#not tagging this with animal cruelty because I'd not call it so

[dahliaontherun]

Maria has to die

TW: blood, animal death/slaughter, knives

Chicken are anxious, wary animals by nature; from their hatching they seem aware of their fragile existence in this world, their hollow bones filled with the fear of certain death. No matter how slowly you enter the pen, how gently you give them corn, how softly you sing them lullabies, they will still run from you.

But not Maria. Ever since she was a chick, she was always willing to come a little closer to me and eat from my hand. When she got older and separated from her mother, she came out at the pen entry to welcome me; now, a few years as a fully grown laying hen, she walks around the farm like she owns it, never flinching at our approach; she comes sit on my lap when I tend the garden, and closes her eyes when I sing. She coos to Maria de Nazaré the most, and so my parents and I have taken to calling her Mariazinha. Little Maria.

Maria can live up to ten years like any other chicken. But like any other chicken I've always known she won't. Chickens don't die of old age, ever; it is human law, or animal curse. You can't waste the meat by letting it get too hard with age.

I didn't know for how long my mother would be willing to keep her, and I never had the courage to ask.

I had almost convinced myself Maria could be an exception to the rule when today, in this cloudy October day, a few weeks after her 3rd birthday, my mother finally calls:

"Child," Her voice is softer than ever, "Maria has to die."

She does not give me much time to prepare. She disappears from the window, but I can still follow her movements by the sound of the opening drawer and the clinking of metal. I feel my blood leave my face as I hear her returning steps.

The knife is the first to emerge at the window, followed by my mother's hand, her sagging arm, her torso, and a wooden bowl wrapped by her other arm. She holds both objects over the windowsill, the blade pointing toward her, the bowl facing up. I grab the first by the wooden stem, its blade too rusty to show a reflection, and press the latter against my torso with my elbow.

I walk away in uncertain steps, toward the end of the concrete slab and the beginning of the yard. I sit down by at its border, the patch of ground between them stained with dry blood.

I look up to the sky – of a uniform light gray – and take a deep breath. My mother's eyes burn my back, urging me to get it over with.

Mariazinha, I call, and she comes in her little jumps, her wings fluttering, like so many times before. She does not hesitate when she sees me by what must be her closest idea of hell. She comes close, her feathers softly brushing against the knife, as if she does not believe it has any power to do harm if it is my hands that hold it.

She startles when I grab her by the feet, but doesn't resist when I hold her wings out. I push them against the concrete with my left foot, hold her feet with my right one, and grab her head with my left hand. Her eyes tremble under my gaze, but she makes no attempt to flee.

It is only when I pluck out the feathers on her neck that she realizes what is going on. She coos. She tries to move her wings. She sticks her neck out. I begin to sing Maria de Nazaré to calm her down, but stop before I finish the opening verse. It is dishonest to give her any hope of a better fate.

"This was always going to happen," I whisper. "You've been dead since the beginning." The words I'm sorry come to my mind but I quickly reject them. Remorse requires repentance, and I know Maria won't be the last.

I hit the knife into her throat as decisively as I can. Local folklore says pitied animals take longer to die and I do not want to extend Maria's suffering. I place the bowl under the cascade of blood and wait for the breath of life to leave her open artery. When I let go of her, her wings are still stiff and folded in take-off position; her eyes turned upwards to the sky.

Everything else happens as usual. The boiling water, the fire, the cleaning of the guts, the breaking of the bones, the seasoning, the cooking. I had asked my mother to gift it to another family, but she said it wouldn't be right of us to free ourselves from that burden, nor would it be fair to Maria to have her death appreciated by someone who was not aware of the suffering attached to it. We raised her. We killed her. Now, we eat her.

We have lunch in silence.

[makiema]

SnK 118 and Armin's role in the future

I know I'm a lot late in addressing this but when the chapter first released I had my exams and didn't really have a lot of time in hand to write a meta. Anyway, now that I'm free, I'd like to spitball some ideas about this particular panel which raised a lot of questions in the fandom.

What was the significance of Isayama including this moment from Chapter 90 and what exactly was he foreshadowing? Well here's my stance on this :

• Events of Chapter 90 : Let's revisit Chapter 90 and take a look at Armin and Eren's reactions and their eventual interaction when they reach the ocean.

•Armin :

Contrasted to everyone else just having fun, we find Armin staring hard at something. When he sets foot in the water, he is shown looking at something intently - a conch shell. Now, it may as well be coincidence and I'm just being pedantic but, the conch shell is symbolic of other things. The conch shell stands for control, harmony and overall coordination among living things in Hinduism and Buddhism. Apparently, deities holding the conch or being sculpted in a manner that emphasizes the concentric rings found in a conch, symbolize their hold on civilization which maintains stability and peace. Thus, a conch stands for order and implies proper functioning of civilization.

Armin is a character well known for being rational, logical and most importantly for being the one who is always looking for a truce. He wants to "talk", he is more than capable of making the most inhumane decisions but he's always wanting to "talk" things out first. He's the one always seeking a diplomatic solution. Him coming across the conch doesn't seem to be a mere coincidence. Also, not to forget that Armin is the narrator of the show. It is possible that he will be the one to restore order in the chaotic world of SnK once again. He may be one of the key figures in ending the war, working for peace and order in it's aftermath and then he narrates the story to the future generation.

Anyway, going back to Armin and the conch, we see the scene getting plenty attention even in the anime. They cut out Hanji holding a slime but they assigned a lot of time to Armin holding the conch. It may after all have more significance than is visible on the surface.

• Eren : When Eren reaches the ocean, we see him depressed unlike the others. The whole mood is melancholy because of Eren's overruling depression. He has just seen his father's memories, the cruelty of the world has been shoved into his brain and the disturbing images keep resurfacing. We see that happening when he attempts to cheer up Armin. Eren cannot be happy again, he cannot be freed from those memories unless he does away with the cruelty- that much is clear to him. That's why we see him saying - " If we kill them all, does that mean we'll be free?"

The ocean,or preferably sea, is more than often used in literature to epitomise hardships in life and the unfathomable human emotions that make it so complex. Here, the sea represents chaos, uneasiness and sadness for Eren. The people who think of him and his race as enemies reside on the other side of these unfathomable waters. Eren is at a loss and he fails to fathom their barbaric ways. There's no understanding between him and his foes (there cannot be any). He sees them as an impediment to freedom and feels impelled to kill them.

• Eren and Armin : We see how Eren and Armin find it rather hard to communicate. Or better put, they're not thinking along the same lines. It is not really possible as Armin has no clue about the cumulative weight that has fallen on Eren. He cannot grasp the strain of it all. There's clear lack of any meaningful interaction between the two of them. Eren is not interested in sharing Armin's enthusiasm upon seeing the ocean of his dreams. His voice is awfully impassive. What particularly catches my attention is how Armin is holding onto the conch shell and calling out to Eren to look at it but he remains unbothered. He just points at the horizon and talks about the enemy. Their thoughts are totally different and there is little to no connection.

If the conch shell is indeed representing order, then we can say that Armin wants Eren to take a look at it but, Eren is thinking differently. He knows there cannot be any order as long as the world isn't even willing to see Eldians as humans. Eren has seen what happened to Faye because of Grisha's immaturity.

The price that Grisha had to pay for freedom was this- the horrifying death of Faye. The world is cruel. It isn't willing to give room for deliberation. For now, Eren needs to eliminate his enemies to move forward. That much is clear and we see that happening with the Attack on Liberio. Eren had to wage war because he had to protect his friends. He knew very well that if the whole world went ahead with the idea of eliminating Paradis, there wouldn't even be an opportunity to propose a truce. It would be over. Eren had to be an agent of chaos out of necessity. That's why in Chapter 90 we see him indifferent towards Armin as well as the conch Armin is asking him to take a look at.

• Back to 118 : There's similar lack of communication between Eren and his friends. He has done his absolute best in trying to cut them off. But, given how dire the situation is his friends must proceed to aid him. Armin, when trying to make sense of Eren's behaviour, recalls Eren's words and says "No way".

Most of us interpret that as Armin's realization that Eren is actually going to trample on the whole world and therefore, he doesn't want his friends to have any part in it. But, that's not gonna prevail. Eren is not about to abruptly wreck the whole world with his Rumbling. In the long run, it'll just make the world even more apprehensive of Eldians and they'll continue to be discriminated against. Nobody knows better than Eren that one cannot rule with fear and oppression. Also, he is the one who absolutely detests the idea of toying with human life as normalcy, no matter the situation. It's clear in this panel.

It is unlike Eren to cause destruction just to show superiority of a race; it violates his basic nature. Eren did account for civilian casualties in Liberio but that was inadvertent. If he hadn't intervened there, the whole of Paradis would have been wiped off because they were simply not ready to defend themselves. He had to buy time, he had to act before it was too late.

However, things are different now with Armin coming back into action. The miscommunication between him and Eren that has been an issue will be resolved by Armin. Maybe that's why he's holding the conch, which stands for order and harmony. Isayama's purpose in including the panel could be more than just highlighting Eren's words rather, it throws light on Armin as it is essentially him reviewing his past. He doesn't know what happened to Eren at Marley- how he became empathetic toward his sworn enemies- but he does know that Eren will not hesitate to kill them if they stand in his way of being free. However, Armin is not about to let the world plunge into outright chaos with the rumbling. To make a show that Eldians can actually flatten the whole world will make things worse than ever. He will come up with a better solution, a solution that won't put the future of Eldians at stake AGAIN. He must be the one to bridge the gap between Eldians and the world using his diplomatic skills. Armin is the only one capable of bringing an armistice. He still has a card to play.

Also, it's highly likely that the devil is the ultimate villain and Armin will have to come up with a plan to defeat him in the end. Of course, Eren has to be the ace of Armin's plan. That has always been and that's probably the reason why Isayama shows Armin thinking of Eren. Armin still has a greater role to perform and that will most probably be him advising Eren in his battle against the devil. The devil or in that case whoever is pulling the strings seems way too crafty for Eren to deal with on his own. So, Eren will definitely have to depend on Armin to come up with a fool proof strategy in the final battle to save humanity. This could have been foreshadowed as early as in the serum bowl where Eren tries to convince Levi by citing all of Armin's achievements. He implores that it's not Erwin or him but, Armin who's going to save the world.

Was he just bluffing to save his friend's life or did these words carry a subtle foreboding of the future? Let me also stress on Floch referring to Erwin as the devil out of nowhere in the same scene. We know, in the end, Armin survives and Erwin is made to rest. Is it mere coincidence that the one tagged to be the saviour prevails and the one referred to as the devil meets his end or is it another indication to the course the manga will take?

The last thing I want to talk about is Armin's dream. His dream is to see the whole world. It was never just about seeing the ocean. He wants to see the "lands made of ice", "snowy fields of sand", etc.

Who's more convenient to bring peace in the world than someone who actually wants to see all of it? If the world plunges into chaos again, Armin's dreams will never come true. If the world continues to shun the Eldians, then Armin can never fully see the world in all it's beauty. Therefore, he has to be the one to unite it. Armin will intercede into any plans of outright wiping out another race and make way for pacification. He'll be the one to do away with all the warfare and discrimination. That's his role in the future; after all there's no one more apt.

[daohiwa]

tag thing! 🍓

ty for tagging me in the question tag @madninive 😳🤙 let's go!

1. What do you like in a story? What are the elements that shouldn’t miss, to make it perfect?

character development, clear and concrete motive in the storyline, satisfying ending.

2. Do you play any instrument? What’s your favourite music genre?

i used to play flute and guitar when i was younger, and my genre is VERY mixed, i like everything from metallica to exo to anime soundtracks lmao.. but probably like synthrock / groove / synthwave / metal. 80s, 90s, 00s music have my heart!

3. What do you think love is? Is it necessary for humans? (too philosophical?)

i've always had scientific views on everything, i think there is a natural attraction to be able to reproduce for the sake of evolution. however human brains are extremely complex so we are able to grasp the feelings we have, and love is something we do feel within us and makes us happy when it is returned.

4. Express a thought you have lately here. It can be what u want, even a complaint!

honestly humans brought this pandemic upon themselves. it was only a matter of time before something like this happened, and we should count ourselves lucky that it isn't as deadly as it could have been. more specifically, maybe it isn't a good idea to EAT BATS, the one animal that actually coexists with multiple virus strains and that has led to major outbreaks in the past such as hiv, ebola and sars. ever since countries around the globe established lockdowns, the environment has shown a drastic change, like the air being the cleanest it has been in 30 years, and animal wildlife thriving again. it says alot about the constant impact humanity has on the earth. nature strikes back!!! 🦇

5. Have you got piercings or tattoos? If not, would you do one? And what/where? :)

i only have my ears pierced, i'd love to get a few more like ear cuffs and stuff! other than that i think snakebites look kinda cool but if i ever did that or tattoos my mom would disown me lmfao (doesn't matter that i'm almost 21 when mom is asian). if tattoo i might want a smol, simple, cute motive with white ink, so it looks like a scar kind of, and isn't too prominent.

6. What’s your favorite season? And what are the things you like most about it?

probably fall, i love when it starts getting darker and darker, halloween, and november is just so cozy.

7. Your top 5 anime/manga and why!

#1 snk. it's captivating and it really touched me, the cruelty and fear of the unknown were such good elements that made it so terrifying and so good. we also get a lot of character development and quality plot twists!!

#2 jojo, specifically part 5 vento aureo. i just got so attached to the characters and the epilogue bound it all together and hit me right in the feels.

#3 kaguya-sama love is war. it's simply just hilarious, funniest manga i've read i actually snort out loud while reading it

#4 kimi no na wa. nothing else to say.

#5 wotakoi because i'm in need of light slice of life romcoms and this is just really soothing to me.

8. What’s a principle you (try to) live by/consider really important?

i'm a vegetarian since 6 years and i care a whole lot about the animals and the environment, and i don't plan to eat meat ever again. i donate monthly to wwf even though my economy isn't the best. this world is falling apart and i want to be contributing to saving it every day. we only have one earth! 😤👉💗🌍

9. what do you feel represented by? It can be everything, for example a nature element, an animal, or what u want :)

i've been called a dandelion a few times. a dandelion can grow on even the strangest surfaces without nutrition or crops, and stay blooming right in a crack on the pavement. since i was little i've lived with an addicted parent. the dandelion represents that even though the environment has been bad and difficult, i bloom brightly today! damn this got very deep lmao (°―°٥)

10. Are there 5 songs you would like to suggest?

metallica - the unforgiven iii

abba - lay all your love on me

exo - baby you are

linkin park - tinfoil + powerless

kent - musik non stop

i realised a while back i haven't posted a proper pic of me yet,, so i was thinking i'd bake them in here.... so here's me in and out if cosplay, trish from jojo (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)✌️

💫🌸🌿 dao's questions are:

1. who are your top five fictional characters?

2. do you have any phobias?

3. what are your five favorite things to eat?

4. and your five worst things to eat?

5. where do you want to travel the most?

6. what are your impressions of sweden and thailand? (i'm curious lol)

7. what are your thoughts on existential nihilism?

8. what languages do you speak?

9. what's your height?

10. if you could time travel, would you travel to the past or the future and why?

this is totally optional ofc, and if you're already tagged in this i'm sorry, you can answer my questions without making new ones if you want or not at all 🥺👉👈

i'm tagging @toukatan @erenass @ackermom @commandererwin @mikasuhdude @ocearmin @arlertt @tatakaeeren @happymikasa @yodawgiherd

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

I posted 5 240 times in 2021

134 posts created (3%)

5106 posts reblogged (97%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 38.1 posts.

I added 746 tags in 2021

#artist stuff - 163 posts

#lol - 128 posts

#this - 87 posts

#skeklings - 81 posts

#nature - 65 posts

#history - 60 posts

#politics // - 56 posts

#tdc - 38 posts

#rambly ddw - 37 posts

#d'aww - 31 posts

Longest Tag: 114 characters

#for those not in the tdc fandom reading these notes; cel is a birdlizardwolfcatferretdragon thing called a skeksis

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Finnish phrases

Since it is our independence day, I thought I'd give a funny af Finnish phrase for you non-Finns. (As a note, from Uusimaa, if I get the terminology wrong, please feel free to correct me.) Vastarannan Kiiski (lit. The Opposite shore Eurasian Ruffe)- Someone who always disagrees with everything. Now, the name itself is a pun, as kiiski sounds a lot like kiista (argument), so most likely the fish was put there to rhyme better. But the reason it is the Opposite Shore Ruffe, is the kicker. See, in Finland, there is a tradition of owning a summer cabin, regardless of your class. Since we like swimming, fishing, and the sauna, these cabins are often next to a lake. Now, since everyone wants to have lake access, there are others at a (respectable) distance from your cabin. As an aside, water is is a great sound amplifier. Essentially, people would argue with each other across the lake. Enough that it became a joke. Thus, the Opposite Shore Ruffe is the guy from another cabin yelling BACK at you. You don't see them, but by god you HEAR them.

49 notes • Posted 2021-12-06 07:53:06 GMT

#4

One of the interesting parts of TDC the movie is how both Jen and Kira fill the needed roles to get as far as they did.

This is why a lot of the posters depicting Jen as the brave hero miss the mark. Jen is not a brave and strong hero, he is a scholar who has knowledge but no application of them. Jen was raised in isolation, without any ties to his own kind and without really knowing Thra itself. The mystics cared for him, sure, but from all canon sources, it always seemed there was a distance between them.

Never mind the unintended cruelty of urSu not disclosing even a tiny bit of Jen's role to him, only giving vague hints at the last moment. UrSu, according to a book published to support the movie, chose when he died. Therefore, he intentionally kept Jen in the dark. Then there is urZah essentially kicking Jen out with no other instructions but to find Aughra.

A lot has been spoken of the skeksis' overt cruelty, but the mystic cruelty is no less present. It is buried under inaction and ennui, a placid penance for the wrongs the urskeks did. But in their penance, they let other horrors fill Thra. This is reflected in Jen's upbringing and the point of it in the narrative; All the wisdom and knowledge in the world means nothing if it is not used well.

When Jen enters Thra, he enters it blind and unable to survive its harsh nature alone. He can count, he can read and he can play the firca. The latter being something he was admonished for by urZah.

Kira on the other hand knows Thra. She knows every little aspect of the Endless Forest and has built herself a method of survival. Where Jen is confused and awkward, Kira is determined and fierce. She fills the role of the brave hero more than Jen. Kira can call up many animals and lore that Jen has no idea about. She knows of the skeksis, of the Garthim and the crystal bats. She is sceptical and careful, knowing how easily Thra can take a life even without the Garthim shuffling around.

But Kira has grown among the downtrodden of Thra, the podlings. Out of all native species on Thra, the podlings are the most cynical and accepting of things just going how they are going. They party where they can, because death is always looming. Survival in itself is a goal, not bettering the situation. Kira joins Jen's quest simply because she has nothing better to do. She has no want of revenge towards the skeksis, Kira accepts that things just happen and people die.

It is no accident that they find out what they must do very late into the movie, as there are very few guiding forces on Thra for them. Aughra gets captured and is in general not on anyone's side, the mystics are too busy waddling towards the Castle and the gelfling are all dead or far away.

It is by combining Jen's knowledge with Kira's pragmatic and survivalist nature that the Crystal is cured. Alone, neither would have succeeded. Jen would have died to the various dangers of Thra and Kira? She would have never even known better.

TDC is not a story of brave heroes defeating evil, it is a tiny piece to a greater story as seen by people who lived it.

55 notes • Posted 2021-09-28 16:08:40 GMT

#3

All right, here's a trick whenever someone yells that AO3 should be closed or an anti yells at you. Offer them these two links: https://www.thorn.org/ https://www.rainn.org/ And tell them to donate there, if they truly want to help. At the end of the day, REAL people are being hurt daily. If the anti TRULY want to offer help, give them the tools to do so. We all agree that this stuff IRL is BAD, so let us put our efforts into helping the victims. If they refuse, say they cannot afford to or give any other excuse, they are not worth their words.

63 notes • Posted 2021-10-20 14:58:55 GMT

#2

A VERY HQ scan of urru/mystic anatomy.

170 notes • Posted 2021-03-17 13:46:23 GMT

#1

Fandom and letting go

I sometimes see people who are trying to create their own stories grapple with a problem that did not exist before online fandoms.

How to make a character come across to the fans the way I want? How to avoid them taking the wrong message about them? How to make sure people don't take my villain as misunderstood?

The sad reality, one that is hard to accept, is that you cannot. You cannot control fan reactions, you cannot control fan theories or headcanons. Once you put your story out there, it stops being just your story.

Oh, you will own the rights and such and what you decide happens will be canon. But once the story is out there, so are its fans and how they read the text.

Everyone experiences the media and stories they consume through their lens of experiences. What someone might see as a warm family relationship others would see as cold. What some might see as a justified act, others might see as wrong. Everyone takes something different from the text.

Of course, if you run into a take you feel is 'wrong', you can try to correct things in the text. But that is useless and a neverending struggle, because there will always be takes that differ from your intentions. There will always be headcanons that you highly disagree with, and you cannot do anything about that.

Because that was what that person took from your story, that is how they understood what you wrote. Are you going to tell that fan that they are wrong? Would you like it if the author of your favourite show told you straight up that -you- were wrong to headcanon character A as gay?

That is the thing, once you put your work out there, you also in a way lose control of it. Trying to control your fandom will never work because there will always be differing ideas.

This is why I always say the creator should not interact with the fandom outside Q+As and such. Because not only is the distance between you and the fans good for the safety of everyone, but it also avoids creator burnout and accidentally copying something a fan-made. Your focus should be on finishing your work and telling the story you want to tell.

You have to let go of being the sole arbiter of what your characters are, you have to accept that someone will write a 5,000k fanfiction explaining why your villain is a good guy, or that your protagonist is not that good. You have to accept that people will ask you questions you answered in the text, or completely misunderstand the themes you built.

You have to accept that your place in your fandom is on the outside.

I have never seen anyone who tried to control their fandom succeed, what I saw were creator-worshipping mini-cults. And no one wants that. You have to allow people to disagree with your work, just like you might disagree with the creator of a show you like.

It is a trade-off, and it should be.

217 notes • Posted 2021-06-07 16:38:24 GMT

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