#the eggs always were such an important part of a majority of the islanders' mental health

[cerunilea]

Direly hoping/looking forward to seeing Bagi witness just how much Cellbit *cares* about the eggs and treats them so softly and would be such a wonderful Uncle to Empanada. She's only ever seen him without the eggs around, the closest thing being to when he's around Roier YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND she's never actually seen him at his best and that side of him that only seems to show up when he's watching over or talking to one of the children and I think that would just be something special when thus far she's only been seeing him getting worse, and seeing this side of him that was locked away since the eggs went missing can only benefit their relationship and I want to see the look on her face when she sees him greeting the eggs (especially Richas, Em, and Tallulah) again for the first time, I can guarantee we would visibly see her heart melt through her eyes and smile and I CRAVE TO WITNESS THAT FEELING AFTER ALL THE NEGATIVITY BETWEEN THEM. It would prove to her that he can still change for the better, that there's still something there to hope for and reach out to and bond with, all's not lost between them and the eggs are a line of stability that even if they don't stray him from his present path of destruction it's still there to show there is still hope and a reason for him to not completely lose himself *claws at the walls*

[maddiwrites]

The Hybrid (Prologue)

Pairing: JJ x Reader

Summary: The Pogues rekindle their friendship with their old childhood best friend and JJ’s first crush, Y/N. Old feelings resurface for JJ and Y/N, possibly leading to a summer neither one of them could ever forget. Due to past trauma, Y/N is reluctant to let anyone into her heart, but JJ never backs down from a challenge, even if he knows it will come back to haunt him in the end.

Note: So happy to be back with another series!!! I honestly really missed posting. Unlike Secrets of the Shore, updates will be slower because I don’t have them all written out yet. A couple things I wanted to let you know before you read. I based Y/N’s family off of Gilmore Girls. I thought they were the perfect fit for this story and the show in general and I just love their dynamic. (Including Luke who I renamed Steve for obvious reasons). Chapter 1 will explain more obviously but I wanted to give you guys a little snippet of the characters and relationships. So let me know what y'all think!

Word Count: 3.3k

Outer Banks. Paradise on Earth. It's the sort of place where you either have two jobs or two houses. Two tribes, one island. As you know, the Outer Banks is essentially divided into two groups. If we want to be blunt - it’s the rich and the poor. Figure Eight is home to the rich. Aka the Kooks. With houses bigger than necessary with extra rooms that go untouched, boats the size of homes on the Cut - the other side of the island. Most people who live on Figure Eight are your naturally raised assholes. People who don’t know the value of a dollar and take advantage of people who do most of their dirty work that lets them prance around the island with perfectly manicured fingernails. These hard workers are the Pogues. They live on the south side of the island where most Kooks wouldn’t be found dead. They serve fancy meals at the country club for shitty tips, mow lawns, and work their asses off at any other job for minimum wage. The drastic difference in lifestyles tend to cause many spats and arguments between the two communities. Especially between the teenagers who still don’t know how to control their raging emotions or know when to bite back their tongue. For the Kooks, every fight is a fight for dominance where as the Pogues fight for equality - to put the Kooks in their place. Many of these fights happen at summer parties where the two groups clash to find a good time with their friends filled with alcohol, drugs, and good music.

That’s where they find themselves tonight. The infamous Pogues. John B, JJ, Kie, Pope, and now Sarah Cameron. Although born a natural Kook, she’s earned her spot next to the adventurous teens and her boyfriend. Unlike her brother Rafe who basically is the leader of his notorious group. Topper and Kelce are his best friends who follow him blindly.

The Pogues watch them from their spot surrounding the keg. Kie purses her lips in distaste as the boys cat call for the ladies around them. Somehow most of them finding it flattering. Sarah sips on her beer to hide her embarrassment, often wondering how she and her brother grew up to be so different. Pope and John B stay mostly disinterested, only worried if they try to make a pass at an unwilling girl or fire a degrading comment at their short tempered friend. JJ Maybank is known around the island for his trouble making behavior. Usually if he gets in trouble for fights, no one ever asks who the other people were in the scuffle. Because if JJ Maybank is in the fight, he’s the one who started it, right? Wrong. In fact, JJ usually is never the one to start it. He’s good at keeping his head down and only speaking when spoken to when it comes to the Kooks - the only form of advice worth taking from his father. But his short temper is something the Kooks his age loved to take advantage of because they liked getting a rise out of him. It was like an adrenaline rush.

Luckily, tonight both groups were keeping their distance, either only talking to each other or random Tourons that have found their way to the party. This is usually JJ’s favorite part of a boneyard party. Finding his one fish in a sea of many that he can reel in just for the night and never have to worry about seeing them again.

He has his eyes set on a beautiful blonde making her way to the bonfire when all of a sudden Kie’s voice pulls him out of his trance.

“What’s she doing here?”

JJ follows her line of vision, spotting you walking down the wooden steps that lead to the beach, pulling your best friend behind you by his wrist. He first notices your smile and how it brightens up your entire face. Then of course his eyes scan down your slim but athletically toned body. You’re wearing a pair of jean shorts and a cropped white T shirt that says UNC across the chest. Who knew someone could look so good without even trying?

Well JJ did. He’s known it for a while.

“Careful. I think you’re drooling,” John B whispers in his best friend’s ear.

JJ pushes him away and mutters, “Shut up. No I’m not.”

But maybe he was.

Y/N Y/L/N is a unique resident of the island. Unlike majority of the island, she doesn’t fall in either Kook or Pogue category. She’s what everyone calls the Hybrid.

People who work hard for what they have but haven’t fallen to be Pogue status. Quite literally living in the middle in a place they call the Crest.

Your story is well versed among the gossipers of the island (which tends to be just about everybody).  And mainly that’s because of who your grandparents are.  Claude and Doris Y/L/N. Two of the riches people on the island, living in a three story house on the beach. Many people fear them, others envy them. Most feel both. Even Ward Cameron walks on egg shells around them, which is quite often, considering he works for Claude. They’re the kind of people who have never heard of Barefoot wine or Walmart. They keep their noses up and turn a blind eye to the suffering communities around them. Thirty four years ago, Doris gave birth to a daughter that couldn’t be more opposite than them. Lorelai Y/L/N was a wild child. A rule breaker. She snuck out at nights, dated boys her parents would never approve of, dabbled in breaking the law here and there. It didn’t matter how many times her parents disciplined her. She always managed to make her parents’ life a living hell. 

No one was surprised when word got passed around that Lorelai had gotten pregnant at eighteen. Although it was with another Kook, she brought shame upon her family name when she refused to get an abortion, even when her mom tried dragging her by her hair. 

Lorelai risked everything by running away from her parents’ home in the middle of a windy night. With only one suitcase, the baby daddy out of the picture, and less than a grand in her pocket, she managed to make a life for herself on the South side of the island. She worked two jobs, found an affordable apartment for cheap rent, and managed to save some money before her babies were born.

Yes, babies. As in more than one. Five months after running away from home, she gave birth to twin girls and they instantly became her entire life. With the help of her best friend Steve, who she met one month after being on her own, meeting him at his automotive shop when she very much literally rolled her junky car into the garage, she raised you and your sister on the Cut. The two of you are her greatest accomplishment. Every now and then, she mentally throws up a middle finger to everybody who doubted her, proud of who the two of you have become. 

Right before you turned ten, your mom took a business risk and opened her own Cafe. The Bikini Beans cafe, very popular amongst both Kooks and Pogues. The business did so well that she was able to move the three of you out of your shitty apartment into a beautiful one story home with three bedrooms in between the Cut and Figure Eight, aka the Crest, the summer going into your freshman year.

You actually used to be best friends with John B Routledge, JJ Maybank, and Pope Heyward. It was easier being friends with them than the girls, finding more joy in sports and rough housing than makeup and gossip. 

Doing the same summer that you moved, your mom pulled you out of Kildare County High and placed you in Outer Banks Private Academy. Aka Kook Academy. Around this time, your grandparents had also become more involved in your life, and you wondered if they had somehow bribed your mom into forcing you to transfer schools. You tried asking her during one of your many fights that started with you begging her to keep you at Kildare County High, but she quickly shut you down and told you to be grateful. That was ironic coming from the woman who ran away from the people giving her an expensive high school career. 

You had no choice but to do what your grandparents wanted and attend Kook Academy. Making friends was a lot harder there than it was in Kildare County High. You managed to make one friend in your freshman year. Andre Cortez. Due to an incident a couple years back, you built thick walls and Andre was the only one able to break them down. You were grateful for your friendship, but hanging out with him was nothing like hanging out with the Pogues. 

When you transferred schools, you lost touch with the Pogues slowly. Your life became busy with school and playing dress up for your grandparents and the boys were starting to work. Eventually all contact was cut and ever since, you’ve felt a void in your heart.

“Look,” You tell Andre. “I told you I would be your wing woman and I’m not backing down from what could possibly be the most important role in my life.”

You didn’t notice the Pogues or any of the stares around you. It’s true you’re not much of a party girl. I mean, you’ll go out here and there, have a drink or two, but you felt more comfortable at places where you weren’t surrounded by drunk and horny teenagers. 

“He’s probably not even here,” Andre says. He’s trying to look nonchalant but you notice the way his eyes dance from face to face of the people around him. 

“He told you he was going to be here, right?” You ask him with one brow raised. Andre nods. “Then, we’ll find him.”

Sarah and Kie never made any effort to talk to you at school, but to be fair, neither have you. You’ve heard mixed reviews, some people call them spoiled brats, ungrateful...some even go as far as calling them ‘The Cut Sluts.’ Of course you never take any of those things to heart. You can’t judge a book but it's cover. Plus, they’re friends with your old best friends. They can’t be that bad for John B and JJ and Pope to be hanging out with them, right?

“You think she'll come over here?” Kie asks. No one’s ever said it out loud, but her friends wonder if deep down, Kie was a little jealous of you. Because you were their first real girl friend. You were the first girl they ever let in and opened their heart too. That was a tough pill for Kie to swallow when she originally thought she was that girl. Of course the boys don’t like you any more than Kie and vice versa. But sometimes Kie wishes she could have grown up with the boys the same way you had. 

“Probably not. Unless she’s drinking,” Pope says and motions towards the keg they’re near. 

“I have an idea,” John B says and fills up a red solo cup. He hands it to JJ. “Why don’t you go offer her a cup.”

JJ snags the cup out of John B’s hand and glares at him. “Fuck off, dude.” 

“Do you guys ever see her around at school?” Pope asks the girls.

Sarah shrugs. “Not really. She doesn’t really get a long with my old group of friends.”

Kie rolls her eyes. “No one gets along with your old group of friends.”

Sarah playfully shoves Kie by the shoulder and they laugh. 

“I heard she turned down Raymond Easterling a couple weeks ago and he didn’t take it very well,” Pope says, remembering the words he heard from the kids in his class roaming the school hallways. 

Raymond goes to Kildcare County High with the Pogues. He’s known to be a trouble maker and a class clown. He works with JJ at the country club. The kid can make JJ laugh sometimes, but he wouldn’t necessarily say he likes him all that much. He can be an arrogant asshole with an ego bigger than it should be.

“She turns down everybody,” Sarah says. “Some people at my school call her ‘The Heart Sucker’ because she can pull people in with the snap of her fingers and break their heart just as quickly.”

Something stirred in the pit of JJ’s stomach.

“Hey! Where you going?” John B calls out to JJ who’s making his way deeper into the sea of people on the beach. 

“Taking advantage of a good boneyard party, my friend,” JJ calls back and slugs the rest of his beer. Looking left and right, he searches for the blonde he had eyes on earlier. Because right now, he needed a distraction. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

The party starts to die down a little after midnight. Some people leave to find another party, some are passed out in the back of their cars, and others had already found what they were looking for - someone to leave with. 

The boneyard party wasn’t as bad as you expected it to be. You had found a couple of kids from your school who were nice enough to make small talk with you while Andre left to find a guy named Devon, a Touron he’s been talking to who’s renting for the entire summer. 

Now you’re waiting for Andre to come back so the two of you can walk home. You find comfort under a slanted palm tree towards the back of the beach, scrolling through random apps on your phone to pass the time.

“Y/N?” You look up from you phone and smile when you see your former best friend inching closer to you, squinting in the dark to see if it’s really you. 

“Maybank? What are you still doing here?” You stand up and pat the sand off your hands on you thighs. 

Your heart skips a beat in your chest when you look at him. He’s beautiful. Lucious blonde hair, perfectly tanned skin, piercing blue eyes. You always knew JJ was going to grow up to be gorgeous. He was cute when he was younger. At least you always thought so. 

“I was just leaving, but I thought I saw you sitting here and wanted to make sure you were all right.” He knows it’s not like you to stay this late at a party, especially all by yourself. When he first saw you sitting there, he didn’t know if he should say something. Mostly due to nerves of seeing you again. But the other Pogues had already left and he didn’t trust anyone else at the party to be near you alone late at night. It didn’t matter if you were sober or not. 

“Aw. Was JJ Maybank worried about me?” You tease. Talking to him felt easy. As if you never stopped being friends. A few years ago, you and JJ had the best banter. Despite constantly bickering back and forth, John B always swore the two of you would get married one day. The two of you just always clicked like a natural connection. And even now, when only seeing each other every now and then for a few minutes at a time, it felt normal. You smirk when JJ rolls his eyes. “I’m kidding. Yeah, I’m okay. Just waiting for my friend to come back from his little rendezvous,” You say. 

JJ nods. “Did you have a good time? I feel like I never you see at these things.”

“Yeah. Parties aren’t really my thing. But Andre was nervous to meet this guy he’s been talking to for a little while so I came for moral support.”

“Looks like he didn’t need much of the support.”

You shrug. “It’s better that way, anyway. I don’t mind waiting for him. What about you?”

“What about me?” 

“Did you have a good time tonight? I hear your quite the ladies’ man at these things.”

“Come on, Sparky. You know better than to believe everything you hear.”

Your face lights up at the mention of your old nickname. You use to always be busting out the seams with energy. On days where the boys just wanted to chill and play video games, you would drag them to the park for a game of kick ball. Or when they wanted to sleep in after a long week, you showed up at 8 am to drag them out of bed to catch the morning waves. So one day JJ started calling you Sparky, and it stuck with the rest of your little gang. You always pretended to hate it, but secretly you loved it. 

“Oh I don’t believe everything I hear. I do, however, believe what I see. And your arm around that tall blonde in the little black dress looked quite convincing.”

You first saw JJ at the party when he was making his way to the pretty girl by the water. Your teeth involuntarily clenched and there was a twisted feeling in your stomach you couldn’t shake whenever you looked at them. 

In that instant, JJ felt grateful for the dark sky. He felt the rush of heat rise up his neck to his cheeks before he could stop it. He knew the motivation to see that girl was because of you. He just wished you never saw it. But he didn’t know why. 

“I walked her home. She wasn’t my type,” JJ plays it off. 

“I didn’t realize you had a type,” You giggle, but a small part felt relieved to hear this. “So what is it? Your type?”

Hybrids with a Pogue attitude, bright smile, beautiful eyes, and a mouth that could make any sailor turn around, JJ thought. 

“I don’t know. Haven’t figured it out yet.”

You roll your eyes playfully. “Well, when you figure it out let me know.”

“Why? So you can transform into my ideal girl?” He teases.

Now you’re the one thankful for the dark sky. “In your dreams, Maybank. But so far, I do have the perfect wing-woman track record, so if you needed help -”

“I don’t think I need any help in that department. Thank you very much.”

You throw your hands up in fake surrender. “Ooo. Touchy subject.”

JJ rolls his eyes at the same time your phone pings with a text message. You pull it out of your shorts pocket and open the text from Andre, telling you to leave without him because he’s gonna stay out late with Devon and won’t know what time he’s going to be done.

“Everything all right?” JJ says, watching you read the message.

You lock your phone and stuff it in your back pocket again. “Like I said. Perfect wing-woman track record.”

“That was Andre?” 

“Yeah. He’s most likely not coming home tonight.”

“Lucky bastard.”

“At least one of us is,” You joke. 

JJ’s grin slightly falters but you don’t catch it. You have no idea how much he wishes the two of you could be equally as lucky. Together. 

“Well, I should probably go,” You say and bend down to grab your flip flops.

“Let me walk you home,” JJ offers. 

“Oh no. It’s okay -”

“You’re cute. It’s wasn’t up for debate. I’m not letting you walk back by yourself.”

You scoff lightly. “I’ll be fine.”

“Just humor me.”

You roll your eyes and smirk but choose not to argue. In fact, you’re excited to spend more time with JJ. It’s been so long.

“Fine.”

“And here I thought you might’ve grown out of your stubborn phase by now.”

You shove him playfully by the shoulder. “Shut up!”

And just like that, it felt like old times.

[paladin-andric]

Nature of the Gods: Part One, God and His Children

The world of Deaco is comprised of several different faiths, each with their own tenets, scriptures, cultures, gods and holy figures. Though religion is very important to people in these lands, tolerance is very strong. Race is more likely to divide than faith; the average farmer could care less about who you worship if you’re a half-dragon, that alone is frightening enough for someone who has never seen one.

The overwhelming majority of religions are focused on peaceful conversion, attempting to convince others through scripture, evidence and debate. Holy wars are looked upon with disdain across most religions, with few exceptions. If adherents of the Order of God were being oppressed, forcefully converted or killed by lords of another faith, for example, this would be an exception. Holy men are expected to protect themselves and their brothers from aggression and oppression, and these rare circumstances would be enough reason to crusade.

Most of the time however, faith is seen as a personal choice. Few have an “us vs. them” mentality when it comes to religion. If a kind-hearted person happens to speak different prayers, what’s the big deal? As you’ll see soon enough, they just might be worshiping the same god anyway...

God

God’s symbol is a plain wooden cross, representing order and stability in the middle of the humans’ homelands, while each limb of the cross represents his presence and influence in each neighboring region of Deaco.

“God” as most call him, is the true, one God. That’s what the humans and reptilians say, anyway. He is the one that created Deaco, all living beings, and was the moving force behind the Order of God and the ancient Human Empire. In a time before unified faith and formal churches, various pagan faiths were scattered throughout the lands. God revealed himself to a wanderer one fateful day, thousands of years ago. The man, Simeon, became God’s first prophet. He journeyed far and wide, spreading God’s revelations to all who would listen. The faith became highly entrenched in every layer in society, monasteries and churches soon being built as the faith became formal. Soon, the faith spread past the humans’ homelands, into the conquered territories.

Many of the conquered peoples rejected the teachings, seeing the humans as warmongers eager to erase their old ways. Not all thought this, though. The birdmen were so thoroughly thrilled by the new teachings that their faith was changed forever. The Koutu had their own gods, but everything changed after the revelations of God.

The Shining Lord

The Shining Lord’s symbol is a shining star, representing his light and glory, a guiding light that is always there, showing mortals the right path and guarding against darkness.

The Shining Lord is simply another name for God. Influenced by the humans, the Koutu adopted God as their savior, though there was still their old faith to consider. After some time debating among themselves, they came to the conclusion that their gods were the underlings of the true God, friends, family and servants to God. They were still immortal, though more like demi-gods than all-powerful gods. They’re seen as his children, though the fact that the God in the stories is human in appearance and the gods of old are Koutu have muddied things somewhat.

Albic

The story goes something like this: One fateful day, God spoke directly to a Koutu named Albic. God had need of someone to spread God’s order and light to the Koutu, and Albic would be his champion. The birdman accepted, and was then transformed into a powerful half-god.

Seen as God’s adopted son, Albic is the god of wisdom. His adherents are gatherers of knowledge and keepers of history. Their temples have sheltered many documents and books that might have been destroyed in brief periods of wars of heresy and revisionism. As a god, Albic is known to be enigmatic and reserved. He takes his job extremely seriously, and is always tirelessly working to ensure both his followers and his family are doing what needs to be done. Because of this, he is also seen as a peacekeeper and mediator, as well as a symbol of diligence. Many schools, libraries, and universities are named after him, or are raised in his honor.

Cabrus

Albic’s little brother and his polar opposite, Cabrus is a free-hearted, fun-loving god. He is the god of festival and joy. His adherents are bizarre and wild compared to most priests. They spend their days in temples together, drinking, singing, and eating aplenty. Sometimes things are taken too far, and adherents may regret what they’ve done in their drunken haze later. Because of this, Cabrus is often associated with hedonism, though this association is false. He himself has never been recorded to do anything more than make merry.

His personality and lifestyle are a testament to the nature of the Koutu. Carefree and excitable, Cabrus is said to often disguise himself as a mortal to enjoy festivals, song, food and drink. He’s rumored to always be walking the lands somewhere, sharing tall tales and stories with travelers. His antics make him beloved by the Koutu, but his fellow gods are always irritated at his lack of work-ethic, especially his big brother. One of the stories describes Albic forbidding Cabrus from returning to Deaco for a century. Though their relationship is full of struggle and conflict, the two brothers are said to still deeply love one another. It is why Albic is so hard on him sometimes; he truly cares. During his century long “grounding” in heaven Cabrus is said to have broken down halfway through, sobbing and crying out uncontrollably, unable to cope with being away from the mortals on Deaco he loved so much. Albic spent the rest of the century comforting his brother, leaving his duties to his followers in Cabrus’ time of need.

Sila

Sister to Albic and Cabrus. She is the middle child, less aloof than Albic but more focused and diligent than Cabrus. Sila is the goddess of protection. The Koutu frown upon war and violence, though self-defense is of course a different story. She is the guardian of the Koutu Kingdom, and the closest thing the birdmen have to a god or goddess of war.

When the ancient human empire attacked, she rallied her countrymen to war, though the warrior was subdued by God. Without her to lead them, the people lost hope, and submitted to the humans. This was said to have been done to stop unneeded bloodshed, as the Koutu would be free soon enough. God had need of his champion’s sister, however...

With his family separated from him, Albic became depressed and withdrawn. He did the Lord’s bidding, though his own happiness was gone. Sensing this, God spoke to Sila and Cabrus, convincing them to join their brother as family once again, ascending them to godhood. Sila joined on one condition: That God free the Koutu, and let them govern themselves again. God agreed, and after several revelations the humans withdrew from the kingdom.

Sila is a fierce and determined goddess. She watches the Koutu Kingdom with a close eye, eyeing its borders with the kind of possessiveness a bird watches its eggs with. There are few threats to the kingdom, with the humans to the east, close friends, the reptilians to the south, isolated and never known to attack anything outside their island, and the ocean to the west. There is one threat however; the fierce wolfmen of the north, wild raiders and savage warriors. They are always eager to loot, pillage and steal people away as slaves. Sila is known to appear in the dreams of soldiers and generals when a wolfman attack is coming. It could just be coincidence, but the timing close to the next wolfman attack is frighteningly consistent...

Tritia

Albic’s daughter, and eldest child. Albic is said to have had a wife at one point, though she vanished from the recorded sources. Some say she died tragically, while others say she was unfaithful to Albic, and was striken from history as punishment. A very small minority think he had children with Sila, though these people were branded liars, slanderers and heretics, besmirching the good god’s name. Either way, it’s all hearsay, for no one seems to truly know.

Tritia is the goddess of fortune, This is often said to be ALL types of fortune. Luck, wealth, good harvest, life fulfillment...all of these are under her domain. Shopkeepers, farmers and gamblers alike all pay heed to her. Thieves are said to pray to her, though she likely would never seriously pay heed to the prayers of the selfish and wicked.

Tritia is on good terms with her family, though she’s closest with her uncle Cabrus. They often sneak off to Deaco together to make merry, Cabrus drinking and dancing among the mortals while Tritia plays games of chance with the Koutu, seeming to always win no matter what. She enjoys seeing the reactions, ranging from amazement  to accusations of cheating, only to defeat the accusers on their own terms, allowing for even more shock and amazement to settle in. She is said to be lying low for now, as so flagrantly winning time and again may clue the mortals in that they’re playing against the goddess of fortune herself.

Gwenant

Albic’s youngest daughter, and second eldest child. Gwenant is the goddess of travel and safety. She is the shepherd of the lost, appearing as a fair maiden far away, guiding the lost to safety, only to vanish before they can reach her. She is something of a patron to wanderers and wayfarers.

Her personality is loving and affectionate. She’s on good terms with all of her family, always warm and caring to her brothers and sisters. She’s said to spend nearly as much time on Deaco as Cabrus, though her time is well spent, constantly rescuing the lost and helpless. Travelers who had been lost and dying have been known to appear collapsed, right outside the walls of a town or city. Upon being nursed back to health, they will often say as they lost consciousness, a beautiful woman approached them as their vision faded, and took them in her wings.

Cuan

Albic’s son, and the youngest of the three children. Cuan is the god of trickery. His trickery, while irritating, isn’t born from a place of malice or hatred. He simply loves watching people fall for his pranks, and laughing at the fallout.

Cuan is thought to be devious and deceitful, and his relationships with his family have strained under his tomfoolery. Though he is prone to irrational and needlessly mean behavior, he doesn’t seem to hold the same feelings toward his family. He loves them, they just don’t understand how much fun trickery can be!

In one of the old stories, Cuan is said to have turned Cabrus into a griffin as a prank, stripping him of his godhood temporarily and leaving him stranded on Deaco, unable to reach out to his fellow gods or even speak.  After some time, the gods found out what happened and restored Cabrus to his true self, leaving Cuan’s punishment up to him. Cabrus turned Cuan into a snake for fifty years, and stranded him on Deaco. Cuan took this in stride, he did kind of deserve it, after all. For his time on Deaco, he used his serpent form to wave and swing about on tree branches to wow mortals, before using his magic to speak to them. Watching the Koutu’s reactions was always hilarious to him.

Cormac

Sila’s firstborn son, and eldest child. Sila once fell in love with a mortal she appeared to, which resulted in Cormac and his siblings. Despite being only half-god, Cormac and the rest of Sila’s children are said to be no less divine than the rest of the pantheon. He is the god of home and hearth. While Gwenant protects those in the wilds, Cormac is the guardian of the homefront. Koutu often leave idols of Cormac in their homes, as a sort of deterrent to burglars and intruders.

Cormac is said to have once witnessed a mortal invade another’s home before attempting to attack the homeowner. Cormac himself personally appeared before the attacker, shocking him and making him flee in terror. Ever since than, he has given his blessing to the resting place of all Koutu. While the outside world may be dangerous and frightening, all deserve safety in their own home. A man’s house is his castle, and in this regard, every man is a king.

Donovan

Sila’s secondborn son, the middle child and Cormac’s little brother. Donovan is the god of death. He manages the affairs of the recently deceased, guiding them to paradise, or in the case of the evil and wicked, the pits of the underworld.

Donovan is a very gruff and serious god. He appears callous to his family, though those with a vested interest know the truth. Dealing with the dead, those spirits weeping and begging to be given one last chance, crying out that they’ll do anything if he’d just spare them from the underworld has forced him to harden himself.

He’s known to have wept only once as his time as the god of death. Once approached by Gwenant, he at first denied having any reservations with his work, until her warmth and kindness shattered the emotional barriers he had put up. He spent hours weeping and telling his cousin how hard it was, how much it hurt to see the dead begging for another chance. Gwenant sat and listened, hugging him and whispering that everything was going to be alright.

Donovan is known to have softened somewhat since this encounter. He’s said to be very merciful and kind to the recently deceased, trying to soften the shock of death to the spirits, and guiding them to a slow and peaceful transition to their new existence.

Riona

Sila’s daughter, and youngest child. Riona is the goddess of unity, sisterhood and tolerance. She oversees the relationships between the different races of the mortal world, and strives to create a world without fear or hatred of others. Due to this, she’s often prayed to by minorities and outcasts. Races looked upon with suspicion in civilized lands, such as wolfmen, kobolds and dragonoids pay homage to her quite often.

Riona is known to be melodious and calm, her wise words and soft speech swaying the opinions of others with ease. She will sometimes come to Deaco to personally see to the forgotten and hated, showing them love and affection when no one else will. She’s worshiped by these outcasts with ferocity even the monks of God would be surprised at. Seen as a shining light of love in a sea of malice, the forsaken truly believe her to be their savior. Donovan once asked Riona why she does what she does, when the poor and wretched have nothing to offer her. She replied that they do have something to give her; their smiles.

God’s Prophet

The symbol of God and his Prophet is a single cast iron restraint, shattered down the middle. This represents liberty, freedom, and the Prophet’s eternal crusade against slavery and oppression.

Long ago, the lizardmen practiced slavery. Back in these times, they enslaved not only their neighbors, but one another. One day, a reptilian slave heard the voice of God while toiling in the fields. God spoke to him of freedom, and his people’s ascension to a dignified civilization. The lizard spread this word to the other slaves, reptilian and insectoid alike, until their numbers were too great. They rebelled, overthrowing the decadent government and banning slavery forevermore. The famous battle cry “The chains are broken”, was said by the prophet himself when he received news that the king had surrendered.

This faith spread like wildfire among the reptilians, until it was entrenched throughout their entire homeland. Due to this fervent faith and its principles, reptilian culture is utterly incompatible with slavery, and any attempts to introduce it would result in the swift exile, imprisonment or death of the offender in question. This seething hatred of tyranny and slavery leave a feeling of deep loathing toward the wolfmen, one of the only races who practice it anymore. The wolfman raiding party that desecrated the grove of the prophet and slaughtered its holy guardians only serves to further their fury, the people of the Abinsil kingdom believing wolfmen to be literal demons sent to enslave them.

The prophet continued introducing new revelations until his death of old age. Due to his importance in the faith, some see him as a quasi-god, though the church is quick to point out he was merely a prophet. While the lizards see him as the first of his kind, the bringer of God, many point out the similarities in dogma between the humans’ God and the reptilians’ God. Some theologians theorize they are one and the same, and that the Prophet is merely the latest in the long lineage of prophets of God, and not the bringer of a new faith entirely.

I hope you enjoyed learning more about God and the Koutus’ pantheon! Next time I’ll cover the Old Gods the wolfmen worship!

Tag list: @thereisnothingwrongwithbeingmad, @lady-redshield-writes, @paper-shield-and-wooden-sword, @sheralynnramsey, @the-true-shadowmaster, @tawnywrites, @writer-on-time, @oceanwriter, @zwergis-spilledink, @fluffpiggy, @elliewritesfantasy, @homesteadhorner

[fullysowerewolf]

My Likes and Dislikes for Sonic Forces

Likes:

The story, with its dark tone and mostly cohesive narrative, for me ranks up there as one of the best in the series. It’s tied with Unleashed currently as my 5th favorite Sonic story. 

The supporting cast is superb and everyone in it are the most in character they have been since practically forever. Knuckles being the biggest example of this.

The gameplay is good, fun, and enjoyable across all four playstyles, though some are more fun than others.

The Avatar concept and how they were handled in the story with their own character growth arc. 

The character creation is huge and has plenty of clothing options and physical features and is pretty great. Would really like to see it again in a spinoff game of sorts. 

Eggman’s characterization was great and is at his most threatening and darkest in the series. Crusherthedoctor’s recent post on his portrayal explains this point well. 

The voice cast brought their A game and have greatly exceeded expectations. Hopefully they will be able to keep up this kind of performance in the future.

Warren Graff actually did a decent to good job with translation, as both scripts are practically 1:1 with each other, with only a few things left out or mistranslated.

The music is amazing, though I know for some the amount of synth/techno is annoying, personally I think all the tracks are good to awesome. Another thing is how the all of the vocal tracks specifically tie into the themes of the story, which hasn’t been done since at least Black Knight.

Infinite. Just. Infinite. 

The different changes and remixes to classic levels was a pretty cool idea and was done pretty well.

The fact that Forces and Mania are actually connected and tie into each other is a great idea and I hope that Sonic Team keeps doing more in depth continuity things like that. 

Mind control wasn’t a factor or used here and that is a very good thing. Especially in the case of Shadow. 

The Wispons are fun to use and are a big part of why the Avatar stages are so good to me.

The fact that Sega/Sonic Team are actually branching out into story driven DLC for the first time with Sonic, as well as slowly making other characters playable again.

On that note, Playable Shadow.

The character dialogue in the radio chatter mostly as well as in the cutscenes is really enjoyable. Everyone almost always has something important to say that fits with the events of the plot. 

Dislikes:

The story has a moderate case of “Tell, don’t Show”, which brings it down a fair bit. It really could have used a few more cutscenes to really bring the ideas and plot points it was trying to make together.

Levels are too short and needed to be longer.

Classic Sonic didn’t serve much of a point other than to add another playstyle to the game. I know the his addition was probably set in stone long before Mania, but I feel they should have just left him out of it and just had the Phantom Ruby teleport to Forces at the end without Classic.

Sonic and especially Tails characterizations were wack and a bit off at times. Sonic’s is more forgivable since shrugging off (or at least pretending to) mental trauma is sort of his thing. But they still should have made more of a bigger deal about him being captured and tortured and should have shown the effect that had on him. Tails is much worse and this has been going on since probably Unleashed or longer. Hopefully these issues get addressed and fixed in a later story. 

Not enough enemy variety, it was mostly just the same robots throughout the game. There really should have been different robots Eggman had to have made during his reign over the planet. 

The difficulty was markedly rather easy, even on Hard mode. 

Sega needs to not use any more returning levels and bosses after this game, this also includes the Wisps. It was tolerable here, but I don’t think the fandom can take much more of seeing Green Hill, Chemical Plant, the Death Egg, and so on after Forces, same goes for seeing bosses like the Egg Dragoon and the Wisps for the fifth time.  

There wasn’t an option to change the height and body type of the custom characters, which is a damn shame. More species would have been nice too.

The last Infinite boss was a let down. I was expecting Infinite to go really crazy with the Phantom Ruby like he did during the Avatar’s Metropolis City stage, but he didn’t.

The “Is Classic Sonic from the Past or an actual other Dimension?” kerfuffle that still hasn’t been solved.

No (fake) Shadow or Chaos fight.

Why aren’t there more Wispons? I thought that the achievements stated that there were over 50 wispons? Why are there only six? It seems like a cop out to only have six (technically 7) actual wispons and have the rest just be upgrades to them. We could have had a Rocket Wisp rocket launcher or a Cyan sniper rifle wispon.

Misc.:

These are various likes, dislikes, and mehs that I found not too big of a deal to put into the major ones.

D: Wish there was some way they could have incorporated actual, full on voice acting for the custom characters/avatars. With the ability to pick your voice like in Mass Effect. 

M: I wish that the Avatar had a super form, or better yet, a Phantom Ruby powered form to fight Infinite with.

 D: Why do they need to make a fake Metal Sonic? Couldn’t Eggman just use the real one?

D: I wish the forgotten Sonic characters were in this.

D: I wish there were more enemies in the final battle scene besides the known illusions, like other anthros working for Eggman either of their own free will or via force and other robots made by Eggman. 

 L: The return of “Long time no see”

L: That Jackals, Wolves, Dogs, and Bears are now officially canon Sonic species. 

M: The Chaos Emeralds weren’t in the game. Would have liked a brief explanation about why no one used them in the story but it’s not that big of a deal so eh.

M: Dark Sonic wasn’t in it or made canon and neither was Hyper Sonic

M: Cream, Vanilla, and Gemerl weren’t in it.

M/D: Blaze wasn’t in it. They could have found a way to include her in there, I’m sure.

L: Some of Adventure’s plot points were brought up again.

L: That creepy chestburster moment during the final boss.

L: Those creepy giant, twisted Infinite abominations.

D/M: Sonic wasn’t the leader of the Resistance. I still think they could have really made a great character arc for him in Forces if they had made him the leader. But I;m still glad they made Knuckles leader since he got some much needed character rerailment and him being the leader helped with that.

M: No Sonamy unfortunately

L: I like the little cube figure manifestations that appear when ever you have the Asteroid wispon equipped.

D: The final phase of the boss apes too much off of Sonic Colors’ final boss. It’s an okay fight all things considered, but I would have liked it if it had a more unique fighting style. 

M: Some of the locations in the game have been changed from where they’ve been traditionally in Sonic lore, such as Green Hill being in the middle of a continent instead of being in South Island. This kinda irks me but it’s nothing that really ruins the story. 

If I were to give Forces a rating, despite how dumb scores have become and how they’re abused and used arbitrarily by gaming media to put more or less value and worth on a game as a crappy shorthand measuring stick for what people would enjoy, I would give it objectively 7-7.5/10 and for my personal score 8/10. 

It is a fun, enjoyable game. It’s not as good as Generations gameplaywise, but that doesn’t make it unplayable or not enjoyable in the slightest. Don’t buy into the ever constant Sonic Hatebandwagon and give it a shot if you want a high speed platforming experience. If you’re more a Mario style platformer fan, aren’t fond of the boost style gameplay, or don’t like a more serious toned Sonic game, I suggest skipping it. 

[kingofthewilderwest]

When you are done with season 4 of race to edge what do you think are the pro and cons of the season and what do you hope for season 5?

Alright! I’ve just finished RTTE S4, and I would looooove to discuss pros and cons. I’ll make a list of some favorite small moments later, but here I will talk about big overarching pros and cons. Heads up to people that, because I’m talking pros and cons, I will get into both celebrations and constructive criticism. I’m not intending to rain on anyone’s parade by giving my comments on what I think could be better; I’m just being honest about the things that aren’t my favorite, and which I think are important to recognize… and I can at the same time recognize the show’s weaknesses and be a celebrating fan of the strengths.

Big Pros of RTTE S4

Book References Galore. I am always a fan of book references in the HTTYD show. This season contained a lot of instances which reminded me of the books. Whether or not that was intentional from the writers, it still gives book lovers a means of identify with elements they find familiar. In this season, we got book-like things including but not limited to:

A dragon which can only be birthed in the middle of a volcano.

Bat-like dragons.

Fishlegs calling Hiccup his best friend.

Snotlout feeling threatened by Hiccup’s role as a leader and trying to subvert it and become a great leader himself - be it king, or at least the leader over the other youths. Snotlout pretends to deliberate about killing Hiccup. He gets to be a little more antagonistic than usual when he’s trying so desperately to show that he’s great leader material, hoping so much that he won’t be overshadowed by the others. But in the end, he charges out and risks his life to save Hiccup.

An oft-used phrase in the book, “Easy peasy lemon squeezy,” came right out of Snotlout’s mouth.

Viggo and Ryker’s Relationship Splintering. I was hoping as early as S2 that the writers were setting up a fracturing between Ryker and Viggo. Ryker, after all, tells Heather that he listens to Viggo because they’re family. However, Viggo’s treatment of Ryker is poor. That’s good material for a set-up and character development… and we got it! We started to see hints of it in S3. 

It explodes in S4.

Ryker and Viggo, and their character developments, were probably my favorite thing about this season.

As early as the first episode, we see Ryker smiling when Viggo’s plans are thwarted. Ryker sticks by Viggo, but with increasingly-seen ill treatment on Viggo’s part, and increasingly irritated responses from Ryker, we at last get a split in Shell Shocked. Ryker has had enough of Viggo, and Viggo doesn’t have enough respect for Ryker for this to end well. Of course we still don’t know all the details about what all was planned and what was staged, but it seems Ryker did go rogue against his brother. It was nice to see this character, who was often overshadowed by Viggo, take charge and have this development.

Not to mention how both of the characters ended in Shell Shocked Part 2? Me likey. That was really cool. These appear to be both real deaths, and they are “fitting” for what the characters were. Ryker was a man of violence and strength; he got pulled underwater in the midst of a battle he waged himself. Viggo sought to gain profits and control dragons through the Dragon Eye; him diving to try to save the Dragon Eye shows his own motivations leading to his end.

It’s also very fitting that the Dragon Eye got destroyed. I was talking about how the Dragon Eye had to become inaccessible to both the dragon riders and the dragon hunters at some point in time. There’s no way for the story to get resolved otherwise. And it happened! I was happy to see the Dragon Eye finally return to the plot, and for us to see why it won’t be in Hiccup’s hands by the time of HTTYD 2.

Hiccstrid. I’m not an active Hiccstrid shipper myself (as you guys probably have heard me say many times, I almost never ship anything, and I prefer to focus on platonic and familial bonds), so I’m listing this one mostly for you guys, haha. XD I know that Hiccstrid shippers are probably going to be happy with what happened in this season! Flirtations, words of devotion, multiple kisses, all that happened. Haha, Snotlout even said “Hiccstrid” on screen! The slow boil toward their relationship has finally come to fruit, and it’s quite relieving to see.

I think what I appreciate the most was Hiccup supporting Astrid in Blindsided. The words of support he gave her were wonderful, thoughtful, deep, considerate. We have often seen throughout the franchise Astrid supporting Hiccup emotionally. This is a key moment in which we see Hiccup demonstrate great love, devotion, and support to Astrid in turn. The words he chose were nicely done. I appreciated that a lot.

Big Cons of RTTE S4

Recurring Plot Devices. I know the creators were excited about some of their planned plot twists, but the truth of the matter is that they tend to reuse the same plot devices repeatedly. 

Especially, one plot device they love is when Hiccup has to ally himself with the enemy. This has been done with:

Mildew in “We Are Family Part 2″

Alvin the Treacherous in “Cast Out Part 2″

Dagur the Deranged in “Enemy of My Enemy” and “Family on the Edge”

Krogan, soooooooort of, in “Midnight Scrum”

And now Viggo Grimborn in “Shell Shocked Part 2″

It is to note that the multiple redemption arcs - as with Alvin and Dagur - show repetition, too. I will say, though, it was nice for Viggo to not be completely redeemed. He still betrayed Hiccup in the end, and I appreciated that. But as far as the ally-with-the-enemy arc is concerned… that is starting to feel a little worn out, now.

Other recurring plot devices include Dragon’s Edge being attacked by dragon hunters; one of the youths being captured or kidnapped by the enemy; and, of course, a new dragon being first dangerous but then tamed.

Weak Character Motivations. It’s not that motivations are absent. It’s that they’re not neatly connected together or expounded upon to any realistic level. Character motivations move in sudden jerks forward rather than smooth progressions. Lots of the time the character motivations are explained weakly enough that they seem extremely unrealistic toward how a person would actually react in that situation.

Dagur goes from being an enemy with ASPD symptoms… to being a tentative ally with regrets… to being a genuinely good guy who cares deeply for his sister, the other riders, and endangered dragons. They do rudimentarily explain why he goes from one mental state to the next, but it never feels convincing. Part of that is that no one just magically drops an antisocial personality. Another part of it is that we don’t see a good, smooth progression from one phase to the next. The writers put in a little bit of transition material, but never enough.

Another example is Heather and her relationship with Dagur. There was not enough material for her switching from loathing Dagur… to being uncomfortable with his “death”… to being completely comfortable around him and welcome to deep physical touch. While we get the gist of why it happened, the way in which it is presented is very unconvincing and doesn’t at all feel like how people psychologically function. It’s pushing it at best. I’m not a fan of these sorts of things being misconstrued because it can have consequences for how we handle the dangerous and toxic people in our own lives.

We have other inconsistent character motivations on top of that, along with lots of weak plot devices arising out of this, but yeah. Character motivations are not as well progressed as they should be.

Sexism. This is nothing new to the show; it’s been present since Riders of Berk and onward. It’s been bothering me increasingly more with each new season released, likely because it hasn’t gotten better (the only thing that’s gotten better is no longer using “girl” as an insult). Especially for RTTE S3 and S4, I’ve felt distinctly uncomfortable with DreamWorks Dragons’ treatment of gender. It’s just come to a point that they should have fixed their mistakes by now, except they keep perpetuating.

Default gender in the show is undeniably male. The rule of how everything works in this show is “male until proven otherwise.” Seriously though. Essentially every single individual we meet is a man, be it human or dragon. Somehow every single new introduced dragon in the show is called a “he,” despite that being highly statistically unlikely. There are even several cases in which an obvious female has been called “he.” Given as we see no other Eruptodons around, it seems likely the egg had to have been laid by the dragon on the island. Sure, we can finagle around and give decently-conjured explanations for how this dragon could still be male, but by all accounts, it’s weird. We shouldn’t, in Defenders of the Wing Part 1, call THAT dragon a “he.” Even more clearly, Chicken is a chicken - a female member of that species, obviously so by the bird’s physical features. Tuffnut even hallucinates the chicken speaking to him in a female voice. Aaaaand yet both Stoick - and in this latest season, Tuffnut himself - call Chicken “he.” No. The chicken is female. That’s literally as bad as animating a cow with an udder and calling it a “he.” It’s that obviously female. How are we messing this up? Because the default gender of anything is male in this show.

Next, there are some stereotypes and unflattering tropes of women that sneak into the show. In so many movies, television shows, and novels, a woman is often only introduced when she has a romantic relationship with one of the male characters. While there are plenty of male characters who are not in a romantic relationship in media, it is much harder to find a woman who doesn’t at least flirt with a man and have that be a major point of her time on screen. It means that, as humorous as some people might find the Snotlout x Mala (Snala? Snotla? Malout???) dynamics, it’s not the most fun thing to see yet another female character’s role being heavily centered around whether or not she’s in a non-platonic relationship with someone.

Damselstrid happens a little too often for comfort. I know that many Hiccstrid shippers probably enjoy seeing Hiccup and Astrid caring for one another in precarious situations. I do admit that there were some good lines especially in Blindsided. Nevertheless, it is awkward to see the disparity between Astrid saving Hiccup versus Hiccup saving Astrid. This also have been around since forever, but it’s increasingly obvious with S3 and S4.

Astrid will save Hiccup in very short, quick minor moments in combat, such as by blocking enemy fire. But it’s never played up for drama. They’re gone before you know they’ve happened. In the one episode where Hiccup really needed saving because he’s kidnapped, it’s to note that the entire team (Stoick at the forefront) - not Astrid - save him. The other time Hiccup majorly needed saving because he was drowning… he was saved by a dragon. Astrid never gets the big save when Hiccup is most vulnerable.

By contrast, Astrid will constantly be in precarious positions in which she seems more desperate and in greater, longer danger. There have been two episodes dedicated entirely to Astrid being in a helpless situation and Hiccup needing to save her - Buffalord Soldier and Blindsided. Additionally, we can add several more instances of Astrid being in danger, like the very end of Shell Shocked Part 2, or when she’s about to burn up in Out of the Frying Pan. And when she is in these extremely vulnerable situations, we’ll often hear her murmur, “Hiccup.” It’s a suggestion that Hiccup is what is important and Hiccup is what’s going to save her. Even though Astrid is the best warrior of the youths, she is put into far more vulnerable positions than most of the other riders, and Hiccup almost always is the specific individual who gallantly saves her.

I could keep going about how there were also some outdated notions of gender sneaked in the show dialogue, too, but I’ll stop here. Essentially, sexism. It’s definitely in RTTE.

Season 5 Hopes

I don’t have too many thoughts on what I want for season 5 currently. Maybe ask me in a few months. At the moment, all I can think about is that we’re going to have to address that exploding volcano on Dragon’s Edge, and we’re definitely not done with Krogan.

In many ways, the end of S4 is the end of the big plot arc we got starting in S1. Seasons 1 through 4 are a unit, it looks like. It’s the story of Hiccup going against the dragon hunters. That ending has got to be the ending of the plot arc with Ryker and Viggo. So where season 5 turns? It’ll be a little bit of a new direction.

We’ve got some seeds planted with Krogan, I suppose, but really not much to work on. You could almost just completely end the show with S4. We got Hiccstrid together. Viggo, Dagur, and Ryker are no longer threats. The Dragon Eye is no longer around to investigate. It’s just that volcano blast and the fact the creators said there would be more episodes that means this is going to continue.

There’s a weird small part of me that wants Savage to come back. I don’t think they’ll do it, but I suddenly saw potential, and actually relished the small moment of Savage’s return. He had a wonderful return with great motivation. I’m assuming they’re just going to ride him off as inept, and this is the last we see of him. But there’s also a lot of potential for him to try to do something big. But I suspect we won’t see him, that it would detract from other plot stuff they would want to do, and so on and so forth.

So they’re likely going to keep sneaking toward Krogan and stuff with plot development? But how they’re going to do that without interfering with the plotline of HTTYD 2, I am not sure.

[theconservativebrief]

There’s a famous scene in the fashion-insider tell-all The Devil Wears Prada, in which Miranda Priestly, the Anna Wintour avatar played with icy hauteur by Meryl Streep, explains to jejune fashion assistant Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), a wannabe serious journalist, about the trickle-down effect of high fashion.

After Andy scoffs about what she considers frivolous fashion choices, Miranda informs Andy that the frumpy blue sweater she’s wearing isn’t simply blue, it’s cerulean. Furthermore, Miranda says, her wearing that sweater is the result of a long series of fashion decisions — from an Oscar de la Renta collection featuring cerulean, to that of lower-end designers, to “some tragic ‘casual corner’ where [Andy], no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin.” High fashion, she implies, starts with luxury brands, then those trends work their way down to the mainstream.

The same process is happening with wellness.

Traditionally, the kind of luxury “wellness” product associated with lifestyle brands was a thoroughly high-end affair. There’s Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, with its $66 jade eggs (designed to be placed in the vagina, for dubious medical benefit). There’s SuperShe, a Finnish island resort devoted to wellness and women’s empowerment that runs $4,600 a week. Last year’s pop-up at Saks Fifth Avenue, The Wellery, was a high-end, 20-stall “wellness mall” where you could, among other things, pay $25 for a 10-minute slot to breathe in high-end Himalayan salts.

Now there’s WW, which was, until September, Weight Watchers. The affordable weight loss organization is in the process of rebranding itself as a wellness hub (the company says WW now stands for “wellness that works”). According to a press release, WW will now focus less on shedding pounds, and more on its “overall approach to health and wellbeing of inspiring powerful habits rooted in science.”

WW will keep some of the markers of the traditional Weight Watchers experience, including the points system, by which different foods “cost” a pre-determined amount of a consumer’s daily budget. But it’s also shifting its focus away from weight loss as a primary goal.

WW will partner with Headspace, the $250 million meditation app, to provide consumers with guided meditations in multiple languages to help transform their relationship with food and their body overall. It will offer dozens of themed Connect Groups, allowing customers to interact with one another socially. The rebranding of Weight Watchers into WW, and the company’s new focus on mental well-being is, in part, the reflection of the health and wellness industry’s increasing discomfort with the language of “dieting” and deprivation, as Taffy Brodesser-Akner wrote for the New York Times last year. But it also represents the democratization of the luxury-wellness aesthetic: mindfulness gone mainstream.

The most notable wellness brands on the market have always been aspirational, not necessarily accessible. The aesthetic of wellness is one that, in many ways, is defined by its opposition to mass-market identity. Farm-to-table restaurants, hand-crafted goods, bespoke immersive “experiences” — none of these things is easily scalable.

As the movement’s leading acolyte, Paltrow, told Brodesser-Akner in a different New York Times feature, “It’s crucial to me that we remain aspirational. … Our stuff is beautiful. The ingredients are beautiful. You can’t get that at a lower price point. You can’t make these things mass-market.”

The philosophical underpinnings of wellness culture — that we need to disconnect from our phones and laptop screens, that we need to eat seasonal and organic food grown within a three-block radius of our apartments, that we should fly to a remote Scandinavian island for a week to get in touch with our primal feminine identity — are incompatible with the kind of mechanization and reproduction that make products affordable.

It’s also not quite clear what, exactly, wellness is. The Global Wellness Institute includes a variety of experiences and products, from fitness classes to spa experiences to beauty supplies, within its wellness metric. But the concept itself is a nebulous one. It includes specific, physical transformations — getting better skin, getting more toned, losing weight — but is not synonymous with it. The rhetoric of wellness is as much about spiritual purification — you’re healing yourself of the innate toxicity of a hyper-connected, capitalist existence — as about any measurable physiological goals.

Still, the wellness behemoth continues to grow. According to the Institute, the wellness industry grew 11 percent between 2011 and 2013 to a $3.7 trillion market. The industry is expected to grow by another 17 percent by 2020. And, increasingly, wellness is becoming less aspirational than essential, as expected as free wifi in hotels. Brands that fail to find a way to sell their products as providing consumers wellness fall behind. Earlier this year, Kraft, Nestle, and Heinz — brands associated with unhealthy or at least health-neutral products — all cited the rise of the “health conscious” consumer as a major factor hindering company growth.

Likewise, consumers increasingly see wellness as a moral necessity, not an aspirational luxury. As Brigid Delaney, author of Wellmania: Misadventures in the Search for Wellness, told Vox, “Wellness was once the preserve of an elite. It was people who could afford $3,000 spiritual retreats, or $30 Barre classes or $150 Lululemon yoga pants. It was an aspirational ideal that that flashed past you as you scrolled through Instagram … but out of reach for most people who were too busy and/or too poor to spend the money on things that weren’t seen as necessities.”

She added: “The movement has trickled down to more affordable options — as wellness is seen as not just for the rich, but something you should do for yourself. Almost like a responsibility.”

As Beth McGroarty, a spokesperson for the Global Wellness Institute, told Vox that according to the Institute’s trends report: “There is a proliferation of lower-cost wellness products and services: from a new generation of affordable healthy grocery stores to low-cost spa chains. … We expect to see greater shifts from wellness as a luxury product to an attainable goal that’s packaged and sold by more affordable outlets.”

In other words, wellness is entering the economy class. Sometimes literally. Earlier this year, several airlines — including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic — partnered with Headspace in order to give passengers access to in-flight guided meditations, ostensibly to make the experience of traveling in economy a little less hellish. Wellness, in other words, is now being treated as a necessary corporate amenity, even for those passengers for whom $3,000 retreats or $30 barre classes would break the bank.

Within that paradigm, WW’s transformation makes perfect sense. Wellness culture is no longer about luxury or uniqueness. Rather, it’s about making perceived “lifestyle changes” accessible by promising to transform a consumer’s way of thinking from the inside of an app.

In a phone interview with Vox, WW’s Chief Science Officer, Gary Fisher, stressed the importance of mental transformation in overall wellness. WW’s partnership with Headspace, he said, is rooted in the fact that “half of the work of doing [a weight loss] journey” is mental. “We want to leverage the power of positive psychology,” he said. A WW customer can work in a guided meditation during a stressful commute, or a quick break in the workday.

In other words, you don’t need to fly to a $4,500-a-week Scandinavian island resort anymore to “get away” from the daily capitalist grind. The distinction, however illusory, between “work” and “wellness” has collapsed.

It’s possible to be cynical about WW’s rebranding. Erika Nicole Kendall said in an opinion piece for NBC News that the company’s press release was a “word salad with terrible fat-free dressing,” arguing that WW is just disguising its fundamental weight loss ethos with a feel-good, saleable veneer of wellness.

Of course, encouraging people to think about health as something broader and more nuanced than a number on a scale is by and large a good thing.

But WW’s transformation raises wider questions about what wellness, as a concept, really is — and why we want to buy it in the first place. A staggering percentage of diets fail. (Even Weight Watchers’ own internal studies, through which the company has a vested interest in being optimistic, suggest that people lose, on average, just 5 percent of their body weight in six months, and regain two-thirds of that within two years).

So, if diets don’t work, why do we do them? If Weight Watchers — and now WW — doesn’t actually help you lose weight, what exactly is the product people keep buying?

From Goop to WW, wellness has been as much about marketing emotions — the feeling of change — as it is about marketing actual physiological transformations. Put a jade egg in your vagina, or sign up for WW after a holiday-season binge, and you’re transforming not your body but how you feel about yourself. Aspirational and accessible brands alike offer a sense of identity — “I am the sort of person who is getting my life on track” — far more potent than a pound lost or a pore opened.

Critics like Kendall accuse WW, fairly, of being a weight-loss organization masquerading as a wellness brand. But it’s worth asking the reverse: To what extent was the original Weight Watchers a purveyor of feelings masquerading as a weight loss program? After all, if dieting doesn’t work, what exactly are you paying for?

Wellness may have morphed, culturally, from a luxury into a responsibility. And companies who sell that sense of responsibility also sell a sense of accomplishment. The idea that you are taking care of yourself, that your weight — even if it’s not where you want it to be — is something that you’re working on, is as integral to WW’s brand identity as its famous points system.

It’s telling that Delaney frames the democratization of wellness culture as the transformation of wellness from a dream into an obligation. WW’s new ethos, with its focus on the kind of meditations and wellness-centered activities you can do during a work break, or on a commute, reflects precisely that sense of obligation. Whereas a $4,500-a-week resort presents itself as an escape from work, a fantasy of purification, a $3-a-week app presents itself as something you should integrate into your daily life.

American culture has long been influenced by what has traditionally been called the Protestant work ethic: the idea that hard work, self-sacrifice, and moral purity are inextricable from one another. The increasing framing of wellness as a personal obligation, a necessity for both companies to provide and consumers to purchase, reflects that. The more accessible and affordable self-care becomes, the more it becomes an obligation. After all, it’s one thing to scroll past Instagram posts of $150 leggings you can’t afford without clicking. It’s another thing entirely to fail to make time to use a meditation app on your morning commute.

In this way, the inevitable “trickle-down” nature of wellness culture has transformed its moral character. The fantasy Goop sells is that of privilege and leisure — to be the sort of person who has the time (let alone the money) to indulge in lengthy experimental spa treatments, or buy one-of-a-kind hand-crafted objects.

Conversely, the identity WW is selling, is that of being someone in control of one’s own life. Someone who can do it all. Someone who is willing to put in the work to get physical and mental results. It’s a compelling emotion, particularly in our hyper-capitalist culture. And that feeling of being a person in control may well be worth $3 or $6 a week.

But WW’s new identity, like all brand identities, is more about the fantasy it conveys than about the results it provides. Maybe that’s okay.

Original Source -> The rebranded Weight Watchers is bringing wellness to the masses

via The Conservative Brief