#earth magic productions

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

The Earth Magic Times - Earth Magic Prod. - Vol. I, No. 3 - Fall Equinox, 1988

[worstloki]

The Avengers being very surprised and a little annoyed that Thor has a whole hair care regimen that he insists he stick to because none of the products are available on earth so the lad keeps disappearing for days-long shopping runs when they need him to be around for missions too

[oneesanmarket]

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu Love! Love!: Yumoto Hakone -  Oedo Onsen Story Badge

Size: 6 cm

Price:5€/10USD

(Shipping price Not included)

Units Available:1

(Send us a message or comment if you’re interested)

[lunasapphire]

My newest order has arrived!!! - Herbal products will forever now be my favorite! I got a soap bar, a mini soap sample, and some muscle relaxer rub!

They don’t break out my sensitive skin, they smell good and aren’t overwhelming scented, they save the earth from plastics, most support small businesses, they maybe cost a bit more but you are paying for handmade products with natural ingredients and less ingredients! No chemicals! No toxins!

And best of all, you can connect to the universe with them:)

[tavina-writes]

favorite things about 2024 loch thus far?

oh man nonny so many things:

Ci Sha's Guo Jing. I love everything I've seen thus far of his Guo Jing and I think overall the casting was really strong for this production. Every LOCH adaptation has its misses when it comes to overall casting, but thus far all the characters I've seen and their characterizations have been strong and on point, and Ci Sha as Guo Jing has been excellent.

JingRong and their relationship chemistry. Any version of LOCH has to sell you on Guo Jing and Huang Rong's relationship and how much they just think the other person is the greatest person they've ever seen. Like bar none, this is the most important thing that cannot be missing, and this version of JingRong is just SO SO SO CUTE and I am so happy. IMO they join Barbara and Felix (LOCH 83 JingRong) and Zhou Xun and Li Yapeng (LOCH 03 JingRong) among my picks for Favorite JingRongs over the years.

Ming Dao's Hong Qigong. Gotta say, he's becoming a real fave of mine. There's something about his Qigong that strikes a good balance between being a hero and being like well, a real guy who's spent his entire life as a beggar yknow? Like that's commitment to a lifestyle that kind of mostly sucks!

Flashback sequence to HYS and baby Rong'er. DESTROYED BY THIS K THANKS.

[the-lark-ascending69]

Isn't "imperial core" the academic term though? The Core and the Perisphery, Centro y Perisferia, idk how anglos are taught about it or what they call it but I'm pretty sure that's the concept we're talking about.

👀

[theomenmedia]

A Deep Dive Into The Production Design For "The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King"

Celebrating 21 years of epic storytelling with 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.' Dive into the magic of its production design, from the towering Minas Tirith to the fiery depths of Mount Doom. A visual masterpiece that continues to inspire.

[ms-demeanor]

any thoughts on the new post that staff went scorched earth on which is now making the rounds abt tumblr live? it basically screenshots all the tos and claims if you've ever opened the app (or in some rbs, unsnoozed live) tumblr has gotten your data. on the one hand i feel like this is fearmongering, but on the other its true that MOST sites have your data as is so its pretty standard. you seem pretty knowledgeable abt data gathering so i was wondering abt your take

This is going to be pretty unkind but watching tumblr users interact with staff and live is a great primer on how conspiracy theories happen.

Nobody on this fucking website knows how to read a ToS, nobody on this website knows how anything fucking works (sorry, this is not a dig at you but how would tumblr "get" your data from you clicking or unclicking live; the only data that tumblr has on you is the data that you have put on tumblr what data do people think that clicking the "new" button is scooping up that is anything beyond interactions or posts or IP addresses which are the things that tumblr already has information about like you do not introduce new information into the tumblr ecosystem by clicking a button you haven't installed anything you haven't changed permissions on your browser if everyone is so goddamned scared about live stealing their data i strongly recommend they stop using anything but public internet through an anonymizer and making sure location data is shut off on all of their devices and anyone who is flipping their shit about the type of data that live is collecting but who is using chrome on any device needs to chill the fuck out about live and flip the fuck out about google)

this is like that post about twitter's content policy that circulated the other day or that post about deviantart's content policy that circulated ten fucking years ago nobody knows how to read legal documents and nobody knows how to read technical documentation and this comes together into unholy matrimony on the no reading comprehension at all moral panic website

live never violated the GDPR it was just rolled out in the US first but the entire userbase decided that because it hadn't been rolled out simultaneously in the EU and the US that it was SO UNSPEAKABLY PRIVACY VIOLATEY THAT THE EU HAD BANNED IT FOR ITS CRIMES with, like, nothing whatsoever backing that up because, again, even at its most intrusive Live collects about as much data as Twitter or Yelp, both of which are *capable* of meeting GDPR standards with that level of data collection (even if musk sometimes makes decisions that violate GDPR).

Live is significantly less intrusive than any facebook product, than Amazon, and than any Google product. If you use youtube logged in, don't worry about live, the horse is out of the barn and tumblr is the least of your worries *regardless* of live. If you regularly use Google as a search engine please god learn how to evaluate and compare risks across platforms because Live is like a coughing baby compared to about a dozen things that most highly online people interact with every single day.

If you don't want to use live don't use live. Clicking the button doesn't magically transfer your secret FBI file to tumblr and even agreeing to the ToS doesn't share anything that tumblr doesn't already have if you don't continue to interact - if you don't interact with live after agreeing to the ToS it's not collecting any data except your non-interaction.

For everyone who is losing it over Live just turn off your goddamned location on your fucking cellphone and turn off your location on your goddamned computers and that's it, you're good, you're fine, relax. If your response to "turn off your location" is "but I need it for _____" then don't worry about Live, whatever "_____" is was already collecting and selling your data.

Do you use an activity tracker? Congrats, you have much, much bigger privacy issues to worry about than tumblr live.

Okay but also I yelled about that post and the very many ways in which it was incorrect in January.

And I happened to take an archive of the page at that time because I'm a paranoid motherfucker.

And if you want my guess as to why staff went "scorched earth" on that post it's probably because if you scroll down to the bottom of the page on the archive, OP calls on everyone looking at the post to send a kind fuck you to the CEO then tagged his tumblr.

If you look at the other posts that went scorched earth in relation to tumblr staff they were also posts that very pointedly directed a lot of ire at a single staff member.

I don't think that any individual tumblr staff members are above criticism and I don't think that staff as a whole is above criticism but part of learning to read a ToS is understanding that someone can be shitty and vague and use TERF talking points and skirt the line and be technically okay under the ToS while someone can have a legitimate gripe about another user being horrible and manage to violate the ToS by accidentally spinning up a harassment campaign or suicide baiting someone.

Shitty people like nazis and terfs thrive on being edge cases. They are very good at finding a boundary and standing juuuuuuuuust on this side of it and going "la la la I'm not violating the ToS, you can't stop me!" and that blows and it leads to a lot of people encountering a lot of shitty stuff on a lot of websites but personally I'm pretty glad that there's a lot of gray area because when you cut out gray area that's when you see things like It's Going Down getting banned as extremist content alongside white supremacists. Please continue to report nazis and terfs, and when possible go deep into their pages to report because a pattern of behavior is more likely to get recognized as hate speech than a single post that gets reported a hundred times. Please block as many people who it's harmful for you to interact with as possible because it's clear that staff is not going to do the kind of work protecting users that users would like staff to do.

However I just can't get angry on behalf of a blogger who got nuked for saying "Hey everyone who hates this feature that we all hate please go tell the CEO to fuck himself at this URL specifically" - that is an extremely clear violation of the ToS because it is absolutely targeted harassment.

So now tumblr-the-userbase is going off on its merry conspiracy way skipping through fields and lacking reading comprehension and saying "users are getting banned for reporting the crimes of tumblr live and its gdpr violations" and ignoring the fact that the post was nuked because the last line was saying "hey everyone, let's all individually tell the CEO to fuck off in messages sent directly to him that are certainly not going to include any threats, exaggerations, gore, etc. etc. etc."

If I were to make a post that had 50k notes and the last line was "and while you're at it, please send tumblr-user-ms-demeanor a personalized message telling them why they're a terrible person so they know what we think of them" it would absolutely be reasonable to say that was harassing that user. And that post did it with the CEO. Who is not above criticism (and I have my criticisms! I don't think he really gets tumblr and that's a problem!), but jesus fucking christ don't tag the goddamned CEO or any other staff member in a call to action asking users to send them messages saying "fuck off" this is literally the stupidest thing I've ever seen a tumblr conspiracy theory coalesce around.

Anyway thank you for giving me a place to vent i've been getting more and more pissed about this for three days. Everyone feel free to kindly tell tumblr user ms demeanor to fuck off.

[ladyshinga]

“lol you realize Barbie is only a marketing movie, right? it’s just SELLING STUFF, you know that right? capitalism? lol?”

You’re too late.

Like, you’re not wrong, but you are wildly late on this one.

No one is under the impression that this movie isn’t marketing a toy line.

But that toy line? Has been on this earth longer than you’ve been. Barbie is old. Barbie is everywhere. We’ve all seen a commercial if not owned at least one Barbie doll in our lifetimes (or a knock-off you get emotionally attached to even if the weird mean girl down the street keeps making fun of it) (fuck you Christie that doll was a hero)

Advertising is everywhere. I can’t turn the TV on without ads, even on streaming services that used to brag how ad-free they were. I can’t browse social media without ads. I can’t see a movie or a show without products being “subtly” shown off.

We’re haunted by ads at every goddamn turn, we can’t even talk to an old friend from high school without them trying to sell us something.

If you think you’re making some radical grand statement by pointing out that Barbie is a toy line made by a big company that wants to sell more things... bud. We know that.

We know.

Greta Gerwig seems like she had a lot of fun with this movie, the actors had a lot of fun, the set design is fun.

No one is looking forward to Barbie because we think it’s some kind of beautiful radical anti-capitalist message just WAITING to break the world of its delusions of consumerism. God, could you imagine?

We’re looking forward to a bunch of actors dressed in pink having a lot of fun. We know the movie will make people want Barbie stuff, maybe they’ll go out and buy it, maybe they’re too broke because the world is expensive right now and we’ve got bills. But if “this movie will advertise things to you” was a dealbreaker we’d never see anything.

Because Barbie isn’t unique in this. A LOT of modern movies just want you to buy things, or admire/join the American military, etc etc. Money runs things here. Even capitalism stans know it runs everything (though they’re generally okay with it). Ads are our lives even when we use ad blockers and do our best to ignore the ones we see.

We’re seeing Barbie because it looks silly and fun, not because we’re putting it up on a pedestal expecting it to change the world. And we’re kidding and being silly when we DO act like that. Because goddammit, IT’S BARBIE. We’re acting like we acted when we played with dolls as kids, we’re PLAYING, we’re having fun. When I was a kid I absolutely pretended my Barbies could save the world and were magical and powerful. Didn’t mean she actually was.

These are toys. And we like to play. That doesn’t erase the capitalist motivations of Mattel, but it doesn’t have to mean we “support” their evils. We want to play, we want to enjoy play, even when we’re trapped in a capitalist hellscape where like 80% of our day to day fun is sold to us

[lieutenantfloyd]

How they react when you’re on your period (Headcanons)

Characters: Gambit, Deadpool, and Wolverine.

Warnings: tooth rotting fluff, domestic bliss, mentions of pain, mentions of blood and getting stabbed (thanks, Wade!) — Reader is gender neutral but has a uterus!

Authors Note: Got kinda caught up with life and writing and forgot to post for a week, but I'm back now lol

Gambit:

Remy is the biggest, softest teddy bear ever when it comes to you

seeing you tired and uncomfortable feels like a punch in the gut for him, so he makes it his mission to right things

Anything you need or want, he'll get for you

Need better painkillers? He's already at the store.

Just want to take a nap together? He’s dragging you to the nearest soft surface and holding you for hours

He cooks you all of your favorite comfort foods and keeps pints of your favorite ice creams stocked in your freezer

He’s a big, strong guy, and because of his mutation he's always super warm to the touch

Not only does that make him fantastic to cuddle, but he becomes your personal heating pad (and he loves every second of it!)

Remy would go to the ends of the earth to fulfill even your slightest whim, meaning this man won’t sleep until he’s convinced you’re as happy, well fed, and comfortable as can be :)

Deadpool:

whoever said laughter was the best medicine is 100% right

his first line of defense is to distract you with humor

Wade is very used to blood and everything but the way you’re expected to just go about your day like everything is fine while you’re actively bleeding out is crazy to him

so crazy that he honestly finds you kinda scary (which in turn makes him find you even more sexy)

because of that he’d basically becomes your dedicated house husband for a week every month, frilly printed apron included

he’s doing laundry! (with too much soap)

he’s cooking dinner! (it’s burnt on one side, raw on the other, and somehow both over seasoned and extremely bland)

he’s giving you a massage at the end of each day! (theres no catch here. His hands are literal magic)

If your cramps get too bad, he even offers to let you stab him so he can better sympathize with you.

though if you accept, it’ll just leave you both on the couch to groan in pain

Logan:

Logan, bless him, genuinely wouldn't know what to do at first

He knows it's just nature, but that doesn't make seeing you in pain any easier to deal with

It's not long before he becomes committed to fixing it (or at least easing your discomfort)

He'd secretly spend hours researching what he should do in his current situation

only to show up at your door that evening with big gift basket full of your favorite treats and products

Logan is a stoic man, so learning that he memorized all of your favorite things nearly brings you to tears

(but your tears turn into laughter when you see how panicked he is at your reaction)

after you take some medicine, you grab the snacks he brought you and settle in for a cute movie night

this is the only time he’ll let you decide what to watch, and he only groans loudly (no claws this time) when you pick something cheesy or romantic :)

[tinybro]

isekai story concept: In Another World With My Twitch Chat, in which a popular streamer finds himself in a fantasy world, but instead of something useful like cool powers or video game status screens or whatever, he's just got a magic floating window that only he can see following him around, streaming his experiences back to his followers on earth and displaying their chat. he navigates the obstacles of the isekai by crowdsourcing info and ideas from his chat and hoping someone watching has more expertise in the subject than him. the chat is divided on whether this is real or just a crazy high production value gimmick. the residents of the isekai regularly see this man turn to empty space and go "hey chat, how do i build an engine?" and then a few minutes later he suddenly has all the answers. they're convinced "chat" is like a magic word or the name of an invisible spirit guide or something.

[mylovesstuffs]

OT13 reacting to their s/o having curly hair

Request: GIOOOOODDDDDD MOORNINGGGG YOU BEAUTIFUL WONDERFUL SPECTACULAR HUMAN ｡ﾟ( ﾟ^∀^ﾟ)ﾟ｡

it’s meeeeeeee your 🫧 anon (✿◠‿◠) before i begin i must give you words of thanks for fueling my (and all of our) delusions 🙂‍↕️ it’s very much appreciated in this economy (づ ￣ ³￣)づ

since ur requests are open again would u mind indulging me just one more time? 🥹 how svt would react to reader having curly hair ╥﹏╥ i saw one (and only one :/) somewhere awhile ago and i haven’t been able to find any since so i would 🥰LOVE🥰 if your beautiful wonderful spectacular brain would do its sparkly pixie magic 🪄 on this for me whenever you get free time 🥹 absolutely no rush, of course!!

anyways, even if you don’t get to it I STILL LOVE UUUU INFINITY REGARDLESS MWAH 💋 I HOPE YOU HAVE A LOVELY DAY(。･ω･｡)ﾉ♡

A/N: YOU’RE SO SWEET OMG!!! Your energy is literally sunshine in text form 😦

I LOVE this request!! Curly hair appreciation is SO underrated and I’d be absolutely honored to write this one for you!! I’ll keep it ambiguous and relatable, so all the curly-headed cuties can feel SEEN. Thank you for trusting me with your vision again, and for always being such a ray of light!

P.S. MWAH BACK AT YOU!!

Seungcheol:

Lowkey obsessed. He loves running his fingers through your curls, even if you’re like “noooo, it’s gonna frizz!”

Always tells you how gorgeous your hair is, especially when you get self-conscious.

“You’re literally perfect!”

Might steal your diffuser to ‘help’ dry your hair but ends up doing it wrong lmao.

Jeonghan:

Teases you sometimes like, “Did a bird make a nest in here?” but actually melts inside because you’re adorable.

Loves watching you take care of your curls and enjoys when you let him help with your hair routine.

Buys you fancy satin pillowcases and pretends he’s nonchalant about it but secretly researched “how to protect curly hair at night.”

Joshua:

Super gentle with your curls, always asking if he can touch them.

Loves seeing you with your natural hair, will hype you up every single time.

Might playfully tug at a curl just to see it bounce back and giggle like a kid.

Also the type to say, “youur hair smells so nice!”

Jun:

Mesmerized by the texture. Will 100% stare at your hair when you’re talking because he’s so fascinated.

“It’s like art,” he says, poking at a curl.

Likes how soft and cozy your curls feel when you cuddle.

Might suggest you both try silly hair masks together, just for fun.

Hoshi:

Completely dramatic about it. “Why is your hair SO COOL?!” every time.

Loves when you wear it down so he can get lost in it.

Randomly sticks his face in your hair and says, “It smells like you!”

Will also take blurry selfies of you two mid-cuddle and caption them “the fluff squad.”

Wonwoo:

Admires how beautiful your curls are.

Looooves resting his head on your shoulder and feeling your soft hair brush against his face.

Will notice the effort you put into taking care of them and bring you little gifts like hair oils or scrunchies.

Very sincere compliments. “You look really pretty today.”

Woozi:

Lowkey loves your curls but pretends to be indifferent.

“It’s just hair,” but then gets flustered when you catch him staring.

Loves how your hair smells and might absentmindedly play with a curl when you’re sitting next to him.

Occasionally suggests writing a song about how cute you look 😭😭😭

Dokyeom:

Hypeman to the MAX. “LOOK AT THOSE CURLS! YOU’RE SO BEAUTIFUL!”

Loves tucking your hair behind your ear only for it to curl under your ear, and then he giggles like crazy.

Gets way too into helping you shop for hair stuff, reading every label like an exam.

Constantly says, “You should model your hair, it’s like from a magazine.”

Mingyu:

SO TOUCHY. Always playing with your curls, even when you say, “Stop, I’ll get frizzy!”

Thinks you’re the cutest thing on earth and tells you constantly.

Buys you way too many hair products like, “I don’t know what this does but it says curl on it.” [protect my man!]

Loves when you wear one of his oversized hoodies and your hair just flows out cutely.

Minghao:

Effortlessly stylish himself, so he appreciates your unique beauty.

Definitely suggests fun haircare routines or treatments because he’s into self-care too.

Will compliment you like, “Your curls are so you, they’re perfect,” and genuinely mean it.

Loves when your hair gets a little wild after a long day and you don’t bother taming it.

Seungkwan:

Super playful but also super loving.

Loves when your curls frame your face, always says you look extra cute when you wake up with bedhead.

“How are you THIS adorable 24/7?”

Sends you memes about curly hair struggles and relates hard with you.

Vernon:

Obsessed with how your curls match your vibe.

Loves burying his face in your hair when hugging you from behind.

Always notices when you try a new curly hairstyle and says something like, “Yo, that’s fire.”

Will try to sneak pics of you when your curls are all fluffy because he loves how soft you look.

Dino:

Super fascinated. Might ask a million questions like, “How long does it take to style them?”

Loves how unique your curls make you and is always super supportive.

Will randomly twirl a curl around his finger while you’re talking and not even realize it.

“You’re like…extra soft,” he says while giving you the tightest bear hug ever.

[ducksido]

The Overblot x yuu

When they got into the overblot and want yuu to join them but yuu hesitated to go with them because they are not themselves anymore?

(Yuu will be dating the overblot boys, separate, I have no fricking idea about malleus's overblot but some dreams and the card)

🌹Riddle Rosehearts🌹

The storm of red and black whirled around him, chains of magic tightening like a noose as his fury raged unchecked. His crimson eyes, usually so sharp with logic, burned with something far more dangerous—desperation.

"Yuu," his voice cracked like a whip, edged with an authority he didn't need to enforce. "You understand, don’t you? This is justice! This is what they deserve!"

His hand reached for you, gloved fingers trembling. It wasn’t a demand, but a plea.

You hesitated. This wasn’t Riddle—not the Riddle who shyly confessed to enjoying tea time with you, nor the one who secretly adored sweets and stifled laughter at your jokes. This was the product of years of suffocating rules and unrelenting pressure.

"I can't," you whispered, stepping back. His eyes widened, hurt flashing through the madness.

"Why?" His voice wavered. "Don’t you care for me? Don’t you see that I’m right?"

You shook your head. "Not like this, Riddle."

His breath hitched, and for a moment, something in his expression cracked—before the fury swallowed it whole.

🦁Leona Kingscholar🦁

Golden sands swirled in an unnatural storm, the earth trembling beneath the sheer force of his magic. Leona sat on his throne of ruin, the weight of resentment heavy on his shoulders. When his glowing, predatory gaze met yours, it was as if the world shrank into nothing.

"Tch. Thought you were smarter than the rest," he drawled, though there was something too raw beneath the apathy. "You're really gonna stand there and act like this ain’t exactly how it should be?"

Your heart clenched. This wasn't just his anger—it was his exhaustion, his years of being overlooked and discarded.

"You’re not you," you said, voice softer than you intended.

Leona’s ears flicked, his fangs flashing in frustration. "I’m more me than I’ve ever been." He stood, extending a clawed hand. "Come on, herbivore. Run with the real king for once."

You wanted to. But not like this.

You shook your head. His expression twisted into something unreadable, but he didn’t argue. He only watched as you stayed where you were, his shadows curling at his feet.

"Figures," he muttered.

🐙Azul Ashengrotto🐙

The ink-black tendrils of his magic pulsed like living things, writhing in the waterlogged air. Azul stood at the center of it all, his grotesque form both magnificent and terrifying.

"You trust me, don’t you, Yuu?" His voice was velvety, laced with the promise of power. "Come closer. Let me give you everything I once lacked. You won’t have to struggle ever again."

You swallowed hard. His words were tempting, just as all his deals were. But beneath the layers of his magic, you could see the insecurities bubbling beneath his fractured self.

"This isn’t you, Azul."

His grin faltered for half a second.

"But it is," he countered, a hint of something desperate in his voice. "This is what I was meant to be. No more weakness, no more failure!"

"Then why do you still sound so afraid?"

His tentacles flinched. For a moment, the ink thinned, revealing the boy who once hid his tears behind a golden contract. But then, the Overblot thickened, and he turned away, unable to face your refusal.

🐍Jamil Viper🐍

The room twisted under the weight of his power, the very air bending to his will. Jamil stood above it all, eyes alight with long-repressed fury. His laughter was bitter, but when he looked at you, there was something softer in the storm.

"You’re not like them," he murmured. "You see me, don’t you?"

Your heart ached.

"I do," you admitted. "But this isn’t you, Jamil. Not really."

His fingers twitched, and for a second, his control wavered.

"Then tell me," he pressed, stepping closer. "Who am I supposed to be? The obedient servant? The shadow? Or this?"

"You’re more than what they made you," you said gently.

His breath caught, the magic around him flickering uncertainly. Then, with a strained laugh, he turned his back to you.

"You should leave," he muttered. And though he didn’t stop you, you could hear the unspoken words in the silence.

He had wanted you to stay.

👑Vil Schoenheit👑

The air was suffocating, thick with violet smoke and the scent of poison. Vil stood in the center of it all, his beauty twisted into something dangerous. His golden eyes gleamed with something unreadable.

"Do you think I’m ugly like this?" he asked, voice eerily calm.

Your heart clenched. "That’s not—"

"Then why won’t you come closer?"

You bit your lip.

"Because you’re not Vil right now," you whispered.

Something flickered in his gaze—something fragile. Then, his lips curled into a bitter smile.

"You always were honest," he murmured. "Even when it hurt."

For a fleeting moment, his hand twitched as if he wanted to reach for you. But he didn’t.

And you weren’t sure if it was mercy or fear that made him let you go.

🎮Idia Shroud🎮

Blue flames danced wildly, consuming everything in their path. Idia stood at the center, his form twisted into something monstrous—something unshackled. His usual nervousness was gone, replaced by an eerie, hollow confidence.

"Yuu," he called, voice distorted with power. "You’re always saying I should come out of my shell, right?"

His grin was sharp, unsettling.

"Well, here I am."

You swallowed. "This isn’t what I meant."

He tilted his head. "Isn’t it? I finally don’t have to be afraid. I finally have control."

You took a step forward, ignoring the heat licking at your skin. "Then why do you still look so lonely?"

The flames shuddered. His smile wavered.

"…You're really not gonna join my party, huh?"

You shook your head.

For a moment, the fire dimmed, as if his heart ached at your answer. But then he laughed, hollow and sharp, and let you walk away.

🐉Malleus Draconia🐉

The sky split open, lightning cracking in the distance as his power raged uncontrolled. Malleus stood above it all, eyes glowing with an otherworldly light.

"You always say I am lonely," he murmured. "That you are my friend."

Your breath hitched.

"I am."

"Then why do you hesitate?" His voice was soft, but the storm behind him roared. "You could stay. Be by my side. Forever."

Your heart ached at the longing in his voice.

"But it wouldn’t be you," you whispered.

His pupils narrowed into slits. "And if I don’t want to be the ‘me’ they caged?"

You reached out—gently, carefully. "Then I will remind you of who you are."

The storm faltered.

And in the silence, for just a moment, Malleus hesitated.

[endearing-dalliance]

Arcane Team's Bias Bastardized Piltover and Zaun

I am not an LoL player, but I read up on the lore because I was that fucking disappointed in season 2. Some key points of original Piltover and Zaun lore, which the team kept parts of. Emphasis on parts.

Geography and Symbiotic Economy:

Zaun was established first. A geographic disaster literally split the earth and sunk part of the city, splitting it into what we know today. Many of the wealthier citizens and those involved in the profitable sea trade ended up on a cliffside and industrial parts of Zaun were now across a river and below. They then became separate city-states in a symbiotic relationship.

"Zaun thrives, its people vibrant and its culture rich."

Zaun has multiple levels of "good" areas like the college and Bridgewaltz market where both citizens shopped for music, food, technology in addition to progressively more polluted and dangerous lower levels.

Piltover’s wealth has allowed Zaun to develop in tandem

Zaun's issues like the Gray were attributed to their own factories and labs that benefitted their own people

Culture and Relationship:

Zaunities collectively take great pride in themselves and their thriving city. Many choose to live there, especially scientists and inventors who find Piltover too restricted, because "their right to do as they please is what makes Zaun the freest city-state on Runeterra"

"A citizen of Piltover is typically self-reliant, does not expect handouts, and always aspires to do better."

Piltover has an elected "very empathic and progressive" government and is "one of the least militarized city-states"

Zaun's technological progress and academic institutions are described as being Piltover's only technological and academic rival. 

Both cities' citizens augment their bodies. Piltover's are more flamboyant and display their wealth, even if they are originally necessary; Zaun's are more practical and "necessity is the mother of invention" very much applies.

So this was what they had to work with. I can understand why many people would prefer to live in Piltover, but Zaun is treated as an equal place to be, with its own distinct and proud culture, complex structure, and thriving economy.

Moving on to Arcane (finally lol) and the now infamous original Arcane pitch. Either Christian posted that while every sane person was asleep, or none of them realized how profoundly terrible it makes them look. 

There's a lot in here that's problematic. Piltover is a gleaming wonder, a pure and magical place while conveniently leaving out why its this flourishing utopia. The next bit frames the entire conflict as Piltover's decision. It screams "Mommy and Daddy need to punish the naughty kids or they'll wreck the house." Except the starving kids are locked in the moldy basement and trying to break the door down to escape.

Now about Zaun...here its called the underground district. This becomes more important later, when you realize how many different and contradictory labels they give Zaun. Its an undercity, sister city, part of Piltover, wannabe Nation of Zaun. It establishes again the underlying superiority of Piltover. And of course it is, because Zaun's people are boiled down to dangerous, manipulative criminals (bonus points for an antisemetic reference!) with no morality.

I firmly believe this team has a fundamental deliberate misinterpretation of what LoL Piltover and Zaun are, and it is due to their own biases and privileges of a team that is primarily white, middle/upper class, able-bodied, and mostly male. It is abundantly clear that they see as Zaun is objectively lesser and that its their own fault. They're just a foil for Piltover and source of enemies. Three quotes from Arnaud-Lois Baudry:

"My role as a Production Designer was to make sure we don't negatively impact other teams at Riot Games and contribute to adding value and enriching the worldbuilding of those cities."

"Once we figured out the shape language of the wealthy city of Piltover, Zaun needed to be its dark mirror. We started by combining Victorian architectural pieces and some old industrial elements and added some asymmetrical flourish ornaments made from handcrafted upcycled pieces."

"Canonically Zaun is supposed to be super-dark, oily, and dirty with green smoke everywhere." Dude it is literally called The Gray. Zaun's marketplace, college, and an example of their architectural style from the LoL website:

Zaun is literally an afterthought. And I think its very telling that once again, Piltover was the priority. Magical, pure Piltover with its moral code...and Zaun was literally just designed to be its opposite. They claim that the show was designed to show the good and bad parts of both, but they failed to include any direct evidence that the problems in Zaun are entirely due to Piltover's treatment of them. They literally just took LoL Zaun, scooped the top (more prosperous) levels off, and buried it under Piltover. Piltover was enriched, and even benefited by inspiration from Eastern European culture like Nikola Tesla and Czech artist Alphonse Mucha. And then gave Viktor the only "foreign" accent in the show to further emphasize his disadvantaged upbringing and displacement in Piltover society. As someone with an Eastern European/Slavic background, I cannot emphasize this enough: fuck. every. last. one. of. you.

*sigh* Moving on to the "value and enrichment" given to Zaun:

cities described as "dissonant halves of the a greater whole" rather than symbiotic

Piltover came first, and the undercity later develops into Zaun. No mention of historical or present-day Zaun having anything to do with Piltover's success. Literally nothing is explicitly connected, though we do get Cait committing war crimes using tech her Mom installed to help the Zaunites from suffering the effects of pollution.

Speaking of pollution, AoA explictly states neither city has "big industry, there are no factories". Uhh then where is the pollution coming from?

It is portrayed unflatteringly with two notable exceptions (the Last Drop and Firelight tree), specifically in the ways that are in real life associated with racism, classism, body shaming, and cultural shaming. Its subtle at times, but a constant theme in their book, interviews, and the show itself.

In AoA, the Piltie extras are "understudies" and the Zaunites are "a motely crew".

Piltover has “normal” food like tea and sandwiches, while Zaun has what appears to be slugs in a muddy sauce from an unsanitary food stall that also displays drooling animal heads and tentacles.

All the Pilties are thin; the only overweight people (who are also usually morbidly obese) are from Zaun.

In Art of Arcane (AoA) they talk about how they specifically chose to design the Chem-Barons "more cartoony than grotesque" and that they made sure to have "a few landmarks, like the bridge, so it doesn't feel too cartoony" when designing Piltover.

Only the Zaunites use augmentation. Its a defining characteristic and objectively "bad". AoA explicitly correlates Viktor fixing his leg and spine with losing parts of his humanity. Lord know what they think of the multitude of augmented-out-of-necessity Zaunites. Coincidentally, the other character most associated with augments is Smeech, the cartoony drowned-rat-looking antagonistic Yordle, whose fight serves as a humorous scene endearing Jinx to the viewers.

They created the Piltover Council and then decided to make the Chem-Barons their direct counterparts, because DUALITY! Seriously, is anyone in Zaun NOT somehow just a "worse" version of a Piltie?

[foecomettrails]

[yourlocaltreesimp]

A soul, so familiar

Synopsis: Fae Rulie. He’s swooning and is being equally adorable and dumb about it.

Note: This is my only day off since… like what? mid august? No clue when i’ll actually have a moment to breathe again. So here’s the product of me being the largest rulie simp to walk the earth.

☆⋆｡𖦹°‧★

Link had a problem, and quite a large one at that. You see, what you must understand is that through his many gruelling adventures, holding the entire triforce, and the general shit show that is his life, he has not much learned about his body. Or at least he’s still rather unfamiliar with the bizarre nature of his fae bloodline.

At most it’s lead for some very funny, if not embarrassing, moments. Like the time he’d accidentally dropped 100 rupees for a single jar of honey, being so craved for sugar he’d decided in some odd part of his mind to pay the man back. And of course that time he drank so much mead and woke up in the middle of a forest he never recalled entering.

There was very little of himself that he was aware of. Aside from his own experiences, he had no way to tell what exactly he was capable of.

For the most part, He was ok with it. After all, it was the source of very little discomfort. He’d gained a good control of his magic to harm and to heal accordingly, he keeps an extra emergency jar of honey just in case, and tries his hardest to not accidentally make promises. The line between hylian and fae had blurred to the point where he was simply just himself.

Amidst the crowds of people, he didn’t feel much different. Of course, they don’t get the acute cravings for sugar to where they’d gladly go bankrupt. And sure, they don’t have to worry about uttering deals that literally bargain power over people’s souls. But for the large part, Link was normal.

He could experience life as any other person did.

Well, that was before he fell head over heels for you.

He was a dork. That much was expected by everyone— including himself. There was no hiding the flush that adorned his freckled cheeks and spread all the way to pointed ears. Everything you said and everything you did was target to fluster him. Watching you dance and cackle by firelight had his heart radiating with warmth, his nerves spitting and cracking with the wood. He wished, quietly, longingly, that one day he could envelop you as wholly had the fire did. To caress your skin with such soft, reverent light and only serve to highlight just how striking you were.

His ears would wiggle just slightly at the sound of your laughter, hardly disturbing the soft curls of light brown hair. He’d swoon over the music of your laugh, or your voice when caught on something interesting, not noticing how clearly it showed to anyone willing to look.

He bore his genuine, crooked grin. Not just to you, but to the world. He found joy in every little moment in the usually missed corners of his day, because he could find something that tied back to you.

His life had suddenly been filled with so much colour and so many senses that he’d never had or felt before. And as much as the bubbling feeling scared him, he found himself wanting to protect you. He couldn’t let you, this burning streak of fire that had given so much depth to his one shot at living, be snuffed out.

He wanted so badly to adorn you in spells and wards to keep you safe from others and their prying eyes. The people of his home are not safe, but perhaps with the right words and the right magic he could keep you safe.

He didn’t let himself, he couldn’t.

He’d never whisper a single blessing into your skin if you weren’t the one who’d requested it.

But the feelings persisted. His love for your strengthened without any tending to, as did his desire to protect you, to hide you away and keep you safe and comfortable. And such was his problem: to love you so much in a manner that no hylian could understand.

He doubted even you would understand just how much you’re loved.

Regardless, he’d been an anxious wreck for weeks before he could even begin to come up with the obvious solution to his problem. If it were the fae part of himself that demanded so fervently your company, then perhaps catering to it would ease his yearning.

So he began to leave you gifts. Practical things at first, things he could explain away. Some new tools he’d seen you’d been eyeing, a nicer pack to keep all your belongings together, a fluffier bedroll to provide you good comfort… Some clothes he enchanted lightly to keep you safe.

But that slowly shifted. Of course, he only got more giddy the more you’d don the items he’d gotten. He’d gotten you much more since then, but none of them could compare to the engraved silver ring he’d just gotten.

The band was carved to make two hands holding a heart, an intricately carved crown on top, all set together in a small velvet bag and placed carefully among your items.

He watched happily, swooning over your soft smile as you slipped the ring on and thanked him for it. The kiss on the cheek made him utterly buzz, more than any life spell ever could.

Silver jewellery was the finest gift among the fae. It was their most precious metal and happened to be the most common form to supplement large payments. But this particular ring was notable to the traveller for one particular reason, its use in courtship.

He was over the moon the next few days, unable to even look in your direction without a nervous smile and flushed cheeks. Not only had his dearest love accepted his courtship, but you treat him so softly. His very soul tried to reach out, to cradle and cherish yours when he was too shy to do so.

And for once in the story of his life did he feel the warmth returned.

He could catch similar longing stares and could find trinkets and clothes he doesn’t remember buying.

It was almost burning, the sense of being loved. He wasn’t aware of how something he’d spent so long pining for could be so foreign. Yet at the same time it’s so homey. Being loved by you felt so routine, so familiar to him that he couldn’t find it within himself anymore to be shy, as if in some other lifetime you’d done the same.

As if he’s already bashfully linked pinkies with you or spent sunny afternoons braiding the stems of flowers.

There was a tangible amount of tension between the two of you, the longing hope to be loved as wholly as one felt for the other.

When you finally kissed, your lips were sweeter than any honey and he could convince himself to not let go.