#but can also destroy each other like no other can

[amillionmagpies]

So, I'm in a weird place with this. On the one hand, I'm absolutely of the opinion that happiness is never stupid. I absolutely agree that evil can be banal and pain can be boring.

And I agree that joy, especially joy found in nature or in other people, can be a religious experience.

That said.

I am Jewish. We have a few holy days that are very much centered around affliction of the body. I don't observe all of them, but I observe two nearly every year.

(Long post under the cut)

The first is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It comes directly on the heels of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and is very closely connected to Rosh Hashanah on a religious level. We often repeat, "On Rosh Hashanah it is written, and on the day of the fast of Atonement it is sealed." This means that on Rosh Hashanah, G-d writes our fates for the coming year in the books of life and death, and on Yom Kippur, he seals them. So we have the time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and then Yom Kippur itself, to try and change G-d's mind about our fate. For the ten days between the holidays, we seek out the people we have wronged in the last year and make apologies. Sometimes, if it's needed, we make other reparations as well. We repair relationships and strengthen them for the coming year.

And then, on Yom Kippur, we make our apologies and reparations to G-d. We fast for twenty five hours. No food, no water, and a number of other activities are banned as well. You get up in the morning, go to synagogue, and pray until an hour after sundown. But you don't pray alone. You pray in a synagogue, surrounded by other people here for the same reasons as you. You pray in beautiful, soaring songs that feel like they travel up and up and to G-d's own ears. You have community, lending you strength and keeping you steady all day. I usually start feeling like I've started transcending reality somewhere around 4 in the afternoon. Everything gets a little sharper, a little clearer. Sounds are louder, ringing in my ears. I stop noticing my body and am able to focus on repairing and strengthening my relationship with G-d for the coming year. And when it is over, when the sun has been down for an hour, and we've broken our fast, and everyone has gone home, I feel cleansed. I feel new, and clean, and forgiven for the sins of the past year. I feel like I can have a fresh start. Yom Kippur is a holiday centered around suffering. It is also one of my favorite days in the year.

The other holy day that I observe is called Tisha B'Av. The name is literally just a descriptor of the date: 'the ninth day of the month of Av.' The tone of the holiday is very different - we are not here for G-d, but for each other. Tisha B'Av is a day for communal mourning. On this day, according to tradition, both the first and second Temples were destroyed. This is the biggest thing we grieve for, but not the only one. Also on this day, the Romans plowed over the Temple Mount, Judaism's most sacred site. On this day, we were expelled from England, and from Spain. There have been any number of others.

We fast because we are in mourning. We grieve for the lives lost, for the aspects of our culture taken or destroyed, and for the hardships we have endured. In the evening, we go to synagogue, and sit on the ground, in the dark, with only candles for light, and we read from the Book of Lamentations. It is a day for grief, for letting ourselves process, for connection with our ancestors and each other. It is a day to be angry at G-d for what has happened to us, and a day to find our way to forgiveness, whatever that looks like for each one of us. But mostly, it is a day to be with each other, and to be with our ancestors. A day to find the strength to go on, even through shattering grief, in each other.

I understand the urge to say that there is nothing religious about suffering. In a Christian culture, deprivation and puritanism are glorified and pushed upon the unwilling. But so often, Christians and ex-Christians forget that there are other ways of looking at the world.

This is another way of looking at the world. It doesn't have to be your way - it shouldn't be your way, everyone should have the relationship (or lack thereof) with G-d (whichever G-d or G-ds that may be) that is best for them. But it is my way, and I wanted to share it, because so often non-Christian viewpoints are drowned out by the pervasiveness of Christianity in our culture. Often, ex-Christians still think that every religion is like Christianity, and in pushing back against Christianity, they also push against other religions that don't have the same issues. We have plenty of issues of our own!

So. Yes, I think suffering can be religious if you do it right. I just don't think it can be religious if you do it every day. Most days, Jews find G-d in moments of joy. We find G-d in food and song and nature and good company, and any number of other little ways. We don't glorify suffering all the time. But for a few days every year, we do find G-d in suffering. And that can be beautiful too.

“suffering feels religious if you do it right” no shut up it doesn’t. my friends laughing in the kitchen while i make dinner feels religious. the sun on my face after a long winter feels religious.

[snowywolf1005]

can i have somme facts about Beasts x y/n please ??

(Y/BN)

Beast of Forgotten

(Y/BN) soulstone let you hear her anger and chaos music.

(Y/BN) kingdom skill; 'shrill' can have her voice to deafening level. She can also manipulate sound waves to create barriers or shields and even distort or nullify. It will cause her enemies to get headaches and dizziness.

(Y/BN) wasn't always like this.

She used to be named Radiant Egg Cookie when she was ancient. Who brings joy and happiness with her singing voice.

(Y/BN) called the witches 'mother'

(Y/BN) friends love her singing that calms them down. But the singing brings to chaos when her friends become beasts.

She didn't know what's going on, she thought they're happy. Is her singing isn't enough? (Y/BN) didn't know what else to do.

(Y/BN) decided to visit each of her friends place to see how they're doing. Through her surprise, she saw how her friends destroyed their land and cookies.

They showed her how cookies are weak and annoying. (Y/BN) decided to go the witches banquet to look for any solution that saved her cookies and her friends.

The witches knew about this and couldn't bear to watch the calamity that had befallen the precious land of their creations.

The witches ask (Y/BN) to set a trap of the 5 beast, (Y/BN) didn't want to betray her friends, but she doesn't have a choice. (Y/BN) stole one of the witches' potions without them realized.

The plan was to lure the beast by hearing (Y/BN) singing that they could hear far away. Once the 5 beasts came by the singing, the witches trapped them, taking the soul jam from them.

(Y/BN) was saddened of what she had done, that she drink the potions from the witches banquet. The cause her to corrupted. And sing a curse song that'll destroy everything it's path.

The song called 'tot musica'

(from one piece red movie)

The tot musica refers to both a powerful, destructive demon and the forbidden song that summons it.

The tot musica observe (Y/BN) has a new host. Once the tot was defeated, (Y/BN) was no longer herself anymore. She asks the witches to take her soul jam, lock her with the others, and want every cookies to forget her. The witches did so.

As for the 'tot musica' lyrics note, it was sealed away by elder faerie cookie, he promised to (Y/BN) that he'll keep the silver tree safe. He also loves her singing voice.

MORE (Y/BN) COMING UP!! THANKS FOR ASKING!!!

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Ideas: Castles

part 2

Some Castle Tropes

Big Fancy Castle: Big, elaborate, and visually impressive castles.

Bright Castle: Bright castle that signifies a good place, usually.

Good Castles, Evil Castles: Character Alignment as displayed on castle designs.

Haunted Castle: A derelict castle home to the dead or undead.

Ice Palace: A castle sculpted from ice.

Monster in the Moat: Castles with water monsters living in their moats.

Ominous Floating Castle: A visually imposing, intimidating castle floating in the sky, outer space, or an otherworldly void.

Palatial Sandcastle: A sandcastle you can live in.

Storming the Castle: A climatic assault on a fortified base.

Castles & similar structures in other parts of the world

Central and parts of Eastern Europe. Here castles weren't much different from the Western European ones. The only difference is that the local castle-building tradition was not so old; there are no Early Medieval castles in Eastern Europe, and the oldest were built during the High Middle Ages.

Russia. This country's tradition of fortification is a bit different; the rural castle never caught on here. Urban castles and citadels, called kremlins, on the other hand, were quite widespread. Kremlin is not the name of one specific famous citadel, it's a generic term for a city castle. This country also has some Romantic revival castles; these are likely to be found in rural areas.

Japan. Japanese castles, named shiro, are remarkably different in architecture from European ones, because they were built to protect the local feudal lords from local siege tactics, which differed significantly from classic medieval European sieges. Most notably, firearms found a very slow and lukewarm welcome in feudal Japan's Samurai culture, and their introduction only stimulated castle building rather than put an end to it.

The Near East. Castles were introduced to this area by the crusaders, and, were completely based on European designs. However, citadels had been common for centuries, particularly in the Levant (which had been one of the most fought-over regions in the world basically since people could write); although most surviving Middle Eastern citadels date from the Crusader period or just before, one, the Tower of David in Jerusalem, has been a citadel since the 2nd century BCE (albeit one that kept getting destroyed and rebuilt, like the rest of the city).

India. This country's equivalents of castles are called durga in Sanskrit or qila in Hindi. These words were usually translated as "forts", because they were used as army forts by the British colonial army, but they were originally castles.

Southern Africa. The castles in this region were built by the Dutch and German settlers, and aren't much different from those found in Western Europe. While the castles here aren't very old, they tend to be mimicries of the Medieval style.

Examples of Castles around the World

Neuschwanstein. The archetypical Romantic revival castle, it was built by the eccentric king Ludwig of Bavaria ("Mad King Louie" or the "Moon King") when Bavaria was actually part of the federal German Empire but retained its status as an "independent realm." Everyone might recognize this castle as the one shown in the Disney logo and copied in Disneyland parks as the "Sleeping Beauty Castle". This is not surprising, because Ludwig purposefully designed this castle as the fairy-tale castle of his dreams. It is a very popular tourist spot.

St. Michael's Castle, St. Petersburg. Another revival castle, this one is unique in many ways. First, despite being a revival castle, it had a genuine defensive function: it was built by a Properly Paranoid Russian emperor Paul I to serve as his highly secure residence. Second, it has a unique "four-sided" architecture: the four facades of this quadrangular castle show different architectural styles each, from neo-gothic and pseudo-medieval to generic XVIII century palace. It didn't serve its intended function, its owner was killed by conspirators, the castle's defensive moat was filled with ground and it was repurposed as an engineering school (hence its second name, Engineer's Castle). Currently it houses the Russian Museum of Art and is open for visitors.

Krak des Chevaliers, Syria. The archetypical Crusader castle in the Near East, one of the largest and the most well-preserved (until recently). This large concentric castle belonged to the Order of Knights Hospitaller, a famous order of knights who guarded the safety of pilgrims in the Holy Land and eventually evolved into the Sovereign Order of Malta, which still exists to this day.

Sources: 1 2 ⚜ Parts & Types of Castles ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs ⚜ Part 1

[pokckygamewithbatman]

Tbh zaundads only works if Vander is Warwicked. Because that means that lake attempted murder happened, and warehouse murder happened, and they both killed each other. The AU ep. doesn't work because it's only Silco who was traumatized. Yeah, Vander lives in horrible guilt but that doesn't hold a candle to what Silco went through. It needs to be balanced out with Vander being killed, or at least almost being killed by Silco too. That way it's even, balanced, and almost like they can start over because the playing field has been leveled again. Because as it stands with only the lake scene, Silco would live in constant fear that Vander could try to kill him again. He's done it before, what's stopping him? If Sil also demonstrates that he can kill Vander then they're on equal footing again. There's way less impending doom hanging out with someone you mutually destroyed because all that anger is gone. They both got their revenge, they thought about it, they realized they were stupid for it, and can then reconcile.

That way Silco's forgiveness is actually believable because without that he either he found that atrocious letter that Vander wrote (you "lost you head" Vander? Really? You fucked up his eye permanently and tried to drown him and PULLED HIS ASS BACK when he tried to get away) and forgave him, or crawled back to the only place he was safe despite being in danger for no reason at all. I love toxic old man yaoi as much as the next person, but since Silco is genuinely my favourite character it pisses me off that he completely gave up in the AU episode. "The greatest thing we can do in life is find the power to forgive", are you kidding me? That's only sweet is he's talking about the mutual murder but that clearly didn't happen in the alt. universe; he's only referring to the lake scene which is just awful.

Honestly Vander being Warwicked is just a treat for me and because it's canon; I love fics where Silco is the person who ultimately brings Van back.

[shamera]

Darkness monsters vs. real world monsters

There's a fundamental difference between Daydream Inc. and the Supernatural Disaster Managemant Bureau that's been niggling at my brain for a while now, and I think it finally clicked for me.

Obviously there's the overt differences: Daydream is a for-profit company where employees are all working for a selfish goal-oriented purpose, while the Bureau is a government sponsored agency whose agents risk life and limb on a daily basis trying to save other people.

It's almost too easy to understand why the Bureau would think of Daydream as a 'cult-like company', one capitalizing on suffering and death of innocent people caught up in ghost stories. And the reverse is also true-- Daydream seeing the Bureau as the ultimate annoyances, trying to destroy the ghost stories that create not only profit but advance strides in-- everything! Daydream has potions that can regenerate half a body! With the dream essence they harvest from ghost stories, they can full on cultivate reality-bending wishes.

Of course, with that kind of power, there are heavy dangers and consequences... I could write a whole TED Talk on that. That part's easy to see.

But with characters of the latest arc meeting (no spoilers), I was thinking about what negates this black and white pattern we've seen between the two sides. Common enemies and all that...

Bureau agents think that the ghost stories are 'Disasters'. They're the worst thing that can happen to a person, and it's the job of an agents to RESCUE people from those disasters, from the monsters and the horrors, to allow civilians to go back to a normal life.

Daydream employees think of ghost stories as 'Darkness', and they're here to explore those Darknesses to harvest from experiences with monsters and curses and the like. Sure, a lot of them die in the process. They're certainly not here to help other people because they understand that it's dangerous enough trying to save themselves. Yet... Daydream field officers persist. In fact, they're practically unafraid of the Darkness.

Because to each and every one of them, the real horrors are out in the real world. The Bureau thinks that monsters exist only in the ghost stories, but everyone who signed up to work at Daydream risking life and limb daily is working toward a purpose-- a wish potion. Something that can change their lives.

People only need to change their lives when there's something terrible they're struggling with, and like Kim Soleum, they are willing to face the Darkness for a chance to change something in their real world.

...In the heart of it all, there really is a commonality there. The Bureau agents want to rescue people from monsters within Disasters, but Daydream employees have monsters that live outside of Darknesses that they're trying to escape.

[niuttuc]

Alright, the poll is over, so solution and explanation time! This post will also be edited onto the original post after this reblog, for ease of access.

First, the Correct answer, and then the rest under the cut!

Whenever this creature becomes goaded, it fights up to one target creature (35.4%)

This first answer was the correct one, as was recognized by the majority (most of which, I assume, are Magic players who recognized the rest.) It was written as something that makes flavorful sense, and inspired by both Goad and the old mechanic of Provoke using similar meanings. Provoke later evolved into Fighting.

As mentioned, I like this effect, I ended up making a custom card with that mechanic while waiting for the poll to be over, though the wording is slightly different and that won't be in this post.

--

This creature isn't a creature (17.5%)

This text doesn't appear printed on any card, but it is the current text of Weeping Angel from the Doctor Who set following a templating update of cards to avoid using their own name to refer to themselves, except for legends. Of course, within larger context. I've seen some people guess Gods from Theros as the source of this text, but since they're all legendary, they use their own names still, or a shortened version rather.

This is such a nonsensical line to be on a card that I knew it needed an inclusion here.

--

Put a +1/+2 counter on target creature. (10.7%)

In the early days of magic, stats-buffing (or stats-reducing) counters weren't relegated to mere +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters. There were some +2/+2, -0/-1, +0/+1 counters and more, and when they mixed it made tracking the size of a creature with them a nightmare, so they stopped doing that. During that time, exactly ONE card, Armor Thrull, was created that put a +1/+2 counters on a creature. Neat and also weird!

--

Redistribute any number of players’ life totals. (9.1%)

A very unique effect, Reverse the Sands is rarely worth the inclusion in any deck, but it is quite impactful. Printed in a game before commander hit big, expecting two players most of the time, it wasn't that different from other life swapping effects, but with Multiplayer becoming such a big part of the game nowadays, it's fun to have around.

--

Your devotion to each color and each combination of colors is increased by one. (7.5%)

Devotion is a mechanic found in the ancient greek mythology setting of Theros within magic, caring how deeply you commit yourself to any given colors by encouraging you to play harder-to-cast permanents of that color. In the latest return to Theros, there is one card, Altar of the Pantheon, that has a weird effect of artificially altering your devotion without any cost shenanigans.

--

If this creature would be destroyed, regenerate it. (5.8%)

Mossbridge Troll has a unique effect of just ALWAYS regenerating for free whenever it would be destroyed, be it by damage or destroy effects. In practice, it's mostly a fancy version of indestructible.

It also allows me to mention Mossbridge Troll from Shadowmoor is the creature associated with Mosswort Bridge from Lorwyn. Each of the five original Hideaway lands in Lorwyn had an associated "awakened" creature in Shadowmoor! Not the most obscure fact, but neat to know about.

--

Other creatures are Food (3.9%)

A delightfully flavorful (well, except for all the salt) piece of rules text from Ygra here. Everything is Food for the Eater of All.

--

1/1 named Legitimate Businessperson. (2.9%)

Witness Protection is a pretty normal design, but changing the name of the creature is a really neat touch that just adds a bit of flavor and makes it a card dear to many. It's funny how a small change like that can make a boring common into a card many remember for years to come. It even made its way into the "core" experience of the game through the Foundations expansion later on!

--

You draw cards from the bottom of your library rather than the top. (2.6%)

Another appearance from Doctor Who, this time with River Song, who has an ability that is pretty flavorful, but in practice doesn't do much, since the cards at the bottom of your library are just as random as the ones on the top. Or are they? It's marginally easier to set up the bottom of your deck than the top of it, and to create loops with that and cards that put stuff back onto the bottom of your deck from your graveyard.

Unfortunately, that easily devolves back into infinite extra turns, which is very flavorful for a time traveler, but generally frowned upon in more social environments.

--

Whenever another creature you control dies, investigate. (1.9%)

This one isn't that weird, but I wanted to include it for just how flavorful it is to investigate the murder of your creatures. Except of course you're likely the one to be doing the murdering for all those sweet clues. Oops?

This effect does not specify nontoken creatures, which means it's actually quite easy to make bucketloads of clues with it. Or an infinity, if you turn your clues into creatures themselves, so be wary of that because it's easy to end up in an infinite loop you can't stop, which causes the game to end in a draw, drowned in clues.

Protection from everything (1.6%)

Protection from everything has appeared on a few cards, but the most iconic (though not the most played, that'd be Teferi's Protection), is Progenitus, the first to feature it. A giant creature that's almost impossible to cast and can't be cheated into play from the graveyard, Progenitus has impressed many a player!

Unfortunately, it's both clunky to actually use and not immune to everything. While EVERYTHING does mean everything, Protection has a relatively narrow definition in the game rules, and Magic is a game where very specific rules matter. Getting rid of a Progenitus is difficult, but far from impossible. Any effect that blankets destroys or exiles all creatures will remove it just as easily as everything else.

Venture into the dungeon. (1%)

Venture into the Dungeon was one of the main mechanics for the first D&D set Magic has done, Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. They revisited it later on in the second with a slight variation. While flavorful, the mechanic involved a lot of extra baggage involving having three extra Dungeon cards to pick from each with several abilities and to plan a trip through them and... It ended up seeing just a little bit of play, and not being the designers' best work, even if it had a LOT of flavor.

Thank you for participating and reading through all this! See you in the fifth edition if I ever put it together!

Weird Magic: the Gathering effects: Fourth edition

Starting last year, and on three separate occasions, I've ran polling games listing weird magic the gathering card effects among which hid one fake one, to see how easy it was to figure out. It's time for another!

Like previous instances, this is intended for people who aren't experts at magic and would recognize all the cards instantly, more as entertainment for people outside the game, but I've been told it also works for plenty of actual magic players. There are certainly effects there I didn't know existed in specific before pulling this poll together.

As last time, only the current text of effects is used, not necessarily the one printed on the card. Limited to cards that exist in paper, and are legal to play in at least some tournament formats. Though I did expand in previous polls to text that's part of keyword rules or that's part of the current reminder text on at least one card, and that might apply here as well.

This time some of the cards are less obscure, but I wanted to include them because they're flavorful bits of text. Without further ado...

I will give one bit of context for people who don't play the game at all: your library is what your deck of cards is called while a game is going.

[machveil]

You've got a big beautiful brain I hope you know that. And I'm gonna steal it.

If I may ask ur big brain:

Who of any of the cod characters idk idc do you think is the best cook? But I'm talking, can make gourmet meals outta nothing. Like, all you've got is an MRE and some extra little goodies that someone gifted? Hell yeah brother lemme introduce you to your second favorite thing every to bless your tasters.

Oh you've got essentially nothing in your fridge because you forgot to shop? Np. 👩‍🍳

anon, my brain is all yours, beloved 🧠✨

I’d say König, but he’d just eat anything as is, that’s my truth for him. he could make something nice, but if he’s just hungry he’ll eat what’s there. if you want something, sure, he could probably fix something up, but we’re not talking about the best

I’d also say Simon, but I think he’s just good with meat specifically. sure, he can make sides, a good hearty steak and potatoes guy. and he could definitely make something edible out of nothing, but it might not be great. it would definitely sustain you, but that’s about it (Butcher!Simon, Butcher!Simon, Butcher!Simo—)

honorable mention, I think Keegan would do alright. I think he could actually make MREs not mid/bad. I’ve only tried one (1) MRE that wasn’t kind of shit, but this man? I think Keegan could pull through with some sort of bullshitery to make it somewhat enjoyable. maybe the man smuggles fast food sauce packets, who knows

dream team, because they do it together, I think Johnny and Kyle could put their heads together to make anything. specifically together though, they need two brains firing to cook the good shit up. they’re good by themselves, but destroying it as a team - so much so I want to say they FaceTime each other on leave to cook over the phone. on missions? they’re concocting ways to mix and match different MREs, making Price and Simon sweat with their antics (it always turns out better than they expect). I think they get their cooking skills from their families, they were definitely helpers in the kitchen growing up

Nikolai. no further words

[ilikerosesalot]

Flower language analysis for Jambound ch 27 (spoilers under the cut)

Ill be honest everything here is a direct copy-paste of the commetn I left on ch 27, Im not typing all that again iuhuihuih.

Ok so primeroses. Contains the latin word "primus: which means "first", the first flower to bloom in spring, thus the flower is associated with renewal, eternity and youth/young love. Shadow Milk described it as a "prelude", sth that signifies sth important later on. He is currently courting Pure Vanilla and rekindling their previous love (renewal). A prelude for sth thats going to happen- these two are bounded by fate and if all goes well...heheh *cue wedding bells* (eternity). Youth/young love- this ones kinda a strech cause theyre both OLD old, but like if we choose not to take the younf part too literallt then well, this is porbably new to both of them. Not that they dont have relationship experience its been implied they both had sth going on but, it the first time building sth lasting if that makes sense. Theyre taking the first steaps towards it-actting similar to how many experiencing "young love" would act.

Hope and optimism is also associated with primeroses, since theyre the first flowers to bloom in spring and thus signifyung that winter is over (thinking about a scene in the prev chapters where pv walked throught the freezing cold of the other realm to reach smilk). Primroses are also used to symbolize deep love, many of the places i looked said they mean "I can't live without you". Ok bro. Ok.

Now coming to the fact its a blue primerose. This. This variant of the flower means trust and belief. "The perfect gift to strenghten trust and belief in a relationship"- do i even NEED to say anything. I would also like to mention what blue colors generally mean in flower language. Similar to how yellow in flowers generally means happinness and loyalty, blue flowers often are used to symbolize deep admiration and trying to achieve sth impossible. To persure something out of reach, sth unknown. This is because blue is one of the rarest colors, not just in flowers but in nature as a whole. It attracts attaention and provides little camaflouge. So basically a blue primerose in the context of this fic can mean something like, despite the fact that a positive bond forming between them seemed so out of reach- to the point where smilk even unknowingly binded them together, their mutual affection growing deeper and deeper until it destroyed them, despite the fact it shouldve been impossible, theyre both going to trust each other. Shadow milk in particular had to literally risk all his fears just to end the soulbond. And him actually persuing pv this time is his way of giving an olive branc. Re-do things and make it right. Ough

Also primroses make apearance in various shakespearean plays- fitting for a showman like shadowmilk. And!! Theyre known for healing properties!! Which is fittign for pure vanilla cookie. And this is just a personal observation but blue primeroses have a yellow centre- literally shadownilla colors. Thats about all the relevant info i got from my research journey.

Oh god I ended up writing a whole mini essay about how primersoes fit the narrative of this fic I did not mean to yap this much. But man I love my flower languages. This was insanely fun, might return to analyze the other flowers smilk got for pvs garden but i used up all my brainjuice. Im going to rest now bye

[kickedin17]

Okay hear me out (other people have basically already said this but hold on this is my post)

We're getting very clear messages that indicate something might be... wrong with Clancy. During the US leg via the FPE letters we heard a lot about how Clancy was inspiring the masses, and now it kind of seems to be the opposite. Torch explicitly saying we destroyed them so we didn't become them.

Plus Tyler now wearing black shirts, with imagery that seems to relate to Blurryface songs. The occasions last tour where his "Clancy" shirt was black text instead of red. The Blurryface account tweeting again this tour. The bishops taking over the Judge that one time, trying to hijack a moment that celebrates the clique (irl banditos). Paladin Strait, which apparently is not supposed to sound like an ending, which concludes with Clancy being named explicitly by Nico, and which shows a version of Tyler in the mv literally sitting above it all & seemingly mirroring people's movements from other shots.

I see your "Clancy becomes a bishop" theories (I love bishop!clancy to be clear I think it's awesome) but I think that might be too esoteric to end up being the explicit canon. The thing is, Clancy is pretty simply intended to be a version of Tyler that extracts and represents certain traits, just like Blurryface. We know Blurryface to be insecurity. Clancy has never been said explicitly afaik but I think it's clear he represents Tyler's drive to create things that inspire people (despite crushing obstacles like mental illness - Dema and the bishops, and especially with the help and inspiration of others - Torchbearers and the banditos (us)). Which we know can be incredible, but can also become self-destructive. We were introduced to Clancy at first cryptically through his personal writings, and only explicitly after a long time (and after being told he'd "died" by the characters that represent Tyler's mental health struggles, which, depressed creatives iykyk) because I think owning your creativity and ability to inspire others is a much more arduous journey than being controlled by your insecurity. But Clancy was never intended to be a different type of character despite all that. He is a version of Tyler.

And just like Blurryface he gets his own namesake album. A lot of people have pointed out how the Clancy and Blurryface tracklists can actually be read to mirror each other. As the lore progressed Blurryface became Nico (and the other 8 bishops) battling against Clancy, but they're all abstractions from Tyler's mind. Both literally, in the sense that he is literally the one coming up with the story, but we're also reminded of this on both Bandito and Overcompensate with the "created this world" bridge. I believe this is also what we're seeing represented in those shots in the Paladin Strait mv. There's also the fact that the Clancy era is extremely extremely red - this in lore represents Clancy's process of reclamation as well as his (violent) uprising, but in tøp's wider context it is kinda just The Blurryface Color along with black.

Blurryface turns 10 immediately after the Clancy tour ends. We know the Clancy tour to be the reflection of "someone's life flashing before their eyes" and that this album was supposedly meant to wrap up the Dema storyline. I do not think this means Clancy dies. Because he is Tyler, and he cannot die, because for that to happen I think Tyler would have to never write or make anything again. And we also know this to be a cycle. I think what's happening is what's always been kind of obvious, and inevitable. I think Clancy is going to become Blurryface. I think he's already been Blurryface this entire time. They're the same person at different parts of the cycle, and I think we're going back to the start of it.

[dcdreamblog]

Hey have we ever been able to figure out how the hell Vandal Savage is immortal? Or how long he’s been around for?

I’ve heard that he claims to be a caveman but that could just be him lying.

A mix of archeological evidence, direct observation via extranormal means and consistency between the man himself and both of those things.

(A profile of Savage, taken from security footage during one of the many times he attempted to march on the United Nations) Savage is, at our best modern count, about 52,000 years old which would put him tens of thousands of years before the foundation of the first cities. He was born somewhere in what is now southern Anatolia and by his own admission was a member of a group called the Blood Tribe that operated as raiders and pillagers in that time period. Defeated by a member of a rival tribe and mortally wounded (seen in the visible scarring across his face and chest which must predate his current immortality as they come back while every other injury he takes heals near instantly) he came upon the crater of a strange meteorite and laid down beside it. When he awoke he was immortal as well as stronger than those around him.

He has claimed a LOT over the years and most of his claims of actually BEING important historical figures are bunk. Such as claiming to be Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan or Vlad the Impaler. We know too much about where these men came from, their childhoods or the like for them to just have magically appeared as fully adult men, especially when Savage is of a very broad Mediterranean complexion and someone would have made note of the fact that Genghis Khan very clearly wasn't Mongolian.

He has been NEAR many halls of power in his time which is how we know he's telling a broad version of the truth. The name 'Vandal Savage' or version of it appear in the courts of royals as diverse the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Ra's Al Ghul (which is how we know that both men are bullshitters since they have BOTH claimed to, at very least, have been Genghis Khan AND Tamerlane). Public versions of records containing him were often destroyed but more secretive or obscure versions of said records survived despite his best efforts. And those best efforts also give us our second kind of evidence, extranormal observation. Immortals tend to bump into each other, like a lot, comparatively. Mages, vampires, what have you. We known Savage is immortal because figures like The Shade, Rip Hunter, Booster Gold and Dr Fate have had run ins with him across the vast expanses of time and they would probably notice if it wasn't the same man.

In the modern day we know its the same guy who began clashing regularly with the mystery men of the 1940s (most prominently Green Lantern) because a lot of those mystery men are also still alive and can confirm it for us on top of photographic and video evidence that have become easier and easier to come by as time marches on. The superhero legacy that has been constantly replenishing itself since the late 30s has stolen one of Savage's greatest weapons: he can no longer reposition after being forgotten. The JSA and All Star Squadron records in which he appears are out of his reach and will be passed down to every generation of heroes that come after them. He's a known quantity and now he's also an infamous public figure wanted in basically every country for crimes against humanity. His old rule book doesn't work and its one of many ways that the birth of the JSA derailed whatever ultra long term plans he claimed to have.

[fae-cookie-run-madness]

Beast x Ancients au (need a name for it) SilentLily Rambles.

Sooo Silent Salt and White Lily...this is going to be long lol.

Silent Salt x White Lily

White Lily is the first one of her friends to find these fabled beasts. She had been wonderful around, looking for new plantlife when a knight appeared, heavily injured and collapsed. White Lily quickly rushed to his side and eventually helped nurse the cookie back to health. He couldn’t speak, apparently his vocal cords weren’t made right and now they had been slashes, he was completely mute. So White Lily taught him sign language and eventually she learned his name, Silent Salt. Soon he tells the cookie his story, being gifted the soul jam, feeling as they slowly corrupt and losing themselves, years locked in that tree, and just getting out. But everything feels different, he’s lost his drive to cause destruction, he can’t go back to being a hero…what can he do?

White Lily says she feels lost too, and if Silent salt wants to find a purpose for his life, he’s welcome to join her as she searches for answers herself. Salt is shocked, half expecting the cookie to run away once he told her his story. But instead she offers him kindness and friendship. So Silent salt agrees to the arrangement, it’s so strange to find a cookie like her, and he must protect her sense she's so obviously fragile.

Relationship:

As the two explore the world together it was by nature that they fell in love. White Lily just seems to understand the former beast and it’s been years since someone understood Salt down to his very core. They explore, they all catch up with the other ancients who find their beast, and their happiness. There is just a simple joy with being in each other's presents, even if there are no words spoken or signed to each other. They even decided to have children together and maybe start their own kingdom. Yet something happens, White Lily disappears leaving an imposter in her place and Silent Salt with three dough babies he needs to protect. He needs to find out what happened to White Lily, so he hides his children, somewhere hopefully this imposter wouldn’t dare to look.

Children (there's a lot when count Dark Enchantress so buckle up):

The triplets, Gingerbrave, Strawberry and Wizard cookie were once the three dough babies White Lily and Silent Salt had. However they were only a month old before White Lily was called away, to look for answers before she went missing and Dark Enchantress appeared. Silent Salt feared for his kids safety but can’t take them to the other ancients as Dark enchantress would target them, so he uses a spell the Fount taught them and hid the babies in a time bubble, which would slow their aging to a crawl by the witch's house, a place where Dark Enchantress wouldn’t dare to go. He never knew the witch would find the babies and bake them, destroying the spell.

Gingerbrave is the unofficial oldest of the triplets, they don’t know their ages but his natural protective instincts make him the oldest. He can remember his mother’s voice and had convinced himself and his siblings that the witch didn’t make them, believing that they belong to someone else. He has a strong sense of justice that can also be self-sacrificing if push comes to shove. And his determination to find his mother might lead him right into danger. Gingerbrave looks the most like Silent salt (basically a mini salt), he has his mother’s white hair.

Strawberry is the second oldest, at least unofficial. She can’t speak very well as there is something wrong with her vocal cords, as if she takes for too long or too loud they begin to hurt badly. So she and her brothers had made up a sign language to communicate until they learned the official one later. They still use their make- up when they don’t want people to understand them. She is very strong, able to swing around her Strawberry hammer but she doesn’t have Gingerbrave’s confidence. She is a good mix of her mom and dad. Her red eyes are that of her mom’s, her white hair is hidden well but her face structure is like that of her dad.

Wizard is considered the youngest, mainly because he is the smallest of his siblings much to his annoyance. He always felt the hum of magic around him, going as far as stealing a witch's magical staff and making it tiny to suit him. However he’s still learning to control it as he could easily overuse it and pass out because of it. This also earns his sibling to be more protective of him, which annoys him so much. Wizard hides his appearance because he looks the most like his mom with his dad’s eyes, hence why he happily wears his giant hat and sweater no matter the weather. He understands Gingerbrave’s determination to find out where they came from, but he just feels like it will lead to more problems.

Children from Dark Enchantress:

Red Velvet was a cookie being baked when Dark Enchantress emerged and caused all the chaos, nearly killing the unfinished cookie. The powerfully cookie to some of her dough and life powder and some life powder in a bag she had and used it to heal and save Red Velvet (of course not before spilling some of the life powder. The life powder and dough helped save the boy however he was still incomplete, missing an arm, Dark Enchantress took the boy and gave him a cake monster arm. He grew up under Dark Enchantress, agreeing with how horrible the witches are and his focus being more on cake hounds and how cakes are seen as monsters. When Dark Enchantress is sealed away, he is sent into a sleep as well, only waking up once his mother is awakened.

Matcha was created from the spilled Life powder spilled into tea dough that was on the ground, producing a small dough baby that cried out. Dark Enchantress isn’t heartless (at least now), and takes the dough baby with her. She raises Matcha alongside Red Velvet and you get the feeling something is off since the Life Powder isn’t mixed in properly. While Matcha doesn’t speak well she adores her mother and does anything to please her. Matcha tests experiments and is one of the best potion makers you can find, making monstrous concoctions for the war. However much like her brother, once her mother is sealed away she falls into a sleep which is only broken once Dark Enchantress is back.

Things going wrong/Dark Flour war:

When White Lily found out the truth about cookies she was stunned, this couldn’t be true, so she tried to yell, to convince the witches that they were real, and they have dreams. She is just so angry at the moment! The Witches see a wandering cookie and smack her into the ultimate dough and then decide to bake it to see what will happen. This caused Dark Enchantress to work, what little of White Lily’s originally hoped, kindness and dough wandered off where it was found and kept safe by the fairies.

Dark Echantress starts the Dark Flour War to get the Soul Jam of her once friends and crush their spirits so she could use them to make a better world. She was sealed away by Pure Vanilla and later with the help of Pomegranate and some illusion magic she’s able to convince some cookies to break her free. She doesn’t even stay around to acknowledge them and flies off to wake up her children. 

Dark Enchantress starts her original goal.

White Lily, the part that was uncorrupted, sleeps in the fairy kingdom.

Silent Salt hunts for a way to bring back his love and end this madness that has seemingly taken over Earthbread. 

[autistichansolo]

So I wanted to answer this during Bellara Week which started today (yay). It's under the cut because it's long (for both Calder and Aohdan)

For Calder, that's his best friend. They are both veil jumpers so have that in common (and did know each before the veilguard). They both are passionate about their people's history. Calder does help were he can with the Nadas Dirthalen (when he is at the lighthouse). Tho Bellara does get frustrated with Cal for being a bit reckless with artifacts in his experiments with them (and cause one to many explosions) so is grateful for him not being around some of time when she is working on it.

Cal tells he to keep the Archive Spirit. He sees the importance of it and the history that can be glean from it. He also feels like they have already lost so much so to just destroy something like the Nadas Dirthalen because of the possible harm it can be used for but some people is stupid. They can't control what others do with the information but it's still important to know it and share it (and getting a part of their history back).

Calder had met Cyrian before he supposedly died (even if it was briefly and he didn't know the whole details of what happened until Bellara shared them more). And he also understands having complicated relationship with siblings. He's two older siblings ended with the inquisition (one as inquisitor the other supporting the other) and thinking them dead for a time after the explosion at the conclave and then hearing them being alive (but also so far away and being used by the chantry and worries there). So seeing Cyrian alive and know what that means for Bellara was a lot. And it hurt to see his friend in pain about what Cyrian was doing and how in a way was losing him again. During the whole time he was supported of her and wanting it to work out so bad. And it hurt so much to have that moment of hope where it seem like it would be ok only for him to die. After that, Cal was there to be a comfort to her in anyway he can and really feels for Bellara.

For Aohdan, that's his girlfriend. He falls for her because she is so passionate about her people's history, about little serials, her writing. He loves listening to her talk about anything. And he loves to tell her stories about his time with the wardens that she also enjoys listening to.

He tells her to keep the Archive Spirit. He does understands her fear of it being used for wrong and hurting others. He has seen that kind of thing done with knowledge in Orzammar especially as a castless dwarf before joining the grey wardens. But he also could tell how important that information was to her and how hard she had worked to get it to work and does feel like it's right for her to destroy it or for him to have a say in it especially since that fear and thought came from a misplace sense of guilt regarding what happened with Cyrian.

In regards to Cyrian, Aohdan was at first happy for Bellara because he was not dead (and see how she felt guilt and hurt by his death) but then mad for the same reasons of why didn't you say something earlier and only came back to cause her pain. He tries to be supported through the whole thing but also did not like the pain that Bellara was feeling during the whole thing of trying to convince Cyrian to leave and him not and hurting others. He really hoped that Cyrian would listen and wished that a better outcome had happened in regards to that. But he was going to be there for Bellara through it all and give her someone to lean on and get comfort from especially after losing Cyrian again.

Rook Intro Hour: Bellara

Good morning, everyone! Good news: Bellara Week is coming up on @datvcompanionweeks! It will be from Thursday, April 17th - Wednesday, April 23rd!

To celebrate, today's Intro Hour will be centered around Taash!

How it works: I ask you a question about your Rook(s) and you answer it with as much brevity or verbosity as you desire. You can do this whenever you want, and I’ll reblog it + add some comments! There’s no time limit— if you want to do the older ones, they are collected here! (The post is updated on Fridays!)

Today's Question(s): What is your Rook's relationship with Bellara? What do they like about her? What do Rook and Bellara enjoy doing together? What does Rook tell Bellara to do with the Archive Spirit? Why? What does Rook think about Cyrian and the rest of Bellara's family? Lastly, if you want, write a unique banter between Bellara and your Rook!

[its-minart]

Never finishing this but I really like them 👉🏾👈🏾

[qoldenskies]

i think its so funny when people take the way donnie acts at face value even though its a horrible lie because he's a horrible liar, while understanding leo is bullshitting very well despite him actually being GOOD at bullshitting. many such cases

[egophiliac]

I don’t think we’ve ever seen you draw knight of dawn before 🤔 what are your thoughts about him? Or take?

I've drawn him a couple of times, just really little/in the background. but I should draw him more, I love this guy a lot! I have many, many thoughts about him and the way he parallels Silver...and also I think it is extremely funny that his ghost is stuck in a ring. especially considering where that ring has been for the last 16-ish years.

[jesterkoops]

So many great additions, you guys!

Two things I wanted to add.

Yes, Cobel's obsession with Mark and Gemma remembering each other is evident (and is cracking me up at the moment because she looks like she embodies the markgemma shippers who just won't accept the fact that they're doomed), but the thing I can't wrap my mind around is WHY. Why did she want it to transcend if transcending basically meant that the chips don't work the way you would expect her she'd want them to work if the whole point of Cold Harbor and the testing floor is to create chips that are even more resistant than the ones currently in use? And some of her behaviours on the outside also didn't make sense in that context, like why was she encouraging Mark to quit Lumon at the end of S1? Was it because now that she had been fired she didn't want anyone else to get their hands on her precious work? What was the end goal there in scientific terms? I think there's more to her than meets the eye, and it's no coincidence that she avoided answering Mark's question in the finale ("why are you telling me this, why are you here") by deflecting it onto Helly being an Eagan and trying to destroy his bond with her (oh, Harmony... you sweet summer child).

I too have been thinking about transcendence only happening if the bond starts in innie form. So far, all evidence seems to point to that, with the exception of Dylan and Gretchen. But in their case I don't know if one can talk about transcendence as it is for Burving, or Markhelena, or Mark and Petey? I feel like the fact that Gretchen was brought to the severed floor specifically so that Dylan would get to know about his life on the outside sort of muddled the waters a bit. Gretchen clearly felt attracted to him because he reminded her of a version of Dylan that she probably can't find anymore, so more than evidence of transcendence I feel these two are evidence that the innies are indeed the purest, uncontaminated versions, of their outies. But Dylan... I feel like Dylan fell for her because he longs for love more broadly (like he was desperately trying to get Ms Casey's attention), rather than because his outie's love for Gretchen transcended. It reminds me of something @kestrel-of-herran said in some tags recently about Mark and Gemma's love being based in nurture (i.e., their academic interests) while Mark and Hellyna's is based in nature (i.e., their shared sense of humor and camaraderie). So an innie connection would be by definition based in nature, and while nurture can shape it, it can't ever completely destroy it, which is why it transcends. While an outie connection only transcends to their innies if that is ALSO based in nature, as that is the only thing that's left once you take away the nurture (which is what happens to innies). Which might be where Dylan and Gretchen straddle the line.

Do you ever think of how when Mark and Helly go on their Mental Health Walk, when Ms. Casey shows up you get beautifully framed shot.

Next we hear of her, we find out she's in the break room, because Mark took Helly to take care of her privately the best he can on the Severed floor, which is listening.

Also to flirt a little.

First of all, what is interesting about what you're pointing out is that Mark took care of Helly by "listening", which is the thing Mark Scout failed to do with Gemma throughout their relationship. It's interesting that many interpret her "I forgive you" and glance at Helly as foreshadowing that Gemma will forgive Mark for falling for Helly, but another read is that she forgives him for his shortcomings in their relationship because now she can see he is doing better and becoming a better partner. I think the former is still more likely, but your comment did make me think of the latter.

As to whether this might be foreshadowing of Gemma's fate more broadly (Mark taking/staying with Helly on the Severed floor, letting Gemma roam by herself in worry); that she ends up in some sort of metaphorical break room as a consequence? I would be interested to hear your thoughts if that's what you're suggesting!

And, UGH.. that whole episode has me spiralling because I am still trying to wrap my head around what the fuck Cobel was up to. Why would she think sending Ms Casey to observe Helly would somehow unlock whatever it was that she was trying to unlock, that most likely had to do with Mark and Gemma remembering each other. Why would observing Helly help Cobel achieve that goal? You can't even say she wanted to trigger jealousy in Ms Casey because 1) she was only observing Helly, not Mark and Helly and 2) at that point Mark and Helly were not together yet. Trying to figure out Cobel still gives me a headache.