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#cultural headcanons
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Some Twi’lek headcanons of mine:
1. Longer/larger lekku are seen as desirable, as Ryloth is a harsh environment and lekku are the Twi’leks’ primary fat deposit. More lekku fat = more body fat = good survival skills = desirable mate. It’s vestigial from when mating was entirely about survival of the species.
2. Twi’leks who know Lekku (Twi’lek sign language) sometimes accidentally sign what they’re thinking when they don’t mean to or shouldn’t. Like, they’re trying to lie about something but their lekku totally give it away. Or, they really like someone and they accidentally sign it. Kinda like an inconvenient boner.
3. Ryloth is a matriarchal society, and many groups of Twi’leks and groups influenced by Twi’leks around the galaxy match this. It’s often thought by non-Twi’leks to be male-lead with the women as objects, but this is a misconception based on the slave trade. Women lead much of Twi’lek politics and life.
4. The head caps are a bit like bras- they can be purely decorative, but some help support the weight of the lekku and reduce neck/back pain.
5. Trans Twi’leks get gender-affirming ear surgery (the TRUE top surgery!)
6. Twi’leks sharpen their teeth partly for aesthetic reasons, but also because as an omnivorous species, Twi’leks have strong bites for hunting- with sharpened teeth, they can do some serious damage. (Not as strong bite force as a species like Togrutas, but strong enough to kill smallish-to-medium-size animals)
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Concept: Elrond is, by Middle-Earth standards, a perfectly respectable level of fancy. You know, he's an elf-lord, he has plenty of robes with intricate embroidery or layers of flowing fabric, he wears finely-crafted jewelry, especially during formal occasions. He's elegant, but not gaudy– there are some tasteful references to his various ancestors in his outfits, he's got a whole image. He assumes that this is like, standard for the Noldor.
What Elrond failed to realize when he sailed to Valinor is that the expectations for "Middle-Earth elf lord with vaguely Noldorian implications" and "Noldor prince in the Blessed Realm" are two very different things. He goes to a feast and everyone is dressed like they'll die if they're not wearing four layers of skirts and at least 20 pounds of gems and precious metals. He shows up to Finarfin's court wearing more jewelry than he ever would've worn in Rivendell and people still flash him strange looks and ask him whether he wasn't feeling up to dressing up that night. He'll braid his hair in the half-up half-down style he often wore in Rivendell and it'll cause a scandal because– gasp– Elrond had part of his hair loose. In public. Noldor keep giving him jewelry because they've collectively decided that he's clearly been deprived in Middle Earth. He's confused and a little bit afraid, frankly.
Thankfully, most of the attention is taken off Elrond when Tirion is engulfed in drama the likes of which hasn't been seen for hundreds of years. The cause? Galadriel showing up in Tirion with her hair entirely loose, and no jewelry to speak of. Her robes are entirely plain. Her only adornment is her unbearably smug smirk.
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natalievoncatte · 2 months
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On Krypton, vows had meaning. Proclamations were not made lightly, and promises were not given casually. Kara’s peers wouldn’t throw one out as a reassurance, or to settle an argument. They were a logical people. They didn’t deceive, didn’t speak words they didn’t know to be true, and didn’t give opinions that were not informed. Society was ordered and regimented, and everyone put the greater good before themselves. So if you made a promise, no matter how great or how small, you would do it.
Kara learned, later in life, that a lot of her birth culture was, to use an English word that had no equivalent in her language, bullshit. Kryptonians would, she thought, claim that they had no use for such a vulgar term for cavalier prevarication because they did not practice it. That would had been a lie.
Her parents bullshitted her. They bullshitted her about the society she was growing up in. Her world wasn’t a real of perfect logic and order, it was a hidebound, decaying ex-empire that put tradition so irrationally high on a pedestal that they let their world be destroyed and all but a handful of their people wiped out because tradition said that her uncle was wrong about the planetary core going unstable.
Nevertheless, when Kara made a promise, she meant it. When she said she’d vowed to protect her adoptive home with her life, she meant it. Those words all but signed her life away in service to the cause. She was this way in everything, from saving the world down to brining Cat Grant a precisely prepared cup of coffee. Her promises meant something.
That was why she filled herself with dread the instant a promise, given unthinkingly in the heat of the moment, tumbled out of her mouth.
I will always be your friend, and I will always protect you.
She’d dishonored herself with the promise, one broken as it was made. She held Lena tight, speaking with conviction, and promised to be a friend even as she lied, swore to protect even as she deceived. It was a promise that couldn’t be kept no matter what she did.
Kara had become human in so many ways, and it gnawed at her. Another English word that had no exact Kryptonian equivalent was freedom. A proper Kryptonian would be horrified at ideas that boiled down to “I can do what I want”; I can choose my career, my partner, my life. I can put fulfillment ahead of the role chosen for me by those who know better. Yet Kara had embraced it full throated, making choices whenever she could.
The one thing she would never give up was the value of an oath.
She was over the Pacific, thinking. She would come out here from time to time to think and clear her head when the city soundscape became overwhelming, and just let herself drift in the air. There were no texts to agonize over, no emails from Snapper, nothing but herself and the lapping of waves and the distant rumble of storms over the open ocean.
She’d been coming out here more and more of late, not to think but to avoid thinking.
Because Lena knew, and Kara knew something was wrong. She could be dense about human behavior sometimes, but she was no fool… and she had super senses. She could read Lena’s pulse and see infrared flush of her skin and spot micro-movements of her eyes. Kara wanted desperately to believe that nothing was wrong but her instincts said otherwise.
When Kara told her, Lena had gone stock still and stared at her with what Kara thought was hatred, bringing tears. She’d tried to tell her how sorry she was, but Lena had just walked right past her and only later returned to her usual self.
Almost.
Kara had thrown herself into it, going on a campaign of what Alex had called ‘peacocking’ for some reason, all but burying Lena with super-stunts like fetching fresh pastries from French patissiers. Lena had smiled and thanked her but there was something flat and distant in it, and Kara ignored it and insisted that all was well.
Out here, with just the storms and her secrets, she knew it wasn’t.
Kara fingered the crest on her chest, worrying her thumb over the crimson fabric of the El rune. This meant something. It meant both ‘hope’ and ‘stronger together’; the two ideas were inextricably linked but her cousin only understood one of the meanings, because Kryptonian pictographic language was complex, and he was not Kryptonian in any way that mattered.
That was another great failing, a promise that Kara made but didn’t keep. By her people’s standards, there was no shame in that; one did not bear the responsibility of a promise made under duress, or a promise that others demanded knowing that it couldn’t be kept.
The only one she’d kept Kryptonian was herself, deep in a secret corner of her soul that meant it if she said she’d be at your birthday party or bring you a donut. The part that treated promises like promises.
There was only one way to cleanse herself, and remove her shame. She knew what it was, but she was afraid. Kara had battled monsters and gods, faced death more than once, lost more than any person should have to lose in a dozen lifetimes, but there was one thing she feared above all others.
She feared that first honest look on Lena’s shocked face more than she feared an eternity without stars. She could live in the void between realities; a void without Lena would kill her more surely than any green poison.
Now. She had to do it now, before she lost her nerve. She flew back to the city, flew hard, slowing only to land on Lena’s balcony, softly. As she raised her hand to knock on the glass of the door, she hesitated, nearly turned back.
Lena opened it, and Kara let out a slow breath. Lena was wearing only a loose, flowing floral robe, with clearly nothing beneath it. Terror made her listen- if Lena had a guest in that state, Kara might just fling herself into the sun and be done with it.
She was alone. Lena shifted on her feet.
“Why are you all wet?”
Kara’s hair was damp with sea spray and she’d flown through a few clouds on her way back.
“I like to fly over the ocean and think.”
“Well, come in here already. Let me get you a towel. Do you want something to change into?”
Kara swallowed hard. No. She wanted the honor of her family on her chest right now. She needed it to make her brave, like her father said it would when he sent her into the void. She did take the towel.
Lena had been enjoying her tea and sad breakfast -toast with jam- before Kara arrived. She left it on the counter and sat on her couch, leaving Kara to pace.
“I can tell you’re upset,” said Lena. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
“Everything,” said Kara. “I have a lot to say and I don’t know how to say it. I haven’t told you the full truth and I have to. I need to. It’s eating me alive inside.”
Lena swallowed hard, her heart racing.
“Please don’t tell me you’re Batman, too.”
“Lena, this is serious.”
Kara swept across the room and knelt in front of her, and Lena’s eyes shot open wide in surprise. Kara looked at the carpet in front of her, unable to look Lena in the eye.
“A long time ago, I promised you I’d always take care of you, and I didn’t. I was lying to you when I said it and I lied to you for years after.”
“Kara…”
“Please,” desperation choked her voice, “let me finish. I owe you the full truth. I promised, and promises are sacred to Kryptonians. My soul will be stained forever unless I fulfill the oath I made.”
“It wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“Yes it was,” said Kara. “It was to me. It was everything to me. Please.”
Lena cleared her throat. “Okay.”
“I told you I lied to you to protect you. That was another lie. That’s not why I did it. I lied because I was weak and I put my own feelings ahead of doing what was right. I was scared. I was scared that if you knew it would change how you saw me and it would change our relationship. You were the only person I could almost be myself with and I didn’t want that to change. You were a safe person I could go to without having to be Supergirl.”
Lena was studying her, a soft hint of skepticism in her expression.
Kara stood up and paced.
“I don’t know how to do this, Lena. I may act human and look human but I’m not. I grew up on another planet with another culture and so many things about this world are just totally different from how I was raised.”
Kara took a deep breath.
“On Krypton we didn’t have queerness. People didn’t value freedom of choice. You did what society told you to do. You joined the guild you were pledge to at birth and married the person you were told to marry and had the offspring you were told to have and raised them to do the same thing. The same fucking thing.”
Lena sat up at Kara’s sudden, vehement profanity.
“I didn’t know the word freedom until I arrived here. I had no concept of it. I had no idea how fragile and precious it is. Sure, I talked about it and wrote essays about it in school, but I didn’t get it. Not until I met you.”
Kara looked at Lena.
“You are my freedom. You’re the first thing I’ve ever chosen, really chosen, in my life, besides being Supergirl. It was you that made me look Cat Grant and Alex both in the eyes and say ‘no, this is what I want, this is how it’s going to be for me and it’s my choice, not yours.’ Back home I never, ever would have even thought what I’m about to say now.”
Kara swallowed, hard.
“I was afraid to tell you because I was afraid it would change our relationship. I was afraid you’d hate me because I kept the secret too long, but I was also afraid of what has to come after confessing my identity to you, Lena. The next part is even harder.”
“Kara,” Lena began.
“I have feelings for you.”
Lena went still, her eyes wide. “What did you say?”
“I want to be myself with you. My whole self, my real self. Not the person I think I have to be to please someone else. I want to tell you everything you want to know about my home and my people and my life and I want to know everything about you. I want to hear you laugh for me and see the look in your eyes when you’re happy to see me. I want to care for you when you’re sick and hold you when you’re sad and be the person that matters to you like you matter to me.”
Kara sucked in a deep breath.
“I used to think I was happy just being Kara with you. Not being Kara Danvers or Kara Zoe-El, just me… but I’m not me without both of those pieces and being without them isn’t good enough. I want you to know the real me. The girl from Krypton who went to high school in California.”
Lena stood up slowly, clearly forcing her breathing even. She adjusted her robe around herself, and looked at Kara for too long a time, silent.
“I hurt you when I promised I’d protect you and I’ll never forgive myself for that.”
“What do you want from me? To tell you it’s okay?” said Lena. “Is that what you want? Because it’s fucking not.”
Kara flinched. She opened her mouth, then closed it.
Lena had given her this courtesy and she’d give it in return.
“It wasn’t just you, Kara. I built my whole life around you and your friends and they became my friends. You gave me a normal world. I got to be a regular girl when I was with you and the others. Do you have any idea what that means to me? What you did to me when you ripped it away? Do you have any idea how you’ve torn me to shreds?”
Kara choked a little, and tried to hold back the tears, and failed.
“I killed Lex. I killed him and I hid his body, myself. I killed my brother for you. And the worst part is I’d do it again. If it was him or you I’d kill him again.”
Cold dread flooded through her.
“That was my fault. That was exactly the kind of thing that I should have protected you from, and I failed you." Kara's breath hitched as she bit back a sob. "I should go."
Lena moved quickly and grabbed her arm tight. "Don't you fucking dare leave. You can't just say those things to me and leave."
Kara's nostrils flared as she sucked in a big breath.
"Lex told me who you were as he was dying. He showed me."
Kara looked at her. "Oh."
"I started to hate you. I started to believe the things he said about you. And what happened then? You told me! You just blurted it out!"
Lena choked down a sob of her own, and something in Kara shattered. Tentatively, carefully, Kara pulled her into a gentle hug, and Lena let her.
"I don't know what to do anymore," Lena whispered into Kara's chest. "I've lost everything."
Kara held her closer, breathing the soft scent of her shower-damp hair.
"I don't know what to do either," Kara admitted. "I just knew I couldn't bear to lie to you again, even by omission. I'll go if you want."
"You're not leaving," said Lena. "I don't want you to go. Promise you won't leave me."
Kara shivered. "Lena…"
"Promise."
"I promise," Kara whispered.
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Do you think nicknames are a big thing in demigod culture?
There are lots of cultures where nicknames hold a lot of importance, like your family has a specific nickname they call you and your friends have a different specific thing they call you.
And in the world of pjo names/titles have power.
So maybe even more names/titles you have the more powerful you are. Like Poseidon also being known as Earth shaker and stormbringer, Nico being the ghost king, and Hylla earning the name Hylla twice kill.
So in demigod culture nicknames are a way to show you love someone but also a way to try to imbue them with power so that they'll be more likely to survive.
So for a demigod maybe there would be a specific nickname that demigod is called by their siblings (I'm pretty sure Luke calls Annabeth "Annie" at one point so maybe that's what her siblings call her?), a few nicknames used by friends (like when Piper and Leo called Jason Golden boy or sparky), and a nickname reserved for a demigod's significant other (seaweed brain and wise girl).
There's also the whole "don't name it or you'll get attached" concept that could factor in, considering how often demigods die.
So giving someone a nickname in demigod culture is a way of saying "I care about you, I want you to survive, so I'm going to run the risk of getting attached"
It would also explain why every time a new friend is made in pjo a nickname is one of the first things they get.
@fairytalepsuedonym
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crashbangprophet · 2 months
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@ ALL CRASHQUEENS AND KILLJOYS!
i've been in this fandom since 2016, so i've seen headcanons and zone culture and terminology of all kinds.
with that said , i'd like to present the official (unofficial) danger days dictionary. includes everything from zone culture, slang, battery city locations, phoenix witch, even down to bad luck beads and the dust bowl.
for the nitpickers out there, the comics are mainly discarded in this— due to how overwhelming it would be to throw in even MORE overlapping terms and such. some comic characters have been slipped into the regular timeline / universe, just for funsies and a honorary mention. don't come at me, thanks!
REBLOGS RECOMMENDED.
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bet-on-me-13 · 3 months
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Culture of the Ghost Zone
SO! This is less of a full on prompt, and more of an opportunity.
I've been in this Fandom for over a year now and over that time I've seen so many little bits or lore and headcanons about the Ghost Zones Culture, but I've never seen a single post put them all together.
So, here I'll try to write down as many as I can think of, and anyone else can add their own Headcanons, or add to whatever I or someone else writes!
...
So! My personal Headcanon is that when a Ghost Passes on, it's a thing to be celebrated.
Ghosts are Immortal Beings, holding onto a desire or unfinished business that tethers them to the Mortal Plane. They live, because they are Unfulfilled, unable to accomplish the task that would allow them to Pass on, and be at peace with themselves.
So when a Ghost manages to fulfill their Obsession, manages to Pass On to the After? It's something to CELEBRATE!
Like when a Viking would die, you don't just mourn their death, you celebrate their Life! A Ghosts Passing On is much the same. When one of them manages it, there are parties across the Zone of people who knew them, or people who didn't but still want to celebrate! It's a Joyous thing when someone you know was able to find peace!
...
Ghosts socialize through Battle.
Ghosts are Immortal, Superpowered, and Stuck together for Centuries. They are going to fight, and they are going to love the thrill of it!
From the freshest of Newborns to the Oldest of Ancients, All Ghosts love the thrill of Battle. It's one of their defining traits! They have Centuries of nothing to do and energy to burn, and they devote it to the art of Combat!
And it's not just Brawls! Some Ghosts prefer to battle with Swords alone, others with their Fists and no Powers, others with their Powers and no Fists, there are entire communities of Ghosts who have specific Rules, or Customs for Combat!
In one part of the Zone, it may be common to Tackle any Ghost you see and instantly start to fight them, but in another? That would be seen as Rude, you need to throw down your glove in front of them to request a Battle!
Or in another section of the Zone you may be forced to battle without Weapons whatsoever, in another it may be Without Powers whatsoever, or with ONLY Powers!
The Fight Culture stretches far and wide, no two parts of the Zone are exactly the Same
...
Art is highly Valued.
Of course not all Ghosts are entirely focused on Battle, and even the ones that are like to focus on something else from time to time. Some of those Ghosts were Artists when they were Alive.
And they continued to make Art in Death. But this Art is Special, with all the Time in the World, a Ghost can spend Decades or even Centuries on their Magnum Opus! It would be their Life's Work, something they dedicated their entire Afterlives to!
So of course, it is respected. Ghosts know better than to ruin or destroy another Ghosts work or Art. Be it a Statue, a Painting, a Song, or a Theater Production.
...
I think that's Good for now, what do you think? Anything to add to the points I written down? Any entirely new points to add?
Go ahead!
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ventique18 · 5 months
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🐉 surprises you one day by attempting to converse with you fully in your mother tongue. No, not the common language that you seemed to have just automatically learned when you were whisked to Twisted Wonderland, but the language from your original world. Some of his pronunciations are hilariously awkward and he uses slangs here and there that doesn't fit with his usually formal appearance, but he's trying. God, he's trying.
And you don't know why but you feel like crying. This guy, socially inept as he is, is trying to make you feel like you're at home in a place so unlike home.
When you ask how in the world he knew about your language, he confesses that he's been keeping note of words and phrases you absentmindedly use in conversations, along with what he assumes are their meaning. He apologizes for taking too long to be confident enough to speak to you like this, but he was afraid that he'd sound like he's disrespecting your home if he didn't practice enough by himself.
"I know I sound like a fool. Your language is rather difficult on my tongue."
"It's fine... It's... It's more than fine. You didn't have to... You didn't... You didn't have to..." You can't find the words to say to him. You can't properly express your emotions.
"I do not wish to settle for fine... I want to know everything about you. Everything. So,"
"Maaari mo ba akong turuan?" [Won't you teach me?]
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onlysushicat · 5 months
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Someone requested to see my take on Davekat bodytypes ~
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peachyhoolagan · 27 days
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May or may not be procrastinating my 17 assignments with a new AU :)))
This one’s fun. 10 points to whoever can guess how kanan got the Darksaber and both him and Ezra are Mandos now. Also the dogs name is goose. She’s a charhound and her pee lights things on fire. Not beskar, but she can melt a paint job.
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small-angry-turtle · 2 years
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Gotta incorporate that into my belief system.
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blueskittlesart · 2 months
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Lol you call yourself the CEO of Zelink and then reblog miphlink shit... Be a multishipper, but don't call yourself the CEO of Zelink if you support that dumbass headcanon low key problematic miphlink ship, even if you say you do so in only specific contexts. Have a good day
i can never leave tumblr bc where the fuck else can you get shit like this
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montessori-grad · 2 months
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As a fandom we do not utilize the fact Glen Powell is Polish enough since we’ve collectively decided that Ice is Polish. Here are my headcanons.
-Ice and Jake speaking Polish so they can talk shit about other people. Mostly Mav who tried to learn Polish when he and Ice started dating but failed.
-When Jake misses his family, (Glen says that he has good parents so I’m going to give him good parents.) Ice makes him come over for dinner where he makes traditional food.
-Or an alternative to the first is; while Jake was first crushing on Bradley he’d talk to his sister in Polish but Bradley knew what he was saying since Ice taught him. Bradley didn’t tell him and Jake found out two months into their relationship because Ice told him to do something in Polish and Bradley had to pick if he was more scared of an angry Jake or an angry Ice. (Ice is obviously a scarier option.)
-Jake is really into Eurovision and was absolutely livid when Jan wasn’t picked. (Because so was I.)
-Jake can handle his alcohol.
-He’s a terrible cook because the majority of Polish men do not cook.
-He played soccer as a kid and didn’t do any real work during the World Cup because Poland made it farther than usual and he was too invested.
-He loves pickles so much but forces Bradley to buy the expensive ones. (If you’re a pickle fan in America, I absolutely recommend Bubbies fyi.)
-He watched the movie Fanfik on Netflix and cried. (Super good, cheesy movie about a trans Polish teen and his partner. 10/10 I recommend.)
-Carol was also Polish so Bradley has some traditions he keeps going from her that Jake was really happy to participate in.
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miredball · 9 months
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sydney and carmy established relationship headcanons:
carmy’s a pet name guy. he’s been weaned on pet names his whole life (‘bear’ ‘sugar’ one could argue ‘cousin’). he uses the typical ‘baby’ for syd, which she loves, but one morning she walks into the office and upon seeing her carmy murmurs a “hey honey” and she gets flashes of a kitchen with a window over the sink, an herb garden, something warm and expanding and joy joy joy
they get found out by the rest of the staff at family. well, it’s a series of family dinners. they start sitting next to each other, then carmy’s arm is on the back of her chair and syd’s rubbing his back after he chokes on some rapini. what confirms it for everyone though happens on a lull in the conversation so everyone hears it. sydney needs something from the kitchen and as she’s getting up, for the bit, carmy motions to scoop the last piece of marcus’ take on a pandan chiffon cake out of her plate. she turns to him with a quickness and a huge fake grin and says “carmen, I will literally fucking kill you” as she backs away, to which carmy laughs (laughing!? carmy?!). then he puts his own slice on her plate. richie and nat share a look and the noise at the table comes roaring back to life before carmy realizes it even left. shouldn’t spook those bears.
they move in together and both feel really good with sharing everyday life with someone else. they go to farmers markets and change the garbage under the sink and get a drawer for carmy’s vintage denim. they leave notes on the fridge, much like they do on the whiteboard at work. there’s photos and take-out menus and also vague post-it notes from syd like ‘quail eggs!!!!!! not real’ or ‘break into 45th and Syracuse – man in farmer hat (durian connect??)” and lame weird inspirational quotes from carmy “There’s no one thing that’s true. It’s all true❤️” and sydney’s like what and just thinks they’re funny and doesn’t really make sense but loves him a lot
when carmy can’t sleep he makes sure the blankets are warm around syd and hangs out by the open window for a smoke. he doesn’t smoke as much as he did before and he’s working on cutting it down. sometimes syd wakes up and comes out the bedroom to find him and says “carmy” and sleepily perches on his lap, arm around his shoulder and curls her head into the crook of his neck. her fingers hold onto his gold chain and he stubs out his cig and plays with her hair instead.
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hawkflame999 · 29 days
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Ninjago Secrecy AU
So in this AU, it’s basically the same as canon, EXCEPT, the ninja stay secret.
it's not JUST their identities. It’s also their literal existence and history.
FSM didn’t want humans, who often misunderstood and killed Yōkai-kind, to know about the Elementals. So he kept himself secret, his two sons secret, and the people he’d later choose to become the first human-ish Elementals secret. Those people were street orphans and abused kids he’d rescued from other humans.
Elementals have basically been behind the scenes (and doing illegal stuff like underage driving) for several millennia, they’ve managed to keep secret all this time and continue to do so in this AU. 
When something big comes, like the Great Devourer, the ninja fix it but there’s only eyewitnesses and no camera footage and most of the time they somehow aren’t seen by humans.
Or Jay causes a blackout to make things harder for them to be seen.
Oh, yeah. And Elementals aren’t sure if they’re Humans with powers, something between Yōkai and Humans, or just full-blown Yōkai. 
They just don’t know, but they have the senses of Yōkai and they can see very well in the dark- they also have a keen sense of smell, they can follow trails. And their eyes glow, but they can control the glow when they need to. Among other things, like feeling vibrations.
Elementals also have feral instincts, though they can ignore those instincts and act human when the circumstances demand it. Lloyd, his father, and uncle all have Dragoni features like in my Headcanon #1, and they're the most feral.
If you saw my HC about the Elemental Bond, that applies here too.
The Elementals just tell people who ask that they’re a clan. They’re kind of common amongst the Realms, and to help the ninja, their clan is tiny, and sort of IS a clan, just a special one. 
Said clans that do exist either live off the land or live modernly now but they all started back in old times, and they keep touch and all nowadays. 
The Serpentine often receives a similar reception that Yōkai get, just less than that, so they don’t give the game up- they keep silent about the ninja. 
After meeting the ninja, the Formlings, the Geckles and the Munce, and others were asked to and agreed to keep quiet about the Elementals. So does Vania, (idk how that part of Master of the Mountain works but yeah).
In the AU, other Yōkai, (Kitsune, Kappas, Tanukis, Bakenekos, ect.) are more apparent and present in this, and even most of them don’t know about the ninjas, just a few friends know. 
The Elementals frequently attack and ambush Yōkai Hunters, and free the trapped Yōkai. 
There’s also more mountains around the Monastery, it’s a literal mountain range, and many Yōkai live in them. Years ago they all combined their magic to create a barrier, so humans can’t get in (they just get turned around and all,) unless they’re led, and it's really hard for someone to just find their way in, but it happens occasionally. 
IN THIS AU, THE SIX SEE EACH OTHER AS SIBLINGS, EXCEPT MAYBE JAY AND NYA, I CAN'T DECIDE.
Arin knows about the ninja ONLY because he’s from a village near the mountain of the Monastery, and his family is one of the few that the ninja trusted with the knowledge of their existence, because one of Arin’s ancestors, a few generations back, accidentally found a way into the mountains, and got caught in a storm, so the ninja of the time saved him. 
Also all the Elementals speak Yōkai. It’s their second language, and their first language is Japanese, English is their third language.  
Yeah, that’s it really.
AND IF YOU HAVE AND QUESTIONS, FEEL FREE TO ASK!
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clarabow-mp3 · 2 months
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i've been thinking about this all day so here's my thoughts on @sillylotrpolls 's "which member of the fellowship fucks":
frodo: too busy Brooding and perhaps even Yearning. maybe once or twice in his youth but to me just doesn't seem like the type of person to have casual sex.
sam: also too busy Yearning, but also just doesn't seem the type. he has a job, he's busy, he's in love with his boss AND the girl at the pub, it's a whole thing.
pippin: for all intents and purposes is like. 17. so again maybe once or twice but in very awkward, fumbling ways that made everyone involved think "wait, did that count?"
merry: fucks severely. confident, kind, intelligent, always there to lend a helping hand (😏). of course he pulls hobbits of all genders constantly. the only potential wrench in the works is the fact that he at the very least is already acquainted with his future wife, so maybe they've got something going on in which case he is probably not out romancing other hobbits.
gandalf: be so serious. who is he fucking? hobbits? saruman? shame those big naturals are going to waste but he does not fuck.
boromir: next after merry, imo. has been around, fighting battles and in taverns and such, and is prone to temptation so has definitely fucked at some point, probably multiple times. however he does hate himself for it.
aragorn: lives in the woods singing about his one true elven love. no way.
legolas: is not married, and therefore has not had sex. elf marriage is the one time tolkien wrote about sex and you're all ignoring it.
gimli: sure. why not? gimli fucks. good for him.
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commsroom · 5 months
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as an extension of how hera reads as trans to me, hera/eiffel resonates with me specifically as a relationship between a trans woman and a cis man. loving hera requires eiffel to decentralize his own perspective in a way that ties into both his overall character arc and the themes of the show.
pop culture is baked into the dna of wolf 359, into eiffel’s worldview, and in how it builds off of a sci-fi savvy audience’s assumptions: common character types, plot beats, or dynamics, why would a real person behave this way? how would a real person react to that? eiffel is the “everyman” who assumes himself to be the default. hera is the “AI who is more human than a lot of humans,” but it doesn’t feel patronizing because it isn’t a learned or moral quality; she is a fundamentally human person who is routinely dehumanized and internalizes that.
eiffel/hera as a romance is compelling to me because there is a narrative precedent for some guy/AI or robot woman relationships in a way i think mirrors some attitudes about trans women: it’s a male power fantasy about a subclass of women, or it’s a cautionary tale, or it’s a deconstruction of a power fantasy that criticizes the way men treat women as subservient, as property. but what does that pop culture landscape mean in the context of desire? If you are a regular person, attracted to a regular person, who really does care for you and wants to do right by you, but is deeply saturated in these expectations? how do you navigate that?
I think that, in itself, is an aspect of communication worth exploring. sometimes you won’t get it. sometimes you can’t. and that’s not irreconcilable, either. it’s something wolf 359 is keenly aware of, and, crucially, always sides with hera on. eiffel screws up. he says insensitive things without meaning to. often, hera will call him out on it, and he will defer to her. in the one case where he notably doesn’t, the show calls attention to it and makes him reflect. it’s not a coincidence that the opening of shut up and listen has eiffel being particularly dismissive of hera - the microaggression of separating her from “men and women” and the insistence on using his preferred title over hers. there are things eiffel has just never considered before, and caring for hera the way he does means he has to consider them. he's never met someone like hera, but media has given him a lot of preconceptions about what people like her might be like.
there’s a whole other discussion to be had about the gender dynamics of wolf 359, even in the ways the show tries to avoid directly addressing them, and how sexual autonomy in particular can’t fully be disentangled from explorations of AI women. i don’t think eiffel fully recognizes what comments like “wind-up girl” imply, and the show is not prepared to reconcile with it, but it’s interesting to me. in the context of transness (and also considering hera’s disability, two things i think need to be discussed together), i think it’s worth discussing how hera’s self image is at odds with the way people perceive her, her disconnect from physicality, how she can’t be touched by conventional means, and the ways in which eiffel and hera manage to bridge that gap.
even the desire for embodiment, and the autonomy and type of intimacy that comes with it, means something different when it’s something she has to fight for, to acquire, to become accustomed to, rather than a circumstance of her birth. i suppose the reason i don’t care for half measures in discussions re: hera and embodiment is also because, to me, it is in many ways symbolically a discussion about medical transition, and the social fear of what’s “lost” in transition, whether or not those things were even desired in the first place.
hera’s relationship with eiffel is unquestionably the most supportive and equal one she has, but there are still privileges, freedoms, and abilities he has that she doesn’t, and he forgets that sometimes. he will never share her experiences, but he can choose to defer to her, to unlearn his pop culture biases and instead recognize the real person in front of him, and to use his own privilege as a shield to advocate for her. the point, to me - what’s meaningful about it - is that love isn’t about inherent understanding, it’s about willingness to listen, and to communicate. and that’s very much at the heart of the show.
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