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thelovelyghostwriter · 4 years ago

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do you think kuraneon is gonna be canon in the official hxh universe and what must have happened?

Whether or not they would be canon is up to Sir Togashi himself. While he does have romantic elements in his previous works like Yu Yu Hakusho and Ten de Showaru Cupid, it's not as explicit in HxH (e.g. Meruem/Komugi).

If you asked me this before knowing about the KuraNeon Marriage Theory (will give a link in the reblog later on) and KuraNeon paired up in mobile games, I would have said "0% chance" because we do not see them interact on-screen (even if I had shipped them since I first laid my eyes on Neon).

However, it is kinda sus that Kurapika became a Nostrade Family Young Boss; with Light and Neon nowhere shown. The more "accepted" theory is that Light is unable to continue and Neon is dead (although I do have rebuttals about Neon being dead - that's another conversation). I do wonder why he had to keep their mafia family name - there is no reason to if he truly let them wither. But from Light's last appearance in a manga panel, Kurapika did reassure him that he'll handle everything and you see the Nostrade mafia family organisation doing well under Kurapika. Which is also why my friend went to bring up that plausible KuraNeon Marriage Theory.

I know that a lot of people think they don’t interact, but that is on-screen. After York New City arc, we don’t see Kurapika until way later, however him being in charge as the Nostrade Boss indicates that he stayed with the Nostrades. God knows what they did while living under one roof.

Another thing that is major sus is the mobile games. Even non-shippers are baffled why KuraNeon is a thing. Kurapika and Neon are seen dressed as Hikoboshi and Orihime in two sets of the mobage cards; a romantic couple that is known in a Japanese legend and celebrated on 7 July (Tanabata Festival). They are even shown writing on coloured papers in one of the cards + Kurapika holding a bamboo - these coloured papers are used during the Tanabata festival where wishes are written on them and hung on bamboo. It is believed that the reunion between the two lovers Hikoboshi and Orihime are so joyous that they grant the wishes of the people. As far as I know, the only pairing that gets to have a Orihime/Hikoboshi theme in their cards is Machi/Hisoka; and we do see Hisoka/Machi having a soft spot for one another in canon (in the current arc, Machi does patch him up after his defeat and Hisoka spared her).

Hmmm.. I should make a post about this whole Tanabata thing actually. Asides from that, they are also the v-day banner in 2019 for the games and she gave him a cake during the valentine’s day event, to which showed a scene of him thinking about what to give her back (and low and behold, Kurapika’s White’s Day card featured him with a gift and him wearing the same outfit of the scene where he thought about what to give her).

In a separate mobile game, they have a special attack together. Their mobage cards have identical backgrounds and themes. Therefore, it isn’t just one mobile game that does this. It makes me wonder why the official team devs do that when this pairing shipping sub-fandom is really small and many even dislike it.

Even as a shipper, it also baffles me why devs do that when they have little screentime together (gotta be more objective here). If you do consider the KuraNeon Marriage Theory or consider that they might end up together in the manga, it makes sense why the official hxh game devs pair them together. And I am unsure about the source - but I think for Japanese manga production of non-manga material, you need approval from the writer? All the more to be suspicious of the mobile games that contains KuraNeon above every single pairing out there.

Hence, if you ask me, there is a chance of Kurapika/Neon being canon. How that might happen is a little tricky and depending on the type of portrayal they will be (I have four interpretations of this ship on my pinned post lol).

I’m not sure if you only define canon as the vanilla/romantic type, or it also includes one that is a little twisted. I've noticed that hxh has friendship and family dynamics that are already complicated and not as wholesome as one would think. I do believe that if KuraNeon were to be canon, it would be the latter interpretation.

There are actually a few things that are needed to be considered for it to happen: 1) Neon’s fate - she needs to be alive (or maybe not)�� Now, a lot of people believe she died because Chrollo’s book speculates that she does. However, we don’t see her dead body. It’s literally just Chrollo’s interpretation. This is contrasted by Kurapika that states that the previous Scarlet Eye owners did not need to be killed (and the “daughter of a mafia leader” is one of them). If the daughter of a mafia leader is truly Neon, then it brings a question of who should you believe more: Chrollo or Kurapika? (Imo it’s super interesting how these two guys who are enemies have different narratives on the same girl).

Of course, there was this potential discrepancy I found while re-watching this arc. The Scarlet Eyes that Kurapika bidded for 2.9 billion was a fake. They thought it was stolen when Squala took it with him and died - but it was actually that Kortopi’s Gallery Fake copy disappears after 24hour. So technically, the Eyes is with the Troupe. Now, assuming that Togashi has not forgotten this detail (I believe he still remembers), I do think that it is possible that since Chrollo is the type to get bored of the stuff he steals, he will just sell it and it will be obtained by the later owners. As for “the daughter of a mafia leader”, I’m sure it’s Neon that Kurapika is referring to - be it him mentioning her as merely a previous owner despite the set of Scarlet Eyes being “stolen” or she bought another set. (There is a chance that is not Neon, but another daughter of a random mafia leader, but what are the chances of another daughter being like that?)

I guess I just wanted to point this detail out because many people readily believed Chrollo’s book (it was not even himself). He stated that he did not know when it disappeared.

As for that “Hisoka killed Neon” theory, while it is believable and interesting, the only thing that is doubtful for that is that a) Hisoka could not have gone off to kill Neon in such a short period of time, b) that would be an insult to Kurapika’s capabilities if she was under his care, c) the fortune-telling ability doesn’t bother Hisoka. Pakunoda and Hisoka had a short conversation about the fortune and both of them acknowledged that the future changed. Hisoka wrote over his fortune despite having a good one to manipulate the events in hopes of fighting Chrollo - that is an indication of his belief that he writes his own future, and therefore which is why I argue that the fortune-telling ability never bothered him.

As for the “Kurapika killed Neon” theory, I think... they all need to get one thing straight about Kurapika: as much as possible, except for the spiders, he doesn’t kill (or at least dislikes to kill). He stated that none of the owners had to die even if two preferred to die. If there’s a way, he will not shed blood. Besides, Kurapika doesn’t actually hate Neon - contrary to popular belief. There wasn’t a single manga panel that indicates his hatred for her; or even annoyance. It was only the time where Mellody mentioned that he will kill her if she stands in the way, but Kurapika, as much as mentioned before, doesn’t kill if there is an alternative way.

I have yet to fully explore possible reasons why Neon’s ability disappears from Chrollo’s book if she’s still alive (my friend thinks it’s related to Kurapika’s dolphin ability). However, there are many rebuttals to the theories on how she died.

But yeah, I think for it to be canon, Neon has to be alive. Unless... they were already canon and he sailed to the Dark Continent and she died slightly before that event (tbh I rather not have this).

2) Kurapika’s fate - he needs to live

Number 2 is a condition is if they aren’t canon yet before he sails to the Dark Continent.

One thing that confuses people is that they think that just because Kurapika is under the Kakin Employment, it means that he is no longer affiliated with the Nostrades. The Kakin Employment contract is temporary - he is still affiliated with the Nostrades (and their business is bodyguarding, take note). As for him being in the Zodiac, he is still the Nostrade Family Young Boss - being part of the Zodiacs is like some political committee.

I know there are rumours (I say rumours cause I don’t see the interview script by my own eyes) that Togashi once indicated that the Phantom Troupe and Kurapika will all die. I do think that Togashi can kill one of his main characters, but there’s one thing that makes me question whether he changed his mind: Nitro Rice from the Dark Continent.

The Nitro Rice is a thing in the Dark Continent that prolongs one’s life - a direct solution to Kurapika’s Emperor Time problem. I think if he does last until they reach the Dark Continent, he has a chance to prolong his lifespan that he has lost while using Emperor Time.

Now, if he indeed gets to survive, manages to complete his mission, there’s another problem he will face: a will to live. Because currently, all he has ever lived for is bringing justice to his clan. Beyond that, what can he live for? Which kind of makes the ending for him to happily live with someone (be it his friends or having a family) a suitable one.

3) Neon’s development

Neon is seriously misunderstood among the fandom - even her personality. I’ve seen a lot of Kurapika x (other character) ships where Neon is the 3rd party in fanfics; and it is a one-sided love.

However, Neon is actually an emotionally detached person while Kurapika is the one that gets attached to people, even if he initially avoids them. Neon has what psychologists will call “Avoidant-Dismissive Attachment Style” while Kurapika has “Avoidant-Fearful Attachment Style”. This is rightfully so due to their different backgrounds. I actually believe that between the two of them, Kurapika will be the one who falls first or if this is one-sided, Kurapika is the one that likes her because of their attachment styles.

Neon has zero friends, is materialistic and lacks sympathy for dead people (the complete opposite of Kurapika). She believes in focusing on the present and the living (it’s actually a pretty good principle to live for). She needs to learn how to be more attached to people and learn compassion - which she actually is seen as being capable of. She was surprised that Eliza broke down and cried, and even forgo bidding physically. I think this is an indication of her starting to feel sympathy for people and perhaps being more mature - cemented by the fact that she lost her powers.

Therefore, I do think she needs to learn how to warm her heart up to people (which she might have already started to after the York New incident) if she were to feel something for Kurapika.

4) Kurapika’s view of her

Okay, this is one factor that is either you take it the vanilla way or the kinky way lmao. I actually wrote a Cognitive Dissonance Theory for Kurapika on my Tumblr post for this one (will try to link it in the reblog).

Kurapika’s initial belief is that flesh collectors are scums who should be arrested, yet he is surprised to see that his flesh-collecting employer is a girl of his age. I think there is already dissonance in his mind there once he met her.

Contrary to popular belief, Kurapika doesn’t hate Neon (there’s no single manga panel that ever once showed he detest her or feel annoyed with her; as compared to other employees of hers). In fact, he does quickly understand that Neon is being exploited by her father - to which he corrects Basho about the situation. In the manga, when he woke up after the fever, he says her name (in the 2011 anime, it was “Boss” but in the manga, it’s “Neon”) and immediately asks about her; which indicates that he is concerned for her. Of course, she is his employer but in that situation where he is bedridden and not working, him asking about her won’t be just due to him working as a bodyguard.

However, this doesn’t show that he has feelings for her. It only proves that a) he doesn’t hate her, b) he does care about her. He needs to see Neon as more than just a flesh collector for him to like her; on top of spending time with one another. He needs to see (if he hasn’t already) that she is a girl his age that has a different predicament than him.

This is the vanilla way I guess.

The darker and more saucy interesting interpretation would be him thinking it’s okay to objectify her just as much as she objectifies his clan’s eyes (that’s another post I gotta do for another day - but hey, this interpretation is paralleled to Tserreidnich/Theta).

5) Spending Time with one another

I think as mentioned, it is already a given that Kurapika and Neon had spent time together under one roof off-screen while we see Gon and Killua on-screen during the 3 arcs. However, I think Neon cannot suddenly become less detached and Kurapika cannot want something more than his mission at the moment; so I do think that even if they had spent time before Dark Continent Exploration arc, Neon and Kurapika needs to spend time together after he comes back (that’s if they haven’t banged before he sailed to the Dark Continent like they did in my fic lmao).

So yeah, I think these are generally the five things that I think should happen if they were to be canon.

I don’t know why I was compelled to do a long-ass post of this, but I hope this answers your question. I can go on and write a report about this but Imma stop here for now.

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thefruitloop-chan · 4 years ago

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You've just made the mistake of posting oc's. I love them and only wish for the best for them. What are they like? What do they do? What's their backstories? If you could, i'd like to know the answers to these questions + random facts about them. Please and thanks!

Ahhhh I’m glad you like them!

They are my beloved OCs and been in my plans for a very very long time to make them like a mini comic ;v;

First of ah, let me introduce Chrono.

Chrono Misterion

Chrono is a sweet child with the heart of gold. What people don’t really know in their world was that he was the one who almost end it and to those who lived a very long life known him as the monster named Ragnarok.

To Legends, Ragnarok was seen as a monster. Burning the castles and villages and didn’t took any mercy to people but in reality Ragnarok was an arbiter of their Planet. A tool to collect as many Mana as possible because their planet was dying. His main objective was to gather all the mana of the world and give it back to Planet in order for it to heal.

Before he was adopted by Chesrire. He was trapped and chained in a pocket dimension where he was sealed by the old kings of their world when he was defeated and every passing minute his mana and memories was drained by the Planet itself feeding on him in every second of his life but since his objective wasn’t completed, his body deteriorated and couldn’t maintain himself thus adopted this child like form in order for survival. (He still have to complete his objective but since he gave his memories away in the process. He was a blank slate. Forgotten his objective as a tool of the planet.)

He was tortured to no end for the lives of the people he took and one of the people who tortured him took out his vocal cords that’s why he is mute and couldn’t speak. Years passed. He was left alone in the dark. Feeling empty and cold. To him it became numb to him that he waited for himself to disappear soon.

After a few centuries passed. Chesrire found him. Meeting his soon to be adopted father gave him hope to live and not feel cold anymore in the dark abyss of the pocket dimension.

He tags along to Chesrire. No matter what, he will do everything to help Chesrire and his quests and adventures.

Chesrire Misterion

Chesrire is a kind father. Even though he looked like he’s too tired. He just looked like that because ‘genetics’ If anything, he’s a lively dad, he will do everything just to survive and to give all to provide for Chrono.

He has a daughter named Luciel and is currently missing. Before he found Chrono, there was a rumor floating around their village that a mysterious item can be found in the ruins of the forgotten city that they say that could grant wishes. Though many said that many attempted to try to find said item but ended up dead in the process. Chesrire doesn’t have anything to lose. He wanted to find his daughter since its been years that he hasn’t got any lead where she was so he took the chance and stumble upon the hidden gateway to the pocket dimension where Chrono resides.

Looking at the malnourished child that’s almost at the brick of his death, he took upon himself to help this child in need and destroyed the chains that binds him to that place. He named the child Chrono because of the clock like tower where the gateway was.

He taught Chrono how to write and how the world works. He adopted him and gave him new life.

In his past.

Chesrire is the last surviving member of the Scribesman clan. A Clan that was wiped out by the old kings due to the fear of their power to rewrite a person from their powers or even give them immortality. Chesrire has lived his life on the run and on the streets in order to survive the harsh cruel world. Till he met his soon to be wife Luna and have a lil small family. (Luna passed away not soon by an illness)

To this point. He has a good life. For a single father raising a daughter, it was hard for him but it didn’t bother him for what he does, it’s all for his Luciel. But one day he woken up and found his daughter is missing and his home in ruins. He didn’t remember what had happened on how he ended up in a place. Everything was a blank. He needed to find his daughter. So the quest starts here.

So far this is all I can share. I know my english is everywhere but I suck at my english aha..

I hope to share more soon;;

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sol1056 · 5 years ago

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wuxia/xianxia: a loose and somewhat second-hand introduction to the genre, pt1

Sorry for the unconventional q, but i keep seeing Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation everywhere and I kinda want to get into it but a) don't know where to start (web series? live action adaptation?? wait how many are there!) and b) i don't really "get" wuxia / xianxia, that sorta stuff, i find it really hard to cross that cultural barrier and chinese mentality seems very alien. (it's not that i have no experience w different mentalities but chinese in particular is v hard to grasp w/o sources).

So if you have the time and patience, I'd love to hear a summary of it (like, a coherent summary bc all i get on the wikis is a shower of names and concepts that don't make sense to me) and perhaps some "intro for dummies" abt the relevant parts of chinese history and mentality tied to it? not just the cultivation / buddhist part but also re: familial relationships, philosophy and all that. (v brief and low effort of course) Thank you and sorry for bothering you!

("brief and low effort" referring to what I'm asking from you, not to what I need for me - as in i asked for it so i'm more than ready for a complicated essay, but you can write with as much detail as you like, I don't want to ask for some sort of comprehensive tome)

Okay first, you do realize that if you want “brief and low” for anything, you’re asking the wrong person? I was a philosophy major. brief got drilled out of me a long time ago.

Second... well, explaining what makes The Untamed / Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (mdzs for short, from the chinese title, Mo Dao Zu Shi) such a standout story does require understanding some of the wuxia conventions it subverts -- as well as some that it plays straight (so to speak) very, very well.

I figure the best approach (again, sadly not brief) is to first get a handle on the genre of wuxia. Gonna break this post into two, so you’re not reading in a single three-hour stretch or something. I’ll do a follow-up about mdzs, to hopefully make it a bit more accessible for you.

before I do that, let me first say: I didn’t grow up with this genre, so there’s going to be parts that I may miscast unintentionally. for an insider’s view, my go-to voices are @guzhuangheaven, @atthewaterside, @dramatic-gwynne, @the50-person and @drunkensword. if any of them are reading this and can point to more/other/better voices, please do.

I have three analogies -- like cultural doorways -- and like all analogies, they break down when you get into the finer details. In the broad strokes, though, they mostly work, and if nothing else, hopefully they’ll demonstrate that wuxia may be a chinese-specific version, but part of a storytelling tradition that’s nearly universal.

The three doorways are: the american wild west, the samurai era, and the british arthurian romances. And, in a tangential way, the regency period in the romance genre.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

The term ‘wuxia’ can be translated several ways, but I prefer ‘martial chivalry’. Most wuxia takes place in the jianghu, a harder term to unpack. Generally, though, ‘the jianghu’ has connotations not all that different from what americans mean when they reference the wild west.

More of a concept than a physical place, the jianghu (like the ‘wild’ west) exists beyond the reach of the law and/or civilization. It’s occupied by a diverse cast of farmers, merchants, beggars, and so on, but also by outlaws, gangs, hermits, pretty much all those who don’t like the suffocating nature of the civilized world, for whatever reason. It’s not a lawless place (except to outsiders); it does have laws, but those are only unto itself.

So, jianghu is a world to itself, for the most part -- which also makes it kind of timeless. Tang dynasty, Song dynasty, Ming dynasty, it could be any of them and all of them and none of them. Just as the heyday of the cowboys and the cattle drives was barely a decade long, a culture’s romanticized history stretches into lifetimes that exist separate from any date you could pin down on a calendar.

The average wuxia protagonist would fit in reasonably well as knight errants in an arthurian romance, with one important detail in difference: they’re rarely aristocrats. Wuxia protagonists are just as likely (if not more so) to be lower-born, whether the child of farmers, or servants, some common caste.

This is where wuxia diverges from the british and japanese traditions, which have a bit more noblesse oblige going on (knights and samurai both being upper-class types). Even ‘aristocratic’ characters tend to be so only within the jianghu -- sort of like the way a territory’s elected leader in the wild west would’ve had no pull in Washington, given they weren’t from a fully-recognized state.

Wuxia does often have politics, between competing sects (think schools of learning), but that political infighting is independent of the capital’s rules or wishes. A lot of stories -- in the rare cases the topic even comes up -- tends to speak of ‘the capital’ in disparaging terms.

That’s not to say wuxia is all about the flat social systems (it’s definitely not), but most commonly a rank implies some level of competence/study. The title of sect leader isn’t granted, it's earned. Children inherit, but it’s also a common storyline to have an heir with no skills (who then goes through all the trials and tribulations to finally level up and earn that position in turn).

What makes wuxia hard to grasp is its vernacular: the conventions that form the backbone that make something recognizably ‘wuxia’ and not just ‘historical drama set on a frontier in a loosely-defined time period’.

Frex: in a Wild West story, convention is two gunfighters at opposite ends of the street, and at least one of them is wearing a holster tied to his leg with string in a way that no real gunfighter wore, ever, but Hollywood came up with the idea and now it’s a permanent part of our imagination. In the arthurian romances, convention is carrying the token of one’s lady love (a distant, untouchable figure who rarely appears on-page), or meeting the unnamed knight in black on the jousting field. Convention are the samurai who’ll die for their lord’s honor, always touchy and prickly at the first sign of disrespect.

These are things granted the most remarkable gravity, that to an outsider might seem ridiculous. (Why is there always tumbleweed?)

Now, wuxia is the latest evolution in a long-lived literary tradition (and by ‘long’ I mean like 2000+ years) -- but like any living tradition, each subsequent generation reinvents it for their time. Part of that reinvention comes from particularly influential writers, who put their own spin on things, and their interpretation becomes the next generation’s standard for the genre -- “of course wuxia must have X” or “a protagonist never does Y”. (Like how Tolkien almost single-handedly changed western concepts of elves, in fiction.)

And here’s where I explain what regency romance has to do with it. Another short-lived period, in real history, but along came Georgette Heyer, who took bits and pieces of actual research, blended them with her reactionary politics, exaggerating some things and ignoring other things completely. The result is a time-that-never-was, but she cast (and still casts) a shadow so vast that I’ve seen multiple romance writers complain that readers will see a footnoted-and-researched version as wrong, if it contradicts one of Heyer’s made-up conventions.

Modern wuxia has its own Heyer-sized influencers -- like Jin Yong (the Condor trilogy, Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils), Wen Rui'an (The Four), Gu Long (The Legend of Flying Daggers, The Proud Twins), to name a few of the biggest. If you have a chance or are inclined, the big names get remade on a pretty regular basis, and catching one will at least let you see some ur-tropes in action.

But it also means that you can’t really extrapolate, in the sense of saying, “in wuxia, people do X, ergo, X is also a factor in Chinese culture.” It’s like... take any western made in the 50s, and the vernacular is simple. The bad guys wear black hats, the good guys wear white hats, the prostitutes wear bright-colored dresses with frills and the good women wear subdued colors buttoned up to their neck. It told an audience exactly what character filled what role, but that’d tell you zero about real people you might meet in Nebraska or Utah, let alone New York City.

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Almost forgot: xianxia is basically wuxia but with ‘immortal heroes’ -- so there’s gods, divine influences, non-human beings as characters (main or NPC), etc. (Btw, by ‘immortal’ I mean exactly that, like this character is six hundred years old, that one’s a thousand years old, etc.) You can think of xianxia as wuxia, but amped way up on the mystical scale.

Xianxia will sometimes take place on earth (jianghu) but sometimes in the celestial realm (heaven). Or a mix of both, like stories where a character falls (or is banished, or defects) from heaven and has to go through various trials and tribulations as a mortal human in order to regain a power, rise in rank, fall in love, or whatever their goal is.

A number of wuxia stories are driven by some sort of mcguffin, but in xianxia, the mcguffin is more likely to be a powerful spiritual weapon. But I can also think of a number of wuxia in which the mcguffin would fit right in, in xianxia (some near-mystical thing with significant positive, or negative, power independent of the wielder, which often amplifies or boosts the wielder to an inhuman degree, etc).

Thing is, the mcguffin being divine/infernal supernatural isn’t enough alone to make the story xianxia. I’m pretty sure you need non-human or super-human immortals and/or creatures to be considered in the xianxia genre.

part two

#wuxia #come for the brief essay stay for the dissertation #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #mdzs

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skytlake · 5 years ago

Photo

Presenting: Felicity Smoak Should Be Gay

Disclaimer: I am still on season seven of Arrow-->

Slide One:

Felicity Smoak Should Be Gay

An Important Presentation by Sky T Lake

Slide Two:

Who is Felicity Smoak?

Hacker Extraordinaire

Vigilante Known as Overwatch

Computers/Math/Science/Etc person on Team Arrow

W 🤢 wif🤢 i cant even say it 🤢 wife of oliver queen 🤢

step mother of William

beautiful amazing woman

she’s kinda awkward and doesn’t know when to stop talking

big nerd

former CEO of Palmer Tech

She’s so cool

Picture: a photo of Felicity Smoak, a blond woman with glasses

Slide Three:

I Want Her To Be Gay

I like shows with gay characters

there’s not enough lesbian representation in superhero things my dudes

how awesome would it be to have a lead role in a superhero show be gay

but mostly i personally want her to be gay

Slide Four:

It Would Be So Neat

imagine a superhero/vigilante show that started in 2012 having one of the original 3 main team members be openly gay

that would be wild i would love it

it would be so cool to have this nerdy lesbian just like hacking into the FBI and saving the city every week

Slide Five:

She Gets Really Flustered When Women Compliment Her

Sara Lance, known bisexual, flirted with Felicity multiple times

Felicity gets flustered and doesnt know how to respond

but like in the gay way not the uncomfortable way

see next slide

Picture: the words “That’s Gay, Babey!” in light purple cursive font

Slide Six:

Three sets of two gifs from conversations in Arrow

Felicity says “I was happy to hear you’re not dead anymore. I mean, I didn’t know you before you didn’t die the first time. I’m still glad you’re alive.”

Sara Lance responds with a bit of a smirk/smile “You’re cute.”

Felicity says “I have a scar. It’s in my mouth. I had my wisdom teeth removed when I was 16. Three stitches. They were really badly impacted.”

Sara is standing next to Oliver Queen and John Diggle, all three are in exercise clothes. Sara responds “You’re still cute.”

Felicity says “I always wondered, you know, were you flirting with me all those times you said I was cute?”

Sara says “Why? Were you into it?”

Felicity responds “Of course, it’s you.”

Gif source: https://felicitysmoak.tumblr.com/post/184186370181

Slide Seven:

She Should Have Women Friends

WHY DOES SHE NEVER HAVE FRIENDS OUTSIDE OF THE TEAM >:(

and there are barely any women on the team

theres like,,, thea queen,,, whichever canary is around,,, thats about it

most of this show is just men

felicity needs friends who are women whether she’s gay or not

but imagine all the arrowverse wlw hanging out

no wait dont do that i just started crying at the idea of so many beautiful powerful women

Slide Eight:

Felicity And Curtis Could Be Even More Awesome

Imagine This:

Curtis, very gay nerd, and his best friend Felicity, another gay nerd

Hacking government websites and making pop culture references as a team

The dynamic would be wonderful and we already know they interfere in each others’ romantic lives

two gay nerds trying to set each other up on dates thats what i want

also imagine the jokes they could make

WLW MLM Solidarity my dudes

Slide Nine:

Two clips of a YouTube video labeled with titles and time stamps.

Curtis and Felicity chatting: 0:06-0:25

Curtis is Not subtle: 01:25-end

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XlxVsBz56I

Slide Ten:

The Jock/Lesbian BFFs

You know what’s better than Olicity? Oliver and Felicity being Friends without any weird uncomfortable romantic/sexual tension.

As everyone knows, Jock/Lesbian is one of the greatest friendship tropes.

Imagine we’ve got overdramatic jock Oliver with the woman in the chair Felicity like this would just be great

not much else to elaborate on this i just think it would be rad

Slide Eleven:

Cool Gay Aunt

So in Arrowverse canon, Felicity is the stepmother of Oliver’s son, William. William and Felicity originally bonded over math and science and they get along really well. Notable memory is them eating ice cream for dinner because Oliver wasn’t around to object. Now imagine it’s pretty much the same dynamic but she’s the cool gay aunt. Felicity comes over with her computer and hacks the NSA while William works on his science fair project and they eat cookies. Perfection.

Slide Twelve:

She Could Join Legends

It is well known that Legends of Tomorrow is the gayest of the Arrowverse shows. Legends is where underappreciated characters go to achieve their full potential and be gay. If Felicity were canonically gay, she could be the Legends’ science/math/computer person. She’s already friends with Sara so she’s got a way in. So many possibilities with Felicity on Legends it could be cool

Side Note: Wally West is Bisexual and you can’t change my mind

Slide Thirteen:

College Felicity Has The Gay Vibes

LISTEN I know the flashback of College Felicity was her with her boyfriend but she’s just got those Gay Vibes my bro

This really cool hacktivist who does good through crime while looking super cool

Be Gay Do Crime am i right?

Picture: A photo of Felicity Smoak when she was in college. She has black hair with purple streaks and dark makeup.

Slide Fourteen:

Olicity Feels Forced

This isn’t even necessarily related to her sexuality this is just a criticism of the writing.

At first it was kinda cute, but over time it became clear they just don’t fit together well. They got engaged, then broke it off, then started dating again and got married spontaneously after only dating a short time? Blech

Their personalities clash and they argue too much and the writing just isn’t good. If the writing were better it could have been a good relationship but unfortunately that was not the case.

Slide Fifteen:

In Conclusion,

Felicity Smoak, coolest lady on Arrow, should be gay for many reasons but most importantly because I want her to be.

Slide Sixteen:

Thank you for reading my dudes

Hope you enjoyed

#felicity smoak #felicity should be gay #arrowverse #curtis holt #sara lance #arrow cw #arrow #legends of tomorrow #wally west #william clayton #be gay do crime #sky's rambles #sky's arrowverse opinions

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boopypastaissalty · 4 years ago

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Here sre some of my Sanders Sides theories. Long post btw so yee

Roman and Remus were originally one all-encompassing creativity, then they split and become the two different sides of creativity, or the "Creativitwins". Their names seem to follow a theme: Ancient Rome, specifically the legend surrounding the creation/beginning of Rome. I think that the original creativity's name was Romulus. Here's why: Remus killed Romulus over a land dispute and then started the city of Rome in his brother's name. Citizens of Rome are called Romans. Though it could be argued that Thomas's moral sense as a concept, not necessarily Patton, separated the two, thus "killing" the original creativity.

Patton may have suffered from anxiety and could have created Virgil as a way to relieve some of his stress, therefore making him Virgil's "dad" in a sense, in Patton's mind warranting him calling Virgil "kiddo" all the time.

We all know that Patton is allergic to cats, but what about the others? What are their weaknesses? My speculations are that Virgil is iron deficient, as he doesn't like to rise up because it makes him dizzy, he is also described by Roman to be the "fairest of them all" and then admitting it was a pale joke in Virgil's expense. Roman is lactose intolerant, as when Patton is feeding him cream of broccoli soup, Logan says that it will "upset Princey's stomach". Logan is OCD: Always planning and organizing things. He gets upset when things don't go exactly as he plans it. He also feels the need to always be right and to make sure everyone else is kept in line. Also: Patton seems to suffer from depression. Oftentimes depressed people crack jokes and give people the general idea that they are happy. They also try to make other people happy. Patton also sometimes gets into these sad funks and even says "I had this problem where I'd hide my less than awesome feelings, so when I would feel like sobbing I'd just smile and crack jokes. I thought that was coping, only joking, never showing sadness, hoping it would just go away".

The thumbnail for "Putting Others First - Selfishness v. Selflessness Redux" has a character selection screen telling the viewer to "select a side", but one thing I noticed is that there is a blank box, indicating a locked character or a character who hasn't been revealed yet. Another thing I noticed is that the sides have a rainbow theme going on. Thomas even says that he is "full rainbow all the time" as an allusion to his sexuality, and possibly even the sides in general. Roman is red, there is no known orange side, Janus is yellow, Remus is green, Patton is light blue, Logan is indigo, and Virgil is violet/purple. Red is the color of physical strength, power, confidence, and passion, which suits Roman's personality. Yellow can be happiness and joy, but also directly means cowardice and deceit, which is self explanatory. Green is a color of healing, life, and vitality, but the flip side being greed, jealousy, pessimism, and superficially. Blue is the color of trust, loyalty, faith, wisdom, truth, patience, and understanding, which sums Patton up pretty well. Indigo resembles wisdom, integrity, fairness, impartiality, and justice, which is all right up Logan's alley. Violet is the color of ambition, dignity, devotion, pride, mystery, independence, magic, being cynical, and mourning, which all makes sense in Virgil's case. Now to orange, which resembles joy, sunshine, risk taking, adventure, enthusiasm, creativity, attraction, success, rudeness, frivolity, and untrustworthiness, which is a balance of traits that both Roman and Remus have and directly resembles creativity, so orange could be a fusion of Roman and Remus, the original creativity before they split. Another possibility for the next side is someone who resembles ethos, as we have pathos and logos (Patton and Logan).

All the sides have an ancient Rome theme going on. Roman and Remus, after the legend surrounding the beginning of Rome. Virgil, after the Roman poet Publius Vergilius Maro, who is often called Virgil. Janus (formerly known as Deceit) after the Roman god of the same name (Janus is the god of new beginnings and transitions, often depicted with two faces facing in opposite directions, one for the past and one for the future). All of the sides except for Patton and Logan, whose names are derived from pathos and logos, an ancient Greek concept proposed by Aristotle. And have you noticed that they mirror each other in almost every way, suggesting that, much like Roman and Remus, they are brothers, possibly even twins?

Dukes tend to not be a part of the royal family, but if so they are princes who have gotten married. Does this mean that Remus is married?!?!? If so to whoooo?

Welcome to me overthinking things again! What if Roman has control over the other sides? Like he's creativity and the sides are figments of Thomas' imagination, so like what if one day he was just done with Logan's nonstop fact train he just (this is extreme) went: "Fuck you, Logan, you're dead now" and Logan straight up dies? Like where would his power end if he could do that? Overthinking things can be scary kids, let me do it for you.

If you overthink it: Patton basically just was like "Nah" in POF SvSR. So he said in SvS that going to the wedding would make Thomas feel good, something that he basically controls because he is Thomas' moral sense and at the center of most of his feelings. Basically Thomas went to the wedding and Patton was like: "This is nice and all and you did the right thing, but uhmmm about those happy feelings. No." And then got all sorts of frustrated about being wrong. So yee. I am just doing the overthinking things thing again.

What if creativity split solely as a big "Fuck you, Logan"? Like I just imagine: C: "Hey Logan, I'm performing mitosis"

L: "Yes, your cells- *he looks up* Whaaaaa?"

R&R: "Cha cha real smooth, Logan"

And thus the twins were "born"

Logan thinks feelings are bad and claims to not have feelings, even though he clearly does (cough, cough, Crofters the Musical? Getting angry in some episodes? Logan, you're a bad liar, bud). So he bottles up most of his feelings, for all practical purposes making him a ticking time bomb. Something's probably going to happen and he won't be able to hold it all in and he'll have an emotional breakdown of sorts. Another thing is he will not duck out. He knows he's too important to Thomas' mental wellbeing for that. He is also getting progressively more angry as the others listen to him less, so he's probably going to overwork himself trying to get everyone to listen to the point where he physically can't be there for Thomas. Cuz like I suspect Logan leaving would have the same effect as Thomas having a massive stroke: The right side of his body wouldn't work, he wouldn't be able to talk/communicate, and his reasoning skills would be gone.

Janus just loves philosophy. Every episode in the main timeline, he makes references to famous philosophers to get his point across.

Patton is always the first of the light sides to accept the dark sides. First with Virgil and then with Janus. He may be taking them in as his troubled but lovable children who he will defend under almost any circumstance.

Virgil's name is not Virgil. People think his full name is Virgilius, though Thomas and Joan have previously stated that it isn’t. Bc of that, some people have theorized that Virgil was lying about his name, or that when he moved to the “light sides” he changed/used a different name, and maybe they’re going to reveal that sometime. Like the scene with Remus and Vee where Re goes, “I would never hide anything from you” looks pointedly at Virgil, and you assume it’s bc he took forever to tell Thomas, but what if it’s bc he was lying about his name from the moment he told Thomas??? And also the moment when Janus says "It takes a liar to know a liar" and Virgil says "Don't" and the response was "What? I'm only talking about your name" I think his name could be Acanthus

Ya know, Patton probably has an indirect role in how the other sides look. Not like "But you're anxiety, you wear the hoodie" but closer to Thomas beliefs of stuff like lying is bad and the fact that Janus often plays devils advocate, so he has a snake face

Random thoughts:

Virgil has the most ace/demi aesthetic and I love that

SvS: Multi part episode, "bad/evil/dark" side gets accepted, the FEELS, angst. Hmmm…

The twins getting along and just like sitting at a table causing minor chaos.

Patton randomly hugs everyone. He just does.

Janus and Patton: animal bros

#long post #sanders sides theories #bc why not #yee #noodles speaks #noodles theorizes

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kpopwrites · 4 years ago

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Drowning in A Dream Chapter 6

A/N: It’s here! LMK what you guys think of this one. It’s a little more angsty, but it had to happen at some point!

TW: Possible smut in upcoming chapters, angst, fluff, swearing, mentions of depression, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempt, slight gore

You couldn’t believe this. How could you? You just happened to be saved by the ghosts of the same 7 men who haunted young children's nightmares? The most infamous town legends? You looked down at the paper article again, hands shaking as your eyes scanned over the only known picture of the men. It was them alright. They looked the same, for the most part, just… Happier, filled with life. “Richard, are you sure this is the correct picture?” You ask shakily, looking up at your boss as he carefully framed the documents. “Of course, look at the date, the headline. It’s them alright, why do you ask?” He didn’t even look up from his work. “I… Nothing. I was just making sure.” You whisper, clasping a hand over your mouth. What was going on? Had you finally lost it? Did you die when you jumped? Was this hell? “Jesus kid, you look sick.” Richard walked over to you, concerned for your well being.

“Do you need to go home? I’ll have Sean take over for you.” You shook your head quickly. “What do you need, kid? You know I’ll do anything.” Richard had always been a family friend, someone your grandmother kept close her whole life. He was like a father or uncle to you, offering you a job and money when you needed it most. “Would it be possible to borrow your four wheeler tomorrow after work?” You ask, looking up at him. You had to see for yourself, had to see if you were losing it. As if reading your mind, Richard looked over at the newspaper clipping. “You saw something, didn’t you?” He asked, placing a hand on your shoulder slowly.

“N-no… I just left something in the woods the other day, I want to go get it without having to do that hellish walk again.” You joke weakly, gulping. Richard clearly didn’t believe you, but he nodded anyway. “You can take it tonight, in case it rains and whatever you left gets ruined. Finish up this project and then head off. Take the walkie with, in case you need help.” With that, Richard walked away, pulling his cell phone out and making a call. You quickly finished framing your section before snapping a picture of the clipping, wanting to make sure. You snatched the walkie and keys from Richard’s desk and took off, climbing onto the four wheeler and placing the helmet on your head.

The journey back to the cabin was long, even on a four wheeler. The cabin was pitch black inside, much more rustic and dingy looking than you remembered. The rocking chair on the front porch held Namjoon, sitting calmly as he read from his book. “(Y/N), back so soon?” He asked, not looking up. “You’re real? But, you can’t be.” Your voice was shaky and panicked as you looked at him. This caused Namjoon to look up, smirking. “I assure you dear, I am very real. I’m assuming you found out?” Lightning flashed ahead, and for that split second, you could see a pale, bloodied Namjoon before he returned to normal. You let out a scream, backing up quickly.

“You’re dead! You’re dead, I’ve lost it. Oh god, oh god I’ve lost it.” Tears of fear fell from your eyes as you paced around the yard nervously. You looked up at Namjoon again, growing frustrated when you saw how calm he was. “How are you here?!” You scream, thunder booming behind you. Namjoon’s calm facade broke as he looked up at the sky. “You need to calm down. I can explain everything, but you need to calm down before you tear down the city.” Anger flushed through your body as the storm got worse and worse. “Do not tell me to calm down!” You snarl dangerously, storming up to the tall man. “I just found out I’ve gone insane and started imagining the ghosts of seven dead guys.” Namjoon laughed as your smacked his chest over and over. He grabbed your hands, ignoring the rain falling heavily from the sky as he looked you in the eyes.

“If I wasn’t real, would I be able to hold you like this?” He whispered, face mere inches from yours. “If you’d stop with your temper tantrum and come inside, I could explain to you everything.” He let your hands go roughly before turning around and walking inside. You whimpered, following slowly behind. It felt like a bunny walking into a wolves den. The other six men were all sat in the main room, staring at you with blank faces. Even Jimin and Jin, who you were so used to see smiling, stared at you with little emotion on their faces. “Take a seat.” Namjoon instructed, pushing you down into an armchair by the fireplace. “So obedient.” Jimin hummed, a flash of lust in his eyes before Yoongi slapped his head.

“You’re all dead…” You whisper, feeling any and all fight drain from your being. “Yes. We are.” Namjoon hummed. “Sort of. Yes, we did die so many years ago, just as your little story said, but there was more to it than what people say.” Yoongi added. “When this town was first settled, it was founded by a man and a woman, husband and wife. The man was a strong Christian, loved God and placed it upon himself to say what was wrong and right in the village. His wife, however, was a witch, the head witch of a coven, in fact. That woman’s name was Emily (Y/L/N).” Namjoon handed you a book, opening it to the first page. There was a small painting of a family, a mother, a father, and three children. He pointed at the woman. “Her husband, Clyde, found out she was a witch, he freaked out, banishing her from the village as well as all of the other women, just in case. Even the young children.”

Sympathy flooded your being for the poor woman. “Was she practicing the dark stuff?” You asked, looking up at Namjoon. He shook his head. “No. Not at first. When her husband kicked her from the village, she wanted revenge. It was their magic that was helping crops grow. And it wasn’t only women who practiced magic. There were men in the coven who would sneak food out to the banished group, keep them healthy.” You sniffled. “What does this have to do with you?” You ask, looking at the group. Jungkook rolled his eyes. “So impatient.” He grumbled. “Emily wanted revenge, so she signed her soul away to the devil in exchange for his seven nastiest demons. She released the sins onto the village, letting each demon take the lives of any adult male who wasn’t in the coven. After that, she released the sins, letting them roam the forest.”

You began to realize what he was going to say next. “The sins plagued the forest, so when you guys came, they…. Took over you, didn’t they?” You asked, meeting Namjoon’s eyes. He smiled and nodded, adding another log to the fire. “Yes. We were once seven innocent immigrants. However, the forest changed us. Wrath chose Jungkook, causing him to kill all of us. The other sins saved us, each inhabiting our bodies.” You tensed in fear. “You’re demons, holding the bodies of seven dead men.”

You could hear one of the men snicker in amusement. “No. Think of it as what your people call a superhero. We gained eternal life and powers and traits in exchange for our humanity.” Namjoon explained. “So… All the missing hikers, all the bodies found, you were responsible.” You whispered in horror. Namjoon shrugged. “Yes. We are. Some of us kill for fun, others only when necessary.” Thinking quickly, you grabbed the iron fire poker, holding it against Namjoons throat. “I don’t plan on dying today.” The iron seered into his flesh, causing Namjoon to hiss in pain, his eyes turning black. The others stood up quickly, ready to defend their brother. “Iron. Smart. Someone knows how to defend themselves.” Namjoon growled out. “We aren’t going to hurt you (Y/N).” Taehyung said, his hands up as he tried to calm you down.

“If we were to kill you, I would have done so when you let me do your makeup.” Jin said. Your eyes widen with horror. “You are the one who cuts up peoples face, leaves them horribly disfigured…” You whisper, whimpering as fear fills your body. Jin smirked proudly. “I couldn’t let them remain as attractive as they were. I am the most handsome, simple as that. I couldn’t bear even the thought of doing it to you. I had full intentions, but something stopped me.” Taehyung piped up. “V would have eaten you in a moment if you weren’t special. We all want to protect you.” You scoffed, pressing the iron deeper into Namjoon’s neck.

“Why should I believe you, hm?” You glare weakly, trying to make sure your courage was intact. “What makes me so different from any of the others you murdered?” Namjoon struggled against the iron, trying to get away. “Because you’re her reincarnation. You may not look like her, but (Y/N), each human is reborn. Sometimes as human, or animal, male, female, or anything in between. Each person has been thousands of beings, and you are Emily. You hold her powers. When she summoned our sins, part of each of them attached to her. When she died, she wasn’t reborn as a human for a long time, until you.” Yoongi explained, causing you to slowly release pressure on Namjoon.

“Your grandmother knew. She took you in, you and your brothers, saved you from people who would harm you and kept you safe.” Namjoon added. “How do you know all this, hm?” You asked, letting Namjoon go, but keeping the iron poker in front of you. “It’s been a legend for a long time. The mortal who would have Hell’s strongest demon’s under their command, willing to die for them.” Jimin piped up, wincing at the sight of Namjoon’s burned neck. “What do you mean? Why would you guys be so attached to me, huh?” You ask, the poker lowering as you grew more confused.

“To put it simply (Y/N), you are ours, and we are yours. I believe people call them soulmates nowadays.” Namjoon spoke, holding his neck as he looked into your eyes. “We will do whatever you ask, and if anyone hurts you, they have the wrath of seven of Hell’s princes to deal with.”

Taglist for Drowning in a Dream @jennyjq @boy9wolf @slutkoo @flakeypancake @leftflowerprunedonut @vickylamore @elenaramos1 @trinityautumn @blackgirlutopia @viralsoftspot @qween-of-trash

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brucies · 4 months ago

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The young Robin has taken over the cave to practice some technical maneuvers that Nightwing had shown him the week prior. He's facing down a B.O.B. set at about 6'5", and he's extremely determined to kick it in the face.

Unfortunately, at the exact moment that Bruce walks in, Tim distracts midway through his leap, and as such, his leg swings wide, and he lands hard on his back.

So embarrassing.

From the floor, bright red, he calls, "Hiya, B. Didn't know you'd be here so soon."

A frown line creases across his forehead. Robin isn't ready, and to some degree, perhaps Bruce still isn't either. The kid's got heart, sure, but heart isn't going to save Gotham. And it's not going to save the boy either. He knows what the psychiatrists will say: PTSD. That unresolved loss has led to an underlying guilt that gnaws under his skin and rears its head to impact innocent lives. That the guilt that came with his own inability to save Jason is now having a ricochet effect on a child that just wants to help. And perhaps they're right....perhaps.

Arms fold over his chest as he towers above Tim. The difference in size between them is significant. Whilst Bruce doesn't quite reach 6'5", there's not much in it, and he most certainly isn't as harmless as a B.O.B. A kinder mentor may have helped his protegee to his feet, but now's not the time to be soft. Tough doesn't grow from mollycoddling. However, there's a hint of what can almost be described as a smile. "Again." / @volucerrubidus

#volucerrubidus #v. i’m the only legend this city needs ▬ main #i love timmy ;-;

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bruciesarch · 2 years ago

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( @hauntrcss ) batphone voicemail: " ... happy new year, bruce..."

And he gives in. Undrunk champagne is almost carelessly discarded to the side as Bruce’s hands find something else to hold. Their bodies collide and he tenderly presses his lips to hers, a moment driven by pure passion, a second that feels like years. Gently, almost reluctantly, he pulls away, but the ghost of a smile lingers on his lips. “Happy New Year.”

#hauntrcss #hauntrcss / 001.#v. i’m the only legend this city needs ▬ main #[ sadkjsadlkajs f u c k ]

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leam1983 · 4 years ago

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Cyberpunk 2077 Thoughts

Having perused Dark Horse Books’ The World of Cyberpunk 2077 over the past few days, I’ve gotten a better feel for the various basic hooks that structure V’s inception as a protagonist. The short of it is the Polish wizards are on the right path to nailing Pondsmith’s treatment the same way they nailed Sapkowski’s works.

Consider the following as half a brain dump, half a series of prospective spoilers, and also half projection, so either skip this, find some other entry to read, or come back to this come late November.

I know I mentioned three halves, but it’s late and I don’t give a shit.

I’m serious - DO NOT PRESS ON IF YOU’RE THE TYPE TO BLOW A GASKET IF YOU’RE INADVERTANTLY SPOILED.

The latest Night City Wire as of August exposed three incipient “life paths”, or starting branches of V’s path. I’ll tackle my personal narrative approaches to them in the order of my choosing.

Nomads: CP2077 is set in a world where much of what we understand to define a family has been blown up, tossed around by climate change and nuclear fire and then stitched back together using grit, resourcefulness and the last dying embers of human decency. Nomads are less a group of people defined by blood relations and more a cadre of individuals that share something more significant than mere genes. It might be a common history, a set of shared hardships, a yen for similar automotive and engineering-related projects - whatever it is, that something pulls people together in ways Corpo rats and street kids will never experience.

This seems to define even the average Nomad’s degree of education. Surprisingly, Nomads are the most well-read group in Coronado Bay’s greater area, some caravans reportedly including entire RVs packed with books. Nomads generationally elect teachers and record-keepers and seem to care for those cultural remnants of the old world, before Pondsmith’s paranoid alternate sixties kicked off more than a century’s worth of technological progression and rampant dehumanization. To a Night City native, a Nomad’s speech patterns appear precious and uselessly florid, while they might appear almost normal to us - maybe slightly touched by the fact that Grandpa Joe or whatever really wanted you to have your Greek classics down before you were old enough to repair your first CH00H2 carburetor on your own.

That new, mega-clustered version of family matters immensely to the Nomads. You identify to yours the same way Orcs in Shadow of War might refer to their clan, or the same way a Scottish clan might design specific visual cues identifying its members. In normal circumstances, Nomads live, thrive and die in service to the clan - and the opening segment for V’s Nomad origins suggests that something happened to his clan. They’re gone, or so the narration says, without going into further detail. Is V responsible? We don’t currently know. As it stands, however, he is a lone Nomad in a clan of one, and soon finds himself pushed out of the Californian wastes and into Night City’s neon-drenched streets.

Seeing this, I considered the narration as an admission of guilt on V’s part. He feels responsible, and hopes that grinding his way to success will in some way atone for what he’s done. Consequently, my Nomad V would be as gruff as could be, but as moral and upstanding as the setting allows. He considers himself as having been invested with an example to set, and would intend to set his sights on more than just filthy lucre. Honest filthy lucre is what matters to him, if that concept even is possible: he might deal in unsavory types and illicit activities, but he always does so with a certain moral rectitude - as a tough and gruff, lean and stringy type you can occasionally catch in his battered Thornton pick-up truck with his feet up on the dashboard and a dog-eared copy of Plato’s Republic in hand. Jackie honestly wonders how he can put up with that Greek pendejo’s endless words and the lack of scrolling animations, while V keeps his Kiroshi optics’ News ticker locked onto grassroots Leftist RSS feeds that stoke a bit of an ignored Rockerboy ethos in him. Quoting Marx in Night City might feel like trying to teach lab rats in the finer points of string theory, but it at least feels genuine to him, compared to the predigested sociopolitical pap Militech, Arasaka and their ilk are more than happy to spew on the airwaves.

There’s a lot to be pissed off about in Richard Night’s failed utopia, a lot of fat cats to gut and buildings to burn. Still, he leaves the glowering act and the churning rage to Johnny Silverhand’s imprinted ghost. Being more of a down-low, gun-toting choomba than a classic Street Samurai, Vincent “V” Carson thinks first and strikes second.

Vinnie isn’t much for electric guitars and anarchy in the UK, much less in the Free State of Southern California; but he does love the occasional Leonard Cohen ballad or the occasional shot of Johnny Cash’s melancholy. Having picked up something of a Northern Texas drawl while cruising, he might feel like Harry Dresden’s Good Ol’ Boy cousin, magic tricks here pushed aside in favor of a measure of dermal plating and a good ol’ fashioned twelve-gauge and revolver combo. Not being much of a techno-fetishist, he considers his optics and his skull jack as being begrudging concessions to an era that looks down on fully “ganic” types. Having grown up with TV serials and the occasional visor-based Braindance all depicting cyberpsychosis as something vile that utterly dehumanizes its sufferers, he’s naturally wary around anyone who seems a little too giddy with the prospect of taking a few scalpels to perfectly decent muscles and bones.

His Thornton is where most of his Eddies go, and yes, he’s named his truck Suzie. Suzie’s done right by him, and he’ll do right by her - unless someone else with a pretty smile and a working moral compass makes him swoon.

Street Kids: if you weren’t taught on the highways or in corporate arcologies, odds are you became a positive blip in an otherwise grim statistic, one of the myriad fucked-up kids raised by other fucked-up kids with more seniority than you. With no roads and paid-for nannies, you survived off of grifts, grit, violence, deceit, smarts and gumption - and that, in its own screwball way, creates its own blood ties. You’re wise by Heywood’s standards - streetwise, that is - and you speak the back-alleys’ lingua franca of threats, insinuation and casual intimidation like no other.

If only Jackie hadn’t fingered that Rayfield, huh? This beaut could’ve been paydirt! Well, at least for a week or so, judging by the fact that hundreds of car thefts are reported across Night City on a daily basis. At least, Dean - who also goes as “V” - got to make a new friend while out in the pokey, and managed to shake a few proverbial trees... They’ve got a short-lease in with Trauma Team’s frequency and could maybe hook themselves up with a sweet finder’s fee for anyone who’s on the verge of death at the hands of the city’s Scavengers...

Little does V know, that’s selling Trauma Team as well as their clients painfully short. Shows of gratitude don’t mean anything if you’re not packing the right social status. He barely remembers his birth parents as it is, and grew up the fifth grubby prospect of one of the Valentinos’ “school clubs” (hence the nickname) - where the points of study refer to the proper observances to be held in Jesus Malaverde’s presence, intensive Chicano and Spanish immersion, as well as the handling of common types of weaponry.

Vincent and Dean would be likely to shoot one another, if placed in the same room. One clings onto nearly-lost value systems, while the other commodifies what can be discarded like so much flesh - only inasmuch as his efforts to pacify his unofficial five or six abuelas force him to forego extensive modifications. His knives and wrist-mounted data port are his main tools of the trade, although Dean keeps his hacking creds along the bare minimum. Why bother, when melting an ATM’s ICE wall and whacking the cops with a baseball bat is all you need? There’s a type of gun for nearly anything else, if someone knows where to look...

Dean has no last name, and is consequently registered as “Dean Smith” in the city’s Census records. That doesn’t suggest, however, that he wouldn’t want to make one for himself. As he’s less focused on the city’s legends than on its kingmakers and pawn-movers, Dexter DeShawn strikes him as someone to emulate, watch and learn from - all with a decent degree of caution.

Being on top matters a little less to him than eventually pulling Heywood’s stings. With a little fear and a lot of persistence, Dean “V.” Smith knows that one day, he won’t go hungry on a weeknight. To that end, he’s certainly a hearty eater, here paired with extensive free-weight training regimens and the use of anabolic stimulants. Oh, sure, he’ll speak of family and blood like the best soldier festooned in Santa Muerte visual codices, but his friend Jackie’s got a mind like a slow and steady steel trap.

Either Dean blows his new fellow Street Samurai out of the pond, or he does. Unlike Jackie, however, Dean isn’t realistic about it. Friendships are a rare gift in Heywood, if not the rest of Night City, and Dean’s convinced that Jackie could conceivably look past his final betrayal.

Corpo: nowadays, we’re mostly familiar with the idea of one-percenters creating a bubble of affluence for themselves. Boarding schools, private villas, prebooked vacations across the globe’s priciest spots, access to the hottest trends on the minute of their inception - what this tends to forego is the level of social disconnect that’s required in order to stay relevant. We’re only just waking up to the consequences of letting an aging, crusty first-generation Yuppie be crowned the ruler of the free world, and even someone who’s behind on their Bret Easton Ellis could tell you that Donald J. Trump is a sociopath and a narcissist.

Take that mindset, and cultivate it into an ethos that’s taught to children from a very early age - children who live, eat, shit and breathe in accordance with their parent corporation’s tenets. The more placid, mid-tier lifers in the genre are called sararimen, in reference to William Gibson’s use of the term to designate low-level company workers in Chiba City. A bit like Shenzhen’s factory workers and execs, everything in a corpo’s life is in service to the corporation.

In Night City, as of 2077, two major players have installed this culture of total obedience in their roster. Their names are Militech and Arasaka. One is a juggernaut in the field of military-grade personal defence, the other has a wider grasp and reach, but is more fragile. Arasaka owes that fragility to the last fifty years having involved its re-establishment and reconstruction. Fifty years ago, Night City’s Corpo Plaza was blasted open by a thermonuclear discharge that sent the Japanese giant packing. The charges had been set by three Edgerunners: Rogue, Morgan Blackhand and Johnny Silverhand - accessorily a well-respected Rockerboy and front-line member of the band SAMURAI. Only Rogue survived that fateful night, or so the street lingo goes, having gone on to start a legitimate consultation business as well as a fruitful career in the hospitality business. Her bar, the Afterlife, is Night City’s hotspot for every techie, script kiddie and accomplished cyber-spelunker.

Our gal Vivian knows this. She knows this, because Vivian “V.” Banks lives two lives.

In one of them, she’s a lean and hungry Junior Executive in Arasaka’s Counter-Intel division. In that line of work, you either fuck someone’s prospects or protect your own, or ensure that no up-and-comer just out of the company’s Law School program manages to push you off the board. She knows full well that in centuries past, corpo-speak was made up of mild euphemisms that at best referred to destroying a rival’s prospects or lifelihood. Taking a life was something that required careful deliberation, especially when tossing a fat severance bonus into an aging CFO’s three-piece pockets and letting your erstwhile rival snort cocaine off of the rolling hips of Tahitian dancers was so much cheaper...

Nowadays, zeroing someone is commonplace.

You’re born for Arasaka, and chances are you’ll die for Arasaka just the same. Viv’s killed, lied, cheated and even stole her way to her position, remorse being this vaguely churning sense of coldness in her gut that keeps one-night stands coming in and out of her bedroom. She only remembers her parents as being credit-chip enablers and personal enhancement drug addicts, cutting ties with them so completely on the day of her official hiring that it felt more like a tacit understanding.

On most days, sex and booze keep the cold at bay. On most days, Vivian Banks is a class-act of a sociopath. The stronger she gets, however, and the more paranoid her targets become - which reinforces her own paranoia. Before long, playing the part of one of Arasaka’s several poisonous flowers won’t work anymore.

Unfortunately, she trusts no-one. No Fixer could put her in contact with any hacker she’d trust, no rando fresh off the street with a retro-tinted National Arms plinker would satisfy her. To climb up the ranks and maybe share tea with Old Man Saburo himself, she needs a spotless performance record. She needs skills.

More importantly, she needs a reputation. That means leaving Arasaka Tower and mingling with the experts in their own field - and it means filling out her back book of successful hits. The drinks at the Afterlife are decent enough, but what she’s after is an official in.

If she can get to Rogue, or maybe even hook up with a ripperdoc not bought and paid for by the company, she might be able to score both new skills and increased performance...

If it were as simple as slitting Janet’s throat in HR and diving her way to an orgiastic performance review quite innocently left on the department’s server, she would’ve done that already. Viv is my obvious Pure Stealth build candidate, my main-line hacker and would-be engineer with a thing for black power skirts and designer offensive augments.

With that said, we’re months ahead of schedule, all the good shit’s already come out, so we’re stuck playing the waiting game...

What are your own character or build ideas for Cyberpunk 2077?

#cyberpunk 2077 #spoilers #build ideas #characters #roleplaying

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liesonthefloordramatically · 4 years ago

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Annotations for “the seventh day of the seventh month”

(Link to the fic if you’ve somehow managed to stumble on this.)

As usual, I am only annotating the big things! If you wanna know more, feel free to hit me up in the comments on AO3 or on Tumblr! There are also a bunch of little jokes and Easter eggs hidden throughout the fic, if you have more knowledge of Japanese religion/Japanese language/my other fics. If you find any of them, please let me know and I will give you a virtual gold star.

Festivals in general - “Wow, Queenie, have you been to a festival before?” you ask. Yeah, you might say that. If I have managed to capture a fraction of the colorful, weird, liminal, sweaty, noisy, marvelous mess that is a summer festival, I will be content.

Tanabata - Tanabata is a festival based on a legend about the weaving maiden (Orihime) and the cowherd (Hikoboshi). They are separated by the Milky Way and can only meet (via a magpie bridge across the Milky Way) once a year. If it’s raining on Tanabata, the magpie bridge can’t form and they can’t meet. Orihime and Hikoboshi correspond to the stars Vega and Altair, respectively. There is a lot more Tanabata Lore that I didn’t really get into in this fic; look it up if you’re interested in learning more!

Tanabata in Morioh - Morioh is based on real world Sendai (S City), which is famous for its Tanabata celebrations (held August 6-8). Morioh’s Tanabata isn’t a one-to-one reproduction of Tanabata in Sendai, but look it up if you want some visual references (and because it’s cool)!

Shrine geography - The exact layout of each shrine is different, but some common features: a main shrine building (that people usually pray outside of), one or more shrine gates, and a shrine office (which is where they dispense charms and fortunes and amulets for household altars). In case you need a refresher, Jotaro’s local shrine looks like this. Assuming that I’ve done my mapping correctly, this is the real-world analogue of Josuke’s local shrine, although the layout of the Morioh shrine in this fic is fictional.

Japan’s two-part summer - Japanese summer is split into the “rainy season” (mid-June to mid-July) and “after the rainy season” (mid-July to September). The rainy season is appreciably cooler and less humid but also...more rainy. July 7 and August 7 thus have pretty wildly different weather patterns, even putting aside geographical differences.

Tanabata wishes - A common way to celebrate Tanabata is to write wishes on little slips of paper and tie them to bamboo. Here’s a visual.

Yukata - A yukata is a summer version of a kimono; please do not ask me to describe clothing and instead look at this visual reference. An obi is the sash used to tie a yukata. Children’s yukata have different patterns than adult yukata (which also have different patterns based on gender); here’s a visual reference. The joke here is that the only yukata Koichi could find that fit him was made for a child.

Gagaku - Traditional court music; it sounds like this. The taiko drum is the big drum (which is also used at shrines, independently from gagaku performance). Festivals will sometimes have live gagaku music...or will sometimes play the same 30-minute cassette on loop over the shrine A/V system for thirteen hours. It’s fine.

The One-Month Delay - All facts offered in this fic are true and accurate. Tanabata has a really wide range of dates when it gets celebrated in Japan, including: the seventh day of the seventh month under the Gregorian calendar (July 7), the seventh day of the seventh month under the Gregorian calendar + one-month delay (August 7), and the seventh day of the seventh month under the lunar calendar (dates variable depending on the year).

Obon - A Buddhist festival honoring the spirits of the dead. Traditionally held on the fifteenth of the seventh month under the lunar calendar, but now officially recognized as a national holiday on August 15 in Japan. Like Tanabata, different areas of Japan celebrate it on different days. The Obon holiday (August 13-15, although some schools and workplaces may give more time off) is one of the biggest travel holidays in Japan.

Festival food - Each region of Japan has its own specialty foods, but there are a lot of Festival Foods™ you can find anywhere. I’m not going to annotate most of the individual foods because I think they’re pretty easy to uncover via Google if you’re interested! “Queenie, is Jotaro right about cucumber on a stick?” you ask. I skillfully dodge the question.

Wait, hold on, it’s just a cucumber? On a stick? It’s (lightly) pickled but, essentially, yes.

Frozen mikan can - Okay, I’ll actually gloss this one, since I do think it’s one of the less common festival foods in this fic. Basically, you take a can of mikan (sometimes called “Satsuma oranges” or “mandarin oranges” in the States) and you...freeze it. Visual reference here. It turns into a solid block of ice and fruit that you painstakingly chisel out with a plastic spoon. Highly recommended.

Miko - If you’ve seen an appreciable amount of anime, you probably already know what a miko is, but they’re the young women (sometimes called “shrine maidens”) who staff shrines. Here’s a visual reference. Some (bigger) shrines have full-time miko, but smaller ones tend to hire high school and college students part-time. Yukako is correct that some people claim serving as a miko is good training for marriage.

Charms - Shrines sell charms for different benefits--they tend to be made out of brocade, often with the benefit and/or the name of the shrine embroidered on them. Here’s a nice visual of a bunch of different types. Some common charms you can find at pretty much any shrine: traffic safety, success in academics, good health, recovery from illness, safe childbirth, success at work, peace and prosperity in the household, business prosperity, etc.

Happi - A type of straight-sleeved coat, primarily worn at festivals. Visual reference here.

Japanese toy guns - Surprisingly common at festivals and pretty unnerving for Americans, since they’re not legally required to make them look fake.

#DO NOT LOOK UNTIL THE FIC GOES UP or ELSE :U #I gotta post so I can link you know how it is #Queenie actually says something on this blog #parallelism palooza #can't believe this is the first set of annotations I've written since Buddhism fic! wild!

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hetalia-pjo-au-hub · 4 years ago

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Welcome to the APH Percy Jackson AU!

INTRO

Hello! Welcome to the APH PJO AU. We’re the creators, Wonder and Theo, and this is our first time running an au. You may know us from our involvement in the My Heta Academia AU as the muns of ask-hetaaca-nyoprussia and ask-hetaaca-nyogermany, as well as many others. Before we ramble about us, this is what the au is about:

The APH PJO AU is an ask blog based group run by us (Wonder and Theo) that takes place in the Percy Jackson Universe at Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter where the countries are mortal demigods instead.

In this AU, there are endless possibilities for which godly parent your muse has! This means that your muse can’t be a god or a normal human. This also means that your character cannot be the oracle; and only a second muse can be a satyr.

The Hunters of Artemis are available! They are the only characters that can be either demigods or just plain mortal.

Hera, Artemis, and Hestia are not on the table for being godly parents. Hera won’t have relations outside of her marriage, and Artemis and Hestia are maiden goddesses*

*Athena is also a maiden goddess, but her children come out of her head

The Major Gods and Goddesses**

I. Zeus/Jupiter

-Zeus is the god of the sky, lightning and the thunder in Ancient Greek religion and legends, and ruler of all the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the sixth child of Cronos and Rhea, king and queen of the Titans.

II. Hera/Juno

-Hera is the Queen of the Gods and is the wife and sister of Zeus in the Olympian pantheon. She is known for being the Goddess of Marriage & Birth. Despite being the Goddess of Marriage, she was known to be jealous and vengeful towards the many lovers and offspring of her husband Zeus.

III. Poseidon/Neptune

-Poseidon was god of the sea, earthquakes, storms, and horses and is considered one of the most bad-tempered, moody and greedy Olympian gods. He was known to be vengeful when insulted. He is the son of Cronus and Rhea and was swallowed by his father along with Hades, Demeter, Hestia and Hera.

IV. Demeter/Ceres

-Demeter is the goddess of the harvest and presides over grains and the fertility of the earth. Although she was most often referred to as the goddess of the harvest, she was also goddess of sacred law and the cycle of life and death.

V. Ares/Mars

-Ares is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent and untamed aspect of war and is the personification of sheer brutality, in contrast to his sister, the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and generalship.

VI. Athena/Minerva

-Athena is the Olympian goddess of wisdom and war and the adored patroness of the city of Athens. A virgin deity, she was also – somewhat paradoxically – associated with peace and handicrafts, especially spinning and weaving. Majestic and stern, Athena surpassed everybody in both of her main domains.

VII. Apollo/Apollo

-Apollo is a god in Greek mythology, and one of the Twelve Olympians. He is the son of Zeus and Leto and the twin brother of Artemis. He is the god of healing, medicine, archery, music, poetry and the sun. He is the leader of the Muses. He also is a god of prophecy, and his Oracle at Delphi is very important.

VIII. Artemis/Diana (Hunters of Artemis)

-Artemis was the Greek goddess of hunting, wild nature, and chastity. The daughter of Zeus and sister of Apollo, Artemis was regarded as a patron of girls and young women and a protectress during childbirth

IX. Hephaestus/Vulcan

-Hephaestus was the god of fire, metalworking, stone masonry, forges and the art of sculpture. He was the son of Zeus and Hera and married to Aphrodite by Zeus to prevent a war of the gods fighting for her hand. He was a smithing god, making all of the weapons for Olympus and acting as a blacksmith for the gods.

X. Aphrodite/Venus

-Aphrodite is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, beauty, pleasure, passion and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess Venus. Aphrodite's major symbols include myrtles, roses, doves, sparrows, and swans.

XI. Hermes/Mercury

-Hermes is a deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods, as well as the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quickly and freely between the worlds of the mortal and the divine, aided by his winged sandals. Hermes plays the role of the psychopomp or "soul guide" — a conductor of souls into the afterlife.

XII. Dionysus/Bacchus

-Dionysus was the ancient Greek god of wine, winemaking, grape cultivation, fertility, ritual madness, theater, and religious ecstasy. His Roman name was Bacchus. He may have been worshiped as early as 1500-11000 BCE by Mycenean Greeks.

XIII. Hades/Pluto

-Hades, in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although the last son that was regurgitated by his father.

XIV. Iris/Iris

-Iris, in Greek mythology, the personification of the rainbow and (in Homer's Iliad, for example) a messenger of the gods. According to the Greek poet Hesiod, she was the daughter of Thaumas and the ocean nymph Electra.

XV. Hypnos/Somnus

-Hypnos, Latin Somnus, Greco-Roman god of sleep. Hypnos was the son of Nyx (Night) and the twin brother of Thanatos (Death).

XVI. Nemesis/Nemesis

-In ancient Greek religion, Nemesis, also called Rhamnousia or Rhamnusia ("the goddess of Rhamnous"), is the goddess who enacts retribution against those who succumb to hubris (arrogance before the gods).

XVII. Nike/Victoria

-Nike, in ancient Greek religion, the goddess of victory, daughter of the giant Pallas and of the infernal River Styx.

XVIII. Hebe/Juventas

-Hebe in ancient Greek religion, is the goddess of youth or the prime of life (Roman equivalent: Juventas). She is the daughter of Zeus and his older sister, Hera.

XIX. Tyche/Fortuna

-Tyche, in Greek religion, the goddess of chance, with whom the Roman Fortuna was later identified; a capricious dispenser of good and ill fortune. The Greek poet Hesiod called her the daughter of the Titan Oceanus and his consort Tethys; other writers attributed her fatherhood to Zeus, the supreme god.

XX. Hecate/Trivia

-Hecate or Hekate is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches or a key and in later periods depicted in triple form. She is variously associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, night, light, magic, witchcraft, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, ghosts, necromancy, and sorcery.

**There are plenty of minor gods, and we are willing to work with muses that are children of the minor gods but please try to stick to the main 20 we have listed

WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS TO BE PART OF THIS AU?

- You must apply according to the application form

-You have to follow the set rules

-You need to be a writer and/or an artist

-You need to have at least one visual reference of your muse. This does not have to be good or in the application, but it does have to be somewhere on the blog.

-You don’t have to be fluent in English, just decent enough to be understandable, as most interactions will he in English.

APPLICATIONS

There will be announcements as to whether or not applications are being accepted. The applications are to be submitted before creating a blog. The application form can be found here.

FAQ

“Can I join even if I’m not that good of an artist/writer/not that popular?” Absolutely! Your skill level and popularity don’t matter, just follow the rules and have fun!

“Can I apply a second time if I wasn’t accepted in the first application phase?” Yes, and we encourage you to do that!

“Is it possible to be part of this au even if I don’t know much/anything about Percy Jackson?” You can join even if you know nothing about the series, just please don’t appropriate the gods.

“Can I have two muses?” Yes, but you can only apply for one at a time, and have to have been part of the au for at least a month before getting a second muse.

“Is Discord needed?” No, but it is recommended as it makes interactions and event planning easier.

“Can I apply even if I know I will not be able to update regularly?” Yes, but update at least once a month. Real life comes first, but if something major comes up, talk to one of the mods. We will try to be understanding.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

It's important to mention that there are people who do follow/work/worship these gods, and that while this is an AU, some Pagan/Wiccan followers may not be too keen on how gods are presented in the PJO series. Please be respectful of their beliefs, and listen if they wish to further educate you. Please make sure that you do your own research into modern practices and interpretations as well, it is one thing to understand ancient practice and mythology, but another to understand modern practice. There are many resources and people online more than willing to help educate, please take advantage of that. And please understand that media portrays the gods and goddesses in ways that are not completely accurate and it is best to be somewhat critical when enjoying media such as PJO, Lore Olympus, Marvel, etc.. Followers of the pantheons should also understand that not everyone knows what you know, and to understand that this is an AU and does not reflect the true beliefs and practices one may come to learn and practice under their own deity work. Please be gentle and kind when correcting or educating those who are not practicing. This AU is not meant to be a completely realistic and accurate interpretation of the pantheon(s) and some wiggle room is acceptable when interpreting. Please only correct and educate if it is a common mistake. Please think critically before you jump in to correct, and remember that not everyone is involved on quite an intimate level of knowledge.

#auinformation #intropost #mod theo #mod wonder

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finalgirlguy · 5 years ago

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Thief au

The main four are in a thief gang in medieval times

They work kinda like Robin Hood — stealing from the rich and giving to the poor

It all started with Roman and Logan

Roman is like, this middle-class writer. He has enough money to be the one with best clothes on the gang — also because he takes better care of them than the rest — and sometimes uses his position to call some favors

But his money is low. All he has is stuff bought from richer times and a position in society

So he’s strolling through the poorer side of the city and he sees an asshole push over a prostitute, not even caring to glance at the woman, who has now fallen on the ground, as he walks through the streets. And the guy is mad rich. You can tell it from his clothes, or the size of his pocket, that shows he’s carrying a lot of coins

Roman doesn’t really think it through. He’s low in cash, no one wants to buy his latest work, and this asshole is full of money. So he slides his hand on the guy’s pocket and gets a fistful of golden coins. No one realizes.

But as he turns around, he eyes this couple of orphan kids, obviously starving to death, and he doesn’t need to think it through a lot. He gives them all the money.

Suddenly a hand’s grabbing his shoulder and dragging him to an alley. This tall, slim man is staring him down, cold blue eyes analyzing him from head to toe. “Middle class. Good clothes. Probably a good family. You had no reason to steal, unless you just wanted more money. But if you wanted more money, you wouldn’t be giving those kids it”

Roman barely stutters out a “What?”. The man realizes that he actually has an audience, and focuses his gaze on Roman’s eyes, his mouth pronunciating well the words as he says: “Why did you steal and why did you give it to those kids?”

Roman doesn’t know what to say. He shouldn’t be talking about stealing with a random guy. But on the other hand, this man doesn’t seem like he would tell Roman off. He just seems curious. “I don’t have a lot of money. That guy didn’t deserve it. But those kids did, more than me”

The man seems to think for a second, before raising his left hand forward “I’m Logan. Allow me to buy you a beer” Roman shakes it awkwardly, indecisive, but there’s something about Logan that says he could be trusted. Plus, Roman is very thirsty right now. “What’s your name?” Logan asks, already moving along the alley.

“Roman. Roman Real”

They go to this bar and order some cheap beer and talk. Logan raises the subject of the monarchy and social inequality and Roman, a little bit drunk, tells him how he wishes there was some way he could take the extra wealth from those who don’t deserve it and give it to the poor. Logan raises and eyebrow and whispers:

“What if there was?”

“What?” “What if you could take from the wealthy and cruel and give to the poor and kind? Would you?” “How?” Logan raises an eyebrow at Roman, like he can’t believe Roman still hasn’t understood his point “If you could steal from the upper class and give to the ones in need, would you?”

Roman thinks for a second, then answers “Yes.” Logan smiles at that, a smile that shows he has been looking for a partner like this for a long time “Well, Roman, I think if you and I work toguether, we can do just that”

They leave the bar and go to Roman’s place. They are young and drunk, both with cheap alcohol and rebellious ideas. They spend the whole night awake, discussing books and politics, and learn about each other. Roman learns that Logan is smarter than most man with twice his education, and that his last name is Sanders. Logan learns that Roman is an idealist and a romantic.

At the end of the night, they have a kind of deal. They will pack everything they have and go to another city. They will start off with small pick-pockets: just enough to survive and to give some to the homeless, the widows and the orphans. If it works, they will move from town to town, doing the same.

And so they do. Logan coordinates it, telling when and whom to strike, and Roman’s hand is always there, sliding gracefully and lightly into a stranger’s pocket.

This has been going for about 4 towns. Small pick-pockets, dinners at cheap bars, sleep at cheap hostels. The smile and gratitude in the face of those that receive is very much worth it.

They are having lunch at another cheap place, sitting by the counter, and Logan leaves for a while, to grab a drink for them, when a low voice reaches over to Roman:

“What is someone like you doing somewhere like here?” Roman turns around, and apparently the voice belongs to a short and skinny man, clad in black and purple.

“I beg your pardon?”

“What’s your name?” The stranger comes closer, smirking, and Roman can now distinguish his black eyes beneath his hair. They are annoyingly mesmerizing. “Roman” The writer smiles, one of his dashing smiles he knows none can resist.

“Well, Roman” The man comes closer, his voice turning even lower, making something in Roman’s chest rumble “I was wondering why someone like you would choose this hell of a place to go.” The stranger comes even closer now — Roman half-heartedly notices how their height difference is of about half a head — and sets his hands on the top buttons of Roman’s jacket, smoothing over the silver with his thumb “Pretty clothes, pretty face” the stranger pronounced every sillable, once again staring Roman up and down, this time deliberately slowly “You have enough money to eat somewhere else, and I can tell you don’t need to pay for company”

“What’s your name?” Roman asks, this time being the one to look up and down. Virgil has pale skin, an interesting factor among peasants, and seems a little too small for his coat, but he makes the worn out black and purple outfit look good. His eyes are dark brown, almost black, and there’s some lighter spots in there that would give him an innocent look, we’re it not the never diminishing smirk and the dark looks.

“That shall remain a mistery.” “I gave you my name, haven’t I? It is only fair.” The man seems to consider for a second before saying: “call me V.”

“Well, V” Roman gives him a small, teasing smile “maybe I come here for the handsome company I might find”

V laughs at that, a laugh that sounds more like thunder than anything else, and let’s his hands slide down Roman’s arms before carefully stepping away “Buy me a drink first”

Roman smiles wider, ready to clap back, when Logan shows at his side, an amused yet hard gaze focused on V “Give it back”

V’s eyes widen, and he steps away again “Listen, I’m not looking for any trouble” it’s interesting how different his voice sounds. “Neither are we.” Logan argues “Give it back, and we’ll pretend nothing happened”

V grabs something from his pocket and sets it on the counter: the top button from Roman’s jacket, made of silver and adorned with a chimera. The writer looks down and, indeed, it is gone.

After a couple of seconds of blankly staring, Roman sputters out: “Y-you-you stole me!” V seems regretful, and it’s once again interesting how his attitude has changed: now he seems to be sinking down, trying to look smaller “Was that why you were flirting?”

No, he does not sound hurt or offended at all, despite what Logan and V would say later.

Logan grabs the button and they are about to leave when Roman’s brain catches up and he turns around to face V: “Where can we find you, pretty boy?” V hesitates, and Roman sighs deeply before adding: “We’re not going to tell someone you stole us. I just want to talk more to you”

V finally gives him his address, a small cornel of warmth growing in his chest, and Logan and Roman leave.

Back at the hostel, Roman has his mind set:

“Logan, he could work great with us!” “Yeah, except for the fact that he’s not trustworthy, since he tried to steal you” “And what exactly are we doing here, Logan?” Logan is silent, and Roman presses him “He clearly is better at it than me, and it could be great to have another partner, someone who could be a distraction or an ally”

Finally, Logan agrees, and they go searching for V. They find him in a small house in the center of the town. Surprisingly, V is easily convinced. The next morning, they’re leaving the city when Logan turns to him and asks: “What is your name?”

“Virgil Storm” Roman thinks that’s a pretty name, before clearing his head of this type of distraction.

So they go town to town, and the robbings start to get bigger. They rob three or four noble houses, spreading the money between the poor population before the sun has even risen. Soon, they become a legend, a myth. The Golden Man, the Mind and the Shadow. They start to grow in fame so much they can no longer stay in hostels, so they start to camp on forests near towns. Sometimes they get hurt, falling out of tall windows or barely escaping dangerous situations. They do their best to patch it up on the camp, but there’s only so much Logan can know.

Until one day, when they’re eating dinner on a campfire in this forest, this young blond boy, dressed in blue and light grey, shows up.

Logan immediately jumps behind Virgil and Roman. Roman tries to shove Virgil a little behind him, what is ridiculous, given that Roman has no weapons besides his body and Virgil is wielding a dagger, but it does make something warm bloom in Virgil’s heart.

But the boy smiles brightly and raises his hand playfully “Woah, easy! I’m not here for fighting!”

“What do you want?” Roman asks carefully, gesturing for Virgil to put the dagger down, and being completely ignored by the paler man.

The blond boy smiles again — he does that a lot, Roman thinks — but he quickly turns serious. “I want to join you”

“I’m afraid we don’t know what you mean” Logan says. This boy seems too bright and too friendly to be very smart. Perhaps he thought they were something else, a circus crew, maybe.

“Yeah sure” the man waves a hand in the air, laughing, his green eyes crinkling at the sides “You guys are famous, you know? I’m guessing you’re the Golden Man, and you sure do shine, kiddo” he winks at Roman who, sure enough, had golden shades on his outfit “You’re the Shadow?” He asks, looking towards V, who certainly deserved his name, with his dark tones and personality. “And you must be the Mind.” He finishes, smiling once again towards Logan.

“Why do you want to join us?” Logan steps forward, lowering Virgil’s dagger. The boy’s face, so sweet, and a little bit childish, turns almost cold at this. “I believe you guys are right. I believe no one that is cruel and hurtful should hold that much money, and I believe everyone deserves to be able to eat and live.” At their stunned silence, he adds “I know how to heal people, too, so I could help in that.”

Roman gestures for the boy to take a seat by the fire, and the other three bundle up a little bit away, discussing it: “I don’t like this ideia” “You don’t like it because you’re afraid, Virgil. He seems nice” “Seems. That’s the word. We can’t trust this random guy.” “We are all random guys to each other. Logan and I barely knew each other. I knew you for half a night before you joined us. We are doing this based on morals and ambitions, and this man has the same ones as we do.” “Logan, what do you think?”

Maybe it’s the way the boy smiled, or maybe it’s the fact that the boy smiles a lot, or maybe it’s because Logan wanted someone capable of doing medical work, or maybe it‘s just because Logan often stayed alone while Virgil and Roman stole, and he would like some company, sometimes, but the truth is Logan really wants that boy to join them.

“We could, indeed, use his knowledge, and it would be useful to have someone no suspicions would lie upon, someone to distract while you two steal — a pretty face, for lack of better wording” Logan answers. Virgil still seems suspicious “I thought being a pretty face was Roman’s job—” “You think I have a pretty face?” “—and we’ve been handling our bruises and scratches pretty fine so far.” Logan looks back at the man sitting by the fire, some sort of peace on his face Logan so ardently desired. “I vote for him to stay” “So do I” Roman adds, his face still slightly pink from the pretty face comment. Finally, Virgil agrees.

“What’s your name, young one?” Roman asks, sitting next to the boy.

“Patton! And I’m not so young, you know. I’m 18” “Patton! What an interesting name.” Roman smiles “You look younger than you are, I assumed we were all much older than you. I’m 20, Logan over there is also 20, and Virgil” he nudges Virgil, that replies with a stare that could cut through rock “is 19. I’m Roman, by the way.”

And so they became a gang. Or a family. Who knows. They would die for each other. They would kill for each other. Soon enough, Patton becomes known as the Beauty — though Logan always blushes when he hears the nickname.

Every so often, they encounter Declos Ethine, and it’s always a why-do-we-keep-running-into-each-other kind of situation. The Four— that’s how they’re called in the legends, in the whispers — sometimes save Declos, sometimes Declos saves the Four

No one KNOWS what Declos does for a living, but it’s definitely not something good and honorable

Their first time meeting Declos as a group was hilarious, because they all knew him differently, except for Roman

Logan once punched Declos. Long story, they don’t really like each other, very often fight for leadership in the group

Virgil used to be best friends with Declos, when he was 15, and they helped each other survive in a dangerous town — until Declos moved away.

Patton is Declos’ brother, what earned a few surprised gasps from the rest of the group when they found out. Patton is 3 years younger than Declos, so he’s always treated like a child by his brother, but Logan made Declos cut the bullshit real soon.

Declos constantly flirts with Roman, what Virgil really doesn’t like, but Roman is, somehow, completely unaware of Virgil’s jealousy.

Sometimes Declos shows up with a bodyguard, called Remus, that for some reason always wears green. No one also knows what their relationship is, but Remus is the only one that knows the story behind Declos’ scar on the left side of his face

I think I might write more about this later? I really liked the ideia of this AU

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translationandbetrayals · 4 years ago

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Wolf´s Rain: A deeper look at its OST

Alert: There are SPOILERS in the analysis.

Wolf’s Rain OST is special in so many ways. It has many different styles; some modern, some country-ish and some almost tribal. Listening to the few English lyric songs in the anime I realised how much these songs related to the story, to the characters and to each of their pasts. Knowing the premise of this story is a group of wolves trying to find Paradise, I will proceed to analyse two of the OST songs that are originally in English. In my opinion these are two of the most important songs in the story. Though, this does not mean the others are less important. The lyrics will be given along with the link to the music so you can enjoy. Run, wolf warrior, run https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD8iT_FQ4p8 Run, wolf warrior, to ends eternal Through the wreckage of the death of the day Scent of silence under starlight spinning A captured beast within a human skin Are you searching for long lost landscapes Lit by flowers and crystal cascades? Where the lamb lies down with the lion Where the wolf is one with the wild Run, wolf warrior, through kingdoms' chaos Senseless cities and ghost towns towering Howl, O hunter, though few know you're crying Face upturned into that midnight moon Are you hunting for mystic mountains Where the air is like liquid laughter? Where the beasts inherit the earth Where the last again will be first Run, wolf warrior, to hide your hunger The rain will wash away the pains of the day In your eyes there are cold fires burning Tongues of flame that can never be tamed Are you running from Man's delusion Majestic madness and your exclusion To where the lamb lies down with the lion? Are you running down ancient pathways Through this dark and deserted land To where man is once more a child? Are you running to freedom's fortress By the side of wide open seas Where the wolf is one with the wild? Where the wolf is one with the wild? Run, run, run… Run, run, run, run, run, run on, run on through the rain…

This song’s melody is soft and pleasant. It evoques tribality and nomadity. It flows and moves the soul. It’s liberating. And so are the lyrics.

The lyrics start by giving the wolf the power to run, something that seems so natural for these animals. And as we see in the anime, it’s something so central. A lot of the sequences are of them running to nothing, something, Paradise, who knows. Literally, to “ends eternal”. No matter in what state of decay the world is, “the wreckage of the death of the day”, meaning, the world dying, they will still run. Under the sun, under the stars. Then it touches the beast within all of us, that is waiting to be unleashed, to leave its trappings, its human skin. As, in the story, the world is dying it is mentioned that they run searching for what once was, “long lost landscapes”. Where all live in peace, “where the lamb lies down with the lion”. Where they can once again just be wolves. They are searching for their Paradise. The world is in decay, humans gather in cities with no future, and they keep running. These hunters (wolves) howl to the moon, their guide. They howl in pain for what’s been lost, what is gone. But only few understand the anguish of their cry. Wolves are hunters. And their prey in this journey is their goal, the lost Paradise. The place they can once again feel alive and happy. Where they can run just for fun. A place with no humans to hunt them. Animals are the only ones to keep this earth. The ones who became prey for humans will be hunters again. The wolf runs to search for food and at the same time to forget their hunger. They feel the dread of the dying world. However, they feel the fire of destiny burning within. A fire that can never be extinguished nor controlled. We know they are running towards Paradise. But they are also running from this world that has turned its back to them. They are running from being excluded, feared, and unwanted.They are running from this madness that has enveloped the human world. They are travelling down a road full of stories and ancient beliefs. Their faith in finding Paradise pushes them to traverse the world. To find a place of origin. The place where there are no prejudices nor hate.

Paradise is not only a peaceful place for them. It represents safety and freedom to be who they are with no fear of being harmed because of it. They are searching for the place where they can show who and what they are once again and be one with all.

Strangers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4SJcDd4ICg

We've found a kind of paradise in a flower’s bloom. We've seen the end of a mystic land so close it meets the parting sun. We've shared the thoughts that two could share, We feel the truth, magic that we send… Searching for something new Isle of Gold in flowers bloom We've heard a kind of paradise beyond the desert's dunes. We've walked the earth in solitude, So cold we need the warmth of sun. We've lived the life that we could live, We see the truth magic that begins… Searching for something new Isle of Gold in flowers bloom We've found a kind of paradise, below a sky so new. We've weaved a web of mystery so wide, We need the light of day. We've worn the cloak of secret lives, We've seen the truth, magic that we send… Searching for something new Isle of Gold in flowers bloom So when will it end? So when will we meet, my friend? This song’s title, Strangers, evoque the encounter of those who are still unknown. Those who might become partners in this journey. The first paragraph could be easily referring to the time Kiba, the main character, spends in The Garden of Eternity. However, the legend says the wolves will be led to Paradise by Moon Flowers, flowers Kiba knows well as he was born in a place full of them and later watched them all burn. The Garden of Eternity is a place that resembles Paradise. It’s a place where all animals live in peace, no one hunts them. This place is a mystic land. And here Kiba meets Myu, a female caracal, and she entices him into staying there forever, with her. But Kiba cannot smell the Moon Flowers anymore, scent that has guided his journey. This makes him realise this is not the place he is looking for. Even though it is magical. Then the song goes on by giving a glimpse of the location of this Garden of Eternity. In the anime we see that it is in the middle of a huge desert, one that the natives do not dare enter. It mentions how they have been alone in the cold, referring to the journey through the winter landscape and to the feeling of emptiness. And as they find each other these feelings start leaving them. There is reference to this journey being a mystery as they don’t know where they are headed. Them having been living in hiding, not being able to be wolves to the eyes of the world. However, the truth of their identities is somehow magic as wolves were supposed to be extinct. Finally, we get the questions, “when will it end”” and “when will we meet, my friend?”. Both refer to the encounter of destiny. The first is the finding of Paradise, will they find it? Is their journey ever going to end? The second, in my opinion, refers to the final episodes of the anime, in which they are lost and scattered in the city of Jaggara. Each of them wants to find Cheza (the lady of flowers) and the doors to Paradise. However, they want to do it together. This journey has made them realise finding Paradise is not their only goal. There is something new that is also important: Being together. And that is how they are meant to find their Paradise. These are only two of the songs that comprise the whole OST, in which there are others that have lyrics just as important to the story. By analysing these two songs I’m just trying to give you a glimpse into the wonders that can be found in this story. I am giving you a one-seconds window into this story that shows friendship, hardship, fear, hope, and so much more. So, I encourage you all to watch this anime, appreciate it as much as I do and keep listening to this beautiful music produced by Yoko Kanno.

Alejandra Donoso

#Anime #essay #submission

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