#catastrophically honestly

[b0wi3sgir1]

Sirius running away from home to the Potters like

[anistarrose]

This isn't something I would describe as a prominent or even intentional theme, but there's something fascinating to me about how TAZ Balance characters associated with composing and performing music are almost entirely correlated with either being forgotten, or having an incredibly warranted fear of being forgotten.

Johann is obviously the latter. I have an ongoing fic about his parallels with Barry — who plays piano, and who is the character we see spend the most time knowing he has been forgotten by people dear to him, and grappling with it. And I've seen the Johann and Lup dynamic get well-deserved attention in AUs where she lives, and they get to relate to each other as violinists — yet the parallels are at their strongest in canon, where Lup is the "most" dead of all the undead characters, the "most" forgotten, the most reduced to a near-invisible specter haunting the narrative, and the most like Johann's worst nightmare.

There's even a parallel with Davenport, who is a beautiful singer, and whose life story and dreams and achievements are all completely erased. So that's three different characters whose forgotten stories — which Johann obviously does not know — still serve to silently justify Johann's fear of the same fate, emphasizing just how likely it is that it could come to pass. How yes, it would be that horrifying.

And as a non-musician, but an artist of a kind myself... it all resonates. The fear of one's legacy being forgotten is a common fear in general, but it has a particular type of teeth to it for us creatives, who shudder in terror at the thought of a masterwork — that feels like a piece of one's soul — being forgotten, let alone cut short by untimely tragedy.

But that's why I treasure, so dearly, that all of these musically inclined characters — Barry, Lup, Davenport, Johann — are not forgotten permanently, but instead immortalized by the Story and Song, no matter the varying degrees of alive and dead that they wind up in the end. I treasure the parallels between these characters that say being forgotten is a grounded, reasonable thing to fear; that it is scary — but that no matter what, memory will still find a way.

[idontmindifuforgetme]

Honestly a bumpy but good start to this year. So many new exciting things in my life & so many new people. Anyone who isn’t good for me took care of themself & stayed behind in 2023. All the dominoes are lining up for maybe one of the best years of my life if I just stay consistent & block out all the noise

[vaguely-concerned]

sitting here with my head in my hands over just how much coalecroux is exactly tfgraves except tf incidentally happens to be a warlock alligator (a minor detail that changes surprisingly little overall tbh). I stand humbled once again before my own immense and unspeakable predictability

[danmeichael]

do u have any more shizun mo ran with disciple cwn thoughts? im 👀 at the au

thank you so so much for asking. my shizun mo ran au is my roman empire that i never do anything with despite having dozens of ideas and iterations of the concept because i love it too much.

it's not really focused on the plot of the novel (mostly because i'm not familiar enough with the plot to bend it to my will) and moreso a character study.

i like the idea of how much more volatile and codependent they'd be with their roles reversed. mo ran centers his self-worth on being a good shizun to this child he sees so much of his younger self in -- lost, alone, angry, trying to make something of himself in a world that has turned it's back on him so very, very young -- who seemingly absolutely despises him and seems to be the only disciple of his to feel that way.

chu wanning centers his self worth on his shizun seeing him as worthy, as useful, as an equal. he wasn't meant to be a child. all he's ever been praised for is obedience and maturity. i think a chu wanning who is still desperate and starved for acknowledgement, who hadn't forced himself to give up on being wanted, liked, loved, is an interesting character to play with.

mo ran wants to be a good shizun. he wants to give chu wanning the gentle, caring hand he wished he'd been dealt at that age, and chu wanning takes that as a declaration of war. mo ran does not see him as worthy, he sees him as a pathetic, helpless child. mo ran sees him as "a-ning"

it's also very much about mo ran at his wits end because he's a cringefail shizun and not being able to figure out what he's doing wrong while xue meng and shi mei watch him with their heads in their hands (and take chu wanning's side in every single argument.)

[pppeonies]

anytime someone is like "the weather is beautiful today!" and its like 85° degrees in the beginning of January or some shit in the Midwestern US i'm like................. literally what is wrong with u..?

[agir1ukn0w]

I absolutely refuse to believe that you can believe in science and feel deeply about the catastrophe our environment is currently under and not STILL…still even with all of that terrible knowledge, still absolutely, adamantly REFUSE to give in, REFUSE to let the greedy genocidal fuckers running our world win, REFUSE to let our world and the lands belonging to indigenous peoples be destroyed. I’m so fucking sick and tired of people talking as if our world is already lost. How can you fucking say that shit. How can you go about your lives in a state of surrender. How can you give up all that we are blessed with, all that our descendants deserve, without a goddamn fight.

[platoapproved]

so @armandposting mentioned Lestat lusting after David in Tale of the Body Thief the other day and while i alluded to that in my liveblogging in hindsight i just need to share some snippets from the Lestat Thirst Saga because i know some of you are never going to read the books (extremely fair tbh) and i just want you to Understand:

[hiddenramen]

okay. so. i think where i'm at at this point, now that there is a plot, is that the show should've focused way more intensely on the singularity aspect and the inherent, latent horror of the fact that society is desperately holding on by a thread and they are all, effectively, on a crash course for the end of the world.

every successive generation of quirks is more and more powerful (and destructive), and each successive generation has a wider gulf between them and the next. each of the villains represents the stark truth that everyone is ignoring, which is that the singularity is coming, and even at this point it's already starting to destroy the human race.

every one of them represents the fact that as quirks get more and more powerful, they start to rip apart the person who holds them. dabi's body physically cannot handle the heat of his quirk, it literally tears his body apart. toga and twice can't handle the mental strain. shigaraki's quirk is so impossibly destructive and hard to control that it's nigh apocalyptic in scale, and that's coupled with the fact that neither his body or his mind can cope with it.

i think a much better way to create conflict would have been to hone in on that and have the league be this sort of anti-establishmentarian destabilizing force intent on tearing down the veneer of normalcy and control that the heroes represent, bringing light to how broken and fragile their society actually is, and how the way they venerate quirks and heroes is actually masking how deeply fucked they all are if nothing changes.

[fishyartist]

Please cut the “vote to Stop fascism!’‘ shit. it’s so exhausting. You’re not fucking helping anyone by wasting your breath on defending a status quo that has been grinding people to dust for millennia. The fascism has fucking Been Here. Care about that more!

[doux-amer]

And look, I know I'm focusing on fun fun fun fun fun, but it helped because uh, the things that have come out about Yoon Suk-yeol's coup attempt are frightening and frankly more insane than you can even imagine.

(Just to keep the record straight, the bit about the DPRK uniforms is complicated because it hasn't been confirmed but hasn't been debunked yet either: x. We'll know for sure once the investigation starts.)

[cultivating-wildflowers]

I don't care if it's unrealistic. I will continue to hope for the best.

[robinpixels]

more sketches from the vault of jas and her situationships cuz they endlessly amuse me

(obsidian is a backstory npc, and miriam is @birdmenanime 's pc!)

[twobrokenwyngs]

actually hysterical in retrospect that i ever worried about what will happen if my oasis hyperfixation starts to fade. brother we are ascending to terrifying new heights never before reached by man or god

[sapphorror]

Okay, but one of the best things about Lice is the sheer amount of mutual pettiness it showcases between Zim and Dib for an episode that doesn't have them saying even a single word to each other

[marsixm]

well well well if it isnt Socializing Feeling Easier When I Give Someone Space And Let Things Happen Naturally Instead Of Being Neurotic And Obsessed…