#being like a 'i am bird' symbol to all people around him

[bones4thecats]

Can I request Nikola, Qin Shi Huang, Buddha and Leonidas with a s/o that's like Nyx?

How Past! Them Met Their Nyx! S/O

Type of Writing: Request Characters: Nikola Tesla, Qin Shi Huang, Buddha, and Leonidas Name: How Past! Them Met Their Nyx! S/O Requester: Anonymous

A/N: I only have four of Nyx’s kids mentioned (Aether, Hemera, Thanatos, and Hypnos), so just roll with it. By the way, the reader here is considered (in thought) to be a female, but it is left ambiguous so that you male and other readers feel accepted.

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I am downright in love with this man

🧪 When you first met Nikola Tesla, you were just relaxing at night, taking a stroll underneath your sky as your long dark cloak faded into stars at the ends flowed in the air

🧪 You had just spoke to your old friend Hades during a meeting in the Underworld about your second-youngest son’s, Thanatos’, efforts of bringing souls down to the Underworld for Hades to handle

🧪 At the moment, you just wanted some peace, and knowing that your two youngest were busy with work, one being on guard for dying souls and the other watching over many different people in order to help them sleep

🧪 Though, hearing the sound of soft feathered wings moving, you looked up and noticed a bright white pigeon flying around while carrying moonflowers, chrysanthemums, lotuses, and sunflowers in its beak. These all reminded you of the cute flower crowns that the youngest Valkyrie sister, Göll, would make you and your children

🧪 You smiled gently as the bird landed on your outstretched hand and dropped a moonflower into your palm before flying off

🧪 The bird began to fly farther from your gaze as you heard the patter of small feet coming from behind you, making you turn around expecting to see a young child, and a young child you saw

🧪 He looked no older than 4 years in humans, and you noticed that he nearly had fallen older, making you lean down and catch him so he wouldn't crash and hurt himself, it reminded you of helping Aether walk all those centuries ago

" I am so sorry, ma'am/sir! " " It's alright, young man. If I may ask, why are you in such a rush? " " Oh, my pigeon flew that direction carrying some flowers I grabbed for my mother. It's so hard to catch up to, troublesome bird. "

🧪 You chuckled at his expression, he really was quite the interesting mortal, now wasn't he? You could see great potential in his soul, making you look back to where you once stood where the dropped flower laid on the ground

🧪 Picking it up, you opened the boy's palm, dropping the flower once again, not onto the ground, but into the soft hand of the young boy

" I may not be able to retrieve the rest of your flowers, but, here is one that the creature left. I also have something that may help you out! "

🧪 Reaching into your pocket lacing your cape, you summoned some flowers from one vase in your home that you shared in Valhalla with your sibling, Gaia

" Here are some flowers freshly picked from my sister's garden, they, by what she tells me, symbolize things such as motherly love and whatnot. I hope your mother enjoys them. " " Thank you so much! What's your name, if I may ask? " " I am... (Y/N). What is your name, young man? " " Nikola Tesla! " " Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Nikola Tesla. " " Nikola! Where are you, lil' brother? "

🧪 Looking up in shock as the boy turned around, you stiffened, being discovered by a mortal child was nothing, but a possible adult was something truly bad. A child could pass it off like nothing, an adult could not

" I'm over here, Dane! " " Oh thank God. Who were you talking too? " " The lady/man- where did they go...? "

🧪 Nikola looked around for the sight of the person who gifted him the glorious flowers, only for his older brother to pick him up and begin bringing him home in a rush

🧪 As the elder boy ran home with his brother in arms, the younger's mind wandered, where did that nice woman/man go? And will he ever see them again?

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👑 Taking a nightly stroll was something the Emperor of China was familiar with, it was a time that he could have to himself, no guards right behind him and no duties clawing at his door for him to deal with

👑 Just himself and the night sky that he admired

👑 Meanwhile, a cloaked being was walking through the woods, passing through the trees with ease, as they had been on the same path multiple times throughout their limitless lifespan

👑 Due to being in an argument with the Head of the Gods, a headache was pounding through the head of the person as they rubbed their temples with their fingers

👑 As they traveled through the shady lands, they stumbled across a large temple, one they recognized as the very one the Emperor of China resided in

" What a sight, I never realized just how dazzling these building looked from such a high point. "

👑 The star-covered eyes of the mystery person burst with light as the sound of another's voice came from behind them, causing them to turn around, gripping a blade underneath their cloak

" Whoa there! There's no need for that. I apologize if I startled you, uhm, whoever you are. I just saw you walking alone and decided to go with you. " " It's- it's alright, I suppose. "

👑 A stern silence cracked between the two individuals, allowing the pitchy sound of a blade being laid back in a case to echo across their ear-shots

👑 Looking at the stars, Qin Shi Huang sighed deeply and back at the cloaked person who decided to stay alongside him, and he had to ask himself; did this person not know who he was? Could they be a traveler of some kind?

👑 A traveler of some kind you were...

👑 Qin looked down at your feet and noticed that your skin was dipping into a very pale looking shade as your cloak became very faded, as if it was turning into dust

" So... to make this far less awkward and save us a few moments of boring silence, may I ask what your name is, possible traveler? " " It is Y/N, and yours? " " Emperor Qin Shi Huang, but you may call me Qin Shi if you wish. " " Alright then, Qin Shi. "

👑 Qin Shi Huang sat down on the grassy plain, his masked face still looking up at the star-littered sky with such happiness obvious, despite his eyes being hidden

👑 You smiled gently and sat beside him, crossing your legs as you manipulated a star to sway across the sky in what humans seemingly began to call a 'shooting star'

" Ah, it seems that a shooting star has crossed the sky. What shall I wish for? I know! "

👑 Looking at the Emperor, you were shocked at how normal he seemed. Normally the high-ranking humans that you came across were tyrannical and fairly crude in their words and actions

" There! What did you wish for, Y/N-san? "

👑 When Qin looking back over at you, he was shocked to see that instead of you sitting there, a moonflower stood bravely, its petals pristine without any scuffs, as if it bloomed just second before

👑 Where in China had you gone?

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🍭 Ever since Buddha first became a God, many weren't fond of him, though most of the Deities littered across Valhalla have only heard about the God of Buddhism through word of mouth from the few Gods that had met him so far

🍭 You, the Deity of the Night in the Greek Pantheon, had only hear about the man through your children's words, mainly Aether and Hemera, who were by-far your most patient children

🍭 And even during present time, you loved to stare at the stars and remember the first time you met your soon-to-be husband

🍭 It was a lovely night in one of the many fields in Valhalla, and normally you would watch over your domain of the starry sky as Humanity was being dealt with by your youngest boys, Thanatos and Hypnos

🍭 You had dressed yourself in your long star-covered cloak, hiding yourself from any prying eyes, since many feared you just by hearing your name. Even the strongest of all Gods, Zeus, feared the mention of your name

🍭 Holding yourself high while hidden, you walked through the grassy plain, brushing past tree by tree as the wind pulled the cloth covering you back lightly

🍭 To describe it in a few words; you were in Paradise

🍭 As you walked carefully around many plant-life and sleeping creatures, Buddha was laying in his hammock, starring at the same sky you controlled, admiring the stars as they flickered delicately in the vast land known as space

🍭 Sucking on a lollipop from his stash hidden away, Buddha sighed and stretched his back, allowing it to pop as he caught onto the sound of grass being pushed down and let back up in the form of footsteps

🍭 Grabbing his Six Realms Staff, the God held it up for whoever was around to see as he let out an annoyed groan. After all, having your peaceful silence interrupted would be annoying

" Alright, whoever ya' are, come on out. I don't wanna waste anymore time than necessary. " " I apologize, Lord Buddha. I was just taking a walk around to admire the stars and must have awoken you. "

🍭 Cocking an eyebrow at the light-and-honey-coated voice, Buddha looked up and noticed your form walk up from behind the one tree holding up the front of his hammock and once he saw your face, his eyes widened

" Holy shit! You're Y/N, the Deity of the Night! I never thought I'd be seeing you walk around in Paradise so late at night. "

🍭 Chuckling lightly, you nodded as you pulled down your hood, allowing your hair that faded into the dust of space to run out freely, making Buddha laugh at your smile

" I knew you were powerful and all from the stories told, but they never said how dazzling you looked~ "

🍭 Rolling your eyes at his attempt of flustering you, you just looked up at the sky as Buddha stood up and planted himself right beside you to look at the stars and moon with you

🍭 It was nice sharing such a moment with a lovely person like you, maybe you guys could do it again some other time?

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🚬 As one of the classic Greek Gods, you were held at a fairly high standard once your myth became the talk of the land

🚬 But, ever since Zeus and the rest of the Olympians came along and destroyed your whole time with your siblings and rest of your allies, you became more of a side-god when it came to standards of worshiping

🚬 Leonidas wasn't fond of the Gods ever since his demise, blaming the demise of him and his 300 (though really 299) soldiers on the Greek God Apollo, whom your oldest children, Aether and Hemera, served alongside

🚬 You, on the other hand, had no-one to place a blame onto, though you weren't fond when someone were to try offending Apollo, as you had treated the male like a son since he was a young God making his way in the Pantheon

🚬 Holding his title far from the grasp of the Gods, Leonidas despised being told what to do, so, when your second youngest, Thanatos, began to hold himself to a standard against Leonidas, you were called in by Hypnos to help out

🚬 Watching as parts of the sky began to fall down and form a humanoid shape was something far new to Leonidas, and because of that he stepped back and readied his weapon to protect himself in case something happened

" There is no need for that King Leonidas I, I am merely here to retrieve my pain in the ass son. " " Pain in the ass? But Mom/Dad, he- " " Enough! I will listen to your side of the story when you take a break in the next few millennia, Thanatos. "

🚬 The King of Sparta watched as you grabbed Thanatos' ear and tugged on it like a parent would when scolding a child for doing something badly, like hitting a kid for example

🚬 Watching a Deity of your stature just treat your son like a human parent would made Leonidas' guard come down slightly, sensing you weren't going to attack him out of nowhere, you had a sense of understanding radiating off you

" Hypnos, please bring your brother back home and also let Aether and Hemera know that he is grounded for the next few months. No using his scythe during that time, only his old training stick. " " What?! "

🚬 Sighing as Hypnos dragged his brother through a portal he summoned, you turned to look back at the human and you smiled nervously, holding your hands out in defense

" I apologize for my son's actions, he sometimes gets in his own head and begins to believe himself to be more powerful than he really is. I think he's spending to much time with the Olympian Brothers... " " It's... alright, I suppose. "

🚬 Smiling gently, you held your hand out for the mortal to shake, making his raise his eyebrows slightly, he was surprised that a Deity of your ranking would actually try touching a human

🚬 Allowing his weapon to lean back up against the building's wall, Leonidas shook your hand, making you mentally sigh, thanking your creators for allowing him to forgive you and shake your hand as a sign of that forgiveness, since every other human just tried disrespecting you for your parenting skills

🚬 Letting go of his hand, you pulled your cloak's hood down and allowed your markings of stars and the moon to shimmer out against the sunlight, making Leonidas mentally swoon; you were quite the looker, how could Zeus fear you and not admire you?

" I hope I see you once again, King Leonidas I of Sparta. " " Just call me Leonidas. And I agree, I hope we meet once again. "

#Record of Ragnarok #RoR #Shuumatsu no Valkyrie #SnV #RoR Dharmic/Buddhism Pantheon #Record of Ragnarok Gods #RoR Gods #Record of Ragnarok Humans #RoR Humans #Record of Ragnarok x Reader #RoR x Reader #Shuumatsu no Valkyrie x Reader #SnV x Reader #RoR Dharmic/Buddhism Pantheon x Reader #Record of Ragnarok Gods x Reader #RoR Gods x Reader #Record of Ragnarok Humans x Reader #RoR Humans x Reader #S/O! Reader #GN! Reader #God! Reader #RoR Nikola Tesla #RoR Nikola Tesla x Reader #RoR Qin Shi Huang #RoR Qin Shi Huang x Reader #RoR Buddha #RoR Buddha x Reader #RoR Leonidas #RoR Leonidas x Reader

[angi-writes-filth]

An art student's ramble about Lobo from Puss In Boots

As y'all know I'm a visual artist so ofc I'm aware that a HUGE part of creating visual content is intentional. Like, chances are if you see something being made a certain way, there was thought behind it. There are references being made and/or this was done with a specific intent in mind.

So ofc the moment I saw THIS

I was like.... why?

Why why why?? Why the pose? Why is it so symmetric? Why the balance in all the scenes and his figure and design WHY??

(rambles about visuals, possibly grotesque imagery and talks about death, various gods, and tons of pictures BEWARE)

Then I realized HOW MANY REFERENCES to other Gods/omens of death The Wolf has??? Like:

Death. Straight up.

(I don't think I need to explain myself for this one...)

Kinda cool how they decided to include a more "scythe-looking weapon" at the end, only when Lobo decides to get serious. Kinda like he's becoming more "Grim Reaper-y" when he stops playing around. More on DW's choice of weapons for our edgy furry friend later honhonhon.

Big Bad Wolf

The universal, historical omen of death. Present in many stories like Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs to name a few. Always the ultimate symbol of evil (fun fact: Most old bedtime stories we know today are passed from generation to generation; by the time these were created and put to use, it's most likely they were either made to warn children not to wander off into the woods for fear of being eaten predators, or for the risk of running into criminals shunned out of society and who normally retreated into the forests since they had no other place to live and couldn't leave the fiefs.)

Wolves are also predators that chase their preys, and exhaust them before going in for the kill. Much how like he does during the movie.

Also, it's possible Lobo isn't even the true form of Death in this universe. It may very well be the form he adapted to scare off Puss in particular; because canine v.s. kitties amirite?

(this could also be a huge stretch but the dark patch of fur on his face reminds some people of a bird, which could be interpreted as a crow. i personally think it's just a design element to attract more attention to the face/make his eyes stand out more but i included it cuz why not).

El Silbón/El Silbador

"El Silbón" (The Whistler; also known as "El Silbador" in Colombia) is a legend from Venezuelan origin of a young man condemned to carry the bones of his father, whom he himself killed.

It is said if his whistle is to be heard, the more far away it is, the closer you are to your death.

Could also explain why the hell the Wolf is Latino LMAO. (Hearing him talk full sentences in Spanish scared me to Death haha get it? d-death)

Charon's Obol

The bribe for Charon, the ferryman who carried the soul through the river that divides life and death.

Osiris

This was one of the things I found interesting the most lmao. Like, I knew that pose reminded me of something...

I've read many people attribute this to Anubis, but from my research, it's actually not. This pose was used in sarcophagus by Pharaohs to resemble the God of the Underworld and Judge of the Dead, Osiris. What Osiris holds to his chest are a crook and flail.

Wikipedia offers the following explanation:

Traditionally crossed over the chest when held, they probably represented the ruler as a shepherd whose beneficence is formidably tempered with might. In the interpretation of Toby Wilkinson, the flail used to goad livestock, was a symbol of the ruler's coercive power: as shepherd of his flock, the ruler encouraged his subjects as well as restrained them.

AND NOW WHAT I ACTUALLY WANTED TO TALK ABOUT!!!

Lobo's Symmetry

Okay this is a purely personal take, but am I the only one who found it incredibly interesting how balanced and symmetric his design is?

A rule of thumb when designing interesting-looking characters is to say fuck you to symmetry and balance. It usually works for a much more exciting silhouette and generates more visual interest. However, in Wolf's case, they made a ton of effort to make him look extremely symmetric.

His face doesn't have any distinct marks that separate one side from the other.

His cloak is a triangular shape that converges somewhat in the middle (the only element that breaks the overall perfect sillhouette).

And they went out of their way to divide the Grim Reaper's signature scythe into two: Which he usually holds to his sides, almost at the same height. Like, why would they? Why bother to do all that?

WELL WHY DON'T WE ASK OUR KINGS OF SIMMETRY THEMSELVES, HUH?

T h e E g y p t i a n s (insert papyrus font here)

Symmetry is usually seen as the ultimate form of perfection. It is unachievable by most human standards, so it is notably known for causing feelings of detachment to a figure, even if it is recognizably human.

If you had a person who was entirely, perfectly symmetrical on both sides of their face, changes are, the uncanny valley effect would be triggered. Try grabbing a picture of a person's face, flip one of its sides and connect it with the other....... Looks weird, right?

The uncanny valley effect is normally used to depict images of deities and the like, because it usually instills the most literal form of 'fear of God'. Something that is so perfect that, by its presence alone, it makes you feel awkward.

The same principle is used by architects in churches even today: The more other-wordly, detached but still recognizably human you get, the more a person is made to feel powerless and awkward. Thusly, easier to control.

In summary, Wolf's design is made to look as symmetric and balanced as possible because he's supposed to feel other-worldly, even before we find out who he is. He's supposed to resemble something unachievable by human standards because he's not human. He's supposed to look out of place because he's Death. Straight up.

Every aspect of Lobo's design is sooo carefully thought out I just LOVE IT. Like have you noticed how his eyes stop giving off light during the scene we find out he's actually DEATH???

I JUST-- I LOVE THE WORK DREAMWORKS PUT IN THIS CHARACTER. I LOVE HOW HE'S JUST SIX MINUTES INTO A 1 HOUR 40 MINUTES MOVIE AND HE SOMEHOW STILL STOLE THE SHOW. I LOVE HOW YOU SPEND EVERY MINUTE GLUED TO THE SCREEN, ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED OF WHEN YOU'LL HEAR THAT STUPID WHISTLE NEXT.

Edit: I don't understand why, but Tumblr is fucking with the formatting and I've been trying to fix it, but I can't. It's genuinely upsetting me lmao but yeah. I promise it looks better when it's in my drafts but the moment I save it, it justttttt does whatever it wants. I'm so sorry! Edit: I THINK I FIXED IT GUYS say THANK YOU to fumbling with HTML, fucking everything right up to the point where the post itself doesn't know what to do and gives up with my ass like "OKAY OKAY I'LL FIX THIS MYSELF GOD"

#I'm not a furry BUT #That's the worst sentence I've ever written in my life but HEAR ME OUT OKAY #I'm not a furry but I'd LOVE to rub Lobo's belly #HE LOOKS LIKE A DOGGYYYYYY!! #He triggers my monkey brain who sees a fluffy canine-like creature and thinks OHHHH WHO'S A GOOD BOOOOYYY //intense belly rubs #Makes me wanna scratch behind his ears when they flop around after he removes his hood HE LOOKS SO CUTEEEE #When he's not like....... Looking into my soul through the screen that is #dreamworks #dreamworks animation #puss in boots #puss in boots 2 #puss in boots the last wish #puss in boots death #puss in boots wolf #puss in boots lobo #angi rambles filth #No one's gonna read this shit I already know #But I needed to get all this out of my system #And I don't wanna spam my friend Lunxi's DMs even though it's HER HUSBAND I'm gushing about #DEADLYROCKET SHIPPER HASTA LA MUERTE ÑAÑAAÑÑAÑA

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

It’s gone midnight and I’m thinking about Six of Crows so y’all know what that means: it’s time for a long rambling thought process that will hopefully have some interesting insights into the books in it.

I want to talk about the animal, mostly bird, symbolism of these books because although it’s obviously something we’re very aware of I also think it’s something that runs a lot deeper than we necessarily always realise/talk about. Even when people aren’t being directly involved in bird metaphors (crows, pigeons, peacocks) they are often described as “squawking”, “flapping”, or with other phrases that further this semantic field.

Now the crows is obviously the main source of the symbolism, and it’s openly talked about in the book with the speech on how the recognise human faces and how they support each other. I’ve also seen a few people online talking about the Crows in conjunction with a poem/nursery rhyme about crows (it’s one of those that has many different versions spun of it, some know it was counting magpies rather than crows) wherein 6 crows symbolises gold, of course greatly linked to the plot of the novels as well as their anti-extreme capitalism message. It’s also key to mention that crows are massively underestimated birds in the general public view; they’re far ‘smarter’ animals than we would typically expect. Crows have a very high brain to body mass ratio, I believe the highest of any birds but don’t quote me on that, and although we understand very little about the brain the size ratio is currently considered a very good indicator for the general intelligence level of the animal. Crows can make tools, hide their food, mate for life, and - VERY interestingly for this book analysis - have even been suspected to hold funerals. Now I want to be clear I’m working on a mix of random knowledge and the first helpful looking website that came up when I googled ‘fun facts about crows’ so I am by no means an expert here, but to my understanding the practice that was initially considered to be a ‘crow funeral’ is actually a process wherein crows will gather around a dead crow to look for potential danger. So I feel like the links I’m establishing here are relatively obvious, the point is that, like the birds themselves, the Crows are undervalued, underestimated, and unexpectedly successful. But the symbol of the crow in these books arguably goes even further.

The crow-headed handle of Kaz’s cane represents everything about the crow I’ve already mentioned on top of his own symbolic layering to the cane as a sign that no part of him has not been broken, and no part him is not better for having been broken. So in Chapter 27 of Crooked Kingdom, when Kaz returns to the Slat and fights the Dregs before leading a coup against Per Haskell, the cane with the fake crow’s head that Haskell has contrived to mock him effectively represents the failing of everything the Dregs represent. They’re last, the remnants, the people with nowhere else to go: they are the people who have been broken and have made something new for themselves. Except Haskell. So the sheer ridiculousness of him mocking Kaz’s cane, something he clearly thought would win him favour and success, in the end becomes one of the biggest aspects of his downfall. Inej describes the moment when the Dregs begin to support Kaz, the way the look at Per Haskell with discomfort - “the feathers in his hat, the canes in his hands” (and then she goes on to highlight how they’ve seen Kaz use his cane in fights, “wielded with such precision”, whereas Haskell is washed-up, pathetic, never could have taken the fight Kaz did and walked out the other side). Of course they realise, then, how completely and utterly wrong all of this was. Because when they’re confronted with both of those canes they realise something. They know what Kaz’s cane represents; it’s power and strength in spite of a world that has that has scorned him, it’s taking something that was broken and not fixing it but emphasising it and making it into a threat, into a symbol, into a strength. They know that, even though they don’t know what happens in Kaz’s head, because they see themselves in that. The Dregs; the literal bottom of the Barrel, who have been broken and who have clawed their way to survival. They cannot see themselves in Haskell’s mockery cane. Haskell is not a man who reflects what the Dregs are at their core, but Kaz is. The emphasis on the feathers is also really interesting, because I think it’s implying a sort of gaudy, colourful feathering that (despite fitting in with the style of the Barrel) does not represent the symbol of the crow; it is not something shadowed, something half hidden that could have an unexpected bite. It’s almost more akin to Heleen’s gaudy peacock feathers than it is to anything the Dregs understand, or represent through being Crows.

The pigeons I don’t really see anyone talking about, but I think it’s pretty interesting. The idea of ‘the pigeon’ is the same as ‘the mark’; they’re the victim, the fool who’s easy to swindle. I think the imagery of the fools being pigeons, ie being everywhere and massively populating big cities, is really clever to show a divide between the few, the Crows, and the many, the pigeons. However, it’s not only the Crows who remark on others being ‘pigeons’, but other gangs as well. When Kaz confronts Pekka about the scam he ran on him and Jordie, he says “you were just two pigeons, and I happened to be the one who plucked you”. I’m not gonna lie to you guys I’m losing my point slightly, but I just googled ‘crows and pigeons’ and the first thing that came up was about how crows sometimes eat pigeons so I reckon that’s pretty relevant.

Ok I’m really tired and I feel like I’m clutching at straws here, so I dunno I guess if this does well then I’ll cover peacocks, lions, and the general semantic field of birds in another post. I hope at least some of this made sense, thanks for reading it if you bothered to get this far

#grishaverse #leigh bardugo #six of crows #crooked kingdom #inej ghafa #nina zenik #kaz brekker #jesper fahey #matthias helvar #wylan van eck #kanej #wesper #helnik #crows #soc #fantasy analysis #fantasy books #book analysis

[talonabraxas]

Sanat Kumara (Hindu; Vedic; New Age) Also known as Karttikeya, Sumara, Skanda-Karttikeya.

Kumara is a warrior god, devoted to ridding people and the earth of negative entities and lower energies.

Legends abound explaining Kumara's creation, with the common thread being his relationship to the number six—perhaps because of his talents in banishing negative spirits. One tale recounts that Heaven was plagued with demons, so Shiva used his third-eye flame to beget six children who would specialize in slaying demons. However, their mother hugged the six children with such enthusiastic love that she squeezed their bodies into one child with six heads.

Hindus revere Kumara as a leader among gods who banishes darkness in the minds of men and spirits. His demon-slaying activities are thought to be metaphorical, symbolizing Kumara's slaying of ignorance.

In New Age circles, he's hailed as a member of the Great White Brotherhood, working alongside Jesus and Archangel Michael to help the planet and her population with the ascension process.

Sanat Kumara says, "Power is my focus—power for one and for all . . . redelivering personal power to people everywhere, direct from the Great Source of All. Through my realization of the Great Allness, I am able to tap in to its plentitude and draw up from the power supply and distribute it to everyone. By illuminating the masses with this personal power, there's an infusion of justice and grace in the world, for no one can usurp your personal boundaries when you know that your supply of power is unlimited and completely unfettered. Lean on this knowledge, and never be afraid to exercise your rights in all situations that call upon you to be strong."

INVOCATION

Kumara is a powerful spirit who has a primal, indigenous feel to him, like an intense witch doctor. When you call upon him, Kumara responds at lightning speed and with lovingly powerful energy. If you're fatigued, call upon him for help:

"Sanat Kumara, please bring me your powerful energy to uplift my spirit and vitality. Please help me rise above negative thoughts and emotions, like a bird above dark clouds. I ask your assistance in tapping me in to the true and eternal Source of all energy. Please clear away lower spirits and energies from within and around me, and infuse me with Divine healing light."

Then breathe deeply while Kumara does his work. In a few moments, you should feel revived and refreshed.

[thecinematicalgorithm]

Can't Catch Me Now: Lucy Gray and Katniss Story-Tie Analysis

I have not been on Tumblr much over the past couple of years but with the coming film The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes on its way I knew I'd be dusting this old page off. The Hunger Games series is one of my all-time favorite book series and the films are some of my favorite book-to-film adaptations, so to say I am pumped for this upcoming movie is an understatement. And to top it all, I have been obsessing over Olivia Rodrigo's new song Can't Catch Me Now, which if you've read the prequel, you'll know that it perfectly ties Lucy Gray's story to Katniss' journey. As always I want to warn anyone who might read this that spoilers for the upcoming film and Suzanne Collins' novel lie ahead. Also fair warning, this is super long cause I don't know how to be concise.

In preparation for the prequel film I have re-read TBOSAS and I am currently re-reading the original THG series (I am currently on Catching Fire, if anyone cares to know lol). I am also planning on a movie marathon the week of the prequel release, which I fully intend on subjecting my boyfriend to as he recently admitted he has only ever seen the first (and I simply cannot let him continue living life with no clue on how wonderful Peeta Mellark is). With that said, I have had a few thoughts, which I wanted to share before the release knowing that I will certainly have more thoughts after I have seen the film.

Honestly, I am going to be ridiculously obsessed for the next several weeks. I also know I wrote a couple of analyses on the differences between Snow and Katniss and the early games vs. the later games, which I will re-post so people can read them if they haven't before.

Enough chit-chat though let's get to it.

The parallels between Katniss and Lucy Gray are quite extensive and beautiful despite the characters being in many ways polar opposites. There is the saying that "Lucy Gray Baird is a performer made to hunt while Katniss is a hunter made to perform". This is a great summary of their overall character profile, and while I may at some point do a breakdown of Lucy Gray vs Katniss, I first want to write about how Lucy Gray and Katniss' story are far more connected than some might have realized. Part of the realization for me actually came while listening to Olivia's new song.

The chorus of the song reads as:

But I'm in the trees, I'm in the breeze

My footsteps on the ground

You'll see my face in every place

But you can't catch me now

Through wading grass, the months will pass

You'll feel it all around

I'm here, I'm there, I'm everywhere

But you can't catch me now

No, you can't catch me now

In terms of Katniss, I think it's been obvious for sometime that Snow particularly despises Katniss because she is a strong reminder of Lucy Gray Baird. She is a girl from District 12. She stood out during her Reaping, and swept the Captiol off their feet during her time in his city. She not only sang in the arena, but she sang a young girl "to sleep" with the very song Lucy Gray sang Maude Ivory to sleep. She used the Captiol's berries to save herself and Peeta, just as Lucy Gray used the Captiol's snakes to save herself. She wears a Mockingjay pin, the very bird which Snow undoubtedly relates to Lucy Gray and rebellion (far before it truly became the symbol of rebellion).

Katniss may not be like Lucy Gray in personality, but to Snow, Lucy Gray's spirit must seem very much alive in Katniss, and just as he tried desperately to rid the forests surrounding District 12 of mockingjays, this is one Mockingjay he wants to destroy.

The second verse of the song goes:

Bet you thought I'd never do it

Thought it'd go over my head

I bet you figured I'd pass with the winter

Be something easy to forget

Oh, you think I'm gone 'cause I left

This verse summarizes Snow's mindset at the end of TBOSAS, as we know he thinks he is safe from the threat of Lucy Gray. Her games have been erased, as time passes "there will be a vague memory that a girl sang in the arena" and even that too shall pass. However, where he goes wrong is when he fails to understand the deep connection and love the other Covey share for Lucy Gray. Despite not seeing how the story ends for them, or even having a solid explanation of Lucy Gray's ending, we at least know that Lucy Gray and her songs were not wiped from existance. Whether they believed, as he supposed, that the mayor was responsible for Lucy Gray's disappearance does not erase their connection to her.

Snow may have chosen never to allow love to control him again, but he did not erase the love those children had for Lucy Gray. Her music became all they had left of her so you can bet they continued singing them and sharing them, even if they had to do it on the down low. (I also share the common fan theory that Maude Ivory is the grandmother to Katniss Everdeen, and I'm hoping the film confirms this). Either way, Katniss clearly learned those songs from somewhere, which for Snow would have been a siren's call from the great beyond that Lucy Gray did not pass with the winter and she was not as forgotten as he had hoped.

Then we go into the bridge of the song where Olivia sings:

You, you can't, you can't catch me now

I'm coming like a storm into your town

You can't, you can't catch me now

I'm higher than the hopes that you brought down (repeats)

This is my favorite part of the song. Not only is it moving and emotional but it ties so much of Lucy's story to Katniss'. Both girls were like storms in the Capitol, sweeping the people and the nation into their stories so they could not help but be invested. Both were near impossible to control, despite Snow's best efforts, and both had a spirit of hope greater than Snow's ability to crush the highest of hopes. There's also something deeper, which intended by Olivia or not, makes this song perfect for the series. The lines "I'm coming like a storm into your town" and "I'm higher than the hopes that you brought down" is sung from the point of view of Lucy Gray. Both bring to mind images of the rebellion in THG: Mockingjay. The rebels stormed into the Capitol and their hope was higher than the hopes and lives which Snow had already destroyed in an effort to quell the rebellion.

However, just like Katniss becoming the Mockingjay, or the symbol of the rebellion, Lucy Gray had become her music. She was the anthem of the rebellion. If Katniss inspired hope, Lucy Gray was that hope. The hope of freedom. Dead or not Lucy Gray was finally free and her song reflects that truth and the rebels clung to it. Dead or alive they would be free.

Furthermore, Lucy Gray's song not only led to the freedom of Panem, but it also led to the freedom of Peeta's mind from the lies and brainwashing inflicted on him in the Capitol. Remember, Katniss always associated Peeta with hope until Snow brainwashed him. And if you'll recall, Peeta's first true breakthrough in regaining his memory of Katniss and his love for her was when he heard her rendition of "The Hanging Tree". Lucy Gray not only stormed into the Capitol but she stormed into Peeta's muddled memory, and her music was higher than the hope Snow had brought down. Lucy Gray's song led Peeta and Panem into freedom, and it helped to restore Peeta as the hope and love of Katniss' life.

Lastly, the ending of the song greatly foreshadows Katniss' journey:

There's blood on the side of the mountain

It's turning a new shade of red

Yeah, sometimes the fire you founded

Don't burn the way you'd expect

Yeah, you thought that this was the end

Of course, we all know the end is far from over for Snow. As Lucy Gray told him once, "The Capitol show isn't over until the mockingjay sings". Katniss' story ends with her singing Lucy Gray's lullaby to her children. Katniss was the fire founded by Snow, and despite his best efforts, it didn't burn out or even burn the way he expected it to. The line "the fire you founded" is also perfect to describe Snow and Katniss' dynamic because in many ways Katniss was only a threat because Snow threatened her. It's the same dynamic as Harry and Voldemort's. If Voldemort had left Harry and his family well alone, Harry never would have been the perfect enemy to thwart him. In the same way, if Snow had left Katniss and her friends and family well alone, she may never have come for him the way she did or joined the rebellion.

Interestingly enough, if Prim's name had never been called not only would the rebellion most likely have been avoided, but Lucy Gray's music may very well have been truly forgotten. Assuming Katniss is the only one left who actually remembers the songs, we know from reading the books that Katniss does not like or want to sing simply because they are painful reminders of her father. If Prim had never been threatened and Katniss had never been a contender in the games she would have been subjected to a life of mining and may have let the songs fade from memory as she lived out her miserable slave life in District 12.

But as we know that's not what happens, and instead the memory of Lucy Gray and her music is forced from Snow as Katniss is forced onto this journey proving the memory of Lucy Gray is very much still alive except this time Snow can't catch her now.

Thank you for reading if you made it this far! Please share your thoughts if you'd like!

#the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the hunger games #suzanne collins #lucy gray baird #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark #coriolanus snow #maude ivory #mockingjay #olivia rodrigo #tbosas spoilers #tbosas

[immortalmint]

How many people on the Boiling Isles are related to Caleb? And are Dell and/or Gwendolyn related?

In The Owl House, there is strong evidence the Clawthornes are related to Caleb Wittebane and Evelyn (Clawthorne?). Many fans point to a connection through Gwendolyn, via the ‘lyn family suffix shared by Gwendolyn, Edalyn, and Evelyn. There is also Gwendolyn’s family knowledge of a human previously living in Bonesborough:

“My great-grandmother told me about a human who once lived here. But one day he just vanished. Rumor has it he left something in the library, and if you can find out more about him...”

A Gwendolyn connection is very plausible. We’ll get into family resemblances later.

But a connection through Dell has merit as well, given his palisman’s striking resemblance to Flapjack. We’ll call our yellow cardinal Biscuit for now. (Biscuits were ship rations in the late 1500s onward, and absolutely have been eaten for breakfast. They work in any meal. Every meal. Caleb was poor and hungry, okay?)

The visual clues we get are intermingled between Dell, Caleb, Biscuit, and Flapjack. When Dell is first injured by the Owl Beast, the red blood over his closed eye makes the same shape as Flapjack’s scar. Both Dell and Flapjack are wounded in the same eye, their left. These wounds share symbolic similarities, as they were both from family members: Dell’s injury was caused unintentionally by Eda when she was startled and turned into in Owl Beast form, and Flapjack’s injury likely occurred during Philip’s failed attempt to murder his sister-in-law Evelyn and Philip’s (also unintentional?) murder of his brother Caleb.

(As for physical appearance, note the similar nose shape between middle-aged Dell and teenage Hunter in the screenshots below.)

Looking at older Dell, the scar’s color and shape greatly resembles Flapjack’s head. Both Flapjack and Biscuit have two-peaks of feathers crowning their heads, similar shaped face and chest feather patterns, bicolor wings of light and dark from their respective color pallets, and identically shaped feet. These birds were clearly a matched set, Biscuit likely being carved by Caleb to complement Evelyn’s Flapjack. Sometime after Evelyn’s death, Flapjack presumably left for the Bat Queen, and Biscuit stayed on with the family (I strongly believe Biscuit was Caleb’s palisman, and bonded with his young daughter to relay the love of the father she was deprived of). Biscuit continues to stay with the family to this day, adopting a young witch every 3 to 4 generations. She now belongs with Dell.

It’s also telling that all the Clawthorne family palismen are birds.

If you’re wondering why Biscuit is a she, check out the Northern Cardinal, which is quite common in Connecticut. I took pictures from this lovely bird website: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/id

Male Northern Cardinals are red, and females are supposedly “brown,” but if you told me that bird looked yellow, I’d agree with you.

What about family appearance? We’ve compared Dell to Caleb/Hunter. So let’s take a look at Evelyn. We’ve got a lot less to go on here. Just a few memory photos from Philip’s mindscape. But from what we can see, Evelyn has impressively full hair very similar to Gwendolyn and Eda. The washed out colors of the photo make it difficult to determine an exact hair color, but brown to reddish-brown seems plausible.

Looking at the Clawthornes, we see various shades of brown, red, and orange (yeah… I know they’re still called redheads, but that’s because the word ‘orange’ wasn’t in the language when redheads first showed up.) These are all plausible hair colors for the descendants of Caleb and Evelyn.

Am I saying that both Gwendolyn and Dell are related to Caleb and Evelyn?

Yes!

Yes, I am.

‘But isn’t that gross?’ you may wonder.

Eh, not really. They’re around 13 generations away from their shared common ancestor, Caleb and Evelyn’s daughter. We’ll call her Caylyn for convenience. With each generation, the percentage of DNA from a relative goes down by half. Example: You share 50% of your DNA with your mom, but only 25% of your DNA with your grandpa. The calculation is 1/(2^generation) x 100%, where that little ^ character means “to the power of.” So by the time we get to Dell and Gwendolyn, each would only have 1/(2^13) x 100% = 0.012% shared DNA. That’s very low risk for hereditary birth defects. You probably don’t have your own family tree documented well enough to avoid hooking up with your 13th cousin.

‘But what are the odds of two Caylyn relatives hooking up?’

After 13+ generations on an island? It’s more likely than you think!

Now that you’ve been lured in with screenshots and pretty birds, it’s time to get to my favorite part: MATH!

I mean, EVEN MORE MATH!

And dates. Yeah. They’re important too.

From Masha’s account, in 1613, the orphans Philip and Caleb Wittebane arrive in Gravesfield. Based on how small the boys are compared to a butter churner meant for adults, it’s safe to assume Caleb is 10 or younger. Philip is likely 7 or younger.

Now fast-forward to Evelyn’s pregnancy. Philip has a full beard in this photo, which means he’s at least 18, more likely in his early-to-mid 20s (most white males can’t grow a full beard until their 20s). That would put the date sometime between 1625 and 1630 for Caylyn’s birth.

To simplify our generational model, we’re going to assume that Caylyn was born in 1625 and that she and her descendants had 2 surviving children each when they were approximately 25 years old. That means in 1650, Caylyn had 2 children, and Evelyn became a grandmother.

If you’re wondering about my assumptions, the birthrate didn’t fall below 2 children in the USA until the 1970s. And before 1800, the birthrate was over 7 children! But when we look back at the 1600s-1800s, 40-50% of children died before adulthood, leaving only 3.5-4 children surviving to have kids of their own. I went with the assumption of 2 children per generation to account for additional factors such as people deciding not to have kids or cultural differences in family sizes that may have existed in the Boiling Isles. In all likelihood, Caleb’s descendants had a higher birthrate than 2. But we’ll stick with 2 to be conservative, and to make the math easy to see the effects of doubling!

Let’s finish the century out with 4 great-grandchildren (2 x 2, or 2^2) in 1675 and 8 great-great-grandchildren (2 x 2 x 2, or 2^3) by 1700. We get another 4 generations of descendants every century after this. So, by 1800, we have 128 (2^7). By 1900, we have 2,048 (2^11). And by the year 2000, we have 32,768 (2^15) new babies born related to a human! That’s a lot of people! And if we add together the most recent 3 generations, there’s even more living relations to Caleb on the Isles. At least 57,344 people!

Dell and Gwendolyn are 13 generations away from Caylyn, with birthdays approximately in 1950. I get this date based on Eda being in her mid to late 40s at the start of The Owl House (2020) according to Dana Terrance (so Eda’s birthday is ~1975). Her parents would be ~25 years older than her. So, when Dell and Gwendolyn meet, our number is around 8,192 (2^13) descendants of Caleb in their generation. And in all likelihood, Caleb’s descendants are more concentrated on the forearm where Evelyn originally lived. This makes it extremely likely that at least some of Caleb’s descendants marry each other.

How likely? First we need to know the approximate population of the Boiling Isles in the 1950s. Dana Terrance said the BI is roughly the size of Vermont in this interview. And in 1950, Vermont had a population of 377,700. We’ll use this as our rough population number for the 1950s BI. For the group born in 1950 (8,192 of which are descendants of Caleb), they make up 2.17% of the total population. But if we think about the number of people in that generation who would marry someone of similar age, we’re looking at the 20-30 year-old bracket, which is about 10% of the total population, or 37,770 people. And 8,192 is 21.7% of the people in Dell and Gwendolyn’s generation (gen 13). It isn’t a question of if two Caleb descendants got married, it’s a question of how many marriages!

(If you’re curious: [chance of person 1 being a Caleb descendant] x [chance of person 2 being a descendant] x [half of gen 13 population], because we’re looking at pairs of people, not individuals. So 21.7% of 21.7% = 4.7% of marriages in gen 13, times half the gen 13 population (18,885) is 887 marriages!)

Dell and Gwendolyn both being descendants of Caleb isn’t even that rare! The Clawthornes are one of multiple families where both sides of the family can claim human ancestry. It’s amazing how far one person’s genetics can spread in 400 years of breeding!

Alright, let’s get back to the main question: How many people on the Boiling Isles are related to Caleb?

By the Day of Unity (2022), we’re close enough to generation 16 (2025), which is 65,536 (2^16) babies, that we can look at a range between 2020 and 2025. In 2020, the 3 generations alive are 8,192 (2^13), 16,384 (2^14), and 32,768 (2^15), or 57,344 total living descendants. In 2025, the 3 generations alive are 16,384 (2^14), 32,768 (2^15), and 65,536 (2^16), or 114,688 total living descendants. In 2022, Vermont had a total population of 647,064 people, and we’re assuming the Boiling Isles population grew similarly. So we have between 8.9% and 17.8% of the BI population related to Caleb on the Day of Unity.

Belos wasn’t only attempting genocide against witches. Philip Wittebane was trying to kill thousands of his own relatives.

Food for thought.

#the owl house #evelyn clawthorne #caleb wittebane #philip wittebane #dell clawthorne #gwendolyn clawthorne #toh flapjack #dell's palisman #emperor belos #toh analysis #toh math

[yumdimsums]

Let’s talk about KAZUI‼️‼️‼️

CW: S//cide

Yes something that’s NOT Adachi

Recently, his new trial video came out, called “Cat” and it’s honestly such a banger. Here is the link to the video, highly recommend to watch first before reading!

This is my theory and brain dump at 1 AM and my first ever big theory! There will most likely be disjointed and have grammar mistakes, but I hope it makes sense. If there are detrimental mistakes, please lmk, i want to make sure it’s not full of crap‼️

NOTES: I am not going to provide “Guilty or not guilty” here, you do you, I’m not interested in swaying opinions.

I will be fully assuming that the “Kazui is gay” theory to be true. I am not going to explain it myself because many people have already done that. Obviously, gay Kazui is not the only true, gospel answer to his character, there are multiple different interpretations that are all valid and I would be very interested in hearing different theories as well🤝.

I will also be using the tumblr post below for Voice Drama TL, thank you so much for the translation🙏

Outline

Ordered from “Yeah I have some good ideas” to “I’m not sure”

1. Background/Setting

2. Marriage, Cats, and Doves

3. Magic, Masquerade, & Drinking

4. The Bartender

5. Apples

6. Extra Details

(Crazy/Stretch theories will be in Italics)

Background/Setting

To understand Kazui’s story a little better, I would like to quickly go over when this is taking place.

Here we see the wife with a flip phone. This means that Kazui’s marriage was most likely around the late 90’s to early 2000’s. During that time, I believe that LGTBQ+ people were not as widely accepted and that there were still toxic gender stereotypes and expectations (I’m not 100% though hmu if I’m wrong 🙏). Kazui also stated that his parents find him embarrassing. It could be that they blame him for the wife’s death, but also because he is gay. If his parents come from an older generation, it’s no wonder that they find him embarrassing because they’re ignorant and terrible.

Marriage, Cats, and Doves

As everyone has discussed when this first came out, “Cat” shows a lot of different themes through cats, doves, magic, marriage, and apples. This section will go over the first three aspects.

Many have stated before that the dove represent his ring as, at the start, he turns his ring into the dove. Obviously, doves are well known for their symbolism of love, hope, and peace. While the dove is supposed to represent their marriage, I also think it ties with his wife, seeing how she seems to hope that their love will bring them happiness. Adding onto this, it also explains why he watched and invited the dove to fly onto his arm. He was “playing” or leading the dove to him. Then it cuts to his eye, blankly staring at the pristine white of the bird. Note that this eye is the same as the one at the end of the MV. It can be assumed that it represents how, at the beginning, he could suppress his true emotions and playing along, but at the end, he becomes feral and mutilates the bird. (Image below shows how different they take the marriage, he’s uncomfortable while she’s beaming with joy).

On the other hand, cats symbolize independence, intelligence, and cunning, something that Kazui shows throughout the MV through his intricate lies. I think he also has the “mannerisms” of a cat.

Here he says he “wanted to be touched”, showing his yearning to be in a comfortable, safe relationship with a man. However, due to gay relationships not being accepted back then, he is unable to experience this and becomes increasingly lonely. It’s similar to how cats are reclusive and tend to stay away until someone or something has something that interests them. (I’m not a cat expert so I might be wrong). While the previous lyrics do say “I just wanted to touch, to caress”, implying he wanted his wife, I think this is the wife’s thoughts who wanted to “caress” and “touch” aka get closer to Kazui. When the lyrics play, it pans over to her with the circles in the background pulsing quickly, referring to her quick heartbeat when she looks at him and how she desires to be with him.

Another theory as to what’s happening in that moment is that she’s assuming what he’s thinking. Kazui: “I just wanted…” Wife: “to touch, to caress” Kazui: “to be touched”. I also find it interesting that the circle from 0:27 shatters at 0:30.

The next lyric “So it’s wrong? Shove that!” Could be him wondering if wanting to be touched was wrong and “unmanly” of him. But, deep inside, he wants to scream out and say that he yearns for that feeling, that he wants to be loved, even if it didn’t fit the norm of “what a man should be”.

On to their really terrible marriage. There were lots of societal pressures to be married back in the day, so Kazui suddenly marrying a woman he didn’t even like was due to others expectations of him. Plus, Kazui wanted to be loved and he was feeling the consequences of loneliness, and this love she had felt for him seemed like an opportunity to somehow get what he wanted. A desperate attempt to receive love in a marriage he was fully disinterested in. 0:46 to 0:48 show this as he suddenly went from giving her flowers to wanting to marry her. It implies that he wanted this to go as fast as it could so he wouldn’t disappoint his family or be judged for being unmarried and gay, even if it costed his mental health and forced him to lie, which steadily declines throughout the MV until he finally cracks (further explained in 3).

The way he calls her his “victim” really says how he just used her to satisfy his own needs and also his extreme guilt for her death. This also foreshadows the coming violence as the perpetrator (cat) kills the victim (dove).

Lastly, him wanting to “keep it simple” is him hoping that she isn’t going to take their relationship super far. He wants to stay away from the more intimate part of the relationship, but it’s difficult since he just continues to lie and doesn’t talk about himself at all.

(I will be skipping ahead to the end as I want to save the rest of the details for later) Now we’re at the most famous part of the MV, him smoking and then absolutely devouring and mauling a dove. He most likely did all of this in a drunken state. 1) There’s a glass at 1:49 that slowly drops to the ground, possibly him losing his grip on reality or his literal grip on the glass thanks to drinking way too much. 2) From 2:13 to 2:19, he struggles to get up and holds his head, he even takes off his ring IN FRONT of her, something he’d never do if he was thinking straight because it would break his lies. (I’ll explain the drinking later on).

Finally, the violent part. We have no idea if the symbolism in this is exaggerated or if it’s 100% accurate, but judging from how much he hates himself, it’s probably over blown to an extent. So what does it mean? Well it definitely is supposed to show how he interpreted his outburst before his wife’s suicide. Him transitioning from perfectly calm (before smoke) to becoming this “evil” person (after smoke) is him showing that he doesn’t deserve forgiveness for what he’s done. Then, him killing the dove represents how he thought he said nasty or distasteful things. On top of that, it also represents how he believes he killed his wife by angerly venting his feelings out so much that pushed her over the edge, in other words, taking “chewing someone out” on a violent level. This is his interpretation of what happened though and I don’t think he exploded. Instead, I think he just made poor word choices. The two of them, or at least Kazui, lacked communication and due to his drunken state, he just blurted out what he was feeling. I don’t have any substantial evidence to back this up though, so take this last one with a grain of salt.

3. Magic, Masquerade, & Drinking

I LOVE the magic and masquerade symbolism in particular as it is pretty much how he views the whole relationship. He interprets his lies as these magic tricks that fools people on the outside into believing that yes he truly does love this woman. It’s also why he turned the ring into a dove in the first place, he just sees the marriage as a big magic show that he has to put on for as long as he can.

“Lie until it gets better, follow the king of masquerade.”

I really love this line because he refers to himself as the “king of masquerade”. He calls himself this because all his life, he’s been putting up these different personas and characteristics that aren’t him. It’s literally seen in “half” as he wear different clothing and keeps a mask on the entire time. He knows that if he were to drop this act, no one would truly accept him. He would be cast out and never have the opportunity to be loved again. So living a life of lies seemed to be the most viable option to him, but he also resents himself for it. He admits that he can’t live unless he lies, it truly is his only life line and a life line others rely on too (aka his wife).

“So l've tried to change! I've tried to change. I have tried to stop lying to myself and others! I've confided in others. I've tried to be myself! I've tried to just be the way I was born! It's not my lies that killed her. She's dead because I stopped lying to her! If I had just kept lying- She wouldn't have died..! I can't live unless I lie. That's how I was born... I'm pathetic, aren't I?”

As is the magician’s code, he can’t reveal the secret to his “magic”.

However, all this lying obviously takes a toll on him as in the latter half of the MV, he starts drinking and smoking more. In each shot from 1:12 to 1:46 he is always seen indulging in his addictions. It’s his way to escape from reality and forget about his current relationship. What I find most interesting though is the meal he has with his wife. It seems they are celebrating something as the Ace of Spades (which hovers in between the two as they speak) symbolize good luck, hope, and change. They’re even drinking champagne and having a nice meal. What they could be celebrating though is beyond me, they’re probably on their first or third anniversary considering they look older? Besides that, there’s also the most interesting clip of a man when he holds up his champagne glass. I think that this is supposed to show that he uses drinking for more than just forgetting about his current situation, he also wants to dream about a life he couldn’t have. A life with someone he loves. He probably tries to replace his wife in his head with another man by drinking, trying to make the “magic show” more tolerable. The man could also be his guilt starting to rise and bubble up like the carbonation in the champagne, sitting in front of him and judging him, telling him “Are you really going to keep lying to her after all this time?”.

Finally, at the end of the MV, he is unable to keep up his magic show anymore due to drinking way too much. All his “tricks” fall to the ground, another way of showing his masquerade mask has finally fallen. He then ends his first act at the start of the MV (aka his marriage) by tearing it apart.

4. The Bartender

Now THIS is an interesting thing people have pointed out. The bartender from the previous MV comes back for a cameo in the newest one. But it’s not just a small, little nod, no he’s full front and center in the frame.

Even more interesting is that he’s the only one with a wedding ring in the shot. I was really thinking that maybe everyone would have one as a way to show societal pressures, but this also works too.

This is the third time the man has shown up in Kazui’s MV’s. Though he might not have a face, it’s clear that he is of some sort of importance in Kazui’s life to show up so much, especially if he appears so clearly in “Cat”. Maybe Kazui wants to keep his identity a secret so he wouldn’t have to open up old wounds. With this information, we can assume he’s talking to the bartender from 1:13 to 1:24 as the table & drink is just like the one in “half”. There’s also the sound of a drink being prepared/served at 1:10. So he could very well be Kazui’s love interest as he carefully confesses to him. However, they’re both married, something that Kazui clearly remembers as he only sees his ring in the shot with all the guests. Though I think that, from this scene, he wished that they were the ones being married because he’s the only one with a ring, that is also similar to Kazui’s, on. That’s why he asked what he’d do if he said that he “liked-liked” him, would the bartender accept him or reject him? Although, I don’t actually think he’s drunk when he asks. Maybe he’s had a few drinks, but his speech is way too clear. Remember he’s also the “king of lies” so no one can really be sure of his true nature. His likely reasons about lying about being drunk is because 1) there are possibly people around and 2) he’d rather not embarrass himself if the bartender didn’t respond at all.

Now comes the tricky part, who is the bartender? The most common answer would be his be his childhood friend, and I’d have to agree. There really is no other person to identify him as and it would make the most sense as to why he appears so much. In “Interrogation Question 8”, he mentions that he “looks up to [his childhood friend]” implying that he could be older. If we’re willing to stretch this and say that age is shown through facial hair and the fact that the bartender possibly owns the establishment (Kazui mentioned his friend owned a boat, what kind is not mentioned, but it does say something about the man’s wealth), then he could very well be the childhood friend. At some point though, he seemed to stop going to the bar. Most likely because his friend responded badly to his “confession” or that they already knew it wasn’t possible and Kazui didn’t want to see his face anymore since he’d only feel even more lonely than he already was, thinking that what he had said ruined their friendship forever. It then cuts to him sitting alone drinking whiskey, something he always buys at the bar. He states that he “wanted to ask so it’s out in the open. I just got a little greedy.” This implies that he wanted to “let it slip” in his “drunk” state. However, it didn’t go very smoothly and his greed only brought him more pain.

There’s also a thing with whiskey in that whenever he has it he seems to be allow his masquerade mask to fall. It’s probably because it reminds him of his childhood friend who he loves as he always buys the same drink from his bar. The scenes where whiskey appears is the previously mentioned confession scene followed by him sitting alone. It also appears when he becomes feral as it is the beverage he drops at 1:50.

5. Apples

This one has been discussed the most and I honestly don’t have anything new to bring to the table with it. But I’ll just add it in here

First let’s start off with the symbolism of the red apple, which is pretty easy to pin point. In the MV, It’s only used in the middle after he pulls the cloth off of the wedding couple (aka Kazui and his wife) and at the end when the wife dies. There are an abundance of the red apples at the wedding, representing how much love she has for Kazui. Then, when she dies, it’s squashed, and it’s supposed to show her impact onto the ground and their love being ended right there.

The green apple is slightly harder to figure out. It seems to represent how Kazui feels about the relationship and how he only likes her platonically. The green apple appears in the abundance of red apples, underneath Kazui during the dinner, and, most importantly, as a man. The first two can be easily interpreted as him trying to keep his platonic feelings a secret. He even literally tried to keep it under the table to hide it from her. Then, there’s the apple-man(?). The first meaning of this is how he, again, sees the wife as only a friend. However, there’s also another meaning. The drawing takes great amounts of inspiration from the painting The Son of Man, by René Magritte, which makes sense given the similarities the MV and the meaning behind the painting. Magritte said,

“…You have the apparent face, the apple, hiding the visible but hidden… face of the person. It's something that happens constantly. Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see. There is an interest in that which is hidden and which the visible does not show us. This interest can take the form of a quite intense feeling, a sort of conflict, one might say, between the visible that is hidden and the visible that is present."

This painting’s meaning has so many parallels with Kazui’s character, almost as if the writers wanted us to realize it since the introduction of the green apple in “half”. The biggest difference between the two is that Kazui does not reveal his eyes. He keeps who he really is behind the apple, keeping who he is a secret and preventing any sort of “intense feeling” of wanting to get to know the true him. He doesn’t want any conflict to arise and fears the consequences of coming out.

6. Extra Details

I Wonder why at the start, he kind of just stares at the screen like he’s judging/hoping that Es will make the right decision. It’s also reminiscent of how he stared at Es in his 2nd Voice Drama. Very strange but I like it

I love it when there’s similar scenes fr fr

Another thing id like to bring up rq is Kant. Es brought him up in Kazui’s 2nd voice drama since he had “killed” someone due to his lies. Es directly quotes him, “That would be Kant…A philosopher who stated that lying is inherently a sin, no matter the circumstances…Apparently, even if your friend is being chased by a murderer and the murderer asks you about their whereabouts, you shouldn't lie, according to Kant.” Kant’s reasoning for selling out your friend to a murderer is that if you were to lie about where they were and by chance the murderer found them, it’d be your fault. However, if you did sell them out and they died, it wouldn’t be your fault, your friend should’ve just avoided the psycho! This is what Kant believed and, personally, it makes no sense, especially if we’re considering a human life that’s on the line. Brushing over that though, the connection Es essentially tries to make is that Kazui’s lies are his greatest sin and that he should’ve told the truth from the start. While yes, most things would’ve been prevented if he had tried to be more true to others, there are also standards to consider as well. If Kazui had come out, then he’d be shunned, if he refused to marry, he’d be shunned, etc. so there wasn’t an easy way out for him. Kant’s philosophy fails to consider any other situation or being truthful to one self. His murderer example is way too extreme and it doesn’t hone in on the finer details. Which is why I don’t think Es really knew wtf they were talking about and I honestly find the Kant thing kind of dumb💀

The comments in this video explain how dumb Kant is way better than I can vv

Constructive Criticism, Thoughts, and Additional Help is Appreciated, Thank You!

#kazui milgram #kazui mukuhara #007 #es milgram #Milgram #theory #I Hope this isn’t too stupid dumb dumb #text post #symbolism #Youtube

[satancopilotsmytardis]

I am fully addicted to your fics and go feral whenever a new one is posted. Because of your writing I’ve firmly become a Shiggy/Hawks shipper. Headcannons for Shigadabihawks.

☾,∇, ൠ, ✿

Buddy, I'm so glad you like my work, but I feel immeasurable guilt over turning you into a shigahawks shipper when I never make content for them anymore 😔

☾ - sleep headcanon

As a group: Hawks is on one side with his wings wrapped around the other two, Dabi is in the middle, usually holding onto Hawks, Shigaraki is on the other side holding onto Dabi until he's sure that they're both asleep and then he gets up to do something else unless it's a rare night he's not suffering from insomnia.

Dabi: Has nightmares a lot, and is always tired, can fall asleep anywhere and even standing up if he feels safe enough

Hawks: Sleepy boy, when he has a day off he is washing his sheets, fluffing his pillows, and making sure his softest blanket is fresh from the dryer so that he can indulge in the Peak sleep experience

Shigaraki: What the fuck is sleep? No real reason, no nightmares even after remembering his past, he just doesn't sleep very much.

✿ - Sex headcanon

As a group: Dabi and Shigaraki like to work Hawks over together best, there's just a lot more they both can be doing with the addition of his wings, and Hawks will never admit it, but he loves being a pillow princess for them.

Dabi: Lost his virginity last of the three of them (the skin falling off and coma were contributing factors). Down for whatever, but does generally prefers AMAB anatomy because he has an oral fixation and loves getting his throat fucked (straps are fine but it's not as good)

Hawks: Thinks he has a low sex drive, but it's really mostly his baggage. He's been a sex symbol in Japan since he was 19 and he's been working as a spy doing honeytraps for a lot longer. He's so unimpressed with sex he's almost uninterested until he finds people that he actually clicks with and genuinely wants.

Shigaraki: Sex is a game and he is winning. Lol no, but he does engage with sex/kink as a form of entertainment. It's something fun to do that feels good, and it's one of the only times he gets to touch someone and they actually want that which helps settle something in his brain.

∇ - old age/aging headcanon

As a group: Hawks an Shigaraki mock Dabi for being an old man, Hawks calls Shigaraki whippersnapper, they are the same as they've always been, but their joints ache now and it looks like Hawks is going to have white hair too soon.

Dabi: did not think he was gonna make it this far and for a long time he's got even more self-destructive tendencies. Takes him deciding that he wants to stick around to see his nieces and nephews grow up before he decides to be a more mature adult. (If he's no longer a villain, he starts a program that can help teach quirk regulation to people like him who have unstable ones.)

Hawks: Also assumed he would die young. Retires from being a hero and focuses on making himself a little life of his own. Has a bakery he goes to for pastries, becomes the old man who feeds the birds, leaves his wings at home when he does those things so he can just be Keigo and not 'retired number two hero: Hawks'

Shigaraki: As he gets older he tries to find kids like him who need someone to take them in. Makes a home for them like AFO did for him (ideally without the ulterior motives). Just eventually the anger and the disgust fade and he is more interested in making sure no kids get abandoned because they're hard to deal with.

ൠ - random headcanon

As a group: One of the best days they've ever had together was the three of them just spending time together on a nice afternoon. They were just a tangle on the couch, Hawks napping, Dabi reading, and Shig playing one of his games. It was incredibly chill and lowkey and none of them will admit it, but for that afternoon they all wished they weren't heroes/villains because if they weren't then this could have just been their life together.

Dabi: Hates that he's always so hot because fluffy sweaters and stuff look so comfy, but he literally can't wear them without overheating.

Hawks: Every time he sees a birdfeeder he wonders. He's not a bird. But. But what would that taste like to him? This haunts him.

Shigaraki: He is the most ride or die person you will ever meet. Once he has imprinted on a person then he is going to make sure they're taken care of and happy. (This is a threat (: )

#tanco speaks #ask #asks #headcanon meme

[heavensickness]

HIII SUDE <3 i wanted to ask u if u have any thoughts/theories/remarks on the part of the trailer where ais exhales the smoke, which then morphs into a bird, and then we see birds flying past kuras?

it could just be for smooth transition between the two scenes, but considering the game is filled w symbolism i'm inclined to think it's more than just that. so far things i've found on the dictionary of symbols by j. e. cirlot is this:

also i find it interesting that birds fly towards kuras (who has biblically accurate wings) rather than mhin (whose monster form is an actual bird) but other than that, i have no concrete theory so would love to hear what u thought ab this <3

First of all, your IQ is around 3000+ & i think you should make a post about this (if u want to of course!) so other people can read about it too. Honestly I didn't have time to focus on the intricate symbolism in the game or trailer like this since I was so busy with work this week.

But!!! I think Ais being an oni (a demon) and Kuras being an angel is very interesting as they would be normally fundamentally opposite forces, yet they hold respect for each other. Seaspring, the "people" of Ais who have joined the groupmind, and his seemingly "missing" gang makes me think that Ais originally held a very high position among monsters; maybe he was the ruler of all of them at some point. I am not sure what happened in his past to cause him to be so isolated as he is right now, but I feel like it wasn't his choice.

Ais is portrayed as a fallen leader and Kuras is a fallen angel, so maybe they understand each other on a different level: Being cast out by your own people and the unbearable loneliness that comes with it.

I also think that Kuras's dark secret has something to do with monsters. We know that the border between MC's world & another plane of existence has been demolished; thus allowing monsters and the Soulless into MC's world. This is a complete shot in the dark but maybe Kuras was the angel who was supposed to guard this border and he somehow failed? So his punishment is to wander around the world for eons and eons without a chance to return Heaven back?

I know that this isn't the answer to your question, but these are my thoughts about Ais and Kuras so far. I find their dynamic as one of the most interesting dynamics between the LIs & I can't wait to learn more about their past and relationship

#ais #kuras #touchstarved #things i'm playing

[vampyresonata]

Violinist Day 2022 - Letter 2 Analysis

This was originally posted on my old twitter account, but since I've privated that account I realized there is no way to access it anymore! So, I've compiled my entire 5 Page analysis below for you to enjoy here! Like before, I'll start with the TLDR first and put a read more below! I'm someone who loves Antonio a whole lot, so whenever this letter hit twitter originally I was... disappointed at the responses some people gave, to say at the least. (And, another warning, this is very long.)

TLDR;; The devil is not at all metaphorical and is real. Even if the devil in general media can be used as a symbol for things such as addiction and indulgence, he is less an active metaphor when Antonio’s addictions were something that happened prior to his deal. Additionally for Antonio's case the devil does not serve as a proper metaphor for addiction when the two times in text (before this letter) he has been presented to us, the devil had been helpful to getting Antonio out of the situations at hand. Antonio does have his indulgences, but they have very little to do with the situation at hand beyond brief context. To blame him for the addictions (and blame him for even having them) is demonizing addictions as a whole. While this does not take away the fact that Andrea still suffered some sort of trauma, we as the viewer are aware that what had happened was not Antonio– and even then Antonio himself is aware that he has hurt her even if it was not him actually doing it. Additionally, neither of them could have expected any sort of outcome as Antonio has never physically harmed anyone before when the demon possessed him in the past, so we cannot say that he should have known better. We also cannot say he should have known better for making the deal in the first place, as the deal was made during a point of his life where that was the only place he can turn to.

Starting off with the fact it's written on the back of a piece of sheet music, which is later established to be because he had written a piece in her name for her on the front of it. From here, I will bring up each section of the text I specifically am referring to.

This is the first we hear about Andrea. As she is a new introduction, she is not mentioned in any prior lore-- the only other women we know that Antonio is involved with is any of the one night stands alluded to in Deduction 2 and the Princess to the royal family he was priorly imprisoned by. We assume one of two things of Andrea:

The deduction ‘Seductive Tune’ is not actually about him having one night stands with different women and instead is an early iteration of his time with Andrea. I find this to be unlikely of the two options because the description of Seductive Tune makes a mention of “joy that was missing,” which aligns with his history of being partial to indulgent behaviors in order to obtain immediate satisfaction in the way his talent could not.

Or, the more likely of the answers, he found Andrea after his time with the royal family. He makes a mention that she is different from the other people he’s met, both upper and lower classes. She understands him like nobody else we’ve seen within his story, which must mean an awful lot to him as we know Antonio’s story tends to play with Toys/Puppet + Caged Bird motifs with how the world around him perceives him. This one is more probable than the first option.

He starts off mentioning there’s been some time they've last seen one another, which we will touch upon later down the line. Carrying onwards, we also learn that Andrea does not hear things the same as other people-- very likely that she is some degree of hard of hearing, given “grateful that the aria managed to overcome the barrier in your ears” and “unlike those with normal hearing.”

Andrea means a whole lot to Antonio, this is clear. Not only by how he starts off with “My dearest” and how he asks how she’s been during their time apart, but additionally in the lyrics he relays back to her in this letter. These lyrics show how much he truly adores her, whether he wrote them himself for her or if these were lyrics she sang to him once that he remembers. This is very reminiscent of Crescent Knight to me, in the way there is someone dear to him in his life that is now unobtainable to him. But that’s neither here nor there!

It’s incredibly important to note that Antonio here is not excusing himself. He is explaining things, being honest about himself and his past. It’s additionally important to know that Antonio has spoken about this to Andrea before, as he notes twice “as you know.” Which leads me to point out that Andrea had begged and pleaded for him to play the song he repeatedly told her he feared (“No matter how much … I would never…”); and that the song itself had already left them somewhere rocky ( “... or even threatened to break up with me, …”). He makes it expressly clear that he does not want to play the song, no matter how she pushes him to do it, because he knows that he should never. 

We can assume that he has only played this song twice, as it’s instance is recorded twice in canon: once when he first made it in his desperate attempt to escape the royal family (to which it was the only thing he could turn to) and once more when he was forced to play it at the concert we see in his introduction video.  However… he eventually gives in and plays it for her, but not without her having to ask him after he makes it clear he feared it. This is by no means to blame Andrea for anything that may have happened beyond this point. However, to properly understand everything that has happened we need to be aware that she had been asking him to play a piece he had repeatedly refused. He brings up indulgence because he is expressing that he has indulged by indulging himself in her wishes because of his love for her– not because he has relapsed back to any of his prior habits.

Now, I go back to bringing back the mention of the prior times Antonio has played the piece. The first time (seen in Antonio’s Letter #1), we are aware that he goes into a puppet-like state-- where the violin plays before him and he is pulled against the wall like a puppet. Nothing happens to the servant in question, nothing happens to the Court Maestro writing the letter. We can see something similar happen in Antonio’s Introduction video, where he just plays before the crowd whilst becoming the puppet for the devil his soul is tied to. Those two instances are helpful for Antonio– one to get him out of the royal family (who had practically kidnapped him) and the other to push forward and continue playing in concert to save his pride. There’s no reason to believe that something would have happened between the two of them, there’s no way either of them could have guessed. 

While Andrea does not know, we as the viewers are very aware that Antonio is being truthful when he says that he was not himself. There are several canonical accounts in Antonio's lore that tells us that the devil in his backstory is real (and IDV did not write off all of it’s supernatural-- Luchino’s Professor to Reptilian’s existence is proof alone, alongside the other Eldritch Beings), and to refute it in order to “blame” him is absurd when there's nothing in canon that would even imply to us that the devil isn’t real. There is nothing in canon that would point to Antonio lying about the devil, and if you think so I recommend you read his deductions and first letter again to refresh yourself. The text is set in stone that he does have supernatural/demonic involvement.

This is not a matter of a relapse of addiction, this is a matter of possession by a supernatural being and the fact that Antonio is not himself. While he does bring up “seduced by the long-lost joy and pleasure of gambling in the Casino,” he does not mean this literally. As this letter takes place to recount one instance in time, I believe Antonio is speaking poetically and is comparing the way the possession feels to his prior experience gambling. He took the risk of playing the song for her, and that in itself is the gamble. There would be no reason for him to play the song and then just fuck off in the middle of it to go to a Casino, since this is recounting one set instance in time.

I previously brought up that in Antonio’s possession he has never really done anything directly to people, instead he just plays while the demon takes over him. As I have also (repeatedly) previously brought up, we as the viewer are aware that Antonio was Not Himself and anything happening under this moment was the devil. That being said, there’s two things that may have happened here:

In his possession, he frightens her-- it’s a horrifying thing to see someone you love become an almost entirely different person (because he, in this case, WAS an entirely different person) and she is too fear stricken to leave until he is out of possession. Antonio mentions “distant crying,” which implies that she was across the room from him rather than directly near him. He also describes the bow gradually swung down with inertia, rather than by his (or the devil using his) force. This would make sense as an option, given his prior behavior upon playing that song on the violin. When I first read the letter, I did genuinely think it was that he ended the song as he heard her cry and the slow fall (“gradually” , “inertia”) was him coming out of the possession and thus the bow hitting the ground in front of him. 

However I cannot deny another possibility that aligns with the described behavior, which is the one most people have chosen to believe, that while under possession the devil may have used Antonio to strike Andrea. If this is the case, I do not believe he had done anything more than one strike. I do not believe he beat her as some people may have claimed, as the word beat over hit has severely different connotations– and it would have been detailed in the text instead of a vague horror. There is nothing that would imply further than that. However, I am more inclined to believe the first option over the second-- but again I will not and cannot deny this possibility.

However, there is no way to tell exactly what has happened, as Antonio was not conscious enough during the event to tell us. We simply know that he played the song, wound up possessed, and in the process Andrea ends up crying in a mess on the floor and it takes him out of the possession. Looking at it, after rereading the letter, to me it seems that Antonio has no idea what actually happened and is in horror at himself at the possibility of different things that could have happened. This is a one off instance rather than an occurring instance given his prior possessions have never hurt anybody. Once again, he could not have known any better. We cannot say for sure what he did or did not do, and this will likely stay this way. Identity V likes to be incredibly vague, and when they want something to be obvious they will be obvious about it. It's why the media is so full of unreliable narration... because they want us to do the work and piece it together. We're the detectives after all!

Now, it is important to note that: even though his actions were not his own, this still has an effect on Andrea. It is equally important that I state, again, that I am not blaming Andrea for anything that has happened. We as the viewer know it is not him, but she does not– and Antonio is aware that she does not, which is why he takes the time to explain it. What happens between them is still understandably hurtful and terrifying, but through the lens of the viewer we need to be aware that Antonio shows remorse and regret. The second he recognizes what has happened, he is terrified in what his image had been used to do, whether if it was to strike her or if it was just him scaring her. This carries on in the next set of lines.

He calls back to “the sunlight, the moonlight, the starlight” as a way to prove how much he cares for her and how much she means to him. Additionally, he is aware that he cannot fix what has been done, and he is aware that in her mind it is him who had scared her off/hurt her. It is important to note: he is not asking for forgiveness, he is apologizing. He is acknowledging how this has affected her.

Calling back to the beginning of the document, it has been months since they have last spoken. He is looking for her, not just for closure and to apologize but because she has gone missing.

Given how we know he becomes a hunter, whoever speaks to him about getting rid of his possession was lying to him. <3 But it’s important to note that Antonio arrives at the manor in order to find Andrea again and he is aware he is taking a risk. He writes her this note, in the hopes that she will see it, as a way to prove to her that he is changing for the better and as a way to go out of his way to change for her likely so he cannot bring her, or anyone else, harm again.

Basically, the most we need to point out here is that he is still in love with her+ he feels remorse+ he’s going out of his way to risk everything just to change and reverse his errors + this will fail him.

If you read all of this, hope you enjoyed! :)

#Identity V #IDV #Antonio Paganini #IDV Violinist #character analysis #Skull tag #Skull Analysis #i like antonio a normal amount. #i call myself the ceo for a reason. #ask to tag

[marinecorvid]

2.21.23 (but actually drawn at least a month ago - and now posted 6.2.23) - some xy fic sketches. rambles beneath the cut

.

in my Great Fanfiction Rewrite of the (X)Y plot because it was sadly lacking in some places, Calem/Xavier kinda sorta joins Team Flare! To be honest this isn't my 100% original idea, I saw someone post once on here somewhere how cool it would've been if your rival, frustrated with constantly losing to you, joined Team Flare in desperation to beat you. I have taken this concept and am running with it. Xavier in my story Did Not take kindly to losing the Mega Ring to Yvonne: a rookie trainer, a girl, a girl who doesn't fall into his preconceived notions of what a young female trainer should be like, a girl he initially assumed he would be in a relationship with and he'd be the tough trainer in contrast to her contest abilities, someone from a poorer family from his. He gets uhh a little wild trying to prove his might makes right (deeply sheltered child who was never exposed to anything that would upset him syndrome)

In my head Y is the canon, but I'm doing a ramshackle combo into a tentative Z in which Yvonne and Yveltal fight Lysandre together, but also Xavier and Xerneas at some point and Zygarde is there too as a result of Team Flare managing to find BOTH legendaries (who in the anime were depicted as being right on top of each other) but only figuring out how to use Yveltal in the Ultimate Weapon. Xavier steals the Poke Flute and uses it to wake Xerneas (willingly or not - he's irrational, but IDK how down he'd be for the "destroy the world" plot, but Xerneas DEFINITELY uses ~fairy powers~ to fuck with his mind)

Yvonne has vitiligo! Dyes her hair blonde for the first halfish of the game, lets it grow out to its natural brown as a symbolic representation of not wanting to conform to certain beauty standards. She starts wearing very snazzy suits post-game, avoiding short sleeves and skirts

My HC is that Sycamore is her da! He and Grace were an item back in the day when Grace was in Kalos Rhyhorn racing, and she only realized she was pregnant when she'd already left. Sycamore didn't feel ready at all to be an active father, and Grace didn't feel any strong need to be in a relationship with him/have him be a part of Yvonne's life with a strong circle of friends and family who'd help with childrearing, so he stayed in Kalos and continued his work on evolution and Fairy Types in Kalos, every other month or so receiving an email of an update of Yvonne's life in progress. Eventually Grace's racing injuries/chronic pain is too debilitating to continue racing, and Sycamore offers his grandparents' cottage in the starting town. Yvonne knows her father is an academic/scientist in Kalos but doesn't know it's him, and doesn't want to know until she's more comfortable in the region. She DOES start to suspect though, but only confirms it mid/post-Geosenge crisis (haven't decided how long that's drawn out) in a hospital bed. Sycamore (after years of watching his daughter grow up from afar, and has become more invested in her life in the past few years) is delighted that she's willing have a familial connection

a lot of people draw Yveltal as a bird (super cool, no judgement) but it's very dragon-y to me with the hands/wings, kinda like how bat wings are just elongated fingers with skin between them. The logic of the tail eludes me though. It's Yvonne's buddy post game! As much as she does not want it to be her buddy! But when a super powerful ancient deity of death decides it wants to be your friend there's not a lot you can do to stop it. She warms up to it eventually. They have a fun time threatening Malva together

Korrina is a sports lesbian

Shauna slight redesign. She and Yvonne become an item around Laverre. In my story there's a cool Ren Faire-ish thing happening when they arrive and they both get a little tipsy and kiss and spend the evening running around in semi-accurate reenactment dresses giggling and dancing and giving each other wildflowers

Gogoat =)

#pokemon #xy #gen 6 #serena #yvonne #calem #xavier #yveltal #sketch #my art #this has been languishing in my drafts long enough

[defiantbird]

Sweeney Todd Revival on Broadway!

Saw it over the weekend and have had some time to marinate on it. As a former theatre (or tech) kid I have to throw my thoughts into the void. I'm serious, this is a long and wordy babble, you are not gonna read it all, I'm really just thought-dumping.

Cast:

We were told as we were entering that Josh Groban, the big draw for most folks, would not be in to play Sweeney. Sweeney was instead played by the guy who usually plays Pirelli. I don't know much about Groban, but I do hear he has a great voice, so I am a little bummed I didn't get to see it.

Still, other guy (Nicholas Christopher per the slip) was...obviously talented-- everyone in the show is extremely talented, it's Broadway. Tremendous voice on him. He had an excellent growl and did my favorite thing (in Epiphany, he went UP on "nor a hundred can assuage me" and it was so STRONG and RAW and AAAGH I love it. Here at 2:22 if you wanna know what I mean. George Hearn is my fave Sweeney.). That said, his Sweeney wasn't my cup of tea. George Hearn ruined all other Sweeneys for me (hyperbole tho). This fellow was a bit stiff...like, he has the sound of the rage but not enough expression of it to get me, if that makes sense. He was explosive but it often didn't feel like a passionate rage, just a loud one.

Certainly a very different Mrs. Lovett (Annaleigh Ashford) than I'm used to. She wasn't my ideal Lovett (again, spoiled by Angela Lansbury), but I can recognize that she was still an excellent one. Gorgeous voice with impressive range, super animated. What was different about her, I think, is that she played her more self-aware than I'm used to. It was a little more "this lady is funny and she knows it" rather than "this lady is fucking weird and it's delightful". But, again, just because that's my preference doesn't mean this was any less good. Very slapstick, way hornier, but ultimately very much understood the character at her core.

The kid who plays Dustin in Stanger Things (Gaten Matarazzo) played Toby! It's clear some people were there just for him. He has a strong singing voice and is just super charming. Truly a treat that I got to see him in this role, I think he fit it really well.

Such! An! Interesting! Johanna! This girl (Maria Bilbao) had a really unique take that I kind of loved. She played her like a bird-- twitchy, always on the verge of panic-- which is such a great choice given the symbolism around the character. I want to scream how much I love this: it ties her to the "Beggar Woman"! Lucy was also very twitchy and jerky, what with the being crazy and all, and it was such a smart way to subtly show that these two are related without the audience being able to realize the connection until the reveal.

Pirelli (Daniel Torres), my beloved. I've never seen a single bad Pirelli.

The guy (John Rapson) playing Beadle Bamford was SO hammy and it was SO good. Super flamboyant, expertly annoying and able to switch so quickly to smarmy and cruel. His timing and tone in Parlor Songs was so fucking funny.

Judge Turpin (Jamie Jackson) honestly kind of took me out of it whenever he was around. He played Turpin as sort of a creepy but ultimately frail geezer. To me, Turpin is usually meant to be like large and intimidating and overbearing. He's an enormous shadow that swallows people. This one to me was just sort of...a grandpa. I didn't feel the evil enough.

Anthony (Jordan Fisher), also my beloved. This guy had, IMO, the most beautiful voice of them all. Like, so beautiful that the sound itself, not the subject matter, made me teary at times., especially during Johanna. Had just the sweetest face and most charming demeanor- didn't feel put on at all. So earnest and naïve and passionate. In general just "have you ever heard a voice and seen a man so beautiful that you cried".

Not much to say about Lucy (Ruthie Ann Miles), and not in a bad way. She had a beautiful voice and played the role well.

Set:

So cool! The show starts in London, with just Sweeney and Anthony standing in front of a bridge. The bridge then becomes the upper room: the flashback for Poor Thing, the upper parlor, Johanna's window. It was abstract for some scenes, like Johanna's window, but it felt very natural. Like there was literally no window, just her looking out between the rails, but you got that it was a window. What was, if I remember correctly, a crane on the side rotated to become the stairs leading down to the cellar, with the "meat hatch" on the back. Again, not sure I'm remembering correctly-- the set is very dark at times and purposely makes you think you're looking at something entirely different-- but I believe the same part had this little niche that became the asylum. Also, of course, the chair. I don't think I have a single complaint about the set. It was clever and wonderful.

A/V:

In the beginning, in his first few lines in The Ballad of Sweeney Todd, Sweeney's mic wasn't working. I hissed internally. It was only a few seconds but I felt the "NOOOO" inside of me that I guess comes from having spent a lot of time hanging with the guys in the A/V booth in high school productions.

I really liked the lighting for the most part. What struck me most was when the ensemble sang. The fog rolled around their feet, the stage entirely dark but for them. At the end Ballad when they were all lined up at the very front of the stage ("Isn't that Sweeney there beside you?" "There! There!"), the light shone up under their feet and gave them this gargoyle-ish look, so stark and deliciously unnerving. My only complaint was this like bright white flashing during City on Fire, but tbh I don't really love that scene anyway, I think it's kind of out of place, so whatevs.

Another petty thing that's less me saying "this was bad" and more me going "nooooooo"- Johanna shooting Fogg...her action didn't quite match up with the bang. Oof ouch.

Choreography/scenes/songs/general thoughts:

The flashback sequence of Poor Thing seems to be done differently every time I see it, but it's always good. This one was really abstract but incredibly striking. Todd and Lovett were lit up below in the shop, and above them it was all silhouettes on the bridge. Lucy moved like Johanna (again, aaah such a good choice), twitchy and nervous. The scenes weren't direct portrayals as it usually is (i.e. Lucy cradling the baby, Beadle and Turpin calling to her, Turpin descending on her at the party) - it was more like interpretive dance and it was very compelling.

Ngl, I didn't enjoy A Little Priest as much as I normally do, although the audience clearly loved it so, y'know. Art is subjective. But Lovett was a little too over-the-top (at one point she collapses laughing on the floor and propels herself around in a little circle), and I didn't get a real sense of mirth from Sweeney.

There is this point in the show, in general, that I love because of the audience. The play is funny. It's really, laugh-out-loud funny. Some scenes are just absolutely ridiculous and it WORKS. But there is a point-- it sort of starts during Not When I'm Around but really kicks in after Parlor Songs, which is like the last funny moment. You spend the whole play going back and forth between Sweeney's intense brooding and Lovett's looniness, and it kind of lures you into lightheartedness despite some of what you're seeing and hearing. It all gets SHARPLY cut off (no pun intended I swear) when Sweeney kills Turpin. The audience goes totally silent and stays that way 'til the end. It's SO well done, it just makes your stomach drop, it takes your face in its hands and says "now here's the real shit". The silence pulls you in and it feels like everyone is holding their breath.

Hehehhehehe I love catching reactions of people who haven't seen the show before. I saw at least one person with their hands over their mouth when they realized the beggar was Lucy.

There was some really great new little things I loved with Sweeney and Lovett. At the end of A Little Priest, instead of the two of them standing there triumphantly, they both slam a butcher knife and a rolling pin down on the table in time with the final note and then the stage goes totally dark.

In the same vein as the above- at the end, usually Sweeney and Lovett kind of look at each other from opposite sides of the stage and then it goes dark. Sometimes there's a door slam. In this one, they turn their backs to the audience and walk through the fog toward the back of the stage. In the very final moment, they clasp hands and jump together into an unseen pit. Like they literally walked hand-and-hand into hell. Internally, I'm making high-pitched sounds over how much I love that.

The ensemble was fascinating. Lots of jerky, kind of interpretive movements. In the beginning Ballad they do this thing where they all simultaneously start drifting to the side and then they suddenly stumble. In God, That's Good! they just sort of slowly lay Toby down on the table and then drag him off. It was weird, but a very intriguing kind of weird. It really unsettled you, which I think the ensemble as "the people of London" is supposed to do. They are meant to be unpredictable, dreamy, listless, and at other times wild. Neato.

I'm sure there's more I can say but I can't think of it right now so let's just stop me here because I've been writing for over an hour. Overall: Really enjoyed it, would recommend. I do wish I knew what Josh Groban Sweeney was like though.

If you actually read all this: Did you see it? Tell me what you thought! I truly really would love to hear about it.

#Sweeney Todd #Broadway

[solmints-messyocdiary]

I just chose Iris Patron and Odile since those are the ones I’m most familiar with!

👁️ - Have they ever been caught in the act/seen killing? Did they kill the witness(es), or do they keep your OC’s secret? Odile and Patron

🎃 - What do you personally believe is most frightening about your OC? Are they scary in-universe or in a more meta way? Odile and Iris

💀 - If they were to be killed by a final girl/boy/person, what would be a fitting end for them, symbolically? Iris and Patron

Jas! Thank you for the interest! And that's completely fine. I haven't shared much of the others~

Sorry for the wait. Here they are!

👁️ - Have they ever been caught in the act/seen killing? Did they kill the witness(es), or do they keep your OC’s secret?

Odile has on multiple occasions. She has been unlucky enough to have to face 2 or even 3 people at the same time. Depending if the person managed to fully look at her and of how terrified she is of being followed back to her shelter, she might chase after the witness. However, it tends to be too risky so it's not something she does often unless she feels the witness has given her the vibe they'll expose her.

-

The Patron is a very careful man. He always tries to be 5 steps further than everyone around him. Many call it paranoia, he calls it being attentive. He is but a shadow the moment someone enters the room and sees the carnage. For the unlucky one who saw him, he'll spare them as long as they keep their mouth shut. If they speak... well... the Patron is a very understanding man, but they broke a promise and therefore they must die. Unlike his witnesses, he does keep his.

☆

🎃 - What do you personally believe is most frightening about your OC? Are they scary in-universe or in a more meta way?

Odile is definitely scary in a meta way. She has become a sort of folk legend where she lives at.

The she-ghoul that desecrates tombs of loved ones.

The bird-headed boogeyman that lurks in the graveyards to scare kids and teens from staying late at night.

The beautiful and mysterious Samodiva that can be seen floating around in the forest, consuming the male gravekeepers who ventured too deep into the forest.

The unlucky feral child that burned the church down and stole the priest away.

That is all but a fantasy, of course.

Odile is, in reality, just a very fearful and lonely girl who has been given the role of a monster.

-

Iris is hands down scary in the literal sense. Her kills are brutal and sadistic. Truly vile to see and witness. She actively enjoys tormenting her victims and chasing after them. Depending on her mood, she'll kill the witness immediately, not giving them a chance to scream...

Or... if she's feeling particularly "playful" she'll give them a few days of safety before killing them in their home. It's just an extended cat and mouse chase for her.

Anywhere she goes, terror and gore follows and paints the city she lurks in.

☆

💀 - If they were to be killed by a final girl/boy/person, what would be a fitting end for them, symbolically?

I am still not particularly sure how I want their end to be like yet!

But... I've brainstormed a little about it.

Iris would most probably die at the hands of the person she becomes obessesed with. Or simply, live by the sword, die by the sword kinda deal.

The Patron would either be a poetic death, dying by the one whom he learned to trust and love or perhaps... do a 180° and give him a boring death. The opposite of his eccentric self. Lacking in art.

#ask #devil-doll13 #oc: the patron #slasher: the patron #slasher: odile #oc: odile #slasher: iris #oc: iris

[rekas-writes]

Spooktober Day 2: Sweater Weather

Pair: Omen/FtM! Reader Source: Valorant

Type: Drabble - 1298 words Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort Perspective: Second-Person (You/Your)

Summary: Omen knits you a sweater to help ease your dysphoria

TW: Mentions of Dysphoria, binders and spiralling

A/N: I got an Oodie recently and I’ve been lounging in it all day everyday while I play games. Can’t lie, it’s a very nice dysphoria reliever for me and is part of the inspo for this fic haha. Also, for however far I am behind, I’ll be making up for. Don’t worry!

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Today just wasn’t your day… nor was the day before… or the day before that… And thinking about it, you wondered if any day would ever be your day again. 

Tomorrow didn’t exactly fill you with hope, only the lingering dread of having to face the light of day once more, of having to face your draining thoughts and inner voice once more. If you had to describe Dysphoria? It was like a dirt pit. A dark, deep pit that whenever you fought a little harder to climb out, you only found yourself sliding back down to where you started. Maybe a little further. The edges were all loose dirt and slippery gravel, like some corn silo a poor bird would get suffocated in.

It had been a while since you’d faced a wave of emotional aching as painful and as seemingly never-ending as this. The voices pulling you down so viciously were usually quiet enough to ignore; they were easier to rip apart and disprove when you were so confident and proud... But now? When your confidence was shattered so completely by your incessant thoughts and your self esteem felt so brittle and fragile? Now, you only seem to see and remember everything that felt wrong, even when everyone around you seems to only see the best you. The you that looked and felt every bit the man he is.

Your growing discomfort with yourself only made your bad habits emerge louder, ever more apparent. From staying in your dorm, to wearing your binder for far too long, hyper-focusing and pinching at the parts of you you deemed too “unmasculine”. Every little thing felt off, setting your cursed brain off to spiral ever deeper into its own misery and anxiety. It felt so lonely, so isolating. Like another experience that sets you apart from being a “true man”.

But your looming shadow would never let you forget that you were never really alone in the first place, were you?

Though quiet he may be, he was always there. A solid presence that never wavered, even when your Dysphoria threatened to wash you under. Omen is your beacon of comfort during times like these, a symbol of solidarity as he empathises with your plight. Though your struggles differ, he sees the likeness in the way he questions every so often if he was truly more than the endless shadow and void he’s bound as. Whether or not he was deserving of the friendship and love he is shown by you and his allies. If he was truly deserving of the title of your boyfriend, when there were others more human than he who vied to be by your side in the way he was.

But you always shrugged those thoughts off, always looking at him with that content, little smile of yours as you assured him that none could ever replace him. None could warm your heart more than he, the agent with the namesake of imminent catastrophe. In your eyes, he’s so much more human than so many people you’ve seen. You make him believe that he’s worth it. That he is worthy of love when all he believes he is, is a monster.

So he tries his damn hardest to do the same when you feel down. When you feel like everything is against you. Patient, as he encourages you to heal at your own pace. The time he had off-mission was time he spent mostly by your side, no matter how much you tried to convince him you were fine. He’s always been perceptive, especially of you and lying was never your strong suit. You always felt a little guilty whenever he did this, but he stuck by you with such stubborn concern and affection that managed to stifle those gnawing thoughts.

Rousing you from your thoughts, Omen frowns a little (something you recognise as the little constant jitter and wave his blue scars make whenever he’s displeased) as he calls your name seriously, making you flinch a little like a child receiving a scolding, “How long have you been wearing that for?” He points a claw at you, and you only look away guiltily. He always seemed to know when you had it on and when you’d taken it off. You can feel his frown deepen as he shakes his head at your averted eyes, “You’re going to hurt yourself,” he states so matter-of-factly that you can’t seem to find a valid argument. Shuffling with a garment in his lap, he finally addresses the thing you’d been curious about since he’d laid it down. It seemed to have patches of your favourite colour from what you could see of it bunched up.

“I made this for you,” Omen lifts the now seemingly oversized garment up, “to ease your discomfort,” he speaks softly, his posture turning a little more shy and bashful. His hard work and care could be seen in each individual stitch and the various beautiful blends of simple and complex patterns. It’s like a way cooler, comfier version of your baggy hoodies. The ends of the sleeves cinch to make sure your hands are visible and usable under the puffy sleeves without needing to roll them up. You take it with bright, awe-stricken eyes and a wonder-smitten smile, and Omen can feel his core pulse with affection and pride at making you look so happy.

Taking a deep breath in, you enter your bathroom to change- feeling the tight squeezing around your torso ease at last as you finally take your binder off for the day. You’re quick to slide your night shirt and newly acquired knitted sweater on, if only to distract from the growing distress in the back of your mind. Shuffling out, you have a weary smile as you spin around to show your boyfriend his handiwork, “How do I look, love?”

The way the shadows flow laxly upon his form, the bright blue highlights of his face pulsing slowly and contently, he seems like he’s smiling as he regards you. Slowly, he reaches one bandaged hand out carefully- his version of an invitation for affection. You’re quick to answer as you usher yourself into his arms. He takes a moment to relax, still slightly unused to physical contact, before holding you gently in his arms as he mutters,

“Handsome,”

The word takes you off guard, but in a way that makes your heart leap and mouth twitch upwards in a way it hasn’t for so long. It’s a wonderful welcoming change to the discomfort and self-bitterness. His tone lies bare with truth, and it makes your heart clench. You gladly let yourself be held in the Controller’s delicate embrace, closing your eyes like pounds of weight had been eased off of you for once. Like a few chains of many sliding to the floor, finally snapped and broken. You’re almost tearful as he holds you close, yet it portrays all the unspoken love and tenderness all the same. It’s easy to see how much the usually aloof agent cares for you in the quiet actions he makes for you.

Omen mutters a soft proclamation of love for you in your ear, ensuring only you and you alone can hear; your name follows so confidently that you can’t help the watery hiccup and raw sob that forces its way out of your throat. He carefully runs a hand against your back, a comforting touch as he helps you let go of all the pent up emotion bottled up inside. It's just your name but it’s never felt more sweet nor more fitting than when it fell from Omen’s mouth. It’s a reminder that you truly are the man you yearn to be. Always have, always will be.

No matter how hard the climb to inner peace was, you realise maybe…  Just maybe… As your shadow holds you close, perhaps you didn’t have to climb out of your pit alone.

#valorant #valorant x reader #omen x reader #valorant omen #x ftm reader #x male reader #x trans male reader #reader insert #tw dysphoria

[momtaku]

"eren isn't an average person" anon here.

i had to vent, because, after the ending, i've been seeing many weird takes about the point of snk being to show what war can do to an ordinary person, or that everyone would do the same in eren's shoes. when people aren't saying that eren was just a cornered good guy or giving excuses that there was no other way other than the rumbling.

even if i can understand where isayama was going with the ending, i feel he kinda fumbled? i really think the way he wrote it gave the fandom what they wanted the most: many ways to justify what eren did and water down/erase the bad image of eren that the rumbling left on them. i got impressed how showing eren in a slightly more sympathetic light in chapter 139 made many people yell "i knew it. i knew he wasn't the bad guy" at the top of their lungs, others even considering he was redeemed and calling him a hero, since his actions ended up saving his close friends (despite they got in real danger and almost died most part of the last arcs).

the chapter technically doesn't redeem him, but the way it was delivered made many people see eren as "just a boy" again, and that the "bad eren" was completely a facade, because they'd desperately trying to disassociate what they think the real eren is from the things he was doing post-timeskip at every opportunity. people couldn't handle that eren is everything together.

many stuff contributed with that: not showing the consequences of the rumbling properly (post-rumbling); the rumbling not affecting the 104; all the main characters alive crying eren's death and implied to visit his grave; "thanks for becoming a mass murder for our sake" - even if armin was only trying to comfort eren before his death; excessively cute eremin and eremika without a drop of real resentment scenes; ending the original 139 with mikasa thanking eren for wrapping the scarf around her (inviting the readers to remember the good things he did), and associating him symbol with a bird, a symbol of freedom; etc.

anyway, here i am venting again lmao

ps: i swear i'm not an anr enjoyer/er*hisu. i'm just an average ending hater who felt isayama got so close yet so far to deliver something memorable.

You're fine anon! Vent away. I hear what you are saying.

Where I differ is that I don't mind the idea of the ending. I think it does exactly what Isayama set out to do. Concept wise it's not a fumble. If you read the August 2017 BSM interview, that's pretty clear:

I don’t think the series passes judgment on what is “right” or “wrong.” For example, when I read Furuya Minoru’s “Himeanole,” I knew society would consider the serial killer in the story unforgivable under social norms. But when I took into account his life and background I still wondered, “If this was his nature, then who is to blame…?”

But considering the root of the issue, rather than evaluating “what is right” […] I think that’s what Shingeki no Kyojin’s ending will resemble.

Isayama was never interested in establishing right or the wrong. His goal was to write a sympathetic character who was twisted both by nurture and nature to do unthinkable repugnant things. Rather than dictate morality, Isayama's goal was to let reader determine how they felt about it. This is exactly what we've seen in the fandom with people on all sides when it comes to judgment on Eren.

But I do agree that the ending was harmed by the issues that have plagued the series as a whole - terrible pacing, inconsistent tone, and too much emphasis on the mystery instead of the resolution. This series is a case study for "interesting ideas clumsily executed". It all culminated in a speeding train wreck of an ending.

As I write those words, I want to say again, I like the concept of the ending. While the whole "Thanks for becoming a mass murderer" vibe makes my skin crawl, I don't mind the actual events that happened. If the story and the ending had been presented to me as a bulleted list, I'd think it was outstanding.

As far as the ending being embraced by the worst of humanity as a justification for their hatred and bigotry, I don't know what to say about that. On one hand I've often wished Isayama had done more to discourage that or had spoken out against it, but then I think about how it is often the goal of authors to pick at the scabs of social issues and leave them festering and open. This series might have been a gateway for some into fascism, but flip that around and it was also a gateway for exposing it. The series has made me more aware of the issues in my own country and has strengthened my resolve to fight back on things I might have otherwise ignored.

This is long. I hope it makes sense. Thanks again for sharing your viewpoint.

#chatting with friends #snk ending #it's been a 84 years and it seems I still have thoughts

[sayakxmi]

[Magi rewatch] Episode 12: Determination and Separation [Part 2]

When will my reflection show who I am inside?

It's rude to point at people

Oof

We did not get Cassim looking dramatically from the top of some building...

...but we did get Alibaba flying.

Makes me kinda wonder how strong anime!Cassim is. Or how light anime!Alibaba is.

There he is.

My other son whom I'm going to cry for, even though he's kinda a huge dick right now.

Love me some symbolism there. Cassim in the shadows, Alibaba the only one the light falls on.

Tfw your brother is trying to start a war (you suspected it for a long time, but didn't want to believe it).

Oh, hi, Ithnan. Tho in the manga it's not Ithnan. Idk, maybe they were trying to save on VAs?

"It's an honor, Your Highness Alibaba." That does not happen in the manga, either.

I hate that anime-only thing about Fallen!Alibaba, and I will complain, but I wonder if here it was meant to be, like, a foreshadowing or some shit.

Actually, I think in the manga he doesn't talk here at all.

Black Rukh.

"Something's off about this guy..." I suspect it's these dark birds flying around his head.

Also, in the anime Cassim is sitting as he talks, while in the manga he's standing. I wonder if it's to show that he doesn't view Alibaba as a threat at all.

Pretty

And absolutely horrifying how easily he goes from being angry and proclaiming that they're gonna start a war, to pretty calm and I daresay docile. Alibaba got freaked out, so he needs to calm him down somehow, after all.

"I'll save this country, and I won't let anybody die!"

That's my boy!

No, my boy!

Also, damn, the way Cassim's eye twitched before he hit him.

Ugh. The way Alibaba's so pissed, while Cassim just doesn't seem to give a fuck.

Also, remember symbolism? The crack.

"Alibaba, I hate being with you the most, did you know?"

"I don't need you anymore."

S y m b o l i s m

WHY IS THE MOON FULL AGAIN. HOW IS THE MOON FULL AGAIN. IT WAS FULL THE LAST NIGHT.

Alibaba, you can't just walk in on your parents having a talk in the moonlight.

In the manga he's in a more rush, ngl.

There's something so silly about the way he's just standing here with his knife, lmao.

No words needed, really

These birds again

Also, Alibaba and Morgiana's talk was kinda cut short

"Thanks, Morgiana"

Realization

Hell yeah

#saya's magi rewatch #magi #alibaba saluja #cassim #kassim