#which are now (somewhat) obsolete and that's why they grow weird now

[swaglexander-the-great]

People have this unquestioned assumption that evolution strives towards a ‘perfect’ organism. Evolution doesn’t have a concept of perfect, it just works towards a point where a sustainable amount of the population will survive, then fucks off.

'the human body is perfect god doesnt make mistakes' what about wisdom teeth then. huh. gonna let those bastards grow in and fuck up your jaw for god. didnt think so

[cliche-ish]

Where are you from?

“Where are you from?” This is a question we all get asked almost whenever we meet someone for the first time. (We are not talking about the question “Where are you really from?”, that’s an entirely different post. Let’s save it for another day haha.) For some of us, the answer is very straightforward. That used to be the case for me when I first came to the US. Yet with time and life experience, my experience has became longer and more complicated. 

I was born and raised in Saigon, Vietnam up to 18 years old. Back then I did not really have to answer this question much unless I traveled elsewhere. When I first moved to Texas for college, my answer was simple and easy: “I’m from Vietnam.” (But whenever I traveled outside Texas, and someone ask me that question, I’d say “I’m from Texas.”) After I graduated, I moved to Florida, and then to Ohio, for my different jobs, and this is when it got harder to answer that question.

One of my current co-workers, who is originally from Korea and who also moved to the States, specifically Iowa, for grad school, told me that foreign people in the US like us would consider the first place or state where we lived as our US hometown. So it’d be Iowa for her, and Texas for me. I did not feel 100% like that spoke for me at the time I heard it. I never felt like Texas was home when I was there. I surely have made a lot of life-long friendship with people I met in Texas, but was it my “hometown”? I was not sure. I did notice later on that once I moved away from Texas to Florida and later to Ohio, my answer became longer and more complicated: “I’m from Vietnam. But I moved to Texas [insert number] years for college.” Sometimes I’d also throw in the part of “I also worked in Florida for a few months before moving to Ohio (where I currently live).” I’m not sure why I felt obligated to add the all the different places there. I asked myself why. I can imagine that it’d feel weird if I say “I’m from Texas.” But it’d also feel weird if I just say “I’m from Vietnam.” Neither of the part is enough to speak about me. Perhaps that’s why. For the past 7 years since I moved out of Vietnam, I have grown so much and changed into a new 2.0 version of me. Yet I also treasure and keep parts of the former version of me and my origin from Vietnam. 

What is the definition of “home”?

If home is where my family is, then it is Saigon, Vietnam where my parents live. But the last time I flew back to Saigon, I could barely recognize my city, my street, and my townhouse where I grew up. I remember stepping out of my taxi from the airport and instantly asking my Mom, “Where are we?” I was right in front of my childhood house, but everything had changed. There were new stores, new houses, and new neighbors I had never seen. My parents turned our street-facing living room into a rental space for a fashion store. Everything looked different. Over my few weeks home, I was somewhat struggling to adjust to my temporary life in my own “home”. Almost all of my friends from middle school and high school were also in some other foreign countries pursuing their dreams, so I had almost no one to hang out or catch up. Every day, I woke up and realized my usual routine of going to school or to work was temporarily not an option. I often found myself running out of things to talk about with my few friends and family, because we hadn’t been sharing much common experience in the past years. Things felt unfamiliar. Yes, Vietnam is home, yet somehow I did not feel completely “at home”. I felt more like a visitor visiting or stopping by her favorite, familiar town on a short vacation before she returns to her usual life.

So is home in the US, where I now spend most of my time and where I live my usual and familiar life? Is home the country where I am listed as an “alien resident” on my federal paperwork to remind me that I am only an alien that is allowed to reside here in the US only under certain conditions? Is my hometown Texas, like how my co-worker defines? I love many of the people I got to meet in Texas, but can it be “home” if I find it very hard to say “I love Texas” and was so eager to leave it after graduation? Is home Columbus, Ohio, where I currently live and feel more like home than I was in Texas? But home can also be where I have a place to go back after a loooong day to my cat, cook a meal, and sleep on a bed I call my own. Home can also be the few very close friends from college who live in another state and whom I visit once in a while. I’d crash with them for free, feel at home enough to go over their fridge and eat any of their food lol, and spend time with them doing anything. All of those also make me feel like home. 

I’ve had many moments in my life that remind me of how I am now this hybrid product of my experience of moving from place to place. It did not allow me to belong in either of the countries I had lived or identified myself with. When I was walking through a touristy neighborhood in Vietnam, a few vendors said hi and advertised their products to me in English, because they thought I was not a Vietnamese. I’ve never stepped into a McDonald’s either in Vietnam or the US and got a lot of fun, mixed reactions from both my American and Vietnamese friends. (Because if there is one thing that different cultures or countries can agree on, it’s that McDonald’s is the most American thing ever.) I sometimes subconsciously behave and say things that in my mind is normal for me because they are normal in my Vietnamese culture, but are considered weird, abnormal, or embarrassing in the US, and vice versa. I was called Americanized (which is implicitly equivalent to “not Vietnamese”) by my friend in Vietnam for saying things that oppose what I consider obsolete rituals or values or the bad norms (i.e. greeting people by calling out how they have gained weight or lose weight, telling girls to focus on starting a family before it’s too late, whatever the eff that means, telling boys to only marry girls that are good at housekeeping). I was also called Americanized by my Vietnamese friend living in the US for watching many American TV shows or caring about American politics (Yes I started caring a lot since something bizarre happened in 2016...) And yet, I also find myself not Americanized enough to understand all of the jokes or references on American famous people during every day conversations, to be a hardcore football fan, to feel free and not scared to express myself and say whatever I want, or to find an apple pie super delicious (because nothing is as American as apple pie... and McDonald’s). For a while I couldn’t find my sense of belonging. I kept asking myself between these two worlds, where did I belong?

My most favorite thing in the US is that it is the land of immigrants! People from different corners of the world decide to leave their country to move here and start their life over because of different reasons (i.e. escape poverty, war, discrimination, oppression, financial hardship, political issues, to have a better education or a better life, to pursue their dreams, to make sure their kids have a brighter future, you name it). They bring with them their cultures, their identities, and their life stories, and raise and walk their children through this beautiful clashing and merging of cultures. Over my time here, I have been so fortunate to get to meet different people, hear about their stories and their enriched life experience, and learn from them. Also, can’t forget to mention immigrant food! Over my time here in the US, I’ve got to try cuisines from so many countries right here in the US without having to travel. I could not experience this cultural richness and diversity anywhere else in the world that I have been to. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it such a unique thing about the US? If yes, doesn’t that make immigrants the most American thing?

I sometimes feel related and connected to these immigrants from countries I haven’t been to even more than to many people “from” Vietnam and “from” the US. My heart lit up when I heard my Indian colleague calls his wife and children every day very early in the morning because it’s before bedtime in India. Or when my Mexican professor talked about the burden of renewing a US visa lol. Or when my Nepali friend talked about how we both got a Camry as our first car, because it is “the immigrant car” (-Hasan Minhaj). Or when my Vietnamese friends brought me food when I was really sick, because we understood we all did not have our family around to take care of us. Or when I posted on IG about having dosa for the first time, and my American-born Indian friend sent me a message saying how she had it all the time growing up with her parents. Or when I took a stroll in downtown Columbus in the evening of July 4th and saw only a few people, all of who were likely immigrants based on the languages they used or their clothing, because we all had nothing better to do on this day off lol (I came across one group of White people that I thought were Americans, but then they spoke some language that sounded like Russian). I went out that day thinking “It’s July 4th. It does not feel very special to me. Just gonna take a walk and kill time.” and went back to my apartment feeling like I met people I’ve known for long. I can go on and on about these little moments. These are the time I feel very much “at home”, understood, and welcomed, and find a sense of belonging, no matter where I was geographically. Home does not have to be a physical place. Home can also be a feeling.

Photo: A few “immigrant food” I had the opportunity to try.

For a while I felt like I lost my sense of belonging. I now think I am extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to live in two very different countries: Vietnam up to the age of 18, and the United States for the past 7 years of my adulthood. This experience has put me at a perfect vantage point where I get to uncover, understand, embrace, and work on both the good and the bad of both worlds. Most importantly, I get to choose what I want to keep or refute from each world as my identity. Neither world is perfect. Neither world is horrible. I love both countries. Both are changing and progressing even, partly because people who found themselves shifting between worlds like me. Both worlds hold some pieces of home for me. 

Knowing who I am and how much I want to experience and see the world and what choices (and restrictions) I have as a US immigrant, a Vietnamese passport holder, and a global citizen, I know I will keep on moving to new places and starting new journeys elsewhere in my life. Taiye Selasi captured this perfectly in her words, “Where I'm from comes wherever I go.” (Also listen to her TED Talk if you have time 😊.) I’ll continue adding wherever I’m going next to my list and make my answer to “Where are you from?” even longer and more complicated. So what? Let it grow longer and more complicated, because that means I am growing, too. 

[stylessemantics]

*~ Believe in Magic ~* (ch.5)

- 5 - Potions 101.

The witch that controls or guesses the weather — Harry isn’t sure anymore, after all he is currently shaking snowflakes off his shoulders — she had made a mistake. It was an early snow this year, and Harry sighs at the sight of little piles of white collecting in different spots all around him, all over the neighbourhood. He’s slightly annoyed. For starters yesterday when it began to snow, he was on his way back from the library late at night and certainly under-dressed for it. And secondly, the reason why he rushed home and accidentally slammed his door against the wall when he opened it with such force upon arriving, snow meant his Blue Salvias were- “ Dead…” he muttered under his breath looking at the slowly withering stems. He’d left them by the open window, an old trick his aunt had taught him, because these specific kind really liked the afternoon breeze and it made them easier to mash into his potions. What they didn’t like was cold snowflakes slowly melting and/or sticking to their roots.

Which leads us to now, to a wool-mittened-snow-booted-and-heavy-coated Harry, as he huffs and puffs on his way to the library. After all, his book on fall flowers that he had taken home last week, was now completely obsolete to his potion practice; now that it was clearly winter and snowing, his focus had changed, he needed winter gardening. More specifically, snow flowers; while winter meant the death of loads of plants he normally needs, it also meant the birth of some that are very rare, and very useful.

He was happy the ancient magical delivery still worked, for his cousin Liam had lent him some books on snow flowers that Harry had yet to read, and that could help him a lot in his upcoming test.

We do remember Harry is a clumsy not very experienced witch, this is the reason why Harry was so hellbent on potions these past few days. Louis and Niall were giving him a small test soon, and Harry was studying. Potions were his favourite, even when he could only master grade 1 and 2 potions. They always caught his eye and he enjoyed growing his own ingredients to make them perfect. The problem was that with new potions, came different ingredients with different growth times. Time that Harry could easily help pass along, if he could only perfect his time-bending spells.

But one thing was certain. Harry’s specialty surely had to be and will be potions. Every witch had a specialty and since a very young age, this was the one Harry had chosen. It didn’t come natural to him as some other abilities came to other witches, but, half of every talent is interest, isn’t it?

The moment he steps into the library, he can hear them. At first they startle him a bit, but soon he realises what’s happening, and rushes to where they are. He’s amazed. Liam had also lent him some talking books, attached was a note from him. Talking books were these ancient books that every witch needs at some point in their life. Liam no longer used his, and had decided to let Harry have them for a while, saying that every witch should have some around, given the fact that they help a lot and give excellent counselling and tips, which Harry needed whenever he was to be tested in his magic. They always sensed when you needed some advice and helped you understand things you never had wondered about before. There were 3 large books, with intimidating dark spines, old looking pages, and red glowing edges. He stacked them along with his gardening notepads and potion papers.

Harry had heard lots about them and the smile on his face was all the indication needed to know he was excited beyond belief to read them or let them speak to him. Whatever it is they did. Salem could tell Harry was giddy about them. After all, he did let himself fall on his bed, like a teenage girl with a new crush, with them in hand and humming along some weird tune. Another indication was the potion book he’d thrown to the side, as if he didn’t have an upcoming exam. “ Did you get talking books so they could tell you more about your crush on this mortal?” “ Salem.” Harry rolled his eyes “ M’going t’act like you’ve said nothing.” Salem sighed and shook his head. He knew it was just a matter of time before Harry grew tired of the talking books.

And Salem was right. After three cold nights, Harry had learned that the talking books, when they have something to comment on, won’t shut up. Even during the wee hours of the morning. Soon he’d have bags under his eyes from all the studying and the not-sleeping he was doing. They were going to drive him insane. Which is the sole reason — at least that’s what Harry’s making himself believe — why, when y/n had come knocking and asking him if he’d like to go for a cuppa, he’d agreed without any questioning, quickly gathering a coat from the rack next to the door, and his wallet from the small entrance table, rushing to close the door behind him, careful not to have her hear the books sing behind him about colours, – burgundy, green, grey – or whatnot.

In the few days after the Halloween incident, which is how Harry called it in his head, Y/N had come over to hang out once, and he’d gone over for a cuppa twice. They would talk in the hallways and joke over the mail on Mondays, and they have walked together down the sidewalk for at least 2 blocks before going their separate ways once or twice in the past weeks, but this is the first time they’d gone out together, with the intention of doing something, together. Apparently she had ran out of her favourite tea, and instead of going alone to the cafe down the street and getting herself a brew, she had grown the courage to ask if maybe Harry wanted to tag along. For no reason whatsoever. Just to get something warm to drink. Together.

Harry could have easily told her he had some of her favourite tea in his cupboards — don’t ask— and could have easily offered her some and that would have been it, but he did have some talkative fellas in his room, of which he was not certain if they would shut up in the presence of a mortal, so he decided not to risk it. Which is why he’s now sat in front of her at a table, while they blow on their hot mugs, steam rising from the tinted beverages.

Every time he’d seen y/n after the Halloween Incident (TM), which were quite a few, he was slightly reminded of the following Floating Incident… (TM). His mind would go back and replay that night. How she had drunkenly kissed his cheek, and it had kickstarted an array of bugs in his tummy that made him float. How he had to avoid Salem’s eyes for the rest of the night, not able to bare the fact that he had no idea why he was floating. “ Harry, do you like this human?” “ M’trying to sleep Salem. Shut up” And most importantly, he was always reminded of how this whole thing was completely one-sided. The next morning y/n could not remember a thing, and stopped by to just thank him for obviously taking care of her, because who else could have gotten her home safely, put out food for Nina, and left her a tall glass of water to drink for when she woke with a terrible hangover. Harry had to hold on to the door to avoid lifting up in the air again, but he’d muttered a small “You’re welcome. ’S no biggie” before asking if she’d like some tea, bold move, to which she refused because she felt ill, to which Harry answered by building up the strength to stop himself from floating away without the aid of a fixed object, and inviting her in, so he could make her some soup.

It was the first and only time y/n had been in his flat. And it was in that small conversation they had over the sound of things bubbling up into what smelled like a delicious soup, that Harry learned that she did not remember a single thing. She remembered the party, most of it. She remembered dancing and talking and being somewhat angry at him — though that she did not say out loud… Harry just knew. — She remembered Harry asking her to stop drinking, and then a few moments here and there made it so she could piece back the fact that they had taken an uber and that he’d helped her to bed. Other than that, y/n’s mind had erased, if it ever even grasped, the rest of the night.

He supposed he should feel relieved that she never noticed him floating as he ‘walked’ away, or that he’d gone stone-cold and very warm at the same time, at the feel of her lips on his cheek. But something felt off to him. He couldn’t completely feel relieved that she knew nothing. He tied it to the fact that he hated to be friends with her, or tried to be, and be keeping from her what felt like two of the biggest secrets he’s ever kept. But he refused to let himself think it over too much. Instead he focused on their small and growing friendship. Exactly what he’d promised he’d try. She remembers none of it, but Harry does, and that’s enough for him.

Y/N found herself smiling from ear to ear. It was a risk to ask Harry to join her for some tea, just for the fun of getting tea together. She had to admit it felt odd. Out of place even. Harry was suddenly being friendly, and more accepting of her. He was being more open and allowing her to cram his space. Well, compared to the Harry a month ago, she was definitely cramming his space. It was just weird to be able to talk to Harry like she had been for the last couple of days. She was glad, but sometimes she wondered if she had done something at the party that she couldn’t remember that made Harry actually accept her friendly advances. It’s not like they were best friends, or something like that, but it was a relief to be able to be friends with him after trying for so long. She was glad he felt comfortable around her the same way she started to feel comfortable around him a month ago.

On their short way back they both keep shaking their heads rid of little snowflakes as both the sun and the temperature fell. “ I love snow” she says smiling up to the clouds. Harry can’t help but wonder just how many people in the world actually like snow. As a witch that enjoys potion making and plants, snow was a bittersweet hit to his gut. Sometimes it felt more like a massage, other times it was a straight up punch. He shrugged slightly. “ S’okay. I like the snow, I jus’ don’t like to get cold” “ I feel you. My feet are freezing right now” she giggles and he drops his sight to her boot-covered feet as she kicks up some snow. She’s sporting some cute boots that were once light brown, and he lets out a small smile. On the sides are evident claw-scratches that nina must have left for y/n to wake up to. “Nina keeps scratching at them, plus they are really old so, it’s not like my toes are covered from the wind” she laughs. “ Why don’t yeh get yourself new ones?” Harry asks playing with the string of his hoodie and y/n shrugs. “ I don’t know. Haven’t got the chance. Maybe I’ll gift myself some for christmas” is the last thing she says before she reaches over to open the gate to the apartment complex and Harry is a bit shocked they had walked over so fast. Deep down he would have liked to talk to y/n a bit more.

Soon he finds himself back into his books and trying to find a good place to plant his winter flowers, while also studying up on his potions, most specifically searching for a potion to cure his floating.

He flips pages after pages of the large books, reading up on juices and mixes of leaves and seeds that could make him heavy, or make him feel less things, both of which scare him, and not much later he stumbles upon some of the more difficult brews. Love potions.

His breath catches in his throat. If there’s one thing he’s keeping off his mind as a reason for his floating issues, is any feeling close to…

He sighs. It wouldn’t hurt to read the chapters, after all some love potions serve both the purpose to make someone love you, and to make someone stop loving you, not that he’d ever use it on y/n… Or on himself to not like her…

The clock ticks close to midnight and Harry is in his third cup of coffee and fourth attempt at growing his Blue Salvias in the winter. The cauldron is boiling with all the elements necessary for a simple Poison, just for practice, as he reads up on the love potions in his book. He’s so into the words inked on the thousand year old paper, that he misses the pitter patter of Salem paws against his wooden floors. The small cat looks at his companion as he shuffles along in the kitchen excitedly throwing herbs into the boiling water. Salem hops on the counter and eyes him up and down. “If you’re going t’ask me about y/n, just go ask Nina” Harry says without turning to look at him, his eyes focused solely on the words on the ancient book. Thyme? In a Love Potion? Simple enough. Harry’s hands reach over for the small bottle where he keeps it, holding it close to his chest as he keeps on reading. Salem grins. “ Do you plan on sleeping, Harry?” “ I have an exam coming up, and winter catching up t’me. No, I won’t sleep” he mumbles still skimming his eyes over the pages. “ Huh… Ok… Do you reckon Niall and Louis know?” “ Know what?” Harry’s arm reaches over to shake some thyme into the cauldron, before he flips another page. His lips move as he takes in the words. Mashed up Hydnora Africana seeds, Harry scoffs. No way he can get that. “ Nothing… But hey” Salem smiles jumping from one side to the other and landing next to Harry’s book on the kitchen counter. "I promise I won’t tell if you don’t want to tell” Harry is lost but continues flipping pages. "Salem what the heck are you talking about?” " Ah come on. As if you're not infatuated with the human" " I am not" Harry groans under his breath. Salem needs to stop, if this were to slip in front of Niall and/or Louis, Harry would have to move to the next city, and cast a memory wipe spell so people don’t even remember his name in this one. Which tears at his heart a bit more than he thought possible. If he left she would forget him, she would have to. There’s just no way he can forget her. He stops the train of thought and continues throwing garlic cloves into the steaming mix.

" Sure thing.” Salem says, you could probably hear the smirk in his voice, a smirk he was carrying proudly, though you can’t really see the cat smirk physically. “By the way, you need more rosemary" "What?" Harry looks up from his book and to his hand, suddenly interested in the conversation. Rosemary? What for? He wondered as he saw the big chunk he’d just thrown in. "For the love potion you fool" Salem hops off the counter laughing, and Harry blushes deeply, slamming his potion book closed in a hurry. “I’m just practicing Salem!” But all he can hear is the cat scoff as he heads down the hall and towards Harry’s bedroom to doze off for the night. He groaned as he looked into the cauldron. Viscous green goo greeted him as his anger bubbled up. A perfectly good poison ruined all because he kept reading too much into the love potion. He turned off the heat and cast a spell to make the whole pot of this disgusting guppy goo he had created disappear without a trace. Somewhere in the magic realm, a big blob of nasty had fallen into a dumpster.

The lad decided to call it a day. Maybe tomorrow he could try again. Maybe tomorrow he could search in the library where to get Hydnora Africana seeds in the mortal world. Not that he even needed them for the poison.

As he lays in bed, wide awake, tossing and turning, some soothing but at the same time odd words help him find some ease. “ Between you and me. I quite like y/n” are the last words the cat mutters before going to sleep. Harry knows Salem hates everything, and it was already a shock to find out that Salem liked Nina. So Harry wonders if maybe both him and Salem had been bewitched by someone or something and it made Salem enjoy human and cat company, and it made Harry feel things and float… And in that moment, it seemed like the most reasonable, logic answer there was.

The snow crunched under the weight of Harry's boots as he took step after step in the direction of his home. A bag of cat food in his arms and a craving for a nice warm cup of hot cocoa in his gut. The closer he got to the complex, the louder the small voices became. Soon, he was stepping into what seemed like a snowball fight between some of the children from the block. He gave a small smile to one of them as he used Harry's tall body as shield to run from a pile of snow to the other. The kid received a snowball to the face the moment he stepped out of Harry's cover and the tall lad couldn't help but laugh. That is until a snowball exploded on his chest, the surprise hit sending him stumbling back a little. As he looked up there stood y/n laughing and giving a high-five to a little girl. Harry's shocked mouth turned into a smile at the sight.

"Yeh did not" he joked "Oh but I did" she grinned and winked. "Are you going to fight back or what?"

Harry debated the thought over. He couldn't. He had to study. But he'd done so much studying the night prior, and he could use a break from trying and failing to make a youth-elixir. But then again, Louis and Niall would have his head if he didn't prepare well enough for the test. Y/N sensed his doubt and her smile fell fast as she walked over. ”Come on... join us! The boy’s team need another one” she said smug and the little girl next to her gave her yet another high-five “ We don’t!” he could hear one of the boys say in the distance. Harry smiled at the interaction, but soon was reminded that he needed to answer when y/n cleared her throat. "I just... I have some stuff-" " Can't it wait?” she asked. It couldn’t… " Yeah. Join us sir!" A small boy tugged at his coat making Harry turn to him as he pouted. “We do need another boy.” Harry had to admit, the young child's puppy look did nothing on him. While he did like children and got along with them pretty well, their ability to pout and try to get their way didn’t really go through with Harry. But... slowly lifting up to find y/n's puppy look certainly did, for some unknown reason. Harry's mouth opened and closed over and over, no words formed, no words came out. “ Join us for a bit, H" she said with a smile and a hop. The cold tinted her cheeks red, a deeper red than her usual blush, Harry could tell.

One day, he was going to be put on trial for whatever reason a witch could be on trial. He was going to be judged, and there was going to be freedom at stake. There was going to be something extreme on the other end. He would be tortured and threatened beyond his strengths. And still he would never ever ever tell that, on a snowy November day, y/n calling him 'H' had made him so weak at the knees that he almost fainted.

He nodded slightly and both the little kid and y/n clapped and cheered excited that he’d joined the game. The tall lad quickly set aside the bag of cat food by the entrance to his building and hoped no cat owner passed by and stole it. That was dumb of him to think, this was after all a very friendly neighbourhood, consisting mostly of nice old people that would call the police over a lost bag of cat food instead of taking it for themselves, or their cats better said.

The open space between buildings and houses in the complex was actually quite big. It was something Harry really enjoyed when he moved. He could go for a jog in the little “park”, until it became too small for his limbs, and then he moved to an actual park where he could trot his heart out. The opening still left him speechless, specially in the fall when the trees took the most beautiful of oranges.

He hid as best he could behind a pile of snow that was obviously made to hide a small 7 year old. Jonas, the little kid who had tugged at his coat, sat beside him making snowballs and failing as they seemed to break apart before he could properly set to throw them. “ Hey, how about I make the balls, and you jus’ chuck ‘em at the enemy?” he said coming face to face with the young boy with extremely red cheeks. And it was just like that, how Harry and Jonas set an impenetrable fort behind a tree and a pile of white snow. That is until Jonas took off running, leaving Harry confused, though not for long, when he felt the harsh attack at his back. They had been discovered. It was y/n, on his tail as Harry gathered the small balls he had created and turned around to defend himself from her as he ran. “ Run!” he screamed and the rest of the boys around the area took of running, searching for new covers. The sound of laughter filled the air as they ran around and played with the biggest smiles on their faces.

“My toes are so cold!” y/n said between laughter. After a few rounds of snowball fighting, all the children started to head home as the afternoon fell, leaving only Harry and y/n to chase around each other until they tired and sat by the building entrance, right next to the untouched bag of cat food he’d placed earlier on. “ ‘M telling yeh. Jus’ buy new ones” he shrugged and smiled at her, but she shook her head. Stubborn one she was. “ I think I just need thicker socks and it will all be okay” “ I won’t say I told yeh so when they fall apart” he poked at the giving fabric of the boots and she pushed at his shoulder. “ Hey! No touching!” she giggled. Silence fell between the two young adults. Some winter afternoons are more beautiful than others, and this one was so pretty. The colours in the sky, the dropping temperature and slowly falling snowflakes. Harry felt the weight of y/n’s head on his shoulder short after. He had the same feeling as the night of the Halloween Incident, the warmth, the uncomfortable tickle in his gut, and the lack of oxygen, and he was reminded of his potion exam coming up, but for some reason, nothing in him wanted to move. He sighed playing with his fingers as y/n wrapped her arm around his arm, unknowingly looking for comfort and heat. Harry’s breathing was kickstarted by the soft feeling of her delicate fingers touching his.

Later that night, as the snow continued to fall and accumulate in piles that the kids would surely play with again tomorrow, Harry found himself in his kitchen, mixing away at yet another elixir. This one specifically was perfect for healing fire burns, which is one of the easiest attacks a witch could learn and it’s the reason why this elixir was a must have in the kit of a medic witch. The only problem is that it was hard to make, so witches would stock up on it. By adding certain seeds that made its healing powers last longer, it could be stored.

There was a soft hum of the talking books coming from Harry’s bedroom. It started to become annoying, specially because, since the moment he arrived home after the snowball fight, they had been whispering and repeating the same word over and over, a word that, to Harry, meant nothing. Burgundy. If he only knew what the word meant he would at least catch the clue or whatever it was they were giving him. But to him it was just another colour. Was he wearing burgundy? Was he eating burgundy? Did he have to be careful with Burgundy in his life? Was it even a colour? He didn’t know. He made a mental note to ask Louis and Niall, or to get a book and read up on the odd word.

Harry decided to call it a night, left the cauldron in the fire, for the elixir to cook to perfection while he rested. Three days until his exam, he couldn’t have any more distractions. No more outings, tomorrow he’d do the groceries, maybe stop by the library and back to his apartment to read up and prepare more potions. Maybe give another try to the love potion, and test his healing elixir. He just had to keep Salem, Louis and Niall out of his head to properly focus. He had to keep the talking books out of his head to focus. And he had to keep y/n out of his head and his day to focus. And in that short moment it was decided. He would be a hermit. He would perfect his abilities and increase his knowledge. It felt good to plan ahead and to make that decision, and in that moment late at night it was easy to promise keeping those things and people out of his head. He allowed himself one last thought of y/n, one last thought of how much fun it was to play in the snow. And that was it. Off to sleep.

That is until the books decided to add more words to their repeating chant that would surely keep him awake for hours. “ She is Burgundy.” they said.

——

Witch!Harry is back! I hope! I’m trying to get back to loving this concept as much as I did when it first popped up in my head, and seeing some of you actually give feed back and say if you do like it or not has helped a lot, so thank you! Tell me what you thought of this chapter, it’s kind of long-ish. Longer than the first 3 anyways! and idk if chapter 5 will be this long, who knows. Tell me what your favourite part was. WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN IN CHAPTER 6? I WANT TO KNOW!!! What would you like to happen with y/n and Harry.

Chapter 6 has no official date but I WILL try my best for it to be ready as soon as possible!

#BIM tag. ||  Intro Here. ||   Ch.1 * Ch.2 * Ch.3 * Ch.4   ||   Ch. 6 

——

Iv. xo all the cuddles, always!

[radicalrave]

Ok, I'm going to present one of list of most favorite anime/manga/light novel series in mosaic in chronological order and will give reasons why I love series and made it on the list.

Reason being is cuz my tastes have changed over time and some series aged well and some didn't, and you'll see why that is when I give my thoughts and reasons.

However, I will give an honorable mention on here, since it won't show up on here. You'll come to see my patrician tastes as 4chan delicately likes to put it haha (yes, I'm a channer and I love trolling with the kids there hahaha that place is information gold that's real and legit.)

1.) Evangelion: Let's face it, this is like most people from the 90's top selection. Not only is it vintage for being around for 20 years and iconically dark for a dark shounen (boy's) series, it left a major impact on the industry and the world in ways that most people, even I underestimated. Infact, I'd venture out to say that this series has aged perfectly well compared to lots of others during its time period. It has definitely aged far better compared to Cowboy Bebop and Betterman and all of it's contemporary peers in the competition back in the day. Infact, we're a few years ahead of that series now, which is strange cuz most of us probably didnt expect to see life past 2010 and 21 hahaha. As a whole, this series was far better compared to everyone else. Now, admittedly, it was dark and has some themes that provoke good questions for society at the time in terms of "what if's." At the time, you can tell that the director was a major nihilist and didn't like the direction the world was going, and you can basically see that in his work here. I know I don't have much to say about this series and it does sound like a weak biased argument and apologize for that, but in all honesty, it's done one thing that most series in the 90's was capable of doing: Stand well against the test of time. THAT's what made it impressive. Even though lots of stuff in it are very much obsolete and clunky now. I mean... all that clunky stuff... its hard to believe we used to live in an ugly world like that at one point in time.

2.) FLCL: Now, I'll admit, it IS overhyped and overrated. I sometimes still can't see the big deal behind it, but I will say this, for a 6 episode mini series, it's directed well with excellent art direction all around on the topic of growing up and coming of age. Back then, it did look very mature and course, but now that I'm older, it's definitely a kids series which was admittedly a bit too edgy and dark for it's time, but, I think could have done better had it been more balanced out being a bit more colorful and lighter instead of darker.

I suppose at that time when pop punk and me was going around that time, and correct me if I'm wrong here, I believe Japan was going thru an economic crisis at the time, which is probably why there was such a negative foul air over the future and industry of Japan and the world as a whole at the time, politically and economically speaking.

The series can be a bit of a cool watch if you're into that era of time, but I would venture to say it's one of those that I'd definitely like to keep in my library, along with stuff like Super Milk Chan and anything else that popped up at that time. It was progressive in it's own way coming off very gritty and crunchy in it's own sense if you understand what I mean about the rough comic aesthetic that it gave off at that time.

3.) Gurren Lagan: This was one of the last Gainax series before they ended up closing shop, and not to mention, progressed past it's predecessors in being extremely fast paced. I loved the art and direction and it was fast paced that had excellent action scenes and novel epic art. However, my main qualms about this series, is that it should have just been 1 season long. I feel that it failed past the time skip in the last 10 episodes and should have crunched the last episode into episode 13, therefore, preserving and making it a quality series holistically instead of being watered down and suffering overtime like Death Note did after volume 7 when L died. In Bakuman, you can tell that Ohba and Obata (Ashirogi Muto) when they made their (Death Note; It's obvious people) that they wanted to end it there to preserve its quality as an art as a whole so that it doesnt suffer, unfortunately, the editorial and the shuisa jump magazine pushed for it, which is why we got a weird asspull with Mello and Near after, and you can see how they wanted to end Death Note with this.)

Now, Gurren Lagan, I liked the direction, it was ok, but it also had some misses too over time. It wasnt perfect, but the direction was fresh for it's time. However... personally speaking, if I were to replace this with another series that deserves an honorable mention, and it's directed by one of my current favorite directors in the industry right now, it's Re: Cutie Honey, based on Go Nagai's manga back in the 70's as one of the first and original magical girls to come and pop up with it's modern digital groovy colorful and psychedelic disco aesthetic. I really loved the direction and way it came out and would love to endorse how much I love the direction behind these kinds of aesthetics in anime and manga. Personally, I'd like to see both modern and old school and see how they age 10-30 years from now, just like alot of series I grew up with over the yeras. This however, is NOW 10 years old and remember when it first came out and the internet and DA was all big about it with Ryoko and all that, but I admit that it was a bit overhyped, I like it, it was a bit sometimes edgy and weird, the weird was ok, edgy, at least it wasnt but it would have been better had it been toned down even with coolness and make it more cartoonier and it would have definitely succeeded. The final fight scene in the series is the best and loved it and wished that it ended sooner than it did, then the series would have ended perfectly. The last 10 episodes of that season was watered down, the plot was weakened and honestly wasnt a big fan after that. It's one of those 7/10 that could have been a 9/10 in my book.

4.) Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei: THIS. THIS SERIES IS BY FAR THE BEST THAT HAS CAME OUT IN THE PAST 3 DECADES! What's frustrating is that it was poorly marketed, underrated and poorly localized. It is by far one of the best directed anime series of all time that I haven't seen been topped off or progressed in yeras. The closes to it is the Monogatari series which is based off the light novel series and directed by the same director who took up the project. You can tell by the direction with the slides and the timing of the scene changes. Zetsubou however was fresh, creative for it's time and progressive and to this day, I still consider to be and supposed to be the future of anime and manga.

Based off the manga series by iconic mangaka Koji Kumeta, Kumeta was one of those guys who taught me how important critical tone and dialogue is when it comes to witty batter and writing when it comes to screenplay, writing and manga and the guy lets his frustrations out with gusto. I haven't seen anyone come as close to how good this guy is as a writer other than Sorachi of Gintama fame, who is also one of my top and favorite mangaka of all time. As a quality series as a whole, I also put it up there with Death Note, but much higher. I like his simplistic art style that he has adopted past his earlier works and the art style that changes over time that sticks out and can tell, it's his. and both the writing and the art compliment each other well perfectly with excellent satirical critical tones. You can tell that his writing style is pervasive in Joshiraku, Impatient Count and the Time Thief and toned down in his latest work Kakushigoto. (Yes, I'm a huge fan of this guy who is underrated and not well known and honestly wish he would get better credit than he currently deserves and is by far one of the best creative driving forces in the industry I have ever come across.)

What makes this series tick out and perfect art the gags and the dark truth satirical tones this series takes. The characters are original and fresh and very likable, memorable and have a charm that makes them attractive. Basically, the way he designed them holistically is far better compared to anything that Akamatsu of Love Hina and Negima has done and basically executes his work with excellent precision. The topics the teacher brings up are interesting and basically rags on everything that annoys him as he and his students debate about life topics in and out of school. You can say its like a modern high school version of charlie brown peanuts with a bit of a Tim Burton feel to it, but not as macabre and also somewhat cute. I like how he questions politics and law as well in this work of his and perfectly concludes it with 300 chapters in 30 volumes with a pretty comical yet grim ending that people will come to remember as a holistically quality work worth keeping and remembering for the years to come. This ended about roughly 5 years ago, so it has been around for quite a while the past 12 years and has done a good job aging for that generation of people who were around for the Haruhi and Lucky Star hype back then. This one is easily a 9 or 10/10, cuz its that good.

Localizing may be tough, but its best to appreciate it for what it is. Its still never came over here considering how good it was back then, but I can still see it as future of anime kind of things.

5.) Tatami Galaxy: Now this one is admittedly a bit pretentious with being known as a fast talking anime series for an older audience set in a university setting. I love the art direction, but the theme is kind of redundant, but it can be fun to watch. It's based off a light novel series which apparently gets alot of positive critical attention overseas, but the direction for the anime, you can say that its equivalent to the speed of the voices for the dubbing of Speed Racer back then. Having seen Speed Racer in it's original intended language, I love it far more and it's more natural and relaxed and presented in the way that it was meant to be and honestly, I loved it.

This however, is one of those ones if you want an articulate post modern art college watch and want to kick back and relax, as it can be somewhat confusing as he goes back in time alot and redoes things with every episode till the last episode. You can equate it to that of Haruhi's 2nd season of the Endless 8 arc where the same exact thing except presented differently in each episode is done, but this was better, and was probably one of the biggest trolls in anime history of all time. It CAN be pretentious but it isn't completely per se either.

6.) Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt: OK... I lied... THIS is one of the best progressive anime series with best art direction of all time. It's very western animation influenced in western cartoon format and very colorful. To me, THIS is what I'd still consider and call the future of anime and still should be looked at as such. Here are reasons why. It's simple, not in depth or edgy and dark, but it was just completely perfect all around to the point that it seriously does deserver a 10/10 in my book. Hands down.

Lasting only one season with a trolling cliffhanger, it is one of the best episodic series I have come to watch and enjoy as an anime series of all time and wish that more anime would adopt the kind of aesthetic this series brought to the table. Aside from probably being the LAST Gainax series before the director went on to form Trigger the upcoming years with Kill la Kill, Kiznaiver and currently airing Little Witch Academia, it stood out for it's colorful art direction and cartoony feel that it had which I feel most anime SHOULD have. Despite the history of anime and manga being heavily western influenced by Disney and the country's earliest calligraphy and erotic paintings and shunga back in the pre modern times.

Now, it IS raunchy and not for kids, so let me emphasize when I say that when you watch the dubs or the original with liberal subs, it can be taken out of context at times, but still... it is very raunchy and not really kid friendly, the context in its original language is admittedly very crude, but not as crude as the liberals and americans tend to portray it here theatrically in its direction. Infact, it's so Raunchy, Adult Swim CAN'T air it here in the states, considering that AS is mostly for kids and teens in the day and age and not really adult shows. I've seen adult series and honestly, alot of what I posted aren't considered as such, This one is more like teens and older adult with childish and kid like theatrics and appeal which is what I really like about it. So... its probability for one of those extremely leftist liberal families that are cool with sitting with their kids and educating and explaining content to their kid with guidance so they can be mature NOT to do or say those things that is presented on here, but realistically, the statical odds of things like that are extremely small to most likely less than 1%.

Admittedly, it DOES need a 2nd season and there is a following and demand for it, considering the way it had ended 7 years ago in Christmas of 2010. It's one of my favorite art directions at the time for cool stuff like Danganronpa, No More Heroes or Mad World, lots of games with colorful comic noir aesthetics like that and is honestly at the top of my list as one of the best landmarking and progressive anime series of this decade that to this day, STILL hasn't been topped off at all. It's easily a 10/10 in my book, so do watch with discretion.

7.) Eccentric Family: This one, I caught this one a bit late. This is from the same writer of the Tatami Galaxy Novel series and illustrated by Koji Kumeta of Zetsubou Sensei fame, so you can see I have a bit of my biases of my favorite people in the industry who team up and work together on different projects, this is one of them.

The plot is very simple and not complex and its not deep or edgy. It's quirky and fun with some colorful playful humor with alot of Japanese folktale lore presented in modern day japan. This series is very reminiscent to that of Paranoia Agent and has features that are similar to it, though unfortunately Satoshi Kon hasn't been with us since his passing in 2010. What's great about this is that a 2nd season has been green lit this year and will be airing this year, so you will be on time to hop on and enjoy the ride with the rest of us on this fun and quirky ride of tanukis and tengu.

8.) Kill la Kill: I'm sorry but I'm majorly biased cuz I love Ryuko chan and would love to wife her as my waifu obviously. But joking aside:

Kill la Kill is currently Trigger's most popular magnus opus in the industry right now and one of their earliest works. They have put out some stuff before they put this one out. They later ended up putting out Space Patrol Luluco and Kiznaiver at the same time last year which both performed well, but never outshined Kill la Kill to this day and so far, Little Witch Academia with a few OVAs the past few years and currently airing is expected to be the next big magnus opus that will outshine it. I can see it and like how kid friendly it is and it can't, mostly for the semi nudity and side boob that it shows. Not that that's a problem, but lots of conservatives will have a problem with it and can lose an audience because of things like that when marketed and presented to the public.

It's one of the first project after the director formed it after working on Panty and Stocking and did other shorts such as Sex, Violence and Machspeed, which is a knockoff of Panty and Stocking with a different comic noir aesthetic and were cameoed in Space Patrol Luluco along with Sucy from Little Witch Academia.

This series is a semi kids series and love it and would love to own the anime BDs for sure. There are subtle hints of politics in this series in terms of life fiber and alliances in the series. It's NOT the best but its decent and ok and not as progressive or articulate compared to the others I have mentioned on here, and had it tried to be progressive in the timeline trying to progress past them as a quality art, it would have definitely succeeded as a 10/10 and mostly gets roughly an 8 or 7 out of 10. 8 cuz I'm being nice and love Ryuko, but thats not an excuse or reason to give it an extra point.

The plot was simple, it wasnt that deep or edgy or dark, its somewhat colorful and cartoony is what I like about it and its not raunchy or explicit showing nipples or anything, its simple. It can be seen as for adults and older teens, its basically a coming of age for girls outgrowing their high school years and questions the nature of humans in society.

It can be seen for kids, but mostly kids at the age of 10, but I can see it definitely see it being coarse. Now, it's not as course and raunchy and tantalizing compared to To Love Ru which is indeed raunchy in a good light and thankfully not disgusting, but there's easter eggs that you'll see in the art and expression of the series where you'll see exposed areas in the reflection of the series that bypasses the censorship laws in japan for manga and anime on tv to the point that Yabuki has been taken to court a few times because of upset parents. Basically, he would literally draw in very subtle stuff like a vagina and clitoris in the reflections in the art and would be easily overlooked and most people even editorial wouldn't notice but bypassed censorship laws that not even hentai artists could do. I remember a documentary of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations when he went to Japan and sat with the mangaka who invented the tentacle rape to bypass Japanese censorship laws because of a loophole he noticed and exploited.

Same here, but he used reflections instead of blatant exposure. So if you read the series, if you look at water drops, metal reflectors or bubbles and mirrors, you will definitely be seeing vagina, penises and clitoris that you aren't allowed to be seeing and are outlawed on Japanese media but only because its bypassed censorship laws by exploiting a loophole found. This was noticed in To Love Ru Darkness, and the story behind it was kind of sad and understandable as Yabuki went thru a divorce with his wife who caused him trouble and left him being a single parent, so it was in a sense of him retaliating and venting off his anger and frustration off of society and pushed the border which gave him the name (madman yabuki.) He is known for his earlier work Black Cat which ended prematurely on 20 volumes last decade and is the main artist and collaborates with the writer of the series. But is known to be raunchy and cleanly tantalizingly provocative for sure.

So there is debate, its questionable, its hard to categorize and tell at times (sorry, psychology talk here) but its definitely memorable for Ryuko and the trigger studio for putting another quality series out there. Personally, had the plot, direction and writing been better with better art direction all round in being progressive, it could have easily gotten a 10/10 in presenting something in a way that's unique and in a way that's yet to have been done before, there aren't much annoying tropes which I liked about it, but still, had they done better research, worked harder and didnt half assed it and outperformed, I would definitely have been raving about it for yeras to come and age well to landmark and progress the timeline of the industry's history.

9.) Last but not least, SPACE DANDY: I LOVE THIS SERIES. IT's colorful, brilliant, hip and amazing all around and definitely Watanabe's best work as an anime director the past 20 years. This series definitely outshines any work he's done with Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo combined by giving it a colorful and quirky cartoony feel and making it enjoyable and fun to watch that's not dark, but it's unique and experimental in the story telling models and style of series for what it was. Rather, it wasn't episodic, but there was lots of academic themes in science and philosophy that are mentioned alot that surpasses sci fi in the past which is WHY it's currently his best work, It's brilliant touching up on topics such as physics and mathematics, the pure sciences and talks about stuff such as different dimension, time travel, and the like and he does it in such a way that its excecuted perfectly and enjoyable to watch all around as a holistic watch. Over time, Ic an see it aging well for the next 10-15 yeras, depending on how society, literature, thought and technology goes and progresses over time. Its definitely watanabes best and creative work, even though he has experimented and messed with mixing things up with different cultures and time periods, this however, was not so much as by the book, but he takes that and applies it and get creative and makes it better and doesnt try too hard like he did in the past, but keeps it simple. THAT shows true mastery. Its similar to that of Ashirogi Muto's current project Platinum End. By the book, but applied and creative past that, and that's exactly what Dandy did. Though, his work after Dandy; Terror in Resonance, was his weakest and bad project and waste of funding since it was a culmination of everything that happened the past 2 decades all rolled up in one and dont consider it creative or great at all in all honest and one of his weakest efforts as a director.

I enjoy it far more than bebop, bebop wasnt as great as I got older, mostly because I realized that Spike was a loser asshole who basically had an affair with someone else's woman and basically caused a shit storm over selfish ambition and in all honesty, dont consider him cool in the least, but rather, just a complete fucking asshole who thinks he's cool when he won't admit it when in all honesty, he's really the bad guy in all this and all this plot would have been avoided, had he not been such a complete fucking prick (yeah, school teaches you to think very differently.) Dandy on the other hand may be a loser, but he's a loser with a good heart and good ambitions whose kind of like Gintoki, not as good or cool, but he has his own charm which is what makes him great. Dandy is indeed, one of the better works of his career and catalogue and very proud to say that this is something that I'd own in my library on BD for sure. It's tough to give this a 9 or 10 out of 10. I'd say 9.5, but for the sake of rounding off and keeping it simple and as to how much I liked it and trying my best NOT to be biased, I'll just be lazy and keep it simple and say that this series deserves a 10/10 for not just being what I mentioned earlier, but because this series offers alot of variety and diversity like Bakuman did, and you can tell that Watanabe experimented and exercised alot of new things and tried many many things that made this series so great. It's down to earth, kept simple, fun, colorful and enjoyable and definitely one of those realistic satire that did question and bring up things in today's societal issues.

My advice, don't get put off by Boobies which is like Hooters, keep it simple and don't get too deep or complex about it, thats where you go wrong already for critical analysis, keep it simple and say that it also keeps in touch with reality when it comes to human nature and the true nature of the world all around us that the truth is, nobody really knows anything at all in a socially constructed society that we all in this day and age live in consciously and unconsciously. That's what makes it a very great series in general. I'd consider it a family friendly series which is why I give it a 10/10. It's not disgusting, provocatively grotesque and raunchy, but very clean, fun, comical and enjoyable for ALL ages. No matter what culture or where you're from.

10.) Honorable Mention.

OK, I'm getting tired, but this one HAD to be mentioned cuz it's really good and deserves a mention:

Monogatari Series. I had a hard time choosing between this and Eccentric Family. Both are not well known and obscure, but... I decided to give it to Eccentric, because its not as popular, so it was hard to choose between the two.

Based on a currently ongoing and popular Light Novel series, the series follows around young Arrarragi, who basically becomes a half vampire after getting bit by one. What makes this series stick out is the dialogue and relationships he has. There's lots of drama and interaction but done in the intelligent and pretentious way. Not as pretentious as Tatami Galaxy, but you can tell it can be.

It is directed by the same guy who directed the Zetsubou Sensei anime, so you can tell with the slides and screens and timing the series has with it's own unique style and aesthetic. Now, what I really love about this series is the girls he talks to, their curses and the art direction. It's beautiful. I love how articulate and artsy it can be and you can tell its pretentious, but its not annoying or smug about it. It tries to keep it simple, but some characters are alike that. I'm a huge fan of the series, I love how it's progressing and indecisive it can be. Its got its own feel but can be cartoony and you can tell what references they refer to.

I love this series alot, so far, it's got a good 7 or 8 out of 10 from me. I'd definitely like to buy the novels and books if localized, but its definitely one of those honorable mentions that needs to be put out there cuz of how good it is and the staff involved in the project behind it and really enjoy it for what it is. Its good art watch if you want something progressive. It is somewhat progressive but still doesnt top off zetsubou sensei, its kind of the same but more artsy... they're both artsy... but int heir own way and comes later, but in my opinion not as good, but its still good and doesnt lack. I really love the dialogue and interaction in this which is what makes it enjioyable to watch.

And that's it... its alot but I will post more later. I will post a favorite of favorite manga/anime adaptations. It'll be stuff like One Piece, Gintama, Death Note, Bakuman, Rurouni Kenshin, My Hero Academia, D. Gray Man, Assassination Classroom, Hunter x Hunter, FMA, Yuyu Hakusho and Embalming: Another tale of Frankenstein. They're mostly Jump series as you can tell, but I like them alot and enjoy them a great deal and will give my thoughts and opinions of them later on. Thanks all.

[reyintherain]

The Last Jedi book shelf: roots of everything?

I really love this tree shot, and think it’s one of the most beautiful shots in The Last Jedi trailer which is full of beautiful, fascinating images.

This particular shot is such a cool and mysterious image, with all the elements of the composition - rays of light shining on the alcove, all-natural setting: wood and stone, natural daylight, branches flowing out of the centre - melding together to give a sense of gravity, closeness to nature (nature of the Force?), dormancy, and peace in this corner of the galaxy.

The obvious focus of this shot - the books - is raising lots of intriguing questions starting from what’s in those books and who put them there to ‘Could this shrine be a result of Luke’s searching for the lore, or have the books already been there before Luke’s coming to Ahch-To’? The books, however, are not going to be topic of this post, but rather the tree itself. (I’ll get back to the books and their number at the end).

Now, this post begins to look dangerously long and, perhaps, that’s a sign of imagination going wild and reading in too much into a single image. But I yield to the beauty and symbolism in this shot.

When I first saw the trailer, and then the second, and then the n-th time, I mostly payed attention to the books and to the shot following right after it with the Jedi Order symbol. Scavenger’s Hoard in their excellent breakdown of the teaser trailer pointed out that someone counted 10 books there, which naturally prompted me to go back to the trailer and count the books by myself (you know, to  make sure my eyes are still on par with the fandom’s ones and to indulge in collective obsession over all things TLJ. Anyways.) Before we get to the books and their number - just to say it briefly I see 8 books in there, not 10 - let me first talk about the tree for a moment.

Judging by what is there in the trailer, the tree seems to be a plain old one, dead one, nothing magical about it. Its purpose in the shot is to showcase the books, and to act as a nice frame, and it does both wonderfully. What is striking here is the way the branches are growing (or what I call ‘branches’ for the lack of a better word). Assuming we are looking at the book shelf from a side - judging by the way the books are standing on the shelf, and by the way the light beams are falling onto them - that would be a rather weird looking tree structure, with branches sticking out from one side, stemming from a single focal point on a side of the tree. Could an ancient gardener or a wood master have sculptured the tree that way? Or was it the ways of the Force, combined with a harsh oceanic weather of Ahch-To?

The answer I think is that these are actually roots. Maybe it’s obvious to others, but I was quite puzzled by this tree structure, and the answer came from recalling hiking trips through the woods. If you’ve ever seen giant fallen trees, some have pretty impressive, thick, branch-like, weird-shaped roots. Free from soil and minor roots, they can actually look like that image from the trailer. I’m no forestry expert, and could be wrong, but that could explain why the branches are radiating from the center to form a niche for the shelf in the middle.

Consider, for instance, root structure of a giant sequoia (source):

Looks pretty similar to the TLJ’s tree if you replace these roots with somewhat more symmetrical, thicker, smoother ones. (This particular tree is from Yosemite in California. I’ve been to there once, and those trees are enormous. As you can guess I’m a huge nature nerd, and seeing these amazing babies - live or fallen - was a National Geographic dream come true. Guess that explains why I’m writing such a huge post on a tree.)

Now, before jumping to conclusions (or, rather, speculations) - if these are freaking roots, then it could be a huge hint at what’s going to happen around those books and the Jedi lore in TLJ. It also raises the stakes for an exciting possibility of what the Force strand of the story in the sequel trilogy could be addressing - the roots and nature of the Force. Without further due, let’s dissect that tree cave in and out.

The tree looks pretty dried out and dead. As a literal sign of how old and mighty that tree is (it must have grown for quite a while to develop a massive roots system), it could also be a nod to how old and mighty the knowledge in the books is. Notice how the roots are stemming from the middle, with the book alcove placed there. Though, I know this sounds obvious - those books better have something game changing in them - this could be interpreted as a visual cue that the books contain something crucial and central to understanding and/or practicing the Force.

Regarding the dead state of the tree, I think one can draw connections to the fact the old ways of the Force are dead now, and even the latest widely known incarnation of the Jedi Order is pretty much in vain, save for Luke. I’d like to take this one step further and say that it even has a connection to the Luke’s line that the Jedi must end, but that would probably be too thin of a link, and at this point we’re not sure yet what exactly Luke means by that. He might as well mean a revival of the old ways he learned though hitchhiking around the galaxy, or evolution to something completely new. Although, that could be up to Rey (and possibly Kylo) to figure out what to do with the legacy that, with their will or not, has fallen on their shoulders. (Again, the poster says it all.)

The ways the roots are almost flowing out of the middle reminds of water flows, of currents (gas or liquid), of soothing, grand rivers, or of a spontaneous way ink lands on paper and leaves peculiar traces. No really, if you take the shape of the roots, that could easily be some abstract painting (I’m not good in fine arts, so please pardon my ignorance if I called it a wrong thing, but you get an idea). The difference, however, is that the tree is static. It doesn’t move anymore, doesn’t grow, doesn’t change its shape, unless for decay. Could this represent absence of movement or change, lack of passage of time, inertia? Perhaps. Time seems to have frozen there, in the tree cave with paper books being a pretty ancient, even obsolete technology in the Star Wars universe (Scavenger’s Hoard ep.26), and on Ahch-To with its remoteness and staying away from industrialization and modern tech.

Aside from stillness, there is a sense of steadiness, gravity, even majesty in the image of once a tall and strong - and still rather impressive - tree. A tree in general symbolizes support: its trunk supporting a crown, and roots firmly keeping the tree on the ground, yet reaching out to the skies, soaking the energy of the sun, wind, and soil. It’s a link to the sky, a link between above and below. Though the tree has now fallen, it continues to bear symbolic support to (presumably) rare and valuable lore.

The entire shot of a grand tree lit by a single source of light evokes an image of a sacred place, where even light dares just to touch it gently, where things move slow and steady, just like hundreds year old traditions that that sacred place, a temple, is keeping. There is a sense of awe, respect, and inertia. I imagine that place to be pretty quiet inside, with only the sound of the wind, the ocean, and occasional island fauna interrupting tranquility of the place.

Inside, the tree cave is quite dim, aside direct sunlight. The light reaches out beyond the shelf, softly reflecting off the roots that carry it further into the dark. That image is reminiscent of Rey in ‘The Last Jedi’ poster, with her bringing the light to the darkness, and blending the two in. It’s also worth noting that during that and the next shot with the old page, Rey says she sees a balance. Are the texts going to help her (and/or Luke) reach the balance or to teach ancient ways of the Force which, as I understand, predate separation between the Jedi and the Sith? If the balance is meant to be integrating the Light and the Dark, then the image of the roots partially lit and extending the light into darker areas, while the darkness still remains even in the areas close to the light, always there, always casting a shadow, then to me that’s a great illustration of a dynamic, fluid balance in the Force, with each side tapping into another, without being overwhelming. To have that fully illustrated, roots would need to move like strands of fabric in the wind or in a water current, with light and darkness flowing to and from each other.

The next bit might a bit stretchy, but I just cannot unsee it after staring at the shot for good twenty something minutes. Looking at the image as a whole, the central bright patch almost looks an pupil of an eye, with sunlight reflecting in it, and the roots closest to the books forming an iris:

Now, this is probably my tired mind seeing some wild things here, but it does strike me as an allegory to an eye, especially the iris part looks stunningly similar to a typical human iris. Maybe, that wasn’t intentional at all, and is just the way human irises look like tree roots (especially in a centered image like this where it’s easier to see a pattern, and, we, humans, are so about recognizing patterns). It’s not uncommon in nature, after all, to rehash similar patterns for one reason or another (think blood vessels, tree branches, rivers, lightnings, even star distribution in space, and many more similar patterns called fractals).

Also, it’s interesting to note that, so far, the entire Ahch-To vibe we’re getting from TFA and TLJ is that the island planet is close to zero on the use of tech. It’s all nature, green grass, and water there. Again, this rhymes with the original trilogy where nature is associated with a light, progressive, good side (think Endor, trees and ferns, ewoks defeating the empire), and technocracy of the Empire with evil - not a hint of a plant or a tree, just cold metal and glass. (On a side note, the Starkiller’s base is rather interesting from this point of view - it’s a highly technological weapon, but embedded within an actual planet, with natural rocks blending in into the walls in the base that is draining an actual star to power its weapon.) This could be also a metaphor of how close the planet and its inhabitants are with the nature and thus with the Force, which is the nature of the things in the galaxy far away. Almost makes one wonder if the island’s quiet, reclusive life will be upended in some way?

Some other, more trivial questions that I too find interesting are:

how did that tree end up indoors,

and how did it manage to grow so big on a Wuthering Heights planet of Ahch-To in the first place?

As for the first one, well, perhaps there is no mystery at all, and the film will probably not address it, unless - speculations - this root tree is somehow important and is related to the Force tree, where the island keepers make sure to preserve precious specimen. But I kind of doubt it. The film has so much ground to cover. Focusing on interior isn’t going to be a priority. Unless...  Luke have gone full hipster and climate change activist, and opts out for natural materials to refurbish his dwelling. No why? He’s got a beard, dresses in natural fabrics, lives close to natures, likes wooden decor, and makes kefir for breakfast with 100% organic blue milk.

As for the last question which isn’t too important either, correct me if I’m wrong, that a stormy, windy weather, which is very likely to be the case on Luke’s planet, doesn’t make it easy for bushes, let alone trees, to grow on such islands to the best of my knowledge. While this is interesting to know, this is also crossing the genre and looking for scientific accuracy in a space opera flavoured with a mysterious force. Perhaps, it’s best to will leave this question: either the Force that was sustaining its growth, or there could be no explanation at all, other than giant trees look cool.

And the last part, but not the least, are the books. It’s goes without saying that being placed at the very centre of a sacred-like natural structure, basted in light, they hold something central to the story of the Force, Rey, Luke, and Kylo.

The bookshelf appears to be made of a piece stone, flat on one side. If you look closer at the outermost books, they almost look like rocks too, especially the right most ‘book’ - grey in colour and uneven at their dimensions. Those books could’ve been damaged of course (the right hand side one seems the most damaged, unless it was originally shaped slanted), but they also could be rocks used to prop the books and keep them from falling. That makes 8 books in total.

There’ve been some talk around whether their number is of any importance (to The Last Jedi lore and wider Star Wars universe). Honestly, I don’t know, and looking forward to learning if it means anything (or not). Also, there looks to be a more or less legible inscription on one of the books, the third from the left, if you don’t count the rock!book, which will be interesting to see what it translates to (if that’s an actual inscription, of course, and not a decorative design).

The texts are pretty much the largest mystery in this shot, with other elements - like the tree, beam of light, and lighting - serving as cues to what these books can do once their secrets are uncovered, and pointers to a larger scheme of things that take place on Ahch-To and in the Force storyline. Without much speculation, there isn’t much to say about the books at this point, because it’s not their covers that are the most interesting part about them (though I’m sure the books would look and feel awesome if/when we get to see them closer). What matters is what’s in them, and how one possessing that knowledge can use it, which is promising an exciting next chapter of the story.