#s. character study — the power of getting to know one another is eclipsed only by first getting to know oneself

[determinedbyvibe]

꒰ donny pangilinan. 25. cis-male. he/him ꒱ hold your f*** horses ! santonio “san” abayan has just been spotted walking into revolution headquarters. he is best known for being the lead guitarist / back up singer in sunny crusade & has been signed with the label for 2 years. he shares a lot of interesting things about life in the music industry on his social media, so make sure you don’t forget to follow him at @sancrusades. fans know him for being blunt but i swear he has an gentle side as well. maybe that explains why he’s always associated with sustainable fashion, late night instagram lives, & old notebooks with scattered writing. stan twitter even voted them most likely to intentionally leak a spoiler. we’ll see how he lives up to that reputation.

  for full character details, traits, descriptions, stats etc check out san’s dossier over here ( be warned that shit is lengthy ) but some other super basic info & company history are below !

  santonio abayan, born may 2nd 1997, is best known for being the lead guitarist / back up singer in sunny crusade. & going from a local band to being signed with such a major company was something san couldn’t have really expected. of course everyone hopes that their band makes it, but the odds of it actually happening are often depressingly small. as such, right from the start san was willing to put as much work in as possible ( though arguably too much at times ). he intended to make the most out of the opportunity he’d been given & reward their fans for the unwavering support they’d been shown up until then.

   until they’d been signed, of course he had his hands in the creative process writing their music, but he’d largely been focusing on promoting the group, using his business & marketing degree to its fullest degree. but since joining the company, he was also able to learn about making music from more of a technical point of view. eager to learn the equipment & programs he’d only glanced at before. he used to be gently teased by some of the other employees from how closely he stuck to the recording studio at the start, not that he minded.

   the band has been with the label for 2 years by now, their fame & success ever increasing, & it seems to san that there’s always something new to get used to but life is a learning experience after all.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Melkor and Glorfindel in TDP

My mind is still running off my Aaravos’s-plan-and-Runaan’s-fate hc that spun from @queensaraiz​‘s hc that Aaravos punished Queen Aditi by turning her human. (And come on, that’s a brilliantly horrible plan, I love it tbh) Remember how the Orphan Queen’s picture only shows three fingers, but a round human ear?

I commented on that when it first came out because I always look at elf hands, but everyone thought it was an angle thing. Maybe it is. But maybe it’s not.

Okay, on to what woke me up this morning. 

Runaan looks terrified in the purple light of Viren’s staff. I think he knows exactly what’s going to happen to him, because he knows the story of what Aaravos did to Queen Aditi--or whoever the Orphan Queen is. Aaravos stripped out her arcanum, and that is why Aaravos is worse than death. Especially to any elf who is prejudiced against humans. Aaravos can curse an elf to live a mortal life without magic. It’s a long, drawn-out, miserable existence--as far as the elves are concerned. Runaan would far prefer to die swiftly and honorably in battle, and his Moonshadow powers are a huge part of who he is.

He’s going to lose the one part of him that he identifies with most, the one thing that gives him his abilities, which he uses on missions to serve his people. Without his arcanum, Runaan will feel worthless, useless, whether he’s free and whole or not. He won’t be himself ever again, and that is indeed worse than death to him.

When Runaan got put into the coin, we only watched Gren’s reaction to it. Runaan screaming in agony onscreen wasn’t really appropriate for a kids’ show. But what if something else was happening to him that we weren’t supposed to know about yet?

If burning out an elf’s arcanum turns them human, maybe Runaan’s horns burned off too. The Orphan Queen doesn’t have any horns anymore. It would hurt horribly--he’d definitely scream about that. His hands are very conveniently pressed across the top of the coin so we can’t see any hint of them. He still has his pointy ears, and we get one glimpse of his horn cuff. But Runaan had really big ears as an elf, so maybe he just has cute human ears with points now? 

And his horns were designed very specifically so that he could hide them by lifting his chin and looking “good” and flaring them up behind his head by dropping his chin when he wanted to look intimidating, like when he says “hard enough to do whatever it takes.” He uses his horns as a deliberate sign of his dark and deadly side. If that part of him burns away, that’s actually better for his character.

But it also gives us the opportunity for a false reveal. Seeing him straight on, we’ll see the rounded metal of his horn cuffs as we always have. Only when he turns or tips his head will we see that they’re empty, just tucked into his hair. Appearances, remember? He wants to feel their weight on his head.

With them still on his head, holding nothing, possibly feeling his ear points starting to resorb, Runaan’s in an existential crisis. He’s getting broken by truth--something Moonshadows never want to look too closely at.

Who is he, if he’s not the Moonshadow elf Runaan? He’s lost so much further out into the dark than he thought possible. 

You know who will take one look, bow, and say “Trees to meet you” though. Ethari. Ethari won’t care what Runaan looks like on the outside. No spell can change a person’s heart. Runaan is still Ethari’s beloved husband, and he’s so kind and gentle and instantly accepting--even of humans!--I can’t see any reason he wouldn’t just sweep Runaan into his powerful arms, no matter what bits of him are missing, and cry with happiness that his husband is home.

Now, that said. Why did I title this Melkor and Glorfindel?

Melkor is the big evil dude that Sauron served in the Silmarillion. He took elves and locked them away underground and tortured them for hundreds of years, until they became something dark, shambling, and twisted: orcs.

Aaravos, in my new headcanon, created humans by stripping out the magical connection they were born with, in order to create his own version of life. He deliberately mutilated elves to create something of his own, his own race, his own contribution to the world. Of course he loves humans best. He made them out of elves. And therefore, he absolutely did create dark magic and give it to his darlings, because the Master Plan is to get rid of the elves by sending his pets to burn them. Burn out their arcana or burn them as spell fuel, it doesn’t matter. Aaravos will have a world where nothing remains but his precious humans. And then there will be balance. A balance of his own making, where none of the other Star Touches had succeeded.

Now for Glorfindel. He was a brave hero in the Silmarillion, with long and glorious golden hair, who fell in battle. Through great effort and a boon of magic from the the King of the Valar, Manwë, Glorfindel was restored to full life and health, and continued fighting for what was right, the only elf to ever come back from beyond the grave.

I know I’ve compared Runaan to Glorfindel on his epic hair and my hopes for his restoration before. But this time I have an extra headcanon.

Since Callum is a person who exists and has connected to an arcanum of his own choosing, I think that’s truly why he’s the “special boy”. Not because he’s the only human who can do that. But because he’s the one who can teach humans and former elves alike how to consciously choose an arcanum and connect with it. 

I think Callum will help Runaan choose a new arcanum. And because Runaan’s experiences were so horrific, and resulted directly from him doing his Moonshadow duty, I think Runaan will struggle with choosing. I don’t think he’ll just pick up Moon again. I hope he talks it over with Ethari so they both understand what could happen. But I hope Runaan goes into that wild new learning process with an open heart and a willingness to change.

I think at that point he might pick Sun and become a Sunfire elf. How hilarious to turn the tables on that old Sunfire-tinker headcanon! We’d get our eclipse anyway, but in reverse. And the whole point of choosing Sun is so Runaan can get a light-being. So that after all the taking and destruction he has caused, he can now dedicate his life to healing and restoring. To comfort instead of distress. We all saw how soft he was with Ethari. Imagine if he gets to be that soft with everyone, because he can actually embrace his own feels now! He’s always been too soft to be a Moonshadow.

He could pick another arcanum that gives him healing abilities, if they’re out there: Earth and Ocean come to mind. But I like Sun the best because when Runaan’s new horns grow in, and his hair changes color, he can literally have Glorfindel’s glorious long golden locks.

Maybe he’ll find his way to becoming the Sun King by the end of the war. His craftsman husband would have literally a million ideas for what to do with the Sunforge, and what all he can make with that much magical power. I can think of no better person to entrust it to--someone who has studied hard to make up for a weaker magic ability, who relies on learning new things (not a very Moonshadow trait at all) in order to remain of service.

If Runaan remained the Sun, and Ethari remained the Moon, that would be a lovely pairing. Runaan would literally rise from Shadow to Sun, and that’s one hell of a redemption arc.

Although... would Ethari remain a Moonshadow? Or would he sacrifice to join his husband in his new arcanum? From Moon and Shadow to Sun and Fire? Runaan being the Sun and Ethari being the Fire? All the better to work the Sunforge, my dear.

[natsubeatsrock]

The Rewrite of Fairy Tail: Part 23 (Irene)

What's wrong with Irene?

I like to imagine that many of the questions I ask in his series are questions people have or do ask regarding Fairy Tail. For stuff like "what was the point of the series" or "what was [insert character here]'s arc", that's obvious. This is one I'm all too familiar with hearing and asking. When I started thinking through how to rework Fairy Tail years ago, Irene was considered a necessary evil I had to contend with.

Though, now that the series is over and I've had time to sit with Irene, I don't have as many issues with her. To be clear, Irene is a character whom I have issues with on a few levels. However, I don't have as many issues with Irene as I have in the past. Much of that is because I'm able to step back and see the big picture of Fairy Tail and how Irene can fit in it. Though some of it has to do with some issues with Irene being ironed out since the first time I've seen the events. At any rate, it's worth going through the stuff we know about Irene in broad strokes and how I’m changing her.

You know the drill. Sections: before the Dragon Seed, after the Dragon Seed, and during the Alvarez Empire arc.

I've talked a bit about this, but I want Irene to be a teacher at the Mildian Academy for some time. Her tenure should be sometime after Zeref and before the Dragon Seeds are discovered. Her particular focus is research on the application of enchantment magic, which she became enamored by after seeing a simple demonstration of how it works.

If you can't tell, this is not what her backstory is in canon. In canon, she's the queen of Dragnof who happens to be an expert in enchantment magic. She's the one who shows off enchantment magic to others? Why do I want to make these drastic changes?

No offense to royalty, but I think that her position as "mother of Dragon Slayers" makes more sense as coming from a study she's actively involved in regarding a field of her expertise. I also want to connect her to the Mildian Academy as the hotbed for several other issues involving magic for the series around this time. I don't think she couldn't commission a similar set of research as queen, but I'd rather have her be leading it.

To be clear, this doesn't mean I'm throwing out other things pertinent to Irene's backstory before she has the Dragon Seed take place. She still does demonstrations for the kingdom members, but it's as a member of the Academy. She still is friends with Belserion and who is the dragon whose powers she gains. She even ends up as a queen, gets married, and has Erza before the effects of the Dragon Seed take place. 

The difference is that these happen after the work regarding Dragon Slaying magic is done. Irene is a teacher despite being a royal but her husband is the one eligible for the throne. As I also hinted at earlier, she might be pulled away from her position reluctantly. I'm not sure if that's at least partially why there is the Dragon Seed epidemic. However, she does try to fix it before she is found out to have it and is captured before she can do anything about it. Before she gets captured, she magically prevents herself from having Erza and sends her research to a former colleague.

That, as you could probably guess, is Anna Heartfilia. As I said before, Irene and Anna will only spend a few years together, but they do grow close enough that she would trust her with the information to help figure out. Of course, this ends up helping with the Eclipse Project that gives us five of the main dragon slayers.

As for Erza, the canon explanation for the situation is that Irene is consistently using some of her magic power to prevent Erza from growing in her. To be honest, I could see this as a potential thing if it were for a few years. It's a stretch for me to say it's reasonable that she kept this up to for close to four centuries. My fix is that it's an enchantment Irene has to break on her own. This puts less of a strain on the situation, even though her not thinking about Erza is still a stretch. For what it's worth, Irene doesn't really think about Erza until she needs her for her body. (More on this to come.)

After Irene is found to have the Dragon Seed, her life is effectively ruined. The school she loved is closed. Her life's work, including her crowning achievement of Dragon Slayer magic, is discredited. And she's going to die, either at the hands of her own people or another dragon slayer. However, the real breaking point for Irene is the news of Belserion dying. I want this to be the trigger for Irene becoming a dragon, similar to how Acnologia seeing his village attacked triggered his transformation.

Speaking of which, I mentioned that he spends part of his spare time killing off the dragons and dragon slayers. At the same time, Irene spends hers working on readjusting her abilities to enchant with her new body and working on new enchantments. That makes it sound as though she does one after the other. As she works to have a more human form, she tries to attune her magic abilities to her post-Dragon Seed body. As in the original, the differences between the two, especially in eating, drive her to insanity. However, after the plan with Erza fails, she refocuses on enchantment work, developing stuff like the Universe One spell.

This, of course, leads to a big issue with Irene. In canon, we learn that the ultimate reason behind Irene's decision not to go through with the plan is because she loved Erza. That wouldn't be a big deal in a vacuum. However, this comes after knowing she left her in Rosemary Village and a fight started by the declaration not even caring about her. Even if you want to argue that she's bluffing, Erza doesn't really consider her as a parent. While I could change this to emphasize the fact that she does care about Erza, it wouldn't matter on Erza's part.

Instead, I want to double down on the idea that Irene doesn't care about Erza. Not only can't she make the body swap between her and Erza work, she learns it might be better to be in her own body. (At least, until she meets Wendy.) And why care for Erza in the first place? After all, she serves as a sign of the life she resented and wanted to escape. It makes sense that she'd want nothing to do with her.

To be honest, there's not much I have to say about when she's around and active during the Alvarez Empire arc. I would have introduced her as an enchantress as primary magic, but the anime takes care of that in her fight with Acnologia. While I could talk about the fight between her and Erza and the changes I'd make to it, including its infamous ending, I want to address one more issue - will Irene come to love Erza? Not necessarily in the same way she does in the original.

What should be noted is that Irene's fate is at least somewhat tragic. If she wasn't married or imprisoned, she likely could have been able to solve the Dragon Seed dilemma, even before it was an issue. She didn't ask to be married, or queen, or pregnant. We only have so much time with her, but I don't want a sense of that to be lost on readers.

Introduction | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18  | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22

[blackleatherjacketz]

My Brother’s Keeper: Chapter 15

Negan x Reader

Summary: Your brother runs away from the Sanctuary and you pay the price. This Chapter: You meet up with Negan for the first time since you’ve been living at the Kingdom.

Warnings: Lemons, Explicit Smut, Sadism, Masochism, Regret, A Weird Dream, Espionage, Blackmail, Coercion

Word Count: 2853

Read the rest of the story HERE!

That night you could barely sleep, but when you did your mind raced a thousand different ways, leaving you with the memory of only one stoic dream. You remember being on top of a mountain in some strange and foreign country, the wind blowing you this way and that as you tried your best to keep your balance. You looked down at your feet to make sure they were steady and realized you were standing on a set of old, crumbling stairs.

Those stairs were made of stone, at least a thousand years old as you slowly walked down them. Your body got heavier with each step, every time you planted your foot on another landing, the sound of your feet hitting the rock grew louder. It echoed in the valley as the very mountain you stood on shook, violently breaking up pebbles and sending them to the ground. The steps below you kept getting smaller and farther away, the cracks in them deeper as you pondered whether or not you should keep going.

You managed to jump down to the next step, the ancient ruin crumbling beneath you as the entire mountainside quaked. It shook trees loose from their roots, rocks from their resting places and snow from the very top of the mountain. You tried your best to go back and climb up to the previous step but it was already too far away. You jumped and clawed at the stairwell, breaking your nails against the stone only to feel the ground below you disappear entirely. The air escaped your lungs as you fell, your scream a silent whisper as you plummeted down the dark depths of the valley until...

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Phew! The alarm on your watch woke you up before you could hit the ground. —————————————- Getting your mindset ready to meet Negan after that dream was one of the hardest things you’ve ever had to do. You were already nervous, but this just made things worse. What did it mean? You tried your best to shake it from your brain as you walked outside the Kingdom walls past the ghost town and into the forest. Negan gave you the location of your secret meeting place before he sent you off with Laura that morning, and a part of you hoped he didn’t show up. You hoped that this Rick character was giving him enough trouble to keep him busy on the other side of town, but deep down you knew that was only a fool’s hope.

The place he’d told you to meet him at was marked with a spray-painted S, claiming the broken down shack as property of the Saviors. Its faded color made you wonder what else he’d used it for in the past: offerings from the Kingdom, or something else entirely, although it was probably better that you didn’t know. You prepared yourself as you approached the cabin, cautiously taking in Negan’s towering silhouette through the grimy window by the door. You watched as he paced back and forth with Lucille in his hands, talking to himself quietly as if he were an actor preparing his lines. This was it, you thought, it was now or never.

You opened the door and saw him for the first time in a week, all six feet of him covered in black leather and malice as he stared you down from the center of the room. He was missing his red scarf, the colors of battle no longer surrounding his throat as his black boots creaked across the wooden floor.

“Holy shit! She really did chop all your goddamn hair off, didn’t she?” He stepped toward you as you entered the room, running his fingers through your chin-length locks.

You stared at him in silence, secretly hoping to no avail that your attraction to him would die down after a week at the Kingdom, but his scent was twice as strong, his smile twice as enticing, and his fingers that much more intense on your skin. Your time away had done nothing to curtail your desire for him, in fact you felt that it had only strengthened it.

“I mean, look at you!” he continued. “You’ve really gone native! I’m surprised you don’t have a goddamn feather in your hair!” He traced the bottom of your locks with his fingers, curling them under your chin as they bounced back behind your ear. “I miss your old hair, but I gotta admit this is a good look, too.” He leaned in and brought his mouth to yours, stopping just short of a kiss. “And aren’t you forgetting something, Princess?”

God, he was so close to you. Close enough that you could feel his breath on your skin, the calluses on his fingers and the bulge between his legs. You smiled against the thin sheet of oxygen that kept you apart, letting your knees bend as they took you down to a genuflected kneel; some things never change.

“That’s it,” he growled into a laugh, licking his lips as he circled around you. “You know, out of all the positions I’ve put you in, there’s nothing I love more than watching you get down on your knees for me.”

“Is that so?” You looked up at him with hungry eyes, the morning sun illuminating him through a small opening in the window.

“Yeah, that’s so.” He stopped walking around you and palmed his erection through his jeans, silently taking you in. “No one fucks like you, you know that?” He set Lucille down against the wall and started unfastening his belts. “No matter how many times I accidentally call them your name.” He slid the leather straps out of their loops and tossed them onto the floor next to Lucille before unfastening his dark gray jeans. “Or on purpose,” he finished, laughing at his own joke.

“Really?” You held your breath in suspense as he slid his pants down along with his boxer briefs, showing you just how much he missed you.

Even though it had only been a week, your mouth still watered at the sight of him, your thighs still quivered, and your lips still slicked themselves with moisture in anticipation for what was to come. The big bad wolf had finally come back to blow your house down, and you were more than willing to let him in.

“Really,” he repeated, taking his glove off and gripping himself at the base. “Take your pants off and get on the bed.”

The bed? There was a bed in here? Since when? You searched the room front and back until you found a rickety twin bed barely standing on an old metal frame. “How did you know there’d be a bed in here?”

“You think I didn’t scope the place out before I brought you here?” he laughed, motioning for you to turn around with his fingers. “I've always got a plan. You should know that by now.”

Of course he did. You made quick work of unfastening your jeans before climbing on top of the questionable bed in the corner of the room. Keeping your eyes forward, you realized you didn’t have a giant mirror to watch him approach you while you waited. Instead you studied the pattern of water damage on the mattress before getting on your hands and knees as the warmth between your thighs started to swell and beg for mercy.

“That’s my girl. You miss me?” His voice grew nearer, the springs on the mattress crying out in agony as he dropped his knees into them behind you.

“Yes,” you whispered, feeling his hands pull your clothes down even further down your thighs.

“Yes, what?” he prompted, tugging your jeans forcefully down to your ankles.

“Yes, Daddy,” you whimpered, glancing quickly back at him.

“So you haven’t forgotten everything, huh?” He lifted your shirt up your back, sending little fireworks up and down your spine as his coarse fingertips tucked it under your bra.

“No.” You took in a deep breath as he left a trail of fiery kisses down your back, his whiskers scratching the skin just above your ass as he spread your cheeks apart with his palms. “How could I forget this?” you admitted.

You let your eyelids fall as those kisses turned into nibbles, that twinge of pain from his teeth meeting the pleasure of his fingers between your lips. God, he always knew what he was doing and exactly how to do it, didn’t he? You pushed your hips back against him, this time feeling his tongue lap up the juices from your length before sliding a few fingers deep inside.

“Negan,” you moaned, “That feels so good.”

“Good baby, you’re so fucking wet,” he encouraged, taking your clit into his mouth. He spread your lips as he sucked on your bud, tugging on it so hard with his teeth you were sure it was going to bruise, but you didn’t care. His mouth and hands were a deadly combination, their memory of your body’s trigger points getting quicker every time they touched you.

“Harder,” you goaded him, lifting your hips up so it was easier for him to access. “Bite it harder!”

You gasped as he followed your instructions, taking your clit between his teeth with a flick of his tongue. He nearly bit it in half as he drew it into his mouth, sucking on it like his life depended on it. “Oh my God, Negan, that’s it.” You felt your muscles start to tighten as a knot formed in your belly, the sensation of his whiskers and teeth bringing you to the edge of bliss as you rode his filthy mouth.

Just as you were about to come undone, Negan pulled away, preventing you from coming all over his smug face. “As much as I’d love to spend all my time down there, Princess,” he interrupted, his words eclipsing your high. “I’ve got a lot of errands to run today.” He pushed himself inside you. “Gotta give Rick the Prick a good surprise visit.”

Gasping as you adjusted to his size, you grabbed hold of the edges of the mattress while he plowed into you. “Uh-huh,” you answered, letting your body enjoy this carnal treat. You kept your eyes closed as he pushed so deep inside you that his balls were now flush with your newly abused clit, setting your entire core on fire. He pulled out and rested his hands on your hips, pushing inside you quicker and quicker as his hips behaved like a well-oiled machine. This is what you needed, no games or power play while you tried your best to follow his unspoken rules; just raw uncomplicated sex.

You pushed back against him as he rocked himself inside you, his hands traveling up your spine until they reached the back of your neck. He weaved his fingers into your hairline, interlocking them between your newly shortened locks as he grabbed a hold of them at the base of your skull.

“Oh yeah, I think I like this haircut a lot, Princess,” he mumbled breathlessly.

You felt him lean forward, the tip of his cock hitting that sweet spot as your eyes rolled into the back of your head. One, two, three more pumps was all it took to light that fire inside you. That explosive heat traveled up your core and into your brain, setting your whole body ablaze with delicious wildfire as you spasmed and screamed your lover’s name into the hot summer wind.

“I love it when you get off so damn fast, you know that Princess?” Negan laughed at his victory, relentlessly thrusting into you as he chased his own orgasm with breathy huffs.

“Yes, Daddy!” The sensation of him inside you as your walls continued to contract made your toes curl and your mouth fall open. The tiny cabin you were in made the sound of skin on skin thrum an even louder rhythm, his guttural moans completing the musical masterpiece your bodies always composed together.

“Fuck, baby,” he whispered, pulling you into him one final time before his orgasm rumbled in his chest. He spilled himself inside you, letting go of your hair only to drag his nails down your back as he came. His claws pierced your flesh, leaving his mark of ownership on you as little red dots popped up in their place.

You cried out as he dug into your skin, the pain becoming more than you could bear as he raked his fingers from your shoulder blades into your tailbone. It was like Lucille all over again, only three times as painful as you nearly ripped the edge of the mattress right off. You arched your back as he smoothed his hands over your wounds, barely giving the sting a chance to wear off.

He held himself inside you as his mouth made its way up your raw and open flesh, his tongue gently licking your wounds. He took his time, kissing and sucking the supple skin around them as if to make up for what he did until his mouth finally reached your shoulders.

“Negan,” you whispered, trembling and unable to register all the sensations you were feeling.

“Hmmm?” He nuzzled into your neck, wrapping his hand around your throat.

“Don’t,” you protested, sliding your fingers underneath his hand. “They’ll see.”

“They?” He let go of your neck, resting back on his knees.

“The Kingdom,” you started, thinking of Morgan and Dana in particular. “They ask a lot of questions.”

Negan exhaled and ran a hand over his face, pulling out of you as a gush of semen spilled out in the process. “And just what have you told the good people of the Kingdom, Princess?” He grazed his palms across your cheeks, spreading them apart so he could enjoy the show.

“What you told me to tell them, that I’m a traveler.” You paused and let him stare at you. “They think my name’s Maria.”

Negan paused and collected the cream that slowly oozed between your folds, standing up and off the squeaky mattress. “Maria, huh,” he laughed. “Has anyone there confided in Ave Maria about disturbing the peace? Anyone who seems like a bad apple?” He took a few steps forward, bringing his fingers to your lips as they held his dripping hot sex.

“Not yet.” You opened your mouth and let him paint your tongue a salty coat of white.

“None of the workers? Not even the King's Guard?” He pushed his fingers to the back of your throat, gagging you as he licked his own lips in the process. “Not even the King himself?” He raised an eyebrow as he drew his digits from your lips, quickly pulling his pants back up.

“No,” you answered, leaning back into a seated position on the bed. “I’ll need more time to get more information.” The shift in your weight made the scratches on your back sting even more, drawing your hand to the affected area. You winced and glanced up at him, eyes narrowing as he didn’t even seem to notice. “Jesus, that hurt!” You pulled your hand back in front of you and showed him the drops of blood on your palm.

“What, you don’t like it rough anymore?” He picked up one of his belts, sliding it into his pant loops. “It’s nothing a bad-ass nurse like you can’t fix,” he smirked, rolling his tongue across his teeth.

“That’s not the point!” You yelled at him. Oh no, you’d never yelled at him before.

“Don’t forget who’s in charge here, Princess.” He held your gaze, his eyes a fiery burgundy before he broke his stare and turned his back to you, wrapping his second belt around his waist. “You want me to pull you out of here, is that it?”

“No,” you blurted out, blinking wildly as he continued to dress himself. “I just don’t want to bleed every time that I come, and someone's bound to notice blood on a white t-shirt.”

“Fine,” he paused, “What do you want, a safe word or something? Is that going to make you feel better about all this?”

“That would be nice.” You stood up and pulled your pants around your waist, wincing as the dirty denim brushed against your scrapes. “How about…I don’t know, pomegranate?” you offered, thinking of the last fruit you ate at the Kingdom.

“There, now, see how fuckin’ easy that was?” He fastened his belt and picked up Lucille, completing his look as he sauntered toward you. “Now, you go get your ass back in there and make Daddy proud, okay?” He smacked your right cheek and bit his lip, gripping Lucille like he was ready to put her to good use. “Same time next week, Princess. Got it?”

“Got it.” You nodded, rubbing the blood off onto your jeans. “How’s my family doing?” you finally asked, “Are they okay?”

Negan chuckled, leaning backward as his mirthless laughter filled the room. “Oh man, Gary’s doing just fine, and like I said earlier, baby, no one fucks like you, no matter how hard I pretend.”

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WIP Preview

Aria/Tevos 

Premise: Aria has assembled a consortium of eventual subsidiaries in response to a lush world within asari space being greenlit for colonization, but she quickly encounters some complications from rival interests vying for the same plots of land. Coincidentally, these same rivals have challenged the asari councilor’s goals for the planet’s future, and the pair reach a mutually beneficial arrangement in countermeasure. But even when their business concludes, Aria can't stop thinking about her. Once the obsession becomes mutual, the pair are left to wonder whether it was all just another Nevos mirage - a temporary escapist fantasy in paradise - or something with longevity.

Effectively replaces the story Confidentiality. This preview is still pretty rough, skeletal, and lacking ambient detail, but it’s just to give an idea about what the story is. Also, a cameo of Parem Igrahal, but here she’s young, around 30. The most notable features of this story are the fact that Aria and Tevos are never antagonistic to each other, Liselle is a year or two younger than she was in Confidentiality, and Tevos’s character is less self-critical, but still as cautious.

I.

There was an indulgent sense of tradition in meeting on a lush world to apportion another. The matriarchy had spent the last few years echoing the potential of Ryasus, their precious emerald glistening under the mists of interminable waterfalls and giant dew-heavy aroids. In the right hands, they said, Ryasus would become a second Nevos within half a century. Its exotic vistas would attract renowned filmmakers, mountain peaks penetrating the canopies would stroke egos of business executives opening new branches, and tourists wading into the shallow crystalline oceans would rather lose themselves than turn back to shore.

Aria’s judgement of the generous optimism was it being a bit out of proportion. She only agreed with their rhetoric insofar as expansion onto that beautiful, yet undefiled planet was discussed as a symptom of corporate success, and therefore encouraged. Beyond this, all the commotion had simply inspired too many interested parties to flock to petition the asari government for permits. In consequence, the competition had considerably grown. It seemed as though every household name company in the galaxy was vying for the largest chunk of untamed tropical splendor they could get their hands on.

The elevator Aria and her two bodyguards stepped into was a cuboidal space, strictly glass on every side save for the floor and the wall attached to the lifting mechanism that sent it crawling up the spine of the tower hugging the cliffside. It was commodious enough to transport a dozen individuals comfortably, and was furnished with a square arrangement of low sofas and palmed plants in each corner.

Aria led her guards to the furthermost window. While they faced the room, Aria stood gazing out at the river-cloven forests of Nevos, to where its green was engulfed by hazy gold at the horizon. She could see one wing of the building curving along with the cliff at her left; countless glinting windows on stratified white.  

She could also faintly see reflected in the glass the overwhelmingly asari population periodically entering and exiting during their ascent. Tourists and businesspeople alike. But upon noticing the surly batarian and asari accompanying Aria’s mysterious figure, they would fixate on the identity of their charge. Aria’s civilian apparel, however expensive and expertly tailored, kept them guessing. None could divorce her from the powerful iconography she had established, and none dared approach her for a better look.

After a few minutes, Aria saw a few matriarchs superimpose themselves on the idyllic scenery. They were looking at her, saying nothing aloud for fear of being overheard, but Aria could tell they recognized her. She fitted her hands on her hips, content to ignore them.

Aria was not enchanted by their dreams of paradise. She dreamed not of velvety flowers and beaches, but of rich, dark soil. She dreamed of fragrant batarian tobacco fields stretching on for endless kilometers, to be one day rolled into a new brand of luxury cigars with whom she would partner.

II.

“So, Aria.” Parem rested her cigar against her plate and folded her hands together on the table. “Be honest with me. Do you really think our people are going to be able to woo the matriarch panel?”

Aria exhaled irately. “They’d damn well better.”

“The girl Senaya doesn’t have the stomach for tobacco. She takes no interest in it. And [X] is afraid of his wife. Afraid of her!”

“I know.”

“[Y]’s going to have his partnership within several years when he expires,” said the batarian woman. “Is that really who we want to work with? Maybe we should do something.”

“We can fire her and keep her from taking administrative actions, but we can’t take away her partnership. We’d have to buy her out of it, and that’s only if she’s willing to sell.”

“Don’t we have a more... traditional option of solving this problem?”

Aria subtly shook her head. “It’s not that easy here. The Republics are liable to investigate something like that. And how much effort are we willing to put in to keep it looking clean?”

“Getting rid of her may be worth any cost. You’ll see, Aria, once she’s rotting us from the inside.” 

[...]

“I’ve been receiving requests from suitors,” said Parem.

“Anyone you like?”

“None. I hate looking at their faces. They only remind me of people like that salarian who would surrender his life work to the woman he doesn’t even sleep with. I keep wondering, what if I mistakenly choose an insect like him? It will be a colossal waste of my time. I can have sex with as many strong and beautiful men as I want without having to marry them. They only thing they have ever offered me that I cannot obtain myself is children, and still, I do not need to be married for that.”

“Well, I think you’ve got the right idea about things. You seem sure of what you want.” She crossed her legs beneath the table. Nearby, their personal security dealt another hand of cards.

Parem slowly nodded. Then a curiosity struck her, but it was charged with dissatisfaction when she asked, “I know you usually prefer the company of women, but have you ever slept with a batarian man, Aria?”

“Are we that familiar now?”

“Humor me, please.”

Aria turned away to face the other tables arranged across the balcony, her expression neutral and unchanging as she considered her answer. There was a wind chime mounted above the door leading back into the warmly-lit restaurant, softly ringing. “I might have.”

“They’re selfish. Greedy. They touch you like they touch a marinated roast.”

Aria’s shoulders shook with soundless amusement. With a lingering smile, she replied, “Then I guess I’m lucky,” and lowered a hand to roll the cigar’s head of ashes against the side of her plate.

III.

“I’m afraid you’re occupying my seat.”

The crispness of the northern Thessian accent, along with its mindful elocution and lack of hostility despite the declared grievance, nearly annoyed Aria. She neglected to afford the stranger so much as a glance, and instead dismissed her with a flat, “Move along.”

“I need to ask you to relocate.”

The persistence riled her. “And who the hell is asking?" When Aria at last regarded her harasser in contempt, she found a face embellished by stark white tattoos and austere cheekbones only made amiable by the serene set of her eyes. She was carrying a portfolio.

“Well, would it impress upon your opinion at all to know the asari councilor is asking?”

Aria settled on a passing insult before turning back to the stage where the panel was assembling. “I think Idras would turn over in her grave if she knew about the state of her office.” 

“Idras would have never granted someone like you a visa,” said the councilor. “I see you’ve made good use of the referendum I introduced.”

“Yet I still can’t own land.”

“A necessary compromise.” Accepting the fact that Aria was as immovable as a ton of stone, she sat down with a single seat between them. “Asari space is the collective inheritance of our people, and all of asari descent should have easier access to our homeworlds regardless of citizenship. At the collateral expense of inviting people like yourself - I believe only due to your high profile mitigating your risk factor - I think we’ve done a great thing. But you raise an interesting point. Coincidentally, your landowning ability has been the topic of multiple conversations this morning.”

For a time, Aria said nothing. 

The councilor continued, “The matriarchs are trying to figure out which jockeys you’ve bet on, so to speak.”

“And I’m supposed to thank you and tell you what I’m doing?” She scoffed.

“I don’t expect you to. I’m only sharing what I’ve heard.”

“Trying to make friends?”

“Avoiding making enemies, rather.”

[...]

Tevos analyzed the region Aria highlighted in the face of her datapad. “Unfortunately,” she said, “there are multiple groups interested in that area. Most notably, a mining corporation. Preliminary surveys have documented a large deposit of palladium less than a kilometer beneath the surface. Despite the inevitable environmental damages, extracting the ore is tempting to the panel because of the tax revenue it would generate.” 

“Shit,” Aria hissed. “Are you serious? We’re not already out of the race, are we?”

“It appears to be the case. They’re a behemoth. They will easily eclipse any smaller outfit by name alone. If I were you I would advise my associates to prioritize other plots of land.”

“I can’t fucking believe this... We’re interested in that area specifically for its soil quality. There’s nothing else like it on that world - it’s an integral part of our branding and if we can’t get that land, we’re dead in the water.”

“If it’s any consolation, most of the matriarchy are also displeased about the probable outcome. They wanted to keep the planet pristine for tourism and ecological studies. The way this is headed, another Nevos isn’t looking very likely.”

Aria lifted a hand to rub at her temples. While she had made a point of staying for the land petitions, she had only done so as a formality in good faith for Parem’s cousin. Actually needing to take initiative to solve a problem of this scope would delay her departure by at least two or three days, and with a baby at home and her station led by her eccentric lieutenants, it was not an ideal outcome.

IV.

[In a smaller auction house in the larger building]

After placing her exorbitant bid in the console beneath the twisting marble sculpture, Aria turned to find amused incredulity dashed across the councilor’s features. Her arms were folded across her middle and a hand concealed part of the lower half of her face, as if to hide her expression. 

“Do you even have a use for it?” Tevos asked her.

“Maybe I’m just an avid patron.”

She shook her head at her, glancing back to the sculpture.

“I'm going to take you to dinner,” Aria said. “Belaisa at seven.”

Despite her supreme confidence, the moment Tevos seemed to process the offer, the jovial climate between them soured and became grim. 

“Aria, I appreciate the offer, but - ”

“But?”

“I don’t think it would be appropriate.”

Aria was not yet discouraged. “Then I’ll send over a bottle of something to your room. Tell me where you’re staying.”

“I’m not giving you my room number,” Tevos replied. A vein of humor was present in her tone, but it was overshadowed by remorse. “Listen to me for a moment. The matriarchy expressed their... concerns about me speaking with you.”

“I’m sure they understand that you’re entitled to your own personal decisions.”

“Yes, but, even if our interactions are innocuous, it’s not good publicity if people start taking notice. I’m a councilor, Aria. Professionalism always comes before my personal desires. And what we did at the petition toed the line enough; although the matriarchy is pleased, they want no more of it. No more of... you. Especially if it can be avoided. You’re watched, you realize. We watch everyone in the galaxy of note, and you in particular make them very nervous.”

“And they should be nervous,” Aria asserted. “But not about what you do.”

They were quiet for a time. Aria hoped they had kept their volume low enough to not be overheard by both their personal security, who they had left at the entrance of the auction gallery, always within sight.

Tevos reached into her coat’s interior pocket to produce a small paper notepad and attached pen. She wrote something down, presented it to Aria, and said barely above a whisper, “I'd like you to call me tonight.”

She accepted the paper and gleaned what it contained: a long string of characters Aria recognized as the access to a well-encrypted line. But before Aria could lift her gaze and provocatively compliment her decision, Tevos spoke again in warning.

“If you ask why, I may suddenly regain my senses and reconsider.” She stepped away from her once, then altogether as she retreated toward the exit, only delaying to say, “Goodnight,” over her shoulder.

[lycosa83]

What is a Hero? A One-Punch Man Analysis

I’ve made no secret of my respect for One-Punch Man and its fairly recent but profound fixture in the cluttered world of modern anime.  This senin send up to the shonen superhero genre -  born from the unsteady hands of creator ONE as a webcomic nearly a decade ago - initially appeared as nothing more than a poorly drawn gag manga, and even its most stalwart fans often balk at providing a detailed explanation on why it got so big, so fast.  What is it about this bland, bald protagonist in a goofy costume and his zany cast mates that strikes such a chord with so many people - some who’d be the last to call themselves anime fans?  

Of course, there’s the obvious draw of a new massively powerful, near-invincible character fans can add to their roster of titans - a cudgel with which to play out their vicarious power fantasies.  There’s no end of the toxic hate flung about the Internet whenever someone innocently (or not) asks, “Who would win in a fight between Saitama and [X]?” - with “X” being anyone from Goku, to Superman, to God himself.  While amusing in a train wreck sort of way, these pissing contests don't help us understand the wider appeal of the series - and in either case miss the point entirely.  One-Punch Man has been called everything from a gag series to deconstructive satire - usually by people with little understanding of what these terms really mean.  

In fact, One-Punch Man nimbly straddles quite a number of genre lines - partly because ONE didn’t have a solid sense of direction after his crudely drawn webcomic found a bigger audience than he anticipated.  But the series rides on thanks to his skills as a storyteller, particularly where he manages to maintain a compelling story arc without losing sight of the absurdity of his premise - letting his fans in on an extended joke even as he (seemingly) plays typical shonen conventions straight at times.

The crucial figure in this tightrope dance is Saitama himself, and ONE expertly uses him to pivot the fraught nexus of literary deconstruction and reconstruction: the dismantling of literary archetypes by exploiting the real-world implications and consequences of their outlandishness; and the more difficult task of rebuilding them into something a bit more solid and more resilient to both past and future critiques.  

A Hero Shall Lead Them...  

A good place to start is with the the idea of the shonen hero and what he represents.  In these series the main protagonist is usually the central focus.  True, he (and it's almost always a he) may get eclipsed every once and awhile by another character due to creator preferences or fandom response, but it's still his actions driving the plot, and his growth keeping our butts in the seat.  To accomplish this and keep our interest, it’s usually necessary to endow him with some standout feature: good looks, a sad backstory, a drive towards an impossible dream, or just plain, simple badassery.

...Or not  

Saitama’s got precious little of any of that.  On the surface, he’s a vanilla, rather boring protagonist - dull, plain-looking, and lacking any semblance of motivation or ambition besides “having a good fight.”  He doesn’t have a particularly tragic backstory, or any other issue that isn’t, in some way, of his own making.  He even falls a bit short in the “badass” department, since unquestionable power and ability aside, he’s too low-key and lazily efficient to capture the attention of his in-universe protectorate.  Despite his phenomenal powers and obscene strength, despite his status as the main character, there’s nothing about Saitama that really stands out - at least, not in the way most audiences expect from a shonen hero.  He defies our assumptions about what a hero is supposed to look and act like.  But what makes this a brilliant twist instead of a recipe for tedium is the reason why Saitama obtained his unbelievable power.  No mutant bite, no phenomenal superpowered lineage; he's just a guy who trained so hard that he accidentally became the strongest being in the known universe.  If you think that sounds utterly ridiculous, well, you’re right - and you’re not alone; several characters in story aren't drinking his Kool-Aid, either.  But the consequences of his current state is where the real fun lies.  Saitama paints the picture of the quintessential shonen hero during his training - striving to be the strongest, pushing his body to the limits, and stopping at nothing to fulfill his goal. And guess what?  He succeeds.  The boring battles, easy victories, and existential ennui that defines and constrains Saitama is merely the end result of what happens when our shonen heroes take “wanting to be the best” to the logical conclusion.  Saitama woke up one day and found that he really was the strongest guy around - and without the convenient serial escalation of threats that’s such a hallmark of every other series of this kind, he can do nothing but mourn the lack of any challenge to his unwanted supremacy.      

Heroes, Inc.

Saitama’s blandness stands out all the more because he is surrounded by so many colorful characters who to varying degrees of sincerity strive to reach the pinnacle of heroic gestalt.  Unfortunately, that amounts to all of jack squat in this world.  Heroism is less a service to mankind or a motivator to help the helpless than a stepping stone to stardom, a way to blow off steam, or just a simple paycheck in the mail.  The Hero Association who employs most of these “heroes”  is a shady and slightly corrupt organization, warping the concept of heroism into some bastard offspring of a numbers game and a popularity contest.  Many of the Association's cronies are apathetic to all but their names headlining the front page news, and even those who shun the limelight tend not to hold heroism in the most ideal light.  Genos, our hero’s faithful cyborg Number Two, is a perfect example of this, especially in the beginning: the call to heroism had little appeal to the intense, vengeful youth, and even after joining the Association, he cares nothing for the hero culture it brands and advertises.  Not that you can blame him; One-Punch Man lifts the veil on what happens when heroism becomes a commodity - much like My Hero Academia at times, but with neither that show’s affirming narrative of striving for your dreams, nor its generally upbeat framing of heroic actions through the eyes of idealistic youths.

The Breakdown of the Ideal Hero

All of the above combine to drive home the deconstructive aspect of the series.  In the One-Punch universe, heroism is a public relations racket, meant to boost your social capital or that of the association who hires you.  Those few who sincerely wish only to save other people often find themselves overwhelmed by powerful foes and unappreciated by an ungrateful populace.  And when Saitama - a genuine powerhouse who, despite his laziness, does believe in the call to protect and serve - shows up and makes everything look so damn easy, both his fellow heroes and the people they watch over have a hard time believing he’s anything but a fraud.

At play here, then, is a fracturing of two of the most dearly-held beliefs of the shonen superhero genre: that pursuing power with single-minded focus - even if for the right reasons -  will somehow make your life easier or better, and that being a hero is a noble calling that carries its own rewards.  The following example shows just how ruthlessly One-Punch Man can grind down the above “logic” over the course of its run.

Case study: The Deep Sea King

The Deep Sea King Arc (for anime viewers, episodes 9 -10) is a narrative turning point in what had been up to that point a largely episodic gag fest.  Besides giving us the series’  first persistent threat to actually cause a significant degree of damage to both the image of the Hero Association and the heroes themselves, this arc also established several trends that come back to wallop the shonen enterprise at many points during the show’s run.  For one, we have the introduction and development of multiple heroes, each given a chance to shine and show how deadly they would be if they were up against any normal foe. Stinger, Lightning Max, Snake Fist Snek: all members of the Hero Association’s Class A, the second strongest; all laying out their well-earned hero cred, either here or in previous episodes.  And all fall to the Deep Sea King with little or no effort.  It only escalates from there: Speed-o'-Sound Sonic, One-Punch Man’s resident ninja and self-proclaimed rival to Saitama, fails to inflict any lasting damage on the brute.   As does Puri Puri Prisoner, the first S-Class (the best of the best in the Association) we see in action besides Genos, despite a rather impressive showing.  Even Genos himself gives a strong if futile effort against the evil beast, accustomed as he is to getting ragdolled in order to make the monster of the week look more dangerous before Saitama fists it to oblivion.

So far, this all still follows the standard shonen patterns: evil enemy appears, carves a bloody swath through a line of lesser heroes, and eventually stumbles into a final showdown with our protagonist.  Even so, One-Punch Man still has time to play with a few genre archetypes along the way to varying degrees of faithfulness: the power of teamwork, which fails miserably; the heroic transformation sequence, which only serves to show a side of Puri Puri Prisoner most of us definitely did not want to see; and even the infamous “nakarma power up,” during which resident low-ranked muggle hero Licenseless Rider gains a second wind in his hopeless battle against the Deep Sea King because the crowd he’s protecting all rallied behind him...which does absolutely nothing to change the outcome in any way.  It's at this point - with all the shonen-trope fish riddled with bullets at the bottom of the barrel - that Saitama finally steps in, annoyed and ready to throw down with the king.  

By now, most fans probably know the deal - but those few who miraculously missed the memo on what this series is all about might be expecting a decent fight for once.  And were this any other series, they’d have every right to.  Years of shonen narrative archetypes have conditioned us to expect a fight in these circumstances- maybe one-sided, maybe back- and-forth, but still, a fight.  What we get was the usual half-assed, one punch victory; Saitama drops him like an afterthought, just like every other baddie on the show. But it is the crowd’s reaction and what follows that really twists the deconstructive knife.  Saitama’s hilariously effortless dispatching of the Deep Sea King is par for the course for him, but completely throws his spectators for a loop- so much so that one particular ingrate uses it to argue against the efficacy of the Hero Association and heroes in general.

For most fans, this venom-spewing cretin should be burned in effigy.  But his arguments, on closer inspection, don't deviate much from the tirades shonen fans often level at “weak” characters in many franchises.  He questions the strength and usefulness of heroes and the hero ranking since a low-ranked nobody like Saitama can come along and end it in a single punch.  Truth be told, he does have a point about the rankings' unreliability, but when he equates strength with heroism, thus casting all the heroes who risked everything to keep him and his fellow citizens safe into the proverbial waste bin, he’s not saying anything out of the ordinary for fandoms like Dragonball or One Piece, where “weak” characters are often the butts of many jokes for the sin of not being in the top power tier.  

What's at heart here is the very nature of heroism itself, and who gets to define it.  Our obnoxious jerk lays out his own understanding: “Anyone can buy a little time, but a hero has to beat monsters.”  With that, the heckler shows his shared lineage with those who lust after the violent anti-hero archetype - the ones, like Saitama in the beginning, who are motivated more by the thrill of a good fight than a desire to save people.  These are the heroes who stop at nothing to “beat the bad guy” - collateral damage, protecting innocents, or a sense of higher purpose driving their actions be damned.  These are the heroes who own a dominant share of the current shonen market and who power the 90s Anti-hero trope so well known in Western comics.  These heroes, and their fans, hold “badassery” as the most important and defining trait a hero can have, giving lift to the most reprehensible personal and moral views so long as they have what it takes to annihilate the enemy and confer bragging rights to their vicarious backers.

Tear Down, Build Up

There are many other instances like this all throughout ONE’s webcomic and especially the fabulous redrawn manga made in collaboration with the great  Yusuke Murata.  Teamwork among these heroes is seen not only to fail, but to be fundamentally flawed when weighed against the egos and relative powerlessness of the parties involved.  The Hero Association gets rattled a few more times over the course of the series - each time revealing an even more unsavory underbelly in the process.  Perhaps the darkest manifestation of One-Punch Man’s deconstructive digs is Handsomely Masked Sweet Mask, the Association’s top A-Class and unofficial gatekeeper to the coveted Class S.  Popular, charming, and incredibly handsome, Sweet Mask harbors an almost sociopathic degree of black and white thinking.  His main quirk - aside from badgering other heroes for not living up to his ideals of “perfection” - is his relentless desire to vanquish “evil,” however he sees it.  This isn’t new, of course; hero teams across genres and cultures often have at least one moral monster to wreak havoc with the series' karmic tilt.  But ONE keeps true to his ironic bent by showing how flat-out insane it looks from the outside to idolize someone like that.  Sweet Mask will disregard orders to bring a target in alive,  threaten other heroes and even children who dare interfere with his directives, and all the while his fans cheer him on because hey, he looks so damn good doing it.  This creep's in-universe fandom love him for all the most shallow reasons, and though most of us in real life are thoroughly repulsed by him (if the tremendous amounts of hate he gets across the Internet is anything to go by) Sweet Mask slyly reveals the many illogical ways we justify flocking to characters that intrigue us superficially, even as we’d find their behavior under any other circumstance - or even if enacted by a less attractive or "cool" character - repugnant.  

One-Punch Man, far from being a simple gag series, runs quite a few deconstructive currents under the smooth surface of in-jokes and silliness.  Sure, it’s no Voltaire or Jonathan Swift, but ONE’s crafting has more than a little method behind the madness.  Indeed, you might be forgiven for assuming that the series is primarily satire - a brutal poke at the superhero premise specifically and anime archetypes generally.  But there’s another side to the story; just as the little creep in the Deep Sea King Arc made his case of what a hero is supposed to be, Saitama himself had his own answer.  And we’ll examine that in depth in the next part, along with the slew of other gems ONE throws in to veer his series away from simply demolishing fictional heroism’s house of card and towards rebuilding it in (partial) glory.

[amityfoxx]



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Lesson 9) Eclipses and Alignment

Professor Cattercorn can be seen flitting around in a redecorating phase. Her wand is rarely pointed in one direction for long. Posters take themselves down from the walls and fold themselves neatly while students sit and study for their final, or chat with each other to procrastinate and relieve stress. Amongst the chaos, a large stack of books sits on the professor’s desk, stacked high. Among them you see titles on palmistry and something called “Zohar.” As the clock strikes eleven, the last of the posters puts itself away, and the professor moves to stand near her desk with a satisfied nod. .

Welcome for the final time this year, students! Yes, I know, I was a bit preemptive with my redecorating, but I thought it best not to leave too many star charts up during the final! Today, we have a few smaller topics to wrap up before we review for your final. I can’t believe it’s already time. Though, I suppose time flies when you are enjoying yourself, and I have certainly enjoyed sharing the wonders of natural divination with such apt students as yourselves.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink

As mentioned offhandedly last week, it is not just planets that have divinatory importance in astrology. Nearly everything you can think of plays into the future: the Sun, the Moon, comets, the angle of each planet’s rotation and more! Don’t even get me started on collisions between celestial objects! But, thankfully, we are not going into that much detail. As I explained at the end of our study of runes, my goal is to make you moderately proficient in a large number of fields so that you can find where your strengths and passions lie. We are going to talk about just a few examples today, though.

Comets

After last week’s lesson on the planets, it may not come as a surprise that each comet has a different meaning associated with it. Because they come around so infrequently, the meanings of comets are much less well-known. One of the more frequent ones, Halley’s comet, comes around between every 74 to 79 years and it’s noted to be a predictor of advancement of some kind -- how fortunate that it comes frequently! Comet Hale-Bopp, on the other hand, is very tenuously linked to stagnation and complacence after its first sighting. However, since it only nears Earth every 2,400 years, we will have to do a fair bit of waiting to discover a pattern.

          

Meteor Showers

Fortunately, we have it a little bit easier with meteor showers. Their presence is generally believed to be universal, no matter which cluster is active. The arrival of meteors, whether the Leonids or Draconids usually indicates good fortune -- which is the real reason behind Muggles’ fascination with making wishes on them. It is important to note that meteor showers are more closely linked to smaller, day-to-day things than the more powerful, world-changing events ascribed to planets and more prominent celestial bodies.

Eclipses

Now, it is high time we discussed some celestial events and their importances. Last class, I alluded to the fact that different events and interactions between various celestial bodies played just as large a role in astrology as the meanings of the bodies themselves. Eclipses are one such event that has an important role.

Firstly, it may be useful to have a quick refresher as to what exactly an eclipse is, in case you have forgotten since Second Year Astronomy. An eclipse is when one celestial body moves in between another celestial body and a light source, though the specifics depend on what kind of eclipse is occurring. In a lunar eclipse, the Earth passes in between the Sun and the Moon, therefore casting a shadow onto the Moon and causing it to disappear. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, effectively blocking out the light from the sun momentarily.

Both of these events have different, though linked, divinatory significances. When a solar eclipse occurs, this signifies an ending matched with a beginning -- a rebirth of sorts. When Pluto is nearby during such an event, you had better bet that big things are happening! A lunar eclipse, by the same token -- or at least a similar one -- is just an ending. There is a finality coming when a lunar eclipse is seen. However, unlike its solar counterpart, there is nothing new to replace it. Endings are not inherently bad, though, and these events can simply indicate a stage of completion. Finally, it is important to note, though perhaps obvious, that total eclipses mean a more drastic, important, or sudden event, whereas partial eclipses are less so.

Syzygies And Conjunctions

Finally, we come to our last new topic for the year: alignment. We will briefly go over the definition, though if you want to freshen up on your Astronomy, whether for this or eclipses, you can review this lecture. A syzygy -- the more complicated of the two concepts -- is when three or more astronomical bodies align. This can be include, the Sun, the Moon, Earth, and all other planets. We most frequently see this with the Sun, Moon, and Earth as with eclipses, but this is not the only way, obviously! Conjunctions are very similar, but with one fewer astronomical body. Just two are required to be aligned for a conjunction. One thing to note is that the Earth and the Moon are always in a conjunction together, just as the Sun and the Earth are. It is for this reason that the Sun and the Moon by themselves are not seen to have any divinatory significance (though potentially they do and we simply do not realize it). These bodies have a constant presence in our sky and while they affect levels of magical energy, their presence has not been seen to be extremely significant in divination unless combined with other planets.

In terms of divination, there is an array of implications from these events. Firstly, during either a syzygy or a conjunction, all planets involved not only combine their meanings, but the events the foretell are all the more pronounced, important, or sudden. However, sometimes the alignment of bodies is not just planets. In the case of a conjunction or syzygy involving the Sun, the Sun’s normal meaning of rebirth, ends, and beginnings applies alongside the meanings of the planets. It is the same with the Moon, in that the indication of finality is applied to the other meanings.

I know that is quite a lot to wrap your mind around -- the solar system is a big place -- but to get started, just try to condense it down to the meanings of each body and if they are lining up or not. That simplification will serve you just fine! Also, fortunately, as these are not exactly every day events, you will not have to worry about them overmuch. I only bring them up here due to their large role in astrological predictions.

Review of Concepts

With that, we close the topic of natural divination. As least, until you come to me with questions, check out a library book, gaze into the night sky and notice Venus is particularly bright, or cast some runes. Before I leave you to your finals, let us briefly review the two forms of divination from this year in their totality.

Firstly, we have runecasting. The Germanic tribes ancient times were very natural people, and their divination is no different. There is a large emphasis not only between the runes and nature -- all parts of the runes must be natural, including what they’re stored in -- but also between you and the runes. For the best results, it is recommended that you make your runes and allow them to naturally absorb your magic and attune to your magical signature. They function very similarly to the tarot, acting as foci for your Inner Eye to work through and interpret more easily. They even have spreads that are similar to the tarot. The main differences lie in how you obtain your set and that as a divinatory tool and focus, they are more loyal.

Secondly, we have astrology. There are two schools of thought: there are those that prefer to rely on astrology to predict the minute details of everyday life for individuals, whereas others prefer to look at the big picture, which though large, will affect our everyday lives, just in different ways. Currently, the latter is more popular, though we studied a bit of both. The zodiac is a common thing in magical life, and most witches and wizards know their Sun and Moon signs. These signs complement each other not only to tell us about ourselves, but also about how things might go in the future. In terms of the second kind of astrology, planets and large, celestial bodies and their meanings predict what trends may be coming our way. These bodies can have significance on their own, or in conjunction with others.

Endings and Beginnings

You don’t need the planets to align to do well on your tests, though. You have been with me from beginning to end and I know you’ll do fine… Well, most of you, anyway. You know what they say, it’s a gift and a curse. Regardless, it has been a joy to educate you in the ways of natural divination this year and I hope you enjoy your summer break before school reconvenes in the fall.

Original lesson written by Professor Venita Wessex

Image credits here, here, and here

 

Unlock the secrets of your Inner Eye in Year Three of Divination. This year focuses on the more natural forms for divination, such as runecasting and astrology. A glimpse into the future awaits...Enroll 

L9 Assignments

 

DIV-301 Lessons

 

Y3 Final I: Theory

 Test

 

Y3 Final II: Readings

 Essay

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[determinedbyvibe]

san hc oo2.

   san has always been a huge fan of baseball. he used to play in the little leagues as a kid, & even continued to play all through high school. for the longest time he fully planned on going pro & his high school coach was working with him to get ready for any scouts who might come to check him out & he’s sure that if you did a bit of digging, you might even be able to find an article or two about an “up & coming baseball star”. he jokes about it now, but he did feel a little bad having to tell his coach that he wanted to do music instead but a dream was a dream & he could feel that this was one worth fighting for.

   it comes up quite a bit in interviews where they’ll be asked what they think they’d be doing if they hadn’t become musicians, & — in san’s case — the one & only answer is baseball. he actually still has a bit of a dream that one day he’ll be able to throw the opening pitch at a game, but he keeps that one to himself.

[determinedbyvibe]

san hc oo1.

   when he was young, san had a sort of obsession with the teenage mutant ninja turtles. he watched the movies & shows, played the games, read the comics, but of course the icing on the cake was when he was about 16 or so. often enough, teens would get a car for their 16th or maybe a new phone. but after years of asking, san’s parents finally gave in & got him a cat. the little guy was a mackerel tabby, & naturally san named him after his favourite turtle, michelangelo. that being said, the name is a bit of a mouthful so more often the cat is simply referred to as mikey ( not unlike his namesake ), the full name is reserved for when the feline gets into trouble. mikey is about 8 now, but he & san are still thick as thieves.

[determinedbyvibe]

tag drop 1/?