#inter-generational mentoring

[fubkakky]

Okay, but in real life my daughter educates me and then I pass it on to my team. Ironically, they are all younger than me and yet I’m the one in the know.

[stealingyourbones]

What suggestions would you have for cool, lesser known DC characters I could write a crossover fic with.

Preferably not Gotham-based characters because as much as I love them I need a break and I want to try something new. I know you mentioned Animal Man in another post. Does he have a solo run I can look up or is he usually in group comics/a side character in somebody else’s comics?

(I am deliberately baiting you to info-dump to me about any DC characters you want and I will write a fic with them so go nuts.)

Sadly at this current moment I can’t infodump nearly as much as I’d want to because my carpal tunnel is being a lil bitch but I can give synopses:

Animal Man- Buddy Baker, a typical suburban dad who also happens to be a hero that can use abilities based on any nearby animal (including bacteria?). He is powered by The Red which is the animal version of The Green (Plant Life). The Red is less the concept of all animals but more the concept that all animals are meat. his comics are either a beautifully terrifying body horror gore fest or a 4th wall breaking mind bending creation. No in between. Having Animal Man fight the Lunch Lady and realize she’s fundamentally a different being and not of The Red would be crazy awesome.

Booster Gold or Ted Kord: Booster Gold is a Time Cop who got his job from stealing shit from the Hall of Justice Museum and heading to the Age of Heroes to fund enough money and fame to pay for his mothers cancer treatment. He could be used in Clockwork related fics a lot and he’s also equally as much as a dumbass as Danny.

Blue Beetle also known as Ted Kord, is basically in the same package deal as Booster. Ted Kord, Late owner of Kord Industries, ja a brilliant master of technology and has stuff from a massive beetle ship to a gun. He’s best friends with Booster and their bromance could be fun if you want Danny to have two partially functional adult mentors.

Wally West. The second and fastest flash. A he’s the most go with the flow dude I’ve seen in recent comics, including dealing with an inter dimensional WWE esque fight where he fights alongside Space Hulk Hogan, and has a wonderful Wife, Linda West, and (sometimes) twin kiddos. The Flash’s entire sthick is family. They’re more family centered than the Fast and Furious movies for god sake. Having Danny find a new home in any speedsters home would be incredible.

The Spectre: the embodiment of Gods Wrath. I would go on far too long of a rant remind me to do one later but for now all I’m saying is that it would be sick as fuck for The Spectre to kill Vlad for the horrible things he’s done.

Green Arrow or in general Star City: Oliver Queen, inheritor of Queen Industries is a dude who got trauma after a boat sank and some island thing (tbh I don’t know his backstory off the top of my head), but he’s a very quippy and hilarious guy who’s jokes would mesh pretty nicely with Danny’s humor and in general he’s underutilized in both dpxdc and DC so it’d be nice to see that change :)

Ok hands are getting angry but I hope that’s a fun starting example list for ya!! :D

[purplealmonds]

The Wuxing Elements in Relation to Eye Colors in Mononoke

Universally across all cultures, eyes are windows to the soul, yes?

Spoilers regarding to the analysis of new lore below the cut:

Wuxing, or 五行 in Chinese, translates literally "five movements" refers to the interactions between the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. The methods of I Ching divinations with its complex bagua (八卦) trigrams and hexagrams build its foundations upon these movements. Here's the diagram illustrating how the elements relate to one another:

Let's examine the wuxing diagram, specifically the color its elements corresponding to the eye colors of Anime-Kusu, Hyper, Movie-Kusu, and Shingi.

Anime-Kusu's eyes are blue, which aligns with 木 - wood. It has a symbiotic generative cycle - 相生 - with 火 - fire, which aligns with Hyper's eye color. The simple metaphor here is that you cannot create fire without wood to kindle it. This makes sense, since Hyper's form is modeled after Kusu.

However, if this relation is left unchecked, it can become a destructive reverse-generative cycle - 相洩/相泄 - where wood is burned by fire. The fire-aligned exorcism sword Ri/Li - 離- serves as both bridge and barrier between Anime-Kusu and Hyper. Hyper's fire element feeds on Kusu's wood element, but can only be released under specific conditions (the exorcism ritual).

Movie-Kusu's eyes are yellow, which aligns with earth - 土. Similar to above, earth has a generative cycle with metal - 金, which, what do you know? Aligns with Shingi's white eye color! The earth-aligned sword Kun - 坤- serves as an intermediary between the two of them. Interesting, right? :D

Now let's to delve into headcanon territory that anime-Kusu and movie-Kusu have a mentor-mentee relationship. Anime-Kusu could have an inter-regulating relationship with movie-Kusu where wood stabilizes earth (thus preventing it from eroding).

Alternatively, if they are somehow at odds with each other, earth can also rot wood. From a meta level, this could represent how Kamiya replaced Sakurai as movie-Kusu's voice actor. Ouch.

We actually see a similar relationship between Hyper and Shingi, in which fire (Hyper) refines/shapes metal (Shingi).

There's an added complexity where Hyper's pupils are uniquely gold/yellow, which may give him an even deeper connection with metal-aligned Shingi because gold technically a metal and 金 also means gold in Chinese. Since they are divine beings, I think it's appropriate they have this level of depth in their relationship.

(Hyper's pupil color can also be interpreted as yellow, which matches earth-aligned movie-Kusu with his yellow irises!)

Another common thread between the two divine beings is that their sclera are both black, which represents water - 水. Water dampens/regulates fire (Hyper) and rusts metal (Shingi).

I believe this represents the represents the exorcism sword's power to confine/limit both Hyper and Shingi's powers until the time comes to unleash them. This is visually symbolized by the black schlera surrounding/containing their colored irises.

Shingi seems to have the shorter end of the stick since metal corrosion is a more potent type of destruction, which may explain his more human-like appearance compared to Hyper's otherworldly one. That...probably doesn't bode well with his upcoming battle with the karakasa.

[moreespressoformydepresso]

Been sitting on this AU for a while and a discord conversation brought it back to my attention (thanks @felixravinstills) so here I am, typing it out on my one free day instead of writing like I should be doing.

The Capitol speaks in Panem's version of "standard" English, while the districts all have dialects that are so different from standard that they may as well be different languages entirely. Now, the districts can understand one another's dialect due to similarities and influences left over from the rebellion days, as well as due to inter-district trading and stories passed down through generations. However, the Capitol views these dialects and the accents they cause when a district citizen speaks standard English as a sign of being "lesser" so they stay as far away from it as possible, so they don't understand a word of it.

Come the 10th games where the mentors are forced to interact with the tributes, this seemingly random factoid about Panem turns into the thing that stops the games for good and brings Gaul's life to ruination. At first, the mentors are very snooty and classist about the tributes' accents, but when they start to care about their tributes it becomes an endearing thing to them. Slightly infantilizing but it's better than dehumanizing so the tributes that notice decide to take it. Now, I could go the depressing route and tell you the mentors try to learn their respective tribute's dialect post-games because it's the only thing they have of their tribute that isn't stained by the games. The stories they shared are nothing but memories, any item they have is sent back to their families. Anything they may have made for them was created with stuff from the zoo where the tributes were forced to stay and humiliated daily in the leadup to their brutal death. But their dialects? That's something the mentors can learn, and it's the only concrete thing they can have of the child that died on their watch that's from before they were forced into these horrifying circumstances. However, I'm gonna make this a fix-it instead :)

Now, this whole situation happens because none of the mentors die during the bombing, which means the Capitol is far less up in a tizzy about rebel activity. It doesn't mean much, but it leaves them just the tiniest bit more open to hearing positive things about the districts. While in the zoo, the tributes talk to each other in dialect because they can understand one another and it feels more like being at home that way. They won't let the Capitol force them into speaking standard when they don't have to and nobody cares if those Capitol pricks can't understand what they're saying. It's a positive, if anything. Some mentors are visiting and when one (probably Arachne because I'm ignoring the stabbing bit) gets prickly about them not speaking "proper" English with a comment about it being "a sign of lesser beings," Brandy responds by snippily asking her which one of them can understand the other either way. "If only one of us can speak both, who's the stupid one again?" Arachne is affronted (though her ego gets out of the way the next day and she realizes Brandy has a point, causing her to try to start over with her tribute by being a little nicer) but the other people present stop immediately to think about that. Especially those who know a lot about language. That whole dialect thing means the tributes know more vocabulary, more grammar than the Capitol citizens. And they have to seperate them too so they're not mixing languages! Clearly they're not that stupid then, so even if they are still lesser beings... Maybe it's worth being a little more nuanced?

Of course it never stays at just a little, in fact it starts spiralling quite uncontrollably. If the district kids are smart enough to essentially speak two languages... What else are they smart enough for? And with the extra scrutiny on the tributes their individual personalities and interests, and even more so their interpersonal dynamics and relationships, become utterly unavoidable. Coral's care for Mizzen despite how game-faced she is in every other facet of the games, Reaper's concern for Dill despite appearing to be the most dangerous amongst the tributes, Bobbin's anger that only seems to be gone entirely when it comes to Wovey, Treech and Lamina's complicated road of trying to figure out where they stand with each other when they clearly both know they'll have to leave one another eventually and the way it so obviously eats at them both, Marcus and Sejanus and whatever it is that's going on between the two of them. As all of this starts gaining traction in the Capitol, it becomes harder and harder for Gaul to keep up her narrative of "undressing humanity" and the districts deserving this. Especially when her biggest supporter, the president himself, ends up paying a visit to the zoo at Felix's insistence and sees first-hand the way these kids interact with one another as well as the visitors in the zoo. Their obvious disdain for their situation and those who came to oggle at them while they're literally being treated like animals, but also their small soft spots for the kids who don't know any better. The way they can't quite bring themselves to be mean to small children, even when those children see them as dumb animals put there for their entertainment.

President Maximinius Ravinstill is not a kind man. Nor is he a gentle, merciful one. He's cold and he's vicious. President Maximinius Ravinstill is a cruel man. But at the end of the day, he's just that. A man. One who has a son himself, though he's not been the best father he could have been. And while at first he'd thought he'd stay for five minutes to satisfy Felix and go back to his life again unaffected... Maximinius stays for hours, noticed only by those from the Capitol. Entirely unnoticed by the kids, though they watch him with curiosity at first due to the reactions of everyone outside the cage upon his initial arrival. Most of them don't even know who he is, and not a single one of them cares. That's how little they've been allowed to know of the outside world, and that's how little they care for the Capitol. All any of them are to these kids is the cause of their misery, and President Ravinstill may be a cold dictator, but Maximinius is a father who can only see his young son, hurt and bleeding and starving, in the faces of these young children. Especially in young Mizzen, whose face lacks the youthful chub it should have due to lack of nutrition the same way his son's had all those years ago. In Otto and Treech, who are of similar age and share just enough features with Felix to be discomforting, despite the district characteristics that had let Maximinius and everybody else in the Capitol write them off as "other" for a decade now. Long before that too, if he's honest with himself.

And President Ravinstill shouldn't care, but Maximinius can't help himself. For so long he's allowed differing physical appearances and a lack of education he himself reinforced to let him believe these kids were somehow lesser, but now that he's seen the parallels and the similarities he can't unsee them. And Maximinius is just a man, with the emotions of one and a heart that beats no matter how cold he's allowed it to become over the years. Part of him wants to go back to delusion, to ignorance and cruelty, but his heart won't let him. It aches and screams for him to do something because he knows he can. If anyone can it's him, and he'll never go back to the way he used to be before this realization. Since he already knows what Gaul will tell him, he talks to Dean Highbottom, the creator of the games, in hopes of solving this dilemma. It becomes the final straw that pushes him to accept the truth: he'll never truly live again if he allows this to continue, so he doesn't. He puts a stop to Gaul's machinations and ends the games right them and there.

Naturally, the situation in the districts also improves due to this shift in perspective, though it's a far slower and less sudden change. The tributes are finally given medical care, which saves Otto, Ginnee, Panlo and Sheaf from death. They all have to stay in hospital or under close supervision for about a month due to the drastic impact staying in a zoo enclosure, with no protection from nature while not being properly fed, has had on their health. When they're let out of hospital but deemed too unstable to travel they get to stay with their mentors. Of course, once they're finally deemed healthy enough to go home they're positively ecstatic but sad enough about leaving their mentors that they find ways to stay in contact and offer to show them around their home district at some point in the future, which the mentors of course happily agree to.

[call-me-strega]

Ghost Selkie AU Tidbit: Abuela Soliña

I’m still playing with my Ghost Selkie Au, tossing it around like a cat toy trying to decide if and how to write it and one figure that I’ve kinda developed a backstory for is Abuela Soliña. Now said backstory may never see the light of day in the the main story so I thought this’d be a fun tidbit to throw out while I’m still considering the main story overall.

Okay so my inspo for Abuela Soliña, or Señora Mariana Soliña, actually came from a couple of different sources. I took some of the general headcanon from the DCU; Crime Alley has a large population of people of color, specifically Hispanic in the area Jason lived; that Jason has Hispanic heritage; that some of the older women in the alley occasionally feed street kids; and took them to create a person that would be a maternal figure for Jason bc I’m all for giving him Good Adult Influences.

She functions a bit as a plot device taking up the role of Jason’s magical mentor and helps move the story along. However, I wanted to give her more depth so I based her off an actual figure in Spanish history. Once I had decided a witch was the best magical figure to live in Gotham and guide Jason I actually did a bit of research on famous Brujas in folklore and came across María Soliña/Soliño a famous witch from Galicia who inspired the women of her village to fend off Ottoman raiders and survived the Spanish Inquisition without being burned at the stake. She was the main inspiration and namesake of Abuela Mariana Soliña. She did have children, though not much is known about them, so I wanted it to be implied that Mariana was a descendant of María. I wanna say I’m placing her around age 50 when she first met Jason and 65-ish(?) when he returned to Gotham.

Anyways, like I said I didn’t want her to remain a plot device and actually have depth so I kinda started building a backstory for her. Her grandparents or parents were likely immigrants who moved to Gotham from Galicia, Spain back when the city was younger. Back then the different magical communities were a bit more segregated. Vampires stayed clans with vamp doctors and leaders, gargoyles in their own community, fae in their courts, etc., but she did let that stop her. She was always deeply involved in the inter-magical community and was a central figure due to her interest in learning other supernatural cultures of the city.

She eventually grew up to be a full-fledged bruja who sold her magical remedies, charms, potions, etc to any supernatural being willing to pay her. This actually helped her amass a large amount of wealth quickly, especially when her charms, totems, and remedies caught the eyes of superstitious crime bosses across the city. She always insisted to cover her face with a shawl to protect her anonymity and had several mob bosses sign magical contracts agreeing to protect her and her rights to do business thus making her virtually untouchable in the Alley.

I wanted her to be a very strong influence on Jason. She is very strong, sassy, confident, clever, and street smart and taught Jason some of those traits. She actually meets Jason through Catherine. Mariana had many close friends with children though she herself never married. Catherine was actually the daughter of one of her close friends and Mariana was like an aunt to her. When her friend died and Catherine was left on the streets Mariana did what she could but her fear and unreadiness for motherhood held her back.

Catherine was taken in by her uncle’s family and the two were estranged for a time. In that time she falls into addiction due to her uncles on involvement in drug running as well as bad peer influences. She reunites with her Tía Mariana when she marries Willis and reaches out to invite her to the wedding. Even though they are no longer very close, after Catherine becomes pregnant Mariana offers to help out when she can. She lives in a different (read: magical) part of the Alley so she only sees Jason occasionally but makes a point to feed him, and when he discovers her secret, to teach him some basics of the supernatural world to help him get by.

After Catherine’s death Abuela Soliña is distraught. She offers Jason a hot meal and some money she had set aside (Catherine’s old college fund she never got a chance to use) but hesitated to offer a place in her home so soon after the loss. Jason sees her grief and hesitation, mistakenly assuming it’s unwillingness to deal with him full time and runs off. She tries to invite him back a couple of times but he mistakes it as one off events and remains a street kid until Bruce adopts him.

He still occasionally goes back to the Alley to visit her after that, usually as Robin. The first time he went to let her know he was okay she immediately clocked him as Jason but wished him well with Bruce. When he visits she still feeds him and gives him luck and protection charms to help with crime fighting. (Side Note: on one of his visits Jason finds out the Alfred and Mariana know each other and Have Met Before™️. Neither explains how or why)

When Jason dies Mariana grieves him deeply. When he comes back as a revenant she is both relieved and guilty. She’s happy to have the boy back but a revenant’s existence is not a peaceful one. When he searches her up and comes to see her he looks like he’s survived hell and back and he probably has. He seek out her guidance and help and this time Abuela Soliña is more than willing to pass on her vast wealth of knowledge of the supernatural community and its cultures to Jason.

One of the biggest two regrets Mariana holds with her is not adopting Catherine or Jason when they were at their lowest and she had the chance. That’s why as Jason’s rage cools and he begins looking to return to a (semi-)normal life she offers to adopt him as her grandson for real this time. She has a friend who owes her a favor and can fabricate the paper work to turn Jason Peter Todd into Jason “Pedro” Solina (and his mother posthumously Catherine Soliña-Todd). She offers to officially make him her little witchling and he emotionally accepts.

Mariana is still an active and well-known figure in Gotham’s underworld and supernatural community so having her backing gives Red Hood a lot of pull and credibility. Plus his revenant titles increase his claim to fame in the magical community. Red Hood is well loved and “Pedro” is well accepted with in the community. He’s kind of a public figure, bordering minor celebrity due to his connection to famous Bruja and witch doctor, Mariana Soliña. Not that he is aware of that fact.

Lastly I’m gonna tack on some nicknames Jason receives pertaining to his connection with Señora Soliña:

Soliña’s boy (el chico de Soliña)

Little witchling

Pequeño niño brujo or pequeño brujo (little witch boy)

Young brujo

El neito guapo (the handsome grandson)

Alborotador (troublemaker)

Heredero (heir/inheritor, referring to Mariana’s kowledge, wealth, and position in the community)

(P.S I tried my hand at drawing what I think Abuela Soliña would look like but I’m not super confident in it. I think I’m a better writer than drawer, but if you guys actually wanna see the drawing anyway let me know and I’ll make another post with it)

[mako-designated-driver]

Codex Entry #25: Exhuming Bodies by Moonlight

My tenure as ambassador to the Nevarran court began, appropriately enough, with a death. I arrived to find my predecessor and intended mentor, Sifas Carrenter, had died in his sleep. Not unexpected, given his age. Instead of a cremation, the Mortalitasi were summoned for him, those grey-robed mages who seem to be everywhere in the palace.

I was warned of the Mortalitasi in Starkhaven. Some cautioned me about their political prowess, learned from sitting at the king's feet for generations. Others talked about the Mortalitasi like they were ghoulish surgeons in leather aprons, exhuming bodies by moonlight in their Grand Necropolis.

The Mortalitasi who spoke to me was a polite, tawny-haired woman who smelled strongly of soap. She explained that Carrenter had earned the honor of being preserved and interred in the Necropolis. It seems a barbaric practice, but I knew that demanding a cremation would have made me—and, more importantly, Starkhaven—lose face in Nevarra.

Instead, my thanks seemed to please her. She described some of their rites. Though she wouldn't speak of the greater mysteries, even a glimpse into their arts put my hair on end. But I held my peace. The Mortalitasi are linked to the throne by blood. If I die in my office, like Carrenter, my body will be in their hands. In a land where death and politics are intertwined, one should be polite.

—Galen Vedas, Starkhaven ambassador to Nevarra, 9:6 Dragon

[redux-iterum]

My mom adopted me and five other kids and like the attitude Warriors and people in general has for adoption is WILD. Like, thank you so much for yeeting that bit of lore out the window.

And especially in a series where death is so common, you would think cats get adopted all the time - out of necessity, if nothing else. A queen could die at any time, or be abusive, or just reject her kits for whatever reason. That's nothing to say of mentors and apprentices getting close enough to consider each other family. Hell, a senior warrior could just adopt a new warrior or older apprentice because the two have an inter-generational bond. It should be extremely commonplace.

Now, I could accept this attitude if there was a point to it. If it was intentionally set up as a bad thing the Clans believe, and was examined or critiqued, that would be fine. Societies and cultures are always going to have problematic features no matter how nice they are, there's no getting away from that. But it doesn't seem like it's got a point. It seems to exist solely for drama and tragedy. The only "adoption" I can think of that was painted as a good thing was Yellowfang and Fireheart, and even then that's not official or really talked about at length outside of scattered mentions in a few books. It's weird.

[cozza-frenzy]

So that post about how adults are allowed to interact with minors is circulating again. The one that emphasizes inter-generational friendships. That stresses the importance of having friends outside your age group. I like that post. The problem is - the attitudes that post is targeting are getting worse. And I'm sick of staying quiet. | To everyone in the system community who's ostracized us, who's kicked us out, who's continued to spread rumors about us? This one's for you. If this finally kills off the last of our online presence, I hope those of you who've hunted us to the ends of the earth burn with us. Fuck you, and fuck your ass-backwards, mutated discourse. So I imagine you're wondering what it is we did. Well - for daring to interact with minors in any capacity online? For caring about them as if they were our own children? For giving them a space where they'd be able to talk about their problems, be taken seriously, and be able to talk about things in a setting they wouldn't be judged? We've been told, repeatedly, that our actions are harmful and predatory and that adults should never, ever interact with minors for ANY reason. We've been kicked off Discord servers, cut off from our community, and labelled "predators" for daring to try and help children, because we kept running face-first into these unwritten rules that anyone else thinks are utterly insane. Our own therapist praised us, asked us if we'd like to be youth mentors someday. Nobody outside of these fucking echo chambers thinks this way. And even our ex is getting in on this; they've been telling people that we date people who are (in their words) "barely legal". A definition which they've twisted to mean a then-35-year-old dating a then-23-year-old ADULT. And people not only believe them, but they've rallied against us, accusing us of a "power imbalance" that's inherently abusive, and saying we have nothing to complain about when our ex is actively trying to ruin our life. It has been a YEAR since we broke up. We have not had any contact with them. And they have not let this GO. We're being hunted everywhere we turn, and we've had enough of keeping this a secret. We've interacted with people under 18. We've tried to make friends with them. And now people fucking hate us, we can't ever rest, and the overwhelming fear and stress of being found out is giving us panic attacks and fucking seizures. So. If you're in the system community, and you're mindlessly perpetuating this shit? If you think you can dictate who people are allowed to be friends with? Who people are allowed to date? All because you see an age gap, and you can't break that association? Because you're refusing to look at your own trauma triggers when your responses to trauma might be hurting other people? If you're one of the ones who keep putting up these unwritten rules, these barriers to entry, that systems like us are now suffering for? Fuck you. If you believe in any of this shit, unfollow us now. And if our ex is somehow reading this? You are a horrible, cowardly, conniving, abusive son of a bitch, and I can't believe we ever loved you. Never get anyone else involved in your bullshit until you've gotten some fucking help. And while you're at it, stop abusing and belittling alters within your own system like you did with every non-host alter in ours. - Terry of The Magbox

[starleska]

thoughts on Despicable Me 4...🐜✨

i finally got to see Despicable Me 4 today and wanted to share a few thoughts, as it's a series near and dear to my heart (and same for many pals on here 🥰). of course, massive spoilers below!!!

so to start off: DM4 is tremendously charming and funny just like it's predecessors! there's plenty of fun action, an entertaining roster of new characters to enjoy and some very interesting lore-building on the origin of supervillainy in the DM universe. i laughed a lot and generally found it to be a fun little romp!! and of course, y'all know how obsessed i am with the main baddie 🙈💖

that being said, i do feel that DM4 was a little...thematically muddled, in places, with a few aspects falling short of expectations. whilst i adore him, i think this can be felt most with Maxime Le Mal, our fabulous bug-themed villain. although Maxime had a killer entrance and a truly terrifying vendetta against Gru, i was a little deflated to see it revealed to just be a routine high school rivalry...with no particular explanation!! i was left with so many more questions about him and his history: when did his and Gru's rivalry begin, and why? why is Maxime Übelschlecht's favourite student? what's Maxime's background? how did he and Valentina meet, and why did they stay together? can he transform at will, or was he turned back into a human by the AVL?

likewise, Maxime's partner Valentina suffered a great deal more: despite a banging design and a touted history as a femme fatale, Valentina ended up not being much more than Maxime's girlfriend, which was...bizarre, honestly. i kind of felt that they accidentally gave the badass action sequences and lore development which should've gone to Valentina to Principal Übelschlecht...which was odd!! it feels like we were given the tantalising suggestion of all the history at Lycée Pas Bon, but all we got to see was a glimpse at the talent show. which felt like a waste!!! i have a few thoughts on how Valentina could've been made more vital to the story, which i'll expand upon another time 🔥

it's a similar odd unbalanced feeling when it comes to Lucy, Margot, Edith and Agnes...lots of us were interested in seeing how Gru and Lucy having a biological child affected the girls, but it seems to be a non-issue. having the girls and their development be sidelined again so we can explore a different young character wanting to explore villainy (Poppy) seems like such an odd choice to me...as cool as Poppy is, why not just make it one of Gru's kids? it kind of felt like Gru has 'finished' bonding with the girls, so his trying to bond with Gru Junior was prioritised 💔

here's the thing: i think the scenes with Gru and Poppy were incredibly strong, and him mentoring a young villain is a fabulous idea! but why move it from Lycée Pas Bon at all? imagine a version of the movie where one of the girls - or all of them!-is/are accepted at Lycée Pas Bon as a student, and the whole family relocates to support her/them. perhaps Maxime could've stayed on as a villainy teacher, and Poppy could've been an already-enrolled student!! then we could've had that re-emergence of old high school rivalries along with the AVL subplot, Poppy wanting to pull a heist, etc. without Maxime and Valentina needing to spend half their time off-screen hunting for Gru!! 😭💖

weighing all of that up... i really enjoyed Despicable Me 4, but there were lots of places where i think the elements weren't properly blended or expanded upon. it felt like perhaps there were too many things going on at once, and they weren't cooked for quite long enough? but hey, that's alright - it makes the universe a more fun sandbox to play in :3c plus, this movie can't go down in my estimation - not only does it have Maxime Le Mal, but we also got to see all of our old favourite villains!!! (the way i SCREAMED seeing Balthazar again oh my god-!!!)

so yeah!!! really fun movie with plenty of stuff to keep us guessing and coming up with interesting new angles in the fandom :3c i'd love to hear your thoughts!!!

[une-sanz-pluis]

Lancastrian chroniclers located Henry V's motive in his respectful piety toward Richard, his childhood king. "And anon," says one representative summary, "the firste yeer of his regne, for the grete and tendre loue that he hadde to King Richard, he translatid his body from Langley vnto Westmystre, and buried him beside Quene Anne his firste wiff, as his desire was." This is, of course, a radical sentimentalization and oversimplification, both of mourning in its more general aspects and of the particular objectives served by the reburial itself. Mourning has, after all, its aggressive and triumphal elements, and even in its most benign forms it seeks, as one recent commentator observes, "to exorcise [the past] under the guise of respectful commemoration." Once a king's spirit is set down, its dignitas resecured, the business, not of memory, but of forgetfulness can begin. Forgotten is the deposed king as the source of strident and unaccommodated demands. The memory that is tolerated is memory in its most narrowed and functional sense, with the king treated as a figure in a line of willing transmission and restored succession. Kantorowicz anticipates this aspect of the reburial in his suggestion that the king's dignitas must be assgned before it can be reassigned, that, as a quality that cannot be held or enjoyed by two persons at once, it must be firmly linked to the term of one finite life before it can then be assumed by a rightful successor. Henry IV sought unsuccessfully to elide a step in the transfer, effectively loosing Richard's dignitas in the process of prematurely stripping it away and then proving unable to recapture it in his own behalf. With Richard's dignitas now bound in the ceremony of reburial, it became eligible for orderly transfer to a new successor. Supplementing the pomp of the translation, the piety expressed through accommodation of Richard's own wishes, and the propriety of Westminster as the burial site for a relegitimated king was another aspect of proper interment that Henry IV had been unable (or in any event unwilling) to provide: the new king's presence at the interment of the old. Elizabeth A. R. Brown has revealed the importance of the successor's presence in her discussion of the second funeral that eventual successor Philip of Poitiers staged for his brother Louis X of France, after having been unable to attend the obsequies accompanying his burial a month before. As sponsor of Richard's reburial, Henry V was able to display himself in a role unavailable to his own usurping father, that of rightful successor. Henry V's capture of the symbolism of rightful succession required, however, an active suppression. Absent from the ceremony, and in fact doubly absent in his Canterbury grave, was Henry V's natural (but dynastically illegitimate) father Henry IV; in his place was Henry V's chosen (and dynastically legitimate) father Richard, to whose paternity he was about to lay symbolic claim. The paradox is as intriguing as it is obvious: the symbolic strategy that Henry V was so brilliantly to adopt would disavow the actual basis of his claim to the throne, through his natural but usurping father, and assert a fictitious claim, through his adoption of Richard II as his true spiritual mentor.

Paul Strohm, "The Trouble with Richard: The Reburial of Richard II and Lancastrian Symbolic Strategy", Speculum, Vol. 71, No. 1 (1996)

[brw]

I know you've gotten a lot of asks about Hank and Simon lately but how do you think Simon reacts to all of the X bullshit.

Likeeee is he aware? Or does Hank randomly trauma dump; "that reminds me of the time my mentors opp (his ex boyfriend) ripped out my friend's bones." Or like "yeah so like we were gonna die in the future but Scott's kid with his wife's clone who was sent to the future came back and warned us"

How do you think Simon reacts to what is basically his crazy inlaw drama.

Simon has definitely heard a lot of horror stories down the superhero grapevine. While Simon has never spent a major chunk of time with the X-Men off his own back, we have to remember who the people he's closest to are; Hank McCoy, obviously, but Wanda Maximoff, also, whom he defended intensely and purposefully during the Children's Crusade mess, and Carol Danvers, who obviously has her own important links to the X-Men.

Anyway I definitely see Hank sort of just... unloading every once in a while in the form of a super long text message or voice app note or just a rant whenever they do meet up. We see it in Uncanny Avengers V3 #28, we see it in A+X #12, and Simon to his credit does try to call Hank out on his shit when necessary; either when he's not taking enough blame for his actions, or taking too much. But yeah, through the whole mess of recent events, the X-Men's treatment of Wanda, and the often tense inter-team relations have probably given him a very... critical view on the X-Men, I imagine. I mean, if he's been a part of the Avengers for 50 odd years and was critical enough of them to push Avengers Tower into the ocean he's definitely going to have a bit of a bone to pick with the X-Men, but probably mostly keeps this to himself in the spirit of inter-team relations.

Simon was also there for the m-word speech so he definitely has an unflattering image of the X-Men, shall we say. He's generally conflict adverse outside of 80s and Revenger characterisation, so he wouldn't bring it up, but you can definitely sense some bubbling frustration in that A+X issue. Not necessarily with the X-Men specifically, but a lot of the flaws present in the Avengers are very much there with the X-Men so he's going to be critical of both. Speaking of, it'll be interesting to see how he fits in that new Avengers series, because it's the first time he's actively been on a superhero team since 2017.

Anyway, Simon lowkey doesn't like the X-Men for all the mistreatment of Hank and Wanda but mostly keeps this to himself but he will (or should be, if Percy had a more better grasp on him) definitely be a bit bitchy around them. Especially Magneto I'd imagine, and Xavier and Scott too.

[the-ellia-west]

What are some inter character interactions/relationships that you think are really interesting or cool and why?

Uhhhh...

Hm

I love domestic fluff, I am a SUCKER for heat of the moment kiss scenes, but hints of anything sexual before marriage are a major 'WHY' moment for me unless it's framed as a bad thing

I LOVE flirting and banter

I also love heated arguments, mentors verbally a using their students to make them mad so they can properly learn, rude mentor student relationships in general

That 'are you okay?' Moment between friends, an 'I thought I lost you' hug, Friendly teasing, friends helping each other and playing off of one another's strengths

Idk

All of that :]

[petervintonjr]

This Decoration Day/Memorial Day we examine the remarkable life and career of Benjamin O. Davis Sr., the first Black man to attain the rank of General in the U.S. Army. Born in Washington, D.C. in either 1877 (his assertion when he enlisted) or 1880 (the more likely date), Davis attended the famed M Street/Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, where he excelled academically, enough to be able to attend classes at Howard University during his senior year. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1898 and almost immediately saw action in what would later be known as the Spanish-American War, as part of the 8th United States Volunteer Infantry (an all-Black regiment).

After the war the 8th Infantry disbanded and Davis joined the 10th Cavalry (aka, the Buffalo Soldiers), and rose to the rank of Sergeant Major. One of Davis's mentors at the time was Col. Charles Young, himself one of West Point's first Black graduates and the first-ever Black man to reach the rank of Colonel (and almost certainly the topic of a future lesson in this series). With Young's recommendation, in 1901 Davis received a field officer's commission and became a Second Lieutenant. Over the course of the next few decades he served in a number of distinguished positions, to include teaching roles at Wilberforce University and also Tuskegee (for the duration of World War I). He married Elnora Dickerson in 1902, with whom he would raise a son and a daughter. By 1920, while stationed in the Philippines, Davis attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He made full Colonel in 1938, assuming command of the 369th Regiment (the "Harlem Hellfighters"), and in 1940 was appointed to the rank of Brigadier General.

By the time World War II was underway, Davis was nearly into his sixties when he was at last promoted to the rank of General. While he was stationed in Europe, he himself saw little action --relegated mostly to an inspection role-- but he made use of his elevated rank to push for desegregation amongst the units. After World War II he was appointed Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army, and in 1948 at last retired from military service in a ceremony presided over by President Truman. General Davis died in 1970 and is interred at Arlington National Cemetery. Significantly,

Davis's son Benjamin O. Davis Jr. would one day himself break barriers by becoming one of the very first Black men to attain the rank of General, in the U.S. Air Force.

[fandomsareforlife]

Ninjago DR Season 2 ep 1 reactions (Spoliers)

Also, note that I wrote this as I watched, so I wouldn't flood people's dashes with posts. Also, didn't comment on everything so just a heads up

I have absolutuely no memory of what happened to Imperium at the end of the last season, so I am watching the beginning with Ras and Jordanna like 'huh. Something happened. Let's hope they recap that later cause I don't remember anything"

I like the internet paradoies. You really can tell the writers are trying to either market towards a younger audience who grew up on social media or they grew up wiht social media

Tik Tok Existing in ninjago in canon is not a thing I realized I needed until now

Nor did I expect the MatPat conspiracty theoriest, who is sponsored by Borg (which implied he is alive)

Sora using her powers to bug Arin, and then reassuring him he is just as important to the team is. Hm

Reminder that people lie on the Internet!

Mr. Frohicky; Such a guy, I love him. Also, big Riyu is so so so cute

I have a feeling Lloyd had fallen asleep in the training course many many times beforehand, and was very confused why one of the OG ninja wasn't waking him up

Kai and Zane friendship my beloved :) I like how they're playing empire is it I believe? Also, just as a little thing, but Kai taking over Cole's job of explaining metaphors/figurative language stuff to Zane and failing cause he isn't used to it is just aaaaa

Also, Zane :) That's it, that's the post

Lloyd first sleepwalking and then pouring the tea into the pot is so in character for him

Zane and Kai telling Lloyd he needs to sleep and then Lloyd passing out immediately after, not even getting to the door is so so so fanfiction

Hmmm Lloyd's dream. I don't know why but the only word i can describe it is 'shiny'. Like it feels to bright for what's supposed to be at night, like it should be more shadowy and stuff with the red as a tint? I don't know how to explain it, but it didn't feel...nightmarish and I can't tell if it works

Yes, Lloyd using spinjitzu after the nightmare. We need more fic of this idea. Also, him going to Wu for advice

The feeling when your older sibling/mentor figure is having a rough time and you have very little idea how to approach the issue

"Aren't I supposed to be the teacher here?"

"Dreams can not hurt you, for they are not real" Wanna tell Zane that?

MASTER WU GHOST?

Hmmm the idea of a language being banned cause the speakers were supposedly evil is generating thoughts

Kreel smiling at Arin talking about the night ghost is so funny

The interent addiction, man, they really are trying to say the interent is bad for you.

"People throwing out perfectly good dragons. Shameful." Not sure why I'm surprised by this but I am

Is this Cinder? I am so mad about them getting rid of Ash

Them actually utilizing smoke is pretty cool, I'll give them that much

Alright, so it is Cinder, and apparently he is voiced by the same guy as Acornix, and I knew his voice sounded familiar

"You threw a party and didn't invite me? I'm offended."

Wow, Lloyd's dream being real. Who would have guessed?

Ras and Jordanna are giving me serious Chen and Skylor vibes for some reason. Maybe it't the hair?

Alright, that's my reactions. Don't know when I'll watch ep 2 so yeah

[moonfeatherblue]

In preparation for WBW next week...

Tell me about what technology is currently changing in your world. What new exciting thing is being developed? 👀

Thank you @amaiguri so much for the lovely ask, and so sorry I'm late.

New technology in my world? Honestly, I'm not on top of that, because Kaz isn't on top of that 😅 His phone is ancient, he barely uses social media or looks at the news. He would be on top of new developments in the automotive space, but he stopped keeping himself well-informed for various reasons.

Keeping quite general, Kaz's city, Seszun, is a metropolis in a near-future Alternative Earth which has been going all-out over the past 30 to 40 years turning itself into a cleaner, greener city - everything is recyclable or renewable. There's air-purifiers clamped to every building, there's carbon recycling facilities, they're reviving natural environments throughout the city, etc. So I'm betting there's some pretty innovative stuff going on in that space.

Kaz's siblings Rin and Su will eventually start getting POV time. Those two are far more tech-inclined than their big brother, so we'll get more of a taste of technology with them (meaning I'll have to think about it more once we're sitting on their shoulders 😅)

Although, if we consider systems of government to be technology of a kind, there's a huge advancement in global politics that we're edging towards in book 1 that will play a role in book 2 - this Alternative Earth is ready to dive into global governance. They're currently in Year 51 Pre-Unification Era. Half a century (and probably at least another half century or more before that just struggling to enter pre-unification) focused on pulling the world together, figuring out levels of governance, laying down safety nets to prevent the loss of culture along with the dissolution of traditional borders... and the few billion other necessary tasks to give this even a chance of success. The two last big holdouts - the two remaining 'world powers' - that haven't hopped on board are set to sign on the dotted line sometime in book 2, which will bring this world into Year 1 of the First Unified Era.

If I remember correctly, space cat mentor comments with some measure of sneer about the Earth not even being centrally governed yet, and Kaz protests that they're working on it. Global governance is a big step towards 'enlightenment' - discovering and beginning diplomatic relations with the rest of the living universe.

If we're looking at technology from space cat mentor's home, the Spectrum Alliance, Kaz knows even less about that. But they are having to make some pretty fast, significant advancements in inter-universal transportation and ultra-long-distance communication to work around a messy rent the BIG BAD tore in space when they escaped their prison realm. Also, the Alliance needs to condense a lot of equipment to send to Earth by small freight (the only transportation still semi-reliable). As in, roomfuls of technology reduced to something pocket-sized. That's taking a while. They don't quite succeed in book 1 - maybe in book 2 Kaz will receive some exciting packages. They're also currently trying to develop a nutrient cake for Kaz to tend to all his superhero magical boy needs. Unfortunately, human bodies are much frailer than that of all the Alliance races - no self-directed evolution or significant standard cybernetic implantations yet. The Alliance nutritionists have to be careful their recipes don't make Kaz's guts explode. In the literal sense.

Thank you again, @amaiguri! Sorry there's nothing hugely exciting here - with any luck, Rin and Su will give me a hand with some more technology world building soon!

[catscratching]

[Yes I am alive. As per usual, life has been taking up more of my attention than I really like, but hey I managed to write a thing that's been living in my head rent-free for months - more details at the end!]

Seda would be the first to say she wasn’t a superstitious person. But at the same time, she had picked up a number of subconscious personal beliefs and rituals through the years that belied that claim.

Fakhri’s mentor had been interred on the outer edge of the city, on a peaceful bluff near the river.  It was a beautiful spot; large stones offered visitors a place to sit in the sunshine, and the rush of the water combined with the lush greenery provided a sense of privacy and connection with the land.

The visits began shortly after Fakhri first took her to the site.  Perhaps it was a sense of duty; she had never met Akbar, but knew he had played a large part in Fakhri’s life after he left the mountains – and thus, she felt she should honor him as a parental figure. True, her upbringing had been unusual, even by miqo'te standards, but she understood the threads that connected generations together and how they played a part in a solid family unit. 

Perhaps it was superstition, and her visits to the graveside were insurance that any lingering spirit was properly honored and placated.  Or perhaps it was simply a desire for the familiar – she had regularly visited the shrine Bocquet had erected for her mother before leaving the Shroud, and her move to Thavnair had been a great deal of upheaval all at once; it would be reasonable for her to grasp at something that had soothed and comforted during the tumultuous transition to young adulthood.

She couldn’t explain her need, and while she never actively attempted to hide her visits from Fakhri, she never brought them up either. The subject was neatly avoided by slipping out in the wee hours after dawn while he slept, or during spare moments when he was otherwise occupied.

It began with an introduction, as all relationships do; there were forms to be followed, after all - just as when visiting the living. Gracious gratitude to the host was shown by brushing dust and lichen off the simple stone marker. Luckily, no weeds needed to be plucked; she had not yet learned to identify the ones that made one itch.

Respect to an elder was kneeling beside the graveside and producing her gifts; only having stories of Akbar to go on, she had to guess on what would be appropriate. A small cone of incense provided the resinous scent of evergreens - an homage to his student, as their common connection was Fakhri. Food and drink was common - on the first visit she provided a carefully peeled orange; the juicy wedges tucked into the skin to protect them from the ground. A a few drops of good whiskey from a flask were dribbled at the base of the stone. Later, she'd consume them herself, but the first samplings belonged to the dead.

And finally, something for the soul. She was never a musician – and trying to be something she wasn’t felt wrong; especially when the one she was honouring was a master musician himself – so she offered conversation instead. 

The first chat, she told the stone who she was, and how she had a connection. It surprised her how easily she fell into the old habit of conversing with someone that wasn't actually there, and how comforting it was, to 'talk' to someone that was more... adulty... than she. (Introspection on how talking out loud to a venerable elder sometimes helped one navigate tricky emotional paths was not something she would consider until much, much later.)

“He’s special,”  She confessed to the air in the early days of her relationship with her viera partner.  “I don’t know what it is, but I feel… less, without him around.”

As time went on and she continued making regular visits, she began telling Akbar more about herself; in her imagination, she envisioned the two of them seated together for a drink – sometimes coffee, sometimes something stronger.   She made a point of telling him all the latest about Fakhri, and any antics Arak had gotten up to since her previous trip. 

As the moons passed, she began to notice small things.  Tiny flowers sprung up beneath where she habitually placed the food offering.   Sometimes she’d catch snatches of laughter or music when the wind changed – always when it would be appropriate to the ‘conversation’ as a response.  It was purely coincidence; she knew that.  But it helped cement the feeling of connection – and foolish as it may have been, she hoped the old man would have approved of her.

It was a crisp morning, midway through the Second Astral Moon when she made her way to her usual spot.  That day’s offerings were a cup of steaming tea and some sort of baked pastry, placed carefully as she settled in, taking a moment to close her eyes and gather herself after her usual greeting.

“We haven’t told anyone yet, but… I’m pregnant.  The baby should arrive in the Sixth Astral Moon - around Fakhri’s Nameday.  Hikmat- the Sahib, that is- says it could be any time between the 10th and 25th—”   

She broke off as the wind rushed around her, teasing at her hair and plucking at her clothing, knocking both tea and pastry over with the strength of its breeze.  Music echoed over the Rise, indistinct voices lifted in song and cheers, drums and other instruments she couldn't pinpoint wove around them in a joyful tapestry of sound.

Seda sat stunned. Never before had any of the random, coincidental 'responses' been this fast, this fierce. Normally it was a sensation of the breeze playing with her hair, or a child's laughter.

Her vision blurred as emotion, ever close to the surface with the changes in hormone levels, overflowed in a rush of gratitude. It felt like Akbar - and the city itself – celebrated their news.   Sure, there was a logical explanation – there always was.  But in that moment she felt embraced, welcomed, and secure with her place in her partner’s world.

And that’s all that mattered.

@gray-morality

[Footnotes: Okay I said I'd have more at the end -- I've had this scene rattling around in my head since October. Obviously not the announcement part - but something sweet where she's trying to connect with Fakhri's past.

For the announcement, we've known since February, and let me tell you, that's been a challenging secret to keep! Seda and Fakhri have not yet told anyone (save Hikmat) ICly; I think Seda's afraid of what the grannies of the Meyhane would try and feed her -- They know, of course. The older generation always does.

I took a great deal of liberties with Akbar's spirit and internment, so any 'ghostly' interactions could very well be the result of fancy and wishful thinking - they should not be reliably thought of as anything save interesting coincidence. :) -- And I dug through old chat logs for his name, so that may be incorrect as well. :3 ]