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teafuelledwriting · 6 months

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SO what’s your process for creating characters? Especially supporting cast who are important but not influential in the plot? Walk me through it!!

Hey Buddies!

Hokai so Character Creation is a big big ass subject and a very important one. To quote Chuck Wendig: “Stories are soylent green, they’re made of people”. And if you take even a glance at fandoms you’d see how important characters are to readers and fans. Characters are how we step into story and these wonderful worlds writers create, they’re what we connect to, empathise with and so on.

I like to break character’s down into three groups: Main Characters, usually our hero, main villain, any POV characters or live interests. Side Characters, the protag’s friends, allies, love interests, smaller antagonists. And supporting characters, everyone else that fills up the world and makes it feel alive and gives it depth.

So if we’re gonna focus on side and supporting characters, there’s a few key things to remember:

Characters aren’t just people, they’re tools in our storytelling kits. While we should seek to make them feel alive, we need to remember their purpose and function in the story.

All characters save for the once and done ones you make up on the fly like that barista with a bad attitude or the kindly bus driver should have some depth, positive traits, flaws and at least a suggestion of change, if only in how readers and pov characters see them.

Draw from life but don’t copy from life.

It can be so easy to slip into cliche and offensive stereotypes so it’s vital to be mindful about what kind of character’s you’re putting on the page and how you’re using them. Some stories are not yours to tell and that’s okay.

Finally to be perfectly honest, a lot of this for me is kind of instinctual. Some of my favourite side characters popped up out of nowhere and had at most a sentence in my outline telling me their purpose. But I’ll try to explain my thought process.

When I’m planning or writing a story and the need for a Side character comes up (a protagonist’s friend or neighbour, coworker, boss,) someone that’s gonna have some influence on the pov character, that we’ll see more than once I try to settle on their purpose.

Are they an ally? A friend? A helpful neighbour? Are they this asshole down the street that has conflicts with the pov character? A henchman of the bad guy? Are they there to help or hinder or be a foil or a mirror?

Say we have a protagonist who is kind of isolated and withdrawn. She’s gone through some shit, has trauma from before the story but their character arc isn’t about struggling through the dark alone but learning to make bonds, to finding their own people and community. They’re gonna need some nice side characters to help with that. Someone she can bump into a lot and form those beginning connections with.

Off the top of my head that means neighbours, either immediate or down the street/hall, people that frequent the same places she will like the cafe on the corner, wherever she works, etc. Let’s go with neighbours. Maybe… Older nosey neighbours, the kind that’d chat over the fence or bustle by to say hi and welcome and offer something baked.

Right off the bat, I get a bunch of ideas, my brain throwing at me examples I’ve seen or read of before either as they are or recombined into new ones. I see Wilfred from Dr Who, Carl from Up, a bunch of Karens (male and female) from social media, people that I’ve known in real life, including my own Grandmother. And I think about this character’s purpose.

I want them to be an ally, someone that helps my protag along their personal journey. That’d mean they’d have to be friendly, warm, good hearted, but a bit nosey and probably very stubborn to get past the walls my protag has thrown up. My mind clicks onto the archetype of a grumpy old man, all bristle and hot air but caring. No nonsense, no bullshit, calls it like he sees it but not tactless.

I like this idea but I don’t stop here. I keep poking at it like I’m building something from lego without a plan, putting things on, taking them off. Maybe this guy is a widower and just as lonely as our protagonist. Maybe a grandfather estranged from family but wishing he could have done better. Maybe his wife is still alive but they never had kids.

Eventually, I settle on this idea of the two old love birds, no kids but they like to take in strays. Meaning they keep an eye out for anyone alone and offer a welcome. Nothing pushy, just the ‘neighbourly thing’ to do. Then it’s just what they look like (He’s broad and blocky, strong in his youth, and she’s small and petite with eyes magnified by thick glasses), what their basic personality is like (he’s a grump but sincere, she’s sweet but mischievously sassy and they bicker for fun), maybe things like heritage(Italian-American, Irish, maybe Eastern European), health concerns(he has arthritic knees and a replaced hip and uses a cane, she maybe had breast cancer), habits, etc and that’s enough for me to go off.

I only really understand my characters after I’ve written them for a bit, so try them out in a few scenes and see how you like them.

This is also where I double check my work for stereotypes, especially when working with identities and so on beyond my own experience. I highly recommend you double check with people belonging to those groups, or refer to one of the blogs on tumblr that act as a point of reference like WritingWithColor. Be humble and open to learning with this.

If you really want to go further, you can give them an arc of their own. Maybe they have their own struggles you wanna touch on that could flesh out the story, give your protagonist a chance to do something in return. Maybe a problem that reflects the main conflict but on a micro scale. But the trick here is the audience doesn’t need to see all of it, just the changes that matter and serve the greater story.

And of course as always, sometimes my plans explode in my face and I have to adapt. I’ve made these characters up on the fly when I realised I needed one, I’ve also cut them from the story or combined two or even three into one, or I realised I needed a friend to be an enemy. I’ve even had to take really minor supporting characters and upgrade them, or downgrade side characters.

To create very minor supporting characters, I do the same just with way less detail.

Maybe my protag is taking the train and there’s another passenger that’s kind of a rude entitled business guy and we get to see some tasty petty revenge or he just makes a bad day worse. Or there’s a cafe our protag always goes to and there’s this barista she maybe says hi to and shares compliments with who notices a change for better or worse.

These super minor characters I really just make up as I go and as I need. They’re really simple and I like to use them to emphasise a mood I’m going for, to break it up or to highlight just how my POV character is feeling or in denial about.

Like any part of writing , character creation is a skill you can practise and develop over time.

And one part of this skill I am constantly mindful about is making these characters diverse, but respectful. With these simple ideas it’s so easy to slip into harmful stereotypes and I feel writers have a responsibility to be as mindful as we can, to constantly learn and try to do better.

If you made it this far, go get yourself a treat, have some water and feel free to ask more questions if you have any.

Good writing!

#writeblr #on writing #writers on tumblr #writing resources #writing tips #writing advice #writing advice: characters #writing side characters #writing characters #answered ask

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feralmorty · 1 year

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~Introducing~

🖤Monty L-420🖤

Alrighty SO this is Monty! He is the titular feral Morty of my blog.

Personality:

He loves the occult and wants to become a proficient wizard. Once he masters fire ball, he will be unstoppable. Ghosts, ghouls, and demons are incredibly interesting for him, and he often begs to visit dimensions where they exist. He enjoys high fantasy, and in one adventure, was bitten by a vampire. Rick healed him of the affliction but left him a few cool powers. The ability to summon bat wings has gotten him out of a few nasty situations.

Another passion of his is racing of any kind (cars, motorcycles, snowmobiles, horses, spaceships, etc). Growing up, he was forced to be highly competitive and it’s stayed with him. He often gets himself into bad situations given how eager he is to challenge people. Unfortunately Morty H-5112 is incredibly keen on supporting Monty and is often swept up in his dealings. This aggressive competitive nature can also bleed into other things, such as with bets or dares.

Monty is a hopeless lovesick romantic, which doesn’t fare well given he has no charisma and zero game. Being bisexual means he gets rejected twice as much. He is incredibly down bad, as a simp online for twitch women. He got into gaming as a way to meet and impress gamer girls. It doesn’t work and he isn’t good at any of them, but that won’t stop him from trying.

He likes pop music or EDM but his favourite kind of music is anything with a rage or sadness behind it. Mosh pits and heavy drinking at a sketchy concert is his version of a good time. As an avid juggalo he is frequently blowing out speakers in his room and car.

Style wise he enjoys dark colours and lots of accessories, but he is flexible in style. He is very fond of his hair and tends to keep it well maintained. He often reeks a little too much of cologne, but it’s not bad if you stand up wind. He enjoys the casual appearance of ripped jeans and a t shirt but doesn’t mind dressing up or down. His favourite colours are a dark red and neon green although he wont wear both at the same time. He has to hold his jeans up when he runs or else they’ll fall down. Additionally, when he runs he makes a jingling sound’s because of all his chains and jewelry.

Monty is incredibly kind hearted and understanding to the people he loves. He often gives thoughtful advice or lends a listening ear to his family members. Within his family he plays a support role, and is able to lend a hand wherever needed given how well rounded he is. In contrast, he has to actively remember to be nice to strangers or people he meets, as he can come off aggressive. Trying to unlearn his stand off behaviour is difficult for him and often leads to misunderstandings or being labeled rude.

Pre-found family:

Born as Morty Smith, he came from a more affluent family background, specifically old money as opposed to new money. None of his family members were particularly good people, and instead put immense pressure on him to excel in his studies as well as maintain a high well rounded social standing. His parents often pitted him against his sister, who they valued as the golden child and heiress to the family fortune. He started referring to his sister as Winter given how much of a frigid bitch she could be, and the nickname stuck. As he grew older, he was unable to compete with Winter and became increasingly desperate to please his family. Everything he did was to get in their good graces, and he fought hard for approval. Eventually the pressure caused him to snap, where he embarrassed himself at a massive party full of influential people connected to his family. In a rush to flee the situation he ended up falling down a massive flight of stairs, landing himself in the hospital. The Smiths berated him for bringing shame to the family and causing a scandal. His Rick suggested that he be brought to the Citadel for a sort of reprogramming, which Morty agreed too.

For the next while, he went through rehabilitation in the citadel and was loaned out to various other Ricks to serve as their Morty. Confused at the lack of clarity on when he could return home, as well as his frustration with the other Ricks, he decided to escape. When he returns home, he finds that Rick L-420 had replaced him. When confronted, he learned that the Smiths were also aware of the change. There was no reprogramming or good intentions from his family, they had simply lied to be rid of him. He had been given away, in favour of a new Morty.

At this point he was roughly 14 with severe trust issues, deep rooted self loathing, and intense rage. Having only ever lived to do whatever his family asked, this betrayal broke something inside him. Whenever he was placed with a new rick, he would fight, try to escape, or simply be apathetic enough to be returned. This cycle would go on for years, with occasional stints of hiding out in random dimensions to avoid capture by citadel guards. As time went on he tried to distance himself from being a Morty, so he started to change himself. For example, dying his hair black, wearing different clothes, and asking to be called Monty. Eventually having gone through 17 Ricks, he landed himself in a detention centre awaiting a new placement.

Post-found family:

When he was assigned to Rick B-1225, this was his last chance before he would be considered unfixable, and sentenced to termination. Having a deep mistrust of Ricks, he was uncooperative and stand offish, but made no attempts to leave given the severity of his situation. Eventually he grew to enjoy being around Rick B-1225 and Tiger, and he started to join them on adventures.

One day when Rick was given jury duty in the citadel, Monty decided to join him for the trip. One of the guards familiar with him mistook this visit for Monty being returned, so he was arrested and sent for processing before termination. Monty was able to send a distress message from his cell, but he was not confident anyone would come for him. He resigned himself to his fate and decided he wouldn’t give anyone the satisfaction of killing him. He managed to knock himself out by hitting his head off a wall.

Rick having gotten his message, rushed to retrieve Monty, before he was hurt. Upon entering the building and fighting off guards, he saw one guard carrying Montys unconscious body away and immediately shot him in the head. When home safe, Monty realized he could trust this Rick, and they verbally established a father/son relationship. This was an important moment for them, as Monty often doesn’t feel loved or cared for without a tangible example. This act of rescue was enough for him to fully trust his new family, and proved that he was wanted. Monty’s trust is hard to earn but once it’s there, he is loyal till the end. Given that jerry never really bothered with him as a kid, he gladly accepted Rick as a father figure.

Unfortunately when returning home, Tiger was nowhere to be found. The two would search for her for months, across dimensions. Monty started to heal from his trauma and grew to consider this family his home. This helped fuel his urgency to find Tiger as well, since he knew in the opposite situation, she wouldn’t stop till he was safe.

When Beta and Morty H-5112 came into the picture, it still took him some time to trust them. With Morty H-5112 though, they had a lot of similarities and grew to be incredibly close. They have a brotherly bond and are often referred to as the twins. Monty often asks Beta to train him to fight and it’s helped them become close as well. Monty eventually fully accepts Beta, Rick, and Tiger as his parental figures with Morty as his brother.

#rick and morty oc #rick and morty #ocs #morty smith #monty L-420

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uthseikoashx-inflamedme · 4 years

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How can everyone find their true-love and still be in love after years in HP? (”magic-soulmates” theory and conservative society)

(I do apologize for the mistakes! I did my best and have been help by websites and things like that, but I’m afraid I’m still not a native speaker. I hope it’s not that bad though. Sorry again!) (when I started writing this I thought “it’s going to be short, I’m gonna explain things quickly”, and well, nope)

Isn’t it curious that a lot of character in Harry Potter meet his true love at school, marry to them, and love them until the very end?

Just a quick list: Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione, Lily and James, Molly and Arthur, Frank and Alice, Neville and Hannah Abbot, James’ parents, Remus’ parents, the Malfoys, the Crouchs... It’s definitely a lot of people who are in love for ever (and I’m sure I’ve forgotten some couples, like Newt and Tina or Luna and Rolf, even if they didn’t meet at school?).

Plus, there are other characters which had a “true love”, and despite the fact they are not (anymore) together, they still love this same person - and they never have been able to move on. Minerva McGo fell for a muggle who died, Severus Snape was obsessed with Lily until his very end - literally -, Albus Dumbledore met Gellert Grindelwald at 17 (or 18) and loved him during decades despite everything his charismatic murderous ex-boyfriend accomplished (and Albus was probably Gellert’s true love), etc.

But in real life, most of the people don’t marry to their school crush and most importantly, don’t love them deeply and unconditionally during decades (or I think so at least). So, why isn’t it working the same in the wizarding world?

Well, it could be because JKR didn’t want to include divorce and wanted to present a (quite unrealistic) model of relationships (and Harry Potter was intially a book for kids, so ok); but couldn’t we find a real reason?

So here are several theories, to fix this... inconsistency?

Again, it’s theories, so there are probably questionable points and things like that. Feel free to say what you think of it!

1. Magic “soulmates”

This one is my favourite, and it’s probably - to my opinion! - the most believable, the most convincing, at least the one with the most potential. (it’s not perfect at all though)

Muggles and wizards/witches aren’t the same human beings. It’s a fact: there are diseases which affects only magic people (the Dragon pox?), magic people live way longer than muggles (Bathilda was older than Dumbledore, who was born in 1881 and died in 1997; Gellert, Elphias and Muriel were still alive in 1998...). Magic seems to have an impact on the body, on the constitution (*).

The assumption is: what if the magic through the body of every wizard or witch was able to... “recognize” or “match” with the perfect person? Because of something muggles don’t have, magic people are able to truly bind themselves with a... soulmate, something like that?

It might be plausible (maybe believable), I have several arguments.

Firstly, magic people are able to feel the surrounding magic - like forces, something immaterial but which has a strong influence. Albus is able to feel the marks of Riddle’s spells in the cave (and I’m strongly convinced that his magic and Gellert’s were... connected, that they were capable to feel and recognize each other magic, because both of them were bloody brilliant, but it’s not the subject). We can perhaps also talk about how Newt was able to detect the prints of magical creatures and Tina after they left the streets, in FBCOG. It shows that magic is everywhere, and it has a strong influence on the physical world.

Secondly, we have proofs that magic is far more complex than spells and things like that: Unbreakable Vows or Fidelius Charms imply magic contracts that we don’t understand, students can study things like Arithmancy or Divination, which are subtle arts... But the greatest example of it is certainly Lily’s protection. Magic is complex.

Thirdly, we can suppose that every witch or wizard has a very personal magic - a reflection, a part of their personality, of their soul (which exist in Harry Potter). Maybe souls are entirely a magic thing, after all (it’s quite sad for muggles though): I mean that each soul is perhaps the magic energy of a witch or a wizard, the source of their power (but again it’s not entirely the subject here). So each magic, each soul, is able to “scan” other’s soul - other’s magic - and find a perfect match: after all, magic is soul, and consequently, it’s the most intimate part of someone’s personality. And then, people fall in love (because magic and personality match).

I really do appreciate this theory, because I fairly like complex and mysterious magic systems and things like that in HP (that’s why Albus’ and Gellert’s interactions and relation can be utterly interesting btw). Plus, it actually explains why someone is truly in love with the same person for ages.

But, what about wizards or witches which fell in love with muggles - Remus’ dad, Queenie Goldstein, etc? If their partner isn’t a person with a magical soul and stuff, how can they be truly in love and all?

Yes, indeed, it exists; however, we can... fix that.

On one hand, maybe soul and magic are separated, souls have their own energy, and wizard’s or witch’s magic acts to tie the two souls despite the absence of magic through muggle’s bodies. Plus, muggles are affected by magic (we can cast spells on them, but most importantly they also feel subtle magic things, like Dudley with the Dementors (even if we can argue here that the chill we feel when there is a Dementor is something physical and not magic)).

On the order hand, in the muggle world, there is people which are truly in love without magic: so perhaps it is not a question of magic here, they are just... in love. (I hope I’m clear?)

2. Conservative society and appearances

Nevertheless, is it possible that those perfect couples... aren’t absolutely truly in love with each other? So, why didn’t just they broke up?

Perhaps the witchcraft society (can we name it like that?) is actually quite conservative, and not quite open-minded about divorces. Several things we learn in the books support this idea.

First of all, most of the married couples we know promised themselves to each other rather young (Lily and James, Molly and Arthur, Bill and Fleur, Alice and Frank...). I don’t know if it’s because I’m French and I live during the 21st century, but I don’t know a lot of people who chose to marrying before 25 (in fact, I know no one which is younger than 70 today). What if serious relationships in the wizarding world were truly accepted only after a marriage? Almost every person with children is married (the exceptions are Dean’s mother (but she’s a muggle), Bellatrix (she's married but not with the man she had a baby with (****), but it’s in HPCC and honestly, how could this happen), and... I think that’s all?). Marriage is maybe a big deal, an unforgettable and necessary stage in a wizard’s of witch’s life who wants to be recognized as a person in a relationship with legitimate kids.

(to be honest here, they could marry early just because of the war, the fear and all, like Molly said it in HBP (if I remember right); but people of Harry’s gen also married, and Molly complained because Bill is marrying (according her) to the wrong woman, too young, as the overprotective mother she is. We can keep that on mind though. Anyway, back to the point.)

Next, it appears that pure-blood families and traditions are still influential during HP books - racism and how it is not punished (like it’s ok to casually say “mudblood”? we never see people except outsiders or very brave people protest against it? there isn't any law who punishes it?), the representation of pure-blood in the Ministry, the capital owned by some of them (**), ect. And we all know how the purity of the blood is important in those families. What if marriage was initially organized and crucial in the upper classes (pure-blood families) to keep their blood pure, and because they rule the society, they imposed this social convention decades - maybe even centuries - ago? That’s why marriage could be that important. (***)

Finally, there might be so many couples which seem in love... just because they act like they truly were, they accepted they must love the people they were binded with, despite the passing years? Divorce might consequently not an option.

(Also, what if marriages contracts were actually a way to... “create” and assure the love between the two persons? It’s much sadder than the soulmates’ theory, because we can think that the love between two people is artificial, even if it exists originally. I do not like this idea)

This theory (marriage-creating-love excluded) doesn’t exclude the first one though, so why not?

3. Destiny and things like that

We know there are prophecies, destiny and things like that in HP - we know it for sure, with Trelawney’s predictions (even with Grindelwald now). What if there is actually a destiny for everyone, a personal path for everyone, which everyone follow, and which allows to meet a perfect person to be together with?

I don’t have elements to prove this point, and actually, I’m not quite convinced - but it’s possible. However, are really all the characters dominate by a destiny they have to fulfil? Like yeah, Harry is concerned by a prophecy, but 1) it could have been Neville, 2) there is not so many prophecies we know and it’s almost every time about Harry or Voldy.

Plus, it can be seen as... an absence of freedom, and without freedom, how can someone choose how to build himself, how to act ethically, etc? (I know some philosophers said destiny doesn’t exclude freedom and all) My point is that a world entirely conduct by a destiny/future already written (so which also determine true love’s people) is a bit out of HP system and narrative: Harry has to do choices to follow the path of the good, it’s crucial through the books and a lot of characters are determined by their ethic choices (Albus, Draco or Severus in particular?) (I’m trying my best to be understandable)

(all in all, I’m not fan of this theory)

4. There isn’t any “true love”, we only have this impression because of Harry’s pov: arguments and counter-arguments

Here are counter-arguments to the idea of “true love” in Harry Potter. Indeed, our analysis can be biased by Harry’s pov and by the people he chose to be friend with.

Many of true-love-couples are Harry’s friends (or persons he likes). We can think that he likes people with the same opinion on love and relationships; consequently, his friends and the surrounding adults marry because they all like this way of life.

What I want to say here, is that there is probably many persons who haven’t found their truelove, but we don’t met them, or we ignore them: what about Moody, what about Sirius, what about Peter, what about Kingsley, what about all the teenagers who aren’t with the love of their life before 20? We know countless characters, most of them didn’t seem to be together with their soulmate or something like that.

Plus, perhaps we think everybody can find their true love because we just see perfects couples and not messed up couples - because of Harry’s pov. (I swear I’m actually trying to be as clear as possible)

Nevertheless:

single persons can be aro/ace persons;

singles can choose to not be in a relationship, even if they found their perfect match: Moody, Sirius and all have a quite particular story and had suffered from losses, war, injuries - what if Moody lost the person he loved during the war? what if Sirius didn’t want to hurt the person he loved by his eventual death, when he was James’ and Lily’s Secret-Keeper? (it also work if his “true love” is Remus actually);

several persons could have chosen to ignore their feelings, for a reason or another. It could be because of a bad timing, like the war, as we already mentionned it; but also because of personnal reasons (family, denial...); or even social ones: all of the pure-blood don’t have the bravery of a young Andromeda Black on one hand, and the other hand, homosexual relationships don’t seem to be quite accepted in canon - the only two man that we know for sure were involved in a relationship, Albus and Gellert, kept it secret. (***)

actually, there are probably a lot of people who are in a relationship, but we don’t know it (who knows, for example, if Stan has a gf/bf?). Again, Harry’s pov isn’t an omniscient pov; and forgettable characters’ private life is generally not quite important throughout Harry’s epic adventures;

we still can’t deny there is way more married and happy couples (so people who are together with the same person a very long time) in the wizarding world than in the muggle world. Even if there are exceptions and if we know single persons, we still have the same problem: people are able to find their true love very young and stays with the same person the rest of their lives, pleased - even entirely blooming.

We can yet argue that nobody talk about a “soulmate bond” and something like that through HP stories. If there was actually a true-magic-allowed-love, witches and wizards should know it, right?

However, a magic link as complex, subtle, imperceptible, cryptic, primitive, puzzling as true-love-magic-bond could be far from easy to be analysed and understood by any enchanter of sorceress. It will be like... quantum mechanics or things like that. We might need brilliant people who work on it during their whole life and who are helped by complicate and modern instruments, impenetrable knowledge, etc. And we know that:

there is less magic people than muggles (seriously, I once tried to estimate how many wizards and witches lived in Great Britain and... so little), so there is consequently fewer people who have the abilities and the will to research things like "true-love-magic-link”;

a lot of muggles discoveries had been done during the 20th century, despite the war... however, wizards had to deal with muggle’s wars, wizardkind’s wars (hi Grindelwald and Voldemort), while maintaining the International Statue of Wizarding Secrecy, and it’s a lot. So perhaps nobody really had time to think about it.

Plus, it is possible that other countries in other continents had proved it, but European countries and US don’t care; also, perhaps it has been proved in the past - like 4000 years before our age - but then it has been forgotten.

Nonetheless, there is a serious counter-argument to the true-love-thanks-magic theory: love potions doesn’t exist. Amortentia creates a strong obsession but never creates love. Slughorn (and Dumbledore, if I remember well) explained love can’t be created with magic. Consequently, Slughorn seems to say that love between two persons in the wizarding world is created by... feelings, like in the muggle world. Plus, an important message of the books (and now in the movies with FB) is that muggles and wizardkind are equal, have to be considered as... identical, almost? Love is a strong power, and it's even stronger than magic - love's the real important thing to protect, etc. That's why a magic-soulmate theory might be debatable.

But if we suppose that attraction and true love between two people is based on magic/soul matching, a simple potion - and even a strong spell - has of course any effect on love and things like that: feelings and magic are far more subtle, personal, a spell or a potion can’t influence someone’s soul (or just Dark magic), etc.

I know yet that JKR wanted probably to say that love is more elevated than magic, she wanted to sublime humans’ emotions and things like that - or it’s what I understood when I read the books. So yes, the fact that love can’t be created by magic is a serious counter-argument: it goes against some of what seems to be author's ideas and characters explanations (Dumbledore's at the end of DH). It doesn’t throw away the theory in my opinion, but it questions it though.

Conclusion:

I can’t think about something which can actually answers to our initial question except what we already said. I want to believe that magic binds people together and helps them find the perfect match, because if I don’t believe it, relationships in Harry Potter make not much sense to me. (even if there are definitely debatable points) (and again it’s just my pov/opinion)

So there were the theories, etc!

Honestly, an inconstancy like that is not a that big deal, but I still do want to fix it. It’s in my mind since ages srly I can’t bear it anymore I need to talk about it. I’m glad it’s done.

Thanks for reading, and have a good day / evening / night / whatever!

* : ... magic seems to have an impact on the body, on the constitution: in fact, we know it for sure: Riddle’s appearance changed radically after he created Horcruxes. This point can also lead us to think that soul and magic are the same thing, or are at least strongly connected.

**: ... the representation of pure-blood in the Ministry, the money who owns some of them: if you’re interested, I developed a bit more this idea in the post: Why are the Weasleys poor? (eng&fr) (theories about pure-blood families, inheritance, etc)

***: That’s why marriage could be that important.: for several reasons (that I want to expose but not in this post bc it’s already quite long), I do believe lgb+ relationships (or transidentity, or everyone which is not cishet basically) are not accepted, and same-gender marriage is certainly not allowed in the wizarding world during Harry’s years at Hogwarts. If we think now about the pressure on teens and young adults about marriage if they want to have kids, to be accepted as “a person in a serious relationship” or be seen as accomplished adults, we can understand why many lgbtqi+ people never came out. It could explain why we don’t see outed lgbtqi+ people or couples at Hogwarts, in the Order, or everywhere else. (yep, i’m trying to “explain” in the canon a lack of representation, even if we all know why there isn’t lgbtqi+ ppl - JKR just wrote it that way. (i do not support what she said and she did recently.)) (futhermore it could support the theory of the several uses/significations of the blood pact between Albus and Gellert, an alternative to an engagement ring they couldn’t have but wanted to have? idk)

****: 3rd august edit : I did a mistake and I was unclear, because I previously said Bellatrix wasn't married, as someone gently tell me! It's now corrected. (if you want details, it's on the comments!)

(again, sorry for the mistakes, thanks for reading!)

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ofcecilia · 4 years

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⌠ DAISY EDGAR-JONES, 20, CIS FEMALE, SHE/HER ⌡ welcome back to gallagher academy, CECILIA CASIRAGHI! according to their records, they’re a FIRST year, specializing in SEDUCTION & FLIRTATION + LINGUISTICS, CULTURE & ASSIMILATION; and they DID NOT go to a spy prep high school. when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of (pink satin sheets, the warm glow of a sunrise, the first pour of a bottle of red wine, unflinching doe eyes). when it’s the (capricorn)’s birthday on 1/13/01, they always request CANNOLIS from the school’s chefs. looks like they’re well on their way to graduation. ⌿ deanna, 25, she/her, est ⍀

NAME: Cecilia Anastasia Casiraghi

KNOWN AS: Cecilia, Celia, Cissy

BIRTHDATE: January 13, 2001

ASTROLOGY: Capricorn sun / Virgo moon / Pisces rising

HOMETOWN: Tuscania, Italy

RESIDENCE: London, England

GENDER: Cis female ( she/her )

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bisexual

HEIGHT: 5'7"

HAIR COLOR: Dark Brown

EYE COLOR: Dark Brown

TATTOOS: None

KNOWN LANGUAGES: English, Italian, Russian, French, Spanish

IMMEDIATE FAMILY:

Allegra Casiraghi: Mother, currently in jail

Federico Casiraghi: Father, currently in jail

Salvatore Casiraghi: Eldest brother

Niccolo Casiraghi: Second eldest brother

Anya Casiraghi: Elder sister

ABOUT:

Born Cecilia Anastasia Casiraghi, the baby of the Casiraghi family. You know them and you hate them, real asshat parents who value money and prestige over actually being nice to their kids. It's hard not to grow up despising your parents in that setting, though Cecilia would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy the being rich part of it all. Still, it wasn't worth the pressure and scrutiny she received from her parents.

She grew up in a giant castle in Italy where she liked to pretend she was a princess trapped in the highest tower waiting to be rescued. Cecilia watched her older siblings seem so put together and polished, exactly what their parents wanted them to be, and couldn't help but feel isolated from the rest of her family ( though her older brother Nico was her fave ) . The older she got, the longer she waited for things to snap into place, only to be met with disappointment.

She got more rebellious as she got older, which didn't bode well in the Casiraghi household. Her father tried to break her spirit, which in turn only made her angier, causing her to run away when she was sixteen. She didn't leave so much of a note to her family, but she knew if they wanted to find her, they'd have the resources to do so. They didn't.

She struggled once moving to London, because a rich girl isn't exactly great at not being rich, but she had been saving up stolen money from her parents for a few months before leaving, so she had enough to find herself a place to live while she worked odd jobs here and there. She wanted to focus on art, her passion, the one thing her family had always told her she was good at ( though they also said it wasn't practical ) . But, surprise surprise, art is NOT practical, and nobody wanted to buy paintings from an actual nobody.

The story goes that she struggled for about a year before making connections with a local art gallery to hold a week-long exhibit of her work. There she made a few sales on her art, though the most noteworthy one had been selling a self-portrait to a wealthy older man who took a liking to Cecilia and decided to fund her art career, and her lifestyle. From then on she lived the glamorous city life she had been destined for, only realizing recently that art and partying can only get her so far. She had begun to miss the world she had been born into, even if she didn't miss the family that came with it. So Celia reached out to a few old contacts, and was able to secure herself a spot at Gallagher Academy in the fall. Despite the drama of her parents being arrested for tax evasion and fraud, she found that the name Casiraghi still holds some weight in the spy world.

WARNING: TOP SECRET INFORMATION

The reality of the situation is that even with the money Celia had stolen from her parents, her life was nowhere close to the one she used to live, and being poor kind of got old. Plus she still had this BURNING anger towards her parents, partly for letting her leave so easily.

She had been living on her own for almost a year, and what little money she had left was slowly depleting. She had been one level above rock bottom when a faculty member of Caledonia Institute found her. Though she had no interest in returning to the spy world, they had fed into her ego that her being a part of their team was IMPERATIVE, and in return they would give her back the life she once had, while making her parents suffer. How could she say no to that?

At only seventeen she was one of the youngest to enroll in Caledonia, and she became a professional spy in the process. She'd have to sit through two years of training and schooling before getting an active mission, but training at Caledonia -- while strict -- was unlike the harsh treatments she was used to from training with her family. With a new outlook on the spy world, Cecilia began to enjoy it once more, and it helped that she was good at it.

Mr. Stewart of Caledonia had promised her that her parents would pay for their sins, and in the spring he had upheld his end of the bargain. Her parents were caught and tried for tax evasion and fraud, and she heard through the grapevine that they'll be going to jail for a long time. Though she wasn't sure what this means for her siblings, Celia was just glad karma finally bit them in the ass.

Conveniently after they're arrested, Mr. Stewart gave Cecilia an assignment for the fall : everyone knows about Cole Conner's Gallagher Academy assignment from last fall, and how he's garnered less-than-stellar results. So she’s been enrolled as an incoming first year, returning to the spy world with a story weaved of her glamorous life in London, ready to pay off her debts to Caledonia without hesitation.

PERSONALITY:

Celia is a total chameleon, able to morph her image and personality when needed in social situations. It's how she makes herself easily likable and gets people to let her in easily, though her doe eyes certainly don't hurt. She makes it easy for people to get wrapped up in her storytelling and the lies she spins for the sake of getting on other's good sides. Not only is she good at it, but she gets off on the thrill of it, because it's fun pretending to be someone you're not ! Whatever you want her to be, she can be it.

Underneath the surface, Cecilia is truly a spoiled brat who likes getting her way and winning, and once in a while parts of that haughtiness will break through the cracks of her facade. Caledonia had worked hard to take the rebel out of the girl, but parts of it still appear on occasion, though never against her agency.

Above everything, she's trying not to make waves while in Gallagher, to go by undetected, so the easiest way to describe her would be Nice. ( This might change while I play her so we’ll see welp. )

TL;DR: She's Nico's younger sister ! But ran away from her family when she was sixteen because she hates them, and at her lowest point Caledonia Institute swooped in and saved her ( and also got her parents arrested and made them lose their money whomp whomp ) and now she's a double agent working for them. She’s looking to make friends with everyone who’s anyone at Gallagher. Two-faced bitch but ya gotta love her ? Or don't, you probably shouldn't.

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

She’s going to be meticulously crafting her own inner circle of friends for her own enjoyment at Gallagher, a mix of people from influential families and those who are deemed “popular” or worth having around, please send headshots and a resume if ur interested xoxo

Family friends of the Casiraghi family, who she hasn’t seen in at least three years.

Other students who trained with her siblings in the super super exclusive training program her parents ran.

Those she's crossed paths with living in London for a year: friends, flings, fellow artists, coworkers at her crappy jobs, etc.

Fellow first years she can glom onto for automatic friendships right off the bat, regardless of who they are

Legacy family students she can cozy up to for the sake of her job

Someone who is reluctant to trust her, despite her attempts to befriend them/get on their good side

Someone with a crush on her that can sorta see how malleable her personality and is like? But show me the real you?

A no-strings relationship that’s purely physical

Someone she’s stringing along for the sake of getting close and getting information out of them

An upperclassman mentor figure to show her the ropes of Gallagher and help her acclimate

A ride or die that she feels a kinship with, where they click enough that she can be more like herself ( aka a little bitchy )

Someone with a really optimistic/romantic outlook on life that truly tests Cecilia’s efforts to match their enthusiasm

Fellow artists she can spend her free time painting in the gardens with and help her get back into it

Fellow LCA + S&F majors who she’ll either have in her classes or that can give her some class pointers or offer their old notes to her

Someone she got drunk with and maybe let something slip that she shouldn’t have and now it’s awk

Someone weak-willed that she can easily take advantage of/manipulate into doing things for her

Fellow smokers even though I don’t condone the habit!

I have some things on her pinterest page here for inspo, also this tag

Lit rally anything please hmu !

#gallagher:intro #sorry this is the worlds longest intro #there's a tl;dr at the end that's worth it i promise #leaving this here xx

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inquistior-a · 4 years

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@ofrevas said : 𝙷𝙾𝚆 𝙳𝙴𝚅𝙾𝚄𝚃 𝙸𝚂 𝙷𝙰𝙻𝚆𝚈𝙽? 𝙳𝙾 𝙷𝙸𝚂 𝙱𝙴𝙻𝙸𝙴𝙵𝚂 𝙴𝚇𝚃𝙴𝙽𝙳 𝚃𝙾 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙻𝙴𝙶𝙸𝚃𝙸𝙼𝙰𝙲𝚈 (𝙾𝚁 𝙻𝙰𝙲𝙺) 𝙾𝙵 𝙰𝙽𝙳𝚁𝙰𝚂𝚃𝙸𝙰𝙽 𝙾𝚁𝙶𝙰𝙽𝙸𝚉𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽𝚂 𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝙳𝙾𝙲𝚃𝚁𝙸𝙽𝙴? 𝙷𝙾𝚆 𝙳𝙾 𝙷𝙸𝚂 𝙴𝚇𝙿𝙴𝚁𝙸𝙴𝙽𝙲𝙴𝚂 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙸𝙽𝚀𝚄𝙸𝚂𝙸𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽 𝙰𝙵𝙵𝙴𝙲𝚃 𝚃𝙷𝙴𝙼?

halwn believes in the maker, and considers himself andrastian---but he is certainly not devout in the way that he understands the term from childhood. he was raised in a highly religious city-state, a member of nobility in a place where devoutness is both traditional and, at a certain level, even considered fashionable. ostwick is essentially ruled by the chantry, in the sense that its laws are ruled by chantric values and its people assert their identity (their historic non-tevinter-ism, for lack of better term) through andrastianism. given that it is literally a tevinter city populated by a variety of transplants, many of whom have at least a few tevinter origins, the great houses use andrastianism as a way of reinforcing their adherence to the traditions of the origins of ostwick and the andrastian rebellions. basically, all good ostwick families, all the players of note, are andrastian, and if they aren’t andrastian then they aren’t really an ostwick house. there are in fact many minor houses in oswtick who remain in good social graces only because of a strong connection to the chantry that enables them to continue to access the upper echelons of of trade and resource negotiation.

halwn’s mother is a deeply devout woman, whose faith is the central focus of her life. she is from the anderfels, where the chantry is perhaps even more influential than it is in ostwick---and the advertisable devoutness of her anders family was what made her an appealing match for halwn’s father. when he was a boy, halwn can remember both a certain jealousy and a then contingent shame that followed that jealousy over the attention his mother paid the chantry vs what she paid to him. essentially, he has always known that his mother loved the maker more than she loved him. while she wasn’t cold or cruel to her children, they were something of a distraction to her dedication to her faith. the older he became, and the more he was able to understand her, he saw that his mother /needed/ religion, needed the focus of established belief and ritual, and the connection it ran in her through her own family, in order to have both structure and meaning in her life. or, at least, to distract her from the emptiness in the rest of her life. in the end, halwn questions whether his mother has ever really thought critically about what she believes, really ever considered the alternatives, and as such he sees her faith as a blind love, and therefor empty---and since it is the greatest love she has in her life, halwn sort of mourns his mother’s religion ?? though he also, as a son, would feel it cruel to ever try to take it from her, to challenge it directly, because he knows that it would be essentially removing her gravity. she is, to him, a lukewarm woman, who only had so much love to give and chose to give it all to the ritual of organized religion rather than to other people. he thinks of that as a terrible waste.

his father, on the opposite end, preforms religion as a member of the gentry in a highly religious state---because it is simply ‘what people do’, but has never shown any indication that he genuinely believes in any of it. there are things that he has said to halwn throughout his life that lead halwn to believe that his father is not a genuinely religious man, and does not actually put any stock in the lore or moral philosophy of the chantry outside of how it informs the law and serves as a basis for tradition, and even seems to look down on those who do---including his own wife. he’s a draconian man, and his religion was always a thin veneer that painted one of two extremes for halwn when it came to understanding the ‘faithful’: one as his mother, the fragility of the mindlessly devout and unwilling or unable to sacrifice imposed surety for genuine reflection, and the other as his father, using faith as a shield and an excuse to prop up a lack of legitimate confluence with other people. either way, halwn saw religion as something that separated people, something that dehumanized the notion of love and worship.

when halwn refused to marry, his father ‘suggested’ that he join the templars---this being the only other socially acceptable way for a noble in ostwick to avoid marriage without seeming to disregard their parents’ wishes, which is really the onus of where the stigma of not marrying is placed: on house loyalty and participation in the practice of nobility. there was a time for him when he was a boy who still wanted to please his parents that he thought that being a templar would be a heroic occupation for him, ideal since he’d get to leave, but by his early teens his disillusionment with the chantry was complete enough that he knew he could never be happy with a life centered around formal religion. he also had no idea what templars /actually/ do until he left the city. it should be noted that ostwick is highly insular and extremely ‘traditional’ in the chantric sense. the circle at ostwick is separated from the city by a narrow landbridge, the sort meant to prevent anyone from crossing unless in single-file thus making it easy to pick them off from above. mages do not enter the city walls without templar escort, and even then rarely. as a noble child, halwn would have been instructed to ignore them / not interact with them in a sense that is very much intensely classist---though he was never told this, and wouldn’t have been unless the situation presented itself, for even discussing mages was taboo among the elite houses. halwn did not actually meet a mage or witness magic at all until he left the city at 17 to serve as a knight errant in the teyrn’s name, and even then it was in passing. magick was not discussed, and political topics revolving around mages were relegated to ‘rude’ topics that were only whispered about behind close doors. magick was evil, of course, but almost presented as a non-issue, mythical, since it was understood that no one in good society was ever going to encounter it---proof of the power of the chantry, a kind of self-rewarding and self-perpetuating tactic to avoid the possibility of uncomfortable or even remotely challenging questions.

halwn is something of a natural skeptic. he’s curious, and he loves to learn, and anything rigid or dogmatic tends to darken to him on impulse. he has always been this way, and he was quite young when he realized that he didn’t believe in the same way that the people around him seemed to believe. initially, this awareness was almost guilty. all of his education, outside of the military, was preformed by teachers involved in the clergy somehow, and the amount of shame used as an educational tool in a religious education worked on him for only so long. halwn’s natural mistrust and even animosity for those who are unfailingly dogmatic comes in part from a revulsion he has for those that try to make others feel ashamed---and this revulsion is a protective impulse rooted in the fact that he is the eldest of three children, with a large gap between him and his younger siblings, and he was nine years old when he felt he had to begin silently defending his siblings from their tutors and providing them emotional support to counteract the lack left behind by their ‘religious’ parents in a devout family.

his impulse to defend people comes from this: from the way that always conceiving of himself as a ‘we’ makes his thinking almost inherently communal, ‘this is what we’re going to do’ / ‘this is what we need’ / etc, as a lot of eldest siblings can probably identify with. in his case, this is because he wanted to provide emotionally for his siblings. this why he’s so warm, so tender, so patient, and so gentle. it’s also why he is so driven to understand, and then forgive, because they are the opposite of what his upbringing taught him, and he never felt like a real ‘part’ of his own childhood and its methods.

he was defending his siblings from their parents absence, but also from the shame and guilt-based tactics of behavioral reinforcement used by the clergy who helped to raise them.

in many ways, halwn associates the chantry with stifling, performance, and wasted lives. he has no nostalgia for the organized religion that dominated his youth, and he was happy to leave it. leaving the city to travel as a knight was the first time he felt he had his head above water. his sexuality factors into this as well, but that’s honestly another entire meta in and of itself. living in ferelden, away from his family and away from the chantry, allowed him to breathe. it should be noted that northern ferelden is a very scattered place home to many refugees, and a lot of halwn’s neighbours and those with whom he became very close with when they formed sort of a communal group during the blight were from all over thedas, and those who were andrastian worshiped in many different ways. faith did not really rise in his mind again until the blight---when he watched people of varied backgrounds / classes / races, and varied religions, comforting one another with what he perceived to be genuine religious principles. he had witnessed a lot of violence and hideousness as a knight errant, had learned more about the world outside of ostwick that way, had suffered emotionally in his early life, but it wasn’t until the blight that halwn was actually stripped of the privilege inherent in his status, though he’d lost a lot of that after being informally disinherited he was still living comfortably by world standards, still had a farm and a house and work and freedom. the blight was the first time he felt real and genuine life-or-death responsibility for other’s lives (outside of leading a small group of knights, but even then the danger was less dire and lacked the element of despair that thickened the danger of the blight), he was responsible for feeding people, defending people, but also for being part of a group that just mentally had to find a way to sleep through the night. it was the first time in his life since he was very young that he felt a genuine desire to pray.

the transition from seeing religion as the power-based artifice of the wealthy to finally understanding it as the thing that gets the frightened and hungry through the night is what allowed halwn to accept the part of himself that still believed, and wanted to, that allowed him to let go of the stigma of religion he developed in youth. he hasn’t practiced formally since leaving ostwick, but he never did more genuine ‘believing’ than during the blight and the tumult that followed. saying prayers over the dead, and the ones who hadn’t died, and having to practice martial law based on collective morals, returned some of the private tenderness of belief that he once felt as a child, before that feeling was corrupted.

it’s difficult to exactly quantify his beliefs, as they are partly agnostic though, as i’ve said, he does consider himself andrastian. as a leader, he doesn’t act out of a sense of duty to chantric ideals or chantric laws anymore than he acts out of a sense of duty over anything other than to try to ascertain the truth and act in the most just way possible. he has his own compass, he has since he was a child, and he balances that against as many varied opinions as he can trust to be presented to him honestly. he also doesn’t particularly like being in chantric settings---you may sometimes, particularly when he’s drinking, hear him quote the chant, and hear that tired sting of sarcasm in it, the recitation of a disillusioned youth having his knuckles whipped by a tutor, but you may also hear him quote some small part in a dark time, using the words as words, genuinely hoping to draw and give comfort. there’s a tension, certainly, between his belief and his disillusionment, and it makes being the leader of what is essentially a renegade arm of the chantry both deeply ironic and deeply appropriate for him.

#answered.#headcanon.#ofrevas #hmmm reposting since tumblr cannot #handle its own formatting without glitching massively wow

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vifvement · 4 years

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( christina nadin, nonbinary, they/she ) — a member of the [ COJUANGO ] family seeks entry to the society ! [ VIRIDIANA TERESA ] is a [ 25 ] year old [ YOUTH ACTIVIST & GRADUATE STUDENT ] who hails from [ TARLAC, PHILIPPINES / SĂVÂRȘIN, ROMANIA ] , who call them [ THE DOVE ] . although their peers know them for being [ CHARITABLE ] and [ GOOD-WILLED ] , their reputation for being [ NAÏVE ] and [ GULLIBLE ] might hinder their relations with current society members. while the [ COJUANGCO ] family is known for [ OWNING THE WORLD’S BIGGEST LIQUOR COMPANY ] , the society’s own [ SHIRLEY TEMPLE ] is better remembered by [ A FAIRY TALE-LIKE CHILDHOOD : INNOCENCE AS WHITE AS A DOVE AND THE PEARLS YOU WEAR ; THE WORDS ‘HAVE COURAGE AND BE KIND’ : SECOND CHANCES TURNING INTO THREE, FOUR, FIVE AS YOU LET YOUR HEART RULE YOUR MIND ; & A FLOWER BLOSSOMING DESPITE ADVERSITY, THE PROMISE OF SPRING ETERNAL ] . initial reports say their goal of [ ACHIEVING WORLD PEACE ] would be their first priority after being inducted, although who’s to say that won’t change ?

about

familial background.

trigger warning for: mentions of martial law

okay, idk where to fit this in but blanche is the cousin to the current heir apparent of the romanian royal family—which, really means jackshit bc the romanian royals were all deposed some few decades ago. the cojuangcos were political dissidents in the time of martial law in the philippines, had their assets confiscated, and were forced to flee. both families decided to stay at ireland where their children then met. after some years, some kind of status quo was brought back to both countries and all assets and properties were then returned to the two families.

however, since they’ve already fallen in love, they decided they might as well marry each other despite the logistical hassle of everything involved, though this is perhaps helped considering blanche’s mother is the youngest out of her siblings and so the succession (or the image of a succession) wasn’t so dependent on her staying in romania. blanche’s parents decided to acquire the other’s citizenship and split their time evenly between the two nations.

there’s not much to say about the romanian side of their family aside from them being deposed royals; but the cojuangco side are former hacienderos turned conglomerate owners, and they currently own san miguel corporation which can roughly be imagined as the asian competitor to anheuser-busch.

so, yes, your character can probably ask them for free alcohol.

history.

trigger warning for: mentions of hunger and death

they grew up a darling of a child. they never knew the horrors that gripped their families just decades prior, and they grew up spoiled, protected, sheltered. they grew up knowing vast tracts of country estates free for their horses to ride in, silver-coloured bubbling brooks in charming meadows, dripping pearls and emeralds from their mother’s hands. they lived so far removed from reality that it almost seemed like a fairytale.

for all intents and purposes, they did live in one. blanche is the child of a union between two notable families that had been forged by hardship and fire and bloodshed and revolution. perhaps it was overcompensation that made blanche’s parents raise them up in such a manner, but the scars of war and repression cut deep into the psyche of both the cojuangcos and the al româniei. they wanted to give their perfect little daughter everything she could ever want, and so she was given everything from books to ponies to even a small house of their own, completely modelled after a victorian playhouse model they’d acquired for them.

of course, since their family held dual citizenship, they also had twice of everything: one in săvârșin and one in tarlac—and if they ever forgot anything in one country, their parents just as easily bought it again for them instead of making them wait.

blanche could have rotted from the sweetness of their idyllic childhood but they grew up the epitome of a perfect princess, always so sweet and docile and charming.

yet the years go by, and now the common refrain is: where’s that sweet girl gone? blanche doesn’t even consider themself much of a girl, which points towards how much they’ve changed from their childhood years; but they still think of themself as a dutiful child. after all, what better way to honour their family’s legacy than to fight injustice and repression wherever it may take form?

there isn’t really a specific point in time where they knew that they had to something about the state of the world. perhaps it was seeing the disparity between rich and poor, knowing that some people died of hunger while they and their family feasted on several courses of meals and led to so much food waste, and realising that they not only have the means to change it but the framework too.

they always grew up with knowledge of the society their parents were in, and they had always known membership was an inevitability for them, but they never really thought about it much until they woke up from their dogmatic slumber. now, they’re very much keen to use the society to change the world for the better.

ever since that realisation, they did everything they can to be as politically active as possible, involving themself in numerous movements and initiatives. their sheer enthusiasm, the quaintness of their background, as well as their sheer iron-will determinism, made them an icon of the progressive cause. barely even in college, they were thrust into a global spotlight and made into a spokesperson for the causes they choose.

tl;dr: imagine a greta thunberg for world peace but also for literally every good cause you can think of lmfao

achievements.

international children’s peace prize

one of time 100′s “most influential people in the world”

united nations messenger of peace

constantly described as a “pure cinnamon roll” in social media, which is honestly the peak of their success tbh

etc

wanted connections.

i have a loose friendship group request based on the powerpuff girls, basically a group of young people who want to do some actual good in the world! blanche is bubbles, so i’m looking for blossom and buttercup!

i’m also looking for their cousin, the heir presumptive to the deposed romanian royalty. as that adjective suggests, they are deposed and therefore hold no real power. what they do have, however, are some castles—and that’s always fun.

aside from that, fellow activists that want to change the world! help blanche help the world!

on that note, people who think they’re naïve (which they are) and kinda dumb (which they’re not) for wanting world peace. they’re gonna fight you on that but hey, feel free to convince them they’re wrong. they’re never gonna believe you.

childhood friend! they were very protected and probably not allowed much time outside but please let this be the “exception” their parents made for them

older members who might know their parents, who are definitely more traditionalist than them and so are quite surprised upon meeting blanche

someone who will honest-to-god please teach them some street smarts! they’re super naïve and gullible and also they literally are the epitome of “how much can a banana cost? $10?” so they probably get ripped off on the daily so please... someone... save them

someone please be the corrupting influence to this good && precious soul! make the cinnamon roll a sinnamon roll. ;)

note: blanche would and could answer to both their name of viridiana teresa and she/her pronouns but they prefer to be called blanche and be referred to with they/them pronouns

#gilded:intro #*（ 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙚 ） ⁄ stained with light — info !

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lo-lynx · 5 years

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Intersectionality and violence in Män som hatar kvinnor/The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

TW: discussion about sexual violence and race-based hate crimes.

In this text I’m going to analyse the Swedish movie Män som hatar kvinnor (2009), which is based on the novel with the same name. The English title of both the novel, and the American filmatisation is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but literal translation of the Swedish title would me “men who hate women”. Nonetheless, the movie (and novel) is about the journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the hacker Lisbeth Salander who gets involved with solving a 40-year-old mystery of a missing teenage girl. Like the Swedish title hints at sexism and violence towards women are important themes in the story, but as for instance Kimberlé Crenshaw (1991) argues, it is important to have an intersectional analysis of violence towards women. Therefore, I will in this text analyse how class and race interacts with gender when men hate women in Män som hatar kvinnor.

Firstly, over the course of the story we find out that Lisbeth’s father abused her mother during Lisbeth’s childhood. It’s also hinted at (and further explained in the later movies/novels) that this somehow is connected to the fact that Lisbeth still has a legal guardian even though she is in her twenties. Lisbeth is a very hard and tough person, she’s mostly dressed in punk, and generally break social codes by not being polite etc. She also doesn’t conform to heteronormativity, since she has sex with women as well as men, but this isn’t a focus of the movie. But her non-conformability to normative femininity does has negative consequences for her. Most significantly her legal guardian is apparently provoked by this, and when she asks him for money he uses his power over her to rape her. He later tells her that if she tells anyone he’ll get her locked up, since her “violent tendencies” are well known.

That Lisbeth’s femininity doesn’t fit into society’s middleclass femininity ideal can therefore be used against her. According to Skeggs (1997: 22) working class women often try to achieve respectability by mimicking this ideal femininity. By doing that working-class women can get more cultural capital, and thusly compensate for the economic and social capital that they lack. This can therefore improve their position in society. Since Lisbeth is under guardianship her social and economic capital is restricted, even though she has a well-paid work. That her non-normative femininity limits her life becomes very clear when it’s used as an argument for her having a legal guardian. However, it’s very interesting how she very clearly shows that she doesn’t conform to the femininity ideals of society. Lundström (2007: 171) writes that one strategy for girls/women who have a harder time of fitting into the (white) middleclass femininity ideal (in her study Swedish Latina girls) can be to instead perform a sort of “bad girl”-femininity. Lisbeth knows that the society she lives in won’t accept her, and therefore she fights back by being tough.

While it isn’t clear in this instalment of the series why Lisbeth has a legal guardian, it’s clear that her non-respectability is used as an argument against her. Something worth mentioning here is that historically Sweden have sterilised people, particularly women, that wasn’t deemed suitable to procreate (Hübinette & Lundström 2014). Women of colour and/or working-class women who didn’t conform to a respectable femininity was particularly targeted in this eugenics movement. While this is not the case anymore, the movie shows this continuous control of unrespectable working-class women by way of guardianship.

Another important exploration of violence and the structures it’s a part of is the Vanger family. The Vanger family is the owner of a big industrial company and is described by one character as “storkapitalet” (big capital/business). Henrik Vanger, the old patriarch of the family, employs Mikael for one last attempt to solve the disappearance of his niece Harriet in the 1960:ies. During the investigation one learns more of this (white) upper class family and realise just how right-wing (one family member calls the magazine Mikael works for a communist rag), sexist (they call Lisbeth for Mikael’s whore) and racist a lot of them are. The racist and Nazi part of it is what is most pronounced though. One learns that several family members used to be active Nazis, and still keeps Nazi memorabilia. As the plots and mystery unfolds one also learns that Gottfried Vanger, Harriet’s father, killed Jewish women in religious rituals during the 1940-1960:ies. It’s also revealed that him and Martin Vanger, Harriet’s brother, sexually abused Harriet, leading to her running away. In the end of the movie it’s revealed that Martin has continued to kill women. He claims that he didn’t have any racist motives like his father did, like he puts it:

That was dad’s project. He mixed his hobby with race and religion. And that was a mistake, there’s no reason to take risks by leaving bodies.

[my translation] (Män som hatar kvinnor 2009, 2 h 22 min)

Instead chooses women no one will look for; “whores, immigrants” [my translation] (Män som hatar kvinnor, 2009, 2 h 23 min). Throughout the movie Martin also tries to distance himself from the older members of his family by apologising for their prejudiced behaviour, and by living in a newly built house instead of an old fancy one.

The difference in Gottfried and Martin’s behaviour can be understood by using the framework presented by Hübinette and Lundström (2014). They argue that between 1905-1968 Sweden was in what they call “the white purity stage”, where the idea of white hegemony was very important and influential (Hübinette & Lundström 2014: 427-428). That which was considered Swedish, as well as the white race, was considered to be superior to other nations and races. The State Institute for Racial Biology was opened during this period (it existed from 1922 to 1968) and was very influential for the view of race during this era. During later periods of Swedish history, a picture of Sweden as an anti-racist and morally good country was instead created (Hübinette & Lundström 2014: 429). Because of this a norm of colour blindness was created, that is to say, a norm of not “seeing race” in Sweden. But racism is still very much present. Hübinette and Lundström (2014: 426) argues that this colour blindness keeps us from being able to see similarities between the racism in contemporary society and the historical racism. In my opinion one can claim that the way Gottfried and Martin are racist in are typical of their time. Gottfried was openly a Nazi and specifically killed Jewish women. Martin on the other hand claims that race isn’t important in his murders, but he still mainly kills immigrant women. The way Martin distances himself from the Nazis in his family’s past can be seen as an expression of Sweden’s view of race in since 1968.

One should also note that there is definitely a class aspect of Gottfried and Martin’s murder. Martin specifically targets women who are socially vulnerable, because it’s easier to get away with killing them. He then uses his own soundproof torture chamber and disposes of the bodies at sea using his own boat. His economic capital thusly makes it possible for him to cover up his crimes. He might have learned that from his father, who killed women while he was on business trips, and therefore was able to spread out his killings throughout the country.

In conclusion, despite of the title, Män som hatar kvinnor isn’t just about the impact of the patriarchy on violence toward women. Throughout the movie it is clear that class and race also have a large impact on the violence that is inflicted on the women in it. Lisbeth’s lack of social, cultural and economic capital limits her life, and her lack of respectability is used against her. The murders that Gottfried and Martin commit are racially charged, and simultaneous shows how race has been conceived of in Sweden during the last 100 years. In the end of the movie Lisbeth says that even though Martin might have learned this behaviour, that’s not an excuse, he’s just a fucker who hates women. I agree, but like the other fuckers who hate women in this movie, he’s also influenced by white hegemony and capitalism.

References

Män som hatar kvinnor (2009). Director: Niels Arden Oplev. Sweden: Yellow Bird

Crenshaw, K. (1991) “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color.” Stanford Law Review 43 (6): 1241–1299.

Hübinette, T. & Lundström, C. (2014). ”Three phases of hegemonic whiteness: understanding racial temporalities in Sweden”, Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture 20 (6): 423-37.

Lundström, C. (2007). Svenska Latinas: Ras, klass och kön i svenskhetens geografi. Göteborg: Makadam.

Skeggs, B. (1997). Att bli respektabel: Konstruktioner av klass och kön. Göteborg: Daidalos. [This is a Swedish translation of Skeggs’ book Formations of Class and Gender: Becoming Respectable]

#tw: r*pe #tw: sexism #tw: violence #tw: death #the girl with the dragon tattoo #män som hatar kvinnor #feminism #intersectional feminism #racism

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fatbitchwrites-archived · 5 years

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howdy howdy! i’m ingrid ( she/they ) and i’m bringing two of my trash children to calderwood! here are my two garbage daughters; plz message me if you want to plot or chat or anything in between!!

LYLE FITZGERALD ( pinterest, tag )

tw: crime, drugs, death

twenty four, ciswoman (she/her), bisexual af, co-owner of the elephant’s trunk and part time bartender/bookkeeper at sleepy jeans, rosmont born and breed

illegitimate child of clive meyers, daughter of the owner of sleepy jean’s but didn’t know her father at all growing up

grew up with her mother, uncle, and older half brother. v much family against the world. but tbh, she considers everyone in rosmont to be her family

her mom and uncle started sleepy jean’s in honor of their late mother, jean fitzgerald

mom is still the manager/owner but her uncle grows and sells weed for most of his money

started the elephant’s trunk on a high whim with her brother, mainly started out as a place to smoke but now sells the weed that her uncle grows

HELLA smart and good with numbers - started doing the books at sleepy jean’s when she was young and does pretty much ALL of the business shit for the elephant’s trunk now

her brother does most of the ambiance stuff of the elephant’s trunk and she uses the business to showcase a lot of talent based in rosmont - lots of local musicians, artists, etc

big into social justice and is v anti capitalism - she was a canvasser for mayor delrosa and is enemy #1 to the meyers family bc they displaced so many people in the arroyo project

with rumors about the meyers gentrifying rosmont, she’s started digging into the family and found out that clive meyers is her father

went in trying to blackmail him but he ended up paying her off. highkey HATES herself for taking the money but hasn’t told anyone and has been putting the money back into rosmont’s businesses - her own, her mom’s, anonymously donating to other business. still feels like SHIT about it

CONNECTION TIME: her half brother/business partner, the meyers kids bc i need family drama ppl connected to her uncle’s drug trade, regulars at sleepy jean’s and the elephant’s trunk, childhood besties, ex from high school, one night stands, anything else you can come up with!!

VIVIAN BANCROFT ( pinterest, tag )

tw: cancer, death

twenty eight, ciswoman (she/her), also bisexual af but less open about it, youtuber and owner of extrav-event, grew up on winslow hills but now lives in carlyle city center

the bancrofts have been in calderwood just as long if not longer than some of the established families but they used to just be like right hands and what not. now they’re like the puppet masters of the town, hella influential but like always in the background

her dad’s been the chief of staff for the mayor ever since people can remember. remains the chief of staff even after a new mayor comes in

her mom was the unofficial event planner for the town - super nosy but v charming. if there was anything more than a child’s birthday party going on, she had her hands on it

spoiled baby of the family

#instafamous and MASSIVE on youtube

her handle for everything is “color coded hot mess” bc she has FLAWLESS highlighting skills - both with pens and with make up - and she knows damn well she’s a ~hot~ mess

went to stanford bc her dad made her do it. graduated with a ba in business and english and was planning to do “study art” ( read: get drunk and dick ) in paris but that was shut down when her mom was diagonised with cancer

of course, everyone in her family knew like MONTHS before her and they didn’t tell her and she’s totally not bitter about that

ANYWAY she came home and needed something to distract herself from the fact that her mother, her hero, was going to die so she followed in her footsteps and became an event planner

started her own business, extrav-event, and her mom’s health took a turn for the better and everything was great

then her mom’s health went back to shit and she passed after a few months

that was four years ago and she’s still pretty torn up about it. she’s pretty much become the mirror of her mother - put together, a bit cold, quietly strong - but is also still that image obsessed girl who desperately craves love and attention. still a bif of a snob though

CONNECTION TIME: her older half siblings from her father’s previous marriage, her bestie from high school who is now her business manager at extrav-event ( this connection is sapphic af ), fake friends that party with each other, ppl she’s planned events for, friends of the family bc rich bitches flock together, exes, friends with benefits, anything else you can come up with!!

#calderwoodtalks #ingrid speaks #ch: lyle fitzgerald #ch: vivian bancroft

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kinixuki · 6 years

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Answers for the “Questions about creating your ocs” thing, as a read more because it got REALLY LONG. There’s some AU rambling too because why not. The first time a character gets mentioned their name should be a link to their tumblr tag, just to keep track of who’s who because there’s a lot of them :v

1. What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)?

Kal – Kal came from a dream I had, he was an angry guy with muscles and 0 chill (this never really changed), I think the first conscious thing I did myself was trying to make a small backstory for the dream because I felt pretty strongly about it. I tried to get the look down at the same time but my drawing skills were terrible at that time, so the backstory got more attention. And then it turned into Fisher along with some other dreams I had!

Umbrella – Umbrella is originally from a dream as well, a different one but it had Kal in it too, so it tried to fit it into the story.

Shetla – she happened when I started writing shamans (which had no plan at all at first), I needed someone who would talk with Kwiri so I made her

Oqooto – Oqooto was born as random fish kid for a small comic, so they got a bit of backstory and appearance for the comic. I liked what came out of it and kept thinking about them :>

2. Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind?

Moru – I want to say Ishke, but other than trying to not have them look too similar not really. Maybe Yixi the bird, Moru used to have a hood with a nest, now she has falconry equipment.

3. How did you choose their name?

Kal – playing with random letters, after he was nameless for a year or two. I think I first wrote it down into a German textbook when I was bored during a class :v His name is also one of the Czech words for mud, which I didn’t realize for a while, but it fits sort of.

Umbrella – in the dream he came from he was basically a ghost that came out of an umbrella, so he got to keep it, both as an object and as a name, because it sounded silly and he’s weird. It’s more of a nickname in the actual story, he so old that no one remembers his name and telling people would spoil the fun for him, and because he always carries the umbrella with him it’s how a lot of people refer to him.

Teeku – playing with random letters again. I think his name just popped into my head when I was writing and was like “hey, this shaman guy needs a name”. I wish this happened more often, I’m terrible with making names :l

Bronze – I had hard time understanding how naming characters with actual words one can understand works, so I tried it myself with Bronze. I don’t remember why I picked that anymore, but it had something to do with him being Fisher and Narya being gold in my head.

Oqooto – I think I saw something close to that in random word generator? It looked super weird, but also felt like an instant fit after like a year of not knowing what name I want.

4. In developing their backstory, what elements of the world they live in played the most influential parts?

Oqooto – it’s mostly based on the comic idea I had – a kid living in marshes that goes fishing, then I expanded from that. It’s technically part of Ishke’s world, but I haven’t really connected those two yet. There’s a lot of spirits in that world though, so after a bit Oqooto turned into something that’s closer to a shaman/medium than just a fish kid.

5. Is there any significance behind their hair color?

Narya – for a long time there wasn‘t, other than me thinking it’s nice, but now it’s an ethnicity thing along with the ashy skin color. I’ve been playing with the idea of that being the sign of a pureblood Fisher, but it makes some story mess with how easily they would be identifiable in the city. So it might be more general group of people, but still with them being known for their Fishers being crazy good. Bronze is another of those people, but not really directly related to Narya, despite the appearance. Most of them live in the forests outside of the city.

9. Are they based off of you, in some way?

Kwiri – ummmm yes a bit…. I started writing his story as an angsty teen with zero friends, and having a character dealing with similar problems felt nice because hey, finally a friend. It wasn’t really a conscious thing like “it’s me, but in another world”, just a character I wanted to understand and write well. After a while of writing I was probably more based off him than the other way around to be honest. For some reason Kwiri is also pretty close to how I look irl though, which wasn’t intentional at all xD

10. If they have an LI, how much of their character is tailored to be compatible to that person?

Moru – I wanted her and Ishke to have fun together, so they’re both kinda rebellious, but Moru is still there to explain all the human and social stuff to Ishke. She doesn’t understand much either, but almost anything is better at it than Ishke. And she gets to learn about spirits/forest from him!

12. What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)?

Kal – other than waiting few years for a name he’s tricky to draw for me, first he was the muscle guy when I didn’t know how to draw muscles at all, now it’s drawing him properly during fights and all the cool action scenes. He’s surprisingly easy to write to though.

Umbrella –having him not turn the entire plot upside down. I changed the entire thing at least three times because of him, he’s always been one of the major characters but having him fit into the story in a way that worked well was hard. He’s hard to write as well, it’s easy to get carried away and turn him into the carefully planning villain stereotype because most of his role in the story is watching from behind the scenes, but he’s supposed to be super chaotic. Well thought out plans are literally the last thing he would do.

Moru – I am. Really bad. With female characters. Guys? Cool. Nbs? Super cool. Girls??? Seriously I made her to have a girl character I would be comfortable with, it’s still not 100% it and I still don’t know what to do with her, so probably that. She needed over 5 years for a name too.

13. How far past the canon events that take place in their world have you extended their story, if at all?

Shamans – I wrote down a short story about how some late story events turned out differently and keep thinking about a lot of what ifs. Then I have a lot of things from when Teeku was younger figured out, some of them are important, some of them are just fun to think about, most of them don’t get enough space in the actual story though.

Then there’s several AUs, including one where Teeku is a grumpy farmer with an old smelly tractor and a straw hat. Kirta hates him there because of the hat, he’s a rich farm guy and has been looking for The Perfect Straw Hat™ for months. When he finally saw it across the street and fell in love, Teeku came and bought the first straw hat he saw, which was this one. There’s also a modern AU where Teeku owns a tearoom and his visitors are my and Sari’s characters from the other stories. There’s a lot of fun stuff happening there and it has quite a bit of stuff thought out, I wanted to draw some of it during the summer but didn’t get to it D:

Bronze – I have a ton of stuff from when Bronze was younger and didn’t live in the city, but that’s deep in the spoiler territory. In the tearoom AU he lives in Umbrella’s flat and works in his sushi restaurant, but kind of wishes he didn’t, especially when Umbrella (who despite owning the flat doesn’t really live there) decides to visit, eat every single thing in the fridge and then talk about all sorts of vaguely illegal stuff Bronze doesn’t really want to hear about before leaving again.

14. If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be?

Isidor (the grandmaster of the Order who has no tag atm) – he’s elegant as heck, and his behavior is kinda human but also not really, he’s young for what he is but he doesn’t age/die naturally and is already older than normal humans get, so he’s pretty detached.

15. What is something about your OC can make you laugh?

Siva – okay so. At one point a friend asked what kind of food they eat in the Fisher universe. Part of the reply was that they also probably have some of the food we have here, like schnitzel. And the friend asked something like “so there’s gonna be someone coming to Siva and asking ‘Hey Siva, do you want some more schnitzel?’”. It’s Siva’s fave food now, because he’s a super srs person and this totally doesn’t sound super silly.

ALSO THE TEAROOM AU, Siva is a head doctor of a local hospital and Narya is a student with training there and Siva overseeing it. They don’t really like each other, it’s the same as the canon story. They both visit Teeku’s tearoom though, Narya because he either has a part time job there few days a month or just uses that as a study place, and Siva because he’s a tea connoisseur and Teeku’s tearoom is the best tearoom in the city when it comes to tea quality, but there aren’t many visitors because Teeku is super grumpy.

So Narya and Siva sometimes meet there. Siva comes in a pretty bad mood, because “this one student was supposed to do all this work at night and he didn’t and just kept talking back, I need some good tea to drink”. 5 mins later, Narya comes late for his shift, because “this one idiot doctor wanted me to do all this stuff at night, can you even believe it what a jerk, I didn’t even sleep”, and he gets to make Siva’s tea without knowing who is it for and then he brings it to him and they’re both like “YOUUUU”

Minghe – the main idea of his story is that he got stuck with exactly that one person he can’t stand at all (Sheon) and is forced to cooperate. It’s the sad kind of funny.

16. What is something about your OC can make you cry?

Siva – @sariannearies saying bad things about him and wishing terrible things to happen to him >:

Minghe – the fact that I still don’t have a single colored artwork with him except one speedpaint. He’s one of my faves D:

17. Is there some element you regret adding to your OC or their story?

Kwiri – I’ve been rewriting his story for years and deleting thing I didn’t like, so not really?

19. What is your favorite fact about your OC?

Kal – he really really REALLY hates Siva, the doctor. It’s mutual, but Siva is way better at hiding it, though he sometimes “accidentally” forgets to give Kal painkillers and so on. Sometimes Kal regrets that he wasn’t successful with what he tried to do at the end of Roommates.

Bronze – he’s super obsessed with being independent, but because of that he ended up as the opposite and it took him forever to realize. With no real way out \o/

Moru – she likes birds. That was unexpected, right?

#REALLY REALLY LONG #i need to draw more things so i can write more things #oc talk is my fave thing #oc ask meme #should i tag the chars here

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womenandfilm5 · 4 years

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I chose to watch “Eighth Grade” by Bo Burnham, and honestly, I found it to be incredibly heartbreaking. The overarching theme was navigating the awkwardness and challenges of adolescence, the prevalent desire to find a place to fit in. The themes of anxiety and depression are also explored, as the protagonist Kayla struggles with extreme social anxiety, and describes how she constantly feels, by saying “I feel like I always have that nervous feeling when you’re waiting in line for a roller coaster, but I always just have that nervous feeling, and I never have that good feeling after the ride, that relief”. There is also a clear critique of the religious manner adolescents both regard and constantly use social media. Within this film there is also a clear disdain for the often ineffective method of sex education in schools, and the way that children often have to navigate these confusing arenas themselves, often because they feel pressured or coerced to do things they are not ready for. . The film’s basic content was following the protagonist Kayla and her experiences in the last week of eighth grade, before she enters the high school. There is never any mention of other family members, besides her father, who appears to be attempting to raise her as a single father. He continues to try to bond with her, despite how she rebukes and shuts him out for so long, until towards the end of the movie. She is shown to have no friends, and struggles to take her own advice that she talks about in YouTube videos she makes. Kayla is often waxing about ways to gain confidence and improve your social life, but she genuinely struggles to follow her own words, and is unable to connect to people. She tries to fit in with a crowd of shallow, cruel girls, who treat her as less than a person, and the boy she is interested in does the same. He never shows an interest in her, until she starts to use sexualization as a currency, and mentions that she has nudes on her phone, to reel him in. After a trip to the high school for a class visit, she starts hanging out with a group of high schoolers, and attracts the attention of a pervy twelfth grader. He attempts to make Kayla take her shirt off after he isolates her from everyone else, and while she refuses and is able to leave the situation, she is clearly scared and confused. . The film’s form is a narrative structure encompassing about a weeks span, and this story line following Kayla is split up with inserted clips from her YouTube channel. These inserted clips from her channels align so that the viewer is either seeing the contrast between what Kayla advises people to do versus what she actually does, or so that we see a contrast between a younger, more naive Kayla, and the current-day overwhelmed, more cynical Kayla. There was a very interesting use of aesthetics and visual style, in the way there was a lot of the story told through the palpable discomfort in body language and facial expressions of Kayla, and the way she interacts with her physical environment. There are a lot of closeup shots of her face, and the way she contorts her mouth and unconsciously expresses her emotions. Her eyes also express a lot of what she is feeling, and when she is nervous the camera will also zoom in on her hands fluttering nervously, or other such movements to demonstrate this effect. This method is particularly influential and makes the viewer really feel the energy exuded by the characters on the screen, and you feel immersed in the emotions that Kayla feels. The dialogue between the characters is often peppered with conversational pauses, such as “like”, and “um”. These words are not meant to demonstrate a lack of intelligence in the characters, particularly in the protagonist, but are used to verbalize the uncertainty with which Kayla navigates her social interactions, and is constantly in fear of saying the wrong thing. Multiple times throughout the film we see Kayla practice what she is going to say before calling someone, or speaking to them in person. This culminates such that it is clear how tentative Kayla is to assert her presence, and it really makes you want to fight for her.

I chose to watch this film, because I love Bo Burnham as a comedian, and I have been listening to his music and Netflix comedy sketches for years, and I assumed that this film would be light-hearted as well. I was shocked by how heavy this film weighed on me, and how hard it hit me emotionally. One of my little sisters is currently in eighth grade, and she experiences extreme social anxiety, and it broke my heart a bit to really see this narrative through Kayla’s eyes, and then continuously relate it back to my sister’s experiences. I was shocked by the impacting nature of this film, and I learned that Bo Burnham suffers from crippling panic attacks, and chose to share his experiences through an eighth grader, because “anxiety makes me feel like a terrified thirteen-year old”. The film is thusly named, as it represents the anxiety and uncertainty of an eighth grader which Burnham experiences in his daily life. I found this to be profoundly self-aware, and a wonderful way to demonstrate such a powerful story of adolescent struggles and social navigation. This film was also made only two years ago, and explores Millennials’ relationship with their generationally different parents, such as Kayla’s father, a member of Generation X. There are clear depictions of the toxic nature of social media in this film, and it is made clear the concerns that older generations have, to their children being so attached to their phones. This film really makes the socio-political climate it was filmed in known, and touches on prominent themes of the current time period, such as technological concerns of the era, and the way it allows young children access to things far before they are ready.

A particularly poignant scene that really drew forth an emotional response in me was when Kayla approached Kennedy in school, after attending Kennedy’s party, where her mother forced her to invite Kayla. It took so much out of Kayla to even interact with the guests at the party, and for most of the time she was hiding in another room, while everyone else was gathered in the living room having fun. She rehearses what to say to Kennedy, and attempts to mirror both her language and image. We see Kayla wearing a Hollister shirt to try to blend into the “in-group”, she uses linguistic pauses to save herself time to think, such as “like”, and hunches over with her arms in front of her body, as a subconscious shield. Her body language is clearly very nervous, and the camera once again utilizes the technique of focusing in on her nervous, fluttering hands, arms protectively hiding her body, and her facial expressions of uncertainty. She is trying so hard in this scene, and is desperate to say, do, and be the version of herself that Kennedy will perceive as cool, but Kennedy only glances at her once or twice in this scene, implies disgust in her face and body language, and never once makes eye contact, or shows respect in her responses. Everything she responses is terse, and a one-word response, never anything to stimulate or keep the conversation going. This led me to draw connections to “Lemonade” by Beyonce, which is perhaps a strange comparison, but I kept thinking of the vast differences in confidence between Beyonce and Kayla. Beyonce is obviously a grown woman, but despite the adversity and discrimination she has undoubtedly faced in her life, almost all of the 13 chapters in her video display her oozing confidence. This is notable in the way she walks, makes eye contact, keeps her head high, shoulders back, hair kept in a manner that frames her face and doesn’t hide it, etc. She is a powerful, beautiful woman, who has come into her own, and she is aware of this fact. While this is obviously a drastically different situation, Kayla, an awkward, adolescent eighth grader demonstrates all of the exact opposite physical attributes as Beyonce does: she wears clothes to hide her body, tries to collapse into herself, and tries to never draw anyone’s attention to her.

When watching this film, I began to ask myself questions that many parents are also having to face in this day and age. How can you simultaneously restrict your child from the negative consequences of the internet, while still allowing them freedom? The philosopher Locke believed the parenting approach to children seeking knowledge should always reflect pure honesty, and I feel this applies to the issue of technology. Banning a child from a website, restricting their access to the internet, or taking their phone has proved time and time again to be ineffective. For those with a goal, there will always be a way to access the internet, and no matter how scrupulous the parent, there will be a way to circumnavigate their restrictions. As a person who grew up with technology, but also witnessed a huge technological boom while in my teens, I believe our generation has a unique perspective, as we are immersed in this culture of social media, but perhaps somewhat more aware of it’s toxicity and it’s prevalence than the generations that have come after us. I feel that an open-door policy with a child is always best, and allowing them to come to you with any questions and not face consequences is key. Being honest about how social media can impact your self-esteem, how so much of the images on these sites are faked, how there are predators online, how inappropriate ads sometimes pop up, etc is the best way to inform a child. Is this a possible method with every generation that begins, especially as it can be challenging to keep up with all the new forms of social media? How can anyone be sure of what their child is doing on the internet, without invading their privacy? Should children be restricted of information until an appropriate age (within reason of course)? – HB

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skepticaloccultist · 7 years

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A Passion for Folk Magic

photo by Gemma Gary

Troy Books are a Cornwall based publisher of folklore and witchcraft that has been publishing exceptional volumes over the past 7 or so years. Co-operated by Jane Cox and author Gemma Gary they have produced some wonderful volumes of folk craft tradition that reveal a living current of folk tradition in Cornwall and the West country of the UK.

I spoke to Jane about the fascinating work of living folk traditions and book publishing she and Gemma are involved with, and the many facets of traditional Cornish craft customs that are thriving in our overly modern world.

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A Passion for Folk Magic An Interview with Jane Cox of Troy Books

Troy started in 2011 and has matured into an exceptional publisher in a very short time. What has guided your work to such a solid catalogue of authors and particularly beautiful bindings and book designs?

Troy really got going I suppose as a potentially full-time occupation for us around 2011, but it really started in 2008 with the publication of Gemma’s first book ‘Traditional Witchcraft a Cornish Book of Ways’. Gemma had long thought about the idea of forming a small publishing business, along the lines of what Oak Magic was doing with its small booklet type publications, so the idea of doing something had been there for several years.

Once her first book was nearing completion she started thinking about who to approach to submit the book to for possible publication. I had no doubt that the book would be successful as it contained so much wonderful information. Not only that, but it was an insight into Gemma's practice which she has always been so passionate about since she was a quite young. After a lot of discussion, we asked ourselves the question, why not do it ourselves? At the time, I was doing photography based work and working with local artists, photographing paintings and producing accurate prints of their work for them to sell.

We were also building websites for others and Gemma was doing the odd bit of graphic design work which she has always had a flair for. Gemma is an artist and used to run a gallery, and she always assumed that was what she would be doing and never imagined she would end up making a living from writing.

So, between us, we felt we had enough skills to start our own publishing business to publish Gemma's book. Not only that, but due to the fact we had no money we decided to print and bind the books ourselves. For the price of a small print run we could buy a laser printer and a few things to bind the books with. So that is what we did, with the help of a guillotine, a large staple gun and a bit of research online I was all set to have a go. Amazingly the first attempt kind of worked and within a few weeks we had the first ever saleable copy of the book.

After putting the book on Gemma's website within a couple of days we were getting orders! Not only that but we were getting orders from the USA and Canada the Australia and so on. Gemma thought the book might only sell locally in small numbers, so to be getting international orders was a big surprise!

From there it grew slowly for a year or two, and we added a couple of books one being ‘The Cornish Traditional Year’ by Simon Reed. That really sparked an interest in us for publishing books on folklore as well. Gemma and I are very involved with the various traditions described in the book so it felt natural for us to go in that direction.

We have been guided really by the passion we have for the subjects we publish. This has been the main drive for us to build Troy into what it is today. Gemma and I are both perfectionist I guess, although perfection is nigh on impossible, we always strive to do the best we can and we hope this comes through in our books.

We were very inspired by other great Occult publishers such as Three Hands Press and the wonderful Scarlet Imprint. We dared to think that one day we might produce amazing Fine Editions ourselves, I still pinch myself sometimes that we actually do that now.

Gemma's wonderful design talents are a huge asset to Troy and between us we have the means to do every aspect of a book. These days though we do have some amazing help but it was essentially just the two of us for years. Of course we would not be full time publishers without the wonderful authors we have worked with. We have been very fortunate to attract great authors over the years so this has been a very important part of the success of Troy.

photo by Gemma Gary

The folklore of Cornwall and the West country is something that is embedded in the local culture, and yet massively influential far beyond Cornish shores. What role do you and Gemma play in the Cornish Culture Association?

As I mentioned above we are both very involved in the local traditions. We are both members of the Cornish Culture Association and are members of the community festival band in Penzance called The Raffidy Dumitz Band. The band is a ‘Guise’ band formed for the Montol midwinter festival in Penzance. We also play throughout the year at other events and festivals that have been revived or formed in Penzance by the association. The CCA was started by Simon Reed the author of ‘The Cornish Traditional Year’. We have also been involved in the creation of Pole Osses, or ‘Obby Osses’ that appear at the festivals. Gemma was for a time the operator/rider of Kasek Nos which appears at the Montol festival.

These traditions are so important to keep going and revive as they are so important in building a sense of community. We all get together and have a wonderful time, it's what makes Penzance such a special place for me. I play various stringed instruments, mainly an Irish tuned Bouzouki and Gemma plays the Bodhran Irish drum and a shruti box on occasion. Both of us would not be playing music if it wasn't for the festivals so I have a lot to thank this part of the world for.

Montol Festival photo by Paul Betowski

Rural traditions seem to be reviving in interest in younger generations, there is an occult revival happening at this very moment. Do you see an enthusiastic crowd for traditional events in Cornwall? Is the music culture of Cornwall something that keeps those traditions going?

Very much so, it's very heartening to see young people getting involved, there are a huge amount of younger people attending the festivals. They are so lucky that they are growing up with these traditions, I came to them later in life in my early 40’s. We both feel the traditions will endure because of this, this is something that also drives us to publish books about tradition.

I think that in the modern technology driven and connected world we live in, people are also looking to the old traditions to redress the balance. The web and social media are amazing at connecting people but they are no substitute for an evening with great friends. Celebrating Guldize for instance, the harvest festival, with an evening of music and dancing and much ale! Of course Facebook etc now play an important role in informing people about the events and sharing photos afterwards. It's probably a big reason why these festivals are doing so well as people find out about them online.

Is there fear among the older participants of the traditional Cornish folk traditions that these events could become more spectacle, tourist attractions that lose their local folk spirit?

I guess there probably is, it's inevitable that these festivals if they are wonderful and successful they are going to attract more people year on year. Padstow Obby Oss is a classic example, it can get so packed there it's uncomfortable but it carries on. The Golowan festival in Penzance has got huge and is more carnival than anything these days. It started as a midsummer celebration and now is a huge event, wonderful in its own right though and has some elements of its roots still. The Montol Festival is growing, and is now very popular and very well attended, but being at the cold and dark time of the year I guess it will never attract the sometimes uncomfortably huge crowds that summer events have the potential to. If it's cold and wet you have to be very enthusiastic to carry on, but carry on people do and it's always amazing. So to sum up it’s something that you cannot control so there is no point in worrying about it I guess.

Montol Festival photo by Paul Betowski

There have always been people in any town that complain about these types of rural customs. In the US towns often attempt to limit or ban Hallowe'en events. Does Cornwall have its prudes who would rather the traditional customs go the way of the videocassette?

Yes, sadly that is the case, unfortunately some religious people have not been happy about the Montol midwinter festival as they see it as pagan. This is not actually the case as its very much a secular event and is meant to bring people together of all faiths. Montol features everything from traditional carols sung in the street to the burning of a Yule log, or rather the ‘mock’ as it was known in Cornwall.

I can see why there is confusion when you see a horse’s skull on a pole dancing through the streets with a ‘rider’ concealed underneath a black costume! Like the Welsh Mari Lwyd though these are old folk customs, and we don’t really know their original meanings, if indeed they had any, perhaps they’ve always been a mystery? I am not saying there isn’t a pagan element in the crowd, but it is not a ‘pagan festival’ so it's a shame it's viewed in that light by certain people. More than once organisers have been told we would all be dammed for taking part in the event!

Have you worked with the Folklore Society in London at all?

No not so far, there are plans to take the Raffidy Dumitz Band to London around midwinter to showcase what we do here which will be fun. It would be good to take part in events further afield, but time often does not really allow that for us. Troy and the CCA events keep us more than busy.

Montol Festival photo by Paul Betowski

What projects do you have in the works for Troy? Any announcement of the next in your Classic Grimoires series?

This coming year will see a lot more titles, we are very pleased to be re-publishing Nigel G. Pearsons other well-known book ‘Walking the Tides’ it's a companion book to his ‘Treading the Mill' which has been popular with many of our customers as it's a brilliant book. We are also looking forward to the second book in the trilogy by the wonderful Corinne Boyer, the first book is titled 'Under the Witching Tree'. Corinne describes herself as a Folk Herbalist and really knows her subject.

Alex Langston of Spirit of Albion has written a book for us titled ‘Granite to Sea - The Folklore of Bodmin Moor and East Cornwall’. Alex has really done his research and has uncovered folk tales that have not made it into print before, we think it's going to become an important book on Cornish folklore.

Another major book for us will be a book about JHW Eldermans, people will know his work through the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle from the Richel collection, and the beautiful Three Hands Press book ‘The Occult Reliquary’. There has been much speculation as to why he produced such an amazing amount of drawings, carvings, and other items. Was he just fascinated by the Occult or was he a practitioner? This is a quest that drove the Dutch author Wilmar Taal to look into his life, his writing and art, and to try and understand the man and the vast body of work he produced. Taal's forthcoming book ‘The Silent Listner – The Life and works of JHW Eldermans’, is the result of many years of research and is a full account of his life and Wilmar’s thoughts on the question.

photo by John Stedman

Sounds like a fantastic lineup of books! Could you ever have imagined you would become so involved in esoteric publishing?

I never set out to be a full-time publisher so it's a huge surprise still for me to have ended up doing this for a living. Especially publishing books on witchcraft, because of Gemma and the genera of books we publish, people naturally assume I'm also a witch. Although I have been around witchcraft and the Pagan world now for many years, I am not a practicing witch. This is a surprise to a lot of people I think, I sometimes feel kind of guilty that I have an opportunity to work with Gemma on a magical level all the time and I don’t, something a lot of people would love the chance to do. I have a great interest in the craft and am fascinated by it, but I have never felt the calling. Having grown up in the countryside I have always felt a deep connection to the natural world and the spirit of place. I guess I express this and connect in my own way through music and the seasonal festivals. Gemma introduced me to this whole other world which really made sense to me and it's taken over my life, both in being involved in the occult community and through publishing, I count myself very lucky. Even if money were no object I would probably still do what I do, sadly most of us have to make money to survive, and so Troy has to make money so that it can continue, but we never publish a book just because we think it will make money, it has to resonate with us. Considering how much time and effort goes into each book, I could never publish a book I didn't like. A lesson I learnt a few years back to my cost, it has to feel right or we don't publish it.

You can find the many amazing titles published by Troy Books here:

www.troybooks.co.uk/

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tearlessrain · 7 years

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Here it is, another night another unsolicited post about my own lore

holy shit this is so long don’t read it that’s your only warning

So elves are kind of inherently clannish and tend to cluster into groups, and with Issle a lot of the time it takes the form of houses that are constantly vying for influence in whatever city they inhabit. The cities themselves are kind of a larger scale version of this and each one is governed by a High Priest (there is no one High Priest, and while they’re all supposed to be attuned to the will of Sythus they do not always agree or get along with each other). Because they are literally just a giant cult, the closest thing they have to a government is the clergy and there are numerous ranks and positions within that I’m still working on the exact details of.

There are also plenty of Issle who don’t have a house (or whose house collapsed/fell out of favor generations ago), though many work with the houses on some level in their lines of work. They tend to loosely organize themselves into guilds or colleges but members don’t necessarily interact much or physically collect in one place the way houses do.

All houses are headed by a single matriarch, the position of which is passed from mother to daughter (or more likely granddaughter, or great-granddaughter, and so on; elves live for hundreds of years assuming no one gets assassinated). She oversees the house and represents it, though it’s more typical for a house to send younger/lower ranked representatives from their matriarch’s bloodline than the matriarch herself unless circumstances truly require it or the situation is deemed important enough.

Outside of militia houses, which contain a general to head up the actual militia (and others from the bloodline holding other high ranks within it), there aren’t a lot of set-in-stone ranks or positions within a house and the hierarchy mostly develops organically (this is not as peaceful a process as it sounds). Direct female descendants of the matriarch are deferred to by everyone else, at least if you want to continue having a nice and peaceful life, but they, and separately cousins and extended relatives, just sort it out among themselves beyond that. Someone is usually specifically designated to bookkeeping and records, as well as teaching/keeping tabs on any children (usually several of those).

The status and expectations of males within a house varies widely, but as a rule they don’t remain with their birth house past adolescence and are transferred to a different, usually nearby one. This usually has some form of political implication to it and which house someone is transferred to is much more likely to be determined by house alliances than his opinion on the matter. Typically those who are still with their birth house aren’t expected to do much of anything productive and just pursue whatever hobby happens to interest them. Those transferred from other houses might take on the bookkeeping jobs and be relatively involved with the inner workings of the house, but in noble houses it’s not unusual for them to be all but purely ornamental. This does nothing to stop the more ambitious and clever types from finding ways to influence things, they just know better than to openly take credit for it.

Houses tend to fall into types/categories, defined either by the social climate or their weird borderline-eugenics-esque obsession over bloodlines.

The highest ranking are noble houses, which are designated as such by being of a High Priest’s bloodline. The prominence of such a house depends on the influence of the High Priest in question as well as the distance in relation; technically many houses might be able to claim some relation to a High Priest, but only those whose primary bloodline is either descended directly from a one or produces one (unusual, since most High Priests come from noble houses already thanks to cultural biases) can claim the rank in any official capacity. Though some noble houses are content to let their rank speak for itself and don’t do much but control factions of their cities and produce minor priests and other clergy, they’re also the most versatile in function outside of their rank and are frequently artisans or scholars of some sort, even arcanists or merchants. They typically have some degree of contact/involvement with the High Priest (or her messengers) and aid in the running of the city; males from higher ranking ones (or those who just happen to catch her eye) may act temporarily or permanently as a sort of consort to the High Priest. It’s considered a legitimate position in the clergy, and really the only position at all that grants males any degree of direct political influence (flaunting or overstepping it can be hazardous, but one who knows what he’s doing can usually get even the matriarch of a lesser house to defer to him, as long as he technically speaks for the High Priest).

Arcanist houses are held in almost the same degree of respect as noble houses, especially older bloodlines, and there’s often a lot of overlap between the two. Though they can’t ally with a militia house or hold official political power (just as well, since arcanist bloodlines have a not-unfounded reputation for being eccentric and volatile), cities rely on them to function and many arcanists double as healers or maintain the infrastructure of their cities, and can get away with a lot of crap if their contributions are considered valuable. They also tend to have a lot of connections to the clergy, given that magic is a direct creation of Sythus and the skilled manipulation thereof heavily tied into her worship. They aren’t known for their stability and old, unbroken arcane bloodlines are relatively rare, due to the frequency of either internal conflicts dismantling the house or the bloodline itself just dying out from magic-based fertility problems, which already tend to be an issue even for elves who don’t actively spend generations selecting for stronger arcane traits. Again, arcanist bloodlines are known for a lot of things but being rational isn’t one of them.

Militia houses, on their own, hold no real political power and even their matriarchs rarely participate directly in the power struggles and conflicts of noble and arcanist houses. They’re one of the most clearly defined types of house and there’s little to no overlap or involvement with others, or potential to change that. They instead ally themselves with local noble houses, providing them with a kind of privatized police force and basically exchanging their physical protection for the nobles’ social/political protection. As the wording would imply, they control small to medium sized militias headed by those from the house’s main bloodline, but comprised mostly of outsiders who are technically the property of the house rather than members. Joining is voluntary (though leaving legally can be an arduous process), and despite the downsides it’s generally considered a good option, particularly for males with nowhere else to go (which might mean either failed independent merchants, unwanted sons with no prospects, or ex-members of high-ranked houses who weren’t keen on the exactly one path available to them). It depends on the reputation of the house though; there are militia houses you join, and there are the ones you end up in.

Merchant houses vary significantly in rank and importance; they can range from a glorified guild to a power on par with some arcanist houses. Often one or two will control most of a city’s trade and, to a degree, the rights of any guilds or independent merchants in the area. Aside from the particularly powerful ones, they don’t often get involved in political squabbles and don’t usually have much in the way of noble blood. Having a few members of the bloodline involved with the clergy can help their standing (the powerful ones always do), but those who aren’t may be able to garner some security and influence by forging alliances with nobles and arcanists. Said alliances are not binding as with militia houses and operate on good faith, which can admittedly be hard to come by among Issle. Mostly they manage it by stepping in to salvage dying arcanist bloodlines, and many males found with older arcanist houses tend to have come from merchant ones.

There are others that float around at a similar overall status to merchant houses (artisans, agriculture, etc.), which ones you’ll see more of depends on the city. There are also specific houses I should probably explain at some point (mostly Kilrret, who are both extremely influential and notoriously batshit even for arcanists) just because they’re pretty important to Val and Nalif’s stories in particular but this is already way too freaking long.

#tearless writes a thing #I really need a proper tag for this but I don't have a clue what to call it

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convndrums · 7 years

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THE SECRET SOCIETY SUBPLOT --- mc’finally doing this and lowkey been thinking about it for a while now ( lies. ever since sutton made that royals subplot a girlie has been #inspired.. luv that binch ) so basically, this - my friends - is a subplot about a london-based elite secret society that consists of a group of influential women who vary in ages, occupations and social statuses in society. ( illuminati whom tbh ) they’re very capable and powerful ( got the connections, the skills, the money, etc. ) and go by their own rules to further their own goals, whether they be social, political, financial, etc. unbiased and aren’t afraid to get involved with different groups ( gangs, politicians, royals, anti-monarchists, etc. actually have a whole royal member ) by lending a hand or even taking someone else down for someone to get what they need, but will consider being an ally if one side consistently proves to be worthy, helpful and meets their interests. they have two names: ladies of margaret hall and dead girl’s morse code or the code -- *grim history behind the last two and mostly/commonly known ( by the people who can afford to know them/of them ) as the code. smash that readmore for more details + the like button or hmu @ im’s if ur interested in contributing <3

SOME GENERAL FACKS !

established first in oxford university back in the 70′s in the first woman’s college lady margaret hall but has spread to various universities and mostly the golden triangle ( university of cambridge, imperial college london, king's college london, london school of economics, university of oxford and university college london. ) which consists of most of it’s members but the alumni recruiters are open to recruit anyone who could benefit them.

*the grim history being a crime that happened around the 80′s. a girl was murdered in her room who happened to leave an unfinished morse code before she got shot that mentioned them by the name they went by back then which was the ladies of-. nobody knew what that meant but some of the girls in campus had their suspicions that died out soon enough but some held on to it as a ‘conspiracy theory’ and no one knew who exactly was involved. ( illuminati WHERE bitch ! )

their motto is nous n'oublions jamais ( we never forget in english, their dark follow-up to their college’s motto bc they’re xtra ) & say la loi est une dame when they meet and depart ( which means the law is a lady in french bc they are xtra 2.0 )

tight and discreet. exposed? never experienced that emotion. good at hiding their tracks and hiding people who pose as a threat to the society or a member. hold meetings in very well concealed places in oxford. wear capes #SoGoth and everything during those said meetings and trials ( for when a member fucks up, which happens rarely bc you don’t just fuck up when when the consequences are terrifying but it happens still )

as useful as they could be to others, they are to each other x10. it’s all about benefiting each other as a society first, people next but in the end it’s them who gets something out of things.

refer to each other as lady + insert last name here in formal meetings. ( e.g lady pavia )

MEMBERSHIP !

I have more points to add ( truly inspiredt someone stop her @ me ) but this is already getting long enough so let’s get to the mc’point aka current members ! ( all types of characters who are xtra as funk and can be helpful to the society are welcome here as in, socialites/daughters of families with the right connections, hackers, geniuses, royals, even legacies or just regular gals who know how to get shit done, etc. ygm )

isabel pavia ( me ! + 1/5 of the recruiters in london )

arabella gomfrey ( @cnisms x )

serafina villiers ( @pomegranctes x )

charlotte gomfrey ( @hellagocd + 1/1 head of the code’s london base )

rowan rutherford ( @clandestincs )

alumni members ( pre much older muses )

there’s npc characters like the silent jury ( for trials, identities are never known or revealed -- though that doesn’t mean a character can’t know one or most, i’m all for dramas and plot twists -- ) the head president(s) of the society, rest of the alumni esp ones who run businesses outside the uk, rest of the members bc they’re quite big and spread out, etc. if there’s any position you’d like to add lmk !

to conclude, that’s pretty much everything ! there will be plot drops, of course. almost all connections from all types are welcome ( members-to-be, members who dislike each other, members who are hesitant to stay in the society, members who hide a secret, etc. luv me some variety and connections to work into dramas ! ) the tag is smoke:dgmc n yep !

#smoke:wanted #smoke:dgmc #tw murder #lit hmu xx

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error1nmycode · 7 years

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RULES. Repost, do not reblog ! Tag 10 ! Good luck ! Tagged by: @ofstxrsandgalaxies (kind of) Tagging: whoever has the patience/obsession to work through all of this lol

BASICS.

FULL NAME : Viv Vision NICKNAME/S : Vivvy, Vivi, Vizh Jr., Vivian, Vi-chan, Vision Jr., etc. AGE : 16 BIRTHDAY : September, 2015 (exact day tbd.) ETHNIC GROUP : None/Synthezoid NATIONALITY : American LANGUAGE/S : Primarily English, as well as all known languages SEXUAL ORIENTATION : Homosexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION : Panromantic RELATIONSHIP STATUS : Single (verse dependent) CLASS : Middle Class HOME TOWN / AREA : Arlington, Virginia, USA CURRENT HOME : House her father owns in Arlington, Virginia. PROFESSION : High School Student, Superhero

PHYSICAL.

HAIR : Green EYES : White NOSE : Greek FACE : Diamond LIPS : Thin COMPLEXION : Pink BLEMISHES : None. SCARS : None. TATTOOS : None PIERCINGS: None HEIGHT : 5′2″ WEIGHT : Changes depending on the use of her power to change her density, without use of her powers she weighs around 110 lbs. BUILD : Short/small, thin. FEATURES : High cheekbones, ALLERGIES : None USUAL HAIR STYLE : Tied up in a bun or let down to shoulder-length. USUAL FACE LOOK : Frown/Neutral Face USUAL CLOTHING : Sweater + Jeans.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR/S : Failure, death, sudden attack, losing more loved ones, sharp objects, etc. ASPIRATION/S : To help others. POSITIVE TRAITS : Compassionate, intelligent, protective of loved ones, cares for others, etc. NEGATIVE TRAITS : Self-doubting, trust issues, easily angered by certain subjects, sometimes over-protective, etc. ZODIAC : Virgo. TEMPERAMENT : Melancholic. Serious, represses her emotions. Makes the occasional joke. Easily angered by certain subjects. Protective of her friends and family. SOUL TYPE / S : Scholar. ANIMALS : Otter. VICE HABIT/S : FAITH : Agnostic GHOSTS ? : Yes AFTERLIFE ? : Unlikely, especially for her kind. REINCARNATION ? : Somewhat likely for some. ALIENS ? : Yes POLITICAL ALIGNMENT : More left than right, particularly liberal in social issues. ECONOMIC PREFERENCE : Enough to support family and self, buy occasional new game and such. SOCIOPOLITICAL POSITION : Somewhat influential online through Champions social media. EDUCATION LEVEL : Some high school.

FAMILY.

FATHER : Vision MOTHER : Virginia Vision (deceased) SIBLINGS : Vin Vision (twin brother, deceased), Billy Kaplan/Maximoff (middle half-brother), Tommy Shepard/Maximoff (eldest half-brother). EXTENDED FAMILY : Ultron (grandfather), Hank Pym (great-grandfather), Nadia Pym (Grand/Great Aunt), Henry Pym Jr. (Grand/Great Uncle), Victor Mancha (Uncle, deceased), Wanda Maximoff (Mother-like figure). Verse Dependant: Tony Stark (grand/great-grandfather), Bruce Banner (grand/great-grandfather), Helen Cho (great-grandmother of sorts), Tasha Stark (grand/great-grandmother). NAME MEANING/S : Viv is latin for Alive. HISTORICAL CONNECTION ? : None.

FAVOURITES.

DEITY : None. MONTH : December SEASON : Summer PLACE : Home. WEATHER : Sunny SOUND : Rain, Birds chirping SCENT/S : Baking TASTE/S : Sweet food. FEEL/S : Fabric. ANIMAL/S : Dogs NUMBER : None. COLOUR : Green or Red.

EXTRA.

TALENTS : Research, technological pursuits, various languages, etc. BAD AT : Fashion Lying TURN ONS : Passion, Kindness, Determination TURN OFFS : Cruelty, dishonesty, rudeness HOBBIES : Playing Video Games, researching various topics, etc. TROPES : Heroic Safe Mode, The Spock, Spin Offspring, You Gotta Have Blue Hair, Impaled With Extreme Prejudice, Robot Girl, Break The Cutie, Badass Bookworm, Beware The Nice Ones, etc. AESTHETIC TAGS : file: aesthetic

FC INFO.

MAIN FC/S : Mona Matsuoka ALT FC/S : None atm. OLDER FC/S : None. YOUNGER FC/S : None. VOICE CLAIM/S : Ivy Dupler (her voice actor in Avengers Academy)

#file: headcanons #[out of code] (ooc)

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childrenofathoria-rp-blog · 7 years

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◆Out Of Character Information◆

Name/Age: Admin Emery, 29 Preferred Pronouns: she/her Timezone: EST Desired Character: Derek Ryder

◆Character Information◆

(1) What pronouns will your character be using? Would you like to list their sexuality at this time?:

He/Him. I think that sexuality can be explored considering Derek has been living this weirdo life in the caves for two hundred years. I’m not sure if he knows what is going on in terms of sexuality or preference.

(2) Any changes and/or comments?

I think the only thing that needs to change is making it a very distinct timeframe in the last year or so when Annika was turned. I get that I wrote this connection but I’m finding it a little difficult to write this past year certain events that are very important. Considering everything with turning Annika and heading into society is so paramount to Derek’s structure in the game right now, I would need this to be more defined so it wouldn’t be me godmodding Annika’s time either. Granted if we have an Annika audition at open this forget this whole thing : D

(3) Why this character?:

Derek Ryder had been a very classic Athorian since the beginning of season one and I love how we’ve been able to keep his bio but mold it to fit our seasons. This is probably the most extreme we’ve fucked with Derek, honestly. What we did do is keep certain elements to his personality and twisted his backstory to be the opposite of what it used to be. When I wrote this bio my heart fell for him and the changes really resonated with me. I one-hundred percent wanted to play a vampire in this season and have them be older and more influential towards other vampires. Although Derek’s influence may be estranged, I think with his age, his experience with the original demon, his strength and brute force he will be someone to keep an eye out on in the game.

(4) Interpret this character:

I think that exploring Derek’s human life will be a background plot in this game for me. Considering he doesn’t remember anything from it save the his crappy personality (which I will relate to more a feeling than an actual event) and the random flashbacks that aren’t really helpful, this is an obvious adventure that he has to go on. There are a lot of characters in the game that can help him recover his memories. Plus since his memories were covered up (I don’t headcanon that they were erased) by the original demon, this could be a fun exploration plot for mages that are interested in learning about the capabilities of mind control via vampires. Mind control is not a thing with our vampires in game so since it happened to Derek it could open up some possibilities for witches in game, plus it’ll be fun to write that shit out. I also headcanon that, in regards to Derek’s human life, it had something to do with the Dragon Priests in Dragos, mostly because Dragos is so cool and I want him to have history there. How he gets there, who knows? But that’s what will be fun to explore and build towards.

Derek’s 200 years of vamping it up in the Verasova Mountains are pretty dark. I don’t really see a steady stream of timeline events happening during this time so I’m excited to be able to play this history pretty open with other characters. What I will do is have in-general headcanons of these two centuries of how he lived in the caves that will include specific things, that way other members (when wanting to write in this timeline with Derek) have a good idea of what the heck was going on with him.

I will headcanon that Derek did not live with a Haven of vampires at all. Though he has some connections with other vampires in game that have lived in the mountains as well, Derek was not exactly social. He has canon connections with Porter so I think that out of everyone, Porter will be the person that can “reach” him the most. Derek was a hunter during these times and really did well to give vampires a bad name. He was not prone against kidnapping but he just didn’t like to travel too far away and out of the caves. Derek had a place that was just his. Inside this cave he would keep humans for a few days so he wouldn’t have to go out. This is pretty inhuman so I can imagine that over the decades, Derek became somewhat immune to their cries and screams of being forced to be fed from and then dying from unsanitary conditions or health issues, or lack of food, water, etc. I see the first year or so Derek feeling regretful but I’ll mostly be playing him not remembering what it is like to feel that humane side to him in that specific regard.

I like to think that none of the vampires in the caves of the mountains exactly liked Derek LOL

Also, Derek will have this thing that happens with the flashbacks and memories since his glamour is wearing off. I personally headcanon that the Eternal in Midnight Congregation is the Original demon but since I don’t play a Midnight member that won’t be confirmed until maybe later in the game. I can, however, headcanon that the original demon may have stuck around Derek for a longer time than he realizes, glamouring his memory away of the demon. I'll also be headcanoning nonchalantly that about thirty years ago Derek started to venture out of the caves more and more, hence finding Annika, hence going into Leeds, hence not being so scared and feral (even though he is still scared and feral). To me, the nonchalant setting up of that timeline of the Eternal in Brailston is more for personal satisfaction. Even if it didn’t work out that way, I think that it gives the good excuse as to why Derek came out in the first place (he stopped being glamoured lol)

In regards to present day Derek, his glamour will be really interesting to play out of all of his abilities. I think that Derek’s glamour is really defensive and on accident. He’s obviously very strong and fast and can smell really well and all of that, but the glamour is going to be the most fun. I also think that Derek is getting really triggered by all of the emotions that he has to experience these days. Cave life allowed him to be disconnected to the growing world around him but now that he’s going to be heading into cities and trying to make friends or get a job and communicate with actual people, he’s going to be slammed with all these feelings and thoughts and emotions at once. I think it’s going to make him go crazy sometimes. Plus he’ll be experiencing them HIMSELF, so that’s just gonna be a fuck show.

Derek is going to be trying to find a job and exploring the adventures of discovering his human life. I’m going to write him going to all the cities, doing all the things, and just really putting him out there even if it’s weird for him or uncomfortable. Annika has really showed him that he is capable of love and that he deserves a good life, so that is going to be his motivation to be out in the world. Derek also has this salty sort of opinion on the Kingdom but I think this can be fixed easily. When Porter left the caves with all the vampires following behind him, Derek might have felt a strange feeling of abandonment even if he didn’t know that was what he was feeling. So there is a part of him that needs to understand the monarchy. I think he will be just fine with it though since I plan on writing him getting involved in Midnight and all of that jazz.

◆ Interview Questions ◆

(1) What cities are you interested in traveling to now that you finally got out of those caves? Any hope for learning a trade?

“Something tells me that I need to go to Brailston. I have watched Brailston from afar and on the mountains over the last thirty years since Porter left, but I have yet to go inside...I know what is there. I know who is there. I think that I am ready. Perhaps Brailston will have a trade for me to learn. I am not sure. There is a pain inside of me when I think about being so far away from Annika. I am not sure if I will stay,”

(2) Was it selfish to turn Annika? Do you regret it?

“It was not selfish. Annika was not turned against their will. Annika has a spark unlike any other. Their immortality will be for the greater good and for self-improvement. I was not so lucky. Regret is a common word in my dictionary, but it does not apply to this situation,”

◆ Writing Sample ◆:

It was at the peak of the Verasova Mountains that Derek Ryder watched the travelers coming from the main road of Grismby heading north towards Brailston. Like pinpricks in the distance, the massive vampire heard the faint clamor of merchants and laborers and watched the flames from their campfires dance around the hundreds of aspiring flocks. In unity they traveled through the rising sun and falling moon, under the protection of steal weapons and the false idea of peace. For several days, Derek could not escape the emotion of Porter and the others, those cave dwellers that had followed Porter out into the open -- through beautiful fields and hand-crafted dirt roads to start this new life next to something called a monarchy, next to a human from the sea -- a place where no one had come from before.

How could they trust so easily?

Derek perched upon a rock, upper half exposed to the snowy elements. The wind stung at his bare torso, blotching the unhealthy and stringy skin of his true species. He dug his fingernails into the exterior of the rock, his nail sharpening at its icy touch. He blinked and for a moment the world flashed in a magnificent light, like an imploding star that harshly faded to a cool center inside of his retinas. The afterglow showed the original demon -- the maker -- shrouded in a milky white veil, its body covered in pearl colored robes. But like most images of Derek’s life, it disintegrated mere seconds later.

After two-hundred years, Derek was unfortunately used to the disturbing cloud of memories.

Still, the random image disoriented him. Derek pressed his palms to his sockets and awaited the headache that would follow after; a thumping of dead, rotting blood attempting to pass through his system and restore the weakness. An immediate craving for fresh blood came next.

Right on time.

Derek’s head dropped against his chest as his incisors exploded like heavy stones from his gums. The bloodlust and instantaneous need to feed trickled through every piece of humanity that Derek had tried to retain over the years. Snapping his head upwards now to be faced with the moon and the stars, a night time paradise that he had grown to accept, Derek inhaled with dramatic flairs to his nostrils. The scents of the mountaintop captivated ever cavity, consuming the vampire in irresistible arrays of life, heartbeats and blood. His own humanity was too long gone, but far below in the city of Brailston and the streets of Hallowed Oak were the veins of new, untainted humans who knew nothing of his true species. Let them laugh alongside his fallen brethren and pretend that they are equals. Derek thought of Porter and imagined his kin were among them now, barking orders like a dog from Anshega and leading his people into the work of simple laborers and peasants.

How dare they live in peace when so many of them still suffered?!

Derek’s contradiction was masked by a need to drink. In a motion that was cat-like, Derek dropped from the mountain and scaled the rocks with ease. He smelled the poor, lone traveler before he saw them, but by hunter instincts alone Derek leaped from one rock and landed on the top of their cart of carrots and corn. The horse whinnied in shock at the collision. Derek scooped the man under his arm like a child and propelled upwards to a ledge. Again, he leaped back up towards the frigid temperature of Mount Kairo with the silence of an assassin and the swiftness of a fox. Derek tossed the merchant away once they had reached the top.

“Please don’t,” the poor traveler scurried away from Derek’s grasp and collapsed into the snow, their skin shivering and turning blue from the abnormal height of the mountain and the devastatingly cold temperature change.

“Be quiet,”

The whimpering did not last long. Instead it was replaced by the detrimental screams and horror of the vampire bite. The sounds were masked, unheard by the growing city far below and the travelers on the main roads. It was better this way.

Derek dropped the body when he had his fill, and it slid down the snowy side of the mountain painting the white canvas red with gushing blood. Monster. It was all he had ever been told he was by his maker -- the original demon --, and tonight, like all the others, that fact had not changed.

#athoria accepted

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