#its a similar situation to my original story but different reasons

[abysswalkersknight]

To help explore the characteristics of a character in one of my original stories, I've been thinking of doing a longer fic with an AU where Silver is a living puppet found abandoned in the same castle as canon, he's found by Sebek who hid in the box Silver was in for yet unknown reasons. long story short Silver is unaware of all the time thats past because the last thing he remembered was that the castle was under attack and his father/creator locked him somewhere secret so Sebek helps him find "father" where lots of fluff, comedy and angst happens.

[i-heart-hxh]

Hey! This is purely me and my morbid curiosity asking, but you mentioned you buy in to the pregnancy stone oops baby Gon origin story more than an actual mother. Can you elaborate, even if it falls with what others may have already brought up? I'd love to get your take! (also, I sent a review of your chapter 4 hxhbb fic, but I think it might've been eaten!)

Hi!

So, I do buy into it, somewhat! I think, for the time being, it's the best theory we have on Gon's parentage. There are a few interesting details related to it.

First off, Togashi included this woman with Ging in some of his early HxH concept drawings, from November 1997:

People have speculated that the woman next to Ging might be Gon's mother, however there isn't actually conclusive evidence of this--it's just a theory. It could also be an early design concept for Mito, Menchi, or one of the other female characters from the series, as the drawing isn't labeled with a name or description like some of the others. Or, she could be a scrapped concept even if she was intended at the time to be Gon's mother, as clearly this isn't finalized in any way.

You can read about this drawing a bit more here!

However, of course within the series itself we have no info on who Gon's mother might be, and Togashi did bother to include the Pregnancy Stone card:

Now, an interesting connection with this is that Togashi is known to have read the BL manga Patalliro!, as he based Hiei's hair off one of the characters, Scunky:

(From a doujinshi Togashi released, Yoshirin de Pon!)

There is also an unconfirmed but very reasonable theory that Killua may have been based in part of the character Maraich from Patalliro!, as the basis of both characters is similar and we know for a fact from the above image Togashi has read Patalliro!.

Now, how does this connect to the Pregnancy Stone theory? Well, Patalliro! also has mpreg as part of its storyline (with biologically male Maraich getting pregnant twice through unexplained means, with one of these pregnancies leading to a son), and considering Togashi may have used other elements from Patalliro! as inspiration... You can see where I'm going with this. I do think it's interesting he put the Pregnancy Stone card in the series to begin with, and there's also the Panda Maid card ("excellent at taking care of human children"), and Ging has used a panda plush as a substitute for himself in the Election arc. Coincidence? Hmmm...

Image taken from this post, explaining more about the Pregnancy Stone theory.

My personal feelings now that I've laid all this info out are basically... I've talked a lot about how intentional Togashi's storytelling is and how much attention he pays to things, so I think he planted this knowing people would consider it a possibility, at the very least. We don't have any other theories about Gon's mom that have this much to go off of. It's possible he will reveal more info eventually and either make this more likely or explain Gon's origin in some other, totally different way, but for now I think this is compelling--there are enough pieces that it is a legitimate possibility.

I'm not someone who is interested in mpreg (or any kind of preg, for that matter, LOL), so I don't spend a lot of time thinking about this whole situation or the mechanics behind it, but I do think it would be pretty hilarious if this does canonically end up being Gon's origin story after all. Just such a wild way for Gon to come into existence. It'll be interesting to see if we ever get answers with regards to who/where Gon came from, whether it's by Pregnancy Stone or not.

It's a fun topic because it seems so goofy and farfetched initially, but the more you look at it, the more it's like, "Actually..." 🤔

(And thanks again for the review, my apologies that it took me a while to reply!)

[historianofgalar]

With Typhlosion trending, I think it's time to bring up the, "Humans and pokemon were one in the same," and the implications that humans uses to breed with pokemon. Please do not worry, this post is as SFW as it can be, but I do apologize for some other stuff that mighr be brought into it. I'm just discussing the origins of where these ideas came from.

"Did people mary pokemon?"

Yes, and while I'm sure there are some... different cases, most of the marriage worked differently than human marriages. The marriage itself was about the union; not the romance or the children that were expected of from marriage at the time. I explained it in this post, but the Diamond and Pearl clans of Sinnoh would "mary" their lord or lady pokemon, not in a romantic sense, but in a union sense. The wardens would still be allowed to have relations with or marry humans. Even outside of the clans, there were some instances of people marrying their pokemon to show a union between them that wasn't romantic.

In modern day, marrying your pokemon partner is considered taboo due to the modern ideas of marriage focusing on the romantic aspect of it only. Modern-day members of the Diamond and Pearl clans will still sometimes have the practices of weddings with their lord or lady pokemon, even if they are not legally married. It's important to know that, if you're meeting a warden who is married to their lord or lady, that they are bonded in marriage, but not in the way that modern society sees marriage.

The clans have always seemed to view pokemon as one of them. There are instances of people calling their partner pokemon their brothers, sisters, parents, or children. While I do not originate from these clans, I do follow a similar belief. I have been partners with my Dragapult, Aosmhor, since I was 10 years old, and she feels like a sister to me. I do not use pokeballs on my pokemon (accept for Mallaithe the Runerigus, but that was a catch-or-die situation) because I follow a similar belief that they can be used to control your pokemon. These pokemon feel like family to me, and I do not wish to put them into tiny balls.

"Can humans and pokemon have kids?"

Theoretically? Yes. But not with just any pokemon. It's assumed that humans could potentially make a successful embryo with related species to us, like Oranguru or Gardevoir, but no one (that we know of) has ever tried to make an embryo in a lab or anywhere else. There could've been some potential hybrids in history, but nothing ever fully concrete.

//Don't come at me, I didn't just pull this outta my ass. There was a successful human/chimpanzee embryo in a lab

"Where did the myths of humans having children with pokemon originate?"

One reason is that it was most likely to explain why a pokemon looks the way it does. Typhlosion can be mistaken for human from a faraway distance (same height as a human, very human-like eyes, sometimes walks on 2 legs), and people back then must've thought it was part human/part pokemon. It's also why there are so many myths of Ghost Types once being human; to explain their odd behaviours. While I'm actually a believer that some ghost types were once human (Yamask, Spiritomb), pokemon like Gengar most likely weren't human. But, there are myths of it once being human because it follows humans, hides in human's shadows and, despite its wideness, it is the same height as a small human.

The stories could also just be for entertainment or to teach a lesson. A common theme amongst a lot of folklore is, "don't be tricked by seduction." Since fairytales love their symbolism, they'd often use pokemon such as Foxmon or Humanoid-mon as the symbolism for seduction, since many foxes are able to do magic or are just very sneaky, and some humanoid-mons can be easy to mistake for human women. It's why there's so much folklore of Zoroark turning into beautiful women, Primarina luring men to their deaths, and Kantonian Ninetales luring men into the woods with illusions of beautiful women. It's not literal; it's all a metaphor.

Some do have a grain of truth, though. Zoroark would use their illusions to look like humans, but Hisuian Zoroark rarely did this since they wanted to avoid humans. Primarina have beautiful voices that would enchant any sailor, but since they were still wild Pokemon, the Primarina must've felt threatened or scared by the sailors and would harm them in self defense. Ninetales create illusions from fire, and will sometimes use these illusdions to keep people away. But, they rarely ever do it to keep people in the forest, since they dont like anyone in their territory, and the illusions were often scary. But, for the sake of storytelling snd explaining things they couldnt understand, they would change it.

Then there's Frolass, who will just lure men away and freeze them. That one's real. Beware of Froslass if you're a man or too masculine presenting. Unless you're my kid apparently. Froslass just get confused looking at them...

[ajxrn-archive]

Obviously I know (some) of your thoughts on Childe, but what do you think of the other harbingers?

YIPEE I love the harbingers ‼️ I’ll rant under the cut.. I had a huge obsession with the harbingers a few months back and I still do (in fact my brainrot is coming back so this is a perfect time for you to ask this)

Starting off with Pierro. I find him so interesting as a character because when I was diving into the lore of the harbingers I originally thought that he was number one?? Apparently he’s the director because capitano is no. 1.. I think that’s interesting. So what mainly intrigues me about him is the fact that he’s khaenri’ahn. The Tsaritsa has got to be different from the other Archons because of the fact she literally has a Khaenri’ahn man help run her military. I wonder what their relationship is with each other. Is it anything like dainslumi? I can picture it being that way but more cold, you know? The fact he’s based off the commedia dell’arte stock character Pierro (the fool/jester) is really interesting to me too.. they all have their connections to the characters in one way or another so I wonder what exactly his is.

Now onto Capitano. So far I think he is SO fucking cool he might be one of my favorite harbingers atp. Design wise it’s definitely a favorite but also the fact that he has so many similarities to Kaeya? If hyv were to make him related in some way to kaeya that would be so funny to me.. a lot of people do the pierro is kaeya’s dad thing but honesty I think Capitano would be a cooler connection lowkey? Also generally the ragbros situation would be 10x worse if kaeya was related to the fatui in some way, no matter which one it is. Anyways back on capitano, I’m mostly interested to see how his motives lay out and what his relationship with Mavuika is. The fight seen with him and her was so neat like the way they laid it out was so.. idk. I have a thing for fire/ice character relationships (not in a romantic way.) also what interests me even more about him is that The Captain in the commedia dell’arte is described as a ‘braggart’ type of person, so I’m wondering if he would use his ability to “convince people who knew nothing about him beforehand” to try and manipulate people in Natlan to revolt against Mavuika for the current issues and whatnot.

like I wonder how this'll play into his character in game/story wise. I hope he'll be playable sniff sniff.. Anyways, now onto this fucker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dottore is one of my favorite harbingers. I am an avid Dottore enjoyer. He’s cunning and genuinely awful and there’s no redeeming his ass he’s going straight to hell 🙏 and that’s what makes him such a GOOD character. He genuinely has zero redeeming qualities about him. He literally uses people and children for his experiments without second thought. He has clones of himself. He possibly killed his girlfriend in his school days. (If the zandik lore is right.) He was literally expelled from the Akademiya because of how awful he was.

I cannot fathom how amazing of a character he is. I think in games we need to have more characters who are just genuinely fucking evil and we don’t just “hate” them for it. I honestly dislike how people hate him JUST because he did bad shit, like have a better reason than that tbh? "He hurt collei/He's the reason crepus died/he gave scara so much trauma" I LOVE ALL THREE OF THOSE GUYS AND DOTTORE</3 Don't hate one character only to love the next. anyways dottore supremacy..

Anywho, onto Columbina. Honestly she intrigues me so much. She's so powerful that not even childe wants to fight her, what is up with that??? I think its also interesting how in the commedia dell'arte her title is technically Little Dove but it’s Damselette in the game. we like,, do not know much about her at all to be honest?? The harbingers voice lines about her interest me so much, especially arle's. It's very. vague??

Arlecchino: "She is a very special Harbinger. Pose her a question, and the answer you receive will be entirely unpredictable, if she sees fit to give a proper answer at all. Regardless, any answer you do receive is sure to be an interesting one."

Childe: "The Fatui Harbingers are ranked by strength, and I have no idea why that girl is No. 3. I'd test my skills with every Harbinger who ranks above me if I had the chance, but when it comes to her... something just doesn't feel right. Anyway, you should be careful around her."

Scara/Wanderer: "Let me ask: what should you do if you were to encounter a "damsel" who is oblivious and innocent at any given time, and unconcerned and unfeeling in any given situation? If it were me, I could at least challenge her to a fight. But if it were you... with your conscience, I would stay away from her."

Judging by voice lines alone, columbina is very, very powerful. she seems to beat around the bush with questions (arles voiceline) and is very mysterious even with the other harbingers. (childe saying something doesn't feel right) I've seen theories that she belongs to the seele race which is honestly pretty cool, but I think i'd need to see her in game or hear more about her first. I'd assume that Arlecchino has a rather close/interesting relationship with columbina. Not purely because of the fact they do in the commedia dell'arte, but because she was the only one out of the three to not tell the traveler to be careful around/stay away from columbina.

Arlecchino herself is a really well written character to me and I notice that a lot of the fandom don't understand her entirely (myself included.) Something i notice the most is how people tend to dumb her down to the Father of the house of the hearth, either portraying her as a wonderful parent (incorrect) or as an awful one (also incorrect.) She's definitely a highly flawed person who does put her children in danger, although she absolutely cares about the children of the hearth. I wouldn't say she's a child abuser/groomer/any other stupid shit the fandom says about her. Her wiki quite literally says that she's flawed but not as awful as Crucabena:

Her (possibly?) being khaenri'ahn is also so interesting because WHY does the tsaritsa keep having connections with khaenri'ah in her military of all things. I have so many questions.

We do not know much about pulcinella at all but I do find it SO intruiging/interesting (can someone give me another word for this HELP) that he's close to childe. he visits childes family for him, iirc, which is suspicious when you read the commedia dell'arte lore.

I do think he's doing this for self gain to be honest. He's a manipulative person, so he could be manipulating childe into relaxing around him to the point of letting pulcinella get near his family, which could end really badly to be honest.

Next up is scaramouche. I feel like the scara stans themselves don't even understand his character that much, because they're too busy yelling at people about raiden/dottore instead of focusing on his character itself. I think he's a LOT more than mommy issues short boy and actually his character is really deep. His name in the commedia dell'arte is also Little Skirmisher (instead of balladeer, though I'm not too sure what that means) and what's most interesting to me about his commedia dell'arte connection is how (IIRC, this could be wrong but i found this out last time i was talking about the harbingers and the commedia dell'arte) scaramouche's "mask" was later removed, which him being removed from irminsul could be a nod to that.

What's also a neat nod to the commedia is how scara "influences the audience to do his bidding." I think in game they referenced this by him influencing/controlling that one woman in sumeru (i forget her name) to be his first follower and do as he says.

Okay so truthfully i don't have many thoughts on sandrone but something that makes me curious about her backstory is the fact that in the commedia she is known as "Peasant.” what else is neat with this is that she looks like that one girl from Fontaine (Mary-Ann) I don’t really know/remember the the lore of her but hm.

What’s even weirder abt the similarities is that Marionette (her title) means Little Mary IIRC? I don’t think she IS Mary Ann since she’s dead but she could have connections to her. Anyway I don’t have many thoughts on her ngl.. </3 genshin give us sandrone lore PLEASEEEE

Next up is my fucking WIFE ‼️‼️ (la signora)

everyone who hates her sucks lowkey she’s such an overlooked character like her lore is so fucking?? sad?? Everyone reduces her to “haha ashes” and it annoys me tbh. Her boss fight was a pain in the fucking ass though ROSALYNE WHY.. it took me 20+ tries

I genuinely love her backstory it makes me so sad honestly. Through her grief and rage she became feared and hated. Idk I wish people would talk about her a little more?? Because she’s so interesting?? She has ties to ancient mondstadt isn’t that sick.

something that interests me the most about her character is how they made her somewhat different from La Signora in commedia dell’arte? She’s continually described as a woman who often cheats on her husband in the commedia, but when you read genshin Signora’s backstory it’s interesting to see how it’s mostly focused around how her loss of her lover threw her into a grief induced rage (basically, it’s centered around her grief and love)

as for her similarities, these two images explain it well:

Honestly I wish we had got to explore her character more than the information we have now. Genshin is so evil for killing her off tbh.

Pantalone I know like NOTHING about. I think he’s a really neat character. A lot of people dumb him down to “evil baizhu” but I do think he has a lot of potential to be a really good character

Basically he’s a capitalist ‼️ kidding but for him, he seems so far to be REALLY similar to Pantalone in the Commedia. I dont have too many thoughts on him either because we don’t know much about him yet </3 pantalone lore when….

and you already know most of my thoughts on Childe so I will save the rant for another day because that would get me fired up (I am losing words this rant sucked the life out of me HELP)

oh wait another thing that is neat about the harbingers entirely is how the trailer for them was called a Winter Night’s Lazzo (I think) but that’s another reference to the commedia dell’arte :)

[moonfromearth]

On Repeat - an oc tag by @elderwisp

"rules are pretty simple, pick as many (or as little) oc's as you'd like and find a song that you relate to them the most! feel free to mention why too! o and tag some more ppl too! that would be cool!"

I may have gone a little overboard 😅 To be honest this tag came around at just the right time! I'd just gotten a new song association and have been working on schoolwork so much that I really needed to do something creative 😆

Originally these were all going to be in similar editing styles (more like Corey's) but somewhere along the way that stopped because I had different ideas that I really wanted to do. Also I cheated a little and a few got more than one song... 🤫

I'm really proud with all of these in the end, and if you want to read more about the stories behind them you can check below the cut! ❤️

I know I'm pretty late to the party now buuut I'll tag: @igglemouse @swiftviolets @stargazer-sims @auspexsims and @seniorpollinationtechnician. Feel free to ignore though if you've already done it/don't want to! 😁

[deep dive under cut!]

COREY ALTMAN

"Holiday" - Green Day:

This song being here is random song association at its finest. The trail pretty much goes "Holiday" by Green Day > Surf's Up > Beach Vibes > Sulani > Globetrotter Challenge > Corey Song. If that makes sense... 😂 Pretty much, you can blame the Sulani round of the Globetrotter Challenge for it, plus the fact that I feel like it's the type of song/genre Corey would use in his own music.

"Catch Me If You Can" - Set It Off:

Now, it would be a crime to talk about songs and Corey without a song by Set It Off. Corey was created when I was listening to their songs a lot, and it definitely rubbed off on him. From his aesthetic to the songs I imagine him playing, a lot of it came from Set It Off. Even his name was derived from the band's lead singer (although changed from Cody to Corey because that's the route my mind took with it idk). So, this song in particular specifically reminds me of Corey for... Honestly probably obvious reasons 😆 "Catch Me If You Can" was pretty much the theme of his Globetrotter Challenge, where he was constantly moving on the run from the law. A line I really like though for him is the part that says, "I only feel at home when I'm on the run," because I feel like that leads into the deeper aspects of Corey. He really isn't at home anywhere, he's always on the move, even when he's not evading capture anymore. There's a certain non-permanence to everything he does. Something funny about the image itself is that it originally wasn't going to be edited to look like the back cover of a CD. When I took the picture of Corey with the guitar I kind of thought "this looks like the back cover of a CD" and when editing I just needed a way to fill the space at the bottom and it turned into a CD back cover edit 🤣 It actually kind of fits though since both of these songs are the sound I associate with Corey's own music so it worked out in the end.

LIZZY ALTMAN

"Unopened Windows" - Set It Off:

So this one is the context behind this post lol. It's been like two years since I started working on this plotline I have to finish it eventually 😆 Anyway, Lizzy's been teased in many tag games so far, but without a name or much information (note: and this name's not final I'm not sure yet). Here you can probably guess based on the song choice how her story goes 😅 Going back to the epilogue of the Globetrotter Challenge, we see that something is going on, and it leads to Lizzy and her dad being separated. So, the entire song lyrically I really felt spoke to them and their situation (more in a future gameplay 😉). Bonus points for it being a Set It Off song, who I associate with Corey, and thought music could have been something that they bonded over and enjoyed together. I have a few things to say about the image itself because it was a struggle but I looooove how it turned out! It turned out essentially how I imagined it with Lizzy playing guitar in the foreground with a sort of memory of her time with her dad in the background. I probably had about five or six different poses that I put in the background because I couldn't decide which one I liked the best 😆 This was the last image I had to work on out of the four, and I was having trouble with how I wanted the song title to look. While I was browsing for overlays and stuff I came across a lot of cutout style poems and ended up adding in some of the lyrics because I thought it would help explain the concept behind the image. In the end this one is one of my favorites which is unbelievable considering how much I thought it was not going to turn out like I imagined 🥰

*UNNAMED*

(Sorry I don't have a name for her yet and don't want to commit to a temporary one 😭)

"Little Chaos" - Orla Gartland:

In a wonderfully serendipitous coincidence, this was the song association I was very into when getting tagged, and was already planning what became this edit! I rarely have song associations for sims/sims stories (despite how many ended up coming together here) so that's why I'll never get over how well timed this all was (thanks again elderwisp!!) On to the song, it has to do with my upcoming gameplay story centered around the For Rent game pack, and starring the pictured sim (who doesn't have a name yet sorry! 😅). She's going through a bit of a tough time where she's very lost and I thought the lines, "And it's a good day for a meltdown. All my thoughts getting too loud," fit really where she's at, especially at the start. Plus, the vibes are perfect. The image itself was inspired by the song's MV and one part in particular, but it looks a lot different now (I was limited by the poses I could find because I refuse to sit down and learn to make my own yet). I liked this idea of the torn pages framing the image, especially because it plays into the plot, which sees the main character do a lot of journaling throughout the story. So, the lined paper had to do with that, and it doubled as being good for making the letters stand out, which I wanted to be big and misaligned to be more "chaotic," though I think that could have been done more/better. Aaaaand the background is a picture of Tomarang, where the story takes place. To be honest this will probably be the cover image once I finalize a name and get started on playing it 😉

GHOST COWBOY

(no he also doesn't have a name yet same as above 😆)

"Ferryman" - Schafer James and Will Wood:

I've actually been having a lot of fun with this character since initially creating him back before the Horse Ranch pack came out (more on him coming out in a few days for the outlaw challenge 😉). So this song.... The entire concept of our ghost cowboy is that he, being somewhat half dead and half alive, winds up being a good source of convincing "unwilling souls" to cross over, and works with the character Death to do so in exchange for finding out why he's not entirely dead. I'll explain it better another time, but I also really love this song and just thought that the concept of the ferryman and the ghost cowboy as ferriers of the dead.

"Toss A Coin To Your Witcher (Epic Version)" - Samuel Kim and Black Gryph0n:

Liiiiisten... My family made me watch three seasons of The Witcher I had to get something out of it 😆 I joke a lot that this character gives off Geralt vibes but honestly they are definitely super similar just based on their overall aesthetic and horse companions. I wanted to be special though and chose this epic cover instead of the original... Just for fun 😁 There were some cool piano covers too that almost made the cut. This is probably a good place to talk about the actual image (yay!). I hope the visibility on it isn't too bad because it ended up waaaay more cluttered than I originally intended, plus the mist effect definitely makes it harder to see the characters. I made his (also unnamed) horse a little more transparent to try and give off this ghostly see through effect so I hope that comes through. The font isn't the kind of "wild west wanted sign" font that I wanted, but I think it's close enough lol.

Credits:

Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik

[thaliajoy-blog]

Blue Eye Samurai characters and the four elements - some thoughts I've had since there are four core character in the story.

Ringo seems like Earth - he's sturdy, solid, as much physically (despite his disability) as mentally. He is very much grounded in his beliefs and rather is the one who changes others, like Mizu. He is the character in the story whose character & goals don't change immensely, he remains steady - he wants to be great and useful, and despite differences with Mizu he near constantly stands by her and goes back to her. Also he's a cook & a healer , giving him a nurturing aspect.

Taigen : That's were it gets interesting ! Taigen at first seems like fire. Relative to Mizu he's presented as a violent bully, vicious & destructive, and later a proud man, quick to anger and single-minded. But we do see that he has evolved positive qualities too ; he has a sweet relationship with Akemi & truly cares about her. He develops respect for Mizu. Which to me means he's swapped element ; how he complements Akemi matters in this. But his own desire to cut his way "out of the net" of his poor upbringing and seemingly predetermined future makes him close to the element of air, as in like Akemi, he seeks a form of freedom. Him embracing the kind of lif were Akemi & him run away from her family & his duties/honor together, confirms it to me.

Akemi : originally the one I'd associate to air. She's the most constrained out of the three protagonists,and the one yearning the most for freedom. She's associated directly to a bird in a cage, which she sets free and emulates when he flies away. But like Taigen, she shifts ; they actually swap, as Taigen renounces ambition while she embraces it in from of a burning bulding. What element better associated to power than fire, after all ? She literally is compared to a sun goddess in the series (and that is related to her sexuality and the way she wields it to take control).

Mizu : this seems like the most forward given her name, since it means water ; and to first explore that there are some two similar quotes from both Blue Eye Samurai & Memoirs of a Geisha that convey the vibe pretty well : "being on your own, you could be like water. Impossible to catch" (The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride) // "[My mother] she told me I was like water. Water can carve its way even through stone, and when trapped, water makes a new path..." (Memoirs of a Geisha). Especially that bit about being trapped & carving your way out of that situation. Mizu really feels like she's capable of anything with her blade. She can be anything, like water can take any shape ; like water Can find its way anywere, so does she. They are both flexible, obstinate and resilient. But then, there is the burning in Mizu's heart. How Mizu's inner conflict and désire for revenge is likened both to her most naturel element (a storm in the soul, a typhoon, a breaze at sea swallowed by darkness...) And to fire (the fire in you rages beyond control). She is water but she is raised in a forge, she knows fire & how to use it intimately ; her relationship to fire is not just negative and destructive, there is actually a meaningful aspect of creation & art through fire in her story (the 2d and 7th episode show that well) but of course, she is the reason why the city of Edo burns at the end. She is mixed, made of two clashing elements that rage in her, like her japanese side clashes with her white side.

[lincolndjarin]

Best Kept Secret : What If...?

a series of alternate/unused bks story lines!!

contains spoilers for all of bks!!

alternate torture @ the end

i grappled with this a lot. i very strongly believe that the worst thing you can do with your characters in a high stakes situation is coddle them. if i've learned anything from dnd it's that you cannot be afraid to hurt you characters.

yet for the first time in my life i've become so attached that i just couldn't do it.

the tongue in a box scene was something that caused me a lot of turmoil. in the original cut it was elaine's tongue, but i talked to my friend catie about it and we agreed that cutting off a lesbians tongue is fucked up. then i considered actually cutting off din's tongue, i thought that that would make for something really interesting with the big reveal if he couldn't talk to her but it just seemed too brutal? i couldn't really wrap my head around it so i eventually just made it someone elses tongue.

my replacement for that was din's leg, that was something that sort of came on at the last second, i gave him the limp as foreshadowing and then said fuck it, lets take the whole thing.

dress maker

the scene in chapter 4 where din walks in on her in the bath was originally a much longer sequence where a modiste visited the castle and there was a lot of stuff around making new dresses for her and din was going to walk in while she was getting changed.

eventually i scrapped the entire concept and gave elaine the seamstress trait instead.

multiple parties & balls (masquerade)

i briefly mentioned this in the q&a but in the original bks outline there were a lot more parties and big scenes like that. i realized pretty quickly that balls and parties are a visual medium. the reason why i like those scenes so much in other things is because they're so visually appealing which is harder to do when writing. there was going to be a readers birthday ball, a few other parties or wedding for kodos siblings etc but it always felt like filler.

the masquerade was my dream sequence that just never really fir naturally fit with the story so i eventually had to let it go.

no breakup/rules storyline

there was no break up in the original bks story board. instead, everything after chapter 7 was gonna be based around breaking each and every rule.

each chapter following would have been dedicated to breaking a few of the rules up until the last one that would have been; no falling in love, stop when i say to stop, and no kissing would have all been one big climax chapter. it would have been very little women in the 'we have got to have it out jo' sort of sense where she begs him to stop talking but he just keeps confessing.

eventually i realized that a rule or two break every chapter wasn't very sustainable. it was a fun idea and it might work in a different setting but bks at its core is supposed to be an overly dramatic period piece and there just wasn't enough conflict with that so instead i went with the breakup.

alternative ending

i had a similar ending for quite some time and one day i was listening to music and thinking about bks and realized that she loved naboo. originally they fled after kodo was killed. they built a cabin somewhere far away etc. etc.

but the character seemed to make more sense as someone who would want to do right by the people she had grown to love within the kingdom so i decided to make it a sort of thing where she disassembled the monarchy.

(there was also an ending where she faked her own death, framed kodo, and he was ripped apart by the citizens of naboo)

and of course i briefly considered genuinely killing din and having her raise the baby on her own. but the idea made me so truly upset that i just couldnt do it.

hoth story line

not much to say here other that there was going to be a thing where she went back to hoth to visit her family accompanied by the mandalorian. another thing that was fun as a concept but ended up feeling like filler so i dropped it.

elaine plot twist

another case of me really loving elaine and being conflicted about her character.

originally elaine was going to tell kodo about their relationship. it was going to be a situation where kodo suspected something and threatened lysa forcing elaine to take action but eventually i decided to use my backup which was leo since there had been foreshadowing for that anyway

neutral kodo

for quite a while i planned for kodo to be just a bad husband and not a villain. but i needed more conflict and i needed a driving force and he was easy to mold into that.

there was an alternate storyline where he fell in love with the reader and “killed” din out of jealousy

[inkedwingss]

I'm not big on anime, and usually skip the intro, but I need to talk about some reasons I find Bubble to be so brilliant.

Spoiler alert.

1. The little mermaid was one of my special interests for years, so yes, there is that.

2. The pure, tender but also "I will die/kill for you" love story. Beautifully done, even when we understand their fate, it doesn't discourage you from watching and it does not disappoint;

3. Good plot with cool characters that actually add to the story.Hibiki and Kai's development, first on that big jump when Kai shows how much of a true leader and self-sacrificing person he is, so we understand it was never jealousy but his desire to be useful and relevant - love how they animated that moment -, and then when Hibiki, that does everything alone, asks Kai directly, in front of everyone, to go with him. These are just two of my favourite moments, but let's keep moving.

4. The quality of the animation itself. Seriously, animating can be a pain but animating parkour? The camera movements are sick, and the dynamic is amazing! Parkour is not a cool background: they are fully committed. Also, they pay attention to other details (like Hibiki's freaking headphones flying on that epic scene) that make all the difference. I could post a ton of pictures about the poetry of it all, but I'm gonna stick with those four.

5. The way they portray neurodiversity: casually, naturally, and with its inherent value. It's a relief to see someone like Hibiki being a pro at something that is not what we usually see in this type of character. Enough with the chess player/reader/tech genius autistic characters. People can have other abilities! Other needs, other characteristics. They can be relevant because of what makes them different, even if it's "small", like an auditory hypersensitivity. This was something very special, and I quite like how this post talks about it.

Also, who doesn't like apocalyptical scenarios nowadays?

A lot of spoilers ahead:

At the very start, Hibiki falls from the tower and Uta follows him, presumably to save him. As he drowns, the bubbles of his breath meet Uta, and they merge into something that resembles a supernova. This is going to be referenced later by Makoto: "It's said that the world repeatedly collapses and rebuilds. Assembles, bursts. Scatters. Then assembles again..."

Uta becomes a human through him, quite literally. As she grows into multiple bubbles, we see a poster on the train with a girl on it, and the similarity between them suggests that she used that as an inspiration for her human form - although her hair is blue, which brings her authenticity forward. Funny enough, the poster says "beyond the border". Then, still underwater, they touch (kiss, in my opinion, for the sake of Hibiki's need for oxygen), but her human form is not affected by touching him like it happens when they are on the surface - beyond the border.

It's also interesting to think about the many layers of the word "bubble", not only as an obvious reference to the original fairy tale. A bubble can be a cage or a protection. When underwater, it holds the air, and "air", "breath" and "wind" are terms extensively used in literature and in various religions to refer to our spirit. We also have a similar situation with "sound" and "music" being connected to frequency and the creation of the world. We know Uta signs and her name means music, in Japanese. A name that was given to her by Hibiki, by the way, which I love, and definitely means a lot to me for so many different reasons.

With all that said, I believe there is a reason why Hibiki and Uta's parkour movements are synchronized and their hair is so similar (with rebel strains on the top of their heads). This sense of oneness is brilliant, and she chose it. She chose to follow him. In the same way she chose to use the shape of that girl in the poster, she chose to conform herself to Hibiki's image - which, to me, is the greatest way of showing admiration and love, the act of considering the "object" of your love so high that they inspire you, they influence you! They change you/ in the end, allowing you to become yourself.

I also like the way they chose to approach our post-modern dilemmas, like doing dangerous stuff for views, the collective "orphan" feeling, as well as this "danger" and "independence" that they "seek" as a way of escaping the ridiculous reality outside (or are they pushed to it?). As a result, they end up living inside another bubble, the bubble that actually originated their trauma. When they choose to live and thrive on their own terms inside that doomed place, it's just a weird but relatable type of irony.

Now, let's talk about the end. I absolutely love the end? Like yeah, smashed my heart, and I'm gonna cry again every time I watch, amazing voice work and all, but that final scene has tons of hope and an amazing perspective of what truly happens when we have a connection (love), which is it never dies.

Love does not die. It lives inside us, and it changes us, and it becomes part of us. It is true that love suffers, but isn't that a consolation? The reality is that suffering can not be avoided unless you want to live a meaningless life, isolated with your headphones, struggling to be yourself, to find your path, wishing you could cease your own existence.

It even makes me think that we can only be ourselves through others.

Society is all about being independent nowadays, but this is just pure bullshit. Our level of co-dependency is higher than we think it is. Without love (connection), all will die. We die, and I mean this literally.

That's why, in my opinion, Hibiki says he wants to leave at the beginning of the movie. He is not going to leave the bubble. Why would he? I believe he wants to leave. You can tell his actions are not only autistic traits or trauma response, and that he is not deliberately rude - they are clear signs of depression: he is just not interested. He is somewhere else, a place no one can reach, detached. He threw the flag after a victory because it didn't matter. It's that stage where we look bored, rude, cold... But we are actually sinking.

Well, if I'm right and he wants to end it, he still needs to understand what that sound is, that song, that calling. So when he goes to the tower, it seems to me he is actually fine with risking everything for it. Hibiki is confident in his skills, but also smart enough to know how dangerous it is. It's better if he dies trying, though, right? The need to find meaning is more important, so he doesn't care if the answer costs his life; he has nothing to lose.

In fact, maybe it's something to win because in the worst scenario, he would not be taking his own life, he would be trying really hard to find the purpose and dying for it. It's a good excuse to die.

This search for meaning is present in the whole crew, but here I have literally so many things in my mind that I can't type, so I will jump to the conclusion that the purpose is found in the community.

And that's the most precious thing Uta did. Since her first moments with them, she was bringing them together in her own way (in chaos, with crazy chickens), and birthing a new pattern. Because of her giving nature, her surrender, her love, and her being, all of them end up overcoming whatever patterns were holding them back before, and that's why I said we can only be ourselves through others. Community is powerful beyond measure when its foundation is true love.

But above that, sometimes there is that one special connection, that powerful type of love, that will change everything, that strong and pure love that is just... Something else. And we crave that. As humans, we crave spiritual, deep, mystical connections. We crave the things that are beyond. That we can feel but can't fully explain. We crave love in its deepest, most consuming levels.

"Love suffers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."

I truly hope we can all be found by it.

[please-help-this-little-lesbian]

So, I recently started watching Avatar: The Last Airbender. The politics of the show are very interesting to me, especially considering I just finished reading The Animorphs series. Now, I know they aren’t directly comparable, what with being two different mediums (books vs a cartoon), being created at different times (Animorphs the 1990s, ATLA 2005-2008), and (slightly) different age ranges (ATLA 7+, Animorphs middle grade (specifically 9-12, though I’d argue it generally skews older.)) But both are very anti-war and anti-imperialism. Animorphs was the first series in that age range I encountered that truly goes “hard” with its themes. It asked a LOT of tough questions, and its protagonists were truly morally gray in the end. One of my favorite scenes in the series is where the villain is on trial for war crimes, and his lawyers bring up that the protagonist is ALSO a war criminal. The protagonist is acquitted by The Hague because it was self-defense. Incredible. But, back to ATLA.

An episode that really stood out to me was “The Puppet Master,” particularly Hana’s fate. Now, if I’m being completely honest, I was never afraid of Hama, and honestly, I didn’t blame her. I’m not saying she was RIGHT, she was torturing innocent people who had nothing to do with her original imprisonment, but I could understand how she’d operate on all Fire Nation citizens being a monolith. Honestly, I was a little disappointed that her arc ended with her being locked up again, the very same thing that drove her to blood-bending in the first place.

It really made me think about “justice,” particularly the western view of it. I feel like the west, particularly America (ATLA, though inspired by Asian culture, is an American made-TV show), justice is viewed as a punitive and retributive thing, where the ultimate goal is to punish the fact that a crime was committed, rather than address why, how, and the humanity at the heart of the situation. Wim Laven says, in an article for LAProgressive, “No criminal trial is motivated by healing or truth. Trials are about fact finding and fact exclusion,” (2021). Healing is a part of my problem with Hama’s story. She is someone who has suffered from immense trauma in being kidnapped, imprisoned, (probably) tortured, and lost not only her home but everyone she knew. Yes, continuing the cycle of violence doesn’t help you heal from it, but sometimes it feels like it’s the only option. Again, I’m not saying what Hama did was RIGHT, but to her it was something, something to deal with the pain and anger. And putting her back in the very same conditions that fueled this pain and anger doesn’t feel like justice to me.

Let’s take it back to Animorphs since I brought it up for a reason. There is actually a similar situation portrayed in the series. In book 20, The Discovery, we’re introduced to a character named David. He recently began attending the same school as the protagonists, and came across a piece of technology he shouldn’t have. This leads to him being targeted by the villains of the series and triggers a fight between the protagonists and antagonists. In this fight, David’s parents are captured by the villains, and his home is destroyed, leaving him at the mercy of the protagonists. They debate whether to leave David to be captured by the antagonists or induct him into their group. (The villains are parasitic slugs who can crawl into people's brains and take them over, and the protagonists can morph into any animal whose DNA they acquire. Because they take over brains, you have no way of knowing who is and isn’t actually a parasitic slug, so the protagonists must keep their powers a secret from everyone they know. Yes, IK Animorphs is weird. The point is, the slugs know everything about you, so either way David is a risk.) They ultimately decide to give him the power to morph and induct him into the group, but this ultimately ends up being a mistake. David repeatedly endangers the group, breaks their rules, almost betrays them to the villains, and tries to kill multiple of the protagonists. The group has no choice but to do something with David, but what? They don’t want to kill him, so they do something that’s honestly far worse. They trap him in rat morph (you can only stay in morph for two hours before it becomes permanent) and drop him off on a secluded island in the middle of nowhere. This haunts the protagonists for the rest of their lives. Later, through fever dream plot reasons, David comes back and begs to be killed. We never find out if he is or not. A key part of David’s story is that at the end of the day, he was just a traumatized, troubled kid whose life was turned upside down, and EVERYONE ended up suffering for it. Animorphs does a really good job of exploring the tragedy of war, and it's because of the focus on how war creates conditions where violence is the only option because it is easier to commit to a cycle of revenge than work to improve conditions so that war doesn't have to be inevitable.

I'm not saying Avatar: The Last Airbender doesn't talk about this, or that it has to! It's for a younger audience, I don't expect or need the protagonists to commit atrocities! But it's interesting that they introduced a character that is villainized for this, and disappointing to me. The situation isn't black or white, Hama is sympathetic, and we understand why she's doing this, but the writing presents the only solution as punishing Hama for the harm she caused instead of allowing her to redeem herself.

I'm not saying that's an easy answer, either. The gaang are kids, in Fire Nation territory where they're subjected to Fire Nation laws, and just freed her victims. With the upcoming invasion, they couldn't just take Hama back to the Southern Water Tribe. But why is locking her away the only solution? Why didn't they at least consider the route where they prevented her from committing further harm by taking her out of the situation? Maybe they ask her to join the invasion with the promise she'll stop blood-bending. Maybe they promise to break her out later. I'm not saying everything would be perfect, but letting Hama return to her home, surrounded by people who would help her heal, takes away the desire to do harm, does it not? This is a situation where punitive justice is NOT the only answer, yet it's presented as if it is. I wouldn't even be as upset at her fate if the narrative addressed this wasn't the only way, and the tragedy of this being their only option at the moment. But it doesn't because it sees it as right.

This also frustrating because Zuko IS given the benefit of tragedy and restorative justice. Now, I haven't finished the show yet (I just finished 3x11), but from what I've seen so far, I'm assuming Zuko redeems himself by not only working to heal HIS trauma but the trauma he caused OTHERS. And that's GREAT! I LOVE Zuko, he's my favorite character. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve a redemption arc. He DOES. But it's frustrating that he, a member of the royal family of an imperialist nation, who's directly harmed the gaang amongst other crimes, is given this opportunity while Hama, a victim of said imperialist nation, isn't. Yes, you can chalk it up to Hama admittedly committing far worse a crime than Zuko has, and Zuko being a child while Hama is an old woman, my main concern is still the optics here.

ATLA has a philosophy of actions defining character, and while this is fine, and I agree with it, I don't think it's given quite the amount of nuance it needs. Motivations for actions are just as important. Hama's arc is messy and nuanced, but that isn't explored nearly enough.

If we can all agree that Zuko is a victim who deserves a second chance, then why isn't Hama?

[berrychanx]

TMMN EP 16 Analysis

I have so much to say i don’t know where to start, I’ll focus on the character development and the episode itself I love that Lettuce seems more confident in herself, cares for her looks, takes the lead, volunteers to help etc.

Yes it’s all means to an end for her, to get closer with Shirogane but his words really left an impact on her,

 even before that she already wished to change at the start of episode 8

But if it wasn’t for his words she would probably never have the courage to change.

Look at that happy smile. even Zakuro notices she has changed and its doing all of this for a reason. Zakuro LITTERALY is the big sister of the group.

LOL, Ryou is in another world ..... Poor Lettuce is getting chrushed and pushed on into his chest...You can feel the embarassement in her face ... while Ryou is just there being Ryou ... he’s not even aware...He acts so different with the other girls and Ichigo...If it was Ichigo in Lettuce play he would start bashing her.

GOOD GIRL, DOING RESEARCH BEFORE HAND

Sorry for this two random screesnhots but this just proves my theory about this season, exploring the Blue Knight identidy and the search for the mew aqua

Ryou notices something’s wrong with Lettuce. he calls out for her (probably worried and to snap her back to reality) ... I feel sad for Lettuce, relating to the Little Mermaid story

Meanwhile Kish appears and tries to steal the earrings, everyone thinks it contains Mew Aqua but Ryou ain’t gonna let that happen. I’M SO GLAD FINALLY A CHARACTER THOUGHT ABOUT GRABBING HIS LACE XD

Anyways Kish and Lettuce fight, Kish wins the battle and retreats?? Because? Letttuce is thrown out by the window and into the ocean, sinking and comes in contact with a light, thinking its mew aqua Similar to episode 19 of the original anime

She gets transported into another time, when the aliens still inhabited this planet and we get more lore (seperate post)

Lettuce then helps her new friend by giving her some advice and words of encouragement like someone once did to her.

Back into her own timeline, Shirogane goes to her aid. Finally alone with Ryou, Lettuce comes to accept her feelings for him, and know the viewers have a confirmation that it was actually love

Shirogane is caught by surprise, his reaction says it all. HE NEVER THOUGHT SOMEONE COULD LOVE HIM, AND HAVING THE SHY GIRL FROM THE GROUP CONFESS TO YOU? WHAT? THE SHY GIRL?

He even forgets his cool act

At least he thanks her for having the courage to say something so important. BUT LIKE I SAID A COUPLE OF TIMES, THIS MAN ONLY LIVES FOR ONE THING AND ITS HIS LIFE WORK / PROJECT

He completely didn’t say no nor did he said yes..... it’s left on open and i hope once the season ends this subject is brought up again.

Like I mentioned on this post, Shirogane really cares for everyone, the burden he carries etc. Go read the post here,

I would translate it too, I’m sorry but I can’t answer your feelings right now, Lettuce

She took this in such a mature way, not loosing her compuster in from of him...

Ryou’s aware he hurt her feelings, that she’s broken, wanting to cry but holding it lal inside

He smiles at her and leaves her alone, despite being sad and heartbreaking, it was the best option in my opnion. She wouldn’t have cried in front of him.

I LOVE THE FACT THAT ZAKURO WAS THE ONLY ONE SELF AWARE OF THIS, MADE A DISTRACTION TO GET THE OTHERS WAY AND BE ALONE WITH LETTUCE AND COMFORT HER

She really is the big sister of the group, the big sister to all of the other girls.

It’s ok, you’re alone now, you can cry, let it all out.

And the episode ends with Lettuce crying in Zakuro arms. It was a fantastic episode in my opinion, I would love if it focused a bit more on the aliens culture, Lettuce asking questions  but I understand, the alien situation was there for Lettuce to compare herself with the earrings original owner and their situation and inspire her to confess to Ryou.

The original anime had thrown in this Ryoutasu moments but it was all very vague, New at least develops her feelings. I hope in the end she gets a definitive answer, if that never happens...nothing I can do but accept it, we know in a way the Mew Project is never “finished”, A la mode gave us the roses crusaders Return had the girls dealing with loosing parasites. There’s the PS1 game. So maybe leaving their relationship in open its for the best.

[withered--s0uls]

Vat7k random headcanons.

Varian:

Trans FtM (tho I enjoy MtF Var too :3)

Bisexual (was intended canon in vat7k)

When originally not trusting Hugo, he makes it painfully obvious to him in the way he acts around him vs around Yong and Nuru

Writes NewDream & his Dad letters :3 probably whenever arriving in & leaving a new Kingdom!

I prefer the vest design so uh; I hc the reason he has 2 hairstripes now is a result of the S3 finale. I hc his canon hairstripe is from the fact his dad was hit by a blast of the moonstone. The 2nd one is a "scar" from dying and being revived in the S3 finale (I imagine Eugene has a similar "scar" in a blonde strand of hair from the movie. Also Cass and Raps each having ones in their respective colours bc of being past users. Also yes this implies the entirety of ppl who helped in the S3 finale has blonde/gold and/or turquoise/blue "scars" from the S3 finale somewhere in their hair or on their body)

Alchemist and engineer rivalry with Hugo bc Hugo likes to be a smartass

Hugo is his first proper masc crush, he doesn't really count his celebrity crush on Eugene he had as a kid

I hc his surname to be VanGuard (inspired by "His Little Light" on AO3)

Slavic from his dads side (not sure what specific country I hc the DK as but I like the idea of it being slavic)

Hugo:

Genderfluid (amab if anyone cares)

Pansexual

Never actually had like time for proper romance due to his work, so he doesn't actually know how to deal with catching feelings for Varian and Var seemingly reciprocating them (its different to actually love someone opposed to pretending for a job)

Actually really good with kids! This shows in him actually helping care for Yong a lot (he sneaks a Flynn Rider book from Varians bag and reads it to Yong as bedtime story lol)

Probably met Eugene and possibly Lance in their criminal pasts

Having beef with Nuru bc oh no royalty and royals suck (he doesn't understand how Varian can be best friends with a princess [Raps] either) at the start but learns through her that some aren't just stuck up selfish assholes

Teasingly tries to one-up Varians alchemy

Post-vat7k he stays in Corona with Var! First working as his assistant until being offered the role of royal advisor (bc fuck Nigel)

Not a hc bc it is his original DND surname, but personally I go with the surname Rottewange for him (seen some ppl use different ones)

Russian (ah yes the common "Ingvarr is Russia" hc)

Yong:

Probably not the best relationship with his family considering they just sent him off with some stranger from another kingdom

Basically the collective little brother of the group

Hugo jokingly calls him Varians kid after finding out his clumsiness and exploding projects are something Var used to experience too

Gets along well with everyone in the squad yay

He really likes Ruddiger too, getting all excited when seeing him for the first time (I imagine he loves animals :3)

Him and Nuru definitely catch on the fact Varigo both crush on each other way before the two actually admit it themselves

To make him more relatable to Varian, I also imagine him being a Farmboy too

Kinda canon bc it seems to be his clothing inspo + some concept art aspects but; Chinese

Nuru:

Lesbian or at least Sapphic, kinda realizes that when they meet Vars cousins (if you read "Varians Tangled Trials" yk why lol. Nuru and Amber my beloved.)

Huge mistrust towards Hugo

Yong and her often pacify the situation if Varigo alchemist rivalry goes a bit too far

NOT the mom of the group. She's a kid lol. (Hugo and Varian being the only adults and actually having to take responsibility for the two minors >>)

Regardless she's still rather mature in handling situations bc raised as a princess so she knows how to behave

She however is a bit more fun as herself, which the other three would learn over time. Especially when she nerds out about the stars.

Her title as princess as well as Varians as Coronas royal engineer prove useful a lot on their journey

Post-vat7k she would probably try to seek out Varian at royal gatherings so they can catch up. If he's not there then she seeks out Rapunzel to ask about how he's doing :3

Idk just random stuff, nowhere near everything lol.

Dont have surname hcs for the kiddos so uh yeah idk feel free to share yours? Ig Nuru would just be "of Koto(/whatever Kingdom you assign her to)" bc princess or smth? For Yong I might look into some chinese surnames mayhaps...

Also don't have a nationality hc for Nuru so feel free to pitch yours lol

[francoisl-artblog]

What do you think of the new ‘I Hate Fairyland’ run as compared to the old, out of curiosity? And your own ideas on what would have happened versus what ended up happening?

Well !

It's kind of... all over the place. I really liked the initial idea of Gert having to go back, only to ends up in a different yet similar place, with a new group of friends (Virgil and Rotwald). And, so far, it was entertaining for the 1st arc.

And after that arc... let's simply said I'm not fond of the direction. We got good things, and things that are less good, sometimes in the same issue. (like, Duncan return for a minute, it's good, but he's already gone... too much anti-climax too, even compared to the original run, and don't start me on the two Gertrude situation...)

And it's a bit sad, because, for the most part, I want to like this sequel, but it really has many flaws...

That said, I'm one of the guy that literally made Fan Fiction of this comic, so, yeah, maybe i had too much expectation. IHF, as its core, is mainly just meta joke and nice art-style with funny characters and gory situation (Issue 13, for instance, is one of my favorite of all IHF). Story wasn't the important part.

The only thing I would change for real, (spoiler)...

...is not replacing Adult Gert with Classic/Past/Kid Gert for "fan-service". Since it's not the Gert that start the 1st arc of this sequel and the one from the original run, I kinda got less involved, it automatically erased character developement, and makes the reunion with other characters less interesting. (Just makes her a kid again directly for magic reason or something if it's really a design matter at the very least...)

That, and maybe more... focusing on the new characters ? What even happened to King Cloudeus, Rotwald or that rich human guy from the 1st arc ? Judd is canonically introduced for instance, and left the comic already... I want more of these concept !

The story is still going on, sure, so I cannot have a full strong opinion yet, but I'm afraid at least half of the question will remain unsolved...

Short answer : I kinda prefer the original one. It's messy, but more focused on one arc at the time and it has a better pacing.

That said, the art-style is still awesome, and when the jokes are fun, it's super fun. And nitpicking aside, I'm actually really eager to see what comes next from that comic.

...Okay, we got robbed of that Gert & Duncan reunion. That sucks a bit.

[thebramblewood]

Hey! :) First I want to say I just loveee your story and the universe you created and the lastest update is truly heartbreaking but I was super curious on the spellcaster vs vampire dynamic in your world and what are the limits of it, especially morally for Caleb:

If giving the chance, would Caleb have turned Morgyn and the sages to vampires in order to save them? Would Caleb even want to do that, would that even be saving them in his eyes or would it be condemning them - a fate almost worse than death?

Thank you soooooo much! I'm having so much fun writing, sharing, and discussing this story with you all, even when it's painful. 😭

Before I get to these questions directly, I want to reiterate that this all originates from me deciding to kill off the Sages as an inciting plot point in the legacy-based story I started this blog with, Escape from Windenburg. I posted that story here in short snippets, but in its original form it was essentially written like a novel. You can read it at my retired blog if you're so inclined. (Yes, I was doing all that for nobody but myself.)

Since I know most people don't have time to casually read a 17-chapter story, I'm going to link the most relevant parts. The attack on the Sages (which is shown but using EA animations, so it's not terribly graphic) and Misael's defeat is here. An explanation for why the Sages cannot be revived is here, and I semi-rewrote this for Caleb's talk with Grace a few weeks back. Honestly, the reasoning behind why the Sages are dead dead has always been kind of hand-wave-y, but the essence of it is that they'd been using magic to extend their lifetimes already and since they were already overdue for death, the universe literally refuses to give them back, even if methods of revival technically exist.

Combined with that fact, I know there are lots of different takes on vampire creation lore, but in this universe it's only possible if the person is still alive. They might be barely hanging on (like Helena), but they can't be fully dead. Therefore, Caleb still wouldn't have been able to fly to the Realm after getting the news from Grace and save the Sages by turning them. It was far too late by then. Now, if he had gone as soon as he started to worry and found them still alive, would he have actually turned them? This is a trickier question!

Keep in mind Helena is the first person he's ever turned, and he was faced with a similar conundrum - let her die or "save" her by turning her. In his mind, being a vampire is a curse, but if it's the only way to prevent an otherwise untimely and undeserved death, maybe it's worth it. Of course, as much as he'd like to downplay the role it played, the fact that Lilith begged him to do it can't be discounted. Would he have intervened if Helena were a random person attacked by a random vampire who he just happened to stumble upon in an alley somewhere? Probably not. He's not really the type to get involved in a situation if he doesn't have to (unless it's one created by his sister).

But if he was willing to do it for Helena, he would have absolutely turned Morgyn if given the chance. He certainly wouldn't have been thinking rationally, and he would've seen turning them as the only way to hold onto them. They were the one person Caleb had fully let know him and let himself fall in love with, and he would've done anything not to lose that. It would've been a selfish move, and he might've had to deal with the consequences later (especially if it wasn't what Morgyn wanted), but it would've felt like the only choice. As for the other Sages, if his tunnel vision even allowed him to register them, he'd hesitate at turning them because he has less of a personal connection. (Simeon and Faba were older and more traditional, so Morgyn didn't see much of them outside work and Caleb barely knew them).

I know that was a lot, but I hope it satisfied your curiosity! There's sometimes so much context crammed into my head that I can't fully fit into the posts themselves, so I always welcome questions or theories! 💜

[cherishmimi]

Wattpad Conversions of CA

Hi my loves!

Just wanted to reach out to all of you and thank you for reading CA and still commenting after all of this time. Your love for this fic is what is keeping me going! Thank you! I also want to update you all on an ongoing situation:

I've been made aware that the Wattpad user, 'edits_727' (on Ao3 their user name is bishopsbxtch) is still copying and pasting my chapters as I update them to Ao3. This started as a conversion originally done by the Wattpad user 'Switcho_16' and I believe they stopped taking the chapters around the time I took a hiatus and most likely got tired of waiting for me to come back. Now, this user is continuing the conversion, having copied and pasted each update since I returned to posting the story.

I know that to a lot of people, converting stories to different fandoms seems harmless - but it absolutely is. CA is an AU, meaning that there are differences in its universe than the Glee universe that it's based from as a fan work, which can be incredibly time consuming to create. I don't say that to downplay other non-AU stories, I say that to highlight just how much work I put into the story as a whole. The updates take so long because I spend so much time making sure everything I write connects and is cohesive. Not to mention the original characters and backstories I came up with, making sure there are no plot holes, the research I've done - this is hours and hours of labor that I do because I had a vision SPECIFIC to this fandom. To me, it is a slap in the face to see another person simply copy and paste and change the names. Before, when I made a post about this, a person messaged me and told me that this was 'flattering' and that the users on Wattpad never took credit - which is A. not true, because there were other versions that have been deleted that absolutely did not credit me as the author, and B. this person simply says that 'the story is a conversion of another on Ao3' and never lists my name. Most of all, THEY DO NOT HAVE MY PERMISSION TO DO THIS. Period.

There is nothing flattering about this. If you crave content for your fandom like CA, go out and create something similar, or even 'inspired by' with the author's permission and knowledge - that's flattery and even more so, that's real creativity. Craft your own work for your fandom.

CA exists because of my love for BDSM and the lack of well written stories about it in the Glee fandom. I hated the Fifty Shades series because it was a terribly fleshed out story that demonized that lifestyle for the sake of a few poorly written smut scenes with a main character that had no boundaries and was a terrible example of what a real Dom looked and acted like. It was glamorized for all of the wrong reasons and I hated that. So, I thought I could do a better job with Rachel and Quinn specifically due the character traits they have on Glee.

Not only that, but I wanted a story that accurately covered body dysmorphia and the ups and downs of falling in love with someone who is emotionally unavailable. The G!p tag was an interesting rabbit hole that I had journeyed down at the time, and I wondered what it would be like to create a story that didn't just use it as an excuse to get out of writing smut scenes between two women whose bodies were the same. I wanted to know what kind of plot could be crafted and how realistic I could make it. I wanted to know what kind of impact going through something like that would have on a person. I wanted a real story, a journey for the two characters.

Of course, this story is just a fanfiction, but I worked so hard on every aspect of it and I have gone through hell to keep it going. I don't want other people taking it for other fandoms. I just don't feel that it is right. I have messaged the 'author' and calmly explained how I felt to them. I have also asked them to take the story down and to stop because they don't have my permission and I'm hoping that is well received, but in the meantime I am encouraging ANY of you that are doing that in any fandom to stop.

As I said before, take the time to create your own works and build your fandoms with the stories you want to see. It is much more exciting, and it comes with ups and downs but that is the beauty of fandom and fanfiction itself.

Love you all.

-Mimi

[elbiotipo]

Barebones (I am not a cunning linguist) situation of language in my space opera story:

NO UNIVERSAL TRANSLATOR: that's a cheap cinematic trick to make things easy, if you want to communicate between different species or cultures you either learn their language or convene into a trade language. You could also hire a diplomat (a very in-demand profession) who is not only a translator, but also a cultural advisor. For every world and species, there are multiple languages, dialects, customs…

There's also no universal trade language; there is something like it, among Human spacers: Tandar (from "Standard") which is both spoken and visualized and is widely used, but olfactory species, species that communicate in different sound and radio frequencies, and others need their own translators and agreed trade languages.

Tandar was originally a military auxiliary language used in the Last Machine War among Human forces. It is very distantly descended from Mandarin, with a strong English vocabulary, and it also incorporates, besides its numeric system, a "protocol" used with machines, a basic programming language; it is often said that its two languages in one.

Written Tandar is logographic and strictly standarized; stylizing it is very much frowned upon, as it is supposed to be used in emergency signs, instruction manuals, and such. Tandar can also be written in all sorts of other scripts, and over time, puns and metaphors in Tandar have given way to a true Tandaric literature. It is still considered a technical trade language.

Tandar is "everybody's second language" there are, supposedly, no native Tandar speakers, and it's used for trade or technical purposes. You don't talk to your mother or spouse in Tandar.

In practice, there are indeed many communities that have creolized Tandar into local languages. There is also a corpus of jokes, puns, songs (especially spacer shanties) and other vernacular literature in Tandar. So there's a debate about its condition as a pure auxiliary language here.

There is also a mainstream "spacer culture" who speaks Tandar and is connected by similar traditions and of course technologies (it's good to have standarized spaceship parts...), but it varies from one side of the galaxy to another. So smilar, and yet with unique quirks for every trade world and even ship. Sociologists and linguists love studying spacers for this reason.

Human "colonies", now centuries old, were often settled by people from the same nations or ethnic groups. Over the centuries, they have developed their own dialects, so that half a dozen worlds settled by, for example, Thai-speaking astronauts, now have dialects barely comprehensible between each other, or even new languages. A few have developed wholly different cultures, but broadly, the main language families from Mother Earth are still spoken.

There is no faster-than-light communication, so no space radio or TV, the closest thing is a slower-moving (in days-weeks) postal service. So mass communication does not homogenize languages. Many local planetary dialects incorporate some Tandar or other trade language in their speech, but most people speaking it or other trade languages live in trade worlds.

The great generation ships that departed from Mother Earth in times past, virtually flying civilizations encased in asteroids, often have kept old dialects alive in relativist travel. Even if relativist travel has been replaced by faster-than-light aetheric travel, the close-knit nature of generation ships makes them act as cultural time capsules. This is a point of pride to them; speaking Hawaiian, Esperanto or Rioplatense often means "you're part of our family", even if you're born in another world.

Humans who have lived for generations in alien worlds have adopted their languages, customs, culture, religion, even body language... to the point that meeting one for the first time as a "mainstream spacer" human is almost the same as meeting an alien.

The reverse is true for aliens who have lived in human worlds. In fact, this is a very humanocentric perspective. Everything above applies to other species (for everyone, the others are aliens) and with the differences of biology, psychology, culture, economics, and time...

[starlingschool]

𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐭 𝟏𝟎𝟏: 𝐌𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐲

Welcome to Tarot 101 with Astrid! This is part 1 of my series. To keep each post as short as possible these will be bite sized. This part will explain the basic anatomy of the Tarot Deck and a brief explanation of its origin.

c o n t e n t s

Anatomy of a Deck

Why so many Cards?

Major vs Minor

A n a t o m y o f a D e c k

Let’s start with breaking down a tarot deck.

A tarot deck has 78 cards. It’s split into two big groups, the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana.

➸ Although some styles of tarot decks may have additional cards that act as oracle cards, the following 78 cards are what are known as the complete Tarot deck.

The Major Arcana has 22 cards. Starting from 0: The Fool and ending with 21: The World.

The Minor Arcana has 56 cards, but it’s split into four smaller sections. These smaller sections are called “Suits”

The Suits are The Pentacles, The Wands, The Cups and The Swords. Each Suit has 14 cards. Starting with the Ace going to Ten, then we have a Page, Knight, Queen and King.

➸ If you’re familiar with Playing cards for poker or solitaire, the Minor Arcana in a Tarot deck is numbered just like the Playing cards, just that the “Suits” are different. In playing cards, there are clubs, spades, diamonds, and hearts. Now back to Tarot.

Below is a graphic of the cards of a Tarot deck split into the Major and Minor Arcana and Suits.

W h y s o m a n y c a r d s ?

The reason for the number of cards in a Tarot deck has to do with its history. Tarot is historically believed to have first been created as a secular Card Game in the 15th Century in Italy.

At the time card games had 52 cards. 4 Suits of 13 cards.

It’s thought that during the 1440’s, Tarot was created when the Duke of Milan asked an Artist to make a variation of the common card game. He asked to add cards to it and the artist Bonafacio Bembo added the 22 cards that make up today’s Major Arcana and added the Queens to the court cards of the Suits. Making each suit filled with 14 cards.

In conclusion, the 78 cards we have in today’s modern Tarot were made as a cure for boredom.

It’s important to note this because knowing the history of Tarot will help you in your journey when you decide how you will use Tarot in your practice.

I know some practitioners who think of Tarot as a sacred tool and they don’t like to leave any cards out while they shuffle and read cards.

I want to include this because I believe Tarot like any form of magic shouldn’t have fear of change attached to it. You should choose how to practice based on what resonates with you.

Some practitioners like to omit the major arcana or forgo the Minor Arcana in favor of using only 22 cards from the Major Arcana. Either way you practice is fine, just remember that the way you practice should bring you peace, not fear.

However you choose to practice Tarot, know that it is valid 🩷

Personally, I like to read with all 78 cards unless I’m using a Tarot Spread that calls for just one Arcana or Suit. I'll explain this more in depth in a later post!

M a j o r v s M i n o r

So if you don’t have to read with all 78 cards in a Tarot Deck, why do they exist and why do some Readers use them all? What’s the difference?

Well, Tarot is a divination tool so it’s here to make it easier to hear your intuition or view a situation from a different perspective. Knowing this, each card has a unique meaning behind it. A definition assigned to it both historically, or over time as Tarot entered the occult.

Although the Major and Minor Arcana’s have different meanings there are similarities between some cards.

The 22 cards in the Major Arcana tell a big picture story of a protagonist— The Fool— who goes through life’s joys and complications. However, the 56 cards in the Minor Arcana tell the same story but on a much more detailed view.

I like to think of it as the Major Arcana is the bird’s eye view of a situation and the Minor Arcana is the situation under a microscope.

For example, let’s say you ask Where you need to focus your mental energy on at this time? Let’s say in two different readings you get two different cards. One from the Major Arcana and one from the Minor. From the Minor, You get the 8 of wands. This could be interpreted a lot of different ways but for the sake of this post we’ll say this means you should focus on the finishing touches needed in order for you to propel forward in your passionate adventure. Whether this is starting a business or asking out your crush. Now, in a separate reading, you ask the same question, you get The Chariot from the Major Arcana. This could translate into you need to take the reins of your life and just go for it, with less thought to the tiny things “We’ll figure out the details when we get there!” Both readings say the same thing but their advice is different.

One tells you to look at the big picture, this needs to get done the sooner the better, take the reins and have fun with it, we can worry about the details later. While the other warns you to think things through, work out the kinks in your plan but do it quickly so you don’t lose momentum.

This is why both Arcana’s are useful and this is why some readers read with all 78 cards. However, there are advantages to using just one Arcana or just one suit.

But how do you know when to do that? We’ll look into that in our next part 🩷 since this post is getting long.

If you have any questions or want me to elaborate on something in this post please reach out, either with my “Witches' Desk”, comments or DMs.

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With Love, Astrid 🩷✨