#she did that a lot in the soul society infiltration arc

[malewifehenrycooldown]

Re-reading Bleach’s Arrancar arc, and… god I want to give Orihime a shoulder to lean on and cry on. Just… gosh the poor girl… she can’t catch a break :’(

The moment she has self doubts about her own abilities (a very understandable and normal teenaged thing!) she has an even more stronger insistence to be stronger, and just when she’s about to get a tremendous improvement in her abilites, the bad guys show up (specifically Ul//quiorra) and basically coerces her to join the arrancar because the value her abilities. That refusal would lead to the deaths of her friends, and as a pacifist who doesn’t like violence and wants to keep her friends safe, it’s understandable that such an offer is VERY HARD for her to decline.

May I remind people that Orihime at this point in Bleach is a teenaged girl attending high school. Who just a few months ago almost saw her best friend die (they’re okay but they’re not the same person anymore), had a near death experience herself, and also saw the person she has a crush on be violently defeated in a battle he wasn’t prepared for.

Arrancar arc is really just… Orihime and the horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day :(

[cartoonrival]

Giving you. Pass to rant about any secondary/background character in bmha. Any adults in the cast you like?

YAAAAAAAY i really like twice. hes my fave in the league after toga bc i think hes a silly cutie and also because the narrative position he serves as like the heart and soul of the league is really powerful. cuz at its core, esp once you start seeing how much the ppl in the league care about each other (reactions to magne's death for example) while its obviously a criminal organization it serves simultaneously as a support group for the people most pushed to the fringes of society, particularly imperfect victims-- people who are ugly and disfigured, who responded to their trauma with violence or with hate or seclusion, whose abilities are scary and dangerous and instead of hiding them away to appease polite society they turned over to them completely in an attempt to feel like they were living.

twice is part of the league because his quirk drove him mad-- there isn't support for freaks like him who aren't even sure who they are, who've gone through something as violent and harrowing as he has at the hands of their own quirk. he mentions joining the league for community with people like him. people suffering only get help if they're the right type of victim-- this is the clear line drawn between eri and toga, for example. eri reacted to her abuse with fear, but toga reacted with indulgence in what she didn't have a choice in.

he adds a very interesting dynamic to the league imo. it'd be really easy for the face of misdirected hatred resulting in violence and crime to be someone young and cute like toga for example, but instead the person who is shown to pull the league together, whose death sends everyone into a frenzy and further solidifies the "never going back" rift between them and hawks, is a middle aged smoker who dresses like a shitty marvel superhero and feels like he's losing his mind if he doesn't have his mask on.

for hawks to meet twice, to spend time with him and the rest of the league (im assuming you arent familar w bnha idk if ive been explaining this whole time like you are. i think i was sorry. hawks is a hero infiltrating the league as a spy), and to come out of that with zero change in heart, is horrifying to everyone who loved twice. because they did! they loved him! his reconnecting with his own sense of self, out of love for his team, is what saved them during the arc with the meta liberation army.

idkkkkkk i like twice a lot i think hes just a really fun character to have on screen and his banter with the league who thinks hes annoying but also really cares about him is sooo fun to watch and the narrative role he plays is vital to my understanding of the story and i think its really unique that He was the one this role was given to. toga has her sympathetic moments (DUH) but like. twice is the leagues dead girl

[vividxp]

I was scrolling the crspoilers tag on twitter and found a screenshot that someone posted of their talks question submission that asked if Matt felt a way that the group sidelined their revolutionary ideas as soon as they gained power.  

And my instant reaction was:

Hold on, ‘revolutionary ideas?! the M9?!’

Wait, ‘power?! The M9?!’

Now, I actually think the bare essence of the question is a valid and interesting one; Matt clearly had plans about the setting of Wildemount and there were opportunities for the characters to really get involved in its contentious politics. But I would not describe the M9′s ideas or actions throughout the campaign as ‘revolutionary’ in any sense of the word. In fact for the most part the M9 have actively avoided getting involved in things unless it concerned a person they cared about. Arguably, it wasn’t until this last arc where you started to see the M9 start to move in a different direction.

So, sure, I absolutely would love to know how Matt felt about how the players approached the setting. I would like to know if he had to change things up because he felt the players weren’t responding to or having fun with what he put out there.

I wonder if in retrospect, recognizing that the M9 was very focused on their in-group, Matt would have tried harder to try and give the M9 some stakes and investment in Wildemount that were more than just existential and universal (as the Eiselcross arc was).

I think the biggest issue for anyone who was hoping for a revolutionary turn for the M9 is that the vast majority of the characters appeared to be/were disconnected from the political realities of the Empire and Dynasty which were the highlight of the campaign. Jester and Fjord were from Menagerie Coast which was neutral territory. Even at the height of the war between the Empire and the Dynasty, Nicodranus didn’t take a side, so it was the place where the M9 could go and not be worried about the Empire or Dynasty getting involved in their business. Yasha is Xhorhassian but from outside the Kryn Dynasty and from a tribe she was alienated from at the beginning of the campaign. Molly and Caduceus are from Shady Creek Run and the Blooming Grove respectively, two areas that once again are outside of the Empire and the Dynasty.

Beau, Caleb and Veth were citizens of the Empire. But despite that, Caleb was basically a nonentity and for the most part he wanted to keep it that way. He had a few moments here and there, but it was only until after the war wound down that he was like ‘ok, it’s not enough for only me to escape the Cerberus Assembly’. (Which is fine, mind you, that’s called having a character arc).

Beau is the only character that I would describe as someone who gained power during the campaign. However, I felt that becoming an expositor made only made Beau more invested in shaking shit up politically not less. However early on in the campaign, what did being a member of the Cobalt Soul actually mean for her? The Cobalt Soul never gave her any missions but allowed her to be a free agent and report back anything interesting that she found. There were some moments with Dairon during the Xhorhas arc, but again it fell mostly on Dairon to do that work instead of Beau and there wasn’t really any follow up on the choice Beau made to help them infiltrate the Dynasty especially since Dairon didn’t really discover anything the M9 didn’t already know. There was so much potential there but very little opportunity when it came to Beau who IMO would have absolutely risen to the moment.

And finally, you have Mrs. Veth Brenatto. Here’s a flaming hot take for y’all: the investment and stakes that the M9 had in the politics of Wildemount for the campaign was mainly because of Veth. Take her away and the M9 would have probably been pirates and out of things for a whole lot longer. 

But even then, there were opportunities with Veth that were missed. For example, her whole entire backstory. The goblins who raided Felderwin during a harsh winter and killed her? Would that have happened if the Empire had treated goblins as actual citizens and not monsters to be eradicated? As Nott the Brave, it didn’t really matter that Yeza would have accepted her as a goblin, her home was still closed off to her because the Empire and the society at large would rather see her dead. 

Though mind you, despite all that backstory it was never really engaged with at all. And Veth’s antipathy towards goblins seemed to be treated as a unique, personal character flaw that came from nowhere. But that makes zero sense! It wasn’t like the goblins who killed her could have went to the market that winter. The Empire is a deeply racist society that systematically excluded goblins from society and violently suppressed them into the margins. We got to see how things were in the Dynasty were goblins were allowed to live freely and participate in society. The issue and moral of the story isn’t ‘well Veth has to realize that goblins aren’t all bad’ the issue is to realize that she was the casualty of a moral and political failure of the Empire. That her circumstance was the consequence of a society that makes sure that the only option a group has for survival is violence. Those dots could have been connected and there was potential for change if the issue was ever confronted directly, but alas. 

I have a lot more retrospective thoughts on the campaign, but long story short, I think that while you could argue that maybe the M9 were moving towards a more revolutionary direction and perhaps if the campaign kept going a little longer we could have seen it especially confronting a political institution like the Cerberus Assembly. But I definitely think the M9, for better or for worse, was very much a neutral party.

[midnightactual]

Yoruichi, Kūkaku, Kisuke and the Soul Society Arc

The relationship between Yoruichi, Kūkaku, and Kisuke isn’t explored much at all in canon, despite the fact we’re expected to take away that they’re friends (if not best friends). However, I think this relationship explains a lot of what happens within the early Soul Society arc. We know from chapter 175 that:

Aizen states he knew the Ryoka would be coming from West Rukongai. Why? Well, the only reasonable answer is Kūkaku. While it seems extremely evident that Yoruichi can enter Soul Society undetected in her cat form, using the Senkaimon, and has done so to remodel the Study Chamber’s annex, her going back and forth constantly is likely undesirable, and also probably didn’t happen, as chapter 78 indicates:

Kūkaku’s repeated emphasis of it having been a long time since she and Yoruichi have met suggests they haven’t done so since she went into exile. This is corroborated by the implication that Yoruichi does not know Ganju:

Her reaction to him introducing himself is the same as everyone else’s. You might say this is just a comedy moment, but think about it. How many people are there in Rukongai named Ganju? How many of them know some kind of strange earth magic? Yoruichi did not attach any importance to Ganju’s appearance in chapter 76 and 77, regarding him as a waste of time... when she’d literally just determined to find Kūkaku. If she knew Ganju was a Shiba and they already wanted to find Kūkaku, the sensible thing would’ve been to demand Ganju take them to her, not wander around using a map the next day. We also know from chapter 83 that:

Ganju was just a child when Kaien died, which happened sometime after 1952. (We know Hisana died “50 years ago” in 1951, Byakuya found Rukia the next year and brought her into the Gotei 13, and Rukia presumably spent at least a few years with Kaien.) This makes it likely (though by no means guaranteed, given the example of Nanao, but Ganju describes himself as “just a child” which Nanao likely wouldn’t have) that he was born after Yoruichi’s departure in 1901. They are likely to have never met before. (This also implies that Kaien, Kūkaku, and Ganju’s parents were alive until very recently, or may still be!)

So we can say 1. Yoruichi has been back to Soul Society and set up the the Study Chamber as a supply depot, and 2. she has likely not interacted with Kūkaku since leaving initially. Why the second? Well, pretty obviously, because meeting with Kūkaku would put her at risk and make things rather obvious. So, what does this have to do with Aizen? Well, that touches on another mystery: how does Kisuke get products from Soul Society?

We know from chapter 70 that Kisuke cannot go through his own Senkaimon. It follows that the same is true of Tessai. We know Yoruichi can as a cat, but likely can’t in her proper form. (Since she also comes back from Soul Society as a cat too, which is her last canonical use of the form.) We also know Kisuke’s Senkaimon can only stay open for four minutes:

We also know that transit through the Senkaimon is perilous. So, does it make much sense that Yoruichi run through the Dangai as a cat, hauling potentially heavy cargo which might get snared in the restrictive current and lost? Nope, especially when it’s likely that Yoruichi is not often at the Shōten (as Ururu and Jinta don’t know her and they’ve likely grown like normal humans). So what is the solution then?

Kisuke opens his Senkaimon above Kūkaku’s Flower Crane Cannon and she fires cargo shells through it containing his required items. Aizen noticed this and deduced how they were operating.

Kisuke’s Senkaimon opens in the air for some reason, almost as though to accommodate the height of the cannon:

Kūkaku launches crew with Method Two and the jolt isn’t so bad. (What’s Method One for then?)

The projectiles can also make sharp turns and accelerate after launch with no visible propulsion:

So, this presents a very obvious method of safely and securely getting cargo through the Dangai without risk to anyone. It is, however, conspicuous, and it also requires a method of communication.

Kūkaku moves around a lot, but appears to stick to West Rukongai. There may be some association between the Shiba and West Rukongai (as CFYOW tells us the Shiba lived in Rukongai even when they were a Great Noble Clan) which results in Kūkaku having an association with Jidanbō, which lets her easily enter the Seireitei even when she shouldn’t be able to (per CFYOW), or maybe she stays in West Rukongai for easy access to the Seireitei through him. Maybe both.

(We never hear what Yoruichi’s original plan for infiltrating the Seireitei was, but it appears to not have involved Kūkaku. My personal bet is that the canals under the Seireitei that 4th Division use empty out somewhere, as the water has to go someplace, and Hanatarō is wrong that only 4th Division knows them: it would make perfect sense that the Onmitsukidō know them too. But that’s a different piece of meta.)

It’s also very evident that Ichigo’s use of the Spirit Core in chapter 81 is what tips off Aizen that they’re coming. His use of it is extremely obvious, with Kūkaku noticing his reiatsu from the surface:

This flare is probably similar in output to the one he emits in chapter 116, which Jūshirō says could “only belong to a Captain”, making it likely readily obvious to Aizen’s surveillance (and Kūkaku also seems very surprised at the magnitude of it). Right after Ichigo stops using the Spirit Core, an intruder alert interrupts the meeting Yamamoto is holding to discuss Gin’s punishment, and all the Shinigami are kept up all night patrolling even though the Ryoka will not actually arrive until the next morning. This was very clearly orchestrated by Aizen, from within Central 46, in order to tire out and agitate the Gotei 13 so the Ryoka would be more successful at evading capture.

(This also means that the Aizen who attended the meeting, who Tōshirō saw exchange words with Gin, was not actually Aizen. That Aizen notably sweatdrops beforehand and behaves rather weirdly during the meeting and alert. It’s Substitute-san, nervous that the show’s started, delivering rehearsed lines with Gin. Probably a different guy than the one in TBTP since this once is much better at acting. Whatever happened to him anyway?)

In other words, Aizen observed that Kisuke’s Senkaimon only operated in West Rukongai (although his assertion that it only can operate there seems to be conjecture) and posted surveillance which detected Ichigo’s reiatsu emission, thus cluing him into the Ryoka preparing to move, just as he said.

That this pattern had long ago been made was probably predictable from Kisuke’s end, and he likely deliberately played into it to encourage Aizen’s arrogance, leaving Yoruichi to improvise on the ground.

As for how Yoruichi or Kisuke could communicate with Kūkaku during this time so as to place orders for equipment without visiting her, that’s a little more complicated. It’s obviously impossible to establish a hardline connection, and any kind of emitted signaling could be intercepted. Kisuke can’t run messages through his Senkaimon without sending someone on a perilous journey or building his own launching device. But there is an easy, expedient, covert, and disposable system: couriers.

There are plenty of souls left wandering around by Shinigami on Earth: you simply give them an encoded message and tell them to find Kūkaku once they arrive in Rukongai. While where they’re sent is random, if you do this a fair number of times, one of them should be able to make it to her. (Their reward is that given she always seems to live near the Seireitei, they wind up in a pretty safe district.) As for how Kūkaku would decode such a message, a cipher could’ve been left by Yoruichi as a dead drop during one of her rare visits.

If you wanted a darker but more “express” option, you would find someone fairly tough and violent (say, Yakuza enforcers), use a memory replacer to give them a memory of the message (it seems likely that Kisuke has iterated on the standard Gotei 13 Kikanshinki, given Yoruichi mentions a Kikanshinki Deluxe in CFYOW), and then kill them and give them soul burial. Such individuals would be far more likely to survive making it to Kūkaku regardless of where they were sent. (Depending on what they were guilty of, you could encode that into the message too and let her deal with them as she might.)

Anyway, I think it’s very obvious that Kūkaku is Yoruichi and Kisuke’s main point of contact in Soul Society. Jūshirō may also be involved, given his interest in Earth (vis-à-vis Ginjō and the Fullbringers) and how unlikely it is that nobody in the 13th Division ever noticed Kisuke, an infamous criminal (both Isshin and Ikkaku immediately recognized his name), was operating openly in Karakura. Indeed, Jūshirō may be directly involved. When the Ryoka are coming down over the Seireitei, we see that it has a radial design:

The four gates create four quadrants, each of which is divided into three. This makes for twelve slices. We know 1st Division occupies the center, so the most obvious orientation for the divisions’ physical territory is that each is simply a slice. If that’s the case, it is entirely possible that 13th Division is one of the two slices along the road coming from the West Gate, which would make it very easy for Kūkaku or her retainers to reach the Study Chamber at Sōkyoku Hill, gather supplies, and leave, or to augment them directly from 13th Division’s stocks.

[officialleotolstoy]

Oh Dolokhov Brainrot We’re Really In It Now, aka Dolokhov playlist annotations!

A note on the cover photo: I don’t really like this one but I got tired of looking at men on Pinterest so I gave up. The window symbolizes the rum window and the smoking symbolizes uhhhhh habitual bad life choices idk

Drinking game take a shot every time I say “it’s about the vibes”

Wrecking Ball - Mother Mother

“I break it just because I can”

This is THEE ‘I am going to cause problems on purpose’ song and that is like his entire narrative purpose!! Argue with me about this one I dare you

The Good, The Bad, and the Dirty - Panic! At The Disco

“If you wanna start a fight you better throw the first punch, make it a good one”

Partially its just vibes, I won’t lie. But also the consistent spoiling for a fight is very in character

Shoot to Thrill - AC/DC

“I’m like evil, I get under your skin”

It’s got I Am Morally Repulsive But Also I’ll Steal Your Girl energy which really hits all of Dolokhov’s character traits. And of course the added bonus of gun imagery.

Mr. Brightside - The Killers

“It started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this”

I added it strictly for vibes, but then I realized the quoted lyric is very much him @ the Kuragins if you take the reading that he refuses to admit he actually like them but grows genuinely fond of them over time even though he initially got to know them with a lot of ulterior motives.

Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

“Mama, I just killed a man”

The amount of songs that are on these playlists just for what are essentially your mom jokes since Dolokhov loves his mom so much is a little pathetic. But I’m not wrong! I can’t really put it into words but something about this song has Dolokhov energy.

Feel It Still - Portugal the Man

“Give in to that easy living, goodbye to your hopes and dreams”

A good deal of what I find interesting about Dolokhov is the internal conflict he has of knowing he’s become rather wicked and problematic but also not really trying very hard to change and almost enjoying it so a lot of the songs on here are about that, including this one. The “I’m a rebel just for kicks now” also very much screams Causing Problems On Purpose.

The Bidding - Tally Hall

“I like to take advantage of the bourgeoisie”

His whole role in volume one and two is to take advantage of the bourgeoisie! This song also oozes confidence and a sense of superiority that comes from being better than the sellouts in high society, Dolokhov’s not like other girls uwu (he really is, but I don’t think he would admit that).

Say Amen (Saturday Night) - Panic! At The Disco

“I could be better but baby it’s Saturday night”

Embracing his own wickedness! The idea that he knows he could be better than he is but he doesn’t want to take that opportunity...yeah vibes

Wilson (Expensive Mistakes) - Fall Out Boy

“I became such a strange shape from trying to fit in”

This is the epitome of the “woe is me I need to be purified” phase he goes through when he’s into Sonya. Also “I’ll stop wearing black when they make a darker color” reminds me of Comet Dolokhov’s stupid eyeliner <3

Some Nights - fun.

“So what is this? I sold my soul for this?”

There’s a long stretch of this playlist that just boils down to “Woe is me I need to be purified” crisis hours, because Dolokhov’s oscillation between embracing his own cruelty and trying to be a good person is super interesting to me. This song captures the idea that he’s still having fun and there’s some good there, but he’s also aware that he’s losing himself a bit

Roaring 20s - Panic! At The Disco

“I don’t even know me”

“Woe is me i need to be purified” crisis AGAIN. This song gets more to the annoyance with society as a whole and feeling kind of lost in it

Send Them Off! - Bastille

“Help me exorcise my mind”

“Please purify me 16 year old girl! I’m 27 this isnt creepy at all ahahahha”. I do despise Sonyakhov but this has the vibes of a man feeling his own evil and wanting a woman to fix it. Not a great look.

Easy Days (Demo) - Bastille

“I don’t wanna fall back again, back into the easy days”

Near the end of the “woe is me I need to be purified” phase when he’s kind of drifting back to his old ways and he’s like wait no- wait- and then he does anyway because he’s horrible. I also really like the acknowledgment that his horribleness is easy and pleasant for him, and he has to fight against that (and he loses that fight HDJAJJD).

Undisclosed Desires - Muse

“You trick your lovers that you’re wicked and divine”

This is a Dolokhov/Nikolai song I do not take constructive criticism. Undisclosed desires...not being straight...lots to think about! It feels almost like a corruption arc? Nikolai isn’t corrupted nor does their...fling (?) last very long but Nikolai is obviously enamored with Dolokhov despite him being The Worst so I think this fits. I don’t have enough songs for a Nikolai/Dolokhov playlist so I just add those songs to both of their individual playlists

Thnks fr th Mmrs - Fall Out Boy

“Thanks for the memories even though they weren’t so great”

Also mostly a Nikolai/Dolokhov song. This man has never ended a relationship on good terms, huh. Also. Sighs heavily. “He tastes like you only sweeter” never fails to make me laugh when I think about it in the context of Dolokhov post-duel being like oh?? You’re just a stupid WOMAN Hélène your brother and/or Nikolai is hotter than you :/ which is not exactly what I think happened but it makes me laugh to consider. Dolokhov ur bitterrrrr

Dangerous - Royal Deluxe

“I’ll be the last man standing here, I’m not going anywhere”

I feel like this has the vibes of his cruelty, especially in that bit after the Kuragins have died when he and Petya infiltrate the French army.

Another One Bites The Dust - Queen

“There are plenty of ways you can hurt a man”

He will hurt you and kill you so violently :) It’s about the vibes.

White Wedding Pt. 1 - Billy Idol

“It’s a nice day to start again”

In the exact inverse to his “woe is me I need to be purified” phase, he’s like ok yes i will pick up bad habits again and enjoy them because frick you! I read once that this song is about a relapse into drugs, but I’m making it analogous to his relapse into Terrible Person Behavior after Sonya’s rejection. Also the repetition of the phrase little sister does something for my brain idk, after we know he loves his mom and sister it just fits.

Highway to Hell - AC/DC

“I’m on the highway to hell and I’m goin down”

Like White Wedding, it screams acceptance of his problematicness. He knows he’s cruel and evil and he revels in it. This is the phase we see him in most I think.

Back in Black - AC/DC

“It’s been too long, I’m glad to be back”

I think this plays every time he gets reinstated to an army position he lost by being reckless earlier. Just kidding sort of but listen to this song and tell me it doesn’t have Dolokhov vibes. If you do, you’re wrong <3

Poet - Bastille

“I have written you down now, you will live forever”

This is just here cause he ghostwrote Anatole’s love letters and I think it’s funny. It’s MY playlist and I get to choose the barely relevant Bastille songs

St. Jude - Florence + The Machine

“Maybe I’ve always been more comfortable in chaos”

This one’s more scattered lyrics than an overall vibe. “Each side is a loser so who cares who fired the gun” has duel energy also.

Hey Look Ma, I Made It - Panic! At The Disco

Confession: I hate this song. However, it’s about the about the MOM R U PROUD OF ME vibes (she is. Should she be? Probably not).

Rich Kids - Bea Miller

“It’s never enough for the stuck up types”

The not coming from wealth and having to almost scam your way into being part of the aristocratic scene is very Dolokhov. Also in my mind the rich kid he’s roasting is specifically Nikolai.

Money, Money, Money - ABBA

“It’s a rich man’s world”

I’m not SAYING the wealthy man they talk about is Anatole but - [i am shot]. Scheming and clawing your way up to wealth is Dolokhovcore.

This Is Gospel - Panic! At The Disco

I literally have no justification for this other than that i think modern AU Dolokhov would vibe with it. Look at the amount of eyeliner he wears in Comet and tell me he didn’t have an emo band phase. You can’t.

Trouble’s Coming - Royal Blood

This is not about the words at all, it’s more about the vibes. It just sounds Dolokhovish to me, don’t ask me to explain.

Sleep Alone - Two Door Cinema Club

“They’re just ghosts and they can’t hurt him if he can’t see them”

This gives me post-Kuragins’ death vibes, and I can’t pin down exactly why? I think it’s the idea of being very alone and closed off.

Golden Days - Panic! At The Disco

I can’t put a specific lyric to it but it’s the vibes of looking back on your hedonistic youths with nostalgia and rose-colored glasses. Post-Kuragins’ death vibes again.

Go Get Your Gun - The Dear Hunter

“One foot in the grave, the other one’s kickin’ its way right down to hell”

All we see of him after the Kuragins’ death is just him being particularly cruel and reckless, almost careless. This feels like it encapsulates that energy.

The Fallen - Franz Ferdinand

“They say you’re a troubled boy just because you like to destroy”

I’m aware that a good portion of this song is about a Christ figure but I’m going to respectfully ask you to ignore that bit and just focus on all the Sketchy Things the guy does instead. Thank you. He does in fact like to destroy things! Señor Cause Problems On Purpose back at it again at krispy kreme, huh.

[writings-from-the-hart]

Writebr Intro

Writeblr Intro Time!

Hiya! This is so overdue and I apologize for that lol. I’ve been meaning to write this but school seems to always be getting in the way of just that. Writing. But here I am finally writing this! And yes my username is a pun of my own last name but I just couldn’t resist.

So basically, I really want to surround myself with other writers and have stumbled across tons of writeblr’s (I think that’s what they’re called lol). Instantly I was in love and wanted more of what the community had to offer. I’ve been a self-proclaimed “author” or writer since my early years of grade school. I was that child in the back of the class with ADHD that couldn’t sit still (the cliche bouncing leg and always chewed down nails) and had what my mother called an “overactive imagination”. My notebooks in high school were often filled with wild stories about “galaxies far far away” or dystopias with cruel governments ruled by dictators. Now I’m in my second year of college swamped with classes about the Psychology of criminals (or I like to call the science of murder), and trying to find time to write a novel. So the struggle is real my dudes.

A little about Me:

Hana

20

She/Her

Pisces

Asexual

Forensic Psychology Major and English with a concentration in Writing Minor

Book hoarder

Dog Mom

Vintage AF

Low Key Emo Punk because I’m no average white girl!

History nerd (Love learning about the old wars and cultures)

Movie nerd (There’s an endless stack of DVDs in my house)

Fandoms:

The Mandolorian (or the ManDADolorian)

Star Trek

Star Wars

Hannibal

X-Files

King Falls Am

Welcome to Nightvale

Transformers (Obviously not the bad movies lol. Bumblebee is baby and must be protected always.)

Good Omens

Sherlock

Lord of the Rings

Marvel (There are so many shows and movies in this category we would be here all day if I tried to list them.)

Timeless (Not sure if the fandom is still alive after what the writers did to one of our ships lol)

DC (I’m a huge Batman geek and adore Wonderwoman, but I take the good with the bad when it comes to this fandom. Especially movie-wise anymore.)

And there’s probably more but my memory isn’t working currently.

Goals?. . . maybe:

Get my novel finished (This has literally been on my To-Do List for who knows how long.)

Meet more writers/new writers.

Improve my poetry (I suck at poetry so I bad I never let it see the light of day, so I need to work on it.)

Start my bullet journal.

Wips:

Okay by now you all know I have at least 1 Wip because I mentioned getting a freaking novel done, but just as a precaution as to what I mean by Wip or Wips. I get distracted quite easily, for some odd reason my brain absolutely loves to jump from one idea to another for no absolute reason. Like WTF dude we already have an idea we’re working on why do you keep bringing all these new ones to me like stray dogs. And like any good dog Mom or distracted writer, I want to keep all the ideas/stray dogs. So, when I say Wip I mean “Look at this cool idea I came up with” and I’ll make sure to specify which one is hogging most of my time.

Renegade: Dystopian, Thriller, Post-Apocalypse, and Science Fiction.

This is my baby. Most of my free time is dedicated to adjusting plotlines, character arc’s, fixing freaking plot holes, and other important stuff other than just plain writing. I’m hoping to finish this also monster of a story by 2020 and get it published. So big stuff!  

“So tell me little wolf do you want to punish those who have wronged you?” An assassin known as the Crimson Ghost makes their way through the corrupt city-state of Ashton completing a job given to them by the Black Rose. What is a seemingly normal job though turns into something far more complicated when they stumble upon the fractions of an abandoned notebook from the past. A past the Republic is trying to desperately hide and bury no matter what. On the other side of the world in the Republic’s capital Eshar, plainly referred to as “The Prodigy” or “machine” by his superiors,  Eric Coalwood has built a life upon the ashes of his family, striving to meet the high expectations set before him by his mentor General Wolfheart. However, his life falls out of its normal day to day routine when the unexpected is asked of him. Command a task force made up of the Republic’s most wanted or his life is over. Eric doesn’t need reasons for why he must do what he has to, all he needs are orders and the Republic is more than happy to give them. Either way the clock is ticking for both the Crimson Ghost and the Republic’s prodigy and with time running out they both have two options. Either get over their different beliefs concerning the Republic or allow the world to once again succumb to war but this time nobody is going to survive it. “Legends are slippery things. For the glory that coats them hides the pain, suffering and death that created them.”

The Trouville Files: Dystopian, Thriller, Post-Apocalypse, and Science Fiction.

Not my biggest priority but definitely one of them considering the plot of this story. I mainly use this wip as a reference for Renegade because it’s actually the prequel to it. Also, it’s great to use as writing practice when I’m plagued with writer’s block for Renegade or frustrated with a plot hole. So this is my double-edged sword that does a lot of good.

“Death in these black days is neither kind nor quick.” The year is 2153, the world we know is nothing more than a wasteland strewn with the dead and a sky being choked by their ashes, not glorious and thriving but desolate and starving. The Red Death, a pandemic with a steady progression and a gruesome countdown to the demise of those infected. No one outruns it or survives it. “United we stand, divided we fall.” The Allied Nations, a totalitarian superpower, promised a united people but all they gave this world was more death and destruction. The Red Death isn’t the only thing slowly killing humanity anymore, we are in the form of the War of Broken Pacts. The spark of revolution is lit, but if it will remain so is a question asked by everyone. Does it stand a chance against the iron-fisted government holding the people in shackles? “Rebel with a cause.” Genius Medical Officer for The People’s Republic, Cyprus Ramiro works day and night in search of a cure for the Red Death exterminating hundreds, at least before this war kills him first. But he is also a man on the run and the rebellion can only shelter him for so long. “Duty over pain.” Cunning Spy and Soldier, Orion Ultor is ordered by the Allied Nations to infiltrate and gather information on the ever-growing People’s Republic. In bold letters is Search and Destroy; make a ruin of the rebellion and ensure the Allied Nations remains as it should -- unquestionably in power. No matter the cost unless he wants to suffer the consequences again. “If we fall we shall rise from the ashes like a phoenix.” They should have never met, battlefields don't make good friends. It wasn't fate, it wasn't destiny, only war throwing people together.  The Allied Nations is trying to stamp out something they fear, but can they before the Red Plague? Or will humanity find itself extinct.

Beyond his point is where I house my stray dogs/ideas

Hiraeth: Paranormal, Horror, Mystery, and Thriller.

Scooby-doo who?

Hiraeth means a homesickness for a home which you cannot return. That is how Arcane feels like she’ll never be home no matter how hard she tries to connect with her family. The closest she feels to being home is with her friends and in the worn leather seats of the van they all pitched in to buy. It all started out as a way to pass time and for all of them to escape their families because to be honest parents never understand, but it all turned sideways when a simple “ghost hunting trip” stirred something that was meant to remain buried. The truth never remains buried though, not really, somehow it will always creep back in ugly and twisted. Arcane has never felt “at home” but she’ll do whatever it takes to keep what she considers her family safe.

Sweet Dreams: Historical Fiction, Thriller, and Romance.

A literal dream turned into story plot and no I’m not kidding.

The Red String of Fate, The Lovers, and War. These are the three elements intertwined within the plot of Sweet Dreams but before anyone makes any assumptions this isn’t some chummy rom-com. There will be tears and heart strings may get yanked clean out because the angst is real. War and love never mix well, it leaves a sour taste in ones mouth and makes the mind question things it shouldn’t. Like is the woman in his dreams the same woman he sees in all his dreams? Constantly he somehow ends up spotting that same ruby red lipstick, honey golden eyes, and brunette hair laying in perfect curls. She’s everywhere except in his actual life. They say you and your soulmate share dreams, living proof of how intertwined souls are. She doesn’t believe in love or the idea of souls, not with the monsters roaming around the countryside and battlefield carrying assault rifles. Society tells her where her place is, but she disagrees and rather create her own destiny.

The Prophet: Paranormal, Thriller, Post-Apocalypse, and Science Fiction.  

A short story I can’t seem to let go or it doesn’t want to let me go, but either way, this story has the makings for something great. It also at times seems strikingly similar to Good Omens, so don’t be surprised.

There’s no anti-christ in this story, he already has a book about himself so let’s not make another one besides there are other stories that need to be told. Such as, have you ever heard of modern day prophets and I’m not talking about those people with cardboard signs saying “the end is near!” or giant churches with people preaching about the end times. No, I’m talking about a kid with messy hair and dark circles under their eyes because sleep is no longer a choice due to migraines that plague them every night. Migraines that bring weird cryptic messages that make one question their own sanity. And what happens when strange people start asking about said migraines and messages?

Virago: Fantasy, Thriller, Historical Fiction, and Romance.

I’m not a huge fantasy reader, for some reason I can’t stay invested in them, but here I am with a fantasy story in my wips. It has mages, knights, assasination plots, and one super badass general who takes zero shit from her king. That’s right women empowerment, my dudes! I don’t really have much of a synopsis inline or a plot because this is only of those wips I let rattle around in my brain from time to time. But I will say it does give me that LOTR vibe but also Game of Thrones.  

Don’t be surprised if you see my stray doggos from time to time because I will admit I love to play around with storyboards. Even if I don’t have a fully planned out plot put together for it.

And that concludes this what was supposed to be short Writeblr Intro. I hope I have peaked some of your guys’ interests because the community definitely got a hold of minee. Feel free to send me a message about anything I mentioned (even if it’s just fandom shit I don’t care) and don’t be shy. I’m a huge introvert but somehow love talking, so don’t worry it won’t be awkward and odds are I’m equally nervous about conversation lol. Also, feel free to add me to any taglist and reblog/like if you’re active and would like more Writeblr mutuals!

Happy Writing,

Writings-from-the-Hart

[motherboxing]

WHO’S THAT HAWKPERSON (ladies edition)

This has been bugging me because every time I post stuff about Hawkpeople, people tag it with the wrong names. Worse still, I keep seeing stuff about how Kendra is the reincarnation of Shayera Thal, which is just irritating to me because the reincarnation stuff makes Hawk mythos things ENOUGH of a mess already. Anyway I hope this helps. Let’s get started. This is under a cut because it’s very long and probably quite pedantic.

This is Shiera Saunders-Hall. She was the first ever Hawkgirl. She is a human, from Earth! She’s married to Carter Hall, the first ever Hawkman, who is also a human from Earth. These two are the Hawks Mark One - they were introduced during the Golden Age and their backstory is probably one you are familiar with if you follow Legends Of Tomorrow or any contemporary stuff in DC Comics with Hawkman and Hawkgirl. This is how Shayera Thal explains the whole thing back in 2003:

Shiera and Carter can fly with wings and harnesses constructed from Nth metal, and they use ancient weapons, which is kind of cool, but they aren’t really superpowered themselves, they’re just kind of weirdly-dressed adventurers - they’re both archaeologists, and spend a lot of time using their memories of their past lives to track down artifacts, preserve languages, etc. Still, they were members of the Justice Society Of America until their eventual retirement. 

This is Shayera Hol. She was the second-ever Hawkgirl. She’s an alien from Thanagar. She is married to Katar Hol, also an alien from Thanagar. They both are essentially detectives/police officers. These iterations of these characters were introduced during the Silver Age. Katar and Shayera Hol, like Carter and Shiera Saunders-Hall, get their powers of flight from the Nth metal harnesses and wings that they wear, but they also have a few added bonuses - enhanced vision, stronger than the average human, able to talk to birds (although not command them, unless the bird in question is willing to cooperate). They also have advanced knowledge of all human history and culture because of a device called the absorbascon. They run a museum in Midway City and keep their identities as aliens a secret. These iterations of the Hawks have been retconned out of current continuity, replaced with different, contemporary versions of the characters who were introduced in the 90′s. They basically only continue to exist in Elseworlds and in other alternate universe-type storylines - and sometimes in other media, for example:

That is also Shayera Hol! She is Hawkgirl in the Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited cartoons. Notably, her wings are actually a physical part of her body, as they are with all Thanagarians in that particular universe (although not, as we see in the Beyond-verse, with people who are half-Thanagarian, since Shayera and John Stewart’s son does not nave natural wings). This Shayera Hol is kind of an interesting spin on a number of different Hawkladies - she has the name, alien origins, and costume design of the Silver Age Hawkgirl, the reincarnation backstory of the Golden Age Hawkgirl, and the overall chip on her shoulder that Shayera Thal is kind of notorious for. 

I’m not REALLY gonna get into Elseworld’s or New 52 stuff because Elseworlds are irrelevant and New 52 stuff irritates me generally (although Kendra Munoz-Saunders is cool, she can stay) and anyway I’m only PARTIALLY trying to explain continuity here, the main point of this post is not “trying to fit all these characters into a cohesive narrative” it’s “explaining the differences between them as characters”

Next we have Sharon Parker. This is Sharon Parker:

Poor, martyred Sharon Parker, you never had a chance :(

Sharon Parker was a human woman from Earth who had the misfortune of marrying a Thanagarian spy named Fel Andar. Fel Andar’s job was to infiltrate Earth’s superhero community and report back to Thanagar in advance of the Invasion! storyline, an arc in which a coalition of alien forces that included Thanagar attempted to invade Earth. She discovered her husband’s deception and he killed her before fleeing back to Thanagar, but she was able to warn Martian Manhunter and a couple other JLI members about what was happening before she died.

Sharon Parker was basically created to explain why there was a Hawkman and Hawkgirl active in the Justice League International after Carter and Shiera supposedly retired, but before Katar Hol and Shayera Thal arrived on Earth in the 1990 series Hawkworld. This never made a whole lot of sense and most people have basically forgotten it. Sharon Parker does not come up basically ever in any contemporary stuff about the Hawkladies, and identifying her is tricky because you rarely see her out of costume ever and her costume is a pretty generic Silver Age-inspired bit, but I REMEMBER YOU, SHARON. YOUR SACRIFICE WAS NOT IN VAIN.

Oh, also, she’s Golden Eagle’s mother, but hoooooly shit is that a mess so, uh. Never mind.

Okay. Next in line to wear a weird feathered helmet in the dubious name of justice is Shayera Thal. This is her:

Shayera Thal is a soldier from Thanagar. She is crime-fighting partners with, but not married to, Katar Hol, another soldier from Thanagar. I say “soldier” but the police force and military on Thanagar are basically the same entity - they’re cops, essentially, in a fascist regime. After Invasion!, Thanagar decides to open diplomatic relations with Earth, and sends Katar and Shayera to Earth as ambassadors, where the media just kind of decides that they are the new Hawkpeople now, although Shayera absolutely draws the line at being called “Hawkgirl” and insists on being called Hawkwoman because it’s the 90′s, dude! Of course they both have ulterior motives (Katar is hunting an intergalactic fugitive; Shayera is spying on Katar because he’s secretly fomenting antifascist rebellion efforts on Thanagar) but, moved by what they learn about humanity, they eventually (after a series of intergalactic incidents that mostly involve more fomenting rebellion) break with their homeworld entirely and settle on Earth. During this time they also fall in love and are pretty adorable. 

At this point there’s a whole bunch of VERY messy bullshit about the Nth metal and the general Hawkpeople mythos that I won’t get into because it wasn’t really sustainable in terms of plot and I hated so much of the stuff that it led to in the mid-90′s, but the important thing to know is that Katar Hol was at one point fused with every single incarnation of Carter Hall ever and also a spirit from the Red that embodies the hawk and as a result he went completely nuts and was basically mercy-killed by a mystic named Arion and Martian Manhunter, leaving Shayera alone on Earth, where she more or less remained in relative obscurity, until returning for a role in the Rann-Thanagar War, where she was regrettably fridged.  

Now we get Kendra Saunders, my precious soft daughter! Kendra Saunders is, in most media now, the current Hawkgirl. Remember how the original Hawks, Carter and Shiera, get reincarnated all the time? Kendra is the reincarnation of Shiera, who, weirdly, was also her great-aunt. Kendra had kind of a rough childhood (her parents were murdered, and she was raised by a relative, who did his best but wasn’t super equipped to deal with a grieving young woman with obvious mental health issues) and attempted suicide as a teenager, at which point the soul of Shiera Saunders manifested in her body, saving her life. Sometimes she has access to Shiera’s memories, and sometimes she acts like Shiera, because she may or may not like, psychically BE Shiera. Anyway, following this she starts training as Hawkgirl and joins the JSA, where she participates in the resurrection of Carter Hall, with whom she forms a tentative partnership, because he looks at her and sees like, his wife of the past thousands of years, and she looks at him and sees, like, her great-uncle, and is like, “this is creepy and weird”. Because it is. It is creepy and weird. 

GROSS, DUDE! Carter Hall is a dick.

Anyway, there have also been a few different takes on Kendra in various other media, obviously she’s in Legends Of Tomorrow:

which has caused me to literally transcend this plane of existence but who cares. Legends Of Tomorrow Kendra is basically comics Kendra but with a little bit of additional Hawk mythos stuff thrown in for good measure (possibly possessed by a hawk-type spirit/god, for example, as happened to Katar Hol in the comics - no spoilers for the show though, I’m actually not totally caught up on it right now). There is also a version of Kendra in Earth-2:

who is kind of an amalgamation of a bunch of different Hawk characters. 

I actually am not totally sure about Kendra’s current status in the comics - there was at some point a plot where Kendra just like, turned back into Shiera, and I hated it and basically ragequit Hawk stuff and I still have not fully recovered. However, that’s MORE OR LESS what you need to know about various iterations of the Hawk ladies. 

On the surface, this all seems pretty easy to understand, right? Shayera is an alien, Shiera and Kendra are humans and also kind of but not really the same person. It gets a little fussy when you try to tell the complete story of every Hawk lady in order but if you put continuity aside and just focus on the individual characters it’s easy enough to make the distinction. 

Now please stop tagging your reblogs of my posts about Shayera Thal with ‘Shayera Hol’ and ‘Hawkgirl’ and ‘Kendra Saunders’ because it’s making me sad.