some kids reading that book, it may even have been their first exposure to that sort of racism. Having Sam leave Kate for other reasons, as you suggest, would change the story, and would make a different point. It's not the story Louis Sacher was trying to tell.

Your argument, if I understand correctly, is that sometimes, the potential pain inflicted on a reader who is very attached to the character might outweigh an author wanting to make a particular point or tell a particular story. How then, do we handle telling stories that are inherently about painful topics? What is the "utilitarian calculus" as it relates to a story like Orpheus and Eurydice which is about grief; or tragedies like Hamlet?

I also think that if you're going to make that argument, you have to consider the other side - that is, what benefit do those deaths, as written, bring to readers? Why has the author included it in the story? What do people get out of it? That answer is going to be different for different readers and stories, but there is a reason that death has been such a prominent trope in human storytelling since forever. Death and grief are inherent, immutable facts of life, and so storytellers are going to find ways to engage with and examine it.

Two examples that came to mind while I was thinking about this post were The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and Babel by R.F. Kuang. Both of those books contain absolutely devastating moments of loss in connection with characters we have become very close to as readers. I don't think I've ever cried as hard at a story as I cried at those two books in particular.

Both of those stories would not be what they are, or say what they wanted to say, if those deaths didn't happen. They are a book about cancer and a book about imperialism and the violence it engenders, respectively. Both those topics are impossible to handle without at least talking about death.

Now, would I give people a warning before I recommend those books to them? Absolutely, because it's the sort of thing you probably want to be in the right headspace for. But do I think that those books should have been written differently, just because the stories were painful? Absolutely not.

I don't know that I agree with any sort of utilitarian argument about the potential effect of a character death on readers vs its function in the story, in part because that sort of thing is impossible to quantify. How would you ever possibly judge what was "too much"? It's entirely subjective, and in the end, authors do not have control over what a reader's reactions to their story will be.

I also think that to a certain extent, readers are responsible for their own reading experience. If a person does not want to encounter painful moments in their reading, that is their responsibility to tailor their reading accordingly. If they as a reader know they are prone to making deep connections with characters such that it might genuinely hurt them if that character then dies, they can take steps to avoid those sorts of stories, or to use sites like doesthedogdie.com to check whether a story has something that they don't want to/can't engage with. But it's not an author's responsibility to tailor their story so that it doesn't make anyone sad. That's not the point of fiction.

Fiction is a reflection of life, and a way for us as humans to examine and process all aspects of it, including the aspects that hurt, that are awful, the parts that don't make sense. It's perfectly valid for someone to not want to engage with challenging fiction, but to say that authors shouldn't be writing it at all because it might somewhere cause someone grief? I can't agree with that.

im starting to think you guys dont like it when stories make you feel things

[yourmcu]

V-Day

Pairings: Natasha Romanoff x reader

Summary:

You’re not like most people who enjoys Valentine’s Day. Can a certain redhead change that?

A/n: just a late valentine related imagine for all of u bc I’m incapable of posting this sort of stuff on the exact day. enjoy! (I’m finally using this iconic gif don’t mind me)

Word count: 1,753

Warnings: fluff

The 14th of February is just another normal day for you. You always find Valentine’s Day cheesy, you don’t see the point of celebrating it. That sort of thing isn’t as important as Christmas or Halloween. Not that you're bitter because you're single, you couldn’t care less about that, it just isn’t the occasion for you.

Tony outdone it this year. The compound looks like it was powdered pink and red overnight from all the decorations when you step out of your room. You almost don’t want to know what the main area looks like. Sam and Wanda are probably getting started on breakfast which would consist of everything shaped like hearts.

Your plan for the day is to stay in your room, only coming out for snack and drink refills, simple as that.

“Hey, Happy Valentine’s...” you pretty much tone out every v-day greeting that came your way, rolling your eyes playfully as you sit down with everyone, greeting them with the usual good morning. You expect the compound to be deserted by midday since surely all of them have plans with their partners for the rest of the day, which is perfect. For you. And for them, of course, yeah.

Sam and Bucky made their way to you. “So, Y/N, how are you?” Sam greets. You already suspect that they were hyping you up for something. “Food good, coffee good... sleep well?”

You turn to them with a smile on your face. “Alright, what do you want?”

“Well,” Bucky lets out a breathy laugh. “Sam here was just helping me-”

“That is not what’s happening. What he wanted to say was,” the birdman cuts him off. “We both wanted to take you out to dinner tonight, we can’t settle on who, so we’re letting you pick.”

You blink. They have to be joking. Do they not notice your routine during this time of the year? After socializing with the team you’d grab a day’s worth of snack, head back to your room, lock the door and lose your mind on video games until the next day.

Unhealthy, but it's for one day.

“Only if you want to,” Bucky adds hastily.

“Come on, this is a chance of a lifetime!” Sam insists, wiggling his eyebrows.

“We’ll go to your favorite restaurant.”

“It’s just a friendly date.”

What you fail to notice was Natasha listening to the events happening. Her foot taps against the floor as she discreetly waits for your response, taking coffee sips and bites of food and looking away whenever she looked like she's eavesdropping. No one else is paying attention, everyone has their own conversations.

Inside, she pleads that you’d turn both of them down, just because she’s planning to ask you out herself. They just beat her to it.

“I appreciate the thought but I’m sorry, I have plans,” you shrug. “Why don’t you take each other out instead? Not literally.” You give them another smile and walk out of the room, coffee in hand. 

Sam and Bucky nods indicating they understood. Sam tells his friend that if he had more appeal you’d agree to the date. But they take you up on your advice, already planning a guy’s night.

Natasha almost cheers when she hears the first part, only to spiral when she hears that someone had already asked you beforehand. You're unavailable. She could ask you out any day, but you deserve something extra special. She sees this day as her only chance to confess her feelings for you.

Her eyes trail you as you walk out, turning to Wanda when you were out of sight. “Do you have any idea who asked Y/N out?”

“I don’t,” Wanda replies, a bit distracted. “They’re lucky, I’ve never seen Y/N show interest in anyone since I met her. Anyway, I have to go, Vision and I have a whole day planned...”

Natasha huffs while people slowly file out of the kitchen. As far as she knows, Tony's with Pepper, of course, Wanda and Vision, Steve is probably going to join Sam and Bucky on their night out, and Clint is back at his farm celebrating with his wife.

And you’re with that person, which most likely someone who isn’t on the team otherwise she’d know. She's left by herself to mope.

-

Few hours have passed, maybe three, it’s lunchtime. As you suspected the compound is empty, so you make your way to the kitchen to make yourself something to eat.

Boxed mac and cheese is the only thing you knew how to make.

“Y/N?”

You almost drop your stirring spoon at the sudden voice. You feel embarrassed about your choice of outfit, you feel and look like a grizzly bear while she looks stunning, even if it’s just plain workout clothes.

“Hey, Nat.”

“I thought you were... out with someone?” Knowing you, she might’ve misunderstood when you said you ‘had plans’. You look so cozy she would love to hug you on the spot if she isn’t so sweaty.

You let out a curious hum, turning off the stove. “I was?” You giggle. “Where’d you hear that?”

“I didn’t, just, I assumed you’d be,” she mutters and finishes her water bottle. 

You're now grabbing a bowl for the mac and cheese you made. “I mean, Sam and Bucky did ask me if I wanted to but... y’know, if I’m being honest they’re not really my type.” You pause to look at her who was staring back. “Have you eaten? This batch I made is enough for three people, I think.”

Natasha nods at your offer. “They did say it was a friendly date.”

You stop scooping the macaroni and perk your head up with a grin. “So you were listening.”

“Not like I had any choice, I was in the same room.” Quick save.

“Mmhm.” 

Then there's  a minute of comfy silence as you clean the area you made the meal on, putting the pot away and stuff.

“Why don’t you have a date today?”

“What?”

“Anyone would kill to go on a date with you, Nat.” Is what you say in your head. But instead you say, “Well, you know, I didn’t expect you be here too.”

Natasha shrugs and before she could answer you add, “No one’s caught the notorious Black Widow’s attention yet?”

She chuckles at your words, looking up at you. “Who did you think I’d go out with?”

“I dunno, Steve-”

“God, no,” she quickly cuts you off and laugh,  you laugh along but at the same time sigh in relief.

“Crap, I just remembered I have a game to finish,” you hold the bowl of cheese and macaroni and stick two spoons on the side. “I’m cordially inviting you to my room, you are very much welcome, after you change.”

Natasha tells you she’ll see you there in a bit.

-

“Huh. I just noticed you do this every Valentine’s Day,” Natasha notes as she takes everything in. Your PlayStation's on, your trash bin is almost full of snack wrappings, couple of beers tucked at the side of your bed. “Cozy.”

“Why, thank you,” you say sarcastically, picking up a controller and waving a vacant one at her. “Feel free. Or you can just watch me fail at this game.”

Natasha decides to join the game a little later, now she's lost in thought on how someone like you spends such a day like this, or how beautiful you looked as your eyes dart at every direction of the screen and how you sometimes bite your lip when you're that focused in the game.

It's always the little things she likes about you.

Glancing at you one more time before eating a spoonful of mac, she turns back to the TV to watch how you're doing.

But you're witty, kind and easy to get along with, why wouldn’t you have a date - or why wouldn’t you want a date on Valentine’s Day?

If only you knew how she feels, she’d make sure to treat you well. Like you deserve. She’d take you on dates you’d enjoy every time the 14th rolls by. If you don’t like the holiday for some reason she’d find a way-

“NO WAY,” you cover your mouth and bump your head to Natasha’s shoulder in defeat, making her come back from her trance to look at the big red words on the screen, indicating you lost. “I almost had it!”

Natasha leans into your touch and pats your back. “You can try again.”

You groan. “I definitely will but for now, I’m gonna take a break.”

“Great,” she shifts a bit to get comfy, switching to Netflix and choosing whatever’s trending right now. “I’m just curious but, do you like someone?”

You hum in response, sipping on a beer, not completely processing what she said. “I - yeah. I guess so,” you tug the blanket closer and pout at the movie that’s on. You don’t like romance movies. You always prefer an action or a mystery one any day. “Do you?”

Natasha feels her heart ache for a moment. “Yeah. She’s kind and sweet, goofy but can still seriously kick your ass type.” Your eyes land to her hands. You knew fully well Natasha isn’t straight, she admitted and definitely doesn’t act like it. “There’s just something about her that makes me... love her.”

“She sounds great,” you mumble, starting to get lost in your own thoughts. “I guess I just-” you hesitate, just because the woman you're about to describe is the same one sitting next to you. “I feel bad for her that someone like me likes her.”

“Why would you think that?” Natasha chuckles, shaking her head.

You shrug. “She’s amazing. So out of my league, I’d say she’s so close but so far away but that would be really cheesy and ugly,” you laugh. “I don’t know, she deserves way better.”

Natasha hums. “Sometimes I think she needs to her worth, because what she doesn’t know is, she’s very much amazing in her own way.”

Looking up at her from her shoulder, your eyes light up and you don’t know when it happened, but you just found her lips pressed against yours softly.

Even if it was just a short kiss you feel breathless when she pulls away to look at you again.

“Just so we’re clear, we’re just describing each other like idiots right?”

“Yeah.”

Natasha leans in to kiss you again.

---

oh my god I want a hug

[shameless plug] check out my natasha romanoff ambience here

[ocdhuacheng]

Hey, so can I ask about the thought process (idk words but anyway) behind why you headcanoned Hua Cheng as having OCD cuz I'm very interested? :0

KSJDNKSJDFN sorry it took so long to reply to this I promise I wasn’t ignoring you I was just overwhelmed this week and then after I actually sat down to write out my very long answer I accidentally unplugged my computer and I LOST IT ALL so sorry but this version Is going to be rather incoherent and missing stuff probably bc its pretty much just copied and pasted from one of my discord rambles/previous posts bc I don’t have the energy or memory to rewrite everything how I had it before.. but ive kept u waiting long enough so. Yeah. Sorry.

Also if I sound salty at all its not anything directed at you im just pissed at myself for writing like >3k words all in tumblr like a fool and not backing it up then accidentally yanking on my computer cord like RIGHT as I was going to post it. But I promise im actually very happy getting asks like these even if it takes me a long time to respond ;_;

So anyway basically the tldr version is that I have ocd and I love rubbing my terrible little projection paws all over my favorite characters, but also I do genuinely think that what we are shown of hua chengs personality and actions does naturally lead to the headcanon that he has ocd (and ocpd), kind of like how it seems very clear to me that wwx has adhd and lwj is autistic.

Longer version under cut bc. Well. Sorry in advance lol

So. To start off. my ocd got suuuuuper bad in my second year of college, like to the point where my parents and psychologist was considering putting me in a hospital, so i know how awful ocd can get. and because of that ive always been kinda annoyed that all the ocd """""rep""""" in media is just comedic relief kinda stereotypical clean-freak perfectionist haha look at this weirdo sort of thing. like I was barely functional I couldn’t do basic tasks the majority of the time. ironically, my room was extremely dirty and messy despite my main obsession being about contamination. so yeah not all ocd manifests as the spotless perfect room perfect closet perfect desk or whatever the fuck. sometimes its the opposite. I also got put on academic probation bc I failed all but one of my classes (the one I passed was an art class. Lowkey think that class was the only thing keeping me out of a psych ward that quarter. lol. But anyway. That’s a different conversation) BUT ANYWAY it was all around Awful. Like idk it makes me feel kind of stupid for being such a mess before my medications when everyone just sees ocd as a joke or something. like for example, i loove death the kid soul eater, and hes a good character to make fun of urself after you’ve been medicated for ocd, but i wouldnt exactly call him good rep lmao. But after that relapse episode, I kind of really really really desperately needed a character/story to relate to about it but yippee! there are approximately zero (0) canon ocd characters that aren’t comedic relief! but anyway, i know hua cheng isnt canonically ocd but i was actually able to project on him alot from what we got of his personality (and i do gotta say, sorry but despite my attachment to him i dont actually think hes written all that well, but thats another rant), and its part of the reason why i love him so much bc hes like, definitely my biggest projecttion in this regard. so anyway

i mean theres no argument that his personality and actions are very. obsessive, and rather unhealthy to a degree, especially when he was younger, not so much as he matured over literally 800 years lol but he still has some hella issues. so like, [gestures to all of him] with how he chose xie lian as. HIS PERSON, and proceeded to revolve his entire personality and life around him is obvi v obsessive, i think its very obsessive compulsive personality disorder, which is slightly different than just ocd, one difference being (besides ocd being an anxiety disorder and ocpd being a personality disorder.) in that with ocpd, you dont really think theres anything wrong with how obsessive or compulsive you are, while with ocd it causes a lot of distress. (i havent been formally diagnosed with ocpd, but i do think i definitely at the very least have tendencies in that direction too. Like with certain things i know what im doing/thinking is irrational and it upsets me, but with others im just like. why cant other people see this the way i do? why cant they just understand why this is important? like I just get so! Angry! all the time! with people or in general when things aren’t how I want them to be. I get so judgemental even when other people cant possibly know how specific my standards are like I know its bad and I know it makes me act like a bitch and im sorry) anyway……….. sorry about the tangent but back to hua cheng. he is never distressed by how much he fixates on xie lian, the only thing that distresses him is his own percieved shortcomings with how he cannot serve xie lian the way he wants to. im not sure im explaining this well but i do definitely think hua cheng has ocpd as well. his fixation on xie lian actively prevents him forming meaningful relationships with other people, and even causes a lot of antagonism between him and others (especially fxmq). he just doesnt think anyone else is worthy of his attention. which is obviously, very unhealthy and kind of sad. (i do like to think he grows out of this a bit like with yin yu and he xuan, even if he doesnt want to admit it. AND YUSHI HUANG, bc i am also a ysh/hc brotp propaganda machine as well, and well because she was the only one that was willing to help xie lian during the war too. gay lesbian solidarity mwah <3)

so this ocpd thing.. i believe it extends to things like how the temple in ghost city, or paradise manor, is set up, he'd be classic perfectionist for the layout of it all, probably gave yin yu a lot of grief over it every single time he changed his mind and decided to burn it to the ground or redecorate it because it didnt seem good enough anymore for the hypothetical day when he can bring xie lian there. i dont like to think hua cheng treated yin yu badly on purpose, i dont like thinking hes cruel to him for the sake of being cruel like ive seen some people imply or outright suggest, i mean yin yu is obviously overworked but i think part of that is just hua cheng is so perfectionist about certain things (how the temples and manors look, how theyre run, anything that can be used for or by xie lian in the future) and he just doesnt see that its become a large burden on yin yu because he thinks this kind of stuff is just the rational thing to do, and that everyone should put as much thought into these things as he does. and if he doesnt feel like he can get things to be set up the way he wants it to be it becomes. catastrophic lol

so thats more of the pure ocpd side, though there is a lot of overlap between ocpd and ocd obvi

one thing about ocd is like. its all about wanting to be in control of every tiny part of your life. like for me when certain things are out of my control it freaks me out so much that it basically disables me. Its why I hate planes so much despite cars being statistically much more dangerous. Because if something happens in a car I at least have some semblance of control over how I can escape the situation. In a plane youre just. Fucked. (sorry to all pilots its nothing personal I think youre braver than I will ever be but its basically impossible for me to trust you (and the engineers and inspectors) with my life like that) anyway, i despise ambiguity of any kind and i hate not knowing things or having concrete answers to any questions or worries i have. like. i couldnt decide on a hypothetical grad school because i was weighing the possibilities down to like, ridiculous perceived probability percentages of how likely a natural disaster were to occur in the area, and how dangerous said natural disasters could be, etc. (well. i didnt have to worry about any of that in the end bc i got rejected from literally every school i applied to LMAO RIP but anyway.) so you get the gist. its all just very irrational, and time consuming, and ridiculous to try to gain control of every single possible path your life can take. AND I HATE IT. that was kinda yet another tangent but, to apply this concept to hua cheng. one thing that i find super funny about him is how he always has his nose in everyones personal business like hes such a fucking gossip girl its hilarious. like jokes aside its obvi helpful as a ghost king to know whats going on in the 3 realms, but i think he takes his info gathering up to 11 like he definitely has these control issues about having to know about everything thats going on at all times, having to be on top of everyones business so he cant be caught off guard by anything. over those 800 years of sending his butterflies out recording things he was primarily looking for xie lian, but hes also just kind of. snooping. lmfao. Because If He Doesnt Know Whats Going On Everywhere He Will Die. (again)

and well. with his butterflies to help him, it does work, i mean. hes always on top of things hes always got a plan, hes always the one that people are going to in the book if theyre in trouble. He seems so put together but the things he cant get information on completely eat him alive sometimes. cant let others know that tho, bc hes Cool(TM), hes Chill(TM). cant let anyone know there are things that, god forbid, hes IGNORANT of. embarrassing. tch.

his hoarding im a little ? about because i dont exactly remember the details of it but i do know he has a ridiculous amount of like trinkets and weapons and magical items and stuff in paradise manor, but i also know he doesnt really care if they get destroyed or not, which is kind of strange but i do what i want and im making him a hoarder bc im somewhat of a hoarder and i love projecting. though now that i think about it. like if i have a big pile of something that i dont want to get rid of, but someone else does it for me without asking or something happens to it like yeah i get angry but sometimes i also just get kind of relieved……….. idk.

so now about intrusive thoughts, i bet he has suuper disturbing ones. Like we  know how he was debating slaughtering those humans on mt tonglu but ended up not because xie lian would have saved them. obviously that was already a stressful unusual situation but like i dont think that kind of thing gets any better even when hes just like. chilling. he gets visions of himself burning ghost city to the ground or attacking humans or destroying his own ashes or otherwise causing harm to others, like yin yu. like he pretends he doesnt care about yin yu and he xuan and stuff but i do think hes fond of them, but he tries to keep his distance because 1) hes dumb and 2) he gets really freaked out by these violent thoughts he has about them. the worst is, when he finally meets xie lian again he gets these thoughts about him too and it takes literally everything he has not to like. throw himself into a volcano, or something.

and its already been established his self image isnt. great. which is a kind way of saying it. he thinks hes worthless and ugly, esp if he does even the slightest thing wrong. I mean I definitely think hes better by the current timeline of the book, but it still reads as a kind of precarious thing to me? Like he wants to be a companion to xie lian instead of just a servant like wu ming, but even after 800 years he still feels this inferiority and disregard for himself u know? If im explaining in an okay way? and body dysmorphia is also something that can be ocd related. OH and i forgot to say this before but ocd/ocpd can also sometimes be a way that ptsd can manifest and id definitely say with all that he was said to have gone through as a child he has ptsd, leading to, well, exacerbated ocd symptoms, among other things. his body dysmorphia is obviously something he internalized (for 800 years!!!) from when he was a child, and i can imagine him absolutely agonizing for centuries over his san lang form, because it was supposed to be his most perfect form, he needed to make it perfect, and he never felt like he could

similarly, for the cleanliness side of ocd that i feel is kind of stereotypical? at least how its portrayed in most media, hua cheng has been show a couple times not wanting to get things (or xie lian) dirty. he was very poor and dirty as a child so now he has the connection of being dirty = being miserable, and this is taken to the extreme when he becomes a supreme bc now hes rich and able to be clean and any dirt or blood on him or something/someone he cares about (’cant let you down the ground is dirty’; shielding the flower, etc) is like. an attack on this power he has now ? iykwim

anyway sorry this is long and rambly. if you actually read it all… respect……. Also ignore those parts where I might get a little too personal :^) like idk if it is but I feel like I might regret some of this in the morning. honks. Anywayyyy as you can see im completely normal about hua cheng im saaaaaauuuuur normal and well adjusted and I just think hes neat oky byeee jumps out my window

[hyperpotamianarch]

-Hey, Arch?

Yes, fake audience voice?

-Why are you reblogging your question a third time?

I'm so glad you've asked! See, I've went over some historical stuff and came across a completely different answer for the first question. So, since the other reblog line (the Jewsade) has become too long, I've decided to start over.

-Why not reblog some other post that discussed that topic? Also, why the heck did you not do the proper historical research while working on the origi-

All right, that's quite enough.

So, another answer to question one! How exciting! Especially since everybody loved the original so much. So, you see, it has come to my attention that some 17th century events might have greater bearing on-

-It's because you liked the idea of the Jewsade too much, isn't it? You've spent a whole whopping Shabbat researching David Reubeni, Shlomo Molcho and John Calvin, and it was so darn exciting-

Shut up!

-on the presence of Jews in certain places by the time HDM occures at. You see, Menasseh Ben Israel-

-You were so caught up in your idea of a Jewish Messiah getting somewhere and then failing miserably. Why? Was that a commentary on the State of Israel or something?

Shut UP! I'm trying to-

-Trying to nothing, you keep allow me to break you because you enjoy this way of portraying stuff and don't have a proper outline to anything about Menasseh Ben Israel!

All right, fine! I'll admit it.

So. Umm. That.

Yeah, as my fake-audience-voice (-Hi!) said above, I did get caught up with research on David Reubeni, even though I knew about Menasseh Ben Israel's bearing on the history of Judaism at the time. The truth is, the thought hit me on my way to the Synagogue on Shabbat eve and I got so excited I kept it in mind for the entirety of the Shabbat. Then I wrote my post immediately when Shabbat ended where I live.

Those are not very important details, but I think they explain my odd focus on the Jewsade on the other post. I got excited. It was a cool - if slightly disturbing, considering its relation to the crusades - event that didn't happen in our world but could happen elsewhere. Only problem is, the alterations were slightly too early.

I don't know at what year was John Calvin elected pope in Lyra's world. However, besides it changing very little (the people who mattered for the sake of the Jewsade are the kings more than the pope), it was also likely after both Reubeni and Molcho were imprisoned by Charles V. It doean't have to be that way - slight alterations, even prior to the major deviation point, are not hard to make - but it makes it more of an independant idea.

Menasseh Ben Israel, however, held an important role in the history of Judaism, and lived during the 17th century, placing him in an easy place to be affected by this alteration. I will admit to lazyness in my historical research - when galvanized during the Shabbat I can do a lot, but Ambaric and Computing devices tend to distract me easily during the weekdays. That's a weak excuse, but this is why my reading on Ben Israel was mostly just his Wikipedia article.

Either way: Menasseh Ben Israel was the son of Porugese Anusim, forced converts. His family lived in La Rochelle for a time as a way to escape the Inquisition, but later moved to Amsterdam, where Menasseh Ben Israel spent most of the rest of his life. For the record, the time cite in Wikipedia for their move to the Netherlands is 1610.

Now, it's probably important to note that the Netherlands were only starting to become independant - there was a war, which was somewhat related to the Netherlands being mostly protestant while Spain, which sort of controlled them, was famously Catholic. This is probably significant, since most Netherlanders were not just any type of protestant - they were Calvinists.

To get to the point, though, Menasseh Ben Israel apparently attempted to explain Judaism to the Christians of the world - he was in a good position for that, I guess, having been raised in a family of Anusim. He also made efforts to convince Sweden and Britain to allow Jews to live in them, under the belief that the salvation of the Jewish people will only come once they reach the farthest corners of the Earth. He had limited success with Sweden - a small Jewish community was founded there during 1680s, but was later expelled. He didn't live to see that, though, or the eventual success of his efforts in Britain, because he died at 1657 while trying to bring his son's body to burial in Amsterdam.

To be fair, it took about a century more for Sweden to truly allow Jews in again, but Menasseh Ben Israel is, in some ways, the man who caused those two countries to accept Jews. Incidentally, if you follow Lyra's journey, most of the time she's in her own world is in one of those countries. Plus a portion in Greenland (Svalbard and Lord Asriel's hut, possibly the Station as well) and some time in India (I think? I'm pretty sure it was a mountain range in Southeast Asia in the book. In the series it was a somewhat forsaken island, IIRC). Though, considering she was unconcious for most of her time in that last place I'm not sure it counts.

Well, I just checked and it turns out there were Jews in Denmark earlier than in Sweden - it's not clear if there were Jews there during the Middle Ages, but Jews were allowed there in 1622, when Menasseh Ben Israel was about 18. So maybe I exaggarated his influence a bit. I'm not sure what bearing it has on Greenland, though. Anyway, attempting to avoid uncomfortable topics: with changes in how the church functions, a lot of stuff in Europe will change. I've said so in the other line of reblogs already, but I don't know if the Magisterium will start by giving the Inquisition more authority or close it entirely. We know that by Lyra's time the Inquisition isn't active anymore, but the hints that it was active in the past might indicate it survived Calvin's reforms to the Catholic church. So, in short, the Ben Israel family might have nowhere to go in fear of the Inquisition. It can affect Menasseh's life in a myriad of ways - he may have went to live in America, for example - and many of them can lead to no one raising to Cromwell, or whoever else might be controlling Brytain at the time, the topic of allowing Jewish return to it.

Without the Jewsade (assuming I'm dissuaded from it. I'm not yet - still attempting to work on a fanfic, which doesn't mean much considering it has been less than a week), the results of simply not having such an important figure will mostly just be no Jews in Sweden or Brytain. For the same reason Menasseh Ben Israel doesn't fulfill his function in our timeline, it may be that there won't be Jews in Denmark and Norway either. It might be that there would be mass emigration of Ashkenazi Jews to North Africa, the Ottoman Empire, or America due to expulsions. Alternatively, there will be much more Anusim.

What you may have noticed by now in this attempt at historical research and alternative history is the prominence of Portugese Anusim and Expelled people. Or you might have chucked it to the "two is a coincidence" bin. I'm not sure what to think of that myself, as I'm usually more focused on the Spanish Expulsion as a significant event for Judaism in that era. The Portugese one usually comes as an afterthought. I do think it points out to a significant fact: the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula were very well educated and strongly affected every community they got to. There were Jews in Italy prior to the Banished Sepharadim, but instead of joining those local congregations - the Sepharadim started their own. In North African and Middle Eastern Congregations they're considered to have had a significant effect on practices.

If you're wondering what I'm getting at, you should know I myself don't know. Maybe that instead of talking about some French theologian I have to focus on Spain and Portugal when talking about the History of Judaism at the beginning of the Modern Era? Also, a lot of religious development in Judaism at the time occured in the Ottoman Empire, where Rabbi Joseph Karow wrote the Beit Yosef and Shulchan Aruch. One religious and political shift in Christianity isn't enough to change that. The Jewsade possibly has the largest effect because it's shaped by European politics and will change the state of affairs for Jews in the Ottoman Empire. Other than that, though, it's just a question of more oppression or less oppression.

And I'm starting to ramble. Main takeaways:

a. Shifts in the timeline might result in Jews not only being kept out of Brytain and Sweden for the forseeable future, but also migrating from Christian countries to Muslim ones or to the newly-sprouted coloniess.

b. Most everything related to that is shaped by the Spanish and Portugese Expulsions, forced conversions and Inquisition. Considering the possibility of those expanding all over Europe, I'm not sure what role Spaniard and Portugese Jews might play. They had a significant role at this period already, to be honest, but they might even have an even bigger one here, if very different.

c. Honestly, I'm not very good at this historical research thing. I love reading lore details about alternate histories and such, and feel that Judaism is usually ignored in the grand scale of things in most works about that (excepting WW2 related works, which is something of a tired trope to my understanding), but I don't see myself as the right person to change that. I just decided to drop History as a topic for my BA, and got a barely decent grade in the only class o the topic I took this year. I'm fascinated by history, but some things in its study are slightly boring me. In short, I really want someone else to take this from me. That might be why I just wanted to see the post by the Tea Detective instead of doing all this work: I knew, if subconciously, that I don't have the willpower to do it well. So please, if anyone reading this is as interested as I am in the topic and actually knows how to do historical research, please help.

Huh. Glad to have this off my chest, but not sure I expected it.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading that and found it interesting. Thank you for reading, and have a good day!

All right. So, first: if you are either Jewish, like His Dark Materials, or both, please reblog. If you aren't any of those but know someone who is - please share it with them. I want to get as many thoughts on this as possible.

In essence, I just want to ask two simple questions. I have the beginnings of answers for myself, but Judaism is nothing if not full of discourse and many opinions on one topic. So, again: reblog. Share your thoughts and opinions. Hopefully, it will give us a wide variety of possibilities and answers.

The two questions are: where are Jews in Lyra's world? And what are the theological and Halachic concequences of having dæmons?

I intend to share my opinions in two separate reblogs, but please share your thoughts even if you don't see mine. The short version is that I looked about events in Jewish history around John Calvin's time for the first question (pope John Calvin being the major alternation of history in HDM). As for the second question - I have some thoughts relating to the Chabad thought stream. Elaborations, again, going in reblogs.

Thank you in advance!

(PS, question number 1 was handled once by the sadly deactivvated user the Tea Detective, though their full post disappeared. Link to a reblogging of the first half: here. Note, another reblog mentions other religions - feel free to discuss them, I'm focusing on Judaism because I'm Jewish. Another post asking this question was posted here, so have fun with it. Meanwhile, this post is about dæmons and religions in general and lightly touches Judaism.)

[lastdr3am3r445]

💘Dying Your Hair with Eijirou Kirishima 💘

Hey guys!~ Sorry I haven't been posting, I've got a case of the sads, so only one post today, but it's something I've been wanting to write for a while. Today I just needed a soft fluffy comfort story. No naughtiness here, but maybe tomorrow 🤫

Genre: Fluff Wordcount: 999 (yes, really.) CW: Like a small mention of maybe being bullied in the past, but nothing actively described.

If you like to listen to music while you read, might I suggest this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gt1cAfalNM Semi-related, does anyone else get the feeling that Kirishima listens to old 80's Top 40's like REO Speedwagon? Maybe I'll do a headcanon on that... Anyhow! Now to the story: You pick up the same damn box of hair dye for probably the fourth or fifth time, examine the instructions on the back, the sample colors on the side, and wonder if your hair will actually turn out like that before you heave another sigh and replace it back on the shelf.

What were you doing here?

Maybe you were having an identity crisis. Maybe you were worried that if you didn’t do something soon, you’d be stuck looking the way you do your entire life, that would just be your “Brand” as a “Hero”, and you just didn’t feel very heroic.

At that moment, about the worst possible thing found your ears.

“Hey! New kid!”

Great, you’re ‘the new kid’.

You squeezed your eyes shut and hoped that if you thought about it hard enough, you might become one with the display of boxes of dye and thus not be perceived by anyone you might have to see ever again.

“Hey!” A smiling voice let you know that your manifestation had failed.

“Oh God..” you heard, and you waited for it. The judgement, the teasing, the laughter at your expense that always seemed to follow you as “the new kid”.

“Are you dying your hair?”

“Yeah. What about it?” You clipped, and when you looked up, you saw red.

Not in that way, literally red. Red hair, red eyes, all framed by a relaxed red hoodie slung over his head.

“Well don’t use that brand, it washes out, like, instantly!” He flicked his hands with a toothy grin, “and that one..” he pointed to the box next to the one you had picked up, “that one is semi-permanent, and will rub off on ev-er-y-thing!”

He laughed brightly, like he was recalling a memory. He didn’t seem like he was putting you on, seemed… genuine. You decided to indulge him, “Oh.. well.. which one do you recommend?”

He brought a crooked finger to his chin, and red irises floated up, accessing his brain, “hmmm..”

You backed up a little when he stopped to start perusing the shelves, “based on that color, want demi-permanent… not too expensive… with good coverage… I’d go with this one!” He hands you a bottle, not a box. You look at him, a little confused.

“This one?”

“Yeeep! Typically you wanna stay away from box dyes.” He says through a deep stretch, which left his arms folded behind his head, “you might need to bleach your hair just a little, but I have that stuff at home.” He gave you another sharp toothed grin and a wink, “Hi, I’m Eijirou Kirishima!”

You introduced yourself and asked “How.. do you know about all this stuff?”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” He pulled the hood off his head to reveal dark shadowy roots, “did you think this was my natural hair color?”

“Stranger things have happened!” You said, a small smile quirking your lips.

“Yeah I suppose that’s true.” His face fell into a sheepish smile.

“So.. you’ll let me borrow your bleach and stuff?”

“I’ve got a better idea…”

***

You sat cross legged against Eijirou’s bed, a splotchy bleach-stained towel around your shoulders, still damp from your shower.

“You’re sure about this?”

“Apfolutely!” He muffled past the plastic brush pinched in his teeth, his arms a tangle of gloves, foils, bowls and product.

He dumped his armful across his desk and started sorting the pile, “You’re gonna look great!”

He didn’t even look at the directions as he mixed the bleach and developer into a viscous goo.

“Alright!” He cheered with a *fwoomp* as he leapt with his bowl onto the bed behind you. He positioned a box of foils beside him and asked, “Ya ready?”

You covered your face, and took a short breath, “As I’ll ever be…”

“Heheheheh~” he loosed a sinister laugh, took up his rat tail comb, and started sectioning and clipping your hair.

***

“Alrighty!” He chimed, snapping the vinyl gloves off his hands, “Check it out!” He handed you a wide hand mirror.

“I look like I’m waiting for the mothership…”

You weren’t wrong, tin foil jutted out from your head in every direction. At least you were protected from gamma waves, or whatever.

“Hahaha! This is the part where you trust the process..” He laughed as he padded over to the desk to mix up more product.

“Yeah.. Sure..” You guessed you kinda had to, at that point.

“Okay!” The mirror left your hand, replaced by the bowl of lightener, and your new friend plopped down in front of you, “Your turn!”

“What?! I- I never- I thought you said you’ve done this before?”

“Yeah, just because I can do it by myself, doesn’t mean I want to.” He rolled his eyes, “Don’t worry, I’ll walk you through everything.” He flipped the mirror up in front of his face so he could see the dark stained roots and you beyond them; “It’s a part of the fun anyway!”

“O-okay…” You hesitated, but you pulled on a clean pair of vinyl gloves and went to work.

***

He did as he promised, and walked you through every step. Turns out it wasn’t that hard, and it was pretty repetitive after a while. Section the hair, paint the darkened roots on the front and back, section again; it left you plenty of time to talk.

By the time you were done with his roots, your hair was done developing. You rinsed and rinsed and rinsed, and after many more reassurances from Eijirou to “trust the process” you did it all again with toner, then again with color. The two of you were up until the wee hours coloring your hair, watching movies and talking.

After all was said and done, and your skin itched from the constant in-and-out of the shower, you were super happy with your choice, and that you had made a friend. Nowadays the two of you keep an appointment, maybe even a date, to do each other's hair every 6 weeks.

[somerabbitholes]

Indian Non-Fiction

A list of books on India, almost all of which are by Indian writers; most of them are about history in one way or other but they also involve politics, culture, and religion. (Doesn’t include writing in Indian languages because most of my non-English reading has been limited to fiction). I’ve also added links to online editions for ones I found.

History

Pre-, Postcolonial India (+ other assorted history)

Land of Seven Rivers by Sanjeev Sanyal - looks at Indian history through its geography; great if you want an introduction. it’s a small book but has very interesting insights; definitely would recommend. Also check his Ocean of Churn, which looks at Indian history in terms of the Indian Ocean

The Lost River: On the Trail of the Sarasvati by Michel Danino - looks into the research and evidence on the existence of the Sarasvati river and makes a case for its existence

Hooghly: The Global History of a River by Robert Ivermee - about Hooghly as a centre of a trans-Asiatic and trans-oceanic commercial network

Indians: A Brief History of a Civilization by Namit Arora - what it says, it’s new and was well-received; it paints a holistic picture to start you off

Modern South India by Rajmohan Gandhi - this one’s new, and I’ve only barely read it. It’s the history of south India from the coming of the Portuguese to modern times and it’s really important because we don’t study about this or even talk about this in mainstream conversations

India Moving by Chinmay Tumbe - on migration within India and how migrants and migrations has shaped history, politics, and policy

The Courtesan, the Mahatma, and the Italian Brahmin by Manu Pillai - a selection of stories (real ones) from Indian history; very engagingly written and very, very interesting stories. Also check other works by Pillai - The Ivory Throne and Rebel Sultans. He also writes a regular column for the Mint

Panipat by Vishwas Patil - (a translation from Marathi) a history of the Battle at Panipat in 1761, which basically created a vacuum for the East India Company to step in and grab power; really expansive and highly detailed

Rama and Ayodhya by Meenakshi Jain - on the Ramayana and its cultural spread across Indian since the ancient times; also about the Ayodhya movement

Decolonizing the Hindu Mind by Koenraad Elst - lays down the ideological and intellectual development of the broad umbrella Hindu revivalist movement; really good starting point to understand the rise and development of a significant chunk of Indian politics in post-independence years; really straightforward work, very clear in its objectives

1962: the War that Wasn’t by Shiv Kunal Verma - on the Sino-Indian conflict in 1962; haven’t read it yet, but it’s supposed to be one of the best ones on the conflict

1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh by Srinath Raghavan - on the creation of Bangladesh; places the history in a Cold War context and includes all stakeholders like the US, China and Russia; has multiple layers to its narrative.The Most Dangerous Place by Srinath Raghavan - on American foreign policy in South Asia right from the earliest times.

Cricket Country by Prashant Kidambi - about how cricket took hold in colonial India and the making of the first all-India cricket team; super excited about this book, I added it to my list too

A Corner of a Foreign Field by Ramchandra Guha - on the growth of cricket in India; takes into account race, caste, and religion in pre- and postcolonial times; looks at how the sport was adapted in local cultures and how it became an expression of resistance

Himalaya: A Human History by Ed Douglas - basically what it says; very thorough and very fresh; about more than India because it takes Himalaya as a unit and so it’s really transnational in its approach

Colonial India

Plassey by Sudeep Chakravarti - a very detailed study of the Battle of Plassey which kicked off the colonial project in India

India’s War: World War II and the Making of Modern South Asia by Srinath Raghavan - on India’s involvement and contribution in World War II

An Era of Darkness by Shashi Tharoor - about the economic impact of the British Empire in India; highly elaborate and detailed work on the economic drain in India during colonisation

Goa Inquisition by A. K. Priolkar - about the Portuguese colonisation of Goa and the subsequent evangelical campaign by the Portuguese crown and the Roman church; very, very, thorough and great if you (like me) know nothing about the whole thing

Hicky’s Bengal Gazette by James Otis - on the development and running of India’s first English newspaper; a fun read because honestly the story of the paper is very dramatic and full of political/colonial gossip; also tells you a lot about the early ideas of free press in colonial India

Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse by Meenakshi Jain - about the discourse on sati and the need for reform; reviews the idea of the abolition of sati being a progressive act

Castes of Mind by Nicholas Dirks - about the intersection of caste, race, and colonial knowledge and policy

Politics, Sociology, Commentaries

The Indian Trilogy by V. S. Naipaul - a semi-autobiographical work on the kind of civilisation Naipaul sees India to be; very, very honest; paints a picture of postcolonial India over the years. the trilogy includes An Area of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilization, and India: A Million Mutinies Now. I’ve only read the first one; but I’ve heard and read great things about them all

Republic of Caste by Anand Teltumbde - about caste in post-Independence India; looks at political and policy-related developments and their impact on caste dynamics; sort of subaltern history; it is a little difficult to understand if you don’t already have some amount of knowledge on Indian politics; also a very academic work so not exactly easy to read - I’ve only read parts of it myself

Annihilation of Caste by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar - technically a speech that was never delivered because it was thought to be too explosive; argues that caste is rooted in oppression and for the complete destruction of the caste system; an excellent work, although you do need to know about caste in its religious and political terms. Really just read all of his writing (it’s an entire 14 volume set), they’re excellent and far ahead of their time

The Idea of India by Sunil Khilnani - an analysis of sorts of what pre-colonial and colonial society and the freedom struggle mean for the republic and the kind of nation-building that has happened.

A New India of India: Individual Rights in a Civilisational State by Harsh Madhusudan, Rajeev Mantri - rethinks the “idea of India”; traces cultural and historical legacy in making of modern politics, and explores how individual rights are reconciled with the state’s goals; great thing is that it takes a fresh look at things; perfect to be read after The Idea of India 

10 Judgements that Changed India by Zia Mody - recounts ten most important legal cases and court rulings in India; good starting point at understanding how the law works and its development

Republic of Religion by Abhinav Chandrachud - about secularism and religion in India in light of colonial rule, and its implications in postcolonial India

India Unbound by Gurcharan Das - it’s a history from the Independence to 2000 that focuses largely on the political economy and unpacks the kind of growth we’ve seen; it mixes the personal with the political/economic progress and it’s really easy to get into; best when read with his India Grows at Night

People

Kanshiram by Badri Narayan - a biography of Kanshi Ram, who pretty much laid the foundation of modern Dalit political movement in post-independence India; looks into how the movement developed under Kanshi Ram; a useful insight into both the man as well as early Dalit politics in India

Savarkar by Vikram Sampath - first part of a two-part biography (second part isn’t out yet) on V. D. Savarkar, one of India’s first revolutionary freedom fighter; looks at an insane variety of sources and highly detailed; a must read.

History Men by T. C. A. Raghavan - about the friendship of three of colonial India’s first native historians (Sir Jadunath Sarkar, G. S. Sardesai, Raghubir Sinh) and how they collaborated and supported each other in writing Indian history using scientific methods; also looks at their contributions to Indian history in general

Rammohun Roy by Amiya P. Sen - a biography of colonial India’s first social and religious reformers who reinterpreted Hinduism for modern times; very well-written, great for understanding how early reform worked out

Daughters of the Sun by Ira Mukhoty - about women in the Mughal dynasty. note that it only looks at women connected to and part of the royal household, but an interesting read nonetheless. Her other work, Heroines: Powerful Indian Women in Myth and History is a wonderful book on women in history right from the ancient times; also analyses and explains the changing perceptions of women

R. N. Kao: Gentleman Spymaster by Nitin Gokhale - really, really, really interesting book on R. N. Kao and the development of India’s espionage machinery

Art

Indian Art by Partha Mitter - a history, he’s one of the best on Indian art, very useful

The Dance of Shiva by Ananda Coomaraswamy - a collection of essays on Indian artistic tradition in aesthetic and philosophical terms

The Spirit of Indian Painting by B. N. Goswamy - specifically about painting; explores different themes in different regionals tyles; also check other books by Goswamy, he’s kind of a big deal in art history

Indian Painting: the Lesser Known Traditions by Anna Dallapiccola - pretty much what it says; takes into account a ton of styles and traditions that are lumped together ‘folk art’

Cities, Travel etc

The Great Indian Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux - four-month journey from London to India by trains only; explores themes like colonialism, American imperialism, poverty. One of my favourites

The Epic City by Kushanava Chaudhary - memoir on Kolkata as the author explores and re-discovers the city when he comes back to it after staying in the US for most of his life; a lovely book, delves in the history of Kolkata a little in relation to how the city still feels it, how its people are still negotiating with it, and the kind of future the author sees for Kolkata

Bombay, Meri Jaan by Jerry Pinto & Naresh Fernandes - a collection of essays on Mumbai by a wide collection of people from Naipaul to Khushwant Singh to Manto and Salman Rushdie, compiled by Jerry Pinto; one of my favourites on the city

No Full Stops in India by Mark Tully - writings from when Tully was a journalist in India; commentaries on things he witnesses, also includes a fair amount of personal involvement; explores poverty, postcolonial development, religion and culture in post-independence India

Mumbai Fables by Gyan Prakash - a history of Mumbai city; looks at colonisation, industrial development, the regional politics, architecture and art, as well as the underworld/mafia

Banaras by Diana L. Eck - on Varanasi (Banaras), probably India’s holiest city; tells its history from its conception to now; blends religion, mythology, politics, and history. Also check Eck’s India: A Sacred Geography

The City of Djinns by William Dalrymple - semi-autobiography about living in Delhi; looks at the legacies of independence and partition while thinking about its past

The Book of Indian Journeys by Dom Moraes - it’s an anthology of essays and excerpts from works of a bunch of writers on travelling in India, it’s a favourite when I’m travelling

This is not exhaustive and I will keep updating when I find the time. I’ve tried to keep it diverse (and organised) in its content; hope you find something you like :)

[zephycluster]

Precolonial HWS SEA Rant Post, feel free to ignore

If you're still reading, then you're probably looking for evidence or some juicy tidbits to throw back at me or to try and find dirt to cancel me, like typical Tumblr/Twitter. Go ahead, I don't really care.

First off, let me just say that If you like Precolonial South-East Asia AUs, feel free to keep enjoying them. I will respectfully support your passions from afar. This post is just to explain why I don't like it, especially the way they keep insisting/portraying PH in it.

Still here? Then let me begin.

Since the recent confirmation that the ASEAN Six Majors (Can't really say ASEAN 10 atm since it's still missing some people) Were completed and the Ma-Phil-Indo Trio was included, there has been a large surge in 'Precolonial' fanarts and portrayals of South East Asians, those three especially.

Even long, long before, circa 2010's ish, a rather well-known fan universe known as 'Maaf' dealt with their story and how their Author thought their intertwined histories went. Written by (my best guesstimate) an Indonesian writer who wants to explore the old, SEA bond.

When I first stumbled across Maaf (I was in Highschool at the time, around age 16-ish), I took a casual interest in it and tried to read it through. But, I will wholeheartedly admit that at the time, Pre-Colonial cultures of South-East Asia in general, let alone Philippine, did not really interest me that much. The focus (I think) was mostly on Indonesia, a country I didn't really know back then, and the liberal use of 'ancient' names and artwork just made it feel like an entirely Original Work (that needed a degree in History to really appreciate) and not something from Hetalia. I also completely disagreed with what I could gather was the story's portrayal of PH but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Do I hate 'Maaf'? No, I don't hate it. Do I wish I never came across it or that it didn't exist? Of course not. Just because I didn't enjoy it or appreciate it that well doesn't mean I wish any ill toward it, its fans, or its creator.

Fast forward to April 2021, the long awaited inclusion of South East Asia to the canon Hetalia verse. I was happy, the other fans were happy, all was good.

Then started the questionable fanarts, fan theories and fan pairings.

Especially the expansion of Precolonial! PH.

Let's go back to Maaf for one moment. From what I understood of Maaf, PH there was a character who once was like all the other South East Asian cultures, trading with them, all around being a nice family.

But all that changed when the Spaniards attacked, so cry the precolonial buffs. They destroyed everything, ransacked and marginalized the tribes, erased everything that PH was!

Did that happen? ABSOLUTELY. The Spaniards had this vision in mind that they must spread Christianity to all of the 'savage, unchristian heathens' of their realm. :V /s

But back up a second, back to PH's portrayal in Maaf. The way she (yeah, she) was portrayed there was that she was slowly losing her memories of being a 'true' South East Asian and grew more and more westernized in the process, like some sort of Culture-specific Alzheimer's or something.

Firstly, that is seriously depressing, and secondly, I just really don't see that happening.

Here's why.

Point 1: Even before Colonial Masters, Filipinos as a people cannot agree on anything.

I'll just begin this segment with a Philippine proverb that outlines what Filipinos call 'Crab Mentality' or 'Crab Bucket Mentality'.

"You don't need a lid for a container when you're keeping multiple crabs. If you keep at least two crabs together, they will just pull each other down instead of helping each other up."

I don't know how it goes with Indonesian or Malaysian history class, but what I know of my homeland, both pre- and post-colonial history, we were never really 'united' or 'together' in the sense that Indonesia and Malaysia were (from what I assume).

Let me pull up a somewhat related question on r/AskHistorians.

The reason I brought this up as it shows the reasons why, in my opinion, a single entity that is 'Precolonial Philippines-tan' is an impossibility.

The answers are long and would extend this already long post to stupid proportions, so I'll just quote relevant sentences. The link is here for those that wanna deep-dive into the answer.

"All this to say that there wasn't a name used for the entire Philippine islands before the Philippines that people now would agree to. An interesting comparison would be the Holy Roman Empire, which might also be characterized as disparate politico-geographic groups of relatively small size that had a history of relations between each other, but one thing they had that the Philippines did not was a common language, or at least a family of mostly mutually intelligible languages, so that the name Deutschland or Germany isn't terribly offensive to anyone. If you called the Philippines the 'Lupang-Tagalog' or even 'Lupang-Tao' the other ethnic groups would protest."

For those in need of translation, 'Lupang Tagalog' means 'Land of the Tagalogs' and 'Lupang Tao' means 'Land of People', specifically. The first one is already exclusive and offensive, as the Tagalog peoples are but one of many ethnicities here.

And for the 'Lupang Tagalog' suggestion specifically, it's even more offensive as they are the majority ethnicity (not by much, just around 28%) From this chart from Geography Now! It would basically be alienating everyone else in the 72% remainder that isn't 'Tagalog'.

And even 'Lupang Tao', the most generic name in a local language you can think of, would be met with contempt because the name itself is in the Tagalog language.

Just travelling between two individual island groups today would sometimes require a translator because the words can change very rapidly and very drastically. Here's a sample of some differences coming from a friend living in Visayas (in Red) vs. the words I know living in Luzon (In blue).

Ate vs. Manang = Older Sister

Ibon vs. Pispis = Bird

Tumawa vs. Kadlaw = To laugh

Takot vs. Hadlok = Fear

Kain vs. Kaon = To eat

Ngayon vs. Subong = Now, at this point in time

Iyak vs. Hibi/Gibi = to cry

Talampakan vs. Tiil = Foot (in Tagalog, the word retains its 'body part AND unit of measurement' meaning)

Tulog vs. Tuyo = to sleep (Tuyo in Tagalog is either a dried salted fish or 'to dry')

The kicker is that just like Tagalog is just one of many languages here, so too is the language my friend speaks. Ask an entirely new person, like someone from Mindanao, they'll probably have an entirely new set of words.

It's not just Luzon vs. Visayas vs. Mindanao, either. Here's a map listing some of the ethnic groups here.

Even the way they're written differs from location to location.

While we're on the subject of Island divisions, a casual skim across Twitter and Tumblr has shown that their Precolonial PH has been one of the following ancient civilizations: Tondo, Butuan, Sugbu, Namayan. There may have been others but that was what I have found.

Notice how even today, the posters of Precolonial PH can't seem to agree on what he's supposed to be? With Indonesia it's either Majapahit or Srivijaya and Malaysia it's usually Malacca iirc.

What is the big deal? Well, let's go back to the Ask Historians post. "Why didn't the Philippines ever change its name to remove the colonial mark that being named after a Spanish King has?" The answer: "If you suggested something dating to precolonial times, the other ethnic groups would protest."

Since we're on a roll with maps, let me bring this up.

As you can see, the precolonial PH posts have a reason to not be able to agree on one thing, as there is a LOT of options. Do you also see how THAT list is also split up?

It's split up into those aligned with China (Sinified), aligned with India (Indianized), aligned with the Middle East (Islamicized), and no alignment (Animist). Now, let's go back to the main suggestions for which Kingdom/Polity/Civilization/whatever Modern Philippines used to be.

If the Filipino peoples' couldn't agree on something as simple as WHAT TO CALL THE LAND THEY'RE LIVING ON, what more a living, breathing, walking, talking entity that is supposed to be a beacon of all of their 'unified' culture? ESPECIALLY if that entity used to be a currently existing Kingdom/Polity/Rajahnate/Sultanate/whatever.

Tondo? "Of course, always the damn Tagalogs. Tagalog this, Tagalog that. First the capital city, then the language,* THE REST OF US EXIST, YOU KNOW! What about us in Visayas? Mindanao?"

*The national language known as 'Filipino' is just standardized Tagalog*

Butuan? "Wait, you want Butuan to represent us? They're they only Indian-aligned city in the Islam-majority Mindanao! They're not even that many of them! I'm not gonna change my religion!"

Sugbu, the other name for the Rajahnate of Cebu on the map? Lemme bring back my Visayan friend again. According to her, she hails from the Hiligaynon part of Visayas.

"Sure :v and the other islands are what?

Chopped liver?

Not to mention the language and writing barrier helloooo"

And Namayan? Well. I'll let this pic speak for itself.

To summarize, no matter who you pick as Modern PH's previous identity, it will not end well nor be accepted by the other Kingdoms at the time.

"So where does that leave Modern PH, he had to have been ONE of them, right?"

Well, not really. He doesn't HAVE to be one of the Ancient Kingdoms that lasted till the modern day. I mean, predecessor representatives exist in Hetalia canon, after all. Like Modern Greece is a different character from Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt and Modern Egypt, heck even England and his brothers have a canon mother that was the rep before them.

Or you could even use the same logic that Germany does, in that each specific region has/had its own representative and that Modern!PH is just the 'mediator' between them (cause gawd does PH need one). There could be a Tondo, a Namayan, a Butuan, and a Sugbu, all arguing and this Proto-PH is just trying to make headway in making them all satisfied.

But, even after all this, there is another reason why I personally don't subscribe to the 'Precolonial PH' idea, and by tangential extension, the Indo x Phil pairing.

Point 2: Even without intending to, Precolonial Indo x Phil just comes off as patronizing

This second point is just ENTIRELY personal preference and barely has any facts to back it up.

Again, if you like the pairing and disagree with me, You do you. I will respectfully support you and your passions from a distance.

But for me, Indo being Phil's seme/bae/boyfriend and consistently bringing up precolonial times just comes off as patronizing.

Just one more time, I'd like to point out that I am NOT bashing Indonesia, its people or the subscribers of Indo x Phil. This is just how the pairing feels to ME specifically.

The way I see it, Indo x Phil as a pairing, especially if it extends back into precolonial times, reads the same way as a long-since married couple where the husband/wife CONSTANTLY brings up that ONE outing you had together, or that ONE prom night where you kissed while dancing, even it happened like 30 some-odd years ago and so much more happened since then.

Even in a platonic sense, It reads like two besties where one ALWAYS mentions stuff like 'Yeah but you looked so much cooler back in High School' or 'Back in Grade School you would've known that', or 'Remember back in Pre-school we did X? How could you forget that?'

How does one respond to the notion that no matter what you do now, it will never compare to a past you've already forgotten or barely remember? That the best version of 'you' is already long gone?

"That's because the westerners made you forget your culture! You gotta take it back!"

While it is true, yes, as a collective we barely remember the Kingdom that commissioned the Laguna Copperplate, or created the Banaue Rice Terraces, or created the millennia old bonds that we still share with Indonesia and Malaysia.

But to keep pushing the precolonial identity would be to neglect and cast aside the one REAL binding belief and culture that spans the entirety of these islands we call the Philippines.

We take on all the bad stuff that happens to us, conquer it, and make it our own. Be it natural disasters, foreign powers, or negative stereotypical mentalities.

Yes, we've forgotten the ancient kingdoms of old and are just now digging through the closet for those remnants of the past. Yes, the colonizers imposed that on us, and made us forget. But in the process we've also taken everything that they left behind, everything that they threw at us, and created something that can only come from us.

The lanterns that the Spaniards used to light the way to the morning masses they made us attend became our globally known symbol of Christmas. The junked vehicles that the Americans left behind in World War 2 are now rolling works of art that announce themselves loud and proud on the streets (for better or for worse). The iced dessert recipe that the Japanese forced us to learn while they were occupying the country is now so distinct and famous it is synonymous with us, and is so delicious even Italy has taken notice.

Even after all this? Even after all the 425-ish years total we have been under a foreign power, with all the progress we've made as a country, a people, and a nation, you would still imply our fragmented, jigsaw puzzle state of being in the past was better just because it was pure 'South East Asian' like everyone else?

We might not be as well put-together as Indonesia or Malaysia, but we made this melting pot of angry, leg-pulling, dogpiling, Native, Mestizo, Chinoy, and Fil-Am crabs OURS, damnit!

It's now 4:30 AM and I have work in 5 or so hours. I'll be going to sleep now.