#and there's ALSO a version of him that is Not like that which speaks a lot to it being specifically a Thing That Happened

[meanbossart]

Based on the latest art/the famous graveyard scene, or at least my version of it. CW: The usual durge-isms. Astarion's sense of humor.

The graveyard is appropriately silent - there isn’t a proverbial soul to be seen as you stroll through the headstones with lazy strides. You’re so often in a rush to get from one place to the next, how novel it is to meander.

You wonder if either of your souls could tick up the counter; Astarion, a corpse-walking, and yourself something else entirely.

His head, battered and bruised as the rest of your bodies scans through the names etched on their respective places of rest, uncharacteristically quiet ever since you left the Inn. You’re worried. It’s been a dreadful day, and now he’s brought you here - you speak. “Are we defacing any graves tonight?”

Astarion humors you with a stiff grin - no, he says, then he changes it to a maybe, and then he asks you to be patient. His eyes land on a simple stone, half-sunken into the dry ground and overtaken by weeds and vines - a small thing forgotten amidst drunkards and urchins in a dark corner of the dead’s park. He sighs, pushes up his sleeves and snaps the foliage away with his own hands, dusts off the shallow writing and rubs the grime off on his knees - standing back a few feet to look over at his handwork. You squint to read his full name off the rock.

“Ancunin?”

 “Astarion Ancunin.” He scoffs. “I haven’t seen this in… Well, in centuries. I was beginning to wonder if I had an em somewhere in there.”

His amusement dies down.

“I had to punch a hole in the coffin and claw my way through six feet of dirt.

“He must’ve had someone come and smooth out the ground- Cazador, I mean. He was waiting for me here, when I finally surfaced.”

The vampire's eyes have risen from his name. He looks past the rows of gravestones and into the brick walls that surround them, sight glazed over, face drained from feeling. His words, so victorious in choice, just bear a numb uncertainty. He is so tired. “From that day on I was his. Until now.”

You shake your head. “You were never his. Everything he had, he took by force.”

“Maybe. But he did take it. And I can’t get it back.” Astarion shoots you an assertive scowl. “There’s nothing left of the person I was anymore. Just a name on a rock. I need to figure out who I am now - and what I want.”

You struggle to reach out to him. For the thing which he mourns. His words, when they echo within your own, perforated skull, sound to you like a statement of freedom, a relief; you’ve also left behind the person you were, and there is nothing there worth lamenting.

Astarion is different. As vague as his recollection of the past may be, or as favorably as you believe things have turned out for the both of you, eventually - you can’t help but feel like he would still trade it for a do-over. You don’t have it in you to ask if he would be willing to do it even if it meant your absence.

You know the answer.

You try to make your peace with it.

This person that your lover longs for, you didn’t know them, and you didn’t love them. But you do now; and so, you find yourself wanting for nothing.

“What is it that you want right now?”

“You.”

He’s caught in his own lack of hesitation, sullen face brought back to life by a small look of bemusement, of surprise. “I want you. Not just now, I… You were by my side through all of it - the bloodlust as well as the misery. You’ve shown yourself to be patient. And caring.” His words are staggered by chortles. “You are so sweet to me. A shock, frankly, given the most recent discoveries. I often wonder if this was always part of your nature, or just a happy consequence of your… ah”

Astarion’s finger prods uncertain around his own curly head of hair, prompting laughter to rumble up your throat. “Incident.” 

“Perhaps.” You’ve never wondered such things and you never will. “You’re beginning to sound awfully sweet yourself, mister concussion.”

He groans in response, reaching the short distance over to the throbbing bruise on the top of his forehead, next to his temple. It was a close call today, perhaps the closest yet - or you only felt the ever more desperate given what was on the line this time. “Anyway, I should probably fix this.”

You watch as Astarion crouches down in the dirt. With a small dagger he had tucked away in his waistband, he gets to work scratching irregular lines into his neglected headstone.

Astarion Ancunin

His father’s pride, his mother’s starlight, his friend’s joy.

229 NR - 268 NR.

He makes an addition below the numbers.

468 NR.

“Is that the year?”

“Yes.”

He pauses, then proceeds a little less confidently.  “... At least… I think so?”

You both exchange clueless looks before breaking into an ugly cacophony of snorts, Astarion leans with his hand on his memorial and hangs his head down in feigned exasperation, shoulders jerking. You kneel, joining him on top of his undisturbed plot. The vampire shakes his head “It doesn’t matter. I’ve been dead to the world long enough - whatever year it is now, I plan on living it. And I’m not letting anything stand in the way of that.”

He puffs his chest and breathes a lone sight - no subsequent following and no former to speak of. His body sits back onto his shins, hands fall limp on top of his thighs “Not him, not the sun, not some giant brain, and certainly not…

“Come here.”

There was less than a foot between your bodies that the elf now closed. He cups your jaw between his thumb and his pointer-finger, you feel a gentle pressure on your neck as Astarion uses you to leverage himself over - your mouths lock, you feel a scabbed-over cut on his otherwise soft bottom lip, a hard lump that splits and leaks into your gums. You turn,, grab onto him tight - hot palms on the cold nape underneath the collar of his shirt and chest against chest, a sore nose-bridge buried into his gaunt cheek. Your faces break apart and he presses his brow to yours, a passionate kiss turns into a tight embrace. 

You take a long whiff of the crook of his neck “You’ve got me in a kind of way I can’t begin to make sense of.”

Astarion’s hand becomes entangled with the hair at the back of your skull. “I love you too.”

You feel it. The desperation and the future echo of his cracking ribs, the hot, vivid flashes of your digits prying apart bone and reaching into the cavity of his heart - you can’t be close enough to him. You can never step into his skin and he can never leap down your throat. An anxious feeling sinks into your gut as you realise that there is one thing that you still want; even in your waking hours of clarity, even in crystalline sanity, even in moments like these, ones that you hold sacred and wish to shield from depravity.

He murmurs into the side of your face. “Lets have sex. Right here.”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you want me to beg?”

The playfulness in his tone is brief. He feels it in your tense shoulders and stiff back - you aren’t teasing him.

You only pull away enough so you can look at him, hands remain latched to his waist. “I’m still afraid of what I might do.”

“I understand.” He doesn’t seem disappointed, only sobered. “Well that puts a slight damper on my plans. No matter.”

“You can help yourself once you’ve tied me up for the night.”

“If I wanted to make love to a rabid mastiff I’d go find a new maniac to lord over me.”

“We could still just… Stay here a while. Together.”

You come off a little pleading. Astarion’s eyes squint when he smiles - “Yes, I… I think I’d like that.”

It’s a little clumsy, the way you sway apart and try to find your footing on the gravel, how your hands slide down each other’s elbows and then lock tightly at the fingers, refusing to let go, new amateur joints; as if men like yourselves who’ve more battles than many do in entire lifetimes couldn’t dream of standing up without the leverage - it’s ridiculous. You’re like little children bumbling to your feet, giggling, trying to catch each other staring as you dangle your locked hands over gravestones and step over rogue bouquets blown by wind.

Everything is fine, everything is well. Your future is certain as is your happily ever after - whatever it may imply. You peruse the cemetery, mocking the dead for the names their parents have given them, their uninspired eulogies and whether or not their dirt happened to smell of piss - you make up stories about the lives they lived and both the horrific or the banal circumstances in which they died. Astarion skips up the stairs to the coffin-maker’s abode, overlooking the scenery - he calls for you to come admire your kingdom, death prince. You laugh, and he laughs, and it all seems so awfully benign.

“That will be king for you soon.”

“Oh, gods - get away from me.”

He knows you aren’t serious. This world has brought you too much joy for you to end it. There hasn’t ever been a moment where you were tempted to do your fathers bidding.

But there’s been moments where you questioned what other choices you had.

Not tonight, however.

Astarion rolls his eyes and takes the hand you reach out to him with. You are yanked towards the paved terrace up the stairs, and you pull him into yourself in a lazy sway by the balustrades. “We will figure something out” You say.

“As always,” Astarion confirms with an emphatic nod of the head, but his gaze is low - he stares at your moving feet. Hand-in-hand and hand-on-hip he’s picked up on what you’re doing; “It’s - left forward, right back, close left, close right, right?”

“That is only if you’re leading.”

“Well then, I guess I’m leading.”

“Be my guest.” 

He places a hand on your waist, you put yours on his deltoid, your boots bump into each other on occasion as you both waltz over uneven stone tiles, first with careful attention until you’ve caught yourselves in a sound-less rhythm. When you raise your eyes you find your partner-in-dance staring on with a rivalling smirk.

“So, you remember how to ballroom dance, yet haven’t got a clue about your own name?”

You ask if that disappoints him, Astarion assures you to the contrary. You both rehearse a dance for an event you will never be going to, and you enjoy every second of it.

[aboutanancientenquiry]

"I come now to the next wisest of their [the Babylonians'] customs: having no use for physicians, they carry the sick into the market-place; then those who have been afflicted themselves by the same illness as the sick man's, or seen others in like case, come near and advise him about his disease and comfort him, telling him by what means they have themselves recovered from it or seen others recover. No one may pass by the sick man without speaking and asking after his sickness.'

Herodotus The Histories, I.197, as translated by A. D Godley

An eminent Assyriologist, Dr. John MacGinnis, comments on this chapter of Herodotus' Histories:

“We know nothing of the custom here recorded of laying out the sick in the market place, though Baumgarten points out that this is so in Mark vi.56, also bringing to attention the Caucasian folk tale in which a sick prince goes to the bazaar to seek (successfully) a cure after his doctors have failed him (80-81).

Our knowledge of Babylonian medicine is confined largely to the scholarly side. This comprised both magical and physical treatment (see especially Ritter, AS 16), the latter including chemical prescriptions for internal treatment, poultices and bathings, and surgery (cf CH, 215-225, and  Oppenheim, Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences XV (1960)). Wiseman (1985, 106) is surely right in refuting Oppenheim’s view that formal medicine had fallen out of the curriculum in NB [Neo-Babylonian] period (see now the indices under “medical” in Leichty’s new catalogues of the Sippar Collection in the British Museum), but it may well be that our sources do not reflect the treatment available to the common man. On the present point, we have no reason to doubt Herodotus’ statement.”

John MacGinnis "Herodotus’ Description of Babylon", Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 33, 1986 

On line source: https://www.academia.edu/10243265

Dr John MacGinnis read Near Eastern Archaeology and Assyriology (the study of cuneiform texts) at Cambridge for both his BA (Trinity College) and his PhD (Darwin College). He has worked on sites across the Middle East and South Asia. In 2000 he became a Research Fellow at the University's McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. At present MacGinnis is based at the British Museum in London as Lead Archaeologist in the Iraq Emergency Heritage Management Training Scheme, a UK-funded programme for Iraqi archaeologists.

Source: https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/ziyaret-tepe

I reproduce also immediately below the passage from Mark’s Gospel to which John MacGinnis refers in his article (Mark vi.56, as translated on https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%206%3A56&version=NIV ) :

"And wherever he [Jesus] went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed."

According to late David Asheri (D. Asheri-A. Lloyd-A. Corcella A Commentary on Herodotus I-IV, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 210), "not only therapeutic magic (ašiputu), but also medicine (asutu) flourished in Babylon. The custom described here may have arisen in impoverished rural communities under the Persian rule. A comparison with the Persians' attitude towards the sick (I 138-1,2) is implicit."

I add that the truth is that Herodotus' interest in Babylonia cannot be compared with his interest in Egypt or Scythia and, moreover, he does not claim unambiguously that he had visited Babylon. A journey by him there looks to me rather improbable, as Babylonia was too deep in the Persian Empire and there was not in the 5th century Babylon any important Greek community on which he could rely for hospitality and support. Most probably his sources on Babylon were Greeks who had worked for the Persians, Persians who had contacts with the Greeks, and perhaps Babylonians who had left for the one or the other reason their country. If, despite all obstacles, he did visit Babylon, his sojourn there must have been short and serious contacts with the Babylonian intellectual elites must be excluded. But Herodotus praises a lot (and perhaps excessively) the Egyptian medicine and, therefore, one should exclude any intention from his part to belittle the medical achievements of an important non-Greek people like the Babylonians; it seems that he was genuinely unaware of the Babylonian medical-magical tradition as practiced by professionals.

On the other hand, the period of the Persian domination of Babylonia is one with many uncertainties, but I think that scholars agree that the picture which emerges for it from the available sources is rather bleak, with important difficulties for the Babylonian population living under the Persians, especially in the period after Xerxes' repression of the Babylonian revolt in the beginning of his reign: therefore, it is not implausible to think that impoverished common people could not have access to professional physicians and had recourse to makeshift efforts of cure, as the one described by Herodotus. And what Mark records some centuries later in the Roman-dominated Judea may reflect a more general practice of the poorer strata of the population in Middle Eastern societies of the Antiquity. So, I think that we should accept, as MacGinnis and Asheri suggest, that what Herodotus writes on this particular topic may very well preserve a practice of popular medicine in the Babylonia of his time.

It is also evident that Herodotus, although elsewhere critical of some Babylonian customs, praises here the humanity of the Babylonians toward sick people, their sense of solidarity, but also their practical wisdom.

reading about how herodotus thought it was awesome that the babylonians had no doctors (patently false) and that instead they brought their sick out into the streets for whoever walked by to diagnose and there's a lot i could say about that from an academic perspective but all i can think of is

[slytherweasel]

MC is still MC! There is no ‘original’

Spoilers most likely

Let me start that saying that this is my opinion based on the game and my personal knowledge and understanding of general science fiction logic and the game itself.

The Love and Deepspace timeline is very complicated and confusing. I will fully admit that I don’t even fully understand it, but based on my understanding MC is always MC. She is the same MC no matter what. What differs in the timelines are the love interests. Past lives are not necessarily a different person. So you have a Rafayel timeline, Xavier timeline, Zayne timeline, Sylus timeline, Caleb timeline

Rafayel’s and Xavier’s timelines fairly up front with them being the same.

Rafayel- a Lumerian, the Sea God, 800+ years old (as long as I’m understanding his timeline correctly), and he’s found MC throughout her many lives. I do not have his limited myth pair but from my understanding that was their first meeting. MC does not retain these memories when she essentially reincarnates as herself, but Rafayel stays bond to her, she is still his “devout follower.”

Xavier- my most basic understanding of it is the MC of the future was being used as the life source of the planet and Xavier (rightfully so) was not happy about that and wanted to save her, so he left her (wrongful so), but he came back and she died in his arms. I would also like to add while I think Xavier’s timeline is pretty up front about who he is, the actual events of his timeline hurt my brain to comprehend. Being as this is a very far ahead in the future MC she would have no memories of Xavier anyway. The lack of memories is what makes her seem different (especially to Xavier, at least at first).

Zayne- He also has no memories of his past lives, but Zayne is still Zayne. He is still cursed by Astra to suffer and die for loving MC instead of killing her. If Zayne was a different Zayne why would he still be cursed by Astra? I do need to reread his Dawnbreaker stuff but it seems to be a future Zayne and he is remembering a past version of himself (Dr. Zayne) that has MC (I assume MC has already died in this future). And present time Zayne is having dreams of future Zayne. I do hope they’ll properly explain the connect these Zaynes are having with each other. I am guessing there is a sort of rift or something due to future Zayne not having an MC to love/kill. I believe that is what Astra wants, he feels Zayne betrayed him the first time just for loving her, so he will continue to torture him until he does give in and kill her. Same timeline, same people, different lives.

Sylus- We are out a good chuck of info compared to the OG 3 but we do have his limited myth which helps. My understanding is his limited myth is the first time MC meets him. MC then curses Sylus after he dies to always live by her side until she says otherwise. Sylus is born again and finds present time MC only to realize that she has no memories of their past together, but it is still their past. He still loves her because she is still his MC, she is still the girl he fell in love with. You can also draw many characteristics and habits Sylus carries over from when he was a dragon with horns (because he is still a dragon at heart). He still doesn’t understand music and is tone deaf but he loves it because of MC, he is still a treasure hoarder and loves buying MC things, and he is still a creature of the dark just more figurative speaking.

Caleb- He was just released and only has a present time myth at the moment, so I don’t have much for him yet. But we can infer he watched MC die multiply times, that he is all too aware of how she loses her memories after dying. I assume the controlled environment of the lab is what controlled where and possibly how old MC would be when reborn. She was still the same MC, just without the memories.

The overall of this is that guys fall for who MC is, not what she looked like. The fundamentals of who MC is never changed when she died, she always remained the woman they love. There is no reason for these ‘would he leave present MC for the one he first met’ videos. That is just not how timelines work. The myths are not AUs, they are past, present, or future lives. Based on my understanding of science fiction, those are two very different things.

Spoilers for Catch-22 banner

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This banner takes place in an alternate universe. It very obviously states that for us, so there should be no questions about that.

I will be using Rafayel for this because 1. He’s my main and I love him lol and 2. I’ve watch his card like 4 times already.

We’ve established who Rafayel is in the original universe. He is none of those things isn’t this AU. He’s not even a painter. He’s an opera singer who got bite by a Praedator (basically a werewolf). They also do not have that Lumerian bond but they do give you a parallel for it. He gets that chip implanted in him that allows only MC to essentially control him. This is a different Rafayel and a different MC, while you can draw parallels that match the original universe they are different people, different timeline, completely different universe. Xavier’s also has a similar and obvious parallel with the plant Philos (original universe) and organization Philos (Alt universe) and him being the Prince/Heir.

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This rant is basically due to all the sad photos with the frame background and the posts I’ve been seeing talking about the guys leaving present MC for the MC of the past or future. I just don’t agree and feels like is causing unnecessary heartbreak. That’s not my understanding of how the LaDs timelines works.

[kmfdmvrc]

Colt infodump, random facts n stuff.

Trigger/Content Warnings: Shootings, suicide, self-harm, child neglect/abuse, homophobia, and antisemitism

-The gun used at Appalache was a SIG Sauer M400 rifle with a red laser sight. It was obtained from a shop called Mike’s Gun Room on November 17th, 2023.

-Colt planned to wear a hat and a vest during the shooting, similar to Adam, but did not.

-Colt was called nicknames by his family; his mom called him ‘Coltie’, his dad called him ‘Bubba’. He called his grandma ‘Mamoo’.

-Colt did plan to kill himself after killing 21-26 people.

-Colts siblings names are Coley and Jenni. Jenni is a year younger than him and enrolled in a middle school that went into lockdown during the shooting. You can see baby announcement photos for Coley in my archive.

-Colt often asked his grandmother if she thought he mom would ever kill him. She threated to before and often ignored Colt when talking about her children, referring to them as “her 2 babies”. She only had custody of Coley and Jenni.

-I rarely see it mentioned, but Colt wasn’t solely transphobic. He also sent antisemetic messages and was encouraged by a user to shoot up a synagogue instead. His originial reasoning for the shooting was to target “lgbtq” people.

-Colt put on a pair of yellow plastic gloves before taking out his gun. They may be in the video from after the attack but its too pixelated to tell.

-Employees at Appalache had wireless panic buttons in their ID badges. Multiple were pressed during the shooting.

-In addition, there were so many 911 calls made during the shooting that they began going to an automated voice message saying they were overwhelmed with calls.

-Colt started resisting arrest only after he was handcuffed. One of the officers, Boyd, said he started panicking and swearing.

-Colin admitted he knew Colt was cutting himself during his hearing. There were “injuries” on his left arm observed on the day of the shooting consistent with self harm. There was a photo taken of them but it has not been released.

-In a short recording from the shooting you can hear the officers yell at him to get on his stomach and “Stop fucking moving”. You can not hear Colt speak during it because students are whispering too loud.

-Colt attended school for 11 days before the shooting. He enrolled on August 14th and missed 9 days before the 4th of September.

-Colt had a guitar he kept next to his rifle in his bedroom.

His Belongings:

-The posters seen on his walls are of a gaming YouTuber and streamer Dellor and Korn member Brian Welch.

-The gray camo bucket hat he’s seen wearing is by the brand ‘Mission’. They no longer sell them but you can find them on Ebay brand new.

-His mouse is a Razer DeathAdder, though I can’t pinpoint which version. His monitor looks like an Acer SH242Y. I lost my mind trying to find his keyboard so don’t do it to yourself.

-His jacket in the hunting video seems to be this jacket by Mossy Oak. I couldn’t find his hat.

Most sources on this are Washington Post and CBS News. They covered it in detail. Other sources are the court hearing and other articles I found.

[toastedclownery]

The cats as Tecuciztecatl and Nanahuatzin

Now, there are different versions for the role of the fifth sun. There are two characters who are attributed this, Huitzilopochtli and Tonatiuh. But technically there is a third, counting Nanahuatzin.

This is because technically Nanahuatzin and Tonatiuh are the same person. Nanahuatzin became the god Tonatiuh when he sacrificed himself to become the fifth sun. There are a couple of versions of this myth, but the most detailed is in Book 7 of the Florentine Codex. I unfortunately could not find a good summary of it in English so I wrote one with the elements I need. The full thing is here.

—

After the destruction of the fourth sun, the gods gathered at Teotihuacan to discuss who would be next in charge of illuminating the world.

One named Tecuciztecatl proudly volunteered.

The gods then asked again if anybody else was willing to offer themselves for the task, but nobody answered. They were all scared and gave excuses. But there was one that everybody ignored, who was covered in blisters, called Nanahuatzin. He didn’t speak*, only listened to what the other gods were saying. 

They told him “You do it, little scabby one”

He willingly accepted. “You gods have been good to me. So I will”

And then the two of them started a four day penance, while the other gods lit a sacrificial bonfire.

Everything Tecuciztecatl offered was precious. Valuable quetzal feathers, balls coated in gold, thorns of precious stones, and red coral. 

Nanahuatzin, on the other hand, all he offered were green reeds, balls of hay, and maguey thorns that he would smear with his own blood.

When the four days were over, the gods gathered in Teotihuacan once more. The sacred bonfire had been lit for the last four days. Tecuciztecatl was dressed in a feather headdress and a cloth jacket, while Nanahuatzin was dressed in a humble paper headdress and paper loincloth. The pair stood in front of the fire, ready to begin their tasks. They were supposed to leap into the flames and offer their bodies to become the sun.

The gods called Tecuciztecatl to jump into the fire first. He charged to jump in, but when he felt the intense heat of the flames, fear overtook him and he backed away. He tried once more, but he stopped in his tracks again, he wouldn’t dare jump. He tried four times in total, and four times he failed.

A rule was set that no more than four attempts were allowed, so the gods then called Nanahuatzin next. Nanahuatzin closed his eyes, gathered his courage, ran and leapt into the fire. When Tecuciztecatl saw that the other had jumped, he followed him and jumped as well.

After they both burned, the gods proceeded to sit down to wait and see from which direction the sun would appear. Some guessed it would come from the north, others opted for the south. Finally, the ones who guessed east would be right.

Two suns rose into the sky in the same order that the two gods entered the flames. But both shone with the same intensity. The rest of the gods considered that it was unbearable. So one of them went and hit Tecuciztecatl’s face with a rabbit. It darkened his face and dimmed down his light. He became the moon. This was the explanation on why there is a figure of a rabbit visible on the moon.

—

Tecuciztecatl (or Tecciztecatl), “Lord of the Conch Shell” is the god of the moon and the night sky. He’s considered proud and arrogant, and as we can see from the myth above, he doesn’t keep his promises and he’s a bit of a coward. So far we can check all of these boxes for Scratch

Tecciztecatl is also wealthy, and whereas Scratch isn’t, he likes to act like he is. He likes to have expensive things (or act like he does), especially to show them off to other people and brag about how better off he is

Nanahuatzin, “Full of sores”, is a humble, sickly god that became the fifth and current sun. From the myth above, we know that he is quiet and doesn’t get noticed often. Scritch does have his moments where he's visibly sassy or annoyed with Scratch (he is his older brother after all), but it's really the fact that they're paired together and they have very contrasting attitudes that makes me think of them.

*As for the part where it says that Nanahuatzin “doesn’t speak”, he does. He has a line of dialogue right after this, he’s not incapable of speaking like Scritch is. He just wasn’t speaking at that very moment. But just in case I decided to look up how it is phrased in the Florentine Codex, the original text. And in the Spanish column, that’s what it says

I have the suspicion that they might have taken this little piece of the text and decided to make it literal, so they made him mute

We can also see that Scritch is a quiet character, and not just because he’s mute. We have another character that doesn’t speak, Kara, and she has a very different personality than him. He usually doesn’t try to get others’ attention, and when he’s calling Beebs in ep3, he’s polite about it

Additionally, just like Nanahuatzin was sickly and wasn’t fit for the job of being the Sun but did it anyway, Scritch isn’t capable of doing much with the Agari situation (he’s just a little guy…) but he tries his best to help… Unlike Scratch

The myth of Tecciztecatl and Nanahuatzin in the Florentine Codex is one where the characters’ personalities are the most clear and distinct, in comparison to other legends. That’s why despite not having a lot of obvious iconography to them, they can still be identifiable with their personalities

—

As for iconography however:

Tecciztecatl means “Lord of the Conch Shell”, his iconography includes conch shells either on his head or on his back

In mesoamerica, holes were made into these conch shells and they would blow on them, using them as musical instruments, like trumpets. And I’m not just calling them trumpets, if you look them up (aztec conch shell/“tecciztli”), they are called and compared to trumpets.

And look!!

Nanahuatzin has a cross on his headdress in Codex Borgia (this is like one of the only representations of him). Scritch is the one to give Beebs his crossed patch, and it's the same color as his spacesuit

I have also considered the hand marking on his mouth could be the white marks on the sides of his face, and his crippled hands could have been moved to his folded ears

Tecciztecatl was thrown a rabbit at his face, and the imprint of the rabbit was forever stuck on it. Now I know this is crazy but hear me out

Also, as the god of the night sky, Scratch is a black cat. The Aztecs illustrated the Sun with the color red and Scritch as an orange cat is the closest natural color to that.

Finally, the two gods had to sacrifice themselves by jumping into a bonfire

And the cat's ship is on fire at the start of ep3

List

[jesncin]

Some inspiration for this comic and Hellblazer homework:

Noah repeats the "any hand will do." line from the Hellblazer Fear Machine arc. I thought it would be so fitting if Noah didn't even realize he was emulating his dad's kindness too. After all, Noah holding someone's hand to comfort them did happen in canon.

Astra Logue, the girl John damned to Hell when messing with demons he shouldn't have, ended up losing her arm in the Newcastle Incident. In the Critical Mass arc, John manages to free her and several other children's souls from Hell. Some versions of Johnstantine don't include this arc so that John's guilt over Astra is a constant in his life.

Either way, we purposefully left it ambiguous whether John and Astra are in Heaven, Hell, or something in between. What matters was allegorizing that forgiveness. We also didn't want Astra's arm to be "cured"- instead fully committing to her being an amputee. It didn't feel right to imply that she's an amputee in Hell but she gets her arm back in Heaven- especially when we're responding to the ableist ending of Dead In America. The disabled children John wronged forgiving him because "they're cured now" felt thematically hollow and ableist.

So!! I wanted this send off to feel as Mike Flanagan-core as possible. Which meant we needed a MONOLOGUE

John's speech is inspired by the poem "Good Bones" by Maggie Smith. I took the "realtor" angle and reframed it to fit John's silver tongue conman character. So it morphed to being about protecting kids from how cruel we know the world to be.

Speaking of over-protecting-! Yeah that's right, we are pulling an Uno reverse on that canon "curing Noah" ending. While I get that it wasn't directly John who "cured" Noah (it was Clarice), I tried to keep some essence of it by reframing it as John being so protective of Noah that he thinks he can change who his son is for the "better". But then John recognizes how ableist he's being to who Noah is.

In canon, from Hellblazer 2019 to Dead in America, Noah's disability is treated as an inconvenience to overcome. Noah's disability is the unintended result of John's magical shenanigans, so curing it is part of John's redemption. Instead we have it so that John's growth ends with leaving Noah the way he is. I even made a nod to the "Making things easier? Simpler? Why not?" line from canon but reframed it as a flaw on John's part.

For those not in the know, Noah's situation is that he lost his voice as a very young boy when his mom was attacked by a demonic entity. His mom has been in a coma ever since, and Noah steadfastly visits her "at least twice a week". Noah lived most of his life having to both hope but grieve his only parent for so long. This made it feel all the more fitting that he should be the one to send off John at the end. He's used to sitting by his mom, ready to say goodbye any day now.

Like John, Noah's placement in our story is ambiguous too. Afterwards Noah's left to his own devices, he wants to make it back home, and he's still a very vulnerable kid at the end of the day. Not everything is wrapped up neatly, and I don't think it should be. John's prepared him as best as he can, intentionally or not. It's all a part of letting go and being worried for their safety regardless.

[spoilers for Midnight Mass]

To bring the Flanagan vibes together, we pulled from Riley's death scene in Midnight Mass. Riley is so John-coded that I swear there's a hidden perfect John Constantine movie somewhere inside this series. Riley spends the whole series haunted by the young woman he accidentally killed in a drunken car accident. But when he meets his end, the young woman is there to welcome him sweetly. It's SO INTENSE haha. I've had a Johnstantine death scene saved in my pocket ever since, so I refitted it for Dead in America. We made Noah and Astra parallels of each other.

Despite being called "Dead in America" to hype up the death of its hero, John's send off never landed for me. I get that cape comic characters never truly stay dead, (especially when they make tons of money for the company) but I was hoping for an ending that at least felt emotionally final and convincing. Something that brought everything about John Constantine full circle. In canon, it's a bunch of events that accumulate into a larger event where John just happens to get the short end of the stick and rot away. He's sent off into the ocean by Swamp Thing, his new friend that he barely got to know (Nat), and his son he barely connected with (Noah) are just there.

This is me trying to visually express "Forgiveness is warm. Like a tear on a cheek" from Nell's speech in Flanagan's Haunting of Hill House. I didn't want it to have words. I Uno-reversed Flanagan's obsession with monologues you see.

Dead In America acts self aware about how anti-climatic and unsatisfying it is, but that doesn't magically make it good- y'know what I mean? I wanted an ending that actually said something about parenthood, being buried by your children, worrying if you prepared them enough to survive, worrying that they've emulated the worst parts of you, or that you've become the worst parts of your own parents. Something that called back to John's origin story as a guy who messed up and screwed over the life of an innocent kid. Dealing with having his own kid should be this ending piece to that tragedy. So here's what it looks like if Dead in America bothered.

A Father's Farewell: The End Of The Road.

Our take on Hellblazer: Dead In America's ending, focusing in on John's relationship with Noah, legacy, and parenthood.

[bikefuckersoftheworldunite]

«Pironi seeks victory to dedicate to Villeneuve»

[Notes: I used image to text converter to convert the scans to text but since the issue is from 1982 i had to clean up the text by adding the missing letters and stuff like that manually. so, there might be some mistakes. I also don’t speak Italian so this is google translated, but I attached the text version in Italian under the cut. The article is from La Stampa Sera; date: 12/06/1982; link to the original issue scans in source]

MONTREAL — Yesterday afternoon, during a moving ceremony, the Notre Dame Island circuit was officially named after Gilles Villeneuve. It was the mayor of Montreal himself, Jean Drapeau, who presented the official resolution of the municipality that renamed the track in memory of the late driver. The ceremony was attended by almost all the drivers and also by a large crowd that applauded the decision of Canadian politicians for a long time.

It is in this atmosphere that tomorrow, in memory of Villeneuve, the drivers will battle to the limit of their possibilities for the eighth round of the F.1 world championship. Yesterday the official tests were disturbed by the rain but there were still some indications of what could happen during the test.

And it is Didier Pironi himself who promises a fiery attack in tomorrow's race. "If the weather conditions allow it, that is, if it doesn't rain," says the Frenchman, "I won't do a race like the one in Detroit, on the defensive. I hope the tires work well and that I can make the most of the Ferrari's power. It would be the greatest joy of my life to get a victory on this circuit. It goes without saying: I would dedicate it to my late teammate. We argued, it's true, but that didn't mean I considered a friendship that had lasted a long time over. I'm sure Gilles would have liked to see me, him, winner, or in any case, see a Ferrari in first place. There are many pitfalls, many opponents, but I'm optimistic given how the last races have ended."

Pironi's statements are quite demanding. However, many drivers believe that the Ferrari "driver" is one of the favourites for the Canadian Grand Prix. The series of placings obtained so far, the excellent performances of the car that is growing day by day and is increasingly competitive, constitute a demonstration of quality that has never failed so far. Ferrari also has some small technical secrets with innovations that have been introduced in recent times. One of these, for a special type of cooling of the air that is expelled from the turbo, constitutes an authentic secret of the 126 C2. Many are now copying the system that evidently uses a pump that nebulises the liquid, i.e. water, in the air and allows it to be cooled and obtain significantly lower temperatures for the engine. In this way, the turbo engine prepared in Maranello almost never breaks down and offers very high level performance.

The Ferrari driver's main rivals should be Prost and Arnoux, Patrese with Brabham, Lauda and Watson with McLaren and, obviously, the Alfa Romeos of De Cesaris and Giacomelli. The driver from Brescia is trying to 'fine-tune' his car which yesterday did not provide excellent performances and relegated him far back in the grid. "I also want to have a good race - said the Italian driver - because I'm tired of hearing only accusations against me. If I'm not given a fine-tuned car, what can I do? It's just a matter of finding a balanced solution in the preparation of the car and then I'll show that I'm always a top-place man".

A race, therefore, that looks very heated. There are many contenders for victory and it must not be forgotten that the points up for grabs will also be decisive for the world standings. This year, as in the past, the standings will be drawn up on the basis of 11 results, that is, half of the scheduled races in the World Championship plus three. When this limit is reached, the discards will begin and then the best placings will be good. However, no one has yet reached an acceptable quota (Pironi has the highest number of placings in percentage with 4 results, among the first six in seven races disputed) while Watson is still the leader of the world standings. Even the Irishman, quietly, has begun to raise some hopes. But yesterday he was clearly inferior to his teammate Niki Lauda.

MONTREAL — Ieri pomeriggio, nel corso di una cerimonia commovente, il circuito dell'isola di Notre Dame è stato ufficialmente intitolato a Giles Villeneuve. E’ stato lo stesso sindaco di Montreal, Jean Drapeau a presentare la risoluzione ufficiale della municipalità che ha ribattezzato la pista in memoria al pilota scomparso. Alla cerimonia hanno preso parte quasi tutti i piloti e anche una numerosa folla che ha applaudito a lungo la decisione dei politici canadesi.

E' in questa atmosfera che domani, nel ricordo di Villeneute, i piloti si daranno battaglia al limite delle loro possibilità per l'ottava prova del campionato mondiale di F.1 Ieri le prove ufficiali sono state disturbate dalla pioggia ma si sono avute comunque alcune indicazioni per ciò che si potrà verificare nel corso della prova.

Oggi si tenterà di cambiare le posizioni anche perché se il tempo rimarrà bello tutti potranno scendere sotto i tempi ottenuti ieri. Molto attesa alla prova è la Renault turbo che su un tracciato da oltre 180 km all'ora non avrà difficoltà a mettere in fila le macchine ‘avversarie. La pole position è contestata sia dall'Alfa Romeo, che ieri è stata la vettura più rapida con Andrea De Cesaris, che dalla Ferrari ieri terza nella graduatoria finale.

Ed è lo stesso Didier Pironi a promettere un attacco focoso nella gara di domani. «Se le condizioni meteorologiche lo consentiranno, cioè se non pioverà — afferma il francese — non farò una corsa come quella di Detroit, in difesa. Mi auguro che le gomme vadano bene e che io possa sfruttare al massimo la potenza della Ferrari. Sarebbe la più grande gioia della mia vita ottenere una vittoria su questo circuito. Non c'è neppure da dirlo: la dedicherei al mio compagno scomparso. Abbiamo litigato, è vero, ma non per questo avevo considerato chiusa un'amicizia che durava da tanto tempo. Sono sicuro che Gilles avrebbe voluto vedermi, lui, vincitore, o comunque, vedere una Ferrari al primo posto. Le insidie sono molte, gli avversari tanti, ma sono ottimista visto come sono finite le ultime gare».

Le dichiarazioni di Pironi sono abbastanza impegnative. Tuttavia sono molti i piloti a credere che il «driver» della Ferrari sia no dei favoriti del Gran Premio del Canada. La serie di piazzamenti ottenuti sinora, le ottime pertormances della macchina che cresce di giorno in giorno ed è :sempre più competitiva, costitui scono una dimostrazione di qualità che sinora non è mai venuta meno. La Ferrari ha anche qualche piccolo segreto tecnico con delle innovazioni che sono state apportate negli ultimi tempi. Uno di questi, per uno speciale tipo di rof‘freddemento dell'aria che viene espulsa dal turbo, costituisce un autentico segreto della 126 C2. Sono in molti ora a co‘piare il sistema che si avvale evidentemente di una pompa che nebulizza il liquido, cioè l'acqua, nell'aria e consente di raffreddare la stessa e ottenere delle temperature nettamente inferiori per il motore. In questo modo il propulsore turbo preparato a Maranello non si rompe quasi più ed offre presatazioni di altissimo livello.

I maggiori rivali per il pilota della Ferrari dovrebbero essere Prost e Arnoux, Patrese con la Brabham, Lauda e Watson con le McLaren e, ovviamente, le Alfa Romeo di De Cesaris e Giacomelli. Il pilota bresciano sta tentando di ‘mettere a punto la sua vettura che ieri non ha fornito delle ottime performances e lo ha relegato molto indietro nello schieramento. «Voglio fare anch'io una buona corsa — ha dichiarato il pilota italiano — perché sono stufo di sentire soltanto accuse nei miei confronti. Se non mi sì dà una macchina a punto, come posso fare? Si tratta soltanto di trovare una soluzione equilbrata nella preparazione della vettura e poi dimostrerò che sono sempre un uomo da primi posti».

Una gara, dunque, che si presenta accesissima. Sono molti i pretendenti alla vittoria e non bisogna dimenticare che i punti in palio saranno determinanti anche per la classifica mondiale. Quest'anno, come già nel passato, la classifica sarà stilata sulla base di 11 risultati, cioè la metà delle prove in programma nel Campionato mondiale più tre. Quando sarà raggiunto tale limite cominceranno gli scarti ed allora saranno buoni i piazzamenti migliori. Nessuno comunque ha raggiunto ancora una quota accettabile (è Pironi ad avere il maggior numero di piazzamenti in per‘centuale con 4 risultati, fra i primi sei in sette corse disputate) mentre Watson è sempre il leader della classifica iridata. Anche l'irlandese, quatto quatto, ha cominciato ad alimentare qualche speranza. Ma ieri è stato nettamente inferiore al compagno di squadra Niki Lauda.

[soullessjack]

i think another really interesting angle of tfw2.0’s dynamic is how the original 3 handle things like regret or selfishness being directly opposed, or even juxtaposed, by how jack handles them as someone experiencing those things for the first time. there’s a MASSIVE generational divide between them (even more massive by Cas’ standards) and that divide basically lays the groundwork for A) how they approach parenting jack, and B), how jack mirrors their different aspects or arcs that they previously had

like. post-S12, dean and sam and cas are all relatively at ease with their pasts and mistakes. not to say they don’t still feel guilt or hold the burden of their actions anymore, bc they Do—they explicitly say so and relay that to comfort jack over his own guilt—but they’re also well past jaded by now. they’re ready to accept what they can’t change, move on, and commit to being better. then in S13, enter: jack, a Completely New Person who doesn’t understand the world, is experiencing literally everything for the first time, and doesn’t know how to even handle feeling strong emotions or experiencing traumatic events—much less how to cope with them. and to boot, he’s the son of Lucifer and has a bit of a complex about doing even slightly bad things.

i don’t remember what post this was on or if it’s even from this blog, but it was effectively about the same thing, with just a little more mention on how sam and dean are (loosely speaking) normal humans with normal stages in development and being in the world and all that. Castiel isn’t a human, so his development was nonlinear and primarily around unlearning his celestial fundamentalism and learning how to be a human being (like the glass animals album) especially in regards to human empathy and emotions. emotions that later bring on other human things like doubt, guilt, and love. also, sam and dean and cas have had unique arcs dealing with some “inner evil” variation that motivated them differently and you get the idea —but i say this bc 1) it’s relevant , 2) to add in the human-development part specifically , 3) jack being lucifer’s direct son narratively hits even heavier* than sam and dean’s destiny as vessels or castiel’s existential deconstruction & betrayals , and also 4) to disclaim that these particular things mean jack is baby-coded or whatever bc Cas had the same arc.

*heavier in the sense that they weren’t permanent biological factors more so than outside influences and alterations and not in any sense of diminishment of what they went through or what it meant at the time YOU GET THE IDEA

you see it the most in tombstone after jack has a “Baby’s” First Murder moment and can’t get over it no matter how much the guys try to console him. he’s worried about the security guard’s potential family, of the loss he just burdened them with and (in an older script version anyways) he’s also frustrated that he can’t control himself. in other words, jack can’t accept what he couldn’t change. he’s canonically very stubborn (I forget which episode/script but at some point dean mentions something like “you know how he is when he gets ideas in his head”) especially when it comes to his own plans/goals, and he also essentially feels like being a good person + living up to Kelly’s envisioning of him + being better than his father is his personal responsibility slash burden to bear specifically because he is Lucifer’s son. which unfortunately also means that any time he fucks up he will either run away from it or lock himself in his room for weeks on end trying not to feel like he’s fulfilling a dark patrimonial prophecy.

dean is the first person to be upfront with jack about the situation (no shade to sam or cas tho). when jack says ‘you’re afraid of me,’ dean responds that it isn’t jack The Person they’re afraid of, but the harm his powers could and already did do to others. ie, jack isn’t evil just because he’s dangerous and those things don’t necessarily have the same meaning. furthermore, what sam and cas told jack in the car— they’ve all done bad things, they’re all guilty and just have to deal with it, but they can be better (which he doesn’t realize because he was born two months ago and has no concept of complex morality) — is reaffirmed by dean saying that if jack has to be a monster for 1 accidental kill, then so do the rest of them for everything on their hands. and, going unsaid but still very important, We Can Be Better Together.

now, the writing with jack isn’t always perfect.. sometimes it’s extremely hard to watch, actually. happens to the best of us. but the way they set about writing a teenage boy character, who’s frankly not really written like a standard or even stereotypical Teenage Boy character, is something i personally consider to be one of their highlights. and i say all this to say, he’s not just a cardboard Millennial (chronologically incorrect but you get the idea) and the generational divide between him and sam and dean isn’t a Father I Cannot Click The Book boomer comic. if this show was about normal people and also 100% lamer it would probably roll like that tho. but naur instead we got Father I Cannot Cope With My Guilt and it fucking rocks

TLDR the perfect found family dynamic is 1 guy who’s like “ohhhh shit i did something bad and selfish and the guilt is eating me alive now im inherently evil” and 3 guys who are like “i think we’re ALL💜 a little selfish and guilt-ridden by our sins and the fear of inherent evil 🙏but we can do better 🫶”

[rajakaen]

Let me introduce my notRook Veilguard OC Verinius Sabelis Phalban. He goes by many names and is a byproduct of @jukkaricity's recent dive into Thedas and can usually be found alongside her also notRook OC Alectris Mercar. Jukkari gave him a voice, the game gave us the looks while I gave him his personality and so V has ended up as a full-fledged character over time. A & V are Blorbos by Proxy ❤️

TLDR Intro Version

Verinius is a brilliant, socially inept mage who exists in his own world of books, Minrathous fantasies and blood magic experiments. He has the talent of a prodigy and the social instincts of a brick, managing to alienate everyone around him except his cat, Andoralis, whom he insists is the only living creature worthy of his full attention.

He is utterly convinced that Minrathous represents the pinnacle of civilization, despite barely engaging with its people beyond what is strictly necessary. His mind moves too fast for most and when people fail to keep up, he either ignores them entirely or offends them without meaning to.

He has no regard for the legal or ethical concerns of magic, specializing in blood magic (purely for research, of course, tho his own blood is another matter entirely) and storm magic (which builds up when left unused for too long, resulting in frizzed hair and sparks discharging at inconvenient moments).

Alectris is the only person who comes close to truly understanding him, though her return to his life comes with a sharp reminder: she is not going to let him get away with talking to his cat more than actual people.

Background & Introduction (before the Veilguard)

To an unknowing observer, Verinius might appear to be the most Tevinter mage among Tevinter mages—at least slightly snobbish, accustomed to comfort and absolutely in love with Minrathous, or rather, the idea of the city he has cultivated in his imagination for years. The truth, however, is quite different. He comes from a small village near Marothius, deep within the Hundred Pillars, far from the empire’s beating heart. His family has owned an apple orchard for generations and while his magical talent may have elevated their status to Laetans, little has changed for them since he left for the Circle. Not that they mind—his parents and siblings take great pride in their work and are content with their peaceful life.

Veryl’s magic surfaced early—wild, untamed and far beyond what his family could hope to manage. With no other mages among them and little understanding of such power, they had few options when the inevitable summons arrived. A Tevinter child, especially one crackling with barely contained lightning, was never going to stay in a remote village. The decision was out of his parents' hands and by the time he was five, Verinius had already been sent to the Circle at Carastes. There, he trained for several years before being transferred to Minrathous at twelve, where his potential was deemed better suited to the capital. The move, however, came at a cost—Minrathous was far from home and distance meant that visits became rare, his connection to his family reduced to letters and memories.

And so Veryl spent most of his early life within the Circles, his world shaped not just by their walls but by what it meant to be a mage in Tevinter. Yet the structured pace of learning tested his patience; too slow, too rigid, never deep enough and constantly disrupted by the distractions of his peers. Carastes was more than happy to send him to Minrathous, where both his potential and his troublesome nature would become someone else’s concern. Lacking natural social graces, his background was working against him. While others fit in with ease, he often felt like he was speaking a language no one else understood—quite literally, in some cases, as his tendency to over-explain resulted in more than one awkward silence. It never stopped him from trying, much to everyone's dismay.

During his years in the Circles, few things had ever gotten under his skin, but meeting Alectris in his late teens proved to be an exception. Unfazed by his unpolished personality, she quickly became a constant thorn in his side—one he was surprised to find himself growing fond of. Eventually, a Magister recognized Verinius’ potential and claimed him as an apprentice. Verixsus brought him to his estate, pulling him into a far larger world. The rigid life of the Circle gave way to a more demanding, fluid apprenticeship, but with it came a privilege: four visits home each year instead of one. And no matter how much Minrathous holds his heart, it never truly dulled the pull of home—not that he ever spoke of it much.

Like him, Alectris left the Circle, though she chose the army instead. Over the years, their friendship became quieter; distance and duty dulling what had once been constant. He never quite stopped missing her, but life in Minrathous had a way of swallowing time and before he knew it, years had slipped away. He got along well with his master, but a mentor was no substitute for a best friend—Alec had been the only one who could truly keep up with him and he missed her. The void she left was filled by a stray cat he found on his master’s estate. Or rather, the cat found him and decided she would adopt him. From that day on, Andoralis became his ever-present shadow, named after the day she entered his life.

Eight years passed before Alectris finally left the army and returned from her deployment in Seheron. She could hardly believe what she saw. Verinius had grown utterly fixated on his cat, perhaps too much for her liking—holding entire conversations with Andoralis as if expecting her to reply and acting as if her approval was of the utmost importance. Alectris had always known he was eccentric, but this was a new level of absurd. Worse, he had begun experimenting with volatile magic and had become adept at blood magic, making no effort to hide it. His methods, however, are unusual. While others wield blood without hesitation, he could never quite bear the sight of his own. If asked, he’d simply say fresh blood gives him headaches. Instead, he collects samples with eerie calm, studying ways to preserve their potency—never considering how unnerving this might be. To him, spilt blood holds no more weight than splattered ink.

Still, his time with Magister Verixsus had done him some good—his temper had evened out, he no longer openly insulted people for their lack of magical understanding as often and he carried himself with the easy confidence of someone who had long since stopped caring whether or not people found him strange. But beneath the polish, Alectris could still see flashes of her old friend—the insufferable know-it-all, the stubborn streak a mile wide, the way he lit up when talking about something that truly fascinated him. And despite years of silence, their friendship fell back into place with ease. As if no time had passed, Alectris slipped into her old role as a constant bother and Veryl, to her great satisfaction, responded exactly as he always had—overly dramatic, easily excitable and entirely unable to get rid of her.

Veryl can most often be found surrounded by books and vials, either studying magic (the less commonly available, the better—legality is not a concern) or completing his daily tasks as a scribe and Magister’s apprentice. He has an unfortunate talent for saying precisely the wrong thing at the worst possible moment, whether through tactlessness, sheer obliviousness or a total lack of concern for social norms. His magical expertise is undeniable, specializing in practical and constructive applications of blood magic, as well as a highly destructive form of storm magic for those rare moments when force becomes necessary. He can go from zero to vaporization in less than 0.3 seconds. He's eccentric and peculiar in both his interests and his mannerisms, somehow managing to offend whoever he speaks with or embarrass himself—often at the same time. The fact that his main conversation partner is Andoralis certainly does not help his predicament.

Verinius should, by all rights, be quietly buried in books somewhere, bothering no one but his cat. Instead, thanks to Alectris and a dragon with extreme renovation ideas for Minrathous, he’s now neck-deep in the Veilguard’s chaos. Meanwhile, our poor Rook (a dwarven Warden) is left juggling world-ending threats, blighted nightmares and—because the universe clearly hates him—two more walking disasters. At this rate, Wolfram Thorne will have to save Thedas by next Tuesday or risk losing the last shreds of his sanity.

For those interested in the BG, it's a paraphrase of the codex entry art on 'Dock Town Intel: The Place Itself'. It was solely created for practice and to give V and his cat a thematically fitting bg to stand on.

[crimsonstonetranslations]

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo Short Stories - Haruka’s valentine's day

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo novel translation

Short Stories - Haruka's valentine's day

(JP-EN Translation by @cleverwolfpoetry - Editing by Zel)

( other short stories )

[Originally published in Kaminaga-sensei's official blog]

Today is Valentine's Day. So, I’m uploading a revised and summarised version of the short story ‘Haruka's Valentine's Day’, which was uploaded in parts last year.

14 Feb 2021 — Kaminaga Manabu.

-

Ozawa Haruka stopped in front of the Movie Research Circle clubroom —.

She could have just walked into the room and said ‘Hey’ as usual, but hesitation came upon her.

Not because she was bringing trouble. The paper bag Haruka was holding in her hand was the reason for her hesitation.

Today was Valentine's Day. How it came to be remained unclear, but there was said to be a mysterious custom to give chocolates to the man closest to your heart —.

Of course, there were also giri-choco[1] and tomo-choco[2], so giving chocolates had no great implications.

Since he had been helping her all this time, Haruka giving Yakumo chocolate wouldn’t have had the same connotations as a declaration of love. 

Or rather —.

It would have been so if she were to give him some store-bought chocolate.

Last night, Haruka had somehow gotten over excited and made homemade chocolates for Yakumo all by herself.

Furthermore, she even gave the chocolates an original wrapping.

This stuff  already screams ‘honmei-choco[3]’ —.

And now fear suddenly struck her. If Yakumo were to tell her, ‘How troublesome’, she wouldn’t be able to recover.

If things didn't work out, Yakumo probably wouldn't hesitate to ask, 'Why do I have to eat your homemade chocolate?’ or something along those lines.

No, there was a chance Yakumo might not even know that it was Valentine's Day.

That would still be a fine outcome, but it wasn't difficult to imagine that he’d reprimand her with words like ‘Don’t get so enthusiastic about such an event’…

In any case, nothing good would probably come of it.

It had been a lot of work, but maybe she should leave without handing it to him.

“What are you doing over there?”

As she was about to leave, a voice called out to her from behind.

“Eek!” She was so surprised that she shrieked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on —.

“Don't speak so suddenly and in such a loud voice.”

“S-sorry...”

Just like that, Yakumo walked into the Movie Research Circle clubroom. While she was considering whether to just run away, Yakumo looked back at her with a dubious look on his face.

“If you stay there, you’re going to block the passage.”

“Oh, sorry.”

Haruka replied as she entered the room.

“So, what did you come here for?”

Yakumo began as they stepped into the clubroom of the Movie Research Circle and sat across from each other.

“Ah, well, since I've come this far, I thought I'd stop by for a moment...”

Haruka replied with a wry smile.

Yakumo did not seem to be convinced and gave her a look full of suspicion.

“Is that really all?”

“Uh, yes.”

“Kind of questionable. You must’ve picked up some trouble again.”

“No-not really. There’s no trouble.”

— He’s totally suspicious.

Now that it came to this, maybe it would have been better to say right away, ‘It's Valentine's Day, so I came to give you some chocolate —’

She was strangely self-conscious about this, but it didn’t mean that there weren’t people out there making homemade giri-choco and tomo-choco.

If she had simply given him the chocolate, that would have been the end of it. But by concealing the fact, she had evoked odd suspicions upon herself.

That being said, the timing wasn’t good for her to speak.

“You're acting suspiciously. What on earth are you thinking?”

Yakumo continued to pry. He was indeed very perceptive. It had been a mistake attempting to partly deceive him in the first place. 

“Re-really, it's nothing.”

“If so, what’s that paper bag you've been holding for a while like it’s so valuable?”

Yakumo pointed to the paper bag containing the chocolates. As expected for his level of insight, though right now she hated that side of him.

—What should I do?

“Ah.”

After a bit of frantic thinking, Haruka came up with a way to deal with the situation smoothly.

“Actually, I talked to Makoto-san, and she and I decided to give Yakumo-kun some Valentine's chocolates since you’ve been a lot of help.”

By naming Makoto, she casually pointed out that it was not honmei-choco as she placed the paper bag of chocolates on the table.

— Perfect! But will this really be alright?

Such a question came to Haruka's mind.

Emphasising that it was just a giri-choco was the same as reminding Yakumo that she didn’t think anything of him.

In the first place, it might not have been a good idea to borrow Makoto’s name, who wasn’t here, without permission.

“Valentine, huh…”

Yakumo said listlessly as he took a wrapped chocolate out of the paper bag.

“Try one if you like.”

“Did you make these?”

“Um, together with Makoto-san...?’

Why did I decide to call it a collaborative work when I could have said I made it myself?

Before that, Makoto-san, I'm sorry that I took the liberty to use your name.

Yakumo opened the wrapper and was about to put his hand on the chocolate when there was the sound of a knock and the door opened. 

“Hello.”

The one who appeared was, no joke, Makoto —

“Ma-Makoto-san!”

Haruka stood up unintentionally.

What bad timing. No, Makoto did nothing wrong. In the first place, Haruka should have never said a half-lie.

“Why are you that surprised?” 

From Makoto's point of view, it made no sense, but for Haruka it was a matter of life or death.

At this rate, the lie would be exposed, and the story would become more complicated.

“Oh, that's right. Today is Valentine's Day, so I'm giving Yakumo-kun some cho…”

“Aaaah!”

Haruka let out an odd scream while flapping her hands, interrupting Makoto's words. Apparently, Makoto had brought Yakumo Valentine chocolates. If she had handed them over now, Haruka's lie would have been exposed.

Although Makoto had been interrupted, both she and Yakumo were at a loss for words over the sudden eccentric behaviour.

“N-never mind. D-don’t worry about it...”

She had run out of ideas. It was only a matter of time before Haruka's lies were uncovered. Not that she cared any longer.

“Thank you for your time and effort in making the chocolate,”

Yakumo said when the situation calmed down.

— It’s completely out.

Haruka could only hang her head.

“Chocolate? Oh, I see — ” Makoto whispered to herself, then clapped her hands loudly.

“That's right. Haruka-chan and I decided to give Yakumo-kun some chocolate. Well, it was mostly Haruka-chan who made it, though.”

Hearing Makoto's words, Haruka abruptly raised her head.

Somehow, Makoto had guessed most of what had happened so far. She smiled and winked at Haruka.

— You saved me, Makoto-san. Thank you so much.

Yakumo said something along the lines of 'Well, let's get on with it,' and started eating the chocolate.

“Does this work for you?”

Makoto said in a whisper while sitting next to Haruka.

“Y-yes.  Thank you so much.”

“In any case, I went along with the story, but you should have told the truth.”

“You-you’re right...”

Makoto was right. 

Rather than let this happen again, I'll give chocolates to Yakumo honestly next year — Haruka secretly swore in her heart.

-

Translation Notes

The notes for this translation are all terms referencing the common types of chocolates given during Valentine’s Day in Japan. This day is typically reserved for women to give chocolates to their male acquaintances, with the type of chocolate corresponding to the nature of the relationship the gifter wishes to express.

[1] Giri-choco (義理チョコ): obligation chocolate usually given to male colleagues, clients, etc. out of courtesy or obligation, implying no deeper feelings.

[2] Tomo-choco (友チョコ): chocolate given to friends, signifying platonic love. It is also more commonly exchanged between women.

[3] Honmei-choco (本命チョコ): chocolate given to a romantic partner or someone you have genuine romantic feelings for.

[superpyodan]

Alex Mullner and Tyler the Creator's Music

As I’m sure a lot of you know, for a looong while I have been playing with the idea that Alex from Stardew Valley, and Tyler the Creator’s music, have a lot of things in common! So here’s a ridiculously long analysis. I’m sorry, or, you’re welcome.

[ WC: 2,356 ]

(Please note, I am writing and analysing from the perspective that I personally have of Alex. This is going to be very biased, and I discuss the idea of alex being gay a lot, because it is a core part of my perspective of him. If that’s not your thing… Ignore me!)

Pre- Flower Boy

Let's start with the evolution of Tyler’s music as a whole, and how that matches up nicely with Alex’s character development. Tyler's discography begins very harshly, with lyrics that come across as somewhat aggressive, arrogant, and, say it with me folks — Misogynistic. The first song in his discography (on Spotify) is Yonkers, which aligns with Alex in a couple of ways. Yonkers includes misogynistic lyrics, homophobic slurs, and notably, Tyler saying that he isn’t gay. We will come back to this later, but I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this.

Anyways, the releases from Goblin to Cherry Bomb align with the player’s initial meeting with Alex. Many people complain about his misogyny and his arrogance, and while I don’t think that either of these things are points of true criticism for Alex, it’s an almost undeniable part of his personality at the start. Despite Alex’s character development, apologies and acknowledgement of his actions, it sticks with many people who play the game. Similarly, people still criticise Tyler for his past lyrics, and the ‘persona’ he was putting on during this time. I’d argue that the version of Alex that the player first meets is also just that — A persona.

Flower Boy, IGOR and Chromakopia

I’m going to focus on Flower Boy, IGOR and Chromakopia here, because these are the albums I have the most Alex associations with, and that I am personally most familiar with. This isn’t to say there aren’t relevant points to be made about CMIYGL, though!

I am also trying to keep this as concise as possible, so I am only pointing out the things that I consider to be the most relevant. There is definitely more to say about the albums / songs / lyrics!!

Flower Boy onwards is where it gets interesting (and the most important, for the points I’m trying to put across here!). Flower Boy as an album touches on themes of love, loss and loneliness, which I think are three things that Alex has struggled to grapple with throughout his life. Alex has struggled with romantic love, because of his internalised homophobia. He has struggled with loss because of his parents, and he has struggled with loneliness for various headcanoned reasons that I won’t go into now (just know that I consider him to be one of the loneliest romanceables in the game). Here I’m going to go into some specific songs and lyrics that I heavily associate with Alex.

Boredom

I have a feeling that Alex is the type of person to get fidgety and bored easily, in a very wide sense. He has this desire to succeed, to be something bigger than he is and to make a name for himself. I think that while he does like Pelican Town, there’s only so much a town like that can do for a person like Alex (somewhat speaking from experience!). It’s a kind of existential boredom that comes with having dreams bigger than the life around you. A boredom that goes deep into the bones, you know?

Garden Shed

This song touches on the idea of one’s sexuaity, and being ‘in the closet’. I personally consider Alex to be gay. If you don’t, you can ignore this, I suppose!

‘’Don’t kill a rose before it could bloom’’ — This lyric reminds me of Alex’s father. I personally think that Alex struggles greatly with his sexuality, with his relationship with his father being a huge part of the reasoning for this. But in a general sense, too, the idea of not killing a rose before it can bloom can be attributed to Alex’s childhood abuse.

‘’Them feelings that I was guardin’ / Heavy on my mind’’ — Alex’s sexuality is likely something he thinks about a lot, before he had the opportunity to come to terms with it. These thoughts and feelings are heavy on his mind, because to him, being gay isn’t something that is a possibility for him. It’s something he really struggles to accept about himself, and he tries very hard to conceal it.

‘’Truth is, since a youth kid, thought it was a phase / Thought it’d be like the phrase ‘poof’, gone’’ — This lyric in general is really interesting to me. I don’t know if it was Tyler’s intention, but in my country ‘Poof’ is a derogatory term for a gay man. Tyler talking about thinking that his (presumed?) bisexuality is a phase, immediately followed by the use of ‘poof’ creates a theme of internalised homophobia. I think that internalised homophobia is a huge struggle for Alex. I wrote into my fic that Alex definitely had crushes on guys, but was unwilling to act upon them, and would rather forget that he ever had those feelings. Ultimately, it all feels very relevant to this lyric.

911 / Mr Lonely

The first half of this song relates somewhat to a fic I’m writing, but we are going to ignore that part for now. What’s important here is the second half, Mr Lonely. I think Alex is a deeply lonely individual. There are several reasons for this: Briefly, I think he deals with feelings of ‘otherness’ due to his past, an unwillingness to get close to people for fear of them seeing his sexuality, and he also has a severe lack of a support system and adult role models. I could talk about this forever, but let's just go into the lyrics.

‘’Attention seeker, public speaker / Oh my God, that boy there is so fucking lonely’’ — Alex’s perceived arrogance! He puts on this facade of confidence as a cover for his emotional nature and his loneliness. His outward self at the beginning of the player’s relationship doesn’t truly align with who he is on the inside.

‘’I know you sick of me talkin bout cars / But what the fuck else do you want from me? / that is the only thing keeping me company’’ — Replace ‘cars’ with ‘gridball’ and the message is pretty simple. I think that Alex uses sports as somewhat of a coping mechanism, putting his all into something that he considers to be productive as a way to work through his emotions. He also doesn’t really have any friends in-game (this is a lot to explain here, but if anyone wants my explanation I can put it into a different post! I do however consider Alex and Haley to be the best friends ever in my personal headcanon), so what else does he have to do with his time but his sports?

I consider IGOR to be Alex’s favourite album, in my personal headcanon. I also think it is the most important to him as a character, in terms of analysis and relatability. I’m no Tyler the Creator expert, but as far as I’m aware, this album follows a queer ‘love story’, and I see a lot of Alex in it! This is again going to be looked at from the perspective of Alex being a gay man, as he is in my headcanon.

I truly think this album as a whole has several points that point towards Alex as a character, so much so that going through the whole thing would take absolutely forever. Please know that while this IGOR analysis isn’t as extensive as the Flower Boy one, it is by no means exhaustive — I have just chosen the most important parts. Going through it all would also be very repetitive, because the whole thing essentially points towards ‘’Alex has a hard time being gay’’ which… He does. I truly think he does.

I THINK

While this isn’t quite what the song is originally about, I think this song can be interpreted through the perspective of Alex’s frustrations with his sexuality and inability to express his romantic feelings for a man.

‘’How can I tell you?’’ repeated — He doesn’t know how to go about romance, due to his issues accepting himself as gay. To me, the repetition makes the song feel quite tense, and this repetition specifically can, again, be interpreted as Alex’s frustration, but also confusion.

EXACTLY WHAT YOU RUN FROM YOU END UP CHASING

In an effort to not sound repetitive — It’s what it says on the tin, in regards to Alex’s sexuality.

RUNNING OUT OF TIME

This song, in the context of Alex, sounds like an internal monologue, or a conversation between Alex and himself. I headcanon that Alex doesn’t come to terms with his sexuality until his early-mid 20s, and because of this, he misses out on a lot of those romantic ‘life experiences’ that he would have witnessed many of the people around him having. Perhaps he truly does feel like he’s running out of time, you know? It’s an idea that many queer people struggle with anyway, even if they are open and honest with themselves and others about their identities.

‘’Are you living in pretend?’’ / ‘’Stop lying to yourself / I know the real you’’ — Both lyrics can be interpreted as Alex talking to himself about the fact that he’s hiding, or perhaps even not acknowledging, his sexuality.

‘’I found peace drowning’’ — Could be attributed to Alex’s sexuality, or even his mental health struggles. I’m sure he has some issues regarding his mental health struggles. I’m sure he has some issues regarding his mental health due to his childhood experiences.

Chromakopia does not express the same overarching narratives that IGOR and Flower Boy do. This album does, however, express a kind of confidence that Flower Boy and IGOR don’t quite have. Relating to Alex, it seems like the later part of his character development — The version of him that is more confident, and more comfortable with his sexuality. There are some glaring highlights here that I want to talk about in regards to Alex:

St Chroma

This song expresses an almost spiteful passion and drive to succeed, which I think Alex also harbours. He has such passion and determination, and this song, I believe, is so relevant to him. It relates to what I said previously, about Alex trying to project his feelings into his passion, and turn himself into a better version of himself.

Take Your Mask Off

This song touches on a few themes. The most important in regards to Alex, however, once again relates to his sexuality. It kind of feels like Alex talking to his past self, providing him advice and comfort through his own struggles.

‘’Since a kid, you knew something was up / Had you thinking God would hate you so you covered it up’’ — I don’t particularly think Alex is religious, but here we can replace ‘God’ with a lot of things. His father, George, the athletic world, etc. The rest is fairly self-explanatory.

‘’Sick of all the shame, sick of all the pain that’s within / Scared of bein seen, tired of rebuking the sin’’ — Again, as per my previous points, I’m sure it makes sense as to why I would bring this up. I just don’t want to repeat myself.

‘’You don’t have to put on no costume’’ / ‘’I hope you find yourself’’ — This links into the idea of the original verson of Alex that the payer meets, not aligning with who Alex truly is as an individual. Vulnerability is something he definitely has to make an effort to express, and he has to learn how to be comfortable with himself in multiple different ways. He does it, though! He finds himself. He takes the mask off.

Like Him

This one is a doozy. It’s so obvious, that I don’t even really feel the need to talk about it. But I will, for the sake of consistency and understanding. This song is about Tyler’s complicated relationship with his father, and in it, Tyler expresses concern about being a mirror image of his father. While Tyler’s experience with his father is different to that of Alex with his, it can still be related to Alex’s situation very well.

Alex was abused by his father (as was his mother), and I am sure that somewhere, deep down, Alex would also have concerns about being someone who doesn’t fall far from the tree, so to speak. We don’t have much information about Alex’s father, but here’s what I think — Alex would make an active effort to be different to his father. He may have concerns about the idea of him looking like his father, or behaving like his father, or ending up with the same fate as his father did. It truly wouldn’t be unusual, or unheard of from other people who have been in similar situations as Alex has been.

Ultimately, Alex idolises his mother. He speaks fondly of her, as he does with his grandmother too. I would be inclined to believe that Alex would strive to be more like them, as opposed to his father. But, the anxiety about it would linger. It’s kind of heartbreaking, really. Alex wants and tries to be a good man, despite everything.

(I’m not going through lyrics for this one, because the majority of the song is relevant! But if you aren't familiar, just google the lyrics or listen to the song. I’m sure you’ll get it.)

Conclusion (?)

So uhh. Yeah. I’ve been thinking about this for a really long time, and I really hope you’re picking up what I’m putting down! The links between Alex and Tyler the Creator’s music have randomly become very important to me. I also just think that Alex would enjoy Tyler’s music in general, because I think he’d be a big fan of rap, and rap-adjacent music! But yeah. Thank you for reading, and if you have anything you want to add, please let me know! I’d love to talk about it with you :D

i started drawing this on the 6th of november but uhh. it’s done i guess

[kacievvbbbb]

to complement this post

I think the red hair pirates would be obsessed with S-Hawk too! Especially the main group who've known Mihawk through his teenage marine hunting phase.

Benn would know they are walking on thin ice but look at him! He’s a little baby Mihawk! Look at his little uniform shirt tucked into his little shorts. Every angry and threatening expression s-hawk could make would mean nothing to a crew that has seen the real thing live and in color. It would just be adorable like look at his little frown! His glare! The threat of disembodiment in his eyes! Adorable

Mihawk is very uncomfortable with how much the red hair pirates fawn over and adore what is essentially a manufactured baby him. But yet also somehow touched? By it. He’ll kill everyone and then himself before he admits it tho

Yasopp, who actually did know a shorter 19 year old Mihawk, would ask him if he was that adorable but tiny (still can't comprehend that the seraphim are infact giant) as a child and if he had any pictures, and Mihawk almost takes his head.

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

Still blows my mind the disparity between the Eng and the JP localization of Sonic Frontiers

So in the og English Tails expresses that he needs to part ways from Sonic so he can grow into a hero on his own, right? That he can't grow by being with him?

But like. The director of the game, who worked with Ian Flynn, worked on the JP localization and it's like. You're telling me that when they localized that scene for the Japanese audience

That it was about Tails learning that there are things only he can do? That instead of concluding that he needs to part ways from Sonic and become a hero, he just comes to realizes the ways in which he and Sonic fill each other's gaps? He learns that he already is on equal footing with Sonic. The two of them are just heroes who save people in different ways?

[kaurwreck]

y'all, atsushi isn't rude or bitchy or entitled when he saves dazai from the river. you act like he isn't having a natural response to someone giving him a dirty look and "tch" after he threw his starving orphan ass into a river to fish them out. have you ever fished a grown, water logged man out of a river. they're heavy.

atsushi wasn't necessarily expecting a thank you, but he wasn't expecting to be met with irritation either, and he mirrored dazai.

[cadybear420]

💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖💕💖

Yeah IDK what it is about the jacket that improves the outfit or makes it more complete but it just does. I guess it's cause black is just a very good color for him + it adds sort of a "do not fuck with me" vibe to an outfit that I would otherwise consider more of a blend of "sharp professional serious, but also colorful creative sweetheart, but also sexy AF prettyboy".

Aiden is all of that for sure, but he is also someone you do not wanna fuck with, he may not be the type to kick your ass physically but he can also be a very bossy bitch who doesn't back down from his wants or beliefs so easily (you get the best experience of this if you play as a band kid) and he absolutely will dish out the sneakiest yet most scathing insults known to humankind if you bother him even a little bit (see: Aiden's super-cunt supercut, to which I do in fact have more moments to add).

He knows what he likes and he knows what he believes in. He can be shy, his self-esteem isn't infallible, but generally he's not afraid to speak his mind.

Abridged version: Aiden is the king embodiment of class, sass, and ass (and that's what makes him Cunt Ultimate). The original outfit I think mainly emphasizes the class and ass. The addition of the leather jacket gives an extra emphasis to the sass (and a boost to the ass too if I'm being honest).

Aiden's Cuntiest Outfit has now been upgraded (I think) with a leather jacket! Edits by me!

AKA: I was making this for a different group edit where all the characters were wearing leather jacket but when I completed this I just about lost my shit and I think I like it even better than the original someone please help me before I spontaneously combust

Some tags because I'm too excited about this:

@choicesmc | @where-the-wind-travels | @somerandomjewelleryonthefloor |

@zhoumeyourlove | @aria-ashryver | @lover-also-fighter-also

@loreofyore | @lover-also-fighter-also | @storyofmychoices

[sieglinde-freud]

ok i think im done i think ive finally done it. i have completed the awakening ship chart with the second gen. except for nah sorry nah. yes i do love rarepair hell thanks for asking im never leaving