#tbh i don’t care much for theorizing!!! but i decided to share some thoughts for fun lol

[wickmitz]

i don’t think church would do something so drastic! after all, tracy also said that church “-- does some things that i think are not entirely unreasonable, given the circumstances,” about the part church will later play, which doesn’t sound like attempted murder or the likes to me. and despite the strained relationship him and wick have, he does hold some actual interest in wick ; and wick, in spite of the loathing he feels towards church’s constant critiques, did take the man’s advice to heart later too. there is also the fact that church knows about the duck ( something that only one other person, aka lacy, knows about ) and still met that with leveled advice rather than, reasonably, thinking mr. sedgewick sable a looney and withdrawing his investments. to me, he does care to an extent, or at the very least there’s some form of respect and trust there. but if it comes down to wick or his own behind … then he will choose himself every single time. hence the literal wording on his character card on the lackadaisy site!

if one can crack through the acrid outer coating and pick off the prickly cynicisms beneath, he at least appears to uphold a measure of genuine regard. of course, a devout pragmatist, church always has his self-interest to consider too.

the more likely scenario is that wick will have a fallout with the investors due to the money mitzi stole, and they will probably start to leave him over time. the worst thing i could see church doing ( which would still fit tracy’s statement, as well as making sense for him as a character ) is him somehow convincing wick to hand over sable stone & quarry to him, with wick stepping down and allowing church to resume the operation by his lonesome. it’d be a messed up thing to happen, certainly, but given wick’s own penchant for rubbing elbows with nefarious types and getting himself into trouble, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for church to view him as unfit to run a booming business. but more likely than not, church will just leave wick high and dry to save his own reputation in the end. which, again, isn’t an unreasonable thing to do given what has and will probably happen within the story.

lacy might go through a similar arc herself, where she may be inclined to pick her own future over wick, if you read this old q&a post tracy did in a certain way.

after all, her role in volume two was being wick’s right hand woman -- someone who cares for him deeply ( as stated in her character card ) and wants the best for him and the business. for that role to change to something ‘rather different’ around the time wick begins to suffer due to his gangster related problems, then i could see her jumping ship as well. especially if wick continues to dig his own grave and decides to return to the lackadaisy, even though he now knows it’s wrong to do so. while lacy and church could be read as cruel for these actions, there’s no denying it’d make sense for them to distance themselves … they aren’t obliged to drown alongside wick, even if he is a deeply kind man who got himself mixed up in something he did somewhat try to avoid.

but overall, church interests me as a character for this exact reason. he’s far from being a good person, but like everyone else in lackadaisy he’s hardly some inhuman evil force either. whatever church does to wick will hurt harder if it’s a.) not personal and b.) they at least held somewhat positive feelings towards each other, even if it’s as simple as wick trusting church to guide him properly and church believing wick has promise. only time will tell! but i do firmly believe whatever church and wick’s relationship is will have layers to it, since tracy is very skilled at making every lackadaisy dynamic so woefully complex. if the characters matter and serve a purpose, anyway!

my hot take is that i love the investors actually. i think they’re sooo fun and i enjoy the way they act around wick … edmund church in particular is *chefs kiss*

[cuntess-carmilla]

If you followed me recently for That post about US imperialism...

Since that post seems to have died out for now, I feel it’s finally time to address some things. A ton of people started following me from That post going viral. I want to warn anyone new that this is not a politics blog.

I post about politics pretty often, but it’s above all a personal blog. If you followed me to get a charge-free political science class or some shit like that then you’re out of luck. I’m not a walking lesson. My life, thoughts and emotions aren’t a learning experience or case study for anyone. I’m a human being.

Now, some warnings:

I’m a man-hating dyke, this is an unironic misandry zone. I really fucking hate men and I’m not and will never be apologetic about that. If you think that this somehow excludes oppressed men you’re wrong lol (I’m looking at you, gay and bi dudes). I don’t wish men oppression because I don’t wish that on anybody even if I hate them. I’m not gonna be automatically rude to men as individuals unprovoked, but I ABSOLUTELY will if I’m given reason to do so, and I will not filter out my words whenever I whine about how much I fucking hate men in general. Got it? Good.

White women are insufferable too tbh.

Also speaking of men AND white people, please read the first fucking line of my very short description. It’s right there, for fuck’s sake. White women or otherwise white non-men, this includes you. I stg I’ve rarely had moc follow me since I put that in my description but a ton of white bitches seem to think that “men OR whites” = white MEN. No, baby. It means you girlies and gentlethems too. <3

I’m not too found of body-abled people or allistics either! Also of doctors and shrinks.

Specifically when it comes to psychiatry and psychology, I’m anti-psych/mad pride. No, I don’t think all the issues that psychiatry and psychology often poorly attempt to address are “fake”. Come on, I have many of those Issues myself and I’ve seen real human suffering by multitudes. It’s much more complex than believing none of those things are real. Click here if you want more details on my views on this.

Wlwoc, twoc and disabled woc are the people I prioritize most of all, lesbians in particular when it comes to wlwoc, but I do NOT tolerate biphobia, as I don’t with transphobia and transmisogyny either (as much as I’ll admit I’m not infallible with any of those because I’m not part of any of the affected groups*, but I do try). All of that said, I do not give passes to people for lesbophobia. I have done it in the past in specific situations, but not anymore. I don’t care who you are or what your intentions were. I’m sick and tired of it.

I don’t take kindly to people sexualizing me without my explicit consent. I don’t want to ever receive comments about my tits or whatever EVEN IF YOU’RE A WLW OR A GAY MAN. Call me pretty and shit like that if you want, but if you cross this boundary I’m cussing you out and blocking you immediately. The only person in the world who has my consent to sexualize me is my fiancé. I’ve had this happen to me too many times and I’m TIRED of it.

I’m extremely whiny. Complaining is one of my major hobbies. It’s an art. I’ve mastered it through the years. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I can get really annoying when giving my Opinions and like, I’m a multiple Scorpio with a lot of Virgo and some relevant Aquarius so I’m a highly opinionated bitch. I’m the personification of “AND ANOTHER THING...!”

I rant a lot even when I’m not being a pissbaby! I’m a VERY silent autistic offline and, as I’ve mentioned in recent posts, my brain NEVER shuts up so in turn I don’t ever shut the fuck up online because I infodump and vent everything I don’t out loud in here! Among many other things, I often rant about interests the majority of the population doesn’t share with me. I will, in particular, post often about goth music and the goth subculture in general. I mean, I don’t get why anyone would be surprised about that after taking a look at my blog for 0.1 seconds, but I HAVE, incredibly, been unfollowed for Goth On Main Crimes. Also I’m not kidding when I say that this is me when I’m talking about music:

Also astrology. I like astrology a lot and I’m also that picture ^ when it comes to infodumping and theorizing around astrology. I do it a lot less now than I used to a while ago though.

Sometimes I post VERY triggering content. I try to TW as appropriately as possible while dealing with brain fog, but keep that in mind. This includes when I vent about my personal life, feelings and trauma. I don’t filter myself much on that end and that includes talking about csa and other forms of sexual abuse/assault, lesbophobia, allistic abuse, peer abuse (”bullying”) and suicide.

I use the words “cunt”, “slut” and “bitch” very liberally, in case you couldn’t tell on your own yet. Reason for that: I’m Chilean. If that bothers you, the door is wide open.

If we’re not friends or at least mutuals and I haven’t asked for advice, please refrain. Unless you’re being rude or inappropriate I won’t attack you or anything, but it makes me uncomfortable.

English is my second language and I’m developmentally disabled and brain fogged from my chronic illness, so prepare for me sometimes messing up grammar and all that. Hell, I do it in Spanish too when it gets bad enough.

I practice what I can most accessibly (if begrudgingly) describe as “witchcraft”. I don’t talk about it often here but I do from time to time. Jic, I’m not pagan.

*I’m not cis, I’m a non-binary lesbian. However, I’m still a TME lesbian at that and I don’t think MY experiences are materially comparable to those of trans people (including non-binary ones), so I choose, individually, not to identify as trans. This by no means implies that I think non-binary people aren’t trans or that I have any place to decide who among us gets to identify as trans or not, including non-binary people who’re similar to me. This is all only about how I feel about myself.

[idkwhoiamanymorebutwtf]

Gothel Parallels

You know an odd thing about the Tangled fandom is that everyone is pointing out parallels between Cassandra and Gothel but nobody wants to point out the even less prominent but very fascinating parallels between Rapunzel and Gothel. And idk why because I think those are much more interesting (about the only time I find anything to do with Rapunzel more interesting than something to do with Cass but like...of course you can find connection between Cassandra and her mother, especially since Cass is an antagonist now, but those parallels always seem kinda shallow based just on 'hey Cass is Gothel's kid and she a villain' while the ones with Rapunzel run much deeper in the show's narritive and actually lend themselves to analyzing Rapunzel's character)

Like usually, from what I've seen, parallelism is most effective when it connects back in with whatever themes the media is trying to convey, reveals or says something about a character's personality or thought process, or show's that the hero's and villains aren't that different/that they both could've gone down the other path easily, or to foreshadow.

 So what does using parallelism to connect Cass with Gothel do? It doesn't seem to connect to any of the themes of the show, Cassandra and Gothel are extremely different personality wise (That's not just me being a Cass fan either. Gothel was vain while Cass has low self esteem, Gothel was selfish while Cass has spent her entire life serving people, Gothel was always emotional and almost overshared her feelings- albeit usually for the sake of a guilt trip- while Cass never really talks to anyone about her feelings. Gothel pretended to be a poor, frail but caring woman who's always worrying- which was a lie- while Cassandra refuses to show weakness even if she's actually struggling. I can't think of a single trait they actually share) So what exactly does parallelism reveal about their characters aside from 'Gothel was evil and now Cass is a villain' which, thanks, we could figure that out without wasting time drawing parallels between them. It isn't a hero to villain comparison, it's a villain to villain comparison so the whole 'we could've been the same' thing doesn't work. And some have theorized that Cass is going to die during the show and since Gothel also died, any parallels between them would be foreshadowing, however I literally don't believe that, and if she did die (which again, doubt she will), those parallels would just feel kinda lazy tbh. Like really, you can’t think of any reason to compare Cass to Gothel other than killing her off?

 But look at the Gothel to Rapunzel comparison! Does it go with the show's themes? Yeah, I mean the show focuses a lot on how Rapunzel messes up (even the protagonists can make mistakes kids) and it also focuses often on how she was raised and the fact that she never really knew anything but the tower and Gothel, and having her act a bit like her kidnapper is a good way to show that her upbringing has effected how she behaves (and it has). Does it reveal anything about either character? Yeah. A lot of people tend to ignore Rapunzel's character flaw of being dismissive and honestly a bit controlling since it's often muddied in good intent and 'I love you's from Rapunzel to the point where people are like "Well even if it ended bad she had good intentions and all so it's fine". However if we draw parallels between her and Gothel- someone who was also dismissive and controlling and hid it with (fake) good intentions and 'i love you's- then it becomes a lot harder to ignore her flaws because it's something the connection exposes. This IS a hero to villain comparison and while it's not a full on 'what you could've become' situation, it still shows that, if Rapunzel's intentions weren't quite so good, she could have been a villain very similar to Gothel in a lot of ways. And finally...foreshadowing? Well, I don't know if this connection is currently foreshadowing anything, but the fact that the person who Rapunzel's main Gothel-like traits were directed towards was Cass is interesting and may have hinted at Cassandra deciding to break away from Rapunzel like Raps broke off from Gothel. So yeah, the Rapunzel to Gothel parallels are a lot more interesting and have more to analyze than any similarities people can find between Cass and Gothel, and yet everyone is comparing Cassandra to Gothel and I've only seen like one person point out the genius use of parallelism for Rapunzel and Gothel.

And I find analyzing any parallels between Cass and Gothel to be more tedious than anything. “They both broke a bridge”, like okay, cool, does that say anything about their characters? In Cassandra’s case her breaking the bridge between Rapunzel and herself at the end of Crossing The Line was her way of getting out of what she (validly) saw to be a toxic situation, meanwhile Gothel was abandoning her only daughter in a pursuit of youth. You could argue that their motives were both selfish, however with Cassandra- as much as I disagree with many of her actions- it feels like her deciding to finally do something for herself after a life of servitude, wheras with Gothel, that woman had never in her life thought about anyone but herself and this was just another example of her taking something for herself when she already had piles and piles of stuff for herself. So what about that time Cass fell from the tower just like Gothel did? Honestly I can’t for the life of me figure out what that would tell us about the story or characters except...Cass is a bad guy and her mum was too. And then there’s the Once A Handmaiden “You want me to be the bad guy? Fine, now i’m the bad guy.” thing. And I just...ugh. Why was it needed tbh? The contexts of Cass saying it and Gothel saying it are very different, first off. I mean Cassie had just been lead to believe that her friends were attacking her and would continue to attack her- and lied to her face when they said they wouldn't- and she felt hurt and betrayed and of course the whole episode she’d been terrified nobody would forgive her and seeing first hand that everyone was treating her like a bad guy- and probably always would? Yeah, the build up to “You want me to be the bad guy? Fine, now i’m the buy guy” with Cass was a lot fucking different from with Gothel, who resorted to that when....her gaslighting tactics failed on Rapunzel and she decided to just hold her against her will instead. And I can’t see any common trait they’re trying to draw a link to with the characters or highlight a theme of the show or anything, it’s just “Gasp, Cass said  this thing that another villain said too” for the sake of shock value.

While on the other hand, most parallels you can find for Rapunzel and Gothel are actually interesting. For example, the way Rapunzel snapped at Cass in Rapunzel And The Great Tree, saying “Enough, Cassandra!” was very similar to when Gothel snapped at Rapunzel in the movie with “Enough (about the lights) Rapunzel!” followed by a shot of Cassandra/Rapunzel looking shocked, and their hands slowly moving backwards. As I said earlier, this exposes one of Rapunzel’s flaws that she happens to share with Gothel. Rapunzel is dismissive. She says she cares about how other people feel but she also believes that her mindset is the only right one. Rapunzel doesn't actually take other’s opinions or feelings into consideration most of the time, and goes ahead with what she wants to do anyway. Actually arguing back is just completely out of line and uncalled for in her eyes because she thinks nobody has a right to argue because she sees herself as always having the final say, something she thinks other’s just need to accept. It’s understandable why Rapunzel feels that way, she’s a princess so of course the sad truth is that people will have to listen to her no questions asked, and she was raised by Gothel to never question her- thinking it was the only way to do things- and while she knows Gothel’s bad, that doesn't necessarily mean she realizes how toxic that particular part of their dynamic was, especially when she was placed on the other side of that dynamic directly after she was rescued and told ‘you have subjects now, you rule them, what you say goes’. There are differences between Gothel’s intentions and Rapunzel’s but in the end it exposes a common character trait they have in dismissing the thoughts and feelings of those around them if they deem these feelings ‘incorrect’ or if these feelings fall outside their own.

I was able to write as much analysis on ONE parallel between Rapunzel and Gothel as THREE between Cassandra and Gothel, and even then most of my section on Cass and Gothel was analyzing why these aren’t good parallels. The show is pushing them for the shock value of “omg the other evil person did that too :0″ but idk why the fandom tends to focus so much on them since from what I've deduced they don’t actually mean much.

[thecxmmissioner]

( I just found this sitting in my drafts from 2017 but never posted it? Not sure why, maybe just never got around to it, maybe was waiting to harass @exsiliumductoris . But it’s some interesting Reeve meta so I shall post it now. )

Reeve and Veld—

The more I read the more obscure bits of canon ( BC, novellas, etc. ) involving Reeve ( which tbh I did not bother to do until I started playing him a couple of months ago ), the stranger this is to me. Namely, that canon keeps making these references to Reeve and Veld being lowkey pretty chummy, while indicating that it’s curious that they are but without ever hinting why.

Check this out—

In Before Crisis:

Tseng: [Player Turk]. The person I told you about has returned from his business trip. Player Turk: Reeve, the Director of City Planning, right? Do you really think he is going to help us [disobey our orders to assassinate Veld and help him save his daughter instead]? Tseng: Chief Veld said he would. We’ll have to believe in him.

Player Turk: Gongaga, huh... Tseng: We must get there without the army noticing us. But how...? Reeve: Take a submarine from Junon. Tseng: But the army controls the submarines. Player Turk: We can’t let the army know we’re on the move. Reeve: There’s no need to worry. Simply sneak in and steal one. If they catch you, tell them it was on my orders. I’ll take full responsibility. Player Turk: Thank you very much, sir. (Why is he willing to go to such lengths for us?)

Player Turk: Thank you for helping me all the way here [to Gongaga]. Cait Sith: Aw, don’t ye worry none. Veld and I go back a long ways. Player Turk: ?! You know about us cooperating with Chief Veld?! Cait Sith: My fortunes told me so. Player Turk: What did you say!? (He knows that we’ve turned traitor. What should I do...?) Cait Sith: Ye dinnae have tae worry yeself. I’m not about tae go an’ tell th’ President. Player Turk: Why? Cait Sith: I told ye, we go back a ways. How’s Veld doin’? I only e’er heard that ye could nae quit th’ Turks lest ye were dead. Player Turk: I’m sorry. That’s... That’s classified... Cait Sith: I see... I see... Player Turk: I am truly sorry. Cait Sith: ‘Tis fine! Truly! Just tell him that I’m happy tae be o’ help tae him. Come! We’d better hurry!

As far as I can tell, though, there’s never any time earlier than this when Reeve and Veld interact?? Unless it’s a very small blip in an earlier part of Before Crisis, because admittedly I have only skimmed the rest of it. But this connection isn’t even just isolated to Before Crisis.

Case of Shinra novella:

It was Reeve who saved Tseng in the end. An odd little robot cat – riding on the back of a Giant Moogle – appeared before Tseng. Reeve was assigned the mission to spy on Aerith and her comrades using this robot cat.

[...]

“As for yourself, Mr Tseng — I’ll contact Shin-Ra for you.”

“—Right.”

[...]

Tseng had a lot of questions for him, but as he was lifted up by the Giant Mog, he lost consciousness due to the pain. His memories of what happened next were sketchy at best.

Three men carried Tseng onto a boat. The men were his former superior and his subordinates. Why had Reeve contacted them, and not the company directly? Had he been in constant contact with them. Question after question came to mind, but Tseng didn’t have the strength to say anything. He was unconscious for most of the trip. When he regained consciousness, he found himself in a small room. The air had a distinct smell of sea foam and rusted metal, he knew he had been taken to Junon. A doctor arrived almost immediately and began his treatment.

Later in Case of Shinra:

By late night, Tseng and Elena had joined Reno and Rude, but even with their help, they didn’t finish up until the early hours of the morning. When the four finally got home, they decided to catch up on some sleep, but just before noon, they were suddenly awoken by Veld, who barged in out of the blue.

“You gave me quite a surprise for an old man who’s supposed to be dead.”

“I should be the one surprised that Turks are sleeping for this long.”

[Veld shares intel with Tseng, Reno, Rude, and Elena regarding the man holding Rufus hostage, and then they prepare to part ways.]

“What do you plan to do now, Sir?” Tseng asked as he made his way to the door to follow his subordinates.

“I’ll head back to Junon. Reeve should be on his way there now. ”

“That is curious.”

“Yes. And Reeve is not the only one you should keep in mind.”

So, in all of these little references, it basically goes: “Hey, this has never been shown on screen, but Reeve and Veld are actually pretty tight. Like, tight enough to trust each other as co-conspirators multiple times throughout the years, both before and after Meteorfall and Veld’s supposed death.” “Huh! That’s kind of noteworthy and possibly significant.” “EXACTLY.”

???! 

[ “...Care to tell us why, canon?” “NOPE.” ]

I really want to believe it’s because Reeve was involved in the reconstruction of Kalm, but that’s just me theorizing.

Anyway, I just thought this was neat and wanted to share it!

[leahslightlytotheleft]

How about Mafia AU for any f/o? (@sappy-secrets)

No joke I had an entire draft written up about this au for me and Hakkai but last second decided to write it for Jack and Olivia instead bc it fits a little better.  I’ll keep the original draft and put it under a readmore for anyone who cares.

Also this basically turned into a minific?  Whoops.

The logistics and laws of the Bright Family™ have always been a little hard to follow.  Anyone who looks too hard into it (not that most sane people would dare) might question who’s really in charge.  On paper it’s Mikell, the oldest of the siblings who earned his position through ruthless but effective means, and he’s certainly a man to be feared and left unquestioned.  

But anyone who knows anything about the family will have certainly heard of Jack, the second eldest child and the most infamous.  He’s an enigma- no accounts on his existence can even be trusted because they all seem to differ wildly in regards to his appearance.  Most claim that he’s a man, but his age, appearance, and even apparent race never quite match up between tellings.  Some people swear that she’s a woman but, just as before, no two can agree what exactly she looks like.  Some still claim that they don’t have any apparent gender at all.  It’s theorized that, somehow, the name Jack Bright just became a title that’s passed between members of the Family whenever it’s convenient, almost like James Bond.

But there’s something all the stories share: the sharp dressed blonde who is always by his side.  A simple look seems to convey entire conversations when she and whichever Jack Bright happens to be on duty that day locked eyes.  She eyes everyone with a deep scrutiny that makes them uncomfortable, like she could recite their secrets back to them if she keeps looking long enough.  Jack calls her Olivia, when he calls her anything at all.  She keeps a pistol in her coat and wears black sheepskin gloves.

Some think that she’s the real Jack Bright, listening in on the conversations while all these other stand ins do the dirty work and let her keep her hands clean.  But when a woman (name unimportant) is brought before Jack Bright (reason unimportant) and the blindfold is torn from her face, she notices two things.

The figure standing beside the figure is exactly as she’s always been described.

The figure in the chair wears the face of no person this unnamed woman has ever heard tale of.  Instead, it wears the face, body, and clothes of her older brother, (missing for a week and presumed dead), along with a strange ruby and diamond pendant, suspended on his neck by a thin silver chain and catching the low light like the scales of a fish below the water’s surface.

“Now then,” says the figure in the chair with a grin the unnamed woman’s brother had never worn before.  “I think we have some things to discuss.”

~~~I’ve been thinking about this since last night and that’s a REALLY hard one :0  None of my f/os scream MAFIA to me (except Graham since he’s mafia-adjacent but even then) but after a lot of thought this is what I came up with.

Hakkai wouldn’t be The Big Ruthless Leader™ (Sanzo might be) but he’d be up there, someone trusted to handle matters quickly and efficiently.  With such a pleasant demeanor and kind smile nobody suspects him of anything when he’s out and about in the world, but at the same time if he comes after you you KNOW you’re fucked.

Also, I know I just said he’s not the Big Ruthless Leader and Sanzo probably is but tbh Hakkai is canonically one of the only motherfuckers Sanzo isn’t absolutely annoyed by every second of every day, so they’d actually be on quite equal footing.  So Sanzo may be at the top of the pyramid per say but it’s an equally as egregious action to go against Hakkai’s orders or wishes.

As much as I’d like to say I’d be Hakkai’s second in command that honor probably goes to Gojyo- they work and fight so well together, after all.  But I’d still be someone he trusts to help when things need… taken care of.  And of course I’m also his biggest soft spot and weakness…

[ragnarssons]

Do you honestly think bellarke has a chance or are we just grasping for straws

This season? I don’t know, I think ep4 is always too early to tell. You know, because usually, Clarke and Bellamy end up being separated and blablabla we don’t know for how long and blablabla. I do think Jo!Clarke will propel the separation if there is any this year. Or maybe Jo!Clarke will be the separation itself, not a physical one, but a mental one this time. Idk. As for whether or not it’ll happen this season… uh, I really can’t tell, because early s5 I thought it had every chance of happening because of the calls, the “She Is”, the “Hostage taker and his girlfriend”, their reunion and all, which all hard romantic undertones to it. We still have these scenes now, but again it depends on how much they’ll share together this season. Ask me again around ep7 I’d say? LolAs for the show itself, yes I think Bellarke will happen. I think it’s in the text, and it even is in what Jroth and cie tell us, even tho they keep hiding it under the same phrases over and over again. The fact that they barely dared to adress it during a long time after s3 is an indication to me itself. I do see too much of usually romantic tropes condensed in Bellarke- forreal, I watch a couple on screen and I always think “Bellarke did that too!” like, it’s crazy, all of it is here! The fandom can see it, the casuals can see it, reviewers can see it and everyone pointed it out at the end of s5. We’re really in the second half of the show, starting walking toward the end of the show itself- like if we theorize it’ll go up to s10 we’re starting the end here! But I do think the show will be either seven or eight seasons long- if s7 is meant to be the last, my guess is that they’ll announce it at Comic Con this Summer, by the way.

The important thing to remember is that we are not grasping for straws no matter what: even if Bellarke doesn’t happen because at the end Jroth decided not to make it happen. The romantic undertones are HERE: again, it’s shown by the fact that Bellarke share TONS of romantic tropes we see among other couples on television or in cinema. You could literally parallel Bellarke with every romantic relationships on tv right now, or within the show @bellaarke does some interesting gifsets about it for example. Seeing the cinematography of the show, how they implant Clarke’s face during the BE scenes on s5 or Bellamy’s during the Clarke/random dance scene aren’t just random things! These are delibarated decisions: they made Bob pose there, they blocked the scene, and had him make faces, they filmed him from afar, called it a break, re-did the scene, re-blocked it, re-shot it, over and over again. As I said that’s HOURS of work. It could have had been edited in 500 different ways not implying some kind of romantic longing and/or “sad jealousy” from Bellamy- and yet they did it this way. In the story itself, which is about redemption and hope and acceptance, Bellarke DOES make sense. Bellarke would be everything as endgame, and maybe that’s why they’re keeping it for the very end: for when the characters are finally at peace, either with their past, with their experiences and who they’ve become. That doesn’t mean it won’t possibly end in tragedy. I’m just saying that storytelling-wise, it would be a waste not to have Bellarke be the epithome of acceptance and peace, and love in terms of romantic relationships. Really, if this ship would be to become canon, it would be one of the most epic of television: I said it. The years of slowburn are really well done, the relationship was built very carefully and apart from s5 where I had a lot of complaints, it was always there, above the storyline, above dramatic OOC decisions. I do feel like for this season, they listened to us. Bellarke and the characters themselves will talk more, and delve more into their trauma: tbh, that’s all I want right now and I’m glad the season is shaping like it’s happening, for good! This whole idea of starting a new book, a new story, start “fresh” somewhere far from their past sins, is the idea opportunity to have them have a clean slate. Hence why I think s5 is so stagnant, because it wasn’t necessary: they kinda should have had s4 ending with them leaving in space, and s5 start with the Sanctum storyline. S5 was unnecessary and yeah, I’ll say that in my death bed still. I disgressed a lot. But end of the story is, yes, I think Bellarke has every chance of becoming canon. This season? It’s too soon to tell. Bellamy is still in a relationship and Clarke isn’t herself. The way I see things, it could go very quickly, because the feelings are there, like at the tip of their tongues. Or it could go slowly because they keep circling each other and it’s the basis of a slowburn. I did feel like at some point of s5 that it was the end, but the way they’re crafting Bellarke so far, has set things back up to normal. They’re still them, and the writers are being very careful with their relationship, which is very nice.

[epic-summaries]

Women in Mythology - Hausos the Dawn Goddess

Has anyone thought about how weird it is to have a deity for the dawn. The dawn isn’t like the sun or the moon, you can’t really see it. It’s not an important everyday function like caring for the hearth. It’s not a job like blacksmiths. It happens and it’s beautiful but it’s not physical. I googled “dawn definition” and the first thing that comes up is “the first appearance of light in the sky before sunrise.” (The Google Dictionary). It’s weird to deify a small period of time. It’s probably why there are so little dawn deities. There are only two mythologies with dawn deity/spirits (maybe three but Tefnut is the goddess of the morning dew and moisture, that’s not really the dawn) which are not from Indo-European cultures. These deities are the Shinto’s Ame-no-Uzume-no-mikoto and the Sioux’s Anpao (which btw has two faces and I love that fact, it makes a lot of sense to me). All other deities are from Indo-European countries. Which is why “Dawn goddesses are crucial in Indo-European comparative mythology…” (Source 1 to an article about Eostre and Bede.) Dawn goddesses, lunar and solar chariots and Sky Fathers are the backbone of comparative Indo-European mythology studies. (I seriously considered doing something comparing Indra and Zeus but I was already looking up dawn goddesses for funsies. This whole thing was written for funsies tbh).  

What is Indo-European Mythology? Short of it, so I can get to the comparing of deities, is that Indo-Europeans are a theorized people that that originated the Indo-European languages (English, French, Spanish, Sanskrit, Hindi, Hittite, Persian, Greek, etc.). There are also a few similarities between the mythologies. Which, you can explain as surrounding cultures influencing each other or if you a psychoanalyst you believe that the similarities between all of them is because of a deep shared self conscious or that they all originated from one original deity. Indo-European mythology exist because of the last mindset.        

Using comparative mythology, we can assume some of the Indo-European Pantheon. It’s a bottom down perspective. And I want to do this exercise, so let’s compare some Dawn Deities. 

Was the original Indo-European Dawn Goddess really named Hausos? I can say with 99.9% certainty no. Hausos is scholar’s best educated guess

1. Auseklis - Latvian Mythology

Sadly, I can’t find to much about him (or her, Auseklis is either one). Yeah, this is the god of the dawn and morning star (aka Venus). He is subordinate to the moon but also serves the sun. He is associated with marriages, bath-houses and birth.

2. Aušrinė - Lithuanian Mythology

I can find more about her then I can about her Latvian counterpart. She had an affair with the Moon God, which caused Sun Goddess and the Moon God to basically divorce. Aušrinė lived on sea-girt island where she takes cares of magical apples that will bring love to people who eats them. Also she had cows that made boiling milk (ummm) that will make you beautiful (sure). Also, she’s connected to maidens, weaving, love, weddings and baptism (she’s later connected with the Virgin Mary when Lithuania was Christinized). And there is a myth of a man falling in love with her after finding her golden hair in the water of a lagoon. She also makes the sun’s fire every morning (that makes a lot of sense). 

3. Aurora - Roman Mythology

Sadly we don’t have much from just Aurora and most stories with Aurora are actually stories about Eos. She gave sight to Orion.

She is the mother of the morning star, Lucifer. It’s cool that the dawn and the morning star are separated. 

4. Brigid - Irish Mythology

Every list of dawn goddesses has her or some articles will say that she comes from the original Indo-European dawn goddess. But they never explain why. In her list of what she is the goddess of, they never mention the dawn. She’s the blacksmith goddess, the goddess of the spring, the fertility goddess, the healing goddess, the poetry goddess.

My favourite quote from my research is “About Brigid there has been scant evident. (...) questions need to be asked about her origins, her functions, in early Irish society, and existing tradition (...)” (Mother Worship:There and Variations, source below)

Sure, spring and beautiful things are often associated with the dawn but that is not enough to convince me that she is a dawn goddess. Also, her name doesn’t fit well, unlike Ēostre.

5. Eos - Greek Mythology

She’s properly the goddess who’ve heard the most about, she’s Greek. She’s the daughter of Hyperion (titan of light) and Theia (she was a titaness and probably had something to do with light, being also called wide-shining). Eos is the sister of Helios (the sun) and Selene (the moon). She is also married to Astraeus (dusk), but if you didn’t know that, I don’t blame you. Eos was well known for getting around a lot. She loved Orion, Tithonus, Cephalus, Cleitus and Ares. Tithonus is a pretty famous story, Eos asks Zeus for Tithonus to become immortal which Zeus does, but as the asshole he is, he didn’t make Tithonus eternally youthful and Tithonus becomes dust. (Zeus it was in the subtext to make him eternally youthful.) When she has an affair with Ares, Aphrodite curses Eos to be constantly falling in love or just to have an unsatisfied sexual desire. Eos also had some children in the Trojan war, when he died, she cried which created the morning dew. And she was the mother of the anemoi (aka the winds).

She had the classic job of announcing the coming of her brother Helios. She seems like his assistant. She also rides her own chariot of Pegasi.

I love how she is constantly being called the rose finger goddess. I find that pretty.  

6. Ēostre/Ostara - Germanic Mythology

She’s more of a spring goddess then anything. But I keep seeing her on list (not just Wikipedia), so I have to add her. Though, I’m more confident in adding her because she linguistically looks like she belongs. And I can see how the dawn goddess becomes a spring goddess (still very iffy on Brigid mainly due to linguistics). Spring announces summer, like dawn announces day (I have no proof of this, it’s just logically I can see how this can happen). Though, there are some scholars who believes that Ēostre might have been an invention from Bede, because that’s the first time they hear about her.

So, Ēostre is associated with spring and fertility. Then there are tons of theories of how she very probably connected with Easter celebration, rabbits how she might just be a spring goddess and not a dawn goddess. She can’t be both? She couldn’t have started out as dawn goddess then became a spring goddess? Bede is writing in the 8th century, at the very least over a thousand of years after the Indo-Europeans migrated. Things change in a thousand years, especially without writing. Hell, Eos and Ushas changed even with writing.

7. Thesan - Etruscan Mythology

She was the dawn goddess and evoked in childbirth. All I could find about her.

8. Ushas - Vedic Hindu Mythology

For brevity sake, there are many different sects of Hinduism. Anyway, Ushas is found in the Rigveda which is one of the oldest texts written in an Indo-European language. In this text the three most important gods are Agni (fire), Soma (moon and plants) and Indra (the king of gods and the weather god). The most important goddess is Ushas, she’s found in many hymns. Her sister is Ratri (night) and her brother is Chandra/Soma (moon) and sometimes she is married to Surya (sun). In her Vedic hymns she is considered the most beautiful of the goddess. She rides a chariot of either horses or cows so she could make way for Surya. She chases away demons and the dark. Interestingly, she is renewed or made young again everyday (reminding me of Ra’s journey). She also breaths all life. I’m very interested in the fact that in that she’s all seeing much like Helios is in Greek Mythology. And, she is sometimes the sister of the twin horse gods Ashvins (and health and medicine gods too), which also are theorized to be originally Indo-European.

9. Zorya - Slavic Mythology

Hahahaha, who decided they would also be known as the Auroras. I have a feeling it was some Western European with classical knowledge decided that. Anyway, one is the dawn and the other is the dusk and one is midnight. The dawn Zorya, named Utrennyaya, has been described as Perun’s wife (Perun is the law and weather god) or both her sister and her were the wives of Jarylo, the god of springtime (interesting). Utrennyaya’s job is to open the gates for the sun every morning. She was the goddess of horses, protection, exorcism, and the planet Venus. I like how there job was guard a chained dog who wants to eat Ursa Minor, because if that happens the end of the world would start. Zoryas are also protectors of warriors where they would show up like maidens with veils and shields of their favourite battles.  They also lived on a paradise island, much like Aušrinė (though the two cultures are neighbours).

So, what educated guesses can we make about the Hausos? The dawn goddesses is beautiful (who would have guessed? It’s not like sunrise is stereotypically the most beautiful time of the day? Sarcasm btw). Dawn goddesses usually have a story involving immortally and aging (see I didn’t just mention Tithonus because it was famous). Many are either springtime goddesses or somehow connected to the deity of the spring. Hausos might have also been a love goddess, since the other dawn goddesses will either be love goddesses or have many lovers (of course there were the apples that made you fall in love too). I don’t know where Wikipedia gets that she might be a weaving goddess. I get it. She weaves the the cloth like she weaves the day but I didn’t see weaving as a theme in enough goddesses (only one) to be confident in making an educated guess that the Indo-European dawn goddess would have anything to do with weaving.

Women in Mythology Series: Previous Morgiana  

Links to sources because I got lost in research a lot: 

1.  The Goddess Eostre: Bede’s Text and Contemporary Pagan Tradition(s)

2.  Indo-European Deities and the Rgveda

3. Wikipedia 

4.  The Routledge Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses, Devils and Demons

5.  SIGNS OF MORNING STAR AUŠRINĖ IN THE BALTIC TRADITION: REGIONAL AND INTERCULTURAL FEATURES 

6.  Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines 

7.  Sun Myths in Lithuanian Folksongs

8.  Mother Worship: Theme and Variations 

9. Theoi 

10.  Greek and Roman Mythology, A to Z 

[byuneebuns]

Syntax Error (Requested)

@wonboowoo asked: 

“can I request a fluffy wonwoo imagine or scenario (whichever it fits better as cause I'm not sure) where he's the shy quiet boy in your college english class that has a crush on you but isn't sure how to tell you? ty ily lots stay beautiful ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ (*⌒▽⌒*) ～♪”

Tags: Fluff, The Fluffiest Thing I’ve Ever Written Tbh, Just Fluff, Classmate AU

Author’s Note: Thank you for the request! Its a little short but I hope you enjoy it ♡ 

You sighed with irritation as your eraser tumbled out of your grip, bouncing along the ground and under the desk next to yours.

“Um, excuse me...could you pass my eraser please? It fell under your chair.” You whispered, startling the raven-haired boy that was your desk neighbor. He rarely spoke to you if he could help it and his cat-like eyes narrowed as he considered you before reaching one long arm under his chair to retrieve your belongings.

“Thank you!” You whispered, smiling sweetly. He stared at you for a moment, almost like he was thinking about what to say, but turned back to his worksheet without a word.

You sighed to yourself, your eyes downcast.

You’d been in the same English class as Jeon Wonwoo for months now and he had always been like this. You’d seen him talking with his friends and even other girls and boys, so the only conclusion you could come to was that he just didn’t like you.

You’d spent countless hours trying to win him over, offering him some of your lunch when he forgot his, trying to make small talk about assignments, but he never seemed interested in the conversation. You’d caught him staring at you on a few occasions but his expression was hard to read so you just chalked it up to intense dislike.

It was a shame, really. He was incredibly smart, easily the top of the class, and wildly handsome. Tall, tanned, toned, with features sharp enough to cut someone. His hair was usually slicked back and his voice was deep and husky. If you didn’t know any better you would have thought he was a troublemaker, but in reality he was just a quiet bookworm.

You tried to return to your work but the nagging thoughts of Wonwoo plagued you and you were sure half of your answers were wrong because of him.

Class continued on and you kept your eyes glued forward, refusing to waste anymore time on your neighbor’s theorized poor opinion of you, until you were forced to acknowledge him yet again.

“As you all know we have a project due when we come back from spring break. With us being a little behind schedule I’ve decided to make it a joint effort to reduce everyone’s workload a little bit with our midterms on the horizon. You’ll be teaming up with the person sitting next to you for this one, so please spend the last few minutes of class exchanging information and starting your project planning.”

The teacher’s decree felt like a death sentence. You couldn’t imagine anything more awkward than being forced to work with someone who wouldn’t even speak to you.

You turned to face your new partner, hoping beyond all reasonable doubt that you would somehow find him more agreeable. Instead you found him with his gaze fixed on his desk, his cheeks red for some reason, presumably with anger.

You sighed again as you scribbled your phone number on a post-it note and stuck it in front of the spot on his desk that he seemed intent on staring a hole into.

“That’s my phone number. I’m free pretty much everyday, so just let me know when you want to get together and do this.”

Wonwoo nodded jerkily, still not meeting your eyes, making your stomach drop with sadness a little.

***

Nearly a week had passed and you still hadn’t heard hair nor hide from Wonwoo. He’d been sending all of your calls to voicemail. You were growing irritable and nervous about how it would affect your grade if you had to do it by yourself. The project very specifically stated that it was to be presented together. You rolled over on your bed and moaned into your pillow with frustration. 

If Wonwoo wasn’t going to make an effort you would have to take matters into your own hands.

***

Your feet hit the pavement with dull thuds as you trudged through the neighborhood looking from house to house for your destination. You were beginning to regret not wearing more comfortable shoes, the walk has been longer than you anticipated. Despite your anger you couldn’t help wanting to look cute, so you’d chosen a pale blue sundress with brown sandals. You nervously wondered if it would be obvious that you’d tried so hard to look nice.

Your feet stopped in front of a modest single family home with a brass number 17 hanging next to the door. You glanced down at the address scribbled on your sticky note and took a deep breath. There were no cars in the driveway. Stupid. You hadn’t considered what you’d do if no one was home. Your shoulders slumped, either from the weight of your backpack or defeat, you weren’t sure.

“Well, I’m already here, I might as well knock I guess.” You mumbled to yourself, chewing your lip nervously as your made your way up the driveway to the front door.

Your heart was pounding in your chest while your fist pounded on the door.

Silence.

You sighed. He wasn’t home after all.

You turned to walk away when the door swung open, revealing a disheveled looking Wonwoo. He was wearing basketball shorts and a large white t-shirt, and his eyebrows raised comically when he saw you.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, visibly perplexed.

You spun around, pointing a finger at him accusingly.

“I’m here to do our English project! You’ve been avoiding me all break! I don’t care if you hate me, I just want to keep my GPA up!” The words left your mouth like a whirlwind, your breathing was heavy from shouting and your cheeks were red, both from embarrassment and exertion.

Then, for the first time ever, Wonwoo smiled at you.

It was a beautiful sight. You thought to yourself that even if you never saw it again that you were truly blessed to have witnessed something so precious. 

He chuckled lowly.

“Why don’t you come inside?” He stepped aside, allowing you step past him into the entrance way. You glanced down, noting the lack of shoes by the door.

“Is anyone else home?”

“No, just me.”

You gulped, your cheeks heating as you followed Wonwoo silently up the stairs. 

His room was exceptionally clean and well-organized. Not a pile of dirty clothing or even a stray sock in sight. You couldn’t help being impressed, boys weren’t usually known for their cleanliness.

You stood awkwardly in the doorway wringing your hands, praying your nerves weren’t showing on your face, but Wonwoo was too busy rummaging through his backpack to notice either way. 

He sat down in the middle of the floor with a few open textbooks in front of him, and gestured for you to join him.

“Why did you ignore all of my calls?” You blurted out before you could help yourself. If you’d known how compliant he would be if you just showed up at his house you would have come by ages ago, but he’d sure gone out of his way to make this inconvenient.

“I never received any calls from you. I wouldn’t ignore you like that. Maybe you have my number wrong?” He replied quietly, looking away from you and rubbing the back of his neck.

“How did you find my address? And why do you think that I hate you?” He countered, eyeing you with an inscrutable expression.

“Student directory. You never talk to me in class, you never make eye contact, and I thought you were ignoring all of my calls because you didn’t want to do this project with me.” You said, feeling increasingly childish with each word.

“Why didn’t you ever call me? I gave you my phone number during class. If you hadn’t heard from me you could have called instead.”

Wonwoo avoided your gaze, his cheeks tinged with pink again.

“Ah....”

“Hey, answer me. We need to clear up our misunderstandings properly so we can work together.” You said, tugging on his shirt to reclaim his attention.

“I was...too nervous.” He mumbled, barely audible over the loud thump of your heart.

“Nervous...?”

He nodded, still refusing to look at you.

“You make me nervous.” He whispered.

You were speechless. You took a few minutes to digest this new information before pressing him further.

“So...all of the times you ignored me in class...were you nervous then, too?” You asked, your voice faint.

Wonwoo swallowed roughly and nodded in confirmation a second time.

Your mind was reeling. All of this time you’d been assuming he hated you, you’d never thought to consider that it could have been the opposite. Your brain was replaying every interaction you’d ever had with one another on a loop and the more you looked back on them the more foolish you felt for not seeing it. You’d assumed the worst without considering other options.

“Do you, um, want to start working?” Wonwoo mumbled, his face radiating heat with the fury of his blush.

You beamed at him.

“Sure.”

The two of you worked in comfortable silence together, speaking only to share ideas or confirm what direction to take your joint effort in. Despite the silence there was a tangible electricity in the air. Whenever you looked at each other, when your fingertips brushed together reaching for the same thing. Your faces were both permanently stained red.

You brushed eraser dust from your page and sat back, admiring your work.

“I think my part is all done!”

You glanced out the window and saw the sun was already setting and gasped.

“Oh no, I have to get going, I didn’t realize how long we’d been working.” You said, springing to your feet nervously. Wonwoo rose to his feet as well, quietly helping you retrieve your scattered belongings, and followed you from the room.

“Can I...walk you home? It’s too dark for you to be out alone.” He asked, rubbing the back of his neck again. You were quickly noticing that it must have been a nervous habit of his.

You chewed on the inside of your mouth thoughtfully.

“It isn’t too far but if you don’t mind I would appreciate the company.” You said, unable to keep the smile from your lips. He returned it, shyly meeting your eyes before swiftly looking away again. Your heart throbbed painfully again.

The two of you walked through the twilit streets together, occasionally breaking the silence to make some comment about the scenery or school.

You had never known just being in someone’s presence to be so...comforting.

You found yourself glancing at his hand swinging in sync with your own, mere inches from one another. You wanted so badly to reach out and touch him, to confirm this was real, and as if in answer to some unspoken prayer you both swung your arms at just the right speed, just the right angle, that your fingers crashed together, tangling with one another. 

You both looked in opposite directions, but your hands stayed clasped together, fingers slowly entwining.

The rest of the walk felt like it was in slow motion and sped up all at once. You wished it could have lasted forever but you were already in your driveway. You reluctantly pulled your hand away and turned to face Wonwoo. He held your gaze this time, both of you searching for words.

“Thank you for walking me home.” You said in a hushed tone, swinging your newly freed arms nervously.

“You’re welcome. Thanks for coming and getting this done with me. Well, uh, enjoy the rest of your break.” He awkwardly waved at you and started making his way back down your driveway.

You felt overwhelmed by an emotion you couldn’t place and before you could really consider what you were about to do you were running after him.

“Wonwoo, wait!”

He turned to you, his eyebrows raised.

You barely managed to stop before you would have doubtlessly knocked him off of his feet, skidding to a halt just in front of him and throwing your arms around his neck. You stood on the very tips of your toes and pressed your lips gently into his cheek, trying to put all of your unspoken feelings into that single action.

You turned and ran back to your front door without another word, internally screaming in embarrassment.

Wonwoo watched you flee, his mouth slightly open, one hand resting on his cheek where your lips had been only moments before, his face blazing like a sunset.