#best gender non confirming species

[rabbithub]

Its the small differences between species that can be bewildering... in this case, harpies having prominant chests...

Have this cute sketch before I finish getting ready for work, with a pinch of DiaDop.

[zith-ipeth]

A bitch, a mutt, a fag, a freak.

//Some sort of manifesto//

I AM NOT FULLY HUMAN

As a fag, as a woman, I have never been fully a human in the eyes of society, I have been put with the dogs since I came out. I’ve been anxious, scared of strangers, scared of crashes and bangs, I’ve wanted to chase rodents and play fight since I figured out I was a bitch. I have always been good with animals, I’ve always been snuggly and loved biting and chewing, I sit on my legs, my paws between my haunches, looking for love in the form of a hand on my head.

MY GENDER IS BITCH

If gender isn't binary, then what is it? Is it based on masculinity and femininity? Two variables, maybe three? Or is it a disconnected eclectic collection of ideas and colors, smells, tastes, constructs, temperatures, and clothes. My gender is bared teeth, its fur and paws and ears and a tail. My gender is bitch. Unlike my female cis species canid friends, I was born spayed, I was born revoked of my fertility as a trans woman. Like my male cis species friends, I was neutered, my masculinity cut off, for me by choice, for them by a made up necessity.

WHEN BITCHES BITE THEY GET PUT DOWN

Quiet women rarely make history, but loud women get put down. Violent women get told that they arn’t making change. We get told that our violence cannot make change, that the bricks thrown at cops won't teach future generations, that fighting back, biting hands and clawing eyes gets you nowhere. We are told that we should just lay down and take it, try to debate the feral beasts that put us in a kennel, debate the wire around our neck, debate the leash and debate the shock collar. When bitches bite they get put down, when dogs are violent they get killed, when they rip and tear at that which scares them they get trained, they get their brains hijacked with pavlovian responses and in the worst possible cases, they get left on the street or killed under hospital lights.

HOW DO WE LIVE IN A TRANS SPECIES SOCIETY?

I want to be loved the way a dog is loved. I want to be a being of comfort, I want to be pet for the sake of mutual comfort. I want a relaxation around being touched, I want to see a confirmation before a hand hits my back. I want to smell you before I get to say hi, I want to taste the world with a flicking tongue. I want to move freely, run fast, bite hard, and bark loudly. People often ask how do you treat a dog like me, one that can speak. Simply put, the way you should treat the dogs who can't. The way you treat a dog socially with the ability to vocalize your non vocal communications. With consent and boundaries and love, clarification and admiration. I want not only to comfort but defend, I want to bare my fangs in a way that scares people, dress in markings that make people worried, that make people scared that someone so small can still rip their lungs out.

AM I WASTING MY VOICE, BARKING TO AN EMPTY AUDIENCE?

My mother disdains my animality, she sees it’s a joke, a plea for attention. She thinks that my voice, my ability to socialize, would be best used to help advocate for the trans community. She thinks that my doghood will take away the seriousness of my voice. I argue the opposite. If I can constantly push the edge of queerness, push the edge of comfort, maybe I can be taken seriously while fighting as hard as I do. I will fight for a future where we all can live true to the change we make for ourselves. I will be a blinding light, a beacon for those who wish to find someone who will love them, and a distraction to take the violent eyes of the patriarchy off of my friends who are still learning to defend against its ceaseless gaze.

RUN FAST

If we don't move forward constantly, then we will be moving backwards as capitalism, imperialism, and the patriarchy march forward. We must run fast to keep up, and faster to outpace it. I want to feel the paws in my mind pound against the dirt, my tongue hanging out, breathing in and out, in and out. I want to hold a banner in my jaws, wood splintering into my gums as I try harder and harder every day to be just ahead of the curve. If I can be ahead just far enough that people see something other than the onward march of death and oppression, if they can see a tragically out of shape dog panting and whining, trying her best, maybe they will try too.

BITE HARD

I’m pro violence, I believe that bleeding bite marks and broken skin signify my strength. I was scared of my teeth for so long, scared that they made me a threat, but as it turns out these fangs can be gentle. They can try to hold an ice cube as I drop it on the carpet, but they too can rip through meat and bone like a feral animal. Fight back, always, always bite the hand that feeds you poison, always tear apart the skin of your oppressors.

BARK LOUD

I get on my friends about apologizing, women apologize too often. They apologize for taking up space socially and physically, they apologize for being to loud, and I tell them to take it back. You must be loud, you must scream truths until your throat hurts and you can't even muster a growl. I speak loudly in volume, but I speak loudly socially as well, I speak often and loud and aggressively. I want my every word to be seen as a threat, I don't care if people are scared when I bark, because it’s on them to learn that's how I proclaim myself in space.

WHO I AM, SHOULD I BE SO BRAVE

I am a bitch, I am a mutt, I am a combination of humanity and animality. I am thousands of years of coevolution. I am a companion, I am a beast who owns herself. I am a fag and a dyke, i’m a freak of nature, baring my teeth as a greeting and a threat, if this bothers you than I invite you to taste my saliva as my fangs rip your face off.

Run fast, bite hard, bark loud

Peace, love, and gratitude

-Zith Ipeth

[yanderes-galore]

Hi Panther,

Wow Tranformers went fast. May I please ask for Star Wars Yandere Headcannons, With Grand-Admiral Thrawn towards child reader. Maybe one one he adopted or took an interest because of some genius intellect or serious artistic talent.

Thanks,

Bookwyrm

I can try. Darling is at least 18 in this but it is implied Thrawn has had you for awhile since I don't do child reader. Hope I get his character right, I watched Lore Videos to try and understand him since I was unfamiliar with him :( If he's totally wrong my bad!

This is also a general view, not any specific series or media. I hope next time If I write his character I am more familiar with him ^^;

Yandere! Platonic! Grand Admiral Thrawn with Adopted! Darling

Pairing: Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Manipulation, Overprotective, He's actually an okay dad (minus the manipulation), Toxic parenting at times, Dubious companionship.

Thrawn is one of the best strategists/tacticians.

He prefers to take a non-lethal approach and would rather just manipulate those around him to get a desired outcome.

Thrawn prefers to plan out entire outcomes, opting for winning wars instead of battles.

He can outplay others with his extreme intellect and planning.

Thrawn is also very patient.

He isn't sadistic like many in the Empire, he actually wants to prevent potential dangers in the galaxy.

He isn't really evil... just has his own goals despite who he works for.

Plus in both canons it's confirmed Thrawn is an exiled Chiss, tossed out by his species.

Despite this he still cares for his people.

When Thrawn first met you he did take you in for one of the traits you mentioned.

Perhaps you are intelligent and capable of planning/tactics.

That or maybe you have a talent for understanding the arts of cultures.

Either way, Thrawn would've taken you in if you showed potential to be taught by him.

I feel Thrawn would've taken an orphan or an abandoned child.

He'd sympathize for you due to being cast aside himself and notice desirable traits in you.

Thrawn most likely took you in because he saw pieces of himself in you.

As a result he felt he could mold you into the successor he feels you deserve to be.

Thrawn wants to try and raise you to look at the bigger picture, to have the genius he does.

The Empire most likely has little issue with him taking you in.

They assume he'll make you loyal to them and be just as promising.

Thrawn prioritizes teaching you what he knows.

He teaches you certain tactics and quizzes you to see if you were listening.

He has you study cultural art to teach you his way of planning.

Thrawn actually seems like he'd be okay as a dad.

However, he is incredibly manipulative.

His teachings are ways he can influence your actions.

You don't know it but Thrawn is making you like him.

All you care about is the fact you have a dad.

Thrawn encourages this by trying to be fatherly, too.

When alone he often coddles you.

He praises you and holds you, attempting to give positive reinforcement.

At first his actions towards you are planned like everything else.

But then Thrawn really starts to see you as his child.

He was truly meant to be your parent... in his eyes.

Thrawn cares for you up until you're a young adult.

Thrawn has raised you to share his skills.

While he plans out attacks and overall strategy/plans, you pipe in to give advice.

By this point he has taught you well.

You're even gaining Imperial ranks of your own.

Even if you're an adult Thrawn still tries to be close with you.

He's happy you're successful, fully molded into what he wants you to be.

Yet he isn't ready to just let you go.

Even if you fight him he is adamant you stay by him to plan.

He makes it seem like things will collapse if he doesn't have you help him as his child.

He even tries to hug you like he did when you were young, despite you pushing him away.

Thrawn as a parent would make his child into who he feels they should be, then expect them to stay by his side.

He tries to mean well... but in reality he has used you.

He'd manipulate you even when you're fully grown.

Yet he'd never put you in harm's way.

He loves you as your adoptive father.

Perhaps he should've never gotten attached?

As said before I don't believe he himself would kill.

He tries to use tactics to influence desired outcomes.

If Thrawn feared you'd leave him or wish to change your loyalty...

He has methods of changing that.

You may be his child... but he will not tolerate you leaving him after he took you in.

Most parents expect their child to leave the nest.

Thrawn doesn't want you too.

Especially if you happen to swap sides.

He feels you're stronger with him... loved with him...

So he'll convince you to listen to your father...

Even if it means he has to re-educate you behind a cell.

[littlest-w01f]

Lessons

Feyre x Rheana (my oc, Rhysand's sister) [Feysand ship]

For @feyreweekofficial

Feyre week 2024 Masterlist

Day 3: First of her kind

Summary: Rheana recommends Feyre some history of the different courts to learn about where her powers came from and what she could do

Cw: Little history Lesson with Rhea

Feyre sat in the library of the House of Winds, looking around at the piles of books in front of her. Rheana had asked the priestesses to provide them with some, quite heavy in Feyre's opinion, history books.

Rheana had told her she would meet Feyre after her sparing with Cassian. And that is how she had shown up, the scent of fresh vanilla and bibliosmia entered the library before the click of boots followed it.

Rheana greeted Clotho with a "Good evening," and entered the halls of the library, quickly finding Feyre waiting for her but a few thick books surrounding her.

Feyre had opened a book about the Night Court history, trying her best to get into the book, Rheana chuckled slightly, "Please stop, Feyre, you make reading look like a chore."

Feyre looked up and smiled, "Oh, I was just getting a headstart on what you wanted me to read about." She looked slightly guilty, "But these are quite boring."

"Well, it is history," Rheana snorted and sat next to her, "I've heard folks think it's boring."

"You get your powers from these Courts and their High Lords, you're something special, nothing like anyone has ever existed," Rheana smiled as she looked over the books and pulled out the book with a thick orange and red hue binding, "Let's start with the oldest, shall we, Beron Vanserra, the High Lord of Autumn."

"Rhys told me I get the power of fire from him," Feyre added, listening patiently.

"Yes, Beron, biggest asshole in my openion, thinks he knows best cause he is the oldest, He is High Lord of Autumn, very highly competitive court with quite non-flixible laws. Most people say their royal family's beast form is of foxes, but persnally, haven't seen it. Their powers are of Fire manupulation, a part of which you have now, and Beron is known to be the oldest and the cruelest of all the High Lords," Rheana spoke, opening the history book, "Also, not the best of the father."

Feyre nodded, "So, is there a High Lord who didn't fuck up their child?"

"I don't think there is," Rheana laughed, "Thesan's maybe, the new High Lord of Dawn. Well, the standard too is not murdering their child's lover depending on who they are in gender or species, so the bar is in the afterlife."

Feyre smiled, "I think I saw him... Under the mountain..."

"Yes, that is where he got his High Lord powers, after Amarantha had killed his father for rebelion." Rheana confirmed, repeating what Rhysand had shown her through their mind link.

"Rhys stopped her from killing Kallias, but Amarantha had instead decided to kill the falings of Winter." There was a mournful silence for a moment.

Feyre then picked up another book, trying to move forward from the silence, a book with golden binding, "Is this for the Day Court."

"Yes, this one is about the Day Court," Rheana smiled, watching Feyre open the book on a marked page to reveal a family tree, some notes written on the borders of it, "Helion is the current High Lord, he was crowned High Lord after the first war, when his father died during it, he is heirless, for now, he despite being in a court complete opposite ours is our closest friend and ally."

"He's a good friend?" Feyre asked softly, flipping through the pages, reading the bits written on the side.

"Yes, we are solar courts, we are closer. While the seasonal courts stick together closer as well" Rheana continued, talking about all the High Lords, where their powers came from and everything she knew of the High Lords.

Fire of Beron

Curse-breaking of Helion

Daemati abilities of Rhysand

Ice of Kallias

Shapeshifting of Tamlin

Healing of Thesan

Water bending of Tarquin

The two had spent hours simply reading and noting things, Rheana told her everything she knew, about the High Lords and their powers, even their relationships with them, all from her personal experience. Till Feyre was content with her newfound knowledge of the previous owners of the power she now had., and their relationship with her Court

{General taglist: @nox-ceur @lilah-asteria}

[vore-scientist]

Hey, reading through your stories, and i see a mix of both male and female preds, so just wondering, do you have a preference? Also! no pressure of course, but have you ever considered making a "masterpost" With links to all your stories?

I'll answer second question first bc the first question will have... a lot to it.

Masterpost: Anon you reminded me I need to update a thing. that thing being the Original Works page of my blog: https://vore-scientist.tumblr.com/mine that page is meant to be a directory of my works. but i haven't touched it in years. If you are needing a way to get all the Mystic Woods content in post order (not chronological) this link is your best friend: https://vore-scientist.tumblr.com/tagged/mystic+woods+story/chrono

To answer your first question: preference?

This probably has a longer answer than you want to read so I'll give you the short version and also have a long version

Short Answer: I have no preference! I dont care what gender characters are! And I'm actively trying to use more female giants in my content because i like giants of all genders and there is a lack of them in non-sexual GT-vore content.

Long Answer (or: a short history lesson on WHY female preds, in non-sexual GT-vore are rare. And also why female giants in general are less common in the GT community as well. Dont take these things are absolute fact, it is what I observed and experienced in the last decade of being in the community)

So when i first discovered GT (and eventually GT-vore), the majority of content with female giants/preds was extremely sexual/very blatant to extremely explicit fetish content.

This was back when i was... 16... so. 2011... the big hub of the GT community was on deviantart. And the most active and thriving corner were dA groups that forbid content with female giants which was unfortunately necessary. Otherwise group mods would have to be denying submissions of fetish GTS content which 1) would be a waste of their free time and 2) would mean seeing a lot of SEXUAL content they dont want to see!

I also did not want to interact with the micro/macro GTS fetish community so as a defense, I, and MANY MANY OTHERS, made content that centered around male giants near exclusively It wasnt a preference, it wasnt a choice, it was the way to stay safe. These groups had the best and largest curated galleries of safe GT content, but of course it was all male giants. It also PISSED ME OFF because i liked writing giants as a species which necessitated giants of all genders (though the male-giant exclusive dA groups were usually understanding of content with larger casts of characters as long as the main giant was male). Still, the fear of the GTS stigma made me also "prefer" male giants.

Now apply all this about the GT community and apply it to the GT-vore community.

It has only been in recent years when I have seen people less hesitant to have female giants/preds and like me, put in effort to make female pred/giant OCs and content and the community is much more supportive and not as averse to interacting with the content put out with said characters.

Fighting the fear of GTS stigma has been tough but the community is healing.

(now of course some people do prefer a gender but for the dA groups the group rules made it clear that part of the exclusivity was to avoid fetish content. Also how do i know? Well check out this group: https://www.deviantart.com/gt-central. look at the Rules and Group Info posts. I'm very familiar with the group's co-founders who all LOVE female giants, and are more open about that now. That group was founded by a gay man (who is an absolute gem btw) who saw the other side of micro/macro where male giant content was all super nsfw/cruel and majority of dA groups were saturated with that, but it became a haven for those who were avoiding explicit GTS content, i confirmed this with one of the co-founders, that she was hesitant and worried about the idea of making/sharing female giant content! )

(AND AGAIN: what I am saying is not subjective facts. it is the GT / GT vore community as i have observed and experienced in the last 12 years)

[camillejeaneshphm]

Beatrice Somerset’s profile:

BASIC INFO

Quote by Character: “To fail is to disappoint.”

Full Name: Beatrice Sage Somerset

Nicknames: Bea

Gender: Cis woman (she/her)

Sexuality: Bisexual 

Alignment: Lawful neutral 

Species: Witch

Blood Status: Half-blood

Date of Birth: February 12 1998 

Race/Ethnicity: White English

Nationality: British

Short Bio: The sister of the bolder Diana, Beatrice has always been content to live in her twin’s shadow. Though she wants to someday have her own independent life, for now she’s happy to be her sister’s shadow. 

Personality: Sarcastic, idealistic, romantic, perfectionist 

Languages: English, French

Likes: Books, music, being in the right 

Dislikes: Crowds, things being sub-perfect. 

Greatest Flaw: Pushes people away 

Greatest Strength: Wit 

Place of Residency: 

birth-17: Winbourne

17-TBD: Winbourne 

TBD-Death: TBD

Future Career: Ministry employee (might go with lawyer?)

APPEARANCE

Hair Color: Blonde

Eye Color: Green

Skin Tone: Pale

Height: 1.56 cm

Weight: 48 kg

Physique: A bit wispy 

Style Choice (what they like to wear): Bea’s fashion sense mainly takes after her dad’s choices of sweaters and baggy jeans, though she throws flannels into the mix. 

Accessories: scrunchies, rings 

Inventory: her wand, her phone, a decent book

Scars: a large scar down her right leg from falling out of a tree as a child. 

Face Claim: Brec Bassinger 

Voice Claim/description of what they sound like: Brec Bassinger 

MAGIC

Wand Description/Picture: Pine, Unicorn Hair

[The straight-grained pine wand always chooses an independent, individual master who may be perceived as a loner, intriguing and perhaps mysterious. Pine wands enjoy being used creatively, and unlike some others, will adapt unprotestingly to new methods and spells. Many wandmakers insist that pine wands are able to detect, and perform best for, owners who are destined for long lives, and I can confirm this in as much as I have never personally known the master of a pine wand to die young. The pine wand is one of those that is most sensitive to non-verbal magic.]

Wand reaction when chosen: The whole room lit up. 

Boggart: her sister, screaming about how much she hates her. 

Riddikulus Form: di tells a comedy routine or smth idk

Patronus: Borzoi

Patronus Memory: variety of memories with her sister 

Animagus: no 

Amortentia (what they smell like): old books, coffee, leather

Amortentia (What they smell): idk gimme a love interest and we’ll see

Mirror of Erised: herself fully out of her sister’s shadow, recognized for all she really is 

Misc. Magical Abilities: some wand less magic

Favorite/Created Spells: none

SCHOOL LIFE

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw 

Ilvermorny House: n/a

Organizations Joined: none

Apprenticeships: apprentice within the ministry

Professions: ministry worker, law student 

Best Subjects: history of magic, ancient runes, transfiguration 

Worst Subjects: n/a

Class Proficiencies (OWL grade, n /10 or ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆):

Astronomy: EE

Charms: EE

DADA: A

Flying: A

Herbology: EE

History of Magic: O

Potions: EE

Transfiguration: O

Ancient Runes: O

STATS

Power (magic): 7.5/10

Power (physical strength): 6/10

Intelligence: 10/10

Skill: 7/10

Teamwork: 5.5/10

Speed: 8.5/10

Defense: 5/10

RELATIONSHIPS

FAMILY:

Father: Caiden Solace (see profile)

Mother: Valentina Somerset (@endlessly-cursed, see profile)

Twin Sister: Diana Somerset (@endlessly-cursed, see profile) 

Friends:

Closest MC friends:

None (open!)

Love interest:

None (open!)

Dorm mates:

None (open!)

Rivals:

None yet (open to interaction)

Enemies:

n/a

Pets: none

[yumeko2sevilla]

Airin Tojinomi_ unreliable messenger

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ��� ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮

ᴀᴘᴘᴇᴀʀᴀɴᴄᴇ

"Ahahaha. Now, do you really think I was that innocent?"

_The Unreliable Messenger

Full Name: Airin Tojinomi

⤿Airin (愛凜): A name of Japanese origin. "愛" meaning love, affection and '凜' meaning cold.

⤿Tojinomi (十時のみ): A name of Japanese origin. "十" meaning ten, "時" meaning time, hours, moments. "のみ" meaning delightful, beautiful, plesant.

Japanese: 十時のみ愛凜

Other Names:

╰┈➤Airin-san_ Tojinomi-san

╰┈➤Tojinomi (Yukiharu Shirokami)

╰┈➤Mademoiselle Trickster (Rook Hunt)

╰┈➤Bitch (Minako Sakamaki)

╰┈➤Unreliable Lady (Pierre @/anxious-twisted-vampire, Mia @/writingheiress)

╰┈➤Lady Airin (Maids of the Tojinomi Clan)

╰┈➤Little Actress (Tsukuyomi)

Title(s):

╰┈➤The 10th Lady of the Tojinomi Clan

╰┈➤Messenger of the Tojinomi Clan (Formerly)

Twisted From: Kyubey_ PMMM + Shikyou the Amanojaku- Masa Works Design

Voice Actor:

╰┈➤Japanese_ Nakashima Yuki_ Hinomori Shiho -Project Sekai

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮

Age: 17 (Appearance Wise)

Gender: Transfem Non-Binary (They/She/It)

Status: Alive_ Immortal

Species:__

Height: 188 cm

Birthday: February 29 (Pisces)

Dominant Hand: Right

Hair Color: Snow_Slivery White

Eye Color: Gray-ish Red

╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮

Homeland: Japan

『Family:

╰┈➤Ritsuka Tojinomi ("Mother"; Unknown)

╰┈➤Unname Father (Human?)

╰┈➤Mirai Onizaburo (Ancestor)』

Dormitory: Ramshackle

Occupation(s):

╰┈➤Student

╰┈➤ Head of the Tojinomi Clan

Grade: Freshman

Class: 1-A_ No. 7

Best Subject(s): History of Magic, Defense Arts

Club: Board Game Club

Favorite Food: Brioche

Least Favorite Food: Spagetti

Talent(s): Understanding Humans

"The Head of the Tojinomi Clan. A manipulative and cunning young lady, who hides their true selves by a mask of selflessness. But as time flow, the mask cracks more and more."

╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯

┌──═━┈━═──┐

ᴘᴇʀsᴏɴᴀʟɪᴛʏ

"All you can really do is, stay."

╰┈➤Distinguish Two-Facer: Airin is -by others- an enigma, a seemingly sweet yet abnormal enigma. Kind? May not be the word. Manipulative? Now that sounds more like them, consider how they pulled the strings using their connections. Airin is terrifyingly good at keeping up the selfless mask she wore for a long time. After all, it's not her fault that it was called 'The Actress', no?

╰┈➤Love and Hatred: Airin,, quite has a view of 'love' and 'hatred'. As much as an emotional manipulator like them, love and hatred, for them- are the same thing, whilist love was born from hatred, the same opposite to hatred! Why should the world differ them so much? While you can mix them for tragedy, instead?

╰┈➤Tyrant of Tragedies: Dear Sevens, this young lady is going to be a tyrant. Among her traits, tyrancy and cruel are pretty much her definitions. The Tojinomi Clan became more grievious, and sadist due to her and her 'mother', Ritsuka. To say this young girl is the copy of Ritsuka, is not a compliment.

†•°•══════ஓ๑✬๑ஓ══════•°•†

✬Unique Magic: Blessings of The Fox's Wedding (狐の嫁入りの祝福)

"Oh Mrs. Fox, don't take the umbrella. Quickly, knit my feelings together.. Blessing of The Fox's Wedding."

╰┈➤The user is capable of granting others' wishes through phenomenons. When using this, the people will have other certain abilities that's related to their wish, which boost their macial powers up. However, as exchange.. Half of their soul will be a part of the user's feast.

†•°•══════ஓ๑✬๑ஓ══════•°•†

╰┈➤Backstory: •°•[Won't you smiling at me?]•°•

⤿Main Theme: The Fox's Wedding_ Shikyou the Amanojaku- Masa Works Design

✦Rumors going around, saying that Airin- while looks and act like human- has the ability to clone themself which make them immortal! It has never confirm this, however.

✦Somehow, Airin always appears where Yukiharu is. There is a theory that it was related to Yukiharu's curse.

✦Knows things that it shouldn't know, but doesn't care much.

✦Can anyone explain the tension between Airin and the Shirokami Clan Representive? Each time they communicate, they look like they want to kill eachother!

✦..It seems that she's involve in the Second Cold War. But neither Airin or Yukiharu accepted to say this.

@anxious-twisted-vampire @writing-heiress @achy-boo @yukii0nna

[worth-more-than-two-thousand]

Returning from the Dead is Easier Said than Done...

Request: Welcome, Shiny! May I request an x Reader (can be fem or gender neutral) where Echo (post-citadel) comes up to their s/o's doorstep to give them flowers and ask them on a date? A plus if the Bad Batch teases him for dressing up nicely and buying flowers. Thank you! (@handmaidenthesimp)

Author’s Note: Enjoy! If anybody wants me to repost with a gender-neutral reader, just let me know. 

Story Notes: Some swearing, not much else to warn you about. Take place in-between Season 7 of CW and The Bad Batch. No Omega this time, sorry! 

🖑 🖑 🖑 🖑 🖑

Being declared dead was uncomplicated. Your Republic file was branded with a "KIA" stamp, everyone stoically mourned, and someone just a bit shinier would step in to fill your shoes. 

Being declared undead, however, was decidedly more complicated. Oh, Echo was reassigned to Clone Force 99 easily enough. But it was the little things that seemed to get mired in red tape. Getting his few personal effects back. Re-opening his modest credit account.

Approving a rental application.

Admittedly, it wasn't that Echo really needed his own place; clones were conditioned to be accustomed to share minimalist, often-cramped quarters. And they were always on the move, so it hardly made any financial or practical sense, in the long run. 

But right now, oh, did Echo dearly wish that he was dressing up in the privacy of his own space...and not the shared cabin area of the Havoc Marauder. 

He kept his face stoic, as though readying for battle, refusing to acknowledge his teammates goggling in the background. They had returned early from their supply run. Echo had meant to be out of here an hour ago, but (somehow) hadn’t counted on just how difficult it would be to get dressed into multiple clothing pieces with a scomp link for a hand. 

So that’s how his comrades found him: trying to wrangle a neck accessory into submission by sheer will. 

Oh, if Fives could see him now. 

“You look funny,” Wrecker had declared decisively after an unbearably long silence. “What’s that thing you’ve got on?” 

“It’s a suit,” he grumbled, refusing to look any of them in the eye. “I’m going to see Y/N.”

Wrecker gasped like a fishwife. He leaned forward, and pitched his voice low. As though the others couldn’t still hear him in the tinny space.  “Your girlfriend? You mean you’re going to see her for the first time....since…” Wrecker made a muted cartoonish sound with his mouth, clenching then expanding his fingers in a gesture for ‘explosion’.

Echo stared at him for a moment disbelievingly, before nodding slowly, forcing the sarcastic response he really wanted to say back down. He couldn’t fault Wrecker for being...well, Wrecker. He had all the tact of a rampaging bantha. 

“An’ what’s that? Around your neck?” 

Echo opened his mouth, but someone cut across his response. “A bowtie,” Crosshair drolled, though his eyes glittered with amusement. Echo tensed, knowing that he wasn’t going to like what was coming next. 

“Fifty credits says he chokes, and he ends up strangling himself with it in shame." 

“No way!” Wrecker exclaimed, always the optimist. He clapped Echo on the back, who was unprepared so his knees buckled. He felt his metal joints strain. “Don’t worry, Echo,” his brother rasped in the loudest whisper known to man. “I bet she’s gonna love it!” 

“You know,” Tech piped up unhelpfully, “Your strategy may backfire. The current deviation from your usual appearance may be so jarring for your beloved that she refuses your offer out of simple self-preservation instincts.” 

Echo gritted his teeth. “Right. You have stats to back that up, I suppose?” 

Tech blinked at him owlishly. “Of course I don’t. This is an obvious possible outcome.”

“I’m trying to look nice,” he snapped, scowling. 

There was a loaded pause. “...’trying’ being the objective word here,” Crosshair smirked.  

Before Echo could wipe the look off his comrade’s face with a well-placed ARC trooper punch that would’ve made Hardcase proud, Hunter wedged his way in between them, hands up in a conciliatory gesture. 

“All right, laugh it up, fellas. Personally, I think you’re all jealous because you don’t have a girl waiting for you like Echo does.” Hunter turned to face their newest member, took the bowtie that was clenched in Echo’s fist, and smoothed it out before proceeding to tie it around his neck with surprisingly deft hands. 

Crosshair ‘hmphed’ while Wrecker verbally agreed, looking slightly put out by the undeniable truth. Tech simply nodded in neutral confirmation. The group lapsed into a somewhat awkward (but not unwelcome) silence as Hunter finished tugging at the folded ends of the bow, then double-checking to ensure it was straight. He stepped back to assess his work.

“You look good,” he said sincerely.

Echo thought he was in the clear. 

Hunter frowned. “But...it looks like you’re missing something.” 

Or not. 

“Like dignity?” Crosshair drawled from a dark corner of the ship that Echo frustratingly couldn’t glare at. 

“A sense of self-confidence,” Tech suggested. He wasn’t joking. 

“FLOWERS!” Wrecker boomed confidently. “All girls like flowers. You gotta get her some before you see her!”   

“I...fine.” Echo relented, anything to get his teammates to shut up. He shoved his way through them towards the bridge. “I’ll get her some flowers. You all stay here until I get back. I mean it, Fives!” he warned.

An uneasy silence followed him, which he didn’t register until he reached the landing ramp. 

He shot an exasperated look back at them. “What?’ 

“...Your former comrade is not here, Echo.” Tech finally spoke. His words were clinical, as always, but there was a touch of understanding underlying his tone. 

Echo froze, just for a moment, then shook off the shock of his faux pas as best as he could. 

It wasn’t the first time that had happened, after all. 

Echo descended the landing ramp, squared his shoulders, and marched into town. 

Y/N lived in a run-down but culturally distinct district of Coruscant, characterized by food stalls from species and ethnicities all over the galaxy. Children often ran through the streets, sellers in colorful robes and attire shouting their wares and art for all to peruse. It was one of the nicer markets, he thought, having come here once. He had been accompanying Y/N on her usual run for specialized ingredients that made the diner she worked at the talk of the galaxy. 

Echo elbowed his way through the crowded street, content to simply blend in with the crowd, to forget about being a soldier for a moment. 

He paused at a flower stand and was mindful not to draw too much attention to his scomp-link hand as he ordered a dozen sunflowers, which he remembered were Y/N’s favorite. When his credit chip was declined, however, he sighed and reached into his pocket to see what spare change he could muster up. Being that he was wearing a never-worn suit, however, meant that there was no change to be found, and the unimpressed florist snatched the bouquet away. 

That’s okay, Echo. Y/N doesn't need flowers. She just wants to see you.

At least, he hoped that was the case. He hadn’t exactly written to her yet, unsure that he could sufficiently explain his sudden non-death in typed words...

Surprise! I’m not dead! Hey, you know that explosion on the citadel? Well, I survived! And out of it, I got an all-expenses paid trip to  the Techno Union research facility! Why didn’t I write? Well, I was in stasis most of the time and that part’s a bit fuzzy. I also was responsible for killing my brothers by using their own battle plans against them. Oh, and you might notice that I’m missing most of my fleshy bits these days… 

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, which were more rapid these days thanks to his enhancements. He was good at compartmentalizing, though. He had to be. He was still a soldier, through and through, and no one wanted a soldier who was about two seconds away from a mental breakdown.

Yeah, a letter to Y/N wouldn’t have cut it. But he still felt like maybe he could have sent ahead some sort of...heads up? A warning? A ‘Please don’t scream when you see me because I don’t think my heart could take it?’ 

His feet finally guided him to the front entrance of the building where he knew she lived on the 14th floor. Glancing around, he spotted some blue flowers sprouting in a planter near the entrance. He yanked a fairly healthy-looking handful from the soil, shaking the roots to get most of the dirt off. He tucked the strangled roots into his fist so that they would be less obvious. 

It was time. He nodded to himself, squared his shoulders, and entered the building. 

A short elevator ride later, Echo could feed the sweat beading at his forehead and neck. At least his fight or flight response seemed to be healthy and alive, and Echo tuned out everything but the door in front of him, adorned with a purple wreath of lavender flowers. 

He stood in front of the door, and raised his hand to knock. 

He stood…

In front of the door…

...and raised his hand…

...to knock, you coward. Just fucking knock. 

His raised knuckles, however, refused to move. Echo caught a glimpse of himself in the curtained window panes on the sides of the door, and at the sight of his bloodless face, suddenly felt a whole lot less sure of himself. 

He looked ridiculous. 

He and Y/N had barely gotten to know each other before his untimely death. 

What if she was with someone new? 

This was a terrible idea. Echo should leave now, before he caused himself any more embarrassment. Crosshair might get his fifty credits, after all. 

Echo had just convinced himself to turn around and admit defeat, when the door suddenly swung open. 

Two Y/C/E eyes met his. 

There were points during Echo’s battle career where time slowed to a crawl. When an explosive grenade was thrown just a bit too close, or the comrade you had just exchanged banter with received blaster fire to the face. 

Echo was experiencing the same sensation now, but he would voluntarily stay in this moment forever, if he could. He fervently hoped his nightmares would be replaced with the sight that was etched before him. 

She was wearing her yellow work uniform, white apron pressed crisply with starch...and was as beautiful as ever. Her hair was up in a messy ‘late-for-work’ up-do, a smudge of blushed color not quite within the lines of her lips smearing her cupids’ bow where she had applied it in a rush.

He couldn’t determine whether her reaction to his sudden appearance was positive or not, and so didn’t dare speak first, breathlessly afraid that if he did, the moment would shatter. 

He saw her swallow hard, glancing at him from head to toe, gaze landing on his right hand. 

He guarded his heart. 

“Ech? Echo, is that you?” she whispered. Her eyes tore away from the scomp link hand, and began searching his face as though just as afraid he would disappear. 

He nodded. “Yeah,” he rasped, then cleared his throat. “Yeah, it’s me.”

The silence stretched out, and the fight or flight response was creeping back. 

“I know I look a bit different.” He tried for a light-hearted joke, but couldn’t quite get his tone to match. “Had some work done. What do you think?” He winced slightly.

She stepped forward and he froze as Y/N lifted her fingers, hesitating briefly before gently touching one of the metal bolts by his left temple. Her eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“...do they hurt?” 

He gasped a little as he remembered to breathe again.

“No,” he reassured her, raising his undamaged hand to steady hers. “No, it doesn’t hurt.” 

“...good.” 

The wind was knocked out of him as Y/N flung her arms around him, burying her face in his neck, tardiness to her job completely forgotten. 

She began sobbing. It wasn’t neat little sobs, like in the scripted holovids, but heaving sobs that wracked her whole body, and he worried slightly that she was going to faint on him. He forgot about his scomp link for the first time as he rubbed it in circles against her back, murmuring nonsense words of comfort in her ear. 

After several minutes, she sniffled, stepping back. She rubbed her nose ungracefully where snot was leaking out, but Echo could have cared less about any of that. He only kept his arms out to steady her, in case she needed support again.

Y/N glanced down suddenly, and flushed.

“Oh. I’ve crushed them.”

Echo followed her gaze and saw that he was still holding the blue flowers from the planter in his good hand, the bouquet having been caught in between their bodies when she had thrown herself at him. They did look a little worse for wear. 

He shrugged unconcernedly. “They were free,” he said, not wanting her to feel guilty. 

She stared at him for a moment before a bubble of laughter burst from her lips. She still looked like she was about to sob at any moment, but she smiled tremulously at him through shining eyes. 

Desperate to make her feel better, he began rambling. 

“I can get you better ones! N-not right now, though,” he stuttered. “Actually, it turns out that I don’t have any credits on me at the moment. Everything’s still kind of backed up at the bank regarding my accounts. Also, this suit is new. Well. Not new. It used to belong to this woman’s father who we rescued during a mission on Bith. Long story.” His brain, which worked faster than usual these days anyways, still couldn’t seem to catch up to his mouth.

He forced himself to get back to the task at hand. “I was actually here to ask you for a date. I mean, assuming there’s no one else at the moment…oh, but you have your job to go do…bantha spit, I forgot about that...” He would have to ask Tech if it was possible for his brain to actually short-circuit.

Echo finally trailed off. Now he was the one blushing. 

The whole of Domino Squad was probably having a good laugh at his expense right about now, wherever they were. 

But Y/N was still smiling at him. And her chin had stopped wobbling. She gently took the flowers from Echo’s hand and placed them on one of the side tables in the hallway before intertwining her fingers with his and grasping his right hand without hesitation. 

“Forget about my job. Let’s go on that date. My treat. Though, if I know Dexter, he’ll give us a free meal, on the house. And the rest of the day off."

For the first time since he had joined Clone Force 99, since he had been rescued on Skako Minor, and even before the Citadel...Echo allowed a true grin of happiness to spread on his face. 

“A free meal,” he echoed. “Sounds like a plan.” 

[chaosintheavenue]

Fallout Protagonist Survey- Initial Results!

There were 761 responses to the survey, which is more than twice reach than my previous surveys have had combined. Wow. Another huge thank you to all who took part!

Proper results drawing comparisons between different protagonists will be out soon, I just thought it would be interesting to compare these results to my previous general OC survey. You can find the results of that here. I feel like overall, the results of both were pretty similar, with some of the same patterns showing up in both datasets.

So, let’s get right into it...

Game:

Courier Six: 308 Sole Survivor: 254 Lone Wanderer: 114 Vault 76 Resident: 27 Chosen One: 23 Vault Dweller: 22 Prisoner (Van Buren): 8 Warrior (Tactics): 4 Initiate (BoS): 1

I was amazed at how many we got for the final three! I literally only added the option for BoS for the sake of completeness gdfdsg.

Gender:

Cis female: 349 Cis male: 193 Nonbinary: 87 Trans male: 58 Trans female: 32 Agender: 9 Genderfluid: 8 Transmasculine: 7 Female, unknown if cis or trans: 6 Genderqueer: 5 Questioning: 2 Aaand the list of those that got one answer: demigirl, intersex, bigender (demiwoman and demiman), neutrois

Species (at the end of their storyline):

Human: 637 Ghoul: 53 Synth: 38 Cyborg: 6 Another type of mutant: 4 Vampire (confirmed or possible): 3 Half-Ghoul: 3 Super Mutant: 3 'Altered' human: 2 The one list: Plant human, ZAX AI, human-nightstalker hybrid, alien

Race or ethnicity:

White: 460 Hispanic or Latine: 201 Asian: 107 Black: 86 Native American: 62 Others, including unspecified mixed race: 8

Born in the United States:

Yes: 670 No: 85

(I separated the next two questions this time around, purely because that one Georgia answer that I couldn't definitively place as country or US state irked me that much lol)

State of birth:

California: 115 Washington DC: 84 Massachusetts: 79 Nevada: 62 Arizona: 39 Oregon: 24 Maryland: 23 Texas: 20 West Virginia: 17 New York: 16 Washington: 14 Virginia: 11 Utah: 8 New Mexico: 8 Colorado: 7 Michigan: 7 Maine: 6 Ohio: 6 Illinois: 6 Idaho: 5 Montana: 4 North Dakota: 4 Tennessee: 3 Louisiana: 3 Connecticut: 3 Pennsylvania: 3 Oklahoma: 3 North Carolina: 3 Alabama: 2 Minnesota: 2 Mississippi: 2 New Hampshire: 2 Rhode Island: 2 New Jersey: 2 Georgia: 2 Missouri: 2 List of ones: Kansas, Kentucky, Arkansas, Florida, Alaska, Wisconsin, Delaware, Nebraska, Wyoming

I had to leave out answers giving a general region rather than a specific state for the sake of the map, unfortunately. Also, even though Canada was annexed by the US in the Fallout universe, I've still counted it as a separate country.

Non-US country of birth:

Canada: 25 UK: 10 Russia: 8 Mexico: 8 France: 4 China: 2 Iceland: 2 Japan: 2 Ireland: 2 Australia: 2 Eastern Europe generally: 2 Philippines: 2 List of ones: Poland, Bolivia, Bangladesh, Southern Europe generally, Lebanon, Guatemala, Greece, Denmark, Bermuda, New Zealand, Ghana, Italy, Hong Kong, Turkey, Spain, Argentina, Norway, Portugal

Sexuality:

Bi or pan: 403 Gay or lesbian: 163 Straight: 102 Ace: 84 Demi: 7 Questioning: 4 Queer: 2 List of ones: aro, grey ace, omnisexual, achillean, sapphic, and... robosexual

Primary approach to solving problems:

Diplomacy: 337 Combat: 172 Stealth: 130 Technical skills: 122

Combat style:

Small guns: 326 Melee: 120 Energy weapons: 112 Big guns: 97 Avoid combat: 47 Unarmed: 35 Explosives: 23

Karma:

Good: 307 Very Good: 189 Neutral: 155 Changes during storyline: 66 Very Evil: 23 Evil: 20

And finally, companion preferences:

One at a time: 331 Multiple at a time: 312 Travel alone: 118

-

Next, it’s time to start formulating and testing hypotheses! A few ideas I already have are...

Companion travelling preferences are influenced by the mechanics of the companion system in the game a character comes from

Courier Six is more likely than other protagonists to identify as anything other than cis

Male Sole Survivors (presuming that they are taking the role of 'Nate', a veteran) are more likely to be combat-focused, and female SoSus ('Nora', a lawyer) are more likely to rely on diplomacy (general idea is whether or not the pre-made backstory of the SoSu has had a significant impact, or people are more likely to just do away with it in favour of their own story)

The Lone Wanderer is more likely than others to be a Ghoul (this one's purely because I've seen a lot of people turn their LWs into Ghouls)

(this one was suggested by my brother, and I'm not fully sure where he got the idea, but it would be really cool if a correlation did turn up) Characters who definitively spent time in a Vault (Vault Dweller, Lone Wanderer, Sole Survivor and Vault 76 Resident) are more likely to favour a diplomatic approach than others

If anyone has any more ideas they’d like to see, please let me know, and I’ll let you know if it’s feasible or not. The analysis I’m most familiar with is the ANOVA, which work best with hypotheses that can be phrased like ‘X group is more (or less) likely than Y group to have Z characteristic‘, but I’ll consider any ideas you may have!

[suresimon]

{george robinson, twenty-eight, cis man, he/him} || simon orwell is a mutant with the ability of hellhound physiology. they’ve been in new york for ten years where they spend most of their time as a novelist. when i think of them, i think of hellfire of the holy, finding blessings in curses, the sun shining on a grave.

it’s’a me, a’may’rio ! new muse who dis want 2 make a disclaimer that i am not paraplegic. while i’ve been doing a lot of research so i can portray his disability as accurately and sensitively as possible, if y’all ever see me doing sumn wrong!! pls feel free 2 call me out on it!! research is not quite the same as experience

QUICK FACTS:

full name: simon george orwell (luv that for him)

date of birth: march 14th, 1969

zodiac big three: pisces sun, libra moon, sagittarius rising

gender & pronouns: cis man & he/him

sexual orientation: bisexual (pls let it be known that he can still feel pleasure)

enneagram: 4w3

mbti: infj

temperament: phlegmatic

ability: hellhound physiology

affiliation: brotherhood

alias: cerberus

various inspirations: tbd !

BACKSTORY:

triggers: brief mention of alcoholism, paralysis (paraplegia), i still forgot the word for kids getting kicked out akfjdsl

born and (mostly) raised in north carolina, for some years, simon never knew ‘want.’ it wasn’t that his parents were rich -- nothing of the sort -- rather that his mother would do anything for her sons and daughter. 

their father was not quite as doting, spending more of his time drinking his hatred away than hanging out with his wife and children. if he didn’t... who knows what would happen!

that said, simon was raised to believe that mutants were a species to be feared. ‘they’ll look at you with blood-thirsty eyes,’ so said his mother. but it was not for general hatred -- her own mother had been killed at the hands of one, a brotherhood member, and she’d been left with permanent scarring on her back. his father, on the other hand, simply wanted something he was allowed to hate.

so imagine how unfortunate -- in many ways -- simon found himself when his brother, ian, dared him to dive into a pool using their tiny trampoline... and he ungracefully followed through and dove into the water that was... much shallower than he had perceived. a terrible sensation spread, and then...

his mutation came forth, randomly and suddenly taking the form of a hellhound as a trauma response. in this form, his spine was immediately healed, but when he was quickly and involuntarily snapped back to his original form? to a human? nothing.

the doctors did all they could, but when he came to and they’d given up, he found himself completely paralyzed from the waste down with limited mobility in his arms. he could move his hands. he could move his head. he could move his neck. he could move his forearm. and, with concentration, he could move the rest of his arm. well enough to not be considered quadriplegic!

fortunate that his parents had not seen his transformation, unfortunate that he had no clue what had happened. fortunate that he could move like normal when in his new form, unfortunate that he turned any time the slightest pain was felt in one of his non-numb/paralyzed areas. finally, his ian told him his own secret: while their sister was human (as far as they knew), he was also a mutant. biokinesis, the ability to manipulate life. quite strong, quite invisible.

he told him of this organization -- the brotherhood -- that believed in mutant superiority... to which simon was like ‘didn’t one of those mutants scar mom and kill grandma?’ to which... he confirmed, but waved off. ian was considering joining, if he could find a way, and he encouraged simon to do the same.

that said, simon still had a deep-seated fear and slight hatred towards mutants. it wasn’t something he found himself able to believe in until he was sitting in the family room, watching some program that he can no longer remember, and felt a burn on his hand from his sister accidentally dropping a hot plate. 

hyperbolic trauma response: he turned into a hellhound. his parents were terrified, his sister was curious, and ian... had an odd look of pride. to make things worse, he accidentally used a subpower he didn’t even know he had and induced fear. when he was human again, his loving mother insisted that he leave. and, just to prove a point, ian used his powers -- something he had honed much better than simon -- to rot the apple on his sister’s tray (and she just looked more pissed off than afraid or angry at the two).

somehow, they found themselves in new york. with a wad of cash and unfulfilled dreams, they settled down. ian was forced into the role of his caretaker (which is why he’ll remain an npc, rip), something that felt somewhat humiliating at first but... after a while, just natural.

ian aided in simon honing his ability. and when he finally did? he’d now garnered enough hatred in his heart to truly consider his brother’s suggestion. unlike his brother, he wasn’t murder-happy, but remembering his parents... thinking about all the ways others thought of him in his hellhound form... thinking about the essex house and how that could’ve been him... thinking about the way he was actually fortunate to have the ability -- how his world would be so small without it... 

as kind of an aside, he purchased a dictation recorder to begin spilling his guts a la novels. fiction? sure! based on real life? sure! non-fiction? ...masked as fiction, sure! and, while it wasn’t the steadiest income, he would... occasionally lie and say he was related to george orwell... which would encourage publishing companies to sign, and encourage even more people to buy his novels.

five years ago, he joined the brotherhood with ian. while he isn’t too fond of murder, in his hellhound form, his predator instinct amplifies his hatred tenfold. as a hellhound, he’s so down for murder! and as a human, he’s... down for ranting about them and helping come up with plans.

CONNECTION IDEAS:

his sister ! i love family connections. with his brother being his caretaker, i pretty much have to leave him as an npc, but i think his sister would be really fun ! could be a mutant, could just be curious and... not furious. she clearly did/does not hate them to the same degree as their parents, something that simon and his brother picked up on.

brotherhood besties ! give him some people from the brotherhood who are like ‘yeah, i’m down with murder, but i’m not down down. i feel u!’

brotherhood peer pressure ! they think it’s pretty lame that he’s down for helping with the plans, but has to actually go into his hellhound form to be down with murder :\

neighbors ! he lives on the first floor of the silverhouse apartments. quite frankly, these are the people who probably know him ( in his human form ) the best.

friends from when he first arrived ! as it says on the tin !

fans of his books ! maybe they believe he’s a distant relative... maybe they don’t... but either way, they like his books.

exes ! he doesn’t have the chance to get into many serious relationships, but these two provided him with that. he felt desired... which was nice. no matter what terms they’re on, he’ll always be thankful for that. ( 1/2 )

open to so much more ! besties, ppl who ask him too much so he likes 2 lie 2 them, ‘so if you’ve got hellhound physiology, does that mean hell is real?’ ‘idk!’, etc, etc, HERE FOR IT ALL!!

@c23intros​

[medea10]

Medea’s Worst Year of All-Time Anime/Game Superlative

Nobody saw this year coming…except for maybe Barbara Walters! Who could have predicted that this year would bless us with Australia burning, the entire west coast of the U.S. set on fire, stupid people setting fires because they wanted to reveal a baby’s gender, murder hornets, Ruth Bader Ginsburg dying, an almost war with Iran, serial killer mascots arrested, policemen killing unarmed black folks for having a counterfit $20, policemen killing unarmed black folks for breaking up a fight, policemen killing black folks for holding sandwiches, policemen killing unarmed black folks for fucking sleeping, a wide variety of “Karens” coming out of the woodworks, the end of Bojack, the end of Steven Universe, the end of Empire, and a pandemic so huge it’s killed the economy, canceled fun, and given the U.S. president the dumb-fuck idea of injecting bleach to kill the virus!?

SERIOUSLY, WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED ALL OF THIS WAS GOING TO FALL IN OUR LAPS LIKE HOT COFFEE ON THE CROTCH?!

At least there was anime this year.

…

At least there was SOME anime this year.

…

Biden won the election and Vickeblanca came out with Black Catcher this year.

Hey internet, it’s Medea here to give you her trashy opinion on this years anime and games that she’s watched or played. Because for some reason, my loser-ass loves to do out-dated as fuck memes! I shouldn’t complain, this shit brings a lot of attention to my page every year when I do this. Yes, 2020 was a complete dumpster fire so large that Domestic Girlfriend is crying foul. Many of us had to go on lockdown and ended up binge-watching the entire 957+ episodes of One Piece. I did no such thing. I am one of those “essential workers” so I didn’t hunker down for 9 months straight. But when I was home, I was watching anime. Actually, I would have done that even without the pandemic. I’m an introvert and find the human race to be deplorable.

You all know how this goes. I go over the best this year had to offer me. I had to search really hard to find the good in this year, especially in the anime world. Many things had to be put on hiatus or were delayed to a later date. Just a reminder, I don’t discriminate in what year the anime or game came out. If something came out in the happier times of 2007, that anime or game counts! Let’s get at it!

First Fandom of 2020: Interspecies Reviewers

Did anyone expect a fan-favorite of 2020 was going to be a hentai? Did anyone have on their batshit 2020 bingo card that a hentai was going to grab everybody’s attention? At the beginning of the year, my mind was set on the Railgun sequel and Eizoken. It wasn’t until licensors, streaming sites, and TV stations in Japan dropped this series that I started to pay attention. And got immediately hooked! It’s about three men going to different brothels and reviewing their time with the ladies. And these ladies are of different species! So with every bang comes possible enlightenment, new kinks, or a night of having your dick sucked off more than humanly possible. This anime blew away all of my skepticism and first impressions right out the window. Maybe it’s because I’m a degenerate and am often curious about sexual content, but this was a guilty pleasure of mine this year.

Favorite Main Character of 2020: Moroha from Yashahime

I know the majority of this story is going to revolve around Towa and Setsuna, but can we please focus a little more energy on the spunky, quarter-demon girl?! I know they’re pitting Moroha as the comic relief, but I’m hopeful that she’s going to surprise us one day. We fans of InuYasha would spend the past decade and some change wondering what InuYasha and Kagome’s daughter would be like. This year, we got our answer with Moroha. She’s got this wild side to her, probably due to the fact that she’s spent her entire life on her own. And while she’s silly at times, she can get down to business in a pinch. She has her father’s sense of smell. She has a sword. She’s able to shoot sacred arrows much like her mother. And to top it all off, she has this special rouge that if she puts it on, she’s able to unleash that ¼ demon power inside her and become Beniyasha! Yeah, I know the power only lasts a minute, she’s only 14, give her a break! I will gladly go through another week scratching my head at the confusion this story gives me if I get to see one more second of Moroha and her crazy antics or her bad-ass slaying.

Favorite Villain of 2020: The Devil Believers from Black Clover

This was one hell of a year for Black Clover. It would have been an easy choice to pick the devil and possible super devil that appeared during the elf fight. But I’d like to give a nod to the filler arc villains. And you can’t blame this group for wanting the power of the devil. They’re literally the bottom-rung of the Clover Kingdom and ones with little to no power or mana. So I can agree with why they would want the power of the devil. For one thing, they’d have more power. And for another thing, they’d be able to exact revenge on those who have wronged them. On some occasions I agree with exacting revenge and when it comes to the nobles and some characters in Black Clover, some folks do deserve death. I mean, have you met the king of the Clover Kingdom? Plus, this town and many other poorer towns get looked over by the kingdom. Peasant uprise! Anyways, I thought these people were really crafty in their crimes. I mean, they were able to knock Asta out on his ass with specially made poisons. I was actually hooked to this story of Black Clover (despite it being a filler arc). I know we’ll never see them again as they have been exiled, but it did have me semi-rooting for them.

Favorite Video Game Character of 2020: Honey from Pokemon – Sword & Shield (Expansion Pass)

Sorry Raymond from Animal Crossing!

Honey is the saucy wife of Mustard…I did not expect that to come out the way it did, but here we are! She has one hell of a team you can fight once a day. She looks out for her husband, the dojo, and the students of the dojo like they were her own children by providing food, drinks, and others. However that does come at a price as you do have to give up a sizable chunk of your watts that you collect in raid dens. I’m sure a bunch of MILF chasers were more than happy enough to give her all their hard-earned watts just so they can have their one-on-one moment on the beach with Honey.

What won me over was when that one guy from a rival dojo bad-mouthed her husband’s dojo and she…I think she kicked this guy’s ass herself. I don’t think she used any of her pokemon. Game Freak won’t show it, but we all know she kicked this guy’s ass to a point where he’s begging for mercy.

Honey, for the win!

Favorite Game of 2020: Animal Crossing New Horizons

This game was just Zen for me. I know the release of this game came with some controversy like Gamestop saying it’s an essential business and will remain open for people to get their copies of the game. Hell, I was one of those assholes in line waiting to get a copy on March 20th. Did I predict that a pandemic was going to rage out of control when I got a prepay copy of this for Christmas 2019? NO! I only predict political things, not deadly pandemics! The good news, we social distanced, didn’t catch the covid and got the game.

Anyways, this game has been a non-stop calming and fun ride. I can even forgive their botch-up of Bunny Day. They even have events for holidays I never thought they would ever touch. I mean, does anybody know when Museum Day is? Probably not until Animal Crossing had an event for it! I’ve been able to let my freak-flag fly with designing my island. And this goes way beyond New Leaf for the 3DS. I can make a sign post with the words “Fuck Trump” on it and post it in my yard. I can dig up trees and plant them elsewhere. I can poop in a toilet. I can craft furniture and put my own design on it. My furniture can have Tracey Sketchit’s beautiful mug on it. I can sit on Tracey Sketchit’s face. I am a sick fuck and I don’t care. I can give Raymond and Bob maid outfits. Magical time in my game! My hopes for next year…I don’t know, get the Festivale furniture, get Papi and Olivia to join my island, maybe visit Danny Trejo’s island, who knows, sky’s da limit!

Favorite Het Couple of 2020: Nasa and Tsukasa Yuzaki from Tonikawa

This is one of the most unorthodox marriages I’ve ever seen. But in this 90 Day Fiance world we’re living in, I shouldn’t pass judgement on these two getting married in episode one and not knowing much about each other. Nasa meets Tsukasa as he was about to be plowed by a truck. Tsukasa saves his life. Nasa says she’s beautiful. Tsukasa says she’ll be his girlfriend if they get married. He agrees. She disappears. Four years later, Tsukasa appears in front of Nasa’s front door with a marriage registration form. Congratulations buddy, you’ve got yourself a waifu! In some way, this felt like watching Yamato and Takeo from My Love Story. I was fascinated with them progressing through their relationship. The only difference is that Yamato and Takeo took the old-fashioned route. This couple did everything ass-backwards in terms of having a relationship. But I couldn’t take my eyes off Nasa and Tsukasa’s relationship during each episode. I find them cute.

Favorite Yuri Couple of 2020: Karin Asaka x Emma Verde from Love Live Nijigasaki High School Idol Club

AAAAAAAAAH! I’M IN IDOL HELL AGAIN! Yeah, no kidding! I came this close to putting Miu x Nicole from that abomination 22/7. But thank God for Love Live! There’s no telling if any of the girls from the Love Live franchise are confirmed to be lesbians. But fuck it, all of them attend all-girl schools, no males exist anywhere, and Sunshine gave us Kanan x Mari! Yeah, you know Kanan and Mari is canon as fuck, don’t at me. So naturally, I found more third-years to ship in the new Love Live series. Now I know I should have put up Ai x Rina or Ayumu x Yuu. Especially the latter due to recent events! But Emma x Karin is my OTP.

Now Emma is an exchange student from Switzerland and in coming to Nijigasaki, she first meets Karin and they became instant friends. When Emma said she wants to become an idol, Karin helped her quite a bit. Even though Karin had no interest in being an idol as her modeling career is starting up, Karin would occasionally help Emma out. And surprise, surprise, Karin ends up fascinated with the idol world and Emma helps her come to the light to be herself there. Okay, I’m totally reading this in some fragmented way, but I’m currently playing Love Live School Idol Festival All Stars and the app game has a lot more stuff involving stuff the anime has yet to talk about. Confirmed or not, Karin x Emma for the win!

Favorite Yaoi Couple of 2020: Eiji Okumura x Ash Lynx from Banana Fish

It took me a while to get here, but I finally made it to 2018’s overlooked gem. Forgive me for not being fully caught up, but from what I’m watching at the moment, I’m sticking to my guns and supporting the hell out of this. I mean, I could have mentioned The Titan’s Bride here…but fuck no, I ain’t goin’ down that mess! Ash has gone through a lot, I mean a helluva lot in his past. His cute boy looks have made him a target on the streets of New York, with mafia dons, and with prison inmates. But dude can kill if you mess with him. Then you have Eiji, who is just a literal example of a “pure cinnamon roll (until episode 8)”. These two are as opposite as you can possibly get. Ash is from New York and Eiji is from Japan. Ash likes hot dogs with everything on it. Eiji likes grilled fish and natto. Ash spent the majority of his life killing on the streets. Eiji was a track superstar. You get my meaning. But when we got these two together it’s quite adorable. Ash is really able to change when he’s around Eiji. Ash isn’t some heartless killer on the street about to kill a thug with prosthetic fingers. When he’s with Eiji, he’s a joker that can easily get scared of pumpkins. And even in later episodes, you got these two acting like a husband and wife.

Fandom That You Didn’t Expect to Get Into: Les Miserables – A Girl Named Cosette

Let me explain a little something. Les Mis! I have never seen the play, watched the movie, or read the novel prior to picking up this anime. Not a single one of those! And that’s a bit of a head-scratcher when you realize I was a bit of a musical theater nut in my teenage years. But one thing I do like is when Japan does an anime based on plays or historical events (like Romeo x Juliet or Rose of Versailles). The second I popped in Les Miserables the anime, I wanted to binge watch the whole 52 episode series. It is by no means a perfect adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel. Several key players end up surviving all the way up to the end of the story! But because this was my very first viewing of anything Les Mis, I took to the story of Cosette and was eager to see what was going to happen next in her tale. Unlike the movies and play, Cosette was the main focus of the story besides Jean Valjean and Javert. And thanks to watching the unfortunate stories of Cosette, Jean Valjean, the Thenadiers, Javert, Marius, and the rest, I thought it was time to watch the OTHER adaptations to Les Mis.

…

Russell Crowe sucks.

Fandom That Made An Unexpected Comeback: Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni

Higurashi or When They Cry is one of my favorite fandoms of all time! So naturally when we heard that it was making a comeback, I was excited. It was also very odd that Higurashi was given this sequel or reboot. Ahem! There’s another franchise that needs a face-lift. Umineko still deserves a better treatment. Plus, now that this series was out of the faulty hands of Studio Deen, Higurashi will get the special care it deserves. Believe it or not, it wasn’t just the anime that made a comeback for me, but the manga as well. Since 2009, I’ve read several volumes (out of order) and would every now and then come back to read the story. Back to the anime, this reboot or sequel…you know what, I’m gonna call it a “rebooqual”! This rebooqual sucked me back to the town of Hinamizawa and all the murders. Every week, I find myself comparing the current episode to one from the 2006 version. But then the fourth episode of each arc seems to catch me off guard.

Where are they going with this story and these twist endings to our favorite arcs? I did not expect Rena to turn a simple attempted murder into the end of School Days! I didn’t expect Rika to die in the most disgusting fashion they could think of. Could someone kill Teppei fucking Hojo? I will pay ¥5000 for someone to do that job. So yeah, because I know how much of this plays out and who does what, I’m usually watching and reading while making wise-ass remarks. But I still have fun with it.

Fandom That Inspired the Most Crack: Konosuba

In a year where I caught up with the popular Isekais like Shield Hero and Re:Zero, I found the wacky misadventures of Kazuma Satou to be amusing as all get-out. From the first 5 minutes, I found myself laughing at Kazuma’s misfortune. Seriously, how the fuck do you mistake a tractor for a car, have a heart attack, piss yourself, and fucking die in the first couple minutes to the series? You can only get away with this shit in gag animes! But it’s not just Kazuma’s dumbass, there’s a mage who only does explosions, but loses all her energy after one blow-up. Then there’s a busty, blonde who gets turned on by getting hurt and can’t strike anything with her sword. Anime’s biggest masochist or Cheryl Tunt incarnate, I haven’t decided which one to believe! Then you have this loud, crazy goddess chick named Aqua. She’s also useless about 86% of the time! Watching their unfortunate missions is all the crack that I need to get through this year. Seriously, Darkness is just all kinds of fucked up, but we love her.

Last Fandom of 2020: Yashahime

That’s right, the InuYasha sequel gets top spot here! Even though week after week I find myself asking more questions than when the episode started, I’m still hooked. If you’re like me, you watched and fell in love with the series InuYasha. So if they’re doing a sequel, you’re expecting to see all of your favorite characters from the prequel like InuYasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Sesshomaru, Koga, Rin, and the rest. Actually, no! Quite the opposite! We’ve got Sesshomaru’s daughters, but no Sesshomaru. Rin is sleeping in a tree we think! We’ve got InuYasha and Kagome’s daughter, but they’re M.I.A. None of the girls even know a thing about their birth parents.

Now are these new characters a catch like the ones from the previous series? Some are! The three main girls, yes! Especially Moroha! I’ve already praised her name earlier in the superlative. Towa and Setsuna do take on some personality traits from their parents. Setsuna is definitely serious like Sesshomaru and Towa sometimes has a carefree yet loyal aura to her like Rin. I know I’m always skeptical when a series gives us a sequel featuring the offspring of the main characters. Especially when you’ve got some lame examples like Boruto and Eureka Seven AO (I might retract my diss on Boruto later)! As each week gives us a new episode, we’re unraveling new clues into a lot of things involving our old favorite characters, as well as the new ones. So I have high hopes for Yashahime for the time being!

[mysecondsecretaccount]

Media Theory Analysis - Steven Universe

Steven Universe is an animated children’s TV show from Cartoon Network.  The show had 5 seasons from 2013 to 2019, and was followed up by a 2019 movie and 2019 epilogue series entitled “Steven Universe Future” that ran until 2020.  The series was created by Rebecca Sugar, notable for being the network’s first bisexual non-binary women to run a show.  Steven Universe follows the titular Steven, who lives with his human father and Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, who are gems, humanoid aliens with a variety of fantastical powers, including the ability for two gems to fuse into one gem, essentially two people becoming one for an amount of time.  Steven is half-gem, and his Mom, the gem Rose Quartz, gave up her physical form to become Steven, essentially dying in the process.  Much of the show centers around Steven coming into his own: dealing with his identity as half-gem, figuring his relationship to his dead mother, and fighting with the responsibilities and assumptions placed on him by Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, who simultaneously view him as just a little kid, and the next Rose Quartz.  As the show progresses, we learn that the Gems have a caste system based on function, which is run by the tyrannical Diamond Authority.

Power distance

As mentioned above, the show has a caste system based on function, which reflects our current system in many ways.  In the episode “Too Far”, the character Peridot shed some light on how the caste system works (shown at 3:12 in the video below)

As Peridot says “Pearl is a pearl, Garnet is a fusion,  [and Amethyst is] the only Crystal Gem, that's actually a Gem!”  There’s very clearly a power structure implied here, with Pearls and Fusions being seen as second-class citizens.  With this in mind, let’s start to look at the parallels to our real life caste system.

First, let’s talk about Pearls.  Pearls are essentially a slave race of personal servants, owned by nobility and forced to do work similar to secretary work, all while expected to look nice and fancy.  Throughout the show we see Pearl, the character (characters have the same name as their type of gem), being passed off as “just a pearl”, or “a feisty pearl”, and it’s a huge deal that she’s “a pearl that belongs to no one”.

“A Pearl who belonged to no one”

As you may be able to tell, the way Pearls are treated is allegorical for how women are treated in society.  Though views of women as second-class citizens aren’t exactly common in today’s world, backwards views like this still exist in many parts of the world.  There are still places where women are essentially bound to their husbands, in the same way that Pearls are bound to their masters.  And though it isn’t common now, the time when women mainly did secretary work was not that long ago in the grand scheme of things.

Next, there’s fusions.  In the show, fusions between the same types of gem are normal and common, though they are only used for military purposes and unfuse immediately after battle.

Three rubies fusing 

But fusions between different gem types are relatively unheard of, and are heavily shunned by gem society.  The first time two different gems fused, onlookers were horrified, and both particular gems were ordered to be shattered (killed).

Now it’s important to note that fusions, being the physical embodiment to two character’s feelings towards each other, are often used to represent romantic relationships.  And since all Gems are female (or at least, female-coded, I’ll get into that later), all relationships are necessarily queer.  And by viewing fusions through a queer framework, the hatred and contempt felt towards fusions becomes an obvious allegory for homophobia.  And though it may seem like most people are accepting of the queer community, especially seeing how gay marriage is legal in the united states, that’s simply not the case, especially seeing as a major political party in the U.S. is explicitly against gay marriage.

“Garnet? Does that call herself a Garnet? Haha! What would you have her do? Enter with the Demantoids? The Hessonites, the Pyropes?”

This degradation is embodied in the show.  When two gems become one, the gem that they become is one that would be higher rank than the two composing gems.  However, the rulers of gem society do not recognize the status of fusions, and find the very idea laughable, as shown above.  This only further shows how much of a second class citizen fusions are in this society.

 Let’s return to that Peridot quote from earlier: Amethyst is higher status than both Pearl and Garnet.  The thing is, Amethysts are lowly soldiers, so the fact that she could be the leader of the group, despite being the youngest, and despite the fact that Garnet should be a high-ranking military commander is frankly astonishing, and really speaks to the backwards nature of their society, which can, in turn make us reflect on the many absurd contradictions of our society.

Uncertainty avoidance

Newness and uncertainty are heavy themes in Steven Universe, even being built into the show’s very premise.  You see, Steven is a half human, haf gem hybrid, and that’s something that’s completely new in this universe.  

“There's never been anything or anyone like Steven.”

This is at the heart of one of the show’s central conflicts: how Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl view Steven.  Steven is something new, and that’s confusing and scary to the gems, because they frankly have no idea what to do with him.  But, over time, they learn that they have to accept Steven as a member of their team.  And this message of accepting the new and uncomfortable comes through with one of the show’s main mechanics: fusion.

“Something entirely new”

As shown in the video above, when the first fusion between two gems occurs, it’s portrayed as “Something entirely new”, and the show makes sure to emphasize. how special and unique that is.

“I still can't believe it. Only on Earth, don't you think? Only on Earth where anything can happen. A fusion of two completely different Gems! Can all Gems do that? How have I never heard of this?! I've only ever heard that it's unheard of.”

Furthermore, in the episode “Alone Together”, Steven fuses with his best friend Connie, creating Stevonnie, the first human/gem hybrid fusion.  At first, Pearl is perplexed and uncomfortable, calling it “inappropriate”, but Garnet, who’s portrayed as the wisest of the group, don’t ask questions or make assumptions, instead only telling them to “Go have fun!”

Finally, it's important to note that trying new things is at the crux of the plot, at least in season one.  You see, the show starts with Steven and the Crystal Gems going around and capturing corrupted gems, who are animalistic in nature.  For most interactions with these creatures, the Crystal Gems just fight them.  But Steven is irked by this, and proposes nonviolent solutions.  Ultimately, it’s only through these new solutions that progress is made.  Just as in real life, progress can only be made by accepting new and uncertain solutions.

Finally, it's important to note that trying new things is at the crux of the plot, at least in season one.  You see, the show starts with Steven and the Crystal Gems going around and capturing corrupted gems, who are animalistic in nature.  For most interactions with these creatures, the Crystal Gems just fight them.  But Steven is irked by this, and proposes nonviolent solutions.  Ultimately, it’s only through these new solutions that progress is made.  Just as in real life, progress can only be made by accepting new and uncertain solutions.

First of all, the entire Gem race is female (or female presenting rather, I’ll get to that in a minute), except for Steven, who’s half-gem and identifies as male (he/him).  This is notable, because many mainstream franchises have casts that are almost entirely male, usually save for one token female (see: the smurfette principle).  Steven universe is unique for having an entire race designed specifically to subvert this.

But what’s interesting that none of the Gems are actually female, they’re all nonbinary.  According to the show’s creator (who herself is a nonbinary women), all the gems are sexless and agendered, an alien species that don’t have a gender binary.  However, they all present female and use she/her pronouns (with a couple exceptions I’ll get to in a moment).  This is unique as nearly every character in every piece of media falls within the gender binary, and though the gems may lean to one side of it, they still fall strictly outside the gender binary.

 Masculinity vs femininity

Steven Universe is notable for defying gender expectations in several unique and groundbreaking ways.

First of all, the entire Gem race is female (or female presenting rather, I’ll get to that in a minute), except for Steven, who’s half-gem and identifies as male (he/him).  This is notable, because many mainstream franchises have casts that are almost entirely male, usually save for one token female (see: the Smurfette principle).  Steven Universe is unique for having an entire race designed specifically to subvert this.

But what’s interesting that none of the Gems are actually female, they’re all nonbinary.  According to the show’s creator (who herself is a nonbinary women), all the gems are sexless and agendered, an alien species that don’t have a gender binary.  However, they all present female and use she/her pronouns (with a couple exceptions I’ll get to in a moment).  This is unique as nearly every character in every piece of media falls within the gender binary, and though the gems may lean to one side of it, they still fall strictly outside the gender binary.

Some characters go even further in being non-binary, not leaning to either side and using they/them pronouns.  Specifically, we have Stevonnie, who is the fusion of Steven (male) and Connie (female).  Stevonnie is romanticized by the show as a true human experience, which also serves as a validation and confirmation of nonbinary identities.

Stevonnie being awesome.

All of the other fusions that include steven use they/them pronouns, including: Smoky Quartz (they/them), Rainbow Quartz 2.0 (They/Them & He/Him), Sunstone (They/Them & She/Her) and Obsidian (They/Them & She/Her).

It’s also worth noting that in Steven Universe Future, we get to briefly meet a nonbinary character named Shep, proving once and for all, that you don’t have to be a half-alien gem fusion to be nonbinary.

They 

Another gender standard that Steven Universe rebukes is that of traditional female beauty.  Though most Gems are female-presenting, they all present their femininity in different ways.  

Taken from a Contrapoints video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bbINLWtMKI)  

As you can clearly see, even though all of these characters use she/her pronouns, they all present their femininity in radically different ways, not being afraid to stray into nontraditional femininity.

Then there’s the subversive masculinity of Steven Universe.

The video above basically says everything I wanted to say on this topic in a manner infinitely better than I could ever do, and I don’t want to just limply restate its arguments, so just go watch the video for yourself.  All I have to add is that Steven is not at all afraid to wear traditionally feminine clothing, or act in a traditionally feminine manner, as shown below:

Individualism vs. collectivism

Throughout the show, the Crystal Gems are constantly fighting as a team.  They’re always working together, and there’s an assumed promotion of the value of teamwork throughout the show.  All major problems are only ever solved through cooperation.

What’s more interesting is how fusion plays into this topic.  Fusion is an allegory for relationships, of all different shapes, sizes and kinds.  So naturally, some fusions represent teamwork, specifically Alexandrite and Obsidian, the fusion of Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl and the fusion of Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Steven respectively.  These fusions only exist as long as the contributing members are willing to cooperate, and have trouble staying together when the members aren’t working well together.

Alexandrite coming apart after her components start bickering

We also see the smaller, two-gem type fusions being used to represent teamwork and collective power.  The philosophy behind fusions is that they are greater than the sum of their parts, and as such are extremely useful for completing tasks.  Throughout the show we see characters fusing to do things like lift up a drill, destroy a tall structure, babysit, or even just to fight.  Recurring is known for lamenting the fact that she’s always beaten by fusion, even resorting to fusing with an uneasy ally to win a battle, twice (it works neither time).  The message is clear: teamwork creates synergy.

Pearl and Amethyst fuse to lift a drill

But what makes this truly interesting is how Steven Universe also champions individuality.  The show features plenty of characters who have arcs of self discovery, eventually coming into their own as a unique person, most notably Steven Universe himself.  Though you may think that these themes of individuality and collectivism may contradict each other, Steven Universe finds a way to escape that binary and champion both.

In episode “The Question”, the idea of differentiation is explored.  Differentiation is the idea that members of a couple need solid individual identities to work together as a couple.  And this idea can be applied to many other fusions throughout the show.  For example, in the episode “Mindful Education”, Stevonnie starts hallucinating when one of their components, Connie, is having trouble at school.  In said episode, Garnet explains that for fusions to stay fused, there has to be balance, and all participants have to be stable.  

“For a fusion to work, there needs to be balance. An imbalance can cause your fusion to...fall apart. That is to say, if one of you is falling apart, your fusion will as well. To find balance, you must understand your feelings.”

Ultimately, Steven Universe conveys a complex but important message: “Teamwork and cooperation are vital in making societal progress, but individual identity is crucial and cannot be ignored”

Indulgence vs restraint

While Some critics of the show have posited that in the first season, Steven has everything he wants.  And while that may be true from a physical statement (he eats what he wants, he gets to play video games all the time, he lives extremely close to both an arcade and an amusement park), his emotional needs, his need to be accepted by his family, his need to feel like he’s a valued member of the team, his need to be not be seen in the shadow of his mother, taken entire seasons to be meet, and some of those needs are frankly never met.

In the end, Steven Universe proves to be a subversive masterpiece, defying traditional expectations of gender and power structure, while providing new ways forward through uncertainty and the combination of individuality and collectivism.  To matter what framework you view the show through, it will always have something to learn from. 

[cursed-ice-queen]

My Jacob’s birthday was yesterday! So to celebrate here’s his profile! Outline provided by @hogwartsmystory.

     IDENTITY

Name: Jacob Lovino Parker

Gender: Male

Age: 15

Birth Date: December 29th

Species: Human

Blood Status: Half-Blood

Sexuality: ???

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Ethnicity: White

Nationality: Irish, Italian

Residence: Cork, Ireland

Myer Briggs Personality Type: INFJ-T

     THE MAGE

1st Wand: Pine, 10”, Dragon Heartstring Core

2nd Wand: He has several! All of varying lengths but all dragon heartstring

Hawthorn: Suited to healing magic and curses; suited to those with a conflicted nature, proven talent

Hornbeam: Talented with a single pure passion/obsession, adapt more quickly to owner’s style than most wands, become so personalized others find it difficult to cast simplest spells, absorbs code of honor and may refuse to perform, fine-tuned and sentient

Maple: Suited to travellers and explorers, prefer ambition otherwise magic grows heavy and lackluster, regular changes of scene cause it to shine

Pine: Independent and individual master, may be perceived as loner or mysterious, enjoys being used creatively, adapts well, owners never die young, among most sensitive to non-verbal magic

Silver lime: Works best with skilled Legilimens

Willow: Healing power, owner often has some insecurity, enables advanced, non-verbal magic, selects those of greatest potential

Yew: Matches are notorious, has dark reputation in dueling spheres, a fierce protector of others, never choses mediocre or timid owner

Misc Magical Abilities: Legilimens

Boggart Form:

House centipedes

Snape

R Messengers

Forest Vault with Acromantula over unconscious Parker

Later has Pius’ voice

Riddikulus Form:

Putting it in Disco clothes and making it dance

He has no defense for the Acromantula

Amortentia: (What do they smell like?) Books

Amortentia: (What do they smell?) Pumpkin, dusty old books, Nonna’s garden, fall leaves

Patronus: Cheetah

Patronus Memory: Duncan comforting him after accidentally coming across Snape Boggart

Mirror of Erised: Himself surrounded by friends and family acknowledging that he isn’t mad and that he was right all along about the Vaults

Specialized/Favourite Spells: Melofors Jinx, Bluebell Flames, Doubling Charm

      APPEARANCE

Height: (5’5”)

Weight: (135 lbs)

Physique: Scrawny with chubby cheeks

Eye Colour: Brown

Hair Colour: Copper, darker than Megan’s

Skin Tone: A bit darker than Megan’s, “Italian” skin

Scarring:

Stretch marks across his back from growth spurt

Frostbite scars on legs and feet

Scar from Acromantula on left forearm and calf

Soccer ball-sized burn from dragon on right side of torso

Inventory: (what do they carry on them?) Notebook for taking notes and scribbling in; a separate notebook that he talks with Olivia in

Fashion: Doesn’t like to wear his Hufflepuff uniform pieces, wears a Ravenclaw scarf; sticks his wand in bun; wears fleece leggings under his pants because he’s always cold; long sleeves and pants even in summer; in winter he doubles up his shirts; socks pulled all the way up

      ALLEGIANCES

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff (Ravenclaw)

Ilvermorny House: Horned Serpent

Affiliations/Organizations: Rakepick

Professions: Wand-maker

      HOGWARTS INFORMATION

Class Proficiencies:

Astronomy: Exceeds Expectation

Charms: Outstanding

DADA: Outstanding

Flying: Acceptable

Herbology: Exceeds Expectation

History of Magic: Outstanding

Potions: Troll

Transfiguration: Outstanding

Electives:

Care of Magical Creatures: Exceeds Expectation

Divination: Acceptable

Favourite Professors: Sprout, Pince

Least Favourite Professors: Snape

      RELATIONSHIPS

Sister: Megan Sofía Parker

Mother: Alice Parker

Grandmother: Sofía Vitale

Best Friends: Duncan Ashe, Olivia Green

Enemy: Snape, Pius

Dormmates: (Who’s in your MC’s dorm with them?) Eric Munch, Aaron Alto, Michael Hughes, Kenny Griffiths

Closest Canon Friends: Duncan Ashe

      BACKGROUND/HISTORY

Pre Hogwarts: Learns quickly to take care of Parker due to other people mocking her or teasing her

1st Year: Meets Duncan when they sail across Black Lake; 6½ minute Hat Stall, devastated that he isn’t sorted into Ravenclaw; has a horrible time at Hogwarts; begins to hear whispers and have dreams, learns of the Cursed Vaults and connects the two

2nd Year: Becomes Library assistant for Madam Pince; insists that the Cursed Vaults are real and that they are talking to him and giving him dreams, classmates bully him for this; finds and tampers with Ice Vault, unleashing curse; gets stuck in cursed ice for hours and suffers severe frostbite on his legs and feet because of it; finally opens Ice Vault and shows Dumbledore, Dumbledore realizes he is a Legilimens and tells him

3rd Year: His Boggart becomes Snape, makes his home in Room 784 in an abandoned corridor; Dumbledore gives him Legilimency lessons; Boggart curse begins without him tampering with the Vault, quickly finds and opens Fear Vault; R contacts him for the first time; meets Rakepick and is enthralled to have someone who is a professional Curse Breaker believe that the Vaults speak to him, she promises to work with him; Legilimency lessons with Dumbledore end; sleepwalking curse begins late in the year

4th Year: Duncan starts to drift away from Jacob in favor of new friends and romantic interest, Jacob becomes lonely and jealous; Black Lake Incident, Olivia begins asking Jacob for help with creating spells; connects sleepwalking curse to Centaurs and meets Torvus; Celestial Ball Incident; Jacob becomes closer to Olivia while drifting away from Duncan; Aurors take him from the Three Broomsticks and he is forcibly interrogated by the Ministry of Magic; Rakepick promises to help him open Forest Vault; Duncan’s girlfriend disappears due to curse, Jacob and Duncan agree to open Vault earlier than planned and Jacob sends message to Rakepick; forced to steal jeweled arrowhead from Torvus; while waiting for Rakepick to meet them at Forest Vault to fight Acromantula, Duncan has a nervous breakdown at seeing the half-eaten remains of his girlfriend, little girl sleepwalks into Acromantula nest and to save her they have to fight the Acromantula without waiting for Rakepick to rendezvous with them, Jacob hit by pincer and receives venomous scar on forearm and calf, they force Acromantula to retreat and Jacob opens Forest Vault; receives praise from R and told to immediately work on next Vault; Boggart becomes R messengers

5th Year: Olivia doesn’t return from summer break; R impatient about finding next Vault but Jacob can’t find any leads besides his dreams of dragons and being buried alive; R gives him instructions to create super explosive Erumpant potion, which Jacob asks Duncan to do; Duncan killed in potion explosion, Jacob expelled

Post-Expulsion: R threatens his family, mainly Megan; to force Jacob to work with them an R agent named Pius abducts Megan in the dead of night but Jacob finds out immediately, runs away to work for R, makes Unbreakable Vow with Pius to protect his family; works on finding fourth Vault for months; secretly plans to guide Megan to opening Vaults; closes first three Vaults and hides artifacts in columns; attempts Portrait Vault with Rakepick and Pius, easily opens door with Legillimency, trapped in portrait

           PERSONALITY

Cannot curse. Gets flustered and stutters over his words. Avoids even saying the word “butt.”

Rather sweet and caring. A thoughtful friend who shows his appreciation with gifts.

Shows affection through physical touch. His close friends get hugs and cuddles and handholding. Expect him to use you as a pillow. (This all applies to Duncan in their early years)

Never believed in “cooties” and even if he did he wouldn’t see any problem with it.

While he was quite social in elementary school and friends with everyone, in Hogwarts he was more of a loner with only Duncan as a true friend. This was mainly because of his insistence of the Cursed Vaults being real and people thinking he was mad.

An academic prodigy. Despite coming from a largely non-magical life he learns spells with ease and spends a lot of time studying and getting ahead of his classmates. He loves learning new things, especially things that other people don’t know.

Also a voracious reader. He has a particular affinity for magical history and medieval texts. Another thing his classmates think he’s weird for.

A supportive and protective older brother. He dotes on his little sister Megan and learned from a young age that he has to protect her. In elementary school he would have to defend her from people teasing her and making fun of her crooked, discolored teeth.

           MISC

Poor boy is always cold.

His first magic is giving his father purple and green boils on his arms when he tries to kidnap infant Megan.

The biggest “Men are trash” proponent you will ever meet. The amount of men and boys who made comments about his sister and he saw cheat on their girlfriends are his evidence.

Searches for the Vaults because they whisper to him and give him dreams, and he wants to confirm that he isn’t crazy or mad.

Thought that he would have a choice in what House he would be sorted into, and he’s convinced that the Sorting Hat made a mistake in putting him in Hufflepuff instead of Ravenclaw like he wanted to be.

His affinity for studying came from having little else to do around the castle. He was frequently ahead of his class and taught himself new spells from books in the Library. Whenever professors would go over spells he already knew he would skip class.

He was a 6 1\2 minute Hat Stall. The Hat couldn't decide whether to put him in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw.

Has accidentally called McGonagall “Mom” on at least one occasion and will not admit it.

[darlingdtarot]

                Gouldian Finch Spirit Animal Meaning

Keywords: Colorful, Expressive, Bold, Equilibrium, Balance, Well Rounded, Rainbow, LGBTQ+, and Equality

Gouldian Finches, otherwise known as the Rainbow Finch or Goulds, are bright and vivacious little birds. There are three different color variations within this species of bird; A Red head, a Black head, and a Yellow head. They can also have purple, turquoise, green, blue, etc. making them extremely colorful birds. Adult males have bright purple breast feathers that can help them stand out and be spotted by potential mates, where females have the more dulled purple. It's not hard to see why they got the name Rainbow Finches as well.

The Gouldian Finch wants you to show your true colors and be true to yourself. Dare to be authentic, unique, and one of a kind no matter how scary that might prove to be. The Gouldian doesn't care that the Zebra finch is different, nor do they care if the Zebra finch were to think they are strange. They know their worth, and this bird wants you to know your worth also. With all these different types of plumage, it also reminds you that everyone in this world is different in their own way. Gouldian Finch wants you to think about how boring the world would be if every bird looked exactly the same as well. Are you expressing yourself through the clothes you wear and the way you carry yourself? Are you putting your own best foot forward? Gouldian Spirit Guides asks you to align yourself with your authenticity and the fact that you are one of a kind.      

The Gouldian Finch is highly sociable too, forming flocks in the hundreds to travel during non-breeding season. During the off season, they are nomadic and love to see different areas. This might also come from their habitat being endangered, that from this hardship they have had to learn how to be adaptable to their current situation, which is a lesson that they will also teach you. How to evolve and adapt to the best overall version of yourself in even the hardest of situations. Recent Studies suggest that there only about 2,500 Gouldians that are currently in the wild. This would make them a species that is not only already considered Near Threatened and slowly going extinct, but is steadily decreasing from fires, human encroachment, and cattle. Because of encroachment, these birds have had to move and increase their populations in other areas – such as the Northern Territory and Kimberly region of Australia. The Gouldian is never far from water, a lot like another spirit animal, the salamander. You might be someone who likes to stick close to home, or not go too far outside of your comfort zone. This Spirit Animal gives you the confirmation that you can do anything that you put your mind to – even if it is a little uncomfortable at first.    

Gouldian Finches are incredibly loyal and mate for life. Because of the long term commitment, Courtship can take months between two Gouldian Finches to make sure that they are truly happy with their partner before taking the final leap. This reminds you, “Don't feel you need to hurry love or commitment.” Slow and steady wins the race when it comes to finding a long term partner to spend your life with. Pick someone who is your friend, and someone who helps you, as this is what your spirit animal views as valuable in a partnership. Those with this spirit animal are the lucky ones that get to grow old with a partner that has their back in thick and thin.  

 Gouldian's are very cautious as they are extremely bright and are able to be spotted incredibly easily. There are a lot of predators that would like to snack on this vibrant bird too – such as snakes, cats, and hawks to only name a few. This Spirit Animal can help you to become more on guard and be a bit more cautious in your own life. This isn't saying to walk on egg shells, but stay on your toes! Gouldian's know that if they overlook the small things, they could pile up into bigger problems. You might already find that you are innately over cautious or like to be aware of your surroundings. You might be someone that as soon as you walk into a room you immediately look for all of the fire escapes or emergency exits to be on the safe side. “Better Safe Than Sorry”, right? This is a wonderful trait, and one that will help keep you safe and protected throughout your lifetime. Take pride in the fact that you are so diligent with safety.  

 Ideal Careers for those with Gouldian Finch Spirit Animal:

Seamstress

Singer

Designer

Advocate

Theater Arts

Gender Studies  

Nutritionist

[caustic-curses]

HPHM Profile: Corbyn Reyes

Thanks to @hogwartsmysterystory for this new profile template!

IDENTITY

Name: Corbyn Samil Reyes

Gender: Cisgender Male

Age:  16

Birth Date: 11/15/1972

Species: Valravaan

Blood Status: Half-Blood

Sexuality: Asexual

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Ethnicity: Slavic

Nationality: Serbian

Residence: Bristol, UK

Myer Briggs Personality Type: ISTJ

THE MAGE

1st Wand: Pine | Dragon heartstring core | 12 ¾" in length | Rigid flexibility

The straight-grained pine wand always chooses an independent, individual master who may be perceived as a loner, intriguing and perhaps mysterious. Pine wands enjoy being used creatively, and unlike some others, will adapt without protest to new methods and spells. Many wandmakers insist that pine wands are able to detect and perform best for owners who are destined for long lives, and I can confirm this in as much as I have never personally known the master of a pine wand to die young. The pine wand is one of those that is most sensitive to non-verbal magic.

As a rule, dragon heartstrings produce wands with the most power, and which are capable of the most flamboyant spells. Dragon wands tend to learn more quickly than other types. While they can change allegiance if won from their original master, they always bond strongly with the current owner. The dragon wand tends to be easiest to turn to the Dark Arts, though it will not incline that way of its own accord. It is also the most prone of the three cores to accidents, being somewhat temperamental.

2nd Wand:  Ebony| Dragon heartstring core.| 11 ¼ “| Unyielding

This jet-black wand wood has an impressive appearance and reputation, being highly suited to all manner of combative magic, and to Transfiguration. Ebony is happiest in the hand of those with the courage to be themselves. Frequently non-conformist, highly individual or comfortable with the status of outsider, ebony wand owners have been found both among the ranks of the Order of the Phoenix and among the Death Eaters. In my experience, the ebony wand’s perfect match is one who will hold fast to his or her beliefs, no matter what the external pressure, and will not be swayed lightly from their purpose.

Animagus: White Cat

Misc Magical Abilities: Parselmouth (currently unaware)

Boggart Form: Being  in a hospital gown gaunt and ignored

Riddikulus Form: Dog in an outfit prancing around

Amortentia: The scent of patchouli, rose and teak wood tease the senses while the note of vanilla adds excitement (spicy, the thrill of late summer, mountain flowers)

Amortentia: the earthy scent of a meadow,  lavender & coral rose, and the faded  scent of butterbeer (Tulip)

Patronus:  Cat

Patronus Memory: Camping late at night with Jakov and creating images from the stars

Mirror of Erised: Seeing his mother there, holding him close with a delighted smile of approval and acceptance.

Specialized/Favourite Spells: Caterwauling charm, Confundo, and Diffindo. His favorite is the disillusionment charm.

APPEARANCE

Faceclaim: Ivan Vuckovic

Game Appearance:

Height: 5’4

Weight: 135

Physique: Average

Eye Colour: dark forest green (D20 on the 1998 eye chart) Left eye is 3s lighter as he is becoming blind in that eye from a spell gone wrong

Hair Colour: deep brown with natural mahogany highlights (noticeable in direct sunlight) styled via French crop with a gradual fade.

Skin Tone: warm ivory

Inventory: He wears a dragon-shaped pendant and a dark brown wooden wrist cuff given to him by Jakov, his wand, and a pair of glasses

ALLEGIANCES 

Hogwarts House: Slytherin

Affiliations/Organizations: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Professions: Aurologist and Herbalist 

HOGWARTS INFORMATION

Class Proficiencies:

Astronomy: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

Charms: ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆

DADA: ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆

Flying:  ★★★★★★★★★☆

Herbology: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

History of Magic: ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Potions: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Transfiguration: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Electives:

Care Of Magical Creatures: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Divination: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Quidditch: Chaser

Extra-Curricular: Gardening Club

Favorite Professors: 

Professor McGonagall -She takes on the role of a mother figure in Corbyn’s eyes. She is stern but only out of a desire to see him succeed. Her admiration for his accomplishments is thus hard-won and genuine. 

Professor Sprout - Her gentle nature and willingness to encourage his interest in herbology quickly made her one of his favorite teachers. She is patient and kind, he can always count on her class to be his favorite.

Least Favourite Professors:

Professor Snape - No matter what he does, it’s never good enough. No matter how hard he studies he continually feels inferior. He came to school hoping to escape that type of nonsense.

Professor Rakepick- She’s suspicious. Her methods of teaching don’t sit well with him and it seems as if there are more at stake than just a few house points.

RELATIONSHIPS

Brother: Jakov Callum Reyes | (21yo) 11/271967- Sagittarius

Seer although he never told his family (mother had suspicions)

Woodcarver-aspires to be a wand designer

Is aware that Corbyn is his half-brother

Biological Father: Haedon Knezevic | (35 yo)  4/17/1951 -Aries

Full-blooded Valravan -began life as a raven

Magic is gathered from outside sources rather than from within like wizards

He was locked away under the watchful eye of the Legacies which prevented him from being a part of Corbyn’s early childhood.

Father: Ezekial Reyes |  (41yo) 5/9/1947 -Taurus

He married Lilith despite her indiscretions when in his late twenties.

Despite not being his true father, Ezekiel took on the role without question to become the parental figure Corbyn adores. As a role model, he endeavored to teach Corbyn virtues. He can only pray that they stuck with him at Hogwarts.

He was gone often and for long periods of time due to his work. This field of work has caused him to become sick but he keeps this as a secret.

Mother: Lilith Reyes | (38yo)  2/25/1948 - Pisces

Cheated on Ezekiel with Haedon becoming pregnant with Corbyn. He functions as a bitter reminder of everything she lost and of what she could have had.

Lilith is an Ilvermorny Alumni

When Jakov disappeared, Lilith’s smile went with him. A bit of her spirit broke and Corbyn was left with the aftermath of distance and anger.

Love Interest: Tulip Karasu

Best Friends: Barnaby Lee, Tulip Karasu & Chiara Loboscu

Rival: Merula Snyde & Diego Caplan

Enemy: Frith Fuilteach & Seth Drystan

Dormmates: Rowan Khanna & Laurent King

Pets: Midi- Tawny owl

Closest Canon Friends: Penny Haywood, Rowan Khanna, Barnaby Lee, Charlie Weasley

Closest MC Friends: 

Laurent King (@slytherin-puffskein)

Dahlia Goldman (@a-bear-at-hogwarts) 

Samuel Gabehart (@hphm-ravenclaw-writings)

BACKGROUND/HISTORY

While Ezekiel was away on business trips, Jakov often took over the role of parent. As an older sibling, he was expected to make Corbyn mind the rules while also helping his mother. The more often that this occurred, the more that Jakov began to resent his half-brother. The games they played became rougher and bordered on dangerous. Jakov was a teen pushed too early into adulthood and Corbyn was the scapegoat.

Despite this, Corbyn admired Jakov and looked up to him. To him, there were tense times but that did not diminish the genuine fun that they had. He loved Jakov as did their mother. So when news began to circulate about him opening the vaults, their mother was worried something might happen. This was proven correct when they received that fated letter. She was heartbroken. Jakov left and took her maternal love. Corbyn was left with bitterness, resentment, and emotional manipulation. It was here that he realized vulnerability is deadly. 

The Reyes had only recently moved to Bristol, UK when they received the news. Corbyn was 9 years old when he realized his brother would not be coming home. Rumors regarding Jakov joining You-Know-Who or his possible death were hard to hear but he continued to defend his brother to the point of coming home bruised and bloodied.

It was debated but Corbyn was allowed to go to Hogwarts in 1984. It wasn’t because his mother was scared of losing him. It was because she was sure he was a squib because he had only a few magical mishaps. She did not want to be further embarrassed by him.

During the first few years at Hogwarts, he befriended several students who demonstrated that vulnerability can be okay and it is sometimes needed. Not only did he learn some interesting spells but he learned of secrets and rumors that caused him to seek out the truth and eventually befriend Chiara.

PERSONALITY

Loyal: This is to a certain extent. Even if you are friends, he might not be loyal until you’ve proven yourself to be worthy of that loyalty. Sure, it is a bit of a test but once that loyalty is won, it is golden.

Self-sufficient: Due to the nature of how he was raised, Corbyn learned early on that the one person he can rely on is himself. Thus, he has a hard time asking for help in any matter. He prefers to solve the problem himself rather than be indebted to anyone.

Clever: Witty. Sarcastic. Corbyn uses words to cut down others or to trick them for profit. He does this because it's one way to look out for himself. If he can trick you, he will continue to do so for as long as possible.

Vindictive: Being a jealous individual isn’t a good look but he hasn’t been able to change. When someone crosses him or especially someone he has befriended (see loyal), then he’s out to assure that this never happens again. He will find your weaknesses and force you to endure them.

Obstinate: While this can sometimes be seen as negative, he is stubborn in the sense that he knows what he stands for and what he wants out of life. He is headstrong so it makes convincing him otherwise to be a headache.

MISC

Likes: intense spices, herbology, pranking his friends, the idea of courting

Dislikes: bananas, excessively sweet things, The Black Lake, not knowing how to swim

Hobbies: working with magical creatures, cooking/grilling, gambling

[rosaxlunar]

❝ INNOCENCE IS AN ILLUSION. WE ALL STAIN OUR OWN HANDS.❞

&&. ( natalia de leon ) was just spotted in amsterdam. rumor has it ( she/her ) is a ( 129  / appears 24 ) year old ( vampire ) who resembles ( danna paola ). ( she/her ) has been said to be ( ambitious & captivating ) but also quite ( gossipy & spiteful ).with all the chaos surrounding the magical underworld, ( she ) has chosen to align with ( vampires / dark alliance ). ( she ) is currently serving as ( a spy for the night court ). hopefully the city doesn’t devour them whole.

001 ♥ THE BASICS

NAME: Natalia De Leon AGE: One Hundred Twenty Nine appears Twenty Four DOB: January 10 1890 - Capricorn  GENDER: Cis Female SEXUALITY: Heterosexual  NATIONALITY: Mexican SPECIES: Vampire ALLEGIANCE: Vampires / Dark Alliance  THEME SONG: Brunette Ambition  - Qveen Herby PERSONALITY TRAITS: ( + ) Ambitious, Captivating, Resilient & Daring  ( - ) Sneaky, Gossipy, Spiteful & Deceitful 

002 ♥ IN DEPTH

Natalia De Leon always knew she deserved better than the unlucky cards she got at life. 

Born in Oaxaca Mexico to impoverished farmers who worked for the local haciendas, she had her whole destiny set in stone the minute it was confirmed she was born a girl. She would learn the womanly responsibilities to becoming a wife, no need for any sort of education that didn’t comprise of caretaking, and when she was of age she would marry another farmer and no longer be a burden on her parents. Growing up, Natalia cursed her fate, cursed the status quo that offered her no nope. She was a girl with a penchant for daydreaming, wishing she could have all the material things her heart desired, wishing she could be of the social class that she begrudgingly worked for. She detested that her daily routine was that of chores and domestic training. Her bright mind, while undernourished in terms of literacy, still understood the visceral power in money and she yearned for it. She dreamed for a chance to snub her fate. She wished for a miracle.

In walks Senorita Ada Rhodes. Natalia was only fifteen years old at the time, working as a servant in the same hacienda her parents farmed for. Senorita Ada was like no woman Natalia had ever encountered before, she was intelligent, sophisticated and radical. She traveled with no husband, no acceptable male escort and there was an air about her. She was dangerous and that intrigued Natalia. As honored guest of the family, Natalia’s duty was to assure she was taken care of and comfortable. A duty she carried out proudly. Natalia was utterly bespelled, observing all her mannerisms, giggling under her breath anytime she ignored the conventional rules of how women should behave. Gasping in delight when her bouts of spying led to learning secrets about affairs and relationships between women she didn’t think were even possible. And by a stroke of luck, Senorita Rhodes seemed to find her presence acceptable. What were once small conversations became ones that lasted through the night. With Ada, Natalia felt the sort of bond she always wished from her mother. With Ada, her innermost secrets, about hating her life, about her fear of being nothing but a wife, about dying poor and unaccomplished, were spoken aloud and validated. Soon Ada would send her to do small errands and Natalia eagerly carried them out. And when Ada would ask her questions about certain individuals, Natalia made sure to seek out the answers if she didn’t know them already. Ada could have asked her for the moon, and Natalia’s devotion was so strong she would have done anything in her might to get it done. 

When it came time for Ada to leave, Natalia was distraught. She couldn’t lose the person who had expanded her views, she couldn’t be confined back into the small box that was her life without the hope of seeing her again. Senorita Rhodes was the reason her job wasn’t the chore it had always been. She begged and pleaded to go with, willing to follow the woman wherever she decided to go but was denied. Natalia refused to take no as an answer and the night that Ada was set to leave, Natalia grabbed her essential belongings and followed without a word to her parents or bosses. She would rather die out in the world she had yet to explore than to continue to rot away in the life she already knows. It wasn’t long afterwards that Natalia found out the truth about Ada, in fact it happened mere minutes after she began following the woman. In what Natalia assumes was an attempt to scare her back to her life, Ada revealed her true self, flashed her fangs and told her to leave. But it had the opposite effect. Natalia’s eyes widened with wonder, yes, her heart accelerated and yes, a shiver went down her spine, her body felt the fear but her mind went back over all the inconsistencies, all the times she wondered what exactly was off about this mysterious woman. Her mind pieced the puzzle together and immediately her first question was “puedes hacer me como tu?”

Ada refused, but allowed Natalia to follow her around. Years went by like this, Natalia following the vampire as her human (non sexual) pet. She learned to read and write in spanish, followed by trainings in self defense and weapons. Natalia became the errand girl for Ada, infiltrating locations as a servant girl in order to overhear gossip, luring in potential meals for the vampire and so on and so forth. Every year on Natalia’s birthday, she would beg to be turned and every year she would be denied. 

Then the Mexican Revolution broke out, the rebellion against the dictatorship of Diaz that soon spanned as a fight against everything wrong in the nation. Natalia joined la soldaderas who then became known as las adelitas. Natalia became one of the countless of women who followed the armies around to help their efforts in the war. They were fighting for land, for freedom, for a chance to rise the ranks. Everything Natalia had always yearned for and felt was right. Natalia is twenty four and she feels more alive then she ever has before, befriending the adelitas who became powerful in the ranks. The ones who didn’t just clean the weapons or prepare food or provide healing services. No, she joined the women who fought alongside the men, thanks to the training under Ada, she belonged with with the women who became leaders, strategizing in battles and winning them. ( With no recognition of course, the men always took the glory.) Natalia figured, this was why Ada was placed in her life. The force that was strong enough to change her fate. Strong enough to go against what God had planned for her. A force that in turned made Natalia strong enough to fight for change in country.

The beauty of having Ada Rhode’s protection, what that even in the midst of all the chaos, Ada would consistently check up on Natalia. And Natalia always looked forward to those visits, often leaving her camp to meet the vampire halfway. One night, when trekking out to meet with her mentor, Natalia is ambushed, a group of men from the troops, bitter and enraged over her constant rejection of them, decided that she needed to learn a lesson. Natalia was fast and strong, but not against so many. Her piercing shrieks hit the night air, but nobody came, she was too far from the camp and the men only cackled as she squirmed and refused to stay still. Her fear rising as they held her down, her tears spilling as they sliced off her clothes with knives. Natalia’s rage grew alongside the fear, she could not go out like this, she refused to go like this and in her final attempt, she reached for the nearest knife that had been let go of, so they could touch her with their bare hands. She grabbed it and swung, slashing whatever available skin was in her reach. This angered them enough to hit her back, going so far as to stab her in the softness of her exposed belly. Ada arrived then and Natalia can barely remember what happened afterwards. She can only remember the pain, the coldness of the air hitting her exposed skin with the contrast of the warm blood leaving her body. That and the utter relief she felt, knowing they didn’t go inside her, violating her the way they had planned to. If she had to die now, at least she would know she fought to the very end.

When she woke up, it was to a hunger unlike anything she had ever felt before. Confused and bewildered over the fact that she even woke up at all. Natalia looked into the eyes of her maker and everything clicked. She was no longer human. 

003 ♥ FUN FACTS

Natalia left the war the minute she became a newborn vampire. Her lack of control a danger to her peers, however she never felt guilty losing control and feeding on the scumbags who had a history of rapes and assult against the adelitas. 

Natalia’s feminist views were 100% thanks to Ada, although she often questioned the status quo growing up, she never rebelled against the machista expectations of her. This mental liberation made it so by the time she was active in the Mexican Revolution, the Adelitas who dressed as men, or had relations with other women didn’t disgust or offend her. Having accidently caught her mentor in the same positions. In fact, this also made it so she felt free to have sex with men without feeling ashamed for enjoying it. And in battlefronts where it was mostly men desperate for some pussy, she always got the pickings she wanted, and shot at those who tried to try anything when she wasn’t receptive to it.  The ambush that lead to her change wasn’t the only close call she had, but it was the first one she wasn’t able to handle on her own

As a vampire, and exposed to the wealth of her sire, Natalia finally started indulging in all the materialistic whims she had and she never looked back. You will never find Natalia looking anything less than her best. Jewels, high end clothing, fine art and fine weapons make Natalia happy. Spa days, nail art, anything extremely girly is what she seeks.

Natalia now knows multiple languages, thanks in part to her missions but mostly thanks to Ada. Immediately after learning literacy in her native language, Ada had begun teaching her english. Those lessons were set aside during her war stint, but came back after she had been turned.  Now, she’s fluent in all of the love languages and is attempting to learn korean followed by japanese and chinese.

Natalia while enjoying casual sex (and lots of it), has never fallen in love and this point thinks it’s nothing but a fairytale. 

In the beginning, Natalia felt very neutral towards humans and even now, her disdain towards them isn’t as fierce as other vampires. What she doesn’t tolerate is the idea of hiding back in the shadows now that the truth is out. She resents how humans have accepted the wolves and the angels so easily and resents the idea that the vampires need to go to hiding as if something is wrong with them. When she learned of Gabriel and his cause. She pledged her loyalty to him.

It’s thanks to Ada’s close relationship to Lucille that Natalia even found out about a position as a spy for the night court. Since she’s basically spent her whole time with Ada as a spy for her, it’s a skill she’s only gotten better with time and the newfound powers of compulsion she has. To this day Natalia has been working under Lucille’s orders for fifteen years and has successfully completed three missions. Natalia is returning to Amsterdam under Lucille’s orders. 

004 ♥ WANTED CONNECTIONS

anything: Vampire friends! Enemies! Fuck buddies! Exes (where she broke them up) Frenemies! lets plot!