#because of her journey to humanity etc. but I wanted them to do something with that real love in Ken and they don’t even see it

[azure-cherie]

PAC : Who of the nine Greek muses do you embody ? A message from the muse

➪Pile : 1-2-3 ☟︎︎︎ 4-5-6 ☟︎︎︎ 7-8-9

Hii loves how have you been , I'm back again with a reading, I hope you enjoy this please choose with your intuition and take what resonates , Reblogs, comments feedbacks everything is highly appreciated ❤️

If you liked this and would like to book or would want a bigger reading on the same topic :

Masterlist , paid readings , paid readings 2

Pile 1 :

Muse of music and lyric poetry

Channelled messages: " let go of societal restraints " , " paint the canvas of your life , write a poem about a wall " , " often see yourself as an ancient women of honour " , " feed the doves "

She comes forth to tell you about your potential how you're a very meditative being , you are so good at chanelling and you should do it more often , ask her to be your guide and write down all that comes through to you flow in your thinking and the ideas that come forth

Lean more into the devotional aspect of your life , see everything with the vibration of love. The trees the humans the animals , devote more into self love and worship the gods you already do .

Learn the right way to connect to the moon , you're in your journey and this is one of the crucial times , you're almost at the end of a karmic cycle stay stiff and strong

Don't get into arguments , if you do have mishaps with someone , lean into releasing the anger through creating music or producing tunes .

Take practical approaches to life , if someone says no to you do the thing on your own , your guides are always taking care of you .

Pile 2 :

Muse of dance and choral poetry .

Channelled messages : " learn about the folk music and dances where you stay " , " when in the blues play the beats " , " give more to the society in forms of art " , " start the YouTube channel"

Your devotion towards your deity or your guides is really admirable and that is something that's one of your best qualities people online or in person admire your liking towards a deity you inspire them .

The calmness of mind that can be attained through yoga is something she wants you to do , imagine a blue beam of light when you meditate , she tells you to connect to your primordial life form your soul .

Know about the necessary sacrifices one has to do in their life , your sacrifices now will bring you rewards later , don't fall for instant gratification

Abundance is soon to come in your life but work on cultivating a sense of detachment towards money , obsession ruins everything.

There might me a rock bottom moment in your life soon , she asks you to remain in your path as a human and as a soul take the lessons and move on soon you will alchemize your pain into passion and glory . You transform everything you're a becon of light .

Pile 3 :

Muse of hymns and sacred poetry

Channelled messages : " Levitate " , " dream big " , " nice downtown tshirt " , " the life that one has is a sum and minus of that they do "

If you're interested in writing do it , there might be an opportunity approaching you soon in this sector , though there's a warning about a setback if you don't take the opportunity at the right time don't worry you'll do great believe in the power of wishes.

You might rekindle a childhood bond on the basis of liking of movies or songs .

Business sector might have new opportunities your fortune is about to change you're gonna have the power to do what you want in your life because you're the creator of it , your destiny is now on hold make the best use of free will.

Connect more to the oceans and moon , fireflies etc , be in nature more and stay grounded .

Honour your soul by serving the temple you're in your own body , take care of your body give it ample rest and food .

Pile 4 :

Muse of tragedy

Channelled messages : " Dwelling on past has no rewards " , " crazy is as good as the sane" , " time flowes and glows and you grow "

Don't choose a hard life away from your desires because you're scared of disappointing people your path is enlightened more as you connect more to yourself .

Give into dark feminine energy and live in your truth , if you remain often confused or scared work on your root chakra .

Connect more to your guides through paintings and leave offerings of metal , feathers , corn etc

It's time to finally shine you're going from the hermit to an influencer you're gonna be famous it might start small but it will build up .

Keep away from external influences that stop your growth drop bad friends and family .

Pile 5 :

Muse of love poetry

Channelled messages: eat healthy and enriching foods , read about the love you already behold , the depths of see are beautiful and so is your heart of depth.

Abundance in the sector of love is coming soon you're gonna make the haters jealous , might even win a pagent or competition.

You might have felt Beauty is your curse but life's gonna show you how it's not you're gonna be so hight so uplifted I see you shining like a star

One has to prepare for glory start by saying affirmations and working on your third eye and root chakra .

Read more about lovers from mythology like Persephone Hades , Aphrodite ares , Radha Krishna etc

The boons served by the goddess are yours to keep and no one can question that , you're being divinely blessed and you'll be happy and dancing soon .

Pile 6 :

Muse of comedy and Idyllic poetry

Chanelled messages: Search for the small joys, poppies , these boots are meant for walking , spring equinox fairy

There's a confirmation in case you wanna go for the acting sector , this sector will require a lot of hardwork .

There's also a warning regarding someone in your job your boss or your guru they might take credit for some assignment you did beware and if possible say no because that thing might get your superior a promotion

You are to search bliss in satisfaction about what you already have the moon is to be admired by you the power to be soked it , are you ready for the full moon .

You're intelligent and people really admire you for that , gemini energy.

Move in your life in your true path of light don't be afraid or dim your light , your aura might have hints of white colour .

Pile 7:

Muse of epic poetry

Chanelled messages: Blow the bubbles up , get into kitchen witchery, Artemis , cry me a river

Don't give people the benefit of the doubt if you don't like someone let them go .

Fame is eminent in your energy, life coaches might help you , your aunt is giving you good guidence follow her .

Do your school projects and specially eat tangerine and other fruits that make you feel happy

Serve the world and create peace each small step is a long one in the collective , small things create big impact do your part and be sure of the effects .

Moon water energy and full moon is great for you to invite luxuries in your life , ground your root chakra and connect to your third eye your ancestors will be sending you messages.

Pile 8 :

Muse of astronomy

Chanelled messages: Fly me to the moon , peals and sandbox , honesty is the best policy , go go cheerleader

The first message for you is to balance all your chakras it's crazy my oracle deck pulled all chakra cards omg I feel like there soon will be a kundalini awakening for you

You're almost in your last stage of awakening get into the cosmic dance of life your life is about to change , abundance is coming

Hard message to get through but someone in your relationship might be cheating or there might be someone who has an eye on your partner and might try to frame them . Only for some people

Listen to your higher self write a letter to them

Your path from now on is of the hermit it might be lonely but it's worth it discoveries are on your way in fields of history, psychology, quantum mechanics etc.

Pile 9 :

Muse of history

Chanelled messages: 13 missed calls , glow up is loading , search in the Egyptian archives , glow and peach coloured cheeks

The number six is significant, also specifically for someone there's this person who is delaying your glow up by doing some nasty as spell , might be a close friend

You are ignoring some signs from the universe , they're coming again and again and you're ignoring it look into it closely , you're elevating in your consciousness.

Your energy levels are high and you're matching ahead in your journey setbacks are never the end the sheer power of desire iss enough to keep going .

You're slowly climbing the stairs of life to become confident and assertive you might even call upon a partner soon who is very sure about themselves.

You should plant more trees and learn about them about their origination etc , i specifically get about Tulsi and the lore behind it . Some others would be eucalyptus, basil and marigold.

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this

Have a great day/ night ♥️🌹

#pacreading #pac tarot #pac readings #pac #pick a card tarot #pick a picture #pick a photo #pick a card reading #pick a card #pick a pile #tarot card reading #tarot reading #tarot deck #tarot cards #tarot community #tarotblr

[itshype]

Please don’t pet me! I am working! (DC x DP)

The Service Animal Cujo notfic that I, personally requested but just like my extremely cringe Batman x Witcher fic, I have to do everything myself. I wrote this but held off during DC x DP week because I’m not participating in that. If I keep writing these, I’ll have to make a masterpost or probably whack them up on Ao3 for archive purposes at some point but for now: Here is the Space Obsessed Danny story and Here is the Kingmaker Danny story! CW for mention of panic attacks in this one!

So! Let’s get going. Danny died. He can’t stop thinking it. He was dead. He’s walking and talking now but he knows deep in his soul that everything’s different now. He was dead and somehow nothing has changed? He feels like something of his journey to hell itself should be visible in his skin – something more than the small exit scar on his left foot. Another dimension was opened through his body and his hairstyle didn’t even shift?

Sam and Tucker are just as freaked out as he is, but they aren’t nearly as frightened. The ghost powers and Halfa stigma won’t come until later, but right now Danny is having difficulty even considering the possibility of leaving the house. With Danny in such bad condition emotionally, there’s no way to cover up what happened, and Jazz takes them all to the hospital.

Now, I know in a lot of fanfics Danny has weird physiology even in human form (lower body temp, slower pulse etc) but I don’t remember any of that being canon so I’m ignoring it. And if it is canon then I am exercising my right to debone the original show like a small chicken and use it to make a flavourful stock.

So, Danny checks out with the doctors except for a weirdly tiny burn but he is having like 5 concurrent panic attacks about everything from “there’s nothing after we die”, “The electricity cooked me”, “Life has no meaning”, maybe even throw in a fun “I came back wrong”.

Hell, maybe he does have weirdly low vitals, but the rapid pulse is countering his slow heartbeat and decreased blood pressure etc. Up to you!

Danny probably ends up being sedated if he can’t calm down but by then there is a different issue. The doctors Fenton have arrived. Now, I think it’s no stretch of the imagination to say that under the wrong circumstances they would dissect Phantom if they got their hands on him but also I know they somewhat care for their children and canon has shown more than once that under good circumstances that they could accept Danny.

When his ghost sense goes off for the first time it’s pretty obvious. He’s in a hospital and instead of a tiny little whisp of silver breath; it’s like a fogbank creeping along a moor, its sea mist rolling in from the horizon of his mouth and whiting out his private hospital room. No one can see two meters in front of their own face, and it takes over a minute to fade. Sam screams out for Danny and tries to grab his hand where she knows it was but can no longer see. Tucker starts at the sound and drops his device, screeching gratingly at the clattering plastic of his PDA hitting linoleum, hard.

When the mist finally evaporates, the Fentons want to take him home immediately and run tests. They think the ghostly influence is ‘obvious’ but the 68-year-old nurse, Beatrice stands like a 5-foot-nothing wall of solid rock and won’t let them touch him. Jazz also angles herself between her parents and the door so if they did somehow manage to get their hands on Danny, they wouldn’t be able to leave without steamrolling her. Then the heartrate monitor goes wild as Danny panics about being a guinea pig for his parents’ less-than-lukewarm lab safety practices and they back off without further interruptions.

That’s the point when it hits them that everything that has happened to Danny is their fault. His accident was because of them, he’s melting down because of them, both of their children genuinely believe that they will hurt Danny just because he’s having weird ghostly side effects to almost dying in a ghost portal. One they built.

It’s a few hours later when they breach the subject of going home, of at the very least making a decision about school even if that decision is to formally take a leave of absence. Sam and Tucker’s parents had made them go home and he’s a lot calmer now but at this stage, his weird ghost powers are causing problems. It seems to the orderlies and nurses that his anxiety is getting worse because he’s turning intangible through cups and cutlery – making it look like he’s shaking so hard he can’t even hold a single cup, and is flat out refusing to eat.  

Even though it’s been less than a day it looks like Danny’s shock is just getting worse. He phases through his bed right as Beatrice and his parents walk through and they think he’s hiding under there out of fear. He tries to explain, confused, and disoriented and deep in denial. Jazz shuts him up. She doesn’t know completely what’s going on, but she knows enough, and she isn’t letting 12 hours of changed behaviour force her to blindly trust her parents.

Beatrice is most concerned. It hasn’t been very long but there’s no reasonable cause for his steep and steady decline. No reason outside of something-something-ghosts.  

That’s when the first few pamphlets come out about therapy animals. They require some time to be trained and the middle of nowhere Amity Park doesn’t exactly have a pool to choose from, but it’s okay to adopt a younger animal and train it themselves.

Danny looks at the pictures of the fluffy bunnies and alert-eared dogs with big, glistening eyes. Then puts them down. There’s no way an animal would be safe in his house.

That’s when the ghosts attack. Danny isn’t the only spectre with a ghost sense and these ghosts are less human due to a lack of ectoplasm. Obviously, the silver fog reappears, and, in his terror, Danny drops to the next floor of the hospital, glitching through his bed and the floor underneath it. He crashes painfully in the middle of the gift shop.

His parents reach the conclusion that due to his extreme ectoplasm contamination; he’s developed a serious allergy to ectoplasmic weaponry, including things like ectoblasts that ghosts have naturally. They’re not…the wrongest that they could be. Unfortunately, they decide that Evil Ghosts TM can sense this weakness and are trying to kill their poor baby boy. Everyone else is freaking out about ghosts being visibly proven but the Fentons knew ghosts were real with zero doubts so they’re rolling with it.

Now, due to the knowledge that he died, Danny is having difficulty worrying about other things like catching up with schoolwork, his weird new allergies/powers or even Dash.

BTW KUDOS to anyone still reading, I know this part was really long, but I really felt like I couldn’t just flim flam over the details of why Danny would need an emotional support/service animal even if it’s fictional.

First day back at school, the Lunch Lady attacks. Danny barely eeks out a win just like in canon.

His parents decide that this is because of the allergies and the ghosts being able to sense Danny’s weakness as I said above. And they take it upon themselves to root out the problem at its source, to find all the ghosts who could hurt their son and imprison them, partly for Danny’s safety and partly for study. Not even they are sure where the divide is between their two loyalties.

So, they look to their now-functioning portal.

Unfortunately, they were massively underprepared, and they don’t come back.

 Jazz sees the locked lab door and leaves them to it, making dinner and making sure Danny knows she wants him to be at school.

He doesn’t go, she lets him not go.

Two days later the boredom is worse than his fear. He goes to school. Danny, Sam and Tucker enter like a single unit. Dash tries some shit and either:

Jazz emerges and smacks his head hard enough he loses vision for several seconds – long enough for her to knee him hard enough to put the continuance of the Baxter lineage into question.

Danny starts panicking again. The teachers always want to side with Dash but him openly attacking a kid who was just in the hospital who doesn’t even lift a finger in defence of himself is beyond the limits of any sane adult’s “boys will be boys”.

Doesn’t really matter, the point is that he’s not looking to fuck around any time soon now that he’s already found out. But he did in fact attack Danny.

Danny goes home. His first attempt at school following his death has failed.

Tucker, separately, goes to a garage sale to buy old electronics to use in his PDA upgrades. He buys a boxful of weird lab equipment that definitely has a microchip or two. When he opens it at Danny’s house as an effort to distract him, a small pink teddy falls out. No one notices it bounce beneath the sofa. Sam or Jazz brings up the support animal idea again but is reminded of the whole “our house is a toxic waste site” thing and backs off.

Weeks pass, Danny develops his ghost powers and Jazz realises their parents are actually missing. She submits a missing person report mentioning the switched-on portal – the lab door was locked from the inside.

So, when Danny wakes up one day and there’s a glowing green dog already with a collar and a toy he thinks “ah yes, a dog that my sibling has procured for me as we discussed many times to help me cope with my own mortality, the near-constant ghost attacks and my parents who vanished.”

So, he puts a leash on Cujo who is happily chewing on his little pink teddy and takes him off to school while Jazz is using her first free period to go bother the local cops about their parents. (Why haven’t they been taken in by child protective services? Either:

Because I said so

Jazz is 18

Jazz used her improbable psychology powers to bamboozle the social worker into leaving)

Everyone at school loves Cujo. He gets all the love and does a very good job of dragging Danny away from ghost attacks (so he can fight them!!)

Jazz doesn’t find out about Cujo until the afternoon but probably lets the whole thing lie because it’s a great solution.

This could go on for some time. Both Danny and Phantom have Cujo but as Phantom Cujo stays in his big form so there’s no connection made. Canon mostly proceeds as normal except the parents aren’t there and there’s no huge issue with Valerie.

Realistically, a fair few high schoolers are probably also on the hunt for a pet ghost dog because if Danny and Danny both have one there must be heaps going around. Danny is also worried about his parents and periodically looks for them but that isn’t the focus of this story so I won’t go into a lot of detail – just clarifying that he’s not a sociopath who finds out his parents are missing and goes “oh ok”.

This could be its own story but let’s get to the DC part now!!

Eventually the Justice League connects the two calls, one about the ghost dog and one about the parents disappearing through a portal. Maybe Valerie complains, or even fanon favourite Wes contacts the authorities about the ghost dog with no official training or certification. Either way the JLA algorithm picks up these two very strange claims from one town and send someone to investigate.

But I mean, parents vanishing from a locked room and a green dog aren’t exactly world ending stuff, so instead of sending an actual busy superhero they send one of the kid heroes.

Now a lot of people will go ahead and put Damian into this. But I don’t really care for him in a dynamic with Danny. But I have another vigilante in mind, one who is less animal crazy, but more dog focused and also has issues with being seen as an actual person.

That's right, it's Conner Kent. And his faithful alien dog Krypto. I've seen a few fics where Danny adopts him, but you know what other family member should think you're an actual person? Your significant other. This could totally be a friendship thing no problem, but I do feel like some versions of canon Connor Kent would get on great with Danny.

Without the looming, repeated threat of vivisection, I think Danny would be a lot more chill about his secret identity and would probably disclose Cujo’s origins to Superboy. Once Connor knows about Cujo (Phantom’s dog) being able to shrink, he can see Danny with the dog once and connect all the necessary dots. Because I stand by the fact that the main reason Danny’s secret ID isn’t discovered more is because there’s no reason for a dead person to have a secret identity but once the concept is introduced then it’s pretty simple. Connor can hang out with Phantom while Phantom does ghost fights because the Kryptonian can’t really contribute but he’s there for moral support.

Eventually, Danny reveals to Connor that he himself was cloned before and talks excitedly about his clone who he considers a cousin. I definitely think without the parents there that Dani would visit more even if she has an obsession with travel, wanderlust or freedom that prevents her from permanently moving in.

This knowledge makes him very upset about how he was treated by his genetic donors, and Connor decides to move in with the Fenton siblings (without really asking the Fenton siblings) and decides that he’ll commute to the watchtower/titans tower/mount justice (depending on which version of canon he’s in sorry I can’t be bothered to figure it out).

Unfortunately, on top of not asking the Fentons, he doesn’t notify or ask anyone in the caped community. So as far as any of them are concerned, Connor went on a minor mission to investigate some missing people and is now himself missing.

Just as a caveat because I don’t feel like getting into an argument today, I used the terms both “service animal” and “emotional support animal” even though in most countries these are not interchangeable legal definitions. I use it in a non-legal way here because emotionally helping Danny – especially when that emotional stress causes physical damage is a service, and also there is the potential for Cujo to help Danny in other physical ways.

Also, there is definitely room here for Dani being buds with Match. I think that'd be neat.

If I could draw, I would make art of Cujo and Krypto being besties but I cannot so just picture it for two seconds. Done? Great, thanks!

#SERVICE ANIMAL CUJO #dc x dp #dp x dc #danny phantom #danny fenton #justice league #not fic #mine #batman #tucker foley #jazz fenton #the JLA #superboy #connor kent #kon el #teen titans #titans #match (dc) #dani phantom #dani fenton #sam manson #dash baxter

[alkhale]

i know it might have been mentioned before, but if it hasn't been touched on already, could we pretty pretty pls see what a marine au for memos would look like? who would Hoku work for? would she ironically make for a good marine?

The following AU takes place in a timeline where Hoku did eventually join the Marines. After spending time on Dawn Island with Luffy, when Hoku sets off on her own journey, reuniting with Ace, meeting Hack, etc, only after fixing up Mayman/meeting Kid, does she seek out Tsuru and decide to take her up on her offer to become "an upstanding marine" and to avoid Luffy

(The scene with Shanks below takes place sometime 3D2Y post-time skip)

Hoku decides to play at being a marine because she (1) finds them constantly in the line of fire and at risk of work hazards (2) believes there's something specific she can do from the inside of the institute she'd like to explore, mainly helping other Pokians and maaaaaybe making things a bit easier for a certain king of pirates (because she knows she can always quit!) (3) it will help her avoid being a pirate with luffy and being involved further in the main story

Despite this plan, she still seems to run into one too many pirates

"What's your relationship with Straw Hat Luffy?" "Who's that?" "Our men saw him trying to kidnap you onto his ship! Was it for ransom?" "He just wanted me to try Sanji's new dish."

"But you're a marine, we're supposed to be capturing pirates?"

"I didn't see that in the handbook."

"But you never read the handbook!"

Hoku underwent rigorous training with Tsuru, mainly under the tough old lady's jurisdiction—this helps her particularly avoid discipline from several other marines. There have often been requests for her to join other commands, some from marines who want to teach her a lesson, others from marines who genuinely have fun working with her

When Tsuru isn't training her, she's being worked to near death by Garp

She has one of the highest disciplinary records in academy history

Some cadets don't understand how she can get away with getting into so much trouble, sometimes a marine grunt will see her being forced to clean out an entire base's cafeteria while someone supervises and they're like?? again??? how is she not in impel down?? tried for mutiny??

Some people eventually get the memo—it's favoritism/abuse of power/strangely good luck in some occasions

Some marines don't like it one bit, they have it out for Hoku, she doesn't really care

Garp never, ever stops talking anyone's ear off about how his beautiful, adorable granddaughter is going to be one of the best marine's the world has ever seen

Tsuru has unofficially officially made herself Hoku's grandmother in a way. She and Garp often have petty fights over Hoku stories. They fight a lot over who's squad Hoku has to be on

Over the years, she's actually made enough contributions and done quite the number of great feats, enough to land her at captain level, (rear admiral candidate at Tsuru and Garp's behest) but Hoku sometimes keeps her petty officer title, keeping the perks that come with captain status and the likes

She doesn't mind abusing her power and shrugging off her responsibilities

Whenever she's assigned missions where she has a whole squad to take care of, the marines assigned to her are usually wary, uncertain and thinking they're unlucky

Until they actually work with Hoku and are like??? we're doing work today? did we just bust this human trafficking ring? did we just liberate an entire island stuck in a pirate tyranny? and other times they come, asking her what their job is for today and she's just like? go home there's nothing to do

If they really bother her, she'll send them off to different islands and countries that need help. "Go distribute these supplies to here." "They asked for someone to help rebuild their village." "Put those dumb ships to use and go delivery this to them."

Hoku has made her way around several different bases, under several different chains of commands, (she is now infamous) usually on a sort of temp job kind of borrowed basis, but officially she's under Tsuru's wing

Smoker has gone through several different stages of mental strife and grief with Hoku, originally being distrustful when the criminal who blew up a base in Tretar became a marine, then becoming somewhat determined to help mold her into a damn good marine, then to becoming strangely fixed (obsessed) with either being in charge of ensuring she receives punishment/is not mistreated for her origins within the lower ranks, and they are even sometimes seen gambling together on occasion. They have a funny relationship these two, Hoku's too lazy to try to understand it.

Her outfit as a marine is a lot like her original, however she wears a black top instead of white and with black pants. Her jacket is white instead with her usual accessories, and the only thing that helps people actually identify her as a marine is the standard issue marine cap she wears

Hoku has also secretly become a huge collector of wanted posters. It originally started small, just taking the wanted posters of people she cared about, but now it's spiraled into a full-on sizable collection where she has different versions of wanted posters, original prints, first roll-outs and etc. She trades with Bradnew and other marines and hangs them all up on her wall or keeps them safe in a minted book

Hoku often abuses any and all of her rights as a marine. She's really, really good at being a bad marine.

"Hey, did you hear the news?"

The petty officer looked up from where they'd been tasked to dust and clean the entire meeting room to perfection. Several other cadets and chore boys had been called from the barracks, each ordered to ensure that the following few rooms that would be in use for the meeting would be ready at a moment's notice.

For what meeting? He had no idea.

"No," he said, because he didn't know. There was so much gossip going around base these days he could hardly keep up. "What was it?"

First there'd been the rumor that one of the Four Emperors of the sea was on the move about the Grand Line, cutting and going as he pleased. Any movement from an Emperor was grounds for mass panic. Then there'd been talk that newly appointed Fleet Admiral Akainu had almost burned another ranking marine alive. Less serious and more on the interesting side, word was floating around that the Vice Admiral Smoker was seeing someone, which was juicy gossip in its own right because Vice Admiral Smoker?

"Apparently he's always following her around," someone said.

"He requests transfers and is always grumbling about them, I think he's worried they're going to end up with someone else—"

"Even Captain Tashigi seems to be aware and they're always—"

For today, however, it seemed something different was brewing amongst headquarters. Other officers were making a ruckus while the upper brass seemed particularly miffed—which usually only happened if it involved someone outside their scope of power influence doing something they didn't like—

"One of the Seven Warlords is visiting HQ!"

The petty officer blinked, opening his mouth before closing it and then finally deciding on his next words, "Well, that's big news, but it's not unheard of news man. They're required to come for summons."

The petty officer shrugged. "Especially people like Bartholomew Kuma or First-Son of the Sea Jimbei. They're always on time."

"No, no, you don't understand," the marine looked around as though someone would hear before motioning for the petty officer to come closer. He rolled his eyes, leaning over the table. "It isn't just any of the Warlords... It's Hawk-Eye Mihawk!"

The petty officer dropped his broom, turning to his fellow marine. The other man looked smug now. "Dracule Mihawk is coming to HQ?"

"That's what I'm saying!"

"You should've said so sooner!" the petty officer scooped up his broom, renewing his cleaning with vigor. "He's not just a regular Warlord—that guy never responds to his summons! Never!"

"See what I mean! This is big news! Why now? What do you think convinced him to come?"

"It must be something big," he said, shaking his head as the two of them not-so-discreetly made their way to the wide windows overlooking the base's dock. They'd get a full view of the elusive swordsman this way. "Do you think they're mobilizing for something?"

"I don't know, man. Think they'll let us sit in on the—"

A loud clamor came from the ground level beneath them. The two marines quickly looked at each other and then pressed their faces up against the glass. Their fellow officers below them were rushing around on the docks, forming into greeting lines and looking sick with nervousness. One man seemed to be praying.

It was understandable behavior, to be honest. Dracule Mihawk was known for being an unknown man and more often then not he'd felled one too many marine ships simply because they'd been in his way.

"I see his ship!" the marine beside him said. They pressed harder to the glass, squinting for the full view. "Always gives me the creeps. Who sails around in a coffin?"

He thought about telling his fellow officer that there was quite the number of weirder ships out there, but the sudden silence below them made the two of them pause. They glanced to each other and then back down.

The dock had gone eerily silent. Marines shook at the knees while hardened captains and a single vice admiral waited to greet the Warlord of the Sea.

One figure, however, suddenly came into view along the dock, sticking out like a sore thumb compared to the rest.

Her bright white hair fluttered absently with the wind, tugged this way and that as she paced up and down the dock, looking out across the ocean. She skirted the edge of the pier, however, just shy of the water with her hands stuffed into her jacket pockets.

"Who the hell is that?" the marine beside him said. "And why isn't she falling into line? What's her rank?"

"That's..." the petty officer caught a full view of the woman's face now, freezing at the infamous half-heart curving around her eye. "Cap—Serga—Lieute—" he paused, uncertain of her current ranking now. "Officer Hoku!"

"Hoku?" the marine looked confused, "who the hell is that?"

"Officer Hoku!" the petty officer repeated, looking at the man in shock. "You haven't heard of her? Vice Admiral Tsuru's right hand woman, the officer who blew up over ten marine bases—"

"She blew up our own bases?"

"It's a long story—the woman who apparently violated the nefarious Trafalgar Law—"

"Violated?"

"I heard what she did to him was so disgusting, even the officers near her threw up themselves! The one who fought Fleet Admiral Akainu's authority multiple times, got caught gambling in Crocodile's casino, vandalized a whole part of Marineford—"

"And she's not in Impel Down?" the man said, aghast. "Are you sure she's on our side?"

"Oh, sure. She's been credited with busting the largest human trafficking rings in history! She's also brought in multiple heinous pirates, and on multiple occasions they say she's been able to deescalate several run-ins with huge bounty pirates like the Straw—"

"I guess it makes sense why they're sending her to meet someone like a shichibukai," the marine said thoughtfully. The petty officer paused, a bit offended he didn't get to finish Hoku's infamous and notorious list. "Need a crazy officer to handle a crazy pirate, right?"

A commotion finally broke out below them. The vice admiral waiting to oversee the whole affair was shouting at Hoku now, lecturing her about her lack of respect. The white haired marine simply took a seat on a wooden crate, picking at her ear and absently flicking off toward the vice admiral's feet.

The marine gaped while the petty officer stiffled a laugh with a cough.

"Look, it's him!"

Hoku seemed to have thought the same thing, turning sharply from the vice admiral and jumping to her feet. A single, haunting figure of a man stepped out from the edge of his coffin. His coat flared out dangerously about his heels, wind catching against the fluffed plume atop his head. Cadets started to shake at the knees at the sight of the man—

"Mihawk!"

The cadets around them went completely pale, jaws growing slack as Hoku flew across the dock, taking off with a flying leap and sailing through the air, arms and legs oustretched.

Dracule Mihawk did not move. He remained, still as a statue as the marine promptly wrapped her arms and legs around his head. The vice admiral's jaw dropped to the floor, one hand reaching for his saber uselessly.

Mihawk remained still, allowing Hoku to situate herself as she rubbed her cheek over the top of his hat, laughing with a sound so sweet with joy, it made the petty officer flush. She turned around, keeping herself wrapped completely over his head.

The rest of the marines continued to stare, waiting for Mihawk to throw her into the water or cut her in half.

"I didn't know you were coming to visit!" Hoku said happily, eyes shining with affection. "What's it for? You get called in by the brass or somethin'?"

"It was a whim." Mihawk neither cut her nor tossed her into the ocean. Instead, the man simply began to walk with perfect ease, toting Hoku along as though she were an added weight to his hat. "I will be departing shortly."

"Already! You've got a stay for at least a bit! Actually, aren't you hear for a meeting?"

"I heard of no such thing."

"Oh, cool then! Why don't we grab something to eat?"

"You mean to spar?"

"I-I never said that! Eat! I said eat!"

"Come, then. We shall take up arms—"

"Wait, wait, wait!"

The petty officer quickly began to add another feat to Hoku's growing list. The marine beside him continued to gape.

- - - - - - - - -

"Hmm," Hoku's brows furrowed in thought, fingers moving in a rhythmic, soothing motion. "This isn't a bad idea, right?"

"It's a bit cramped."

"Right, right, sorry about that. Just give it a few more minutes. Those guys out there are runnin' around like chickens without a head."

"Aye."

Hoku's fingers flexed. Her cheeks flushed a bit as she cleared her throat. As subtly as she could, she pressed herself tighter to the figure squeezed into the armory closet beside her. He made no move in protest, simply shuffling a bit to accommodate her and Hoku felt her cheeks flush.

"Do you need more room?" he asked.

"No, no," Hoku cleared her throat. "Sorry. Mind if I get a bit closer."

"That's okay," he said kindly. "I don't mind."

Hoku sneakily reached her arms more around his waist. He turned again in her arms and she felt her heart hammer wildly now, cheeks flushed as she slowly, carefully pressed her cheek against him.

Hoku shut her eyes in bliss. Soft. Like a cloud. And so warm. So, so warm. Ka. I don't mind staying like this for another hour—

"Shambles."

Hoku let out a squawk of surprise, her and her companion ripped clean from the closet and appearing hovering in the air for a moment. A thin film of blue surrounded the two of them, Hoku's arms and legs wrapped shamefully and scandalously around the other as her eyes went wide and then they both crashed onto cobblestone floors.

Hoku groaned, a second flick of someone's fingers leaving her on her ass before a pair of long legs. She rubbed her tailbone, looking up with a disgruntled frown as dark, brooding eyes gazed directly back at her.

"Traffy," Hoku greeted casually. "I didn't know you were here."

Law gave Hoku one long, withering look before he glanced over to the mound of soft white fur collapsed on the floor still, his fluffy cheeks flushed a soft pink.

"Were you taking advantage of Bepo?"

Hoku coughed. She refused to meet Law's eyes, fiddling instead with the top of his boot.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Captain Hoku!" Hoku blinked, looking around the side of Law's legs as a crowd of marines skidded to a halt before them. "Shall we arrest these fiends?"

"Nah," Hoku sighed, standing up as she dusted herself off. Law tipped his head to the side, regarding her coolly. "No need."

"B-But they're pirates!"

"I didn't see anything." Hoku turned on her heel, giving Bepo a wink. The polar bear's cheeks flushed a brighter pink and she grinned, saunteering off. "Let's head back to the ship—"

Tattooed fingers enclosed smoothly around her wrist. Hoku blinked, once, twice, before she glanced down to the larger hand engulfing hers. She followed it up to a calm, unreadable expression, dark, half-lidded eyes slowly meeting her own.

Something devious flickered, like a dark little shadow across Law's face.

Hoku paled.

"On an island surrounded by marines," Law said slowly, his voice low, curling around her ears. "I suppose we ought to take a hostage for safe passage, right?"

Hoku grinned nervously.

-------- ------ -------

"Cap—Officer Hoku! Officer Hoku!"

Hoku sighed, forcing her eyes to remain shut. Sunlight warmed the exposed skin of her belly, whispering temptingly to urge her into a well-needed nap in a rare moment of peace. The island they'd been called to investigate had seemed to resolved itself, no more terrorizing, plundering pirates and simply happy, cheerful townsfolk.

She didn't know what good luck had helped them out, but she wasn't about to complain over a free chance to kick back on the island before HQ called them back. They weren't expected for another week—this was the perfect chance to slack offcget some rest.

Hurried footsteps still rushed her way. Hoku kept her arms behind her head, lounging over one of her drawn hammocks. Usually ignoring them for awhile did the trick—

"Officer Hoku!" the marine finally panted, wheezing as she skidded to a halt beside Hoku. "Cap—Hoku! It's an emergency!"

Hoku kept silent, turning onto her side.

"The—at the docks," the girl panted. Her eyes were round with fear, knees shaking. "Docks!"

Hoku continued to sway peacefully in the sun.

"A ship, docked!" she inhaled a great breath of air.

"It's one of the Four Emperor's of the Sea—Red Haired Shanks!"

Hoku slipped out of her hammock, slamming face first into the wood below her. The marine jumped, hands flying to her mouth as Hoku quickly shot to her feet, nose red from her fall and eyes wide in disbelief.

"Who?"

"Red Haired Shanks!" the marine cried. Hoku's jaw went slack, eyes round. "O-Our men are currently in a perimeter around him! Apparently he's been spending time on this island for the past few days and—"

"They're doing what?" Hoku squawked. "Our orders are to never engage with Emperors unless ordered—oh for—ka!"

The marine opened her mouth to deliver the most pressing part of the news, but Hoku was already running past her, racing faster than she could ever hope to catch up to.

"And he's..." the marine started weakly. "Asking for you..."

Hoku skidded to a halt before massive blockade of blue and white bodies. She scowled, quickly forcing her way through, barking out quick and concise orders as her men whirled around, eyes widening at her appearance, jumping in and shouting left and right about emperor, what do we do? and Captain Hoku, stay back! This man is—

Hoku let out a screech as she tripped into the clearing, finally pushing past the wall of bodies.

A single arm reached out, a hand wrapping gently around her arm to hold her steady.

Hoku froze, her eyes shooting up.

"Dove," Shanks said, voice thick with fondness. "It's been awhile."

Hoku's traitorous heart fluttered at the sight of that slow, cheerful grin. She pointedly coughed, dusting herself off as Shanks' eyes flickered with amusement, stepping back, fingers lingering slightly on her arm so she could straighten herself.

"Pirate," Hoku said casually, the hint of a tease in her tone. Shanks raised a playful brow in turn. "As... what rank am I right now?"she turned to her men behind her.

"Just an officer, ma'am!"

"As commanding officer," Hoku crossed her arms over her chest. Shanks hand fell back to his side, fingers curling slightly. "I'm obligated to ask what one of the Four Emperors of the Sea is doing in this humble town."

"Well," Shanks glanced over his shoulder, back toward the dock where the Red Force was waiting. He could sense the playful jeers of his crew over the lip of the bow. "Miss Marine... It isn't a crime to be stocking up on some supplies and catching a short break now, is it?"

Hoku pretened to think his words over. Shanks' eyes glimmered with mirth.

The marine surrounded them continued to gape, frozen in disbelief.

"It's interesting timing," Hoku said. Shanks hummed for her to continue. "We were originally here on a distress call, but just as we were about to dock, we found out the issue had already been taken care of..."

"What luck," Shanks said with a grin. "I suppose that leaves you with some time to perhaps... relax yourself, aye?"

Hoku's mouth parted to retort and then she paused. Hoku blinked, looking up at Shanks in stunned surprise as she tried to make the little click of what she'd just heard in her head. But when he says it like that... no, wait. There's no way he'd know—huh?

Shanks watched the gears turn, eyes crinkling at the corners. "I know how hard you marines are always working—"

"Hoku!" Shanks eyes flickered to where a man broke the ranks of the gathered crowd, shoulders squared with whatever confidence he'd mustered. Shanks regarded him easily, expression relaxed as he approached Hoku. "We should retreat! We need to leave immediately and report the situation back to HQ!"

Hoku turned back to the marine. "It's alright. It's... a bit of a long story, but you guys know how it goes these days. He's—"

"Not like one of the other pirates!" the marine continued, gaze fearfully flickering to an amused looking Shanks and back. "With the others we understood, but this is an Emperor of the Sea! Cap—Officer Hoku, we should go!"

"I know, I know," Hoku appeased. "But don't—"

A different marine broke the ranks now, reaching out a grabbing Hoku's elbow. The first marine looked shocked while Hoku remained nonchalant, expression cool.

Shanks' gaze slowly flickered to where his fingers pressed indents into her skin.

The marine scowled viciously. "I ain't gettin' fired because of—

Shanks simply glanced over the top of Hoku's head.

Hoku's knees buckled for a moment, trembling under the sheer force until she quickly rightened herself, looking up at the pirate before her in disbelief.

Left and right the marine officers behind her dropped to the floor like flies, foam spilling out of some of their mouths as they crashed onto the ground. The man who'd grabbed Hoku in particular had been the first to collapse, hacking and clawing at his head before he fell face forward, pale and ashen. Hoku watched all of them, jaw going slack until not a single man was left standing, wiped out in a manner of seconds.

Warily, she turned her gaze back to playfully dark eyes, already watching her in turn.

"...even I have to say," Hoku began slowly, "that was a bit much, don't you think?"

"I never said I was a patient man," Shanks said almost sweetly, but his tone was sly and his eyes crinkled at the corners, shameless. "Now, Dove..."

Shanks offered her his arm, lips curling at the corner into something mischievous. His eyes watched her, half-lidded and almost lazy.

They burned, never leaving her face.

Hoku felt her pulse racing beneath her skin, forcing herself to appear relaxed.

"Shall we catch up a bit?" Shanks said, a slight husk to his tone.

"...I could threaten to make quite the arrest you know," Hoku said, only because she needed time to calm down.

Shanks tipped his head to the side, seeming to humor the thought. He hummed then, shutting his eyes as though going a step further and imagining the scenario. He turned his arm toward her, offering his wrist.

"I suppose I could come willingly," he said lightly, his words curling all about her, "If it were a beautiful woman like you... but I'm afraid I've only got one hand to offer..."

Shanks grinned impishly. "You'd have to cuff me to yourself."

Hoku snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. Shanks laughed, a full, cheerful sound. "You sure that's a good idea?"

"Well, I suppose it could be quite a bit to handle."

"More than you can handle?" Hoku grinned.

Shanks' eyes glittered then, like a ripple, and Hoku felt a thin shiver run down her spine, like the playful drag of a fingertip ghosting along her back.

"I don't know," Shanks murmured into her ear, leaning down. "I'd have to find out for myself."

Weakly, Hoku hooked her arm through his, making the decision for him.

Shanks laughed, a bellowing, heartfelt sound. He pulled her along into his side, his cloak flaring out behind them, almost wrapping around Hoku as they made their way down to the port.

"Aw, dove, don't pout. I promise I won't bite."

"You might lose a tooth or two if you try that."

"Dahaha! I thought you'd be sweeter since it's been so long! Is this any kind of reunion?"

"I was never sweet to you."

"Mmm, what does a man have to do to get a woman out of his league to give him a smile half as sweet as the ones she gives to that brooding—"

"Ten million beli," Hoku said on instinct. She paused then, suddenly growing pale as she half turned to Shanks, stepping a step back but unable to get very far with her arm still hooked through his—Shanks let her go a little ways away.

(But not very far.)

"Actually, wait, I take that—"

"Why, dove," Shanks laughed, grinning almost boyishly. "I suppose that could be easily arranged—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Hoku grumbled, trying to force the embarrassed red crawling up her neck to disappear. Shanks watched the dark flush along the nape of her neck with half-lidded eyes. "I know that amount ain't much these days to an Emperor of the seas—"

"It isn't that," Shanks said lightly, his words curling playfully. Hoku blinked, looking back up at him curiously.

Deep red stood out brightly against the expanse of white. Strands of Shanks' hair tickled against the side of her head as Hoku froze. Shanks leaned down, curling around her, smoothly tucking her against his side—the action forced Hoku to bend a bit, back arching ever so slightly as Shanks' lips brushed against her ear.

Hoku caught a glimpse of dark eyes beneath crimson strands. They curved, playful as always at the corners, but still a shudder threatened to run through her—the light press of Shanks' fingers on the side of her hip—when did he move his hand—

"You're worth much more than that, dove."

Hoku swallowed. She meant to say, "Oh, yeah?" but the sound that came out instead was a soft, slightly shaky, "Mmnh?"

Shanks hummed in affirmation, his eyes absently sliding behind her. "But I suppose it's easy to forget that when you've been surrounded by men who don't quite..." his gaze swept over the passed out, foaming marines at their feet, "Know how to value a woman properly, aye?"

Shanks paused briefly, brows raising slightly in surprise as he glanced down to the slender, scarred fingers now examining Gryphon, slid clean from its sheath. His sword rested with care in Hoku's hands as she inspected the current status of the blade.

Her eyes were half-lidded in faux disinterest, expression cool as she absently met his brightening gaze.

"And a heinous, shameless pirate would know better?"

"Hmm," Shanks grinned, walking the two of them back deeper into port. He remembered there being quite the delicious chef charring food in an open fire pit by the port.

"I suppose we'll have to find out."

-the shanks was too self-indulgent, anytime i think of writing a little bit of this man, he manages to steal another paragraph from me

#memos #memos au #hoku #shanks #trafalgar law #monkey d garp #tsuru #shakku #hola #shanks you man you #let this be a teaser #to an update i swear #tysm for your patience #i hope it was a fun read #monkey d luffy

[heartsforhavik]

Hey I saw your blog and I love you work I was wondering if you can do a ashrah x fem or gn reader fluff hc please

ashrah x reader hcs

warnings: none!

summary: just sfw hcs of ashrah x gender neutral reader

a/n: thank you anon!! and woah i don’t get to write ashrah much. hope this satisfies you!! if not, feel free to request more. sorry it took me a while to get to this!!

- i can totally see you two either training every day, reading books, meditating or something together. just some kind of healthy self-care activity. ashrah loves to improve herself, and always welcomes you to join her. she enjoys your company a lot.

- let's say you're an earthrealmer. ashrah really wants to fit in and learn all your home's customs and how to live as one of you. so you patiently teach her a lot about your way of living.

-ashrah. loves. hugging. she loves the feeling of embracing you and holding you in her arms. but she also loves to be held by you as well. she is a very brave person, and she works very hard every day slaying evil. even though ashrah is strong, she wants to be held sometimes. she likes feeling protected.

-and also because hugging is very.. human. she knows she can never erase her roots, but now, she wants to feel as normal as possible and fit in with earthrealmers. she just hopes you will be there to support her journey.

-ashrah is often busy. she doesn't get a lot of time with you, since she is always training or engaging in kombat in some kind of way.

-because she is so busy, she prefers to cherish every second she has with you. she wants to do whatever you want. she doesn't mind. especially if it's an activity she has never done before.

-you gave ashrah some ice cream in earthrealm ONE TIME. it absolutely blew her mind.

-"your local cuisine is delicious! how did earthrealmers manage to make something like this?" ashrah asked. she always had so many questions about earthrealm. she appreciated that you answered them all, no matter how amusing the question seemed.

-because ashrah herself is on a path to redemption, she is always very understanding when you make a mistake of any kind. she will always be there with you, as long as you own up to your mistake. because she's supportive and all, but she will not hesitate to hold you accountable for anything you do.

-ashrah will also be very loyal and defend you from anyone who badmouths you. especially if it is about your appearance.

-"how dare you speak of (y/n) in that way? you have no right speaking of others in such a malicious manner. i detest you."

-she also appreciates if you defend her the same. some people still underestimate ashrah, or assume she is evil, so she gets mistreated often. she can always defend herself, but if you ever stepped in, she would feel very loved.

-she believes the best way to show your affection for one another is by telling them. she knows communication is everything and never wants any misunderstandings happening in your relationship. so if she ever has something she wants to say to you, like a random thought or a compliment or if she just wants to tell you she loves you, she never hesitates to say it.

-ashrah also shares her thoughts on problems going on in her life, and she enjoys hearing your opinions. you're her partner, and she takes the term very literally. she likes solving problems by your side, fighting by your side, etc. she will always enjoy being with you.

-overall, ashrah is loyal and understanding. she has a lot going on with her life, since she is working hard to fit in every day. it comforts her that you support and love her. she wouldn't change it for the world.

#ashrah #ashrah x reader #mortal kombat 1 x reader #mk x reader #ashrah mk1 #ashrah mortal kombat

[thekingofwinterblog]

Maka vs Crona episode 20-21

When writing fiction, there are many points that can end up becoming the defining moment where a story peaks as a tale.

The final climax is ideally when this happens, and the amount of times when that is the case aren't exactly rare.

However it is just as common for stories to peak early.

Goku versus Freeza on Namek is generally considered far, far better than Goku's many, many following bouts, Tolkiens battles of Helm's Deep and the Pellenor fields, climaxing with Aragon's sudden appearance with the rest of the Southern Gondor Forces is generally remembered far more than the battle at the black gate or the scouring of the shire, while One Piece has tried, and failed consistently to recapture the glory that was Water 7 and Enies Lobby that together formed the absolute best story in Shonen.

As for Soul Eater, wheter looking at the Anime, or the Manga, it is not exactly a controversial statement that neither qualifies as it's absolute best. The manga ended on a terrible note, while the Anime while sticking true to it's themes, didnt quite hit the landing as good as it could have.

What both have in common though, is the moment where their tales peaked.

The Rematch between Crona Gorgon and Maka Albarn beneath the halls of the school leading up to the ressurection of Kishin Asura.

Rematches are always a fun thing in fiction, for a variety of reasons.

The most obvious is simply seeing how characters have grown or regressed since last time they brawled, but the simple fact is that rematches are baked into stories where there is conflict.

The Hero suffering an early loss, then facing their earlier foe only to emerge thriumphant is baked into the Storytelling DNA of the Human race. It's one of the most important parts of the Hero's journey for a reason, and you will find COUNTLESS examples of it, especially in shonen, which thrives on conflict and battles between individuals.

Ichigo vs Byakuya, Luffy vs Crocodile/Lucci/Katakuri/Kizaru/etc, team 7 vs Zabuza, and so on.

In the case of Soul Eater's rematch, on paper, and how it's set upon it's start, this battle is very much set up as a classic revenge rematch. Crona and Ragnarok obliterated Maka and Soul the last time they met, and now it's time to turn the tables.

It starts off with a kickass action scene where Maka has learned from her mistakes in the earlier fight, and so uses Crona as a punching bag rather than something to cut...

It event has both combatants trash talking the other... Everything is set up for a good grudge match.

The funny thing is though, that this could not be further from what this fight is actually about.

Because after that exciting action opening, that is meant to contrast with the first one sided fight, it almost immediatly switch gears to what it is actually about.

Maka and Crona as people, their flaws, their strenght, how both of them act as foils and mirrors, and brings out sides from the other that the story has not shown us before.

The first such moment is a follow-up to something Crona said in their first match.

"I don't know how to handle pretty girls"

That was a compliment, though obviously not meant as direct flirting, and this new line isnt either.

"S-stop. I can't look directly at people with big, strong eyes."

Crona looks at Maka as, in her own way someone to be admired... Because Maka has something Crona does not, and wants. Confidence, strenght, beauty.

Crona is both terrified of Maka... But also admires her at the same time.

The trash talk has nothing to do with bravery, or even looking down on Maka... Instead it's an attempt at putting up a brave front so the problem at hand will go away... But the moment Maka refuses to do so, and instead stares Crona down, Crona immediatly begins to crumble and instictively back down in front of Maka's cool and confident gaze.

Also while the fight goes on, a lot things happens concurrently. Not much of it is important for the Fight, but the other big battle taking place, is. Medusa vs Stein and Spirit.

This fight has two purposes, in regards to Maka vs Crona. The first is to give us Medusa's opinion and testimony regarding how she raised Crona, and thus we, the audience does not need Crona to make a long monologue about their past while talking to Maka.

The Second is contrast.

Spirit is absolutely certain that his little girl will win this fight. He has the bravery to trust in her, and her capacities, even after what happened the last time she fought Crona.

By contrast Medusa believes Crona will win because of logic, and calls spirit's faith in Maka "Blind Parental Love."

The funny thing is, they are both right.

Crona IS stronger than Maka... Yet Maka will ulimately win.

Their conversation also serves to contrast both of their children, and how they grew up. Medusa raised Crona as a weapon that is desperate for her approval and love. This will in turn be hammered in by Crona's own rather depressing flashback.

Meanwhile Maka was raised with love and care. It was not a perfect home by any stretch, brought down by adultery, abandonment and the blame game as everyone blames someone else, rather than accept the bigger picture(Maka blames her dad for everything rather than fully accept that her mother abandoned her, Spirit blames himself for his weakness rather than lay any blame at his exwife for abandoning his daughter and running off rather than take the parental responsibility she took claim too by fighting for Maka's custody, while mrs Albarn used her husband's infidelity as an excuse/justification to in turn abandon her own child).

Ultimately what this fight is all about, is both of these children finally beginning their journey to healing from the wounds left behind by their childhoods.

It also shows the values both Medusa and Spirit passed on to their children. Medusa twisted her child by instilling values like not killing... Then deliberatly forced her child to either break those values, or lose her affection, speciffically to emotionally break Crona down into an obedient weapon.

By contrast, Spirit, upon hearing Crona's backstory reacts with compassion, empathy, and understanding. And as the fight between Maka and Crona rages on, Maka will make it clear, that despite all of her protestantions to the contrary, she is her father's child.

The fight that follows between the next generation is a nice spectacle, but the next important development comes as both of the two meisters soul ressonance with their weapons, with Maka betting it all on her Witch Hunter, her strongest move...

And Crona completely blocks it with no problems, with a simple armguard, breaking the technique.

This moment is important for two reasons.

The first is the way it hammers in the point and themes that will later be repeated beat for beat during the climax of the series where Asura does this exact same thing to Maka's strongest technique in terms of raw power in either the manga or the anime, the Kishin Hunter, the same move that Shinigami used to beat and batter Asura around with ease.

Strength and Power will NOT beat madness and fear.

You cannot defeat fear, lonliness and depression by strength of arms, no matter how strong you are.

That is why ultimately Black Star and Kid will all ultimately fail to defeat Asura, and why Shinigami at his prime ultimately could not do it either, being forced to simply seal Asura away instead. Because every one of them faced this problem of trying to conquer their fears by using overwhelming force.

And they failed. Just like Maka fails here.

To defeat it you need something more, something completely different than might and power.

The second thing, and why this specific moment is what prompts Crona into going into a flashback right now, is that upon blocking Maka's best attack with ease, Crona suddenly has a spike of confidence, and lashes out, and brings Maka to her knees.

And it brings us into the next section of the fight, as we explore another aspect of fear, madness, and bravery.

"Weakness can imitate strength if bound properly, just as cowardice can imitate heroism if given nowhere to flee."

This is not a quote from Soul Eater, instead being from the Stormlight Archives, but it encapsulates the Theme of the next section of the fight perfectly.

Crona is not brave. The sudden burst of confidence did not lead to a turn around where Crona confidently and bravely defeated Maka in combat.

It was the lashing out of a scared child with nowhere to run, who HAS to win this fight, even if Crona does not want to be here at all. That one moment simply gave Crona the push to unleash an overwhelming assault of power that Maka could not match.

Weakness can masquarade as strength, and Cowardice can pretend to be bravery if it has nowhere to flee.

Which is why this in turn leads Crona compares Maka to the first creature Medusa forced Crona to kill.

The Fact is Crona has no idea how to interact with Maka, either as an enemy, a rival, someone who Crona finds Attractive and cool, or just a human being in general... So it sorta just jumbles together into a mess.

But Crona has not had the option of running away from either of their two fights, and so has been forced to actually interact with Maka, and so is completely all over the map in how to deal with her. Sometimes it sounds like Crona is hitting on her, cause she's an attractive girl as far as Crona is concerned, sometimes Crona puts up a brave face, sometimes tries to decisively kill her, and so on.

Which is why this in turn leads Crona compares Maka to the first creature Medusa forced Crona to kill.

We don't really know exactly how Medusa raised Crona before this point, but there are several important points to note here.

Crona understands at some level here that killing is, fundamentally wrong. When Medusa tells Crona to murder this thing, Crona does not want to do it, nor how to actually muster the will to actually kill.

That tells us 2. things.

1. is that Medusa deliberately raised Crona to be unprepared for this task. As Crona's mother, it would have been incredibly easy for her to raise her child with a far, far more viscious and brutal attitude against killing other living things.

But that is not what Medusa wanted. She wanted a broken and obedient weapon, an experiment she wanted to test and prod to see the reactions out of.

She WANTS Crona to not go through with it, and to be reluctant to do it at all, in order for the subsequent "Lesson" regarding obeying her speciffically no matter what, would hit as hard as it possibly could.

Upon little Crona's refusal to go through with it, she then locks Crona in a dark room with no food or water for days, alone with Ragnarok that bullies and beats Crona up for failing at the "task".

And when Crona still doesnt immidiatly go through with it, she throws Crona right back in, and blames it on her own kid again, hammering in the "lesson" that this Crona's own fault for being a "Bad kid".

this is all brutal, but it leads us into the second point to take from the way she raised Crona before this.

Crona WANTS affection from other people... But Medusa only gives it on a conditional basis, but also very deliberatly isolates Crona from ANYONE ELSE to the point where Crona doesnt even have contact with animals.

In the end, this does lead to Crona finally going through with it.

There is a very deliberate difference at this point between Manga and Anime though.

In the Manga, the animal that Medusa wanted Crona to kill was a defenseless, cute bunny, to further hammer in just how defenceless it is. The anime though, probably for censorship reasons was forced to drop this imagery... So they did something better instead, that connects it to what Maka and Soul are about to do.

in the anime, the animal is a small, dragon, unicorn thing that breathes fire, and upon first meeting it, Crona is for obvious reasons terrified of this thing, flinching away as it unleashes a jet of flame.

But after being starved, denied water, and physically abused by Ragnarok, Crona is let out from the room a third time. And this time, the reality that if Crona does not murder this thing, it will be right back to the room has set in... So when the dragon thing breathes fire right at Crona's face again, Crona doesnt even Flinch.

The fear is not gone though. it's just that with nowhere to flee, Crona mimics bravery, by embraces madness in order to not have to deal with the very real fear at facing the fire.

Crona is able to pretend to be both strong, and brave, by giving all in to madness.

The funny thing is though... Maka and Soul do the EXACT same thing.

Upon their tactic of just throw themselves in to the fight and hope to crush Crona with overwhelming force and power doesnt work, they instead decide to try to beat Crona and Ragnarok at their own game, by giving all in to the power of the black blood that makes Crona so powerful, with no heed of the dangers of embracing madness.

This moment, and the subsequent beatdown that Maka delivers is probably the single most iconic moment in the soul eater franchise.

Maka going completely nuts, completely unheeding of danger or any sense of tactics or morality, as she kicks Crona's ass, is Soul Eater's best action scene as it not only is visually stunning and entertaining to watch... but PERFECTLY encapsulates the stories Themes.

Maka wants to win this fight, and so she throws herself into a course of action that at first glance might seem to be brave... Giving up your sanity for power to win.

If Soul Eater was a story about people sacrificing themselves for the greater good, this might work, but it's not.

Soul Eater is ultimately a story about bravery, and bonds. About how it's people coming together despite all their differences, that makes life so worth living.

Sacrificing yourself... or others, is the cowards way out. It solves nothing.

Maka is not brave as she faces Crona withouth a hint of fear. Just like Crona prentended to be brave in order to have the capacity to kill that dragon thing, so Maka pretends to be brave by throwing away all her fears and sanity for power.

And in the end, embracing Madness only leads to Maka munching and gnawing on Crona's skull, having completely lost her marbles.

It's a different kind of defeat, but it still harkens back to her previous failure.

You cannot defeat fear by removing it, and pretending it isn't there... no more than you can do it with power.

Having completely lost herself to madness at this point, the only possibility left for Maka at this point, is to reassess her surroundings, and pull herself back from the edge.

And so, pulling on her speciality as a meister, her ability to sense and read souls, she begins that journey by reconnecting to her own soul, noting how it's such a small and fragile thing... surrounded by madness, it's so easy to fall in... And that's withouth jumping head first like she and Soul did.

And of course, being directly connected to her through the black blood currently steeping her very being, she also feels the soul of her best friend and partner Soul Eater Evans, a twisted, yet great guy who is always willing to listen to her, even when she's being selfish.

It is then though that Maka is drawn to another soul, one that fascinates her far more than either her own, or Soul Eater's soul.

Now the anime doesnt fully make it clear why Maka is immediatly so facinated by this soul... Crona's soul, but it's very clear that she is immediatly drawn to seek it out.

The manga however, makes the reasoning abundantly clear. She finds the soul beautiful for reasons she probably doesnt fully understand herself.

Regardless, she bonds with it, embracing it, and what it holds inside just like she did with her own soul, craddling it to her heart as she delves into it's mysteries.

It's mysteries is a beach with no water, an unatural thing, where there should be beauty and life, and yet is as as devoid of both as the desert it so resembles.

This is Crona's soulscape, the defining mental landscape of the young Demon swordmaster's psyche, as defining for Crona as Soul's jazz and piano room is for him.

It is here that we meet Crona's inner self, a young child, who deliberately draws a circle to be separate from the world... And yet so, so badly wants there to be someone, ANYONE else there.

And yet, when a companion appears, Crona's own shadow, Crona rejects it in a sad, yet resigned way, refusing to answer questions, passing on every one of them, until finally driving the shadow away as it becomes frustrated.

Now the questions are important in how Crona feels, but the actual takeaway isnt the answers, but how Crona refuses to respond to any of them, even completely obvious ones.

Crona does not know how to do so. Medusa's parenting and deliberate isolating her own child from any form of interactions besides her has completely and totally stunted Crona's growth, hence why here, inside Crona's own head it's back to the childhood self, not the teenage years Crona has entered into.

Which brings us to Crona's relationship with Maka. As bizarre as it might seem, Crona's interactions with Maka is the closest thing to actual socialization with another human being besides Medusa that Crona has ever had.

Because Maka by virtue of opposing Crona and refusing to back down has forced Crona out of that figurative sand circle, and actually had to interact with someone else. It was all over the place, but it was real, genuine, human interaction.

Hence why Crona thinks back to Maka in this moment as the shadow leaves, yet another lost opportunity that Crona let slip for interaction.

it's at this point that Maka, having now fully connected to Crona's soul, makes her appearance, in the form of her younger self with an adorable, lion's roar, scaring Crona, who protests that nobody else can be here, that this is where Crona is supposed to be alone from anyone else.

Maka does not care, and instead, upon being told of the circle's supposed purpose, destroys it by literarily stamping it out.

This completely destabilzes Crona's entire soul.

And upon returning to the physical plane, having left behind the Black blood and it's madness, Maka is face to face to a Crona who is having a form of seizure. All the methaphysical and psycological barriers that Crona has put up against the world have now been broken by Maka's actions, and is currently taking the form of the black blood inside of Crona's body shooting out everywhere in the form of spikes.

From a tactical perspective, this is a great development. Crona is wide open and immobilized, so now is either the perfect time to take another shot with Witch Hunter, or to just leave Crona behind to go join Kid and Black Star.

However, things have changed.

instead of doing either of those, Maka leaves Soul behind(much to his suprise and confusion), and withouth a weapon, completely calmly, walks up towards Crona, while talking in a kind, calm tone... The kind one does to someone who is freaking out and needs help.

And she keeps going forwards, despite the spikes that keep shooting forward almost impaling her every time.

In many ways, it resembles the kind of just abandoning fear to try to overcome it that she just tried to use to win this fight... But it's not.

Maka UNDERSTANDS Crona now. She knows what drives Crona to the core... And so she believes that Crona does not want to hurt her.

She doesnt know this. She fully understands that Crona might just kill her on accident... But she does it anyway.

She takes the risk that comes with this march forward, because she WANTS to connect further with Crona. Crona needs help, and maka wants to give that help.

That is bravery. True bravery, not the kind of bravado that drove her to take Crona on to begin with because she wanted to avenge her previous loss.

It is also insane. Pure madness... And yet it works.

Once more, she connects her soul to Crona, but this time, it's the opposite way, instead of delving into Crona's soul, she instead opens her own heart to Crona, to show that she understands.

Crona in response completely calms down, and after Maka lays out that she finally understands how Crona has never had anyone reach out and offer human contact before, Crona is... suprisingly at peace.

Crona still thinks that Medusa will now move and and that the time has come for mom to make good on her promises that Crona is expendable... And yet it somehow doesnt matter anymore.

Crona long ago gave up hope for physical, and emotional human contact with anyone, and now that someone finally has given Crona just that... That's enough.

It's time for Crona to just dissapear into the ether... To which Maka, very softly, but firmly delivers one of her book chops to get Crona's attention and out of the ending it all mindset.

Rather than let Crona continue on in this suicidal mindset, Maka instead takes the next step, and offers Crona the one thing that surpasses even the low, low bar of basic human contact and compassion. Her hand in friendship.

An offer that brings Crona to total tears of happiness and joy, and as the two of them grabs the others hands, they once more bare their souls to the other, while Soul Eater Evans looks on, and addmits to himself that Crona's great fear, of contact with other people is a fear that he too shares.

Just like Crona... And just like Maka, he too ran away from that very thing... But as the Manga shows in his thoughts, despite running away from his brother, he managed to find the very thing he ran away here at this school, in the form of Maka, blair, black star, tsubaki, death the kid, liz and patty... just like Crona now found Maka.

It's an astonishingly strong and powerful fight that encapsulates absolutely every theme and idea about bravery, madness, human companionship that the story had, while utilizing it's cast to the fullest, while also making use of it's power system to forge one of the strongest bonds in Manga.

However, we still have one final thing to discuss before we're done.

as we get as shot of Maka and Crona in Crona's soul scape once again, this time happy and smiling, hand in hand, the ocean finally begins, turning the desolate sands into beauty, washing over and then pulling back again, leaving the landscape actually alive, rather than the desolate, and lifeless void it was, and we end the episode on a special animation for the ending credit song.

That song is Soul Eater's second ending Theme, Style, and as we do a deep dive over Maka and Crona's development, we need to also go over it, and what it means, while also answering another question.

Why did Maka appear in the form of her kid self when she dove into Crona's soul scape?

the answer ties into why Maka and Crona made such incredible good foils and parallels for each other in this episode, and why both of them ultimately forged such a powerfull bond from these events.

Style you see, is a story told from the point of view of a child who is just making a new best friend by taking a risk and opening their door. It's about adults desperate to forge a "perfect future" like cogs in a machine, rather living in the moment, embracing everything as it comes, and asking god to make sure to record every one of the memories so they would be able to look back at these moments forever.

It is very much a soul eater styled song, but more importantly, it's a song that was very much chosen speciffically for Maka and Crona.

in a meta sense their relationship is DEFINED by this song, given how the episode ends with a special ending just for the two of them.

Maka and Crona's growth as people, are both defined by going forward... By going back and embracing their childhoods. More speciffically, what they both lost during it.

Crona lost both Childhood innocence, kindness and seemingly any chance to ever have friends and make normal, healthy human bond ever again.

Maka lost her ability to trust easily, became spiteful, hyperagressive, and lost her natural childhood kindness to others.

And both of them lost all of it, because of their parents. Crona lost it because of abuse, victim blaming, grooming and being treated as a weapon, rather than a child to be loved and nurtured.

Maka meanwhile lost all of the kinder, gentler, and trusting aspects of herself because of having to grow up and constantly see the dad she loved and looked up to cheat on her mother, and then subsequently being abandoned by that same mother, rather than have her serve as a source of strenght in her hour of need.

And through this newfound bond, both of them are able to regain all of it. That is the true beauty of Maka and Crona's relationship.

It's not as if all their problems go away, or their personalities go back to from before... the past, and how it has affected both of them is not ignored, or backtracked. but the path forward is a blend of what came before, and what they have become... while hopefully leaving behind the worst aspects of what they became at their worst.

Maka thinks Crona's soul is beautiful because deep down Crona is someone who wants to be kind and who thinks of others before themselves. all encapsulated by Crona's cute smile. That in turn brings out all of those feelings and emotions that Maka has tried so, so hard to bury to never be hurt again.

Crona thinks Maka is beautiful because she is a confident, brave, kind girl, who was willing to give even someone like Crona love, friendship, support and help even while being enemies. And in turn that makes Crona somehow reawaken the hopes, dreams and Values that Medusa cultivated just to deliberately murder for her own ends.

They both help the other to eventually get over their trauma in their own way and embrace their best selves... Despite the insane chance that Maka took to forge this relationship with someone she had no reason to even like, they were both so much stronger for it.

because they had the bravery, and madness to try.

Bravery and Madness, two sides to one coin.

And it all began here, over the course of two episodes.

#soul eater #soul eater anime #maka albarn #crona gorgon #spirit albarn #medusa gorgon #episode 20 #episode 21 #maka's mother #meta #croma

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

I found it. The worst Katara take.

https://www.tumblr.com/illycanary/748146862907867136/kataras-entire-arc-was-about-her-becoming-someone?source=share

Her entire arc was about becoming someone who could lead the Fire Nation!? The nation that GENOCIDED her people!?

Please… please I need to hear your take on this. It hurts my soul. Give me peace.

Zutarians: It's so disgusting how Kataang completely reduces Katara to just "The Avatar's girl."

Also zutarians: Katara's entire arc, trauma and struggles are not actually about herself, but about her Totally Real romance with Zuko and how she'll be great for his nation.

And she used to hate said nation because it was an elusive concept to project her insecurities onto. It was totally not because said nation had in place a socio-political AND military system that was hostile to her, her loved ones, and her culture by design.

It wasn't Zuko and the Fire Nation that had to understand that everyone else in the world was as human as they were, oh no. It was actually Katara and the rest of the world that had to understand that the Fire Nation ain't as bad as they thought - even though they WERE doing all the horrible things they thought they were doing, and ruining their lives by taking away everything and everyone they loved.

#UnhingedZutariansShutTheFuckUpChallenge

Also, can the fandom as a whole stop it with the bullshit "Characters like Jet and Hama existed to teach Katara and Sokka not to be racist against the Fire Nation"?

They were NEVER okay with killing, or even mistreating, someone just because they happened to be born in the Fire Nation or were under their control. Everyone they hated had done something to earn said hate: killed someone they loved, attacked their tribe, chased them around the world, held people prisoner and forced them into slave labor, etc.

You might think it was wrong of Katara and Sokka to do something like try to convince Aang to leave Zuko to die in the North Pole (and the show was very clearly saying that was the case) but you cannot act like that was based on some unearned hostility to anyone vaguely associated with a nation they "didn't understand" and not on, like Sokka said, not giving the guy that was trying to kill them a chance to try again and maybe succeed - hell, Katara gave Zuko a chance in Ba Sing Se, and look what fucking happened. Her best friend died right in front of her because Zuko jsut had to go help Azula take control of the city, and then he sent an assassin after them.

No one is fully good or evil - but people CHOOSE to do bad things, even if they have sympathetic reasons, and a political system CAN be inherently cruel, unfair and EVIL. And the Fire Nation under Sozin, Azulon and Ozai's rule very much was. And since Zuko went out of his way to keep that political system in place, he was doing something evil, and thus the people that were being victimized by him had every right to hate his guts for it.

Once again, let's hear it from Zuko himself:

"Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history. And somehow, the war was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation. They don't see our greatness. They hate us! And we deserve it! We've created an era of fear in the world. And if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness."

The Fire Nation screwed up. Zuko screwed up. They need to get their shit together (and Zuko did), and the responsibility to do so is on THEM, not on the people that are quite literally fighting for their lives because the Fire Nation gave them no choice.

It's not Katara's job to make Zuko, and an entire country, see reason. And her arc was about HER journey, HER struggles, HER accomplishments, HER life, HER culture, and HER loved ones - just because Zuko would eventually be part of the last category, that doesn't mean that it secretly all about him the whole time.

And Zuko knows all this. That's why his arc, and his friendship with Katara, works. The show already gave you the perfect scenario to turn that friendship into a romance in fanfics and headcanons, you don't need to pretend the Fire Nation wasn't the obvious bad guy in the war THEY chose to start.

You can respect the beautiful arcs both Katara and Zuko went through, or you can make excuses for the Fire Nation's choice to commit genocide by saying "Well, EVERYONE had something to learn from it." You cannot possibly do both, because their arcs are all about showing this "both sides" thing is NOT TRUE.

#anti zutara #pro katara #pro zuko

[antianakin]

If you were in charge of the Star Wars Prequels how would you have written Anakin? (assuming the only thing you can't do is erase him from canon :P)

Would you learn into Anakin's evilness or try to make him more sympathetic?

Honestly? I don't have THAT much of an issue with Anakin's general characterization in the Prequel Trilogy. I think for the most part that Anakin is a really interesting character in the Prequels and pretty unique as far as villain origin stories and action heroes of the time tended to be written. The focus on Anakin as FEARFUL, as someone who CRIES a lot and is AWKWARD and honestly not suave or smooth AT ALL (unless he's giving himself over to darkness, generally) is actually a really interestingly novel choice to go for. And that unique aspect of him is, arguably, why Anakin was so despised in the Prequels for being "whiny" and "annoying" and people really did not vibe with this weird awkward dude as proto-Vader. Obi-Wan as the much more competent, smooth, suave character with all of the snarky one-liners comes off looking much better in comparison. Same with Padme, usually.

So I wouldn't actually change the CORE of Anakin, the journey he goes on and the way his vices tend to be shown. TCW has already done that, they've just replaced Anakin's less likable characteristics with Obi-Wan's much more affable personality. They gave him snarky one-liners, he's now suave and smooth and charming, etc. It's annoying and it's boring.

But there are two things that don't work for me that I WOULD change if I were capable of going back in time and influencing Lucas's mind towards certain rewrites.

One is that I would make his romance with Padme more believable. The problem with the romance in AOTC for me is that you can completely believe that Anakin would be into Padme, but it feels a lot more difficult to understand why Padme is into Anakin in return. Especially after he murders an entire village of people down to the last child (we'll come back to this one). So we need to be told more WHY Padme is so into him when he is this weird, awkward, whiny manchild. Like, sure, he's pretty, but being pretty isn't enough to explain why Padme is willing to jeopardize her entire career to marry him by the end of the film.

So Padme either needs to be more corrupt, more angry herself, more connected to this part of Anakin that desires power, or they need to show us a better genuine connection. One of the things from the extended/deleted scenes from AOTC that I think could've helped with this is the bits where Padme mentions she had thought she'd be a wife and a mother by now and we see how close she is to her own family when she takes Anakin there. We know how close Anakin was to his mother and I think it would've been REALLY easy to use that as an easy connection. You could even help along the next movie by having Anakin mention that when he was a kid, he'd always sort-of wanted a big family. He didn't HATE that it was just him and his mom obviously, but it had been a sort of dream of his that one day they'd be free and he'd find a beautiful wife and have a big family for Shmi to dote on later in life. This gives Anakin and Padme a shared dream that neither of them is allowed to pursue due to their chosen careers. They've both sacrificed a desire for a family in favor of duty to the galaxy so when they get together later, you can kind-of understand why. No one else gets it but each other, etc.

The second thing I would change is the Tusken Massacre. I think that going as far as completely massacring the entire village is too far too soon. This is something that works only if you as the viewer don't truly see the Tuskens as equal to humans like Shmi or a people like the Jedi. The Tuskens aren't QUITE animals maybe, but they're also just savages who torture innocent women to death, so their deaths aren't sad for THEIR sake, the massacre is sad because of what it represents for Anakin - it's the beginning of the end. And obviously from a modern viewpoint, this really doesn't work anymore, especially with the way the Tuskens are being written these days. It also feels a little redundant with Order 66. It's not as impactful that he murders Jedi children when we already saw him murder Tusken children in the last movie. Baby murder is baby murder, there's no escalation in the evil he commits aside from sheer numbers I guess.

So I would probably have Anakin either choose to just leave the village quietly without killing anyone, or have him stop at just the guards/men and leave the women/children alive and either way he admits to Padme that he WANTED to kill them all and only just barely stopped himself. This also helps the romance aspect in that now you don't have to figure out why Padme is super chill with marrying a MASS BABY MURDERER and her moral code is a lot less gray. If he only killed the people who attacked him in the village or didn't kill anyone at all but just WANTED to, then you can dismiss it a lot easier. The rage is sympathetic and understandable and relatable, but Anakin is still mostly in control of himself. Padme can say that she's felt the same rage and not acted on it, so Anakin is the same. She can insist he would never murder Jedi younglings to Obi-Wan in the next film without sounding like an idiotic hypocrite.

(There's obviously a LOT of other issues with the Tusken Massacre in terms of how the Tuskens are written and presented in this film that could be rewritten to be a lot better and make the Tuskens more sympathetic, etc etc, but that's not really what you're asking me about and I'm not necessarily the right person to speak to that anyway.)

#star wars #attack of the clones #padme amidala #anti anakin #anti anakin skywalker #anakin critical #anakin skywalker critical #tusken massacre #anti anidala #anidala critical

[maikingsenseofit]

https://www.tumblr.com/miss-sweetea-pie/727558083762667520/listen-i-dont-like-kataang-and-maiko-because thoughts on this?

Excuse my candor but that post is kinda bullshit.

The key part to understand is OP says this:

“Zutara was just a lovely little treat and would have tied up everything in a lovely bow”

Except romance, especially romance that is reflective of real relationships, emotions, and journeys, isn’t something that can be neatly wrapped into a lovely bow. Relationships are messy, they don’t have a linear arc nor do they fit into thematic/narrative structures like The Hero’s Journey, etc. Relationships are replete with disagreements, sacrifices, and understandings that don’t magically appear or disappear the second the story ends on paper or on the TV. And that’s what makes Kataang and Maiko so powerful.

I see a lot of Zutara shippers obsess with this need for thematic and narrative cohesion, but not one can make a proper argument as to why their relationship towards the end needed to be romantic as opposed to the platonic one they had in the show. Why must two people, who started out as stark enemies on opposing sides of a war, need to fall in love? Is it not just as salient that they ended up as friends who protect each other, something that could have never been fathomed between the two of them? I actually love Bryke for not going the traditional enemies to lovers route, because it significantly reduces the impact of Zuko’s redemption and sacrifice, and Katara’s willingness to broach enemy lines due to her innate humanity. They didn’t do any of the things they did because they were head over heels in love with each other (they never once expressed romantic desire or attraction in another) but because they had a higher duty and purpose they needed to fulfill and a deeper empathy they needed to gain not only for each other, but other characters in ATLA.

The Maiko and Kataang arguments are just not in good faith. Kataang was set up from the very beginning and Aang had already reached the conclusion that she was such an integral part of his life that he wouldn’t let her go for anything (why would I want to let go of Katara)? Zuko already realized that he had to sacrifice his relationship with Mai for the greater good of the world when he writes her a letter and expresses his remorse against their portrait in the fire nation. The writers wrote Mai to turn on Azula to match Zuko’s sacrifice.

Both couples disagreements at the end werent going to make or break their relationship or their arcs because much of the ground work was already laid in the previous three seasons. The plot lines op talks about were explored throughout the series, they weren’t unearthed and festered only towards the very end. Compare that to Zuko and Katara’s relationship - where they were only on the same side and actually trusted each other in the last three episodes of the entire show. Most shippers actually agree with me when I say it would have been weird to have them magically kiss or suddenly develop feelings for each other in the finale.

Thanks for asking.

#mai #zuko #avatar the last airbender #maiko #atla maiko #pro maiko #atla #anti zutara #Katara #aang #Kataang

[gorgeouslypink]

so i got a "hate" ask and im not going to post it because i don't want that person getting attacked and i kinda understand where they're coming from, but i am going to answer their question

so the ask was along the lines of "you can enter the void, why do you watch loa youtubers?"

so ive mentioned this before but i went through a lot of mentally rough times throughout my void journey and im human and i still experience this once in a while, but going back to my void journey, something that really helped me was loa youtubers.

i just adore how positive they are and yk how people always say to surround yourself with people who you want to be like? i think that's so true and i extend that to even the media i consume. i love loa youtubers and the positivity they exude and how they remind you of your power as the creator and just boost you up and even to this day, i follow them and have them playing in the background while im at work or going on a walk or something.

this is to say, not all loa youtubers. there's some that i rlly adore (rita kaminski, electrasoul, etc) and some that i really don't. and this doesn't mean to just accept everything these girls say. i love thewizardliz but anytime she posts anything about relationships, i don't even bother watching because she has a pretty limited view on love and how you need to be a certain way to attract a man and stuff and it might be what's true in her reality, but it's not what i have in mine. and don't even get me started on some of these youtubers posting about divine feminine energy for relationships, using the blue moon for manifesting, or whatever other nonsense, like it's just a hard pass. but listening to the ones that just talk about loa and confidence and being your best self that you vibe with is honestly going to affect your life positively and probably help reprogram your mind of you struggle a bit with tapping into that mindset or keep you in that mindset if you're already there so that's why i listen to them and i highly suggest others to do so too!

[laurasimonsdaughter]

What if Disney adapted Jorinde and Joringel?

Hmmmm, yeah that could work! This would probably work best in the style of the Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty era:

• Jorinde and Joringel are lovers already and engaged to be married, so that's perfect. Their characters barely need to change (except for the names, I cannot see Disney keeping the names), they can just have some extra banter and personality. They will sing together, dance together, etc. When they get lost in the woods near the evil castle, forest critters probably try to warn them but they do not understand in time.

• The wicked sorceress won't be an old woman, but a cold, cruel beauty who keeps all the transformed maidens in cages for...magic reasons? jealousy reasons? Maybe simply because she wants to be sung to day and night. (In the fairy tale she does it just because she's Evil, but that won't cut it.)

• Joringel's devotion and despair is very imporant, a movie could play that up very nicely. Dramatic music, disorienting montage, the works. Only to be proper Disney-ish, he cannot just dream of the flower he needs to resuce Jorinde. He would probably be taken in by a kindly fairy who tells him his quest.

• The rest can progress as normal: Joringel finds the magic flower (that part will need padding, maybe he has to walk iron shoes to nothing or something), returns to the castle and breaks the curse on Jorinde and all the other trapped bird-maidens. To give Jorinde a bit more agency she will warn Joringel that the sorceress is about the attack him. Her power is vanquished by the flower and she'll either vanish or fall out of a window.

• The (un)cursed castle full of birds and then full of dancing girls will make for a gorgeous visual and they will all be at the wedding, which is the end of the movie.

The main problem with this story is that Jorinde can't be a proper Disney princess if she spends most of her time as a bird. So there could be scenes where the sorceress changes her back to do housework or to sing as a human. But I think it would work to just make this Joringel's story. Especially since this is not about fighting, it's about enduring, he'd be a good subversive hero. He'd have a heartbreaking solo at the depth of his despair that is a reprise of the song he and Jorinde sang as a duet in the beginning and he'll have a defiant declaration of hope and love to sing during his endless-journey-to-magic-flower montage~

#disney goggles #jorinde and joringel #an underrated fairy tale #underrated elements at least #the grimms' version is rather short and to the point #but it has good bones #fairy tale

[fists-on-up]

My Thoughts on the Loie Fuller + Taylor Swift Connection (Part 2)

This part will be a bit more speculative and subjective than the last, but I think both are important to examine. In this part I want to discuss where I think Taylor's interest in, and dedication to, Loie came from and how I believe she has shown this influence beyond the Reputation Tour.

ORIGINS, MAYBE?

I think that really understanding human nature is fundamental to being a good writer. If a character is going to do or say something, it has to make sense and feel organic. The better aligned with that character's past, values, and intentions something is, the more real it feels. Humans are very predictable creatures, really, and our options for actions or responses to any given thing are much fewer than we realize. Being good at making fictional choices make sense often makes you good at recognizing when real-world actions or statements don't.

It becomes this kind of background process that's always running, and when someone says or does something "off", you feel it. It's not unlike recognizing subverted rhyme. The foundation is laid, you know what the word will be, and when it's subverted, it's obvious. It makes it easy to sort of reverse-engineer someone's motivations, also. If situation A or B would result in saying X or Y but they said Z, A or B could not have really happened and situation C is more likely true. It's hard to explain, but it has as much to do with what people do not say or do as it does what they do. It's a huge part of the reason I ended up in the gaylorverse.

So how might a singer/songwriter and pop star who started in country music come to dedicate a very telling song to a little-known lesbian dancer who lived in Paris a hundred years ago? (Who fled to Paris, even, literally because the culture was clever?)

Maybe because she was very in love with a dancer who also loves Paris.

A while back in my journey down the gaylor rabbit hole I came across this video of Karlie backstage of the 2014 VSFS. I'm not sure if it's a rehearsal, or if it was on the day, but at the time I saved it because it's adorable.

(recall the quote from the excerpt in Part 1 that stated Loie played a "hide-and-seek illusionist game" with the audience. All eyes on you, my magician, all eyes on me, your illusionist, etc.)

Some months later, I came across this video. I'm not sure if this was another take, if this was a rehearsal, or if it was edited but the televised version of this walk we all know so very well does not include this very Loie Fuller-esque flourish Karlie does at the end of the runway.

For reference, here is a portion of Loie Fuller's Butterfly Dance.

Can I say for sure that Karlie introduced Loie Fuller and her history to Taylor Swift? Nope. Nothing is impossible. But it sure seems to me that one of them introduced her to the other, and it seems more likely it would have started with Karlie. I'd expect a gay ballerina to have a greater knowledge of Loie's history than Taylor just as I'd expect Taylor to have a greater knowledge of, say, Melissa Ethridge, than Karlie. And if this is the case, the dedication to Loie could have been a sort of vicarious dedication to Karlie.

BUTTERFLY DANCE / SERPENTINE DANCE

Of course it's applicable as fuck that the two dances Loie Fuller was known for were the Butterfly Dance & Serpentine Dance. Especially considering the association between Karlie Kloss & butterflies since, well, the presumed beginning of her involvement in all of this.

But it gets much more interesting leading up to Reputation when several things happen and Taylor ends up embracing the title of "snake".

It's always a bad idea to pin a label on a girl who's been told who she has to be her entire life. That's not going to go well. But Dear Reader, if you're young this is absolutely the best way to respond to bullies. They want you to fight back. They don't know what to do when you gleefully make it you're entire personality and thank them for it.

If you follow me on TikTok or Twitter, you probably know that I think Taylor was sabotaged from coming out not only in 2019, but before Reputation. I think that was the purpose of whatever album "Karma" would have been and I don't see any other reason why an album would be scrapped entirely.

So presumably we have this knowledge of Loie Fuller, Karlie's association with the butterfly and now Taylor's association with the snake, and I think this is exactly where all of this emerges. It's all so serendipitous, and as a poet I can confirm we sure do love that shit.

I think in a way Loie Fuller and the true reason behind her artistic choices became a way to sort of romanticize closeting. It wasn't forced, it was a magic trick. It wasn't torture, it was a game. If you have to do it anyway, you might as well approach it in a way that makes you hate it a little less. It gives you a sense of control. If you can't make it stop, make it *art*.

And this continues into the Lover era in such a beautiful way. To my knowledge, that's the first introduction of The Crest. And you will never convince me that's not a snake in the shape of an S and a butterfly in the shape of a K. The entire crest is for the Lover. I seriously doubt she used both to represent herself, despite the use of fluffy imagery during the era.

I think Taylor does cover up self interest with a thin (and messy) layer of allyship, but I think it's also true that her inability to honor the one person she wants to honor often makes her look like she only cares about herself. Another example of this is the montage of sweet clips in Miss Americana that are just... all Taylor. The "someone" she had fallen in love with is never shown. Likewise the Rep attic movies in the Lover music video are all Taylor. Because she couldn't make them all the muse like she wanted.

It must really fucking suck to always look like something you're not, but I digress.

I'm adding this depiction of snakes & butterflies mostly because in looking for what I wanted to include here I noticed something about this back tattoo I'd never noticed and I've never seen anyone else talk about - there are two snakes. It's not a snake bursting into butterflies like the beginning of ME!, it's two district snakes with different patterns coiled around one another.

Perhaps two "snakes in the grass" were meant to finally fly free. I'm not sure if that's what it means, but I had a good cry about it anyway.

Of course after the Lover era and the absolute clusterfuck that came with it, it's understandable that everything wasn't sunshine and rainbows anymore.

But one thing that did remain was the crest. We see it again in the Evermore photo shoot, albeit behind glass which I'm sure is a coincidence.

But even now, the crest remains relevant. It pops up again in Anti-Hero, when Taylor's glittery insides are exposed and she ruins her friends' dinner trying to cover it up. Then she tries to drink from a wine bottle with the crest on it, but fails because it's empty.

Once she's OUT of the house, however, a similar wine bottle is able to be drank.

The crest was even in the Apple Music experience thing a couple of months ago, both on the stained glass found in the Lover House, but on the "a message in a bottle" bottle.

Although I do think the crest itself is a symbol of Taylor & Karlie's relationship, at minimum it's an ongoing use of the butterfly/serpent juxtaposition seen in Loie Fuller's work and throughout Taylor's.

I think it's fascinating how much we're all inspired and impacted by one another & those influences are meaningful whether people ever know about them or not. I know I have people who have inspired me but will never know. I'm sure you do too. We're all connected in that way.

I just love to consider the "why" behind someone's actions or choices, especially when it comes to art. I like to understand people, and doing so helps me understand myself. Of course it's impossible to ever get confirmation for these sorts of things, but I think it's as good a theory as any.

If nothing else, I'm almost certain that the Vogue writer had good reason to suggest Loie Fuller was the key to Reputation and Lover, although they left it at that. I suppose they had to hide their thoughts in plain sight too, in a way. Maybe they knew, or maybe when you've had to be the illusionist, you can't help but see how the trick is done. It takes away the magic, but it gives you the truth.

#gaylor #gaylor swift #taylor swift

[myobsessionsspace]

Zane Lowe Interview

with Jungkook

I really appreciated this interview.

Zane and his exceptional interview skills was able to give respect to their journey, pay homage to the other 6 members contribution, respect and highlight their South Korean identity and much more. Yes he is a member of THE BIGGEST GROUP in the world right now. Yes he wouldn’t have gotten to this point without 6 other men giving their blood, sweat and tears also, along with the staff of Big Hit who were right beside them from the beginning until now, who aren’t know to the public.

“Look at this city, 19 floors up and you started out right down there, on the ground right, just running around trying to figure it out and now this whole building exists because, your band and some really smart people who love music formed a partnership and look what you've done, not just for music but for Korea, South Korea for music around the world” Zane Lowe 2023.

The interview was about Jungkook’s solo debut, he seemlessly incorporated his members into the inter y without making it about the members, nor erasing them from Jungkook’s story. I’m not gonna lie, there have been a few times with the members that they’ve been interviewed about their solo projects and I’ve even thought in my head ‘talk more about the member in front of you’🗣️🗣️ Lowe was able to, in my opinion, do it well!

In a bit over 34 minutes Zane Lowe was able to shine a respectful light on Jungkook of BTS. The bilingual subtitles, the Korean subtitles for Zane in addition to the English subtitles for Jungkook really tugged my heartstrings.

So often when the members work hard on their English and use it, channels still put English subtitles at the bottom of their spoken English. Zane and the producers/editors highlighted so subtly that he was ALSO speaking a foreign language not just Jungkook! Bridging The Gap!

Many ‘journalists’ want sound bites from their interviewees, they want a ‘scoop’, to get the interviewee to say something never said before to set their content apart from the rest. Maybe it’s due to Lowe’s musical background, coming up as a DJ, to radio DJ/host, to fronting his own music interview shows both on Radio 1 to Apple Music.

Zane Lowe Interview with mrfeelgood

Zane’s NY Times Interview

The Zane Lowe Show

Maybe it’s due to Lowe’s first hand experience with being a ‘foreigner’ moving from his country of birth, New Zealand, to the UK in his formative years. Maybe it’s just human understanding and compassion, however I greatly appreciated the interview, not just for his clear prowess with interviewing, making the interviewee feel comfortable, allowing them to speak, to formulate their thoughts, to add to them and keep the conversation going, to not bring up uncomfortable or irrelevant topics etc.

Lowe’s career spans over two decades of interviewing some of the most well known and not so well know names in the entertainment industry.

But also I appreciated the interview for the lack of subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) digs that the western media have made at the k-pop ‘machine’, the lack of teasing and sometimes thinly veiled derision towards the parasocial relationship BTS and ARMY, the lack of dismissal of BTS’ accolades and achievements and I thoroughly thoroughly appreciated the absence of my least favourite direction people take when interviewing the members the ‘who do you want to collaborate with’ or ‘what’s your favourite *insert country* food’ or any uncomfortable personal life/relationship questions.

Lowe’s incredible interview with Halsey, in the interview she talks about BTS and also her collaboration with SUGA for SUGA’s Interlude

The only other interviews that hold place in my memories for good have been those with Zach Sang and also Sakshma Srivastav (though her person is now ‘controversial’ to some ARMY).

see below for links to mentioned interviews

Yes it’s true Jungkook didn’t say any much more than what he’s already said up until now, to be honest I’ve taken away more from Jungkook’s unscheduled weverse lives, but I didn’t expect him to. The purpose of this interview (in my opinion) was to give insight into the solo artist Jungkook of the active group BTS, to the general public, with a little sprinkled in for ARMY. In that light, this interview was *chefs kiss* and was a cherry on top of GOLDEN’s promotional period.

💜

Mentioned Interviews

#Jungkook #GOLDEN by Jungkook #Zane Lowe #Interview #Youtube #RM #Indigo Interview #BTS #Interviews #Kookmin #Jikook #the last tag just because…

[parislovesf1]

Personal photographer | LS

Social media AU | Lance Stroll X photographer!reader

Warnings: unedited & kinda rushed, cringe?,

Part 1/?

yourusername posted a photo!

Liked by astonmartinf1, formula1 and 36,079 others

yourusername Monaco, you were a dream!! still can’t believe I have the privilege to combine both my love for travelling & motorsport while getting the chance to working for @astonmartinf1 💚✨

@astonmartinf1 started following you

@formula1 started following you

Comments

@yourbff you have no idea how proud of you I am🥹

@username omg mother is finally working her dream job!!

@username my prediction is that y/n becomes a wag within the next year or two🔮🧘🏻‍♀️

@username our hard working mother is where she belongs in the world, humanity can finally heal✨

@astonmartinf1 happy to have you part of the team💚

@Astonmmartinf1 just posted a photo!

Liked by lancestroll, fernandoalo_oficial and 638,907 others.

@AstonMartinf1 bit of an appreciation post for the teams golden boy, we’re all so proud of you for managing to score your 3rd podium so far this season while still recovering! @Lancestroll 💚

Comments

@LanceStroll 💚

@username proud of you Lance!

@yourusername a future wdc in the making I reckon 🫶🏻.

*Liked by @lancestroll

@username idk what’s more impressive; Lance casually beating out the other top teams 3 whole races in a row, while still recovering from his wrist injuries or his cars pace with its new upgrades !

*Liked by @astonmartinf1 & @yourusername.

@yourusername posted a story!

Viewed by @astonmartinf1, @yourbff & @lancestroll & 107,942 others

@astonmartinf1 mentioned you in a story.

Viewed by @lancestroll, @yourusername & 472,905 others.

First person POV.

“holy shit” I breathed. The offical Aston Martin formula 1 account had just reposted your story for their employee appreciation post of the week. I’d barely been working 6 months full time for them in their media and administration departments.

They had already shown me so much love since I began my journey and I just new this was exactly where I wanted to be. I set my phone down as i lay on the plush hotel room bed, hair up in a towel & back to the headboard. Lost in my thoughts, head swirling with gratitude for the life I was now living.

A loud ding from my phone which has been sitting on my lap brought me out of my daydreaming daze, my eyes lightly scanning across the screen to the new notifications.

I could not believe my eyes, he had to be kidding right?

There was no way he decided to do this on his own accord me, I mean we had talked once or twice during media duties or in passing at the motor home. Small exchanges of polite smiles and quiet hellos before morning meetings or in the cafeteria on lunch breaks but I would’ve never bet my bottom dollar on something like this happening.

@Lancestroll liked your photo.

@Lancestroll started following you.

I screamed, giggled and kicked my feet at the thought of having one of my literal biggest F1 crushes follow me on Instagram.

What was I too do now? act like nothing happened?

Am I supposed to act like I didn’t just turn into a giant giggling mess because my boss followed me back?

Requests are now open in my DMs if you want one, sorry for being inactive. I’ve got a lot of projects coming soon, they’re just all in my drafts. I also habe not figured out how to organise my works on here in making a master list etc or how to layout some of these ngl lol.

#lance stroll #lancestroll x Reader #formula 1 fanfiction #formula 1 #f1grid x reader #Lance x OC #aston martin

[sketching-shark]

Hmmmmmm I’ve heard and seen that villainizing Erlang Shen is becoming more common in the western jttw-adjacent fandom and so I do think we should all keep in mind that besides Erlang Shen still being a very important deity in the Daoist pantheon (to say nothing of his role as a deity who’s saved countless humans from floods) he also does have a number of understandable reasons for many of his actions. For example, he played a vital part in capturing Sun Wukong on account of that monkey wrecking heaven, & to a degree even his role in imprisoning his own sister Sansheng Mu under a mountain is comprehensible because of the mindset that the gods absolutely can’t afford to have any human emotions under any circumstances on account of the chaos they could wreak if they let feeling such as jealousy, anger, want, etc. define them. I mean, one popular myth even says that the first goddess Nüwa had to give up her own life to repair both heaven and earth because of a catastrophic, nearly apocalyptic war that the gods waged based on the desire to control heaven, so you can understand why the rule that the gods can’t allow themselves human emotions would be absolute.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think that Erlang Shen makes an amazing antagonist when done well, and the possibilities involved in exploring things like his unrelenting belief in the righteousness of all his actions even for things like (again) imprisoning his own sister & burning thousands of the Mt. Huaguoshan monkey yaoguai to death could make him a terrifying figure. HOWEVER, I think it does a massive (and potentially really disrespectful) disservice to his character from both a story-telling & a cultural standpoint to paint him as a 100% despicable villain who fully deserves to be demonized. He’s a figure who’s done SO MUCH for the good of humanity, and that’s not something that should be immediately dismissed.

As always I need to note I’m in no way shape or form an expert on Chinese mythology, but I am relatively confident in saying that when it comes to the conflicts between humans, yaoguai, and deities there is plenty of violence and strife, but the narratives you can weave about them are much more interesting & meaningful when you’re not reducing any of these groups to being the one designated “bad guy.” If anything, as Journey to the West itself makes explicitly clear, the line between the three groups is blurry at best, they are ALL responsible for numerous atrocities, and there’s plenty of blame, as well as opportunities for truly doing good, to go around.

#chinese mythology #erlang shen #as per usual if i mess up with anything here let me know #i'm not an expert #just someone who's getting tired of important chinese deities being immediately pigeonholed into the 'villain' box #as part of this weird fandomification/massive simplification of world mythology

[a-halo-for-you]

Hard Magic Systems - A Chaotic Understanding

(DISCLAIMER: I do not intend to come across like I know anything but there are some things I’ve learnt and tried to make sense of so here you go… Also, I have read books that helped this abstract understanding of this thing, not sure if I should write them here but if you’re interested feel free to message me, I should reply within 1-3 business days.)

A Hard magic system is a system that follows rules. It has clearer definitions of what is and isn’t allowed and what is or isn’t possible and the consequences when something goes wrong. 

An example I have come up with is from Leigh Bardugo’s ‘Shadow and Bone’ series. In her stories, Grisha are capable of ‘Small Science’ and fear the act of ‘Merzost’ which in Ravkan means magic. For her magic system, their abilities rely on drawing upon the components of an element in order to wield it, abiding by the laws of physics. Any that use Merzost are often villainised for it - it is very very bad and not allowed hence most villains use it. 

Having these rules in place can aid a reader in understanding how the system works, it adds stakes to characters and narratives and can be a creative tool in problem solving without audiences or readers feeling cheated by a cop out display of magic. For example if someone just wishes all their problems away and suddenly the world wasn’t ending - the only time this could be effective would be if the journey the characters went on was crucial enough to feel like it's an accomplishment to get that far. Like in Percy Jackson and The Sea of Monsters, we’re not miffed that Annabeth is rescued by the Golden Fleece because 1# We know her enough to love her and 2# They worked so hard to get to it in the first place. 

When something is resolved without any stakes, rules, limits, journey and growth it feels like a cop out, the way we watch when some writers accidentally put themselves in a corner they can’t get out of so they make the entire journey a dream by the end? Or hey, let’s just fix it with time travel! It feels kinda pointless because there are no stakes and even a soft magic system will have stakes but I’ll get to that in another post. 

When magic is used as a tool it becomes a part of the characters journey from Luffy and the GumGum Fruit to Harry Potter and being a Wizard. It becomes a part of and aids their problem solving like any other skill. 

If we look at Avatar: The Last Airbender, it takes place in a world where the audience understands people can manipulate the elements, it makes sense when Katara has her bloodbending experience because early on in the show it is established that waterbenders can draw from not just oceans and rivers but trees, plants and human sweat. Their abilities are practised, trained and developed on through the show, I mean, even Aang has to progress in order to become the Avatar and when we see him master the elements we feel kinda proud to see him kick ass and when Toph progresses to bending Metal or Zuko with his lightning- I mean excuse me?!! 

We love the magic because it's a part of their journey but it doesn’t just fix things or make them worse - it’s how they use it that matters. 

Predictability is an important part of a Magic System because if you want to keep things in order you’ll want to make sure that your Hard Magic always has a consistency to it that follows the world and story narrative. Like in My Hero Academia, the predictability would be that each character has a quirk that they are learning to control and train in order to become heroes, however they each have limitations from their personalities, physiques, mentalities, ages etc that hinder them along the way. 

‘Limitations are more important than powers’ Brandon Sanderson. 

Babe. This is for real though. I don’t care how powerful a character is, it’s not interesting if they don’t have a weakness, the more powerful they are? The more painful the weakness. You want them to lose that power or feel the consequences of their power, hurt their weakness. For fun. Anyway- 

-Once you’ve sorted the rules of your system you can look at the particular limitations, weaknesses and costs. Oftentimes I’d say strength is different from power cause someone's power could be fire but their strength could be their friends and as we know, their strength can also reflect their weakness. 

You could have a shape-shifting character but the longer they stay in their animal form the more animalistic they become creating disastrous long term effects on the group or like Nico from the Percy Jackson series, he uses shadows to travel so much that it quite literally becomes a danger to him, ‘as the more you do it, the more you lose contact with the physical world’.

Anywho, this is the end of my Hard Magic System rant - I don’t actually know if this is helpful but it helps me so maybe it will help some stranger on the internet idk. 

Don't blame me coffee made me crazy~

Next time I’ll post about the Soft Magic System and it will likely be as messy and chaotic as this one but hey-ho, 50% knowing what I’m talking about to 50% aimless passion seems acceptable.

#writers on tumblr #writing process #creative writing #writeblr #fantasy #modern fantasy #dark fantasy #percy jackson #my hero academia #avatar the last airbender #grishaverse #writing magic #magic system #fantasy worldbuilding #fiction writing #worldbuilding #fictional characters #magical characters #fantasy character

[notyouraryang0dd3ss]

Thank you for creating this account, you are so brave.

Prefacing: I used to tolerate TS and her music when I was a teen and couldn't really avoid it. Now I'm 25 and I find her abhorrent as a human being.

(I'm not American and where I am from TS was never a Big Hit, unless we're talking 14 year old girls that eventually grow out of liking her. It's not entirely for a good reason, my country's a bit too conservative-brainwashed to like a self-proclained "girl boss" on a gov. level.)

Something that I noticed about that cult-like worship of that frankly boring woman is that most of the interesting shit about her is 1. made up 2. not about her music and I DO NOT understand how this is even considered a singer anymore.

Like, for example. A bunch of liberal queers like her because they take her bland music and fill it with their own meanings. Her lyrics are so soulless and boring and generic you can apply them to anything. You don't have to go listen to staples of quuer music like what drag queens, or queer women, or Black gay men create: because their music is visceral, it speaks onto real lived through opression that not everyone can relate to. But not with fucking TS! She writes the most TYPICAL line and a bunch of people assign some secret gay meaning to it. The amount of times I saw TS added to playlists for queer content is ridiculous. Like she wouldn't be half as popular if her music was regarded as what it is: straight white girl soliloquy.

The shit about her love life? Should not be fucking mentioned in regards to her as an artist. She's SO fucking fake. She will complain that people only see her as some girl who dates all those guys but she's the one fucking monetizing her love story. I'd understand if she didnt TRY TO but she fucking does! She knows she's bland and boring and she relies on people liking gossip enough to listen to her crap.

ok quick note when you said “liberal queers” it should be “queer liberals”. im assuming english isnt your first language so your native tongue has different grammatical rules but in this instance you put “queer” in front of “liberal.” i just don’t want you to be accused of being homophobic or anything so this is a quick note for you

you said you were 25 and everyone who’s been following this blog has been 20+ demographic in particular. i think it must be because we’re old enough to remember her entire journey starting w the 2009 kanye west mtv incident up until this moment. her staunchest swifties on here were born after the fearless release 💀

hmmmm i always wonder what people imply by Taylor Swift being a global superstar. like she’s isn’t popular in the entire continent of Africa but that doesn’t count apparently? and as much as she is popular in south asia, so much news is framed with a western perspective and all westerners think whiteness is default, and this includes taylor swift. i wouldnt be surprised if theyre inflating her popularity abroad as they are here in the states. idk

and so true! she’s known for her controversies and dating drama. even her music is known not for its success but ppl questioning the legitimacy of her grammys she’s received for her music.

also your gaylor hate—i understand. im not straight and i think gaylors were lobotomized by taylor swift’s music like genuinely these bitches have bricks for brains. there are soooooooo many better queer musicians especially musicians of color who write songs of their literal shared experience of queer love, identity, etc. but here they go theorizing that taylor seift and karlie kloss secretly dated 😭 it reminds me of this convo i had with my friend about gay people admiring/looking up to straight and cis people and labelling them as “gay icons.” its so stupid and reductive and continues to marginalize actual queer artists.

also talking abt taylor swift playlists i will never forget when i found spotify’s bad bunny x taylor swift playlist inspired by their photo from the 2023 grammys 💀 it was so dumb

“straight white girl soliloquy” PERIOD ANON! i need to start making a list of what you guys say cause its fkn fire

taylor swift embedded her relationships so deeply into her brand and music that its inseparable from herself. she really does define herself by her partners and her fans do too, which is why they expected this to be a joe alwyn album.

she really is so unoriginal and unremarkable and that’s why her thing WORKS. because to swifties she’s like “another everyday girl like you and me :)” 🙄 whatever. yuck!

#ask #anon #anti taylor swift #relationships #gaylors #taylor swift critical #anti swifties