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#cause what person in our generation would actually be that shocked by magic
raayllum · 4 months
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The Path Trilogy #1: Introduction and A Path Forward — Viren and Karim
So, Callum, Karim, and Viren all have a lot of parallels to each other, right?
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Let's talk about 'em.
The basics:
Mage-brother-advisors to a sibling who is an actual monarch. For Callum and Karim, they get points for both being princes; for Viren and Karim, they get points for being usurpers (but more on that note later).
The mage is particularly important, as we know for Aaravos "mages were his prey" and while Karim hasn't fallen into his clutches yet, it is likely that he will, given there's little reason to make Karim a mage as opposed to just another warrior otherwise.
Karim and Viren's belief in destiny ("But destiny favours us, Pharos" / "Please, guide us. Direct us to our destiny") and pre-determination
Viren and Callum (and Finnegrin) all seeking out how to kill their enemies specifically (for Viren, it was Avizandum; for Callum, it's Aaravos).
Viren and Karim both enlist the help of shadowy, imprisoned elves to do their bidding in assassinating monarchs in order for them to take said thrones.
Callum and Karim have loyal partners who come back after perceived/actual abandonments, whereas Lissa does leave (and permanently leaves) Viren.
Karim and Viren both want to restore their people to a former glory, just with very different ideas of what that looks like.
If you've been taking note of the list above, you'll probably notice that Karim and Callum are both walking similar 'paths' to arc 1 (and arc 2) Viren in a variety of ways, but Karim tends to take Viren's political path and Callum tends to take Viren's personal path. That is going to be the bulk of the meta examination today, in addition to parallels (mostly juxtaposition) between Callum and Karim. If you are interested in more of Callum's parallels to Viren, I would recommend checking out these prior metas of mine (compilation here) + their foils tag.
Originally, I intended this meta to encompass all three dynamics of Viren-Karim, Viren-Callum, and Callum-Karim. However, the sections rapidly grew longer than expected (shocking, I know) and I hit the picture limit, so
we're dividing it up into three metas.
This is the First One, and I hope you enjoy!
With all of that out of the way, let's begin.
A Path Forward: Karim and Viren
So as indicated about, Karim and Viren are both very concerned with paths - and more than that, in some ways, they are concerned with strength and weakness.
K: She will forfeit, and they will see where strength truly lies. (4x09) V: If we are strong enough to make the right decisions, humans may finally return to Xadia. (1x06)
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K: Humans in their weakness allowed evil to flourish. (5x04) V: But if we are led by a child king... S: He'll make bad choices? V: He will make weak choices. (1x06)
Now, this is unsurprising, in a lot of ways. Both Viren and Karim have a vested interest in becoming king of their respective peoples. Both believe wholeheartedly in symbols ("It's the symbolism, sister!" / "An empty throne is a beacon of weakness"), the aforemetioned belief in destiny, and a strong desire to return to times past. Viren and Karim both want to reclaim lands that were lost because of exile and dark magic, even if Viren is the one who doomed Karim's home in the first place, and Karim wishes for humans to leave (which was the root cause, in a lot of ways, of Viren's subsequent issues - however far removed by history).
These intense desires and beliefs instigate much of their political and general wrongdoings, being subsequently impatient when it appears that other people are not taking things as seriously / willing to wait.
V: Settle down? Can't you see the danger we're in? (2x01) K: [Clucks tongue] We don't have time! (4x08)
This is in direct contrast to the series' idea that things can, and often should, take time ("You say you want to make a difference, to really change things, but that's going to take decades of hard work [...] There's no monster you can slay to solve all your problems!" / "You and I will not live to see this new day?" "No... Nurturing the seed is the work of our lifetimes").
However, Karim and Viren are also fundamentally different people. Karim has watched the crown pass to both his sisters and primarily (it seems, for Khessa) been supportive. He doesn't seem to crave power for himself, even if he is politically minded, and he is focused on conserving something collectively that has directly recently been extremely under threat (his culture and his people's wellbeing). He's a mage but thus far has never shown any inclination towards dark magic (which we see in S5 very much isn't the case for all elves) and was Viren's preferred magical method even when having more access to primal magic. Karim is also friendlier and gets along well with Amaya, which we don't have any indication that Viren ever did.
Furthermore, Viren is far more efficient and can actually know how to be patient and how to try to achieve his own aims than Karim, who fails constantly and consistently. That being said, Karim does undeniably take on Viren's prior political plot line by becoming an
Usurper
and largely for the same reasons that Viren wanted the crown as well, fearing stagnated weakness or integration with their enemies. Both, also, largely following through similar steps of
1) Attempting to converse with their sibling monarch and being shut down regarding their concerns or ideas
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2) Calling a political meeting in order to cement their goals that goes very wrong
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3) Being arrested and punished for things going by the wayside
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4) Only to return - wholly in Viren's case and somewhat in Karim's - victorious the following season after successful to unsuccessful exchanges/betrayals
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Last but not least, as a closing (mostly unrelated) note but one I thought was cool enough to mention anyway, Viren and Karim both seek to use archdragons to aid in their takeover coups and world acclimation plans. While Viren wanted to harvest Zym and Zubeia in order to achieve ultimate power, Karim is less concerned with consumption (not a dark mage, after all) and more with collaboration, believing that Sol Regem could be a great and powerful ally.
This is, of course, ignoring the main other relationship in which they parallel one another, which is
Kim'Dael and Aaravos
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Kim'Dael and Aaravos, in a lot of ways, have a few parallels beyond just "imprisoned elves who seek their freedom, and team up with power hungry mages," some of which are:
Being, seemingly, the last of their kind — Kim'Dael is the last of the blood drinkers, Aaravos is (possibly?) the last of the Startouch elves
Their own kind as well as the archdragons turned on them
They are both very comfortable and regularly use dark magic for their own ends
Have very specific monikers — the Midnight / Fallen Star and the Bloodmoon Huntress
There is also the layer of how Viren and Karim are useful/appealing to Aaravos and Kim'Dael, respectively, because of their history. Viren is a human mage, like so many of Aaravos' previous victims, and has the Staff of Ziard (one of if not the first thing Aaravos notes about him, and thus knows so much about Viren immediately, I might add), and Karim is tied to Aditi's bloodline, a requirement for Kim'Dael to, well, give a shit.
But the crux of it is how Viren goes to and uses Aaravos' power to achieve his own ends in becoming king and leading a war on Xadia. Time will only tell how effective an ally Kim'Dael will truly be to Karim (thus far it's been a deadly but unsuccessful fetch quest / hostage exchange), but she definitely has the potential, and I think it's likely S6 will see both her and Aaravos being freed from their confines.
I've said before, though, that there's little reason for Karim to be a mage, specifically, rather than just another (less talented) warrior like his sister, unless he is going to become Aaravos' prey by manipulation or proxy in future seasons, given that he preys on mages. However, we'll simply have to wait and see whether Karim will fall into Aaravos' clutches, willing or unwillingly, going into S6.
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Misc Notes:
There's a lot to be said about how Viren is the kind of person who would create Karim, a character who is much like Viren in many ways and largely emboldened by the trauma he and his people have suffered at Viren's hands. I think it's one of the show's best "show not tell" examples of how the cycle perpetuates itself unless it is actively stopped, and how tradition and being constantly stuck on the past can sometimes be more of a hindrance than a help, and why Janai's line very much mirrors Harrow's dying philosophy, one that is extremely in contrast to both their mage advisors: I make history. History does not make me. Even if they grew up as radically different people — Viren from a disadvantaged background, Karim as a pious prince; Viren a dark mage, and Karim a primal one; Viren, relatively safe growing up in Katolis with a long standing cold war versus Karim having his culture recently and brutally ripped away from him — one of the worst and best things the Cycle does is create similarity through suffering and trauma response(s).
The parallels between Janai and Harrow go steeper, too, with Harrow's statement of "I'd rather die a king than live as a coward" (which Viren mistakes as pride rather than accountability) and Janai's assertion that she wants to be queen when Karim tries to make her back down. Likewise, we see Karim and Viren justify the actions they take in a similar manner to most of the other mages in the show when it comes to escalating/restoring to violence:
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V: I had no choice! K: What choice did I have? You pushed me to this, sister!
There is also, of course, the theme of exchange running throughout both mages once we get to S5. Viren wanted to exchange a soldier's life for Harrow, thinking in exact scales and numbers rather than in the horrific humanity lurking underneath, whereas Karim treated his sister's life as a bargaining chip in exchange for the Sun Seed, and thereby control of his people's future. However, where Viren always sees himself as an active participant in his guilt/decisions, and therefore focuses on self-martyrdom as a justification, Karim still looks externally for signs and gifts to be given, tying back to how he uses his religion and fear of the new to justify his own decisions, making himself more passive but no less dangerous as a result.
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One of the biggest differences between Karim and Viren is, perhaps, their choice of partner. Lissa ultimately left Viren after he was further corrupted by dark magic in order to save Soren, meaning that whatever he did was not something she could morally justify/accept or feel comfortable with, even if it successfully saved their son's life. Meanwhile, although Miyana appears to abandon Karim (and more on their dynamic here), he remains fairly faithful in her love for him ("Miyana, I knew you'd come!") until 5x08 and overjoyed when she does end up returning to him, even before the reveal she's brought gifts.
M: Whatever appearances might have been, my loyalty never wavered. K: Your loyalty? M: My love.
Last but not least, we have the interplay with the concepts of truth and blindness running throughout the series.
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Viren has always had eye symbolism — pouring literal darkness into his eyes in order to try to see the mirror; Aaravos overtaking and turning one of his eyes white in S3; Viren, upon waking resurrection, having clear eyes — which makes sense, if you want to reaffirm a character is short sighted or not seeing things clearly. It seems Karim assuming that healing Sol Regem's blindness will fix their problems, even when the sun king reaffirmed the opposite. In this way he borrows more from Claudia, perhaps, banking on the idea that fixing physical means fixing the emotional, and that it will give him everything he wants with none of the repercussions or hangups.
Where Viren finally sees the truth, Karim is blinding himself in order to try to heal Sol Regem (and unsurprisingly gets a cut across his eye/eyebrow, courtesy of Amaya) along the way.
Conclusion:
As discussed in the meta above, where Viren progresses past his arc 1 well, arc, Karim largely steps in to fill his political shoes, demonstrating how history and the cycle repeats itself and the dangers of such attitudes and choices. We don't know whether Karim's quest for power and control will end as disastrously or deadly as Viren's, but his army turning into a monstrous one seems likely, given Pharos' lingering Aaravos induced corruption and subsequent involvement. If you are interested in even more Karim and Viren parallels, check out this post for ones that didn't make it into / weren't relevant to this meta (the "cutting your palm open with a knife" is a particular favourite of mine).
Now that we've looked at how Karim is unknowingly walking Viren's political path, the next upcoming meta — The Path Trilogy #2: In the Name of Love, I Would Do Anything For You — will explore how Callum is mostly unknowingly walking Viren's personal path. The final Path meta will focus on additional parallels between Callum and Karim.
Now at the end, as always — thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! I'll see you in the next one!
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ro-botany · 6 months
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An Attempt at a Semi-Realistic Analysis of Thoron Stab Wounds
Yes, I already made a post about this recently. But in my reply to Ana's musing about the subject of the thoron blade, I largely assumed fire-like behaviour from an electric spell, and it's been itching my brain all day. So let's go over it again:
What would be the effect of getting stabbed with a bolt of electricity? What would that look like if we offered like five more centimeters of realism to this setting?
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If you don't read the full post, my conclusions are basically:
If we treat a thoron bolt like a live wire, then even if it's a relatively weak source of electricity, with that entry placement it's instantly arresting breath, causing severe convulsions, and probably killing him in record time.
I don't care that Chrom has the power of god and anime on his side. There is no way in hell he's speaking or controlling his own movements in this moment.
The best interpretation of the thoron blade stabbing is the interpretation that makes the story feel best to YOU. Ignore me and my math if it doesn't spark (hah) any joy or interest for you.
Content warning: Detailed discussion of electrical shock and burns, and descriptions of such.
Classification of Energy Blades
I generally consider the thoron blade to be a subtype of a broader class of fictional weapons I call energy blades. These are your lightsabers, your halo fireblades, things like that.
Most of these weapons tend to behave like sources of pure heat, and most can have their behaviour modelled like a Hot Knife. The weapon is treated as though it has a physical component -- a sharp blade at its center that handles most of the actual cutting or stabbing -- and the fire/plasma/heat is treated as a secondary effect of the weapon. Narratively this is often the more balanced choice, because it means the weapon puts out a reduced amount of heat energy, which means damage is (mostly) contained to the initial wound site and its immediate surroundings. This is how you get instant cauterization weapons.
The other option is the Literal Flame model, which assumes pure heat energy with no physical cutting component. This is rarely, if ever, used in fiction, because it is overpowered. It works a lot like the acetylene torch analogue I used in my reblog of Ana's post. In short, for a volume of heat energy to be capable of "cutting" flesh, it's effectively vaporizing/instantly melting that flesh. That means it's putting out a LOT of energy. For a heat-based weapon, that means massive amounts of burning around the wound site, penetrating way deeper into the surrounding tissue than you expect, and the sheer heat of the air around the weapon causing widespread surface burns.
But the problem with using heat-based models in this instance is that Thoron is not a pure heat-source. Thoron is electricity, and electricity behaves very differently from pure heat. So if our aim is semi-realism, we ought to model it like electricity.
The Behaviour of Electricity
Fictional electric magic -- thoron included -- rarely behaves like real electricity. So, for our purposes, rather than an actual arc of electrical energy, let's model a thoron blade as a source of electricity.
Validar, through Robin, has effectively jammed a live wire directly through Chrom's lung and kidney. What does that do? To talk about that, we need to talk about how electric shocks work.
For electrical current to flow, you need a circuit. For a body to complete a circuit, it needs to contact two points with different voltage levels. A bird sitting on a high voltage wire has two feet touching points of the same voltage, so, voltage difference 0, the bird is safe. Chrom, however, has a live wire stuck through his kidney and feet on the ground; he's forming a circuit between a high voltage wire and the low voltage ground. Big voltage difference, big problem.
Once you get past the outer layer of skin, two things happen when a person is shocked. One, human bodies use electricity to move and to send nerve signals, so any muscles getting shocked will tense up. And two, humans do conduct electricity but don't do it well, which means there's a lot of heat being generated, which means the tissue getting shocked is also getting burned.
The majority of an electrical current will follow the path of least resistance. In this case, that means the shock initially goes from the impalement site, down through the legs, and out the feet. But electricity follows ALL available paths in some amount, so its not one straight line through the body, it does wider damage than that.
So What's The Damage?
Time to do some math!
(I am not an electrician or a doctor; please bear with me)
To my understanding, injury from electricity is a function of current and duration.
According to my sources, the amount of shock current someone experiences can be estimated using Ohm's law. To do this we need to know the voltage we're dealing with... so we're going to have to fudge some numbers here, since we can't actually measure the voltage of fictional magic spells.
Given thoron is a third tier lightning spell I'm going to say it's powerful, but not anywhere near lightning-from-the-sky powerful. I'll ballpark it around the voltage of... well, an electric chair, of the persuasion that kills you. Best I can tell, that means 2000 volts. You could probably reasonably go higher, but this feels intuitive to me.
My sources also tell me that the average internal resistance of the human body, with no skin in the way, is 1000 ohms. Just an average, not accounting for the different resistances of different tissue types and fluids.
So! To get the strength of the shock current Chrom's getting:
I = V/R = 2000 volts / 1000 ohms = 2 amps.
2 amps of current. Chrom is experiencing approximately 2 amps of steady current over 22 seconds.
I know that 2 amps doesn't seem like a big number. I need you to understand, dear reader, that currents that injure and kill humans are measured in milliamps. I need you to understand the sheer magnitude of how bad this is.
0.03 amps of current causes muscle contractions strong enough that you can't let go of the thing shocking you.
0.15 amps is enough to stop your heart, if the current goes through your heart -- which means death. It's enough to stop your breathing if the current goes through your lungs/diaphragm. It's enough to cause your limbs to tense so hard you are physically thrown.
Much more current than that, or current for more than fractions of a second, and you start talking severe burns.
I need you to understand that we have just directed 2000 milliamps of current through most of Chrom's internal organs for 22 entire gods-damned seconds.
Did I pull that voltage completely out of my ass? Yes. But Chrom is getting shocked directly in the organs for 22 fucking seconds so there is literally no voltage we can pick that isn't completely fucking him over. The exact number is just a question of how singed we want him at the end.
I know he has dragon heritage and general anime dude resilience on his side. I know this. But I cannot stress enough the degree to which that is not helping him here. In fact, things like the mild super strength like he has PROBABLY WOULD MAKE IT WORSE because your muscles contract way harder than you normally can contract them when they're being shocked!
No, Really, What's The Damage?
Best as I can tell, based on my limited understanding of electricity and its effects, here's roughly what happens to Chrom upon getting stabbed by the thoron blade when we pretend like this setting is a smidge more realistic than it actually is.
If you do not want to read graphic descriptions of injury this is your final warning to bail out of this post.
The instant the blade impales him, all the muscles from the bolt to his toes constrict. He instantly stops breathing. His legs and abdomen convulse so hard it throws him away from Robin.
He lands on the ground, and now the current isn't just going through his legs; it's going through any part of him that touches the ground, and that, in the end, is what's lethal.
His entire body locks up. Muscles pull as tight as they can go. He's convulsing on the ground, like a seizure, only worse. The skin around the bolt bubbles and chars. It smells like meat burning.
There's a sound like wood snapping as the force of his own writhing muscles fractures his bones.
He doesn't speak. He doesn't even scream.
It's bloodless and quiet. Twenty two seconds is a long time.
If Chrom was lucky, he died quickly. Heat turning blood to jelly, a lick of current stopping the heart, pain so great his brain knocks out of its own accord to spare him.
If being a son of Naga "helped" at all, gave him any resilience past what is human, it only means he was conscious a few seconds longer. Just enough time to be aware of the loss of control and the razor-sharp fire of nerve pain that erases all thought. With luck, not enough time to consciously realise he's dying, or whose fault it is.
Twenty two seconds is a long time.
The exit wounds on his back, on his limbs, on his head, sear, then bubble, then char in places. The damage around the bolt bubbles and blackens out and out and out. Don't think about what that looks like on the inside. The smell of burning flesh is thick enough to choke on.
He's still convulsing and burning long, long past the point of death. It only stops when the bolt fades.
In Conclusion:
The only thing saving us all from trauma around this cutscene is the T for Teen rating.
Validar could you pick literally any other execution method because holy hell. Robin carries a sword. Why didn't you just use THE SWORD, VALIDAR.
If you choose to model the thoron blade as a Hot Knife, or as a Literal Pinpoint Flame, or as either of those with a secondary mild electric shock effect, those are all extremely good options for how to handle this event. They offer an experience closer to canon with a highly variable level of injury severity. Singe the man to your taste, allow last words or don't, pick your level of blood and bad smells, those do it all.
Live Wire, as described in too much detail in this post, may be a marginally more realistic model if you want to treat thoron as a straight up source of electricity. Live Wire is also probably the most horrifying option of the bunch, and the one that offers everybody involved the least closure, which has it's own narrative value.
In the end, this is naught but applying a little too much realism and math to anime video game, because I find that fun. If this doesn't work for you throw it out. Pick whatever interpretation makes the best narrative for YOU. If you are like me and are fascinated by the most horrifying option, welcome, we can feel terrible about this together now.
Electricity is terrifying, never touch an outlet, rest in charred little pieces Chrom, goodnight everybody.
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jamesunderwater · 3 months
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having an anon friend always seems like so much fun and i’m somehow jealous of you.
my fave time of day: my favourite time of day is definitely just before the sun sets. like when the sun looks so much bigger and the sky is a bunch of different colours, that’s my favourite time. (it’s also the time i go home everyday so maybe it’s also the fact that it’s home time).
my favourite character: alaska young. the book version though. there was something about “looking for alaska” that hooked me in at a young age and i’ve never quite been the same since.
one fact: i failed high school english. most of my friends see me as highly literate so when i tell them i actually failed english (it’s my first language too) it always comes as a big shock.
now my questions for you: what’s your favourite holiday? if you could have any fast food brand available to you at a moments notice, what would it be? if you had to describe yourself using two colours, which would they be? 🩶
friend anon!!! despite my considerable neglect of our friendship, i want you to know that replying to your asks was literally on my to-do list for months. i hope that this feels like a compliment -- i only write out "reply to so and so" and "text so and so" when i really care xD
okay if you came off anon though OR figured out how to stealthily leave a message about wanting a friend anon (idk how you'd do that, but worth a try lol) maybe YOU could have a friend anon too. i need to be someone's friend anon, actually. it's such a sweet feeling to make someone feel seen like that, to make someone smile by showing them people care and are interested in them as a person. thanks for being the kind of cool person who does that! <3 i hope you get a friend anon, you deserve one too.
ohhh, that moment before the sun sets is such a beautiful one!! i'm curious what your landscape is like when you're heading home each day -- are you seeing this sky against a city backdrop? an expanse of fields? suburban streets lined with houses? a mountain with houses scattered all down it? the sea or other waterscape? i must know.
haha i am excited that you ended up choosing a character i actually know! fun fact, when i was in high school, my childhood best friend and i reconnected and we always had a kind of ethereal bond. one day we were sitting in her car in a cemetery and decided we wanted to rename ourselves based on our truer nature, but decided we should name each other. i actually named her Alaska, because she so, so reminded me of Alaska from that book. she was just (still is, even now)...unearthly in some ways. magic kind of poured out of every part of her. she ended up changing her name to Alaska really everywhere, truly went by the name for years. I think she only recently started going by her birth name again. (she named me Luna, if you're wondering, and what a compliment, to be compared to the moon in any sense)
i hope it's not rude to say, but i love your one fact? cause fuck school. it is so not a measure of our actual intelligence or proclivities. kinda love that you prove that with that story -- though i am sorry you had that experience, because I'm sure it was very stressful.
okay, i probably already apologized for this, but like.......sorry again for having absolutely no capacity for short replies. i don't really know how people don't comment on every little thing like this? hopefully you don't hate it!
favorite holiday: generally speaking, Christmas. Huge fan of Halloween as well. but the last few years Christmas has been very quiet for me, and while I haven't hated that, it just isn't exactly the holiday it used to be. So you know what? In this moment, I think my answer might be New Year's Eve instead. for several years now I've spent that day in reflection, and journaled for hours at night about the previous year or years, hopes for the new year, all of that. I love it. and I love that, unlike other holidays, I don't really feel the need or even desire to be with others that day -- so the fact that I'm usually not doesn't feel strange or like something i need to fix.
fast food brand: i don't really eat fast food much, or eat out that often at all. but despite the fact that i hardly ever eat red meat, for some reason my brain has associated "i did a hard thing and now i deserve heavy-calorie, easy meal" with Five Guys. which is basically really expensive, wonderfully greasy burgers, and i always feel like shit afterward, but there you have it.
two colors: oh how i love this question... it's hard not to jump to my favorite colors, but that's not what you're asking here. i'm so curious what my friends would say 😆 but me? i think i would say the golden yellow of ginkgo leaves in fall. and... mm, yeah, the dark green of a spruce tree (i looked some up, and i think the black hills spruce tree is the best representation of the green i mean).
<3333 thank you for these questions and the wonderful conversation, friend anon. i hope you had the loveliest of holidays and this week is restful for you.
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messyrosedepressy · 10 months
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Psychic or Psychotic?
Sometimes,
I get this overwhelming feeling 
That I have the ability to become 
Somebody else.  
Somehow,
my mind gets taken over 
by an entirely different person.
Somewhere along the way,
a specific soul enters the control room,
pushes buttons, pulls evers, 
making my body twitch, 
Carrying it to unseen places.
They push strange phrases out of my mouth,  
things that have never once escaped my lips.
Things that I would never dare,
Seemingly out of thin air…
Is my mind so vast
that can create this wide variety of personas?
Or am I just incredibly ill? 
Or perhaps… 
spirits are using my body
To feel alive again?
Easily and without hesitation
One could say that all signs point to;
Mental illness 
Schizophrenia, dissociative identity disorder, Bipolar disorder… 
Easily one or all three, quite possibly more. 
I learned in an Abnormal Psych class
how truly insane I must be,
when the professor spoke the words 
“Ghosts do not exist.”
You mean to tell me… 
the belief I have had my whole life 
Is it just a made up concept?
And that believing it makes me 
Unwell?
To that degree, all science is constructed the same way. 
Everything comes from a theory.
Theories aren’t absolute truth,
Absolute truth is impossible,
But proven theories are as close to truth
as humans feel they can get. 
If you believe in magic over science 
they can stamp your file with a diagnosis,
Schizoaffective Disorder.
They’ll feed you pills that dull your senses, 
so you can’t even feel your own energy.
What if
the people who have the ability to see magic 
aren’t the crazy ones after all? 
Do scientists definitively know
whether or not there are mystical forces 
 in the universe?
They put zero stock in being able to feel energy or see auras.
“You’re not summoning the spirit of your deceased loved ones in a séance, 
You’re tapping into your deep subconscious, to bring forth the impression of that person.
They can’t actually be there, it’s not scientifically sound.”
Maybe this kind of person just can’t see through their third eye, 
either because their spiritual self is sleeping,
or because they are subconsciously drowning out the ability to see 
because they can’t fathom this reality.
Therefore, they aren’t actually seeing the whole picture.
How do you know my perspective isn’t correct? 
Maybe I’m a celestial being who has taken human form, 
To influence humanity 
To change. 
My mission is to supply them with metaphorical monocles, 
or cause such a ruckus, that the third eye will open from shock. 
Encourage them to lift the veil from their spirits, 
And open the eye they weren’t aware they had.
The world is not black and white
It is full a spectrum of brilliant colors, 
thanks to the light from a giant star,
And the receptors in our eyes and brains that interpret the colors. 
How can you think about scientific concepts like this
and not consider the pure magic in it? 
It is more than I have ever been able to summarize with my words 
Yet here I am, giving it my best shot. 
Bipolar symptoms include:
delusions of grandeur.
Strangers have always depended 
on the kindness of me. 
Though I have come to realize, 
I am a powerful force,
with  the strength to withstand 
the discomfort they leave me with.
And this state of mind- 
This feeling is such a contrast, 
to my natural state
of feeling like an insect. 
Insignificant, easy to step on; 
accidentally of course. 
They never mean to hurt me, 
I understand. 
They just don’t realize where they are letting their foot fall
Before it’s too late. 
Where has all this uplifting, self-generated energy been, 
When I am so low?
When I find myself operating at the weak frequency 
When I long to sink into the earth,
approximately six feet beneath the surface;
like the perpetual wounds in my soul,
so deep and so wide 
they can never heal.
I will continue to bleed,
Until my life force leaves my body. 
Where does my confidence go? 
My sense of self is so radically inconsistent. 
Why don’t I always see myself this way, 
Realize that I am more than just a suicidal soul, 
buried in creative energy, yet lacking in motivation?
It lies dormant within me, 
and has unpredictable eruption patterns.
The power surges through my body, 
Almost to the point of pain, 
and definitely to the point of insanity. 
Is sanity truly achievable? 
I’m not sure I’ve ever considered myself 
To be very sane at all. 
Mostly insane, a fraction of sanity. 
But does that make me
Any less deserving of a good existence 
Than someone with more sanity? 
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ghcstlyhearts · 8 months
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CHARACTER BASICS
Full Name: Onyx Henry Coldwell
Nickname: Nyx / Henry ( Occasionally )
Age: 24
Gender: Cis Man
Pronouns: He & Him
Ethnicity: White
Nationality: Veritean
Education: High School on the Island
Occupation: Assistant at The Arcane Emporium
Hometown: Ravenwyck
Current location: Ravenwyck
Species: Wixen - Necromancer
Written Aesthetics: lipstick stains on your collar, expectations weighing heavily upon your shoulders & sharp tongue and even sharper mind.
trigger warnings: death mention, also some slight nsfw mentions ( basically i hint he's a hoe but it's not detailed )
CHARACTER APPEARANCE 
Face Claim: Gabriel Guevara
Height: 5ft10
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Dark
Dominant Hand: Right
Distinguishing Features: A slit in his right brow, a smirk constantly on his lips, a few small tattoos, occasionally covered in hickeys and scratch marks.
SUPERNATURAL EXTRAS 
Abilities: Necromancy ( communing with the dead via spirit boards, being able to raise the dead ) as well as Channelling, Spell Casting, Elemental Manipulation, Telekinesis and Potions making.
Have you always been aware of your abilities?: "The general Wixen abilities? Yes. The Necromancy? That was a shock, it's not usually present within our bloodline, or at least hasn't been for decades".
Favorite Magical Items: He's a fan of magical artefacts, finding them fascinating with how different objects can hold so much power. It's why he took a job where he did.
What supernatural creature is your character most scared of?: Surprisingly, his own kind. Given how his father is, and what he would do for the pursuit of power, it terrifies him, and it's why he'd never go against the man or his coven.
Who or what would they die for? Honestly, he isn't sure. He knows he's supposed to feel that loyalty towards his parents, or a certain cause, but he's not really sure it's worth dying for.
Does your character fight or flee? He would absolutely fight, and if not with magic, definitely with his fists.
PERSONALITY
Positive Traits: Confident & Resourceful.
Negative Traits: Antagonising & Non-Committal.
Neutral Traits: Flirtatious.
Goals/desires: His desire is to dismantle his current coven, or at the very least take it over from his father and change their current ideals - he can only see it ending disastrously but he won't act against his father. He also wants to master his abilities.
Fears: His father, his coven, his own abilities.
Hobbies: Whittling, drinking, partying, studying artefacts & sleeping around.
Habits: Licking his lips, scribbling down notes on the back of his hand, smirking, flirting with people he shouldn't.
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT Q’S
QUESTION ONE: were you born on the island, if so, what kind of curiosities do you have about the world beyond? if you weren’t, what do you miss about the world outside veritas isles?  "I mostly wonder what it's like to live in a place where the main focus isn't magic, or the supernatural. It intrigues me, and I'm often asking questions about how mortals function so well."
QUESTION TWO: what is your favorite part about the island?  "It has to be Oasis Isle. My parents aren't fond of it, so it's a nice break away from the family."
QUESTION THREE: if your character is supernatural, do they fear humans? if human, do they fear the supernatural?  "No, I don't actually. If anything, I find them fucking fascinating. Living without magic, especially around other fearsome creatures, and half of them just not giving a shit?"
QUESTION FOUR: share a fun headcanon or fact about your character! this doesn’t have to be long, just something to introduce us to your character!  Onyx is the only wixen in his family line to have necromancer abilities, despite them all practising dark magic, it comes far easier to him. They didn't realise until one day, they realised his "imaginary friend" was actually a ghost. additional fun fact about the coldwell family: all the children are named after crystals/gemstones, as their parents believed it would help manifest them to be great wixen.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 
BIO | PLAYLIST | PINTEREST
WANTED CONNECTIONS
good friends - while they're not as close to him as some people are, onyx still adores them, despite acting like a little shit most of the time
people who's bad side he got on - it probably wasn't hard
flings & one night stands - the boy has never had a relationship, and sticks to flings and one night stands, it's all meaningless and he makes that very clear from the start
his siblings - he's the youngest, but he has three older siblings, they're all expected to practice dark magic in secret, as their coven does, but they could have strayed. they could also envy onyx, as he's seen as the "golden child" due to his abilities. something he despises, however.
his coven - this is a subplot i am going to write up i swear
idk i want him to be chaotic let him break hearts
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fakesurprise · 1 year
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I almost stopped as I entered the kitchen. Cai was sitting at the breakfast table, eating sugary cereal Dad almost never bought. Three bowls at been set out along with orange juice: Dad almost never did that on weekdays, even if it was a Friday. Cai glanced up with an easy smile, waving his spoon to the old fridge against the wall.
I could hear Opal showering upstairs, and there was no yelp of shock so I almost certain Cai hadn’t done something magical, but the fridge has no notes or pictures on it: someone had taken the time to get a lot of mismatched magnetic letters and leave a note for us.
That Dad had done this rather than print a note or text us said something, but I had no clue what. Cai didn’t look worried, but Cai was really good at that. When your personal magic functions akin to luck, you do get to be pretty zen. As far as I knew, Cai had never been hurt and no magic seemed to affect him. A news report when he was two had led to mom and dad adopting him, which also wasn’t unusual: most magical families adopted spontaneous magic into them to keep everyone safe.
Opal and I weren’t adopted, not that we cared. Opal had been furious when was two and realized her skin would never look like ‘honey’ like Cai’s had had been angry with our parents for over a month, something she still got teased about. She made up for it last year when she casually described Cai as ‘Brazilian Shaggy’ to a stranger, and that had even reached our high school and stuck around.
I walked over to the fridge and studied the note Dad had left.
He’d taken the time to mix sets and make it neat. Definitely worried, and trying to hide it.
Kids: Mom is at Work at the next 4-5 months. Don’t expect to see her often. Even I don’t know the basics of the situation, but it’s Big. I’m dealing with tax issues at work for the Spring Equinox. Have put money into your accounts to cover needs, have grocery deliveries set to arrive every 3 days on my visa. Add things as needed, call when you need to.
Have work event this weekend.
Expect some pushback at school. Try not to cause or be problems?
Love and apologies, Dad.
The other side of the fridge had written upon it:
Cai: formal dinner to meet Luka might have to wait a bit; apologize for us?
Gemma: keyed things to you; maintain and change what you need. Keep an eye for oddness?
Opal: Mom might need your aid at some point; don’t strain yourself.
I walked over to the table, accepted the bowl of sugary fruity cereal Cai poured and sat down. “Shit.”
He raised two thin, perfect eyebrows.
“I’m allowed to swear, remember. I didn’t turn the house wards brown.”
Cai laughed. “It only lasted six hours at least,” he said, light and soft as ever. “Nothing additional from Mom or Dad?”
“Not to me.” I paused for a few bites. “Has Dad ever told us to expect pushback from Mom’s job like that?”
Cai considered that, then slowly shook his head. “When your job involves turning over stones, there are many who dislike what is found underneath? It’s not as if mom is even allowed to tell us what she does for the government, but I always assumed that was to protect us?”
“Not the government?”
“I think our government protects itself well. At least compared to normal ones?”
I shrugged. Mom kept most of her work secret from us, but her personal magic means she can’t be lied to, and privately I was sometimes happy mom wasn’t home often to grill us about classes, partners or grades. Most of the job of the magical government was making sure mages didn’t hurt ordinary people – or each other – unduly, and keeping magic quiet.
A few of my friends considered me odd, but I didn’t think most of my normal ones actually knew I did magic. It helped that most magic was far less impressive in the normal world, and that the universe in general pushed back against magic. For most people it was old stories or over there, and not really a problem. Which mostly worked out for the best for everyone.
Annie – one of my oldest friends, who had moved away last year – had known, and we kept in touch. She’d discovered Opal was a seer when Opal casually mentioned things she couldn't have known, and I’d admitted my family used magic. Annie hadn’t been too fazed by it: she had relatives who had got deep into Amway, and her one uncle had been part of a cult once. Every family had their own weirdness.
Opal came downstairs quickly, not missing a step. Seers don’t miss things like other people do, not that I envied her. It was just past seven and she already had sunglasses on from a migraine that would happen later. I did envy that she took after mom: blond hair, thin, the same pale eyes and cheeks that were almost as impressive as Cai’s.
I took after dad: solid, the build that says ‘this person could play Football if they wanted’, brown hair and eyes. Compared to my brother and sister I looked ordinary, which I’d come to see as a blessing more than anything else. My magic wasn’t one I used, but I excelled at formal magic like Dad did. Wards, protections, the use of bell, book and candle. You don’t think of not standing out as a gift until you see what standing out does.
Didn’t mean I was always happy with it, but I’d had seventeen years to get used to being me. Some days I was even good at it.
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vairiance · 1 year
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Hope you don't mind someone else venting but I need it rn.
I've been severely germophobic for years, since I was 13 actually, and I've spent years trying to overcoming it with many setbacks both minor and major as time goes. Well tonight my initial trigger that caused my fear in the first place is in the news again and it really sent me spiraling and it really sucks. The initial shock has worn off but I was panicking for a little while.
Idk really know what I'm asking for here, but I guess if anyone has like a secret magic word or something for me to reset my brain I'd appreciate it lmao
Anyone can vent in my inbox at any time for any reason. As far as I'm concerned, I'm perfectly okay with my inbox becoming a giant ventilation system the likes of which would put Deus Ex Human Revolution to shame
Anyway sorry to hear that, I know that initial triggers resurfacing can be really scary to deal with. The only way I was able to in any way deal with something similar is by having it resurface often enough and then, thankfully, not result in any severe consequences, so I was able to associate those two together.
You might benefit from the same advice I gave the last person though, in that avoiding news, be it through actual news or social media, may help. It's hard to balance staying informed nowadays against the sheer misery gained from seeing things happen in general, but if nothing else, deleting or avoiding platforms that just make it all worse like twitter or reddit can help.
And as far as actual news goes, the media loves to take small stories that may not amount to anything and blow them way out of proportion, making us worry or be upset about things that would not have changed our lives at all had we not heard of it. Maybe limit whatever news intake you have to once a week or something, so there's only time for headlines that actually matter?
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meinmyatrium · 2 years
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It's been such a hard, horrendous month, and I need to get all of this off of my chest.
content warning: suicide attempt, homelessness, inter-system neglect, abandonment issues (there is a relatively happy ending)
Our system has been homeless with my and the host's partner for far too long. We have been homeless off and on for the past two and a half years. But when he and the host started sleeping in parks when the car was taken, things became infinitely worse.
I am typically our system's spiritual center. I practice magic. It has kept us safe mentally.
But I was drained. Nothing was working, or no one was listening, or they didn't care. Friends stopped coming through for us. Family showed their true, abusive, colors.
Rebel, our host, has always been suicidal. But at the end of May, they had decided it was finally time. And all five of us, for the first time, agreed.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Allow me to back up a bit.
Marq, Rebel's partner and my fiancé, has always had problems with object permanence. Out of sight, generally out of mind. We would hang out when I was around, and things were good, but he rarely asked about me when I wasn't out. Our system is comfortable switching when he wants to see one of us, and sometimes it's necessary as Rebel is more or less selfish with the front seat and doesn't generally give it up unless prompted by someone outside the headspace, but he wouldn't ask for me.
So, when Rebel decided it was time to be done, and I came out to say goodbye, and he mistook me for someone else... I was devastated. Perhaps irrationally. But this was going to be our last time seeing each other.
Rebel went through with the attempt.
Nothing happened. A whole thirty day supply of pills that should have caused organ failure, and nothing happened.
From what I've been told, Rebel evidently had a new lease on life (and still does). In their eyes, they had been given a second chance.
I did not feel the same. At all.
I stayed in my atrium in the headspace. I didn't leave my bed. Couldn't. I was so very angry. That we were still alive, that he had mistaken me for someone else, that years of prayers were unanswered.
The anger left me after a few days, but I still couldn't leave my bed. I thought about him, how he was doing. As I am essentially incapable of having Rebel leave the seat until they're ready, I waited.
And I waited.
Days went by without a check in from anyone. Not him, not my other headmates. And then weeks.
I didn't sleep. I didn't eat. I wept, and I stared at nothing, alone with my thoughts for an entire month, my body (in the headspace-- my actual body) eating itself until my curves were all but nonexistent. Every plant in my atrium died, surrounding me with I was a shell of my former self, convinced that any higher power that might exist didn't care even a little about me. I wanted nothing but death, for the pain to cease.
Last night, however, Adia, who spends most of her time in the headspace and fronts maybe once or twice a year, knocked on my door.
When I first spoke, my voice was hoarse and cracked from not speaking. I asked her what she wanted, and, to my surprise, Marq had been speaking with her, and he wanted to see me.
So many emotions bubbled up. Shock that he even remembered me. Relief that it was finally over, that I wouldn't be stuck surrounded by so much death anymore, that I could finally come out. Gratitude for being pulled away. Blinding fury that the man who proposed to me, hadn't checked on me once since the attempt.
When I came out, fury was the emotion I chose to express. I contemplated ending the relationship.
But we talked it through. It got heated at some points, but, eventually, it was revealed that crippling insecurity that I would be angry with him was what kept him from reaching out all this time, that he didn't deserve my love. We talked about his worth as a person, how he only feels like he's worth loving if he's providing something, and that he had such a hard time asking for me in the past because he felt that spending time with him was a chore. I made him understand that I wasn't just here for the good times, that I want to be here through the bad times too. an agreement was made that I would have set days just for me.
He helped me rebuild my atrium in Sims, which our system uses as our main way of visualizing our headspace. It's bigger and better.
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I took this selfie in Sims just before we started building. I edited my Sim to acknowledge my weight loss, and, while I don't look like myself, it's the first picture I have of Marq and I, in my body, in my world.
We've had our share of issues, and we've got a lot of work to put in. But our relationship, and our lives in general, are getting better. It just takes work and communication.
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Thanks for listening.
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griffinsgriffins · 3 years
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Chapter 1: there was something different about her... a subtle energy... that I couldn’t place...
Chapter 6: IT WAS MAGIC, IT WAS FUCKING MAGIC OH GOD
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babylyctor · 3 years
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can John actually control time or am i making things up? trying to reach a conclusion via tumblr posting
so as a theory this is 75% vibes. however there’s some things in the books that give me pause, and i wanted to put together all those bits and see if there’s something there. i’m not totally on board with this idea because it seems too complex to leave entirely to the last book, and i don’t know how it could fit with the rest of the narrative (or do i?) but in any case i keep thinking about it so here’s this way too long post. spoliers for everything
first, this fucking suspicious sentence that’s one of the first things John tells Harrow (Chapter 2, HtN)
"I would let you come back, bit by bit, until you felt entirely ready to wake up. I can’t. I mastered Death, Harrowhark; I wish I’d done the smarter thing and mastered Time. I have to ask you to get ready soon, and so I am going to show you something I hope might … trigger your readiness.”
so this sounds like a really dull complaint on this immortal god’s part but also i don’t trust a single thing out of this man’s mouth, and this would be the exact kind of private joke he would make if he had actually mastered Time (capitalized) too. Also the context in which it’s said, talking about Harrow coming back from her coma, regaigning consciousness, awakening... you get it, oddly relevant theme wise.
then there’s the whole Soup Moment (Chapter 25, HtN), in which John seems to actually stop time maybe? i have doubts about this so lets see what our narrator tells us;
And God said, “Stop.”
The world slowed down. Augustine and Mercymorn stopped, arrested in the act of half-rising from their seats. Ianthe stopped, left arm paused, outflung, to shield her face. You stopped, sitting upright in your chair: your bones somehow rigid and still, and your flesh chilly and rigid around those bones. The shrapnel spray from the Saint of Duty did not stop, [...] But what remained of him stopped too, half man, half rupture—his prurient details hot and white, naked insides clothed with the sinus-drying burst of the power of God.
so here John freezes all the lyctors in place, they’re still conscious, or at least Harrow is, but they have their range of movement almost totally restricted. this is not like Mercy pinching Harrow’s dorsal nerve to paralyze her, this is a completely different feeling, maybe John’s thalergetic powers? it would make sense, all the lyctors are living bodies, they have thalergy and Johs is able to manipulate that, presumably. the bits of Gideon OG cascading down the table don’t stop but that might be John selectively using his powers, or it might be that that’s no longer living flesh.
so we’re saying this could just be John’s super special thalergy magic and nothing else. the first problem though is that technically he shouldn’t be able to use it against his lyctors without touching them, thanks to lyctoral invisibility. in fact when he explodes Mercy’s chest (rip in peace queen) he expressely reaches out and touches her to do so, because presumably he needs to make contact with a body in order to use magic against it, same as Mercy. so that’s a caveat, then there are these descriptions from the same Soup Moment;
You stared down the table at him: at the blank, remote faces of your two nominal teachers—at the frozen ivory stillness of Ianthe, her hair now whitish pink—at space outside the window, where the asteroids themselves seemed to hang in tranquilized arrest.
The Emperor of the Nine Houses stood. The spell, whatever it had been, dropped like a white sun setting.
These seem to imply certain ambiguity. John’s God and all that but i don’t think thalergetic magic should be able to affect asteroids, lifeless space rocks. of course it says they “seem” to hang in tranquilized arrest, not that they are really unmoving, but i think it’s a suggestive sentence all the same, and i’m suspicious of every word Muir writes. The second quote, specifically the highlighted part, is also a bit frustrating. It seems to imply that John isn’t exactly doing magic as we know it, but something else. If it was Harrow narrating we could go further with it, but since it’s Gideon we could simply attribute it to her lack of knowledge and familiarity with magic. However, two sentences after that we don’t have that problem;
The construct gamely clamberign our of the Saint of Duty dwindled to a powder of pink dust. The shard you had been driving up the cervical vertebrae to the base of the spine [...] simply disappeared: destroyed or removed, you could not tell.
This is still Gideon narrating but in this case she’s specifically telling us that Harrow doesn’t understand what John just did, it’s not magic Harrow is familiar with. There’s also the contrast between what we know is a normal process of destroying a construct - reducing it to dust -  vs this mysterious disappearance, that doesn’t really fit into what we know so far about the way thanergy/thalergy work.
so far, nothing conclusive, we know John is really powerful, but we don’t know exactly how, where his power comes from or what it can do. Then there’s the moment he unexplodes himself (Chapter 52, HtN);
White light.
It bleached the insides of your nose and the back of your throat. It hurt coming out your ears. It bled out your eyeballs. It wasn’t a flash of light, more … a suddenness; when it was gone—as though it hadn’t even existed, but had been a luminous hallucination—time stopped.
That light took colour from the room—everyone was a slow-motion cavalcade of greys, of eyes caught widening, of mouths parting in stone-shaded articulations of shock.
It happened in an instant. It happened over a myriad. A wet red construct knitted itself back together, [...]
again that white light that has been associated with thalergy magic and again all these references to time slowing down, stopping or just behaving in strange ways in general. again lots of ambiguity, this could be a thalergy based power - the ability to hold living bodies in stasis, and therefore make everyone feel like time has slowed down - or it could be that John is actually affecting time, maybe even reversing it (?) since he literally un-exploded himself, after Mercy put all her millenia of expertise into atomizing him and reducing him to almost nothing.
is that even explicable with regular thanergy/thalergy based magic? i’m not sure, a regular necro could never do that, a lyctor couldn’t do that. So if John isn’t just an overpowered lyctor what’s the difference exactly? i mean, how do his powers manifest differently from those of every other necromancer we know?
the other person we’ve seen using powerful thalergy magic is Silas. Whenever he siphoned, Gideon describes a similar vacuum sensation to the one that John’s magic also provokes, as well as white light;
As he faded, the pale Silas incandesced. He glowed with an irradiated shimmer, iridescent white, and the air began to taste of thunder. (Chapter 17, GtN)
Gideon felt an internal tug, like a blanket being pulled off in the cold. (Chapter 17, GtN)
Silas clambered to his knees, clasped his fingers together, and the feeling of suction popped the pressure in both of Gideon’s ears. (Chapter 34, GtN)
Silas is nowhere near as powerful as John but siphoning - thalergy based magic, condemned by God - still causes that suction effect and is marked by white light and lightning, just like John’s magic. However, there’s no mention of a time altering effect, no slowing down, no freezing in place, and seeing how both kinds of magic are similarly coded otherwise i find this difference suspicious.
To end this somewhere, two quotes, first, this thing Harrow tells Ortus when they both discuss what it must be like to be a lyctor (Chapter 5, HtN);
“Nigenad, what would be the tragedy in living for a myriad? Ten thousand years to learn everything there is to know [...] What is the tragedy of time?”
honestly to me that sounds like Muir making Harrow say things she will regret later. of course it could be about any of the numerous tragedies in Harrow life but still, gave me pause, specially because it kinda echoes John’s earlier sentiment, wishing he had mastered Time.
finally, a quote that might be totally meaningless and completely off base in this theory or it could round it up perfectly, i haven’t decided yet;
[...] ; yet you prayed all the while knowing Ianthe’s facility for tergiversation would have given the whole universe pause. (Chapter 36, HtN)
we know Ianthe is a girlboss and gaslighting is her thing. However, isn’t this sentence a bit too dramatic to describe Ianthe? doesn’t it sound kinda ominous to you? it definitely does to me, and although it might totally be my Ianthe bias wanting her to play an important part, who is Ianthe hanging out with lately? exactly John God “Jod” the Emperor.
in conclusion, i haven’t reached any conclusion. but i still think there’s something off with John’s powers beyond what we’ve been told, which isn’t much really, and i think there’s something going on with Time within the narrative (that’s another whole post though), and i think these two things are most probably related. but i can’t say i’m 100% sure of any of it. this was fun though. if you made it here thank you so much you’re the best <3
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Hello! I saw that requests were open and I was wondering if I could request the demon brothers from Obey Me! (separately) with a mermaid s/o? The brothers are unaware that their s/o is a mermaid since they hid themself amongst humans and pretended to be one. But since they’re in the Devildom and they miss the ocean, they’ll take really long baths in the bathroom while in their mermaid form whenever they can. Maybe the brothers find out they’re a mermaid when they accidentally see their s/o in their mermaid form? Gender-neutral please! And sorry if this is kinda a long request. I love your work and I hope you have a lovely day! Thank you! ❤️
Aww, I'm glad you like my work thank you for requesting it! And don't worry I love long requests it really helps me when it comes to writing! I will also say this is technically against my rules as I only write for 6 at a time but I will make an exception only for the Obey Me brothers just please keep that in mind. - Lilly
Set up
It's been a rough week the heat in the Deilvdom Is already above average but this past week has been the worst it's almost unbearable and I want nothing more then to get home so I can soak myself for a while. I've been doing that most days anyway but now it's more out of need than a want. Another hot day and another need for a long bath only this time I would get to relax for even longer! 'Everyone should still be at RAD for the meeting" With how hot it was Diavolo said it would be okay for me to head back so I didn't risk passing out so I would have at least an extra hour before anyone got home! Fully submerged in cool water my Iridescent tail just slightly hanging out I let myself unwind from the week. "Other than the heat things have been good I've kept my grades high and tomorrow we'll be going on a date" My lips pull into a smile as I muse not noticing the sound of knocking or the worried voice of my partner calling out to me it seems only natural this would happen one day but opening my eyes to the shocked face of my lover wasn't how I planned it.
Lucifer
Though fully shocked by the news that you're apparently a kind of merfolk he is also in stunned awe
It might take him a few moments but once he recomposes himself he'll jump straight to questioning you on things
He's not mad not even really a little angry that you kept this from him he just wants to know why and how you hid it....did Diavolo know?!
After you answer his questions he just stands there in amazement as a human he thought you the most beautiful being and now you're also like a shining star
You also have no idea how much pride this man has when he finds out you wanted to tell him and only him for a while now
He does get a little shy about a desire he now has but he still tells you about it (it's wanting to see and swim with you in the ocean)
" My my and here I thought you couldn't surprise me anymore then you already have you truly are my most special one huh?
Mammon
So flustered I mean what was he supposed to do you're in the tub and oh...oh you're a merfolk
He doesn't fully know how to process this information but man he knows he's happy and a little upset
Ask tons of questions and most of them are about why and how you hid this from him
Once that's out of the way Mammon is so excited you've been his number one since before you even started dating but knowing this secret about you and being the only one to know even if it was an accident makes him so happy
You get a new nickname then and there and it's His Sea Jewel though he still calls you his human to cause duh
He plans to take you to the ocean whenever he can just so you be fully yourself and enjoy not being in such a small tub( he might even bribe Asmo so you can use his tub too)
"I always knew you were a treasure but babe this is something else ya know"
Leviathan
:o that's him when he sees your tail, You're a sea dweller like him!!!!
Not even really gonna wonder why you didn't tell him he just gonna make sure you haven't told anyone else
Guess what your new couple's activity is! It's swimming in his aquarium room him in his demon form and you in your merfolk from
Is now a hype man for you talking up how cool it is that you are really a merperson and how it's just like the anime my best friend turned out to be a mermaid!
Will not even think about telling his brothers this is his secret with you now no one else should know unless you want to tell them..
Please let him help clean your tail and fins he will do everything you (⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄
Satan
He walks out right away and it won't dawn on him at first that you're a merfolk until he's out of the room
Does tons of research on mermaids and merpeople in general
He's hyper-focused on it for a bit and honesty prefers if you want to tell the others because he can brag that you're all his
Teasing calls you catfish and lovingly calls you jellyfish don't ask why
Is really scared now of bringing you with him to play with cats or showing you the cats he brings in thanks to slightly fearing they may try to eat you
enjoys sitting in the tub with you while you stay in your full form even if you like the water cold if it means holding you like this he won't mind
" What a wonderful surprise my dear jellyfish if you ever want to go see the ocean just let me know it will be our vacation plans"
Asmodeus
At first, he was just happy to see enjoying your time and then he saw the tail
He so excited his partner the second most beautiful person in all the Devildom and the most beautiful human is actually a beautiful merfolk
Will not question it at all he understand why you might want to hide it and that Diavolo probably already knew so he's not worried
Asmo already called you many sweet nicknames but his new favorite is Angle fish
Now that he knows he becomes far more committed to helping you out with a beauty routine after all merpeople can't risk their fins and scales drying or being hurt
If you're okay with it he'll want to post about you in your true form mostly bragging about how amazing you are
" I didn't think you could be any more gorgeous yet here you are angle fish glimmering like a clear night star"
Beelzebub
His first thing after seeing you like this is to be worried you're in the heat so often are you ok?
Beel isn't really fazed by the fact you've been hiding this he's just happy you don't mind him knowing
Won't say a word to anyone unless you want him to but will ask if he can at least tell Belphie
He will go to the beach with you whenever you want and starts to take you with him to work out his gym has a huge swimming pool you can use
Really wants to know about food you like now did you enjoy fish or other types of seafood if so raw or cooked he'll plan a dinner for you
Beel will still call you cupcake but sometimes when he wants to tease you he calls you sushi and if anyone calls you that in a mocking way he will fight
" I've always like carrying you around but now I have even more reasons to"
Belphegor
Doesn't ever notice you have a tail he just wanted to know why you were in the bath for so long
Is both in awe and also doesn't care thanks to you he became ok with humans again and even though he knows you're not really one you clearly choose to live like you are
Is fine with keeping it a secret but will also be real smug if you tell people cause now people think your even cooler but your all his
He can sleep anywhere and thought he wont be in the tub with you he will hold your hand and rub your tail while he sits on the ground and naps
Doesn't like going to the beach much but if you really wanna go hell come with you just to see having fun
Will whole heartedly defend you and fight for you if someone finds out and picks on you or if any of his brothers bother you
" Who would've guessed that you would be such a magical person and to not just that but that even being who you are you still choose me"
Okay I hope that this was to your liking and thank you for reading! And a huge thank you to my best friend @bird-brained-plague-doctor for helping me with some of the ideas used!!!!
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gojology · 3 years
Text
Strawberry Flavored Pocky.
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pairing : teen! gojo x gender neutral reader warnings : the big three: unedited, most likely badly written, and some cursing. also there’s like.. graphic imagery that gojo and reader exchange to eachother. it’s just banter though! wordcount : 2273 a/n : for that one anon that wanted teen gojo. my stroke of genius always occurs when im eating strawberry flavored pocky i swear.. anyways yeah this is unfiltered writing n it’s probably like not the best tbh and maybe i didn’t nail teen gojo’s personality but u know what this was so fun to write
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     The sound of the tear of the wrapper containing the Pocky you had just bought was music to your ears, crinkling with every touch. Your fingers are itching to grab for the deliciously coated sticks, but you’re stopped by someone none other than Gojo Satoru himself.       “What’d you get?” he inquired, seemingly unbothered by the face you were making, he hadn’t even greeted you with a simple, “Hello.” he sat down on the bench seat right next to you, uninvited.       In his hand were many bags of various sweet treats, you could only make out some familiar ones- ramune flavored gummies, a bag of chips, vibrantly colored candy. Your lips quirk downwards, exhaling, turning to face the setting sun.       “Just some Pocky.” you flatly respond, beginning to pick the biscuit up. Contrary to Gojo’s wide choice of snacks, you only really had one favorite- Pocky. Specifically, Strawberry flavored Pocky. The sweet, yet somewhat tart aftertaste treat dominated your mind almost day and night. It wasn’t everyday that Yaga would be lenient enough to take the four of you to the local convenience store. You were waiting for Shoko and Geto to finish shopping to finally head home for a night of yummy snacking.       Gojo sighs, lazily dropping the treats right next to his side, they sat idly, limply resting on his thigh as he crossed his right leg over his left knee. His hands warmly nestled into his snowy white hair, his elbows jutting into your personal bubble.        “Not one to chat, are you? What’s the problem? You scared?” his tone is teasing, and you jerk your head to face his. Your head is tilted, like your confused, but in reality you’re just astounded how obnoxious he was.       “Why in the world would I be scared of you? You wouldn’t lay a finger on me. Yaga-Senpai would rip your limbs off one by one and fling you into the horizon! And he’s not even that far away, I could report you to him if you even get on my nerves in the slightest.” you shot back, huffing and taking your first bite on the biscuit. You instantly melt.       He flashes you a toothy smile, and you stiffen, did he ever take anything seriously? “Oh my, so riled up. Only scaredy-cats would talk about how not scared they were. Look, you’re even shaking-” he gestures to your just slightly shaking, tightened grip on your Pocky. “-I win, Y/N! Boo hoo, case closed, gimme your Pocky~”        “No, fuck you and your fat ass trying to take my Pocky, I’m not shaking from fear anyways.” you sternly retort, warmth rushing to your cheeks for whatever reason. “I’m shaking because I’m resisting the urge to duct tape your mouth shut and gouge your eyeballs out.”       He chuckles warmly as if your gruesome detailing was humorous, he probably didn’t know you meant it. He too, ripped open one of his snacks. “Calm down, Y/N. I was joking, I could buy Pocky’s whole stock and probably also buy my position up as CEO if I wanted to. I wouldn’t leech off of you, sugar.” readjusting his crooked, circular shades, he looked down at your now slack grip on the wrapper.      Unanswering, you’re grumbling instead. Under your breath, you’re curious as to how Gojo hasn’t realized how obnoxious he was, and how much longer could he survive without his head exploding from how big it was from his inflated ego?      Gojo grinned. He was all too aware of those things, but who really cared?      “Not unless you let your guard down!-” unable to finish the rest of his sentence, he yanked up the wrapper from your hands, using the extent of his long arm to dangle it high above your head. Your reflexes are far too slow to react, causing you to glare at him in a mixture of shock, hatred, and disbelief.      “Give-” you jump, arm reaching towards your snack, but he backs off, snickering and still dangling it above your head. “It-” now you’ve leapt up on the bench, grabbing at the wrapper to no avail. “Back!-” whimpering and flailing your arms out, every time you came close to retrieving your rightfully owned pack of Pocky, he’d simply throw it to his other hand so carelessly it pissed you off. All the while giggling, juggling it like a clown.      A breath of laughter escapes his lips as he looks at you, prancing around like a circus act on the bench, yelling curses and many death-wishes to his clan. Your eyebrows are knitted together, and he can’t just help but realize how adorable you were when concentrated in getting something- so stubborn.    “Okay, okay!” and as if Gojo had flipped a switch, you simmer down, looking at him with an impatient side-eye. “You want it, doggie?”     “Refer to me as doggie, and I’ll send a pack of strays to ravage you.”       Gojo exhaled out of his nose. “You’re a funny one, doggie.” did he just dismiss the conversation you two were having literally 2 seconds prior? “I’ll ask this again, do you want to get your treats back?” his eyes are glinting with amusement and child-like glee. You were almost sure that he had started calling your beloved Pocky as treats because of just how well it suited the nickname Doggie. It looked like you would be getting no where unless you paid no mind to him calling you such a.. Derogatory name.       Grumbling and studying the concrete you were currently trampling on, you exasperatedly sigh.       “Yes. I do want my Pocky back.” you grunt, averting your gaze to anywhere but Gojo’s shoes.       He perks up in approval, drawing out a long, “Hmmm?” as if he hadn’t expected you to give up so easily. “What are the magic words, Y/N?”       This was so humiliating.       “Please?” you politely say through gritted teeth. If it weren’t for the general public bustling about, you would’ve lunged for his unruly hair and tear it out of his scalp.       “Hah! You think I’m gonna do that sorta bullshit?” he crosses his arms, Pocky tucked safely under his arm. You wince, thinking about how the biscuits may potentially be snapped in half. Did you really want your snack still? It probably smelled like Gojo’s armpit sweat, death, and all the bad things in the world combined. “You’re gonna have to earn it, Y/N, in a game.”       Now convinced that Gojo was the manifestation of all the bad karma that you had avoided, you stare at him with wide eyes and fear, the irritation long gone. Games, no, scratch that, literally anything with Gojo only resulted in a small, or maybe large piece of your sanity torn away from you, lost to the infinite dark abyss. Maybe that’s why Geto seemed to slowly go insane everyday.       “On second thought, I’ll just go-”      He cuts you off, alarm now displayed on full view, his face contorting back to neutral. “Wait, no! It won’t be hard. Pinkie promise.” extending a pinkie towards you, you gently slap it away. The mood change was so instant, you were still shocked, that, and he was almost a legal adult and still believed in pinkie promises.      Still hesitant, you quirk an eyebrow, crossing your arms over your chest. “I’d rather spend another two dollars than play whatever game your planning, unless you tell me about it.”      “That’s a given, besides, it won’t take too long, Y/N. I think you’ll like it.” he replies cheerfully, leaning and whisper-yelling into your ear, fruitfully jolting you up. Seriously, did he have any idea what personal space was?      After just a few seconds of thinking, you roll your eyes in defeat. “Okay, what’s this game?”      His incredibly long fingers inserted themselves inside the crinkling wrapper, pulling out a slender stick. You’re almost sure your salivating, and subconsciously swallow the lump at the back of your throat. “Okay, rules of this game are... Hm, we both place our mouths at both ends of the stick. You get the pretzel part because that part sucks.” mischief flickers in his eyes briefly. “Whoever can get down the Pocky longest without being afraid of kissing and pulling back, loses and doesn’t get the Pocky. Whoever stays in their place wins. I’ll throw in some money, deal or no deal?”       “This doesn’t sound.. Fun.” you were still skeptical, but curiosity was blossoming rapidly inside of you. Could you really resist such an intriguing request? The guy was rich, and he did say he’d throw in some money. Gojo probably hated the thought of you, too. You could probably get up and close, get him to cower away from the thought of locking lips with you, and you’d be on your merry way.       “Um, actually, never mind. Let’s do this.” you chirp, the weariness had depleted completely. Besides, Gojo would pester you into doing it anyways, this would effectively save time. The expression on his face was indecipherable, silently wishing to yourself to see his eyes. You wonder if they’re wide open, in shock of your acceptance.       He gently placed the biscuit between your lips, his thumb brushing against it. Your breath hitches, now he’s up close. The shades adorning his handsome features, concealing those vivid blue eyes of his made your heart pace quicken in just seconds, maybe it was because he could see you- and you couldn’t. Your gaze shifts to the tufts of white hair hanging above his forehead. His bangs look lusciously soft, so soft you wonder what it’d be like to ruffle his unruly hair, what did it smell like? What conditioner did he use?     Your cheeks darken, but you hope he doesn’t notice it. This was what people thought of when they saw pretty people up close, it wasn’t like you had a thing for him, he was just attractive, that’s all.      “You look real stupid holding that stick between your teeth and looking at me.” he comments, charmingly smirking as you give him another death glare, unable to speak in fear of dropping the Pocky stick. You could count each individual hair strand he had on top of his head with the amount of time he was taking.      Chomp.     You take the first bite, and you can’t help but realize how much your heart is fluttering about in your chest. Eyelashes fluttering, nerves getting jittery, the exchange was strangely intimate. No kidding, of course it was- if the two of you were adamant and continued to chomp on the stick, it would only end in a kiss. There was no way around it.      He takes a bite too, his lips look curved in a dopey smile, but there’s not a single word traded between the two of you, just tiny, slight nibbles. It would be eons until someone finished, and you were growing impatient by the minute. Quicken the pace. Quicken the fucking pace.     So you did the unthinkable, you quickened the pace.     Taking a large bite, he pauses for a minute- as if to think, before taking an even larger bite. Now, 2/3′s of the original stick is gone. One more large bite, and a kiss would follow suit. Now, you’re sweating bullets, eyes bouncing from him, back down to the microscopic sized Pocky. His lips are so, so close. Soft, plush pink, so glossy you’re inclined to ask what brand of lip gloss he uses. You can hear his breathing grow heavier, why wasn’t he giving up?      The two of you don’t take a single bite, plainly avoiding the objective, the world around you had evaporated into thin air. It’s you, and Gojo Satoru.      You nibbled a little bit more, and then you make up your mind. You’re going to kiss-       Growing chatter grew closer to closer, and you realize Shoko’s monotone and Geto’s lively voice, alongside a very disgruntled Yaga.       “Yeah, she’s pretty hot. I actually liked the movie- Uh...?” the steady rhythm stopped against the concrete. Immediately, you straighten and clear your throat, spitting out the Pocky stick into the nearby grass. Gojo follows suit, shoving his hands deep into his pockets and twirling around. “Oh hey, Geto!-”       “Are we interrupting something? Something.. Important?” Shoko quizzes, struggling to stifle her giggling. A sheepish smile was displayed widely on your face for the world to see, hands behind your back like you were hiding something. Gojo, on the other hand, is facing the other direction, whistling and staring at the now setting sky.       You stutter, cheeks growing even darker. Yaga looks as disgruntled as ever, facepalming and murmuring to himself. Geto looks ecstatic.        “MY MAN!” he beams. “WERE YOU GOING TO-”       “SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Shoko shushes him in response, turning her head back to the two of you. You looked like you had just seen a ghost. “We thought you hated Gojo, we’re just...” her head is cocked slightly, an understanding expression on her features. “Just surprised, is all.”       Spluttering, you try to explain yourself- but no sound comes out. Your mouth is opening and closing, struggling to find the words.       “I do hate him... I just... He.. Pocky.. He uh...”       “Sheeeeeeeesh! Poor Y/N over here is going through some shock right now!” Gojo muses aloud, he places an arm around your shoulders, pulling you in under his arm. There’s a small, coy grin on his lips. As if he didn’t try kissing you 1 minute ago. “Just ignore them, anyways, what are we having for dinner tonight? I heard there’s a really good KBBQ place down the street that just opened..”      As much as you hate Gojo, his ability to escape anything did come in handy.    Well, maybe you didn’t hate him as much as you were leading on.     You’d go as far as to say.. Maybe you enjoyed some parts of him.      
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hangovercurse · 3 years
Text
Home Sweet Home
You bring Colson to your hometown for the first time.
Request: “Can you write a Colson imagine where you take him back to your hometown to meet your family and friends and he’s nervous everyone will hate him but everyone ends up loving him? And maybe include a run in with some girls from high school that are jealous 🤔🤷🏻‍♀️”
Colson Baker x Reader
Warnings: Cursing
A/N: I try to be as inclusive as possible in my fics but its hard when writing about families in this capacity, so I just went with the most generic family model possible. Also, my family is very unusual so I don’t really know how families interact… oop
Word Count: 2979
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“Will you stop freaking out, you’re making me nervous.” You placed a soft hand on the shaking leg of your boyfriend. “And they’re my family.”
He let out a sigh, the shaking stopping momentarily as he pulled you as close to him as possible in the back of your Uber. “What if your parents hate me?”  
Taking a deep breath, you assured him again, “my parents are not going to hate you. We’ve been over this; they’re going to love you.”
“Your dad is going to take one look at me and punch me in the face.” Colson said, a pout on his face.
You let out a chuckle, “he is not. And even if he does, you can take a punch.”
Despite your laughter, Colson remained stoic, “I’m serious Y/N, dads hate me. I look like everything you’d want your daughter to avoid.”
A sigh left your lips at his admittance of insecurity. “Babe listen to me, please. My parents are going to love you because I love you. And if they don’t then tough shit because you’re not going anywhere.”
He nodded, but you could still see the worry behind his eyes. “I just really want them to like me. They’re important to you, so they’re important to me.”
You smiled at the comment, heart fluttering. “I’m in love with you.”
He looked at you deeply, a smile falling onto his lips, “and I’m in love with you, princess.” His lips pressed a small kiss against the crown of your head and rested there until the car pulled up to your childhood home. You felt your boyfriend tense up beside you, so you reached for his arm that was around your middle, rubbing soft shapes through the sleeves.
“I’m gonna be right next to you the whole night.” You told him as you moved to open the door, breathing in the refreshing air. LA was lovely, but it was nice to be able to breathe properly in your hometown.
Colson grabbed your bags out of the trunk, even though you insisted you could help. “Go say hi to your family, babe. I got it.”
You pressed a small kiss to his cheek, whispering a small “see you inside” before rushing to the familiar front door. Years of memories lie beyond its wood, memories you were excited to relive.
Knowing your family would keep it unlocked for you, you turned the knob and pushed the door open. The smell of your family’s cooking filled your nose, and immediately members of your family found you.
“Y/N!” Your younger cousins screamed, racing over to you to hug you. The last time you’d seen them they were 5 and 7, now they were 8 and 10.
“You guys have gotten so big! Did you drink some sort of magic potion or something?” You asked, a smile on your face.
Your mom had told you that she and your father would be cooking, but you didn’t think they’d invited your entire family. Although, you should have assumed they would given how close your family was.
Once your cousins let go of you, you turned around to see Colson waving off the Uber driver and making his way to the door. You turned to your younger cousins once he got close enough for them to see him. “Guys, this is my boyfriend, Colson.” They gave small waves as you introduced them to Colson, who gave them a big smile.
“C’mon, babe. I’ll show you to our room.” You grabbed one of the bags from his hand, much to his dismay, and led him through the house. After you had moved to LA, your parents had turned your bedroom into the guest room, but some of the decorations from your younger years had remained on the walls.
Colson looked around the room, smiling as he thought of younger you growing up in here. “Is this a Bowie vinyl?” He asked, motioning to the vinyl record on the wall as he set your bags onto the bed.
You nodded, smiling wide. “Yep, got it for my 15th birthday. Signed and everything.” Your boyfriend nodded in appreciation as his eyes moved around the room. You wrapped your arms around his middle, cuddling into his chest. You could feel his heart pounding in his chest from how nervous he was. “You’re not gonna freak out and run off on me, are you?” You asked, a light humor in your voice.
Colson let out a dry chuckle, “no, I’ll be okay.” He mumbled, squeezing you closer to him. “But what if  we just stayed in here forever?”
You slapped his chest playfully, “c’mon loser, you’re coming to meet my family whether you like it or not.” You grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the door.
“Yes ma’am.” He saluted with his free hand, making you giggle.
You made your way into the kitchen where your mom was standing with your aunts and sister. Her eyes lit up when she saw you, “you made it!” She came over and gave you a tight hug, “How was the flight?” She asked.
“It was fine, we slept most of the way.” You smiled before turning to Colson. “Mom, this is Colson, you’ve met him over facetime a couple times now, remember?”
She smiled moving to pull him into a hug. He had a shocked look on his face but reciprocated the hug. You mouthed “sorry” to him, giggling silently. He just smiled and shook his head, letting you know he was okay.
“Of course, I remember! She talks about you all the time.” You blushed as Colson smiled proudly. “You’re much taller in person.” Your mom noted, making you and Colson chuckle.
“Yeah, I get that a lot.”
Your sister cleared her throat, grabbing your attention, “right! Colson, this is my sister and my aunts.”
They each introduced themselves politely. You told them you were going to go outside to find your dad and brothers. Before you left your sister pulled you to the side and whispered in your ear, “okay, I knew LA was full of hot guys, but how’d you manage to pull that?”
You laughed out loud, “Y/S/N! That’s so mean!”
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” She laughed, but then whispered again, “but seriously, god damn.”
You rolled your eyes, “next time I’ll bring you one back.” She giggled, nodding in encouragement.
You took Colson’s hand, ignoring his quizzical look, and led him to your backyard. “That wasn’t too bad, right?” You checked in on him.
He sighed, “no, but moms are never bad. If moms don’t like you, they’ll say it in secret. Dads will say it to your face.”
“My mom loved you, and so will my dad. Just trust me.” You smiled, squeezing his hand.
You found your dad sitting on a lawn chair with your grandparents. Your brothers were throwing a football around with some of your older cousins and uncles. You greeted the three in lawn chairs, your dad standing up to give you a hug.
“Hey, Y/N/N. How are you?” Your dad asked.
“I’m good! Glad to be home!” You smiled.
Your grandpa grunted, “you should never leave, then.”
You chuckled, leaning down to give both him and your grandma hugs. “You’ll be so sick of me in three days, you’ll be begging me to leave.”
Once you stood up straight, you motioned to Colson, “This is my boyfriend, Colson. You’ve kind of met him before, Dad.”
Your dad reached out his arm for Colson to shake, earning him a strong nod. “Strong grip. I like him.” Your dad looked towards you. You could tell he didn’t remember meeting Colson on facetime, but you hadn’t expected him to.
“Grandpa, you’ll like this. Colson knows all four members of Motley Crue.” You smiled, winking at your boyfriend.
The older man looked impressed, “really? I was a roadie on the Theatre of Pain tour.”
Colson nodded, a smile on his face. “I played Tommy Lee in their biopic and then, uh, we recorded a song together.” You grinned proudly as the two talked about their experiences with the band.
Your dad put a hand on your shoulder, shaking you lightly, “You happy?” He whispered.
You turned to look at him, “yeah. He’s a good guy, trust me.”
Your dad nodded, “oh, I can tell. Just wanted to make sure.” You thanked him, watching your boyfriend interact with your family. “Now you gotta introduce him to your brothers.” He chuckled at your sigh.
“Do I have permission to punch them if they act like assholes?” You asked, only kind of joking.
Your dad pushed you towards the lawn, “I see nothing.” You smile, grabbing Colson’s hand and leading him away from your grandpa once they’d finished their conversation.
“Okay, so I knew you were freaking out about my parents, so I didn’t want to freak you out even more.” You started, causing a panic look to cross Colson’s face. “My brothers are…” you searched for the words, “assholes. But like, loveable assholes. But they’re probably gonna give you shit, but it’s out of love. But I have no problem hitting them if you want me to.” You smiled.
He raised an eyebrow, “normally I’d say that’s my job but I feel like it’d be easier for your family to forgive you than me.” You laughed, pulling him to the guys and introducing him.
It turns out, your brothers actually really liked Colson, which was somehow worse than them hating him. Because it meant that they stole him from you. When you went back inside to talk more with your mom, your brothers demanded Colson stay outside with them. He seemed happy, so you let him stay, excited that your family was taking to him so well.
An hour later, dinner was almost ready, so your brothers started to set up the folding tables outside, which Colson gladly helped with. You were helping your mom finish up the last of the food, watching your best friend and soulmate through the window with adoration. He was helping your younger cousin put the tablecloth on the table, the scene reminding you of the time Casie and him took you out for a picnic on your birthday. You couldn’t wait to bring her here.
“You chose a good one.” Your grandma commented from behind you, making you jump a little bit. Once you registered her words, you blushed, mumbling out a thank you. “I can tell he really loves you. A granny can always tell.”
You smiled, “I really love him, too.” You turned back to check on him, catching his eye. He sent you a bright grin, making your grandma pat you on the shoulder before walking back to your mom to help her.
The rest of the night was magical, Colson by your side the entire time. Eventually most of your family left, leaving you and Colson to go to bed. You cuddled into his side, a smile on both of your faces. “They all love you, y’know?”
He hummed in response, squeezing your waist. “I love you.”
You chuckled, “you’re so fucking cheesy.”
 The next day you were determined to take Colson on a tour of your town, starting with the skate park you spent almost every day at in high school. “We would’ve been best friends when we were kids.” He said as you dragged him through the park.
“We’re best friends now.” You chuckled, pausing to press a kiss to his lips.
He hummed, “I think we’re a little more than best friends but okay.” You rolled your eyes, pulling him further into the park until you spotted a familiar face.
“Little Benny?” You asked, your face lighting up. The younger guy’s eyes widened, running up to you.
“Y/N?” he asked, pulling you in for a hug.
You chuckled, “You were like, 12 the last time I saw you, what the hell?”
The man laughed along with you, “well you were the one who ran off to LA miss big-time producer.”
You smiled, realizing he had probably checked up on you. Benny was about 7 years younger than you and had looked up to you almost his whole life. Seeing him so grown up was a strange experience for you.
You noticed him glancing to Colson, his eyes going wide. “You’re-“
You laughed, “Benny this is Colson, my boyfriend. Also known as-“
“Machine Gun Kelly!” The younger boy exclaimed, making Colson chuckle.
He reached out his hand, which Benny gladly shook, “nice to meet you, man.”
“Kells, this is Benny, my friend from high school. I taught him how to skate.”
“More like your protégé.” A female voice said. Behind Benny came Deanie, another girl his age you had taught. Benny’s arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her into him.
You smiled at the two, knowing Benny had liked her since he was in middle school. “Hi Deanie.” You said, the girl smiling back at you. “This is Colson, my boyfriend.”
“Are you gonna skate?” She asked, eyes going wide.
You sighed, shaking your head, “sorry, guys. Maybe later, I’m just showing Colson around the town right now.”
Deanie and Benny both pouted, “damn, she goes off to Hollywood and forgets all about us.” Benny joked, making you all laugh.
You grabbed Colson’s hand, “We’ll see you guys later!” You waved, pulling the man away from the couple.
“It was nice to meet you!” He said, making you smile. “You seriously taught him how to skate?”
You nodded as you continued your trek to the diner you used to work at. “Yep, I taught most of the kids how to skate, although I guess they’re all his age now.”
Colson grinned, “so you’re, like, a legend here.” He commented, but you shook your head, laughing.
“No, I was a loser.”
“Not to those two, you’re not.” He said, swinging your intertwined hands. You rolled your eyes but didn’t say anything further.
You finally arrived at the small diner you used to work at. About 50 feet away from the door, Colson’s phone buzzed. “Shit, Slim’s calling.”
“Take it, I’ll grab a table and you can meet me inside.” He smiled thankfully, answering the call as you walked inside.
You immediately spotted Wesley, the cook you’d known since you were 16, through the order window. The smell of the diner was familiar, and for a moment you felt like you were walking in for a shift. You leaned against the bar, “Hey, Wes!” You called, drawing the cook’s eye.
“Little miss Y/N! Is that really you?” You smiled at the old man.
“It sure is! How’s the diner?”
“I’m still here, aren’t I?” You giggled at his response. Wes had opened the diner in the 90’s and swore he’d burn with the building.
You grabbed a booth in the corner, just in case there happened to be any peering eyes in your small town.
Unfortunately, your table was in Liza’s section, a girl who’d hated you since you were kids. You found it quite funny that she was still working at the diner after all this time, silently thankful that you’d gotten out of the town.
She scowled when she saw you but walked over anyways. “What happened? Strike out in Hollywood and now you’re back here trying to get your job back?”
Her voice was just as annoying as it had always been. “Or did your rich sugar daddy dump your ass and now you’re home begging for money?”
You wanted nothing more than to slap the smirk off her face, but you refrained. “Actually-“ You started, but you got cut off by your boyfriend.
“You have a sugar daddy and didn’t tell me about it? Babe I would’ve helped you scam him for so much more.” He smiled, sitting across from you, and grabbing your hand that was resting on the table.
Upon realizing who was sitting across from you, Liza stiffened. “You’re-“
“Y/N’s boyfriend, nice to meet you.” He smiled, an evil glint in his eyes.
“Machine Gun Kelly!” Liza said, her squeaky voice making you cringe.
“I prefer Colson, but yeah.” He sighed, looking back over to see your annoyed expression.
Liza looked between the two of you, a look at disgust on her face. “Seriously? Why the hell are you going out with her? You could do so much better.”
Your mouth dropped open in shock at her blunt rudeness. Colson’s jaw clenched as he spoke, “what, like you?”
The girl shrugged, not catching the sarcasm that dripped from his voice. “I’m just saying, I don’t know what she’s told you but she’s a talentless bitch whose probably only dating you for money or fame, or both.”
Luckily, Wes came out to the front of the house to greet Colson, stopping him from punching a girl in the middle of the restaurant. “Nice to meet you, man. I’m Wes, owner, cook, and the best boss Y/N has ever had.” Colson shook his hand, still glaring at Liza.
“Yep.” You agreed with the man. Your voice was soft to calm Colson down, which worked a little bit.
Colson shot the man a grin, “nice to meet you, Wes. Y/N talks about this place all the time.”
The look of pride on Wes’s face was unforgettable. “Well, if you two need anything, just let me know.”
Colson looked towards Liza, annoyance returning to his features, “do you think we could get a new waiter?”
You almost laughed seeing the look of shock on her features, but Wes happily obliged, handing your table over to a newer waitress. Liza had steam coming out of her ears, but you ignored her.
“Thank you.” You muttered. “She’s hated me since we were kids.”
He rolled his eyes, “Yeah I could tell. Couldn’t have her talking shit like that.” He squeezed your hand, “now, what’s good here?”
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missmitchieg · 2 years
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Julie and Luke for the ship it ask game! 😊
OOH, yay! I get to talk about Jukebox! Thank you for asking about them!
1. What made you ship it?
The way they look at each other is just So Soft and Loving and it's A Lot like
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And this is just the first half of the season like, oh my god. These kids are In Love.
2. What are your favorite things about the ship?
The loyalty and trust in this ship is so beloved.
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And honestly, looking at how loyal Luke is from the beginning (and you know, the fact that the phantoms were literally just Some Guys that showed up and borderline harassed her for, like, 2 days to join their band) is probably why Julie was so insistent that the guys would definitely show up for the dance and was shocked and hurt that they didn't, lol. 'Cause she's probably like "You literally harassed me for 2 days to join your band and you didn't show up for the first gig our manager/marketing team booked for us! What the hell!"
3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?
Umm, is it an unpopular opinion to say that I actually kind of love the fact that Luke and Julie don't/can't touch each other until the Magic Hug in the finale? (Asks the girl who literally openly has A Thing about the concept of Luke tucking Julie's curls behind her ears and then wrapping his arm around her shoulders like a Boyfriend.) I think it is judging by the amount of hugging and cuddling and general touching and... More the fandom puts in fanfics.
I just personally feel like it's not as... Impactful, let's say, if they can just touch right off the bat and that's one thing I like about the Netflix adaptation of JATP vs original JEOF. Like, Julie and Daniel hug in episode 3 and there's 26 episodes of Julie E Os Fantasmas compared to Julie and Luke hugging in episode 9 when there's 9 episodes. I just think it has more umph when there's some real development in their relationship and they talk and connect without the option of physical touch at first and then they gain the ability later rather than sooner.
You know, 'cause then it's like *dramatic gasp* "They can t o u c h now." after 9 whole episodes instead of, like, "Aww, she hugged him. That's cute." after 3.
Does that make sense?
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glowingbadger · 3 years
Note
Now, I’m not saying that you do or do not have to do this but: may I ask about that Sylvain x reader x Felix x Dima HCs? SFW and nsfw? I feel like you’d get it. 😉
Man the toughest part about these poly and poly-adjacent asks is figuring out how this would even shake down without someone dying lol this is probably gonna have to be a tiny bit OOC by my standards. Anyway, let's chat~
[spicy hcs will be below the cut and tbh it's a lot lol]
Sylvain x Felix x Dimitri x AFAB Reader HCs
- As I'd said last time this came up, Sylvain is definitely the first person to catch on to what's going on here. Over a late night of talking through war relief and diplomatic policy, a quiet finally falls among the three of them. Clearly, a change of topic would be appreciated, but Sylvain chooses to go about this by saying, "Soo... Y/N, huh?" Which leads to the first time all three men manage to grasp and discuss the situation. They all care for you. They all want you. But how could they force you to make that choice?
- Frankly, you're shocked that this is the solution they've come to when they approach you about it. Surely it must only be the lifelong familiarity and friendship between them that would cause them to even consider "sharing" you. But of course, they're each gorgeous, each charming and sweet in their own idiosyncratic ways. Perhaps this could work...
- The best part of being (more or less amicably) pursued by all three gentlemen is how wildly different they are in personality and temperment. Sylvain is an expert of fun, lighthearted romance- surprising you with a kiss to the side of your neck and whispered words and a single plucked flower tucked behind your ear. Dimitri's approach is gentlemanly and traditional- kisses atop your hand, lingering stares over private tea dates, book recommendations and so on. And of course, Felix is as coarse and fiery as ever. He'll never say it outright, but his feelings for you are paradoxically the most evident. He's even a bit of a mother hen with you, scolding you when you don't take care of yourself, and initiating quite a bit of physical affection in private.
NSFW 18+
- For some time, all bedroom activities with the three stay fairly separate- and as different as their relationship styles are, their love-making styles are just as varied. Felix is passionate, intense, and if you can take it, quite rough. Dimitri does his best to be gentle with you, but it's clear that there's a fire in him that he keeps strictly in check. Sylvain's expertise is truly impressive, his smooth and effortless eroticism never failing to leave you trembling.
- It's his idea for the three to try pleasuring you together one night. He says with a smirk you "deserved a treat for putting up with us all the time." Dimitri is clearly interested, but reluctant due to his sense of propriety. Felix is the hardest to convince though- he already has to deal with Sylvain and the Boar more than he's like to for your sake, why should he have to share you in bed as well? But, the idea of trying it just once, just to see you absolutely shaken to your core with overwhelming pleasure, turns out to be motivation enough for all three in the end.
- They start by preparing you, Dimitri and Felix lying on either side of you and greedily caressing every inch of you they can reach. Dimitri eventually settles at your chest, gently kissing and nipping at your nipples and the surrounding flesh with an arm around your waist. Felix, meanwhile, is nestled against your neck, visibly marking you with his teeth as if in direct defiance of this whole arrangement. Then, Sylvain lowers his head between your thighs and puts that expert tongue to work. In no time, you're trembling and gasping between the three men, absolutely overstimulated but giddy beyond belief. It's almost too much to bear, but Felix's free arm wraps around your leg closer to him and lifts it, keeping you nice and spread open for Sylvain to work his magic until you're soaking wet and ready for all of them.
- Felix is the first to take you for real. He grumbles something about everyone wasting time and climbs atop you. The leg he'd been keeping in place for Sylvain now rests up against his shoulder, and he bucks into you with harsh, deep movements of his hips. He fucks into you as you lay on your side, and as he does, Dimitri kisses you sweetly and asks if you wouldn't terribly mind using your mouth for him, and even asks Sylvain if he doesn't mind having to wait a bit. The redhead is actually more than happy to kneel at the foot of the bed and enjoy the view, lazily stroking his own twitching cock as he watches you being ravaged by the other two men.
- You spend a good while getting steadily pounded by Felix's veined cock while struggling to take as much of Dimitri's rather large member into your mouth as possible. Sylvain jokingly remarks on how well everyone's getting along, but you can hardly process words in that moment. Your senses are overwhelmed by stimulus, by the masculine scent of your lovers, by deep, pleasured groans and your name in the air.
- When it's Dimitri's turn, you ride him, which he generally prefers. You're actually somewhat grateful that this time, you had Felix to rough you up a little and make you cum once or twice first, to prepare you for Dimitri's size. When you ease down onto his throbbing manhood, Sylvain positions himself behind you to fondle your body and periodically grind against your ass, all while Felix recovers for a moment. Sylvain's voice purrs in your ear, "Ah, our King is nice and big, isn't he. You're taking him so well, Y/N..." the blonde blushes a dark pink, but Sylvain is clearly enjoying the depravity of the situation immensely.
- At long last, with two down and one to go, Sylvain directs the other two to either side of you again, and finally takes you in the same position he went down on you in earlier- on your back, with your other two lovers at your sides. He's absolutely rock hard, having clearly enjoyed the show leading up to this moment. By now, your so over-full with your lovers' release that it acts as a lubricant, which Sylvain doesn't seem to mind in the slightest. Dimitri lines your cheek, your jawline, your neck, everywhere with kisses and gentle bites, while Felix's hand strays between your thighs to circle a single finger around your clit. This almost immediately pushes you over the edge, your eyes rolling back as you feel pleasure beyond what you thought possible. Certainly it wouldn't be with only one man.
- Having all filled you thoroughly, the three fall into a panting, satisfied afterglow with you. Felix is the first to get up to clean, but he does eventually return to check in on you. You're beyond exhausted- and all of them can obviously tell. You're not sure if you would be able to handle this becoming a regular occurrence, but... maybe every now and then.
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whitehotharlots · 2 years
Text
Queering the word queer
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The discourse is in bad shape.
Before I can explain how it got to be so broken, we’re gonna need a little refresher course on the last 12 years of American culture and politics, to see how the two concepts melted hideously into one another in a process that strengthened the former while rendering both meaningless:
Venture back to October of 2010, and you’ll find the prevailing trend within liberalism was a belief that politics were very dumb and unimportant. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert epitomized this with their Rally to Restore Sanity, a response to the gauche concerns of the Tea Party movement, in which a parade of the most boring celebrities on earth (Sheryl Crow, John Legend, The Roots) gave speeches telling everyone to chill out. Attendees were encouraged to bring in hand-made signs bedecked with slogans of apathy. Popular ones included "Stark Raving Reasonable,” “Don’t Believe Everything You Think,” and (most ironically, 12 years later) “I encourage you... to stop drawing Hitler mustaches on everyone.” 
The times have very obviously changed.
What happened? Well, it turned out that politics actually are important, even if the people to whom they’re important are often unable to articulate why or how. The Tea Party was Koch Brothers astrotruf, and Glenn Beck was a big fat crybaby who didn’t actually believe anything, sure. But these movements were tapping in to widespread discontent that existed, even if it was understood stupidly. And then, the following year, Occupy happened. Young people facing lifetimes of debt, shoddy medical care, and little chance of personal fulfillment had decided that politics actually mattered... again, even if the movement was in retrospect comically dedicated to its own defeat, its discontentment was real. And this discontent was of the sort that our nominally liberal institutions couldn’t just will away through mockery.
So they started to admit that, okay, sure things aren’t great, and perhaps those things might be the fault of the political structures that, at the time, they controlled with a congressional supermajority. But it was still naïve to suggest that anything change. See, us humanities profs have been doing some research, and we’ve come to a conclusion that might shock you: The Personal is Political. You think you’re upset about the horrors of our criminal justice system, our militarism that somehow gets more incompetent the more profanely we fund it, or our almost incomprehensibly awful healthcare. But those are just symptoms. The true cause of these so-called “political” maladies are our--or your, to be more precise--personal inadequacies. Not enough people read the correct books, watch the right TV shows, or use this newfangled kind of magic justice language we are inventing on fly. Until these adjustments take place on the individual level, how can we possibly expect the structural stuff to change?
So here we see two prevailing trends that would shape the next decade: 1. the realization that the social conditions created by our politics were very bad and in danger of collapse, and 2. the insistence that the only proper way to engage with political structures was through apolitical means. This was a matter of life and death, we were told, which was why it was imperative we didn’t address any actual matters of life or death. 
Since left-liberals behave like dairy cows (and elected Democrats behave like 5th-generation abattoir owners), everyone went along with this shit. Many did so cynically. Many more did so with hesitation. But by the end of the Obama era, this was the consensus: the people who say nothing has improved over the last 8 years are looking at the wrong stuff. It’s ignorant to care more about wages and war and healthcare than about the racial makeup of NBC’s My Five Gay Dads, or the fact that we took the black lady off the syrup bottle, or how many Oscar nominations were just received by Mierda de Cebo de Premio Lloron, the director of whom was not only a lady but some kind of Mexican. Plus, a woman is about to be president, and so anyone who says things are going bad right now is probably misogynist.
Then Trump happened, and what had started as a cynical deflection to prevent mild structural reforms morphed into an all-consuming mania. Politics wasn’t just important--it was a matter of literal life and death that should shape every aspect of how everything is understood, discussed, and defined. There’s freakin’ Nazis holding torches on my MSNBC screen, after all. 
Rather than accept Trump’s rise as a consequence of their cynicism and steer the ship in literally any other direction, liberal institutions doubled down. They had no other choice: they couldn’t abandon the culture war stuff now without delegitimizing their leadership base--people who had grown fat producing takes about how biting your fingernails is privilege weren’t about to give up their media jobs and NGO sinecures. The Personal was Still Political, only now even more so. Being the wrong kind of person means creating the wrong kind of politics, which means you’re literally doing literal genocide. And, no, this doesn’t mean it’s bad to do actual genocide.... remember we got to focus on the personal, which is now the political. 
The political is no longer political, and personalities must now be replaced by capital-D Designations that are kinda sorta vaguely related to politics.  
The Designations--which, again, are the entirety of politics--are determined by a combination of about 60% identity markers, 39% aesthetic choices, and 1% the things a person actually does and believes. Doing Politics now consists only of determining the Designations of others, and striving to ensure that your Designation as one of the good folx does not come into question. And this is, seriously, like, so important. There is no other acceptable manner in which anything--literally anything, from the brands you and others consume to the movies you watch to the words you use to describe yourself--can be understood. 
However earnest or cynical it may be, the belief that the Personal is Political does not elide the fact that politics always redounds to a struggle over power. Politics now might be more superficial than it’s ever been, but this very superficiality has made the battle over Designations all the more vicious. In turn, this viciousness makes the Designations even more divorced from any sort of worthwhile meaning, which leads to more viciousness, and it just keeps going back and forth like that. 
A perverse trend that’s emerged from this milieu: the tendency of terms to acquire entirely new meanings while retaining the moral urgency associated with their old meanings. This applies to no term more than it does to Queer, which used to mean something like “gay in a manner that people find especially annoying” but now means literally nothing. No, seriously, I’m not exaggerating, this is how it’s defined: “’Queerness’” is an umbrella term that is both an orientation and a community for those on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum.” Or there’s this, less pithy proclamation of meaninglessness: 
Queer is a word that describes sexual and gender identities other than straight and cisgender. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people may all identify with the word queer. Queer is sometimes used to express that sexuality and gender can be complicated, change over time, and might not fit neatly into either/or identities, like male or female, gay or straight.   
So the word means nothing. Got it. But then... why are people so fucking angry and annoying about it? Well, because it carries immense moral weight. Because the term used to refer to people who were marginalized, this propriety should still be applied even to people who are explicitly adopting it in a manner meant to improve their social standing.  Because, seriously, they’re totally not normal. Because being normal means being empowered, which is bad, which is why we’ve empowered people who are not normal, but they’re still not empowered even if they have tons of actual power because they can’t be because they’re not normal. Because the Personal is Political. 
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