#how does a web weaving post even... be sloppy???

[seravph]

ENJOLTAIRE //

sappho / Joanna newsom, only skin / Margaret Atwood / nikka ursula @cardiamachina​, seventy years of sleep 

[beeshavethrees]

HEY LOOK it’s an AU I’ve sat on for a couple years and never talked about! This is also probably the *weirdest* AU I’ve ever made. This AU focuses mainly on Alexander and Thomas reincarnating over the years, though other characters sometimes pop up as well. Details below the cut!

Making the photoset small so that it isn’t immediately obvious how rough these little sketches are. I did this in like an hour which is why it’s so sloppy.

Don’t expect anything else from this AU, I just wanted to get it out once.

As stated this is a really weird AU, so I’m going to summarize it in the cleanest way I possibly can.

World setup:

This world relies on three main concepts. The first is that souls have power, and the second is that this power is represented by colors, and the third is that soul magic leads the world.

Souls have power, and this power grows over time. As someone is reincarnated over the years, their soul will continue to grow more and more powerful and refined. Souls can change their power type (explained in the next concept) each time they’re reincarnated, but often trend towards keeping the same or similar power types as those they’ve had in previous lives, or a mix of them.

This power is represented by colors, particularly light or the lack thereof. Magic is defined as two types: white/light (and its components), or black/dark. Someone can not have both types of magic. Dark magic is organic magic, allowing the user to manipulate the natural world. Only a small subset of the population has this magic, and most go into careers related to naturalism or farming. Light magic is inorganic magic (making it essentially limitless), and is held by the vast, vast majority of the population. It is broken down in the color spectrum -- most light magicians aren’t considered as having light magic, but instead have red magic, or blue magic, or so on.

Soul magic leads the world in the form of the High God. As the power of souls grow over time, so does the power of the gods. The High God is little more than a web of scraps of magic, and builds up the basis of the universe and everything within it. Two Lesser Gods are also much later brought into being by this same force of magic, but where the High God is concerned with the cosmos, the Lesser Gods care for the beings within it. The Lesser Gods also pluck individual souls out of the cycle to act as servants and ambassadors who can actively visit humanity to guide it down the path of the Lesser God’s vision. The Lesser Gods can correspond with the High God, but there’s little to be heard by a being in such a grand scale above even the other gods.

Plot basics:

The storyline takes place over thousands of years, and several reincarnations of the cast, but the main focus is on three lives.

One of three: This life takes place while humanity is still only beginning to gain its footing. Magic is in its infancy, and is capable of very little -- and while some regions embrace the natural variation in magic, others detest it. The main cast lives in an area of the latter sort -- a small tribe identifying themselves with their “red” magic is clashing with the “blue” tribe over a small area of land that grows a particular herb that is highly nutritious and thought to have healing properties. The one thing the two tribes agree over is in a legend of people with every magic type, “light” magicians, who are incredibly powerful and are sent by fate to lead tribes to prosperity. Both tribes also identify their affiliations by painting stripes under their eyes with their color.

(There are other tribes in the area -- many of the other cast members live in the green tribe, and Lafayette is of the dark tribe to the south, but they don’t have much standing on the plot.)

Thomas is the son of a the blue tribe’s leader and is particularly gifted with magic to the point where some people claim his family must descend from a light magician. He hates the pressure put on him to step up and lead, or to use his powers to defeat the red tribe.

Alexander is from the red tribe, raised by his mother -- his father is unknown to him, though his mother claims she found his father one day while out foraging, brought him back to the village to tend to his wounds, and fell in love until the day he ran away again. Alexander is a typical red magician, but often will go out alone into the woods to attempt to push his powers to the limits, with the excuse that he forages while away. One day, Alexander leaves to forage, but becomes caught in a heavy thunderstorm. Disoriented, he stumbles through the underbrush until he comes to a messy trail and follows it.

Thomas is the one to find him collapsed on the trail, bunches of the herb Alexander collected in his small bag. The rain washed away Alexander’s paint -- not knowing who this stranger could be, Thomas hauls him back and takes the herb from Alexander’s back to give to the healers.

When Alexander wakes up -- indoors, clothes dry -- he’s approached by Thomas, who introduces himself. Alexander is at first terrified, knowing that a member of Thomas’ tribe wouldn’t hesitate to kill a member of the red tribe. But Thomas has been working on a plan: he doesn’t want all this pressure on him to do this and do that as the heir to the only family descending from a light magician; instead, he slyly mentions that he heard legend of light magicians appearing to aid those in need. Alexander jumps on the opportunity, claiming that of course he’s a light magician, and of course he’ll help Thomas’ community. Anything to stop them from stabbing him then and there, he supposes. Thomas thanks him, hands him a bowl of broth made from the healing herbs, and their relationship develops from there.

Alexander never does find out his father was a light magician.

But other folks find out he’s a red magician -- and before he can escape back to his own tribe, he’s killed.

Two of three: Thousands of years later, magic is no longer a faint power only a few can properly utilize. Instead, it’s well-known and spread through the population, which isn’t tribal any longer, but is instead a relatively highly-developed interlocked society spanning the globe.

No longer are people defined by a single color -- many people descend from a mixture of many colors, and instead are simply inclined towards one over the other, though some stronger than others. Light magic has also become far more common, though it’s rare to see someone who can naturally use it; instead, people with great magical affinity will be invited to schools of higher education where they are trained.

Thomas is in his second year studying with one such school. His parents both attended it, and are ecstatic for Thomas to join it as well, though he’s less interested. He’s initially invited to the school to study light magic, but during the first week of orientation he finds out: hey! He hates light magic and isn’t inclined towards it at all! And instead he runs off to study blue magic. It just...feels better.

Alexander comes into the school a year after Thomas on a full scholarship. He comes from a far more unfortunate background, but shows incredible magic potential. So, a light magician it is! Where the other magics at the school dress however they want, work on projects all over the common spaces, wander the halls...to be a light magician is to be perfect, and that’s exactly what he wants. He dresses in the perfect white uniform, he sticks his nose up at other magics, and his class -- only one, all day, every day -- is set with the other 99 students in his class in an auditorium.

Only...light magic isn’t all it’s cracked out to be. Light magic is no longer the raw force of power it was; instead, students are encouraged to refine and control it if they want to use it. Light magic is pulled from the soul and spun into a string, then woven on a loom into the desired shape. First-years are still learning how to weave, so they work on projects as a community -- each student of the 100 is brought up to a stage during class, spins a single string, then sets it on the loom and sits down. The lecturer then weaves them all together. Though first-years are forbidden from meeting with the upper years, rumor says upper years get to weave their own magic, and go on to work at the greatest government-run magi-tech facilities in the world.

But Alexander feels off. He doesn’t like the clothes, and he doesn’t like the culture. Within the first month, the lecture becomes dull: there’s no notes to take, every demonstration is slow, and he’s terrified that every time it’s his turn to come to the stage, he’ll mess up his weave. Not only that, but weaving doesn’t feel...right.

One day he runs into a group of blue students while going to the restroom during lecture. They’re encouraged not to leave during lecture, but he’s falling asleep and has to get out of that uncomfortable chair. And he realizes...the blue students are using their magic freely, and already doing amazing things with their powers, not spending all their days in that awful lecture hall.

And just like that, Thomas convinces him to leave the light magic program. Alexander becomes a red magician, but something never does sit right with him about what was happening in those lectures.

Until it comes out that weaving light magic requires depositing a bit of one’s soul along with it. Light-weaving magicians will all burn out eventually, and while the soul will regenerate come their next reincarnation, their magic is stolen from them in their current incarnation.

Chaos breaks out among the magicians of the school. A microcosm of revolution between those who are learned and powerful and those who are plentiful and ready to throw all they have at it.

Alexander is killed in the chaos.

Three of three: Another several thousand years pass. It’s by this time that the Lesser Gods have fully formed, and light-weaving technology has surpassed all else to the point where humanity is post-scarcity -- cities are rebuilt for beauty, natural spaces carved out, portals and magic commonly integrated. Everyone has everything they could want, they only need to find their place and personal happiness.

Thomas is plucked out of the reincarnation cycle by the Lesser Gods; he’s brought into being as an adult with a strictly light-blue uniform and a purpose. He mainly takes correspondence and delivers messages, seeks out additional souls that would be good to be made into a being such as himself (a ”unit”), as well as various other duties assigned at random, such as setting things up if another unit will be doing things down in the world.

He doesn’t personally recommend Alexander’s soul be pulled, but he doesn’t mind when he’s assigned to wake Alexander up. Alexander is another unit, but this time an enforcer with a pink uniform: or, white-red, to be specific. An enforcer is more than a passive messenger -- they’re powerful, strong, and are meant to cleanly eliminate those who would destroy the perfect society humanity has built.

He and Alexander work next to each other for a time while Alexander is awaiting orders. One day, Alexander is sent off on a mission: some random crazy person has been trying to build an artificial god. Of course, that won’t fly, so he’s off to eliminate them and destroy anything remaining of their project.

But in his absence, Thomas starts to realize that he’s...lonely. He’s excited when he’s given his next assignment to go to Earth for some silly routine work, and realizes that he doesn’t...really want to go back. James is the final nail in the coffin for him: finally, someone else who likes him! They just have to disappear and pop off elsewhere, ideally avoiding enforcers, and they’ll be off scott free!

Shame that Alexander finds him.

(The funny thing about Thomas being a servant is that he does have some powers -- ones that happen to counteract all of Alexander’s offensive abilities as an enforcer. Making it a very awkward sort of manhunt. Units were never made to hunt each other, or even defect at all!)

And with each escape, every thwarted plan, Alexander cracks a little more. And eventually, when Thomas extends a hand -- maybe out of pity, maybe out of love, maybe just because it’s what he’s always done in all their lives -- Alexander takes it.

And they run free.

And that’s it for this AU! I’m never writing for it ever again. Goodnight.

[naruhearts]

14x05 Watch Notes/Meta Commentary

(This is like, way better than writing separate posts. Why didn’t I do this before?)

I’m currently too busy to write a cohesive review post, though hopefully I have time to do it this weekend!!

- - - -

Leader Sam off the bat!! Hmm hunters are checking in with him now—busy Chief lol

Look at how activity-noisy the bunker is. BODY CAMS as a new hunter system!! Watching and learning epitomized.

Dean’s very involved and on-the-top of his game, although you can definitely tell in terms of ambience that he remains out of place. Again, broken mirror of the Bunker, his Heart and Home.

WTH even is this music??

Interesting...statue of father and child. Father-child relationship emphasized. Father figure and internal development-linked themes as always

Mary/Bobby wearing Michael!Dean and Cas clothes—here we go!! Mirrors!!

IV and blood! It’s the old man they saw.

Maggie in chains. Poor girl.

- - - -

Dying old man’s daughter Sasha saying she needs to sort things out with her father before he dies...she must LET GO. To do that, reconcile your past mistakes with your present self, and look towards the positive future. You’re more than your mistakes. You deserve to be saved. Consistent cathartic themes!! Love it.

AU Bobby totally doesn’t like Dean and Sam.

Similar Dean/Cas dynamic of Cas curtailing Dean’s emotionality lol

“At least he wasn’t like your dad was when I knew him.” Ooooo

BOBBY HAS WALLS, says Mary. Indeed, just like Dean possesses internal walls. Sam and Mary juxtaposed with Dean and Bobby reflecting each other (Dean carrying the BAG OF EMOTIONS, no less). AH!! Bobby clearly established as a Dean parallel. I’m DANCING *serves cake*

People put up walls for a reason, says Sam. There’s the trauma recovery themes surfacing here.

“If you care about him, I think you should [try and find out his reasons for trauma]” —> open communication and deconstructing these barriers to healthy self-process. MORE nudging from the narrative to knock down the psychological walls!! Bobby/Mary are the D/C parallels (DOWN TO THE CLOTHES) depicting what future Dean/Cas (and TFW) should (continue to) learn!! COMMUNICATE and HEAL TOGETHER AS A RELATIONAL UNIT.

lol nice powder Dean

MoTW is weird, popping here and there.

- - - -

Dean still has the bag on, of course.

Dying old man’s daughter Sasha stating her dad is an alcoholic/toxic narcissistic tendencies!! Sasha the Dean mirror; her dad the John mirror.

Yes, Dean staying with her. Here we go.

The BAG OF EMOTIONS IS ON THE SEAT.

Boom, Sasha says she isn’t up for Heart to Hearts with Dean. Then she opened up: her father was away all the time. She worshipped him as a kid. Dean is so obviously reflected by Sasha!!!

JOHN-DEAN once again slathered ALL OVER this narrative.

DEAN TELLING SASHA TO LET GO OF THE PAST YES!!

Omg he literally told her the past is baggage. And the bag is on the seat, right there with him. TPTB directly connecting the bag to psychological baggage stimulated by John Winchester *thumps table* *guys je suis TRÉS EXCITÉE OKAY*

“Is that what you do?” Sasha asks Dean. Dean says he TRIES. Oh, Dean, you WILL SUCCESSFULLY LET GO, as well.

AU BOBBY HAS A SON DANIEL

MARY FIGHTING DANIEL

Daniel was killed by angels :o But here he wasn’t real—he was a caricature!

Bobby chose Mary over his son. He’s AFRAID TO LOSE MARY. That is his worst nightmare. Continuous Bobby/Mary = Dean/Cas 😭

Not to mention it could be a deliberate callback to Mary—despite knowing that Azazel will come for her family—going through with the demon deal so she can save John! Mirrors reflecting mirrors reflecting mirrors, eh? Season Reflections 14.

John/Mary = Bobby/Mary = Dean/Cas. Upholding previous season ROMANTIC mirrors.

Dean’s “Sasha, will you make me a sandwich?” smh

IT’S A DJINN OMG

Michael!Dean asked the djinn to do it—to kill as many hunters as he can.

Djinn is the reflection of Michael too: capitalizing on his victims’ INSECURITY and FEAR via reaping their minds to manipulate them (“Weaving our poisonous webs inside people’s minds.”) Because of Michael, he can bring the nightmares out into the world.

wtf DJINN can’t even SEE into Dean’s mind. “You...you...” (or maybe he DID SEE, and WHAT was there for him to see?). MICHAEL IS SETTING TRAPS @dimples-of-discontent yes, he’s the HUNTER (as he’s said in 14x02), cooking up strategic plans. Michael not being truly gone. Hiding in plain sight.

- - - -

Sasha telling Dean you can’t change the past. ABSOLUTELY. Instead, you can change the future!

THIS IS WHAT SHOULD (AND WILL) HAPPEN FOR TFW, especially DEAN! Dean Depressed Winchester must die so Dean Self-Actualized Winchester can live.

Aww Dean is proud of Sam (man, the bunker’s BUSTLING). Toxic Brodependency cannot be found anywhere in the current narrative and I’m delighted. It’s genuinely dead e.g. when Bobby berated Sam, Dean didn’t retaliate.

Mary patching up Bobby’s wounds. Bobby (also a John mirror in certain respects seeing as he’s Mary’s romance-coded replacement) saying Hunting is what got them through life.

Mary telling Bobby it wasn’t his fault = Cas and Dean’s own past instances of emotional disclosure and reassuring each other. Mary/Bobby Heart to Heart. Mary/Bobby everything. Oh, and Bobby’s left arm/side was bandaged by Mary. I’m loving the romantic subtextual Reflection cake of D/C ;-;

**sigh these two lovers**

Bobby not knowing any other way to live besides hunting, but MARY CLAIMS THEY WILL FIND ANOTHER WAY (“Don’t give up on me”)—introducing alternative positives/narratively reflecting Cas’ role in Dean’s life as his anchor. Dean, who knew no other way of life until Cas came into the picture, and then, over ten years, Cas induced Dean to dare hope, to believe that he DOES deserve to be saved, to HAVE/BE what he always wanted to have/be e.g. umbrella drinks, toes in the sand, matching Hawaiian shirts, watching movies and eating pizza together 😭 Full circle Bobby/Mary mirror narrative of Dean and Cas’ interpersonal bond. POSITIVE ENDGAME. Can you believe this episode?! It were SO substantial on the Mirror front.

BOBBY AND MARY ARE TAKING A BREAK AND GOING ON AN EXCURSION TO DONNA’S CABIN. Talk about potential foreshadowing? *rubs hands together* *ever-shifting TFW dynamics*

Speaking of, Dean was the one telling Mary to go with Bobby :’) *Sam telling Cas to go with Dean, his parental figure—Dean and Cas splitting off from Sam to take time off (or HUNT) together as the final nail in the Brodependent coffin? Dean relinquishing his parental duties permanently as he FREELY commits himself to/loves Cas emotionally and mentally? *Yes please!!* *Someone calm me down I’m getting ahead of myself :P*

GARTH!

Dean again disclosing that Michael affected him, that he should let go and move on (from his trauma, from his past mistakes, and the deep-rooted internal prisons, depressive/repressive tendencies, and unhealthy self-process John unloaded within him. Bobby expressed regret over bringing Daniel to war —> pertaining to soldier!Dean destroyed by neglectful John). We know Dean’s successful catharsis, healing, and trauma recovery takes time, patience, and persistent mental/emotional effort. He has his family as his holistic social supports.

Sam’s so hopeful in saying they can kill Michael.

- - - -

Oh my gosh, alright, so this episode was superbly written by Glynn in terms of Love, Family, Trauma Recovery, and Catharsis themes that were evidently maintained for S14, and don’t even get me started on the borderline tangible Dean/Cas and Bobby/Mary reflections!! The Past will die. The Future will live. Before one can step into the future, TFW must let go. Rectify past mistakes by holding onto your supports. Dare to dream. Dare to hope. Dare to LOVE. ‘Things don’t have to end this way’—end badly. The Self can be healed, and opening yourself up is the first step. Face the mirror and accept what you see. Deconstruct your traumas and jump over those hurdles. Only then can you fully embrace self-actualization. Also, Dean’s character progression excites me (plus the very positive D/C implications Bobby/Mary relayed throughout the ep) and I cannot wait to see him crack the walls further as the season unfolds!! I’m sorry for the sloppy thoughts, but y’all can assume that I’ll be rewatching it at some point :’D

SOLID 7.5/10

[shewholovestoread]

Game of Thrones Season 7 - Starkbowl

Greetings anxious fans (moreso if you’re a Sansa fan) things seem to be heating up in anticipation for the final episode of season 7 and episode 6 was nothing if not a real clusterfuck which made little sense and further destroyed characters we’ve fallen in love with.

Let’s start with Arya. Arya is a veritable badass and has been through her own fair share of torture and trauma. But her sheer level of antipathy towards Sansa is out of character. Now, there are some fans who are saying that well, they never liked each other, you only have to watch season 1 to figure this out. But they were both CHILDREN! They’ve both grown and their entire world has been upended. If that doesn’t get you to change and change your outlook, then there’s something wrong with you. They’ve both gone through horrible things but over the last few seasons, their outlook towards each other changed, where Sansa grew to fondly remember Arya and not complain about Arya’s sense of dressing, similarly, even Arya holds a somewhat more sympathetic view of Sansa, saying that she would like to see her sister as well. Arya is the character who killed Walder Frey in his home surrounded by his men and that was after she killed and cooked his sons into a pie. You can’t do that unless you’re stealthy as fuck, to the extent that no one sees you coming. But at Winterfell, she feels sloppy. I still think that she’s being way too obvious, lurking in the corridors. She’s smarter than this. Plus, I think the Starks have a real problem with communicating with each other and they seriously need to work on that, but that’s a post for another day.

Now, moving on to the whole "Sansa will betray her home and her family”. To this too, I say, where is the proof? There is none. The Northern Lords preferring her over Jon is fickle and Sansa says as much, she doesn’t lay much importance in their allegiance because it changes as the winds do. The other reason I think it’s a red herring is just because of just how plugged it is.

Literally every interview with D&D and the main cast points to Starkbowl and Sansa’s betrayal. They’ve brought it up in every interview and played it up. Now, if this were legitimate, why plug it so hard, where’s the excitement and the shock that GoT loves to spring on its fans? It’s absurd. Let me illustrate with an example, you make a murder mystery but throughout the marketing, you start giving away the culprit and the motive for the murder. Why would you do that? But here’s an alternative theory, what if you want to misdirect the audience? How would you that? Well, in the same fashion as the GoT makers, you lay a false trail, you get the actors to go along with you. You get them to say some really stupid stuff and keep on laying the red herrings. If Sansa was really going to betray her family, I bet everyone would have been saying that she’s a true daughter of the North and that she loves her family, that way, when the betrayal did come, it would catch us completely by surprise.

Game of Thrones is hugely popular and the people behind the show knows this. Before every season, we are met with leaks ranging from set-photos to the actual plot. Now the first few times it happened, it may have been legitimate but you can’t tell me that the writers and the producers are going to let the leaks keep happening. GoT is a very expensive show and is a huge cash-cow for HBO, you mean to tell me that they’re just going to sit back and not put a cap on the leaks? I think they did just that with season 7. They knew that the leaks have played a huge part in ramping up the interest for the upcoming season, so the leaks were controlled. They told us what a lot of the marketing machinery was telling us, making us even more apprehensive. Think about it, the leaks told us nothing new, a lot of “what was revealed” were things that a lot of us had seen coming and therefore were not surprised. I’m not saying that all the leaks were false, they can’t be, not if they’re meant to be effective. There’s some truth mixed in with a lot of horse-shit. There were instances where we had the bullet points but no context and context is everything. But I digress.

The reason I think Starkbowl is false is because of how hard the marketing pushed it, you simply don’t start giving out integral plot points and Sansa’s betrayal should have been that. Unless, she’s truly committed to protecting her family and the North. Well, then the fans get complacent, they know they can trust this character, that she’s good. That doesn’t make for very interesting television ( at least in producers’ and writers’ minds) So if Sansa is indeed fighting for the Starks and the North, how do you create discord to keep the fans on their toes? By creating it. By putting LF by her side and reuniting her with her family but making their reunion one that is fraught with suspicion and thinly veiled threats. But I’m not convinced and perhaps I am giving too much credit to the makers of the show. Also, where is Bran in all of this? You can’t mean to tell me that he’s not involved in someway or another. He’s the Three-Eyed Raven, he sees the past, the present and the future. He’s seen the web that LF weaves and the way he plays people against each other. Just because we haven’t seen him interact with Sansa and Arya doesn’t mean it’s not happening off camera. What’s even more obvious is that Sansa knows this too as does Arya, though she didn’t spend as much time around him as Sansa did. You mean to tell me that you set-up a Stark reunion after Winterfell is back in Stark hands only for the House to implode? The Starks are the good guys in the GoT universe and this is their time. They’ve taken their home back and are slowly but surely making their enemies pay. The Freys and the Boltons are gone, LF is next on the agenda, he just doesn’t know it yet.