#we were put on this earth to learn and to grow and i fully believe that

[hopefulstarfire]

It's been said time and time again but I will keep screaming it from the rooftops; superhero comics, like all other art forms, are political, but ESPECIALLY so. They always have been, they always will be. They stand as a moral compass and ideal to follow, challenging our ideals and how we can strive to do better and become heroes ourselves, yes, but it goes even deeper than that.

Superman made his debut in Action Comics #1, ushering in the Golden Age of comics. He was created by two Jewish young men, one of whom lost his father during an armed robbery at his family store and then created a bullet proof man coming in to save the day. In his second comic ever, he kidnaps the commanders of two armies that are opposing each other (mostly for the sale of munitions, as Clark puts it) and plops them down and says, "Nope, I'm ending this because this is senseless. We're ending this by you two fighting each other so people stop dying senseless deaths." And they don't want to fight or for Superman to mop the floor with them so yeah. In his third, he faces off the corrupt owner of a mine that disregarded his workers safety - which was the fact that there was poisonous gas down there - and denied it ever even happened, even when rescue team members were left unconscious and there was at least one case of hospitalization where a person almost died. So what does Clark do? Lock him and a bunch of his rich buddies in the mines and makes them work their way out, with only 24 hours of oxygen down there and to point out there's not any working safety equipment. And then there's the radio show that eventually turned into a comic about Superman beating the fuck out of Klansmen.

One also has to remembr: Superman is a refugee from a destroyed planet, last of his kind, a literal undocumented alien whose parents probably had to forge his paperwork (and DID in the Smallville series), was raised in a small town by farmers trying to get by, who knew the value in looking out for their community and whose nemesis is a billionaire who in many cases goes into politics. Yeah and people still try to say this man would have voted for Orange Hitler.

That's not the only case of it though. Many of our most beloved superheroes came from Jewish creators because it was work they could get as many people deemed it as "lesser work" and America was also anti-semetic. Or you have the case of Wonder Woman's creator, William Moulton Marston, who was a polyamorous man who loved his wife and their girlfriend very much and was heavily into BDSM (hence why Diana's only weakness originally was bondage) and they were both just as big a part in her creation, even being based off of the both of them. He was a psychologist (and actually invented an early version of a lie detector test, fun fact) that saw a female sexual revolution on the horizon and he was all for it and was trying to show that to others.

And that's not even beginning to go into the goddamn legend that is Jack Kirby. The very first cover of Captain America's stories shows him punching Hitler for God's sake and he's fighting HYDRA, who they make as the Nazi science division. This is also the same man who, when some nazis showed up demanding to see him and show the creator of Captain America "How Nazis really fight", he rolled up his sleeves and marched downstairs ready to annihilate them and they'd already run off with their cowardly tails between their legs.

You could also factor in the gun reform and Batman's anti-gun messaging in the early Comics, to the point he even called people who use them cowards, as well as the shift to him not killing anymore, a political move. Yes he killed in the very first comics but that died down just as quickly. He gunned down some monster men from the bat plane and also hung one by a noose from it and flew around with it, and some kids weren't okay with that, but namely it was parents. So Whitney Ellsworth, the chief editor at the time, marched into Bill and Bob's office and told them no more killing. Batman isn't allowed to use guns, and he's not allowed to kill, nor would any hero, as they had to hold themselves to a higher moral and standard than their villains (something Bill wanted from the start and Bob had rejected, until he saw how much more the comics were selling after that.)

These are just a few examples of the early comic creators. This is just a couple examples of the Golden Age stories and most of them showcased heroes on the home front, fighting to protect that. These stories were also used as a way to promote warbonds and were sent overseas to boost soldier morale and it absolutely did.

The political sphere stuck around after that when that lying bastard Fredric Wertham wrote his book Seduction of the Innocent, claiming comics were corrupting the youth, and was trying to push for censorship. He tried to say Blue Beetle was some Kafka-esque nightmare monster when in fact he was some fucking archaeologist in a regular blue suit. He claimed that Batman and Robin promoted homosexuality, claiming they were in a relationship when that was Bruce's basically adopted child and it's one of the many reasons we comic fans would fight Devin Grayson in a Waffle House parking lot, and altered patients statements to make it seem like that was the case as well as those patients fantasizing about them in a role play scenario between two patients that were apparently in a relationship. But who can say? He manipulated accounts by altering, combining and excluding information as well as chose very targeted demographics.

But it was the reason the Comics Code Authority got created, and they ushered in strict guidelines about what could be published under the code and it was why there's such a big difference in the Silver Age: there was a boot on their neck to sanitize everything down to appease guidelines that were only there because some asshole used falsified evidence as a scare tactic. Eventually it would start to get dismantled. Stan Lee had been a big forerunner in that area actually; he'd been commissioned by the FDC to create a Spiderman comic warning about the dangers of drug use, and the CCA wouldn't let him publish it because they did not ever want depictions of drugs. So he took it to the head editor, explained the situation and got it approved to be published without the CCA stamp on it. Eventually, they'd stop using it all together, followed by Archie, and, while DC had been publishing Comics without their approval for a while, switched to their own rating system in about 2011 and that killed it dead all together.

It doesn't. Stop. There. It never has and it never will. Look at stories like Civil War, which was a response to the Patriot Act, for example. The Absolute Universe for DC really seems to be touching base with there as well, between Blue Collar Batman going up against billionaire Joker, or refugee Clark trying to find the good in the world and what's worth fighting for in a corrupt system and Diana "Understand that any effort to fashion me into yet another arm of your military-industrial complex will simply not be tolerated" Prince. One of Spidermans biggest enemies is always going to be the insurance companies trying to fuck over Aunt May. The X-Men are always going to be representative of the oppressed, acting as representation for civil rights across the board and Magneto's literally a holocaust survivor. I could into detail about the fucked up intricacies and very dystopian nature about a hotline where people got to vote on if a 15 year old sidekick was brutally murdered by his adoptive father's greatest enemy, all because the writers at the time didn't like him or his existence, and even tried to have him killed off by stuffing his name into a suggestion box about having a character battling AIDS as a response to the AIDS crisis or completely doing a 180 in his character in the last two comics before said vote to kill or save storyline just to justify killing him - or making him look older so it'd feel less shocking. And some people voted just because they thought it would get his brother, who was in college and was in one of DC's most popular titles with a new identity and everything, to come back and be the Boy Wonder again.

There's a superhero for everyone. There are people you can see yourselves in all the time in comics and they are inherently political. Never let others diminish that or the work that has been put in to keeping them going to keep inspiring others. Comics aren't perfect. Superheroes aren't always going to be written by the best writers. But they've persisted all this time, despite the odds stacked against them.

And we will too.

[maboroshi-if]

SNote: Maboroshi is intended for 16+ audiences. Strong Violence and Swearing/Cursing will be in the IF. The warning list will be updated as we continue. Intro Post is still being pulled together, so if there are any questions, let me know!

Maboroshi is an Interactive Fiction Game based in the world of Naruto, however, all events within the story span during the end of the First Shinobi War and the beginning of the Second Shinobi War.

Long ago, many years before you were born, the countries of the world were entrenched in warfare for land. Mighty warlords and noblemen wished to expand their territory; however, blood would need to be given in exchange; Unfortunately, for the people of the land, the blood given as payment was not theirs. Instead, shinobi across the lands sacrificed their lives to fulfill the greedy lord’s wishes. Villages would soon be pillaged, children and women would perish from famine, and demonic creatures would rise from the darkest parts of the world to roam the earth. This would later be known as the Warring States Era. 

Twenty years later, all the infighting, battles, and wars would just...cease to exist. No one knows what caused the wars to stop; many believe that an inner deal was made between Daimyo across the land, while others believe something much more sinister is at play. Regardless, the ninja world seems to have finally settled into peace and harmony.

It has been some years since the Warring States Era ended. Villages across the land have been ushered into peace, and the village of Kirigakure is one of them. 

Having just graduated from Ninja Academy, you're now a Genin placed into your forever squad. Focused on growing stronger and building a name for yourself. You set your sights on becoming the strongest nin in your village, and who knows? Maybe you'll even become Mizukage someday. Before that happens, you'll need to pass the Chunin exam, a test that is said to have painted the very soil underneath your feet red.

Exam preparations are put on hold when rumors of war begin spilling across the peninsula. 

Tonari Yuma, a missing-nin from your village once accused of kidnapping and killing five children from all across the Land of Water, has resurfaced as a chieftain in the small village of Kirostache. 

Proclaiming himself to be the rightful Mizukage of the Land of Water. He wages war against Kirigakure and denounces your village as a town full of traitors united in dethroning the Daimyo by the usage of dark means. Your father calls it foolish. There is no way that the Water Daimyo would believe such a basis. 

Or so he hopes.

A conspiracy is brewing in the Land of Water, and you will soon learn that life is not as idealistic as you believed.

Fully customize your character!

I MEAN IT; fully customize them! Choose your 

Hairstyle and type

Hair color is locked to red, but you have the option to pick different shades of red, 

Skin color, 

How you appear to others, 

Eye color, 

Ninja outfit + civilian outfit

Name + Nickname

Gender, 

Genital choice + Body Shape will come in Part 2

Pronouns

Height

Weapon (you can’t use your chakra ALL the time)

Birth Season

Backgrounds are locked based on your chosen clan

More to come soon...

Choose one of three clans to be your paternal lineage

Tsuchigumo: Become Spidewo-(man)! or not. 

Yuki: Possess the Ice Release Kekkai Genkai

Shirogane: Puppet Masters who originate from the land of Wind

Become a master of either Taijutsu, Genjutsu, or Ninjutsu

Or master a combination of all three!

Romance 8 ROs

Three are available for Part 1

Four ROs will be introduced in Part II. The last is a secret RO

Pass the chunin exam!

Failing means your death, so make sure you are ready when you take it.

Complete a bunch of D-rank and C-rank missions; you're only a genin, after all.

Learn forbidden jutsu or stick to a path of purity (aka, do nothing fun!)

Meet some fan favorites as they were when they were alive!

Determine your fighting style: are you more brutal, or do you have finesse?

Or maybe you don't want to fight at all!

Become a Jinchuurki? It could happen 

Choose to become a medic-nin if it suits your fancy!

Izuna Uchiha (M): The Rival A boy shrouded in mystery, he is a constant reminder of your first C-rank mission and what went so terribly wrong. You’ve tried your hardest to make peace with him. But it feels impossible. He's a stranger in your tight-knit village and has found himself to be treated like an outsider. You would feel bad for him; if he weren’t so smug. Replacing one of your squadmates, he has shown an aptitude for warfare and finesse that makes you weary. How can a child who has grown up in a world of peace be so ruthless? Get to know him and you’ll unfortunately find out. 

 Izuna possesses an aptitude for Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu, making himself a triforce. And it makes no sense to you, considering that you hardly see the boy practice! It will be interesting to see how he grows. If he makes it.

Chihiro Inoue (F): The Dreamer

One of your squadmates, she is a loud and outspoken girl with large dreams and big ambitions. Working to become the first female Mizukage, Chihiro often displays headstrongness and an overzealousness that can often get her into trouble. Luckily for her, fortune always seems to work in her favor.

Chihiro possess an extremely high aptitude for Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, calling herself a self-proclaimed weapons master. She gives as good as she gets, and has no problem getting a little dirty.

Tanui Hozuki (M or F): The Jokester

A jokester, they seem to have no desire to become a ninja; but with all that chakra they possess, they are given no choice. Apart of Squad Six, it makes no sense why you seem to run into them all the time, but you find their presence comforting.

You know nothing about their fighting style; only hearing whispers of the ‘wicked’ things that they have summoned from the adults in your village. 

Shinichi Hoshigaki (M): The Lost One/Secret RO

The second member of your original squad. Shinichi is the complete opposite of what you would expect from the Hoshigaki clan. Known for being fierce and aggressive, Shinichi is the exact opposite of the savage reputation that precedes them. Soft and friendly, Shinichi is a gentle soul and abhors the act of violence. But when push comes to shove, he will protect himself and his friends with the vengeance of Asura. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to save him. Or was it?

Shinichi possesses a high aptitude for the sword. Almost on par, if not matching Chihiro in strength and brutality. He favors the Water Release Jutsu; typical for someone coming from his clan. 

Akane Uzumaki: your mother is revered as the five-tailed beast's holy priestess/vessel. Once labeled as one of the strongest Kunoichi in your village, she has settled into domestic life and has left behind a life of adventure. She seems content; however, you catch the sorrowful expression on her face whenever she looks at you.

[[Chooseable Name]]: Your father is a distant cousin of the Water Daimyo, considered a war hero for his actions in a rebellion that lasted almost ten years. He has been given the highest spot in the village as "supporting Kage," only second to the Mizukage himself. 

Hanabi Sugawara: Your sensei; is not what you had expected in a teacher. Seeming to coddle your small team of three more than teaching you. You feel that she is hiding something, something that could put everyone in danger.

DEMO (Coming soon) || RO Appearances || Discord (Maybe)

[internetgiraffekid1673]

It says in your little thing that your Mormon, are you still Mormon cuz respectfully I've heard a lot of shit about Mormons and how they are very transphobic and homophobic! So not trying to be rude just genuinely wondering if I read that wrong or something.

Hey! Yeah, I am a mormon, but I love all my queer siblings, including/especially my trans people. But it's a complicated religion and I have a complicated relationship with it, so I understand the confusion.

The short answer is that I was raised mormon, continue to find a lot of comfort and truth in SOME of their teachings, and I am perpetually very pissed with a lot of their other teachings, cuz yeah, a lot of them are Not Good. So I'm mormon and mad about it. It's kind of like. . .imagine if you were raised Catholic and only really have good memories of your Catholic community and find a lot of comfort in teachings about God's love, but you absolutely despise the administration of the Catholic church and like, everything they say about queer people. It's like that.

The long answer is this:

A) The mormons get a bad rap on the internet for stuff that isn't actually true. If you ever have a specific question, I am happy to answer to the best of my abilities.

B) Having said that, a lot of the teachings of the mormon church regarding queer people are really really bad and I do not support or encourage this even slightly. I myself am queer, and I have to put up with hearing all kinds of queerphobic shit from the church all the time. And I hate it and I speak against it whenever it is safe for me to do so. It just. All of it goes soooo against the other teachings of the church. I am not the only queer member. There is an entire community of us on tumblr over here. We all work and suffer through it together.

C) I still believe in the stuff that's at the fundamentals of the gospel though. Namely, God exists and he loves all of us unconditionally. He sent us to Earth so that we could learn and grow and become happier through our experiences here. Free agency/the ability to make independent choices is very VERY important to him. He sent Jesus Christ to suffer for our sins so that when we do fuck it up, we don't have to live with that guilt forever. Jesus also suffered for our pain and sorrow so that we didn't have to and can bring us healing. We're supposed to love our neighbors with our whole hearts.

I also believe that Joseph Smith did translate the Book of Mormon, although he was still a human being who made mistakes and I don't believe in a LOT of the stuff he said and did. I doubt you've read the Book of Mormon, but it's really just The Bible Extended Edition. There's a reason it's full name is The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. It covers what the hell was going on in the Americas during the biblical times.

I also believe that God has chosen prophets for our modern day to continue giving us revelation. I also believe those prophets are mostly crusty old men with outdated personal opinions that they mistake for revelation, that they fuck it up a lot, and I wish a lot of them would hurry up and die so I no longer have to listen to their bullshit.

D) Religion and faith are personal. I'm not here to convert anyone, especially other queer people. I continue practicing my religion because I have had literal years and some really amazing people to help me sort out what is good and bad and to figure out what parts of it are best for me as a person. I understand that what's best for some people is literally none of it, and I also understand that while some people could benefit from just doing what I do, that the way the church treats queer people (and also women sometimes) does more harm than the good parts help. So while I talk about my religion sometimes, it's always more about my personal relationship with it and never to try to convert people. I fully support ex-mormons who left the church, because sometimes the environment can be truly toxic and the religious trauma they have experienced is real.

E) The culture of the church and the actual doctrinal teachings of the church are two very different things. Utah mormon culture is also different than regular mormon culture. All of these things have good aspects to them, but church culture and Utah mormon culture also have a lot of really harmful things too, and these don't even have anything to do with the crusty old men being homophobic/transphobic. I am also mad about this, and I also complain about this fairly frequently.

I'm glad you asked because I understand that this stuff can be confusing. I think it's impossible to be any kind of religious queer person and not have a really complicated and deeply personal relationship with your religion.

I hope that answered your question, and I completely understand if this makes my blog feel like an unsafe space for you and you feel like you need to unfollow me. I do, however, tag every church related post I make, both with a religion cw and the tumblr mormon tag. Do what's best for you, and much love.

Also, unrelated, but I really appreciate all the posts you make and every time I see a little notification from you on one of my posts, it makes me so very happy.

[shmowder]

Ooh, OCs! I'm in a patho oc group that I've unfortunately been too busy to participate in lately but I love my little (big) guy, so I'll share him here.

His name is Yonho, he's a former butcher turned botanist/agriculturalist, and he's 15 - because odonghs aren't born, they're spat out from the earth as fully formed adolescents. Yep, he's a worm NPC!

After learning how to exist for a few years he was put to work as a butcher for the Bull Project, but after doing that for a few years and realizing his labor mostly just made their greedy exploitative Böös richer, he quit and went to be a cattle herder in the steppe. He was free, but lonely, and couldn't enjoy his freedom knowing so many of the Kin were still slaving away at the meat factory. So he thought, hey, we're working there so we have money to buy food, right? So why don't we just grow our own food and we can stop working for him?

Great idea! Lots of other people thought of that before, though, and... the soil just sucks. It's terrible. Anything except twyre is barely worth growing. If they were going to stay in one area they had to depend on imports. But instead of giving up or saying they should return to being nomads he wondered if there was a reason twyre grew so well, and if they could give other plants that property. He planted the herb patches in Shekhen and started studying them, and one day when he was explaining his idea to a butcher who stopped by, they said they saw a book about something similar at a shop in town. He looked into it and found several books about plants, but they were all in Russian. So he went to some of the Kin in town and had them translate, and started trying to learn to read Russian himself so he could understand them better.

Now, a worm being interested in western science and trying to learn to read Russian is very unusual. And guess who caught wind? Vlad Jr. He immediately sought out Yonho and offered to help, saying he would give him the books he used as a child to learn to read, and would have books on agriculture imported for him. Yonho was obviously skeptical but Vlad Jr seemed better than his father and he couldn't think of a way this would hurt him so he cautiously agreed. And it worked, Vlad Jr did get him books on reading and agriculture. With his help Yonho quickly picked it up, and with a better grasp on Russian he started to speak more clearly, more like a townsperson. That was when Vlad Jr started talking about how wouldn't it be great if they could educate all the Kin and make them civilized like this? And Yonho realized he had never actually been interested in helping him, he just wanted to show they could be assimilated. He was understandably furious and while he didn't cut ties with Vlad Jr completely since having those connections is handy, he went back to Shekhen to focus completely on his twyre experiments. That's where he is during the game, and he's thrilled when Artemy frees the survivors from the Termitary and brings them there. He's even more determined to succeed now so it can be a long-term solution.

Despite being a devout Boddho boy, he really doesn't have any issues with the Town itself. Plenty of the Kin seem to like living there. It would be fine if not for the meat slave factory. And the racism. But a lot of people, especially those from the lower districts, are completely okay with living alongside them. Bar a mass departure, Yonho's staying near Shekhen and the Town forever. The Kin are his family. He's not leaving them.

Of course he believes all the steppe legends, being one himself, and he also believes the Mistresses. They've had Earth Mistresses and Mother Superiors for ages. However, he doesn't like the Dark and Light Mistresses. They're powers not native to the area, and like invasive species, they cause more destruction than good. He obviously hates the Olgimskys and thinks the Polyhedron is an abomination, so he hates the Kains too. He doesn't know much about the Saburovs but Katerina is a townborn Earth Mistress and they're not responsible for any huge destructive superstructures so he likes them best by default.

Obviously he would aid Artemy in his attempts to bring the Kin to Shekhen, but he wouldn't be hostile toward Clara or even Daniil if they were polite to him. I doubt he'd sabotage it, but he'd try to rescue the Kin from Utopian end by bringing them to a safe place in the steppe rather than inside the Polyhedron. As for quests... I'm not sure! He might ask you to get him a book or some supplies for Shekhen, or to talk to Vlad Jr for him. He would definitely be one of the worms you can trade herbs with though.

This was... already much longer than I intended it to be oops but here's the full document I made for him! And here's a drawing of him, done by the awesome @hayheadd!

A WORM OC!! IS IT MY BIRTHDAY? I LOVE HIM PLEASE MY CHILD <33 I would move the mountians and boil the seas if even one thread on his clothes gets touched by someone with malic.

Reading his backstory felt like reading a fable tale, one of those beautifully drawn bedtime stories you's obsess over as a kid. The narrative build and gradually steps he takes in order to solve this conundrum instead of just surrendering to the harsh reality.

He isn't satisfied with the current treatment of the kin. He wants his people to be turly dependent rather than subjected to borderline slavery by greedy cooperations.

It's very admirable how he doesn't give up even when his attempts fail, when the plants he attempts to grow withers, he asks why and tries to find an alternative way, searching for knowledge and information rather than simply giving up and thinking it was a foolish thing for a worm to even amount to anything.

I also like the complex relationship with Vlar Jr. Because he genuinely would help a worm if he ever caught wind of someone of someone like Yonho attempting to learn russian and actually read books. Sure, he'll do it with the intention in mind to spin this whole thing into benfiting his agenada to "uplift" and "enlighten" the kin, rather than actually understand why Yonho is doing the things he is.

But he still helps, I love that rat boyfailure man who. It is clever of Yonho to not cut off all connections since Vlad Jr. naivety or underestimation of the worms and kin can benfit him into getting even more batony books and outerworld resources with the Olgimskay's connections alone.

Ha, ironic. Taking advantage of the Olgimskay ignorance to help his own people who were wronged by them, to provide the kin even more knowledge whilst still respecting his own traditions and culture.

Because he knows the earth is a living thing, that he is a living proof of the magic in this universe and you shouldn't forgo one for the other.

Yk who else believes in steppe legends? Yulia, at least in P1. Taya also seems like she'd hold great favouritism towards the worm attempting to plant her strawberries and all kinds of fruits she's always read about but never tried.

Mother superior would definitely have his back if one of the Kin has a problem with his ways or claims it's an insult to the earth to attempt to not be satisfied with just the twyrine and swerve.

The art is so beautiful, I adore the little flowers and how accurate his clothes are to the Kin fashion ingame.

[strawberryqueen00]

Do you think that Viren is dead?

I hope this meme accuracy describes my words. If not…oh boy

But legit…there’s a chance. So Aaravos very clearly words it “the blood of your child” not the “life of your child” the blood. That is some SUPER specific wording I’ve been thinking of. Because well…Claudia is currently missing a leg and is letting a lot of blood. But Aaravos also uses the words “sacrifice” later. This implies a death(or that there just needs to be ENOUGH blood that the only one to get it is death which Claudia bleed out could provide).

But then there’s the question of

1. Can they find Viren in time. He’s in the woods(i assume this isn’t that big of a deal)

2. Would Claudia even have the strength to do this?(would be interesting if Terry used dark magic here 👀 but also unlikely)

3. How does she figure out how to do the spell. The homunculus saying “Blood of Child” seems like a detail that the writers very likely put in to let Claudia know about the blood but who tells her the symbol in the spell? I guess the homunculus could draw the symbol in the ground?

But we’ve seen this happen before where Claudia has done something the person didn’t want/had accepted reality in Soren. Soren was fine with what happened after the dragon fight. And having the extra drama of Claudia using dark magic to bring him back if he didn’t want to. THE ANGST YOU GUYS!

But I’m not just conflicted from a logistical perspective but from a character perspective.

If the story better if Viren comes back?

Is it more narratively fufilling for Viren to choose to die a meaningless death without dark magic when he was so prideful of positions of power. Of being remembered for something greater than this. To die on his own terms humbly on the ground, forsaking that thing that his pride focused on so much?

To some him dying without seeing the rest of the gang or them knowing he gave up dark magic is a waste. But, I don’t think so. Because it is a legitimately an interesting take to have a villain come to a moral change and become a better person without the heroes ever knowing. That you can grow as a person even in your last moments and that you don’t always have to reconcile with the people you hurt for your growth to be valid.

They can still hate you and you can grow as a better person and that’s okay.

So. Do you understand why I made the meme I did st the top of my post? There are so many unique possibilities for Viren’s development from this point forward if they let him live or not.

I don’t think it’s as obvious in one side of another if his death will be permanent.

Now time for a crack theory if you were there just for that answer you can leave. I don’t fully believe this but as a not normal.tm person. My brain is…interested in this potential connection. Follow my lead for a second.

So. Terry is an Earthblood Elf and we have seen in the show and the spellbook that they can control plants and stone. And the image we’ve seen at the beginning of every episode? Viren turning to stone. What if Terry had a way to seal Viren in stone in a state where he’s on the edge of death until they can help him?

This is also an additional theory that works here.

Just to be clear, I even LESS believe this but the threads are there for it.

We know that humans can have revelations about the Arcanums after their dark magic dream. What if, in this moment of death. Of accepting life and staying true to his beliefs, grounding himself for the first in his life. We know from the Tale of Xadia books(sorry using wiki screenshots my phone is cringe) the associations the show has with Earth. We know we can trust what the book has to say about Arcanums and the show because what they say about the Ocean is what Callum uses to learn it.

A lot of these currently don’t currently fit Viren but they could in a symbolic sense. In the future(harmony to represent the growth he’s made in his relationship with through Terry along with harmony in himself AND harmony between dark magic and Arcanum magic! Patience he showed in how long he waited for the throne and his plan but also a symbolic patience of how it’s taken for him to get here,

Before this he’s also been shown to be stubborn, resilient, he literally is a representation of the deep history humans have with dark magic. HOW MANY HAS HE TRIED TO HEAL PEOPLE WITH DARK MAGIC GUYS COME ON! BALANCE! BALAANCE Light and Dark come on!

This is all just a crack theory but the more I connected then points made and more sense. The narrative potential of the greatest user of Dark Magic in the series. The Magic that hurts creatures to use, becomes a magic user of EARTH AND NATURE. To heal what he has done. To take what he used to use and help it heal and grow. Like talk about a full circle opportunity!

But it’s pretty unlikely with what we know and it anyone wants to write a fanfic or make art off Earth arcanum Viren AU PLZ @ me I love this.

[matan4il]

Apparently the actor who plays Eddie was posting antisemitic stuff (comparing the US mask mandates to Nazi Germany). He never apologized I think. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on that. I’m mad that an actor I like has such awful views on these things but i’m separating him from Eddie in my mind so he doesn’t ruin that

Hi Nonnie! As the Holocaust is a very serious subject, I’m putting my reply under a cut.

Let me start by pointing out that yes, it is VERY problematic to compare the Holocaust to... basically any other event in human history. At most you can compare it to other cases of genocide in order to better understand the different reasons why the Holocaust is considered by the overwhelming majority of reputable historians to be the most extreme genocide ever committed (and please make this comparison for that purpose and ONLY that purpose, not to minimize or dismiss ANY case of genocide. The only reason why we make this comparison is in order to learn from it, so we can PREVENT the repetition of the elements that made the Holocaust so extreme).

The problem is that when people have debates that they wanna make sure they win, basically by shutting down any room for argument, they compare something or label something / someone as the worst thing that these people can think of. If that’s racism, then these people will shout that the thing / person is racist, if it’s pedophilia then that would be the accusation (and this relates to fandom history, there used to be groups of “concerned parents” - and I’m sure some of those people were NOT parents - trying to have gay fan fic removed using pedophilia allegations), and in a lot of political debates, it strikes people like the worst thing that they can compare stuff to is the Nazis / Holocaust.

Which means that there is an ALARMINGLY growing number of things that are way too often compared to the Holocaust. And now I’ll try to explain why this is such an issue.

So imagine an alien arriving on Earth and coming across people discussing this unknown human word, “murder.” Unless the people are very specific about the details (which people don’t tend to be when discussing something as terrible as a murder), the alien is likely to get the impression that murder is a thing that is Very Bad, but not exactly what makes it so bad. As this alien continues to explore the planet, let’s say they come across an incident of theft. They know theft is Very Bad, but because they have no real understanding of whether it’s As Bad as murder, yet they know they wanna raise the alarm on this Very Bad thing they saw happening, they will try to get people riled up by telling them a “murder” has taken place. Notice, this isn’t even a case where the alien has bad intentions! And yet, what does this cause? It makes the theft seem much worse than it actually is, because people think that it’s murder. So when the thief is caught? They might be punished as severely as a murderer would be, not as a thief would. At the same time, it means that fellow aliens who might be there, and learning from their friend’s experience, who don’t have a proper idea of “murder” either, will believe it’s As Bad as theft.

Okay, weird metaphor, but I hope it works, because the point is most people ARE a bit like aliens when it comes to the Holocaust (or the subject of genocide in general). Most of us don’t spend our lives studying the extreme nature of what the Nazis and their collaborators did. We generally get that millions of people were murdered, that it was Very Bad, but we don’t FULLY understand all the ways in which the Holocaust was this abominable. And I say this as a tour guide at a Holocaust museum. I have seen with my own eyes the reactions of people who thought they understood the Holocaust and came to realize it was so much worse than their notion of it as I talked to them about the processes, the different stages of the Holocaust, and the details.

Now, when someone compares incorrectly to the Holocaust they do two things. They make the other thing, the one they’re comparing to the Holocaust, seem worse than it is, basically they get a theft to be treated as if it were murder. That’s why so many are willing to make these unworthy comparisons to the Holocaust, because they want THAT effect. At the same time, there are many people who are simply ignorant, like the alien in our metaphor. They don’t properly comprehend the Holocaust, they have no other point of proper comparison, so they use that one, believing they’re making a worthy comparison and not understanding in what ways it isn’t. And then there are the fellow aliens, the people exposed to this discourse, who don’t fully understand the nature of the Holocaust either, but when they hear such comparisons, their understanding of it is actually being actively harmed, because they start to understand “murder” a little closer to theft. Even if they reject the idea that it is exactly like theft, the issue is that we tend to understand differences between abstract notions in relative terms, so even if we get that there is a big gap between “murder” and “theft,” the very fact that we discuss these notions together makes our perception of the gap shrink a little, as the very fact we’re discussing them together forces us to bring them into the same frame, partly closing the distance between them. In other words, it causes a MINIMIZATION of the Holocaust. Which is something we refer as one of the ways the Holocaust can be distorted. And this is the part that, if done intentionally, is antisemitic.

The comparison in the post that Ryan saw and shared is a horrible one, with real and awful consequences. Posts like that NEED to be discouraged, without reservation! From anyone!

That said, I can’t tell you for sure that what he did was intentional. Sadly, making this comparisons is incredibly common, and has been repeated by countless people (including ignorant Jews), some of it done with malicious intent, some out of ignorance. So there is no possibility to look at a post like that and right away know if it was intended to distort the Holocaust and harm Jews. In fact, Holocaust comparisons are not the only form of antisemitic content that is not perceived as such, and therefore you’re very likely to see it being spread by people who don’t necessarily mean any harm to Jews. I can tell you Oliver has shared such a post as well on one of his social media accounts, too. I can tell you I’ve stopped looking at celebs’ social media in general, because I was far too often unpleasantly surprised. In other words, I haven’t looked at anything posted by others in the 911 cast, but I suspect I’d find content harmful to Jews there as well. This is just as true for other celebs, outside the 911 fandom as well. Your fave, in at least one fandom, has probably posted antisemitic content, maybe without even realizing that this is what they were sharing. In the 911 fandom too, I can’t tell you how many posts like that I’ve come across. People who are not necessarily antisemitic, but they don’t understand the content they come across, so they reblog without full comprehension posts that are harmful to Jews.

I think this is a failure of our education systems across the globe. So my issue is not with Ryan or Oliver, who IDEK if they fully understand the harm of their posts. My issue is on a much higher level. We can and absolutely should point it out whenever we come across antisemitic content! We should not, however, automatically assume antisemitic intent. And I wanna hope that if we do that, if we give people the benefit of the doubt, they might be more open to hearing us out, being educated and changing their ways. IDK if anyone has approached Ryan and had such a conversation with him. I know at the time, I was in a bad place personally and did not have the resources to even attempt that. I hope someone, at some point, did explain it to him, and I’m very grateful that we haven’t seen anything like it from him since. But if you ask me what needs to be done, it has to be something so much bigger, on a societal level.

Have a good day, Nonnie! As always, here’s my ask tag.

[jasonlindsey]

Jason Lindsey Is an Empathic, Determined Creator

by Heather Elder on Notes from a Rep's Journal 

A person’s life values, built through their journey on earth, change throughout their lifetime. Jason Lindsey had one particular experience that colored the way he views the world, more than anything else. We wanted to hear his story, what lead up to his vision for today and the future. Here is what he had to say.

Growing up in the Midwest, being raised and surrounded by factory workers, meant becoming part of a community that prides itself on getting dirty on purpose. Through them, I learned what it means to put in a full day’s work for a full day’s pay – that hard work is simply the price of entry. From these competent and dependable “salt of the earth” people also came the inherited ideals of the gritty, enterprising pioneers who came before us and the belief that decency and integrity are paramount and that strength of character comes from a deeper connection to the land.

As a teenager, I worked on a farm, engaging fully in the physicality of the land. Young and imaginative and always outdoors, I was armed with a do-it-yourself spirit when it came to solving problems on the fly, I loved the feeling of improv and the satisfaction that came with making something out of seemingly nothing. Resourcefulness and thinking outside the box grew to be second nature to me. I learned to see problems as questions. And questions as opportunities for creativity.

At the heart of this creativity were my mother and my grandmother. I cannot remember a time when they weren’t creating or crafting. They introduced me to all that is possible with oil paints, blank sheets of paper, and a glue gun, forever encouraging me to use my imagination further, be inspired by the nature around me, and explore new ways to express myself. In middle school, I tried a photography class, and from working in the darkroom, I found my salvation — the medium a perfect co-existence of science and art.

Through photography, I caught a glimpse of other ways of life. I saw people and ideas that revealed different perspectives on the ways of the world, ideas that challenged me – I was all in. Defying expectations, I went to college and majored in graphic design, all the while continuing to explore photography. After five years as a designer and art director, I took the leap to pursue photography full-time, my opportunity to craft the kinds of stories that preserved what I saw, narratives I believed would contribute to a deeper understanding of the world.

This passion for creativity and the belief in getting dirty for a purpose continues to fuel me. It is important through my projects to call attention to what I envision could get lost in our world. Be it the renewal of nature, or the preservation of land, a loved one, or even just a moment in time, each shoot, another opportunity to make the time to create, to preserve.

All the while aspiring to do whatever it takes to find something extraordinary in each moment, each shot. Be it drifting downriver in a dugout canoe or hiking 8-hours up a mountain with full shoot gear in The Amazon, for me the journey is just as important as the process.

Whether we are talking about nature or people, a person must leave their comfort zone and imagine through the eyes of another. Empathy is one of the greatest gifts that humans can give to each other — to slow down and step into another’s shoes, to feel what they feel. It is not always comfortable, but it is precisely because of that discomfort and being shaken out of familiar narratives that we learn and grow.

I’ve always thought that the more life experience you gain, the more empathy you will have. Though nothing could have prepared me for my newborn son’s first four month’s stay in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care or his 20 surgeries and six years of 120-hour a week home nursing. Not only was I forced to deal with my feelings but also to be fully present for those I love. It was necessary to develop trust and rapport with the army of caregivers who were there to help us. The doctors, nurses, therapists, medical, and health insurance providers were our champions and cheerleaders. Their philosophy to treat the patient and family made a huge difference in helping us heal – everyone’s compassion and empathy on full display every day. It was a growth experience that continues to help me in my professional and personal life.

Today it is my son who continues to teach me. As I watch him grow and interact with the world, he demonstrates children’s unapologetic interest in all things. My son’s wholesome approach and his never-ending questioning about the marvels of the world serve as my catalyst to tell the kinds of stories that move us to be more imaginative, more empathetic, more compassionate, and more generous. One must strive to make choices to ensure the things you love continue to thrive.

Each choice is a reminder of our ripple effect, an invitation to take full responsibility for our impact on the world. Our lives, our work, the health of our environment, and how we value it, all interdependent. And like those gritty and enterprising pioneers who came before me, I believe that no one is too small to make a difference in the world. My son is living proof of this.

These deeply held ideals are the driving force behind why my wife and I fulfilled a long-held ambition to purchase 20-acres of forest at the mouth of Jordan Creek. Ultimately, we raised money through print sales and worked with a non-profit to get a grant for the preserve to be transferred to a land trust for permanent protection.

We also challenged ourselves to explore new ways to green our studio. We weatherized, insulated, overhauled and installed. We paired geothermal with a rooftop solar system and are now 100 percent powered by clean energy. Nothing was exempt from examination to make our workspace one that’s not only good for the health of everyone who works or visits but also good for the planet. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. At the heart of it, I want the work I create to be a reflection of all that I hold most dear – my wife and son, the environment, the caregivers. For this, I will continue to dig and search and leave no stone unturned; to do whatever it takes to tell the kinds of stories that bring people deeper into something that will move them and inspire action. This, my ongoing ode to great design is my way to make something memorable and meaningful.

Follow Jason on Instagram for more honest stories, true emotions, and real moments.

[degrowthchallenge3ad]

Responsibilities and Choices

These small containers hold tomato plant seedlings. Usually there is only room for 1, but 2 were placed in each container. Since the plants are so large and require a lot of nutrients, having 2 in the same space can cause both to fail. When I was given the task of deciding which tomatoes needed to go, I had a surprising series of thoughts about what I was doing. I often struggle to put my thoughts into words, but I will try to explain them here. It was up to me to determine which plants lived and which plants died. I chose mainly based off which one looked stronger, but for some of them, they were nearly identical. I chose randomly for those. If 2 were left to grow, they would likely die, but I felt bad picking 1 out anyways. I couldn't just transplant them or I'd risk pulling out the roots of the other. This simple task made me think about the responsibility we have over other living things on this planet. Our responsibility is a difficult one. I believe that our responsibility as the most advanced species on Earth is to take care of all life. That can be as small as choosing which plants to get rid of so that others may grow, or as large as reworking our economic system to sustain the Earth and prevent more extinctions. These require choices, and often choices don't have a clear and immediate impact. There's also the question of whether the choice was made right, and if it even mattered. I found myself wondering that as I chose which plants to remove. There is more to unpack from these thoughts, as I feel I have yet to fully process and learn from them.

[delphadae]

Ramblings about my faith, deconstruction, reconstruction

For some reason, I feel like rambling about this topic. I'll put it under a "Read More" line, because I know talks of religion is not everyone's cup of tea (Especially since the blog is mostly catered to silly things that makes me happy <3 ).

Ever since I vaguely understood what religion/beliefs/concept of God was, I was a believer. I believed in God (I imagined Him as a giant star in Heaven that could only be reached by a big spiraling set of stairs). I enjoyed going to church (which is weird, because most kids seem to find church boring). The weird thing that sticks out to me when I reminisce on my beliefs as a child is this: For the most part, I didn't see God as judgmental or wrathful. The only bible stories that really stuck in my brain were ones such as "The Good Samaritan" , "Feeding of the 5000", "The Lost Sheep Parable" (and of course, things like Jesus's birth, Jonah, etc.. But the ones that I really kept in my heart were ones that were about compassion, love, etc"). I didn't grow up in a strict Christian household (and even though we believed/were taught the Bible, it wasn't the very center of our lives).

I didn't truly learn/understand the meaning behind concepts of Hell, judgement, wrath, etc until I became a teenager. An old friend from middle school invited me to their youth group (which was located in a small, legalistic Baptist church). After attending for a brief period of time, I didn't return until I was 14 (10th grade). At the time, I reconnected with an old friend via Facebook (who invited me to another youth group lol), and there was a lot of turmoil going on in my family...So I gravitated back to church (the evangelical kind).

Between the ages of 14 to 20, I was a "super Christian/Jesus freak". I was constantly worrying about my friends' salvation, and trying to muster up courage to evangelize. My non-Christian friends were initially confused by my sudden interest in God and Jesus, but thankfully they still stuck around (Sorry if things were awkward back then ^^;; ). I fully believed that if you didn't pray "the sinner's prayer", that you would go to Hell. I believed in the Rapture/end-times told in a very specific interpretation of Revelations. I was confused about topics like lgbtqia+ rights (because the church told me that "it was wrong", but despite my strong beliefs, I really struggled with believing in that), and evolution (unfortunately, I was among the young-earth/creationist crowd lol I am NOT a YEC). I believed that m*sturbation was a sin, and I CONSTANTLY journaled/prayed to God about it, asking Him to forgive me (Which is so sad...Because it's a natural and normal thing!)

In 2011, I also really struggled with depression, s*icidal thoughts, and thoughts of s*lf harm (due to family circumstances and loneliness). At the time, I fully believed that it was Satan tempting me to harm myself and the "seed of unforgiveness for my dad" causing this depression. I was fully entrenched in the idea of spiritual warfare. (I don't necessarily NOT believe it now..but looking back on this situation, I was a teenager struggling with my parents' separation/failing marriage, self esteem issues, and typical teenage stuff. Mental illness also runs in my family, and this was the beginning of the more serious aspects of that :/ I was not in therapy to help navigate this incredibly difficult time, and i struggled with handling my emotions too. It was basically disaster in a picnic basket ).

The first seeds of deconstruction were sown during my second/third year of college. I developed a crush on a non-Christian, and we started dating -gasp-. At the time, I believed that Christians should only date other Christians, and me "succumbing to my temptations" had me believe that my faith/beliefs weren't as strong as I thought. Throughout the rest of college (excluding last semester), I wrestled with guilt, shame, and slowly began my deconstruction of faith. Eventually, this relationship ended, and after a brief/sudden end to a budding relationship at the end of my last semester, I decided to start attending church with a family I was friends with (They are now my in-laws lol). I was hoping to rekindle the spark that I once had during my teenage years, but it never came.

Eventually, I married my best friend. <3 He grew up in a conservative/evangelical Christian household, and his faith is very important to him. Honestly, if it wasn't for him, I would've abandoned my faith long ago.. However, he also encouraged me to explore different aspects of Christian faith rather than abandoning it altogether. So that is what I did.

Within the last 2 years, I start deconstructing hardcore. It was incredibly painful and confusing... At times, I doubted whether or not I really wanted to call myself a Christian.. along with my own personal struggles of belief, I hated how the church treated the lgbtqia+ community, how the church treated the pandemic, how many churches worshipped Trump and conservative politics (I haven't read it yet, but there is a book called Jesus and John Wayne. It's about how conservatism and evangelical/fundamentalist Christianity became one in The United States. Their history is interwoven and influence each other). I learned over time that not all churches are like this (such as Episcopal churches and certain branches of Methodist churches). However, I felt (and still feel) very isolated and alone in the Christian community I'm apart of. My convictions and view towards certain topics (both political and religious) grow more apart from evangelism than ever before.

During my deconstruction, I delved into two different aspects of Christianity that I never did before.. Christian witchcraft/Christian mysticism, and Catholicism/Catholic folk magic. I haven't developed an actual habit of practicing either of those things longterm, but I'm still thankful for doing so. They both have a connection to eachother.

I've always been interested in witchcraft and magic. Magic has been part of my childhood for as long as I can remember (Thankfully, my parents weren't those Christians that banned Harry Potter, Pokemon, Dragon Tales, etc in the house. They allowed my siblings and I's imaginations to grow and develop freely.. I am eternally grateful for that!). During the height of my deconstruction, one of my very close friends started to openly practice witchcraft (She calls herself Wiccan, which..I know there are negative associations with Wiccanism. However, this is not the blog post to discuss that!). She would invite us to holidays that were in the Wheel of the Year (Samhein, Yule, Ostara, etc). My friend and my mom's neighbor (who is also a witch and does magic), opened the doors to witchcraft. I was exposed to their spells, crystals, various deities and rituals. It was/is honestly fascinating and a breath of fresh air to me.

In the Christian spaces I was a part of, magic, paganism, witchcraft, etc was a huge NO NO. The families and teenagers that I would interact with at youth group often had a negative reaction to anything remotely magical (I remember being baffled that people in youth group never watched Harry Potter lol. I know HP and JK Rowling has its own issues, but that is a completely separate topic. ). To this day, my mother-in-law (who I love dearly), hates Halloween and refuses to watch anything with magic in it. Needless to say, when I first discovered Christian witchcraft/mysticism, I had to keep myself "in the broom closet" (Even to my own husband.. However, I may finally spill the beans to him by sharing this blog post to him lol).

As I did research on Christian witchcraft, I learned that a lot of rituals and practices within the Catholic Church and early Christianity fall in this category (whether or not Catholics will admit/agree to this is a whole different issue lol). I learned that witchcraft is simply that - a CRAFT. You can be a Christian witch, a Jewish witch, a Muslim witch, even an atheist witch! (Of course, there is more nuance and such, but this blog post is long enough as it is...And I can't personally speak for other religions and witchcraft...just my own). Two HUGE inspirations/guidance that I've gotten from this topic is Sara Ratzresen and Chaotic Witch Aunt. (Sara is a Christian Witch and author/writer. Chaotic Witch Aunt/Frankie is a folk witch and practitioner of Italian-American folk magic). They have their own Youtube channels (click their names on this post to be redirected there).

I've dabbled in magic on and off for the past 2 years, but I haven't been able to form a habit of it (yet). My magic rituals mostly take form in mundane tasks (such as cleaning/cleansing the apartment, cooking, etc). I was doing tarot readings every morning for awhile, and I LOVED IT. I used Tarot as a way to talk to God, and also for self-reflection. I currently have two tarot decks: The Modern Witch Tarot Deck (Which I LOOOVEE. However, I don't use the booklet that comes with it.. Instead I use sites like Biddy Tarot to help me interpret readings). I also have a "Kawaii Deck", but I haven't been able to connect with it yet, and I'm convinced that it either hates me or that it likes to be very mean lol. I really need to start doing Tarot again. :(

Delving into Christian witchcraft eventually led me into learning/starting ancestral work/veneration...Which led into some Catholic practices. (mainly praying the rosary and attempting to do a novena lol). My mom's side of the family/my Portuguese ancestry is steeped in Catholicism. My vovou/grandma was a devout Catholic. Despite my mom denouncing Catholicism after Vovou passed away, she still kept certain aspects of her previous faith (such as having a statue of Lady Fatima in her bedroom, lighting candles before praying, etc...Those things always stuck with me). Even though I don't ever plan on becoming Catholic (due to doctrinal, political, and historical issues with the Catholic church), I want to start going to Mass someday (still haven't done that yet... ._.;;).

My mom's side of the family is almost a complete mystery to me. By delving into my Catholic roots, I hope(d) to find a connection with my Portuguese roots. I have made a small altar for my Vovou a few times (made coffee for her, played traditional Portuguese fado music, attempted to pray the rosary in Portuguese, etc. I did feel her presence, in the tiniest of ways.. It's hard to explain). Unfortunately, I've also fallen out of this practice, but I hope to bring it back up soon x.x

I actually have a separate tumblr blog for Christian witchcraft, Portuguese stuff, etc! --> https://raphaela-a-bruxa.tumblr.com/ (Note: I'M STILL IN THE BROOM CLOSET. So please respect my privacy in that space).

So what are my beliefs currently? Well...

I still believe in God and Jesus, saints, angels, etc.

The Bible IS NOT infallible (many books spanning 1000's of years and translated many times since then...I could go MUCH further into this topic, but I don't want to in this blog post).

The Earth is not 6000 years old

The Rapture is not going to happen and Revelations is a book made within the historical context of its time

Not sure my exact thought on Hell and still deconstructing that, but I guess I fall on the realm of "Jesus died for us, and that is EVERYONE. not just those who pray a "sinner's prayer". You can be the most anti-Jesus person ever, and you still won't go to Hell.

I'm not sure how I feel about the really shitty things in the Bible (death, g*nocide, etc..). My only explanation thus far is that the Bible was written by humans, and was influenced by the people/culture/politics of its time (which goes back to the point of "the bible isnt infallible").

God can show Himself in many different avenues (whether different religions, beliefs, experiences, etc)

Magic and Christianity can coexist (along with other religions)

No matter how confused I feel about my beliefs at time, my main belief/priority is to love others as Jesus does, advocate for the oppressed and poor, and make the world a better place.

Science should be trusted, and believing in science is not anti-christian (or anti-religion. Honestly, I view them as completely seperate).

There a lot of unanswered questions that I still have. And my beliefs are evolving. But despite my doubts, I'm happy and proud that I'm allowing myself to explore different beliefs and thoughts. we aren't meant to stay stagnant, and that definitely applies to our beliefs too. We must think critically of them too.

If you made it this far, Thank you so much for reading!!! ;__;

If you're going to comment or message me something mean, negative, and/or in the realm of "YOU'RE GOING TO HELL!" "The bible is the ONLY way!!" (or some other evangelical/fundie response to deconstruction posts), I'm deleting it and blocking you. (I'm not using my energy to deal with people like you. :) )

[crellanstein]

Prodigious

I find it odd how the fandom focuses so much on Aang’s childhood being ruined when he learned he was the Avatar at 12, but there’s very little talk about how discovering she was the Avatar as a toddler affected Korra’s life and how she was raised.

But we’ll circle back to that...

Because this is a good starting point to talk about one of the most prevalent themes in the story, which the mainstream discussion of tends to only focus on a few characters -- That is the Child Prodigy. 

We’ll start with the two most obvious. The ones we always talk about.

Azula.

The clearest example of your typical child prodigy (if there is anything typical about a prodigy). Azula showed early mastery of very advanced Fire-Bending techniques, and is the only Fire-Bender to use blue flames, which was intended to make her stand out amongst the other villains but is also indicative that her Fire-Bending is more pure and powerful (blue flame is produced when burning pure O2 or fuel without contaminant at a very high temperature). 

All this lead to her being praised and favored by Ozai as a child, but as double-edged swords go, this also meant she had a lot of pressure on her shoulders to never fail, and she rarely did. Her ego matched her talent, and let’s be honest she was the baddest bitch the show had ever seen. Conquering Ba Sing Se, defeating the Avatar in combat, and dropping some of the most devastating lines of dialogue in villain history; she was a force nobody wanted to reckon with. 

And that become a problem for one asshole in particular...

Being jealous of his own child is just one item on a laundry list of reasons why this guy is the worst father in the history of fathers. Azula had begun to outshine him with her victories, and Ozai’s maniacal ego couldn’t handle that, so he left her behind to babysit the Fire Nation while he went out to burn/conquer the world, which also was her idea.

And while this wasn’t the only thing that aided in her demise, it certainly was the final straw which sent her spiraling down into this...

In the end Azula is a sad example of how certain unfair expectations are placed upon talented children, and the more they succeed, the more these expectations grow and weigh on the them until they either disappoint those looking down on them or surpass and embarrass their elders.

It is a lose-lose situation which inevitably destroys them.

There is a similar example of the child prodigy, but his story goes a little different.

Aang.

Even as a twelve/thirteen year-old boy Aang by far has the most impressive stats among any character in the Avatar universe.

Basically mastering 3 of the 4 Elements in less than a year, after mastering Air by the time he is twelve (not to mention inventing his own Air-bending move, the Air scooter). 

Aang is an example of a child prodigy who had too much thrust onto him at too young an age because of the talent he showed; because of this he panicked and ran away, and the world was worse off for it. 

Aang/Sokka/Katara’s story is all about how in times of War, responsibilities normally handled by adults are pushed onto kids who then have to grow up very fast in order to deal with it all.

The message is clear. War robs the young of their childhoods. 

Now, let’s talk about a different kind of child prodigy.

The Unacknowledged. 

Yes, of course I’m talking about Toph, the greatest Earth-Bender to ever live.

Because of her blindness, Toph’s family tried to keep her sheltered and safe by hiding her from the world. Refusing to believe she could ever be more than helpless. Anyone who has seen the show knows that is far from the truth.

But because her potential went unseen, there were some negative effects to her personality. Initially, she resented her parents, and rebelled; which established a certain level of independence, a bad attitude, and a hot-headed streak. Over time spent with the Gaang these behaviors subsided because she finally had friends and they accepted her for who she was. By the end of the series she was fully willing to accept aid from them when she needed it, like holding on to Sokka’s arm in environment where her bending couldn’t help her “see”. 

Toph’s story is a foil to Azula’s, both showed immense talent and badassery, but while recognition of Azula lead to ever-mounting pressure for her to succeed; the lack of recognition for Toph created a need for her to be acknowledged and set an undercurrent of frustration which leads to her acting out in the ways she does.

The lesson to take from Toph’s story is not to shelter your kid from the world out of fear for their safety, and to be open to recognizing their talents, not shun them.

Next are two more Unacknowledged.

Katara and Sokka.       

Their story, and the reason behind their circumstances, is one of the more complicated and nuanced ones in the series, so here we’ll focus on how it fits into the subject of discussion.

Because of the War, Katara was robbed not only of her mother but also of any Southern Masters to train her, and any role models Sokka could have looked up to left with his father to fight. Because of this Katara’s potential and Sokka’s genius went unacknowledged not due to neglect but rather due to circumstance. (Yes, I think Sokka is a genius, how many 15 yr olds do you know that can plan an invasion, design submarines, and spit poetry off the cuff?).

This is a further example of how War robs kids of necessary childhood experiences, and these two robberies had particular effects on both Katara and Sokka’s character developments.

Sokka had the responsibility of protecting his home put upon him at a young age. The men of his tribe leaving prevented him from completing his rite of manhood until the Gaang ran into Bato of the Water Tribe, and early on Sokka was constantly trying to prove himself as a man and a leader. Sokka is one of the smarter characters of the series, but he rarely got credit for it until the third season. Not to mention that because he wasn’t a bender he often seemed less useful than the others. The circumstances of war made his talent go unnoticed and because of that he often was unsure of himself and overcompensated to prove something.

Speaking of talent going unnoticed.

Katara is definitely one of the more talented benders of the series. After training herself for years with little progress, she essentially mastered Water-Bending in a few weeks under Master Pakku. While her anger towards the Fire-Nation mostly centers around the loss of her mother, it can’t be ignored that the delay in her training was a direct result of the Fire-Nations’ actions.  Toph’s anger and frustration vented itself as rebellion. However, the same frustration and anger is within Katara, but because she wasn’t as natural a bender as Toph she sought to learn and be respected, and when that was denied to her is when that anger bubbled to the surface in some terrifying ways. 

While Toph’s talent went unnoticed because of her families neglect, Katara and Sokka’s wasn’t acknowledged because there was nobody to acknowledge it. Because of that both brother and sister wanted to prove themselves to the world.

And then there is Zuko.

I know what you’re thinking. Zuko wasn’t a prodigy, his Fire-Bending skill didn’t catch up with Azula’s until the finale and he never mastered Lightning-Bending, but this section is about the Unacknowledged.

Zuko had many other talents besides Fire-Bending, he was a master swordsmen, and was able to successfully break into every secure facility he attempted in the show (which was almost every secure facility the show featured).  Unfortunately, these talents were never recognized, because the only thing the royal family cared about was bending ability (It’s possible the reason he learned the sword was because he lacked skill in Fire-Bending). 

As per usual with Zuko, this part of his tale is quite sad. Many can relate to being outshined by a sibling, and when it becomes all too clear that one cannot match another’s talent it’s quite understandable to focus on what they do excel at, but even then there is no promise of recognition for their own talent. Zuko was even mocked by his father during the solar eclipse when Ozai tried baiting him into attacking with his swords. 

This lack of recognition is one of many sad aspects of Zuko’s early life, but it is a definitive example of one of the hardest unacknowledged prodigy’s cross to bear. The Outshone prodigy, one whose talents are never noticed because a bigger and brighter star stands in the way of such recognition, and arguably the most frustrating type mentioned here. Toph/Sokka/Katara all came from situations were there was no recognition being given to them or anyone, but Zuko had to bear watching massive amounts of praise be piled on to his sister while he and his accomplishments went by the way side.

Ozai summed up the situation best.

“Azula was born lucky, Zuko was lucky to be born”

Alright now where have I been going with all this?

So, far we’ve covered a lot of wrong ways to treat a child, whether they show talent or not, and how the circumstances of war can also take many things from children.

But what happened to Korra?

(Before we get into to this I should state that I like Korra, and the purpose of this is not to bash her as a character or her arc, but rather to give a little of my insight into it.)

It’s well established that Aang was told of his heritage too young, and that was a detriment on his development into an adult, but what would have happened if he realized his powers himself not long after he could walk? We’ll never know, but we do get to see the effects it had on Korra. 

When she revealed herself as the Avatar, Korra set her entire life in a new direction, and because Aang tasked the White Lotus with finding and training her that direction was out of her control. There are two key differences between Korras’ and other Avatars’ lives.

1. She grew up in isolation on a White Lotus compound.

Every Avatar before Korra we know of spent a portion of their early lives traveling the world in order to master the elements; along this journey they not only learned how to bend the other 3 elements, buy also many things about the 3 other nations and the world they are tasked to protect as a whole. By confining Korra in safety and bringing the masters to her the White Lotus deprived Korra of this opportunity to learn and grow and understand the world and the people within in. It also deprived her of learning modern bending styles until she reached Republic City.

While this might have kept Korra safe from the Red Lotus, it grew within her a naiveté about how the world worked, and because of this when she actually did venture out into the world she was terribly unprepared for it.

2.  She was trained and mastered 3 of the elements by the time she was 16.

Most Avatars don’t know they have this power until they reach 16 and then they spend several years learning to control it. Korra’s natural talent in the bending lead to her training being expedited not by necessity like Aang’s, but due to her talent and eagerness. Korra excelled at the physical part of being the Avatar and because of this by the time she reached maturity she had become over-confident in her abilities and true to what her Fire-Bending master said in Ep.1 she lacked restraint.

I’m not saying her bending isn’t great, but rather because it is so great it’s her go-to solution to anything, and she enjoys that so she uses it with enthusiastic gusto and not a lot of thinking before striking.

This overconfidence coupled with her naiveté of the world is what lead to many of her rash decisions and actions, most of which had negative consequences, and I believe are the reason behind some fan are dissatisfied with her. Aang had been almost the complete opposite, even by the age of twelve he was an experienced world traveler and an incredibly humble guy. 

Some may have been dissatisfied by these character decisions, but they served a purpose, they are only the beginning of her arc. The internal challenge Korra must overcome through 4 seasons is to humble herself before the world, and learn from it. This was finally achieved in the 4th season when the metal poisoning in her body forces her to face others in the world as equals, only then had she completed her journey.

And why did it all go this way?

Because she is a very unique child prodigy, what she demonstrates in the first episode of LOK would be akin to a toddler playing the violin or hitting a three-pointer; she could bend 3 elements close to just after learning to walk. That is the kind of prodigious talent rarely seen because it is mostly impossible. How does a rational person handle a child like that? 

It’s a tough question, and something this essay has been circling around the whole time. Each example here is the wrong way to handle talented and different children, but what is the right way?

As always look to Iroh.

Who treated his surrogate son Zuko with both respect and compassion. 

Unlike Toph’s parents, Iroh worried over Zuko’s well being, but also allowed him to be independent, make his own decisions, and take his own risks.

Unlike the Nomad Leaders, he didn’t want Zuko weighed down by his position in the world and the responsibility that came with, and always encouraged him relax and take advantage of the moment.

Unlike Ozai, Iroh would always be there to support Zuko in his victories and his failures. Iroh shows him the right path but does not force him down it.

And even after Zuko betrayed and abandoned him.

Iroh was never angry with him, and embraced him upon his return.

He wanted Zuko to grow and be a better man. Even if Zuko wasn’t a prodigy like his sister. 

And that is the answer here. The way to raise a prodigy is the same way anyone should raise any child. Love, Support, a Guiding Hand rather than a Forceful Shove, Recognition of What Makes Them Unique, and Forgiveness When They Falter. The problem comes along when you start treating children differently because you see them as different or special. All children are different, all children are special.

Kids are kids, and they all deserve a proper childhood.  

[saturnrevolution]

retrogrades: a guide

Do you know that feeling when you to have the illusion that the vehicle you are in is moving backwards in comparison to the vehicle on your side or vice versa? This illusion is very similar to retrogrades. Due to the different speed other planets are orbiting the Sun with, whenever they are parallel to the Earth, it seems as if those planets are moving backwards. However, this is just an illusion, as seen from Earth for a short period of time. As astrology is all about the details, this illusion has a significant impact on our energy, both collectively and individually.

How often do retrogrades happen & what do they mean collectively?

Think of retrogrades as a period when a planet becomes more introverted, so it expresses that energy in an inwardly focused way. These are times of introspection and planning. You take a break in that area of your life in order to asses before taking action. That's why, starting things during retrogrades might not be the best idea, as it will always make you turn back and reassess what you started anyway.

The Sun and the Moon are never in retrograde. Besides these, all the other planetary bodies do go retrograde. The further the planet is from the Sun, the less often retrogrades happening.

Mercury is the one that goes retrograde most often, about 3-4 times a year and it stays in that motion for about 3 weeks at a time. Mercury rules communication, short distance travel and technology, siblings. So whenever it goes retrograde, we are likely to experience delays or feel more introverted about these energies.

Venus goes retrograde every 18 months and usually stays retrograde for about 40 days. So, whenever Venus is retrograde, we might feel more shy in our love life, feel things moving slower in terms of money or even plan to redecorate our house.

Mars goes retrograde every 2 years and usually stays retrograde for about 70 days. Mars is a fiery planet, so when it goes retrograde, it might make us feel like that fire is within us, which can mean bottling up anger or building motivation.

Jupiter goes retrograde every 13 months, lasting for about 4 months. Jupiter is all about luck and abundance, also indulgence, so this can be a time when we manifest better with our own mind.

Saturn goes retrograde every 1 year and it lasts for about 4.5 months. Saturn means rules and lessons, so it being retrograde can show a time of self discipline.

Uranus goes retrograde every 1 year and stays for about 5 months. Uranus is all about spontaneity, rebelling against the world and activism. It going retrograde can mean we feel more called to asses what we stand for.

Neptune goes retrograde every 1 year and stays for over 5 months. Neptune rules imagination, dreams and addiction. We might feel like we are having more dreams, feeling inspired, but also foggy, lost, giving into addictions easier.

Pluto goes retrograde every 1 year for about 5-6 months. Pluto is all about fears and intensity, so it can mean having to deal with some traumas from the past in order to heal from it.

Considering the fact that retrogrades are an illusion, it might seem as if they are holding us back, making things move slower. When in reality, they are helping us asses what we avoided to deal with in the first place and help us grow - so at the end of the day we are still moving advancing trough inner work.

Were you born during retrograde?

Do not panic - it is more common to be born during at least one retrograded cycle than to be born during a period when there are no retrogrades. However, the energy in your chart is felt differently if that is the case. Here's what it means:

No planets in retrograde: I see this as a straightforward chart, the energy of the planets in your chart are all expressed outwardly and this is why retrograde transits might be really introspective times for you.

Born during Mercury retrograde - these people are really good at assimilating information and details, but might have a difficult time with expressing it outwardly. It's nothing impossible, it might just take a bit of practice to feel safe enough to show their rich inner world.

Born during Venus retrograde - these people are very resourceful and know how to use their skills to make money. They might be a bit introverted in terms of showing love or when faced with love from someone else, as they like to take their time and asses at first.

Born during Mars retrograde - these people have a lot of inner motivation and strength and even if they might not show it outwardly as directly as others, they have their own way of dealing with anger or conflict that works for them and helps them succeed on their terms.

*IMPORTANT: Planets from Jupiter to Pluto are not personal planets, so if you were born under these retrogrades, the things written below will be felt less than if you were born with Venus, Mars or Mercury in retrograde.

Born during Jupiter retrograde - these people are most likely to make their own luck, they seek to find meaning in life and to explore. If they put their mind to it, they can be great manifestos in terms of their spirituality. At the same time, outer abundance might come only after they figure out this inner meaning.

Born during Saturn retrograde - these people have their own set of rules and order in which they thrive. When someone invades this order, they might feel disturbed. The key here is not to change their order, but to learn to communicate their needs better.

Born during Uranus retrograde - these people are sure of what they believe in, they might get random sparks of ideas, but they might feel as if some of their ideas or interests are too "strange" for others to understand and might want to keep it to themselves.

Born during Neptune retrograde - these people are more sensitive in nature and prone to feel the hurt of the world, they are empathetic, but might find it difficult to express their feelings fully at times.

Born during Pluto retrograde - these people might deal with a lot of inner fears, but they are really good at hiding them and they usually enjoy doing inner work and finding the cause of the fears and past traumas alone.

if you repost outside of tumblr, please tag saturnrevolution insta

[creature-wizard]

The thing about "conviction in one's own understanding" is that it's all around horrible for helping you obtain and hold a reasonable grip on reality. It's extremely ineffective at stopping people from internalizing bad info, and it also prevents them from absorbing good info. So here's the deal: conviction is a feeling. It makes you perceive yourself as right and just, regardless of whether you actually are. Now the thing is, it's impossible to know just how much we don't know, and people who feel like they know more are usually the ones who know very little. This is called the Dunning-Kruger effect. Everyone has gaps in their knowledge that they aren't aware of, and the thing about a lot of wrong info is that it aims to fill a gap you don't even know you have. Let's use flat earth, for example. To the average person, the whole idea feels really ridiculous - key word, feels. This isn't because they have a solid grasp on how the evidence points to a round Earth, or because they fully understand how we obtained that evidence. They just know it's round because it's what they were told, and it's what everyone else believes. This means that a flat earth believer can come in and ask, "yeah, but how do you know? I mean, you know what you've been told and you know what everyone else believes, but how do you know?" And then they stop and think about it, and they realize... actually, they really don't know. They begin to realize that they have massive gaps in their knowledge. Their conviction, which up to this point felt unassailable, is now critically shaken, and the conspiracy theorist can move in and fill these gaps with a lot of incredibly wrong information that this person has no way to evaluate right now. And you might think, "well, they can just evaluate it later-" but no, that probably won't happen, and here's why. So our average person here - we're going to call them Jamie - feels like their mind is being expanded. This information is completely novel, and it's huge. Jamie gets a big dopamine rush, which makes everything they're hearing feel super deep and profound. The whole time, the conspiracy theorist is explaining how they don't want people like Jamie to know the truth, and that all of the history books, science books, etc. have been written or edited by in on the conspiracy, or at least brainwashed by it. With these seeds of mistrust planted, Jamie is very unlikely to try and debunk the flat earther's claims. Now Jamie has a new conviction - that the world is flat and there's a massive conspiracy dedicated to covering it up. And this time, Jamie's conviction is backed up by massive amounts of information that appear to provide lots and lots historical context. The more Jamie internalizes the worldview of a conspiracy theorist, the more Jamie sees evidence of the conspiracy everywhere, and the more Jamie's conviction grows. Conspiracy theorists have conviction up the wazoo. What's far more important than having conviction is being willing to recognize and acknowledge when the evidence doesn't actually stack in favor of your belief. This is what the vast majority of conspiracy theorists lack, and is the main reason they remain conspiracy theorists. Instead of learning actual critical thinking skills, they simply get better at rationalizing things away. Another thing you need? The Five Ws - Who, What, When, Where, and Why. Find out who started claiming shit and find out exactly what they said. Examine the politics and prejudices common in the place and time they lived, and observe where their claims align with those. Find out why they were so invested in putting this stuff out there - what did they stand to gain from it? (There's always something to gain, even when it seems like there's nothing to gain.)

[continuations]

The World After Capital in 64 Theses

Over the weekend I tweeted out a summary of my book The World After Capital in 64 theses. Here they are in one place:

The Industrial Age is 20+ years past its expiration date, following a long decline that started in the 1970s.

Mainstream politicians have propped up the Industrial Age through incremental reforms that are simply pushing out the inevitable collapse.

The lack of a positive vision for what comes after the Industrial Age has created a narrative vacuum exploited by nihilist forces such as Trump and ISIS.

The failure to enact radical changes is based on vastly underestimating the importance of digital technology, which is not simply another set of Industrial Age machines.

Digital technology has two unique characteristics not found in any prior human technology: zero marginal cost and universality of computation.

Our existing approaches to regulation of markets, dissemination of information, education and more are based on the no longer valid assumption of positive marginal cost.

Our beliefs about the role of labor in production and work as a source of purpose are incompatible with the ability of computers to carry out ever more sophisticated computations (and to do so ultimately at zero marginal cost).

Digital technology represents as profound a shift in human capabilities as the invention of agriculture and the discovery of science, each of which resulted in a new age for humanity.

The two prior transitions, from the Forager Age to the Agrarian Age and from the Agrarian Age to the Industrial Age resulted in humanity changing almost everything about how individuals live and societies function, including changes in religion.

Inventing the next age, will require nothing short of changing everything yet again.

We can, if we make the right choices now, set ourselves on a path to the Knowledge Age which will allow humanity to overcome the climate crisis and to broadly enjoy the benefits of automation.

Choosing a path into the future requires understanding the nature of the transition we are facing and coming to terms with what it means to be human.

New technology enlarges the “space of the possible,” which then contains both good and bad outcomes. This has been true starting from the earliest human technology: fire can be used to cook and heat, but also to wage war.

Technological breakthroughs shift the binding constraint. For foraging tribes it was food. For agrarian societies it was arable land. Industrial countries were constrained by how much physical capital (machines, factories, railroads, etc.) they could produce.

Today humanity is no longer constrained by capital, but by attention.

We are facing a crisis of attention. We are not paying enough attention to profound challenges, such as “what is our purpose?” and “how do we overcome the climate crisis?”

Attention is to time as velocity is to speed: attention is what we direct our minds to during a time period. We cannot go back and change what we paid attention to. If we are poorly prepared for a crisis it is because of how we have allocated our attention in the past.

We have enough capital to meet our individual and collective needs, as long as we are clear about the difference between needs and wants.

Our needs can be met despite the population explosion because of the amazing technological progress we have made and because population growth is slowing down everywhere with peak population in sight.

Industrial Age society, however, has intentionally led us down a path of confusing our unlimited wants with our modest needs, as well as specific solutions (e.g. individually owned cars) with needs (e.g. transportation).

The confusion of wants with needs keeps much of our attention trapped in the “job loop”: we work so that we can buy goods and services, which are produced by other people also working.

The job loop was once beneficial, when combined with markets and entrepreneurship, it resulted in much of the innovation that we now take for granted.

Now, however, we can and should apply as much automation as we can muster to free human attention from the “job loop” so that it can participate in the “knowledge loop” instead: learn, create, and share.

Digital technology can be used to vastly accelerate the knowledge loop, as can be seen from early successes, such as Wikipedia and open access scientific publications.

Much of digital technology is being used to hog human attention into systems such as Facebook, Twitter and others that engage in the business of reselling attention,  commonly known as advertising. Most of what is advertised is  furthering wants and reinforces the job loop.

The success of market-based capitalism is that capital is no longer our binding constraint. But markets cannot be used for allocating attention due to missing prices.

Prices do not and cannot exist for what we most need to pay attention to. Price formation requires supply and demand, which don't exist for finding purpose in life, overcoming the climate crisis, conducting fundamental research, or engineering an asteroid defense.

We must use the capabilities of digital technology so that we can freely allocate human attention.

We can do so by enhancing economic, information, and psychological freedom.

Economic freedom means allowing people to opt out of the job loop by providing them with a universal basic income (UBI).

Informational freedom means empowering people to control computation and thus information access, creation and sharing.

Psychological freedom means developing mindfulness practices that allow people to direct their attention in the face of a myriad distractions.

UBI is affordable today exactly because we have digital technology that allows us to drive down the cost of producing goods and services through automation.

UBI is the cornerstone of a new social contract for the Knowledge Age, much as pensions and health insurance were for the Industrial Age.

Paid jobs are not a source of purpose for humans in and of themselves. Doing something meaningful is. We will never run out of meaningful things to do.

We need one global internet without artificial geographic boundaries or fast and slow lanes for different types of content.

Copyright and patent laws must be curtailed to facilitate easier creation and sharing of derivative works.

Large systems such as Facebook, Amazon, Google, etc. must be mandated to be fully programmable to diminish their power and permit innovation to take place on top of the capabilities they have created.

In the longrun privacy is incompatible with technological progress. Providing strong privacy assurances can only be accomplished via controlled computation. Innovation will always grow our ability to destroy faster than our ability to build due to entropy.

We must put more effort into protecting individuals from what can happen to them if their data winds up leaked, rather than trying to protect the data at the expense of innovation and transparency.

Our brains evolved in an environment where seeing a cat meant there was a cat. Now the internet can show us an infinity of cats. We can thus be forever distracted.

It is easier for us to form snap judgments and have quick emotional reactions than to engage our critical thinking facilities.

Our attention is readily hijacked by systems designed to exploit these evolutionarily engrained features of our brains.

We can use mindfulness practices, such as conscious breathing or meditation to take back and maintain control of our attention.

As we increase economic, informational and psychological freedom, we also require values that guide our actions and the allocation of our attention.

We should embrace a renewed humanism as the source of our values.

There is an objective basis for humanism. Only humans have developed knowledge in the form of books and works of art that transcend both time and space.

Knowledge is the source of humanity’s great power. And with great power comes great responsibility.

Humans need to support each other in solidarity, irrespective of such differences as gender, race or nationality.

We are all unique, and we should celebrate these differences. They are beautiful and an integral part of our humanity.

Because only humans have the power of knowledge, we are responsible for other species. For example, we are responsible for whales, rather than the other way round.

When we see something that could be improved, we need to have the ability to express that. Individuals, companies and societies that do not allow criticism become stagnant and will ultimately fail.

Beyond criticism, the major mode for improvement is to create new ideas, products and art. Without ongoing innovation, systems become stagnant and start to decay.

We need to believe that problems can be solved, that progress can be achieved. Without optimism we will stop trying, and problems like the climate crisis will go unsolved threatening human extinction.

If we succeed with the transition to the Knowledge Age, we can tackle extraordinary opportunities ahead for humanity, such as restoring wildlife habitats here on earth and exploring space.

We can and should each contribute to leaving the Industrial Age behind and bringing about the Knowledge Age.

We start by developing our own mindfulness practice and helping others do so.

We tackle the climate crisis through activism demanding government regulation, through research into new solutions, and through entrepreneurship deploying working technologies.

We defend democracy from attempts to push towards authoritarian forms of government.

We foster decentralization through supporting localism, building up mutual aid, participating in decentralized systems (crypto and otherwise).

We promote humanism and live in accordance with humanist values.

We recognize that we are on the threshold of both transhumans (augmented humans) and neohumans (robots and artificial intelligences).

We continue on our epic human journey while marveling at (and worrying about) our aloneness in the universe.

We act boldly and with urgency, because humanity’s future depends on a successful transition to the Knowledge Age.

[pillage-and-lute]

Prompt: Either out of embarrassment or being a little shit, Jaskier lies outrageously to Geralt about humans (on the level of “I’m molting” or “These? They’re rocks, to snack on.”) and might get away with it?

Hi Dahliavandare! I always love seeing you in my inbox. I changed this just a *teeny* bit. WARNING: VERY SLIGHTLY HORNY (it’s Jaskier, duh) There is also a little bit of angst because Jaskier gets sick.

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

“Jaskier,” Geralt growled.

“What?” The young bard yelped. “I wasn’t even singing that time.”

“No, you just--hmmm.”

“I just hmmm what?” Jaskier asked, pausing in his near-constant strumming.

“You smell like...hmm.”

“I smell?” Jaskier said, both hands planted on his hips. “That’s pretty rich coming from you, my friend--”

“Not friends.”

“You smell like a barn. Anyway-”

“No, Jaskier,” Geralt said, running one, gloved hand through his hair. “Witchers can sort of smell emotions, right?”

Jaskier looked up at him, a sudden hint of anxiety in his scent. “I thought that was a myth.”

“Not entirely.” Geralt shook his head as if clearing a thought from it. “We can’t smell complex things, but joy, fear, anger...desire.”

Jaskier, for once, didn’t look at Geralt, studying instead the flowers at the side of the road. “Desire?”

“I-yes.” Geralt said. “And I wanted to know if all humans smell like...”

“Desire?” Jaskier said, then began talking fast. “Oh yes, of course, most humans, especially my age, well, they smell like this all the time. All the time. Naturally.”

It sort of checked out, at least to Geralt’s thinking. Young humans were horny, and although the overriding scent when Geralt was around was fear, he remembered being a teenager, with all the baggage that entailed at Kaer Morhen, and yes, constantly horny was among those memories. Jaskier himself was definitely still young by human standards, perhaps twenty or so from his youthful features. 

Geralt chalked the horniness up to humanity and hormones and left it at that. 

--- 

Later on, Geralt had other questions related to humanity, more specifically that part of humanity that included Jaskier. 

“I thought humans couldn’t eat those?” Geralt couldn’t, he’d eaten one during training on a dare and spent the next day with his head in the privy.

Jaskier looked down at the mushroom in his hand. It was a beautiful, bright red, with little white spots. He’d been snacking on similar ones for the last mile or so. 

“Of course we can,” he said. “Humans eat these all the time.” There was a rising tone in his voice that indicated something, but as Geralt had mentioned before, witchers couldn’t actually smell the more complicated emotions. 

“They, um,” Jaskier said. “They just can’t be eaten by humans during-er- during summer. It’s fall now, so it’s okay.”

Geralt shrugged. What did he know of human biology? He wouldn’t be eating another of them ever, at any time. His stomach lurched a little just at the thought.

---

“You didn’t buy the ring.”

Jaskier looked up at Geralt, eyes bright in the sunshine. The bustle of the market around them pushed against him like a tide, but a little patch of space was left around Geralt. Jaskier stepped into the space. “The ring?”

“You liked it,” Geralt grunted. “I could tell.” It had been a little thing, cheaply made of poor materials, but the bard’s eyes had lit up upon seeing the little buttercup detailing, and he’d admired for several minutes, although without touching. 

Jaskier shrugged. “It was made of iron.”

“And?”

“Human’s can’t wear iron, Geralt.”

“Then why did the man sell it?” 

“Well some humans can wear it of course, those with very tough skin, but I’m delicate.” Jaskier sniffed. 

“Humans...can’t wear iron?” It didn’t sound right.

“Not right up close to their skin,” Jaskier said. “It turns us, um, purple.”

Geralt shrugged it off. He’d once been called to a castle where a baron had believed himself cursed because his finger was turning green, but he’d simply been wearing a cheap brass ring.

---

After the first winter they met again in the spring something was definitely different.

“Your freckles,” Geralt said.

“What about them?” Jaskier said, looking away.

What about them indeed. They glimmered like chips of mica. At first Geralt had thought it a trick of the light, but no, there was a definite glitter to Jaskier’s skin.

“They’re...shining?”

Jaskier cocked his head at Geralt, cheeks shimmering. “Geralt,” he said slowly. “You know humans shimmer in the spring...right?” 

Shimmer?

“I’d never noticed,” Geralt said. Admittedly he paid a little more attention to Jaskier than perhaps he ought, but still, one would think he’d have seen this before.

“It’s part of the growing process,” Jaskier said. 

---

“Jaskier, your cheeks are red,” Geralt said, stepping out of the small bathtub the inkeeper had brought up. He stepped closer to the bard, still naked and dripping water, and pressed the back of his hand to Jaskier’s forehead.

“Nnhgh,” Jaskier said.

“Are you well?” Geralt asked, cupping Jaskier’s flushed face with his other hand. It didn’t feel like he had a fever.

Jaskier pushed his hands away, face even redder than before.

“I’m perfectly fine, Geralt,” he said, higher pitched than usual. “Human faces get red for no reason now...put on some pants.”

---

“Jaskier you’re drunk,” Geralt said. It was a pretty obvious statement, considering he had his bard draped over him like a shawl.

“Hehe, yep,” Jaskier said, reaching up with one, long finger and tracing Geralt’s jawline with it. 

“You didn’t have any alcohol, I’m sure of it.” Jaskier normally had an extremely high alcohol tolerance in any case.

“‘O course not,” Jaskier said, leaning even more fully into Geralt’s hold. “Had milk.”

“Milk can’t get people drunk.”

“Milk can’t get witchers drunk,” Jaskier slurred. “Get’s humans drunk though, dunnit?”

“Can it?”

“Yeah, definitely, not the kids, but like, how often do you see, like adult humans drinkin’ milk?”

Not often, Geralt thought. He put Jaskier to bed in the inn and it was like pouring an octopus into a bucket. One loose yet gripping arm pulled Geralt closer to Jaskier, the bard leaned in and brushed soft lips to Geralt’s cheekbone.

Geralt wondered if it was another mystery of humans that the spot seemed to tingle all night and he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about it.

---

Geralt clutched Jaskier as the bard fell to his knees, groaning. His face was sickly in it’s palor and he was trembling. He’d just lurched up from the table at the inn and stumbled to the door. Geralt had followed him and the young bard had just collapsed like this.

“Jaskier,” he said, clutching a chilled cheek, his other hand seeking one of Jaskier’s. “Jaskier what’s wrong.”

“Lemon,” Jaskier whispered, lacing shaking finger’s with Geralt’s. “In the fish, there was lemon.”

“Lemon’s fine, isn’t it?” Geralt asked, slow heart racing as he looked into eyes that were becoming glassy and clouded.

Jaskier shook his head and it seemed to exhaust him.

“’S fine for humans.” He said. “Not fae.”

“Fae,” Geralt said, cradling his friend. “Jaskier you’re not making sense.” 

“Mmh,” Jaskier said, smiling sadly. His face changed, his eyes going glow bright and his ears lengthening a little. His skin took on a slightly green tint. 

Geralt looked into the face of his fae bard, rubbing a thumb over his cheekbone and the shimmering freckles there. “How do I heal you, you have to tell me.”

Jaskier blinked slowly, eyes dimming further.

Geralt shook him, desperation taking over.

“Jaskier what heals a fairy?”

What heals a fairy? He’d learned that at some point hadn’t he? Long ago. They were rare, and most witchers never saw one in their whole lives but if you could help one they’d grant you one wish, not tricks. 

Poetry. 

Fuck.

“Jaskier,” Geralt rasped, throat feeling dry. Those beautiful eyes blinked at him, slowly. 

“I...I think you have pretty eyes,” Geralt said. “And I like when they, um, match the skies.”

Jaskier blinked at him in confusion, brow wrinkling slightly.

“You look pretty in blue,” Geralt managed, inventing wildly. “And look pretty in green. You look lovely in about every shade in between.”

Some of the deathly palor was fading from Jaskier’s face now and Geralt sought more words. “I thought you were pretty that day you wore purple,” he said. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck, idiot he was an idiot, nothing rhymes with purple. 

“I like your spirit, your moxy, your...your yurple.”

Jaskier was indeed looking better now, and he was smiling.

“I like the way you talk to me, and how you’re always there,” Geralt whispered. “I like the way you hum to me when you help me brush my hair.”

Jaskier sat up slowly, blinking in the dim light.

“I like the way you give treats to Roach, um, and I like the way you smile,” Geralt gulped at the look on Jaskier’s face. “But most of all I like how much I love you, so I want you to promise to, uh, stay? For a while?”

“Oh Geralt,” Jaskier said, cupping his cheek. “That was bad.” Then he kissed him and Geralt’s brain went very very fuzzy.

A little later, in their room in the inn, where Geralt was finishing the fish and Jaskier was having stew avec no-lemon-at-all, he asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Jaskier tilted his head thoughtfully as he chewed a piece of potato. “Well, at first I wasn’t sure how you’d take it,” he said. 

Geralt nodded. Fae were a feared and reverred group amongst humans, so caution was reasonable.

“Then it became a sort of game,” Jaskier said shrugging. “I couldn’t resist. So I left you little hints. I thought you’d figure it out for sure with the freckles or the milk.”

Geralt huffed a little sheepishly.

“I don’t care that you’re fae,” he said after a moment.

“I know,” Jaskier said. “And I don’t care that you’re an awful poet.”

“It worked, didn’t it.”

“It did, and now you get a wish, no tricks,” Jaskier held up his hand as if taking an oath. “I promise.”

Geralt thought for a moment. A wish from a fae was no small thing. It should be something powerful, something earth shattering and precious and rare.

“I wish you would kiss me again.”

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

Oop, here it is (after quite the wait, sorry about that) I’m actually so proud of this and it’s super sweet and fluffy.

[lily-drake]

Fantasy/Twin AU

Sorry for being late and not posting for a bit. Was a bit burnt out and had writer block. I will go back to write the other days soon though. Also, sorry, I suck at writing wing aus, this is my first time doing it.

Earth J-236, an earth full of mystical life.  An earth where everyone is born with wings.  Your wings represented who you are; well not really, but that’s what people believed.  If your wings were bright and colorful then you were obviously an amazing person, but if your wings were darker or had little color, then you have great evil in your soul.  Marinette was born seconds after her twin, Damian.  It takes a few years before your wings fully grow in, usually to about 6.  But with the accelerated growth serums used in their artificial wombs, it took them till they were three for their feathers to sprout.  Damian’s were black like their father’s with subtle hints of red like their mothers.  Marinette’s were pure black, devoid of any color, and her mother was so proud of that.  She was the League’s charm, for it’s believed that anyone with pure black wings was pure evil.  Her only purpose being to protect her brother, nothing else was more important than her brother’s safety.  She would die for him, because if he died she might as well have died as well as her only purpose for living would be gone.

Damian glared at his sister, his wings ruffling in annoyance.  She was hovering close to him again, and she never said anything to him ever unless she was completely sure they were alone.  He did not believe that his sister was or could ever be, “pure evil” just because of her wings.  In fact, her mannerisms are the exact opposite of what people believed.  She, in her own ways, is caring, sweet, and protective.  He had seen, and helped, her nurse a baby bird that had fallen from its nest back to health.  She would often place little things around the base for only him to find such as some extra baklava, a throwing knife, a drawing of someone, beads, or other random objects.  Grandfather had always been extra hard on her, making sure she wouldn’t betray them, she wouldn’t become “evil enough to lose herself”.  Sometimes she would sneak into his room at night, and it tore him apart to see silent tears run down his little sister's face as small black raven feathers fell onto the floor from her days worth of training.  He had been learning how to fly, her wings had been clipped every two or three months so she could not leave the base.  She had learned long ago to control her facial and wing expressions, but he could always see the droop in them and the sad shine in her eyes as she stood on the ground while he was in the air.

________

Marinette looked up and watched as the fiery Phoenix flew through the air setting Nada Parabat aflame.  She didn’t feel much as she watched her grandfather get blown up.  She only felt great anxiety and fear as she could not find her brother.  She loved her brother, and if her job was to cause chaos, she would make sure she could prevent it from hurting him.  Grandfather had told her about how cursed she was, it’s why they had to be extra tough on her, and she understood that.  They couldn’t have her hurting anyone they needed, only the people they wanted gone.  She was angry at grandfather yesterday for taking some of her feathers for failing a task, this must have been her fault.  She didn’t want to hurt her brother, her wings had only proven nothing but destruction.  She had to leave now, then she could go where no one else was, and she wouldn’t have to hurt anyone else.  So like a coward, like the disgrace she was, she ran.  She kept her wings tight against her back making sure that no one could grab them as she ran.  An arrow hit one of them, but she didn’t have time to think about the burning pain as she ran and ran and ran farther and farther and farther away.  Tears ran down her cheeks as she silently prayed that her brother would be okay.

She didn’t know how long she ran, but she knew it must have been a really long time as she had just collapsed from exhaustion in the woods.  She looked back at her wings and slowly and carefully spread them out and hissed in pain from where the arrow had pierced her left wing.  Drops of red slowly dripped down her feathers and dropped on the ground.  She quickly closed them and made sure they were as small and put away as possible.  She looked up at the trees made of brass with different colored jade leaves.  Pearl-like apples growing on a few.  She watched a baby griffon follow it’s mother in the distance, turtle ducks waddling to a pond somewhere nearby, deer nibbling on plants, she could hear the rustling of leaves and branches from unseen creatures and everything was getting more blurry and dark.  She was cold, it felt very cold.  She slowly unwound her wings from around herself and closed them tightly around her, but that didn’t stop the chill that went deep down to her bones.  She was a failure, a mistake, she would only cause harm.  Here she wouldn’t be able to do that, and if she died here, then no one would be hurt by her again, and wasn’t that such a nice thought.

________

Tom and Sabine had finally been able to hire some trusted employees and explore places in Tibet.  They had made lots of money over the years with their successful bakery, and they thought now was a better time than ever to go on a real honeymoon as they hadn’t been able to afford it before when the bakery had first started.  It was during one of these forest explorations when they saw a trail of little drops of blood and felt they needed to follow it.  What they discovered broke their hearts.  There lying on the cold forest floor was what appeared to be a child hugging their very black wings around them.  They knew of the rumors and myths of black winged people, but they did not care.  They believed that their wings were not what made them evil, but rather situations put into their lives.  Sabine quickly checked for a pulse, and though it was slow she sighed in relief when she felt it.  She quickly handed the small unconscious girl to Tom and they both quickly went to the nearest hospital.  How could someone leave such a small child all alone to die like that?  It looked as if she had been injured if the dried blood on the small fragile wings said anything.  And worst of all, upon closer examination, they had been clipped, recently too.

As soon as they arrived they carried the small girl to the front and demanded that they take her in.  They waited until the doctors were done and gave them permission to visit claiming to be the girl’s adopted parents.  It wasn’t technically a lie, they would be soon even if Sabine had to force it to happen.

When Marinette woke up she knew something was off.  She was under a blanket, she’s never been given a blanket before.  The sent of bleach and chemicals were everywhere and it hurt her nose.  There was a beeping noise next to her that was giving her a headache.  She didn’t know where she was, and that was bad.  She opened her eyes a small fraction so nobody could see she was awake and looked around as much as she could.  The entire room was white and there were bright lights.  There were two strange people waiting in chairs near where she was laying.  She wondered if they were the ones who brought her here.  Slowly she opened them up all the way and silently sat up.  It’s best to make no noise, then she wouldn’t disturb anyone.

“Oh sweety, I’m so glad you’re awake.”

The woman said in a cheery and relieved manner, but she just continued to watch and study them silently.  Her wings felt stiff against her back, though she made sure they didn’t move or give anything away.

“How are you feeling dear?”

Silence greeted them, and her face remained as impassive as ever.  They wanted something, why else would they save a freak like her?  What were they aiming for here?

“Did your parents hurt you?  If so, we can take you away from them.”

Marinette’s eyes widened only a fraction.  These were randoms, innocents if you will.  They obviously had no idea who she was, and they seemed unafraid of her and her wings.  Did they not know how dangerous she was, didn’t they know that black wings meant she was cursed?  The man and the woman looked at eachother and spread their wings.  Marinette was shocked, but she wouldn’t show it.

The large man had light brown eagle wings while the small woman had white and black woodpecker wings.  She wanted to reach out and touch the feathers, but then something bad would happen to them, so she held her hands together.

“We don’t care what your wing color is.  Your wings don’t define who you are, it’s what you do with your life that does.  Can we please help you?”

The woman said sincerely as she gripped the man’s hand in hers.  She felt a pull to them, something telling her to accept.  She didn’t want to hurt them though.  But maybe she could protect them?  Maybe she could find a way around her curse and make sure they don’t get hurt?  Slowly she nodded and they both looked so happy when she did.  She hoped that she wouldn’t hurt them, they didn’t deserve to be cursed.  Maybe if she didn’t touch them things would be ok.  If she didn’t let them touch her then it wouldn’t spread.  She could do this!

________

Apparently she couldn’t do it because this is a very affectionate family, and the first thing that happened before they let her sleep on their —super fluffy, pure Heaven— bed was give her a hug.  She had made sure that her wings were tucked under her clothes and tight against her back the entire time though.  So they didn’t touch her wings, so maybe that meant they wouldn’t be cursed.

It was strange, because the next morning they went to a courthouse, and she was adopted.  She hadn’t said anything throughout the entire event, she just watched and observed what people did.  They stayed in Tibet for another few days before they flew to Paris, France.  This was supposed to be her new home.  The city of light and love.  Maybe here, it would stop her curse.  It was so bright that it had to block out her darkness.  She still always carried one of her knives with her, she felt naked without one.  Tom and Sabine seemed to understand somehow, and said that it was her business and that was enough for them till she was ready to talk about it.  It was strange not to be interrogated for now wanting to tell someone something.

Marinette had lived with the Dupain-Chengs for about a year now.  It was strange really, they were honest business people and their joy was always sincere.  They didn’t question much of what she did even though it was probably weird to them.  They didn’t punish her for messing up like the league did, and they never went near her wings without permission.  They never plucked her feathers, and they would often ask if they could preen her wings.  She would refuse every time, but she would often wonder what it would be like to have someone else touch them.  Think of what it would be like if she weren’t cursed.  When it was time for school she would always wrap them around herself then tape them so no one would see or be able to touch them.  Things were finally going well, she couldn’t risk it now!

There was a blonde brat that liked to act like she was above her, and because her wings were always hidden with no explanation she made sure everyone knew that she was “wingless”.  She didn’t care though, being wingless was better than being evil winged.  She never really said anything in class or to other students, she never gave much reaction keeping her stoic face up.  The brat left her alone soon after for being a, “ridiculous!  Utterly ridiculous freak.”  And nobody was the wiser.

Being Lady Chaos was….the best thing that ever happened to her if she was being honest.  Even with pure black wings, people still thought she was a hero.  She never flew, she was scared she’d fall and die.  She was never allowed to fly before, and even if she technically can do so now, it’s not worth the risk.  Her partner though, Mr. Bug has gold, red, and black wings.  He can fly through the air with ease she wished she desperately had.  Sometimes after patrol she would go to the very top of the Eiffel Tower and just stretch her wings out as far out as she could.  She would close her eyes as the wind blew past her and ruffled her feathers and pretend that she was soaring through the air.

________

Year three of living with Tom and Sabine she was comfortable talking to them more, and with Plagg there to control her chaos she finally let them touch her wings.  It was strange really, she never took care of her wings, never cared enough to.  When she first felt the hands on her feathers she had to will herself not to draw them back for fear of them plucking or ripped out.  But Sabine’s hands were so gentle and smooth that they seemed to move on their own and go closer to her touch.  Sabine would smile and hum as she gently preened the dark raven feathers that were soft and smooth.  Maybe she could finally tell the class that she wasn’t wingless soon, and maybe they would be okay with it.

No, they would not as she learned from listening to her classmates talk to the new student, Lila Rossi.  To them Lady Chaos was the only good black winged person because she was chasing after Mr. Bug to earn his affections.  Lady Chaos was obviously evil before she met Mr. Bug and she would always be evil no matter what she did.  Marinette felt nauseous that she ever thought about telling them the truth.  She had never felt more betrayed than she felt now, because she had given them her trust, and they broke it without even knowing it.  After that day, she made extra sure that her wings were hidden and wore a bit thicker clothing just in case.  Tom and Sabine are a little worried about it, but she calmed them pretty quickly.  She was fine, it wasn’t like they were all great friends to begin with.  That’s probably why everyone sides with Lila and decides that she’s a terrible person.

She had tried leaving her past behind, pretending that she didn’t hurt and kill people.  Pretend that she wasn’t a weapon.  She tried to push it far away, but it wasn’t enough.  It was never enough.  She had abandoned her brother.  She betrayed the league.  She did unspeakable things to please someone who would never care about her, just her use.  The city of lights seems duller than usual, it was probably her fault Hawkmoth came to be in the first place, afterall she was cursed to bring ruin everywhere she went.

________

Lila and Chloe thought it would be a great idea to bring everybody to the Crime Capital of the World for their senior trip.  Probably to watch people flounder and worry when things go wrong, which they definitely would.  She had stopped Hawkmoth a month before the trip, but Mr. Bug took all the credit for it. The arrogant self centered bas*.  Adrien kept giving her side glances that always made her feel uncomfortable and slightly disgusted.  During school he would try to touch her with every chance he’d get.  He almost discovered her wings at one point.  She couldn’t do anything about it before because of the stupid your-rich-so-do-whatever-the-heck-you-want treatment.  Now that Adrien’s family fortune is gone, and people don’t trust him because of what his dad did, so he has to be more careful.  He now kept some distance, which she was extremely grateful for.

She would have broken his hand, she had imagined it plus other things more than once.  But then Tom and Sabine would get in trouble by Gabriel for her actions.  They didn’t deserve that, they had been nothing but good to her since they found her abandoned in that forest.

She would be fine though, as long as Lila had a grip on his arm and she was in the back, away from him.  She listened to their tour guide, Richard Grayson, talk about the history and importance of WE.  The architecture was brilliant really, and you couldn’t blame her for having to draw and sketch it.  She often thought of Damian when she sketched.  She used to leave drawings for him around the base, little things that expressed her adoration for him without getting too close.  She wondered if he was still with the league, had he escaped, did he die?  She hoped that wasn’t the case, she hoped that he would be alive and well.  Bright orange and white wings nearly slapped her in the face if she hadn’t stopped right before the movement had occurred.

“Oh my gosh!  I’m so sorry Marinette!  Sometimes my wings just spasm out of control like that!  I didn’t hurt you did I?”

Marinette just silently rolled her eyes and took a few steps backward and watched the class glare at her waiting for her to comfort the liar.  She would never lower herself to do that.  She was still an Al Ghul afterall, even if she did leave it behind when she fled.  She was thankful when lunch came, she waited far away from the line and watched silently from a dark corner to make sure no one would hurt her.  Then she felt it, a hand touching her back feeling for something.  She quickly and instinctively grabbed the arm and twisted it behind them pinning it behind their back at a painful angle.

“Ukhti, let go.”

Marinette knew that voice.  She remembered that name and she could feel her heart stop.  The lunchroom was silent as they watched the small bluenette silently and quickly release the “Ice Prince”. Everyone watched with bated breaths to see what would happen next.  The boy’s wings were ruffled in agitation and fear.

“Where are they?”

He demanded.  Marinette knew what he was talking about, she simply wrapped her arms around herself and turned her head away definitely.

“Why are you hiding them, Malak?  Please.”

Marinette could feel her wings moving in defiance to what her brain was saying.  They wanted to be shown, they wanted to be touched by her brother again.  She looked down and slowly uncrossed her arms from her body.  Damian gently took her hands in his and looked directly into her eyes.

“Everything will be ok, Taw'ami.”

She slowly nodded and with shaky fingers reached under her hoodie and began to slowly unwrap the tape that kept her wings confined.  When all the tape was in her hands she hesitantly removed her hoodie and let her wings unfold from around herself and into the open.  She had made shirts that let her wings slip through slits in the back that were tailored to her wings specifically and were most comfortable.  Damian marveled at how big her raven wings had grown and how shiny they were.  He reached out a hand slowly and gently ran his fingers down the inky black that was her wings.

Shouts of fear and accusations were thrown at her, mostly from her class.  She didn’t listen though, she just observed.  The tour guide was coming over now, probably to kick her out.  He had such lovely wings though,  they were a deep navy blue that looked similar to black with dark red and light blue running through them.  They looked so well kept and soft.

“Damian, what’s happening?  Who is this?”

“Grayson, meet my twin sister, Marinette.”

“You have a twin?!”

Richard exclaimed loudly, drawing even more attention.  The insults and jeers stopped after that.  She looked over at the class and smirked when she saw their shock and confusion.

“Yes, keep up.”

Damian said brusquely.  They must know each other well then.

“Come, we must take her away from these imbeciles and take her to father.”

Damian grabbed her wrist and tugged, her quickly falling into line like she used to when he did this.

“Now tell me Ukhti, have you been taking care of yourself?”

She nodded as they came to an elevator and walked into it with Richard right behind them.  Marinette felt her feathers fluff up nervously.  She wasn’t in control of them right now, and she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. Damian ran a hand gently down her right wing trying to smooth it down.

“Things will be fine Marinette.  Just watch, father will be glad to meet you.”

She looked him in the eyes and squeezed her hands together.

“No, I have not told him about you.  Things will be fine though.”

He seemed to understand her weird way of communicating, she still didn’t understand how he did.  Richard cleared his throat and both turned to look at him.

“Sorry to interrupt, but um…I’m Dick, I’m Damian’s, and yours I guess, oldest brother.  It’s nice to meet you.”

He spread his wings in a welcoming way that meant and showed safety and peace. Her wings involuntarily rose up as well to reciprocate his greeting.  When the door to the elevator opened again she quickly forced her wings to hide on her back trying desperately to keep them from sight.  Damian didn’t seem to like it, but he just grabbed her wrist and dragged her to a large office room.  The plaque on the door read “CEO Bruce Wayne”.  Their father was Bruce Wayne?!  She couldn’t go in there, she couldn’t curse him and ruin his life.  No, she had already messed up at the league, and she was just barely not messing up with Tom and Sabine, she would definitely ruin Bruce Wayne’s life, and she would not allow that to happen.  She tugged at his grip desperately trying to get away.

“Marinette, stop.  Your wings are not cursed, that was a lie.”

Marinette shook her head and kept trying to escape the iron-like grip.

“Do you not trust me anymore?”

She froze at that and quickly shook her head.  Of course she trusted him, it was her that shouldn’t be trusted.

“Good, because we’re going in now.”

And that was that, because the door was now open and she was being dragged into the office room where their father and another boy with large bags under his eyes stared at them.  Damian puffed up his chest and feathers letting his strong, big, and brilliant wings rise into the air.

“Father, this is your daughter, my twin, Marinette Erebus Al Ghul-Wayne.”

They both stared at her in shock and Marinette slowly and cautiously raised her despicable black wings into the air.  Both stared at them in awe before looking back at her, but she didn’t meet their eyes.  She didn’t want to see the disgust and hatred in their eyes.

After a few moments she looked up and saw their wings greeting hers like Dick’s had.  Their father’s wings were a mix of black and dark grey alternating the color in each row of feathers.  The other boy’s were black at the top and slowly turned to red at the bottom.  But they were welcoming her openly, so that must mean something!  Well, it was time to get to know her father, she guessed.

[my-simp-land]

You Cheeky Slink

Bucky comes to you in the night to tell you about his latest google dive and maybe something more. Bucky x reader fluff. 1508 words. This is highkey self indulgent so get ready to read the fantasy thats been living in my head lately. Thanks :))

“Doll?”

Bucky stands at my door with just his head stuck into my room.

“Bucky, what are you doing? Where’s your shirt? You’re going to catch a cold wandering around with no clothes on,” I mumble from my pillow and plushie covered bed.

He smirks. He always does that smirk when he’s about to give some smartass response. That stupid lopsided smirk with he petal pink lips surrounded by the beard he’s been growing out. It’s kinda gangly but in a good way.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to come in then, so I don’t catch a cold in this freezing hallway. You know, you don't actually catch colds from being co-”

You had to stop the groan from falling past your lips. “Buck, love you and all, but now isn't the time to drop some of your newly found knowledge on me. It's...what time is it? Bucky, it is past midnight. Please tell me why you’re in my room at 12:38 a.m. talking about colds.”

Peter and I have been teaching Bucky how to use the internet and his phone, and We introduced him to Google a few days ago. Ever since then, he’s been catching himself up on most of what has happened in the last 70s years. It’s really heartwarming to see his interest in aerial technology and space exploration. We’re all glad that Bucky is adjusting well, but he’s been bombarding us all with random knowledge he’s found on the internet.

“Well, in all fairness, you were the one that invited me in, angel. I’m just doing what you said.” The smirk again. It’s too dark now that he's standing in my dark room, but I know the smirk. It bleeds into his voice. It makes him sound more...confident. Or cocky. “But dollface, we’ve explored more of space than we have the ocean. We don’t know what all is living in the deep parts of our ocean, but we know that you’ll get spaghettified if you go into a black hole. Some people think black holes are portals and some think they’re dying stars.”

“Wait, what? Buck, where are you getting your info?”

“Google, of course. Can I sit?”

“Sure.” The heavy weight of a giant man and his absurdly heavy metal arm rests on the corner of my bed. He almost seems hesitant to sit. I can immediately feel his warmth through the blanket. Despite me keeping my area freezing, Bucky always stays warm. “But Bucky, you went to a site to read these things. You used google but from there, what did you do?”

I can hear the wheels turning in his head. “Uh...the interesting looking ones?”

“You can’t believe everything you read on the internet, Buck. Anyone can put whatever they want out there. When you’re doing this research you’ve got to use reliable sources.”

“Reliable sources? Can I lean against the wall and stretch my legs?”

“Sure. Friday will help you with that, but Peter and I, and even Dr. Banner could help explain that to you in more detail tomorrow at a reasonable hour.”

Bucky shuffles his way across my bed to rest against the wall. He’s cautious of my legs as he makes his journey. It’s almost like he goes into assassin mode. Even though I know he’s moving, he tries his best not to disturb me.

“Well, did you know the footstep on the moon will likely stay there for at least 100 million years? There’s no wind on the moon, so it can’t be blown away. And did you know space is completely silent? There’s no air, so the sound waves have nothing to travel through so no sound.”

Bucky carries on with his space talk. Not long after we became friends, he shared that as a child he was interested in planes. He wanted to be a pilot growing up. That quickly became an awkward conversation. Now, Bucky is learning to fly with Sam, but once he learned our travels expanded into space, his dreams were out of this world. Bucky would start his google dives asking about some random thing, but without a doubt, he would end up on space exploration. Peter and I want to see how he’d do in a Wikipedia race. Peter thinks he would be amazing at it, but I know he’d get carried away and go down his own rabbit hole.

“Doll, Neptune has storms big enough to swallow the entire Earth! Can I get under the blankets?”

I hummed my approval and rolled over. Bucky’s voice is deep and raspy, and something about it can lull me to sleep. Usually I can’t sleep with any noise but Bucky is different. He could probably do audiobooks. Steve’s school videos and Bucky’s audiobooks. That’s quite a pair.

Bucky carries on with his space dump until I ask him. “Bucky, Russia got a satellite in space first. Sputnik. Would you have had anything to do about it? Idk. That might be a rough question but…”

He thinks, and he thinks hard. I can imagine his brows would come together, and he would bite at the right side of his lower lip. His Neptune blue eyes would move like he’s reading words off an invisible piece of paper laid before him. He would usually run his fingers through his hair, but Sam mentioned hair loss and that made Buck a little self conscious. I told him not to worry, but I’ll catch him catching himself.

“I’m not sure, angel. I don’t remember anything being about space, but maybe i just didn’t know it was about the space race. That is bizarre though. I was around when we made it to the moon, but I wasn’t. Can I get under the blankets?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Buck starts to talk again as he pulls the blankets over himself. He worms his legs undermine. “Bucky, get your popsicle legs off me. Go put those things on Steve.”

He lets out a small laugh before he continues his ted talk of everything. Bucky has been taken with space, but he’s interested in cooking too. He loves to sit and watch The Great British Bake-Off or MasterChef or Top Chef. It was quite sweet and funny when he tried to recreate one of the meat pies from season two of TGBBO. He was so confident, and his bottom was so soggy.

“We should grow a fruit salad tree. We’ve got to do something to a fruit tree, but we’d be able to make it grow up to 6 fruits! You could have peaches, Steve gets apples, Sam gets...I don’t know, and I get plums. We’d have to think of something for Pete. But imagine it, a huge fruit salad tree orchard behind the compound!”

“If it’s an orchard, why don’t we just plant a whole bunch of different trees?”

“Bragging rights. Can I lean on these pillows? I’m just gonna lean here.”

“Sure Buckbeak.”

“Hmph. Us having a fruit salad tree would be like the animals in Harry Potter.”

“Yeah?”

Bucky carries on, but his closeness and warmth are enough to lull me to sleep.

I woke up not too much later. Bucky has slowly made his way to fully laying between me and my pillow mountain. He’s pulled me in close to him and nuzzles his face into my neck. He somehow got his arms fully around me with my noticing. Our legs are intertwined, and thankfully, Bucky’s feet have warmed up. I can hear his heart beat in this position. Despite the torture and darkness he’s witness, his heart still beats like a young bird’s wings. His body and mind is old, but his heart is young. A young man from the 40s thrust into the 21st century. It is a cruel fate, but I know Bucky is strong enough to carry this burden. A heart is a heavy burden to carry.

I wake with the sun; a curious beam has made its way directly into my eyes. I go to grab a pillow to cover my face, but I seem to be in the death grip of a certain super soldier. I’m able to shimmy my way around to look at him. He looks at peace. Bucky always carries his anxieties and burdens, but in this moment, he looks youthful. He isn’t a super soldier who lost himself for 70 years. He isn’t a man who is widely hated and has to redeem himself. He isn’t a man with blood on his hands. He’s just Bucky; a great guy that will hold you when you cry or share a big bellied laugh with you.

“See something you like, dollface?”

“You slithered your slinky way into my bed.”

“No, no, no. You invited me in, so I wouldn't catch a cold. I just made myself not cold.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. You were obviously the best solution, cuddle bug. Your heart is so full of love and compassion that it’s gone hot.”

“You’re a big sap.”

“Only for my best girl.”