#i've got a lot more to do but of course i have to start with my fav baby 🥺❤

[rostekhorn]

I don't know where it stands when compared to Campbell's Hero's Journey idea specifically, but I've always loved Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (and the preceding episode of TOS, Space Seed) for going against a hell of a lot of established conventions when it comes to heroism and lone men saving the world.

Khan's entire backstory is that of a guy who thinks the hero's journey is real, and he's the hero, except life stubbornly refuses to conform to his narrative. He's literally the product of an attempt to make superheroes real, and he's internalized the idea that because he's stronger and smarter than everybody else, it's his destiny to rule over them for their own good. ... And real life keeps getting in the way. First, the stupid little muggles back in the 1990s refused to obey him and overthrew his empire. Then, he was unfrozen in the 23rd century, thought he had a second chance, only the stupid little muggles took that away from him again. Then, his attempt to build a new world from scratch on Ceti Alpha V also failed because of a freak natural phenomenon that none of his superior strength and intellect could handle. And then of course, the movie. His hero's journey keeps getting thwarted by, well, the fact that the world isn't actually a superhero movie, and he isn't actually its main character, and the more it happens, the angrier he gets.

But that's just Khan. Then there's Kirk. Who has more than a little of the same ego and hero complex that Khan does, and in this movie, it's all for the worst. His arrogance and belief that he's above the rules gets a whole bunch of his crew killed, ultimately including his best friend, who has to sacrifice himself to finish cleaning up his mess. The entire situation could have been avoided if Kirk had simply followed routine Starfleet procedure (kept the shields raised when encountering Reliant). The only thing that allows him to escape and stage a comeback is more routine Starfleet procedures (Reliant's command codes, and the "for God's sake use codes when you're on an open channel" rule). And when he finally comes back for round 2, the reason he wins is simply that deep space combat is something he's been doing all his life and Khan has never done before. The whole movie celebrates bureaucracy, training, and experience, over innate special individual ability.

If you go back to Space Seed, there's also the whole story about the ship's historian who falls in love with Khan but then betrays him once she realizes what he's about. I don't love all the gender politics that are wrapped up in that storyline, but I recognize the point they were trying to make. She's someone who's completely bought the romanticized vision of past figures like Khan, and has to learn, through exposure to the real thing, that people like that in real life aren't Campbellian heroes, they're brutal thugs. (It also softens the gender politics a little bit that Kirk, McCoy, and the rest of the humans have also swallowed a lot of the romantic kool-aid - not as much as her, but enough to seriously disturb Spock, the only one in this episode who sees clearly right from the start - which kind of foreshadows Kirk's flaws when they next encounter Khan in the movie).

In any case, color me unsurprised that when we got that thoughtful pushback against a bunch of our traditional heroic tropes, it came from Star Trek.

alright, I’m annoyed with the class that I’m taking. it’s about writing novels, and I thought it would have cool stuff about balancing your narrative and developing themes etc, but instead she spent the first class talking about how every book fits into the Hero’s Journey (the monomyth template). and I was somewhat of a contrarian, and said “can you give us examples of books that don’t fit into this template?” and she said “no. because all books fit.”

but I dunno man, I just finished reading this Korean book where the plot is just the character having a string of hookups and reflecting on them without changing in any way. I don’t know if it’s possible to contort that into the Hero’s Journey.

[ethtyn]

LET'S GO OUT WITH A BANG 🚦

taglist:

@ashiyn @single-malt-scotch @goodtimeswithetho @pebbltree @crabbunch @catmaidetho @amethyst-allium @stitchthesewords

sooooo ermm i guess i get to talk about this piece now YIPPEE

i am one of those people who's constantly trying to figure out what their own art style looks like LMFAO. i take frequent breaks from art due to mental health shit so it feels like every time i come back i'm trying to find my footing again.

that being said, i had a lot of caffeine yesterday and started this on a whim and it ended up being something i'm incredibly proud of. i think it helps that i've been redrawing old emotes for a friend's twitch channel, so figuring out which brushes i like right now was really helpful, and i ended up using my personal emote palette like...a lot. that pink in Etho's eye, the purple used for shading, most of the browns are all used in my own emotes. it's wild how much having colours already picked out streamlines things!

Etho is the one i started with, of course, and ended up being one that i went back to re-draw after i'd done...three? or four? more, because the sizing wasn't right and i wasn't happy with the posing. i still wish i could have conveyed him dipping his chin into his coat fluff a little better, but oh well. i thought of the little detail of him looking at Martyn's drawing at the last second (#ethtyn4life) and it made me laugh so i did it. points to you if you caught that!

Joel was the second - life!Joel has always been fey in my head, especially after that season when he just went batshit insane the second he turned red. can't explain it, that's just how it be. i tried to give him an air of subtle menace about him but i think he just looks sleepy 💀 i'd like to do these as individual, larger pieces at some point, so maybe i can work on that more then.

Grian was the third - he reminds me of a Lost Boy here and that wasn't intentional but the Lost Boys always kind of freaked me out and life!Grian's kinda freaky so i think it fits. his little smirk is so creepy and i love him.

i don't remember who i did next after this so we'll just go in order pfft

Bdubs is SO CUTE look at him. one of the few where i couldn't make a menacing expression work, and honestly with how good his profile turned out i barely mind. i did that side profile with no reference, y'all, idk what kind of crack i was on last night. what the hell. this was about the point where i started wanting to do little lore doodles for everybody so i added the clock face - i think it clashes with the red background but what can you do.

CLEOOOOOO CLEO CLEO. i LOVED drawing them, i think their design is one of my favourites of the bunch. her hair has always been snakes in my head and AGAIN i drew those with no reference, can you fucking believe that. i loved the little detail of some of the snakes poking at the people next to her, they're so cute hehe. also Cleo has freckles now, i'm so sorry but i don't make the rules. someone complimented the teeth in the reblogs and THANK YOU!! they're not quite anatomically correct but fuck it we ball and they look cool as hell anyway.

Martyn is so smug, i love him. points if you caught that he's looking at Cleo bc Double Life, i wanted to do something a lil different with him than just another straight up symmetry tool drawing and i think it fits. he is so eye-searing tho sir please tone it down.

Lizzie is fey just like her husband, and also she is smol. i don't think it's conveyed as well as i'd like here but i also didn't want her to look like a straight-up child so i did what i could. she is So Scary with those vacant blue eyes oh my god. and drawing her hair was sooooo fun i love long hair ahh

with Gem i basically smoothed out a rough design sketch i posted awhile back and i'm so proud of the little head cock she's got going on, she looks so cool. also her hair?? idk how i did that. i love her swoopy bangs so much.

Pearl is moth. Pearl will always be Moth. so she got lil antennae and big buggy eyes. drawing that hood was so satisfying, i used to try and draw Raven Teen Titans in high school and could never get the hood to look right so seeing this one come out perfectly was sooooo good. and of course had to include a teensy moon.

that's all i've got, i think - i feel myself crashing LMFAO. maybe at some point i'll come back and say more but here's this for now!

[low-budget-korra]

The lies Arcane Fandom likes to believe

Okay, I've seen a lot of awful takes in other social medias but now they are getting here too and I just can't. So I will talk abt the truth a lot of the fandom chose to ignore. And I'm saying "the truth" because different from a lot of ppl, I've actually watched the show and paid attention to the scenes.

1. Jinx is the only one who has been traumatized

Half of the worst takes about characters like Vi or Caitlyn, wouldn't exist if ppl realize that Jinx WASN'T the only one who got traumatized. Vi spent 7y getting beat up in prison, without eating properly and confined in a dirt cell. And no, she is not the one to blame for the person Jinx became. Jinx has to be held accountable for that, just as much as Silco for feeding her paranoias and manipulating her for years.

2. Caitlyn was a evil character and manipulated Vi

Season 1 Caitlyn shows nothing but empathy and patience, y'all like to say Jinx was a revolutionary but s1 Caitlyn was a revolutionary. "Oh but she was rich, she can't be" oh my sweet summer child...

Anyways, she wanted to end Silco cartel - that was destroying Zaun. She even managed to get a council meeting to talk about this. She wanted to change things and she was acting towards this.

Then she got kidnapped naked, tortured for hours, didn't take the shot that would have saved her mother's life, her mother was murdered, the memorial ceremony was attacked and yet she REFUSED to follow the council's ideas to use full force and invade Zaun. Which led us to

2.1 Caitlyn used the grey against innocents

She DIDN'T. She said it herself that the plan was to capture Silco's goons and destroy the slimmer factories. And we see that in the Hellfire sequence.

So stop spreading that she was using the grey against innocents bc the people she used against it were Chembaroons who provoked a civil war on Zaun for power, and used children labor in its factories. They are far from innocents.

2.2 Caitlyn manipulates Vi

I don't even know where this fake news came from bc I've already watched Arcane 3 times, watch at least 4 reaction channels and a few analysis on yt and no one apart from some of y'all in fandom sees this. Jinx manipulates Vi way more than Caitlyn, for example, she is the one that makes Vi believe that her becoming Jinx is her fault.

3. Viktor and Jayce did nothing wrong

Jayce basically built a Chernobyl above Zaun just bc if Hextech goes bad, people from Zaun would be the ones suffering the consequences and not Piltover.

Y'all like to call Caitlyn a genocide (even tho we didn't see any kill directly from hr actions), when Viktor is literally the one willing to kill people in the thousands just because he believes it's the best call. "I want to evolve all those willing to" excuse me? Sir, what "evolve" even means in this scenario? Bc those "evolved" ppl became nothing more than marionettes with no control over their actions and completely brainwashed.

4. Caitlyn was a dictator, she knew everything that was happening on Zaun and did nothing

Caitlyn was actually a pawn in Ambessa chess, a face to Ambessa actions, a face to take the blame for. Noxus could not just simply invade Piltover and install an Martial Law without the support of a major house like house Kiramman.

Essentially what Ambessa did was promote Caitlyn, and hide behind her status. Because if any other Piltie house questions, she could be like "but I'm just here to support the Kirammans, I'm just doing what Im told"

We see in episode 4 that the Noxians are the ones dealing with Zaun's turf wars. Do y'all actually believe their reports on what's happening was legit? Of course not. Caitlyn made her decisions based on those false reports that she didn't even give two fucks about bc she was still too focused on tracking Jinx. That's why when she started to really see what was going on and questions Ambessa, Ambessa quickly pulls the "mom" card to push Caitlyn back into her web.

Sure, she was still powerful and privileged but she wasn't in full control. And the fact that a lot of the fandom dismisses Ambessa's manipulation shows how good at that she is.

5. Vi choose to have sex instead of helping her suicidal sister

Vi DOESN'T watch Arcane. She doesn't know how bad Jinx was and mind you, last time Jinx was acting weird she blew up things instead of being suicidal. We, the Audience, watch her whole journey and change. Vi only stayed with her for a short period of time and she was in a coma for days. She doesn't know what happened after Isha sacrificed and how much this affected Jinx.

"breaking the cycle" could mean a lot of things and if you listen to her words when Caitlyn arrives, you can see that she clearly thinks Jinx is out there abt to blow something. She is blaming herself for believing in Jinx change of heart and not sad for her being suicidal, this prob actually never crossed Vi's mind.

6. CaitVi was forced

I can't with this ""argument"" CaitVi is the couple that has been built since s1 😭. I take that sometimes they were toxic (like when Cait hit Vi) but to say they were forced...please use it 🧠

7. Silco was a revolutionary and a good father do Jinx

Sure, in the past. There's nothing glorious or revolutionary in running a cartel, having business with corrupted cops and child labor. "But he was getting money to his revolution" my ass. He spent 7y doing nothing but becoming more and more powerful while Zaun became like the Pride Lands when Scar took over. He only gets back to his revolutionary ideas when Jinx stole the Hextech gem.

His beautiful speech doesn't match his horrible actions.

The fact that so many ppl see him as this perfect father figure, is the reason so many ppl so easily fall into abusive relationships. Yes, he took care of her but at the same time, he isolated Jinx from her sister , fed her paranoia and instigated her violence tendencies. And it's so clear bc the moment he was no longer in her life, she started to get better in her mental health.

Anyway to finish this long ass post lmao, I want to say that you are free to dislike and hate who you want and what narrative choice you want. The only thing, that ain't that hard, is be fucking honest abt it. There's no need to create bullshit expectations over your hate, ignoring the CANNON.

[signanothername]

I– I need to ask.

HOW DO YOU DO THIS?? Like, share your thoughts with everyone. Because I've been working on my universe for about three years now, AND I STILL FEEL LIKE IT'S NOT READY. At the same time, I’m still afraid to share these things...

So. How do you do it?D:

Alright my answer will seem a bit harsh and/or cruel, but know that I mean it in the most kind, genuine, and gentle way possible, i just don’t know how to word it any other way

With that in mind

Anon, you’re never going to be ready to share it, and the fear will always linger, you will never be 100% confident of what you share

And that’s ok

Again, I know that i make it seem super easy, but I promise that I’m just as afraid to share my ideas as anyone else (I’m a perfectionist, and that also contributes to my fear to share things)

It’s just, I think of it this way

I have an idea, and I got two choices

Either

1- I keep overthinking it, and succumb to my worries and fears when it comes to my idea, and keep my ideas with me, never to see the light of day

Or

2- I acknowledge that I’m afraid, acknowledge that my idea might not be perfect or ready, acknowledge that there might be flaws that I will probably notice later and even feel stupid about it, and still share my ideas anyway regardless of the voice in my head telling me to “wait a little more”

I usually go for choice number 2

The art and writing process is complicated, it’s so not easy to write something and feel ready to share it, no matter how much time it takes, you will never ever feel truly and utterly ready to share it, you’ll have that worry in your mind that maybe it’s stupid, or incomplete, or inconsistent or whatever else

And guess what? Sometimes, the worried voice in your head is completely right

But what matters is how you tackle it

Even if you share an idea, remember that you can always change your mind about it, you can absolutely go back and say, I don’t like that idea anymore and so I’ll remove/ change/ replace it

Ideas are never set in stone, you change and grow as a person as so do your ideas, they grow and change with you as you learn more and more, and sometimes they don’t, they don’t change at all, and that’s ok too

You can’t keep worrying about whether the story or idea you’re working on is ready or complete, because all you’re going to do is just walk around in circles and end up never sharing anything at all

It’s ok to be worried, but you can’t let your worries control you, of course, it’s not easy to ignore your worries, but it’s better than feeling stuck with your ideas

I myself do deal with these worries a lot, most of the time i just tell my brain “shut up” and share my ideas anyway, other times my worries do get the best of me and i tend to keep some ideas to myself

But sharing your ideas is actually essential for you to actually be able to work on them and refine them, because people might start asking questions or giving really good feedback that you actually sit with yourself to think about

But what if they ask you a question and you don’t know the answer to it? That’s actually a good thing, it’ll make you sit down and think of how to connect the dots and answer it, not only does it mean you’re actually making progress on your story/ideas, but these kinda questions help you understand different perspectives and by that, you learn and grow in your writing

It’s ok to be worried and to keep ideas to yourself sometimes, but don’t let them fester, because believe me, eventually your passion is gonna burn out because you kept overthinking it to the point it became just a worry than something you enjoy doing

In fact, to give you a bit of motivation, imma actually share one of the ideas I never shared cause I was afraid it’ll be a bit stupid and out of character

And I’m very worried about sharing it, but fuck my worry I do what I want

Remember when I mentioned Dream received one gift from Nightmare, and never received anything after? My idea for that gift was an echo flower he gave Dream, and it echoes one thing “I love you”

There, I shared it ouuughh the stress of sharing it is killing me actually, but I mean I can keep worrying about it forever, or actually share it and refine it later if I wanted, I choose the latter

And your ideas are never going to be perfect anyway, but you can improve them with time, even after sharing them

That’s all I do really shzggz

So go out there and start sharing anon, fuck anxiety, you can do whatever you want, you’re unstoppable

[ukulelegodparent]

I mean, fascism is primarily derived from the Italian word fascio which was a term used for various workers' rights groups in 19th century Italy and was later co-opted by Mussolini in another classic fascist move: using leftist language to trick people into following them. Fascio does originally come from Latin Fasce but it seems to me like that was more a coincidence/correlation than anything else. It seems to me like it's mostly just that the Italian fascist party were the ones that coined the term that everyone uses for the ideology. And of course that term does have origins in Latin BC it's based on a native Italian word which all derive from Latin.

It could of course be that THEY later changed doctrine to say that that is totally from Latin and not from a term mostly associated with communists and workers' unions. Or they used that explanation to appeal more to rich donors and the other one to appeal to workers in a similar move to what the NSDAP did, stressing 'Nationalist' and 'German party' in front of middle and upper class audiences but focusing on 'Socialist' and 'workers' party' when the audience was lower class.

Which is not to say that these people didn't have a weird obsession with the Roman Empire. They did. Especially the fascist party in Italy but the Nazi party in Germany did too. Europe and whiteness as concepts were at this point engrained enough in the minds of Europeans with lore and everything that Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire were really anyone's game (this was also through various nationalist movements. ESPECIALLY the Greek nationalist movement really did a lot to cement Ancient Greece as a predecessor of modern Europe (and by extension the Roman Empire) to secure support in courts around Europe for their fight against the Ottoman Empire. And boy were they hard at work we got an entire architecture style and art movement out of it)

The nazi salute btw also was adapted from Italian fascists who did call it the Roman Salute, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone refer to it as anything other than 'Hitlergruß' (Hitler salute) or 'Deutscher Gruß' (German salute, this one basically only appears in primary sources/in specific other cases where the term 'Hitlergruß' wouldn't be accurate BC Hitler wasn't really in the picture yet although in those cases the gesture is generally not part of the salute at all) in the context of the Nazis. When it was introduced in the NSDAP it even came with the explanation that a) it was totally super not adopted from the Italian fascists BC its use in the NSDAP supposedly already started in 1921 (which is about when the Italian fascist party started doing it as well) and b) even if it was adopted from them (which it's totally not trust me bro) it's totally 100% fine, don't worry about it. Because while the Nazis were obsessed with the Roman Empire it was also considered not German and therefore bad so a lot of things that came into Nazi doctrine via Mussolini's party were first washed in a puddle of weird almost neo-pagan 'Germanic' stuff along with a bit of weird new age medicine because this is deeply intense nationalism and the name of the game is 'you cannot ever under any circumstance admit that any other ethnic group/nation/'people' has ever done anything good enough for your 'people' to adopt it.'

Just in case anyone needs a history lesson:

The nazi salute IS the roman salute. Because. They specifically chose to use... the roman salute. To invoke the grandiose and history of the roman empire. Like. That was a specific choice they made when they were creating their empire. They didn't call it a nazi salute. THE NAZIS CALLED IT A ROMAN SALUTE.

They did not happen to create a salute that looks identical. They said "we like the roman salute because the romans created the idea of fascism, so we are going to use it." Fascism, if you didn't know, is derived from the ROMAN word for a symbol called the Fasces. It represents the ultimate power of a single leader over their subjects! I wonder why that would be really appealing for them as a symbol!

They were ALSO taking a little inspiration from us, Americans, because we were also using it in the early part of the 1900s!

Because Americans ALSO liked the whole "connection to the roman empire" part! If you think white people NOW have a boner for the roman empire, you should have seen them a century ago!

Americans, understandably, stopped using it, because we got in a war with the only other people who were using it more than we were and were creating some real fucked-up associations with it: THE NAZIS.

[kamily-art]

Pjo au

Who is each of the turtles (and usagi) godly parent?

Are the turtles still brothers?

Were they still created (either by draxum or a god who wants to start a war?)

hihi!! thanks so much for the ask! i wanted to do a couple doodles to go along with it, and ended up yapping a LOT more than i meant to.... my bad....

the godly parents aren't totally finalized for all of them but i'll tell you what i have for now.

Leo - he's unironically the one i've had the most trouble with, but i think i'm gonna go with Poseidon; it matches what with the blue and all, and i think it would be cool for him to have water powers. i still need all their mystic weapons to work, but i'm thinking of having the weapons' power sources be from something other than their godly parents.

Donnie - Hephaestus of course; he's been building things since he was a kid. i honestly think he'd be the one to resist the knowledge that their parents are gods the most. he doesn't want his talent to be because of some dad who doesn't even care about him.

Mikey - he was the easiest- Apollo. has to be, with all of his art, skill at cooking, charm, etc. he also possesses the gift of prophecy, but no ability to control it (like rachel dare). it manifests in the form of drawings; when he's drawing the future, he is in a trance and cannot move, speak or look out for himself. this has led to his brothers never letting him go anywhere alone, something he's annoyed about.

Raph - it had to be Ares; however i like to think he doesn't fit in very well because of how much of a softie he is despite being strong, etc. he likes hitting things; preferably punching bags or bad guys. he doesn't like war.

have a doodle of him when the turtles first met Usagi. (the rest of the turtles are hiding behind him btw. they just got their asses beat by said bunny.)

speaking of Usagi, his godly parent is Hermes! this AU is not meant to exchange specific PJO characters with rottmnt/Samurai rabbit, but, similarly to Luke, Usagi does end up possessed by Kronos. However, it is not willing.

Someone does willingly join Kronos, however. I won't tell you who.

as for whether they'll still brothers- not biologically! however, they met as toddlers and ended up sticking together. it was necessary to survive, with all the monsters after them. point is, they're basically adopted brothers- which brings us to your next question!

essentially, they started off as human demigods. however, they were kidnapped when they were babies and mutated into turtles (i always thought it would be interesting if the turtles were humans originally); but as they were still demigods, they were still pursued by monsters. they were with draxum for a few years before escaping when his lab was attacked. god knows how they survived. i headcanon (whats this? a hc of my own AU? yes) that they had another sibling originally but she was killed early on. trauma for the boys.

there are loads of other mutants created by draxum, by the way. Usagi's actually one of them! he too escaped during the attack; however unlike the turtles, he was found by the Camp Half-Blood demigods and taken in. when he and the turtles first met, they both thought the others were monsters.

anyway that's the end of my yap! lmk if you have any other questions and sorry for being so longwinded lmao

-karma

[larkral]

Happy WIPsday! I have been wanting to post for approximately 2 weeks, but it's been chaosville at my house, so I haven't done it. I'm not seeing any tags, so I'm going to start us off this week!

So.... in the past two weeks I've written almost 2,000 words on Simon's Two Mums AU and about 4k words on Firstprince Soulmate BS. This is a lot for me! I'm excited about both of them! Soulmate BS is marinating after having had a very important scene written, so finally (already, always) got some overdue attention, and I'm really enjoying where it's going.

Simon's two mums:

Then, mum says, "Is it standard practice to cast spells on students without their agreement or parental assent?"  "I'm sorry?" [omitted for spoilers] says.  "Mum," I hiss at her.  "I'm sorry, Simon, but I'd be very curious to know if this is a common experience for students here, or if it's something that's happening particularly often to my son." Her voice is hard and angry. Her lawyer voice, the one that knows she's going to win, and doesn't mind letting you know as well.  "It's…" [spoiler again] sits back down. "It is, actually, quite common, but it is also very likely that it's happening particularly often with Simon."  Mum seems surprised at how easily he goes along with her. "I'd appreciate if you would draft a policy document that provides students and their parents with more explicit knowledge of circumstances in which they may be subject to magical correction or intervention."  "Of course, yes," [this person's name would spoil you] says. "Absolutely." He moves to stand again, and then sits back down. "Is there anything else before Simon returns to class?"  "No," Mum says. "Unless you have anything you'd like to talk about, Simon?" Mummy asks, and I could cry. I almost do.

Soulmate BS and tags below the cut because I know what y'all here for.

BRILLIANT SHIT I say. Welcome to some soulmate lore knowledge.

"Mmm, yeah," Henry says, then with a little more clarity. "Sorry, what are we having a hard time believing? It's been quite the night in that regard."  [quip removed for spoilers] Alex says. Henry hardly gets in his demure Indeed before Alex says, "I don't think it's that hard to believe that I'm a better dancer than you.” "No," Henry says, and then he presses his thumb into his phone and turns the screen towards Alex.  You're Linked! the Heartlink banner reads, overlaying an illustration of red, pink and brown confetti. "Oh, shit." Alex says.  Congratulations! Your bandmatch was calculated at a 97.82% level of synchronization. That's well above the threshold at which we recommend a parallel re-sync. Your concierge, Alana, will be in touch within 24 hours to facilitate contact with your soulmate.  "Quite," Henry says. Alex can feel his heartbeat in his stomach, suddenly. It's a little bit nauseating, like he might throw up.

Thanks to @talentpiper11 for the name inspiration for the soulmate matching app. Which obviously every soulmate universe must have.

Tags and hugs to all my fandom friends. I hope you're making it through this week, lovelies.

@stitchyqueer @confused-bi-queer @facewithoutheart @whogaveyoupermission @cutestkilla

@hushed-chorus @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @ileadacharmedlife @bookish-bogwitch @artsyunderstudy

@captain-aralias @petedavidsonscock @artsyunderstudy @martsonmars @nausikaaa

@chen-chen-chen-again-chen @that-disabled-princess @shrekgogurt  @palimpsessed @fatalfangirl

@blackberrysummerblog​ @valeffelees @youarenevertooold @emeryhall @run-for-chamo-miles

@talentpiper11 @orange-peony @thewholelemon @wellbelesbian @mooncello

@aristocratic-otter @roomwithanopenfire @monbons @kiwiana-writes

[karasublog]

Michael Kaiser and the country Germany🇩🇪

This is just a little analysis on my part, as I'm very interested in Michael Kaiser's story and also find it funny how Kaneshiro portrays Germany 📖🖋.

I'm German🇩🇪 and I know the rules, school, conditions of unemployment, blah blah blah...

Michael Kaiser's story, which starts in Berlin, is very new to me because, to be honest, it's very, very rare for something like this to happen in Germany (or rather, I've never experienced it or heard about it🙏🏻).

I'll mention a few essential points that are important to understand the ACTUAL AND MORE REALISTIC situation of people like Michael Kaiser and his father (all related to Germany and the help that is available here):

Citizen's income and social assistance: In Germany, all people who don't earn much or are even unemployed receive citizen's allowance, a type of financial assistance for people like Michael and his father in this case (if he requests it, of course!) 💶📄

School and its teachers: Here in Germany🇩🇪, school attendance is compulsory🏫. I believe, Michael did go to school, so it's kind of strange, that no teacher ever talked to him about the bruises he got from his father (like on his cheek, eye, etc.). Teachers here pay attention to that kind of thing and they probably know from the start that he's poor, so they probably pay even more attention to his condition! 🧑‍🏫💬 -> next (if the teachers would notice and help), the youth welfare office would visit and investigate Michael's home environment and determine that it wasn't safe enough. Then he would no longer have to live there 🫂🏚✅️.

Black market in Berlin:

I've never heard of it and I don't think that exists in Berlin (?). At least not nowadays (after WW2 it had existed, but not anymore, bc we're not in a financial crisis nowadays and don't need a black market anymore lmfao??)💰📿

Stealing food from the supermarket: As a child, Michael was forced by his father to steal food/drinks from the supermarket🥛🛒:

Some points that are important❗️ and questionable❓️ here:

-> Apparently stealing became a habit here and happened often, as Michael's father made him do it every day/week. So why didn't anyone notice? A child who takes things from the supermarket will quickly attract attention, especially if it happens regularly 👀👮

-> When you leave the store, it beeps and triggers an alarm if you steal something. With groceries, of course, it's often too inconvenient and there may not be an alarm, but the likelihood of Michael going undetected is relatively low 🚨🔊

And finally, Alexis Ness' role in Michael Kaiser's life:

Like, if Ness really cares about him that much, why doesn't he get him professional help💀?? It's clear, he's suffered a lot and needs therapy lmfao, but he's simply allowed to continue playing soccer without anyone worrying about him?? Like, does Ness not realize Michael's literally punishing himself for failing or something😦... LIKE, GET HIM HELP ALREADY... WE HAVE PEOPLE HERE IN GERMANY WHO CAN LMFAO...

Okay, DONE. I know, many people (including me) like Michael's story and character🇩🇪⚽️. I wrote this analysis though, because I think negatively about the way Kaneshiro portrays Germany, like, it's not a country, where poor people or children in abusive households are forgotten or not provided with social assistance or financial help and stuff! Completely the opposite, actually. A lot of money is spent on the unemployed, poor people in general and also on migrants, so they are well looked after!! 💶✅️

I like Michael's character and his story, especially, because he made it this far with that cruel childhood and backstory, but it's just a bit over the top, I think, since it's pretty unrealistic...

I know, I'm a bit annoying, because obviously, pointing out flaws and unrealistic points is indeed annoying, especially with a character like Kaiser... But fact is, the Germany that's portrayed here, is definitely not the Germany I live in lmfao. If other Germans understand, what I mean, comment or text me in general lol💯.

ANYWAYS. I LOVE BLUE LOCK SM ⚽️🏆.

[jeongteen]

The pink haired knight and the blue princess | Caitvi Princess x Knight AU

Notes : Hi! So it's the first time I've written something in years! But I did this Caitvi Princess x Knight AU drawing and it inspired me to write a little something related to it <3

As I said, it's been years since I didn't write anything + English is NOT my first language, please be indulgent ahah

Also I'm sorry if anything doesn't make sense in terms of time period or if you think there is out of character behavior, I just tried to make something cute for our girls ahah

I also posted it on AO3 under the same username and title if you prefer reading there btw <3

Summary : When the princess Kiramman gets all flustered around a certain pink haired knight.

Words count : 1,6k

(dividers by cafekitsune)

Butterflies in the stomach. That's how Caitlyn Kiramman would describe what she felt when she first saw that one pink haired knight. It was 2 years ago, when her mother convened a part of their army at the castle. Caitlyn was pretty much unbothered, she saw a lot of people coming in and out of the castle every single day, she didn't pay much attention anymore. Yet, when that one knight removed her helmet, Caitlyn couldn't help but stare. She had bright pink hair, noticeable from afar. Of course, the pink haired girl had to greet the princess Kiramman, who would ignore the princess?

— Princess Caitlyn Kiramman? It's an honor. I'm Violet, but you can call me Vi, I would prefer that actually, if your majesty is content with it.

Caitlyn had a little blush growing on her cheeks, this girl, Vi, wasn't only extremely attractive, her voice, oh Lord her voice.

— It's an honor Vi. Caitlyn had a little smile on her face.

— If I may. Vi got on one of her knees, grabbed the princess' hand gently and dropped a small kiss on it before standing up again.

Caitlyn felt like her face was on fire. She was probably as red as an apple.

— Is your majesty flustered? Vi said that with a grin.

It seemed like she noticed the undeniable effect she had on the princess.

Caitlyn slightly raised her eyebrows at the knight's comment. You had to be bold to make such a joke to a member of the royal family. But Vi did it without an ounce of hesitation.

The princess chuckled a bit, it took a few seconds for the pink haired knight to wrap her around her finger, how crazy.

— "Your majesty" just didn't expect you to be such a flirt my dear.

It was Vi's turn to blush a bit. She didn't expect the princess to flirt back, but she liked it.

Then, it became such a game between those two. Everytime the army was convened at the castle, Vi would always make sure she'd be part of the lucky ones who'd get to go. Deep down, Caitlyn expected her to be here everytime. When their eyes met, they would have a little smirk growing on their face and they would play this flirty game, again and again.

At some point, they became frustrated. They only got a few minutes to share here and there, it was a little flirt but nothing more, yet, they could feel the tension between them. They weren't stupid, they knew that one day or another, they'd both need more than this little time.

So the two of them, without consulting each other, started thinking of a way they'd get to spend more time together. But this was easier for Caitlyn, as she was the princess she could request almost anything without it being questioned. Luckily, she was the one who was trying the hardest to find a plan. The true issue here is that most of the time, the army didn't stay for long at all, they had things to do and Cassandra wouldn't hold them back for too long. Vi would also get in trouble if she just stayed at the castle while the army went away, which had to be taken into consideration.

Caitlyn went the easiest way, asking her mother to hold them back a little longer at least once. She went to her mother, a little nervous, she wouldn't admit that she was head over heels for a knight she was only seeing five minutes each week. Not that Cassandra would care, but Caitlyn felt like this might be seen as weird and would rather not embarrass herself.

— Mother? I have a request. I-uh... Would like for you to hold back the army a little longer next time you conven them, please. She tried to sound as confident as she could in her words for no questions to be asked.

Cassandra raised an eyebrow and looked at her daughter.

— What is it about Caitlyn? You know they're quite busy, I wouldn't want to interfere with their duty.

— I know mother, I... Screw the embarrassment, she thought. There is a knight I'd like to talk to.

— Violet?

Oh.

— What? Caitlyn was quite surprised her mother caught their little game.

— Fine, I'll request for them to stay a bit more. Cassandra smiled and went back to her activities.

Caitlyn's face was probably bright red as she went back to her apartments. Well, she just said she wanted to talk with the knight, she didn't mention the fact she'd love to taste her lips and run her hands in her hair while doing so, why would she.

Days went by and Caitlyn was getting more and more excited to see her favorite knight. As she was looking through her window, she saw them from afar, the army was on the way. She hoped really hard that her mother didn't forget her little request. She joined her in a hurry, a rush of excitement running through her whole body.

Her mother addressed her a little smile and winked at her. That was her way of telling her daughter she remembered the request.

At first, it went as it always did. The little flirty game between the two women. But as Vi stood up, going to join the rest of the knights, ready to leave early as they always did, Caitlyn caught her wrist in her soft gloved hand.

— Wait. Would you like to spend a little more time with me? Caitlyn felt a heat rising in her cheeks.

Vi looked surprised.

— Oh I'd love to, but I guess we'll head back to work soon.

— Time won't be an issue today, I made sure. Caitlyn smiled and Vi still had a surprised expression on her face.

— If your majesty says so.

Caitlyn took Vi's hand in a delicate move and led her to her apartments. Vi couldn't believe it. Is she actually following the princess Kiramman to her bedroom? Well, seemed like a yes.

On their way, Vi couldn't stop looking around. She was amazed by the fancy decorations which were displaced a bit everywhere in the castle. Fancy ceilings, huge pieces of art hanging on the walls. Every single item looked more expensive than Vi's entire belongings. Usually, she would say it's such a waste of money, but today her heart was pounding way faster than usual at the idea of having free time with a gorgeous lady, she couldn't care less about a ceiling's price.

Arriving in front of a huge door covered in golden ornaments, Caitlyn let go of Vi's hand to push it, it seemed heavy. The two women entered the room before the princess closed the door carefully behind them.

Vi looked around, impressed. It looked as expensive as the rest of the castle but it had such a sweet touch to it. It was pretty much noticeable that the princess had her word to say on how the room was decorated. It was fancy yet quite simple, the main colors of the room were gold and blue just like the princess' dress. It was truly beautiful.

— Do you like it? Vi was interrupted in her thoughts by the other lady's question.

— Yes, it's really pretty, it suits you.

Caitlyn smiled and sat on the edge of her bed tapping on the mattress to request for Vi to join her, which she did.

— Is there any reason you requested me to follow you up here ? Vi asked with a little smile.

— Well I guess I grew some frustration by having so little time with you. I wanted to learn to know you more, to talk to you and maybe more.

"Maybe more"? Vi blushed but brushed it off immediate.

— Want to know me more? Hm, I'm Violet, I started working for Queen Cassandra around 2 years ago as a knight because I wanted to help my father with money. I have 2 little brothers and 2 little sisters, big family right? We struggle a bit, but everyone has food in their plate at the end of the day which is the most important part. And you princess, what should I know about you?

Caitlyn had a genuine smile on her face during Vi's whole answer. She was not just some attractive and flirty woman, she seemed to have a big heart, she liked that.

— I'm princess Caitlyn Kiramman... Since birth? She laughed. I'm an only child and I live here with my mother. I see a lot of people coming in and out of here but no one ever caught my attention. Not before you.

Vi raised her eyebrows.

— And how did I catch your attention? She was being flirty again, it was still their little game.

— Oh look at yourself. Those big blue eyes. This sweet smile. Those freckles. Those scars making you look bold. This attitude too.

— Oh. Seems like I have you all wrapped around my finger then. Vi was facing Caitlyn, her face moving a little closer to hers.

Caitlyn was all flustered but tried not to show it, at least not too much.

— You seem quite fond of me as well, right, Violet?

— Are you sure? What made you come to this conclusion? Vi was getting closer and closer to Caitlyn, the tension growing as well.

— I would say the fact your lips are getting closer to mine each second. So will you kiss me now?

Didn't take much for Vi to lock their lips together, one hand on Cait's cheek and the other on the mattress.

Cait was running her hands in Vi's already messy hair, just like how she portrayed it.

They broke the kiss gasping for air. Vi broke the silence, her forehead against the princess' one.

— Your lips taste sugary, like a cupcake.

Notes : First of all if you've reached this far thank you ahah <3 Just adding a little note to say I will soon start writing some character x reader one shots / headcanons <3 I will soon make a presentation post to update you on which characters I'll write about (my blog banner kind of gives a preview if you want) <3

[chaos-reprisal]

I find Heart and Mind's relationship with Soul in the album itself to be interesting. Like- they see him as something to control? Something to be obtained to gain the upper hand? But they still care about him.

And I've seen SOO many interpretations of their relationship with Soul. Soul being the gentle mediator who had to take it another step because they wouldn't listen, Soul acting as the final judge between the two, Soul drawing away and being completely apathetic towards the two simply because he can't deal with them anymore... What is their actual relationship with him? I guess this will be my own interpretation.

Gonna be pulling lyrics from all sorts of songs here, bear with me.

The first half of The Soul Eclectic is Soul telling them both that they're stupid to think that THEY can control HIM. And this is somewhat enforced by some things in the other Mind Electric variants. "Call me your host, or call me insane, if that will help you stay in line."

"Warring all night, abhorrent and trite, you seem to forget you answer to {me}."

"You must be so arrogant to think that either of you can control the Soul so wholly when to be one whole you can't hold solely."

"Here in my kingdom I am your {Lord}, I order you to cower and pray/prey." From The Heart Acoustic:

"See how the Mind tricks the Soul into being something sickly, dead, and cold." From Light:

"But I won't be split in two. Won't be him, or you. We will be combined, whether that be dead or alive."

These are all I can think of right now, and most are from Soul's perspective. But to Soul, they see him as something to be controlled. Or at least, someone to gain the favor of.

But there are moments where it's clear they care about him. And if not at that moment, then at some point they cared about him. It's a lot more evident in Storm and a Spring, but there's some other places too.

"A Soul so deep, and dark, and eternally cold. And an oath formed from us both that it would stay whole. But I think if I left it to you, you'd fall under its weight, and kill it, too."

"So if you insist on crying while our host is slowly dying, then I'll cut you loose and spare this noose the dead weight."

From The Bidding:

"I believe, I concede, we can finally enweave. If not for you or for him, then please do it for me."

Considering The Bidding happens right before Light, the turning point, the point where they start finally seeing the other perspective, Soul must've said SOMETHING that got their attention. Whether or not it was the "please do it for me" is obviously up for debate, but considering they'd already made an oath to keep him whole, I don't think it's too far-fetched.

In Short: Heart and Mind care about Soul. Of course they do. But I think that, during cacophony, it's overshadowed by something. The need to control him, the need to have his favor, whatever it may be.

And when I say control him, I don't mean manipulate his actions; I mean manipulate his thoughts. Manipulate how he perceives one of them compared to the other. Which is something they already do with the audience.

Note to add: Their relationship from Soul's pov is definitely VERY different, I think. Throughout the album, Soul makes it pretty clear how vehemently he despises the two. But yeah.

[starrycometmoth]

GOOD MORNING @that-seems-stupid-lets-do-it !! HERE COMES MORE LUMI RAMBLES AND HOPEFULLY MY BRAIN WON'T RANDOMLY DIE THIS TIME!!

So I wanna talk more about them in Nightcord cuz I feel like I focus too much on their sibling dynamic with the Hinomoris whenever I ramble about them, oopsie. Also (I'm writing this sentence after I finished writing everything else) tw, I got into a lot of dark topics cuz Lumi has a dark backstory and such.

So, Lumi isn't very confident in their singing voice and feels their only good contributions to N25 is managing the social media pages. The others don't agree, which is why eventually they started easing them into letting them sing sometimes!! Kanade told them that they don't have to always sing, that they can do it when they're comfortable, but also that she thinks Lumi's voice is sweet and pretty. This makes Lumi very happy and they try their best to sing more often.

When Lumi initially joined, the group jokingly called them the group's "girlfriend" or "boyfriend," which both flustered Lumi and made them feel honored. They were always making sure everyone was feeling okay, letting them vent to them, making sure they were eating, drinking water, and resting (despite being horrible with doing all of this self-care for themself).

However, for one person, the girlfriend/boyfriend joke was not much of a joke after several months... No one knows how, but Lumi and Mizuki became a thing at some point. All they know is that Lumi told them the day after it happened and of course everyone was shocked, except Mafuyu saw it coming from a mile away with his sixth sense or something idk. It was probably very obvious that they had feelings for eachother whenever they'd do their irl meetups, because Lumi was always the chattiest with Mizuki, and they'd always hold hands with each other or snuggle in the booth in the diner, insisting on sitting together all the time.

Also, I've had this scenario in my head on how a Nightcord sleepover would go with Lumi being a part of the group, and the entire time they're just cuddling eachother. That's it. That's the sleepover. (Lumi was originally intended to be a polycord insert rather than just MizuLumi, but I got a random Mizuki hyperfixation one day and from there MizuLumi was born. Now, they're pretty much in a qpr with the rest of N25.)

ONG I NEVER SHARED THE COOLEST THING ABOUT THEM IN NIGHTCORD.

So, everyone has their usernames that they go by to keep themselves anonymous or whatever... Lumi's is Lumi*neon. Yes, it's a pokemon reference. Is it their favorite pokemon? No. But is it in their top 10? Absolutely. C'mon, Lumineon almost shares a name with them!! Am I the only weirdo who thinks it's really cool when something in a piece of media shares a name with me?? Yes, even my deadname (which has not happened, considering I have a rare spelling, but I've had several close calls).

Ofc every Nightcord member has their reasons for wanting to disappear, and Lumi is no exception (is it really an OC if you don't traumatize and torture them?). I mentioned in the last ramble that they have trauma. It was from their birth family. They did not have a very happy life with their old family that they were born with in America. I'm not going into details, but just picture what you'd imagine a not so happy family looking like. They eventually got put into an orphanage and I have no idea how, but the Hinomoris got them and helped them recover a bit, but Lumi still wants to disappear. They feel they can't be loved, and they're slowly learning to accept that they are loved; by their family, by their friends, by their girlfriend. People love them.

Initially, they weren't sure what they were going to do when they were older, kind of similar to Mafuyu in a sense except because they were discouraged from their old dreams, they wanna divulge completely away from them and into something more "successful" (as music and art were once their passions). Eventually, probably if I were to make a version of them that ages up when the rest of the cast does during the third anniversary, they'd figure out that they want to be a teacher. Of course, that means they can't be a part of N25 anymore. Working late at night and barely sleeping before you have to wake up early to go to school? They couldn't ever manage that. They're planning on being in Nightcord until they graduate college, however, no one in the group knows that, not even Mizuki. Lumi is too scared to tell the others their dream because they don't want to be separated from the others.

I think that's basically all of their Nightcord stuff, but I do have more about them and what they were like when they first came to Japan, just cuz I find it really interesting how different they were from their current self!!

So, they were traumatized. They came to a brand new country with a language they'd never spoken before and new people to call their family. They felt like such an outcast. They were quiet, like very quiet. They didn't speak unless it was necessary. They were always scared to do things without asking first, even things such as getting a s acl or using the restroom. They flinched when people went near them and would often just isolate themselves in their room and do nothing except get wrapped in their own head.

Of course the rest of the Hinomori family worried about them, especially Shizuku and Shiho. Shizuku was definitely more visible with her worry, as she was always trying to help Lumi through it, though it was a bit overwhelming for Lumi, and Shiho knew that. That was why Shiho kept her worry to herself. She knew that Lumi didn't need someone immediately jumping on them in order to help fix them, that it was going to take time.

With Shizuku's constant worry and care, Lumi did slightly warm up to her first, as they couldn't tell that Shiho was silently worried for them too. In fact, Lumi was somehow convinced that Shiho hated them, and Shizuku would reassure them several times that she didn't. She knew Shiho was just as worried as she was.

Shizuku uses her sister magic and after over a year Lumi is now the clingiest sibling you could ever imagine, as in they were affectionate. Shiho pretends to hate it, but secretly she's happy for Lumi being able to touch people now (even at the cost of her own sanity KSKAA). Lumi's favorite people for sure are their big sisters.

They have issues with overthinking and nightmares at night, so they can't even sleep by themself. They've gotta be with Shizuku or Shiho.

Also, the language barrier; did Lumi ever learn how to speak Japanese? Nope. They've picked up a few words and phrases, but for the most part it's actually really hard for them to learn, even with Japanese speakers in the house. So, Lumi speaks English for the most part. Shizuku and Shiho know a good bit of English, thanks to them needing it as celebrities if they wanna go around the world, and will usually speak to Lumi in English. They help translate stuff if Lumi needs it, as Lumi does NOT trust translation apps.

Random facts about them!!

No one knows their gender, they're agender AFAB and bind, but people genuinely cannot tell. If I remember right, awhile back I was explaining concepts for N25 trust ranks with a friend of mine and Lumi and Mizuki's first one was something like "Gender? Girlboss." Because people love calling both Lumi and Mizuki girlbosses, when in canon their genders are both hard for the public to tell, so tis their gender now /silly

They dislike marshmallows. They have a fear of them, specifically raw ones. Dried or cooked are fine, but marshmallows straight out of the bag? That's a NIGHTMARE. If they want to touch a raw marshmallow, they will literally pull out gloves. They think that marshmallows are unnatural and weird, despite knowing they're only made of sugar and gelatin. They're a little paranoid about marshmallows (just like me frfr)

Okay, so the way I talked about MizuLumi kinda made it sound like that's the canon ship for this universe, but tbh it's not. Platonic polycord (with Lumi) is most certainly the canon here, however I've completely divulged from it being the main ship. I'm a multishipper, and naturally I've made up scenarios with other possible characters in my head (by "possible," I mean people who they're most likely to interact with in their canon). If I had to choose a non-N25 ship for Lumi, I'd have to say HaruLumi. It was something I thought of one day while going insane from overworking myself. Lumi would most certainly overwork themselves, I thought to myself. I suddenly thought of Haruka, the queen that he is, and suddenly HaruLumi was born in my head. They take care of eachother when they push themselves too far <3 (I also just really like the dynamic of Lumi being the pathetic non-celebrity and being like "Omg Haruka could've chosen anyone to date and he chose ME??" FJDJWKQ THEY'RE SO PATHETIC JFKSKWA /vpos)

Honorable mention to Saki x Lumi (I didn't think SakiLumi sounded cool so I just said that KDKSKS). Platonic or romantic. They're silly. They probably cuddle with 50000 plushies and then one of them will pick up one and kiss the other on the cheek with it, and then they'll go back and fourth with this for the next hour because they're silly.

Also honorable mention to MinoLumi. I have no dynamic for them in my head, so that's it. That's the ship.

I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU PHOTOS OF THEIR DESIGN BEFORE I FINISH MY RAMBLES HERE!!

you guys should tell me about your ocs. spare no detail i want to see it. i will not be annoyed with you tell me everything. im a newborn baby lamb i know nothing explain all of it and all of them to me. even if i dont know you

[egginfroggin]

Shooting Star

(Frantically telling myself that I'm not going to do this with every member of the zodiac, I'm not gonna do a monochrome portrait of each of them with their symbol in gold haloing their head, I'm not gonna do that I'm not I'm not gonna - *thinks about how to pose Dipper and the grunkles* frickign dang it)

[sysig]

Guess who :3c (Patreon)

[psalmsofpsychosis]

so anyway, DC's Doom Patrol (2019) is a level of storytelling that simply feels so impossible, and coming from DC too, and YET

[shiryawashere]

you ever miss your comfort character so bad you gotta go outside about it

[lilydvoratrelundar]

dc is doing a little mini relaunch after the current crossover finishes and honestly thank god because literally only two of their current ongoings interest me but there's a bunch of fun looking stuff happening in november that i might actually look at. and also it's starting series for several guys who should have had ongoings this whole time like the fucking JUSTICE LEAGUE