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mk-wizard · 3 months

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Top 10 Media that deserve a reboot

Now, this list might be controversial to some, but hear me out. As an artist and storyteller, I don't believe in bad ideas. Just badly executed ideas. I am going to list 10 media that I do believe had potential, still have potential and had great plot ideas as well as characters behind them, but could have been better. In fact, I believe they deserve another chance because the medias themselves were not bad. They were just done bad, but as the remake of Resident 2, 3 and 4 have shown us, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Note that there are also spoilers ahead and I will not include the Acolyte on this list because it still ongoing and I will not list a media that isn't finished yet. That isn't fair.

1- The Mummy (2017) - This adaptation of the Mummy had potential as it was frightening, it had a good plot and the idea of it being the doorway to a bigger universe was good buildup. Also, this take on the Mummy was the stuff of nightmares in all the right ways. I mean, even visually, she was frightening especially with those trademark eyes. I loved that. However, I find they did too much, too fast with hinting at a bigger universe and should have focused solely on the Mummy. With that said, if you just fix that and clean up the other mistakes, it could succeed where the first try failed. Maybe even succeed at finally opening up the door to that bigger monster universe we never got to see.

2- The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy - I have not given up on Star Wars nor shall I because it still giving us new stuff that is that is good or at the very least, has good potential such as the Clone Wars, Rebels, Andor and The Bad Batch. In fact, even the sequel trilogy itself had potential, but it's biggest mistake in my opinion was that it chose the wrong character to be the hero. It should have Finn not Rey. In fact, I think Rey should have gone down the path of the Sith with Kylo Ren being a red herring big bad. It's second biggest mistake is was the choppy storytelling. The three films did not feel cohesive and the lack of respect for legacy characters was not very nice. I would not have killed off Han, split up Han and Leia, and so on. It needs a reboot with some tweaking.

3- Spider-Man 3 (the Raimi films) - This one makes me sad because it was not bad, but the forced inclusion of Venom really did leave a mark on it (no pun intended). Even Sam Raimi knew that including him in the film was a bad idea, but his hand was forced. In all fairness, the characters acting out of character didn't help either especially when Peter kissed another girl for publicity. Peter Parker would never do that especially when intending to marry Mary Jane. If this film was rebooted the way Raimi really wanted it to be, it would not only be great, but give this series the jumpstart to continue onto the plans he had for his Spider-Man film series.

4- Marvel's Spider-Man (2017 cartoon) - I have another article that explores in detail everything wrong with this cartoon, so to keep it brief, it introduced many great fresh ideas that I loved such as turning Harry Osborne into a hero, making Doc Conners into a bad guy from the get-go, the first cartoon introduction of Miles Morales, great story arc ideas and more. However, I find that the story's downfall is that was too watered down and kid friendly. This cartoon should have been aimed at older teens, Peter Parker should have been the focus and the ONLY Spider with crossovers being put to a minimum, taking its time with the storytelling, less humor, more grit and seriousness, making Doc Ock into an adult, and eliminating that gifted school altogether. Spider-Man needs his own cartoon more than ever, but one where he is shown as a hero not a clown.

5- The Walking Dead TV Series - I have great memories about this show and I was cool with it not following the comic. In some ways, that was its strength, but after season 3, the show lost its way. It stopped being emotion driven, the human element was gone and character development as well as relationship development was gone. Not to mention, the seasonal rot (pardon the pun) began to show. I think this show's greatest downfall was that it went on for too long and should have stopped while it was ahead. With that said, it deserves a reboot where it can retold and remain polished and well written from beginning to end.

6- The Incredibles 2 - I love the Incredibles in general. However, the sequel... it's a mixed bag. I like that the story was continuing, I liked Screen Slaver and I liked that the world was being explored further, but I did not like that it was just a sub-par retelling of the first film while featuring Elastigirl instead of Mr. Incredible. Don't get me wrong, I love Elastigirl/Helen Parr, but I think the way the Incredibles should have continued (as mentioned in another article I wrote once) was as a TV series where the characters age and develop. I mean, who wouldn't love a family sitcom-superhero TV series? Continuing the story is a must, but with new plots and having the story actually progress.

7- Every Pirates of the Caribbean film after the first - Like the Incredibles, the first film was perfect and having the story continue was a genius idea, but it should have continued as a TV series. I love Davey Jones and Jack having his own adventures, but I did not like how the character unlikable especially Jack Sparrow. I admit he is a pirate at the of the day, but he was one with a good heart. By the end of the series, he was a horrible person and I didn't like that. In many ways, I wasn't even sure if I liked any of the characters with how they became in the end. Moreover, Barbossa should have remained dead. Period. That doesn't mean this franchise doesn't deserve a reboot. It does and the characters should have developed in a way that makes them likeable. Maybe even have Jack grow up a little. There are so many things you can do with pirates.

8- Every Robocop media that came after the first film - Hear me out please with this one. I find that all of the sequel media of Robocop had great idea and concepts that could have worked, and still would work. Even the remake had some good points. The problem is, all of them could have been better. Even the video game was a lot of fun, but from a storytelling point of view, it too had the same problem all of the other media did. The plot was not progressing and Robocop/Alex Murphy would keep regressing as a character back into acting like a robot. Robocop needs a reboot sequel where the story actually goes on and all the progress he made as a man in the first film gets carried over to the next chapter. A good example are the comics, but even them too... they fall into the trap of the story being stuck. I want to see a sequel where the world of Robocop actually moves on and where things happen beyond Robocop just saving the day. Most importantly, I would reboot the sequel media as an episodic TV series. Not a film. Alex Murphy's journey is too complex and long to be told in just one or two movies.

9- Batman Beyond - I can't say there was much wrong with this series. I think it was pretty flawless and Terry McGinnis did indeed come into his own as the next Batman. My only complaint about it is how it ended. Terry McGinnis does not need to be the convoluted genetically modified son of Bruce Wayne. It defeats the whole purpose of him being his own Batman and own man in general. I think Terry should remain unrelated to Bruce and for their bond to just spiritually be foster father and foster son. It was just fine like that. If I also had to find another thing wrong with this series is that... it ended too suddenly and too soon. I would love to see Terry don the Batman identity again. He was cool and I miss him. Plus, there is still so many things that remained unresolved.

10 - Spider-Man: One More Day - It is quite obvious what went wrong with this storyline. It not only retconned Peter and MJ's marriage and family, it retconned their adulthood and character development. After that, the story of Spider-Man in the comics has just never been the same. While presenting a story where Aunt May was dying and Peter was faced with the choice of saving her at the cost of erasing his new life or keeping his new life while accepting Aunt May passing on was a good idea... having Peter choose to save Aunt May and give up his new life he worked so hard to build was a mistake. Rather than retconning this comic, I think rebooting it with a much better message would fix everything for Spider-Man and the Spider-Man community in general. Just when Spider-Man is about to make the deal with Mephisto, Aunt May herself catches wind of what Peter is going to do and, like in the video games, stops him from making the selfish decision of only saving her. She explains to Peter while getting ill is not ideal, she is old to begin with and even then, got to experience many wonderful things and got to see him grow up and get married. Plus, erasing his life with MJ wouldn't just negatively impact his life, but also MJ's and the lives all those he touched around him. Aunt May would convince Peter that her life alone is not more important the many lives that would get changed without consent. She has accepted that her time has come and that both Peter and MJ must accept it too with grace and not let any devil tempt them to do otherwise. In the end, Peter and MJ turn down Mephisto's deal which does result in a fight which Spider-Man wins with help. It also ends with Aunt May succumbing to her illness and dying, but her soul is at peace and as much as everyone is heartbroken by her passing, Peter and MJ see all the friends surrounding them in their time of mourning and accept that allowing this to happen was the right thing to do. Aunt May was important to them, but so is everyone else who is still here with them, everything they made together and everything that is going to happen after. It also ends with MJ discovering that she is pregnant which drives the point home all the more.

And that's my list. What do you think?

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georgiaeveritt · 2 years

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Mid Term Crit Feedback

15.02.23

Look at areas/road names specific to Bournemouth.

Create a twist on words on the street names perhaps.

Make the campaign feel as normal as something specific to the Bournemouth area - research into this (e.g. Bingo)

Create a play on Bingo - something common in Bournemouth.

The beach.

Have a walk around, take images, primary research.

Focus on a different audience - was focusing too much on women who become pregnant and need access to abortion.

Focus on instead the wider audience and changing public perception on abortion - making it feel gentle and approachable.

Take a break from the design aspect for a while - focus on finding more of a unique specific idea for the campaign itself.

Font in the presentation way too condensed - pick something more legible.

Condense slides - be more selective what to include/show. Highlight main things in brief, revise them.

First page should have the title of the brief and a couple sentences.

I am happy with the feedback I received, because I now feel more confident given a general direction to go in. I think before this presentation I felt a bit lost in all my research for this project, because there's so much to cover for this topic. I need to narrow down my focus now to the Bournemouth area specifically, as I drifted away from the brief slightly by being too general with my campaign.

I now intend to explore Bournemouth areas and research into its culture. Once I have found a specific idea to focus on, for example a famous street road name or statue, I will then explore creating a play on words for my campaign. I obviously intend to improve my presentation design, so that its cohesive and showcases my brand clearly - at the moment my slides are too spread out, I need to condense the info to what actually matters.

Keep exploring NHS idea - partnering with them for the campaign, because lots of people look at the NHS as trustworthy, serious and as healthcare. Viewing abortion as healthcare and reframing it is the main focus of the brief. I want to keep the approach gentle, not angry, and approachable, but at the same time ensuring it's taken seriously - can't be too childish. I think now I need to take a step back and explore my ideas I've listed above, rethink my idea. Next time I present my idea as well I will write a script, practice it etc.

#icp #d&ad

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littlewinter1917 · 3 years

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ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴀꜱᴛ ᴅᴀʏꜱ ᴏꜰ ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴇʀ

𝔸 𝔻𝕒𝕪 𝕒𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℤ𝕠𝕠

My blog is 18+ only. Minors DNI. 🔞 Don’t repost my work anywhere.

Series Masterlist

Words: 8.7k

Pairing: Steve Roger x Fem!Reader

Summary: You and Steve make the most out of the last days of summer and decide to visit the local zoo. But as fun and romantic as the activity is, you also have to face the fact that dating a well-known Super Soldier isn't always easy.

Warnings: It's pretty much just pure fluff, with the tiniest sparks of angst. Pet names (mostly Sweetheart & Angel) and some teasing. Maybe an undetected swearword or two.

If there are any warnings, that you think are missing, please don‘t hesitate to reach out and tell me, so I can add them accordingly.

A/N: This is my first time writing and sharing a story, so if you're reading this, I hope you enjoy!

“Sweetheart, are you ready yet?”

Steve calls out from the bedroom, hoping you’ll hear him while you’re getting ready a few doors down in the bathroom.

“Yes! I’m almost done!” you shout back, straightening your t-shirt and taking one last look in the mirror.

The excitement you feel is clearly written on your face, and you can’t help but let out a small squeal at the thought of all the animals you’ll be going to see and pet.

You are so caught up in your little daydream, that you don’t notice Steve’s approaching footsteps or the soft opening of the bathroom door.

With your mind still occupied, you turn around to leave the bathroom, only to be met with the sudden and unsuspected sight of Steve leaning casually against the door frame, smiling down at you lovingly.

“Good God, Steve!” you exclaim startled, clutching your hand to your chest, trying to calm down your now rapid heartbeat. Steve’s adoring gaze quickly turns into a more apologetic one, once he realizes that he accidentally scared you.

“Sorry Angel, I didn’t mean to frighten you.” he concedes, while gently pulling you closer and placing a soft kiss on your lips. “Hm,‘s not your fault.” you whisper against them whilst playing with the soft strands of hair at the back of his neck. Steve just hums at that, before tightening his arms around you and gently kissing your shoulder.

“So, you’re ready to go?” he murmurs against your skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake.

You only manage to nod in approval, not wanting to disturb the little moment of tenderness that engulfs the two of you. But once Steve starts to draw soft patterns on your back, you can’t help but let out a small sigh of content, snuggling closer to his chest and basking in the feeling of his gentle embrace.

The moment is short-lived though, as Steve decides to break the otherwise comfortable silence. “We should get going soon,” he mumbles, voice low, as he gently untangles himself from you.

Even though you try not to, you let out a soft whine, voicing your displeasure at the loss of his touch, making Steve coo.

“You can get all the cuddles you want Sweetheart, when we’re back from our little trip.” A small huff escapes your lips before you demonstratively hold out your pinky finger to him.

The sight of your stubborn determination makes Steve laugh, and the warmth of its sound fills both the room and your heart, making you smile.

“I pinky promise that you can get all the cuddles you want, Sweetheart.” Steve adoringly whispers, intertwining your little fingers, before pulling you into him again, gently kissing your forehead.

Your hands instinctively grab and hold on to him, trying to get him closer, and your honest display of affection and longing for him makes his heart flutter.

“Oh, Sweetheart,” he coos, “I thought you were excited about going to the zoo, hm?”

Oh god, the zoo!

You almost forgot about that completely, and by your wide-eyed reaction, Steve can clearly tell.

“So, you want to keep the penguins waiting, or… ?” he teases, and you playfully slap his side before reluctantly letting go and trying to move past him.

“You know, if you’d rather stay in today and have the zoo-date another time, we can always reschedule.” He says, his eyes searching yours, trying to communicate the same reassurance that his voice transports.

“No.” you chirp. The excitement from earlier is already back in your eyes, and you shake your head to emphasize your stand. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to keep the penguins waiting.” you add.

“Alright, then let’s get our things and get going. There is only so little time, and so many animals to see.”

“And plants!” you add enthusiastically, being almost equally excited about the small botanical garden that’s incorporated in the more tropical segment of the zoo.

“And the plants.” Steve agrees, while following you down the hallway, smiling.

🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋

While you were getting ready earlier, Steve had packed everything you two could possibly need into a big, sturdy backpack.

“I think we have everything.” Steve mumbles, more to himself than to you, while briefly going through its content again. “We have some sunscreen, sunglasses, water bottles and those sandwiches you helped me make, some snacks and fruits, money for the tickets, keys …”

He trails off, looking over the room once more, trying to think of anything he might have forgotten.

When he spots his baseball cap near the entrance, he speaks up again.

“Sweetheart, do you want to take a hat with you? The weather is supposed to get even hotter, and I don’t want you to get a heatstroke or something.”

“I think I’ll be fine, Stevie.” your voice is a little bit mumbled, since you’re currently kneeling on the ground, preoccupied with trying to tie up your sneakers.

“Alright! Well, I’ll be wearing mine, at least at the beginning …”

Steve doesn’t finish his sentence; he doesn’t need to – you already know what he is trying to say.

He’ll be wearing the cap not as a prevention for a possible heatstroke, but for the simple sake of at least some sense of anonymity, trying to lessen the chances of him being recognized.

It’s not like Steve hates the attention he often gets from the public. There are times when he is more than happy to stop for a quick photo or a handshake, but when he is out and about with you by his side, he does desire a certain sense of privacy, and so do you.

When you two first started dating, that was the hardest thing to get used to, and truth be told, you still struggle with it.

Obviously, you’d been aware of Steve’s public persona as Captain America, and the responsibility that the title entailed, long before you even started dating, but the visibility and public scrutiny that came with his occupation, was rather new to you.

Especially once the word got out, that the two of you were dating. Suddenly parts of the public interest that were initially focused on him also shifted on to you.

You used to joke, that if you’d get a dollar every time Steve and you get approached by people in public, you’d easily be able to compete with Tony’s net worth. And while you were obliviously exaggerating and making fun of the situation, Steve could also tell that it was taking somewhat of a toll on you.

To be fair, it wasn’t like you hated those encounters across the board. There were, and still are, a lot of times where Steve’s interactions with the public are nice to watch and take part of.

The number of times, for example, that random children would approach him, starstruck and starry-eyed, are as countless as they are endearing, which is to say, very - and, subsequently, many.

It always makes your heart gleam with a mixture of pride and joy when you get to witness those interactions.

You’re not quite sure if it is because Steve is naturally good with kids, or kids are naturally good with Steve, but each encounter is filled with a warmth and a gentleness, that makes your heart both melt and pop.

And so, you tend to stand there with your heart in a puddle, while Steve talks and engages with the children in such a carefree yet gentle way.

But there are also some encounters, that don’t spark as much joy.

Or none at all, if you’re being honest.

Those are usually the ones whose timing couldn’t be worse. Like getting approached while the two of you are having small romantic dates out in the park or in cozy coffee shops. Even your cute little trips to museums and art galleries once in a while aren’t spared from the casual interference of others.

There’s almost always someone, somewhere, shouting in both a mixture of disbelief and joy:“Is this Captain America?”

And then the heads start to turn, and the murmur starts, and your previous little date idea gets turned into a live meet-and-greet Captain America event.

And it sucks.

It’s not like you want to keep Steve all to yourself; it’s just that you don’t want to share him every single time you two go out in public together. Especially when it’s supposed to be a fun and romantic activity just between the two of you.

And so, because of that, Steve often tries to keep his recognizability somewhat more subtle and limited by wearing his baseball cap and some sunglasses, but there’s only so much that that supposed ‘transformation’ can do.

Tony once kindly offered that the department responsible for the Avengers suits and apparel could probably help, and come up with a more cohesive incognito look, but that didn’t work out too well either. Not for a lack of trying on their part, though.

You two had taken them up on that offer once, and they managed to turn Steve into someone so completely unrecognizable, that you almost walked past him when you’d come to pick him up.

Apart from his clothing, plaid trousers and a simple button-down shirt that emitted more the vibe of a hip history professor, the thing that threw you off the most was the 16 inches-long wig he was wearing. It made him look like Thor’s long-lost twin brother, and you could hardly take his appearance seriously.

When you finally managed to stop laughing, you pulled him into the living quarters of the compound, where the laughing continued, once everybody realized who they were looking at.

The Date to the planetarium that followed went great; not a single person recognized and approached the two of you. The only downside was that the date with Steve didn’t really feel like a date with Steve.

Apart from the reason that Steve’s long-haired wig made you feel like you were out and about with a beefier version of Jesus, rather than your treasured Super Soldier, the wig was also highly unpractical in a more tangible sense. Every time you turned to him and leaned in for a kiss, your hands and jewelry would easily get tangled up in his long strands of synthetic hair.

Neither of you were used to the hairy mess the Avenger’s apparel department provided you with – and it showed.

It did make for a fun date tough.

Steve was highly amused about the amount of double takes you had to do when you were looking for him.

You, on the other hand, had the time off your life once the two of you exited the planetarium, only to be greeted with a pleasant afternoon breeze, that took Steve – and his hair – by surprise. It looked like an unsuspected hair commercial in the making, and you almost tripped down the stairs laughing while trying to take a photo of Steve’s glorious mane in the wind.

All in all, it was a good time, but at the end of it, you both decided that it was neither worth the trouble nor a sustainable solution to your problem. And so, Steve traded his wig for his beloved baseball cap again, even if it heightened the possibility of him being recognized.

You knew that Steve was trying his best to give you some sense of normality in your experience of dating a super-famous Super Soldier, and you appreciated his efforts, even when they didn’t always work out.

Once you and Steve step outside of the Avenger’s Tower, you’re hit with both: The sudden brightness of the sun, and the common busyness and noise of New York City’s bustling streets.

One single ray of sunshine manages to find its way between the tall skyscrapers in front of you, making you squint. Instinctively you raise one hand in an attempt to shield your eyes from its blazing gaze.

Steve, who is already wearing his sunglasses, quickly gets out your pair for you and you gratefully take them. His attentiveness is something you’ll never get tired of; even when he sometimes has the tendency to dote over you, it’s rather endearing.

You make your way down the street. Hand in hand, because the craze of the city can otherwise easily separate the two of you.

Even without the frantic mass of people, that hastily bustles about the avenues, in a city that big, you will always seek out the shelter of your beloved Super Soldier, who still knows this place in a way you probably never will.

So, in an attempt to not get lost, or trampled, or abducted, your hand reaches out for his, and his hand does the same.

🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋

Steve navigates himself and you through the city like he’s done it a million times before, and it never fails to amaze you how good his sense of direction is. It’s something you’re obviously lacking, and Steve can’t help but teasingly bring it up every now and then.

This time around though, he doesn’t. Instead, he keeps talking about the little, newly opened Italian restaurant that you two just passed by.

“It looked really cozy and busy – that’s always a good sign, right? Maybe we can check it out this weekend.” Steve offers, while gently swinging your joined hands back and forth.

You hum in agreement, more focused on not getting jostled by the oncoming businessmen and -women.

Gripping his hand tighter, you curl up more into Steve’s side, seeking out the protection and safety of his tall statue.

Once Steve realizes what’s going on, he immediately pulls you close to him, wrapping his arm protectively around your smaller frame and making sure you’re okay.

“I can always give you a piggyback ride.” he offers, and you shake your head, laughing.

As inviting as that proposal sounds, the fear of the potential attention it might garner makes you decline his offer. You’d rather be subjected to the ongoing pushing and shoving of some careless pedestrians, than the unwanted attention and possibility of recognition.

“We’re nearly there, Sweetheart.” Steve gently encourages you, while keeping you as close to him as possible, leading you down the busy streets of New York.

You must have picked a good time to visit the zoo, because the line in front of the ticket booth is almost non-existent.

It doesn’t take long for it to be your turn, and Steve immediately takes charge, getting the tickets. The woman at the counter also hands him some pamphlets with certain attractions, and a small map, which he gratefully takes.

You softly tug on his arm, trying to get his attention, before pointing at the small bags with dry food, that are arranged on a shelf behind the vendor.

“Can we buy some of that food for the animals in the petting zoo?” you ask, eyes bright.

Steve instantly agrees, and the small squeal of joy that escapes your lips is like music to his ears. “There you go, Sweetheart.” he says, as he hands you your ticket and the small paper cone, filled with little pellets of dry food.

“Thanks, Stevie!” The way you beam up at him has his heart doing flips.

God, you’re adorable.

“So, where do you want to go first?” he asks, while looking down at the open map in his hands.

“The petting zoo!” you chime while clapping your hands in delight. You have to suppress the urge to just grab Steve's hand and drag him to the enclosure, so instead you softly bounce on the spot.

Looking up from his map, Steve’s eyes soften once he sees how you’re barely able to contain your excitement. It radiates off of you in a way that’s contagious.

Well, contagious to him anyway.

“Alright.” he approves, and that’s all the agreement you need, before sprinting into action, grabbing Steve’s hand, and tugging him along.

You only come to a brief halt at the doors of the enclosure, while you read the small signs that introduce some of the animals inside of it.

The petting zoo contains mostly goats, bunnies, guinea pigs and some piglets, but there are also two donkeys and one of them is called …

“Steve!” you joyfully exclaim.

“The donkey is named after you!”

The man in question furrows his brow, and you point him to the part on the metal sign, where the donkeys get introduced.

“See, Steve and Sally. Aww, he even looks a little bit like you!” you coo, looking at the small picture they provide next to the profile.

“I don’t quite see it.” Steve says dryly, and you huff.

“He even has similar interests to yours. It says here that he likes sunshine, early morning runs, pets behind his ears and bananas!

Biting your lip to keep yourself from laughing, you innocently look up at Steve, who regards you with a fake scowl.

“You’re being awfully bratty today, Angel.” he chides, yet his words don’t have any bite to them.

“Me? Never!” your fake indignation is riddled with the giggles you’re desperately trying to hold in. That mission fails completely though, once you read the Interesting Fact they provide next to each introduced animal.

“Oh my god, Steve!” you croak out between laughter. “He even tried to eat an American flag once. God, I love him already!”

Before Steve has the chance to reply, you’re dragging him into the enclosure. “Come on, let’s meet my newfound hero!”

🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋

The donkey is just as cute as in the picture, and even friendlier than you imagined. After you introduced yourself and Steve - you couldn’t help yourself from saying “Steve, meet Steve,” while pointing between the tall Super Soldier and the rather small pony-sized creature – you slowly started petting the animal.

The happy brays he lets out make you laugh softly, and your smile only widens once your eyes find Steve’s.

“Don’t you dare say he sounds like me too!” Steve exclaims, and that comment only fuels your giggles.

“I wouldn’t dream of it!” you say, while stroking the fur behind the donkey’s ears. “But you have to admit, he’s adorable!” you coo, before quickly adding: “Not as cute as you, of course, but it’s a close second.”

“Well, that’s certainly comforting to hear.” Steve retorts. “So, you’re not gonna leave me for one of those gray-haired fellas?”

“I already have my gray-haired fella at home, old man,” you counter, before whispering a small “almost.”

Steve still picks it up, and his reaction is instant. His strong hands reach out to you, playfully poking your sides.

“You take that back! You take that back right now!” he urges, laughing, as you try to squirm away from his grasp, the sweet sound of your giggles filling the air. Your antics only come to a halt once you’re breathlessly begging for mercy, and Steve pulls you in for a hug.

“You still have a lot of energy for a 103-year-old.” you whisper.

“Oh Sweetheart, you know, I can be relentless.” he counters, and you hum in agreement.

“You don’t actually look like a donkey.” you try to clarify. “It’s just that the donkey somehow looks like you.”

Before Steve can rekindle his attacks, you’re already apologizing again. “I’m joking! I’m joking!” you exclaim, as soon as you feel the tiniest brush of his fingertips poking your sides.

Hugging him closer once more, you whisper: “I’m sorry. I’m being mean. You’re still the prettiest man on the planet, and you always will be.”

Brushing your hands softly through his hair and gently cupping his cheek, you notice the small red tint that adorns them.

“Aww you’re blushing!” you quietly tease. “I guess I don’t call you pretty enough. I need to tell you that more, I think.” you observe.

His blush only deepens, and you coo again.

He really is the prettiest man alive. And the sweetest, and kindest, and bravest.

As you softly tell him all about your thoughts, his grip around you tightens, and he burrows his face in your neck.

“I love you so much.” you mumble against his shoulder, and even though you can’t see him right now, you know that he’s smiling.

“I love you too.” he whispers back, voice low, before gently kissing your forehead.

His lips lingers there for a moment before he speaks up again.

“I think we need to stop; there’s an older lady, who’s already giving us the stink-eye.”

“Oh, let her stare. If they look at you funny, you just look right back at them funny, that normally does the trick for me.”

“I’m not going to glare down a grandma!” Steve whispers exasperated.

“Well, you might not, but I certainly will, if she's making you uncomfortable.” you announce, and Steve just shakes his head, laughing.

🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋

After moving on from the donkeys, you spend some time with the goats. Even Steve has to admit that they are rather endearing.

“Maybe we should bring Bucky with us next time. You know how he still gushes about the goats he had in Wakanda. I’m sure he’d enjoy some time here.” you suggest, while feeding a small brown doeling.

She softly munches the food right out of the palm of your hand, and the feeling of her rough tongue on your skin makes you giggle.

“If we would bring Buck, that’s going to be your liability, because I’m pretty sure he would never leave the goat enclosure again.” Steve observes.

“Can’t really blame him. I might have my donkey at home, but those goats certainly have character.” you tease.

Instead of answering, Steve decides to just throw some pellets your way.

“Hey!” you whine playfully, before making a counter strike. When you don’t hit your target, Steve just grins at you cheekily.

It’s that boyish smile you love so much, and it fills your heart with a joy that’s carefree and content. It feels just like the soft sunrays that are currently caressing your skin: Warm, light, and golden.

Your thoughts are only interrupted once another pellet flies your way, barely missing your face.

“Hey!” you exclaim once more, laughing, yet Steve’s eyes turn instantly apologetic when he realizes he almost struck your pretty face. You quickly reassure him that it’s alright, before walking over to the rabbits and guinea pigs, patiently sitting down next to them.

Rather than just grabbing one, you wait for one of the timid rodents to approach you instead. A small – and presumably younger – bunny seems curious enough, as he hops your way, and you manage to coax him with some food and a very gentle voice. His fluffy fur is in an off-white color with gray specks and his floppy ears twitch every now and then.

“Hey little friend.” you whisper once his wiggly nose brushes your open palm. It takes some more coaxing before he starts eating out of it, and you beam at that development.

Steve watches the interaction with a soft, adoring gaze.

God, Wanda was right. He really is head over heels for you.

But then again, how could he not be.

There’s a gentleness and kindness in the way you approach the world, and the fact that you’ve chosen him out of all people to trust the most, fills his heart with an endless amount of pride and happiness, that’s hard to put into words.

You’ve come into his life like a whirlwind, turning everything upside down and taking over his heart by storm.

Without your knowing, you made all of his previous priorities flip, until you were the only and most important thing on his mind. You still are, of course, and Steve is sure that this is something that will never change.

You’re the one.

The one who’s voice and laughter he’ll never grow tired of hearing.

The one who he comes home to after a rough mission, taking up the biggest space in his bed and in his heart – and he wouldn’t want to have it any other way.

You’re the most precious thing on the planet, and he’d burn it all down if he had to, just to keep you safe.

“Steve!” you softly call out to him, and his focus shifts back on you.

The small bunny is now sitting contently in your lap, while you’re sporting the proudest look.

“His fur is so soft!” you quietly mouth to him, and he smiles before making his way to you, gently kneeling down by your side. “Here! Feel!” you chirp, as you carefully guide his hands towards the small bunny.

“Do you think we could get some of those?” you carefully ask.

“Of course.” Steve agrees without really thinking - he doesn’t need to. If you want it, you’ll get it; no questions asked. He’ll even fight Tony on it if he has to, or anyone else for that matter.

“Really?” you beam.

“I pinky promise, Sweetheart.” he whispers before kissing the top of your head and standing back up. You follow suit, after carefully moving the bunny from your lap.

“Let’s just visit the piglets, and then we can move on to the bigger animals!” you proclaim, while reaching for Steve’s hand again, gently tugging him towards the small, baby pink piggies.

🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋

Once you’ve finished cooing over the small piglets while simultaneously feeding and petting them, you and Steve make your way back towards the regular path of the zoo.

Steve had just gotten out his map again, trying to visualize the vicinity, when you spot the panda enclosure.

Nice!

“Steve, do we have to consider the map? Can’t we just walk around and go wherever our curiosity takes us?” you ask.

“You mean, wherever your curiosity takes you.” Steve teases and you let out a small huff while folding your arms over your chest, defensively.

“Not true.” you whine, before adding: “I can’t help it if I’m younger and pick up more things, you know.”

“Uh-huh” Steve hums. “And patience is a virtue that …”

“I’ve never met once in my life.” you finish the sentence for him.

“That is not the quote I was going for, but it certainly rings true too.” Steve agrees, before folding his map up again. “Alright, so where’s your curiosity leading you to, this time.” he concedes with a warm smile and your eyes light up at that.

“Easy, this way!” you say, before grabbing his hand, dragging him along once more.

“Steve, look!” you exclaim, while excitedly pointing at the wild cat enclosure. There’s a tiger that’s currently taking a bath, and it completely seizes your attention.

At the risk of sounding like a total lovesick fool, Steve has to admit that he’s way more encaptured by your endearing reactions to everything, than the actual attractions and animals themselves.

You two already visited the panda and bear enclosure, looked at some monkeys, zebras, hippos, and foxes, and now you’re leading him towards the area with the wildcats.

Lynx, lions, pumas, cheetahs, and some tigers are what’s initially advertised; still, he’s barely able to focus on that.

With your hands closely intertwined, and your soft voice that calls out to him, his attention has a hard time staying away from you.

You’re especially excited by the cheetahs, and you enthusiastically tell him all the facts you know about them.

How they’re incredibly fast and powerful, yet often also anxious and shy. You tell him how some of the cheetahs living in captivity often need emotional support dogs, to help them cope with their high levels of stress.

They’re the true scaredy cat-cats.

After your ramblings about the wildcats, you start gushing over their emotional support dogs. “They must be so proud!” you tell him. “Imagine being a dog, who ends up working with those cheetahs. How badass it that? Like a mouse who’s a therapist for a housecat, or a sparrow that takes care of an alligator…”

Steve smiles at your excitement, while listening attentively to everything you’re saying.

How did he ever get this lucky?

But as your speech slowly comes to an end, another sound appears. It’s faint, but Steve’s Super Soldier hearing still picks it up. He’s heard it enough times to be able to identify it – It’s the sound of your tummy rumbling.

“Sweetheart, are you hungry?” he questions, and you look up at him like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Dammit, I had hoped you didn’t catch that.” you mumble embarrassed, and Steve laughs.

“How about we look for a more quiet space, where we can eat some of our sandwiches and snacks.” he proposes, and you agree.

This time, Steve takes your hand, leading the way.

After some searching, the two of you managed to find a little bench, shaded by a rather sturdy oak. The tree doesn’t just shield you from the blazing sun, but also from the curious gaze of others.

It’s a romantic little space, as you look out onto a small park area, not too far off from the peacock enclosure. You’d stopped there briefly, fascinated by their colorful display of shimmering feathers, before moving on.

And now, you're sitting here, next to Steve, eating your little sandwich and sharing some small snacks. It's calm and peacefully quiet, apart from some faint bird-chirping and the remote sound of children’s laughter, carried over to you by a soft summer breeze.

“This was such a lovely idea, Steve.” you comment quietly once you’ve finished your sandwich.

The man in question smiles at that. “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, Angel.”

You hum in agreement, before popping some fresh berries into your mouth.

The satisfied sigh you let out is making Steve laugh. “Are those berries that good?” he questions playfully.

“No, but the view right now is to die for.” you say, while locking eyes with him.

“Hm, I guess you’re right. This little park area certainly has some flair.” Steve agrees, and if it wasn’t for the blueberries in your hand, you’d face-palm right now.

“I’m not taking about the park, Steve.” you clarify, while giving him a pointed look, and he blushes.

“Oh, I see … “ he mumbles, red-tinted embarrassment tainting his cheeks and migrating up to his ears. Who knew a Super Soldier could get that flustered – and look so endearing while doing it.

You weren’t lying though – even with Steve just sitting there, wearing a light gray t-shirt and some washed-out jeans, he looks like a god; Completely out of this world.

And it’s not just his sturdy arms and muscles.

It’s in the way his kind eyes light up, framed by those rich eyelashes.

It’s in the way he looks at you; looks at the world with such benevolence, such compassion, even after everything he’s been through.

Maybe it’s also in the way that those small rays of sunlight, currently shining through the tree crown, illuminate his skin, giving him a golden glow.

But whatever the reason may be, he certainly looks good. Especially, when he’s blushing like that, you think, smiling.

Once you two finished your small lunch, you’re eager to get back to the animals.

The giraffes and elephants are next, followed by the penguins and some wombats.

You and Steve have also established a small game by now.

One of you steps up to the informational sign of the enclosure first and reads it, before letting the other person guess what the Interesting Fact about the animal is.

It’s currently Steve’s turn at guessing, as you two are standing in front of the flamingo area.

“Okay!” you chime, as you turn away from the metal sign, focusing back on Steve. Your eyes are sparkling with excitement, letting Steve know that this fact is going to be good.

“So, flamingos are known for their pink color and dorky looks, but there is something else that makes this animal quite badass. What could that possibly be?” you challenge Steve gleefully.

He ponders your question for a moment, looking over at the pink birds. “Hm, maybe they can stand on one leg for over 24 hours.” he contemplates.

“Is that your final answer?” you question, and the playful glimmer in your eyes lets him already know that he’s wrong.

Still, he stays with his entry and nods.

“Well, that is incorrect!” you announce. “Or at least, that’s not the fact they have written down.” you clarify.

“Okay, I’ll give you three options instead, and only one of them is the correct one.” you offer.

“So, once more, what makes the flamingo so badass? Is it a) they all have pink belts in karate; b) they can drink boiling water; or is it c) they can hold their breath for half an hour when diving for food.” you question, expectantly looking at Steve, who’s scratching his head, laughing.

“Well, it’s either b or c, but they both sound so unbelievable, I might as well go with answer a.” He jokes.

“Sir, I need an answer from you now, the time is running up.” you playfully chide and it’s making him laugh even more.

“Alright, show host, you can log in answer b for me.”

“B? Are you sure?” Steve just nods, and it makes your smile grow wider.

“Well, contestant, you won’t believe me when I say this, but your answer is …. ding, ding, ding – correct!” you exclaim excited, while wrapping your arms around his neck

“Wait, really?” Steve looks at you, dumbfounded. “Uh-huh. Flamingos can apparently drink boiling water.” you reiterate, before pulling him closer.

“Congratulations, soldier, you’ve won the main price!” you whisper against his lips before softly kissing him, and the sweet action makes Steve smile into the kiss, as his heart melts in the blazing sun.

🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋

Moving from enclosure to enclosure, your little game continues. There are wolves, deer, beavers, and burrowing owls, and each stop at the gates is filled with your playful antics and shared laughter.

You only come to a short pause, once you notice a small ice cream parlor in the distance, and it doesn’t take much convincing to get Steve to go there with you.

Actually, it doesn’t take any convincing at all.

The shop is small and features only a select number of ice cream flavors. You order 3 scoops each, before happily making your way over to the American bison enclosure.

The area is less crowded and actually quite peaceful. The scenery of the meadow with the occasional grazing bull emitting a sense of tranquility.

While sharing your ice cream, you two watch these seemingly serene creatures, who are just standing there, munching on grass, and lazily gazing at the landscape around them.

There’s a timelessness to them, you think. The way they just stand there, unbothered, like they’ve seen it all.

And maybe they have.

Steve gently pulls you out of your thoughts, when he offers you his last bit of cherry ice cream, holding out his cone to you. You gratefully take him up on his offer, while simultaneously holding your cone out for him.

Sharing is caring after all.

Once your ice cream is done, you and Steve continue sitting there, just talking until Steve suddenly leans closer.

He gently brushes some lingering ice-cream stains from the corner of your mouth with his thumb before licking it off. He keeps his eyes locked on you, and the action leaves your cheeks feeling heated, and your heartrate in a frenzy.

“Two can play this game, Angel.” Steve whispers, giving you a knowing smile.

You let out a small whine, before burrowing your face in his chest, trying to hide your embarrassment.

Steve just coos at your flustered state.

“Steve, stop. You’re giving me heart palpitations,” you mumble into his chest.

“No can do, Sweetheart. It’s only fair that you get a taste of your own medicine.”

You bite back your reply to that; otherwise, you two might end up doing something entirely different.

Unaware of the questionable thoughts in your head; Steve changes the topic, reminding you of the activities you still have planned.

“Do you want to go to the meerkat and prairie dog enclosure, now? Their feeding should start soon.”

You’re still curled up into his chest, basking in the feeling of his strong embrace, and the gentle smell of his cologne. “Can we just stay here a little longer.” you request, voice mumbled, and soft.

Steve lets out a small laugh, that makes his chest rumble and vibrate. “Of course, if that’s what you prefer. You just sounded so excited earlier when you heard about the public feeding.” Steve tries to clarify, making sure that’s what you really want.

Steve’s right. When he told you about the attraction earlier, you could barely contain your excitement at the idea of watching the small animals nibble on some food. But in that very moment, you didn’t really think things through.

It was only sometime later, when your excitement had cooled down a bit, that you realized that this endeavor might not be the best idea.

There’s obviously going to be a crowd watching the spectacle, and those are something to avoid when you’re with your beloved Super Soldier. The chances of getting recognized there, are just a bit too high, yet you’re hesitant to tell those thoughts to Steve.

You don’t want him to feel bad, and you know that he’ll try to convince you that it’s no big deal. You already feel selfish for feeling so protective of your relationship, and the fear that he might think you’re overreacting lingers in your mind, even though he has never given you a reason to do so.

“Sweetheart, what’s going on? You’re being awfully quiet right now.” Steve pries. He can tell something is wrong; he just knows you too damn well.

“Nothing!” you chirp, but the sound is off. It’s too high and anxious.

“Angel.” his tone is stern.

Steve doesn’t often use his Captain America voice with you, but when he does, it works every time.

Just like now.

Playing with the fabric of his gray t-shirt and looking anywhere but his eyes, you quietly mumble: “There’s going to be lots of people, Steve. Lots of people to recognize you…”

“Oh, Sweetheart,” he knows what you’re getting at, and it makes his heart twist in guilt.

“You know, we can still …”

“No, Steve,” you interrupt him. “We can’t, and I don’t want to. This day has been nothing, but a dream come true. We haven’t been approached once, and I’d like to keep it that way. If I have to sacrifice a meerkat feeding for that, I’ll happily do it.” You state, and Steve sighs.

“I’m sorry, Angel.” he whispers, voice low and tainted with regret. “Maybe you could go there by yourself, while I stay somewhere in the background?” he offers, but you just shake your head.

“Steve, it’s okay. I’d rather see all the other animals with you, then one meerkat feeding without you.”

He smiles at that, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“I’m still sorry about this.” he mutters, guilt clear in his voice. You sigh. That’s exactly what you were trying to avoid.

“Steve,” you whisper, gently cupping his cheek, making him look at you. “This isn’t your fault. Stop feeling sorry about something that you have no control over, whatsoever. If anything, I’m sorry for being so sensitive about this.” you state.

“No, you have every right to be!” Steve defends, and the conviction in his eyes makes some of your worry ease away.

“Well, if I’m not allowed to feel guilty about that, neither are you.” you assert matter-of-factly, and this time the smile that adorns Steve’s face reaches his bright blue eyes.

“Alright, deal.” he affirms, before taking your hand, sweeping you up from your seat. “Let’s continue. There’s still a lot to explore.”

You’re about to walk into the reptile house when you spot one more open enclosure.

“Oh my God Steve, look!” you call out, while pointing at one of the llamas. “Aww, he looks just like Kuzco!” you observe, and it makes Steve frown in confusion.

“Sweetheart, that’s a rude thing to say about someone.” he softly chides, and you give him a puzzled look.

“What? Are you telling me you don’t know who Kuzco is?” you ask, dumbfounded, and Steve just shakes his head.

“Is he a work friend of yours? I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned someone with that name?" he questions, brows still furrowed in confusion.

“Steve!” you laugh, “have you not seen The Emperor’s New Groove?”

“No, I don’t think I have.” he confesses, and you look at him in disbelief.

“Oh my God! I thought Tony introduced you to the best works of this century’s cinema.”

“Yes, but I don’t remember a movie named like that.”

“This is outrageous. I can’t believe you’ve never seen this masterpiece! We’ll have to change that once we’re home!” you proclaim playfully, before taking his hand and walking towards the reptile house.

🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋

Stepping into the building, you’re immediately greeted by a sudden temperature drop.

The rooms are a lot darker and cooler then the outside premise, and you can’t help but shiver as goosebumps form on your skin.

Instinctively, you pull Steve closer, grabbing his hand tighter.

The animals that follow vary from adorable to absolutely frightening. The small turtles and geckos make you coo, but the bigger lizards and snakes already sport a more intimidating look.

There are boas, pythons, and mambas, and you have to remind yourself that you’re protected by both the Plexiglas as well as your trusted Super Soldier.

🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋

Once you’ve finished exploring every room, you make your way to the small botanical garden. Its atmosphere stands in stark contrast to that of the dark reptile house.

There are colorful flowers and bright green plants and palm trees.

There’s light coming through the ceiling, illuminating the stone path before you, and the temperature is warmer and a little bit more humid.

After walking through the vicinity, hand in hand, the two of you spot a small, secluded bench. It’s placed next to a little pond, and a small bush of plumerias.

Sitting down, you sigh in content as you breathe in the sweet smell of the little white and yellow flowers. Steve gets out some left-over fruits, and you share a second, small meal. You can hear the soft splatter of water in the background, and it’s as relaxing as can be.

Looking at the man in front of you adoringly, your expression falters when you see the small furrow etched between his brows. He’s thinking about something, and it’s not a pleasant thought.

“What’s wrong?” you whisper, having learned the small signs of worry that sometimes cloud the face of your beautiful man.

Steve just sighs, before pulling you closer. So close, you might as well just sit in his lap.

“Was just thinking.” he mumbles, voice low, and still preoccupied with whatever’s going through his mind right now. “About?” you inquire, and the silence that follows makes you sigh in return.

“Steve, we talked about this. Don’t shut me out.” you whisper, knowing that your beloved soldier still has a tendency to keep his worries hidden from your view, trying not to burden you with it.

“I was thinking about the meerkat-thing.” he says, and you groan.

“No, hear me out, Sweetheart,” he continues. “You deserve the world, you truly do, and it pains me to know that everywhere we go, you have to sacrifice something, just because you’re with me. The meerkat-thing is just one of the many examples that reiterate that.”

“Okay,” you assess slowly, “what are you trying to say?” you carefully ask.

“I don’t know.” he whispers.

“I just keep thinking that you have to sacrifice so much, just in order to be with me. I wish I could give you more than that. I wish I could take you out on dates without us having to worry about being recognized, approached and disturbed.”

He looks at you with such turmoil and pain in his eyes, it makes your heart clench and curl up into a ball and cry.

“Oh, Stevie.” you murmur, before gently cupping his face and straddling his lap.

“Steve honey, listen. This whole getting-approached-by-strangers-thing sucks; I’m not gonna lie about that, but do you know what would suck a million times more? Not having you in my life! I could live without going out on anymore dates for the rest of my days, but do you know what I cannot live without? You!” you declare passionately, while looking into Steve’s eyes, which are somewhat glossy.

“Sweetheart.” he mumbles, voice thick with emotions, and you just pull him closer, nuzzling your face into the side of his neck.

“I love you, Steve. I love you even when we’re surrounded by what feels like hundreds of people, who all want a piece of you, and take over our dates.”

You feel a light wetness at the nape of your neck, and you gently brush your hand through Steve’s hair. Blinking away your own tears, you make a soft shushing sound, trying to calm him down.

“I love you. Don’t ever doubt me on that!” you whisper softly, and you feel Steve nod against your skin before whispering a small, timid “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I love you, and as long as you love me back, that’s all I need. That’s enough for me.” you try to clarify, before gently adding: “I know you feel a close kinship and obligation towards people, and you’re too polite to call them out when they approach us at the worst possible timing, but you’re allowed to tell some people off. The shield might be public property, Steve, but you aren’t. You’re allowed to have boundaries too.”

Your kind words fill Steve with a warm, fuzzy feeling, and it spreads on his face in the form of a soft smile. The love he feels for you keeps blooming and expanding, like the fragrant flowers growing all around you.

He’s not sure if he’ll ever be able to put it into words just how much you mean to him exactly, but he knows that he’ll try his damn best to show you every single day.

He hopes that that’s enough, hopes that it’s good enough for you. Losing you would be worse than dying, he’s sure of that. But all he manages to mumble out is a soft: “I love you so much.”

His words and voice are filled with such honesty, such devotion and conviction, you fear your heart might pound straight out of your chest, and into his lap.

“I know,” you whisper. “I love you just as much!”

He hums in content, and the silence that follows is the most comfortable silence you’ve ever experienced.

The two of you stay there, curled up in each other’s embrace, basking in one of the best feelings ever. Loving and feeling loved.

🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋 🍋

You’re not sure how much time has passed, when Steve speaks up again, but the sun is slowly starting to set, and it fills the garden with a golden glow.

“You’re ready to go home, Sweetheart?” he questions softly, voice full of affection.

No. You just want to stay in his loving embrace forever, but instead of articulating that, you let out a small whine, while shaking your head demonstratively.

The laugh that rumbles out of Steve’s chest is warm and hearty, and he softly smiles down at you.

“Come on.” he coaxes.

There’s something he’s sure he can beckon you with.

“I think they have a small souvenir shop near the exit with lots of stuffed animals.” he offers, and it makes you look up at him, wide-eyed and excited.

Gotcha. Steve thinks, a satisfied smile on his lips. The promise of stuffed animals works every time.

You slowly untangle yourself from him, before standing up and taking his hand.

“What are you waiting for, old man.” You playfully provoke him while he’s adjusting his backpack.

“Careful Sweetheart, or I might accidentally lose you in the middle of New York.” he says, yet you know it’s an empty threat. He would never even dream of doing something like that, not in a million years.

“Don’t underestimate the grasp I have on you.” you joke, referring to the way you’d normally cling to his arm and hand, but Steve thinks about how true those words are in a broader sense.

How you have the strongest possible grasp on his heart, in the gentlest way.

Unaware of his adoring thoughts, you drag him to the exit of the botanical garden, and he watches you with the warmest smile.

Once you step out of the garden your eyes instantly find, and fixate on the small souvenir shop, walking straight towards it.

The place is spacious and there are a couple of kids running around, shoving stuffed animals in their parents faces. The selection of stuffies is broad, but you already know what you want.

Steve thinks you’ll be going over to the cheetahs, yet he finds himself surprised, when he watches you walk towards… the donkeys?

He observes you carefully picking up a medium-sized stuffie and clutching it tightly to your chest, a satisfied smile on your lips.

“Stevie! Look!” you exclaim, as you turn your attention to him, holding the stuffie up proudly.

Little did you know, he was already looking at you the whole time.

Eyes soft and smile warm.

“Sweetheart, are you sure? Don’t you want something more… exciting?” he questions, as he points to the array of wild cats and panda bears.

“Nope!” you chirp, the look of content on your face clear as day.

He always wants to see you like this - happy, content, satisfied.

“Wait, Stevie! You should get one too!” you exclaim when you see him slowly make his way toward the checkout.

“The donkey will remind me of you when you’re gone on missions, but you need a stuffie that reminds you of me, too!”

“Sweetheart, you’re in the back of my mind 24/7. I don’t need a …”

“Not the point.” you interrupt him.

“You occupy my mind almost all the time as well, but it’s nice to have something tangible to remind you and to keep close sometimes.”

“Alright.” Steve concedes, before looking at the countless shelves of stuffed animals.

Which one should he even pick?

He thinks back to your interactions earlier, thinks about how soft you looked, with that small bunny comfortably sitting in your lap.

He thinks about how excited you were, when you told him everything you knew about cheetahs, eyes sparkling bright.

He thinks about how softly you’d kissed him at the flamingo enclosure, and how serene you looked while you were watching the American bisons - a dreamy look on your face, and ice cream in hand.

God, is picking your own stuffie always that hard?

His eyes continue to wander along the shelves when he spots it.

There’s a medium-sized cheetah stuffie wearing sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt with little plumerias printed on it.

That’s you.

Cool, adorable, and with a questionable fashion sense.

Thinking back at how you were holding him close in the botanical garden, the sight of the small flowers instantly fills him with the memories of your comforting words and touch.

That’s the one.

Steve makes his way over to the stuffed animal, and it’s even softer than he’d imagined.

“Oh! It’s adorable!” you coo when you see his choice, and Steve smiles.

That’s the one.

He thinks, as he watches you.

The one, who has complete reign over his heart.

You made yourself quite at home in there, filled it with your sweet laughter and your little smiles, the softness of your touch and the kindness in your eyes.

He keeps all these memories of you safely tugged away, underneath his rib cage, in that little treasure chest he calls his heart.

You’re both, his most prized possession, and the strong protector that watches over it all.

The guardian angel of his heart.

“Steve!” you call out to him, from the checkout.

“They say they have a 10 % senior discount for people over 60! Come over here, and figure this out, please!”

It makes him laugh, and there’s only one thought in his mind:

God, how he adores you.

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

Ahhh, that's it! Thanks you so much for reading!

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers x y/n #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers fluff #steve rogers

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celticcrossanon · 3 years

Text

BRF Reading - 29th of September 2021

This is speculation only

Cards drawn 29th September 2021

Question: Does Her Majesty want to give a Platinum Jubilee Medal to Harry and Meghan?

Note: The energy for this reading is rather soft? faded? and pliable, as though nothing has been decided for sure at this point in time. What is shown here could change in the future.

Interpretation: I'm not getting a clear answer to this. It looks like HMTQ may try something new with this medal, perhaps as strategy against the Harkles.

Card One: Strength. This is a card of having inner strength and using it, of having the courage, will and determination to quietly persuade others to your point of view, to control a situation without an appearance of force.

This is HMTQ right now. She is gathering her inner strength to do what she thinks is right, and she is trying to persuade other people to see her point of view. This is going to be hard for her because in past situations like this she could rely on Prince Philip, her rock, to support her. She no longer has him, and she is still in mourning for him. Six months is not a long time to adjust to life without your spouse. Six months after my parents died, both times, I was still crying and missing them and adjusting to no longer having them around, and I didn't have the emotional resources to do anything else apart from that. The advice is never to make major decisions for at least a year after a major life event, such as a death, and here the Queen is having to make hard decisions just six months after her husband's death. It will take a lot of her strength to do this.

Card Two: Six of Swords. This is a card of travel, of doing something new, of moving away from something but still carrying the past with you. It can also show the peace of mind that comes with accepting and carrying out a difficult decision. The card shows Orestes, on his way to Argos to kill his mother, having accepted that this difficult decision is the will of the gods and his duty.

As a card of travel, the Six of Swords refers to the Harkles, who have travelled overseas and away from the BRF, both literally and figuratively. Like Orestes on the card, they travelled overseas and then killed their 'mother' - the BRF, the source of their incomes, titles, fame etc. Her Majesty is needing all her inner strength to deal with the situation of the Harkles and the Platinum Jubilee medals.

With respect to Her Majesty, this card shows the inner calm that comes after making a difficult decision. I think that Her Majesty is torn - she does see Harry as a loved grandson and family member (the past), but she is also very aware of what giving the medal to him will mean in the public eye (approval of his actions in trying to destroy the BRF). I think she has made a decision that is personally unpleasant to her but in line with what she sees as her duty, and she now wants to carry that decision through.

I have tried to pull clarifiers on this, and what I am getting is not making a cohesive whole to me. Cards that keeps coming up are the Moon card or cards for Cancer (Queen of Cups and the Chariot), so I think Her Majesty is thinking of William's future when she makes the decision indicated by the Six of Swords.

Card Three: Ace of Swords. This is a card of new beginnings in the area of thought, communication, and strategy. There is conflict involved, as indicated by the mountains in the background of the card. The path is not easy, but if you persist, the difficulties will give rise to a new way of looking at things.

This tells me that Her Majesty is contemplating trying something new with this Jubilee Medal. I keep hearing the words 'a new strategy', so it could be used as part of a new strategy for dealing with the Harkles. She is receiving resistance to this idea (conflict) and/or the idea has come about because of the conflict with the Harkles. There could also be a new way of communicating that comes out of this issue.

Card Four: Six of Pentacles. This is a card about giving or receiving money and other resources, of being generous out of your abundance. The card shows King Minos on his throne holding a pile of golden coins, while the craftsman Daedalus lifts his hands up to bed for the coins and/or to receive them.

The Six of Pentacles is talking about the Platinum Jubilee Medal. It is a medal given out of the generosity of HMTQ, to commemorate the service done for the UK by certain groups of people. The Harkles are asking for this medal and expect to receive it, as shown by the craftsman Daedalus on the card. Whether Her Majesty awards them the medal or not is still undecided - on the card, King Minos is neither putting the gold into Daedalus's upraised hands nor holding it way from him.

Coming after the Ace of Swords, this card confirms that they giving or denying of the Jubilee Medal for the Harkles is part of a new strategy for how the palace deals with the couple.

Card Five: Death. This is a card about literal or symbolic death. Here it is coming across as symbolic death. Something is going to die, to change, and there will not be any way to come back from that change or to reverse it. This is going to be a permanent transition from one form to the next. Coming after the Six of Pentacles, it could be a change to the Jubilee Medals and their traditional recipients in the BRF.

This is the card for Scorpio, and Prince Charles is a sun sign Scorpio, so he may be involved in this change in some way.

Underlying Energy One: The Hierophant. This is a card of institutions, and here it represents the BRF as an institution. The Firm. Whatever Her Majesty's private thoughts are on giving the Harkles her Platinum Jubilee Medal, she will do what is perceived as best for the institution of the monarchy.

Underlying Energy Two: The Three of Cups. This is a card of celebrations, especially marriage, as the card shows the marriage of Psyche and Cupid. This tells me that the concern over the medal recipients is focused on the married-in royals, and not the blood royals (i.e. there is more concern about Meghan and her reaction than there is about Harry). One way to exclude Meghan would be to limit the medal to blood members of the BRF, instead of all members as in the past.

Underlying Energy Three: The Five of Pentacles. This is the card of being outcast. The card shows a man walking away from the security and stability of his home. That man represents Harry, who turned his back on the BRF to become a celebrity overseas. The Five of Pentacles can also be a card of marriage (for better, for worse), so the concern here is not just for Harry as the recipient of the Jubilee medal, but his wife as well, and for what they will do as outcasts (not under the control of the BRF) if they do or do not get awarded this medal (this last energy is an energy of preparing for the actions of the Harkles in this situation).

Conclusion: I don't know if HMTQ wants to give a Platinum Jubilee medal to the Harkles or not. She will make that decision based on what she thinks is best for the institution of the BRF, not her personal feelings. It may involve limiting the distribution of the medal to blood royals only. Currently, the Queen is gathering her inner strength to make a decision about this, and the making of the decision involves some sort of conflict. One it is made she will carry it through and is unlikely to change it. She may use the granting or withholding of the medal as part of a new strategy for dealing with the Harkles, who desperately want this medal. Something is definitely going to change, permanently, as a result of this decision by Her Majesty. The BRF is also trying to anticipate and prepare themselves for a reaction by the Harkles, either to getting the Jubilee Medal or being denied it.

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syubub · 4 years

Text

2021 Reading for BTS and the collective!!

Wow wow wow! I didn't disappear or get dragged away by a demon. No no, I just got thrust into unexpected shadow work and I now have an unhealthy obsession with sea shanties and a love of pasta.

I had this idea planned to be early in January but that didn't pan out so I'm doing it now. I have another yoongi reading in the works and another fun thing coming soon as well!!

I promise I won't bore you to death any longer but I hope you've all been doing well!!

Disclaimer: This is for entertainment purposes only and not to be taken as fact.

If this message doesn't apply, let it fly!

Cool cool cool.

Let's get it.

💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Oki. I first want to say that this I gonna be long lol. I did a meditation and gathered some little pieces of things y'all might need to hear and then I pulled cards for every month. The fountain tarot deck is the cards for us, the collective, and the rider-waite cards are for bts. It'll make more sense when I add picks and stuff. I did a little extra card pull for yoongi for the month of May too :) I'll make sure to type out all the cards in text so you know what they are (the pics are kinda wack.) I also used my pendulum to ask if there was a bts related event for every month and that's at the bottom. It's just to take in the possible energy for the month and something that could result from that energy!

LETTUCE BEGIN (hehe)

Starting with the section for the channeled messages. I want to reiterate that this was collective so if it doesn't resonate with you, the message might not be for you! Use your intuition.

(Enough talking. Damn)

So. As I said this was through meditation and connecting to the big column tree thing (I told my cousin about the tree/pillar and they were like,, "so basically a big energy dildo in the æther?" .... I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. h e l p m e) and asking if there was any messages or advice that needed to be delivered and it was... intresting?

Things came fragmented. So there was little messages like, "Its gonna be okay" and "things are changing for everyone" and "open your eyes if you want to see" (that's sassy.) There was one particular thing that was confusing me though. Straight up it was just "flower" on repeat and like a really bad picture of a flower? Like you could tell what it was but it was bad quality. Anyway, I was like "okay. Kindly shut the fuck up. Pls." And I wrote down flower, pink flower and rose. Sooo.... idk but there you go.

More messages were things like, "the block isn't in your head", "try calling forth that which you seek" and... February. Possibly there is specific (very very very loose) connection to the 10th-19th? I'm not to sure what or why but I'd say maybe look out for opportunities on these days and also maybe external events.

Continuing with dates. In the last this 21 and January 21 came up. It came up again but with 2 messages. So first, either 21st is a day where something is put into motion (possibly private or public) or announced and the second was "add them together dumbass" that's not very kind but 3. Again this has been discussed too but but but... maybe a signal of a third mixtape 👀 (not necessarily on the 21st per say but possibly in March? I'm really not sure).

Oki. I got side tracked like I always do and started thinking about tattoos and stuff and I really want koo to have a peony tattoo. I feel it in my BONES. It would suit him so well. and as I was thinking about tattoos I heard, "don't be surprised if yoongi gets/shows a tattoo this year" ??? What the fuck? I think maybe they messing with me but now I have hopes and I don't want them to be crushed and thrown to the wind :(

Back to normal stuff, "the theme is growth" I think that fits very well with the reading. "Blue might be a lucky color" self explanatory. It might be lucky. "Start practicing grounding and centering" this was LOUD. This will help you in how you react to events in the future. Really do practice this if you haven't.

This is where it gets a little weird. So, I got a message that said "start living as if you never existed." I am not a 100% sure what this means but I think I have a pretty good guess. I hate to make it sound weird like this but by sort of focusing on something that is so hard to comprehend (because our brains can't comprehend not existing very well) you kinda break the 4th wall? Like in Deadpool when he addresses the audience and is aware that he is a character played by Ryan Reynolds? anyway, focusing on something that seemingly impossible you kind of accidentally open up the floodgates for a lot of other things. I would say if you are not in the right headspace to do this don't do it but it can be a powerful way to break up the monotony of reality. The theory that everything happens simultaneously bc time isn't a linear progression events blah blah we are energy blah blah the multiverse blah blah.. Theres so so so so so so so so so much about this and how it applies to things that I could probably write you 10+ dictionaries worth of material but for the sake of simplicity and not wanting to write a novel right now, I will continue. The main lesson is to start challenging your perception of the world around you. Ask why and why and why and why. Essentially seeing cracks in the matrix. Pulling your head out of your cosmic ass, realizing that rose you're smelling is actually daffodil ect. It's not supposed to bring you fear but just kinda encouraging you to question all the things that you perceive as given truths.

I tried to make that sound cohesive but really it's such a big concept that I can't really wrap it up all nice and neat.

Oki. May and March are also important times.

Listen to your intuition and try not to take everything so seriously. I'm not saying to check out and go squat in the Himalayas but it's important to find joy in the now. Life is already tough enough so don't forget to watch a silly show that you like or change your hair to a style you've never tried, wear makeup in a very loud way. Just have fun and don't worry so much about things that you can't control. Listen to yourself and your intuition.

Well that was all over the place. Let's get on to the actual tarot part now.

For the record, the pictures are right to left.

January for the collective

We have the empress, the sun, 7 of swords and a fortune that says "act well your part; there the honor lies"

Hmm. Ngl I was a little confused to see the empress and the sun for January... I mean it hasn't been great. So I pulled clarity card 7 of swords. The 7 of swords is all about betrayal. It's about the deception and and actively getting away with things. This is people lying, cheating, sneaking and the works.

This makes much more sense!! The Sun card is usually about joy and success and happiness but in this case I see it as illuminating the betrayal. It's shining light on the deception and keeps the spotlight there. Its also an energetic card so I think that shows passion for uncovering the truth.

With the empress card too I think January is all about getting creative in all forms. Creative ways to protest, to mourn, to celebrate, to connect. Also taking in the abundance that we DO have. The beauty that surrounds us. I like to think of aphrodite energy for this. Its not just love and passion and creativity but is also asserting yourself and having strong passion for what you love and fighting for it. Did you know aphrodite was also called upon in ancient Greece in times of war? She was honored as a goddess of war but still a goddess of love, the sea, fertility ect. What I'm trying to say is that being a creative and "feminine" energy is in no way weak. Sometimes the most powerful things come from this energy. Love aggressively with good intentions. The point is that you should take whatever you're feeling and translate it into something creative or something you care about. The fact that covid is still a thing really sucks but take any rage, hurt, sadness, joy, love whatever and use that shit to make something amazing. Bake bread and punch the fuck out of it, paint your frustration, play hopscotch in higheels while you listen to heavy metal. You get the point.

Now January for BTS!!

We have the death card. (I only pulled one card bc I have things planned from this)

January has been... strange? To say the least.

This card can be a lot of things for them. I think this points to more maturity in their music? Like they've finally ditched the "shiny kpop boy band" label and are being taken seriously in the west. I also think that they're going through a musical/concept transformation~ I think it also signified the change in plans bc of the Grammys perhaps they had things planned an that fell through so they were forced to rapidly change plan/course.

For January: possible mixtape or announcement.

February for the collective

We have 8 of coins reverse and hanged man reverse.

The 8 of pentacles reverse talks a lot about self improvement. Doing that good good inner work and self care. Working on developing parts of you that you've maybe neglected. It's also learning how to work with how you are instead of wishing you weren't the way you are. If you have a therapist its a great time to maybe ask for any extra tips that you can practice daily to help you even more. Maybe exploring more into insecurities relating to finance or jobs or your passions. If you don't have a therapist but you have the means to get one I always highly recommend. You don't have to have "problems" to see a therapist. Everyone could use a non biased point of view that is literally trained to help you be you best self. If you can't get therapy, I get it. Shits tough rn but there's still things we can do to better ourselves like Journaling and reading therapy blogs or self help books (not the taky shit) or trying a hobby you fell out of touch with. There's also a lot of places where you can get therapy promise on the internet. Most importantly, better yourself in the way that you need. Take time in February to take notice of what you want to improve upon. The 8 of coins reversed does come with the warning not to get stuck in perfectionism. Go easy on yourself and if you find yourself getting frustrated when working on projects, try to take a step back and practice whatever it is in a fun way and then come back to it later

Hanged man reverse talks about knowing that you need to chill but you don't. You'll need too. Maybe you'll find yourself swept up in work and tasks and you're over whelmed and know you need to stop and catch your breath but you resist. Why? Well, perhaps you're trying to ignore reality by filling the empty spaces with things and stuff so you don't have to face what's bothering you. Not wise. Take time for yourself. There's also the flips side where people are just kinda stuck.. creative block. Maybe you want something to turn out one way and it just isn't, so your stuck and frustrated and can't move past it. Let go of your expectation of how it should be and let it be what it is. Go with the flow and maybe you'll see a new way to overcome your problem. You'll eventually get that break through that you need! The theme of February is about self improvement. Listen to yourself.

February for BTS

We have judgment.

Hehe yeah. This card is about rebirth and the inner calling. Letting go of the old to step into the new version of you. This is also a very spiritual card lol. This can talk about a new decision that you have to trust your gut on. This is a very significant card that screams comeback to me. It also can talk about sharing your struggles with a group of people and that to me sounds comeback ish. Maybe this will be an announcement in February, maybe they'll be working on it idk but this is ultimate comeback energy so I hope they utilize this for a big group project!!

February: possible BTS comeback (even my pendulum knows)

March for the collective

The chariot and justice

This plays directly off of February! With the chariot you're taking the self improvement that you've done and putting it to action! Now is the time to act on the dreams and passions that you have don't wait and hope for the best. March is about action and standing in your power.

Justice card is cause and effect and truth. What you do will have consequences good or bad. Not doing anything also has consequences. Cease the moment and make the best of it. You'll be taking responsibility for what you do. You start a business? Now you have the responsibility of running it and you get the credit. Stuff like that. Stand by your decisions with conviction and trust yourself.

There's also the side of justice that talks about bringing justice. If you've been wronged, you'll be brought justice if you stand up for yourself.

We also carry the continuous lesson of learning what we truly believe and challenge those beliefs!

March for BTS

Oki we have the hermit and the 6 of pentacles reverse.

Well... let's start with the 6 of pentacles reverse. This can really talk about being so generous and giving to everyone else that you forget about yourself. I think that maybe they might be over exerting themselves and giving so much that they're exhausted physically and emotionally as well. I think too, they take on so much of our pain like its their own? Idk but this would be a good time to do a large scale fan project to show them a little extra love!

With the hermit card it talks about a self introspection so they could be looking inward as a team and kinda evaluating their bond.

I also see this as maybe being alone as in they maybe can't physically go to the grammys? Or maybe they had been planning the rescheduled concerts and they had to be pushed back even further? Things like that. Regardless this signals re thinking/reevaluating the goals that they have and considering what direction to go in!

March: possible mixtape or solo project?

April for the collective

We have 6 of coins and 3 of cups reverse.

Let's start with the 6 of coins. It's about sharing. It can be about charity so sharing money via donation but also giving time, effort, energy to people as well. Giving knowledge is good too! It's an all round exchange. Maybe someone lends you money or you lend money to someone. It's give and take. It's a two way street. It's also a card of balanced finance. So money stuff should be looking promising around this time (for you U.S people this could point to more stimulus help as well)

And for the 3 of cups reversed... I see this as reopening of places and people struggling to find the balance. So think people who've been in lockdown celebrating by throwing a big party... yikes. This card reminds that we should be mindful of the long-term consequences that come with our actions.. maybe also people that are experiencing fear of being in public places now. This is only one facet though. Bc I think this also means in general, missing being with friends and having a renewed relationship because you've really realized how important it is to have these people that mean so much to you in your life. Don't forget that you have people that love you and want the best for you. Call them when you feel alone.

April for BTS

The heirophant

Mhmm. This one kinda gives me vibes that they'll be mentoring people? Idk but I see them more as the heirophant teaching what they've learned/ know to help guide others. HOWEVER this could also be them taking a new task under their belt. Learning something new. Since this is as a group reading I assume that this talks about the group as a whole. This card is also very tradition oriented so maybe they are taking lessons that are connected to traditional Korean culture? Maybe its for RUN or maybe its to incorporate into music and preformance. Think bts mma preformance but all of them learning together? Idk, it's just a thought (maybe wishful thinking). It also talks about seeking counseling so maybe they'll do yoongis idea from the most recent RUN.

This can also be them embracing this kind of leadership/ status.

April: I got nothing. It does feel like something though

May for the collective

Five of cups and queen of cups reversed

Five of cups is disappointment, regret and self pity. Now honestly this to me looks like possibly a tightening of restrictions yet again. Regardless of the situation that this is talking about, the best thing you can do is not wallow in the bullshit. You scrape yourself off the pavement and move foward. You'll need forgiveness of yourself and others and that if shit isn't going your way, you need to pull your head out of your ass and look around bc there's options out there. It's like drowning in a kiddie pool. Just stand up, dude. The water is like 5 inches.

Queen of cups reversed talks about self love and self care. It's more of that look inwards energy. Think about really taking care of yourself. May might be emotionally draining so you need to be ready to take care of you! Part of self care is making sure that your boundaries are well enforced.

Be on the look out for codependent behaviors. Check in with yourself.

The queen of cups is very intuitive and having it in reverse can talk about you not taking enough time to listen to it. Make an effort to meditate for like 5 minutes a day at least. Do something to let yourself connect to your intuition and higher self.

May for BTS

9 of pentacles

This about enjoying the fruits of your labor and absolute abundance and luxury. This could talk about them rolling in the dough after signing a new partnership or having a concert or something if the sort. This could also be a time where we see them buying new things like houses, cars and rings (lol) but also this could be them doing a very high production value project! Also namjoon and his bonsai army are thriving in this time!

May: possible concert or scheduled concert event. Activity of some kind.

Yoongi interlude

I asked for one card to give me an idea of what the mystical May 13th really is. I got: the star, 2 of cups, 4 of wands, the world and the sun.

Guys. I can't with this. 2 of cups is a card of union, romance, soulmate. 4 of wands is celebration, joy, homecoming, bliss. The world is completion and the sun is happiness, joy, marriage, enlightenment.

I've said it a billion times but that's some soulmate shit. So soft so cute and May will be eventful for his personal life.

June for the collective

Death and the heirophant reversed.

Wow wow wow death is transformation and a new chapter so a new way of life and something new/ different that changes how we see things. Again this could be relating to new covid things and new policies and stuff like that but also new as in new to all of us. Groundbreaking perhaps?

The heirophant reversed talks about teaching yourself. Being your own teacher and making your own path. This might be spiritual or otherwise. Challange what the world wants from you and instead listen to what you truly want bc you don't need anyone's approval. Continue to ask questions about why things are the way that they are.

June for BTS

Page of pentacles

Oki oki page of pentacles means a new creative venture and manifestation. Maybe something that they've been wanting for a while finally comes to fruition. This might be the start of a new project that they haven't done before or something cross genre? Idk but its a really good sign of being motivated for a new endeavor and manifesting any projects that they've ever wanted to do. Love this promising energy!!

June: idk

July for the collective

10 of swords and 9 of cups reversed.

10 of swords signals a painful ending. Also deceit. Its a necessary end to a long battle. The only thing you can do is control how you react in these situations. You just kinda gotta surrender into the pain and know that it's temporary. Take time to reflect on what happened and why and how it will help you grow.

The 9 of cups reversed talks about valuing stuff and material things over emotions and spiritual things. This can be talking about society in general, that we are becoming more aware to the fact that there is often more value placed on ephemeral items rather than humanity as a whole. This also can be talking about coming to the realization that we've been working so hard towards... something we don't really care about simply because we were told that it's what you do.

If you want something different to happen you have to put in effort. You can't be sitting in front of a water fountain being like, "damn. I'm thirsty. I really really want water so why isn't it in my mouth yet?" Like?? Hello? You have to take the first step, my dude.

Certainly don't try to do anything that would cost you finatial security or health.

You have the potential to find happiness within yourself. So try looking inside instead of looking outward.

July for BTS

4 of swords.

This is about rest and relaxation!

Taking time to meditate and take some time to look at what you've done objectively. Ots like the hermit in a way but much more focused on resting and relaxing so you can come back stronger and with better direction. Maybe they'll take a break for a couple days but I really see it as them reassessing options. Especially if July goes how I think it will. Maybe they'll film something like In The Soop again? Maybe we'll see bon voyage type thing? Idk. But it could be something kinda out of the spotlight? Maybe something more healing?

July: maybe something?? I'm not sure but it seems like something might be in store.

August for the collective

5 of coins and the wheel of fortune

Well let's see. 5 of pentacles talks about isolation and a negative mindset. This talks about falling on hard times but its a temporary set back. This energy can be talking about falling on hard times emotionally as well. In the card it shows a woman outside of a church shivering and cold but she's too busy thinking about all that she's lost that she doesn't notice the warm church that she could step into for shelter.

But then with he wheel of fortune that talks about fate/destiny, opportunity and luck so maybe this is a necessary loss so that a new door can open. This does kinda tie in with July as well. The end of something is painful but it's often a necessary thing. Might be a bit uncomfy but that's how things change. Again I see this maybe hinting more towards society but none the less it's definitely a theme for August to have doors closing and new ones opening so be on the lookout for that.

August for BTS

The devil.

Now don't fret. The devil talks a lot about choice. Most notably the choice between instant gratification and and something more substantial and the devil leans towards indulgence. It also has a lot to do with the shadow side. This could talk about ~scandal~ sure, but I think its more of a time where you become aware of negative patterns and you shine a light on that part you've ignored. On a much lighter note this card talks also about an incredible bond between people. It can be unhealthy if not given space or boundaries. Listen to pied piper and come back to me.

I also REALLY REALLY REALLY hope that this card points to this: sexuality. The boys have always been pretty pg when it comes to the topic of sex and embracing sexuality so I really do hope to see something more daring and grown up and exploring a tastefully sexy concept. On the same vain as sexuality this card also talks about kinks and stuff like that so don't be surprised if we get more outfits like fake love Era bondage harnesses.

August: ???

September for the collective

We have the world and 10 of wands reversed.

The 10 of wands reversed talks about carrying burden. Doing extra work and taking on more responsibility. Doing everything by yourself and carrying this heavy load alone will get you burnt out quicker than anything. You might be taking on too much and you'll need to prioritize what you really need to focus on. I also think there will just be a lot happening in September for a lot of people. It's a lot of working hard because you know it's good work or because it's what's right. This could be social responsibility that's placed on you or work responsibility. For whatever reason this burden isn't something you want to share with others because you think its yours alone to deal with. It's not though bc you'll figure out eventually that if it hurts so much you'll find a way to lessen the burden. 10 in tarot is all about the completion of a cycle and going through the wands cycle is hard work because for anything to be made of passion, you need to put the work behind it. The burden isn't forever, the heavy work load will lighten but this is you seeing things out. It's a good thing!

Especially considering this is paired with with world. The world is all about completion and that's what you're doing here is finding completion. You are seeing things out until the end but you just need to learn to give up some responsibility, lessen your burden.

This also talks about hard work being put into wider social spheres as well. Things like the vaccines becoming more widespread through the whole globe or at least better planing and infrastructures not related to covid. Things are looking up!

September for BTS

Knight of swords reverse

This bad boi is restless energy. It's being so pent up that you're ready to burst and you really want to take action but you can't because something is keeping you from taking that action. Again I do think this is kinda covid related in regards to touring bc if they do tour in 2021 its gonna look a lot different. This energy can be a bit impulsive and directionless so I think maybe they'll channel this into album material something? I'm not really sure tbh. I'm suprised this energy didn't show up earlier because it almost seems inevitable.

September: no clue

October for the collective

Ten of coins and the star reverse.

Welp let's start with the 10 of coins. Its about wealth, financial security, and long term success so this is a pretty prosperous time. This talks about the obvious monetary wealth and material wealth but also an abundance of opportunities. So this is definitely a good time to enjoy whatever consistency you have. This energy is really really abundant in the career space as well. So October could be very prosperous in the job field and you'll have likely found what it is you really want and could be successful at. This could be the actual act or just the idea. This is could also talk about investing in something for your future, this could be time or money.

With the star reversed it can talk about a loss of faith and a disconnection. This often points to feeling like you've just been forgotten or left out. Like the universe doesn't give a shit about you and left you out to die. Things might seem unfair but always try to look for the lesson that you can take from the experience. Seeing the 10 of coins and the star makes me think that a lot of people have kinda lost faith in their manifestations and also just in the concept of not living in a state of need. Especially if you see other people doing well and you've been trying so fucking hard but you haven't gotten a break. I know we hate to hear it but this can serve as a test of faith. Or rather an opportunity to get your shit in line and take a second to breath. Do something good for yourself and then continue on. This star in reverse serves to show you what no longer sparks joy and helps you find what does and what that initial spark was in the first place. Helps you get back to the original vision/ spark.

October for BTS

5 of pentacles reverse.

This signals the end of difficult times and getting that groove back. The last month was restless energy with no where to go but this month that energy is certainly put to good use. They might be figuring out what has been missing In their lives and starting to rectify that. They are definitely reminded that material wealth doesn't bring spiritual or emotional wealth. Might be also feeling a bit alienated too.

October: something is likely but idk

November for collective

Six of swords reversed and the moon.

Transition and change is prevalent. The 6 of swords is about leaving behind the familiar. Maune this is leaving a job, a new change in the status quo, leaving a relationship ect. The thing you have to keep in mind is just how amazing this is in terms of what it will do. It will alow growth!! And bring clarity!! Thos can also be societal as well, something being left behind in favor of something new. It's letting go and reflecting so that you can move foward.

This is strengthened by the moon card. The moon card is the subconscious and all the things that come with it. The anxiety, the illusion, the uncertainty. You'll want to deal with whatever emotions come up. The moon can signify a confusing time where things aren't what they seem to be. That's the illusions so you'll have rely more on intuition at a time like this. Your dreams might hold significance in this time as well. Listen to your guides and your own guidance because it will help you understand more than you did before this journey began. Using moon cycles to your advantage in November might really help you!!

November for BTS

7 of wands

Challenge and competition. People are envious of bts. We know this. But people will be challenging them for what they've gained: music industry domination. This might co.e in the way that people will spread vicious rumors in attempt to disenfanchise or possibly it will be a fair fight. It could also be a challenge/ battle for some other aspect that involves legal matters.

My best guess though is good old competition. Bts has proven again and again that they will continue to do what they do how they do but they will not be trampled over. In the best way this could renew some of that spirit in friendly competition. They will tear eachothers throats out for a pack of ramen so maybe a bit of competition will be good for them. It keeps life intresting.

November: nothin

December for the collective

Two of cups and the emperor!

Let's start off with the emperor card talks about stability and order. It can also signify being the "breadwinner" so its a good sign that you'll kinda be on top of your shit. The emperor is also an amazing leader so you might find yourself taking on a leadership role too! This is very organized energy that works very smoothly!

two of cups is such a lovely way to end out the year! It's love and partnership and attraction so if you aren't in a relationship by this time you might meet someone who strikes your fancy!! On a none romantic relationship note though, this card is also great for business partnership bc it signifies that you're on the same page and have the same goals in mind!

It's harmonious relationships and trust between them!! Love love love this energy so much! Cups are the suit of emotions and this card is so promising.

If you are in a relationship, this can talk about "falling in love all over again" like you're just reminded of how good they are.

December for BTS

Queen of cups

Intuition, creativity and emotional stability. They're using intuition to guide their moves foward with emotional maturity. They are in a place of knowing what they want and why. This would be a good time to work on an album or a book or to release them. The queen of cups is like the friend that you can tell absolutely anything and somehow they have a helpful answer. This card is really calm and it can also talk about subconscious thoughts.

I think that bts is maybe making more of a conscious effort to make sure that what they do is just as emotionally fulfilling for them as it is for us! They might be kinda pondering the future at this time and considering if this is what fills their emotional cup!

December: possibly a thing?

Now these cards are the vibe of the year and some advice.

For the collective (on the left)

Three of swords and judgment reverse.

The fortune says "accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory"

The 3 of swords is about disappointment and hurt and heartbreak. It's about the emotional release that we all need when shit gets tough. Don't pretend to be strong. If you need to cry, fucking cry. This year is about letting go of expectations and do what you have to do to release so you can move foward and not have these things pile up.

You have to make an effort to not let yourself take on what other people think of you. You aren't defined by what some asshole says. You define yourself.

Judgment reverse is about self doubt and ignoring your path. It's being stagnant and being harsh on yourself. This year has a focus on building yourself up and noticing when you are not. Bring light to the things that are holding you back without harsh judgment for yourself. You can't beat yourself up. If you make a bad decision you know not to make it again. Take accountability and move on.

The oracle card is inner temple.

Seriously all the focus of this year is in self improvement and dear god, please take time to work on yourself spiritually!!! Everything you want to know is there if you take the time to listen. This should be a place where you feel safe and welcome. It definitely should not feel like something you HAVE to do.

For BTS

10 of swords and page of swords

The fortune says "you create your own stage. The audience is waiting" (how tje fuck?? This is the perfect fortune)

The 10 of swords is a painful but necessary end. This is accepting the current situation. They maintain focus for 2021 for them is adapting and keeping their spirits up.

With the page of swords it talks about new ideas and that kind of creativity. It's also a lot about communication so I really think that they'll be figuring out new ways to connect and new projects that will be prosperous.

The oracle card is Pleiades

This is what we talk about all the time. Bts has helped so many people want to be better and do better. They are uplifting humanity and giving people a sense if belonging. Bts finds you when you need them most 💜💜💜

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Wow I had to write this up over 2 days bc this was so fucking long. I need a nap. Idk if I'll proof read this before I post it so don't hate me for the mistakes (honestly, there's like 10,000 spelling and grammar mistakes in my other posts too 🙃)

I hope you guys enjoyed it and maybe this will be helpful to to have a forecast of some possible energy for you to look out for!!

Also bts bc I love them. I have another bts 2021 reading I'll do soon too!

Hope you guys are happy and well 💜

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dastardlydandelion · 3 years

Note

(yet another) fanfic writer ask game, questions 2, 3, and 9?

good evening!

alrighty, let's see.

2) what fic do i wish i got more response on? praefoco, hands down. quality-wise, it's the best thing i've written for this fandom i'm not in. least amnt of typos, most cohesive, my second susan deep-dive, homicide that i wrote with my sensible head and not with my libido. but praefoco is a susan & max fic, and that's not a particularly popular dynamic in this neck of the woods, so it didn't generate much interest.

3) what's a fic idea that i have that's not written yet? um. a lot. there's a lot of those. so many that tbh i get frustrated bc it interferes with focusing on what i've already started. so, let's pick one of those out, which one...oh, okay, here's a lighthearted one: timeline-what-timeline crossover where billy and max attend the 2019 avt in ck s4. so, front row seats to the karate war, complete with associated witness/commentary. also, each one claims they're there for the other, and didn't actually want to go (they both wanted to go). the way i think abt it, it'd be funny, but idk if anyone else would find it funny. and it doesn't make sense, but. does it have to?

9) my favorite lines/scenes? ooh, okay. uh. the first thing that comes to mind is axe masturbation (axeturbation, if u will) so let's try smth less gory. actually, i'm just gonna go factor out murder entirely.

Susan chews on her lower lip and decides she isn’t interested in impressing anyone today. She isn’t interested in advertising the pleasant respectabilities Neil was so concerned with. She isn’t interested in coordinating her appearance to please him as best as she could, even though the compliments would inevitably sour come stressful evenings and the insults would come back behind closed doors, accompanied by those pinches of her flesh between his fingers. The insults would always come back, no matter how much she exercised, how much makeup she masked her pain and fears beneath.

Susan throws on a faded old tee with bleach stains she usually saves for spring cleaning. She tugs the elastic waistband of a fraying pair of purple sweatpants over her hips, previously reserved for Sunday jogs and housework only. She swipes her makeup bag off the dresser and chucks it at the wall like she had the picture she still hasn’t cleaned up, and something crunches when it hits, perhaps a compact mirror or plastic lipstick tube. Glass crunches too, when the weight of the bag drops upon the bed of shards.

She doesn’t fret about styling her hair, simply throws it up in a ponytail to keep it out of her face. When she leaves the bedroom, Susan kicks the door closed behind her and she doesn’t know what it is, exactly, but. She feels better. She has scrubbed herself clean and relieved herself the superficial priorities of a dead-as-a-doornail husband and she feels good. She really does.

this from cetris paribus. bc this was the scene that kept me from scrapping the fic entirely, which i almost did bc...look, idk what i was smoking when i first posted it, but it looked rly fucking ugly. i have no idea why i ever thought it was acceptable for public consumption, wks later, i shaved off a HUGE chunk of it that i'm...not even sure was supposed to be in there? fml, it'd looked like i frankenstein-ed two pieces of a previous wip, and it...ugh, okay, now i'm rambling, BUT. i liked this more uplifting scene and thought it was worth fixing the rest of the fic around.

#lucdarling #yet another ask game #ty for playing!#susan hargrove

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sepublic · 4 years

Text

Blight Trio AU

So as a bit of an extension of my past meta, speculation, and analyses on Emira and Edric, and their feelings towards Amity… What if they got to Amity first? That is to say, before Odalia and Alador could fully indoctrinate Amity into their toxic abuse and ideas of authority and hierarchy… What if Ed and Em managed to become a better, more prominent influence in Amity’s life? What if a younger Amity chose to listen to her siblings more than her parents, to follow them around, and looked up to them more for guidance?

In the Blight Trio AU, Emira and Edric ended up having way more of an influence on Amity. As a result, she became a troublemaker like them, and instead of just being known as the Blight Twins… They became known as the Blight Kids, that trio of siblings always hanging around together, causing trouble, and being oh-so confident, charming, and too cool for school!

As Amity became more like the Twins as a deliberate defense against their parents’ attempts to separate the kids and put them at each other’s throats, to keep from competing with one another for Odalia and Alador’s meaningless affection… Unsurprisingly, she changed her style of clothes. She ended up dressing like Ed and Em, just as they dressed like one another! She even dyed her hair a green more akin to Emira and Edric, although in this scenario it was more encouraged by her siblings as a sign of solidarity against their parents, and not an outright order forced by Odalia.

(More on that later)

Just as Emira and Edric are inseparable in the original canon, in the Blight Trio AU, Amity is included amongst this! All three Blight kids have shared their deepest, darkest secrets with each other; They do everything together, and are practically capable of finishing each other’s sentences! They also seem like three parts of a whole, which leads to most people referring to the group as a whole –the Blight kids- VS as separate individuals.

Amity’s definitely a lot more open, happier, and confident here. She’s a lot more similar to Emira and Edric, at first glance… That same flippant, mischievous confidence, that willingness to mess around with other people, seemingly too cool for school! Because Amity’s given a better sense of individuality with her older siblings, she’s happier and more open about being a dork, at least when she and the others are alone- Like Edric, when in public, she’s not as open about being a dork. Like the Twins, Amity continues that same façade, although this façade comes across as a lot happier and more confident than the one she has in canon.

And, Amity IS happier and more independent, in a sense! She’s not subject to crippling pressures and expectations by her parents- Or at least, she’s no longer beholden to them. Because Amity is One Of Them, Emira and Edric fully indulge in her interests in The Good Witch Azura, about wanting to be good at magic, and help train her a lot! They use their skills and talent to hone Amity’s understanding, and following in her siblings’ footsteps, Amity enrolls in the Illusion Track!

…Still. While it’s in some ways a lot better than what she has in canon, because Amity fully has the trust and support of her siblings and vice-versa, and is fully integrated amongst the group… As I’ve speculated in the past, there are issues of identity. Not only that, but while Ed and Em try to reassure Amity that she really IS one of them, Amity still has concerns. She knows that she’s younger, and that Emira and Edric are implicity closer with one another, than they are with Amity. It’s only natural- For two whole years, they only had each other! Not to mention they look so similar, too…

And, Amity doesn’t want to get in the way. She doesn’t want to be jealous. But sometimes she’s afraid that her own relationship with her siblings, individually, doesn’t mean as much to them? That if either Emira or Edric had to choose between their other siblings, they’d choose their Twin? It’s a silly thought, surely, and amidst Amity’s darker secrets, this one she doesn’t bring up. It brings shame to her, and it makes her feel like she’s jeopardizing the ‘harmony’ and ‘sync’ of the trio. The fact that she’s noticeably younger and has brown hair more akin to their abusive father, VS her loving siblings, doesn’t help either…

In this situation, Amity’s hair is always, constantly, fully-dyed; Especially with the help of Illusions. Her shade of green is dark and identical to the Twins’. She dresses like them, doesn’t do things without them and vice-versa… And while it seems like the kids are a close, tight-knit and cohesive unit, there’s still issues here or there. Because Emira and Edric influenced Amity so much… They’re a bit less self-aware of whenever they tend to steamroll over what Amity wants for herself, especially since Amity is reluctant about letting them down by trying to be different. She already feels beholden to her older siblings for saving her from their parents, and again, she doesn’t want to jeopardize any unity…

Especially since the Blight Trio, as in canon, only really have each other! They don’t have any actual friends… By a stroke of different decisions leading to different circumstances, Amity never encountered Willow by chance and never became close to her unfortunately. She was too busy doing other things with Emira and Edric…

Making friends also means getting people involved in the Blight drama and abuse, and that’s a very vulnerable thing to do. After all, making connections outside of the family that their parents don’t approve of would mean having to defend them… So the Blight Trio avoids friends, they act like they’re secretly too cool for everyone else, and everybody else agrees and assumes as such! But they’re starved for additional friends. Having the three of them IS great and all… But if they weren’t afraid of hurting anyone else, the Blight Trio would certainly try to form more connections. And, this just contributes to their loneliness, insecurity… To the distance they set others at, pretending to be casual and informal, and while to an extent they ARE…

The Blight Trio could never let anyone in close, because the idea of people intimately knowing them is terrifying. Instead, they keep marching on together… At least, they try to. But as I said, the differences between Amity and the Twins are obvious. Not to mention, Amity is likely at a different grade level… Because no matter how hard she tries in canon, she just can’t move up a grade! It’s rather frustrating to be in different grades than the Twins, it results in the trio separating more often than they’d like- And while Ed and Em are alone together, THEIR bond and closeness increases, while Amity continues to feel more and more distant.

At some point, I imagine she gets desperate, maybe interacts with Augustus Porter from her grade! He’s not on Emira and Edric’s level, but he IS a child prodigy who skipped a few grades… Maybe she could pick up a thing or two, and advance to be in the same classes as the twins! Perhaps Amity starts to become acquainted with Willow through Augustus in THIS particular scenario, although…

Like I said- Amity doesn’t have natural talent, at least not to the same extent as Emira and Edric. And inevitably, she’s going to feel the need to keep up with them, for fear that they’re leaving her behind, that Amity is actually at fault for enforcing a rift between her and the Twins… She works and studies extra hard in the hopes of advancing to their grade, but! Doing so requires time separate from Emira and Edric, because they don’t particularly care for studying or grades. Amity either drops the effort entirely, potentially becoming distant with Augustus and Willow again as she focuses on maintaining her constant presence with the Twins…

Or, Emira and Edric hear what Amity have to say! And there’s a little bit of concern, because… They understand Amity’s concerns, and they know that she wants to be close with them! And they’d hate to leave their little sis behind, neither twin can imagine what it’s like to be on their own. Either with Amity, or just with one another, the Twins consider the possibility of… Maybe deliberately failing and flunking classes, and getting held back? Granted that would look HUMILIATING, and their parents definitely wouldn’t let it pass!

Alas, it’s not an option. Even if brought up to Amity, she wouldn’t let the Twins do so anyway, because she doesn’t want to feel like she’s dragging them down… But at the same time, she’s afraid of Emira and Edric leaving her behind! And Emira and Edric don’t reflect as much as whether or not they’re quashing their sister’s identity, because they’re more focused on how being a close-knit group turned out the best, and Amity is already so eager to be like them. NOT being like the Twins has led to Amity’s personal insecurities after all.

Inevitably, a sense of toxic co-dependency is made. It’s more or less the same between Emira and Edric… But it also happens between the Twins and Amity as well. In Amity’s case, she’s constantly trying to do what she can to be more like her twins, and even existing on their own without any expectations, Emira and Edric unintentionally set an elusive standard for the girl that she simply can’t reach! And it’s exhausting, Amity’s trying to keep up when Emira and Edric aren’t even meaning to outpace her!

And, they try to make room for her in their schedules. But inevitably, circumstances and the reality of the situation force them farther and farther apart. Emira and Edric don’t stop to consider how much they’re hurting Amity, because again, she seems to be most happy around them, and they’re doing better than their parents! Their self-awareness is even less potent in this AU than in canon. Without meaning to, the Twins find themselves sharing little moments and secrets between one another that Amity isn’t privy to, and at some point… They don’t tell her about this, because they don’t want Amity to feel bad.

Not to mention, Amity keeps avoiding making new friends, because like her siblings, she’s under the impression that will somehow ‘ruin’ how close she is to Emira and Edric. It’s a frustrating situation, sometimes the trio is seemingly in-sync, but not always… Amidst Ed and Em having THEIR own differences, too! And when either twin goes to Amity and confides about this in secret, she’s elated, because she has something with THIS sibling that the other one doesn’t! In a way, being a trio helps the Blight kids recognize that not all relationships are meant to be the same…

They learn that inevitably, there are going to be secrets they keep with one person, while excluding from the other. It’s a hard and bitter truth, but they at least manage to cope with it; For each sibling, two connections are better than just the one that Emira and Edric have… And better than the lack of relationships that Amity had, period, prior to meeting Luz! I can see Amity’s presence helping Emira and Edric in a sense… Even if Amity herself also her own issues unique to this AU, perhaps it’s better than being indoctrinated into the self-loathing for herself that Odalia and Alador encouraged in canon.

Still, it really feels like Amity isn’t her own person- And this realization that she can’t function on her own just makes her panic and become more codependent with the Twins, which in turn worsens the original issue to begin with. It’s a self-feeding cycle, but inevitably, the poor girl is going to get frustrated. She’s going to want to do things that Emira and Edric don’t, because she’s always been a nerd who loves to learn… And when Amity tries to ramble about class, Ed and Em shut her down because they’re not interested, and they assume more often than not that she’s like them; So clearly Amity doesn’t care THAT much, and this is just a sign she’s trying to do well in school to keep up with them- Lighten up a little!

And they intend to reassure her… but really, Emira and Edric contribute to a feeling of being left unheard, and not appreciated as her own person for Amity. Amity feels like the things that keep her up at night aren’t being relayed and told, nor listened to… And she keeps insisting that this is because she isn’t close enough to the Twins and so neither can trust the other enough to this degree, as if this desperation to be close wasn’t precisely why Amity was suffering! And, amidst Autistic headcanons and speculation about Amity… And sometimes Amity doesn’t get the joke. Sometimes she feels left behind, or not as clever or confident.

Even if she’s better at it in the Blight Trio AU than in canon, Amity isn’t a perfect talker. Her actual social skills are already stunted as-is, so her façade at being charming and confident has a lot of work to do, in comparison to Ed and Em… That keeps frustrating her, making Amity feels like there’s something wrongwith her.

Worst-case scenario, a bad argument might lead to Amity feeling like she has to be her own person to survive, and completely cut ties with the Twins… Especially if Emira and Edric’s concerns about being co-dependent with one another become apparent. It’d become heartbreaking, that just as Ed and Em fear that they need to cut ties with the other completely to avoid becoming co-dependent, Amity might think she has to separate from her siblings entirely. She sees the existential angst that Emira and Edric have from being so similar, and it conflicts with her desire to be similar to the Twins. Maybe Amity even considers turning to her parentsfor guidance, under the hopes that they can give her more attention, or at least help the girl form an individual identity of her own…

Maybe… Maybe Odalia and Alador WERE right, after all. Maybe setting the kids at each others’ throats was the right action, in the end… And Emira and Edric, eerily, consider this every now and then. It makes them doubt their own judgment, their own rebelliousness… It makes it hard to tell what’s right or wrong, if being obedient would’ve made them happier in the long run! Odalia and Alador of course notice this and eat it all up, they try to take advantage of it. Maybe if one kid turns to them for support, they’ll feel indebted to that support; And they’ll try to live up to whatever expectations the Blight parents set, just to maintain that relationship!

And there is, of course… Luz to consider. Luz the human. Because she’s a lot less elitist and more of a troublemaker thanks to the twins, Amity gets along with her a lot more quickly. And while the Blight Trio is all over Luz, and they utterly LOVE her… Not all of their feelings are the same. Emira and Edric see Luz more as a younger sister than anything else, but Amity… Amity feels romantic.

This becomes apparent to the Blight Trio, and it confuses them. Maybe Emira and Edric should form a romantic interest in Luz, too? But she’s also a bit younger than them, so maybe not… And Amity’s wondering if she should stop this crush, and try to be like her siblings. Unintentionally on any of the kids’ ends, it becomes like a cult; Where trying to form new connections outside of the group feels like a ‘betrayal’. But Amity can’t deny how she feels, and how Luz makes her feel seen as an individual and not part of a greater whole…

Then this adds to Amity wondering if she should’ve been separate from the Twins to begin with… It’s a really confusing mess, and Luz, who is just vibing, tries to help! She’s definitely got a lot to offer the Blight Trio, as does Eda… And those two help a lot. Maybe Emira and Edric feel it’s for Amity’s own good that she starts avoiding them, as they fear having become a bad and toxic influence on her… And while they DID do a thing wrong here or there, it’s not irreparable, and cutting ties completely would do more harm than just setting boundaries. But none of the kids can differentiate between setting personal boundaries and individual identity, VS losing a close bond with somebody else. There’s just not enough experience, and Ed and Em feel that Luz is a better influence for Amity than them, anyway… Maybe one twin is different from the other in that they’d rather keep Amity closer, or don’t want to be left behind, the same way Amity was prior to meeting Luz. This would cause even moreconfusion between the Twins, individually- And likely a lot of conflict.

Amity is of course heart-broken. She tells them that they don’t have to leave her, that she still wants to be with them… But then does she? Because why is she so interested in Luz, doesn’t focusing on this one relationship jeopardize the one she has with her siblings? In the end, Luz helps Amity articulate that she still looks up to the Twins, that they mean the world to her… And she wants them and Luz with her! She doesn’t want to abandon her siblings just to pursue an even closer relationship with Luz, and…

Eda naturally steps in. She makes it clear to these kids, sets it down, that relationships and identity don’t work like that. You can be your own person and still be close with someone… That arguably, one becomes closer with someone because each one is their own individual! There’s a difference between a close bond and co-dependency, and she and Luz can help the Blight Trio navigate this. Amidst Lilith joining in, and having her own insights and experience to offer…

Like canon, it’s painful, awkward, and difficult. It’s a bumpy road that’s incredibly confusing and at times the directions seem contradictory. There’s probably going to be times where Amity and the Twins argue and storm off, go their own path… Before it evolves to all three kids going their separate ways from time to time! But I think in the end, Amity, Emira, and Edric will learn to navigate their lives and head towards recovery, just as they likely are in canon! Ed and Em don’t have to be left behind by Amity; She can bring them along with her into the Owl House! And together, they can all heal… Even as Luz and Eda help teach the Blight kids how to be their own people while still maintain close relationships, AND fend off Odalia and Alador’s abuse!

#the owl house #owl house #the owl house amity #amity blight #the owl house edric #edric blight #the owl house emira #emira blight #the owl house luz #luz noceda #lumity #au #angst

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lil-tachyon · 4 years

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I’m loving your solarpunk drawings and the world you’ve been building around it - even though most of the captions imply a decline in civilizational cohesion from our present condition, it’s reassuring to think ‘well, we’ll muddle through it somehow, we always do, and maybe the world that will follow might even be less shitty than our present one’.

That being the case, I want to pick your brain about more traditional sci-fi societal elements, especially in light of your saying that you don’t think mega-towers or arcologies or whatever you want to call em’ would take off (and I think you’re right):

1. Is armed conflict still a thing? On a national or tribal scale? And in a world with new constraints on resource scarcity, how effective is it at achieving organizational goals? On that note, if the old national-capitalist hierarchies are dinosaur-levels of irrelevant, what’s taken their place? Thinking about the militarization of national parks, the establishment of powerful firefighters’ unions - I guess I want detail on more stuff like that.

2. Does the internet still exist in any meaningful sense? I can see cellular towers going down with the grid, but do satellites still spin ‘round the earth for people to bounce comms off of? Perhaps one of its great features is exchanging material solutions, blueprints for 3D printers or something like that - or are 3D printers economically nonviable in the kind of solarpunk you’re imagining here? (I keep thinking about Cory Doctorow’s Walkaway on one hand, and Raymond Kurzweil’s concept for Atomically Precise Manufacturing and the Radical Abundance he says such technology would bring about on the other.)

3. How stark is the difference between urban and rural areas? Are there even relevant urban areas anymore? (I think there would be, relying on vertical or suburban agriculture to keep themselves independent of the country folk the city folk so fear and despise. But it’s your universe.)

Just thoughts. Really looking forward to seeing more of this rough-and-tumble solarpunk ‘verse in the future!

So glad to hear you’re liking it! I’m having a lot of fun drawing and writing this stuff and it’s really cool to hear people’s reactions to it. I’ll try to answer your questions the best I can.

1. I would imagine large-scale armed conflict with up-to-date weapons can only be conducted by global superpowers that can afford to requisition the oil and electronic components to manufacture modern weapons of war. In this scenario, that would probably be the US with access to most of the world’s oil and China with access to most of the world’s rare earths. They would probably engage in proxy wars over resources. Smaller powers would vie for support from American or Chinese “military advisors” in local or regional conflicts. Combatant states try to avoid total war so as not to completely deplete reserves of military resources, resulting in small conflicts that are feints-within-feints-within-feints of large economic conflicts.

I think empires will always be around, although how well they maintain control over their constituent components will vary. Tian gao, Huangdi yuan. With decaying infrastructures, both physical and electronic, large nation-empires will probably become less cohesive as communities further from the centers of power become harder to reach. The US will go back to being “These United States” rather than “The United States.” But the empires will try to hold on to power regardless. Smaller nations would probably see more overt changes. Resource scarcity and general global instability would likely cause revolutions all over the place (with each one being clandestinely contested by global superpowers). You’d see the emergence of new regimes that could be described as socialist, ethno-nationalist, monarchist, theocratic, democratic, communist, etc. The breakdown of global social order would be fertile breeding ground for new governments, for better or for worse. (I’ve been mostly focusing on tech stuff for the Inktober series as I’m really not very knowledgeable about geopolitics, but I can try to do more of this kind of cultural stuff if it’s what people find interesting. I like it too!)

2. The internet still exists, but for many people it is a public utility rather than a private luxury. Computers and phones are expensive and hard to repair, power outages are recurrent, and the infrastructure supporting the internet is expensive and difficult to maintain. Localized peer-to-peer file sharing networks are common and these networks connect to the broader internet when that connection is available. You’re right, many people in this scenario use the internet to find material solutions to difficult problems, I mentioned that a little in this post. So the internet is still around, it’s use just isn’t as ubiquitous as it is in our day and it’s typically reserved for important information exchanges rather than just web-surfing. 3D printers would actually probably be pretty viable. The difficult part would be obtaining components allowing for precision axial movement but stepper motors probably would still be pretty common and I’m sure you could make power screws with 19th century tech. And I don’t think the computing requirements are super demanding but I’m really not an expert.

As for radical abundance, nanotech, etc. I’m basically writing this whole setting assuming that their aren’t any “miracle technologies” that are going to save us but I can’t really rule that kind of stuff out. Maybe nanotech will become cheap and usable, maybe fusion power will as well. Who’s to say? (My gut feeling is that nanotech, when it comes, will result in some kind of epidemic of toxic nanoscopic trash and that fusion power is a long long way from viability yet, but those are literally just my feelings, they’re not based on any facts.)

3. I’m going to let you in on my dirty little secret: cities are very hard to draw which is why I haven’t drawn many urban scenarios for this project. That said, yeah, urban areas would definitely still be important. I think the key here is that the important urban centers of the future will be the ones that can protect themselves from wildfires, sea-level rise, and food shortages. So cities would probably be rife with greenery, have draconian fire-safety laws and would be equipped with flood mitigation infrastructure to rival or exceed the shutoken gaikaku hōsuiro. They would have more reliable access to 24/7 power and most of the rich would probably live in cities. I don’t see suburbs in the modern sense making it into the future. It costs too much to upkeep. They’d have to become much more self-sufficient to keep from falling apart in the face of food and resource scarcity. Rural areas would likely become self-sufficient communities unto themselves, repairing what they have, doing their best to keep the lights on with wooden wind turbines, providing communal light and heat from heliostat arrays etc. The only thing coming in to rural communities would be data from the internet, and the only thing going out would be food to the hungry cities.

I hope this answers your questions! Feel free to ask more or suggest ideas. I’m not an expert on any of this stuff, I’m just trying to learn more about ways we might meet the challenges of the future.

Peace

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black-streak · 5 years

Text

Waiting for the Worms - Another Brick in the Wall

Part 8

Me? Rapidly updating a story for the sake of satiating my own curiosity for how this will continue? It's more likely than you think. Did I spend upward of ten minutes deciding and researching the weapons and blade types used just for one paragraph worth of text? Absolutely.

You know, the mentions of neglect and child abuse and violence is actually kind of light considering. Still very present though.

Closed list that I've been hitting up the last three days: @northernbluetongue @thethirdwheelfriend @shizukiryuu @theatreandcomicfreak @michellemagic @karategirl119 @moonlightstar64 @my-name-is-michell @mystery-5-5 @zalladane @queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm @miraculousdisapointment @dorkus-minimus @jardimazul @allthebooksandcrannies @g-arya @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @persephonescat @mycupisbroken @luciferge @18-fandoms-unite-08 @dawnwave16 @alwaysreblogneverpost @kris-pines04 @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog @weird-pale-blonde-person @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @kokotaru @naclychilli @slytherinhquinn @clumsy-owl-4178 @ladybug-182 @darkthunder1589 @evil-elf16 @dast218 @lysslovsanime @emilytopaz @naoryllis @iloontjeboontje @thepeacetea @danielslilangel @finallyaniguana @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @vixen-uchiha @yuulxd @bleeding-heart-romantic @magic-inthe-stars @st0rmy-w1th1n

~---~

Training with Talia's personal squadron the day after waking from the pits came as no surprise. Starting up history and world languages classes however, took her a bit off guard.

Marinette was already fluent in french and english from her own volition, and picked up spanish from Jason over time after finding his own fluidity and background with the language. The two had been slowly learning mandarin after her uncle's visit a few years back and Jason insisted they figure it out together with her own heritage being a driving force. She had died before they could become fully conversational.

When Marinette offered this information up to Talia, bypassing the reason she spoke so many languages already and passing it off as Jason's love for knowledge and literature combining, Talia immediately turned her over to two teachers; one to teach mandarin and eventually expand into cantonese and another to focus in on arabic. The second was seen as the priority what with location and its commonality within the complex. Obviously, the league's personal dialect was taught as a subset to these lessons, though it was ensured she knew the differences.

History focused in on Asia, occasionally falling off track into South American and African history, her western knowledge cohesive and complex enough to satisfy Talia, which came as no surprise seeing as though Europe and North America tended to focus only on their own history. She couldn't help but think how jealous Jason would be to know she received extensive free education that wasn't the same rhetoric he'd been hearing since he was five, granted with more reality and detailing as time passed.

They held off on teaching the League history until they felt her world knowledge was comprehensive enough to appreciate the way their personal history tied into it all.

The physical training took up about six hours every day. An hour of stretching, followed by two hours of hand to hand combat, then two hours specializing in weapons, and finally another hour of stretching. Her weapons focus geared towards close combat mostly, with a preference for the F-S fighting knife, a double-edged blade sitting just short of eight inches and a BC-41, essentially a set of brass knuckles with a blade running through the inner palm and extending outwards by a good 5 inches. When maintaining some distance and using more of her martial arts training, she leaned heavily towards a double bladed staff. The experience of twirling a weaponized yoyo for a year made using the staff a comfortable transition.

It took three months before Talia felt comfortable sending her out on a mission with her team. It ended up a bloodbath. They were meant to track down a league member gone rogue, only to find the woman training others. They took out the entire group, Marinette falling to the bloodthirsty voice echoing in her head at all times. By the time she came fully to, dead bodies littered the ground about her. She suppressed herself to the back of her own mind, forcefully disassociating until they arrived back at the underground city three days later, hiding away in her rooms before breaking down. Talia found her in the midst of a panic attack and talked her down, explaining how the pit caused the worst of her to form into a tangent voice in her head, how it took time and practice to tamper it down to the almost nonexistent form it took before her dip. How it wasn't her fault she fell pray to it and the objective had been to take out the target anyways. That the defective leader would've trained that group to come back and take them out. That it would've threatened her life in the complex had she not killed in front of the other assassins. The idea that it all was a form of self defense helped ease her mind, though she vowed to try harder, to take back control from the pit madness that overwhelmed her in that moment.

The week after, she took up meditation in her down time. While the reminder of her mother hurt, the peace and mental fortitude it offered held too high of an appeal to bypass. It helped that it seemed a common practice across the city. Whether to aid others in suppressing their own demons or just for the ritualistic quality, she didn't know, but the practice further blended her into the community, something Talia took great pride in.

By her fifth month living amongst the League, her already decent mandarin had been perfected and they finally focused in on cantonese. Her arabic and league dialect progressed rapidly, but only due to constant exposure. Even one day spent away from the city ended with butchered words and completely horrific pronunciations of even the basics. Due to this, she never spoke outside of her lessons or the confines of her or Talia's rooms. It came as quite the embarrassment when the team had to rely entirely on hand signals during missions she accompanied. Sure, that was the standard anyways, but they all knew the option of speech was impeded by her. Luckily, they were all led to believe her mute instead of simply incompetent.

In her sixth month, she relapsed during a fight again, losing her mind until she locked herself in her rooms once more. It took Talia three days to get her to let the guilt pass once more.

It was around this time, Talia started pointing out specific escape routes and pathways that were blocked off or unknown to most. She started teaching her how to hide from even the assassins. Started to train her in private how to break through the other's defenses, to counteract their own training. They kept it all out of the public eye, where it could make its way back to Ras. Marinette couldn't say what the woman was preparing her for, but she took it all to heart.

It was only a week after this development that she moved to a new training room. It held some of the higher ups within Talia's group and strangely enough, one small child. The kid was barely four feet, but quickly proved extremely adept with a katana. The two never faced each other, but he obviously took note of the newest member within the room.

After a month in the new room, Talia seemed to relax once more, taking pride in Marinette having not relapsed in the passing time and showing no signs of backtracking. The child in the room only seemed to grow more observant as the days passed. It was on one of these days, that Marinette decided to make a move of her own. The head trainer had cut the kid down, the small body splayed on the mat, bruises and cuts littering his body, Talia standing in quiet observation from the corner. Marinette saw the glint of concern hidden within her eyes and reacted instinctively. She took her bladed staff and slipped behind the trainer who stood berating the boy below, laying the side of one sharpened end up on the man's shoulder, blade barely touching his neck, she waited until he turned towards her slowly and tilted her head with a condescending sneer, challenging him without a word spoken.

The man took his focus entirely off the kid, only to be swept off his feet and placed under a sharp blade, the child standing over him now.

"Lesson one, never lose track of the number of enemies in a room," the boy stated, hinting at a snarl.

"Damian," Talia called in a demanding tone.

The boy immediately backed off and allowed the master back onto his feet, his face expressionless beyond a tiny twitch next to his right eye. Both were dismissed for the day.

The next day, the trainer singled Marinette out. Upon his approach, she took up the staff once more. While she preferred her knives, she knew she needed an upperhand in this fight and had too much talent with the easily spun weapon to pass it up. She expected to lose, but refused to go down easily. As he stood before her, she waited patiently, slowly twirling the staff lightly between her fingers, not breaking into any specific stance. Best not to trap herself in a range of motions, but to keep open to move in any direction at a moment's notice. Talia trained her better than to lose for something as simple as having an attack come from a source her stance didn't allow a counter movement for.

Eventually, the man's built up resentment and frustration came through and he struck first.

From there, the fight continued in an almost rhythmic, dance for her, an angry tsunami of movement for him. She was surprised how much the counteractions Talia taught her came in to use. She must have been training her in a parallel to the man before her, wanting her to best him. And with most of the assassins specialized in staffs using non-bladed forms, the easy twirl of twin blades always at him, it gave her a leg up over him. From the corner of her eye, she noticed the others had slowed their motions, watching their battle without fully stopping their own. The kid, Damian, had turned fully to watch, having ended the fight with his current trainer some moments before.

Both her and the trainer had a slew of shallow cuts along flanks when finally, she landed a blow across his face, slashing from above an eyebrow, down the bridge of his nose and down the opposite cheek. With blood dripping into his eye, she managed to disable the man and bring them to a stand still. She might not be able to best Talia or even some of the more uniquely members within the group, but she could take down the lead trainer. The approving look of her own mentor and the curious stare of the young one was enough for her. She left the room with her head held high.

Talia increased her training tenfold afterwards, convinced she could take the workload now. Sent her on a more intensive mission and then promptly benched her, publicly for unknown reasons, privately to increase her lessons with Talia, herself.

At eight months, Damian cautiously approached her. The curiosity had grown and with the obviously protective manner of her challenge to the master, it seemed to ease him towards her.

He glanced at Talia who observed them with a closed off expression and turned back towards her with a determined look.

"So you're her new pet project?"

Marinette rose a single eyebrow in response.

"I'm her son," he growled out, amusing in his tiny, unbroken voice, if not for the accompanying words.

Without outwardly showing it, Marinette quickly processed her surprise, realization striking. Damian was her son. She had shown her how to take down most any enemy, how to escape, how to protect. Talia never showed any outward connection towards the child in front of her, practically ignored him until he stepped out of line. Marinette had seen the concern though. The fear and regret glinting towards the boy in odd moments when nobody was looking. All of the training, the private lessons, all hinting at an eventual escape. Talia wanted her to take Damian out of here. To escape with him. Needed someone unattached, with no connections in the world to hold them back with the right background. Jason just so happened to also hold an emotional connection for her with his past with Bruce reminiscent of her own. Used and forgotten. It was a way of offering a life to her own son while giving Jason a connection of his own when he had nothing else. As far as she knew anyways.

And Marinette couldn't fault her for it. Couldn't see a way to begrudge the woman this. Where would she be otherwise, if maybe a little less murderous? Out on the streets, alone and broken. Lost in the world. She felt gratitude, despite the woman blatantly using her. Somehow she knew that had circumstances been different, if Jason had a life to return to, she'd never have kidnapped her all those months ago.

This all flashed within her mind in a moment, glancing at Talia before refocusing on the kid. She offered a light hum in return. Damian took this as the acceptance it was and went on his way. That was okay, she knew the lack of rebuttal and ease of her demeanor would draw him back soon enough. Looking up, she met Talia's eyes and gave an almost imperceptible nod, not imagining the way the woman's eyes lit up.

#jasonette #maribat #ml x dc #WFTW #part 8

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ifthereisnowind · 3 years

Text

capitalism

context: why does it make me cringe? why does sales make me cringe?

why did I feel for a while that I don’t want to get caught up in the career ladder?

why do I judge people who chase money or fame?

what should truly motivate us at work

In a perfect world, when it came to choosing an occupation, we would have only two priorities in mind:

– to find a job that we enjoyed

– to find a job that paid us enough to cover reasonable material needs

But in order to think so freely, we would have to be emotionally balanced in a way that few of us are. In reality, when it comes to choosing an occupation, we tend to be haunted by three additional priorities. We need:

– to find a job that will pay not just enough to cover reasonable material expenses but a lot more besides, enough to impress other people – even other people we don’t like very much.

– we crave to find a job that will allow us not to be at the mercy of other people, whom we may deep down fear and distrust.

– and we hope for a job that will make us well known, esteemed, honoured and perhaps famous, so that we will never again have to feel small or neglected.

reforming capitalism

The system we know as Capitalism is both wondrously productive and hugely problematic. On the downside, capitalism promotes excessive inequality; it valorises immediate returns over long-term benefits; it addicts us to unnecessary products and it encourages excessive consumption of the world’s resources with potentially disastrous consequences – and that’s just a start. We are now deeply familiar with what can go wrong with Capitalism. But that is no reason to stop dreaming about some of the ways in which Capitalism could one day operate in a Utopian future.

What we want to see is the rise of other – equally important – figures that report on a regular basis on elements of psychological and sociological life and which could form part of the consciousness of thoughtful and serious people. When we measure things – and give the figures a regular public airing – we start the long process of collectively doing something about them.

The man is indeed employed, but in truth, he belongs to a large subsection of those in work we might term the ‘misemployed’. His labour is generating capital, but it is making no contribution to human welfare and flourishing. He is joined in the misemployment ranks by people who make cigarettes, addictive but sterile television shows, badly designed condos, ill-fitting and shoddy clothes, deceptive advertisements, artery-clogging biscuits and highly-sugared drinks (however delicious).

We intuitively recognise it when we think of work as ‘just a job’; when we sense that far too much of our time, effort and intelligence is spent on meetings that resolve little, on chivying people to sign up for products that – in our heart of hearts we don’t admire.

Fortunately, there are real solutions to bringing down the rate of misemployment. The trick isn’t just to stimulate demand per se, the trick is to stimulate the right demand: to excite people to buy the constituents of true satisfaction, and therefore to give individuals and businesses a chance to direct their labour, and make profits, in meaningful areas of the economy.

This is precisely what needs to be changed – and urgently. Society should do a systematic deal with capitalists: it should give them the honour and love they so badly crave in exchange for treating their workers as human beings, not abusing customers and properly looking after the planet. A standard test should be drawn up to measure the societal good generated by companies (many such schemes already exist in nascent form), on the basis of which capitalists should then be given extraordinarily prestigious titles by their nations in ceremonies with the grandeur and thrill of film premieres or sporting finales.

There’s no shortage: we need help in forming cohesive, interesting communities. We need help in bringing up children. We need help in calming down at key moments (the cost of our high anxiety and rage is appalling in aggregate). We require immense assistance in discovering our real talents in the workplace and understanding where we can best deploy them (a service in this area would matter a great deal more to us than pizza delivery). We have unfulfilled aesthetic desires. Elegant town centres, charming high streets and sweet villages are in desperately short supply and are therefore absurdly expensive – just as, prior to Henry Ford, cars existed but were very rare and only for the very rich.

But we know the direction we need to head to: we need the drive and inventiveness of Capitalism to tackle the higher, deeper problems of life. This will offer an exit from the failings and misery that attend Capitalism today. In a nutshell, the problem is that we waste resources on unimportant things. And we are wasteful, ultimately, because we lack self-knowledge, because we are using consumption merely to divert or quieten anxieties or in a vain search for status and belonging.

If we could just address our deeper needs more directly, our materialism would be refined and restrained, our work would be more meaningful and our profits would be more honourable. That’s the ideal future of Capitalism.

In the Utopia, businesses would of course have to be profitable. But the success of a business would primarily be assessed in terms of its contribution to the collective good.

On changing the world

the only way to bring about real change is to act through competing institutions. Revolutions in consciousness cannot be made lasting and effective until legions of people start to work together in concert for a common aim and, rather than relying on the intermittent pronouncements of mountain-top prophets, begin the unglamorous and deeply boring task of wrestling with issues of law, money, long-term mass communication, advocacy and administration.

Our collective ideal of the free thinker is that of someone living beyond the confines of any system, disdainful of ‘boring things’, cut off from practical affairs and privately perhaps rather proud of being unable even to read a balance sheet. It’s a fatally romantic recipe for keeping the status quo unchanged.

We have to make what we already know very well more effective out there. The urgent question is how to ally the very many good ideas which currently slumber in the recesses of intellectual life with proper organisational tools that actually stand a chance of giving them real impact in the world. From a completely secular starting point, it can be worth studying religions to learn how to alter behaviour.

This is what religions have, for their part, excelled at doing. They’ve realised that if you put down an important idea on paper in somewhat pedestrian prose, it won’t have any lasting or mass impact. They’ve therefore, over their history, engaged the most skilled artists to wrap their ideas in the coating of beauty. They have asked Bach and Mozart to put the ideas to music, they have asked Titian and Botticelli to give the ideas a visual form, they’ve asked the best fashion designers to make nice looking clothes and they’ve asked the best architects to design the most impressive and moving buildings to give the ideas heft and permanence.

We should use the history of religion to inform us about the role of repetition, ritual and beauty in the name of changing how things are.

There is a great deal of large-scale ambition in the world, but all the largest corporate entities are focused on servicing basic needs: the mechanics of communication, inexpensive things to eat, energy so we can move about. While our higher needs – for love, beauty, wisdom – have no comparable provision. The drive to grandeur is missing just where we need it most.

Good business

So, inevitably, businesses will evolve to profit from their wishes. Capitalism has not traditionally been interested in whether these are sensible, admirable or worthy desires. Its aim is neutral: to make money from supplying whatever people happen to be willing to pay for.

Philosophy, by contrast, has long recognised a crucial distinction between desires and needs:

A desire is whatever you feel you want at the moment.

A need is for something that serves your long-term well being.

And it’s our needs that are required for a satisfying, fulfilled life (which Plato, Aristotle and others call a life marked by eudaimonia).

Capitalism goes wrong when it exploits this cognitive flaw: large numbers of businesses sell us stuff that we desire but which (in all honesty) we don’t need. On longer, calmer reflection we’d realise those things don’t actually help us to live well.

Sadly, it’s easier to generate profits from desires than from needs. You can make much more money selling bad ice cream than by marketing Plato’s dialogues.

In a utopia, good businesses should be defined not simply by whether they are profitable or not; but by what they make their profit from. Only businesses that satisfy true needs are moral.

Good capitalism requires that we address two, core educational needs. Getting us to focus on what we really need, what the real challenges in our lives are. And getting us to focus on the value of particular goods in relation to our needs: that is, how do these particular purchases help with eudaimonia?

So, in search of a better economy, we should direct our attention not simply to shopping centres and financial institutions, but to schools and universities and the media. The shape that an economy has ultimately reflects the educated insights of its consumers. When people say they hate consumerism, what they often mean is that they are dismayed at peoples’ preferences. The fault, then, lies not so much with consumption as with the preferences. Education transforms preferences not by making us do what someone else tells us. But by giving us the capacities and skills to understand more clearly what we genuinely do want and what sort of goods and services will best help us.

tbc

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megwhiteviscom · 4 years

Text

Gretel; Stephanie Nelson Dancegroup

Case Study.

For my presentation, I have chosen the rebranding of the Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup, done by the design agency Gretel. The brand refresh won a wood pencil in the D&AD Annual 2020, which was the year of the dance group’s 20th anniversary. Stephanie wanted a new visual identity and brand for the group, including website, production posters, programmes, merchandise and more.

The rebranding focused on the ‘energy’ of SND; the performance art of the group is striking, contemporary and modern, and each piece includes lots of contorted, ambiguous movement. Gretel used this idea in creating the main theme of the brand identity, which is the graphic shapes that represent the dancer’s movement and echo the geometry of the movement itself. These shapes make the viewer’s eye to be taken around the art and the piece itself, allowing the dance and movement to take centre stage and be at the forefront before the text. Each graphic shape is unique like the movement, resulting geometric language that can “express and suggest movement in a way that feels spontaneous but grounded, instinctive but intentional”. The brand system itself reflects the minimalist idiosyncratic spirit of the performance ensemble.

The website itself also has very clever ways of representing the movement of the dancers. The monogram/logo of SND on the website is always moving around the space, until they finally come together to align and reveal the full name of the company. It’s designed to never be seen the same way twice; the letters interact with and circle each other and the photography on the website to mimic the movement of the dancers and how they would use the stage or the studio space, until it finally comes to a rest at the end of its movement to reveal the name, as if to bow and give credits to the group.

The whole identity of the brand has been cleverly created with colours that are low in saturation. The colours overall communicated and suggested to me a feeling of softness, openness and accessibility. This overall is very important to the brand identity as SND describe themselves as “a public service driven & education focused organization”. Many, if not all, of their work is invested and centred in the idea of using dance for healing and empowerment. The pastel muted colours are balanced out with the somewhat harsh, all back, sans-serif typeface, making the overall identity and each part of the rebrand not look too ‘soft’, but rather communicate the message of SND and how they create. I personally love the colour palette used by Gretel and, as I use a lot of minimal colours myself, this is one of the main reasons why the project and the identity of the brand spoke to me so much.

As a part of SND’s re-branding, Gretel also gave a refreshing new design to Dance Italia, which is the group’s summer program founded by Stefanie in 2011. As the program is a sub-brand of SND, Gretel gave Dance Italia its own identity whilst keeping the design consistent with its ‘parent’ company. Both use the same language of the geometric shapes to communicate the dancer’s movement as a snapshot, but Dance Italia’s shapes are outlines rather than a whole shape, and the outlines are disjointed and separated from one another. I think this gives the impression of a group that is not yet whole, not yet part of its competitive, iconic counterpart, but a place where one comes to learn and interact with the movement and the shapes, take them apart and put them back together. I loved how Gretel communicated this and thought it was brilliantly clever. As well as this, the colour palette is neon. This gives the impression that, rather than SND’s palette being subdued, classy and open, DI is younger, exciting and more adventurous.

While researching Gretel as a company, I discovered a lot about their work and their cohesiveness with every project; with each piece of work, the trademark style of Gretel shines though. This is due to them using the same process through every piece ever created. The process is described as “a tension of intellect and intuition”.

The company has seven ‘disciplines’, or pillars of design that are used to create each project and are woven through each design. Each is so clear and precise that it is clear to see how these principles have been used to structure and create the brand identity for Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup.

The first is discovery, which describes how the company meets the internal team of people that make up the client. They work to discover points of interest and potential problems they might encounter during the project, and also work to process existing research and briefs, or commission research as needed. After this process of discovery, they arrive at the next discipline, which is ‘strategy’.

Strategy is a more methodical approach than the last, which involves sifting through and sorting the research and gathered first-hand information from the client. Each piece of information is carefully considered, from “purpose and personality, to competitive landscape and demographics, to resources and scale”, each is used to create a map of where the project will go from here, and how to execute a succinct brand statement.

For brands and companies that need more help with organisation of their identity, described as ‘new or unruly brands’, the next discipline is ‘brand architecture’. This describes the process of taking complex ideas and input from a client and creating smart structures that allow the brand to grow.

Possibly the most important discipline of the seven is ‘visual identity’. This is where Gretel works to give the client their own, completely unique visual expression and personality, allowing them to communicate clearly with the consumer. Every visual identity created by Gretel is extremely well thought out, intelligent and beautiful, and works perfectly to exist side by side with the client’s vision and work to really bring it to life. The visual identity of SND can be seen instantly; from the uniqueness of the geometric shapes, the colours and typeface used, to how everything was intelligently created to perfectly mimic the dancers’ movement and use of their space.

Paired hand in hand with visual identity is the fifth discipline, ‘writing’. This is how the client, quite literally, talks to the consumer. Their whole language and tone of voice is created carefully by Gretel, to really bring the brand’s ‘voice’ and personality to life. This is included from copywriting to tag lines.

The sixth and seventh discipline, ‘experience design’ and ‘art direction’, both describe where the brand and its identity go after it has been carefully constructed. Experience design is how Gretel brings the brand identity to life across platforms, creating a variety of expressions of the brand’s voice. In Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup’s case, this was showcased in their website, merchandising and flyers for the show, as well as many more examples. they work with ‘complex technical constraints to create powerful experiences’ of the brand for the consumer. Art direction describes the photography and image creation used for the client, which is a major core element of the brand and its identity. “We bring our refined eye to shooting, both stills and live action.”

I have really enjoyed researching both Gretel as a company and their work with Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup. It was a project and client that really spoke to me and echoed the kind of project I would love to be working on myself in the future. It is amazing how powerful Gretel is as a company, and the power they have to build a brand and their identity completely from the ground up. It was very interesting researching how they work and the intelligent processes, or ‘disciplines’ they use in their work.

#gretel #stephanie nelson dancegroup #case study

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canonicallysoulmates · 5 years

Text

My thoughts/views/opinions about Clif’s insta post....

Important Disclaimer: The following is just my opinion regarding Clif’s instagram post. I don’t speak in representation of anybody but myself. I don’t speak for my fellow j2 fans, and I don’t speak for my fellow tinhats. This is just my POV regarding this situation.

Warning in advance, I am going to do my best to keep this post cohesive and coherent but my brain is jumping from point to point so if I come off as scatter brained in some parts I apologize.

Before I get into this post, some of you might be wondering why I am dressing this in the first place when Clif’s post didn’t make mention of j2′s sexuality or of tinhats, it is because I am openly a tinhat and I am vocal one at that, and this is not my first rodeo I know even though he didn’t mention tinhats directly and he brought up things that are discussed by both tinhats and non tinhats alike I know, and I’ve already seen it, that we tinhats are gonna get the brunt of it from the het stans.

For those of you that don’t know what this post is about, earlier today (12.2.19) j2′s bodyguard Clif made an instagram post regarding j2 and their families and some theories/speculation that there have been regarding j2 and their families, I’m not going to link to the post, or share the post, or even quote the post - even though I will address contents of it - if you really want to know what the post said you can look it up yourself.

Before I talk about Clif’s post let me address the elephant in the room: Jensen’s comment. Or I should say “Jensen” because I don’t believe it was actually him who left a comment on the post. “Jensen” said that those who theorize about him and Jared’s lives are bullies. Well, he didn’t say exactly that what he actually said was that those who create the “false narratives” that Clif mentioned in his post are bullies.

I call bullshit. On both the statement and on Jensen being who commented.

Speculating/theorizing and pointing out what you see regarding a public figures life in your own accounts where you don’t tag anybody does not make you a bully or a hater. That is an idiotic thing to say, if you go by that then speculating that j2 are totally 100% happy in their hetero marriages makes you a bully and a hater too, or is there an exception to hetero positive things because it sells the narrative that they want 🤔

I personally don’t believe Jensen is the one who posted that comment because to me it doesn’t sound like him, I think it was somebody else on his account.

And I find it very...interesting and fitting that “he” commented on this post when on insta his and D’s bearding has been turned to 1,000x, they have reached Shawn Mendes Camilla Cabello levels of extra, even if I thought he was straight I would still think there were problems in that marriage because of how over the top they are lately; it reminds me a bit of a celeb couple from here in PR, for months they been saying they’re fine, that they’re in love, they’ve been going on trips together for all the world looking like a happy couple and then...about 2weeks ago they announced they were getting divorced.

Back on track, this whole thing is a mess and it’s stupid af, I don’t know what in the hell Clif was thinking when he made that post, I don’t know what he was trying to achieve; I don’t know why he found the need or thought it was a good idea to bring forth things that were being discussed in fandom on the DL and to insert himself into a narrative in which he plays no part, like not to be rude, he can say he’s family all he wants but he’s just a bodyguard and I feel like I should say an occasional one like don’t oversell your importance dude. And even if he was family, the things he brings up in his post are discussions concerning only Jensen, Jared, Genevieve and Danneel.

And I find it frustrating af funny that he’s so up in arms about what fans speculate in their accounts and he says he considers the boys family but he tends to be silent when j2 are being dragged through the mud and receiving actual death threats. I guess protecting the happy family image is more important.

Jared and Jensen are not the only celebrities to have their lives theorized about, they’re not the only ones who have fans that point out jewelry items like wedding bands or potential house moves, this is something every celebrity has gone through, it even happens to youtubers and instagram influencers. So chill tf down.

My best guess as to why this whole mess happened, because this is a mess of a situation, is that there’s something going on behind the scenes and either they don’t want us to focus on it- in which case good job idiots now fans are speculating like crazy- or they do want us to focus on it and they figured adding fuel to the long burning fire was the best way to make us follow the smoke.

When I say long burning fire I mean long burning fire, nothing that Clif brought up in his post is new, they’re all things that have been discussed in fandom by tinhats and non tinhats alike for years.

J2′s living situation, the wedding bands, criticism of the wives, these are all things that have been discussed in this fandom for years and they’re relatively small topics, I imagine that maybe back in the day when j2 first got married these were discussed more often but now a days not a lot of fans, at least that I have seen, talk much about j2′s houses/apartments, or about the wedding bands and when these topics are brought up it’s usually for a day or two tops and I’m being generous like it’s not a massive topic of discussion.

He brings up the lacking wedding ring and the selling of homes, the ring thing was barely discussed most of us were focused on bigger things, and let me tell you that home thing has been talked about so on the DL in this fandom that I have seen people that are active, way more active and in the know than I am in this fandom be confused af as to what he meant - it’s that apparently Jensen and D are gonna sell the house or something - I’ve barely seen people talk about the house thing and the talk I’ve seen has been facts it’s all about the property and if it appears listed and the like and yet he brings it up along with divorce/separation which has even me going 👀 because in the convos I’ve seen about this topic nobody has ever speculated about this meaning a divorce, I’m sure there’s people that have and I just haven’t seen it but still it’s like why bring this barely being talked about thing and do so while mentioning a separation/divorce like 🤦‍♀️ Now everybody knows about it and is going to be talking about because he brought it to attention. what an idiot.

Small thing, I take issue with him saying that for some people their passion is to build dream homes and sell and that we have no clue what hard work that is because I’m sure there are people in this fandom who work in real state or who flip houses for a living and they do those things while also speculating/theorizing about j2.

He talks about how one of the j’s gets criticized for not being home a lot, I will say I have seen these criticism go to both and as I have said in the past I don’t agree with this POV, but it’s a very small niche of fandom that makes comments like that like borderline you have to look for it; and on the wives being criticized/judged (<- his word not mine) for managing their careers and home life at the same time: yeah no, Daneel and Genevieve are not criticized for managing their careers and home life they’re criticized because they like to act as if they do these things without any help. They have nannies, G has people that help her with her blog, D didn’t start the brewery up by herself and she doesn’t work it by herself and one of her most recent acting gig was on spn a role everyone knows she only got cause she’s married to Jensen. They like to pretend they’re wonder woman and super relatable when in reality they’re privileged, and hey there’s nothing wrong with being privileged enough to be able to afford childcare but there is something wrong with pretending you don’t have that advantage and taking credit for work you don’t do ie. acting like you’re maintaining a home and taking care of the kids all by yourself, and then turning around and acting like your life is a struggle.

Unless there’s something going on behind the scenes I can’t think of a reason as to why he would bring this stuff up, if anything doing so is stupid because now fans that might not have known about any of these things will know about it and while there’s plenty of sheep who will clap their hands and say ‘those people are so horrible :(’ there are those who are going to get curious and look these things up and where do you think their search is going to land them? They’re gonna land at the anti blogs, and the hat blogs because we’re the ones that tend to discuss these things.

Honestly, if they actually wanted fans to stop speculating they have failed in an impressive way, they achieved the opposite.

I personally think there is something going on behind the scenes, I don’t know if it’s good or bad but I think something’s going on maybe it’s a divorce or a big project or even something related to spn like a movie but I feel like something is coming our way....

One last thing before I wrap this up, I said this in another post, and I said it on my twitter acc as well but I also wanted to put it here: Clif’s post changes nothing regarding my love and opinion of j2, my status as a tinhat, or the content of my blog. I still love j2 as much as I did before this mess, I’m still a tinhat, and I will continue making tinhat posts both here and on my twitter account.

This is all I have to say about this situation, I think, these are definitely the main points I hope everything I said came across clearly as I said in the beginning of this post my brain is jumping from spot to spot so it probably came across as a little scatter brained and ramble-y.

#j2 tinhat #tinhat things #i guess #mine #anti genevieve #anti daneel #sort of #this is a whole ass mess #if i have anything else to say it'll probably be said on my twitter #everything that he brought up was being quietly discussed the only reason i know abt some of these things is bc of snippets here and there #clif insta mess #clif messes

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lilscreativejournal · 4 years

Text

Creative Journal

Potential Idea -

Boat Museum keeping with nortical theme

Aboriginal History Museum that would allow the traditional owners to share and teach their knowledge

Each would have inclusive and hands on activity’s

Similar to GOMA and Museum - New Activities every season potentially which would be good for children and parents during the week looking for activities.

Response to the Site and Client Brief:

My overall idea would be for this to be a day activity for families to participate in within the day and weekends. This would mean the activities within the site are going to aim to appeal to all different ages.

Public Transport

- Future building of apartments will increase activity on the south side directly across from the river, however current ferry stop closest to these apartments is currently very unknown. Propaganda of sorts could be included at the ferry stations, such as signs or billboards so that people know of Northshore and the entertainment it could provide.

Time Date: 9th of March 2021

Apollo Road Ferry Terminal & Toilet Block | Heritage Places. (2021). Retrieved 17 March 2021, from https://heritage.brisbane.qld.gov.au/heritage-places/445

Bulimba CityCat stop - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). (2021). Retrieved 17 March 2021, from https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-01/bulimba-citycat-stop/7547390?pfm=sm&nw=0

Current Ferry Stops that are closest to North Shore could be a potential ‘advertisement’ opportunity as the residents within the area are very close to North Shore and have ease of access. New apartment blocks are also proposed to be built beside an old army barracks close to the Apollo Road Ferry Stop which would increase activity within the area. Capitalising on this new development will increase stable and frequent activity and engagement within the site.

- Could approach Council on whether putting up a sign could be viable.

Time Date: 16th of March 2021

North shore - Very urban area with concrete and limited greenery

I would like to aim to bring more colour and life to the area. Paintings on the silo - preferably dreamtime art that could relate to the museum and interactive activities within the site. North Shore is including greenery and trees through the building of the park at the river front; refer to map. Leave this park free for people to sit down on - this could be cohesive for eat street as people may choose to sit on the grass. Previously Eat Street was included a open green area where people could sit, however whenever I have visited Eat Street since then I have found it difficult to find a seat, as well as very crowded. I don’t want to build anything on the park land as this could detract from the site.

Silo - Potentially could make it a “theatre inside”. I hope for this to be one of the most ‘known’ features of the site. Due to the feature being located inside the silo and unable to be seen from the outside, people will be curious to see what is inside. Change the activities every few weeks/months to generate more activity and to bring back others to the site. Silo has great acoustics as well, so sound will be an element as well.

Cruz, X. (2021). Spectacular Circular 3D Projection Mapping Campaign. Retrieved 24 March 2021, from http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com/projection-mapping/eat-my-dear-direct-spectacular-circular-3d-projection/

Aim for the Silo is to be a relaxing place where people can go to feel connected to the land and to also learn of Dream Time stories, and making connections to the Traditional Owners of both Northshore and Brisbane. People can come here to when they need to relax and to also find meaning through how this land was created through the eyes of Indigenous Australians. Could also potentially have a link to one’s spirituality.

Aboriginal Art will also be projected on to the side of Silo so that during the night people can see the Silo and the art surrounding it. Potential for the Silo to remain open during the night however the museum aspect and activities will have to close during the night. My hope is that it will be a similar idea to when the Sydney Opera House displayed Aboriginal Art. This is a focal piece in Sydney, and I hope for this project to be a similar focal point in Brisbane, however it be solely focused on the Traditional Owners as currently Brisbane does not have a site solely dedicated to this.

Currently Brisbane lacks interactive learning activities in relation to the traditional owners of the land and the culture and practices that took place here. The idea of an interactive and informative museum to teach about the culture is something that Brisbane needs and North Shore has the potential to give.

Leanne Mirandilla, C. (2021). Indigenous art lights up the Sydney Opera House. Retrieved 24 March 2021, from https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/sydney-opera-house-indigenous-art/index.html

Current Progress on Idea:

- Two warehouses next to the Silo; one that showcases

I will be looking at public transport as the main way to go into North Shore and capitalise on this through advertising as well.

Potential advertising opportunity on City Cats as this is the most accessible public transport option to North Shore.

Current Advertising company is RedTv, which allows for advertisements to be on screen. Has an outreach of over 4 million passengers with 92% of these passenger being 18-55.

Case Study Review and how we can relate this to the current site.

Time Date: 17th March

Updated Idea:

Using Shipping Containers instead of Warehouses; this would also link into eat street and make the site look more cohesive and as one site, implementing the core ideas of placemaking of introducing an idea that belongs and works within the current site.

This is taking inspiration and the idea came to me whilst looking at the Barangaroo Case Study.

Aboriginal History of the site:

- Traditional owners of the land --> Turrbal people

- Several camping sites throughout the area and surrounding areas including Bulimba and Hawthorne. This area was considered as the Heart, which could be in relation to a now lost dreamtime story. Previously, you could have walked across the River to either side --> potential to include this in a lifelike, smaller version, of this section of River.

Stakeholders:

This will include

- Community

- Owners of the site

- Businesses associated

- Northshore - Government

- Media; Social Media Presence; Triple Z

Mangroves on the site and link to indigenous people

Case Study Bangaroo project

- Can relate to the use of shipping containers and projections to my creative concept

- Showcases a “Symbitoic” relationships with market stalls

- Develops on the idea of looking at the history of the site

A particular focus on Dream Time Stories:

Dream Time stories are unique stories of how ancestor spirits created the land and everything on it along with the ideas they held about the Aboriginal world and how this is expressed through art ("Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories - Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery", 2021).

Videos could potentially take inspiration from dreamtime story children books.

This includes

Girawe the Goanna,

How the Birds got their colour

The Echidna and the Shade tree.

Rainbow Serpant.

Artwork of Dreamtime stories that are are similar to what I’d like the videos to take inspiration from.

The images above showcase how the videos of Dreamtime stories would be shown within the shipping container, vibrant and easy to follow. However my vision for the video within the Silo is a little bit different to this as I would like to generate a different mood.

I would like the main video to be like a snippet of a large sum of Dream Time stories and the creatures within them flowing and entwining them, to showcase how they all come together to create this land. My main objective is for the Silo to be a place of solitude where one can feel connected and find peace. My vision is that there will be pillows or chairs on the floor and people can lay down and let nature float around them, due to the circular shape of the room.

I’d like to imagine it would look something like this. With the video image flowing around the room and the people within, being able to stand still and view the images come to life.

Hermione Harry Potter GIF - Hermione HarryPotter Patronus - Discover & Share GIFs. (2021). Retrieved 31 March 2021, from https://tenor.com/view/hermione-harry-potter-patronus-gif-16365164

Activities within the Shipping Containers:

Tow Fishing Baskets, made using reeds and branches. Could provide resources and diagrams so that kids could build them. Could also potentially use them as ‘bags’ to collect shells and things however have to look into whether this would be considered culturally insensitive to use the traditional fishing nets as ‘bags’.

Other activities could include making Australian native animals that are featured in the dreamtime stories using clay or paper for this. Dot painting and painting of boomerangs and or constructing smaller scale versions of traditional canoes that could potentially tie into the connection the site has with the river.

Costing/Budget:

Similar to GOMA --> Annual financial report listed that for the activities and services it would cost around $18, 533. This will most likely include all resources needed for the activities as well. I took inspiration from GOMA’s activities so I will assume that this will be a similar cost for this project.

NAVA suggests that an artists commission on a 2 year contract will cost $10,000 a year on a 2 year contract.

EXPENSE, EXPLANATION + COMPARISON, TOTAL

Silo

Approximately $15,000

- Including landscaping…

$15,000

Shipping Containers

Estimated around $3000 for one

6 proposed, therefore an estimated cost of $18, 0000

$18,000

Project Mapping

2D custom projecting mapping on large scale curved surface (Silo) and on a smaller scale (within shipping containers) is estimated to cost $5,000-$10,000 (“The Cost of Projection Mapping | ON Services”, 2021). This will include video, and instaling the projectors and necessary lighting.

$5,000-$10,000

Activities

Under the Queensland Art Gallery Board of Trustee’s Financial statement for GOMA, it states that for supplies and services in relation to activities, cost a total of $18, 533 in 2018. As the activates planned for my creative concept are similar to ones at GOMA we can estimate it will be a similar cost(Qagoma, 2018).

Based on the NAVA Code of Practise it will cost $600 for a half day workshop (NAVA, 2020)

$19, 000

$250 per fortnight for 15 seconds every 30 minutes on a 12 month contract (RedTv, 2010)

$6, 500

Artwork

My idea would be to hopefully commission an artist to paint on the side of the shipping containers. Based on the Arts Acumen website ("ARTS ACUMEN", 2021).

$7,000

TOTAL:

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chaniters · 4 years

Text

Reaper and the Fiend- Epilogue.

Epilogue for @kruk-art‘s Awan Cormac’s second series.

As usual, looking back id the realization that the more characters and elements you add up, the harder it gets for the plot to keep cohesion. Many times I almost call it quits, but somehow I pulled trough to the end.

Hope you enjoy it!

Awan and “The Question”, the precognitive surviving member of the Phoenix Rangers, reflect on the aftermath of it all before Ortega joins them.

Spoilers inside too, for Rebirth.

_______________________________________________________

The first rays of sunlight touch your Sidestep mask, as the cloud begins to recede. Ashfall and Sentinel have been working together to try and ground the toxins into a nearby landfill for hours now.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” The Question comments.

“I think it’s working,”

“Me too” He says while checking the air analyzer’s readings. “This is the real miracle”

“You still believe in miracles?”

“Magical miracles? No. But miracles made true by people with flesh, blood, and bone? Of course.”

“Interesting way to put it”

“When you’re like me, it’s the only way to put it”

“Right, I forget you’re supposed to know the future or something?” You didn’t forget. His mind is a maze that rivals yours, but he’s got a truly calm attitude about it that’s making you envious.

“It depends. Do you believe in fate?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you believe our lives have been predetermined from before we were made? That, someone, decided who you’re supposed to be for the rest of your existence and that’s that?”

That’s a very specific question to ask to you…

“No. I don’t believe in fate”

“Good. Me neither.”

“But you see it. The future, I mean.”

“I like to believe we are masters of our own destiny”

“That doesn’t really answer anything.”

“Well there’s a reason I didn’t call myself ‘The Answer’, you know?”

“Shut the fuck up” you laugh, unwrapping a candy bar. “I just came here to lie down, not to have a philosophical debate”.

“You really aren’t going to ask me about your future? Everyone does.” Is he baiting you? You get the impression he knows a lot more about you just by looking. He knows too much about... everyone. You are just another speck of dust in a sea of information.

“No. I won’t ask” you say pulling your mask above your mouth and taking a bite of candy.

“Huh. That’s probably wise”

“Is it?”

“Yeah. Once I tell someone how their future will look like, then it’s set in stone for them and not even I can change it. I really don’t like doing it”

“But you would have.”

“Oh, I would. I do it, more than I probably should, you know for people who need it”

“Do I look like I need it?”

He gives you a long look.

“No. I think you’ll be just fine without it. I mean, you won’t of course, but you will.”

“That’s both ambiguous and terrifying. How do you know the future’s not set in stone even before you look?”

“I really try not to think too hard about that. I think you didn’t want a debate?”

“Fine. I just want to relax” you say retreating and straightening an overturned sunbathing chair. “It’s been a shitty day”

The door to the staircase leading to the top opens, and Ortega comes in, in full suit.

“Sidestep. I see you’ve made yourself comfortable up here. You know, Steel could have really used your help with all the angry civs though.”

“Funny way of showing it. He said I wasn’t part of the team when you asked me to stay.”

“Yes but… well, you know he didn’t think you would actually walk away… he thought you wouldn’t listen and help anyways like you always do.”

“Well I guess we all learned something new from that experience, didn’t we?”

“You just wanted to piss him off that badly?”

“Ugh… no… well, maybe I did, but you know I don’t do well with crowds with strong emotions, and I had more than my fair share today. I need some peace”

“Fine. I understand… But just so you know, you did a darn good job in there”

“... a lot of the people who got killed might disagree” you point out.

“And a lot of people who lived will be thanking you. We saved them. You saved them. No one could have predicted how this would go”

“I could. I did” the Question states while looking at the analyzer he’s been fiddling with.

“What? You did? The only thing you did was call us! Why didn’t you say shit? A lot of executives died” Ortega points out.

“If I had told you, you would have saved them, and those are the ones who would have voted not to open the Archology to the civs, and we would be having a civil war right now. Thank me later”

“You let them die!”

“I didn’t do anything. You’re the ones with fighting powers, It was you who couldn’t rescue them, remember?”

“Wow. you really are full of shit” You interject.

“Look I lost my team to that monster ok? Could’ve lost the entire city too. I don’t like it but it’s how my stupid powers work, I’m not a fighter like you two, so give me a fucking break.”

“... fine” you say, too tired to argue with this jerk.

“Good. Ashfall’s plan is working, pollution levels are coming down… I’ll go coordinate some stuff, If you’re staying here seek me out once it goes below 33% alright?”

“We don’t work for you!” you complain.

“We’ll do it” Ortega interrupts you.

“Ugh. Whatever”

The Question nods and leaves, letting you two alone up here at the zenith of the Arcology. The monotonous beeps of the analyzer repeat intermittently over the strong winds.

“Funny guy” you comment

“Don’t get me started on that asshole.”

“I was just finished with him anyways.”

“So it’s working?” he says changing the subject and looking down at Sentinel and Ashfall working in the distance.

“Seems like it” you answer.

“Nice to have some good news, finally,” he says approaching the edge.

“Join me. Nothing compares to sunbathing under a toxic cloud with your suit on.” you offer.

“Receding, toxic cloud you mean” he clarifies taking the chair next to you and laying over it.

“Right. Receding” you snort.

“Not going to lie. This is the biggest fucking mess I’ve ever been into since I got into the capes business”

“Same here” you agree. Nothing you did for the farm compares to this clusterfuck.

The aftermath wasn’t pretty. Not by a longshot.

Letting Catastrofiend into the core worked, as the beast consumed enough of the gas to allow the scientists to stabilize it somewhat, and turn the lights back on essential systems through the facility. The computers were toast, however, as Charon wiped all data and OS before erasing himself, commiting digital suicide upon it’s master’s death. Everything’s working on manual overrides right now.

There was a big scare when the Fiend came out of the core’s container, glowing like it had the power of an evil purple sun ready to burn you all, but to everyone’s surprise, it didn’t survive long after saving performing its single heroic feat. The glow became blinding, and then it disappeared, only the echoes of its roars remaining as a reminder of its presence along with a pair of purple footprints.

You caught a glimpse of your least favorite asshole, The Void, holding some sort of gun and hiding back into it’s cloaking device, walking away. Whatever it is he wanted, you’re sure he got it, and if your scans were to be trusted, he left the arcology immediately after that.

Your work to convince the remaining executives to let the people in was much easier now that all the surviving scientists were focused on having the building not explode. They couldn’t afford combat on the outside when their tech was unreliable, and Reaper managed to remind them of their own mortality by dusting a couple of them. All it took was a small nudge on the mind of the deciding vote and the gates were reopened.

“We lost Psychopathor” Ortega says laying down on a chair next to yours. “A lot of the crowd still backs him and he just got lost among them.”

“We’ll get him next time” you reassure him. “We couldn’t fight him in the middle of this civilian mess anyways or it’ would be Halloween with Catastrofiend all over again”

“... Too soon man. Too soon” he says bending his arms and putting his hands behind his head, relaxing.

“Sorry.”

“You’re right. Not a damn thing we could do about old shitface, so It’s time to lie down and wait”

He stretches, crossing his legs as he looks up, just as you were doing earlier.

“They’re doing a fantastic job” you comment.

“Sentinel I had no doubts about, but Ashfall? He really came through working with those creepy scientists about the sand-whirlpool shenanigan”

“It was a good idea” you say peeking down. As the polluted air comes down into the landfill, it goes trough a series of sand walls of that Ashfall keeps raising, coming clean on the other side. Several trucks come in with sand refills while others take the polluted compounds away.

“Good for him. His publicity wasn’t very good before this”

“What about your publicity?” his mask looking your way

“My last publicity stunt with you guys was with Reaper and he turned to be a homicidal maniac so I’m thinking I’ll give that a pass from now on. Please don’t get me into that shit again?”

“That’s fair” he concedes.

“... anyways… they stole a bunch of tec shit from the lower levels and left. Some sort of targeting device and many plasma weapon prototypes”

“We’ll get him” you repeat.

A news helicopter flies by, taking pictures. It turns to take one of you two. Fuck. That’s tomorrow’s cover right there...

“I know what you’re thinking… but we’re not going to be the top news tomorrow.”

“No? Who is?”

“I talked to my agents… Reaper, and The Fiend it is. Geni-Tech’s minimizing company’s responsibility for the toxins and making them the focus.”

“They kind of had a lot to do with it anyways”

“True…”

“That’s not what’s bothering you tough?”

“How do you know?” he asks turning towards you.

“It’s pretty obvious. What happened with Elyise?”

“... mierda. You’re good. You sure you can’t read my mind?”

“I can read Idiot easy enough. It’s my favorite language”

“... she left. I can’t find her. Didn’t want to talk to me”

“Understandable. Her mother just died for real this time”

“I just… I didn’t see another way... “

“That’s because there wasn’t.”

“And now she’s going to hate me forever for it”

“Yup, pretty much” you add looking into the distance.

“Would you had done the same?”

“You’re asking me of all people?”

“Yeah. I want to know”

“Would I sacrifice a lab monster to save countless human lives…” Shit. That should be the farm’s motto. Would you sacrifice yourself to save lives? That’d be a better question. “Yeah. I guess I would… Look, just because you do the right thing doesn’t mean people can’t hate you for it”

“Ha. The right thing…. What even is that”

“Good question,” you say closing your eyes. “So fucking tired”

“Me too. You should get those cuts checked...”

“Later. It’s just a scratch really. And you know I don’t like”

“Hospitals, yeah I know”

“Good”

He doesn’t reply, and you both stay silent for the longest while, just listening to the wind as Sentinel keeps the small inverted tornado pulling the cloud into the landfill with Ashfall grounding the chemicals in it.

When you finally open your eyes again, the sky has shifted and there are large patches of open sky in the cloud. Checking your watch, you realize it’s been almost an hour since you sat down here.

Ortega’s still next to you, so it was both of you who fell asleep.

Since when are you so careless? Lowering your guard so much next to the Marshall’s a recipe for disaster. Standing up, you take a final look at the Sentinel’s work, and the deserted streets of the city below.

“We should get back down” you add tapping Ortega’s shoulder.

“Eh… what’s the rush?” he asks looking up.

“Air toxicity’s down 30%,” you say pointing at the analyzer the scientists gave you, your main reason for staying up here. “I’d bet GeniTech’s going to kick everyone out in minutes”

“Yeah… at gunpoint probably.”

You open the door, letting him in first and follow up to the elevator. He makes a call with his intercom to let The Question know.

The floors of the Arcology are packed with people from Phoenix taking refuge from the cloud. Just as you see them, they can see you too inside the glass elevator. Without warning, they explode in a thunderous roar of...cheers?

There are some boos in it as well, possibly Psychopathor’s fans, but overall it’s just deafening hero worship.

The kind Reaper talked about. The kind that makes more people take hero drugs. Focused on you and Ortega. You’re not sure how to feel about it anymore.

The next few hours go really quickly, and you barely manage to say goodbye to the Rangers before leaving back for Los Diablos on the first bus you can get. You need to get back to your place and rest for a couple of days while you heal up. You definitely lied to Ortega, Catastrofiend left a bit more than just a scratch and the wound is itching all over even after you disinfected it.

Being a hero is exhausting and you’re taking a brief small vacation while you consider what to do with the mess that your life’s become since you decided to mingle with the Rangers.

__________ Somewhere, in a parking lot in Phoenix____________

“I’m sorry Dr. I couldn’t recover your disintegration gun” The Void states while studying the small weapon in his hand. “It wasn’t in their labs by the time I got there, and with all the city going upside down it was just impossible”

“Disappointing, but not unexpected. I thank you four your services anyways and…”

“Dr. I’ll return my initial fee to you.”

“That’s not really necessary”

“I care about my reputation. I won’t take payment on something I failed to deliver.”

“That is surprisingly refreshing to hear in this line of business. Very well Void.”

“Of course. Once again, I’m sorry”

He hung up, setting the gun back inside the briefcase, before calling another number, with the San Francisco area code upfront.

“Who are you? Who gave you this number?” a female voice asked.

“They call me, The Void. And I know all the numbers”

“That’s very unlikely. So you say your name is Void?”

“No, I’m not just ‘Void’. There’s a THE before it. The. It’s ‘The’ Void, you hear me?!”

“Alright, alright, calm down you freak, I got it the first time.”

“And don’t you forget it”

“Whatever. What do you want THE VOID?” she made a point to pronounce it in a very passive-aggressive way.

“I need to arrange a meeting with Big Fire about a business proposal. I think I have something he could definitely find a use for” Void added looking at the shining red dot on the disintegration gun.

“Big fire has a use for lots of things, but no time for everything. What am I supposed to say you’re offering that’ll make him call you back?”

“Oh he’ll call me back, you can bet on it.”

“I don’t like betting honey. Now speak or fuck off”

“Well, you’re no fun. Ok, tell him I have… a fiend in a bottle,”

“A fiend in a … wait what does that mea-… “

Void hung up without answering, a smile on his lips as he closed the briefcase.

____________________________________________________

My Fanfics: https://chaniters.tumblr.com/post/181692759294/my-fanfiction-for-fallen-hero

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and the setting of the Fallen Hero: Rebirth and upcoming Fallen Hero: Retribution games written by Malin Riden. I do not claim ownership of any characters from the Fallen Hero wold. These stories are a work of my imagination, and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. These works are intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by the author. I am not profiting financially from the creation of these stories, and thank the author for her wonderful game/s, without which these works would not exist.

#fallen hero: rebirth #fallen hero spoilers #Awan Cormac #Fanfiction #epilogue

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alternislatronemhq · 4 years

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Congrats, Beth, you have been accepted to AL for the role of Kingsley Shacklebolt (FC: Aldis Hodge). Beth!! Way to go in breaking the ice on picking up your second character! I know that you’ve been thinking and dreaming about Kingsley since the beginning, and the way that you’ve brought a familiar but mysterious character to life while keeping that mystery alive is incredible! There’s so much tension within Kingsley that even he isn’t really aware of in his need to please in following in his father’s footsteps, and I can’t wait to see how that comes into play as the war begins to heat up again. Fantastic job! Please send in your blog (no sideblogs for first characters, please) in the next 24 hours and be sure to take a look at our new player checklist. Welcome home (once again), we’re so excited to have you join the family!

OOC

name — Beth age — 24 pronouns — She/Her timezone — CST

IC Overview

name — Kingsley Shacklebolt

age — 34 (Birthday: March 2, 1952)

gender — Cis Male

sexuality — Asexual, Biromantic: Kingsley hasn’t put much focus in relationships, and it’s left him feeling a bit lonely. Straight out of school, he began training to be an auror and was shortly after inducted into the Order. Even after the war ended, Kingsley has focused his attention on work things, like making sure Voldemort isn’t coming back. Still, he can’t help feeling like it would be nice to have someone to come home to—someone he could kiss good morning, make dinner for, and fall asleep with at night. Kingsley isn’t sex-repulsed and will have it with a partner he feels highly committed to, but he doesn’t seek it out or find inherent pleasure in the act itself so much as the intimacy with someone he loves and trusts. He hasn’t technically shared a bed with anyone since Hogwarts when he was still figuring himself out, and Kingsely has only had one romantic relationship as a full-fledged adult. He misses having someone he can be romantically close to. He feels alone and wonders at this point if that will be his lot in life.

hogwarts house — Hufflepuff, and it would be difficult to find one more likely to work hard than Kingsley. He probably trusts too easily, but his years as an auror have taught him to rely less on that instinct. Despite his experience, he has a hard time believing that anyone is ever truly without good. People can be redeemed, and Kingsley is pretty sure the moment he stops thinking that is the moment he stops being a good auror.

blood status — Pureblood (Though his non-English mother doesn’t exactly have his family in high standing with the “truly” pure English elite.)

patronus — Lynx, both because it’s canon and because that aloof individualism + steadfast loyalty thing feels fitting for Kingsley.

boggart — In school, his boggart was his father scoffing and yelling at him for failing out of school and being a disappointment. It was counteracted by imagining his mother coming in and laughing that his father was reading too many puff news publications and that no such thing was true of her well-achieving little boy. As an adult, it became a Death Eater slowly moving toward him. If he gives it long enough, it eventually takes off the mask to reveal his own face. The only time he’s been faced one in front of other people, Kingsley quickly cast the spell, imagining the figure tripping over his own robes and dropping his wand before the mask could come off. The explanation was a conversation Kingsley didn’t want to have.

IC In Depth

personality traits —

Kingsley is an incredibly driven individual, although he may have been accused of being obsessive a time or too. That drive has always worked out for him since he’s so goal-oriented, and both his job and his, well, other job have benefited from his methodical approach. Occasionally Kingsley has been called naïve because he desperately wants to see the best in people; however, he sees no problem with being trusting and giving people the benefit of the doubt. He has a big heart and doesn’t try to hide that from the people he’s closest to, perhaps even making him a romantic. His whole life was grooming him for a position as an auror, so Kingsley does well under pressure. He comes off cool and collected. A person would be hard pressed to consider him callous for this lack of emotion, but The Prophet has made the claim in respond to Kingsley’s ability to keep his emotions hidden during stressful interviews. Still, that power to remain calm and not let his feelings get the best of him are part of what makes him good at his job.

character biography —

The Shacklebolts are a longstanding pureblood family, and while Kingsley has some halfblood cousins, his immediate family could still claim their Sacred 28 title if they wanted. His mother was born Esi Caron and attended Beauxbatons Academy before beginning her career as a seer. Her parents had immigrated from Libya to French when she was a small child, but Esi never fully felt comfortable there. It wasn’t difficult for her to give up those new roots when Cypress Shacklebolt entered her life while abroad on a Ministry mission. Although it was another three years before they married, Esi moved to the UK almost immediately.

The two were lovely together, even if they weren’t always the most cohesive. They loved each other and never had a harmful household, but when they didn’t agree, it was certainly a tense one for Kingsley and his siblings. Two headstrong parents meant that an argument could stew unsettled for the better part of a week. Still, his parents worked at their communication and always tried to create a loving environment for their kids.

As the oldest, Kingsley had a certain responsibility to look out for his younger siblings. Irma, Hendrick, and Rosetta had plenty of responsibilities too, but it was Kingsley who grew up constantly trying to meet Cypress’ expectations and always felt like he never truly got there. Cypress’ approval was hard won, and occasionally Kingsley wondered how his father would react if Kingsley hadn’t wanted to become an auror. It was family legacy at this point, but because of Kingsley, his siblings didn’t have the same expectations. The option was there if they wanted it, but it was Kingsley who had Cypress’ attention.

The weight of his father’s expectations wasn’t easy to live with, especially when Cypress was killed by a cursed object when Kingsley was sixteen. Kingsley was a fifth year studying for his O.W.L.S. Momentarily his indecision paralyzed him, but the thought that he’d never have his father’s full approval made Kingsley throw himself even harder into his studies. Maybe he couldn’t ever have his father’s praise, but he could follow the steps that would have made his father proud.

Kingsley came of age and joined in aurors right as long brewing tensions and whispers finally broke out into war. At first, he was convinced that the Ministry could handle it and that the aurors would be the front lines working toward stopping Lord Voldemort and his Death Eater followers. Instead he saw firsthand the Ministry’s corruption as higherups looked the other way or stalled searching on ‘important families.’ Kingsley grew more frustrated by the day as they barely reacted to something that had already spiraled beyond the Ministry’s control.

Alastor Moody saw this frustration. After some small testing of Kingsley’s loyalty and conviction, he invited Kingsley into the Order of the Phoenix. Despite its technically illegal nature, Kingsley never hesitated when faced with the opportunity to make lasting impact. Almost ten years of his life was devoted to that cause, but when the war ended, Kingsley couldn’t wrap it up quite like everyone else. Between the Ministry and the Order, he’s kept himself fairly busy in the time since then.

Kingsley has watched two of his siblings find happy partnerships and one have children. In his father’s absence, he hasn’t ever tried to be that figure, but he has certainly tried to help out his mother as much as possible, especially with Rosie. The gap between them is large enough that she literally has no memories of him before Hogwarts, so they’ve always been a little different than the other sibling relationships in their family. Every once in a while, Esi gently inquires about Kingsley’s love life, but she accepts his no with just a small nudging reminder that she wants to see him happy. Kingsley is happy. At least, that’s what he’s told himself.

With rumors of Voldemort returning and Death Eaters beginning to shift, Kingsley isn’t so sure he found the happiness and stability he was looking for. This has been his life for about fifteen years now. He’d hoped they were on the tail end of cleaning up that mess, but apparently that might not be the case. When he can see the rebuilding around him, Kingsley has a hard time accepting that everything could shift again in an instance, but he knows how easily it could happen. He’s hoping to be part of the force that can keep that shift from ever coming.

plot ideas —

The Order: Obviously certain members of the Order have never really stopped looking to cement that Voldemort doesn’t return. People like Alastor and Sirius are among Kingsley’s closest confidants. Surely they don’t always agree about how to move forward, though, especially right now when there are so many whispers about Voldemort’s potential return.

The old Order: Some members of the Order have “retired” so to speak in light of Voldemort’s disappearance. I’d love to see the tense interactions of people like Kingsley trying to convince them there’s still a threat—or on the flip side, Kingsley trying to mislead them against it for their own good.

Known Death Eaters: Plenty of Death Eaters escaped justice, some with fairly sizable evidence or gut instincts betraying them. Even if he wants to see the best in people, Kingsley won’t trust them.

Siblings: This is more character than plot, but it could be interesting to eventually see some of Kingsley’s siblings or in-laws in play. How do they react to their workaholic big brother? How do they feel on the matter of blood status? Family dynamics are always interesting, and the range for the Shacklebolts could be fun.

Potential romance: As I said above, Kingsley is asexual, but he’s still a romantic soul. In fact, he’s quite lonely and wouldn’t mind a relationship if he had more time to meet someone. It could be fun to play out a potential relationship forming, whether it works out or fails dramatically. I could also see fun potential for an ex where things didn’t go well (I mentioned above one particular one in his adult life, and that could be interesting to play with). Another connection off this idea is a well-meaning friend trying to set Kingsley up on dates that don’t really work out because his friend doesn’t really know much about his type (although to be fair, Kingsley isn’t always sure either).

Whistleblower: Eventually something is going to happen which cannot be denied any longer. While Kingsley wouldn’t probably be the person to go, “He’s back,” or, “The situation is worse than you’ve all feared,” I could see him potentially supporting the person who is, depending on how they go about it. Regardless of his beliefs, it would be interesting to see how everyone reacted and who the surprise denialists are.

extra —

Family tree: https://narcissaamaryllis.tumblr.com/private/621468809324380160/tumblr_3GKGHoSROIWvKhxY7

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/myrpboards/kingsley-shacklebolt/

#harry potter rp #hp rp #marauders rp #kingsley shacklebolt #al:accepted

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