#stop trying to make being instituted a aesthetic

[iwatcheditbegin]

Call me too sensitive but the psych ward jokes are kinda insensitive and gross.

[anistarrose]

I think when a lot of queer people who aspire to marriage, and remember (rightly) fighting for the right to marriage, see queer people who don't want marriage, talking about not entering or even reforming or abolishing marriage, there's an assumption I can't fault anyone for having — because it's an assumption borne of trauma — that queers who aren't big on marriage are inadvertently or purposefully going to either foolishly deprive themselves of rights, or dangerously deprive everyone of the rights associated with marriage. But that's markedly untrue. We only want rights to stop being locked behind marriages. We want an end to discrimination against the unmarried.

We want a multitude of rights for polyamorous relationships. We want ways to fully recognize and extend rights to non-romantic and/or non-sexual unions, including but not limited to QPRs, in a setting distinct from the one that (modern) history has spent so long conflating with romance and sex in a way that makes many of us so deeply uncomfortable. And many of us are also disabled queers who are furious about marriage stripping the disabled of all benefits.

We want options to co-parent, and retain legal rights to see children, that extends to more than two people, and by necessity, to non-biological parents (which, by the way, hasn't always automatically followed from same-gender marriage equality even in places where said equality nominally exists. Our struggles are not as different as you think). We would like for (found or biological) family members and siblings to co-habitate as equal members of a household, perhaps even with pooled finances or engaging in aforementioned co-parenting, without anyone trying to fit the dynamic into a "marriage-shaped box" and assume it's incestuous. We want options to leave either marriages, or alternative agreements, that are less onerous than divorce proceedings have historically been.

I can't speak for every person who does not want to marry, but on average, spurning marriage is not a choice we make lightly. We are deeply, deeply aware of the benefits that only marriage can currently provide. And we do not take that information lightly. We demand better.

Now, talking about the benefits of marriage in respective countries' current legal frameworks, so that all people can make choices from an informed place, is all well and good — but is not an appropriate response to someone saying they are uncomfortable with marriage. There are people for whom entering a marriage, with all its associated norms, expectations, and baggage, would feel like a betrayal of one's self and authenticity that would shake them to their core — and every day, I struggle to unpack if I'm one of them or not. If I want to marry for tax benefits, or not. If that's worth the risk of losing disability benefits, in the (very plausible) possibility that I have to apply for them later in life. If that's worth the emotional burden of having to explain over and over, to both well-meaning and deeply conservative family members, that this relationship is not one of romance or sex. (Because, god, trying just to explain aromanticism or asexuality in a world that broadly thinks they're "fake" is emotional labor enough.)

Marriage is a fundamental alteration to who I am, to what rights an ableist government grants me, and to how I am perceived. I don't criticize the institution just because I enjoy a "free spirit" aesthetic or think the wedding industry is annoying, or whatever.

[nightcolorz]

i genuinely don't get why yall don't understand that some people don't like a character who's violently antiblack and directed a lynching. some people think lestat is not as bad because while he's also racist, his involvement in the trial was murkier and they heavily implied that lestat was there against his will. + at this point in the story lestat is more remorseful while armand tried to manipulate louis even when daniel exposed him. also just so you know lestat in the show is 34, not 37 lmfao

I thought u were talking about Santiago bcus he’s the racist guy who orchestrated the trial for like the first half of this and I was like why is this guy sending me this ask I don’t ever talk about Santiago nor do I even like him and then I realized that u were hallucinating a version of iwtv I didn’t see, so like, alrighty. There r so many reasons to hate Armand he’s like the most fucked up character in the series and bro chose “violent anti blackness” bcus apparently “Lestat is less racist than him” ?? Ur extremely stupid and I’m laughing.

I am trying to figure out how to argue with this but it’s kind of like arguing with someone who’s hallucinating a giant dragon. Like how can I prove the dragon is not there in a way that would make any sense to you, you are clearly past the point of no return here.

Right, Lestat, the explicitly racist white character who is constantly racist on screen, is less racist and bad then Armand, the brown former slave, because Armand took part in a fantastical vampire murder that was orchestrated by another explicitly racist white character for the stated reason that he was afraid to betray the institution he was forced into hundreds of years ago, because Lestat “was implied to feel bad” or smth. So true. Ur so right, clearly Armand, who didn’t even write the script for the trial, nor decide it’s aesthetic components, and only participated in it because he was going to be ripped to shreds by his coven if he didn’t, actually decided that he wanted the trial to be like a lynching, bcus Armand is extremely familiar with 19th century anti black violence in colonial America, a period he definitely experienced, and he made it like that on purpose bcus he hates black people so much, and he also decided to implement that racism onto the white girl who’s being tortured on stage too, cuz she’s also black to him, I don’t know. Armand may be an equal opportunity violent killer and torturer who shows literally no preference for who he violently kills and attacks, but he definitely hates black people, cuz the one girl he let die that one time at the hands of his theater coworkers was black, so he’s like, violently racist.

When I noticed the lynching allusions in the trial I assumed it was a thematic undertone meant to aesthetically highlight how traumatic this was for Louis, a character who actually has a connection to lynchings and would have narrative reason to frame the events in a way that mirrored one, and not like, meant to convey that Armand is anti black and is trying to recreate a lynching cuz he loves those things. That is an extremely literal and extremely stupid, unfounded way to view that. If anything, it would be implying that the theater is full of racists, which I think aligns more with the actual episode. Believe it or not, shows often have aesthetic allusions that aren’t meant to be extremely literal representations of what is actually happening.

The idea that Armand is anti black bcus he chose to not stop the vampire execution enacted per the vampire laws that he has been forcefully indebted to for over 200 years to persevere his safety in favor of preserving the life of someone he has known for a relatively short amount of time is insane. Like sure, he’s a horrible person, but I think u are vastly misinterpreting his motivations. Armand has been the victim of more racial trauma then literally every single iwtv character, he was an actual slave who was actually tortured and assaulted bcus he was brown. He was victimized since he was a little kid, he literally has never experienced a life at this point that is not survival of the fittest. His decision to fawn instead of fight in the face of the trial was not a reflection of “violent anti blackness”, and the assumption that it was is so incredibly dull and stupid. Also the complete removal of responsibility from the canonically white and racist characters like Santiago and lestat is insane. Trying to frame me as being tone death against racism while insisting that Armand (brown) is actually the racist one and not Santiago or lestat (white) is hilarious. I like Lestat but I don’t like Armand for doing the same things lestat has done bcus!! I’m anti racism!!! 🥰🥰-real anon logic. Like give me a break. If u actually cared at all about the racial themes of iwtv u would recognize that Armand is someone who has been so victimized and abused by racial oppression that he considers it normal and unable to be dismantled, and so refuses to fight against it to survive. He is not the oppressor, you dick head. Like yeah totally, the canonical former child slave is the racial oppressor here, ur so right. If that was meant to be the case, if Armand was actually written as being the primary perpetrator of racism who oppressors the others, that would be some dickhead writing.

Anyways, I actually don’t mind at all nor care if anyone hates Armand. My little post ur referring to was me lightheartedly complaining to my Armand-loving followers that I keep seeing Armand hate advertised to me on my social media and I don’t like having it shown to me, cuz I like him. That’s what I do instead of going into the inboxes or comments of the people I disagree with, bcus I’m mature, btw anon. But u can hate on Armand in ur corner of the internet all u like, it’s literally not that serious. I don’t care if u hate Armand cuz of the trial either, he does bad stuff, like yeah, sure, fair enough. He’s an anti hero in a vampire book series + show, it’s all fun and games here. The only reason I care is bcus why are u bringing it to me, known armand fan. Keep it to urself. Get out of my inbox, stupid troll. And also I’m never getting over Armand’s “violent anti blackness” like please get a life, holy shit.

In conclusion This take is literally insane and u need to actually watch iwtv or talk to a person who doesn’t know what tumblr is so that u can be saved from the actual six stages of hell internet brain rot that ur trapped in, bcus if u took one single step outside of ur rotting cave u would find out that nothing you have ever thought or said has ever made any sense to any normal person.

also 🤓☝️ just so you know! I said Lestat was 37 bcus Sam Reid is 37 in real life, and I thought it was a funny overstatement to describe Lestat as being Sam Reid’s real age. I know he’s fucking 34, but thank you so much for correcting me. You’re so smart. Also! 🤓☝️ if u are going to send me obnoxious anons, say “you” and not “y’all” I am one goddamn person, address me, not the fandom as a whole. We are having a conversation if you come into my inbox, I’m not your puppet-y vessel to vent ur moronic frustrations through. Anyways, die

[alltimefail-sims]

Terrance Chapman Submission for @wrixie's Cherry! 🍒

The Basics: -> Human; He/Him -> Straight -> Born, raised, and currently living in Brindleton Bay -> Adult (irl probably like 31 y.o.) -> Single father!

Details below the cut! ↓

Terrance's traits are: Childish, Generous, Dance Machine, Family Oriented, and Ambitious.

-> His current aspiration is: Friend of the World

-> Education: Computer Science degree from Foxbury Institute

-> Career: Level 8 Tech Guru (Start Up Entrepreneur branch, Independent Consultant).

-> Other details: Terrance is the life of the party and the kind of person to make a friend anywhere he goes. He's a pretty great cook, a tech whiz, and quite the charmer! He admittedly can be childish at times, but he always jokes that he's "making up for lost time." Despite having a challenging childhood, he has been an extremely compassionate and involved single father* to his 10 year old daughter Shereé! But between his demanding job and being the primary caregiver to a very loved and spoiled 10 year old, he's had little opportunity to fill the relationship void in his life. He's not getting any younger though, and he feels like he needs to take the time to find love, especially because he wants to expand his family in the future!

-> Random Rapid-Fire Likes: Helping Shereé run her lines/songs/dances for her upcoming performances. The retro/70s aesthetic (the social justice movements, celebrities, music, fashion, decor, and so on). Pops of color in an outfit. Social media. Chips and ceviche or coconut shrimp (can't pick a favorite food between the two). Reading the newspaper and doing the crossword like a little old man (He does his NYT "Wordle" every morning, too). Trying out new recipes (the more complex, the better). Rock climbing. Dressing up. Naps!!

-> Random Rapid-Fire Dislikes: Any kind of "excessive" noise (fireworks, music with a lot of "banging," noisy people, etc.) Getting stuck in traffic. Mayonnaise and most soups for some reason?? The fact that he snores (RIP to whoever shares a room with him... he's tried everything to stop it). Getting paired with someone who doesn't know what they're doing in a multiplayer game mode. People who don't brush their teeth. Toe socks. Snakes!!! (He would say: "Something that can eat you is not a damn pet!")

*Note: Just wanted to add that he has absolutely no issues with his ex, they just didn't work out as a couple. His ex sees Shereé every other weekend, but Shereé has always lived with Terrance full time.

Lastly: here is his confident, talented, adorable daughter with high expectations, a love for gossip, and a big heart...Shereé!

She's lowkey a mini-Terrance with enhanced performance capabilities lol. She wants "to be a superstar" when she grows up and she lovessss dogs (just like Cherry!!!).

Private DL if chosen!

[mayapapaya33]

The fun part about Gabriel and Beelzebub is that they can be together and happy because they are still fundamentally selfish and so only really care about themselves and now, because of character growth, each other. Whereas Crowley and Aziraphale care about each other AND the world and so are torn apart by their morals and their philosophical difference in how to deal with the problems facing them. (By fun I mean I want to strangle someone).

Aziraphale has learned, mostly through watching Crowley over the centuries ironically, that morality is not black and white and that you need to actually put the work in to make things right, not just assume that a greater power will take care of everything for you. He's developed a sense of civic duty. His heart is in the right place, Unfortunately he's still deeply indoctrinated by Heaven's supposed goodness and superiority despite all evidence to the contrary. He can't see that it isn't just a few bad apples, but rather an institutional problem. He doesn't understand why going back to heaven would be painful for Crowley, why being offered "full angelic status" is such a slap in the face. He just doesn't get it. He says "you're the bad guys" without even blinking but he loves Crowley and thinks he's a good person.

He thinks he's offering a reward, something Crowley deserves for being good, when all this time Crowley has been trying to explain that they are the same. He isn't an angel anymore and he never will be again, not because he couldn't, but because he would never want to. Aziraphale's double think is too strong. Until he breaks through his own mental barriers of HEAVEN = GOOD. He will never understand Crowley's feelings. Because in his mind heaven can never truly be wrong. Except for all the things heaven has been demonstrably wrong about. But that was probably just Gabriel or Michael making bad choices, and he can fix that. Crowley's fall, was is justified or a mistake? Heaven doesn't make mistakes (except for when it does) but that was GOD not just heaven and GOD definitely doesn't make mistakes right? Well, let's not think about that, let's just fix it! Crowley is clearly good, and heaven is good (except for when it isn't) and angels are good (except for when they aren't) so let's make Crowley an angel again! Perfect, what could be wrong with that?! So on and so forth.

Crowley on the other hand, has learned that the difference between Heaven and Hell is aesthetic and that working within the system got him nowhere fast, except doing a million light year free style dive into a pit of sulfur. (I know he's an unreliable narrator and he probably did more than just ask questions, but come on, what does that mean? Seriously, did he stage a really annoying protest in heaven's lobby or something? I can't really see him doing anything TOO nefarious lol. This IS the guy who goes around gluing coins to the sidewalk and taking down the cell phone service, not exactly a monster here, I feel pretty safe in assuming that with anything he did, his punishment did not fit the crime). He works outside the system, to great success.

Which is why at the end of Season 1 he said that he thought it would come down to him and Aziraphale and Earth together AGAINST Heaven and Hell. People always seem to forget that because of Crowley's much flashier (and romantic seeming) panic response of running away. He literally only says that whenever Aziraphale blindsides him and is falling back into Heaven's rhetoric. If Aziraphale was firmly by his side, he wouldn't want to run, he likes Earth and wants to save it. HE was the one who had to convince Aziraphale to try to stop the apocalypse after all! He only started talking about running away when Aziraphale LIED to him about Adam when he was trying to be a "good angel" and Crowley thought there was nothing else they could do to stop the Apocalypse. He Loves Earth, He just Loves Aziraphale more and wants to get him away from heaven.

Same thing here in the final 15, Crowley sees Aziraphale slipping through his fingers and is desperate. Maybe, if they were working together, they COULD reform Heaven, but not while Aziraphale is still in denial about just how bad the problem is. And how much it would hurt Crowley to go back. Which is why I'm so proud of Crowley for not following him. I think Aziraphale needs to come to those realizations on his own. Only then can they come back together and try to stop the second coming and maybe even reform Heaven.

[alexanderlightweight]

Prompt if you like it! Living!John with platonic John, Lydia, Alec who everyone mistakes as in a group relationship. Bonus for moping Alec getting cuddles/sofa-squishes because the gorgeous warlock he keeps running into is giving mixed messages (because he thinks Alec is taken).

i hope you enjoy how this goes, it kind of didn't go the way intended because magnus wasn't about to risk alec getting swept away. thank you for the prompt

<3 lumine

-

“What’s wrong?” 

John hears Lydia ask and whatever she hears makes her furious, her eyes are bright with a tightly contained anger and she stops undressing to instead tie her back and into a ponytail.

John sighs and gets up himself, knowing that while she won’t ask him to follow wherever she’s headed, that he doesn’t want to be anywhere else. 

“Clave?” He asks, because that’s the most likely issue and could be why Lyds is so upset. 

She shakes her head and scowls at the wall, hand rubbing her thigh where a sword normally would be. 

“Alec.”

John doesn’t ask another question, instead he’s up and grabbing one of their joint go-bags. 

“Okay, let’s go.” He says, about ten minutes later when he’s gathered everything, he thinks they’ll need. “If we want to crossover to New York as fast as possible, we’ll need to cut through the City of Bones.”

Lydia winces but nods, because to her — for both of them — the unpleasantness is worth it, if it means getting to Alec’s side when he needs it.

—

“You're getting an arranged marriage?” John asks again, shocked as he sits there and watches as Alec groans and curls further into Lydia’s lap.

He says something but it’s muffled by Lydia’s stomach, and she rolls her eyes, petting his hair slowly as she mouths ‘Maryse and Robert’ across to him.

John locks gazes with her and he knows, that whatever happens they'll not be letting Alec go through this.

Ever.

—

John watches as the warlock, Magnus Bane, sees Alec and immediately zeroes in. It’s as if the rest of the Institute doesn’t matter and while Alec is flustered, he’s not overwhelmed which means this has happened enough for him to get used to it.

“I do not like what I’m seeing.” Lydia mutters, glaring over at the troublesome group Alec’s trying to keep leashed. 

“Alec being appreciated?” John teases back, but she doesn’t laugh, and her gaze isn’t on Alec or his admirer.

“They don’t seem surprised or interested in the fact that Bane’s hunting him down. They seem to expect it and Alec’s only here because Jace said he needed to talk to him.”

The implications hit John like a demon horn in the gut.

“They wouldn’t.” He breathes out, quiet as he can as he stops watching Alec and Bane and focuses instead on the other three.

“They would.” Lydia hisses, angry and vicious, “and Alec wouldn’t even realize. Bane probably doesn’t even know either, the way he’s so wrapped up in Alec, I doubt he’s paying attention.”

“Fuck—” John mutters and he knows Lyds hates mundane swears, but she just nods, a short, clipped agreement. “Okay, so you grab Alec and I—”

“No, you grab Alec. I’ll grab Bane.” When John sends her a questioning look, she just shrugs her shoulders with a smirk.

It’s always less dangerous to not know what she’s planning and so John goes along with it. Alec is just as entranced as Bane is and John wonders if he’s going to be able to snap him out of it. However, Lyds has a plan and John is a dutiful, obedient husband “Alec, I need to steal you away for a second.”

John winks at Lydia, not noticing how Bane’s face shutters and goes cold, or how the gleam in his eyes flares when he follows John’s gaze to Lydia.

Instead, John focuses on his task, and he wraps an arm around Alec’s shoulder, pulling him along before he can protest. It only works because Alec is so tongue-tied in front of Bane and while John and Alec don’t agree on aesthetics, he can see the appeal.

Bane is clearly, very powerful and very dangerous.

It’s not a surprise that Alec would be attracted to him.

“What?” Alec asks, sharp and cold and probably irritated but trying to hide it.

“Lydia has something she needs to discuss with you and Bane, but we need to not be obvious about it.”

Alec looks over his shoulder, at where Lydia is approaching Bane and for a moment, John watches as Bane and Alec’s eyes lock. There’s a shiver of danger, an instinct of imminent threat that raises the hair on his neck when he tightens his grip and pulls Alec faster. 

—

Magnus is surprised that he’s not breathing actual flames with how furious he is. It’s taken time and patience and so much effort to get the little bit of 

And then, out of nowhere two nephilim show up, hoarding his boy to themselves and touching him like Magnus still isn’t allowed to. 

Magnus is reminding himself that he can’t smite visiting guests to Alexander’s Institute when he’s approached by the second one. She smiles, all political charm and bright enthusiasm, making small talk that Magnus isn’t in the mood for.

“Actually, I have some of my grandfather’s old notes. I’d love to show you.” 

It’s only because Magnus is looking for a reason to cut out her tongue that he picks up on her body language.  She’s not as relaxed as she’s pretending and she wants Magnus to follow her, desperately. It’s with fierce amusement that Magnus follows her, mentally hoping she dares to try and trap him.

It would be a lovely excuse to splatter her brain matter across the Institute walls.

Instead, he’s led to a private room and when he opens it, he stares, and he wonders if this was the torture she wanted to inflict on him.  

Alexander is sitting on the floor, back resting against a loveseat and another man’s fingers are running through his hair. Alexander makes a soft grunt and then lets his head flop further back, practically in the other nephilim lap.

“How little has he been sleeping?” The blonde shadowhunter asks, concern creasing her face and she ignores Magnus to shut the door and then she’s stepping out of her heels and crossing the room. She bends, pressing a casual kiss to Alexander’s forehead and then she’s leaning over him and kissing the man holding him.

Magnus wonders if he’s about to explode when there is a hoarse, “oh gross. Lyds, you’re not supposed to kiss this close to me. I can hear your tongues.”

There’s a snort, a bitten off laugh that turns into a cough and the blonde is covering her mouth with her hand. 

“Sorry Alec,” she murmurs, and she pats his head again.  This time, Magnus watches and pushes down the anger, seeing how Alec leans into it, like a cat seeking affection from its humans.

“Yeah buddy,” the male still holding Magnus’ boy says. “I forgot you were there.” 

“That doesn’t make it better—” Alexander grumbles and his eyes are still shut; he hasn’t noticed Magnus.  “Fuck, John why didn’t you convince Lydia to come train in New York?”

“Because John wanted to try cliff-diving for demons.” Lydia, as Magnus now bothers to remember mocks. “Now listen up, cherub-cheeks. You and Bane need to know something.”

At his name, Alexander startles, eyes wide and pink creeping over his cheeks.

“Alec—” John, Lydia’s husband, starts slowly. “You’re being taken advantage of.” Magnus hisses insulted and starts to draw himself up when he’s sent a panicked glance. “Not you, you’re not the one! Actually, they might also be taking advantage of you.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Alexander asks, confused and concerned, “how?” 

“Have you noticed a lack of receipts for Bane’s service? For all of Fray's requests and services?” 

“They said they had it taken care of. That Magnus accepted the payment.”

“I accepted a necklace, as a onetime payment.” Magnus interjects, not wanting to be spoken for when he’s in the room, especially by people who aren't even in the room. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Then why are you helping so much? Sorry, I mean. I’m glad you’re, fuck—”

“He means, why are you helping without payment. You’re the High Warlock of Brooklyn, you should be overcharging, not working pro-bono.”

Magnus blinks, then raises an eyebrow because while she’s not wrong, she’s also clearly missing the point.

“I wanted to see Alexander.”

There’s silence and then Alexander is blushing and turning into Lydia’s husbands’ knee, but Magnus is amused by it this time, rather than furious. Even if he is confused as to why Alexander is acting like this is new. 

“Which is up to you. Except where his siblings and Fray lied to him about it. They’ve been using him to get you to practically run errands for them and while I don’t care how you conduct your own affairs, it’s pretty ripe with insubordination. Especially, when he was unaware.”

“Are you suggesting,” Magnus bites out. “That everyone but Alexander was aware of why I’ve been so generous with my time and talents?”

There’s a soft groan and finally, his boy is looking at him with serious, hazel eyes. 

“You would have seen me regardless of if you were paid, Magnus. I didnt—” Alexander shrugs and his lashes flutter as his gaze lowers. “It never occurred to me that was why we always saw each other,” and he shrugs. 

Lydia and her husband match gaze over Alexander’s head, something fierce and protective between them. A reason for why they are so careful of Alexander, why they want to keep him safe.

“Well, perhaps I can take Alexander out for lunch without interruptions, for once.” Magnus gives Lydia a droll look, knowing she’ll understand immediately. 

“Oh, we can definitely make sure there aren’t any more interruptions.” Blue eyes glint dangerously, “I am a liaison of the clave. I’m sure Clarissa Fairchild’s evaluations will take several hours, probably even all day.”

Magnus holds out a hand and Alexander takes it, a confidence to the gesture that makes Magnus’ breath catch. He summons a portal, ignoring that he’s in the middle of the Institute and he smirks at the surprise in Lydia and her husband’s eyes.

“I’ll have him back before the demon strikes.” Magnus taunts, because he’s been more than polite, and it’s been a very trying day. Next to him, Alexander snorts and when he looks over, there’s a soft smile being sent his way.

If this is how Alexander is when he’s not being bothered by his siblings and Clarissa, then Magnus suddenly has a reason to deal with them.

[just-1-scorpio]

Reading Asterion by Alessa Thron, so you don't have to. Chapter 10 and 11.

This is a joined review, made by me, and @wordsmithic

So this time we have a positive.

There were some little bit funny lines. That's it.

So the chapter starts with Asterion interigating Ariadne.

Ariadne tells him everything. With Asterion wanting to kiss her, as if she didn't literally tryd to kill him. And Ariadne is suprisingly fine with Asterion being the Minotaur. We also learn that she is a high priesstes for some reason. And the two come to the conclusion that there is a mole among Asterion's men.

wordsmithic: Isn't it a little early for him to want to kiss the woman who tried to kill him?? I get that she's hot but he shouldn't be THAT relieved to see her

wordsmithic: Ariadne is "The High Priestess"?? I feel like this is a mockery... Has their institution *anything* to do with priests and gods, or are they calling each other "the high priestess" for the aesthetic?? I need answers

scorpio: I was asking that veary same question. So far the temple just seems to be a fency place where Minos lives, and assasins are traind at. But then why are they called priestesess, and why is the place called a temple?

wordsmithic: I have no idea :o still it's not clear to me 🤷‍♀️

wordsmithic: Why doesn't Ariadne care about him being non-Human? It comes down to the worldbuilding again. Are Monsters established to exist in this universe? We read about Medusa in previous chapters but we are not shown if she's a Monster or not.

wordsmithic: And, in any case, shouldn't Ariadne have SOME reaction that Asterion is not who she thought he was? Also, why are these creatures called Magical and not Mythical? They were not born of magic

Then after this, the chapter ends with the begining of a shooting.

Then chapter 11 starts.

So the chapter starts with a gunfight. They hide in the kitchen, and wait till they attackers have to reload. The gun fair stops, and two men get in the kitchen. Asterion quickly kills them, then Ariadne get's a gun. The two then go out, and hurry into the car, and get away from the screen.

wordsmithic: A gunfight follows and the tone is all over the place. Ariadne and Asterion are trying to fight the way out, while half the time thinking how the other one is hot. Exhibit A:

Then they go back to Asterion's place. Him and Theseus have a little argument about Ariadne being locked up in a cell, or staying in a room. It ends with Ariadne getting a room. Asterion's men oviously not like her. We also learn that she probably doas not have the best hold over his workers, but this might not be intentional from Alessa's part.

wordsmithic: This is said by Asterion. Great hold you have over your men, my guy

wordsmithic: This sentence doesn't make sense in general, because Asterion wants Ariadne alive so of course he should tell them NOT to try and kill her??

After this, they go in Asterion's room. Ariadne goas to take a shower, and it's comformed that Asterion is centuries old.

wordsmithic: Aaaaand he's centuries old.. If we are talking about THE Minotaur he should be at least 2.500 years old. From the Minoic age and such

After this, they both get into the shower, Asterion trys to pull out sharpnel out of her and they end up having sex. Okey. I gues. At least the ending of this chapter is funny.

Can I talk about the worldbuilding agein? I have still a lot of questions. What is the temple, and why is it called that? Is it a temple for Phonos? But agein, there were more then one, and are more like a personified spirits (daimones) of murder, and killing out side of the battlefield, so probably not. Do Ariadne and the other assasins have to perform any type of duty out side of killing people for money? Is Minos a priest?

Trying to figuring out anything about the world building of this book at this point feels like this:

[disco-elysium-via-polls]

🎵 Instrument of Surrender

There is something down there...

The musty smell of a potato cellar in spring emanates from the air vent.

We're going to stop by Siileng on our way.

Changing into the White Satin Shirt triggers a new thought.

CONCEPTUALIZATION - Why does art inspire you so much?

It does, yes -- but what *is* art?

No, art is for arrogant blowhards. Why am I getting this?

[Discard thought.]

CONCEPTUALIZATION - Excellent question. Art is a diverse range of visual, literary, auditory, and performative creativity! It's an expression of imagination and technical skill. Additionally, it's history, criticism and pure enjoyment...

In short, art is the highest form of human communication -- representation, narrative, emotion and agency intertwined.

Would I fit into the art world? I mean...

CONCEPTUALIZATION - Have you looked in the mirror lately? You have the exact features of a savage art critic, with that beard and those clothes! Dishevelled and *prophetic*. Perhaps you should try to critique architecture too!

Hold on, is architecture also art?

I guess I *have* been feeling critical lately.

That's stupid. Architecture is stupid.

CONCEPTUALIZATION - Of course not, it's autism. Box-drawing. Masturbation with a ruler and a sextant or whatever they use. You should demean and criticize the genteel institution of architecture. While extolling the virtues of the *pure* arts.

Wait, what about music? Is it art?

CONCEPTUALIZATION - Only the most experimental kind.

I guess I *have* been feeling critical lately.

That's stupid. Architecture is stupid. Music is stupid.

CONCEPTUALIZATION - Yes! You seek substance. No vapid representations and reproductions of social mores, as made manifest in stuffy biennials, we're talking real *living art* here. Become the Art Cop. Half art critic -- half cop.

Wait, but don't I have to be 100% cop -- to get the case finished and all that?

Okay. If 50% art critic is what's needed to free me from rote repetition, so be it. (Opt in.)

No. I cannot risk another copo-diversion at this point. Go away! (Opt out.)

CONCEPTUALIZATION - Quit being so indecisive. What are you going for here? Some kind of indecisive and *camp* aesthetic now? Strike a bold shape here. Go art or go home.

2. Okay. If 50% art critic is what's needed to free me from rote repetition, so be it. (Opt in.)

CONCEPTUALIZATION - Exactly. It's not *only* your duty to only catch the criminals of the street, you must also apprehend criminals of the printing press and the gallery -- the trite and derivative artists and writers of the world!

Thought Gained: Actual Art Degree

Go ahead and provide savage criticisms, Art Cop. The world is yours to rip to pieces and reassemble!

ACTUAL ART DEGREE

Temporary research bonus: -1 Perception: Can't even look at this shit Research time: 1h 30m

Yeah, it's another copotype -- the worst one. The most savage and brutal. The Art Cop. Nothing is good enough for him. Everything is *shit*. You have to employ an armada of adjectives to depict and demean the mediocrity of the works and visual institutions around you. Really *flex* that critical muscle. Until the vocabulary for PUNISHING mediocrity becomes second nature. Here we go...

SIILENG - The shine on these sunglasses lasts a lifetime, officer! One hundred percent guaranteed!"

3. [Conceptualization - Formidable 13] Try again, maybe you can find *some* interesting sunglasses in the box.

CONCEPTUALIZATION - Ah, I see... A pair of waterblue shades. The writing on the left temple says: "Sub-Insulindic Rendezvous." The frame appears to be hand-carved out of bone.

SIILENG - "Oh, very interesting choice, officer, very *high-culture*..." For the first time the street vendor's voice trails off, as he watches you inspect the glasses.

Try them on.

CONCEPTUALIZATION - This is how a sea monster sees the world. You've become a sea monster, Harry -- giant, hidden and... strangely tender at heart. All is blue.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Medium: Success] - Alright, but these actually make your vision worse. It's like literally being under water.

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - Yes, but they also make your soul quiver like jello. So deep.

SIILENG - "Wow, officer, you look so cool," the street vendor has picked up his pace again, as you observe the world through deep sea-tinted lenses.

"And they can be yours for a mere three reál. My regular customers have passed them all up because they've got no taste, but *you* found them..."

"Kim, what about these?"

Put them back.

KIM KITSURAGI - The lieutenant tilts his head and steps back, eyes narrowed in a thorough examination. It's a case to him.

"You look like a musician," he declares, eyes still squinted behind his own glasses. "Like a *blind* musician. But you could do worse. Take them if you want."

The Sunglasses "Sub-Insulindic Rendezvous" gives +1 Inland Empire and -1 Perception. Not too useful with our already high Psyche. They also put the entire game under a blue filter.

Ok, we're actually here.

WATER LOCK CONTROL PANEL - A rusting control panel with loose wires dangling out from the hole where an indicator light used to be, and a mechanical lever sitting in the middle.

Pull the lever -- again.

WATER LOCK CONTROL PANEL - You grab the handle and pull the lever up. As soon as the metal connects against the contact pins you hear a loud *clunk*, then...

The water lock starts moving...

Task complete: Close the water lock on Wednesday

+10 XP

KIM KITSURAGI - "Okay..." The lieutenant looks across the canal. "If we ever need to get to the coast, then this is the way. But please, contain your *wanderlust* for now. I don't want us to get sidetracked. Not with everything that's going on."

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Easy: Success] - Focus on one thing, achieve it, then the next... he thinks. That's the task chain.

I prefer to take a more *holistic* approach to detective work.

The radio relay hums with electricity.

Traffic beyond the gate. More abandoned motor lorries.

The sign says "No Entry." Someone's scribbled an inverted star on it.

Prying this panel open with the crowbar, we discover a pair of sunglasses.

JAMROCK BIKER-COP SUNNIES

+1 Empathy: Feel the streets -1 Logic: Leave the reason behind

For taking your Harmel-Rioux Supersonique out for a ride -- on the streets of Jamrock, where your heart is buried.

🎵 Disco Elysium Pt. 1

Someone has broken down the fence *and* the barbed wire.

The swing is missing -- no one's been here for a long time.

INLAND EMPIRE - Rust peels off the bent iron posts of the swing. The wind whistles through the skeleton of the small house behind you. There's desolation... everywhere.

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - Yet someone used to live here. Laugh here. Thought it was a good idea to build a *swing* even...

"What happened here?"

[Discard thought.]

KIM KITSURAGI - "In this yard?" The lieutenant looks at the small building. A flock of grey swallows takes off in the distance.

VISUAL CALCULUS [Easy: Success] - He's assessing the situation. How long ago was it abandoned.

KIM KITSURAGI - "Someone thought they could have a summer house in a *bloc obscur*. For cheap. It didn't work out. They abandoned it about a decade ago."

"Wait, what's a *bloc obscur*?"

"So this part of the coast is a *bloc obscur*?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "A black bloc, a part of the city left unrenovated after the war. Or one that has fallen to gang violence. Or has become inhospitable in some other way."

"So this part of the coast is a *bloc obscur*?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "Practically. It's not an official term in any way, but..." he spreads his arms, "look around -- no sewage, broken power lines, crime, drunks... Life is tough in the blocs. It's no place to build a summer house."

"Maybe they left something useful behind?"

"You're right -- it's no place. Let's go." [Finish]

KIM KITSURAGI - "Yes -- for you to pick up as part of the Jamrock shuffle." He gives you a weary smile.

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Trivial: Success] - It's not meant as nagging, just an observation.

KIM KITSURAGI - "We should move. I don't think we will solve the murder with forays into the urban hinterland. At least in this phase of the investigation."

"Glory," says the graffito, "to the ghosts of us!"

Someone has left their music collection beneath the tarpaulin.

TAPE "SMALLEST CHURCH IN SAINT SAËNS

The tape you found from a shack on the coast. The A-side has Smallest Church in Saint-Saëns written on it, while the B-side is supposed to contain the instrumental version. Requires a boombox to play.

>INTERACT

There's no way to listen to the tape without a working tape player or porta-reel at hand.

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - But even just holding the tape makes you feel a little sad...

REACTION SPEED [Easy: Success] - A pawnshop -- a pawnshop would have a tape player...

Birds in the birch tree -- barely audible coos from above.

There are tyre tracks in the sand here. As we approach them, Harry begins to slow down.

A breaker box to power the radio pylon above you. Maybe there's something inside?

Ahead: decades old concrete defences. Children play on them now.

All that's inside the box is 90 centims. I've been picking up some other loose change and medicine here and there.

A creaking ahead -- a broken axle grinding.

A bottle, drained of all its booze, is frozen to the ice.

BANGED-UP FUEL CANISTER

A dented stainless steel canister for transporting and storing heavy fuel oil. A logo on its side has been partially stripped over years of use. The government-issued red-dyed fuel oil inside looks like paint -- though it smells much, much worse.

LOGIC - This is it -- the scene of the party. The fire pit, cigarettes, and empty bottles all evidence it.

Hold up -- don't you mean scene of the crime?

Yeah. Sure does look like a lot of folks partied here.

(Dismiss thought.)

LOGIC - Not as such. I'm talking about what came after -- the party scene.

Yeah. Sure does look like a lot of folks partied here.

LOGIC - Looks like they were here a while, judging from all the bottles. The sunken motor carriage provided them a focal point -- like a goose ice-sculpture or a chocolate fountain.

"Hey, Kim. Looks like we've had a couple of party-goers here."

Guess I'll be on my way. (Finish thought.)

KIM KITSURAGI - "Looks like it."

"Looks like they had a great time laughing here."

"This was some kind of theatre to them. A circus production by a great clown."

"Was this party against the law? On the ice like this -- it was probably a public danger."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Hey -- let's keep moving, detective." The lieutenant adjusts his glasses.

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - Somehow he doesn't want to dwell on it...

The ice just off the coast cracks, shifting.

SUNKEN MOTOR CARRIAGE - A banged up motor carriage lies half-submerged in the icy water, slowly sinking into the Insulindian ocean. Only the cabin top, rear wheels and the engine remain visible.

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - It must be cold and lonely down there, in the icy water.

VISUAL CALCULUS [Easy: Success] - Remember the tyre tracks in Martinaise? This is where they were leading.

"So this is where all the tracks were leading to!"

KIM KITSURAGI - "It appears to be so." The lieutenant has a peculiar look in his eyes as he inspects the wreckage.

"Let's investigate."

"We don't have time for traffic hooliganism right now." [Leave.]

KIM KITSURAGI - "I agree," the lieutenant replies, his eyes never leave the sunken vehicle. "We should definitely investigate."

INLAND EMPIRE [Trivial: Success] - You get a sudden sinking feeling. Stomach acid comes up as you look at the motor carriage in the deep, dark, cold water.

VOLITION [Easy: Success] - Why the doom and gloom? It's just a sunken motor carriage. Some motor carriages are bound to end up in the sea.

Run your hand over the cold metal.

What is the make of this MC? Can I see a logo?

"How long has it been here?"

"Well, well, well. Looks like Jacob Irw's journey came to an abrupt end here."

"What should we do?"

SUNKEN MOTOR CARRIAGE - The motor carriage is properly stuck in the ice. Getting it out would require a team of specialists.

2. What is the make of this MC? Can I see a logo?

SUNKEN MOTOR CARRIAGE - The logo is too deep in the murky water -- you can't make it out. But you *do* see a monkfish float by.

3. "How long has it been here?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "The ice hasn't closed around the vehicle yet..." He leans forward to peek into the cold water. "My guess is it's been here since last Saturday or Sunday."

VISUAL CALCULUS [Medium: Success] - The estimate is correct. The incident probably occurred on Sunday evening.

4. "Well, well, well. Looks like Jacob Irw's journey came to an abrupt end here."

SUNKEN MOTOR CARRIAGE - Your mocking tone finds no response but the motion of the waves.

"Did you say something, lieutenant?"

"Yes, yes..." (Rub your chin.) "Crazy recklessness."

"Yet another case of the engine displacement triumphing over the driver's IQ."

"Enough gloating. This is serious."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Yes. Quite." The lieutenant seems to be inspecting you more closely than the motor carriage.

5. "What should we do?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "Let's wait for the low tide and see what's inside."

LOGIC [Medium: Success] - Great idea! Then we can get the things inside. The joyrider must have left something good inside. Guns? Papers? Maybe a cool jacket? A joyrider jacket?

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Easy: Success] - A joyrider jacket? You feel a strange connection to this joyrider. Maybe he's from some kind of Joyriders district and likes blue and white racing livery? Like a cop would.

"How long will it take for the low tide to come in?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "I don't know. An hour or two tops."

6. Sit on the swing and wait for the tide to recede.

SUNKEN MOTOR CARRIAGE - As you sit down in the old, rusty playground, the world around you becomes very silent.

PERCEPTION (HEARING) - The hinges creak under your weight -- dangerously so.

SUNKEN MOTOR CARRIAGE - Nothing but the sound of seagulls, high above in the sky, echoing like distant laughter. Ice cracks around the blue motor carriage in the sea.

"Hold on, it looks very blue." (Point to the sunken vehicle.)

[Drama - Medium 10] Whistle a tune.

Wait in silence.

KIM KITSURAGI - "Yes, yes, it does."

2. "What's your favourite blue thing?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "Hmm..." The lieutenant is staring at the wreck. "Let me think about it..."

2. [Drama - Medium 10] Whistle a tune.

+1 Art cop.

DRAMA [Medium: Success] - The tune on your lips forms a strange, yet undeniably beautiful contrast with the surrounding bleakness.

KIM KITSURAGI - The lieutenant gives you a quick glance. Then, still looking straight ahead, he joins you with a higher-pitched and slightly more melodic trill.

+1 Morale

+1 Reputation

+5 XP

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - Two birds on a wire, whistling by the seaside. Looking at the water. And a sunken car.

SUNKEN MOTOR CARRIAGE - The clouds pass in the sky and the shadow of the swing moves like the hour hand on a time piece... Thirty minutes have passed.

RHETORIC [Easy: Success] - Looks like this might take a while. Time to present a good topic for discussion.

[impostorsshow]

I'm thinking about my 7 year old oc again

My "little" rant is below the read more so I don't clog up your feed and there's descriptions for the art with a bit more information in the alt text thingy. I add alt text with personal comments to most of my posts but I saw a post somewhere saying most people don't even realize the feature exists, so I'm just. I'm stating it here it exists I use it

While Jessica was experimented on by an entire institute, there was one main person overseeing the experiment, and that was the guy up there. The original experiment was to see what happened when you combined animal DNA with human DNA, since in this fake world genetic science is a bit farther than ours today, and this particular facility had successfully given animals different attributes, such as a rat gills and and chicken a tail like that of a cat. Despite both those creatures dying within hours, this corrupt motherfucker decided to try and get a human subject, and Jessica's family needed the money. Thankfully, not only did the test of giving her dog dna [idfk I'm a cat person give me a break on the breeds] worked, it turned out she was much harder to kill, and had not grown as expected from a 14 year old girl who's going through puberty and in turn growth spurts.

Anyway yada yada she broke out find out she's immortal whatever. Other notes :

She has a brother. I forgot his name but he did have a name, and was later submitted to the facility before her family found out she was missing at the age of 19 and survived, but he gained a compromised immune system and I might give him mobility aids. His color scheme is mainly green and yellow and I always think of those aesthetic pictures of the shoreline when I think of him. Jessica meeting her brother [now technically 23] is a very big help to her recovery, and while her brother is accepted and loved in their home town, Jessica can't bring herself to come back and usually asks him to visit her on the edge of town or at her house, usually bringing along friends. Eventually the main scientist dies by her hands and she covers it up ["cmon gromit, we have to hide the body! There's not cheese and crackers in hell, gromit!" /ref], and a few years later the facility is shut down due to malpractice and Jessica slowly starts to actually visit the town and her parents. They never have the same relationship they used to, but her parents are just happy she's safe and sound and being taken care of.

Jessica will eventually outlive Flora and inherit her belongings, as Flora lived alone her entire life, her photography career and later Jessica being more than enough to make her happy. Jess would start managing her social media when she got older, and never had the heart to delete anything, inviting her distant family to the funeral and arranging for her to be buried in the woods near her home. She's still visibly 14, and would simply live later with her brother in Floras old home and take care of it the best she could. Her story is about moving forward, and as such, you could say she has an infinite epilogue, rather than my other ocs who never get an ending, and the ones that do are frozen at the very end of it, not meant to go any further.

Jessica isnt meant to be aroace, but I heavily imply it because her never aging causes complications, and this isn't really a vampire example. She and her brother are the only one of their kind, and her brother is still destined to fall at some point, aging slowed dramatically rather than completely stopped. I used to consider giving her a love interest for hours on end, but eventually her being 14 would interrupt it and I just gave up. Flora however, is aroace, sex adverse and is the reason she chose the lifestyle she did.

Speaking of Flora, dispite living in the middle of nowhere in the woods, she's quite the extrovert. She loves nature, and used to be a wildlife ranger before her photography career took off, and often travels around the world to capture wildlife. When she found Jessica and found out she had run away from home, and didn't ask any questions after until they had more trust built up between them, simply providing shelter and care that eventually became a permanent roommate situation. She slowly worked up to taking jobs around the world again, but now that Flora had someone to come back home to, she booked her flights to make sure she could be home as much as possible. I think if Jessica was a normal girl and somehow found her way to Flora, they would spend weeks in Paris and Britain together, Flora never leaving Jessica behind on her trips. Unfortunately, werewolf science experiments would never get past TSA.

I don't know if I've ever said this but hey I'll say it again she used to have actual wolf dna, hence werewolf, hence Jessica Winterwolf, but I learned to draw wolf ears from gacha life and I genuinely didn't know what to do about it and couldn't think of another way of drawing them without them looking like cat ears, so I just made them floppy like a pug. Also Winterwolf is because winter is Jessica's favorite season.

Similarly with Jessica's ears originally being gacha life, I actually conceptualized her fully for the first time with a designed I liked in there, and one of the bits that stuck was the fact that she has crescent shaped pupils that are a lavender shade.

Her existence was heavily inspired by a series named "Harrowed Past" which has now been taken down by the creator, but the characters still live on, you can probably find it if you search up "pip and twitch thedragonhat" which I think is who made it?? Oh well I'll edit the post later if I'm wrong. Twitch was actually the first piece of art/fanart I ever made with the purpose of getting better at art, and I really wish i still had it, but I can't even find a picture i took of it or anything. Unfortunately, the character is really hard to find since his name is shared with the giant streaming site Twitch. I haven't watched the guys stuff in a long while but I think he uses twitch as his main vtuber for streaming nowadays which is cool.

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[krytox205g0]

The Netflix Gundam is bad. While I'm generally on-board with more sympathetic representations of Zeon, even Fukui's Zeon that revised neo-Zeon remnants into a postcolonial struggle against a white supremacist Earth Federation stopped short of saying Zeon was a progressive force for good. Gundam Unicorn's primary antagonist were the people trying to bring back the space Nazis who want an order based on spacenoid supremacy and genocide. There is not a moral equivalence between the Earth Federation and Zeon, especially in the era that Requiem chose to re-write. 0079's morality might not be hardline or fanatic, but it wants its audience to denounce fascism. When we watch Gihren Zabi's speech, we're supposed to think, yeah this man is Hitler. Even Gihren's dad straight up says, damn son, you're just like that man Hitler from the history books. The Federation isn't made up of angels fighting evil, we see its soldiers being dishonorable, oppressing civilians and of course, making random children fight in its war (to be honest I think Bandai just wanted teenaged protagonists so that its target audience can identify with/be more likely to buy the toys, this is a long toy advertisement), but they ain't out here fighting disenfranchise people who live in space, they're mostly fighting for their lives dude.

And like, how are these guys worse at writing women than Tomino? Say what you will about the rando lines that are like "boys feel things more deeply than girls" or "she could have been like a mother to me" but they're all infinitely more interesting than the Requiem protag who fights hard "because I'm a mother and want to make the world a safe place for children." Tomino's mommy issues are all about being emotionally distant from others and struggling with vulnerability amidst a cruel adult world steeped in political scheming and backstabbing.

The way Netflix handles the tragedy of Newtypes is offensive to the whole concept. Newtypes ideology is like Space Hegelianism steeped in the aesthetics of 1970s counter-culture and the very real and deadly operations by the state to coopt and contain political radicals. What Netflix showed was some horrible center-right interpretation without any the historical or political context that made characters like Lalah, Char and Amuro fascinating.

Before anyone says "why you making this political?" do you remember Char's Counterattack? Amuro and Char have like, a 20 minute philosophical shouting match where they're lobbing grenades and shooting bazookas. If there were never any sequels to the original show and it ended where its at, we could optimistically read the ending as the beginning of a psychic awakening where people begin to abandon broader political institutions that divide and separate us from ourselves and each other, and enter into the warm embrace of communities of care. The visuals of Amuro, having abandoned the Gundam, floating in space and embracing Fraw Bow and the rest of the White Base cruel doing their best to hold on to each other against the cold backdrop of space could be that Newtype moment Zeon Deikum predicted would happen and all wars would end. But look at all the sequels, the pessimism, the cooption, the state-run initiatives to create Emo empath psychics who are made into killers to maintain state monopoly on violence. Just as Zeonism got coopted by the Zabi family, neoliberalism really has its day. Requiem for Vengeance has none of that. Netflix really took all the gay parts out of Gundam and made it into some Let's Play of a poorly written videogame.

Normies will not win that this Gundam is "not that bad." I did not write a Gundam based plan-inclusive counterplan in quarterfinals of CEDA to let Americans dilute this what is a genuinely beautiful work of art made from an advertisement to sell toys. Yes, the Japanese left's retreat into the culture industry playing with signs as resistance was another instance of capitalist cooption, but like, that's not inconsistent with representations of Asian liberation within the text I'm yapping about right now.

I can say I like the Requiem's robot designs and I like how they depict the Gundam as the white devil but like, that's about it. I think it's fine to say it's enjoyable, but like, it's dangerous and quite frankly disrespectful. The bad Canadian live-action had better political philosophy than this.

[interiorspune]

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[choicesmc]

What has your MC been doing since book two? Any specific HCs?

Yea! Va’or has been home hunting. Un only went on the bk1 adventure because Kade was in danger. That was supposed to be it. Once all that was said and done, un was looking forward to going back to Riverbend and tending to un’s garden while figuring out how to make things with Imtura work. Unfortunately, book 2 kind of… happened to unk. Everything just kinda left unk tired and homesick.

But Riverbend isn’t the same place anymore. It’s not the village by the river. It’s the home of the Hero of Riverbend where they throw grand celebrations on un’s birthday where un’s home is a museum for strangers to peek through. So, Va’or’s been trying to find somewhere new to stay while handling the effects of collapsing the realms together 👍

Oh, and trying to figure out what to do with these new feelings for Mal?

How does your MC feel about religion (any kind: Light, old gods, new gods, orcish—nature, something else)?

If pressed, Va’or would probably say un relates to orcish religions the most but that’s not quite true. Va’or simply wants to disappear after death. No afterlife. No joining into the Elements. Simply stop existing.

Honestly, all the other religions make Va’or tired. Generally, Va’or concerns unkself with the material, practical world in a way that leaves un’s spirituality sorely lacking. And… Va’or is not impressed with any of the major religions.

Elves go on and on about justice and balancing one’s debt and the commonhood of the Elf. Va’or, being wheelchair bound, can’t wander around Undermount on un’s own. The elves, for all their talk, don’t believe in ramps apparently. Probably not aesthetic enough.

The Temple, an institution un was largely detached from, keep expressing remorse over not being able to fix unk. It’s not even something unk wants.

The Elements haven’t committed any major offenses tbf, but becoming part of the world after death is both terrifying and tiring. Va’or doesn’t want to exist past death. Death should be it!! Un’s soul should be permanently gone!! In book 2, un wanted to be cremated so no part of un’s body lingers around. Joining the chorus of the world after death sounds so much worse.

How does your MC feel about death and the afterlife?

For a lot (if not the whole) of Book 2, Va’or felt like un was living past death. The day un gained consciousness and escaped was the day un was resurrected. As in, Va’or holds the private belief that in hadn’t been unconscious, un was just dead. And un only came back to life because the Watcher willed it so. The same way Va’or willed Nia back to life in book 1.

It’s not that Va’or doesn’t know un is alive. Far from it, but being alive no longer feels real. There’s a disassociation between unkself and life that didn’t exist in book 1. And it’s so hard being there for the rest of the group when un is slowly losing the will to keep going. Frankly, Va’or was just going through the motions —no different from an actor in a play.

At the end of Book 2, Va’or had resolved in unkself to take a break and focus on feeling alive again!! But, refer back to question one, un hadn’t had the chance for that to happen yet. Between dealing with the after effects of collapsing the realms and trying to make things with Imtura work and going home hunting for somewhere quiet, there wasn’t time to take things slow.

And then Va’or dies. Like, really dies. And, un is not quite sure what to think.

Get to know our Blades MCs: Week One

What has your MC been doing since book two? Any specific HCs?

How does your MC feel about religion (any kind: Light, old gods, new gods, orcish—nature, something else)?

How does your MC feel about death and the afterlife?

[Blades of Light & Shadow 3 Book Club]

[milkteamoon]

Myopic

A few weeks ago I made this post joking about s4 Jon losing his glasses out of spite, and today I decided to put it in fic form. Hope you enjoy!

1k words, s4 spoilers (Read on Ao3)

—

Thing is, she almost doesn’t notice when he stops wearing his glasses. 

Okay, honestly, Basira has always thought of Jon as...a little odd.

The Magnus Institute credentials didn’t help — if years of being sectioned had taught her anything, it’d been that nothing normal ever comes out of that place — but it wasn’t just that. It was something more...supernatural. Not that Jon was really anything supernatural per se (at least, not when she’d first met him), but he certainly fit the job he had. Chalk it up to his whole “tortured academic” bit. He’s a nice enough guy, but he’s still odd. He’s just odd.

Of course, that all gets ramped up to an eleven after the Unknowing fiasco. She’s not sure if it’s just Beholding-typical bullshit or the fact that the explosion blew off a rational thinking part of his brain, but when he’s back on his feet, at work, just two days after coming out of a coma, well......that’s not normal, right? It can’t be normal. Maybe Basira’s never actually seen someone come out of a coma after that long, but with basic medical knowledge, the doctors’ frantic diagnoses, the paperwork (god, all that paperwork—), it just seems like nothing short of a miracle.

Or a maybe curse. But she’s trying to stay positive.

She asks Melanie once what she thinks of Jon’s situation. Melanie’s skinning an apple as she tells her that they were just wasting electricity on keeping his life support going, and Basira doesn’t ask Melanie about Jon anymore after that.

So she doesn’t bring it up.

Hell, it almost feels too mundane to bring up. Lining that up next to Jon’s other “side effects,” it feels inconsequential — a minor aesthetic preference compared to ripping information out of people or Knowing the entire history of the coffee maker in the breakroom (and yes, he had told her that, and no, she hadn’t asked.)

It isn’t even his weirdest trait; that one was reserved for the whole “sleeping with his eyes open” thing he now did. Daisy’s the one to bring this revelation up in the middle of a Thursday physical therapy session.

“Oh, yeah. It’s weird as hell,” Basira says, pushing Daisy’s leg up over her head. “I went in his office the other day? Had a full-on conversation before realizing he was completely conked out, just......staring at me.”

Daisy chuckles a little at this. “He’s a right freak, isn’t he?”

“He’s something alright.”

“And a stubborn bastard too. Still can’t get him to wear his glasses. He says I can’t make him,” Daisy grunts, then smiles, all teeth. “Almost makes me want to go back, just so I can prove him wrong.”

“You noticed that too?” Basira asks, lowering Daisy’s leg and picking up the other. “What’s up with that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like is it some freaky Eye business? You sign your soul away and suddenly you get good vision?”

Daisy does laugh at this. “Oh god no. He can’t see shit.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep. Blind as a bat. Catch him squintin’ at statements when he thinks I’m not looking.” She grabs her leg and pulls it closer. “Probably just some stupid test of his. I don’t ask, otherwise he won’t shut up.”

“At least that didn’t change.”

“Heh. Yeah. Better than him moping all day about not being human.”

Basira hums, low in her throat, and begins lowering Daisy’s leg. “Do you think he is? Not human, I mean?”

“Who, Sims?” Daisy snorts. “Nah.”

Basira frowns as she holds out her hand. “How can you be so sure?”

Daisy takes Basira’s waiting hand, pulls herself to her feet. Dusts herself off, because the dirt still hasn’t left her clothes, even all these weeks later. “Easy,” Daisy says, and her grin is like knives. “Monsters are smarter.”

—

“Jon,” Basira greets, giving a knock on his open office door.

“B-Basira!” Jon jolts, scrambling to make his office, his desk, himself more presentable in the split second before she can take it all in. Like she hadn’t just watched him for the past five minutes with his nose mere centimeters from a statement, all cagey, all Archivist-y. “I-is there something I can do for you?”

“I just—” she stops herself. Takes a breath, and then asks, “Do you want my readers?”

“I’m......sorry?”

“It’s just...I saw you squinting? At the statement. You know that’s bad for your eyes.” 

Jon cracks a half-smile at this, which does nothing to alleviate her concerns. She takes a step further into his office before pressing, “You’re not doing something stupid, are you?”

“Oh, n-no no. I’m just.......the Eye, it looks through...well, eyes,” he explains, which, yeah, Basira had already had a feeling that was the case with all the creepy portraits around the building. “I-I figured turning down the focus might deter it from, well, looking so much.”

Basira blinks. “You’re serious.”

“Erm...yes?”

“So why not just...use another one us?”

Jon blinks.

“The Eye,” she clarifies. “For seeing.”

Jon blinks again. Stares her over. He’s looking at her like she’s grown an extra set of eyes on her forehead, which is ironic considering, if anyone, he’d be the one doing so. When another beat of oppressive silence passes, she waves it off with her hand.

“Forget it,” Basira says, then digs her reading glasses from her pocket. “I’ll leave these on my desk if you need them, alright?”

“R-right......thank you, Basira.”

“Sure. I’ll leave you to it, then.”

Basira nods and shuts the door with a sensible click.

—

Later, as she’s packing up her work for the day, Basira passes the breakroom and catches Jon, face knitted in pensive consideration. He’s standing by the kettle, now bubbling, with a row of tea boxes. He’s squinting at the one in his hand, so tight she thinks his face might stick if he’s not careful, before he nods. Pulls out a bag. Plops it into his mug.

Basira watches as he lifts the kettle, relaxes, then pours the entire contents on the counter to the left of the mug.

A part of her thinks she should help when he lets out a shout.

The other, stronger part wins out though, and she quietly continues down the hall.

Right. Well.

She’ll leave him to it, then.

[lazyliars]

/rp

Before I get into it, I want to state that is EXPLICITLY an analysis of the Characters, and is not intended to touch on how the cc’s played them in a meta sense unless specifically stated otherwise.

Also, this is technically a part two to my other post, which took a more in depth look at Techno and Phil’s reactions to Tommy’s death. It’s not necessary when reading this post, but I don’t address their reactions here.

So. The question must be asked.

Are we [the Syndicate] the baddies?

Yes.

The End.

 Why are the Syndicate the baddies?

They got damn logo is a wither skull.

The End.

That's not how this works.

Yeah, yeah. You’re right.

The Syndicate's goals as an organization are not inherently bad. They seem to have good intentions behind them, and the focus on the freedom of it's individual group members is important to remember when talking about it; It is not a government. There is no hierarchical power system. No one is forced to do anything against their will, or surrender any of their rights or power to remain a member. It is not a government.

I also want to address Techno and Phil backing Ranboo into a corner – I see them getting a lot of flack for this, but I personally do not think it is relevant to the greater discussion, or necessarily representative of any contradictions within the organization. It was clearly played for laughs, and after they back off they clarify to Ranboo that they won't force him. Then later when Phil and Ranboo are alone, Ranboo feels safe enough to express that he felt like he was pressured into it, and Phil assures him he is allowed to leave whenever he wants; He is not being forced to do anything, and he is not being coerced or blackmailed.

None of the Syndicate members have done any wrongs against each other in the context of the Syndicate, OR gone against any of the Syndicate's core principles.

That, said, holy shit are they the baddies.

Listen, there's trying to telegraph a meaning or message to the audience and then there's having your logo be wither skulls on blackstone. That is straight out of the skit I keep referencing, seriously.

Okay, but, they laughed at it! It was played as a joke, just like the Ranboo thing!

The Ranboo thing was improv, the Syndicate's headquarters were planned – the artistic choices that they made reflect on what role they want the build and the organization inhabiting it to play in the future storylines.

Wither Skulls kind of have some CONNOTATIONS. Techno is an English major, I don't think he chose the most threatening imagery possible on accident, and then joked about the way people would interpret it just to stir the pot. This reads as hugely intentional.

And beyond that, the jokes they make during this part aren't “haha yeah, we look bad but we're actually good!” they're “you can tell by looking at these that we're the good guys wink wink, this is good guy stuff right here :)” It is a joke about how they are definitely not the good guys. This isn't even a case of unreliable narrators, this is one step down from flat out saying the meta intent.

But okay, I hear you, I'm talking about things that haven't happened yet. The Syndicate hasn't used any Withers, they could be an aesthetic choice.  Lets look at what they do in practice.

So, they barge into private property, assess Snowchester's right to continue existing based entirely on their own ideals of what Freedom is, and then only once Tubbo assures them that they have no standing leader do they grant the place their approval to, and I gotta stress this part, continue existing.

 In my Quackity meta, I already talked about how Government in the context of a M1necraft RP cannot be compared to IRL Governments on a one-to-one scale. They don't serve the same purposes or have the same type of power. What I didn't talk about was Agency in the context of m1necraft governments.

In an irl government, if you are born into one, you can't really leave without committing a massive overhaul on your life, which can be expensive and difficult, if not impossible for many people. Even in a “benevolent” government, the simple physicality of where you were born can prevent you from leaving it easily.

The same hurdles do not exist in the Dream SMP. People who join M1necraft governments choose to. They want to, either at the beginning when they form one, or later on when they join up. So far, no Government has just Sprung Up and forced the current residents of an area to become dependent on them, except maybe the Eggpire, who's status as a government is... shakey.

And even when people want to leave or separate from the government, they have been historically able to do so without any trouble or any effort from said governments to stop them. Jack Manifold emancipated from Manberg. Fundy and Quackity both left to start new nations. In all cases they were allowed to do so without any attempts on the part of the governments to stop them, either through force, or institutions preventing them from doing so.

The most anyone has lost when leaving a government is their house, which is still usually their property anyway, and is something that is easily rebuilt elsewhere and is inconvenient to move anyway.

The only exceptions to this might be Schlatt exiling Wilbur and Tommy - but even then, they weren’t trying to leave, they were trying to get back in, and of course the original L’manberg revolution, where Dream attempted to force L’manberg back into the Dream SMP, which wasn’t even a government at that point in time.

I don’t consider Phil’s house arrest an example of a government forcing someone to stay a citizen - that was treated less as a matter of a citizen wanting to leave the country and more as a threat to national security. Still pretty fucked up, but it’s a different issue.

What I'm saying is, If Tubbo wants to create a government out in the middle of nowhere, threatening no one, forcing no one to join either through force or desperation, and allowing people to join willingly because they want to, then he should be allowed to do that.

The Irony of the Syndicate, a group of people consisting of some of the richest, strongest people on the server, going around and enforcing 'Freedom' that entails no one person having more power than any other, is absurd. 

It shows an extreme lack of self-awareness and/or self-righteousness, as they seem to think that they deserve to be the ones who decide what constitutes a government.

Snowchester is a small independent nation - they shouldn’t have to live in fear of being obliterated if they don’t walk on eggshells to meet an arbitrary standard decided by people who’s only authority on the matter COMES FROM THEIR PERSONAL POWER. No one elected them! No one chose them! They were not “approved” by the server at large to enact this kind of law.

The Syndicate are not a government, but they are an unsupervised power structure exerting their ideals on a land that did not ask for them. Like, These people have invented an actual Authoritarian-Anarchist faction. How the hell did they manage this?????

Back on topic.

Tubbo shows them the crater left by his nukes. The reaction is oddly positive – the nukes are fine by the morals of the Syndicate, apparently. I'd argue that they come across as more impressed than anything else; they seem to respect Tubbo for having gotten ahold of “real” power.

(There's a few good memes out there about “We can excuse nuclear weaponry, but we draw the line at Government!”)

So. By the Syndicate's standards: A single person or group of acceptably equal persons with weapons of mass-destruction are only worth “keeping an eye on” because they might provoke other people.

Like, I consider Project Dreamcatcher to be one of, if not the most morally ambiguous thing Tubbo has ever done, largely because it was all on his own initiative. He holds some culpability for The Butcher Army and Phil's house arrest, but they weren't his ideas and he was mostly following Quackity at that point.

And Phil tells Tubbo, IMMEDIATELY AFTER SEEING THE NUCLEAR CRATER:

“Looks like you've reformed a little bit Tubbo, I'm proud.”

And it's fine. Crimes against nature? Fine. A sign of healing in fact!! Tubbo is having a sweeeelll time and he definitely didn't make these nukes specifically in fear of being attacked by these exact people! Tubbo is doing great. Tubbo is doing fine. Tubbo. is. FINE.

Anyway.

I don't think this presentation of the Syndicate was an accident. Looking at the greater lore of SMP right now, after the Egg is done, their list of enemies is slim, and considering that they seem solely invested in taking down governments, that leaves maybe Snowchester, Kinoko Kingdom, and Eret and the greater Dream SMP.

Snowchester has not been shown to be corrupt, evil, or have any intent to go down that route. The most ambiguous thing they've done is, again, is the nukes. Other than that, it's pretty much your average cottagecore snow village.

Kinoko is presented in an even more morally 'good' light, Karl having founded it specifically for his Time-travel library purposes, which are currently being treated by the narrative as a selfless act, if not downright heroic.

Eret is also a fairly 'good' aligned character atm. He's been on that redemption grind since the og betrayal, and doesn't seem keen on backtracking. He's actively tried to leverage his position as king to make things better, and hasn't been quiet about that. He was also 'validated' by Tommy*, a character who has been described both by his allies and enemies as “the hero,” so take that as you will.

What I'm getting at is, all of the current potential enemies for the Syndicate aside from the Egg, are currently being cast as 'good,' and if they were to be attacked, they would undoubtedly have the moral high-ground, unless something drastically changed.

The only potential shakeups I can think of is are a Dream escape and/or a Wilbur revival, both of which could draw the Syndicate's attention and ire, depending on how things go. That said, it's just as likely that either or both of them would join the Syndicate – Dream still has that favor, and Phil and Techno both seemed to think Wilbur would've agreed with their blowing up L'manberg.

Both of those characters are currently **villains – the fact that they're both prime candidates for the Syndicate is a huge indication of the direction it's going to go as the plot moves forward.

((*I know some people are gonna come at me for painting Tommy as the “deciding factor” of what is morally good, so lemme just stop you there. I'm not talking about Tommy somehow having the 'right' to decide who is and isn't good, and definitely not the right to decide who should and shouldn't be king. I'm saying that Tommy, a character who the narrative treats as, if not a good person, then a person who is trying to be good, was in support of Eret, a character who has also been trying to be good.

Eret doesn't gain the moral highground because Tommy said so, he gets it because a character who the narrative treats as trying to do better, acknowledged Eret's earnest attempts at doing the same.

**I'm referring to Wilbur here as a villain because Tommy seemed convinced he would be if he were to be brought back. There is always the possibility that he's wrong.))

So, to summarize this: I read the Syndicate as being intentionally positioned as future antagonists, if not outright villains of a future arc. They are NOT a Government but their goals are contradictory with their means, and it is important to keep in mind that they plan to enforce their own brand of freedom on people who did not grant them either the authority or permission to do so.

So, uh. Can you tell I loved these streams? They were seriously so good. I kept switching between Ranboo and Techno's POV's trying to keep up with everything. I still have to watch Niki's!

All in all, I'm super, super excited for whats coming next, egg stuff, Syndicate stuff, Tommy stuff, all of it.

[nobodysdaydreams]

@phtalogreenpoison Update: I have continued to think about this (because I don’t know when to quit).

But I realized if you make Curtain and Martina fire benders, then the Institute is sort of unofficially the fire nation (and it makes sense why Curtain would target Sticky- because he is a fire bender so Curtain kind of views him as “one of us”).

But also. I noticed that SQ is the only air bender so far. So like. What if he is the last air bender? Like in ATLA, except SQ is not the Avatar, Constance is (and if she’s earth, this would imply the last Avatar was a water bender, not sure how this would fit in the lore). So maybe something happened years ago to significantly decrease the air bender population, and/or maybe Curtain either blames himself for SQ’s parents deaths (they were also air benders), possibly accidentally killed them, or feels upset and guilty about it. So Curtain, in his toxic way, views himself as the protector of the last air bender. Which is why he’s so hesitant to send SQ out in the field (and Reynie discovering SQ is an air bender is like. A huge big secret and a huge big deal because aren’t they supposed to be dead?). OH WAIT! If you make Constance a water bender avatar instead of earth bender (but with the same personality, so basically Korra and she struggles with air bending which gives the society a reason to accept SQ later), then the last avatar was an air bender! Maybe it was SQ’s bio dad. Maybe the air bender population was already dwindling or threatened by something and SQ’s dad failed to save it so now Curtain’s taking it personally. OR, if we keep Constance a earth bending Avatar, then maybe an evil blood bendeing Avatar was the one who took out the air benders? And Curtain blames himself for not stopping him? And Nicholas being a water bender has not improved Curtain’s view of water benders? (Although I also like Curtain in the water bender aesthetic if the twins had the same bending power, because Curtain has a blue aesthetic and would 100% blood bend).

Just some ideas… (also even if Milligan and Kate are non benders, the earth kingdom can still be their nationality or place of birth. Also Rhonda is a water bender and uses it mostly for healing. Number Two seems like a fire bender to me. Idk can’t really explain this one. Garrison is tricky. She also gives me fire bender vibes- maybe it’s the red hair- but also the way she makes her inventions, reminds me of how the fire nation in the show had all that tech and advanced weapons. Jeffers is a non-bender in denial and keeps trying to “discover” his powers (he has none and unlike Kate and Milligan, isn’t a great fighter)).

So I saw @phtalogreenpoison comment somewhere about an MBS ATLA AU and it got me thinking:

Would the kids each have a different element, or would Curtain be like. The fire nation, expect SQ is an air bender for some reason (he has to be air bender. That is non-negociable. He deserves to fly with his bird friends).

Would the twins have opposing elements, the same elements, OR would they be non benders who have teams of bending children? If they did have bending, Nicholas as an uncle Iroh type fire bender and Curtain as a water blood bender would be cool.

Does the avatar exist in this universe and if so, who is it? (Is it SQ? Is that why Curtain is using him? Or is it Constance?)

Milligan and Kate give me earth bender vibes for some reason. Though, I feel like you could also do air for Kate because of Madge and her circus tricks, and I also feel like Kate and Milligan would still be super powerful as nonbenders. (But Kate would be a powerful metal bender and I’d like to see that). OOHHH wait new idea: Milligan and Kate as non benders BUT Kate is like Ty Lee: they were both in the circus and Kate can do chi blocking. Now there’s an idea…

How is blood bending gonna fit into this? And who are the water benders gonna be?

This is a suggestion: Constance as those fire benders with the third eye that enables them to explode things with their minds. Since she is psychic. Although I could also see her as an earth bender who launches rocks at Curtain’s head. There’s probably so much more I could add to this but these are my initial thoughts.