#land grant murals

[teaboot]

How do Canadian schools teach about indigenous Canadian history and culture? -a curious USAmerican

In my experience we learned about colonization at the same time as we learned about the formation of Canada. At first it was "European settlers came and pushed out the indigenous population", then in the higher grades we learned more about the how and the why.

For example, how carts full of men with rifles would ride around shooting Buffalo, then leaving the meat on the ground to rot, because "a dead Buffalo is a dead indian", which was so fanatical it almost wiped out wild Buffalo entirely

Also how Canadian settlers were lured in with beautiful hand-painted advertisements for cheap, beautiful, fertile land that was unpopulated and perfect, if only you'd sail over with your entire family and a pocket full of seeds- only to be met with scared, confused, and angry lawful inhabitants already run out of ten other places, and frigid winters, and rocky, forested, undeveloped dirt.

also, smallpox blankets, where "gifts" of blankets infected with smallpox were intentionally given out

And treaty violations- Either ignoring written agreements entirely, or buying them out at insanely low prices and lying about the value, or trading for farming equipment that they couldn't use because they weren't farmers.

Then in the first world war, where they told indigenous peoples here that they'd be granted Canadian citizenship if they enlisted

To Residential schools, which was straight up stealing kids for slavery, indoctrination, and medical experiments

But we also covered the building of the Canadian Railway in which Chinese immigrants were lowered into ravines with dynamite to blow out paths through the mountain for pennies on the dollar

And the Alberta Sterilization Act, where it was lawful and routine procedure to sterilize women of colour and neurodivergent people without their awareness or consent after giving birth or undergoing unrelated surgeries

But I'm rambling.

We kind of learned Aboriginal history at the same time as everything else? Like. This is when Canada was made, and this is how it was done. Now we'll read a book about someone who lived through it, and we'll write a book report. And now a documentary, and now a paper about the documentary. Onto the next unit.

And starting I think in grade 10 our English track was split between English and Aboriginals English, where you could choose to do the standard curriculum or do the same basic knowledge stuff with a focus on Aboriginal perspectives and literature. (I did that one, we read Three Day's Road and Diary Of A Part-Time Indian, and a few other titles I don't remember.)

There was also a lunch room for the Aboriginal Culture Studies where Aboriginal kids could hang out at lunch time if they wanted, full of art and projects and stuff. They'd play music or videos sometimes, that was cool

And one elective I took (not mandatory cirriculum) was a Kwakiutl course for basic Kwakwakaʼwakw language. Greetings, counting to a hundred, learning the modified alphabet, animals, etc. Still comes in handy sometimes at large gatherings cause they usually start with a land recognition thanking whoever's land we're on, with a few thanks and welcomes in their language.

And like- when I was in the US it was so weird, cause here we have Totem poles and longhouses and murals all over and yall... don't? Like there is a very distinct lack of Aboriginal art in your public spaces, at least in the areas I've been

My ex-stepfather, who was American, brought his son out once, and he was so excited to "see real indians" and was legitimately shocked to learn that there weren't many teepees to be found on the northwest coast, and was even *more* shocked when we told him that you have Aboriginal people back home too, bud. Your Aboriginal people are also named "Mike" snd "Vicky" and work as assistant manager at best buy.

If you'd ask me, I'd say that the primary difference is that USAmerica (from what I've seen, and ALSO in entirely too much of Canada) treats our European and Aboriginal conflicts as history, something that's tragic but over, like the extinction of the mammoths, instead of like. An ongoing thing involving people who are alive and numerous and right fucking here

But at the end of the day, I'm white, and there are plenty of actual Aboriginal people who are speaking out and saying much more meaningful things than I can

So I'm just gonna pass on a quote from my Stepmum, who's Cree, that's stuck with me since she said it:

"You see how they treat Mexicans in America? That's how they treat us here. Indians are the Mexicans of Canada."

[darkserenity24]

hey! would you be opposed to writing a loki x reader one shot where he sees the reader's drink get roofied and protects them? i love me a good fight scene for the reason of romance 😌

𝘽𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝘽𝙖𝙨𝙝

Loki x Reader

𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺: 𝘕𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦’𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘳.

𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵: 4.9𝘒

𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴: 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯!𝘓𝘰𝘬𝘪, 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵!𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵/𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵, 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘤𝘰𝘯 𝘥𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦

𝘼/𝙉: 𝙂𝙞𝙧𝙡, 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙜𝙚. 𝙄 𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙖 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙛𝙞𝙚 𝙖𝙨𝙠? 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙤 𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙄’𝙢 𝙨𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙚𝙣𝙟𝙤𝙮 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙤𝙤 𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙣. 𝙇𝙚𝙩’𝙨 𝙙𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 💚

You met Thor while on a leisure trip in Norway. He was doing his routine check-in with the Valkyrie, the recently appointed King of New Asgard, and you were spending most of your time exploring the land and working on your pieces.

On the last day of your trip, you gathered your work materials and settled down in a nearby park. Thor Odinson, of all people, happened to stumbled upon you in your natural habitat, intensely focused and covered in paint while working on your latest piece. Slowly, he crept up from behind you to take a look at your painting and was immediately blown away by your creation.

“Oh my, you are exceedingly talented!” 

His unexpected jovial tone startled you, causing you to jump and accidentally swipe a blotch of red paint across the entire canvas.

You blinked, disappointment rising within you before looking back at the cause of your now ruined painting.

Your eyes widened when you saw who it was. Yes, you were aware you were vacationing in New Asgard but the last person you expected to see in the park on a Sunday morning was the god of thunder.

“Oh no! My sincerest apologies, my lady.” He uttered, frowning guiltily at your destroyed painting. “I fear I forget that my presence can be quite jarring to others at times.”

You shook away your frustration, granting Thor a small smile. “No, it’s alright. It’s only one painting. I make lots of them.” You shrugged, removing the canvas to set it on the ground and grabbing a blank one to set on the easel.

“Yes, yes, I see. They are truly magnificent,” He praised, observing the various canvases you had lying around. “Are you available for commissions?”

You stopped in your movements, brows rising in surprise. “Umm y-yeah sure,” You stuttered. “I do commissions, but unfortunately this is my last day here. I’m heading back home tomorrow morning so I won’t be around for much longer.”

“Oh? Where do you reside?” He inquired curiously.

“A place far away from here. I’m a New Yorker. ” 

You watched as a knowing grin grew on his friendly features. 

“Oh, that is perfect.”

The next thing you knew, you and your paintings were shooting off to New York in a quinjet headed towards the Avenger’s New Facility. That was where you were introduced to Tony Stark, the man who not only bought a lot of your original artwork, but also commissioned several other pieces from you.

You were even asked to design and construct a mural pretty sizable mural in the compound’s main lobby. 

You couldn’t be happier for the amazing opportunities that came upon you just from your coincidental meeting with Thor, in another country of all places, and made sure you thanked him every time you saw him.

Thor became a very good friend, frequently inviting you to hang out with him and the team any time he was in town. A lot of these hangouts ended up being parties thrown at the tower. 

That’s where you first met Thor’s brother. Loki Laufeyson.

If Thor and Loki were like night and day, you and Loki were like oil and water. You didn’t mix well at all.

To put it lightly, you and Loki did not get along from the start. When you first met him, you were pretty optimistic, however, that changed immediately when he didn’t even give you the courtesy of speaking to you. Or even smiling. He stared at you as if you walked into the room with two heads, sharp eyes scrutinizing every inch of you as Thor introduced you to him. Then he left, only parting with a hum that felt just as judgmental as his disapproving gaze did.

After that, you thought things would get better with him, but it only got worse. You tried to hide your annoyance for a while but couldn’t help it. You could only take so much. His icy green stare and offensive backhanded remarks made your blood boil anytime you had to deal with him. 

It was no secret that you both hated each other.

One moment you were way too happy for him to be around and the next you were utterly boring. Nothing you did or said seemed to make him like you, and eventually you gave up. His approval didn’t mean shit to you anyway.

You were sick of him turning his nose up at you for god knows what and you began returning the favor since he was always being a pompous ass towards you for no apparent reason.

Thor tried to make excuses for his younger brother, stating that he was like this with almost everyone, but something within you knew that Thor didn’t even believe that excuse himself.

Loki was just being an asshole just because he could. He was a spoiled brat and thought himself above you for whatever reason. You tried not to let it bother you but sometimes you’d find yourself daydreaming about smashing his stupid, perfect face into the nearest wall. You weren’t a violent person by any means, but he was starting to make you wish you were. 

Thor and the others did not help the precarious situation between you and both, only seeming to stoke the fire even more at times by watching you two argue. The team seemed amused by your bickering, especially whenever you got in a really clever insult that seemed to make the dark-haired Asgardian tick.

Eventually, they came to the obvious (and much safer) conclusion that it was a bad idea to have both of you around at the same time. They didn’t want to be responsible for allowing you to rip each other's heads off and did their best to keep you separated as much as possible.

You didn’t want to be invited to another gathering unless there was a one hundred percent guarantee that the god of aggravation was not going to be in attendance.

So imagine your surprise when you arrived at Thor’s birthday party with multiple gifts in hand, only to nearly drop all of them when walking right into an unexpected firm, unyielding body.

Frowning, you glanced up in surprise, not having seen anything or anyone in your path beforehand. A cool green narrowed gaze stared down at you, scrutinizing your presence as usual.

“Why are you here, mortal?”

Your face sobered and you felt the beginnings of a hot ball of irritation bubble up in your chest. 

“I came to flip burgers.” You droned sarcastically before shaking your head with a sigh. “Why do you think, Loki? I’m here for Thor’s party, obviously.”

“That oaf informed me that you were not invited.” Loki groused, towering over you like some bodyguard.

“Well, he told me the same thing about you. Apparently, he lied to both of us.” You said wryly. “And don’t call your brother an oaf.”

“Why do you care what I call him?” He snidely questioned.

“Because I’m his friend and it’s rude to call him names. Now move out of my way.” You demanded, barely giving him a second to move out of your path as you charged past him.

You couldn’t even get through the door without witnessing Loki’s overcritical expression and judgy attitude. That man could annoy you like no other. It was as if he made it his full-time job to bother you.

Walking through the room, you spotted the gift table and trotted over, setting your presents down carefully.

“Ah! There’s my favorite artist. Good to see you, friend!” You heard a familiar booming tone and turned to see Thor pranced over towards you.

“Hey, big guy. Happy Birthday!”

He engulfed you into a hug before letting you go and instantly turning his focus towards the gifts.

“Are those for me?” He inquired with an innocent grin.

You raised a brow, shooting him a look. “No, they’re for everyone else but you.” You joked before laughing. “Yes, Thor. They’re yours.”

He feigned a look of shock before grabbing one of your gifts off the table. It was thin and rectangular, covered neatly in dark blue wrapping paper with golden thunderbolts.

Your brow crinkled in uncertainty. “Wait, you’re gonna open it now?” 

He looked at you and shrugged. “Yes, of course. It is my birthday after all.” He smirked with a wink before tearing into the carefully folded wrapping paper.

You watched as his features transformed into a look of curiosity, then quickly switched to one of pleasant surprise as examined the gift thoroughly.

It was a portrait-style painting of complete his family: Thor, Odin, Frigga, and yes, even Loki. From what you understood, all traces of his family heirlooms vanished into space when Asgard had been destroyed in Ragnarok, so you assumed there were no other pictures he had of them all together.

“Wow, this is spectacular! And extremely thoughtful of you. I never thought I would see all of us in one setting again.” He said in awe as he continued to observe the painting.

You crossed your arms with a nod. “I remember you briefly mentioning how you missed your family, so I thought this might be something you would appreciate.”

“I certainly do. Thank you. I couldn’t ask for anything better.” 

“You haven’t even opened all of the others yet so how would you know that?” You scoffed.

“There is a method to my madness. I opened yours first because I know you always bring the best gifts.” He stated as if it was common knowledge.

“I’m not falling for your flattery sir, but I am really glad you like it.”

“No, I love it. Thank you, my friend.” Thor said with a genuine smile, placing a hand on your shoulder.

“Of course, buddy.”

In typical Thor fashion, his attention was pulled away, focusing on something behind you. You watched his eyes light up, and he began waving his hand back and forth, attempting to grab someone else’s attention.

“Hey! Loki!” Thor bellowed across the room. “Come here, brother. I have something to show you.”

You tensed and your gaze followed Thor’s across the room, landing on the last person you wanted to see. 

You were slightly startled to see his gaze already fixed on you, green eyes simmering with something indiscernible. As always, he appeared to be upset just by your mere presence. 

You’ve been at the party for barely ten minutes and hadn’t done anything to deserve his ire. The man was confusing as hell.

“She has created a portrait of our family. Come see!” Thor prattled, doing his best to get his broody sibling to come closer. 

Loki continued to glare daggers into you, barely giving Thor a glance before stalking off elsewhere.

You frowned, more offended on Thor’s behalf than anything else.

“What’s his problem? Does me being here really bother him that much?” You scoffed, crossing your arms. “He can’t even get over himself long enough to make this a good day for you.”

“It is alright, friend.” Thor retorted, looking more amused than you expected him to be. “Loki has been having a tough time. I thought this painting might have cheered him up a bit. Among other things…” He trailed off with a raise of his brows.

“What could he possibly be dealing with that put him in this bad of a mood on your birthday? Did he not get his breakfast on time today?” You smirked.

“No, nothing of major consequence. Let us just say he is fighting against himself when it comes to his feelings about certain things, or certain people.”

Your eyes squinted, not fully understanding what he was getting at. “Huh?”

Thor waved his hand. “Oh, nothing truly of your concern. He shall learn how to navigate eventually.”

“Sure,” You replied, giving him a skeptical look. “I should’ve known you weren’t telling the truth when you said he wouldn’t be here.”

Thor had the nerve to look sheepish, his hand reaching to scratch the back of his neck. “Ha- yes… about that-”

“Thor! Get over here, man. The DJ’s about to start and we need to tear up this dance floor.” A voice called out to him. 

You turned to see Sam Wilson, who also greeted you with a nod. 

“Oh, I do enjoy a good disc jockey,” Thor said excitedly before turning to you. “Would you like to join us?”

“Maybe later,” you replied. “I’m gonna go find Wanda and Nat so we can discuss how old you are now. I’m planning to get in a few old man jokes before the night is over.”

“If you must. Though I am still fairly young by Asgardian standards.” Thor proclaimed with a flex of his muscles, causing you to laugh and Sam to roll his eyes. 

“Yeah, yeah, enough showing off, birthday boy. Let’s get on the floor.”

Once they left, you ambled around the room, eventually finding the others and stopping to chat with them. Thor’s party was now in full swing with people crowding the entirety of the room, all looking like they were having a merry time. 

After a while, the music became a bit too loud so you headed out onto the balcony for a bit of quiet.

Walking towards the edge, you leaned onto the railing and breathed in the fresh night air. It was quite peaceful. However, that peace only lasted for but a moment.

“Is there not any place I can be rid of you?” a deep, resonant voice complained.

Your whipped your head around, meeting Loki’s forever accusing gaze as he stood less than five feet away from you. His arms were crossed as he glared at you, looking as if you were the one disturbing his peace.

You straightened and turned to fully face him, having had enough of his unwarranted antagonism against you for one night.

Placing a hand on your chin, you provided him with an exaggerated expression of thoughtfulness. 

“Oh, I know! How about you just, I don’t know, leave?” You gestured with your hand. “The door’s right there.”

“I was here first, therefore you should be the one to leave. You’re in my space.” He argued.

“I was here first.” You mimicked his accent. “What are you, a five year old? God, I cannot even breathe without you getting bothered. You have some serious anger issues.”

“Perhaps you should stop breathing at all.” He sneered, taking a menacing step towards you. “That way I’d never have to see your face again.”

You flinched, taken aback by his increasing hostility. His malice towards you truly had no boundaries.

“Wow,” You breathed out in disbelief. “Are you sure you’re related to Thor? Because you are nothing like your him. I’m starting to think you were adopted and your real parents were probably monsters.”

His face dropped immediately, and you were about to claim your victory until you saw him swallow hard, a look of intense hurt appearing on his beautiful features.

Just as quickly as it appeared, his pained demeanor was gone, replaced with a look much more sinister. Angrier.

He took slow deliberate steps toward you, and it took everything in you not to back away. 

“Are you aware of how pathetic you are? How pitiful you look while shamelessly flirting with my brother like some desperate harlot?”

Your eyes almost popped out of your head. “What? I never-”

“It is an absolutely nauseating sight to be forced to witness. As if someone as repulsive as you could compare to an Asgardian god. As if your own species would even want to be around you. You are nothing but an insect I’d willingly crush with the bottom of my boot. A pest to be rid of.” 

You stood with your back straight and rigid, watching as he took one last step toward you, barely an inch between your bodies as he leaned down towards your face and whispered harshly through clenched teeth.

“You absolutely disgust me.”

The air was quiet between you for a moment, your chest heaving as you met Loki’s searing contemptful gaze. 

No one was more shocked than you when tears started rolling down your cheeks. Loki blinked, his breath hitching quietly as he realized what he had done.

He opened his mouth, yet no other words came out to your utter relief

You bit your lip looking away, embarrassed at the knowledge that you had finally cracked. 

You didn’t want to look weak in front of him. You didn’t want to cry. He was the last person who deserved your tears.

However, you couldn’t ignore the feelings of extreme hurt filling your chest. You didn’t know how much more of his hatred toward you could take. 

This was it. He won.

Slowly, you lowered your gaze towards the ground and took a step back while nodding your head.

“Okay,” You voice came out weaker than you wanted it to. “You made it extremely clear about how you see me. You don’t have to worry about me coming around anymore. Bye, Loki.”

You backed away and turned your back to him, ignoring his gentle call of your name as you returned to the party.

You wanted to leave, to go home and curl up in a ball and sulk for the rest of the night. You told yourself that you didn’t care about his opinion, yet the hot, tight feeling in your chest was telling you otherwise. 

But you held strong. You couldn’t leave Thor’s party yet. Especially since this was most likely going to be the last time you’d see him in a while. The thought of having to see Loki, or even thinking about him made a huge lump form in your throat. 

You didn’t want ever see him again. He was a complete and utter jackass.

You trailed over to the bar, eyeing the glass bottles with a sad gaze. You weren’t planning to drink at all, but now you felt like you had to be able to get through the rest of the night. A margarita or two wouldn’t hurt.

Sitting down on a bar stool, you stared into space, mind replaying what Loki had said to you. What he had professed to you with a burning passion. The worst part was that you believed he meant every word. He was switched from being petty to cutthroat in only a second.

Did he really think that you wanted Thor? Did it truly seem as if you were always flirting with him? You did love Thor as a friend. How could you not? He’s literally changed your life for the better after meeting him. 

You could barely afford to pay your bills on time before he recommended you as an established artist to all his friends and colleagues. You were appreciative of his support and genuine friendship, but by no means were you interested in a romantic relationship with him. 

Loki’s perception of you was completely wrong, and he didn’t even give you a chance to tell him otherwise.

“Fuck him,” You grumbled, taking a small sip of your drink before walking over to sit at an empty table in the corner. 

You eyed the dancing crowd not too far from you. Thor and his friends looked like they were having a blast. They were indeed tearing up the dance floor. If Loki hadn’t ruined your night, you would’ve happily joined in.

“Who are we fucking?”

You turned your head to the side, startled to see a blonde haired man sitting down beside you. He was certainly not familiar.

“Excuse me?” 

“You said, and I quote, “fuck him”. I was just curious about who we were talking about,” he replied with a charming smile.

We? You eyed him skeptically before answering. “No one, just some asshole that I don’t need to spare a second thought on.”

“Then don’t.” He said. “Talk to me instead. I’ll be your distraction.”

You hummed, slightly confused but not immediately put off by the idea. 

“Are you one of Thor’s friends?” You questioned. You’ve never seen this man before in your life. 

“No, kind of a friend of a friend.” He said with a shrug before holding his hand out to you. “John Walker, and you are?”

You shook his hand, providing him with your name as well.

“Pretty name for a pretty woman.” He winked before nodding towards your now empty glass. “How about I buy you another drink?”

Your brow quirked. “You know we don’t have to pay for these right? It’s an open bar.”

He blinked in surprise, looking perturbed. “Shoot. Then who did I give my credit card to?”

Your eyes widened but you quickly realized he was joking when a smirk crossed his face.

“Just kidding.” He said, chuckling at your expression. You rolled your eyes with a small smile. 

“I’ll go get you that drink. Be right back.”

He left for the bar, returning shortly with a glass of red wine. Sitting next to you again, he continued asking you more questions about yourself. You didn’t normally give men who flirted with you right away the time of day, but considering he was doing a good job keeping your mind off the person who shall not be named, you started to enjoy his company.

At least he didn’t think you were a disgusting insect that should stop breathing.

The drinks were helping, you thought, but you knew you’d have to stop eventually. You had to get home somehow and didn’t want to put pressure on anyone else here to take you because you had one too many.

“Another one?” John offered after you finished your second drink. 

You declined. “Um, no, I think I’ve had enough for the night.”

Your brows pinched as you felt your head start to spin. You only had two drinks, yet you felt as if you had about five. Your body felt lighter than usual, and the music seemed extremely loud. 

“Are you okay?” He asked, sounding genuinely concerned for you.

“Um, I-I don’t really know.” You huffed, holding your head. Your vision was getting blurrier by the minute. Panic started rising in your chest.

“I think I need to go to the restroom.” You slurred, attempting to stand up from your seat. When you stumbled on your feet, John shot up and grabbed you, holding you steady. 

“Woah there! I think you had more alcohol than you led me to believe.” He tutted, throwing your arm around his shoulder while wrapping one of his around your waist. “Here, let me help you.”

You shook your head and immediately regretted it as it made you even dizzier. “N-no I got it.”

“It doesn’t look like it.” He protested. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

“But-”

You didn’t get to finish your sentence before John practically carried you through the busy crowd and out of the room.

“No Joh… please. I wanna stay.”

He shushed you, leading you to a nearby restroom. You were confused when you entered, only feeling more alarmed when you realized it was a private bathroom. 

He released you and you stumbled backward, hitting the wall as you tried to move away as far as possible from him. He stood on the opposite side, locking the door before turning to leer at you.

His hungry gaze traveled down your body and you shivered. 

“I’ve been watching you all night, you know.” He admitted while biting his lip. “I noticed you as soon as you walked into the room, and immediately knew that I wanted you.”

“Please..” You stammered, slowly shaking your head back and forth. “I don’t like this.”

He strolled over to you, running a hand down your face while shushing you. “It’s okay sweetheart, you will soon. Trust me.”

You attempted to push his hand away but failed, barely able to move your arm correctly with your lack of strength.

“Stop,” you whimpered, tears now streaming down your face. “Please stop or I’ll scream.”

He laughed in your face. “Go ahead. Do it. No one will hear you, sweetie. I made sure of it.”

His cruel words made your panic transform into anger, and suddenly a rush of adrenaline surged within you. You used that moment to raise your foot as high as you could before slamming it back down onto his as hard as possible.

“Fuck!” He yelled, stumbling backward. “You fucking bitch!”

You scrambled towards the door in a clumsy hurry but failed to open it. You yelped as you felt John grip your neck before shoving you into the wall. 

Then you heard the loud slam of the restroom door as it burst open from the other side.

A tall, blurry figure stood there, letting out a loud curse before charging in. The painful grip on your neck was instantly removed, and you sank to the floor with your back against the wall.

The sound of pained grunts and cries of anguish filled the room. You peered upward, attempting to focus your gaze on the violent commotion going on before you.

Your eyes widened at the familiar sight of the man who was currently beating into John as if his life depended on it. 

Loki?!

Your mouth went agape as you watched John struggle to remove the other man away from him as Loki continued to pound his fist into his face. 

“You fucking snake!” He yelled, one hand gripping John’s neck and the other hitting his face. “Is this what you do?! Huh? Prey on innocent women and keep them trapped while you take advantage of them?! Is this what you have to do to get attention?!” 

His eyes were wild and dark curls were untamed as he drilled his fists into John’s boy repeatedly. His shirt became stained with red, the same red that John’s face was now covered in. 

He looked to be completely feral.

“Pathetic. Fucking. Weasel!”

When John stopped struggling you knew you had to do something. Though the man clearly roofied you and tried to take advantage of your weakened state, you didn’t want Loki to get in trouble for murder.

“Loki,” you called out to him shakily. “Stop.”

Either he didn’t hear you or he decided not to listen, fists still hammering into John’s now unconscious body. 

“Loki, you’re gonna kill him,” You whimpered lowly. Your hope to save John, and Loki by extension, was looking worse and worse as he continued to beat the man underneath him.

“What is going on here?!” A loud voice thundered as they ran into the room.

You breathed out in relief when you saw Thor crowding the doorway, other partygoers crowding behind him watching and gasping in horror at the disturbing display of violence they were witnessing.

“Thor, please… stop him!” you pleaded weakly.

Thor immediately took action, taking hold of his younger brother and pulling him off of the bloodied and deformed body crumpled up on the bathroom floor. 

“This man doesn’t deserve to live! Release me at once!” Loki hissed at him, chest heaving and adrenaline running through his veins.

“Whatever he has done, he doesn’t deserve your attention right now. She does,” Thor insisted adamantly. “I can handle him, but she needs you, brother.”

Loki’s gaze slid to you, his blood splattered face going white and features tightening. He pulled away Thor, the other man releasing him and carefully watching as Loki made his way over to you.

He crouched down to where you sat on the floor, back against the wall, and head lolling to the side as you struggled to keep your eyes open. 

He said your name softly and you blinked slowly at him.  

“Is it alright if I take you out of here?” He asked in a gentle tone, gaze the most tender you’ve ever seen them.

You gave a slow nod, wrapping your arms around his neck as he carefully lifted you from the ground.

As he exited the small room with you in his arms, you glanced over his shoulder to see Thor, Steve, Bucky, and Sam standing over John’s mangled body, most likely discussing what they were planning to do with him.

“Are you alright?” Loki asked as he carried you down the hall, his normal velvety tone now deep and gravely. The sound providing you with more comfort than you expected it to.

You peered up at him with a small smile. “I should be asking you that.” You rasped. “I didn’t expect the night to end with you coming to my rescue. I thought you didn’t like me.”

He scoffed lightly. “My issues with you wouldn’t have stopped me from caving that bastard’s face in. He was hurting you and planning to do much worse.”

“But for me? I thought you found me pathetic… and disgusting,” you mumbled, closing your eyes.

Loki flinched, not liking to hear his own deplorable words he growled at you only hours ago repeated back to him. He was ashamed that he let his feelings of jealousy for you and Thor’s relationship cloud his vision and paint you in a bad light.

The look on your face when he said those awful things to you earlier made him realize how much of a misguided jerk he was being. 

You were right. He was an asshole and you deserved to be treated better, and he was going to treat you how you deserved from now on. 

“No, you are not those things, pet. Nothing I said was true.” He whispered, not really sure if you were conscious enough to hear him or not. 

“You are truly wonderful, and I care for you more than you could ever know.”

𝘼/𝙉: 𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨! 𝙄 𝙚𝙣𝙟𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨. 𝙃𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙨𝙤𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙪𝙥𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨. 𝘿𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙬 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙞𝙣𝙗𝙤𝙭. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮’𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙩 🤷🏾‍♀️

DarkSerenity's Masterlist

✦ 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰. 𝘙𝘦𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 ;)

✦𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 ✨

[ultraericthered]

King Magnifico: Reimagining A Good Baddie Into Disney Villain Excellence.

I did not plan on doing another post about King Magnifico but dammit, the man just compells me. Since I recently drafted a revision treatment for the story of Wish, dubbed The Fully Fulfilled Edition, and it got me thinking more about Magnifico and the iteration of the character that I envisioned for my version of Disney's sentimental centennial tale. I've covered the troubles with the finalized official Disney character enough times already; I feel like the handling of his character and execution of his role as the story's villain was like a basketball wobbling along the rim before falling through the basket rather than a straight slam dunk. He's easily the most well-realized, enticing, entertaining, and developed character of the whole picture, the only one who comes close to being three-dimensional. But even he could've been better. If all the kinks were to have been ironed out in him, what might that actually end up looking like in practice?

Note that for this undertaking, I did not want to super drastically alter Magnifico's character to the point where he'd become completely divorced from what we got in the film and just be Magnifico in name only. I make just enough expansions, alterations, and fixes necessary to turn what I find good enough into what I'd consider truly great.

For starters, his tragic origin story being told to us upfront right out the gate helps to clear the air early into the picture, when we've not yet met King Magnifico but are given the background information of the man who became King Magnifico, wed Queen Amaya, and built the kingdom of Rosas. In my take on the backstory, the young would be-King Magnifico's family lived in a harbor town, working slavishly on what's implied to be export and trade. It's said that one day the young man, wanting his family to be happier and have more time for him, made a wish upon a totem for his family's burdens to be lifted. Well, that ended up being a vague wish that in a way did come true, as the town was soon attacked by a band of greedy marauders. In the storybook images the town would be shown going up in green flames as young Magnifico takes a boat to survival. Unfortunately, the boat ended up getting wrecked landing on a desert island, and the story would tell us that the youth lost everything he had in the wreck...even though he'd clearly be holding onto something in the accompanying picture. It is then said that Magnifico understood well the value and the danger a wish can hold, which inspired him to learn the arts of sorcery and magic that can extract a heart's deepest and most precious wish as a tangible substance held within a magic orb. Eventually he and the loyal wife he'd married built a great kingdom on that very island Magnifico had landed on, the kingdom of Rosas, where the citizens wishes are given, protected, and granted in the benign rule of Magnifico and Amaya, the "long lived" king and queen.

With that backstory and the reasons for why Magnifico founded Rosas and created the wish giving system established, the first in-universe look at the king we're given is in statues, in murals, in his face painted in various locations, even in the cookies Dahlia bakes. The face looks very kind, dignified, wisened, majestic, and above all gorgeously handsome. His presence is also subtly felt in what we'd be shown of the average Rosas citizens - some who are overly happy and enthused in a very cult-like manner and some who are only half-awake and half-heartedly trying to stay into it. This is heavily implicit as being a result of the system and society in Rosas, where the happier people are the ones who've had their wishes granted or have such good standing with the royals that they feel they're likely to have their wishes granted in the near future, while the lethargic ones are those who've given their wishes away, cannot remember what they even were to start with, and have been tirelessly waiting for when the time comes for Magnifico to grant them in a wish ceremony.

So then when we’re properly introduced to King Magnifico after all the build-up, it'd be immediately striking how the appearance of the man himself doesn't quite measure up to what we'd seen depicted in the kingdom's arts and crafts. We were told he's beloved by all, yet the man we meet here would come off very...Stephen Strange-ish. He'd be very smarmy, disgrunted, irrate and patronizing towards Asha, visibly or verbally condescending to her and treating her like a silly, hapless child who he doesn’t believe will attain the position. However, he is coming off of another interview that ended poorly, so we think maybe he's just in a sour mood and we shouldn't assume too badly of him. If we hold onto hope for his better nature to win out, it seems to pay off when he appears to empathize with Asha after she's told him of her deceased father and all the ways in which he'd inspired her to dream big and to love Rosas; it's almost like the king sees some of his younger self in Asha, and through that, he's able to recognize that she could be a good fit for the job of working for him as his apprentice, someone he can shape into being more like him and following his ways. He'd do the "I too suffered great loss at a young age due to the selfish wishes and actions of greedy thieves and built Rosas as a place where that would not happen" thing like in the movie, but not only do we understand that more due to having been given the whole backstory, it'd also be more noticeable just how...calculated it feels. Like, Magnifico might as well say "I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. Y'know, my late son, Beau..."., y'know those shows of pseudo-empathy that political leaders love to do.

Once Asha has the job and returns to the castle for her first day of apprenticeship, King Magnifico would show us that oh no, this guy might actually be worse than we'd thought he was before. He's now in full Handsome Jack from Borderlands mode, acting more giddy and animated because he just loves his apprentice's first days where he can "dazzle them with all his splendor, and win over all of their love and devotion and appreciation for all his royal duties." And he just acts completely unkind and insensitive to Asha, making her do all sort of minor chores the way Lady Tremaine would do to Cinderella. He lets Asha into his sanctum of wishes, where he holds, juggles, balances and caresses some of the various wishes in a way that seems unsettlingly possessive, akin to how Mother Gothel stroked Rapunzel’s golden hair, and as he does he sings these words:

If happiness was a tangible thing, it would be you If you'd have told me the feeling you'd bring, I'd think it untrue And people search for a wonder like you all of their lives You still amaze me after all this time You pull me in like some kind of wind Mesmerized by the hold I'm in Leave you here, I don't wanna I wanna promise as one does I, I will protect you at all costs Keep you safe here in my arms I, I will protect you at all costs At all costs

Then the shoe drops. Magnifico reveals that he doesn't just collect these wishes to safeguard them and grant them in ceremonies: he uses the magical blessings cast upon the wishes as means of keeping his own magic powers charged every day, and it's also how he has sustained such slow aging and long living for himself and his wife. Yes, the royals feed off of the souls of their own subjects in order to keep their lifespan going, with the wishes extracted from the beautiful innermost part of those souls serving as convenient battery power for them. Unnerved as this makes Asha feel, the subject of a long life span naturally calls her almost 100 year old grandfather to mind, and she makes the dreaded "nepotism favor" request that the king consider granting Sabino’s wish at the ceremony. Magnifico, disappointed but not surprised, declines this request, rationalizing the wish could be too vague and might pose a threat to the kingdom. Asha then realizes Magnifico intends to never grant most of these wishes yet refuses to return the ungrantable wishes to their owners. She openly questions the king, telling him it's unreasonable of him to keep the most beautiful part of his subjects very selves from them if he truly has no inclination to ever grant them with his magic, and he should return those wishes to their owners so that they'll remember them and gain the drive to at least try to work towards fulfilling them themselves. Magnifico lashes out at her in fury ("I decide what everyone deserves!") and as consequence we get the ceremony where Magnifico pulls the spiteful fake-out with the wish granting just to shame and humiliate Asha, and let her know that her family's wishes will be kept by him forever, never to be granted. Also just barely noticable in the same scene would be that Magnifico reveals the wish of the person he grants it to and how it had been worded, but what he gives is notably a distorted alteration of the original wish. For all his high horsing about "be careful what you wish for, wishes worded too vaguely might go wrong when granted and that's too much of a danger risk", he himself exploits vaguely phrased wishes in order to twist them into something with benefits to the kingdom, his rule, and his image. For years, he's really only been using this system of wishes to make his own wishes come true, and has been routinely dishonest and hypocritical about it as he defrauds his people, committing theft by deception. What a self-obsessed bastard.

After Asha's made her wish to the stars and called Star down to Rosas, Magnifico and Amaya, having witnessed the wave of magic it brought, fear an unknown magic source that might threaten their kingdom and the hold they have on all the magic and wishes, but they find no answers in their books and scrolls to what this strange light might be. Magnifico starts acting furiously paranoid, remarking about how much he hates craven thieves and traitors. Due to how things went over with Asha, she is his primary suspect who he fears is now out to usurp his power and might not even be acting alone. As he starts to be overcome by desperation, Magnifico turns to his tome of forbidden dark magic and goes to unseal it. Fortunately for him, Amaya remains level-headed and is able to talk him out of it, to which he gives a very transparently half-hearted "thanks", followed by the "I am a handsome king" bit when Amaya tells him that, as they cannot baselessly accuse and arrest Asha for treason, they use the people’s love of him as their monarch to get them to reach the truth for them.

Of course, during the briefing with the public, people start asking how and why their wishes might now be in danger, which leads to questions about why Magnifico established the system the way that he did, which leads to deeper questioning such as why everything in Rosas is so tailored towards the king despite his role being to protect and provide for the people - like, why does the king need to have his handsome face plastered everywhere? When everyone feels the next wave of magic from Star’s evolution, it proves definitively what Magnifico told them: that this magic didn’t come from him, and that only creates a sense of disillusionment among the people. A furious Magnifico warns of a traitor within the kingdom conspiring to use this magic to steal all wishes and topple the monarchy, who must be found and punished, and that a wish will be freely granted to anyone who identifies this person. Then he shuts the doors back into his castle, frantically pacing about and looking to see if the magic came from somewhere within. Visibly aggitated, Amaya tries to soothe her petulant husband urging him to calm his mind and cheer himself up by gazing at his reflection in the mirrored walls. Which leads to....

"This Is The Thanks I Get" (Revised version)!

In between the second chorus and the bridge, Magnifico walks in front of the forbidden magic tome and vocalizes that in his years long reign, he has been far too soft on his people, spoiling them into becoming greedy, entitled ingrates who are all no better than thieves, so he needs to harden his heart and exercise more power “for their own good”, to tighten his grip over Rosas and preserve his power. So he unseals the book, opens it up, and gains power from its corruptive influence. And he made sure to do this when his wife wasn't around to stop him from doing so. This was his choice. He wanted this. In his desperation to not let his power over Rosas slip from him, he turned to what he knew as wrong primarily for the convenience of it enabling him to shed anything within himself that was restraining him before, and to grant to him more destructive, awesome power to squash all dissent with. This is what takes him from "big jerk" to "true villain."

After being told by Simon that Asha was indeed responsible for Star's summoning and has been plotting against him, Magnifico goes to Asha's family's home and assaults Sabino and Sakina with magic that’s holding them down when Asha and Star return. Declaring he must arrest the whole family for both high treason and harboring a criminal, Magnifico also takes time to relish some cruelty towards Asha, not only stepping on Sabino's already broken lute in front of her but bringing out Sakina’s wish and using his new dark power to shatter it in his grip, making Sakina reel in agony as the energy from her wish, a sacred part of her soul, gets absorbed into Magnifico’s black magic. Realizing how much power he can claims from the wishes delights the vainglorious monarch, who says had he known this, he would've broken wishes ages ago! So now Magnifico has a singular goal: to absorb the magic of both Star and all the wishes in order to become an all-powerful tyrant, motivated purely by pride, spite, desire for retribution and control, and the power high he's on.

Forging his new dark magic scepter, Magnifico addresses the public once more, revealing the traitor to be Asha and Simon to be the one to sell her out under the promise of having his wish granted. But be careful what you wish for, Simon! Magnifico twists the wish once again ("to be the king’s greatest, bravest and most loyal knight"), this time using his new dark magic to bewitch and brainwash him into a magitech knight. Magnifico then puts out the reward of another wish granting ceremony for the wish of whichever of his subjects helps the knights capture Asha and Star, with the added threat that the longer it takes for them to be captured, the more wishes he will break so that no one may get their wishes granted in the end, which makes the masses erupt into carnage and division between the fearful but still adoring loyalists to the king, and those who see this is not right and want no part in it. To quell this disorder, Magnifico unleashes more magic, desecrating the area and putting lives at risk, prompting a distraught Amaya to suggest he reign himself in better, and to her surprise, Magnifico points his staff at her, telling her to never again second-guess him or give him orders or else. He then orders all dissenters to be rounded up and thrown in the dungeon. So it's pretty clear by now that Magnifico is far gone, and this time the needless "looking for a way to save Magnifico from the thrall of the dark magic only to learn it can't be done" plot point is omitted, as this Amaya knows from the get-go that once you open the book and read from it even once, your addiction to the power it grants is unbreakable.

At the climax of the story, King Magnifico ascends the castle’s tower, sucks the life out from every wish that has been released into the night sky through his sanctum's open ceiling, and absorbs it all, sending droves of people in the kingdom into agonizing pain, anguish and despair. With no wishes to charge himself with, he gleefully traps Star in his scepter to act as the new living magical battery for his power. He thanks Star and Asha for how they've challenged his rule, because if they hadn't, he'd not have ever learned how much more gratifying it was to take all that he wants rather than "pretend to care and lightly snack on the magic of those wishes only in desperate moments". Asha's attempts to stop him are easily overpowered, as he then KO's his wife with a magic blast for her betrayal, then uses his dark magic to block out the sky so that the citizens never again may wish upon stars, then creates magical chains from out of the ground that bind all the citizens in place, and when the knights rush to stop their mad king, he not only chains them too, but unleashes waves of dark magic that set Rosas ablaze with green fire, madly declaring that he will oppress the disspirited masses forevermore: "No more hope, no more dreams, no escape, no chance to rise up, no one to tell any tales, and no one to challenge me ever again! And I would gladly rather see my great kingdom burn and crumble to Rosas' soil than give up this awesome power I so majestically wield!"

What happens next...well, you all probably know that by now.

So that's Magnifico's progression as the villain in my revision of Wish, but there's one last tiny yet hugely significant touch I'd add to fully bring his character together. A little before the big climax, Amaya would make reference to the fact that sealing the forbidden black magic inside “that heirloom” was among the first fundamental cornerstones of Rosas, but Magnifico has now totally backtracked on that and betrayed his oath to his people and their wishes. Hearing the book called an "heirloom" and then looking back at the storybook images of Magnifico's origin story at the start of the film makes the two pieces click together. That tome of forbidden magic belonged to Magnifico's family, the marauders sought it out and opened it up, which is what actually set the town ablaze, Magnifico took it with him as he fled to the boat, and it was the only thing he had that survived the boat's wreckage onto the shores of what would become Rosas. Throughout the story, Magnifico would have lines expressing his disdain for "thieves", "traitors", "cowards", "ingrates", and "weaklings". ...But this did not really come from just his trauma with the thieves. It's because he felt as though he himself, as a youth, was all of those things. He was a thief who stole his family's book, he was a traitor for making that vague wish that brought the marauders there, he was a coward and an ingrate for fleeing and leaving his family to burn, and he was a weakling for lacking the power to stop any of that from occurring and get things under control. To us on the outside looking in, it's easy to see how irrational it is for Magnifico to blame himself like that and have such self-loathing for boyhood mistakes and things beyond his control that were not really his fault. But tragically, no one ever told him this, not even Amaya. So what drove Magnifico forward in life was a pathological need to change his self image, to become someone greater and more powerful than that thieving little coward, to assert himself as the height of perfection, someone who could be loved and who could love himself in turn. He needed to be a king, for back in the day, a king was considered the only flesh and blood mortal human on Earth close to or secondary in power to the divinity of God Himself, for they had "the divine right to rule", the mandate of Heaven. So not only could Magnifico be that, but his magical power, the extension of his life via the wishes, and the system for taking the secret hopes, dreams, and prayers of the commonfolk to protect and decide which among them to grant, could put him that much closer to being a god among men. That is the core of what King Magnifico wanted; to feel like he was God, so as to erase his own inner pain over the fallability of being human. He was for years perpetually feeding his own power and ego, and yet it was never going to be enough. And he became so enthralled in his own God-and-Savior Complex, in playing at being the highest power in all the land, that he became a greedy, immoral, disruptive and destabilizing individual who brings suffering to the lives and wishes of others, like he'd once been the victim of; he became the very threat to Rosas that he’d been so wary of. And so, he got rewarded as such a threat deserves.

Dammit, now I'm low-key pissed at Disney! Say the line, Peridot!

[thedinanshiral]

The Missing

Having read the latest Dragon Age comic there's really not much i have to say about it. We follow Varric and Harding on their mission to find Solas, and get to see them meet some characters from previous comics like the Crows Viago and Teia, and some Tevinter Nights characters as well. The premise is simple: there's an artifact somewhere and everyone's trying to get it -Solas, the Venatori-, and our party is trying to find Solas so there they go. We get to see a little bit of Tevinter, and a little bit of the Arlathan Forest which only made me wonder how certain things could be made in the next game (distorsions in the very fabric of space-time are always interesting to me, there's a lot that could be made with that setting, gameplay wise).

As i think i've mentioned before, these side media are often made in preparation for the next installment in the series, the Dragon Age comics have rarely been lore-heavy for newcomers and hints for veterans are few and cute but not exactly groundbreaking (they better leave that for the actual game!)

Only one frame caught my attention:

In this scene out party has arrived at the temple lost in the Arlathan Forest where they expected to find the coveted artifact and Solas himself. Alas, both are gone already, but we as the readers are treated to these murals, one familiar and one not.

I'm not saying Solas was the only elf capable of making such murals but he's been practically designated as the artist behind nearly every elvhen mural seen so far, and that wolf one is no exception.

Is the location in the comic the same as in the trailer? We can't tell for now.

But it's the other part of the mural that i have to focus on. I had seen it before -spoilers can be unavoidable sometimes - and it bothers me considerably that it wasn't until i saw it on my own copy that i realized something.

People almost immediately interpreted the figures to be Ghilan'nain and Andruil, particularly because the one standing has a headpiece that very much resembles one of the upside-down figures in the trailer's mural

This, coupled with some previous concept art led people to believe the figure should be Ghilan'nain..

...or is she?

You see, the recent Dragon Age vinyl came with gorgeous cover variants, depicting the city of Arlathan before and after Solas' action, and the latter shows what seem to be the faces of most of the other Evanuris

Their headpieces are the same as shown in another part of the trailer

The moment this one came out everyone tried to guess what design corresponded to which Evanuris. I tried it too but didn't take notes so excuse me i'm not trying again now,maybe later

When i looked at that panel in the comic, it hit me. The sitting figure, with the half-moon headpiece, the same as in one of the gods on the trailer mural, the same as the grotesque sea monster...might not be Ghilan'nain. Despite all possible readings covered so far, it may actually be..Andruil.

"Whaaaaaat??" you may say, but hear me out. Check the body language in that mural. It's loving, tender, one is lying on the other's lap, they look like lovers. As Andruil and Ghilan'nain are presumed to have been. With Andruil being the senior one, i think it makes more sense for her to be the one sitting, looking down at the other resting on her lap. If the headpieces the Evanuris wore were in any way related to their name or atributes, that alone changes how this scene can be understood. The resting figure's headpiece looks like two horns; which Evanuris was related to anything with horns...antlers...halla? Ghilan'nain Mother of Halla. She was so proud of the halla, the creation that granted her godhood, the one that still roams the land, why wouldn't she reference her finest work with her crown?

Whereas the other figure, seemingly more imposing, stronger perhaps, has a headpiece that closely resembles..a halfmoon, people thought. But let me offer an alternative: a bow. Andruil, goddess of the hunt. "Sister of the Moon, Mother of Hares, Lady of the Hunt". Her preferred weapon? Bow and arrow. We know Andruil hunted in the Abyss, that it drove her mad, tainted, and apparently Horror of Hormak distracted us all because we thought it had to be Ghilan'nain, with her experiments, her monstrous creations, her underground labs of lyrium-induced genetic disasters. But what if it's not her, but her lover? What if it's Andruil? She "put an armor made of the Void and made weapons of darkness. She brought plague to her lands and howled things meant to be forgotten". She could very well be the giant sea monster in concept art. Monsters so massive don't need weapons, and that one is holding a spear. The devs note mentions "evil gods", and ok sure, Evanuris being evil is kinda debatable but the one we know for sure lost her freaking mind was Andruil.

Besides asking who's who, i think we should also consider why they're depicted like this in a mural, specially if we consider the very likely possibility that Solas made it. We know very little of his relationship with the Evanuris, other than Mythal. He didn't approve of them for sure, but he also still holds a deep love for all his people. We have at least one story that connects him with Andruil and Ghilan'nain, which is a bit odd, to say the least.

That's all i have for now. I think i'll read all the pre-Dreadwolf comics soon and work with that. Thanks for reading :)

[sunnimint]

The Super Sonic × Reaper Metal AU refuses to leave my mind. So, I'm going to word vomit.

For reference, the S!Sonic × R!Metal AU is now officially named the Golden Grim AU. Here's some background info on how it all started!

Before we get into it, I want to emphasize that the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald in this AU are somewhat sentient- that’s what changes everything.

When I say Sonic goes super for the first time and couldn't change back, I really mean it. Following the events in StH 2, Sonic stays in his super form, the Chaos Emeralds refusing to part with a perfect vessel. This means the only people who have met and known Sonic as a blue hedgehog is everyone who was already introduced before StH 2's release. I'm taking some liberties, since I've heard that Sonic CD takes place before StH 2 (possibly canon?), meaning Amy and Metal have met Sonic first in his regular blue hedgieness. This means that Sonic didn't turn Super in Sonic CD too.

Super Sonic is, at first, very ecstatic to have godlike powers. He doesn’t mind not turning back, not at the beginning. Therefore, at this stage, S!Sonic is content to be running/flying around as a golden hedgehog with unlimited strength. The world is at S!Sonic’s fingertips, and he brings Tails with him wherever he goes. Tails, whose admiration for Sonic grows tenfold because of his super form. People around the world have taken notice of a powerful golden hedgehog. This marks the beginning of S!Sonic’s religion.

Following the events of StH 2, Eggman crash lands onto Angel Island, but the whole shtick in StH 3 & Knuckles is different. Knuckles, upon meeting Super Sonic (who even after he punches, still remains in his Super form) relates S!Sonic to the mural in the Hidden Palace. Thus, a rivalry is not formed and Knuckles struggles to keep believing Eggman because Knuckles believes S!Sonic is a supposed chosen one/a prophet/divine being. Eggman is therefore forced to leave but concocts a plan for the Master Emerald in order to replicate Sonic’s power.

With Knuckles trying to become S!Sonic’s servant/get 'guidance' from S!Sonic, he is distracted enough to not notice Eggman once again back on Angel Island. Alone with the Master Emerald and having brought Metal back from Little Planet, Eggman has Metal use the Master Emerald in hopes that he will become super like Sonic.

The Master Emerald, however, does NOT like to be used by anyone it deems as unworthy. Eggman is unworthy. Metal, who wants nothing more than to destroy Sonic, is also deemed unworthy. The Master Emerald punishes them both, granting them their wishes but at a cost.

Reaper Metal is born but his origin is a tragic one. Upon his new form, R!Metal is content to have a power that rivals S!Sonic but the feeling is short lived when he notices his surroundings. Everything in R!Metal’s vicinity is, essentially, lifeless and dark. Eggman, who was next to Metal, is nowhere in sight. There are no animals or insects chirping in the background. Everything has gone silent around R!Metal. The Master Emerald has made R!Metal a personification of death, destined to be alone with no one’s company but S!Sonic, his loathsome copy.

The Master Emerald also, as punishment, gave empathy to R!Metal. R!Metal can feel the life being snuffed out of every being that comes close to him.

[ym-loreposting]

Who made the Master Sword?

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword shows how one of the icons of the The Legend of Zelda series, the Master Sword, was first created. However, this topic has a longer history in the lore of the series than many may realize and it gives more insight into the origins of the sword as a result.

A Link to the Past

The first game to feature the Master Sword was A Link to the Past and it already gives some comments on its origin. In the manual and in the game, details are given:

"Suspecting that Ganon's power was based on the Triforce's magic, the people of Hyrule forged a sword resistant to magic which could repulse even powers granted by the Triforce. This mighty weapon became known as the blade of evil's bane, or the Master Sword." -A Link to the Past manual, page 5

"Long ago, a prosperous people known as the Hylia inhabited this land… Legends tell of many treasures that the Hylia hid throughout the land… The Master Sword, a mighty blade forged against those with evil hearts, is one of them." -Sahasrahla's housekeeper

These passages suggest the Master Sword was made during the Imprisoning War to oppose Ganon, contradicting basically every game that came out afterwards. However, parts of A Link to the Past and especially its manual were mistranslated or had things added to them in localization. This is one of those instances, for if we look at the Japanese quotes in the manual and game, a different picture emerges:

"しかし、トライフォースを手にする者が善人だけとは限りません。そこで、ハイラル人は神のお告げで、トライフォースをかどわかす魔を撃退する、退魔の剣を造りました。それはマスターソードといわれ、真の勇者のみが使うことが出来るといわれていました。" "However, users of the Triforce are not limited to only good persons. Accordingly, to repel an evil "kidnapping" of the Triforce, Hyrule's people were informed by a divine oracle to make an "expel-evil" sword. That sword was called the Master Sword, and it was said that it could be used by (a person) with the faithful hero's values." -A Link to the Past Japanese manual (Johan's translation)

"今より　はるか昔この地にハイリア族と呼ばれた民がさかえておったそうじゃ…。この国には、その民の残した宝がいくつか　かくされておると言うことでな…。マスターソードは　その中でも魔の力を持つ者に対して　特にきたえられた剣だときいておるそして今も　森の奥深くしずかにねむっているはずじゃ" "Long before now, a people called the Hylians prospered in this land. They say that in this country, a few remaining treasures of that people are hidden away… I've heard that the Master Sword is also one of those, a sword specially forged to oppose those with demonic powers. And even now, it should be sleeping peacefully deep in the forest. " -Sahasrahla's housekeeper in Japanese (translation by KWhazit)

The Japanese text places the creation of the Master Sword before the Imprisoning War and more details are given. A divine oracle or voice of some kind instructed the people of Hyrule to create the Master Sword, should someone evil claim the Triforce. It also seems that it was specially forged to oppose those with demonic powers, hence it having the power to repel evil/demons. For the rest, A Link to the Past does not really comment on the sword's origins.

Twilight Princess

Following A Link to the Past, the Master Sword would return in Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker but these games do not comment on its origins. It was not until Twilight Princess a new detail was added into the mix: ancient Sages made the sword.

"そこには、古の賢者達によって造られた　退魔の剣　マスターソードが眠っています" "There lies sleeping the blade of demons' bane, the Master Sword, crafted by the ancient sages." -princess Zelda before sacrificing herself to save Midna (translated by Jumbie)

This would be a specification of what we are told in A Link to the Past: the Sages made the Master Sword on the orders of the divine oracle. However, that was until...

Skyward Sword

This game most clearly shows how the Master Sword came to be. It used to be called the Goddess Sword and was made long before Skyward Sword. It was wielded by the goddess Hylia during the primordial war against Demise, as can be seen in the game's intro and murals inside the Statue of the Goddess.

After Demise was sealed, Hylia created two plans to eradicate him for good. One of these plans involved the creation of Fi, a spirit inhabiting the sword, who was to assist Hylia's chosen hero on her mission. She does this during the events of Skyward Sword itself and part of this is to ensure that the Goddess Sword becomes the Master Sword. The Goddess Sword is forged in three flames named after the gods that created Hyrule, which change it form and imbue it with different powers. Farore's Flame makes the Goddess Sword the Goddess Longsword, a sharper and longer variant. Nayru's Flame makes the longsword the Goddess White Sword, which expands Fi's powers. Din's Flame start yo imbues it with the power to repel evil and demons, making it the Master Sword but in a dormant state (the same form the Master Sword is first found in in The Wind Waker). It only becomes the True Master Sword after it is blessed by Skyward Sword's incarnation of Zelda, a mortal reincarnation of the goddess Hylia, truly giving it the power to repel evil.

Putting it all together

The accounts given by A Link to the Past, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword appear different but can and do fit together. What is described in A Link to the Past fits Skyward Sword rather well: a divine oracle or voice instructs the people of Hyrule to create the Master Sword to oppose those with demonic powers and to prevent evil from claiming the Triforce. The evil in question here is Demise and his demon hordes, while the divine oracle may be Fi or the various statues left behind by Hylia that speak in her stead and guide Link to the flames.

The only point of contention is the people of Hyrule bit, as the kingdom of Hyrule does not yet exist by the time of Skyward Sword. This can be reconciled a few ways however. In Ocarina of Time, the Great Deku Tree describes the world at time of creation in general as "Hyrule":

"Three golden goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule..." -Great Deku Tree (Ocarina of Time)

Another possible interpretation is that Link and Zelda in Skyward Sword would either go on to found Hyrule or their descendants did, making them retroactively "of Hyrule". Both can work in my opinion.

The big thing is Twilight Princess however, as there are no Sages anywhere in Skyward Sword that assist Link or Zelda. However, Hylia does have a connection with the Sages. On her temple, a mural can be found that bears the Sage Medallions from Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess.

This does show there is a connection between Hylia and the Sages. Perhaps she served as the seventh Sage, as Zelda also does in Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past. It is possible that these Ancient Sages didn't make the Master Sword, but made the Goddess Sword for Hylia.

If this sounds a bit technically correct, I would like to draw attention to Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Both of these games reference in passing the creation of the Master Sword:

"That is the weapon created by the ancient Goddess." -Deku Tree (Breath of the Wild) when first meeting him talking about the Master Sword

"The potential of this fabled blade may well be limitless. Truly the work of a goddess." -Deku Tree (Tears of the Kingdom) in Memory #1, alluding to Hylia having made the Master Sword

Hylia is credited with the sword's creation, yet did not play a part in it directly during Skyward Sword. It seems unlikely this refers to Zelda giving it her blessing, given how small a part of the process it was (and it would still be a technicality since Zelda isn't a proper goddess). Then it would refer to the creation of the Goddess Sword, as Zelda in Skyward Sword talks in a similar manner about its creation:

"Link, the goddess created Fi and the great blade she's a part of for very specific reasons." -Zelda (Skyward Sword)

This means that the Goddess Sword and the Master Sword can be considered interchangibly when the games talk about the Master Sword's creation, even after Skyward Sword came out.

Conclusion

So, how was the Master Sword made? During the primordial war against Demise, Hylia and six fellow sages created the Goddess Sword for Hylia to wield against Demise. After Demise was sealed away, Hylia created Fi to inhabit the sword and to assist her chosen hero. This is what is alluded to in Twilight Princess, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

Thousands of years later, the events of Skyward Sword occur. During the game, Fi guides Link to create the Master Sword from the Goddess Sword by imbuing it with the three sacred flames. Zelda also helps by giving it her blessing, making it the True Master Sword. This all is done to oppose Demise, an evil entity with demonic powers who wishes to claim the Triforce. This is then what A Link to the Past talks about in its manual and in-game.

[achoshistor]

[totk] loose ends

the devs said no dlc but theres sooo much stuff in the game thats just not even addressed like i get it its a huge game but they could at least say something thats not just "idk lmao"... who knows maybe creating a champion 2 will be real

anyways spoilers but mainly for totk

starting off on the surface there's the shape of the Gerudo highlands—no explanation for why its in the shape of one of the heroine statues

Misko is never really given an explanation either... what's the far off land they talk about regarding the treasures ?? how did they get the treasure into locations practically only accessible by link??

the Palmorae Ruins/Garini... he is literally just reduced to a shopkeeper in totk but wtf is up with that medallion... I think it is straight up gone in totk but even the doors back there... the other doors in botw opened up to a shrine/skeleton so why do these specific ones not open... and why was Garini able to help unlock the shrine in botw who is that man

ancient altar ruins, prison, other sinkhole caves/ruins littering the desert? this one is pretty minor and granted ive not really looked into the altar ruins but even with all the other ruins all over the desert like what are those even supposed to be

dragon skeletons/misc bones how did the one in Gerudo MOVE?? and how did the one in Hebra get stuck in there? there was a whole questline for this in botw with the different shaped heads and even another one in totk for the Gerudo one's baby/fixing the other two's bones/eyeball and its just left there are what even are those things and why do they just not explain them... plus i guess the ones in Eldin make some sense since there is a big one but the ones in Lanaryu?? i mean it did use to be a desert but there is nothing in the game regarding those bones... and also the skulls for the monsters like what are those and the bony rock around skull lake/ibara butte lake of horse god region/breach of demise like what even is that and WHY

Zonai ruins... im so sorry i post about this so much but aside from just the area labeled "Zonai Ruins" they do not talk about them at all in game... theres roads and like a graveyard and other various structures all over the jungle and even underground

Zonai ruins out of Faron... no explanation on the ones all over the Tabantha/Hebra region's caves... i mean at least the one door for the shrine you had to knock down was turned into a cave and the other two (that i know of) had a questline but whats up with the ones in the canyon? under Kakariko too like what's up with that?? Hyrule Ridge also like the thunder part from totk is tied to a sheikha shrine and they don't talk about it in totk (the balls) and Thyplo too i guess because they never talked about why it was covered in dark... but ig that was something to do with the Zonai since some shrines do that too... and the Zonai towers like what even are those

random Hylian ruins everywhere—they all have this weird shell crest thing on them (i do not have a picture right now but these are the stone ones not the wooden ones) and they were in botw too like reaching all the way to Eventide Island like are you seriously telling me the calamity reached the island?? why are they all broken down

why isn't Lake Kilsie frozen

Ankel/Tingel/other islands off of Sokkala/Upland Zorana... those islands are just not real to me at all like why are they so high up... were they manmade??

this one is also kind of minor but the descriptions for the labyrinths make no sense like who is talking to you (lord of owls/dragons/boars(?)

the people Josha talks about in the mural (statues)... you can see a Zonai in it and the trail of statues and Zonai look NOTHING alike you cannot convince me those are Zonai or even made by Zonai

the flowers in the water at Skull Lake and around Malanya Spring like ok this is also really small but why do they do that

giant tree stumps like they just do not even talk about those even though theyre all over central Hyrule

ancient Hylian ruins—the major reigons for these are Akkala and Tabantha... ik the creating a champion did talk about this but they did not really explain it or what they were... speaking of in Akkala there are Zonai ruins WITH the Hylian ones especially in the Tarrey Town/wetland area like what's up with that

owl/boar/dragon statues... the dragons are super present in totk yes but what is up with the owl and boar... the owl esp appears all over the Hebra caves

the horned statue thing that exchanges hearts/stamina for money... how does it move around and actually how does this work

I think that's it for the surface so for the depths theres also several things...

the Gerudo Underground Cemetery?? who was buried there and why not on the surface?? like i'm pretty sure it's right under Arbiter's Grounds...

coliseums?? there are a lot of them and I think they do correspond with locations on the surface but what was the reason for them being built??

ascend points—they pop up in mostly seemingly random locations... the one that made sense was the Akkala lab which overlooks the big maze island but the others pretty much take you to the middle of nowhere plus why does it have it's own music?? they have nothing to do with the story or anything aside from that one in Korok grove

lakes/secret spring of revival... tbh actually this is theorizing but i guess that the depths were under water at one point especially with that weird barnacle pattern all over the ground and that would have left water in deep areas but that does not explain where this water would have went or why the spring of revival is heated

general landscape of the area... its an inverse of the map but only of the current map... the one in the Forgotten Temple shows the central Hyrule region was a lake but there's not really a large area of ceiling high cliffs there... and also the dueling peaks have the river going through them as cliffs even though the ancient peak was just one... how do cliffs disappear/appear??

gorondia—is it the fire temple or what?? or was it just not even real

gleeok den: do the gleeoks just come from the depths?? is the king Gleeok down there like the mother of all Gleeoks?? and whats with the statues of the four races down there also??

speaking of statues there's not one for Hylians which ok ig they did not do anything useful but also they just do not match the style of every other Zonai building down there

bargainer statues?? again they do not look Zonai, they look like the statues that lead you to mines and they're always under goddess statues... are there more to be recovered because the one at lookout landing does not seem to have a goddess statue with it... plus the bigger they are the more limbs they seem to have like the big one under the Forgotten Temple has hands and feet (granted with like 3 fingers) plus they can give out hearts?? like seeing that actually what are the goddess statues doing with your shrine balls where do they take them?? and what is the afterlife where do these statues take the poes... plus why do their eyes glow the same color as the ancient energy...

ancient underground fortress/ancient observation deck?? theres no cities or anything that really needs defense down there so why is there a whole fort down there... and the observation deck is literally like a random structure but ig it makes sense since it watches over the heart

blupee den... how did they get down there

the bosses down there like why are they down there and why are there MULTIPLE of them + what are the flux constructs guarding

great skeletons... while under the ones on the surface they are not the same creatures... i've seen theories that are like "this is a dragon and the gloom hands ate them" which makes sense bc the skeletons are about as long as Naydra but who were these three?? were they unique to the depths or something and also if they were flying how would the gloom hands reach them

trees?? theres big tree stumps in some groves like what are those but also the smaller trees look more like coral than trees and don't even drop wood when you cut them... i mean ig they do work since the Yiga seem to use them but regardless I think they refer to them as "trees" so what even are they

Akkala House of Bones... what and why

ok i think that is all for the depths so now onto the sky

the islands... i get that most of them were raised from the depths but how come none of the rock on these islands looks anything like the rock from the depths??

dive ceremony... could the Zonai fly or something?? i mean i don't think we ever saw Rauru fly or anything actually how would they even get up there in the first place... plus were the islands in the sky before Ganondorf was a thing since they did raise the Temple to protect it or was it over many years or were the constructs lying

islands specific to Gleeoks/Constructs... why are they just there like I get they protect the soul pieces but are gleeoks not evil/made of malice since they have the eye or have they just been around before Ganondorf made all the Other Monsters (moblins/bokoblins/etc)

just the style differences between the Water and Wind Temples and normal islands...what is up with that...

also why are there no zonai cities or anything?? where did they live?? like even though the two of them were the last two left there had to have been others right??

I think that is all for now thank you for coming to my ted talk

[last-lorekeeper]

Here's the transcript of my latest lesson. We get a very special visitor for this one!

[A video of a full classroom. Zinnia is nowhere to be seen. Instead, a Whismur stands atop the desk next to three Tera Shards. The students whisper among themselves before gasping. The camera is angled upwards to reveal Zinnia is hanging from the ceiling by a rope Spider-Man style.

Zinnia: Hello my lovely students. It's me, your teacher, Zinnia.

She drops down to the floor, landing perfectly with her arms outstretched to the sides. The camera follows her.

Zinnia: Who's ready to learn some history? Oh! But first! There's someone I need to introduce!

She plops down into a rolling chair and pushes herself over to the desk. She thrusts out both arms towards the Whismur as if presenting her at a show.

Zinnia: This is Assistant Professor Aster. I expect you to treat her with more respect than you would me.

She whacks the desk a few times as if she's playing the drums.

Zinnia: Now, let's get started! Who can tell me what these are.

She waves her hands over the Tera Shards on the desk like a merchant presenting her wares. Several students raise their hands. Zinnia picks one at random.

Zinnia: Yes! You! You look smart!

Student: Those are Tera Shards. You get them from completing Tera Raids.

Zinnia: Correct! But there's also another, secret method of getting them? Anyone know what it is? Anyone?

She pauses for a moment. Nobody raises their hand.

Zinnia: Theft! It's theft! I stole these from your science teacher. What a geek. I like him.

The students whisper amongst themselves.

Zinnia: Oh relax, I'll give them back. I just needed them for this class and I didn't feel like asking. Skies above.

A student raises their hand.

Student: Professor Zinnia! What does this have to do with Hoenn history?

Zinnia: I'm glad you asked! Absolutely nothing! But, they make for great props! So, Ground, Water, Dragon!

As she says the name of each type she picks up its corresponding Tera Crystal.

Zinnia: Can anyone tell me the significance of these types to Hoenn History?

A student raises their hand.

Zinnia: Yes!

Student: They're the types of the Super-Ancient Pokemon.

Zinnia: Ding ding ding! We have a winner! But they're not just the types of the Super-Ancient Pokemon, they're also the preferred types of Hoenn's three native tribes, the Gaiads, the Oceanids and, of course, the Draconids.

Zinnia dramatically gestures to herself when she mentions the Draconids.

Zinnia: Let's jump right into it! We'll start with the one you probably know, the Draconids. Everybody in Hoenn knows about the Draconids, if only because of my unfortunate habit of ending up on the news. On the record, I'm innocent of all crimes.

Student: Nobody said-

Zinnia: So, the Draconids! These days we largely stick around our home of Metepr Village but back in the days before the Normanssons, we had Settlements all over Hoenn, but mainly centered on Meteor Falls and the surrounding area. We worship Lord Rayquaza and pass down myths and legends of it and other Legendaries through murals and oral tradition. Stories are very important to us Draconids and one of the most venerated roles in Meteor Village is the Lorekeeper, the person whose job it is to memorize all the myths and legends and teach them to others. And wouldn't you know it, I'm the Lorekeeper and I'm teaching you myths and legends! I'm so good at my job!

She spins around in the rolling chair.

Zinnia: Draconids are, of course, master Dragon Trainers. It's quite literally in our blood. Turns out when you hang out with Dragons for a few generations some of their dragon-y-ness rubs off on you. Now we get fangs!

She grins, proudly displaying her fangs for all to see.

Zinnia: Draconids are also excellent at construction. Nobody could build like we can. We managed to build Sky Pillar without any modern day construction equipment. Granted, we never would have been able to do it without the help of the original Sootopolitans but they're an entire nother can of worms that we don't have time to unpack right now.

Aster makes Whismur noises.

Zinnia: You're right, sweetie, we should probably move on. I've spread enough "Draconids are Awesome" propaganda for now and we've still got tons left to cover! Next up, the Oceanids! The Oceanids were a tribe that ruled the waves of Hoenn! And, since Hoenn was and is mostly water, too much water one might say, this meant they were very powerful. They were masters of sailing, navigation, and Water Type Pokemon. The maps that made of Hoenn's islands are still some of the most accurate maps ever created and their trade routes are still in use today!

Zinnia: If you've run the Gym Challenge in Hoenn you've probably passed through Pacifidlog Town, a town floating on the water. The Oceanids used to have dozens of floating towns just like that! Isn't that cool? Most of them are gone now but Pacifidlog Town remains and still has a strong culture and tradition to this day.

Zinnia: A lot of Oceanid myths and legends center around Manaphy. The Draconids were experts at construction but the Oceanids were no slouches either. They built a massive temple on the ocean called Samiya or just the Sea Temple if that's too hard to spell. It was a place they could go to celebrate their connection to the Water and Water Type Pokemon and a place for Manaphy to live. Unfortunately, Samiya is lost. Historians will tell you it was destroyed but the Oceanids will tell you it's still out there, floating on the sea. And I think I'm inclined to agree with them. Stranger things have happened in this world.

Zinnia stands up and stretches.

Zinnia: Whoo, oh I needed that. Remember, kids, it's important to get up and stretch every once in a while. So do that, get up and stretch.

Zinnia waits as about a good three quarters of the class does as she says before continuing.

Zinnia: Now, we've got one last tribe to cover before the day is done, the Gaiads, Masters of Ground Type Pokemon. Now, the Gaiads-

There's a knock at the door. The Camera swings over to reveal Champion Geeta herself standing in the doorway. If this were a sitcom there would be cheers from the audience.

Zinnia: Well hello, there. Look at this, class, we have a visitor. La Primera herself.

Geeta: Yes, sorry to bother you, I just need to borrow-

Zinnia plops back down into the rolling chair and rolls herself over to Geeta with one push.

Zinnia: Oh it's no trouble, no trouble at all. We were just about to start learning about the Gaiads! Would you like to join us.

Geeta: Thank you for the offer but I'm afraid I'll have to decline. Now, as I was saying-

Zinnia: Of course, of course, I get it. You're a busy woman, what with being Champion and all. I couldn't possibly take up your precious time with my boring history lessons.

Geeta appears nonplussed.

Geeta: Well, I'm sure they're very interesting but-

Zinnia: No, no, it's fine. No need to let me down gently. I am merely a humble Lorekeeper and you are the Champion of Paldea.

Geeta: Ms. Zinnia!

Zinnia: Professor Zinnia, if you please. I'm a professor now. And a Lorekeeper. Oh, actually, call me Professor Lady Lorekeeper Zinnia. Not you, kids, you can just keep calling me Zinnia.

Geeta: I-

The school bell chimes. Zinnia pouts.

Zinnia: Aw, already? But we were just getting to the fun part!

She leans all the way back in the rolling chair, tipping it over and doing a backwards somersault, ending with her standing behind the teacher's desk.

Zinnia: Alright, kiddos, that's all for today. I'll finish teaching you about the Gaiads next class. Remember, I'm always available for a battle unless I'm not!

The class begins packing up and filing out of the room. Zinnia turns to an uncharacteristically irritated Geeta and smiles innocently.

Zinnia: Now, what was it you wanted, Ms. Champion?

The recording ends.]

//Oceanid lore inspired by @accessabilityanon

[smudged-red-ink]

A little Rauru meets Sonia snippet

Rauru was falling. 

It was like one of those dreams where your heart rises right out of your body until you jerk awake in a cold sweat. Only this was no dream. And the only end he would find was the unyielding earth waiting below.

He could see his tears, torn loose by the wind and glittering like diamonds in the fading sunlight. It was beautiful, and he might’ve appreciated it if he wasn’t focused on the sight of his island fading away into a tiny speck high up in the sky.

Rauru closed his eyes, white lashes sweeping sunbrowned cheeks. He braced for the collision.

But it never came.

Rauru opened his eyes tentatively. His body was wrapped in a soft golden light and he was rising back up into the now colorless sky as a clock’s gentle ticking echoed in his ears. 

Am I dead? 

Time remembered its proper order with a snap. The sky regained its blinding color and Rauru fell into someone’s waiting arms.

He looked up into her face and suddenly teardrops in the wind seemed like a crude mockery of beauty.

Man, I really am dead. 

Honey blond curls cupped fawn brown cheeks and framed eyes as lush as the meadow that surrounded them. Rauru said the first thing that came to mind. “I think I just fell for you.”

She dropped him abruptly on his back.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” The girl clapped her hands over her mouth. “Are you okay?”

“I’mfine.” Rauru wheezed. “ButI’lljustliehereforaminuteuntiloxygenreturnstomysorry lungsifyoudon’tmind.”

The grass was damp on his back and he could feel the earth, firm and steady, supporting him as his chest rose up and down. He’d never appreciated the solid safety of having dirt beneath him until this exact moment. He resolved never to take it for granted again.

He resolved not to take anything for granted again. Not the dew in the grass or the pollen in the air or the specks of light caught in this stranger’s beautiful eyes.

The girl cautiously sat down beside him, smoothing her skirt over her legs. Her limbs were marked by white-painted swirls, and she wore a bronze bangle around one bare ankle. “Where did you come from?”

Rauru pointed skyward, but the expanse was empty save for a few dandelion seed clouds. His island was nowhere to be seen. He let his hand fall limply to his chest.

The girl peered into the sky. “But- there’s nothing up there.”

Rauru smiled. “You’re sorely mistaken, my lady. There’s a whole world up there.”

“A land in the sky.” Her brow furrowed. “I’d call you crazy if you hadn’t just fallen from open air.”

Rauru shrugged. “Call me crazy if you like. But most folks call me Rauru.”

“I’m sorry I dropped you, Rauru.”

He liked the way his name sounded when she said it. “That’s alright.” He sat up and rubbed his chest. “One could say that you leave me a little breathless.”

“That’s-” She buried a smile and shook her head. “I’m Sonia.”

“Sonia.”

The Zonai elders painted murals of the Hylians, stick-like creatures with no horns, ungradiented skin, and unopened third eyes. The pictures had failed to capture how lovely they were.

“What are you looking at?” She asked, her eyes flicking back and forth like he was a book she was trying to decipher.

“You.” He said.

Her smile was back, then smothered just as quickly as the first time.

Mineru had always called him a romantic. But brushing fingers with death had put everything in perspective, and consequently his sister’s scoldings had fallen to the bottom of the priority list. 

Maybe this was a dream. Maybe he would hit the ground in a couple seconds and wake up dead. But he was never going to close his eyes to something beautiful ever again. 

If this was the view, he wouldn’t mind falling forever.

[merelygifted]

Long-lost ancient mural rediscovered in northern Peru after more than a century | Peru | The Guardian

A team of student archaeologists has rediscovered a 1,000-year-old multicoloured mural depicting a deity surrounded by warriors which was last seen a century ago in northern Peru.

Known as the Huaca Pintada, the 30-metre-long wall painted with fantastical images depicting mythical scenes was first found in 1916 by a band of treasure-hunting tomb raiders in Illimo near the city of Chiclayo.

The full splendour of the mural was captured in photographs taken at the time by Hans Heinrich Brüning, a German ethnographer whose work galvanised the archaeological study of the pre-Columbian ruins and relics in the region.

But then the grave robbers destroyed part of the wall after being forbidden from looting their find, and the site fell back into obscurity.

More than a century went by until a Swiss-Peruvian team led by Sâm Ghavami from the University of Fribourg decided to take on the mystery and rediscover the lost mural which had disappeared from view under carob trees and undergrowth.

“When we got access to the site, it was a huge relief,” Ghavami, 33, told the Guardian by phone from northern Peru. One of the main challenges was accessing the site which is located on private land, he explained. It took two years to persuade the fiercely protective landowning family to allow them to excavate.

The Swiss archaeologist and some 18 Peruvian students began excavations in 2019, thanks to a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation. After a pause in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, they were able to continue in 2021, completing the dig in November this year.  ...

...  Archaeologists believe the mural dates back to the Lambayeque culture of the 9th century AD. It was buried in a pyramidal mound in La Leche valley near another site called Túcume, in the Lambayeque region.  ...

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Just had a LOT of thoughts on first Gai and Kakashi. (It was a sad one) in GOS.

What if this was Kakashi's first mortal friend. Like Kakashi knows about humans and how they work in theory! After all its been a few hundred years and (s)he's a very bright child, thank you very much!

But this may be one of the first times he made direct contact with a human, specifically one who is his own age (maturity / physically wise)! And who made such a scene trying to get to him and who was funny and kind and sweet and who LOVED his dogs- and he's like:

"...new friend! FIRST FRIEND. BEST FRIEND. THIS IS GREAT!" He's going to get his dad, and Tenzo, and all these other gods to get these humans up to speed because the tribe's a bit behind the other humans he knows and who worship gods. They only knew about 4 gods, which is not enough! There is a lot to learn. But he'll do a lot to get his best friend and his funny dad up to speed! ("See Gai's dad? That's how you should be." *nudge Sakumo* "That's how you be cool.")"

But... Kakashi... doesn't fully understand what it means to be mortal. And every time he leaves, Gai gets bigger. He's changing. The tribe is starting to look like a proper village but his "brief stints away" can go from many months, to years in between.

And Gai still fills him in of what happened in his life and all the progress being made every time they meet. He teases Kakashi about growing taller than him. (At some point he's like "look Kakashi! I think you grew an inch!" And Kakashi is beaming for months!). And maybe Kakashi actually tells Gai about being a boy and wonders how to tell his dad... and Gai, who now is an adult at this point gives him some advice and how his dad and him would talk about anything.

And that's the first hint Kakashi gets something is off because he just realized... he hasn't seen Dai in a while. Its been three visits. Where is your silly old man?

And Gai has to explain his dad died five years ago...

And Kakashi... is confused but... he tries to rationalize it. Its sad he missed that but he's also confused because... Dai was right there. Just a little while ago. Its liked he blinked and he was gone... and its hard to process for Kakashi.

But Gai is alright! He grew a silly beard like Dai had too so...he has to be okay right? He'll still be here when he comes back!

But Kakashi has not processed just how fleeting human lives are. And so when he meets Gai again after taking a bit of time to process all this information, the next time they meet, Gai has white in his hair. He just accuses him of copying him!

On Gai's part. He too adores his friend. Especially when they were young/ first met, he had a crush on them. Even after they told him he was a boy the crush stayed. And he tried to copy him and do what he said bringing agriculture to the land with his papa. Trying to make dogs happen with the wolf (instead he just got MORE, slightly-less-mean wolves!!! Domestication is taking a while.) Learning about the gods Kakashi introduced him to or taught him, dancing in the rain, cheering on every storm that passed through!

But as Gai grows older, the friendship remains the same, but the crush fades fast. Because he realizes... he and Kakashi will always be at different wave lengths. Kakashi is wise, intelligent, and clever... but he's a child. And when Kakashi pops in talking about things that happened years ago like it was yesterday, he fully understands the difference between them. And he never takes the relationship for granted, he loves how youthful Kakashi can be make him feel young again but its like... he knows he's now the adult in the situation, even though Kakashi has all the power.

Before he grows too old, he makes one last trip up the mountain. And makes the mural of Kakashi and his dogs. Adding more for dramatic effect, and also making Kakashi seem older and more masculine, because even that's not how Kakashi looks to him now, its how Kakashi mentioned he would want to look. And although Gai knows he'll never see it, he hopes Kakashi will get his wish and this is what he'll look like some day. He sends a prayer and a thank you to Kakashi, asking him to come see the art when he has time. And a thank you for all he's done for the village and himself. And he goes back down the mountain.

Kakashi hears the prayer but he's a bit busy. So he makes a note to check on it soon! And when he does, he LOVES it. Its a bit dusty, but he loves it SO much and he goes to tell Gai all about it.

But by the time he makes it to Gai. He's not....in the village any more. And he can't find him anywhere. He ends up asking around and eventually someone understand who they're talking to... and leads him to a grave.

Gai died one year ago.

And Kakashi learns this way...how short a mortal life really is.

To make it worse reincarnation may not be a thing yet and may be something Obito experiments with in a few hundred years so to him...it was the end of his first mortal friend.. and it would be forever. And he wasn't there for it.

Its probably the only lifetime Kakashi isn't there when Gai passes. But also the first time he ends up flooding the world over his friend's death.

(I could see his dad needing to comfort him after this happens.)

(Sorry again if this was long)

Was I right about any of that?

Oh gosh Kakashi flooding the world because the sadness overwhelms him abd he’s still working on control.

He didn’t mean to hurt people. His intention was never to take lives

But it’s what happens.

The realization hits him and suddenly there’s water flooding everywhere, consuming the workd. Hashirama and Mito have to act fast to organize the gods and save people, but a lot of them still die

The great flood is the first instance of the terrible reality of Kakashi’s rain’s. They’re life giving, but they can also just as easily take life in an instant.

Obito see’s this and doesn’t want to see his brother hurt like that (mimicking how Obito in cannon doesn’t really want to see Kakashi hurt. He wants him to live in a dream world where he can stop hurting) so he takes that bew soul he got that he hadn’t thought too much and places it in the sky.

It’s not the first star, but it’s among the first and it’s the first one Obito saves for his brother. The only one he ever saves for Kakashi.

And then he starts experimenting with reincarnation. There’s some failures and a lot of learning to do, but a few hundred years later while the people of the village are still in a very basic agricultural state (far away from any major growth. Let them take their time) he finally gets it and brings Gai back, but he doesn’t tell Kakashi because he wants to make sure it really worked

But the. Gai grows up and challenges a god and everyone comes to realize just what Obito did

[altairtalisman]

Hadir's Bio

"History has to run its own course!"

More details on Hadir is under the cut

Name: Hadir Lazaar

Age: 196

Height: 162 cm

Birthday: 16 Secuna 1826 (Khra'ia)

Orientation: Transgender Heterosexual Female

Pronouns: She/Her

Species: Chronoven (formerly human)

Title: The Tenth Hour

Country of Birth: Kaldam

Likes: History, mint tea, vegetable pot pies, tea eggs

Dislikes: Mutton, stealing, destruction of historical artefacts, sandstorms

Hobbies: Photography, archeology, meditation

Personality: Meticulous and curious, she's the go-to whenever someone wants a detailed record of an artefact and/or a summarised history lesson and the last option to go to for romantic advice. Acts extroverted around museum visitors as well as beings she's not particularly close to, but is in fact introverted at heart

Style: Clothing suited for dry and hot climates as well as sandstorms, with scarves being a must-have due to being self-conscious about her neck scar as well as secretly thinking that scarves are cool

Abilities: Able to freely cross between Ratein and the Astral Realm without the need of dimension gates. Is able to use cosmic magic, stop time, view events happening in the past, present and future, as well as cause anything that her weapon comes in contact with to 'dissociate' from existence (apart from chronovens, The Caretaker and The Artiste)

Like the rest of the Hourly Twelve, Hadir is also able to open portals that allow her to travel anywhere. Also able to reverse time, but only once and at the cost of her life. Being a chronoven, she's only able to die either by her lifespan naturally running out, or by time reversal

Possibly due to her occupation as a museum curator, she possesses the ability to 'erase' someone from existence if she tears up any photographs of them (apart from chronovens, The Caretaker and The Artiste)

Background: A woman with a passion for history and the like, Hadir naturally landed a museum curator job at Kaldam National Museum. In 1851, a meteorite necklace was brought to the museum, its history unknown to all. Curious by the unknown artefact, Hadir involved herself in extensive research which costed her romantic relationships at the time

After four years of research, she discovered that the meteorite necklace originated from a nearby crater in the country, and that there were others just like it. She also learnt that they were made in around 130000 BCE, which surprised her as the necklace the museum was in possession of was in surprisingly excellent condition

A year after her initial discovery of the necklace's history, she stumbled across a secret cave that was filled to the brim with murals about the necklace. Hadir was able to make out that the necklace had something to do with time and stars, and wondered what the necklace truly represented with relation to these themes

After asking around, Hadir soon came across rumours that the necklace had the ability to grant someone's wish. Concerned by possible greedy natures of others, she kept the necklace on her person at all times so as to ensure that no one could abuse it. One night in Alstas 1857, the museum was subject to a robbery. Hadir and two other researchers were present as the robbery took place, with all three of them doing their best to prevent the historical artefacts from being stolen. During this process, the robbers casted explosion magic which claimed the lives of both security guards as they shielded her from the blast

Hadir, the only survivor, was overcome with guilt as their attention was divided between the museum's security as well as hers while she worked overtime to learn more about the necklace. She then wished that she had just gone home instead of doing overtime so that her friends didn't have to worry about protecting her, with the necklace seemingly acceding to her wish by glowing

Shocked, Hadir could only stare blankly at the necklace as the scarf around her neck started to fragmentalise. She howled in pain as her body was wracked with a burning sensation, and her right eye felt like it was being branded. Her eyes widened with recognition as she was breaking up and reforming in a galaxy

After an eternity, James had approached her and introduced himself. They were about to explain what she was but was interrupted by Hadir, who excitedly asked if their unusual existence had something to do with the necklace. Remarking that the museum curator was far more adjusted than expected, James confirmed that the necklace was indeed the reason to their new existence as chronovens

They added that while they had time-related abilities, time reversal came at the cost of their own lifespan and should Hadir choose to do so, her existence would be erased from Ratein save for those extremely close to her. She understood what James meant, and could only clench her fists tightly as even though she wanted to save her colleagues, her passion advised her to learn from her mistakes and prevent others from doing the same, as well as use her new abilities for good

Sympathising with Hadir, James reassured her that she wasn't doing her late colleagues any disservice for not sacrificing herself for them, and that even if she did so, there was a good possibility that they would've died all the same in the robbery. Accepting this course in history, Hadir returned back to the museum where she continues to guard the artefacts and provides The Fourteenth Dullahan with self-approved research on the chronovens…

True Form:

[derekscorner]

When stories set their worlds in Decline

Where to start?

I am not sure how to start this or really frame it so I will just ramble about it. I'm not even sure if I put the right tags for this since Fate put the thought in my brain but many stories aside Fate do similar.

I'm not sure if it is even a trope but the thought on my mind lately is an irk I've developed when stories set their world amongst a decline.

Whether it's the slow death of gods, magic, or both.

The entire Fate series, for those not aware, is such a story. The magic wielded by fan fans like Rin Tohsaka is really second hand magic referred to as "magecraft". Within Fate a true magician is someone who has a power that fundamentally breaks the rules.

In a sense, magecraft is a type of science in it's own right while true magic will let you do crazy shit like how the mage Aoko can manipulate time.

Or there is the "second magic" wielded by Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg which lets him see and visit alternative timelines. However, this "true magic" isn't easily obtained and even the knockoff magecraft is a slowly dwindling system.

Within Fate the "age of gods" ended and magic nearly vanished. As humans understand more of their world, the less mysterious it becomes, and since magic/magecraft rely on mystery that means it's dying slowly.

In essence, as humans grow the mystery and magic it offers dies. Within Fates "age of man" the gods and nearly every magical creature has done retreated from it. In time humans will progress beyond their Earth leaving it all behind.

Faith as a Fuel?

Another aspect of the series is how "gods" are designated by faith. When enough humans believe in something the planet will grant that entity "authority" and make them what humans view as gods.

The oldest were nature spirits, some were even of ET origin, while later gods were men whose legends grew well beyond their breadth.

And, like mentioned, Fate isn't the only story with these ideals. Using faith as a fuel source is prominent in many throw away manga, stories, or even western movies like both versions of the film 'Clash of the Titans'.

Hell, even something like God of War initially had this premise. The creator of the series initially planned for Kratos to kill all the gods which would then lead to monotheism. You'll even see abandoned hints for this in something like God of War 1 with it's mural of the magi following the star.

And while I am thankful that God of war has seemingly abandoned this idea traces of it remain which add to some inconsistency. Granted, the classic games have a few plot holes and more than one inconsistent moment if you pick it apart but they're more glaring in the new Norse titles due to it's heavier story focus.

Like the idea that magic is "tied to the land". Their excuse for Kratos loss of powers is him literally murdering Greece yet he -somehow- is cursed to have his Blades of Chaos follow him. They even retain their magical properties which the dwarf Brok notices instantly referring to it as "foreign magic".

And I wont even get into the idea of Kratos being a god when he explicitly lost his godhood in the second game. A born demigod sure but the Norse pantheon treat him like a full/true god even if of another land.

Never explain the magic

Now I know all of this seems disjointed but they do share a common trend that I have issue with. The root of what's annoying me lately with such stories.

They're explaining the magic

Rather, it's adjacent to explaining the magic. It's the idea that a world loses it's luster as you learn more about it. The idea that knowing what a god is or how magic works makes it less potent.

Sure, it's less mystical, but I do not like this idea that it's less wonderful. I can't take the gods of your world seriously when they need human faith to function. That undermines the whole point to me.

There's nothing godly about what boils down to a being that leeches off positive thoughts. There's nothing magical about a world that is not only less so as science progress but also dying because of it.

Imagine how much interest I lost when I learned that Fate's Earth is slowly dying. Magic barely appears and the mana used to do magecraft or other supernatural feats is a finite resource. It's a whole other meaning to the idea that humans are slowly killing the world they inhabit.

And I know this is a fully subjective problem. I wont make the mistake as considering this an objective issue. It is something I have misgivings about because when I seek stories I seek something fantastical.

I live in the real world, I keep a very hard line between that and anything else, so I do not wish to be reminded of the real world in a story. I'm seeking an escape from my boring reality not a reminder of how it got here.

I'll stop now

I guess the blunt way to put this is that it ruins the joy of a world. It's related but a specific, grander, issue than "explaining the magic". After all, at minimum, to explain something can be meh or annoying at the most. It's a minor problem.

But to take that idea on a grander scale to make a world more realistic, a god more human, or explain how someone can do the impossible? No. That's not impressing me that's depressing me.

This may be why I rarely find Final Fantasy or Shin Megami Tensei games that I can enjoy because most boil down to killing god or some stand in for a false god.

I'm not very invested nor do I feel like something grand took place when a world is "left in human hands". I live in a world ran by human hands, I'm not impressed with what I see.

A GoW:Ragnarok review I watched the other day said it best- no. More like he said something that just aligned heavily with my issues on it all.

While I love Kratos story of learning to be a decent father and less violent god I do, like that reviewer, find it silly to seek humanizing gods or supernatural beings.

For storytelling purposes, yes, some level of comprehension is needed. This is the whole reason why "nobodies" from Kingdom Hearts act so human despite lacking the core "heart" needed to feeling.

But that doesn't mean I want them to be human. I'd totally buy something fundamentally not human doing or planning something in a way that makes no sense to me.

That creature, be it god, fae, or otherwise, is not human. It's similar but it isn't human. It may think on a grander scale due to it's immortality or it may not plan at all due to it's mischievous nature.

Bah! I'll stop now. I've ranted enough to feel better. Have a nice day assuming you read this far.

[timeconqueror]

are you here to kill me ?

Questioning Minds

Strange, for one to find themselves in a prison of their own making. Was this the end of the road for all of him that walked this path, he wondered. When all the lands were conquered, when all time was at his beck and call-- this. His grand prize.

Eternal damnation-- by the way of bureaucracy.

His hands trace the lines of the metallic edifice, the depiction of his might. His. Whose? A man we would become? A man he had been? Where did the lines converge?

It takes him a while to register the question directed at him, turning around to face the God of-- What were they now? Tricks? Burdens? Disappointments?

"And tell me, Loki, what that would accomplish?" Brows furrow at the notion, a small shake of the head given in response to the question, " You were warned. And you have lost. And now-- A waking nightmare is all you find." A turn to glance at the mural, a bitter smile twitching at the corner of his mouth.

" No, my friend, I think yours is a fate worse than any I could grant you."

[theimpossiblescheme]

(I don’t have a title for this little piece, but I did realize that I don’t write Tugger very much, so I wanted to have a go--hope everyone enjoys!)

“No guarantee it’s as good as Dad would make it,” Tugger acknowledged, handing the cup and saucer up and over the old stove and suddenly feeling very aware of how breakable porcelain was.  “But I hope it’s drinkable, anyway.”

“I’m sure it will be.”  The fluffy golden queen in the equally fluffy dress coat–Berenice–accepted the tea with a polite smile and a nod, and Tugger definitely didn’t wait on tenterhooks for her reaction, the hell are you talking about?  He simply fluffed his mane and waited as she hummed in appreciation and took another sip.  Granted, after a day like hers, he imagined he’d be glad to drink out of the nearest puddle.  Turned out, not every cat in the area had gotten the memo about the old Egyptian Theatre being condemned, and the lady and her little ones had passed a pretty dismal night amidst all the dust and half-finished construction before making it here..  Tugger’s own memories of the place were starting to be consumed with yellow caution tape and boarded up windows and headless statues perched mindlessly by the doors, and the fact that that was all it would ever be to some folks… well, it was a damn shame.

“You know, I actually grew up there back in the day,” he said, ascending the bedstead and perching on a rung just above her, back legs swinging freely.  “Me and my brothers.  It was a pretty gorgeous place then, especially with the stage all lit up and the chandelier over it.  And after the skylight caved in, you could see the stars.”  Thinking about it now, he almost regretted not being quite brave enough to climb that high, but still…  “There was a much better view, too–you didn’t have all the streetlamps drowning them out.  Dad used to point out all the constellations and tell us little stories about ‘em, and if we didn’t like what the humans came up with we’d make up our own.”  He’d actually recently overheard Jemima telling her friends about Felis Major and Minor, the eyes of the Everlasting Cat (because obviously humans were too busy making up bogus stories about “man’s best friend” to recognize what was right in front of them), and it didn’t come as any surprise that Straps had apparently remembered them down to the last detail.  Maybe Tugger could tell her about their lion cousins next time…

Berenice’s head tipped up and her eyes narrowed, as if she were trying to see past all the London light pollution.  “It’s hard to imagine.  The place is so desolate and run-down now.”

“Oh, man, it was really something.  And you had that huge ballroom space for the Jellicle Ball every year, the big murals on the walls, more backstage than you ever knew what to do with…”  Tugger smiled to himself, lost in another memory.  “We used to sneak around in the light booths, see how far we could get across the old catwalk.  ‘Course, first and only time Dad caught us was after Straps fell off and gave the whole game away.”  He chuckled, remembering Straps landing with a very undignified plop into a bowl of punch left on the bar and Mac–his other brother laughing his head off at Tugger’s side.  “Oh, he was pi–mad at me, rather, for a whole week after that… then we found the tunnel under the orchestra pit together, and he forgot all about it.”

Berenice’s smile this time was a little bemused.  “It does sound rather dangerous for a kitten.”

“Nah, that was just us going off looking for trouble.  It was a lot safer back then, especially with Dad and everybody looking after us.  Much less chance of… well, of anything happening.”  He almost said of having your head taken off, but apparently that was a very real danger now, especially with little kittens getting lost in all the ladders and loose boards.  And give him some credit, he wasn’t that tactless.  “But that’s eventually why we came here.  Junkyard’s a lot smaller, more places to hide, less chance of humans stumbling in and disturbing anybody… you’ve got nothing to worry about here.  You or the kits.”

“And nobody here… minds, do they?” Berenice asked haltingly, as if she had to force the words out of her mouth little by little.  “I mean, I would–I would hate for us to intrude–after all, this is your home–”

“It’s home for any cat who wants it.  Trust me on that.”  Tugger grinned down at her.  “We take in strays all the time–half of us here just wandered in off the streets one day and never looked back.  And a good chunk of us have humans we go off with in the evenings, but the gates are always open when we come back.  Nobody’s gonna make a fuss over you being here, don’t you worry.”

“Even if we aren’t… Jellicle cats?”

“Who says you’re not?  Somebody tell you that?”

“Well, I only assumed… I keep hearing the word around, and I thought that–”

“Honey, all cats are Jellicle cats,” he said with a bit of gentle stress.  “Exact words might change, but the basic idea’s the same, and anybody who says different doesn’t have a clue what they’re talking about.  Things are tough enough out there–we gotta stick together somehow, wherever we are.  You could’ve swam here all the way from the North Pole, and we still would’ve offered you a den and some underbrewed tea,” he added, a touch of self-deprecation in his grin now.

Berenice shook her head and took another slow sip of her tea.  “You’re sure the kittens will–?”

“Your kits’ll be fine.  My mate’s already got ‘em occupied right now.”  His tail flicked towards the car boot, where Misto was conjuring a hail of colored sparks for the delight of three rapt kittens.  With a wave of one paw, some of the sparks coalesced to form a mouse made entirely of light and stardust, and one of the kittens was gearing up to chase it, tail waggling from side to side.  Misto flicked a claw, the star mouse went scuttling up one of the pipes, and suddenly all three little ones were scrambling to catch it.  Berenice chuckled beneath him, almost in spite of herself, and Tugger felt a rush of affection welling up in his chest–Sparkles was outdoing himself tonight.  Hopefully he still had some of that magic left for later…

“Do you have any kittens of your own?” Berenice asked, snapping him out of his reverie.

“Hm?  Oh, no–no, I’m usually too busy trying to fend them off,” Tugger replied with a smirk, leaning back against the pipes with his forelegs looped around to keep him from falling.  “Couldn’t ask for a better fan club, though.  And they’re all great kits.  Not supposed to play favorites, but you know… I’ve got a couple of nieces I spoil rotten.”

“I would love to meet them.”  This time, Berenice’s smile seemed to come much easier.  “And you have all been very kind.  I really can’t thank you enough.”

Tugger waved away the thanks.  “Don’t sweat it.  Least we could do, really.”

No sooner had those words left his mouth than there came a muffled thump against the bed of rags above them, and a blue-furred head stuck itself down through the top of the pipes.  Berenice squeaked a bit in surprise and nearly dropped her teacup, but Murad merely gave her a nod and jaunty little salute.  “Evening, madam.”  Then he turned to Tugger.  “Evening patrol’s just come back–your brother thought you might want to join the discussion.”

“Damn right I would.”  As Murad disappeared topside again, Tugger hoisted himself to his feet on the pipes, luxuriating in a long back stretch before extending a paw down to Berenice.  “Feel like tagging along?  We can show you just how we do things around the Junkyard.”

“Oh?”  She laid aside her cup and cautiously took his paw.  “Are you one of the Protectors here?”

“In all but name, really.”  He squeezed her paw and gave her a wink as she finally rose to meet him.  “But don’t tell Straps I said that.”

[mxstball]

[Scorching Sandgems] Final Travels

Now that everything has returned to normal, Heidi returned to the Hall of Origin and returned the humans back down to earth. Mars returned to the Team Galactic HQ in Veilstone City alongside Akari. Morgan and the Lake Guardians all returned to their respective homes. Heidi picked up Lati and, together with Sapphire and Melony, returned back to their Pokémon journey together. Each of them had 2 badges to go, so they all agreed to gather then, reach the Pokémon League, and then return to Spear Pillar for one final group of battles with each other. So, off they went.

Sapphire was the quickest of the group. Despite refusing to use Andromeda for gym battles, she, Empoleon, and the rest of her team struck through Cadence's Pokémon and shook Volkner's team, granting her the final badges. High from the momentum, Sapphire healed her friends and bursted through to and past Victory Road. If anything, it was almost like she was just going through the motions. After all, it's not the first time she's done this. Upon reaching the Pokémon League, Sapphire healed her team one last time and returned to the Hall of Origin to wait for her mother and aunt.

Melony was fairly quick, too, but was longer than Sapphire. She returned to Hearthome City and challenged the gym leader. Initially, Fantina was concerned when she heard that Melony had nothing but ghosts on her team like her, but when Melony brought out her secret weapon, Fantina was surprised and pleased with the trainer. As such, Fantina and Melony exchanged numbers to talk more about their ghost friends another time. Melony also quickly dealt with Volkner, although this wasn't as quick as with Fantina. Once she received the clear, Melony simply flew across the seas towards the Pokémon League, bypassed much of the trouble of Victory Road by flying over it, and then landing at the Pokémon League proper. Melony then healed before turning back to Victory Road, training a while there, and returning to the Hall of Origin.

Heidi took the longest. With Lati, they took their time reaching Canalave City. They spend the time catching and releasing all manner of other Pokémon from water-type Pokémon such as Finneon and Shellos to various others like Mr. Mime. Heidi taught Lati more about swimming and using Surf on Pokémon, choosing to use Milotic as a way to get across the water. Once at Canalave City, the two spent their time in the library, where Heidi rented out some books about folklore in Sinnoh and the two of them went to the computer lab so Heidi could show Lati a preview of other Pokémon in other regions. Before leaving Canalave City, Heidi and Lati challenged Byron, beating him handily.

Before going to Sunnyshore City, the two dragons paid another visit to Celestic Town. At the center of the town, they both prayed at the shrine and went inside the cavern. There, Heidi took out the books that she rented out and sat with Lati, reading about the Creation Myth -- of how Arceus created Dialga and Palkia to watch over time and space… how it created the Lake Guardians as manifestations of knowledge, willpower, and emotions… how it watched over the world as it blossomed and flourished into the world that they know today… how, even though Arceus is gone today, the world continues to blossom in their honor.

That's when Lati asked a question.

"Grandma made Miss Akari's Palkia and Auntie Icathia way back then?"

Heidi shook her head. "No. Miss Akari's Palkia is pretty young, just like you… and Auntie Icathia is from another world -- the same as me and Auntie Tor and Auntie Melony."

"Oh. Where are the ones Grandma made?"

Heidi put the book away. "...they're… well… gone. They passed away some years before you were born, Lati."

"Gone like grandma?"

"Yeah…. Just like grandma." Heidi looked forward to the mural. "Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf are the original ones, though. They've seen this world change so much in their time, and yet they all love how the world's turned out to be."

"Wow. Must be as old as dad--"

Heidi chuckled. "No, kid. They're far older than your dad, and that's saying something."

"Woahhhhhh. So old. Must be so smart."

"They are, and I love them for it." Heidi and Lati turned and smiled at each other.

Eventually, the duo returned the book to the library and made their way to Sunnyshore City. There, Heidi helped Volkner with a blackout before challenging him. Once she obtained his badge, it was off to the seas. While they could just fly there, Heidi and Lati decided to ride on Milotic's back to discover and catch some more Pokémon. It was then when Lati asked the next set of questions.

"Mommy. Do… you miss the world that you came from?"

"Huh? Do I miss it?"

Lati nodded. "If… If I went to another world, I'd miss home. I'd miss mommy and daddy and Jeanne and all of my moms and sisters and aunties and uncles… and all of the trees and water and stuff, too."

Heidi lightly smiled and petted her child. "In truth? Sometimes, yeah. I haven't lived there in a very long time, but… sometimes I do wonder how different my life would have been if I was allowed to stay." She chuckled a little. "Though, that would mean never meeting your father and not traveling with the best Latios in the world, and I wouldn't want that~"

Lati blushed a little from hearing that. "Awww, Mommy's the best Latias in the world!"

Heidi laughed some more. "Thanks, kiddo. I really appreciate it."

Heidi and Lati made it to the island where Victory Road was held and healed. The group entered Victory Road, but chose to prioritize getting through the puzzles and cave depths instead of catching Pokémon. After all, they can always return to it. During their travels, Lati asked one more set of questions.

"Mommy. I have a question."

Heidi used her Psychic power to push a boulder out of the way. "Sure, hun. What is it?"

Lati brightened the area some more with Luster Purge so the duo could see where they were going. "You said that your world was destroyed?"

"That's right. The area still exists, but there are no people or Pokémon anymore. It's just a dangerous place where the only things there are dangerous Legendary Pokémon."

"Is that where you found Auntie Morgan?"

Heidi nodded. "I'm happy that Morgan survived as long as she did so that we could rescue her."

"...Could there be more people like Auntie Morgan?"

"It's possible. We found Auntie Diancie and Auntie Miraidon recently, after all."

"Can I come with you to find them?"

"Absolutely not." Heidi shook her head as she put Lati on her back and flew up a platform. "You've proven that you're really strong, Lati. Mommy appreciates it… but this place is… different. It's scary in ways even to Mommy and even Mommy can get hurt. I don't want anything to happen to you…."

"But you said that you'd show me different worlds if I'm strong enough. Why can't I go there? I wanna see what happened to your home, mommy."

"...that's not what I'm saying, Lati. I'm saying that finding survivors is a very different and particularly dangerous thing." Heidi landed on the platform, but kept Lati on her back. Lati used Luster Purge to light up the area more. "...tell you what. After we make it through this place and finish our journey, I'll talk with your father, Rachel, and Aphra. If they give the okay, then there's a place in that world that I want to take you."

"Okay! Deal!" Lati giggled.

Heidi joined in the chuckling as the duo continued deeper in Victory Road. They weren't far away from the exit now, so next up: a final showdown with Sapphire and Melony.