#if you ask me to explain to you the intricacies of everyone's character arcs you are entering an unskippable cutscene. It lasts 2 hours

[kyeterna]

Dreams of Copper and Snow

A season 1 masterpost by yours truly

Dreams of Copper and Snow is a story of an AU based, with various accuracy, on the things happening on the CopperSMP server. At the point of writing this post the second season has started, but I will catch you up on the first season stuff. As mentioned before, this is an AU so this version of the story might not perfectly line up with the other members' versions of the story or exactly what has happened. This post is VERY long. Disclaimers out of the way, let's proceed-

Chaos has Order breathed into it,

from Copper sprouts Life.

Ice cold death comes with winter, proceeds spring

as all things must die for new life to be born.

Thus are the Dreams of Copper and Snow,

Dreamt by Am

Materialised by Ath

Realised by Eia

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The World

Before the beginning there was nothing. In the beginning there was Amatheia.

Amatheia was the beginning. He was the end. They were the repeat. She was the beginning.

Amatheia was born and with her came the world. The world was born of her, as a result of her. She was the world and the world was her.

Amatheia then created the moon, Order. Order had three faces, the Heavens, the Water that Flowed from the Heavens, and the Earth that Received it.

For each face there was an Overseer, the three sisters, the Overseer of the Heavens, the Overseer of the Abyss, the Water Flowing from the Heavens and Received by Earth, and the Overseer of the Earth, each representing a different facet of Amatheia's Order-Justice.

The Overseer of the Heavens' justice is protest, fighting against injustice. She is the mother of all skyborne creatures, protector of the skies and all who take flight in them.

The Overseer of the Abyss, the Water Flowing from the Heavens and Received by Earth's justice is perseverence, thriving in the presence of peril, despite your adversaries. She is the mother of all seaborne creatures and plants, protector of the seas, rivers and lakes and all who swim in them.

The Overseer of the Earth's justice is protecting the weak from harm. She is the mother of all earthborne creatures and plants, protector of the woods mountains and caves, and all who walk through them.

In their turn they created lesser gods and spirits to guard their dominions, and then creatures to live in them.

From her, the world and life was created. Her divine love permiated through her creation. But do not mistake her love as the same as mortal love. Her love was more akin to the love a gardener has for their garden.

Am is Life, she is Creation, she is the World, she is smothering Love, she is Copper. She has dominion over all of the Alive. The Mother, the Tree.

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Amatheia died and with his death, the underworld split from the world to host him. With his death the world died to hold all mortals who shared the same fate.

He could not create but only take. His kindness however is warm and comforting to all who accept him. He was cold and stern towards whoever did not belong with him. And he was unforgiving to those who rejected him.

Ath is Death, he is Erosion, he is Fate, he is stern Kindness, he is Gold. He has dominion over all of the Dead. The Guide, the Decay.

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Amatheia dreamt, and within their eternal slumber, that dream realised the inbetween. Not quite death, not quite life. That limbo was a barren wasteland, an endless desert. Eternity would have passed if time existed at the end of the world, as its memory lingered within Amatheia's dream. But there was nothing here. And so they dreamt forever until they materialised Wisdom. And so they were reborn with the world.

They could not create, nor destroy, only reconstruct. Their wisdom is infinite and holds all the knowledge of the universe. Everything that has happened, will happen and could happen. They were the nothing outside of everything. They realised that which exists and does not. They were looking at the things beyond the world.

Eia is Rebirth, they are Reconstruction, they are Wisdom, they are cruel Void, they are Obsidian. They have dominion over all Fools. The Gatekeeper, the Dragon.

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And so the world was reborn, and with it the cycle of Life and Death completed and perfected. Amatheia then created the Sun to witness the world with her. The Sun was filled with pride, for his creation must mean he was meant to oversee everything. The world was made for him. And so, from the Sun came the Overseer of All Creation, Chaos. He crafted a crown out of the sun's halo and declared himself king.

He was punishment, he was violence and subjugation, exploitation, but at the same time wealth, prosperity, radiance and intelligence, the primordial flame. He was the father of all technology, science, alchemy and magic, self proclaimed ruler of the world and the underworld. He created lesser gods and split them into Administrators and Observers to divide the land amongst themselves and help their leaders respectively, and then the humans to be ruled by them. He gifted humanity part of the primordial flame and blessed them with the desire for knowledge. And thus began the age of prosperity.

Empires were built, technology progressed, civilizations were born. But in an ironic twist, the Sun's creations inherited his insatiable greed and ambition, which led to their downfall. Amatheia did not interfere. Hyvris

The lesser gods fought amongst them for dominion over territory, and the humans followed soon. Thus The Great War begun. It was a pointless battle fought for many years. Humans and gods alike would mutually destroy each other, bordering madness. Amatheia did not interfere. Atis

And the Sun did nothing about it all. Blinded by his own brilliance, he thought himself invincible and superior to everyone. In his own little world. But the verdict of his and his creation's fate had already been reached. Amatheia did not interfere. Nemesis

And the lesser gods and humans had concocted a plan to overthrow the fourth overseer and seize his radiant throne as their own. They created a weapon to deliver a fate worse than death. The corruption. Amatheia had already interfered. Tisis

A botched assassination, the overseer's rotting body's curse, the mindless rage of a heartless god, a betrayal, and an impossible winter. No one survived the corruption when coming in contact with it. Almost nothing survived in the world. The Great War was finally over. And after 500 years, the corruption was hidden beneath layers of ice and earth, until a seed falling from the sky unearthed it. Or more accurately, the people that discovered the seed unearthed it.

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The Characters (season 1)

~ Chris (Anaflektoras)

Overview: Very much a human, he is just a guy, a little guy, part of the Chalkos Tree aliance, after Kye's invitation. One of the few remaining wandering humans, a relic of a bygone era, despite his young age. Then again if there's no one to count the time passed, does time truly pass? Likely a masochist, he tends to antagonize people not caring about the consequences. Diligent, always working on a new project, be it a contraption or a build. Not uncharacteristic of his human nature. He might appear straightforward at first glance, but if you dig deeper he is quite enigmatic.

Relationships: Member of the Chalkos alliance. But has a positive relationship with everyone in general.

-Goes way back with his partner in crime, Kye, whom he stumbled upon years ago as they were moving from settlement to settlement. They ended up stranded in the middle of the wilderness for a while after their caravan was destroyed in an accident. Let's say these few days were quite formative. They tend to argue a lot but in truth they are quite close. -He has a sibling-like relationship with Constellation, as he tends to enable their mischief. -Him and Mctzii share a single braincell when together. -Great minds think alike, though in their case they could be considered fools in a sense. Lyria and Chris as the engineers of the general area and hard workers, find themselves in a lot of collaboration with each other. Chris holds a lot of respect for the warrior. At least as much as it is possible for him.

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~ Constellation system (Cosmos and Stella)

Overview: Constellation is a system with two alters, Cosmos and Stella. They are half divine (their mother was a lesser god under the jurisdiction of the first overseer) and half human (their father). However they harbour disdain for both the divine and human. From an absentee father, to an abusive mother and grandmother, they decided to run away from home and initially settled into Bowlside. While not quite immortal, they have a large lifespan. But despite their age in years being big, they are still just kids trying to find a place to call home. They eventually joined the Chalkos alliance.

Cosmos is the outwardly troublemaking one of the two. They might appear cold and hostile but they act as Stella's caretaker. Almost like an older sibling of sorts. They are the brawn of the two and do most of the hard work to take care of the system, as much as they complain about it. They might have a hard exterior, but once you manage to pass the walls they have created, they are a good kid.

Stella is more of a innocent looking menace. She will try to appear as helpless and small but she is definitely the brains of the two. Sure, she might object to Cosmos's troublemaking tendencies, but that doesn't mean she doesn't like to indulge in mischief from time to time. Quite the crybaby, she adores all things girly and will wear fake bandages to Cosmos's dismay. She is better at planning stuff. Despite their differences, both alters work together to live a better life.

Relationships: They have relatively positive relationships with everyone. Mostly thanks to Stella's efforts. Cosmos tends to sabotage them a bit with the troublemaking.

-Anaflektoras is one of the coolest people in both of their opinions. Sure, humans suck, but not him. He not only gives them free stuff (Cosmos steals, Stella apologises, Chris just lets them have the stuff anyways), but he will join them in any adventure they might go to. -Cosmos doesn't trust Gale. Stella doesn't mind him. But they both think he is a pathetic old man, but they can't help but worry a bit watching him go down a dangerous path -They don't like the new Lyria. Or whatever pretends to be them. -Their relationship with Kye is an interesting one. Stella had always looked up to her for saving them on multiple occasions, but as per usual Cosmos was warry of the weird human. But they ended up warming up to her, as she just started calling herself their dad. Maybe Cosmos liked the fact that she didn't mind their "attitude". That despite everything she was like an unmoving rock, an anchor for them. [author's note I am so fricking emo for the father-son duo, it's been over half a year and I still cry at the thought of two people finding comfort in each other in a cruel world don't touch me]. In the end, even Cosmos calls Kye dad.

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~ Gale

Overview: Gale... can no longer be called human. They used to have everything. A home, a family. Was it a curse from Amatheia for the Sun's people? For the humans that even dared to fight in the great war and not die in the pointless battle? When the Sun died, their form grew monstrous, and a blizzard buried the fire and the family it burned. He spent centuries trying to find a way to somehow repent and appease Amatheia, trying to rid himself of the freezing curse. But Amatheia was never angry at him. Ice cold death comes with winter, proceeds spring. Would those horns of his ever find the courage to bloom anew? Like all wayward souls, he stumbled upon Bowlside to try and build a new life for himself. But unfortunately the past always comes back to haunt those who run from it. A resident of Bowlside.

Relationships: He can somehow manage to piss everyone off around him, yet at the same time woo most fem adjacent people into marriage. The rizz of this man is insane.

-Extremely dicorved with Mctzii. Not even funny. Unbelieavably divorced. He is the type of guy to constantly send flowers to his ex and constantly ask for a redo. He is so hopelessly divorced -His marriage with Lyria was a difficult one. He wasn't the best husband. He'd do a lot of things for her in the name of his love for her but... it's up for debate whether it was love or self-serving reasons. -They were rivals, they were enemies, they were nemeses, they were foils to each other, they were narrative parallels, they were both humans whose humanity was foresaken in some way, they hated each other, their fates were intermingled, they were theatre kids, they brought destruction upon the world in their quest for salvation (I am talking about Gale and Kye) -Constellation was a useful pawn in their eyes

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~ Gus (cutely referred to as god)

Overview: The area's Administrator. He was quite young during The Great War, rose to this position due to the power vacumm caused by The Corruption. Very friendly, just happy to be here. He enjoys disguising himself as a human and acting like a mortal, even though anyone can tell he is not. If he was a mortal he'd have a very hard time staying alive. His inexperience means that he is not aware of certain things either, and is quite passive in the happenings. Whether that's good or not is to be determined

Relationships: he is in good terms with literally everyone. He is just that friendly and outgoing and doesn't antagonise anyone. He just enjoys the company.

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~ [Redacted] Kyeterna (Renacinis)

Overview: No amount of Wisdom can save a self destructive person from their "Tisis", or their consequences of their Hubris. But maybe that was the point all along. Seemingly a human, she appears to be strong, not in need of anyone else, a hermit, but in reality she longs for connections. For someone to call her by her real name. Not Kyeterna, nor Renacinis.

They don't like talking about their past. They just say they like orchids. "They remind me of home". Caught in the war as a bystander, they learnt that the safest way to live was in solitude. For years the words of her teacher guided her.

"From copper sprouts life"

She studied the stars in search for the seed of the Copper Tree. Eventually she found it and took care if it in hopes of finding the answers of the prophecy. Little did she know that fate had different plans. Founder of the Chalkos Alliance.

To many Renacinis was a legend of a bygone era. Amongst the gods it was a warning. Have you ever heard of the charcoal monster without a heart? They say that the one it bears was stolen from a god. Be wary of it for it brings death and destruction in its wake. But how many know the real story behind it?

Relationships: An interesting fellow, I'll tell you that

-She genuinely loved Chris. Even if she'd rather die than admit it. Now how healthy that love was is another matter. Which in truth, was not. And it would only get worse as time progresses. Through no fault of his she'd take her anger out on him, threaten him, try to control him. Can you really use her fear of being abandoned as justification? Even if he justified her actions, were they ever really okay? Was that why he ended up-. She really loves him, but that love turned to hurt, to bitterness, to hate. -Proud father of their son constellation. In reality that wasn't always the case. Kye met Stella as she begrudgingly rescued Stella from lava. "I will do anything to repay you" "then stay out of my way". To Kye's dismay, Cosmos and Chris spent a lot of time together to thr point where they asked to move in the Chalkos tree area. Kye wasn't sure why they accepted. Maybe for the hell of it. It started with Cosmos whining while fishing. Kye decided to join them and they spent time together. Time Kye thoroughly enjoyed in the midst of everything happening. "We are having a father son bonding experience". Kye loves both Cosmos and Stella but let's be honest, she has a soft spot for Cosmos -They absolutely hate Gale. Attack on sight type of hate. Extreme violence type of hate. "Having seen what's under that ugly mask, I'd say he's one of the most beautiful people I've ever seen. Too bad his personality ruins it" -At first they were warry, but eventually came to admire Lyria. And after some life altering experiences she'd even consider her a friend. Too bad the person that impersonated them ruined everything. Kye feels like she owes too much to Lyria and wishes she could repay somehow.

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~ Lyria

Overview: A lesser god under the second overseer's jurisdiction, stripped of their divinity through time and lack of worship. Protector of bowlside they resided there for centuries, watched people come and go. They grew a disdain for humans as they kept destroying the habitat. God turned to warrior. Herald of justice. Warrior turned to sacrifice. They gave up so much trying to save the people they cared about. They even gave up their body. Amatheia had plans for them.

Relationships: Lyria has always been the type of person to help others despite their limits. This meant that they were in good terms with everyone. But was it worth it in exchange for their self?

-Met Gale as they saved him from drowning. There was something about the earnestness of this human that attracted them. They loved him a lot. Their relationship was nice until they got married. -Close friends with Chris, they ended up working on a lot of community projects together. -Briefly dated Mctzii, but still on good terms -She slowly warmed up to Kye from their initial distrust for her due to Kye being a human. Maybe they appreciated how she would time and time again stand up for them.

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~ Mctzii

[ok disclaimer first, I started writing this post late january. It has been on the drafts for a while, for the sake of doing a proper job on this I will include them this once but since then the person who has this character has decided to cut all communication with me so because I feel uncomfortable writing anything about them I will keep this one sweet and brief and you won't ever see me talk about this character again, nor their season 2 counterpart]

Part of the southside settlement, part of the remnants of the mole people civilization (under the jurisdiction of the 3rd overseer) that were almost wiped to extinction because of the corruption, doomed by the narrative to meet the same fate as their predecessors. Had a messy divorce with Gale, was on good terms with Lyria, best friends with Nam, in the end they ended up isolating themselves in their lab consumed by their research and the corruption.

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~Nam

Overview: Is he a human? Is he a cryptid? Is he an anime girl? Is he a secret fourth thing? No one knows. All we know is that he is just a guy (best type of guy). Or maybe he is an anime girl after all. Perhaps 25 stacks of potatoes inside a spiderman costume. Resident of the southside settlement, he is *adjusts glasses* a lawyer, a councelor, a priest, the entire food industry, a judge, a doctor, a therapist, southside's mayor, a dog breeder, potato santa. Nam is love, Nam is life. But after the incident he has been missing with no one knowing where he is, which singlehandedly brought the collapse of society. No I am serious, the moment he left everything went wrong (though to be fair it wasn't because he left, but because of the things happening adjacent to that event).

Relationships: He is on friendly terms with everyone, the only person he was closest to was Mctzii

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The Story (season 1)

I won't be including backstories because that would make this post twice as long, so bulletpoints of what happened within the timeframe of the story

Gale, Lyria, Constellation lived peacefully in Bowlside, Mctzii and Nam in southside respectively.

Gale "divinely" inspired wrote "Faith & Order" and other religious texts and started worshipping Amatheia (leaning towards the Am part of the trinity) more. Lyria followed along. Constellation due to their upbringing was reluctant to worship any gods.

A meteor falls south east of southside and bowlside alike, bearing a seed that would later become Chalkos Tree. Kye following a prophecy chases after the meteor and begins the working. "From Copper sprouts life"

Gale and Lyria catch wind of the masive dig site created by the meteor that Kye is working on and are not happy with what's happening as damaging the earth is against the rules of their faction of their amatheian religion. The first conflicts arise.

Kye invites Chris to the area to help with the construction, he ends up just hanging out.

About this time Kye saves Stella from lava who then starts orbitting around Kye to find a way to repay her.

Should I mention the relationship drama Gale goes through? It's a lot of drama. Guy has both infinite and zero rizz at the same time, good for him

Lyria dies saving Gale from a raid at bowlside and as they are brought back to life, the first part of their contract with Amatheia begins.

Construction of Chalkos Tree is coming to a close when Kye unearths something that shouldn't be unearthed. They fall into a month long coma

During this time Lyria moves next to Chalkos Tree and hangs out with Chris more, and hosts Constellation.

Meanwhile, using their last remaining divinity Lyria protects Kye from the corruption. They both end up facing the Gatekeeper (Eia) in a dream world. The deal they form goes wrong but all that matters is that Kye woke up. Right?

Just in time for the wedding! Lyria and Gale are finally getting married. But Lyria is visibly weakened and Kye woke up, wrong.

That was the last good day.

Gale leaves a copy of Faith and Order and the rituals adjacent to the religion on top of Chalkos Tree. Kye takes that as a threat. Lyria decides to take it upon themself to try mend the very strained relationship between Gale and Kye. Goes horribly wrong.

"Builds that massively alter the landscape require human sacrifice. On a golden throne under an azalea tree, the human must be executed by a priest for forgiveness for their sins"

Lyria asked Mctzii to kill them on that golden throne. Lyria was neither a human, nor was Mctzii a priest.

Amatheia completes their contract with Lyria and takes over her body fully, barely keeping them alive. Amatheia has a plan. And they are not very pleased.

Amatheia posing as Lyria convinces Chris to cooperate with her in order to "save everyone". He complies and his first job is to complete The Rite.

Kye wakes up to find her worst fears confirmed, Chris and Lyria missing, with a golden throne next to the crater. Furious she confronts Gale, who just like her is oblivious to what happened.

"Lyria" approaches Nam and after speaking to him he leaves the area, his house destroyed under unknown circumstances.

Gale meets "Lyria" only to realise that whatever has his wife's appearance is not her. He also finds a more timid than usual Chris tagging along whatever the thing with Lyria's appearance is.

Gale and Kye attempt to form an alliance to get to the bottom of what happened with Chris and Lyria, so that Kye can get Chris back and Gale Lyria. Unfortunately for both of them their clashing personalities are impossible to fit together

As Constellation begins building an aquarium near Chalkos Tree, Cosmos is fishing in the river. Kye in an attempt to escape for a little the complete rollercoaster of the past few days decide to keep company to them. She jokingly keeps calling herself Cosmos's dad and them her son. Cosmos finds her weird for that, but oddly endearing. Over the course of the next few weeks the joke gets serious.

It is unclear what sort of experiments Amatheia does to Chris but things are taking a turn for the worse. Kye is overconsumed by worry especially after one of them almost got Chris killed.

After a confrontation with "Lyria" she discovers the identity of the pretender and let's Gale know. She becomes less willing to fight as only an idiot would try fighting Amatheia. Defeated she only tells Chris to call her if he needs help. Gale has other plans however.

The corruption is getting worse, overtaking more and more of the area. Mctzii has been spending weeks locked in their lab and Kye is getting more and more, wrong let's say.

Gale after looking over tons of old texts finds a potential solution to all their problems. Who could have the ability to oppose Amatheia? Who was connected to the corruption in the first place? Chaos.

Chris never called for help. Despite everything he never did. Kye was getting more and more agitated at her friend, while Amatheia just relished at the angst. "You know Renacinis, you're not always right. And you might not be the best thing for him. Chris made his choice"

Constellation observed how overwhelmed with grief and anger their father was becoming. She kept reassuring them everything was fine, when it clearly wasn't. So Gale approached Cosmos with a proposal.

Stella did not like the proposal the least bit. Cosmos didn't either but they were willing to do everything to help their father. Maybe Gale knew Cosmos would be more willing to comply hence why he approached them specifically. And so the construction of the false Sun begun.

In the meantime, a giant airship was being built in the sky, overshadowing Chalkos Tree. When Chris asked Amatheia what it was for, she simply answered "a last resort for the worst case scenario"

After weeks not seeing anyone, Kye was approached by Gale. Over the world's most awkward dinner, Gale makes a simple proposal. "How do you feel about me running for ruler of the general area, from Bowlside all the way to Chalkos Tree, with you as my assistant? Our community clearly needs a leader with all the chaos around" obviously this was but a red herring, Gale knew Kye would never agree to something like that. "There should be no ruler, we are doing fine with no hierarchy as it is?" "Are we?". With Kye unable to answer Gale adds "We could see what everyone else says. Let's do an election" and so she agrees.

The false Sun looms over Chalkos Tree. The ship is complete. The puzzle pieces fall into place.

The campaign announcements would take place by the false Sun temple at Gale's request. Kye reluctantly agreed. Amatheia was not happy.

Kye started out with her statement which didn't go as well. Gale asked what her plans were for fighting the corruption, to which she had no answer.

"I however do have a solution" Gale stood up and walked past Kye. Cosmos followed behind.

Kye instantly got distrustful "Gale what are you planning?" "The sun will help us fight the corruption, and I am here to demonstrate" Amatheia observed silently. "Cosmos I really don't like this, please turn back" Cosmos hesitated a bit. They had a bad feeling about this too. But they remembered the dark scars Kye kept hiding with her gloves. They remembered how their behaviour had changed the past months. Gale promised this would fix things, they had to believe it would. And so they marched on. "See, they made up their mind. Contrary to what you believe, you cannot control others" Kye bit her lip and sat down. Amatheia was glaring at Gale at that point. But they remained silent. Gale noticed her and gave her a big triumphant smile, taunting them to stop him. Cosmos went up the elevator and was now inside the sun temple. They looked down at the crowd who was watching. "Gale I hope you know what you're doing" they thought. The temperature was getting higher. They were starting to have second thoughts. "And now for the main show" Gale grinned widely as he brought out a grimoire and pulled a lever. "Gale you'll regret this" Amatheia sternly declared. Kye almost instinctively equipped her armour. Lava started pouring into the temple as Gale started chanting. Cosmos screamed in fear. "THIS IS NOT WHAT WE AGREED ON, YOU'LL KILL ME!" Gale ignored Cosmos's pleas for help and continued on. "You-" Kye dashed at Gale like a rabid animal, drawing out Nemesis. Gale dodged the attack as he continued reading. Amatheia kept observing. The rest of the audience slowly backed away. Cosmos was crying in pain as the lava slowly burned them away. "I don't want to die I don't want to die. It hurts. It hurts so much. Stella I'm scared". The last thing they saw was their father fighting Gale. As they were about to lose their consciousness, he looked up at them and smirked smugly. "And done!" Gale said as he closed the grimoire. Kye launched another attack which he effortlessly deflected with his now drawn sword. He kicked Kye down and walked towards the sun. "YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS-" "I just did. Anyways I present you-" Gale paused dramatically as he opened the doors to the elevator to reveal- Cosmos? Kye's eyes widened, she tried to run towards them but Amatheia stopped her by grabbing her shoulder firmly. She looked up to see their face clouded. "-The fourth overseer. Chaos"

Let's say Gale messed up big time. Reviving a dead god is a huge no no, especially this one. Chaos only had one goal in mind and it was revenge on the world for his horrible fate. Yeah sure he would technically be able to fight Amatheia, potentially win, but Amatheia had other plans. Of course, she was very angry at the inconvenience in front of her.

Gale thought he was in control of the overseer but no, immediately considering Gale a heretic, he stabbed him and moved on to fight Amatheia. The near fatal wound caused a blizzard to start, the freezing cold depowering the overseer.

Amatheia instructed Kye to get Gale and hide in Chalkos Tree's roots. She told Gus to hold off Chaos as much as he could before joining Kye and Gale at the Tree. Gus asked what about the others. "Nam is safe, Chris will be with me" "What about the others" Gus asked worried. Amatheia remained silent.

She fleed for the ship as Gus took on the overseer. There, with Chris locked inside one of the rooms she started the engines and started flying away. She left a note for Lyria and left the body.

Snow was starting to get inside the Tree. Kye wanted to yell at Gale, curse at him, kill him with her hands, but that would be pointless. The cold was starting to make movement harder. "You want to yell at me so bad it makes you look stupid" Gale chuckled. "You reviving a dead GOD makes you look stupid- wh- WHAT WERE YOU THINKING" "And what, just sitting around waiting for our deaths was a better solution? Pretending everything was fine?" "AT THIS POINT YES!" a loud crash came from outside. "You don't understand Kye, I lost EVERYTHING, should I have just not taken any risks that could bring me back even something?" "YOU KILLED MY SON" another loud crash, "I lost everything too, but I kept going forward, I found a new family and now I lost that too. Because of YOU" as they reached the bottom of the tree trunk, Kye tossed Gale on the ground furious. Gale groaned in pain. "Asshole" "Sorry...". Ice was starting to cover the walls. With another loud crash, Gus teleported next to the pair severly injured, "This is as much as I could hold him off, now we can only pray the walls of this thing are sturdy enough". Gale looked at Kye. "Are... are we gonna die?" The snow kept piling up. She looked back at him mortified.

Cosmos found themself on a floating island, surrounded by a pitch dark sky. If you tried focusing your eyes hard enough on the sky, you could notice static. Their shoes were touching water, in its reflection they could see Stella. They both looked ahead of them at 10 obsidian pillars surrounding a small shrine, hosting am obsidian egg and Amatheia who was guarding it. "I would find your presence before us ironic considering your relationship with Renacinis, if not for the fact that we brought you here ourself" they gestured to Constellation to come closer. Stella in the reflection moved the simultaneously with Cosmos. Looking down, Cosmos realised Amatheia, or rather Eia, had no reflection, just a shadow. "Under 'normal' circumstances you'd have to face me in a battle, you know, in my cooler, dragon form but the situation is far from normal" Eia patted a spot for Cosmos to sit on, while they embraced the egg. "You are technically dead right now" "Oh." "That was an underwhelming response" "How am I supposed to respond?" "Stella down there is freaking out" Cosmos looked at Stella who was shouting something inaudible. "It's okay, I brought you out of the dream temporarily. In case you haven't realised the world you just left is ending? Yeah" Eia knocked on the surface of the water, and its reflection changed to show the entire chalkos tree area covered in snow. It also showed Constellation, well Chaos inhabitting Constellation's body outside the Chalkos Tree, fighting Gus. Cosmos grimaced. "Yes this is exactly how Lyria felt" Eia hissed a horrible laugh. "I don't like you" "I get that a lot. What are you gonna do about it?" Cosmos exhaled and crossed their arms. "Good kid. Stella seems more concerned about Renacinis... Your dad right?" they scoffed. Cosmos frowned. The reflection was now showing Gale and Kye fighting inside the Tree. "You don't have much time so here is my proposal: using part of the Wisdom, we can nullify everything that happened" "What?" "Yeah yeah yeah, rewrite the world in a way that the corruption never becomes a thing asterisk and everyone is safe! asterisk. I just need you to act as the anchor. And to pass on the seed" "I have several questions, first of all why are you saying 'asterisk'?" "No time for the fine print, it's either that or you guys are dead dead" Eia chipped off part of the egg's exterior, and gave it to Cosmos. It looked like a seed of sorts. "When you meet your dad again, give it to them. She'll know what to do with it. I am gonna give my last instructions to Renacinis and if she doesn't screw up we'll meet again. Or not! Hold your breath" and with that they push into the reflection the egg and smile. Cosmos and Stella slowly merge again as they fall through the surface of the water. They watch as Chalkos Tree turns from Copper to Gold to Obsidian and then everything turns dark.

Cosmos wakes up in the middle of a forest. Alone. Stella is still there yes, but physically they are alone. Their wings damaged from the lava. In their hand a tiny copper seed. "Great". And so they start walking.

================================================

For the story of season 2 the masterpost will be linked [here] once it's written. There are a lot of details I haven't included but this is just sort of introductory. I went on such detail for the finale mostly because it is DoCaS exclusive, I don't wanna get into the details :'). I tag all the posts related to it as copper smp/docas/dreams of copper and snow!

If you read all of it first thank you and second congratulations, I would have a really hard time doing that.

[pesterloglog]

Dave Strider, Roxy Lalonde, Karkat Vantas

Page 387-391

DAVE: now you know i like to deflect as much as the next person

DAVE: but ive had mad substantial character development in the last few minutes

DAVE: so maybe im willing to entertain the notion that i may be in the wrong here

ROXY: o damn fr?

DAVE: no ive never been wrong in my entire life

DAVE: but if its important to you i can rein it in

DAVE: practically a saint

DAVE: even though the only religions that really existed on the new earth we made was fucked up clown catholicism and sixty-nine troll jesus

DAVE: cant really call the pope and ask to be sainted like back on real earth

ROXY: could u rly

DAVE: yeah thats how it worked

ROXY: i dont believe u but i dont know enough about religion to argue

DAVE: its ok im making most of it up

DAVE: the only god i know is the god of rhymes

DAVE: incase that wasnt clear im the god of rhymes

DAVE: its me

ROXY: i thought u were a god of times

DAVE: amateur mistake

DAVE: the letters are right next to each other

DAVE: even then its not like im using the time stuff much anymore

DAVE: not since...

DAVE: ...

ROXY: i saw u use ur time powers earlier today to make a banana less brown

DAVE: i have explained this over and over

DAVE: you need to eat the banana before it goes bad

ROXY: its not bad just ripe

DAVE: this is fucking outrageous

ROXY: maybe if u stopped slicing fruit with ur sword all the time u might understand

ROXY: the subtle intricacies

ROXY: of fruit science

DAVE: is fruit science just going apeshit on a practically moldy banana

ROXY: lmao

DAVE: dont "luhmayo" me

ROXY: lol

DAVE: like i got time to be lectured by somebody who says "lole"

DAVE: barbaric

DAVE: i come from a more civilized era

DAVE: i drink my scotch as i sit before the mantle

DAVE: having just returned from the hunt

DAVE: a fire in the hearth dwindling down just so

DAVE: ah yes roxy old bean jolly good

DAVE: i hold my pinky out as i take a sip from my chalice because im not a fucking animal

DAVE: you make some sort of unbelievable jest and i say ell oh ell like a real person

ROXY: ok jake english

DAVE: this is the most heinous thing youve ever said to me

ROXY: theres somethin i gotta ask

ROXY: bout u kno who

DAVE: voldemort

ROXY: no

DAVE: is it voldemort

ROXY: its not voldemort

DAVE: you havent mentioned wizards once this conversation so im gonna have to assume its voldemort

ROXY: its about

ROXY: you know

ROXY: dirk

DAVE: ok shoot

ROXY: what do we do

DAVE: what do you mean

ROXY: u know when we catch up

ROXY: what r we gonna do

DAVE: maybe

DAVE: this whole thing is kinda bullshit and we are adults capable of being the people we need to be at the time it is appropriate to be that person

ROXY: what do u mean

DAVE: ok so theres this flower

ROXY: omg not u too with the flower

ROXY: i heard this story like five times

DAVE: oh ok

DAVE: but you get it right

DAVE: the story is what you make it

DAVE: and in that case maybe we are assigning this cosmic importance to things that dont need metatextual meaning

ROXY: i rly dont think thats the point of the story tbh

DAVE: then what do you think it means

ROXY: broson im sayin this with the utmost respect for u

ROXY: its not that deep

ROXY: its just a story

DAVE: then what about this

DAVE: do you think dirks right

DAVE: are we just a story that needs a villain

DAVE: are we heroes rescuing a damsel in distress

DAVE: or are we just people doing things that feel right at the time

ROXY: ya maybe this is just our arc

DAVE: i dont think life is just a series of arcs

ROXY: well to be fair

ROXY: our lives have just been a series of arcs

ROXY: and we r basically rushin off to save a damsel

ROXY: tho dont tell her i said that lmao

ROXY: ofc i want everyone to sort it out

ROXY: hunky dory

DAVE: but thats not what youre asking

ROXY: but thats not what im askin

ROXY: what i wanna know is

ROXY: do u think u can kill him

ROXY: if it comes to it

DAVE: i-

KARKAT: AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

ROXY: wtf was that

DAVE: he probably found one of callies little gifts

DAVE: been seein a lot more of them lately which debunks his leading theory that theyve been livin in the vents

ROXY: what

DAVE: i cant believe he never told you

DAVE: its all he talks about

DAVE: i told him it was kinda nuts but

DAVE: you know how he can get

ROXY: well i think since jades regular now

ROXY: callies felt more comfortable being up and around

ROXY: before they were just in the room nesting snug as a bug in a rug

DAVE: nesting

ROXY: ya like a bug in a rug what is there to not get lmao

DAVE: well they keep leaving karkat little piles of meat

DAVE: like a cat

ROXY: damb thats adorbs

DAVE: in his shoes

DAVE: at the foot of the bed

DAVE: hes convinced its to dunk on him in some way

DAVE: but thats just karkat being karkat

ROXY: but in the vents tho

DAVE: yeah i dont know man

DAVE: hes obsessed with it

DAVE: for once in his life he doesnt want to talk about it

DAVE: guess well never know

[my-bated-breath]

Research Shows Zutara Would Have Been the Ideal Friends to Lovers Dynamic (part 2)

Anti-Zutara arguments: Zuko and Katara hold such a deep and meaningful platonic bond that should it ever turn into a romantic one, their relationship would be automatically ruined.

Me, with my 3.8k meta that cites a research paper on relationships: Are you sure about that.

And with that (not) academically appropriate introduction, I present part 2 of my meta “Research Shows that Zutara Would Have Been the Ideal Friends to Lovers Dynamic,” where I use research on emotional intimacy to demonstrate that Zutara is more than capable of transitioning into a romance. Still, that claim in itself presents a rather complicated question: What is the transition between friendship to romance, and how is it achieved?

“On Becoming ‘More Than Friends: The Transition From Friendship to Romantic Relationship” is a research paper by Arizona State University professors Laura K. Guerrero and Paul A. Mongeau that sets out to answer this. In their paper, Guerrero and Mongeau explore a multitude of aspects regarding relationship development, but part 1 and part 2 of this meta will focus on their research on stages of intimacy.

_____

Excerpt from “Research Shows that Zutara Would Have Been the Ideal Friends to Lovers Dynamic” (part 1)

According to Guerrero and Mongeau, “...scholars have argued that intimacy is located in different types of interactions, ranging from sexual activity and physical contact to warm, cozy interactions that can occur between friends, family members, and lovers…” Guerrero and Mongeau then reference a relationship model where the initial stages (i.e. perceiving similarities, achieving rapport, and inducing self-disclosure) reflect both platonic and romantic intimacy through communication while the latter stages (i.e. role-taking, achieving interpersonal role fit, and achieving dyadic crystallization) often see both individuals as achieving a higher level of intimacy that involves more self-awareness.

Definitions, because some terminology in this quote is field-specific:

Perception of similarity: (similar in background, values, etc.) which contributes to pair rapport

Pair rapport: produces positive emotional and behavioral responses to the partner, promotes effective communication and instills feelings of self-validation

Self-disclosure: a process of communication by which one person reveals information about themselves to another. The information can be descriptive or evaluative and can include thoughts, feelings, aspirations, goals, failures, successes, fears, and dreams, as well as one's likes, dislikes, and favorites.

Role-taking: ability to understand the partner's perspective and empathize with his/her role in the interaction and the relationship

Role-fit: partners assess the extent of their similarities in personality, needs, and roles

Dyadic crystallization: partners become increasingly involved with each other and committed to the relationship and they form an identity as a committed couple

(Source: Quizlet -- not the most reliable source, I know, but once again field-specific terms tend to be ubiquitous in their definitions, and I doubt that this Quizlet can be that inaccurate)

_____

Part 1 of this meta (click for the link) proves how Zuko and Katara achieve the “initial stages of intimacy,” including perceived similarities, pair rapport, and self-disclosure, which are common to both platonic and romantic relationships (and seen often in transitioning relationships). And because I have no self-control, I promised a part 2 that shows how Zutara fulfills the latter stages of intimacy as well, in which intimacy is based more on cognition than communication.

(Note: I had taken the burden of proof too seriously in part 1, and thus that meta delves (far too) deep into the intricacies of Zuko and Katara’s backstories, character arcs, and dialogue. This meta will be significantly less heavy-handed on the analysis because we already have 3,800 words of that and that’s more than enough).

So with that taken care of, let’s begin.

Role-taking

Definition: ability to understand the partner's perspective and empathize with his/her role in the interaction and the relationship.

After Zuko’s choice in the Crossroads of Destiny, his relationship with Katara becomes tenser until it reaches a breaking point in The Southern Raiders, where the following exchange occurs:

_____

The Southern Raiders Dialogue

Zuko: This isn't fair! Everyone else seems to trust me now! What is it with you?

Katara: Oh, everyone trusts you now! I was the first person to trust you! Remember, back in Ba Sing Se. And you turned around and betrayed me, betrayed all of us!

_____

Although Katara is angry in this scene, her open communication and Zuko’s empathy with her (established in the Crystal Catacombs) allows him to understand Katara’s perspective, to understand that he is the one at fault, and to understand that he has to be the one to make amends.

Zuko: What can I do to make it up to you?

Then, throughout the Southern Raiders, there is an inherent understanding between the two that Zuko is only a guide to track down her mother’s killer while Katara is the decider of this man’s fate. Their roles are evidenced by Zuko providing Katara with information (as seen in the left screenshot) and Katara acting with the information given (as seen in the right screenshot, where Zuko asks Katara if she is ready).

Left screenshot -

Zuko: I know who killed your mother, and I'm going to help you find him.

Right screenshot -

Zuko: This is it, Katara. Are you ready to face him?

However, Zuko is not the only one to perceive and accept the other party’s role within their relationship. Having decided to fight Azula alongside Zuko the day before Sozin’s Comet, Katara is in disbelief when Zuko accepts an Agni Kai with Azula, one on one.

Katara: What are you doing? She's playing you. She knows she can't take us both, so she's trying to separate us.

Zuko: I know. But I can take her this time.

Katara: But even you admitted to your uncle that you would need help facing Azula.

Zuko: There's something off about her; I can't explain it but she's slipping. And this way, no one else has to get hurt.

Still, Katara nods, empathizing with Zuko’s position and thus allowing him to take on a new role. In particular, she recognizes Zuko’s need to fight alone rather than together, which shifts the dynamic and interactions in their relationship.

With both Zuko and Katara achieving role-taking, we now move on to-

Role-fit

Definition: partners assess the extent of their similarities in personality, needs, and roles.

(Note: there’s a little bit of a stretch in needs and roles, but given much of Zuko and Katara’s life had been centered around defeating the Fire Nation, it still captures an essential part of their relationship.)

Zuko and Katara assessing the extent of the similarities in their personality:

(Frankly, this moment can apply to personality, needs, and roles)

Zuko and Katara assessing the extent of the similarities in their needs:

Zuko and Katara assessing the extent of the similarities in their roles:

I wish there had been more canon material with Zuko and Katara evaluating their personalities and needs on a more personal level. However, since the glimpses of peace we see in the ATLA finale are not focused on Zuko and Katara’s relationship (for better or for worse), the fact that the Crystal Catacombs exchange exists is already very telling. Additionally, it’s not difficult to imagine the two of them had a conversation about their personalities and needs given their track record of open communication and mutual support.

Dyadic Crystallization

Definition: partners become increasingly involved with each other and committed to the relationship and they form an identity as a committed couple.

After joining the GAang in the Western Air Temple, Zuko and Katara become “increasingly involved with each other” (even if their interactions are not always positive), as evidenced by the following:

Of course, their commitment to each other forms after Katara forgives Zuko and they work together as a team:

Though Zuko and Katara may not have formed an identity as a romantic couple, their platonic relationship relies on a profound foundation of teamwork, protectiveness, and support. Should they transition into a romantic relationship, this same foundation can be channeled with them working together to solve personal and political problems, protecting each other from physical and emotional wounds, and supporting one another with steadfast faith and determination.

Of course, the same logic applies to every stage of intimacy both parts of this meta explore. We already see how Zuko and Katara fulfill the other stages - perceived similarities, pair rapport, self-disclosure, role-taking, role-fit, and dyadic crystallization - in constructive ways throughout their platonic bond, so we can assume that their approach to these stages of intimacy would be similar in a romantic bond as well. After all, they already share a deep emotional connection, so the last gap their relationship would need to bridge between platonic and romantic lines would not be one of closeness (which anti-Zutara arguments point to as a cause for increasing toxicity between the two), but one of attraction.

As Guerrero and Mongeau note, “in this case, couples sustain high levels of friendship-based intimacy while adding passion-based intimacy. In a sense, these couples have already laid part of the groundwork for building a close romantic relationship.”

Thus, without needing to undergo a dramatic shift in quantity or quality, the existing emotional energy in Zutara lends itself well to both friendships and romances. Here we have a relationship where outward circumstances may change - from war to peace, from rebels to leaders - yet their internal framework, even while (hypothetically) in the process of adjusting from friends to lovers, has endured through the past and will continue to endure well into the future.

[slytherin-team]

On Petunia Evans Dursley, or how I imagine & re-imagine her character

So, I re-read HP and Snape’s memories of Lily and Petunia really stood out to me. 

Since re-reading the whole series, I’ve become a bit obsessed with Snape and Petunia.

I want to talk about Petunia’s character.

Now, I like starving-her- nephew- and -locking- him -in- a- cupboard Aunt Petunia as much as the next person (which is to say, not at all)

However, Petunia’s character has to be one of the things that bothers me most about HP or one of the things that I see as the biggest missed opportunity on JKR’s part.

Now, I don’t entirely blame JKR for making Petunia a one-dimensional villain. HP started out as a children’s book and the Dursleys are very much like Matilda’s family. They’re just there to be entirely awful and also to contrast muggle “ordinariness” with wizard “specialness.” Additionally, everyone is familiar with the fairytale evil stepmother and Petunia fills that cliched trope as well.

But as the series becomes darker and less for children and as we learn more about the complicated history between muggles and wizards, the presence of only one-dimensional (Dursleys, at least the parents) or barely present (the Grangers) muggles becomes rather irksome, considering how the war is all about prejudice towards muggles and muggle-borns.

These things didn’t bother me or even occur to me so much as a kid reading the series and that’s why I can’t entirely blame JKR on this one thing. She knew her target audience (kids) would identify with the witches and wizards, see the muggles as boring and dull like the adults around them, and not care so much about the broader picture. 

I don’t know if my new way of looking at the series comes from simply re-reading it, or more specifically, from being an adult re-reading it, but I find myself super interested in examining what it means to be a muggle who is aware of the magical world and this what draws me to Aunt Petunia.

If I could make any change to the series, I would make Petunia a more gray, nuanced and fleshed out character, much like Snape (who I actually think she is very similar to and I’ll get into that). She would still give preferential treatment to her own son, but she would not outright abuse Harry by starving him or locking him up. She would ensure he’s well-fed and healthy but she would not be affectionate with him, but rather cold and distant, so similar to how she already acts but minus the serious abuse. 

 I would pepper in moments where Petunia stares at Harry with empty eyes or glances at him while he’s not looking. I would have Harry notice these small moments from time to time and wonder why his Aunt takes care of him yet is so cold towards him. He would unravel this mystery of her behavior, just as he unraveled Snape’s and Petunia would get a redemption arc, like Snape. I haven’t thought of all the details but I like the idea of her getting more involved later in the series and being a useful muggle character. Eventually, she would open up about Lily as well and reveal her regrets. She would also have a heart to heart with Harry and wish him luck before going into hiding.

Vernon would still be a jerk but not outright abusive because Petunia wouldn’t allow for that. Dudley would still get away with his bullying, particularly when Petunia is out of sight, but maintain the growth he did show in the series, perhaps taking it a bit further.

As much as I prefer my version of Petunia, the actual Petunia we get, while not a good or redeemable person by any means, is still really great as a character and as a villain, she has a good origin story.

Hate adult Petunia all you want, but child Petunia, in my opinion, is nothing but sympathetic and probably one of the most relatable characters in the series, and I will go through this.

We all wish the HP world was real, but of course, if it was, we’d all want to be witches and wizards. We all want to go to Hogwarts. 

Severus tells Lily, “It’s real for us, not for her.”

He’s right and he’s wrong. It’s real for Petunia, she just can’t be a part of it.

Now, personally, I think being a squib would feel a lot more unfair than being a muggle with muggle parents whose sibling just happens to be a witch and even if Petunia’s parents did favor Lily for being a witch, they can’t be prejudice towards Petunia for her lack of magic when they lack magic themselves. 

But squibs might actually be looked down upon by their magical parents and they seem to have no choice but to enter the muggle world even though they grew up in the magical world, and if they do stay in the magical world, they’re seen as lesser and I can’t imagine there’s much for them to do. Maybe they could work in Muggle relations but that’s not given much prestige (even though it should be an important thing) Petunia feels barred from the magical world but at least she doesn’t have to leave her own world. 

Still, Petunia is just a kid and she doesn’t know about all the intricacies of the magical world or about squibs. She just sees that her sister has abilities that she doesn’t and access to a really exciting world that she doesn’t. So, her jealousy and feelings of inferiority are totally understandable. 

Of course, in her jealousy of Lily, lack of knowledge about the intricacies of the magical world, and overall myopic view because of her youth, I think there’s something that Petunia doesn’t realize.

Lily is also in a difficult position, perhaps in some ways more difficult than Petunia. At least Petunia has a clear line. She’s a muggle and can fit into the muggle world.

Lily is a witch, so despite being born into the muggle world, she’s different, but that doesn’t mean she can fully integrate into the magical world. In some ways, the prejudice against muggle-borns and the specific slur for them makes them seem more hated and distrusted by certain segments of the wizarding world than even muggles themselves. 

And Lily graduated Hogwarts at the time of Voldemort’s rise and we’re told that the first wizarding war was much more intense than the second. Marlene Mckinnon and her entire family were killed. Voldemort had a bunch of creatures on his side. Petunia could be blissfully ignorant of all this and cocoon herself in her safe “ordinary” world at least. Safety didn’t seem like a choice for Lily, although she certainly had agency and chose to fight for the Order. But it seems that muggleborns would be hunted regardless.

Perhaps if Petunia had realized this, she would have had more sympathy for her sister and also realize that she herself  is lucky in some regards. Maybe she could have cultivated her own talents and focused on them instead of putting all of her energy into being jealous and petty.

I also have this other idea I like, of Petunia developing healthy coping mechanisms to deal with her jealousy and then finally embracing the magical world - instead of turning away from it entirely to be as “ordinary” as possible- and then becoming the muggle version of Arthur Weasley- that is, a muggle who is a bit of a “magicphile” 

Getting back on track, Petunia’s ordinariness could be her strength, at least as a character, it makes her relatable. Young Petunia, like young Severus, is the underdog, and that sort of makes you want to cheer for her or at least see her get a slice of the cake at least once in her life.

While I’ve grown to like Lily as a character more because of my re-analysis of her situation - which makes her an underdog too- I used to really hate her, for the same reason Petunia hated her. Like really? This girl has powerful magic, is beautiful, gregarious, kind, brave, strong, loved and desired by everyone...yadda yadda yadda...gimme a break! 

And so many fans who love Lily don’t realize that they’re probably Petunias, not Lilies.

Even looking at the flowers themselves- petunias are actually really beautiful and come in such a wide variety (the night sky petunia is my favorite) - and yet they’re often overlooked because they’re so common.

James is an awful bully but at least that counteracts his perfectness in every other area (looks, school, sports, etc) What are Lily’s flaws? What does she struggle with other than being muggleborn? It seems that maybe both she and James were too naive and trusting (not to victim-blame her for her own death or anything) but what else? We’re not told and so she just seems perfect, not very interesting for a character.

A lot of the things Petunia says as a child that fans interpret as mean or revealing of her hatred of magic from a young age, are actually things she seems to regurgitate from the adults around her. 

For example, when Lily is flying from a swing, Petunia chides her by saying, “mom, told you not to do that!” Although we know Petunia’s parents favored Lily, I get the sense that their favoritism and even awareness of Lily’s magic didn’t come until after the Hogwarts letter, which is when a representative would have come to the family to explain things. Before then...I’m not sure but maybe her parents didn’t realize what was going on and just didn’t want her jumping out of swings? Anyway, I think Petunia is just trying to be the responsible older sister and is repeating her mother.

I’m pretty sure when Lily makes the flower grow, Petunia gets a bit freaked out and maybe also says something about how she shouldn’t be doing that but she’s also described as asking Lily how she does it, with “longing” in her voice. So she’s juggling trying to be the responsible older sister with being totally weirded out because how the heck is her sister making flowers grow in her hand, to being curious, and this is when her burgeoning envy (totally understandable) starts to emerge as well.

Then little Snape enters the picture to unintentionally erode the sisters’ relationship even further. It’s also here that Petunia makes another comment that fans point to as proof of her snobbery and cruelty from a young age, but actually, it’s just proof that she took what adults told her to heart, and since she was older than Lily, she probably heard more gossip and knew more about their town in general.

After Snape pops out to tell Lily she’s a witch and that he’s a wizard, Petunia is the first of the sisters to speak.

Here’s the direct quote from Petunia: “Wizard! I know who you are. You’re that Snape boy! They live down Spinner’s End by the river,” 

This little statement is endlessly fascinating to me, it raises so many questions.

Why does Petunia know who Snape is? Why does she recognize him? How does she know his name and what he looks like? We know adult Petunia is nosy and loves watching all the neighbors. Was child Petunia snooping around, if so then how close did Snape live to the sisters? How close is the sisters’ house to Spinner’s End and the river? 

If she was snooping around, then it’s kind of ironic that she was spying on Snape while he was spying on her and Lily ( he says he’s been watching Lily but Lily is always with Petunia outside so even if it’s not intentional, he’s watching Petunia too) Even if she was snooping around, why would Petunia wander to Spinner’s End? Does she share Harry’s deathly curiosity and adventurous streak? She says “they” so does she know what Snape’s parents look like? How much does she know about the family and his home life?

My first thought actually wasn’t that she was snooping around but rather, that she was regurgitating the nasty things that adults had said. But this raises another question, which adults? We’re told later that Snape and Lily sneak into Petunia’s room to read her letter to Dumbledore, which means that Snape was in the Evan’s family’s home, and we also know that the Evans parents are impressed by witches and wizards, so it would seem that they approved of Snape. 

So then, who would have told Petunia about the Snape family? Did she just hear rumors and gossip about them from older townsfolk? I always imagine Lily as either 9 or 10 and Petunia as either 11 or 12 in this scene, only a two year difference between them but at that age, it’s enough for Petunia to be more involved in what adults are saying and for Lily to be oblivious.

From here, Petunia asks Severus why he’s been spying, and again, she seems like the protective sister. I really like her in this scene. I don’t interpret her as snobby or classist. She’s too young. I see her as a kid influenced by the adults around her and as sort of a gryffindor/slytherin hybrid, bravely stepping between her sister and the strange boy calling her a witch, while also being judgemental of outsiders.I think she possesses a lot of the qualities of both Lily and Severus.

This scene is also when Sev spitefully calls Petunia a muggle, a word she had never heard before but immediately recognizes as inferior. 

“Haven’t been spying. Wouldn’t spy on you any. You’re a muggle.”

It’s shown later that all three of these kids love to spy and snoop around (not unlike the golden trio - except they’re not spying with each other but on each other) but Sev and Petunia definitely share a heightened nosiness, a certain degree of haughtiness, a superiority complex coupled with an inferiority complex, and a strong sense of self-preservation and pride that is very slytherin. Opposites may attract but I think it’s the couples with common ground that last, and enemies-friends-lovers will never go out of style, so the potential set-up for Snetunia is just too good to pass over and plays a big role in why I love shipping them together.

Okay, and after this, Petunia then spies on Lily and Sev. The “she’s jealous. You're special. She’s ordinary” line is in the movie not the book but I love it because it encapsulates Petunia’s insecurities perfectly and also shows how Sev puts Lily on a pedestal, and the magical world as a whole on a pedestal. It’s sad that he gets abused at Hogwarts after being abused at home but it also just goes to show that wizards, witches and muggles are all just people and not necessarily inferior or superior to one another.

Petunia overhears Sev telling Lily about the dementors and that’s when she loses her footing and gets caught spying. Sev then shouts, “Who’s spying now! What d’you want?” I find it interesting how Sev and Petunia mirror each other so much.

This is when Petunia insults Sev by saying “What are you wearing anyway? Your mother’s blouse?” She obviously has nothing to say in regards to the spying accusation because she was so obviously spying, so she tried to deflect it with an insult. She’s just as defensive as Sev. After she says, the infamous tree branch incident happens, in which Sev gets revenge by making a tree branch fall over her head. This is what prompted Petunia, years later, to refer to Sev as “that awful boy” when she reveals to Harry that she knows what the dementors are because she “overheard that awful boy talking about them.”

Okay, onto the Hogwarts letter, which raises many questions as well.

“You shouldn’t have read – ”  Petunia had whispered, “that was my private – how could you – ?”.

Lily gave herself away by half-glancing toward where Severus stood nearby. 

Petunia gasped. “That boy found it! You and that boy have been sneaking in my room!” 

“No – not sneaking – ” Now Lily was on the defensive. “Severus saw the envelope, and he couldn’t believe a Muggle could have contacted Hogwarts, that’s all! He says there must be wizards working undercover in the postal service who take care of – ”

Okay, so this is soooo interesting. 

Adult Petunia is presented as a woman with a long neck who always has her nose in other people’s business and she’s not much different as a child. But despite this trait being used to amplify her villain role, it seems the “good guys” and the “grey guys” love meddling in this way as well. 

I really feel for Petunia in this scene. I think that Hogwarts letter and Dumbledore’s reply rejecting her (even if it was kind) was one of the biggest moments of failure, disappointment and embarrassment in her life and remember, she’s probably about 2 years older than Lily so she would be 13 here and that’s just not a nice age either and I think that makes losing her sister and being rejected hurt even more. Privacy is such a big deal when you’re 13 too, that’s like peak private diary age, so to have your little sister and her gross friend sneaking into your room at that time, what an invasion that must feel like.

But….what the heck was going through Sev’s mind?!?

I doubt Lily suggested that she and Sev sneak into Petunia’s room. Why would Sev want to go into Petunia’s room? She’s just a muggle after all. He sees the letter, but how? After going into her room?

He couldn’t believe a muggle contacted Hogwarts? Was he secretly impressed by her? He thinks there must be wizards undercover in the muggle postal service...well we’re never told how Petunia sends the letter but it’s often said that there’s more to her than meets the eye. I like to think she was cunning, determined, smart and slytherin enough to find out how to send the letter on her own and that’s probably what made Dumbldore even reply. I think she’s someone who always had a lot of potential but was crippled by feelings of inferiority and self-doubt, much like Severus.

Petunia and Severus both obsess over Lily to the point that it destroys them. Petunia, in her jealousy, deep down worries that Lily is better than her and compensates for this by calling her a freak. Sev never takes Lily off the pedestal even as they begin to grow apart and just as Petunia sinks deeper into her “ultra ordinary” prejudiced persona, Sev sinks deeper into his half-blood prince persona. He hates muggles because of his father, while Petunia hates magic (or pretends to) because of her sister. Sev and Petunia are two sides of the same coin then. They both also never go on to reconcile with Lily and they go on to resent her son while also protecting him.

I said it at the beginning of all this rambling, but I’ll say it again - I wish Petunia had been as layered and grey as Sev, instead of just the bland evil stepmother figure.

So, just to be clear, the adult Petunia we get in the actual books is deplorable but I still love her character because I love how many more satisfying ways there are to re-imagine her and what she could have been. Snape’s memories - the only time we see Petunia’s past - are so rich and revealing and just have me endlessly fascinated about Petunia’s potential.

This was super long but I’ve been dying to word vomit about this character - and I’ll probably do some more word vomit meta about Snape & Petunia later on ~

Oh and regarding what it means to be a muggle in the magical world or adjacent to the magical world - don’t even get me started on the statute of secrecy! Maybe one of the reasons Petunia did turn out so awful was because she had to bear the burden of knowing about magic but not being part of it all by herself, like she couldn’t just tell her friends her sister is a witch and vent. So, maybe she had to bottle everything up.

She also mentions in the book, her sister bringing home frogs and turning them into tea cups - to an outsider maybe that looks like animal abuse or raises ethical questions.

Obliviating muggles certainly seems unethical to me and the ministry does it with great abandon.

I wish this was explored more in the series.

Petunia has a right to be skeptical it would seem, and naturally fearful as well.

[whostolemytrousers]

White House Down

Dir. Roland Emmerich; Wri. James Vanderbilt

The poster for this movie is Channing Tatum looking buff in a tank top holding a massive gun with explosions in the background. The theory is that you can tell the contents of a movie by it’s poster. Here, you can, and I really loved every second.

This movie is so dumb that even the main character laughs at how stupid some things are. Channing literally laughs in Jamie Foxx’s face when the President is saved by a pocket watch - yes, that’s a pocket watch - from a bullet. 

In the first bit of the film, there is ‘subtle’ mention that; one, Channing’s daughter (who looks like a young Marion Cotillard) does flag waving -- sorry, flag twirling; and two, that nifty pocket watch is given to the President. You are left on the edge of your seat wondering if those two facts will come up again in the rest of the film. Don’t worry, they turn out to be significant plot points. I wouldn't expect anything less from a movie with the line, “he’s still the Secretary of Defence” followed by, “well, he wasn’t doing a very good job.”

That line references the plot of the movie. Yes indeed, there is a plot, not that it matters with all the tanks and helicopters and bang boom explosions going on. Again, you just need to look at the poster and the title to figure out the many fine intricacies of this delicately plotted narrative. I won’t explain the plot here.

The first time I watched this movie, I really didn't like it. From what I thought the film would be and the opening section, I was really irritated and put off by how unbelievable and silly it got later on in the film. In the first 20 minutes or so, they do a competent enough job of setting up Channing’s character and the arc he will go on with his daughter. (That said, the best way they can set up his character as a solid, American guy is by getting him to talk to a squirrel - yes, really - and actually get women to ask them to go to second base with them.) I went into it this time thinking - if this isn't stupid enough to satisfy my need for cheesy explosions, I will be very disappointed. 

One of the reasons I started writing this blog was to further work out why I loved films so much. It’s from stuff like White House Down that I realised that there is a special place in heaven, or is that hell, for movies that are so fun and dumb that they can distract you from pretty much anything going on in your life. I really, really liked it. But it’s not for everyone, not even for me if I was in a different mood.

[thelawyerthatwaspromised]

Hi! I'm a jonerys shipper but I find your theories very interesting. I wonder though, how will you feel about the show/Asoiaf if Political!Jon is debunked with season 8? Do you think it will change your opinion on Jon? And will you still ship Jonsa if he truly bent the knee because he is in love with Dany? I suppose I'm wondering how a post S8 Jonsa faction will look.

Hello! I really appreciate the question because it’s not a bad one: what if political!Jon isn’t a thing? First, I guess I’ll explain what I think has to be true for political!Jon to not be true.

Jon has to have total faith in Dany’s ruling ability; not just her capacity as a conqueror. Jon has to have thought it was acceptable to give away the Stark ancestral home without consulting anyone about it. Jon has to have actually been unable to lie to Cersei at the Dragonpit. Jon has to actually believe that the stuff he warned Dany about earlier in the season (about northerners not wanting to follow a southern ruler) is either not true anymore - or - at least not as important as the urgency to give away his crown before he could even talk to them about it.

All of these have terrible, terrible implications on Jon’s character.

Because it will mean a number of things…

1) It would mean that Jon really didn’t learn anything from Robb and Ned and their respective downfalls. That’s tragic in itself. When it comes to Robb, sure he made mistakes that cost him his life - but he was also way too young and thrust into a position he should never have been forced to undertake. The same is somewhat true for Jon, except he’s now been in leadership and he knows his family’s mistakes. 

I don’t want “aww shucks” stupid heroes. I don’t enjoy that type of storytelling. I don’t think it’s something I can suspend my disbelief while I’m watching if I actively think “he is a complete and total idiot” and he’s supposed to be un-ironically a hero of the story. Beyond that, I think that’s the opposite of the point of Jon’s arc, most especially in the books but also on the show. 

Robb and Ned are there to be cautionary tales for good people who are struggling with the intricacies of dangerous political games. Jon being as dopey as not learning anything from their decisions cheapens Robb’s story, it cheapens Ned’s story, and it makes Jon simply a lucky idiot if he somehow survives.

Jon is also taking a gigantic risk throwing all his eggs in Dany’s basket even if he thinks she’s the most wonderful person. He has no idea what she’s like as a ruler. He didn’t know anything about her other than she’s come to Westeros and has three dragons. He doesn’t know anything about her tenure in Essos - or that it concluded with her very responsibly have Daario Naharis overlooking the biggest political transition in thousands of years over there. No big deal.

In the best case scenario, Jon would have been detained on the island, been “asked” to bend the knee to Dany on multiple occasions, and agreed to go on a mission that he otherwise wouldn’t have gone on (since he asked Dany multiple times to come North without regard to Cersei’s intentions) and almost died on that mission only to have seen Dany take another big risk by flying her dragons up North to try to save him.

That’s not even close to enough information for Jon to know whether Dany is in any way a good ruler. Flying dragons and ruling are two different things. He took a huge gamble whether it’s political!Jon or not; but at least with political!Jon it was because he felt he HAD to do it to ensure her commitment. The alternative is Jon handing that over without any clue as to whether she can do the mundane things like administer land dispute decisions or responsibly manage the treasuries of Westeros. 

2)  It would mean that Jon governs and makes decisions based solely on his own emotional impulses which would really suck. It’s practically inexcusable for Jon to behave this way. It’s irresponsible as a ruler for him to just hand Dany power like he did at face value without talking to anyone from the North about it first. You could have made an argument to me that Jon could legitimately think Dany should rule the North and it might be a plausible explanation without making Jon a terrible rule IF Jon had actually waited until he returned North to tell the lords in person that he planned to give away the crown for her.

By not doing so, it tells me that either Jon is inconsiderate and impulsive enough to give away something as sacred as an entire country (on the macro) and his childhood home (on the micro level) - OR - there’s something else in play for why he felt it absolutely necessary to “bend the knee” with the timing as it occurred. If there’s some 3rd explanation that I haven’t thought of - I’d actually be willing to read it first before I decided whether it’s an idea willing to entertain.

I don’t talk politics thaaaat much on here, but the analogy really would be that, after being elected, Donald Trump literally believed he had the authority and moral high ground to hand his presidency over to Putin. Not only would everyone hate him, but he literally does not have the authority to act like that and would be removed from his position before it happened.

[to be clear Jon =/= Trump and Dany =/= Putin. It’s an analogy on political leaders behaving in another context. If you want, you can imagine the PM of Canada and the the King of Wakanda as substitutes behaving the same way.]

By going solo in that process - Jon almost guaranteed at the very least a gigantic amount of political turmoil in the North…but it’s something I think he’s aware of and has anticipated. If he hasn’t - he has no business ruling anything ever. 

There is no reasonable explanation for the timing of Jon bending the knee (before consulting with anyone in the North let alone his very own travel companion Davos) other than political!Jon and realizing the exact moment was right because Dany had just promised to help fight the Night King and Jon wanted to cement her commitment as much as he could.

3) It would mean that Jon genuinely valued everyone knowing openly that he planned to fight Cersei in the war after the Night King over actually getting the truce to allow them to fight the NK. If Jon did what he did at the Dragonpit - then he proved himself a liar when he said just before that “there is only one war that matters” because he immediately (again, in the absence of political!Jon) affirmed his position in the war for the Iron Throne at the expense of the war to save the Realm. 

Beyond the silliness of the idea that Jon Snow is incapable of lying to Cersei - it really is highlighted perfectly in Jon’s scene with Theon:

“You risked everything just to tell an enemy the truth.”

I mean…is telling the truth generally good? Yes.

Is telling the truth still good if….

SCENARIO: Bad Guy has their finger on the button to launch a nuclear weapon on a Sunday and they say, “oh wait, these nuclear codes were only good until Sunday and now it’s after midnight so it’s Monday!” 

Bad Guy is momentarily confused. “Or is it still Sunday? Say! You, Honest Fellow! If it’s really after 12:00 AM, I’ll have to leave here and try to grab more launch codes, is it really after midnight? I don’t have my watch.”

Honest Fellow: “I’d like to tell you it’s 12:04….but alas, I cannot. It is 11:58-…”

*KABOOM*

Well…you’d rightfully be displeased with Honest Fellow. But, then again, I think Jon Snow would hate this honest fellow as well. How stupid is that if it’s the same story we heard at face value? 

“I just can’t lie!” 

That’s irredeemably stupid. It KNOWINGLY put everyone at risk and actually is LUCKY that Cersei planned all along to accept a truce so she could have time to replenish her forces with the Golden Company. 

I’d recommend that the Honest Fellow version of Jon Snow climb up that 700 foot Wall he’s supposedly been working so hard to protect and fling himself off. They could call it Lord Commander’s Landing.

4) It would completely upend the part of Jon’s story where he has yearned to truly be a part of House Stark, his residual guilt about not being there to help Robb when the fighting began, and his close relationship with Sansa after their reunion. 

I could say plenty of shippy things about how the absence of political!Jon would completely ruin the relationship with Sansa that Jon’s built since they reunited but I don’t even have to go there. Simply as a close companion and trusted adviser and family member, Jon would have spat right in her face.

People seem to misinterpret Jon feeling like an outsider with the rest of the Starks with Jon never feeling welcome and never wanting to be a member of House Stark. The exact opposite is true. Jon’s detachment was due specifically to his wanting very much to be Jon Stark but feeling like it was an impossibility because of his birth. Jon loved the Starks. He wanted to be known as Ned’s son. He craved acceptance from Catelyn but never received it. It’s caused him to feel unworthy of that. 

When they found the direwolf pups, Jon wanted each Stark to have a wolf first. It was essentially a gift of the gods that Jon “heard” Ghost (who is famously silent) after his noble self-denial in favor of the trueborn Starks. 

Immediately after winning the BotB, Jon makes sure Sansa takes up residence in the Lord’s chambers. He didn’t do that because he doesn’t care. He cares very deeply. He wanted Sansa to know that she is House Stark’s true representative. He doesn’t feel like he deserves that, hence the sadness in his voice as he says “I’m not a Stark.” He reiterates that Sansa is the Lady of Winterfell. Being the Lord or Lady (as opposed to “acting” Lord or Lady) means that Sansa has hereditary rights over Winterfell - something they both fought like hell to re-take.

Now I’m supposed to believe that the guy who didn’t even want a simple puppy before the other Starks, who fought like hell to re-take Winterfell, who tried to desert the Night’s Watch once and arguably did a second time to fight for the Starks, who very intentionally placed Sansa as the head of House Stark rather than himself, who then passed to her specifically ruling authority over the North while he was away - THAT GUY - is now supposed to think it’s fine and necessary and RIGHT to give ruling authority and his crown over to a woman before she ever even stepped foot in the North.  (The Gift, which is the territory along the Wall is owned by the Night’s Watch independent of the North. Even if you count the top of Eastwatch as Dany stepping foot up there, she’s still not in the political North)

All of this, too, without ever talking to a single person about the decision beforehand. 

That’s a Jon Snow I cannot root for or reconcile with the rest of his story. In my mind, it’s character assassination.

It would make me wonder what the point was of Jon Snow even coming back from the dead.

Thank you for the ask. Hope this answers your question sufficiently. You’re welcome to ask more anytime. 

[abalonetea]

Hey! Would you mind explaining HEARTs to me please? I've seen you mention it for a while, but I don't know what you mean specifically (I assume it has more meaning than just a regular heart)

ahh, yes! the HEARTs are one of my favorite concepts for the story, and I love talking about them! or just, you know, answering any questions in general! thank you for your interest!

you’re right! it’s got a lot more meaning than just a regular heart. because the two worlds of Fara are technically set inside of video games, they have a lot of things you might see in a video game. for example, characters have access to an inventory that isn’t visible and can carry more supplies than a bag would, they gain EXP and grow stronger as they Level up, though this is a frowned upon practice within the game Fields of Fara.

they also have HEARTs.

in old school fantasy games, like Legend of Zelda, your life was tracked using a heart meter. the concept is the same in Fara. each character has a HEART, and that HEART keeps track of their life.

HP and HEARTs are different from each other, despite the fact that they both track a character’s health. I’ll use Captain as an example, as she has HEART damage within the confines of the story!

say her HP is 3000. every time she’s injured, she loses a little bit of HP. if her HP drops down to zero, she dies. HP can only be affected by physical damage. a mana cana, a spear, a cut, a burn, a hard hit to the head. these can all take away HP.

but

a HEART can be damaged in several ways - a severe physical injury, having a high level, or undergoing an extreme amount of emotional duress. if your HEART takes on too much damage, it will break, and you will go to Game Over.

HEARTs have physical forms! much like an inventory, they’re generally unseen, tucked safe and sound inside of your chest. however, a paladin has the ability to summon a HEART and use healing magic on it.

for the most part, a HEART has the same color as a user’s magic caste. if their magic is primarily fire based, it’s red. if their magic is primarily plant based, it’s green. beast class characters often have HEARTs in neutral colors - browns, tans, and pale golds. elemental have HEARTs in corresponding colors to their elements, occasionally with the same sheen to it. 

for example, Polynya, a water elemental, has a pale blue HEART that appears to be more liquid than solid. in contrast, her girlfriend, Ginia, a plant elemental, has a vibrant green HEART with a texture that looks akin to wood. 

paladin’s are common in Fields of Fara. this means that most everyone has a basic knowledge of HEARTs, how they can be damaged, the importance behind healing them, and what that process is like.

paladin’s and most forms of healing magic are extremely uncommon in Fara Falls. this means that most people don’t know how to summon their HEART, have never had their HEART healed, and don’t have a particularly good grasp on all the intricacies that go into having a damaged HEART.

a damaged HEART can be deadly, but it can also be managed. this is a practice only seen in Fara Falls - where you either manage, or you die. even in this world, it’s far more common to simply achieve Game Over when your HEART is damaged. only the truly strong, and the truly stubborn, can keep their coding together for any length of time.

physical pain can over ride the internal pain. getting rid of excess mana can stop the HEART from becoming too full and damaging itself. taking small pleasantries when you’re able too will help ease the ache.

whenever possible, Captain and Bolte has Terrible Tea together on her front porch, while they watch the waters of the swamp and the bird dragons. they also train with each other very frequently, though the sheer amount of fighting that they do as members of the Royal Guard tends to keep their mana levels in check.

some glitches only affect characters with a damaged HEART. for example:

Highest Level: this glitch happens primarily to those with damaged HEARTs. it can be akin to how a hacked game is more susceptible to glitches than something just bought. this glitch causes the character’s Level to wildly fluctuate.

when a character’s level fluctuates, so does their mana levels, their HP, and their mental stability. the higher your level, the more impulsive you become, often paired with a very short temper and a lot of irritability. as such, having your Level randomly jump from a thirty to seventy can result in an extreme jump in mana - thus putting the HEART in danger.

Physical: when a character suffers from a severe physical wound, often times the same injury is reflected in the HEART. for example, when Captain is severely wounded during the first arc, it’s through an extremely deep gash that runs from shoulder to hip. this gash is reflected in physical from on her HEART, running from left top to the edge.

High Level: excessive amounts of mana damage the HEART. this means that the higher your Level, the more damage your HEART takes. EXP Grinders in Fara Falls often inadvertently cause their own death by gaining too much mana too quickly.

Emotional Duress: a HEART can be injured due to extreme emotional duress. constant stress wears away at the HEART, much like it does your immune system. in Fara Falls, this act is called HEARTbreak, and is one of the most common “natural” ways to die.

HEARTs can scar, bleed, and calcify. if a HEART becomes completely, or mostly, calcified, the stone on the outside must be broken before the injury beneath can be healed. this act is extremely painful, and should only be done by someone that you trust.

in the case that a HEART injury acts up, physical ailments will start to appear. nausea, migraines, shaking hands, short tempers, your level becoming visible without a Check, aches and pains, fevers, increased appetite, and insomnia.

Captain and Bolte have both sustained repeated injuries to their HEART before the story begins, which they have been treating themselves, without magic. these treatments are only temporary fixes. outside of each other, no one else is aware of their predicaments.

if you, or anyone else, has any other questions about HEARTs that i might not have thought to explain here, please feel free to ask! or questions about anything, really. thank you so much for this one! c:

[telesticmajesty]

can you give me reasons why Yoi is worth watching? I really want to get into it, dont spoil tho. Thank u💕

Yes ofc!! I actually haven’t seen Yuri On Ice in a while and I should really re-watch it soon, but I’ll try my best, haha!♥♥

1) Ice Skating

Some wouldn’t think ice skating is a particularly interesting sport or is a little feminine, and some even think it’s not a sport at all. What Yuri On Ice does so well is it proves that not only can ice skating be for anyone, it can also be really interesting. Watching this show has taught me so much about the sport, it really digs deep into both the intricacy of the routines, how well thought out they are and they’re even animated in their entirety, all of them, also keeping you on the edge of your seat with each one, and the mechanics of what jumps are and exactly how difficult they are to execute, etc. Bearing in mind that a majority of the characters have been skating since they were small or for an inordinate amount of time.

Not only that, but this show also teaches that experience and skill are two completely different things entirely and that both matter equally. One of the characters is 15 and the others are in their 20s, and they’re all in the same league!

2) The Animation

This show in particular was made by Mappa, and some may say the animation was a little shoddy but personally I think it was wonderful. The animation is smooth and detailed at just the right moments, and the skating in particular is done so well, especially as the series progresses. The art style is also really lovely and soft and definitely goes with the feel of the show, and when it comes to the funny parts of it, it’s really fitting there too and not at all disturbing, actually I think it looks adorable. X’D

3) The Gay

You knew this was coming, Yoi fans, but hear me out. XD

Sports anime generally don’t dig all that deep into the matters of relationships and quite frankly, why would they? With the whole “they’re on different teams/they’re rivals” and that. But even though that’s the case, a lot of fans ship them all together anyways. c: It’s more likely that people on the same team will have these kinds of relationships purely because of the rivalry. The thing that Yoi does so well is it ensures you that even though all these skaters are technically rivals, they’re still civil and friendly towards each other. They’re not exactly at each others’ throats. They actually cheer each other on, too. 

And when it comes to romantic relationships, this anime in particular isn’t exactly subtle about it. Not only does it openly acknowledge the lgbt+ community and hints more at a gay couple than most anime have ever done but it also digs deep into the fundamentals of relationships. Supporting each other, sacrifices, mistakes and how they learn from them, etc. Even the romantic side of it is pretty on point. Yeah, it’s mostly about the skating, but there is a lovely balance between that and the building of the characters.♥

And pertaining to the fan-service part of the show, it’s done in moderation and with reactions from the other characters that don’t make it at all awkward to watch. The development of the characters and the feels are real.♥

4) The Feels

Hnggggg there’s not much I can say about this without spoiling it but hngggg the emotions are real-

5) The Humour

Can I just say this anime is also really funny? It knows when to be funny and when to be serious and honestly I think that’s great. ‘Nuff said. :’D

6) Dreams and Personal Dilemmas

This show personifies that dreams can be realised, and the dreams of others are supported, too. I can’t say much about this without spoiling it, but every characters’ idea of success is different. They all have their personal goals, everyone has a great amount of character development and they all have realistic problems and moments of weakness. Yuuri in particular has a pretty normal family and personal problems like lack of self-confidence, sad memories which he will eventually grow to accept and he even gains weight easily, even though he’s a figure skater, something that usually isn’t touched upon much in anime, mainly because of ideals and all that.

All the skaters are from different countries, too. I personally feel like it’s great when interracial relationships and characters are not only introduced, but developed in their own special way. Personally I love all the characters so I feel like they all turn lovable throughout the series but everybody has their own little arc, and honestly when I think about this kind of thing I think of JJ, and I really like JJ now despite his initial personality. You’ll see why if you ever go into watching it all.

7) Yuuri.

Okay but Yuuri is one of the most socially awkward and wonderful protags ever. :’D He knows what his flaws are but he embraces them and tries so hard to make himself better. Meeting Victor makes him a lot more confident in himself, he has a great personal story of growth, which is steady and strengthens his character over time. He makes mistakes just like any other person can and he learns from them. That and he’s just generally lovable. c’:

And yes, this:

And this:

aRE Th E s aME p e RSO N. helpmyheart-

8) OKAY BUT THE SOUNDTRACK?????????????

Can we all just take a minute to appreciate the opening and ending and all the music played in the show pls and ty. ♥♥♥♥

Thank you so much for asking me that! I had a blast explaining all this, haha, I hope you get around to watching it! It’s definitely worth it!♥♥

[tirkarokujo]

Tirk dreams of Tabletops pt. 1: The Dungeon Doofery begins.

I’m now experimenting with doing some half-baked word salad I’m calling “writing” for shitposts longer than 140 characters and throwing them on this blog. Might make a new blog for this soon idk, but for now you’re free to read my antics with Tabletop RPGs after the jump.

5 years...wow! It's now been 5 whole years since I ran the very first tabletop RPG campaign for my group that I've stuck with through this entire half decade of rolling virtual dice, so it feels only right to reflect on my many ups and downs when it's come to this sweet hobby of mine.

Traditional role playing has always been something inherently ingrained into me since the very day my brain developed enough to form original thoughts. It's kinda like that for everyone if you think about it. Tabletop role playing is essentially a more sophisticated version of those games of pretend you'd play with whatever you could scrape out of your toy bin, where one would weave dramatic sweeping narratives in which He-Man, Optimus Prime, Goku, Donkey Kong, and the floating disembodied torso of Hulk Hogan beat the shit out of/kiss eachother in Barbie's dream house or have a hollywood blockbuster worthy car chase on that street map rug everyone owned for some reason.

We as humans just have an inherent desire to play out hypothetical scenarios in our head with whatever resources we have, and even the inevitable sands of time aren't enough to wash that feeling away. No matter how advanced our technology gets, barring a technological singularity that turns us all into gods capable of shaping worlds with our fingertips, nothing will ever truly replace the limitless scope of our imagination as our greatest form of entertainment. Even mediums such as video games and movies still rely on some level of imagination on the part of the audience to truly sell the worlds it's trying to convey. So in that sense, you can say that I've been technically tabbletopping all my life. But if we wanna get literal, my first exposure to tabletop RPGs was a little roundabout. I had always -heard- of the name Dungeons and Dragons thrown about here and there, and I knew it was a game of some kind, I just had no idea what nor any desire to find out. If I'm to wager a guess, I suppose I thought it was some kind of board game akin to RISK or Settlers of Catan? idk. That's what I gathered out of the one time it was parodied on Dexter's Lab.So my first time getting introduced to real tabletop role playing was in....Yu-Gi-Oh, of all places.

Yeah, I'm serious. Bear with me for a second.In the final arc of what's popularly known as "Season zero" of the Yugioh manga, when the actual card game was just one of many games that were featured, the final shadow game to end them all was an arc hosted by Yami Bakura called "Monster World." During the Monster World arc, the rules of the titular game was more meticulously explained as all of the games featured in the manga were. It was clearly supposed to be a take on D&D or perhaps some other TRPG that was popular in japan at the time, like Sword World. Either way I read the arc and thought it was the absolute coolest shit ever and I soon got hard at work at making my own playable version of Monster World, which didn't get very far before I found out some way or another lost to the sea of time that Monster World was just supposed to be a parody of D&D. My general thought process then being "holy shit what have I been missing this whole time" and soon enough I got my hands on a boxed Dungeons and Dragons 3.5e starter kit with a dungeon map, pre-made characters, a bunch of miniatures, everything I could have ever asked for. Not long after that I then obtained the 3.5e Dungeon Masters handbook.

Even without playing the game, my mind got simply swept up in the endless possibilities. Fuck all these other so-called "role playing" games, here this tome is just telling me that I can just make my own adventures where anyone can do anything without the confines of a video game telling you what you can and can't do, and that people have been doing this for DECADES now? It really was just the old days of playing with plastic tat, but now more legitimized with an actual ruleset that gives some much needed grounding to the proceedings, and slightly better knowledge of storytelling conventions under my belt. I'd pour over the dungeon masters guide for hours just reading all the facts about magic items and the different planes and how to build a dungeon, I could just get lost in that shit forever. So naturally I got to work making my own campaign (keep in mind I had no idea how to actually play the game, I just figured you rolled dice and damage happened, which is all I needed) and tried to get some of my friends to play it. That's where things went downhill fast.

See, when I was just a little piece of shit in his early teens, me and my squad were undeniably as geek as it could get. We talked about video games, anime, the YTMND-era internet, hustled Yu-gi-oh cards, everything. We were straight up building a game in Game Maker at the time. You literally couldn't mistake us for anything else. And yet, despite all this, nobody besides me was actually comfortable with playing some good old D&D when I got a hold of  everything. In their own paraphrased words, even they knew it was just "too nerdy" for them. Too nerdy. Seriously. Here this dude who I spent many sleepless nights discussing the intricacies of Mega Man lore with telling me something is too nerdy for them. Admittedly, I can't call them out too hard on this, as it probably just isn't something they were keen on, and I don't think it's entirely uncommon for tabletop role playing to have a sort of stigma attached to it, even among "geek" types.

Let me go off on a tangent here to differentiate between two opposite ends of the spectrum of fandom-based culture, and that's "consumerist" and "transformative." Consumerists have, as far as I seen, been the dominating force of geek culture, especially among young males such as myself. Consumerists take pride mainly in their massive collections of games, movies, figures, and other various do-dads as the means of expressing their devotion to their hobbies. When they are doing creative work, it's mainly for reviews, tutorials, editorials, theorization essays, or collecting trivia that pertains to their subjects of interest. While there's certainly nothing wrong with being a slave for the massive capitalist machine that will inevitably kill us all, as after all I still partake in buying a bunch of useless media trinkets in a futile attempt to fill in my empty soul, it definitely feels like the most acceptable and "safe" way of being on the fringe of fandom culture.

The other end of the spectrum, transformative, aren't simply satisfied with what already exists. These are the peeps who go beyond what they see on the screen, and take it in their hands to answer the question of what if Cloud and Barret totally FUCKED. These are the kind of people that write obscenely long fanfiction about that old early 2000s cartoon you forgot about until now, and run an extensive AU RP blog in which the entire cast of Undertale are professional shoplifters and tax evaders. Not tryna make any sweeping statements here, but it always seemed to me that the more artistic/creative side of fandom culture has always been more inclusive and liberal, while consumerists have always been more conservative. (Not like in a political sense, but I mean the actual definition of conservative, being more reserved and not trying to overstep any boundaries or push the envelope in any way.) There's probably a multitude of reasons for this, but I won't get into them here.

The thing about being transformative though is that you tend to be raked against the coals a lot more. Normally when someone has to take a couple of cheap shots at some kind of fanbase, the ones that are put up to pasture first are the creative types.  Indeed, being a creative within a particular fanbase is going to be suffering no matter what. When you think of easily-mocked aspects of fan culture, you think of the cheesy fanfiction or the weird fanart or the freaky RP bloggers or the Mary Sue OCs, the whole package. And while it's undeniable that yes, SOME creative works aren't the best or most holy, it's dishearteningly common for some enthusiasts to straight up discourage any kind of creative thought within a fanbase, even if it's just kids having fun with their silly new Korra AU. And yes, this kind of stigma even extends to tabletop role playing games.

In the case of my friends, they were probably more on the consumerist end, though it's also entirely possible they were influenced by the popular perception that D&D was just "that nerd shit." Well, no matter how many times I try to deconstruct it, what matters is that I didn't really have anyone to play with so my interest in TRPGs dropped off after that. Flash forward to about 2011, when I was semi-well established in my new online circle, and a good chunk of my chat group was into this thing called "PTA." No it has nothing to do with parent teacher conferences, but rather it's an acronym for "Pokemon Tabletop Adventures," an RPG system based loosely off of 4e that obv centers around those goddamn Pokemon critters. You know, the thing where the guy comes out of the thing and he starts auhgbabaabhgbl, Pokemon. I don't remember if I was still interested in getting back into tabletops back then, but I largely ignored all that hubbub because 1. don't think I really cared about Pokemon all too much back then, and 2. the main dude who the tabletop group revolved around, we'll just call him Thrice, was a guy I absolutely could not stand, so the idea of needing to listen to that screeching cat even more was an absolute nightmare. (He's now one of my best friends, but I think he's still convinced I hate him now just as much as I did back then.) Still, eventually I got interested in playing, and he hooked me up with a player role in one of his new campaigns around late 2011.

I was pretty impressed with just how much Thrice was willing to teach me just about everything; I still remember that day when he was showing me to ropes and took so long to explain everything I stayed up until the wee hours of sunrise for the first time since high school ended. So naturally, I completely forgot everything and needed the rules re-explained to me throughout the entire campaign. Thus, the first tabletop campaign I ever had the privilege of playing was some generic Pokemon league setup. I think there was some darker undertones involving brainwashing or something, idk I forget and nobody had the common sense to archive the sessions back then. My character was a news reporter named Lauren, and I guess this series now gives me a good a time as ever to explain my exact thought process when it came to decisions I made with my characters and campaigns to my group. Lauren was an amalgamation of things I was into back then, such as Dead Rising and Kino's Journey (which is where she got her appearance token from) but the idea of playing a journalist/reporter funnily enough came from the "Wrestler" minigame in Rhythm Heaven Fever. I wanted to play a sort of reporter like that, but with kind of a dark edge to it, where she secretly resented and wanted to cuss out everyone she had to be nice to in order to keep her job. The idea was that'd she'd be nice out the outside but then occasionally go on BB Hood type violent outbursts and keep just about everyone on her shitlist, but it turned out a little too hard to RP back then, so what ended up happening was that she'd just be more of a lowkey pissy jerkface who wasn't incredibly pleasant to hang around, but I guess it could have gone worse.

PTA had a "photographer" class so I felt it was a natural fit for Lauren given her profession and all. Big mistake apparently, as the Photographer more of a support type class (with a lot of said supports not having much combat application) and her personality was more suited to a physical bruiser, so that definitely put a damper on my enjoyment.My first real exposure to some good ol' tabletop discourse was during a particular encounter. Thrice had decided to throw at us an encounter that was....interestingly balanced to say the least. It was a dude who had so many high level Pokemon that just one of them could have counted as its own boss, so the fact that so many of these death monsters was coming out of this dude like the world's most painful clown car meant that we didn't stand much of a chance before we got wiped out. I'm not sure if it was an "unwinnable" situation but either way I remember it pissing off most of the player base and the general perception of that campaign went downhill since. This is the first of like...maybe two times, perhaps three, where we learned one of the most important lessons in Tabletop RPG balance ever: Never, ever have an unwinnable fight because it's never going to go as well as you want, and if it does it's gonna suck ass, just don't do it fam. Eventually the campaign and that entire era of PTA died soon for reasons that I don't remember, tho it's not hard to understand why. But still, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun, so naturally next time we flash forward to March of 2012 when I decide to jump right into running my own damn tabletop RPG, with miniboss squads and hookers, and occasionally go other more observations of the medium as a whole in a completely disorganized fashion.