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astroismypassion · 2 years

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Astrology observations 🍁🍂💛

Credit goes to @astroismypassion

🍁If you have Cancer or Moon in the 8th house, you might love to receive a teddy bear or a plushie from your partner. Like a “mini me” type of partner’s version.

🍁If you have Virgo Lilith people will mock you for being organized and neat. They might say “I bet your room is never messy and it’s always cleaned🙄.” but saying it in a mocking way, like this is something you should be ashamed of.

🍁Also, with Virgo Lilith, people at your workplace will see that you like to tidy up your working area, space and they will constantly make it more chaotic for you, like leave random things on your desk.

🍁Not to forget, Virgo as an Earth sign, much like Capricorn Lilith, loves control. So people at workplace might want to “control” you by talking to you, share information in a chaotic manner, so that you would not comprehend it well and make mistakes. Or they will gatekeep information from you and not tell your all the new updated information. So you will still believe in what was taught before, hence not being up to date. With this Lilith always have receipts for everything, make a second copy of your documents, double check if the mail was really sent. Co-workers might want to control you by bringing chaos to your desk. Or when you have a day off, they might walk into your office, take something from your table, rearrange things.

🍁 To understand why and where you hold grudges for way too long and find it hard to let go: study your Pluto house, degree and what sign you have over 8th house. Cancer 8th house holds a lot of grudges toward their mother, family. Capricorn 8th house toward your father mostly and your grandparents.

🍁Capricorn Lilith: each time you will try to assert yourself and/or show control, your family members, close friends, partner will REBEL against you. Like “you don’t own me” type of way.

🍁 Here, I’m connecting numerbs to astrology, but Cancer Sun would often feel better in a home, restaurant, school that the house number is 4. 2 for Taurus, 7 Libra, 8 Scorpio, 9 Sagittarius, 12 Pisces, 3 Gemini, 5 Leo and 6 Virgo, 10 Capricorn and 11 Aquarius. Or if it’s a bigger number, then the sum of it, for example number 112 is still 4.

🍁 House of Neptune tells what things you tell white lies about the most. So Neptune in the 4th house: probably about your background, family origin, your parents, sibling and relatives. Neptune in the 2nd house: your salary, finances and financial situation.

🍁 Uranus or Aquarius in the 3rd house you like to change the physical material you are studying on. Sometimes you like to write notes on paper, other times on your computer, next on your tablet/ipad, later you study on whiteboard. You are constantly changing and mixing it.

🍁 Scorpio Juno might believe that their partner wanted marriage more than them, hence why there might be some resentment.

🍁 8th house synastry have a tendency to end when one of sides is not willing to compromise for the other. One might like to move in together (if relationship was long-distance for example), the other doesn’t. One wants to marry, but the other doesn’t. And so forth. 8th house connection always end because of something really life-changing (death, moving, different countries, job change, marriage, engagement).

🍁 Lilith in the 10th house is the actress/actor from family of all doctors type of energy. Also, black sheep of the family potentially.

🍁 Sagittarius Lilith and Lilith in the 9th house: you will constantly expand in life and people will dislike your for that. You will always move to a bigger flat, house, a “bigger”, more important job. Also, you could move bigger. From a village to a small town, from a town to a big city and from a big city to a city in another country.

🍁 Lilith in the 9th house will reject all outdated views, beliefs of their PARENTS.

🍁 You will LOVE to go eat out when your Moon is transiting your 1st and 8th house. And you will love trying things you haven’t tried before.

🍁 Any Neptune influence over your Ascendant or 1st house means you idealize your grandparents and look up to them. Like they might be an inspiration to you for something, maybe relationships, how they are, their career choices etc.

🍁 Pluto in the 1st house and Scorpio Rising: they are quick to detect a “weak” link in a friend group or they can quickly detect the “error” or what is not working, for example in a company despite being there only 2 weeks. Also, they often offer money or to pay, if they ever even ask you for a favour or help. Not because they are flaunting money, but they are aware that people will not be quick to help, because the help needs to be earned. That’s why Scorpio Risings are hesitant to help someone without knowing them beforehand. They would feel foolish for misreading someone and helping them.

🍁 Pluto in the 7th house: always means that your partner’s parents helped you in getting an apartment, bought some furniture for you, maybe even gave you the their old apartment to settle in with your partner. You probably already invested money into it as well, but often this indicates that you were given a lot of furniture, supplies and help from others.

🍁 Don’t overlook Saturn in the 2nd house or Capricorn over the 2nd house. These people would also find financial success through social media platform, broadcasting something, starting a channel. Especially looking at you Sagittarius Rising, since Sagittarius also rules distant media aka the internet.

🍁 If you have Neptune in the 2nd house, you could be prone to lie about how much or how little you eat.

🍁 The second house always means “earned money”, money YOU worked for it and earned it. Meanwhile, eighth house deals with inheritance from your family, other people.

🍁 Neptune in the 2nd house indicates ANXIETY around money. Your heart could beat faster when you are paying your bills, go to ATM etc. You get overwhelmed when trying to organize your money, bills and other expenses. Also, if you have a connection with Pisces over the 4th house and Neptune in the 2nd, your family members will be the one to “steal” away your money, those that will take away the most money from you.

🍁 Virgo North Node is challenging the most exactly for the fact that you get OVERWHELMED WITH DAILY ROUTINE. Doing life on a daily, it’s draining and tough for these natives. And this is only, because they have irrational fear (Pisces South Node) whether they will make a mistake in the day. You guys are literally masters of your own fate, you allow yourself to make mistakes in the day and already calculate them in your day. They will allow to learn, grow and self evolve! And they key for this placement is to just start working early in the day, because you will GET MORE ENERGY by giving out energy, remember that if you have Virgo North Node. You will feel the most overwhelmed when you are doing nothing or started your day at 1 pm in the afternoon.

🍁 If you have Saturn, Uranus, Neptune in the 2nd house you will value MORE your TIME than the salary and a higher pay check.

🍁 Neptune in the 6th house might have emotional issues that stem from their job, the work that they have to do on a daily basis and to earn a living.

🍁 Libra North Node: could claim their partner forced them to commit or to marry, because they are not accustomed to the Libra energies, but more so Aries (being a loner and having being independent as their main trait). Likewise Cancer North Node: could claim their partner forced them to have a baby or start a family. Gemini North: there is something or a direction you took that you feel like your sibling forced you into it. Scorpio North Node: you feel like the person you are physically intimate with forced you into sharing finances, resources and everything else (like an apartment).

🍁 You will be unwilling to bend to ideas, actions and people that have the Sun sign of your Lilith sign (and house). If you have Virgo Lilith in the 9th house at a Leo degree: you will absolutely dislike bowing down or be subordinate to Virgo, Sagittarius and Leo Suns. You will always subconsciously challenge them, their way of thinking, being, actions and ideas. You won’t like to accept them despite seemingly being okay with them. Subconsciously you rebel.

🍁 6th house planets, sign and ruler of the 6th house show the Sun sign of people you work with. Sun, Venus in the 6th house, you work with Leo, Taurus Suns for example. The ruler of the 6th house in the 6th house, you work with Virgo Suns too.

🍁 I would advise to also look at over which house a sign is and in which house the planet ruler is. Most likely, if you have Aries over 4th house and Mars in your 9th house, you would still resonate with interpretation that some of your family members could live abroad. The same if you have Gemini over 7th house and Mercury in the 5th, you have a connection between 7th and 5th house, probably resulting in you desiring A LOT of attention, respect and acknowledgement, praise from your partner. Search for those connections between houses, even when you have two signs over one house.

🍁 Neptune in the 2nd house: people might often ask you to do things for free for them.

🍁 Cancer Venus oh man, 😩 I just recently discovered how so many of them really just like admiring their crush from afar?? despite having strong feelings. They be like “I do really think a lot about them and they’ve been on my mind a lot”😅 You realize you have to talk your crush to get to know them more and learn what they are like, right? And I’ve seen both men and women Cancer Venuses do that. You really are a funny bunch.

🍁 You might not understand Sun signs if your Mercury is not aspected by their planet. You won’t understand Cancer Suns, you would need at least Cancer Mercury, Mercury in the 4th house or Mercury Moon aspect to get them. So look at aspects of your Mercury and you will learn best from people with that Sun sign.

If you have:

- Mercury Uranus aspects: you learn and understand the best when you learn new things from Aquarius Suns

- Mercury Neptune aspects: Pisces Suns

- Mercury Jupiter aspects: Sagittarius Suns, even Pisces Sun

- Mercury Saturn aspects: Capricorn Suns, even Aquarius Sun to an extent

- Mercury Pluto aspects: Scorpio Suns etc.

Really look into this, to understand why you might have miscommunication, a lot of misunderstandings with some Sun signs!

🍁 8th house synastry: 8th house person wants your SOUL, 2nd house synastry: 2nd house person wants your CONFIDENCE, SELF-WORTH for themselves, 7th house synastry: 7th house person thinks you (the planet person) can help them fulfil THEIR OWN IDEA of a perfect, ideal partner for them, 5th house synastry: 5th house person thinks they can only be ROMANTICALLY with you (planet person), because they find romance hard to achieve with other signs

🍁 Pisces over the 3rd house, Mars in the 9th house, Virgo North Node, Jupiter in the 3rd house, Virgo Mercury: whenever you feel stuck, not wanting to study no more, feel like you can’t write anymore and don’t have enough inspiration, motivation, always take a WALK outside. You need movement to think and get fresh, new creative ideas.

🍁 Taurus and Libra Venus people seem to have this mentality that their partner needs to ask for exclusivity, commitment FIRST. As if they believe that if their partner asks FIRST, their partner won’t leave them. Because their partner consciously chose them. I hope this made sense😅

🍁 I’m not saying Neptune in the 7th house people necessarily bluntly LIE about their relationship status, BUT… they do deceive people with information about their relationship status. Meaning they represent it as far worse or far better than the reality actually is. They might say that they are “CURRENTLY single” insinuating that they are highly desirable, but not in a relationship right now and/or that they had quite a few previous partners already, but now single. They will always say it with words that would turn it into a desirable perception of them. Because even when single, they always have crushes and people they fantasize being in a relationship with. It’s like they are already “taken” by so many people due to liking someone just in their head or just admiring them so much from afar.

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duketectivecomics · 10 months

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[ID: An edit by @redroseworks advertising Duke Thomas Week 2023. The background consists of two panel edits of Duke in his Signal costume facing outwardly from the left and right side respectively, and a third Duke in the center in his civilian clothes facing the viewer straight on. There is a dot overlay on these panels and they are broken up into triangular comic panels. The dates and themes for Duke Week are listed in text boxes spread throughout, & are listed in further detail in the post below.]

Once again, it’s

Duke Week 2023!

Further info for this year’s Themes, Rules & Guidelines are under the cut! Be sure to spread the word!

Themes for 2023 (Sept 24th-30th):

Day 1 - Rebellion

From his rough start with Dr. Thompkins, to his rocky team-up with Black Lightning & the Outsiders, Duke’s always been quite the Rebel! Here’s a day to commemorate our Rebellious Rockin’ Robin!

Day 2 - Civilian Life

Duke’s time as a vigilante is full of intrigue & adventure, but what about his time outside of the mask? This day is all about exploring Duke’s civilian identity!

Day 3 - Fav Quote

From his introduction in Batman (2011) all the way up through his more recent appearances in Batman: Urban Legends, there’s plenty of quotes to pull from Duke. But which ones stand out among the crowd? Which ones have resonated the most with you? (And here’s a link to our Duke Reading guide in case you want a refresher!)

Day 4 - What is… Normal? (Meme/Free Day)

A free day for folks to share general Duke work, or of course, memes! This past year I’ve seen an influx as well with more general batfam fans questioning just how ‘normal’ or ‘sane’ our favorite bat is. And to that, I want to invite y’all to come on over and find out!

Day 5 - DnD, Wizards & Knights (oh my!)

One of Duke’s oldest special interests! He’s always been a bit of a fantasy nerd. This day is all about celebrating Duke’s hobbies of fantasy gaming and reading!

Day 6 - We Are Robins (Of the Future)

We’ve celebrated the We Are Robins of the Middletown collective before, but this year we’re predicting where they could go! Duke’s first team will always be an important part of his past, but how could they fit into his future?

Day 7 - Sun vs Moon

And to finish out this year’s Duke Week, we end on another note of duality. Duke’s a bat who operates mainly during the day, and occasionally is called upon at night. The bright sunlight of day may reveal something different about our hero compared to the cool moonlight of night.

Rules & Guidelines:

Tag your posts with “#dukeweek2023” &/or “#duke week 2023” for the event. For Best results use it as one of the first five tags & “@” this blog too. If the work is not reblogged here w/in 24 hrs, feel free to send it directly my way by DMing it to me!

Any medium of fanwork is allowed! Whether it’s fic, art, edits, mixes, meta, or more! In this same vein, multiple works for the same day are also allowed, provided they’re on-theme!

HOWEVER, No NSFW! The character is a minor at this point in canon and we want this week to be as inclusive to fans of all ages as possible.

Fics & ficlets that are posted on tumblr will also need a Read More cut to be up for reblogging. Use the : read more : function (no spaces before the colons) & press enter/return to add a cut to your fic! If linked through Ao3 or other fic websites, no cut is needed. Please provide adequate warnings as they apply to your fic, thank you!

Reposted/stolen art or edits will not be accepted or tolerated.

Got any questions about the event? The ask box is always open! (& remember to reblog & spread the word! Let’s have a GREAT DUKE WEEK!)

#duke thomas #dukeweek2023 #batfamily #batman and robin #batman and the outsiders #batman and the signal #we are robin #let’s goooooooooooooooo!!!!

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hecckyeah · 8 months

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Listen. I know, I KNOW we all have mixed feelings about the finale. Just in the last hour, I’ve read at least five posts on each side, some saying it was the best thing filoni’s ever created, and some literally cursing his guts. As I watched it, I was leaning much more to the how dare you, I waited two years for this and this sucks side, but I had a good night of sleep and some thought, and. I think everyone is overreacting.

Some thoughts.

First, I do think it should have been an animated Rebels season 5. I am partial to live action in general and I’m so glad we got such fantastic casting. But Filoni really shines in the animated world. Live action has limits that animation laughs at, and with all of Dave’s creativity and parallels and callbacks and history in animation, it would have suited this show better. Granted, the viewership might have been worse than it already was, but who’s to say?

Secondly, of course the whole thing was a setup for future movies/shows. It would have been near impossible for this to be a standalone series, with only 8 episodes and so much at stake. I still have absolutely zero idea how this fits in with the s*quels, but I hope it’s all part of the plan to safely extract our (Filoni’s) favorite characters before all hell breaks loose on the narrative.

BUT. Just because it was a setup doesn’t make the story any less meaningful. Dave is the master of arcs within arcs within arcs within arcs. There was the mini arc of Ahsoka and Anakin, reconciling very (very very) complicated feelings and Ahsoka coming to grips with her past as a child soldier and forgiving Anakin for the choices and mistakes he made. There was the mini arc of Hera in the New Republic and how she has to balance her loyalty to the government that she helped to establish with her loyalty to her family (something I don’t think we’ve seen the last of). There was the mini arc of (obviously) finding Ezra!!!! HE’S HOME, YOU GUYS. Sabine did the selfless thing and sent him home after a decade to have a fighting chance to reunite with his family. And to meet Kanan’s son and to see the beauty that Lothal has turned into and to hug his adoptive mom. And she has full faith in him that he will be back to get her, or that she’ll find a way to go back. Because she now has knowledge that he didn’t before, and with Ahsoka’s help and probably Shin and Baylan too, there’s no way they won’t Jedi their way out of this. (*cough* world between worlds *cough*) Also seeing Morai was a HUGE plot twist. I, for one, can’t WAIT to see what’s up with that.

FINALLY. and I think this is something that Star Wars fans (dare I call them fans anymore?) seem to always forget is that Star Wars……. Kinda sucks. It always has. No one in their right mind would say that Star Wars is a literary masterpiece or anything close to that. Star Wars is great because you are literally required to take it all with a grain of salt. Nothing goes at face value. You have to overlook things for the rest to make sense. You cherry pick your favorite parts and ignore the rest. Do I know absolutely anything about mandalore and their political history?? Not one single thing. But could I explain to you the nuances of the aptly-named Disaster Lineage and how generation trauma comes in more ways than by blood?? I could write PAGES. There’s so much history and lore and side characters and branches of story and nuance that no one can ever fit it all together perfectly, no matter how good of a storyteller they are. You have to pick a niche and run with it, and that’s exactly what Dave Filoni is doing. AND that’s what we as fans need to do. If you’re mad that he didn’t address the chiss as a whole or delve into the mysteries of the nightsisters or expand on what happened between Ahsoka and Sabine in depth, then I’m sorry, but you’ve come to the wrong place. Put on a pair of rose colored glasses and cry at Ezra’s reunions with the rest of us.

I’ve stopped expecting perfection from any major franchise (haven’t watched a marvel show or movie since TF&TWS) because the bigger they get, the less they’re going to appeal to the general fan base. And Ahsoka was no different. But it did accomplish one thing: bringing Ezra Bridger home after 10 years, and I think that is all we actually need to worry about for now.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

#ahsoka spoilers #ahsoka #ahsoka series #rants and thoughts with katie

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someinstant · 25 days

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So I turned my ankle taking out my trash this evening and it's swelling up beautifully-- I did a number on that ankle back in college and it regularly betrays me because of the Dumb Things I did without seeking medical attention when I was twenty-- so I've decided to prop it up on the couch and ice the hell out of it and watch the special features on my ANDOR Blu-Ray.

Here's a short list of Cool Things I've learned:

Diego says that it was important to show Cassian being nice to B2EMO in the first bit of episode one, because you needed to see Cassian show care and kindness for someone-- because he's not a particularly awesome guy at the beginning.

The set designer for the Andor house on Ferix made macrame door curtains out of metal scrap and bolts because they wanted a 1970s feel with an industrial twist. Also, the set designer pronounces "macrame" with the accent on the second syllable, and I've never heard it that way before? British folks, is that standard on your fair isle? Because hereabouts it's MAC-rah-may, or maybe mac-rah-MAY if you're fancy. But it sure as hell isn't mah-CRAHM-eh.

Just so many gorgeous shots of Ferix, man. And all the costumes and details-- it looks SO GOOD, even when it's clearly just a set and not the finished version. The actors all clearly adored working in the physical space.

During the Aldhani arc, the Aldhani rebel cell actors worked extensively together with the director to train, rehearse, and develop chemistry-- and they deliberately didn't bring Diego Luna in until they were ready to shoot for real. So the Aldhani squad had this rapport and inside jokes and relationships, and THEN they dropped Luna in so he would feel properly like an outsider.

And they did the SAME THING on the Narkina 5 arc. All the prisoners rehearsed together well before they brought in Luna, so he wouldn't have the same understanding of the space or tools or way the actors related to each other. Love it. Really smart decision, and it paid off.

The visual reference for what the Eye would look like when you were flying through it was a close-up of a human iris, and actually-- yeah. They did that really, really well.

They made the prison on Narkina 5 the same shape as the planetary shield generator on Scarif, and I have no idea how I didn't notice that before.

Stellan Skarsgard was clearly DELIGHTED by Luthen's big speech in "Nobody's Listening." He talks about how when he read it, he was like, "Absolutely, this is the dilemma, isn't it? How far can you go in the name of change?," followed immediately by, "Now, how in the world do I SAY that?!"

The musicians in "Rix Road" are really playing on set-- they did ADR over top for sound quality but in order to give the actors the right feel, the musicians are really playing and the instruments all are fully functional. The musicians are a mix of studio musicians who are on the final recording and some talented amateurs who also work as background actors, so you get the imperfect, community-band style tuning, which is what they wanted.

And there's a bunch of other cool stuff, but my ankle is throbbing, so I'm going to go take a painkiller and go to bed I think.

#andor #andor special features #andor spoilers #cassian andor #set design #my beloved space disaster

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thecoffeelorian · 2 months

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And now, for something slightly different...

Hello again, everyone...

...Okay, gang...before we get started here, there's something I think I need to confess here first.

I don't know how in the world I'm supposed to feel about this show any more.

I mean...in the beginning, I thought their arc was clear as a bell: start removing every single darned inhibitor chip they could find, start the evac efforts to an Outer Rim planet, and then start rebuilding new lives, the end.

Instead, it's turned into what looks like a never-ending negative feedback loop: don't lift a finger to rescue a certain person; get told to give a darn about said person by the child character; finally act on the child's orders...but then as a creepy consequence for giving a darn at all, the title squad/'family'(?) starts watching its members not rethink one side of an ideological/psychological divide and leave them; not give up completely on rescuing Troopers/join the Margaritaville Society and leave them; not remember that there are human weight-bearing birds on a certain mountain planet and leave them; finally agree to be caught by the Empire in order to locate Mount Tantiss and leave them...and oh yes, let's add a 'Will They Kill A Brother/Won't They Kill A Brother' game to the mix, if things weren't totally weird enough...I mean, all right, already.

If this show WASN'T about having all six title characters come back together as a true family on an asylum planet, what IS happening here?

How in the world am I expected to respond to repetitive, exhausting moments of disaster and family splintering when for three whole years, I was endlessly told that there was NO disaster, that this was the PERFECT family, that they would NEVER end up shedding members one by one, etc...and...everything that the big-name fans and fandom influencers said WOULDN'T happen IS, in fact, happening right this very minute.

In other words, the squad and family keeps on disintegrating a little bit more with each new season, and I'm left thinking the same thing a few of you must have thought at least once.

Why am I here?

Is it because I'm studying this series as a whole like a certain Chiss studies art, and searching for all of its strengths and weaknesses in order to better improve my own writing? Is it for the sake of wishing to learn how to draw better, and practicing the craft in the safety of something familiar? Or, am I instead becoming some manner of corporate counter-revolutionary, and taking up fanworks as my mode of protest against stories that revolve more around too-short moments of cuteness and horror, sometimes solely for shock value alone...?

I'm afraid I can't answer questions like these just yet, no, not even to myself. I can only read and write and pretty much grieve everything that these episodes/seasons were supposed to be...yet for Force knows what reason, keep getting relegated to the same few plot points over and over again while expecting different results. I can only hope that there's some eventual breakthrough to make it all worth it in the end, if only to rid myself of the thought that this could be the very first bit of Nihilist media in the fandom.

Anyway...*deep breath* Now that I've given you my two cents on this issue...let's get right to my picks of the week, which, thanks to the return of a very interesting sister, I'm unofficially titling this as:

THE DATHOMIR EDITION

The Bad Batch Fan Art

Captain Howzer by @thespianwtch.

She Is Mommy by @anko-art.

Star Wars Rebels Fan Art

Alexsandr Kallus by @ghosty-blues1.

The Bad Batch Fan Fiction

You know, brother by whiteaxolotl

Fight Like Brothers Do by AgentMaryMargaretSkitz

deprogramming by vicious_creature

Whatever Is Necessary by ChopSyndulla

Domiciles by Polyphonic_Garden

Star Wars Sapphic Week, Day 5--Sparring by @violetjedisylveon

Serpent's Kiss by mediumsweet

Not A Soldier by TigerTheSpahget

Star Wars Sequels Fanfiction

What We Do In The Resistance by AgentMaryMargaretSkitz

And now, I'd like to put in a small advertisement, if only to bring more attention to an up-and-coming artist: @ve-ti-ver has started up their own Patreon page, available at this link . So, if you'd like to support them, please feel free to visit their page.

Finally, yes, you probably all know the drill by now...but just in case you need a reminder, here we go: Please give this post a like and a reblog, so that we can pass this post around the Internet and back!

This Week's No Pressure Tags Go Out To: @sharpasanaro @bananasugarwarrior @lazyprofessorpursesalad @callsign-denmark @melymigo @yeehawgeek @littlefeatherr @anko-art @guppyfreedom @giraffedragon-universe @clonebrainrot @gun-roswell @omglisalithium @falconfeather23435 @uuurgh @simply92-me @skellymom @metalatl @dathomirdumpsterfire @kuraiummei @thedynamicworm @ur-pal-ari @advisorsnips @groguandthebadbatch @lee-lee-la @themightychipmunk42 @random-chaotic-bitch @wastingstarsss @flyiingsly @ilovemedia @talesfrommedinastation @swarovski-yoda and anyone else who might be interested in catching more fanart and fanfictions.

Thank you, good afternoon, good luck, and...

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public-trans-it · 1 month

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Figured I would make a post of all my various FFXIV OC's.

Warning: There are more than just these 4, those are just the big ones. Also, this is like 5 years' worth of weekly RP with my FC, and we very much leaned into the absurd over-the-top fantasy of the FF series. So, like... boy HOWDY is this gonna be a lot. Edit after finishing writing this draft: it was far more than I thought oh my god I forgot how bullshit all of this was. However I added a clear indicator of where you can skip the most bullshit parts.

(All infoblocks are how the character would describe themselves. Summaries are (mostly) my own words, unless I think its really funny to not do so.)

I also have redacted a lot of info about other people's characters cause I'm not entirely comfortable sharing all of them here. So the names of other characters, and also my FC's name, are entirely removed. I've also tweaked some of the details slightly, mostly just the timing of certain events, and combining/removing a couple of the T'alia's (yes there used to be more). Also spoilers [ARE NOT IN THIS VERSION, YOUR WELCOME MISHA].

If you don't want what is basically a summary of a four year long RP campaign, you can get the short version by just reading the entries for the four characters listed above.

Name: T'sraetn Slein Race: Miqo'te/Garlean (Mixed race) Clan: Seeker of the Sun Gender: Cis(ish) Woman (She/Her)

T'sraetn was born in the capital city of Garlemald, child of a garlean scientist, Varrick lux Slein, and a miqo'te conscript-engineer, T'alia Raio. Her father was researching the Echo, trying to find ways to replicate its effects with a garlean soul. When the Garlond Ironworks rebelled and fled for Eorzea, T'sraetn's family fled with them, though Varrick was killed in the process, [REDACTED FOR MISHA REASONS].

T'sraetn became fascinated by all forms of magic in Eorzea, following the paths of the Arcanist before branching out to other fields. She continued to find stronger and stronger opponents to test her magical prowess against, eventually awakening to the Echo and being recruited to the Scions.

The events of 1.0 through Stormblood happen relatively the same as they do in the game, though T'sraetn went missing after [REDACTED FOR MISHA REASONS]. She reappeared once again after the events of Shadowbringers 5.3 (sort of, see below), now sporting several cybernetic augments throughout her body, with all of her limbs being fully cybernetic.

She initially had no issues with her augments, barring a few exceptions. However, after the events of Endwalker, she grew to hate them. She believed these augments were the only thing that allowed her to survive her fight against [REDACTED FOR MISHA REASONS]. She eventually underwent a dangerous procedure to remove her augments and replace her limbs with vat-grown cloned organic transplants.

T'sraetns version of the Echo manifests it in a bizarre temporal distortion. Time feels as if it passes differently for her, with her experiencing weeks or months in the span of time that others claim to only experience days. In combat, she experiences her own death over and over again until, eventually, she survives the fight. The way that [REDACTED FOR MISHA REASONS] experience [REDACTED FOR MISHA REASONS] makes her feel a kinship with them in this regard, and has lead to her developing an unhealthy obsession with both of them.

T'sraetn has grown disillusioned with the life of adventure, and now spend much of her time drinking and reliving [REDACTED FOR MISHA REASONS], hoping at some point she will discover her life since that point was just a very long vision, and if she just did something different [REDACTED FOR MISHA REASONS].

The rare times she is sober, she spends studying [THIS ENTIRE FUCKING PARAGRAPH REDACTED FOR MISHA REASONS HOLY FUCK].

She funds these expeditions by selling her services to the goblins of the Wolves Den, helping them refine and test their designs for human pilots.

(Here she is, Ms. Warrior of Light herself. I do find it hilarious that 'Mech Pilot' is a lore friendly profession to have, so I had to go for it. I technically have two versions of T'sraetn! (Well... 3) One is the version I used in my Free Company's weekly roleplay for about 4 years, who is not actually the Warrior of Light, and the other is, in fact, the Warrior of Light herself. However, everything canon to the FC version is more or less canon to the WoL version. We won't be getting into the third version on a SFW blog. [REDACTED FOR MISHA REASONS])

Name: Killer Kweh Race: Unknown Clan: Unknown Gender: Unknown (They/Them)

Killer Kweh is a vigilante who began to harass T'sraetn's FC around the events of late Shadowbringers, keeping tabs on the various villains and scoundrels that the FC let slip away, thinking the power of friendship would be enough to save the day. Together with their chocobo, Wark Warrior, the two would track down and kill those the FC had spared. They eventually began to confront the FC, trying to pressure them into no longer forgiving those who wronged them.

Their identity remains a mystery to this day, and will likely never be discovered, no matter how often the other FC members says things like "T'sraetn the mask doesn't even cover all your hair, and we can clearly still see your tail." or "Can you hide your chocobo's costume somewhere else? We need to clean the stables."

(I kept this glam and now use it for PLD/RDM. Originally I was actually planning to have Killer Kweh be an entirely different character, but the FC kept making jokes about the tail showing, and I decided to roll with it cause having it just be T'sraetn the whole time was FAR funnier tbh, and we needed something light hearted at the time.)

If you don't want to read a whole boatload of FC lore, you should skip all of this. (Scroll down until you see the quest complete)

Name: T'alia Raio Race: Miqo'te Clan: Seeker of the Sun Gender: Cis Woman (She/Her)

The first of the many, many, MANY faces of T'alia, who served as one of the central antagonists for much of the FC's life.

As mentioned above, T'alia was an engineer working in Garlemald before her family attempted to flee alongside the Garlond Ironworks, her husband being killed in the process. Wrought with guilt over his death, T'alia vowed to attempt to continue his research once they arrived in Eorzea, studying the soul and how various things could affect it.

Where her husband turned to the Echo, T'alia instead turned to the void, and to the tempering effect of primals. She made a pact with a voidsent, offering it not her own soul, but the soul of her research subjects, in return for studying its effects on them.

She eventually joined a Free Company, finding them to be perfect test subjects and developing an obsession with helping them grow stronger. She carefully examined and documented the effects on them and their aether after various fights with primals and voidsent, all under the guise of helping them grow stronger.

The idea of the FC needing to grow stronger became more and more compulsive, culminating in her trying to graft the soul of her voidsent into the aether of an injured FC member, an act which was the last straw and resulted in the FC turning on her.

She harbored no ill will against the adventurers, and continued her experiments from a distance, using facilities within abandoned garlean bases to construct various monsters for the free company to "train" against, frequently against their will.

(The FC I was with from 1.0 up to Stormblood Launch had a lot of drama. I originally made T'alia as a way to shop around and play with other FC's. When I joined my current FC, they mentioned not having any real dedicated antagonist for their RPs, and so I decided before the first RP I joined that T'alia was eventually going to make a heel turn, and played her as friendly but also very clearly having an ulterior motive. Also T'alia is still my MCH glam!)

Name: T'alia Raio Kime Race: Disembodied Soul Chimera Clan: Specter Yeah :) Gender: Monster (It/She/He)

T'alia's research into metempsychosis culminated in the preservation of her soul, at the cost of the willing destruction of her own body, obtaining a state not unlike those of the Ascians. She began growing multitudes of clones of herself, experimenting on them, merging them with beast men, and creating terrifying new chimerical bodies with which she continued to 'test the potential' of the FC.

However, these bodies and her soul mixed like water and oil, and she was never able to fully utilize them. While each one was quite powerful on its own, under her control they were exceedingly frail, and she would find her soul being ejected from them long before the point the body itself failed. This eventually forced her to turn back to her original field of engineering, augmenting these bodies with cybernetic enhancements.

Eventually, she invited the FC to one of her most ambitions plans to date, which she referred to as "The Merger", a combination wedding ceremony and business merger between both herself, and another rival of the FC's who also was heavily proficient in the field of engineering. This event was, in truth, an experiment where she splintered the timeline and merged it together again. During one timeline, an FC member was killed and replaced with a cybernetic replica crafted by T'alia and her new wife, while in the other timeline the FC member lived on as normal.

T'alia's plans for all of this were seemingly lost when her corpse was discovered in some ruins, impaled by a chunk of white auracite that kept her from escaping the vessel she was inhabiting. This drove her wife deeper into despair, and the widow blamed the FC for allowing this to happen, becoming a far bigger threat to them in the process.

(It was a running joke in our RPs that T'alia would keep getting called an Ascian, only to respond, "I still don't know what that is..." While she did achieve a similar form, it was elusively through her own research, and she never had any affiliation with the Ascians)

Name: Tali Race: Various Clan: Various Gender: Nonbinary (She/Her)

Shortly after T'alia's death, one of her augmented clones began interacting with the FC. She revealed she was the one who killed the 'real' T'alia, an action she had no choice in taking. Several of this clones augments allowed T'alia to control her remotely, and she had taken control of her body to kill herself. These augments still remained in place, and even with no one controlling them now, they still prevented certain actions, such as revealing what T'alia was planning.

This T'alia clone continued to work alongside the FC, eventually being welcomed with open arms as a full fledged member, with the FC renaming her 'Tali' to differentiate her from her creator.

While Tali already differed significantly from her creator, she felt a deep unease about being compared to her. She took up the gunblade and began to dabble in various shape changing magics in order to further differentiate herself from T'alia, resulting in frequent damage to her body and need for replacements of her various artificial limbs. All the while, unfamiliar memories began to surface in her mind, revealing that the memories of T'alia's own past that she had planted in Tali weren't sticking.

While she was unable to reveal T'alia's plans to the FC, she was more than able to be reckless about leaving around too many maps about where T'alia's various facilities were located, leading the FC on missions to shut them down and uncover more details about T'alia's plans, with Tali quickly piecing the details together and becoming both more distressed and more frantic to get the FC to uncover the rest.

Over the course of these expeditions the FC found T'alia's main base: a facility located in a rift in spacetime filled with a massive number of clones. Thousands of clones of T'alia, as well as hundreds of clones of every single FC member.

This facility housed enough clues for the FC to realize two things: first, that T'alia was being coerced into her actions by some other entity that she had been plotting against, and second, Tali's differences to T'alia came not from her augmentations, but from the the fact that she was never a clone of T'alia at all, but her own daughter T'sraetn, augmented and brainwashed into becoming a pawn for T'alia to use.

(Yes the DPS symbol on the blue background is intentional. It's a joke about me always off-tanking at the time, and being a 'Blue DPS'. The name Tali was actually a typo from an FC member addressing her, but everyone immediately realized it would be a great way to differentiate this other version of T'alia, and so we kept it. Also, we had a running joke in our RP's that Tali's arms just fell right off about once per RP night.)

Name: T'alia Allengray Race: Miqo'te Clan: Seeker of the Sun Gender: Cis Woman (She/Her)

Pouring over T'alia's research notes, T'sraetn and the FC eventually found the source of what T'alia had been pushing them all towards, the entity that had plagued her for her entire life: T'alia.

This other T'alia eventually made her presence known by possessing a shape changing quicksilver construct that the FC had defeated, forming a new body for herself. Taking the old T'alia's role as antagonist (though never posing anywhere near as much a direct threat), she was happy to monologue to the FC, and even gave them a linkpearl to answer any questions they might have.

This other T'alia (who the FC simply refered to by her surname, Allengray) was a copy of herself from a different timeline, who had trapped herself in a perpetual timeloop that lasted from the moment of her birth, to the moment of her death. Her original self became nothing more than a disembodied specter within the loop, forced to observe the same events play out over and over again. Over the course of the more than 5 million years she spent trapped in the loop, she slowly gained the ability to subtly influence the members of her FC, with a far bigger influence on each loops iteration of herself.

In her original timeline, Allengray and the FC had fought a devastatingly powerful primal, Lich. As they began to realize their conventional methods of killing primals would not affect it, they eventually chose to build a temporal cage, crafted from the remains of Alexander. The device would contain one aetheric being, and one mortal being, binding the two together. Lich would be trapped within it, and bound to the lifespan of whoever activated the device. While Allengray was not the one selected to bear that burden, she stole the device in the dead of night and sacrificed herself to it, rather than watch any of her friends suffer. Instead, she was left to be tortured for millions of years, watching Lich kill her friends over and over again while she could do little more than watch, and whisper to each version of herself to beg them to find a way to stop it.

(Another kept glam! Allengray is my BLU glam. I actually introduced her as a palette swapped version of another FC members 'Monster of the Week', which was the quicksilver construct that Allengray possessed. She was a bit of an amnesiac trickster for a bit, as her soul adjusted to her new body.)

Name: T'alia Allengray Lich Race: Primal Clan: Aetheric Parasite Gender: Primal (It/Its)

Eventually, Allengray revealed Lich's true nature. Unlike other primals, Lich did not exist as a body. It was more of a parasite that existed in the lifestream, devouring the souls of those who died, which is why it had been so difficult to find a way to stop. And over the course of hundreds of loops, it had grown and adapted to exist within a person's aether, feeding off of them.

Specifically, that of Allengray, where it had latched itself into and fully consumed her. While the timeloop was still connected to the lifespan of each timeline's T'alia, Lich was free to wreck whatever havoc it wanted on the FC, manipulating the timeline to ensure they would suffer over and over again to amuse itself. Even if they found a way to kill it, which the FC occasionally managed to do, the timeline would still be reset on its death, meaning the most the FC would ever be able to do to it is doom another timeline to be the victim of its wrath.

Moreover, with this timelines T'alia now trapped in white auracite, she could never truly die, allowing Lich to remain in this timeline indefinitely.

This timelines T'alia (which is T'alia Raio, in case you lost track. Very understandable if you did.) still managed to get the last laugh. Through their various interactions, the FC of this timeline had become a force of abominations. Fractured primals, artificial constructs, temporal anomalies, and voidtouched avatars, all untouchable by Lich. A fierce battle ensued, Lich toying with FC with the knowledge that killing it wouldn't stop it, even as it clearly grew frustrated.

In the final moment of the battle, the FC revealed their ace in the hole, one of their enemies who had a far bigger grudge against Lich than anyone in the FC. The wife of this timelines T'alia, holding a recreation of the device that trapped Lich and Allengray in the timeloop in one hand, and the white auracite that held her wifes soul in the other. Binding the device to herself and her wife, the two became banished from this timeline to spend eternity with one another, replacing Lich and Allengray in the loop.

Lich did not have time to make its feelings on this development known, as the FC shredded it apart and destroyed it for good.

(I've always fucking loved the concept behind Lich, because in case it wasn't clear by now, I am ABSOLUTELY FASCINATED by death and how we relate to it, and wish Lich had a bigger role in Final Fantasy (I love you Stranger of Paradise). In XIV in particular I felt it had so much potential as a primal. Plus "Killing the embodiment of death itself" is such a final fantasy ass final boss.)

(Additional fun fact: this timeline is the 72,323nd loop that Lich and Allengray were trapped in. Since I'm going with a dumb quest formatting for this, I'll say first person to correctly guess why I chose that number gets... idk... a trust banner of their character and/or a wallpaper made of them? This post contains all the information an FFXIV player would need to guess why I chose that number.)

Name: Noraliene Haillenarte Race: Elezen Clan: Wildwood Gender: Cis Woman (She/Her)

Despite all appearances, Noraliene is an elezen born to House Haillenarte in Ishgard. A member of House Dzemael dosed her drink with a fantasia during a banquet, and when she awoke the next morning as an Au Ra, she found herself the target of a horrible campaign to undermine House Haillenarte by claiming they are heretics, as well as an attempt to use her as "proof" that Au Ra are companions to dragons and must be purged from the city.

She was exiled by her family and escaped the city the next day, being pursued by several members of the Ishgardian Church seeking to kill her for her supposed heresy. Cold and exhausted, she eventually collapsed in the snow, where she claims she froze to death before being resurrected. In truth, she was rescued before that point by Ysayle, and her blue skin is a result of being tempered by Shiva.

After Ysayle's death, Noraliene took her place and helped lead her followers in reintegrating into Ishgard. She had no desire to return to the place of so many bad memories, however, and decided to join up with T'alia's FC shortly after T'alia revealed her true colors, granting them her aid as the new avatar of Shiva.

Despite her tragic past and icy aesthetic, she actually has a very warm and bubbly personality, eager to share her love of Doman Romance novels with anyone who will listen, and excitedly prying into the love life of anyone who was willing to share. She eventually grew tired of the constant stress and drama of being an adventurer and married another Ishgardian exile, choosing to move far away from Eorzea with her new wife.

(Did I make this character just as an excuse to spam the Diamond Dust emote during RP nights? You can't prove that. She was actually made so that I could join the RP easier when other people wanted to host an RP, instead of trying to bullshit together another reason why the FC was just willing to team up with T'alia again. The Diamond Dust spam was just a bonus. I also have a 26 page screenshot comic about her origin story that I've written out, and just need to actually take the screenshots for, but EFFORT...)

Name: Muddied Glory Race: Au Ra Clan: Raen/Xaela (Mixed race) Gender: Cis Woman (She/Her)

Muddied Glory is the orphan daughter of a Raen and a Xaela who were both killed touring Eorzea while she was just an infant. She was placed into the foster care of a Hellsguard woman, who gave her the name she has now.

At a very young age, Glory was adopted by the Church of Halone, where she became a devoted follower of their doctrine. As she grew, she would eventually find herself blessed by Halone with visions into the lives of those she would grant absolution (Its just the Echo), and very rarely, she will wake up in the morning with no memory of the previous night, the events of her own life falling away so her memory could instead be filled with the knowledge of a killer who must be brought to justice, delivered to her through the eyes of their victim.

Her conviction of faith is never stronger than when she faces on these killers, and from the moment they lock eyes with her, before even a single word is said, they are filled with the terrifying knowledge that she is there to bring them to justice. (This is the usual reaction people have when the woman they killed last night shows up in front of them.)

(Glory is me going "Hey remember that one Sahagin Priest in MSQ? Where we learned what a fully realized Echo was capable of? Yeah we need more of that", with the additional silliness of the character in question having no idea it's happening to her. Once again, I was very excited when [REDACTED FOR MISHA REASONS])

Name: Ifrit's Bride Race: Tempered Clan: Thrall Gender: Seemingly Trans Woman (It/She)

While there has not been a cure until very recently, being tempered has never been a 'one and done' affair. A primal is fully capable of tempering a single person multiple times, corrupting them far beyond the point of recognizability, as seen most commonly in Leviathan's drowned.

Ifrit's Bride is an example of that. It is unknown what rank or purpose she served among the followers of Ifrit, only that it was far more aetherially corrupted than was the norm for the followers of Ifrit.

After plaguing them for years, she was eventually captured by the Brotherhood of Ash where they worked with the immortal flames and the new anti-tempering magics lent to them to attempt to see if the process could be combined with the Brotherhood's Sacred Ash.

(Technically, she wasn't given the name Tempered Lass until after she was cured, so I should have used a different name for the trust banner. But also fuck making another one, I'm almost done with this post. Also I can't do tribal dailies on this character anymore, because I refuse to complete 'Losing One's Tempered' so that I can always keep some Sacred Ash on hand.)

Name: Tempered Lass Race: "Prefer not to disclose" Clan: "Prefer not to disclose" Gender: So Fucking Much (She/It)

The result was... mixed. While they managed to cure the Bride of Ifrit of her tempering, she had no memory of anything prior to the point of being cured, and her body remained warped.

She was given into the care of a Hellsguard woman who gave her a very... on the nose name, and there it was discovered that without regular treatments of the Brotherhood's Sacred Ash, she would once again begin hearing the whispers of Ifrit compelling her. She is also particularly gullible, but it is unclear if that is a result of the process that cured her, or simply a natural character trait for her.

While the Brotherhood of Ash welcomes her with open arms and is happy to provide her with Sacred Ash at no cost, Temmie prefers to try to live in Ul'dah. She is frequently found among the refugees, helping them for far too little coin for what she needs to sustain herself.

(The reason she can't remember anything is cause there is nothing to remember. Despite appearances, Temmie is not an Au Ra, she is a Miqo'te. Specifically, Temmie is a clone of T'sraetn created by T'alia to test the effects of tempering. Also, if it wasn't clear, her and Muddied Glory are foster sisters.)

Name: Gyococo Gyoco Race: Namazu Lalafell Clan: Namazu Dunesfolk Gender: "Depends on how much you are paying." (She/Him)

Gyococo is a lalafell adopted and raised by namazu. Once the Far East started becoming a more popular tourist destination for Eorzeans, she began seeing more and more lalafells, eventually growing curious enough to wish to visit and explore the land her real parents hailed from. At least, that's what he told people.

In truth, Gyococo cared little for pursuing his ancestral culture and just saw what she assumed would be an ignorant and unassuming market she could swindle as a merchant. What she found when she arrived in Ul'dah, however, was a society of cut throats and swindlers worse than any namazu could ever hope to achieve.

After months of barely scraping by, he eventually turned over a new leaf. She befriended an illiterate playwright and now acts as her scribe and editor. While he is far from the rich woman he was hoping to become, she lives comfortably and is happy with where her life is at.

(I don't touch Gyococo much, mostly because the playerbase is really fucking weird about lalafells and really fucking weird about trans women, and the overlap is... not fun, honestly.)

Name: Gaeli Cat Race: Gaelicat Clan: Gaelicat Gender: Gaelicat

Gaelicat.

(Gaelicat.)

[GAELICAT FOR MISHA REASONS]

#FFXIV #ffxiv wol #ffxiv rp #People are gonna see this and then give me a sideways glance and go 'So uh... hows your relationship with your mom Ceetee?'#to which I reply 'My mother is the coolest person I know and also I am never speaking to her again after all the pain she has caused me'#'and also I'm fairly sure she was starting to suffer from dementia and beginning to lose her own identity to it.'#but I don't see how any of that is relevant to my FFXIV OC's #why do you ask?#[REDACTED FOR MISHA REASONS]#(no i didn't actually redact anything in the tags I'm just being a dork)

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mysterythief · 8 months

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Ahsoka Rant: Colors and Fallen Jedi

It's Saturday, so I finally have time to sit down and write this analysis for Ahsoka that I've wanted to do on the importance of colors in Star Wars, and how it directly correlates to Ahsoka and explains the title for episode 4: Fallen Jedi.

Star Wars has always identified the hero and the villain of the show through colors and costuming. Anyone can walk into a Star Wars movie and without any other context identify the good and the bad guy based on the fact that the good guy wears light colors and the bad guy wears dark.

Don't believe me.

Phantom Menace:

Attack of the Clones:

Revenge of the Sith:

A New Hope:

The Empire Strikes Back:

We see this light vs dark costuming choice in most Star Wars media. Our biggest exceptions are:

Anakin: After the Phantom Menace Anakin is always in dark colors. And even then his costume takes a gradual change to Darth Vaders full black.

(Attack of the Clones vs Revenge of the Sith. You can see his costume gets darker)

Luke: In Return of the Jedi, when he is close to giving into the dark side.

And now Ahsoka (up til ep. 5):

What is soooo interesting about the first 4 episodes of the Ahsoka show, is that you can't identify the good and the bad guys just by looking at their costumes. Everyone in the scene above is wearing dark colors. And they are all shades of grey.

The purpose of ep. 4: Fallen Jedi is to show that every Jedi we have seen up to this point in the show is a Fallen Jedi. They all carry aspects of the Jedi, but none of them are true Jedi.

Lets start with Baylan and Shin. The first time we are introduced to them mirrors the first time we are introduced to Qui-Gon and Obi Wan.

Hoods over their heads, mysterious, walking side by side. Exactly how we know the Jedi to typically appear. Obi Wan and Anakin, even Luke, all typically enter a new area this way.

I would describe Baylan as Lawful Evil. He still believes in the practices of the Jedi, but not the Jedi code. He has Shin wear an apprentice braid

They stay together so he can teach her at all time.

And he keeps his word to Sabine.

But his morals reflect that of Vader. And his fight to rescue Morgan Elsebeth mirrors Vader fighting the Rebels at the end of Rogue One/ beginning of A New Hope.

The most interesting aspect of this duo is the Shin has the lightest costume of the two (It's also lighter than Ahsoka and Sabine's costumes). It is closer in design and color to the typical Jedi outfit, while Baylan still wears Clone Wars armor.

Baylan is the Jedi who fell during the Clone Wars. He feels he only knows how to destroy to create something better. Shin is still an apprentice, doing purely what her master tells her, and could go either way in the force. Her costuming suggests that her fate could swing and Ahsoka and Sabine could sway her away from the dark side. Either way, they have both certainly fallen from the Jedi Path.

Ahsoka is also fallen Jedi. Soon after meeting Ahsoka again we get this exchange between her and Hyuang.

Ahsoka flat out tells us that she doesn't follow Jedi protocol. Though those of us who know Ahsoka from the Clone War know that this is literally nothing new. AND THAT'S THE POINT. Ahsoka was taught a mix of the Jedi code and a Warrior code, because that's what Anakin had to teach her to keep her alive. Ahsoka has been a fallen Jedi since the accusation that caused her to leave.

Unlike Baylan, Ahsoka doesn't follow standard Jedi teaching practices. Sabine doesn't have an apprentice braid. They don't stick together

And even when they are together, Ahsoka keeps a purposeful distance, like she's afraid of the responsibility.

And like Baylan, her outfit mimics her Clone Wars armor (from season 7)

Baylan even directly addresses this to Ahsoka. That she only knows how to fight.

A Jedi should know other ways, other options. But all Baylan and Ahsoka know is how to fight. (Which is why Anakin's lesson to Ahsoka in ep.5 is soo important. Look forward to another rant from yours truly on it more in depth.)

Knowing that Ahsoka has been a fallen Jedi for such a long time, seeing her in her fallen Jedi state, makes her transition to Ahsoka the White in ep. 5 so much more powerful, because seeing the main character finally in light colors tells us what we knew all along. That there is sooo much good in Ahsoka, just like there was good in her master before her, and his before him, etc. And we finally get to see Ahsoka in live action not as the fallen Jedi who has been picking and choosing her responsibilities, but as the Jedi Ahsoka is. With so much love, compassion, and kindness. I'm so excited to have the Ahsoka that we all know and love back!

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deepsix-writing · 3 months

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Fix You. Chapter 5 of 5. (FINALE)

After the events of Marble Hornets, Tim is left to pick up the pieces of what is left of his old life. One piece in particular comes back from the grave, and he starts to think that maybe it would have been better if it never had.

(PREVIOUS CHAPTER) | (BEGINNING)

The mask turned back up the next day, and it wasn't skillfully hidden or neatly tucked away, either.

It was sitting on his kitchen table. His kitchen table. Like it was fucking taunting him.

When Tim had first seen it, he hadn't known what to think. Then in came it all, thoughts and feelings like blinding headlights en route straight for him. He was tempted to throw it away at first, but something about the porcelain white thing held a power over him, even long after he'd deemed it dead. It wasn't even white anymore, either- as he came closer to it with lead feet, inching across the kitchen with all the eagerness of a timid deer, he could see it had changed.

The edges weren't smooth like before; instead, they were chipped and ragged like the edge of a serrated blade. The black paint that once bore the likeness of lips and brows was worn now, muddled by the dirt and grime worked into its scratches. A symbol not unlike the one he'd always seen in Alex's old tapes was carved into the forehead, and mysterious splotches of dark, reddish brown were splattered across the mask from the chin to the nose.

Tim wanted to burn it again. Smash it with hammers, or anything to make it go away. A part of him did, at least… but he knew it wouldn't be so easy. Getting rid of it wouldn't change a thing. It wouldn't make Brian come back. Tim wasn't so sure anymore that anything could do that, anymore. There wasn't a point.

Instead, he opened the nearest drawer and stuffed the mask inside. It couldn't taunt him if he couldn't see it, right?

Wrong. The thing seemed to take on a life of its own over the next week; any time he'd wake up in front of his bathroom mirror, he'd come out to see the thing brandishing itself all around his house. The first few days, it sat on his kitchen table again, and no amount of trashing it or stuffing it away could discourage it, but it grew bolder still. It lounged on his couch next, on the same patch of ratty fabric Brian would take up when they watched old movies. The shadows in its eye holes always seemed to scrutinize him. Tired of stuffing it in drawers, Tim settled for throwing blankets over the mask.

The bolder it got, the closer it showed up near him when he came back from his blackouts. And when he woke up next, with his forehead pressed against his broken mirror and his face drooping down to face his sink, he found the mask there, staring back up at him. He frowned down at the thing for a long while, but he didn't have the energy to rebel against it any more.

When he pulled his head back from the broken mirror, he felt a sting. Then he felt a wetness drip down to his nose and land on the mask in two fat droplets. The new blood mixed with the old like watercolor, and Tim regarded it with ebbing disdain.

"Why do you keep following me?" His tone was defeated. Tim stared at the mask for a long while as blood continued to drip down from his forehead.

…You're waiting for the mask to talk to you. Okay. That's crazy.

Tim frowned. "Maybe. But I wasn't talking to you." He lifted his head, staring at the reflection in cracked mirror; Alex stood behind him with crossed arms and a sneer.

The ghost had made a habit of doing that, Tim found. Suppose Alex had finally found the courage to pluck himself from the shadows and actually confront his killer. But now, the man says nothing, only looming behind him in quiet reply.

Killer. That word still didn't sit right with Tim. Factually true, maybe, but… he didn't know. He tried not to think about it, most days.

Tim looked in the mirror. He looked at his eyes, and at the dark bags under them. He looked at the blood welling from his forehead and the scar along his temple. With time, the scar had faded even more, but still it stood out like a sore thumb. It was the first thing anyone would notice when they looked at Tim. It almost felt like a brand. He looked back at his eyes and wondered if there were any pieces of himself still left inside.

His hands drifted down, circling the mask. Tim's skin met jagged edges, but wasn't discouraged from lifting the thing up to eye level. Light leaked through its cracks, and for a moment Tim regarded it as an artifact of ancient history. Something that wasn't his, and could only be his at the same time. He turned it around to find the inside was just as stained and chipped as the outside.

Tim inched the mask closer to his face and wondered how his features would fit into it, but something kept him from pressing it to his face. He lowered it back down to the sink instead, and heard a sigh from behind him.

Why do you think you can change who you are? Alex shakes his head, and Tim can feel the disappointment laced in his wheezing breaths.

"Maybe it's not who I am," Tim hopes aloud, returning to frowning down at the mask. But he isn't convinced.

Alex doesn't seem to be either, the way his stare pierces Tim's neck, but by the time he turns to leave the bathroom, the man is gone. Tim resolves to go to the kitchen and make himself something to eat before he blacks out again. It's something he's noticed, him waking up hungry.

That doesn't bother him, though. In fact, if he'd been waking up full, that would have been a lot more concerning. So he had that going for him.

…But the blackouts were still a problem, almost as pressing as the lack of food in his fridge. There was nothing in it but the icebox. Not even condiments.

Luckily, the store was only a short walk away. Unluckily, it was the same one that Brian worked at. Even if he wanted to see the man, Tim wasn't sure if the reverse was true. But he was hungry: it was a risk he was going to have to take.

He had a cigarette on the walk there to quell his appetite, but a hole still burned in his stomach. His feet dragged slowly on the pavement, but his mind ran a mile a minute. Tim wasn't sure what he'd do if Brian was at the store. Hell, he wasn't even sure when the man was working, anymore. He might have swapped around his shifts, by now. He definitely had taken on more of them to pay for his rent.

Tim huffed as he passed by house after house. Then he passed a gas station, and rounded a corner. The grocery store was upon him, outlined by the golden beginnings of the evening sun. The light shined in his eyes so brightly he couldn't make out the figures by the storefront until he'd gotten closer to the door. He passed by a lady with an armful of bags on his way to the door, but stopped in his tracks when he saw a familiar face leant against the brick wall by the ATM.

"Hey, Brian."

"…Hey." Brian waved, but it was curt. He had his flip phone opened, and looked back down at it after throwing Tim a quick glance. But Tim didn't leave. He felt like he should say something. Some kind of apology, maybe, or some update on how fine and okay he was doing. But before he could muster the words, Brian found ones of his own.

"Look, if you're not going to buy anything, you've got to go. You can't keep coming here just to stare. It's getting weird." Brian didn't look away from his phone. Tim was dumbfounded.

"What are you talking about?"

"Like you don't know. Please, Tim." Brian flipped his phone closed and finally looked at him. Then, a white car pulled up by the storefront beside them.

"Brian, I–" Tim still sputters to reply as Brian lifts himself from the wall and goes to the car. He shakes his head.

"Bye," he throws out before hopping into the car and slamming the door shut. The car pulls off quickly, and Tim sees the shadowed face of a woman in the driver's seat before they speed away.

Tim doesn't remember the grocery store trip beyond that. The only thing that fills his mind is Brian's face… had he scowled at Tim before getting into the car? Tim was certain he had, thinking back on it. But Brian must have confused him for someone else. Tim had been staying away. Every waking moment, he was holed up in his house. Brian couldn't have seen him outside the grocery store because he'd made a point to avoid it. Maybe if he talked with Brian again he could mention that to him.

I just need to talk to him again, he thinks, standing in his kitchen. Then he'll see.

He hadn't come home with a single bag of groceries.

The next morning, he parked his car in the grocery store's parking lot, same place as yesterday. He'd driven over with the resolve to talk to Brian before he started his next shift, but when he saw the man park on the other side of the lot and go in with that same girl from yesterday… he felt frozen. Even from the distance, Tim had spotted the smile on Brian's face. As he walked, him and the girl were talking. She was smiling too. Brian even elbowed her in the side lightly, like they were joking about something together.

Tim couldn't muster the courage to go talk to him after that. He decided to try again the next day.

He parked his car in the same spot; the only thing that separated this attempt from his last was that he decided to come later in the day. It was around the same time Brian's shifts used to end. He hoped it would still be around that time now. Tim smoked a cigarette while he waited, eyes pinned to the sliding doors at the front of the building.

Then, out he came. Just five minutes from the hour he was walking out of the doors with his crutches and leaning against the same spot next to the ATM as before. He gave the parking lot in front of him a brief glance before pulling out his flip phone and taking a call.

Tim squinted from the far side of the lot to see his expression. His hand perched out the window grew still, smoke from his cigarette leaking out into the open air. Brian's face had seemed to take on the same neutrality it always had, but the moment he picked up the phone, it broke into a smile. Tim watched with fascination as he laughed, stayed on the phone for multiple minutes while maintaining that smile, and finally hung up. Traces of it remained even after the call was long finished, like an impenetrable aura around the man.

You still gonna go up and ruin it? Tim's nose wrinkled at the voice from his backseat. He threw a glance to his rearview mirror, but he didn't have to, to know who it was. He could smell the stench of rot and blood coming off that old corpse in waves.

"Shut up, Alex."

He did have a point, though. If Tim went to talk to Brian now, that aura was bound to die. He'd have to put it off until tomorrow, again.

But it will be different tomorrow, he resolved, putting his car in drive and heading back home. Tomorrow, I'll talk to him.

…Tomorrow, however, Tim did not talk to him. Not the next day, either, or the day after that. A week passed by, and all Tim could muster was watching the man from his car.

The next week was much of the same. Any moment he wasn't doing god knows what while blacked out, Tim was parked by the grocery store. He'd gotten a better grip on Brian's new schedule, now, and he'd also figured out that Brian spent most of his free time at his apartment.

…Exactly how he figured that out was not something he was proud of. But when he'd parked in the grocery store's parking lot that weekend and hadn't seen Brian, he had to look somewhere else.

It wasn't too far away, anyways, and Tim knew the way by heart. It was the same apartment complex Brian had rented back in his college days. Tim had been there loads of times before to hang out with him. Hell, even the old landlord knew his face. Tim was just as familiar with Brian's door, the third to the left, as he was with the cracked and rugged pavement of the parking lot his car came to a stop on. It was late evening, now, and Tim spotted the lights were on through the curtain-shielded windows to Brian's apartment. He looked at the square boxes of his friend's home for a long while, regarding it carefully. They still needed to talk, but that weight in his chest threatened to keep him anchored to his seat if he didn't get it over with now.

Tim cracked the car door open. He cast his gaze out over the rundown lot, wondering which car was Brian's (if any), but right before his shoe hit the pavement, he saw it.

That same white car from earlier. That same white car that had to belong to the girl that Brian was replacing him with. Tim's gaze turned sour, and when he got to his feet, his fists were clenched. He wondered briefly if that old bat by the back of the building was still beside the other sporting equipment.

…

Another week had passed, and Tim was in his car overlooking Brian's apartment again. On this particular day, Tim had a guest with him. The glow of his cigarette reflected through the ghostly man's square glasses. His striped jacket was as worn and bloodstained as ever, and his waterfall neck leaked blood on the passenger's seat cushions. Tim wrinkled his nose, but he had since learned to not complain about the metallic stench.

Any minute now, Alex croaked. Tim has recognized his voice as scratchy now, hoarse. It made sense, considering his neck. Tim took a pull from his cigarette and breathed out the smoke through the cracked car window. He didn't bother to offer it to the corpse beside him anymore; a melted scar on the passenger's seat spoke to how well that played out the last time.

"It's already past six…" Tim mumbled, eyes flicking to the clock every other second. The rest of the time, they fixed on the door to Brian's apartment. The car he usually came back in- a white Camry, 2004- was nowhere in sight. Alex chuckled. The sound was just as gritty and painful-sounding as his next words.

You know what he's doing, right? Or should I say, who he's-

Tim interrupts him before he can finish. "Shut up."

They've lined their shifts up by now. They could be out having dinner. Alex tilts his head, gaze piercing Tim from the rearview mirror.

"Shut up."

I'm just saying, you should be happy. He's rebounding quickly, considering how recently you and him-

Tim pounded the steering wheel. "SHUT UP."

He couldn't exactly pinpoint when Alex had gotten so mouthy, but Tim hated it. They were talking about as much as he and Brian had, before the man left him.

"I like silent corpses better," Tim threw a pointed glance through the rearview mirror and flicked his stub of a cigarette out the window.

Struck a nerve, did I? The flash of Alex's toothy smile through the mirror in return was something Tim saw out of the corner of his eye even when he fixed his gaze anywhere else.

He just wanted to see Brian. As soon as he did that, as soon as he could see he's still happy, Tim could relax. His fingers drumming against the steering wheel could still, Alex would go quiet for a moment, and everything would be okay.

But when the clock passed seven, then eight, Brian was still nowhere to be found. Nine… ten… the sun was long gone from the sky, and the hours slipped by like sand falling from between Tim's fingers. He blacked out again before the morning came. He did not get to see Brian that day.

Tim didn't see him the next day, either, nor did he black out. Instead, he spent the day holed up in his home, wading through scattered trash on his floor to get from room to room as he searched for the bottle of pills Brian had forced him to get an eternity ago. He'd turned the bathroom upside down looking for them, same for the drawers in his bedroom. The kitchen cabinets would be his next victims.

Maybe they left you, just like Brian. Alex's voice from the couch in the other room was laced with a poison that ate away at the hole in Tim's chest. Tim paced back and forth across the kitchen, cycling between holding his head in his hands and balling them into tight fists.

"They couldn't have just disappeared!" He knew he hadn't moved them an inch from their spot in the medicine cabinet. Tim never made a routine of checking up on them, but he never thought they'd up and disappear, either.

Think about it logically, would you? Alex's tone was less grating than it was before, but Tim could sense some ulterior motive hidden behind it.

"What, you think someone took them?" He stops in the kitchen's doorway, shooting Alex a firm glare. Alex meets it calmly.

Brian still has a copy of your key.

Tim scowls. "Shut the fuck up. He would never do that."

Really? It's a pointed question that worms its way under Tim's skin.

"Yes, really! You don't know the first thing about him- shut up!"

I was just trying to-

"SHUT UP! I don't care!"

Tim returned to his pacing, eyes darting around every unchecked corner of the room. Why would Brian even want the pills?

"It doesn't make any sense," he mutters.

Because you're not thinking about it logically. Ever the logical mind, even in death. Tim wishes he could kill Alex again, for a moment.

"What logic is there to it? He wouldn't want to take them so I wouldn't have them. He wouldn't want to take them to sell them. He would only ever take them if he needed-"

Tim froze as the realization dawned on him. He shook his head; he didn't want to believe it. Suddenly, the world threatened to cave in around him.

"No." His breath caught in his throat. "That's not true."

Alex had gone silent, offering more confirmation in his silence than he could ever put into words. He knew the truth. But Tim still pleaded with him.

"He's different! He's better than me- better than all of us! If anyone was going to get better, it would be him."

Alex remains silent as Tim holds the wall to steady himself. "There's got to be some other explanation."

The ghost shook his head, and for the first time, it wasn't malicious. It was sympathetic. Pitying, even. You know this was bound to happen. When he was dead, like me, he didn't have to worry about these things. But now… now, you've doomed him to something worse than death.

Tim looked over at Alex now, eyes glazed with denial, willing the man not to put into words what he knew he would.

Living to become just like you.

The rest of Tim's night went by in a daze. Desperately, he tried to find the bottle of pills, but he never did. His house was left in ruin after his search, but only right before the walls threatened to collapse did he abandon the effort. Defeated, he slumped against the couch beside Alex. He didn't want to believe what he now knew to be true.

Brian took the pills because he was getting sick.

...

In the morning, Tim was pacing for a reason besides the missing pills. Alex was sitting on the couch, but his back didn't meet it. He was hunched over, arms on his knees, wringing his hands at the same rate Tim's footsteps pounded the floor.

You've got to make a decision. Alex peeked up at him through his square glasses. Tim met him with a firm scowl.

"I fucking know that. Just let me think." He kept pacing, turning his heel at the front door and doing the same when he'd gotten to the doorway of his bedroom. The mask was propped up on his pillow, staring back at him.

You've been 'thinking' all night, Alex points out. The dark circles under Tim's eyes agree, but his mind doesn't.

"I said LET ME THINK!" When he makes his rounds back to the front door, he slams his arms on the hardwood. The pain that staggers through them feels like a mild buzz. His head thumps against the door and his eyes glare down at his feet.

He felt like an animal, trapped in this damn house, trapped in this dilemma, trapped in this way of life.

Brian… he shouldn't be alive. He understood that, now. If he'd stayed dead, Tim could have found peace with that and joined him.

Tim left for the grocery store to confront the man that same evening. How dare he. How dare he be alive. Brian had torn a great big gash in Tim's chest, stolen his pills, then left to find someone to do it all over again to. It wasn't fair.

Tim pulled up to the front of the parking lot. He opened his door with newfound resolve, and it seemed, for once, Brian was there to meet him. He was leant against the wall by the ATM, as if he was waiting for him. Brian picked himself up by his crutches and walked over to meet him.

"Tim. What the fuck is wrong with you?" His expression is frustrated, upset, and some deeper thing Tim can't pinpoint. Tim frowns, lowering his gaze.

"I know you took my pills, Brian."

Distress strikes his features, but Brian doubles down. "I didn't take jack shit from you."

"Don't lie to me." Tim shakes his head. "Not like you did when you said all that shit from before was over. I know you feel it too."

"It IS over, Tim! You're the only one who's still caught up on that. I'm fine- at least, I would be if you weren't stalking me. Please don't make me get the cops involved, Tim."

"No. No, Brian. It's real and you know it."

"It's not. Get a grip, Tim. Hell, or don't. But if you don't, you've got to stay away from me. You can't have both."

A car pulls up to the curb a few feet from them. Tim turns to see it's the same white one, with tarp and duct tape now covering the beaten in back window. Brian shuffles over to it quickly as Tim follows after him. But Brian shoves him off.

"Make a decision, Tim. We can't be friends again if you don't." He slams the door, and once again, Brian is gone. Tim blinks, and he's back in his bathroom. The mask stares up at him from his grimy sink, and he picks it up without hesitation this time.

He understands what he has to do now. What he is.

Alex was right. He can't change who he is. Trying to was only making it worse than it needed to be.

Tim brings the mask closer to his face. It reeks of death, no, of murder. It's a stench that threatens to bring him to his knees, but he knows now that it is just as much his cross to bear. When he presses the thing to his skin, he accepts it, and looks at his reflection with new eyes.

Alex stands behind him, shoulders drooping. Even with his torn-open neck, the waterfall of blood is nothing compared to the ocean that covers Tim. It washes over him. It stains his vision red.

He couldn't be normal if he tried, he knows that now. A part of him wants to end it now, but another part of him knows he can't because of one person.

Brian.

Tim has made his decision.

The drive to Brian's apartment follows immediately after. He knocks on the man's door with patience he does not possess, and shoulders his way in when it's opened with all the rage he does. He says nothing as Brian realizes what he is, and shouts his name.

"Shit, shit. Tim. I don't know what's gotten into you, but you have to snap out of it."

Tim says nothing. He closes the distance between them as Brian steps back.

"Tim. Take off the mask. Talk to me." Brian's eyes flash that same unknown emotion from the grocery store, and as he struggles to back up quickly enough, he trips and falls on his back.

Tim stops in front of Brian's cowering form. He recognizes that emotion, now. It's fear.

"Tim, TIM. SNAP OUT OF IT."

Tim looks down at Brian solemnly. He pulls out the gun from his pocket, still covered in the dust from his glove box, and when he finally responds, it's delivered with all the sobriety of a man with a ten year chip.

"This is for the best, Brian. Goodbye."

He aims and pulls the trigger, and the crimson haze that tints Tim's vision grows one shade thicker. He watches Brian's corpse as it slumps down onto the ground and regards it with less sadness than he should.

Instead, he feels relieved. The weight in his chest finally lifts, and he turns the barrel of the gun on himself. The muzzle stabs into the soft spot under his chin as he points up to angle at his brain. Unlike before, it's not something he gives a second thought to.

But just as his finger twitches on the trigger, a shadow in the doorway behind him directs his attention away. He turns his head to look.

It was Brian.

What do you think you're doing? Unlike his corpse beneath Tim, Brian's face was completely intact. Tim lowered the gun.

"Joining you." He answered simply.

No. You don't get to. Brian took a step closer to him, his shoes squelching in the carpet soaked in his own blood beneath them. You don't deserve to. Not after what you've done.

Tim was tempted to defy him, but knew he never could. The gun in his hand fell useless to his side.

"What do I do?"

Brian huffed, like the answer was obvious. You know what to do- You clean up your fucking mess is what. Get to work.

Tim looked down at Brian's corpse, the blood that splattered the walls, and the mess he'd made. He looked back to Brian, who gave him a nod, and he steeled himself. Crouching down, he dropped the gun, and instead snaked one arm under the corpse's legs, hooking the other around the arms. He was just about to lift the body up before he heard a scream.

Replacing Brian in the doorway was a woman. He recognized her soft features from all the times he'd seen her through the windshield of her car. She was frozen in place now, with palpable horror on her face. Tim abandoned the body and took the gun instead. He looked to Alex and Brian, who had come to stand right behind her. They nodded.

You know what to do.

#marble hornets #writers on tumblr #brian thomas #fanfic #mh #tim wright

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a-little-revolution · 2 years

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// rating Little characters in film //

Since I enjoyed rating Little characters in animation so much, I thought I'd rate and discuss some Little characters in live action films! (These are in no particular order, nor does this list begin to be all encompassing) Here are some of my thoughts on various Little characters that come most to mind:

Lemon, Penelope (2006)

10/10

To me Lemon is a great example of naturally including someone with dwarfism in a film - he isn't belittled for his disability, and his roll feels very organic. He may not be the most likeable character, but he's taken seriously and goes through development throughout the film.

Ma Petite, American Horror Story (2011)

-10/10

Purchased for three cases of Dr. Pepper and treated as a doll by all member's of the circus, Ma Petite is an excellent example of dwarfism enslavement without revolt.

It was unsurprising in a season titled "Freak Show", in a genre with a history of horrifying and mystifying people with disabilities, but I really wished for better from a 21st century series - but then again AHS is crawling with problems when it comes to marginalized communities.

Alex Radziwill, Bones (2005-2017)

10/10

Alex is a character I find to often be forgotten, but he's probably one of my favorite characters with dwarfism to date.

The show gets a little iffy when the episode regarding "m*dget wrestling" comes around, but Alex is consistently respected in his field and by the main characters. His roll is minor but I loved seeing him naturally integrated into the world.

Mini Me, Austin Powers (1997-2002)

-100/10

First to be given this low a score, the character Mini Me is one I hate the most, not only for it's heinous representation but for it's staying power within pop culture.

He's an A+ example of pet culture within dwarf history. He is dehumanized and owned as property, abused, and made a mockery of constantly.

Not only that, but being that the Austin Powers series is so popular, the Mini Me character became a point of reference for many abled folk when it came to people with dwarfism.

This character nearly single-handedly influenced the way I was treated by my peers throughout childhood.

Oompa-Loompas, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1971, 2005)

-100/10

Like Austin Powers' Mini Me, the oompa-loompas of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory have had a major staying power in the world of dwarf representation. The popularity of these characters have been used as a tool for harassment in the real world - representation matters y'all.

The Oompa-Loompas are one denominational characters, owned and enslaved by Mr. Wonka under the guise of mutual benefit - a phenomenon not dissimilar to the "m*dget villages" and tiny towns of the 60s and 70s.

The Seven Dwarfs, Mirror Mirror (2012)

5/10

I have mixed views of this particular rendition, since despite it's terrible subject material (being the classic group of one dimensional and comical small men) it actually takes a refreshingly positive approach to the Seven Dwarfs.

In this version, members Grimm, Napoleon, Butcher, Wolfie, Chuck, Grubb, and Half Pint are all named after the rolls they filled in their village before being outcast by the queen ("banish the uglies" - she decreed). They are full characters with back stories and personalities, and play a far more crucial roll in this rendition. We even see them achieve their various life goals as the credits roll.

They did, however, require an act of heroism and Snow White's use of privilege to regain their place in society.

Overall it's easily my favorite reenactment, but the bar wasn't exactly high to begin with.

Marty, Pirates of the Caribbean (2003-2017)

3/10

The anarchist in me absolutely loved seeing a little person as a member of a rebel pirate crew, but overall I don't have strong feelings any which way about this particular character, which is disappointing.

Aside from being not overly interesting, the most memorable scene from Marty is when he gets knocked back after firing a small canon - which was obviously a joke at his stature

Willow, Willow (1988)

11/10

I've spoken about this film before, but I honestly can't boost it enough. It has a huge Little cast, and was able to truly humanize it's village of little people in such a wholesome and human way which I absolutely loved.

Willow's is that of a hero's journey - he embarks on a grand quest despite the doubts of his peers and succeeds! He has a wife and children and a roll in his community, just overall a wonderfully lovable character.

I hope to do a part two soon since this just scratches the surface of Little rolls, so if you have any characters you'd like me to review please send them my way!!

-Elliot (they/them)

#dwarfism in film #dwarfism in media #dwarfism awareness #disability #disability representation #representation #dwarfism #little people #disability awareness #social justice

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peashooter85 · 2 years

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Whiskey Review Time --- Rebel and Rebel 100 Straight Bourbon

Recently I've noticed this bourbon hitting the shelves and I've finally decided to give it a try. Fortunately, they have those little 50ml bottles that sell for $1.99 so if this turns out to be a bad whiskey I'm not out much. However, this is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon, I've never ever had a bad Kentucky Straight Bourbon before, not even at the price of $17.99 which is what it sells for at the local liquor store. So I prepared myself for some nice budget bourbon sipping.

Apparently this stuff has been around for a while, with the brand being founded in the 1950's but was only available in part of the Southern US. However in the past ten years it's been crossing the Mason-Dixon line until now it's in just about every liquor store in America. Interestingly it's a wheated bourbon. Most bourbons have a mash bill of mostly corn, with the rest being rye and malted barley. This has a mashbill of 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley. It is a blend of bourbons from the Lux Row distillery and bourbons from other distilleries. Supposedly one of the other distilleries is Heaven Hill but I don't think this has even been confirmed. The brand is owned by Luxco which is also the owner of Everclear. It is bottled at 80 proof (40%). They also have Rebel 100, which is 100 proof (50%). There is no age statement, but to legally call it "straight bourbon" it must be aged for at lest 4 years in new oak barrels. You might see bottles of this called "Rebel Yell", sometimes even on the same shelf. Recently they've decided to shorten the name to just "Rebel", and they have been slowly fazing out the older "Rebel Yell" labels.

First I shall try the regular 80 proof rebel. On the nose I get classic bourbon smells, sweet honey, caramel, oak, vanilla, and cherry. It can be a little faint, sometime it seems like I need to stick my nose right in the glencairn to get a good whiff of it. The aroma is nice and pleasant and I really like it. On tasting I get a bit of the corn sweetness common with bourbon with hints of vanilla. The flavor is extremely light, in fact I would say way too light. With bourbons I expect bold rich flavors. This does not have bold rich flavors, in fact it tastes like a bourbon that has been watered down. The finish is very bitter and with lots of alcoholic burn despite being only 80 proof. I'm not pleased with it, but it's drinkable. I would rate it 2.5 out of 5.

Now on to Rebel 100. While the 80 proof Rebel had a light aroma, the 100 proof Rebel barely has any aroma. But if I really stick my nose in the glencairn to the point that it leaves marks on my face, I get an extremely light bourbonish aroma mixed with heavy odors of booze. On tasting ... OH GOD, ALCOHOL ALCOHOL ALCOHOL BURN BURN BURN!!! This stuff is so boozy and alcoholy and burny it has no other flavor profiles. It's strong and metallic tasting. It's not "defiantly smooth" as their brand catchphrase says. It's defiant as in Johnny Reb doing a rebel yell and cracking me across the head with the butt of a musket. It's terrible! This stuff is bad. It's like Canadian Mist bad! I have a feeling that they took regular Rebel and just added alcohol to it in order increase the alcohol content to 100 proof. I mean they own Everclear so it's not out of the realm of possibilities. This stuff is undrinkable, I had to toss it down the drain. Good thing I only got a mini bottle. I rate it 1 out of 5. Absolutely horrible! Worst part is you have to pay 2 dollars more for this than regular Rebel.

So now I'm sure there are many readers who are thinking, Peashooter you bought cheap whiskey what did you expect? Buy cheapass whiskey win cheapass prizes. Well, there is another Kentucky Straight Bourbon out there for the same price range that totally blows Rebel out of the water. In fact where I live it's cheaper at $14.99 a bottle. And that bourbon is ...

I love Evan Williams Black Label, it's the cheapest good Kentucky straight bourbon you can buy in my opinion. There are certainly better bourbons out there and EW Black Label might be a bit rough around the edges, but it's still a very good and solid bourbon for an excellent price. I have a feeling that what Luxco is trying to do is unseat this old contender. If you are short on funds and can't afford better, don't buy Rebel and especially don't buy Rebel 100, buy this instead.

#whiskey #bourbon #kentuck straight bourbon

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quietborderline · 2 months

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Rules: Shuffle your favorite playlist and post the first five songs that come up then tag 5 people Hey friends! I was tagged by BOTH @kikiroo and @whimsyswastry earlier today to do this. Thank you both so much! <33

It's been a century since I have tagged anyone in anything it feels like but I will go with @illusivesoul @satashiiwrites @missanniewhimsy @tkwritesdumbassassins @outtoshatter. No pressure as always, and let me know if you do or do not want to be tagged in the future!

Since two of tagged me, you are getting two versions, and also a bonus story time. Because I've actually been thinking a lot about my MDV series lately. I have had a number of epiphanies or whatever you want to call it about the overall story and a number of little details... And I've realized that even when I think I am lost and have no idea wtf I am doing anymore, I actually always do. Somewhere deep down. And I just have to learn to trust myself and follow the voice in my soul.

Maybe I'll even start writing and posting again.

Anyway. Here's a mix from each Scott and Reyes's story arc playlists.

Reyes Vidal

Flying Dreams - Barenaked Ladies All I Ever Wanted - The Airborne Toxic Event Second Star To The Right - Devil Music Co. Believer - Imagine Dragons Rebel Beat - The Goo Goo Dolls

Scott Ryder

Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk - Rufus Wainwright Falling For The First Time - Barenaked Ladies Come Downstairs And Say Hello - Guster My Mirror Speaks - Death Cab For Cutie It's All Just Pretend - Ivan and Alyosha

#tag games #qb song recs #Manifest Destiny verse

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arty-shadow-morningstar · 2 months

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Who Made Me a Villain (7)

Confused? Yeah, I am too. [Masterlist] [Ao3]

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6)

------

“Rebel, I am your father.”

“I know that.” Rebel said, cutting him off in the middle of his glorious speech about reuniting their Joker family. “We met before. Remember?”

“We did?” Joker said, confused.

“ Yeah. I was still locked up in Arkham.” -

Rebel hummed in her cell as she doodled. Her therapist was kind enough to allow her a sketchbook and a pencil when she found out about her artistic background. Dr. Fenton was already a step-up from her last one who thought he could harass her and she had kicked him where the sun doesn’t shine in retaliation. Alarms sounded and red lights filled the room, making her lose concentration and accidentally ruin her drawing of the Gotham skyline. Rebel cursed in a mix of French and English because now security was going to be tighter now and she had been planning to break out that week.

A feeling of unease filled Rebel and her gut instinct was urging her to find a way out. She ran towards the door and yelled for someone to tell her what was going on. There were no answers.

“Then you came to my cell.”

Under the blaring sirens, she faintly heard the sound of manic laughter. Her heart raced, as the uneasy feeling increased tenfold.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The door shook under whatever was trying to get through its feeble resistance. Rebel slowly backed away and tried to look around her cell for something she could use to defend herself. It was bare except for her sketchbook and pencils. The bars were too narrow for her to use. While she could use magic, teleportation was still outside of her skillset. She should have learned that one before she left Paris. Maybe if she could just-

The door fell down and a grinning face, one which she desperately wished to never see, grinned down on her before pulling back.

A slim figure dressed in a purple suit stepped through the doorway. A wide grin on his face.

“Hello, my dear child.”

“You kidnapped me and tied me up. To try and convince me to do your bidding.”

“Come on, Darling daughter of mine, smile. Give your Daddy a big smile.”

“No.” Rebel replied vehemently.

“I guess, I have to make you them.” He snapped his fingers and some Joker goons appeared and lifted her throne.

Joker stepped away and gave Rebel a good view of the vat of green glowing chemicals, bubbling away.

She struggled to get out of her bonds, panicking at what was going to happen. She heard horror stories of the infamous Joker toxin which made her father into what he is. Turned Harley from Harleen Quinzel into a psychotic clown sidekick.

A moment before she was tossed in, Joker said, “Well, sweetheart, you excited for your makeover?”

“Go burn in hell.” Rebel snarled.

The goons tossed the heavy throne over the railings with a short scream from Rebel. A giant splash was heard and when they looked over, the top of the throne could be seen, slowly sinking into the vat.

“A few minutes soak and a new Joker will be born.”

Then, he pointed at one of the goons, “You there, jump in there and get her out. Tying her to a heavy throne was not a good idea in hindsight. We don’t want my heir to drown.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you and hurry up. Or else,” Joker pulled a gun out of his jacket and waved it in the goon’s general direction, “Bang!”

“It didn’t quite work.”

The man walked to the edge and looked down into the vat. He hesitated, looking to and from the gun and the vat of chemicals. As he looked over, preparing for a dive, he saw something dangling from underneath the catwalk.

“What is that-” The Joker goon didn’t get to finish his sentence before Rebel kicked his face in, knocking him out.

She had managed to get free from her restraints with magic and grab hold of the chains which were connected to the bottom of the catwalk the Joker was on.

Rebel used enough momentum from swinging the chain to jump back onto the catwalk and coincidentally, kicked the Joker goon .

She lifted the heavy crown which the Joker had put on her head and threw it. The crown spun in motion and hit its mark on Joker’s face, knocking the Clown Prince of Gotham out.

When he was down, she kicked the nearest goon in the crotch. Upon seeing the others draw their guns, she grabbed the one dropped by the Joker goon and shot at them.

“In the end, I kicked your ass and got away.”

“I don’t recall any of that ever happening.” Joker said, still confused. This was the first time that they had met. He wondered if the madness was hereditary. Or if it was something else.

“Oh. Wait. That was a different timeline.” Rebel exclaimed.

“So we have never met before today. I keep forgetting.” she muttered.

“So you know the truth of this world.” Joker stated instead of asking. He looked unusually serious that Rebel was a bit caught off guard.

“The fact that we are nothing more than people’s fantasy written down in ink on paper.” Rebel remarked dryly.

“Sometimes, just words on a screen.” Joker added.

He laughed his head off like he just told the funniest joke in the world.

“So you know. That we are not real. Nothing is real. So nothing matters except for me and Batman.”

“I know. You told me before in the timeline that never happened.” Rebel drawled out.

“So you agree with me? Will you join me by my side?” Joker loomed over her with a pleased smile.

“Not really. I just see it differently. If you hadn’t noticed, I am an anomaly. I am not really your actual canon kid.” Rebel pointed out. “Just someone else’s idea of that reality.”

“Not in this world and time. You are my child. Even if you aren’t in other universes and timelines.” Joker dismissed.

“This world is our playground and you are the clown princess of this entire place. Even if you want to deny it. Right here and right now, I am your father and you are my daughter. This is a fact that currently holds true.”

Rebel huffed. “That doesn’t mean that I share the same ideology as you on your views of this world. So no, I don’t think I will be joining you in your eternal war against a guy in a fursuit.”

Joker frowned. “Then, you won’t matter. They won’t know about you. They won’t care about what happens to you. Unless you matter, they will just kill you off and put you into the void.”

Rebel couldn’t take the way that Joker was looking like he was borderline concerned for her existence. In his own twisted way, Joker was trying to look out for her.

Rebel took off her mask and gave him a smile. “I don’t care either way. I used to matter to the world once upon a time. I suffered because I was the important main character. If my time in this world is now limited because I am no longer one of the main ones, then I will make sure that I was memorable enough in my current run so I can have another go.”

“There’s a chance that you won’t be able to make it back. Not dead in the way that you won’t be brought back to life later on. A permanent death. Forgotten. Never existing. Forever lost in the limbo.”

“Oh. Please. This isn’t my first rodeo. I am here, aren’t I?” Rebel replied nonchalantly.

The meaning behind her words clicked for Joker.

He roared with laughter.

“Bravo.” He said with a hint of fatherly pride. “You brought yourself back from the limbo, didn’t you?”

Rebel tried not to grin too much at the praise.

These moments of lucid madness, where her father was sane enough to comprehend the truth of their world but still insane to not care about it, were rare. Coincidentally, these moments are when Joker acted the most fatherly.

Was it wrong of her to engineer these moments to feel fatherly affection?

Probably. But she had a feeling Joker would approve of the manipulation if he knew.

“Besides, I know you won’t let me stay dead.” Rebel said.

“Do not take that chance, Rebel.” Joker warned her. “I did not fully remember the previous times until you mentioned it. I didn’t know that you were my daughter until I saw the paper about your little crew.”

“Crew? What crew? I don’t have a crew.”

“The Rebellion, of course. Aren’t you the one in charge?”

“Nope. The leader of the Rebellion and I are just friends. She stole my jacket and masqueraded as me for a bit. Now, everyone thinks I lead them.”

Joker chuckled. Not laughing that the manic laughter that everyone was used to. Instead it was the light-hearted chuckle from hearing a good unexpected joke.

He came near Rebel and ruffled her hair.

She swatted his hand away because it took an hour for her to style it that way.

Joker gave another delighted chuckle.

“Now. Now. My rebellious spawn, I heard that you pulled the wool over that Big Blue Boy Scout in Sunny Metropolis. I want you to tell me about how you pulled it off.” Joker said, hugging her sideways.

Rebel tried not to seem too eager. She knew that she would have this version of her father for at least a few more hours before his more Joker-ish traits would set in again. Until then, she was going to enjoy being a daughter to a somewhat loving dad.

Rebel gasped for air as she sat up. Her arms immediately wrapped around herself. She was solid and alive and breathing. Rebel grabbed onto those facts like a lifeline.

Even until now, she felt like every move she made was being watched and in the back of her head, she heard the ominous click-clack of the computer that controlled her life.

She was real. She had to be. She can’t be-

“- a figment of someone else’s imagination.” A voice came from her right.

Rebel instinctively looked in that direction.

She tried to scramble away upon seeing the purple suit and green hair.

“Hello, my rebellious spawn. Quite the fitting name you have chosen for yourself.”

“What did you do to me?” Rebel asked. If she sounded freaked out, who could blame her when she just came out of a death experience and found herself in the same room with a psychopath.

“I didn’t do anything.” Joker paused, “Well, it’s slightly my fault as your progenitor. But other than that, I have to assume what you saw was the true reality of our world.”

Rebel tried to calmly assess her situation. She needed to get the hell out of here. Joker was spouting nonsense as usual. Who knows when he would snap and kill her. Judging by the place, she was in the morgue(?).

“What the fuck?”

She looked down and saw that she was wearing nothing. The only reason she hadn’t accidentally flashed her ‘father’ was because she had a white sheet covering her.

“Am I some kind of fucking zombie?” Rebel said.

“No, my offspring. As I was trying to kindly explain, this is our Joker birds and bees talk.” Joker revealed.

Rebel glared at him. “I am not fucking doing the sex talk while I am naked. The French thing about being okay with nudity is not true.”

Rebel didn’t know what possessed her to follow the Joker. He tossed her usual outfit of t-shirt, leather jacket and ripped jeans but they were eggplant purple and green to match his suit. At least she wasn’t naked anymore.

She summoned one of her emergency masks out of her magic dimensional space pocket. It was a simple dark purple instead of her usual red to match her outfit.

She didn’t have to follow him like he asked but curiosity about what she saw made her ignore her instinct, screaming at her to not trust him. Joker had her answers and her gut told her that he would be forthcoming about it.

“Ah… this is perfect.” Joker said as he stopped.

Rebel looked up from her musing. They had stopped in front of an abandoned apartment building. Against her better judgement, she followed Joker into the building.

Joker seated himself comfortably in the armchair that the one of the past owners must have left behind while Rebel remained standing up.

She glared at him.

“So talk.” Rebel demanded.

Joker tapped his chin, “Where do I start?”

“Let me help. How am I alive if I died? I didn’t have enough in me to cast a spell for a shield.”

“Tough question right off the bat.” Joker giggled at his little pun before continuing. “Because you are still needed for the story. You aren’t the only exception. No one important can die. That means both heroes, villains and everyone in between can’t die. Even if they die, there is always the chance you can come back. Look at the Red Hood for example. The child was supposed to be dead but he was brought back to the land of the living for the sake of the story.”

“How am I important? I have been nothing but a nuisance. The fucking Universe doesn’t care about me. I have you for a father for fucks’ sake.”

“If you haven’t noticed, every hero or villain has some type of tragic backstory. Batman has his parents’ death. His current Robin had been neglected by his parents. Harley had been fucked up by me. I can go on and on. But there are some exceptions. You however are not.”

“Gee. Thanks, I didn't notice.” Rebel said with heavy sarcasm.

“Another reason you aren’t dead right now is because we are slightly immortal.”“What do you mean ‘slightly immortal’?” The finger-quotes were obvious in her statement.

“Slightly immortal as in we are more durable than your average human, spawn. It is also something that has to do with your mother.”

“My mother?”

“She is not human, that's for sure.” Joker said. “I don’t know exactly what or who she is. Even the creators didn’t give her a proper name. She was delightful company though. She was intrigued by the fact that I also knew the truth about this world and she was the one who explained it all to me.”

“Then the two of you had a fun one night stand that ended up with me?”“We fooled around a bit, had some laughs and caused some trouble for Batsy.” For a moment, Rebel thought that the Joker looked like a forlorn man who regretted letting go of a lost love.

“There was this one time that I miscalculated a plot and thought that I was going to die. Then, I woke up perfectly fine. She told me that she had given me a gift. Not true immortality. Even she can’t give me that. But I will not die by things that would kill other humans.”

“But doesn’t that mean you are the only one who would have that invincibility?”

“I thought so too but then, you survived an explosion head-on.”

Rebel remembered those last moments. Her taking her jacket off and covering the bomb in hopes to somehow dampen the explosion.

“You are crazy. Crazier than me even.” Joker remarked.

“I should be dead.”

“But you are not, which means you are one lucky girl. My theory is that your mother gave you the same gift she had given me or you inherited it from me.”

“You don’t know?”

“Rebel, my dear, I didn’t know that you existed until one of my Joker goonies showed me the newspaper headlining you. After another fun heist, your mother disappeared and I never heard from her again. I only assumed that she got bored of me.”

“How are you so sure that that being was my mother? Even if you are my dad, how can you be sure that my mother is not someone else you had your fun with.”

“You have her eyes.”

“Blue is the second most common eye colour.” Rebel shot back.“Her eyes weren’t blue. No, your eyes have that same calculating glint where you look at random objects and be able to make it work.

Rebel sat there, processing the information that she had been given.

“So now what?”

Joker gave her a confused look. “I don’t know either. Currently, the creators are giving me a break so I have nothing going on.”

“No invitation to join you? No threats to throw me into a boiling vat of what made you ‘you’?”

“I realised that you were never going to join considering what you chose for your name. You are crazy enough even without the chemical.”

“The Joker being calm and reasonable? Never thought that I would see the day.”

“I can be calm and reasonable. Can’t be crazy all the time.” He said, shrugging.

Rebel felt like her whole world had been slightly turned upside down. She

“You know what. Let’s go bowling.” Rebel suddenly suggested. The day is crazy enough as it is, might as well make the most of it.

“Bowling? That’s a strange request.” Joker said, cocking his head to one side.

Rebel shrugged. “We have nothing better to do. Let’s do something fun.”

Joker stood up and straightened his jacket. “Then, let’s go, my dear rebellious spawn. Onwards we go!”

Extra scene:

After Rebel scored three strikes in a row, Joker turned an accusing look to her and said, “YOU ARE CHEATING!” “I’M NOT!” Rebel denied. “I’m just better at this than you.”

The not-enough-to-deal-with-it bowling alley employee gave them a bored look before going back onto their phone.

A lady with a death wish approached the bickering pair from behind, dragging her son along.

“Hi, excuse me. I saw you and your daughter playing together and I was wondering if she would like to join us. We are having a birthday party for my son, Jerry. Wouldn’t she be happier playing with kids her own age?” The lady said with a bright smile on her face.

Joker and Rebel stopped their bickering, and gave each other the same look of disbelief.

Suddenly, the same thought struck them and grins of mischief replaced the earlier disbelief.

Joker laughed, causing goosebumps to run up their arms.

Rebel joined in, giggling. Making the civilians realised that they may have made a mistake in approaching the pair both dressed in green. The mother and son tried to subtly take a step back.

Immediately, Joker and Rebel turned around on their heels in sync.

Blood drained from their faces at the sight of the famous faces.

“You… you are…” The mother hyperventilated.

Joker leaned forward, his face barely inches from her pale frightened face.

“The Joker. Very kind of you to offer.” Joker laughed and then wrapped an arm around Rebel’s shoulder. “But I think my daughter prefers my company over some floozy.”

“Floozy? I am not a floozy.” The woman screeched with indignity.

Rebel stepped in front and pushed her father back.

“Lady, if you value your life, fucking leave us to our game and mind your own damn business.” Rebel warned. “Or else…”

The woman thought it might have been her imagination when she saw Rebel’s eyes flashed red.

The son, who had more self-preservation than his mother, covered her mouth to prevent her from digging her grave further and dragged her away.

Joker laughed.

“Did you see their faces? I don’t know how you did it but you scared them good. They looked like they would have shit their pants.”

Rebel simply rolled her eyes and said, “Come on, let’s see how ridiculously we can throw these bowling balls until they kick us out.”

-----

“Harley?” The voice said. A voice she never thought that she would ever hear again.

“Stitches?” Harley turned around and exclaimed with disbelieving hope.

Standing there in the doorway, in her green mischief leather jacket was Rebel. Without a scratch or scars to tell the tale of her death.

Rebel removed her mask and gave her an impish grin. The sight was familiar to Harley. A memory from a different lifetime rose to her mind.

Harley ignored those thoughts for now and rushed forward to hug her ward/child.

“Stitches! You are alright!”

“I am back.” Rebel said.

“Oh, we gotta tell Red.” Harley said. “She’d been mopin’ in the house since we foun’ out about the incident.”

Harley tried to drag Rebel along but was confused when the girl refused to move.

“Stitches?” she asked, concerned at the look on Rebel’s face.

“Aren’t you going to ask how I am perfectly fine? When I am supposed to be dead?” Rebel quietly asked.

Harley gently cupped the two sides of Rebel’s face. “Rebel, sweetie, I used to work for your father. If there is anyone who knows most of his secrets, other than the big Bat, it’s me. I have seen him die in a hundred different ways and always go back runnin’ without a scratch. I’m glad that you got this part of his genes from him. The world without you seems a bit darker.”

Harley gently knocked her forehead with Rebel’s own.

“Any other problems that we need to address?” Harley asked with a smile.

“Other than my traumatic experience of my death and then finding out the truth behind our reality?” Rebel said as sarcastically as possible so Harley would think that she was telling a joke.

“So you met the people behind the voices.”

“You know about it?”

“I asked the Joker once. If the voices were normal. He tried to explain it to me but my mind kept forgettin' for some reason and he gave up. All I know is that I can hear the truth but I can’t know what it is. How do ya know what it is?” Harley asked.

“Joker told me about it.” Rebel confessed.

“Kid, are you okay?” Harley asked in worry. Any encounter with that monster is never pleasant.

“I am fine. He’s different this time.” Rebel said. “It’s like he feels more real than how he usually acts.”

Harley gave her a sad smile. “I know what you are talking about. It’s not real, Stitches. It’s just another mask he wears to make him believe in him.”

Rebel didn’t say anything. Because Harley was neither right or wrong. The Joker from last time and the Joker she just met were the same man after all. They were both real. Or not real since they are aspects that the people outside their reality perceive Joker to have.

Rebel stopped that line of thought there. She had enough of an existential crisis for one day.

Rebel just smiled at Harley and said, “Let’s go home.”

_____ Taglist: @toodaloo-kangaroo, @iloontjeboontje, @buginetye, @angelwreckedd, @anoires-blog, @ever-since-i-was-young, @shutupandactuallylisten, @its-maemain, @vel-vee, @kashlyn, @officiallydarkgeek, @jayjayspixiepop, @cmouse, @transheso, @thecrazyfantrolls, @just-a-random-girl-loves-anime, @maddiesupdates, @the-dumber-scaramouche,

#maribat #ml x dc #dc x mlb #biodad joker #who made me a villain

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nosafeharbour · 5 months

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Encyclopedia Eorzea III: Werlyt thoughts

How is this the second Werlyt thoughts/reactions post I've written in 2023. The Sorrow of Werlyt ended over 2 years ago

This is literally just Werlyt (so also Gaius and Raen) musings, I'll actually finish reading the rest of the book later...

It's beautiful. I've looked at this for 24 hours now

Holy shit, all this Werlyt lore… Gaius was viceroy of Werlyt for TWENTY YEARS?? In-game it sounded like he led the invasion during the epidemic 10 years ago, when you see him adopt the Raen kids, but otherwise wasn’t too deeply involved... but it was under Garlean control since the very start of the Empire? Gaius came into the picture midway through, after it briefly rebelled.

"A young Gaius van Baelsar" capturing Werlyt when he was 30... I guess him being legatus in his thirties makes complete sense with the timeframe of Ala Mhigo, but having it spelled out so plainly… wow

Thinking about the memory of Gaius in the Emerald Weapon trial being a 30 year old is so funny. You jumped-up little shit

It’s hard to pin down dates because everything is measured in years after Werlyt was taken, without it ever giving a starting date, but you can work backwards… the rebellion 30 years post conquering + 20 years of Gaius as viceroy + 5 years before ARR when Gaius begins advance on Eorzea in 1.0 = 55 years ago. The Empire is also 55 years old, which lines up:

Between 55 and 455 years ago: Werlyt is founded (happens after Gyr Abania is unified, but Werlyt is still described as “newly formed” when it was conquered, so definitely closer on the scale to 55)

55 years ago: Werlyt falls under the Empire

25 years ago: While the Empire is stretched thin conquering the Far East, the Werlytians stage a revolt and retake the province. Gaius comes in to quell it, and becomes viceroy after the previous one is killed (Gaius is 31 yrs old) (This is also the year Doma is conquered, so that also lines up)

20 years ago: Ala Mhigo is conquered, Gaius is also made viceroy there

15 years ago: Gaius’s fuckup at the Battle of Silvertear, and when he starts to lose favour in Garlemald

10 years ago: The epidemic, when the Raen kids are orphaned

5 years ago: Gaius leaves for the invasion of Eorzea (1.0), which eventually leaves Valens as viceroy after the events at the Praetorium

Did the epidemic happen under his watch? The flashback of him first reaching out to Allie and Alfonse makes sense to be 10 years ago, but the energy of that scene was very much “arriving to a situation” and not that… it was already under his jurisdiction…

I don’t know how I feel about the change of context here, at least in my understanding of it. It honestly feels a bit of a shock that Werlyt has been under the Empire for 50 years? They never stated any specific years, but I always read it as a decade or so? Long enough for it to become their new lives, short enough that people still remember life before. Gaius coming in to “save” Werlyt from the epidemic by way of conquering it was this mixed bag that ultimately did build towards his character thesis of “good intentions stuck in a bad system”. To think the epidemic technically happened under his watch is new and strange, I dunno. I need to replay it with this in mind to see if it checks out

Especially with that one post-Emerald scene where Gaius is all “Things were shit in MY legion? But I ran a tight ship” lmao… I know a lot of people take the piss out of that scene thinking that he was only discovering racism for the first time in his life (he literally has scenes in ARR about stamping out discrimination in his Legion), but I always read it as his ego meaning he believed that his influence and word over his Legion was immovable, that nobody would behave that way because he told them not to. It complements his view that he always thought he was doing good, but not yet having had the blinders of being a cog in the fascist system removed. These things will always still happen. It would be good to see that scene again, with all this context of the epidemic happening during his time as viceroy... If the times are all correct, I feel like him being stretched thin between Ala Mhigo and Werlyt is a part of this

The “all the good Gaius had achieved” line in regards to him building up Werlyt as viceroy makes me wince, while I do like engaging with Gaius having good intentions, just talking about all the good he did and not the fact it was still a conquered territory + the epidemic? Even I’m balking at that, and I’m a Gaius enjoyer. Slow down here. I’m looking at the artwork of destroyed Werlyt from when he re-conquered it right below this paragraph LOL

The Raen of Werlyt migrating there directly from Corvos, to the point that their religion and food is still Corvosi-inspired... seeing it spelled out so plainly after this incredibly fleeting and brief image from FanFest... wow. I get to feel even more insane over Corvos, now

Really curious about the timeframes, still. If Raen only arrived in Werlyt a little over 50 years ago, in one fell swoop they have turned Albi's Welytian grandmother into a Corvosi grandmother

Werlyt religion being polytheistic, seemingly a fusion of the Twelve and Corvosi religion… I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CORVOS…

I love the kind of demographics you get from these books:

Werlyt currently undergoing negotiations with Ul’dah for ceruleum, so they can continue mining… Gaius overseeing said negotiations in Ul’dah, Ul’dah is Albi’s turf... Thinking about them in Ul’dah together. It’s actually so fun thinking about Gaius visiting so many Eorzean city states as an envoy. He’s helping, but also he’s keeping his god damn head down (or in a chicken suit)

Werlyt’s main food being stewed dishes is just another thing that lines up with what I imagined, mostly just because it’s what I figured Albi and Gaius would eat a lot (both from cold places, they both know how to cook simple stuff but aren’t master culinarians)

Cheese being a major export to Garlemald, and there being a major cheese presence in Garlemald already (via Ovibos milk, so native to Garlemald itself and not all imported)... cheese lore

There’s way too much dairy talk in here, “dairy enthusiasts” pleeeeasseeee stop making my favourite place like this when I’m lactose intolerent

After The Sorrow of Werlyt says that Terncliff is too high above the ocean to fish, but then Tataru’s Grand Endeavour had orphans collecting seashells, I was so confused on whether or not Werlyt has beaches or not. I’m glad they clarified that there are a few harbours amongst the cliffs.

All of this geography and agriculture lore is neat just in that it’s showing that Werlyt is really quite big. You never really get a full sense of scale in-game, between Terncliff and what we see of the main Werlyt town (?) during Emerald trial/post-Diamond

We have three Werlytian surnames – Hunte, Souther, and Horne!

Severa Souther and Valdeaulin Ganathain… I care them. Severa is only 23, bless her heart. Valdeaulin being 48 is just exactly what I’d assumed/hoped.

The leader of the interim government is Talbot Hunte. Have we seen him..? I’m picturing the Revolutionary Commander in my mind when I read that, but I don't think he was ever named

All of these Werlytian names (surnames, and Hyur first names) have a Germanic feel, while Severa and the Raen kids have Latin-based names. The Raen in Werlyt originate from Corvos, so I am hoping it’s because they are sticking to Corvos being the root of the Latin-based Garlean language, as it should be? Severa had a Garlean parent? Hmm

Bereft at the casual mention of “the bravery of the Baelsars and the Warrior of Light”… THE BAELSARS

Kind of sad they straight-coded Milisandia by giving her a crush on Alfonse. That lizard was one of the gay ones :/

I think Gaius is possibly the first character to get a second Encyclopedia Eorzea entry. I was hoping he would, but had low expectations bc they've never given any other recurring characters new entries... but they did this, for me

“... and though his quest for vengeance would claim the masks of Altima and Deudalaphon, the hunt for Ascians was quickly set aside when he learned of the Empire’s plans to produce the noxious weapon Black Rose” – Black Rose is important and thematic, but seeing the Ascian plot dropped so abruptly even in this book is breaking my heart all over again LMAO

So extremely cool that there are 6 pages just about the Ultima Weapons!! Including the Allagan iterations, the original ARR project, and the second project during Werlyt

I do like the line “According to the testimony of Gaius Baelsar…” in the section about the Ultima Weapon, about how Lahabrea guided them to it. Gaius sat and gave testimony to the Alliance about a lot of things, huh!

I also like the confirmation that Proto-Ultima is the last iteration the Allagans made, and that all the visuals of the Ultima Weapon are magitek and Garlean-made. It’s hard to tell, since the earlier Ultima Warrior has them too, but the fact that Ultima Weapon’s horns look like Gaius’s helmet means it was done on purpose… kinda moe. Nero trying to impress his legatus

Interesting that the Heart of Sabik is mentioned so clearly, and that Valens knew he couldn’t recreate it… but still acquired a piece of Ivalician auracite to base the Oversoul system on. Reading this all post-Pandaemonium is enlightening

Seems that the “third eye” looking chestpiece on the cuirass of legatus armour is the synthetic auracite they used for the same purpose as soul crystals! Having a visual on that is neat

Another extremely obvious hint that Nero made the second (red) G-Savior, which only makes Gaius not finding out he was still alive until Tataru’s Grand Endeavour so funny/weird. Nero literally must have been in Werlyt!! The Ironworks were talking about him constantly! Gaius, are you stupid! (yeah)

#lore #the sorrow of werlyt #reactions

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