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#a more proper explanation of verses
socialc1imb · 2 months
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Sorry for being rude ig but PLEASE take more responsibility for your actions rather than calling a 14 and 15/16 year old parasoical for calling you out on not talking about a literal genocide? Also please take the abisthine drawings and etc down n rework the au at the very least! And maybe a more formal and proper apology that's more specific
Hi! Thank you, genuinely, for coming to me. Let me clarify some things, if you don’t mind?
Concerning the stuff about the genocide, I’m genuinely sorry. Unfortunately, I have pretty bad anxiety/depression, and surrounding myself with that constantly genuinely takes a toll on me, which is why I liked posts but didn’t necessarily repost them. I realize I should have done better, but also I do have to take into account that I need to care for my mental health, something that has only become more important as I have gotten older. I will do better in the future.
Also, the “parasocial” comment was not necessarily directed at the person I believe you are thinking of. That has been something that has weighed on my mind for a *while* now, and perhaps I posted it at the wrong time. However, I am still uncomfortable with the fact that someone was paying *that much* attention to how I spend my time online. This would be the case no matter *who* had done that. I would genuinely appreciate it if people didn’t study my every move online.
And lastly, Absinthe. I *genuinely* was not aware that the use of a voodoo doll-like concept would be offensive. You’ll have to forgive me, for I am not well versed in that, genuinely. I *have* deleted all of the art/explanations having to do with that specific topic, though! It is no issue at all to rework the au, and worst comes to worst and I never get around to reworking it? Then there’s one less au clogging my blog /silly. (Also!! If you do find something i forgot to delete, send it to me and I’ll delete it!)
I genuinely do hope this clears some things up. I’m sure that no matter what I say people will be upset, because that is unfortunately how the world/internet works, but it’s probably best to let people know anyways.
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girlwholovesturtles · 10 months
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So we can agree that Hobie had been planning this rebellion from the start, right?
Like I have no doubt in my mind that this dude backwards engineered the watch as soon as he was first given one.
I'm also pretty confident that he's been stealing things from HQ for just as long.
Nobody but Miles bats an eye when Hobie is stealing things, almost like they're used to it. That's because they are used to it. They think "that's just Hobie being Hobie" and none of them considered he had a reason for stealing any of that stuff beyond "sticking it to the man."
But more than that, I think Hobie heard all about Miguel's history and how much he seems to blame this random kid for the holes in the multi-verse, that so clearly weren't his fault, and he knew this guy and his spider society couldn't be trusted.
More still, he knew that eventually one of the Spiders who had met Miles the first time around would go try to see him again and he'd be brought into this multi-verse mess. And Hobie knew that Miles would hear Miguel's explanation for this whole "Canon" thing and he'd expect Miles to just watch his dad die.
And of course there'd be a fight.
So ultimately, everything that Hobie did, that was all because he knew that Miles would be in danger. Because the whole idea of "you can't save everyone" while it might be true, it fundamentally forgets the most important part of being Spiderman.
With great power comes great responsibility.
By choosing to follow this idea of "Canon" it demands that the Spiders push aside that responsibility and just accept things as they're supposedly meant to be. And that simply isn't the way any Spider should be.
I think Hobie realized early on that Miguel and his little spider club had somehow let themselves forget that and he decided he had to get to work protecting this Miles kid, even though he'd never met him and didn't know when or if he ever would meet him. Because that's what a proper hero does. Even if he doesn't care for labels like that.
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gemsofgreece · 1 year
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This is something brilliant I found on quora. Aside from the band-orchestra comparison that I have no opinion on as I should know many, many languages to dare tackle that, and which is a parallel that could perhaps only be justified coming from a man passionate enough to get a PhD in Greek literature and ethics, Mr Bošković is actually on point in what he says.
Typical western academia gets wet over Ancient Greek and typically scorns Modern Greek without a proper explanation, to the point of just referring to one form of the language: Greek, and calling it dead. In their minds, there can only be one form of Greek, the ancient one, and it is dead for good. Modern Greek doesn’t belong with their academic and lingual concerns.
But Bošković, who has obviously studied a greater span of the Greek language than the average stuck-up classicist, puts it so well and in such a short and simple text that I could never do it. I always thought Modern Greek is more flexible than Ancient Greek but I couldn’t explain why well. Here it is then: what many don’t realise is that Modern Greek operates in a very liberal fashion. It takes elements from large lingual pools. It has the Ancient Greek pool all to itself, to take elements at will. It can choose between very archaic, Koine / biblical / medieval or folk neo-linguistic elements or fuse them all together, technically without restrictions. The historical contact to Latin, Italian, Turkish, Slavic, Arabic and Albanian populations gives it access to the Romantic, Anatolian, oriental and non-Greek Balkan pools. Modern Greek has a very good ability to bend foreign elements enough to make them adjust to the Greek core of the language, instead of adjusting to them (ie all foreign loanwords are bent to follow Greek grammatic rules of inflection and their vocalisations usually change enough so that they are entered smoothly in the language). The local idiomatic element is also significant in every region and is particularly alluring in prose and verse (hence my recent comment that I prefer modern - but NOT contemporary - Greek prose).
That doesn’t mean that I don’t love Ancient Greek prose and verse. But here is the crucial nuance: the ancients and medieval people did their best to write in the highest form of the language they could master. When we read an ancient text, we witness the earnest efforts of the ancient poets and writers to be glorified through their writing.
Modern speech is unfortunately deteriorating* and we can’t compare the potential of the two ages of the language. Contemporary writers aren’t putting an effort to write in the highest lingual form they can master. On the contrary, they strive to be relevant and, in fact, as non-challenging as possible, so that they will cater to a wide, mainstream audience. And because everyone can write nowadays - it is not an activity saved for the wisest or most educated - there is a load of mediocre lingual usage inside which a specimen of high lingual form can be viewed as eccentric, pretentious and eventually undesirable.
Because of this, Modern Greek cannot utilise all its tools anymore (as well as many other languages to their own degree, of course). Reading the Iliad in its original has been fantastic so far and I was wondering why we can’t write like this anymore but now I am realising that there is nothing to prevent us from doing it from a technical aspect. There are no dead words in Greek. There are words which have become rarely used enough that some people would consider you a weirdo for using them and others would themselves refuse to learn, convinced there is no use in taking an extra step. Words that are recorded in texts, words whose meaning we know, can’t be dead, even if they are rarely used. It’s the obsession of the average person to follow the mainstream trend that threatens a word more than anything else. Another fact is that Greeks of different ages fluctuate between different forms of grammar, unsure whether a more archaic or more modern inflection is appropriate. The truth is that there is no wrong way, however Greek linguists lately try to wipe out older, more archaic forms in exchange for newer, simpler ones. The intent is always to become as approachable, as unchallenging as possible. There is no de facto death of older types of usage as long as they are recorded and we know how they work and some of us use them still - it’s literally a few linguists trying to give Modern Greek a distinct, simpler identity by ignoring the language’s most crucial characteristic: its flexibility.
Νεφεληγερέτης Ζεύς is a common characterisation of Zeus in the Iliad (Nepheliyerétis Zeús - Zeus the Cloud-gatherer) . There is no real reason to prevent someone from using this phrase intact nowadays, as both roots of the first word do exist in modern Greek. And even if someone was too self-conscious about writing so ambitiously, they could do with a more modern or folkish version like νεφελοστοιβάχτης or συννεφοστοιβάχτης or νεφομαζωχτής or νεφελαθροιστής (ie nephelostiváchtis, sinephostiváchtis, nephomazochtís, nephelathristís). Would they though? No, they wouldn’t. Why take the extra step?
My point is, Modern Greek is an overlooked, extremely potent language and we do exactly nothing with or about it.
*Whoever is quick to argue that a language never deteriorates because it always morphs into a reflection of its respective nation / society and its needs should either stop fooling themselves or immediately get alarmed by the current state of the respective society at question.
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laladellakang · 10 months
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della in dark blood ♡
masterlist | wattpad
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ADD.: outfits
SUMMARY: della’s role in the concept trailer, the choreography and lines in bite me
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concept trailer
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— della was with the other six members while sunghoon was with sooha. she appeared again during this scene;
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— she stood near the end of the road, looking at sunghoon with a disappointed look. everyone knows that della is his weakness so they sent her last
— sunghoon caved upon seeing the betrayal in her eyes. he even let sooha go to get closer to her
— della almost succeeded, if sooha hadn't appeared behind her and bit her neck. it wasn't out of pure evil, she was just afraid of what might happen if she didn't
— there was a bonus after-credits scene where della woke up in the middle of the same road. she looked around in confusion and felt weak. really weak
— that was until a man showed up on a motorcycle
— he stopped and removed his helmet, getting off to help her
— "are you okay?" he asked in english
— della sat there, staring at him in silence as she felt overwhelming hunger take over her
— she didn't know what it was at that time but she slowly got close to his neck and bit the skin
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bite me lines
the lyrics are referring to two different people; the person who bit her (sooha) and the person who she bit (man in motorcycle)
[0:37] come here and get some 남겨줘 on my neck
[1:28] 삼켜 널  (the original lyrics are 날 instead of 널. instead of 'devour me', she said 'devour you')
[1:50] come here and get some 날 찬미할, sidekick  (the original lyrics are 널 instead of 날 and had no comma in between 찬미할 and sidekick. instead of 'sidekick that worships you', she said 'to worship me, sidekick')
[2:08] it's you and me in this world 이 어둠 속에서 light me 기회를 줄 거라면 just come kiss me and bite me
bonus: jay's line switches to [1:45] 네 거란 증거 , just come over and bite me and ni-ki’s to [1:41] come here and get some, 남겨줘 on my neck
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choreography
— her and niki participated in choreographing different parts. his during the pre-chorus and her during the second verse
— della had both a female and male backup dancer. the first chorus was the girl while the second was with the boy
— there are a few times when the guys switch backup dancers but there's only one male. della's partner for the second chorus never changes
— della completely switches sides during the second chorus. she dances as if she was a backup dancer and her partner is a member
— during hee's part [1:24] come to me, make it right, 다시 연결해 줘, 날, della continues and sings 삼켜 널 so his solo with the dancer is a solo with della instead. visual explanation;
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— while saying '삼켜 널' or 'devour you', she went close to hee's neck to indicate a bite
— heela's part is the only time when the opposite genders make proper, intentional eye contact
— della's style of dancing with her partner is getting close and moving her head towards him/facing him while her eyes stay on the floor/the camera (similar to jungwon and sunoo)
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response from fans
— in contrast to the other members, most of della's fans, including the male ones, were really giddy about the couple dance. her fans are delusional as well, but they use her interactions with other men (including the members) as a vehicle for those delusions. they want more male interactions
— female dallas absolutely loved the outfits on della, but the male ones didn't. most of it was too masculine for their liking. they went crazy over the concept photos though
— the k-pop community finally saw how great the group is being co-ed. still making della the one in charge instead of having her submit to a man was genius not me calling myself a genius lmao
— overall, della's popularity was through the roof, and she regained her defenders again. even securing so much more (as mentioned in 'insecurities', she got a lot of hate in late 2022 - early 2023)
taglist! @afiaaaa19 @riikiblr @one16core @i90snoo @danyxthirstae01 @seulgifted @clar-iii @hiqhkey @nichmeddar @jiwlys @duolingofanaccount @nvmbheart [@studioreader @sarang-wonie @fairydosii @hoonstrology @jaetint @4sahii @8-itsmee-8 @toriluvsfics]
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theuntamedangel · 2 months
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OK. so since i love to hate the MHA verse, lets talk about one thing that most people haven't talked about as much as it should, as much as it deserves attention.
Lets talk about Takoyami (I hope i got the name and spelling correct). He has the head of a bird so I was stupid enough to assume that his quirk falls under the mutant category. But nope, turns out he is an emitter type since he emits Dark Shadow from his body. What is the logic behind this? And also, since he has a beak (as a bird should) how is he able to perfectly speak with more than a 100% accurate pronunciation?
Coming to how quirks are so well written and explained by Hori, only Bk's quirk is given a proper explanation (ofc it would since its BK). So what makes Uraraka's quirk the way it is? Dumb question, duh! It's due to her quirk called float (I assume its called that). But that's not what I'm asking. What part of her DNA altered and gave her the ability to make things float with just a single touch? Whats the science/logic behind her body being able to do that?
How do quirks even work in the MHA verse? Who knows, Hori sure as heck doesnt!
#Hori is a trash writer #Anti Bakugou #Anti MHA #Anti BkDk #Anti Izu x Uraraka
@bibibbon
@mikeellee
@palesweetscherryblossom
@amethystoceandespiser
@moonsb1996
@doodlegirl1998
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hail-brod · 3 months
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A Chance and Beyond (3)
Previous chapter: (Chapter 2)
Next chapter: (Chapter 4)
Masterlist
Series Masterlist
Loki x FReader
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A/N: Note that I'm not really versed on the concept of time flow in the MCU so things that I will be explaining in this chapter may not be accurate but hej, this is fanfiction. Did try my best to understand Ancient One's explanation with the stones affecting the proper flow of time to integrate here so go easy on me <(_ _)>
Might just be making up some things along the way for things to fit!
This is a long one. Hopefully this would make up for the amount of time that took me this long to update.
Warning/s: Tony Stark, cursing, bit of angst.
WC: 5.7k
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Doctor Strange confronts you about TVA and you get a nickname from Tony Stark himself. Really, you've had a long day. What else can you possibly expect?
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"Time Variance Authority."
"Yes."
"Which is entirely non-existent nowhere within....?"
"The Sacred Timeline." you say. "It is outside the Sacred Timeline."
"Yeah, that." your new found sorcerer friend confirms as Strange's brows crease in thought. "And somehow it's somewhere? A secret organization filled with people who they took from the... Sacred Timeline and then do the dirty work of... pruning other branches of realities. Is that it?"
"Yes." you reply, steady in your seat. Taking in the way he tries to process this new knowledge.
"Now, what exactly is pruning?" he asks, every question he wants to ask mirrored in that look of him. Though, even if uncertainty was still present on his expression, you didn't miss the tinge of fascination dancing around his eyes.
You've been going on with this interrogation for almost twenty minutes now and it's quite straightforward—save for the little questions he add that he strikes as interesting to satisfy his curiosity. Nonetheless, it's nothing but... pleasant.
At most.
Not as stingy as before he is, and you'd wager because of this session giving him the massive information about what's out there, beyond the timeline, beyond the vast universes and you can't help but pride yourself in seeing him so eager yet so stoic in hearing what you have been saying. It's amazing that he manages to look so focused and intent on prying more and yet bits of astonishment seeps through his authoritative nature. That at least confirms that he seems to be believing your words.
But when he starts to explain to you about what he generally knows about timelines and it's flow, you realized that's why.
"The branches that you've mentioned," he inquires. "...you're saying that currently it's overloading because the Sacred Timeline is unkept and unmonitored?"
"Yes..." you confirm. "Yes. It's complicated and.... its hard to manage with so much branches. So everything... everywhere... there are a lot of possibilities growing outside of the proper flow of time."
You hope you understood Ouroboros well. Everything he had explained about the loom and the collapse of all as a result because of the murder of a certain time lord or whatever it is they call him and the possibility of a Multiversal war—as they would call it—was very much ingrained in your mind.
Which is rather a big matter than the world ending.
Because this is about everything ending.
"I'd ask what made that happen," he says. "but one branch of reality splitting outside of the proper flow of time means being overrun. A lot of suffering if I may add." his frown deepens.
You look at him, quite confused. "Well, you mean..."
Wait.
You've realized recently that concepts about time when it comes to sorcery can be quite different compared to the TVA but there's similarities. With what you know, there are the Fates—the Norns consisting of past, present, and future—the ones who weave the people's destiny. But with Strange's field of sorcery, it circles around the Infinity stones; as you've learned from him in your timeline. Plucking one stone out of the flow could result in millions to suffer which then creates the branch.
But in your case, the TVA, it's about the newborn realities that were... apparently unwanted. The dictation of how things should flow is always followed.
Although now, that's the system you and you're friends are trying to break. To renew. Just because of the absurdity of it all. One stray step from the paved path and it's all erased, letting everyone disappear from existence. And you have to thank your TVA friends for stopping that rule.
"Not necessarily..." you trail, downcasted.
"What do you mean not necessarily?" Strange looks at you pointedly, arms crossed. A disapproving sentience directed at you. "You say that's it's overloaded of branches. How is that not aligned to it being terribly diabolical?"
"TVA is different." you answer, holding his stare with certainty. "It's not a causality tied to just the stones, Doctor Strange. It's the causality of every living being."
"Just the stones?" he retorts. "This is about the Infinity stones. Capable of wiping a whole universe."
"I know. Hear me out, will you?" you stop yourself from letting out a frustrated sigh. Though, you almost miss the way he tensed up at how you addressed the most powerful might in the whole universe. You notice there's dread welling in him but he keeps it to himself with a determined look. "TVA wasn't exactly the best when it comes to 'protecting' the timelines. A fuse within the place caused some things to be questioned. The way of things were questioned. Then chaos ensued and the people that I know... who are there—right in this moment—are trying to save the timelines.
You glued your eyes unto him. "The branches aren't suffering, Doctor. They're new realities with living people, writing their own stories." you trail off the last lines.
Your words hung in the air. Silence has never been this loud before but you let him take the time to decide his next words. If you didn't pay much close attention, you could've missed the shift of his stern demeanor to a faint gentleness.
"Are you a variant?" he asks. "Before all of... the messed up timelines?"
For a moment, you froze. You could distinctively feel your chest tighten but you soon shrugged it off in a blink of an eye. "I am. Everyone in TVA is."
"But did you work for the TVA?"
"No." you plainly answered. "It's a very long story."
Something in his stare felt comforting yet enigmatic. At one glance, you'd see someone who's merely doing the job for their own benefit but you've long since started this conversation far enough to grasp what's likely and unlikely. You feel like there's no use hiding your troubles when he seems like he had already seen through you.
"It always is." he says.
You almost sink down on your sit, arms crossed as you avoided his calculating eyes.
"And it must be hard." he continued.
As much as it kept pinching your heart hearing it, you ignore his comments. Whatever it takes.
You sat there, withdrawn compared to before. The refusal that you were showing using silence made you look like a child, having a conversation with their parent for being caught in an unacceptable act. And nor should you want to reveal anything beyond what's he's headed unto. That is your lone past, your burden to carry, to remember. Now, what you aim is to create a new future entangled with the people you've met. That's all that matters.
You keep telling yourself that. Like you're trying to forget every bit that came before you knew about TVA.
The less you remember, the less it can hurt you.
Strange waits in silence but you see him turn away, inhaling. Oddly, he bats an eye on a specific corner in the room but before you could imitate his actions, he continues once again. "If you say that the branches aren't suffering, what exactly is the problem?"
Quite thankful for the shift of questions, you answer. "The proper flow of time." you start. "The massive amount of timelines branching out of the Sacred Timeline leads to chaos. I could say there's a war coming but crucially? There won't even be a war when all of existence is currently set to fade away."
You feel his pointed glance on you and as you look up to him, you see the frown etching up his face. Maybe, you've also spotted a hint of horridness in his eyes.
You know you said it was not a good idea raining these information down to them but this is only Strange. One out of too many. And you trust him to be able to handle such truth.
But you also know he's still a person.
"It's..." you try to say. "I... but I still believe there's a way to save both ways. I just need to get back to the TVA."
His frown did not dissipate, but you see his shoulders slightly drop. "And by trying to use the Time stone, you hope that you might be able to work it out. Correct?"
"Yeah..." you trailed off. "I hope."
I'll take any chances. You think. Even if it's unlikely possible.
"If this doesn't succeed," you continue. "we might have to turn our plans towards technology. I believe Stark and Banner would be very helpful on that, don't you think?"
"You put too much faith on them when you're just a stranger in their eyes." he says, eyes drifting away before back at you. He still wants answers. "I believe you mentioned you fought with heroes. Can I assume the Avengers has something to do with that?"
"You can." you reply, lifting a briefly tight smile. "Your alternate selves aren't that different from the ones that I know of."
He cocks his head up at the information with a plain expression but you see a slight wonder eliciting in his eyes. You sense that he wanted to ask something more as he opened his mouth but he soon diverged on a different one. "How can our technology even reach the heights of what you require to achieve?"
You hesitatingly shrug. "I don't know much but I do know TVA is also managed through... some kind of technology. Maybe it's impossible and unheard of.... but it wouldn't hurt to try."
"A tech outside of time?" he raised a brow quizzically. You only shrugged again which only made him look quite confused. "That's going to be really complex."
"What can a sorcerer say?" you say as you earned a pointed look from him. Oh, he did not like that.
"I was once a man of science and I still am." he sternly says as he tries to hide his irritation. "You have no right to question my profession."
You were quite take aback as you blinked at the small outburst. You contained a laugh. "I meant myself, Doctor."
"Oh."
You gave him a faint lopsided grin but made no further step in rousing his mistake. He eyed you down as his irritation slowly dissipates into a softer glare. As if saying that you should shut your mouth.
No matter what universe he is in, he's still devilishly good at intimidation....not that he has intimidated me before tremendously...
You tell yourself.
You almost feel like somewhere out there, someone is laughing at your interrogation session.
"Right..." he slowly says then breathes. "I'm going to take your word for everything that you've told me. But if you want to use the sto-"
You we're already most intent on listening to what he has to say but oh, it seems like you've almost forgotten about one of your bodily and existentially issues once you felt the odd feeling of tight gripping within your guts. The nerves you felt while hearing his response catches up to you but in this manner, it twists your whole form.
You warped and deformed. Maybe some part of rousing your nervousness can be the trigger to time-slipping.
Though, you can certainly say you didn't miss this.
Once your body steadied, you opened your eyes.
And you met the luminescent light of green, blinding you for a few seconds before you registered the culprit of it all.
Strange stands back a few inches away from you compared to the last time he stood moments ago and what's also entirely new is the opened eye dangling upfront his chest.
The Eye of Agamotto.
Soon, you did notice the green rays of light was extending to your own form, hugging you with it's cool yet warm sensation. You think at first that the magic engulfing you felt so foreign because this is the first time you've interacted with a Time stone—but at the same time... it's not.
It wasn't foreign. No. It's just somehow.... bigger and... overpowering than how it usually feels.
How it usually feels...That can't be right.
But your eyes catch sight of Strange's face as your view gradually cleared. His hands stuck out with the same circular engravings you've always associated him with, but instead of a fiery orange hue, it was now gleaming in green.
"You okay?" he tries to assure, brows creasing.
You let the feeling sink in, exhaling. "I... I think so. What did you do?"
"I used the Time stone. As what you have wanted and what I was about to say." he answers, slowly lowering his hands. You see remnants of franticness on him. "But I actually have no idea what I did. Just casted it's powers on you."
You frown at him. "That's not very reassuring."
"Well, you asked for it." he jested, but his expression lightly softens. "You don't feel any different, do you?"
"I believe not..." you say, stretching your fingers, cranking your neck and checking for any anomalies that may have occurred to your physique. "I am... fine."
"Let's hope that does the magic. I don't particularly know how the TVA works or anything out there when confronted with magic but..." he explains, giving you a knowing look. "..it wouldn't hurt to try. At least it didn't hurt, did it?"
You eye him gently as you shake your head and you catch the distinct break of his gaze to a calmer one.
You feel anew.
You don't look different but you certainly feel lighter as the magic of the stone courses through you. It doesn't affect you in a way how the Time stone manipulates time, but in a way that just...holds you together. But for how long? This could only be temporary and you have no qualms with that, but the fact that this very stone can be effective and useful for the TVA, brings a sense of hope to you. Magic may be nullified in that place but exterior to that, the Time stone could be boundless when used to get there.
You really hate magic nullification.
But that's just speculation. Only actions can prove it.
"What we're you going to say again?" you asked him, quite disoriented.
Strange blinks. He then recalls to his previous sentence, shaking his mind off to focus back on his point. "As I was saying, I will be the only one using the Time stone. And well, that's been done. But the next attempt at using it, you tell me and I'll help." he was back yet again at his stern mannerisms but this time, he seems more...friendly? "Understood?"
You almost mindlessly nod but you tethered yourself up to a clear nod. Before you could say something else, he speaks up, slowly looming before you.
"And I haven't fully given my trust to you. I don't wanna keep threatening you for that but....betray us and you have the whole Avengers' team for an enemy." he stands back with a content expression, almost giddy-like. "Hope that's about clear."
Believe me, you say to yourself. I wouldn't dare.
One thing for sure, you're just glad that he agreed to help you.
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After you gave Strange your thanks, a genuine one at that, he replies it with an equally genuine nod...
Then sends you back in your blinding cell.
Thankfully, this time he didn't opened a portal below you to fall in but heeded your previous word of preference. Though, you admit that it's still uncomfortable on your part to experience the shifting of environment once again.
At this point, you'd think that you may have earned the right to be free, out and about from your irritatingly bright cell, but it seems like the Avengers are tough to convince when they suspect you as some kind of an enemy. To give it thought, that is understandable. Yet, it cannot be help to feel some sort of annoyance towards it.
The vast space of the cell seems to mock you of out of the comfort that you once knew. You honestly preferred the brightly lit orange office that the TVA emanates. Even the bustling time analysts rushing in different directions across the place breathes you a little bit of life.
There's the kindness and assurances of Mobius.
O.B.'s chirpy smile after saying something absurd.
B-15's gentle heart whenever she explains the worth of those branches.
Some sort of joke Casey doesn't seem to be able to comprehend.
The look Sylvie gave you when you told your tale of escape from the past TVA. And as your disbelief hindered you speechless after knowing who she really is.
And Loki.
How one look of him for the first time after you we're captured, broke your heart into a bittersweet mourning.
Not that he died in your timeline. Well, at least you almost thought he did.
But to be ripped out of that reality and then wipe it off of existence is like losing everything you have ever loved. As if a world just died with no remnants nor echo to prove the wonders of that life. Which is, unfortunately, the case.
Except, only for you alone to witness it.
It's no different when compared to death. B-15 knew that.
The Loki that you met in the TVA may not be the one that you knew, but it was still quite hopeful for you to see that maybe not everything was lost. Maybe you can still belong somewhere. Or see your old friends and family again. Even if at some point, it's bound to hurt you, to know that you're an anomaly, a displacement in every single universe that you'll end up in.
To feel like an imposter.
But the cast of friends you made with Mobius and the others gratified you somehow. And you're not ready to let that go. You want to help fix the TVA then after that....perhaps you can decide your next steps.
Breathing in, your thoughts speak. Look ahead, fool. You'll fare well without those memories. Starting all over again can't be that awful...
You berate yourself albeit hesitantly.
Though, is it really worth forgetting everything you've come to cherish? There's a feeling that tells you, yes, your inner turmoil would not exist no more if you'll just forget those moments in your timeline. But you know that's not what you want. And you also know the aching pain of loss is truly unwanted for anyone, yet you feel inhumane to choose not to feel that.
What does it matter?
You can't help but drift your eyes in a moment of daze as you unconsciously fly your fingers to your other hand, caressing the ring that sits there. You then bring your eyes down to it.
It looked simple yet...enriched. Just like how Asgardians do very much love their golden treasures and land, your ring was no different. Though what makes it special is it's carved runes rounding the accessory to which it bestows it's means of definition to bind.
They call it the Asgardian Betrothal ring.
The name says it all. But besides that, another memory catches up to you when you're brought to look upon your halved severed finger to where your ring lays. Unusual it is, but you've grown used to it's sight and the remembrance it leaves on your heart is clear as the day. You thought at first you could not bear the bizarre feeling of a missing finger, but time proves you lesser so.
Because it does look quite cool, as what Midgardians would say.
Nonetheless, the might to have experience the cause of it stems deeply in your mind.
The Dark Elves did truly ensure that.
As you trace your fingers against the ring, you can't help but think how good of a combination a severed finger and a ring could be together. It sounds absurd, you admit. Especially when it kind of metaphorically shows how your supposed marriage have been cut short—like your finger.
An omen you don't want to think too much even as though your situation have gotten worse, more or so than it predicted.
My Norns, you think. do you even exist? Or is this just punishment?
Your face fell into a deep pained frown.
Loki was your fiancé.
Your Loki that withered away because of the TVA.
Your marriage with him had pended for a long while for various reasons. You can't say royal courts have no squabbles at all because that would be unreal. And as a daughter in court, you've learned your fair share of duty that comes with it. But when you say royal court, that mainly involves the royal family.
And Loki's folks doesn't have the simplest of all families, but contrary to that.
It didn't bother you both much for your betrothal was never stemmed from your hearts. It was only a matter of arrangement on the All-father's part. He only asked of you to perform a duty for the realm and for Loki to be the second prince that he is.
Or so you thought.
Though, people know it themselves of each and everyone's reputation in the royal palace, they see Loki as an outcast among them but that didn't deter you to form a some sort of....acquaintanceship with him.
And there's no possible in Hel you would admit to yourself that he didn't became dear to you.
It has come far more than that.
Which then spelt your doom.
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Luckily, no more time-slipping for you.
At least in the last few hour or so. It seems like the Time stone proved you well of it's abilities—for the most part.
You just don't want to assume.
As you busied yourself conjuring a dozen projection of tiny floating petals by your palm, dancing along the illusion of a wind, a few heavy steps interrupt you. You crane your neck to see the three men that entered the area, standing just right behind your cell barrier. You see Doctor Strange, Bruce and Tony.
You lightly frown.
They look like they have so much to say. Am I in trouble?
Bruce opens his mouth to speak but Tony butts in. "Hey, congrats, you're free." he then smiles at you and slides it down quickly to an unamused look. "Mister wizard here says you're worth the shot to help, though I disagree since, well- everything you we're saying sounded like a lot of bullshit-"
"Tony, hey." Bruce cuts in, giving him a disappointed sigh. "We talked about this."
You raised a brow. 'you we're saying'?
"I know, I know." he surprisingly says as he waved his hand off to Bruce to let him talk. "Let me finish this. Like I said—bullshit. But," he paused for awhile, eyeing you in seriousness. You don't miss the hesitation lingering in his expression. "the dangers you claim sounds a lot of a big deal than whatever we've known so far and I don't take lightly in trusting some....Time Pasta from out of nowhere. But it seems like you've got admirers in the team and they outnumber me. Which is dumb by the way."
You see Strange roll his eyes beside him. Though, you somewhat feel relieved to hear that the majority of the Avengers favor you well enough to help. You don't really mind the small distrust for now but at least—like Strange apparently said—you're worth the shot to help.
"So you're..." Tony continues as he taps a few times on his...bracelet? And then looks up to you with a swipe of his finger towards your barrier. In less than a second, it completely dissipates in little pixels, the whole wall gone right before you. "a free woman. And yes, don't try anything fishy or....'you have the whole Avengers' team for an enemy.'"
"Okay, that's it." Strange gives Tony a stern look.
But Tony stays his eyes on you. "You're lucky Bleecker Street Magician vouched for you."
"Hold on." you halt them, frown deepening. "You we're watching our interrogation?"
Strange turns to you. "Trust me, they insisted."
"You could've at least told me." you retorted. You we're quite upset but you guess it's better they see the whole clear picture of your story rather than just planting suspicions on your motives and existence.
The sorcerer gives you an apologetic look.
"Oh, how can we not pry? You we're the suspicious one who came out of literal nowhere." Tony gives you a satire grin.
Fair point. At this point, would it be bad if they knew? Probably. You don't learn these things in your daily life even if you're a superhuman who can do magic or a genius in an iron clad suit. But then, they seem to be taking it quite well.
You think.
You exasperatedly sigh "Fine. I get it."
"Good." he replies then eyes you intently while he pulls something out of his blazer. You wait to see what it is and you see a tiny speck of something red between his fingers as he stretches it out to you. "Gummy bear?" you stilled and only eyed it suspiciously but you quirk up an amused brow. "No? Yeah, well, have it your way." and he eats it himself.
Of course he offers snacks whenever you least expect it. your mind speaks. A feature of every Tony Stark, I suppose.
Maybe it's also a good sign he's offering you so.
You glance amongst them for a few seconds before you can step out and down from your acquainted cell that you will never miss. Any left cautiousness you saw from them when you first appeared have leveled down just a bit. That heightens you down to an ease. You want them to know that you can be truly trusted so you walk patiently as you observed them.
Now that you've crossed out, Strange speaks up. "How's your time-slipping? I doubt people wouldn't get scared of you if every passing second your body's ripping apart."
"Yeah that," Bruce joins in with a concerning glance. "it really- it looks horrible. You're like...a walking horror movie."
You don't know if you should be offended or be guilty to have made people feel that way but you blink away. Whatever a 'horror movie' is. You just let out an 'Oh' as you turn to answer Strange's question. "But yes, I think it's working."
The said man sags his shoulders down in relief. "That settles that for now then. In the meantime, I need to go back." Strange turns around and opens a portal to somewhere you can't quite recognize.
"Where are you going?" you crease your brows at his leaving figure. "What about our deal and plan?"
He stops and looks back to you, exhaling. "We can start tomorrow. Surely, you've had a very long day."
You softened your gaze. He's right. Was it even day or night? You've been everywhere and moving from place to place before you came. Then, questions thrown for you to answer. Maybe a rest should do you good.
Strange sees your ease and receives the message, giving you a single comforting nod. He then finally enters the portal as it closes to a speck of dot.
You're glad that he's warming up to you even if just a bit.
You're now left with the two genius scientists with Tony picking up the lead to say something. "And that's also my queue to leave." he looks at you. "Also, Bruce is right. You're not just a walking 'horror movie'—you're a walking 'Horror Time Pasta Movie' so you won't be going anywhere without supervision. Who knows what else is happening to you."
You have no idea what you're hearing. But you make it a point to tell him that you have a name.
"Yeah, you-who-whatsoever. You're still Time Pasta for me." he says with a fake smile then turns around to head for the door. "Remember, you're being watched around here!"
You don't doubt you are. A 'free woman' he says. Now my whole prison is just the entirety of this building.
You could always magic your way out but where would you go? And it isn't worth the risk when their trust relies on that terrible decision. You just need to find a way back to the time organization that you realize you've been quite obsessing over now.
You shrug it off. You need to lay down and rest.
That's also when Bruce speaks up. "Don't mind Tony. He's always like that and he still has a good heart." your eyes snap to him as he walks towards the door. He gestures for you to follow as you complied. There's a hesitation in his tone as he continued. "I did hear that you we're allies with us in your timeline, so you probably know how he is. Unless, maybe, he's more of a jerk there..." he turns to you with an apologetic look.
You chuckled. "Well, nothing's particularly changed I supposed. We're usually more on good terms." you eyed him kindly.
He huffed. "Wait, really?" you nodded.
He started to ask questions about multiverses. He gets so expressive with his reactions when he hears something so different and unexpected. But he also mentions a bit about Thor and Loki.
"Thor warmed up to you so easily." he says. "I mean, he could be biased because you're one of his people but I guess that works well for you. He really tried talking it out to them on your behalf."
Your heart softens at that. And you don't know what to think. There's that lightheartedness washing through you and you miss the feeling.
He then continues. "Even Loki acted different."
You dart up to him. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, like," he starts. "he's actually willing to side with you—which he doesn't usually does with anyone. Especially when you just came here this morning."
Oh, you echo in your head. it's only been that long?
But you go back to his words. "Loki is?"
"Yeah," he looks to you. "you're close with him? With his- what do you call it again? Va- Variant?"
You inhale. "Variant, yes. But no, you call them Variants if-" you pause, not wanting to ramble more about the TVA and anything about it. You've said enough relating to that topic and you don't think you can handle more mentions of its complexity.
Seriously, it's tiring.
"Nevermind." you defeatedly sigh as you gave him an apologetic look. "Yes, I know...Loki."
He seems to notice your tiredness and hesitation. You try your best to bring up a smile but it just became strained.
If Bruce ever saw your sadness, he didn't mention it.
You skim back to what he said about Loki. You can't deny that it's odd that he would side with you in this circumstances considering that your interactions so far where not quite good. But at the same time, it gives you a sense of warmth to know that he would.
Though, you don't want to delude yourself further if this escalates differently.
As you tagged behind him, which soon changed with you walking side by side, you take a moment to survey the halls you we're passing by. It was increasingly different than you expected. But as you walked further, the scene shifts to a few turns, then stairs as you go up and finally catch sight of the glass paned walls that lets you see the vast fields outside of the compound. Though, only a few specks of lights we're radiating the field so you don't see much because it is night time.
You hear the faint voices and steps of Tony right ahead but you don't see him. It gets closer and closer as the echo surrounds the place as you lastly hear cusses like 'shit' or 'dammit' that slowly fades away into silence.
It seems like he already left.
You realized you actually don't know where Bruce is leading you, so you ask. "Where are we going exactly?"
"Oh yeah, my bad." he replies apologetically. "Tony wanted me to show you to your room. And don't worry, this time it isn't a prison."
You somewhat light up at that.
You then stare at Bruce whose slightly ahead of you now. You think that maybe you should thank him for...well, almost and kind of, for siding with you during the previous arguments. He's always been such a kindhearted soul to everyone including you, and you guess he always will be.
"Thank you," you suddenly say. He shifts his attention to you in wonder. "for putting up with me."
His brows lift up and he softly smiles. "Don't mention it."
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After you had bid your farewells with Bruce and with you being able to settle in your new room, you take everything in.
He was right. Not a prison.
Everything looks normal and comfortable but also too sophisticated than you preferred. But nonetheless, you'll do away with it because you can't afford to be fussy over little things.
The bed was made up with white blankets and pillows. A few Midgardian necessities on a vanity just across the bed. Then a door that probably leads to the bathing quarters along with a massive wardrobe that you will unlikely need and a seating area just right where you entered. It's fairly big but it honestly cannot contend compared to Asgard's chambers.
"Then again," you mutter to yourself. "this isn't a royal palace."
As you surveyed more for awhile, your sight catches the wide windows that behold the scene outside. This time, you see everything clearly as the moon rays illuminates the night and you stand there for a moment basking in the serene view.
It's calm, you thought. yet there's a storm coming.
You just revel for awhile in the moment as your previous tiredness sinks in. You've ran enough. It's time for you to settle, even just this once.
But before you could turn around to head in bed, you hear someone mutter your name with frantic breaths just a few feet from behind. And as you panicked to hear someone else in your room, you look back to see...nothing.
No one.
Have I gone mad? you frantically think.
But you heard it clear as day.
You heard Loki call for you.
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Previous chapter: (Chapter 2)
Next chapter: (Chapter 4)
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sharpen-your-blade · 10 months
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U know..the other day i was watching a yt video about ACOTAR/SJM-verse theories and one was saying 'Eris knew Mor was gay that's why he put a nail into her & dropped her in Velaris so that he would not embarrass his family by braking the engagement & set Mor free' & i was like...this actually might happen given SJM's track record of 'men abusing women for their own good'... ( this video also had some interesting theories ab Elain but again, given SJM's track record idt they will happen)
i wanna answer this because it’s been on my mind lately!
i’m ngl, i’m extremely worried for what sjm is going to do with the whole eris & mor debacle. we know that she’s teased there’s more to the story than we think, and that eris may be more innocent or at least less involved than he seems, but it’s alarming because, no matter what route she takes, it’s almost guaranteed mor’s character and trauma will be diminished and reframed for the sake of redeeming eris’s.
is she going to say that mor lied (🫤) about or twisted the details of the story, and in her retelling painted eris as the bad guy? if this is admitted, be it by mor or eris (hell or even rhysand probably because that mf seems to know everything about everyone somehow) then it’s super weird because not only is mor’s whole thing truthfulness or wtv but also because...a woman lying about her abuse? not the best look, sjm, especially considering you and many others champion your series as one that discusses themes of abuse towards both men and women and uplifts those abuse survivors. and it’s even weirder because it would become a theme of sjm’s—feyre lied about her abuse to tamlin and lucien when she let them believe rhys rāped her, and now we would have mor also be a woman who let others think the worst of a man just to allow him redemption after being shitty. this revelation would add to eris’s character whilst simultaneously reducing mor’s. reframing mor’s trauma to make eris look better is…certainly A Choice.
i detest the notion that eris played whatever part he did in mor’s abuse “for her own good”. if given a proper explanation, i can likely come to understand why he did what he did, but that isn’t justification for his treatment of mor. it doesn’t absolve him of the part he played in the autumn court, nor does it absolve him of the disgusting slut-shaming he aimed at mor in front of all the other high lords.
sjm is always so hell bent on redeeming these villainous characters instead of simply just letting them be villainous and understanding that their “morally grey” actions are an essential part of who they are as a character. eris is compelling as morally grey, he’s even compelling as a villain, but he’s not compelling as a secret good guy who hurt a woman but “for her own good!!!” and actually has a heart of gold beneath his woman-hating exterior. i’m sick and tired of seeing that characterization in men in all ya/na fantasy romance books these days.
idk what sjm was thinking when she wrote this weird ass plotline. if she wanted to make eris a hot, villainous character i’m sure she could have accomplished that without connecting him to mor’s abuse. but again, Choices were made and now we must sit back and watch as sjm jumps through hoop after hoop trying to excuse yet another abusive man.
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cauchys-special-boy · 26 days
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having caught up i can say that the silt verses are good, genuinely good. very fun concept, very interesting characters, little phrases and bits of dialogue i can chew on. and it isn't even a criticism that i have per se, but in the vast world of "works which have every form of real world horribleness except no one's sexist and everyone's queer" i think that the silt verses suffer the most
it would work so well! basically every episode that isn't about people being fed to the machine by the state is about people being fed to the machine by the rules they think they have to follow and misguided loyalty to their community. you could have an exaggerated societal obsession with reproduction, since the more kids your neighbors have the less likely one of yours will need to be sacrificed. i mean the relationship people have with their god is already reminiscent of trad marriage, why not take that further? isn't the image of proper respectable people scorning the faggots who aren't doing their part to breed more meat for the grinder just so silt verses? and then some of the outlawed faiths could easily wind up accumulating outcasts, so you'd have a good explanation for the demographics of the main cast. i mean you take the trawlerman's affinity for change, maybe tweak the promised bride a little in one of the retellings, and bam!
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hopeymchope · 4 months
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Danganronpa Kirigiri: Post-Halftime Report
So you probably remember that I recently discovered the entire Danganronpa Kirigiri series is now available in some form of an English translation. I jumped on reading them immediately, and I started to write this post when I was at the halfway point of reading Danganronpa Kirigiri Vol. 4. Because that's roughly the halfway point of the series a whole, right? But then I went and finished Vol. 4, so now I'm like... idk, 57% through? Though that doesn't actually account for unique page counts in each volume, so maybe I should reconsider that percentage. Er. ......... The point is that I feel like I should probably say something to mark the "roughly halfway" point. Y'know — just write some notes on my thoughts and feelings where things stand so far.
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MINOR WARNING: I'm obviously a huge Danganronpa fan. Since late 2016, I've absorbed every possible piece of DR media I could get. So I've basically been waiting seven years to be able to read past Volume 1 of these light novels. (There's been a translation of Vol. 3 out for some time, but ofc I had no desire to skip from 1 to 3, so I passed on reading it before this.) Combine that with the Japanese-reading side of Tumblr HEAVILY hyping these books as one of the best things in the franchise + this being my first "new" DR content in two years, and there are some serious expectations weighing down the DRK light novels. I think that's why I've often felt so critical of them as I've gone through them.
A few different people have warned that these are partially machine translations. In actuality, they're a mix of machine translation + already-existing translations + A.I.-supported cleanup of the text + a human read-through to clean up major dangling errors — albeit by someone who is not a native English OR Japanese speaker. Even Chinese fan translations were used as part of the source, which is NOT IDEAL. With that in mind: How's the result? Honestly, it's DAMNED impressive! Extremely readable and easy to get engaged with! ...... but of course, it's not without issues. Errors in syntax/grammer are pretty common, some concepts forego more natural/accurate translations in favor of slightly awkward explanations, and there's at least one Japanese word that is regularly repeated yet left weirdly untranslated. And yet? Despite those sporadic issues, the story is NEVER difficult to follow. These books are full of complex mysteries with tons of little details building upon one another, and all the necessary information to enjoy them comes through clearly. So: Although a thorough, proper translation and localization by parties fully versed in both languages would still be the ideal scenario, I find that these translations make for a satisfying experience right now.
Given that most of the overall narrative is told via Yui Samidare's first-person POV, I thought we'd learn a lot about Kirigiri's onee-sama. To my surprise, however, Samidare is one of the — perhaps even the — most thinly drawn protagonist(s) I've encountered in any Danganronpa story. Halfway through the light novels, and I've learned very little of her history, absolutely nothing about her home life, and her inner thoughts come in just two forms: 1) Feelings of inferiority/low self-esteem (Of course! It is, after all, a tradition), and 2) Deep adoration of Kirigiri.
I've always adored how Kazuataka gives his characters (even relatively minor ones) numerous traits that make them feel realistically complex, sometimes almost self-contradictory. Basically, that whole GDC presentation he gave on how he develops characters and stories? I LIVE for that shit. By comparison, author Takekuni Kitayama has introduced us to many characters, but the vast majority lack that same complexity. They don't even hint at that kind of complexity. Though perhaps that's because...
I think it's safe to say that the best aspect of Kitayama's writing is his complicated, fascinating mysteries. Reading these, it's no wonder he was asked to come up with the murder scenarios for "Master Detective Archives: Rain Code"! DRK Vol. 2 in particular really engrossed me with its gothic atmosphere and strange setup. Which isn't to say that he's flawless at this stuff, mind you; the main mystery of Volume 3 required Samidare to be pretty thick-headed to not even consider some of the details behind the truth, and it ultimately featured a pretty ridiculous answer to how the murder was executed. But even if that one felt a bit botched, Volume 4 has already made up for it rapidly with numerous twisty mysteries all being juggled by different detectives, each one coming off well-plotted and well-reasoned so far. (Though at least one is not yet fully explained.)
To that previous point: Kirigiri is already solving far more elaborate, complicated mysteries in these light novels than anything she's forced to deal with in DR1. I guess that's fine when you consider that she figures out the truth behind DR1 Chapters 1-4 well ahead of their trials. But now it kinda feels like 13-year-old Kyoko would've resolved every mystery in DR3 much faster than 20-ish Kyoko did in that series. :P I'm only sort-of joking, lol. But hey, maybe she got a little rusty between DR1 and DR3.... ? Or we can justify her more deliberate pace in DR3 by pointing out the ways her efforts were hindered, the fact she was being routinely drugged, and/or noting just how wild the circumstances she had to "solve" truly were. (I mean... the culprit's already dead? The entire primary base has been duplicated in a now-underwater environment? The Savage She-Hulk created a possible Death Cure before dying herself? There's a lot of crazy shit to unpack there :P)
Volume 3 ends with a serious case of "Jin Ex Machina". It's...NOT well-justified by the story, to say the least, but on the plus side? It's executed via a classic trope from action/suspense tales, so I'm inclined to let it slide. :) The end of Volume 3 and the opening of Volume 4 are also when the "grandfather twist" is revealed. I was spoiled about this particular turn of events YEARS ago, but I still believe it's an effective and clever misdirect. The answer is so obvious in retrospect, but Kitayama manages to distract his readers very effectively until the moment he hands both us and Samidare the solution.
RE: Jin, since even the first game I've liked the fact that Kyoko held this resentment towards her father for abandoning her because it feels so real. In a world full of outlandish "psychopop" elements, dealing with a father who abandoned their child is something incredibly grounding bc I know so many fucking people who have this same backstory in their lives. The reveal that he kept a photo of his daughter (in DR1) and wanted Kizakura to help watch out for her (in DR3) then added elements of wish-fulfillment to that backstory; it's pretty typical for a child abandoned by a parent to want to believe that their absentee parent still loved and cared for them in some way, even from afar. DRK takes that "love from afar" much further by having Jin secretly watching over Kyoko all the time while simultaneously never seeing or speaking to her directly... and that's a step too far for my taste. It's hard to swallow that he has such time and/or ability. Thankfully, Kitayama doesn't go so far as to absolve Jin of his sins, which was where I was worried this may be headed. See, we learn that the board of Hope's Peak all but demands that Jin stay away from the Kirigiri family if he's going to continue to advance within the school's hierarchy (and no, this is never explained or justified — even if it's pretty easy to believe Hope's Peak Just Be Like That). This helps keep Jin a somewhat ambiguous figure; sure, he's obviously very concerned about his daughter, but his decision to totally dedicate himself to an organization that keeps him away from her raises doubts for both Samidare and us readers. Which I appreciate.
.......Tohachiro Uzuchi sounds like a fascinatingly weird dude, doesn't he? His total dedication to the Kirgiri Family's legacy despite how it impacted his daughter is something else, yo.
Starting with Volume 4 (and evidently continuing into Volume 5), we're starting to get lengthy chapters where we aren't focused on Samidare OR Kirigiri for the very first time. Instead, these chapters center us on other, different detectives. We don't get to know these characters much at all before we're thrust into focusing on them, PLUS this comes after the series has already made both us and Samidare severely doubt anyone who's registered with the Detective Library. So my first reaction to starting a chapter with one of these newbies is consistently a bored, irritated feeling of "Why should I care about y'all?" Happily, it didn't take me long to quite like Salvador Yadorigi Fukurō — the first of our focal detectives outside of our lead duo. That makes me optimistic for how I'll react to the others' stories.
I've often seen the question "Did DRK really need to take seven volumes?" over the years. And while that may sound a bit, idk, presumptuous? maybe entitled? to many fans (bc ofc an author can take however long they want/need in order to tell the story they want to tell), I admit that I understand and empathize with this questioning mindset. I think this way about movies all the time! "This movie would've been better without these scenes" or "This movie needed X and Y scenes to fully come together/help the pacing." So: Do I think DRK could've benefitted from some kind of edit or even expansion? I'll need to wait until I'm completely finished to feel confident, but right now: I think we could've easily cut out one of the first two volumes, sure. But that'd also lose us some precious time developing the already-rushed Samidare/Kirigiri relationship, so maybe it wouldn't be that smart.
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walks-the-ages · 9 months
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Honestly the more I think it, the more I actively dislike across the spider verse.
Way too long and then has zero conclusion
.
Plot all over the place, feels like two of three films cramed into one
.
Too many characters being introduced without time spent on them properly to develop them
.
Why is the opening going out of it's way to induce seizures or migraines or headaches. Literally what other explanation is there for that opening in 2023 other than trying to weed out the epileptics (and literally anyone with any kind of photosensitivity)in your audience in the opening credits???
Like. Yeah, the movie is pretty. But it needs more than to be pretty to actually be a good movie.
The first Spider verse movie worked so well because it was focused on Miles and close to home, down to earth and personal.
Now the second movie comes along and we've got our attention split between Gwen, Miles, and all the rest of the gang and it's just feels really impersonal .
Why focus on Gwen so much when half her things are time skips, and it would have been so much more interesting to see what's going on with her from Mile's limited perspective and keeping the focus on our established main character?
Also I don't know about you guys but this movie should have been half the length that it was. There's no need to stretch it out to two and a half hours and then literally leave off on a completely unsatisfying cliffhanger?
I literally had some kids come through my line at work the other day who described it as "the ending was bad." Despite having been super hyped to see it
Kids under 10 are able to see just how badly this movie ended even when they can't articulate the 'why'.
I was excited to see this movie.
I ended up bored half way through.
I was browsing Tumblr for the last quarter of the film.
Our step dad who was super excited to see it ended up walking out because he was bored and would rather do paperwork than sit through a long drawn out movie where despite all the flashy (literally) animation nothing is really happening.
Also no, Gwen Stacy is never actually said to be canonically trans. She has a"blink and you'll miss it" "protect trans kids" flag in her room and her dad has a "blink and you'll miss it" trans pride pin on his cop uniform.
For all we know her fucking dad could be a trans cop. I literally had to look up a screenshot of "Gwen Stacy dad trans pride flag" to see where the fuck the flag supposedly was because despite looking for it I didn't see it anywhere in the movie and only saw her room poster because I was looking for it.
Hidden Easter eggs is not fucking proper representation in 2023.
Spider verse is a movie about infinite universes worth of Spider People. Is it really so fucking impossible for them to include a explicitly trans Spider Hero as a main character? Is it? Is it?
It's 2023.
I'm tired of franchises and movies putting in queer Easter eggs and letting queer fandom do the advertising/hype work for them rather than have actual explicit representation, there's literally no excuse for it.
Stop worshipping films for queer baiting and ""allegories"" when they're more than capable of giving explicit representation to queer folk.
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daeva-agas · 1 year
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[Ikesen Historivia] Can a man and woman be somehow confused for each other in history?
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Some theorised that it’s possible. Unlike Jean in Ikesen Vampire, this one actually has somewhat of a realistic basis, because in Japan one person can go by a dozen different names, and it makes accounting for who is who in records very difficult. 
Somewhere in 2016, news broke surrounding the famed female lord Ii Naotora: That “Ii Naotora” is not a woman, and it’s a case of mistaken identity.
That is not to say that there is no “female lord of the Ii family”. The female lord is still there. What they’re saying is just that the female lord’s name is not Naotora, and Naotora is a different man.
It’s something that’s debatable. The very historian who broke the news of “Ii Naotora is a woman feudal lord” insisted that Naotora really is her name, and this new claim is based on dubious sources. However, you could argue that this man might be biased, because he would have the reason to defend his own thesis. Until thoroughly debunked using more research data, this theory still has the slightest possibility of being true.
「ETA: I completely forgot about this other story that is actually more relevant, which is ironic since I actually made a point about childhood names in this exact post. A few years ago, there was a letter from Hideyoshi that was discovered, and the recipient is one “Saikaku”. For some time, it was believed that this is the wife of the deceased lord of the clan, that was acting as the new lord in her husband’s place. However, after further research, there were new documents discovered that suggested that “Saikaku” is a man. Saikaku was just his childhood name, and that upon his adulthood changed his name to Kageyoshi. This was perhaps a family that wasn’t very large nor influential, so it seems that their genealogy is not very well documented.]
“Nouhime/Nohime” and “Kichou”
Historically speaking, the term “Nouhime/Nohime” is currently believed to have not actually been a name at all. Her personal name is either Kichou or Kochou, and “Nohime” is just a title identifying “A lady from Mino”. The “No” of “Nohime” is the same “-no” of “Mino”.
(previously it was thought that 濃姫 is read Nouhime, but after checking on the source materials, people discovered that the text contains furigana reading that confirms 濃姫 to be read “Nohime”)
This is like saying “Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh”. His name is not Edinburgh, his name is Phillip, and it’s not like we’re talking about two people with this phrase.
And even then it’s not entirely certain if Kichou or Kochou was the correct spelling, or if it might have been something else completely different, because women’s personal names is really really hard to find. Mostly they’re referred to by various titles associated to the castles or domains they reside in, and their Buddhist names. There are a few women’s name that are well known in pop culture that have turned out to be dubious or false (modern invention).
The reason Ikesen is using Nohime and Kichou is probably because those are the names people in Japan are familiar with. Basically clickbait. Even if the writers know it’s wrong, I think they would still do the same because using accurate but unfamiliar names like Kochou or Sagiyama-dono would not have the same zing for the readers.
I’m still waiting for in-game explanation confirmation as to why a man in the Sengoku would be named something like “Kichou”, because that doesn’t make sense per the usual male naming convention. It’s not like Kenshin, Shingen, or Kennyo, which are Buddhist names. Kichou is just... not a sensible name for a man to have, even if Ikesen-verse is a parallel dimension. Most of the time the name logic for NPCs is still pretty close to at least Edo era conventions.
Maybe they’re gonna say that it’s his childhood name (like Ranmaru) and he never received a proper adult name because of the twins situation. Otherwise his proper “manly” name should have been Toshi or Tatsu-something
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dcwnthercbbithcle · 3 months
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@dollhidden asked for a 'Plot's Please!' for their characters, BUT TUMBLR ATE THE MESSAGE AFTER I TRIED TO SAVE THE DRAFT! Very Sadge!
send me “plots please” and I’ll respond with 3 (or more) interesting plots / relationships / connections I can think of for our muses! | ACCEPTING
HEY LADYBUG!! Happy New Year! How've you been doing? I hope it's been well! I won't lie to you; I went a little hard with these ones, and the major reason I made Doe multi-verse and more inspired by Dead By Daylight was because of you and your muses, or more specifically, wanting to roleplay with you in your verses!! ASDASDSADH
POTENTIAL INTERACTION COMBINATIONS / INTERESTING DYNAMIC IDEAS
Okay, so, straight off the bat, given how long we've been mutual and all the convos we've had, I don't think I really need to spend the time selling you on my muses and explaining their entire deals and instead focus on the many potentially interesting combinations with a couple bits of explanations for them while completely VIBRATING with excitement! ASDHASDHASD
So first, Fíadh, now I THINK I've told you about Fíadh before, but just in case, this is a bun memory moment, let me rewind. In the broadest sense, she is an Inscryption based oc that takes notes from the entity known as Leshy for her background. She's a mix of folklore, classically dark fairy tales, gods that hold humans to the exact bestial nature as all other animals, sacrifice, bloodshed and the brutal beauty of nature. Now, she isn't CONSTRAINED to Inscryption; it's just an important context for understanding both the sort of woman and character that she is! She is my not-so-feral, malevolent, formerly human mountain-dwelling monster that will eat people alive! She's fun and sassy, like a goat, but also an apex predator who knows that about herself.
NOW THIS IN MIND: Fíadh would be FASCINATING to watch and interact with any of the RE: Village muses. Now, this is partially because being confronted with the fact that she's not the most dangerous beast in the woods would be a startling revelation. But also, more like her but not like her, ones that left their humanity behind, who gave it up for 'family' and duty in exchange for this feeling of belonging and love.
Especially Lady D or any of the daughters, because, like, Fíadh isn't feral feral but she is so unacquainted with 'proper' 1910s+ manners that I think it would be funny for the girls to have a 'WHY IS SHE ALLOWED TO DO IT?' and Lady D having a minor coronary because HER HOUSE, her nice, clean house is getting HOOF PRINTS PUT EVERYWHERE AND SNOW!! NO YOU GIRLS CAN'T KEEP HER!!
NOW SALLY, SALLY, MY BELOVED, my mean ghost lady who will adopt 90% of your muses. You know Sally, I don't need to explain Sally but like, hear me out:
Sally adopts Rosie inside the fog or in Sally's post-fog AU. Now, in the fog, the AU is pretty obvious, the Entity is feeding on the tragedy that's befallen everyone's favorite mold baby and the lycan monsters that have hunted her father in his endless quest to rescue her.
BUT POST-FOG AU?? Rosie is in recovery from the events of the DLC that have had an obviously traumatizing effect on her. Sally, who herself has been a victim to very similar circumstances in the fog both BEING the murder ghost and being eternally tormented and torn apart by the ghosts of her patients reaching out for help, is trying to take her underwing and help her step forward in a way that Best DadTM Chris can't fully help because he's never lived through a hell comparable to them.
Also, Sally and Ellie <3. Ellie reminds her so much of a boy (Frank) she used to be the social worker in charge of, per her modern-ish AU. Being driven both by guilt and the ghost (metaphorical) of the little boy, she failed to stop from slipping through the cracks to go full in on trying to correct and model healthiness for her when she isn't healthy at all.
AND DOOOOOOE, oh my god, where could I even begin to start with Doe?? She's my ghost girl, but less murder and anger and hatred and more depression and confusion and fear!! Please DM me for more information about her and the card so I don't completely spam and overwhelm this meme! We can do so many non-DBD AU things with her, though!!
Your Until Dawn muses, for instance, she is a PERFECT character to interact with any and or all of them within either the events of the game's narrative or in a kind of aftermath 'revisiting the old trauma and confronting it' AU.
HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE MUSES??? It's more of a stretch to insert Doe into that Universe, BUT HELLO!!! Ghost ladies who die miserable deaths throughout their lives NEED to stick together! Let Doe, my strange little creature, go in there and befriend the other ghosties.
THE LAST OF US TOO! Doe is usually depicted as dead for obvious reasons per her narrative, but I am SO OPEN to a living Last of Us / Apocalypse-style AU! It would be hilarious to see her little quiet spitfire self with Tess or any other girls her age!
PLOTS
OKAY, THERE ARE A LOT, AND I DON'T WANT TO SUBJECT YOU TO AN EVEN LONGER TEXT WALL, SO I'll LIMIT MYSELF TO ONE TERM THREAD IDEA, message me though!!! because I had ones for ALL of the ones I mentioned above and I am more than willing to elaborate in the dms or on my discord!
Fíadh and the Dimitrescu sisters!!! I know I said Alcina may be one of the most interesting because she fully stands above Fíadh's height, even with Fiadh's horns, and has the most extreme personality differences but HEAR me out!!
Let's set the stage: it's a standard pre-Ethan Winters storming in after baby Rosie, while Mother Miranda is still doing her plotting to bring back her daughter after the 'failures' of the lords and the Lycanthropes start to overrun villages left, right and center while the experiments continue.
The Lycan has worked well, or rather a tad too well, in driving away most life from the isolated, crumbling eastern European mountainsides that used to encompass the formerly expansive kingdom under Mother Miranda's reign. Except for Fíadh, the Lycans have proved to be largely pests for many of the other lords, especially Alcina, who is now finding difficulty in securing new, continuous virgin blood sources for her wines. They have DRAWN Fíadh closer and closer to the village boundaries.
You see, Fíadh is a being of the hunt and bloodlust by extension; she craves a challenge in her own domain to make the act of her feedings (entirely exsanguinating a being and drinking all of the blood from them while leaving most flesh untouched in a semi-vampiric fashion) less of a chore and more of an enriching exercise of cleverness, trickery and/or brute strength.
Humans are clever, so they often make appetizing prey in terms of entertainment, albeit frustrating and not physically enriching. They'll sometimes bypass her entirely, paying tribute to her leader so she cannot harm them, or, in the foolish case, will require a bit of disguise and environmental manipulation to trap them before they can leave her domain and thus enter into the blessed domains of maintained towns or past running water where she can't follow, but physically? No challenge; they are far smaller & far, far weaker. It takes little for her to tear them asunder, and the fun ends when she isn't following and plotting how to trap them like hares.
BUT THESE LYCANS? They are a HUNT for her in all aspects, fueling the bloodlust more than the limited game of unmutated humans. Many Lycans are smart enough to see the massive 7ft+ woman with goat horns and run, but not intelligent enough to remember how their previous unmutated human selves warded her away or escaped her pursuit. Instead, they will group up, stand and charge, and physically? This is a major threat, especially if they bring out their leaders or the most mutated. They stand a chance against her physically; she can't simply trap and run them down.
She has to remain clever, pick them away from each other and prepare for a real fight with the chance of her being HURT. Which is fun! It's a REAL hunt that she often craves but can't get from human prey. Combined with their blood functioning to feed and sustain her, just as the blood of any other humans can, without much in the way of brutal side effects other than it tasting less palatable to her. She is hooked on this new game and will follow the food source back to the source, expanding her territory in the forest as there is less of a need to remain at the high peaks of the mountains.
Which brings her directly toward and through the domain of Castle Dimitrescu and Alcinia. Their neck of the woods overlaps significantly with Fíadh's range, and with Fíadh's boldness expanding, the chances of them running into each other only grow while he ventures further for her hunts. But it's not a matter of inherent hostility. Fíadh isn't a creature that is murder on sight; she's often benign until she considers you food or an annoyance.
So, I have some ideas of where it could go from there!
MUTUAL CURIOUSITY, similar to introducing two cats from opposite sides of a window. Intense winter weather would deliberately keep the girls separated and isolated, allowing Fíadh to become familiarized with the sight and presumed roles of the girls within the castle. Perhaps they're curious enough to release Moroaicǎ from the dungeonous cellars and crypts of the castles or shoo Samcă from the uppermost areas of the castle. Providing her game and fun and forming a kind of rapport between the girls until the spring and summer warming could allow them to interact physically.
MAYBE THEY DECIDE TO HUNT EACH OTHER A LITTLE BIT, perhaps when the girls finally come into contact with Fíadh, who, to that point, has come to view and respect their place as residents in the area and thus 'not to be messed with' they decide to test her, just as anyone would a new toy. Trying to push the boundaries to see how much they can get away with, how long until she fights back against them, and eventually how much it takes until she breaks, given the girls have never been too great at preserving their toys. However, to the girl's delight and perhaps frustration, Fíadh doesn't break and die. Not like the humans they usually gain as staff and toys from Alcina. Something, something the curse, something, something being a supernatural creature, it's neither here nor there. In any case, the girls would eventually need a mutual cease-fire as once aggravated, Fíadh is BRUTAL and won't let up. Fíadh heals fast as long as she has blood, and between her size, the girls would have trouble attempting to overwhelm her, especially compared to a person like Ethan. She's a big target that would force them to attempt at their human forms, which, given her size advantage, would result in blows for Fíadh, but not enough to take her down.
Either way, they're separated; Fíadh is licking her wounds but recognizing well that the girls aren't to be hunted and instead wholly respected, not just cause they live there but because they put up a good fight and can hold her off well enough.
From there, things could either go down as an enemies-to-friends route, rather standardly. Perhaps the girl would delight in watching Fíadh hunt and feed in her own way. Maybe they want all the flesh left over from one of her kills, and they have a slow burn warming up to each other in that way. OR OR we could go with one of your ideas of Cass finding a hunting buddy who is willing to follow her in the sadistic hunts.
OR OR OR we could go an entirely different direction!! I'm open to any suggestions!!
But I will give you this image to play with: it's early spring, it's warming, but the temperatures at night still dip down dangerously low for the girls. But stir craziness is what it is, even in an estate as large as the Dimitrescu's. They're released for fun during the day under a strict curfew for their own safety, all return... but where's Daniela? Fuuuuck, she's being irresponsible again. All staff are being sent out en mass looking for her. The other girls are panicked & angry, but largely out of concern for Daniela. There doesn't seem to be much sign of her, could she lost?? It gets colder, but a stranger approaches the castle on a mission. It's Fíadh, and she has something massive wrapped up tightly in her arisaid and held to her furred and insulated chest. It's Daniela, burrito'd, warm and toasty, but now the Dimitrescu's are indebted to a fairy. (maybe, not actually; Fíadh isn't out for prices; the hilarity of Daniela getting stranded and needing to be wrapped up and returned home is enough payment)
RELATIONSHIPS + CONNECTIONS
Now, HEAR ME OUT: I love romance, and I could definitely see something that could develop with Fíadh and your RE: Village muses, most especially Cass, but I would not brush anyone out of possibilities. And same for Doe and either you Until Dawn or TLOU muses, though I will warn you, there is no happy endings with that gay ghost girl! Haha
In terms of non-romance though, FRIENDS!!! I love friends and I love enemies!! I am open and happy to do all of it, including slow burns that go from enemies to friends to enemies again! Relationships are MESSY but so am I! Haha
Also Sally would kill, murder and maim for Rosie, Ellie or little Sarah. Do you want to see why they feared her so terribly as the nurse?? Cause if you mess with the girlies, SHE WILL SHOW YOU AND THEN SOME! Haha
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valeriefauxnom · 5 months
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i just caught up to your post canon dragalia fic in one day and hollyy shit dude. i am on the edge of my seat!!!! its so enjoying and well versed and i cannot wait for the next chapter
Ahhh! I always am ecstatic to hear reviews or even just random thoughts of any kind regarding my work, but hearing people like my work on Scaling enough to binge it is even crazier! I will forever be more and more amazed people have done that as the length increases, like don't they say an average novel is like about 50k words?? That would mean you've just binged 3 novels of my crazy assortment of thoughts on a possible post game scenario for a dead game in 1 day, which is nuts!
With Scaling in particular having such long chapters I worry sometimes that I'm getting a bit too lost in all my thoughts for it and getting too wordy, so it's always nice to see people are still enjoying it after it has grown increasingly complex, even if we are starting to get closer to a more definitive break in the case, were it a proper mystery novel.
You're the first person to send anything on Tumblr about it (or anything in general really), too, so this message is precious in another way! I'm always glad to field questions (though of course would shy away from spoiling my own works) or explain more about why x decision was made because boy I think I should just make 'overthinking' my hallmark at this point!
As a treat for how much this makes my week, here's a little snippet of a dragalia fic in progress that will probably be a long time in the making yet if it ever does see the light of day on AO3 properly, (so I don't get distracted by yet another thing instead of working on Scaling and/or finishing Control). It's a tentative collection solely based around the concept of the siblings finding out just how weird the Halidom is, especially Leonidas and Chelle since he was in charge of it for all that time and she's always poking about for info.
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But when he looked back up to the expenses log, all the expenses listed were sky-high as well. The food expense, dragon expenses, aid expense, equipment expense, everything was all exceedingly high for such a small nation (as they should be, given what he knew about Euden’s governance). But to still draw a profit if expenses weren’t being understated meant an even more ridiculous income. 
Sure enough, the few categories under income were even more egregious. Tax revenue was relatively moderate, but other revenue sources like ‘precious gems/mining products’, ‘gifts’ and ‘tourism income’ were far, far beyond what was rational in a kingdom engaged in war for its entire history. 
Just as he was about to start demanding explanations for the inflated income, he spotted yet another egregious, incomprehensible bit to the income column. “Pipple?” He said, almost hostile, “What exactly is a pipple, and why is it on the income statement, let alone for such riches it is supposedly bringing in? No, no, I think I understand now.” Not waiting for an answer, Leonidas began to speculate. He’d never heard of anything sounding like ‘pipple’ before, and Leonidas boasted quite the vocabulary as crown prince. He was expected to have a suitably verbose and eloquent bank of words with which to communicate with foreign heads of state and domestic nobility alike. That meant this was likely something of a new invention in language.
A new invention, and something that brings in exorbitant funds…something very well hidden, if Chelle did not report on its trade or presence in a service business when we made joint moves on the Halidom, and it’s that sizable of an industry in New Alberia…Ah. 
Quite devious of you, brother. I never expected for you to become so involved with such a shady industry, but it explains a great deal of their surprising shadow wealth.
There was only one thing this ‘Pipple’ could be: some sort of newfangled illicit drug his brother was putting to market as a supplier, raking in rupies hand over fist as people learned the effects of whatever potent cocktail this Pipple was composed of.
Desperate times called for desperate measures, and a new nation in war against a vastly more powerful, established land was desperate indeed.
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So yeah, thank you again for your message! Not to toot my own horn too much, but if you're eager for maybe a bit more dragalia fic from me as you wait, I've got another fic up on AO3, though it's not connected with Scaling or even canon in general as a bad-end au what if! It's also likely not quite as polished, being written in like 2 days, but hey I'm just too happy about the two artworks my best friend made for it and now am legally obligated to try and show the art off at any given moment!
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meear · 9 months
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The Dumbledores as Cain and Abel
I spent years being confused at how you were supposed to spell "Aberforth", because I kept seeing different spellings for it.
That was before realising Aberforth's name was actually only Abelforth in the French version.
Once I noticed that, I had to wonder why such a change? And then I thought hold up... the translator is onto something.
It's very common for names to be changed in translation, especially in Harry Potter: you could ask anyone who didn't read the books in English, and they'd give you a bunch of examples. But most of the time, proper nouns are translated because:
1) there's some sort of pun in the original name, like "Ravenclaw", "Longbottom" or "Slytherin": these names were constructed from english words, so it makes sense to change them in other languages
2) the original name fits the character's personality. The names "Snape", "Moody" and "Umbridge" all carry negative connotations, so they're all a perfect fit for their owner. But naturally a non-english speaker wouldn't register that, so the names need to change
In short, HP names tend to have meaning, so it's natural to translate that meaning for a foreign reader.
But as for Aberforth, why would you only change one letter? "aberforth" doesn't seem to mean anything anyway. Google says it's Gaelic for "from the river", but I don't know how reliable that is, and this doesn't seem so important.
The only explanation is that the French translator wanted to insist on the biblical reference.
Aberforth (or Abelforth in French) does share many similarities with Abel from the Bible:
1) their name, for one
2) sheep-herding: Abel was a shepherd ("Abel became a herder of sheep while Cain was a tiller of the soil"), and we know Aberforth was fond of goats and tended to them as well
3) much like how God favoured Abel's offering over Cain's, we know that Aberforth was Ariana's favourite, not Albus
4) both Aberforth and Abel were the (more admirable) younger brother.
Cain was the traitorous older brother who spilled the blood of his own sibling. Albus admits his own guilt in HP7 and claims Aberforth was a better person than him. This leads us to the most important point:
5) Albus blames himself for Ariana's death. the story of Cain and Abel is known as the first fratricide in abrahamic religions: it is very likely that either Albus or Aberforth (and I'm convinced it was Albus) was guilty of that sin, which led to their sister Ariana's death.
So yeah, I don't believe for a second any of Grindelwald's spells hurt Ariana. Of course, they're all guilty nonelethess, but I think it's important that Albus directly killed his sister too.
So I looked around to see if this possible connection was already well-known, but I could only find traces of it on a French thread from 2007. It was before the release of deathly Hallows, so the guy only suggested it based on Aberforth's fondness for goats (ahead of his time fr). He wasn't taken seriously because well, someone pointed out Abelforth wasn't Abelforth in the original language. Now we have the Dumbledore lore though!
Rowling's a Christian, and that religious influence can definitely be seen in Harry Potter (especially HP7, there are even some biblical verses in that one). It doesn't seem far-fetched to me.
If she intended it, it's still interesting that the translator took it upon himself to make that connection explicit (i dont see why else he'd change the name). Then again, while I like the translation (I never would've realised the Abel thing otherwise), what if it HAD been a coincidence? Did the translator only create meaning from his own interpretation? Much to think about
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lingshanhermit · 8 months
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Ling Shan Hermit: What is Embracing and Protecting, What is Lineage?
We live in an era where receiving a complete highest yoga tantra empowerment seems no more difficult than getting Taylor Swift concert tickets. In such an era, we often fly here and there, preoccupied with receiving all kinds of so-called teachings and empowerments. The internet is saturated with all kinds of teachings and explanations, leaving people overwhelmed and perplexed. Some people believe this signals the flourishing of the Dharma, yet others are anxiously concerned that it betokens the deterioration of the Dharma.
No matter how many teachings you have heard or how many empowerments you have received, if you lack the capacity to internalize them, digest them, and integrate them into yourself, they are of no relevance to you. You may have listened to "The Great Perfection" twenty times, "Entering the Bodhisattva's Way" thirty times, received empowerments of hundreds of yidams, yet you still do not truly hold the transmission of these teachings because they have not been absorbed or grasped by you. Your mind has barely been touched by the teachings. You lack the ability to attain realization by properly applying the teachings, nor have you realized the same as the guru and yidam. On the contrary, in your case, they have been turned into defenders of your habits, transformed into lawyers defending your "self", with their daily duty being to furnish ample theoretical justification for all your acts of disguising selfishness as selflessness. This is almost an inevitable consequence for a practitioner lacking authentic internalization of teachings over a prolonged period.
For any practitioner who lacks genuine internalization, lacks long-term guidance and supervision by an authentic teacher, lacks strong introspective capacity, does not genuinely believe in karma, and has not established the proper worldview of a true practitioner, any theory of mind training will inevitably turn into a tool for self-deception.
The Eight Verses of Mind Training states: "Whenever you encounter others, consider yourself the lowest among all, And from the depths of your heart hold them dearer than yourself." I have seen many people studying such teachings, but I don't believe they have faith in such teachings. Teachings like this are only suitable for those who are very simple and kind-hearted. If you are not such a person, if you don't believe in what is taught in fairy tales, don't believe the child who compromises will gain the most in the end, then you will not possibly believe that following this teaching is truly beneficial for yourself. You would think believing this is foolish. But you would never admit to thinking this way—long-term self-deception has made you lose the ability to uncover your true thoughts. I have seen those so hypocritical they believe themselves very sincere, living in their persona of being very sincere. They are completely oblivious to what kind of person they are, unaware of their own hypocrisy and selfishness. For people like this, when the teacher expounds such things, they will never raise objections or say: "Please let me think this through, because it conflicts severely with my self-benefiting views I've always upheld." This is because they don't know they have always championed completely opposite views. These completely contrary views appear to them in the guise of selflessness. So they themselves are utterly unable to detect their own selfishness. They feel they are very selfless. There are quite a few people like this. They really believe teachings like "consider yourself lowest" do not conflict with their own views, think they have faith in such theories, think they are practicing accordingly, but in fact they have no such conviction at all.
For your "self," learning these Buddhist principles and receiving these empowerments has in fact furnished it with greater skills, endowing it with enhanced capacities for self-deception. Such a cultivated "self," regardless of how selfless it appears, no matter how cleverly it acts, deep down has never believed any of this. What it genuinely believes remains the same old views. What they truly have faith in is "wearing a golden belt while committing homicide and arson, erecting bridges and repairing roads without leaving a corpse." However, cloaked under the guise of Buddhist tenets, your selfishness can be concealed extremely well, as can your authentic perspectives. Those lacking genuine tutelage have no chance of uncovering any of this. They only hear from teachers what they wish to hear. Teacher and disciple maintain a relationship of mutual adoration, since most have not spent adequate time together to become weary of one another. They fly to Hong Kong, fly to Singapore, to obtain teachings, then fly back. This leads them to believe they have a teacher, even to think they have been embraced. This is truly a misapprehension.
Nowadays, many teachers traverse the globe to expound these doctrines. They teach the Eight Verses on Mind Training, teach Entering the Bodhisattva's Path, teach all kinds of sadhanas and visualizations. Numerous students pretend to study these, but in truth have no conviction in them whatsoever. Expending so much time learning what you utterly disbelieve is truly a peculiar spectacle. As for me, I do not think this kind of ephemeral interaction between mentor and disciple can engender authentic guidance, let alone prevent pupils from appropriating all the teachings for self-benefit. Genuine instruction necessitates longstanding rapport, not encountering admirers as a pop concert. Bona fide guidance requires your teacher to understand you, to comprehend you, to know all your habits, to recognize how you react in situations, to be aware of your vulnerabilities, to know your breakfast preferences. I profoundly doubt that the teachers of those who consider themselves to have a mentor can accurately recollect their names when seeing them, much less know their weaknesses and watch brands. However, I grasp that not everyone can obtain authentic tutelage—most lack the time, grit, interest in awakening, or readiness to embark on actual practice. So they can only have this type of casual connection.
Yet for practitioners, prior to obtaining these instructions, you still need to comprehend your own condition, understand what you genuinely believe. As mentioned before, only those with a crystalline pure mind will trust such counsel. Those crafty sorts will not believe any of this. They have their own long-established, rock-solid self-serving patterns. Until their worldview undergoes a seismic shift, any such teachings coming to them will vanish like drops of water falling on a flame. Which type are you? The crafty or the pure-minded?
For instructors, if you have not ascertained the other's authentic views and nature before speaking thus, you may end up amassing a bunch of hypocrites. However, there have been, are, and will be many expounding such doctrines, because teaching is straightforward, whereas transforming worldviews and absorbing disciples is challenging—it necessitates time, effort, and truly grappling with their "self." The former is just transmission; the latter, genuine embracing.
By Ling Shan Hermit, written July 30, 2023, first published August 3, 2023.
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灵山居士:什么是摄受,什么是传承
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spooky-ghostwriter · 1 year
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Sentinels Deck Number 5 - Silhouette
Normally, some time after finishing a Sentinels deck, I like to give a general explanation of what the deck is about, using a few cards as examples. This time, I felt I had something to say about darn near every card in the deck. So... let’s lean into that. I’ll go through the cards roughly in chronological order and tell the story of Silhouette, the goth vampire heroine.
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Though Silhouette (civilian name Zywen Lotus) has a fascination with darkness, she’s still... mostly heroic. Silhouette gets her shadowy powers from an evil vampiric artifact called the Shadow Veil, and I wanted the player to feel like her powers are dangerous. Because of that, she starts with a pathetically low 20 hit points and a lot of cards in her deck have her deal herself damage. Trying to prevent the damage typically doesn’t work, so you’ll need some classic vampire life-stealing powers to keep Silhouette healthy!
This also marks my switch to Clip Studio Paint for digital art, and it helped me make some of the best art I’ve ever drawn!
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Chronologically, the earliest we see Silhouette is on the incapacitated art for Escarlata, a hero I showed off some time ago. At that point, Silhouette was a little blonde girl by the name of Abby Adler. 
Abby’s parents were obsessed with making her into their ideal daughter - a prim and proper good catholic girl. They controlled how she dressed, how she acted, what she studied, everything they could.
In contrast, Abby was more interested in dark and spooky things that her parents would have disapproved of. In particular, she started visiting a vampire coven. She became enraptured by vampire culture and history.
When Abby’s best friend Cassandra was released from the hospital depicted above, Cassandra had gained the power to control fire. Jealous of Cassandra’s relative freedom and superpowers, Abby manipulated the coven master into converting her into a vampire. 
Abby returned home to her parents, newly converted and with a new name, Zywen. Her parents kicked Zywen out of the house in the middle of a sunny day, where Zywen nearly died. Luckily, Cassandra found her in the nick of time.
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So this brings us to the first step of Zywen’s journey. She is now a vampire. I wanted to include a bunch of “obvious vampire tropes” in the deck for a few reasons. For one thing, the deck also includes a lot of ‘shadow magic’, and I wanted it to be as clear as possible that the character you’re playing is a vampire. But also, vampires vary so wildly from one work of fiction to the next that I wanted to nail down what my vampires can do.
Vampires in the Spooky Ghostwriter Comics-verse are significantly physically stronger than humans at night, but weaker during the day. They drink blood, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be human blood. Animal blood works just fine. They can turn into bats and have slight hypnotic abilities.
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Another important piece of any hero deck is to show off the character’s personality. Zywen is an edgy edgy girl. Why drink blood out of a glass when you can have a goblet? Why have a desk lamp if it’s not shaped like a skeletal arm?
However, as disappointing as it may be for her, she is not an ancient sorceress in a Victorian-era mansion. She lives in an ordinary with Cassandra. She plays video games and dresses up her friends in modern goth outfits.
The next step of Zywen’s journey focuses on a character that I haven’t made a deck for yet...
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La Nocturna, also pictured in Escarlata’s deck, is one of Escarlata’s greatest nemeses. She’s a vampire, but with even greater powers than normal. La Nocturna had the ability to summon hands made out of solid shadow.
La Nocturna was considered to be a hero, a member of the New Granwall Guardians just like Escarlata. However, La Nocturna didn’t just arrest criminals - she massacred them. In her eyes, the rest of the Guardians were too soft to do what needed to be done to prevent further crime. (Though even that was a justification - really, La Nocturna just wanted to drink human blood and used her hero work as an excuse.)
Escarlata and La Nocturna fought some pretty brutal battles, but it was Zywen who ended the feud once and for all. Zywen knew that the source of La Nocturna’s power was the Shadow Veil. After a particularly rough fight that left Escarlata in bad shape, Zywen used her skills of deception and knowledge of vampire lore to ambush La Nocturna and take the Shadow Veil for herself.
However, when Zywen first put on the Shadow Veil, La Nocturna dissolved into dust. The dark magic that fueled all vampire powers left La Nocturna and was absorbed into the veil, killing her. Whether Zywen knew this would happen or not is intentionally ambiguous...
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Now, Zywen had the same shadow powers as La Nocturna, and in rare circumstances, used them to fight criminals. But she still didn’t consider herself a hero, wrought with guilt over killing La Nocturna. Furthermore, the Shadow Veil was full of evil magic, and it had a tight grip on Zywen’s mental state.
This is where the core of the deck’s mechanic comes in. The Shadow Veil is evil. Using it hurts Zywen, but you also get benefits from taking on those risks. When you play the game, you’re moving HP tokens around, but you’re also deciding how far Zywen’s willing to tap into her dark powers.
(Side-note: Soulsearching shows off another quirk my setting’s vampires share with some other vampire mythos - no reflections!)
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Finally, as villainy in New Granwall City became worse and the New Granwall Guardians began to need more members, Zywen decided to move forward. Maybe she didn’t fully forgive herself for what she’d done, but however she got her powers, it was worth doing some good with them.
Zywen briefly joined the New Granwall Guardians with an exact replica of La Nocturna’s outfit, taking over her identity. This was really confusing for me as a writer and I couldn’t expect anyone to figure out how this “second La Nocturna” thing worked by looking at a deck of 16 unique cards. So I skipped over this part of the story and moved on to the introduction of Silhouette.
Zywen decided that the Shadow Veil as it had been known before was La Nocturna’s symbol - a symbol of fear and evil. In her studies into vampire lore and magic, she found a way to change the veil’s appearance. 
Transmute the Veil is a huge moment in Zywen’s story. Zywen is a character who very rarely has control. She starts out controlled by her parents. Then when she gets the Shadow Veil, she’s fighting for control over it.
Now, she’s the one calling the shots. And I wanted to represent that by making sure that Transmute the Veil offers a choice. “Reveal cards from the top of your deck until you find two semi-specific cards, choose one and keep it” is not a rare effect in Sentinels. But Transmute the Veil does something that no other card does - it makes sure the two cards are distinct. Every time you play Transmute the Veil, you will have a choice.
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With the Shadow Veil in a new form, Zywen created a new costume and became Silhouette. From here, the rest of the deck generally just shows Silhouette on various adventures. She works alongside Escarlata in Brutal Ambush, and a couple cameo heroes in Drown In Darkness:
Alius, on Silhouette’s left is an upcoming hero created by Mistilitain. Charlie, on her right, is a shapeshifting detective created by Bobbertoriley. Bobbertoriley also created the environments depicted on both these cards. Brutal Ambush shows a casino run by and named after Jericho Moondancer (the non-demon). Drown In Darkness takes place in the spooky woods of Birchwood, Mass. The hedgehog gremlins being drowned are cryptids you can fight there!
Notably, both of these cards carry the “Infernal self-damage” cost. The Shadow Veil’s evil influence is still around - using shadowy powers or being too brutal still makes Silhouette deal herself damage.
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The struggle between Silhouette’s good nature and her evil powers is a recurring theme.
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This brings us to everybody’s favourite card of the deck. I love it because it, along with Brutal Ambush, are some of the best pieces of art I’ve ever drawn. Players love it because it’s one of Silhouette’s strongest cards and sets up a fun challenge where players earlier in turn order want to leave lots of enemies alive with juuuust enough HP for Silhouette to jump in and drink their blood.
So what’s going on here in terms of story? Well, most vampires in New Granwall City believe in living peacefully with humans. Zywen does too. But one coven master, Lazarus Vane, thinks differently. Lazarus wants vampires to return to their baser instincts and has the magical ability to make it happen. Casting a spell on the very moon, Lazarus made all the vampires in the city go berserk. Once again, poor ol’ Zywen just can’t stay in control of herself.
(By the way, the character getting his blood sucked is The Shining Knight, a minor villain who also shows up in Escarlata’s deck.)
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Spooky.
Well, only a few more cards to go. Let’s get this done.
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Silhouette becomes more adept with the Shadow Veil than La Nocturna ever was. La Nocturna could only create shadow hands. Silhouette eventually learns how to create an iron maiden. 
Screaming Shadows represents her pulling a victim into a sort of shadowy realm full of distorted faces that scream at them. The faces also scream at Silhouette. Fun times.
The one getting screamed at is Unmute - a villain by @insomn14​ . We were working on these decks concurrently, and are both fans of each other’s work. So I have Unmute as a cameo here, and Silhouette shows up on one of Unmute’s cards.
The guest character in Black Iron Maiden is The Faithful, created by zerami.
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Vampire’s Tome is the spellbook that taught Zywen how to morph the Shadow Veil, but it taught her a lot more than that! 
Spirit Siphon is a technique that only a few vampires can perform - drinking someone’s very essence instead of their blood. It could theoretically leave her target an empty husk, but that wouldn’t be very heroic. Silhouette’s version of the spell typically leaves her victim too tired to continue the fight while also restoring her stamina.
Spirit Siphon has another guest hero on it - Radiance, also created by @insomn14 . Radiance is one of my favourite heroes in the game, homebrew and otherwise. insomn and I also got a kick out of how Radiance and Silhouette have some mechanical similarities while being as opposite characters as possible. Radiance is a cheerful ray of sunshine that motivates her allies.
Because of all that, I knew I wanted to give Radiance a key role in Silhouette’s deck. Spirit Siphon is Silhouette’s only card that appears in the deck at 4 copies. You’re probably going to draw one every game, so you’re probably going to see Radiance.
And that is every card in Silhouette’s deck, and why it’s there. Thanks for indulging me! Here’s a close-up of Brutal Ambush, my favourite art in the deck alongside Bloodlust.
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See you next time when I turn everybody into 1920s cartoons.
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