#ic: tribal guardian

[bogbees]

Fuck it I'm reading this sort of thing rn so! FLORIST AND TATTOO AU NINJA DADS!!

7:53 AM · Jan 22, 2018

Kakashi has a flower shop. It was his mom's, cherished by his father and he just kinda ended up taking it over after they died

Iruka is a tattoo artist. Likes tribal designs, Japanese art and ocean themes. Is a master at inking dark skin tones

Naruto is under Kakashi's care, Minato and Kushina were over seas and died in an accident while he was babysitting and now they're just waiting for Jiraiya to arrive to start godfathering

But Naruto is like 9 and is upset and fights a lot with Kakashi - one day he runs away

Iruka is taking out the trash when he finds this little kid hunched up by the dumpster. He's like "you ok little dude?" Naruto ignores him and starts yelling at him

And Iruka fucks off like and Naruto thinks he's won but Iruka comes back with two bags of ice cream and cookies like "I got comfort food for you, come into the shop and I'll give you some"

Naruto's stomach growels obnoxiously but reluctantly listens to the guy. He's shocked to see the tattoo parlour and goes "I don't think I should trust you Anko pops her head around like "Ruka who's the brat? Are we stealing brats now for practice skin??" "Shut up Anko"

So Iruka sets the kid up on a stool and feeds him some junk food "You know you shouldn't run away from your parents" Iruka says "I don't have any parents" Naruto says Iruka feels like he was punched in the gut

"Same," Iruka says biting into a cookie, "mine died when I was 12, there was a fire." Naruto looks up like the very fact there was someone like him !! But he quickly closes off again

Iruka goes "well surely someones worried about you," and Naruto bristles "No that guy is a jerk face nugget fart" Iruka cracks a grin and Anko barks a laugh. Anko looks at Naruto, "brat, Ruka here was king of running away when he was younger. He knows" and sorta hisses

So anyway they feed Naruto some more food and talk with him a bit more ab running away and that sort of thing and eventually get him to give them Kakashi's phone number

Anko really wants to be the one to talk - but Iruka knows she'll just swear the man's ear off and Iruka would rather be in the man's good graces as they've been sorta watching his kid

So he dials him up like "hello? Hatake-san I've found your kid - Naruto - Yes yes, he's fine would you like me to bring him over - oh we're at the tattoo place on 4th, [ocean pun name here]

Kakashi apparently knows it and hell be there shortly. Iruka ends the call and turns to his friends like "time to clean up this mess" But then the door opens with a jingle of bells and a man is yelling out to Naruto

Iruka blinks. It's the florist from across the road??? He looks at the guy chastising the kid and goes to attempt to lighten the load - tell him a piece of his mind bc children run away for reasons and this isn't helping it at all

And Kakashi starts talking shit ab feeding the kid junk food - gesturing wildly to the counter cluttered with cookies and ice cream wrappers "And you call yourself responsible" he sighs

Naruto kicks Kakashi's knee "shut up and stop being mean to Iruka-nii!" Kakashi blinks. He takes the kids hand and says "we're leaving." They walk across the lobby, across the street, and into the flower shop across the road. Anko starts swearing after Kakashi

Iruka bristles and spends the rest of the day - the week in a crappy mood. One day, the door opens, and he hears Naruto's loud voice coaxing his guardian into the store

"Iruka-nii!!" He calls, "Kakashi-san has something say to you!" Kakashi looks 100% anxious and embarrassed to be there and he's holding a potted plant.

The man Kakashi looks awfully anxious to be here, probably because of Narutoxs nagging. He bows a great degree and apologises for his behaviour the other day, presenting the flower as a gift. Iruka, he asks if it was a bribe.

Kakashi looks close to sputtering or walking away in a huff at the very accusation. Naruto just simply nods, "yes." Iruka starts laughing at that and accepts the plant, "thank you for the bribe then!"

So after that it's sorta smooth sailing between them. A couple times Iruka finds Naruto hiding in the alley and ushering him inside to wait out the negative feelings. It gets so accustomed Naruto starts to walk on in, announcing to the shop that Kakashi is a turd.

Kakashi tends to collect Naruto around closing time and is usually annoyed with Iruka when he feeds him (usually cup ramen or cookies) and one night he catches them just before they start boiling ymtge water "You're coming with me." He says to Iruka, "You're getting a good meal" 10:30 PM · Jan 24, 2018

#bogs' muttering #the great naruto twitter to tumblr transfer #naruto #kakairu

[sonicasura]

*looks at @frenchie-sottises Knack designs: this, this, and this*

The idea of Knack being an entity powered by relics than made from them sounds so interesting. Everything about relics is already a huge mystery other than they can be found in structures that are usually guarded by Guardians and can power various machinery. The Hidden Land in the first game raises even more questions.

My own iteration on this idea would share some similarities to Spectrobes. The collectible creatures, who also share the same name, actually start as fossils. You have to excavate them first and awaken the sleeping Spectrobe with your voice.

Doctor Vargas finds a fossilized Knack on the pedestal. His chest orb is dormant but flashes when the younger scientist reaches out as if accepting to be taken. It takes a few years for Knack to awaken since energy is still needed than just a vocal command. His body is similar to living stone like with the trolls from Trollhunters so he is quite durable.

Relic energy affects his growth and can be gathered by touching relics. Dispersing it or taking too much damage will make Knack shrink. He's still mute when little as his vocal cords aren't developed enough for usage. Knack can grunt or roar though but not talk.

When I do draw my own version, there will be added details than just his normal canon design. Knack gains fur and thick spikes once he surpasses 10 ft. He'll have a tail that becomes similar to an ankylosaurus. Knack also has a scaly hide which is a mix between beetle chitin, fish and reptile scales.

Can't forget hooked claws since he tends to climb a lot. Basically a chimera version of Godzilla that can become a full blown Kaiju. As for the element and gem transformations, they are adaptations than armor. Each shifts temporarily shifts his form to suit the item in question. It's easy to see what material Knack used as it is more prominent.

Simplified Examples

Ice: Thick blue fur and clusters of ice on his back

Wood: Grassy mane with wooden quills

Metal: Prickly metallic hide paired alongside serrated blades

Stealth: Chameleon hide coated in reflective scales

Guardian: Humanoid with all inhuman traits as tribal armor

Dark, Brittle, Sunstone, Massive, Diamond, Vampire, Speed, Power, Saber and Shooting would operate a bit differently. They are more like enhancements similar to weapon parts from Spectrobes. Boost some stats and weaken others with physical changes such as Harumitey with its defensive Lazos part here. 👇

There is a bit more worldbuilding but I'll save that for another post. What do you think so far?

#sonicasura #knack #knack videogame #knack 2 #playstation knack #knack ps4 #ps4 knack #living stone #monster knack #monster!knack #mentioned fandoms #spectrobes #spectrobes series #frenchie-sottises

[citrux-lore]

THE HISTORY OF CITRUX (part 1???)

The start of Citrux was at the end of earth; our world was destroyed due to human ignorance, and yet a higher being awoke, granting another chance to humankind.  It was known as The Grandmaster, a god.

The Grandmaster turned the humans into plant people, so creatively named The Phytofolk.  It practically reset the world as well, forests growing large and plentiful, bugs tripling in size, and new plant and animal species gracing the land.  The Phytofolk were spread out across the land, this continent dubbed Sanctuary.  They eventually mostly settled down in a thick, predatory forest, filled with massive bugs, dangerous creatures, and carnivorous plants.  Yet the Phytofolk thrived.

The Grandmaster had granted them control over plants, the strength of it varying from one individual to the next.

The next things he created were 7 other gods, Cruxus, Orbin, Feyi, Acerix, Minma, Yvette, and Loraill.  They were to help protect this salvaged land, but drained the Grandmaster of quite a lot of power, and yet he pursued on with fixing this world.

Next, we go into the Great Tundra.  The Grandmaster created a cat-like species, who were dubbed Cuberians.  They had formed a tribal society for themselves; Stellari inhabiting The Mount Starsreach, Meduli near the Ice Lakes, Shaguan in the Great Forest, Warru seeking refuge in the hot springs, and Chashi in the Dream Cavern.  They began divided, but the groups merged into these five tribes, and began communication efforts for trade and help and advice.

After that came the Vrisions, a reptilian species.  They began as nomads, occasionally grouping up for help or company.  But then, a specific group rose up above the rest, dubbing themselves The Leaders of the Vrision.  They were kings and queens in their eyes, and were treated as such.  This royal family created strict rules and guidelines for the species to follow, it was for their protection, the royals always claimed.  Though, punishment for not following the simplest of rules can end with an unfortunate death sentence.  The species resides in the desert, powering their cities with magic growths from the crystal basin, which emit high energy levels.

At this point, more gods had risen.  The cuberian tribes each have a guardian God, who answe their prayers for protection.  The phytofolk had created the first city, though seemingly primitive.  Above all, hybrids of species were beginning to be discovered.  The Vrisions were also extremely technologically advanced as well, thanks to their crystals.

The fourth, and believed to be final species had arisen, imbued with powers from the gods themselves.  The Astrals are horned humanoids who reside peacefully on the mountains.  They are the first to obtain 'gifts', blessings from the gods.  They had a hunter-gatherer society, with no one leading figure.  They praised the gods, and built shrines and temples in their names.

Time passed, and their societies began to grow.  The Phytofolk had named their great city The Grove, the Cuberians had come together to make a city known as Veilsheim.  The Vrisions have Dunesclaw as their capital, and Astrals have Blessed Towers.  But, as all things do, good things must come to an end.  A war broke out between the four races, because of differing belief and appearances.  All five Cuberian tribes had teamed together, and practically dominated the battle fields, especially if the battles were held in The Tundra.  The Phytofolk were adept at combat in their deadly home, and the Astrals had teamed up with them, promising victory.  The Vrisions had their own advantages, especially with their powerful technological advances.  The Phytofolk and Astral alliance had collapsed, Phytofolk being the first to surrender.  Astrals were second, and it was Cuberians versus Vrisions.  Neither made a first move, and they soon formed a truce.  Three of the four species had come together to form a great city as well, dubbing it The Golden City.

#world building #fantasy #sci fi #writing

[nuclearshxgun]

¥ ~ @kaiju-crimson-storyandask

Looks: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10Personality: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10Attraction: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10Would they date them: yes (probably) | noFavorite thing about them: They share a lot in common, Goji enjoys someone he can discuss with.Least favorite thing about them: (I don’t think he’s found a flaw yet.)

#ic: you turned me into the first #ask meme: draw one from the deck #kaiju-crimson-storyandask #treasured guardian: the tribal call to the ancient past #(yeah I think this sums it up #(also hello tag

[loveoaths]

YUKI HEADCANONS !

on haku’s mother, ayai.

haku’s mother ayai, was, by all accounts, quite ordinary. 

she was not a warrior. since tribal appointments were not totally inherited, everyone knew she would most likely not be the successor of yuki raijiri’s war party. 

she did not possess any special skill when it came to hyōton, and she could not use hyōton or jutsus due to having a disease that made accessing her chakra excruciating and unpredictable. 

she could, however, tap slightly into the yuki spirit powers known as kamuy. for ayai, her kamuy manifested as the ability to see someone’s aura, but using the ability caused debilitating migraines.

as a result, the matriarch yuki tsukimono’s heritage — her oracular abilities  — bypassed her entirely. 

on yuki clan vs. yuki tribe.

the yuki tribe are known as the “yuki clan” by those outside of snow country/people unfamiliar with their actual culture, largely due inaccurate reports written about them. among the tribe itself, they are not known as the yuki -- they are the Hekaci-Mata, the Winter Children.* **

they are an indigenous tribe from snow country. after a schism among the Hekaci-Mata occurs, several tribes split off and immigrate to water country. the head tribe of the Oracle supposedly disappeared into a sacred mountain and disappeared. a small tribe remains on their ancestral grounds, and their descendants exist in snow country proper.

* this blog will move between referring to them as the Yuki Tribe and the Hekaci-Mata both for clarity’s sake and to represent haku’s perspective. haku does not know the deep lore of their ancestry, and knows only the biased rumors and regurgitated half-truths that are known within water country and kiri. threads, AUs, and asks taking place after haku begins learning more about their culture will reflect their updated knowledge.

** the language used here is the Ai.nu language. the Ai.nu are an indigenous group primarily native to japa.n’s modern-day hokka.ido region. despite efforts on the part of the japa.nese government to erase their culture and existence, they are still alive today.

on the yuki tribe’s leadership structure.

within snow country, they are known as a collection of subtribes led by chieftain equivalents. the chieftains support and answer to the Kamuy-Kara-Puto-Ya-Mosir ( ai.nu trans. “the mouth of water” ), a yuki born with special oracular abilities, who is tasked with guiding the collective tribe toward prosperity, communing with the kamuy that exist within everything, and maintaining the balance between kamuy, humans, and demons. when balance is disrupted, the Oracle sends one of the Isepo, a shaman-class subtribe, to assess the situation. their duty is to restore balance and, in some cases, capture the kamuy or demon with hyoton and return it the Oracle. she releases the creature back to the kamuy realm.

the Oracle is always guarded by the Ikor ( ai.nu trans. “the sheath” ), who often doubles as the Oracle’s guardian and the head of the united tribes’ battleband.

on yuki names.

all Hekaci-Mata have a konru name ( ai.nu trans. “ice” ) and a wakka ( ai.nu trans. “water” ) name. the konru name is the one given to outsiders and foreigners; for example, haku’s grandmother’s konru name is tsukimono; it is a name from the external culture with zero connection to her, therefore no one can claim power over her by using it derisevly. one’s wakka name is kept private and used only among ones tribesmen. one’s an-noski ( ai.nu trans. “midnight” ) name is reserved for lovers and close, intimate relationships.

#if any ai.nu folks out there are offended by anything included here please let me know and i will change it. when i started this blog #three years ago i was learning about the ai.nu and was inspired by some similiarities between the yuki's representation and their rich * #*culture and wanted to reflect that admiration and diversity here. no fantasy world is a monolith and adding an indigenous population #felt necessary. the yuki are not a direct corollary to the ai.nu (that seems mad disrespectful ) but the influence is there and i want to be #candid about that as much as possible. anyway if u read all this thanks for bein a trooper #okay. that is all. bye #❛ HEADCANONS. #❛ ALL DEATH’S DAUGHTERS / ( yuki tribe. ) #GAAHHHH not sure about this but i want a diverse worldbuilding and. yes.

[thehypercutstudios]

Bww MoD - Chapter 5 Costume Homelands

This is for my bww au called Masters of Disguises, so yeah big info is in here.

Anyway, here’s the tour of 6 Costumes that lives in the Land of The Lady filled with Avian Adoration or in short; the Treehouse Forest.

🕊

The Treetop Forest (Chapter 5 World)

This is the Treetop Forest, A world created by the Heart of Watcher of the Woods, or as her real name; Sana Hudson. In the Treetop Forest, You see birds flying around and live on treetops, and mostly exotic fruits you haven’t see before. Grab your Cameras because we are going to the homeland of our first costume.

🦜 Treetop Haven 🌳

This Forest sure looks like some sort of tree based mess, but that’s what makes Treetop Haven special, it is home to the Exotic Guardian Birds. Guardian Birds are Anthropomorphic Parrot-like Birds with the ability to do a midair attack with tornados, just like Aero Acrobats do…minus the Tornado part. Surprisingly, the Guardian Birds are the Representative Costumes of the inhabitant Sana Hudson for their head-Feathers color representing Sana’s Indigo Hair, They live in Big Birdhouses and they can fly like normal birds do but they are smart just like humans. They got their name for being like guardians to the residents of the Treehouse Forest, whenever there is trouble, they always help out and lend a hand…er, wing or..both! They often hang out with Lickshot Lizards and Lucky Eggs to make sure they are safe, and it foreshadows on what costume concept made the Nega Boss; Cuckoo. Well, let’s not only get right back on land, but let’s get to the next costume and their homeland.

🦎 Chameleon Heights 🏞

Best not to look down, because we have arrived at Chameleon Heights, Home to the wacky looking yet talkative Lickshot Lizards. Lickshot Lizards are Chameleon Humanoids with pretty colors on their bellies, they live on Palm trees that are mixed with Forest trees that makes apples and coconuts. Lickshot Lizards are chatty creatures that loves to talk with alliterations and their tongues are stretchy just like Regular Chameleons have, they like to play their own sports with their tongues and whoever loses have to read a tongue twister, that sounds like a mouthful..They also travel thanks to Lickshot Seeds, flying seeds/pods that act like pinatas and advantages to Lickshot Lizards’ life. I do not know about you guys, but let’s get right to the next Costume and their homeland.

🥚 Thousand Nests 🪆(Part 1)

Wow, there sure are a lot of nests around, because we have arrived at Thousand Nests, Home to the Clumsy yet full of luck Lucky Eggs. Lucky Eggs are Barely-Hatched Birds with Light Blue Feathers that are protected by their magical eggshells, which are magical by luck. Lucky Eggs live in a town that are bigger bird nests, where they found them as their safe spots to protect themselves from harm, although cautious and clumsy, their eggshells act like magnets to any kinds of items and it can be useful for finding lost items…It can be good and all, but they have to be careful because one drop or a hard hit can break their shells and they are vulnerable without their shells, making them having to wait a few minutes until the eggshell gets back on them, the nests houses not just the eggs but birds, we would have to talk about them later, but for now let’s scramble into the next costume and their homeland.

🍂 Maple Battlefield 🌳

My, have you ever seen a forest like this one? Well we have arrived at Maple Battlefield, Home to the magical Strong Red Berries and our next costumes. Before we get to them, here is the question; do you remember the Sickle Slingers from our tour at the Teeny-Tiny World? Well, these guys have discovered the Forest a few days ago and decided to make a homeland of their own after leaving Shrunken Forest and then, they discovered the Strong Red Berries and make them their diet, and by each months, their armor turn red, black, yellow and Gray, with their body shape turn muscular and beefy along with their species turning into Beetle-like Humanoids, even their blades too And thus, a new species is born, introducing…Sickle Slayers. Sickle Slayers are no longer speedy, but now they are tough and their blades can break tough Objects like Iron and Ice, despite their big red makeover, they are still sharp and quick minded, reacting to any incoming attack with their sickle Blades, they also live in the giant maple trees. With big power, comes with great responsibility and wrestling too, but for now, let’s left the Sickle Slayers be with their own fighting techniques, and get to the next costume and their homeland.

🕯Torch Treetops 🌴

Phew! This place is hot with torches and hot peppers, well welcome to Torch Treetops, home to the Pyrokinetic Hotheads. Hotheads are Grayish Beige Humanoid which wears Arabian-styled clothing and the fabric of their clothes are straws with red jewelry, they live in a treetop village where everything is on fire that doesn’t hurt the trees or anything and have torches. Like humans, Hotheads gather resources and have roles to play too, they also do tribal celebrations for any Holidays that is worth celebrating for and when the day arrives, they put out the flame of the torches and get right on their daily lives. Well that was a scorcher, now let’s get to the last costume and the homeland we have visited as a third location.

🥚 Thousand Nests 🪆(Part 2)

Welcome back to Thousand Nests, where we have interviewed the Lucky eggs, but now we are here to meet their shell-less counterpart, the Lucky Birds. Lucky Birds are Chickens with blue parts of their faces and they are not clumsy like their eggy neighborhood, Lucky Birds live on nests that are on treetops to keep an eye on Lucky Eggs to make sure they do not get themselves hurt. Unlike Lucky Eggs, Lucky Birds do not have eggshells, but instead they have luckiness magnetic powers coming from their white feathers, so they do not have to worry about losing their lucky powers by falling from high jumps or being hit too hard, they also formed from Lucky Eggs when their time of turning into Lucky Birds have arrived. Now that is so lucky of those big birds, and that is all for the Treehouse Forest and its costumes, tune in next time as we explore the Clocktower Town, onward!

So yeah, that was the chapter 5 costume homelands, coming soon are the Chapter 6 costume homelands.

#Balan Wonderworld #bww #balanposting #bww au #bww MoD #bww masters of disguises #Balan Wonderworld au #Balan Wonderworld Chapter 5 #Sana Hudson #bww costumes

[danco110]

If you ever start thinking “Hey, maybe I have too many Commander decks,” let me tell you: you don’t. I do:

WARNING!!! EXTREMELY long post below, describing each deck and a brief summary of its strategy in overly abbreviated and nerdy Commander lingo. I mean, I’m talking a real wall of text, here. I mean it! Read more at your own risk!

——

——

THE A-TEAM: These decks have all been around for a while, and have all seen their fair share of wins.

-Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain. Artifact storm, and probably the closest I’ll ever come to cedh. WARNING: my Mana Crypt is in here!

Gisela, Blade of Goldnight. OHKO tribal. Seeks to blast people wide open with either Embercleave, Kaya’s Onslaught, or Uncaged Fury.

-Bruna, Light of Alabaster. Voltron that can either play nice and fetch Eldrazi Conscription, or not, and grab Spectra Ward.

-Sigarda, Heron’s Grace. Human tokens tribal, and the rightful recipient of my only Doubling Season.

-Admiral Beckett Brass. Pirate tribal. Taking commanders and wincons is fun. WARNING: somewhat unfun to play against!

-Gishath, Sun’s Avatar. Dino tribal.

-Hallar, the Firefletcher. Kicker tribal.

-Syr Gwyn of Ashvale. Knights and equipments and equip 0 Colossal Hammers.

-Nikya of the Old Ways. A creatures-only deck that probably has more interaction than most of my other decks!

-Atemsis, All Seeing. Azor’s Gateway / Twiddlestorm / Untap shenanigans. WARNING: somewhat unfun to play against!

-Gnostro, Voice of the Crags. Flicker tribal with a non-Narset commander so as to not draw too much heat.

-Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty. Cascade / big spells / Simic is broken change my mind / tribal

-Aragon, Roar of the World. Cat tribal, and my first-ever Commander deck!

——

THE B-TEAM: My decks with fairly good performance across their games, independent of wins and losses

-Halana, Kessig Trapper and Alena, Kessig Ranger (Partner). Big bodies / EtB tribal.

-Khorvath Brightflame and Sylvia Brightspear (Partner). Knights and dragons tribal.

-Virtus, the Veiled and Gorm, the Great (Partner). Quietus Spike / force block shenanigans. WARNING: somewhat unfun to play against!

-Linvala, Shield of Sea Gate. Azorius party aggro.

-Zagras, Thief of Heartbeats. Phantom Rakdos party control.

-Tazri, Beacon of Unity. 5C party +1/+1 counters.

-Kazarov, Senior Pureblood. “I can’t play against Krenko anymore today” Pyroclasm tribal.

-Liesa, Shroud of Dusk. Angel and demon tribal (NOTE: no synergy there, I just wanted to stick to the flavor of “alliance with a demon lord”)

-Orah, Skyclave Hierophant. Clerics tribal that always tries for an Angel of Destiny win before it (always) defers back to aristocrats.

-Bruna, the Fading Light. Angel tribal that tries to meld Brisela every game.

-Anafenza, the Foremost. +1/+1 counters tribal, and the deck that made me realize Outlast really should’ve been instant-speed.

-Samut, Voice of Dissent. Exert tribal with vigilance, untap, and extra combats.

-Juri, Master of the Revue. Sacrifice tribal, with a burn subtheme.

-Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas. Big tribal, and the deck that made me realize Experience counters were busted. Run Suncleanser, people!

-Quintorius, Field Historian. Reanimate and blow up your graveyard. Also, Purify the Grave is hilarious!

-Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire. Chaos warp tribal, and a Primal Surge deck that doesn’t have Primal Surge because that card is extremely boring.

-Ishkanah, Grafwidow. Spider tribal that seeks to make opponents forget about Ishkanah’s activated ability until it’s too late.

-Omnath, Locus of the Roil. Landfall and elementals.

-Savra, Queen of the Golgari. Grave Pact tribal. WARNING: somewhat unfun to play against!

-Feather, the Redeemed. Haha, combat tricks go brrrrrr!

-Adeliz, the Cinder Wind. Wizards spellslinger aggro. Also one of the few decks of mine that actually uses cantrips!

-Aryel, Knight of Windgrace. Knights tribal with a removal/control subtheme.

-Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice. Mentor + Double Strike tribal. I only built this deck because I pulled a borderless Outlaws’ Merriment, ok?

-Araumi of the Dead Tide. Self mill encore, and the deck that made me appreciate the singleton rule in Commander.

-Kaza, Roil Chaser. Big spells. BIG! I mean, Electrodominance for 10, into a Karn’s Temporal Sundering, big!

——

THE C-TEAM: My decks that just don’t cut it at a lot of pods, sometimes even against those at appropriate power levels. That being said, however, these tend to be my more storied decks, that I still enjoy playing.

-Syr Alin, the Lion’s Claw. Mono-White go wide, with commons and uncommons only. Part of my cycle of Eldraine uncommon legendary knight decks, 1/5.

-Syr Elenora, the Discerning. Mono-Blue Voltron + draw power, with commons and uncommons only, 2/5.

-Syr Konrad, the Grim. Mono-Black aristocrats...kind of...? It’s complicated, but with commons and uncommons only, 3/5.

-Syr Carah, the Bold. Mono-Red storm, with rares and mythics for Underworld Breach and Past in Flames, because I feel like storm needs those, 4/5.

-Syr Faren, the Hengehammer. Mono-Green infect, with rares and mythics for Phyrexian Swarmlord, because I really wanted a deck that could run that, 5/5.

-Jodah, Archmage Eternal. Avengers Assemble! legendary tribal. I had a lot of bulk legends at the time, and wanted to make something of them!

-Abomination of Llanowar. Literal elf ball. Built in response to my irritation at someone’s Lathril, Blade of the Elves deck.

-Licia, Sanguine Tribute. Lifegain is good, I swear, built in response to my disbelief at the $200 price tag on a store-built Licia deck. Mine costs maybe $100, if you count the sleeves and box?

-Thalisse, Reverent Medium. Tokens tribal that breaks Anointed Procession even further, which made me wonder why green gets all the token doublers *cough*adrixandnev*cough*

-Hamza, Guardian of Arashin. +1/+1 counters, with commons and uncommons only, built because someone at my store wanted to play commons and uncommons only with an uncommon Commander. Thanks for getting me into Artisan Commander, Will!

-Siona, Captain of the Pyleas. Enchantress, with a tokens subtheme. Built because I and a friend both commented that she looked like Wonder Woman.

-Mina and Denn, Wildborn (NOT Partner). Landfall aggro, with all the creatures that pump on landfall.

-Ghired, Conclave Exile. Populate and tokens. Built because I was bored one Saturday and saw I had an extra set of sleeves.

-Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor. Landfall tribal, (again? Sheesh!) built the same lazy Saturday as Ghired, above.

-Armix, Filigree Familiar and Eligeth, Crossroads Augur (YES Partner). Artifact tribal, with a super janky 4-piece Marionette Master loop wincon! Built because Eligeth turns Preordain into “Draw 2 cards, then draw a card.”

-Akiri, Fearless Voyager. Equipment tribal, with an asymmetrical boardwipe subtheme. Built because I pulled an Akiri from a pack, and someone said “ooh, sorry,” from over my shoulder.

-Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch. Unleash counters tribal. Built because I found a Chaos Imps in my bulk!

——

THE MEME-TEAM: These decks...are. Yeah, they are. Not necessarily good or bad. Just...are.

-Kenrith, the Returned King. The game plan is “Get to Trostani’s Summoner, and either flicker it or make a bajillion copies of it.” One day, I found a card named Trostani’s Summoner, and it was love at first sight! My Demonic Tutor went in here!

-Phylath, World Sculptor. Landfall tribal...with 99 basic land cards.

-Rograkh, Son of Rogahh and Keleth, Sunmane Familiar. (Partner) Kill one guy and die tribal.

-Etrata the Silencer. The “I wanted a non-Koma Mirror Gallery deck” deck. Also with a guest appearance from flicker!

-Lazav, Dimir Mastermind. Literally just “Oops! All Control!” Draw, counter, and remove. WARNING: don’t play against this.

-Ravos, Soultender and Livio, Oathsworn Sentinel. (Partner) War of attrition, etb and control. WARNING: don’t play against this. It has like 15 boardwipes!

-Valki, God of Lies / Tibalt, Cosmic Imposter. (NOT Partner) “I want to piss off the table” tribal. It mills your opponents, it plays their stuff, and it removes the stuff it doesn’t play. WARNING: don’t play against this. It runs Jokulhaups, Obliterate, and Decree of Annihilation!

-Svella, Ice Shaper. Colossal Dreadmaw tribal, as in, anything that’s roughly 6/6 makes the cut! It’s actually won games!

-Brion Stoutarm. Hijack and fling tribal. “You know, I’ve never had an Eldrazi titan before. Can I borrow it? Well, see, I wasn’t exactly...asking...?”

-Grumgully, the Generous. Non-human “uno mas” tribal. Tries to run all the counters cards like Renata and the Rhythm of the Wild.

-Subira, Tuzuldi Caravaneer. Small tribal. Just think “mono-r blitz in Commander,” and you’ll get the gist.

-Neheb, the Worthy. Minotaurs and discard tribal. Not as oppressive as Tinybones, or as explosive as Nath, and that’s a good thing. Trust me.

——

THE ALL-RAVNICAN REJECTS: These decks are... *sniff* no longer with us. They were broken down for pieces, for sleeves, or because I slept through each time I played them.

-Najeela, the Blade Blossom. Boring warriors extra combat steps. Broken because I wanted her tri-lands, and I wanted some of her warriors for my party decks.

-Golos, Tireless Pilgrim. Maze’s End lands. Golos is broken and we all know it. Broken for sleeves, and because my first land tutor was always Field of the Dead because of the incoming hate, and not Maze’s End, and I wasn’t happy with that.

-Arcades, the Strategist. Walls. As it turns out, not a lot of decks can contest 3-mana 8/8’s. And against those that could, the deck was put in the ground extremely quickly. Broken because it just wasn’t fun to play.

——

THE DRAWING BOARD: These decks are in the works. Will they see the light of day, and the protection of sleeves? Well, we’ll see, will we not?

-Borborygmos. Go wide and SMASH! My first attempt at a pile of cards; I’m trying for a goblins/saproling hybrid tribal, because both make lots of tokens, but we’ll see how well that translates into actual play.

-Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer. Thopters and artificers and myr, oh my! All joking aside, I just wanted a deck that wants to run cards with Fabricate, because I thought it was a really cool mechanic!

-Garna, the Bloodflame. Reanimator/sacrifice, AKA corpse carousel. It’s a revolving door between the graveyard and the battlefield, yknow, and most of my store’s meta does not run graveyard hate.

I tried to warn ‘ya!

#magic the gathering #mtg #edh #commander

[talesfromgringolandia]

Underwing Challenge Day 3 - Who is your main cast? Describe as many of your OCs as you can cram into one post.

Ok, here we go.

Clears throat, cracks knuckles:

While I am writing in third person, it's mostly from Bo’s POV. He is kind of uptight and considers himself responsible for his little sister. As eldest, he knows that he will one day be responsible for the wellbeing of his family and he takes that very seriously.

His little sister, Shen, is the exact opposite. She is very carefree and longs for excitement and adventure. She also really likes animals.

Those are the main characters. They are very simple, which I think will make them good POV’s for the world they are about to step into. Everybody else has five pages of backstory so buckle up kids.

Their father is Ambrose, a paladin of Felenor. Felenor is the titan of honor, justice, and protection, and Ambrose is as good a follower as he could possibly be. Many many years ago, he fled Destra, the original dwelling place of the Order of Felenor, when the order fell and Destra was taken over by paladins of Ildra, titan of despair and suffering. He still feels guilty for this, but Felenor appeared in his dreams telling him to wait in Endora, and gave him an amulet to protect until then. Ambrose doesn’t know what's in the amulet, but he waits in Endora until Felenor calls him to action. Since he knows he’s going to leave someday, he trains hard with Bo to prepare him to care for the family once Ambrose leaves. Before marrying Jolna, he lived in the city where he started an academy to train Guardians to protect the city from the monsters in the woods, as well as to uphold order within the city itself. The school is still operational, with a different headmaster.

Bo and Shen’s mother is Jolna, a skilled alchemist who also feels guilt over an unethical experiment she once participated in. She’s actually older than Ambrose, and at the beginning of the story, is starting to feel the effects of her age. She’s the one who suggested they move into the swamp, because she wanted to get away from all the alchemists who still see nothing wrong with the experiment.

The result of that experiment is named Carapit, a purple-skinned, winged humanoid. He is the result of human arrogance, as well as a reluctance to face the consequences of those decisions. Alchemists managed to catch a sprite, a being of pure aether, and combined it with a chimera they had previously created. The result was a being capable of terrible power, so they keep him chained up in a cave deep in the woods. Thanks to his ethereal heritage, he has telepathic capabilities. Jolna visits him regularly to make sure he’s well fed, but even she doesn’t know how to remove the sprite from him, and she knows that he really is too dangerous to be released.

Rhye is a skilled hunter, and possibly the only character here with a physical description: He’s blond and wears a green cloak. No, it's not just Link reskinned, shut up. He’s very proud of his hunting, tracking, and archery skills, and with good reason. He got kicked out of the Guardian Academy for being too much of a smartass, but he has skills to equal some of the students. He is also Ambrose’s biggest fan.

Ambrose’s brother kind of infuriates me because I cannot think up a good name for him! Nothing has really fit yet. He is a paladin of Lralso, titan of dishonor and despair. He is extremely jealous of his brother, who is the picture-perfect paladin of Felenor, which opened him up to being convinced by Lralso that honor was nothing but virtue signalling. He is going to be the inciting incident of Bo and Shen’s journey.

Another important character is Aaron Kel, captain of the Silverbird, a sky ship. He’s a pirate, but also feels guilty for stealing other people’s hard-earned stuff. He justifies it to himself by holding his crew to a high personal standard, and promising them a good start when they decide to leave his boat. This way, once they leave the boat they will (in theory) become upstanding members of society. In Captain Kel are all sorts of conflicting ideals.

Goni is from Minvir, the Isle full of ice and death. He was caught stealing food during a time of scarcity, and for that was (literally) branded a thief and banished from the tribe. After a long travel, he ended up in Galras, where he found employment in the navy as a boarder on a pirate chaser. Until one day, he gets captured by the crew of Captain Kel, who spare his life because he’s 7 foot 2 and could be a major help. Goni, according to his tribal customs, owes Captain Kel a life debt, and is fully committed to paying it back. So now he’s on the pirate ship.

Some honorable mentions who haven’t been developed enough yet:

A female paladin of Felenor who might end up being trained by Ambrose,

Captain Flucky, captain of a storming ship, one of many responsible for protecting the isle of Galras from dragon storms

The new headmaster of the Guardian Academy in Endora, who is good friends with Ambrose

A female Sentry, who uses clockwork armor powered by aether for fighting. This one is a student at the Guardian Academy.

Bear in mind that half of these exist fully in my head, and have not been written down until now. Particularly Jolna and Captain Kel.

#underwing challenge #sleepyfam #writblr #writeblr #writing #fantasy #worldbuilding #OC

[rokkr-witness]

Primordial Thurs: Ymir and Surtr

So this project started because quarantine has been keeping my kindred apart, so we’ve been doing zoom meetings to discuss some interesting themes in Norse Mythology. I haven’t cited all the references used for these but I hope I got enough of them. This particular work is going to talk about several important concepts, them being Chaos, creation and Destruction and how those concepts are represented by the Primordial Thurs Ymir and Surtr. I will say I’m not a scholar, and a good portion of this is UPG, take it or leave it.

Ymir

Ymir is the first of the giants in Norse mythology, he dates back to the primal times before Odin, Thor or any other God existed. He is created when the fires of muspelheim meet the ice and rime of niflheim in the ginnungagap, the void. He’s representative of the first shared Ancestor, but also the first “consciousness” to come out of Chaos. When referring to consciousness we do not mean sentience here. Thematically, Ymir is the personification of the chaos before creation, which is also depicted as the impersonal void of Ginnungagap. Both Ymir and Ginnungagap are ways of talking about limitless potential that isn’t actualized, that hasn’t yet become the particular things that we find in the world around us. His name means Screamer so connect that to birth, not just the birth of the womb but also the birth of the universe (the Big Bang).

According to Snorri Sturlson Ymir was suckled by the cow Audhumla for his nourishment, but whether this is a Christian literary device or not has been debated. It may be that Audhumla, who also licked Buri out of the ice, was introduced as a way to present a dichotomy in the myths, that being Buri, Ancestor of Odin as Good and lawful, and Ymir, primordial chaos as inherently Bad and therefore deserving of destruction. But we’ll get to that.

When he slept, several other giants were conceived asexually in Ymir’s hermaphroditic body, and spontaneously sprang from his legs and the sweat from his armpits. A man and a woman grew under his arms and a six headed son under his foot. Þrúðgelmir is the name of one son, who’s son Bergelmir is the only one to survive the ocean of Ymir’s blood after his slaying. This is accounted in the book Gylfaginning in the Prose Edda.

There is some suggestion that Buri might have been one of the beings created from Ymir’s body, and by extension so Bor and Bestla, the parents of Odin. I actually prefer this interpretation, because it removes the dichotomy of jotun = bad because they are inherently evil and the descendents of Buri, imposed(cultivated) order, are inherently good. With all beings originating from Ymir you have one source for creation and one "race" for lack of a better term, and it changes the designation of Aesir, Jotunar and vanir to a more tribal understanding, that being the family or group we choose to belong to.

Anyway, Ymir’s son Þrúðgelmir appears in the poem Vafþrúðnismál from the Poetic Edda. When Odin (speaking under the assumed name Gagnrad) asks who was the eldest of the Æsir or of the giants in bygone days, Vafþrúðnir answers:

"Uncountable winters before the earth was made,

then Bergelmir was born,

Thrudgelmir was his father,

and Aurgelmir his grandfather."

—Vafþrúðnismá

Odin, Vili and Ve, The divine brothers then slew Ymir and fashioned the realm of midgard from his corpse. His flesh made the earth, his bones the mountains, his blood the oceans and his brains the clouds. It is also during this creation that the Gods establish Utangard and Innangard by giving the giants the shoreline and using Ymir's eyelashes to build a wall between the rest of the Cosmos and Midgard- the realm of future humans. Through this the tribe of the Aesir, imposes the order necessary for life(as we understand it) to thrive and begins the push and pull between that order and the primordial chaos of the Giants. A push and Pull that ultimately culminates in Ragnarok.

Surtr

And that brings us to Surtr. If Ymir can be considered your primordial Rime, or Frost Thurs, then Surtr is your primordial Fire Thurs. Likewise if Ymir represents the chaos of creation, Surtr represents the Chaos of destruction and the completion of the natural life cycle. Because he is associated with the south (Muspelheim), Surtr is then associated with the idea of fire, which is common in Icelandic Norse mythology. It can be argued that the figure of Surtr was, at the very least, a local figure given over to Iceland’s relatively tumultuous volcanic geography that was incorporated in part into the larger Nordic cycle by Icelandic-born writers, but this theory has never been proven.

His Consort is Sinmora. Less is known of this figure than Surtr himself, save she possesses/is the guardian of the legendary weapon Lævateinn*. Some theories suggest Sinmora as the Same entity as Hela, but personally I find they hold very little water.

Surtr is demonized as a malevolent antagonist to the gods, positioning himself against the world as a whole. And, I want to dispense with the idea, immediately, that Surtr is inherently demonic or otherwise evil. I cannot emphasize this enough.

“If we associate Surtr with the Icelandic writers, an etin with an affinity towards fire and the volcanic landscape of their homeland, then it is easy to see how they could put a greater derogatory emphasis on the being. After all, fire is well attested to being both a savior and a potential threat to civilization, ” Marc, Axe and Plough

It is my understanding that Surtr is in Muspelheim before the worlds are created. Which makes him the perhaps oldest entity in the Northern Pantheon. (excluding some ideas that the Void itself is an entity) Surtr is the lord of Múspellsheimr and the leader of that realm. We do not know when he became the lord of Múspellsheimr, so it is fair to assume that he has always been. That Surtr has always been. This is supported by Muspell, the primordial world of fire, as the primary impetus for the creation of the universe. The interactions between Muspell and Niflheim, within the great void of Ginnungagap was what birthed the universe (Faulkes 1995: 10).

This Idea is one we see regularly, paths of Destruction as paths to rebirth, creation. It is possible that Surtr is a regular arbiter for that rebirth, and has been through the founding and destruction of several universes. What can be gathered from this is something we see regularly in Northern Traditions, the understanding that though things die, life continues, renews and grows.

Natural science does a good way of illustrating Surtr’s importance in this example.

Take Andisols for instance. These are soils that form on volcanic ash and contain volcanic glass and compounds of elements such as Fe, Al and Si. (Ions of those elements, which are released by leaching and weathering of volcanic rock, can form complexes with organic matter; in addition to an andisol’s ability to retain water, this can make for very fertile growing conditions, after it has had the chance to weather, break down and release it´s nutrients. Eruption(destruction), break down, and then growth.

Now let's stop right there for a second. There is very little information on Surtr however there are some conclusions that can be drawn with some mental gymnastics about his role at ragnarok. His role at Ragnarok is to do battle with Freyr, be victorious and cover all the realms with Fire. After Balder will return from Hel and a new cycle of life will begin.

If you look at Ymir as the beginning and Surtr as the end, and both of them in a system of chaotic creation and destruction, then Freyr, the vanic god of fertility and agriculture( one of the ways in which humans mastered the natural world), is the obvious Foe. Freyr represents creation in the system created by Odin Vili and Ve after Ymir’s slaying. To return to the primordial creation you have to remove it, you have to remove everything. And Surtr is the obvious answer to that, an ever present being that sees the same cycle completed over and over. I’d even argue that Balders return to the world of the living is christianized to reflect Christ and maybe a better ending to ragnarok is simply to return to the natural state of the cosmos, Muspelheim in the south, Niflheim in the north and the Void between them.

Conclusion

So i Started this with very little information and so have had to draw a lot of my own conclusions. Some heathens who have also written on this subject, like raven kaldera and his associates, i think over humanize Surtr and by extension Ymir in ways to make the entities more approachable. but i see that for myself as sort of counterproductive. Others like Ljossal Lodursson idk, i just don’t find that his conclusions hold up to my interpretations, that is I don’t support Audumla as an essential part of the cosmos, but that’s my UPG and so i think it’s important to remind everyone that your UPG is yours and you’ll draw your own conclusions through journey work and research. My dissatisfaction with others who follow the path of the jotnar is not a reflection of the validity or quality of their works.

How you choose to incorporate any deity is really up to you.

For myself, I like Ymir for organic inspiration, but I also just sort of feel close to him as I'm a human living on earth, obsessed with the way the universe is held together. If you accept the big bang theory as the scientific beginning of the universe there is a place you can drop ymir in there. Ymir, Screamer, Bang...you get it. I have found if you stare too long at Ymir you sorta fall in and getting out again is rather difficult. I began to feel very unconnected to other parts of my faith, including Loki the longer i stayed trying to connect to Ymir.

Surtr is sorta similar for me. When you want to start over with a clean slate he'd be the one to help you, or rather his is the power you would seek since I'm not certain I could see something omnipresent and everlasting, that is the personification of ultimate entropy as being able to offer conscious help.

I don’t think of them as meeting people or interacting with persons. Try seeing them as simply being, events or states. Powers, elements, eldritch entities beyond sentient consciousness. Like some kind of Norse Jellyfish or giant space Apatosaurus. They just are, they have functions and they are or have fulfilled them.

***

*Lævateinn

Lævateinn is etymologically considered to be a kenning for a sword (Old Norse "damage twig"[1]

Henry Adams Bellows translation:

41. Svipdag spake:

"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, the question I ask,

For now the truth would I know:

What weapon can send Vithofnir to seek

The house of Hel below?"

42. Fjolsvith spake:

"Lævatein is there, that Lopt with runes

Once made by the doors of death;

In Lægjarn's chest by Sinmora lies it,

And nine locks fasten it firm."[3]

Bellows comments that Lægjarn means "Lover of Ill" and, like the name Lopt, refers to Loki

There is some suggestion that the weapon may be the misteltoe used to kill Baldur but this theory has never been proven.

More Reading

Arith Hargar- he has an excellent video on Ymir

http://www.northernpaganism.org/

a site with lots of information on various Jotnar as well as digital shrines

Raven Kaldera's Jotunbok

https://axeandplough.com/

Marc has several articles of interest- including one of the few written about Surtr

Ljossal Lodursson has written several texts on Thursatru that offer unique perspectives

#heathenry #heathen #rokkatru #asatru #norse #norse pagan #pagan #ymir #surtr

[do-yall-hear-sumthing]

Playing With Fire: NHL Enforcers, Masculinity, and the Need to Find Acceptance in a Collective Identity

please enjoy the following essay examining the influence masculine identities have in the role of the NHL enforcer!! :)

   One of the most popular youth sports in North America is ice hockey; in a 2014 data collection, nearly 1 million adolescents were reported to be enrolled in hockey programs between Canada and the United States (Bruner et al 175). Research suggests that team sporting environments, such as hockey, are vital to young people as it enables them to begin developing social identities, which ultimately contributes to foundational perceptions of the self (Bruner et al 173-74). Authors Alsarve and Angelin state “Ice hockey is a sport that encourages ‘traditional’ masculine attributes” and cite facets of the sports, such as extreme body contact, fighting, and the emphasis surrounding mental toughness, as primary contributors to this pervasive culture centred around ‘being a man’ (27). Despite fighting being an illegal practice under the rules of hockey, the act of on-ice combat has become a ritualized form of defending the honour of teammates and a means of intimidation towards the opposition (Colburn Jr. 158-67). One role within the National Hockey league (NHL) that truly captures the dominating hyper-masculinity of the sport is that of the enforcer. These specialized players are perceived to be more valuable for their ability to fight and ‘enforce justice’ then they are for their ability to play the sport (Tjønnal 56). The 2016 documentary, Ice Guardians, captures the stories of multiple notorious “enforcer” players. The film details the experiences, and profound struggles, of those thrust into the violent role of the NHL enforcer. The narratives and themes of Ice Guardians can be used to explore how the motivations of these players reflect the need to find acceptance within masculine group identities. 

  In order to contextualize the concept and psychology of a NHL enforcer, one must understand the values that surround the game of hockey and how this role is embedded among masculinity. Kevin Young suggests that the dominant culture within the sport is surrounded by a widely celebrated, yet precarious, expression of masculinity (309). Hockey teaches its players to reject femininity, strive for notoriety, embrace aggression, and defy measures of authority if they stand in the way of goal achievement (Alsarve and Angelin 27-30; MacDonald 97). These particular traits desired, imposed, and reproduced within the institutions of hockey are hallmarks of traditional masculinity. And no other positional role within the sport embodies the violence consumed and validated by masculinity as accurately as that of the NHL enforcer. This niche within the game rewards those who display immense loyalty, dominating physicality, and possess an overall grit to their game (Ice Guardians 55:36-55:58), the role ultimately using hockey’s masculine manifesto as a framework to develop the playing style and personas of its disciples. These men, often romanticized by fans and media, encapsulate the codependency masculinity shares with violence (Tjønnal 64-65), and meticulously embody traditional perceptions on what it means to be a man. The understandings of how the position roots itself in conventional masculinity can be used to analyze how these values influence one’s means of maintaining status within masculine group identities. 

  Whether its within the workplace or a sporting environment, group collectives will not succeed unless there is an established and cohesive identity bonding the individuals together. Moradi et al’s research states “A central aspect of the theory of male reference group identity dependence is that it incorporates sense of connection with other men in a social group -that is male collective identity- into individual men’s self concept.” (418). This theory finds that the identity of a singular man can be reliant on the status and associations he has with his peers in a group environment; this information can be extrapolated to our knowledge of the enforcer players. Public perceptions surrounding those within the role of the enforcer are that the individual does not possess any talent and is simply there to fight (Ice Guardians 51:43-53:47) and some have been labelled as “one trick enforcers” (Tjønnal 63). The negative labels surrounding the enforcer type players discredits their achievements and frame them as inferior to their ‘skilled’ peers.  Martin Kosla’s work involving occupational risk-taking behaviours reveals that such displays are means for men to receive social recognition (389-400). It can be argued that partaking in the acts of fighting, which is central to the role of the enforcer, are examples of occupational risk-taking within the NHL. This is exemplified through the accounts of players within the documentary where extensive injuries, such as shattered bones and limb dislocations, were sustained from their style of play (Ice Guardians 39:20-46:53). These acts of violence committed by these players demonstrates how their identity is associated with that of their collective and to what lengths one will go to feel accepted within that group. These men are told that they are not as valuable as their peers, and overcompensate with violence as a means to gain recognition within the collective identity of the team. They take attributes of masculinity: aggression, strength, and toughness, and wield it in a manner that solidifies their status in the social environment. This extreme expression of the “Us versus Them” mentality elevates the enforcers within the team identity, and gives them a public status equal to that of their peers.  

  Enforcers emphasize loving what they do, more so loving the motivations behind their actions: protecting their teammates, adoration from both peers and fans, and the adrenaline they receive from playing their style of game (59:13-1:00:32). While enforcers were typically well respected within the dressing room, there was an understanding among the players that these individuals were easily replaceable if their performances were not adequate (Ice Guardians 45:50-46:15). The external pressures to perform -and stay within the tribe- manifested itself in many forms for these players but ultimately contributed to feelings of anxiety and inadequacy compared to their peers. In Anne Tjønnal’s narrative analysis of the stories of two notable enforcers, Bob Probert and Derek Boogaard, there was a clear emphasis on how these men both felt extremely pressured to win any fight they were subjected to, no matter the bodily or mental harm it imposed because they feared rejection from the team (62-64). These sentiments are reflected within the documentary as well, with the interviewed players describing the mental exhaustion involved with game preparations. They consistently detail feeling nauseous prior to the start of the game, dedicating hours of mental energy visualizing their prospective fights, and the looming fear of embarrassing themselves in front of their teammates and loved ones (Ice Guardians 42:12-48:24). Through our understandings of their masculine displays of violence, we can discern that these anxieties surrounding lacklustre performances, and the prospect that they may be exiled from the social group, are rooted in their inherent tribalism. If these players lose, they risk being ostracized from the collective group, and due to male self perceptions being closely tied to that of the group (Moradi et al. 418), they face losing their own identity. These individuals then become trapped in a cycle of trying to regain, or maintain, their group status through increasingly violent displays of masculinity. This ultimately demonstrates that enforcers are fuelled by the need to be accepted within the group and their violence is sustained by the culture that created them.

   These men embody the perceived notion of masculinity: they are tough, they are successful, they seek out and deliver justice; they are the exact opposite of what “femininity” looks like in the eyes of traditional masculinity. Yet they struggle. These fiercely loyal and resilient individuals are just like the rest of us, despite what hockey culture tries to sell you. While the enforcers are branded for their ability to be strong, but they carry the weight of negative public perceptions and anxieties surrounding their group status. This pressure to be viewed as an equal and to remain stationed within the dominant group identity fuel the athletic performances of the NHL enforcers. These players place the inherent need to be accepted within a group identity above their wellbeing and structural safety, doing so in a manner that is celebrated by the masses while detrimental to the individual. But they are glad to do so, and if given the chance to repeat their hard-fought journeys, they would “Do it with a little more fire.” (Ice Guardians 1:45:07-1:45:11).  

                                             Works Cited

  Alsarve, Daniel, and Mathias Angelin. “‘It’s Freer and Easier in a Changing Room, Because the Barriers Disappear...’ a Case Study of Masculinity Ideals, Language and Social Status amongst Swedish Ice Hockey Players.” European Journal for Sport & Society, vol. 17, no. 1, Mar. 2020, pp. 27-30. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/16138171.2019.1706239.

  Bruner, Mark W., et al. “Understanding Social Identity and Intrateam Moral Behavior in Competitive Youth Ice Hockey: A Narrative Perspective.” Sport Psychologist, vol. 31, no. 2, June 2017, pp. 173–175. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1123/tsp.2015-0117.

  Kenneth Colburn Jr. “Honor, Ritual and Violence in Ice Hockey.” The Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers Canadiens de Sociologie, vol. 10, no. 2, 1985, p. 158-167. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2307/3340350.

  Ice Guardians. Directed by Brett Harvey, Upstream Film, 2016. Vimeo, uploaded by Air Time Productions, 3 June 2017, https://vimeo.com/220098753. 

  Kosla, Martin T. “The Safety Dance: Men without [Hard] Hats.” Health, Risk & Society, vol. 17, no. 5/6, Aug. 2015, pp. 389–400. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/13698575.2015.1116499.

  MacDonald, Cheryl A. “Masculinity and Sport Revisted: A Review of Literature on Hegemonic Masculinity and Men’s Ice Hockey in Canada.” Canadian Graduate Journal of Sociology and Criminology, vol. 3, no. 1, Apr. 2014, pp. 97. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.853f9c8c76144048eddc0dcb4b1e4cc&site=eds-live&scope=site

  Moradi, Bonnie, et al. “The Theory of Male Reference Group Identity Dependence: Roles of Social Desirability, Masculinity Ideology, and Collective Identity.” Sex Roles, vol. 68, no. 7–8, Jan. 2013, pp. 418. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edscal&AN=edscal.27204889&site=eds-live&scope=site.

  Tjønndal, Anne. “NHL Heavyweights: Narratives of Violence and Masculinity in Ice Hockey.” Physical Culture & Sport. Studies & Research, vol. 70, no. 1, June 2016, pp. 56, 62–65. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=115376878&site=eds-live&scope=site.

  Young, Kevin. “Violence, Risk, and Liability in Male Sports Culture.” Sociology of Sport Journal, vol. 10, no. 4, Dec. 1993, pp. 390. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1123/ssj.10.4.373.

#hockey #hockey culture #writitng

[artsofmetamoor]

Cornelia x Ballard ❤️ This follows the events of the comic Hidden Truth

After having his identity stolen by Diego for so long Caleb is finally free, however seeing how life and everyone around moved on without him, including Cornelia, he is left feeling completely cast aside and destroyed and so ends up roaming aimlessly throughout Meridian and beyond. The Guardians also return to Earth and proceed with their lives. A couple of years pass and Cornelia discovers she's pregnant. Wanting to give the child a stable family and being persuaded to avoid a scandal by being part of the elite Hale family, she rushes into a marriage with Peter. They have a little girl which Cornelia names Dahlia, but happiness does not last long. When little Dahlia is around 5 years old she passes away victim of a car accident. Cornelia is left completely devastated with grief at the loss of her child and with an empty existence. The rushed and early marriage with a man she did not love at her core did not last for much longer and ended up in divorce. The career, studies and ice skating passion she left behind for the sake of her lost child seemed now out of reach. The luxurious life as a Hale member, which in previous years was a source of privilege and comfort, now looked meaningless. She felt her depression creeping in stronger than ever before ( a well hidden condition she suffered from throughout all her life known only by her parents and grandmother. Fortunes were spent on medication and treatments which never really worked ). As a last hopeful attempt at finding purpose and happiness Cornelia decides to travel to Meridian. Searching for him... Hoping to see Caleb again. She is told he was last seen roaming the forests around Elyon's Kingdom. A race of Tribal Galhots are said to inhabit such places in villages and communities scattered in the heart of said forests. Cornelia, following the directions, finds one of these villages and by sheer luck ( or perhaps misfortune ) in it she finds Caleb, however she finds him married to one of the village's women and with a son, a lively lad named Kai. Cornelia recognizes the strong woman Caleb's with: Dilla, who helped them free him from Diego years ago and that also shared a past with him being his bodyguard and lover during his years as rebel leader before they met. Coming to Meridian looking for him seems to have been a mistake. Cornelia feels her last remains of hope turning into dust, and without her daughter, without a purpose and without her love she prepares to flee wishing to disappear, wishing to end her pain by any means  necessary... but she is stopped. A hand reaches out to her accompanied by a deep, soothing and kind voice. She also recognizes the large Tribal warrior that calls out to her now, Ballard, Dilla's twin brother who also helped in the fight against Diego. Feeling her distress he approaches her offering help. No matter how much her legs urge her to run away, something about him compels her to stop and stay... and so not having anywhere else to go she does just that. Not quite understanding why, she remains in the village. Ballard's presence soothes her... his shy smile is kind and inviting and his eyes, although blank and blind, seemed to pierce through her mask and shell reading and understanding her like no one else. He shows her his world... and in the middle of this simple way of life surrounded by radiant green Nature, her element, she starts to heal from her pain. Cornelia slowly and gradually feels her heart starting to divide itself in two... half of it now belonging to Ballard as well.

#collab with Katerinaaqu #ballard #cornelia #tribes of metamoor #meridian #metamoor #w.i.t.c.h. #w.i.t.c.h fanart #w.i.t.c.h cornelia

[xoscarlettlox]

So uhhh, I have written a lengthy and completely self edited fanfic about my take on the aftg world, I posted the very first chapter on Ao3 a couple of months ago and decided, why not post it here as well!

Neil Josten has been on the run for 10 years now, him and his companion Raven Lirette only have each other and Exy, a sport that they would undoubtedly die to play; Raven Dumott is the daughter to the Lola Malcom, the butcher of Baltimore’s right hand and one Neil and Raven’s tormentors.

••••

“Neil, we have to go.”

Raven’s voice snaps Neil back into mental awareness, they are both standing on a black sanded beach, the smell of ocean and saltwater thick in the air; mixed with the smell of putrid smoke and gasoline fumes that makes the air unbreathable, his whole body feels the weight of every breath that his body makes, every hiss of the wind on his wind chapped lips, and it makes him remember who is not here and will never be; his nails bite into his palms, breaking skin to keep him here, in the now with Raven, raven who is still here but won’t be if you don’t move now!; his mind screams at him, “I know.” Neil says, his voice coming out as a shock, a sound that reminds him of shattering glass on concrete.

He forced his gaze that was transfixed to the coal stained sands up to the 1970 Volvo that used to be a boring monotone brown that has now been turned into a blackened husk of a car, his mother’s charcoaled bones have long since been buried deep into the Californian earth near the highway just up the hill, a highway they should have been on and away from hours ago.

He looks over at Raven, her long hickory curls made almost the color of pitch in the inky midnight, he looks at her tear stained face, not from emotional attachment to his mother but from the fumes that were emitted from the destroyed car that had made Raven’s eyes water and Neil cry even more, he gazed at the crimson cut on her right eyebrow which was just as umber as the rest of her hair and tried to memorize the features of the only living person Neil knew who would kill for him and Neil would do so in kind for his longtime companion; and finally said “what do we do now?” His voice was raw, but less so then before, she didn’t reply right away instead marched her way up the sandy hill towards the highway, Neil followed her obediently in his numbed haze. Halfway to the top she says “we do what we always do, we run.”

-1 year later-

Neil and Raven were perched on the bleachers, Neil nursing the acrid smoke of a cigarette and trying not to remember the peel of a body glued to a leather car seat slathered with scarlet, and Raven silently sucking down her second cigarette in the last 10 minutes, her fingers were cool on his cheek, a show of affection that he leaned into, tonight was the Millport dingos last game of the season, to Neil it was a farewell to something that hadn’t made him feel alive in forever, Neil needed Exy like everyone needed oxygen to breathe, Neil knew Raven felt the same way, but less so. They tapped their cigarettes at the same time, the ash falling gracefully into the chilly Arizona winds, he glanced up at the blacked out sky and not for the first time- he wondered if his mother was up there- looking down on him and willing herself back to corporeal reality in order to beat the stupidity out of his entire being.

Neil and Raven jumped into high alert as a door creaked open, they both shuffled their respective duffles beneath their feet further under the bleachers stands, Raven reached for the knives stationed in her thigh sheaths, but paused as they saw who had invaded their cocoon. Coach Hernandez propped said door open to plop onto the bleacher in front of the teens.

“I didn’t see your family at the game tonight.” Hernandez said.

“they’re out of town.” Raven said lazily, she lied almost as good as Neil if not better.

Hernandez quirked a graying bushy brow at them, “Still or Again?”

Neither, but not Neil nor Raven could reveal any of this to their coach, the sorry excuse had been well expired and they’re teachers and Coach were tired of the recycled lie, but it explained why the Jostens weren’t ever in town, it also made it 10x easier to say Raven was his cousin that had moved in with Jostens due to the death of her family two years ago, it patched up any lose ends on why they were both eighteen.

Not to mention that Millport Arizona was basically where the half dead retired until they were actually dead, no one asked questions since everybody knew everybody; it made for a sublime place to hear who came in and out, which worked out for both Raven and Neil to get them the hell out of dodge in case his father decided to cash in his threats of death and torture to the both of them.

Suddenly Hernandez reached out for both of their cigarettes signally with a quick flick of his fingers to hand them over; Raven ignoring his hand, ground hers out completely but not before taking a strong drag, Neil obediently handed his over and watched as Hernandez crushed it beneath his sneaker which clanged obnoxiously on the metal bleacher before he tosses the destroyed bud aside;

“I thought they would at least make the exception tonight” He said.

“No one knew it’d be the last game,” Neil says, looking over at the court.

Raven snorted beside Neil, they both knew it was a lie. Millport’s loss was a sting but not an unexpected one, it had booted them from state championships two games away from finals, again it was not a surprise, the dingos were a terrible team; they barely kept up their winning streak because of Neil and Raven alone, but the missed possibility still clawed him raw. And now the Exy court would become the Soccer court again.

“We’ll call them later with the score,” Raven said, because Hernandez was silently waiting for an answer and Neil wasn’t going to answer anytime soon, “they didn’t miss much,” she finished off.

“Not yet, maybe,” Hernandez said.

“There’s someone here to see you two.”

Those seven words were all it took for both of their hearts to seize in their chests, and have them scrambling for the duffles beneath their feet and up off the bleachers towards the nearest exit, a scuff behind them revealed that they were indeed too late to escape. When they turned they were met with a beast of a man, adorned in a stark white wife beater and tribal tattoos encroached in flames on both biceps, one hand was concealed within his jeans pocket and the other was holding two suspicious vanilla colored folders, Neil notes that his stance was casual but his mahogany eyes had a look of intent.

Neither Neil nor Raven recognized him, not likely to be one of his fathers men then, it was unlikely that his father would send anyone else but Lola and her brother to the task. And with 900 residents in Millport, he definitely wasn’t the sort Neil or Raven would forget about. He looked over at Raven to confirm, brows furrowed, she shook her head slightly.

“We don’t know you,” Neil said.

“He’s from a university,” Hernandez said. throwing it into the tense silence. “He came to see you both play tonight.”

“Bullshit,” Raven seethes, “No one recruits from Millport. No one knows where it even is.”

“There’s this thing, y’know called a map?”

The man said, “You might have heard of it,”

Hernandez sends both Neil and Raven a reproaching look, Raven gazes back with nothing but ice in her eyes, Hernandez gets to his feet, “He’s here because I sent him your file. He put out a note saying he was short on his striker line, and I figured it was worth a shot. I didn’t tell you two because I didn’t know if anything would come of it and I didn’t want to get your hopes up.”

Neil just stared.

“You did what?” Raven asked, her voice was all ice but Neil could hear the fear and hope that she tried to smother.

“I tried contacting your parents/guardians when he asked for a face-to-face tonight, but they haven’t returned any of my messages. You two said they would try to make it tonight.”

“They did,” Neil Finally said voice even, “They couldn’t.”

“I cannot wait for them,” tribal tattoos said clomping down the steps to stand beside Hernandez, “ It’s incredibly late in the season, I know that; but I had some technical difficulties with my last striker sub and it was pure luck that I had come across you two. Your coach says you guys don’t finish till fall, works out just peachy doesn’t it? I need the both of you on my line and you need a team. All you have to do is sign here, and are mine for five years.”

Neil’s throat felt as if it had been stuffed full of cobwebs, he cleared his throat a few times, “You can’t be serious.”

“Very serious, and very out of time.” The man said dearly grave.

He tossed the folders onto the bleacher nearest to them, a lifeline dangled in front of people holding onto the thinnest of threads-a future, a promise of something besides surviving. Neil and Raven both knew they couldn’t take it, but the want and the “what if” sucker punched them both nearly in half. They both knew in 5 weeks when they graduated they’d be long gone, Raven Dumott and Neil Josten would be no more, nothing besides two slight smudges in a hopelessly messy abstract painting.

He should have gotten used to this, the bottomless pit of disappointment, and the ever present reminder that his father could still torture him without even being there to touch a blade to his skin. Raven and Neil had twenty-two past lives each to themselves, but Neil Josten felt real for the short period of time that he was him; Raven felt the same way, Neil could tell by the way her brown eyes never strayed away from the folders as if by her own sheer force of will she could be able to hold onto this fable and make it into a reality worth living.

They both knew what it would cost, being still and stable; signing this contract was essentially signing their deaths, but a voice in the back of his head that he could not silence whispered, what about mother? We ran and ran and they still got her, you know it’s death either way Abram. Neil turned to Raven, she shook her head, even though the glint in her brown eyes revealed she was thinking the same thing-had the same voice in her head. His father was in prison, but his father’s henchman weren’t, the risk was too high for Raven and Neil, they both knew they were pulling at strings that would inevitably be cut.

“Please go away.” Raven said, her voice rang out a bit pleading but hard.

“I know it’s a bit sudden, but I have to have an answer by tonight, the committees been on my ass since Janie got committed.”

Both his and Raven’s eyes snapped up to meet the man’s, his stomach dropped to his toes and pooled at his feet;

“The foxes.” Neil said incredulously, “Palmetto State University.”

Tribal tattoo’s- Coach David Wymack, looked taken aback at how quickly Neil had figured it out; it wasn’t a coincidence that he didn’t outright say he was here to recruit them to the lowest ranked team in Class I Exy, The palmetto state foxes.

“I guess you the saw the news.”

“Hmm, technical difficulties you said,” Raven said voice technically a glacier, “Funny way to say that your striker sub almost committed suicide.”

David Wymack was well known to give the chances to those form broken homes and fucked up pasts.

The Foxhole Court was known for the fractured isolationists who couldn’t move past their egotism to actually win a game, They were notorious in the NCAA for not only how small and meager the team was in numbers but the fact that they barely scraped by to hold their Class I ranking. As Wymack had said the committee was tired of his shit.

Then former national champion Kevin Day, joined the line. It was the best thing for the foxes in-ever. Which meant he and Raven were absolutely not signing with them. Raven caught and held is gaze and nodded towards the exit, they both knew now without a shadow of a doubt this was a door they absolutely did not want to open.

“You can’t be here.” Neil said.

“Yet here I stand.” Wymack said “Need a pen?”

“No,” Raven said voice all steel, “We’re not playing for you.”

“I mishear you.”

“You signed Kevin,” Neil says.

“And Kevin is signing you both-“

Raven and Neil did not wait to hear the rest.

They bolted towards the locker room, ignoring both coaches surprised sputters, and continued down towards the exit, metal clanged loudly beneath Neil’s ratty sneakers and Raven’s black boots, All that mattered was getting the hell away from the empty promises, Coach Hernandez and his hopeful and worried gaze; forget everything besides running until the disappointments and missed opportunities felt like a dull hum of background noise.

Raven was in front of him, she was halfway through the locker room when a loud curse echoed through the cement walls, someone was waiting for them, but Raven anticipated the hit right before it hit her sternum, she grabbed the hideously yellow base of the racquet and held on with a death grip, and looks down at the assailant, Neil tried to move by but she holds him in place with her other hand.

“Fuck off.” Raven grits between her teeth, just then Wymack bursted in.

“God dammit Minyard! This is why we can’t have nice things.”

“Oh Coach,” someone said in front of Raven, “If they were nice they wouldn’t be any use to us, would they?”

“They are no use if you break them,”

“Au contrair Coach, this ones feisty.” Neil had finally had enough, he stepped around Raven to reveal, her and a blonde midget in a tug-of-war match with a racquet; said blonde midget suddenly let go of the racquet entirely making Raven stumble only the slightest bit.

The midget turned towards Neil, who wore a sickeningly blinding white grin on his face that made Neil’s stomach turn; Andrew Minyard, goal keeper for the Palmetto State Foxes and a national threat to society. Neil could tell by the way Andrew bounced on the balls of feet and the way that manic gleam in his eyes never strayed from his own and Raven’s that he was high off his rocker.

Raven moves to stand next to him, silently willing him to get the hell out of here; Andrews manic smile seemed to stretch out even more,

“To be continued, I suppose.” Andrew said with an awful glint in his eyes as he regards Raven with intrigue, he then brought two fingers to his temple in a mock salute.

“Whose fucking racquet did you steal?” Raven seethe.

“Borrow.” Andrew said turning his gaze back towards Neil, “Seems as though your raven, is actually a bodyguard.”

“ Neil, Raven are you alright?” Coach Hernandez said, him catching up to them and stands next to Wymack.

“Just peachy Coach H, you try getting your sternum almost knocked out of your body and see how you like it.” Raven said sarcastically all ice, she must’ve been imagining that it was Neil who was in front of her instead. Neils skills in fighting only went so far since he was not trained as hard as Raven was before they ran, Mary had made sure to keep them in top fighting shape; but Neil knew he’d never be as good as Raven.

Wymack’s gaze darkened a bit on Andrew but he held his tongue against what he really wanted to say, “Andrew’s a bit raw on manners,” coming around to stand in between blond haired midget and and the two teens. Andrew apparently was able to read clear warnings in his drugged state of mind, he backed a way with his hands upturned and backed away to give them space.

“He break anything?” Wymack said, looking at Raven.

“Nope.” Raven said looking straight at the exit.

“We’re fine and we’re leaving, let us go.” Neil said.

“We’re not done.” Wymack said.

“We are and we don’t care.” Raven chimes in.

“Coach Wymack-“ Hernandez starts, warning evident in his voice.

“Just give us a moment, will ya?” Wymack said.

Hernandez is hesitant to leave but he does, “I’ll be out back.” Hernandez said, Looking from Neil to Raven. They both nod knowing they won’t be needing him.

They waited for the steps to recede into the night, the rattle as the door was unhinged from where it was propped, squealed shut, and then clicked.

“We already told you, we are not playing for your team, you have the answer that you needed, so now we leave.” Raven said.

“You don’t know the whole entire offer,” Wymack said “If I paid to have three people flown out to bumfuck Arizona, the least you could do is give me five minutes of your time.”

Neil’s stomach was again pooling at his feet, the blood was gone from his whole body, leaving the world cold with shock and fear, Raven clasped onto his forearm centering him here, even though she was feeling the same icy hot fear Neil was feeling. He should have put it together once he realized Andrew was here.

“You brought him here?” Neil said, numb.

Wymack stares hard at them, confused; “Is that a problem?” He said.

“We’re not good enough to play alongside a champion.” Raven lied easily, everyone who was in the room knew that they were.

A scoff was heard somewhere behind them, “Partly true, but irrelevant.”

Raven was stock still at his side, and Neil’s heart was basically beating in his throat at this point. They turned around at this same time, their bodies supposedly on autopilot.

Kevin Day was centered in the middle of the entertainment console behind them, and he was haloed by papers that were scattered haphazardly around him, apparently watching the whole debacle unfurl in front of him, judging by the cool measured look he sent Raven and Neil, he was wholly unimpressed with what he was seeing.

Neil and Raven had not seen Kevin since that brutal day at Evermore ten years ago, when they had seen his father and Lola brutally torture and slice a man into one hundred bloody ribbons, and by then both Neil and Raven were desensitized to the gore of their families occupation, but he’ll never forgot the sheer terror on Kevin’s face as he regarded him and Raven after it was over.

It was as though Kevin had not changed, as though they had just taken child Kevin and stretched out his body to be an adult, he had the same dark almost black hair, same emerald green eyes; and when Neil’s gaze snagged onto that damn tattoo, he swore he stopped breathing, he wanted to retch until he was numb.

A memory resurfaced, tiny Kevin putting a black sharpie to his small rounded face that was taken up by saucer green eyes, and traced a two on a chubby cheekbone that he retraced when the former had faded, telling Neil and Raven that they would make court someday with him and Riko, #1,#2,#3, and #4 they had recited over and over.

Kevin and Riko reached the stars; while Raven and Neil dunk into the trenches of the deepest pits of the ocean floor, fighting for any patch of air that could be found in order to avoid completely drowning.

Neil wanted to bolt, to run until he could no longer stand. He looked over at Ray and could tell she was itching to do the same, her hands twitched towards the knives at her thighs.

Neil knew Kevin could not recognize them, at this point Raven and Neil had to be unrecognizable, they both were concealed with hair dye and dark contacts; so why was the Kevin Day in a backwater retirement town in bumfuck Arizona? Had he and Raven fucked up somehow, fucked up besides playing Exy at all that is.

“What are you doing here?” Neil asked.

“Why are you leaving?” Kevin rebutted.

He asked you first.” Raven stated.

Kevin’s eyes flicked over to her impassively, but Neil saw a spark of something Neil couldn’t name, so he forced himself to pay attention to it.

“Coach already answered that question for you,” Kevin said annoyingly impatient, his eyes flicked back over to Raven’s for a second before turning back to Neil’s scrutinizing gaze, “We are waiting for you two to sign the contract, Stop wasting all of our time.”

“Nope,” Raven said with emphasis on the P, “There are a thousand other strikers in the U.S. that would love to play for the great Kevin Day.” She said mockingly.

“Why don’t you bother them?” Neil added. Kevin’s face flushed slightly, he huffed and Wymack chimed in before Kevin could undoubtedly unleash his wrath.

“We saw their files,” Wymack said “we chose you two.”

“We won’t play with Kevin.” Neil said.

“You will.” Kevin huffed.

Wymack shrugged his shoulders at Neil. “Maybe you noticed but we are not leaving until you guys say yes. Kevin says we have to have you two, and he’s right.”

“We honestly should have ripped your coach’s letter to shreds the moment we saw your statistics, they are subpar at best and not what we need on our line.” Kevin said, Neil notes that he did not look at Raven as he said his piece, “Lucky for you he sent us a tape from one your past games, you two play with skill that is unexpected and with some fine tuning and a lot of practice we could actually turn you into something acceptable to be able to play on our court. You both play like you have your lives on the line.”

Raven is stock still and silent; “So that’s why?” Neil asked.

“What else would you want in a striker?” Kevin said.

Relief hit both Neil and Raven like a freight train, this was all just a sick twisted coincidence, the universe was a cruel and demented thing. This was a sign, a sign to not stay in one place too long, an example of what could happen for the still and non runners, what would happen if it was Lola next time? Or even worse, his father himself? They couldn’t take that chance, this should be an easy choice, to listen to his instincts and his dead mothers dying wishes, but a big part of Neil wanted this so badly he ached with the need to say yes.

“This works out for the better anyways, No one besides your coach knows that we are here to recruit you guys,” Wymack explained, “That way the ERC won’t be on your guy’s ass with news spreads and interviews until the semester starts in late August.”

“We didn’t say yes.” Raven said.

“But I have feeling that your going too.” Wymack stated matter of factly.

Neil turned toward Raven fully,

“This is not a good idea.” Neil said.

Raven ignored him completely, “If we sign we will get complete anonymity until the semester? As well as housing?” Raven asked.

Wymack nods his head, “You can’t move into the dorms until June 13th when the rest of the foxes get there. But yes to both, to answer your questions.”

“Five years?” She asked again.

Wymack nods.

“We need a pen then.” Raven said, an air of finality was clear in her voice. Cutting a look to Neil that dared him to speak up, her gaze was piercing enough to get the message, we would be absolute idiots to turn this down. Neil nodded, suddenly angry with a mix of sick excitement.

Wymack gives them a wide grin, incredibly pleased; Neil nor Raven looked at Kevin again, now that their panic had subsided they didn’t care or want to have anything to do with him besides Exy.

Wymack pulls out the envelopes and gives them their respective pens; then Neil Josten and Raven Dumott are forever inscribed into a legally binding contract and are officially Palmetto Foxes.

Link to the rest of the chapters:

#aftg fic #aftg fanfic #andreil #tfc fanfic #andrew minyard #neil josten #the foxes #kevin day #matt boyd #allison reynolds #dan wilds #nicky hemmick #aaron minyard #renee walker #long post

[aurora-daily]

AURORA – A Different Kind of Human (Step 2) | Critic Reviews

The Line of Best Fit | 9.0

“It is an album as confident as its predecessor and just as able to deliver upon it. It is Aksnes’ finest release to date and guarantees the essentiality of her artistic duologue.”

NME | 8.0

“The album shines with crisp production, a dynamic of extremes and Aurora’s unflinchingly confident performance and message.”

musicOMH | 8.0

“It is pop music for the future – unpredictable, forceful, winsome and primal in equal measure. As long as Aurora is allowed to keep her eyes wide open, the sky really is the limit for this powerful creative force.”

The Guardian | 8.0

“This is a curious, wilfully inventive album that deserves wider attention.”

Dork | 8.0

“If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a million times - there’s something special in that northern European water. Like so many of her peers, Aurora’s brand of glistening, ice clear pop is so fresh it’s positively glacial.”

 Clash Music | 7.0

“Even as the production’s impact dips in the midst of playtime, when the final note of ‘The Seed’ plays what’s left in one’s memory is only the good, and for that Aurora’s latest album succeeds.”

AllMusic | 7.0

“While uneven, it's an album that sticks, both for its theatrical melodies and uncommon benevolence.”

The Independent UK | 6.0

“There’s a focus on tribal percussion and a multitude of vocal techniques you don’t expect on a pop album: folky vocables, angular melodies, overdubbing, a male choir. This is more enthralling on some tracks than others.”

#aurora #aurora aksnes #step 2

[dendroica]

Climate crisis may be a factor in tufted puffins die-off, study says | The Guardian

The death of thousands of tufted puffins in the Bering Sea may have been partly caused by the climate breakdown, according to a study.

Between 3,150 and 8,500 seabirds died over a four-month period from October 2016, with hundreds of severely emaciated carcasses washed up on the beaches of the Pribilofs Islands in the southern Bering Sea, 300 miles (480km) west of the Alaskan mainland.

Researchers believe the birds died of starvation partly caused by a loss of energy-rich prey species, which was triggered by increased sea and atmospheric temperatures, as well as reductions in winter sea ice recorded since 2014.

Tufted puffins breeding in the Bering Sea feed on fish and other marine invertebrates, which in turn feed on plankton. The loss of nutritious prey species caused by the climate crisis is also affecting populations of the Atlantic puffin around Britain and Iceland.

Researchers in the journal Plos One documented the Bering Sea “wreck”, or mass die-off, with the help of a citizen science programme in which tribal and community members on St Paul Island recovered more than 350 carcasses of adult birds in the process of moulting, a vulnerable moment in the bird’s lifecycle when they require plentiful food.

According to the study, by Timothy Jones of the citizen science Coasst programme, at the University of Washington, and Lauren Divine, from the Aleut community of St Paul Island’s ecosystem conservation office, puffins typically made up fewer than 1% of recovered carcasses in the region in previous years. In this die-off, 87% of carcasses were puffins, with the remainder being the crested auklet, another North American seabird.

Increased sea temperatures have reduced food resources for puffins in the southern Bering Sea, as some marine species shift further north.

Puffins spend much of their lives at sea, only returning to land to breed each spring. Similar reductions in food supplies close to traditional breeding grounds are also pushing Atlantic puffins further north. It is predicted Atlantic puffins are unlikely to be seen south of the northernmost islands of Scotland by the second half of this century.

A seabird wreck along the Atlantic coasts of Britain, Ireland and Spain after the storms of 2013-14 resulted in the deaths of at least 54,000 birds, of which 55% were Atlantic puffins. The long-term impact of such events is not well understood but fewer than 60% of 2013’s breeding adults returned to the small Welsh island of Skomer the following year.

#Tufted Puffin #Fratercula cirrhata #Fratercula #Fraterculini #Fraterculinae #Alcidae #Lari #Charadriiformes #Aves #birds #puffin #seabirds #climate change #Bering Sea #Alaska

[foundouthatdabiistouyatodoroki]

Who is Ujiko-san?

We only got a glimpse of them mentioned by Dabi but the question is who is Ujiko san? who might they really be? I am going into detail what their identity could be, and down below this post is all theory and speculation to what Ujiko could be as well.

Ujiko is an alias. They could be the one with the same warping quirk, used to warp the league of villains away from Kamino and helped Dabi escape in the pro hero arc

said to have the same smell from back in Kamino.

Noted she joined after Dabi joined the league of villains. Thing to note Dabi who is rude with other people addressed her as “-san”.

Ujiko must be much more older than Dabi but is Ujiko someone Dabi knows? If so than whom?

Let’s go over her name in Japanese kanji.

The kanji of Ujiko “氏子” together can be translated as “shrine parishioner,” or “visitor to parishioner of a shinto shrine.” Uji comes from ‘ujigami,’ a small time local deity.

Uji “氏” in ujiko in the kanji refers to “clan and family”, “surname,person with a surname or Mr.” historical; “nee, born as and maiden name” “a family, a clan, Mr., Mrs.” “Certain person.” “family”, “birth lineage”.

The meaning is for married woman to use their former surnames, sometimes adopting the husband’s surname. It follows the maiden name.

Ko “子”, means “child” in Japanese. Its’ commonly used in the names for girls in Japan--for example Himiko and Ochaco have “ko” in their names. “Ko” is used for females which is why we all assumed Ujiko is female.

History:

In ancient Japanese history there is a common custom known in Japan which is ancestor worship. The Japanese people could only worship spirits of their deceased family members and propitiating its own dead family members. This begun in three central stages, with first exiting the establishment of a civilization with no national ruler to keep in place. Secondly, the society is ruled by the patriarchal family members with the elders and the war chiefs for lords. Spirits of family and ancestors are worshipped and recognized no other form of worship as the patriarchal family became grouped into other tribal clans, then began the custom of tribal sacrifice to the spirits of the clan rulers, becoming a family cult. Last but not least, the third, with the clans under one supreme head, national rulers developed the custom of spirit worship of which became the obligatory religion of the country still existing together. Ujiko are a group from the land dedicated in the belief and worship of one shrine of a kami because the shrines kami called ujigami, the corresponding term is used for Ujiko. The clan kami in ancient Japanese society were ancestral kami that the Ujiko worshiped.

Let’s go over what Ujiko means down here:

Ujiko:

A Shinto follower is called a parishioner of a particular Shinto shrine or an ujiko. It's actually referring to someone who worships Ujigami.  Ujigami are worshiped by individuals under the same clan with the same name; a shrine kami with the corresponding term ujiko is used its the worship of ancestral spirits. Uji (clan or family) the head in charge of worshiping clans . the harvest ceremony in autumn and good harvest spring prayers hold a ceremony honoring the ujigami. If a child is born in Japan, a Shinto shrine add the child's name to a list kept at the shrine, declaring him or her a family child or Ujiko. After an Ujiko becomes a family spirit known as a Ujigami, the babies are taken to a ujigami and placed under their protection, whose name is supposed to be recorded. It is said that every Japanese boy short time after his birth taken to some temple placed under protection of its god that becomes its protecting divinity. Ujiko are people who established a bond with a deity that provides protection in return refers to them who developed a close relationship with the deity they believed in, an unconditional love that shares someone’s sorrows and comforts when they’re hurt. Ujiko is a patron of a shrine living in parish boundaries its a term referred for any member of a clan ujiko a term to refer to anyone who was born and lived in the area under the tutelage of the deity Ujiko a group from the land surrounding areas dictated to belief in the worship of one shrine or the constituents of that group because relationship between shrine and worship and believer groups are focused on ujiko (clan member) and the worship of the family guardian kami from this ujiko are called family sons or parishes for their worship of the kami.

Ujigami:

Ujigami is a god or spirit in Shinto religion. The ujigami is a ancestral kami their a small clan kami that come from a family and worshiped. Ujigami was used to describe all sorts of gods but its a term referred to family ujigami is a guardian deity its prayed for reason such as protection against sickness success in endeavors and good harvest. Ujigami is a clan or family god surrounding by worshipped or villagers. Other types of shinto is centered around roadside images agricultural rites of rural families. The Ujigami or ancestor worship is a spirit close to that blood kinship of a tutelary deity of an area like a village.

Whew, alright now that I’m done explaining what Ujiko means. Let’s go over what their identity could be.

I said before why they could be a man in the facts list above, but the reason why they are most likely a woman is the kanji in the name.

One thing is for sure Ujiko is someone Dabi knows. But who? He addressed her as “san”. San doesn’t just show respect to one’s superior but the casual way he speaks while he says -san indicates they are  someone Dabi is close too.

Also, they can’t be taking orders from AFO. AFO is not giving orders to anyone he’s restrained in Tartarus, because he’s in Tartarus he can’t move or do anything.

Could it be someone that AFO gave a second quirk to? It might be a bit of a stretch but was an example of someone having two quirks and looking completely fine doesn't seem to far fetched. If a person has multiple quirks there mind would break down like those nomu I haven’t seen anyone having these sort of problems when they had a second quirk. The two quirks they are given by AFO would be used to throw off detection. This might have a lot to do with AFO  since he’s like a death god residing in Tartarus but it has something to do with Dabi as I will explain down below.

Ujiko is called a shrine parishioner but Ujiko is someone called that because they worship Ujigami which is a family god.

Ujiko’s real identity is based on the two choices: the housekeeper in Shoto’s flashback, or Rei’s mother. Why would they be possible choices? because they might know about Endeavor’s abuse. Rei’s mother was on the phone when she snapped:

She knows about the origin of Rei’s breakdown but she didn’t witness Endeavors abuse up and personal that we know of; she was just on the phone her mother only was around the moment Rei snapped on the phone.

My guess it has to be someone close to the house and witnessed the abuse up and personal.  There's another character that made a one time appearance it's this lady.

She looks like a grandmother but she’s really a housekeeper tasked in taking care of the Todoroki siblings instead of Endeavor; my only guess is that she would be the witness of the abuse close up so I can see how it would play out onto to her.

She has with a face full of worry, her hands up going near them like to stop their game. This shot seems to be centered on Touya but it’s centered on the children. As I explained what an Ujiko is up above: Ujiko is someone who established a close and familiar relationship with their kami. This is shown how she has a close relationship with the siblings acting as their legal guardian and parental figure.

The part with “child placed under their protection” “baby taken to Ujigami placed under their protection the god becomes its protecting divinity after a child is born is in the shinto shrine the child's name is added declared a family child” notes Touya’s possible whereabouts of his disappearance. Touy’a fate being taken in by her after the “accident”l he came over for protection after the accident and served as his legal guardian. She came over to her for protection is served when they warped Dabi out of harm’s way. Dabs being Touya notes they have a close relation like with family.

The whole sickness and family refers with Touya’s body unsuited for his quirk and Endeavor his father. Protection against sickness refers to Touya’s body of ice unfit for his fire quirk. An ujigami is a family or clan god described as a guardian deity the part protection against sickness refers to how Touya has a quirk that didn’t match his body. The ujiko with the close platonic relationship you feel with family make me think its someone Dabi is close too this reminds me of Dabi’s close relationship with Ujiko being the housekeeper when he was younger. Another thing “success in endeavor” reading about “success in endeavor” remained me of Endeavor the person himself.

What does this half to do with ujigami you might ask? The family kami part reminds me of the Todoroki household and Touya who has a lot to do it since he’s part of the family.

Last is Ujiko’s name the uji refers to “clan and family” much like the Todorokis. it also means “mrs and nee” which again notes her being a woman and acting as a grandmother figure to the family the part “certain person” means that Ujiko is one person.

Uiko and ujigami have a lot to do with family. Ujiko is someone who worships an Ujigami and has a close relation of a bond with them. Ujigami is a family kami that acts as a guardian to the family. Could the housekeeper really be ujiko-san that Dabi mentioned? We have yet to find out we just half to keep waiting.

references down below https://japanshrinestemples.blogspot.com/2013/04/ujiko-local-worshippers.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ujigami https://www.britannica.com/topic/ujigami https://www.britannica.com/topic/hitogami#ref558 https://shinto-realm.tumblr.com/post/62213423355/the-meaning-of-ujiko https://www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp/ijcc/wp/bts/bts_u.html http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=231

#dabi is a todoroki #dabi #my meta #meta #ujiko

[eorzeanharmony]

Tychus

Profile ■ Profession: Rigger, engineer, field medic ■ Race: Pureblood Garlean ■ Guardian: None ��� Nameday: 15th Sun of the 3rd Umbral Moon ■ Birthplace: Garlemald ■ Citizenship: La Noscean ■ Home: Limsa Lominsa ■ Grand Company: Maelstrom ■ Free Company: The Winged Ewer Physical Appearance ■ Age: 19 ■ Gender: Male ■ Hair: Pale blond ■ Eyes: Ice blue ■ Complexion: Lightly tanned ■ Piercings: One small gold ring, left ear ■ Marks or tattoos: Darkens slightly around his eyes to reduce glare. Has a tattoo of a kraken on his left bicep and a small tribal one on his left temple that covers a deep scar. (Hidden under his hair on the back of his neck is a strange and rather complicated linear design of black bars and circles.) ■ Height: 6′6″ ■ Build: Tall and lanky ■ Other: As a pureblood, Tychus possesses the jewel-like third eye of his people, though he takes great pains to hide it. either behind his goggles, data visor or more commonly a gaudy hair ribbon he bought from an Ul’dahn merchant a couple years ago. Unusually, however, it appears pale blue and translucent, looking more like a frosted aquamarine than an iridescent pearl.  He’s also considerably taller than the midlander hyur he otherwise resembles.

Additional Facts ■ Personality: Tychus usually strikes people as being somewhat nervous and shy. He’s extremely intelligent, but also very reluctant to make this fact particularly known, and frequently downplays his skills and capabilities in order to avoid overt attention. Sometimes he feels he has to act the part of a Real Lominsan, but that usually doesn’t last long and is inevitably obvious as being a (bad) facade. ■ Religious Beliefs: Tychus is totally agnostic. Although attempts were made to convert him to Llymlaen’s faith, and while he does believe the gods are out there, he doesn’t believe they want to have anything to do with him (and still sort of feels like religion’s a bad idea). ■ Alignment: Neutral Good ■ Hobbies: Tychus is a furious and voracious reader. He didn’t have much time for study during his time in the Maelstrom (and honestly was being kept away from most of the fields he’s interested in) but now that he’s outside their reach he can’t be stopped. He also greatly enjoys fishing. ■ Favorite Color: Sea blue About: Limsa Lominsa has always made a habitual practice of preying on Imperial ships... and generally speaking, the prizes they bring back are comprised of supplies, ships, and the occasional magitek trove. Once, however, the prize included a child.  Tychus’ father, an Imperial supply officer and captain, had grown used to the uneventful route to Castrum Occidens, and thought it ideal to take his young son of scare four years with him to get him used to his future course in life. It was against protocols, of course, but in his mind, well worth it and possessed of no real danger. Unfortunately... he was wrong. It was that voyage that resulted in a privateer fleet overwhelming the well-stocked supply flotilla, looting its cargo and slaughtering its crew to a man.  Well, almost. When the Lominsan pirates breached the door to the captains quarters, they not only found a modest amount of loot, they also uncovered a terrified four year old boy, cowering beneath the captain’s desk. Thankfully for Tychus’ future, the Silver Wake were unwilling to have a child’s blood on their hands, and simply decided to loot the boy along with the contents of the ship. He was brought back to Limsa Lominsa as part of the spoils, and more or less adopted by the Wake.

That’s not to say his life has been easy. While he was granted the kindness of survival, he’s spent his young life working three times as hard and receiving considerably less recognition than a native Lominsan boy would have seen. He’s become extremely wary (verging on terrified) to let anyone know what he is, to the point where people first meeting him often think he’s kind of neurotic and weirdly shy.  

Recently, thanks to the encouragement and support of his newly-acquired Free Company, Tychus has set out to learn as much as he can from the Garlond Ironworks, having finally concluded that it's beyond time for him to make a proper place for himself in the world beyond what little he'd been allowed as a child.

Rumors/RP hooks Tychus loves to visit bars in random corners of Eorzea. He usually tries to act like a Lominsan sailor on shore leave, but his unwillingness to start any bar fights usually puts the lie to that particular facade. Still, he really enjoys meeting new people, even if he’s kind of socially inept. Tavern regulars may remember running across him in passing.

Ty is an established member of the Maelstrom, albeit of very low rank. Up until recently he was too young to be sent on combat missions, and at this point seems to have been assigned away from the main Company as liason to a charity group. Some Maelstrom officials may know of his origins.

Tychus is a trained alchemist and field medic. He’s always trying to research new formulas for the former, and new techniques for the latter, though his unwillingness to pursue anything resembling aetheric healing paths may strike others as very strange. (Obviously it’s because he can’t utilize aether at all, but few know this.)

Ty's compulsion to learn about magitek (regardless of origin) has blossomed into what’s nearly become an obsession. Curious, inventive, and terrifyingly bright, he will very likely attach himself to anyone he perceives as having new and helpful insights. He also likes to talk about his theories... even though to most people he's probably rambling in gibberish.

#Tychus Silverwake #RP Profile #Mateus #FFXIV #FFXIV Roleplay