#no this is tumblr of course i can't

[thethirdromana]

I rewatched Facets recently, and there's the bit where Joran is taunting Jadzia:

Dax: You don't know anything about me. Joran: Only what I can see. A little girl not worthy of the noble creature nestled inside her. You're overwhelmed by it. You're in over your head. 

He's being gratuitously cruel. But in terms of the specific statement that Jadzia is overwhelmed by being joined to Dax... is he wrong?

Deep Space Nine shows us very little of who Jadzia was before she was Dax. We're told she was shy, quiet, hardworking and driven. Being joined seems to have been her main goal in life.

Being hardworking and driven remain parts of her personality. But a huge amount of the rest of what makes up Jadzia Dax seems to be much more Dax than Jadzia. The party animal stuff is Curzon, via Dax. The enthusiasm for Klingon life is Curzon, via Dax. Facets shows us that she's taken on Lela's way of standing, Tobin's mathematical challenges, and Torias' attitude to living life to the full. She falls in love with Torias' wife. We see her spending time with plenty of Curzon's friends, but I don't think we ever meet anyone who was a friend of Jadzia's before she was joined.

I think this is interesting in particular in the context of the reunification taboo. The idea is that the taboo exists so that the symbiont can have a diverse range of experiences, but the desire for a previous host's lover must - by definition! - come from the symbiont themselves, not from the host. The reunification taboo is essentially a requirement for the host to overrule the symbiont's wishes, for the symbiont's own benefit. And the only reason why that would need to exist as a taboo is if this is a likely problem.

So what does it actually mean for a symbiont to be given to an unsuitable host? I think Deep Space Nine gives us two examples. One is someone like Joran or Verad, who aren't morally worthy of the honour. Two is someone like Ezri, who is overwhelmed by getting a symbiont, and struggles to retain a sense of her own personality.

And in that respect... Jadzia doesn't actually seem that different to Ezri. They both pick up the former hosts' love interests and old friends. Personality-wise, Ezri perhaps manages better than Jadzia to maintain her own sense of identity.

(There are lots of Doylist reasons why they're written this way, e.g. Jadzia being introduced as Dax but Ezri then needing to be introduced as Ezri, but I'm really interested in focusing on the Watsonian take right now).

I wish Facets might have explored this as a reason why Curzon washed Jadzia out of the programme, instead of the gross storyline about how Curzon's love for Jadzia caused him to destroy her future, for which he gets forgiven much, much too easily. And it might have been an opportunity to get to know Jadzia a little better, not just Dax.

[theriu]

It has just occurred to me that tumblr's mascot should be a tumbleweed. Think about it:

We're considered a ghost town by the rest of the internet.

Everybody has seen posts (tumbleweeds) from here even if they don't know where they come from.

Tumblr people can seem quiet for long stretches only to descend en masse on topics of interest.

(imagine this house is Dracula Daily or Goncharov)

And of course because it's only one letter away from tumblrweed!!!

[screwpinecaprice]

Oh oof I slipped and hit them with dark and serious beam. 😣

[l0ganberry]

Here's Howdy! Now Barnaby won't be alone. (I will NEVER separate the two)

[redbootsindoriath]

Oh look what day it is again!

Happy Hobbit Day to all who celebrate! Here's a rushed doodle to assure you guys that I am in fact still out there somewhere on earth.

[amiscreations]

⚡️Rockin' the Paradise Tonight!⚡️

So uuh this was supposed to be a study, but it turned into a fully rendered piece of Present Mic, which I plan to be the start of a print series of the rooftop squad... yeah I have no self control😂

PRESENT MIC HAS MY HEART I LOVE YOU HIZASHIIIII

Anyways My Hero Academia brain rot has set in nicely as you can tell.

[yardsards]

i'm only a very casual hobbyist artist and i don't rlly wanna be any more well known on this hellsite than i already am but. sometimes i see those Super Popular Tumblr Artists and i kinda want what they have. specifically the Power to create mini fandom renaissances/influence fanon by the power of making really good art/comics/etc.

specifically i would use it to create a steven universe fandom renaissance and make queerplatonic lapidot be widely accepted fanon

[tsarbulbas-pidoras]

WHOOH yeah so i finally decided to post my drawings here so here's some of my mk sketches (😬i hope someone will like 'em...)

ALSO‼‼🗣☝ i want yall notice that theyre ALL holding each other☺

[quatregats]

I'm rereading Master and Commander and I'm deeply in danger of just posting every single passage from it ever but I did love the way that the capture of the prize in Chapter 6 was framed on either side by the logbook's entry, and also the way he transitions out of it to set the scene and tone:

Sunday, July 1 … Mustered the ship’s company by divisions read the Articles of War performed Divine Service and committed the body of Henry Gouges to the deep. At noon dº weather. Ditto weather: but the sun sank towards a livid, purple, tumescent cloud-bank piled deep on the western horizon, and it was clear to every seaman aboard that it was not going to remain ditto much longer. The seamen, sprawling abroad on the fo’c’sle and combing out their long hair or plaiting it up again for one another, kindly explained to the landmen that this long swell from the south and east, this strange sticky heat that came both from the sky and the glassy surface of the heaving sea, and this horribly threatening appearance of the sun, meant that there was to be a coming dissolution of all natural bonds, an apocalyptic upheaval, a right dirty night ahead. The sailormen had plenty of time to depress their hearers, already low in their spirits because of the unnatural death of Henry Gouges (had said, ‘Ha, ha, mates, I am fifty years old this day. Oh dear,’ and had died sitting there, still holding his untasted grog) – they had plenty of time, for this was Sunday afternoon, when in the course of nature the fo’c’sle was covered with sailors at their ease, their pigtails undone. Some of the more gifted had queues they could tuck into their belts; and now that these ornaments were loosened and combed out, lank when still wet, or bushy when dry and as yet ungreased, they gave their owners a strangely awful and foreboding look, like oracles; which added to the landmen’s uneasiness.

[...]

Jack leant back against the curved run of the stern-window and let Killick’s version of coffee down by gulps into his grateful stomach; and at the same time that its warmth spread through him, so there ran a lively tide of settled, pure, unfevered happiness – a happiness that another commander (remembering his own first prize) might have discerned from the log-entry, although it was not specifically mentioned there: 1/2 past 10 tacked, 11 in courses, reefed topsail. AM cloudy and rain. 1/2 past 4 chase observed E by S, distance 1/2 mile. Bore up and took possession of dº, which proved to be L’Aimable Louise, French polacre laden with corn and general merchandise for Cette, of about 200 tons, 6 guns and 19 men. Sent her with an officer and eight men to Mahon.

[strawberrylemonchai]

this funny thing

[thanatos-zagreus-shagreus]

Edwin: *monologuing about confusing feelings*

Monty: *kisses him*

Edwin: "That was unexpected"

Monty: "I have feelings for you too"

Edwin: "I wasn't talking about you"

Very funny but oh so awkward

[wileycap]

I checked my notifs and my Darth Vader AITA post had this absolute nugget of gold by @janusisasnakeyboi

And I just. Imagine if it was a pronoun, originally. Except the darksiders who came to study the ancient Sith didn't Get That.

Some ancient Sith's ghost is out there looking at Palpatine like "I was trying to tell them my pronouns and apparently that didn't translate. It is kind of hilarious to know that the galaxy is now ruled by a guy named Him Evil, though."

[spirk-trek]

trek // NOT trek ask game!

i hit 2,000 followers recently (???how???) so i wanted to do something fun to celebrate :) if you only want to reblog to get your own asks that's cool. if you want to send me some too, my inbox is open! <3

⏳ how & when did you first get into star trek? // what was your first experience with fandom in general? 📻 what's a song that reminds you of trek in some way? // what's a song you really love? 👤 who is your favorite star trek character? // who is your favorite character outside of trek? 🏆 which star trek series is your favorite? // what's another nerd thing (affectionate) you enjoy? 🙈 who is your favorite rarely appearing and/or side character in star trek? // do you have a favorite character like this from another book/movie/series? 🦄 do you have a favorite "obscure" ship? (examples: t'hura, uhotty, scones, etc) // how about obscure ships NOT from star trek? ✒️ do you have any star trek tattoos? // what's your favorite tattoo that you have, or a tattoo you want to get? 📺 what is your favorite episode of star trek? // your favorite non-trek tv show? 😎 who is your favorite star trek actor? // favorite actor in general? 🎬 what is your favorite star trek movie? // your favorite non-trek movie? 🐉 which creature from star trek would you want to adopt most? // what forbidden creature (because they're exotic, dangerous, mythological etc) do you wish you could adopt?

[ninashiki]

i feel like almost everything in utena has sort of already been extensively discussed in the last two (almost three) decades of utena's existence (not that there aren't new interpretations to be made, there always are) besides black rose arc (mikage+mamiya+tokiko). which is why they're so much fun to think about. i think the need to read between the lines makes it unfortunately easy to misunderstand or look past obvious stuff if you don't pay attention, but to me it's always been really obvious that mikage's arc is a literal representation of the erasure of queerness in ohtori (society?) by akio/everything he represents. and that's so fucking tragic! nemuro was never able to find a name for his desires. he lived and died as a puppet in the shadows.

[mocc-tok-flip-flop]

The submas brainworm is only getting stronger, so I have drafted a whole-ass comic for a new AU idea! One where Chandelure gets to take center stage and become the main character she was always meant to be~

The gist of the AU is that Chandelure has a ghostly soul-bond with Ingo, which essentially means that his soul is under her protection and he sorta registers as a ghost to other pokemon. Basically protects him from other ghosts trying to put their sticky paws on her trainer and also gives the two of them a bit of an empathetic connection. Not quite telepathy, but able to transmit complex feelings and lets them check how badly they're hurt.

Naturally, this means that when Giratina (who was honestly just trying to play around. They were given the tedious task of just opening rifts and looking through all those peep holes made them curious. So when they saw a soul that had a beautiful ghost bond, they became fascinated) snags Ingo and drags him through, Chandelure immediately feels when Giratina's power accidentally tries to overwhelm Ingo's soul and she absolutely loses her shit. Through psychically screaming and using her protective aura to try and bash Giratina, the distortion god acts like a dog that's done something they shouldn't and tries to hide the evidence of their messing around (Ingo getting fucked up via soul and getting not too gently dropped off a mountain).

I have more ideas, especially relating to how Emmet is taking his brother's ace losing her mind and how her actions affect the investigation, but if I keep going down these tracks I'm going to end up with another 90k WIP fic like i did with Naruto. (Though if people wanna see the AU written out...👀... I could absolutely be convinced. I'm very weak...)

[ars-ceratinus]

Study after A Woman from Bern, Switzerland (1887) - Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret