#and people who don't know their heritage and who have been severed from their familial communities

[yves-and-scessernee]

I've been thinking about some things, and I wanted to clarify for some folks outside of the US:

When people in the United States talk about heritage, it's always with the implication of American nationality. Two friends in the US might chat casually about themselves and their families by saying "I'm Irish" and "I'm Polish." What they mean is "I'm Irish-American" and "I'm Polish-American" but, because the context of being in America is present, the "-American" part goes assumed.

That's why the "Where are you from?" / "Where were you born?" / "Where are your parents from?" questions exist. Between friends, those are casual ways to tell if someone is talking about X as a familial heritage or X as a nationality without saying outright "Hey, so are you a member of this American subculture or are you from another country?" It is absolutely rude to ask these questions without the context of friendship, but within a friendship people often share information about their heritage and nationality quite freely. Those two friends I mentioned above might go on to talk about how "My grandparents were born in Dublin and immigrated to the US, and my parents grew up together in Boston." "Oh, that's cool that they grew up together! My great-grandmother moved from Kraków as an infant with her family, but my dad met my mom through an exchange student program and she just finalized her dual citizenship."

Stripped of the context of "being in America", such statements can come off as presumptuous and deceptive. I understand that. Someone who has gotten used to chatting about their family while in America will likely default to keeping the "-American" part assumed on their behalf, which they shouldn't do. But an American saying "Oh! I'm Irish" to you when you know already that they are American is telling you this in the context of being American: what is actually being conveyed is "I'm Irish-American." To them, they're sharing what American subculture they belong to, rather than claiming participation in a different country.

And Irish-American culture in the US is alive and well! Irish-American cultural centers, museums dedicated to generations of Irish-American immigration, and festivals sharing what Irish-American families have brought to America are found all over the US. So it is with many other cultural communities. People care about the cultures they and their families brought over with them, and American subcultures are living entities unto themselves shaped by decades of history.

And of course some American families keep in touch with their parent cultures. As I write this, a friend is making arrangements with his family to spent next month with his grandparents in Mexico. My own parents just got back from visiting my sister in Ireland, where she's been studying veterinary sciences. Sometimes that's why Americans drop the hyphen in casual conversation: for my friend, where does Mexican culture end and the Mexican-American subculture within the greater American culture begin? A conversation with him actually got me thinking about this entire thing, because, for him, the distinction between being Mexican, having Mexican heritage, and being Mexican-American can be really blurry, particularly given the United States' history with Mexico.

Americans should stop assuming everyone knows the context of "having American nationality" when they talk about heritage. I agree. It can be easy to come onto the internet with the same assumptions you have in your everyday community, particularly if you're young. If you're American and you're reading this and you're just realizing that someone probably interpreted you as saying "I'm a member of this country" when what you meant was "I'm a member of this American subculture," I understand the embarrassment. This often isn't laid out clearly inside or outside the US.

But that's why I'm explaining it now. If what you mean is "I'm [Heritage]-American" and you're talking about your participation in an American subculture, you probably should start saying the whole phrase aloud. It's more polite to assume that someone doesn't know your nationality than that they do. It'll forestall misunderstandings and frustrations with friends and strangers alike.

[k-s-morgan]

I in no way mean to be disrespectful, I hope you and your family are doing well and I’m so sorry for the recent attacks. I’m just ignorant and want to know what would happen if Ukraine surrendered to Russia?

I hope you are safe from bombing and air raids 🙏🙏

Hi! Thank you <3 And don't worry, that's a good question.

What I'm 100% sure would happen in case of Ukraine's surrender, even under the most optimistic scenario:

We'd have to give up the entire country, not just a part of it. Russia always comes back for more. It's been following the same pattern with different countries forever. With Ukraine, it got a pretty decent chunk back in 2014. That land continued to belong to Ukraine on paper only - in reality, it was fully under Russian control, and no one really fought for it any longer. Was Russia satisfied with it? No. It kept preparing and then attacked to overtake even more land. It will never have enough, so to give up now means to acknowledge that the entire Ukraine will cease to exist as a country, whether right away or after Russia starts another war against us.

Ukrainian language, culture, and heritage would be destroyed completely in the coming years. Our history - and the history of the world children are taught - will be re-written. There is a reason why the majority of countries that were a part of USSR speak primarily Russian. Russia keeps carefully erasing other languages and culture, it's been doing it for ages. It's doing it right now on the occupied territories.

Pro-Ukrainian activists and people of note would be persecuted, kidnapped, tortured, and killed. This is also a pattern, it happens everywhere Russia invades. I know many examples personally.

We'd be gradually cut off of the outside world. Like, Russia has banned major fanfiction sites; it's trying to block YouTube and other platforms. The transformation into a semblance of North Korea would be inevitable.

Ukrainians would be treated as third-rate non-humans on their own territory. Again, it's been happening everywhere Russia barges into.

Ukraine would be used as a military base to attack other countries, and Ukrainians would be forced to become Russian soldiers.

As for the rest, it could go in several ways. Maybe Russia would want to show how 'amazing' it is, so it'd turn Kyiv into a second Moscow, creating different well-paid positions and opportunities to suck up to Kyiv residents and to prove its hypocritical benevolence.

On the other hand, it could just as well turn the entire country into a concentration and extermination camp. Russia has been torturing, raping, degrading, and murdering our people everywhere. Stealing their homes, kidnapping children, etc. and etc. I have a huge number of friends, people I know, or their friends who shared their stories, and each of them has been absolutely horrific.

My Mom's colleague, for example, used to live near Bachmut. When Russians came in, they immediately began to hunt down anyone related to the police and the military and killing them or actually demanding ransom for them. They kidnapped this colleague's friends, a married couple, kept them in a dog's kennel, pissed on them, beat them up, and raped the wife repeatedly. At that point, the colleague managed to flee the area, and she has no idea as to what happened to them afterward.

This could very well be the fate of our country in case of our surrender since the world obviously doesn't care and wouldn't bat an eye at the millions suffering and dying, kind of like it's happening now.

So surrendering is dangerous because we might cease to exist, but perhaps we are just prolonging the inevitable. A tiny country with a pathetic level of support cannot win against a giant that has a ton of everything and whose allies keep sending it even more weapons of destruction. Oh, and let's not forget how Russia keeps producing more and more weapons because the US and EU keep selling it the parts it needs for missiles and other stuff, and how Ukraine, after seemingly getting help from these US and EU, is forbidden to use it to strike Russia back.

It's all a joke to everyone but us, so I honestly don't envision a positive outcome at all. In the end, as long as our heroes are determined to defend Ukraine, we'll keep trying to hold on. The future will show what it'll lead us to.

[bonny-kookoo]

Yoongi

𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐧 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞 [Intro]

He's come to find his way into a place where he can feel some sense of belonging. He's joined this year's Festival to reconnect with what he thought he had to live without. But what he actually finds is worth so much more.

Main Tags/Warnings: Dragon!Yoongi, strangers to lovers/mates, mentions of folklore and traditions, modern fantasy, romance, Dragon!Reader, Evocation!AU

Length: didn't count sorry haha (mid)

-> Masterlist

There is no taglist for this fic.

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You're not sure what to make of Min Yoongi yet.

But granted, you've only just met yesterday, where he'd offered you his quiet company to not make you feel so left out. You'd been thankful for that- but you also don't know if that action had any sort of meaning behind it, or if he'd been just nice to you.

Maybe dragonbloods are just like that? You're not sure. You are one, sure- but you didn't grow up with any of it. Your parents didn't really care about their own heritage very much, didn't teach you anything, and only recently, you got to connect with someone who's also a dragonblood. She works in the same department that you do, though remotely from home just like you as well, and she's pretty much your polar opposite; Bubbly, loud, and most of all- confident and proud of herself. She wears her heart literally on her sleeve, and has been taking you under her wing ever since you joined the company.

You became friends because you both coincidentally lived in the same city, and after she found out about your situation- that you kind of wanted to learn more about your own heritage but didn't know how- she took on the job, and basically paid for your entire trip here, into the mountains, saying that you'd need to reconnect with it all more than anyone- whatever she meant with that.

But now you're just so lost, and you don't want to cling to her and make her babysit you. That would just be unfair- and you can just socialize on your own, right? How hard can it be?

Very hard. Especially with all those intimidating dragons around.

So you just stay by yourself again, nod Soyoon off because she deserves to be with her friends and family for these festivities.

It all looks pretty fun already.

Even though lots of wooden structures are still being constructed, the day is mostly spent catching up for most, it seems like. So you'll just take the time to explore a little instead, maybe get an idea of the area for yourself, to find some spots where you could recharge your introverted social battery a bit.

Suddenly, you feel eyes on you. And as you turn around, the red-haired man you now know as Min Yoongi looks at you again, with his cat-like eyes and a soft, small smile.

Soyoon had told you that she actually knows him- and that you shouldn't be alarmed by his sometimes stoic face or harsh sounding words. She'd told you that he's a bit grumpy sometimes, but mostly a sweetheart with a severe case of resting-bitch-face, and that his dragonblood is just extremely strong, influencing a lot of his behavior and making him act a lot more on instincts than someone else would.

She'd also told you last night that he doesn't have a relationship currently. And that even his action of sitting next to you, and sharing some food with you, was something new, because he typically doesn't really make the first step towards anyone, rather waits until he's approached instead. It made you feel a little complimented to hear that- but at the same time, maybe he simply thought of you as pitiful.

So you turn back around after waving at him a bit awkwardly, instead deciding to watch the people constructing the wooden stages and booths. Though you can hear steps towards you only moments later, Yoongi appearing standing next to your bench with respectful distance. "Is it okay if I sit here?" He asks you, and you nod right away, scooting over a bit. "Thank you." He offers, and again, you just nod quietly.

This is awkward. He looks so good, seems so.. comfortably confident. His sweater looks awfully soft, and his posture is way more relaxed than yours.

"Soyoon told me it's your first time here." He says, not looking at you, probably not to make you any more nervous than you actually are. He seems really good at reading people, you notice. Maybe he can sense it, somehow.

"I think.. I don't know. I wanted to maybe try and re-connect with.. all of this." You shrug to yourself, looking at your feet. "I.. kind of want to belong somewhere. But it feels like I missed the chance long ago and now I can't." You sigh, watching how two people laugh together as they work.

"It can be intimidating to join a new group of people. Especially if you're not used to actively socializing." he comforts you, leaning back a little as he greets a young man with a nod. "But it's not too late at all." He tells you. "You've already made the first step by coming here. I'm sure you'll be fine." He reassures, and you nod after a moment, silence falling over the two of you for a good little while. But it's not truly uncomfortable - it's a simple company without actually needing any words.

And he doesn't seem to mind it either.

And suddenly, just as you've started to relax next to him, he speaks again. "Would you like to spend this festival with me?" He asks, now actually looking to the side at you.

Internally, you have to disagree with Soyoon on his alleged angry resting face now that you look at him; he looks nothing but kind to you, even without a clear smile on his face. He rather looks comfortable and relaxed than mad, really, so his gaze also doesn't intimidate you at all, giving you no problem with eye contact.

"Would you.. would you like to?" You ask instead, and he chuckles, corners of his lips now tilting up a little.

"I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't interested." He teases a little, and you can't help but smile now as well.

"Okay." You say because of that, making his smile turn a little bit wider, eyes warm as they rest on you. "...what does that mean?" You meekly wonder, and he laughs to himself, before he shrugs towards you.

"Guess we'll have to find out, hm?" He teases again, and you can feel your cheeks heat up.

Min Yoongi truly seems to be a charming dragon, a fire burning hot under his skin-

And it's starting to heat up yours too, without any need for physical touch at all.

What have you gotten yourself into?

[heathersdesk]

Something About Me You Should Know

Have any of you seen that person on TikTok whose whole thing is finding people's birthdays based on nothing but their available social media presence?

I have all the necessary skills to do that. I'm a genetic genealogist. I use commercial DNA testing to help adoptees, donor conceived people, and people with unknown paternity in the United States document their biological heritage and find living family. I'm very good at what I do. I find people, whether they want to be found or not.

I have to exercise a great deal of self-control not to do this to the men who berate me in my comments all over the Internet. They're not worth it. They don't learn anything from the experience. It makes them twice as hateful as they were before because all it does is increase their fear, which is what motivates them to do what they do.

But that doesn't mean I haven't learned anything from it.

I did this to someone from DezNat who was harassing me, and to someone who has been harassing me since the election. Let me tell you what I learned from those experiences.

The DezNat individual was deeply concerned about being perceived as morally correct. They were also in Idaho, not far from me. When I threatened to come to their testimony meeting and reveal who they were and what they were doing, they got scared enough to contact me personally from another account. They wanted reassurance that I wouldn't actually do it. They pretended to be "a friend of that guy" and confirmed the suspicions I had from the very beginning: all of those accounts were being created and managed by a very small number of people. Their network included accounts pretending to be left-leaning, specifically so they could engage in arguments under false pretenses and increase the feelings of loneliness and alienation among left leaning people.

This second case is more recent. They chased and hounded me for three days about voting for Kamala Harris. I lost all of my patience and went to work on election night because I had the time. I learned an incredible amount about this guy—enough to know he was only pretending to be a leftist concerned about Palestine, and was actually a Trump supporter in rural Pennsylvania. I know his stepmother is an Asian Trump supporter, as are several of his half siblings. This is exactly how I know he's a Trump supporter. He doesn't care about what happens to them, and neither does his Trump loving father, who was dumb enough to put his zip code in his Instagram handle.

That guy also didn't learn anything from the situation, but I did. Once again, it's confirmation that people in leftist spaces harassing people the most, including those who appear to be on the left, are actually Trump supporters playing stupid games. Don't engage with them. Block them. Report them.

They want you to be angry and exhausted. They want to take your time and energy away from the work you're doing. They want to perpetuate the perception that the left is fractured and disorganized. They want to put you in the mindset where you attack other leftists because of what they say to you.

There's a reason I use my full name on the Internet and have for years now. I am exactly who I appear to be. You want to show up in my ward or at my house? Do it. Look me in my face and say the things you say online. Put yourself in actual space where I could show you exactly what I think of you. That guy from DezNat knew where I lived. I told him to come. Let me see his face. Let me see exactly who it is that pretends to be my brother at Church but is secretly a predator. Let me see you.

They won't because they're cowards. They're terrified of what they cannot understand. Everything they do is motivated by fear.

Don't waste a second being scared of them and what they can do. Peel off the mask and there's just a terrified mouse of a human being, scared that someone bigger and badder than them is going to come along and eat them. That's why they love Trump so much. He makes them feel strong because they're not. He makes them feel powerful because they're not. He vanishes all their deepest insecurities, which is something they desperately need.

That's why they're scared of you: because you don't need that. And if you ever figured that out for even half a second, you would destroy every illusion they have about themselves and the world with the truth.

You want to taunt a Trump supporter. Don't call them racists or fascists. They don't know what those words mean. Tell them "I know something you don't know." Because you do! You know all kinds of stuff about Trump that they don't know! You know all kinds of things about the world that they don't know. They live in a bubble of their own construction. Point out all the things they don't know because they live in their bubble.

If you're feeling sad and frustrated right now, that's okay. But don't be scared of these people. They're unworthy of your fear. Being unbothered by anything they say and do is the smartest thing you could do right now. Regroup and recommit to ruining their day. That's what they're afraid of, and it's what they deserve. Show them everything they're missing out on by staying in the bubble that was made for them.

Be free and happy as yourself because they are not. That's the best revenge there is: to be full of the unconditional love for yourself and compassion for others they don't have.

[atopvisenyashill]

THE PACT OF ICE AND FIRE

so there's an aspect of this one i don't think has really been delved into that I think may be important when it comes to canon jonsa and I wanted to do my own lil analysis, along with maybe some tin hatting at the end here.

this is what the pact is (or what we know of it at any rate, Munkun is not exactly a good source of information):

Cregan Stark and Jacaerys Velaryon reached an accord, and signed and sealed the agreement that Grand Maester Munkun calls “the Pact of Ice and Fire” in his True Telling. Like many such pacts, it was to be sealed with a marriage. Lord Cregan’s son, Rickon, was a year old. Prince Jacaerys was as yet unmarried and childless, but it was assumed that he would sire children of his own once his mother sat the Iron Throne. Under the terms of the pact, the prince’s firstborn daughter would be sent north at the age of seven, to be fostered at Winterfell until such time as she was old enough to marry Lord Cregan’s heir.

There's two parts to this that I think are important here. Here is the first, which is the basics of the pact, and that most Jonsas are familiar with:

Jacaery's First Born Daughter Is Fostered At Winterfell -> She will marry Cregan's first born son and heir.

Obviously, this never happened for several reasons and the pact is forgotten but perhaps it will be fulfilled anyway by...

Jon, a secret Targaryen bastard, is "fostered" at Winterfell -> he will fulfill the pact by marrying a Stark Maiden aka Sansa.

Basically, it's a genderswapped version of what the pact entails. I think given George's fondness for how Tolkien was a hater of Macbeth because he thought the "no man of woman born" should have indicated a girl and not just a man born via c-section, I think the genderswap aspect fits George's style.

The second part however, has more to do with Jacaerys and Sara and I feel like it's glossed over a bit. See here:

They had spoken their vows in Winterfell’s own godswood before a heart tree, and only then had she given herself to him, wrapped in furs amidst the snows as the old gods looked on.

Jacaerys, a "secret" Targaryen bastard who gets his family name and allegiances through his mother, not his father -> Rumors of a secret marriage in front of a Weirwood with a Stark bastard, Sara

Listen. It doesn't matter whether Sara Snow is real, you believe whatever makes you happy! But what IS real and relevant is that this part was included in F&B for a reason, and is indicated to be the catalyst for the pact. Jace and Sara get secret married in front of a Weirwood, and this is what calms down Cregan so they can make their pact. And here is how (I believe) it applies to Jonsa:

Jon, a secret Targaryen bastard, but who gets his look and his allegiance not through his father but Lyanna's blood -> Jon, a Stark bastard, will marry an Heir in secret in front of a Weirwood tree.

THAT is, imo, the most important aspect of this scandalous story from Mushroom - that a secret bastard, a targaryen and a stark, secretly marry in front of a Weirwood tree just before a bloody war kicks off. People tend to make Sansa the Sara in this part, which is valid, but I think Sansa's role in this is not just to be the pretty Stark maiden, but to be the HEIR that is secretly marrying for love, like Jacaerys is, and that Jon's role will be about his status as a bastard, so that both parts kind of apply to both characters. And given that, if Jace and Sara had married, their daughter would have been a Starkgaryen with "secret" bastard heritage (from both her parents), marrying a Stark Heir, it does make sense (at least in my mind) that this may apply to Jon and Sansa's future plot. the That's something I touched on here in my "what will Jon's endgame" post.

Then there's the Vermax of it all...

Mushroom also claims that Vermax left a clutch of dragon’s eggs at Winterfell, which is equally absurd. Whilst it is true that determining the sex of a living dragon is a nigh on impossible task, no other source mentions Vermax producing so much as a single egg, so it must be assumed that he was male. Septon Barth’s speculation that the dragons change sex at need, being “as mutable as flame,” is too ludicrous to consider.)

This brought to mind the ole' Jonnel and Sansa (the first) thing - beyond the J&S similarities (Jacaerys & Sara, Jon & Sansa, Jonnel & Sansa), I think it's also important that Jonnel and Sansa never have any children, though they're married for several years. Jacaerys and Sara also never have children, yet there's the rumor Vermax laid eggs in the crypt, with some believing this may have meant Sara was pregnant (but perhaps miscarried) when Jacaerys left. I think however, the fact that both J&S couples kind of mysteriously do not have children of their own, and that their Houses descend from someone else to be important.

I've kind of briefly gone into the idea that Bran rules in a parliamentary style over (what's left of) Westeros, and while I'm not too committed one way or the other on whether he physically has children or whether they elect the ruler on the Iron Throne more often starting from Bran, the succession is significantly less of an issue because of the permanent Great Council/Parliament that will exist. Sansa (and Jon, for that matter), however, is the heiress to a long line of kings and lords and needs some sort of heir. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibililty that while in the Vale, she connects with some of Jocelyn Stark's descendants (the famous "Vale cousins" that Catelyn mentions as heirs for Robb) and makes one of them her heir, or even names the children of Arya her heir, and pulls a Queen Elizabeth, but then I thought of Vermax laying dragon eggs that are never found, and Jonnel and Sansa never having children, and George's love of threes and thought...perhaps Jon and Sansa will have an heir, but Sansa can't claim the child as hers.

In that same vein, it’s noteworthy to me as well that Serena and Edric (Sansa's younger sister and Jonnel's younger brother) have TWO sons but the line completely bypasses them. We have no idea how the Northerners felt about these marriages beyond the fact that they didn't like Lynara's sons because their rules were plagued by troubles. Is it possible that they chose to bypass Edric's sons because of the incest, and Sansa/Jon may be forced to reconcile with how the realm views him (as Ned's son) and what he actually is (Lyanna's son) when it comes to the line of succession? IE - Vermax is rumored to lay an egg in the crypts but no one ever finds out, Sansa is rumored to have have had a child with her “brother” but no one ever finds out the truth.

TO SUM UP: I think the Pact of Ice and Fire is a hint that Jon and Sansa will secretly marry in the godswood of Winterfell, and it's likely that when Sansa is named Queen in the North, her heir will be "fathered by a wolf" or a "wildling" and she and Jon won't be able to tell anyone that Jon is the father.

[wazili]

So, I live in Aix-en-Provence. Since two months, my city was labelled "Ville Impériale" ("Imperial city") which means that important stuff happened here during the Consulate and the Empire and it left some historical and architectural heritage (I will make several posts about them all). And today I will be talking about a mansion and a castle that used to be occupied by princess Pauline Borghèse and Joseph Fouché (not at the same time obviously, that would have been insane lol).

First, the Hôtel de Forbin.

Pauline lived here for some time in 1807 because she fell in love with Auguste de Forbin, whose family owned the place. They stayed there for some time but it was complicated to maintain their secret relationship as the hôtel particulier was literally in the middle of the city's main street, le Cour. So she pretended to be sick and said she needed the fresh air of the countryside. Later, her husband joined her and I don't know if her lover was still there. Did he know ? Was he part of this relationship ? We will never know.

As for Fouché, it was his first home in Aix after his second disgrace in september 1810. He was appointed senator of the city and the people LOVED him, like everyone was in mourning when he left for Ferrières (and keep in mind these people were very religious and nostalgic for the monarchy, they were the first in France to respawn white rosettes out of nowhere when Napoleon was in Elba island). Interesting enough, in the municipal archives’ constitutional and political acts, they called him « His Excellency monsignor Joseph, Duke of Otrante » and just chose to ignore his family name.

Here, a crazy extract from Les Rues d’Aix :

so there basically, people invited by Fouché to celebrate the new year are complaining about the cold nights and fearing the olive trees would die and some noble guy is like « who cares about the olive trees as long as the Duke is fine ! »

Then, the Mignarde castle.

Insane and disgusting stuff happened here because of Pauline's whims. First she "made the frogs and the cicasias shut up" because their sound bothered her (basically she paid men with sticks and they just hit the trees and the lake until all those poor animals left of were k*lled) and then she took a donkey milk bath everyday but it was very expensive so that milk was sold to the city's market when she was done and people realized something was wrong when they poured it in their corn flakes bowl and it weidly smelled of lavender (obviously it was a huge scandal).

And what about Fouché ? Well, he lived there for some months without making scandals, just being the father of the year and walking in his garden holding the hand of his daughter Josephine. Nothing suspicious happening here.

[tagthescullion]

Do you have any headcanons about Octavian (still can't believe we got Luke's entire tragic multifaceted backstory but we never even got Octavian's last name)?

I'll admit my idea of octavian comes from those politicians who want greatness by staying traditional so:

(yes this is long)

his family is one of the oldest in CJ/NR, he's a descendant of apollo but also of a bunch of other gods

as with any other community, secret, mythological, or plain common, the second half of the 20th century brought the need to become strong and powerful which means octavian's parents, grandparents, etc did everything in their power to solidify their family's hold on NR's power

then the 21st century brought the idea of opening society to the different (speaking ideally and etc etc), of being less strict, less controlled, less severe with rules

octavian's family hated this, I mean, they were powerful bc their roots were tied to the legion from long before the gods were even in the US! who tf were these upstarts like jason grace or reyna r. arellano who had no demigod ancestors?? no parents living in the city to show them how everything was done!!

octavian himself was probably less worried about how demigodish or not these kids were but he was fond of their heritage and he was used to his name meaning something, jason's liberal and radical ideas about un-roman-ising discipline and traditions.. well, I don't think the english for "le vino por las pelotas" exists, but go translate that

and, don't get me wrong, ofc excessive nationalism (or whatever that for smaller communities is) leads to bad places, but at first, nobody thought it was so strange. the guy was proud of who he was, of his family, he was secluded from mortals from a young age, what was wrong with him defending his culture from demigods who popped up and imposed their own ways to camp's?? (we all know how hard defending one's culture can be in the US)

in canon it's implied octavian blackmails and bribes his way into power, but with figures like jason and reyna having the 'official' power, that's not quite likely, he'd have been exiled long before, so it's more likely he played a sort-of-luke but instead of offering comfort and emotional affection, he offered a symbolic place in NR's society

"my family extends an offering for lunch this weekend" from octavian means a shitload to people who want power but have no connections of their own

and octavian wasn't probably too bad as a person if one wasn't conflictive (as long as one doesn't openly speak of politics, football, and religion, conversations can remain civil)

his dislike towards jason comes in part from jason being way too chill for a traditional roman despite being the son of the king of the gods, and from jealousy. jason seems to be a nice, popular, powerful kid who was given respect for the sake of existing, not so much for his merits at first

but that dislike was his own doom bc jason had his own friends, so there was probably a sort of division between "I like this one/I like the other"

at first it was probably just a jokey thing, like "ooh losers, we won the war games this time!" but shit like that can hit the fan fast if the times get conflictive

and conflictive is an understatement, two wars in two years?? (officially, the first one lasted two years most likely, but y'know) that's putting everybody in a bad and wary mood, everybody's paranoid, everyone's tense, that can only end in massive disaster

specially bc octavian's clever and he'd have badmouthed jason to make him less powerful. with his future seeing superpower, he probably saw jason enjoying "the enemy's" company and assumed it was kronos' side rather than the greeks (tho ofc to him the greeks would also have been the enemy)

anyway, jason becoming praetor was a punch in the gut for a guy who wanted traditions to prevail, and who failed to convince people even through a whole war!

[bitterrobin]

I loooove expanding on the al Ghuls. IDK in both canon and fanon they're always exclusively villains with little nuance to them unless its the sole focus of a story arc. Even then, its pretty much only Ras and Talia that get their (deserved) due.

*pushing up my nerd glasses* which is why I have fun writing GRAVEYARD because I can yap about my al Ghuls headcanons left and right. For example, Melisande is primarily a French name. But since Talia's mother is often described as mixed Arab/Chinese, I figured I would look for why she would have a French name (other than the writer's decision, maybe they thought it was just pretty). I came up with this: Algeria has history of French usage through its colonization, so Melisande has a French first name but an Arabic middle name (Fadhma). Since she met Ras in Woodstock, she'd have to have been a teenager/young adult by then, and thus been raised in the 1950s/60s. I figured the connotations of Woodstock, her mixed heritage, the then-current state of Algeria etc, the 1969 oil spill in the US, she would have visited America with curiosity about the counter-culture. (how? idk that's why this still in the works) In my au,

Melisande already held views on nature and environmental protection before meeting Ras. Her views were fierce, but probably a little naive compared to Ras' own views. Nonetheless, they clicked intellectually, with Melisande debating theories and politics, which eventually led to their marriage. I don't think Melisande would've liked America (and obviously neither did Ras) so they did not stay there. I considered writing Melisande having Kayble Amazigh heritage to further fuel her desire for change and revolution and because Ras is implied to have Bedouin/Berber origins, but since I don't know much about those cultures beyond some research - I figured I shouldn't include it. Also, because Melisande died when Talia was young, so I don't think she'd have the time to impart a lot of her specific culture onto her daughter, adding to Talia's isolation/loneliness. Melisande is a mother who's killed in both of her iterations, I just wanted to add more significance to her connection with Talia. Something about meeting an intellectual and then being doomed, one way or another, to be absorbed into his mythos. She's a blip in Ras's history, not even his first wife or his first lover - but she's important to Talia.

Same kinda applied to Dusan. He's only in several comics as the White Ghost because Ras needed a new body. He's albino. He's extremely devoted to his father despite not receiving the same attention, and he was born to connect Ras to some lost culture or people. Dusan, to my knowledge is not an Arab name. From research, in some areas, its a Czech/Slovak/Serbian name. This is interesting to me since, besides Nyssa, it implies he's the only other non-Arabic member of the family. Nyssa (depends on translation, is either Greek or Hebrew, which makes sense considering she is Jewish) is of Russian descent. So in my hc, Dusan is of Slovak descent, connected to some fictional peoples. Considering Ras' history, Dusan's mother was probably connected to some type of specific science or magic culture that Ras wanted his hands on. He seems detached to Talia, despite being her brother, so my hc is that he's much older than her and so they don't have a connection in the way that Nyssa created between them. Because Ras was successfully able to transfer his mind/soul to Dusan's body in Resurrection, we can glean that Dusan might've had this magical connection too. Bringing Mara into this, we don't get a lot of content surrounding what her relationship w her father was. Still, my hc is that her red hair streak is actually dyed, and she has inherited her father's albinism but has yet to show it outside of her hair. Mara is also not an Arabic name. In Hebrew it means bitter, but my hc is that she nicknamed herself Mara. Besides Nyssa, I don't think any other member of the al Ghuls are Jewish - so Mara just took the meaning as a way to symbolize her bitterness over her father. Her full name was Maram, which means "wish" or "desire" in Arabic. Whether it was Dusan or her mother that named her this, I'm not fully sure yet but I think it'd be more heartbreaking if it was Dusan. Despite spending so long attached to his father's crusade, I think it'd be sad if for a moment - he had independence and happiness w Mara. Maybe he wanted a son, just as Ras wanted a son, but he once loved her just as fiercely as Talia loves Damian. But again, the al Ghuls are Ouroboros. They cannot ever break the family curse, so in the end, Dusan was once again driven to his father's side w fervor, his lover or wife left him, and Mara was left (as many in the family) alone.

[aurumacadicus]

Wait no now I’m curious. What IS the mormonism in twilight?? It’s been a few years since I’ve read the book

I'm not trying to be an asshole but *waves at whole series* ???? All of it? Some points off the top of my head:

Bella avoids caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco, the latter of which is normal(ish, I was not avoiding any of those things in high school lmao) but the former of which instantly made everyone in my community clock "Mormon." (I live in a community that has a large Mormon population so it wasn't a derogatory thing, just a 'oh that kid's Mormon, make sure we have Sprite and chamomile for gatherings).

Someone on TikTok drew every outfit Bella wore that Edward said made it difficult for him to control himself around. I only saw one, which was a sweater over a long-sleeved shirt and a skirt (denim?) that went down to her ankles. Like, my love. Control yourself better. Anyway I stopped after that first picture because I couldn't take it seriously lmao.

I ripped this one from a website because I could not explain it in my own words: "A crucial Mormon belief is that humans can become divine. In the Twilight series, the Cullen family of vampires was once human but now lives without death in a resurrected condition. Their immortality is a kind of probationary period for eternal life. Meyer describes the Cullens, particularly Edward, as "godlike" and "inhumanly beautiful." (Bella describes Edward as an angel whom she can't imagine "any more glorious.")

Mormons believe they share a common heritage with Native Americans through ancient Israel, which could explain why she wrote Jacob imprinting on Renesmee. (It is almost certainly a reason Meyer does not care that her writing has caused both Quileute people and the general population of La Push strife. She had never even fucking been to Washington. She googled a place where it rains a lot.)

The obvious of Bella marrying Edward young and neither of them having sex until after they were married. In addition to that, she turns eighteen and is upset that she is older than Edward, who is forever seventeen. I could go into the age gap between them and how it mirrors the large age gap between the teenage brides of the early LDS leaders (granted, not a 107 year age gap, but they spanned several decades). I could say the same about Jacob and Renesmee.

Like, I could probably come up with more (my aunt and cousins are Mormon so against my will I know a little more than the average non-Mormon) if I reread the series but I really don't want to lmao.

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Worldbuilding

Thanks so much for the interest in this series on my previous post, I’m excited to share it with you :)

One of the strengths of the Grishaverse worldbuilding is that the different countries and cultures take clear inspiration from the real world, so the reader is able to infer a lot of the small details without having to be spoon-fed the information. For example, we don't need a long, info-dump explanation as to why surnames in Shu Han are constructed from the prefixes "yul" or "kir" based on sex and the first name of the parent (eg Kuwei Yul-Bo, son of Bo Yul-Bayurr) because we understand that the country is partially inspired by Mongolia. And even if we don't make this immediate connection, looking at characters like Tolya Yul-Batar and Tamar Kir-Batar we understand how to infer the source of the name because of it's basis from many different naming conventions in our world, such as the -son, -dottier, or -bur suffixes in Iceland. Something I think I see authors do a lot is struggle with the balance in this kind of situation, but personally I find that Leigh Bardugo does it really well. We don't need to be told the extensive information about this, even if she knows it or has some idea about it for herself, because it isn't relevant to the story. If we were told about it in great detail during the Grisha Trilogy or the SOC duology, it would feel a lot like info dumping. But by telling us what it's necessary to know about the Shu royal family in KOS/ROW and letting us fill in the gaps, we feel that we have enough information to both understand and keep the story moving forwards. All we're actually told, to my recollection, is that the Shu queens maintain the given name of the first queen of Shu Han rather than their mother's name to unify the family and to maintain the status symbol of the royals. The information we've been given from this that's immediately relevant to the story is an explanation as to why the character doesn't take her mother's name, so we're not confused or distracted by that as we read on, but we also know that Shu Ha, or at least its aristocracy, is a matriarchy, that the Shu people still feel a great respect for their first queen, implying further that there is a great respect for heritage in the country, and that the Shu monarchy feel the need to remind people of that first queen for what is probably a fear of unsettlement in their power and therefore a need to remind people that this is their 'birth right'.

In my book, there are futuristic technologies made possible by the blending of science and magic, such as a scanner that can identify several genetic markers and is connected to a national database in order to identify anyone, that is used very similarly to a passport system, as well as by the justice system. But it's not necessary to explain the set up of the database, or that the earliest generation of the scanner was developed in the 16th Century, because that doesn't move the story forwards. Instead, I focus on the impact that the technology's usage has on one of the main characters, who has to have routine police and governmental contact because she witnessed the destruction of her home and the murder of her family at age 10. The case is so famous that at the equivalent of passport control to know that her information is about to appear on that database and the person is going to know what happened to her is deeply stressful for her, but there are no alternatives because this system is considered far safer than any paper-based system that could be cheated or faked. My aim is to actually say that the scanner recognises the person and brings up their information so that I can use it to move the story forward through the emotional response of the character, whilst letting the reader infer anything else about the system. I also don't have to tell you that the technology has been around for centuries, but if I have a stranger to the technology describe it and casually mention that 'Generation 18' or something similar is written on the side, you know that it's been around for an extended period of time.

I hope this made sense and was somewhat helpful, I thought I wouldn't go into too much detail and instead split this into multiple posts. Thanks for reading, and if there's anything in particular about worldbuilding you'd like me to talk about let me know and I can give it a try :)

[lilbittymonster]

What important relationships changed or developed throughout Dawntrail?

:3c mostly snooping on their vacation but tbh there were other characters in Dawntrail who weren't Kitali and husbands so I GUESS if you want to talk about them hehehe

Well, the vacation has mostly just been the three of them (two once Estinien dips to head north) being Regular Guys. Most of their relationship mending happened during the 6.x patches when Estinien finally brought himself to return to Ishgard and to Borel manor specifically.

I think the most significant development there is Aymeric getting to see a new side of his wife that he only has so far heard about from her recounting. For the past several [UNITS OF TIME] he's been actually living the adventurer life with her and it's new and exciting and dangerous and refreshing for him. He hasn't seen this much sun in his entire life! This is great! He only got heat stroke twice!

As for non-husband NPCs, I think the biggest change would be between Kitali and Erenville. As the straight man of the group she would be gravitating towards him bc he tends to hang back and not get Involved(tm) in the proceedings as much as the twins and Krile are. She appreciates that he doesn't seem to be very impressed with her status as world hero and he is surprised at just how shrewd and pragmatic she can be when the situation calls for it. Congrats, Erenville, you have also fallen for the facade! The boat ride would have taken some time and I like to think they would have exchanged stories about adventuring and gleaning. They take you weird places and you get to see some cool stuff!

I was genuinely so excited when he offered (offered!! Initiated!!!) to travel with Kitali and Aymeric to Xak Tural. They were originally planning to go with Estinien, and the the kidnapping happened and so they decided to stay with the group as backup while Estinien went ahead. So they were glad to have a guide and someone who was. Well. An adultier adult sorry Krile to spend time with and to show them around.

Kitali was very concerned for him the entire Yyasulani/Heritage Found/Living Memory arc. She has her own baggage with family and mothers and neglect and the way that Iyaate spoke about his mother really did not do Cahciua any favours. Also the whole deadnaming thing absolutely did Not fly with her. She would have gotten in people's faces about it.

I'm still trying to sort out if she is a good person to try and offer him support in Living Memory. She has the fact that she won't offer platitudes like the rest of the group does going for her, but I don't think "hey your mom sounds like she kinda sucked, going off and leaving you like that" is exactly what Erenville needs to hear. On the other hand, Kitali also has "I lost a parent too early" to also offer so. Idk. She's very concerned for him especially when he goes off on his own for the third terminal shut down and then has his big blowout confrontation. He is in the soup. I hope she can be normal about all this.

In less tense developments, she is weaning the twins off of her support bit by bit by letting them handle the rites by themselves. Especially the Hanuhanu chain (which I am glad I did first) since that was where I felt the most redundant. Urqopacha left room to be a little more worldwise and lead by example. But Alisaie and Alphinaud have really come into their own since Endwalker so it's been nice letting them be confident in their own abilities as the story progresses and she is so so so so SOOO proud of them.

And you know what, even I was surprised at how chill Kitali was with G'raha being around. I wouldn't call their "relationship" important, they are Coworkers At Best, but they were actually really just mellow with each other the whole time. That entire canal town arc was probably meant to be for the shippers, and I can totally see how it could be construed as such, but I didn't feel any overt ~romance~ tones to it. It was two coworkers doing normal(?) Scion(?) business. So I think, while I am still holding out for a possible Y'shtola redemption arc, Kitali and G'raha have finally reached an understanding with each other.

Thanks so much for the ask @elizabethrobertajones this got very rambly.

22 Dawntrail Asks

[yuridovewing]

Darkest Night Diagnosis: F

I think that's our first F tier. Should I be making a tierlist. Whatever.

I think this book singlehandedly killed the Warriors hyperfix, for better or for worse. I will now be significantly slower with this reread because of this book.

Look... as frustrating and bad as Apprentice's Quest, Thunder and Shadow, and Hawkwing's Journey were, they had redeeming elements. Sparkpaw is a joy when shes doing things in the Apprentice's Quest. Twigkit and Violetkit's tragic relationship is really compelling in like a meta way in Thunder and Shadow. And while that first half is god awful tedious bullshit, the second half of Hawkwing's Journey when they're actually on said journey gets really interesting, and it also had Curlypaw who is the best character.

There's... nothing like that in Darkest Night. I was bored and annoyed and miserable from start to finish. Nothing got my creative juices flowing. Nothing got me thinking about how the plot could be compelling with certain headcanons without just changing the entire thing. There is like one nice scene with Sparkpelt talking about Larksong to Alderheart and it's sandwiched in between Alder screaming at her for emasculating him and pointing out her being ooc for the sake of being a strawman, and then her getting brutalized by a dog so Alderheart can win his pride back. It's not an offensive book but it is mind numbingly boring. It's an unbearably slow read and most of it is spent meandering about.

Characters like Sparkpelt are twisted from their original portrayal for the sake of contrivances. SkyClan is miserable. Mistystar is made into an idiot for the plot to work. Things just happen without rhyme or reason. Barely anything of actual substance even happens and the things that do happen are contrived and aggravating to read about.

I know Warriors doesn't really have intentional themes, and the consistent ones are.... really, really bad. But it felt like at every turn, this book was contradicting itself, Twigpaw's arc being the biggest example. I've said it over and over, but the way this arc is trying to claim a cute found family story with Twigpaw and ThunderClan is so jarring. We're just supposed to accept that ThunderClan was good to her because... they're ThunderClan. They're The Good Ones. Every clan is awful and weird and bad compared to ThunderClan. No Matter What. Please don't talk about all the times her clanmates called her deadweight and considered kicking her out bc of her heritage if she wasn't a prophet.

And they can't even commit to "found family vs blood family" either. They hook Twigpaw up with her adoptive brother and dismiss his adoption as never having been all that important in the face of his "real" family. They dismiss and downplay Twigpaw's biological relationship with Tinycloud and her new litter for the sake of emphasizing that Twig is alone (while contrasting Violetpaw meeting Cherrytail and Hawkwing's nobody sisters). And they ship off Hawkwing and Violetpaw for most of the book so that Twigpaw can talk about how alone she feels and how it's so sad that Jayfeather isn't verbally abusing her anymore. If anyone thinks that Twigbranch has a compelling found family relationship with ThunderClan and her arc is about grappling with chosen family vs biological family, they didn't actually read the book.

And you see this with Alderheart and Sparkpelt too, sort of. They're trying to go "xenophobia is bad! Alderheart and Sparkpelt are split over their political differences!" But the book only sees Sparkpelt as bad because they've deemed xenophobia against SkyClan specifically as a bad thing. Alderheart's dismissiveness and hatred of kittypets is not only not questioned, but reinforced several times. So it's kind of weird that people paint this as like a thing where Sparkpelt is uniquely bad when Alderheart is arguably a whole lot worse, but hes not xenophobic to a clannnn. So it doesn't count I guess.

Speaking of Sparkpelt though, wow I can't blame her for wanting SkyClan gone, because I don't give a fuck about these nobodies either. They are so boring, put them back in the gorge so I don't have to keep reading about them please <3 I don't care about Leafstar or Hawkwing or any of these guys. I don't even have that much to say about them, they're just annoying and boring and I wish they'd go away forever.

Anyways, first F tier book. First book where I was just bored and miserable the whole time. I don't expect AVoS to get better from here. In fact, poll time.

If I get no, I'll just read the wiki summaries, and maybe seek out specific passages from the pdfs. Yes is for reading the whole thing.

[lazyyogi]

Hi Lazy Yogi, I've followed you for many years. but I changed accounts so it looks like I'm new. For the first time ever, I have a question.

For context, I live in Israel. You may have heard about this place on the news, we're insanely small but somehow get a lot of attention on the world stage. If you have negative feelings towards us I totally understand, we tend to be portrayed badly by mainstream media. I won't go into defending any side here because everyone is at fault. But the main background for my question is that in October, unprovoked, thousands of terrorists forced their way into our homes to murder, rape, and kill thousands of innocent men, women, and children. And kidnapped hundreds more. For months now we have been at war with these terrorists.

Now, I've casually followed Buddhist texts and ideologies for over a decade and very much relate to the spirituality. However, I'm struggling to understand or find support in Buddhism for such extreme times and sufferings. How does Buddhism look at war? What if sometimes it's necessary? How do you process that? What do you do in times of such extreme societal trauma? Where do you even begin?

Anyways, I don't expect you to have the answers, but if you do happen to have any suggestions for readings, quotes, or anything at all to help, it would be much appreciated.

Wishing for peace,

Spiritually-caffeinated

There are many different buddhist traditions and they each may say something different on these matters.

Overall, war is bad. Violence is bad. It should be avoided in all its forms, as it causes harm and spreads ignorance. That said, war is not always avoidable.

There are contexts in which you see Buddhism and the martial arts blended together. Whether we are talking about Shaolin kung fu or Buddhist samurai, the martial arts were regarded as a way to deepen our self-discipline and bring our minds and bodies into harmony. In terms of combat, there were elements of self-defense, overwhelming offensive attacks, and engaging in warfare.

It is difficult, however, to draw direct parallels from those examples to the present day. The form that warfare has taken is drastically different. From terrorists embedding themselves in civilian infrastructure to military use of drones, weapons of mass destruction, and cyberwarfare.

You ask where to begin when living in such times of extreme societal trauma. I would say you begin with yourself. Seek out the violence within your own mind and heart. Resolve to free yourself from it. And then do the work to do so. Daily meditation and mindfulness practice is a good way to start.

The vow to "Free all beings," begins with freeing them from you.

With regard to the current bloodshed around Gaza, the spread of violence has gone far beyond the battlefield. It is in the minds and attitudes of the people who identify with either side. The spread of division is the spread of ignorance.

Generally the spiritual approach to the disputes of humanity is this:

"You cannot solve a problem with the same level of thinking that created the problem."

That said, I certainly have no solutions for any of this.

I am from a Jewish family, was raised Jewish, and I've been to Israel a few times, although I do not practice Judaism. It is because of my Jewish heritage and upbringing that I was taught to be especially mindful of those who are enslaved, oppressed, discriminated against, and made victim of genocide. Because I know the stories and histories in which the Jewish people were subject to all of that.

And its for those reasons that I cannot rationalize the dramatic loss of civilian lives due to Israel's military strikes in Gaza. The numbers are staggering and the conditions are gruesome.

At the same time, Gaza's government is a literal terrorist organization that, as you've stated, conducted a raid in which thousands of Israeli civilians were raped and murdered, while several hundred were kidnapped. It is an action that would have seen intense military response by any capable nation. I don't know what Hamas expected their horrific raid to accomplish and I am surprised that I don't see more condemnation of Hamas from those who support Palestine.

It is this terrorist organization that should be eradicated and yet due to the way terrorist groups embed themselves in civilian populations, it is nearly impossible to do so without incurring substantial losses to civilians. We have seen this time and again in varying circumstances all over the world.

I pray for a safe and peaceful Gaza living alongside a safe a peaceful Israel. How do we get from here to there? I don't know. But I can tell you it won't come from more civilian deaths, more hate, and more division.

A book I have always found helpful for meeting the most challenging aspects of human life is The Places That Scare You by Pema Chodron. Give it a read; I hope it helps you, my friend.

May all beings be free.

LY

[mymistakewriting]

Howard 'Chimney' Han headcanons & thoughts

Let me start this post out with a heads up because I'm sure something I say here is going to upset someone. I've seen how divided some of this fandom is on Chimney. NOTHING I SAY HERE SHOULD BE TAKEN AS ME BASHING A CHARACTER. I have several opinions on Chimney. My opinions and feelings on Chimney are VERY complicated and I'll do my best to explain them all.

And now, let me begin with the question posed to me by @happilylovingchaos

Heritage: Because he lost his mother so young and he stayed in the United States instead of returning with his father back to South Korea after her passing, his exposure to his heritage was limited (and rather tainted) despite another family taking him in. Because of this, I'm very sure his feelings towards his heritage is complicated - he's proud of where he comes from, he'll happily answer questions or discuss it if people want to hear it.

I do fully believe he intends to make sure Jee-Yun is aware of and connected with that portion of her heritage, he does still hold it close even if he doesn't feel as connected with it himself. Additionally, I think he uses the language pretty fluidly, kind of like how Eddie occasionally slips in a Spanish word, Chimney slips in a Korean word or phrase when he thinks it matches what he wants to say more. That said, I don't think it's something he uses often.

Other: For all that the show frames Chimney as the funny guy who takes nothing seriously, ESPECIALLY when paired against Hen, I don't think he is. He's not the comic relief, he's not the guy that's always joking around. And I see that misconception a lot in the fandom as well. He definitely uses humor as a coping mechanism, don't get me wrong, but he's usually the one balancing Hen's more wild ideas. He acts as her balance - her savior complex versus his need to stay well within the bounds he's been given because he knows and has seen what can happen if he oversteps those bounds for even a moment. Better read as her savior complex versus his survivor's guilt.

He's not fit to be a full time captain. He did passably well as interim captain in the show, however he has the tendency to focus on the wrong things and he tends to freeze when he's under pressure and asked to make the calls. If he worked on that, he'd make an amazing captain. Personally, I think he should be paramedic in charge for a-shift at some point. He'd thrive in that position. However, to do so would mean he would have to take a step back from the rescue (firefighter) portion of his job to focus more on the medical side and I just can't see him doing that.

He does owe Buck an apology for punching him during the situation with Maddie. But not because it was uncalled for. Yes, he shouldn't have hit Buck because frankly, I'm half sure at the time Buck didn't know where the hell Maddie was, it was just another time that she'd up and ran away like she always did when he was little. However, in the situation? I understand why he did. He shouldn't apologize because oh he hurt Buck and Buck's everyone's favorite - he should apologize because it was a moment of high emotion and they both should have communicated better. He isn't a terrible person for reacting as a worried partner who wasn't being told the truth. It was just a shitty situation. For everyone.

This one is just fun. He's the reason Buck trained Ravi the way he did. Chimney certainly didn't give Buck an easy time during his probationary year, and Buck took that to heart. He's tough enough to handle the job because of how Chimney helped train him in his mind, so of course he paid it forward. I'm pretty sure Chimney got a laugh out of the stories when Hen told him.

Chimney handles being the partner of a domestic abuse victim beautifully. He knows that sometimes, things are going to happen that trigger a memory or reaction that don't make a whole lot of sense. The fact that he's been shown to roll with the punches and let Maddie make the calls on how fast they do something? Beautiful. I adore their relationship SOLELY for Chimney's side of it and how considerate he is of the fact that he hasn't been there, he doesn't understand everything she's been through. But he still tries to make sure she knows she's safe and loved and valued. He is exactly the kind of partner she needed after what she lived through with Doug.

[alanshee-keeper-of-realms]

In honor of Disability Awareness Month here are some Cyrus Borg headcannons of mine

He's Transgender FtM deadname Cerise is close to his current name as he wanted to honor his parents who supported him throughout his transition

His full name is Cyrus Hassan Borg and he was born on October 13th 1975

He has a prosthetic and is an ambulatory wheelchair user having been born with a severe case of spina bifida

The closest to our real life heritages that would compare to his village and family is Pakistani

My guy has legitimately been clocked in at going 10 mph in his wheelchair. It is now a goal of all employees to see if they can ever catch him going faster then this.

He's the quiet imp in the corner the one you don't assume is up for causing trouble but oh boy you ask him and he can and will leap on it

Legitimately made 16 versions of Pixal because ADHD hyperfixation wouldn't leave him alone about perfecting the program

Was accidentally inspired by a legend that came out of Birchwood Forest about Zane

All 16 of his Nindroid kids are still currently online and running around, he is a very proud dad and takes every opportunity to show them off to whoever will listen

His children give him flack for this haha

Skylor once tried to give him a meal on the house as a thank you for bringing the community back together he instead slipped $100 bill into her tip jar she still makes jokes towards him as a result to this day over it. Pixal lost it laughing when Skylar told her

The reason he did this he is very very charitable maybe a billionaire but even he is confused how he has so much money since he's donated so much back to the community through various charities

Cyrus is also he reason Kryptarian constantly has upgrades and the right equipment. The prisoners have a certain level of respect for him as a result of this.

He lives in Borg Industries publicly it is not known that there are five levels above his office these are personal Apartments but to throw people and would be kidnappers off he does own several vacation places nearby that he frequents to make it look like he lives there

He is a very sneaky mother fucker Pixal found out this the hard way when she told him no coffee and he got a co-worker to smuggle it into him

The community absolutely loves Cyrus like he gets so much fan mail and fan art from the public that they have their own designated spot and room to sort it all out

He actually does have a weapon of choice throwing daggers he picked this up after season 7

The reason Pixal is so good at dodging things being thrown is because Cyrus in his anger and fury will sometimes let loose any tool in his hands that he has

whether this be screwdrivers, one time it was his shoe, another time it was a pen. It's never really anything that can actually cause harm it's more so him just letting them know he's absolutely Furious

Which brings me to my second point it is very very hard to get him absolutely angry at you if he is throwing things at you that means you have definitely crossed the line somewhere

His wheelchairs are all custom made by himself but he is known if a worker comes to him and requests he will make their own Mobility aids or repair them

Borg Industries is a Forefront leader of workers rights there is literally a plaque on the door that reads

Borg Industries is a Safe Haven for anyone that Society deems a minority, if a worker is caught discriminating against any of these groups they will be immediately be dragged upstairs in front of the CEO, footage reviewed to make sure they are seeing what they were and you will be personally handed a pink slip and fired.

Cyrus also has made it well known that the company will not work with anybody who does not also uphold this there have been many companies made bankrupt by borg Industries stepping out after they were caught discriminating or cheating people out of their well-earned income.

Although it doesn't appear so the stairs outside actually on one side collapse in on themselves and a elevator switches into place lifting the person up to the level of the doors

Cyrus and Pixal visit Children's Hospitals around Ninjago at random, they will also randomly pop into universities and teach a class on Nindroid technology Pixal showing her tech. Zane occasionally joins as well,

[nebulabasket]

It's Indigenous People's Day, y'all! This is going to be a long post.

We have the privilege of being bodily white. Definitely take more from the Scandinavian and British parts than the Indigenous part on that front. And, unfortunately, we weren't really raised near the rest of the tribe. Even then, we were still raised by a line of proud Choctaw and instilled with their values. Still some of my my fondest memories with my nana, who passed 3 years ago as of last week, are of her proudly showing us the culture and art of out tribe and telling us stories of her experiences with her family and fellow Choctaw.

What's always irritating is that, beyond no one believing that we're Choctaw, so many people don't even believe that the Choctaw tribe exists at all. We've constantly been accused of making it all up to seem special or something. We were even called racist and insensitive over claiming to be Choctaw. The majority of attempts made to open up about our heritage were immediately shut down. And the issue of people not believing that Choctaw exist at all has been issue since as least as far back as 4 generations. It's beyond irritating. We are most certainly real.

We've always wanted to visit the Choctaw Nation and participate in cultural practices first-hand, but we've never had the opportunity to, and, quite frankly, it's not a very safe place to travel to as an openly nonbinary indigenous person at the moment due to the state surrounding it. There's been a lot of violence towards both trans and indigenous people even in our home state and a severe lack of justice. It's extremely saddening.

We thought it would be interesting to share a little bit about the Choctaw Nation, I suppose to bring a little more awareness to our existence. Like, did you know that only 16 years after the Choctaw began their journey down the trail of tears, Choctaw people made donations equivalent to thousands of dollars in today's money to aid Irish people during the Irish Potato Famine? Even today, relations are still strong between the Choctaw Nation and Ireland, and, in 2020, the Irish paid it forward by aiding the Indigenous tribes who were hit hardest by covid. And here's a cool necklace my great grandpa gifted to my mom:

I wish I knew more about this necklace, but Choctaw people do a lot of beautiful beadwork. I've always wanted to find a way to incorporate it into my usual clothing. I wish I had better memory so I could tell you more at the moment or that my nana were still around to share her stories, but this is at least something. We deserve to be recognized.

Anyway, Columbus sucks butt and Happy Indigenous People's Day!