#mem speaks (to herself)

[momentofmemory]

i’ve been thinking about how the (good) characters that die in teen wolf and come back to life always get some kind of desirable result out of it—allison, scott, and stiles get to save their parents in 3a, scott discovers the benefactor is a banshee in s4, derek gains the ability to fullshift in s4, and even the chimeras in s5 come back with their forms stable—but when scott dies in 5a he simply.

dies.

no power upgrade. no one saved. not even the glimpse of a loved one.

anyway all that is to say i think 5b scott deserves a tiktok so he can do the 🎶 what doesn’t kill you <close up on gored chest> GIVES YOU TRAUMA 🎶 meme

[mymarifae]

these two are linked in some way. 100%. i'm hesitant to add mem to the theory board because idk if they'll be related to march too or just cyrene (being an entity that sort of embodies cyrene's... essence? like ELF elysia in hi3) but the similarities they have with Both are too big to ignore completely

unsure if they're about to go the route of cyrene and march being the same person or if march is simply like... a fragment of cyrene that was sealed and sent away to maybe give her a chance to live on since this girl is doomed to die in virtually every universe and iteration. amphoreus's time and space displacement is fucked up and it seems like we're going to be spending a lot of the adventure split across concepts of "past," "present," and "future." so that mayyyyy be why we were able to see cyrene interacting with and talking to stelle in the nameless faces video, if she's no longer "whole"/dead/...whatever.

she does appear to be emerging from a place of... non... physicality. also it's worth noting that in the first picture of her i included, she's sinking - into water or a water-like substance. that can presumably freeze over...... and become the ice block himeko and welt found march 7th in....... hm? 🤨

it's hard to say how much cyrene will have in common with elysia - it's unfair to expect them to be the exact same character, and maybe these points i'm about to bring up mean little in the end because we don't know for sure where the story is going to go, but

elysia was "born from nothing" which doesn't quite have the same connotations as march 7th's "birth" but you know. they both found themselves in a sudden state of existence with next to nothing to fall back on and they defined themselves

elysia is not humble about her beauty and speaks often of it (as she should; she is very pretty). similarly, march frequently boasts about her cuteness and describes herself as the cutest girl in the world (as she should; she is very cute)

"never forget your roots" is one of the mantras elysia lives by. this stands out to me because despite not... really needing those memories, march is pretty insistent on remembering her past. the lesson that the garden of remembrance and just the universe and her adventures in general have tried to teach her ("your present defines you; so long as you're happy here, you don't need the memories of your past, and retrieving them might destroy what you've come to love now") just doesn't appear to be sinking in. perhaps because she subconsciously has a core belief stating the opposite

as for how mem would fit into this i have nothing for you because we don't have anywhere near enough info on them for me to begin thinking about that. but it seems like they'll be a pretty big deal.

like i'm spitballing more than anything here. if march IS a fragment of cyrene i think it's also obvious that she has grown into her own, entirely separate person and her origins are inconsequential - though she might not think that if/when she learns this about herself. that might also offer an explanation for why the garden of remembrance won't let her have any part of her old memories, not even a hint. because learning that she's technically a piece of someone else might be too heavy a blow to her sense of identity and she'll be entirely too focused on all the wrong things. uncovering her past will slow her down at the most inopportune moment... make her vulnerable in all the worst ways. which might be why she appears so absent from the adventure.

it's also possible that like. all three of these guys - march, cyrene, and mem - are fragments of a titan (don't ask me which). or that march was given cyrene's coreflame (don't ask me which) before being catapulted into space. or march was the previous owner of the coreflame cyrene has now - if they can be passed on to other people - before being catapulted into space. or i mean, the coreflame cyrene HAD because i'm not convinced this girl's fully alive and well. mem IS the coreflame, brought to life/imparted with cyrene's memories and will.

do you see... there's just so very much to think about... looooots of story spoilers got thrown at us if we can just... untangle the mess... can anyone HEAR me

[momentofmemory]

Hello again! Me in a reblog instead of replies this time, since giving responses was welcomed.

I struggled a bit as to how to arrange this as so many (common) talking points were in your post, but I’m going to try to give short responses to each (you’re welcome to ask for an extensive answer to any, but for one-post’s sake I’ll be shortening or in some cases linking elsewhere for others), and then attempting to provide a bit of background for understanding how the bedrock of fandom’s racism—not even necessarily your own biases!—plays into how all of these interpretations of Scott have risen to “common” knowledge.

1. Scott and Murder

He is perfectly ok with Gerard being dead if it meant that his mother is safe from the threats by Gerard - there’s no evidence, in show or in extra materials, that Scott intended to kill Gerard by switching the pills to Mountain Ash. On the contrary, all it did was ensure Gerard would not be able to accept the bite—if Scott had wanted Gerard dead, switching the pills with cyanide, an offensive poison, would’ve been much simpler than Mountain Ash, a defensive countermeasure.

He is not supposed to guilt trip Stiles for a pure act of self defence - he shouldn’t and he doesn’t! Scott was lied to and told a version of events wherein Stiles did not act in self defense (5x08), and in the rain fight they both missed that the stories were different (5x09). When Stiles tells Scott what actually happened, Scott very gently just says “i know what self-defense is,” alleviating stiles’ misplaced guilt over not understanding his own innocence (due to Stiles’ own very real trauma).

He is perfectly ok with killing Peter if it meant he doesn’t become a werewolf - Scott became a werewolf because Peter attacked and violated his body, something he didn’t ask for and Peter did exclusively for personal gain. Peter was also still actively murdering people, and—somewhat crucially—Scott is willing to consider this plan both bc 1)he’s been threatened with death multiple times because of his forced species change and 2)Derek presents the plan, which Derek knows is a lie. Also, absolutely every character in the narrative wants Peter dead for pretty good reasons at this point, so I’m not really sure why this is here at all.

2. Scott and Derek

He is not supposed to force Derek against his will to bite Gerard - Scott doesn’t; Gerard does. As Gerard says in 2x12, it’s been his plan since day 1 to force Derek to give him the bite—which Derek recognizes will result in Gerard immediately killing all of them so Gerard can become Alpha. Scott apologizes to Derek for what’s to come, because he doesn’t want this to happen either, but thankfully Scott had already realized what Gerard had planned to do—and so had switched the pills not with the intent to kill Gerard, but to protect Derek.

He is not supposed to say “maybe they had a reason to do it” - Scott says this in episode 4, after which the sum total of Scott’s experience with werewolves has been them stalking, hurting, killing, and mind controlling him. Now crucially, Scott was wrong, and Derek was very correctly hurt by this statement. Derek immediately corrects him. Scott never argues against this again—all he does is state that not every Argent can be blamed for what happened, because Allison is literally innocent.

He is not supposed to let Derek die and immediately kiss his back from dead girlfriend - genuinely, why? he didn’t let derek die—derek made an active decision to sacrifice himself to save everyone else (which i think was an incredibly poor writing decision, but it didn’t speak badly of any of the characters). immediately seeking comfort from others after a brush with death is extremely common, which is why everyone else on the field rushes to their loved ones as well. and as soon as Scott and Allison break apart, it’s Scott—no one else—that rushes to comfort Eli.

3. Misc

He is not supposed to abuse Isaac - agreed! i think every scott fan or otherwise hates these scenes and thinks davis should go directly to jail! i also think stiles shouldn’t tell isaac he’s “milking” his abuse in the same episode, or that Derek should literally victim blame Lydia about Peter (3x02). No one sincerely holds Derek or Stiles at fault for these cases, bc they’re 1)isolated and 2)the product of davis being absolutely terrible with trauma, which is why Scott should not be either.

Okay, that was a lot! Thank you for sticking with me thus far.

Now, we get to the more complicated part of where all of these came from.

I don't know how long you've been in teen wolf fandom, but in order to understand it you really have to know how bad it was towards Scott. Like, really, really bad. Headcanons and interpretations don't just happen in a vacuum; they're influenced by the posts we read, the gifsets we see, the fic we enjoy. And during the show's airing, there was an extremely dedicated meta writing group that specialized in taking absolutely anything Scott did and turning it into Scott being The Devil Incarnate—and every pre-movie reason you listed above started with that group, because they were that influential. You do not have to be personally racist to dislike Scott, but most of the anti-scott meta that influences teen wolf fandom today was built on racist interpretations.

If you'd like to learn more about the history of fandom racism as it relates to Teen Wolf, I'd super recommend stitchmediamix's articles in the What Fandom Racism Looks Like series, an older archive of the racism OG scott fandom experienced, or for more general reading (some tw specific, some not), my tag for fandom racism.

Okay!!!!!!!!

I'm a poc.

I can't stress this enough. I'm gonna lose my mind if I see another post about "you are a racist if you don't like Scott McCall". I don't really hate him, he is just not my top fav character.

The trope I hate the most in ensemble cast is-character not being called out or not facing the consequences because of their decisions or the things they do. This perfectly applies to Scott McCall.

He is perfectly ok with killing Peter if it meant he doesn't become a werewolf.

He is perfectly ok with Gerard being dead if it meant that his mother is safe from the threats by Gerard.

But no one says anything on this. Everyone just keeps saying he is a morally goody goody boy which he isn't.

If it is meant to be character development then people should agree that Scott is not perfect which no one addresses in the show.

He is a teenager. Of course he makes stupid decisions but everyone treats him like he is some kinda god in the show that it's very hard to treat him like a normal teenager.

He is not supposed to abuse Isaac.

He is not supposed to force Derek against his will to bite Gerard.

He is not supposed to let Derek die and immediately kiss his back from dead girlfriend.

He is not supposed to say "maybe they had a reason to do it" and honestly everyone that supports this statement is sick to the core. If anything Derek has every reason to be outright angry and kill every living Argent but he doesn't do that but you know what he does? Safely drops his enemy's daughter at her house. And everyone wonders why Derek is a fan favourite next to Stiles.

He is not supposed to guilt trip Stiles for a pure act of self defence.

I can go on and on for the reasons why Scott isn't my fav character but his race is not one of them. I also very recently got to know that he is a poc but he is not my fav character since long back.

[kyrieeleisonelise]

Ruby the Actress (major Manga spoilers!)

Ruby is probably my favourite character in Oshi No Ko. She’s someone who at first seems really simple and straightforward, but as the story progresses it becomes more clear she’s more complex than that.

In the current arc, a lot of parallels are being drawn between Ruby and Ai, Ai is central to Ruby. As Sarina, Ai was her escape and her idol. As Ruby, Ai was her mother (and still her favourite idol). Ruby both loves Ai, wants Ai to love her and wants to emulate Ai. Ruby is borderline fanatical about Ai. 

But how similar are they?

The narrative has portrayed Ruby both as one of the more honest/straightforward characters, but also asserted that she has been lying/acting this whole time, so what’s the truth?

Ruby isn’t a step-ford smiler and doesn’t have any issue with expressing negative emotions. Whether it’s her initial hostility towards Kana or her nerves before a big show or throwing a childish tantrum about a song. 

It’s hard to imagine Ai being comfortable being this emotionally open around someone. Even when Ai was insulted by a friend on B-Komachi she hardly had any outward emotion, compared to Ruby in the same situation.

Ruby also values honesty even to her own detriment, wanting to honestly do the work out YouTube challenge with Pieon, even though they could of just edited it. Compared to Ai, who felt that being a liar was intrinsic to being a good idol and felt unable to stop lying.

But if Ruby is a sweet, honest and straightforward person, how was she able to change so quickly into someone who was willing to manipulate those around her for the purpose of revenge? Is it a sudden character change or something that was building in her all along?

Even before she was Ruby, Sarina is shown to be a sweet and cheerful girl. I don’t think this was completely an act, but she felt she had to hide her more ‘ugly’ emotions in order to keep her parents love and affection. Even to Gorro she never showed the extent of her hurt and anger about being abandoned by her parents. Crucially, she also lied to herself, unable to face reality that her parents didn’t love her the way she wanted them to. She is unable to face this reality even as Ruby, until she can’t deny it any longer. 

Even though Ruby is ‘cute and honest’ the circumstances of her life necessitated her to lie about important parts of herself; She kept being reincarnated a secret from Ai and everyone around her. She even kept the details of her past life a secret from Aqua. When Ai was killed she had to keep it a secret from the world. This increased her reliance on lies, as in order to protect her own secret and Ai’s, she has to play a ‘role’ and continue to pattern of cutting off unwanted parts of herself. 

Although Ruby was able to overcome Ai’s death to an extent and is able to grieve in a more healthy way than Aqua, she’s obviously still traumatised and harbours a lot of rage and hate for the perpetrator in her heart. Which she keeps mostly hidden. 

Ruby has shown to cope well with Ai’s death, but the fact she is unable to speak to any of her friends about major traumas in her life (one mother abandoning her, another being murdered) probably limits her ability to come to terms with her feelings. The only person she can sort of speak to- Aqua- has his own stuff going on. 

One of the first things Ruby says post time-skip is that she has two big secrets, showing that hiding things have remained central to her life. Whether she wants to or not. 

  Ruby remains cheerful and straightforward post time-skip, and I really don’t think this is all an act. She builds genuine friendships with Mem and Kana, unlike Ai who struggled to make connections with her teammates. Ruby really enjoys being an idol. She wants to fulfil her own and her mother’s dream and be a pure-hearted idol. 

And for a while things are fine. 

Until they’re not and Ruby realises that the person behind her mother’s death is still out there, and they killed the doctor who supported her more than anyone in her previous life. 

It feels like a complete character change. But is it?. Ruby is someone who feels love very strongly, but she also feels hate too.

She begins to be motivated by hate instead of love. With the same single-mindedness she displayed aiming to be an idol, Ruby aims for revenge for both Ai and Gorro. Ruby has always felt incredibly strongly about those she loves; Ai goes without saying. For Gorro, Ruby wanted to become an idol partially to meet him again, even though that was completely improbable. She can be fanatical with things she loves.  

So she is able to cross her own morals in order for revenge. Ichigo agrees to introduce Ruby to Ai’s old contacts if she becomes famous. So motivated by vengeance, Ruby manipulates those around her to become more famous. She’s surprisingly adept at it, because she was already used to having to hide things and put on an act to an extent. She isn’t ‘made of lies’ like Ai felt she was, but Ruby has always been cutting off the uglier and more complicated parts of herself in order to fit the role she wants to play. 

 Ruby becomes super popular. Her personality starts to shift but it’s she hasn’t completely left behind her childish traits. Being a manipulator is another role for her, but there are hints she still isn’t as calculating and serious as she maybe wants to be.

The pedestal Ruby put the idol world on starts to crack, and she starts to confront the ugly part of show biz beneath the glittering veneer. She realises that Ai probably had to lie too to be successful. She starts to realise the truth about things she’s lied to herself about. Idols aren’t always pure and perfect and the world they live in is brutal. Ai was the ideal to Ruby/Sarina, she always tried to emulate her. She wanted to be a pure and innocent idol like she thought Ai was, now she thinks she needs to be a liar like Ai. 

The happy lies Ruby made into part of her identity start to crumble.

Then, Aqua tells the world Ai’s secret in order to save Kana. Ruby see’s this as the ultimate betrayal. She thinks Ai is no longer first in Aqua’s heart and she feels totally alone in the world. Even though she has others around her, Aqua is the only one who can understand the reincarnation and Ai’s death.

All her core beliefs have been squashed; The Idol world is cold and brutal and lead to her mother’s death, Ai wasn’t a perfect innocent idol and had to lie constantly, and now she thinks Aqua has stopped caring about Ai, and loses the bond with the only person who could really understand her. She also has to confront that as Sarina she wasn’t loved by her mother.

At this point she begins questioning her own identity and falling apart. She no longer enjoys being an Idol but feels she have to get revenge. Ruby doesn’t know who Ai is, so she doesn’t know who she is herself. The entanglement with her own identity and Ai’s gets more confusing as she’s playing her in a movie.

She can’t be the perfect innocent idol- nobody can- but she doesn’t enjoy being the liar and manipulator she feels she needs to be to avenge Ai and Gorro.

We see how fragile her sense of identity is; she’s able to convince herself she became an idol to avenge Ai, forgetting that it was her dream across two life times.

It’s only when Aqua reveals who he is and reminds Ruby of who she was prior to her path of vengeance that she’s able to start rebuilding her identity. Finding out Aqua is Gorro helps tether her and bridge the gap between Sarina and Ruby.

Crucially, he reminds Ruby that she is not Ai. She doesn’t have to be her, she’s her own person and she’s good enough a herself.

Ruby still has a lot of struggles to come in the movie arc, but hopefully she’ll continue down the path of becoming her own person; realising she can’t be perfect and she will have dark feelings, but that doesn’t mean her naturally cheerful upbeat personality is a lie either. 

Is Ruby like Ai? I don’t think so. But they both struggle with identity. Ai feels like she’s never been able to form or connect with an identity, Ruby has had so many thrust on her (Sarina, Ruby, ‘Ai’) that it’s confusing to her.

They’re their own people with completely different backgrounds, personalities and quirks. But I do think Ruby’s emotional journey will leave her best placed to understand Ai; Ruby is starting to realise that Ai neither a perfect ideal idol, nor a mysterious master manipulator. She’s more than her idol persona. Ai is a complicated human with her own motivations, fears and issues just like everyone else. 

[thatfeelinwhenyou]

HANDS ON YOU — 026

IN WHICH; ILAND 2 happened and you debuted first place as the leader of LUMIÉRE. Having been told that your group is involved in a lore crossover with ENHYPEN, you navigate work, friendship, and love while trying to make it in an industry filled with animosity and condemnation. When life throws you lemons, you gotta make lemonades chuck it right back!

smau + written (0.3k words)

❥･• chapter 26 — way back home

"Lee Heeseung." He freezes in his tracks upon hearing his full name, a name that come to think about, had never left your lips before.

"Yes?" He turns around sheepishly to face you. The two of you are standing in front of his dorm, and he nervously fidgets with the number pad behind him. "You're hiding something." You squint, and Heeseung mentally curses at your keen leader instincts.

"No, I just want to show you my room!"

"What are you, twelve?"

"Don't ask so many questions." He hurriedly punches in the code to his dorm, opening the door to find the apartment completely pitch black. He gestures for you to enter first, and though suspicious, you don't refuse. "Aren't you off today? Where's the rest of your mem—"

"SURPRISE!" You jump as the lights flicker on, revealing the living room adorned with string lights and balloons spelling out "Sorry" on the wall. It takes a moment for the scene to register—the entirety of ENHYPEN is there, along with your own members, every single one of them.

You stand frozen in the doorway, speechless, as if the whole world has come to a standstill for a moment while you take in the sight before you—your members, who somehow made up while you were away, holding each other with open arms extended to you.

"My arm is starting to hurt. Are you going to bring it in or not?" Ray breaks the silence, flicking her wrist as a sign for you to quickly join in on the Lumière group hug. Just then, you feel two hands rest on your shoulders, relieving them from the tension that had built up over the past two days.

"Go on, they're waiting for you." Heeseung's gentle voice cuts through the white noise filling your ears. In an instant, tears well up in your eyes as you rush into the arms of the people you'd give everything for.

"But how did…?"

Realisation dawns on you, and you whirl around to face the culprit. "So that's why you were acting so strange! You were distracting me!" You point an accusing finger at Heeseung, who shrugs and pouts at the same time.

“I’m sorry Y/N, for being the whiny and childish bitch I am. I shouldn’t have taken out my anger on any of you like that, I hope you know I care about you too, truly.” Ray speaks out and you swear you almost burst into a fit of tears.

“Ray, you already know I’m basically immune to all the shit you say right?” You light-heartedly joke and you heave a sigh of relief when you notice Ray deflates into herself, relieved that she didn’t completely lose you. You’ve always knew that Ray has a soft spot for you and the members, she just never really knows how to express it. Realising maybe that’s why Ray finds confort in Sunghoon and vice versa. They see themselves in each other and no one can understand Ray better than the man who fought 1 vs 6 with his own members. You smile to yourself when you catch him smiling solemnly at the girl, proud of how far she’s come.

"Whose idea was this?" You point to the gigantic balloon-spelled "Sorry," and they all collectively point toward Aejeong, who scrunches her nose.

"I hate all of you."

"We love you too, AJ," Ray laughs, throwing an arm around Aejeong, who looks like she's about to cry.

"I mean it, Y/N. I am so, so sorry for what I did to you. I’m not even going to give you any excuses, I just hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me." You exchange glances with each and every one of your members, knowing deep down that no matter what happens, you’d go to hell and back with them over and over again.

"AJ, how can I forgive you when I never blamed you for anything in the first place?" You pull her into a hug, and the rest of the girls slowly join in, surrounding you with the love and affection that you had missed over the past few days.

“How did this happen?” You pull away, looking back and forth between Ray and Aejeong, their arms tightly wrapped around each other. “We kissed and made up. What about it?" Aejeong playfully pecks Ray's cheek, causing the later to pull away with a jerk.

"Ayo, back up," Sunghoon appears behind Ray, protectively pulling her away from Aejeong. His own members coo at him from the back, finding his protective gesture adorable.

The room erupts in laughter and playful banter as Sunghoon and Ray exchange teasing glances. "Oh, look who's getting all protective now," Jake teases, nudging Sunghoon's shoulder.

Sunghoon tries to maintain a serious expression but fails as a smile tugs at the corners of his lips. "Someone's got to keep this girl in line," he says, giving Ray a mock stern look.

"Hey, I can handle myself just fine," Ray retorts, but her playful tone gives away her amusement. She looks at Sunghoon with a fond smile, appreciating his protective nature.

The members continue to tease Sunghoon and Ray, adding to the lighthearted atmosphere in the room. You can't help but smile as you witness the playful interaction. Seeing your members and ENHYPEN getting along again brings you a sense of relief and happiness.

It's evident that the tension and misunderstandings have been resolved, and now the focus is on rebuilding their bond and enjoying each other's company. Amidst the chaos, you lock eyes with Heeseung who offers you a reassuring smile of his own.

Heeseung's presence in your life is a constant reminder of the importance of empathy, forgiveness, and growth. That no matter how chaotic your surroundings are, even in the middle of the most busiest street, that you’d still somehow find your way to him.

Having taught you that mistakes are opportunities for learning and that unity and understanding can mend even the deepest wounds. With Heeseung by your side, you felt supported and ready to face any challenges that lay ahead, whatever they may be…

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♡。·˚˚· ·˚˚·。♡

authors note: stayc girls, it’s going down(2) btw i apologise for the increase in written chapters. istg i’m trying to avoid writing them but it’s so difficult 🥲

taglist! open. @softiehee @annoyingbitch83 @hoon0logy @aernx @lhees01 @flower0930 @harperwasstaken1 @haechansbbg @renjunoya @heeheesang @spilled-coffee-cup @jwnghyuns @ocyeanicc @neozon3nha @pshchives @casualzo @captivq @suvgs @iea-tsand @yohanabanana @wonyoungsvirus @shinsou-rii

[little-witchys-garden]

“Your jewelry should Introduce you before you even speak “

My Nana would croon out as I watched from her bed as she draped herself in diamonds of all colors rubies, sapphires, opals and emeralds. I’d gaze at her as she slip on her thick shimmering silver bracelets. Putting on priceless rare gem earrings that were so big and heavy I thought her ears might rip off. A jeweled ring on every finger and toe.

" A con, what I'm owed. Use men or they'll use you. My jewelry speaks for me. It's why so many mem desire me but can never have me, but I'll always have them. " she’d purr out as I helped her put on her heavy gem covered necklaces. Gifts from many weak spineless men that she’d never truly love or even care about.

I remember feeling ashamed as my aunt snarled at me for my heirloom ring telling me it was whores jewelry or cutting off friendship bracelets because they were childish. How she’d growl at me for wearing anything that wasn’t pure gold and diamonds even though my parents could never afford such luxuries.

" sluts jewelry" my uncle would hiss while rubbing his chunky gaudy golden rings that put him in debt whenever I wore the simple jewelry I saved up money from mowing lawns so I could have just one piece of jewelry from Hot topic or a thrift shop because it's all I could afford.

“Your jewelry should Introduce you before you even speak “

A saying echoed my whole life.

I follow that saying now but not in the way they'd hope. I wear jewelry that brings me joy and shows the warmth that those that looked upon them never saw it them.

I wear jewelry that speaks of a gentle loving soul, jewelry that sings a song of comfort understanding may it be cheap, handmade, old, thrifted or tacky.

I dawn myself head to toe in shimmering jewelry, always wearing too much, jingling and jangling with each movement.

Jewelry brimming with witchy and magick intentions.

Jewelry gifted to me from a place of lavender love.

Oh yes my jewelry speaks for me just not the way they were hoping.

[aihoshiino]

The other day, I had a random thought about VTubers and OnK.

In Japan, VTubers are often considered a variation or splinter of idol culture. Hololive fans recognize that as a custom more honored in the breach than the observance, but the cultural connection is still there. (Look at the drama preceding Uruha Rushia's termination for a well-known example.)

VTubers also have a pretty obvious element of false persona, both in the typical "this performer is performing a marketable version of themself if not outright pretending to be someone else" sense and the "this performer is not literally an AI with a pink bow" sense.

The point I'm meandering towards is that VTubers have significant overlap with the substance and themes of Oshi no Ko, particularly since both B-Komachis are at least moderately familiar with streaming. (The new more than the old, but I'm sure we've all read 45510.) So it seems like a lot of the OnK cast would develop strong opinions about VTubers once they learned about them.

Do you have any thoughts about that? Whether Ai would envy their ability to cleanly separate their persona from their actual flaws, or Ruby would get snobbish about them being fake idols, or something?

So like the ask about streamers in general, this comes with the caveat that I don't really know shit about VTubers in general apart from things I pick up from being adjacent to VTuber enjoyer friends and also that I have HimeHina songs on my Spotify playlist lol. But I think in terms of least to most Opinionated:

Akane and Kana are probably equally Offline about it in that they know VTubers Exist but that's about it. Kana has like 2 seconds where she considers giving it a try now she has that fat ass gaming PC but the idea just slides right out of her brain because she doesn't really care that much. 

Aqua is also in the "sure, that exists" category but he's probably done editing and clipping work here and there just for some extra cash (since he says he was doing extra work online) and if clips or shorts come up on his feed he might watch one or two in a row but the rest of the time he literally forgets VTubers exist until reminded of them. 

Ai thinks VTubers are pretty cool but in a slightly befuddled 'gosh what will they think of next!' sort of way LMAO. I think it takes her a while to really understand what's going on with them because she gets a bit confused by the avatars and all the wild-ass lore, but when she eventually gets her head around it, she thinks it's a pretty effective way to split your public and private selves.

Mem and the StrawberryPro crew have a healthy respect for them as fellow creators! The agency probably manages a bunch since Miyako mentions them mostly pivoting to net talents and Mem's always on that grind and actually has had IRL collabs with VTubers on the official OnK youtube channel. LMAO

Ruby's last because I think she feels the most strongly and the most positively about them! For all the issues there are with the corpo structure, VTubing at its core (at least in the circles most adjacent to idol culture) is a space that afford opportunities to people who have what it takes but whose barrier to entry is that they don't fit into strictly defined 'mold' of idolhood - but most specific to Ruby, there are lots of 'idols' so to speak in the VTuber space who have disabilities that stand in the way of their taking more traditional roots to idolhood - IronMouse is one of the most famous, but there are plenty of others. I think this would be an incredible thing to see for Ruby who herself was cut off and robbed of her own dreams as Sarina and had absolutely no outlet for her passions or ambitions. I think she'd wholeheartedly support everyone and want to see them succeed! OnK AU where she wants to audition for Hololive or some shit WHEN

[lunaefall]

Amphoreus is a World Long Gone: A Theory

Hardly an original theory at this point, especially for HI3 veterans, but I was thinking that by writing my own post I could bring up my own points, maybe something new to the discussion.

HSR did not shy away with the nods to HI3, bringing back the Flamechasers (a group of fallen heroes). Some characters are familiar faces and some are complete originals, but the story they're going for is a new version of the Elysian Realm.

And we know the Elysian Realm is a memory simulation, but then how is Amphoreus the same? Well, let's get into the different points that support this theory.

The Trailblazer themself is Remembrance.

This probably isn't much to go off of as a starting point, but I'd like to mention that every Path the Trailblazer unlocked since Belobog has been deeply meaningful and relevant to the story. This already means that Remembrance is a key player in the Amphoreus arc.

And what does Remembrance focus on? Memory. Amphoreus being a memory noe isn't that outlandish, but it still needs more evidence — and this brings me to the next point, one we had since 2.3.

Amphoreus can only be accessed through the Remembrance.

The Garden of Recollection being the only faction that can detect Amphoreus seems strange at first — unless you remember that the Memokeepers are tasked with finding and recording memories. They may have found Amphoreus due to it being a memory as well.

Black Swan also referred to it as the 'Eternal Land', meaning it may be preserved as a memory of a specific period of time.

This is where the similarities to Elysian Realm really show, as this simulation in HI3, based on the Elysium Fields, also preserves past memories.

And the Elysian Realm is, in fact, based conceptually on Greek mythology in how it serves as a 'sanctuary' where the memories of past heroes are located.

And now, comes my final point.

The drip marketing title is different for Aglaea.

Notice the difference in the titles for the drip marketing for 3.0? The Herta's "Extraterrestrial Satellite Communication" is pretty similar to previous marketing posts, but Aglaea's is different. "Amphoreus' Saga of Heroes".

This is almost as if no message is being communicated and we're running into the records of someone already dead. It's no wonder The Herta herself is getting involved in Amphoreus, she probably wants to research Fuli and the Remembrance more from it. And she rarely gets involved in a situation in-person so this has got to be big if she's joining in.

Speaking of Aglaea's drip marketing, we do have this quote from it.

"You shall summon the heroes of this world, and lead them to once again embark on an endless journey."

And there's the Trailblazer drip marketing description too.

The Trailblazer sets sail toward the unknown. Alongside their newest companion, Mem, they will record the adventures and stories they experience in Amphoreus — And "memories" will also flourish eternally, paving the path for the journey ahead and recording glorious sagas.

Rewriting the story of Amphoreus

I think the quill in the skills of our Remembrance TB represents that this time, the TB will rewrite the story of Amphoreus and change its fate.

Just like, in the Elysian Realm, Elysia was able to summon the remaining 12 Flamechasers and use the power (literal game mode buffs) they blessed her with to defeat the Herrscher of Corruption. Making them into real heroes that helped save the world, rather than repeating their tragic fall from the Previous Era.

That's all for my theories and thoughts on this topic. Let's see if this turns out accurate or is another one of my late night stupid imaginings again (it's literally past midnight for me).

[anika-kanroji16]

Akane is a plot device discussion?

Personal whenever someone which just dismiss Akane as this character which just there for the online abuse arc or call her a plot device. I get pissed. Okay. I want to throw my computer out the nearest window. People saying that Akane have no personality. I would be like : "God, I pray that you make me have the strength for me to not STRUGGLE A MOTHERFUCKER "

Yes those comments annoy me and yes I fucking hate them so much. Does Akane services for the plot. Yes. But to pain her as nothing put a plot device is insulting.

Like I said before in this post

Akane is a loving and sincere character who will do anything for the people she cares about that's a fact. She wants to help Aqua in any way she can for example hugging Aqua and promising that she will always be there for him, another example is wanting to help him kill Hikaru because in her eyes if Aqua wants to kill someone so badly there's must be reasonable explanation saying "I want to carry your sins with me." in other words I carry the burden with you something which Akane brings up time and time again.

But I won't say because of that she's perfect. "And to break this down even further if you talking about Akane keeping the truth from Aqua, well she did that for his own good she didn't want Aqua to continue the path of revenge so she decided to hide it, it isn't for some selfish reason like wanting to have Aqua all for herself cause she literally said she not against breaking up with him. This is also the reason why she decided to kill Hikaru herself instead of telling Aqua. But I do agree that she should of told Aqua the truth cause she almost got killed." From the same post. Like Gurl I love you and all but all Aqua wanted is for you to be safe, She should been honest with Aqua maybe she could still been with him.

Now people say she doesn't have any meaningful relationships outside of Aqua. Which isn't exactly wrong that her main relationship in Oshi No Ko. But I won't say she is attached to hip when it comes to him and she doesn't care about others. She's been friends with Ruby since Oshi No Ko season 2 aka the best season. And she protected Ruby X2

She went so FAR to protect the Ruby. And you can say it because of the plan Aqua had. But why did she protect Ruby in 147?

Just face it Akane is a great character, and not JUST for Aqua's sake but for Ruby's too; I won't say she is as emotionally attached to Ruby as she is to Aqua but the fact she saved Ruby from Hikaru shows that she cares about Ruby as well. What about Kana? Well in Chapter 149 she basically told Kana to go for Aqua, telling a lie that she doesn't have feelings for him anymore for Kana to be confident enough to go after him; even tho she still has feelings for him revealed later on. And this is not the only time where Akane puts Kana before herself because after what happened when they were kids, instead of hating her [Which honestly if she did I won't blame her] SHE STUDIED FREAKING PSYCHOLOGY TO UNDERSTAND WHY and she came to the conclusion the reason why she lashed out and said what she said was out of fear.

Akane's character isn't just attached to Aqua like how everyone likes to believe she is also attached to Kana and Ruby as well as Mem cho and Yuki.

Cause in season 1

Yuki understood that it was an accident and they made up and she also said that Akane a hardworker

Mem cho went looking for her worried if she okay

Yuki said that she could of alway speaked to her

And they LITERALLY all worked to together to save Akane's repuatation

It would be lie to say that Akane's character was JUST revole Aqua. This might all happened in season 1 but just because this all happen in season one that doesn't mean they didn't play apart. Also Akane plays a big role with Kana in sense she's Kana's rival.

Akane HATE the current Kana , not because of her personaitly

Although I would say that does have a role in that cause later after Kana embrassed her Aqua and Akane have a bonding moment of how much they HATE her cocky attitude and As someone who hates it as well I love that Aquakane scene lol >:3.

But she hates Kana cause of the Acting style she was forced to adapt in.

She says "The Kana that I loved, was way more selfish and overwhelming actor."

She became an actor because she was insirped by Kana,She does acting cause she love acting, She does acting cause she wants to bring her Kana back,She acts because she wants to defeat Kana like she was before.

She acts with passion cause she wants Kana to get out of her shell. to act like she was in her glory days, that is why she apologized to Kana when she saw that it did the opposite effect that she wanted.

She acts with passion and competitive drive to beat Kana as well because even though she wants Kana to get out of her shell, SHE WANTS TO BEAT HER, She wants to be the one who makes Kana get out of her shell, she wants to fight her at her peak and win that what Akane truly wants. As seen when she talks to Aqua about her desires or when Kana says "I see, You want to fight me, huh"

Showing her drive to beat Kana. And Aqua teases Akane by saying "If you want to defeat Arima we can leave it as it is" and Akane responds by saying "You know that's not that not what I want, That's not the Kana I want to win against, I want to beat her at her best" Showing how willing and determined she is to beat Kana.

And Akane at the end says she wants to be better at acting to surpass Kana while Kana thinks Akane already surpassed her cause she was able to act like Ai if Aqua's dream was a reality while playing as Saya Hime, a technique she can't do according to Kana.

She not only improved her acting skills but Aqua's as well.

The Love is Now crew especially Yuki came to see Akane perform and while she thinks She can do better, her friends from Love is Now thinking she is already a great actress even a genius actress.

This shows how determined Akane is to get better at acting and how hard-working Akane is and also shows that Aqua isn't her only relationship in Oshi No Ko. The whole Toyoko Blade Arc shows her determined Akane is to beat Kana and how hard of a worker Akane is when it comes to acting like season 1 wasn't enough to show us.

And this is why I get so fucking pissed when they say Akane is just a plot device and she has no personality.

Akane isn't just a plot device, she has a personality, Yes Akane moves the plot but she isn't just there for that. She's a hard worker, determined to reach her goals, goal driven, competitive, sincere, understanding, compassionate, inspires others, and wants to help the people she cares about, put others before herself MULTIPLE TIMES for their happiness, put her life to save others twice and is the most understanding, kindest and empathic person in Oshi no Ko. She understands Kana more than anyone else and puts Kana's wants before her own, She understands Aqua more than anyone else and wants to help him no matter what, she saved Ruby 2X, and she is compassionate, hardworking, sweet, pure at heart, competitive and the most understanding character. She shouldn't be reduced to a plot device with no personality cause she has a personality and she isn't just there to serve the plot. The only people who have no personality are people shaming Akane and saying such crap.

[bigblueoctoling]

Cataloguing how The Octolings feel about Octavio

Some amount of this is headcanon, but I always aim for my headcanon to mimic canon.

Marina

I think it's somewhat undeniable that Marina's views on Octavio are skewed. In Side Order, she typically refers to him by "boss" and even goes out of her way to say that he isn't so bad, but I'm rather confident in my point that Marina is lying to herself about how bad it was.

As previously stated, I feel Sheldon's palette is generally intended to imply that Marina disapproves of Octavio's general behaviors with managing the Octarian empire- Forcing impressionable youths down the path of the Octarian military, your standard warlord stuff.

But it's also worth adding onto this that Octavio's palette adds onto this that, in spite of her repressing Octavio's worse aspects, he is still ultimately a terrible leader. Even while seeing him as, at best, a silly old man, he is grossly negligent about the wellbeing of his people.

As one of the head engineers within Octavio's very own unit, it's very clear why Marina would have this bias- while she also suffered as an Octarian, she likely ultimately experienced a slightly less harsh experience, being a brilliant and diligent worker. But then, that only makes Octavio's flaws stand out more.

Acht

Acht seems slightly more actively disillusioned to Octavio, but in the same way Acht was already disillusioned about being a soldier from the beginning. I don't think it outright started as rebellion, but simply a lack of urgency. Someone who wouldn't buy into propaganda, and as such, likely doesn't see the point in training to be the best soldier possible. Still, they comment on Octavio some, and their commentary generally makes it seem as though Octavio is in some respects a parallel to Cuttlefish.

This kind of opens some things up- because, to me, it feels fairly on the nose that Cuttlefish is not meant to be a particularly respect-worthy figure, especially after Octo Expansion. Octavio, much like Cuttlefish, will never change; he's an old codger who's caught up in a long-past war. The operative difference is that Octavio seemingly has political power and Cuttlefish does not. If Cuttlefish had the same amount of power, it's not unlikely that he would behave extremely similarly.

Eight

Most of Eight's identity comes from mem cakes- to me, Eight feels extremely vindictive of the Octarian empire. I have to imagine this is because Eight was not an elite Octarian, nor an engineer- rather than being bumped up in her education like Marina was, Eight was always just going to be a grunt. The language in the mem cakes, to me, feels seeped with anger and catharsis in escaping; her mem cake for Octavio oozes with sarcasm.

Speaking of Eight, looking over the mem cakes again... I have to wonder if the boss Tentacle's description means anything. As previously stated, my going theory for the connection between Acht and Eight is that Eight is a clone. The boss tentacles are specifically cited as a clone of one of Octavio's limbs...

Worth taking note of.

Beyond that, I don't really have much of a conclusion. Octavio is a bad person and if you want him to be redeemed I kind of hate you.

[1533-secrets-from-history]

Valide Afife Nurbanu Sultan Vs Valide Melike Safiye Sultan.

My previous pool showed that as I expected Safiye is regarded as more powerful than Nurbanu. In this post I will compare them in several aspects (difficulties before accession, intelligence, power, influence, reputation, political stability, legacy, wealth, personality,harem management) some of them will be discussed in two aspects: During the tenure as Haseki and Valide.

Let's start with

difficulties before accession: Unlike other mem- bers of kadinlar saltanat those women became favourites of there respective husbands, during their time as prince, therefore it posed some changes for their early status and influence. I would say their situation was kind of reversed. Nurbanu had risky princehood,but her tenure as Haseki was easier without the presence of Valide, while Safiye's time as prince's concubine was without any risks,but she had to compete with Valide Sultan. Both of them had to fight, but Nurbanu had to fight for the lives of her son and husband, while Safiye fought for her power as neither her husband's nor son's life was ever threatened. So I would go to Nurbanu.

Intelligence: I have to do this as some anime showdown and go for "feats and hype". Both of them were very smart women. Nurbanu was said to be wise and unusually intelligent woman, while Safiye's description says that she was wise and sensible. Both of them proved it through their life and while Safiye had great ability to gain power and supporters, Nurbanu showed prudence in not gaining enemies. One of her better strategic decisions includes hiding Selim's body and choosing non-direct approach against Safiye. One can't be denied,both women had great political mind.

Power: As Haseki Nurbanu was undoubtedly more powerful, first and utmost reason is absence of Valide sultan. Nurbanu took all the powers and responsibilities of her predecessor, except for sharing it with her sister-in-law Mihrimah, who acted as de-facto Valide of Selim. However, Nurbanu still outranked and outpowered her, held main power in Topkapi, expanded alinces and adviced to Selim. She, even as merely a cocnubine, enjoyed the privilege of sitting in front of master/husband and speak her mind freely. Greatest indication of her power is building Atik Valide mosque complex. She during her tenure as Haseki received permission to construct a project that was titled as Valide, she herself was mentioned as future Valide or simply Valide-i-atik couple of times. In this regard, she can be consid- erd as one of two "original Hasekis", who were fulfilling all the duties for which title was created in the first place, during her time as Haseki she resived 1100 aspers daily, ridiculously more than any other concubines. In 1571 Selim Married to Nurbanu and dowered her with 110 000 ducats, that would be approximately 9.2 million akches. (Providing the statement that 59 million akches was roughly the same amount as 700 000 ducats)

Nurbanu's tenure as Haseki was much less significant than Nurbanu's. There was Valide, one of the most powerful in history, and she restricted every possible way for her to gain power. She had nothing to say in harem management. First years of their relationship was relatively peaceful as Safiye was still getting used to her new rank,but later she started her attempts to influence Murad, although it was all in vain, because it was clear only person Murad would listen was his mother and no one in the world could oppose her decisions,Nurbanu still became upset by Safiye's actions regarding it as insolent. However, Nurbanu understood Murad's extensive bond with the woman,so despite the fact she could exile Safiye without second thought, it could stain the relationship between mother and son and increase Murad's lust towards his Haseki. So instead she chose much more intellectial approach and forced him to take more concubin- es. Things became even more intense, when ambassador remarked that Haseki sultan should have had greater status than Valide as it was in Europe as consort was closer than the mother. It enraged Nurbanu,banished ambassador from capital and attacked Safiye with greater might, as she had favoured that ambassador and he clearly spoke at her behest.Nurbanu then started to spread rumors that Safiye hired witches and sorcerers to bewitch Murad,many of her close friends and servants were either killed, tortured, exiled or imprisioned to get confessions,Safiye fell from Murad's favour and Nurbanu now banished her without any consequ- ences. Nurbanu died in December of 1583 and Safiye returned from exale in about 1585 when Murad got over his trauma of loss of mother. However, it did not secure her power as Nurbanu's will left Çanfeda hatun as chief harem manager, who restricted Safiye's influence within the harem and remained as supreme authority and de-facto Valide until 1595. While she was restricted in harem by Çanfeda, boundaries were set in political spectre by her husband, who sometimes listens to Safiye,but initially she could not shape events at her liking like Nurbanu and Hurrem could. Safiye also had less stipend, while other consorts had higher then other consorts of Selim(still not anywhere close to Safiye),still they had enough construct their own charity projects.

During their tenure as Valide it seems like Safiye had more direct power over politics. She was overruling her son,while Nurbanu was technically co-ruler,despite being more politically active of the two[her son]. Safiye was even chosen as de facto regent of empire in 1596 and enjoyed undesputable power untile 1600's, when people openly resented Safiye and three major rebellion challenged her rule. First her Kira was killed and Mehmed had to demonstrate her power by restricting her mother's actions from now on Safye was more careful,but still overruling her son, it resulted in two more rebellions, first was successfully restrained,but second caused the death of Safiye's eunuch Gazanfer, whose death broke hell in harem. Everything ended when Mehmed died in 1603 and new Valide Sultan exiled her for good.

Influence: while Safiye's direct power was greater, Nurbanu's overall influence overshadowed hers. Nurbanu had supreme control over Harem and her son and she made herself first registered Valide sultan(about which I will talk in more details in legacy category),which gave her second most powerful position in empire, however she chose not to overrule her son,but rule with him, so his authority and rank would not have been questionable, therefore her influence was great than direct power, but she was directing everything according to her liking, every high ranking position was taken after her approval, Murad was not taking actions before consulting with her, she had direct hand in dismissal and appointment of grand viziers and her influence even extended to foreign politics,was in touch with Catherine de Medici and greatly helped Venice, she promoted merchandise between nations and even stopped the war. As Haseki she was the most trusted advisor of Selim and like her tenure as Valide she had hands in every major decision made, however she was mostly focused on gaining alliances. One of the greates examples of her influence is attending Friday prayers in her son's and husband's stead. This was honour of padisah and harem women were not allowed to do this, even Kösem was not allowed by pashas to do this despite pre-existed precedence, this is the indication that pasha's and people acknowledged and accepted Nurbanu as sort of equal to padisah.

Safiye's influence was also great. As Valide she literally sold high ranking positions in greatest possible prices and when her authority was challenged that formarlly reduced her power,but she continued to influence Mehmed. She even secured her infuence in advance and restricted Mehmed from giving any of his consorts Haseki rank,still two of them acquired their own power. One of them, Handan, won Safiye's power by pretending to be obedient, while Halime was resented from the beginning due to her close relationship with Mehmed undeniably intimidating nature. While, Gazanfer agha was alive he did not let anyone, including Safiye, to demonstrate resentment,but when he was killed hell broke in harem and that is when Safiye and Handan orchestrated the death of Halime's eldest son Mahmud. Her foreign affairs were slightly more important than Nurbanu's. While her mother in law had purely political relationship with France and Venice, Safiye became "online" friend of Elizabeth I of England and the two exchanged gifts on regular basis.

Reputation: Nurbanu wins that one and it's not even a close match. She was loved, respected and admired, still everyone was cautious to remain on her good side, due to her known ruthless side. One indication of this is already mentioned friday prayers. She was also fearsome, when Kapudan killic Ali pasha wanted to start a war against Venice Nurbanu wrote him a letter and warned him to not even dare to say anything about war in front of padisah,after reading it he dropped the letter in horror and when he entered the council, where Murad asked what was the matter he wanted to discuss, he openly admitted that it was no more relevant as Valide Sultan did not approve it. That indicated three things: 1. Nurbanu had reputation that terrified Kapudan pasha 2. if Nurbanu did not want something it was losing it's relevance 3. Pasha's respected her opinions so much that no one protested it.

Safiye's reputation was on the other hand very much stained, in people's eyes she was immoral person, who hired witches and took ambassadors as lovers, none of the were true of course,but existence is evidence of their attitude. She was seen as corupted person, who should not have been allowed to rule. The hatered was spread on her son as well and caused three rebellions.

Political stability: most of this was already answered in previous categories. Nurbanu's rule was undesputable and every opposition was soon ripped out by the root,before it became uncontrollable.

On the other hand, Safiye's tenure was marked by rebelions and death of her servants. Nurbanu is still winner.

Legacy:

Safiye lefts little to no legacy in ottoman empire history. She did almost no charity, her mosque was finished by Turhan and actions were more egoistical rather than on greater scale. Her greatest legacy can be considered friendly relationship with Elizabeth I and their gifts and she was highly likely admired by kosem, who visited her and even named one of her granddaughters Safiye, possible in her honour. So, could she have been role model for young, ambitious Kosem? Who knows,but I personally would not cross out this possibility.

However, Nurbanu had great impact on people, empire and generally her successors.

First things first, she made Valide Sultan legal rank, Ayse Hafsa Sultan was first slave to become Sultan,but she was not Valide Sultan as we know now, she was juts honoured mother of Sultan Suleyman han, who carried status of Sultan. In short, she was just a woman, who carried title Sultan and "Valide part" was just honorific as every noble mothers were called Valide by their children, proper address to her was either effendi or Sultan and she was registered as "mother of Sultan Suleyman han",juts like Hurrem war " mother of shehzade Mehmed" and later " mother of shehzade Selim", however Nurbanu was registered as "Valide Nurbanu Sultan", was addressed as "My Valide" and had second most powerful political rank, something that was effectively used be all of her successive Sultanate of women members. In that sense, she can be considered as virtual co-founder of the era.

Another of her legacy is Atik Valide mosque complex, one of the greatest complexes in Istanbul, she was also first woman in ottoman empire to build Library.

She moved most of the harem in Topkapi and appointed Çanfeda as First Kethuda hatun, who lattered gathered unprecedented wealth and pover, with daily stipend equal to imperial pirncesses'.

She did a lots of charity apart from the mosque having baths, she built more separate baths, fountains and personally met people in her residence yeni kapı, listen their problems and helped them. once she listened commoner herself about problem. That woman asked her to help free her son who was captured in the battle. Nurbanu promised her to help and kept it. she also had adoptive son, whom she raised, gave education, gave rank and even wanted to marry her to her granddaughter, that was failed due to her death. It may stopped her plans of wedding,but certainly did not stop her charity, after her death she freed 150 women of her service, granted 1000 gold each and donated her vast wealth in charitable projects.She was infuletal even in her death: after her death his son broke tradition of isolated mourning and followed her all way to her final path, whole time sobbing.

Wealth: it would be crime not to give that one to Safiye. She had daily stipend of 800 akches for 20 years and 3000 akches for about nine. She had personal Kiras who arranged her business, she also sold high ranking positions and in 1596 got access to 1 billions akches from treasury, though it was only temporary.

Neither Nurbanu was short of money, despite having 1000 akches during first five year as Haseki, 1100 after her marriage and 2000 during her tenure as Valide Sultan, she was also dowered 110 000 dukats abour 9.2 millions akches as I have already said. She, unlike Safiye, also conducted charitable projects Building mosque complex, fountains, Hamams and dinning places. Çanfedas small mosques took 2 million akches, about same amount was spent for fountains, Hamam would have been even more expensive, therefore much greater scale construction projects would definitely worth dozens of millions. During her death Nurbanu's fortune was immense, she freed 150 of her servants and gave them 1000 ducats each( that would mean about 84,500 in ackhes and 12,625,000 in general), about same amount she gave to treasury,but it was only a small portion of her wealth, vast majority of her fortune was donated to charity, that would make her net worth of hundreed of millions. So even if Safiye's wealth was greater, Nurbanu had better use of it.

Personality: Nurbanu was mostly benevolent person and devoted mother, she career deeply about people. While Safiye demonstrated less of it. She had intensions to be charitable, she abandoned it, which means It was not her passion, she was more egoistical and power hungry, still she was careing person and when Esther handali fell ill, she sent gifts, food and doctors to her.

Major difference between those two is that Safiye would do anything to secure power and achieve her deeds, while Nurbanu had her priorities sorted. In a same situation, when their grandsons opposed them, Safiye had him executed, while Nurbanu did everything to save him anyways, which indicates despite her hatred towards Safiye, he lived Mehmed grately and all her efforts to force Murad produce more heirs,was to restrain Safiye as Haseki,but never meant to threat Mehmed, as she could have very well used pregnant concubine to get rid of Safye and Mehmed for good.

Harem management: that would go to Nurbanu. She had complete authority over princely and imperial harems of her son and husband, while Safiye struggled to maintain order after the death of Gazanfer.

That is a reason why I think Nurbanu was more important and more influential figure of the two.

[valiantarcher]

Started a new book off my 2023 reading list and I have a handful of thoughts and reactions on the first few chapters.

“...her mother had been a great beauty who cared only to go to parties and amuse herself with gay people. She had not wanted a little girl at all, and when Mary was born she was handed over to the care of an Ayah, who was made to understand that if she wished to please the Mem Sahib she must keep the child out of sight as much as possible.”

Ahhh, this is what isfjmel-phleg means when she says Mary is emotionally neglected.

“She pretended she was making a flower-bed...”

This seems thematically important.

“Nobody thought of her, nobody wanted her, and strange things happened of which she knew nothing.”

More neglect.

“The child ate some fruit and biscuits, and being thirsty she drank a glass of wine which stood nearly filled.”

Is this why she doesn’t come down with cholera?? Minimal preparation/risk of contamination with the fruit and biscuits, and wine not water?

“She was making heaps of earth and paths for a garden...”

More playing at the garden.

“Perhaps if her mother had carried her pretty face and her pretty manners oftener into the nursery Mary might have learned some pretty ways too.”

I think this is Mrs. Crawford (or the minister?) recognising the toll of emotional neglect on Mary, though I suppose she could also be recognising the lack of a good role model.

“If she were not so sallow and had a nicer expression . . . her features are rather good. Children alter so much.”

The conversation may be a bit thoughtless but I certainly don’t get any malice from either the officer’s wife or Mrs. Medlock. In fact, Mrs. Medlock strikes me as very capable and just straightforward, if not very comforting or good with children.

“Captain Lennox was my wife’s brother and I am their daughter’s guardian.”

Okay, the relationship between Mr. Craven and Mary’s parents is VERY clear there - how come all the adaptations get it wrong (as I hear)???

“She stopped herself as if she had just remembered something in time.”

Was Mrs. Medlock about to mention Colin??? But good for Mrs. Medlock standing up for Mrs. Craven - and, I think, maybe too for trying to explain a bit about Mr. Craven. But the other interesting thing about this conversation is Mary’s reactions (angry about her parents never caring, sympathetic towards Mr. Craven, thinking Mrs. Craven would’ve been like her own mother, the sudden drying up of sympathy for Mr. Craven) - and the fact that Mary seems to be genre-aware, so to speak, of the story she’s in and she doesn’t like it (ahh, but it will get better!). ;))

“What’s expected of you, Mrs. Medlock,” Mr. Pitcher said, “is that you make sure he’s not disturbed and that he doesn’t see what he doesn’t want to see.”

:O These are the exact same desires that Mrs. Lennox had - not to see or be disturbed by Mary! It’ll all work out in the end, but what an awful start for Mary - she’s right back where she was in India with her own parents.

[balladingbard]

Pandaemonium's End and Its Relation to Families

Spoiler-tagging under the cut, but let's talk a little bit about Erichthonios, Lahabrea, and Athena (because I'm seeing some confusion on Pandaemonium's ending as well as a call to understand just what was going on with Lahabrea and his family.)

Let's be honest - Lahabrea's family had some issues.

Whether it was Athena's quest for godhood, Lahabrea's distancing, and Erichthonios' trauma, I think we can all agree that this family needed to be in therapy, and for all that he went through, Erichthonios really overcame a lot of baggage.

But rather than get into what happened in Pandaemonium's end, I think it best to focus on what it may represent. After all, stories have meanings, and I'd like to offer one of many takes on how I understood the ending.

Pandaemonium...simply put...is about family. The importance of it, the danger of it, and the impact it has on us.

We get a brief glimpse of family life in some side talk from NPC's in the Ancient world. We see the brother/sister duo on Elpis. We see Themis mention his own parents. We see couples fall in love, and marriage exists in the Ancient world. But with Lahabrea, we get our first true glimpse of a family dynamic, and honestly? It's not a good one.

Let's dig a little deeper...

Athena - The Mother

When you think of a mother's role, what do you think of? Probably the nurturer. The comforter. The selfless one who loves their child with all their heart. But when we look at Athena, I think she's supposed to represent the mother who lives only for herself. Yes, she has goals and ambitions like most mothers do, but instead of having her son and husband as partners and supporters to those goals, she uses them as pawns. Instead of being selfless, she is selfish. Instead of being comforting, she is cruel. And instead of guiding Erichthonios in his role to find his own purpose, she seeks to live her own dreams and ambitions through him, regardless of his feelings in the matter.

Lahabrea - The Father

When you think of a father, what do you think of? Probably the protector. The fixer. The selfless one who loves their family with all their heart. But Lahabrea stands out as a parent many of us know too well - the distant one.

Lahabrea is the parent who's always at work but never home. The one who puts his job above all else. But more than that, his distance isn't just because of his devotion to work. It's a cover up for pain. Pain with his marriage to Athena, which became so powerful that he literally ripped a part of his own soul out to seal it away. He is the wounded parent, pushing his loved ones to the side and drowning himself into something else (in this case, his job) so as to numb the pain.

Erichthonios - The Son

Here, we come to the heart of the matter. Erichthonios, the product of two imperfect parents who ended up bearing their burdens as he grew up. These burdens left him to believe that he was worthless, confused about his purpose in life and whether he was meant for anything. But though Erich's journey from "unloved" son to finding his "true" family is probably the gist of his character arc, there's something that Claudien tells Lahabrea after his awakening that really speaks to what was holding Erichthonios back.

Despite focusing on Lahabrea (though we could add Athena to this conversation), Claudien sums up what was going on with Erichthonios. He had scars - perhaps not physical, but certainly emotional- and like anyone who has been through parental trauma, those scars had difficulty healing (if they ever truly healed at all.)

I think this is one of the "unspoken" messages of Pandaemonium. Though the Ancients prized their impact on the Star more than anything, Pandaemonium shows that the true impact was found in the hearts and souls of the people themselves, guided by the people closest to them. Sure, Athena's research was prized in a scholarly sense. Yes, Lahabrea was a powerful and prominent member of the Convocation. But what good was their prowess when they did so much damage at home? Erichthonios spent his entire life trying to find meaning and purpose in all the hurt, and as we saw through his recorded message, he didn't stand with his father in the Final Days. One can't help but wonder if Father and Son truly healed their relationship, or if it was just simple patchwork. Or perhaps more healing could’ve happened had the Final Days not interrupted it.

It just shows how damaged Ancient society had become, elevating the Star and "purpose" as a whole over individuals and their own well-being. It also shows how powerful an influence parents and guardians have over their children. And just like reality, there are some wounds that go so deep that they may take an entire lifetime to heal (and let's be honest - some scars still remain.) But it gives us hope that even though the LahaFam never really did get "fixed", so to speak, healing still took place. Lahabrea faced his past and accepted responsibility. Erichthonios learned the truth and found that he was more than who his parents said he was, and came to see his father in a more endearing light. And even though Athena remained her selfish self (just like some real parents do), Pandaemonium showed that blood doesn't necessarily make a family. As Erichthonios learned, family can be found in friends too, or a time-traveling adventurer masquerading as Azem's familiar.

[oasisofgalaxies]

"sorry i stole your tag" NO this is the website where we're all freaks about our interests. now tell me about rosegold i wanna hear what it is

oh dear lord that is a can of worms but I’d be happy to open it !!!!

Ok SO Rosegold is a story that is shared between me and my friend @ind1c0lite !!! It’s abt to go thru a major rewrite bc the plot is as filled with holes as a Rhode Island interstate and we can’t have that

But the basic concept won’t change SO here we go!!

In Rosegold there exist beings known as Guardians. The Guardians were created by the Universe, who they call Mother. Mother created the Guardians to watch over certain aspects of existence. Each Guardian is assigned an aspect which is called their Domain. A guardian can have up to two Domains and they are usually related to one another in some way.

As creation exists in Mother, destruction exists in the Collective. The Collective are a hivemind, a rolling tide of eldritch flood that exists to destroy. The Universe weaves and the Collective tears. Opposing forces, a sort of yin and yang. The Guardians know that all destruction of Mother’s creations cannot be stopped, but they do their best to keep the Collective at bay.

The Guardians live in a realm called HQ. It exists somewhere outside the mortal plane and therefore can’t be accessed by mortals. HQ is headed by three guardians, who are also our main characters!

(Art by @ind1c0lite)

This is Una, the Guardian of Timelines and Reality! She was the first Guardian to be created by Mother. Because of this, Una takes her job as head Guardian very seriously. She’s stoic, serious, and very dedicated to her duties and to her fellow Guardians. In her free time (which is an amount that is next to nothing) she enjoys collecting and tending to her extensive collection of swords! While she cares deeply for everyone in HQ, she doesn’t open herself up to many people. I can count on one hand how many people she’s let herself be vulnerable around. But even with her closest friends, there’s some secrets that she will never tell.

(Art by @ind1c0lite)

Memento, or Mem for short, is the Guardian of Time and Memory! He was one of he first Guardians created after Una, and is one of the head Guardians in HQ. There is never a dull moment around Mem, he’s a huge dork and is always getting into some kind of shenanigans. He tends to skirt his duties as head Guardian a bit more than his compatriots, but he is capable of buckling down and getting shit done when needed. Mem is extraordinarily loyal and will often rush headfirst into danger in order to protect his friends. As a hobby he enjoys metalworking! He can create some fantastically intricate pieces, and quite thematically he enjoys making pocket watches. Where Mem is, you can trust that Mori is not far behind.

And speaking of, this is Mori! Mori is the Guardian of Life and Death and the third Guardian to be created after Una. I can’t really say third because he and Mem were created at the same time, so it’s hard to put a number to their arrival. The two are basically inseparable and it’s a rare sight to see them apart. Mori has one of the biggest hearts in HQ and cares deeply about his friends and fellow Guardians. He can be a bit of a stickler for the rules which sometimes gets him the reputation of being a bit of a spoilsport, but he means well. Mori tends for HQ’s sprawling gardens which he himself worked tirelessly to cultivate. He spends hours pruning and caring for his flowers. His prized rosebushes are his favorites! His relation to flowers extends outside the gardens as well. Flowers tend to bloom wherever he goes and can be a good way to tell how he’s feeling. If he’s in a particularly bad mood, however, plantlife around him will wilt and wither. Luckily, it’s rare that Mori is ever in a bad mood.

And those are the main three guys!! Our protagonists :D! I don’t want to make this post super long but if u or anyone reading has any questions please feel free to ask I LOVE talking abt Rosegold so so so much hehe

[callmelyc]

#2023Julance

Week 2: childhood

When lance was born the only thing that would soothe him were the waves. Mama McClain found herself walking down to the shoreline at least once a day with a tiny lance in her arms. The closer her steps fell towards the sea the more relaxed he'd become.

So it's to no one's surprise that they'll find him standing out at the beach with every worry he holds in his tiny shoulders.

"What's the matter Leandro?" Veronica ask gently taking her spot next to a ten year old lance pouting out at the ocean.

He curls in on himself more at the question just about hiding his face away yet his eyes never leave the waves. Lance mumbles something gaining a huff from his sister.

"You have to speak up or I can't tell what you say"

He huffs "am....I really that stupid?"

She frowns "wha-"

"the other kids said I was stupid vera-" lance sniffles a bit "t-they said my dream to go to space was stupid..."

Veronica slides in closer the moment his sniffles start hugging him close to her in an attempt at comfort "you aren't stupid lance, going to space is a very Tangible dream!"

"But what if it isn't" he says through the voice cracks and it breaks her heart "what if the garrison won't take me- what if I'm too stupid to get in!"

Her arms wrap around him even tighter "I need you to listen to me Leandro, ok? You are smart, I promise you are more than capable to get into that fancy space school and go to space so don't you dare let others words be the reason you give up your dream"

Veronica combs her fingers thru his air soothingly "it's like mami always says Leo, you are made for greater things, don't let anyone stop you from reaching for them."

She knows she's gotten through when her little brothers arms are reaching to hug her back "and above all else never give up. Ok?"

She hears a few more sniffles before getting a quiet "ok" in response. She smiles "now what do you say We head home, Mami made ur favorite"

Lance is 14 when he's on the shore again, toes in the sand and eyes once again caught on the waves. This time it's Luis that finds him standing next to lance silently waiting for him to decide to speak up.

"I don't wanna go...." Lance says softly after a few minutes but even the words don't sound so sure.

Luis looks at lance "you don't wanna go? To the school you worked your ass off to get into? The one your about to leave to get a placement in?"

He watches lance kick at the sand halfheartedly "I won't have this anymore if I go-"

"Lance-"

"I'll be all alone...." He finished quietly almost inaudible with how soft he says it.

Luis watches his little brother and for the first time notices just how small he is. He's so young and yet he's the first to leave.

Lance shivers a bit at the breeze and that's when Luis has an idea. He shrugs off his own jacket the one he's become known for wearing, the one he rarely takes off.

His favorite.

And drops it on lances shoulders. Lance, for the first time, flinchs and his eyes meet Luis in surprise "lu-"

"If you take my jacket then I’ll be with you everyday. Take care of it for me, yeah?”

Lance hugs Luis so tightly after that, that Luis knows he did the right thing.

It became a known thing that if Lance held a worry he would go to the beach, stand and look out at the shore. His eyes never once leaving the waves

He did it throughout all his childhood so it was to no one’s surprise when, during his visit with Keith, he leaves the house in the middle of the night.

This time it’s Keith that finds him watching those waves. He stands quietly next to Lance knowing that if anything needed to be said it would be. He knew Lance like the back of his own hand after all.

“I’ve missed this place” Lance says wistfully into the night.

Keith hums, taking lances hand i his own for comfort.

“I think the last time I stood here was between breaks at the garrison I was….maybe 16? And Marco had to come tell me to stop panicking about not being good enough for the program.” Lance chuckles at the memory “I could’ve really used this place out there in space….”

Keith squeezes his hand “tell me about it…”

Lance turns to look at Keith “About what?”

“The ocean.” Keith provides easily “it’s your anchor isn’t it? So…tell me about it.”

And that’s how the McClain family finds Lance this time. Sitting on the shore head leaning on Keith’s shoulder, words soft and relaxed between the two

And they know Lance has found his new shore to come home to.

[zaenight]

Ain't your mama ch2 act 1

Age 6.

Sage trager was now six years old and was on a swing being pushed by a seventeen year old tara , whereas a now three year old Jess was being pushed by a nineteen year old jax teller.

It wasn't untill a roar of bikes alerted The four , but it wasn't Samcrow , It was the mayans from the oakland charter , the sons and mayans have bad blood between them , Territory issues and much more.

Marcus alvarez , not to be confused with marcus coleman , their deadbeat father, had got off of his bike looking towards Jax and the girls , Sage swore she saw a boy around her age get off the bike.

"Relax we're here to celebrate a birthday party later on , we don't want no problems." Alvarez stated to the younger male who went towards him.

"Mijo go play while the adults talk." He continued as a boy no older than seven nodded his head rushing over to the swings where the girls were at.

"Podría conseguir una niñita blanca para ser su futura anciana ." His vp Smirked as The mayans cackled like a bunch of hyenas , even alvarez cracked a smile.

(Might bag himself a little white girl to be his future old lady)

"Watch it." Jax warned before looking towards the swings where tara was with the girls , watching as the boy ran up to sage who had jumped off the swing... right onto him.

......

"Ouch." the boy said before looking at the face of an angel , an angel that currently had her knees embedded into his stomach.

"Oops." Sage trager said with a deadpan look on her face getting up , instead of lending a hand , she yanked the  boy up by his shirt.

"Im Sage trager , and you are?" Sage questioned the boy , knowing full well about the sons and the mayans.

"Esai , Esai Alvarez at your service!" The boy exclaimed holding out his fist for a fist bump.

Instead of doing the same action , Sage trager took the fist in her hand shaking it , as if it was a normal hand shake , Esai was confused and highly amused as he stared at his new friend.

Jess starteed laughing as Tara looked worriedly towards the area Jax and The mayans were , noticing Tig,Clay,and piney had arrived.

Sage however was busy staring into Esai's soul , while Esai was staring into hers,Tara thought that either they were enchanted by eachother or ready to strike if the other made one wrong move.

"Kissy kissy." Jessie screamed laughing , Sage released Esai's hand , her nose scrunching up in confusment , Esai on the other hand was blushing.

Tig Ran zig zags to pick up his niece from the boy , yes tiggy went ziggy zaggy.

"Not my innocent niece!" He exclaimed as Esai looked at him with a bored look.

"Your 'innocent' niece has stabbed,poked, and prodded at Jax more than enough times." Tara stated to the weird man.

"Detail's shmehtails." Tig said with a resting bitch face.

"That's not even a word." Sage said before kicking her leg back hitting tigs knee , allowing her to free herself.

"It is a word if it came out of my mouth and I said it." Tig stated.

"Shmehtails , SHMEHTAIL'S!" Jess screeched as Tara took her out of the baby swing.

The Sons and Mayans agreed that they would not fight today , and went there seperate

ways , oh and Esai had kissed Sage's hand as a goodbye causing tig to let out an inhuman screech.

Who knew the Son of a Mayan Presidenté would fall for the niece of Samcrows resident freakshow.

.........

Age 8 :

An Eight year old Sage and a five year old Jess were watching as Their Mother and Gemma were speaking with their eyes , a day earlier Tara knowles left charming after watching the girls , tucking them in and then bidding goodbye.

"Where are you going?" Sage asked.

"Somewhere to help me become a Doctor , and one day I'll come back okay?,This isn't a goodbye more like a see you later." Tara said finishing the book , tucking her in , Jess was sprawled across the bed already sleeping.

"But what if it's already too late?" Sage whispered.

"What do you mean?" Tara said confused.

"You can get out , you have no ties , but me and jess are the nieces of a samcro member , we have targets on our backs just for being related to them , your leaving , leaving this town and Jax with it , cutting those ties makes you safe , If you leave , you should never come back,coming back will get you killed." The eight year old said as she closed her eyes falling into a deep sleep.

----

"Im just saying I never liked the girl." Gemma said to maeve.

'Don't be mean Gem she was a sweet girl , your just mad you didn't get a grandchild out of it , she got out of this town to study being a doctor , lets just pray she won't come back if she knows what's good for her sanity.' Maeve signed , letting out a huff.

"Yeah Yeah." Gemma said waving her hand around as the bikes rode into the lot.

Sage looked down at her hands that held a small skeleton of a bird,wondering if it was true that a warm light awaited you or if the darkness engulfed you into a cold eternal hell.

"Uncle tiggy!" Jess exclaimed laughing as She was picked up.

"Uncle Tiggy look I found a dead bird!" Sage exclaimed.

"Good job It's still in good condition too." Tig said , Now condoning this behavior might not be normal , but neither are the tragers.

"Jax has been a pissy baby because tara left him." Sage said spinning around before looking at tig.

"Have not!" Jax said coming over and messing up her hair.

'Have too.' Sage mouthed before Jess stuck her tongue out calling Jax a pissy baby like her sister just had.

"PISSY BABY PISSY BABY JAXIE IS A PISSY BABY!" Jess said before screeching as Jax chased after them with the help of opie.

The two twenty one year olds the eight year old and the five year old , ran across the lot of the teller-morrow garage screaming and laughing.

Maeve trager watched her girl's with a smile on her face , snapping picks to send to happy,She wished this could last forever , but life with the mc was never easy.