#the fact that he internalized the idea that not having this specific type of power means you lose your personal freedom looking at jyl

[whetstonefires]

Hey here's an angle on the Jiang family dynamic and its impact on Wei Wuxian that I haven't seen discussed:

Wei Wuxian grew up seeing Jiang Yanli routinely having her agency cut off and denied in both large (betrothal) and small ways. That were largely tied up in her gender, sure, but this was also a family containing Yu Ziyuan. A daughter in this household had every chance of having her gender treated as of secondary importance.

She just had to earn it.

The way Jiang Yanli was hemmed in and her potential as an independent actor dismissed was at least as strongly correlated with her failure to be a powerful sword cultivator.

So Wei Wuxian's total refusal to let anyone know that he'd lost access to his cultivation and his violent reactivity against being diminished or condescended to during his Sunshot-to-death period, when before he was pretty immune to being looked down on, could have a lot to do with having been presented with this clearly labeled diagram of how your personhood gets stripped away when you are, by the standards of your society, disabled.

[crustyfloor]

FUCK THEM UPPPPPPP TILL OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDD

The visuals of Till's splash art (in my humble opinion, the best one so far) is STUNNING. AND very interesting.

For Till specifically to cover All-In is an interesting message to give off, All-In is a song about freedom. A type of freedom that allows you to live confidently and freely, creating whatever type of world you want, the stage is yours, so make what you want of it. living confidently in YOUR OWN SKIN. And living freely "cause you only got one life to live"

Freedom is something Till fights for relentlessly, and confidence is a bravado, as by far the most uncontrolled and tested person in the cast, he still fights for his boundaries and self-expression even when he's punished, molded into something he's not, or beaten into obedience, tested far past the limit; he never loses his bite. A wild dog can never be tamed.

This is the cover that follows what becomes of Till after round 6, and still, in Till's all-in, he sounds so raw, pained, energized, and passionate desperation is evident. It's a contrast from HyunA's celebratory cheers and upbeat mood because Till isn't celebrating the idea of freedom; he's angrily proving to everyone, especially the aliens, that he isn't backing down yet and he'll still keep fighting and that he can fight for his own freedom.

Till's cover of All-in is truly the most powerful depiction of Till's fighting spirit, after everything he's gone through, the pain, the grief. It's all in his voice and the way he sings he's pained the entire time he sings and he's aggressive because the fire of his spirit is lit once again. He's going "all-in" so to speak and expressing himself.

The tape around his neck--

It's a contrast to HyunA who doesn't mind showing her brand, even proudly showing it off as a form of reclaiming her individualism.

Till is different. Because being reminded that he is and was once a pet is not something he would want to remember about himself, he will always bitterly try to distance himself from that fact in any way he can, HyunA feels free from the system when she can own it, but when Till sees his branding, he'll still always feel that collar. It's a testament to his self-deprecation, as long as the evidence of his past is present, and he still feels all the pain the aliens inflicted on him, It'd be presumptuous to think he'd ever feel like he can relate and fit in with the other "fools" who are so free.

It'd be presumptuous to think he'd ever feel free. That's what the aliens wanted, right?

Another interesting part of this is that the name 'All-in" is actually a real-life poker reference, to go "all-in" in poker is to voluntarily bet all of your remaining chips, there is nothing else you can do but hope for the best after that point (and hope you win).

When HyunA sings All-in, she deceives you into thinking she has the upper hand or good hand, and that she will win. When Till sings it, he's giving it all away recklessly, he's showing all he has. Basically, him saying fuck it. he doesn't know if he'll win or not but says, "Let's go all-in and risk it all anyways" Even if internally he knows that this is stupid and risky, this is his foolish rebellion.

At this point he has nothing to lose and nothing to gain, it's his final stand as he lets his heart out not for the crowd, but for the family he lost, himself, a form of self-expression. He will be so nervous, so aggrieved but it's the freest he will ever feel on that stage.

The color symbolism also drives me CRAZY.

For his other two splash art, he's been represented with a color close enough to teal. In both songs, he's open when he sings and fully serene. Teal is a generally calming color, and it's not too evocative. It's more emotional (and has it's own reservations)

And then, we have green, which is a general symbol of growth, new beginnings, and freshness. After all, Till has been through all-in is a sign of his growth. And a new era of his life, or in other words a sudden tonal shift from his depressive state in round 6.

And for my favorite (it's not.) part! the head shot, (interesting how his has nearly the biggest impact out of them all.)

A bit of a theory.

It's a bit similar to one particular art of him, he has a little shape that's almost akin to impact from a gunshot near the same area.

So, I think this is tell-tale symbolism for a future injury, but the gun portrayed is a bubble gun. I believe it is symbolism for the wound being non-fatal, so even if Till loses and gets shot, he'll survive, fundamentally changed. and will probably join the rebellion, too.

/side note

The heartbeats in Till's version of all-in are faster and louder than HyunA's version, similar to CURE.

[unordinary-diary]

So I have a question about Arlo’s powers that you might have the answer to

Do you know what the bleeding is all about? Like when he starts coughing up blood after his barrier breaks. Does he just like straight up start bleeding internally or something?

Anyway I love this blog sm you are giving me the unO content I crave

Ah, thank you! Yes, I absolutely have the answer. In fact, I’m going to take this opportunity to make a post that was already floating in my head.

Arlo and Recoil Damage

First, to answer your question in a literal sense, yes. It’s definitely internal bleeding. Specifically, damage to his lungs.

It’s also not at all unprecedented for a person to be wounded like this. Every person with a conjuring type ability takes damage when their conjures are damaged.

(Rein in ch. 16)

(Cecile attacking Arlo, ch. 109)

The difference with Arlo, is that his damage happens below the skin. Here’s where it gets juicy.

Symbolism

Arlo’s ability is very symbolic, possibly the most so of anyone in the series. His nigh unbreakable barrier he puts around himself represents his metaphorical walls, and how he keeps everyone at a distance. His passive makes him invulnerable— he gets punched in the face, clawed at, stabbed at, etc, and doesn’t even blink. The only way to hurt Arlo is to break through his barrier. And when his walls are broken down, there’s a wound in his chest. It’s not literal enough to be his heart that bleeds, but it’s very close.

There’s also something that’s been kicking around in my head for awhile—

“You’re the strongest one out of all of us here right now. You can try to brush this whole thing off... but to the rest of us, it’s still scary. If even you can’t protect yourself, what can the rest of us do?” — Remi, Ep. 61.

I remembered the line being “When people as strong as you show fear, it scares the rest of us.” However, that must have come from a different scene and I won’t track it down.

It’s plain and simple: High tiers have been taught their whole lives to bottle things up.

This is also seen reflected in Seraphina—

(ep. 20) Granted, the circumstances here are very different, but it’s a similar idea. High tiers showing emotions scares people.

So they bottle them up...

… until they explode.

(Ep. 106)

The judgment Arlo and Seraphina face is very similar. Seraphina rejects these expectations before the story starts, but Arlo has yet to do so. He is very much like the Seraphina we see in flashbacks.

All of this is to say: it is significant that his barrier wounds are internal. The little bit of blood we can see is mainly there so the audience knows he’s injured— but otherwise? Barrier cracks aren’t an injury that people can really see. Recoil damage is typically reflected as scratches, so his internal wounds are both unique, and symbolic of the way he hides his feelings.

[edoro]

wrt the last post i just reblogged (Halsin cnc meta), i personally tend to imagine him as fairly aware of and comfortable with his kinks, including the ones based on his trauma

in fact i like to think that one of the reasons why he has such trouble accepting that his years of sex slavery were in fact deeply traumatic and abusive is because his response is to heavily sexualize his own trauma - not only was that part of how he discovered that he takes great pleasure in servicing others sexually, but ever since he's sought out situations where he can recreate aspects of the experience

because he's so large and strong and people tend to make assumptions about what kind of sex he wants or what kind of role he plays (or just project their own ideas of what kind of role they want him to play or think he should play onto him), he doesn't get to bottom or sub nearly as often as he likes

although his tendency towards acts of service is imo his own way of taking that control - even if someone wants him to be aggressive and fuck them, if he's doing it as an act of service, then he's still submitting himself to them and making himself their pet or toy and giving himself that satisfaction

this is something that i really like the idea of him and Astarion having in common, actually. i like to think of them both responding to their trauma by sexualizing it, but essentially in opposite directions

Astarion wants to be the one in control, the one doing rather than the one done to, and in contrast to Halsin, i think he would 100% think that makes him a bad person, basically as bad as Cazador

he doesn't really understand kink as something negotiated, as play between willing partners. his only experience is being tortured and exploited, and now that he finds himself with all of these desires to control, dominate, and hurt someone else, to force himself on someone else the way he was forced so many times, he's sure that it must mean he's irredeemably broken by his experiences

meanwhile, Halsin knows that both of their desires are normal and nothing to be ashamed of, but he's got this fun little cognitive dissonance going on where even though he would never think this of someone else, he feels like the fact that he found his experience of sex slavery powerfully erotic means it wasn't really that bad and that he can't really call himself a victim - maybe sort of a victim, but not entirely one, not the way someone like Astarion was

(even though their situations are very similar in certain respects. Astarion says most of his partners didn't even "grant me temporary bliss," but that doesn't mean he never found any of it sexually satisfying or erotically compelling, or never had any complicated feelings about Cazador that included love, a desire for attention/regard, or a sense of comforting familiarity)

i'm just very fond of the idea of Halsin being pretty comfortable in his own enjoyment of submission, including things like masochism, cnc, pet play, various types of power exchange, and just generally a lot of things that are quite specifically aspects of his own past abuse, and getting to walk Astarion through the idea that it's fine and okay to like that sort of thing whether you want to be on the giving or receiving end of it

and MEANWHILE being forced to confront his own internal double standard where he holds himself responsible for things that he would never hold someone else responsible for, due to his direct engagement with Astarion's trauma, and having to slowly come to the realization that he was a captive, he was a victim, it was abusive, and he is in fact Kind Of Fucked Up About It

[lycanr0t]

if you'd like to share your thoughts on gay trans man marcille i'd love to read them and/or see your art of him! (no pressure of course!)

oh man will I share my thoughts dfjkh I was maybe going to eventually make a post to ramble about it but this gives me the perfect excuse to now :J

This ranting WILL have spoilers for anime only fans/ppl who haven't finished the manga!

Marcille is interesting to read as a gay trans man though. Because how I see it, during the events of the manga he would not know he's trans! Or at most, he would maybe have some Gender Feelings but he wouldn't really understand it yet.

To me, Marcille is the type who would at first do everything in his power to deny it/convince himself he isn't trans. I think he would have a fair bit of internalized transphobia just as a result of his fairly rigid way of going about things. He has specific standards for himself especially but also for others.

This is where my gay trans man headcanon for Falin comes in lol.

Not for romance reasons specifically, but because I think the way Marcille treats Falin when looked at through the lens of Marcille being a trans egg is especially interesting.

For my Falin headcanon, I see Falin as a gay trans man as well, but I think that he wouldn't be out to Marcille until after the events of the manga. This is very integral to how I view Marcille's gender discovery happening.

I think that during the time they're in school together, Marcille would have feelings for Falin that are confusing. In Marcille's mind they're both girls, so he must just be a girl into girls, right? Meanwhile Falin performs girl wrong and this challenges Marcille's worldview. Marcille cares for Falin, and this manifests as Marcille trying to 'help' Falin perform girl better. Basically, Marcille doubling down on his currently held beliefs of what gender is and how it functions instead of considering that it may not be that simple, and he and/or Falin may not be a girl. Falin I think would not bring up being trans for a few reasons but primarily that boy is just not big on conflict with people especially those he cares for.

But anyways. A perfect example of Marcille forcing his idea of correct gender performance being in a daydream hour page where Falin is drawn with short hair, and Marcille is visibly pretty upset by it. (I don't have the translated image but here it is)

I know that it seems like a small thing that doesn't hold much weight, and it's not technically canon but trans mens hair is often something that people feel that they need to control. A girl cutting her hair short is seen as this horrible, unacceptable thing. Now again, obviously Falin doesn't canonically cut his hair short, but the fact that Marcille would be upset and specifically wants it long again informs us about his view of these things. I think that hair being useful for magic would end up being a justification for both being upset by the concept of Falin with short hair, and a justification to himself on why he is not allowed to experiment with shorter hair. It's more practical for his line of work/study, so it's a perfect excuse to just never think about if he TRULY loves it long or if he is just doubling down on performing what's expected of him.

Marcille is a KING of appearing way more uptight than he is. He's very by the books, very strict seeming about doing magic right, but he also specifically primarily has interest in the most taboo magic. He's the loudest about complaining about eating monsters, but he's also the first one to outright say that if they have to eat demihumans then so be it. Marcille is full of contradicting feelings and actions and I think he's prone to trying to fit into what people expect but his heart isn't fully in it so he still ends up doing the unexpected as well.

Even after the manga, Marcille has lost his desire to take care of his hair but he honestly doesn't seem... that upset by it? He is upset, sure, but for something that appeared to be a pretty big thing for him he accepts it shockingly smoothly. Almost as if perhaps, it's a relief to have an excuse to try something different. To try shorter hair maybe? Because now he has an excuse other than doing gender 'wrong'. It would feel safer to explore.

Aand I have a TON of other thoughts but this is getting pretty long and I'm losing track of my thoughts SO I'm going to drop a small list of some other random half formed thoughts I think about in relation to Marcille being a gay trans man

marcille being half elf half tallman and the parallel between that and being trans and how when you're trans you're alienated and isolated. in society's eyes youre not fully a man, not fully a woman, you're both and neither and othered in a complicated way

everyone assuming marcilles wish is to become 'full elf' also is interesting to compare to the experience of people viewing being trans as 'wishing you were X gender' in a very binary way

marcille asking if his dad is pregnant in a flashback just feels like something a trans egg kid would say

marcilles overall attachment to his father tbh.

marcille being super into romance novels and specifically his succubus presenting as a pretty boy from his novels. Obviously this can be read romantic or whatever but I know personally a lot of characters I was obsessed with as a child that I thought was romantic attraction turned out to be a combination of attraction and wanting their gender expression. I think it's interesting to read into marcille's interest in romance novels as him finding a 'safe' way to explore his attraction to men and desire to be a man without actually acknowledging that directly. (a lot of irl gay trans men do similar before they realize theyre gay trans men!)

Aaand that's my thoughts for now lmao. Here's some pen doodles I did while figuring out how I wanted to draw post-canon marcille :> Still working on figuring him out but I like how these look! I like the idea of him having some facial hair (not very long as elves seem to not be able to grow much body hair) and probably cutting his hair so it's more shoulder length and a bit easier to manage!

[rielzero]

Just saw your post about ascended Astarion and male Tav fanfic. I am willing to rise to the challenge

If you need any prompts! here's some concept I've danced with in my head (up for anyone to use) inspired by my own character's potential AUs. Please do not claim ownership over the ideas, I'd love to see people's different spins. Please keep it to Male Tav, there's so many Female Tav fics out there already- I had ideas specifically with a male character in mind. M x M focus is preferred. I'm not bi or pan, so anything hinting to tav being exclusively gay is nice.

THESE ARE all PROMPTS / IDEAS not demands. I'm not here to control anyone's creative progress :V

I'm just a nerd be nice

Brain Damage Tav has used the tadpole powers but refuses to become half-illitid and keeps it how it is. Tav ascends Astarion- but is convinced by Jaheira or someone else that he is incapable of feeling love now and becomes afraid of him- (Astarion still is very much capable of love) Astarion responds of course like a scorned ex, and lies through his teeth when the break up happens and breaks tav's heart. Timeskip- it is revealed Tav's altered brain still has mindflayer powers, but because of the trauma of the final fight he suffers from severe memory loss and pretty much got themselves in a position were he is dying- only for Astarion to come around and save him by turning him- then be met with guilt and over-protectiveness when he realizes Tav does not remember their time together anymore. (would work for a series, this concept is what I intend to use for an AU of my character but it would be very different.) Lots of angst but soft ascended astarion towards male tav :3 very gentle- very protective.

You were There too AU were Tav was kept by Cazador but never turned, just kept as a snack- so Astarion knows him and they may have fallen in love during that time. During the ritual Cazador threatens to replace Astarion with Tav- Astarion goes feral.

I forget you're an Urchin Playing into the fact that Astarion was a corrupted Noble- knows what luxury life is like- inspired by how my tav is an urchin and very unfamiliar with luxury- Tav is Astarion's consort- but is very awkward not knowing ANYTHING about noble life, from etiquette to wearing jewelry and fancy garbs. Wholesome stuff- Probably lots of fluff. Astarion spoiling Tav and showing him off.

Three of them AU were Gale and Astarion and Tav are a in a polycule, after ascension Astarion becomes a little overly possessive over Tav- Gale notices a bit late and feels left out, but supports his loved ones new life goals... Of world domination.

I'm married, get over it Au were male tav has an horrible ex who breaks in the mansion because he thinks tav is enslaved to Astarion- but he's not- He's just as evil as Astarion. And they're very affectionate- Astarion enjoys rubbing it into the ex's face. Extra points if the ex is a human cleric, paladin, or bard with too much facial hair. (COUGHS)

Warlock? cool Any fic that plays into the warlock theme openly for tav, not similary to Wyll- all though I don't want to restrict anyone to a specific type of patron. (my patron is a great old one) keep in mind there's warlock patrons outside of the subclasses in the bg3 game if you need inspiration. If tav's patron is female, give them a mother-son kind of bond since tav is gay.

Other, Tropes I like described vaguely cuz my brain stoopid but ideas that can be expanded into one fic or more -oh shit you're dying don't worry I can fix it with a bite -you're so beautiful I want a 100 paintings of you akjdkhgkfhgk -The gods literally made you to ruin me god damn it I should've known -tav is small / fragile looking man but he can stab you 100 times over -tav can sing, or is creative but he doesn't like sharing this side of him (loki is 100% exactly this lol) hes easily embarrassed -tav is internally panicking because he is very very very gay. -tav has scars too and is very insecure about his body. -overprotectiveness, lots of handholding keep you close kinda stuff -wholesome physical affection, does not have sexual implications even if they talk dirty or flirt silly -words being used like petite, twink- or cute in the right context. -maybe a fic focussing on tav being half elf and the struggles that come with it. Otherwise leave race up to reader. -Tav was already a vampire before they met, or is a dhampir -Astarion and tav knew each other 200 years ago -I will pet you aggressively and affectionally and you will like it -who the fuck are you drawing? wait thats me??? oh -Astarion is creative too and might doodle. -love at first sight but in denial.. cuz its funny -tav has insomnia and needs cuddles... -tav is a necromancer and familiar with vampire lore. -anything reflecting the vampire bride/groom lore in a scene. (there's a reddit post explaining this) -Vampire hunters coming after tav in attempt to hurt Astarion because he's become pretty untouchable -Vampire Tav does not want to feed on his victims because he finds that too intimite -Vampire tav is a vampire lord too- but not an ascended one- and he isn't corrupted by greed. -Astarion technically can compel Tav, but has no desire to do so and voices this openly to anyone who tries to argue Tav is a slave. -If Astarion hurts tav by accident in any way he feels horrible and will shower him in gifts or thousands of love language things just to affirm that it was an oopsie and he did not want to do that. He'd never do that willingly. -consent consent consent anything with consent- love language is consent -tav was a sex worker himself before they met but not anymore -lots of fluff stuff -scheming husbands plotting the downfall of the world together, bonus points if tav is the mastermind and a genius -Polycule with Gale, either as Triad, or Triangle -Admiring from afar, staring- lots of staring- intense consential staring -astarion beating up tav's abusers while tav sips from a chalice like a spoiled consort -dramatic vampire parties and all the normie vampire lords are scared of Astarion and his consort -vampire politics are kind of like ballroom hissing contests with fancy banquets and showing off your partner -I will go feral if someone hurts or touches you -steer clear of the consort, or the master will gut you -jealous vampire lord tries to seduce tav but tav is very loyal to astarion and not having it -astarion gets a cleric or powerful mage in his court just to revive tav if tav dies -You offended my husband? I'm setting your village on fire -Everyone thinks the consort tav is weak- but the consort might actually be more dangerous oh no -None of the above lines have to be necessarily restricted by ingame universe, can all be AU- does not have to include the whole mindflayer drama. Rule of Cool.

Avoid these please? I personally dislike that -misgendering tav (babygirl, queen, girly, strictly effeminate- any words that might demasculinize tav, as a gay man this stuff makes me really uncomfortable) -Overly describing tav's features as if they're set without leaving it open to the reader (long hair, skin color, favorite colors, etc) -Astarion knew tav when tav was still a child and Astarion was an adult. -Astarion abusing tav physically, just.. Please no. -...they're teenagers in high school... *dies* -brainwashing.. No offense to people who like some tropes I don't- You're fine :V We all have different tastes!

Headcanons for how Ascension works that you can use (inspired by ingame dialogue and such) -Tav isn't a regular spawn, but a vampire groom- He was turned differently, not buried for 2 days. Astarion can sense Tav is in danger if he is a groom, or sense strong emotions from him. -Tav is not immune to sunlight unless he stays in close range of Astarion. (based on dialogue) -Astarion might be a bit warmer to the touch since he is a living vampire now. He does not have to feed on blood- but Tav still requires blood and is cold to the touch.

Might edit this post later with more.

[lugarn]

On Jason Lee and Realism

I have seen some saying that Jason Lee's portrayal as an abuser in Playboyy isn't realistic, and I have to politely disagree.

(Spoilers for Playboyy through the finale. Trigger warning for abuse + discussing the mindset of this type of predator/abuser.)

Jason Lee is very realistic. All it takes is one look at real-life examples like Harvey Weinstein or Larry Nassar to see it: predators like this typically hurt a wide pool of people, not one or two specific victims.

This is just the way they work, because many predators are opportunistic. They can't let an opportunity (like one of their adopted son/sugar baby's school friends befriending him) pass without taking advantage of it. They can't let the opportunity to have the system protect them while they're perpetrating abuse pass without taking advantage. 

The way that Jason Lee exists in the world, and by extension the sex that he has, is entirely about power, conquest, and control. 

He didn't make Aob blow him in front of a bunch of guards because he thought the sex would be better. He made Aob blow him in front of a bunch of guards because it was a power play. It was remember who you are + remember the power I have over you.

People like Jason Lee have an ability to tell when someone is less under their control, because the control is what they're in it for. Not sex. The sex is incidental! They crave the power/control, and so when they don't get it, they are hyper aware.

Just like any predator, Jason could tell that Aob's loyalty to him was flagging, so he upped the amount of power he exerted over Aob. Instead of just giving him orders, he sexually humiliates him and gives him orders at the same time. He doesn't let the opportunity pass to remind Aob who he is and that he is powerless. Aob received the message loud and clear, too, you can see from him getting the fuck out shortly after.

It's very realistic for someone like Jason Lee to hunt for victims in people who already lack power. Jason Lee targets people who socially lack power (sex workers), young adults whose idealism isn't tempered by real world experience (queer students at private school), and young adults who need something and are willing to bargain (anyone needing a scholarship). We know for a fact that his victim pool includes not just sex workers but also students at one particular school that he is a major donor for. He provides scholarships, and as mentioned, a predator like him can't let opportunities pass unexplored.

How did Puen ended up at Playboyy and not working independently? Not that it matters at this point, but I do wonder sometimes when Jason Lee clearly has no qualms about hunting for victims among his son's school friends--one of whom stayed with Porsche at Porsche's house for a time. That's right, remember that offhand comment that Nant and Porsche lived together for a while in first year? 

For me it would be shocking at this point if Nant hadn't also had a similar experience as Zouey and that was part of his desire to expose Jason Lee. I have a feeling that based on Teena's reaction to Zouey's painting that the 'I had sadistic sex' from Teena in episode 6 at the party was Jason Lee too. 

A connecting thread that I haven't seen people mention is the letter necklaces. Teena, Nant, and Phop all have them. We know where Phop got his, but we don't know where Nant or Teena got theirs. In a show with this much visual language it seems like an interesting thread which hasn't really been considered by fandom yet, so I urge all of us to think about the above facts and other visual cues to better understand what is going on.

Jason Lee's main victim pools are Playboyy and the International School. It would be very surprising to anyone familiar with this type of abuser if he didn't hurt an extensive number of people in both of these pools. We know of three victims for sure, but there are a lot of cues that point to the idea that his victim pool is much larger. 

The size of the pool is not unrealistic at all. It's incredibly realistic, to a point where it's uncomfortable to watch and think about deeply sometimes. But that's for me part of why I love the show: we just don't typically get this level of realism about sexual coercion and abuse from BL. Playboyy makes me feel seen in this regard because it's somebody finally showing the systems of abuse and power that I'm most familiar with from my life experiences. 

Media representation isn't just about the good parts. Seeing the worst parts of my life onscreen and watching characters navigate it with the safety/distance of fiction has been super healing in a lot of ways for me. 

Jason Lee is realistic. That's why Playboyy makes me feel like someone understands me and some of my traumatic experiences.

[archer3-13]

i find myself drifting over naruto fanfics every once and a while, but recently I was reminded about an observation @agoddamn pointed out to me on the nature of one particular element of narutos "power system". namely seals and sealing, and what the fandom often calls a 'storage seal' and how it actually functions [and how its kinda disappointing in reality compared to the physics bending coding its often portrayed as in fanfiction]. namely that you write the seal, your write the kanji of what you want to store on the seal, and then you seal that object specified by the kanji.

and i kinda put it out of my mind after that, but its reared its head again after reading fics where sealing is presented in ways that the author is trying to subvert cannon ideas on what sealing is. portraying it as poetry, or fluid networks stuff like that. So i decided to take a look again as to what cannon actually describes sealing as.

so imagine my suprise to find out that the common fanon idea of storage seals and explosion seals/tags... aren't actually distinct sealing things.

as far as i remember, having looked into it again, sealing scrolls, as in the unique idea of a scroll that has a specific arrangement of sealing jutsu for sealing things in like a hammer space pocket dimension thats very common in fannon, aren't ever actually mentioned in the manga as a thing. and in fact, in terms of source listing the wiki gives here the name of "enclosing jutsu", is unique to the anime apparently.

regardless though it is admittedly not too much of a leap of logic. as seen above with things like sasukes wrist seals being applied directly to his skin with the kanji within the seal being a component of whats sealed within, the enclosing jutsu becomes a far more almost disappointingly mundane thing then as its often made out as in fannon material. it isnt a 'sealing scroll' with a complex array to create a hammer space written on it [and thus the domain of dedicated specialists/artisans], rather its a scroll with a basic sealing jutsu slapped on top of it that even genin can learn [which makes a lot more sense for tenten, a BUKIJUTSU expert as a recently graduated genin to know even if the anime apparently threw in a thing about her having a talent for fuinjutsu]. it also makes the whole thing more economically viable instead of special inks or complicated production manners, but thats a whole different discussion.

then i was reminded that the enclosing jutsu can also work on... ninjutsu

well this also further demonstrates that the enclosing jutsu is just kinda a common thing for shinobi to learn, enough so anyways that kisame a shinobi that well more intelligent then he seems is also a shinobi that prides himself as a physical fighter kinda type would pick up and use. but thats not the important thing here, what is important is what this tells us about exploding tags.

namely, exploding tags aren't unique sealing arrays to create explosions as again fanon would have you believe/often portrays as. rather an exploding tag, is just an enclosing jutsu used on an explosion.

which ya know, makes a lot more sense when you actually look at an exploding tag and its visual depiction and compare it to an enclosing seal and notice that like an enclosing seal, it has the kanji for what its storing inside it centred at the heart of the seal. literally baku or 'explode'.

heres tenten in the anime storing things in her scrolls for comparisons sake and you can notice that each seal has the kanji for whats stored in it at the centre. truly fanfiction has made fools of us all.

that isn't to say theres no complexity to things, its just things you never really see talked about or expanded upon in fanfiction. which partly speaks to how messy internal continuity often is within naruto as a narrative, but also not the main point.

firstly, fuinjutsu or sealing jutsu seems to be a lot more literal then what people make it out to be in fanfiction. specifically that it is a jutsu for sealing things into other things. in fanfiction for instance people will often have things such as privacy seals as catchall privacy bubbles or barrier seals that erect barriers. as far as the manga alone is concerned these aren't things you can do with sealing jutsu, rather they would likely fall under the category of 'barrier jutsu' which, as we see with kisame sealing ninjutsu into an enclosing seal, can be stored in a seal as seen with the barrier tags but could likely not be created by a sealing jutsu alone

for an example of what barrier ninjutsu can do incidentally, consider the barrier that the sound four erected around orochimaru and hiruzens fight

this brings us to the next important factor which is the squiggly lines seen in relation to all fuinjutsu. one would think these are, if we accept that these aren't just squiggles kishimoto threw on to make the seals look cool, unique to the function of fuinjutsu. they aren't however, because we also see these squiggly lines used in relation to other jutsu. the summoning technique for instance which is, officially, not classified as fuinjutsu but rather ninjutsu

we also see these squiggly lines used in relation to medical jutsu, importantly in my opinion when neji is getting surgery post sasuke retrieval mission and when tsunade is using long distance healing on people with katsuya during peins invasion of konoha

this i think suggests that the squiggly lines themselves are not what constitutes or helps constitute what sealing jutsu is. certainly i would say its an important factor, but it seems to be applicable in other branches of jutsu as well. therefore that suggests that these 'chakra arrays' as it were are not applications of fuinjutsu but rather fuinjutsu is a specific application of these chakra arrays, with the arrays themselves being techniques to control and apply chakra in specific ways. tsunades long range healing array sending the chakra outwards like a radio signal for instance, moulding it into what it needs to do and where it needs to go.

so what is essential to fuinjutsu outside of 'it seals something within another thing'. at first i was tempted to say kanji but then i nejis surgery and another thing ill mention came to mind, but then i remembered that an important aspect of fuinjutsu seems to be how it can interact with other jutsu such as storing ninjutsu. and nejis surgery is suppose to be a complicated risky one so combining different jutsu to achieve the desired effect seems reasonable. and kanji seemed the most likely culprit as to what was essential to sealing, despite not all seals looking initially like kanji, because

a] seals often change shape especially the more powerful or complicated ones. considering seals mainly function in the literal sense of sealing things within other things, i think it makes sense that you can seal seals within seals or the full complexity of a seal within itself.

and also b] one of the most distinctive seals we see actually being applied in real time is the five elements unseal, which is still fuinjutsu cause its about unsealing things from within other things, and what features prominently in the fire elements unseal?

kanji for the five elements. so were done right? seals are about applying kanji with chakra arrays to seal things within other things? only were not because we also have to acknowledge danzo and the unique seals he uses.

these dont look anything like any other seal we see in naruto. at most the second 'self cursing seal' share similarities with orochimarus curse marks [which apparently aren't officially classified as seals, but i feel would atleast in part fall under a fuinjutsu classification], but even then as i noted seals seem to store parts of themselves internally all the time before expanding [including hypothetically whatever kanji is being used to fuel the seal].

but the naruto wiki provided an interesting alternative. chinese hexagrammic symbols. i wont claim to be an expert on them, but the important factor to know is that hexagrams are formed by combining the eight trigrams [the bars that ya sometimes see combined with the yin yang symbol as part of the ba gua which represents physical reality, and which mean their own individual things] to create new symbology and meanings as part of a taoist belief system. the important thing being how each hexagram can represent both a number and a word. meaning in essence, danzos unique sealing method [outside of being cryptic as hexagrams are intentionally designed to be cryptic] is also still rooted in language just a more chinese influenced spin on things. even danzos final deadman seal the reverse four symbol seal seems to be based on that same principle only instead of hexagrams it uses the si xiang which are also derived from yin and yang and part of the ba gua. only instead of the trigrams 3 bars the si xiang only use two bars.

and as already noted, seals especially complicated ones seem to store parts of themselves within themselves. so overall, what seems to be essential to sealing is combining language with the universally applicable array lines to derive functions. language being the most important point in this matter when it comes to sealing itself.

also as a side note, narutos own seal is also named after the eight trigrams but visually does not use the trigrams and instead uses the standard for naruto chakra arrays and symbols.

and for some bonus information on sealing

the concept of even and odd seals, and how those apparently dont mix causing interference with each others function. what exactly it means by even and odd never really gets expanded on as this is more a quick fix moment, but given the seal interrupting narutos EIGHT trigrams seal is a rough FIVE elements seal, would suggest that seals not only can but should [atleast at a complex level] have distinct points or parts in their constructions.

[spidermanifested]

ive thought a little more about devils nest dungeon meshi au (demons nest?) and here is the idea i was bouncing around in my head. id love for some kind of lore compliance check because i havent really gone back over the manga since i finished it, or sought out any kind of supplemental material, and i like the challenge of fitting these kinds of things into the boundaries of the source (once again DUNGEON MESHI SPOILERS. for people who havent read the manga at all)

so you have this demon (in a dungeon) (granting desires and eating them) (getting stronger) (hoping someday he can get out of the dungeon). and hes been in there a while and boy does he love watching humans get their greatest wishes granted, but the part where they gradually go mad with power or get disenchanted with the results and also he has to eat their desires anyway eventually kind of blows. he wishes he could only have the good part where he gets to make people happy forever is that too much to ask. maybe when he gets out of the dungeon he can do something about that. love to get out of the dungeon

anyway fast forward a while and this guy comes in. some teenage prince from a tallman country thats wracked with internal conflict and what HE wants is to become immortal, because that way when he takes the throne his reign will be eternal and the different clans will stop fighting over the right of succession. thats so specific. the demon loves it. he can just give him a peaceful united empire here, in the dungeon, which he can rule eternally-- no he wants the one at home. well. the problem with that is that the demon is here, in the dungeon, and not out there.

HELP WANTED NOTICE: i dont remember what the exact plan was vis a vis the winged lion getting up to the surface in the manga and i know it Had to be simpler than "just walk out of there" because why would it have had to steal laios' body about it. WOULD a sufficiently dedicated dungeon lord be able to get back up to the surface with their respective demon in tow.

ADDITIONAL HELP WANTED NOTICE: if a demon WAS freed from the dungeon without being powerful enough to get out under its own strength, how much magic would it be able to perform out there? would it be able to make somebody immortal without the big magic-insulation box. i feel like this changes a lot if greed Can grant ling immortality vs if now that hes out of the dungeon he cant really do shit.

either way now that hes out he does not technically need to eat this kids desires specifically anymore. if the immortality thing is a bust, maybe hes shaken by the experience of not being able to fulfill somebodys wish for the first time. but HIS wish has been fulfilled instead? complicated! maybe ling drags him back to his kingdom to help him gain the throne, or maybe he gets mad and leaves and greed never finds out what happens to him, but whatever goes down it changes his worldview and hes starting to develop a sense of personhood separate from the rest of the Demon Conglomerate, and also desires that are unique to Him

but he still wants to help people realize their own desires and maybe thats even strengthened by the fact that now he personally knows how much it owns (funny) to want something so bad and finally get it. so im thinking eventually he goes back to his old dungeon, now way smaller, and he sets up shop, and just waits for people to come by so he can help them in a less exploitative way. like he graduates from Addiction Metaphor to Healthy Coping Mechanism Metaphor. and the chimeras all find their way there eventually and he wins their trust one at a time until they are forced to admit this weird overly genuine dungeon guy kind of rules. his personality is laios basically he has the exact same type of autistic swag

but. if the elves heard about a demon who was just fucking going up to people floor 1 like hi im a demon welcome to my dungeon. they would shit bricks. so the raid also has to happen at some point. and i Am putting ling in there albeit as backstory so im open to suggestions as to how the rest of the cast of fma can fit into this (father and the homunculi as other more typical demons obviously) (no clue about anybody else) (come and play toys with me)

[anxious-ace]

Chronorun Reports notes:

Van Helsing, Jekyll, and Mrs. Frankenstein (Victor's mom) are siblings with Abraham and Henry being twins and Caroline being a few years younger (specific ages will have to wait until my brain decides that doing math is worth it)

(they are all a mix of Dutch, British, and Swiss btw)

(yes this means that Victor is Van Helsing's and Jekyll's nephew)

Van Helsing formed the HOSC to essentially bring light to all of the scientific discoveries that are happening (Jekyll's serum, any supernatural being he encountered, the time machine, Victor's creation, Griffin's invisibility, and more) but not without the house members' consent

Now let's get into the plot- a good amount of people in this universe have powers (almost all of the members of both societies have powers)

They are as follows:

Van Helsing- gains an ability of whatever type of entity he conquers (if he were to slay a vampire he would only get one of the abilities shared within all vamps. Ie teleportation) as well as natural immunity to most (not all) supernatural attacks and anomalistic mastery (or that could just be from his job)

Jekyll- technically he speaks to Hyde through telepathy as well as having telekinesis

Hyde- telepathy like Jekyll (because of course) and the ability to teleport objects and people away from and to him

(Jekyll and Hyde are forced to work together because they are not able to do what the other can as well as the other)

Victor- weather control (I just wanted to reference the movies, I think he would use it to help him animate the creation)

Griffin- now I know you might think that I'm going to make his invisibility his power, but that's not the case. He can however talk to animals, he just doesn't want anyone to know.

Time traveler- let's get the obvious out of the way, he can see any point in time (past present, and future), and it proved very helpful (but overwhelming and contributes to his time blindness)

Sherlock- like the time traveler, he could be obvious (giving him some kind of hyper-intelligence) so I'll give him tactical analysis and the hyper intertellince (or he could not have the ability and just be that smart, I haven't decided yet)

Watson- since he's a physician and royal army surgeon (according to Wikipedia), giving him a healing ability (more so healing others) would be a fair but obvious move. However, I want his medical knowledge to be utilized (meaning he would use actual medical practices instead of relying on powers) so the proper techniques would still have to be used (more so internal and really bad external wounds, broken bones, and deep/wide cuts being examples)

Gwen- now she could be a little difficult (considering the fact she is someone else's oc and I'm a bit scared to ask because it might look like I'm stealing their idea) so I'll move on for now. (she could have enhanced reflexes as it would be really helpful)

Switching gears to more general ideas (I'm looking for a reason to segway into the investigative committee's powers)

Griffin and the time traveler don't use their names for reasons they'd rather not admit (it has something to do with their experiments)

Van Helsing and Jekyll may make it look like they hate Victor (because he's an irresponsible, spoiled, college dropout who can be a bit of a nervous wreck at the most inconvenient times possible) but they're still trying to help him get over everything (and to take some god damn responsibly for once in his life)

Van Helsing and Watson are transcribing past journals, audio logs (the series takes place in the 21st century), and more as a part of the whole "bring light to all of the scientific discoveries that are happening" thing the HOSC does

The HOSC is very queer (not really with each other but you know)

Jekyll is a trans, ace, gay man (maybe Hyde too, he hasn't really thought about it, both he/him though)

Victor is pansexual and nonbinary (he/they)

Griffin is a bi demi-boy (also he/they)

Sherlock seems to be more interested in his work than in relationships (aroace cis man)

Watson is more open to the idea than Sherlock is though, at some point being stated to have said "I think everyone looks nice, does that mean im attracted to everyone? No not everyone, but certain people attract me more than others." (doesn't put a label on gender either but uses he/it/they)

Time Traveler is a theatre kid so he is probably the most open with his sexuality and gender (gay nonbinary dude using they/it)

Again, I have no idea for Gwen as she is not my character (well none of them are, I might have one at some point but thats not what I'm here for) so I either ask the creator or leave her as unlabelled (which might not be a bad idea actually) although the picrew shows her as aroace

Van Helsing might be the only straight one (I say might be because he doesn't know, still uses he/him though)

Now for the Missing person's investigative committee: they are in charge of finding out the who, where, what, why, when, and how of missing person cases

Utterson and Poole started it after Jekyll faked his death, which happened about a week after Van Helsing got back from killing Dracula (so it was like 7 years ago based on Quincey jr's age in the main story)

I'm now imagining a very stressed Van Helsing hearing about his brother supposedly killing himself because his latest experiment went tits up (excuse me while I try not to cry)

Their powers are:

Utterson- since he's a lawyer, giving him something like Holmes' hyper-intelligence (if it's his ability at all) is kinda obvious so some kind of adaptive ability could be fun (body language analysis could be useful)

Poole- super speed to help him with all of his duties (and in case of emergencies)

Mycroft- I kinda want his to be out of the park but still useful in a way, fuck it he can turn off others' abilities either by touching them or snapping his fingers

Walton- some kind of internal GPS for his traveling

Kemp- I tried reading the invisible man wiki to see what kind of doctor he is (he did go to a medical school so that could help) but couldn't really find anything so im going in sorta blind. I'm just going to make him a shapeshifter

Now that that is out of the way, few more things until pride shit

If someone pisses off Mycroft, their powers are just gone for the day (which could be devasting if they piss him off during a very important mission)

Walton being the youngest (younger than Hyde but older than Victor) means he is often the fastest and most agile of the group (until Poole uses his super speed obviously)

He's basically the group's son (at least to most of them, Mycroft might have some warming up to do)

Now, pride:

Utterson- Jekyll's husband (cis bi man, uses he/him)

Poole- unlabeled sexuality (aro he/it user)

Mycroft- like Van Helsing, he might be the only straight one (uses he/him)

Walton- trans, demisexual man (he/them/it)

Kemp- omnisexual nonbinary (they/them)

@mrhyde-mrseek what do you think?

[hamyilton]

I saw these tags and thought, I could say something more about that.

So, the following points and claims come from my experience within the F1 fandom, specifically the fanfiction community, which I have been reading and writing for over two years now. My hypothesis, or theory, is that one of the big reasons why the fandom characterization of Max is so skewed is because of the fanfic that was enormously popular called "fool's gold".

This fanfic established so many stereotypes and characterizations that have perservered to this day, including lestappen and the more broad treatment of Max. This fanfic presented Max as this traumatized victim who can do absolutely no wrong, while pitting him against Lewis who was written as this super villain who had the foresight to plot all these villainous plans in order to win championships and gain power. This fanfic played on many of the ideas from the 2021 season like painting the 2021 British GP crash between Hamilton and Verstappen as somehow pre-mediated (even going as far as feeding into the fictitious accounts that Max was severely hospitalized after the crash despite that being a routine procedure that happens whenever a certain G-force is registered) which, to anyone familiar with the rhetoric around that race, is remembered as a talking point over why Lewis was the most dangerous driver ever. Like, remember when Christian Horner said that no one can overtake at Copse Corner despite all the years of successful overtakes at that corner?

Anyway, this fanfic absolved Max of any aggression and problematic behavior in the 2021 season and instead created a false narrative that Max was a victim despite being in the faster car for most of the season, and all the racist shit he said, and also set up lestappen as this type of end-all ship that was destined to happen. Unsuspecting readers or people that did not watch the 2021 season could easily accept this as fact and thought Lewis was this uncaring person, a representative of the old "conservative" guard, instead of being the one person trying to improve F1 and make it better.

Also, as a side note, can I just say how wild it is that so many people have just accepted or internalized the idea that Max was abused, despite literally no evidence to prove this?? People have simply speculated that he was, based on a few comments and jokes he made, and now it's an entire tag on AO3. Like, even if he was mistreated by Jos, don't you think it's widely disrespectful to speculate on this and make this his entire characterization?? The entire basis of Max's character in "Fool's gold" is that he's this poor victim of Jos and all of his evil actions can be excused because of it, but like, wtf?? I'm sorry, but when does abuse excuse racism and ableism? Although I probs couldn't prove this definitively, I'm sure the popularity of "fool's gold" most likely caused many more lestappen fics to be written based on other authors being inspired and trying to ride on the popularity of the ship.

To summarize, certain fanfics were almost certainly responsible for the popular fandom characterizations of Max and people don't seem to realize these are based on speculation rather than fact. The poor treatment of Lewis in that work makes me quite uncomfortable, as he is clearly portrayed as a villain and against progress and making the only Black driver in your fanfic some kind of arch-villain feels particularly shitty.

[bookishgalaxies]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐮𝐳 𝐍𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐝𝐚

summary: When Luz Noceda gets her Hogwarts acceptance letter in the mail, she was over the moon. Little did she know that a Hogwarts acceptance letter meant more than just the chance to learn magic.

pairings: luz noceda x amity blight, hunter x willow park, and eda clawthorne x raine whispers

type: ongoing story, updated 1.8.24

warnings: none

a/n: been twirling this idea around in my head for awhile, finally decided to write it.

Luz Noceda had no idea that her day was about to brighten and her life was going to change. The walk home from her mom’s place of work was like every other; filled with trees and quaint looking houses. The summer air was fresh and for once the sky wasn’t just bright blue, but partially covered with clouds. Luz knew her house was near when she saw the familiar sidewalk chalk scribblings her neighbour’s had made of unicorns and dragons flying through the air. She approved of the colourful palette and crazy style used by the nine year old artists. Luz would give anything for her life to be filled with adventure, colour, and chaos.

Arriving home, Luz propped her bike against the front porch and opened the door, being careful not to step on the mail that had been dropped through the slot on the house door. Running upstairs to put her satchel and jacket down, she came back down to place the mail on the kitchen counter for her mom. Luz wouldn’t have taken any interest in the mail if it wasn’t for the fact that she spotted her name in the stack of envelopes and brochures. Her name was written in a beautiful cursive with forest green coloured ink.

The letter was in a cream coloured envelope, closed by a crimson wax seal. Luz spent at least three minutes tracing the crest that had been stamped into the wax in wonder. Finally deciding to break the seal, she pulled out the letter and almost collapsed.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Hieronymus Bump (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Luz Noceda,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Eda Clawthorne Deputy Headmistress

Luz had no words, what kind of main character event was this? Was she going to be the next chosen one? The next hero burdened with glorious purpose? It was all unclear, but she knew at the very least she needed to figure out what Hogwarts was and who this ultra-powerful Principal Bump guy could be. Her brain was already five steps ahead of her, forgetting about the fact that the letter could have been a fluke or a sales tactic.

She went straight to the best source for all research topics that were oddly specific: Wikipedia. The article for Hogwarts was long, which Luz considered to be a good thing. It meant more information and possible lore.

After scrolling, drawing, and pondering for a while, Luz had a scribbled guide and a bike route mapped. A quick note was scribbled on the back of a coupon booklet that read:

Be home by dinner, I went out on a bike ride. Love you mami!

Finally arriving at the place Wikipedia had described as “a run-down bar named The Leaky Cauldron”, Luz locked her bike against a light post and ventured inside of the place that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years.

Stepping into the pub was an experience Luz could have lived without. It smelled strongly of alcohol with an undertone of damp dust. It was bustling with people in robes that looked to be decades old. Luz scanned the room with determination to find someone who looked remotely in charge. Finally settling on approaching the old man sitting by the bar who looked like he had potential to be wise.

“I need directions to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry please!” Luz stated, proudly holding up her acceptance letter to the school.

The old man looked at her quizzically, then laughed a breathless laugh. He was balled and hunched over in a chair, as if he was barely holding on to life. He pointed to a man with a soft face sitting at a table across the room and yelled to him.

“Longbottom! Show the muggle-born to Diagon Alley!” The man, known as Longbottom, whipped his head around, nearly falling out of his chair.

He got up and said something to the white haired lady sitting across from him before making his way over to Luz. He bore a “Hi, my name is:” name tag on top of his knitted sweater. Luz read that his first name was Neville,

“Are you a real wizard? Can you do magic? Do you have a wand?” Luz bombarded him with questions the second he was close enough to hear her.

“I-yes, my wand is uhm,” he he held up the stick-like object and showed it to Luz “I was never one for flashy spells though. Always was better with plants.”

Luz looked in amazement at the wand that was held out in front of her. Her eyes flicking up to his, she nearly jumped when she said.

“Show me where I need to go to get one of those!”

Neville spoke to her as he lead her to the back of The Leaky Cauldron. He told her about where they were going, how it was full of magical stores. Instructing her to pull out her list of items attached to her letter.

“So we aren’t going to Hogwarts?” Luz asked, her voice taking on a bit of disappointment.

“You won’t ride the train to Hogwarts until September 1st. Right now, I’m taking you to Diagon Alley.” Neville replied, tapping a series of bricks with his wand.

Luz squealed with excitement as she saw the bricks magically unfold. The pitch of the squeal causing the man to briefly place his hand over his ears. She ran past him into the bustling street and stopped to take it all in.

Shops lining the street with intriguing names like 2nd Hand Brooms and Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Each of there’s signs hanging having a different shape and colour. At the end of the alley there loomed a large building with a statue of a dragon sitting atop of it. Luz let her mind wonder if anyone had ever climbed on top of the building and sat on the dragon?

“Luz! Over here!” Mr. Longbottom called, waving her forward.

The next few hours could only be described as pure bliss for Luz. Trading her muggle money for nice wizard coins, trying on robes that made her feel like a true witch, and picking out the right quill in which she would be doing all her writing with.

Luz was completely mesmerised with her wand. The multicoloured, eight inch stick with a phoenix feather core was now her most prized possession. Ollivander, the ancient wand shop keeper, had handed it to her with a warning. Telling her to not get her hopes up since phoenix feather wands are picky about their owners.

She followed the instructions the shopkeeper gave her for casting a simple illumination spell. The light that came from the end of the wand could only be described as radiant. Luz swore she couldn’t see for a split second afterward. Seemingly from Ollivander’s expression, he hadn’t been expecting that.

“Did I do something wrong?” Luz asked nervously.

She didn’t know what the right wand was supposed to feel like. She did know, however, that she wanted all her magic to feel like what it just felt like: natural. She was delighted when the white-haired man looked at her and spoke in a knowledgeable tone.

“The wand chooses the wizard Ms. Noceda. That one has chosen you.”

Luz almost combusted out of excitement right then. Putting the wand back in its box and giving Ollivander the appropriate amount of money, Luz strides out of the shop with the largest smile on her face.

“So what kind of wand ended up choosing you?” Neville asked as he walked with her back down Diagon Alley.

“I think the wand maker said it was made of Phoenix feather?” Luz recalled

“I knew a kid in my day with a wand like that. He was quite the hero.” Neville commented

Luz’s stomach made a sound that could only be compared to a roll of thunder. Thinking back on her day, she remembered she hadn’t eaten since the late breakfast of cinnamon waffles she had with her mom. Luz had a funny way of forgetting to eat when she became hyper focused or busy.

After Neville heard this he offered to take her to the best ice cream shop the wizarding world has to offer. Of course Luz delightfully obliged. Feeling her mouth water as they entered into the shop with tables and chairs scattered throughout the place.

Sitting down, she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She almost declined the call before she realised it was her mother, then quickly answered it. Greeting her mother, hoping her mom wouldn’t sense the bit of nervousness in her voice. Her mom talked for about a minute or two about how she would be running late and wouldn’t be home until around 7:00. Telling Luz to not wait if she wanted to make dinner for herself and giving a swift goodbye.

Holding the phone to her ear for just a second longer before her mother hung up, Luz locked eyes with someone. That someone being a green haired girl who looked around Luz’s age with enchanting golden eyes. The eye contact was brief however, as a woman that resembled the girl stormed out of the shop. Luz assumed the beautiful girl was her daughter as she scurried off after her.

Placing her phone back into her pocket, she took the ice cream Mr. Longbottom had bought her. It was pink with chunks of what looked like strawberry in it. Tasting it, Luz decided she never wanted to eat any other ice cream again. Even wizard ice cream was delicious! Much better than the ice cream that her mother always bought from the market. It was creamy and sweet with the perfect amount of strawberry flavour.

She spoke with Neville for a bit about his life and what Howard’s was like. He told her he taught Herbology at the school and was looking forward to seeing her around the castle. Telling her to keep her eager and curious spirit. He offered to introduce her to the divination teacher, who happened to be his wife. Luz liked her name, Luna Lovegood, it had a nice ring to it. She asked question after question until she observed the sun starting to set, realising it was time for her to head home.

Bidding Neville a goodbye and a thank you Luz set off back home with all her wizarding gear.As she unchained her bike from the lamppost outside of The Leaky Cauldron, she was happy her mom had her put a backer on it for grocery runs. It made carrying all of her home things much easier.

The evening air was crisp as Luz rode home, blowing her dark brown hair from her face. The time was 6:04 last she checked, which meant she was pushing it with getting home and putting her stuff away before her mom arrived. If wasn’t that Luz didn’t intend to tell her mom….it was just that she wanted to do it without a pile of unconventional school supplies in her arms.

Arriving home, Luz propped her bike against the front porch of her home, carrying all of her things in her arms. She could barely unlock the door without dropping anything. Closing the door with her foot, Luz raced to her room, shoving all of her things in the back of her closet. Making sure to not break a single thing and leave the books at the front of the pile so she could grab them later. September 1st was going to be an interesting day when it eventually came.

thank you so much for reading !!

remember to stay hydrated and rest well !!

[everyotherworm]

Alright, so uhm... this is my first post that isn't a comment/reblog and I have no idea of tumblr culture and hopefully this is the right blog(oh god I'm rambling now aah) and I wanted to point out that on prodigy it is suggested that physical element spells actually hurt other creatures? Seriously, my embersheds are CHOMPING on other creatures.

COME ON READ SOME SPELL NAMES. I'm sure HACKING at creatures isn't very good for them.

How is this controlled? Is it even? Why do we need to do math to use our bodies? Wait hold on, does math enhance spell power because that isn't logical at all?

I'm sure the puppet master could do some pretty big damage by training his pets to use these spells...

That's a rather interesting question! The logistics behind math magic is really interesting, but I would imagine the reasoning behind math increasing physical attacks such has chomping has to do with the calculations in some way being related to the attack, eg calculating the best angle to get at the opponent from. It is implied that the magic in prodigy is powered by learning and wisdom, so it's possible that just using brain power to do something could also be what powers the magic, with math being the best to use for this since it's concise and always has a specific correct answer. I'd really love some proper world building on the magic system and how one's internal calculations are converted into energy, but there is some logic since both are sort of non physical. The existence of a physical element when magic is usual actively non physical is very interesting, especially considering its powerful against astral.

Usually the puppet master's issue is that he doesn't want to make use of the power in knowledge, he just wants to eliminate the knowledge of others so that he's sort of on top by process of elimination. But if he used physical attacks, it could 100% be a dirty way for him to bypass his creatures lack of knowledge while also being powerful against astral! But as a shadow creature who creates shadow creatures, he's kind of the opposite of physical, and would probably have a hard time mastering those types of attacks 🤔 he has to use shadow magic to control other creatures, switching them to the shadow element, so any extra strength from teaching them physical attacks would be canceled out by the fact that they would still be weak to astral types thanks to their shadow nature. It would still be a good idea though, even if it didn't give a full advantage.

[queenoftheboard]

♕ verse . Ryu ga Gotoku/Yakuza status: open to any Ryu ga Gotoku/Yakuza muses or muses with Ryu ga Gotoku/Yakuza verses. This verse and all associated interactions are exclusive with @dojimakaichou's Dojima Daigo portrayal - no other interactions will be accepted for Dojima Daigo and any references to the character are alluding to this specific portrayal.

Eirene Campbell was one of the many children fathered by Bryce Campbell, the 5th head of the Cambpell crime family from Dublin, Ireland. While the Campbells enjoyed a relatively comfortable life largely due to the weapon and drug trade during the 20th century, the arrival of the early 2000s saw a strengthening of the Irish crime legislation, forcing many of the major players out of the country.

Eirene saw an opportunity where many despaired - in face of the upcoming changes, the woman did leave Ireland but not to flee from law enforcement. Unlike her father who favored brute force and an old-style approach to the underworld business, his daughter had different ideas: despite being raised among mobsters and surrounded by illicit activities, Eirene had attended college and graduated from business management, possessing an incredibly rational mind and cunning instincts.

In a move intended to show Bryce Campbell that his best successor was the daughter he neglected for a good portion of his life (on the grounds of being female and just ‘too pretty’), Eirene set her sights on a completely different land and where she considered her chances of success to be increased: Japan. Eirene had studied enough about the East, and the relationship between the yakuza and the local government was unlike anywhere else in the world.

There was a large, untapped (black) market controlled by a mafia in a country where legislation similar to the Irish one showed no signs of being implemented. The cultural aspects played a key role there, and it seemed like the type of gamble she enjoyed - a high risk, high reward strategy; not unlike her favorite chess openings which were only used by players with extreme skill or arrogance (sometimes, both - like Eirene herself).

The early 2000s saw Eirene moving to Japan - more precisely Tokyo, where she established her own corporate empire under the name of Quinn. Although technically legal (at least on paper) and used as a means to open the door for the woman to the local society, it was nonetheless a façade to help cover her desired goals - to actually participate in the local black market responsible for the distribution of weapons, drugs, illegal immigration and even pornography. The quirky and unique loopholes of the Japanese legislation made it fertile land to be exploited - and Eirene was nothing but ambitious and greedy to make a profit.

However, her presence in Tokyo did not go unnoticed - and it also went on to prove that Quinn was not the sole western organization with a hidden agenda in relation to Japan. Unknown to the woman at the time, the major yakuza organization in control of the Kanto region (and therefore Tokyo), the Tojo Clan, happened to be in the middle of a internal power struggle, caused by foreign interference as well - an old and rogue unit from the CIA, known simply as the Black Monday, had placed undercover agents in Japan seeking to benefit from certain development plans in Okinawa, when in reality it had all been orchestrated to lure them out to the open, expose and capture these terrorists for good.

The Black Monday activities contributed to destabilizing the Tojo Clan - and indirectly offered Quinn a stronger hold in certain areas that would have likely been prevented in previous years and at the peak of the power of the Tojo. It was at such moment that Eirene received a proposition for a business meeting unlike any thus far: one with Dojima Daigo himself, the Sixth Chairman of the Tojo Clan. Such occasion was, in fact, more similar to a war council - including a truce of sorts if Quinn agreed to lend their resources to completely purge Kanto of any trace of Black Monday’s influences, with a promise that whatever businesses and territories that Eirene had conquered so far would be free of yakuza interference going forward.

In a show of trust between two strangers, the partnership yielded generous returns: Daigo kept his word, and Eirene saw her investment in Japan paying itself back, offering her the profits from a market that was incredibly exclusive and very well-protected against foreign players. Perhaps it had been luck (or fate) - but if it hadn’t been for the precise moment that Quinn had arrived and began expanding, they would have missed the unique window provided by Black Monday and their local interference.

Eirene decided to stay in Japan after that - not only because Quinn is too new (and precious) to be relegated to remote management, but because the country offers her mind a challenge like no other. It’s more than the obvious cultural or even language barriers that one would expect to find - but the delight in having a worthy opponent. For all her life, Eirene thought herself a queen of the chessboard, but it took going to the other side of the world to find another master at the game: Dojima Daigo.

[antiquatedabsurdity]

Confusing Coinage

I was just reading Susan Wise Bauer's excellent History of the Medieval World (awesome book for getting a sense of world history in this period, though a bit light on the world outside Eurasia) and I came across the story of one of the oddest artifacts I've ever heard of, a coin minted by King Offa, an 8th century British king (he ruled over the Mercians in a territory occupying most of modern England).

Now, this coin, according to the current theory, is the result of international trade. The British Isles began to grow more involved in international trade, a process helped along by the recent conversion of the isles to Christianity strengthening its ties to mainland Europe. As part of this growing trade, King Offa has a new line of royal coinage minted, modeled on one specific type of coins his nation has encountered. The minters copy the designs of these coins, including a beautiful pattern of whirls that decorates the coins— after all, these are real coins, said to come from some powerful, if distant, empire, and so how they minted coins must be how real nations do it, right?

When these coins were minted and circulated, they would have caused no small amount of confusion to any Arabic speakers who happened to see them. You see, the pretty swirls that King Offa had copied were not as decorative as he thought. Alongside the inscription "Offa Rex," "King Offa" in Latin, the coins read (in fairly butchered Arabic) "there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet." In a blunder that has probably perplexed modern historians more than Offa's contemporaries, Offa's royal mint seems to have entirely cribbed the design of an Abassid dinar, including the Islamic profession of faith.

Now, historians aren't 100% in agreement as to why this bizarre coin exists, but the idea that it is some kind of mistake is seen as the most likely explanation given the lack of evidence that the Mercians spontaneously converted to Islam. This explanation is supported by the fact that there are some pretty egregious mistakes in the Arabic. Apparently, it's fairly evident to anyone who can read Arabic (which I unfortunately cannot) that whoever made this coin had no idea what the heck they were writing and were just blindly copying the original Abassid dinar. And so, in what may be one of the strangest mistakes in the history of coinage, we find the coins of a medieval Christian king of the Mercians loudly proclaiming his belief in Muhammad

[aphrodaisyacs]

OOOH YES! I love the idea of the taissa role being rin, especially how he takes charge of the group just like in the second selection, although considering where they are rn I think the teamwork would fall apart a little faster just bcs they’ve been pitted against each other for MONTHS

(but I could also see them sort of reverting back into normal 15-17 yr olds when they realize that help isn’t coming and that their cool soccer skills can’t save them)

If you have any more thoughts, do you have any ideas about what role Isagi might fill? Obviously it doesn’t need to be 1:1 because AUs don’t need to be, but I’ve been thinking it over and I definitely can see him surviving the whole time just because he’s that kind of character yknow! Anyway it is also nice to know that someone else has this super niche idea

haha yeah I don't think it'd be an either/or situation, like there are definitely going to be characters who become their 'normal', outside-the-field selves again, though that doesn't mean they won't still be short-tempered and combative as a result of stress/starvation. but there would also be some characters who lean into the unhinged and ruthless part of themselves, and I think that just like in yellowjackets, these will be the ones to survive until rescue

and it's just like you said- I think that isagi would fall squarely into the latter category, and become one of the 8 final survivors. there's also the fact that canonically, his greatest strength is his ability to adapt to new situations and overcome his own weaknesses. I don't know if he'd fulfil any specific role amongst the crash survivors, I feel like he'd just do whatever chores need to be done. but he's also the type of person to go around finding ways to bond with most (if not all) of the group, and as a result if/when the group eventually gets fractured from internal disputes and power struggles, he would have a lot of allies on his side. maybe he'd even rise to becoming a leader of his own faction 👀