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thenokistation · 1 year

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How the Archie Cast Lives On in IDW Sonic (Mini Essay)

Archie Sonic happened and we all just have to live with it.

While the series ran for nearly 300 mainline issues, this was only because it spun out of Sonic's earliest days. Long before he had a more concrete world and cast.

I go into it more here, but Archie Sonic's cast of Freedom Fighters has had their identities and purposes lost as the canonical cast expanded and the roles of these Freedom Fighters were overlapped by more interesting characters. Despite the reboot giving the chance to reinvent the Archie cast, these problems still largely remained.

However, that isn't to say that there wasn't some good to be gleaned from these characters. And the team behind the IDW Sonic series has recognized this by using these bits and pieces to invent new characters from the ground up and show the true potential of these characters if they were invented in the modern day.

This is how some of the Archie cast lives on and is improved through the IDW cast.

Whisper the Wolf

Whisper has been hurt. She is obviously traumatized and deals with the mental wounds inflicted on her by Eggman everyday. She lost the people closest to her and is terrified of the people she has now grown close to.

This is much in the same way that Bunnie Rabbot was half-roboticized by Eggman. Some of her most memorable stories in the original Archie run have her dealing with her roboticization. Her fear that it will fully take it over, that it will kill her and possibly harm her friends.

Both of these characters use part of the trauma inflicted on them to fight. Bunnie with her mechanical parts while Whisper uses a modified Wispon with aid of her former team's wisps.

However, these characters aren't the same. Whisper is so much her own character that these bits of inspiration easily slip through the cracks.

Bunnie is a joyous character, despite everything. Hell, she survives the reboot with her marriage intact because the joy it brings her is so intrigal to her character. Whisper, though, is still sore. She usually works alone, lashes out when her trauma is triggered, and nearly actually murders Eggman.

As a bonus, Whisper's wisp weaponry seems to be taking a few notes from Eclipse the Darkling. Eclipse raised dark, corrupted wisps and used them to fight much in the same way Whisper now fosters her former team's wisps. This could be the rare time in an action series a character is a light reflection of an established one instead of the other way around.

Surge the Tenrac

This is absolutely the most blatent of the bunch with its inspiration, but the parallels can be a bit harder to nail down.

Sure, S(co)urge is a green-furred rival to Sonic who is dead-set to best him and essentially take his role in the world, but is that really where the similarities end?

Scourge is just Evil Sonic. Same moves, same speed, etc. Before he turned green, he was literally just called Evil Sonic.

Surge is more complicated. She and Kitsunami don't know their past. They feel abandoned by the world. They've been cybernetically enhanced and have the undying desire to best Sonic instilled in them.

But between them, there is still that lust for power. Scourge's motivation may be fairly Joker-esc while Surge literally cannot stop herself, but both still want to essentially end their respective worlds.

Jewel the Beetle and Lanolin the Sheep

It may be a bit odd to put these characters together, but there is a good reason for it. Why? Because we need to talk about Sally Acorn.

Sally has always been a strange character that never really worked. While the Freedom Fighters did need a leader, she usually just became someone keeping Sonic on a leash while also being his love interest despite the two never seeing eye-to-eye.

The problem is, she never really evolved from that. As the franchise grew, a powerless leader-type grew more and more worthless. So she mainly fell into the role of bringing drama to the plot. Will Sally die during the Endgame arc? Can Sally rebel against her own father now that he has returned? Is she a good enough leader? Is it Wednesday and she has to break up with Sonic again?

Even worse is the identity crisis of Sally's character. A question asked and never really answered is if she belongs in the field or leading the free world. An attempt at stirring drama from this is still being raged about by Sally's fans and mocked by just about everyone else. Even the IDW comics made an intrinsic promise to not go anywhere near the character drama Sally lived in.

(For the record, this entire issue is basically a long conversation between Sonic and Amy about the same dilemma that caused The Slap™)

The reboot tries to solve this by having her simply be the commander of the flying airship the Freedom Fighters worked from, but it still led to her being mostly pointless. At best, Sally was inoffensive and boring while at worst she caused drama that is still being debated to this day.

So when it came time for IDW to replace her, many thought Amy would fall into this role. She was head of the Restoration and naturally fit into the role.

However, Amy may love the world, but she's no leader. Like Sonic, she values freedom. Enter Jewel the Beetle.

Jewel ran a jewelry store and then got promoted to basically running the free world. She has no combat abilities but isn't supposed to be in combat situations to begin with. Jewel is an improvement on Sally's confidence issues and her role as a more political leader. She organizes the Restoration and the defense groups much in the way Sally was the political face of the Freedom Fighters when dealing with the Acorn Kingdom.

Lanolin, meanwhile, is a newcomer and very much an improvement on Sally in the field. Instead of being powerless or a basic melee-brawler like in the reboot, Lanolin focuses on defense and more specialized situations thanks to her Magenta (Music Note) Wisp. While she also exhibits some confidence issues, she is given more focus on the flaws that Archie left mostly ignored.

While she's only just been introduced, the IDW team acknowledging these faults is already giving her far more potential than Sally ever reached in nearly 300 comics.

Even better, both of these characters have actual motivations and histories. While Sally's motivation is mostly just a vague 'I was the princess so I guess I'm a leader now', Jewel just genuinely wants to help in a way she can while Lanolin was inspired by Sonic to help others and eventually found herself as a combatant.

Archie Sonic was mired with a long history that only allowed one chance for change: the reboot. However, too much change and the fans would be mad. Too little, it would feel like a wasted opportunity. Unfortunately Archie Sonic took the route of doing too little. However, the IDW team took the removal of the Archie cast as a chance to do more with them and they succeeded.

#sonic #sonic the hedgehog #idw sonic #sonic idw #archie sonic #whisper the wolf #surge the tenrec #jewel the beetle #lanolin the sheep #bunnie rabbot #scourge the hedgehog #sally acorn #super excited to see where lanolin goes as a character tbh #also this went longer than i expected #next real essay is probably gonna be about jungian theory in p4 #essays

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vertigoblockbuster · 26 days

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☋☋ ☋ मघा Magha Nakshatra मघा ☋ ☋☋

Past lives, ominous, traveling inward

Hughes Merle's Mary Magdalene in the Cave, 1868. The reptilian arms are not part of the original painting.

The Basics Ruling planet: Ketu Ruling deity: Pitris Yoni: Male rat Symbol: Royal throne

Rahu and Ketu We can't talk about Ketu without talking about Rahu as well. Rahu and Ketu are referred to as the lunar nodes in astrology. They aren't physical objects in space like Jupiter or Saturn. They are calculated points. However, for ease of communication, Rahu and Ketu are often referred to as planets anyways.

The lunar nodes are determined by the orbits of the sun and the moon. The intersections of the orbits of the sun and moon as apparent from Earth tell us the position of the nodes at a given time. It takes about 18 months for the nodes to journey through a single zodiac sign and about two decades for them to cycle through all twelve.

Image from Wikipedia.

Since the nodes are located where the sun and moon overlap as seen from Earth, they are associated with eclipses. Rahu (the north, or ascending node) swallows the sun during a solar eclipse and Ketu (the south, or descending node) swallows the moon during a lunar eclipse. We can further assume that the nodes are always exactly 180° apart, or opposite to, one another. If the north node is in Sagittarius, for example, the south node will always be in Gemini.

The nodes in astrology deal with karmic destiny. The nature of your south node placement shows who you were in a past life, what you have previously mastered and now know in your bones to be true. Your north node placement shows what you are working towards in this life, what you strive to accomplish, the lessons you are here to master.

Rahu and Ketu In Mythology According to Vedic mythology, Rahu and Ketu started out as one being, a demonic serpent called a rakshasa. They were separated into two beings as punishment. During a ceremony to honor the planets, Lord Visnu churned up the oceans to create a divine nectar for them to drink and become immortal. When the planets (or deities) lined up to drink, the demon snuck under Visnu's nose to drink some of the nectar for himself. Rahu/Ketu had already ingested the immortal drink before they were caught in the act - becoming accidentally undying. Furious, Visnu beheaded the demon but at that point it was too late. Rahu (the demon's head) and Ketu (the body) become two entities and were cast to opposite ends of the sky.

A depiction of a rakshasa (demon) done in Yakshagana, a traditional style of theater prominent in southern India. Image from Wikipedia.

Rahu, being the head, is arguably more responsible for the separation of the demon into two parts. As the head, Rahu is consumptive by nature. This is why one's natal Rahu placement indicates what they are after in this life. The devouring head symbolizes our insatiable desire to obtain more and become more.

Rahu's willingness to ignore boundaries to obtain the immortal nectar is telling - he has no regard for authority. He is not much of a leader himself, more so interested in mocking those holding positions of power. In this way Rahu is hypocritical because he attacks the character and methodologies of those in power yet he himself demonstrates childishness and irreverence. When he is rendered a head without a body, he is left an eternal troublemaker.

When separated from his head, bodily Ketu is doomed to forever long for his other half - reminiscent of the past being the past, something we can never go back to and simultaneously can't shake the memory of. We master our Rahu and Ketu by connecting our heads with our bodies - that is, by balancing past with future, applying ancient knowledge stored in the body to achieve future-facing objectives the head seeks to fulfill.

"Ketu's permanent longing for wholeness is a consequence of Rahu's excited refusal to respect conventional boundaries. As a result of Rahu's wildness, Ketu the Dragon-Tail Cauda Draconis is forced to gaze with eternally unsatisfied longing at His dear severed partner Rahu the Dragon-Head Caput Draconis." - Barbara Pijan Lama, Vedic astrologer based in Portland, Oregon

A makeup look done by smeyuka on Instagram. Note the grey/smokey tone of the face and red emphasis added to the eyes.

In Phaladeepika, a classical Sanskrit text on Vedic astrology, Ketu is described like this:

"Ketu is fiercly red-eyed, is venom-tongued (speaking venomously), and without a body or disembodied, he is violent (using weapons, wants to scare), and ignoble (low, fallen, no social contribution, uncultured, wild, intense), his complexion is smokey (ominous), he is a constant smoke drinker (using opium or marijuana), his body is covered in scars (not cooperative), not fatty (emaciated, thin, angular), and cruel (unforgiving)."**

** what is in paranthases are notes on different ways the text can be translated. Watch Vic Dicara's videos on Rahu and Ketu.

Artistic rendition of Ketu/Kathoo in E.A. Rodrigues's The Complete Hindoo Pantheon. Image taken from Wikipedia.

Some people think that what we experience as eclipses are actually Rahu and Ketu taking revenge for their separation. Eclipses are times of sudden change - when the sun is obscured by the moon or vice versa, the atmosphere on Earth is very different. Having witnessed the total lunar eclipse of 2017, I remember things turning a grey/yellow/brown hue, and the air taking on a kind of hazy quality (but I believe this was due to wildfires). If you have ever seen the movie Enemy with Jake Gyllenhaal, it looked like that.

Still from Enemy (2013)

Here is a description of a solar eclipse by Dr. Rick Feinberg, astronomer and science communicator (now retired):

"Measurements made at recent total eclipses put the illuminance at totality around 5 lux, comparable to civil twilight. The sky is still some shade of silvery, purply blue. In contrast, the black sky on a night of full Moon is 10 times darker still, less than 0.5 lux. Yes, bright planets –– especially Venus and Jupiter –– are obvious in twilight, but stars? I don’t like to waste valuable time during totality looking for stars; the only time I saw one was on August 21, 2017, when 1st-magnitude Regulus glimmered just to the left of the totally eclipsed Sun.

It certainly feels like it gets as dark as night during the final minute before totality, but that’s just because your eyes haven’t had time to adjust. The changes in illumination at the beginning and end of totality happen much faster and more dramatically than at dusk and dawn, respectively."

Image of the 2019 solar eclipse above the European Southern Observatory in Chile, taken by Mahdi Zamani.

Non-dualism and the Ouroboros The nodes are inseparable opposites, both two and one - like how the past and future becoming one in the present. In this way they demonstrate the concept of non-duality. Non-dualism is a philosophical concept observed in many spiritual and religious traditions, particularly ones that originated in the East such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism. The non-dual perspective holds that there is no fundamental separation - between objects, energy, people... it's all one.

“All things are permeated with God, just as all things are permeated with air.” – Hildegard of Bingen

Ketu's rulership over Magha suggests that people with heavy influence from this nakshatra in their birthchart are deeply spiritual and/or philosophical. If you think about Rahu and Ketu as being an axis - that is, talking about the same topics but having opposite opinions on them - Rahu expands outwards, forever seeking to consume and grow materially. Ketu expands internally. The expansion of Ketu looks like material poverty from the outside, but Ketu is not interested in earthly objectives. Rahu wants to grasp and Ketu wants to release. By releasing attachment to the physical, Ketu finds bliss.

Rahu's knowing is of the head. It is entirely cerebral. Ketu's knowing is bodily. That is, it is completely intuitive and feeling/sensory-based. In the world we live in, computational and logical thinking is (for better or worse) king. For this reason, if you have prominent Magha placements, I wouldn't be surprised if you feel like you either 1) don't belong in this world or 2) have been here before, perhaps many times over. Ketu, symbolizing past lives and knowledge gained from them, wanders the earth, aimless, forever drifting. He finds nothing on earth to be of substance.

While Ketu-heavy or Magha-heavy people can possess deep inner knowing that endows them with a certain type of respect, this same trait can be the source of an overly apathetic attitude when taken to an extreme. Detachment is all well and good, but unless you're truly the type to pursue a monastic or nomadic path, it's necessary to keep your feet on the ground at least a little bit to live in a well-rounded way. Ketu people are faced with a challenge to ground their intuitive knowledge and bring what they find on their travels inward out to the world around them.

One symbol that is steeped in unity and oneness is the ouroboros. Depicting a serpent or dragon devouring it's own tail, the ouroboros has appeared in ancient Egypt, Mexico, India, as well as Hermetic and Alchemical texts. The serpent chases its continually regenerating tail in an eternal circle, just as Rahu and Ketu are condemned to chase one another from opposite ends of the sky forever.

Two ouroboros symbols shown encircling a figure in An Enigmatic Book of the Underworld, funerary text and shrine discovered in King Tutankhamun's tomb. The figure has been speculated to be the mummified form of King Tut himself, while some think it is the unification of Ra and Osiris.

An Enigmatic Book of the Underworld is regarded as the place of the first appearance of the ouroboros, dating it to at least 14th century BCE. It is thought that the book illustrates the replenishing of the solar disc - the ancient Egyptians believed that the sun would use up all of it's heat and energy during the day and had to 'recharge' at night. At night, the Sun was said to pass through the same region of death where the gods were believed to reside. Their souls would follow the Sun as he cycled above and below the horizon while their bodies remained in the underworld. Time was seen as cyclical repetitions rather than a linear unfolding. The ancient Egyptian's understanding of time was based on their observations of recurring natural events like the Sun's daily journey across the sky and the annual flooding of the Nile.

An illustration of the ouroboros in an alchemical text from around 400AD.

The Alchemists believed that all physical materials on Earth originated from the same original source material and could be differentiated by their varying levels of purity. Gold was held as the most pure and 'perfect' form of matter, which is why the Alchemists sought to create it using lower quality metals such as lead - a process called chrysopoeia. The desire to create gold from crude materials that is central to Alchemy is largely metaphorical. The broader goal of the Alchemists was to evolve the human soul through deepening the understanding of one's self. The ultimate objective of alchemy was to transform personally into someone 'greater' than you were before. More knowledgeable, powerful, physically healthy or beautiful...

The Pitris The deities ruling Magha are the Pitris, spirits of the paternal ancestors of humanity - the word 'pitris' is Sanskrit for "fathers."

The word Magha can mean gift or it can mean power. As it relates to Magha nakshatra, it means gifted power - that is, inherited power. Each nakshatra has it's own associated sutra, which are kind of like condensed teachings. The translated sutra for Magha is "The forefather's gift of power needs demoralization, to ruin."

Vic Dicara explains the lesson of Magha nakshatra as illustrated in it's sutra - how to be victorious without getting wounded. The sutra for Magha is saying that the way to defeat your enemies is to prevent the battle from happening in the first place. And how do you do that? By bullying them, basically. Magha natives have the power of the forefathers (Pitris) behind them, which they brandish and threaten their potential opponents with. Before a single punch has been thrown Magha puffs out his chest, letting his opponent know that he has friends on the other side backing him up - think Dr. Facilier from the Princess and the Frog.

Magha's Yoni: the Male Rat The word "yoni" in Sanskrit refers to the vagina. The word can be used to refer literally to female genitalia, but it also has a deeper meaning relating to source material - the empty 'womb' out of which the universe materialized.

Each nakshatra has a corresponding yoni assigned to it. The yonis of the nakshatras describe their primal and sexual nature - how they behave when backed into a corner and the different ways they behave in the bedroom. In the vedic astrological system, the yonis are depicted as different types of animals - appropriate, considering the aspects of the human personality they attempt to describe and categorize.

Magha's yoni animal is a rat. Rats are inquisitive, playful and sociable by nature. They are intelligent and, as pets, trainable. They are hygienic, keeping themselves clean by grooming their tails, fur, and faces. They also do everything quickly - I've never seen a rat move in a leisurely way.

Rats are venerated at the Karni Mata temple in Deshnoke, India. Large saucers of milk are left out to keep them fed. The temple is a monument honoring the coexistence of life in every form - which is why rats are treated reverence here rather than seen as pests. Image by Paolo Bampani.

The rat signifying the primal nature of this nakshatra suggests a few things. We can easily surmise that Magha people are curious, likely quick-witted due to an above-average intelligence, and energetic. We can also guess that Magha people are adaptable - think about the poor conditions rats are able to survive in. An additional quality of rats which I think relates to Magha is their use of their whiskers to both balance themselves and maneuver around objects in their environment - they don't have the best eyesight and rely heavily on the sensitivity of their wire-y mustaches. This hearkens to Magha's bodily, ketuvian intelligence.

At first, the personality of the light-footed and friendly rat seems to clash with the ancient wisdom Magha has. When I think of someone in touch with their forefathers and past lives, I think of someone who moves slowly (literally and metaphorically), approaching and completing all tasks with patience, precision, and caution. The good-natured and hyperactive qualities of the rat combined with Magha's connection to protective (paternal) ancestors, dispersing and wandering ways of Ketu, and transforming power of the eclipse paints a particular personality profile. This is a person who has their head in the clouds and could rip you to shreds - if you provoke them first.

The Symbol of the Royal Throne Magha is considered to be an auspicious nakshatra - that is, it brings positive things to whatever planet is placed here. The rulership of the Pitris over Magha cements their innate power. It is one thing to be a powerful person because of the things you have accomplished, but when someone is powerful because of their ancestors has royalty in their blood. It can never, ever be taken from them because it is simply who they are.

Magha spans 0°00' to 13°20' Leo. Leo is the most regal and royal of all twelve zodiac signs. The most common gripe people have with Leo's is their pride and self-centered attitude. The thing is is that Leo is ruled by the Sun - the literal center of our solar system. Resenting a Leo for shining is like disliking the Sun for burning. Of course, egotism has the potential to run rampant if a Leo person has not matured very much, which is the shadow side of this sign. Oftentimes, though, you will find that the warm, glowing self-sureness of Leo's triggers the insecurities in those around them, causing them to lash out.

The Iron Throne from Game of Thrones.

The symbolism of the throne for Magha should come as no surprise. Those who sit and have sat in thrones throughout history were usually born into that role as opposed to being appointed - bringing us back to the ancestral power brought on by Magha's connection to the Pitris.

Song for Magha: You Don't Mess Around with Jim by Jim Croce And they say... You don't tug on Superman's cape You don't spit into the wind You don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger And you don't mess around with Jim

This song talks about a local legend who's reputation precedes him. It is known so well that you don't cross him that doing so would be as obviously foolish as spitting into the wind. While Jim, the menacing figure the song centers around, is described as being big and dumb - traits that aren't as applicable to Magha - his reputation as someone you don't want to mess with fits perfectly with the power of this nakshatra. Jim, just like Magha, has won the fight before it started because you're probably too intimidated to approach him in the first place. Maybe Jim had the Pitris backing him up, too.

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Check out Vic Dicara and Claire Nakti on YouTube - both influential figures in the vedic astrological community.

#Magha #magha nakshatra #vedic astrology

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i-fear-the-moon-rp · 9 months

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i'm fascinated by the runningclan warrior split between catchers and defenders, and the societal strife it might lead to! it seems like a system like theirs where adding to the fresh kill pile is "optional", combined with a smaller-than-usual proportion of cats taking on hunting duties, might lead to hunger and interesting conflict. especially if some defenders, like turtlebite (vibes off the charts btw, i love them), prefer that role because it lets them rest on their laurels -- well, i can see defenders ending up with nothing to eat some days!

are apprentices encouraged to choose a catcher's path over a defender's? do defenders sometimes need to go out and hunt for themselves in the lean months? how much overlap in training is there between the two roles, and could a catcher "switch" to become a defender and vice versa?

thank you! this rp has me incredibly excited, and i love the lore!

You guys come up with the BEST questions!

In RunningClan I would imagine cats are sadly chosen by genetic standard to be Defenders. Lovers or Leaders can assign an apprentice a profession, and you would show your loyalty by staying in that rank. Whereas, if a cat flip flopped or switches ranks (more for reasons they can control, not for injury or age, or external factors) may be slightly looked down upon for not following the high rank's decision.

The actual split between them will accurately show once we've had applications accepted and can compare rank turnout. But I can definitely see tensions within RunningClan's flawed system coming down. Also, Defenders, usually because of their size or personality, command respect a lot more than Catchers do. And I wouldn't say its a stretch that there is somewhat of a prejudice at play for cats with CreepingClan blood-- who likely experience bullying their whole lives (yay! trauma!), but also feel hateful towards the half-SplashingClan cats who might receive better treatment due to the unlikely truce between Clans.

#i fear the moon #asks #lore #runningclan

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beybladefanboy · 2 years

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I’m too negative toward Masters

So here’s a list of things Masters does right (from someone who hasn’t quite finished rewatching it yet so I apologize if I get some details wrong) that I can’t say about any of the other seasons:

-The Dark Tsubasa Arc

This is just an interesting exploration and development of an already great character. Also the way it’s resolved is the best message in the show and genuinely helpful for me personally.

-Hikaru’s arc

Yes, it sucks that one of the only prominent female bladers doesn’t battle anymore. I totally understand that. But I honestly like that Hikaru steps down from Beyblade. I like that they show that it’s okay to take a break or even just step away from something that was hurting you. Sometimes persevering isn’t always the best option and that’s a really mature theme, and a very different one for this show. And the moments where they show how traumatized she still is over what happened to her just hurt my heart every time I see them.

-Team Wild Fang

Yes, I’m biased to Kyoya. Him joining the world tournament from another team’s country just to crush Gingka in front of the entire world is completely in character and just a clever way to include him in this season. Nile and Demure are also both great characters. I like the camaraderie Kyoya and Nile have and just how sassy Nile is general. Demure isn’t traditionally tough but he’s strong in other ways, his keen sight and knowledge of beys, and I like how Kyoya recognized that and made him part of the team. Honestly their episodes in general are just really top tier. It’s the closest Gan Gan Galaxy ever comes to losing the World Championship in my eyes, with it being the only one to last for four battles rather than three and many of the team being injured in the struggle.

-The overlapping arcs of Da Xiang and Julian

Both of these characters were the leader of a renowned group expected to never fail. In the end, an important battle was left up to them and they lost. Their reputation cracked and the legacy of many before them was seemingly tainted because of them. The difference? Da Xiang was instantly surrounded by supportive friends and respectful rivals so he was able to learn to rise from the defeat and come back stronger. Julian was given another chance after his defeat but lost again and was humiliated in front of everyone, losing more and more until he felt he had nothing left to lose and joined Ziggurat. Then these two characters, who I never thought to connect before this, meet and Da Xiang shows just how much he’s grown over the course of the season, eventually making Julian grow in the same way as he inspires him to stand back up and continue for his team. I love the way their stories mirror each other and how Da Xiang was able to help Julian learn what he learned.

-The Tsubasa/Madoka moments

This is just the shipper in me but I gotta sprinkle some lighter stuff in to keep this list from being too depressing. Besides, this is almost exclusively a dynamic in Masters and definitely the start of it. I think these two really click and they have a lot of small cute moments in this season. They both have the maturity of people twice their age (most of the time in the case of Tsubasa) while the rest of their team is playing a game of pass the brain cell so it’s just entertaining to watch these two deal with that.

-Team Dungeon

I may not be a Masamune fan but he is absolutely important to Masters’ story, even before the second half. He’s a foil for Gingka and is slowly becoming more humbled and more of a team player through his experiences in the world tournament. Yet he still never lets go of his goal to be the “number 1 blader,” something that seems like just some selfish desire becomes a lot more potent with the introduction of Toby and Zeo, and the reveal that Masamune, Toby, and Zeo all promised they would become number 1 together. It doesn’t excuse Masamune’s more... abrasive moments throughout the season but it does give a reason that’s much deeper than simple arrogance. And this backstory makes the battle between Masamune and Zeo in the world championships downright tragic, with Zeo knowing Toby will die if he loses and thinking Masamune betrayed them while Masamune (who doesn’t even fully realize how bad Toby’s condition is at this point if I remember correctly) doesn’t understand why Zeo is mad at him and is just desperately trying to get through to his friend.

-The two Blader DJs

I have no analysis on this, I just think it’s funny. Their battle is funny and I like that they announce the America vs Japan battles together, each of them clearly having a bias toward their home team.

They’re also just really gay. We stan our gay nerd announcer bois.

-The shady stuff Team Starbreaker does

(Side note: Oh my gosh look at the way Jack is flipping his hair, that’s so cute)

This is probably the most... down to earth(?) of the villain plans in Beyblade because it’s all rooted in science, so it’s easier to believe something like it could happen in real life. A system that unnaturally brings out the hidden abilities of a person? I could see that technology existing one day and it freaks me out to think about how humans could and would abuse it, just as they do here. The way Jack and especially Damian were brainwashed also feels very real. It’s not fantasy brainwashing with some kind of magic or machine, it’s children, Damian especially, being groomed into believing their way is the best way so they never step out of line and do exactly what Ziggurat needs them to do. It’s horrifying. I also like the twist that Ziggurat was using the world tournament, everyone he brainwashed/manipulated, and the horrific technology he was already using just to complete an even more terrifying weapon. It’s a much more unique way to end the season than a simple Gingka vs Damian would’ve been. Speaking of which:

-Gingka isn’t the only one who saves the day

This is probably the biggest thing Masters has over both Fusion and Fury to me. You can argue that in both of those seasons, Gingka’s final battle was the only one that mattered. (I don’t necessarily agree with that notion but my point is that Gingka is the one given all of or at least most of the glory.) In Masters, there really isn’t one single person who saves the day. Nearly everyone had a final battle in Spiral City that helped them win the day: Da Xiang battling Julian, Tsubasa battling Jack, Kyoya battling Damian, Masamune and Gingka battling Faust, Ryuga taking down Spiral City itself and helping those two, Zeo murdering Ziggurat- wait, that’s what happened right? Yes, the final stopping the meltdown thing was just Gingka... at first, which would’ve been boring. But then low and behold:

*LOUD RYUGA FANBOY SCREAMING*

Ryuga and Gingka, two former enemies, work together to save the world and it’s one of my favourite moments in all three seasons. I love how weirdly helpful Ryuga is in this season. I love how the first season ends with two enemies battling with the world at stake and the second season ends with those same people, now no longer enemies working together to save the world. It’s like poetry. It rhymes, sorta. Then the third season ends with my heart being shattered to pieces but that’s for another time.

Conclusion: Masters is good, I’ve been giving it way too hard of a time over this past year. That’s due in part because of the way it and Fury are perceived and my own past with both these seasons. Yes, that’s petty of me, but hear me out.

(Slight Fury tangent, but it’s relevant)

When I first rewatched Fury, I was shocked it was good. Genuinely shocked, I remembered hating it, I remembered hating it and not caring that Ryuga, who is now a very personal character for me, died horribly. I feel I unfairly hated Fury when I was younger and didn’t give it a fair chance, a feeling I may have unintentionally projected onto other fans, without even realizing. I’ll start by saying that’s in no way my call to make. You honestly don’t even have to watch all of Fury to decide you’re not a fan of it. You gave it the chance you decided was fair, as did I.

Now that I do love Fury, I want to show it as much love as I can and that has lead to me making some... unfair comparisons between Masters and Fury. I still think they both have issues with underusing characters and yes, Masters does bother me more in that regard than Fury does but that’s my own bias toward the characters. Everyone has their own. I personally like Kenta more than Yu, Benkei, and Tsubasa, so Kenta’s almost complete absence in Masters stings way more to me than Yu, Benkei, and Tsubasa’s sidelining in Fury. And yes, I still take Fury’s new cast over Masters’s new cast. That’s just my preference, and I hope I haven’t given off an impression that you aren’t allowed to have your own preference. No one opinion means more than another and none of us can ever be fully “objective.” I’ve tried to be objective on these seasons, and it’s still full of bias because we are biased creatures. That’s not possible to avoid.

So I apologize if I ever came off as aggressive or gate-keeping towards opinions on Masters and Fury. It’s something I plan to fix going forward with this blog. There are completely valid reasons to love Masters and completely valid reasons to hate Fury. Honestly you can hate Fury solely because it’s weird and that’s a valid opinion. If anything, I’ve been looking back on my 15 year old opinion (that’s how old I was when I first saw it) with way too much scrutiny. My opinion back then was as valid as it is now, it’s just that my old opinion is one that I now really really disagree with and because it was me, there is a filter of shame over it, especially with the Ryuga thing.

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daughterofgaston · 2 years

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OC Updates

So for those who have been with me for awhile, you might remember my Descendants Original Characters!

For refresher we have:

Gabelle LeGume- the rough and tumble only daughter of Gaston and twin sister to Gil, just fighting to make it in a man’s world. She is in a relationship with Chad Charming, and is the leader of the G Gang

Holly Olympian- the sweet and spice daughter of Hades and best friend to Gabelle and sister to Hadie (and apparently half-sister to Mal), just trying to find her place. She is in a relationship with Audrey, and is Gabelle’s second in command.

Caine Frollo- the pathetic son of Claude Frollo who is just an annoyance to everyone on the Isle, he is a member of Ginny Gothels group, and is single.

Rochella Heart- If I’m being honest I don’t remember a lot about her character other than she was the daughter of the Queen of Hearts, was a member of Gabelle’s gang, and dated Clay Clayton-

Gabriella Charming- The sweet as sugar daughter of Cinderella and King Charming, and younger sister to Chad. As Princess of Cinderellasburg, she took it upon herself to show Gabelle the ropes of Princess-hood and along the way fell in love and began a relationship with Gil.

Now that we are all reacquainted with my OC’s…

I’m scrapping a couple of them. Or at least thinking about it.

I’m thinking about getting rid of Rochella because honestly I didn’t do a lot with her anyways and I kinda just created her because I was in a OC-creating frenzy at the time. I think it says a lot that I genuinely don’t remember a lot about her character so I’m probably gonna yeet her right out the window.

I’m also thinking of getting rid of… Gabriella. I know- I know- put down the pitchforks and hear me out.

Gabriella might just get a full redesign instead of a full scrap. Just while I was going through my posts she was giving me pretty big Mary Sue vibes and I no longer like the fact that her and Chad (who are siblings) are both in relationships with another pair of siblings (Gil and Gabelle respectively).

I don’t like how similar her name is with Gabelle anymore. At the time I did because realistically there would be some name overlap but now it’s just confusing when I look back.

Gabelle might get a little redesign because I think I made her too overpowered strength-wise and I think maybe she’s a little too… idk, grouchy? But I’m still debating. Overall, her character will probably remain the same with minor changes.

And the same goes for Holly. Overall I like her, but she might get some minor changes.

I also might be thinking about doing a fanfiction with my OC’s so keep on the lookout for updates regarding that if anyone would like to read it 👀

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lesfeldickbiblestudy · 2 years

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Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 2 * PART 4 * BOOK 54 I Peter 1:1 - 2:14 - Part 2 Now let’s pick up where we left off in the last lesson, and I think we’re going to start chapter 2. Now this next series of verses here in I Peter are so applicable even for you and I in the Age of Grace. And even though I’ve been stressing that these little Jewish letters here at the back of your Bible are written primarily to Jewish believers of the Kingdom economy, there are so many things in here that overlap. So we in the Church Age can glean some things from these writings, and here are a few. I Peter 2:1 "Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings," Does that apply to us? Well, I don’t see why not. Absolutely it’s appropriate. If we’re going to have a viable group of believers, then you certainly cannot be undercutting one another with gossip and envying and so forth. I Peter 2:2 "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may (what?) grow thereby:" Now, you see, here’s a comparison that fits perfectly with the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians, chapter 3. Let’s move back there a minute. Here, Paul uses the same analogy of milk. Now, of course, scriptural milk is simply the simple things, the elementary. But, God doesn’t want us to stay on the simple. He wants us to go into the deep things of Scripture. And I think that’s where Christendom as a whole has failed. The leaders have never given people anything more than milk. All right, I Corinthians chapter 3? Verse 1 and this is what Paul writes to this Gentile congregation. I Corinthians 3:1-3a "And I brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, (people who have matured) but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. (notice it’s the same language that Peter is using) 2. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, (that is the meat part of Scripture) neither yet now are ye able (to take deep, meat Scripture. Why?) 3. For ye are yet carnal:…" Now the Corinthians were all hung up on going to law and court with one another and arguing over who was the greatest – Apollos or Paul or Peter or Christ. And so they were still very carnal instead of getting into a love for one another and getting into the Word and growing spiritually. So what Paul had to use was the analogy of milk to make them understand. I Corinthians 3:3 "For (he says) ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" All right now Peter is dealing with the same kind of a situation amongst the Jewish believers. Now come back with me to I Peter chapter 2. So he uses the same analogy that they were to desire the simple things, but for goodness sakes, don’t stay on milk, move on. Even in the physical. What is a sadder dilemma than to have some little infant that never grows beyond the milk? And you know there is such a thing? We had a couple stop the other day who were asking us for prayer for someone. They’d just had a child and they were worried that it may have had a disease that was generations back on one side or the other. And several generations back these folks had had a little infant and, for 14 years, the child never went beyond infancy. Normal in every respect but remained an infant. Well, that’s awful. Heartbreaking! But, you see, this is most Christians. Most believers never go beyond infancy and God’s heart must just break. How He longs to see the believer grow spiritually, just like we like to see a child grow physically. . You know, I’ve got grandkids and they’re in that fast growing spurt and boy they come in almost every other week, and say, "Look Grandpa, I’ve grown another half-inch!" Well, you see that’s what you want. But how many believers can do that. They just never get beyond infancy with the Word of God. All right, so Peter is admonishing even these Jewish believers: I Peter 2:2-4 "As newborn

babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: (don’t remain an infant) 3. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 4. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious." All right, now I’ve got to stop there a minute don’t I? We’re not going to take time to chase down all the Scriptures but I think most of you now know those Scriptures I’m speaking of. For example, you go all the way back to Exodus and when Moses struck the rock, Who was the Rock? Christ! And so He was the Rock that gave out living water. Well, you move on up through the Scriptures and you get to Daniel, and Daniel tells us that through his vision (as he could see all the great empires that were coming upon the earth) there was this huge image of a man. The head of gold was Babylon. The next part of the image, the silver, was the Medes and Persians. And the next part was the brass, the Greeks. And then the legs of iron were the Roman Empire and then the ten toes, iron and clay (which will be the Revived Roman Empire that is getting stronger even as we speak). Then the next verse says what?"He saw a huge stone cut out without hands, crushed all vestige of those empires, until they became dust." Who was the stone cut out without hands? The returning Christ. The stone that crushes the empire at His Second Coming. Well then, you have the analogy in the Psalms of "the stone that was set aside of the builders." Well now, in imagery, it was beautiful. And I’m sure it was just a legend that was brought about, but the legend was speaking of when they were building the Temple at which there was not a sound of a hammer. All the cutting of those stones was done at a distance. And then the quarry men would send the stones as they were needed, as the building was rising. Well, as the story goes, to make a good scriptural application, the quarry men sent the headstone of the corner long before they were ready for it. So what did the builders do? Well, they just kicked it off into the weeds and almost forgot about it. But that very same headstone of the corner then in imagery became the stumbling block of the Jew over which they stumbled because they couldn’t recognize Who He was. So all through Scripture we have over and over the picturing of Christ as "the stone." Then, of course, when we get to Paul’s writings in I Corinthians chapter 3, he becomes the headstone of our foundation. He is the "Rock" of our cornerstone, or however you want to put it. He is the foundation of the Church. I Corinthians 3:11 "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." And so all through Scripture we have this analogy of Christ as a Rock or as a Stone. All right, now Peter is coming back to it and he says in verse 6: I Peter 2:6 "Wherefore also it is contained in the scriptures, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, (speaking of Christ as He presented Himself to the Nation of Israel) elect, precious: (in other words, Christ was the chosen One of God to bring about the salvation of, not just Israel, but, the whole human race) and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded." And I think maybe if you were to go in to the translations, a better word would be disappointed rather than confounded. Now read it in that light and I don’t think I’m doing any violence to the text. "That he that believeth on him (Christ as the Stone) shall not be disappointed." Have you ever stopped to think how many millions and millions of people are going to go out into eternity and suddenly be disappointed. Oh, they think they’ve done everything that needs to be done. They think they’re going to make it, but when life ends on this earth and they find themselves in the wrong place, what a disappointment. In fact, I just shared with a group while we were at a seminar last week about a book written by a Lutheran theologian on the Flood. And I think his name was Rehwinkel if I remember correctly. But he gave this analogy, and I’ve used it over the years. I think it’s beautiful.

He said that for 120 years, Noah and the three sons were building the ark. But they must have had other people come in to help them with all the work entailed in building that huge ark. And so for 120 years Noah’s friends and neighbors worked with him on the ark. But when the flood came, did they go in? No. They thought he was crazy. Then, this Dr. Rehwinkel made this analogy. He said, "Isn’t that true of the church? How many people are just as busy working in the church as these builders on the ark; they’re singing in the choir, they’re Sunday School teachers, they’re church officers. But when eternity stares them in the face, they’re outside." And the reason these people will be left outside is - They have never truly believed in their heart Paul’s Gospel of salvation that Jesus died for their sins and your sins, was buried, and rose again! My how sad that is. But the ones that have will never be disappointed. I Peter 2:7a "Unto you therefore which believe…" See, now here Peter is close to Paul again isn’t he? It’s faith. For these Jews who believed Who Jesus was, and indeed the One they crucified, was the Christ. That’s what they were to believe. And then, of course, the benefits of the Cross were imputed unto them. When you go back into the Old Testament economy, and what prompted what I said earlier that I can’t put my thumb on their salvation experience - they didn’t believe that Christ would die on a Roman Cross, and be raised from the dead. They hadn’t even heard of such a thing. But, when they believed what God told them to believe, then all the merits of the Cross were put to their account. Well, it’ll be the same way in the Tribulation. When these 144,000 Jews go out and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom again (which was basically what we were all talking about, that Jesus was the Christ and He’s coming to set up His Kingdom), they’re not going to believe in a death, burial and resurrection for salvation. They’re going to believe Who Jesus was. But, the merit of the Cross is what will be imputed to their necessity. So, yes, the Cross is central to everything - even though they didn’t all believe in that per se, as we do in our Gospel of Grace. So always remember that, even though people did not understand that Christ would die on a Roman Cross and be raised from the dead, the merit of that work of the Cross is still put to their account. I Peter 2:8a "And a stone of stumbling,…" That’s why I went back to the legend, that when they laid the cornerstone aside, they didn’t know what to do with it. Then, later on, it became a stone of stumbling - that’s exactly what Israel did. He came and they didn’t know what to do with Him. And so they cast Him aside and they crucified Him. But He became then also the Stone of stumbling, reading on. I Peter 2:8b "…and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word,…" That’s millions, if not billions, of people who stumble at the Word of God: I Peter 2:8c "…being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed." In other words, they had every opportunity to understand and believe. Remember, Peter is speaking to these Jews of this day and time, shortly after the crucifixion. Now I’m talking in terms of the crucifixion at 29 AD. Peter is probably writing somewhere between 50 and 60 AD - and so these are Jewish believers who still had that connection to the Jerusalem church of Acts chapter 2. All right, and so he says: I Peter 2:9a "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;…" Paul doesn’t use those words, but you know what? Come back with me to Exodus 19 and you’ll see, when God is speaking to Moses, they’ll just jump off the page. The same words. Exodus 19. And see this is what makes Bible study so gloriously interesting. The Nation of Israel is gathered around Mount Sinai and he’s up in the mountain. All right, and so God says to Moses: Exodus 19:5a "Now therefore, if ye (the Nation of Israel) will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure….

" Same word in Peter! Now flip back and forth so you’ll know what I’m talking about. Flip back to Peter again, "ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people." Now the word peculiar doesn’t mean odd. It means of intrinsic value. All right, back to Exodus. Exodus 19:5b-6a "…then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: (He’s Sovereign, He can do what He wants) 6. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of(what?) priests,…" Now flip back to Peter. And what does Peter say? "A royal priesthood, A holy nation." Back to Exodus. See just back and forth. It’s the only way you can compare. Now in Exodus again. Exodus 19:6 "And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation, These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel." And Peter is claiming that very same thing now to these Jews. You are now in fulfillment of what God was telling Moses. You’re to be a royal priesthood. You’re to be a holy, set apart, nation. And you’re to be a peculiar people. You are to be of intrinsic value. All right, now back to I Peter and we’ll continue on. I Peter 2:9b "…that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:" Now I’m going to show you how Jesus used those same words. Now come back to John’s Gospel, chapter 3 and let’s begin with verse 19. And, again, we’ve got Christ dealing with Israel, not with the world in general – Israel. If you remember earlier this afternoon, we were back in chapter 1 and it said, "and this is that Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." But here in John 3, Jesus is directing it only to the Nation of Israel. John 3:19-21 "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21. But he that doeth truth (in other words, again believes Who Jesus really is) cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." Why? Because he’s going to be a different person. His deeds are not going to be evil. Now they’re going to be Godly in their character. All right, so now if you’ll come back to I Peter chapter 2. And so you have all these comparisons of God dealing with the Nation of Israel, previously, and Peter is just simply rehearsing it. I Peter 2:9a "But ye (as he speaks to these Jewish believers) are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,…" Because, after all, once they were to get into the Tribulation and into the Kingdom, what were they to become? Priests to all the pagan world around them. That hadn’t yet been changed. That was still part of the Old Testament economy that the Jew would become the evangelists. Now, of course, with the incoming of the Age of Grace and Israel set aside, they’ve lost that opportunity - but at this point in time, when Peter is writing to them, this was still out in front of them, that they could be a holy nation of priests. I Peter 2:9b-10a "…an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10. Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God:…" Now, I don’t know what point in time Peter was referring to. If you want to go back to before they became a nation in Egypt, that’s all right. Or you can go back to a time when they had almost rebelled completely against God, and the Shekinah Glory had left the Temple. But they had, as a nation of people, not been the people of God but now these groups of believers. Peter is saying as we finish the verse. I Peter 2:10b "…which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." In other words, as a result of their faith, they were now part and parcel, again, of being in God’s covenant promises. All right, now verse 11. I Peter 2:11-12a

"Dearly beloved, I beseech you (I beg you) as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12. Having your conversation (or your manner of living) honest among the Gentiles;…" So what does that tell you? These were Jews that he was writing to and Peter is admonishing, "Don’t let the Gentiles look at you and say, ‘I wouldn’t want to be like that.’" Well, what’s the application today? That’s where we are. That’s how we are to behave. We’re to behave in such a way that the lost world around us will never point the finger and say, "I’d hate to be like that. I’m not crooked in business like they are. I don’t take advantage of the poor like they do." Remember, the Jews had been pretty guilty of that. The Old Testament prophets condemned them for it – that they ignored their widows and that they took advantage of the disadvantaged. Well, Peter is saying basically the same thing. Maintain a testimony that the world of Gentiles cannot ridicule. I Peter 12b-14 "…that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation." (in other words, I think he’s referring to when Christ would return) 13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man, for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, (that is the Roman king) as supreme: 14. Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well." Come back to Romans 13 and see how Paul addresses the same thing. Godly men - whether it’s of the Jewish persuasion or whether it’s us in the Church Age - that part is not all that different. We are still to behave the same way, as believers, as Peter admonishes those Jews in the midst of all that Roman persecution. Romans 13 - this is Paul’s approach. Romans 13:1-2 "Let every soul (or every individual) be subject unto the higher powers. (now that’s not God power, that’s government power) For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God, 2. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, (that is of government) resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation."God has placed us under our government for the purpose of being obedient to it, and, if you resist the government, you shall receive to yourselves condemnation. Now verse 3. Romans 13:3 "For rulers (government) are not a terror to good works, (if it is working the way it should be) but (a good government should be a terror) to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:" In other words, if you’re a good citizen and we’ve got good government, they should be able to recognize it. And I think it carries all the way through our daily experience. And you can just read on here and see how it’s suppose to take place. Romans 13:4a "For he (government) is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid;…" Absolutely. Government is to punish if we act evil; but if we are as we should be, we should never have to fear the punishment of government.

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thatbangtanbloom · 3 years

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petals | bts [1]

petals | bts

teaser | [1] (could be read without the teaser)

characters: kim namjoon, kim seokjin, min yoongi, jung hoseok, park jimin, kim taehyung, jeon jungkook, reader

pairings: ot7 x reader

categories: angst, fluff, (light???) smut

genre: idol!bts, idol!reader (fem!reader)

warnings: reader is a bit sensitive but comes out of her shell slowly,, uhh,,, grinding???, making out ;) , sad kissing????, hoseok is lowkey whipped for reader, so is jimin,,, taehyung is a little mean for like 2 sentences

a/n: this first chapter introduces the reader, j-hope, and jimin! more members will be introduced with reader next chapter :]]

❀

The seven of them may not have been bound by blood, but they were in every other way. Their interests often aligned and common actions were shared where sometimes they did not know where one began and one ended. They began their days together as they made their way to the practice room and ended it when they loaded into vans to make their way back to their shared dorm.

It wasn’t as though they had never noticed the fundamental difference between the seven of them and you. They were keenly aware of it whenever the stylist squeezes you and your other girl group members into shorts opposite to their pants or the added slits to accentuate your figure when suits were the dominant style. Yet, your performance was the tipping point.

Each of them had drawn silent as they watched you move like a siren across the stage. The male dancers seemingly falling at your feet while your white chiffon hugged your every curve, floating like water with each move to the beat. Never mind that you were in a group with seven other girls, all of their eyes could only be glued to you.

They would like to think that it were the performances that had them glued to your every move - that it wasn’t the remnants of false dreams that led them to watch you like a hawk. Almost like wolves, they would be eager to pounce at you if there was one misstep. Yet, you made none.

Hoseok was the proudest of them all. He purposely would stay up to watch you practice, giving helpful tips to evoking further emotion.. but this? Seeing you move this sexily as an enchantress almost made him feel weak in the knees.

They had attempted a lot to make you feel welcomed into their tiny home of seven. When BigHit informed them that the top trainee from Produce 101 would be joining their company left a sour taste in their mouths, but after learning it had been you who captivated millions, their worry lessened. BigHit had provided themselves on growing from the ground up - working organically to cultivate each trainee with precision, sincerity, and perseverance. Their own premonitions of how you functioned as an artist did make them question your credibility. It was only a matter of time before their watchful eyes looked after you since your pre debut days. The trainee girl division of BigHit had been long gone, but BigHit could not let go of you, not after so many monthly evaluations, tearful performances, and years going down the drain.

It was not as though you were coming into the group empty-handed. You had your own fan base from the show and project group who swore to stay by your side no matter what. Admittedly, your fan dynamic was a bit more mixed - guys eagerly flicking to see you and the other girls in school uniforms while you belted your heart out. The latest addition was the reassurance that BigHit needed to their girl group that they intended to put together.

“She doesn’t belong here.” were the first words you heard when your bags finally were placed down. It had been Taehyung who had uttered such words. You instantly find your blood run cold from the words. You could not quite understand why Taehyung was so against you. The two of you had never spoken more than three words to one another outside of promotional shoots where you were slated as an MC for the few shows variety was on.

Nevertheless, you tucked your head down and followed your other group members to the practice studio where you would dance for hours on in. You would practice until your limbs ached, taking every moment of a break as one step closer to the solace of your bed when comeback preparations were soon approaching. But every time you rested for just a moment, you could remember the echo of Kim Taehyung’s words. She doesn’t belong here.

Unbeknownst to you, not every member of BTS was antagonistic towards you. In particular, Jung Hoseok admired your tenacity more than anything. The two of you spoke in quick words, him congratulating you on your variety show appearances and complimented the way your freestyle had improved over the years. He was in complete awe of you.

“You’re here again?” His soft voice greets you at seven in the morning on the fifth-floor practice room of BigHit Entertainment. You would be embarrassed that you are currently laying on the floor looking utterly disheveled with your gray sweatpants loosely hugging your hips and the way your shirt is drenched with sweat if this were the first time.. but it had not been. He has two iced Americanos in hand and his lovely heart-shaped smile to match. “I swear.. you’re one of the hardest working people I know.”

His words lift your heart and you scramble to stand up and bow deeply to him, “Thank you, senior.” You say before bending a full ninety-degrees to show your respect.

“There’s no need for formalities… aish… are we not close?” Hoseok teases playfully as he places his keys onto the television monitor’s counter and shrugs off his jacket. He has always been one of the more friendly members of your senior group. Most likely because he catches you in the practice room four days out of the week when your leader, Roa, has not realized you snuck out of the dorms in exchange of the four walls. “You can just call me Hoseok. Or j-hope if it makes you feel better.”

You shyly rub the back of your neck, “I.. I suppose we are.” You admit sheepishly as you watch him pass you the iced americano into your hands. His hands are soft and gentle as they overlap over yours. “Congratulations on Billboard and the Grammy’s…. It must be very exciting,”

“Yah, yah, you said that yesterday.” Hoseok has always teased you as his hand raises to your head and pats it gently. In particular, Hoseok has always found your shyness cute. He thought it was sweet that despite years of being an idol, you still never lose the softer parts of yourself. “Let’s talk about you. And Reverie, huh?”

Your girl group, Reverie, had ultimately been a successful feat despite Korean netizens eager to question the validity of putting former IOI members and BigHit trainees as the first girl group the company would produce as opposed to using ‘fresh’ talent. Reading article after the article had made you insecure when they commented on your rather ‘boring’ facade compared to the other members that had charms that seemed to overflow. Were you that bad?

As though reading your thoughts, Hoseok gently clears his throat. “You should show me your dance.” He contends with a warm smile.

Despite only having these secret times in the practice room, Hoseok felt as though he could read you. He noticed your demure way of approaching things that were unfamiliar to you - the sharp contrast for when you performed on stage. If anything, he wanted to help you find the same confidence you felt on stage. He wanted you to find it with him.

“I can do that,” You say as you take another sip of your iced Americano and rush to place it in front of the mirror. You steal a peek from the corner of your eye as the older man settles into the chair and shrugs off his jacket. The other members (most likely Jimin since he tended to be as much of a practice fiend as he was) would not join for another half an hour, so Hoseok was eager to spend this time with you.

His eyes follow your every moment as he leans forward like a man entranced. He’s always admired the fluidity in your movement; the way that you texture changes without warning and how sharp each move is when it needs to be. Like water, you move as one with no disconnecting movements until you want it to be. Quite literally, he thinks your poetry in motion.

The latest comeback is equally as alluring as it is power-based. BigHit quantifying that girl groups should not be held to a double standard meant the choreography being just as difficult as your male counterparts. More than satisfactory for you, it let you feel a greater sense of accomplishment when you hear Hoseok’s claps of approval.

“You’ve improved a lot.” Hoseok remarks with a bright grin as he stands to his feet before walking over. “Though… I would say that this one move could be drawn out more. You’re focusing more on the timing rather than the execution.” He watches as your features contort at his words as you try to piece together what move in particular was he talking about. Could it had been the pas de bourrée? “Here,”

He moves closer to you with a reassuring look in his eyes as his hand rests on your shoulder and slightly presses down, “You’re supposed to have your shoulder go slack, right? You shouldn’t be so tense. Relax.” He says as his fingers trap down your arm to graze over your elbow and tuck it in more. “Your arm was taking away from the focus on your legs. You know the choreography, so why do you dance like you don’t?”

“Ouch,” You say with a forced laugh. You knew he meant well, but from to time, Hoseok did tend to critique you more like you were a member of his own group rather than a junior. Regardless, you were still thankful for his key eye for detail. You never would have deduced it was because he was looking out for you far more than just as a senior, but as something more. “You said last time you wouldn’t be so harsh,” You joke after mustering the courage after fixing your posture and your eyes reclaiming Hoseok’s.

Hoseok chuckles softly, “If I knew you couldn’t take it, I wouldn’t say it,” He remarks gently before turning on his heels beside you. “You’re practicing for the partner stage within the comeback, right? Then you should do it properly.” His voice lowers ever so slightly when he speaks, “With me.”

This hadn’t been the first time you had practiced with Hoseok. Early morning practices often consisted of him arriving at roughly the same time each day, if not earlier, with his small critique prior to him opting for a more hands-on approach. You saw it as nothing more of a senior looking after his junior, but Hoseok saw it as far more than that. How could he not when you were this cute without realizing it?

He wanted to ruin you.

Your thoughts melt away when you feel Hoseok’s hands settle onto your waist, pulling you closer to him as the two of you make eye contact. The way that he looks at you, his pupils slightly dilated with an intensity you can not quite discern, makes you let go of the breath you had not realized you were holding. How come it never felt like this when you were dancing with the actual backup dancers?

“Your leg should rest on my hip, like this,” Hoseok says as he purposely tucks his hand in the dip of your waist to press your waist against him. He’s warm to the touch, much like the sun itself and you have to bit back the blush that threatens to paint on your cheeks. “There, you’re doing good. You’ve always been good at listening.” He praises you as he guides you through the next move. Each moment you spend closer to him has you nearly buckling in the knees when his voice tickles your ear. Did he have any clue what the hell he was doing to you?

You may not have realized it, but Jimin ultimately did. The shorter man has grown familiar with the scene as he tucks his bag under his arm and lingers by the door to watch. He’s not surprised that Hoseok had shown up an hour early for practice in the wrong practice room when he leads you across the room. Jimin has to wonder if being attracted to you is infectious when it seems he is equally infatuated with you. Perhaps even more than Hoseok.

Jimin chuckles to himself as he pauses the music and leans against the door frame with an amused grin. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you two were star-crossed lovers.” It’s almost biting the way your face changes of recognition when your eyes meet Jimin.

You immediately pull away from Hoseok to bow deeply to Jimin out of respect, “It’s not like that. He was helping me-“

“You should let me help you too,” Jimin almost pouts as he repeats the familiar action of discarding his jacket and strolling over. “I can dance too, you know?” He teases as he notices the chuckle that Hoseok had been holding back. Both of them found you being flustered adorable, especially when this normally wasn’t like you. What happened to the alluring siren on stage? They practically craved to have you put them in their place.

Unlike Hoseok, your history with Jimin runs deeper than your ties to BigHit Entertainment. The younger man had known you at your lowest point, kissed away your tears on the night that your first group, I.O.I, had disbanded after the project’s deadline came and went.

You had never mentioned it, but you remembers the last night in the IOI dorms like it was yesterday. You had never wanted to know the pain of your group disbanding again. You had called Jimin that night because you didn’t know who else to call. Somi had been crying in the bathroom for hours, saying how it felt like SIXTEEN all over again, and you could only console your dongsaeng for so long. Kyulkyung and Nayoung already were going to be debuting in PRISTIN with eight other girls as though IOI never existed and was another project group. The time zone left you unavailable to call you parents and Jimin was all you had…

“I’m always going to be here, you know that, don’t you?” Jimin had whispered into your ears as his fingers gingerly stroked your cheek. He looks into your eyes, hoping that your words give some semblance of comfort when your heart ached to no return. How many times would it be that you had to build yourself up to be strong just for everything to fall apart outside of your control?

You sniffle when Jimin makes you look into his eyes, “I-I-I know,” You stammer out as you try to regain your control over your emotions, but it hurt. It hurt so bad that your head was pounding and it felt like you could hear the blood rushing to your ears. “It just.. I just want it to stop hurting, Jimin..” You grip the fabric of his shirt as though he were the one person in this world that piece you back to gather.

“It will take time.. but I will be here until the very end.. you hear me?” He whispers as he stares into your eyes. His soft monolids drip honey when they meet yours. “YN-ah… look at me.”

With a sniffle, you nod, “I am.. I am…” You whisper as your eyes scan his own. You never quite realized how long his eyelashes are or the way he holds the entire galaxy in his eyes up so close. You never have clung to him this much either, so it leaves you a bit breathless when Jimin says nothing for a while, just admiring you. “Jimin?”

“Mmm?” He asks as he does his best to wipe away your tears and not think about how pretty you look right now. He was here just to comfort you, but why can he not stop himself from looking at your lips? From thinking about how badly he wants to help you forget and kiss you?

“You’re pretty,” You say simply as you sniffle slightly and wipe away a stray tear with your sleeve.

“You’re prettier,” He tells you with a soft laugh as his thumb brushes against her chin. He wonders how close it would be for him to close the distance between the two of you with just a kiss.

Jimin has always complimented you, reassuring you of your every perfection, but this time he seems to mean it a little bit more as he presses you tighter against his chest to hold you close.

“Jimin…” You whimper as you hug him closer to you. “Please.. please help me forget,” you whisper softly for just the two of you to hear.

So without thinking, you cup both of his cheeks to close the distance between the two of you. Your arms snake around his shoulders to pull him closer as his arms instantly wrap around your own waist. He is warm to the touch, but fits like a perfect puzzle piece.

Jimin can not say how many times he had thought of this moment - the way you would fit around him like missing puzzle piece. The way he would kiss away every worry from your pretty little head as his hands bunch up the sweatshirt at your waist as he would kiss up your stomach before peppering kisses along your thighs. He’s dreamed of what it would feel like to finally hear your soft moans for him and him alone, but he still holds back as he lets you take the lead. Especially when you are this sensitive.

His lips are soft and pouty; they feel like the inside of a rose as his jaw slacks to let your tongue brush against his own. The taste is sweet with a bit of a tangy flavor: much like that of strawberry lemonade when each finger that presses against your side feels like keys being paid against a piano. For the first time in a while, things feel stable, sure, certain.

You’ve never wanted anything more in your life. You have no doubts as your hips grind against his own on the floor of your dormitory. His moans are soft each time your hips rhymically brush against the hardening tent within his pants. You like this reaction from him, the way his hips buckle into your own as your own teeth begin to nibble along his plump ones to elicit another mewl of pleasure from him. He feels like a dream, the way his hold on you tightens to bring you closer to him ; a sneaky hand that brushes along your hip to graze against the strap of your bra and tug it down in anticipation. You’re thankful that your door is locked in case one of your fellow members were to walk in on you grinding against your best friend after a fit of tears. God, you want him. You want him. You want him.

“YN-ah….” He groans as you begin to paper kisses along his neck. “I.. I want this… you have no idea how badly I want this… but I don’t want this if you’re just trying to forget,” He whispers as he forces you back to look at him. “Do you understand that?”

You grow silent as you watch his chest pant up and down in excitement. You know he wants it as badly as you do. You would be a fool to not see the way that he looks at you like you are the only one in the room. But you feel ashamed from how quick you are to close the gap between friends and lovers in the blink of an eye. Would crossing this boundary ruin things for you?

Jimin wonders if you remember those memories as vividly as he does. Sure, it had been a couple of years since that time, but he could not forget the way you fit perfectly around his lips. The memorable roll of your hips that nearly had him crying for him to be inside of you. He could remember all of this when you stared at your figure years later no longer as just friends, but with you as his junior and him as his senior.

Was it incomprehensible that he would wish to cross those paths again?

- - -

Don't be a silent reader! Let me know what your thoughts are! How do you feel about Taehyung not liking the reader very much? What do you think about the reader with Hoseok and Jimin? Let me know your thoughts :)

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moonlayl · 3 years

Note

In relation to the #StopAsianHate tag, it seems fitting to add this contribution since China has been doing a lot of horribly questionable things(to put it mildly), and this has led to a rise in anti-asian rhetoric, with extras on the anti-chinese rhetoric.

It has affected overseas Chinese-descendants and the Chinese diaspora around the world badly, since they had no hand in what China did, nor do they share the same sentiments of China, yet they still get harassed and targeted. Even to the point of cop agents admit to accusing a Canadian professor of Chinese descent of being a spy, Hongkongnese coworkers mistreating overseas Chinese not from China, and a British-born Asian man getting deported without question.

So in lieu of letting this storm rage over even more, the better option appears to be to address everyone's concerns and assumptions about people of Chinese descent who are citizens since birth in other countries and have never set foot in china before.

The main point is: NOT ALL CHINESE AROUND THE WORLD ARE WUMAO COMMUNISTS, NOT ALL CHINESE DESCENDANTS SHARE THE SAME SENTIMENTS AS CHINA OR DOING THINGS FOR CHINA. Got it?

Now, to move on to the other part of attacks on Chinese culture and shaming people just for being Chinese.

1.It is okay to be Chinese-born; there is nothing wrong that you happen to be a Chinese person. You deserve dignity, pursuit of happiness, liberty and respect, just like any other race of person, black, white, Jew, etc out there. You are a person too and don't let anyone treat you otherwise.

2.Chinese people are not "spawn of the bad" or "corrupted subhuman" or "tainted genome"; they are not inherently rotten just by being of Chinese descrnt. There is no proof of that, when you pick apart gene sequences from a Chinese descendant in the clinic, it's still very similar to any other person's dna. Just like every nationality, there's kind people and there's assholes. And just like most other countries, who also had monarchy inbreeding, illness, and radiation(did you know of the Radium Girls in the 1920s, or the very unsafe nuclear testing in the 50s to 90s? They even used to put Radium in wristwatches for citizens to glow in the dark so casually.), the Chinese are no different. Just like to bring up the good parts of others' history rather than focus on the bad so much like china.

3.Chinese history, philosophy and culture does not have all bad parts. Please read and analyze everything, good and bad parts, if you want to make a proper judgement. It is very shocking to hear everyone at this point, so comfortable with joking: "let's nuke the Chinese" or "hope we bomb china badly if there's a war" or "the British and Japanese were good to wipe out the Chinese first" so casually! It is not a fair sentiment nor anti-racist one. If it's wrong to say: "the native Americans should have gotten rid of the arriving pilgrims because they were gonna genocide them anyways so might as well" or "black people should be allowed to hurt white people now for all they've done" then statements of that nature against Chinese is also wrong.

And just like other nations who came before and around the same time, these other nations also had bad parts of their culture. No one seems to highlight how colonizers used to practice Safari Game Hunting in Africa for centuries which killed a lot of animals leaving endangered species, no one talks about the quack and irrational remedies doctors in medieval Ages used to do, how they used to mix arsenic in paint on toys in Victorian era, European wars against indigenous peoples, as much as they keep on bringing up Chinese history's weak points and irrationally using it as a weapon to hold against Chinese people irrelevant to the cause of their past generations for years. It is unfair to whitewash your history while scorning the Chinese people's past.

Some Chinese clothing is nice. Some Chinese food is delicious. Some Chinese architecture can be very beautiful. Some Chinese inventions are useful. Those are the good points of Chinese culture. Not everything is tainted.

4.Not all Chinese are ugly. Or yellow skinned. Or receded jawed. Some have hooded eyes, some have high cheekbones, bigger mouths, wonky noses naturally too. Please look at every Chinese person without plastic surgery and analyze the whole populations faces, before you pass a half-assed judgement of how "ugly" they are in general! Seriously, if not how can you make a proper judgement?

5.As for other Asians who are non-Chinese, please stop trying to compare your cultures against theirs, treat it like a contest and say which one is the 'better Asian' to the people of the Occident(white). It is not cool nor necessary. Just do your thing go brighten your own little corner and you'll be great. Not every wumao is stealing your culture all the time sometimes cultures and trads just overlap or happen to be similar or shared through separation and migration reasons. Yes, you are a different non-chinese Asian and unique, there's no need to make noise or insult Chinese people just to prove your point too.

6.Overseas Chinese had ancestors who suffered too hence their migration and diaspora. Read about the Nanking Massacre, their Opium Addiction, 731 labs, Mao's rule, and other conditions. A lot didn't migrate for fun and games.

This is not dedicated to defending China's misdeeds or the Wumao, this is dedicated to the OVERSEAS people of Chinese descent, the Southeast Asian Chinese, the Chinese diaspora in the west, and anyone who didn't ask to be born with Chinese genes or ancestry but got it anyway: it's not your fault. Don't let yourself be shamed for being born this way, even when it's 'cool' to make fun of Chinese, and find a little pride in yourself. Take care and look out for yourself. There may be 1.4 billion mainland Chinese(even with the birth control policies), but there are many more overseas Chinese who need to be understood as "overseas people of Chinese descent" and respected as such.

For those who are non-chinese reading this, please think carefully anytime you want to post something, is it attacking only the current leaders in china or also targeting Chinese people or overseas Chinese-descent peoples too, before you become the very bigot you hate against a group of people or do a hate crime you might regret. Take a moment, and calm down.

Whoever needs to see this, glad you seen it, even if you need it translated. If you can tag it that would be helpful as well.

#^^^^#important #to make it clear: I am NEVER referring to the people when i criticize a government or nation #unless I explicitly say so #stop asian hate #stop asian violence #china #racism

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vidavalor · 3 years

Text

"You're my favorite" is a dialogue callback & a major hint as to what's up with Mobius

Let's talk about Mobius, Ravonna, the drink rings, the pen, the trophies, and "you're my favorite" because I don't think the clues are leading towards Mobius being a villain or a clone or a Loki... but they are leading towards him being a lot more *like* Loki than maybe we realized at the start... meta/analysis under the cut

Mobius is not a villain. The set of scenes meant to really underline this fact are when we see him sneak off to the library with Ravonna's Tempad to watch the Hunter C-20 video and see for himself that his suspicions that Loki was right about the agents being variants is true. If he were a villain, he would have already known this. That said... there are some clues that there *is* something that Mobius already knew and let's look at what those clues are and just what Mobius may be up to.

Mobius is something that Ravonna and the TVA need-- he's smart, inquisitive and a good leader. Their problem with that is he is smart, inquisitive and a good leader. That makes him a bit dangerous should he get too close to the truth. Other agents love him and might be more likely to follow him if he told them they were being lied to so that can't ever happen. On the other hand, it's far easier to "fix" someone that's broken by TVA definition than to just outright destroy it because good analysts don't grow on trees. That other agent who collected the other half of the trophies in Ravonna's office? The one who left drink rings on her table that overlap (in a Mobius loop-like pattern) with Mobius' own? That was the dude whose name is literally his name *twice over*-- Mobius himself. That is why there is no other analyst for Mobius to have ever bumped into in the hallway or been introduced to. Now, think about how Mobius must have thought about this other analyst. Like, a *lot*...

Mobius likes his puzzle and his ears are sharp, too. He brings up the other analyst to Ravonna in conversation, keeping it light, to watch what she says about this person. The more vague she is, the more he realizes that what he's beginning to suspect is likely true. He jokes with her to cover up that he's beginning to understand what's happened and what does he say? He jokes that he hopes that he's her *favorite*, a line of dialogue that he uses when hugging Loki and looking at another version of Loki in Sylvie. What does this mean? It means that while Mobius didn't know that all the agents are variants who were kidnapped from their timelines until Loki told him-- and we know that's the case because we saw him steal Ravonna's Temppad to watch the proof of it that he needed to see for it to be true, even if it was clear that he believed Loki when he was told of it-- Mobius *did* know something already at the start of the show: he knew that he had been reset.

He knew he was not the first version of Mobius that had existed.

That first version was the man he couldn't remember, who had gone on other TVA missions and collected half the stuff in Ravonna's office and had whole other conversations with her where he left other drink rings and that person was just gone now to him. This? Is one of the reasons why he's so empathetic towards Loki and bends over backwards so much to give Loki another chance at being the person he wants to be-- because Mobius himself has been doing that too, in secret. He probably blames Ravonna more than the TVA as a whole at that point-- he turns on the TVA more after he discovers that the agents are all variants-- but it's also why he's willing to take more risks and do things like bring Loki in to help because he identifies with him. Mobius has figured out that he was Ravonna's other agent but he knows that if he ever said that aloud or led Ravonna to think that he had realized it, she would reset him again or prune him and Mobius doesn't want to die. Ravonna tests him frequently with that pen, in particular-- it's either tied to who Mobius was in his timeline or it's something he brought back from before he was reset. She's looking for any signs that Mobius has remembered any of the resetting or any of his life from before. Mobius pretends that he doesn't but he does remember who he was before he was reset into who he is now-- at least enough to know that he was reset in the first place.

Another clue to this? When he rescues Loki from the judge in the courtroom, he's saving him from undergoing the same fate he previously did. There are only two options that we saw-- don't take a ticket (and so prove that you are not pliable and of no use to the TVA) and you get pruned to The Void. Take a ticket (and so prove that you have potential to follow orders) and the judge sentences you and then you get "reset"-- have your memories wiped & be turned into a TVA agent. That was about to happen to Loki when Mobius ran in but look at what Mobius said to him about it. Loki asked if he was taking him somewhere to kill him and Mobius said no, that that's where Loki just was. But think about that for a second-- it was clear that Loki had passed enough of the ticket test that he wasn't going to get pruned to The Void.

If Mobius at that point thought, like most do, that pruning = death, then Mobius would know that Loki had already saved himself from that by taking the ticket. So what is the "death" that Loki would have faced instead, if Mobius hadn't saved him? Mobius knows now what it is because he knows it happened to him before. He saved Loki from having his memory wiped and this version of himself from being killed by the TVA. Just as he's giving Loki another chance to embrace the moment and be whoever he wants to be, Mobius is also trying to do the same thing for himself. Whoever he was is gone now, in some ways, and Mobius can't even remember the missions he went on before, the trophies he brought back to the woman who killed who he was before and made him yet another version of himself. He struggles with what it is to be *him*-- an individual in the midst of similar copies-- and to have an identity of his own... just like Loki does.

Then, Loki uncovers the truth about the TVA from Sylvie and tells Mobius that all the analysts are variants-- that they were people kidnapped from their timelines to serve in the TVA-- and while Mobius does seek out the proof (and I think he also just is trying to figure out what happened to poor C-20, now realizing that she knew before the rest of them did), he believes Loki enough to seek out that proof. He instantly doesn't trust Ravonna. For a man who has spent his whole life (as far as he knows) in service to the TVA and its mission, it's a huge leap, even if he suspects Loki to be correct. The reason why he believed him so readily is because he already had reason to distrust Ravonna and the TVA brass because he already had figured out that he had been reset.

It's also possible that B-15 was also reset alongside Mobius, namely because she works with him all the time and might begin to notice that he wasn't remembering their previous missions. If there is anybody in the TVA that Mobius might have told about his suspicions that he was reset, it might be her and she could have been helping him. (For instance, who is it that tells Loki that he *has to take a ticket* in no uncertain terms? Why does B-15 care if he does or doesn't? What was it to her if they pruned Loki at that point? He was just another variant. Unless Mobius, whom she trusts and is her friend, told her to do everything she could to keep Loki alive in there long enough for him to get there.) So, there's a slight possibility that B-15 knows she and Mobius were reset but I also think he probably didn't tell anybody and if B-15 was helping Loki in the courtroom, it was just because Mobius asked her to.

Which means that Mobius has been wanting to fuck with the TVA a bit-- or at least annoy Ravonna-- for awhile, hence his willingness to go traipse around with Loki. His whole of the word "favorite" though is more loaded than it seems. When he says it with Ravonna, it's a dry joke only he really gets. He's flirty, he's joking with her that he hopes that she likes him more than this other analyst guy who is bringing back these other trophies for her. He makes it sound like a romantic rivalry between him and her other time-hopping Indiana Jones. Mobius at this point *knows that other analyst is himself* when he's saying this but he can't let her know that he knows, so he pretends it's a whole other person, and not a previous sense of himself that she has tried to erase and reset into a version of himself that he wants. Worse, Ravonna *never answers him*-- she never tells Mobius that he is her favorite. She talks about their friendship being uncommon and keeps trying to gaslight Mobius into believing that they have a thing between them that is exclusive to them when Mobius knows damn right well that she had him mind-murdered and he can't trust her. So, even this reset version of Mobius gets the run-around from cold fish Ravonna.

So, when Mobius is then in a moment where he's saying goodbye to the god he loves who is on a paralleling journey to his own, in terms of trying to be the best version of himself he can be with the single chance he has left, he says "you're my favorite" in such a way that while he is saying it, in a whisper, to the Loki in his arms, he's looking at Sylvie when he says it and that's intentional. He respects Sylvie, whose end goal isn't to do harm so much as to free the imprisoned and whose determination to that end is freeing Mobius more than he had previously thought possible, and he loves Loki-- and he's determined to not have them feel what he feels with Ravonna. He wants them to know they are both good as they are, that they can be their own selves and don't need to be more than just the best versions of themselves that they can be. Ravonna makes multiple copies of Mobius and tries to strip him of his sense of self and he's been fighting back quietly, recognizing the same type of fight in all of the Lokis that he meets, taking in their various issues with stride because he just admires all of it and feels a kinship to it. Telling Loki and Sylvie "you're my favorite" is a way of giving them what he hasn't had for himself, which is a sense that he's fine the way he is and he's loved and enough and who he is as a person-- the same traits that make him a good agent-- are not inherently subversive in a bad way or wrong... and if you read that last sentence and realized that Loki is then the perfect person to love Mobius, I agree. :)

#lokius #agent mobius #mobius #loki series #loki speculation #loki (marvel)

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felassan · 4 years

Note

So the Chantry is kinda all pervasive amongst humans in Thedas, but it's only been going for ~1000 years, what do we know of pre/non Andrastian religion amongst humans and other folk?

oohh, great question

Some of this stuff is more like philosophy or religion-adjacent, but it’s worth going into on the subject of the query.

(Note: terms like “shaman” and “animism” are coming from in-universe sources/quotes)

The dwarves don’t worship a god, but they venerate The Stone and have been doing so for over 2000 years. They believe themselves to be the Children of the Stone, which they refer to as “she”. She shelters them, supports them and offers them the most priceless gifts of the earth. Most non-surface dwarves really don’t want to lose their connection to the Stone, their innate Stone-sense. They also practise something akin to ancestor worship. Worthy dwarves are thought to return to the Stone’s embrace in death and become Ancestors. The Ancestors guide the dwarves and speak with the voice of the Provings. Genetivi writes that “for guidance in spiritual matters”, the dwarves turn to their Ancestors. Dwarves may ask the Ancestors to guard or protect them or their loved ones. They also seek to honor and follow in the footsteps of their Paragons. Paragons are believed to have joined with the Stone in life and are essentially elite role models. They’re elected by the Assembly after a great invention, act of valor or other notable action or trait, mostly posthumously. Paragons are set above the ancestors and even kings. If living a Paragon has ‘living Ancestor’ status. There’s some overlap in these concepts; dwarves are said to practise living ancestor worship by way of naming Paragons.

The dwarves of Kal-Sharok have lived for many years in isolation and consequently some of their religious and associated practises have somewhat diverged. They don’t recognize the Paragons of Orzammar, and their own Paragons are selected based on promised deeds, as opposed to ones already undertaken. The Sha-Brytol defend and revere the Titans. They later come to both love and fear Valta due to her restored Titan-connection. Meanwhile, some Surface dwarves still cleave to the Stone. Others are Andrastian or non-religious. Brother Burkel in DAO was an Andrastian Surface dwarf who wished to open a Chantry in Orzammar. I wonder if dwarven beliefs before their sundering from the Titans were centered around the Titans, as their beliefs now are around the Stone (which is like, the same thing, but also not).

The big-Q Qunari follow the Qun. “Qunari” means “People of the Qun”. The Qun is a school of thought and set of teachings based on the writings and philosophies of its founder, Ashkaari Koslun, in the Tome of Koslun. “The Qun” is the philosophical text Koslun wrote, and it’s noted to be “a philosophy” which “does not allow for the existence of religions”. Qunari society is essentially based on the Qun. Notably, it’s not an atheistic belief system (“not” isn’t a typo here, I think it’s something DG once said. not sure how this fits together). Humans, elves and dwarves can convert to and embrace the Qun, whereupon they become known as Viddathari - like Tallis, or Gatt. It’s possible for Viddathari to become Arishok, Arigena or Ariqun. The Ariqun is the leader of the Qunari priesthood and Tamassrans and the Ben-Hassrath are branches of it. Members of the horned race born outside of the Qun - who have never known it - are considered Vashoth (grey - Genetivi’s interview with a Vashoth goat herder is insightful here), and Qunari of any race who intentionally leave or abandon the Qun are Tal-Vashoth (true grey). To be Tal-Vashoth is to rebel against the Qun’s principles.

Many Rivaini people have converted to the Qun, especially in Kont-aar, which is a Qunari settlement on the mainland. Many native Seherons have also converted to the Qun. City Elves are notably likely to convert due to their unfair lot and mistreatment in human society. The original native inhabitants of Par Vollen, the Fex, have been assimilated into the Qun. Before that, the Fex were probably the “people of Par Vollen” who built the vast cities and great distinctive pyramids on the island which are now ruins. These pyramids don’t seem to be tombs, and due to their design may be scientific in purpose (observatories). They could instead potentially have been of religious significance. Those people used to have temples, upon which they made stylized painted carvings depicting tall horned figures in positions of authority and respect: “What were these horned figures to the ancients of Par Vollen? Priests, ritualistically crowned? Heroes? Gods, perhaps? We may never know the truth. But when the Qunari arrived from the sea, horned and carrying the word of the Qun, perhaps instead of conquerors, the people of Par Vollen saw an old legend returning to them.” This seems to be the reason why the Fex were assimilated so easily and without resistance.

Before the foundation of the Qun, the people who preceded the Qunari - “kossith” isn’t quite right as a term for them, for several reasons - prayed to animist gods. World of Thedas says “they were wild then, devoted to a chaos that kept them from greatness”. When “the Qun became law, the temples kossith built to honor their animist gods were destroyed, and their priests were reeducated or driven into exile”.

The main elven religion can probably be roughly split into three categories: the ancient religion, in which the Evanuris were worshipped as god-kings by ancient elves in Elvhenan and which probably still has some relevance for the few remaning ancient elves today (see Abelas and co); the modern Dalish faith, involving the Dalish elves’ conception of the pantheon as the Creators and how they relate that to their way of life; and those among the City Elves who still keep to the old ways or seem to adhere to both them and Andrastianism, and more broadly speaking, the City Elves’ practising of those cultural rituals that they do remember, and of their own unique traditions. The deities are Mythal, Elgar’nan, June, Andruil, Sylaise, Dirthamen, Falon’Din, Ghilan’nain and sometimes Fen’Harel. A lot has been said on elfy stuff of this kind, so I won’t get much into it.

Notably, Ameridan, an elf from the Dales (as in the historical Dalish kingdom), revered both the elven pantheon and the Maker. For him, was this syncretism? In the Dales historically, each elven ‘Creator’ god had a High Keeper and a temple. In the modern day most City Elves are Andrastian, although Andrastianism for several reasons is more distant as a concept to many City Elves compared to how it is for the average human. Some City Elves seem to believe in the Creators or in a combination of both the Creators and the Maker - the Widower in the Hinterlands and his spouse for example kept to the old ways as they could, and he can say to the Inquisitor “Falon’Din guide your steps - or the Maker, as you like”.

There is also still elven worship of the Forgotten Ones, the other half of the elven pantheon. Named Forgotten Ones are Daern’thal, Anaris, Geldauran and sometimes Fen’Harel, but there are others. In the time of the Dales, worship of these beings was persecuted, but secret worship of these gods did continue through til the modern day. “Some fear that these dark beings are less forgotten than most believe, and that a terrible few have strayed deeply into darkness in their quest for vengeance against the shemlen. If these are true and secretive cults do indeed hide among the elves, then such lost souls have torn out their hearts and forsaken all that it means to be Dalish in return for the keys to a twisted and terrible strength”. The elves in the Tirashan are implied to follow gods other than the traditional Dalish Creators, and to wear brilliant crimson vallaslin of these gods. In The Last Court they set upon Seraultine soldiers, and instead of calling out to the Creators for aid, they were calling out to no gods the soldiers had ever heard of before, “offering us up. Like pigs on a platter.” It’s probable that the gods these elves worship are the Forgotten Ones, and it could be that sacrifice is part of their belief system (though it should be noted the recounting of that event was told by a human they’d attacked [bias, fear?]).

The Scaled Ones (a reptilian underground race) seem to have/have had their own religion. Details are thin, but they’ve been observed practising at a golden altar fashioned in the shape of a fire. “On the tip of each flame hung the corpses of those we’d lost. [...] They’d been drained of blood, leaving only bone wrapped in grey skin. A robed Scaled One stood before the altar. Its voice was different from the others: softer, almost feminine. It chanted and raised a basin of blood towards the altar. The other Scaled Ones bowed low. The robed Scaled One produced fire from its palm and mouth and ignited the blood.”

Humanity is very varied. In Andrastianism, you have the main big split, which is the Imperial / ‘black’ Chantry in Tevinter vs the southern / ‘white’ Chantry. Some of the differences between the two variants are covered here. You also have various Andrastian... splinter groups, off-shoots, or cults. This isn’t surprising given that Andrastianism itself was originally a cult known as the Cult of the Maker. After what happened to Andraste, there were many cults, and the Cult of the Maker was oppressed. It just ended up happening to get lucky and became the one which subsumed or supplanted most of the others in the end, thanks to Kordillus. The mainstream Chantry today considers all such alternative practises and beliefs heretical. Many of these beliefs however pre-date the Chantry.

The Inquisitor can encounter the Blades of Hessarian cult. They believe that they serve Andraste and were chosen to bring her judgement upon the weak and corrupt, and that they originate from Trefir, who was a slave of the Archon that Andraste supposedly met.

My favorite offshoot: the Cult of [the] Masked Andraste, in Serault. They worship a huntress-aspect of Andraste unique to Serault, and their sigil is the bow. Their shrine to Masked Andraste stands in the Applewoods, where she’s depicted with a bow. This cult is neither entirely permitted nor entirely forbidden. Yayy, heterodoxy! They hold secret woodland rites linked to nature, so that “The Masked Andraste will quench its hunger”, and their leader is none other than the Elegant Abbess of the Abbey of the Bans.

The Order of Fiery Promise’s adherents are called Promisers. They believe that the end of the world is coming and also that it’s necessary. They once tried to destroy all Astrariums in order to fulfill their destiny, and they want Thedas to be cleansed with fire to that it can be reborn as a paradise. They’ve resurfaced several times throughout history, and originate in a time long ago when several cults dedicated to Andraste were each trying to become ‘The One’.

The Hero of Ferelden encounters the Disciples of Andraste, led by Father Kolgrim, father of the Haven Chantry. Originally pledged to keep the Temple of Sacred Ashes, by 9:30 they believed a High dragon to be Andraste reincarnated and cared for its eggs and dragonlings. This cult preceded the Chantry and kept itself well-hidden until the modern day. Its leader figures were men. They no longer revere the Maker and instead revere Andraste herself. In DAI, Tamar is a surviving member of this cult.

The Daughters of Song were wiped out by Emperor Drakon during his crusade. They were a hedonistic cult comprised of both women and men whose hedonism was their way of celebrating Andraste’s holy union with the Maker. Their stronghold was in an Orlesian village.

Related to this stuff, there was also the Empty Ones, who are fascinating but harder to classify. They were a small and short-lived cult based out of Nevarra which worshipped the Blight itself and by extension darkspawn. Their belief was that the Blight was the Maker’s tool by which he intended to end all creation, as the world was beyond redemption. They saw the darkspawn as his prophets and wanted to return to the Void. They were wiped out in the Second Blight.

Within the mainstream southern Chantry, mention can also be made of Nevarran practises and beliefs, which are like.. gothic Andrastianism with some distinctive features and bells on? They hold ancestral pageants and don’t burn their dead like other Andrastians. They have a unique relationship with magic and death, unique beliefs about what happens to dead souls and how that interacts with spirits and the Fade, and a unique preoccupation with mummification, necromancy and crypts. The Mortalitasi perform mysterious macabre rites and are often rumored to be a death cult.

Outside of Andrastianism, in Tevinter, worship of the Old Gods occurred thousands of years ago and still persists in secret parts of Tevinter society today. The Old Gods are Dumat, Lusacan, Razikale, Toth, Urthemiel, Andoral and Zazikel. It’s speculated that there may have been an eigthth Old God who was struck from the records. In the days of the ancient Imperium, most citizens worshipped them, and there were associated temples and holidays, and a High Priest and priesthood of each. The true nature of the Old Gods is unknown - demons, spirits, Great dragons, something else? - but they’re the sleeping dragon-shaped beings that become Archdemons if the darkspawn find and Taint them. They used to communicate directly with their worshippers and the influence of Old God worship on Tevinter society is still evident today with how their culture views dragons as the ultimate symbol of power and how dragons are featured heavily in much of their art, architecture, etc. There are still some Old God cults in more modern times:

the Blood Band is an Old God cult led by Fallstick. They hate templars and don’t view blood magic as being inherently evil.

the Last Moon are/were a cult dedicated to Lusacan. Early in the Dragon Age, they abducted and ritualistically murdered several people. Their goal at that time was to cause the start of a terrible battle, in order to cover Thedas in “a night that will never end” (Lusacan being the Dragon of Night).

Magister Aurelian Titus also led a cult. Titus wanted to return all of the Imperium to the worship of the Old Gods. He tried to use the Dreamer abilities of himself and his cult, bolstered by the Magrallen artifact, in order to brainwash Thedosians. He had a vision of a restored Tevinter where slaves knew their place and the Chant of Light and the Qun were both purged from peoples’ minds. He said “The old gods. The dragon gods. We shall become them”.

there’s also a tale of a group of Old God cultists who departed mainland Thedas on a trio of ships in the late Storm Age to try and reach the mysterious uninhabited land of Amaranth, across the eastern ocean. Their expedition was supposedly never heard from again

The Venatori are also arguably a cult, although not precisely of the Old Gods exactly but of one of the original High Priests of the Old Gods, the Conductor, who we know as Corypheus. They’re the nationalist supremacists that we all.. know and don’t love. They see/saw Corypheus as the Elder One and a deity, essentially, and want to restore the glory of Tevinter. They revered him and believed he’d turn them into god-kings when he became a proper god. Although routed by the Inquisitor in DAI, they’re not gone. Venatori remnant loyalists crop up in Tevinter Nights. One prominent loyalist tries to release a demon sealed under Minrathous in a ritual attempt to bring about “Minrathous’ return”. It was thought that the demon is so powerful that only a god (like Corypheus) could summon it. There’s more on what they’ve recently been up to here (TN spoilers for lots of things, not just the Venatori, at link).

In the universe there have also been several dragon cults throughout history. This isn’t surprising given the prevalence of dragons in the setting and the Imperium’s Old God worship. After the First Blight, many desperate Imperial citizens turned to the worship of real dragons to replace the Old Gods (who had failed them). “A dragon, after all, was a god-figure that they could see: It was there, as real as the Archdemon itself.” Old God worship was as widespread as the Imperium, and so this sort of belief could have easily spread. There are however also reports of dragon cults in places which never worshipped the Old Gods or heard of them. Members of a dragon cult live in the same lair as a High dragon, defending its young. In exchange the dragon lets them kill some of them and drink their blood, which confers benefits on them like increased strength (sounds like Reaver abilities, basically). Scholars aren’t sure how these mutually beneficial relationships begin. Nevarran dragon hunters reported mad rants and tales of godhood from such cultists. Kolgrim’s Disciples of Andraste Andrastian-offshoot cult (see above) is one such dragon cult. Interestingly, it’s a cool example of intersection and socio-religious crossover/spectrum-type stuff (? don’t know how to explain what I mean here in words) like we see in our world. It’s like a Venn diagram or something that goes: Old God worship -> dragon cults -> Kolgrim’s Andrastian dragon cult -> Andrastianism.

Now, Andrastianism and Old God worship aside, in Rivain, the people are pantheists who believe in something called the Natural Order. Rivaini royalty is officially Andrastian, but the Chantry doesn’t have much authority in the country outside of the capital. In the Natural Order, it’s held that the universe and their god are the same. Rivaini people also traditionally place great value on their seers. These wise women are elders and hedge mages that communicate with spirits and allow themselves to be possessed, which reminds me of a similar practise seen in the Avvar. These traditions date back millennia.

The Avvar still worship the old gods of the Alamarri. Their pantheon includes Sigfrost, Uvolla, Imhar the Clever, the Lady of the Skies, Korth the Mountain Father, Hakkon Wintersbreath, Rilla of the Fireside, Bjorn Reed-beard and dozens of animal gods never revealed to outsiders. Codex entries refer to worship of the Lady of the Skies as “the Avvar Sky Cult” and “the Cult of the Sky”. The Avvarian pantheon is complex, including both legendary mortals who ‘ascended’ to the heavens and spirits. It varies somewhat between groups, as each group has its own legendary heroes, but they all follow the main three (Korth, the Lady, Hakkon). They believe in an afterlife and that some people are destined to be reborn. Avvar shamans are mages called augurs. Augurs are believed to interface between their clan and the spirits, receive counsel from the spirits, conduct rites so that spirits can speak through them, appease some and deal with other troublesome ones. They also interpret omens. Like Rivaini seers they at times allow themselves to be possessed.

The Jaws of Hakkon were a cult of Avvar who had eschewed all the other gods in the Avvar pantheon in favor solely of Hakkon. Adherents are called Hakkonites. They first formed during the Second Blight, when they summoned their spirit-god Hakkon and bound him in the form of a dragon, wanting him to cause destruction in the lowlands for not helping during the Blight. They resurfaced in the Dragon Age when Gurd Harofsen forswore the other gods, having been enraged at the other gods for allowing the Blight to affect his hold and at lowlanders for refusing to aid the Avvar. The Inquisitor routes this second attempt to set the dragon on the lowlands.

Said category of “Alamarri” refers to the following human tribes: Avvar, Clayne (the precursors of modern Fereldans), and the Chasind. When the Alamarri tribes crossed the Frostback Mountains and settled in the lands that would eventually become known as Ferelden, they were fleeing something. Alamarri tribal legend says they were running from a “shadow goddess” (a demon?), but modern scholars believe they were fleeing some kind of natural disaster.

The Chasind Wilders today, like the Avvar, are also not Andrastian. They worship animist gods that an Andrastian refers to as “brutal” (likely biased). Their communities are led by shamans. The Chasind celebrate and respect the Witches of the Wilds, in particular Flemeth. They fashion some of their weapons in the shapes of animals in order to confuse their gods; if they happen to kill someone beloved by their gods, they might blame these ‘animals’ instead. They also traditionally personify the seasons as female warriors, bearing the typical attributes of renewal and death, and having animal heads. “Winter is of note for its brutality, as it is tied to their rumored custom of killing those who flee battle.” The gods the Chasind worship may or may not be the same ones as the Avvarian gods. Or maybe there’s overlap.

The Agadi live far to the south beyond the Chasind. The Chasind word for them, Agadi, means “exile”. Genetivi was harshly corrected by the Chasind when he asked if these people were Chasind. He concludes that they were expelled from the forests by the Chasind and have since splintered off into their own culture in the sunless lands. Bad blood lingers between them and the Chasind. Since they seem to have split off from the Chasind, it’s possible that these people worship the same gods as the Chasind, perhaps with some differing customs, or else their culture has diverged far enough that they have their own completely distinct belief system and deities.

The indigenous Seherons who haven’t converted to the Qun appear to have their own beliefs. Their legends speak of their heroes who “learned at the feet of elves”. The Fog Warriors, who are native Seherons, have Fog Dancers who recite their legends of old and keep the songs of their people alive. They talk of an ancient calamity known as the “Curse of Nahar”. It’s not a stretch to say they likely have their own religion.

Elsewhere in modern known Thedas, we have no real idea about the religious beliefs of the following groups:

The Orth people: they practise facial scarification, perhaps this practise is partially religious in basis (like Dalish vallaslin)

Historically, the pre-Chantry religion of the Clayne would have either been the Avvarian faith or something similar to it. The Planasene were a farming tribe that formed the basis of most of humanity in Nevarra and the Free Marches. They had a strong culture of animist worship. The Neromenian tribes originally worshipped fallen heroes reborn as dragons. When the Old Gods taught the Dreamers of these tribes magic, these Dreamers became the priests and kings of their people. Through those Dreamers as their leaders, they began to worship the Dreamers’ gods, also as dragons. This seems to be the origin of Old God Worship (Tevinter being an offshoot of the Neromenians which eventually absorbed them and Qarinus to form the Imperium). Also, early peoples such as the Neromenians had a fascination with all objects in the sky, the Sun and Moon especially. The people of Barindur perished after their High King turned away an envoy from the High Priest of the Old God Dumat; legends say that the priest called upon his god to punish the King, and after some months Barindur was lost (after being encased following volcanic eruption is the mundane explanation). From this we could possibly infer either that the Barindur people worshipped the Old Gods and then rejected them or that they rejected them from the outset, and in either scenario were punished by them for this (or believed to be).

We have no real idea about the religious beliefs of the following historical groups:

The Daefads

The Inghirsh

The Yothandi

The Ciriane

Outside of modern Thedas, today, there’s very little to no cause to believe that the Chant of Light has reached the following groups (due to the fact that serious attempts at exploration beyond the known world has usually been thwarted by Blights, Qunari dreadnoughts, pirates etc), and in turn very little to nothing is known about their religious beliefs:

The Parladians: their witches cast powerful spells like cloaking magic. The Rivaini peoples’ origins are the island chains in the Boeric ocean, and the Parladian witches are reminiscent of Rivaini seers. Going by this and the fact that Rivaini people have been practising their beliefs involving the seers for millennia, it’s not a stretch to wonder if the Parladian religion is similar to Rivaini beliefs (pantheism, the Natural Order etc)

The Voshai: we know that they’re reverent somehow towards dwarves and that dwarves hold a place of profound power of some kind in their society

The Executors: we know they’re concerned about one god-like figure at least, the Dread Wolf

That’s everything I can think of rn ◕‿◕

(didn’t get too much into the specific details of each belief system because especially in the major cases you could easily write whole other posts on each one)

#dragon age #bioware #mj replies #underthehedge #video games #tevinter nights #tevinter nights spoilers #tevinter nights spoiler #spoiler #spoilers #solas #long post #longpost #mj meta

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stonylovessteve · 3 years

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SLS 2021 Creator Reveals

We’ve reached the end of the exchange and that means it’s time to reveal the creators of all our works!

Thank you for putting so much love and effort into Stony Loves Steve 2021, you really made it a great experience. We hope everyone loved it as much as we did!

Giftees, be sure to leave a comment and kudos on your gift if you haven’t already. All our creators worked hard to make this event a success, so show them some love.

You can now post your work publicly outside of the exchange. Tag it as #stonylovessteve2021 on tumblr and we’ll reblog you. @ us @stonylovessteve on twitter and we’ll retweet you.

Below the cut is the final list of all the works produced for the exchange and the creators.

Cold as Ice, Warm my Heart by lil_aussie_girl for parkrstark (MCU, 1.5k)

The cold took away one love already, and his greatest fear is that it will do it again - before he has the chance to say those three important words.

Strength Like The Sea/A Familiar Yet Foreign Face by Lacrimula_Falsa for funkyspacegirlfriend (AU, 3k)

There had to be another explanation for the ugly burning feeling in his chest because this wasn’t a rom-com and he’d known Steve for less than a day.

After years of his father fruitlessly searching for one, Tony finally gets to meet a real-life vampire.

· · ·*‒*‒ ‒ ‒*‒ ·*‒ · ‒ ‒

Anthony.

No, not Anthony, because Anthony had crumbled to dust right before his eyes. But this man looked so eerily similar to him, he could have been Anthony’s twin brother. Only the eyes were different, warm brown instead of cold blue. After being woken nearly a century after he went into stasis because the pain of losing his lover Anthony was too much, Steven meets a man who looks just like him.

I Know There is Comfort Where We Overlap by jellybeanforest for ghosthan (Ults, 10k)

As a relic of a bygone era, Steve struggles with feelings of isolation and severe depression made worse by his recent breakup with Jan Pym. He secretly hooks up with random strangers chasing a sense of connection with someone, anyone. Things are going (not) well when he and fellow Ultimate, Iron Man, are tasked with infiltrating a Thai resort serving as a front for illegal arms dealing. Only catch: They must go undercover as a married couple on their honeymoon.

finding steve rogers by jacobby for geekymoviemom (MCU, 6k)

Steve sighs. “Sorry. I wasn’t a very good tour guide. Ma always told me about the town, but she never got into specifics.”

Tony takes Steve’s hand in his and places it close to his lips. “It’s your first time here too. We understand.”

AKA

After a botched mission with SHIELD, Steve takes a vacation with his family to a town in Ireland.

Things are knot as they seem by BladeoftheNebula for DepressingGreenie (AU, 3k)

Everyone assumes Captain America is an alpha and Steve doesn’t see the harm in not correcting them. After all, Alphas command respect while omegas are still considered far too delicate for leadership.

And sure, it sucks hiding his designation when he’s in love with Tony Stark, the hottest alpha he’s ever seen, but what alpha would want an omega who could lift them with one hand?

So it’s fine. It’s not as if anyone was ever going to find out his secret anyway…

A drop of love by CapAL for Perlmutt (AU, Comic)

After sleeping for 70 years Steve wakes up to a world that he doesn’t understand. As an age-old vampire he’s seen a lot of things in his life, but nothing has ever confused him as much as the bubbly Starbucks barista Tony. They meet by chance and Steve stays. He falls for him, even though he knows he shouldn’t, and together they explore modern New York, while Steve tries to hide his true nature from Tony, afraid that he would send him away if he knew the truth.

The Fake Prince and the Cat by Neverever for Fluffypanda (AU, 5.5k)

Steve is sent in place of Prince Brock to marry the libertine Tony Stark. It's better than he thought it would be, plus he makes friends with a cat.

father to son by parkrstark for HogwartsToAlexandria (MCU, 2.5k)

Steve had been planning on asking Peter to be his son, officially, for weeks now, but he always chickened out because he didn't thik he was good enough for the boy. Funnily enough, Peter had the same idea, but when he showed the adoption papers to Steve, he didn't have the best of reactions.

The Best Half Of Me by Huntress79 for RoseRose (AU, 1.5k)

An encounter with one of his exes at a charity gala opens Tony’s eyes about how much he really loves Steve - and how much he’s looking forward to their future together.

neither here nor there by ghosthan for Welcoming_Disaster (616, 18k)

Captain America comes back from Dimension Z changed. He has had over a decade of his life taken from him, as well as the woman he loved. Stoic, secretive, and traumatized, much of what he experienced remains a mystery to SHIELD and the world; Tony is there to help him heal, and uncover the truth about how much Steve has lost.

The Eventide Aspect by geekymoviemom for ishipallthings (MCU, T, 12k)

“Yeah, Cap, about that,” Tony says, looking rather sheepish as he scratches at the back of his neck.

“Yeah?” asks Steve.

“Well… remember those half-baked ideas that I mentioned? I’m afraid this might be one of ‘em,” says Tony.

“Okay. Care to explain it to someone who doesn't speak technical?”

“Ahh…” Tony trails off, mumbling under his breath again. “Yeah. Um… if my theory is correct, I’m thinking that when we stepped through that window, we might’ve entered another dimension.”

Looking by Robin_tCJ for Vento_Lunar (MCU, E, 4k)

After a raid on a HYDRA base, Steve's body reverts back to the way it was before the serum. Tony still wants him.

You Had Me in the First Half by Corsets_and_Cardigans for Robin_tCj (MCU, E, 2k)

Steve is on his way to meet Bucky for a movie before their football team goes away for a game. Too bad Tony has plans for him! He'll apologize to Bucky for it later.

the rest is history by starksnack for muchmoremajestic (Avengers Academy, G, 2k)

It's Steve's birthday and he usually likes to spend it alone. Of course, Tony has other ideas.

Basically just some soft AvAc fluff.

(Let Me) Love and Be Loved by HeLovedYou for wikketkrikket (MCU, T, 6k)

Steve forgets how to self-sabotage his own happiness.

He also forgets his team, his soulmate and the last three years of his life.

avengers featuring steve’s doppleganger vol 1 (FANCOMIC) by wingheads for jellybeanforrest (616, Art)

tony dates a man who looks a lot like steve. everyone can see it, everyone knows what that means, except tony, who doesn't seem to realize he's dating steve's doppelganger. steve doesn't see the resemblance either and actually comes to like tony's new boyfriend, but then one of the other avengers spills the beans that they look exactly alike to tony, who can't unsee it now and breaks up with the new guy, only for steve to be sad that his baseball-buddy won't be around anymore.

Hart Island by Amber_Skye for lil_aussie_girl (MCU, G, 12k)

Steve is acting out of character, and Tony and the other Avengers can’t work out why.

the soul of dragons by funkyspacegirlfriend for Amber_Skye (MCU, T, 2k)

Steve’s dragon companion is the largest Tony’s ever seen up close. And she captivates Tony from the very first moment.

Just in the Knit of Time by DepressingGreenie for picturecat (Avengers Assemble, T, 2.5k)

Steve only has a week to tell Tony he loves him before his secret is leaked to the world.

Learning Curve by picturecat for Huntress79 (Avengers Academy AU, G, 2k)

Freshly defrosted, Steve Rogers is the newest teacher at the Avengers Academy—an attempt to guide and teach the newest generation of heroes before they have to take on the burdens of their teachers. Steve himself has a lot of learning to do.

First Impression by veryvincible for wingheads (616, M, 7k)

The Avengers find the schematics of a deadly weapon in the hands of an up-and-coming villain. To safely retrieve the data that led to its creation and keep the city safe in the process, they have to take a very subtle approach. The man-- Jack Marshall-- has an eye for hunks and a tendency to get vulnerable with them. The team could use this to their advantage, if they have the right assets.

Enter Steve.

Dandelions and Lilies by Wikketkrikket for CapAL (AU, G, 4k)

Written for CapAL for the StonylovesSteve event 2021.

A summer job in the florists is pretty good, as summer jobs go; and when a handsome guy comes in with some very particular requirements it gets even better.

Or it would, if Steve wasn't lying about the meaning of every bouquet he sold.

Potshot by jellybeanforest for jacobby (AU, T, 2.5k)

In an expansive wasteland infested with hordes of the undead, Steve, leader of a group of ex-military operatives known as the Avengers, searches for survivors and supplies in the ruins of the old world.

That’s all well and good, but Tony would do just about anything for an American cheeseburger.

For Stony Loves Steve 2021. Based on a prompt by jacobby.

Remorse and Rapture by oliverparker for optimusprime13 (AU, E, 6k)

When Steve's mother falls ill, he's forced to move in with the family she works for. He's not thrilled about it.

Shards of Eternities by Perlmutt for starksnack (AU, T, 5k)

Rumor had it that the war would soon be over. It could not end soon enough. Until then, Anthony would wait for Steven. He would wait and protect their child. He would wait and write another thousand letters for his alpha, his mate, his husband, if only he would come home, come for him, come for them.

Two Can Play That Game by JehBeEhh for Becci Barnes (BeccEEE) (MCU, T, 4k)

Tony Stark is many things. Patient isn't always one of them. Especially not when there's a happily ever after at the end of that bout of patience.

Uncovered by mariana_oconnor for Corsets_and_Cardigans (MCU, G, 6k)

Steve didn't think the tip-off was anything more than the usual nonsensical conspiracy theory. He only went to check it out because he was curious. He definitely wasn't expecting it to be a trap.

Build Me Up Buttercup by ishipallthings for BladeoftheNebula (4k, M, MCU)

Tony sees the gold letters spelling “Stark” on the edge of Steve’s hood and his mind grinds to a halt. Steve looks good wearing his name. Too good.

(In which Steve starts experimenting with a new style. Tony does not find this infuriatingly attractive, thank you very much.)

Discovery [Art] by Fluffypanda for captainstars (Art, G, Noir)

Renowned adventurer Tony Stark discovers a carving of a lost civilization's protector.

I left my heart (at home with you) by captainstars for UisceOneLove (2k, G, AU)

It shouldn’t have surprised him as much as it did.

The man grinned at him, wide and beautiful. Steve couldn’t help sneaking another glance towards the heavens. They really lost their citizens fairly easily. Steve would like to say this was the first white robed beauty he had come across until now, but he wasn’t.

(OR)

Steve moved to a cabin in the woods hoping to live the life of a hermit werewolf. When Tony Stark decided to become his new neighbor, it threw a bit of a wrench into Steve’s plans.

(OR)

A werewolf and an incubus cuddling in a tree.

Raspberry Beret (I Think I Love Her) by ralsbecket for oliverparker (4k, M, 3490)

When Steve looked at Natasha, he knew in his heart that she was what put his derailed train back on its tracks. For the first time since they met, Steve felt like he had some semblance of a plan for his future. And he wanted Natasha to be a part of it.

Savior Complex by optimusprime13 for HeLovedYou (18.5k, G, AU)

Wealthy businessman Steve Rogers stumbles into barely-getting-by Tony Stark in a cemetery, and they hit it off immediately. Steve is enamored by Tony’s razor-sharp wit, his startling intelligence, and his penchant for building stuff. He has a problem though - he can’t stop wanting to save everybody around him, especially Tony - who is struggling to make ends meet. However, Tony is too proud and stubborn to accept any help from Steve. But when Tony gets kidnapped to act as bait for Steve, how far will Steve go to save Tony when it means sacrificing himself?

Through His Stomach by RoseRose for JehBeeEh (2k, G, MCU)

Steve decides he wants to try to cook with all the new ingredients he has found in this new time, but he needs someone else to taste-test his creations. Tony is holed up in his workshop, so he makes the perfect guinea pig. The two of them grow closer over several meals.

Iron & Sapphire by Becci Barnes (BeccEEE) for Lacrimula_Falsa (AU, 5k)

Steve can always sense him, long before Tony enters his cave. It makes his blue scales tremble and his big wings flutter in excitement. Tony brings light and warmth into this musty hideout he calls home. And food. And while they may be as odd a couple as you can imagine, that won't stop them from bantering and cuddling just like anyone else.

Man On The Moon by Welcoming_Disaster for veryvincible (616, 7k)

Things haven't been the same since Steve has found out about Tony's secret identity. A mission that goes wrong forces both of them to confront why.

I Love You to the Moon and Back by muchmoremajestic for mariana_oconnor (MCU, 3k)

After Steve gets attacked in the woods, certain changes start happening.

Happy Birthday to America's ass by njava97 for ralsbecket (MCU, 2.5k)

It's the night before Steve's birthday and something is very wrong.

Magic's in the Moving Portrait by UisceOneLove for neverever (AU, 9.5k)

Without his ma, Steve's lost his ability to make art. In walks new wizarding student Tony Stark, who also happens to be his new roommate. All hope might not be lost just yet for him and his brush.

Reach The Sky by Vento_Lunar for njava97 (MCU, art)

Non-serum Steve Rogers saves the world. (And Tony saves him)

#stonylovessteve2021

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polyamproud · 3 years

Photo

We’ve already begun the process of assembling a committee to represent us in choosing the designs for the new, official polyamorous pride flag. We have a shortlist of candidates (a couple of whom you might recognize) but we really need your help to find leaders who you feel represent YOU. Our website is currently under construction but will soon feature information about chosen committee members. We’ll announce it when it’s up and running. 👉 important note: We (polyamproud) are NOT the committee, nor will we be represented on the committee.

~image description below~

[Image Description: A set of 5 square images. All text is in lowercase letters, excluding a small section in the first image.

Image 1: An image with a white background. At the top of the image is big, bold black text which reads “answering your questions.” In the middle of the image is the pink outline of a square. On the inside of the square, near the top middle, is capitilized, bold black text which reads “PART 2″. In the very middle of the image is a black speech bubble with bold white text inside which reads “who is going to be on the committee that chooses the designs?” At the bottom of the square outline are three sets of three hands being raised. The first set of hands is white with a black outline. The second set of hands is black with a white outline. The third set of hands is pink with a white outline which slighly overlap with the tail of the speech bubble. At the bottom right of the image is the “@polyamproud” watermark in gray. Beside the watermark is the polycule symbol in gray.

Image 2: The image has a pink background with a white world map covering most of the image. There are several black circles with a pink question mark inside placed on varous places on the world map. There are also two black pointers with a white polycule symbol displayed on the map. The lower half of the image contains text which is all in bold, left-aligned letter. Slightly overlapping with a part of the world map, is big black text which reads “global vote.” Beneath it is a black box extending all the way to the right side of the image. Inside the box is slightly bigger white text which reads “global committee.” Beneath the black box is small black text which reads “we are actively assembling a pride flag selection committee of fewer than 20 people, whose members will represent polyamorists around the world.” At the bottom right of the image is the “@polyamproud” watermark in white. Beside the watermark is the polycule symbol in white.

Image 3: All the text in the image is left-aligned. The top 1/4th of the image is in pink and has big, bold black text at the top left of it which reads “each committee member must:” The rest of the image has a white background with a partially visible pink circle at the right side of the image. At the left side are three different checkboxes that have been checked off with text next to each of the checkboxes. The text next to the first checkbox is in bold black text which reads “be non-monogamous or polyamorous.” Beneath it is thin black text which reads “by natural identity or active choice.” The text next to the second checkbox is in bold black text which reads “have history of activism, advocacy, or other labor.” Beneath it is thin black text which reads “which centers on or advances the visibility, normalixation, and/or rights of polyamorists and non-monogamists.” The text next to the third checkbox is in bold black text which reads “be recognized & respected.” Beneath it is thin black text which reads “by both the non-monogamous community and their peers.” At the right side of the image there’s a thin vertical white line overlapping with both the pink circle and the upper pink area of the image. Overlapping with the pink circle is the black outline of the chair which displays the polycule symbol in black as well. Above the chair is a black question mark. At the bottom right of the image is the “@polyamproud” watermark in gray. Beside the watermark is the polycule symbol in gray.

Image 4: An image with a white background. All the text in the image is bold and left-aligned. At the top of the image is big black text which reads “the committee will represent diverse”, immediately followed by black text highlighted in pink which reads “polyamorous identities.” Beneath the text are three checkboxes with accompanying text to the left and three checkboxes with accompanying text to the right. Each of the checkboxes is checked off and the text alongside is black. The text next to the first checkbox reads “sexualities and gender identities.” The text next to the second checkbox reads “levels of education.” The text next to the third checkbox reads “nationalities, ethnicities & languages.” The text next to the fourth checkbox reads “socioeconomic backgrounds.” The text next to the fifth checkbox reads “ages and physical/neurological abilities.” The text next to the sixth checkbox reads “fields of expertise/experience.” At the bottom of the image is a pink box running from the left to the right. Overlapping with the box are several outlines of chairs. The chairs are alternating between a black chair with a pink polycule symbol inside of it and a pink chair with a gray polycule symbol inside of it. Above the chair is a black question mark. At the bottom right of the image is the “@polyamproud” watermark in gray. Beside the watermark is the polycule symbol in gray.

Image 5: All text in the image is bold and left-aligned. The left 1/3rd of the image is in pink with a polycule symbol pattern across it. The polycule symbols in the pattern are beauty bush pink and misty rose pink. The right side of the image is in black. At the top is big white text which reads “got any recs?” Beneath the text is small pink text which reads “shoot us a dm with a name or contact for a candidate you think would be a perfet fit for te polyam pride flag selection committee. At the bottom left is a white speech bubble overlapping with the pink section of the image. Inside the speech bubble is black text which reads “or have them get in touch with us.” To the bottom right is a list of social medias in white text. Going from top to bottom the text reads “[email protected]”, “@polyamproud on twitter”, “polyamproud on facebook”, “@polyamproud on instagram”.

End ID.]

#polyam #polyamorous #polyamory #pride flag #polyam pride #polyamorous pride #pride #polyamory pride #polyam pride flag #polyamory pride flag #polyamorous pride flag #flag committee #answering your questions

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fencesandfrogs · 3 years

Text

clan culture inspiration fic master post

a collection of fics/series/w/e i've used for inspiration. ordered by how much i used them

Flightless Dove, Poison Ivy acaciapines

read it, it’s good. it's 100% my main fic inspiration, i love it, it's very good.

the light that shines on you solacefruit

huge inspiration for my riverclan. just. massively where i get a lot of ideas. probably a larger source of material than flightless dove, if i'm being honest.

RIVERCLAN leaders have a litany of names. weather caller, storm seer, spirit walker. a new leader being made is a chance to find another for the list. these names are to honor leaders for the role they play in their lives.

(names. leaders. meaning.)

so you can see where i got that from.

Warriors Redux Deconstruction Dullard on ao3 (not linked)

i've split this into two parts, because there's a lot. i'm a fan of this in terms of world building, but i've been select in what i've used from it. deconstruction is linked highly because it had a lot of key details that shaped my opinions on what wouldn't be. a lot of this i would've changed anyway, but i wanted to list WR because it'd be dishonest to act like this wasn't shaping my thoughts.

anyway, a short list of things that were mentioned in WR:D that i'd already decided on or am now using

behaviors. i mean, i've said "flicked her tail" or "flattened his ears" so much it's getting old, but by god if i am not being true to cats movements. i think WR:D is somewhat conservative on use of purring, but i've also been writing about kits, and a lot of purring is involved with kits, so special case, i suppose. but i'm very cautious with my descriptions. i've tried really hard not to use smile, because cats don't smile. that's the one that gets me the most.

water. this is kind of a specific thing. but. in ctd's fading echoes. the lake is a concern not because the cats need water, but because the prey needs water.

queens and toms. now. i have always been irritated by this. and the lack of female leadership. because toms should know they're kept on the graces of the queens. the sisters got it right. but i can't just kick out half the cast, so i'm forced to keep them. i have, however, kept toms out of the nursery. queens are protective around their kits. it's the best i can do to appease my strong desire to literally just kick every male cat out of the clan. in all of my stories, though, i keep track of who's in the nursery with what kits, because those kits are going to bond to every damn mother. it's super annoying that this isn't kept more clear anywhere. i have to do so much math and check so many allegiances every time.

kits. it's basically impossible to convince me to write this the way the hunters do, so even in ctd, we see kits not walking, not opening their eyes, until real kittens would. does this make the early chapters of growing shadows a pain because dovekit does basically nothing but sit and listen? yes. do i care? yes, it is important to me that dovekit does nothing but sit and listen because she's a baby. bb. need protect.

genetics. usually i correct coat colors for POV cats. because it bothers me. see: tortie dovekit/ivykit in CTD, and the fact that i think in jaywing, jayfeather is going to end up amber like brightheart. i need to do some research to double check, but...i think that's what will happen. (please don't ask about hollykit, ivykit, and lionkit. i don't even know who their parents are. how is crowfeather "dark grey, almost black"? what does that mean. how is leafpool even leafpool. i don't understand anything.)

religion. i'm not fundamentally changing how starclan works, because i'm writing the books where magic is confirmed real, but...i've tried to distance the connections with it. and god, so help me, i'm going to make things a proper religion for w&f. there will be religious things like prayer. god.

cultures, folklore, names. this is getting long so i'm lumping this together. basically, i've got some name stuff sorted out. it's not "traditional" naming, because i'm not going WR on this and renaming really important cats (altho the reason WR has my respect for traditional naming is because they're not afraid to rename cats to fit the scheme), but i have some pretty defined rules. and there will be folklore and stories. this is especially important for dovefeather, when she goes to riverclan.

Sharing Tongues Icej

a series. i don't think i've used much of this directly, but it has shaped a lot of my opinions on clans. it's why thunderclan is militaristic and why windclan is so strict.

it's also shaped my thoughts on a lot of parts of clan life. i'm writing this all out of order, so i'll say, a lot of the inspiration that warriors redux had, is shared in this series. i'm not sure if there's overlap in the interst, but it's got simularities.

especially in terms of relationships. i have a bit of a fascination with story telling as a form of culture, if only because in my personal life, story telling, especially verbal story telling, has always been really important. so i think a lot about it.

anyway, these are a good set of fics, and they're ranked so highly because they're kind of a paradigm i've crafted my thoughts around.

Tell me about your Ancestors Drowsy_Salamander

so this was what got me started, even over flightless dove. it got me thinking about the differences clans would have.

i haven't written "funerals. mourning. prayer." yet, although as you might guess from the fact that i have a title, it is on my mind. i think i'll draw heavily on this for that.

one other very specific line in this that i draw on is

When SkyClan was reformed by Firestar at the gorge, it was reformed in ThunderClan’s image.

now i say that specifically because i didn't want that. i wanted leafstar to find her own tradition. a lot of skyclan's destiny deals with her struggling to adapt the warrior code to her clan. so Ancestors continues by talking about tree's influence, and this is what i got from it:

SKYCLAN once held ceremonies at tilt, when the birds were quiet, but now, they hold most ceremonies at low moon, when the spirits are strongest. ...

apprentices are made at low sun, born from a time when they were not always gathered.

(ceremonies)

and i'm happy with that

Warriors Redux: Ammendment Dullard on ao3, not linked

this is ranked significantly lower than deconstruction because (a) i'm borrowing superificial things at best and (b) i had already come to a lot of these conclusions. still, i'm writing a full list because there are little things i don't think to write whole essays about sometimes. that said, whereas in deconstruction, i could basically say "yes, everything that's said here, i agree with, i'm only tweaking things for personal taste or because of differences in perspective" here it's more like "here are the things i'm using" and the other stuff is just there, but not really anything i want to use

time and date. in one of my generic CTD posts i had a few paragraphs about this. basically, i like the system of time. except for half, because that confuses me. so it's dawn, sunrise, low sun, (sun) tilt, sunhigh, dusk, moonrise, low moon, (moon) tilt, moonhigh, repeat. and kits are aged to apprentices at the beginning or rough midpoint of seasons.

numbers. math. drawing things in the dirt with claws. in short, yes, no, what the...no. just no. cats in my stories can basically count, but they don't really, like, count the way we do? they might say five leaf bares ago, because i am not saying, "the leaf bare before the one with X which was before the one with Y" and that's what a cat is thinking and maybe they have words for this, i don't know, i'm not writing that. four and nine are holy numbers, or the closest cats get. (apprentices are apprenticed at nine moons in the holy sense, because a queen pregnent for a three --- two, but who's counting --- and in the nursery for six. this will never come up in a story unless it's a background note, because it's confusing and hard to explain off the cuff.) i don't have to explain my last point.

names. i have my own rules. i don't intend on changing character names with the exception of the symbolism in jaywing and dovefeather, but i may at some point make some comments on what, based on my rules, i would do. i don't want to change names because it confuses me, but i don't want to say for sure that i won't. definitely not based on WR rules, i have my own form of "traditional naming" for the w&f world.

clan specific notes. you can find it in my writing. there's a lot of influence in it. i don't want to list everything.

come back to you one by one solacefruit

i haven't really used this for anything, i just generally like it. it's definitely given me inspiration for how i use stories, but not any particular thing.

it really is beautiful, though.

alright, that's about it.

#warriors au #warriors worldbuilding #worldbuilding #warriors #warrior cats #jaywing #cloudtail's daughter #dovefeather #mine #txt #28th #February #2021 #February 28th 2021 #1st #March #March 1st 2021 #q

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amphxtrite · 3 years

Note

The main point is: NOT ALL CHINESE AROUND THE WORLD ARE WUMAO COMMUNISTS, NOT ALL CHINESE DESCENDANTS SHARE THE SAME SENTIMENTS AS CHINA OR DOING THINGS FOR CHINA. Got it?

Now, to move on to the other part of attacks on Chinese culture and shaming people just for being Chinese.

Whoever needs to see this, glad you seen it, even if you need it translated. If you can tag it that would be helpful as well.

this right here 👏👏👏

i hope everyone remembers that it’s not all chinese people who are supporting the unjust things the government is doing. China in general is a very patriotic country and so when given the choice to believe something bad is happening or believing what they have been taught their entire lives (china is great and the best country in the world) they are going side with the statement that has been drilled into their heads since they were children. Chinese people aren’t ignorant they really just don’t know, every news outlet and media platform they use backs up the point that China is the best and they know if they step one toe out of line China is very powerful.

This is the government and the people of power’s doing and it doesn’t matter what the people think. The people either don’t know or don’t understand and it’s fry oho we many people repeatedly blame China as a whole for just a small part of it’s country’s doing.

What’s going on there is absolutely a violation of basic human rights and terrible but please take a moment to remember half the people don’t even know what is happening outside or inside their country because of how controlling everything is there.

Next, because everything there is decided by the government chinese immigrants have NO control over what happens there heck the people in china barely do. So the hate crimes in the west make no. fucking. sense. You’re not going to reach china by attacking u.a or canadian citizens you’re just adding to unnecessary violence. Elderly people, adults and children of north american citizenship are assaulted, harassed and bullied for somethings they cannot control and it’s terrifying how normalized the hate has become.

To all the chinese people seeing this stay strong, there’s no reason to be ashamed of where you or your family is from or how you look.

This anon put it best 🤍🤍

#stop asian violence #stop asian hate #lovely anon

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pastamic · 4 years

Text

So I’ve seen quite a few posts complaining about the way Entrapta was treated by the Princesses, particularly with a lot of vitriol towards Mermista. I know a lot of us who are neurodivergent are really excited about Entrapta as a character because she’s autistic coded and a lot of us can really relate to her. I think a lot of us are also, and rightfully so, very defensive of the way these types of characters are treated because they get treated honestly so badly by show creators and other characters in their series more often than not, and that’s totally reasonable. If you’re uncomfortable with the way she was treated in regards to what I’m about to talk about I’m in no way saying you can’t still be uncomfortable about this because this is just my opinion and the way I saw it as one touch-averse ND person. To preface this I have not received an autism diagnoses, but I have an ADHD diagnoses and have started to suspect that I might be autistic as well (though it’s hard to tell with the overlapping symptoms.) My fiance is autistic and also has ADHD and has agreed with me on several of these points.

[id: Screenshot of Mermista pulling Entrapta’s hair while they approach Horde Prime’s spire in season 5. Caption reads “I’m sorry I’m bad at listening!” end id]

This scene, which a lot of people had an issue with. I had an issue with it at first too bc like pulling peoples hair is generally like not okay! Though the situation was very stressful and dire and Mermista was under a lot of stress. I think this episode was actually particularly important because it showed Entrapta’s issues with feelings and people (like not realizing they were all upset with her) and the stress and residual resentment from fighting on opposite sides and the issues that the other princesses had with understanding Entrapta with a resolution that got talked through. Something that in my personal experience is really important for everyone, but especially ND people and people with mental illnesses. Miscommunications and misunderstandings happen and they all talked it through and I thought it was very sweet.

But, the hair pulling (and the weird leash thing that Perfuma made with vines but that’s a whole post on it’s own and I’m not gonna get into it)

Now like I said I thought it was kinda shitty at first, but thanks to quarantine and depression I’ve re-watched spop probably fifteen times now and I’ve noticed a bit of a pattern.

Most of us have already noticed that Entrapta uses her hair as hands for stuff

[id: Screenshot of Entrapta leaning over in Hordak’s lab and shaping one of her pigtails into a hand. Caption reads “Failure is a vital part of scientific endeavor.” end id]

Like literal hands

[id: Screenshot of Entrapta standing in Darla’s doorway holding her tools with her hair and making a suggestive face. end id]

It’s her superpower, and while the other princesses do use their powers as a bit of an extension of themselves, for Entrapta her hair is straight up another body part/limb for her. Tbh if I had hair like that I would use it for literally everything and never touch shit with my hands.

I think I’ve seen people point this out to an extent before but I noticed that Entrapta never really reaches out to touch anybody with her actual hands with the exception of Hordak.

[id: Screenshot of Entrapta smiling in the Fright Zone squishing Catra’s cheeks with her hair. Caption reads “Hi, Catra. I saved your life. You’re welcome.” end id]

When she convinces Hordak to send Catra to the Crimson Waste instead of to Beast Island she like grabs her cheeks with her hair, and again in season 5 she pats Catra on the head when she tells her she forgives her.

[id: Screenshot of Entrapta and Hordak in Hordak’s lab. Entrapta is using her hair to hold out Hordak’s arms in a T-pose. Caption reads “And you’re really way too obsessed with this whole failure thing.” end id]

And when she’s talking about Hordak’s disability and brainstorming about his suit. I actually chose both of the above screenshots because I thought at first that she only used her hair in place of her hands because her hands always had her tablet in them but both of her hands are free in these scenes, though one could argue that she needs to use her hair to reach Hordak’s hands, she could lift herself up with her hair if she really wanted to reach out with her hands.

Actually there’s a point in Season 3, episode 4 where she straight up just scratches her hair with the Shera sword so I’m not even sure she has feeling in her hair???

[id: Screenshot of Entrapta in Hordak’s lab scratching her head with the Shera sword. Caption reads “I’m not sure if we just need the sword or if we need She-Ra, too.” end id]

She’s scratching her head with a big fuck off sword so I think that we can infer two things from that: that she can’t really feel much through her hair, and that her hair is like durable as fuck. Considering she lifts herself up by her hair a ton I’d imagine it’s not attached to her scalp in quite the same sensitive way that like non-magic hair would be.

So I think it makes sense, and might be a respect of her boundaries, to reach for her hair over her hand if they need to keep her from going somewhere. You could argue that grabbing someone in general is a disrespect of boundaries, and in a lot of cases it can be, but in the case of a battle or dangerous mission grabbing someone isn’t really out of the ordinary. We see it with the Best Friends Squad a lot, but also with Scorpia and like literally everyone she’s around.

When Hordak saves Entrapta from the portal exploding we do see him grab her by the hand, but it’s continuously established that Entrapta exhibits way more intimacy with him than with pretty much anyone else. She allows touch from others and doesn’t seem bothered by it, but Hordak is the person she most consistently reaches out to in regards to touch.

[id: Screenshot of Bow kissing Entrapta’s pigtail like it’s her hand. end id]

When Bow first officially meets Entrapta he kisses her pigtail like it’s her hand, which by the way is just super adorable I love fanboy Bow, but it’s not just Bow. Catra and Scorpia also mainly interact with Entrapta through her hair.

Whenever someone needs to interact with Entrapta in a tactile way, it’s pretty much always through her hair. When Entrapta needs to interact with others in a tactile way, it’s pretty much always through her hair. Entrapta’s hair is like another set (sets?? She can split her hair up a lot) of hands. So I don’t think it’s as rough of a treatment as people are making it out to be. It’s not like pulling a non-magic person’s hair. Entrapta’s hair is magic and she uses it in place of her hands near constantly. It’s not like pulling someone else’s hair because Entrapta’s hair is her power, it’s an extension of herself in a way that other’s hair is not.

It’s okay to feel uncomfortable with Mermista (or others) pulling Entrapta’s hair if that makes you uncomfortable, especially if you’re neurodivergent as many of us have experiences of people completely disregarding our bodily autonomy and infantilizing us in a way that’s frustrating and harmful, but (and I’m not gonna name names bc this isn’t meant to be a discourse post and I’ve seen it a lot) demonizing Mermista for pulling her hair in a high stress situation when she’s struggling with leadership already and Entrapta is seemingly ignoring her orders to do whatever for the sake of science. Though we find out that’s not the case, Mermista doesn’t know that at first and was intending to keep Entrapta from putting herself or the rest of the team in danger which is a foundation of leadership responsibility.

Should she have tried to be more understanding of Entrapta and actually try to communicate frankly that she was mad instead of assuming that Entrapta would realize it on her own? Absolutely, especially as a leader. But she’s new to leadership and that’s like half of what that episode was about, and people make mistakes, especially with communication. That’s something that I think spop as a show handles really well. People make mistakes, people do things they regret, and people struggle with things like communicating and boundaries even when they have the best of intentions. What matters is that it’s talked out, apologized for, resolved, etc. I’m ND myself, and I’m friends with a lot of neurodivergent people and miscommunications happen A LOT even with like the base knowledge that we need to speak bluntly, clearly, and honestly in order to be understood. Sometimes even when you’re blunt and honest and open things still get miscommunicated. I definitely think the princesses infantilize Entrapta far too much, but I don’t think the hair pulling is as much of an issue as I’ve seen people make it out to be and I definitely don’t think Mermista is some Vile Bitch (tm) for doing what she did.

(Also I took all these screenshots myself please appreciate that I spent like two hours combing through spop episodes to find them djsfjklds)

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