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stormvanari · 1 year

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https://at.tumblr.com/stormvanari/some-oc-questions/a8io9m1wojtc

11, 14, 21, 30, and 50.

Sorry for the long wait—!:

11) “Is there any OC of yours you could describe as a ‘sunshine’?”

Loopy Crulle: WAY TOO EFFIN’ BRIGHT. Sure the NBI!Abomination Head has family issues, but she masks that pain with humor and entertainment. This is also evident when she is involved in the topic regarding the Day of Unity, cause she wants to cheer everyone up once she took the Abomination Council Chair. The NBI Healing Head is kinda irritated towards Loopy’s cheerful persona.

14) “Introduce an OC with a tragic backstory”

Darian Vernworth: He exaggerates this as “tragic,” but tbh he has a point: being part of the Basilisk experiments was a terrible memory for him. He was the one that led the Basilisks to escape the Emperor’s clutches, and it was successful. However, Darian was caught by Coven members and he ordered the rest of the basilisks to scramble for the exit together, while he pushed back the Coven by himself. But he lost his tail to Warden Wrath in the fight. The worse part is that Darian tried to get his brother, Adrian Graye (he was part of the experiments in my version for his story), but Belos appearing to round up the runaway basilisks forced Darian to flee and hide for years. He feels guilty for leaving his brother behind.

21) “Your most artistic OC”

Cherry Zitrino: While I will say that Darian and Loopy have creative talent, I want to direct my attention to Cherry (even though I have yet to reveal their appearance) for this question. As a cook, they have a “special ingredient” when it comes to making edibles, including potions: thermokinetic spit that also generates different effects, like rashes (they can be creative, so they can cause a sizzling kind). Cherry is a former Coven Scout who once worked on shifts in the cafeteria. They would often encounter bad colleagues, especially Coven Heads Terra and Adrian. Cherry doesn’t directly retaliate back, but they will spit on their colleagues’ edibles without any of them looking at the future council witch. Otherwise, their “The Bar Slinger” name will be unleashed. Off the question, but Cherry’s character is planned to be a mix of Demoman (TF2) and Popeye the Sailorman.

30) “Which one of your OCs would most likely have a secret stuffed animal collection?”

Ripley Wolsteen: Van kept stealing her stuffed animals, so she stored them away somewhere hidden in her house where the palisman can’t snatch them. Ok, well, Ripley does take one when she and Van go to work for the latter’s comfort. Also, kinda unrelated to the question, but the Beast-Keeper does like soft materials, such as fur.

50) “Give me the good ol’ OC talk here. Talk about anything you want”

The Titan’s Council are associated with the Turncloak-and-Dagger (TAD) AU. Basically, they work for Belos and shit goes down from there. This includes secret rebel activity.

Loopy’s surname is named after a French donut called a “cruller.” Her aunt’s surname is also named after a similar donut: a “Spritzkuchen.”

Ripley is named after a franchise called “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!”

Yurei is inspired by tsukumogami.

Absolutely cursed concept art for when I was figuring out Darian’s new hairdo a long time ago. I used Adrian as a base to see how it looks:

Not TOH-related: I have a whole new land I created for the Marioverse. It’s called the Primus Empire, and its environment is inspired by the early 20th century, mainly the 20s to 30s. It’s an industrial superpower with a very fucked up government. I have a blog dedicated to that, @carrotdetective, but it’s kinda bare as bones atm, due to me developing deep into the characters more for it. BUT—since I’ve been dumping this info onto a friend, I can summarize the story behind it:

So, the Primus Empire is the setting of Detective Dynoraptor, a 3-Act story inspired by both Darkwing Duck (series) and RWBY for the Marioverse. You got The Sharpeye, a vigilant detective agency on a mission to take down two crime syndicates, the Scarlet Bandits and Cerulean Thieves, warring with each other across two split regions of the empire: Rache and Venari. While investigating the disappearance of another detective agency (including other mysteries), The Sharpeye gather clues that connect to a cold case.

#oc #titan’s council #ask #loopy crulle #darian vernworth #yurei omiku #ripley wolsteen #cherry zitrino #(mentioned here is my personal project called ‘Detective Dynoraptor’ but it isn’t major here)#( yet felt like sharing it :D )

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arisalty · 5 years

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i’ve been here the whole time singing you a song

This one-shot was made for @notveryglittery , whose birthday is today, so Happy Birthday!

Tbh I planned the basic outline and wasn't even going to introduce quite a few characters but I did and I went with it - I hope yall like it :) As this is my first time writing Royality, any constructive criticism is accepted!

lowkey want to plan something else for this now but also don't want to set another target just yet as im a bit busy and dont wanna overload myself :/ yikes oh well

Dani, Happy Birthday! Enjoy this Royality!

AO3

Word count:

Roman had noticed a few things lately. One at the forefront of his mind was that Patton Heart was really fucking adorable.

Of course, nobody could know of this. If anyone of his friends found out he would be screwed.

Yes, his whole friend group were gay (or ace, or bi, or pan or nonbinary) disasters, but they were also incredibly good wing-people, with a high rate of getting two people dating -- and Roman didn’t want to ruin the naturalness of their friendship.

And worse he couldn’t let anyone know that The Emperor had a crush. And by extension, that meant that he couldn’t allow his crime-fighting partner (and asshat of an older brother) to find out; Virgil’s tongue was always looser when donned with the costume of Poison Shadow. And the city would be in an uproar of the thought of The Emperor liking someone romantically- and if it ever got out who it was, it would put Patton in serious danger.

But Roman couldn’t help but notice the little smiles Patton gets when talking about some of the animals in the shelter he volunteered at, or the ways his eyes light up when he gushed about the heroes of the city.

The way his open gaze instilled a feeling of trust.

And dear lord it was not helping the gay mess that was Roman Kingston.

“Alright, shithead, what’s up with you?”

“I tell you and I’m doomed you insolent sloth.” The owner of the monotonous voice shot a glance at the prying sibling.

“Right. That’s really fucking useful to know.” Dripping sarcasm; the asshat was not only prying but also getting annoyed now! Yay!

“Oh, piss off. Let me be a disaster in peace.”

The elder stood, shaking his head, before walking to the other edge of the rooftop they were perched on.

“Hurry up! Today is a sparring day.” Virgil, seeing Roman making no attempt to move, pushed forward with his mind, pushing the darkest shadows up until they were able to slap Roman across the face. “Come on, idiot. The night isn’t gonna last forever!”

Grumbling, the man in his late teens stood from his position on the edge of the rooftop, reluctantly turning at the end of the roof, with sarcastic jazz hands at his sides.

And just like that, they were sparring. Virgil completely flattened The Emperor in 3 separate rounds before some sense seemed to be knocked into the dramatic hero’s head. The furious flashes of light and dark clashed throughout the area, silent except the heavy breathing of the men, and the jibes thrown between the space between them.

It was another while before they were tired, as their sparring took place at least twice a week- they needed to stay in shape even over their sports and workouts.

Roman sat on the edge of the rooftop next to his brother, slowly regaining his breath.

When the villain attacked, it was not appreciated by the two teens. They were tired and generally unwilling to have to use their already exhausted powers. Their fighting was lacklustre and they took any moment they could to stop and perch off railings or on rooftops.

Flashes of light across the night were brief but would warp the situation, allowing shadows, viscous as ink moved away in slow patterns, stalking the villain until finding it’s perfect time to strike, pushing the villain backwards, dragging them forwards then dropping them off the edge of the building.

Yet the villain didn’t waver in power. At a mere flick of fingers, the Emperor fell backwards, barely left any time to make a platform for him to stagger onto.

How were they going to get this person then?

“What does your immoral soul bother us with, foul villain?”

“Oh, nothing really. I was just bored, so I decided to mess around with these powers I earnt the other day.”

The pale blue light of the moon offset by the warmer glow from the Emperor's hand gave enough light to see fangs flash under the mask that covered the upper half of their face.

“Why set about destroying the city, fuckwad? Why not just, I don’t know, sleep, like a normal person?”

“Ew, no, sleep? That drains me more. Plus, don’t we all need to have a little bit of chaos in our lives?”

Roman could feel the eyes rolling in his elder’s head.

“What the fuck about us two says put together, dipshit? We’re fucking disasters!”

“My fair partner has a valid point. We are fucking disasters ,” Roman eyed the inky lattice forming under the villain's feet for a second before he continued. “We’re both messes of human beings in general- have you seen his room, it's an atrocity - and my room has far too much stuff that I am far too attached to get rid of. Then there's the point that we’re both doing this along with studying for school which in itself drains your energy and the final point is, well,”—the smirk thrown his way by Poison Shadow was all he needed—”We really aren’t all that dumb.”

Poison Shadow ripped his fist upwards, the shadowed lattice folding and bending around the villain, as the Emperor reached out and began to set the still fluid shadows. The cage kept the villain in, and finally, the villain showed some kind of emotion; fear radiated from their composure; arms wrapped around their torso, fist fiddling with their cloak edge, shoulders up to their ears.

Roman pitied the now much smaller opponent. Ego and expectations of power high in their mind with newfound strength ruled their minds. The Emperor turned away, patting Poison Shadow on the back as went after he silently checked his brother was okay with dealing with him.

As he crossed the bridged gap between buildings, he heard his brother’s cry, and then he felt himself flying backwards over buildings, body limp as a rag doll as his brain tried to comprehend which was up or down or the sky or ground. Once he finally stopped moving, he found himself winded and bruised and somehow not broken- though he felt it- on a balcony. With a very familiar curious face peering down at him.

Patton. Fucking. Heart.

It was his luck, wasn’t it? He’d get thrown about like an unused toy to be left in his worst state on the balcony of one of his favourite people in the world.

“Oh my goodness, are you all right? Is anything broken? Do you need some water, food, comfort?” The stream of babble poured from Patton, his pale blue eyes wide with worry, both searching his body to analyse for damage and keeping eye contact to calm the disorientated hero.

Thank goodness these powers strengthen my bones and skin.

“Uhm… I think… I’ll be,” The Emperor was interrupted by a fit of coughing, which he dealt with but rolling onto his front and slowly making his way to his knees. “Actually, could I, uh, have a glass of water.”

Patton nodded earnestly, and even through the lingering dizziness pounding in his mind, Roman could make out the curls of Patton’s hair reflecting the cool blue of the moon. The smaller figure retreated into the building, just as Roman felt a buzz in his pocket.

Pulling out the smartphone, he huffed at the once again smashed screen to read the text he received.

Very Early Womb-mate - 11:35

-- sorry dude didnt see that coming

-- dick had us fooled into thinkin he was subdued

--you went flying tho, it was kinda hilarious

-- i got it handled, he’s trapped until police arrive

Me - 11:38

--oh ok

Very Early Womb-mate - 11:39

-- u ok? Or do i need to pick u up

Me - 11:40

-- nah it’s cool i landed on a classmates balcony, just a bit dizzy

Very Early Womb-mate - 11:40

-- cool, dickwad, dont reveal anything

Me - 11:40

-- bold of you to assume i would

-- k byeeee xxx :)))))

Very Early Womb-mate - 11:41

-- :/

Patton returned, carrying the glass.

“I’m so sorry it took me so long to get back, my parents were wondering what happened and I figured you didn't want to be crowded so I just made up a lie and then they got me to do a quick job and uh— here.”

Roman took the drink, downing as much of it as he could, before stopping to try and stand.

“Tough villain, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess. I was knocked back ‘cos I was caught off guard. I thought Poison had got them - he was inside a huge cage, you see - so when he lashed out again after being subdued it surprised us.”

Roman looked over the city wistfully. The sky was clear and the air was fresh, with little to no breeze. Roman took this time to notice that Patton was wearing only his pyjamas and a zip hoodie thrown over the top.

“Do you need to help Poison Shadow then? It looked like you were thrown far.”

“Nah, Patton, he sent a few texts to say he handled it.”

Patton nodded in understanding, before cocking his head sideways.

“Wait, you know me?”

Shit.

Roman ran through his words and cursed at his loose mouth.

“Uh, oh yeah,” Roman coughed out, scratching at his neck, unconsciously picking at the skin. “You, uh, go to the same school as me. We’re in the same year, actually.”

You’re oversharing! The voice of his brother rang out in his head.

“Wait, really?”

God, Roman absolutely adored the way Patton’s eyes lit up, the tiny specks of green almost glowing in the natural light around them. Anything else and Roman might actually die on the spot. He just thanked his younger-little-dramatic-shit self and wanted to hide his and Virge’s faces from the world - at least Patton wouldn't be able to see his glowing red face.

“That’s so cool! I could tell you were a teen, I didn’t realise you were like, that close to me!” Patton waved his hands about excitedly, and that’s it. Roman felt like he was melting into a puddle. His friend was so cute, and he just wanted to hold Patton to his chest and treasure him and spoil him with cakes and serenades and movie nights.

Roman somehow managed to keep talking for a while, but he was going to go insane soon. He just wanted to give Patton a hug, goddamnit !

They were shook from their conversation by the door opening to reveal Declan Heart, whose eyes flew open at the visitor Patton apparently had.

“Oh my god, Logan, come out here,” he hissed out of the side of his mouth, mismatching eyes darting from the sheepish look on Patton's face to the city known hero on his house’s balcony.

When Declan’s twin cast appeared in the doorway, Patton waved, somewhat cheery, opposed to Roman’s more fidgety behaviour, his skin prickling under the gazes of the two older twins. He had only met Logan on one occasion, and he was intimidated, to say the least.

“Suprise!” Patton giggled, with jazz hands waving at his brothers, very different from the delivery Virgil would have given in this situation.

“I knew that there was a lie somewhere in your excuse earlier!” Declan’s quiet exclamation made its way into the silence, but this just made Roman more uncomfortable under the blank stare he was receiving from Logan.

"Well, I had to because otherwise, this ," — Patton waved at the group they had formed around the hero — "would happen and the last thing that needs to happen after being thrown really far and being bashed about is being crowded. Plus, this was my lucky day." Patton giggled, throwing a wink sideways to Roman, and oh no , Roman was a mess. He felt like spontaneously combusting while gripping his heart and dramatically dying on the floor where he stood.

Yet the only reaction to this was somehow a brief panic before a smile broke out and Roman was able to laugh along a bit.

"Patton, why, might I ask, did you conceal this from both me and Declan? I understand your point on crowded-ness but you also know of our fascination with the heroes and our possible future career paths."

Logan's words made Patton look down guiltily, revealing that Logan's words were true, but he fiddled with his bracelet on his wrist before looking upwards towards the elder twin.

"Because... Because I didn't want to?"

Patton then frowned, looking almost... angry. But not towards anyone- his gaze was at the floor, more as if he was angry at himself. Logan let a smile slip onto his lips, the same teasing smile once Virgil managed to wind up Roman.

"Valid reasoning. I know for a fact my excuse would be more or less the same."

Patton brightened up again, but Roman didn't have a chance to admire him again as Declan had burst out with an exclamation asking for an autograph.

This whisked away Roman's attention for a while, ending up in a selfie with the three with his magic glowing through his veins for proof of authenticity and various things being signed as well as a note Roman felt obligated to write to the Heart parents for their (unknown) hospitality.

He even got all of them to make a small piece of memorabilia for him to keep to remember them should he not be able to visit them again. Logan gave a small origami gift, Declan a yellow feather. In Patton's case, he had to think for a few seconds before his face absolutely lit up. He rushed a tiny, absolutely minuscule potted cactus, the plant itself being about the size of his thumb, to roman, with the most adorable and sincere face.

"Here! Take Ophelia - I grew her myself. That being said, it's probably best you don't have a feel of her , she's a bit prickly!"

A groan rumbled in Logan's throat at the pun, contrasting the chuckles from Roman and Dec, followed by the all too familiar buzz of Roman's phone.

Very Early Womb-mate - 12:56

-- What the FuCK you ass?? its been an hour or so what the fuck is taking you so long?????

-- mom's gonna start to freak, u need to get home as soon as u can

-- idiot

Me - 11:56

-- aksdflaksdhfkljkj what the fuck i lost track of time heck i'll get home asap

Roman shoved his cracked phone into a pocket and grinned sheepishly.

"My brother has warned me against impending doom known as my mother and her lectures if I don't return home soon. I thank you all for your lovely donations of memorabilia and allowing me to stay. However, it is nearly 1 o'clock and we have been out here an awfully long time. Farewell, fellow humans!"

Roman turned away, climbing over the railing and forming a golden step of light in front of him.

"Ah, right, that reminds me. We were sent up here to make sure you hadn't fallen asleep up here Patton. We got sidetracked though. Come on, Pat." Logan chimed.

As Roman was leaping away over steps made for him, he could faintly hear Patton respond about watering 'Candice' and 'Bobby', which he could assume were plants, before heading inside.

Roman luckily escaped with his hide when he managed to sneak in through the window just in time before his mom burst in, looking for him. He used the excuse of being on his phone as a reason for being awake - which did admittedly get his phone taken away - but at least he wouldn't have to listen to a rant.

And as he settled to sleep, he was caught up in thinking. Remembering. Adoring.

Yes, Roman was a mess, but at least tonight he could sleep easy after the beautiful image of Patton in the moonlight, playful glint in his eyes; him holding out a tiny cactus supplied with a pun; his excited face once he realised something interesting.

It wasn't much, but to Roman it was everything.

#i haven't added the italics on here #oh well #my writing #birthday gift #notveryglittery #dani deserves the world #royality #roman sanders #patton sanders #ts patton #ts roman #ts virgil #brotherly prinxiety

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roxannepolice · 6 years

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Rey of Jakku – The Heroine of Our Time

I have a confession to make. Back in the pre-TLJ times I was a very naive Star Wars viewer. I was so blind I can’t believe I’m writing a Baudrillard-inspired meta on it now. And yes, that means I thought Rey will have a celibate hero’s journey. Partly because as a 5 year old I had a platonic crush on Luke and wanted to be like him, so Rey seemed like an excellent self-insert for that girl. I’ll say more, I believed in ReySky. I was even pointing out that Daisy Ridley has a similar face shape as Natalie Portman. But please don’t be harsh with me, I rooted for bendemption from day one. Anyway, foolish me...

Because it should have been obvious that Rey has a heroine’s journey from TFA, even if it was a good simulacrum of Luke’s hero’s journey at first. From the first, she’s running around doing the equivalent of slaying monsters in hero’s journey – breathing life back into everything, from the Millenium Falcon, through HanLeia’s marriage, Luke’s legend, to decimated Resistance and Kylo Ben’s pectorals in the future. I could talk for hours about Rey, the heroine for the third wave of feminism, one giving value to traditionally feminine traits rather than letting women be men and the very fact that hers is a heroine’s journey shows collective unconscious is far from being infertile.

But it was Rey Nobody that truly had my cultural sociologist’s heart. Because this here, this person who comes from nothing, is nothing, has no place in the history – that’s the heroine of our postmodernist times.

One of the most frequently pointed out differences between postmodernity and modernity is freedom from social structures the former gives. We are no longer predetermined by our birth, gender, skin colour, religion, nation, we can chose whatever we want to be (that is, this here is an “ideal state” of postmodernity, obviously things aren’t so rosy and there’s a strong pull against that freedom now... that I’m about to touch upon). Now, that freedom is a great thing. But it didn’t come without a price. That freedom is a responsibility. We are fully responsible for of our lives, there is no given answer to our questions, we must determine who we are. There are so many options available, we can’t even decide where to start trying them.

We’re nothing. We have no place in the story predetermined by our parents. There is no axis mundi, nothing we can take for granted about our lives, no elders to arrange our marriage, no family business to inherit, no culture to be proud of, no religion to tell us right from wrong. Now, as I said, this is the “ideal” postmodernity, or I would even say “radical” postmodernity, not necessarily visible yet. This leads to the order of simulacra, which deny the existence of meaning. Marriage is just a business arrangement (something something patriarchalism something something), religion is just fairy tales (opium something something masses), culture just an illusion. All that matters is the tangible here and now. Try to make it fun.

Simulacra are tempting. They give you all the wisdom of nonexistence of answers. They’re an empty throne waiting for you to kill your meaning and grasp it. Or impressively pectoraled galactic emperor stretching his hand out to you asking you to abandon your fake hopes and accept him for a person you fell in love with. That’s all there is to love, you know.

But the meaning rebels. People do fall in love (in all gender combinations) and if there’s an institution making life of people who want to live together easier, what’s wrong with it? People need moral guidance, and if there are thought systems providing it, what’s wrong with them provided they do actually provide moral guidance? Yes, a painting is an illusion created by colour patches – an esthetical experience is not.

Just as Rey isn’t nobody. She has her moral sense, people and ideals she cares about, her abilities (force related and other) – and that’s what will define her place in the story. Just as there is an answer to “who am I” more and more people ask themselves in a world undefined by birth.

Post-TFA expectations regarding Rey are excellent cases for the study of postmodernist collective unconscious. There is of course the one saying she can’t fall in love because she’s a strong female character in a saga about family. Now, this does make sense if you believe marriage is an instrument of patriarchal domination over women – which it undeniably has been used as – and not a bond between people allowing them to form, you know, families. On the other hand, compulsive clinging to ReySky, Kenobi or whatever – and I say compulsive clinging, because that’s what it is for many people – well, that’s the expression of ontological insecurity postmodernity gives people. In so many uncertainties it’s difficult to find or create some stable island on which to build our microcosms. Simulacra and fundamentalisms offer the simplest answers in this dire situation.

Simulacra are temptingly easy, but so is curling up in misunderstood structures to be defended at all costs. That’s the jedi tree if you like. There was nothing wrong with that tree, but Luke cared more about the tree than actually reading and thinking about the sacred texts. And so the tree had to burn to reveal its own emptiness. That’s Luke lying about the dolorous night, because how could Rey (and more importantly he) possibly reconcile the truth with the ideal? Rey didn’t seem to have a problem with reconciling them, Luke eventually did so too, but dudebros seem to have a hard time six months later.

The most difficult questions (ones concerning identity and morality) aren’t simply called difficult only are difficult because the answer is neither set in stone nor nonexistent.

Now, it is important to note that Rey herself build her world on a lie. Worse, she built her world on denial, which is a difference between her and Luke in ot, who was told a lie about his father and had no reason to believe otherwise. Making compulsive denial an axis mundi isn’t a good idea, it’s not finding a meaning, it’s taking a symbol and projecting upon it your desired meaning. Many people think, more, the junior novelization says (I’d argue the junior novelization has a habit of jumping between objective all knowing and subjective unreliable narrators), that Rey kept up hope for her parents, but I’d say it wasn’t hope. It was fear. Hope would be if she sought every way to get out of Jakku and search for informations about them. Fear was staying on Jakku knowing the informations are nothing she wants to hear. And axis mundi of denial can be easily destroyed, taking the whole world along with it. I know it could be argued that all that matters are the results, but that’s denial of importance of ideals, whose influence on our lives isn’t only on the practical level. Rey is truly an unbelievably strong person to not crumble down immediately, but she also had no time to reflect over the situation. The audience had. And judging by their reactions I make a prediction that....

Rey’s parents will return

I hope that had the trolling impact I intended.

What I mean is that their subject will return. To drop it now would be to deny the harm they did to Rey’s psyche, even if she patched the wound up. More exactly, the subject of her belonging will return. Rey’s current stance was built on a lie and so far nothing good resulted out of building worlds on lies in the GFFA: all the far reaching consequences of denying that Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader were one person are the best example. The destruction of Rey’s axis mundi may have, I think, three resolutions:

a symbolic one. Ritualistic if you like. She can simply return to Jakku, find their graves and yell at them, even if ending on a forgiving note. Influence of symbols and rituals is not to be denied. She admits she lied to herself, they were garbage and wasted 19 years of her life. But admits it out loud. That could be it. In fact, that would be the healthiest thing to do, just as a projection to fight was the healthiest thing Luke could offer Ben. But t’is a space drama, healthy things are rarely the most exciting ones to happen. So

she rejects all belonging, particularly the familial one with Ben. That’s what I think the more “feminist” viewers believe she did at the end of TLJ. She held out fake hope twice, once towards her parents and a second time towards Ben, she got burnt both times, now she’ll know better. The rub in this take is of course thinking what Rey held out towards her parents was hope – as I pointed out, it was fear. One could argue she went to Ben out of fear, too – because she was afraid of being the protagonist of her own story. And it’s true, but it’s also a rethorical manoeuvre because fear of being a protagonist and hope for him are two separate things and she felt them both. And remember what I said about simulacra being as tempting as an empty throne? Because doing so she would act exactly like Kylo Ben, run away from her problems rather than face them (TBH, this is what I think she wants to do right now, judging by aggressively wanting to be alone with the jedi texts in the Poe comics. And it’s understandable, but she can’t keep on doing so for two years with no consequences.) A more extreme parallel to his mistake would be that

she is offered a fake belonging. And accepts it. Trauma is severe, she’ll accept anything to be free of the pain. That’s frankly speaking what I consider the likeliest scenario or at least the most dramatic. Twice had she resisted a temptation and chosen hope (not selling BB-8, yes it was a decision of hope what other reason did she have to believe BB-8’s owner will appear?, and not accepting Kylo Ben as he is now), third time she’ll fall. This would be especially poetic if paired with Kylo Ben who twice gave in to the temptation and chosen despair (assuming Luke would actually kill him and grasping power to destroy his past; I wouldn’t include killing Han here because then he was tempted but by hope), choosing hope the third time, probably after coup. That’s where I see dark!Rey happening. I can’t shake this feeling that with all the prime jedi and yin yang symbolisms happening in this trilogy Rey and Ben as avatars of light and dark side are heading for something like two massive powers gravitating towards each other at speed so great that upon collision they first exchange places on a small amplitude before coalescing *cough* in the middle. And what would that fake belonging be? Well, Resistance. This is what so much of audience believes right now, that she has found her belonging there, more, that she should accept that as her right belonging, that it seems possible to me that with pushing the simulacra until meaning rebels going on in this trilogy, this is what Rey will try to do. But the Resistance are now just simulacrum of the good guys, and should they not live up to the symbol, they will take her along with them.

I probably shouldn’t enjoy the angst so much

I would argue that most viewers get an intuitive understanding that something is yet to emerge regarding Rey’s parents, because something in us rebels at the thought that Disney-LF would basically say “when in doubt, kids – lie to yourselves! just remember to make it a pleasant lie and you’re all gonna end up just fine”. So the first inclination is to believe Rey’s fears will turn out to be wrong hopes will turn out to be right – her parents were in fact awesome people and Kylo Ben is either lying or misunderstood what he saw in her memories. The former makes little sense because takes away from Rey her narrative power of a postmodern heroine with no preestablished position. The former – because it takes away the terrible disambiguation of truth embodied by Kylo Ben.

#rey #rey of jakku #star wars #heroine's journey #postmodernity #reylo

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shenanigumi · 6 years

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Hello!! I'm on my third playthrough now but tbh I still don't really understand the politics in the game, like what everyone wants to achieve and who's allied with whom and what their statuses are... do you maybe know of a website or any other source where this is explained in a simple and comprehensable way? The ingame encyclopedia doesn't really help... ;~~; Thank you very much!!

Hey there! Information about the Bakumatsu Period in Japan is, for whatever reason, comparatively hard to come by in English sources. It’s a little easier to find biographies on specific warriors, but even those are scattered. I can give you a super-basic rundown of the situation since I did an independent study on the time period, but the sources I had to use are neither simple nor easily accessible. If anyone else has recommendations for more professional sources, please feel free to reblog or comment with them!

Disclaimer: This is super-simplified and I’m not covering events that didn’t happen in the game. Also, it’s been over a year since I’ve done said independent study, so I may be a little rusty. I apologize in advance.

Basically, the situation around which the game is built is that as of 1853, the Western powers forced Japan to open itself to trade with other nations, causing a great deal of domestic unrest. Nobody in Japan was happy about this, but two factions arose with different ideas about how to deal with the situation. One side was comprised of the shogunate forces, loyal to the Tokugawa regime, who believed that the Tokugawa clan held supreme authority to govern Japan due to their victory in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. The other side was comprised of the imperialist forces, who were growing rapidly more impatient with the shogunate’s inability to expel the foreigners as promised, and believed that elevating the emperor to sole ruler of Japan would unite the people and expedite the process. The important thing to note here is that the emperor himself was pro-shogunate, so he had little to no control over those who wanted to give him more power.

Initially, imperialism was a widely shared sentiment, but lacked a real army to back it up (since the shogun was the military commander). However, the people’s unrest was growing quickly with every year the shogunate failed to rid the country of the foreigners. Wary of the situation in the imperial capital, Kyoto, the shogun raised the Roshigumi, the first-ever officially recognized group of warriors that didn’t have to be born into the samurai class in order to be allowed to fight, and sent them there to make sure that a.) the citizens were safe from the disillusioned ronin wandering the streets; and b.) the imperialist situation didn’t get out of hand, as both the shogun and the emperor were in agreement. After a series of complicated situations, covered in the events of Reimeiroku, the group became known as the Shinsengumi and remained in Kyoto to keep order as the shogun’s special police force.

Meanwhile, the Choshu domain—or Chōshū, but it’s simplified in the Hakuōki translation—as well as a few others took up force of arms in the name of the emperor, but without official recognition or even approval. This led to their adoption of violently unorthodox methods, such as kidnapping the emperor to force him to comply with their demands. This was what the Choshu were planning during the Ikeda Incident and later attempted to carry out during the Kinmon Incident (localized as the Hamaguri Rebellion). The shogunate forces quashed it, but the general unrest remained.

Following this, the shogunate branded the Choshu enemies of the state and ordered its domains to prepare for an expedition against them as punishment. However, the shogun did not personally lead the expedition, and morale had already begun to fail among the domains. The leaders of many domains did not see the point of pursuing the Choshu when they had already been routed, and perceived it as a waste of time, soldiers, and supplies. To make matters worse, several of the domains loyal to the shogunate were actually forced into subservience centuries ago, again due to the outcome of the Battle of Sekigahara. Among them were the Satsuma, who began sympathizing with the Choshu and ultimately allied with them, as revealed by Shiranui at Aburakōji (Aburano Koji).

But that only officially happened a few years later, so let’s back up a bit, to when Itou Kashitaro and his men joined the Shinsengumi. They did so partly to leech off the shogun’s protection, and partly to compromise their secondary function in Kyoto: suppressing the imperialist agenda. As imperialists, their ultimate aims differed from the Shinsengumi, but they were able to rally behind the common cause of protecting the people for a time. However, as tensions continued rising between the shogunate and imperialist forces, exacerbated by the deaths of both the shogun himself and the pro-shogunate emperor, the rift between the Shinsengumi and Itou’s faction grew wider. This was especially important because by that time, the Satsuma and Choshu were in accord and had insinuated themselves in the imperial court, naming the fifteen-year-old grandson of one of the Satsuma officials the new emperor. With a shift in power in their favor, Itou and his men no longer had any reason to cooperate with the Shinsengumi and founded the organization localized as the “Guardians of the Imperial Tomb”.

Some time later, the ronin Sakamoto Ryouma of the imperialist Tosa domain successfully convinced the newly named shogun to abdicate power willingly, and wrote up a plan for the transference of power. However, due to being perceived as the final blow to the failing shogunate, he was assassinated by members of the Mimawarigumi, another shogunate-affiliated group. Itou slandered Harada Sanosuke by insisting that he had been responsible, and that combined with his intention to kill Kondou led to the Shinsengumi’s decision to assassinate him at Aburakōji.

On a larger scale, tensions between the imperialists (who now held legitimate governmental power) and the shogunate forces (who were now disgraced) grew equally violent. This ultimately led to the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, which resulted in several domains formerly loyal to the Tokugawa defecting to the imperial side, and the shogunate army officially being condemned as traitors. Even the shogun had no interest in opposing the imperial court, despite the efforts of his army, and retreated to Edo rather than hole up in Osaka Castle. This is the main controversy of Chapter 4 [or Ch5 in KW], as the men of the Shinsengumi were prepared to fight to the death for the shogun in the Kyoto area but were then duty- and honor-bound to follow him to Edo instead.

(Incidentally, this also became a matter of war by proxy. Although everyone in Japan wanted the foreigners out, they elected to take advantage of their presence in their country to employ their strategies and technology. The English allied with the imperial army, while the French allied with the shogunate army, which is why the Shinsengumi later had access to Western wear and weaponry.)

As the war went on, similarly to the original situation in which the emperor had little control over the imperialists, the shogun lost any control over the pro-shogunate army. Hijikata’s initial attempts to persuade the higher-ups in the shogunate to grant the Shinsengumi more men and supplies failed, as so few of them had an interest in fighting, until finally Katsu Kaishū granted them the means to try and capture Koufu Castle. This may have been a ploy to get rid of the Shinsengumi by throwing them into an impossible battle, as the more they fought in the name of the shogunate, the longer the violence would persist. As the Shinsengumi continued northward to try and join the alliance of northern clans, and then to Ezo, it became more and more a matter of the imperial court fighting against those they had labeled traitors, regardless of the reason, until finally the last remnants of the formerly shogunate army were routed at the Battle of Hakodate. Kazama was right, as usual: it really was little more than a scramble for power, money, and reputation.

Hope I could help!! If you have any more specific questions, please feel free to ask me, though the same disclaimer will always apply.

#answered #history lesson

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yumenosakiacademy · 6 years

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it changes a bit, it seemed like tsumugi to me at some parts bc natsume stays with him bc he says that tsumugi has the face/eyes of someone who looks like they'd kill themself (im paraphrasing i don't remember exactly) but also the oddballs (especially in the "If you can be saved, I want to do it. If I can save you, I’ll do it at all costs" and "All my efforts end in vain and transform into powerlessness" bc that's definitely towards wataru and how his plan to beat fine was denied) sorry ramblin

[cracks my tiny fingers] did someone say it’s time to analyze this shit yeehaw grjhgfr well i dont kno Intensive/Extensive knowledge on natsume, tsumugi, and the oddballs other than the oddball event and other small things (plus the fact i don’t remember exactly how everything went i’m sorry if any of this is inaccurate) BUT nonetheless an analysis is what you shall recieve, dear anon

This is RLY long so it’s put under a read more so i dont clutter anyone’s dash!

“You don’t have to be RIP for this to proceed. Time is too precious to spend it in anguish. If you can be saved, I want to do it. If I can save you, I’ll do it at all costs”

He doesn’t want the oddballs (and tsumugi, but the saving line most likely refers to the oddballs, due to his relationship with them) to despair over everything that’s happened to them, and doesn’t want them to break apart or have anything bad happen to them. He wants to save this small family/group of friends he has fom eichi’s disgusting influence/actions and he wants to show them how much he cares. As for the tsumugi portion for this part, the ‘you don’t have to be RIP for this to proceed’ could refer to Tsumugi being implied suicidal. Some people who are suicidal think, “Oh, things will be better if i was dead, they [friends/family/etc] dont’ need me”, and this could be Natsume telling Tsumugi to reject those thoughts. Evidence to support this stems from Tsumugi’s low self-esteem, so it would make sense for him to think “ah, sora and natsume can go on without my burden of a self”.

“Please fall under this magic. Don’t decay away, revive yourself once more.Don’t give up and say, “I have no future,”. Just realize the hidden, sleeping power in you”

This part already sounds like an idol song out of musical context? like just lyric-wise at this part and it especially sounds like a switch or tr.ickstar song but anyway this part, i think, could be abt both the oddballs AND tsumugi. The ‘revive yourself once more’ could refer to both the incident with the oddballs and tsumugi’s despair after being played by eichi and finding out. concidentally, they both happened around the same time, because tsumugi helped eichi with the oddball incident and eichi’s intentions were revealed at the end of said incident.

For the oddballs, he’s saying that they have to stick together despite being labelled as outcasts by eichi, and to revive themselves to stay strong and let their own magic of being the ‘odd mystical individuals’ become a good trait rather than one to hate themselves over. Stick together, and together they were strong, no matter what eichi said abt them. For Tsumugi, he’s saying to not care abt what eichi said or did- or rather, not ‘not care’, bc it’s impossible to forget misdoings that had happened against you, especially of an emotional nature, but rather to move past them and to leave the emperor in the dust. He wants Tsumugi to stop constantly berating himself and to just stop being ‘weak’ (rude wording, yea, but natsume aint exactly the Kindest) and realize that he at least has some potential and good traits abt him, so he can better switch and stop being so pathetic or a pushover. The part abt the ‘i have no future’ could be Tsumugi’s implied suicidal/hopeless nature, n Natsume’s telling him to stop that.

“Please expose the trick. Don’t fall in, pull through”

This might be a stretch, but the ‘please expose the trick’ reminds me of eichi, and he could be telling tsumugi and the oddballs (including himself n this as well) that eichi should be exposed regarding he oddball incident? as in, reveal to e veryone the thing that happened then, and press just how bad of a person he is, and why some things with tsumugi and the oddballs are the things they are. The ‘fall in, don’t pull through’ could mean that he hopes they won’t get roped into something worse with eichi, and to stay strong and not fall to the awful emotions regarding that time and around eichi as well.

“I try to relinquish my own project. All my efforts end in vain and transform into powerlessness. Without volition, we’ll see no effect. I can keep saving you, but then there’d be no end.”

This line sticks out to me but i can’t exactly place it on anything that’s happening presently.. my best guess would be this could be Natsume imagining the breakup of the oddballs due to something bad happening to them, them distancing themselves from each other, eichi doing something to them, or something (which would Devastate him, let’s be real) and/or Tsumugi’s suicide (possibly both) and that’s why he says there would be no end if he kept trying to save everyone once things had gotten past the point of despair.

“Please evade that hallucination. Dispel all those idle thoughts interfering you. Remember the impulse from that day and direct it into this precise moment. Please discover the trap. Undo it before you can’t slip out of it. Trash it into total disrepair. Don’t fill everything around you with despair.”

This part strikes me as more dealing with Tsumugi than the oddballs tbh? ‘dispel all those idle thoughts’ meaning like thoughts of self-deprecation and such, more specifically the ones brought on by eichi’s manipulation, but also the ones he’d had before eichi. The ‘impulse from that day’ meaning the despair he felt on the day of the fine performance when eichi cast him aside and revealed his intentions, and what Natsume means by ‘direct it into this precise moment’ is for Tsumugi to take those bad feelings of fear, possible anger, and despair and turn them into something Great. Call it Spite, call it whatever, but he should try to be his very best and show eichi that he doesn’t need him and never did. Kinda? I’m wording that a bit too strong, but to basically take that bad memory and use it to make himself stronger somehow. The ‘trap’ is possibly the aftereffects of eichi’s manipulation, and Natsume’s saying to slip out of his current anxious ways before he succumbs to himself and does something he’ll regret (Suicide, harm, etc) and to trash all of that and not seem so self-deprecating and gloomy aka ‘don’t fill everything up with despair’.

“Take control of your body. With all your might. Sharpen your heart. Bet everything on this”

This could be Natsume’s solidifying himself (is that the right term? ‘steeling himself’?) to be Switch’s leader since Sora is too naive and Tsumugi is how he is, so he has to ‘sharpen his heart’ and ‘take control of his body’ because even he had to deal w the aftereffects of the Oddball incident as well, since he has to be around Tsumugi and the oddballs, and ‘bet everything on this’ means to just kind of take power into his own hands and make switch great. He has to bet everything and try his hardest to lead the others as well as stick with the oddballs, and he loves both of them. Switch and the oddballs that is.

“Please, magic, take effect, I beg you, please, open your eyes”

To end this, it’s basically just Natsume telling Tsumugi and the oddballs to ‘open their eyes’ and he hopes everything will work out through all of their hard work. He hopes everyone can cope and things will end up fine.

#i have a feeling i botched this up bc i dont remember Exactly everything from the oddball event n some things might b wrong sry.. im also a #bit vague on some parts again bc i dont kno/remember some details BUT i hope u appreciate this it took a while to type it's abt 7 1/2 paras #asks #anon #suicide mention #ask to tag?

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