#and with all the other very long cases you have more women involved more heavily even if they aren't part of the final long interrogation

[jaggedwolf]

Still trying to figure out why TGAA2-4 and TGAA2-5 set off my "man this is a lot of dudes dudeing" hackles when the other Ace Attorney final cases do not - I thought my baseline expectation of AA was that it's dude-centric while having rad female characters, but apparently it might've been higher, because those two TGAA cases meet that bar.

I kinda see the difference once I iterate through every other installment's (AA1-AA6, AAI1-2, crossover) finale. There's two levels to it.

There's the backstory level, where if you exclude TGAA all the other finales' have at least one major female player figuring into the drama of the backstory, often more. Misty Fey was nowhere near the elevator on DL-6 but she is inseparable from the case, for instance, and that radiates out to Mia and Maya.

Sithe comes closest, with her role in the Professor coverup, but she gets uninterestingly shuffled off in 2-3, her daughter relaying her reports in a way that dilutes both their presences. Even in the finale with the biggest similarity to this - dude-heavy conspiracy with only one female participant, we see more of that participant than we do Sithe, and there's another woman invested in exposing the conspiracy.

Then there's the present-day courtroom and investigation. Which sounds odd, given that if we're playing a male character as we usually are, we almost always have a female assistant around. There's a lot of room for variety here though. I'll take 1-4 again, both because it is the most-played finale case and so I hopefully won't be spoiling anyone, and also because it's a case where the victims were dudes, the arrested suspects were dudes, the only people within five feet of the both crime scenes were dudes, the only living people with previous direct connections to those dudes are dudes (we haven't met Franziska yet), so you know, it has as much of an excuse as any finale to focus solely on the dudes.

But Maya holding onto the bullet is what clinches us the case. It's not the biggest thing Maya ever does, but IDK, it's more interesting to me than Iris's part in the hologram deus ex machina. Heck, even comparing the finales of TGAA1 and TGAA2, in TGAA1 Susato's and Gina's decisions change how the incident and case play out, while in TGAA2 they each get bummed out for different reasons but don't do anything uniquely instrumental.

Anyway, I mostly like the puzzle-solving and emotional logic of TGAA2-4 and TGAA2-5, but I also would not have minded either Klint's widow (dead from childbirth) or Genshin's widow (dead from grief) surviving to the present day to have some feelings of their own and/or cause some drama of their own instead of being one of the three dead wives.

[bloop-bl00p]

Rewriting Charlie: The Princess of Hell

(Using a GIF from the pilot before that’s the only version I like)

I didn't like Charlie in the series not only does she suffer from the terrible conditions of being a female character in a show belonging to Vivziepop but her overall innocence doesn't make sense to me.

I can understand why she would be naive and all that stuff, she probably got heavily sheltered. While we don’t know what her relationship with Lilith is, Lucifer cares enough about her to know that Hell is a dangerous place for a kid. An adult version of her would be aware of Hell being full of dangerous people but would still be vulnerable to extremely good manipulators like Alastor. That’s how her character felt to me when I watched the Pilot.

But then Vivziepop decided to give her a concussion.

It’s not cute or funny, she’s a grown adult and still acts like a child that just freshly got out of the womb. I can understand the optimism, she worked really hard on her project and things are finally starting to set in motion even with a few highs and lows.

But seriously, episode 4 pisses me off, she didn't try to do anything to stop Valentino. Not only did she not listen to Angel Dust who was visibly scared, but she also did nothing when he came out of the dressing room with a black eye. That’s not miscommunication that’s brain damage, the girl was dropped as a baby and her cerebral haemorrhage never stopped.

“But Angel stopped her🥺”

And? She’s the princess of Hell, surely she realizes that the only reason Angel did that was because Valentino told him to do so, surely she understands that the only way she could assure Angel's safety and make sure he followed through with his redemption was to remove Valentino and possibly the other Vees from the equation? Right?

She could rip the contract! She can’t? Well, get your father involved! I’m pretty sure an angel, fallen or not, can do something about a petty contract between two sinners, otherwise, it’s time to actually explain to us how this whole deal and soul-owning work.

Or better, she could simply kill Val, you know? Because Angel isn’t his only victim and killing him would free countless souls from his abuse. She obliviously cares about other sinners, no matter how despicable they are. Wait, what do you mean she’s against violence?

Girl can clearly fight and get violent if necessary, and the Pilot is still canon. Don’t you dare tell me this specific part of her isn’t cannon anymore, you either make a pilot entirely cannon or you simply remake it to fit your new vision? Unless you wanna confuse people.

If I had no other option to protect a friend, and possibly protect other people, Valentino would have been long gone. What are the other Vees gonna do? Be mad? I’m the Princess of Hell if my hair gets touched, Lucie gonna get angry. And if they touch my friend, well, they are dead.

✦ Meet Lenore, they are non-binary

The relationship between Lilith and Samael is open, they aren't married a concept way too holly for hell. It’s quite rare for the two to find themselves in the same place for more than a couple of hours, let alone spending the whole night alone. That’s why Lenore is a such special case since they actually are Samael’s child.

They were born around the early 17th century and visited Earth all the way through the early 18th century to late 19th century, they’re 413 years old making them the youngest of Lilith’s children.

Lenore was not raised by Lucifer of Lilith but by a group of sinners nicknamed Lilith’s Daughters or Lilins. They are women under Lilith’s jurisdiction. I’ll talk about them when I’ll talk about Lilith.

✦ Personality and goals

I pretty much did my own character at this point since Lenore shares little similarities with Charlie, like very little. Their most prominent default is their superiority complex, Lenore is the only child of Samael which makes them pretty powerful by default. They were seen in high regard by the members of society and each expected them to somehow fully bring Hell into this new marvelous era of prosperity.

After centuries of being constantly told that their ancestry made them superior to most, Lenore eventually started to believe it. They won’t directly tell you that you’re weaker, it’s mostly communicated through their behavior and how condescending they can sound when talking to Imps or Sinners compared to royalties.

They also like to flaunt their knowledge over a vast subject of things like witchcraft, which they learned during their childhood with the Lilins. And while yes, they are pretty smart, they still fell to the massive anti-heaven propaganda, essentially believing that The Trinity is this overly powerful dictator and that Hell is the only way you can get away from his wrath… partially. While they do ask lots of questions, questions they learned to keep to themselves, the Authoritarian God is an idea that was fed to them since childhood. It’s hard to see it in another way. No, Lenore doesn’t care that much about Heaven nor do they care about the sinners of Hellborns.

So why a sanctuary? To separate themselves from their parents of course! Familial bonds in the Dawnherald family are really weak, especially considering they grew up with an absent father. Lilith just allowed them to have a portion of land in Limbo after countless requests.

Lenore wants to build their own legacy and something intently better than the kingdom of their parents, first because they don't want to live in their shadow. The praises coming from being their child comes with the price of always being seen as such, just the offspring of two important figures which they don’t want, and second because the foundation of how Hell works is boring. Fears and hopelessness were how Samael and the Fallen Angels imposed their supremacy onto the inferior who were the sinners, while it worked and kept working, Lenore with their ego felt like they could control the population better by weaponizing something rare in Hell, kindness.

In the sinners’ eyes, Heaven abandoned them, Hell is merciless to the weak and there’s Lenore. The one that actually cares, the one that feeds and protects them, their savior. Even if they never see the pearly gate, they sure can feel safe in this false Haven provided by them, how benevolent.

They created a whole persona to hide their true intention, voluntarily creating this reputation of being an inexperienced princet to be able to manipulate gullible people with more efficiency. The more people would underestimate them the more convenient it is for them. The sanctuary is here to test multiple of Lenore’s ideas on how they could change rulership in Hell for the better.

“Everything for the people nothing by the people.”

This is the core of how their sanctuary function, you will get to the safety of a shelter, food, and basic civil rights as long as you obey. This is not a utopia but what Hell has the best to offer, sinners always try to find better options to survive, and the sanctuary just happens to be that. All that is asked from them is obedience and bringing something useful to the community.

This refusal to give any form of agency to their protégé stems again from their Pride and desire to control everything, they simply cannot see themselves outside of a leadership role.

Everyone in Hell sees this as a temporary means, an endeavor they would immediately stop the second they are promoted to be more active in Hell’s politics. Hell thrived with the chaos that occurred because of the harsh life conditions, suddenly changing the system just because one of Lilith’s spawns is pretending to have a ‘better alternative’ would be ridiculous. It is clear that most people see their sanctuary on a surface level and mostly see it as this place where sinners and others are fully free of their movements.

✦ Family

Sheesh! That’s not really a sensitive subject since their interaction with their parents is almost non-existent. Their siblings also seem to not want to have anything to do with them, the feeling is shared.

They never saw Samael in person but they are mostly curious about him. They only know him through history books telling the Tale of this ancient Morningstar finally realizing his self-worth and fighting against the tyranny of the Trinity. It’s easy to pick up the fact that their father holds dear his self-importance, they relate, in a way, but their interest doesn’t go beyond a historian being curious about an unknown historical figure. They never met him, it’s better to not make assumptions.

One question still lingers in their mind… what could drive such a well-respected being to turn away from The Trinity in such drastic ways? The point of dictatorship is to make sure everyone is perfectly indoctrinated into the regime, how did their father, after millennia of servitude randomly pick up on this? These are obliviously questions that they shouldn’t ask and, for the sake of maintaining appearance, it’s best to search the response on their own. At best, they’ll be totally reasonable answers, at worst they’ll find something that they were not meant to see.

Ah, Mother Lilith, they have seen her in person and often have little weekends with her. A charming individual, indeed, they would love her even more if it wasn't for being constantly told to give up on their silly little games with sinners. While they did make up a naive persona for the rest of Hell to be fooled, the fact that their own mother doesn’t take them seriously is appalling to witness.

Lilith is the active ruler of Hell with a handful amount of right-hand men/women if it wasn’t for their pride Lenore would have begged to be put in a position that would allow her to change Hell’s policy. Something they always manage to bring up, even during eventful tea times, those are rare their mother is always busy. The woman is still fun to converse with as she holds wisdom from more than 10 centuries of existence, it’s always useful.

✦ Details

✧ The reason why Lenore doesn’t have a much more important roles in Hell’s hierarchy is because they are young by Hell’s standard.

✧ Right now, Lenore isn’t trying to form any meaningful relationship, they’ll end up with Vaga nonetheless. I did not think of a specific sexuality for them honestly so feel free to fill the void with your headcannon if you want.

✧ Lenore’s a witch, while I’m probably going to go on a magical fantasies type of witchcraft, I’ll still have a few actual things that are actually practiced by actual witches. Plus there are a few practices that can be useful for the story.

✧ Them finding out about redemption and even wanting to do it in the first place is established much later.

[im-the-j-in-anthony-j-crowley]

I hope this is my last time talking about this topic, at least on this account, as it is definitely not part of what I planned this blog to be about

I'll try to keep it organised and clear

There will be mention of SA

Under no circumstances do I tell you to read all of this, but I leave you the different parts of what I wrote in case you are interested in reading a specific one:

My opinion on the podcast

My opinion on Neil Gaiman

My opinion on good omens (In this context)

The future of this blog

Relevant links

My opinion on the podcast

I listened to all four episodes of the podcast and my opinion did not change, I continue to support the victims. What I do have to mention is that I do consider the podcast to be heavily influenced, and I see reasons for the opinions that were expressed about it

I continually felt that Neil Gaiman's name was given more prominence than the accusations, especially when they started giving me a biography of Neil's life that I never understood what relevance it had.

I definitely felt that the presence of bdsm was taken as the reason for abuse, and at times I felt that more weight was given to the fact that the word "master" was used than to the actions that did point to abuse.

The podcast was set to horror music that made it a rather strange experience, and at certain points had silences that added a drama whose only effect was to make me wonder why they were trying to portray the situation in a way that seemed to me disrespectful to the subject.

At one point the podcast quoted someone who said that Neil Gaiman's actions could be explained by the fact that autistic people have difficulty understanding social cues.

Something that, as an autistic person, I definitely have to stop and say that no, a diagnosis of autism should not be considered a valid reason. I don't know how long Neil has been aware of his difficulty with social cues, but it's definitely something he should have taken into account when having relationships that included bdsm. From the insight I gained from those relationships, it was something that was extremely necessary. And evidently, I haven't mentioned that those relationships also required the norms that I thought were customary in bdsm. Like defining boundaries of what is and is not allowed, and that they are discussed preferably not while having sex.

I believe I read that Neil mentioned something regarding 50 shades of grey, which, please, I thought we were all aware that that book WAS NOT A GOOD REPRESENTATION OF WHAT GOOD CONDUCT IN BDSM IS

All this has been without mentioning the fact that, as I mentioned before, I am 100% against the age difference present in this relationships. And the clear power imbalance between the parties involved. There is no way I look at those relationships without concluding that both women were at an extreme disadvantage and in circumstances that made it very difficult to consent in a fully active way.

I don't think the subjectivity of the podcast is enough to accuse them of creating completely false stories, especially after having confirmation that these relationships did happen, from Neil Gaiman.

My opinion on Neil Gaiman

I want to preface this by saying that under no circumstances am I trying to say that you should come to the same conclusions I did, I'm simply sharing this because I've spent months on this blog and interacted heavily with Neil's posts.

It's been a couple of years since I've taken an interest in social issues and I've recently started to become active in discussions about it, so I feel it's something I should do.

However, I repeat, I am not the morality police. So I'm not interested in telling you what you should decide.

Now... what are we getting at?

I have currently stopped following Neil everywhere I remember following him, I plan to stop interacting with anything linked to his person, except for his works, where I feel I need to look at the situation in more detail and take other things into consideration.

I can give Neil the benefit of the doubt that he did believe things were different, especially given my view of how we function as humans, but the fact that I can acknowledge that perhaps at the time he believed he was doing the right thing does not justify the fact that he is now trying to resort to gaslighting to maintain his image.

A person may have made mistakes in believing he was doing the right thing, and I fully understand that. But even if you were unaware of the situation, you should be able to take responsibility for what happened without resorting to manipulative techniques.

What I'm saying, is that even if I give all events the benefit of the doubt, I continue to have problems with Neil Gaiman's behaviour.

And I implore that please, if you are going to interact with any of his work, or with his person, take this into account

My opinion on good omens

I know that good omens is not the relevant topic in the accusations, but this is a blog about good omens, and good omens is the reason I have something to do with this, so let's mention it anyway, because I want to address all sides of this and close the subject on this blog.

I don't consider good omens to have anything to do with Neil Gaiman's sexual activity, and so far, Gaiman hasn't used any of his work as a justification for his actions, so I don't consider the events to have a direct impact on the work. Especially when, at least in my 4 times watching the show, I never noticed anything I wished to criticise in it.

I do think that the monetary support for him that interacting with the show generates should be taken into account, especially in relation to the new season.

At the end of the post you can find a link to a petition to request that Neil is not present in the development of season 3.

The future of this blog

Finally we come to the one part that I haven't been able to decide, and that is.... What do I do with this blog, do I want to continue, do I want to stop?

The truth is that I don't know, I still consider that I need time to think about it, especially because every time I see a good omens post, I think about what happened. Which feels awful when good omens has been my special interest since November last year and has controlled almost my entire life.

I don't know what I'll decide next, but this will probably be on hiatus for a few more weeks. If I come to a decision, I'll let you know.

I love you, I hope you are well, and in case you want to follow me on a blog that is probably nothing like this one, I leave you my main blog, @voids-ideas where I will probably be active

Relevant links

Where you can find the podcasts episodes on drive

Petition to request Neil's removal from Good Omens season 3

My first reaction to the situation

[nyasialiveshere]

love and eros may have actually been the best jdrama ever

my lovelorn for lost underapreciated japanese media may stick with me til the end of time I'm afraid. It's how unknown it is that really makes me love it even more. I actually don't know how I feel about the best art getting so little attention and being lost to time. On one hand I like it but then again I wish the people involved would have been able to get recognition. But the again it's possible the Japanese purposely didn't want their precious gems to be given to the west because it would have been changed and altered to fit a wider audience and then it would no longer be art. It would just be a product for mass consumption. I kind of want to write a whole series of my favorite J ent pieces. It's so interesting that Japan actually went out of their way many times to make sure their works wouldn't be spread to those who don't appreciate it. Anime was...as hayao miyazaki would say A MISTAKE. It's the only piece of Japanese media that became heavily focused on reaching a global audience and making a ton of money from it. It's their K-pop. Though with Anime it's just cartoon pictures being objectified and commodified but with K-pop it's people. Still both had a great effect on the economy and a terrible influence on the culture as a whole. The otaku's in Japan and the fan culture in Korea both swirled out of control and ended up having a hand in lowering the birth rate. So art truly is a powerful thing.

This work was one I actually stumbled on when I was on a j ent binge, this and a few other japanese 90s dramas really fascinated me. This one was intriguing and memorable because it was the first time I was aware that whatever Korea had continued with using idols in drama's to boost the rating Japan had most defintely started.

Nagase Tomoya was a hearthrob no doubt and it is also hard to even find someone comparable to him in the current era. In japan being an idol is just a stepping stone and everyone knows this. There aren't really leaders like in kpop. In fact it's usually the visuals that are just in charge or speak for the group. They are the front men or women and it's normal for them to be the face and do interviews alone in the group's stead. No one is ever super emotional when these visuals become actors nor is there an uproar that they are betraying the group. It's natural and they usually are asked to get into different projects because this will eventually get the group more attention in the end. Japanese groups in some cases have EXTREME longevity. Some groups lasting decades. It isn't always the case but the most popular groups it's moreso a question of dang when are they going to disband. This is because the attitude towards idols in japan is different. There are some cases where idols from fanservice heavy groups do get in trouble from dating but its' important to know in Japan it's more of a hierarchy of groups because idol culture has been around for so long. There are some groups that are more dependent on heavy fanservice to survive and there theme is catering to there fans whereas some groups are more..free. It's clear to see these differences when you see some groups that are very free and others that are very not. In korea although I see that all groups are treated like how fanservice heavy groups are in japan. No matter what age it is weird and not acceptable for them to act in romantic drama's or date. The companies and contracts pretty much all around reflect the mindset of the public towards idols. Where in recent years traditional idol culture in japan is kind of slowly dying and because of that celebs dating is seen moreso how american celebs dating. In korea strangely enough it's like things are regressing. The fanservice is becoming even more intense even though kpop is gaining global fame. More money is being made but it's being made by going super jhorror virtual boyfriend/girlfriend parasocial paralysis demon. It's quite concerning. It could be that in Japan they stopped focusing on real people who eventually would date or get married and leave idol life behind to focus on more vulnerable animated or fictional characters who really couldn't speak or fight back.

I still find it interesting to look at the cultural remains of Japan's idol industry.

I don't even want to get into the tradgedy of Johhnny's boys and what happens when young children are commodified off their looks and sex appeal from a super young age because..it speaks for itself. It was terrible what happened and I do feel that overall it's definitely what is happening in kpop but because of the current hype and popularity honestly nobody cares. Similar to how nobody cared about what was happening in america with the many disney stars who would years later open up about how the trauma they experienced being a childstar would later cause them to become drug addicts or commit self harm. People may feel sorry for them now but the truth is at the time when it was happening nobody cared and that is what made them feel so alone. It doesn't help to pity them after the fact when they have healed and gone to therapy.

Although I think it was rather unfortunate what many of child stars go through I do think the art they leave behind should be treasured even more so because of it. Tomoya was a fabulous actor and I see in him many of the current idols of today that are treasured.

I believe he was extremely lucky given that he was able to stay in a band that spanned decades and have a very successful acting career. When I watched this show not only was I interested in the plot but I also was wondering why were so many idols barred from also having similar opportunities. Some like him were able to act in various projects playing different characters but others were stuck in a box because their fans weren't interested in seeing them any differently. I believe he was such a compelling performer that it allowed him to be accepted by the public as an actor.

but I can't lie Johnny kitigawa's connectiong probably helped as well..also his face plus the fact that he aged well probably helped. Many idols get copius amounts of plastic surgery that does not age well at all

but there are still other decent looking idols that never kept up with the changing tides of the ent industry. On an old translated forum some people were arguing why he wasn't as famous as Takuya Kimura

but I think it's because the japanese love androgyny like over everything Tomoya was just a tad bit too masculine.

In this show though and others like it he starred in he was a silent brooding type so it worked. I don't want to spoil it and this isn't a review basically it's a comparasion of different types of love. Which is ..kind of genius. His character is in a eros or romantic type of love with a woman engaged to his brother. Who has a much more friendly type of love with her. It's probably a metaphor for something but..hmmh oh and it has the iconic Hosho mai

her role isn't that big she is toted as mostly just the tagalong girlfriend but really as the show progresses you start to like her more than the main love interest.

anywayz its a good show very deep if you watch it closely.

[merlot-and-chardonnay]

A Night of Liberation- Elihal

I'm honestly a little surprised I haven't seen many one-shots written for this character from Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. True he didn't have much screen time in the game overall, but I find myself attracted to him, or more specifically I'm very attracted to his confidence and shamelessness in being who he is.

I also have this headcannon that Novigrad is like New York City and the non humans have their own spaces, especially for the ones that would be considered queer, not unlike how black and Latine queer communities carved their own spaces as seen in the show Pose (something I may have touched on in a previous one-shot where the reader is a trans woman witcher and found a community among non-humans who were much like her). I firmly believe that as a gender non-conforming elf, Elihal would be involved in those types of scenes when he's not busy being a tailor.

Plenty of fluff and a raid somewhere in the middle that's hate based in case that's traumatizing. And maybe some suggestive content too.

It was a sweet moment, one you've shared many times with the man...or elf in front of you. There was really no special occasion, it was a merely a moment between two lovers, a random moment that came in the middle of the day when you went to see the elven tailor over some torn dresses that needed mending.

He took his fingers under your chin and lifted it so you could stare into his eyes before he leans in to give you a passionate kiss. 

You always admired the way Elihal worked with his hands, the care he put into each stitch and the passion he put into this profession. It was something you've come to admire about the elf ever since you first met him. He truly had a talent in designing and making clothing, from the sharpest doublets to the softest dresses. You had been fond of Elihal for a rather long time, since you've first met him in fact. His occupation wasn't considered conventional at least for a man, or even an elf to a certain extent. Still, it made him happy, and he didn't care what others thought of him. Something else you also admired about the elf. 

Honestly, you weren't sure what he saw in you, but it came as a shock when he asked seemingly out of the blue to court you. It came even more shocking since you were human and not many elves engaged in romantic relations with humans; to be fair, not many humans did either.

So, when he asked, you nodded and your visits to his shop became more frequent, whether you needed clothing fixed or not. And many of those visits would last overnight as well. You've never inquired of Elihal's age, but you figured he was old enough to know a few tricks to please a woman in the bedroom. 

You've also stood in as his model on several occasions whenever he had an idea for a clothing design and wanted to work on it. Some of the stuff you liked, others not so much, but you didn't mind being his muse, whether it was for a dress or a doublet, as long as you got to spend time with him and as long as it came with passing kisses every now and again.

On this particular day, it was a doublet you were modeling for the elf. You didn't really wear doublets out in public...actually you've worn a doublet in public...actually before courting Elihal you've never tried a doublet on before, not even as a child. Though to be fair, you never were encouraged to try different clothing that wasn't considered conventional for women; if anything, it was heavily discouraged in your family during your formative years. Ladies wear dresses and heels, and wore make-up, and all that other shit. Anything else would make you be seen as less then a woman.

Yet, here you were, wearing men's clothing, and the man you love was here giving you a kiss.

"What...what was that for, Elihal?" you inquire of the elf once he finished, "not that I'm complaining." "You just looked beautiful in this light, I couldn't help myself," Elihal admits.

You felt your face heat up. "You don't believe me?" "No, I do," you assure, "I don't quite feel beautiful wearing this." "I think you look rather stunning," Elihal counters, "with a matching pair of trousers and shoes, it would be perfect." "Ha, yeah that sounds like me," you laugh a little, "I don't suppose you would compensate by wearing a dress?"

It's worth noting that even though you've known Elihal for a while now even before courting him, you didn't know about his hobbies outside of his tailor business. The elf gave a small knowing smile, knowing what he what he had planned for tonight. "I know that look," you tell him as you take the doublet off and put on your regular clothes, "you're up to something." "Meet me back here at dusk," Elihal merely says, giving you a quick peck on the cheek, "I'll make it worth your while."

You weren't sure what to expect, but you give the elf a kiss back before you leave. You had errands to run in the city, so it would take some time. By your reckoning, by the time you were done, it would be near dusk.

-------------------------------

You head back to Elihal's shop around dusk as he had asked. During this time, you've been going over in your head what you elven beau had in stored for this evening. However long you've known Elihal, he could be something of an enigma sometimes. Though it was still one more trait of the elf you admired.

"Elihal?" you knock on the door to announce you were walking in. The lights were still on, but no sign of your lover. "You called?" you turn around to see the elf you love step in from his bedroom.

Your eyes widen in surprise when you see his attire. Elihal was dressed in...well a dress. Blue with red patterns and even heels to match. And when looked closer, you could see Elihal was even wearing makeup. "Elihal?" you finally manage to say, one the shock passed, "you're...you are...?"

"Stunning? Beautiful? The prettiest sight you've ever seen?" Elihal suggests. "It's...well it really is something," you say, tilting your head a bit, "it's a perfect fit, though that should come as no surprise. I've never seen you wear this before." "I made it two days ago," Elihal tells you, "I was planning to show it off tonight in a sort of debut. Along with the doublet that you were modeling this morning." "You....want me to wear the doublet?" you realize, "outside?" "Why not?" Elihal shrugs, "it suits you rather well."

"But...what would other people say?" you ask, feeling a sense of shame from even asking this question. Both from being scared of the idea of being out in public and not being as open minded about this as Elihal clearly was. The comfort he was currently sporting being dressed the way he is definetely suggested he has done this before. "What people? Mere strangers?" Elihal points out, "what does it matter what they think that you don't conform to their rigid ideals of what men and women can and cannot do? Should what they think matter so much to you when they don't even know you and you don't even know them?"

You avert your gaze lightly, knowing Elihal had a point on that. You look at the doublet the elf had in his hands and take them from him. You hold it out, thinking it over. It felt so forbidden that you were considering trying it out, but at the same time, it felt so exciting. Much as you enjoy wearing dresses and being feminine, the thought of crossing social gender lines did sound enticing. The thought of defying society and giving it the middle finger as Elihal clearly was doing just for dressing the way he was right now. 

You make a small smile, and it felt like a barrier you had kept up, or more specifically had been built around you was starting to crumble. You take your dress off and place the doublet and trousers on. You take a hair tie and pull your hair up in a bun.

"How do I look?" you turn to face the elf. "Quite handsome, i dare say," Elihal nods in approval. "So where are we going?" you ask after you get your matching shoes on. "You'll see," Elihal says rather cryptically as he puts on a cloak and hands you one. You and Elihal head to the city.

Once further inside, you see a couple priests of the Church of the Eternal Fire preaching to a group of men. Ironically enough, the sermon was on the importance of the difference between women and men and how sinful it was in the eyes of the Eternal Fire when those lines were blurred and mixed around, resulting in confusion and leading weary minds astray into believing that up is down and bad is good and so forth. You noticed the look on Elihal's face when you and him passed the crowd.

Several patrons turned to see the two of you walking by, not quite paying attention at first, but there may have been some stares of condemnation when they recognized what was going on. 

You pushed the elf to walk faster, not really feeling safe with how charged up the crowds was from both the priests' fervor in their sermon.

"Where are we going?" you ask. "You'll see," Elihal assures. Once closer to the docks, he leads you towards a path he's clearly taken before. The path lead a what at first seemed like a dive of sorts. Not quite an impressionable looking establishment from the outside from what you could see. But you trusted the elf, and let him lead you inside.

It wasn't all as shady as you admittedly was expecting.

It was actually quite colorful and lively as non-humans congregated and conversed amongst one another, some laughing, others drinking cups of wine or mugs of ale. Looking around, you see a symbol of a green mermaid decorating the walls. You recognized what this place was.

A safe place for people who were different. People like Elihal. Non-humans who didn't conform to the dominate 'normative' culture and in fact exist outside of said culture openly and often in defiance, even if it cost them social status or even their very lives. You've heard of this place before as whispers from others in Novigrad, those whispers mostly coming from overly pious followers of the Eternal Fire who saw places such as this as alters for decadence and moral decay, especially where non humans were concerned. In fact, those same people would use these places as further evidence that beings such as elves, dwarves, and dopplers could not be trusted and were an affront before the light of the Eternal Fire itself. 

You didn't really think much of it before, as you've made friends with plenty of elves and dwarves before you ever met Elihal. They were just people trying to live their lives to the fullest. They weren't hurting anyone just for simply existing.

"Is this what I think it is?" you ask of your lover. "It very much is," the elf nods in confirmation, "What do you think?" You look around some more. The patrons were just doing their own thing, hardly even giving you any attention, unlike back in the city when you passed those priests and their followers. Here, no one seemed to care what you were wearing or what you looked like. You were just being yourself...or someone else. It didn't matter, all that did matter was that you were here with the man you loved and you were going to enjoy yourself.

"It is...I'm not sure how to describe it," you admit. Elihal heard his name being called, getting both your attention to a group of elves and half-elves who were dressed similarly to the way the both of you were. These must be Elihal's friends, at least the friends who were also part of this community. Elihal waves back and guides you over so you could meet his friends.

The conversation flowed as smoothly as the wine you drank from. Apparently Elihal had told his friends a lot about you, a few even voicing they were surprised you had actually accepted his invitation to come here, especially dressed the way you were. You felt a little shame at first, thinking maybe they were under the impression you were some prude that preferred things to be folded neatly and kept in little boxes like every other human in this city.

The embarrassment went away, however, when they began to complement your clothing and you in turn gave the credit of the design to Elihal, whom you felt to be one of the best tailors in Novigrad. As the night carried on, you felt you were slowly being accepted into your lover's social circle, the shame you had felt earlier in the evening starting to fade away from being in a place where no one would judge you for being a non-conformist.

Later you and Elihal step out briefly for some fresh air, while also sipping the last of your wine. "I have to admit, I'm actually having fun here," you tell him, face feeling flushed at this point, "I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but I really enjoy myself." "I'm had a feeling you would," Elihal says with a smile, "I had a feeling since we met you would be open to new experiences." "Whatever gave you that impression?" you scoff, "I'm anything but open minded." "...you're here in this place, are you not?" the elf points out, "have you ever been here before?" "No," you shrug. "What was you first impression?" "I supposed it was...different any other establishment I've been to before," you admit, "it just felt so...normal, I guess. Here I am dressed in a doublet and no one even batted an eye. Unlike when we walked past that crowd and those Eternal Fire priests, they looked at us like we were the worse kind of criminal. People like them, I've known my whole life since I was a child. They always had such a rigid view of the world. But these people in that tavern, they were so...liberated. And confident. I wish I was more like that."

"You could be," Elihal points out, "it's never too late to learn."

"I guess that's true," you say, about to sip your wine again but realize your cup is empty, "I'm glad you should me this world, Elihal. I would like to come again. I really like your friends. Also," you take his hand, "I wouldn't object to seeing you in this dress again. You do look rather ravishing," you give the elf a knowing grin. "Oh my, into a little role playing are we?" Elihal grins back, "that, good sir, is hardly anyway to treat a lady." "Would be gentlemanly of me to at least request a kiss from the lady?" you ask to which he obliges, or at least he was about, but then pulls back in a teasing manner. "Oh, so now you're playing," you feign exasperation before getting serious, "you really do need to show me how you do your eye shadow. It's better than mine."

Elihal chuckled a bit. Before either of you could share that kiss, however, the two of you hear soldier's shouts. Sure enough, you turn to see the familiar armor of the Temple Guard, one of them shining a torch your way, "you there!" "Arrest these perverse deviants," the commander orders. "What for? We didn't do anything!" you protest. "A man in a dress, even an elven one is an affront to the Eternal Fire," the Temple guard commander says, "same goes for a woman in a doublet." "Fucking freaks," one of the guards mutter.

"I believe you must be mistaken good sir," Elihal says, facing the guards, placing his hands on his hips, "isn't obvious I am lady. You should be treating me as such." "Oh I'll treat you like a lady alright, you cocksucker," the guard sneers, fixing to pull out a dagger, "you want to be a woman so badly, I'll make you one." You react and kick the guard in the groin before he could proceed to hurt Elihal, "you stay away from my lover's parts, they belong to me!" you exclaim, "yeah, that's right. I coupled with an elf, and I'm not ashamed of it. What are you going to do about it?"  

The guards draw their swords in response.

"I think now would be a good time to warn the others," Elihal says, grabbing your arm as the two of you run inside to warn the patrons of the impending raid. They were quick to scatter as the Temple Guards broke in and raided the place, arresting and/or killing anyone they could get their hands on.

Luckily though, most managed to escape out the back or through some other secret entrances that have built into this place for just such an occasion, which based on quickly everyone reacted, it was clear this was something that did happen unfortunately rather often.

You and Elihal were among the lucky ones to escape, heading back into the city, away from the docks.

Once out of sight from the Temple Guards, you and Elihal stop and catch a breath, then you notice Elihal start to giggle. "What's so funny?" you ask in confusion. "Just thinking about what you did back there," Elihal tells you, "defending my honor and such. I am quite flattered." "Well, it wouldn't have been gentlemanly of me to leave a defenseless woman to take on those brutes," you retort back before you get serious, "they could've hurt you, Elihal." "...you're probably right about that," Elihal admits, "and they had hurt many of the patrons over there at the Green Mermaid. All because they wanted to live their most authentic lives." "They...you lot still manage to thrive," you nod, "you thrive and resist and still manage to find joy in the littlest things. Not letting anyone force them to be hiding underground or living lives that don't fit them. You're more liberated then any of the Eternal Fire's followers. I want to be liberated too."

Elihal nods in understanding, "let's go home."

"Say, Elihal," you say as the two of you walk back to his place, "any chance we could do this again? Dressing up and going out and painting the town red, I mean? After you mend these trousers that is. They got torn back during the raid." "Of course, we can do this anytime you wish," Elihal answers, "and I'll be sure to have the trousers mended. In no time, they'll feel like you're not wearing anything at all." 

"Hmmm, I wouldn't mind actually not wearing anything at all when we get home," you give the elf a suggestive grin. "Now am I supposed to work on my thread and needle if you're laying around in what you humans call a birthday suit? It'll do nothing but distract me from my mending." "That's the idea I was going for."

Masterlist

[echofromtheabyss]

In this article by the late Mel Baggs, Baggs references something another person wrote. The link is to something that was taken down, but the quote is here:

The basic idea is that each and every person has their difference, and that it should be respected. Note the singular form, however. When they learn of my autism, which is usually the first major difference to come up in conversation, they seem to think “oh, so that’s her difference”. They then proceed to fill in my difference slot in their mental table, and everything is as it should be.

Or, so they think.

Then, a little while later, I happen to mention some other thing that makes me very different from most other people, and their belief system collides head-on with reality. Usually, it’s another one of my disabilities that triggers it. This is when they almost invariably go “…” for a while, only to finish with “you have that too?” In other words, “your difference slot is already filled, and you can’t have another one”. This is the weird collision I've had with reality since I have been het-passing.

People used to just assume I was a lesbian. When I was 10, adults thought I was going to turn out to be a lesbian. It was just assumed. Then people assumed I was because of my body language, voice, facial expressions, way I hold my body, ffs, even the way I sit is discourse now. That I "passed as straight" is literally indistinguishable from stuff related to autistic masking discourse because of the degree to which it involves standing a certain way, holding my face a certain way, doing different things with my hands, talking about different things, re-wording everything I say into different wording, and using my voice differently. I even had to prefer different friends. Also there was different construction in the 80s and 90s among straight people about what it meant to be gay or lesbian so it was heavily conflated with being gender non-conforming or even trans-adjacent in ways it isn't now. When I'm "straight passing" I just don't really pass as "normal." But when I'm "queer passing," people just chalk all my differences up to that. As long as I'm not actually among cis queer women, that is. In the beginning, it gave me the wrong impression about how accepted I would be, as LGBT, by LGBT people - ones who are other cis women, almost always are uncomfortable around me. Straight women actually were more accepting of me, conditionally. TERFy lesbians were the absolute worst because I violate a lot of stuff about what women are supposed to be, and I have to mask the hardest around people who have very gendered ideas about how to act. There is no way to mask without being gender-conforming. And being *cognitively* gender non-conforming - i.e., having thinking patterns/emotional makeup/communication preferences more commonly stereotypically associated with men, heaven help you if it's anything in the realm of politics/likes/dislikes/hobbies - is totally brushed aside. You're just not supposed to be like that. Not even sure that upper middle class straight men are supposed to be like that these days. Except in my case, it's not even about anything really visible given that I like plenty of stereotypical feminine things! It's just this invisible mark I've had all my life, somehow, that characterizes me as "not a normal girl." The thing is, the world didn't get actually more friendly toward odd women, it just got more enforcing of normie upper class white female norms across a broader range of people. So a lot of the places that used to be my escape, no longer are that.

And when I am read as het... I feel VERY odd, I am crawling out of my skin in discomfort... like I am an alien from another planet who's passing as an Earthling. I feel both invisible to LGBT people (who, prior to my passing het, constituted the majority of my friends), while masking really hard among het normies (I am NEVER more aware of this, than when I'm on a double date, for example, with my partner and a het couple where the other woman is a much more normie woman) and trying to observe normie het social rules (greet the wife first, don't talk to the husband longer than I talk to the wife, etc) that passing as gay gave me a pass on. And in passing as het, PEOPLE DON'T EVEN TALK TO ME. I'm completely ignored in ways I never used to be. I completely disappear behind my partner. We'll be in a room full of his queer friends who just don't even see me, which is painful for very complicated reasons, but nobody else really sees me either. And to straight people who are okay with queer people, my perceived queerness filled that "difference slot." It gave me a place where I was allowed to be different from them. I feel more autistic since passing straight. I don't like it. And something I'm really, really struggling with in my identity is the fact that I lost the one social cope I had. The one thing that made me more tolerated in some spaces. Now I just feel naked. Like I'm just visibly Weird as a het-passing person in ways I wasn't as a queer-passing person.

And the thing is, passing queer gave me no payoff whatsoever in my actual romantic relationships, because I was a gaycel, it was never going to get better. Other women read something "odd" in me so quickly that it's not even funny, and I have to work Very Very Hard just to interact. But at least when I was passing gay, there's a point at which they just... let me be. I could be their Lesbian Friend.

I had a social role in which my weirdness could fit.

Now I just feel like a fake and a phony in every single interaction I have and like everything in my world revolves around my perceived sexual identity that I can't even really perform that well. My partnership is okay when it's just me and him but when I get out into the world, I don't even feel like I inhabit my own skin, and don't even know who I am.

[unwelcome-ozian]

Hi, this could end up being a really long ask so I apologise in advance, but I feel it's important you know about this!

I noticed you recommended Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde as a source when answering some asks about Finland before! I would like to let you know that while she was indeed the provincial medical officer for Lapland region (never chief medical officer, as she liked to claim to any english readers of hers) at one time, her writings should be taken with a HUGE grain of salt. I'm sure there's useful information mixed in there, but she's unfortunately most well known for claiming things like: aliens live among us on earth, trips to moon are done twice every week, humans already have colonies in mars and do manned flights to saturn, that she has been in both psychic and physical contact with aliens and alternate universes, that the swine flu vaccines were/are dangerous because they contain microchips that monitor and control people, that streetlights in Helsinki are used to mind-control people, called the 2011 Norway Attacks a conspiracy, and a lot more. Most of what she said is simply not very likely whatsoever. One quote from a tv-interview she did is that the entire swine influenza vaccine program is/was just a global scheme to kill people to control overpopulation, and that pregnant women and children were selected especially, because the plan was to "eliminate the next generation".

Originally she only talked about believing in ghosts and that aliens exist and claimed that death isn't a real thing (because ghosts), but was otherwise a reliable medical professional, but after she was in a serious car crash in 1985 and retired from being the Provincial Medical Officer in 1987 (she was on sick leave for the entire time between 85-87 after the crash, and retired because she was not able to continue in her position anymore. It's implied she received brain damage in said crash, from what I understand, and never quite recovered) she started becoming more and more out of touch with her claims.

It shows in her writings- her first book from 1982, Kuolemaa Ei Ole ("Death Does Not Exist"), is simply about her belief in ghosts and that she feels she has proof of death not being "permanent" or "final", because she "received messages from the dead using psychography". Something that, while I don't believe in, was fairly harmless and just something she believed in and wrote about. At that time, she was also the chairwoman of the Lapland Parapsycholgy Association (Lapin Parapsykologinen Seura), from 1981 to 1986.

Her next book, from 1991, Tähtien Lähettiläs ("Envoy of/from the Stars"), is, on the other hand, full of her UFO-claims and how actually, aliens are all around us and talks about how mankind will experience "moral degeneration" and become "contaminated" in regards to that. Not a lot of sense in any of it. As it turns out she was also kicked out from the parapsychological association because even they started thinking her claims were WAY out there, and that she wasn't fit for the chairman position because of it.

From what I've managed to gather from online discussions from the early 00's, most people do not take her seriously, even people who actually do believe in aliens or ghosts. (My other sources for all this include reading summaries of her books, official records, interviews and articles from Finnish sources online)

According to the very few victims of/people with knowledge of ramcoa here in Finland that I know of, she has zero credibility and her claims are not only inaccurate but dangerous because while she does have some accurate things to say (i.e. US government is involved in mind control across the world) most of it is heavily misdirected and used to justify her UFO beliefs instead of actually taking any kind of a critical look at potentially malicious foreign actors in Finland, suspicious activity within Finland, etc. It's very much a case of "we have colonies in Mars and Aliens live among us but nobody knows or believes this because everyone is being mind controlled by low-frequency radiowaves, microwaves or microchips that monitor them 24/7 implanted when giving vaccines to people".

Personally, I wouldn't recommend her works to anyone- mostly because it's impossible to separate the grains of truth from her personal conspiracy beliefs. Sadly, there aren't really any Finnish sources with published work out there that are at least somewhat reliable, so I don't really have any alternatives to recommend to you, but I wanted to at least let you know what her actual reputation here is since whenever she is mentioned in English she usually gets given a LOT more credit than she should be, probably because as far as I know, her Finnish works were never translated to English and she didn't talk as much about these things in English (my personal belief is that she didn't go full-on UFO & antivaxx internationally because she wanted to maintain at least some credibility with international audiences in regards to mind control, behaviour manipulation and so on, and possibly to sell more of the english book she worked on right before her death in 2015).

Also, the back of her english book claims she was "the former acting director of environmental health and health education of national institute of health of Finland in Helsinki" - an institute by that name does not exist, and there are no records of her ever being even associated with any official institutes she COULD be referring to.

She also claimed (on the back of that same book) to have been "government of Finland representative in World Health Organization in Geneva", which is another blatant lie. She has never had anything to do with either the government of Finland, OR WHO. The ONLY international work she ever did was practicing medicine as a physician in Pakistan and Indonesia before she was the provincial medical officer, and this was charity/aid work. I believe she may have lived in Geneva for a while, but that's all there is to it. Basically, she lied about her credentials to international readers and the things she has said in her Finnish sources are so out there her claims make Svali look like the most truthful and trustworthy individual to ever live. I wouldn't trust someone who can't even stay consistent between what she says to her native readers vs to her international ones, especially when she lied about her credentials so egregiously to the latter. She knows Finns could actually check these things easily so she never did this with her Finnish books, most likely she just hoped no Finn would ever read her English work and vice versa.

Sorry this is such a long ask! I felt it was important to let you know though. Thank you for all the work you do on this blog!

Thanks for the information and sharing it.

Here’s a link to the post the ask is talking about. LINK

Oz

[koraki-grimoire]

Witchcraft in Hellenismos

Disclaimer: This post is non-exhaustive, and though I'll try to equally spread my focus, it will inevitably lean towards the kinds of magik I personally practice.

Often, in modern pagan circles, people are under the impression that Ancient Hellenismos either didn't have or despised witchcraft. This is largely from three causes. The first is simply misreading, or failing to come across witchcraft in the Hellenism they research. Second is only reading about or adhering to branches that didn't like witchcraft (usually due to it being perceived as hubristic) and therefore assuming that's the most popular opinion. Finally, sometimes people apply their assumptions based on Christian and Germanic culture to Hellenismos, and assume it carries the same attitudes.

In actuality, the view of witchcraft was historically more neutral. Witches weren't typically seen as hags, but maidens, respectable men, priests, and more. It should also be noted that, frankly, "witch" is a slightly tonally incorrect translation usually applied to the word "pharmakis."

For historical attitudes towards witches, we can read works surrounding mainly Medea and Kirke, as well as Hekate if we go past pharmakeia.

But pharmakeia and nekromankia (necromancy) are far from the only forms of witchcraft or magik--which in Ancient Greek would be "mageia" or "goeteia" depending on time and place, but will simply be called "magik" here.

So, with that very long introduction, let's get into types of magik.

Pharmakeia - Herbal Sorcery, Witchcraft

Pharmakeia is perhaps the most recognizable form of magik in historical Hellenismos. As mentioned, it was associated with the heroine Medea, as well as the goddess/nymph/hero (it's complicated) Kirke. This was magik performed using the aid of herbs, and both historically and now blends magik and science. It includes brewing poisons, casting curses, potionmaking, transmutation, and more. Kirke, famously, used pharmakeia to transform men into swine, whereas Medea tended towards poisoning, but both had variety in their craft.

Generally, when pharmakeia is translated, it's done very broadly compared to other kinds of magik. For example, pharmakeia is usually translated, especially in the Odyssey, to "witchcraft" or "sorcery." Pharmakis--the word for a practitioner of pharmakeia--is usually translated to "witch." This often leads to misconceptions of witchcraft in Hellenismos being specifically oriented around herbs and transmutation, when that's only a small piece of the picture.

Nekromankia/Nekromanteia - Necromancy

Nekromankia is far more famous now in its Anglicized pop-culture form, but it was most certainly present in Hellenismos. It's important to clarify that in Ancient Hellas, nekromankia was magik pertaining to the dead, not things such as zombies and raising the dead. In Hellenismos, the maintenance of good relationships between the dead and the living is of great importance. There were plenty of festivals devoted to placating and celebrating the dead--not to mention the monthly Attic holiday Hekate's Deipnon, devoted to honoring Hekate, goddess of nekromankia. So, unsurprisingly, there were witches who gravitated towards this as a craft.

Multiple Hellenic deities were associated with nekromankia, the most notable of which being Hekate, but also Persephone. Though, of course, any khthonic deity--especially khthonic theoi who also had non-khthonic aspects--were relevant, such as Haides or Hermes. A practitioner of nekromankia would be referred to as a nekromanteías.

Manteia - Divination, Oracles

It should be noted that manteia is heavily contested as being a form of witchcraft or even magik in Hellenismos, but it certainly meets the qualifications. The main reason this debate exists is controversy around magik in Hellenismos in general, since as most Hellenists know manteia is so central to so much of our religion, and those who dislike magik are insulted by it being considered that. Additionally, the definition of magik is constantly in flux--it's debated in modern magik circles, and it's even harder to apply a definition we can hardly agree on to an ancient culture with its own independent definitions.

Manteia is, most simply, the power to give prophecies, divination, and the use of oracles. It's the power of the Pythia (Delphic Oracle), it's in the Olympian Alphabet Oracle, it's every single seer and prophecy and divinatory method known to us.

Someone who practices manteia is called a mantis (usually translated as "soothsayer" or "diviner") or a khresmologos ("oracle"), depending on station.

Heliomanteia - Solar Magik

Heliomanteia is hard to find detailed historical information on, but most simply, it's magikal invocation of the sun. This is generally done by attempting to harness the power of the sun, or by requesting the aid of solar deities (namely, Helios).

Interestingly, Helios had many associations with witchcraft and warding off evil. It could be assumed that, due to the qualities attributed to Helios, heliomanteia would be best used to reveal truth, ward off evil, harness the power of fire, promote life, and similar.

Presumably, a practitioner of heliomanteia is a heliomantis.

Goeteia - Magik, Charms

Goeteia (in modern times "goetia") is a term for magik that fell out of style for general magik around the 5th century BC in favor of mageia. It, additionally, was shoehorned into a dichotomy of theurgy (divine, "professional," and virtuous magik) and goeteia (low, malicious, and fraudulent magik). This was largely due to political and social overhaul. The name became associated with fraudulent and harmful magik, and talk of goeteia in Ancient Hellas is a major source most anti-witch Hellenists use.

The goes (practitioner of goetia) was maligned, seen as hubristic and either trying to go against the power of the gods or intending to scam others. Plato famously portrayed them as malicious frauds, and he was not alone. Since the term "goes" is generally translated as "witch," it's not a leap to figure out why this lead to a lot of anti-witch Hellenists.

However, before this (and technically after), "goeteia" simply meant magic, charms, and similar. As a unique practice, and not simply an umbrella term for witchcraft, it can be considered channeling, a relative of nekromankia, or baneful magik, depending how much one leans into the later definition.

Theourgía - Deity Work, Divine Magik

Theourgia (in modern times "theurgy") quite literally translates to "deity work" or "god(s) working." It is ritual, sometimes magik, done with the intent of invoking one or more of the theoi. This was the ritual magik often performed by priests. In fact, it could be considered the mainstream magik of Ancient Hellas--assuming, of course, that one considers it magik.

It's not only historic magik that was central to the religion, but sets historical precedent for the controversial phrase "deity work." The existence of theurgy as the "higher form" of magik in Ancient Hellas is singlehandedly enough evidence to prove the phrase is not and would not be considered inherently hubristic. It should be noted that this form isn't inherently superior, but if you asked Plato, he would disagree.

There are certainly more forms of mageia in Ancient Hellas--For example, I skipped over amulets (periapta), which were almost incontestably the most common magik in a lot of Ancient Hellas, since they could technically fit under some other crafts and because they're the easiest to research on your own. It's a similar case with potions, too.

One important takeaway is the hard line between magik, religion, and science is a fairly recent invention. Pharmakeia could act as medicine, not just sorcery. Many potions were also medication. Frankly, the more women were involved, the more practical it tended to be, with 'spells' often being genuine aids to childbirth and/or birth control. This didn't make them any less magikal, and the magik doesn't make it less real.

And I hope I made it very, very clear, but witchcraft has always been in Hellenismos, and isn't inherently hubristic. That is a myth, and is rooted often in historical (and modern) classism, misogyny, xenophobia, or similar. Always consider your source's incentive to stigmatize before discounting all Hellenic witches.

[tessadiscordia]

A must-read for anyone who played Girls' Monachopsis. I fear this visual novel will be mostly overlooked due to its short runtime but it will burrow its way into your mind and your heart and nest there if you allow it

In watching the discourse around Girls' Monachopsis unfold I made the observation that there seem to be two categories of reviews for the game:

Camp A: mostly trans women who almost immediately became evangelical about the game and rushed to social media to tell everyone about it

Camp B: a small amount of critics who complained about the writing style, story pacing, and the "romanticization of abuse" in the game

I find it interesting that both camps came to wildly different conclusions about the same elements of the game. Camp A views the writing style as a convention that adds to the story's immersion, while Camp B writes it off as laziness. Camp B thinks the ending left too much unresolved, Camp A appreciates the uncertainty for its familiarity.

It is just another case of a piece of art steeped in layers of cultural context breaching containment. We've seen this happen before with other cultures and niche communities in the past, this isn't really new. I do think there is one thing worth lingering on, though.

I read a post that basically called Monachopsis a game for "white trans femcels" and I honestly cackled a little bit considering that a black trans woman was heavily involved in the making of the game. It feels like "white trans femcels" or some other variant is just something people say when they mean "mentally ill trans women." This is already getting pretty long so I won't waste time explaining the problem here. There's the implication there that "media made for mentally ill trans women has less (if any) value," which is a self-indicting belief when you put it next to the overwhelmingly positive reception the visual novel has received from that very demographic who clearly is not used to seeing themselves represented in media in such a raw and unsanitized way. I think it is wholly unfair to say that any demographic does not deserve to feel seen in media or have media made specifically for them. We all deserve to feel seen, we all deserve to feel understood, and I think it's fairly obvious how the game's themes are relevant here.

The alternative option is alienation, and alienation is always a recipe for disaster. Generally speaking, no one isolated has ever come to any optimistic or generally positive conclusions about the answers to life's many questions. Social alienation tends to bring out the worst in people, and often when it does many of us like to pretend that such a thing could never happen to us. Many of us might like to believe that we are immune to the socially and morally stunting effects of prolonged social isolation, and more importantly that we ourselves are incapable of doing harm.

I think this piece is especially important because it highlights an uncomfortable truth for the average person. Olivia never fully reckoning with the gravity of her actions, combined with Thistle forgiving her way too easily, is a disturbingly accurate portrayal of abuse that may slip under the radar because most people hold a very specific mental image of what abuse looks like. Some people can use this mental image to justify the "subtle" ways that they may engage in abusive behavior, but most people just use it as a way to distance themselves from any perceived capacity to do harm and thus absolve themselves of any need for self-reflection. I think the mantra "anyone is capable of doing harm, even me," is a hard thing to internalize for many people. I think it's even harder to add "even someone they care about. ESPECIALLY someone they care about." We don't want to think about it, but keeping the truth out of sight and out of mind doesn't prevent harm from being done.

Lastly, ostracizing and demonizing groups of people for traits that are out of their control is bound to create more problems in the long run. If we fail to think critically, those problems can look like a vindication of the decision to isolate those people. I can use the stigmatization of neurodivergent people (and I don't just mean autism, I'm talking about BPD and other personality disorders) as an example of this. Queer people who are "too weird," people who find enjoyment in taboo kinks whether as a way of coping with trauma or whatever other reason. It shouldn't have to be justified either way. If two adults lay down clear boundaries and communicate effectively, the activities they consent to is no one else's business besides any other parties they decide to include. Two consenting adult lesbians calling one another "sister" should not make people as rabid as it does. However, when we ostracize queer and neurodivergent people who do not fit our sanitized view of what those things mean, we run the risk of banishing them into spaces that are actually abusive. Sometimes the institutions that we create for ourselves in response to a society that has largely abandoned us can be just as poisonous as the very society we're trying to shelter ourselves from. Your queer community, if left without the tools to facilitate healthy dynamics, can be exploitative. It can be self-sabotaging. It can be just as toxic as the outside world. Sometimes our own institutions fail us too. I feel like this idea is expressed brilliantly in Malcatras' Maiden in addition to Monachopsis. Oftentimes they fail us while trying to do their very best to give us what we need. On an interpersonal level, our partners can do the same. We can also fail our partners while trying to do our very best. Anyone who thinks otherwise is more dangerous than anyone who works to keep that in mind. It is that very line of thinking, "I am incapable of doing harm, I don't have to worry about hurting anyone because I am not a bad person," that increases the possibility of someone getting hurt.

Wrote down some thoughts about Girls' Monachopsis development. Sincere thank you to weird freaks for enjoying this game. https://lunaticker.itch.io/girls-monachopsis/devlog/809599/girls-monachopsis-developer-ramblings

[hellomynameisbisexual]

Since the very conception of the motion picture, the LGBT community have been represented on-screen in some form. An early example is Algie the Miner (1912), a short silent film which follows the effeminate Algie (Billy Quirk), who enjoys kissing cowboys. In order to marry someone’s daughter, he heads west to prove that he’s a man. While this is quite an outdated stereotype of being gay, the portrayals have varied greatly over time. Only recently is LGBT representation becoming more positive and common. However, when it comes to portraying bisexuality on-screen, it still seems to be a difficult task.

Many narrative tropes have been birthed through filmmakers trying to show sexuality on-screen and most of them contribute directly to the overall erasure of bisexuality in cinema – usually with ambiguous portrayals, negative stereotyping and characters needing to pick a side. Not all instances are problematic, but their prevalence isn’t helping to combat the stigma that bisexual people face. There are three main tropes when it comes to depicting bisexuality, which is infidelity, picking a side, and the horrible husband. They’re usually found together in a common narrative that erases bisexuality, whether intentional or not.

Infidelity

There’s a long-standing stereotype that bisexual people are more likely to cheat on their partners and are incapable of commitment. This is a trope that is heavily carried in some of the most well-known depictions of bisexuality. Typically, a female protagonist is engaged or married to a man, but she meets a lesbian woman and they become involved sexually and romantically, leaving the protagonist torn between two lovers. This happens in Imagine Me & You (2005) when Rachel (Piper Perabo) falls in love with lesbian flower shop owner Luce (Lena Headey), who provided the flowers for her wedding to Hector (Matthew Goode). It’s a fairly average film that could’ve been amazing had it acknowledged Rachel’s bisexuality, but it’s still one of the better ones considering Perabo and Headey have amazing chemistry.

For some reason, bisexual characters are often in serious relationships when they’re suddenly sexually awakened. This happened to Rachel right after her wedding because she happened to meet the right woman. While this type of experience does happen in real life, it’s always the go-to narrative for films about women realizing they’re not one-hundred-percent straight. In these instances, the same-sex love affair acts as the conflict within the narrative – this can create good drama when done right, but it gets boring and bisexual characters deserve better than constantly being portrayed as cheaters. People are not more promiscuous or likely to cheat on their partners because of their sexuality, but these tropes are constantly telling people otherwise.

We deserve to see bisexual characters whose sexuality isn’t the main narrative focus or who at least explore their sexuality outside of a relationship. Appropriate Behaviour (2014) is a good example of this as Shirin (Desiree Akhavan, who is also the film’s writer and director) is a bisexual Persian American woman who is keeping her sexuality a secret from her judgemental family, while also attempting to rebuild her life after breaking up with her girlfriend. Seeing bisexuality portrayed on-screen is another place where people pick up more stigma or acceptance, and with bisexuality it, unfortunately, seems to be the former. This is why bisexual filmmakers like Akhavan are better suited to portraying the experiences of bisexual men and women than others.

Picking A Side

When the protagonist is in conflict with her sexuality, the people around her usually wonder if she’s a lesbian now – despite them being engaged or married to a man. This can be seen in Below Her Mouth (2010) where Jasmine (Natalie Krill) begins having an affair with Dallas (Erika Linder). When her husband finds out, he tells her “You’re a lesbian” but she tells him that she loves him and nothing has changed between them. It seems impossible to grasp that a person could be attracted to both men and women. Bisexuality is erased.

Some films insinuate that the protagonist isn’t necessarily bisexual or even a lesbian, it’s just that they’re attracted to this one woman only and no others – they’re an exception! This is the kind of impression you get from Below Her Mouth, but also from other films such as Imagine Me & You and Elena Undone (2010), which isn’t particularly helpful for lesbian representation either. In Imagine Me & You, Rachel tells Hector “You are my best friend. That was enough before, and it will be enough again.” This implies that Rachel was never truly attracted to him in a romantic sense, thus implying that she’s a lesbian. While this could be a case of compulsory heteronormativity, it seems problematic as it’s never discussed or explained. Avoiding discussions about sexuality – as most of these films do – are what contribute to this trope massively and result in misinterpretation and erasure.

Films as new as Netflix’s Alex Strangelove (2018) also feed into the idea that bisexuality is a stepping stone to picking a side. Alex (Daniel Doheny) prepares to lose his virginity to his girlfriend but finds his plans derailed when he’s attracted to another boy. He spends most of the film questioning his sexuality and at one point thinks he’s bisexual. The film does highlight biphobia which brings attention to this problem, so it’s disheartening at the end when Alex realizes he is gay and not bisexual after all. The set up for Alex Strangelove was perfect for a bisexual love story and, while it’s still positive LGBT representation, it’s a shame it didn’t stick with that. It’s even rarer to see bisexual men portrayed on-screen, so it would’ve been really rewarding.

It’s important to acknowledge that bisexuality is a comfortable place for some people to be while they’re trying to accept that they are gay – and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, there still seems to be some widespread discomfort when it comes to sexuality being fluid. For bisexual people, there isn’t any side to pick – they’re not torn between polar opposites, nor are they confused. They aren’t on the fence, they’re on both sides of the fence. Nevertheless, films continue to portray bisexuality as a personal conflict that needs resolving, and it does this by putting bisexual characters in a situation where they’re having affairs. This makes their sexuality the narrative conflict, which is wholly problematic in itself.

The Horrible Husband

The protagonist’s fiancé or husband is usually abusive or passive in the relationship, and thus portrayed as the antagonist. She is then drawn to a lesbian woman who treats her so much better and gives her the attention she deserves. Sometimes it’s as though these films are saying that lesbianism is the cure for a dissatisfying heterosexual relationship. This contributes to bisexual erasure by suggesting that bisexual women can only be happy with women and never with a man because they’re horrible or not good enough. It also perpetuates the idea of picking a side – almost telling bisexuals that they should just be lesbians instead.

This trope is found in films like Elena Undone, where Elena (Necar Zadegan) meets Peyton (Traci Dinwiddie) who is a famous lesbian writer. Elena’s husband Barry (Gary Weeks), however, is a homophobic pastor. Elena Undone is actually loosely based on director Nicole Conn’s real-life romance with Marina Rice Bader, but the film itself isn’t great. It’s also shown in The World Unseen (2007) as Miriam (Lisa Ray) quietly follows the customs of 1950s South Africa, alongside dealing with her abusive husband Omar (Parvin Dabas). Miriam becomes empowered to change her circumstances when she meets and falls in love with free-spirited cafe owner Amina (Sheetal Sheth).

A much better film that deals with this trope is Bound (1996). Lesbian ex-con Corky (Gina Gershon) arrives at an apartment building to start work as a painter and plumber. She soon finds herself being seduced by Violet (Jennifer Tilly) who lives next door with her boyfriend Caesar (Joe Pantoliano). Violet explains that they’ve been together for five years and he’s a money launderer for the mafia. She wants to escape and make a new life for herself, so she and Corky plan to steal $2 million of Mafia money and blame it on Caesar. The horrible husband trope actually works well in this film because the women plan to screw Caesar over and it doesn’t use Violet’s infidelity as the main narrative conflict – it’s a lot more original, which isn’t surprising as the first directorial feature film from the Wachowski Sisters. Bound would’ve been much less effective if Caesar was just a regular guy who Violet hated, but she has a better motive with the drama surrounding his violent mafia connections.

These three tropes are collectively the entire plot of Imagine Me & You, Elena Undone, The World Unseen, I Can’t Think Straight (2008), Kiss Me (2011) and more. It’s a shame that there isn’t always a huge focus on the actual relationship between the two women in these films. It’s more about them hiding their relationship and because they officially get together at the end, we never get to see much of what their life is like as a couple. They all feature very similar themes, meaning that when it comes to telling the stories of bisexual characters, the narrative is rarely diverse. Romantic comedies in general always follow the same beats which is fine, but these tropes for bisexual characters either erase their sexuality and/or display it as a problem.

These tropes can still work well (like with Bound) depending on certain aspects of the narrative. Infidelity works well in Carol (2015) due to the 1950s setting. Carol (Cate Blanchett), who is in the process of divorcing her horrible husband, and Therese (Rooney Mara) have to hide their relationship due to homosexuality not being accepted during this time. This adds an extra layer to the narrative, giving actual depth to why things are happening the way that they are. There’s also Disobedience (2017) where it works well due to the Orthodox Jewish culture. Ronit (Rachel Weisz), who is considered bisexual, returns to the community for her father’s funeral to find her childhood friend Esti (Rachel McAdams) married to a man. Esti describes herself as a lesbian woman in a relationship with a man, which is disheartening but works in the film’s world. Disobedience also plays through the infidelity trope very differently to other films, allowing it to be more effective.

The Erasure

In films with bisexual characters, it’s rare that the word “bisexual” actually comes up. It’s mostly ambiguous, implied or erased completely by the protagonist seemingly picking a side. It’s constantly reinforced by narrative tropes that are set up for dramatic entertainment, with no real intention of representing sexuality with genuine care. Erasure also happens due to words like “gay” being used as an umbrella term when referring back to certain films. Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Call Me By Your Name (2017), for example, are often referred to as gay films on social media due to the gay relationships portrayed, However, the characters are portrayed to be sexually fluid/bisexual due to the nature of their relationships with women. It also happens with films like Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2014) which is always painted as a lesbian love story when Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos) is clearly bisexual. It’s not necessarily bad to use gay and lesbian as umbrella terms, but it, unfortunately, does contribute to bisexual erasure. We should be bringing more attention to bisexuality on-screen and pointing it out specifically when we see it.

One of the biggest erasures is the portrayal of bisexual men. They appear much less frequently than bisexual women. The most recent example that comes to mind is Jake Gyllenhaal’s character in Velvet Buzzsaw (2019), but the word bisexual was never used and he was portrayed as being promiscuous, which fits into the negative stereotype (although the film is satire so perhaps it can be excused). Some better, or at least more interesting, depictions of bisexual men are still out there and can be found in films such as Velvet Goldmine (1998), Kaboom (2010), The Comedian (2012), The Lobster (2015) and Moonlight (2016).

If anything, bisexual characters are usually left out of the bury your gays/dead lesbian syndrome trope. It’s very common both in film and television for gay men and lesbian women to be killed off in some dramatic way, such as in Brokeback Mountain, The Fox (1967), Les Biches (1968), Lost and Delirious (2001) and A Single Man (2009). Bisexual women have been killed off quite a bit in television – like Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) in The O.C. – but they’re relatively safe in film and hopefully, it’ll stay that way.

Acknowledging Bisexuality

It is disheartening that bisexual representation on-screen isn’t as good or as frequent as gay and lesbian representation. We’re also at a time where it could be massively improved, but now we face the barrier of “queer” as another umbrella term. It’s wholly unhelpful when not everyone identifies with it and when we want bisexual characters to say the word bisexual on-screen. We want to be acknowledged. Bisexual actress Stephanie Beatriz made sure her bisexual character in Brooklyn Nine-Nine got to say it earlier this year, because that word means something to certain people and the impact is great. Hopefully this will start to happen more in film going forward.

There are definitely films out there where the word bisexual is actually said, like in Appropriate Behaviour, Kiss Me, Velvet Goldmine and Margarita with a Straw (2014). It’s rare that we hear it so when we do it’s pretty exciting. In addition to these, other films that feature positive and/or complex portrayals of bisexual characters in general (and not the previously discussed tropes) are: Cabaret (1972), Chasing Amy (1997), Black Swan (2010), Atomic Blonde (2017) and Tully (2018).

There have been many positive and negative depictions of bisexuality, but the majority of them aren’t great or feed into the biphobia and the erasure of the identity. Filmmakers need to do better when it comes to portraying bisexual characters and their stories. It’s always helpful when bisexual people themselves get a voice, whether as writers, directors or actors. For some reason, although there are exceptions, most straight male and lesbian filmmakers have trouble portraying bisexuality both positively and accurately. They essentially give the message that bisexuality doesn’t exist or is an inner conflict that needs to be resolved. We must do better because one day someone will be watching a film where a character says “bisexual” and their life will suddenly fall into place.

[amor-immortalem]

Everything Undesired

Genre: angst, hurt/comfort

Warnings: dead dove: do not eat, heavily implied rape, gross misuse of a pact, dissociation victim blaming

Summary: not all pact masters use their pacts judiciously or in a positive way. What happens when a pact is misused in one of the worst ways possible?

A/N: so a while back I did a comic by the name of ‘Meet Me Under the Azaleas’ I’m no longer happy with the writing I put into it originally so I wanted to rewrite it using the same plot line and adding some extra scenes that weren’t in the original comic which I’ll be taking down tonight. It should work better as a fic anyway.

Chapter 1

“You are ours. We own you.”

Those words rang in his head over and over as he stumbled his way into his room, overstimulated, exhausted- a mess. He knew it was a mistake to answer the call of those witches tonight. The thoughts of what they did, how their hands ran over his body, what they had taken away. It made his stomach churn and tie itself in knots with guilt and shame. It burned just the same as the rope marks on his wrists and ankles- wounds that would heal within the hour.

“You won’t breathe a word of this to anyone- this we command of you, Avatar of Greed.”

Those women -no, they were monsters- abused the innate trust that comes with a demon who enters a pact with a human, multiple in this case. They had violated the boundaries he’d put in place the day he started dating his human. Oh God, what would she think if word ever got out? He had no way of speaking out- to scream the truth until his voice was raw.

He needed to shower, to get the stench of sex and sweat off of him. He had to get their scent off of him. As he entered the bathroom, Mammon tore off his clothes as he started the water. The lights remained off as he couldn’t bare to look at himself after what happened. Not after how he just let them use him like that.

He stepped under the boiling water and just let it run against him. The falling water did nothing to drown out the deafening voices running rampant in his mind.

“Disgusting!” They roared, “Useless! Pathetic! Weak! Whore! ….. Scum!”

He falls to the floor of his shower, hands gripping at his hair as he let out a whimper that eventually turned into quiet sobs. The steamy air making it harder to breathe. Why didn’t he fight against them harder- against their orders. No, he just laid there and took it.

He grabbed the soap and a wash rag and scrubbed his body until every bit of him was raw and even then he wouldn’t stop. It was only when he saw the blood swirling around the drain that Mammon realized what he was doing to himself- how bad the water burned the exposed skin. It felt like hellfire raining down upon him.

He felt horrible as he reached up and switched the water off. He could still hear it in his head as he reached for a towel- all the crying, screaming, begging for them to stop.

He was a pathetic, sorry excuse of a demon, he thinks as he wraps the towel around his waist and travels down the his stairs quietly. It’s early morning now. There was only a few hours left before he would have wake up for school. He contemplated just skipping the entire day. There would be know way he’d be able to function. He could always say he feels sick- its not that far from the truth. He would decide in a few hours, he thought as he crawled into bed. It didn’t take long for her to move closer to him. His naturally warmer body temperature was what drew her to him. His body involuntarily tensing as she nuzzled into his chest, arms slipping around his body. He would only tuck her head under his chin and drape and arm over her side as he let the scent of her shampoo relax him enough to fall into a light sleep.

After a short while, someone's alarm blared among the sheets- whether it his or Arella's, he couldn't be sure. Mammon patted around for the offending phone, just wanting to get five more minutes of shut eye. He eventually succeeded but not without waking his partner.

"Morning, Love," Arella sighed, her voice still laced with the grogginess of sleep.

"Mornin', Treasure," The demon yawns as he curls back up, pulling her closer to his chest. "Sleep well?"

"I did. What time you get back last night?" Arella's voice is soft as her hand slides under his shirt, rubbing gently along his side.

"5 this mornin'." He says as he tries to hide the way his body recoils from her touch, a pang of guilt strikes his heart as she notices. "Sorry... 'm not really feelin' all that great right now..."

"No, that's alright." She removes her hand from his side, choosing instead to rest it against his cheek as she readjusts herself so she's eye-level with him on the pillow. "How selfish of those witches to keep you out so late on a school night..." Its at this point she notices the puffiness and how red his eyes are. "You look like you've been crying... Is everything alright?"

He just shakes his head. Mammon wants so badly to tell her what happened to him the night before- the real reason he got home so late, but unsurprisingly, no words come out. He just closes his eyes, letting himself relax under her gentle touch. "I'm jus' really tired s'all."

"I believe it. You only got a hour and a half's worth of sleep. Would you like to just stay home all day, just the two of us?" Arella moves him so he's resting with his head on her chest.

"That's sounds.... nice," he hums quietly, so close to falling back into the clutches of sleep.

"Alright then. Go on and go back to sleep," She kisses the top of his head, carding her fingers through the soft, fluffy locks the other hand rubbing small circles in the center of his back. "I've got you."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This carried on for months. The witches would summon him and as long as he complied with their wishes, they would hold his secret. By the third time, he would check out- let his mind escape to anywhere but the present until it was over. It became a vicious cycle. They would call, he would go to them, and then he would crawl into his bed for maybe an hour or two before forcing himself to get up for classes that he often fell asleep in. After the tenth, once they had finished with him, he asked why they were doing this and they told him.

“We desire something to bind you to us for the rest of our lives.”

“A child.”

The demon’s eyes widened at that. Never in his life had he been so opposed to the idea of having children. In fact, just before all of this happened he had been daydreaming about what his children with Arella would look like if they were ever so fortunate to have any but a child with one of the witches? It made him sick. A half-demon born from a demon of his status had a high probability of killing its mother- one who he would then have to raise. How could he explain that to his brothers- to Arella? The very thought filled him with dread. How could he ever bring himself to care for a child conceived from a crime? A child that would always be nothing but a constant reminder of the worst nights of his life. They didn’t deserve a life like that.

And so Mammon did the only thing he could think to do: he fled. He ran back to the Devildom, back to House of Lamentation as fast a his legs would carry him. He crashed through the doors of the house. Never had he been so greatful to be the first one home. As he climbed the steps up to his room he vowed to himself never again. He wouldn’t give them what they wanted, consequences be damned.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been six months since his last encounter with the witches. There was nothing on their end- absolute radio silence. Part of Mammon wondered if they'd gotten what they wanted from him after all. Everyday was filled with the anxiety of not knowing. His nightmares had gotten worse. Most of them were based around those nights he'd spent with them, others involved everyone finding out a one-sided version of what had happened, all spun in the favor of the witches. He dreamed of Arella leaving him, heart-broken from the implication that he would stray from her and running into the arms of one of his brothers. The worst ones- the ones he would wake up from covered in a cold sweat in the dead of night- consisted of him standing in the witches' home, the sounds of screaming, the smell of blood, the piercing first cries somewhere between the call of a demon and the screams of a human baby infecting his senses. It all felt too real. It felt like a crushing weight on his chest.

Over this time, Mammon had grown distant from both his brothers and Arella, hardly spending anytime with them. He fell apart. The grades he worked so hard to pull up had taken a nose dive, he was hardly eating- choosing only to consume just barely enough to sustain himself. He no longer slept for fear of the nightmares and he instead threw himself into side jobs that would keep him out of the house well passed curfew as well as earn him plentiful amounts of grimm. He couldn't go on like this much longer.

Everyone was worried for him. None of them had ever seen the Avatar of Greed in this manner and the gradual change in his demeanor alarmed them. Despite everyone’s best attempts, Mammon hardly smiled anymore. He just simply didn't seem to enjoy all of the things he once did. They all knew something was wrong but when asked the white haired demon would shrug it off, say he was fine when he very obviously was not. Everything came to a head the night Mammon collapsed, finally falling victim to exhaustion and hunger.

It was after this that Lucifer called the family to a meeting while Arella sat with Mammon in his room as he slept fitfully.

"What do we do, Lucifer?" Asmo seemed distraught with fear. "Our brother is suffering from something and we don't even know where to start in trying to help him."

"We have to get him to talk somehow," Satan quipped, "Perhaps Arella can-"

"If this were any other situation, I would suggest it but right now, I don't think that's a very wise move. If she forces him to talk it could very well damage the bond they share." For the first time in thousands of years, Lucifer didn't know what to do. Whatever was causing this shift in personality was eating away at Mammon. "We'll try to think of a way to fix this- to find out what happened to our dear brother. So let's start at the beginning of all of this. What do we know about what he was doing before this happened?"

"Well, Levi started, "He was getting called up by those witch sisters with more and more frequently. I heard him come home super late- like early morning hours late..."

"And after that is when he practically stopped eating." Beel chimed in.

"And he was having nightmares almost nightly, afterwards." Belphie nodded. "I did my best with my powers to look into them but there were so many mental blocks that he subconsciously put up, I couldn't see or hear anything very well and what I could see didn't make a whole lot of sense. They weren't very clear, but they had something to do with the witches... and I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt associated with them."

"Then obviously something happened while he was with them," Satan said, brow furrowed. "But what that may be, we won't know until he talks."

"Asmo, I see the look on your face." Lucifer called out to the Avatar of Lust. "Is there something, you'd like share with the group?"

Everyone's eyes were locked onto Asmodeus as the demon sat with a contemplative look on his face. He was very slowly starting to piece together what had been going on.

"Not yet, but I may have a hunch." He finally said. "Mammon has a pact with these women, correct?"

Next

Masterlist 2

[turnaroundroundround]

Opera References in Musical Yuukoku no Moriarty Op. 2

Some thoughts of mine after re-watching Morimyu Op. 2, regarding Irene's arc A Scandal in British Empire, about all the opera references and some random thoughts that come to mind during this arc. Obviously there's a lot more to Morimyu Op. 2, for instance The Two M's and Mycroft's solo (which I often refer to as "the Mycroft Anthem" lol), the entire Baskerville arc, and the train arc, and so on. And there's a whole lot of other things I'd like to discuss about them as well, but maybe just save it for another time. I don't know if anyone has discussed these references before, and I am not entirely a pro in music either. All I have is some basic knowledge on opera and harmony, so these are just some personal impression that came to mind when I watched this arc, so please keep it in mind.

A SCANDAL IN BRITISH EMPIRE

Okay, so the biggest motivation for this post is, obviously, the music throughout the entire Scandal arc. It is heavily influenced by opera, partly because Irene herself is an opera singer, partly also because the masquerade ball itself is also a perfect stage for an opera to be shown. And the opera was not simply brought in to make the music sound good, but also utilising the plot of the opera itself to create more depth and color to the musical. About Opera during the 19th Century Some side notes. Opera has originated and developed from various different kinds of stage ever since the Greek and Romans. I'm not going into details but anyway, by the 19th Century, it's still somewhat of a luxury that is mostly meant for nobles and people with high status. There are millions of stories about nobles coming to the theatre only to enjoy the music and not the play itself, or not really watching anything but waiting to see their favourite opera singer. Like when the other things in the play are going on, they stay in there box or hang out with other nobles, playing cards and all, and when their favourite singer makes her debut, they come to the front of the box and watch her. Then they return to their games when she exits. All the luxuries. Opera is really something that is meant for nobles and those with nothing but time and money on their hand back then. And another thing is (with an image that I quickly searched on Google just now lol) back them before any stages there is always a pit for the orchestra to be in. They are just below the stage so that the music can still reach the audience as equally, but also low enough that they aren't in the way of the audience's view.

By the way, the role of the conductor and stage director back then was somewhat a blur (if I remember it correctly), as the music writer would very often himself direct the entire stage and become the conductor on the performance day. In case something goes wrong, such as actors need more time to adlib, then he knows how to direct the orchestra to play accordingly. It's quite a small detail, but in Op. 3 Liam also refers to himself (yes this is still about Yuumori lol) as the maestro, somewhat very similar to the role of the conductor himself. This reference, as we can see, shows Liam's role behind the scene conducting all the plots and instructions. It's quite a small detail I think, but also quite interesting

By the way, the leading singer, or Prima Donna (as they call Irene), are always sopranos. And the same goes for Irene Adler, all of her songs were written to highlight her soprano voice, like in 大作戦ーDaisakusen or her song with Ms. Hudson

An example from a song that I was reminded of when listening to Cecile!Irene. Of course there are many other songs we can talk about, this is just one of the examples.

Obviously, Irene's song aren't entirely like classical opera songs. They were all arranged to both highlight the opera feature, but also to suit the form of the musical and all the while showing Irene's elegant and gracious manners of a prima donna, and also showing her playful side especially during her duet with Sherlock.

YAMI NO OPERA - DON GIOVANNI BEHIND THE CURTAIN

To understand Don Giovanni references, it's essential to understand the story behind the original opera by Mozart. That being said, the actual plot of the story is quite long and contains so many details it's almost impossible to fit all of them into one post while also comparing them with the one in Morimyu, so this is a link to a more detailed synopsis of the opera. Or you can also read more on wiki. I'll just give some basic details that are referenced and discussed in this post. Overall impression: This opera revolves around a playboy that flirts with women, but lacking in loyalty and commitment to keep any of his promises to them. By the end of the play, after all the sin he has committed, Don Giovanni is engulfed in hell's fire, and punished for his sin. It is very much similar to the story in Morimyu, nobles relying on their wealth and status and have the freedom to do anything as they want, without having to worry about having to bear the consequence. Because of the difference in power and status, it is almost impossible to punish all of them, therefore having a need of a "demon" to punish them with powers that no human have - the role of Moriarty gang within the play.

In this arc, Liam is "directing" a play that is inspired by Don Giovanni. His audience is Irene Adler (and of course us who is watching the entire thing), and the main character is Lorinson who ends up being punished for his crime. Mozart's Don Giovanni is being performed on stage, but at the same time Liam's "Don Giovanni" happens, in the back stage. What we are watching as the main stage is actually the "back stage" of the real story.

In the original play, Don Giovanni was a playboy that flirts with many women. At the beginning of the play, he flirts with a woman called Donna Anna, and her father tried to defend his daughter. They got involved in a duel and Don Giovanni killed the man. Donna Anna mourns and wish to avenger her father.

In Morimyu, the story of Lord Lorinson (pardon me for not knowing both the translation of his title and his name) is added in spite of the original plot in the manga. As far as my Japanese comprehension goes, the story is that Lord Lorinson is also one that uses his status to abduct other women to his pleasure, and ends up treating them poorly.

At one point, a woman came to the Lord of Crime, saying that her daughter has been murdered by the noble and mourns her. She wishes for revenge, and Liam proceed to do so.

Don Giovanni - Act I Finale

During Moran and Louis' fight with Raymond(?), in the section behind the stage we can see the opera theatre with the Finale song going on. The ensemble is still singing as the fight goes on behind them.

In the Finale of Act 1 here, the section that was insert into Morimyu was rather short, and was meant for a dramatic effect than actually showing what's happening in the original opera anyway. But anyway, we can see that as the fight proceeds, the curtain behind also slowly closes, ending the first Act of the opera.

It's clearer here. We can see that as they are fighting there is an entire opera going on at the back. The fact that the ensemble has their back to the audience emphasises how everything we're seeing are all in the backstage, but at the same time it proceeds alongside with all the events in the "mainstage". It's quite a powerful image.

At one point in the opera, Don Giovanni attends a party where he met one of his previous lovers that he betrayed. Then there's some talking and such and more betrayal, and somehow he then decides that he would also flirt with his ex's maid.

There isn't much that I have to say with this reference in the play, only that it is actually Fred disguising as a maid for the purpose of carrying out the plan and scared the sh*t out of Lorinson lol

I couldn't catch all the details from their conversation, but apparently Fred did some kind of stand-in again as the victim who was murdered by Lorinson, also to provoke him and lead him into Liam's trap?

At the end of the opera, Don Giovanni was cornered by the 'devil', drowning him in the flames of hell. However before that happens, the women that Don Giovanni once flirted with (as well as Donna Anna whose father was murdered by Don Giovanni) gathered, chasing after Leporello - Don Giovanni's servant - who exposed him of his guilts and sins.

The song that the women sung in this scene is "Ah, dov'e il perfido?", and there is a very small section at the end of the song that was kind of re-arranged and added to Morimyu. In Morimyu, this is the scene when Lorinson is exposed of what he is done, after that being "punished" by the devil. There is also a scene in the play when Liam mentions 地獄の炎 - Jigoku no Hono (The Flames of Hell) which is a direct reference from the original Don Giovanni. In fact, what he has been telling Lorinson is the story of Don Giovanni and how he ends up being punished - only that when Lorinson realised that, it's already too late.

(A reference from the song in the original play, the section that is used in Morimyu is actually quite short, only starting from around 5:40 within the song in this video)

In Yami no Opera, the song is arranged with Liam's part of the melody above the entire harmony. So it is indeed a proper opera that "Liam" has based on re-arranged to carry out his plan.

While Don Giovanni is happening on stage, there is also another "Don Giovanni" being punished by the devil - Lorinson. We hear part of the original song from the ensemble in the background, and also Liam's version of the punishment along with Lorinson's struggle. And at the same time the ensemble does seem to be focusing on "Don Giovanni" - all of them looking towards Liam's and Lorinson's position. A really impressive scene.

And after that very short section, the play goes on, returning their focus back to Irene Adler and Albert's conversation. There is no "Flames of Hell" erupting in any ways except for Liam's really strong section of the Yami no Opera song. And there's no need for it, I think, as Lorinson has never been the real protagonist like Don Giovanni. Liam only made him a temporary "protagonist" and not solely for the purpose of exposing him, but only as a mean to show Irene the true identity of the Lord of Crime. So there is no point making it more dramatic than it already is.

So...

That's pretty much all that I have to say about Don Giovanni and opera's reference, I think?

Well another thing, maybe, is how much I love the instrumental arrangement for violin and piano in Morimyu. They don't have the privilege of having an entire orchestra, but instead they did as much as they could for the instruments so that they recreate the original opera vibe as well as they possibly can. And the result is, just, extraordinary.

Anyhow, I've heard many of my friends comparing the songs from Op. 2 and Op. 3, seeing that Op. 3 has more of a "flow" in between the songs as all of them were written with harmony such that they have a certain connection to each other.

Not that Op. 2 doesn't do the same thing. However the second Opus does feel more separated, I think, since the music in the 3 different arcs are much more different. For instance the Baskerville arc has a "hunting" vibe to it, describing Moriarty gang's plan to bring down the nobles' game of hurting children, while the final Scandal arc revolves around an opera singer and mostly happens within a masquerade ball. So there is a big difference between the scenes, and obviously a big difference in the music brought to them as well.

Aaaand, that's pretty much all the details I've picked up (and remembered lol) up to this point.

Anyway, I've been watching and re-watching all 3 Opus of Morimyu many times, each time firguring out something else that I haven't noticed before. So if I end up realising some other details within this arc, maybe I'll come back and add to this post.

Thank you for reading ヽ(・∀・)ﾉ

Also, thank you @rikaaki for these beautiful gifs(☆▽☆)

[wispforever]

if youre still doing the character thing, how about spirit or marie?

I sure am. How about Spirit And Marie? Both wonderful characters. I’ll do Marie first, then Spirit. Thanks for the excuse to infodump, really. You people are too kind.

Marie Mjolnir

My first impression of Marie was the same impression I get of most female characters in anime. It’s either “why do their clothes have to look like that” or “oh god here comes the obligatory sexist heteronormative romance”. For Marie, it was more of the second. They mention in the same episode she’s introduced that Stein is her “first love”, which told me that if she had a large place in the plot, her assigned male counterpart around which to orbit would be him. Though I’ve never read the Soul Eater manga, I believe they do end up getting together there (I could be wrong). Whatever the case, I was relieved that Marie’s and Stein’s relationship (though heavily implied to be romantic, at least on Marie’s side) was left open to interpretation in the anime. I’m just very sick of cool badass female characters like Marie being reduced to the man they pine after. So, I guess my first impression of Marie and my impression of her now are largely the same. While I appreciate the moments we get to see her strengths and ability to operate on her own, I do think that her character really suffers because of the whole sexist “oh gosh all I want is to find a husband and retire” “oh my I have to take care of Stein” like okay, I had enough at the cat girl smothering Soul with her humungo-tits. I had enough at sexualizing underage girls and women in general. I had enough at making sexual harassment a punchline. That being said, when we push all of the shitty writing to the side, I admire Marie for her strength and how she interacts with the children, Crona in particular. Which leads me to my favorite moment(s).

The relationship Crona and Marie have interests me the most, since I’m really drawn to the parallels between Marie and Medusa. As parental figures (and as characters), they’re about as different as you can get. As Crona’s mother, Medusa is obviously abusive. Along with being negligent, she abuses Crona mentally, emotionally, and physically. In general, Medusa is a person who doesn’t appear to value interpersonal relationships, putting it nicely. She instead is more focused on her own interests, often to the detriment of those around her. Crona is Medusa’s only immediate family (besides Arachne who she is estranged from), and so they suffer the most from her refusal to show even a shred of human decency or warmth. They suffer especially because they are her child, meaning they’re stuck with her essentially, and repetivie abuse between family members like a mother and child often becomes complex because of the necessity of having a parental figure in your life to support you as you grow up. Medusa teaches Crona that their boundaries don’t matter and that they are only good as long as they are useful and do as they’re told. This is what makes Marie’s influence on Crona so cool to watch. Marie is caring by nature, loving and nurturing by nature. Her very wavelegnth is healing. She is kind and does what’s right reflexively. Marie is the exact embodiment of what Crona always needed but what, even upon being rescued by the academy, still felt so foreign to them: unconditional love. Crona struggles to understand why the other kids helped them, why Maka felt the inclination to stop their battle and save Crona instead by trying to understand them, why the kids are still so kind to them even after everything. They do not understand that love is not a bargaining chip. It isn’t leverage in an argument. It’s not a tool for emotional manipulation. Love is caring for the people close to you, just because. Love for the sake of love. The other kids and teachers at the academy are the ones who are able to pull Crona out of all Medusa’s lies, and Marie is a Huge part of that. Even though I have greivances with this being the largest part of her character and what that implies for female characters in general, it doesn’t stop being so beautiful to me that she could help Crona heal in this way. Marie = best mom for the win

Most of the story ideas I have for Marie involve her relationship with Crona or Stein. Say, this covers my unpopular opinion too. I don’t like Stein and Marie as a couple, but I really enjoy writing them as friends, because even though I don’t really jive with them being together romantically, I think their dynamic is an interesting one to explore because they Are so different.

Getting into that a little bit more, I’d like to start by saying I don’t care if other people like Stein and Marie being a couple. That’s great doods, keep doing you. The fanart’s adorable, the meta’s fantastic. Whoever you are, SteinMarie shippers, ffs keep kicking ASS. This is just my preference and opinion. Zero shade in this house. That said, because of my frustrations about Marie’s character I discussed in the first paragraph, I don’t like the idea of her and Stein being together romantically. It’s really a classic sexist trope: the troubled man and his sweet nurse. I’m also just fed up in general with the hetero-nonsense, so there. However, they are both wonderful characters that I enjoy very much seperately. Also, I think it’s worth mentioning that I’ve only seen the anime, so I can’t speak for the manga as far as their relationship or Marie’s character in general.

Oh shit I accidentally already talked about this one lmao [see the second paragraph]

One headcanon I like to think about when I’m writing Marie is that she likes women (in addition to men or not) and she struggles with comphet. Just something interesting I like to think about. It’s really fun for me to take characters who have been written as pining or had 10 million failed relationships and be like “say what if they can’t find a husband cuz really what they really need is a wife”. I’ll talk about that more with Spirit inevitably.

Spirit Albarn

My first impression of Spirit, obviously him being a cheater, really came with a lot of distaste. I come from a family that was torn apart by infidelity, among other things, so it really rubs me the wrong way. However, his saving grace for me was that he genuinely loves his daughter. It appears that, whether it’s played for laughs or not, he just can’t find fulfillment in his romantic relationships. The reason is left up to the veiwers. Spirit, ultimately, is not just a shitty person, which is how most cheaters are protrayed in media. “Well, they cheated because they don’t care if they hurt people”, “they cheated because they are shit and that’s it”. That’s a fine explanation if you plan to do nothing with whatever character you’re describing, but Spirit is relatively recurring and is shown to be neither mean-spirited or emotionally unintelligent. It bothers me that his cheating and routine sexist behaviour isn’t taken seriously enough to be a subject that Soul Eater tackles and deals with. But that’s fine. I’ll just do it myself. At any rate, I still feel that same way about Spirit’s character, but I find it intriguing that he seems to genuinely want to become a better father and is actually a pretty good dad when it comes to his interactions with Maka. If Soul Eater had been brave enough to develop him more, maybe delve into the reasoning behind his impulsive romantic affairs, I think Spirit as a character could have been done more justice. It seems to me that he could be suffering from some of that wonderful compulsory heterosexuality that I mentioned before, then becoming confused when the woman he claims to love leaves him feeling empty. Rattling my gay little cage

When I think of my favorite moments with Spirit, I think of his moments with Maka, but I’m gonna hold off on that until I get to favorite relationship(s). In reference to what I talked about in the first paragraph, one moment I find really interesting when I’m thinking about my interpretation of Spirit’s character is the scene where he and Maka are on the roof talking. Maka asks Spirit why he cheated on her mother if he did, in fact, love her. He doesn’t appear to know the answer, and he doesn’t really understand how to effectively communicate that, though he was shitty husband, what he really wants now is to try and be a better dad. We hear his inner monologue, and he says something like “I love you [Maka] and your mama. That’s the truth. That’s the truth. That’s the truth.” Every time he says “its the truth” it sounds more like he’s forcing it. This is actually something that is SO strange to me. Even if I didn’t project a queer narrative on to the characters I love, I would look at this and be like “huh that is a Weird thing to say in that specific way”. Why does he say it like that? Why does he have to say it more than once? He’s only talking to HIMSELF. It isn’t like he’s trying to convince Maka. Why does he have to convince himself?? Could it possibly be because he’s reached a conclusion about his romantic/sexual orientation that he’s been trying to swallow his Entire Life??? makes ya wonder, doesn’t it, queers?

Just like I said when I talked about Stein, most of the stories I have in mind with Spirit center around that sweet gayness. But also, I like to think of ways Spirit could come to terms with his sexuality, how it might have affected him when he was young, his relationship with all these women, with his wife. I love to think about him being a dad at 18 and trying his best, but how much responsibility that must have been. Lots of great ideas when it comes to Spirit.

Um? unpopular opinion would be all the standard like I said with Stein lmao. “Oh no!” scream the heteros, “that they/them on tumblr is making Soul Eater queer we canst not allow that in our church!!!111!” But besides that, maybe even the fact that I think he’s redeemable?? Idk most everyone I’ve met thinks Spirit is funny at least and just calls him a dumbass and a slut (affectionate). Doesn’t mean anybody thinks cheating on your wife 56 times is okay so. I like this fandom, it’s chill here. My favorite is when I see my art tagged like “aw the stupid man and his crazy bf” like YOU ARE RIGHT

My favorite relationship when it comes to Spirit (besides Stein cuz if I start talking about them again I’ll never finish this ask) is the one he has with Maka. If you can call it a relationship lol. I guess I just find Spirit’s approach to Maka as a parent really refreshing. Not that the parents in other shows don’t love their kids or whatever, it’s just that the loving parent always seems to be paired with some other trope that makes their character hard to approach. especially in anime. Like the perfect mother who dies in the first episode, and we spend the rest of the show mourning her. Or the father whose love is somehow everlasting even though he’s never home. It’s really the fact that Spirit is even THERE that I love. He knows what Maka is up to. He talks about her. He’s invested in her life, and he loves her. All he wants is to spend time with her, and though he’s sad when she turns him down, he doesn’t push her. god dammit I just like a dad who actually loves his kids without all the usual strings attached like. oh my kids are a huge pain in my ass, but I love them in spite of it. oh i’m a man so can’t relate to my children in a meaningful way but i try. Get the fuck outta here with that shit. I want all the dads to get so happy when their daughters wanna hang with them that they throw up like Spirit. Give me the guy who loves his daughter so naturally, whose daughter is such a huge part of his life, that it doesn’t even occur to him stop trying even if she literally wants to murder him. That’s Spirit. jfc

To end with a cute little headcanon, I really love to think that when Spirit gets older and starts losing the color in his hair, instead of getting white or grey, his hair turns a pale pink color cuz he’s such an aggressive redhead. Wouldn’t that just be adorable? late 30′s, early 40′s, Spirit starts getting little pink streaks in his hair and then bam. Little pink old man Spirit XD

There ya have it. Thanks for the ask, and feel free to send more.

[sineala]

Is 616 Tony a Democrat or Republican or neither? I’ve seen posts comparing him to Trump (barf!)

Wow. Geez. You don't ask easy questions, do you, anon?

First off, I am going to assume that whoever was comparing 616 Tony to Trump was trying to slander Tony. And I will tell you that we do in fact have 616 Tony's canonical opinion of Trump -- yes, Donald Trump exists on Earth-616 and has been referenced in several comics -- and he doesn't seem to like him much. I mean, this is back when Trump was primarily being known for being a New York businessman. They canonically ran in the same circles and Tony canonically knows him. He doesn't like him.

Here's Tony in Iron Man v1 #227 complaining that Trump bought him out of a building:

And here's Tony again in Iron Man v3 #37 being not especially thrilled when he thinks that the person he is about to meet is Trump:

(The person he is actually meeting is Tiberius Stone, which is also a very bad idea.)

I am also going to point out that due to the way Marvel likes to handle politics in its comics, I don't think we can say anything about the canonical political affiliation of most characters, because Marvel deliberately leaves that undefined. So to the best of my knowledge, we don't have a canonical statement about Tony's political affiliation and we probably won't ever get one.

But we can speculate based on canonical evidence, can't we?

My very long answer is under the Read More.

Your question is sort of framed as "tell me if Tony is a good or a bad person," and I would like to suggest that this is not really a useful framing for several reasons: (1) what the political parties currently stand for is pretty recent, actually, and Tony as a character predates a lot of the modern conceptions of the two parties; (2) the history of the Democratic Party specifically in New York, where Tony is from, is, let's just say, not 100% pure and unproblematic; and (3), when we're talking about someone with the amount of money, connections, and influence that Tony has, party affiliation generally doesn't mean the same thing it would mean for us ordinary mortals. What I mean by that last point is that there is a big, big difference between every one of the following list of statements: "I would vote for Republicans," "I am a registered Republican," "I would give very large amounts of money to Republicans," and "I would accept a political appointment in a Republican administration." For most of us, the last two of those points aren't ever going to be something that comes up in our lives, but they are going to be things that matter very much for someone like Tony Stark. And we have a canonical answer for at least one of those things. We can theorize about at least some of the rest of them.

I'm saying all that because I suspect you're really not going to like my answer.

I think that there is a very, very high chance that 616 Tony is a Republican.

I mean, I don't think he'd be a Republican right now at this exact moment in time, are you kidding me, but I feel like he has definitely been a Republican at some point in the past. Say, before Trump. One of those socially-liberal fiscally-conservative types. With a conscience. Sort of like Mitt Romney. Picture the kind of Republican Massachusetts likes to keep electing as their governor.

Yes, is possible that, since Tony is from New York, he's a lifelong Democrat. It is definitely possible. New York is heavily Democratic in our world, and barring contradictory evidence, that is probably also the case on Earth-616. But I think that, specifically because of the rest of Tony's background and the ways that Tony has interacted with the world of politics in 616, he is most likely to be a Republican. It doesn't mean he couldn't be a Democrat! I have no proof either way! In terms of several elements of his characterization -- say, his commitment to social justice and fighting inequity -- I would say he definitely leans Democrat, because these days that sort of thing is mostly the province of the Democrats, although I suspect that back when Tony was created it wouldn't have been out of character for a lot of Republicans. I'm just saying that Republican seems more likely. If you gotta pick one. I think you could definitely argue for either. He doesn't fit completely into either but his canon interactions with politics push me toward thinking he's a Republican, because he does several specific things that I think it would be unlikely that anyone other than a Republican would be given the opportunity to do at the specific time that he does them.

Yeah. I know.

Right. Okay. Tony is extremely, extremely rich, and even though I know that he is basically the fantasy of The One Good Ethical Billionaire (more on this in a sec), it's probably worth thinking about what actual real-life rich people do with their money in ways that intersect with politics. And the answer to that is, well, generally they give money to politicians who are favorable to, say, helping them continue to have money. Now, yes, as far as I know there is no evidence of Tony doing this in canon -- this is where all the conjecture comes in. So we ask ourselves, okay, if Tony were to endorse particular politicians because of this, what party would he give money to? Who would he want to get in good with? In most parts of the country, that would probably be the Republican party. But, specifically in New York, it's the Democrats.

So, yeah, one of the big points in favor of him being a Democrat is that, well, Democrats traditionally run New York. The class of old-money New York elites are pretty stereotypically Democrats. And that would include Tony. Which is not to say that he couldn't be a Republican, but if he wants to get anywhere with New York politicians, and I suspect he probably does because he is trying to run a series of very large businesses and he owns a fair amount of real estate including several buildings whose permitting processes I can only imagine fall into the category of “probably highly irregular" -- I mean, he has multiple jets that he regularly lands on his house and secret underwater tunnels for a submarine -- he has to cozy up to Democrats. If he gives money to anyone involved in politics, that's who he gives money to. Making superhero bases probably took a lot of money. A massive amount of money. The city planners probably cry when they see him coming.

(At one point I believe they did ban him from keeping the Quinjets in his house. That was when the Avengers had the Hydrobase.)

I tend to assume most people know something about the history of the Democrats in New York, or at least the history of US political parties in general, but the tl;dr version is that the parties haven't always stood for the same things that they do now. They also weren't always the same parties. And historically, in New York, the political machine gives you Democrats. That's just the way it is. The Democratic Party of the past was not really, um, devoted to all the same causes as the current Democratic Party. And it was very hard to get anywhere in New York and not be a Democrat. It still is. If you haven't read up on Tammany Hall, maybe you should. There was a lot of corruption. I mean, yeah, it's not currently a thing, but the Democrats remained in power in New York; it dissolved probably around about the time the Republican Party explicitly decided that the way to win the South was to appeal to the racism of white voters ("the Southern strategy"). Because, yes, before that a lot of white, conservative Southerners were traditionally Democrats. And then the Democrats split about civil rights, and, uh, the Republicans took in the racists.

Anyway! US political history is sure a land of contrasts! Rich New Yorkers are traditionally Democrats! That is a point for Tony possibly being a Democrat, yes. Moving on!

But Tony is not just a random old-money New Yorker. He inherited Howard Stark's money and Howard Stark's company. And Howard was, well, a defense contractor. And so was Tony, until he stopped making weapons. And, uh, being a defense contractor is, um, one of those things that is extremely, extremely Republican. No, I don't have stats to back this up. Just trust me. So, yeah, he's a rich New Yorker -- but he's also a defense contractor from a family of defense contractors. I would be amazed if Howard Stark were anything other than a Republican. Which is not to say that Tony could not be a Democrat anyway, but the job does come with a certain predisposition.

(Incidentally, one of the other things Tony inherited from Howard was his membership in the Hellfire Club, which is one of those things I keep forgetting about until canon smacks me in the face with it every few years.)

We all know that the conception of Tony, as a character, is basically the fantasy of the Ethical Billionaire. He is The Best At Capitalism. He has money and he is not corrupted by it. He has money and he uses it to do the maximum amount of good in the world because that is what he really, deeply wants to do. He supports a large number of philanthropic causes! He has a foundation named after his mother! He funds programs for low-income youth! He runs a homeless shelter for women! Throughout his history, he has been consistently portrayed as a deeply, deeply kind human being, who wants to help people. A lot of people! People who aren't like him! People who might not even like him! That is just... who he is, as a person.

And these days we tend to associate that kind of push for systemic change and caring about social issues and remedying inequity with Democrats, but that wasn't always the case. I think it still would have been believable coming from a Republican, oh, around about the time Tony came into existence. He was created back when you could be an elected Republican and, uh, push social policies that I think these days we would consider progressive. I mean, Eisenhower was the one who started integrating schools, right? The Republicans are the party of Lincoln! It's not like Republicans are prevented from doing good things. And I think we need to keep in mind that Tony dates from the early 60s when socially-progressive was still a thing Republicans could conceivably be.

So, yes, Tony is very kind. It's nice. We all like that about him. But also many of the ways in which he is kind to people are very much Republican fantasies. Like, yes, he's a great boss. He's close to his employees. They're like family. If any of his employees have problems, he helps them out on a personal, individual level -- and that, as an ideal, seems very Republican to me. I mean, he's a CEO, right? He's owned a lot of companies. Are any of them unionized? Combing through Wiki, I find one reference to a union in ToS 63, which is really, really early -- you know, back when unions were more popular. I can't find anything after that. And nothing is coming to mind. So, I mean, yes, we have now established his employees were at one point unionized, but he's certainly not known for, say, running a union shop. Part of the fantasy of the Ethical Billionaire is the idea that Tony's employees don't need unions because Tony is so kind and so generous and so personally selflessly good that he takes care of everyone who works for him. And the thing is, Tony actually does do this. He is fictional and therefore capable of achieving perfection.

Okay. He's a fictional character. Let's step back a little and think about fictional characters, and specifically the way Marvel Comics depicts fictional characters interacting with well-known real people. Many real people from our Earth do seem to exist in 616. Earth-616 is not our Earth in a vast number of ways, but one thing it shares with our Earth is presidents. Whoever is the real-life president when a comic comes out is pretty much generally president on Earth-616 at the time. Yes, I'm going somewhere with this.

Now, for whatever reason, Marvel often does not canonically refer to presidents by their names in dialogue, but the artists pretty much draw whoever is president at the time when someone in canon needs to meet the president. (Captain America seems to get to meet the president a lot. I'm sure you're shocked.)

There are a couple exceptions to "everyone who looks like the president is the president,” namely that Marvel says that the villain who was Number One of the Secret Empire in Captain America v1 #175, who attempted to conspire with aliens to take over the Earth, whom Steve watched commit suicide -- anyway, the official Marvel word is, I believe, that this guy is not Richard Nixon, but Steve Englehart, who wrote the comic, says it absolutely was:

And, yes, this is the incident that causes Steve to lose faith in America and become Nomad. You can kind of see why that would be traumatic. Marvel clearly had some feelings about Watergate they needed to process.

Anyway, I just wanted to put in a picture of that time Ronald Reagan was turned into a snake person. It's Captain America v1 #344:

I love comics.

More recent presidents still make appearances in the comics, and they are the president who was the real-life president at the time. For example, the president who pardons Steve for all his SHRA-related crimes in Who Will Wield The Shield is definitely Obama:

And that means that I must also unfortunately inform you that Hydra Steve also received a presidential pardon:

Though the issue in question (Captain America v9 #8) does not specifically name the president, following the "whoever is the actual president is the 616 president" rule, the president who canonically pardoned Hydra Steve is... Donald Trump.

Let's just pause here to contemplate this. Take as long as you need.

(I was today years old when I learned that Hydra Steve has been dead in comics for over a year. Since the issue in which he was pardoned, actually. Which is an issue I am sure I read the day it came out, but somehow I missed the four entire pages where Hydra Steve is set on fire and burns to death while hailing Hydra with his last breath. I guess it wasn't memorable! I mention because I am pretty sure I am not the only one who missed this.)

Anyway. I do have a point to make here, and my point is this: Tony has received political appointments. Two of them, in fact. In the 2003-2004 Iron Man arc "The Best Defense," Tony becomes Secretary of Defense. He does get Senate confirmation; it's not a deputy appointment. He actually gets unanimous confirmation. And I know that Tony had this job is a fact that everyone knows about Tony, but I feel like a lot of people may not be totally conscious of the timeframe involved here, and by that I mean that he is absolutely, positively, the Secretary of Defense for Earth-616's George W. Bush. Yes, I am sure of this.

Here is Tony with the president in Iron Man v3 #78, being told he got the job:

Yeah. That’s George W. Bush.

Can a Cabinet appointment cross party lines? I mean, sure, it's possible. I am not the kind of giant politics nerd who has this memorized, but there is in fact, a Wikipedia page for US political appointments across party lines. And it looks like there have been five cross-party Secretaries of Defense and five Secretaries of War. So, I mean, yes, it's happened, but it's fairly rare. None of the cross-party Secretaries of Defense (deputy secretaries excluded, since they weren't confirmed, obviously) were ever Democrats appointed by Republicans. And since we're looking at Dubya's administration specifically, it looks like only one of his Cabinet appointees (Transportation) was cross-party. So it looks like he in particular would not have been especially likely to appoint a Democrat to his Cabinet, since in real life he only had the one.

So to me it seems that the most likely party affiliation for Tony has to be Republican, because of this. Sure, the appointment could have crossed party lines. But I feel like it's just... not likely. Being a Republican Secretary of Defense in a Republican administration just seems way, way more possible.

(Also I'd like everyone to remember that Tony is replacing the previous Secretary of Defense because the previous Secretary of Defense was secretly the Red Skull and released an engineered flesh-eating virus at Mount Rushmore. Just, y'know, to set the mood.)

What's more, Tony gets a second political appointment from the Bush administration. It's not a Cabinet position, but he does become the Director of SHIELD in 2007. Here Tony is with the president, slightly earlier, in Civil War #1:

This is not really as good a likeness of Bush as the previous and I guess you could argue that the artist was drawing A Generic Politician but I feel like, y'know, it's probably still meant to be Bush. And Tony may not have wanted this particular job -- we know he definitely didn't -- but he absolutely wanted to be Secretary of Defense. So we know that he is definitely fine with serving in a Republican administration.

So, yeah, that's my argument: odds are pretty good that Tony has, at some point in his life, been a Republican. Maybe not right now. But probably in the past.

Having said that, given the way Marvel handles politics, I don't think it's likely to ever be much of an issue in canon; the Avengers mostly just tend to get to get along with whoever the president is at the time and I can't recall really anything about partisan issues. However, you're never going to convince me 616 Steve was anything other than a New Deal Democrat -- even though I know that in Cap #250 he turns down both the Democrats and the Republicans when they ask him to run for president -- because, I mean, come on. I assume that he and Tony probably try not to discuss politics ever anymore, because we all know how the SHRA went. They probably mostly agree, but when they disagree, people have a tendency to end up dead.

That was probably more than you ever wanted to know about my thoughts on this topic.

[ectonurites]

heyyy can you talk about kons dating history or atleast with older women? ive seen a few posts but im not sure but thats so ://///

Ahhh yes. Kon’s dating history, I've finally now finished reading all his solo comics (and had already gone through his team books a while back) so it’s a perfect time to delve into this. I’m kinda broadening it to his love interests in general, as not all of them put an official ‘dating’ label on things, but are still worth bringing up. This is kinda long so sorry in advance about that, but I tried to be as brief as possible.

TW for pedophilia (in these specific cases discussing a 23 year old dating a 16 year old, and another woman without a specifically given age [but clearly an adult] with the same 16 year old) obviously i’m not talking about it positively here but it’s unfortunately necessary to discuss with this topic.

I consider Kon as having five primary love interests in the pre-reboot comics world, which is where most of his dating happened. The ‘criteria’ I guess i’m using to separate them from the others i’ll talk about after is a combination of ‘they interacted for a long time’ and/or ‘the relationship had a big impact on his story/him as a person’. 

I’m also mainly sticking in pre-New 52 world for this because aside from the 'fake married to Lophi to protect her and her kid on Gemworld' thing in Young Justice 2019, he hasn't done much with relationships since getting officially reintroduced. Then the New 52 version of Kon was a very separate person and even so he was mainly just (sorta) involved with Cassie.

ANYWAYS the main five are:

Tana Moon - Tana was a 23 year old (as stated in Superboy #32) reporter Kon initially met during Reign of the Supermen, the story he debuted in (meaning she was one of the first people he met), who also happened to move back to Hawaii around the time he ended up there on his press tour. The two of them had an on and off relationship from basically the start of the comic until she broke up with him in Superboy #46. She briefly came back into his life in Superboy #72 after having been kidnapped by The Agenda, before being killed by Amanda Spence in Superboy #74. Kon and several others refer to her as his ‘first love’ especially after her death, which weighed very heavily on him.

Knockout/Kay - A woman we find out was originally one of the Female Furies, who works as a stripper at the 'Boom Boom Room’ in Hawaii while trying to keep a low-profile after leaving Apokolips. We don't get an exact age for her but she's very much so implied to be an adult. She hits on Kon from the moment she meets him (she also quite literally uses the term ‘jailbait’ to describe him in her first appearance in Superboy #1) and kisses him several times, insisting on working with him and training him and eventually beginning a more formal relationship with him. She kills someone and he blindly defends her thinking she couldn’t have done it, and she tries to coerce him into killing someone by promising herself to him (before killing the guy herself when Kon wouldn’t do it). The arc mainly focused on their relationship is from Superboy #22-30, but she is a presence in the comic from the start. She is arrested for the murders she committed at the end of the arc, and doesn't interact with Kon much again after as she is in a high security prison, but she is referenced multiple times.

Roxy Leech - Roxy is the daughter of Rex Leech, Kon's agent. From the moment she meets Kon, also during Reign of the Supermen like Tana, she's got a thing for him. Her age is left a bit more unclear, as some bits of dialogue indicate she is actually close to Kon's age but other things like how she applies to the police academy, something you need to be like 20 to do, indicate she's a bit older. Regardless, she’s definitely younger than Tana as she comments on her age at least once. She actively dislikes both Tana and Knockout for being interested in Kon, and confesses her feelings to him during a 'the whole world might end tonight' situation (in Superboy #33). The two of them didn't really date, but there is a period of time where Kon feels torn between Tana and Roxy. Not too long after that she ends up volunteering herself to be used in a procedure to stabilize Kon's dna after it had been torn apart by The Agenda when they cloned him, as the method to save him required someone close in age to him be used as a genetic template. From that point on they considered each other more like siblings, ending the romantic aspect of their relationship (in Superboy #41)

Serling Roquette - Serling is a 16 year old (as first stated in Superboy #57) science prodigy who works in the genetics department of Cadmus, and is the person who manages to cure Kon's condition where he'd been stuck at age 16 (a side effect from the procedure with Roxy). Initially she had a crush on Guardian, but over time grew to like Kon, she was one of the first people at Cadmus he personally tells his name ‘Kon-El’ to. They only kinda start to get together before Tana comes back and then is killed. After a situation where Roxy came back and needed help, when he and Serling try to maybe pick things up again, Kon realizes Tana’s death is still too fresh for him to get involved in anything too serious with her and he breaks it off, leaving them very tense with one another. (Superboy #82) 

Wonder Girl/Cassie Sandsmark - Cassie had an interest in Kon before she even met him, more of a celebrity crush at first than anything else. They share their first kiss in Wonder Woman #153 after she had tried to change her look to impress him and he reassured her that she was already beautiful the way she is. Cassie was present for Tana's death in Superboy #74, and after that Kon is overly protective of her in a noticeable way that actively annoyed her (She points out to him that she can take care of herself a few times, like in Young Justice #29) but eventually at the end of Young Justice (in #55) he confesses feelings for her, and they share another kiss. Graduation Day bringing about the end of Young Justice as a team kinda throws a wrench in things, but early in Teen Titans Vol. 3 they begin to date more formally, and are getting pretty serious together (cough cough they uhh consummate their relationship in the Kent farm's barn in TT Annual #1) right before Kon is killed during Infinite Crisis. She takes his death very badly and joins a cult to try to bring him back, has her whole thing with Tim (who is coping equally poorly with the death... almost 100 cloning attempts babey), and befriends Kara as a surrogate Teen Kryptonian™, but eventually learns to accept what happened and move on. Then he comes back, and everything's a lot to process all over again. She had become the team leader and things were just different than they used to be. They tried to resume their relationship but eventually Kon decided to end it (Teen Titans Vol. 3 #91), because they both wanted different things at that point in their lives, but they remained friends and teammates.

So when people are talking about the ‘older women’ thing, it should be pretty clear from that list they’re talking about Tana and Knockout. Both were adult women dating a 16 year old boy, and neither situation did enough to handle it in a way that addressed it as the problem it was. Knockout’s situation did end up being seen as a bad thing by the end because of the murder parts at the very least, but the age difference didn’t come up nearly as much. With Tana a few people (Roxy, some of Tana’s coworkers, even Tana herself) did bring up the age difference as a potential problem, but they continued to stay together for a pretty long time regardless. The kicker is that she ultimately breaks up with him for being ‘immature’ after he gets stuck at age 16, when it’s like... he’s 16. You’re 23. No kidding you think he’s immature? It was just a whole mess and makes reading a lot of his solo incredibly uncomfortable.

Additionally he has a few other shorter-lived relationships/potential love interests. I’m categorizing them separately because they weren’t focused on in the same ways/for as much time as the girls I listed above:

Trixie (Superboy #94-100) - When Kon gets his own apartment in Suicide Slum, he repeatedly runs into Trixie and the rest of the Slaughterhouse Six, but Superboy inspires her to try to turn her life around. They didn’t formally date but that was definitely the direction things were starting to head towards before his apartment building blew up and he realized he needed to get away from the city where his presence was painting a target on innocent people, and so they decided to just be friends. (This was also when his solo ended, so possibly if the book hadn’t been ending they may have continued longer)

Batgirl/Cassandra Cain (Superboy #85, Batgirl #39-41) - They first met when Kon had been bugging Tim in Gotham, and had a little adventure together that resulted in Batman being PISSED because he didn’t want Cass interacting with Metas (especially not teenage boy ones that’ll flirt with her) and Kon volunteered to share her punishment so she didn’t have to do it alone. They later meet again shortly after Kon moved in with the Kents while on a cruise (and he’s her first kiss!) and afterwards she goes to Smallville to meet him. She’s actually like the first person outside the Kents we’re shown to know his new civilian name is ‘Conner Kent’. After their little attempt at a date they decide to just stay friends.

Lori Luthor (Various appearances with Kon in Adventure Comics (2009) & Superboy Vol. 5) - When Kon and Lori initially meet there’s definitely some interest and she kisses him, but it happens while he’s still dating Cassie so he makes it clear he’s unavailable. Afterwards he learns who she actually is and realizes ‘oh she’s sorta kinda my cousin on the Luthor side’ so he stops really being interested. She’s still interested because she feels like the cloning doesn’t make them really related, and they talk about it in Superboy Vol. 5 #4 after he and Cassie had broken up, but he still feels too raw from Cassie and too weirded out by the situation to have it go anywhere. Kon helps try to get Lex to cure Lori’s mom (Lex’s sister Lena), and eventually when Lex is an ass in the end he finds another way (Some Wayne money through Tim) to try to help her. Lori figures out Conner is Superboy and along with Simon and Sujan helps him to save Smallville from the Hollow Men.

Ravager/Rose Wilson (Teen Titans Vol. 3 #95-100, kinda some parts of Superboy Vol. 6 if ya squint) - This is another of those ‘they didn’t actually date but there was interest’ situations, in the very end of Teen Titans Vol. 3. A fake version of Rose had kissed Kon which was kinda the catalyst for it, where after that moment he became a bit more protective of her once the real her returned. They had a moment where Kon tried to trust her with something (Kryptonite to take him down if the situation arose) but she saw it more as him thinking she was the one ruthless enough to do it, rather than as a token of trust, and left upset. The reboot happened before this really went anywhere/got resolved though, but interestingly enough she became a bit of a support character in the New 52 version of Kon’s life, likely because of this connection they tried to do before the reboot. They never really dated there either, he just referred to her as cute a few times. New 52 Kon is a very separate person anyways, but it’s worth mentioning.

I might be forgetting a few other minor ones along the way (especially if there’s things that weren’t in his main books), and Kon (especially in the 90′s) was the kind of guy to flirt with pretty much every girl he saw, so bear that in mind. But yeah, I hope this helps! 

[actlikeyoudidntdoit]

ASSASSIN’S MODERN DAY PROFESSIONS

—————————————————

ALTAÏR

College Professor

-We all know that Altaïr has spent most of his life teaching, so what better job does he have than a college professor?

-He knows what he’s talking about, that much is certain, but sometimes he gets a little too lost in his lesson to realize that his students are scratching their heads. So it’s normal to have students staying after class, but they leave understanding every word of what he said.

-He’s not the fun teacher, but he’ll be able to teach you what you need and still remember it at the end of the day.

-He’s pretty lenient, and even with the obnoxious students who cause a scene, he calmly gets them to at least do their work.

-Other teachers always use him as a reference when it comes to the perfect teacher.

EZIO AUDITORE

-I can see Ezio being a public speaker since he’s not all that scared of crowds and spends a lot of time giving advice, so I think he’d really enjoy being able to help a crowd of people whose lives are falling apart

-Ezio would be the single anchor in a sea of storms because he always seems to have an answer for everything. He’s a man whose words are turned into inspirational quotes that people hang on their walls.

-When he says that things will be okay, no one doubts him since they know that he lost his father and his brothers very early on and that it took years for Ezio to accept the loss the way he had. If he could soldier through it, why couldn’t they?

-He doesn’t involve himself in politics, finding them to be a waste of time and breath despite how many people ask for his input on the political status of the country he’s staying in.

-He speaks to a lot of people in private, letting them speak their minds and giving his advice if they want it. He’s a therapist without a license, and you always feel hopeful about life leaving his office.

Connor

Construction or Sports

-This boy was designed for heavy work, and I’ve heard some good points in saying that not only would he be amazing at sports, but he’d also really enjoy it too.

-In my personal headcanon, I think he’d be a good construction worker as well. Not the high end kind that build skyscrapers or anything, but I can see him building simple houses for small communities, taking the lower jobs that can’t afford much help like the sweetheart he is. He definitely volunteers to make houses for the homeless.

-Since most of the homeless he helps don’t have much money, he makes sure to offer them baked goods because he’s definitely a baker.

Edward Kenway

-As a young man, he joins the navy

-Once he’s on his own, he buys his own boat and treats it like royalty.

-He’s not a pirate himself, but he does let less legal people on board for a price. At the time, it was just an easy cash pay since people paid good money when they were desperate.

-When he’s older and gets a grip on some of the people he’s helping (like the REALLY bad criminals) he quickly lets it go.

-Yet after seeing some of the more decent people and the places they were running from, I can see him being a sort of smuggler, but instead of smuggling drugs or weapons, he sells medicines, canned foods, and clothes to the regions where they’re scarce or hard to pay for.

-When he’s older and found a fortune over time, he starts up his own official charity, hiring various sailers to sail supplies to more places than he himself could alone.

SHAY CORMAC

-Okay, I have to say it. Shay would DEFINITELY be an FBI spy. Maybe I haven’t thought of it as heavily as I could, but he just strikes me as a man who could kill someone in plain sight and still not be seen.

-He already knows everything he can about infiltrating and getting vital information

-He knows exactly how to manipulate people to get what he wants.

-He’s like Macgyver but as an agent.

-He does things that make sleeping at night impossible, but he tells himself that every long night for him is another person somewhere else having a peaceful night, and peaceful nights means he’s doing his job. Right?

-Constantly questions his morals, but he can’t bring himself to stop, not knowing that he’d do if he stopped, because at least here he’s doing something. He’s contributing.

-That and maybe I might or might not want to see Shay in a suit 🤷‍♀️

AVELINE

-Actress. And a damn good one. She’s one of the kind of people who get paid millions each job and gives most of her cash on people who really need it. Not only that, she’s a fan favorite everywhere.

-She takes extra jobs in smaller businesses barely staying afloat, and public morality boosts has nothing to do with it. In fact, she keeps her fame life out of everything, choosing to see it just as another job.

-I can see her sharing similarities of Zendaya or Zoe Zaldana

ARNO DORIAN

-High school teacher or actor, I can’t decide.

-Because let’s be honest, this guys brain is more wrinkled than a raisin. He knows his stuff.

-He’s good at simplifying what he’s saying, and that happens to be a very useful trait when it comes to teaching.

-If he was a teacher, he’d be a damn good one, that’s for sure. No one will fail his class because he’s so good at explaining things, and he’d be the one who actually cares for his students.

-When it comes to acting... just admit that Arno’s a theater boy through and through. If you need proof, he’s the only one with a crazy amount of fancy robes and colors. FOR GODS SAKE HE OWNS A THEATER! So on modern day, I could totally see him as an actor as well.

-He’d be the Ewan Mcgregor of the modern day, because everyone recognizes him from SOMEWHERE because he’s really tested his acting ability on multiple various roles. Well read, charming, and level headed, he’d totally rock being an actor. He’s good friends with Aveline, and when they both have time in their busy schedules, they stop by for coffee and fill each other in on their life.

JACOB

-Boxing

-I saw the photoshops of Jacob in boxer life, and I have not been the same because oh my god that is amazing.

-but absolutely he’d be a boxer. He’s the shortest guy in the entire match, but he doesn’t need a stool to knock you on your ass before you can laugh about it.

-His opponents are lucky shattering bones is against the rules because he knows how to make someone wish their dad wore a condom.

-A lot of people think that his rounds must be rigged, and his sister had to physically hold him back every time Jacob threatened to give him a close up of how ‘rigged’ his fights were.

-Jacobs a powder keg, so it doesn’t take much to make him explode, and a lot of the less respectful people he has to fight picks particularly sore spots to do just that.

-He might be pissed, but his punch isn’t the only thing that stings. He knows exactly what words to use, and when they’ve gone too far, he doesn’t hold back.

-Might have a temper, but he has a good heart despite it all. He visits schools and completely turns his personality around with kids. He signs autographs, takes pictures, and makes sure that every one of them have a fun day because he knows that there’s some kids in this school that don’t have those kinds of days. He pays the school for field days each time, making sure they all get out. They bring out the scooters, parachutes, capture the flag, and ‘wrestling’ matches for the kids who want to face him. He loses every time. He never has a bigger smile on his face than when he has children fans walk up to him.

EVIE

-She is totally a lawyer and you can’t change my mind.

-Logic and Facts are her strongest weapons, and so far she has yet to lose a debate.

-Every other lawyer knows that seeing Evie walk into court is an instant death sentence, because like her brother, her words are sharp as a knife and her mind is even sharper.

-If they didn’t look identical, no one would believe that she would be related with Jacob the hot headed boxer, because she was level as water and was near impossible to make angry, but god help the poor sod that presses her.

-Her clients almost always get the best case scenario with Evie by their side by how good she is.

-Also like her brother, children are her weak spot, and her hard composure melts whenever she needs to speak to a child in the witness post, making sure that the child feel comfortable unlike the others that drill the kid with questions when they’re too skittish to answer. She takes her time and gets the kid feeling safe, and gently asks their side.

-Evie might not do it as a profession, but Evie has beaten Jacob in the boxing ring in the gym. She knows damn well how to handle herself, knowing she’d need it since she’d be fighting corrupt politicians or gang members who have too often tried attempts at her life. Every time she emerged unscathed, using the attempt at even more evidence against them and insuring a spot in jail. No one dared try attacking her again after that.

BAYEK

-I’m thinking police officer or motivational speaker for trauma.

-Either way, he’s a guardian who takes care of the people he’s in charge of. He knows words well, and having been down the dark path himself, he knows exactly what people experience and what they want to hear.

-Be the change you want to see in the world, and that’s exactly what he’s doing.

-He’d be a well respected officer, and he’s not afraid of telling off a comrade if someone is wrongfully accused. He’s not very popular in the police station, but as long as he’s doing his job, he’s satisfied.

-He’s saved several people over the course in his life, and his word is well honored since he’s on no ones side. He sees things as what they are and doesn’t twist events he disagreed with to his point of view. Even if it hurts him personally, he doesn’t lie.

-He’s divorced, but they’re still best friends with each other and visit when they can.

AYA (ran out of gifs. Sorry)

-She is hands down a self defense teacher for women

-She sells hidden self defense tools for less than ten dollars, always sure to keep constantly supply of them since many have confessed that they’ve saved them from dangerous situations.

-Like her former husband, she’s a protector and makes sure she provides her students with the best.

-She teaches children what to do if they ever get grabbed, and she’s had many parents in years thanking her when that information ended up saving their child’s life.

ALEXIOS

-Hands down he is a stunt double

- Preferably Arno’s since he relies more on flexibility than brute strength. Then there’s the fact that they look similar enough in features

-He does the moves that would probably be safer if they were just CGI, but he hates those computers with a passion, preferring to do the real thing instead of giving out something fake. He’s broken more bones than he can count, and the companies he works with always have a medic on standby when something goes wrong.

-They tried convincing him that they only needed him for a few spots, but after realizing that he wanted this (and him assuring them that he doesn’t bother with suing), they let him do his thing. The results are fruitful since the most nitpicky movie fans are absolutely thrilled when there’s a particular move done right.

-He teaches Arno a good few things about how to do action scenes, and they’re definitely good friends.

KASSANDRA

-Roller Derby

-She lives for throwing people and smacking them without being judged for it, so the Derby’s her safe spot.

-Everyone on the opposing team is terrified of her, always scared when they see her devilish smile, knowing that they’re about to get their asses handed to them. Like her brother, she’s an adrenaline junky, and when she’s not doing the derby, she’s going off into car races in a water trench. She’s surprisingly very good with cars too, knowing the inside and out of a car like the back of her hand.

-She loves it when men try to catcall her. It gives her a perfect opportunity to punch them in the face.

-She loves the races themselves because no one expects it. Sometimes she pretends to act like a beginner and absolutely slaughter them, giving them a nice wink before driving out with her cash.

-Only has a soft spot for the girl who visits her on weekends. She’s practically her older sister, and there will be hell to pay if her favorite kid gets hurt in any way.

EIVOR

-BACA(Bikers Against Child Abuse)

-The moment I saw this, I instantly thought about them.

-they would absolutely be a part of this

-Looking all badass in leather while turning into a softie for children? That’s Eivors entire character right there.

-Eivors not afraid to get physical with an abuser. They’d beat the abuser to a pulp and right after take the child out for ice cream.

-No one messes with Eivor, knowing that their lenience was stretched only for children. Anyone else tried to pressure her? Your teeth would be shattered and they’d wear the bits for a necklace.

-Children are much more brave around them because they’re tougher than their parent and on their side, so they’re not afraid to give them to the police