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inkskinned · 7 months

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the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.

three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.

two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.

their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.

one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.

i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.

i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.

and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?

you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.

a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.

someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.

#writeblr #warm up #this is longer than i wanted i really considered removing that part about myself and what i went thru #but i think it really fucking bothers me that EVERY time i talk about being an artist #ppl assume i just like. had the skill and ability to drop everything and pay for grad school.#like sir i grew up poor. my house wasn't a safe space. i gave up a FREE RIDE TO LAW SCHOOL. for THIS. bc i chose it.#was it fucking hard? was i choosing the hard thing?? yes.#but we need to stop seeing artists as lazy layabouts that can ''afford'' to just ''sit around and create''#when MANY - if not MOST - of us are NOT like that. we have to work our fucking ASSES off. hard work. long and hard work #part of valuing artists is recognizing the amount we sacrifice to make our art. bc it doesn't just #like HAPPEN to us. also btw it rarely has anything to do with true talent.#speaking as someone with a chronic condition i hate when ppl are like u have it easy. like actively as i'm writing this my hands r #ACTIVELY hurting me. i haven't been posting bc my left hand was curled in a claw for the last week #this isn't fucking luck. after a certain point it's not even TALENT. it's dedication & sacrifice.#''u get to flounce around and do nothing with ur life'' is a narrative that is a direct result of capitalism #imagine if we said that about literally any other profession.#''oh so u give up 10 yrs of ur life to be a doctor? u sacrifice having a social life and u get SUPER in debt?#u need to work countless hours and it will often be thankless? well i wish i was that lucky''#we should be applying that logic to landlords ONLY #''oh ur mom and dad gave u the money to buy a house? and all u did was paint it white and rent it? huh.''

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howtofightwrite · 2 years

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Hi, I'm not the person that asked about naming weapons. But the question got me thinking: how did weapons like Excalibur and Mjölnir get their name? If they're named like "people" would, if I'm understanding it right, then do those names have a meaning? Were those names ever a human name or are they derived from something? Is it like naming someone Rose, which derives from flowers, I guess? And could someone choose any name or does it need to be a specific name...like...an extreme example: instead of wanting to name the sword Excalibur, what if they just named it Peter because whoever named it liked that name better? Hope this all makes sense! 😖

Both of those names have meanings. Most names given to weapons have some kind of meaning, and you've picked two names that have been kicking around for over a thousand years, so the, “modern,” pronunciations are a bit off.

Mjolnir is either named, “lightning,” or, “crush.” It's just not named in English. (It's also not completely clear which translation is correct, and I wouldn't rule out the distant possibility that the name Mjolnir is, in fact, a millennia old pun.)

Excalibur is a bit of a trip, and somewhat better documented. The, “ex,” part came from the French translating Geoffrey of Monmouth. Geoffrey had already mutilated the sword's name when he translated it into Latin as Caliburnus (which, you'll sometimes see a sword named Caliburn. It's Excalibur, and if they sound a little different, you can thank a twelfth century British cleric.) Except, the sword wasn't originally named Caliburn, it's original name was Caledfwlch (which the spellchecker is extremely unhappy with.) Caledfwlch is Welsh. Caled translates to, “hard,” while, fwlch translates to, “cleft.” (As in, to cut or cleave.) So, through extensive linguistic mutilation, Excalibur was originally named something to the effect of, “hard cut.” If you're wondering why Excalibur originally had a Welsh name, it's because Arthur was originally a Welsh legend. (There's a few other names drawn from the same source, and these all, at least in theory, refer to the same sword, including Kalesvolg, and Kaledvoulc'h. There's also a bunch of variations in the French spelling of Escalibor, which do pop up as different swords from time to time.) One odd exception is Caladbolg, from Irish myth, which also translates to, “hard cleft,” but might actually be a distinct legend.

So, over a thousand years ago, some guy, who probably, but might not have existed, named their sword Hard Cut, which sounded a lot better in their language than ours. Nine hundred years ago, a British cleric decided to translate it into Latin, and may have just made parts of it up as he was going. Then some French monks tried translating that name into French, but, being French monks from the 11thcentury, they maintained a somewhat flexible relation with consistent spelling, and somewhere out of that entire mess, one of those spellings made it back into English as, THE name for the sword.

Also, turns out, some variation of, “hard,” is a very popular choice for naming your sword, as Durendal, the sword of Roland (an officer under Charlemagne, who would later take on mythic status in French epics), also derives from, “hard scythe.” (Again, “hard cut,” is probably a better idiomatic analogue, though there is some debate on the back half of the name, and, “hard strike,” may be more accurate. There's some interesting academic speculation on this one, if you want to dig into these names on your own time.) Also, much like Excalibur, Durendal has a lot of spellings, including Charlemagne referring to the sword as, “Durendana,” intentionally flipping the gender of the blade. Make of that what you will. (Fun trivia: my muscle memory for how to spell the name is not academically correct, and much like all of you who have difficulty typing “Curtana” correctly, I can blame Bungie. Thanks guys.)

So, there's two important takeaways, first, going back to Mjolnir for a second, Norse myth is supposed to be funny. I don't have any academic citations to say, “wait, this might be a pun,” I just have my experience going through compilations of Norse myth, and, it would not be out of character for the material. This is something that gets lost from a lot of myth, and also from a lot of fantasy writing.

Case in point, Odin's spear was named, Gungnir, which translates to, “the rocking,” “shaking,” or “swaying.” It referred to the fear that the weapon instilled in its foes. This wasn't a supernatural power of the weapon itself, but rather an indication of how damn scary the spear was supposed to be. It's actual power was unerring accuracy. If thrown, it would always strike its mark.

A lot of these mythical weapons (at least, Gugnir, Mjolnir, and Excalibur) all had supernatural powers associated with them. Their names reflected those powers. Excalibur could cut through anything, which starts to make Caledfwlch a lot less awkwardly poetic, and far more on point. Now, it's quite possible the name came first and the myth built up from there (especially if it was a real item at some point in the distant past), but the name is an expression in of the myth. This is a lot more apparent with the Norse examples, as their names were references to the artifacts' powers.

So, when writing fantasy, it's okay to name your mythical artifacts something slightly witty, or even roll in a subtle pun, if the mythology of your setting supports that attitude. It's also a good idea to consider giving your mythic weapons distinctive supernatural reputations. It doesn't matter if those reputations are entirely real or the result of centuries of mythological embellishment, but there needs to actually be a myth around your mythic artifact. (And part of the reason Norse myth comes up so frequently is that the Aesir collected artifacts like an unusually homicidal D&D party. There are a lot of weird and wacky artifacts in Norse myth, and each one of them has an entire story about where it came from, and what it does.)

-Starke

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#Starke answers #how to fight write #writing advice #writing reference #writing tips #myth #norse mythology #mythic artifacts

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generic-sonic-fan · 2 months

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Fic idea that won't leave my head despite my continued insistence that I'm not going to write it (Bad dad Eggman warning)-

It's a Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games fic. Bowser and Eggman are hanging out, villain solidarity and all that.

Metal Sonic walks in. Eggman precedes to pause his conversation with Bowser to absolutely scream at Metal for coming in third place in the 100m sprint. The whole nine yards. "I built you to be SUPERIOR!" and all that. He then orders Metal back to the training area to practice clear through the night 'til the next morning.

He then turns back to Bowser and says, "you were right! Kids are difficult!"

And from that moment Bowser makes it his mission to adopt Metal Sonic at all costs.

Just one problem- nobody believes him.

The Mario gang insists that it's none of their business. There's a truce between heroes and villains during the games, after all, and Peach isn't interested in pissing off what she sees as Mobian sovereign who's been known to mess with cross-dimensional shenanigans before.

So, to the surprise of everyone, Bowser then goes to Sonic to mention the problem- only for an apathetic Sonic to emphasize that he's already given Metal enough second chances by now and that frankly it's his own fault if Eggman's mean to him. Most of the rest of the Sonic gang seem to agree with this- with the distinct exception of Amy, but even she's hesitant to stir up trouble during the games. She suggests that if Bowser nicely talked to Eggman about all this, maybe Eggman would treat Metal Sonic better!

But of course, Bowser already gave the dress-down of the century to Eggman the very moment after he sent Metal Sonic away. Did Eggman listen? Of course not.

But we all know that Bowser is nothing if but persistent. He also happens to be the resident expert on kidnapping people. . .

Step 1: Bowser got his kids together and asked them to help him befriend Metal. So now Metal's got this menagerie of Koopas suddenly taking an interest in him and he doesn't really know how to deal with it. Other kids? They think he's cool and not a failure? They invite him to hang out and do fun things? But of course, Eggman prohibits "fraternizing with the enemy", but Metal finds ways to get around this order anyway.

Step 2: have the Koopa kids teach Metal a koopa sign language- one of the kids, Lemmy, already uses this sign language because he's nonverbal, so it's not too hard for the rest of the kids plus Bowser himself to sneak in a few lessons behind Eggman's back.

Step 3: once Metal is conversational, Bowser asks Metal if he'd like a new papa who won't scream at him so much.

Step 4: realize in horror as Metal explains that he can't leave- Eggman's programming won't allow him.

Step 5: Bowser asks Amy to ask Tails how to get the subservient programming out of Metal's head. Tails then provides a small USB plug-in that'll give him remote access connection once plugged into Metal's systems so that he can undo the programming.

Step 6: kidnapping time!

Step ???: realize that Metal would actually prefer to be a girl. Bowser's daughters/GNC kids then proceed to dress her up in the blackest, spikiest clothes and accessories they have. Metal adores it.

Step 7: ruin the entire Olympic games setup as Eggman threatens violence against whoever stole his robot.

Step 8: Metal gives her original "dad" the finger as she jumps into the portal back to the Koopa kingdom with her much cooler new family.

Uhhhh skip a few steps in here as the whole Bowser family goes no contact with the rest of either gang for a bit. They don't care that they ruined the Olympic games, not when they got a cool new daughter/sister out of the deal. Eventually the Mario gang comes around and forgives Bowser for ruining the games. They then invite Metal go-karting. All is well.

Step 11: Sonic visits the mushroom kingdom one day and is absolutely appalled to find out that people say to him "ohhhh you're like the flesh version of Princess Metal from the Koopa kingdom!"

#random bullshit go!#mario and sonic at the olympic games #sth #metal sonic #bowser #add this to the pile of crossovers I'll never actually write #this was inspired by the fact that both Bowser and Metal love wearing black bands with spikes

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mega-ringsandthings-world · 5 months

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Ok, ok, glad you liked the art! There's more to come because I am full of ideas and sadness! Prepare!

Anywho, now that I have rambled about the boys a lot (and trust me, there's definitely more where that came from), I thought I'd take a change of pace and focus on others.

Like Buggy. What we know is he escapes, possibly due to running away (which will probably haunt him forever) or getting saved by someone. He does meet someone, as you've said before, but who? Could it be Dragon? Does our greedy, narcissistic clown somehow become a revolutionary? Maybe it's a marine. Did a marine see this kid and go, "Screw it, I'm not killing kids," and let him go? Does he run into Smoker? Start a traumatize boy band (now I wanna write the fic we’re buggy and smoker run into each other after lougetown.) Or is it someone else, someone I wouldn't have guessed in a million years? Doflamingo, perhaps? That would be the meeting from hell. One of the other would-be warlords? And what happens to him? Does he spend the next two years trying to help Shanks in any way he can? Does he do mostly what he's done in canon and go for the One Piece? Or is he a warlord? Did he make deals with the world government for Shanks? ‘Gasp’ I'm gasping at nothing but thinky thoughts, but eh, I'll just throw some crazy in there for fun.

Also, are you going to add pirates we know to Loguetown who get caught, aside from the characters we already know? There are a few characters we see in canon that could be the right age to have been around. You could just slip them in there to add more people to the "Fun Time with World Government!™️" and more people Shanks and Mihawk can bounce off of while captured and once they get out. You said that they won't trust anyone who didn't go through what they went through, so not a lot of allies or having civil conversations. But maybe that's the point... oh well, whatever you do, I'm sure I'll love it.

Also, this pirate generation needs a name. If the last generation were the Great Pirates, maybe this generation could be the Silenced Generation? And later, after the two years, the Monster Generation.

And propaganda, does Roger's message about the One Piece get out there like it did in the main timeline? Not a lot of people escaped from the excision, so that's not a lot of people to spread the word. Is the World Government suppressing it after all? They didn't mean for Roger to tell the crowd, so why in hell would they want that driving force that created pirates who are specifically seeking a piece of the Void Century and possibly information on Joy Boy or Nika? So, do they turn it into, instead of a last word, a rumor? Like Davy Jones or Nolan and his Sky Island, like it's a fun bedtime story but nothing that's actually real.

Those are all the questions I have today hopefully I’ll get you that new art out soon no promises but I will try! Seriously thanks for indulging my asks, I know you don’t ow me any of you time and it’s cool that you’ve given me some. Anyways off to dreamland for me!

Prepared and so excited! See, with Buggy, it's a mess. If this AU is the sort-of inverse of canon events, Buggy has to keep his beef with Shanks. That happens because Shanks is the one who saves him. He gets him to safety, and then gets himself caught to lead the marines away from him. But from Buggy's perspective, Shanks abandoned him. Which. He's going to spend his time torn between grief/worry/resentment and thinking Shanks got what he deserved, (because Buggy is vindictive like that) only to find out how wrong he was. During the end of the two years, he's going to try to help Shanks, though. Him and Smoker do meet, Smoker being the one to spur him into helping Shanks. Smoker is going to go the way of Vergo in this AU, at least as far as the marines are concerned. Dragon is going to pick up some key players, (wink, wink) and he would save a child. So that's Buggy, even though Buggy doesn't espouse revolutionary ideas. (and Buggy would be even more obsessed with the one piece, it's his way of coping) And here's the thing, once what the marines are doing starts coming out, there's going to be an alliance between the revolutionaries and pirates to protect themselves. Because after the marines get information out of the captured pirates, they will start hunting the free ones. Benn Beckmann is already around, and some other characters will come sooner, some later. Garp is going to be the one who brings Mihawk and Shanks and some of those characters together. It will take them a long time to trust anyone else, but they will. And the pirates who weren't captured but were still hunted count as having a shared experience in their books. As well as the people who have been hurt by or due to the government, especially children. (wink, wink) I was thinking the Ghost generation! Since the marines kept an entire swathe of these people in captivity for two-three years, living as nothing more than ghosts. The one piece declaration did get out, though yes, the WG is trying to make it seems like nothing more than the ravings of a madman. It still becomes a substantial rumor, though, because it's something for the the pirates left to cling onto while they are being hunted. And the WG also wants the one piece. So it's them, and not the pirates that initially began the search. They go out systematically raiding pirate ships and hideouts and work their way up from there. When Mihawk and Shanks get out, Shanks kicks off the real pirate hunt by confirming Roger's last words. Which he does for Buggy's sake. No rush! And you're welcome! Ask away as much as you want, my mind is full of this and I'll literally talk forever if given the chance!

#one piece #op #opla #dracule mihawk #akagami no shanks #hawkeye mihawk #red haired shanks #mihawk one piece #shanks one piece #mishanks #mihawk x shanks #op marines #loguetown au

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franklespine · 6 months

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They really didn't do enough with the sam seeing visions and thinking that they're from God, when really they're from Lucifer plotline in s11, because holy crap that was good. There is something that is just so devastatingly fascinating about sam, desperate to believe in a force greater than himself, and for that force of divine intervention and purity to have chosen him. Then to have these visions show him his deepest and most central traumatic wound, to lead him back towards this suffering. Oh the TURMOIL.

Sam has always craved purity - he has always wanted desperately to belong, to be pure like everyone else. The little kid who thought he could never go on a holy quest because he wasn't clean enough, who went on to find out about the demon blood fed to him when he was an infant and thinking this is the puzzle piece he was missing - this is the answer to why he feels the way he does - he is impure and wretched on a biological level. He is filled with self-doubt in s1-2 as to his powers and what this means for him, clawing at faith (faith in Dean and their policy of saving people as much as faith in a religious sense) to feel stabalised. He is frustrated and angry in s4 at this demon blood in him, the fact that there is something innately evil in him that he can never 'rip out' or 'scrub clean'. Then by the time s8 rolls around he LEAPS at the chance to purify himself. Yeah, cause that's healthy. All of this is to say that when sam gets his first vision after praying in the hospital chapel, he wants so desperately to believe that it is God who has looked down on him and thought him worthy. That, for once, the divine have been the ones to put their faith in him, not the devil.

And then the reveal. It was never God. It was never something holy.

Evil has kept its claws in him since he was six months old and he will never be clean of it. It was the devil all along. This realisation is crushing and I will never get over Sam's face as he realises, wide eyed with shock and horror as a tears spills out of his eye. Devastating.

But yet the deep seeded horror of this plotline is so underexplored. Like, call me biased but I would have really stretched this idea out a few more episodes at LEAST. Place more emphasis on this moral conundrum between wanting to have faith and yet this faith asking you to do something no person should ever go through.

In fact, I loved the first few episodes of s11, they had me on the edge of my seat. The black veined virus thing?? Amazing - I want more. It would have been cool to have seen this be a continuous thing across the whole season. Like if the season slowly devolved into this kind of wrought post-apocalyptic thing. Ik that probably wouldn't work but I would have loved to see it. And creepy baby Amara and that exorcism stuff - so cool. Anyway, this post is kind of a mess, but I just loved how s11 started; the darker tone, the boys completely out of their depth, the idea of this biblical plague that makes people 'unclean, in the biblical sense' - super fun ideas. It's not that I didn't like where s11 ended up, but I just feel like at some point the tone completely changed and it just got a bit... goofy. I blame Lucifer, mainly (and chuck). Every scene with Lucifer and Sam I was pulling my hair out cause WHY IS SAM SO CALM?? This guy literally tortured him for centuries and had him so dreadfully freaked out at the start of the season and now its like yeah whatever. And it's not like I expected it to take centre stage or anything but in theory, the idea that the Winchester's bestest bestie Cas is possessed by Lucifer, who they actually now need to stop Amara should have been some crazy psycho horror shit. Sam should have been seeing Lucifer's mannerisms like second nature, thinking he's going crazy. Dean should be worried that Sam's is going off his rocker and yet also feeling something so fundamentally off with Cas. But they just didn't feel the need to delve into that whatsoever I guess.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I really loved the ideas, particularly surrounding Sam, that were going on at the start of s11. I think using this as a springboard would have been a really interesting exploration of character for him, and Dean too as he is forced to confront how Sam's relationship with faith and purity differs from his own, and then ultimately a revaluation of the way he sees him. I mean, he wasn't exactly supportive once he found out Sam having demon blood had some side effects. Even when he didn't know about Sam drinking demon blood or Ruby, even when Sam was truly just saving people he called him a monster, told him that if he didn't know him, he's want to hunt him. Crazy times.

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mehiwilldoitlater · 2 years

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Creator reader who is Aether and Lumine’s big sibling or parent? They come to check on Teyvat after not finding their siblings in various other worlds they made and are not happy with the sustainer of heavenly principles.

So they grab the traveler while also adopting Paimon, then go straight to the Abyss and get the abyss twin and say “time to go fix this MESS”

so then they go find Dain and say “these are my siblings/kids I’m sorry for whatever trouble they may cause because they’re clever and resourceful. Anyways if you could babysit them I’d love that just call my name if you need anything” they of course tell him their name and stuff

then go off to get all of the archons and go tear Celestia a new one because of how many lives they ruined.

So they topple Celestia and take over so they can make things genuinely better for Teyvat and the abyss alike.

At this point Dain has had to deal with the twins and Paimon for about half a day when reader comes back and says “thanks for babysitting, I know it was sudden but I’m also doing stuff to fix the last 5 centuries”

So then Dain now has a family again because reader decides to say ‘screw it’ and let their simping get the better of them

This is so long I’m sorry I just want it to be organized 😭

Ok, first ,every religion has a "Creation of the universe in the way that we see it", and many of them begin with a couple. From them , Creator, Aether, and Lumine started to exist (Creator as the creator of everything, and the twins as the stars).

Now, in this scenario, the Creator is a pretty chill God. They aren't even intimidating or anything, they just like to create, make new stuff, and OOOOH they love humans! What a masterpiece they could have achieved! Now, their relationship with the twins is a simple one. They care for each other and, since they are still too young to become full gods, the Creator gives them the full freedom that they could have, letting them explore various worlds, see more people, and have fun, as long as they don't create any trouble, of course.

Lumine: Y/N! We found a new and funny world! Y/N: Is that so? So, how was it? Aether: It was colorfull! With a lot of life! And there was this strange creature, similar to a ball, that ate stuff and took its power from that thing! Y/N:...What?

So, at some point, the Creator decides to have fun like their siblings and explore a little. A more than well-earned vacation! I mean, they make up all of Teyvat. They are exhausted! They don't exactly give all power to the Archons, just enough to not let things slip, and to make sure that, if things go bad, they can tell the sustainer of heavenly principles...Because they are the only one that can contact them.

And that was a terrible idea.

When the Creator got back (imagine in the same way as Merlin in the Disney movie, dress up just like him), they found out that their siblings were gone. For the same reason that there was an Archon war and many of them were gone, there was a huge cataclysm and many nations that they likee were RIPPED OFF from Teyvat.

Y/N: I 'literally' left for a few years! What happened?!* Zhongli:..Well, you better sit down for this... it can be quite overwhelming. Venti: In our defends... we tried. Y/N: Who the hell are you? Zhongli: It's the Anemo Archon, your grace, Barbatos. Y/N: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER? Zhongli:..As I was saying, you may sit for this one.

Did you ever leave a blog with a few people and come back to find that everything you had done had to be redone? Yeah, that's the feeling.

The first thing you do is take back your sibling, the traveler. It's not a problem; they are the ones that came back first to you. The abyss one is quite problematic, but it's not like you can't try to do something right and resolve what the other gods have made. Not to mention that, when you left, you noticed this nation that prospered without the aid of a divine power, and you were quite optimistic and interested in their work! So yeah, you are quite pissed.

Once you found out the last of the fallen kingdom, you humbly apologized and promised to do the right thing. Imagine the faces of Dain and Kaeiya. They knew that the gods are strange, but you are quite the subject!

Y/N: Okay, I'm going to deal with the susteiner and stuff. Still, I know I can't bring back all of the kingdom. But at least I can reverse the curse that was imposed on your people. Dainsleif:I'ts..already enough, you gr- Y/N: You can just call me Y/N. And don't thank me, this is the least thing i can do for your people.

After having dealt with all of this stuff, it's time to deal with the seven (the Archons are cool, but you need to speak to them about some of their behaviour) and the other gods that still live in Celestia (that is technically your house btw). Let's just say that it's time to downsize the number of deities, especially the ones that had a lot of fun mistreating mortals, so you stripped them of their power and now they have to live with them (LOL serve you right). One day, a giant throne will be thrown from the island in the sky. You don't need that thing, so you replaced it with a desk, which is far more comfortable and useful.

Y/N: Shit, I hope this thing still moves... Venti..move? Y/N: Well yeah, Celestia move in the sky...it rotate you know? It follows the- Venti: It moves?! But... why?! Y/N: A more favorable viewpoint! If you wish to see clearly, you must go to the higher ground! Venti:So, it's not a metaphor about the insignificance of the ones that live under it? Y/N:...WHAT?! NOOOU! I even have a control room there!

Finally, things started to get better. You fixed all the mess, and now you have to look after your rebuilt world. It's a mess, it's not simple, but you have a lot of new helpers that wish to be useful. Especially Dainsleif!

He had noticed that you don't show the same characteristics as the other gods; you are... human. Capable of admitting mistakes and that your downfall was due to misplaced trust, but yet you didn't give up and fix what you needed to be saved. He can't see you as his god, not to mention that you don't want to. More like a friend.

#god!reader #genshin impact #ask

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ahungeringknife · 7 months

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365: May 10

Ikora rose an eyebrow when Cayde came around her side of the table. He didn't say anything just sort of hummed and made noise as he looked over her papers. Zavala was engaged with something along the wall that monitored the City's defenses. "Did you need something, Cayde?" Ikora asked once she was tired of his snooping.

"I think... I think something messed up happened," he said.

"What do you mean?" she asked not looking like she was giving him her full attention but actually doing so.

"I had lunch with the Guardian today," he said. "She said some things that... worried me."

"What of?"

"Something big happened. She said," and he signed the next part, knowing Ikora would understand, 'They're fine. Kaley and Rigel finally went on a date. Life and death situation you-'

"Well they are Guardians," Ikora said mildly.

"We haven't sent Glitterbomb on a mission since Kass disobeyed a direct order not to go into the Black Garden," Cayde said. "There's been no 'life or death situation' since then. Right? Unless you're not telling me something?" he put his hands on the table and looked at her hard. Cayde could be a real funny guy but you did not mess with his Hunters. He might have hated being Vanguard with every circuit in his body but he took the job very seriously. More seriously than most people realized honestly.

"I tell you everything," Ikora said.

"We both know that isn't true but I appreciate the attempt," Cayde said, not taking it personally. "Zavala's said nothing?"

"Zavala leaves Hunters to you and Xander. He's got no need to strong arm them," Ikora said mildly.

"You don't think Xander's done something behind our back?"

"I'm sure he has. But this? No," she said casually. "Since Saladin returned to Russia he's been much more agreeable." Yeah no shit. Saladin and Xander got along like oil and water and had since Cayde had set foot in the Tower for the first time. Xander was at least polite when he told Saladin to go fuck himself. Usually at any rate.

"So what'd they do?"

"How would I know-- don't give me that look, Cayde," she tutted.

"You're the spy master. Know some spy shit," he said bluntly, not impressed.

"I have a lot to do. Go worry yourself somewhere else," she said dismissively.

Cayde huffed and walked off, arms folded. "Sundance call up the Grey Dawn," he said as he wandered around the Hall, not looking at anything specific. He just thought better while walking.

"You know they hate being summoned."

"Oh well," he shrugged.

"Cayde," Grey's sultry voice came out of Sundance. If the Grey Dawn didn't scare the pants off him they absolutely had a voice that'd make him rip his pants off around them. "Is there something you need?"

"How's your rookie?"

"Wonderful. I don't enjoy social calls from the Vanguard. What do you want?"

No, he supposed they didn't. The Grey Dawn didn't really do authority. They only hung around as a courtesy to help train the rare Nightstalker that showed up. And of course now they'd taken on a rookie. Cayde had looked at their file when they had. Most Hunters eventually became a mentor, took on a rookie under their cloak to show them the ropes. The Grey Dawn had been training Nighstalkers for centuries but had never taken one as a rookie until a few months ago. It was... odd. Very out of character for the ultimate loner on the hunt.

"You guys do anything fun recently?"

"We always have fun. You'll have to be more specific, Cayde," and that made him shiver. Fuck that person freaked him out so much. Shouldn't. They were a Guardian. Talking to old Guardians was always unsettling and Grey reveled in it. You'd think Cayde would have a worse time talking to actual problems like Ana or Shin but no. Shin was just a petty brat with a chip on his shoulder and Ana was just manic in her search for who she had been. But they weren't... off. Maybe that was why the Guardian liked Grey. They were both a bit off.

"Something dangerous. Real fun around real death, that kinda thing," Cayde said casually, standing in front of a display of the EDZ. Lights marked different fireteams in the zones doing strikes or running patrol. A triangular mark were their herd hunters who helped the wild predator populations keep the deer and bison herds in check so they didn't starve themselves come winter. His glowing eyes tracked each beacon, Guardian or not, on the map, attaching it to a report or mission brief that had come across his desk.

The Grey Dawn didn't answer him but they also didn't hang up. "Did she say something?" they said after a solid minute of tense silence. "What did she say? She-- hasn't spoken to me about it."

"She said your Warlocks hooked up," Cayde said. "What happened?" he glanced at Sundance who'd moved closer to him to keep the volume quiet, the conversation private. He made a motion with his eyes and she slid into the hood of his cloak so she could whisper it into his ear.

Again the Grey Dawn said nothing but didn't hang up. This time the silence stretched for a long time. "Come out to the tree in the back," they said and Sundance closed.

Cayde immediately turned and left the Hall of the Vanguard.

He found the Grey Dawn sitting on a planter backed by a shrub that had just been in bloom but now was full of wilting flowers. Characteristically they were dressed all in gray and white and everything about them was washed out like someone had taken the saturation slider and slid it down on them.

He sat next to them. "What happened?"

"What'd she say?" the Grey Dawn asked right back. Cayde repeated the sign to them. They sighed and looked up at the clear sky above them. "There is no report. This didn't happen."

"But it didn't?"

"It doesn't make any sense."

"What happened?" Cayde pressed.

"We went into a Vex stronghold. That's the best I can describe it without sounding like a madman. We were in there for-- too long. We fought a lot of Vex. We died a lot of times. We were drawn down into the heart of the stronghold where a great Vex Mind who could control the flow of time was waiting for us."

"Did you kill it?"

"... I assume so?" they sounded unsure. Cayde didn't feel fear often. But hearing someone like the Grey Dawn sound unsure? Someone he knew for a fact was powerful and capable. They didn't know? It made him... uneasy. He didn't want to call it fear. "When we came out of our deaths it was gone. Kassandra said she shattered it."

"And then you came back out?"

"We climbed back out," they looked off into the middle distance. "It almost got us so many times even after we'd killed the time's conflux," they said. Cayde didn't know what that meant. He knew Sundance was recording everything they said. If and when he'd share it with Ikora. Their eyes snapped back to the present. "We haven't really talked about it. That's all she said?"

"That was it," Cayde said.

"I'm worried about her," they said.

"You haven't before. Why now?"

The Grey Dawn's face grew drawn and thin. "You know how you told me she killed that Devil Archon her first day or something?"

"Yeah?"

"And I said that was fucked up? How'd someone so young show that much power?"

"Yeah?"

"It was fucked up," was all the Grey Dawn said.

"She was fucked up?" he clarified.

"Never seen anything like it," they said quietly. They crossed themselves in an old traditional Hunter's mark over their collar bone. A warding against danger. Cayde hadn't seen it used since before the Great Disaster over two centuries ago.

"You guys okay?" Cayde asked.

"Tsk, me? No," it wasn't about the dissent and Cayde knew that. "The kids though? Probably. They're strong."

"Should we be worried about the Guardian?" Cayde asked.

"Did she seem okay to you?" They didn't answer the question.

"Quiet but she seemed fine," he said.

"I'm her mentor so I worry but... I'm supposed to, you know?" they shrugged. "But she did seem okay?"

"She wasn't screaming mad. Should probably eat more," he said mildly.

The Grey Dawn huffed, "Trust me. Me and Ghost harp on her all the time about it. She just forgets. Gets excited about something, focused on the mission, and food becomes an after thought." They sighed and looked back up at the sky. "Don't tell Ikora, will ya?"

"I don't know why you think I would," Cayde pretended to be insulted.

The Grey Dawn made a finger gun right at Sundance in his hood, trying to hide behind his neck. "I see your little brain cell in there. She's smart. I don't need Warlocks or the Hidden getting in our business," they said.

"You haven't told me anything interesting enough to tell Ikora. You guys just fought some Vex."

The Grey Dawn chuckled and if Cayde didn't know any better it almost sounded like a sob, or insanity. "Yeah. Just some Vex," and they pushed off their knees and stood. Cayde watched them walk away, their long white cloak had strange markings on it he'd never seen before, metallic and almost like a mechanical spine that flared and became wings at the shoulders.

"On a scale of one to fucked how much do you think I should be worried about this?" Cayde asked Sundance once they were gone.

"Hmmm," she thought about it seriously. "I'd say somewhere around not enough to keep you up at night but enough we should still tell Ikora."

"Yeah. That's about where I thought too," he said. He got up and headed back to the Hall of the Vanguard to do just that.

#365 #writeblr #writblr #fanfiction #destiny #destiny 2 #destiny the game #ikora rey #cayde-6 #cayde 6 #VoG Was some fucked up shit

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countrymusiclover · 2 years

Text

11 - Tale of the Five

Part 12

Her Life Means Everything

@mrs-fanfiction-2001 @the-big-bad-klaus

Elijah standing in the doorway. "Take care of her while I go deal with our hunter. He still owes me an explanation as to why he took our mate!"

Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I blink a few times seeing sunlight coming in through the curtains. Sitting up in the bed I stretch my arms over my head seeing Elijah still sitting in an armchair in the corner of the room. Tucking hair behind my ear he doesn't look up from the book he's reading until I spoke up. "I thought you would be downstairs helping Nik with the hunter, Lijah."

"Niklaus asked me to take care of you while he dealt with the bloody mess." He closes his book getting to his feet picking up a glass of water from the nightstand handing it to me. Raising it to my lips I slowly drank it as he suggested softly. "Now what would you like to eat?"

Resting a hand on my stomach I raised a brow slowly lifting my shirt to see the would in my stomach was completely healed and you couldn't tell I was stabbed at all. "That's insane. I mean I literally was bleeding last night and now..." A smile crossed my face hearing my stomach grumbled. "Tacos...have you ever had them before?"

"I can't say that I have. Shall we then." He holds out his hands helping me climb out of the bed as gently as possible. Walking down the stairs we got in the car driving us to the nearest taco place outside of Mystic Falls. Handing him a taco he payed for them before we got back in the car. Closing my door he takes a bite and I nearly jumped out of my seat seeing a huge grin on his face before he takes another bite.

"Good isn't it?" I giggled tearing a bite out of mine seeing him smiling back at me.

"Much better than some of the things I've had over the centuries, Ms. Forbes." He replied where we eat in silence for a moment.

Pointing my index finger at him I corrected him softly. "Maddie. You can call me Maddie. We're not in the royal age anymore." He chuckled alongside me watching a soft smile form on my face with the sun breaking through the clouds softly. "Elijah, tell me what is it like to be over a thousand years old. To live through so many decards with different people in history who wnd up dying?"

He finished his first taco then reached in the bag pulling out another and started eating it while I finished my first shortly behind him. "It is an adjustment I will say that. When you become a vampire time stops. You don't have to worry about most human things killing you. But it's strange to watch people you saw say Queen Elizabeth II for example. I've watched her grow from a young child to the oldest queen ever in England. In my eyes it's a gift even though we must take blood from innocent people to survive..." His eyes fell to the floor and I could feel the regret he had for such things. He was like Stefan in a way feeling remorse for killing where as Damon or Kol even Klaus could care less. At least that's what I was told until the whole soulmate situation occurred.

"Have you and your brothers considered turning me since the bond thing. That way you wouldn't have to worry about me?" I asked tossing my last taco in the bag before he started the car driving us back to the mansion.

Elijah gripped the steering wheel with a heavy sigh glancing over at me on the drive home. "I have once...late last night actually. But it doesn't matter what I feel Maddie. It's your choice after all."

"Kol thinks it'd be fun and Nik well..." I trailed off scratching my head in thought being able to read them like the cover of a book so easily. "I might consider it one day because I wouldn't be this week little human in my sister's shadow. I'd be able to do exactly what she does."

Elijah rests a hand on my leg making me look him in the eye when we parked in the driveway. "Think about what you would be losing, Maddie-"

"The ability to age and have children I know." I replied seeing Stefan's car in the driveway making me confused. "Wait why is Stefan here?"

Entering the house Elijah led me into a room with a fireplace seeing Stefan and Klaus's talking about something. Stefan sighed coming over to me with a concerned look on his face taking my hands in his. "Maddie you're here. I came to ask what you're uh - boyfriend's knew about the five. But he won't say anything. Could you help me out?"

Dropping my gaze to the floor it hurt me to know that Caroline had told him about my ability and was now only here to get information with it. None the less I rounded the chair stepping up to Klaus whose eyes locked onto mine. He wrapped his arms around my waist titling his head to the side softly. "He thinks that I'll cave to you my dear, Maddie. But this bond isn't as strong as he thinks." He smirked until I reach up playing with the dog tags that hung around his neck.

"You sure about that before I uh - right now I can sense you want to take me to bed...at some point through this relationship." Wrapping my arms around his neck I leaned up on my toes whispering in his ear feeling his arms tighten around my waist making me blush deeply into the crook his neck when I bend my head down.

He leans his head down whispering in my ear with a smirk on his lips. "Tis tempting, love...keep it up and I just might do that." He tucks hair behind my ear focusing his gaze back on Stefan draping an arm over my shoulder explaining. "Fine. You might actually be useful in persuading my sister to cooperate. The brotherhood of the five was a group of highly skilled vampire hunters. We crossed paths with them in the twelfth century. Italy. My siblings and I had followed the Normans as they conquered the South. Feeding, turning people as we went."

Stefan trails off. "And Rebekah had a thing with one of them?"

"Oh, she didn't just have a thing. She fell in love with him. He told her all his secrets. Which I will gladly share with you..." Klaus replied through clutched teeth before he left to bring Rebekah here. She plopped down on the couch beside me with a huff until we set up a dinner table with wine glasses since Klaus was getting hungry. "My sister's boyfriend threw a slumber party that night. He and his brothers put us all down in our sleep. Elijah, Kol, Finn... And me."

Rebekah crossed her arms over her chest cutting cut off short by her brother. "How was I supposed to know?"

He raises his glass with an annoyed look with me leaning my elbows on the table listening to the fire crackling in the room. "Cheers. To my sister's uncanny ability to choose men."

"I thought the daggers didn't work on you because of your werewolf side." Stefan tapped his fingers on the table.

Klaus glanced over at me and I couldn't help but feel my face heating up for some reason when he smirked at Stefan's words. "They don't." He leaned forward on the table throwing his arms about. "Go ahead, Rebekah, tell him. Tell him what the hunter told you the tattoo leads to. What's this great weapon that could bring about the end of the vampire species?"

"A cure. He said there was a cure." Rebekah stared my direction seeing the shock on my face alongside Stefan.

Comments really appreciated ❤️

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thebleedingeffect · 3 months

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ac lore please :)

Oh god I'm so tired so this shit is gonna be so incoherent and nonsensical BUT I'm gonna try my absolute best to make any of this make any sort of sense.

So, in the assassin's creed universe it's established sorta early on that humanity was originally made by these deity-like people. In that time these people created several powerful objects before 99% of them got blasted off the fucking earth thanks to solar flare. So! Humans inherit the earth! Okay cool fun nice yippeeeee humanity are no longer slaves and actually have autonomy this is a major win for us! But you see, the vast majority of humanity DOESN'T have this deity DNA going on because only a few humans ever got with these deity people, or the precursors. Technically they're the Isu but it makes me giggle just saying that SJSJSJS ANYWAY- most people don't have this DNA therefore they are more susceptible to these objects effects.

Descendents who have remnants of this Isu bullshit have things like the eagel vision! Okay cool there's an in universe explanation to how exactly the fuck a very certain number of people have super special vision that's somehow passed down through genetics. And these sorts of people largely end up being assassin's! But there are the handful of templars who have these abilities, looking at you Haytham and Shay.

ANYWAY there's this ASSHOLE of an Isu, Minerva, who is one of the only surviving Isu and uses the objects to manipulate humanity into eventually bringing her back. This is a plan that takes centuries btw and it involves a whole bunch of both manipulating templars AND assassin's.

I am gonna be honest though and say that the Isu stuff isn't what really attracts me to the series, the REAL fucking shit is the absolute fucking HORROR and DEVASTATION that these FICTIONAL HISTORICAL RPF CHARACTERS are doing to my mental health. Listen the Isu have absolutely fucking nothing on the CENTURIES of drama going on between the assassin's and templars, at this point I could care less about the dead godly fuckers because I'm so tuned the fuck in on the sheer scale of this drama.

Assassin's and templars are two sides of the same coin when it comes to humanity, one believes that freedom and guidance from the shadows is the proper way for humanity while the other side believes that people need a stronger hand and that the ends justify the means sorta deal. They cannot exist without the other because they're so intertwined and marred in so much violence, resentment, love, history, and hatred that they just can't live without the other. In a really fucked up sorta way they constantly keep each other in check and it's a neverending war between them, because their fundamental values put them against each other.

Just as a little example- assassin's believe that there is power in shadows, that not everything must be brought to the light and that sometimes... certain knowledge must be kept away from society for its own good. Templars on the other hand believe that there is power in collecting everything that they can as to better humanity and to give them the power and knowledge as to guide humanity. In a really fucked up sorta way they're the embodiment of light vs dark and just how each side can be disastrous or beneficial. It just messes me up so much that thwse guys and constantly at each others throats and you'd think that it would be a classic good vs evil sorta deal but!!!! No !!!!!!!!!

The creed is secretly full of corruption and is unwilling to act, so hidden in the shadows that they're scared to do anything but the barest of actions. They're a distant shadow from what they once were and they turn the other eye from corruption because they believe that the sacrifice is worth it considering the templars are their greatest enemy. But all that's happened is that their weakness and vulnerabilities have been allowed to fester and their core tenants become less and less repeated as time goes on.

And fucking- ABSTERGO???? OKAY so abstergo is sorta the front of the Templar order, but in my opinion I think they're an equally shallow shadow of what the Templar order was- or was trying to be. The Templar order is not united at all and it's just a collection of people with far too much power and influence who all have a knife to each others neck. Their core ideology has been abandoned in pursuit of their own capitalist greed and personal agendas that any sort of ideology has been left being in the modern age. In a fucking way they're both hollowed out versions of themselves and I want to scream !!¡!!! THEY'RE MIRRORS THEY'RE PARALLELS THEY'RE BROTHERS THEY'RE SISTERS THEY'RE FAMILY THEY'RE LOVERS AND THEY CAN NEVER FUCKING SEPARATE ONE FROM THE OTHER.

Imo I think the series hits hardest when they have Templar and assassin duos, or aka: Connor and Haytham, son and father. Arno and Elise, tragic lovers. The Frye twins and Starrick and Pearl, parallels of twins. Desmond and Lucy, the assassin who ran away and the double crossing templar.

It's like they each highlight their glaring weaknesses and strengths and I want to EAT THE WALLLLSSSSS!!!! Honestly I wish the Isu were completely fucking dead and gone so it could just be 24/7 assassin and templar tragedy hour cause I'm crying and throwing up over these dumb little guys.

OH YEAH DONT GET ME STARTED HOW THE MODERN ASSASSIN'S ARE CLOSER TO A FUCKINF CULT???? DESPITE THEIR WHOLE THING SUPPOSEDLY BEING FREEDOM?????? LIKE THEYRE JUST STRAIGHT UP A CULT AND DESMOND IS PRETTY RUTHLESS IN EXPLAININF THE WHOLE THING. The assassin's wanna say shit and yet they're in the middle of the fucking desert making child soldiers. Okay. Whatever. I still wish Desmond stabbed his dad tbh.

And there's the whole bleeding effect thing that happens when you're in the animus for too long and your brain starts to literally break but I can't think about that for too long because I start crying over lost opportunities. Did you know that time travel was gonna be a thing at first??? Like, when they were drafting out the assassin's creed plot???? DO YOU KNIW HOW MAD I AM TGAT THEY DIDNT KEEO TGAT-

Anyway hahahahhaaha teehee I love this series very much and I have stolen it from ubisofts greedy fucking hands ^-^ also look at these two who are steadily taking over my brain and I can see the light of escape fading before my very eyes ->

(This is also very random but a ton of the fashion in game slaps but I'm an especially big fan of the aesthetic in syndicate and unity)

(Arno is the one on the left and Jacob is the one on the right. They've never met in game but I'm so sure that they would explore each other's bodies and become painfully dependent on the other)

(Ignore how I'm debating starting another wip just for them. These dumb assassin's are gonna cry and see each other as their only salvation in absolute misery if I can help it)

#theres so.much more theres so much but im si tired and theres so much more to go #.......I should make a tier list for all the ac characters...........#ANYWAY TYSM FOR ASKING I OIVE YOU I LOVR YOU MY MUTUAK MY FRIEND MY EVERYTHING #thebleedingeffect talks

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mitchelldailygames · 4 months

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2023 Book Round-Up

This is going to be a quick list of some of my favorite books that I read this year. These aren’t books that necessarily came out in 2023 and they’re not in any particular order.

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone OK, this one is in a particular order. It’s my favorite. I read this book twice this year, the first time based on the recommendation of that tweet a lot of people saw. I found it beautiful, and as someone who wants to eventually publish novels, very inspiring. The application of the epistolary style to its sci-fi concept (it is actually set in a time war) made for a compelling and unique feel to the book. The prose were absolutely gorgeous. The way the characters were human and the way they were inhuman was perfect. All of it got me thinking about how my own writing could reach further than I'd considered before.

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir I also read and really enjoyed Nona the Ninth this year, but Harrow was my favorite. The mystery of it all, the intense necromancer action, and the angst all adds up to the perfect Locked Tomb book. And the payoff at the end is so good.

On the Beach by Nevil Shute I read this after watching Jacob Geller’s Art in the Pre-Apocalypse video, and this is the write up that will end up feeling the least like a recommendation. This book messed me up. I read it while fall was tumbling towards winter in the often dreary Pacific Northwest (of the US). This book made me feel like the world was ending. I became immersed in the state of living life while the end drifted closer to the point I kind of started to believe it in real life. I certainly found it compelling in its restrained doom.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers This one is also in a particular order because I read it right after On the Beach and it plucked me right out of my funk. Where the previous book left me feeling like precious few moments were slipping away from me, A Psalm for the Wild-Built said it was OK to just be. This is a beautiful solar punk novella as is its sequel, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. It presents a possibility for a better world while giving a glimpse into the pathways we can take as individuals to move towards something better (while acknowledging that big changes need to take place on a macro level).

The Difference Engine by Bruce Sterling and William Gibson I tried reading this a long time ago because I was a fan of Gibson’s cyberpunk books and couldn’t get into it. I didn’t have that problem this year. Its steampunk London after the century-early arrival at the computer was very compelling. It fell prey to some tropes I’m not a huge fan of, namely that people in crisis will quickly resort to chaos and violence, but overall it was a story and setting that kept me reading all the way through this time.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer What a book! I’m currently reading Authority, and I love this brand of weird sci-fi/horror. I watched the movie forever ago, but really enjoyed (and am enjoying) the story that's told in the books. The unraveling of the group and of the biologist was a great read, and it was fun to see cosmic horror in the modern age done really well. The mystery of it all was really the hook of the book, and the things it leaves unanswered was really fitting for the story.

Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King I finished the Dark Tower series this year, but this was my favorite. The doombot bad guys, the way it expanded on the lore, and the gunslinger action were all really cool. The characters were all operating at their peaks in this book, while dealing with some deep, dark secrets, and it felt like it held the best of all the things the series has to offer.

Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt What a harrowing, powerful, complicated haunted house story this is. I will say this book is not for the faint of heart (and comes with trigger warnings at the beginning of the book), but I was left at the end of the story with the distinct feeling I had read something that would stick with me for a long, long time. It gets into the complicated ways identities interact and the way fascism breeds in societies and individual hearts. There are long sections that slip into disturbing rambles that become less coherent as they go on, which is perfect within the tone of the book. The things that haunt the characters throughout the story add and help give traction to all of these other pieces.

#books #this is how you lose the time war #the locked tomb #harrow the ninth #dark tower #southern reach trilogy #monk and robot #tell me i'm worthless

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nova-astral · 4 months

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NFTs and AI, the marriage

So, this is quite a complicated post to write, because a lot of people close to me abandoned me at the beginning of 2022 when I did these things. But if they're still around, or reading this, you must understand that making money, and affording things I've needed for over a decade, is my top priority (if you view me and the things I do in the harshest black and white light possible, maybe we weren't meant to know each other anyway).

Making money by any means necessary in the middle of increasing inflation, as the prices of food and necessities skyrocket, should be everyone's priority. Especially if you are a normal person who isn't rich.

That said, I had not one, but a few hand drawn NFT projects. I made them myself. I bought into the Ethereum network and got featured by the official Twitter account, a full year before Elon Musk bought and destroyed the website.

(pieces from my project, Catgirl Pixel Club, including a screenshot of Twitter's ownership of one I made named Skelly)

I made a little bit of money, bought a bunch of things I needed, and then watched the whole scene turn into an obsessive gambler's paradise for scams and trickery (which is still happening, as I type this).

But I left that all behind and put the project I was and still am casually working on up on my website, for free. Nowadays I've mostly returned to music and writing.

I had a lot of fun making these things, though, and after I left behind the blockchain mess, I realized that I could still do this, because the part I liked most about it was just that--making the art.

(pieces from my current, now completely free project, the haxPunks)

None of these were generated by anything. All of them were inspired by cryptopunks, which, funnily enough, was a completely free project before NFTs became a thing.

But not even cryptopunks were fully and completely drawn by hand. And most NFT projects you see aren't either. Nearly all of them are cheaply made, auto-generated bundles of assets that were made once and forgotten.

And you might ask yourself, "How in the world does or would this have anything to do with AI?"

What was and still is the purpose of the current atmosphere of NFTs?

To make as much money as possible for as little effort as possible.

If you can autogenerate assets, and then autogenerate 1000 utility avatars using those assets, you have a machine that doesn't even require an artist.

The wild thing is, they were doing this before these algorithms gained major steam and started stealing art all over the internet. I remember the ads on Facebook for the software that could "generate fully 3d NFTs for you in minutes!"

I got into NFTs because I wanted a new way to share art, and I wanted to do something fun.

Most people get into NFTs because they want to be millionaires for nothing.

We are not the same.

And AI is one side of the same coin.

If you buy into the AI "art" hype, you are buying into what is an extension of something most people already hate. or are at least very leery of.

Make art, do it with your own hands no matter how good or bad it looks, and whether or not anyone likes it. Because 50 years from now we could be surrounded by media that has no soul, connected to no artists, and if nobody's making anything just because a machine is sampling things from half a century before it destroyed society ...

then we as a species are surely dead.

Thank you for reading.

#nfts #ai #art #catgirl pixel club #haxpunks

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lovecolibri · 1 year

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No need to answer this now (or even ever, lol) because I know that you were losing yourself in Buddie fanfic to take a break from the messy reality that is currently Buddie on the show. However, I've noticed that you mentioned a few times that "people above" Tim might have said no to romantic Buddie, resulting in him putting someone with a matching vision (Kristen) in charge and giving more attention to LS.

Is there anything in particular that makes you think that could be the case? Or are you just speculating? Because I'll be honest, I always kind of suspected that myself, but I have no proof. Just a weird feeling. There was a comment on the 911 subreddit during the ridiculous mess of season 5 about how Disney was actually a lot more conservative than they seem, and it could be a case of them interfering and people on the show trying to "push back" behind the scenes, resulting in it feeling so disjointed. And when I looked at the timeline, even though Disney finalized the acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019, they didn't start implementing a lot of changes to the TV business until late 2020 and ahead of season 4 (which is when Ana and Taylor were brought back as love interests and Buddie started to become more distant). From the Wikipedia article: "On August 10, 2020, Disney announced a reorganization and rebranding of its television studios, with 20th Century Fox Television being subsumed by 20th Century, distributor 20th Television being folded into Disney-ABC Domestic Television, and Fox 21 Television Studios being rebranded as Touchstone Television)."

Some people say it's purely about Disney ownership and they had no creative influence, but I just don't buy that, especially with a show that had ratings as big as 9-1-1 and that it streams on multiple platforms. I don't know, I noticed that the show's quality started to nosedive A LOT in late season 4 after the acquisition and the timing just seems too coincidental to me!!

And before people point out the other LGBTQ relationships/characters on other shows as proof of Disney being cool, I'll just say that doesn't mean that they're okay with all types of LGBTQ relationships/characters on all shows. I've seen fans point out that LS was created to be "more diverse" and I don't think that's an unrealistic idea (and while I don't think that they did a great job with that representation in season 1, I do think they've gotten better).

I have no industry knowledge, but I'd be curious to hear from anyone who does if this is even remotely possible or not.

Hey nonnie! I know absolutely ZERO things and you actually have quite a bit more knowledge than I do! I always attributed season 4 being a bit wonky to covid restrictions affecting everything, but the later part of the season pushing Tay Kay was odd and then I got go the finale and was like oh 😒 But we know that's about when KR took over and she's shit at pacing or creating interesting arcs, or understanding what people loved about the show and what made them want to watch (and I don't just mean Buddie, I mean the balanced focus, the hopefulness, the tough conversations happening on screen, the growth and healing for the characters, the pacing, and the fun and interesting and sometimes intense emergencies).

My comments about Tim are pure speculation but it's the vibe I got is that after season 3 solidifyed the Buckley-Diaz family as a unit and Buck and Eddie not dating all season and then covid leaving the show on longer hiatus with fans going wild for Buddie after all that, that *someone* wanted to shut it down. But of course they can't come out and SAY that or they would lose the loudest part of the fanbase and they are the ones giving hype to the show to bring in new viewers. How many times have you seen someone here or on other online spaces say they're finally starting the show to see what all they hype is about? Casual viewers don't usually come in to a show so late and they can't risk the backlash and bad press of saying Buddie isn't happening. Because then also, they would have to make sure they didn't have Buck and Eddie still being the only perfect fit for each other and would get more backlash for continuing to write them as close as they were. Which we saw in s5 with Buck not really talking to Eddie (or anyone but Tay Kay) most of the time until the breakdown stuff, and even MORE in s6 where Buck STILL hasn't talked to anyone but Hen about his feelings on the sperm donor thing and then they cut anything interesting or deep or meaningful for Buck about that arc because people hated it, and every crumb we HAVE gotten feels very much like an appeasement because the GA loves Buck and Chris scenes and enjoy Buck and Eddie's friendship and their scenes even if they don't ship them together. So we got some scenes that don't affect anything else really so they can pretend they're not "trying" to separate them, while still keeping them very much out of each other's spaces when it would have really counted.

So yeah, I know nothing but it would suprise me zero amounts to find out someone higher up made a call and Tim didn't want to deal with it so he left to go get praise for Tarlos and his diversity picks on LS (while still making it about Owen all the time 🙄), and left OG with someone who wouldn't mind keeping Buddie just close enough as friends to appease the GA and give fandom curmbs to avoid backlash, while never moving forward. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I could be wrong and/or things could change/this was just a stop-gap measure while Tim did the big Tarlos wedding, and we could end up with a s7 Buddie confirmation. But I don't think it happening this season.

Also, to be clear, when I say I'm not giving up on Buddie, I mean that I don't know if the show is going to go there, but I'm gonna bang pans and yell about it until the show ends. I get if you need to nope out of the show for your own peace of mind! But right now, I'm not going to let KR win by giving up when a new LI enters the picture. I'm also not going to praise those LIs or the writing as being "good actually" because it's not 🤷🏻‍♀️ Ana and Tay Kay served a purpose (though Tay Kays could have ended much sooner and actually been about Buck being unhappy instead of doing it because others got hurt but I digress). Ana was Eddie realizing he can't be in a relationship for someone else but it has to be for him too. Tay Kay was Buck (somewhat) realizing that someone being willing to stay doesn't mean HE has to stay if he's unhappy and unfulfilled in the relationship. We don't need them using any more women for peraonal revelations, that's what therapy and talking to your friends is for. So I plan to be just as loud as before because I'm not going to let KR and her shitty arcs slide in the name of making things make sense for Buddie to happen.

#my sweet nonnie friends #911 #911 spoilers #buddie

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rhysandrefm · 7 months

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• ° . * ࿐ 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 .

ex 1 that he cheated on ( bad terms ) : his first real exposure to the limelight , he was probably still pretending to hate the fame and be down to earth so she probably thought he was a decent enough guy . that’s when the fame went to his head for the first time and he probably royally embarassed her after only a few months together . shame on you , rhys !

ex 2 that he cheated on ( utp ! ) : after he had established a reputation for being trouble , she was warned countless times about his antics . maybe he’d promised he’d change , maybe she didn’t care all that much , maybe they mutually cheated , but regardless , it was his second public cheating scandal that branded him a serial non - monogamist .

toxic on and off ex : paparazzi spotting them fighting at the club , then sneaking out of a restaurant hand in hand the day after their breakup rumors come out . he’d use others to make her jealous and would spit venom about ‘ not giving a fuck ‘ when she’d do the same , yet go on to crash his car and call her to come pick him up from jail . are they healthy ? god no . but do they know how to stop ?

' i can fix him ' ex : probably one who dated him briefly before he ended things bc he straight up told her ‘ there’s no chance of this ending well . ’ i’d like to think there’s still love there and he thinks of her fondly , but they had to take space bc she was destroying herself trying to help someone who just wasn’t willing to meet her halfway .

unspoken attraction / he didn't think he was good enough : either a mutual friend ( a friend’s sister or a friend’s at - the - time gf would be SPICY ) who was off limits to him . even though the spark was there , he didn’t want to take any chances of pulling her into the messes he’d be likely to create .

hookup that he didn't want to ruin the friendship with : friends who took things a little too far a few too many times , but what good is it to try and make something more of it ? he doesn’t want to ruin what they’ve got .

bad influence pr stunt : current , someone who is well aware of what he has going on reputation wise and wants the media attention from it all !

former friends : he’d go to hell and back for his friends but it’s very likely that his inability to regulate his own emotions is exhausting . maybe they dropped off , or maybe they had a blowout that caused a rift .

his femme other half : just a chick he can dodge rumors with . the callie to his sloane perhaps . he luvs her and would luv her even more if she gives him tough love <3

'bad boys club' : naughty men who get together and do stupid shit on the weekends for attention . he pretends to be above it all but its lowkey fun to get the boys together and just be idiots !

the cody to his noel : someone who he has an extremely stupid fun friendship with . probably the bromance of the century and the most UNSERIOUS duo alive .

savior complex : someone who keeps trying to swoop in and help him recognize his self sabotaging habits but he refuses their help .

indulgence influences : people he parties with

same time next week ? public rival : bizarrely enough they enjoy just fighting for the sake of fighting . makes them feel alive to hurl insults at each other each time they get seated next to each other at nobu .

#* ╱ wanted .

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fumblingmusings · 11 months

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How'd Eva view the Puritans and the general chaos of the 1600s in England? How would she react if America was found/raised in the New England Puritan colonies or in the interim absorbed their more radical teachings?

I would say read Chapters 1-3 of my fic hoho (silly plug). She was suspicious at first, and by the 1660, she held nothing but contempt for them. She likes to have fun at this point in her life. She likes to dance, to drink, to go horse-riding and shooting (arrows or guns), to play cards, to eat lots of rich and fancy foods and sweets, to grow her weird herb garden and cook with them in her weird bubbling cauldron (not suspicious...) and she doesn't see anything morally wrong with any of it. Nothing gets her hackles up then people getting in her private sphere and telling her what to do.

Alfred was found and brought to England before Jamestown and got very sick, so when Jamestown was properly settled, he was sent back with Evelyn intermittently spending time out there with him, or bringing him back to England for small periods too. She keeps him in Virginia for as long as she can.

When her Civil War begins, she gets her brother to go over and move Alfred to Maryland, which was experimenting with religious toleration for Catholics. After the wars end and Charles II has his bum on the throne, Evelyn is with Alfred always. No more weeks where she is in England and he in the colonies. She is glued to his side until the 1690s. They go to Providence (a tolerant colony for Protestants this time) or Philadelphia (Quaker haven), with the occasional stint in Williamsburg back in Virginia after Jamestown is abandoned.

As she was pretty much indisposed for the entirety of the Civil War and a good chunk of the Interregnum, she loses control over his wellbeing. Because the vast majority of the American colonies had declared for Charles II over Parliament save New England, and because she was locked up for a few years, Cromwell moved Alfred up to Boston. Alfred went willingly because the men who came to him said his mum had sent them, and at this time Alfred's only like five or six. He misses his mum, he'll and will do pretty much anything if he thinks it will make her happy or come home. He was away from her between 1639 and 1655. Over fifteen years without his mother. That's not good for a little one to not have a steady caretaker with them. I think it really messed him up, even more so cause he's stuck with puritans (worse - American puritans, the ones who thought Cromwell was being too tolerant).

Moving from St. Mary's to Boston would have been a shock to his system, but Alfred thought it was what his mum wanted, so he listened and tried to learn. It's why he's so confused by the end of the century because he thought she was the one who had ordered him to Massachusetts. Meanwhile, the thing that actually made her get up and fight her way out of gaol was being told Alfred had been moved.

Like, imagine being a parent and thinking, even though you miss your child, you know they're safe, maybe even with a family you trust, only to be told, no, actually, they're with the very people who you were trying to shield them from. Like she really did not give two shits that she had been whipped to death the previous week, she did care of the thought of Alfred being stripped of everything that made him warm and sweet and loving and made to carry a guilt of just being alive and sins that were not his.

She took that rusted nail, stabbed her guard, jumped in the moat and through to the river, stole a horse and rode down to Cornwall before the day was out. She books it to Falmouth, has a rough ride over the Atlantic, maybe falls overboard because docking is taking too long, and washes up on shore to get to Alfred. He runs right into her sopping wet arms and does not let go for days. She probably immediately keels over and dies for five minutes from exhaustion but shh don't tell Alfred that she's just napping.

Eva immediately punts them down to Providence and then it's let's never talk about that again. I think it takes a long time for Alfred to properly digest those years.

Evelyn does not like Puritans. She does not like Calvinism or her brother's Presbyterianism. She will not be hauled up in front of a congregation and lectured for playing cards and walking unaccompanied through town unmarried, nor will she listen to anything which states that her people are damned regardless of their actions and that any form of redemption is a fool's errand (projecting). She's too vain, and is a big believer in being left the fuck alone. What she does is between her and God. No middle man - Saint or Elder - required. So, she's certainly not Catholic anymore either.

She likes Quakers, does not mind Lutherans or Methodists, and is indifferent to Catholicism so long as she isn't made to be one, enough to let Matthew practice how he wants in private, and she herself is - rather reluctantly and mainly out of habit rather than genuine belief - High Church Anglican. She'd never admit it, but she likes the idolatry and superstition that reformers railed over. Makes it rather fun. From my understanding, I think most American churches, the dozens of splinter baptist/reformed/evangelical churches etc. tend to be low church? Or is that an oversimplification maybe. Probably. But I can see how, even to the modern day where maybe Alfred and Evelyn themselves aren't like particularly religious in their day to day lives, the impact of that split is still felt.

Nations and religiosity is an interesting topic, but I really only know so much about Anglo-Scottish religious development to comment on nationhood as a whole, and the world is so much bigger than two thirds of a damp island 🫡😅

The 'problem' with the English Reformation compared to many German states or across the border in Scotland is that it was so deeply led from the top down by a 'secular' monarch and nobility and not particularly by the actual clergy. Thomas Cranmer was put in place by those in power because he promised to get a task done for Henry (marriage annulment) and used the opportunity for his own ends. Meanwhile John Knox across the border was running around converting the Scottish nobility onside with one notable exception (the monarch, but to be fair she was like 14 and in France and we all know how well it went when she came back), if that distinction makes sense.

And I think, because the English Reformation was done for such selfish reasons primarily, then ecclesiastical ones second, things like the dissolution of the monasteries, the suppression of Cornish as a language, the taking over of the Common Land all spiral out from it. From Cornwall to Oxfordshire to Yorkshire to Norfolk to the Lake District, the people on the ground were protesting this hard only to be slaughtered by the thousands.

I think Evelyn would have exited her reformation incredibly jaded. Like of course the Catholic Church was (is) broken. What spilled out of it in England was equally so. I think Evelyn wanted to protect Alfred from that, but in many ways he was impacted by those splinters just as much as she was. It's just another one of her poisons which leaked out its container. English conflicts never have the courtesy to stay in England, it always has to be someone else's problem too. So guilt, mostly, to answer your question. She would blame others, of course, but also blame herself a lot. If she was just a better person, Alfred wouldn't have suffered needlessly.

#q&a #it's sort of related but the plaque at Norwich Castle commemorating Robert Kett & the rebellion I think has perfect wording - it says:#'this memorial was placed here by the citizens of Norwich in reparation & honour to a notable & courageous leader'#'in the long struggle of the common people of England to escape from a servile life into the freedom of just conditions'#like bruh we're *still* trying 500 years later #hetalia #hws england #fem!england #hws america #headcanon #fanfic ask #historical hetalia

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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 11 months

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ELEMENTAL Projections

So apparently ELEMENTAL is on track to flop-a-doo this coming June, huh?

Recent projections made by Box Office Pro have it opening at $28m minimum, $38m maximum. They note that the picture has the chance to have those usual Pixar summer legs and break the 2020s Disney theatrical animation bad streak at the box office, and make it to around $155m domestic, which would be a fantastic total for a post-outbreak original animated movie. COCO, back in early 2018, finished up with around $209m domestically. $200m is usually an easy threshold for Pixar. Only one picture in the 21st century that wasn't a sequel missed it, that was THE GOOD DINOSAUR, which still made over $120m domestically. ONWARD I do not count, because that was cut off one week in by the pandemic.

Box Office Pro has a history of lowballing animated movies on their opening weekends, though. They also had THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE pegged for a roughly $65-90m opening, when the thing cruised well past $140m+ for the three-day alone... I knew it would top $100m easily, and I'm no box office pro... I've only made predictions for fun for about a decade, many of which concerning animated movies, haha.

They also weirdly note that the picture, being a romantic comedy, will have a hard time appealing to young boys... Okay, are young boys the ones with the money buying tickets? You know, Walt Disney had once said in an interview with the BBC in 1959:

"Well, no, you have to appeal to the adult, or... Well, the adults have money, the children don't have any money."

Interestingly, Walt had kind of cracked it when it came to making movies by that point in time. As he saw it, anyways. He had theorized that appealing to "mom" was the way to go, the target to hit. Because mom takes dad and the kids, the whole family, to check out the movie... And mom tells her friends... So on, so forth... Maybe it's not young boys that Disney should be appealing to. Remember when they tried very hard to appeal to that demographic in the late 2000s? Making major changes in animation because of that? Nearly jettisoning fairy tale stories for good and messing with movie titles for fear of boys finding them to be too girly? (I still dislike "TANGLED" as a title, to be completely honest.) I guess the romances of classic Disney animated movies were a hard sell, huh? Because boys under the age of 13 might not like them?

I'm not trying to knock the good people at BOP, by the way. I frequently enjoy their podcast and analyses, but sometimes I think they can be a little off with animated movie, and because there's a lot of internet dogpiling on this one Pixar picture that no one except the film crew has even *seen* yet... I just wanted to weigh in.

As BOP noted, and many others have noted as well, ELEMENTAL has a big uphill battle to face in the form of the Disney+ problem. We all know what that is... A lot of people, especially those who are tight on money and have to narrow their moviegoing choices every calendar year, might've been conditioned to just wait for these family movies to come to Disney+. No need to spend $100 at the multiplex on tickets, snacks, and of course take a gamble on whether the experience in a theater will be good or not... It's right there, at home, in a few months, and we got all the snacks without having to spend a mortgage on!

I've stated on here many times before that I work at a movie theater, and a major chain movie theater at that. A Cinemark. Been there for almost 8 years, and I feel I get the first-hand idea of what audiences want to see as opposed to very-online "experts" on twitter and elsewhere.

And it seems like people are digging ELEMENTAL. "Ah cool, a water and fire people movie! Looks cute!" Most of my co-workers think it looks like it's worth watching. I've seen some customers walk up to the posters and say "Is this INSIDE OUT 2?" "Hah, looks like Sharkboy and Lava Girl."

A lot of people online are writing ELEMENTAL off as generic-looking, but that might be... In a weird sense, its secret weapon.

Familiarity sometimes works for movies, and sometimes it doesn't. LIGHTYEAR, I'd argue, had trouble having some kind of longevity at the box office because of how much it deviated from what people associate with TOY STORY and the titular character. Of course, if you're me, and you knew full well what that movie was going to be (read: an actual sci-fi space adventure where Buzz is actually a space ranger, not a toy), that wasn't much of an issue. Some just genuinely didn't like the execution of it. It rung more INTERSTELLAR and '70s sci-fi movies than anything, Buzz was a little more serious here, he wasn't his toy counterpart at all nor was he the fun cartoon hero in the 2000s TV series BUZZ LIGHTYEAR OF STAR COMMAND. I get that. I myself quite enjoyed the movie, but I can totally see it how it just wouldn't gel with most audiences.

TURNING RED, I feel, would've done okay at best at the box office, not because of its perceived quality (I loved the movie), but because of - again - most audiences being very careful with their money. I keep thinking it would've made around BAD GUYS/ENCANTO numbers, $90m domestic and around $200m worldwide. Not enough to cover the usual Pixar budget... Which is typically a gargantuan $150m+... I feel they, and Walt Disney Animation Studios for that matter, shouldn't spend so damn much on their movies... It puts an unnecessary strain on them, gives them a sometimes impossible task to achieve. It soooo ain't 2003 anymore, when any CG animated movie you dropped in front of an audience was 99.99% guaranteed to make a blockbuster amount of money...

ELEMENTAL also shares June with... ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE, TRANSFORMERS LIVE-ACTION MOVIE #7, THE FLASH, RUBY GILLMAN *comma* TEENAGE KRAKEN, and INDIANA JONES 5... Wowee... And a good chunk of those movies weren't supposed to open in June 2023 in the first place, they all just ended up landing there. Pixar usually locks mid-June for a movie years in advance, and the movie could be anything, be it ELEMENTAL or TOY STORY 5. It just so happened to be ELEMENTAL... Maybe they should've moved it, just to be safe...

So, opening weekend could make or break it... But the legs will be the most important thing... And we don't know what those will be like... We have to know first and foremost, come opening day... Did audiences like it?

LIGHTYEAR got a not-so-hot A- CinemaScore, and had abysmal legs thereafter... STRANGE WORLD from WDAS was the rare family friendly animated movie release to score less than an A...

It's hard to gauge off of two animated sci-fi action movies, which have a history of... Not making blockbuster totals meant to cover ludicrously high budgets... Just ask TITAN A.E., ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE, and TREASURE PLANET. WALL-E was a sci-fi romance movie with cute robots, and that did very well. Also had that Pixar goodwill that was very strong back then. The name's not a guarantee anymore.

How do I think ELEMENTAL will do?

Animated movies that aren't sequels are usually kind of hard to track, and they seem like they'll do okay-ish at first... Until the week of release, the tracking shoots up... And word-of-mouth kicks in after opening day...

So, $28m for ELEMENTAL could very well be looking like $40m minimum within a week of its release... Opening at Cannes this coming week, if the picture is acclaimed, will look nice too. I don't see why it can't open below $40m, the only thing that could hurt it is just SPIDER-VERSE and LITTLE MERMAID being out, and families having to make tough choices. Adults w/o families will be the ones to get, if they're not as choosy. The romantic comedy angle might just make it a date movie.

Not the first time that happened... That's what Disney took total advantage of during the Disney Renaissance in the early '90s, pushing BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and ALADDIN as date movies for young adults... Oh, and it paid off nicely... A lot of people tend to overlook this, but... It's *adults* who make animated movies huge, too. Not just "kids dragging their parents" to the cinema. If that were the case, every kids' movie would be a FROZEN or MINIONS-sized blockbuster. No! Those movies make so much because a lot of adults like them, too, and there's stuff in them that appeals to adults. A novel concept, I know!

A movie like THE BAD GUYS didn't need to worry about that, being a much lower budget endeavor, ditto DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS. Even Illumination's movies don't have to worry about that, either... But Disney Animation and Pixar? They gotta hook everybody if they want to make back the $150m+ they spend on each and every movie. LIGHTYEAR seemed to turn families away and had a hard time getting adults, STRANGE WORLD seemed to appeal to no one. ENCANTO dealt with Delta and Omicron, RAYA was still a bit too early to be a theatrical release. SOUL, LUCA, TURNING RED, all straight to Disney+ releases.

It's like each new Disney animated movie release is some kind of test... ELEMENTAL is next line, and WISH will follow... And do I think ELEMENTAL can get that adult appeal?

I think so. ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE already has it built in (projections are saying $85m minimum for the opening weekend, which sounds about right, could go even higher), but does anything else coming out in June other than INDIANA JONES have it? I think audiences are largely burnt out on the Autobots, THE FLASH comes on like some big NO WAY HOME-esque event for DC but I sense a real "who cares?" aura around it, plus superhero fatigue seems to have kicked in... That's about it? RUBY GILLMAN seems muted and quiet, it probably doesn't need to make a blockbuster gross... It's very possible ELEMENTAL is the most appealing June release to... Normal people.

Online, it looks like some crap generic Pixar movie... But normal people? Who aren't there for TRANSFORMERS 7 and a DC movie that happens to have Michael Keaton Batman in it? They might be digging it. For what it's worth, when I caught the trailer in theaters before GUARDIANS VOL. 3, I heard some of the adults in the crowd laugh at the funny bits.

It's kind of a wild card, but I have kind of a good feeling about this one. Maybe... Or, come late summer, I'll be eating crow on here. I'm sure Disney Co and Pixar don't want it to fail. Especially since the smarter of the two Bob CEOs came back, the very Bob who wants to focus much more on theatrical releases than sending massive-budget movies quickly to Disney+.

So, rough prediction. Around $40-45m on opening weekend, very solid legs, over 3.5x multiplier, $140m minimum domestically and double that overseas, $400m+ worldwide finish. We shall see...

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