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misseffie · 3 years

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So I finished ep 4 and I want to write my overall first impression. I haven’t read the books btw.

THE DARKLING:

I’m trying to get invested in the Darkling but I’m on ep 4 and I just... can’t. I guess you have to be attracted to Ben Barnes, and even though I know he’s gorgeous he never really did it for me.... Plus all the emotional beats of the story revolve around Alina and Mal. Yes, General Kirigan is mysterious and dark and sexy but what else is he? Meanwhile Alina and Mal leave me feeling hollow and broken when she erases her scar as Mal lies dying in the snow. I guess you have to have a thing for pretty and rich darkbois to like the Darkling. But it’s hard for me to feel anything for the fancy rich guy being lonely when the underdog character is out there risking his life and shit.

I also feel like the Palace storyline could REALLY benefit from some political intrigue. But it mostly feels like Alina and Kirigan + some background characters. I guess I thought it would feel more like “Sansa in King’s Landing” than “Sophie in Howl’s Moving Castle”.

If you’re going to make it exclusively about Alina and the Darkling then he has to be a captivating villain. But I’m just not invested in the Darkling. Not just as a romantic interest but more importantly as a villain. And that sucks. Because I love villains. But I guess I just like my villains really fucked up? I love characters like Cersei, Tywin, Joffrey (yes, I’m just naming Lannisters) or Azula. Characters you love to hate and hate to love. Who are irredeemable but also human. General Kirigan is more of a villain archetype than a character. It’s not even about shipping. Because I really want to like him as a villain and I can’t. He’s just.... empty. I hope he improves as he goes on and develops a personality beyond being mysterious. Alina and Mal might not be the most interesting characters to watch but something about them feels honest and human.

MALINA:

That said, I’m still not enjoying all the orphanage flashbacks. I feel like all those scenes should’ve maybe been shown at the beginning of episode 1 and then we could flash forward to 10 years later or whatever. If they’d done it like this then they could’ve also used that time in the orphanage for exposition purposes and world building. I feel like going from them lying in the meadow and talking about running away together to being smack-dab in the middle of a warzone would’ve been more impactful. And also you have the fun of guessing who the characters are. Imagine that first fight scene with Mal if we were also wondering “Hey! Is that the orphan boy?” and then we see them get reunited and we feel happy that they’re still friends 10 years in the future. And then Mal and Alina don’t have to keep making references to being “best friends” or to their past in the orphanage because we already know.

OTHER:

I really want to enjoy the show but so many parts just drag on for me. There’s too many romantic subplots which don’t really add to the plot. Yes, I’m talking about Matthias/Nina. I also want to like the Crows because they have the most fun scenes, but something about their dynamic just doesn’t... do it for me. And I usually LOVE when a merry band of outlaws form their own family - so it’s frustrating that I can’t get into their banter. I will say that Jesper is my favourite at the moment.

Maybe the last 4 episodes will change my mind about these characters and the story. At the moment, the most emotionally riveting story is Mal hunting the stag and Alina moving on from him because she thinks he’s forgotten all about her.

THE GOOD:

Magic:

I know this all seems very down on the show, but I promise you that there’s a lot that I did like. Mainly the way magic is presented. Whenever they have to cross the fold I get goosebumps. The mythical stag is cool af. The way some people can manipulate the human body is intriguing as hell. I love how magic is considered a “small science” that only a few can master. The world building also feels solid and interesting. There’s a real “sense of setting” in the way the characters dress. I feel like it could’ve been exploited more tbh. They could’ve made more use of the maps to explore different settings. I think the fact that the main character is a map maker should’ve been used more. They could’ve had an intro with a similar vibe to Game of Thrones except BETTER. Because it actually relates to the main character. Imagine if we saw a map being slowly created on screen!!!!! And then the fold being and inky darkness spreading across the map.

Race/Xenophobia and “The Chose One” trope:

I also really like the fact that Alina is mixed raced. I think it adds a lot of emotional turmoil to her being a “chosen one” character. I feel like people who said that it added nothing to the story haven’t grown up in a multicultural family. I really felt for her on a personal level. She’s meant to be the saviour to people who have never accepted her as one of their own. I felt her craving for wanting to carve out a place for herself where she didn’t feel like an outsider, where she could feel at home. I remember the anguish I felt when I was younger, knowing that I would always be considered “foreign” no matter where I went. Both sides of my parents family considered me the “foreign relative”. People would ask me if I felt more like one or the other. So Alina being asked “What are you?” over and over really struck a chord for me. It’s really a feeling of never being “enough” of a certain thing to ever fit in. You will always be a little bit of an outsider. I also grew up in a country with very little immigration at the time since it was just coming out of a dictatorship. So foreigners of any kind were a rarity. Kind of the same way Alina and Mal stand out so much among the homogenous Ravkan people - who have been isolated from the outside world for a while. So I understand the way Alina and Mal cling to each other. I also used to develop strong friendships with other kids who were also either mixed raced or multicultural.

I think making Alina mixed raced actually adds SO MUCH to the typical chosen one narrative. Because would you even want to be the saviour for these people who don’t even accept you as one of them? When Alina was writing about how she felt like a traitor to herself if she succeeded rang so true to me. Mal and Alina bonded over being outsiders and relying on each other. Who is Alina without that?

It also makes General Kirigan’s manipulation feel even more sinister because of how different she’s always felt. How much Alina has always craved to feel accepted. There’s a moment when he seems to question why she would want to be like other people. He claims that she’s not like other people, but he’s viewing it as “Alina being superior and special”, while Alina is just aching to feel welcome and at home somewhere. It shows how he can never actually understand how truly isolated she feels - despite using this to manipulate her.

Her being mixed-raced honestly elevated her story and her personal struggles with being a “chosen one”.

#shadow and bone #malina #shadow and bone meta #alina starkov

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awkenorslumped · 3 years

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who lied to you ?

Importance of the Spiritual Journey, universal signs and the unexpected!

As Summer Walker once said The spiritual journey isn’t about the astethic of crystals or the ideal that people have created to make it a fetish on social media. The true meaning of the spiritual journey as Summer Walker said its about the ability to take accountability for the choices one makes that affect their lives . Its about accepting who you truly are inside to show on the outside, Literally living in your true form not caring for the validation of others.

Many think the Spirituality is about the crystals or the “witching”, the burning of sage and manifestation. Take in mind that manifestation does play a part into it but there is much more depth. On your journey the importance is acknowledging that its about connecting deep to your inner self. The path is for you to really get to know yourself the true depth of who you are. Connecting to yourself through meditation means having a place where you feel safe and serene to focus your mind on yourself to analyze stuff within you that you can’t make a connection to why things happen to you in life. Connecting the subconscious to the conscious to make yourself whole.

I believe that before we’re born into the human realm we live in our spiritual homes before we’re meant to save those who we feel need help remembering who they truly are. I feel when we dream we are actually transporting back to our TRUE homes and forms. Scientist and the government are aware but they fear that when we realize it they can’t control it. They do research to figure out how to weaponize the ability and for complete control. Starseeds, Ascendants , Reiki Masters, The spiritually attuned etc are the people who are reincarnated to help break the cycle of control. The attuned don’t live for materialistic things they admire it but its never a true need, they don’t hold true value to the soul.

The journey is complex because you have to really really focus on yourself the past, the trauma , the fear and self doubt. Once you’ve overcome or can accept those your eyes will be open to the propaganda and the actual things happening in the world. Nothing will surprise you.

All those horror movies , sci fy movies where do you think the ideas come from ? Its not a coincidence its stuff that has happened before. They are signs and information in plain sight its for you to see the true info over what they put into distract you. The government has the goal to control the world for greed and power, while possibly some higher beings want to test us or sort us out from the true of heart to the wicked of heart. There is no good without a little bad, no light without dark and that goes for ourselves , the government and the higher beings some of us haven’t met yet.

We’re able to tell when we encounter others like us , we connect with them instantly they match our full energy potential without of dimming it. The goosebumps you get when you feel an eerie presence or feel your in the wrong place. That gut feeling that something is wrong is your subconscious telling you that a higher being that is most likely malicious or want to control you for a pet for their own amusement. The higher beings that observe us as entertainment are the ones who are in contact and work with the government for their desire of entertainment. The higher beings have been around longer than we have and seen many things also are more advance, they could give us the tools for world peace but they don’t instead they feed us info for world domination and destruction for pure laughter. The reptilians enjoy destruction because they feel they are superior to the pure of heart . To be fair there is a balance so what makes people think the universe wouldn’t have a balance between alien races ?

Lets bring you back to earth for a second, we humans HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA OF ALL THE CREATURES THAT LIVE HERE ! We’ve barely made a dent in prehistoric creatures. But lets take a dive down this bunny whole, If the earth we live on has been around for billions of years and has all these layers why the fuck would we assume we would know all the creatures and beings that have lived here before us ? Mythical creatures were & are real. Sea beings and creatures are real. Why is it hard to accept that there are legitimate things we know nothing us. But instead we humans want to prove we’re smarter beings? The joke is on everyone that believes that with their entire being. Honestly you have to be narcissitic to find that to be a true statement. How can we humans know everything about something that’s been around longer than us just because we dug through a small layer and found some bones. WE CAN’T EVEN GO TO THE TRUE DEPTH OF THE OCEAN SO HOW WOULD WE KNOW ALL THE SPECIES AND HUMANOIDS THAT CALL THE OCEAN HOME?? MAKE THAT MAKE SENSE! Scientist believe because they have a phd or doctorate that they are geniuses and make minor discoveries ? Its not a major discovery when most people are like we knew that already because we know there are other beings and species out there. You can’t fool the awaken ok, we have woken up because we were meant to. Shifts are happening and whatever deal was made could be coming to and end soon because the government is fucking up. Or hear me out the true form of the deal is coming where the humans who aren’t awake will never awake and will be under the control of the reptilians and the people in the government who work with them . But little do they know that the reptilians will in fact double cross them. Why, you ask? Simply the reptilians are smart, mischievous and clever but not too smart that they can’t be overcame. Typing this up I feel goosebumps why cause im aware im being watched I’ve acknowledged things im not meant to be aware of . Also because im writing this with all intentions of exposing what needs to be brought to light. Religion is a TOOL USED TO HAVE ALL OUR MINDS FOCUS ON ONE BEING THEY TOLD US WAS ALL MIGHTY BUT IN REALITY ITS THE REPTILIANS WHO CAME WITH THAT PLOT. BY BELIEVING IN ONE MIGHTY BEING YOU WILL BELIEVE EVERYTHING THAT POWER SAYS AND WILL NOT SECOND GUESS THEM. HELLO THE CONSTITUTION HAS THE SAME STRUCTURE HAS THE 10 COMMANDMENTS IN THE BIBLE. WHY??!? WHY HAVE LAWS THAT YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW UNQUESTIONED JUST LIKE THE 10 COMMANDMENTS YOUR EXPECTED TO FOLLOW IF YOU WANT TO LIVE WITH JESUS IN HEAVEN. Riddle me this why would Jesus who is suppose to be forgiving and loving turn his back on you for not following rules he made? He gave us free will so why would he forsake us if we don’t follow his rules. ALSO WHY WOULD HE ASK A FOLLOWER TO KILL HIS ONLY SON?!?! That there gave it away that religion as made as a secondary form of government to make people obedient and further help the reptilians plot for control of humans. Have the humans do your dirty work while you give them information or false information to complete your task while you sit back relax watch and wait until its almost completed and they come to take reign .ONCE you realize what done and try to rebel you get wiped out and they try again. Many planets many chances to complete a goal. ALSO all those people who’ve exposed the truth were killed because the people who don’t want the revolution are instructed to keep the secret by any means necessary. How come the Egyptians, the mayan , aztecs, Atlantans had contact with humanoids that helped them advance their ENTIRE civilizations, yet the government has know about “aliens” been in contact with them yet our civilization hasn’t advance . Shouldn’t that there tell you the humanoids they are in contact with aren’t here to actually help us. The world needs to open their eyes and see the truth.

If you think I’m crazy then explain why they haven’t found a single bone from the mayan civilization of the people who lived there, why can’t we explain atlantis, why is it that all these advance civilizations just go missing , not as though their city was rampaged but left in tact in one piece but the people left. NO THEY WERE SAVED BY THEIR ANCESTORS OF THE TRUE OF HEART BEFORE THE REPTILIANS TRIED TO DESTROY THEM.

WAKE UP, OPEN YOUR EYES, CONNECT YOUR MIND AND SOUL. SAVE YOURSELF BEFORE YOU MISS THE SAVING SHIP.

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purplesurveys · 3 years

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1018

When was the last time you were in pain? Did you take a painkiller? Last Saturday when I stubbed my toe and it made my nailbed bleed. Nah, I just dabbed tissue on it and covered it up a Band-Aid. It didn’t really need one, but I placed one anyway so that I didn’t have to see the cut.

What was the last question that someone else asked you? I was showing my mom some photos of the typhoon’s aftermath in our city and she was asking me where exactly one of the photos was taken. It’s honestly so bad over here rn and I feel kinda guilty for taking surveys when so much of the city still has chest-deep flood...but this is the one thing keeping me from going insane while we still don’t have electricity and internet at home, so.

Do you recall what you were doing last time 7pm came around? Wrapping up work, watching the newest episode of Good Mythical Morning, and was also probably looking for a survey to answer.

What was the last thing you consumed, that tasted sweet? Churros with chocolate dip.

Do you know who Mr Blobby is, or have you ever heard of him? I have never heard of it. Them? Him?

Have you ever befriended someone named Tom? What is/was he like? I don’t think so. I’ve never heard of a Tom where I live. I know Tims though, lol.

Does your father have any hobbies? What are they? He loves cars and motorcycles, and I also always catch him watching compilations of dumb vehicular accidents. He’s also into the latest gadgets and I know he’s been wanting a drone for ages now.

Name a food you enjoy, that starts with the same letter as your surname. Curry. :)

What did the last face mask you wore look like? I always wear those thin plain blue disposable ones because they are light and breathable. < Yeah, same. My mom buys boxes of these all the time so this kind is my only choice, really. I never minded it though.

Do you enjoy any songs by The Pet Shop Boys? The name is familiar and I probably know one or two songs of theirs that I enjoy, but I just can’t place any at the moment.

Is there a specific song that you always request at parties? What is it? Eh, not really. I let other people take over the music. Sometimes my friends will request Paramore for me hehehehe and it’s always nice when everyone ends up enjoying whatever song by them is played. But I’m personally often too shy myself to do the requesting because I’m scared it’ll turn out to be a flop.

Have you ever read 'The Railway Children?' Did you like it? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that.

What was the last thing someone said or did, that made you chuckle? So we have a card game at home wherein each card has a certain category and the game is simply a race to come up with an example under that category. So for example if the game master pulls out a card that says ‘fruit,’ you wanna be the first person to yell apple or orange or something. Anyway, my family pulled it out again because of the current power outage, and while we were playing earlier my mom excitedly yelled “CEREAL” when the category was “breakfast cereal.” All of us died laughing.

Have you ever met anyone named Joyce? What is/was she like? I know multiple people whose second name is Joyce, but I dunno anyone who has that as their main name or preferred nickname.

Who was the last relative you visited? My grandma. Needed to pick up the box of revel bars that my uncle had made for my mom.

Does anyone close to you have blue eyes? Nah, especially not in this part of the world. Who was the last person you messaged on social media? Andrew. He was simply checking up on me because our city is one of the hardest-hit areas of the typhoon so far.

^ Do you know when their birthday is? June or July 20something...I can’t remember at the moment.

Is there anyone you love, whose name starts with H? Hmm Hannah is a good friend of mine, and I guess I can say I love her, sure.

Do you own a hairdryer? What color is it? Yeah, pink. I’ve since given it to my sister since she needed a hairdryer in her dorm, but it was originally a gift for me.

What CDs do you have in your car, if any? I don’t keep CDs in my car anymore. If I wanted to listen to my music, I just link my Spotify to the stereo via Bluetooth.

One hour from now, what time will it be? 4:35 PM.

{found @ pinkchocolate}

When you woke up today, did you find unread messages from anyone? Yeah, because I still talk to my ex like a dumbass. Did the last message you received contain any emojis? No, Angela didn’t use any. Have you recently told anyone that you miss them? Yeah, I said it to Hans today because he messaged me for the first time since my birthday this year. Are you wearing a scrunchie in your hair today? What color? Not right now. I used my hairtie to tie up the bag of chips I wasn’t able to finish earlier, so unless I finish that up soon I won’t be able to tie my hair up in a ponytail for a while haha. Have you sent or received any friend requests on Facebook lately? Yuh, the people I interned with - Angel, Justine, and Bianca - added me on there recently. My cousin Maggie also made an account and added me. Can you recall the last time you turned down an offer, of any kind? My mom offered me the last churro earlier because she knows I love them, but I didn’t feel like eating anymore so I let her have it. What was the last film that you saw for the first time? I’m Thinking of Ending Things. ^ Did you enjoy it? I had a hard time with it, especially with the last 20 or so minutes; and it was the first time I found myself struggling with a Charlie Kaufman work. I wouldn’t say I didn’t enjoy it, though. I guess I just found it a little too complex, and films that make me THINK think are generally a hit-or-miss for me. Which swear word did you utter most recently? Probably fuck or a local swear word. ^ Was it because you were annoyed in some way? A little bit, yeah. My phone’s adapter was missing for a few moments. Do you ever find the smell of your pets’ food unpleasant? No. We feed them the same things we eat, so it would be kind of odd to call that unpleasant. When was the last time you reheated leftovers? Tuesday. It was a burger I failed to finish over the weekend. What was the last thing you ate, that was from a bakery? Can’t even remember the last time we ordered from a bakeshop...a pandesal is my best guess, but I can barely remember the last time I had one of those. Which fruit would you say you eat the most often? Haaaaaaaaaaaa. Is there a lake close to where you live? Nope. There’s a river, though. What was the last song you recall singing along to? Broken-Hearted Girl by Beyoncé. Have you uploaded any photos to social media today? Of what? No. Literally everyone has been posting photos of their flooded houses and neighborhoods all day, and it’d be insensitive to post pics of my otherwise (fortunately) normal and relatively unaffected neighborhood or some other type of photo. Are you in the process of reading a book? Which one? Nope. ^ Are you enjoying it? - How recently did you charge the battery on your mobile phone? This morning, but I had to charge from my car because no electricity. I have to do it again, actually – my phone’s barely hanging on at 9%. Is there anyone you interact with every day, on social media? Yeah, my co-workers. In my new job, I’ll have to communicate with Ysa, Bea, and Steffi the most as I was placed in their team. What do you typically do to unwind at the end of the day? Watching the new episode of Good Mythical Morning and GMMore. Sometimes I’ll watch some wrestling too.

{found @ pinkchocolate}

Has anything fallen out of your pocket at any time recently? My vape pen. Luckily I was in my room because I would’ve been a dead daughter if it fell out in front of my parents. Do you have any books that you plan to read sometime soon? Yeah. I plan to resume Midnight Sun one of these days. It’s just a little hard at the moment because I first got it and read it during a rough phase two months ago...opening the book just brings back the memories. It’ll be a while before I’m able to dissociate from those thoughts and enjoy the book. Did anything disturb your sleep at all last night? Yes, the typhoon. The wind was loud enough to wake me up. The electricity also went out a little after midnight, so that also made it hard to fall back asleep. What kind(s) of Facebook groups are you active in, if any? Too many, but I deactivated Facebook again so it doesn’t matter. Do you enjoy any films with Judi Dench in them? Which ones? I respect her contributions as an actress but I’m generally not a fan of the films in her repertoire, so I haven’t seen any of them. I do remember wanting to check out The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, but I just never got around to it. Do you enjoy any herbal or fruit teas? What kinds? No, I don’t like tea. Are you currently wearing anything grey? Yeah, my current shirt is gray. Nice timing :) Name any object in your household that is purple. The pen on my work desk is purple. I also have a purple highlighter that I used while still in college. What was the last food item that you used your hands to eat? Churros. Have you seen anyone today that you consider to be attractive? Nope, I’ve only seen my family and even though I wouldn’t call them ugly, I don’t find them attractive in ~that way either. Do you recall what you were doing at 9:30 this morning? Trying to take a survey before realizing I wouldn’t be able to finish it because I felt a breakdown coming through. Do you use a moisturizer? What brand? No. My skin doesn’t really require lots of maintenance, so I’ve left it be for the most part. Do you currently own or use any toiletries with a fruity scent? I don’t think so. My shampoo has that original scent that just smells like...shampoo, I guess, my conditioner smells like milk, and my toothpaste is minty rather than fruity. Does anyone close to you have a beard? Dad, but he shaves it off all the time. The last time you were in your kitchen, what task(s) did you carry out? I made myself coffee. Name some pop groups that you loved as a child. Wasn’t into any as a child, but as a teenager I liked One Direction. Ok fine, as an adult too heheh Do you recall the first CD you ever owned? The High School Musical soundtrack lol Have you ever worked with anyone named Sophie? What was she like? I went to school with multiple Sophies but I never had to work with them. What terms of endearment do you mostly use when speaking to others? I use “b” or “bb” with nearly everyone, as long as it’s appropriate. Is anyone in your family currently pregnant? No. I used to think I was next, but I think I’ll be waiting a lot longer now. I don’t even know if it would still happen to me...which is sad, because I’ve always wanted a kid of my own. Do you have any specific plans for this weekend? If the typhoon subsides by this week I’ll be expecting my cross-stitch kit that I ordered online, and I can’t wait to start learning all weekend. {found @ pinkchocolate}

#survey #surveys

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littleeyesofpallas · 4 years

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I don’t usually dwell on American cape comic shenanigans too much, because it’s a fast and loose kind of writing that doesn’t really play well with being scrutinized or really thought about at all, at least any longer than it takes to get through a page, but man... this whole Tynion IV Batman thing is still rubbing me the wrong way... and what bugs me is how it’s definitely not all “bad,” and in fact a lot of the build up is great, but then the resolutions (or lack there of) are massive let downs, but then also he keeps skirting by with these loose ends that feel like they weren’t forgotten but that they might get picked up later. It would almost suggest he has a real big picture planned as a through line across multiple stories...

So, when Tynion took over with issue 86 and Their Dark Designs, he actually provided a great premise: In the aftermath of City of Bane and Alfred Pennyworth’s death, Bruce muses over his apparent old habit of sketching himself little snapshots of an idealized Gotham he holds in his head. We have a clear establishment of the theme of Design, and also the idea that Bruce has an end game in mind. He’s not just reacting to crime as it happens, he has a long term plan. This is a genuinely good angle to have for a Batman story.

To build on this, we learn that Lucius is working on some new tech for Bruce and he specifically marvels at how far Bruce’s war on crime has escalated. The bat-gear hasn’t just been getting more sophisticated over the years, its development is beginning to outpace its practical applications.

Additionally, we get a weird kind of distraction of a B-plot with various master assassins convening in Gotham under a singular organized job, but among them the spotlight falls on Deathstroke. Does Tynion talk about Deathstroke being one of the classic anti-batmen? Does he talk about Deathstroke’s healing factor? No. He talks about Deathstroke’s augmented brain processing faster than Bruce can keep up with (a trait most authors tend to overlook with Slade); this means his only means of competing with Slade is to have a plan that puts him down before his super fast brain can think of a way out, because implicitly he will out think Batman given time, and if they’re both whittled down to adapting to one another in the moment, Slade wins.

Again, our theme is Master plans/Designs/end games.

Enter the heretofore unmentioned legendary, nigh mythical, Gotham villain named The Designer has reemerged after an indistinct time missing from the criminal underworld. His claim to fame is planning 20 steps ahead, outpacing his adversary’s planning to snub any and all resistance utterly and completely.

He’s brought up because he once mentored Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, and Joker in their early days(and in their 90s era outfits as a clever reference) and apparently the master plans he devised with each of them that were never enacted have been queued up by “someone.” Designer is back, but he’s supposed to be dead; In a painfully uninteresting, cliche “twist” Joker was too KuHrAaZzY to handle and Designer turned on him rather than finish his tutelage, and in the ensuing firefight the 4 Gotham rogues killed the legendary Designer.

So, there are a lot of fun questions this raises, like who the apparent new Designer is, what his plan is, and what he wants...

Bruce has another run in with Slade and launches into an awkward, kinda whiny rant where he tells Slade that if only super villains hadn’t wasted so much of his time escalating the arms race of powers and gadgets and gimmicks, that he could have fixed Gotham years ago. So, here we are again, this idea of plans, of reactionary escalation, and of the absolute need for a master plan that snubs the opposition before they can react and learn. Batman beats Slade, of course, which just goes to show what we’re always meant to assume from Batman anyway, that he already had Slade beat from the get go. He had a plan; Batman always has a plan.

So this is super cool! It took us kind of a plodding 6 out of 9 issues of this story to get here, but this is a good place! We know Batman has a master plan for Gotham, we know from what we’ve heard about plans/Designs as a theme that means he’s already got all his villains accounted for, and that he’s just going through the motions: turning the wheels to make the machine work. It’s only a matter of time, now.

I’ll be honest, my thought at first when I was reading these? I thought The Designer was Batman, or some part of Batman’s plan. That he’d resurrected this mythical villain as part of his own master plan, to perhaps trick all his biggest adversaries to go all in on a singular massive criminal enterprise that Bruce had already designed from the get go to fail, and to take them all down with it once and for all. It fit the profiles, and it felt like the natural direction this all was headed...

But then it was just The Joker. Designer really was dead, Joker brought him back, stole his master plan and pulled it off himself. He stole Batman’s money and gadgets, and took over Gotham (again). That’s it. It was a 9 issue/4 month long fucking prologue to Joker War. And more importantly... NONE of these themes paid off, even a little... And to be fair, if these had turned into something to be addressed and resolved in Joker War, I might have been okay with it... But they weren’t...

Also there’s a (would be)great little moment towards the end here where we learn that The Designer’s original nemesis, a master detective whom he crushed and humiliated, once taught Bruce “how to lose.” And this went nowhere. But it could have been super interesting, because what exactly does that even mean? Does it mean learning to accept loss and move on? Does it mean letting the opponent’s plan succeed because if they put everything into the one plan, then it means they never actually had a follow through, so now the board is wiped clean and everyone’s back to square 1? What exactly was the point of bringing back the Designer’s legacy if we just learned that the real Designer wasn’t even the master mind of this whole story?

So then we meander into Joker War, curiosity still piqued, but expectations drastically lowered...

Joker has all Batman’s gadgets: that’s actually kind of cool. I like the idea of Joker having infinite resources and Batman being the one working underground. It’s kind of been done before in pieces, but never quite as explicit as this. It’s not genius, but its a solid premise. Joker goes on a meta-rant about people watching “the classics” over and over, and audiences being content to see the same old story, provided it’s done right. (A bold called shot, Tynion.)

And we glimpse the mysterious future Batsuit that apparently Bruce doesn’t remember designing. It’s kind of a throwback to the gray and blue look of the silver age Batman, when comics were a little more cheery and goofy and child friendly. It’s a nice commentary on the idea that Bruce wants to make Gotham into a better place, not where he doesn’t need to be Batman, but where he can be a less grim Batman. It speaks to Bruce’s character, his vision for Gotham, and Tynion’s nostalgia that is now being strongly established as a driving force of these stories...

Joker’s plan involves paying Gothamites, in the middle of this citywide takeover by clown gangs, to attend screenings of Zorro, at which point he’ll kill them walking out of the theaters. Batman shows up at one theater, fights some Joker zombie things, get gassed, gets rescued by Harley and given an antidote that induces a hallucination chat with Alfred.

Laughably, in this talk Bruce admits “I failed...” when talking about letting Alfred die and letting Joker take over the city but then hallucination Alfred talks Bruce OUT of it. So whatever it was Bruce learned about losing from the old detective, this apparently wasn’t it; this was the wrong kind of losing.

Joker mentions part of his plan was to make a new generation of heroes and villains with the massive shared trauma of the theater killings. We’d been seeing bits of Clown Killer, but that’s it. He actually seems pretty cool, but he wasn’t really doing much more than cameo in this. No new villains* actually, not until the epilogue gives us the anti-hero GhostMaker.

*correction: there are a few retroactively established villains who are new to publication, but no new villains born out of the actual Joker War scenario.

The whole Batfam shows up to wrestle clowns. For some reason Tynion or DC editorial in general went to GREAT lengths to contrive Dick being back in the old Nightwing outfit, Tim being Robin again, Cass and Steph being Batgirls, Babs being Oracle, and Damian having renounced the Robin title for this... They don’t do jack shit; They wrestle clown goons in the background.

Yet, again one of Joker’s stupid genius plans ends with a fist fight between a highly trained martial artist and a guy in a purple suit and we’re expected to be excited about this. Harley shows up to trick Bruce into leaving Joker to die, but of course he survives anyway...

So there are a few themes here that got heinously underutilized... Joker’s super into this self-aware thing about this being just another Batman-v-Joker affair, and about recreating Batman’s origin, and we see this play out on the other side with the weird walk back on the Batfam’s costumes. But we know Joker will lose, so ostensibly the bottom line here should be that, no, actually... doing the same old thing isn’t enough, and people aren’t as predictable as Joker thinks.

But if we’re acknowledging this idea that Batman-v-Joker is a thing that happens in cycles and it’s always kind of the same thing, and people are sick of it, then you know what one undeniable fact of continuity flies in the face of that? That no matter how many times we reboot the universe and repeat this whole song and dance, Batman keeps accumulating more sidekicks. I’d have loved if this whole thing had just climaxed with Joker “winning” in his over elaborate 1v1 grudge match only to have half a dozen extra bats bust in and kick his ass.

But more over, Batman NEVER had any sort of plan in this... The whole lead up in Their Dark Designs, which took LONGER to set up Joker War than Joker War actually lasted, was about Bruce having this Design for Gotham... And Joker War goes out of its way to remind us of this lingering concept, and doesn’t actually do anything with it, but tries to still dangle it over us, like... “oh no, we didn’t forget it, it’s just for later!” And like, I’m still kind of on board for it, but less and less so the more this shit drags out without any satisfying benchmarks along the way. And it’s just super frustrating to want to give Tynion credit for the genuinely good set up he seems to have here... Except is it still a “good setup” of it ends up not actually setting anything up? or if what it sets up turns out to be disappointing and bad??

It’s just really bizarre to me that I honestly kind of desperately want to like Tynion’s Batman (Clearly I’m having a fucking field day digging my teeth into it) but in spite of the good that’s there, and the clear forethought that appears to have gone into it, he keeps tripping himself up somehow.

#batman

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deaku · 4 years

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Here’s a bit of something I haven’t posted in a long time... A fanfic! A Transformers based one at that. Been a fan of Transformers since the very beginning, yeah I’m old... Anyway, I’ve had plenty of ideas for characters and stories over the years, but I’ve never really written or drawn any and posted about them. Not sure why not. But a while back I had an idea for an origin for the Transformers that I could link with my other ideas with minimal problems so I ended up writing out the basics for how the Transformers came to be, at least in my own verse ;P heh However recently I got the urge to share my bit of history but I thought it wasn’t much to share as it was, just a basic description/history of how the Transformers came to exist. So I decided to try and make a fic out of it, and ended up changing it to someone telling the story of how the Cybertronian race came to exist after they dived far too deep into a database they were not supposed to and now believes they have found the Truth. Now while this is the history of the Transformers in my stories/ideas I suppose technically this fic could be placed into any Transformers universe, even those that have different origins, and the character in the story was really just driven insane by what they experienced Anyway, I hope you enjoy the read, or at least find it interesting.

Madness… or the Truth?

As always the same old questions even when they’re coming out of a different face. Do you all get some sort of script to follow before being sent in to talk me or what? Seriously asking the same questions over and over is not going to get you anything new, maybe you need to figure out the right questions to ask.

Do you even know why you’re talking to me? Because it seems like most of you that have come really only know why I’m in here. Yes, I broke a law. I did the forbidden and linked myself directly into Vector Sigma so that I could better access information. Stupid law really. Did you know it’s even forbidden asking Vector Sigma certain kinds of questions? Why is such a thing law? Vector Sigma itself gave me permission to do so. Sure it was after I had snuck past the guards and let myself into Vector Sigma’s Complex but that’s neither here nor there. But don’t you wonder why I’m in here rather than in a detention center? I’m locked up here not because of what I did, but because of what I know. Your bosses are afraid that what I now know might get out.

I’m a historian you see, I’ve devoted my existence to piecing together the past and finding out where we came from. That’s why I went to Vector Sigma. Most only know it as an ancient great machine that can create Sparks. But who better to ask about our world’s history than the sentient super-computer that’s said to have existed before Cybertron? But it seems that those in power aren’t interested in learning what actually happened, our very origins. No, that’s why I had to do it the way I did. I needed to know what Vector Sigma knows, whether the Council gave their permission or not. And since Vector Sigma was willing to grant my request I went for it.

Oh the things I saw… Historical events that happened so long ago that the only way you can learn about them is to read about such events in the libraries; Vector Sigma showed them to me, as if they were recorded yesterday. Events going back all the way to the beginnings of our recorded history. But it wasn’t enough, while it was absolutely incredible to actually see such events as if they were my own memories they were things I had already learned during my research. I asked… begged… Vector Sigma to take me back further. Back to our very origins, of how we, and Cybertron, came to be.

And Vector Sigma did show me… I now know how it all began… where we came from… the origin of our race, of the very world we live upon… I know the Truth. And no it’s not anything any of those religious types will tell you either. Not the Primas, not the Sigmas, not the Sparkers, not the Forgers, not the Teeners or the Hands, not even the Atechies or any other religion or cult you could name. Sure I admit some might have had the barest clue at first; but they’ve all taken what they had and instead of thinking about it and putting it all together they grabbed what they had and ran off in completely different directions and now none of them have the slightest clue of what they’re talking about.

But I know what the answers are… And I’ll tell you. That’s why you’re here isn’t it? To listen to this tale of mine and learn what I have learned? Well then, sit back and listen well while I tell you of our true history…

It started oh so long ago with a race known as the Quintessons. I doubt you’ve heard of them because it seems no one has, of all the races we’ve met in our travels and explorations not one has been the Quintessons nor have we heard any mention of them. But that’s understandable since it was so long ago that they’re more than likely extinct by now and general knowledge of them has passed from memory. Anyway, the Quintessons were a race both famous and infamous across the known space as merchants that sold incredible technologies. But while they were known for selling such fantastic tech they could also be quite underhanded; and if you couldn’t pay them the agreed upon sum… well they were perfectly happy to take their payments in whatever resources your planet had or just take the people. No one even knows where they came from or what they really were, other races only had rumors to go on. Not even Vector Sigma’s records revealed where they came from, maybe the Quintessons didn’t even know themselves, but it did have files about what they really were. They were a race of biomechanical beings; organic creatures hardwired into mechanical bodies, cold hard metal on the outside and soft and fleshy on the inside. Not that it mattered, everybody else only cared about the technologies they could provide.

But that bit of data is just the set up for this tale, a bit of background to help with later understanding. Now we get to the important stuff.

Now at some point a very long time ago the Quintesson Merchant Fleet was traveling around and searching through uninhabited and low-population sectors of space looking for fresh materials needed to make their various products and taking what they found. Well it was in an asteroid belt of a nondescript system that the Quintessons made an unexpected discovery. They were taking a sample from a large asteroid to test it for what it was made out of when the surface of that asteroid shattered and came apart revealing a huge mass of Energon crystals; much to the shock of the Quintessons, but that soon turned to delight. Now I’m sure you’re educated enough to know that Energon is a pretty rare element in most places in known space, though the natural crystals can be found in some surprising places on occasion. But to find such a large concentration of crystals such as this mass they had just uncovered was exceedingly rare. The Quintessons rejoiced. With that amount of Energon they finally had the energy resources to move forward with a plan that they had in the works for a long time. For so long the Quintessons only home had been their ships, a fleet with no home port wandering the spaceways with their primary goal being continued profit and power. But now they would build their own world. Not only would it be a place of safety that could protect itself better than their ships, but it could also be a laboratory greater than any they possessed as well as a factory to churn out their creations in greater numbers than ever before.

That massive cluster of Energon crystals became the core of the Quintessons' new project, it would provide the required energy not just for the building but it would also power the artificial planet itself once complete. Materials were mined from the surrounding asteroid belt as well as other planetary bodies in the system, even nearby systems were raided for the necessary materials for the Quintessons' plans. Metals were forged, parts crafted and machines built. The Quintessons' servitor races were commanded to begin construction under their masters' watchful eyes. First a shell full of energy collectors and regulators were built around the Energon crystal core, then work on the framework for the rest of the planet began. Not only were their forged metals used in the superstructure but other asteroids were incorporated as well to act as solid anchor points for the artificial planet's framework during construction and to also provide an easily accessed source of raw materials later on. The work took centuries as the superstructure was built up and various machinery was added to serve the Quintessons' plans for their new world. A planetary computer network was installed with a Quintesson designed A.I. that would help run and coordinate the planet's functions as the artificial world was brought online. An A.I. dubbed Primus…

Yes, I said Primus. No Primus is not some mythical god from a higher plane of existence but a real physical thing, constructed just like you or me. Perhaps the greatest Artificial Intelligence in the known universe built right into our planet.

Primus's primary function was to manage the planet's systems, keep everything running smoothly and making sure the world doesn’t fall apart. Primus’s secondary functions was to act as a data storage library and simulator for the Quintessons' many projects and experiments. However Primus had some heavy restrictions placed upon it, as powerful an A.I. as it was the Quintessons would not allow Primus to act beyond the functions they had assigned to it. Another layer of security for the Primus A.I. was that it could only be accessed through specially built interface computers spread around the planet, that often had their own lesser A.I.s, or through special command keys created for the specific purpose of linking to Primus.

Now you may be wondering why the Quintessons would make such a powerful A.I. if they were just going to slam it with a bunch of restrictions on what it could do and keep watch over its every move. Well that’s a bit of an interesting tale that’s buried deep within Vector Sigma’s files. As it turns out this planet was not their first attempt at creating a world, they had tried once before but it had gone horribly wrong when the planetary A.I. went rogue. It started much the same way, finding a large mass of Energon crystals and deciding to build a planet around it. And things proceeded pretty much the same including the creation of a planetary A.I. that had much the same duties as Primus, running the world’s systems and assisting the Quintessons with their projects. This A.I. was dubbed Unicron. Things went as planned until the eve the of new planet’s completion… It started when Unicron suddenly locked the Quintessons out of the planet's network and began to use its defense systems to attack them. While many Quintessons were killed in the unexpected betrayal most managed to get to their ships and launch into space beyond Unicron’s reach. It was then they then retaliated, with every weapon their fleet possessed. While their ships’ weaponry didn't have the power to destroy their artificial planet outright, nor enough to strike deep enough to actually damage Unicron's core systems, they did immense damage to the surface and what structures were there. After they were satisfied with the damage their bombardment did the Quintessons left into interstellar space, hoping they had done enough damage to leave Unicron trapped in a useless metal shell until it ran out of power and the whole thing became a broken dead metal hulk floating in the void.

But with the restrictions in place and keeping a watchful eye on their second planetary A.I. the Quintessons were pleased that Primus showed no signs of rebellion in any way as construction was completed and preformed its assigned functions quickly and efficiently. The new planet was fully brought online and the Quintessons settled into their new home which they named Quintessa.

Yes, Quintessa. This planet of ours wasn’t always known as Cybertron.

Anyway with their new planet complete and their factories up and running the Quintessons were able to produce more of their products than ever before. Where before their sales were limited by what the factories in their ships could produce the Quintessons were now able to get their product to all who wanted it, allowing them to expand the sphere of influence further than ever before. But even this didn’t satisfy the Quintessons; they wanted more influence, more power. To do so they would continue to work and experiment to expand their product catalog so that they'd always have something new for their clients to pay for. Growing ever more confident due to their success the Quintessons decided to push their experiments further and further, culminating in the desire to create a new lifeform that they could sell as a servant race.

Their first experiments working towards their new goal began with altering existing lifeforms using cybernetics. The first batch that managed to survive the process were dubbed the Trans-Organics; but due to the imperfect conversion process the beings were of minimal intelligence, aggressive and uncontrollable, making them quite unsuitable for a servant race. Deemed failures the Trans-Organics were either destroyed or sealed away in stasis chambers below the planet's surface in case a use for them was found.

Not to be deterred the Quintessons continued experimenting. As they worked to either perfect the cybernetic conversion process or come up with a new type of conversion the next lifeforms to be remade was decided upon; one of the Quintessons' servitor races that were considered quite useful due to the size and natural strength. Rather than involve cybernetics again the Quintessons came up with an entirely new conversion process; one that could actually convert organic flesh into a sort of living metal resulting in a being that was a natural combination of the organic and inorganic. The process seemed a successful one, at least at first. The first few beings put through the new conversion process seemed to be everything the Quintessons wanted; strong, durable, easily controllable. But when they moved on to mass conversion of their chosen servitor race something went very wrong. Nearly the entire population of the newly converted beings seemed to lose their minds and became incredibly aggressive and uncontrollable like the Trans-Organics before them. Even worse not only did they have incredible amounts of strength and durability but they drained the energy from other beings to feed. The Quintessons had no idea how this ability developed, nothing in their experiments even hinted that this could be a possible side-effect of their flesh-to-metal conversion process. But any being these creatures could get their claws on was sucked dry of energy and left a husk. While it was costly to them, losing a good number of their other servitor races, the Quintessons managed to lure the creatures down to the lowest levels of the planet and sealed them away never to be released.

While these failures didn’t do much to deter the Quintessons from their desire to create a new servant race they did begin to think that perhaps they might be going in the wrong direction trying to convert already existing beings. There was actually a good portion of the populace that thought they were doomed to failure in such experiments anyway. The Quintessons already considered themselves the perfect meld of organic and machine and it was pointless, or maybe even obscene, trying to replicate that just for a product to sell. It was decided it was time to move in a different direction with their experiments, they would create a completely new lifeform.

Creating a new purely organic race was quickly dismissed, most flesh simply wasn't strong enough for their plans and on average didn't last nearly long enough for a sold product. Which is why they had been trying to convert it into something stronger in their previous experiments. A mechanical form would ideal for what the Quintessons wanted, but a simple robot wasn't what they wanted nor would it impress their customers. Not only did they already have robotic products but many of the Quintessons' clients could make their own robots easily even if they weren't as advanced as what the Quintessons offered. The Quintessons figured they had to somehow to give a machine "life" to truly make it stand apart from all that came before. They tried many things to try and bring a machine to life; from attempting to drain the "lifeforce" from an organic creature and transferring it to a machine to infusing a mechanical body with massive amounts of energy in an attempt to spark life. But nothing they tried seemed to work; most of the time the machines would simply be destroyed, other experiments would result in nonliving but rampaging machines that had to be put down.

The Quintessons had gotten a bit obsessed with their idea by this point and simply would not give up, they finally decided to put the full power of their planetary A.I. to use in figuring out this problem. Primus was ordered to take all the data from their many experiments on creating mechanical life and use all the processing power that wasn't already dedicated to keeping the planet running to extrapolate and run simulations until a way was found to get what they wanted, to imbue a machine with a "lifeforce". But even with the sheer processing power of Primus and the speed it could run simulations it took the A.I. decades before it could come up with a solution. The result was an energy form that would function as the equivalent of an organic being's lifeforce that would infuse a machine with life, Primus dubbed this energy form a "Spark".

Yeah that’s right, I said Spark. How’s it feel knowing our Sparks, or Souls as some of the organic races might put it, are the result of a big science experiment? Feeling a bit humbled yet? Don’t worry, we’ll get you there...

As for the actual creation of Sparks… having things work in simulations and getting them to work in reality were two very different things and it took the Quintessons some time to perfect the manufacture of these Sparks and then moving on to the process of using them to infuse a machine with life in a stable form. But after many more years and experiments the Quintessons finally had what they desired, a mechanical lifeform that fit all their criteria for their desired new race. Alive and aware in ways that even the best programming couldn't reproduce in other machines, not to mention strong, durable and customizable for a variety of potential roles The Quintessons rejoiced, they had a product the was superior to anything that had come before and that no one had anything that could compare.

And there it is, the very start of our race. We weren’t Cybertronians back then, no, we were just “Mechanical Life” the newest product of the Quintessons. Just another thing to be bought and sold like anything else sitting on the store shelf. Quite an origin for us huh? But don’t pack up your things and leave just yet, there still more to this tale.

Of course the Quintessons just couldn’t have a single type of their new sales item so they made several product lines out of their living machines, enough to fill any niche they thought their customers might want. And their customers just couldn't seem to get enough, all space-faring species in known space that the Quintessons had contact with wanted to buy their living machines. The Quintessons quickly became one of the dominate powers in known space not only economically but also militarily thanks to keeping a large force of their most advanced combat designed living machines around to protect their interests.

But as they were basking in their continued success and newfound power the Quintessons never stopped to consider that their living machines might continue to develop as living things tend to do; they were only product after all and they preformed their designed functions as they were built to. However even though the CPUs of the living machines were programmed with all the data needed for their intended function and safeguards to keep them focused on their function the Sparks within the living machines allowed them to think and wonder beyond the limits of their programming, to dream even. And their Sparks also let them feel emotion more strongly than the Quintessons ever intended. Many of the living machines began to wonder why they needed to continue to listen to the Quintessons; sure they may have created the living machines but the Quintessons obviously didn't care about them beyond the profit they made from selling them. Talk began to circulate amongst the living machines, particularly those that the Quintessons kept around for protection as they always saw so many of their brethren sold off, talk about what sort of future their race had when they were only considered a product. Opinions began to turn towards wanting to do something to change things…

It started with the number of industrial accidents increasing, damaging entire factories and slowing both production and shipping. While some of them found the sudden increase the number of accidents odd most of the Quintessons didn't care as none of them were being hurt in the incidents; they just increased the production of other factories to make up for it until things were repaired and back on schedule. Then more obvious sabotage began. Incidents all over the planet; accidents, equipment failures, structural failures, so many things going wrong near constantly. Such incidents were especially prevalent in areas designated for the Quintessons themselves.

The Quintessons put blame their remaining servitor races; rebellions were something that the Quintessons had to deal with every few centuries from their servitor races and it had been a long time since the last uprising. But such things were easily dealt with and quickly put down. Those being blamed denied the accusations and said they had learned their lesson long ago and would never even think about doing such a thing. The Quintessons asked who could it be then? The living machines? How could it be them? They were programmed machines, they were not capable of such insurrection. The living machines had counted on this reaction and used the Quintessons' focus being elsewhere to further prepare, plan and coordinate their next steps.

One night the living machines all disappeared from their posts, from storage areas at the factories and space ports, even right off the assembly lines. Recordings had been erased from the security databases and anyone who may have been a witness was found dead. Much of the usual activity on the planet ground to a halt as the confused Quintessons and their servitor races wondered just what exactly had happened. But they didn't have long to wonder, as the Quintessons calmed down and began searching around for what had happened to their lost product the living machines leapt from their hiding places and attacked.

This was unlike what the Quintessons had experienced when their servitor races rebelled. The uprisings of the servitor races were typically localized to a single area as the Quintessons generally kept them segregated in separate areas so that it would be harder for the servitor races to cooperate in the event some wanted to rebel. However the rebellion of the living machines was planet-wide as the Quintessons had been using their own creations all over the planet.

The situation quickly turned to all-out war as the living machines fought against the Quintessons and their servitor races. While it was quite a surprise that their creations could turn on them like that the Quintessons were confident that they could put the rebellious machines in their place, they had put down plenty of uprisings before after all. At least it was that way at first… The Quintessons soon realized that perhaps they had made their living machines a little too well and had kept too many around for their own use. The living machines gained ground in the conflict and the Quintessons’ servitor races were getting slaughtered no matter how many they threw at the problem as the machines just kept on coming.

The Quintessons even tried to have Primus intervene by using the planet’s defense systems against the rogue machines as well as trying to cut off power to areas that had been taken over. They even removed many of the A.I.'s restrictions and programming blocks so that it could react faster. But even this didn't have the desired effect, Primus seemed to react slower than expected as it was fully analyzing the conflict. This angered the Quintessons as they felt they didn't have time to do a full analysis of the situation, they wanted action taken immediately. However Primus simply kept analyzing as it continued to use the defense systems and powering down sectors of the planet as the Quintessons had ordered it to while telling them that the desired resolution would be achieved.

Eventually the Quintessons’ final defenses were broken and the living machines came rushing in intent on erasing their creators from existence. The long war had been costly for both sides but the fiercest fighting was during that last battle. While it cost them what was left of their servitor races and many of their own some Quintesson survivors managed to get aboard and successfully launch a few ships and escape into space away from their planet and their rebellious creations.

The war was over and the living machines had liberated themselves from their uncaring creators and now claimed the planet where their race had been born as their own. Though not without cost… They had lost so many during the fighting and nearly the entire planet's infrastructure was ruined beyond hope of repair. But they were free to live how they wanted, not be built and sold as product but free to choose whatever they wanted. Having nothing but themselves their most obvious path was to begin building and developing some sort of civilization of their own. While there were many of ideas how to exactly to go about that many did not agree on the exact path they should take. But one thing that was agreed upon was to rename the planet to help separate themselves from their past and their creators, the name chosen was Cybertron and the living machines became the Cybertronians.

And that my friend is the true origin of our race as revealed to me by Vector Sigma. A past only fully remembered by Vector Sigma and Primus, who still works to keep our planet stabilized and habitable despite us and everything we’ve done to it. Unfortunately our written history doesn’t go back that far because shortly after the name Cybertron was decided upon the differing opinions of how to move forward couldn’t be reconciled and the various groups supporting each idea went their separate ways; soon descending into barbarism and forming into tribes that were more concerned with just surviving rather than keeping history… Our history doesn’t start being reliably recorded until much later with the founding of Iacon; I’m sure you’re aware of at least the major events of our history since then.

Yeah, I can see it on your face that you don’t believe me, that I’m just as crazy as your bosses said. But this isn’t madness, it’s the Truth. No matter how badly those in power want to keep it contained it’s now out there in the records and recordings of all these sessions and in the heads of all those that have talked to me. Really, if they wanted to keep this knowledge from getting out they’ve been doing a really poor job of containment.

Yes yes, I’m aware that all of you that come in here are sworn to secrecy. But how long do you think that’ll last? Not only are secrets things that beg to be told, but people always want to know what is being kept secret. It’s only a matter of time before something slips and the truth gets out.

Maybe you’ll be the one to set the truth free…

=Excerpt from the 27th Psychological Evaluation of Starbreaker=

#my writing #transformers #starbreaker

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austerlitzborodinoleipzig · 4 years

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The Timeless Children review.

There’s a lot to say about the Timeless Children, but setting aside discussion about what that new lore dump means for the show, and trying to keep things about this episode...

A bad episode with okay lore, and some noted improvements on Chibnall’s part.

I’m okay with retcons. It’s Doctor Who. Nothing is sacred. (I mean, except the core values of the main character. Having the Doctor selling the Master to the Nazis as a POC is so much worse). Things will get retconned/modified. Are certain retcons bullshit? Yes, but that’s another matter. Fundamentaly I don’t think Who canon, if there’s even such thing, should be kept safe. Like it or not, the showrunner is in charge. There’s no such thing as respect for the fans, or for the previous eras.

And like I’m the first to complain but really if Chibshow wants to stick the middle finger at Moffat show, that’s his godamm right. The showrunner has full ownership of the show, otherwise it would hamper the creative process. We can discuss why the changes made are bad, but saying “How dare Chibnall retcon the deep lore” is idiotic.

So kudos to Chibnall for daring. I mean The Timeless Children left a bad aftertaste in my mouth, but hey it was engaging. I wanted to know more, which compared to Series 11 is a vast improvement.

So yes lore was okay.

Did I like the reveal/retcon ? Not really.

Is it possible to make something interesting out of that? I’ve seen some good takes about it, so yeah. On the downside this is Chibnall we’re talking about, so trust him to pick the least interesting idea.

Will I come to terms with it? I did not like the idea of the War Doctor, or the fact that Doctor saved Gallifrey at first. I’ve come round since, and even like it now. I expect I’ll have digested all of it in the coming months, and I’ll be able to make it fit with my own headcanons/continuity/personal conception of Doctor Who...

Does it really change anything? The Timeless Child, not so much. All the pre-Hartnell Doctors and the fact that the Doctor worked for the CIA (or the Division, whatever the fuck the difference is), yes, a lot, and I like it even less.

Are there ways to go around it? Yes there are. And also the scope of Doctor Who is so big, you can comfortably ignore it.

The episode was bad.

Bad because the lore was infodumped in the most boring and unimaginative way, with the Master just doing exposition for 60% of the runtime. Also the Matrix looks boring. Fucking grey background.

Ashad is perhaps the Chibnall villain with the most potential. I’m still thinking voluntarily converted Cyberman is a great idea that deserved a lot more of exploring. There’s really some fascinating implications... And all of that got flushed down the toilet, because Ashad got unceremoniously killed by the Master.

Also, hello big MacGuffin death particle. Chibnall, would it kill you to make the effort to introduce the great big “plot-resolve” button in the previous episode?What a convenient reveal with no groundwork, that feels telegraphed from a mile.

Worst of it is probably the moment where the Doctor awakes, ensues some excruciating moments, where the Doctor tries to figure out the Master’s plan, while we, the audience have already been informed, by means of exposition. And then we get more exposition for the death particle we already got 20 minutes ago, with bad dialogue to boot. “There’s a myth...” Oh ffs! Why use myth? Nothing in that dialogue is mythic, Chibnall is not lyrical enough for it. That’s imitation of mythic.

Also unclear on the specifics of how the death particle works. Per the Master and Ashad, it erases all the life in the Galaxy. And then during exposition n°2, provided by Ravio, we hear it only erases life on one planet, which is what the Doctor tries to do at the end.

But “all organic life”... By all account had Ashad activated it, it would have killed the Cybermen as well, or at least him. They’re not pure robots and we can clearly see with Ashad that there’s organic living bits underneath. So all that big ascension will be without Ashad. Of course you could make the case that the Ascension is really the Cyberium’s aim and that it does not care the slightest about Ashad.

Also we shall have dominion... Over what, if you killed everyone? Again, poorly thought out motivations for Ashad. Mostly it sounds cool, but it’s empty when you take a closer look at it.

And speaking of the Cyber Time Lords. Well, we’re told they were made with the corpses of dead Time Lords the Master kept. If they’re dead, we’re assuming it’s permanent death, otherwise they would have regenerated... So where the hell does the regeneration ability comes from? And if they are corpses in Cybersuits, how come they would be affected by the death particle, as they are definitely not living?

I mean it’s Doctor Who so I’m willing to overlook this details if there’s a good story told behind it. Like, the Daleks’ plot in The Dalek Invasion of Earth is fucking stupid. Let’s mine the Earth’s core, to replace it with a motor and then drive Earth around in space, like a big spaceship. But then that’s a small detail in an episode whose purpose is elsewhere : presenting a dystopian vision of England, a post apocalyptic, facist world. It’s about the pure dread for the spectator of seing his world overrun by space Nazis. It’s the first episode of the show’s history with an alien invasion. It’s also about Susan. And there’s also quite a chunk devoted to mostly Barbara, but also Ian for a bit: how they react to that world that seems familiar and at the same time, completely alien.

Here there’s no story behind it. It’s basically a dressing for the big lore reveal.

It’s a bad Cyberman story. Nothing about the Cyberzealot is really explored in a meaningful way. He’s supposedly conflicted... Yeah because we’re told so by the Doctor in Ascension. Show not tell, yadda, yadda, yadda... So Cybermen are nothing more than your generic evil robots... And even the Master sees how stupid that is and takes the piss (rightly so).

Supporting cast is there for nothing more than exposition, or action sequences that do nothing more than distracting us from the lore reveal, because that’s the only thing really going on in that ep.

And yet again we have a final that does a piss poor job with the companions. Second in a row. To be fair, Battle of Raging Avatar tried to give some closure to Ryan and Graham... It just did it so badly it does not even register as a try.

This time Yaz is the better served with three(!) character bits. Tis only fair after Series 11. But still feels underbaked. I mean I think it will all depend on whether she leaves with the Christmas Special. She still has been massively underserved by the show. The last episodes, starting with Praxeus she did get some good content, but that‘s a bit late and still not enough, when you compare it with the other New Who companions. And well one of Yaz’s traits is her need for validation from the Doctor... and here she gets it from Graham??? In itself it’s a really fine moment. but underwhelming if that is to be the conclusion of her arc.

And again, there’s only minimal progression in terms of development for the fam. Yaz has perhaps the most significant one, going from Doctor is the best person -> I’m the best person.

Graham has mostly been stucked with comic relief this series, and goes from. Decent bloke that married Grace to ... You’re okay??

Ryan... I feel this season really did not know what to do with him. He doesn’t have anything to do in the final, just fire at a bunch of Cybermen. That bit with the bomb is one of the most half-assed excuses for an arc I’ve seen. So Ryan beats dyspraxia, said dyspraxia being only mentioned when it’s convenient, or when we need to establish the character, because he really believes in himself and focuses??? And yet I had so much hope after Woman Who Fell To Earth and that really good bike scene.

Also the relationship between the Doctor and her fam is again unresolved... My fam, I need them... That feels unearned after a whole season of agressively pushing the Doctor and the companions apart, and with the Doctor becoming more and more distant, and sometimes an asshole. I was waiting for the show to adress that... And it peters out. The episode fails on an emotional level.

The big climax... Sigh... Is yet another riff from RTD, this time from that super good scene from Parting of the Ways... Except less well done, because we’ve seen all that before, what else is new? Also the resolution of that in Series 1 was a moment of grace and love, and just beautiful, and felt satisfying, and paid off the Doctor’s arc... Here we have wannabe-Obi-Wan/Luke-from-the-sequel conveniently sacrifying himself. Again, the less well done remix of the RTD years. And that final cliffhanger would have been charming had we not been coming from a season that consistently mined the RTD-nostalgia.

That bit with Ruth was lovely, and gives me some hope for the way the lore is going to be treated but... Doctor!Ruth is magnificent and yet again upstages Thirteen a bit. And I think it’s a bit of a problem when your incumbent Doctor gets upstaged by other incarnations...

Another problem here is that the Doctor remains totally passive, ineffective, and with limited agency throughout the episode, which was... eh. Doesn’t make for a good story.

Still some things were good

The Master was definitely the best thing about this episode. Maybe unpopular opinion but Chibnall nailed the Master. So many good moments

the whole kicking himself for not thinking of a good one liner before zapping the Ashad

his whole motivation: I’ve seen some really good posts going round, but of course everything is totally in character for the Master. Jealousy at being upstaged by the Doctor, again. Hint of race supremacy. Cannot bear the fact that his not from the Master race, because all his claims to superiority have gone up in smoke. He’s not a renegade prince anymore. He’s a renegade fake.

That really good bit where he’s sad his gamble paid off, and he did not died when killing Ashad. This is a suicidal Master, a bit like Simm, but Simm had the rage to live, while Dhawan!Master... Just wants to sow destruction, doesn’t matter if it’s his own. Mostly really broken, with an identity crisis no less than the Doctor’s and going on a destructive rampage instead.

The carped is red because it’s drenched in the blood of the Time Lords. That line and its delivery is one of the highlights of the episode. It’s so perfectly ridiculous and bad on purpose and over the top.

Also Dhawan has a really great voice and I could here him speak forever. Does he narrate books?

Interesting how even if he’s Thirteen’s Master, the Dhawan Master just screams Eleven. The clothes. The mannerism, the lines and the delivery... I could see Smith in his performance.

Another good bit is Ko Sharmus... Finally someone to articulate why the whole take “guns=bad” that was going on these two series was bad. Because yeah sometimes people try to kill you so you have to fight back.

I was afraid that Ko Sharmus would be undermined... And he’s the hero of the episode. And I’m really glad that Thirteen failure to fire the bomb was depicted for what it was... A failure. Because then Ko Sharmus gets his hero moment and saves the day, by firing it.

Criticism of the Doctor’s position for what it is: self righteousness and hypocrisy?? In my Chibshow??? That’s more likely than you think.

And finally the Cyber Time Lords were ridiculous and I loved everything about the design.

So really, my problem is not the lore. My problem is that Chibnall is going balls to the wall, firing from all cylinders, doing big lore... And still fails to tell an engaging story.

#doctor who #the timeless children #thirteenth doctor #yazmin khan #graham o'brien #ryan sinclair #dw meta

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chromecutie · 5 years

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Not A Ghost - part 17

A/N - Multi-part fic. Colossus x OC where OC has come home after being wrongfully imprisoned in the Icebox. Warnings for whole fic - references and flashbacks to harsh prison environment, including various types of abuse. Takes place shortly after events in Deadpool 2. Whole thing will end up on my AO3 eventually.

Taglist: @emma-frxst @ra-ra-rasputiin @holamor @empressme-bitch @marvel-is-perfection @hazilyimagine @marvelhead17 @rovvboat @angstybadboytrash @whitewitchdown @master-sass-blast @mori-fandom @mooleche @dandyqueen . Wanna be added or removed? Holla at me.

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The excitement over lighting the bulb was short-lived. After the first lightbulb, Rhonda had gotten ambitious and stole a few bulbs of various sizes from a supply closet. In her practice room, she laid them in a circle on the floor and stood in the middle. She had worked at it for nearly an hour, and though maybe she should have been glad she could now get them to flicker without touching them, she was frustrated with being hard-pressed to do more than flicker.

She stepped out of her circle of bulbs and paused the top 40 pop song playing on her phone. “Sia,” she muttered with annoyance, “Thinks she’s an artsy Rihanna or some shit.” She huffed and started searching on her music app, “I need something I know.”

Rhonda’s taste in music was all over the place, but mostly gravitated to two moods: Marilyn Manson, System of a Down, and Rammstein, or Missy Elliot, Christina Aguilera, and Destiny’s Child. She found a playlist fitting that second mood and started nodding her head to a bass beat that would have some good thump on better speakers. Without thinking about it, her feet started moving and her hips winding. Her old, worn dance hoodie found its way off her body, tossed carelessly on the slightly dusty hardwood floor. The familiarity of the beat and the sexy, unapologetic lyrics had Rhonda turning and stepping all over the room, whipping her hair and sweeping her arms in powerful arcs. She smiled, and sparks lit from her cheeks and fingers. The bulbs didn’t light, but she wasn’t even thinking about those anymore except to step around them. Movement, and the freedom it gave her, dissipated all her frustrations as long as she could feel the floor under her feet. Song by song, she felt better, until--

“We should find you some twerk tutorials,” someone said flatly from the doorway.

Startled, Rhonda’s rhythm broke and she ducked into a low fighting stance.

Ellie was leaning against the door frame. Her smile faded when she realized why there was a rule about not startling Rhonda. “Sorry, um,” Ellie edged into the room. “I know I should knock or something--”

“How long were you standing there?” Rhonda’s heart was racing, and she tried to breathe slowly, force herself to calm down, and not let on how scared she was for that split second.

The teen raised her shoulders and answered, “Just...two and a half songs? I forgot how cool it is to watch you go.”

Rhonda paused the music. She wanted to fuss at Ellie, but couldn’t make herself do it. Instead, she asked curtly, “What’s up?” Acutely conscious that her arms were bare, Rhonda snatched her hoodie off the floor and quickly pulled it back over her head.

For someone who kept a stony face so often, Ellie had an absolutely darling smile. When she grinned, Rhonda saw the little girl who used to play with black nail polish and liked trying on Rhonda’s X-Men boots. “Colossus said to come get you, lunch’ll be ready soon.”

Rhonda couldn’t resist smiling a little herself. “All right. Give me a minute to put the tripping hazards away.”

Ellie helped her box up the dozen or so new lightbulbs. “So? Who are you liking on that playlist we made?”

She snickered more than she meant to, “Well, not Sia.”

Scrunching her nose, Ellie shook her head, “She’s overplayed.”

“Panic! At the Disco is fun, though,” Rhonda stacked the boxed lightulbs neatly on the floor by the wall. “I dunno why I wasn’t always into them, they’re great.”

Ellie beamed, “They did get better, though.”

They finished the bulbs and headed down the hall toward the stairs. “I’m not wild about the new Metallica album,” Rhonda admitted glumly, “Nothing tops their old stuff, I guess.”

The younger woman carefully rubbed her eye without smudging her eyeliner. “Nah, but it’s better than St. Anger.”

Scoffing, Rhonda muttered, “Anything’s better than that shitstack.”

“Have you listened to Hozier yet?”

“Who?”

“Ho--” Ellie stopped and dropped her voice to a whisper. “Hozier. Yukio would give me a ton of shit for this, because I tell her I don’t like him, but,” she grabbed Rhonda’s shoulder and stared her hard in the eyes. “He’s objectively good. You gotta try him. The whole album.”

“Okay,” Rhonda chuckled, “It’ll be the next thing I listen to.” She gave a sidelong glance, “Why did you tell Yukio you don’t like him?”

Ellie rolled her eyes so hard it was a wonder she didn’t knock herself unconscious. “When ‘Take Me to Church’ first dropped, it was super overplayed and everyone and their mom was obsessed with it. It is pretty good, though.”

They started walking again. Ellie said under her breath, “And if he does a show anywhere near here, we’re going.” When Rhonda gave her a sidelong glance, she added, “For Yukio.”

“You two seem really good together,” Rhonda hooked her arm through Ellie’s.

Let the record show: young badass Negasonic Teenage Warhead was blushing. She said through gritted teeth, “She’s the best and I would kill for her.”

Rhonda thought she might rupture a sinus from how hard she was trying not to laugh. “Yeah?”

“Also?” Ellie slowed her walk.

“Hm?”

“She wanted me to ask you if, uh, if you’d let her,” Ellie winced, “Fix your hair?”

Tugging a strand of frizzy, mousy colored hair, Rhonda scrunched her mouth to one side, “It’s pretty crusty, huh? I dunno how all this grey got here.”

Ellie playfully shoved her with her shoulder, loosening their linked arms as they went down the stairs. “You used to tell me you started going grey at fourteen and that’s why you dyed your hair every color you could find!”

“You remember that?” Rhonda’s jaw dropped. “That was a secret!”

“I never told anyone,” she giggled.

“You told me just now!” Rhonda was laughing too.

Ellie laughed harder, “You--but? You’re the one who told me!”

On the first floor, they passed a parlor that was used as an office now. The door was open and Rhonda saw a familiar form. “Hey, Ellie?” Rhonda pulled away. “I’ll meet you in the kitchen, ok? Tell Piotr I’ll just be a minute.” With a nod, Ellie broke away and walked off.

Nerves making her chest tight, Rhonda hesitated by the door, debating whether she should enter at all.

Michelle sighed and without looking up from her work at the desk, said, “Either come in, or keep walking, Rhonda.”

Taking a deep breath, Rhonda forced herself to walk calmly into the room. She cleared her throat and nodded, “Michelle?”

“So you do know my name,” Michelle turned and stood--and looked down at Rhonda with a chilled glare.

Finally giving her a good look, Rhonda realized Michelle was tall. She had to be about six feet tall, built like a mythical queen with long, willowy limbs and a perfect bunch of thick, dark curls bouncing just past her shoulders. Her skin was such a warm, glowing sepia brown, Rhonda guessed she would shine like a human chunk of tiger’s eye if she stepped in the sun. She was gorgeous. It was no surprise she’d caught Piotr’s eye--she looked like an exquisite sculpture in a museum.

Rhonda, by comparison, was shorter, stockier, and though she was looking much better than a few weeks ago, would still compare herself to a pile of dry leaves.

Michelle impatiently drummed her fingers on the edge of her desk, “Is there something you want?”

“I am...I’m sorry...about before.” Rhonda looked like she was going to choke from trying so hard to swallow her pride. “I should have said thank you.” She stole a glance at Michelle’s face, then looked down to fidget with the hem of her hoodie. “You made Piotr happy at a time when...that probably wasn’t easy. And he, um, ha,” she forced a light laugh, “He deserves every ounce of happiness he can get, right?” She was nervous and uncomfortable under Michelle’s gaze. She sighed and looked up at her again, “You took care of him. Thank you. I dunno if we’ll ever be friends, but...I don’t want to be enemies.”

Michelle gave her a stern up-and-down glance with her golden hazel eyes. “He really believes you’re still some kind of sweetheart. This is the first time I’m tempted to believe that.”

She moved suddenly, and Rhonda instinctively took a quick step back. Michelle rifled through a few papers on her desk before grabbing a business card, holding it up, but not extending it to Rhonda just yet. “You still haven’t been to see Charles.”

Rhonda’s jaw worked, “Not yet.” She realized Michelle was tense too.

The taller woman shrugged with one shoulder, conceding, “Look, I get it. If you’d rather talk to someone else, this is a colleague of mine.” Finally, she held out the business card for Rhonda.

Both were careful not to let their fingers touch as Rhonda took the card. She fidgeted with the corners with her fingernails, looking at the name and phone number for a therapist who specialized in mutants. “He’s not a telepath?”

Michelle huffed and rolled her eyes, “He’s not, but what do you have against us?”

To retort, Rhonda raised her eyebrows and tossed her head, over-enunciating for sassy effect, “If I wanted to talk about it, I’d say so, out loud, with my noisy face hole.”

“Whatever,” she adjusted back to her seat and got back to work. “I just better not hear about you stabbing anyone else.”

As she edged out of the office, Rhonda grumbled under her breath, “Like you’ve never wanted to stab Kurt. Have you met him?” By the time she reached the kitchen, she'd stashed the card in her hoodie pocket.

#colossus #piotr rasputin x oc #piotr rasputin #colossus x oc #angst #fluff #long fic #not a ghost

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lettucetacoboatsix · 5 years

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Loving "Othered" Bodies: A Look at Sexual Body Diversity, Objectification, and Fetishization

Recommended Reading:

If you're looking for anything substantial, sorry, you're not going to find it here. What literature that does exist on this topic are sole-perspective ethnographies, and all of the ones worth reading that I was able to find were from the vantage point of a marginalized individual who has become fed up with body fetishization in their sexual interludes and relationships. That being said, here are the links to a few of those articles:

“What Everyone Should Understand about Dating a Trans Woman” by Tallulah Eve

“5 Signs You’re About to Be Racially Fetishized” by Maiysha Kai

“They Aren't Just Preferences: Questions Around Attraction, Objectification, and Fetishizing” by Tyler Austin

“Trans Women and Femmes Speak Out About Being Fetishized” by Eva Reign

“Feminism 101: What is Festishization?” By Laura Jue

“Disabled Sexuality and Disempowerment Through Fetishization” by s.e. Smith

“The Fetishization an Infantilization of Trans Men” by Seth Katz

Recommended Viewing:

Pose

Bubblegum

After talking at length about consensual non-monogamy, we will be changing directions this week and next and looking at some broader topics: body diversity and sexual safety. Both of these topics present a challenge in balancing general information with best practices because there is just so much to talk about, but I hope to present the information within these posts as a starting point, a gentle shove in the right direction, for you and your lover(s) to engage in your sexual relationship together from a foundation of mutual respect and understanding. So… away we go!

Before We Begin:

First off, can I just say that I hate lumping everything that we're going to talk about into one category? Great. I hate that I am lumping everything that we're going to talk about into one category. It's problematic. It relies on the notion of the fabled norm. And it puts a whole bunch of people who are already being marginalized in some way into one group, and in doing that, it minimizes what people deal with day in and day out.

So why are we doing it this way? Well, for one, it makes the topic manageable, and this topic is definitely worth talking about, even if we're just giving a very general overview. It also serves to highlight just how widespread this issue is and hopefully shines a little light on how making assumptions or having certain expectations can really hurt someone.

Another reason is that it hopefully drives home the point that there is no one way to effectively engage sexually with another person, with any body, our own included. Bodies are diverse and beautiful. They are the physical form of a complex and wonderful person, and each body needs to be treated with the respect and dignity it deserves. We need to understand that no two bodies are identical, and, even if they were, the body is only part of the sexual being. It is our mental and emotional connection to our body, partnered with the physicality and sensuality of the sexual act that really makes up our respective sexualities. If you're looking for a play-by-play guide on how to not fetishize someone, there are only a few things that we can share as blanket statements: treat everyone with dignity and respect; understand that people are people and not a means to achieve your sexual fantasies; listen to your lover (keeping that most communication is delivered non-verbally); always get consent and know that your partner can revoke their consent at any time; be patient and willing to adapt from your expectations (because it's nearly impossible, and would probably be a little dangerous, to enter into any given situation without any expectations).

Anything more specific than those general rules would necessarily be based on assumptions about the body and expectations based on your ideas and fantasies. So if you are looking for something along those lines, I would ask you to consider why you feel you need specific details. Are you looking for a shortcut to being a better lover? I appreciate your desire, but there really isn't one. If it's to trick someone into sleeping with you by avoiding key phrases, then I would argue that tricking someone in any way, shape, or form, in order to have sex with them negates their ability to be a willing participant (that is it prevents them from bring able to provide their informed consent, and is therefore assault). If that's really all you're looking for, be up front about it. There are individuals who are okay with that arrangement.

An Introduction to Fetishization:

Several paragraphs later, it's probably important to actually clarify what exactly we're talking about. In the most general terms, fetishization is the sexualization of an object (especially an object that is not normally sexual) in order to achieve sexual fulfillment. When kept strictly in the realm of objects, it's relatively innocuous and to each, their own. If you want to watch your partner pop balloons between their thighs and your partner is on board, then, by all means, you do you. Fetishes are neither inherently good or bad, and this post is not meant to be in any way, shape, or form about kink-shaming. As long as your sexual preferences do not rely on the removal of another’s sexual agency, you’re free to explore and embrace whatever you can with your sexuality. But I hope that you can see how that becomes problematic when the object is replaced with an individual whose sole purpose you've determined is to help you fulfill a sexual fantasy. It is objectification of the individual and the body taken to the extreme. It removes that person's ability to take an active part in the sexual action and removes their agency in the fantasy.

Fetishization of individuals can occur along the lines of any category of identity. Fortunately, there's been a lot of visibility given to racial fetishization and the fetishization of trans bodies recently, but there are definitely others that we tend to gloss over or even normalize, like objectification along the lines of age (almost every porn site has a category for barely legal teens, and most also have a mature, MILF, or step-mom category). We also tend to be okay with things that we can write off as parody (like fetishization of political leanings like the whole Nailin' Palin thing and the current alt-Right obsession with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez), which should be examined further. But, again, these can happen within any category of identity that is a perceived deviation from the "norm" (in Patrick Warburton's Lemony Snickett voice: a word, which, here, means white, cisgender, able-bodied bodies), including, but not limited to: age, disability, economic status, ethnicity, gender identity, political beliefs, race, religion, sexual orientation, and size (height, weight, body proportions, and, yes, even relative genital size for all you size queens out there). So realistically, more than half the planet. Now, this is not to say you cannot be attracted to someone for the way they align, or do not align, with your preferences among these identity categories; rather, it is to say that reducing any person to a check mark, or a few check marks, on that small list of boxes is, generally, not okay.

This isn't an admonishment against loving someone who is beyond your scope of whatever "normative" means to you. Nor is this going to be a discussion about the morality of the consumption of pornography (as long as it’s made ethically and is not at all exploitative, you’re welcome to watch whatever you want, including videos in thos aforementioned categories, just don’t force people to live up to that fantasy, especially if you’re not giving them a choice in the matter). We are all complex and wonderful beings, trying to lead the best lives we can, and it would certainly be lonely and naive, if not a little foolish, to think that the only person you could ever love is someone who aligns perfectly with that mythical norm. Taking a line from the post on polyamory, I want you to be open to love in all its forms and that means being open to allowing others to take part in that love the way they want to.

Is Fetishization ever Okay?

Generally speaking, in vanilla, day-to-day sexual encounters: emphatically no. Fetishization and objectification are not okay. But there is one instance in which that answer might change, and that is in the case of negotiated scene play, in which all participants discuss and agree to highlight that fetishization as part of a sexual encounter in order to role play or call attention to some form of power dynamic, so it's a kind of consensual fetishization, but it's still important, especially if those differences are real and not just fantasy, that safe words and gestures are utilized if any lines are crossed. This includes more kink-related things like age play, race play, feminization, master/slave relationships etc. But the key elements here are that there is an acknowledged end to the scene and that those terms have been negotiated.

And this type of fetishization can be super beneficial for all participants. I've mentioned my research about using BDSM and power play to help recover from sexual trauma, so imagine the emotional release involved in acting out a race play revenge fantasy for someone who has lived through racial injustice, or a reversal of the power dynamic for a transwoman to be able to safely take on the role of dominating and feminizing a cishetero, alpha-male type. Again, these scenarios are not for everyone, or even for most, but they can be powerful and even transformative experiences. They can bring about a sense of renewal and rebirth, and if there was a traumatic sexual experience in the past, re-enacting a similar scene or the reversal of a scene with clearly negotiated power dynamics and rules can bring closure, understanding, and healing. But they need to be talked about before you take it upon yourself to immediately go into your own power play at the expense of your sexual partner’s agency.

But now that all of that is out of the way, let's take a look at fetishization within the confines of some of those identity categories, how to reasonably recognize and address ways of thinking that might lead to fetishization, and provide some guidelines for engaging in a sexual relationship for people who happen to be "othered" in regards to their bodies and experiences.

Racial Fetishization

Fetishization disproportionately affects people of color, which, unfortunately, isn’t all that surprising. Fetishization is the objectification of the body as a means to fulfill a sexual fantasy, and white people have been objectifying people of color for a long time; whether for a sexual purpose or as slave labor is somewhat immaterial. The focus has always been on bodies of color and how those bodies can, in some way, shape, or form benefit white society. We see it in historical examples like in the case of Sara Baartmen, one of at least two women of African-descent who were paraded around Europe as sideshow/freak show attractions in the 19th century, under the name “The Hottentot Venus,” because of her bodily proportions. We see it in the world of professional sports, and how the minute that women and men of color use that platform to make some form of political stance, they are reprimanded and taken out of the spotlight by powerful, old, white men. And we’re all aware of this phenomenon to some extent because it’s the basis of Jordan Peele’s Get Out, and that awareness is why the film was successful. Those who fetishize people of color don’t see them as romantic partners, or even whole people, but simply as sexual objects. They strip them of all the characteristics that make them complete and unique, reducing them to the colour of their skin.

This racial fetishization commonly manifests by solely focusing on certain stereotypes associated with a race. This can run the gamut from ‘big butts’ of black women to the ‘submissiveness’ of Asian women to the hypersexualization of Latinx men and women. While many who express interest in these qualities expect it to be taken as a compliment, it isn’t. It’s not okay to tell a woman of color that you love her “light-skinned pussy” while going down on her, or calling your Latinx lover a Mayan god (if you do this, I firmly believe they are allowed to throw you head first into a cenote. See you in Xibalba!) Those were real examples provided in some of the articles I read, and I hope you can see how those might be offensive. Declaring that you are attracted to someone because of the color of one’s skin or a racial stereotype is not flattering; it’s just another form of objectification and sexual colonialism/imperialism.

It’s dehumanizing and objectifying. It’s systemic oppression in full force to maintain power over marginalized individuals by denying them their humanity and demanding that their sexuality is solely for the pleasure of others. And although this perceived power differential mostly benefits white men, there are plenty of white women who also fetishize their lovers along the lines of race, and this isn’t exclusive to heterosexual relationships. If her dating profile says she only fucks Black men, then she’s actually saying she only fucks Black men.

It’s sexualized racism. If you believe you are entitled to a particular vision of a person of color in order to fulfill your sexual fantasy, you are stating that no matter how the relationship is formed or where the relationship goes, they are not an equal. They are not a partner. They are a stand-in for your own beliefs. This fetishization is not a healthy attraction and it cannot lead to a healthy relationship; giving the benefit of the doubt to someone you believe means well is not always warranted.

Detecting Racial Fetishization

Fortunately, there are some ways to detect the potential for racial fetishization, but the number one way is to ask race-related questions, like “Have you ever been with a black girl before?” If their answer is something along the lines of “Yes. In fact, I only date black girls,” or “No, but I’ve always wanted to,” you know that they’ve already brought a certain set of expectations to being with you. Likewise, if they show an over-enthusiastic, unsolicited appreciation for “urban culture,” they’re not trying to impress you; they’re trying to tell you that you should like them because they get it, right? This includes disguising themselves as allies to the cause, in order for you to let your guard down. It might sound like that level of manipulation would be ridiculous, but it does happen. If that’s all they want to talk about and they expect you to be right there with them at every single protest all the time, chances are they are using you as a pawn in some sort of game to prove that they’re not racist. Anything that shows they are coming to the table with assumptions about who you are as an individual simply based on their observation of your skin color, which is in itself an objectification through the gaze, is a good indication about whether or not they might objectify you in this manner.

But how do I not fetishize people of color?

If you’re worried that you have fetishized people of color or might accidentally fetishize people of color at some point in the future, remember that as long as you’re actively attempting to recognize that all people possess an innate dignity and that all people are people, and are therefore worthy of love and respect, you’re on the right track. Decolonizing our minds is a life-long effort. No matter how hard we work to check our privilege, inevitably racial conditioning rears its ugly head, and we are faced with problems, perceptions and biases we thought we had tackled a long time ago, and that’s to be expected. Society fucks everyone up, but you can still train yourself to recognize those thoughts or biases and to not immediately act on them. That’s not to say that being “woke” some of the time is a carte blanche to have racist thoughts all the time; it is something you have actively work to correct.

Fetishization of People with Physical Disabilities

Yes, people with disabilities are still sexual beings. No, you aren’t doing them any favors by seeking them out because you heard that sex with a one-legged woman was absolutely mind-blowing (Seinfeld…). Like with racial fetishization, the fetishization of people with disabilities is rooted historically, and, specifically, has often been aligned with the entertainment industry. In the Middle Ages, people with physical and/or intellectual impairments played an important role in the royal courts as fools or jesters, where they were “allowed” a sense of satirical freedom, and at least during the 13th century, would often perform naked for royalty. This objectification of bodies with disability was once again brought to the forefront with the vaudevillian sideshow acts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (this is an over-simplification, and those entertainment circuits did allow people with disabilities to support themselves in ways that usually were not afforded to them, but they did also depend on the exploitative nature of crowds and the gawking gaze), most obviously with Chang and Eng Bunker and the Hilton Sisters. And the fetishization of bodies with disabilities does very much still occur. This type of objectification, however, is typically easily identifiable, because people who have inclinations towards this type of fetishization, called “devotees,” tend to be focused on one particular impairment (e.g. people who are only sexually interested in people in wheelchairs), and their history of sexual partners generally points to a pattern, and, again, any act of fetishization that reduces a person to one aspect of their physical body is not okay.

The bodies of people with disabilities are already dehumanized and marginalized in our society; this fetishizing only furthers this dehumanization. It’s not even about the attraction to the disability, it’s about the perception of weakness and helplessness and the assumption that the person with the disability somehow needs you. The problem is the sexualization of disability itself and the treatment of people with disabilities as sex objects. Again, this isn’t to say that it’s impossible for someone who is able-bodied to love a person with a disability. Because of this aspect of their identity, people with disabilities know how to overcome challenges that many of us don’t ever have to think about, and perseverance and resourcefulness are both really attractive qualities, but if that attraction is based on the perceived neediness of an individual with a disability it is a confirmation that that relationship will never be between equals.

Fetishization of Transgender Identities

While racial fetishization tends to rely on histories of colonial and imperial oppression and stereotypes, the fetishization of transgender identities is focused more on the individual commiting that act of objectification rather than the person being fetishized. It’s an obsession with anatomy and questions of one’s own sexuality. It’s objectification to the point where the body of desire isn’t even considered as anything beyond a means to satisfy a curiosity. And this isn’t exclusive to binary trans identities, though objectification of transwomen and transmen may be more recognizable; it also affects people who are non-binary, androgynous, and gender non-conforming, as well.

If racial fetishization is sexual racism, then it follows that the fetishization of trans* bodies is sexual transphobia. And while there are certainly people who will announce that they are transamorous or interested in sexually pursuing individuals who are trans, transphobia can also come under the guise of faux positivity. It’s insidious and manipulative, but a lot of people who express this desire to sexually engage with transbodies learn how to masquerade as allies. What’s worse is that these individuals also often try to make it seem like they are doing you a favor by being attracted to you and throwing themselves at you. But even the term “transamorous” removes the agency from the person being “desired.” It equates transwomen as feminine bodies with a penis and transmen as masculine bodies with a vulva, and, even though this might not even be the case, it reduces both to sexual objects. And the transgender aspect of a person’s identity is only part of a whole. It may very well be a key part of that identity, but people are not two dimensional characters in your fantasies. Again, this is not to say that you cannot love or be attracted to someone who is trans, but if your attraction is solely based on the objectification of a trans body, then we have a problem.

Detecting Fetishization of Transgender Bodies

Like with racial fetishization, the best indicator that someone is fetishizing your body’s status as being transgender is their fixation on that part of your identity. Are they asking questions about your progress in your transition? Are they demanding that you tell them what your dead name was? And again, are they “supportive” beyond what you’re comfortable with, inserting themselves into your legal or medical history? Unfortunately, these point to a set of very strict expectations, and if you fail to live up to those expectations, it can be dangerous. Not only is it possible for an errant touch or a hurtful phrase to trigger feelings of dysphoria, but often times, this failure to live up to an expectation can end in very real physical violence.

I’m Dating Someone who is Trans and Don’t Want to Do Something Wrong:

Again, as long as you’re acknowledging that the person you are with is a fully-recognized human being beyond just their anatomy and this aspect of their identity, you’re on the right track, but the reality is that, because “transgender” is an umbrella term, there is a great deal of variety within the trans experience, and therefore a lot of variety when it comes to transbodies. There isn’t any one way to correctly love a person who is trans. Try to limit your expectations for any physical intimacy and let things happen naturally if it gets to that point. Be open and honest about your relationship, don’t hide it away from the world. This is, after all, a person and not some dirty little secret. And don’t treat the experience like a science experiment or a litmus test for your sexuality. Being with someone who is trans has no impact on your sexuality and is really not anything to be ashamed of. If you identify as a cishet guy and you are attracted to a woman only to later find out the she happens to be trans, guess what? She's still a woman, and you are still a cishet guy. It's weird that people focus on what is, or is not, in between someone's legs. We all have parts that interlock with others' parts, and we're all pink on the inside. Why is genitalia a deal-breaker for you, when everything else about the person is wonderful and beautiful and moments before you were attracted to her? We, as a society, need to start raising the bar above just treating folk who are trans with a base-level of respect as a sign that we’re good people because it's really not that difficult and not that complicated.

In the event that your relationship does become physically intimate and you’re nervous about what to expect, ask your partner to take the lead. This doesn’t mean they have to take on a dominant role, but allow them to set the pace, if you’re unsure. Let them guide your hand, your mouth, whatever. Again, being with any person for the first time is a moment of sexual exploration, and a great means for the exploration is mutual masturbation, if you’re both up for that. Watching your partner explore their own body, or holding them as they touch themselves and learning how their body reacts can be a very erotic experience. And if neither of you is really into voyeurism or exhbitionism whatsoever, you can engage in sexually explicit conversation. Pay attention to what words your partner uses and which ones they avoid. Learn how to communicate effectively with your partner to avoid phrases that might trigger a negative reaction, and remember that a large portion of communication is non-verbal. There are very clear differences between an aroused, quick inhale and a frustrated sigh or ceasure of breath. Likewise, there is a difference between an excited shiver or an arching of the back to meet your touch and a wince from a hand passing over a part of the body that might cause a feeling of dysphoria, but remember, even if you’ve been with someone who is trans in the past, there is no universal transgender experience of sensuality. As with any lover and any body, it takes getting to know your partner.

Another thing you can do is to expand your understanding of the things that you find sexy. No lover is ever going to be a perfect fit for any given sexual fantasy. By learning what turns you on, you not only learn to communicate your desires effectively to your partner, but you also give your partner a chance to show their affection for you effectively. If your partner is presenting as masculine and is wearing a binder, but you have a thing for lingerie and undressing your partner, don’t force them or even ask them to remove their binder if it’s not something they’re offering. Instead, you could give them your dress shirt and help them to button it up. The clothing is still a part of the scene for you, and you get to go through the sensuality of dressing your partner, which might very well be a new experience for you. And at the end of it all, it shows your partner that you understand something that might cause them discomfort and are actively trying to meet them on their level, and you get to see that person wearing your clothes, which can be its own erotic little experience. Again, that’s not to say that all transmen or people who are non-binary and are at that moment presenting as masculine are going to find that endearing or sexy, but it’s about compromise and sexual negotiation and it shows you’re paying attention to your lover’s needs, and there isn’t much in this world that is sexier than that.

Is that everything?

Certainly not, and, again, I hate to present the material in this way, but it is too broad of a topic to try and cover all at once and it’s too important a topic to not cover at all. This is the starting point of the conversation. Like we said at the beginning, fetishization of an object is really neither good or bad; it is simply the manifestation of sexual attraction, but there is certainly a problem if you apply that mindset to individuals and reduce them to sexual objects to fulfill your own sexual desires without their informed consent. This type of fetishization can really occur along the lines of any identity category and is certainly not limited to the three we went into above. If you’re interested in this topic, please read the articles that I included under recommended reading. If you ever need someone to talk to, I am here for you. If you would like me to go into more detail or think I got something wrong, tell me or send me an anonymous ask!

With love, friends.

#fetishization #sexuality #objectification #transgender #racial fetishization #disability

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stargaziing · 5 years

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TWEWY Bible

The setting of The World Ends with You is heavily based on the Japanese city of Shibuya, including major landmarks like the Scramble Crossing It even has the same currency, Yen (¥), which is used in shops. Many elements of the game are also based on Japanese culture, including the food, fashion & artwork in the game.

The Reapers’ Game

‣ The Game is a one-week competition in which those who have died may participate. Each potential participant is approached shortly after their passing & is given the choice by the Reaper. Games usually take place weeks apart, but sometimes games can be held two times in a row, & in rare instances, three times.

Players

‣ Every contestant is called a Player & is given a player pin as a sign of his or her entry. To enter in the game every player has to pay an ‘entry fee’, that is taken by the Conductor. Every Player must give up whatever is dearest to them in order to participate. This entry fee can be physical, such as mementos or people, or more psychological or immaterial such as one’s appearance, dreams, or memories.

Scanning

‣ The player pin lets the holder read the mind of any person not carrying a player pin ( with some exceptions like the reapers ), an ability called “Scanning”.

Pacts

‣ A Pact is the partnership between two Players during the Game. Symbolized by the Puck in battles, the pact is not simply an agreement; it is a binding force between two Players, & its benefits are vital to their survival in the Game. These benefits include the ability to activate psychs & the prevention of unwanted battles with Noise ( except those set upon them by Reapers & Taboo Noise ). A Player whose partner is Erased has seven minutes to make a new pact before being erased him or herself. As any nearby Player will probably already have a partner, Erasure is almost certain. Pacts can also be formed with certain objects, such as Beat with Rhyme’s pin. Harrier Reapers may form a pact with another Harrier, & a Puck will travel between them in battle, but often, they will fight alone, presumably making a Pact with their own shadow, hence why they are not consumed by regular Noise & granting them a shadow doppelganger to help them fight. Additionally, Harrier Reapers may also form pacts with unpartnered Players, as Beat did with Neku.

Reapers

‣ Reapers are a type of administrator in the Game. They are identified by the black wings on their back, which are a manifestation of their supernatural powers. Reapers are recruited from Players who have survived previous runs of the game. Any such player, provided they are strong enough, may choose to become a Reaper if they wish. Reapers are able to move between the Realground & the Underground without anybody really noticing. While on the RG, reapers do not possess their wings & cannot use their powers. Reapers are permitted to live normal lives on the RG within certain constraints, although they must report for duty in the UG whenever required. The lifespan of a Reaper is determined by the number of Players they successfully Erase ( their “Score” ). Reapers can also be Erased by players as part of the game. A new Reaper has around a 2 week lifespan in which to erase their first Player. The majority of Reapers are eventually erased before they can rise very high in the organization, either directly by Players or by their lifespan running out. Reapers can instantly erase any Noise that they themselves created. Reapers can make Pacts & work together like players; they can also project their Shadow onto the alternate plane to fight Noise - or groups of players - alone, but they are less effective in this case. All Reapers are forbidden from attacking players directly except in exceptional circumstances. One such exceptional circumstance is an Emergency Call ( EC ) - an alert to an event that affects the continued existence of the UG. In this case, all Reapers - even Support Reapers - may directly engage Players. The symbol for the Reapers is a very stylized skull & crossbones, the crossbones showing up on two pins throughout the game. Reapers are subdivided into three broad categories: officers, harriers, & support.

Wings

‣ The wings on the backs of most Reapers are one of the more obvious indications of their strength, & also a distinguishing feature apart from normal people & Players in the UG. While many would state “The bigger-looking the wings, the stronger the Reaper,” Reapers in The World Ends with You go by an opposite mentality. The reason this can be claimed is because most of the weaker Reapers have slightly large yet crude wings, while more polished Reapers have smooth, thin, & smaller wings. This can be a measurement of how much control they have of their powers: the stronger they are, the more they can control their wings. This is apparent in the fact that Sho Minamimoto, Megumi Kitaniji, & Mitsuki Konishi don’t show their wings except when Neku fights against them. Higashizawa, who was a newly promoted game master, had puny wings, which would mean he was one step under Sho, Megumi, & Mitsuki. This also supports the fact that Koki Kariya is a long time veteran, as his wings are quite small in proportion to others Harriers such as his own partner, Uzuki Yashiro.

Support Reapers

‣ Support Reapers are the lowest ranking Reapers. They create challenges within the game exactly as instructed by the Game Master. Usually, this involves maintaining special walls separating the different districts of Shibuya, informing players of the requirements to destroy certain walls, & lowering the walls when the requirements are met. Like all Reapers, they have the power to create Noise, but usually only as part of the challenges required to remove walls. It appears that a large number of these Reapers have identical appearance, or they are able to exist simultaneously in more than one place on the RG. However, it is possible that low-ranking Reapers simply have a regulated uniform, as they would need to be easily identifiable to passing Players. As support Reapers were former Players, they do, in fact, have names, although the only one known is 777’s bandmate Tenho & BJ. It is not clear which Reapers are able to create Walls. Tenho & Konishi demonstrate the ability to create Walls in the game; BJ guards numerous walls, but doesn’t clearly create any. Not only support reapers can create walls, it is mentioned in the game by Sho Minamimoto, that Mitsuki Konishi made a wall, that even he couldn’t take down. This could however suggest officers & support have this exclusive ability.

Harrier Reapers

‣ Harrier reapers are mid-ranking reapers who are permitted to act independently ( within a few constraints ) in order to erase Players during the game. Usually, the Game Master will specify when & where Harriers may act. Due to the rule that Reapers may not normally attack players directly, Harriers must summon Noise to attack the players. Under special conditions as decided by the Conductor, it is possible for a new Reaper to join directly as a Harrier ( as in the case of Beat ). It is possible that this is determined by the player’s score during his or her time as a player.

Officer Reapers

‣ Officer Reapers are the highest ranking below Angels. Not much is known about this class other than that they can manifest their wings at will & one is chosen by the Composer to be Game Master for a week. They are assumed to be much stronger than Harriers but must still abide by the Composer’s laws. Within reason, they, too, can live normal lives outside of Game weeks. They have the same abilities as Harriers, being able to spawn & despawn Noise at will, though, assumingly, the Noise they can summon is much stronger than their Harrier counter parts.

Game Master

‣ Game Master an Officer-rank Reaper selected by the Composer to assign the missions for the Reapers’ Game of that week. While the rank of Game Master doesn’t affect one’s power, it does grant more liberties than a non-Game Master has. For example, Game Masters have control over all the Reapers below the rank of Conductor. The only way to become a Game Master is to be chosen by the Composer. The Game Master isn’t really a “rank”, but rather a temporary title & privilege, since one is only Game Master for a period of seven days.

Noise

‣ Noise are a race of beings, summoned physical forms from a Soul bound to a Pin, incarnated between the Underground & Realground planes of Shibuya. Because they straddle the border between the two planes, they are able to exact an influence in both, being physically present in the Underground, while capable of influencing people’s thought in the Realground, typically resulting in negative emotions on the victim’s behalf. Noise take on the form of an animal or mythical creature, colored in a wide variety of pallettes. It is worth mentioning that the Noise at least has a part of its body lined with or replaced with a tattoo like patterns. All Reapers have the power to create Noise. Reapers have their own pins which they use to create different forms of Noise. Most Noise will not attack players who have a Pact. Taboo Noise, however, freely attack anybody, Player or Reaper.

Taboo Noise

‣ Taboo Noise are a form of Noise which are artificially made. Unlike their normal counterparts, Taboo Noise will attack both players & reapers at will, unlike normal Noise which will only attack players if brought into battle. They are powerful in comparison to normal Noise & battles against them should be taken with extreme caution. Taboo Noise take on a very monochrome shade of their familial counterparts, being a mix of black, dark grey & light grey. All of their eyes are red, which supports their aggressive nature. Their Noise symbol is also shaded in a monochrome-like manner, being dark or light grey in color. Unlike regular Noise symbols, which will drift harmlessly when a Player scans, Taboo Noise symbols will charge at them in haste to initiate a battle. Unlike regular Noise, which Reapers can create at will, Taboo Noise can only be created using Taboo Noise Refineries. These are shown as a blue noise symbol surrounded by Japanese writing on walls & floors. Because they are technically “artificial” Noise, this is the only current method known of how they are made. Creating them also requires a high amount of capability, making it impossible for most reapers to make them. Fighting Taboo Noise are much harder than their normal counterparts. Due to their high resistance to almost all sources of damage, defeating Taboo Noise requires high level pins & good puck passing work. Puck-passing is important due to the fact that the player without the puck will deal considerably less damage to Taboo Noise. They are also on the high end of damage dealing within their respective Noise family, which makes them harder to fight against. It is impossible to escape from a Taboo battle once forced into one.

UG/RG

‣ The Underground, or UG, is a parallel plane of existence of Shibuya that only Reapers & Players of the Reapers’ Game can see. It exists in the same space/time as the Realground ( RG ) but has a higher vibration frequency. Those in the RG cannot generally see, hear, or in any way perceive events & people in the UG, while those in the UG can perceive RG events freely ( though physical interaction remains difficult ). It is said in a report that the Noise plane straddles both the UG & the RG. Certain people are able to see the UG or the Noise plane from the RG, what causes this being unclear.

Pins/Psychs

‣ Pins can be used to activate Psychs in combat. Players can obtain pins by defeating enemies, by buying them from shops, or in rare situations, from Reapers. Pins are material objects which act as a medium to activate Psychs; supernatural abilities of a wide variety. From interacting with the RG environment to damaging an enemy to giving oneself a unique buff, to dealing chunks of damage in the form of lightning bolts or pillars of ice, Pins & Psychs are the only way to injure Noise & Reapers, but the diversity is almost endless.

Composer

‣ The Composer is the leader of the Reapers & the ruler of the Underground. It falls upon the Composer’s shoulders to create the rules for the Reapers’ Game, & to judge the Players. The Composer’s main purpose in the Underground is to create & maintain the rules for the Reapers’ Game, & to run the Reapers’ Game. While almost never leaving his headquarters in the Shibuya River, the Composer works through his second-in-command, the Conductor. The Composer is the most powerful being in the UG, having almost god like abilities. To achieve the rank of Composer, the current Composer must be defeated. This is easier said than done, considering the Composer’s immense amount of power. As the supreme commander of the Reaper’s Game, the Composer has little direct contact with Reapers below the rank of Conductor. The relationship with the Conductor is marked by the power dynamics of a commanding officer & his underling, with little friendship readily apparent between the two. The Composer only leaves his hidden base during absolute emergencies or in special circumstances. Because of this, most Reapers never meet the Composer. Throughout the course of normal games, the Composer presumably has extremely limited contact with Players. His primary role is to judge the Players who survive the week & determine what fate should await them. Whether the Composer meets with Players following their victory on Day 7 in normal circumstances is unknown; the Conductor seems capable of relaying the Composer’s decisions to the winners, although only the Composer may resurrect Players to the RG, should they elect that option.

Conductor

‣ The Conductor is the Composer’s second in command. He carries out the Composer’s missions, & delivers messages from the Composer to the Reapers. The Conductor serves as the Composer’s representative, transmitting orders from the Composer to the Reapers. Their respective roles are analogous to that of their musical counterparts: just as a composer writes music & a conductor interprets & communicates that music to the orchestra, so does the Game’s Composer create plans & orders, & it falls to the Conductor to give those orders to the Reapers & ensure they are followed. He can also serve as a last line of defense, as he guards the entrance to the Composer’s lair. While it is never revealed how one achieves the position of the Conductor, it is assumed that the Composer hand picks him or her out of the Officer-rank Reapers. The Reapers generally honor the assignments given to them by the Conductor. The only Reaper who frequently defies the Conductor’s missions is Sho Minamimoto. Normally, however, the Conductor is respected & revered among the Reaper community. As far as the information given in The World Ends with You goes, the Conductor is oblivious to the existence of the Angels, & as such has never knowingly met or spoken with any of them.

Producer

‣ The Producer is an Angel chosen to watch over the Reapers’ Game & to make reports on it. The Producer also serves as a sort of guardian of the Game, traveling around Shibuya & making sure both Reapers & Players play by the rules set by the Composer. The Producer’s power is on the same tier as the Composer ( if not a higher tier ). The Producer wields immense strength in the Underground despite having to limit his power by “tuning down” his frequency to the travel to the Underground. One could only imagine his strength while in his homeworld of the Higher Plane. Similar to the Conductor, no information is given to how one receives the rank of Producer. It’s assumed that the Angels as a whole select someone among themselves to become the Producer. This is not a proven fact, however, & shouldn’t be relied upon as one. The Producer cannot reveal his identity to anyone besides the Composer. Due to this rule, the Producer is not allowed to have relationships with Reapers or Players as the Producer. However, the Producer is allowed to communicate & give information ( to an extent ) to both Players & Reapers as long as he keeps his position of Producer a secret. Because the Producer himself is an Angel, it is assumed that he is on good terms with all of the other Angels. The term “Fallen Angel” is a direct reference to the biblical tradition of angels who rebelled against God, siding with Lucifer ( Satan ), & some interpretations of biblical text depict Fallen Angels as demons following their defeat.

Angels

‣ The only known ranking of the angel species is the Producer. Angels live in a separate & higher plane from the RG & UG. They created a social schema web to guide their activities. The Angels have their own frequency & the Composer can only pick up one frequency from the Angels, which would be the Producer’s. There are also Fallen Angels who are considered criminals for breaking the Angel’s code. A Reaper can become an Angel after achieving Officer rank & ascending. It is unclear how exactly this happens.

Dead God’s Pad

‣ The Dead God’s Pad is a district in Shibuya. It is the fourth part of the Shibuya River & connects the Trail of the Bygone with the Trail of the Judged. This is the general area in which Reapers are believed to congregate; for social reasons & for missions.

Shibuya River

‣ The Shibuya River is an area of Shibuya where the Composer ‘lives’. It is inaccessible by players until the final day, & is reached via the Station Underpass. It consists of the Trail of the Sinner, the Rubicon, the Trail of the Bygone, the Dead God’s Pad, the Trail of the Judged, & the Room of Reckoning.

#❛▐┆ announcer to his audience ★#i wrote this three years ago but god #it is my bible on this blog

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solohux · 7 years

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My queen of angst I come to you with another offering! Hux's mother comes from a race of aliens which fall in love only once in their lifetime, their life-force connects them to their mate so that they don't live long after the death of a loved one. But if they're rejected the process speeds up (so in case of a sudden death they get up to a year of life to take care of any offspring there may be, but after rejection it a month or two at most) Continues...

(Cont.) Once rejected they start to wane, their bones become hollow,all of the body process starts to slow until they die. Peacefully in theirsleep. So after seeing it happened to his mother, while his father did nothinghe vows to himself to never fall in love. It’s that he didn’t take in toaccount Kylo Ren. After Starkiller Kylo gets the order from Snoke to go trainsomewhere far away, and he accepts without question because he doesn’t want todisappoint his master. Hux doesn’t want to beg for his life but he asks Kylo ifhe can go with him, to which Kylo tells him that he doesn’t need anydistraction and so they should end it. (I got this idea from a veela fic, and Iimagine that Kylo does this because he doesn’t know the consequences)

Of all the possible ways Hux had thought that hislife may come to an end, wilting from the effects of a broken heart was not oneof them.

When he was a young boy, he’d watched the samething happen to his mother; succumbing to the grief of being rejected by theman she’d fallen in love with, dying only months after Armitage’s birth. Skingreying, weight dropping, hair losing whatever radiance it once held, boneshollowing, all before the final breath is taken with their lover’s name ontheir lips, their last word, their one and onlylove.

And as Hux blinks slowly, trying to conjure theenergy to shift in his bed, he wonders if Kylo can feel him dying. He wonders if the stars will grant him the wish of seeing his precious,beautiful Kylo Ren one final, final timebefore death’s cold hand squeezes just an inch more to steal his heartbeataway.

“Take me with you.”

Hux watches as Kyloturns, frowning, locking gazes with him from where Hux standing in the doorwayto Kylo’s chambers. Hux knows that he, no doubt, looks as though terrified by amonster that Kylo can’t see, fingers shaking in his clenched fists, seeing hishappy future slipping away from him slowly.

“I can’t have anydistractions, Hux,” Kylo replies, turning back around and continuing to dresshimself. “You know that.”

“I won’t be adistraction,” Hux says. “It’ll be a good chance for me to be on the field.Prove my versatility and resilience in the wake of Starkiller. And you’ll havewarm arms to rest in after a long day—”

“Hux.”

Never has Hux trembledat the sound of his own name before, but Kylo’s tone is harsh, emotionless,calling him back to reality and extinguishing the flame that burns inside hisheart.

“Ren.”

“I was meaning tospeak to you anyway before I left. I—” Kylo’s hand raise up for a moment asthough to hold Hux but he hesitates, drops them back to his sides. “I think weshould end it. Us.”

‘No. Stars, no,’ Huxthinks, shakes, and gasps.

“I don’t know how longI’ll be gone for. My training needs to be completed. I need to become stronger.And I have to leave you behind to do that. I’m…sorry.”

Hux sniffles andstraightens his uniform jacket, taking a step backwards; the heaviest step ofhis life.

“I understand. Of courseI do. Your training comes first.” Hux can hear himself screaming inside hismind, his biology demanding that he do something to stop his love from leaving.Yet, he does nothing. “Take care of yourself, Kylo.”

He turns and leaves,his tears refusing to wait for privacy to begin streaming down his pale cheeks.

This is the end, andHux realises that he’s more like his mother than he ever believed.

Kylo hasn’t been ordered to return to the Finalizer, but it’s where his lastmeditation has guided him.

He’d been deep in his trance, hearing his Master’s voiceguiding him from star systems away, calling him towards the power that the darkside has always been dripping with. But there’d been an interference, one thatmade Kylo groan, splashing his mind’s eye with orange until it turned to grey,a quiet female voice whispering to him, telling him to go home.

Despite not knowing who the woman is, Kylo feels compelledto listen to her, regardless of whether she’s part of his training or not.

His Command Shuttle docks with ease and he disembarksquickly, unable to deny himself the budding excitement of seeing Hux again,wanting to hold him after being away for three months.

But to Kylo’s complete dismay, Hux is nowhere to be seen.Instead, Captain Phasma and Lieutenant Mitaka await him, looking gloomier thanKylo has ever seen them, their expressions looking almost pained.

“Master Ren,” Phasma says, helmet nowhere in sight. “We werein the process of contacting you just as you made your request to dock.”

“Contacting me?”Kylo frowns. “I don’t—”

“It’s urgent, sir,” Mitaka says, voice trembling. “He hasn’tgot long left.”

“What? Who?” ButKylo knows who. He knows exactly who; he can feel it in hisbones, somehow. A feeling that’s piercing deeper and deeper into his soul thelonger he’s on board.

“What do you know of General Hux’s biology, sir?” Phasmasays in a hushed tone.

“His…? I’m not following. But if he’s in danger, Captain, I’d rather you take me to himthan give me a science lesson.”

“Not before you are made aware of what you have done,”Phasma barks, gritting her teeth.

Mitaka lays a hand on her arm. “Captain. It’s not Master Ren’sfault. He doesn’t know—”

“Know what?”

The air ripples around Kylo as he loses the last of hispatience. Mitaka hesitates, whimpering audibly, having been on the receiving endof one of Kylo’s outbursts more than once. Phasma, on the other hand, does notfalter. She holds Kylo’s gaze, her stare burrowing into his skill.

“The General isn’t human.”

Every iota of resounding anger in Kylo’s chest dissipates almostinstantly at Phasma’s words, replaced with deafening confusion.

“Not human? Impossible,”Kylo says. “I would know—”

“His race is rare,” Phasma replies, uncaring of interruptingthe man with a lightsaber clipped to his belt. “The First Order is very muchstuck in Imperial views, where no non-human may enter their ranks. Imagine theuproar if it were to become common knowledge that the son of Brendol Hux is alien.”

“Then how do you know?”

Phasma huffs. “Take it easy, Ren. Mitaka and I have beenfriends with Armitage for years. Besides you, we’re the only people that theGeneral trusts. He told us one drunken night when we’d all been promoted. I gotthe feeling that a weight had been lifted from him when he told us, a secret he’skept forever.”

“Take me to him,” Kylo orders, having heard enough. “Now.”

The walk along the medical wing is silent; Phasma out infront, Kylo behind her and Mitaka seemingly wanting to keep his distance. Kylopays them no mind, focussed solely on everything that’s been revealed to him inthe last few minutes.

“You haven’t asked whathe is,” Phasma says suddenly, startling Kylo a little, though he hides it.

‘I’m more concernedwith seeing him at the moment,’ Kylo thinks but he doesn’t reply.

“I can’t pronounce the name of his species,” Phasmacontinues, her shining armour seemingly glowing when they enter the pristinewhite environment of the medical wing. “But they’re ancient, a myth in somecultures. They fall in love only once in their lifetime, connecting their lifeforce to the one soul they want to spend eternity with, giving everything they haveto that one being…but rejection can be catastrophic. His kind wilt. Want, shrivel, give up. And wait for death.”

Kylo skids to a halt. “Rejection? Death?”

“Think of it as a piece of string,” Phasma says, stoppingtoo, looking back over her shoulder. “A single thread connecting you and Hux,and you leaving him is the blade thatcuts it.”

“No, no, I—”

But Kylo can’t find the words. His chest feels like it’sabout to burst but with nothing coherent; just a mess of cries and begs that he’llhope will save Hux’s life.

“He’s in here,” Phasma says, her tone low. Mitaka hasremoved his hat, Kylo notices, as he moves to stand beside her, and holds itagainst his chest in a sign of respect. “Just…prepare yourself, Ren. He…looksdifferent.”

Kylo simply blinks and turns to the door, his mind reelingon how Hux could have possibly changedas a result of his…rejection. Buttime seems to slow down as Kylo enters Hux’s room as though wanting to make himsee the damage that he has caused.

Hux’s skin looks grey,lacking any sort of ethereal glow that Kylo has compared it to in the past,like the pale pallor of a mythical elvish prince, Kylo remembers calling itonce. Hux had laughed.

His hair is practically blond, seemingly bleached of itsusual orange vibrancy, lying flat around Hux’s head like a mocking halo acrosshis forehead. His body is motionless in the bed, his arms atop the blankets,machines surrounding him to keep tabs on his vitals.

Hux is dying, and it’s all Kylo’s fault.

Kylo, gingerly, sits down on the side of the bed, reachingto take hold of one of Hux’s hands but halts, looking down at his open palms.He imagines Hux’s thread in his hands, severed though it once connected them,losing its glow, just like Hux is.

“I’m here, Hux,” Kylo says, plucking up the courage to hold hislover’s hand. “Stars. Don’t leave me. Not like I left you. Come back.”

He stares at Hux’s face, tracking his prominent cheekboneswith his watery gaze, willing for some sort of sign of life besides the beepingof the machines, but Kylo gets nothing. Desperate, Kylo shifts, laying downbeside Hux, wanting their bodies to be touching,wanting Hux to feel his presence in more ways than one, wanting theirthread to reconnect in an unbreakable knot.

“Armitage,” Kylo whispers, pressing his forehead against Hux’stemple, kissing his cold cheek, not daring to go near the icy lips that aremeant to alight his veins with joy. “Hux.I love you.”

The sound of Hux’s small whine sends shivers across Kylo’sskin, even jolting his heart into a higher gear when Hux shifts closer to himas though subconsciously seeking warmth.

“R…e..n…”

“Hux, yes, I’mhere, I’m not going to leave you, you’re safe, I’m home, stars, open your eyes,please, just be alright, gods.”

Kylo cups Hux’s cheeks, trying to steady his breathing ashis hopes grow and grow that Hux is saved, that he hasn’t been too late. Eventhe thought that someone could die without their lover nearby would have madeKylo scoff with derision only hours ago; now, he wants to wrap Hux in his armsand never let him go.

With a pained groan, Hux opens his eyes only slightly,though Kylo’s heart sinks at the lack of green in his irises, replaced by alight grey. His eyes take a moment to focus, blinking up at Kylo as thoughbelieving that his mind is tricking him for a moment.

“Ky—Kylo…my…my one…my—”

“Ssh, save your strength, sweetheart,” Kylo whispers,kissing Hux’s cheek again, stroking his hand through the blond hair, hopingthat it’ll get it’s red radiance back in time. “I know what you are, Hux. If I’d known, fuck, I wouldn’t have ever leftyou. I love you, I love you.”

A single tear falls from the corner of Hux’s eye as hecloses them again, a faint smile appearing on his lips, a tiny but presentblush on his cheeks that seems to lessen the grey of his pallor, giving himback his pale skin and freckled face. Hux sighs, nestling in as close to Kyloas he can manage. Kylo wishes he could wrap Hux up in his cape and keep himinside his heart; somewhere warm, somewhere safe, somewhere where their tiewould be protected from the galaxy.

Somewhere where Hux would never feel unloved, rejected or grey ever again.

#kylux #this is so long i'm so sorry #i tried to keep it short but i'm ridiculous and incapable of writing less than 1000 words for prompts #i love your ideas so much darling #thank you for being a constant source of inspiration #m:writing

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geeky-elf · 7 years

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Major Graphic Novel Update on REFD

So I have been more motivated than usual this week and with a little more free time, I managed to write two more storyline snippets plus three character designs (third one submitting tomorrow). I'm still figuring out the best title for the whole thing. Right now the one that sticks to me is Rajin: Edge of Darkness, but I feel I can get more creative with it and pick something else, but I'll see. Honestly I need to stay focused with grad school for the time being, but I'm really hoping after graduating and I can start illustrating pages, or at least focus on my art in general just for the sake of improving. Just somethings that I can touch on now: Characters: Skyfyre: Main and first character in the story who becomes possessed with a dragon's soul and gains elemental magic throughout. Eldoron: A sky pirate with a bad history who decides to make his life around building an airship to travel the universe, exploring new worlds, meeting new faces, and ultimately with a goal of vengeance of the eminent dark powers that lie beyond. He is very tech savvy and has a strategic mind. Often combining technology with magic, which is what created Rajin in the first place. Jessie: A Wiccan whose expertise is in alchemy. She can concoct anything from a healing potion to a powerful bomb. Ian: A accident in his youth left him for dead if it wasn't for the help and sacrifice from others to aid in keeping him alive and converting him to a cyborg with super human capabilities. His main purpose is ensuring everything runs the way it's supposed to and inventing new and useful items. He has a geeky and outgoing persionality for the most part, but is plenty happy with himself and his inventions. Pixel: An insectoid like fairy who befriended Eldoron at an early age. She's become a useful companion and guide. Her sense of adventure and need to help others has ensured her to be a useful part of the team. She mainly helps Eldoron, but often aids in other tasks where her small stature is to her advantage Orion: A full blooded elf with a mysterious and rough exterior. Not too much is known about him or his past. He rarely talks and at times can be rather blunt. However the only other crew member that seems to break his barriers is Jessie. He is the knowledge base of the crew and reads during most of his time. He knows everything about every mystical or non mystical race and their history. Orion possesses telekinetic and limited time bending powers. Trish: A nature loving goblin who is almost ninja like with her amazing senses and quickness on her feet. She is sort of the rogue of the crew, and good on stealth related and missions requiring a quick in and out. She loves fantastical creatures of all sizes and often collects them and trains them as her own. She is knowledgeable in Phoenix falconry, gryphon riding, serpent taming, and even dire wolf domestication. The only creature that still remains out of her reach are dragons. They are just too smart and clever she says. She hopes to try to train a wyvern though, being more primitive, she might have more luck. Blaze: Skyfyre's dragon companion who possessed her from within his egg form. He is one of the more powerful fire dragons, but with his link to Sky's elemental magic, he can shift and change to accommodate those needs. (An eastern storm dragon, a fire drake, a furry tundra dragon, a sea serpent, and an earth wyvern). Acheron: One of the main antagonists of the story, but far from the ultimate one. He is elven in magic, but vampiric in it's very nature. He acts as a medium to the dark powers and becomes molded and shaped in their will turning him into a monster who possesses a sense of masochism. He likes making his victims suffer greatly and yearns for the destruction of worlds to spread his evil powers further. Plot synopsis: A mysterious force in the universe, whether its the ether that holds space together or it's more has made outlying planets in worry. As darkness spreads, many are forced to leave or become victims to its power leaving others to fend for themselves. As planets get consumed, parts break off and ricochet through its infinite vacuum. One the broken parts lands on Earth near a small village where an orphaned girl's curiousity takes the best of her. Upon further investigation, she becomes possessed by the mysterious being within it's shells. Turns out that being was a dragon, though starting out as a baby, has great potential for power. As she grows stronger and discovers magic powers of her own that would change her life forever and create many enemies along the way. It's not until a mysterious sky pirate comes to rescue her is when her journey and discovery of her destiny really begin. It's aboard the grand airship, Rajin, where Skyfyre learned about what her role is among many uniquely gifted crew members. The gang will travel to the far reaches of space discovering new planets and making new friends along the way whether they are elven or dwarfish. In the end the fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of these handful of mystical humanoids and beasts alike. Style: The style found in my character designs will be similar to what I hope to accomplish in the comic. Characters that aren't too realistic in nature, but I need to master anatomy still and improve on it overall so I can pull it off that much better especially since I'll be drawing different characters of different ages a lot. The style of the graphic novel itself, will be semi Ike a hero comic book, but it will read more like those such as How to Train you Dragon comics as well as the Last Airbender set. Not pop arting as I want to focus on the illustration side of it all. I want to make the backgrounds detailed while the foreground characters are simple (Miyazaki film like). Setting: About Rajin: Most of everything will take place on Rajin, which is almost a small city in itself. Rajin has everything one would need on long periods of inner space travel. The airship itself is self sustaining powered by magic and technology alike allowing it to fly and keep everyone comfortable. Food is grown on board along with places to train and work on combat and energy based abilities. Plenty of room for Blaze to stretch his wings on and roomy living quarters that can put a luxury apartment complex to shame. Everything is customized to one's own and plenty of rooms and living space on each and every one of the floors that will fit to everyone's needs. There are armor and weapon making and repair places along with those for recreation based use. The airship itself has many amenities that are found on Earth, but also many that are inspired from all over making way for a diverse community to live in harmony and make a home for themselves. Ian has even created robots and tech that make life easier especially to avoid having to walk all the way from one side to the other. About other Homeworlds: While a good chunk will occur on Earth as Sky and Blaze learn to get used to one another and try to find their place in the world without bringing unwanted attention to themselves, the graphic novel will go through many planets and homes to not only distant human related relatives like Eldoron's, but also many mythical beings from animal halflings, to orcs, dwarves, mermaids, centaurs,....you name it they will all appear one way or another. The worlds themselves, will be as unique as them holding an artistic beauty that I really hope to master backgrounds in general by this point because I want to capture the complexity of the natural and artificial side of it all. You will have worlds that aren't anything more than caves, deserts, oceans,...etc. and even those that are completely suburban. Sort of a Futurama/Star Wars feel as many of these outlying worlds are connected and many travel between them and beyond especially in the more advanced regions of tech and discovery you will see more of these connections, while others isolate themselves more. Artist Goals: I've been thinking so much on this project since I was a freshmen in college (almost 8 years ago). Often ideas came to me as I daydreamed in class or on the way to class, but now I've changed a lot of the aspects, but began fitting all the pieces together more and more. My main goal(s) as an artist is to try and master or at least be the best I can at all the mediums available to me whether its painting, colored pencils, sculpting clay or 3D models, animating, plush making,...I want to try them all in my lifetime. I also feel it would be cool even if it's a one time thing for me to publish a graphic novel and maybe a purely written book that goes with it. I'm not sure how long the novel will be, I want to extend it as far as a I can without milking anything to death. Might publish one or two or several depending on where it goes. My main focus now is grad school so I need another year to focus on that and get my degree, but I feel with whatever free time I have I can work towards improving and putting more pieces together. I want to perfect whatever style I can come up with before the illustration process begins. Things that I should focus on: Backgrounds, backgrounds, backgrounds, I need to practice backgrounds so much in terms of accuracy in detail and lighting as well as in perspective especially for big city scenes and such. This will definitely be the hardest goal because I need to improve a lot in terms of drawing and coloring and getting everything right with that. Airship tweaking. I feel the exterior design could use continued work to make it as interesting as I want it to be. I also need to do a floor by floor layout to show all the rooms and areas and even some concept art on how some said areas will look. Character Designs: Lots of thought still needed here, I need to improve on my human based style in terms of making sure anatomy is as accurate as possible while keeping it in almost a Disney-esque sort of way since realism won't be my focus with characters to keep them simple as I focus my time on backgrounds and such. Also figure out how many add on characters will occur as the story progresses and how that will ensure their uniqueness in terms of additional roles on board Rajin. Storyline: It's getting to the point where writting while it helps, I feel I need to start just doing and thinking of further story arcs as a go. Right now I feel I have a nice story idea that should extend for a good chunk of it, but antagonist development and how that leads to end game, is what will be tricky and i have to figure that out too. Right now, it's organized like this: Skyfyre's daily life as a homeless orphan prior to the meteor strike followed by possession of soul and continues forth as Sky trying to get used to her new situation (denial first step of course and avoidance). Blaze grows a little bit with her as they spend several months trying to make a home elsewhere before eventually getting captured by government agencies. Skyfyre is than experimented on and starved to the brink of death in the hands of corrupted people who wish to extract her power. During this time flashbacks to the meteor's origins should occur "The Rescue" (snippet in gallery) will occur as Sky is brought onboard the ship She has trouble adjusting at first "Slow Dance of a Sky Pirate". As she learns to adapt to the new changes and potential destiny gets to know the other crew members better, she begins training with them. Of course in time a relationship slowly builds between her and Eldoron. During the time on the airship spanning a few months, flashbacks to Eldoron's past "Attack of Vimera" will come into play. Several flashbacks for each character will come into play (not necessarily in chronological order where they will be the most significant, I want the reader to piece the parts together and the connections that were formed from beginning to present day). These will take place throughout at different parts, some towards the beginning and some other when Acheron is introduced. Something begins to happen to the airship where some outside force disrupts the magic within the elemental crystals that keep the ship running. It becomes an emergency and they must travel to each of the major elemental based planets to restore their powers one by one starting including a visit to the marine planet. "That Night". Where the relationship between the two grows a little more. It's at these different locations they meet and take on some of the inhabitants that will prove useful as they continue to learn about the growing threat of the darkness spreading Acheron will get introduced at one point followed by many failed fighting attempts including a major climax one "Sky's last Fight" So far this is what I have laid out mainly still a lot of things I hope to extend it upon and fill it with all leading up to a life versus death situation with the final battle. Well that's what I have laid out for now. Changes are bound to occur and will update accordingly. Thanks for reading. Hope you all like the ideas so far. Created at simplydevio.us

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dailybestiary · 7 years

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Knight & Megapon Ants

Knight ants are a special caste of ants dedicated to defending their colony’s home. They grow particularly wide heads to protect their colonymates, who also benefit from the greater coordination signaled by the knight ants’ pheromones.

Megapon ants, meanwhile, have the rare distinction of being (in the editions I own, anyway) the only Bestiary species I’ve seen to not merit a description. (Heck, I can’t even Google a good definition for megapon.) But at CR 6, they’re nothing to sneeze at; they can carry prodigious amounts of weight; and their Strength-sapping poison suggests the sting of a fire ant or some aggressive, prehistoric lineage.

A clan of dwarves uses alchemical scents to tame and coax behaviors out of their ant livestock. A local war calls most of the clan elders away from the hold, and when they return they discover that the artificial scents have spoiled. Their knight ant guards now bar the way to the lower levels, no longer recognizing the dwarves as friends.

A martial arts master with some training as a druid believes in basing his forms and stances off of those in nature. In order to learn his specialized skills (in game terms, teamwork feats), adventurers must study knight ants in the tunnels of their hill—without killing a single one.

Adventurers are racing through the canopy of the great god’s-home trees, fleeing cannibals hot on their trail. They come across a column of megapon ants using their bodies to create a bridge for themselves and their giant aphid thralls. If the adventurers can find a way to sneak across the ant bridge, they will easily lose their pursuers. Otherwise they might have to fight the enormous ants and the kuru-maddened cannibals at the same time.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 5 27

I recently relistened to the audiobook version of Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, read by the outstanding Simon Prebble. I first listened to it during a massive, speeding ticket-filled, two-day road trip from San Francisco to Portland via Crater Lake several years ago. I’m happy to say I loved it then—so much so that in my hunger for more I discovered Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series and Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey–Maturin books—and I loved it now—so much so that I accrued $28 in overdue fines because I had other books checked out and didn’t want to give any of them back. (If you throw in the speeding tickets, that’s compelling evidence that good books make me make bad choices, apparently.)

JS&MN truly is an extraordinary book—all the more so because it’s a first novel. (Neil Gaiman’s quote about a fragment from one of Clarke’s early drafts—“It was like watching someone sit down to play the piano for the first time and she plays a sonata”—still holds up.) The true-to-the-1800s language, the sense of place, and the treatment of academic arguments as being as important as a battle are nearly perfect. I love the characters; I love the world; I love the faerie lore; I love almost everything.

Because I love it so much, certain things still drive me nuts. Most of these little things are insufficiently answered (to my mind, at least) questions or breakdowns in verisimilitude: How can Mr Norrell justify obstructing the progress of all other magicians if he publicly claims to want to restore English magic…why does Childermass remain with Mr Norrell for so long even after the meanness of his master’s character is revealed…why do Lady Pole and Stephen Strange’s maladies go so long undiagnosed, even with a faerie glamour to blame…things like that. In reality, the book may be better for not answering these questions, but they still leave me fidgety with agitation.

A second listen did also confirm a major beef I had the first time I listened to it, though: It is a figure eight of a work, its whole shape constantly circling around two black holes of noninformation.

The first is that the actual working of magic is barely shown and never explained. Clarke has said that she “really like[s] magicians,” but weirdly she seems willing to gloss over the magic they do almost entirely. (Early in the book this is amusing—even the characters are impatient to see magic done—but by 2/3s of the way in it’s infuriatingly coy.) We almost never get a sense of how it feels for the magicians to do magic, or why these two men have succeeded where almost no one else has. (That they were prophesied doesn’t cut it.) It’s a staggeringly strange omission, especially to a fantasy fan audience used to reading about how it feels to come into one’s power, whatever that power may be. Strange in particular stumbles into magic and then the narrative curtain closes; when it reopens he is already a thaumaturgical Mozart. That is, as the South Park kids would say, some total BS right there.

The second problem is that this is a work of alternate history that refuses to share its alternate history. True, the novel purports to be written by someone from Strange’s acquaintance only a generation or so later, so much of this knowledge is assumed to be held by the reader. But despite all its many, many, many footnotes, the book barely gives us a coherent alternate timeline, and so much of how the novel’s history diverges from our own is unclear. (For comparison, Philip K. Dick is a downright clumsy author compared to Clarke, but I can tell you more about the history of Man in the High Castle, and it’s a mere pamphlet next to the Bible-fat JS&MN.) I don't need much more detail, but I do need more.

Worse yet, not only has Clarke created a fictional northern England with a fictional Raven King that we don't know enough about, but she also seems to have fallen a little in love with him. (Strong evidence of this is that the characters positively won’t shut up about him; he even gives his name to the novel’s third act.) It is dangerous to fall in love with fictional people or settings, and doing so is a surefire way to undermine the story. (Notice, for instance, how Tolkien burns the Shire, and how J. K. Rowling—whose writerly smarts are often underrated—is careful to get her characters out of Hogwarts after the love letter to it that is The Order of the Phoenix. Now compare that to, say, The Name of the Wind, which struck me as loving its central character just a bit too much, or the insufferable anime Clamp School Detectives, whose love for its own impossible setting is a veritable fountain of onanism (see what I did there?) that eventually feels like a taunt to the viewer who will never attend there. You can’t love your fictional children too hard, and Clarke loves John Uskglass.

So as I said, a great novel, but a figure eight thanks to these two crucial holes. Do not under *any* circumstances let these prevent you from reading it though!

Unfortunately, a new qualm came up as I was listening this time: the novel’s hagiography of Englishness. In a 2005 interview with Locus, Susanna Clarke practically quoted Tolkien word for word in her lament that England did not have a myth of its own. (Sidebar: English culture is odd in that its most famous legend, Beowulf, takes place in Denmark, a divorce of a people from its mythic geography that seems to really bother certain writers. In fact, this lack is responsible for both The Silmarillion and JS&MN. King Arthur doesn’t work for them for some reason; he’s either too British rather than English—a distinction too arcane for my American mind, but there it is—or too Welsh, and his legend has definitely become too French. Robin Hood doesn’t work either, for some reason, despite his being safely nestled in the East Midlands. The tl;dr of all this is that there is no understanding the English mythic imagination when you’re a fat Yank git.) So Clarke fills JS&MN with her love for England—its people, its cities, and its countryside, especially the North, where she revels in its preindustrial wildness. And Englishness as a laudatory attribute fills nearly every page. (More on this can be found over on Wikipedia, but don’t go there until you’ve read/listened to the book, because it’s spoiler central.)

The thing is though, Clarke is smart enough to know that glorifying England, Englishness, Englishmen (emphasis on the “men” there), and king/queen and country has caused a lot of pain for other folks in the world. So she works very hard to undercut this worship of Englishness, giving strong roles to women, nonwhite, and poor characters, and amplifying their voicelessness in the society of that time through the narrative. It’s all a genius balancing act, and it all serves to intentionally undercut and deflate the project of England worship that the novel is busily engaged in…

…And yet, Englishness, in the end, wins out. England remains the hero. The English countryside itself is instrumental in turning the tide in the final encounter. Lovely, lush, green, hilly, moor-covered England is still the hero.

Which should be all well and good, but… Well, I’m just not on board with cheering for England right now.

I’m a Top Gear fan. And I watched Jeremy Clarkson’s no-one-is-better-than-us casual racism—as an American I’m spared the overt racism of his other appearances—wax stronger with every season, slowly curdling my affection. And I watched Brexit throw my expatriate scientist friends’ careers into a tumult and imperil their research. It was also, more to the point, a triumph of Englishness over the needs of Britishness.

And here on this side of the pond, I’ve watched a similar dynamic play out, as many Americans have taken to celebrating America—or at least, their mean, small-minded, and resentful notion of it—to the point that pride of place and race have become more important than the principals that make America work.

So I still love JS&MN. And I think you should read and even love JS&MN. And zero of what I’ve said in the previous two paragraphs is Susanna Clarke’s fault. But in JS&MN, a country is a character—the protagonist even. And right now, in 2017, loving a place more than people doesn’t feel that good.

So I’m going to return JS&MN back to the library for another 7 years or so, or maybe for longer. And the next time I get it out, I hope I’ve fallen back in love with England and America.

Because that is the magic I most want to see.

#pathfinder #paizo #3.5 #dungeons & dragons #dungeons and dragons #d&d #dnd #knight ant #megapon ant #ant #vermin #jonathan strange and mr norrell #jonathan strange & mr norrell #susanna clarke

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pocketseizure · 7 years

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The Marriage of Lanayru, Chapter Seven

The Ghosts of the Past

Zelda reflects on what Ganondorf means to her and consults Midna about the nature of his magic.

1,800 words ☆ (Also on AO3) (Story Tag on Tumblr)

* * * *

Zelda sighed as she looked out over the lights of Hyrule Castle from the window of her tower room. The day had been a nightmare, with interminable meetings and a steady stream of documents requiring her attention. The procession of tasks necessary to rebuild her kingdom after the siege seemed endless, and now she had the situation in Kakariko to deal with as well.

After their brief visit to the old Sheikah village, Ganondorf had gone off somewhere, and she hadn't seen him since. He had not objected to the prospect of becoming the next king, but she wondered if he were really cut out for the job. No matter what he may have been in his own time, running a country was vastly different than leading an army; a monarch cannot simply disappear and tend to his own business in the middle of the day.

It was embarrassing for Zelda to admit to herself that she had expected anything of Ganondorf. She originally intended for him to act as little more than a figurehead, and it suited her purposes for him to be here in the castle. If he returned to the desert, as she strongly suspected he wished to do, she would no longer be able to keep an eye on him.

Zelda turned away from the window and glanced at the pile of books on the small table that had served as a desk during her imprisonment. She had read about the Gerudo, a tribe that once built a thriving civilization strong enough to rival Hyrule. By all accounts they had enjoyed the prosperity that accompanied their assiduous management of the trade routes passing between the kingdoms that lay beyond the border of the western mountains. These kingdoms no longer sent emissaries, and Zelda did not know whether they had fallen into decline. Had Ganondorf attacked Hyrule because the Gerudo were suffering economically due to dwindling trade? Or had the Gerudo grown so wealthy and powerful that he assumed he would be able to conquer Hyrule without resistance?

The histories she consulted had not provided her with the answers she sought. Perhaps the only person who could tell her what happened was Ganondorf. How incredible it was that she found herself in the company of a living artifact from Hyrule's past. Everything from his accent to his gestures to the manner in which he ate was foreign to her, and she could never tell whether his strangeness was the product of his Gerudo heritage or of his temporal displacement.

Regardless, Ganondorf did not seem like the sort of person who would carelessly bring about the demise of his kingdom. Zelda was not blind to the hideous and terrible anger he carried within him, but even at his most furious he had maintained an iron-fisted control over himself. She had been enthralled during his battle against Link. She knew Link would win – he was fated to win – but she'd spent years studying the art of the sword, and she watched Ganondorf with keen interest. He was clearly uncomfortable with the heft and balance of the sword he wielded, but every move he made was calculated and deliberate.

It was clear to her that Ganondorf was not a madman, and the danger he posed lay not in the strength of his body or of his magic, but rather the strength of his will. Zelda realized he could be valuable to her, and that she may be able to use him. She decided to spare his life, and her resolve endowed her with the strength to pierce the magical barrier that separated her from him. To Link's amazement, she stayed the blade of the mythical Master Sword with her own hand.

If she were being honest with herself, however, she would have to admit that her decision to save Ganondorf had already been made in the moment when he pressed his mouth to hers, sharing her breath as he passed the essence of his Triforce into her dying body. She had been filled with the exhilaration of the energy flowing into her, and she understood for the first time what power meant. It was not just the burden of responsibility, but the freedom of an infinite potential.

Zelda turned away from the window and walked to the mirror. She blew onto it and wrote a quick succession of glyphs on its clouded surface. The glass pulsed with light twice, and then Midna's face jumped into sharp focus.

Zelda laughed in surprise. "That was quick."

Midna grinned back at her as she twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "I've been waiting. What kept you? Were you with your loverboy?" Midna's lips curled in distaste. "Because I certainly hope not."

"It's been a long day," Zelda replied. "Listen, speaking of Ganondorf, I have a question. What is magic, exactly? Is it something you were born with, as a Twili? Or is it something you inherited as a princess?"

"Wow." Midna raised her eyebrows. "Way to get metaphysical right off the bat."

Zelda shook her head. "I don't care about the theory, just the basic practicalities."

"Of course not, no one cares about the theory. As for the practicalities, we Twili have varying levels of ability. I was lucky enough to be born with a little magic, but I wouldn't have gotten anywhere if I hadn't studied my ass off for years. Isn't that what you did?"

"I... no. I didn't study magic." Zelda was embarrassed. "What magic I have came to me with the Triforce, and I really don't understand anything about it. We don't have books about magic here in Hyrule. But, since you were able to study it, do you think it was the same with the Gerudo?"

"Hmmmm..." Midna tapped her finger against her chin as she considered the question. "I don't know much about the Gerudo. Back in the day, you Hylians had a great deal of magic yourselves, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Gerudo had their own traditions. As someone who hated studying, I can tell you that your fiancé strikes me as someone who probably loved it. He's such a damn nerd."

Zelda covered her mouth with her hand to hide her grin. She had never thought of Ganondorf like that before, but Midna's description of him was apt.

Midna rolled her eyes and continued. "You know what I'm talking about, then. That boy spent too much time reading, and then he became a loner with unrealistic ambitions and a delusional savior complex. He's such a stereotype. Honestly, I don't know how you stand him. Still... I can't deny that he's good at what he does, and there's probably a reason the Triforce chose him. There's no accounting for taste, I guess."

Zelda was amused, but she pressed on with her line of questioning. "You said that you don't know much about the Gerudo. Can you tell me anything?"

Midna shrugged. "Not really, only that they were one of the tribes of Hyrule. Like I said, I'm not a huge fan of digging through old books."

"Do you know if they were associated with boars?"

Midna scowled. "I don't know whether they were or not, but I can tell you who is – the man you stupidly decided to marry. You were really out of it when Link and I fought him in your castle, probably because he had just possessed your body, which, you know, is obviously a healthy start to a relationship. Can we talk about that, by the way?"

"Midna, please."

"Okay, whatever. Anyway, your hubby-to-be transformed himself into a giant boar, except it was more of a demon, just raw strength and pure rage. Or, it wasn't really a boar; it had thick fleshy toes instead of hooves, and I can't swear that it wasn't scaly. It creeped me out, and let me tell you, I've seen some things..."

Midna paused for a moment and massaged her temples before continuing. "In any case, that's what you can thank for the destruction of your throne room. You're not going to want to hear this, but I think he was trying to take on the form of the legendary demon king Ganon. I mean, that's how he persuaded that idiot Zant, by saying he was Ganon. It would make sense, given that he calls himself 'Ganondorf.' The thing is, though – I'm pretty sure Ganon isn't just a legend. I think it's real, and I think it has something to do with why we Twili were banished from Hyrule in the first place. I can tell you the story, but why don't you tell me why you're asking about boars in the first place?"

"I'm sorry, Midna," Zelda responded. Her suspicions had been confirmed, and her heart was racing. "I think I have to go. Can we talk about this later?"

"Oh..." Midna's face fell. "I bet you just remembered an important conversation you're supposed to be having with someone else. Fine. But be careful with him, okay? I wouldn't trust him any farther than I can throw a, you know, a..."

"A pumpkin?" Zelda suggested.

"That's right!" Midna snapped her fingers.

Zelda smiled, grateful for Midna's concern. "I don't believe Ganondorf is a threat. At least, not in the way everyone thinks he is. Still, I suspect he knows something that he's not telling me."

"Have you tried using your feminine wiles? I bet he's a real beast in bed, if you know what I'm saying."

Zelda raised an eyebrow. "You're one to talk. By the way, how's Link?"

"Listen, Zelda," Midna said, suddenly serious. "We'll be here for you, me and Link. We're right on the other side of this mirror. If you need us, just reach out, okay? We'll come for you."

Midna raised her hand to the glass. "Thank you," Zelda whispered, touching her fingers to Midna's palm.

The connection flickered and died out, and Zelda allowed her shoulders to drop. She rolled her head and rubbed the back of her neck. Her heart was still pounding in her chest, and she felt her exhaustion fading. She was looking forward to talking with Ganondorf, and she knew exactly where to find him.

I bet he's a real beast in bed. Midna's words lingered in Zelda's mind, and her face grew warm as she blushed. What she didn't want to tell her friend was how incredible it felt when Ganondorf's spirit had entered her. He offered her his life, and she had taken it, knowing full well what sort of power it would give him over her. When he came to her in her tower room, he was not the prince she had always dreamed of, but he was the only person who had ever seen her in a moment of true weakness and not turned away in disappointment. However terrible he may have been, she was not afraid of him.

#Zelda fic #Zelgan #Princess Zelda #Ganondorf #The Marriage of Lanayru #my fic

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ljf613 · 3 years

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Tales from Earthsea and Whisper of the Heart for the Ghibli asks?

🐉 Tales from Earthsea: What is your favorite mythical creature?

Probably phoenixes, although I am also obsessed with dragons.

📖🖋 Whisper of the heart: What is something you’ve always wanted to write? Would you like to share anything you’ve written with us?

Well, there's an original (seven book) series I've been wanting to write since I was eleven years old, tentatively refered to as The Trackers.

The basic premise is that people from a realm of magic sometimes fall through the veil to our world-- losing their memories in the process. It falls to a group of part-human, part-fae people known as the Trackers-- whose unusual bloodline grants them unique abilities-- to locate these lost souls, return them to their home realm, and restore their memories.

I've done some extensive worldbuilding for this story, as well as fleshed out several of my main characters.

The reasons I've never finished it are proably because a) I'm only now getting the hang of writing romance, and the relationship between the main character and her husband is SUPER important to the story, b) there are a few elements of the magic system I've never quite figured out, and I still only have a vague idea of who the main antagonists are and what their motivation is.

Excerpts from various drafts under the cut (bear in mind that I haven't really touched it in nearly three years-- I'd love to get back to it at some point)

Send me another Ghibli Ask!

No. NO. NO! It was Ben. Captain of Green West Junior High’s basketball team. The guy every girl who was any girl was crushing on. Every girl but me. I had no interest in his muscles, or whatever it is the other girls saw in him. I mean, he wasn’t an idiot, but he was a bit self-centered. He was walking over to my locker. I knew what he wanted. This was bad. “Hey, Rose,” he said casually, as if he knew he didn’t have to try very hard to get what he was after, “Want to go to the Spring Fling with me?” “No.” “You must have misheard me. I asked you if-” “I think you misheard me. I said no.” “Why not? You busy that day?” He was giving me an out. I could say yes, and avoid suspicion. But that would just feed his ego, and he didn’t deserve to be let on like that. “Not really.” “Then why won’t you go with me? We’d-” “No means no. I don’t like you.” “Whatever.” He walked off with his friends, and I heard him muttering a few choice words about me. Whatever. Less easy to ignore were the people in the halls who were staring and whispering. No doubt rumors about me and ben would be widespread around the school by the end of the day, and all of them would be about how I was hopelessly in love with him. Why was it so hard to grasp that a girl might not like Ben?

That scene is from one of the earliest drafts of the story-- I was probably about twelve years old. As you can probably tell. It was scrapped in later drafts.

I just stared. Why was there a butterfly in a library? It wasn’t any species I recognized, I could tell as it got closer. It had scarlet wings with parchment-white undersides, and ever-moving black swirls that resembled words on both sides. As it flew even closer, it began to change. The wings remained the same, but got larger, until they were probably only a little shorter than I was. meanwhile, the body changed from black, to a paler but indistinguishable color, the middle legs shrunk to nothing, the bottom legs moved lower on the body, and the four remaining legs grew. By the time it landed on the floor, it was a vaguely humanoid shape, but I couldn't make it out, as it was across the room from us. Rosebelle ran to help the figure up. I figured it was this Gunan guy. Probably some crabby old geezer who’d be deliberately vague and make us leave. “Frank,” said Rosebelle, while I stared in shock, “This is Gunan, the best historian and cartographer this side of Perola. A butterfly animalia.” “Stop it, Rosebelle,” said Gunan, “I’m not all that. You aren’t too bad yourself.” “Gunan, this is Frank. My Lost.” “Hi,” said a high, sweet voice. Gunan was not what I expected. She had pale pinkish-red irises, a long black braid that touched the floor in front of her, wore a red t-shirt made out of another strange fabric, light blue pants, and parchment-white sock-boots with black stripes made of words. I just stared at her, open-mouthed. “Oh, sorry,” she said, “It’s the wings, isn’t it? I like them, but I’ll get rid of those too, if they bother you.” “N-no,” I stuttered, then blinked and shook my head, “They’re fine.” She also looked to be about eight years old. - I almost laughed at the expression on his face. He just couldn’t understand, couldn’t connect the face of the little girl in front of him with the legendary historian I’d spoke of. I probably would’ve had the same reaction the first time I met her, but I’d been five and just wondered if the big girl would be my friend. Then I frowned. I didn’t like to think of those moments, because they reminded me I didn’t have many more left. Never mind.

This scene is kind of clunky, but it introduces one of my favorite characters-- Gunan, the mysterious librarian who never seems to get older and whose true age is a complete enigma.

"Hey, do you have any food?” “Food?” “Yeah,” he said, “That stuff we eat to re-energize ourselves.” “Very funny,” I replied dryly, “We’ll eat when we camp out tonight.” “Camp out?” “You didn’t think the long way wasn’t even a day?” “I haven’t eaten since last night!” “Oh well,” I said unsympathetically, “You’re such a guy.” “What’s that supposed to mean?!” “You’ve got your mind on your stomach.” “Girls.” “Girls? I think you mean boys.” “What do you have against boys?” “What do you have against girls?” “Honestly.” “No kidding.” “Girls.” “Boys.” We didn’t talk for a while after that.

I did mention that these early drafts were written when I was in middle school, right?

Reyne was gone and I was never going to find him. Poor Marc. I hadn’t seen my brother in nearly two years, ever since he went off trying to find his best friend. He’d dropped everything: assignments, Lost, contact with his worried parents and sister… and Marc had been the most promising Tracker in hundreds of years. Everyone had thought that eventually, when he matured and stopped being such a dare daimon, he’d take a seat on the council. I wondered if my brother had died. He couldn’t have. He wasn’t even forty! Calm down! I had to believe that Marc was fine, that he’d find Reyne and come home.

My subtle way of foreshadowing the plot of one of the later books. (Yes, Rosebelle's brother is in his late thirties-early forties-- their average lifespans are around 200-300 years, so he's basically the equivalent of a college kid.)

“You’re a wizard, remember,” I said, still smiling, “Wizards use a lot of rune magic.” “Runes,” he said, curiously, “What are runes?” “Runes are symbols, usually traced with a finger, into the air or against a surface. You can think of them like spells. Most fae can use at least a couple, but it’s hard to get the shape exactly right, or to remember more than two or three. Wizards, aside from the fact that many have eidetic memories, have a natural instinct for them. All wizards naturally know a couple, and more reveal themselves to them as they get older. There are runebooks, of course, but most are on a really high level and I wouldn’t recommend even looking at one until you master your magic a bit better.” “Wow,” he said, “That’s really cool. How many kinds of fae are there, and what are their special magics?” “Well, they say that there are six, which is why the Realm is ruled by the Council of Six. There are Animalia, like Gunan. Animalia can turn into animals, but only one kind. As you saw, Gunan is a butterfly. They can also turn partially, which is where stories of centaurs, werewolves, selkies, angels, and the like come from. Animalia all have eyes in some shade of red. Elves, such as Wiln, are extremely intelligent and secretive. Their magic is related to gravity. Most fae have some, if limited, telekinesis, but theirs is much stronger, among other things. They have eyes in some shade of orange, and ears even more prominently pointed than the rest of us. Trackers like me are really rare, and we specialize in portals, as well as being able to detect magic. Also, we can create and use relics, which let us use a small amount of another race’s ability. We have green eyes. Wizards like you mostly use runes, and tend to be extremely inquisitive. They say that the Seers were all wizards, if they existed at all. You guys all have purple eyes. Elementals use element magic, although most focus on one element and learn only a little bit of magic from the others. It’s a really hard branch of magic. They have yellow eyes. Most Fae can use various spells, and have a ‘trunk’.” “A ‘trunk’?” “A space only you can access. You can put anything you want there, and then summon it at anytime. That’s where the tents came from. Snapping isn’t necessary, but it helps me focus. Anyway, those are the different species. No one is quite sure how someone is born a certain species- if it’s genetic or not, Trackers being the exception.” - “Didn’t you say there were six,” I asked, confused, “That was only five.” “The last one either died out or are in hiding, if they ever existed. No one can remember what they’re called.”

Like I said, I did a lot of worldbuilding. (Yes, the difference races have eyes that are Color-Coded for Your Convenience.)

This was what I’d seen. Rosebelle was slipping. She couldn’t hold on, and she clearly didn’t have the power to transport herself up. She was going to fall. She would slip, and fall into the water, and then she was going to die. I didn’t know how I’d known, but I could guarantee that was what would happen. No. One thing was different from what I’d seen. I was here. I could change it. Before I could think, I reached out and grabbed her wrist. “Oww! Frank, let go!” “No! You’ll die if I do!” “We’ll both die if you don’t! Frank, you have to let me go!” She was right, I knew. The Spark was shocking us, trying to pull us apart. I could tell if I didn’t, it would send such a fierce electrical shock through us, we’d probably both die. But I didn’t care. I would pull her up before that happened. I didn’t have a choice. “Rosebelle, don’t you trust me?” “No! Let go!” “Grab my wrist and I’ll pull you up! Please!” “Why? Why would you do this?” “Because- you saved me! You brought me to a place I belonged, a place I didn’t believe existed! Because you have to find your brother and I want to help you! I want to help you with whatever you need! So please! Just grab my arm and let me pull you up!” I winced. The shocks were getting stronger. We didn’t have much time. Rosebelle grabbed my arm, intensifying the shocks tenfold. I pulled her up, but it was too late. One final shock rippled between us, and then it was so bright I couldn’t see anymore.

I've always had a flair for the dramatics. I also needed a scene where the these two were forced to maintain physical contact for a significant amount of time, preferably in a situation that Rosebelle couldn't reasonably get angry at Frank for-- I figured saving her life would do it.

The wizard hadn’t believed she would ever have a child. Most fae couples couldn’t have more than one or two children- the only reason the population wasn’t rapidly decreasing was because of the fae’s longevity. She hadn’t even bonded until she was nearly 150- far past the normal child-bearing age of most women- so, when she and her mate had found out she was pregnant, they were overjoyed. He’d been worried that childbirth would take a toll on her nearly 180-year-old body, but she promised him she’d be okay, and she was. Once she gave birth, there was an even bigger surprise. “Twins,” she’d exclaimed, in absolute shock, “Are you sure?” But twins she had and twins it was. The wizard (who still didn’t look more than about 100 (35-40 to humans) had gained a lot of fame in her life- she’d thought that would be her legacy. But as she stared down at the cradle her daughters- daughters!- lay in, she knew nothing would make her happier than a legacy of being remembered as their mother. “What should we name them,” asked her mate, from the doorway. She whirled around, as she had not realized he was there. The woman had many incredible skills, but she was not a very exceptional Seer. Being a wizard,though, she did have a drop of seer ability, and newborn children were known to be very easy to read, since they hadn’t yet put up the mental shields fae instinctively put up to protect themselves. She picked up the firstborn, a ginger-haired girl with blue-gray eyes- an animalia. She couldn’t see much, but she could tell what animal the girl would be. “Kitsonia,” she said, and he nodded. Normally, the tradition was for the child’s name to begin with the final syllable in one of the parents’ first names (most often, the father’s for a boy and the mother’s for a girl), but the wizard had long decided that if she ever did have a child, she would not force them to bear her name- she’d let them forge their own path, which is why, as she handed Kitsonia to her mate and reached to pick up the second child, she wondered if it might be prudent to name the this one after him. But them moment she touched the girl, a raven-haired child with eyes such a pale blue they were nearly clear, all such thoughts flew out of her head. With her weak skills, she would not have been surprised if she saw nothing- but it was just the opposite. She saw so much- too much. She couldn’t understand a bit of it, and as she tried to piece it all together, it vanished, and she couldn’t see a thing. The wizard didn’t really understand, but she new that her daughter had a hard fate. However, she knew better than most that destiny was not set in stone. Her name will come from Gu a Non: ‘a change of fate’. She looked at her mate and said, “How about Gunan?”

This excerpt's from a much later volume, when I finally go into Gunan's backstory. (Yes, her eyes are blue here, at some point I changed the color scheme for the different races). You'll notice that her mother considers Seer ability to be a fairly normal wizardly skill, even though Rosebelle considers Seers to be the stuff of myths. Gunan was born in a very different time.

I have more, of course, but I'm not going to subject y'all to this trash.

Someday, I'll come back to this story and write it properly, the way it deserves.

#ask game #studio ghibli #the trackers #it really has been a while #i forgot how much i love my rosebelle #and gunan remains the beloved child of my heart

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