#People who love History and such find it fascinating and very important but a lot of people in Starfleet who want to be assigned ships want

[bumblingbabooshka]

The appurtenant crew of the USS Historia: From star to shining sea!

#Avriya #Dejar #Lucky #Leda #Varith #uss historia #star trek ocs #the uss historia is a ship that visits already known and contacted planets in Federation space and strives to get a more in-depth look at #their cultures and people etc so there's more on file than just whatever brief adventure the first contact ship went on~! #It's not a ship full of particularly /enterprising/ people...HEHEHE #People who love History and such find it fascinating and very important but a lot of people in Starfleet who want to be assigned ships want #to actually explore NEW things or go on grand ADVENTURES not talk to locals and write up a ton of reports #The two people out of these five who actually don't want to be on the Historia are Dejar and Lucky though #Dejar because his world is kind of shattered after not being chosen to be joined to a trill (he'd prepared all his life for it and was told #he was an excellent candidate...a surefire in...best in class...now what is he???) #Lucky because she wants to be stationed as a doctor in one place instead of traveling all the time but she's oKAY with being on the Historia #while she's still just a medical ensign...it's good for her record v_v #Varith gets calls OFTEN from his siblings checking up on him and he's like =_= today we talked to the Skreeans about farms for eight hours #bea art tag #beas ocs #also they do wear uniforms I just drew them in more casual clothes to get a better feeling for their personalities

[elysiansparadise]

Heyyo !! Hope you're doing well. I have a question if are going continue your planets in houses series for 8th House moon

Hello! I’m doing just fine, I hope you too. Of course I will continue, until I’ve covered each placement. 🤎 

Moon in the 8th house

They are people of complex nature, since many of them tend to be very cautious when it comes to opening up to new people, they do not trust their hearts so easily in others and they can even show themselves as very self-sufficient in the emotional field, however, these natives internally desire a deep degree of emotional intimacy, even bordering on emotional. They prefer intense, meaningful ties that really contribute something to their lives rather than something superficial and vain. This is usually something difficult for them because it is difficult for them to open up and want to meet new people. This is due more than anything to a fear of appearing vulnerable, manipulable and, mostly, due to bad experiences with previous relationships. It’s likely that the relationship with the family, mother or a specific member was tense and taught them to always be alert for any sign of lying or betrayal. They detect people who show false emotions or who lie, as they stand out for being observant. They may prefer to make decisions based on their mind rather than their heart, and it is likely that at some point in their life they ignored their emotional needs, both other people and themselves. They fear that they will feel a lot and get hurt or that the other person will not give themselves in that devoted and passionate way with which they do it.

For them it is crucial to give their all when it comes to something important or meaningful to them, they do not give themselves halfway. They find it difficult to be expressive, but once they are comfortable enough they are very constant with their demonstrations of affection or appreciation. They have this ability to feel the emotions of others and tend to accurately deduce the emotional triggers and needs of others. They have a genuine curiosity to know the core of those who matter to them, they will want to know every part of your mind, your history and everything that your heart is silent about, this in order to understand you better. In the sexual field, they need a certain emotional closeness or feeling in love to fully enjoy. A pretty face is not enough for them and they tend to be very attracted to complex, interesting and understanding personalities. They give themselves completely, body and soul, and there is nothing they like more than feeling that their partner does the same. Aftercare is crucial and necessary.

They know how to be alone and highly value their time with themselves, they are introspective with their emotions and they like to get to the root of things. A lie can be something unforgivable for many of them and they will always prefer a very honest truth over a white or sugar-coated lie. Their intuition is very strong and they may feel an attraction or even have a knack for things like tarot, astrology or similar things. They read you like a book, but you can hardly do the same with them. They have a deep connection with their unconscious. It is likely that since they were children they have had very intense spiritual experiences and that the mystical world seems truly fascinating to them. They have one goal [among their many goals] to become the adult they felt they needed when they were children, since it is likely that their inner child carries a feeling of fear and insecurity. They are people who behind their strong and empowered personality is someone sensitive and compassionate. People often see them as a very strong pillar in which to fully trust, and it is likely that only the natives themselves are aware of their emotional intensity, as others describe them as calm and collected most of the time.

-> Go back to the masterlist

#astrology #natal chart #moon in the 8th house #moon #birth chart #astro note #8th house #moon in the 8th #moon in the 8h #moon in 8th house

[yellowocaballero]

dude psyched ur reading orv, insanely curious about ur takes

My friend @charterandbarter put it best.

ORV is pretty fascinating to me. It's really just a self-insert isekai OP webnovel, and it is nothing else. Its medium is trashy and lowbrow, and its genre is almost devoid of high art. OP isekais are 'id' stories, meant to be satisfying and fun and contain very little of substance. ORV is a very well executed OP isekai - it contains the elements of the genre that make it satisfying, it understands why people read the genre and enjoy it, it reproduces those elements very well, and it is very concerned with telling an enjoyable story. ORV really, really loves webnovels and isekais and shitty wishfuillment stories. There's a lot more to ORV than the 'fist pump' moments of kdj doing something cool or pulling a fast one on a shmuck, but those moments are the undoubtedly the point of ORV, as they are the point of all SIOC isekai OP webnovels. And that's the point of ORV.

Metanarrative stories are cheap. Neil Gaiman's written 30 and millenials love waxing philosophical about the power of narratives. These metanarratives tend to describe stories as a theoretical framework through which we understand the world and our lives. Therefore, stories are tremendously important and valuable because they contain the totality of religion, history, culture, relationships, and lives. ORV says this too. But this theory tends to land at mystifying and exalting stories on virtue of them being stories, which I think misses the point. Stories aren't special because they're stories. They're not more sacred for containing our lives. What ORV says is that stories are important, because our lives are important. I like that a lot more.

ORV says that stories are our way of ordering a disordered world. A history, culture, nation, and religion are stories. None of those stories are true or real, because histories/cultures/nations/religions are constructs - they're how we interface with reality. They're created with a purpose, told for a point, pulled together into a narrative, and are satisfying or dissatisfying based on certain factors. ORV's perspective on fiction is deeply seeped in its own nature as 'low art'. There's something very cynical and commercialized about narratives in ORV, and every narrative in ORV is being told for a quick buck or to try and spread an idea for an individual's gains. It's a very unromantic, unimpressed view of narratives and fiction. It's pretty much the only way a SIOC OP isekai webnovel like ORV can talk about it without being disingenuous. And it's remarkably raw and visceral as a result, because ORV loves SIOC OP isekai webnovels like kdj loves yjh. Fiercely, insanely, like breathing, exactly for what it is. No pretensions.

It's bizarre, because ORV is about love. It's not about love for anything that deserves it. Not for a story with a lot of literary merit, a main character who is a remotely kind or lovable person, or art itself outside of its commercial or philosophical value. kdj really, really, really fucked loved TWS - because it was there, and because it lasted 15 years, and because it was fake, and because it was what he had. He loves yjh because yjh was his only companion in a dark world. That's fiction. Fiction helped him survive, because love is a way of ordering a disordered world.

I'm still reading myself, but ORV seems to be about how we manage to live in a hard world, and how to find it within ourselves to love each other and find meaning in that hard world. I see why kdj's the protagonist: he can find merit in something for existing, and loving it for being there, and he holds onto something because he has it. He sees the value in that. He read it in a book.

TL;DR: ORV is well-executed trashy commercialized art that is so obsessed with trashy commercialized art that it's looped straight back around into being somehow the most raw and visceral depiction of love I've seen in a long time.

#wish i could lie to myself and say that yall aint getting orv fic but :/ #my asks #I don't know what it'd be about but it'd be written under a heavy burden #of having to write the most insane thing physically possible #writing boring orv fic is a sin and baby the fucking ao3 tag is tartarus #hey why do i have to type kdj and yjh #why can't i just say dokja or joonghyuk #why are we full naming everybody at all times #this is the only webnovel i've ever read and its a big learning curve for me

[indulgentandidiotic]

Renaissance Man (Twisted Wonderland)

Synopsis: It takes a lot to cure your boredom, so you end up catching hobbies and interests like they’re Pokemon. –and how Riddle Rosehearts, Ortho Shroud, Floyd Leech, and Rook Hunt react.

Warnings: Reader is just good at everything idk, talks about specific hobbies to illustrate a point, reader is more artsy (drawing, physical crafts, etc), this is a very big ego stroke have fun, not proofread, verrrrryyyy indulgent :D

GN Reader

.~

Riddle Rosehearts

He finds you so interesting and talented! Because of your vast knowledge on almost any and every topic, plus your fascination with the arts, he had regarded you as someone who was well-cultured and sophisticated. (That’s wasn’t necessarily the case, though.)

You could be talking to him like you’re a geologist who’d been studying their whole life, rambling on and on about how certain rocks form and where they’re found and oh! did you know that pyrite is comprised of and it can come in this many colors and you can find it in beds of and these countries used it for and and-!

Why! You’re just a fountain of knowledge, aren’t you! But then the next time Riddle sees you, instead of imparting your knowledge of rocks or astrology or tree frogs to the Heartslabyul students, you’re playing poker with them and taking their portion of tarts for the next Unbirthday party!

You having so many hobbies and interests makes you fun to be around, though because of you, he’s had a new rule instated: That no one play any card games with you :/ Or any games for that matter, because no matter what gambling with food and pocket change always gets involved, and you somehow always win!

Not only are you a library of information and great at games, you’re also great in arts and crafts. Riddle often sees you in class with a small bag of crocheting supplies, crocheting away during lectures. Sometimes you instead bring embroidery hoops to create patches, other times you make rugs. And on the occasion, Riddle sees you sewing by hand in class. When you’re not in class, you’re creating art at a larger scale. You’re buying clay and paints and canvases from Sam’s store (he sells everything!) and sculpting tea pots or painting the roses or painting the walls in Ramshackle or! 

You seem to pick up anything to keep your hands busy!

Riddle wonders how you can even keep up with your studies with all the other things you’re doing, but you apply the same effort you to do your hobbies to your studies. 

Riddle is very impressed with you all the time. He admires the things you make and how you put so much effort into everything. Whenever you’ve made things you don’t intend on using, you sometimes gift it to him. He keeps all your gifts displayed in his room on his shelves, or when they’re practical, like tea sets, he’ll use them. Heartslabyul has actually saved quite a bit of money from being able to get free new tea sets and dishes from you!

Overall, despite your trying to take advantage of people with your card/gaming skills, Riddle holds you in high regard. He loves to listen to your ramblings, especially when they’re related to things you’ve been learning in class, like history or potionology. He indulges you because smart people and smart people mix well, and he learns a lot from you. 

Ortho Shroud

Ortho is fascinated by you! Yes, he knows basically everything you talk about, but it’s fun to be able to talk about all these things with someone. What’s the point of having so much information stored in your body when there’s no one to talk to? You’ve become an important companion to Ortho, who often stays by your side in class and outside of it, because every moment with you is full of conversation!

He also gets a burst of pride whenever you ask questions about topics you’re exploring. Again, a lot of the info stored in him is stuff he’d never need to use, so it just. Sits there. He’s so happy whenever he has the chance to put it to good use!!

Though he’s knowledgeable, Ortho doesn’t have the most life/hobby experience. Knowing how to do something in theory is wayyyy different from actually doing it. That’s why he’s also happy whenever you play games with him or show him your arts and crafts. It also benefits you, because you get to show off all your cool game-playing strategies with someone who actually cares, and also teach someone how to do the crafts that you love to do!

Because of your teachings, Ortho now has a lot of handmade knitted and sewn plushies and various ceramics that he displays all around Idia’s room. You’ll find weirdly shaped vases next to Idia’s anime figures on the shelves, and thrown on Idia’s bed are interesting little monster(?) plushes, since Ortho was insistent on making his own sewing patterns.

Overall, Ortho likes you a lot! There’s never a dull moment with you, and you both appreciate each other. It’s very refreshing to be in a friendship where both parties are fully engaged in anything and everything the other says and does. Ortho is very glad to have a friend to spend his free time with, as are you. In a place where others may find you weird, it’s nice to have a friend who’s able to keep up with and indulge in your interests.

Floyd Leech

Whereas Riddle and Ortho could sit listening to your infodumps for hoursss, Floyd prefers to do things. He likes you, because you’re not generally a boring person, but you talk about so many things that many of them are bound to be things he’s not interested in. Floyd’s a slippery fellow, so depending on what your current interest is, he may be utterly invested in every word that falls from your lips or he’ll brush you off entirely.

He much prefers to do crafts with you. If you’re painting the walls of Ramshackle, he wants a hand in that! You better be prepared for a huge mess on all the furniture though, despite the fact that you covered everything with tarp. You’ll also have to be okay with a bright, abstract, and textured painting for a wall.

You’ve introduced Floyd to pottery, and he’s in love with it! He can create any shape he wants with just a bunch of clay and water, and the pottery wheel is so whooshhhh and the texture of everything is fun! He hates waiting for things to get fired though, even with magic helping to speed things up. 

As for sewing and the like, those skills require a lot of patience and delicacy. Floyd could definitely create a masterpiece with a bit of yarn and a needle, but he’s gotta be in the mood, ya know? They’re not his favorite hobbies because of that, but he does enjoy watching your fingers skillfully and swiftly crochet a chain or embroider a patch.

Because of the amount of time Floyd spends hanging around you while you’re painting or sculpting etc, he’s gotten quite a few gifts. He’s got a jacket that he sews all the patches you’ve made for him on, most of them having some sort of sea animal embroidered on it. You’ve given him some of the more interesting glasses and bowls you’ve made, that he randomly serves food and drink to the Mostro Lounge’s customers in. Because he’s always showing off the things you’ve made, he’s actually drummed up business for you!

People want to buy plushes and cutlery and dishes and jacket patches and rugs and the whole works from you! Even Azul now wants business with you, especially so if you prove you can cook. 

Overall, Floyd enjoys your company. You’re not a dull shrimp in the slightest! In fact, you’re very colorful ✨ He isn’t always in the mood for your ramblings, but he’s always game for your little shenanigans, whether it be repainting the whole of Ramshackle inside and out, or using your tendency to gamble during card games to persuade some losing customers into a contract.

Rook Hunt

Magnifique! 💖🤯 Your talent makes you all the more beautiful! 😩 It’s so endearing, your passion for the art is!! 💗❤️‍🔥 And your effort and drive can make even a man such as he shiver in awe!!! Needless to say, Rook is in love with you ✨✨

Actually, sometimes it feels like he’s more invested in your hobbies than you are! He’s just all over you when you’re doing things, from something as “mundane” as gardening to something as grand as testing an old potion you’ve found in the back of NRC’s library that should supposedly turn a cookie into a frog. He’s probably the one who told you there was such a book in the first place!! Granted, the reason you took such hobbies up in the first place was just to keep yourself busy… But still! 

He’s a joy to have around, given his eye 👁️ for beauty and his love for lovely things. When you’re indulging in the arts, if you feel your piece is off, he knows exactly what to add or how to fix it! When you’re hitting burnout, he’s either giving you bursts of inspiration or introducing you to new hobbies.

So far, he’s taken you out hunting, taught you how to use a bow, and given you tips on how to do makeup and style outfits. Now you’ve got three more hobbies! 3️⃣ Because of your efforts and Rook’s teachings, even Vil thinks you’ve got some fashion sense! :D !!

Rook’s favorite part about you isn’t your natural talent, though. Yes, it’s impressive how well you pick up new skills and knowledge, but he’s way more invested in how happy you look when doing or talking about these things. When your eyes are sparkling, your words speed up, and your hands start wringing and enhancing your speech… that’s his favorite part about you. He thinks it’s 🌟true beauty~~~🌟

Overall, Rook thinks you’re one of the most interesting people he’s met. He likes engaging you in your hobbies and current interests, and introducing you to his own. Relationships are give-and-take, so as he listens to you, please listen to him 💪 You both are pretty eccentric, so your times together will surely never be bland 👅

.~

Sorry for the cringe man (gn) but like not rlly

#indulgent writing 🍓 #riddle rosehearts #riddle rosehearts x reader #ortho shroud #ortho shroud x reader #floyd leech #floyd leech x reader #rook hunt #rook hunt x reader #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader

[theacecouple]

I didn't see anything from somerton until about a month ago when he popped up in my recs and I ended up binging his content for about 2 days, but something kept being off and I noticed some of the lies/ignorance, and there was something really dismissive and weird about how he talked about aspecs and women in particular... I stopped watching him cause I watched one of you guys' podcast and realized I also just felt like crap after his videos.

I did end up getting his rwrb video in my recs when it came out cause of the binge and I just remember leaving a comment about the way he talked about aces in it. It was especially upsetting seeing people in the comments who were simply happy he mentioned aspecs at all. He replied to me just saying his cowriter was ace. I don't reply to youtube comments but I just remember wanting to point out that same co-writer he was using as a shield said aces don't face discrimination or conversion therapy, and in that video wrote that aces have to have sex to find out they don't like it. Being something doesn't make you instantly know everything about it, as somerton himself demonstrates with his ignorant comments about gay history.

I'm not really one of his victims since I avoided him as soon as I found him, but I feel bad for all the people he tricked and/or guilted into believing him. I hope some other creators make videos exposing the weird way he manipulated the queer community, cause I think a lot of young folks could use a breakdown of it.

Anyways I just wanted to finish by saying I love you guys' work and learning from you. You helped me understand why certain phrases make me upset, and that and watching your podcast back to back with his videos helped me figure out what I didn't like about Somerton, so you helped protect me from him and not convince myself I was just being Weird as I often do when I get Bad Vibes from someone.

Thank you so much for reaching out <3

It's so fascinating that you stopped watching Somerton after finding us. We've tried to keep things as professional as possible these last 2 years by only citing directly harmful things he's done to us and direct members of our community, and even then it was sparingly and as kind as possible.

When we first spoke with him about including Asexual representation in his future Telos endeavors, he assured us that not only was there already an Ace in the writers' room, but that two real, fully-fleshed out Ace characters were already being written. This was encouraging! After all, we had no way of knowing if he was the kind of cis gay man who loathes Aces or doesn't view us as queer. Since this didn't seem to be the case and rep is important, we supported him. We now deeply regret not doing our research on him first.

Even before his video "The Queer Erasure of Asexuality", we started watching a few of his YouTube videos for the first time and some of the subtext was NOT kind to our community. Subtle things that we'd see get repeated by his fans over and over again, like how queer art is bad these days because all the "artists" and the "exciting queers" who "really lived" died in the AIDS crisis. Or the implication that the Interview with the Vampire reboot was *more queer* because the vampires actually had gay sex on screen, despite this being a complete departure from the source material and neglecting the fact that Anne Rice's vampires have always been undeniably queer *and also* sexless. In fact, we didn't say his name, but we did mention some vague "bad takes" we saw about the series in our podcast episodes 75 & 76 The Triumphs and Failures of AMC’s Interview with the Vampire Part 1 and Part 2...At least some of those came from James.

We did not see his rwrb video, because we had long given up on him by that point, but it is not at all surprising to hear that he had bad takes and also hid behind Nick once again to shield himself from any criticism. It was very much his MO, and yet we're also certain we've heard him chastise straight women for using the "I have a gay friend" defense.

It is so good to hear that our podcast has been helpful to you. There are FAR too many Aces who are willing to let bad behavior or ill-informed takes slide just because someone with a decent following noticed us. We deserve so much better.

#ace #asexual #asexuality #aces #ace community #ace pride #asexual community #asexual pride #lgbtqia #james somerton #hbomberguy #hbomb #todd in the shadows #the ace couple #the ace couple podcast #interview with the vampire #ace erasure #asexual erasure #compulsory sexuality #queer #queer community #rwrb #media analysis #video essay #telos #ace rep #ace representation #asexual representation

[respectthepetty]

I've been wondering for a while- how did you start getting into all the colour stuff?? I would love an origin story <3 what got you into your passion for deciphering colors and how did you figure out what they mean??

sorry ik it's a lot but ever since I started following you I see colors everywhere and I'm curious of where you started noticing them ((: it's so fun and intriguing to me! I'm usually more of a "foaming at the mouth for the lighting" girlie but it's been a heap of fun figuring out colors with the lights ^^

thanks for everything you do to show us your eye for color btw ♡♡ your blog is so fascinating and I love reading all your theories and notes

@overrgrown, never apologize for asking questions, but I've actually been asked this before by bengiyo. You can find my write up HERE, but the short version of that post is I've always seen colors; therefore, I've always attached meaning to them, even if the meaning was not valid.

TLWR: Appreciate the artists who work on these shows, not me.

In bengiyo's ask, I stated that when I was younger, I thought the colors were showing me what was good and what was bad. That's it. In my defense, I was a kid, so everything really was good or bad in my book with no in-between.

Even though I've always seen colors, and it comes very naturally to me, the meaning I attached to them when I was younger was very much based on who I was rather than what was being shown to me. Five-year old me thought if someone was dressed all in red that they were the devil. Adult me now knows that isn't always the case. Adult me also knows that red in American (United States) culture means something different than other cultures.

Not a flex, just a fact, but I have several degrees in languages, linguistics, and rhetoric. What they are in is not super important, but, in general, a formal education has greatly helped me infer meaning from what I'm visually seeing in the media I consume. My degrees are not in film or communications, yet I've taken undergrad and grad-level courses like Visual Media, Multimedia and Visual Communication, Language of Film, Digital Narratives, Cinematography and Lighting, Film Theory & Criticism, Queer Cinema History, Spanish Film & Feminism, and many more all because under this great big academic umbrella of rhetoric and composition lies storytelling.

And that's what this is really about - How do we tell a story? Regardless if that story is a simple flyer for a school bake sale, a 30-second commercial advertising cleaning wipes, or a 12-episode BL series, how do we get the message across? We can't just rely on ONE thing! We have to use as many things as possible! So when I'm watching a BL series, I'm just not paying attention to the words being spoken or the acting alone. No, I'm paying to the background noise. What do the clothes tell me about the character? What does his apartment tell me about him? And what do the colors mean?! All of it is important!

I've mentioned this before but I serve on a screening committee for a queer film festival. I actually got involved with the film festival as an undergrad because of one of the film courses. This has allowed me the opportunity to speak to several filmmakers about their process, and all of them have confirmed that the colors were intentional. People who deal with props and costume design have spoken to me about trying to find very specific items that reinforce the story being told. Oh, and theater is a whole different level. Because of the nature of the stage versus film, if it is on the stage, it must have a reason for being there.

Basically, people who work in visual media work really fucking hard, which you probably know since you love lighting. Most times, 12-hour days are the average, if not longer. This video does a good job of briefly covering the work that goes into costume design, and I timestamped it to begin at the part that covers colors.

I love seeing colors. I love deciphering them. I love the story they tell.

But they wouldn't be there if the hardworking people behind them didn't do their job, and those are the people who I appreciate.

So, as always, I'm thankful that you let me know I'm helping you see the beauty is in the details, but I'm really just here to admire the beauty with you.

#the colors mean things #colors are universal #so the fact that everybody color codes is a magical humanistic connection #even if we don't all recognize them #they still exist #and people work hard for us to see them #I'm just here to admire them with you

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

So I’m interested in the thing you taught about Anglo-Saxons pushing the celts out of land- do you know how far north they pushed?

I’m Scots, and I have an interest in our history, but to be honest almost all of my knowledge of it comes from post-1000, with the exception of a few local myths about Viking raiders being scared off by a mother wolf.

So I’d love to ask what you know- and I’ll just say that, because you talk about the welsh language a lot, I would be interested in what you think of the work to revive Gaelic as a primary language of this country- my Nans all for it, but most other people think it’s not working the way it has in wales because Gaelic was never spoken across the country Welsh was- my mums family is from old Norse speaking ancestry/cities and the local area was more likely to speak French than Gaelic (my dads English with a clan surname so some Highland Clearance stuff definitely happened and also for about 50 years round about bonnie prince Charlie that name was banned/got you shot so some *shit* presumably happened)

In terms of how far they pushed, this is the map of the Heptarchy, i.e. their furthest extent:

So a bit of the Scottish south east. You see Strathclyde on there? That was the Brythonic part! This is why Glasgow is a Welsh name in origin. Cousins!

In terms of Gàidhlig revival (I'm not correcting you with the spelling, I just have friends who speak it and that's their preference lol), it's certainly a lot more complicated than it is in Wales, for numerous reasons. One is admittedly that Scotland has always been inherently multicultural - even before the Anglo-Saxons, the north was Pictish, the west was Goidelic (Dal Riada spanned west Scotland and modern northern Ireland), the south was Brythonic, and the islands have long been a spirited mix of Norse and Other. Each of those spoke their own language. Then came the Heptarchy, which birthed Scots, and then the Vikings in earnest... By contrast, Wales just spoke Welsh. Different dialects, sure, and infusions from elsewhere, but country-wide, we just had the one thing.

And then there's the sheer weight of numbers. The current percentage of the population that speaks Gàidhlig is, to my knowledge, less than two percent, which is an incredibly challenging position to be in. By contrast, the lowest Welsh ever slid to was seventeen percent, back in the Eighties, and today it's about thirty. That's much easier to pull off.

I should clarify here, of course, that I am not about to speak on behalf of Scottish people. Whether Gàidhlig is representative, whether it SHOULD be revived, those are ultimately debates for Scots to have, I'm nobody. But since you asked directly I can share my very Welsh-influenced perspective.

Firstly, any country-wide bilingualism is unilaterally a good thing. Without exception. Every country in the world should be aiming for it with *something*, regardless of what it is. There is no harm from raising a bilingual child. It's literally good for the brain.

Secondly, any language at all is a beautiful, unique thing that acts as a memory crystal for the culture and philosophy attached to it. If you lose one, you lose something important that can't be replaced. Here's an example! Translating between Korean and English pronouns is often a challenge, because Korean doesn't have the gender markers that English needs, but English doesn't have the age/social status markers that Korean needs. That tells you something fascinating about both of those cultures, and the philosophy and worldview they hold. Gàidhlig is not yet dead. There is time to save it. It is unique; it's a repository for so much of an older Scottish culture that otherwise might be lost. Why not save it?

Thirdly, why place the pressure on it to be a language spoken by all of Scotland? Does it need to be? Because there wasn't a pan-Scottish language, not until English, and that one was spread through imperialism. You won't find an alternative that was spoken by everyone. Does that mean you shouldn't bother with any of them? Well; see point one. But also...

If the issue is a lack of 'identity' - this was not spoken in my area, so I don't identify with it - it was still nonetheless a Scottish language. It's still unique and endemic to the country you now identify with. It's therefore still yours. And what's preventing someone learning something appropriately local as well? Fuck it, if you're from the south, learn Welsh. Pictish was lost - it can't be saved anymore. But it looks like it was Brythonic, so again, there's always Welsh as the closest analogue. But Gàidhlig is still Scottish, unique to the country, whereas Welsh is more pan-British.

So yeah, those are my very rambly thoughts that I have not actually pondered deeply at all. I shall now bow out of that particular conversation and leave it to the Scots

#asks #history nerdery #linguistics

[bananaofswifts]

Peek into the eclectic wardrobe of one of the world’s most popular singer-songwriters at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD)’s latest exhibit, Taylor Swift: Storyteller, opening Saturday at Columbus Circle.

The retrospective showcases decades of Swift’s costumes, props, jewelry and other visual elements from the 12-time Grammy Award-winning musician’s prolific career, including the highly recognizable ballerina and cheerleader ensembles from 2014’s Shake it Off , the gem-adorned one-piece from 2022’s Bejeweled and the striking Nicole + Felicia red wedding dress from 2021’s I Bet You Think About Me — all selected by MAD’s Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Craft, and Design Alexandra Schwartz.

Swift’s team reached out to Alexandra after seeing the work done by fellow curator Elissa Auther with artist Machine Dazzle on his Queer Maximalism exhibit, but she admits that she wasn’t intimately familiar with Swift’s catalog prior to working on Storyteller. “I knew her big hits, but I didn’t know her work all that well,” Alexandra told W42ST. “I have learned a lot in this process — it’s been fascinating getting to see how she’s developed as an artist and in addition to her songwriting, learn that she’s such a brilliant business person who has navigated combining that songwriting and artistry with being this incredibly successful performer.”

After working on 2022’s Garmenting: Costume as Contemporary Art at MAD, the curator had a robust working framework with which to tackle Swift’s large catalog of designs. “In Garmenting, we were coming at it from the perspective of artists rather than designers,” said Alexandra. “I teach part-time at the Fashion Institute of Technology and I got to know fashion history and theory and learned about curating fashion through that exhibit’s experience.” She added, “I’m fascinated by how clothes are part of our culture — not just in terms of the choices that we make about what we wear, but what they mean on a broader societal level and what they say about contemporary culture.”

Swift’s reputation for integrating visual storytelling into her music videos, red carpet appearances and concerts was an inspiration and Alexandra found plenty of symbolic messaging in the songwriter’s clothing choices. ​”She creates an entire world through her work,” said Alexandra. “Her videos are these very complete thought-out worlds she’s created and her performances are as well — her garments and her costumes are a huge part of that. She’s very, very intentional about what she wears in performance, how those garments help to tell a story.”

For Swift, “the element of fantasy is really important and enticing and fun — but what’s been interesting in working on this show is that she really does see all of her different creative endeavors: the videos, the design, the costumes, as a part of her songwriting and her storytelling craft as a songwriter,” said Alexandra.

Swift also loves to leave hidden messages for her notoriously eagle-eyed fanbase.”She’s famous for her Easter eggs,” said Alexandra, “and it is very interesting how she’ll refer back to other times in her career and her storytelling through her songs.” She added, “One thing that I find interesting about her, and she’s talked about this herself, is that she is very aware that as a performer, and especially as a female performer she has to always change her image to capture people’s attentions, keep them interested and keep them thinking about her music in a different way. I think a lot of her costumes and her videos show that sort of self-awareness.”

Swift’s tendency to keep fans guessing extends to her choices in designer, added Alexandra. “There are quite a few costumes by Jessica Jones, who works with many different performers,” she said, “but what she wears in performance varies. Some costumes are by couture fashion designers, like the Versace and Marchesa, but then she’ll wear faux fur jacket by Free People mixed with Louis Vuitton boots — it’s interesting to see how she combines things.”

After studying the singer’s catalog and costumes, Alexandra gained a newfound appreciation for Swift’s creative process and impact on global audiences. “Seeing the craftmanship of the costumes is incredible,” she said, “It’s a treat to see all the embroidering and decoration and beading on these pieces up close.”

As Taylor Swift: Storyteller readies for opening, Alexandra can’t wait to welcome passionate Swifties to the exhibit. “It’s going to be fascinating to see,” she replied. “It’s been great already to see the buzz about it and hear about people who are planning to come to New York to see the exhibit. I’ve just gotten to know the Swiftie community in the last couple of months and it’s intense!” she laughed. “It’s very exciting that so many fans are going to be here and I really hope they enjoy it!”

#taylor swift

[ketchupkio]

I could have put this in a repost but I think you would find it interesting:

Zonai-Hyrule history and preestablished Hyrule history are extremely different and pretty much incompatible but the Zonai are, likely unintentionally, very foreign invader/colonizer-coded so I was thinking it could be a fascinating and far less personally infuriating way to fold the Zonai into Zelda lore as colonizers rewriting history to their favour. I realize in the moment of writing this that settler colonialism is probably a sensitive topic in the current climate but irregardless, the majority of Zonai lore feels theatrical and super imposed over all the actual hylian cultural history to present Rauru, Sonia and Minerva as Important Cool People The Youd Should Care About but that weak storytelling lends itself perfectly to the idea of a false history enforced by self proclaimed rulers by divine right.

I can’t brain how well this idea is getting across but the idea of the Hylians (who were already oppressive to the neighbouring clans) being over taken by literal supertech alien invaders (with magic nukes) and given false history is a hell of a lot cooler than what the game actually has. The Gerudo having an even more imposing enemy to defend their independence from, Hylia contending with false gods for the loyalty of her reincarnations and chosen heroes, Demise’s curse itself being in some way disrupted by these invaders. That’d be cool

Oh yeah, the Zonai are totally colonizer coded, my gf @mizuriii brought this up to me and it hasn't left my head as True Canon. You worded it very well tho, it's interesting!!! I'm not well versed in this kind of thing and don't know enough to speak about it (Mizu is the history nerd, not me) but yeah Rauru is totally a strip mining colonizer. All of the stuff about the Zonai history hit weird even just taking it at face value. Like. Something clearly isn't right and not all sides are being heard. I would've loved any ounce of canon anything about the ancient Gerudo and Ganondorf's motives, but the most we get is "vibes are off. Sorry."

I repeat: DISAPPOINTED.

#Replies #Totk #Loz

[edenfenixblogs]

Palm tree, daffodil, and cactus for the Ask Game!

(The villain question, the sibling question, and the “what are you currently learning about” question)

palm tree ⇢ do you have a fictional villain you shouldn’t like but love regardless?

Oh boy. Not technically fictional, but in his fictional representation — Ecbert from Vikings. He’s so compelling and his motivations and intensity is like that of a Shakespearean villain. I mean, just look at his monologue to Jesus in the church. It takes my breath away every time. Even without context.

I also find the real actual story of the real actual man to be fascinating. In general, I find early Anglo-Saxon era British history fascinating.

daffodil ⇢ do you have siblings? if yes, in what ways do you think you’re similar to or different from them?

I do! But none by blood. @will-write-for-food is my sister, who I met in high school. I also have a friend (it feels weird calling her a friend tbh. She’s just my sister) who I’ve had since I was 4 and she was five. She’s also biologically an “only child,” but that made our bond even stronger. Nobody but an only child understands how fucking boring summers are if you’re an only child like another only child. Several years in a row we lived together by force. I would sleep over at her house until her mom needed a break and then she would send us both back and to my parents and on and on we’d go. I was maid of honor at her wedding. I’m aunt to her children.

As for similarities: both my sisters and I are motivated by love and family and kindness and are naturally rebellious in a dangerous way. We can all be snarky and we are all funny as fuck. But we never wanted to do drugs or go out and do any of the dangerous things you saw teens do in movies. We all care deeply about making the world better and believe in the value of choosing kindness and love any time you have the chance—even if it means gritting your teeth and clenching your fist while doing so. But also, we would all fear the fucking world apart if you hurt anyone we love. We also never abandon our friends to prioritize romance. We all value friendship as its own distinct type of love and relationship that isn’t less important than anything else.

For my Since-Pre-k sister, we are really quite different people. She leans more conservative (not in a terrible way though) whereas I’m very leftist. She is extremely romance driven in a way that @will-write-for-food and I are not. Over all, I think she’s a lot more traditional and normative in her life choices than we are, but not in a judgmental way. It’s just how she is. And it doesn’t change any of the things that matter about any of us. @will-write-for-food and I are also much more intellectually motivated than she is. She isn’t dumb though! She’s very smart! She just doesn’t learn things for fun like we do. She goes out and does stuff instead. I value that about her. Whenever I get too in my head she is amazing at shaking me out of it. She’s also not super into politics. She’s very practical.

As for @will-write-for-food and I? Ooooooh boy. There is no way to fully disentangle this. She’s my other half. We are basically the same person. I’m much more optimistic than she is in general. And I’m also soooooooo much more humble. (😉😘) But she is so strong in a way that inspires me. She can keep her head down and keep moving forward in a way that is incomprehensible to me. I’m glad she’s learned to reach out more over the years and know that she doesn’t HAVE TO operate like a one woman emergency crew. But the fact that, when the chips are down, she *CAN?* It’s astounding to witness. She’s also funnier than me. Or anyone. She’s the funniest fucking person in the world. And if you think *I’M* patient?????????? You have all seen NOTHING. You don’t know the meaning of the word patience. None of us do. The word belongs to her.

As for a way I’m different than both of them? Aside from what was already mentioned, I think it’s pretty funny that they are both Irish Catholic with a big, loud Jewish found family.

cactus ⇢ something you’re currently learning (about)?

Interior design. (I got this ask a lot and will give a diff answer every time because I’m always learning a million things)

#ask me stuff #palm tree #daffodil #cactus #theredqueenandbloodwyrm

[multicolour-ink]

What event triggered Pio to dislike everything or the people about the surface? Does Mia share his opinion, or has she tried to make him see a different point of view? How does she take the bros. Interest and curiosity about the surface? Of course, I've gotta get my Mia and Pio food in this AU 🤤

Oh hooo hohoho 🤭 Time for some backstory drama!

lore dump galore!

Mia was originally a human, until one fateful day she spotted Pio trapped in a fisherman's net! She quickly freed him, but Pio was more scared of her because of the shaky history between the surface and the ocean kingdoms.

More than a century prior, humans and mer-people actually got along, and some chose to marry and bear children together. However, over time, some surface dwellers started to show fear towards the mer-people, for they are far more powerful than humans, with a wide array of magic at their disposal. This fear spread whispers that the mer-people may one day use this power to overthrow them!

Things got so tense that it led to the diplomatic laws of the surface and the ocean deciding that the kingdoms were better off apart. And so from then on, the surface and the ocean worlds rarely interacted with each other. But relations were always tense...

Back to current day, and Mia has heard tales of the ocean, and becomes fascinated by its beauty and mystery. Her mundane life is not fulfilling in the slightest, and she finds that she has very little personal connections on the surface.

Which is why she never expected to find a merman caught in a net on that day!

After Pio was rescued, he started to think more about the woman who saved him. No human, not since his family can remember, had ever been so benevolent towards anyone of his kind. He couldn't just not thank her! So he plucked up the courage to go to the surface and talk to her.

Mia was surprised to see him, but she too had been thinking about him. She had heard tales herself on how mer-people drag humans to the depths if you get too close! But this merman was sweet, scared even. He needed help, and she gave it.

The two had a talk and both found themselves enjoying each other's company. Pio revealed to Mia that he was the heir to the throne of Atlantica. The current ruler being his own father. He admitted to feeling a lot of pressure on him, so it was nice to talk to someone about it.

Over some days the two became more and more pining towards each other. Pio desperately wanted to go on the surface and hang out by Mia's side for longer; not just at the beach. That is when he remembered an ancient spell his ancestors used all those years ago; one that could give a mer-person legs so they could walk amongst humans! Pio had always been told that his power was stronger than his brothers - nevertheless, after some tries in secret, he finally mastered the ancient magic by himself.

Mia was more than surprised to see him emerging from the water not as a merman, but like herself, and the too were even more happy. Finally they could hang out together for longer! 🥰

Of course, through the excitement of being on land, to being by Mia's side much more often - Pio started feeling desires more than ever for her, and the two eventually took their relationship much further...

I won't go into too much detail - as it's not important enough to go over here - but let's just say Pio was especially nervous on account of this being a much different experience than what his kind are used to, and Mia was so sweet and taught him some things 🤭.

After subsequent visits and intimate sessions, the two fell more in love, and eventually Mia became pregnant. Naturally this was a stir in of itself - the offspring to the heir of Atlantica born from a human was enough to cause a frenzy in the kingdom - but there was also no telling if the children would come out as human, or mer-people, or even both!

Knowing it was too dangerous to reveal her pregnancy to anyone in her village for multiple reasons, Mia gave birth in a secluded cove with Pio beside her, and with Marie (Arthur's partner) acting as a mid wife with her healing magic.

Too Mia's sheer relief - the twins were both born with tails: meaning that not only could they stay together, but it also meant that their mer-magic was stronger and could protect them.

But naturally, the babies could not live on the surface, and it was too risky to use the sacred magic on beings so young to keep turning them human. Shortly after their birth, Pio took the babies back to Atlantica for them to grow up safe and healthy, and promised Mia he would bring them to see her every day.

But only after a short amount of time this proved to be an emotional strain on Mia. Not only was Pio having to take over the throne because of his aging father, but he was giving up that precious amount of time ruling to bring the babies to see her (even though he was more than happy to). And the worst part, was that Mia was barely seeing her children, despite the time they tried to make as a family. It got too much, and unwilling to stay trapped anymore on the surface, she asked Pio one day

"Let me become a mermaid. Please."

Pio was shocked. He wasn't willing to make Mia give up her life just for him - to have her make a choice that could never be undone.

"I don't have a life here Pio. I never have. I miss our kids. And I miss you."

So Pio agrees, and Mia takes a magic potion to permanently turn her into a mermaid, and the whole of Atlantica rejoiced!

Unfortunately, word got around the surface, and soon those from Mia's village heard about what had happened, and became enraged and frightened. They stormed the beaches, fury in their eyes as they accused the mer-people (and especially Pio) of manipulating Mia with their magic in order to make her leave them forever.

Pio was naturally outraged, and while Mia tried to calm things down, it was all for nought. Mia was also driven away by the very surface dwellers who she had lived amongst, unable to accept her choice.

Like Pio, she was hurt. And from then on, the King and Queen of Atlantica vowed that they would not let their children anywhere near the surface, for fear that this very thing would happen to them.

And also from that moment on, the relations between the surface and the ocean worlds were cut off for good...

* * *

There's a lot more to this backstory that I had to cut out for the sake of not making this post too long! But if anyone is interested, you are welcome to shoot me an ask ^^

Oh and in regards to whether Mia shares the same feelings as Pio about their sons being interested in the surface? Well...a part of her wants to share it will them, she even tells them stories when they are little of the things that she experienced before she met Pio - so the bros do grow up knowing their mother was human. However, she also tells them that the surface dwellers drove a wedge between their worlds, and she makes clear to her babies that she won't want them to experience what she went through..

Buuut, it does make the times when the boys find something from ship wrecks etc, and Mia to explain what they are, all the more special; it gives them something to bond over 💗

She fears more for their safety than anything. She just can't bear the idea of them hurt either physically or verbally.

#key and I have actually been talking about this prior to me answering this ask #so they actually know more about this backstory 🤭 #but this is for everyone! #thank you key for your help in sorting out this backstory ^^ it was a load off my back! #super mario #mario #luigi #pio mario #papa mario #mia mario #mama mario #mermaid au #mermaid bros #mer mario #mer luigi #mer mia #mer pio #the little mermaid #backstory #keylovesstuff #multicolour ink answers

[werewolfenthusiast]

My January Reads

(‼️IF YOU WANT ME TO REMOVE YOUR FIC FROM HERE FOR ANY REASON PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I REVIEW BOOKS BUT ONLY PRAISE FICS.‼️)

————————————————————————

Books:

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

Told from the POV of Astrid Magnussen, daughter of a manipulative poet who is imprisoned early in the story for the murder of an ex-lover. The story follows Astrid through her various foster homes for the next 6 years as she grows and tries to escape her mother’s grip. This book was written in such a beautiful way, there were so many quotes I underlined. There wasn’t really anything that I could personally relate to but it almost felt like I understood at times. There were moments where it was kind of boring but that’s almost always how it is when a book follows someone’s life. It does have a lot of very heavy content, definitely something that you should check warnings for. The N-slur is used a couple times and while every time it is used it’s clear that it’s not a good thing to call someone (it’s used by a terrible, racist character) it’s obviously still not great for a white women to be writing it. Overall though it was really a fascinating meditation on a very complex mother-daughter relationship. 4/5 stars

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

The novel follows Jess Goldberg, a stone butch lesbian and her life in the U.S. through the 1940s-1970s. I didn’t like this as much as I thought I would but I do still like it quite a bit. I wasn’t a big fan of the writing style and I found that the timeline tended to jump forward months or years without warning. It is very clearly a labour of love however, and it is a very interesting and important read. If you are interested in queer history and like historical fiction you would probably enjoy it. It does have a lot of heavy content but I didn’t find it to be gratuitous, it was real and unfortunately necessary to tell an accurate story, (though of course you should check warnings if needed). 3.75/5 stars

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Misc Lit:

Many histories converged at Stonewall by Leslie Feinberg

A very interesting short article on the coming together of different histories at the Stonewall riots, with a particular focus on the black and brown people leading the riots being the descendants of people torn away from or pushed out of their home countries with their own ideas of sexuality and sex/gender.

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Fics:

The Picture of Sirius Black by @lynxindisguise

A WIP that was finished this month. Exactly what it says on the tin, a Picture of Dorian Grey AU and I really do love it so much

A Potter’s Field by MsAlexWP

Sirius is dealing with the death of James and Lily and meets Remus through the death of an unhoused man they were friends with. This was absolutely beautiful truly just so sweet and lovely despite how sad it sounds.

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One Shots:

Well, We’re Mates

An anonymously written Wolfstar getting together fic. This was funny and all the conversations just flowed so nicely they all really felt like proper friends and it was just so fun.

An Incomplete List by @neongreenllama

Sirius snores and Remus is trying really hard to remember he’s in love with him. The vibes are just perfect here it’s so them, adorable, I love it.

tueur d’âmes by @divinerapturee

Another lovely little lesbian horror story :)

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WIPs Started:

everywhere, everything by @lynxindisguise

THE WOLFSTAR MULTIVERSE FIC IM SO EXCITED

————————————————————————

#monthly reading wrap up #books #white oleander #stone butch blues #fic recs #wolfstar fic #january reads

[wahoopli]

drop the sanderson thoughts lmao. did you read the wired article everyone’s talking about?

yes i did read the wired article. it was weird? fine? i agree with the take that the writer thought it would be more interesting, and then had to come up with a story on a deadline.

tbh i feel like the more interesting story is that mormonism is a settler colonialist monument to white cisheteropatriarchy, and that really shows in sanderson's writing. stormlight especially really demonstrates this. it's structured to be all about oppression (darkeyes, the singers) but sanderson's narrative continually prioritizes the oppressors. that's so mormon! the book of mormon is so racist and present-day mormonism is so invested in whiteness and imperialism, esp with sending missionaries to convert people of color in the global south.

and like... we talk all the time about how sanderson is great at writing queer characters when he's not trying to. how his romances really fall flat. to me it's all connected to mormonism. he's talked before about how he doesn't really have emotional ups and downs, and the article kind of touches on this too. mormonism is such a passion-less religion. if you've ever been in a mormon church building, they're the most boring buildings alive. there's a complete lack of culture, art, life. mormonism is designed to produce nuclear family clones who have the same opinions and have a very "nice" society.

i'm rambling, and i have lots more thoughts, but i just think the way sanderson writes romance really positions it as a Thing You Put In A Narrative and not, like, a messy human experience. and that's so mormon. you serve a mission for the church as a late teen and then come back and are expected to marry. marriage is one of the essential Steps toward exaltation.

obviously the other really interesting thing is that the magic of the cosmere tbh is extremely mormon in a way I find very interesting and sometimes like! one of the key doctrines of mormonism is that if you live your life perfectly, you'll become a god and create your own worlds the same way god did with us. it's a complicated and fascinating idea, and i don't think it's terribly difficult to make the connection to whiteness and the settler fantasy of it all. but in the cosmere, humans become gods. gods are bound by rules (also important in mormon theology). ruin and preservation created scadrial and built it and humans from scratch.

idk i just feel like if you've read sanderson's work (which the wired writer says he did) and have a solid understanding of mormonism, there's a much richer and more interesting story to tell than what that article gave. it barely scratched the surface imo.

disclaimer, i say all this as a white queer exmormon who has lived in utah her whole life. i love lots of things about mormonism, and i can't separate my personal and family history from the church. it's defined my life up until the last couple of years, and that's the place i'm speaking from.

#emily types #sanderson critical #you asked for it anon #here are some messy thoughts that probably make no sense #but tbh that article just really demonstrates to me a misunderstanding of mormonism sanderson and the cosmere fandom #which is too bad because there are very interesting things to say and lots of really valuable criticism if you know what you're talking #about #and tbh some of this is from my brain #but lots of it is stuff i've seen other people say on this app

[ashesandhackles]

Yeah, I also struggle to imagine Severus and Remus becoming friends in canon. Remus is extremely passive aggressive and way too loyal to James, while Severus is very open about his disdain for certain people, including Remus and especially James. If I were Severus I would also find it extremely hard to trust Remus given their history. Remus is also the kind of person who’s willing to do anything to fit in and be liked, while Sev is comfortable with his own company. Both make sense given their circumstances. Contrary to popular belief, Sev did NOT hate Remus because he was a werewolf - he hated him because he was and quite frankly remained one of his bullies. Yet at the same time, I love both characters and I’m fascinated by their dynamic. I do think there is a version of reality where under different circumstances, they could have gotten along. Now, I’m wondering, do you think there’s any version of reality where Severus and Sirius could have been friends?

I have answered this somewhere before - but I am going to quote my friend @dragonlordette on this and explain why they are incompatible:

"Snape is unafraid to be himself to the point of being bullied and disliked his whole life, while Lupin is avoidant. These two characteristics don't lend themselves to complementing each other, they just lead to Snape disrespecting Lupin. As an alternative example of a more "complementary" case of opposites attract, Tonks is sociable while Lupin is avoidant. This means she can help him out his shell, but she is not so committed to "staying true to herself" that she would find lupins tendency not to speak up to his friends weak (like snape would). It's a more complementary strength.

I just feel like nearly every trait of Lupin and snape is mutually exclusive, rather than complementary. "

My own take is that, "Remus enjoys being around people who are aspirational - someone whose life he can live vicariously through (James, teen Sirius, Tonks) or someone he can look up to (Dumbledore). Severus is aspirational in a way that won't speak to Remus."

In canon, from the way I read it, Snape is on backfoot by what he considers is Remus' dishonest civility. He cannot effectively argue with Remus when Remus is polite but inwardly hostile/oppositional - see, here: Verbal Fencing Between Snape and Remus , Neither Likes Nor Dislikes Severus

He tries to avoid Remus the best he can, because one, there is genuine fear there from the teenage brush off of the Whomping Willow incident and he is constantly wary and hypervigilant. My reading of Remus is harsher than a lot of the fandom, but I really don't see a scenario of them getting along. (I'm sure other interpretations may make that feasible, but it's not my vision of who these two characters are)

Also, it's clear to me that Remus, while acknowledging that his friend's behaviour with Snape wasn't great, isn't too fond of him himself. (he will try to lighten how James' behaviour looks - see end of POA, OOTP chapter post SWM). He disapproves of Snape as an authority figure - as demonstrated by the Boggart lesson (Snape's jibe about Neville pissed him off - he raises his eyebrows at him, which in Remus language, is "ticked off"), and the fact that while he agrees with Snape that Harry shouldn't be in Hogsmeade, he will not let Harry be in Snape's power to deal with.

Sirius, on the other hand, as hot take it might be - but as my friend @saintsenara pointed out, Snape enjoys baiting him ("how is the cleaning going?"), engaging with him because Sirius is upfront (the entire kitchen scene). Snape knows how to deal with that kind of language, it's batting in a language he knows, whereas with Remus, he is never sure of what he is getting.

Sirius and Snape are narrative mirrors, explicitly in canon. Sirius and Remus are narrative stand-ins for when James is important for Harry's development, while Snape's story becomes more important when Lily is important to Harry's development:

They have much in common:

- people who lost their best friends and the most damaged by it.

- Sirius punishes himself for James' death by staying in Azkaban for 12 years, Snape atones for his own guilt by being a spy.

- Snape and Sirius both live in their childhood homes, and they both act as prison. For Sirius, it is imposed on him, for Snape - it seems to be self inflicted.

- anger issues, to put it lightly.

- intensely loyal, and very very brave. But great capacity for cruelty.

- Snape spent his teenage years running away from his Muggle roots, Sirius spends his teenage years running away from aristocratic pureblood house

As my co-writer and friend @thedreamermusing pointed out: "Also: Snape has father issues; Sirius has Mommy issues. Their lives run parallel more or less- Sirius and Snape both form a formative best friend friendship in their childhood, are both drawn sorted in their houses in an effort to cement their own family complexes (Snape and his mom, Sirius and his family), both base their identities om the basis of belonging to a community (Snape-DEs, Sirius- Marauders), both form their moral complexes by becoming the opposite of their roots (Snape loves the dark arts and blood supremacy, Sirius hates the dark arts and hangs muggle posters), both have a cruel sense of humour (Snape thinking dark magic is just a laugh, Sirius thinking feeding Remus Snape a la Carte being a joke), both of them joining a group to further themselves away from their roots after school, both of them risking their lives to protect their bestfriends, both of them making a terrible mistake by trusting the wrong person that leads to their best friend dying, both of them punishing themselves for the next 12 years to atone, both of them using the memory of their bffs as the one shining light in their miserable lives to keep going on, both of them forced in their childhood homes in the last part of their lives, both of them finally dying for Harry."

Essentially, they have a capacity for understanding each other in a way because there is an intense projection involved in how they interact with each other. I have answered bits of that dynamic here and how their dialogue flows, where they throw words back at each other whereas the one with Remus involves Remus taking the rug from under his feet. So yeah, basically I don't see it with Severus and Remus - but like I pointed out, the way I envision the two characters might not align with others :)

#asks

[theicarusconstellation]

Ok cool I now see we are the same.

It's interesting because everything you said about Alia is real but I'm sups interested in contexts, sometimes that's what makes the entire appeal of the story for me (oftentimes).

because what appeals to me in Dune is the rift between JRR Tolkien and Frank Herbert?

Cuz Frank read LOTR and was such a little fanboy, like he couldn't even believe his little eyes what he was reading and then he created Dune and was like look at me father are you proud and JRR Tolkien HATED Dune. The entire time. Didn't like the violence, the anti-hero, the harsh world, Tolkien is like "bruh I just created Elvish and whatnot and then needed a place to put these languages and created a HERO and heros are important and you want me to care about your villain crusade" and he NEVER appreciated Frank?

And that just.

That.

That.

I think about this often because actually I think Frank's world is a lot more realistic than Tolkien, only in the sense that we are all kind of doomed and easy to sway to the dark side and rare are the actual heros who will be able to rise and fight against destiny. There are so many in Tolkien and it gives hope, right, but it's also...patently false (imo).

AND THEN you compare this to RL where they each wrote their little story that each had strong impacts on people for different reasons but all Frank wanted was to become besties with Tolkien.

But Tolkien became the villain in Frank's story? Cuz he didn't like him and his little invented world?

And if that shit isn't a relfection of their book I don't know what is.

YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH!!!!!!!!!

a lot of people (me included) think that the reason tolkien was so against dune was because he was deeply devoted religious man, and dune warned against charismatic leaders of organized religions and the following of messianic figures. tolkien’s christianity was interwoven with his works as well, so to read something that challenged the very basis of not only his beliefs but his own works must have been a very unpleasant experience for him💀💀

not to say that lotr isn’t brilliant, because i do enjoy it, but where dune blurs the boundaries between “good” and “evil,” “heroes” and “villains,” lotr is 100% black and white “this is the only way,” and we see that this was tolkien’s worldview in regards to everything, not just his books. not only did he woefully misinterpret dune and paul’s character, but he was also unwilling to consider the message and even told people he didn’t like it because he wasn’t a fan of “darker stories.”

i love lotr, (dune is my favorite for always and forever) but if i was to describe tolkien in one hyphenated word, it would be “narrow-minded.” in the context of their era of history, frank herbert was definitely narrow-minded as well, but tolkien was devoted to everything herbert warned against.

i just find the differences in how their views are reflected in their works fascinating yk?

#astra’s asks #dune #dune dune dune dune dune

[lady-of-endless]

Hello! I hope you're doing well. May I please request a romantic matchup for One Piece?

My pronouns are she/her and I prefer men.

Personality: Leo, INFJ, 1w9, HP house Ravenclaw. Making an effort to understand myself and others is important to me, so that leads to long periods of pondering my actions, as well as others’. I love having me time, though I enjoy being with those close to me from time to time. I'm very supportive, encouraging, reserved, clumsy, easily flustered, athletic, conscientious, witty and sarcastic. Though I unintentionally come across as intimidating, I'm rather gentle and caring. I'm pretty stoic and some misinterpret it as being emotionless (I honestly just want the best for everyone). I rarely lose my cool. I’m adventurous and have completed a dream of mine–living/working in a country that doesn’t speak my native language. I actively search for things to be thankful for to remind myself that there's a lot of beauty in the world, and I'm glad to experience it. I adore challenging myself both intellectually and physically. I am happiest when seeking out information, reason, and understanding. I’m really kinda superstitious…

I work as a foreign language teacher, so my job requires me to have patience, be understanding, be able to think on my feet, and be creative. I'm incredibly determind, which helps push me through difficult days. I strongly encourage those I teach to speak their minds and have open discussions.

My love languages are definitely acts of service and words of affirmation. I don't dislike physical affection when it's from my s/o, but I don't tend to seek it out. Quality time is fine, especially when we're just doing our own thing but sitting near each other. I will always appreciate gifts but hate feeling like I owe others.

Likes and Dislikes: I love discussing topcs that revolve around enigmas. It's not as important to have others agree with me as it is to explore the unknown with them. I like practicing the languages I know, biology, demonology, genealogy, reading, museums, Victorian history, singing, alternative rock and metal music, and exploring my surroundings. Cats and rodents are top tier pets. A large portion of what I read/watch relates to the occult. I dislike storms, large bodies of water, and people who always turn disagreements into arguments.

Hobbies: Writing horror stories, DnD, reading, singing, listening to music, playing the piano, dancing, watching horror movies, drawing, and yoga. As an avid horror fan, animated movies are for sure a guilty pleasure of mine.

Appearance: long wavy auburn hair and my eyes are more of a honey brown. I always wear round glasses. I'm pale with freckles on my cheeks and nose. 5’9, lean, more of an hourglass shape and have a bit of muscle. I mostly wear black and white, but also lilac :) My asthetic is a mix between grunge and dark academia.

I hope this wasn't too painfully long! 💜💜

Author's Note: Thank you for your request! Please dont apologize for the long description, it's helpful and very enjoyable. Hope you'll like it!

I ship you with... Mihawk!

(lovely gif is not mine, please show appreciation to the OP)

- Your ambitious personality draws him in, thinking of how beneficial is to collaborate with someone as ambitious and capable as him. Not to mention your ability to not lose your cool.

- He's feelings go from doubt, to fascination, to respect and then to attraction. He also takes time to understand himself and his feelings so it will definitely be a slow burn.

- He likes that you take time to ponder and then act. Whenever he sees you deep in thought he can't help it but wonder what's going on in that pretty mind of yours.

- Please be a little sarcastic with him too, he'll secretly like that.

- The fact that you try to find the beautiful things in life is something that he wants to learn from you but won't admit. You'll see him try though.

- Unintentionally intimidating looking? You two would look like such a power couple, oh my. Also your grunge and dark academia aesthetic goes so damn well with his aesthetic.

- He thinks that you are a magnificent woman. As days go on and he discovers more about you, you slowly become his muse.

- Because he knows just how determined, analytical and creative you are, he'll probably propose you to come with him to Cross Guild meetings. You'll be a fine addition and a great advisor. (this also gets him the chance to show you off)

- I think that even some of your likes and hobbies will perfectly match his. So perfectly that Mihawk is a bit doubtful at first. He's a bit confused, he always thought that his likes were a bit well, unique.

- Will love to spend a late night talking with you about enigmas and the occult over a glass of wine.

- He will ask you if you could play the piano for him after he had a long day. You may not notice but he looks the most enamoured when you're playing the piano for him.

- Oh and expect reading dates. He takes pride in his library so that's where you two would spend most of the time together.

- He takes note of your dislikes. During stormy weather, Mihawk will invite you next to him to keep you warm. He will start reading to you so that you'll hear his voice instead of the wind and the thunders from outside. He hates it when disagreements turn into arguments as well, so expect him to always come to you and discuss calmly whatever disagreement you two might have.

- Dear, to me you sound like the perfect match for Mihawk, I have nothing else to say.

#one piece #mihawk #one piece mihawk #one piece matchup #one piece matchups #dracule mihawk #mihawk x reader #one piece x reader #one piece x you