#⋆｀. meta‚ there’s this way she looks at you ‚ like the sun at the stars.

[eldeir]

i’ve been thinking a lot about how to mesh t.wilight and t.vd vampires and i think i’ve settled on this :  valora was changed by an otherworldly being (  a god  ) .  the t.vd originals are approximately in their 1000s ,  valora is in her 7000s .  esther used the rumors of valora and her kind as inspiration for her spell ,  thus creating the original spell-changed vampires .  so yes ,  technically the m.ikaelsons still count as originals ,  just of their specific offshoot of vampires .

#⋆｀. meta‚ there’s this way she looks at you ‚ like the sun at the stars. #⋆｀. ooc‚ i should probably be working.

[raayllum]

This post from @imminent-danger-came got me thinking about the sun in TDP, well, and let's look into it

First things first:

The Sun in TDP is, currently, set in the most opposition to dark magic. Some of this is because the other primals are relatively unexplored (Earth), are thematically adjacent to dark magic (Moon because of death/deception, Star for obvious reasons, Ocean more recently) or exist on a meta level but not an in-universe one, i.e. Sky magic is set in opposition to dark / star magic through Callum ("my breath for freedom") but we don't know enough about Skywing culture / seen enough Skywing elves to know anything beyond him.

Meanwhile, the absence of the Sun is often seen as synonymous with dark magic

and/or is used to purify / hide and reveal dark magic within the text.

There is a reason, after all, that Karim believes if he can heal Sol Regem's eyes — if he can get rid of the dark magic — that it will let Sol Regem "convince [his people] that the sun will shine again." That Karim thinks "the sun will never shine again for me" is related solely to the physical affects of dark magic, and none of the emotions Sol Regem has felt ("I lost my hope long before I lost my sight").

We see this dichotomy of light being more good and nighttime/darkness being more bad even in S1, as Harrow and Viren hope to find the Moonshadow elves ("in the light of the day") before they become unstoppable / death incarnate at night and at the Cursed Caldera, in which Ellis asserts that come nightfall, "the nightmare is about to begin".

However, as you can probably already tell, this relationship of Sun vs dark magic as oppositional forces is already more than muddled just as the dichotomy of light = good and dark = bad in the show is, too.

We see this prominently with the repeated combination of corrupted Sun magic not only in the hearts of cinder spell that Viren used the relic and sun staff to create, but also in Claudia's continual wielding of the corrupted sun staff

and in Karim's employment of Kim'Dael. Karim just implied that humans allowed evil (dark magic) to flourish because they were weak ("You are lesser beings") just as Sol Regem believed, and it seems Pharos is thinking along the same lines here: isn't Kim'Dael "evil" because she uses dark magic too?

Because she's a Moon dark magic, and the opposite of the Sun and purity and light in every way he can think of, even when Pharos — a Sunfire priest who believes in Karim — has been corrupted and infected, too. And yeah some of this is to point out Karim being hypocritical and losing his way and inevitably things, such as him having the Sun Seed, are not going to go according to plan.

But I do want to take it one step further and say that the Sun — seeing a new day — is not necessarily void of dark or Star magic-y connotations, after all.

Whether it's the importance of the Sun's first light, spoken by mages who are either unknowingly (and likely to be) pawns of Aaravos

or that doing dark magic and playing into Aaravos' hands would've secured Viren seeing a new day.

Although dark magic is, seemingly, more associated with night because, well, darkness, obviously...

It's not just that the Great Orb was corrupted, but that Lux Aurea itself fell, giving way to corrupted creatures, infected by another combination of Sun and Dark magic

It's that dark magic, I think, grows and festers and consumes everything until light and dark — day and night — are synonymous with each other, until they become a singular thing like Aaravos. That there's no escaping it. There's no "choice".

Or at least, that's what it wants you to think.

#tdp #tdp meta #the dragon prince #analysis series #primal magic #dark magic #analysis #parallels #multi #i feel like i lost my thread half way through but listen. i had fun #light and darkness motif #theme: duality

[stellarred]

CAUSE VS. CANON: Making the Case for Qcard

*Warning: May trigger some Qcard shippers*

I had an interesting conversation with a friend yesterday about loving certain dynamics in stories, like Star Trek's Qcard for example, and how nitpicker fans and shippers analyze the writers' work, the actors' performances, etc. to show that a dynamic/relationship is true/canon.

She insisted that if you look hard enough to find proof that a relationship between two characters is canon, or has validity, you will find it "*simply because you want it to be true, even if it's not.*" 😡😡😡

She called it "nitpicking for a cause."

As a devoted and longtime Qcard shipper, I bristled at her comment, and I proceeded to explain how writers intentionally weave dynamics into their scripts and stories through devices, including: parallels, such as STP S2's Q/Picard and Teresa/Rios, and through lines, such as STP S1: the butterfly motif, (Q)ueen cards, (Picard's unusual luck in surviving the explosion), which led to S2 Q's butterfly comments, the S2 trailer (Q)ueen card, The Sun/Q motif, Q, of course, and his lesson to Picard about opening himself up to love, so that he could be chosen by someone else to be loved in return. Then, in S3, we had Q's last minute return signaled by the Sun, and Picard allowing himself to love Jack and being accepted by Jack.

I also pointed out that Trek writers choose very specific words for actors to use at unusual times to indicate dynamics, too.

Ex: Picard (S2): I always filed Q as *unknowable.*

@porgthespacepenguin and @celestialholz both have meta-analyses on Qcard that beautifully prove Qcard as canon by the writers.

She still insisted at this point that I was nitpicking, intellectualizing dialogue, and over-analyzing all because I WANTED Qcard to be real.

Finally, I told her that writers, such as Cindy Appel, producers, like Akiva Goldsman, and Ron D. Moore, as well as actors Patrick Stewart and John de Lancie backed it up, too.

She then said, "Well, De Lancie was told to act a certain way and read the script."

I then pounced, saying that although actors follow scripts, they do have some agency in their performance. John de Lancie and Patrick Stewart both made deliberate choices in their portrayals, using certain types of body language, voice inflections, facial expressions that added credence to Qcard.

At this point, she gave up the fight and smartly so.

I mean for her or anyone else to suggest we Qcard shippers find those nuances/subtext/indications woven into a script and performance out of a desire or desperation for it to be canon irritates me.

My friend then asked me, "Why can't you just casually watch something, like Star Trek and enjoy it for what it is? Why all this analysis?"

It's a fair question.

I guess it's because while I can casually watch something and enjoy it at face value, other things, such as Qcard are like finding gold dust on the ground. You see gold on the surface, and it's great. You could make some money from selling that gold dust, sure.

But, if you dig just a bit deeper, you find a rich gold mine worth much more. Much more satisfying.

So, what do you think?

Was my friend correct in saying we Qcard shippers analyze and nitpick for The Cause?

Or, are we actually on to something?

#qcard #star trek q #q #john de lancie #patrick stewart #star trek tng #star trek #stp #debate #qcard is undeniable #casual viewer's pov

[aseuki]

I'm not entirely sure which ones were asked yet, so just do whoever you want for these emoji:

🥘☀️🌙🍒

[ask meme]

Ah, for sure!! *rubs my little hands together*

Oh this ended up WAY longer than I expected so shoving it all under a cut to spare everyone's dashes!

🥘 (Stew) - Do they have any favourite foods or comfort foods? What are their eating habits like? If absorbed by the Cook ability, what healing item would they summon?

Stell's favorite food is strawberry shortcake! Freshly-baked goods are a rare commodity when one is an interstellar wanderer, so they definitely take whatever chance to grab one when running errands planetside.

Outside of the occasional treasured sweet, much of Stell’s diet actually comes from the produce he personally grows in his star through hydroponics! They’re surprisingly quite good, when he does remember to eat haha

For Phemus, she likes to claim that her favorite food is whatever sludge they call coffee in the Underworld Office Break Room asdkfjsdfkn

Under the Cook Ability I think he deserves to drop Battery Acid Spaghetti -50 hp don't eat this

or an actual food item though it'd most likely be the soft serve ice cream cone! Cold and sweet! Little guy is like the snowball after all

it’s honestly debateable whether she actually drinks it or simply pretends to and makes slurping noises to piss off her coworkers >:’D I think she’s pretty partial to the idea of freshly baked bread though, especially something sweet like brioche 🤔

If shoved in the big cooking pot I think she’d drop an orange cream soda! Fizzy and colorful!

☀️ (Sun) - What’s their morning routine like? Do they take a lot of time getting ready in the morning? How do they groom themselves? What are they having for breakfast?

Stell's routine is relatively simple: get up, check in with Anima to see if he missed anything while unconscious, and work from there! Any urgent issues will lead to jumping immediately to work, but if allowed to work at their own pace, they'll take a moment to grab a quick bite and maybe fit in a training session before hopping back to fixing Anima up--working on a planet-sized piece of clockwork is hard work after all! Most of the big personal hygeine is taken care of at the end of the day, so that he can wash off all the grime and grease and dust en masse before bed haha

Phemus is like that weird fucking coworker who you never really see clock in and yet she’s always there before you who knows what her AM routine is like asdkfjn her daily routine is to get up, ✨manifest✨. Sparkle on, it's Monday!

🌙 (Moon) - Is your OC a particularly light or heavy sleeper? Somewhere in-between? Do they take naps?

Answered for Stell here, but for Phemus, it's virtually impossible to catch her actually sleeping on the job--she likes to pretend to when it's funny (or when she's slacking) but don't be fooled by the incredibly obvious snork-mimimimis

🍒 (Cherry) - Out of all of the Dream Friends [Kirby included], which ones would they get along with the most? The least?

Looks at Stell and their extremely asocial nature. Honestly, the question may be who would tolerate each other the most asdkfjn That being said, Meta Knight or Dark Meta Knight have the highest chances for allowing mutual tolerance since they’re both the least likely to poke into his business outside of the inevitable challenge for a spar (which he’d happily oblige).

As for who he’d get along with the least, well it’s said that like repels like, and let’s just say the nuclear fallout of Stell and Susie’s egos clashing would be. Something, to say the least!

For Phemus, her easygoing nature makes her pretty likely to gel with just about anyone, but for the sake of the prompt I’d say her gossipmongering ways would earn her a pretty steady friendship with Daroach, canonically the chattiest motherfucker in the entire kirby canon asdkfjn

It’s hard to imagine her not getting along with anyone in particular, but I can see some of the more reserved folks being repelled by her outgoing demeanor. On her end though, I can likely see her initially approaching someone like Gooey with some level of unease and confusion before settling into ‘ah, this is just how he is!’ and moving right back to being pretty amicable!

That's all I got for now, thank you so much for the ask Kachi!!

#qna #Kirby oc ask meme #stell #parhelion knight #phemus #strix #daroach #susie haltmann #gooey #dark meta knight #morpho knight #??? I Guess???? #aseukiart #doodles #Went waaaaay overboard in drawing doodles for these but consider. It was Fun #Playing the fun game of 'which of these canon kirby characters Haven't I properly drawn yet' #the answer is Many #it seems #definition of 'properly' being in my actual style and not the tinyass chibis I did for my keychains asdkfjn #was going insane in a car for like 3 days straight though I think I deserve doing a billion little doodles :)

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: "An Inside Man"

The beginning of my endless stressed paranoia about Thrawn, also obvious reveal is obvious.

I expect this recap to be pretty breezy, I've already liveblogged this episode once.

Hoo boy I cannot tell you the amount of tension there was before this episode. The TV adverts were packaging the footage from both this and "Visions And Voices" together in order to hype up the midseason closer, before the show went on break for the winter.

So you know, the hype was real.

Let's get into it.

[EDIT: Oh screw you, Tumblr, that was a whole forty minutes of work that you just ate, this is ridiculous.]

Right, so that's not subtle at all.

In addition to leaning heavily into the "Axis-occupied territory in WWII" aesthetic, the smog around Capital City is so much thicker, practically a new ozone layer, ammonia yellow in color. That is not sunset that is the city lights bouncing off the cloud of pollution wafting through their streets.

I haven't mentioned it before but Taylor Gray sometimes has this way of pronouncing the word "my" that gives Ezra just a little bit more of a "folksy" drawl, fitting for an Outer Rim farming planet. I do love how you can kind of "geolocate" where different characters come from by how they talk. High British or Imperial British accent? Core World. Southern American drawl? Outer Rim.

Now imagine Pryce with an accent like Ezra's and remember that every time she speaks she's totally faking her Core World accent. XD

Looks a bit like downtown LA, frankly. Minus the skyscrapers.

Yeah no, still love this shot Ezra pulls off while balancing precariously on the speeder engine. Such skill. Much badass.

The Kanan-Ezra tag team against the walker is great too.

Oh! Just noticed the non-fanfare titlecard has a bit of the dark male chorus from Thrawn's theme. Nice.

Something nice to note, the show does multiple chase sequences on this highway and none of them feel identical to each other. They're all uniquely staged.

I rewatched a couple times and the second speeder was actually taken out by debris from the first, bouncing forward and ricocheting off something.

Fitting right in with the WWII theme, internal saboteurs at the Imperial factories is very French Resistance. I honestly didn't expect to see the Sumars again so this was a pleasant surprise. Also a bit sad now, considering what happens.

*whispers* They paralleled Mr. Sumar's first conversation with Ezra.

This attack on Lothal's factories has been in the planning for a while now, since Season Two at least I think. Even though we were driven off Lothal, it's never been far from mind, and we've been constantly trying to get back there to liberate it. To Phoenix Cell and the Alliance it's a matter of strategy, of crippling or slowing down the Empire's war machine, but for the Spectres, for Ezra, it's personal, and it's been their focus from the very beginning. (Mostly. Ezra does get sidetracked with his obsession of personally destroying the Sith. More to meta ramble about that later when we get to "Twin Suns".)

Ha ha I remember when we all thought that the "new type of weapon" being referenced here was the Death Star. And personally, as I've said before, I still think Lothal was heavily involved in the Death Star's construction, that process was spread out across multiple Outer Rim worlds, resources and materials gathered from all over the place to keep it secret.

But once they introduced Thrawn they kind of had to give him a personal connection to Lothal, too. His rivalry with Hera wouldn't have cut it, that can play out anywhere, in any theater. (Hera's own stake in Lothal is also tenuous, generic, halfway between Ezra's personal drive and the Alliance's practical strategic considerations.) His being there at Pryce's bequest to help quell the Rebellion there offers no personal incentive outside of serving the Empire. But putting him in charge of the TIE Defender's development is perfect, in-character and easy to fit into what had already been established about Lothal, that it was a primary location where new TIEs were being produced.

Recall that Thrawn is not opposed to the Empire's tyrannical authoritarianism but he does think it's often ineffective. Advocating for the development of superior starfighters is right up his alley. If Thrawn had had his way or Palpatine had listened to him more, the resources, materials, and labor pooled into the showy but money-guzzling Death Star would have gone instead to bolstering the Empire's naval superiority, into better faster starfighters, more Inderdictors, and more capital ships like the Super Star Destroyers. Things to counteract the Alliance's flashbang hit and run tactics.

And the Rebellion probably would have lost.

So yeah, giving Thrawn a pet project specialized TIE fighter to be developed and constructed on Lothal was the perfect narrative decision.

...I went way off into the weeds there didn't l? Lol. Where was I?

Right, infiltrating the factory.

Love when Mr. Sumar asks Ezra if has any manufacturing experience and when he admits no, Ryder laughs and says he'll fit right in. Commie-style forced labor gang-pressing yaaaaaay!

Once again, the imagery is very deliberate and not at all subtle.

Ezra grew up on Lothal and he doesn't know who Pryce is on sight. This bitch been shirking her planetary governing duties for literal years, busy trying to be "hip and in with the cool kids" as it were, the perfect Imperial suck-up and sycophant.

A large part of Thrawn's effectiveness as a villain in Rebels is that you never quite know just how much he knows at any given time. Was his coming to the factories to inspect them just an unlucky coincidence or did he know Kanan and Ezra were going to be there? Is he just Dangerously Genre Savvy? How does he keep turning up in places right when the Rebels have made their move? It stressed me the crap out when I was originally watching, gave me hella Paranoia Fuel, and made his presence in every scene just that much more uncomfortable.

Like right here, with this scene where they linger just long enough on Thrawn observing the disguised Ezra to make you nervous, and the feeling lingers even though he steps away, because you almost think he picks Sumar out of the line-up because Ezra's there, targeting him for execution (basically) in order to flush Ezra out.

Also, btw, love the menacing cellos that accompany Thrawn's footsteps into frame.

The absolute slow dread and dramatic irony of this whole scene. D: It just builds and builds and then explodes (literally and figuratively), Thrawn's theme coming in full strength to emphasize the horror of the moment.

See, Thrawn's not above Make An Example Of Them when he thinks it's effective. (See also having Rukh behead that one officer in Legends canon.)

Lyste, you really should start questioning when Imperial astromech droids act crazy randomly around you lol.

It's a smidge distractingly fortuitous that there's always a convenient Scout Trooper around for Ezra to steal the armor off of.

This scene between Pryce, Kallus, and Thrawn is like some kind soothing British ASMR, everyone's voices are just so calm and smooth.

Ooof, Thrawn's rare displays of emotion are always a big deal, I flinched just from this tiny flash of anger.

Something else effective about Thrawn's presence is just how much more competent other Imperials start acting when he's around. Not officers like Lyste or Konstantine but the low-level grunts always seem more keen to cop on to things, just a bit smarter and more ruthless, when Thrawn's in an episode, like he brings them up to more rigorous standards of performance just by being there.

Probably why Pryce immediately falls apart and makes stupid impulsive decisions as soon as he's more than thirty feet away from her lol.

So there's Sabine's wall graffiti, already pulled off the building, I think that painting is from TCW, there's Ezra cadet picture, the mosaic from the Syndulla house, and a bunch of ancient Loth-cave scribblings.

I suspect Thrawn grabbed the retaining wall for the starbird (incidentally getting the Loth-cat drawing he'd later use to identify Sabine's work on Ezra's helmet in "Through Imperial Eyes"), and the cave paintings, obviously, because ancient Lothal culture.

Once again, Thrawn's deductions are razor sharp, but not OP. He's noticed the Phoenix cell has a particular attachment to Lothal, thus they will inevitably try to return to it.

Slowed down and replayed Kallus revealing himself a couple times just to look at this fight, Kanan starts by elbowing Kallus straight in the collar. Kallus reflexively throws a punch which gets pushed aside by Ezra. Kallus almost kitten bats the two of them before Kanan pins him to the wall.

Still LOVE how utterly flabbergasted Kanan and Ezra are at the reveal and how much grief they continue to give him after it lol.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: Kallus gives his very slight double-take at Kanan when Kanan pulls off his helmet, like he's surprised to see the scarring across his eyes.

Living for how much Ezra just casually bullies Kallus here. <3

"Or perhaps... an expected one." Lol nope, I can safely assure you, Thrawn, they did NOT expect Kallus to be Fulcrum.

Case in point about Thrawn's mere presence making everyone else more competent, the AT-AT pilots immediately question the AT-DP's presence.

This was really clever, having Ezra drive the chicken walker behind the AT-AT and use it for cover. I may have mentioned but it bears repeating.

MONEY SHOT.

Back when the show was airing and people were speculating about eventual defeats for Thrawn I think I was one of the very small number of people rooting for Marida Sumar to get to shoot him in the face.

Still want that AU.

TIE Defenders be no joke, people. They are fast, agile, shielded, and they have hyperdrives. They would have shredded the best the Alliance had.

Still love Zeb's chagrined grimace in the background there.

Ngl, once again, the ambiguity of "Just how much does Thrawn know?" is scarily effective. Thrawn's addressing Kallus seems deliberately calculated, like he's making some kind of subtle threat.

And whew!

After the shaky quality of the last episode this return to form is quite a relief. The tension is tightly wound and palpable throughout, and there's a genuine sense of danger. Thrawn is placidly competent. We suffer an actual loss. Everything is pretty much excellent this episode, even without the benefit of seeing Kallus's turn we believe it.

Love rewatching this one. <3

#star wars #star wars rebels #ezra bridger #agent kallus #grand admiral thrawn #rebels rewatch #liveblog

[bowties8glasses]

Hoshihou Project - A illustrated mock-up for a Touhou-style Kirby fangame I thought of in 2019

Prologue:

“Colorful stars started flying through the night skies of Dream Land, capable of granting the wishes of any kind to those of simple and good heart, it’s magic is quite impressive. Curious about its origin, a certain knight found their origin to be a mysterious observatory, sealed extremely shut and resistant to many powerful magic

Over time, as the observatory remained a mystery, and as some friends of a certain puffball witnessed the colorful wish-granting stars, the reputation of them became known throughout the galaxy, turning the peaceful land in popstar into quite a busy tourist attraction

That leads us to when the game begins, flying red crystals are swarming the sky, attacking those on their way

Their destination? seems to be observatory”

---

Player Characters:

---

Stage 1

Our player character starts their chase towards the crystals. They get stopped by… a fairy? She and Ribbon know each other but doesn’t matter who, she ends up attacking them, she seems very apologetic about doing it though

(The Fairy design is taken from a artwork during the credits of Kirby 64, I like to call them Carrot)

Stage 2

Reaching the seaside, they met an artist with currently a big drive to create, so much so that she thinks the player character could really help her through some friendly fire, they don’t get to say no, though Gooey and Kirby don’t mind

Defeating Vividria, she seems satisfied with how her work turned out

Stage 3

The midway point, the sun starts setting down, at this point, you encounter one of the other playable characters, through communication mishap, fighting ensues

Stage 4

The player character starts flying to the top of the Bubbly Clouds, reaching the mysterious observatory, they find not just another fairy, but the queen of Ripple Star, she seems to be looking for someone before being startled by you, when asked what she’s been doing, or if she knows where the red crystals are coming form, she, just like the fairy at the start, apologetically begins to fight you

After the fight however, a huge red bean suddenly is shot towards the observatory, opening a crater, the crystals start entering, the Player Character following their path

Stage 5

The observatory turned out to be much bigger on the inside than the outside, many of the red crystal are getting destroyed by some defense mechanism, with the player character having to dodge both until being greeted by Meta Knight

It seems he saw the crater open, and quickly flew caught up with you, and now he wants a fight to see who will continue further

Stage 6

The figure behind the falling stars finally appears, a cat-like being, seemingly related to clockwork stars, named Dreamy.

They do not however, find any of the Player Characters very amicable, especially after invading their home

(Dreamy is my OC, inspired by many how Gijinka artist would interpret the clockwork stars)

Ending:

Despite everything, Dreamy becomes friendly towards the player after the fight, chatting about themselves

Dreamy took residence in Dream Land, watching its inhabitants within their observatory and granting wishes to those they find to be nice and of pure heart

In the end, Dreamy had nothing to do with the red crystals, so who's behind them?

Extra Stage

Looking for the red crystal's whereabouts, the Player Character enters a area crowded with them. After dodging a large number of bullets, they met get stopped by... a fairy? This one has a very unusual appearance

She introduces herself as "Remiss", and she may be the one to have opened the crater in the observatory... and she's very hostile towards you

if you manage to win against Remiss, you're suddenly greeted by... her sister?

Her name is "Razzle" as she gleefully tells you, she's much more child-like and friendly, especially towards Gooey (first time meeting someone with similar eyes).

Razzle talks about how she heard about this planet having wish granting stars and how she really wanted a wish so she "summed friends" to find one for her. Those friends were the red crystals

Razzle grows to like you, she asks if you want to play with her, starting before you get to answer.

After winning against Razzle, she's shortly interrupted by Queen Ripple, She says she's been looking for Razzle and Remiss all over Dream Land, and that Razzle's friends have been causing a huge mess

Razzle reacts surprised before apologizing and saying she's gonna call her friends to stop.

Razzle then waves you a goodbye, like a kid having to leave the playground

(Razzle and Remiss are both my OC, they’re Fairies born bearing the remnants of dark matter)

---

Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed.

This is a project I was planning to turn into a real fangame, but after some year it just feelt like it was just holding me back from other ideas I was growing more invested in. but I didn’t want to scrap it entirely, so I made this fun mockup and told my fun little story through it :>

#Kirby #Gooey #Ribbon #queen ripple #vividria #meta knight #kirby oc #big bowties post #bowties art #HoshiHou Project

[comicaurora]

Hey Red, longtime fan of your channel and as of yesterday Aurora binge-reader

I have a few questions about your comic, answer as many or as few or as none at all as you want, and I apologize in advance for my physics-and-worldbuilding-junkie lizard brain that absolutely adores and wants to grok your awesome fantasy series, Please know this all comes from my own insatiable curiosity and passion for your comic

First of all, the metal caste gets their free will from recieving a spark at puberty, or from being struck by lightning and being "chosen", but could a mage give a spark to an unsparked metal caste by zapping them with lightning? could you be zapped multiple times? what happens if an already sparked metal caste is struck by lightning?

Do certain subgroups of humans that were elementally influenced or evolved show specific proclivities towards respective elements? (like are there a lot of stone mage metal-castes)

What are the crystal caste and where did they come from/were first mentioned either in a post or in the story? Rattle off as many varieties and their general deal as you want

Would the inhabitants of aurora ever have to retool or add new holidays if in the future any significant enough conceptual gods arise?

Is the white dragon real in the sense of as VD's opposite or is she just not real/is just a created god

If so, what's the actual source of the paladin's magic and how does it fit in with the elements?

Can gods channel the elements and be mages?

If so, why didn't VD posses the twins or have a god created for him to channel magic through?

how is VD even able to influence anything if he's stuck inside the adamantine prison?

if the white dragon is real, does she correspond to an eighth element?

is the eighth element soul?

if not what is soul? and is anything in this world not made of "elements" in the "stuff made from a primordial or whatever made them" way?

is adamantine made of the same stuff as soul?

are there more than eight elements?

where do stars come from?

where did the moons come from?

are there more planets besides the world we know?

do they have living things?

does the amalgam star look kind of like the green sun from homestuck (look it up)

do the other 4 promordials (and the 1-2 dragons) have progenitors like life's amalgam star and fire's two mysterious parents?

is or was there a whole society of primordials out in space?

If the promordials happened to develop a different language/alphabet would their great runes look different?

And some fun meta questions and comments:

I love the auroran calender, being that it is far more mathmatically clean and consistent than our own, (I watched your Thoth gambles with the moon video), is this sort of wish fufillment? I also love how you incorporated some chaos back in with the red moon sword and added a three day intercalery period

What are some common tropes you knowingly subverted or played with when writing the story?

It's extremely refreshing that Kendal doesn't have "chosen one" angst, instead he has much more subdued "no one will get hurt because of me" and "am I human?" angst

What's your opinion on tv tropes, (I for one, have wasted so many hours on it)

Did the primordials have a super-fun six man band dynamic?

who was the comic relief?

What's your actual opinion on Erin (I find his character super fun/compelling and I find his hubris hilarious)

The god mechanics have kind of a neil gaiman feel, I love it!

Vash gives off extreme shonen protagonist vibes (like goku + thor + spiderman) Is this on purpose? I love it

Kendal also seems pretty shonen protagonisty

Could you make an entire chapter where Erin just reads one of his magic textbooks and we get an in depth look at the study of magic and everything the people in the story know about it (I'm kidding of course but I also would actually eat that up like chocolate pudding because I'm a total lore junkie)

And sorry this is soooo long, you prob won't respond and I don't want to annoy you, just really curious and excited about your comic!

Holy heck, okay, let's count it down

The lightning that sparks a metal-caste cannot be influenced by another will - so a mage's lightning won't have this effect. If an already-sparked metal-caste is struck by lightning they receive a Second Spark and become a Stormbreaker.

Yep! For instance, almost all Ignans are fire mages.

The Crystal Caste live on the Helm-East continents and were influenced by the increased presence of Stone's bones, which are the source of all natural crystal. They haven't been mentioned in the comic yet, but have been discussed some out here. They're allegedly ruled by the Adamant Caste located on the northern continent, a family descended from the first Adamant King who led a rebellion against the magically dominant Glassfolk that once ruled the region. They possess the unique ability to control and redirect magic other people cast, even more rare among the Crystal-Caste who are very rarely mages of any kind. Under the Adamant Caste on the equatorial continent are three empires in a tense stalemate - the militarily powerful Sapphire Empire, the naturally-protected Ruby Empire shielded by a mountain range and a vast desert, and the weaker Emerald Empire that sprawls on the eastern coast and has only maintained its power at a level comparable to the other two through uniquely cunning tactics and a habit of accepting the talents of non-Crystal-Caste into the court - even some ferin.

Not unless they wanted to. The gods that get festivals are the ones it's easy to theme a party around.

Unknown!

See above!

Nope! The gods control the elements in a completely different way than mortals do. Rather than channeling elemental energy/primordial souls, they seem to impose their own soul on the elements they wish to manipulate, embodying it and reshaping it that way.

See above!

The Void Dragon is a living primordial being. We have no parameters for what abilities we can expect him to have, as all the other primordials we know of are dead. Evidently he can exert a degree of surveillance and physical control outside of his body. Maybe that's something all primordials could do!

Presumably the Light Dragon would correspond to an eighth element.

If soul energy is an element like the other primordials, it doesn't behave the same way any of them do, and it seems to universally permeate everywhere anyone has looked so far.

The nature and origin of soul energy is unknown. The Collector would very much like an answer to the same question!

Adamant is the perfect balanced fusion of the six elemental primordials, and it's a physical substance. Soul energy is a typically invisible energy that permeates everything. They are not the same thing.

Confirmed yes, starmetal is not any of the known elements and is theorized to be literal cooled shards of dead stars. Thus we know there are more elements out there, even if it is just one more element.

The origins of stars are largely unknown, but some observers with very good telescopes claim that new stars sometimes appear in luminous gassy nebulas.

The moons are the destroyed remains of Stone's armaments - a sword and a tower shield. Without him, over time they crumbled and gravity took over. That's why they're called Sword and Shield.

Unknown!

See above!

Pretty dope but no, it's much weirder than that

Yes!

Unknown but possible!

Evidence suggests that the runic language is the writing system of the Primordials, so by definition the runes would look the same.

META QUESTIONS:

Definitely wish fulfillment on my part. I just like it when things evenly divide other things. Is that so wrong?

Oh so many. Chief among them is the Easy Romantic Subplot Between The Male Lead And The First Girl. There was a draft (when I was like eleven) where of course that was going to be a thing, and then I realized I super didn't need to do anything I didn't want to do, and their relationship can just be whatever. Outside of that I don't tend to think of storytelling in terms of what tropes to avoid so much as I let the characters do what makes sense for them, and sometimes that means skipping over more easy stock plots or sources of conflict.

Kendal's flavor of angst is, in my opinion, significantly more relatable than "boohoo having a cosmic destiny and awesome sword is really sad and I wish my life was boring", like even though that's probably what WOULD happen I like this a lot more

love me some TVTropes, I spent like six months in highschool devouring as much of it as I could find and emerged changed - an elevated being, one could say. To this day I like going on TVTropes after I finish a series and just reading through the bite-sized analysis and highlights.

yeup!

definitely Lightning

I love Erin very much. I write a lot of paragons who will always try to do the most morally right thing they can manage - so it's very refreshing to write somebody who literally thinks he's too smart for that. Erin has a moral compass - he even follows it sometimes - but he prides himself on prioritizing real things like knowledge and power. Erin will use any tools he has available to succeed - in theory. In practice he's rigidly principled and it frustrates him immensely. Erin is like a "season 1 villain turned season 2 grumpy ally" except we fully skipped season 1. Erin is also convinced he's the main character, which is very funny to me. Also sometimes it's just fun to write someone being a huge dick to people who deserve it, and since I have a lot of protagonists who either can't or won't stand up for themselves, letting Erin loose on the people hurting them is very cathartic.

Thanks! Neil Gaiman's attitude towards gods definitely influenced me, although I put my own spin on it to make it work in a way I actually fully enjoyed.

Vash's protagonist vibes are absolutely intentional. He is the hero of the wrong story - every brash, powerful, badass protagonist trait I like rolled into one. Literally the most mortifyingly known I've ever felt was when I sent the first chapter to a friend of mine and she saw the first page he talked on and immediately responded "so this dude is based on Inuyasha right?"

Kendal has the outward appearance of the most classic hero I could construct, but on the inside is very different - a lot more melancholy and very laser-focused on his task, caring achingly deeply but slowly learning to let himself be cared for in return. Many hero's journeys focus on the protagonist's personal desires and flaws distracting them from their inevitable quest, but I thought it would be interesting if Kendal had the exact opposite problem - a being driven by a singular heroic purpose learning to let himself do and feel literally anything else.

if we ever get to the Mage Academy this could very well happen and that is a threat

#asks #aurora #long post

[wanderingwomanwondering]

Buddie 611 Meta - The Sun & The World

*aka the cosmos/universe theme strikes again*

Buck has been accused of being self-centered several times in the show, especially in past season. Basically every main character at one point or another has made this claim about him. That criticism became lodged in Buck’s mind over the years. How could it not?! The people around him saw his attention-loving daredevil behavior among other things as self-centered (affectionate, because “Buck’s gonna Buck”). With Eddie, we saw him make this claim to Buck specifically about their relationship and the strain it caused several times during the lawsuit arc in s3. I think through the previous seasons, Eddie was the most vocal with this criticism and was pretty much the only one to ground this criticism in his PERSONAL relationship with Buck.

In 305 Rage, the infamous grocery store argument:

Buck: Look, man, why can’t you see my side of this?

Eddie: ‘Cause that’s all you see!

And in 306 Monsters during their reconciliation at the firehouse:

Eddie: Lotta “I”s in there. Your actions, your choices, they impact the rest of us. That’s what it means to be part of a team.

And in 309 Fallout during THE Kitchen Scene:

Eddie: Seriously? You’re gonna make it about you, again?

Basically, Buck took that past criticism to heart, like you do when you care about the people around you and you care about what they think of you to a healthy degree. That brain weasel surfaces in an interesting way in 611 via the coma dream. 

But that old criticism takes on a different flavor in coma land, because the dialogue in the episode evokes the idea of a planet circling its star, which lifts it out of the realm of just Buck’s ego and places it firmly in the Cosmos/Universe symbolism that’s so interwoven with the Buckley Diaz Family!

In 611, Buck is talking to Hen and Chim about Bobby and then Buck’s mind takes and interesting turn:

Buck: My not being at the 118 is what pushed him over the edge.

Hen: Or maybe it was just some random butterfly effect and the entire world doesn’t revolve around you.

Buck: Eddie Diaz.

Hen is Buck’s “reality” check. In the coma dream, as an echo of Buck’s own thought process, she tries to humble him. But somewhere in Buck’s mind he also knows that he is deeply loved and that he matters. The whole episode was about him starting to consciously realize and accept that fact so that he could return to his real life and thrive. He’s working to replace his bravado (ultimately a performance on some level) with an understanding that he actually does matter.  So, in Buck’s coma dream, when Hen evokes the idea of Buck as the sun and everyone else as the world revolving around him, she both echoes old ego wounds AND she creates space in Buck’s head for him to figure out that he’s not the center of the universe in any grand sense but that he does bring light and love to his loved ones just by being himself, a bright sun. He doesn’t fully get it in terms of Bobby until the end of the ep, but dream!Hen’s criticism initiates the workshop process of Buck truly seeing his influence in other people’s lives.

After the Bobby realization starts to percolate, Buck immediately asks about Eddie. It matters that it is immediately after Hen’s comment about the world not revolving around Buck. I’ll come back to that.

Hen: They said that Diaz was unfit. That he couldn’t be a firefighter and a single dad. He tried to bring him to the firehouse a few times, but Captain Righetti said no.

Buck: [flashback and then] Carla. He never met Carla.

Buck eventually saw his role in Bobby’s life but he dropped the ball with Eddie! Buck thinks that Eddie would have lost Christopher if he never met Carla. Our guy removes himself from that equation entirely. Despite the fact that up to the flashback point in the coma dream, Buck was the one who introduced Eddie and Carla in the queerest way possible! Buck was the one who assuaged Eddie’s fears about Chris during the earthquake and took Eddie to pick up Chris after the earthquake and went to the hospital with Eddie when Abuela broke her hip!!! Buck, it wasn’t Carla who changed Eddie’s life; you did that, my guy!! But Buck can’t see it. Not yet. 

Back to my point about Buck immediately thinking of Eddie after Hen tells him the world doesn’t revolve around him. So, this is Buck’s deep dark subconscious. I took that whole exchange to mean that Buck’s world does in fact revolve around Eddie and Chris. In reality, Buck has centered Eddie and Chris since he and Eddie took vows to have each others’ backs in 201. Buck has been doing The Most since that day. He faltered in the lawsuit arc but came back strong and hasn’t wavered even a little since then, dropping everything when needed to be there for his family. The Diazes are the center of Buck’s world and some part of him knows that but that part isn’t conscious yet, hence the Chris of it all asking him to help him find his dad plus Chris’ words to him being the signal to his coma brain that he needed to get back to the hospital in order to wake up.

It’s also super important that Buck’s thought process while talking to Hen in the coma dream is about Eddie as a single dad in particular. He didn’t think of it as Eddie being without resources/support. No. He framed it as him being a single dad. That means that Buck was aware on some level that he was stepping up and stepping into a co-parenting role for Chris with Eddie!! Some part of Buck knows that he buffered Eddie against the fallout of being a single dad. Abuela had health issues and then moved back to Texas. Tia Pepa had circumstances that limited her involvement with her nephew and Chris. Carla is a paid professional (echoed in her distraction technique with the nurse!) but Buck is Eddie’s actual partner in every way. He is the one who’s keeping Eddie from truly being a single dad. Based on Buck’s coma dream, I repeat: some part of his beautiful brain knows that!!

Going back to the fandom read that “Buck is the sun” - Eddie and Chris love Buck and he’s their light especially in dark times. We’ve seen it repeatedly. It was featured in the scene where Chris and Eddie visit Buck in his room. He’s illuminated by the lamp above the bed while Eddie weeps in the dark. Even in a coma, that man is lighting up their life! But in that particular scene, Buck is a distant sun and Eddie is struggling to feel the light. Chris isn’t though. He’s right there next to the sun drawing him back out. Stars and planets, baby! Between Buck showing up for them in every way and the constant interplay of light and shadow in their scenes, Buck as the sun is pronounced in this episode. I would argue that the reverse is true as well but Buck hasn’t had the full realization that the Diazes are his sun and his family yet. *sigh*

Buck is working out his issues in 611 so that he can show up for himself AND for his family in a fully conscious way. If Chris is the Universe that energizes and holds all things in the Buckley Diaz Family, then Eddie and Buck are worlds, circling each others’ star. I may be taking the metaphor too far but I don’t care lol. Buck is moving from the subconscious awareness that Eddie and Chris are his family to a conscious awareness. It’s so damn beautiful it makes me weep.

#buddie #buckley diaz family #911 meta #long meta #911 6x11 #911 fox

[mr-nauseam]

FUCK! I WAS RIGHT?! NADJA'S ARC: LOOKING FOR RESPECT AND POWER part I.

"The way Nadja's arc is centered on her desire for respect and power and the vampire council threw away one of her great ideas and now she is being incredibly stubborn to make it work because she needs it to work"

Fuck! I was right?!

I don't like to write metas, bc I dont have a big brain but again Nadja need meta so here we go again. Sorry yall for my dumb thoughts.

My dear wife collapsed, because the night club didn't work. Of course she did, Nadja needed this to work, all season this was her only concern and she really did everything in her power to make it work… the thing is that many of these actions would in fact be the ones that would lead to her ruin.

There is something about Simon, knowing Nadja and Laszlo so well that I wish I could have the right thoughts to describe what I see there but I mention this because again it is necessary to remember, that it was he, a friend of Nadja's, a partner of hers (or ex in a way), who points out aloud one of Nadja's deepest insecurities; the fact that her eternal life has no purpose and she could be lost in the great crowd, that it is forgettable and unremarkable.

I think it makes sense, Nadja in her human life never had the possibility of power, not only was she denied and forbidden, but she was even abused and lived unhappily, and now confirmed by the writers, she was transformed quite young, so she really couldn't live her life, and I think there's something frustrating about that for her. When her ghost appears, and lists the things that she was able to do, a lot of it seems quite ordinary and human things you know, like the kind of things that a young woman whose life was taken away from her very early on clearly wanted to do.

And the thing is, while I think vampirism was liberating and empowering for Nadja, because it allowed her to be able to live the way she wanted to live in a way that would have been impossible for her had she been alive in her time, it's also very limiting. Suddenly, the sun is your biggest enemy, and little religious symbols around you can hurt you, food is disgusting, but the only thing that I believe really worries Nadja is that despite everything, she is somehow back at the bottom of the pyramid.

I think it's no surprise to anyone to note that even among vampires, the house trio are misfits, outside of the baron, they never had any prestige, any privilege among vampire society. She also has a wonderful marriage but is beginning to feel inadequate, and deeply unfulfilled, and I think that this thorn of what it would feel like to be a bright and powerful star, haunts her.

#wwdits #what we do in the shadows #wwdits nadja #nadja of antipaxos #fucking wwdits #Let me overthink about nadja

[porgthespacepenguin]

Thoughts about episode 2.9 (1/2)

Just finished the episode. I’m still shaking. What a gut punch.

Anyway, by now you know me: first post will focus on Qcard, and let me tell you, there’s a lot to talk about. Next post will cover the rest (hopefully).

I must warn you in advance, however. This episode killed me just to watch me die, so don’t expect my usual level of semi-coherence. This post consists mostly of me screaming into the void about the episode, with occasional flashes of analysis sprinkled throughout.

If that’s not scared you off: bravo, and onwards!

(Major spoilers under the cut: you’ve been warned.)

[Trigger warning: this post contains mention of suicide, including an image you may find disturbing.

The image, and the main discussion, are in the next section, so you can skip ahead to “End trigger warning” if needed.]

Where to even start? Oh, yeah: to borrow words from a great man,

"Boy, do I hate being right all the time."

I know, I know. So I’m definitely not right all the time. But I did nail a few of the twists, so let me enjoy my agony success in peace, all right?

[Start trigger warning]

* * * * *

Come find me

Wish I had been wrong

In a previous meta, I had called it: Jean-Luc had opened the door once before, but it resulted in his mother’s death. Hello, childhood trauma.

So, turns out I was right. Wish I wasn’t, though. Sorry about that.

Look, I’ll be honest: this topic is too personal, too triggering for me to dwell too long on it. So this section will be short.

Suffice to say, Maman hung herself in the winter garden, and Jean-Luc has been blaming himself for it since he was a child,

"I let her out, you see. If only I had left that door closed, she might have become an old woman."

Of course, it wasn’t his fault. Maman was sick, and in her sickness had made Baby!Picard a parentified child (which, by the way, explains a lot about him as an adult).

So when Maman begged him to help, he did what she asked. Of course he did.

He opened the door, and it cost him everything:

"I loved her. Desperately."

It wasn’t anybody’s faut, really. But it still broke him. And so Picard locked the door again, shattered the painted windows, and closed his heart to love.

Darker still

By the way, if you thought the foreshadowing surrounding Q’s fate was loud in 2.7 and 2.8... it’s deafening now.

Maman and Q have been mirrors of each other since 2.7, both explicitely through the sun symbolism they share, and implicitely, like in the conversation with Renee in episode 2.6.

And now we learn that, lost in the darkness, Maman has killed herself. In her death, she’s even shown to be wearing a white robe, much like Q was in Tapestry when Picard died:

As always: this isn’t a coincidence. There are no coincidences in big productions like Star Trek Picard. This is a choice.

And so Q’s fate grows ever darker.

(Also ... isn’t that line from earlier -- “I loved her. Desperately.” -- rather loud? If they bring it back in some form next episode, we’re in trouble, folks.)

* * * * *

[End trigger warning]

The key, at last

Having unlocked the memory of what truly happened to his mother, Picard can now finally start to come to terms with it, to heal from it, and move on.

Although, there’s still a significant element of mystery left. As Picard finally sees the dungeon from his dreams, he realizes that the wood of the platform is intact: his foot didn’t get caught in it like he had imagined.

But then what happened? How did he get stuck?

EDIT: @theboardwalkbody pointed out that they’re in the past, so nothing has happened yet. Doh! Wonder why the show made such a fuss about it then.

Did he turn around and try to escape, leaving her mother to her sickness? Did his mother, although lost in darkness, prevent him from following her after all?

And yet. I can’t help but notice that in Jean-Luc’s dream, he stepped into the light when he got stuck.

Is it possible Q intervened, saving his life yet again?

(Which would bring the current tally to 6 saves, and a nice round 7 if he does it again next week...)

Regardless, whatever or whoever held him back did save his life. And we’ll most likely find out next week, since, you know. Only one episode left!

Anyway, moving on.

Picard now holds the key to his own heart. Literally, even:

Q has given him this key, like he gave Kore the cure in episode 2.8. And now, also like her, all Jean-Luc has to do is choose to open the door and step through it.

Yet it may be too late to stop the sun from setting. Forever.

A lonely star

Before we continue, it’s imperative that you read @celestialwarzone​‘s Q-sun meta if you haven’t already.

It establishes how and why Q is symbolized as the sun, and that information is critically important to understanding the importance of the next section.

With that out of the way, let’s jump in.

Episode 2.7 essentially threw the Q-sun model at our faces with the subtlety of a brick. Episode 2.8, meanwhile, drove the point home like a knife with Q’s dying star monologue.

Well, friends, episode 2.9 looked at them both and went, “hold my glass of Chateau Picard”.

The dark before the dawn

I predicted that this episode would be the despair event horizon, and in a way it was. But I was a tad pessimistic, as it turns out. This is Star Trek, after all, as @celestialwarzone​ often reminds me: a utopia.

So, overall everything went badly, but it could have been so much worse.

Regardless, this episode functions essentially as team Picard’s dark night of the soul.

Literally.

The sun goes out, the storm rises, and everything falls apart. They are separated, outnumbered, outgunned and trapped like rats in the dark chateau. Though they are fighting hard for their lives, and the future, all hope seems lost. The night is winning.

And then the sun rises.

Right away, their luck starts to turn: Agnes wakes up and forges a new destiny for the Borg, but not before healing Seven, Picard finally faces his mother’s true fate, Rios manages to beam back just in tie to save them...

The light symbolism in this episode, I swear!

Incidentally, there are plenty of other darkness and light references scattered throughout the episode:

The green lasers of the soldiers;

“Wars have been fought on lovely days”;

Picard, having a flashback from a flash of light;

"Why don’t we continue somewhere less bright", right before the game takes a turn for the worse;

The darkness of the chateau and dungeon;

"You're my light Jean-Luc”;

Picard and Estonia lighting a torch in the dungeon;

Baby!Picard stepping into a light patch;

Elnor coming back as a hologram to save them;

The red light when the key flies out;

Maman killing herself at night;

The gentle sunrise bathing Seven as she accepts herself;

Agnes literally flying into the same sunrise;

And others I’m most likely forgetting right now.

Oh, and, by the way: Maman’s fairy tale winter garden? Is actually a solarium.

A literal place of sunlight. And the exit from the dungeon.

(*pterodactyl screeches*)

The star gazer

Once Maman’s dark episode starts, she drags Baby!Picard down with her into the dungeon, where the sunlight cannot reach them.

Baby!Picard just wants them to go back up, and study the stars together, but Maman is already too far gone,

"Stars... Did you know that space is so vast, so infinite, it takes billions of years for that tiny pinprick of light to make that lonely journey from its star to our eyes?"

So. This... this is Q. A lonely star, whose light and love took billions of years to reach Picard across time and space.

Picard, who’s been living in the stars his entire adult life, looking up at them as a child and starting his career as a captain on a ship called the USS Stargazer.

Picard, the literal star gazer.

Let’s make a detour back to 2.1 for a second. When Picard blows up the new Stargazer, there’s a bright flash of white light, and then a shot of a starry sky which eventually resolves into...

... Picard’s eye.

Yeah. There are no coincidences here. The subtext is almost text at this point.

A lonely star

Maman continues her desperately sad speech,

“The brilliance you see in the night sky, Jean-Luc, that exquisite light, it’s just an echo, really...”

... like me.”

Oh, but it gets worse. Infinitely worse. Exquisitely worse:

"When you remember me, promise me you'll ignore the coldness of a dying star, and remember instead her light and the infinite love she so very much had for you."

Make no mistake, this is Q. We’re not even mirroring here, we’re channeling.

The coldness of a dying star? Q, the sun, disappearing into nothing, colder and harder than we have ever seen him... Begging Picard to instead remember the warm, infinite love he holds for him.

Q, like Maman, is going to die. He has essentially doomed himself for Picard. But where Maman killed herself in spite of her love for Jean-Luc, Q is killing himself out of love for him.

It makes all the difference in the world, but I fear it may be a very cold consolation for Jean-Luc.

(I’m speechless honestly. This episode is killing me. If you need me, I’ll be huddled in the corner. Sobbing.)

The Q-bayashi Maru

I had planned to include this section as part of my retrospective on 2.1, but considering all the foreshadowing, we might as well get it over with.

So, remember how @celestialwarzone​ and I theorize that Picard will likely have to make a terrible choice: save the timeline and kill Q, or save Q and kill the timeline?

In other words, a no-win scenario. Remind you of anything?

That’s right, the Kobayashi Maru.

If you’ve been living under a rock, here’s the basic outline of the test: a civilian ship, the Kobayashi Maru, is in danger. The cadet can attempt to rescue them, or leave them to die. But the test is rigged, and they’ll die regardless.

(Say, friends, did you know that Starfleet’s most infamous training exercise was first depicted in Wrath of Khan?

The movie in which Spock dies, sacrificing himself for Kirk and the crew?

The movie which was then followed by Search for Spock? In which Kirk and his crew mutiny, steal a ship and go save Spock?

Well, did you?)

Anyway, I’ve long thought that this impossible choice would be a direct call back to the Kobayashi Maru every Starfleet captain has to face as a cadet.

And would you look at this scene from episode 2.1:

(Oh, you are, Jean-Luc. You certainly are. And mark my words, you’ll rue the day you ever even thought about it.)

Anyway, if the above wasn’t clear enough, at the end of episode 2.9 Picard tells us outright,

"I refuse to accept an outcome that has not yet occured."

Sounds like "I don't believe in the no-win scenario" to me, but what do I know. I just write metas and screech incoherently into the void.

Don’t leave me behind

There’s more Q-bayashi Maru foreshadowing scattered throughout the episode, but one moment stands out in particular, and no surprise, it’s a Trios scene.

As we established in 2.8, Teresa and Rios are Qcard mirrors. This trend absolutely continues in 2.9, and it’s beautiful.

(Also excruciating. But mostly beautiful.)

As the Borg board the ship, Q-Rios regrets putting Teresa-Picard in danger:

(Oh look, another AGT reference. I’ve lost count by now.)

They escape to the chateau, and Rios is wounded. Picard orders him to go with Teresa, then prevents him from coming back, for his own safety.

So. We have a wounded Q-Rios, locked out and powerless, unable to help Picard. And things abruptly go from bad to worse.

(Need I remind you that the sun is out, and they’re all in darkness? We’ll come back to that.)

Teresa takes care of Rios (take note Picard!), and objects strongly when he decides to go back, dropping this little gem of a line,

”I’d like to rewire your brain.”

Fair enough, Teresa-Picard, fair enough. Lord knows Q has been doing it to Picard all season, so. His turn.

Teresa-Picard then drops another bit of Q-bayashi Maru foreshadowing:

"Knowing that win or lose, I'll have to let them go."

Ostensibly, she’s talking about the tricorder here, but that’s not at all what she means. She’s talking about her miracle: Q-Rios. She doesn’t want to lose him. But she has no choice in the matter.

And still the countdown climbs up, as implacable as fate in a greek tragedy.

Teresa is getting desperate,

“What if I don't want you to go? What if I want to see your face again, or something crazy like that?“

And Q-Rios tells her the truth: he’s thought about it, and he wants nothing more than to stay. But there’s no other way,

"This isn't my timeline. The future is yours (...). I'm just trying to protect it."

If you’ve read my time meta, you know that I speculate that Q may not be able to join the new timeline at all. So that’s not ominous or anything...

Regardless, Teresa-Picard isn’t convinced. She doesn’t believe in no-win scenarios either:

"What if your future is here and it was always supposed to be?"

What she’s really saying, of course, is: what if your future is with me?

And then Rios kisses her.

(Damned if I can’t picture Picard saying the exact same thing, and Q silencing him with a kiss, hating what’s coming but knowing he can’t change it.)

Q-Rios almost manages to tell her that he loves her, but is interrupted again as the transporter activates, and he disappears in front of her eyes.

He reappears right where he’s needed, placing himself squarely between Picard and danger -- nearly getting killed for his troubles.

How delightfully Q-like of him.

The search for Q

Speaking of which...

If you’re at all familiar with my posts, you know that @celestialwarzone​ and I have long thought that season 2 may end with Q’s death, leading us into a Search of Spock scenario in season 3.

(We’re entering galaxy brain territory, folks. Hold on to your seats.)

The wound

His mother’s death is Jean-Luc’s original trauma, a trauma he can’t get over,

"This moment I am so powerless to reverse."

Leaving aside the guilt of a parentified child unable to save their sick parent, loving and losing his mother in such a tragic fashion nearly broke Jean-Luc.

Another loss of this magnitude would have destroyed him completely. And so he protected himself, walled off his mechnical heart from love. To survive.

As Estonia points out,

“Love can be a source of great grief and immense pain. Of tremendous guilt.”

No wonder he’s been running from Q’s love.

But fear hasn’t held back Q. And however much love may hurt us, shackle us...

“... it's a gift."

For all these years, Q’s love has been a gift to Jean-Luc, whether he was able to accept it or not.

And for a very long time, he wasn’t. But now, as Jean-Luc embraces his feelings once more, he may well find himself opening up and facing another such soul-destroying moment when Q dies.

Because if Q and Maman are mirrors -- the show certainly seems insistent about it -- then their fates are likely to be similar to a degree: both of them lonely suns, both of them loving Jean-Luc infinitely...

Both of them eventually killing themselves.

And so Picard has kept himself away from Q, not letting himself know him, because to know him would be to love him.

And therefore to lose him.

The prince wins

When Baby!Picard wins the game of hide-and-seek, finding his mother sitting despondently in the dark, she says:

Just like in Maman’s story, the prince wins the game, and the Sorcerer dies. Picard will figure out the escape and save the timeline, but in all likelihood, it will be at the cost of Q’s life.

This time is different

(Jean-Luc’s subconscious is certainly worried about the idea, and who can blame him?)

So, is Jean-Luc doomed to love again, and have his heart broken a second time? Maybe. But only temporarily.

Ultimately, Q is not Maman. And her fate need not be his.

Jean-Luc isn’t a child anymore, powerless and small: he is an adult, a Starfleet admiral, tempered by time and loss.

He could not prevent his mother’s death, but he will undo Q’s dark fate,

“In those moments, tragic endings might rewind into joyful beginnings. Moments of loss into those of gains."

From death will come rebirth, from despair happiness, and from loss...

Love.

After closing such a terrible chapter of his life, Jean-Luc will be able to move on, freed, and take his first steps toward his true final frontier: ascension.

Exploring and travelling the stars, with Q at his side, for...

(It would be the perfect ending for both Jean-Luc and Q, now, wouldn’t it?)

Next, on Porg the space penguin:

So, one post down, one to go (or perhaps two). Next up:

All hail Queen Agnes

Integrating the self

More Raffi and Picard mirroring

New time shenanigans?

And maybe more...

As always, I hope you enjoyed, and I want to thank you for reading. ❤️

#star trek #star trek spoilers #qcard #star trek picard #star trek picard spoilers #star trek theories #star trek speculation #star trek: picard #star trek picard season 2 #season 2 episode 9 #porg has qcard thoughts #q of the continuum #star trek q #jean luc picard #tw: suicide

[magmahearts]

Meta: Kindergarten Questions Time! What are your character’s favorite: Color, Dinosaur, Shape, Flavor of Ice Cream, Letter of the Alphabet, Animal, Kind of Juice, Snack,Time to Nap, Texture

Color: You'd assume orange, but it's purple. That's the real reason why she got kicked out of her aos si. messed up the aesthetic.

Dinosaur: Pterodactyl. It can fly, and it's fun to say. She also vibes with the way it isn't spelled how it looks.

Shape: Star. She likes doodling them.

Ice cream flavor: Hot fudge brownie.

Letter: A. It's number one for a reason! Also, it's the first letter of her last name, and the only real connection she has to her biological mother since the nymphs in her aos si just gave her her mom's last name.

Animal: Dragon. She doesn't care if it's not real. People say nymphs aren't real, too. Dragons are probably out there, and by god she's going to find one.

Kind of juice: Pineapple juice!

Snack: M&Ms if she's alone, but she WILL change it depending on who she's with. Oh, your favorite snack is Skitles? Good news! That is now her favorite snack too! You can share!

Time to nap: Mid afternoon, when the sun is high in the sky. She'll nap on a rock like a lizard.

Texture: Rough and rocky, baby!

#wickedsanon #meta

[eddissyfanfiction]

Fanfic recommendations based on The Scene™

As a first introduction to this blog and Eddissy, our recommendations for today all revolve around The Scene™. The beautiful scene that made us fall in love with this couple, the scene that introduced us to the wonderful characters of Eddie and Chrissy: the scene in the woods.

Uptown Girl by mandeelion (Rating: G)

Words: 1633

Status: one-shot; possibly more to come

The only thing he can think of as he takes in this utterly bizarre scenario between them is that Chrissy Cunningham smiles like the sun.

This is a cute one-shot that explores the situation in the woods from Eddie's POV. Currently, it is one chapter only but might be expanded in the future!

You Saw Me, I heard You by LillithMiles (Rating: G)

Words: 3628

Status: one-shot

Chrissy and Eddie talk for a little longer in the woods and it changes everything.

Another cute one-shot. Differently than the first, though, this fic explores how the interaction in the woods influenced both Chrissy and Eddie.

Smile Lines by theprocrastiwriter2 (Rating: T)

Words: 2406

Status: one-shot

Chrissy goes into the woods for drugs, but gets something better— Eddie Munson.

The making-the-heart-all-aflutter one-shots just keep coming! This is a very sweet piece that is written from Chrissy's POV.

wanna be your romeo by kattyshack (Rating: T)

Words: 3618

Status: one-shot (part of a series)

She brings a hand to her mouth, sucks on her thumbnail. The cuff of Eddie’s shirt droops over her hand, plaid and worn-down soft and it smells like deep fry and his leather jacket. “Well, I wouldn’t — I mean, I don’t want to eat your lunch.” “No sweat, Cunningham, I got this for you.” She blinks. “You did?” He smiles. Of course he does. And, gosh, does Eddie Munson have the prettiest smile; she thinks she’d do just about anything he asked, so long as he was smiling at her like that. Like that. Like there’s nothing else to look at but her, and she’s all he needs.

This fic explores Chrissy's relationship with food and does it in a beautiful way.

where the stars shine by eyeofthestorm (Rating: M)

Words: 4957

Status: one-shot

“Me? You’re talking to me?” he jabs a finger to his chest, pretending to check over his shoulder to see if there’s someone else around, someone more likely to receive a compliment like that from Chrissy Cunningham. She giggles, playing into his silliness, nodding with wide eyes. “Yeah. You.”

What we have here is an exploration into alternative way The Scene™ could have played out. The discussion of self-worth is, on a meta level, very philosophical and definitely enjoyable.

Meet Me in the Woods by lalababy19 (Rating: E)

Words: 35084

Status: finished, 10 ch.

When Eddie Munson finds a little pink note in his locker from none other than Chrissy Cunningham, asking to buy drugs, he can't believe it. Little does he know his life is about to be turned upside down because the cheerleader asked him to meet her in the woods.

This fic takes The Scene™ as a starting point and delves into an alternative universe.

can you make me feel good by svnny (Rating: E)

Words: 1650

Status: one-shot (part of a series)

Or Chrissy needs help and Eddie gives her some help.

Now, with all the cutesy one-shots, we thought it might be nice to include a spicy piece for you all.

Please, leave kudos and comments for those beautiful writers!

#eddissyfanfiction #eddissy #hellcheer #cheddie #eddie munson #chrissy cunningham #stranger things #stranger things season 4 #st s4 #chrissy x eddie #chrissy cunningham x eddie munson #eddie x chrissy #eddie munson x chrissy cunningham #tws for the fics include: #tw: allusion to depression #tw: cheating #tw: angst #tw: ed #tw: mental health

[danpuff-ao3]

Hi. Your hp astrology series are so cool and even cooler is the fact that you work with dice. Do you think it is possible to use moonology oracle deck along with it (as a side help ) for fictional characters as well? I'm very curious about your opinion since your astrology meta is awesome.

Hello there! That's an interesting question!

Short answer: Not really.

Long answer: The dice are used in a very particular way. I set the planet die to what I'm rolling the sign, maybe even house for. Generally the sun or the moon. If I'm rolling for the ascendant, I set the house die to 1, since the ascendant marks the start of the first house.

Astrology is very precise. When you pull a chart, you're freezing a moment in time. The position of all the planets, moons, stars, everything -- and where they fall in the zodiacal wheel, and the wheel of houses.

Both wheels more or less look like pie charts. The zodiacal wheel will be an evenly split 12 slices. The wheel of houses will have uneven slices. The sign and house wheels don't always match up (unless you're using a house system called the Whole Sign System, but that's a whole other conversation.)

(I'm answering this as simplistically as I can, so bear with me.)

So now you sort of have to look outside of the separate pieces, at the whole. Astrology is heliocentric, so everything is in relation to the sun. The sun will fall into a sign, but what about Mercury? Because Mercury is never too far from the sun, Mercury will never be more than a sign away from the sun. (i.e. if the Sun is in Aries, Mercury can be in Pisces, Aries, or Taurus, but nothing beyond that.)

Venus will never be more than 2 signs away from the sun. The outer planets can be farther away, but they're more "generational" planets and those sign placements will be shared among a wider group of people.

The moon and the rising sign are the fastest moving placements, and are really what's going to set people born around the same period apart. The moon changes sign every two-ish days, and the ascendant changes every two-ish hours. And it's all dependent on time and place.

If I know a character is born on 31 July 1980, then there's no real wiggle room outside of the houses. Maybe the moon, if it changes sign that day.

When rolling the dice, I can realistically only decide on the Big Three (Sun, Moon, Rising.) If I know a character was born in 1980, but no specific date, I roll the dice. If the sun gives me Leo and the Moon gives me Pisces, I have to find when during Leo season the moon was in Pisces.

Theoretically, without a specific birthday, if I were inclined to start with the moon, using the Moonology deck would work.

Here, I'll pull a card now.

Blue Moon: Believe in the impossible.

Aaand that one was decidedly unhelpful. Maybe I should give the Moonology deck more credit? 😂 Or maybe one of us needs that message.

Second pull:

Full Moon in Scorpio: It's time to release negativity.

Okay, I think this deck is mad at me now. She is being salty, isn't she?

Anyway, so say we have a general idea of when a character was born. We can do some research within that time period and find when the full moon was in Scorpio in 1980. The answer: 29 May.

So....

Real answer: maybe?

If you're very lunar focused, and with no real opinion of the rest of the chart, you technically could. But you'd have to start there. And deal with the fact that you might have to keep pulling if you pull a non-specific placement card. Or you can roll with "character was born on a blue moon." Could be a fun way to mix things up!

I will say, that pulling tarot or oracle cards while writing can be fun! If you're stuck in a story, or looking for inspiration, it's worth a try. And when it comes to characters, maybe ask the deck who your character is.

Let me do a 3 card pull:

Full Moon in Cancer: A personal issue reaches a resolution

Full Moon in Taurus: Your dreams need a practical plan

New Moon in Aquarius: Bring love into the situation

Character resolves an issue. But say the resolution is basically setting on a course of action. So they need a plan for it. Maybe they need help with the plan and reach out to loved ones? Or maybe focusing on their goal (if the goal is a matter of deep personal feeling) is what gives them the drive to move forward.

Okay sorry for babbling, and I hope that made sense!

#hp astro #asks #astrology #oracle cards #tarot #character building

[hawkdisaster]

It's one of those nights...

Just a brief and cute moment between the metacrisis Doctor, Rose Tyler and their daughter in the Tardis. Characters : Metacrisis Doctor & Rose Tyler

It's one of those nights when you just can't seem to get to sleep. One of those nights when you wander aimlessly through the rooms and corridors of the Tardis, hoping to exhaust yourself enough to return to your room for a few hours rest. One of those nights when you find a certain appeasement in wandering aimlessly. You're used to it. In the control room, all is calm. A calm disturbed only by that deep, steady sound you've always associated with the heartbeat of the Tardis. So, just for a moment, you close your eyes and let yourself be lulled by the breathing of your most faithful companion. Then you snap your fingers, and the Tardis doors open by themselves.

For humans, Space is absolute silence. Which is, of course, completely untrue: the Sun, the Moon, the planets, even the stars... Every celestial body has its own music, and the Universe is a permanent symphony. Carefully, you sit cross-legged on the ground and let your gaze wander over the vision before you. You can imagine the Tardis floating, almost lazily, in the immensity of space, at a cautious distance from a supernova. The death of a star. A magnificent spectacle, inevitable on the scale of an entire galaxy, and yet as exceptional as ever. A spectacle you've witnessed hundreds, if not thousands, of times before, and you never get tired of it. The death of a star. Too heavy to bear its own weight, the star's core contracts in on itself before exploding, releasing into the surrounding space a multitude of protons and neutrons capable of giving birth to other stars. Even black holes. The death of a star. Both an end and a beginning.

Yet you look away from this dying star, anonymous among the anonymous and far too isolated in this little corner of the galaxy to ever have been given a name, to lower your eyes to the soundly sleeping baby resting in your arms. You can reach any period in History with the push of a few buttons, access the furthest reaches of the cosmos with the pull of a lever... and yet, it's in your arms that lies the most fantastic of wonders. A tender smile, the kind you offer only to Rose, curves your lips as you contemplate the peaceful face of Mia Tyler-Smith. Your daughter. As you once confessed to Rose in a conversation during the 2012 London Olympics, without going into details, you were once a father. Centuries ago, before war and destruction took your children away. Now, thanks to Mia, you can experience that joy again.

- There you are...

Rose has just entered the control room, wrapped in a shawl given by Jackie on her last birthday, her hair a mess and her features drawn by fatigue. And yet, her smile alone could ignite the stars as she comes to settle in beside you.

- I'm sorry, did I wake you ? Mia didn't seem to want to sleep and I figured walking around a bit would be enough to calm her down.

- It's okay, I didn't hear her. It was your absence that woke me from sleep and I was sure I'd find you here...

You'd like to answer, but the only response Rose gets is a babble coming from your little girl, gradually waking up in your arms. And Rose starts to laugh, moved. And your smile gets even bigger. You love them so much. All those years spent battling Daleks, Cyberman, false devils and other monsters - despite being the result of meta-crisis cloning, you're way too aware that all those battles were won by the real Doctor and not by you - to end up here : in the Tardis, gazing out at the galaxy in the company of your family.

- I've never been so happy in all my life...

The words pass the barrier of your lips without you even thinking of holding them back. Why should you, when it's the pure truth ? You don't need to run from one end of the Universe to the other now, you can catch your breath. Now you can enjoy the one adventure you thought you'd never have... Rose's head rests on your shoulder, her hand finding yours.

- Me too...

#yeah i'm also gonna post my fics here #metacrisis doctor #rose tyler #doctor who fanfics #doctor who #my post

[eldeir]

          honestly might start weeping over how much lora loves her children  .  the human ones that she watches age and eventually die  ,  but will always have a place in her heart  ,  the ones that become immortal  ,  that she gets to watch discover the world over and over  .  the ones that were bitten and turned before she met them  ,  but are loved all the same  .

#⋆｀. meta‚ there’s this way she looks at you ‚ like the sun at the stars. #⋆｀. rel . progenies‚ you are my forever ‚ you have my heart always. #⋆｀. rel . court of dreams‚ blood of the covenant. #⋆｀. ooc‚ i should probably be working.

[archiveir]

    small things that occur when elowyn expresses her emotions

if she has an argument at the dinner table  ,  all of the water glasses will freeze solid  .  if the fight is resolved and she calms down  ,  the water will melt  .

when she goes out dancing with her friends in velaris and is happily enjoying her life  ,  the sky clears of clouds and the moon shines brighter than usual  .  one of her friends owns a club in the city and built it with a glass ceiling so the moonlight will light the dance floor  .

it will begin to snow in the middle of summer when she feels numb  .

kailin was injured during a battle and elowyn had to be repeatedly reminded to remember the crops while he was getting healed because she was making it pour outside and the illyrians were worried the plants would drown  .

if she’s over the moon happy  ,  it will be sunny with just enough breeze to swirl through her hair  .

when she’s suddenly angered  ,  there will be a crack of lightning that will strike nearby  .  this is when you’ll know to stop pushing her and that’s she about to lose control of her magic  .

#⋆｀. ooc‚ i should probably be working. #⋆｀. meta‚ there’s this way she looks at you ‚ like the sun at the stars.