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reidsnose · 4 years ago

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cosmically connected

overview: spencer has a sudden realization after having a conversation with you

genre: F L U F F

a/n: i just think this one is super cute hehe also it takes place like at the end of the work day and half the team has already gone home lmao

masterlist

"you really don't believe in soulmates?" Garcia pressed on.

"I'm a man of science! and science says no" Reid retorted.

"actually, science man, science says yes," you butted in, as you stopped packing up your things, pushing yourself off your desk in your spinnie chair to be nearer to them.

Reid turned in his chair to see the newcomer, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding when you smiled at him.

"is that so?" he teased, cocking an eyebrow.

you loved when you had a bit of attitude with each other. a cocky side of Spencer wasn't a common occurrence, so when it appeared you felt your cheeks grow red.

"oh! y/n you told me about this the other day! i said you sounded just like boy genius remember!" Garcia giggled, shaking her hands in excitement.

"yeah i remember." you laughed.

"can you tell me!" Reid feigned exasperation as he grew inpatient.

"relax! I'm about to!" you chuckled before continuing. "basically, when the big bang, or whatever caused the creation of the universe happened, there was all sorts of molecules and space dust that was together at one point that broke apart. do you agree?"

"yes." he answered cautiously.

"and in the whole universe is made of those particles?"

"mhm."

"im gonna stop calling them particles because i hate that word so im saying space dust. but in that case, humans are made of said space dust?"

"hmm... yeah thats correct."

"so two people could be made of the same space dust that was once whole?"

"i-yeah i guess you could say that."

"in that case, these two are cosmically connected then. bound together from the beginning by the beginning. in other words:" you wiggled your fingers as some sort of tiny 'ta-da' for dramatic effect, "soulmates!"

Spencer's mouth opened. and then closed. and then opened again, but then closed back up.

"he's speechless! you left the resident genius speechless! and you proved him wrong!" Garcia chirped, flashing and award winning smile to you.

you looked at Spencer, watching the wheels turn in his head. never in your life had you met a person quite like him. you loved watching him just exist, everything he did brought a blush to your cheeks. your felt embarrassed to crush so hard on a coworker, but you were convinced he didn't feel the same so it didn't really matter. you enjoyed adoring him from afar if it meant you could at least be his friend.

"i cant believe it." he stated simply, looking into your eyes and feeling as though he'd been electrocuted. in a good way.

you giggled looking down for a moment, afraid to keep eye contact for too long.

"what do you say braniac? did i convince you?" you asked, looking back up to meet his gaze.

the way you looked at him, Spencer was sure he would melt. you gave him a sly smile as you awaited a response, and he felt his heart rate quicken. every moment the two of you had ever shared together flashed through his mind and he was hit with a sudden realization.

"soulmates are real." he confirmed, cracking a goofy smile.

but he didn't come to that conclusion because of your scientific explanation.

it was because in that moment, he was sure he had found his soulmate. you.

"yes!" you exclaimed and interrupted his thoughts, spinning around in your chair and tapping excitedly on his desk.

"science said soulmates! science said soulmates!" Garcia said in a sing song voice, pushing you around the bullpen in her office chair.

Spencer couldn't help but laugh as he watched the scene unfold before him.

"when are you going to tell her?" morgan asked, clapping the younger boy lightly on the shoulder.

"i dont know. never? and maybe not even then." he responded much too quickly, feeling embarrassed at his crush.

"come on man! you're a profiler you gotta know shes into you!"

"except for the part where she isnt."

"i cant wait to say i told you so."

"youll be waiting a while."

"ah but not forever, pretty boy. not forever!" morgan laughed before walking out of the bullpen with garcia.

Reid scoffed lightly and rolled his eyes, though a smile tugged at his lips at the idea of you liking him back.

"aw man!" you cursed at you phone, after standing up from your desk with your bag in your hand.

"whats wrong?" he inquired, hands gripping his satchel as he walked through the now nearly empty bullpen to your desk.

"my friends had to cancel plans," you sighed, setting your phone down.

"oh im sorry. is there anything i can do?" he asked politely, making your heart flutter as you walked towards the elevators.

"no not really, i just need to figure out what to do with all the cookies i baked them." you joked, trying to bring light to your slowly dimming mood.

"i can help you eat them. we could watch a movie, or i could read to you." he offered, cheeks glowing a soft red under the streetlight.

"i think that sounds perfect," you smiled, a sudden flush filling your chest. "you wanna just ride with me?" you offered, opening your car door.

"yeah sure." he agreed, smiling softly.

"so," you began as you pulled out of the parking lot.

"so," he chuckled.

"do you really believe in soulmates now?" you asked, curious on how you were able to convince him so quickly.

his heart thumped wildly in his chest, "yes. i think ive met mine."

you felt your face fall but only for a second, forcing yourself to be happy for him, "aww, whats her name."

"y/n." he answered, nearly causing you to crash the car.

you swerved to the edge of the road and pulled over.

"what?" you questioned, breathless from the sudden news.

"i said her name name is y/n." he said nervously.

"im so glad you said that because im positive mine is named spencer." you smiled, feeling a sort of warmth spread through your body that you had never felt before.

he smiled a wide, goofy grin before placing a soft kiss to your lips which you gladly returned.

#criminal minds #spencer reid #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid x reader #spencer #reid #bau #cm #morgan #derek morgan #agent morgan #garcia #penelope garcia #soulmates

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nesonkin · 3 years ago

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HENLO :> i also feel like voltron did the coalition, rebel fighters and everyone in general dirty ;/ I WANNA HEAR YOUR REBEL FIGHTERS HEADCANONS SINCE CANON GAVE US NOTHING :D_ _

Emergency edit: So, my idiot ass accidentally posted this before I actually had the chance to finish the draft so think of it as part 1. So sorry about this...

[Second part]

WARNING: Long post

First of all, I am incredibly sorry about how long it took me to reply to you. The day I recieved this question I was very happy and excited that someone asked me about it and you truly made my day.

Although, I realized that my own headcanon lore wasn't exactly polished or properly thought out and I decided to delay with the answer to give you one that would be satisfying. In the process I lost my interest so the post would remain in my drafts for god knows how long.

But suddenly my interest came back to me so here I am.

It's going to be interesting answering this question given how little content we have of the rebels. So, when I try to think of headcanons it just becomes its own alternative universe exactly because I would have to fill the giant gaps in the Voltron Coalition lore.

Before I begin, I should probably clarify what my stances on canon and fanon are.

For one, while I see the appeal of Shiro x Matt it does not interest me as a romantic ship. I see and prefer them as shitty best friends, therefore if anyone expects romantic Shiro x Matt in this post they'd probably be dissappointed. (Same with Matt x Keith)

I also won't try to alter the canon events and only modify certain parts that were never elaborated on in canon. That's just how I prefer to handle these things.

This will incorporate the off-screen explanations and backstories for specific characters (Olia, N-7) both of which come from the Word of God.

Last but not the least, I am not particularly interested in the Voltron side of things (despite the series being literally named after it) so don't expect me talking about the paladins. But I will be talking about the impact that the Voltron has on the rebel fighters because it is pretty fucking huge.

More under the cut

I should clarify that this post is half me breaking down the canon lore and half me theorizing, headcanoning. I believe it helps provide context for some of my headcanons that I have.

Most of my headcanon lore relies on the timeline thing I made a year ago.

Unfortunately, it's still too vague to have any coherent story with this group. But on the bright sight, it just means that I can do whatever I want with the content that we do have!

First thing to consider is that Galra has been ruling over the galaxy for over 10,000 years. 10,000 years in human terms would be from the Middle of Stone age to the current era. And that is without the alien intervention. It is more likely that the Galra Empire would try to stop any kind of development of the species whose planets they've colonized. To prevent any chance of any of them becoming strong/smart enough to fight back.

One planet in particular could be Kythra. It's a planet inhabited by desert tribes from which Te-Osh supposedly originates from.

The point I want to make whilst talking about the Galra Empire is how much of a cultural and technological impact they have on the galaxy. While it's true that they also steal and appropriate creations of other species (Olkarion), it would be naive to think they wouldn't force their ways and culture onto every planet they colonize.

This is why Space Mall is kind of ridiculous... and just overall confusing. It doesn't seem to be properly owned by the Galra even though Varkon works as security. But it's no longer the Unilu owned place either. One of the unilu traders notes that his shop existed long before the empire was created meaning that the empire does have influence over the Space Mall. But it's just... a casual place where every species can just hang out and shop? What on Earth even is this place? Because it's not governed by the Galra Empire as evident by the fact that the paladins were able to freely show their presentation about Voltron with no one going after them. It's like a giant bubble where everyone forgets that the Galra fucking enslaved everyone. Such a weird place. Imagine a clearly popular hang out place in the Star Wars universe where everyone can just shop for whatever they want and there's never going to be any conflict and the Empire isn't going to attack it either. This is the Space Mall.

Well, enough with this nonsense and let's just move on.

The Space Mall episode did make me think of something interesting though. So, you'd think every race would have their own measurement system, right? Like how we have the Imperial measurement system and the normal one. Yet, they use the altean (or whatever it's called) one. It's likely that in the old days when the alliance still existed they had a universal measurement system. So, it only makes sense that the Galra Empire would impose the system on every planet they colonize. Which is why every species we see in the show uses it instead of something else.

The reason I'm bringing up the Galra influence at all is that I've developed this headcanon that is a sort of a workaround for the "All aliens speak English" trope. Because naturally you wouldn't understand another species due to the language barrier. I imagine Galra scientists would develop a translator chip for every prisoner, slave, citizen of a colonized planet etc. They'd implant those in others but make sure they configure it in a way that only translates Galra language. To make it impossible for prisoners/slaves of different species to communicate potentially leading to uprising.

To counter that I imagine rebel fighters repurpose it as international translators. With time they learn how to create some themselves. Which is how such a diverse group of people can understand each other. With N-7 being the exception because she's an AI and doesn't need one.

It's one idea I've come up with but admittedly it does contradict the canon lore. Because the trope of aliens speaking English is just there with no explanation. Still, I like my idea regardless.

Getting the actual timeline of the rebel fighters is difficult. There's no clear evidence to pinpoint the exact time the faction was created or even began to assemble. Rolo in S1 refers to them as the lucky few who haven't been enslaved yet. Signaling that they had a very minor presence in the galaxy. Or that Rolo was ignorant. Or lying. Hard to rely on his words. They've definitely existed before the Kerberos crew was captured. Moreover, Remdax and Vakala have been stationed on the Icy planet for 5 years and judging by the fact that their resources were soon to be depleted it wasn't their first year.

Rebels were likely formed after a long period of time starting out as small rebellion groups on planets conquered by the Galra Empire as it was expanding. With Galra officers taking prisoners across the galaxy an effort was made to communicate with other groups hence the diversity.

I like to imagine Unilu people would be exceptionally helpful for that considering they're one of the few races from the old days that still exist and thrive. They traversed the galaxy for many years and probably knew many languages. Which solves the problem of a language barrier. I'd say they're the second most populated race in this show.

One of them is actually a member of the rebel forces.

Remember this fella? Who never talked once in the series at all? Or ever been referred to? Well, I named them Gus. For no particular reason, I just look at them and go "Hmm, yes, this is Gus." VLD never named them so I have to do it myself. I HC them as agender and mute. They seem to make good use of the gestures, emotions and body language and considering we've never heard them speak this headcanon generated on its own. With 4 hands I imagine Unilu Sign Language to be very rich and extensive.

I like to think they were Matt's cellmate when he was a galra prisoner. In their spare time Gus was teaching Matt the unilu sign language so they could communicate somehow. And them being cellmated is partly why Matt was rescued by the rebels. Because Gus was already a rebel fighter and their goal was simply sabotaging the prisoner ship to set the stage for the rebels (Note: Matt was not with the rest of the prisoners from the Arena because he was sent to the working camps due to his injury).

Eventually Matt and Gus would become very good friends. Matt, being a fast learner, would learn Unilu Sign language and use the simplified version of it in case he ever needed to communicate with Gus without vocalizing anything.

As for less story important headcanons I like to imagine that Gus likes to draw with pastels and chalks. They're a little mischievous and generally optimistic which is why they it doesn't take a lot of time for them to get along with Matt. They have absolutely no regard for authority but loyal to those who prove themselves to be competent and fair. Which doesn't happen often. They are very expressive with facial expressions and body language.

For more references on Gus see this post.

That's as much as I've got on Gus so far. I like thinking of the kind of friendship that they would have with Matt. But let's move to another character important to Matt.

Te-Osh is a character that we see saving Matt from his prison cell and later get to meet her in Season 4 where she gives up her life to make sure she can deliver the medical supplies. It's implied that she was very close to Matt.

The term that was used to describe society on her home-planet is interesting. "Tribe" is an anthropological term that has long been assosiated with "savagery" and "primitiveness". There are a lot of harmful connotations related to this term which this article explains better than I could ever do. Besides all of that the term is simply confusing and barely represents what kind of society Kythra people have on their planet. I'm not sure if the writers were aware of all of this or if the "primitiveness" was the intended purpose. My best guess is that their society was still on the developing stage which the Galra Empire took advantage of and decided to interfere (just like certain countries did back in the days).

But let's move on.

Te-Osh gives me big mom vibes. I headcanon that she was a mother figure to Matt before he was transfered to a listening outpost. In my "lore" she's also a very competent fighter who's been training Matt and teaching him the survival tactics, and just taking care of him in general. Talking to him about complicated matters of war and making sure he's not going to do something stupid out of naivety and inexperience. She feels strongly about the rebellion which in combination with her somewhat short temper can result in lots of heated conversations with others. Especially with one sort of original character. But more on that later. She's an important memeber of her respective rebel cell being a local mom and all. I imagine her death took a big toll on many of her fellow officers and, of course, Matt. It's a little weird how they hinted her and Matt being close but we never see Matt's on screen reaction to learning of her passing. But oh well.

Wiki also mentions how she is a skilled pilot so there you have it.

And speaking of moms, it's about time I mention Captain Olia.

A member of the canine-like species and a competent rebel pilot. What is there not to love? She actually does have a backstory which you can read more about here.

Ha! Another confirmation that the rebellion didn't just start with the appearance of Voltron. Although, this still leaves some questions. Like, what were Olia and her husband doing exactly before starting a family? Humanitarian aid? Combat? Mechanic services? One of them has to be correct. My bets are on the mechanic services like fixing up ships and such. While Olia's duties could be transportation. Hence the flying skills.

Tbh this article did save me some mental energy. Because I don't have to think of everything myself. She was given a backstory via the Word of God and I'm more than thankful. But I'm still wondering if Omegaverse is considered a default for fictional works on her home planet.

Unfortunately, we haven't seen any proper interactions between her and Matt so it's harder to tell what kind of relationship they have but what we do know is that Matt does respect her authority. And that Olia cares about him enough to be present during his reunion with the family.

I believe it's safe to say their rebel party is a proper found family for Matt when he was separated from his biological one.

As a person Olia seems to be very laid-back and confident but not falling behind in profanity department lol

Her quick thinking during battle has saved the coalition more than once and it's a shame she had no speaking role in S8.

Being a mother she has an unique perspective on the rebellion. She understands more than anyone what it feels like having to leave your loved ones to fulfill your duty. And that understanding gives her sympathy towards those who do not want to join the fight against the Galra even if they can. Unlike Te-Osh, she is not concerned with ideals or bigger picture and prefers to stay focused on what she can do to contribute to the rebellion without losing touch with her family.

I think her and Matt met for the first time in S4 on Olkari after visiting the Castle of Lions. Making Matt a part of her crew and having Matt reunite with other rebels he knew from Kraydah Moon (but to be honest I doubt they've always been stationed there as it's more likely they've moved between different bases to remain hidden from the Galra Empire). Including his good buddy Gus, big man Ozar and N-7.

If you don't remember who Ozar is it's the big blue guy with a spiky hat. He also fucking died in S8 but the only part of S8 that exists is Hunk and Keith's carnival date so we're just gonna ignore that.

He seems to have the highest rank amongst the rebel fighters as evidenced by his commanding attitude. He is described to be the link between Voltron and the rebel fighters. He actually reminds me of the Miran race from DaiRugger/Vehicle Voltron (which we know are now canon to vld universe because of the epilogue) because of his blue skin and pointy ears. Now if only he lacked eyebrows...

There's not a lot of info on Ozar at all but because his VA also voiced Jake from Adventure Time my brain couldn't stop associating the two making them similar in personality. Except Ozar doesn't have ADHD.

I believe his age and experience gives him a lot of authority which most officers seem to respect. He would take the role of organizing important missions and managing diplomatic relations. Something Te-Osh usually stays away from because of the overall frustration that comes with it. Therefore, if you ever needed a permission to do something Ozar would be the guy to ask for it.

Ozar is pretty chill and likes to make jokes to brighten the mood during his off duty hours. And he wouldn't mind telling a story or two about his time with the rebellion. He keeps his chill even during the most extreme situations as he needs his cool head to command his squad in battle. Doesn't take risks he knows to be futile and would rather fail the mission than to lose more people to this war.

Of the relatives he has a granddaughter whom he keeps safe with the people he trusts because she lost her parents to the Galra Empire.

You can see him as the space grandpa.

He was asked to watch over N-7 by Mary Ann (the sort of OC I mentioned earlier).

Now, here's where I'm taking some liberty with the universe by creating a new race. Which are the descendants of the same race that Trigel was a member of. Because just like some Alteans managed to escape Zarkon's genocide it's not baseless to say that Trigel's people also managed to stay hidden from the Galra Empire and also further evolve into a race I'm about to introduce.

Caspians. They populated the planet Caspia. Over the years they've made some significant technological advancements which resulted in the destruction of the local environment. They've tried to take steps to reduce the effects before eventually leaving the planet. Still, many decided to stay and preserve what was left and continue their effort to restore the environment. Those who left eventually became who are now known as Olkarion people. Those who stayed focused on developing terraforming technologies and preserving their last bits of the lost culture.

One person in particular grew up to become a robot science genius. That being a woman named Mary Ann. She was originally a DotU II character which is why I wouldn't call her a fully original character. She appears in the episode "Take a Robot to Lunch" and gives the paladins a new perspective on war. She is a stubborn pacifist who has strong opinions about war and violence. Mary Ann used to contribute to the war effort by building robots until her creations began to be used as a weapon against innocent people. Which cemented her decision to leave and give up science for good. She scolds the paladins for how they just use more violence to solve problems but learns that combat is not all they do by the end of the episode. That's a quick summary of her character in DotU.

I decided to incorporate her into vld universe because she interested me. And because if someone created N-7 it had to be her.

In my lore Caspians had little to no interactions with the Galra Empire due to their beneficial location away from the Empire's grasp. Mary Ann, being a promising robot scientist, decided to leave the planet to pursue her curiosity about the galaxy and find resources which she can use to build even better machines. That way she ends up learning about the state of the galaxy and joining the rebel fighters providing them with technologies to help the war effort. It's how she eventually meets Te-Osh and Ozar. As a side project she begins the development of a software to help with automation of certain tedious tasks and data analysis. It's later being used to help analyze the radio chatter and collect all the necessary data. For convenience she would later develop a proper user interface which laid down roots for the development of an AI in the image of her people who was meant to develop their own identity. This is N-7 (get it? Ann seven?). It ended up being something personal to Mary Ann while she began to notice how her creations are being used to cause more harm than good. For example when the Galra troops steal devices of her design and repurpose it into weapons of destruction. And if that wasn't enough her own allies would use the same devices to cause destruction in the name of justice and goodness. Mary Ann would develop distaste for the methods her allies used to achieve their goals which put her at odds with Te-Osh. Because for Te-Osh not fighting back meant allowing the oppression to happen. So, when you put two headstrong individuals with opposing values against each other it rarely results in anything good. Mary Ann wouldn't put up with being used like that and decided to leave the rebellion. N-7, now learning more about the world around her, refused to come with because she "felt" the responsibility to stay and help as that was the whole reason she was created in the first place. Understanding of the decision Mary Ann parted ways with her "daughter".

I wanted Mary Ann and Te-Osh to develop a strong and close relationship (a romantic one maybe?) before Mary Ann's departure. To make things more frustrating for both of them when they eventually come to a point where their beliefs can no longer coexist without causing any more drama and conflicts (their beliefs CAN coexist but by this point they're too stubborn to realize it).

I also decided to use her character to explain Matt's behavior in S05E01 when he found something or someone in a prison cell which made him late AND extremely pissed off. So, imagine after leaving the rebellion she gets captured by the Galra and put into Lotor's prison for scientists (a plot from the DotU episode where Haggar tried to capture Marry Ann to make her build robots for their army). I don't see her willingly doing anything for the Galra so instead she would try to sabotage the research admittedly making it worse for every other prisoner because they have to receive punishment because of something she did. So, you can say no one likes her.

And here comes Matt. My poor son just trying to rescue his father. Opening up the last cell in the facility. His last hope. Only to find an unfriendly woman who not only refuses Matt's rescue attempts but scolds him when she recognizes the uniform he's wearing. Matt being late could be explained as him simply arguing with Mary Ann who refuses to go with him. And his unexplained uncharacteristic anger could be the result of the argument that took place where she openly expresses her distaste for his new found family and maybe even name-drops Matt's deceased mother figure (albeit unaware of her status). And here we go! It ties to Matt's own off-screen story and provides a possible explanation for what the hell did he see in that stupid cell.

So, Matt leaves her to fend for herself and they separate. And Matt is understandably pissed but refrains from talking about it because it’s of no one’s concern. But Mary Ann’s story doesn’t end here. Because I was planning to bring her back later after Voltron disappears and the timeline enters its 3 years time skip period. To have her apologize to Matt for what she said and realize she may have been wrong about the rebel fighters after all. And to have a proper reunion with N-7 who has developed beyond Mary Ann’s imaginations. She joins the coalition to help out her own way not with violence but with means of protection.

And that’s pretty much it for her.

And now we get to a character, whom I admittedly thought about more than others. Welp, not my fault I’m so into robot/AI characters.

It's a rebel fighter who was theorized to be Romelle, Keith’s mom, a druid and even Merla? All of which turned out to be wrong. Because she’s just an AI and not really as important as we thought she would be. As with Olia, this character has some off-screen explanation by the Word of God and can you see more in this article.

It's something, but it's merely a confirmation that she was an AI and that what we saw of Matt and her in S7 and S8 wasn’t just us hallucinating. The rest is for us to think of.

So, as mentioned above she's an AI developed by Mary Ann who over the course of the development started to consider N-7 her daughter. N-7 is constantly learning new things about the world as she's getting more hardware upgrades thanks to all new resources Mary Ann was able to get her hands on. To properly articulate her thoughts N-7 would also learn to use body language (often by mimicking Mary Ann, Te-Osh and Ozar to some extent, eventually developing her own system).

Her early work for the rebels mostly consists of data analysis and assisting comm specialists, but would later extend to supply/vehicle/inventory management and some occasional medical assistance whenever a doctor needed additional help. She would also pick up combat as having self-defense skills is important for any rebel officer. Most importantly, sometime after Mary Ann's departure N-7 would provide her assistance for the radio listening team. Because she was able to make the job easier there was no longer a need for a team of people on that job. It wasn't taken positively because all it meant was that those who were left without a job likely had to join the offensive forces which most couldn't do due to their physical or otherwise psychological limitations. This in turn would lead to the development of a system of listening outposts that N-7 could operate. Keeping track of every agent, their designated location and information recorded in their respective area. The more complicated the system was getting the more operators were required. Especially with how fast the coalition would grow in s4. So, eventually the system wouldn't need N-7 as the head operator anymore allowing her to join Olia's crew.

I still can't quite figure out what her role is in Olia's ship but I'm assuming it's something like keeping the ship in tact and making sure all systems are taken care of. I do like to think her contribution to the rebellion begins to take more proactive turn after joining Olia. Like taking part in ground missions and such. Which also opens her to new connections and perspectives.

As for determining her personality it's a little tricky. Because it always downs on me that I'm just creating another EDI (why must one fictional AI lady be so good) whenever I approach the subject of AI characters. But here I go.

She's cold and rational as you would expect. And can get into trouble with other people because of her acting out of logic and what makes sense while that isn't necessarily something that someone needs or wants. So you can get the occasional breaking of boundaries. But she also tries to understand human (or alien) psychology to make sense of the interactions happening around her (well I guess we do be entering the autistic thinking territory). It's how she understands that Matt openly freaking out the first time they meet is not a sign of a personal attack but simply his post traumatic brain acting up when he's faced with someone who reminds him of the Galra droids. Her speech patterns are descriptive and straight to the point and her body language is pretty nonchalant and distinguished. N-7 may be an AI, but she does "feel" things in her own way. Through a complicated system of priorities and signals meant to recreate chemicals in our brains. And while it's not something organics can truly relate to is it fair to deem her perceptions less "real" than that of organics? And it's that way she evaluates her viewpoint of the rebellion and decides that she has the responsibility to help people because she can and because her abilities can save lives in the long run. It simply makes sense for her to stay and help.

I will conclude the first part here, but I hope all of that wasn't a bit too much to deal with (;ŏ﹏ŏ) especially with how abrupt the ending is...

[Second part]

#vld #voltron #rebel fighter #freedom fighters #voltron coalition #te-osh #unilu rebel #olia voltron #n-7 #ozar voltron #fuckduckfuckficlctiock #matt holt #long post #mary ann dotu

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lilacerull0 · 3 years ago

Text

Scrapbooks Of Flowers

the fifth photograph: scrapbook of poppies

"When the lights go out, will you take me with you?"

- Summertime, My Chemical Romance

"That's what real love amounts to - letting a person be who they really are. Most people love you for who you pretend to be."

- Jim Morrison

They run through endless fields of gold which are nowhere near endless or golden, but they choose to believe how they are. All four seasons splash into one and Dorothy’s choice of clothes finally seams rational, with her gloves and short sleeves and waistcoats made out of various colorful materials that shouldn’t make sense, but do. An eternity of memorable every day moments meet up under gloriously ordinary circumstances which all lead to Revelius feeling like he’s finally found himself in a happenstance worthy of a book dedication or a songwriting experience. He lifts up his arms as he runs thinking about the way his life during this very hour must look like from a foreign point of view. He hopes it looks like a painting.

What can he say, he loves it when the reflection compliments the original creation, whatever it might represent.

Simply put, he likes to see the beauty in things. Including the parts in which they are broken. Light always finds a way to slip through the cracks. You just have to turn it on.

So, he runs. Scraped-up knees and all.

Dorothy has somehow managed to get away from him. She's so far into the field, the sun complimenting her, embracing her features as if it was always meant to hold her. Her and no one else. It makes him question his sanity, which he, for the record, does a lot of anyways, no matter the circumstance. Today's dilemma consists of wondering if he was running in the first place. Dorothy positions herself on the grass, her back the sole part of her that he can actually see. A strange fear blossoms inside of him, spreading its petals, tickling his sides. Teasing him. What if she doesn't look back?

But she does look back and then, he's already close enough to touch her. He doesn't. He takes a few steps forward and she lies down completely on the grass in return, staring at him from her flowery kingdom. He stays where he is, smiling from the above, not quite certain if he should put his hands in his pockets or not. There are moments like these, when he feels entirely disconnected from his body, when he wishes to observe and observe only, without the burden of existing and following people, endless parts of himself, around.

"Pass some of that magic to me, will you?"

He hears it as a joke, but it rings in his ears like an echo. Probably because he should pronounce it back.

"All of this must look a lot prettier to you than it does for me."

Yeah, pretty in its most enchanting form. The kind that makes you dizzy.

"I would paint you a picture, but I know I would never be able to finish it, so what's the point?"

"And I would never be able to feel. Not like you do."

It. Feel it. But she doesn't end the sentence like that. An image of a tree, with an incredible amount of tangled branches and flowers growing from each and every of its corners, pays a visit to his head. That's how Dorothy's mind looks like, he thinks. His own is more of a train. List of a thousand blurry places, an object trapped in motion. For her, everything is spinning around. For him, everything is moving forward.

"You wanna know how this feels for me?"

She doesn't respond, just in case he doesn't actually mean it, just in case it was a slip. She's giving him the space to drop the subject. He probably would've, if the day wasn't endless and the fields weren't gold.

"It feels like,... like when you dream and you know for sure that you are dreaming, but you choose to dream some more because you don't want the dream to end even though you know that is will... End."

"A comfortable illusion."

The wind that might have been there or might have been not says hello to his hair and ruffles it a bit. Revelius closes his eyes to welcome it, just in case it is there because he knows it would have been much prettier if it was.

He likes to see the beauty in things. The trick is, often times, he doesn't. So, he adds glittery fragments of the things that he does like to his surroundings, hoping that the world might show him some love in return. When it does provide him with anticipated pleasantries, he is never certain of their authenticity. Or their ability to occupy the delicate presence of air, for that matter.

"What do you think about getting gold lockets?"

"Like, for us?"

"Well yeah, but also no. What do you think of the concept? In general, I mean. What do you think of it?"

"I think it's a complete waste of time. If I love someone, I'm pretty sure I can rely on my ability to pick up on the sensation myself. Why would I need a reminder? Everything's already there, in my head... Where is this coming from?"

"Where's anything coming from, Dorothy?"

He appreciates the lack of scientific explanation on her part. Revelius has a special fondness for dramatic pauses. Dorothy usually allows him to pursue that passion. There's also the opportunity to delve deeper into the context of his last sentence. Neither of them pushes the topic any further. Good. He doesn't quite know where he was going with that. It can remain a lousy joke, if it ever gets transported to pages. You know, in case they aren't on those very pages right now.

"What do you think?"

"Huh?"

"What do you think of them? The gold lockets?"

"I'm not sure. It just feels appealing to me. Having a piece of somebody else, somebody that's not you, around your neck, resting on your heart, at all times. Something that's physically there. I like that."

He stops to take a breath. Dorothy tugs on his sleeve a little, almost unnoticeable, she now sitting up. He translates the gesture as an invitation and then allows himself to sit beside her on the grass. Home at last.

"She keeps putting herself into these golden, heart shaped lockets that she later attaches to people, people who offer as little, as much, as a handshake born out of nothing other than politeness."

"Who said that?"

"Nova. The sister! The wizard! School essay or something. I don't know what to do with it."

"She really likes your poems, you know."

"The situation called for silence Dorothy, you should have allowed it." he mutters with a laugh which earns him an annoyed glance and that strikingly familiar eye roll. And a smile. Lip-gloss smile at that. But Dorothy would rather leave it unmentioned. He allows it.

"Maybe we should skip the running part this time." Dorothy proposes only a second before he intended to do the same. The great, the funny, the consuming universe and its tricks.

"Yeah, let's do that."

***

He blinks. One. Two. Three. He blinks and he is still there. And he is still him.

He blinks and rain comes falling down.

Somewhere in the middle of somebody else’s life, Revelius found himself walking into his own. It’s sort of like a collection of countless little glass pieces belonging to various glorious, glorious and dusty, nameless mirrors. The portrait of chaos.

And still, the rain is falling down.

He walks home, chest full of memories that he can't possibly hold, but does; city lights and strangers behind him, their voices now forever engraved on his skin. The mirrors, the reflections, the portraits. Each shadow that crosses his path.

Right there, right beside his former high school (the keeper of life, the home of some of the mirrors) is a little store. He enters it empty handed, exits with a companion, a little paper bag barely grazing the end of his seemingly endless scarf.

When he pulls out the locket and tucks it under his shirt, it rests surely against his heart.

"I don't ask you to love me always like this, but I ask you to remember: somewhere inside of me there will always be a person I am tonight."

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

"He, like me, is haunted by his heart."

- Mahmoud Darwish

#my writing #scrapbooks of flowers #flowers #art #writers on tumblr #quotes #1989 polaroids #taylor swift #writing #coming of age #youth #editing later #too tired to do it now #my original work #original stories #original characters

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infinitesimalyerkesdodsons · 4 years ago

Text

Me: okay im feeling kinda good about the el noli au time to work on i--

Motivation: JANUS SILANG AU CONCEPT

Some messy bullet point explanations for the characters under the cut (since they contain spoilers and might get too long to read and scroll past lmao)

Warnings: death mention, cannibalism, gorey descriptions, betrayal

Thank you for considering reading this explanation lmao 🍪 have a cookie!!!

- so what i wanna say here is that the janus silang stuff has themes that revolve around twins and duality

- I'll also refer to janus sanders as deceit here so as not to cause confusion with his namesake

- there are three sets of people that have something to do with twins: miro and mira, the tiyanak and tala, and probably Janus himself, given his name and some stuff about his character that gives him this sort of dual nature thing

- i was actually tied between whether I make thomas or janus as Janus Silang in this, because thomas' red shirt with the star on it looks similar to the one Janus usually wears, but Deceit and Janus are essentially namesakes

- i decided to go with both of them because of how i saw Janus as a character. His duality in my opinion is brought by the fact that he used to know and be super close the main baddie of this story, the tiyanak, and was used by the tiyanak to gain important information (sorry remus!!!) and yet he's also the only one that has the power to help the counterpart of the tiyanak, tala (roman)

- it's also interesting to note that I also think that Janus' duality will fully come out in the fifth and final book in the series

- during the fourth book he was fated to die in order to set the world right, however this death wasn't just physical death, but an existential death in which his sacrifice reset the whole timeline and created a world wherein he never existed in the first place.

- only one person, who used to be a diwata, now human, remembered him. I hope that Janus returns in the fifth book and things are set back into place.

- anyway, the fact that this happened shows a big duality; his past existence saved the world and his nonexistence created an alternate world in the future that didn't need saving at all

- the timeline where Janus existed (2015 when things went down), I assume is simply an alternate universe where magic exists and is based on Philippine Myth and belief. The nonexistent Janus timeline (which is 2018), I assume, is this world we live in right now, a more realistic version of the original timeline.

- i want to think that janus, tala, and the tiyanak disappeared permanently from existence in order to set the world right

- it was said that only tala and the tiyanak can match each other in power, but in order for one to die the other must die as well.

- meaning that whatever happens, both tala and the tiyanak will disappear to save the world, but janus still has to die permanently in order to make tala's existence possible.

- which brings us to the other twins, tala and the tiyanak

- some important stuff in this is that the tiyanak and tala were twins born from a curse from humans in the Tabon cave.

- the tiyanak was cursed as a baby to be a man eating baby who eats the innards of people who neglect their family (or so i remember???)

- their very existence as cursed magical twins was a mistake, so bringing back to the saving the world part, in order to set the world right they both have to yeet out of existence

- as for their duality

- the tiyanak as i said earlier is a cannibal, and can create creatures to do his bidding. These creatures are from Philippine Mythology and each have their own abilities. He emerged from his mother's womb fully able to walk and talk, and can shapeshift into a child. (He cannot shapeshift into an adult though, so his underling creatures, the do-ol, do it for him)

- the tiyanak during the first book, disguised as Janus' brother in order to gain information about his twin, since Janus was supposedly the only one that can help Tala reach maturity to counter her twin.

- tala on the other hand was born without enough physical maturity, and is said to age by one year every 1000 years. When the events of the story play out tala is nearing her true maturity and only needs janus to do so.

- interestingly, before she appeared as her true form, before Janus' whole dying from existence thing, she looked like the tiyanak.

- anyway this is an abrupt end to this part of the explanation but let's get to the third set of twins

- miro and mira

- the thing with miro and mira is that they're not polar opposites unlike tala and the tiyanak. they have the same ability of switching and seeing between a purely magical world and the lesser magical earth.

- i chose logan and patton based on their personalities and the dynamic of the duo

- miro is more extroverted of the two, which seems like a good fit for patton

- mira is more reserved and quiet, and less open with talking about her ability. She preferred to figure things out on her own, retreating into the pure magic world in order to experiment with her ability.

- they die tho, miro by literally getting vertically cut into half in the middle of teleporting to the pure magical world, and mira by the hands of a mambabarang in the fourth book.

- the thing about these twins is that they don't necessarily completely oppose each other, and only their personalities seem to be different.

- i can see a similar thing happening with logan and patton, how they're not moral opposites but differ with how they work.

- next up is mica and renzo

- they're not twins but their characters are really important to the story

- mica is janus' crush, who gave him a usb necklace in the shape of a star (at the same time, star can be translated to "tala" in Tagalog, and the usb necklace played an important part throughout the series as well.

- she also played an important part in the third and fourth book, being a regular human without any power gave her advantage to magic (and lack thereof) related problems.

- And finally renzo

- did i mention that janus was orphaned? Well he was and another important character took him in. Renzo was also an orphan and he and janus had a brotherly relationship.

- that is, until janus got stuck in a dilemma where he could only save either Mira or Renzo from falling off a literal cliff, at the very end of the third book. Janus saved mira and renzo was left hanging and eventually fell (Well that was a cliffhanger amirite heheehe)

- one bit of lore about renzo is that he was a creation of the tiyanak as well. The tiyanak saved renzo from his doom and revealed this and I dont exactly remember why but it definitely had something to do with Janus as well.

So uh that's it i think hsjdjs this is kinda messy but yea if you made it here 🍪 have a second cookie!!!

#sanders sides #logan sanders #roman sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #remus sanders #janus sanders #my a(r)t #caps tw #not a countdown #sanders sides au #sanders sides art #ts fanart #janus silang au #janus silang #also if it's not too much uh #reblogs > likes

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askgasterfamily · 5 years ago

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Not sure if I'm understanding this. From what I read in your post there's 3 different Gasters you mentioned. Undertale!Gaster who created the Deltarune verse, Light World!Gaster, and Dark World!Gaster? Which Gaster is the story focused on?

ok so as we know from gaster follower #2:

They say he shattered across time and space.

Ha Ha… how can I say so without fear?

I’m holding a piece of him right here.

and so heres how it goes.

before agf movie starts, there is only one universe. this is UNDERTALE PRIME, the original timeline/universe, where W.D. Gaster is the royal scientist. he falls into his creation and it shatters him into pieces across time space.

it also splits and reworks the timeline into a new universe, DELTARUNE PRIME. This is not exactly the deltarune we play in, this takes place in the past and goes under slightly different rules.

so keeping this as simple as I can, DELTARUNE PRIME is the original undertale universe split into two halves. its split into light/dark and reality/fantasy. this is because there is only ONE dark fountain, which was made by gaster through the experiment that caused all of this. this fountain creates their forms and connects both worlds, the people themselves are split between their hopes and dreams. they’re separate halves of each other.

this is the fountain that ralsei’s empty town is around, these people were the people he would of governed. the second fountain hasn’t been made yet, lancer and every other darkner doesn’t exist yet. darkners aren’t toys brought to life, they’re the imagination/dreams the lightners had of the toys brought to life. this fountain gives form to their literal dreams.

i know its like. so lore heavy and you wouldn’t believe how much time my and my bud had trying to figure out all this lore… its been crazy. its been such a headache and i’m still not even fully satisfied by this explanation, it doesn’t even fully fit my h/cs but! its the best i can do and works for the story. i wanna make it clear that all this heavy lore stuff is just the set up for the world, its not the main focus. i mean, its a big mystery to the characters and they try to figure this out, its a big thing in the story, but its not what really matters! its the characters, and the allegory/moral i want to write. but i hope this helped at least make the premise clear?

#doodles #Anonymous

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shadowofthelamp · 5 years ago

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Can I get a basic run down of each of your au’s? It’s really hard to keep track and I wanna understand what people are talking about

*cracks knuckles* Alright, let’s do this. I’ll probably just link this in my sidebar at this point, because these are getting built up pretty rapidfire and if you aren’t on tumblr as much as I am you’re pretty liable to miss something.

Now with tag links, going chronologically so you can catch up if you want to! Some of them have a lot of posts, though, just as a warning.

-Time AU: The original. Twix is accidentally sent back in time- why is still a bit fuzzy but I think it involves the Voot malfunctioning when a time machine is installed. She runs into Dib when rummaging around in the basement lab in his house for parts, and lets it slip that she’s his daughter from the future. Her skin is just not-green enough to slip past his radar, and a DNA text confirms that she is in fact related to him, but her lips are sealed about who her other parent is.

She needs to break into Zim’s base to get the necessary tools to finish fixing the Voot to go back home, and Dib assumes she wants to expose Zim like she does, so she has to keep on his good side to get what she needs. It’s weird to say the least, seeing her parents fighting and Dib as a kid- especially since Zim looks basically the same.

After she finally fixes the Voot, it starts jumping through alternate dimensions before she finally makes it home, and she meets several alternate versions of herself.

The tag needs to be cleaned up on this one- it was the first au and has scattered posts of the others still in it but it’s going to take a while to edit down to the individual ones, fair warning.

-Tallest AU: Zim is “co-Tallest” with Tak, and Dib is a rebel fighter trying to take down the empire- sort of a bounty hunter on the side too. Twix is created during a fight when Zim tries to rip Dib’s throat out with his teeth, as you do. Zim is yanked out of public view while pregnant- can’t let the Empire know one of the Tallests has a defect that allows him to reproduce naturally. When he comes back, Twix is declared an experiment of his to create an heir with alien DNA to help her be taller, stronger, and more resilient. She’s kind of a spoiled brat in this one, and has absolutely no idea who Dib is.

When she’s about 12, Dib as a bounty hunter was enlisted to kidnap her in an attempt to rile up Zim and get rid of his heir in one fell swoops, having no idea that she’s his daughter. Eventually, that’s discovered, and she slowly learns what life is like for everyone who isn’t her, while Dib learns to be a parent and care for her instead of having to just rely on himself all the time. Things are pretty tense at first, though.

Eventually, after Zim gets her back, she’s injured during a fight and Zim and Dib make a reluctant truce while she heals, eventually becoming sort of ‘rivals with benefits’- Zim won’t kill him if he’s captured, and Dib won’t take headshots. Dib also gets a collar so he can walk around the Massive without somebody sniping his head off, although he’s very grumpy about this.

Eventually, Dib manages to convince Zim that he’s nothing more than a mascot for the empire, there to blow shit up to show their power. (Tak is the real leader, Zim doesn’t really have the power he thinks he does, and Tak was brought in as co-Tallest to do most of the real ruling and give an air of competence, with the Control Brains doing the rest.) This takes ages, and involves Zim being so deep in denial he literally shoots Dib in the leg to get him to shut up, but it needles at him until he accepts it. Needless to say, pisses him off. They run off together, something Tak’s actually pretty happy about because she figures he’ll just die without the protection being a Tallest gives him. Twix comes with them, and start causing problems for the Empire wherever they can.

Dib gets a robot arm at one point, we haven’t 100% decided on how, and they end up having a second kid, a boy named Kit. (Kit Kat. Thank the discord for that one.)

-WLOD AU: Based on the alternate future in Dib’s Wonderful Life of Doom. Dib is the villain in this one- Twix was made when Zim attempted to escape captivity and bit Dib in the process. She’s kind of a nervous, timid wreck, and Zim is incredibly protective of her. She doesn’t see the world outside of the lab until main!Twix stumbles across this world and helps break her and Zim out, bringing them to her reality and asking Membrane to help her ‘cousins’. They end up settled somewhere else. (She ends up good friends with Moth!Twix.)

The running joke with this one is if the other Dibs meet this guy they just beat the crap out of him.

When Twix eventually dies of health complications from being experimented on, Zim pretty much snaps. He goes back to his home dimension and burns down everything even remotely related to Earth and Dib and ends up conquering the Empire, his grief giving him laser focus and allowing him to work past his defects. He goes on pretty much on a multi-decade rampage, twice as ruthless as anyone else and blowing up planets with ease. One day, though, while he’s with the ground troops he sees a scared child who was orphaned by his attacks and sort of snaps back to himself. He ends up adopting them, and several others in an attempt to atone for himself. He trains them up, fully expecting one of them to end up killing him when they find out he was the one that orphaned them, but when they find out about Twix they tend to just leave over killing him.

He ends up dying near her grave of illness/old age.

-Human AU: This one’s gotten revamped. The old one is after the line, to explain the old fanart in that tag. (I… never really liked this one as much as the others because it didn’t feel Zim-like to me and Dib was barely a presence- and he was barely himself too.)

Honestly this one is still a bit of a joke, but Zim’s got a more mad-scientist edge to him, primarily with strange toys, furbies in particular. He makes lots of them and their house is overrun- Twix has no idea it isn’t normal. He enjoys making people squirm with his creations and ends up having a bit of a rivalry with Swap Zim.

______

Old version: Zim and Dib were both sort of academic rivals at school, but ended up paired together for a science pair project and became friends. They’re roommates at college and begin dating, and Twix just comes from a regular old broken condom, oops. Zim was kind of a party animal but cuts back for her sake. His water actually breaks during an important exam but he insists on finishing it, despite Dib’s blood pressure going up about 500%. Zim’s a Bio major, I haven’t really settled on Dib yet. Zim ends up working at Membrane Labs, though.

Zim’s also a big fan of musical theater, and gets roped into subbing in as Billy Flynn on the campus production of Chicago while four months pregnant. Gir is his younger brother and currently in high school.

-Irken AU: This one’s set a bit earlier in the timeline, when Zim was still working at the labs for military research. (See the canceled episode The Trial.) He met Dib there, and at one point they ended up locked in for a whole weekend on accident. At one point they got into a fight, one thing led to another, and Zim ended up pregnant. He only found out when he started getting sick and went to the hospital. The problem? That’s a defect that hasn’t happened in a long time- he’s whisked to the Control Brains, labeled defective in both mind and body, and sent off to Foodcourtia so no one has to deal with him.

When Dib finds out, he steals a ship and goes to rescue him. Zim is completely miserable, exhausted, overworked, and all around pissed this is happening. He lashes out at Dib for doing this to him before completely collapsing since his body hasn’t gotten a chance to rest in too long, and his instincts tell him that Dib is safe because he’s the other parent. Gir is a malfunctioning food service drone that snuck aboard the ship. They have to figure out what’s going on because this kind of thing hasn’t happened in centuries.

Dib was initially only interested in studying Zim because of the rarity of natural-born smeets, but as time goes on they end up getting closer, especially because Zim gets clingy as time goes on. There are two endings to this one- either they keep wandering around space, or they end up on Earth since it’s uncharted and no one will bug them there. Twix comes from an egg and has three siblings (possibly more) in this one!

-Pilot AU: Related to the Time AU- while jumping around, she gets stuck in the pilot universe. She very much doesn’t like it, especially since Dib starts stalking her instead. When he finds out she’s his daughter, he gets even more obsessive about how and why she came back, and she has to escape him to keep going home.

-Adoption AU: This is the angstfest one kicked off by a particular anon- Zim has a miscarriage, but at some point afterwards when Twix is jumping through the multiverse, she runs into them. After realizing what happened, she finds a version of herself that lost both of her parents and brings her to meet the ones that never had her, and they’re all happy.

-Zimvoid AU: Twix lands in the Zimvoid from the few most recent comics. Not a lot of plot to this one, it’s just fun to imagine. The Zims meeting after Twix is born is under PZA Au, and the Dibs meeting is ‘Meet me in the dibpit’ which is the best tag out of all of these lmao

-Species Swap AU: Dib is, similar to in the irken au, there to study local flora and find uses for them. Gaz is the invader, sent here for her catastrophic body count on every other mission she’s had. She finds out Earth has good games and is just ‘eh, whatever’ and basically puts the mission on hold, letting Dib start stalking the one human that truly interests him- Zim. He’s almost irken-like, and clearly incredibly intelligent- and destructive!

I made a whole plot explanation for this one here.

Dib is actually the one to have her in this au. It’s also a running joke and I’m heavily considering making it canon that this Zim is the one that actually succeeds in taking over the world.

-Mothman AU: Dib is an actual mothman, and so is his family. Variation on this one: One has irken Zim, one has human Zim. Other Dibs find this version of Dib hot. Twix is raised in the woods and her only real friends are her parents, Gir, and Tulip. (Keef’s adopted daughter.)

In the irken au, Zim is actually accepted relatively fast by Membrane who thinks he’s just a strange, stunted moth. After having Twix he ends up growing wings and neck fluff because mothmen are actually a very distant cousin of irkens that diverged millions of years ago, and carrying Dib’s kid kickstarted the process. He also dies for like two minutes because giving birth to an egg a third of your size really sucks. (He’s fine, once Dib got him to the recharging chamber he woke back up when his Pak reactivated him, he was just really low on charge after a birth lasting like two days.)

In the human au, he’s not so lucky- Dib has to keep his relationship a secret, and Membrane only finds out when he sees Zim, already pregnant. Dib gets into a big fight with him because humans killed his mom and Membrane is pissed he’d get into a relationship with one. Things do end up working out eventually, once Twix is born Membrane is fascinated by her, but tensions are still pretty high for a while. Earlier in this version, Zim actually found out he was pregnant when he gets accidentally shot by someone who was aiming at Dib and had to go to the hospital and they took a pregnancy test before doing the x-ray. (In all aus where Zim is human, including swap, he’s a trans guy, and this one is set in the 1970′s/80′s. He ran away to live in the woods for a reason.)

-SU AU: Steven Universe AU! This one’s covering most of the plot of Steven Universe up to this point, so it got long. Link here. (For the aesthetic, think more Gravity Falls and late over early SU: Deep woods and dark colors.)

-Capture AU: A sort of flip of the WLOD au. Zim wins and keeps Dib prisoner, although he enjoys riling him up so Dib is much more of a firecracker than WLOD Zim is. Zim gets the itching feeling he’s missing something and uses a blood sample from Dib to get himself pregnant, but he realizes he can’t raise the kid alone without killing her (and plays it off as making Dib help with something he’s made it clear he hates) so he lets Dib out but on a very tight leash. This one is definitely on the darker end.

-Scandal AU: Zim is Tallest, Dib is an irken scientist. They ‘grew up’ together but Zim shot up and forgot about Dib because- well, his memory’s canonically pretty garbage and besides he often misremembers things anyway. Dib is hauled in front of him for causing problems at the labs like letting the specimens free because he hates his coworkers, and they just kept shoving him at successively more important people because he managed to keep slipping away before being fully punished and it ends up getting all the way to the Tallest.

Dib gets pissy at Zim because he’s expecting to get thrown out the airlock or whatever, before realizing just how terrible of an idea that is and that Zim could do something a lot worse. Mostly he’s just mad that Zim left him behind, but Zim, who only has faint inklings of Dib being familiar, decides to keep him around on basically a whim.

Things evolve from there, with Zim doting over his new ‘toy’ who treats him like an equal (which he didn’t realize he wanted, because duh, he’s the Tallest, why would he want to be anything other than shallowly worshipped?) while Dib has to walk the VERY careful tightrope of staying alive by not pissing Zim off while also not rolling over completely and betraying himself. (And that might lose Zim’s interest as well.) Things get even messier when oops, there’s eggs now.

-Treasure Planet AU: What it says on the tin, an au based off the movie Treasure Planet! Plot summary here, AU mostly belongs to @64bit-trash and @yeehawimscared.

-Dibbrane AU: Dib turns out to be a much better clone of his father and doesn’t realize that Zim is an alien. Zim ends up getting attatched to him because he takes him seriously as a fellow scientist and genuinely enjoys his company, and eventually they get married- all without Dib finding out what he really is. Twix ends up more like show-Dib, determined to prove to the world that there’s a world hidden underneath their own, and Zim ends up her ‘alien rival’ in order to train her. She doesn’t realize she’s half-alien… yet. Fuller synopsis here.

-Amnesia AU: Zim was a personal pet project of Tallest Miyuki’s, and treated him as a son, planning to raise him to succeed her, taking down the heightarchy in the process. She ends up assassinated by Red and Purple in an attempt to get enough power to laze around for the rest of their lives, and Zim is blamed for it. A lot of irkens are bitter and jealous for the attention he got, especially for someone so short, so it’s easy enough to do.

While imprisoned, he tore up his Pak in an attempt to get rid of the grief and trauma of seeing his mother dead and ended up more defective, having mostly forgotten who he was before. The timeline ‘syncs up’ with iz show canon. He crashes OID2 and gets sent to Earth, and over the years enters a relationship with Dib and gets pregnant. When that’s discovered, he gets pulled back and his memory is wiped again, and when the baby is born, she’s taken away to see if they can shape her into a soldier.

Zim is used for more tests and Skoodge tries to help him, and ‘Brid’ is shuffled between career tracts before being sent out with the soldiers while still 11- practically a smeet. She meets Dib, who’s been looking for both Zim and his lost child. She promises to take him to Zim, but is going to try and bring him as a new species of alien to her superiors to get brownie points because she’s treated kind of like shit by the other trainees for being such a freak. (She always wears a helmet to cover her nose and hair.)

Eventually their paths cross as they get arrested and thrown into a cell near Zim’s, but Zim doesn’t realize he’s even got a daughter, much less this one, so there’s a while to figure things out.

All this time, Miyuki uploaded herself before her death into a side control brain that only Skoodge knows, and they stumble across her, and she helps fill in the gaps.

Aaaaaand I’ll go back and add more to this post if we get more, if I forgot one feel free to tell me.

#iz #aip #Anonymous #asks

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ruoyeming · 5 years ago

Text

My Fav Books, another chaotic list

Another quarantine review fest! I know I ranked my top anime but this is seriously too hard so I’m just going to list them to avoid hours of debate. Enjoy!

1) The Skulduggery Pleasant series

This whopper of a series (now at 15 books jesus christ I didn’t know there were that many I’ve only read about twelve) has a special place in my heart. I was FULLY obsessed with it throughout my tween - and teen - years, and for a reason. This shit just butters my bread like nothing else. The story follows a young girl Valkyrie Cain (who eventually becomes a young woman through the series) and her partner in crime, a fashionable living skeleton called Skulduggery Pleasant. They’re MAGICAL DETECTIVES!!!! Bitch!!! They use elemental magic - water, earth, fire, air - to fight off magic-wielding bad guys and look good doing it. The duo is hilarious and seriously shaped my sense of humour, the dry wit and comedic writing style stuck with me and influenced my own writing style to this day! As the series progresses we get a massive cast of characters but to me they’re all memorable, likable (mostly) and well-developed so that’s not an issue. I have no fukcing clue how Derek Landy comes up with his stories because every book in the series has an absolutely wild (yet unique) plot with its own twists and turns. It gets REALLY dark and depressing at times, gory, brutal etc etc especially in the later books I have no idea why this is labeled as a kids series.

10/10 for badassery, humour, and MAD codependency issues

2) The Feverwake series

This bitch is one hell of a YA series. It’s actually only a 2 book-series which is rare, but that’s not the only thing that sets it apart from other creations of its genre. It’s hard to explain the setup without waffling so I’ll just quote the blurb of the first book: “In the former United States, sixteen-year-old Noam Álvaro wakes up in a hospital bed, the sole survivor of the viral magic that killed his family and made him a technopath. His ability to control technology attracts the attention of the minister of defense and thrusts him into the magical elite of the nation of Carolinia.

The son of undocumented immigrants, Noam has spent his life fighting for the rights of refugees fleeing magical outbreaks—refugees Carolinia routinely deports with vicious efficiency. Sensing a way to make change, Noam accepts the minister’s offer to teach him the science behind his magic, secretly planning to use it against the government. But then he meets the minister’s son—cruel, dangerous, and achingly beautiful—and the way forward becomes less clear.”

As you can tell from this, the series is heavy on its politics but in a grounded, realistic and relevant way which is different to many other YA series. Marxist theory is brought up, and you can make some pretty strong links between the books and real events. The magic also has a semi-scientific explanation which is cool and adds to the realness. Anyways this series is action packed and full of twists, plus there’s a bisexual main character and queer romance at the core!! Wig!!! Very good for moral debate - how far is it acceptable to go to protect the oppressed before you become one of the oppressors? Dark and exciting series.

10/10 queer representation and political themes.

3) Spin the Dawn

It’s probably obvious that I’m biased towards YA books but they’re just so exciting and cool! Anyways this is about a girl living in a kind of alternate universe ancient China where magic exists. Maia Tamarin is a skilled seamstress who dreams of being the Imperial Tailor, a position that can only be held by a man. She poses as her brother to go to the royal palace and enter a competition full of skilled tailors, all vying for the role of imperial tailor. She also meets Edan; a mysterious, annoying, but SEXY mage who seems to know her secret identity? Oho? IMO this would be an elevated book if Edan had been a girl but that’s just me being gay. As the final challenge Maia is tasked with making 3 dresses from the sun, moon, and stars - a mission that takes her to the ends of the world in search of these magical materials (obvs Edan goes with her and they kiss kiss fall in love). It’s a fairly classic YA plot and characters but the combination of Project Runway, Mulan, and kind of Lord of the Rings(??) vibes makes for a very entertaining read. It’s also really fun to imagine what the clothes look like, plus the romance between Maia and Edan is very cute. Second book is yet to be published but sounds lit.

10/10 magic fashion and romance (despite its heterosexuality)

4) Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Usually I steer clear of angsty gay stories because I’ve consumed too much of the depressing narrative which is all about suffering because of being gay, but fuuuuuuck this book is like the definition of bittersweet. Mostly bitter to be fair but it has a happy ending which was lovely after the emotional torment of the book. It’s about two teen boys - Aristotle is angry and repressed, Dante is eccentric but kind, and the two eventually form a strong friendship after meeting at the local pool. It’s kind of obvious that Ari is in denial about a few things, which leads to some real sad boi hours. There’s also a devastating moment around halfway (not sure) through with a car accident which makes the whole thing 10x heavier. Despite all this, the book has its sweet moments - parents play a big role, but not in the way they usually do in queer stories - and like I said the ending is the bandage for your broken heart. I’m not sure what it is about the writing style, maybe the way it just cuts between scenes randomly or perhaps the way the dialogue and actions are so realistic, but it’s so different to any other book I’ve read that it’s stayed in my mind for a while after reading it.

10/10 really good philosophy plus supportive parents

5) The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue

Okay if this was a ranked list, this bad boy would be on its way to the top spot. It’s got everything: historical setting, gays, pirates, alchemy, humour, adventure, angst, character development, and some healthy second-hand embarrassment. It’s not complicated or philosophical but reading this book all in one go is like taking five shots and diving into a pool. It’s exciting and witty, but deals with darker themes like child abuse too. One of the MCs also has a disability and doesn’t treat it as something to be cured, which is a lesson our protagonist has to learn. Speaking of protagonists, Henry ‘Monty’ Montague is a great main character. He’s obnoxious, oblivious, and hedonistic yet quick-witted and passionate, and he has a good heart. Sometimes you just want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him for being such an ignorant idiot, but throughout the book he grows and learns to open his mind more (as well as becoming more humble). He’s a great example of a flawed yet likable main character. He is also a bisexual icon.

Oof forgot to even talk about the story. Monty embarks on a tour of Europe, usually taken by lads his age to get all cultured before they settle down and inherit the family company or whatever. With him are his younger sister Felicity, a girl with a brilliant mind for science who isn’t taken seriously by anyone because of her gender, and the lovely Percy, Monty’s lifelong best friend (and crush). Monty ends up stealing a very valuable object that turns the Tour into a manhunt across Europe, and drags the trio into a big ol’ conspiracy involving something that may or may not be the philosopher’s stone????

Issues of race, gender, and disability in historical context are really well done, and it’s an absolute banger of a book.

10/10 very exciting adventure, plus GREAT GAY ROMANCE

6) Heaven Official’s Blessing

HOOOOOO BOY. This is probably my absolute fave on this list. It’s a webnovel (originally Chinese but the full translation is online). Set in ancient china in the cultivation world (difficult as shit to explain if ur not into all of that but I’ll try), basically there’s three realms - the heavenly realm, the human/mortal realm, and the ghostly realm. If a mortal reaches a certain point (good deeds, power etc), they ascend to become a god - or if they fall far enough, they become a ghost.

I’ll just quote the author’s description again cause I don’t have the brain cells required:

“Eight hundred years ago, Xie Lian was the Crown Prince of the Xian Le kingdom. He was loved by his citizens and was considered the darling of the world. He ascended to the Heavens at a young age; however, due to unfortunate circumstances, was quickly banished back to the mortal realm. Years later, he ascends again–only to be banished again a few minutes after his ascension. Now, eight hundred years later, Xie Lian ascends to the Heavens for the third time as the laughing stock among all three realms. On his first task as a god thrice ascended, he meets a mysterious demon who rules the ghosts and terrifies the Heavens, yet, unbeknownst to Xie Lian, this demon king has been paying attention to him for a very, very long time.”

It’s hard to describe the enormity of this story and all the emotions it encapsulates, you really have to read it for yourself. But bitch the undying, pure, Hozier-devotion-level LOVE is by far my favourite part of this story. If you’re looking for an epic, god-tier gay romance, then this is it baby!! This story has comedy, action, and downright harrowingly depressing moments, but throughout is this achingly beautiful love between fallen god and last believer.

I don’t wanna give too much away cause there are some big ol’ plot reveals, but oooh this shit made me cry. The protagonist is MY FAVOURITE EVER I didn’t think it was possible to like a protag so much!! He’s legit my fave character! At first he seems oblivious and carefree but he’s just doing his goddamn best after all he’s been through and he’s so fukcing kind and just wants to help everyone for fuckcs sake excuse me I need to go have a breakdown.

Okay I’m back, anyway there’s a great cast of characters, even the background characters are all incredibly memorable and all given their time to shine and develop. My faves include Quan Yizhen, a rowdy himbo who just wants to fight, and Shi Qing Xuan, a friendly genderfluid god who controls the wind. Read this shit I’m not joking it’ll change your life.

10/10 for everything

#book review #book recommendations

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ivythewitch · 5 years ago

Note

What’s your favorite advice to a baby witch?

Read everything you can get your hands on.

Seriously, even if someone tells you it’s problematic, even if I tell you the author is crap, if you can get your hands on it, read it.

There is knowledge to be gained from everywhere.

Even from people who are problematic.

Take for example, Silver Ravenwolf. It’s known that she is just a super problematic person, her practices are a bit on the racist side (research to learn more, I really don’t wanna explain it) she has told teens in her popular books that lying is okay (it’s really not guys) among other things that are just plain cringey and give Wicca and Witchcraft a bad name, HOWEVER, her creation myth she wrote about how the Wiccan Gods (The Lord and Lady) created the universe is seriously the most perfect explanation of my own personal ideas of how it happened. So, even though I do my best to not support her, any books of hers I have ever owned have been bought secondhand from thrift stores, I still think that she has given me something useful for my practice.

Second thing, don’t worry about being perfect. Lord knows I am not, and no one else is either. Even the most “amazing, so witch, very magic” blog on here, doesn’t do witchcraft or practice or read 365 24/7. My BOS has been started and rewritten more times than I can count, my first altar was a cereal bowl, a kitchen butter knife and a 3 layer scented candle from walmart. Start your journey, forget about the pizzaz. That can come later. For now just focus on the feeling, and the learning.

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airyravenmaid · 6 years ago

Text

Lightning Never Strikes Twice

Well, I fuckin’ did it. After much convincing from a certain Lightis server I joined like last month, I finally decided to post this and the other thing I wrote. However, to clear up any confusion, I must let you all know that though NoctLight obviously happens in my Versus XV AU, dem nerds were in no way love at first sight (which doesn’t even exist anyways lol). In fact, things didn’t start picking up until like super late Chapter 5, then went from there (for better and worse; this is centered around XV’s storyline after all XD), but this takes place during the beginning of Chapter 3 where Light first joins the team, so blah.

But, okay, since that’s finally out of the way, here’s where it all began for this Wonderland of a little sub-universe I created from two FF games I so happen to enjoy combined together. I can only hope you guys like this piece too, and I can very highly consider publishing the other thing I wrote. Happy reading; have lots of fun doing so! 💘

“A prince? You’re asking me to help escort… a prince.”

“I wouldn’t exactly say ‘escort’. What I’m asking you to do is more to accompany him and his retinue until they reach Altissia.”

“Why me of all people? And if they’ve been gone for a while, don’t you think they’re fine on their own?”

“Believe me, I know they are. But after… recent events here in Insomnia, there’s no such thing as being too careful.” Out came a peach colored folder full of photos and official documents, all on her and basic history she was sure a certain ‘new world creation phenomenon’ had preserved and written in for public records even in its neighboring dimension. No other explanation served, so she continued to listen intently with reluctance swallowed. “Says here you’ve had quite a bit of military history as the sergeant of something called the ‘Guardian Corps’?”

“Correct. Since my teenage years.”

“And your superior officer was a man named Amodar?”

“Lieutenant Amodar. That’s right.”

“I see. Keep in mind, I wouldn’t hire just any old nobody off the streets to do the job. Looking it over very carefully a few times, someone with your experience looks to be the right fit. Question is, can you actually do it?”

“Doesn’t matter if someone can or can’t. Some things in life you just do.”

Taking that as a firm agreement, the man known infamously as “The Immortal” closed the folder of the former soldier’s documents and officially sealed her new mission. With everything said that needed to be, directions to the next train stopping near her destination in Duscae, and a formal salute, she was off carrying the needed profiles of the four men she was to meet. He himself at the time needed to leave for a checkpoint in a place known as “Hammerhead”, so when her part of the deal was to come, she’d be ready as she ever would for it.

Or so Lightning so wanted to believe. Truth of the matter was, this new mission she sorely hoped would be her absolute final one was the dead last thing on her mind. From the whole Purge travesty with the long-abolished Sanctum that inadvertently turned her into a “dreaded” l’Cie to waking up from a crystal slumber after five whole centuries only to have thirteen days total to save her loved ones and others from impending doom, to say she was sick and tired of fighting for her life was an unfunny understatement.

But, the forces of fate she lived to fight were, as usual, on the opposing side. Because there she found herself; slumped against the window of her train seat wearing the outfit she’d long dubbed the “Heartstealer” from her first times wearing it, even further away from her new home with the loved ones she once again had to leave behind for the time being. Promises made to come back after her “short trip” she vowed to keep at all costs. And no spoiled little prince or his merry band of bodyguards was going to get in the way of her own decisions.

“Next stop, Alstor!” the conductor announced, the train pulling up at the closest station to where Lightning was asked it go. It’d still be a walk away from the actual spot, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t manage.

‘Where did Cor tell me to go again?’ Lightning wondered in her thoughts, looking at the specific directions given. ‘The “Coernix Station”? Doesn’t sound like much of a waiting area.’

Looking around her while figuring out which way to go after what, Lightning seemed to truly take in how alien the place felt to her. It wasn’t at all like anything she’d experienced years ago back on Cocoon, or even the short time she spent journeying in Nova Chrysalia. No, the Duscae region itself had more of a… retro, much simpler feeling to it. But, whatever it looked like, she had more important things to do than sightsee a place she never intended on seeing again for the rest of her life after she was done.

“Still seems like quite a walk,” Lightning commented, glancing up at the frontmost direction to see no leads on the station. “Best take a shortcut so nobody shows up to a missing recruit. What’s…? ‘Alstor Slough’, huh? I’ll just cut through that.”

Rolling up her navigating directions, Lightning took a turn that led her right along a path going through a grassy area full of pinkish wooden plants growing out from the bristled plains. So long as she stayed on that one path and went the right way, nothing could go wrong for the armed former soldier. Staying on guard was second nature to her, so any mysterious creatures lurking around would have to deal with her first and foremost.

And as if taking heed of a secret cue, the first unlucky volunteers caught sight of her and stepped forward. Well, Lightning wouldn’t say so much stepped as she would a group of pale, sickly-looking mutant wolf-like creatures with teeth sharper than her own blade charging her way.

“Your funeral, not mine,” Lightning stated, unsheathing Blazefire Saber from the case strapped to her body. In the blink of an eye, the gunblade unfolded itself into its sword form, giving its owner the okay to run at the first of the strange creatures to cut right through it.

Lightning didn’t have any sort of clue what she was fighting, but she cared just as little at the same time. The wolf-like mutants in spite of their ferocious appearances didn’t seem to be putting up much of a fight either, considering how easily the woman was cutting through them like a hot knife against cold butter. One tried so foolishly to take her down from behind, only to be silenced by Lightning whipping around and firing a strategic bullet out of her weapon’s giant pistol mode before it unfolded back into a blade to effortlessly take down its brethren.

With one remaining in sight, the beast lunged to try and take a fatal bite of her. Instead of any sort of flesh or muscle, however, it stopped rigged in its tracks when it received a unpleasant mouthful of sword cutting right through the back of its head. Lightning ripped her weapon from the creature, giving it one more cautious slash to ensure it’d truly died. Now surrounded by lifeless carcasses of the pack, Lightning folded Blazefire Saber back into a gun and resheathed it, walking along her way as if uninterrupted.

“Not much of a fight,” she commented, brushing herself free of dust or dirt. “Here’s to hoping the other creatures here are smarter than them.”

Throughout the rest of her trek, Lightning only somewhat got her wish. As she’d consciously expected, more of the same beast tried to make a meal of her, but she valiantly cut her path open again going through each one. By her arrival even closer to her goal than before, Lightning was looking rather scuffed up. It wasn’t anywhere near as bad as fights she’d been more used to, but there was still hoping the Coernix Station had some refreshments to give her more of a boost.

‘Here we are,’ Lightning thought, walking uphill and crossing over to the actual rest area across the road. Her stomach growled a few more steps in, the woman knowing better than to ignore hunger and risk collapsing in the most unorthodox way possible. “Let’s see what’s at that ‘Crow’s Nest’ place.”

“Welcome, Miss!” a man she assumed to be the diner’s cook greeted her once she sat down at the bar. “What can I get for ya today?”

Lightning looked up at the menu and its three most prominent choices being promoted. Fries and salmon anybody with a brain could recognize, but the beverage and names of all the choices were absolutely alien to her. “Are you… ‘Kenny’?”

“Who, me? No! The food here’s just named after our mascot, Kenny Crow! I’m sure you’ve heard of him, haven’t you?”

“Kenny who?”

“Oh. A foreigner, are ya? That’s okay, everyone has their first time to the Crow’s Nest at one point! What would you like?”

“A plate of ‘Kenny’s fries’ will do. And a bottle of… Jetty’s? Do you have a mascot named Jetty too?”

“Nah, that’s just the name of Kenny Crow’s trademark mineral water! It’s good, you wanna try some?”

“Sure. A bottle of that too’s good.”

“Comin’ right up!”

As good as the salmon looked, Lightning only had so much Gil on her to spend at the moment, so spending 1,400 of it on a plate of cooked fish wasn’t a smart option. Instead, she paid the 200 Gil owed for her fries and water and waited patiently until both showed up. Since she was able to enjoy the meal, now all that remained for Lightning was for the “royal retinue” to show up and pick her up for the mission. Joy, she thought without a hint of it in her head. Travelling with strangers she didn’t know or care about in an unfamiliar world. Etro knows what could await her then.

The fries digesting in her gut replenished plenty of energy lost fighting monsters in the infested plains, and the quarter-consumed Jetty’s water bottle helped a plenty. While checking out the “Shop & Café” next door to see if she needed anything from it, Lightning saw an unfamiliar, sleek fancy black car parked in front of where others like it would sit to refill its tank. She would have thought nothing of it, were it not for the four young gentlemen in black clothing close to her (physical; how old she really was as a result of her awakening from stasis was something between only her and her loved ones back home) age range inadvertently proving themselves as the owners of said vehicle.

From the shop window, Lightning picked up on all four faces, opening the documenting profiles she was given on one of the small white tables in the shop. Looking between the clear headshots and the men outside, she had a match. Before being given the chance to pack the documents up, she heard a voice belonging to one of them speak up and get closer to her proximity.

“—Here we are! Finally meeting ex-sergeant Lightning Farron!” the rather perky voice chirped, its source a scrawny spiky-haired, blue-eyed blond with youthful freckles and a weird section of flannel hanging out from under his top. “Man, I’d bet he’s this tall, burly, really hairy fella— probably something like Gladio, but even more gruff than that!” He took a look into the shop she was in, catching the sight of her but not yet fully processing reality. “Yeah, and he’s gotta be really strong with his petite figure; soft, luscious lips pink like the rose, breathtakingly alluring blue eyes, wavy pink hair, and—!” The wide-eyed look on his face quickly informed Lightning the realization struck him quicker than her moniker. “—Is actually an extremely beautiful woman?!”

“Run that by me again?” Lightning questioned, folding her arms and cocking her head to the side.

“Err, uhhh… I—”

Another man stepped in before the first could snap fully out of his stupor, this one taller and more mature looking with slicked up auburn hair and viridescent eyes able to properly see through oval-shaped glasses. He saw her too, only holding up information given to him prior to see if it was right. “‘Lightning Farron’?”

“Who wants to know?” Lightning asked, ever-rigid towards the man with the befittingly fancy accent.

“Ignis S. Scientia, advisor to the Prince of Lucis. I trust you’ve been informed of us by a one Cor Leonis?”

Okay, at least she could be sure they were definitely the right people, now by physical appearance and name in the profiles. “Oh. So, you have to be the ‘royal retinue’ I’ve been put on the escort mission with. In that case, yes.” Lightning gave Ignis a formal salute of honor to show courtesy, not minding his stoic expression not moving an inch from its default form. She ignored the blond examining her at several angles, dismissive of whatever was going on in his head. “Former Sergeant Lightning Farron, at your service, Ignis Scientia. A pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Miss Farron.” Ignis on the other hand gave her a formal half-bow, already on her civil side with his polite first impression.

“Uhhh… huh,” the blond one stuttered, unable to fully digest Lightning’s physical form as if she were some ethereal goddess walking among the mortal realm.

“...Can I help you?” Lightning half-hissed, already running low on patience for that one’s brainless nonsense.

“Don’t mind Prompto, he gets easily befuddled meeting new young women,” Ignis warned her. “Come with me. You might as well make yourself more acquainted with the other two while you’re at it.”

Following Ignis with the one named Prompto not too far behind, Lightning saw only one of the missing two men she had yet to meet. This one she figured to be the tallest, the incredibly muscular build pairing well with the gruff long dark chestnut mullet hairstyle and noticeable scar running down one of his rust-colored eyes. Well put together as he was, Lightning remained unaffected by physical appearance alone, though her hands now rested on her hips with the profiles in her grasp rather than be folded in her stubborn arms.

“And who’s this here, Iggy? Don’t think I’ve ever seen this one around these parts before,” the tall and muscular one mentioned, his tone giving off hints of a flirty vibe.

“Our newest recruit for the journey’s course,” Ignis answered.

“Really? You’re Sergeant Farron, huh?” Now his eyes were on her, almost as carefully as Prompto’s were but a lot less clumsy.

“That’s me.” Lightning skimmed through the files until she found a match on the burly one’s features. “‘Gladiolus Amicitia’, I assume?”

“King’s Shield in the flesh. But, calling me just ‘Gladio’ is perfectly fine. Gotta say, wasn’t expecting such a pretty face like yours to go with a name like ‘Lightning’.”

“Is that supposed to mean something?”

“Nah. Cor recruited you for a reason, so you’ve gotta have lots of fighting spirit in ya. Otherwise, the Marshal wouldn’t have even considered you.”

“Experience, I’ve got. ‘Fighting spirit’, on the other hand, is what I’m not allowed to get rid of nowadays.” Lightning unveiled Blazefire Saber, flicking her wrist forward to unfold it into its sword form to both the awe of Gladio and Prompto, and the intrigue of Ignis. “So long as I’ve got this by my side, I’m stuck in the battlefield once again.”

“Some sword you got there, Sarge. A little small if you ask me, though.”

“And why’s it have a trigger?” Prompto wondered, running a finger over the rim until Lightning pulled her gunblade away from his reach. “Just for decor?”

“No, that’s real. When I don’t wanna use the blade, I just shoot my targets.”

Prompto let out a loud gasp of excitement at the revelation, starry eyes now glued to Blazefire Saber. “You use guns too?! Ooh, ooh! Show us a demonstration?! Pleeeease?”

“Rather not. Wouldn’t wanna cause a scene at such a little rest stop.” She folded it back and put it away while Prompto’s face fell disappointed. “It’ll be worth the wait once we get moving.”

“That is, as soon as His Highness comes back. He should be just about finishing up his talk with the Crow’s Nest owner momentarily,” Ignis guessed. “Seems a friend of ours required our assistance, and Noct’s asking for directions on where to find the missing dog tags.”

“As in the one for pets, or the one for soldiers?”

“The second one,” Gladio answered. “I’m sure you’ve had some when you were in the line of duty where you’re from, right?”

Before Lightning could answer the question, footsteps approached the group. Turning her head, she’d found the last of the retinue; the Lucian Prince himself. His photo seemed to add up with his appearance; messily spiked hair blacker than the night sky, eyes a shade of navy blue as modest as his current expression. For royalty, Lightning figured, he certainly didn’t dress the part. How he acted, however, was beyond her knowledge and concern for the time being.

“Hi there,” he greeted her politely. “Guys, who’s this?”

“This, Noctis, would be the team’s latest addition that Cor informed us of,” Ignis told him, the prince’s face shifting to a noticeable disappointment at the news. “I’d like for you to meet former Sergeant Lightning Farron.”

“Oh. So this is who’s joining the team the rest of the way? That’s… great.” You’d have to be deaf to not hear the blatant malcontent in Noctis’ tone, especially so when he looked at Lightning.

“I know, right?!” Prompto cheered, he himself elated at the woman’s presence in stark contrast to his standoffish best friend. “Dude! Her weapon? It’s a gun and a sword all in one! It’s like the 2-in-1 of weapons! You should see it!”

Noctis didn’t seem to entirely believe such a silly claim, merely accepting it as the other boy’s typical excitement at whatever. “Thanks, Prompto, but I’ll have to pass. Alright, and you’re ‘Sergeant Farron’, then?”

“The one and only.” Lightning pulled out His Highness’ profile, looking over his name with a raised pink brow. “‘Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum CXIV’. Who has their home as their middle name? You don’t see my name being ‘Lightning Bodhum Farron’ or anything like that.” Then again, Fang and Vanille were two exceptions to that, but even that was based more on Oerban culture than nobility.

“You didn’t exactly see me asking for your help either, and yet here we are.”

“Wow, Princess, mind telling me what just crawled up your ass and died?” Gladio scolded, as taken aback as the other two by Noctis’ snarky comment towards the equivalent of a new guest.

“Recently? A lot of things including my home town,” Noctis bit back. “Look, it’s nothing personal towards someone I don’t even know, but you heard Cor; he didn’t have a reason to worry about us anymore.”

“Him not being worried does not equate to rejecting another pair of hands to ease what lies ahead for us,” Ignis reminded him. “Someone with Lightning’s militant combat experience wouldn’t be anything except highly beneficial.”

“Yeah, so quit acting like a rude little punk in front of the new girl and suck it up,” Gladio growled. “‘Cause from here on out, you’re stuck with her.”

“It’s not my problem on whether or not he wants my help,” Lightning clarified to the elder two of the group, her frigid teal eyes making full contact with Noctis’ cooled midnight ones. “Frankly, Your Highness, you’re not the only one who wishes I wasn’t here right now. But, I still have a mission to complete. So, here’s the deal: we go to Altissia and back to settle what you need to, then after, we part ways forever as if you never even met me. Sound fair?”

“Fine by me,” Noctis agreed, shrugging indifferently.

“It’s fine by me too. Now, quit complaining.”

“Great start,” Gladio sighed sarcastically, not looking forward to any possible future discord between one of his best friends and the ex-soldier.

Lightning waved off Noctis getting inside the car, turning her attention to Prompto still inspecting her like she was some sort of murder suspect. “Okay, what’s with you? If you’re not gonna actually ask me something, then take a picture. It’ll last longer.” FLASH! “...Were you seriously waiting for me to say that just to do it for real?”

“Not exactly, but why pass up such a nice photo op anyways?” Prompto wondered, looking at the new photo of the scowling, but otherwise elegant-looking Lightning taken on his camera. “Wow! You are really photogenic! Of course, I wasn’t exactly expecting you to be a girl in the first place, but either way, it’s a good kind of surprise.”

“You didn’t know I was a girl? How?”

“Well, when I heard we’re joining up with someone named ‘Lightning’, I kinda figured you were… a guy? You don’t hear about a lot of girls called that, anyways.” Prompto had his hands up, Lightning’s scowl giving him the impression she was going to react poorly if he didn’t think his words through well enough. “It’s not a bad thing! Boy or girl, we’re really happy to have you aboard!”

“Most of us, anyways,” Ignis corrected, glancing over at Noctis’ apathetic expression as the prince could only be thinking of how much he didn’t want the extra help from anybody.

“Tomato, tomahto, Igster! Give Noct a little time and he might consider lightning up.”

“Prompto, we haven’t even gotten back on the road yet,” Gladio warned with disdain. “Don’t make Lightning already regret having to travel with us.”

‘Wouldn’t say he’s made me do something that’s already there,’ Lightning scoffed internally, flipping to the last profile. “‘Prompto Argentum’, huh?”

“You got it! My name can mean ‘quicksilver’ if you put it together. So, you could say I’m about as fast as ‘lightning’ myself. Coincidence?”

“More like a cruel irony.” Lightning rolled her eyes openly at Prompto’s flirty comment, but the boy didn’t let up all that much.

“Oooh, so witteh. I can tell you’re gonna do just fine with us!”

The honk of the Regalia’s horn courtesy of Ignis in the driver’s seat cut their conversation even shorter, Prompto hopping into the middle seat next to Gladio in the back. Lightning seemed lost in thought while ensuring everything was with her and accounted for. Once she left that station with the other four, Etro knew how long it’d be until she was finally free to go and be back alongside her actual loved ones she’d worked so hard to have a happy ending with after 500 years worth of utter Hell. That in itself would have to wait; for now, there was one last important task she had to put up with and earn herself a peaceful start over for real.

“Come on, new girl! We don’t wanna hit traffic!” Prompto called out to her, waving his hand high to get her attention.

“Be right there,” Lightning sighed, getting into the leftmost backseat behind the driver’s one and buckling in next to Prompto. “So, what’s our first order of business?”

“We’re meeting up with my sister, Iris, in Lestallum,” Gladio said. “She thankfully made it out okay from the attack on Insomnia.”

“But, she didn’t say to come right away! Just when we’re able to get there,” Prompto stated as the Regalia finally drove away from the Alstor Coernix Station and onto the road. “And word on the street is there’s a Chocobo Ranch not too far away from here! Wouldn’t hurt to check that out, would it?”

“There’s no time for that. Lestallum first, chocobos later,” Gladio retorted, far too concerned about his younger sister to agree to partake in a casual visit just yet.

“Maybe we’ll be able to do both,” Noctis suggested. “But whatever’s the most possible right now is what’s first.”

“Never thought visiting chocobos would be one of the choices,” Lightning commented, already dreading where things possibly might go if they stop at the ranch despite she herself liking the creatures just fine.

“There’s never a wrong time to ride some chocobos. Can’t really blame Prompto for wanting to see the ranch; the big things are pretty cute!” That had to have been the first time Lightning heard Noctis’ voice go up an octave from excitement in her presence, something that surely wouldn’t last next time he was to have an actual conversation with her. “I kinda hope we do stop there first just to see and maybe ride a few.”

‘Nice to see our priorities are where they should be,’ Lightning sarcastically commented in her mind, leaning with her elbow propped on the roofless side window as the road wind blew parts of her roseate hair backwards. “Day one…”

Staring out from the car at her surroundings, Lightning recognized the Alstor Slough, having been the only area she’d actually been in on the current route. Aside from that, no place she’d been in long enough compared to the world she was in now. It went without saying that Lightning was definitely not in Nova Chrysalia (or the long-felled Cocoon, but at least her birthplace didn’t have anything comparable to Eos like her closest bet with the former world’s Gothic city of Luxerion) anymore.

If it was going to be a while before she contacted the others at home outside of digital communication, then it was about time the ex-Guardian Corps soldier made do until her awaited mission completion arrived to finally let her rest. In no way did she approve of it in the first place, but as she was used to: mandatory duty was mandatory duty, regardless of her exact feelings on the matter.

#Final Fantasy XV #Final Fantasy XIII #Lightning Farron #FF Crossover #FFXV AU #FF Versus XV #(Alt. title: Lightning vs. the Forces Of Eos lmao)#('Cause she ain't from round here; she's from another DIMENSIOOOOON)#Can't rly tag this as Lightis for obvious reasons #But it'll come :3c #Just stay tuned for plenty more; y'all #Tales From The LibrAiry

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xarciel · 7 years ago

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The Path from Cisdudeformers to Transladyformers: Why Challenging the Status Quo Matters

So, I had the chance to attend a John Barber Q&A panel last month at TFCon Toronto, and ask a question that had been on my mind for a while: were the introduction of Cybertronian colonies and female characters in the works before Windblade, or was she the catalyst?

Now, a bit of context for those who weren’t around for the whole story. A few years ago Hasbro put up a poll on their website for a fan-created Transformer. This character would get to headline in their own comic, and get a toy made of them. The poll asked voters to select from a variety of options: their faction alignment, their alt mode, their weapon of choice - but one notable thing was missing from the poll;

Gender.

Transformers has always been male character dominated, and in this case it was a foregone conclusion that the new character would be male. However, noticing the absence, fans petitioned for the inclusion of the gender option. Hasbro did so, and the results of the poll showed an overwhelming vote for a female transformer.

She became Windblade - an Autobot who fights with a sword and transforms into a jet. The first, or second [depending on your opinion of Arcee] female Cybertronian character to be introduced into the IDW comics.

But this lead to a problem - Simon Furman, in his establishment of the IDW comic verse, had explicitly written out the potential for female Cybertronian characters. They didn’t exist, because Cybertronians are genderless - with the exception of Arcee - who was given transgender surgery against their will (does this raise confusion about how you can transgender a genderless being, and then apparently have all the other characters react to them differently because of said surgery they shouldn’t be able to recognise the significance of? Yes. Am I going to focus on the mess that is Spotlight: Arcee? No, not today) and by genderless we mean all act and communicate with each other in traditionally masculine ways, use male pronouns and have body types based on male body types - to the point of including facial hair in their designs.

So then where did Windblade come from, if not Cybertron? The comics introduced the idea of colonies - war refugees who fled the war ravaged Cybertron and formed homes elsewhere, with their own unique cultures. Windblade herself is not Cybertronian, but Camien - from the colony of Caminus.

Windblade headlined a four-part miniseries, in which IDW organised an all-female creative team to take the helm, and is still a major player in the ongoing comic universe. Other female characters have been introduced, including a fan-built combiner of six ladies (Hasbro put the gender option in by default this time), a slew of lady characters of varying import, and most recently, two transladies.

Now back to the question for John Barber: were the introduction of Cybertronian colonies and female characters in the works before Windblade?

(The short answer: no).

John Barber gave a sigh and admitted that in hindsight, they should have done in sooner. He expressed a wish that they had brought female characters in during The Death of Optimus Prime, when the signal called all Cybertronians to come home - how there was no reason they couldn’t have slipped it in as a non issue straight from the beginning of his run as editor. He spoke about the creative team’s push to keep putting female characters into the comics, rather than leaving it at Windblade alone - and the team wide drive to not only include female characters, but make them significant, important characters.

He outlined the thought process behind the creation of the colonies and the decision to make them all mixed genders - beginning with their ‘how not to’ guide. He referenced the Legion of Super-Heroes - a spin-off of Superboy from back in the 1950s. Because of the time period, all the heroes and other characters were white, and in an issue in the 1970s, to explain this, the writers claimed that in this universe all of the non-white people lived on another planet that the cast never spoke about or visited. Yikes. He spoke of the Othering effect this has, and how they wanted to avoid making Camien an all-female colony for the same reason. In the end, all the colonies are mixed genders, and the characters in-universe remark on the oddity of Cybertron having such a high male-identifying collective.

He spoke at length, and while most of his answer I can only paraphrase, but there was one line that stuck with me:

‘We didn’t know how important this was, until we saw people’s reaction to it.’

And that, honestly, that’s the kind of thing I wanna nail up on the wall and draw people’s attention to. We hear a lot of backlash to the idea of equal opportunity schemes in the workplace and in media. ‘What difference do you expect to make if you’re forcing people into diversity’ - but here’s the thing, it’s not about ‘forcing diversity’, it’s about creating motivation to displace the status quo. I’m not implying people do nothing out of malice, but that’s the way the status quo is - it’s easy to maintain. Most changes aren’t made until an external factor force them. In this case, no one at IDW felt putting female characters into the comics was a priority, until it was in their faces with a deadline and contractual obligations.

But change they did. The IDW creative team has given an excellent example of what can happen when this kind of blind spot is brought up, and while they could have gone the defensive route - giving Windblade a miniseries because they had to, before shoving her back into oblivion, they embraced it. The comics have run wild with the colony worlds to explore, with the sociopolitical commentary about xenophobia and immigration at their fingertips, and the ability to create waves of new characters simply because ‘here’s another colony we didn’t mention yet’.

The IDW Transformers creative task have done good on this one - they get it. And it was good to see such honesty on display in Barber’s explanations too - dude has obviously done his homework. Serious props to everyone involved.

But the takeaway from all of this is that change starts small. A petition to amend one question on an online poll has built a whole new world of characters and colonies for the IDW comics to explore, and it’s changed the way the IDW creators view the property as well. If that hadn’t have happened, who knows where the comics would be right now - one small change can have huge consequences, but first you have to challenge the status quo.

#transformers #idw transformers #windblade #long post #I've been meaning to post this since july but life is busy #but at least now I can add stuff about lug and anode #tfrants

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howyoustudythestars · 7 years ago

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Behind the Lyrics of Adam Young - “Fiji Water” (with “label” rant)

I know the last time I said I’d pick this “series” up that I’d focus on a request, but I feel like I have to make this, especially with some of the comments I’ve seen flying around here and elsewhere about this track. So, without further ado, I present the reason why this procrastinator will fail his final projects this Behind the Lyrics post! (And not to worry, I plan on making posts for all the requests and find a song for that anon real soon!!)

Tonight’s song is “Fiji Water”, the first track off of the upcoming album Cinematic. You can find the song in all regular music places. (But you’re pre-ordered the album by now, right? Right.)

As always, here are the lyrics:

Got an email at 22 Told me I could be a star On a plane for the first time I couldn't wait to start Landed at JFK Father Christmas picked me up Checked in to a dream hotel And I thought "There's no such thing as luck" I walked into my interview And I thought "There's no such thing as luck" And oh, if I only knew then what I know now I'd stand like a one-man band And I'd say "All this is new to me, but here's how it's gonna be" And I'd say "Hey, there is more to me than meets the eye Let me be who I wanna be" And I'd say "Hey, I'm an oddity and that's alright Let me fly and follow my dreams" And I'd say "Hey, thanks for the weekend A good time was had by all" And I'd say "Hey, thanks for the weekend I ain't a smooth talker but thanks for the Fiji Water" Thanks for the Fiji Water Dinner under a palm tree I had so much on my mind Amazed by the bright lights I stayed up half the night And boy, I took a leap of faith With nowhere else to go but up I walked in to my interview And I thought "There's no such thing as luck" And oh, if I only knew then what I know now I'd stand like a one man band And I'd say "All this is new to me, but here's how it's gonna be And I'd say "Hey, there is more to me than meets the eye Let me be who I wanna be" And I'd say "Hey, I'm an oddity and that's alright Let me fly and follow my dreams" And I'd say "Hey, thanks for the weekend A good time was had by all" And I'd say "Hey, thanks for the weekend I ain't a spin-doctor but thanks for the offer" And "By the way, hey, thanks for the weekend" (cause no one does it like you do) "You know I had a ball" (it was nice to meet you) And I'd say "Hey, thanks for the weekend I ain't a smooth talker but thanks for the Fiji Water" Thanks for the Fiji Water I laughed when I got back home and I thought "There's no such thing as luck"

Here’s a disclaimer that I didn’t think I have to make, but given some of the asks I have received over the years since starting this series, I figure I must re-iterate: I am not Adam Young. I do not know Adam Young. All of this is just my personal opinion and my interpretation of the lyrics. While I try with this series to get inside the mind of Adam Young, I cannot actually do so, and I could be 100% wrong about all of this.

With that out of the way, the main reason I’m making this post is there are several theories out there that claim this song describes some sort of regret Adam had when signing to the label or the so-called “pressure” he had received from them. While it may seem that way at first (especially when all we had to go on was the 30-second preview on Google Play), I don’t think that’s the case for several reasons, especially after watching Adam’s song explanation video, which you can see right here:

youtube

First off, it is apparent this song is primarily around the time he first signed to Republic Records (then called Universal Republic Records). At the time, Fireflies didn’t even exist yet, and his main identity as an artist was his online presence, especially on MySpace. The main time people thought there was pressure from the label was back in the days of the Shooting Star EP leading up to The Midsummer Station. Had it gone from Maybe I’m Dreaming straight to TMS, you might have a point. But any sort of pressure, if it was there, would have happened 3-4 years after the events that this song purports to be talking about. That doesn’t make sense.

If there was pressure from the label during the creation of TMS, then it would be a sharp detour. But I don’t believe that’s the case. As it says in this Billboard article, Adam saw that ATBAB didn’t sell as well as Ocean Eyes, and rather than keep beating a dead horse or worse, blaming the label for making it fail, he asked himself, “What can I do differently to make my next project even better?” It was his idea for collaborating with outside producers, and his label and management at Foundations thought of people he could collaborate with on. In other words, there was no pressure from Adam to change things up for TMS, nor was it the label’s idea. He even personally re-iterated this in his then-personal Tumblr account moderngardening. It was his idea and the label took it and ran with it.

If there was any pressure, it was not from Adam’s creative process, but rather his label rejecting songs he had made and disagreements on a tracklisting with the whole project that was Mobile Orchestra feeling rushed. If anything, this might have been what prompted him to leave Republic Records. Keep in mind, I theorized elsewhere on this blog earlier that Universal Republic was under different management than Republic, and TMS was released under the Universal Republic name, while everything after that was released under the Republic name. If any of this is the case, that seems like a very sharp detour to make on a song that’s supposed to be about an interview that got him signed to a major record label, even more so than it would be with TMS.

Finally, while there is a danceable vibe to it, as Adam explains in the video, Fiji Water is supposed to be an inspiring track that encourages the listener to take big risks in life because, sometimes, those risks pay off. I don’t know about you, but to me, it would seem counter-intuitive to write the song explaining about the negative pressure he felt from the label, especially when it was controlled by different people than when he signed, and with that pressure being about what songs he fully made should and shouldn’t make the cut on an album. Imagine Adam coming up to you and saying, “I took a risk by jumping on a flight to sign with a major record label, and while it worked out well for me at first, after a while they started not liking what I did anymore and I felt it was better for me to leave.” Does that sound encouraging to you? I think not!

And this is not to necessarily squash anyone’s interpretation to the contrary, especially since I can see where some of those ideas come from in the lyrics like “there’s no such thing as luck”, “if I only knew then what I know now,” “let me be who I want to be”, and “I ain’t a spin-doctor but thanks for the offer”. But to me, those lyrics speak of a different idea, and in fact, I think it means Adam was grateful for signing to the label. Sure, they didn’t see eye to eye all the time and Adam and Republic Records occasionally butt heads, but at the end of the day, if Adam had to do it all over again, he’d still end up signing with them. How does this all pan out? Let’s dive into the lyrics:

Got an email at 22 Told me I could be a star On a plane for the first time I couldn't wait to start

For the most part, the lyrics, at least in the verses, are pretty self-explanatory. It’s him telling the story of how he got signed to Universal Republic Records. It all started when he was 22, and he got an email, presumably from Universal Republic’s A&R team, saying they liked what he was doing and they were interested in signing him. Before you know it, he takes his first plane flight in his entire life, and he’s excited.

Landed at JFK Father Christmas picked me up Checked in to a dream hotel And I thought "There's no such thing as luck"

He lands in New York City (as that’s where JFK airport is). Now, the next bit I have a bit of insight into, as this line was explained by Adam’s girlfriend in a YouTube video of hers. The guy who picked him up from the airport, according to Adam, looked a lot like Santa Claus. (And for those not informed, “Father Christmas” is the name of the gift-giver in the UK; Santa Claus is a name of American origin.) The idea of a “dream hotel” makes it sound like it was very glamorous to him. And of course it would; this was the first time he had ever left Owatonna for a big city. (I’ll save myself from having to say he hadn’t left Owatonna until then until we have more clues behind the song “Montana”.)

The phrase “There’s no such thing as luck”, to me, is his attitude for whether or not he would ever make it professionally as a musician full-time. Keep in mind, Owl City was likely created in the same vein as other projects: Port Blue, Insect Airport, Seagull Orchestra, Sky Sailing, etc. It was just another project for Adam to release electropop music under. However, unlike all those other projects, Owl City started to gain traction. “Hello Seattle” was extremely popular on MySpace, he was making a good chunk of money selling his songs through CD Baby, he started to grow a fan base, and for the first time, he was noticed by “the big guys”. To him, he was still humble, and he didn’t take anything for granted. He thought it would be a major step up for his career as a musician, and he had no idea where his career was going to go from there at this point.

(As usual, I will save the chorus until the very end)

Dinner under a palm tree I had so much on my mind Amazed by the bright lights I stayed up half the night

As Abbey also said in the video, the “palm tree” is a reference to a restaurant he ate at while in New York City called The Palm. He had so much on his mind, and I can imagine what it must have been like. Whenever I have something really going well for me, but it isn’t set in stone yet, my mind has a tendency to go on fast forward and think about what will happen once this and that happens. Sort of playing the story in mind before it happens. Maybe it’s an Asperger's thing? He was also awestruck by all the bright city lights, which was something he only imagined in his songs before. He hadn’t seen them for himself until now, and naturally, like back at home, he couldn’t sleep. He was so blown away by this whole experience he was at a loss for words and just had to stay awake.

And boy, I took a leap of faith With nowhere else to go but up I walked in to my interview And I thought "There's no such thing as luck"

Yes, he did take a gigantic leap of faith. He had no idea what was going to happen after that. Worst case scenario, should he crash and burn, he still would have a fall-back fan base with which he could continue to work his magic and keep creating music for. Literally, the only place he could possibly go was up, further beyond his wildest dreams. And when all was said and done, not knowing what would happen to him career-wise, he went into his interview.

And oh, if I only knew then what I know now I'd stand like a one-man band And I'd say "All this is new to me, but here's how it's gonna be

The pre-chorus and chorus are where he gets the most creative lyrically. To me, this is about hindsight, but not what you think it is about. He’s naturally introverted so he may not have had the biggest amount of confidence going into the interview. He probably was really nervous. He probably hadn’t even performed a live show yet. He didn’t know how big Fireflies was going to get in 2009 and beyond. (I’m looking at you, Fireflies memes!) He didn’t know how big the fandom was going to get, let alone get big enough to the point where they could call themselves HootOwls. He had no idea that he’d get to collaborate with great people like Carly Rae Jepsen, Mark Hoppus, Aloe Blacc, Britt Nicole, Hanson, etc. He didn’t know that soon he’d be able to quit that dead-end job at Coca-Cola. He had no idea that Taylor Swift would write a song about meeting him. Had he known that this was all going to happen, and had he built up a little bit more confidence, he’d go in and begin to stand up for what he believes in, even though the experience will be a new one for him.

And as a side note, I love the choice of words with the phrase “one-man band”. That line brings back images from Shining Time Station of a one-man band playing a song. It shows him how talented he is. He’s a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and mixer for all of his own songs. It’s a great symbol to who he is as both a musician and even as a person.

And I'd say "Hey, there is more to me than meets the eye Let me be who I wanna be" And I'd say "Hey, I'm an oddity and that's alright Let me fly and follow my dreams"

Again, these lines are not about what you think, well, not in the context that you’re thinking of them in. Here’s a quote from an interview with Adam’s manager:

Early on we sat down with the label and, frankly, butt heads a little bit. They were ready to send him into the studio with big producers and polish him up to try to become this thing that he wasn’t. But we put our foot down and said, “Look, the reason you signed this kid is because it’s working. Whatever it is about him - his music, his interaction with his fans, his brilliance in the online space - these things are connecting with people, and as soon as you change that you lose what’s special about this artist.” To their credit, they really listened and they got it.

To me, the above quote makes it sound like he was too scared to speak up for himself to the label, but what he’s saying here that he’d speak up and say those things himself. Furthermore, it shows that he knows what he can do and that he’s not afraid to be true to himself. The line that really speaks to me is “I’m an oddity and that’s alright.” Maybe it’s just the Christmas season, but it seems like he’s subverting the usual misfit trope here. Instead of saying “I’m odd, why won’t the world accept me”, he’s essentially saying that he knows he’s a little odd and he’s okay with that. He’s accepted himself. I think that’s encouraging to a lot of us, especially myself.

And I'd say "Hey, thanks for the weekend A good time was had by all" And I'd say "Hey, thanks for the weekend I ain't a spin-doctor but thanks for the offer"

To me, this is his way of thanking the label for this great opportunity. The great weekend experience he sang about in the verses, and that he had a good time. To me, much like with the word “fireflies” in Back Home with Jake Owen, I think the line definitely is a call out back to his hit with Carly Rae Jepsen, “Good Time” (which, by the way, is on a short list of possible songs I may cover under this Behind the Lyrics series). However, I don’t think there’s any deep meaning or secret message or correlation between the two pairs of songs other than that shout out.

As to the line “I ain't a spin-doctor but thanks for the offer", I think it has a connection to the phrase, “I ain’t a smooth talker”. I say that because both smooth talker and spin-doctor have similar definitions:

Smooth Talk:

use flattering language to (someone), especially to persuade them to do something

Spin Doctor:

a spokesperson employed to give a favorable interpretation of events to the media, especially on behalf of a political party.

Both use charming and flattering language to either persuade someone to take a particular course of action (smooth talker) or to present a depiction of events in a positive light (spin-doctor).

In the case of the use of spin-doctor, Adam’s essentially saying he doesn’t want to make it sound like everything’s a certain way with the label, but he’s grateful for the offer that he signed. This can easily be understood, as this happened in 2008, but it wasn’t announced he had signed to Universal Republic Records until February 1, 2009. And above all, he’s saying he’s not in the business of making everyone happy, but he’s grateful he can still be himself and continue to follow his dreams.

And "By the way, hey, thanks for the weekend" (cause no one does it like you do) "You know I had a ball" (it was nice to meet you) And I'd say "Hey, thanks for the weekend I ain't a smooth talker but thanks for the Fiji Water"

Again, he re-iterates he’s grateful for this whole experience. The lines in the backing vocals are particularly interesting. He’s essentially saying he was blown away by everything the label was offering them. Like I said above, he saw these people as “the big guys”. He’s amazed at what these people could do in the music industry, and how they can make someone a star. He’s saying that no one has the potential to do that quite the way they did with him. And even if this didn’t skyrocket his career, at the very least it was amazing to meet them. (Enchanting, if I may say so?)

With regards to the smooth talker thing, I think it’s both referring to his shy, nervous demeanor and that he doesn’t have a way with words to convince them to “let [him] be who [he wants] to be”, as I explained above. But above all, he’s still glad he had this experience, and this is symbolized in the Fiji Water. Although, based on some of the remarks that Abbey made about Father Christmas and The Palm, I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a Fiji Water in his interview with the label and that’s why he titled and referred to Fiji Water in the song.

And while not a lyric, I just want to say that I love that synth that comes on right after the chorus.

I laughed when I got back home and I thought "There's no such thing as luck"

To me, there are two interesting points here. First, this is his way of saying that he still has no clue what’s about to happen, for the better or for the worse, in terms of his music career. He had no idea if he was going to make it. But this carries us to my second point.

I think there’s one last tongue-in-cheek reference here, and while I can’t say for sure if this is for sure or not, I think it’s worth mentioning. In the now-meme-worthy song Fireflies, right after the bridge, when he sings the line “When I’m far too tired to fall asleep”, there’s a brief chuckle in there, almost like an easter egg. I bring this up because he recorded Fireflies and the rest of Ocean Eyes just like he did with Of June and Maybe I’m Dreaming: in the basement of his parent’s home while he was struggling with insomnia. He retained complete creative control, just like he did before. So, in other words, he laughed back at home now, and he still continued to think that he wasn’t going to make it big. Then, that very song reaches number 1 in many countries, and it amazes him how people who don’t speak English as their main language are now singing the chorus to this song he put together in his parent’s basement. He fully made it as a musician. He was able to quit his job at Coca-Cola and pursue his dream of making music full time. He may not be a star like Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, or Taylor Swift, but he’s still a star in his own right. He has made it.

Well, that just about does it for today’s Behind the Lyrics post. I’m still leaving requests turned off for the time being, while I catch up with all of the other requests I promised I would get to. I can’t promise when I’ll get to it, but it’ll be there in the not-too-distant future. Until next time, my fellow HootOwls!

#owl city #adam young #fiji water #cinematic #behind the lyrics

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astrofireworks · 7 years ago

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From the moon, to the stars While lingering in the universe We got to know each other

- NU’EST Daybreak

hi astro’s on and i’m cryign eunwoo what are u wearing

When Eunwoo turns 7, his parents sit him down and tell him about dreams

You'll dream of someone special from now on, they say, someone who'll be your best friend and someone you'll want to spend the rest of your life with

Eunwoo blinking

Eunwoo's dad adding thoughtfully that he might not dream of anyone yet though, if his soulmate is younger

Eunwoo's dad dreamt about his mum when he was ten, for example, because his mum was three years his junior

Eunwoo nodding, because MJ's told him about meeting Jinjin in his dreams only when MJ was 9

But anyways, his mum continues, even if you dream about them you might not meet each other quite yet

His dad nodding and explaining that unless you already know the person or unless you live close enough to visit, usually soulmates wait until they're older and more able to move around

Some people don't remember their dreams anyway, so even if you tell each other your addresses it isn't a guarantee you're able to visit each other instantly, she explains

And anyway you already meet each other in your dreams every night, his father says, and if you choose to meet too early and give up your nightly dreams for measly once-a-month meetings, it might not be worth it

Eunwoo secretly thinking he'd like to meet them early anyway

And so the night of March 30th, 2004, little Eunwoo pulls the covers over his head and wiggles excitedly and waits for sleep to come

And wakes up the next morning, mildly disappointed

Because all he's dreamt about was a wild fish

And he really doesn't want his soulmate to be a wild fish, he tells his mother, poking at his rice

His teacher said fish generally had short life spans and where would he be if his soulmate decided to die before he met it?

Eunwoo's mum trying not to laugh at his logical explanation and telling him not to worry, his soulmate is probably human and not a wild fish

Eunwoo grumbling under his breath and stuffing more rice in his mouth

And so little Eunwoo pulls the covers over his head every night, wading into sleep and hoping he'll finally, finally meet his soulmate

MJ's already dreamt about a boy called Jinjin and literally would not shut up about him

MJ never shuts up in general but that's an entirely different matter

And he just wants to talk to MJ about someone instead of nodding and listening whenever MJ talks about Jinjin's smile

It's like a crinkle!! Like if you squished a fishball!!

And he wants to talk to someone every night the same way MJ does, sharing about his day and listening to them talk about stuff too

What's it like anyway? Do they just talk?

Do they just float in space or are they somewhere?

Do they get to eat?

What if they wanted to play soccer?

What if they get angry at each other? Do they just wake up?

Little Eunwoo burying his face in his pillow every night and begging his soulmate to turn seven quickly so he can answer all his questions

Until the night of January 26, 2005:

Eunwoo blinks

One moment ago he was literally in his bed, sleepily wrapped around a bolster

And now he's

Floating in space??

At least that's where he thinks he is

There are thousands of small twinkly lights and vague purple shadows

This is the first time he's dreamt of this space, Eunwoo figures, so he might as well explore

Eunwoo wobbling around space and trying to prod smol twinkly things

Until he collides into another warm body

Eunwoo turning around, apology ready on the tip of his tongue but

Eunwoo's eyes meeting with curious, cat-like eyes and chubby cheeks

Eunwoo: ??????? A human ??? In his dream?????

Bin, cheerily: "I'm Binnie!!"

Eunwoo: ?????????

Bin, peeking at Eunwoo: "are you my soulmate?"

And Eunwoo breaks out into a smile because

This is it, this is the person he's been wanting to meet for forever

"I've been waiting for you," Eunwoo says to the smol sunbeam, "Congrats on turning seven!"

Cue baby Binu floating around space

Bin: "and that's Oreo!!"

Eunwoo: "Oreo?"

Bin, scrunching up his nose: "I think?"

Eunwoo, nodding seriously because it makes sense that they'd name a star after a tasty biscuit

He'd name it after ice cream if he could, too

Bin, stopping and peering at Eunwoo: "what do you wanna be when you grow up?"

But before he can respond, Bin says, flopping onto his back and staring into more space: "I wanna be an astronaut!!"

Eunwoo: "Why?"

Binnie: "I wanna see the stars!"

Eunwoo: "Why?"

Binnie: "Because they're big and twinkly and I wanna see aliens!"

Eunwoo: "Why?"

Binnie, flopping onto his belly and chinhands-ing at Eunwoo: "Cos it's cool and I wanna protect Earth! What do you wanna do?"

Eunwoo staring at his hands and looking back up at Binnie squishing his cheeks and wondering if his dream of being a judge was too boring

Binnie, blinking expectantly:

Eunwoo: "A judge?"

Binnie, slightly squished: "Why!"

Eunwoo: "I wanna protect good people from bad people and put bad people away?"

Binnie, beaming at Eunwoo: "CoOooOoL!!!"

Eunwoo, blinking and blushing slightly:

Binnie: "So we both wanna protect people!"

Eunwoo, smiling a little: "Yeah?"

Binnie: "We're gon be protectors of the universe!"

And Eunwoo can't help it, Binnie's enthusiasm is so infectious he starts giggling and Binnie does too

Eunwoo: "Is this why we're meeting in space?"

Binnie, blinking: "I didn't choose it! It was just here when I fell asleep!"

Eunwoo, humming a little: "Well, I like it."

Binnie, wrapping his smol arms around Eunwoo's middle and beaming sleepily up at Eunwoo: "Yeah, and if we come here again tomorrow we can explore more!!"

(Eunwoo's heart seizing up then melting a little)

Eunwoo, carefully kissing Bin's forehead the same way he sees his dad kiss his mum in the morning

"Goodnight, Binnie."

"Night night, Noo."

Eunwoo, blinking a little at 'Noo' before drowsily smiling and drifting off into unconsciousness

(It's only when he wakes up the next morning that he realises he and Binnie have traded literally no information whatsoever, and so his Notebook on Soulmate remains empty except for: "Binnie, Jan 26, 2005: Space!")

Of course, the next time they meet, it's no longer in space

Well, not outer space, anyway

It's in an empty room on what feels like a space station, and Bin's hugging a gigantic teddy bear taller than he is

"I've named him Cloud," Binnie says, by way of greeting

Eunwoo bowing to Cloud and settling down next to Bin

"Where are we?"

"Dunno," Binnie says, snuggling into Cloud, “but there’s a window over there and I think you can see Earth?”

"No doors," Eunwoo muses, and gets to his feet to explore the room

"It's a dream," Binnie looks at Eunwoo prodding at the wall, "I think you get to make the room."

And almost as Bin finishes his sentence, the walls of the room start changing colours

Suddenly the walls are white and blue and Bin's legs are swinging off a blue platform

Bin squeaking and scrambling away from the edge, then squeaking again because he's ended up in a hammock

He has to steady himself and climb onto Cloud before peering down at Eunwoo

Eunwoo looking up at Bin and blinking

Hmm, overestimated the distance, he thinks

"You're too far away, Noo," Bin says

And suddenly a blue slide appears to Bin's right and Eunwoo laughs, "Slide down!"

Bin looks doubtful for a second, but Eunwoo moves to the end of the slide, hands outstretched and waiting for Bin

And so Binnie does, giggling and crashing into Eunwoo's waiting arms

Eunwoo surveying the room and declaring: "you know what's missing?"

Binnie, half a beat before Eunwoo says it: "a ball pit!!!!!!"

And they're surrounded by blue and white and navy balls and they're flailing around and tossing balls at each other and Binnie is laughing and beaming at Eunwoo and all Eunwoo can think about is how much he really, really likes making Binnie smile

Jan 27, 2005: Cool blue room - Binnie likes ball pits!

In another corner of space, this time one of Bin's creation:

Eunwoo: "I'm a Taurus I think? And an Ox?"

Bin, wiggling: "You're an Aries, Noo, and your star's there!"

Eunwoo: "where's yours then?"

Bin, spinning on his back and pointing at another patch of space

Bin also pointing out another star: "that's Rocky's!"

Eunwoo: "Rocky?"

Bin: "One of my friends from my neighbourhood!! He hasn't turned seven yet, so he hasn't had a soulmate dream so I tell him about you!"

Eunwoo, peeking at Bin: "what d'you say?"

Binnie, beaming: "it's a secret!!"

Feb 16, 2005: Bin's galaxy - I'm an Aries and Binnie's an Aquarius. Binnie's best friend is called Rocky!

In a small cafe, with doors opening onto strange red sand and a full view of a green moon:

Eunwoo: "why are there only two seats?"

Binnie, looking at Eunwoo like he's crazy: "there are only two of us!"

Eunwoo flushing and laughing

Binnie, pulling out random items from bright red cupboards: "what do you wanna eat for your birthday?"

Eunwoo, staring at frozen dumplings and uncooked rice grains and tubs of sauces and asking doubtfully: "can you cook?"

Binnie tugging Eunwoo closer to the counter: "if I can dream it being cooked, why not?"

Eunwoo: "can we even eat in dreams?"

Binnie, beaming: "we can try!!"

Binnie pulling out popcorn kernels: "popcorn?"

Eunwoo, doubtfully looking around for a stove (that seems to be made of glass) and for pans (that seem also to be made of glass)

Eunwoo, prodding a blender: "why is everything made of glass?"

Bin, juggling two eggs: "dunno?"

Eunwoo, mildly panicking because ??????? that'll make such a mess if Binnie drops them??? ???? ?

But also this is a dream so when Binnie does drop them it's into a glass pan over a glass stove with obviously invisible heating skills, because the egg cooks in no time

Bin carefully slicing the egg yolk out of the centre of the egg and delivering it to Eunwoo's plate

Eunwoo: ????

Bin, tossing another egg into the pan: "don't like egg yolks"

Eunwoo hesitantly holding a forkful of yolk to his mouth: "what if we can't eat and we wake up?"

Binnie pausing to consider this and tilting his head

Binnie bounding around the counter and pressing a sticky kiss to Eunwoo's cheek: "just in case then! Happy Birthday and g'night, Noo!"

Eunwoo flushing slightly and beaming at Bin: "here goes then!"

And as soon as the fork hits his mouth, Eunwoo blinks awake, moonlight streaming in through the curtains onto his bed

Eunwoo groggily reaching for a pencil and scribbling onto the nearest piece of paper to him

March 30, 2005: Bin's kitchen - Binnie hates egg yolks but loves popcorn. Also, we can't eat in dreams.

By a lake running yellow and strange purple bubbles that smell like freesia:

Bin: "and she just started scolding us for no reason!!! We weren't even making that much noise!!"

Eunwoo: nodding sympathetically: "perhaps she was just having a bad day?"

Bin, groaning and leaning on Eunwoo's shoulder: "she's just a witch and I hate her, Noo!!"

Eunwoo sliding his arm around Binnie's shoulder and laughing because: "are you sure you don't just hate math?"

Binnie glaring half-heartedly at Eunwoo before smiling reluctantly: "that's only half the problem!!"

June 8, 2005: A lake, somewhere - Binnie hates math and his math teacher?

In a garden of Eunwoo's imagination:

Binnie, prodding a pear blossom: "and this one?"

Eunwoo, scrunching up his nose: "friendship I think?"

Binnie, pointing at a smeraldo: "this one?"

Eunwoo: "something about the truth? I think?"

Binnie, poking a red rose: "what about this one?"

Eunwoo pretending to think really hard

Binnie, peeking at Eunwoo expectantly:

Eunwoo, finally: "it's a red rose, silly, it means love"

Binnie, nodding: "thought so"

Binnie, plucking it and stuffing it behind Eunwoo's ear and humming happily and moving into a gardenia: "and this one?"

Sept 27, 2005: Flower garden - I think my new favourite flower might be a red rose.

Eunwoo learns in school that you don't have to marry your soulmate

He frowns a bit, because the only pair of people he's actually confirmed to be soulmates are his parents and they're married

But his teacher taps gently on the board and calls the class to attention and explains that soulmates don't necessarily have to be romantic

They're meant to be your best friends, first and foremost; they're meant to be the person that understands you best and someone you'll want to spend time with

Sometimes they're your siblings, sometimes they're your best friends, sometimes they're someone you meet online

Taeyang pipes up and says there are a pair of twins two years up that he knows are soulmates

Dokyeom nods and tells everyone about the time his cousin went to his new job and his soulmate turned out to be his new boss, and the whole class erupts into giggles

When his teacher asks how many of them have dreamed of their soulmates before, more than half of those who've had their birthdays raise their hand

When his teacher asks again how many of them have met their soulmates, only Mingyu has his hand raised and everyone ooooohs at him

Mingyu sheepishly telling them that he had no idea what his soulmate was saying when he first met him because when they met in dreams they spoke the same language, but when they ran into each other at the airport, he spoke all in Chinese

But also that they're working on it everyday after school so please don't expect Mingyu to finish all his homework on time, please?

Their teacher, bursting out laughing: "I'll keep that in mind, Mingyu"

But also their teacher reminding them to not feel pressured when they first meet their soulmate (or even when they first dream of them), because everything works out in the end

Eunwoo swinging his legs and thinking hard about Binnie and his squeaking laugh and the way his eyes disappear when he smiles

He isn't sure yet, he thinks, but he feels like he'd quite like to marry Binnie

hi astro’s still on and jamming to their own songs and mj’s still the most talented artist i have ever seen i love him so much

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lovehaswonangelnumbers · 5 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://lovehaswonangelnumbers.org/prepare-for-turbulence/

Prepare for Turbulence

By A Gift From Gaia

Please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for some turbulence.

Or perhaps it’s more like…

Buckle up and scream if you wanna go faster

I guess that’s all dependent on you and how you are perceiving these shifts but the next few days may feel a little…bipolar?

We have highs and we have …some…..”oh yeah alright, we’ll just see about that shall we”

Hey I can’t write “lows” when I’m fully aware they don’t exist, what is a low anyway? A refusal of truth? Well that’s a choice, albeit a rather blinded one.

So we have highs and I’ll observe and take action…that’s far more fitting.

Word spells are something of a favourite of mine at the moment and we can think about this for a second.

Many get the words contradicted, mostly because at first they don’t know, and that’s the safest place to be if you wish to stay oblivious and continuing your life unaware…sleep is one of my most favourite places so I understand how the simplicity of the complexity suits.

However when you are aware and waking yourself up to know and yet not do is nothing short of….well, lining up a whole bunch of life experiences to teach you.

Let’s look….

Dark night of the Soul – is a breakthrough for growth Anxiety – Avoidance of Self truth, experienced for the purpose of growth Anger – disconnection from self, lack of self…experienced for growth Depressed – Self avoidance, disconnection from reality, avoidance of growth

We can go on….but can we see how the subconscious mind, which only matures to the approximate age of 12 and has very limited understanding, it works in binary…at first, yes no, on off, high low…can you see how the contradiction begins within just by the mix up and the spells in your words.

Of course as we move through these phases and release attachment, this includes our language, but it’s also a reason why you find keyholders bringing in new words to use in explanations as the words create a whole new vibrational message to the receiver, it ensures a direct shift as there can not be any distorted attachment to a word created for the purpose of the experience, which, when delivered by a light worker is in fact filled with a very high and impacting light code or feeling.

It often also brings a giggle, which encapsulates the new word in a even higher frequency.

Too many words have been diluted or changed, one of the favourites to use in the spiritual arena is narcissist, it’s everywhere but it’s now used so freely, an empath gets upset because a truth is delivered and all of a sudden the truth bearer is a narcissist.

From a psychology point of view I find it all very interesting especially with the ability to feel the words, and see behind the words, the fluff, the distortions and the smile to your face and yet the dagger in the back.

Pay attention now it’s come to light in this transmission because today will be a mighty fine day to observe Self within your reality and the reflections you are about to see.

The next few days are going to feel like a shake, as the universal proverbial rug is set to ripple…nope not strong enough word…FLAP…yes that’s it, it’s going to Flap like Aladdin’s rug in a hurricane.

Or not…

That depends on you entirely.

We have had a blast of Solar Winds reaching G1 storm levels, it has subsided for now and I’ll keep you posted. Not just this but we have tiny sun spots from the NEW solar cycle which will give this movement a forward future focus, as though something inside is telling you this is essential for the future and you won’t be wrong.

To WEIGHT will highlight your experience that to wait is to be weighted…self sacrifice. And yet to action will bring instant realisations, instant manifestations and instant opportunity.

Why…

Because firstly our Sun has been pumped up and aligned to our Great Central Sun Sirius. Fully charged and ready to apply masses of coded light, in the form of truth, is now aligned with our North Node, which brings in either what you require to clear in order for the new, or for those already aware and working through, it brings the dues, it’s time to reap.

And whilst this transits the North we have the opposition to the South, which provides the release of the old, making space for the North to bring in the winds of change.

Providing the work has been ticked off and dissolved…otherwise those glittery timeline loops that look all sparkly, exciting and new…..just turn out to be that same old same old of old, those looping patterns, that most have been highly trained to accept as life.

These solar blasts are now rare in comparison to what we are generally used to, during a solar maximum it’s the cosmic rays that feel all different, now we are in a solar minimum the solar rays can feel a little to high.

How you experience in your physical just depends on your frequency.

So those still muddling will experience all the typical ascension symptoms. Aches, pains, emotions, tension, aggression, headaches. Realities get loud people get grumpy BUT you see that’s because light activates and it allows you to SEE what we choose to ignore.

Higher octaves get super productive and surf the realisations and movements like a pro.

It’s easy, it’s fun, it’s creative BUT and here is another big BUTT we are in the midst of some powerful energies, some super DNA upgrades and I suggest to take this slow and steady regardless.

Sun is also trine Neptune bringing in more heightened awareness, more quantum codes, more dreamy and yet tangible data enters for us to ground in and INjoy the new sacred space.

Now…I mentioned bumps…shakes and rugs…

Mars is hitting a square with Uranus….whilst trine to Chiron so we could be seeing some very quick turn around, quick explosive presentations but the softness of the trine has the opportunity to bring gentle closure and healing to this masculine wounding we all hold.

The collective field has had no rest for weeks….let’s see how this manifests.

Hearts wide open Release all to fall away that no longer resonates Zero point everything within

And remember….we are working in the energetic field…all is completed from within

It’s simple 💙💙💙

*****

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evilkitten3 · 8 years ago

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Can I request a chapter where Mai sticks up for Harry, and actually does "accio, Voldemort!"?

I waited too long to respond to this, and I’m sorry. Ishould’ve replied right away, but I wasn’t sure how to word it. The answer isno, I cannot write this. The answer was no from the moment I first got yourask, and I feel bad about potentially allowing you to assume that I was goingto write this. I’ll explain why under the cut, since the explanation isn’texactly short.

As a fanfic author working with other people’s characters, Ican do whatever I want. A fanfic author has the freedom to twist and interpretthe creation of another person, and it’s an incredibly fun experience, whetheryou’re reading fanfics or writing them.

But as this ask helped me to discover, I don’t have the samefreedom with characters that I created myself. In my eyes, that would be abetrayal.

As a concept, the idea of Mai summoning Voldemort to helpHarry is hilariously funny, and it provides lots of comedic opportunities, andI know I’m to blame for being the one to joke about the idea in the firstplace, but I can’t do it.

Mai was initially nothing more than a background characterwhose existence was an inside joke between me and my friends (the same is truefor Akiko, Katsuya, Mikasa, Emi, and Hana), but she began to demand a largerrole, going from a background character to a reoccurring character to a majorcharacter to a main character and eventually settling down as the deuteragonistof the story. As such, I’ve put quite a bit of time and energy into developingher character and what themes she’s involved in.

One of the first things I mention about Mai in “ThingsFall Apart” is how much magic she has, with Nikolai – a character who, youshould bear in mind, is a person who enjoys combat – showcasing admiration forher and praising her abilities. This is, intentionally, a very biasedviewpoint. And it actually doesmatter, because Mai’s combat ability is extremely limited.

In my story, the amount of magical power that a personpossesses has a direct correlation with how much control that person has over their magic. Mai, who has more threetimes as much raw magical power than anyone on record, has almost no controlwhatsoever. To clarify – let’s think of this in terms of guns (there are gunsin this world, but they’re not relevant right now). Someone with a very smallamount of magic has one gun and is really good with it. Someone with a very large amount of magic, on the otherhand, has one gun and more ammo, but isn’t quite as good a shot. A person withthe amount of magic that Mai has is essentially armed with a rocket launcher, anear unlimited amount of ammo, and absolutely no idea how to use said rocketlauncher.

In other words, Mai can’t fight in a group because she’dprobably hurt her allies more than her friends, and she can’t use magic in upclose one-on-one fights at all because she’d end up just as injured as herenemy. If it’s her against several people, the best solution is usually to usea spell that sort of acts like the Pokémon move “surf” and just hitseverybody, unless she’s far enough away in which case she can just blast ‘em.The insane amount of magic and her lack of control makes her a ratherinconvenient ally, which is why she mastered Summoning Magic, a type of magicthat is rarely used due to how much power it uses and how much time you have todedicate to being able to summon things (this ain’t Naruto or Fairy Tail; youwanna summon something, you gotta hunt it down yourself). This greatly improvesher usefulness in combat, as one would expect, but there can be seriousrepercussions (e.g., one of your Summons decides it isn’t fond of you anymoreand attacks you, you fuck up and Summon the wrong thing, etc.).

So, what does this have to do with Harry Potter? Actually,Mai is one of the reasons I almost didn’tbring the TB gang to Hogwarts. Remember how I mentioned that the universe mystory takes place in has guns? Well, those guns are magical too, but there arevery strict regulations on them. If you have more than a certain amount ofmagic, you aren’t allowed to possess or use a gun. Some people aren’t evenallowed to touch them. A person with as much magic as Mai isn’t even allowed inthe same room as a gun. Guns play abigger part in the world than that, but that’s not important right now.

A wand, like those guns, is a magical conduit – a way ofchanneling and manipulating your magic. Most of the TB gang wouldn’t be able touse a wand, as they’ve either got too much magic or have never used anythingsimilar to a wand before and don’t want to risk it. Mai is a character whoprobably shouldn’t even be near awand, much less inside a school fullof them. In other words, the first reason I can’t fulfill your request isbecause Mai is literally incapable of actually doing that, as funny as it wouldbe.

But there’s another reason too – it goes against her personality.Mai doesn’t know Harry at all. He’s not her friend, and his problems are nother problems. Mai is loyal to her friends, but a major part of her character islegitimately not giving a shit about anyone she doesn’t see as important toher. This is where her relationship with Kotomi comes into play – they’redirect opposites in just about everything. Kotomi would go out of her way tohelp someone she doesn’t even know with something very small, whereas Mai couldsee a person she’s known for years dangling on the edge of a cliff a la Mufasaand wouldn’t bat an eye (unless that person was someone important to her,someone important to someoneimportant to her, and/or beneficial in the future. If there’s no benefits forher in your life, then long live the king).

And that’s why she would never help Harry – Mai is fullyaware of how much power Umbridge has over the school. As a Slytherin, Mai is ina very good place to manipulate things behind the scenes and keep her friendssafe. Publicly siding with Harry goes directly against that, as it would puther on Umbridge’s shit list. It doesn’t benefit her at all – she and herfriends are from another world (although the HP characters don’t know that),and Mai doesn’t see Voldemort as a threat. If he in any way implied that he wasgoing to hurt them, then she would go after him without a second thought (whichwould be bad, because of the Horcruxes), but he’s not the main threat here.Umbridge is. As much as Mai would love to see Umbridge crash and burn, she’s notgoing to take a risk that big for someone she doesn’t care about in theslightest.

And even if Voldemort didgive her a reason to go after him, it wouldn’t end well. Either he’d respawnthanks to a handy-dandy Horcrux, or she’d decide that the best way to deal withhim would be to get rid of his followers, which would basically involvemurdering a bunch of people (many of whom are the parents of her fellowSlytherins). Would she do it if she felt she needed to? Yes, in a heartbeat.But she won’t. As Nikolai mentioned, “nice” doesn’t necessarily mean“good”. Let’s say you’re a villain with a tragic backstory who isexplaining to the heroes why you did the things you did. Mai is the sort ofperson who would give you a comforting hug, tell you she forgives you, and puta knife in your gut all in one breath.

If I ever get around to making a published story with mycharacters and that story gets a fanbase, then those fans are more than welcometo write a fic like this. But as Mai’s creator, I can’t. On the bright side, Ishould probably thank you, because receiving this ask really made me thinkabout what it means to be not only a writer but also a creator, and I learned a lot about myself and my writing while Istruggled to think of a way to decline. So thank you so much for the thought,I’m so sorry that I can’t do it, and I will definitely remember this. I owe youone.

#my ocs #mai wakaba #long post #super long post #i'm super sorry dude

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