#semidivine thoughts

[tortita-semidivina]

But why show the amazing relationship Jo and Laurie had just to...

[lutawolf]

The Sign Commentary Review Ep 3

I'm saying fuck it and doing this commentary anyways, even though it's way late. (my kid got into a car accident. Fuck this year.) Anyways I think I'm hilarious so here we go.

Home dude really just let Tharn get kidnapped and looks so lost about it. Hahah! The friend group drinking at the idea of Phaya and Tharn having sex. So dead.

The way these coconuts are stirring up Phaya. And why did his brain go straight to shower. He is so obvious and doesn't even care. Then races out to call the man. Like, are you just now realizing what is going on. This is real life drunkenness, I swear. When Chalothon shows up in the camera feed, it's a total audacity of this bitch moment.

Good news, Chalothon is not having any luck controlling Tharn either. The faces Phaya makes at his phone.

HAHAHA! Phaya's face when he gets back to the table and sees all the guys. He went from being on top of the world to a no good, shitty day real fast. Poor baby, lol.

Phaya's book collection has me jealous. The music playing while he is visualizing the girl. Especially with those subs (mysterious music playing). 🤣🤣🤣 The whole scene with the sister, omg. (mysterious music) (footstep sounds) (footstep sounds) (mysterious music) Phaya's eyes shifting as if in panic. All very dramatic.

Grandma is so pretty!!! She's hilarious too.

Somebody got romance on the brain! I mean, I'm only guessing, between the closeness and the subtitles telling me that romantic music is playing. Then dreams of cuddling Tharn. Cute! I like how the lighting makes them look like they are underwater.

Boy woke up so confused. "I must have thought about him too much." Ya think?!?

Phaya is a talented artist. He has a lot of art of a boy also a side profile of a female. The one we can't see clearly makes me think of the dragon from the water. Is the cat a Cha Kla? Cha Kla is a mythological cat from Thailand.  Legend says that the Ch Kla are terrified of humans and will hide from them, but if they are seen or touched, that person will eventually die. However, they are usually black, where this is white with black surrounding it.

Grandma, "Are they twins?" Then Phaya goes on to fill her in on everything. These two have a very close relationship.

"Did I do anything weird last night?" Boy, that is a loaded question. Ya'll Yai is adorable. He is for sure one of my favorite side characters.

Doc... I'm having doubts that I'm gonna like you. You've barely talked, but you have slime ball written all over you. And what is up with Tharn saying that him and Phaya aren't that close??? Clearly he isn't that close to the Doc if he is hiding stuff.

Nong Khai!!! Nong (low area like a swamp) Khai (lost) is situated on the banks of the majestic Mekong River, one of the world’s longest and most iconic rivers. It's also a very important pilgrimage for Buddhist because of a revered Buddhist stupa that dates back to the 16th century and is believed to contain relics of the Lord Buddha. You know what else it's known for?? Nagas. These mythical creatures are semidivine beings that are serpent shape-shifters. Whether it is a human form, full serpent, or half serpent, half-human form, the Nagas can take up whatever shape they prefer. They are a strong and attractive species, who are regarded as guardians of treasure which resides in the underwater kingdom of Patala-Loka or Naga-Loka, a stunning place decorated in gems.

Now I'm really excited!

💜💜💜 I'm dying. "She's gorgeous." "I know that, but she's also very scary. I'm afraid of her." This honestly makes me like him even more. NGL. They are pretty close with the Abbott. Aww, poor Yai getting ganged up on. *Snickers*

Clues! "While you’re staying here. Let me warn you about something. Make sure you often meditate and dedicate the merits to those whom you have wronged in the past. So that it would help lighten the consequences of your karma. Got it?"

"Is he still not free from them? They’ve been after him since when he was born. That’s why he had to live at the temple. What do they want from him? Why are they so vengeful?"

Shot to sad Abbott and sad Tharn.

Phaya asking the Abbott if he remembers him. Give me answers! Give me! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, Finally!!! It's come out that he is the boy that was saved by him!

And we crash again. That's so fucking sad, is this why he thinks the people he loves dies??? "Everything has already been destined. His life is written by the karma he did in his past life." This is so fucking sad. But wait! There is hope! "His destiny has been entwined with someone since his past life. That person will lead him to experience bad things. But it is also that person who would be able to free him from his karma."

Okay, so the Rocket Festival they are talking about and why the date is significant. The Rocket Festival is usually celebrated on the weekends in the middle of May, just before the start of the crop plantation period (the rainy season). This ancient festival is a merit-making ceremony which involves firing home-made rockets towards the heavens to captivate the rain gods and hope for a good monsoon season before the crop plantations take place.

"Whether you’d be free from those whom you have wronged in the past... depends on whether you’d be able to find the owner of this amulet tonight." Damn, that's not ominous. Poor fucking kid.

Ahhhhh, this is when his visions started! No thoughts, he just dives in. This boy does not deserve to have to pay for his past life! I absolve him! You live by a river, and you're just shaking him? Fucking turn him over and smack his back!

Past, Phaya is so puppy dog.

Wait! You forgot to give him the amulet!!! Dumbass kids. Always forget the important part. I mean... Well, I guess saving a person from drowning is the important part, but you know what I mean! Oh good, Phaya found him.

"So, he would probably live for a very long time. But you have to be careful though. If both of your destiny are entwined like what I think... You would eventually find each other again."

And clearly, Yai has always been the way he has been since forever.

Naga! He dreams of Nagas! Usually the festival associated with Naga is the Naga Fireball Festival. Which is celebrated in the fall or Buddhist Lent period. In this festival, people gather along a certain stretch of the Mekong River, to witness glowing red 'fireballs' shoot up into the sky. The number of fireballs sighted can range from hundreds to thousands. The local people attribute this phenomenon to the mythical 'Phaya Nak', a giant serpent that they believe resides within the river.

Okay, I'll shut up now and get back to the show.

"He doesn’t know how to swim. But he still wants to go and play near the riverbank."

"Grandma, I really heard someone calling me there last night."

That's just a great kid. We almost saw the Darwin Theory in action. The stupid shall not inherit the earth. Gee wiz, I hear disembodied voices, let's go investigate near water where I can not swim. This is like me hearing a gun shot and going to check it out. No, I don't want to die, I'm not that noisy. The unknown can stay unknown. Phaya as a kid was so soft and shy. Boy has he changed!

WTF is not wanting to take the amulet. Don't be an ungrateful asshole, kid. Tharn takes no shit, even as a kid.

"What you saw wasn’t a dream. It was your karma." "Are you saying that... they are those whom I have wronged in my past life?"

We're getting closer to answers! Ahhh, we're talking more about the Naga!!! So Tharn was a Naga in a past life??

"You both are destined to help each other Trust each other. Only then, you would be able to free yourself from your karma. Your kind hearts are your best weapon. And remember to always trust each other. Help each other. And you both would live a happy life, like you’ve always dreamt of." Sounds simple enough... (dumdumdum aka thunder sounds)

Oh snap! We got some bad weather! Okay, so Naga have different classes. From the general Nagas who have large bodies like great serpents with a crest on the head and strong poison to the celestial ones who have several heads with lethal poison and supernatural power such as disguising themselves more than just as a human being. Furthermore, certain ones can effect rain. The power to bring rain or cause drought by stop giving it. Some beliefs say they can disguise themselves as rain clouds and/or rainbows. That is why the quote for the Rocket Festival is "How much water will the Naga give this year."

Ohhh, who could this be? The king of Naga? There are a few options, so I won't hazard a guess just yet.

Can I just say that I'm loving that Phaya is chasing after scared Tharn. Yai and Phaya hugging like they didn't just get drunk together the night before. 🤣🤣🤣

"It was quite dark, so I didn't know he actually looks like this." OMG, I'm Dead. Hahaha Yai... I can see why you and your gf fit together.

Ahhhh I'm loving this so much!! You see the Naga decorations on the bridge?? This is in association with their connection to rainbows. The rainbow signifies the bridge between earth and the underworld. Sorry if this shit is boring, you guys! Like I said earlier, I'm way late, and so I'm just writing about what I find interesting. Because I refuse to force beliefs on my children, I give them books on world religions and beliefs. I read it so that I can help them as they read what they are interested in. I find all this stuff so captivating.

The way Yai looks at his girl. So sweet.

Okay, I see what they are doing here with the dream, but I'm dead. That hair and his facial expression. Like he is seconds away from laughing at himself. I would love to see BTS of this part right here.

Look at Phaya just calling Tharn out. Like Bitch, try and run from me. "Why didn't you want to tag along with us."

Isn't that where he was sitting when he had the vision? Phaya, you wish he was hitting on you, lol.

Not matching clothes!!! Tharn bitching all the time but damned if he didn't put on the matching clothes.

He left her cause she was naga! What!

Yes, he is telling you that you are the cause of his bad dreams. But he still wants you to stick around so nevermind.

I love these fools. I love grandma. Now everyone knows that Phaya is the boy that was saved.

I like Sand.

"If what you said is true, Yai and I both love you like our own brother... but we’re still safe and sound."

"Don’t let what the Abbot has predicted come true." Grandma come back! Explain this to me...

Hahah! Tharn is so sassy. "Did you use this kind of story to hit on the girls in France?"

See, no hiding for Phaya. He just straight up tells Tharn that he likes him. I think evil jellyfish is a new favorite nickname for me. I really want to read this book but it's like 15 bucks. Crazy!

AHHH! They finally kiss!!! "And this is called a goodnight kiss."

Tharn's face when Phaya says goodnight. Bless the poor boy. Well fuck, we getting stormy weather over a kiss? What the hell is gonna happen when they do more!?! I think I liked it better when the sex just woke up the evil twin, not cause destruction of humanity. Tharn is cute but I don't know that he is Noah Arc worth it kind of cute. Just saying.

Running scared! But that's okay cause Phaya is very willing to chase. Even tackle.

"Do you want to get hurt?" Phaya over here like, yes please. With a cherry on top. I love the cockiness of both of them. I adore when Phaya puts his tongue in his cheek. These two! Thank you Saint! You are a blessing amongst men. I really enjoy this kind of foreplay. No punches were pulled. Noticed Phaya is wearing the talisman.

Ahhh, it's the forcing him to submit and then telling him he is a good boy for me.

I’m Police Major Akkanee Assawawaisoon, your team leader. Yay! He is back!

I love these coconuts. Tharn going and sitting by your brother, Phaya is going to kick your ass again.

Ahhhhhh. I'm so excited for this saturday!

[wetwareproblem]

What are ur thoughts on endogenic systems?

Nonny, I'll be honest with you: Human cognition is an incredibly weird and complex process that we're just beginning to figure out how to describe. And I'm not a cognitive scientist, just an autist with a major special interest. It would be so incredibly arrogant for me to point at someone else's understanding of their own internal, lived experience and say "No, that is Definitely Wrong." Like, so arrogant that I pale at it, and I'm a semidivine figure with documented narcissistic tendencies.

It's only slightly less arrogant for people in the field to do so, in my opinion, given how early cognitive sciences are in their infancy. Like, they're younger than physics was when phlogiston was a thing.

And of course, this intersects with my feelings on the politics of marginalization and gatekeeping in general: It is almost never productive and almost always harmful to spend your resources on trying to determine "real" from "fake" members of your community, vs spending those resources on building a more supportive community.

We're traumagenic as fuck. But we're not arrogant enough to declare that our way is the only valid way of existing. Honestly, we kinda love endo systems, because they're evidence that multiplicity can be a healthy way of existing.

[phantasieandmirare]

I had a thought. It’s not a thought I wanted to have but here it is.

IF—and this is an absolutely colossal ‘if’, universe, I don’t want this—we get to a point where Penny does die, I don’t think the Maiden power will go to Ruby. Maybe Cinder gets in the way and to make sure that Cinder can’t have the power Penny does self-terminate. But the power won’t go to Ruby. Nora, on the other hand…Nora and Penny have had a lot of moments this volume, with Nora talking Penny down and being close to her. And I just really don’t think Ruby is going to become a Maiden, or at least not yet. If (ANOTHER BIG IF) we lose Penny, I think that Nora’s the major Maiden candidate. Gaining semidivine power would fit into her new arc to find herself and it would also make sense based on the focus she’s gotten this season especially in the context of Penny.

Like I said I do not want this because if Penny dies we riot, but if it were to happen, I think that’s how it’s going to go down.

[tortita-semidivina]

I'm dying from cuteness omaigoooosh. The little wave for the cameraaaaaaa

NANON for K SEE M

[eldunea]

Will Magic and the Divine Power of Humanity

there are six elements to altean magic: white, black, fire, water, air and earth. the latter four are known as the physical magics, whereas the former two are called the metaphysical magics. of the magical forms, white is said to be the strongest, followed by black, and then fire/water/air/earth are the next step down and are all equally strong. the most powerful specific form is a white-element practice known as will magic.

will magic is the ability to control the flow of events, particularly historical events, just by thinking of their course. it is the deepest and most powerful of all altean magics, and it is one that for alteans takes centuries to master. it is subtle, never manifesting in huge explosions (fire magic) or ferocious bolts of lightning (air magic), but rather in the ebb and flow of the future’s currents. it’s also distinct from other forms of magic due to--and this is the most important part--the lack of apparent or actual effort from the caster, to the point that it is impossible to prove without an advanced magic tracer whether any magic was used at all. for example, let’s say you have a crush on a guy who you’ve never spoken to and who doesn’t even know you exist. directly going into his mind and mind-controlling him to be your boyfriend is not will magic, it’s psychic abilities (and also a really shitty use of them). but if you merely wish that he becomes your boyfriend and events transpire to bring you together without you doing anything else supernatural, that is will magic.

will magic is extremely powerful once perfected--if there is no equally powerful magic going against it, it basically allows the caster to get anything they want. however, it takes a very monklike mentality to master; in the same way that you need to give your life at oriande to receive the secret of life, you need to accept a complete lack of control in order to harness the secret of complete control. (this explains why lotor has never been able to master will magic--he tries so hard to control everyone and everything around him!) not only that, in the early stages--which could last for a century or more--you won’t be able to get much of anything, because the more improbable your wish is, the stronger the magic you need. going back to the boyfriend example--if he’s a fellow college student, it doesn’t take much magic to chuck the two of you together in the same mandatory class and have the teacher pair you up for the semester’s first project. but if he’s a super-famous celeb who you currently have no real way of meeting, you need to be like a level 100 will magic caster to draw him in and you probably aren’t.

for their one million years of existence, alteans have pondered the depths of will magic--a great universal secret that they have only ever scratched the surface of understanding. they did, however, have some idea of the genes that could make will magic possible. during the first altean empire and their creation of the human race through experimentation, they experimented on inserting will magic genes into us and tweaking them; they used us in the same way that medicines are tested on animals first, as a basis for whether they could enhance their own genetic code to create the potential for will magic that can dominate the universe. but testing early human will magic did not work, since even their most advanced magic tracers at the time proved inadequate to demonstrate whether will magic existed in us--and nobody could agree on any other signs of proof. eventually, we were given up as magicless flops, and abandoned to live on our own. but the alteans’ attempts at creating the ultimate will magic users did not fail. in fact, they succeeded exponentially more than any of the scientists ever dared think.

humans are, in fact, a deeply magical species. we may not be able to cast lightning bolts or create illusions like our altean ancestors, but our will magic is the most powerful in the universe. unlike other magical races, who may spend lifetimes studying the craft and never mastering it, we have the capacity to use it flawlessly from the moment we’re born. thanks to our genetic code, we are the only species in the universe who has managed to bypass the drastic mindset shift of accepting lack of control to get will magic. many humans, no matter who they are or how they think, can use will magic to an extent that poor lotor--and many other alteans--can only dream of.

our will magic outdistances that of even the semidivine alteans. even a newborn human baby has more potential for will magic in their little finger than some adult alteans have in their entire bodies. alteans angst over perfecting this elusive craft for decades and even centuries, but when a human child makes a simple wish upon a star, they’re almost bound to get what they want without even trying. on a broader scale, entire altean peoples have tried and failed to will the course of history to their benefit. but the overthrow of monarchies, the veneration of human rights, the continued survival of so many peoples who were threatened with extermination--that was the power of human will magic at work. we would never have emerged from our feudal chains into a world of democracy and prosperity without our species’ indomitable will to make the world better; the spirit of democracy itself is a product of our hidden divinity, a manifestation of our subconscious understanding that we are truly governed not by emperor’s edicts but by the power invested in each of us. when republics around the world say they rule by the will of the people, they literally rule by the will of the people.

our immense amounts of will magic also explain why our lifespans of 100 years are so short compared to the 1,500-year lives of our predecessors. the sheer amount of divine power within our bodies ages us faster, burning us out like candles--in contrast to the alteans, who have just enough divinity to live extremely long lives. also, ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy? that’s will magic at work--if you keep telling yourself the narrative that you can’t do something, you’re magically cursing yourself to never do it. but the most important thing in this post that human will magic entails? it’s the reason why team voltron has won every single fight that was ever depicted in the voltron series. voltron is ridiculously overpowered and more or less unbeatable because it combines an incredibly strong manifestation of altean alchemy with five of the strongest will magicians in the universe: the paladins. voltron unites the supernatural best of the universe’s most magically powerful species, creating a juggernaut that only gods themselves can truly oppose.

our wishes decide our fates. our thoughts carve the course of history. knowing this, descartes’ famous saying deserves an addition:

We think, therefore we are. We think, therefore it is.

[tortita-semidivina]

They´re just so cute being scared of them

[originlist]

CHARACTER INTERVIEW

▌real name: asclepius

▌single or taken: verse-dependent. generally single, not prone to commitment.

▌abilities or powers: semidivine-level healing. extremely intelligent. item generation for any materia related to health or research. he can heal pretty much anything you come down with, though unfortunately just because he can doesn’t mean he will. can heal well enough to reverse death, though only conditionally. gets along well with snakes. a lot stronger than he looks. divinity, though he doesn’t act like it.

▌eye color: central heterochromia, gold-green. 

▌hair color:  white with dyed tips, either pink or green. usually pink.

▌family members: apollo (father), the greek pantheon as relatives, multiple divine children. he sees chrion as more of a father to him than apollo.

▌pets: he classes his snake familiar as a pet. it doesn’t have a name, and is (when in the form of an animal) an albino aesculapian snake.

▌something they don’t like: being belittled or spoken down to. backtalk. being interrogated. having his motives questioned. being interrupted. monotony. being told he looks fragile or delicate. honestly 70% of things that could be said to him he probably dislikes

▌hobbies/activities: research. it’s pretty much all he does, encompassing both reading modern articles on biomed and personal experiments. otherwise he goes general medical practice around chaldea.

▌ever hurt anyone before: yes.

▌ever killed anyone before: he dislikes doing so, but will when necessary.

▌worst habits: disregarding patient concerns, calling informed consent a waste of time, argumentative, stubborn, thinks that he’s smarter than everyone else and always in the right and treats others as such, saying completely unhinged things just to see if it’ll cause a reaction in whoever he’s talking to.

▌role models: he’s given up on them

▌sexual orientation: pensexual and chaotic

▌thoughts on marriage/kids: he likes kids and is actually much more inclined to treat them nicely than adults he talks to. as a servant he’s not much into marriage, but accepted it as an expected feature of life while alive.

▌fears: failure, the death of people around him, being unable to help when it’s most necessary. if lives are on the line he would rather destroy himself trying to fix something than say he’s unable or it’s a lost cause. part of him fears death in general.

▌style preferences: likes wearing black and a lot of layers. resents being Perceived, and especially resents being seen as small, so he wears clothes that try and make up for that. likes having his face covered by either masks or high collars. does not limit himself by gendered clothing though if you call him anything other than a man he’ll punch you in the throat.

▌someone they love: hes got a soft spot for the argonauts but good luck getting him to express it normally. he loves the idea of humanity but often finds himself frustrated by its individuals. chiron.

▌approach to friendships: grumpily. anyone who befriends him generally does so by being a subject of asclepius’s fascination in a clinical sense-- its not a friendship or acquaintanceship, but sclep going ‘you have something i am interested in, and i will pursue it until i’m satisfied’ and then him just getting used to them along the way until he realizes they’re friendly-ish. he sees no need for seeking out friendships for their own merits.

▌thoughts on pie: depends on the type. don’t eat too much, master.

▌favorite drink:  water. stay hydrated, dipshits.

▌favorite place to spend time at: in the clinic or at the seaside

▌swim in the lake or in the ocean: ocean. he’s not much one for swimming, but he likes the ocean.

▌their type: people who interest him. someone who either has a consistent oddity or someone who can react to the unhinged bullshit he says to throw them off with ‘oh is that it?’. people who can keep up with his thoughts or at least pretend to be interested when he starts talking about the applications of bacteriophages in gene therapy.

▌camping or indoors: depends on where the camping and indoors are. usually he doesn’t care but finds it easier to work indoors and has never heard of taking a break in his life.

Tagged by: @caemthe​ hands u a sclep hands u a sclep hands u a sclep Tagging: @futurend​ and also Youmst

[phoenixkaizen]

Hypnotized

Summary: based off of the prompt by anonymous user: Prompt Idea: Shouta is an archeologist who is studying an ancient structure in a jungle. As he looks through the structure, he runs into a naga named Hizashi, who is immediately heads over heels in love with Shouta. Hizashi quickly nabs Shouta from his expedition group, and drags him home. At first, Shouta resists so Hizashi hypnotizes him like Kaa and just cuddles with him. Shouta wakes up from the trance the next day with the cuddly naga snuggling him.

Author's Note: I will admit, I had to research "naga". It sounded familiar but I couldn't remember what it was so I had to go back and look it up xD I knew who Kaa was so I figured it had something to do with serpents xD But yeah, I hope you enjoy! The title is based off of the song "Hypnotized" by Coldplay. I absolutely love prompts that are detailed like this so I can get as close as to what you imagined for the prompt! Thank you for that nonie!

Pairing: Shouta Aizawa/Hizashi Yamada

Warnings: Kidnapping

The structure was absolutely beautiful as Shouta walked up to it, his pack full of the supplies he would need for his duration of studying. The rest of the expedition team were off on other parts of the ancient building, researching their own tasks. Nemuri, Toshinori, Enji, and Mirai were the others out here with him. 

Out of the rest of his team, he was the one who could most easily get into the harder spots that most people wouldn't have access to. So he was on his own for this part of the expedition. They were studying the ancient species of Naga that were believed to inhabit this part of the jungle years ago. With the information so far that they had gathered, this structure had been their temple or even shrine. Shouta could deciper the messages on the wall to see if their theory was correct but it would take some time for him to do so. 

The raven haired man walked around the area of the structure, his eyes widened in awe as he looked at the various carvings on the walls. They were worn from the weather but mostly intact. On the largest wall was a large carving of what was believed to be a naga. Naga were mythical semidivine beings. Half human, half cobra. It was believed that these divine beings could take on the form of serpant or human due to their hybrid natures. 

Shouta placed his bag on the floor, shuffling through his belongings until he pulled out his worn notebook. He had made sure to study the ancient history of these deities before arriving at the location, flipping through the book until he had gotten to his notes. 

This is where he would start. 

x

He wasn't sure what had brought up out of his home. This gut feeling ranging inside of him telling him that something was off. Hizashi pulled his cloak over his shoulders, staying within his humanoid form just in case if he were to run into any humans on his journey and pulled the cloth over his head until it was shielding his eyes from the sun. 

He was quiet in his movements as he made the tract towards the hidden temple that he protected. He didn't live that far away from the actual temple but he didn't live inside the ancient walls either. His job was to protect the treasures of his people hidden inside the chamber. 

His shoes clicked softly against the steps as he made his way up the guarded steps, the eyes of the serpant statues glowing as he passed by, assuring the safety of the chambers within the building. 

He paused completely as he reached the top floor where the shrine was located. Someone was here who wasn't supposed to be. Putting his own guard up, he shrank into the shadows, moving through the small hidden walkway that was there. 

The person's back was turned to him but the person was clearly a male by his physical stature. Long black hair pulled back into a messy bun to keep it out of his face. Hizashi stopped his movements almost immediately as the unknown human went rigid. The breath was caught in his throat as the human looked up, almost in his direct location. 

The first thing he noticed was the storm cloud colored eyes, that were almost black other than swirls of silver within them. The human's face had a slight stubble on his soft face. The human looked around for a moment before turning back towards the carved wall. Hizashi still felt like he couldn't breathe. 

The human was beyond beautiful. 

His heart raced against his chest as he continued to watch the human. This human was going to be his. 

x

Hizashi waited for what felt like hours. Night fall was quickly coming and the human was still fast at work going over the ancient writing on the walls. The human's guard was completely down. His shoulders relaxed. The human was so far gone within his work that he hadn't even noticed the time. 

Hizashi took his moment to crept from his hiding spot and took silent steps up behind the human. The human had yet to still notice his presence. "What is a beautiful creature such as yourself doing out here all alone?" Hizashi's voice made the human jump. The man was quick to his feet, his belongings crashing to the floor of the temple as his eyes widened at Hizashi. 

"Who are you?" The man growled, his entire body in a defensive position. 

Hizashi just smiled at him. The man's eyes moved over his body, his entire demeanor changing in seconds as he looked between Hizashi and the wall. 

Hizashi took in a deep breath, looking the human directly in the eyes. "You look tired, why don't you relax a little and maybe get some sleep." It wasn't a question, Hizashi's voice changing as he spoke. 

Shouta felt his entire body relaxing at the newcomer's words. His body reacting completely on its own. The man's eyes practically glowed as he looked to him. Shouta willed his body not to but within seconds he felt his eyes slipping shut. 

Hizashi smiled again as the human's eyes slipped completely closed, his entire body falling towards the ground. The naga moved forward in time to catch the human in his arms.

x

Shouta gave a soft whine as he peeled his eyes opened, his body feeling refreshed and any exhaustion that he had felt before was completely gone. He rubbed the sleepy haze out of his eyes as he sit up. His entire body freezing as he felt soft fabric underneath his hands. 

He looked around the room, candles were around the room, lighting up the room enough that Shouta could see. He quickly noted that he was alone but the sweet smell of... tea? filled his senses. 

He slipped off of the makeshift bed, his shoes and jacket were sitting on a chair in the corner along with the rest of his stuff that he had taken with him to the temple. His mind raced, thinking the last events that had taken place before he had, he guessed, fallen asleep. 

He paused. A man had walked up behind him than everything went black. The man was incredibily handsome but that wasn't what had stuck out to him. His ruby red eyes practically glowing as they had spoken. Had the man somehow put him to sleep? 

"Oh, you're awake!" The same voice from earlier cut through his deductions. Shouta stood in surprise as the man waltzed over, a bounce in his step as he handed a cup of freshly made tea over to him. "Drink up!" 

Shouta hestitated for a moment, sniffling the tea before taking a drink. He wasn't sure what it was, but something about this man told him that he could trust him. 

"I'm Hizashi." Shouta let his gaze move across the man's body again. His body clearly had muscle on him, he was fit so that would definitely explain how he could carry all of Shouta's dead weight and all of his belongings back to where ever he was. Long blonde hair fell over his shoulders, slick and shiny. His eyes were a ruby red but weren't as bright as before. By the way the man--Hizashi, held himself it was clear to him that he meant no harm. 

He kidnapped you, you fool. Shouta thought, shaking his head as he thoughts began to race again. "Shouta." Why did I tell him that?

Hizashi's gazed turned to him, looking at him with eyes full of concern. The blonde didn't say anything as he rounded around the human and took a seat on his bed, stretching out and lounging against the fabric. 

The blonde eyed him for a second before his eyes started to glow again and he began to speak, "You look cold. C'mere I'll warm you up." He muttered. 

Shouta, once again, had no idea what persuaded him to move forward. He placed his cup on the table next to the bed and practically fell down onto the bed next to the blonde. The blonde's arms wrapped around him and pulled their bodies flush against each other. 

The blonde had been right. He never realized that he had been cold. He had been so focused on the situation that he never noticed how cold the room actually was. Hizashi's body was warm next to his. 

"It's okay, you're safe with me."

He still wasn't sure what was urging him on but he cuddled closer next to the blonde and felt his eyes slip shut once again.

Hizashi peered down at him with a soft smile still lingering on his face. The human--Shouta-- this beautiful, magnificent creature was now completely asleep within his arms. He wanted to learn more about this human, get to know him better. 

He was falling in love. 

x

When Shouta woke up the next time, his mind was completely clear unlike the day before. The raven haired man groaned softly as he went to sit up, his breath catching in his throat the second he realized that he couldn't. Gazing over his shoulder, a leg was thrown over both of his, an arm was over his chest, practically pinning his arms down and a nose was buried in the croak of his neck. 

Hizashi just made a noise in his sleep and brought Shouta closer to his body. A soft smile came to Shouta's face as Hizashi's free hand moved and curled within his hair, bringing the two of them impossibly closer to each other.

How had he not noticed it before? Hizashi gave him all of the signs he needed to know. He should of seen it in that first moment. Hizashi had to be a naga, one of the mythical creatures they were studying. Everything fit. How his voice alone managed to put Shouta to sleep in seconds of them speaking? Than again with the tea. Hizashi was strikingly handsome, his voice could influence his actions. He had to be a naga. 

Shouta wasn't even sure how long he laid there, just letting the blonde cling to him tightly before the other man finally started to stir and eye lids opened, revealing soft red eyes. Those beautiful eyes lit up within seconds upon realization that Shouta was in fact still next to him. 

"Good morning, beautiful." Hizashi whispered, burying himself further into Shouta's body. 

Shouta took the moment to detangle his limbs from Hizashi's and sit up, looking down at the blonde. "Are you a naga?" 

Hizashi peered up at him with an alarmingly large smile on his face. "You're incredibly smart too." 

Shouta shrugged. "Well you took me from a temple that was dedicated to the naga race. So it's kinda fitting." Hizashi made a noise of agreement, watching as the human looked down to his lap, picking at his finger nails. "Could you possibly show me your true form?" 

The question had completely caught Hizashi off guard. Shouta peeked through a cloak of his hair only to see Hizashi's smile get bigger. "Sure." 

Hizashi pushed himself off of the bed, moving to the middle of the room. Shouta watched in anticipation as Hizashi took a deep breath, his skin slowly turning to scales before he bent backwards, almost completely in half, before his entire body started to transform. Shouta was in shock as now where the human-like Hizashi stood now was a large serpant snake. The snake's head was level with his eye sight. Red eyes staring intentally at him as Shouta looked among the rest of Hizashi's snake form. His scales were a golden color, the same shade as his hair.

"Beautiful." Shouta found himself whispering as he reached out until he could touch Hizashi's scales. They were hard and rough underneath his hand, almost to the point it hurt but he couldn't find himself to care. 

After a moment, the figure of Hizashi's snake form slowly started to return to a human form. Shouta's hand now laying on Hizashi's cheek. 

Hizashi reached out, placing his hand on Shouta's and leaning into the warmth that radiated off of Shouta. "I'm cold now." Hizashi muttered. 

Shouta smiled softly. Hizashi couldn't read the look that was now settled on the human's face. "Let's lay back down than and warm you back up." Shouta whispered. 

Hizashi smiled and nodded. "I would love that."

[gogoakechi]

ive been thinking a little more on it and i think im coming to a pretty solid foundation on what i want my jojosona and stand to be

my jojosonas name is “Gently Johnny”, off the wicker man ost. i thought itd be perfect since My Name Is Johnny and the wicker man movie is heavily (and somewhat darkly) religiously themed. the wicker man itself could be a good metaphor for his stand, as the worshipers pledge such great devotion and sacrifice to a god that may never answer them.

i havent decided on his stands name yet, but im trying to decide between “Pistol Dance”, a song by my favourite band, blackbird raum, that has the EXACT fucking aesthetic and vibe this stand has, or “Thrill Kill Kult”, after another band i love that deals with themes of sex, drugs, and satanism. tkks name definitely fits the stand a lot better than pistol dance, since it finds its power within the worship and belief of a cult, making the cult itself an extension of the stand, but aaaaaaaaa pistol dance as a song is perfect. plus ive got a very deep connection with blackbird raum already so its a lot more personal to me. and maybe the name could even be a metaphor for the kind of relationship victims have with the stand? like the weird and high stakes dance people have with their chosen god(s). especially since pistol dance quite Literally promotes cultism so it really is a dangerous game to play. so i guess for the sake of this post ill call it pistol dance

that all being said, heres what ive got in mind so far for what pistol dance actually IS:

pistol dance, at its basics, is a stand that gives people that weird religious ecstasy you get when youre going wild at church feeling the holy spirit or at a bonfire in the woods dancing naked with a crowd of your fellow dionysian followers or simply when you just get really pumped up with “I LOVE MY GOD!!”. thats pretty much it as far as what it Does as an ability. it makes you love it. it makes you want to serve it. it makes you believe in its power and that its blessings are real, when in reality youre simply assigning it responsibility for the things that happen in your life anyway. it doesnt actually give blessings or do jack shit to you. it just gives you a sense of religion.

now you might think “okay well thats kinda lame like what can you do with that?? whos to say it wont just make a hellenic more devout or an atheist question themselves? how will they know that the stand is the source of this and to join the Pistol Dance Cult????”

well my dear friend thats where gently johnny comes in. pistol dance is EXTREMELY dependent on the actions of its user to even work well. but to preface this, its important to know that gently johnny Does Not Know What Stands Are. he doesnt know pistol dance is a stand. hes just as much of a victim of it as anyone else. essentially what happened was pistol dance, like many other stands, just appeared before him one day after he woke up from being shot with an arrow. he regains consciousness and sees this being before him, having no other idea what it could be than a spirit, and is filled with so many emotions at once he breaks down crying. in that moment, he calls it his god. what else would make him feel like that? how else would he have survived the arrow? it was a miracle. and he immediately devoted his life to it.

so now gently johnny is pistol dances priest. he becomes a soapbox preacher, and through his stands presence, he actually does have the air of a dude that knows what hes talking about. or at least that of one that gives him a semidivine vibe, like he really is a Man Of God, to some degree. and some grow curious, some dont. pistol dance is mostly a subconscious stand that takes affect depending on how well johnny himself Feels It, since he doesnt know he can control it at all. so the more hes into it the better pistol dance works.

the part in which it is a conscious ability, however, comes from the stands own sentience. it doesnt do it often (because when have gods ever been there every single time you asked Them to be am i right fellas), but sometimes itll take it upon itself to select someone for their own Religious Feelings, or appear to remind gently johnny of just what this all means and what he needs to do.

eventually, pistol dance has a group of followers. a religion solidly forms around this entity only gently johnny can see, making him an intermediate between man and god, and these worshipers devote themselves to their deity. they form what you could very easily call a cult. and what better way to bring a cult together than a woodland ritual among fire in the dead of the night?

just like televangelists giving healing on tv, the mood is set, the faithful are smiling and crying, a man is shouting, praise and selves are offered up to god, and nothing works. only in that stand powered adrenaline do you think it does, because these are the nights pistol dance exists for. this is when its at its best. i honestly have no idea what its motivation for all of this is gonna be, since it does have to reflect its stand user in some way. and because its my jojosona i dont know that i wanna like. make pistol dance a Bad Guy. but i think itd just be fun to have all this intricate bullshit and planning and extremely personal and serious religious shit ultimately lead up to “religion may be what separates a man from beast, but what better way to bring out the beast within man?”. pistol dance has reverted you to going apeshit and naked in the woods, relying on something much bigger than you to survive. it has made you a true animal again. and whether thats a good thing or a bad thing is up to you.

theres a lot of commentary i could do about this but thats an essay for a version of me that did Not stay up til five am. and this obviously isnt the Final Draft im still just fucking around here trying to find something that makes sense. some parts will need to be filled in and clarified and combed out and changed but yeah uhhhhhh. thats gently johnny and his stand pistol dance!!

[tortita-semidivina]

i didnt know i need this until know, thank you so much for doing it luv u

What Marinettes Desktop is gonna be lookin like in S4 lmao—

Feel free to use~~

[quasimyth-a]

on cynthia’s relationship with giratina.

as much as she would like to think that giratina is her friend, things are more complicated. as a child she gravitated toward the great wyrm because she didn’t have any friends in the real world and even though she thought she was perfectly happy with no friends, she instinctively sought out that sort of connection. for a few years she thought they could be her friend. she now knows better.

the truth is, giratina is much more like an ally or employer than a real, genuine friend. giratina gives practical advice and shares many universal secrets with her…but they’re not very good at being there for her when she wants to vent or helping her emotionally. they’re extremely low empathy and have a hard time processing others’ pain, much less dealing with it in a way that is helpful. every time she tried to ask for help, they usually gave very blunt, unempathic and unhelpful advice--just the sort of advice one would expect from an ageless chaos god who doesn’t give a shit about humans.

they obviously trust her and respect her intellect a great deal because they chose her as their spokesperson, and they share secrets about the multiverse with her that they have never told anyone else. but that love is not a love between equals--it is the love of a superior for their subordinate. though cynthia knows she has more leeway in terms of how she acts toward giratina than other humans (especially re: standing up to them), she knows that she serves and retains her power at the master’s pleasure. if she crosses them in a significant way, she loses her vesselship as well as access to giratina’s vast and multiversal knowledge. she isn’t always happy with how she’s treated, but she’s quite hesitant to rock the boat.

there are many toxic behaviors that she modeled from giratina that she had to unlearn, and some of which she still repeats. namely, she had to unlearn their lack of empathy for living things--giratina is completely indifferent to the desires and emotions of the living, and cynthia learned very quickly in the real world that that sort of behavior didn’t fly. another behavior that she had to unlearn (and is still struggling with) is seeing nondivine beings as inferior. cynthia isn’t fully divine herself, but she does have semidivinity and she used to think she was better than everyone else because of it. she also learned a lot of manipulative behavior from giratina--especially with regards to getting people to serve her agenda or do things against their will, which @sinnohsavior‘s dawn has experienced firsthand. lastly, she learned the notion that hurting someone emotionally or leaving psychological scars “isn’t all that bad”…because after all, what are feelings to a being like giratina who has almost none? what are a few decades of human suffering from trauma to a being that lives billions of years? she has definitely hurt a lot of people because of this, and those people have grudges against her.

i would love a plot where one of those people went on to become a league member themselves.

[ednyfedfychan]

“During the spring of 1541, Katherine became entangled in a relationship with Culpeper. A distant cousin, he was the second of three sons of Alexander Culpeper of Bedgebery, Kent, and Constance née Chamberlain. Thomas had an unsavory reputation. In a letter dated May 10, 1542, at Strasbourg, Richard Hilles identified one of the two men executed for adultery with Katherine, as “one of the king’s chamberlains,” referring to the English office Culpeper held by the name utilized at the Habsburg court. Hilles had heard about two years earlier that Culpeper “violated the wife of a certain park-keeper . . . while his most profligate attendants were holding her at his bidding.” After the villagers placed him in custody, Henry pardoned him for the rape and for a “murder committed in his resistance to them.” This is an unverifiable rumor that Hilles gleaned from his English correspondents, among them his brother. It could easily have been generated by news about Culpeper’s execution, although it is also true that no such rumor was spread about Dereham. [...] Culpeper’s most important asset was his position as gentleman of the king’s privy chamber, where Henry ate, slept, and was entertained indoors. Admission to the privy chamber was permitted only to its members, whose charge included keeping the entrance closed to protect Henry’s privacy. The gentlemen, well bred, charming, and athletic, helped him dress, carried out various official functions, joined him in sports and hunting, and undertook diplomatic assignments. David Starkey observed in some sense, the royal “unction . . . rubbed” off on them, as their “person stood in a sense for the king’s own.” Representing him lent them a special aura, as they were a symbolic presence of the king, a semidivine monarch blessed by God in the coronation ceremony. Henry was thought to cure scrofula by his touch and epilepsy and muscle spasms via the cramp rings he blessed.”

Wicked Women, Retha M. Warnicke

[hellodistinguishedstudentllama]

“We do everything in our power to proclaim our good intentions, our nobility of purpose, our loftiness of soul... and all becaus...

“We do everything in our power to proclaim our good intentions, our nobility of purpose, our loftiness of soul... and all because we think we’re too good for the rest of the world. We can’t be bothered with the sordid details of human motivation. We stubbornly, sublimely refuse to see man as he is. We are so damn certain about how he “ought” to be... We know what man is, all right, but we insist on overlying that knowledge with a mass of sticky sentimentality... we know, but we avert our eyes. It’s so much more fun to prate of a man as a noble creature, a semidivine being bursting with goodness and mercy and all kinds of generous thoughts. It takes our minds off of ourselves. Well, he isn’t a noble creature, as well we know by now. He’s a remarkably clever animal whose talents have outstripped his powers of reason. His deepest instincts seem to be greed and vanity and self interest.” -Colonel Caldwell excerpt: “Once An Eagle” by Anton Myrer Our world balances between light and dark. And though it feels precarious, it was created that way. We are called, each of us, to be of some service- to be light. Few answer the call. And fewer yet to the degree of the Warfare Special Operator. It has been my great honor to work alongside the men in this photo. Many of whom are actual Navy Seals. As far as men go, it is my opinion there are none equal to the SEAL. I’m trying my hardest to portray James Reece in a believable way. With enough smoke and mirrors and technical advice from the men who’ve lived it, we’ll fake it just enough to tell the incredible story. #TerminalList

from FB Mashes https://ift.tt/3rQCpTu https://ift.tt/39Hdz20

[tortita-semidivina]

And Dearest family with the pregnancy cravings, i couldn´t stop thinking about that while watching it

Convince me that feralbug and chat's interactions aren't a sneak peak into angry, hormonal, pregnant Marinette and Adrien smiling and trying keep her calm... go on I'll wait.

[silver-and-ivory]

Wait, sorry, but I noticed the tag "kvothe killed the bandits for no reason", possibly combined with "in a dream", and I was very confused. Are we talking about the kingkiller chronicles, because I don't remember him doing that in a dream and the actual slaying seemed to have a clear enough reason to me?

Yes, we are! You’re right that it wasn’t in a dream, and that it ended up having a clear enough reason.

But the effect of the writing was quite similar: Kvothe doesn’t explain what he’s doing, or what certain things mean, and unless you were much more tuned-in than me, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense when he started killing them. As I recall, he was friendly to the bandits and went to bed; and then there was a chapter break and the next chapter starts like “Jan was the first to go, screaming as she saw my sword”. There’s not much reasoning or thought, just the actions, as you would expect in a dream. The cadence of the words, the imagery they evoked- these felt dreamlike to me, or like it was being told a long time forwards, a legend.

A similar thing happens in Grass Dancer, where Red Dress notices the men are attracted to her, it talks about the round stone she has, and then in the middle of the night she’s winding a strand of her hair around the one soldier’s button and he hangs himself. It’s really really sudden and it’s not exactly clear why she’s doing it. From thence, it takes on the rhythm of something being told a long time ago, a legend, a ghost story.

See here for a (really overly verbose and poorly written) explanation of the kind of religion/legend these stories remind me of.

The time of origin of a reality–that is, the time inaugurated by the first appearance of the reality–has a paradigmatic value and function; that is why man seeks to reactualize it periodically by means of appropriate rituals. But the “first manifestation” of a reality is equivalent to its creation by divine or semidivine beings; hence, recovering this time of origin implies ritual repetition of the gods’ creative act. The periodic reactualization of the creative acts performed by the divine beings in illo tempore constitutes the sacred calendar, the series of festivals. A festival always takes place in the original time. It is precisely the reintegration of this original and sacred time that differentiates man’s be. havior during the festival from his behavior before or after it. For in many cases the same acts are performed during the festival as during nonfestival periods. But religious man believes that he then lives in another time, that he has succeeded in returning to the mythical illud tempus.

During their annual totemic ceremony, the Intichiuma, the Australian Arunta repeat the journey taken by the particular clan’s divine Ancestor in the mythical time (alcheringa, literally, the dream time). They stop at all the countless places at which the Ancestor stopped and repeat the same acts and gestures that he performed in illo tempore. During the entire ceremony they fast, carry no weapons, and avoid all contact with their women and with members of other clans. They are completely immersed in the dream time. (8)

The festivals annually celebrated in a Polynesian island, Tikopia, reproduce the “works of the Gods”–that is, the acts by which in the mythical time the gods fashioned the world as it is today. (9) The festival time in which the Tikopia live during the ceremonies is characterized by certain prohibitions (tabus): noise, games, dancing cease. The passage from profane to sacred time is indicated by ritually cutting a piece of wood in two. The numerous ceremonies that make up the periodical festivals–and which, once again, are only the reiteration of the paradigmatic acts of the gods–seem not to be different from normal activities; they comprise ritual repairing of boats, rites relative to the cultivation of food plants (yam, taro, etc.), repairing of sanctuaries. But in reality all these ceremonial activities differ from similar labors performed at ordinary times by the fact that they are performed on only a few objects (which in some sort constitute the archetypes of their respective classes) and also because the ceremonies take place in an atmosphere saturated with the sacred. The natives, that is, are conscious that they are reproducing, to the smallest detail, the paradigmatic acts of the gods as they were performed in illo tempore.

This is as much as to say that religious man periodically becomes the contemporary of the gods in the measure in which he reactualizes the primordial time in which the divine works were accomplished. On the level of primitive civilizations, whatever man does has a transhuman model; hence, even outside of the festival time, his acts and gestures imitate the paradigmatic models established by the gods and the mythical ancestors. But this imitation is likely to become less and less accurate. The model is likely to be distorted or even forgotten. It is the periodical reactualizations of the divine acts–in short, the religious festivals–that restore human knowledge of the sacrality of the models. The ritual repairing of ships and the ritual cultivation of the yam no longer resemble the similar operations performed outside of the sacred periods. For one thing, they are more precise, closer to the divine models; for another, they are ritual–that is, their intent is religious. A boat is repaired ceremonially not because it is in need of repair but because, in illo tempore, the gods showed men how to repair boats. It is a case not of an empirical operation but of a religious act, an imitatio dei. The object repaired is no longer one of the many objects that constitute the class “boats” but a mythical archetype–the very boat that the gods manipulated in illo tempore. Hence the time in which the ritual repairing of boats is performed coheres with primordial time; it is the same time in which the gods labored.

While it’s obviously not a direct analogue, both Kvothe and Red Dress are enacting a ritual of a sort: a ritual to enact vengeance or to protect others. The ritual places them outside of time through the usage of traditional and symbolic items or actions.

In Wise Man’s Fear, the ritual is completed when Kvothe scalds the corpses with the broken circle- that’s when the dream ends. In Grass Dancer, the dream sort of ends when the stones come back to her, when Pyke kills her with his pistol. But Red Dress didn’t end it herself - she allowed herself to be taken up by the ritual of the smooth stones instead of coming to a satisfactory end.

(I think when Anna Thunder murders Dina through stitching the moccasins with red beads and setting Dina to dance, this is also dreamlike in a similar sense. Not sure why or how.)

I’m not entirely sure if clears up what I mean to you, or if it makes any sense at all. I’m in kind of a weird mindstate right now and that’s definitely affecting how I perceive things. Also, I don’t know anything about Dakota culture and haven’t finished Grass Dancer and my interpretation of this sequence is definitely not the only one. So uh. Yeah.