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galaxgay · 6 months

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In this post about Aziraphale reveling in Crowley's trust, @ravenofazarath2 got me thinking about why Crowley is actually so different from all the other angels and demons. It's definitely something that has stuck out to me especially since S2 but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

(Apologies, this meta is gonna be unnecessarily long and also might be missing information because I need to rewatch S1 and haven't read the book yet. Also, this meta is just for fun so take it with a grain of silly salt 💕)

@ravenofazarath2 mentioned that maybe Crowley isn't brainwashed like Aziraphale (and all the other ethereal beings) because he bit the apple- The apple that contains the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And I am now going insane because wait a second-

When we see him in Eden he says this line, speculating on why it's so wrong to have the knowledge of good and evil. It's such an... interesting thing to say- especially for an ethereal.

Sure, he could very much be talking about Adam and Eve choosing to eat the apple and being kicked from Eden for it (Landlords and their obnoxious rules🙄), but for fun, I'd like to play with another idea.

To be a bit more philosophical, I want to preface this theory by saying "knowing the difference between good and evil" means understanding its many complexities. It means knowing there are times where good deeds are poisoned with malice or even have evil unintended consequences and evil deeds can be justified by means outside of one's control and have good consequences- and what is good for one person, may be evil for another.

Angels and demons do not have this "knowledge". They have their strict rules and codes that they follow almost compulsively and are all collectively in on this bit. Good and Evil are almost always about immediate action and never factor in consequences. They recognize good and evil based on their respective sides. Nothing more, nothing less.

Additionally, the phrasing of that line is interesting to me. It kind of sounds like "as someone who has bit the apple, gained that knowledge and can now see the difference between good and evil, (and perhaps fell/was punished for it himself) I don't get what's so wrong with that knowledge."

The reason I don't think this is too much of a reach is because sure, halo-hugging angels who are still apart of the "cult" are going to be brainwashed, but what's so strange to me is that demons, who are fallen angels and have supposedly seen both sides themselves, don't seem to share Crowley's sentiment. Not a single one. They seem almost as brainwashed as the angels are. Is that not bizarre? Not to be a nerd but statistically speaking, at least one other demon should be able to agree, right? Why is it only Crowley?

Because it's not about seeing both sides, it's about understanding both sides. Something you can only do, if you take a bite.

(Sure, one could say the demon's quest to ruin humanity could be an act of rebellion and revenge but again, why is it all of them? I feel like at least a few of them would in one way or another agree with Crowley, even the littlest bit and they don't.)

In S1, we get this beautifully dramatic frame where Crowley says "I only ever asked questions". Which of course, is a line that everyone has been scrambling back to after seeing angel Crowley in S2. Which makes me think of this ask that Neil Gaiman answered:

Crowley's implication of not deserving to fall and Neil Gaiman saying that Crowley isn't a reliable narrator when it comes to his fall are certainly opposing views but why can't they both be correct? (we're exercising DBT today for fun)

If we know anything about Good Omens, it's that the entire theme of the story hinges on perspective. How the same instance can be viewed dramatically different depending on who is watching and where their morals are aligned. For both of these things to be true, Crowley would probably see his fall as a punishment for having simple curiosity. To Neil Gaiman, a much more neutral, outside observer, Crowley's fall wouldn't have been such a random, out of place happening. Which leads me to wonder what the Great War was even about. (I'm assuming the Great War happened before Eden-)

Perhaps it was about asking questions and making suggestions.

It seems kind of silly to say but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. If the Great War is what caused many of the angels to fall, it would make sense that the center of that war would be a lack of faith. And the thing about faith is a lot of the time there's this idea that you should hang your questions aside and choose to believe- questions can oftentimes be seen as a threat or a lack of faith. Even more so are suggestions. I believe Aziraphale's reaction to Crowley's questions and suggestions in S2E1 are a perfect example of this being just the case.

I can imagine Crowley, and many of the higher ranking angels such as Lucifer and Beelzebub finding each other to all have the same questions and suggestions and doubts about the future of the universe. Having the rank they had, I could see them planning to go to God to ask questions- they, at this point, have no reason to believe anything should happen to them should they ask questions.

With them having those questions, I could also see there being a rift between the Angels who wished to ask questions, and those who strongly opposed it. And as they debated it, it snowballed out of control turning into a full-on war.

(Small note: sure maybe they became demons before the war actually officially starts but I still think this theory could hold pretty strongly.)

Crowley was on the side of asking questions and making suggestions. They did in fact fight with the other angels who ended up falling. Her questions and suggestions were viewed as a lack of faith. If you view faith as being able to hang up your questions and doubts, it actually was a lack of faith. To Neil Gaiman and katiebird2000's point, Crowley's fall was in fact just the consequences of his actions. To say "all I ever did was ask questions" is to negate all of the other things Crowley did.

(I'd also like to throw out there that faith in this circumstance is faith in God, not faith in doing good which I think explains a large portion of Crowley's morality throughout the story because God and good are not synonymous. Crowley believes in doing the right thing but does not believe God is the one to do it.)

And so Crowley fell. To his point of view, he fell for simply having questions. So when Crowley heard about the Tree of Knowledge, she had to go. When they heard the word "Knowledge" they probably thought taking a bite would answer their questions- provide her with the thing she was denied in Heaven. It was also the perfect first act of rebellion- to indulge in something he was not meant to indulge in.

But when he took a bite, something completely different happened. The wool over her eyes had been peeled back and suddenly the universe became so much more complicated. Perhaps tempting Eve to eat the apple was originally about temptation but then became an act of setting them free- to give them the right to choose just like the apple did for Crowley.

And everything from there on is history.

I think that's why Crowley not only loves humanity but also why Crowley himself is so human: that is the one thing he shares with humanity- the knowledge and understanding that good and evil are not mutually exclusive. Knowing that good and evil are tied by a red string of fate, destined to dance circles around one another eternally.

#thank you so much if you read that whole thing #i have a tendency to ramble sorry 😭#I'm gonna make another meta to piggy back off this one #about aziraphale because the way he factors into all of this is interesting to me #this theory also sheds a lot of light onto whats in store for the future so sit tight!#good omens #crowley #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #aziraphale #good omens 2 #ineffable idiots

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good-beanswrites · 5 months

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THE SEQUENCE OF ALL THE CHARACTERS SHARING INFORMATION IS SO FUN!!!!!!! esp the spotlight on hinako I love her a lot I’m glad she’s getting attention 🫶🫶 i feel like hinako didn’t want kids but would still fight to death to keep them safe ESP SINCE SHE’S A COP/INVESTIGATOR TOO i hope we learn more about her in t3…..

OUGH Hinako deserves so much attention!! I makes me crazy that we simultaneously know nothing important about her, and also she's the minor character/victim we know the most about: she has a full appearance, several outfits, we see her doing domestic tasks, we know her career and see her working, and we know her full name. (I also find it really juicy to have these two cop/investigator character in a murder "mystery" series that are completely detached from their usual role; it was fun to give that back to them in the au.) It's so interesting because originally I thought she was the one to want kids and Kazui held her back, but with recent info it definitely seems like he wanted a family more than her... And you're right -- that doesn't stop her from kicking anyone's ass who stands between her and protecting these kids 😤😤😤

And ah thanks!!! It was so fun trying to map out potential investigation methods >:3 The group is very limited because they're basically in prison (even if they're going free at the end). But at the same time, there's ten sets of skills and connections and knowledge which definitely helps. Plus, ten bodies in general is helpful -- you can have a lot of distractions and actions going on at once with so many people... I was so focused on thinking who could go in and out of the facility, but I wanted to add that Muu's parents help a lot too! They can't do much information-wise, but with their money they can pull some strings on the outside.

#milgram #hinako mukuhara #lights camera sing your sins #thank you so much for the ask!!#milgram better give us more info on the victims t3!!!! im going crazy 😭#i love that we have the fullest picture of hinako #funny how out of all the characters the liar is the one to tell us the most about his victim...#and at the same time its impossible to guess on her personality and everything #i want to knowwwwww #i wonder if protect-the-weak law-school-student kotoko would hate or love hinako #i think shed make a nice role model for her ;-;#that answer about amane joining kazuis family completely surprised me but i really love it #and aw yeah its so fun thinking of a jailbreak in the au!! theyd be a terrifying team and i love that for them >:D #ive never planned out any kind of crime/jailbreak/convoluted plan before so if anyone has any ideas feel free to pitch in 😅#ask

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hadesknockedupintheunderworld · 5 months

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Okay, so I went looking for the Sonic 2 game manual last night for...reasons, and I decided I needed to share this page

So as I've said before, it's not as if I've consumed even half of the Sonic media out there. So my idea of the origins of Sonic and Tails I gathered through a tiny bit of Osmosis, tidbits from different tv shows (namely Sonic's depiction of how he met Tails in Sonic prime), and different origin stories via tv shows and comics. This is all to say that I was more than a bit uneducated, so I was under the impression for a while that Sonic saves Tails from the bullies who pick on him, and then he decides to take him with him (and so begins Sonic 2)

But given what a friend of mine described as implications that Sonic 1 (the game) is not the first time Sonic and Eggman have fought in addition to this page, my friend pointed out that this page from the manual may imply that Sonic and Tails were crafted originally as childhood friends. And that both blew my mind (!) and caused a couple puzzle pieces to click into place in my brain.

Despite Sega getting rid of the canon character ages, we at least know from the past that Sega/Sonic Team has had no problem depicting younger (and often very young) characters as fighters in battles against Robotnik or other villains (and this isn't even to mention this in various comic or tv show continuities). Back then (at least with just this game manual as context), there is not only a non zero chance that Sonic has been fending off danger (and potentially even Robotnik) since he was very young, but also the implication that he and Tails have known each other the longest. Since there are no ages mentioned at this point (for the record, I have no access to magazines or reporting on the game at the time of release, so you can take this with a grain of salt), to me it's possible to interpret Sonic and Tails originally being only a couple to a few years apart in age. To me it's possible to interpret their backstory as this:

Before Sonic would fight Robotnik and come to be known as a hero, he'd fight off these bullies picking on this little fox kit. The fox kit himself, known to the animals as "Tails" came to regard the hedgehog as his hero, so he came to follow Sonic around and try to catch up with him. Eventually, Sonic would officially begin to travel with Tails and look out for him, but he had a tendency to leave Tails behind when going on adventures focused on fighting off villains such as Robotnik, who would threaten the natural land and its inhabitants. But the young fox, determined to be like his hero (the young hedgehog) and to not be left behind (both when it came to fighting and because Sonic tended to get a laugh out of speeding ahead while Tails struggled to catch up), would practice flying until he could keep up and learn how to fight (partly by trying to use his Tails to his advantage, and partly by watching Sonic).

And to me, this sets up an interesting dynamic with them. Sonic is a bit of a jerk, but he ultimately cares about Tails' well-being. Tails deals with his hero acting like a bit of a jerk and leaving him behind by trying so hard to be able to join/catch up with him (and later be able to stand on his own too). This also sets them up as younger, likely orphaned, children who travel together and take care of each other. With all of this in mind too, it also makes more sense to me as to why the original Sonic Movie (currently known as "the ova") depicted Sonic and Tails having their own personal home base they live at together.

And this is more of a side thing, but after reading that excerpt from the manual my friend and I just couldn't help but think about Sora and Riku (Kingdom Hearts). While I have for a while found my brain drawing many lines/parallels between these pairs (although compiling all of these would be an essay for another time), this excerpt sort of set it in stone for me. I'll explain under the cut.

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So, in case you're not a Kingdom Hearts fan or entrenched in the part of Soriku fandom doing deep dive analysis and theory making and making fan translations, I'll set up Sora and Riku for a moment.

Sora and Riku are two young boys who live on Destiny Islands. They've known each other since they were very young, and, although they had other friends, the two have always considered each other best friends. They also often went out to a small island (dubbed "the play island") to play together, where they had a "secret place" to play. This "secret place" was a place where the two played together and was to be a secret between only the two of them. The two would play and dream of adventure, and Riku would dream of leaving the islands one day. At the young age of 5, he was given proof of the existence of other worlds in the form of Terra (a stranger from another world—a keyblade wielder) who would ask him why he wants to see "the outside world".

"To protect the things that matter" is a desire that lasts even until Kingdom Hearts 3 (11 years later), and (as fan translators have found out) takes a progression over time in the original Japanese from "the precious things" to "the precious people" to "precious person" (or person I cherish). The "person I cherish" in question, is highly implied to be Sora. I don't have the space to throw evidence here unfortunately, but there is a good amount (I'd suggest checking blogs such as @/blowingoffsteam2 and looking into the necklace theory and the sleeping realms theory as a start, as these will lead you to other blogs. Or you can dm me I suppose. I have a store of screenshots and kh media to draw from, just know...it's a lot).

Anyhow, with all that in mind, I also offer up an excerpt of Riku's story from the KH character files (this is a fan translation of the Japanese version), which serves to tell us a bit about Riku, he and Sora's relationship, and his perpective of the Dark Margin scene from KH2.

Translation by keijithekit on twitter

After all, when you're a child, a year is a big age difference, so I played the older brother and took Sora around with me everywhere. When did that change?

Other fan translators have also interpreted the original japanese as saying that Riku not only played the "older brother" role, but tried (perhaps not very well) to play this role. This is a short story that gives implications of feelings (and even the roles you take in another's life) changing over time. This is to say that Riku had once tried to play older brother to Sora, protect him and play with him, but over time things...changed.

Sora and Riku, as young children and all the way through to KH2, were best friends and friendly rivals. The two would often race, spar, and start up contests, with Riku winning the most. This is an important part of their relationship—as friends who drive each other to become better through competition. As Sora would fight to catch up to Riku, to beat him just once (which would also start him down a path of proving he doesn't need to fully rely on Riku anymore), Riku would fight back, get stronger and run faster so he could still be better.

Riku in KH1 (like classic Sonic as implied by the earlier excerpt from the Sonic 2 manual) is a bit of a jerk, and he often enjoys proving that he's "better" than Sora (faster and stronger). Sonic values the idea of freedom, and Riku too wants to be free, wants to explore the outside world. And Tails is a bit like Sora, who tries until he can catch up to Riku, until he can beat him just once. When Riku tells Sora in kh1 that he can go home and he (Riku) can handle everything else, Sora proves that he has the fighting prowess to stand on his own feet now and doesn't need to leave it all to Riku. Of course, Tails is a bit like Riku too. He doesn't just want to be able to catch up to Sonic, to stand on his own two feet, he wants the kind of strength Sonic seems to have (to be able to fight on his own, and to be able to protect what he cares about). And likewise, while Sora isn't initially as driven to leave their home as Riku is (as he both wants to see the outside world with him and likes his home), he also comes to value the idea of freedom, of living your own life.

And this is all to say that the parallels aren't one to one for me (especially as I believe Sonic and Tails can each parallel both Sora and Riku), but I see them regardless.

Let's return back to the Sonic 2 manual and that excerpt from Riku's story in the character files and compare the the two possible interpretations of these different backstories.

"Two childhood best friends grew up together. The older one often took care of the younger one, and the elder would try to play the older brother role to the younger as they took the younger everywhere with them. Likewise, the younger idolized the older one. The two would often compete, which would drive each of them to become better as the older would try to stay on top and the younger would keep trying to catch up and win even once. One of them desires strength to protect the things that matter (such as their best friend). The other desires to be as strong and fast as the other, fighting to be able to rival them competitively. While the older would spend time protecting the other, the younger one day is able to prove that they can stand on their own, no longer needing the older as they once did, not allowing the older to make them stay behind."

"Once, a very young kid was saved by one just older. The younger started to idolize and admire the other as their hero and began to follow the older around. Eventually, the older would begin to take care of the younger, but the older would often show off their own speed and strength and leave the younger behind. The younger, determined to be able to catch up, to be able to stand with the older, flies and trains until they can (and desires too to be able to stand alone, to have the kind of strength the older possesses, to not need the older). As the two grow older, the younger eventually is able to catch up with and fight beside the older (and too develops their own ways to fight). The two, from this point forward stick beside each other as much as they can (to the point that if they aren't adventuring together, they are often in contact)."

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Okay, I've kept you all here long enough. I mostly was hoping I could shed a bit of light as to why this excerpt from the Sonic 2 manual reminds me so much of Soriku. Food for thought, right?

#Sontails #Soriku #Sonic the Hedgehog 2 #sonic the hedgehog #tails the fox #miles tails prower #Kingdom Hearts #parallels #essay time #i just be ramblin #The 'reasons' in this case were mostly me wondering why Sontails isn't that big of a ship (especially considering people's tendencies to #ship the two male best friend characters who fight together and especially because Tails was Sonic's first friend to be introduced)#and why the fandom has been so set on the 'they must and always will be practically blood related siblings or you're wrong' interpretation #So I looked up the Sonic 2 game manual to see if it would shed some light on what I was wondering #And what I found just gave my friend and I brainrot #(also consider that a piece of media or it's creator labeling two unrelated main characters as sibling like has never stopped people from #shipping them anyways or interpreting it as a coverup for queerness or as writers queercoding in a way that circumvents censorship)#If you liked this post at all you can thank my friend #1. For starting this discussion after I showed them the excerpt from the game manual #and 2. for saying 'oh yeah you could post about that conversation we had if you want'#Also side thing that didn't really fit in the post. If Tails was saved by Sonic and became a hero to him before Tails decided to follow him #around‚ does that not parallel Amy's story of being saved by Sonic‚ who would become her hero‚ and following him around after that?#More food for thought. Even the Archie Sonic depiction of Sonic CD (issue 25 of mainline) had Sonic racing Metal Sonic to save both Tails #and Amy‚ who both touted the 'my hero' line and were glad Sonic would come to save them #In terms of the interpretation I drew using only what I know from Sonic Prime and that game manual for context‚ I actually quite like the #idea that Sonic and Tails grew up together‚ with Tails having quite a bit of admiration and an unrealized puppy crush‚ and with Sonic #initially trying to play the role of older brother. And I like the idea that when they get older that relationship evolves until the nature #of it is unclear‚ where the only certainty they have is that they aren't like blood related siblings and that they just want to be together #forever (you know a 'is this platonic or romantic or what? who knows' kind of deal.)#unbreakable bond

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star-felled · 1 year

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get a load of THIS guy

aka future allister concept doodles :)

#in which he sheds the anxiety but in turn is nearly always in a state of mania . thanks ghosts #practicing the lighting was fun #id add more witty commentary but its nearly 6 am #pokemon allister #pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield #gym leader allister #pkmn swsh #swsh #my doodles #ok. ok is that it

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dicktat · 1 year

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Hiiiiiii mutuals I will be hosting the official “Dying Light Tumblr Fruityman” poll on 2/10 National Cream Cheese Day with two polls going simultaneously till we get our final fruity contest on Valentine’s Day with the ultimate gayboy.

Schedule

2/1O National Cream Cheese Day:

Round 1 Rais VS Waltz

Round 2 Aiden VS Crane

2/11 White T Shirt Day:

Round 1 Hakon VS Rahim

Round 2 Karim VS Juan

2/12 International Flirting Day: Semi Finals

2/13 Kiss Day: Finals

2/14 Results + Fanart

Vote your gays!!!

#dying light #dying light 2 #aiden caldwell #dying light hakon #kyle crane #kadir rais suleiman #juan rainer #dying light waltz #dying light karim #dying light rais #dying light rahim #please vote for this I wanna see blood shed thank you lovely fandom mutuals we can make this great

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technofinch · 4 months

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hiiiiii could i see multiples of 3 for mulligan? that guy is Intriguing 2 me :)

ok there are a Lot of questions here so i'm gonna do my best to keep them short & sweet!

3. Did they have a good childhood? What are fond memories they have of it? What’s a bad memory?

his childhood kinda sucked! grew up quite poor on a shitty planet, his mom always wanted more kids but never got them, his dad was kind of a hardass and worked in a mine like 17 hours a day. he started drinking in his early teens to cope with... all that, so he doesn't have a ton of memories either way lmao.

6. What were they like at school? Did they enjoy it? Did they finish? What level of higher education did they reach? What subjects did they enjoy? Which did they hate?

he did surprisingly well in school, especially in the more technical classes/math/history. not well enough to get actual scholarships or anything, so he ended up enlisting in the marines to get a higher education, which is where he learned that the marines Fucking Suck!

9. Do animals like them? Do they get on well with animals?

im gonna be real with you homeboy has seen like 2 animals in his life and one of them is a dog that is his mortal enemy (Mr Cuddles) and one is a mostly-cat that he rarely sees so. i'd say he's Pretty Bad With Animals

12. What is their favorite food?

will never admit it but it's children's breakfast cereals. the ones that are like 90% sugar

15. Are they good at cooking? Do they enjoy it? What do others think of their cooking?

he's good at a very specific type of cooking, which is to say, making meals out of the kind of ingredients you have for a long-term deep space voyage. he loves it, but wouldn't know what to do with an Actual Kitchen and exotic things like Fresh Vegetables. the others aren't particularly impressed by it, but they indulge him - it's an important ritual for him and it makes him feel useful :3

18. What’s their favorite genre of: books, music, tv shows, films, video games and anything else

hmmm... mulligan doesn't experience a lot of Media, when he does it's usually just catching up on sports to have something to talk about with the other Guys™ at the loading docks. iirc he has canonically played team fortress 2 tho

21. Do they have a temper? Are they patient? What are they like when they do lose their temper?

he very much has a temper, i would never describe him as "patient" but his anger can be overridden by fear, especially in confrontations with his superiors. he mostly just yells at people and gets it out of his system, if it's something big he'll carry a grudge and continue to make snippy comments until someone calls him on it

24. What is their sleeping pattern like? Do they snore? What do they like to sleep on? A soft or hard mattress?

his sleeping pattern is "not unless absolutely necessary," excluding cryosleep he gets about half the sleep a regular human needs :/ preferred sleeping situation is a hammock, but he's most familiar with thin awful mattresses

27. What makes them sad? Do they cry regularly? Do they cry openly or hide it? What are they like they are sad?

mulligan is way more likely to be angry/resigned/scared than Sad, and i don't think he's cried in a long time. in that situation he would probably flee and hole up like a wounded animal waiting to die until he could successfully bottle the emotion back up

30. Do they exercise? Regularly? Or only when forced? What do they act like pre-work out and post-work out?

he pretty much has to be forced to keep up with his mandatory exercises, luckily the ship's doctor is (was :( ) very good at her job and kept him on track despite his bitching. he does get notably happier post-workout, but if you point this out to him he'll say it's bc it's over lmao

question 33 intentionally omitted <3

36. What are they good at? What hobbies do they like? Can they sing?

he's good at drawing, especially still lifes, but he doesn't do it much or think of it as a hobby. he also plays harmonica, which he is bad at, and does consider a hobby. he can sing, but the only songs he really knows are ones he learned from his mother, so he doesn't

39. Do they like letters? Or prefer emails/messaging?

call the man. he wants to hear your voice. hand-written letters are basically non-existent in the setting, but he rarely checks his email/texts. just call him. leave a voicemail if you must.

42. What are their goals? What would they sacrifice anything for? What is their secret ambition?

number one goal is to Survive Another Day, subgoal Don't Kill Anyone. he's not a very ambitious person, like, at all. he would however sacrifice anything to keep his crew safe. he feels a Lot of responsibility towards them, even though he knows most of them are more competent than he is lmao. his secret ambition is to overthrow capitalism and start a commune, however, he also thinks this is stupid.

45. How do other people see them? Is it similar to how they see themselves?

in my mind, other people see mulligan as kind of an uncomfortably intelligent dog. just smart enough to get into trouble but will pretty much do what you ask him to do. deficiency of critical thinking and ambition. multiple npcs offered to help him fake his death and quit his job and he did not understand Why they all wanted him to do that.

48. Do they enjoy any parties? If so what kind? Do they organize the party or just turn up? How do they act? What if they didn’t want to go but were dragged along by a friend?

in the academy he enjoyed parties for the booze, mostly showing up to one he wasn't invited to, but after he stopped drinking he pretty much stopped going to parties, and after graduating he really stopped being in groups of more than, like, 10 people who all live together anyway. he does occasionally organize the mandatory crew bonding nights, where he gets everyone together to play dumb party games like never-have-i-ever and watch their vhs cops of home alone 2: lost in new york

#whoo! thank you for the questions! hopefully this sheds some light on my mysterious man 😅#mulligan

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tricitymonsters · 1 year

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Ahhh I don't want to be rude and if Amir identifies as a famine entity feel free to ignore this, but if they mainly identify as a masculine entity (as I assume since I rarely get on Tumblr! Sorry of it's wrong! Demon genitalia is not my strongest suit 😭) Then their designation would be incubus instead of succubus.

Anyway, I've backed the Kickstarter and everyone should too, and don't read my msg if I'm making a buffoon out of myself YIKES

(They can identify as whatever they want I'm just being nerdy I love all of the stinky demons I will give my left nut for them <3)

I also just realized I wrote "famine entity" instead of feminine, but. We thirsty for 'em so we're keeping it unedited.

LMFAO no worries! I actually get asked this a lot so I totally don't mind answering- someone else is probably wondering why he's a succubus too!

The short answer is: the contextual succubus vibes and the image it conjures up just suits him better.

The in narrative answer is: Amir is technically a kind of qarinah, another night time bed-sharing demon that is pretty similar to a bog-standard succubus. In the world of TCM, however, when you get turned into a demon, there's no one to explain what you are. Succubus is the word Amir chooses to describe himself basically as a vibes thing. Similarly, Mori could just as easily call himself a werecat but instead uses bakeneko as a nod to monster stories he heard as a kid.

The longer nerd answer is: So neither word was used in English until the late 14th century but the latin roots show some critical differences between them. The word Succubus is two separate Latin words, succuba, meaning lover, and sub (under) + cubare (to lie) whose differentiation blurred over time and became the single word we know today. The word incubus has more muddled origins and loses its succuba/lover context to simply be in (on) + cubare (to lie) which is also the exact same etymological path the word incubate comes from and I don't really love that associated with his super sexual nature just as kind of a personal thing.

Another complication is that a few noted scholars of myth make the case that Incubi are strictly heterosexual and taking male victims is detrimental to them in some way and while this isn't a tremendously popular cultural paradigm these days, it just made the word harder to fit the vibe I wanted. In the sort of collective modern mind, there's also the hazy conception that Succubi are more prone to creating thralls with their powers and Incubi seek to make more demons by impregnating their victims.

These two reasons are a big part of what I felt "mismarketed" Amir and I didn't want to fight against deeply ingrained preconceptions by trying to trim up more subtle nuance to a word everyone is familiar with. So as a designer and contemplating all of these angles, I felt it was important to distance Amir from some of the expectation we have about either side of the horny night demon coin. And since he fits the succubus vibe much more closely than the incubus, I decided to go with that wording instead.

#I hope that sheds some light on the succubus mystery!#thank you for asking!#amir

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