#everything else I relate pretty solidly to
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On the subject of UBI, I always ask about the MCU UBI: Tony is a billionaire who lives a life of luxury, Bruce has a serious chronic illness that requires expensive medical care, and Trevor just wants to sit round all day drinking and doing drugs. I take the UBI guys more seriously if they can say what each man gets from a UBI.
That's a somewhat odd choice of characters to think about how a UBI would function in the MCU.
So yes, Tony Stark would get a UBI. Relative to his private income, his UBI check would be totally inconsequential - and given the level of taxation needed to support a UBI, it's pretty much guaranteed that Tony would be paying far more in taxes than he would be getting back in UBI payments.
This is not an accident or a mistake or a flaw in the system; this is how a healthy social policy should function. When Social Security was established in 1936, FDR made a big deal of the fact that even John D. Rockefeller would get a Social Security check - because it hammered home the point that everyone contributes, and everyone benefits. Reciprocal solidarity would short-circuit the divisive politics of distribution and redistribution and cement a permanent majority coalition in support of a universal welfare state.
Bruce Banner would also get a UBI check. Now, his financial situation is a little unclear - originally, Banner was a top research scientist at Culver University with U.S military contracts, so he would probably have been in the top 10% of incomes (affluent but not wealthy). After his transformation into the Hulk, however, Bruce was a wanted fugitive with no way of earning income.
After that, Bruce was an Avenger - and this is where things get odd. As established in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Avengers in the MCU don't get a salary: Tony gave them free housing and paid their Avengers-related expenses, but Sam Wilson notably relied on his veteran's pension and government contracts for his living (thus why his banker could justify turning him down for a small business loan rather than admitting to structural racial discrimination) and Steve Rogers even with his veteran's benefits, Social Security, and SHIELD salary couldn't afford a place in Brooklyn. This means that, while Bruce doesn't need to worry about money for his research and can save on rent, he does actually need the UBI for everything else.
This is very different from in the comics, where Avengers get quite decent salaries:
$4k a month in 1983 dollars works out to around $150k a year (on top of free housing at the Avengers Mansion), putting them solidly in the top 13% of U.S personal incomes.
As for Trevor Slattery, I feel like your description is unfairly characterizing a working actor. Slattery was not a major success in Hollywood - hence why he took Aldrich Killian up on his job offer and became part of a criminal conspiracy - and he does have some serious substance abuse issues, but what he does in his private life is his own business. Hell, even when he was abducted by the Ten Rings, he kept working as an actor. That being said, Trevor is going to have a hard time getting UBI, both because he's a wanted fugitive and convicted felon (which would end his eligibility in the U.S) and because he's now living in a rural village in another dimension.
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I started trying to clean up my Song of Ice and Fire SBURB/classpects thing for AO3 only to discover that, in fact, I may not have touched it for a year or more but that doesn't mean I'm actually satisfied with the most recent player roster or classpect sorting. Does not help that I haven't even been reading fic in this fandom lately but
What I do have is a beginning I like—
They were peddled as curiosities and toys -- trinkets after the style of Old Valyria! They were like large bronze eggs, about the size of an apple, which opened like lockets to reveal tiny mirrors on one side and some sort of intricate interlocking metal wheels on the other.
Somehow it never occurred to anyone to take them apart for their valuable components.
The people they were given to were very attached to them, and fascinated by them, and tended to keep them on their persons at all times. After a few weeks they mostly didn't even really notice they were wearing an oddly large pendant.
No one else seemed to notice the eggs at all.
Even under circumstances where they really should have.
Even if they were pointed out, no one else ever tried to take them — they might take everything else, but never the bronze egg — and they forgot quickly.
Certainly no one ever thought anything strange was going on. They were just toys, baubles, funny things to amuse children or girls or boys not grown up yet. Nothing of real interest. Any thoughts of how unnatural the lack of attention was just.… slipped away.
(Later on the [Samwell classpect] would wonder if maybe they were Valyrian. In a bad way. But no one described the Doom of Valyria as flaming rocks falling out of the sky.)
And then the [Daenerys classpect] in a house of Undying tripped a trigger she didn't know was there, and far away in a crypt, the [Bran classpect] awoke to a pendant gone suddenly warm.
—and then thoughts.
Daenerys is pretty solidly Witch of Rage.
Sansa is pretty solidly Maid of Hope.
Arya is the Time player, for associations with death (even though I'm sending her into the Medium before she can leave for Braavos). Class is probably Rogue, though I thought about Thief.
Bran is the Space player. Class might be Seer (for Seeing, plus "relates to other people in the abstract" and "try telling them they're wrong. I dare you.") or Bard (for the lack of boundaries and general WTFery of body-borrowing), or maybe Mage (active understanding).
Jon is probably Prince of Void, though Heir could do.
Robb is the/a Heart player, probably Heir, though I thought about Knight. He'd be Knight if the Game had grabbed him early enough in the plot.
Samwell is the/a Light player, and probably Mage. I've also considered noncanon class Gnome [passive accumulation class, tilts male, with a ''mythological role" similar to Sylph?] Or he could be Sylph, actually…
Theon is either Thief or Bard. (He has the selfishness for Thief but I don't know about the flair. Being kind of a creeper at times fits for Bard, and he can be embarrassing, and there's the general WTFery.) Aspect is either Blood or Breath, because he's desperate for both connections and freedom.
And I think that exhausts the list of 'people I would definitely include'. However, the gender ratio is unbalanced, and Danaerys is definitely the odd one out, and there are lot of other young-ish characters in the books with miserable fates that getting yoinked into a Game session never to return might actually improve…
Jeyne Poole would probably be Page or something noncanon, and maybe Life? Or maybe noncanon Aspect Bone [caution, indecision, taking a supporting role].
Gendry could be Rage or Doom, and maybe Knight? Or I have him as noncanon 'Clerk' in one of my drafts but I'm not sure what that's meant to signify…
Shireen I have down as Sylph, but Page might be better. For aspect I have Doom or noncanon Grief [conflict (vs. peace), struggle (vs. acceptance), chaos (vs. order)]… actually maybe she'd be better with Peace [peace (vs. conflict), order (vs. chaos), acceptance (vs. struggle)]?
Margaery would be the/a Mind player. She could be Sylph. She could also be Bard, or noncanon class Dame [mythological role "the dame walked into my office and I knew she was trouble"].
Jeyne Westerling would probably be Breath player, and either Page or something noncanon.
Quentyn I've considered for Mage, Seer, Knight, and Heir. I'm leaning Knight? I shouldn't be considering him for anything I did not read that book carefully enough. For Aspect, Doom? Or noncanon Stone [permanence, stability, not reactivity or responsiveness]?
Myrcella would probably be a Blood player, or I also have Life down apparently? Class either Maid or something noncanon.
Loras could be Heir or Prince? Or Knight, I suppose, or something noncanon. If we're repeating classes/aspects he's probably Heir of Mind. If not, something of noncanon Aspect Charm.
Arianne would probably be Breath or noncanon Fire [transitoriness, reactivity] or Nerve [Recklessness. Impulse. Decisiveness. Taking control.] Maid works well, but she could carry Thief.
Podrick is another candidate for Life. And another candidate for Page, for that matter. Or some noncanon possibilities.
And I don't even have that much of an idea for Tommen or Gilly but I'm not sure I don't want them included…
ahahaha this is ridiculous.
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(non spn watcher here) when did destial become a canon love story with writer intent? like was there more destiel-ness in the season leading up to the nov 5th confession?
Okay *cracks knuckles*.
First and foremost, I'm gonna tell you about my SPN history. I started watching SPN and got caught up with the show while s10 was airing and was watching live until the end of s12. I gave up specifically because Castiel's s11 plot proved to be just on the side of too miserable for me, and s12 didn't really make it any better (Cas dies at the end of that season). During this time, and until Nov 5th 2020, I was solidly on camp "Dean and Cas are never going to be canon just because of what SPN is fundamentally as a show, and even if they did, I cannot imagine a situation where it would be a good thing for Cas given SPN's track record on how they treat the angel."
When Nov 5th happened I was sucked back into the show. In preparation for the finale I watched all of s13-15 in the two weeks between the confession episode and the finale. Again, my perspective going into this endeavour was still very doubtful and pessimistic, specifically on the Dean side of the equation.
The beginning of s13 was a bit of a shock to me, honestly. It starts with what the fandom calls 'The Widower's Arc'. I think this was the arc that most solidly cements the feelings from Dean's side. It was so vehement in pointing out that Dean feels for Cas in a way so distinguished from how Sam does. In the very first episode of the season (so the first episode I watched after going back into SPN), Dean quietly wraps Cas' body with a curtain all by himself in a sunlit room. And I go Oh. Okay.
This vibe does wane after Cas comes back and regular SPN hijinks ensues. S14 actually ends with Dean and Cas fighting and Dean doing his usual Dean-isms. 15.03 is when that fight culminates: they break up and spend a couple episodes apart from each other.
15.09 The Trap features Dean and Cas in purgatory, and this was Truly An Episode. They bicker through-out the entire thing and are pretty pissed at one another, but then Cas gets taken, and Dean desperately prays to him, confesses his anger issues, forgives Cas and asks for forgiveness back. Later, they reunite, and Cas acknowledges that he heard everything Dean said.
This episode is so interesting to me because it culminates the Dean and Cas fight-separation-reconciliation plot of s15, and in doing so confirms it to be as important as it is. I cannot point enough that the plot reasons for the stuff happening in 15.09 is so pointless. They go to purgatory for a fetch quest for an item that can be interchangeable with literally anything else, specifically to put Dean and Cas back in purgatory (a meaningful place for them), have them be separated, and have the prayer happen. The whole point of the Dean and Cas portion of the episode is to do character work. We don't even see the scene where Cas finally gets the thing they're here to acquire in the first place. That's literally not the point. The point is Cas and Dean's story. S15 is the last season of a show with so many big things to wrap up, and they make it a point to have Dean and Cas go through a half-season arc that DOES occupy so much of the season and brings a new openness, vulnerability, and room for development into their relationship.
So yeah, before 15.18 there WAS very visible marks of the fact that Something was gonna happen. Interestingly enough all those marks were pretty dean-centric. I would say s4-10 destiel is the audience being inundated that Cas loves Dean. S11-15, ESPECIALLY 13-15 is so very much making it known that Dean loves Cas too.
On a related note, on Nov 21, 2020, a post is made here on tumblr claiming that around Dec 2016 (S12 was airing at this point), Warner Bros. conducted a market research about Supernatural, and from this person's experience, specifically about Dean and Cas and Dean's sexuality (link to a post that confirms the information in the post to be true). This market research was during the time leading up to s13, which I think does mark a big change in how the love between Dean and Cas started being framed by the show as something Dean both feels and is also aware of.
So, to answer your questions.
Was there more destiel-ness in the season leading up to the nov 5th confession? Yes.
When did destiel become a canon love story with writer intent? It became a canon love story by S15, but the writer intent to make it canon goes way back to s13 but probably even s12.
- Grey :))
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lukas question for you- do you think he knows that he's autistic? I don't know... anything about how developmental disorders are viewed/diagnosed in sweden and I'm torn between he knows/was diagnosed at a young age and doesn't talk about it or tell anyone, knows and will casually use it to get people to underestimate him (or anything else he wants), or genuinely doesn't know and thinks he's just a weirdo coder who wasn't socialized enough
I think Lukas got diagnosed pretty young - he took longer to start talking than the other children, got upset around large groups of people, had a narrow area of interests and had a lot of sensory issues around clothing. Being autistic is something he’s always been aware of and Swedish schools a pretty good with providing extra support to neurodivergant children so he didn’t feel “different”. I imagine his mum and dad were pretty good at making sure he had coping strategies and socialised so he wasn’t labelled the “weird kid” at school. Then his dad died and everything went downhill and Lukas spent all his time in his bedroom with his computer so when it came time to interact with people, he really struggled and started getting picked on. A teacher suggests that the annual summer coding camp would be good for him but Lukas is adamant he doesn’t want to go until his mum bribes him with some new computer parts. The first two days are awful and he hates it but then he meets Oskar and despite the other teen being very loud, Lukas finds it surprisingly easy to make friends with him. He’s very upfront about being autistic which doesn’t seem to phase Oskar, even when his new friend comes across as a bit of an oddball the more time they spend together. Then he’s got his own little gang of nerdy friends much to the relief of his mother, even if all they ever seem to do is talk about coding.
Most of Team GoJo are computer nerds so it doesn’t matter if Lukas talks solidly for ten minutes straight about some random piece of code because everyone else is just as interested in it as he his. Nor does anybody care that the CEO wanders around barefoot because shoes and socks give him sensory overload or that he often comes across as “odd”. Being autistic isn’t something Lukas ever tries to hide or see’s as a weakness - his brain just works a bit differently to other peoples.
It’s when the company starts growing and he has to deal with people outside of the GoJo bubble that being autistic is seen as being something he needs to hide. Suddenly the expensive PR person they hired is muttering about Lukas coming across as “weird” and wants to remove all his usual coping strategys to make him fit in more with “normal” society.
You can’t wear sweatpants to a finance meeting because it won’t send the right message. You usually leave all the social stuff to Oskar to deal with? Sorry, thats not how it’s done so you better get out there and pretend you know how to relate to people. You need to stim because you’re having sensory overload? Yeah, you can’t do that anymore because you look like a freak.
After five months of this and Lukas being so burnt out that he spends almost a week in bed they fire the PR guy and decide to do their own thing. Between them Oskar and Lukas devise a system so that if Lukas is getting overwhelmed or not hitting the right social cues, the other one can step in and redirect. It works pretty well over the years and they’ve got the whole “elusive foreign billionaire” schtick down to an art form, with everyone thinking Lukas disappearing from parties early is because he’s off on a hedonistic adventure but in reality he’s leaving so he can go to bed because masking is exhausting and he’s in danger of autistic shutdown.
Then Lukas sets his sights on America and the Roy Family empire and Oskar is surprised he makes it out alive because it’s months of talking and trying to understand the social norms of a country that’s so different from their own and with a bunch of people who seem in desperate need of therapy. At first it’s fun making up fake stories and dropping little nuggets of information for Team Roy to dig up but it quickly becomes apparent that Lukas is going to have to suppress his autistic tendencies if he’s going to get the deal he wants. There’s no way Logan Roy would even entertain speaking to GoJo if he knew that there was something “wrong” with Lukas so whatever previous mentions there were of him being autistic get burried.
Then Logan snuffs it and Lukas is stuck with a presidential race, Succession Bowl and the Roy siblings infighting. Oh, and his crush telling him he hates him whilst perched on top of a rock. Now he’s got to drag Team GoJo back to America whilst simultaneously figuring out which of the CEO candidates is going to be the least irritating to deal with. The Kill List is fun because he already knew who he was keeping but it’s fun to watch them all flapping around in a panic and trying to get on his good side.
However it’s exhausting having to pre-plan all his social interactions, even down to the facial expressions he’ll use, and try and remember how to act with each individual person. Sometimes it goes fine but most of the time Lukas experiences an overwhelming sense of physical exhaustion to the point where he keeps trying to brush off Shiv and her insistence that he attends every party on the roster. He’s having more difficulty managing his emotions than usual and is prone to outbursts of anger and waves of intense anxiety. His stimming is off the charts, as is his increased sensitivity to sensory input, and he’s even more insistent on everything being his way due to struggling with all the change thats happening.
Then the deal finally goes through and Lukas hides out on his private island for a month to recharge, barely getting out of bed or looking at his phone until Oskar comes to rouse him for the first WayStar/GoJo team retreat.
So in short, yes I think Lukas knows he's autistic and is pretty chill about telling people but as times goes on he becomes a bit more guarded with who he tells and how much he tells them. For instance Oskar knows all his safe foods and can easily tell when he's masking but Tom will only ever know that the reason Lukas doesn't like wearing shoes is because he's got big feet.
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Okay! Second house time! We're working through it guys. Solidly 2 pages in. Sorry!
Alright! Emperor's Strength. I assume that's just cause they're the army, so, Emperor's Strength.
House of the Crimson Shield... Okay, I'm assuming we're not talking about either the video game, book, or highschool reunion event. This one I'm a little stumped on, since I can't seem to find anything conclusive under the same name. I mean, shields have to do with war, and the Second House has a red color scheme so... case closed? I'm not sure. We'll see.
Centurion's House is interesting to me. We've got a running pattern of "Self Explanatory Title" followed by "Vague Title" followed by "Title that makes me pull up 12 more wikipedia links." Anyway, Centurion's house... what's up with that one?
So, okay, Rome again. I'm starting to spot a pattern here. Commander of a Century (A century being a group of 100 soldiers) also follows the same logic of everything else, however!
Now, this is interesting.
Healing the centurion's servant is one of the miracles performed by Jesus of Nazareth as related in the Gospel of Matthew[1] and the Gospel of Luke[2] (both part of the Christian biblical canon). The story is not recounted in the Gospels of either John or Mark.
Okay, so firstly NOT in gospels of John. That's pretty interesting, but doesn't necessarily implicate anything. I WILL say, bringing up Jesus almost always means something in the context of the locked tomb.
This is REALLY interesting. Judith and Marta could be ascribed as the Centurion and Servant in this case.
Obviously, it's not one to one, but we can see...
Some interesting context being posed there. Anyway... That's some food for thought on the Second House
Again, -> The Wiki in Question
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MERMS! Hello :)
your updates are never annoying, i love every little tidbit. It reminds me of this post:
https://at.tumblr.com/coffeepeople/i-find-it-endlessly-fascinating-that-most-humans/77nfpirtk9mu
Im incredibly busy and don’t really have people in my life tbh, but sometimes seeing your updates at the end of the day is enough because it brings a sense of comfort and normalcy, so I do appreciate them and you :)
anon. 🥺 hello, my hardworking love. 🌷🌈✨💕 this is me filling you in on all the gossip after work (while you’re in a oodie and we’re eating pasta).
okay, lemme think: i read a 20k+ review (takedown) of Lightlark, the YA book that got a 6 figure publishing deal because of the author’s tiktok about it. i love YA as a genre (it’s such a formative genre, as fiction for kids/bigger kids tends to be, so i do believe that that audience in particular deserve fun, good books to read) so i like to stickybeak in whatever drama is happening in their corner and the Lightlark thing has been pretty interesting! the linked review is not generous lmao, but outlines pretty solidly why it won’t be so if you’re bored and nosey it’s an interesting read!!!!! it does spoil the book though!!!!!!
what else what else. this isn’t fic related but i started a mubi trial because i thought they had in the mood for love but they don’t, and no streaming service in australia does either. :( i really want to watch it!!!! but that’s okay—i lined up some interesting looking films so im gonna work through them before the trial ends. i’m about to start i am not your negro, which i’m excited for because i’m currently in the middle of if beale street could talk. i also have la notte waiting; i think italian cinema is very beautiful and romantic, and im curious to see if it’s gonna make me grind my teeth like so many older films do, when it comes to how dickish the men in them are LOL. el topo (the trailer is not work friendly!!!) is also on my watchlist but if i’m completely honest i am not that great with surrealism as a genre—i tend to like my stories literal, and also it gives me war flashbacks to highschool, and having to write essays about Dali and melting clocks. 🥹 but i’ll watch it because i’ve always been curious about jodorowsky’s dune, and i think it’ll be fun to go into that documentary at least having a taste of jodo’s style!!! and then there’s also the 1972 doco three cheers for the whale—it looks like a history on whaling? 🧐 i’ll report back. i probably won’t subscribe to mubi because i need to be picky with my monthly bills lmao, so i’m determined to watch anything that looks interesting during my trial!!!
i’ve been going on a bender, lately, in like, actively seeking out stuff to consume. i went to the library a couple of weeks ago and walked out with six different books (and four manga volumes!!!) and i’m still making my way through them—i have two more books waiting on hold for me and a wishlist in my notes!!!! i’ve also pre-ordered jennette mccurdy’s i’m glad my mom died—basically i am trying my damndest to drown myself lmfao. this is not the norm for me—i don’t know what switch has flipped but eh. there’s worse things that i could be doing, i guess. 🥹
i’m trying to think of something else that might be interesting for you in our pasta-date. 🥺 i saw a tiktok just today of a indie author who specialises in, um, monster-loving, trying to decorate her laptop with monster-lover stickers and she had like, a logo for the writing group she was apart of and—!!! omg. writing groups when they’re with your friends seem so fun. i always get so jealous when i read about like, great artists or writers all hanging out in the same dingy parisian bar or whatever. sometimes i feel like my brain is so rotted from the constant overstimulation that is the internet and being connected to everything everywhere all at once—i would love to switch off for a few solid weeks and just sit in a café in a city half a world away with people who like creating the same kind of things and just—yeah. i think we must all have some variation of that dream, right? having enough time and space to be able to linger somewhere outside and write or knit or paint or read a good book. doing that without having to fret about money or having to make it. we’d all be such different people if we didn’t have to worry about maintaining the sawdust in our cages. 🥹 anon!!!!!!! my busybee anon—i hope you see this. you sound like you work hard and i want you to know i am very proud of you—it’s hard slog making a life for yourself, and i just know you have done wonderfully this week. 🌷💕 i will save the next few interesting tiktoks i see and squirrel away any funny twitter drama just for you, for our next dinner date. 📚🍳📝💕 happy weekend, my love, and i’ll see you on the other side of it. ☀️
#ofmermaidstories-asks#i’ll have to make notes on the next hot topic discussion i see to bring to the table LOL
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After two weeks of trying to trim this meta down to something coherent and reasonable, I am now throwing up my hands and posting my tl;dr ramble anyway.
So, the prompt for day 2 of Angbang week was Creation/Corruption.
This is a great pair of prompts, because creation and corruption are inextricably linked in Tolkien’s works. Melkor’s fall is caused by his desire to create his own ideas in his own way, instead of cooperating with Illuvatar’s plan. While his backstory is clearly inspired by Satan/Lucifer in Christian mythology, Melkor’s rebellion has a slightly different source - it’s about stifled creativity as much as it is about power. Not “You can’t tell me what to do!” (“Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven”) but “You can’t tell me what to make!”
I guess you could say the Valar broke up over artistic differences. (“You see, Yavanna and the others saw the Trees as alive, and I… I. Saw. Them. Dead.”)
And it’s not just Melkor who is corrupted by the desire to create - the only other vala who ever defied Illuvatar in any way was Aule, the Smith, when he decided on his own initiative to create the dwarves. The two most significant Maiar to go evil, Saruman and Sauron, both started out as followers of Aule. The entire main conflict in the Silmarillion is set in motion by Feanor’s creation of the Silmarils and the fact that he prizes and values his own creations over everything else. The biggest sin in Tolkien’s world isn’t actually greed; it’s valuing your own creations over/above Illuvatar’s, including valuing the creative process more than you value yourself. Melkor/Morgoth and Sauron are both ultimately destroyed not by their own hubris/overconfidence, but because they both put too much of themselves into their creations - lacking the essential flame eternal needed to create life (which only Illuvatar possesses), Morgoth pours his own essence into Arda in order to make his volcanoes and dragons and trolls and so forth, gradually wearing himself down from a being more powerful than all the other Valar combined into a warped shadow of his former self weak enough to be permanently injured by an elf. Sauron puts the greater part of his power into the One Ring, such that destroying the ring (in one of those volcanoes) destroys him along with it.
And speaking of volcanoes...
Tolkien was pretty solidly anti-industrial pollution (the real life version of valuing man’s creations more than the Creator’s). Nobody in Middle Earth might be on Treebeard’s side, but the author clearly is. When Tolkien describes Mordor, he emphasizes the red glow of the forges, the slag heaps, the smoke - it’s the darkest parts of the industrial revolution on full display. A desolated landscape where industry has spoiled the earth and where the mines and forges are worked by slaves. So… basically late-19th/early-20th century Birmingham. Or basically anywhere the IWW/Wobblies ever went on strike (fic/meta suggestion: one good way to cleanse the Shire at the end of RotK would have been with a labor union).
And now that we’ve mentioned smoke and flame and toxic fumes...
Let’s talk about volcanoes in Tolkien.
Like evil spiders and ill-omened jewelry, volcanoes are repeatedly featured in Tolkien’s works. Mount Doom and its smoldering lava lake in LotR, the smoking volcanoes of Angband in the Silmarillion, the volcano Maedhros throws himself into, and, arguably, the Lonely Mountain in the Hobbit, which is metaphorically a volcano even if not literally, with “fiery destruction via dragon that lives in mountain” substituted for “fiery destruction via volcanic eruption” (not to mention that “large, conically-shaped mountain with a hollow interior that stands all by itself away from any surrounding mountain ranges” pretty much screams “extinct stratovolcano”).
A number of different human religions have a volcano-related deity who doubles as the god of smiths and metalworking, because of the obvious smoke/fire/forges connection (which Tolkien makes himself when describing Mordor), but Tolkien’s cosmology that he invented for his fictional world very noticeably avoids that - smithcraft is Aule’s domain and volcanoes are Melkor’s, their presence in Arda implied to be the result of his presence/power/works “marring” it. Instead, it’s Sauron, the follower of Aule who forsakes his former master in order to serve Melkor, who serves as the volcanoes/fire/metalworking link.
Tolkien associates volcanoes only with destruction, and specifically with the kind of “toxic fumes and black smoke and ash” environmental destruction he ascribes to Sauron (and his servant Saruman) and to Morgoth before him. Where this becomes interesting, if you know some things about real life volcanism, is that volcanoes, despite causing some of the most dramatic death and destruction in Earth’s history (including killing 80-90% of life on Earth at one point - look up the End Permian Extinction Event some time if you want to truly panic yourself about global warming), also create.
Volcanic soil is some of the richest and most productive in the world, which is one reason people persist in living around volcanoes despite things like the eruption of Pompeii happening over and over again through history. The Serengeti is able to support those massive migrations of millions of wildebeest because the soil in northern Tanzania is regularly enriched with minerals via ash fall from the Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano. Those hot springs in Yellowstone that allow animals to survive harsh winters by keeping parts of the rivers from freezing over? Volcanoes at work. Japan’s hot springs, beloved by people and monkeys alike? More volcanoes. Obsidian (volcanic glass) has been used to make tools for tens of thousands of years, and is still used today as a cutting edge in some surgical implements. (Tolkien probably wouldn’t have thought of the volcanic obsidian = essential part of tool making/source of mirrors and sacrificial knives/the root of all artifice connection but if you’re from the Americas it’s hard not to).
Volcanoes create the very earth itself - volcanic activity is the only reason Hawaii, the Galápagos, the Canary Islands, the Azores, and half the islands in the Mediterranean exist, and volcanic eruptions are a key part of the carbon cycle that (absent human activity) keeps the Earth’s climate relatively stable. The lava explosive stratovolcanoes like Thangorodrim produce is the result of the Earth’s crust melting as it’s forced back downward into the mantle by plate tectonics - every volcanic eruption is the planet continually destroying and recreating itself.
Granted, when Tolkien was alive and writing, most people didn’t know this - plate tectonics was still considered a fringe theory in Europe and had only really been accepted in the Americas, where things like the San Andreas fault made it really obvious that yes, continents move. Nevertheless, it makes his thematic pairing of volcanoes with dark/sinister/corrupted creators even more fitting. In the same way that Melkor’s disruptive playing of his own music only deepened and enriched Illuvatar’s overall theme by providing necessary conflict (which incidentally means Tolkien accidentally imported the whole “but if Satan was really a part of God’s plan all along then isn’t God kind of an asshole for punishing Satan for doing the exact thing he was created to do? Like, God kind of deliberately sets Satan up to fail in this scenario, way to be a terrible dad-slash-boss, God,” dilemma over wholesale from Christianity) volcanic activity creates even as it destroys.
Anyway, tl;dr corruption and creation are two sides of the same coin in Tolkien and destruction and creation combined are the dual essence of volcanoes, which are super awesome and important, and that why it’s great that Melkor/Morgoth is associated with volcanoes, because he just wanted to play improvisational jazz and blow mountains up and if his dad really thought those things were a vital part of Arda then he should have told the other Valar to shut up and let his goth asshole son sing dissonant counter themes in peace instead of being so condescending and “everything you make is really mine and not yours” about it. Maybe your son wouldn’t have smashed your other kids’ lamps if you didn’t play favorites so much.
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Why did I make this blog?
I've fallen into a habit that many people are guilty of, and, in fact, we are essentially being socially engineered into adopting this habit as a standard set of behavior. I do feel like there is some intentional mechanism steering us towards this behavior, turning us into socioeconomic and political cattle that can be herded one way or another. This gluttony for aesthetics has bottlenecked our intrinsic creative cycles and, in some cases, killed our empathy in pursuit of feeding that hunger.
Allow me to explain in reverse. I believe that the "creative cycle" is a simple loop of production and consumption. We input (read:consume) raw data. Information. Everything we intake with our senses is stored in some way in our minds. But it's not solidified yet. We know what these things are but we don't know how to feel about it. The concepts of the things we have experienced remain in a plastic form until we output (read: produce) a simulacrum of our experiences as only we can relate them, through our unique perspectives. But something has now changed. The version of that concept as we have output it is different than the fundamental, mutable concept that was in our heads. The concept solidifies into the image that we have produced. This is how we process any information we receive, even on the simplest level. Take, for instance, a flower you've observed on a walk. You see it, and it compels your thoughts. "That's a really pretty flower." The action of putting that thought into words is an act of production, no matter how simple. Why use the word "pretty" in place of "beautiful," "alluring," or "captivating?" Why is it a "really" pretty flower, instead of a "very" pretty flower? or just a "pretty" flower? It is healthy and necessary to say what we mean and mean what we say, therefore we should not shy away from eloquence.
So what happens when this cycle that defines the post-industrial human condition is interrupted? When we become stuck in an endless phase of consumption, we lose our ability to convey how we feel about anything, and thus lose our ability to know and understand the world around us. We essentially lose our souls. But who would do such a horrid thing?! Simply, anyone who wants to sell you something with no risk of you deciding for yourself that this isn't something you want to buy. Someone who wants to guide your thought into a direction that you would have otherwise judged against. They would have us become puppets, sheep, opiated masses, whatever ages-old allegory you're more familiar with.
When we scroll for hours, mindlessly sharing things that pique our interest without using that information for anything productive, we are building that dam more and more solidly. It must be broken. So I would like to begin breaking the dam I've built for myself. I want to surf the internet more slowly. When I come across something that piques my interest, I want to dive in and explore its fullest depths and understand why my interest is piqued, what can I do with my newfound knowledge, and hopefully inspire someone else with the research I've gathered. This will be my space to do so. My greatest hope? To invite someone to a dialogue and compare my perspective with theirs. Sharing and exchanging ideas is how we continue to grow internally. I don't ever want to stop growing.
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if it helps- autism and adhd are very heavily linked to each other, and tend to be comorbid, if i recall correctly. and also neither is inherently ‘worse’/harder to live with than the other so don’t worry about if your symptoms are ‘bad enough’- i would recommend doing research yourself and stuff since obviously i can’t diagnose you lol, but if you suspect you may be autistic/have both, it’s absolutely worth looking into!! wishing you good luck
:0!! thank you!! I’ve kinda suspected for a while that I have it but. I’m not sure? Really? I relate to a lot of things but not everything so it’s really just *squints*
#I get hyperfixated on things but I don’t do extreme research into them or become focused on super specific topics so#S h r u g#I know that’s not all there is to it but it’s an example I guess NDJFJDNF#everything else I relate pretty solidly to#But thanks :D!!#nebula rambles
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I really love how you draw Dottore! he's my favorite character in genshin- do you have any hcs/ideas for how he interacts with the other harbingers? I find other people's readings of him really interesting!
take care, have a good day whenever you read this!
Aaa!! Thank you!! <3 :D And yes I absolutely have hcs about him and the other harbingers!!
(I'm gonna toss them under a cut because I have a tendency to ramble on and use a whole lotta Words-)
Alright, so Signora and Dottore:
Extraordinarily chaotic and evil sibling dynamic
They gossip, like, A Lot, it's mainly Signora talking while Dottore fidgets and works with whatever he's working on, but he gets invested in it pretty easily
Now they also can and will rat each other out when they want, absolute snitches the both of them, they find immense joy in it, however. They also know a decent number of each other's secrets and they aren't going to tell those unless given a proper bribe (which neither have received just yet)
Signora and Dottore also both do Not like Childe
They have bonded over this
Childe is gaslight girlboss gatekept from everything when Signora and Dottore are involved
Also, Signora usually isn't phased by whatever Dottore keeps in his labs, because, yk, she might be 500+ years old, which Dottore appreciates because usually people are constantly on edge in his labs
It's a pain for him to actually keep staff (alive and employed), but having another Harbinger there (even one with a reputation like Signora's) grants the people working for him an, admittedly false, sense of security. Nothing could go bad when two Harbingers are here, right?
So Actually many many things can go wrong with these two in a room with Dottore's experiments
Like don't trust them around fire? Ever? Signora knows her way around it a little bit too well to be safe, and Dottore just likes watching how things burn under different conditions soo a recipe for Arson, that's what that is
Signora also thinks Dottore is hilarious when he's angry, and Dottore just likes being antagonistic, which leads to a whole lotta bickering. It's usually lighthearted but it can get serious and it can get serious fast
But overall Dottore just sorta sees her as an older sibling-ish person? He knows if he lets something slip she's not going to go straight to the other Harbingers to gossip. Which he likes because he can just go off and rant about how stupid something is and she'll just use it as blackmail material, which he thinks is better than like. Having everyone know how much he hates a certain piece of old machinery or something-
However, he doesn't trust her too much, because?? Who in the Harbingers actually trusts each other???
Also he and Signora have Transmasc/Transfem solidarity I will not be elaborating
Dottore and Childe on the other hand:
Pure hatred from Childe's side, he straight-up despises Dottore.
After all, this is a guy whose family is one of the most important things to him, his siblings are children, children who do not know the weight of the world just yet.
And Dottore is the guy who is... well. He's known to treat kids like nothing but a base to experiment on
Now Dottore on the other hand literally just wants to dissect Childe, he's gone absolutely crazy trying to get permission to at least run tests.
I mean, What else was he going to do when the kid Pulcinella found on the side of the road started turning into an entire 10ft abyss creature??? That's part of his whole line of work!! This is literally something he studies!!!
Needless to say, he was not allowed to study Childe's Foul Legacy in any regard and it ticked him off
So yeah, just overall they Hate each other, they argue a lot, like, if the Tsarita wasn't there at meetings they would turn into fistfights
However, they both drink whatever the Genshin equivalent of Monster is
This is not a bonding point, they fight over flavors
Sounds like a dumb thing to fight over but Dottore can't stand Childe's and Childe can't stand Dottore's
This has lead to other Harbingers swapping their flavors around because they think it's entertaining to watch them fight
It actually got to the point where the Tsaritsa herself had to order them to stop switching the flavors around because Dottore and Childe are already prepped to murder each other at any moment, they don't need to make it worse
So Dottore just reserves himself to snapping at Childe with the annoyance of someone who is being blocked from something that could very easily be a big break that's being dangled over his head
For real though, Childe has so much potential for Dottore's experiments but Dottore isn't allowed to do so much as study what effect that the transformation has on Childe afterward, and he hates it
But he can't lose his funding from the Tsaritsa so he stays quiet and angrily compiles whatever information he can
Anyway, Dottore and Scaramouche:
Overall neutral actually?
Like they don't see each other much, with Dottore usually knee and elbow deep in some messed up science stuff, and Scara's work taking him out and about a lot of the time
They bicker and stuff, but overall?? They kinda just avoid talking to each other?
Sometimes, rarely, they do get put on a mission with each other, but when they happens they usually get along pretty well!
They actually have a good time snooping around places, what with Dottore's practically uncontrollable curiosity being easily triggered if there's... oh idk, dragon bones, or old machines, or abyss-related ruins, or anything in the typical Vindagyeran Architecture Style, and Scaramouche just likes to snoop and sneak around for fun, for funsies
There's been a few times when the both of them have bonded over chaotically messing something up (didn't impact them, but sure did impact whoever was living in those houses) and laughed over it, grabbed some drinks, and just hung out
They're sorta like buddies who don't see each other much so they're overall estranged but still have a good time, yk?
Scaramouche has hung out in Dottore's labs before, doesn't particularly enjoy them, what with all the machinery and people crying and whatever, thinks it's boring, but if he has to hang out there he'll find his way to Dottore's office and read his files
This gets on Dottore's nerves, but he knows a little better than to cross the minor god that is Scaramouche
And he would very much like to study Scaramouche, considering, yk, divinity abandoned by the divine?
What an odd predicament!!
What effects would that have!!
How does he still have any power!!!
The questions Dottore could have are endless!!
But Scaramouche is away enough to be sure that Dottore's interest is solidly in other things (mainly Abyssal, and Dragons, because there's always some Fatui around the dragon skeletons (Durin and Orobashi) and I have a feeling it's Dottore's doing)
And that's it so far I think? They'll probably change as more Harbingers/info on the ones we have already come out and such but that's what I have rn!! Just Dottore being a funny feral little angry science man with at least three sensible braincells, and yk what I love him for it :)
#genshin impact#genshin impact fatui#genshin harbingers#fatui harbingers#genshin dottore#genshin signora#genshin scaramouche#genshin hcs#genshin tartagalia#genshin childe#anyway yeah Dot's chaotic I love him#The harbingers are found family but Evil#also Dot's entire color scheme is the entire trans flag what an icon#ironically i have crazy gender envy for him so shfsdgjdhgs#peak what an icon#anyway yeah that's it hope these are good :)#genshin hcs#oh wait I should probably tag this with my main blog's talk tags huh#ok uhhhhhhh#turtledove thinks
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What I Thought About "Echoes of the Past" from The Owl House
Salutations, random people on the internet who most certainly won’t read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.
What probably gets debated the most in the fandom is the legitimacy behind King being the King of Demons. Some believe that there's truth to his statement, while others, like me, like to think that he was just some stray Eda picked up off the streets. Either option seemed likely, especially since Season One never gave an answer that leaned one way or the other.
Then here comes the writers finally answering the question of who King is in episode THREE of Season Two! Because, again, they don't waste time on giving fans exactly what they want.
Fans wanted answers behind King, we got 'em, and analyzing what those answers mean requires going deep into spoilers. So if you haven't checked the episode out yet, I highly recommend that you do. Trust me, it's worth seeing.
Now let's review, shall we?
WHAT I LIKED
Luz Experimenting with Spells: Hey, look! More proof that Luz isn't an idiot like some people flanderize her to be!
But, seriously though, this is a perfect little thread to introduce into the story. Luz collecting knowledge from Lilith's old books and past work she and Eda made adds to Luz's intelligence while also providing a believable explanation for how she gets new spells. It's also nice to see that she has this little notebook (or spellbook) to help see what works and what doesn't. It's a level of experimentation that proves her dedication to becoming a witch while also exemplifying how she isn't stupid. Occasionally reckless, sure, but you can't say that the person who figured out an invisibility spell through showing her work is also an idiot.
Francios with a Knife: How did Francois get a knife? I don't know. But the fact that a random knife plopped out behind him with little to no explanation is funny, and I will not hear otherwise.
I don't make the rules. I just abide by them.
Luz’s Invisibility Spell: I breezed past this, but I honestly love this invisibility spell. More specifically, I love that there's a limiter. It can turn you, objects, and people you're in contact with invisible, but only as long as you can hold your breath. It helps make the spell something the characters can't always rely on, which is appreciated. Because if it works as long as they concentrate, what's stopping them from sneaking into Belos' castle and assassinating him in his sleep? It's a smart way of explaining why they can't always rely on something, despite how insanely useful it is.
Luz: Let's gush about Luz some more, shall we!
"Echoes of the Past" is another episode that has Luz on top form. She is constantly supportive of King, even if Lilith has a point in the dangers of indulging his fantasy as a powerful tyrant. Doing so would cause more harm than good, especially when King finds out Luz doesn't believe him, but her going along with it was all done with the best of intentions. Luz doesn't want to hurt her friend, and even if she did in the long run, she still makes up for it by helping King learn more about his past.
And, as another reminder, Luz isn't stupid. She's the first to say they should leave when it's clear how dangerous the castle is and is quick to figure out there should be more at the top. Luz is a loyal and caring friend who's also guarded and intuitive when the situation calls for it. This episode understood that, so here's hoping other fans will too.
Lilith: Yeah, she's still growing on me.
I feel like this episode shows a better idea of Lilith's place in the group more than the past two. She's a person who's obsessed with knowledge and learning but considers herself above the jovial nature of King, Luz, and definitely Eda. Therefore, she acts as the perfect catalyst for what jumpstarts this week's adventure. It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that she almost instantly dismisses King's claims due to considering herself more knowledgeable than everyone else. Still, I like how she's willing to believe King once she finally sees evidence that seemingly proves he really was the King of Demons, to the point of referring to him as "her lord." Hooty does the same thing, but it comes across as him fearing for his own life and choosing to be friends with someone who could maybe kill him in an instant. For Lilith, her newfound respect comes from the desire to learn more, and it's that desire that makes Lilith an enjoyable character to me. It's adorable to see, and it has some comedic flavor in moments like when she dismisses everyone else and their emotional revelations to take pictures of the carvings around her. I'm sure she'll cause some controversy like other characters with rushed reformations, but for me, I'm more than ok with her addition to the main cast.
More of Lilith’s and Hooty’s Friendship: HOW DOES THIS WORK!?
ON PAPER, IT SEEMS LIKE IT WOULD BE A BAD IDEA, BUT IT F**KING WORKS!
HOW?!
WHAT BLACK MAGIC DID THESE WRITERS USE TO MAKE A RELATIONSHIP SO UNEXPECTED COME ACROSS AS SO ENDEARING AND ADORABLE?!
And where can I get some for my stories...just asking.
But seriously: HOW?!
Hooty Making Himself Portable: Ah, yes. The classic bit where a character does something horrifically grotesque off-screen, and we have nothing but character reactions and sound effects to imagine what happened between shot A and shot B. It's an oldie, but given how hard I was laughing (mostly because of Luz's gagging), it's still a goodie.
Eda’s Portable Bathtub Boat Thing: I mean...I was expecting Eda would use something to catch up with the others, but...that thing...well...I mean, I'm still laughing just by thinking about it. That should tell you how well executed this joke was.
John Luke: ...I'm gonna go ahead and add him to the list because HOLY S**T was this guy disturbing! From his design to his movements to even the sounds he makes when moving, everything about John Luke screams as something that will stay in kids' nightmares for a while. Now, this might seem like a complaint, but to be honest, I'm more than alright with how creepy John Luke is. I highly doubt adult viewers will consider John Luke scary, but I guarantee he'll terrify some of the youngins that this series is aimed for. And that's fine. It's good to creep kids out a little bit with something somewhat scary, as it might introduce them to more good horror stories later in life.
Plus, the reveal that John Luke was only a guard for King is pretty solid narratively speaking. You can see how John never really meant to hurt King aside from one accident when Eda escaped with him. If you want to read into it, I guess it might be questionable to tell kids that something that looks dangerous is secretly nice, but that's really nitpicky, in my opinion. John Luke was a fantastic threat that is designed and animated well, with a solidly executed twist. Some might hate what he presents, most will fear him, but we can all agree on one thing: His theme is awesome (can I get the track for that, please)!
King’s Backstory: Finally, at long last, we know who King is, thus putting an end to a year-long debate. And I fully mean it when I say that the writers gave the best possible answer. Because in a way, everyone was right. Yes, King was just an animal that Eda decided to adopt, like the nature-loving hippie she is inside (She's got the hair for it). However, while he may not be the King of Demons himself, he is still the son of someone who deserves that title. So while he isn't the King, there's a chance he might be the Prince. Once again, there's no direct answer, but given how the writers came up with something that pleases everyone while still providing more questions for debate, it acts as a brilliant move, in my opinion. So whatever answer we get next, I'm sure it will be just as perfect.
Baby King:
My heart was not prepared for that level of cuteness!
King’s Breakdown: NOR WAS IT READY FOR THIS LEVEL OF SADNESS!
But in all seriousness, a HUGE round of applause to Alex Hirsch for his performance in this episode. He expertly captured the raw emotions of shock, anger, betrayal, and sadness that King must have felt when finding out that everything he believed he was is a lie. It's one of those moments where I don't hear a person voicing lines in a booth (or wherever the hell VAs are voicing characters nowadays), but instead hear a living person being emotionally torn apart. It was heartbreaking seeing King so vulnerable as he's so guarded with his emotions. Seeing him like this adds so much more layers to a character that many would mistake him as a cute, comedic animal sidekick. But just like with Luz, there's more to him than people will tell you.
“I don’t even know what’s real or fake anymore!”: I'm just pointing out this line because I believe it's what convinces Luz to help King learn more about who he is. Hell, not knowing what's real or fake is the main reason why Luz got sent away in the first place, so I feel like she can relate to King when he's in a similar predicament.
Hooty and Lilith vs John Luke: This was just a cool scene with some epic moments of dodging John Luke's attacks and some funny ones, like how Hooty said the word "pain." It's a ten out of ten that I would rewind to watch again.
King’s Other Horn: I'd question the logistics of how a horn that got broken off when he was a baby still manages to fit perfectly in the present...but it is neat symbolism of King accepting his past and letting it be a part of him, so who cares?
(The fact that the colors of the broken-off piece don't match the rest of the horn is nice attention to detail as well.)
WHAT I DISLIKED
It's a Little Too Predictable: I pretty much figured almost every little twist the episode offers. But, I'm willing to say that's because I'm in my twenties, and I've seen enough stories similar to this one, so I'm more likely to know what will happen. The little monsters watching this will see it for the first time, so they'll most likely get more surprised than me...And that was my only complaint about the episode...which is more of a personal problem than an actual issue...I guess that means it's perfect.
IN CONCLUSION
"Echoes of the Past" is an easy A+ in my book. It gives lore and backstory that furtherly develops the characters that episodes like this should. It also tells a tragic story about King that still sprinkles in a few good jokes every now and again to lighten up the mood. Sure, there are some nitpicks I could mention (how did King remember his own birth?). But when the good stuff is done so well, what's the point of dwelling on small, insignificant issues? This is still a phenomenal episode that flew past all expectations I had for it, and it continues the winning steak this season is having so far.
(But that's still three home runs in a row. Meaning that a stinker is coming. Ooiee, is it coming!)
#the owl house#the owl house season 2#king of demons#luz noceda#lilith clawthorne#toh hooty#the owl house reviews#what i thought about
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Prompt : Draco has loved her forever, but he didn't plan on confessing ever. So why did the words just tumble out as if he had no control over his mouth?
This is just a bit of flash fiction for you, but I hope it’s still enjoyable! Just over 1k with pining, flirting, and an accidental confession.
i love you, but accidental
It’s the firewhisky that made him say it, or the blistering cold outside that’s turns his hands numb. Maybe it’s the way her hair tumbles over her shoulders, or the way Granger’s tumbler is half-way to her mouth while her eyes widen impossibly.
Or maybe it’s the fact that it’s been a long time coming—months and months in the making now—and he’s never been good at holding onto things that are good. And if she’s anything, it’s good. He can’t relate to it, not now, and certainly not in the past. If he had time to think about it, which he doesn’t, Draco would consider the fact that it’s been nothing short of a miracle getting her. Being placed as Head Boy had been a punishment, but a month in, it stopped being that.
Because she was just as lonely as he was, and now—fuck.
“What did you say?”
The pub is still loud around them—shouts and cries and laughs exploding as the year starts over—but here it’s silent. There’s barely any space between them because this table is miniscule to start with, but being near her has always been suffocating. Draco thinks of drafting the prefects’ schedule with her, Granger’s arm bumping into his, or rounds where she’s freezing but too stubborn to admit it so he drapes his cloak over her. Of how it always smells like her when he gets it back.
Draco actively tries to never let his thoughts run wild—like what it would be like to kiss her, to turn her into the curve of his arm, or to be the reason she throws her head back in a laugh—but the hard fact of it is that she’s taken over all of his thoughts for herself. With absolutely no regard for his sanity, and now he’s gone and lost his fucking mind.
She’s still staring at him when he pushes away, and his chair screeches against the ragged floor. Footsteps follow him out the door, turning into crunches through the snow. “Draco!”
Not Malfoy.
Nothing short of stubborn, Granger storms after him through the village while calling out his name, no doubt drawing a crowd.
And then he trips.
Trips into a snow bank, and it’s freezing against his face.
“Sorry, sorry,” she murmurs, and rips him up with a surprising amount of strength. “Stop running away from me.”
He blinks, snow still caught in his lashes. Her cheeks are pink, and again, she’s not worn a suitable coat. The sensible thing is to walk away, but they’ve been here before, so he yanks his cloak off. Draco wraps it around her, and fastens the button below her chin, ignoring the way she presses closer to him, icy fingers finding his. “Let me go on, Granger. You can spare me the gentle let down. It was an accident, just drunken words that we’re better off forgetting.”
As if either of them can manage that. He knows that the look on her face—the mix of surprise and something he couldn’t place, so he’s named it as horror—will never properly leave him. He has no idea what he’d looked like, blurting that out in the open.
“Is that what you think is happening here?” Granger huffs. “If I really wanted to reject you, I assure you I would have waited until we weren’t in public anymore.”
“We’re not in public anymore.”
She glares at him. “That’s your fault. We could have stayed where it was warm, but you ran away.” Granger swallows, the sound small between them. She squeezes her eyes shut for several long seconds before she opens them to look at him again. “Tell me it was an accident then. Tell me that’s the truth and I’ll let you go. But you haven’t lied to me yet, so don’t start now.”
It’s a dare. She’s so obnoxiously Gryffindor that he almost doesn’t know why he’s fallen quite so hard, so quickly until she looks at him again. Draco peers over her head, shoulders tensing, and considers lying to her then even if she’ll know. “It was an accident that I said it.”
Her brows knit together. Suddenly, her hands are curled in his shirt while she pulls him forward. Granger stretches up to match his height on her tip-toes—which she can’t—and rolls her eyes. The cheek. “Please say it again, Draco.”
One of his hands curve around her elbow, holding her up, while the other lands at her waist. It’s intimate, the way he pulls her in, and the way she lets him. Pretty brown eyes flick from his eyes to his mouth, and it dawns on him again that he’s not the brightest one in the room when it comes to her. He should have had to take a breath before saying it. It shouldn’t be so easy to say, but it is—because it’s the truth, and there is nothing he could ever refuse to do when she looking at him like this.
“I love you.” He says easily, more than breathless, and watches her smile stretch into a grin that’s the brightest thing he’s ever seen. “I’ve nearly said it countless times, but I blurted it because—”
There’s snow sliding down the ends of his hair, freezing again, and it drops on his nose when Granger reaches up to dig her fingers into his hair. She tugs him down, all sharp angles as she does, and he wants to joke that she’s just so much shorter than him, but then her mouth is on his, and he forgets everything else.
Well, not quite everything else.
There’s the murmured, “I love you,” that is all her, pressing against his mouth while her nails scrape his scalp. There’s the feel of her weight solidly against is when he drops down and frames her face with both of his hands in order to properly kiss her until her eyes flutter shut and there’s a soft keening sound that comes from her.
From the village behind them, voices cry out that it’s a new year, and Granger walks them backward until their hidden behind a tree and she drapes his cloak over both of them. Her lips are swollen, and a pretty red when she grins and leads him back to her.
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I think about that fuckin “my first day on the server I killed my son it was pogchamp and then I cried” audio at least once a day cuz its funny so ya’ll know it was inevitable I’d start thinking abt it in terms of storytelling right.
Cuz theres something to be said about how Philza and Technoblade specifically came onto the server as plot points (Techno joining being framed as him coming to help Pogtopia and Phil’s entrance onto the server being that). Phil especially joined at quite possibly the most plot heavy moment possible, and he came in with a prepared backstory/connection to the cast as Wilbur’s father. And as far as I can think of I don't think anyone else who joined the server had that. Like everyone else had some sort of grace period where they could ease into lore (if they wanted to be in lore at all) and decide their place on the server. Phil’s was predetermined to some extent. Clearly characters can expand past their initial use *gestures at c!techno’s entire everything*, but its an interesting distinction between him and most other people on the server. Like where most people on the server start out less lore heavy and grow more involved as time goes on, Phil started off extremely lore relevant and then dropped off suddenly as he took a step back to do things like grind for materials, or just to hang out with people in a non-lore capacity.
And this abnormal progression on the server probably contributed to his interpretation of being a neglectful/uncaring person, because we the audience are told "hey this is Wilbur’s dad, and he’s gonna be around now! He’s super cool and nice, look at how he gets along with everyone!” During the 16th basically the entire cast recognizes and acknowledges his name coming online. There are ooc jokes about the family dynamic, about finding tubbo in a box, more in-character (or at least debatably in character) moments of Tommy acting particularly familiar with him, Fundy embracing him as his grandpa, and Tubbo inviting him to be a part of L’Manburg and the cabinet. But after he completes his plot-mandated Filicide, Phil basically doesnt get involved in anything plot related (save for going fishing that one time with fundy) until the butcher army, which even that he’s more of a plot device/damsel in distress than an active participant in plot. And then c!Phil turns around and is like ‘lol nah I dont care abt any of you people’ when the plot finally gets going for him. Not to mention it contributed to the whole schrodinger’s family problem, where no one really established what the relationships were, probably because the creators themselves hadn't yet decided what they wanted to do about it but due to everything I just mentioned, were giving off conflicting messages in an attempt to have their cake and eat it too. Like the aforementioned fundy fishing trip is sandwiched between moments of Phil casually talking about fundy being his least favorite grandson, telling him not to call him grandpa, and generally bullying him (again, in moments that aren't clear in whether theyre canon or ooc). Same with Tommy, he visits him in exile once and expresses relief when he knows Tommy is safe with techno, but he never attempts to prevent said exile, and once Tommy leaves techno Phil turns against him pretty solidly. I hesitate to call these contradictory or out of character, but they muddied the waters on an already unclear character, and it lead to no small amount of arguments over c!Philza and what was ‘really’ canon in his interactions with people.
TLDR is that Phil, both the character and the creator, are in a really unique position on the smp as someone who came in specifically for plot purposes, without getting the chance to establish real character presence beforehand, and that has led to a very different plot and character arc than most other characters. Which is interesting, but makes things very complicated when it comes to analysis.
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famedtask12: big five personality traits
word count: 730 words
this will be a mix of both tests as well as my own analysis about how ash fits into the big five personality traits.
overall, i’d say the tests were pretty accurate but there are some things i would tweak just because i took the tests from ash’s viewpoint and he’s not always entirely self-aware as he tends to be more negative on himself than the reality of his personality always is.
ash is a very open person and i’d argue that this factor could be higher depending on the time in his life you analyze him at. it’s a little lower than usual right now since he became more cautious after his recent hiatus and is only beginning to be more open again. ash is a pretty open-minded person, both intellectually and creatively and in his willingness to engage in potentially risky behavior like drug use, though it has to be factored in that part of the last point is a consequence of hypomanic episodes and under treatment to reduce those, that particular part of his openness averages out less strong obviously. one of ash’s biggest pet peeves or turn-offs is close-mindedness as well, so i’d place ash high here, but with a padding of caution that honestly mostly comes from his status as a public figure restricting what he can fully do.
ash is solidly in the middle here. ash’s conscientiousness depends fully on his mood, his schedule, and his interest in something. he tends to keep his house pretty clean and organized, though a lot of that has to do with traveling so much and not spending a lot of time at home anywhere other than his studio. in places he frequents, like his studio, he tends more toward organized disorganization — his system of organization may not be immediately apparent to someone else but he usually knows where things are. he is a very stubborn person as well, but he penchant for spontaneity varies a lot based on his mood. with things he cares about more, he’s much more conscientious with keeping track of everything he needs to keep track of. if he’s forced into doing something against his will, he’s a lot more likely to forget things related to it and/or be disorganized with it.
ash is a very introverted person. this is one thing that’s true about both his idol persona and his more personal self. he’s not the type to seek out interactions with people he doesn’t know well and spending time with others drains his energy to varying degrees depending on how comfortable he is with them. he does have a history of clubbing and partying, but even then, he tends to keep to himself or a small group of friends and treats the large crowd as more of a way to blend in and get lost in the crowd than a chance for mass socialization. he’s independent and doesn’t seek out external influences much; he’d much rather get something done himself.
ash’s agreeableness is similar to his conscientiousness in that it can vary widely. i leaned toward the side of higher agreeableness because i think his natural state is tending toward being more friendly and agreeable and his critical side comes out more with people that rub him the wrong way or situations he doesn’t want to be in. he’ll sometimes sacrifice his own preferences for the sake of avoiding conflict, but if it’s something he strong believes in, he won’t let it go so easily and would prefer to stand up for himself against others who don’t feel the same way. that said, he is not all that optimistic about others and does at times put his self interest over the interest of others, especially in regards to his career.
i’m not shocked at the results the tests gave ash here at all. one focused more on the presence of low moods and low self-esteem, while the other focused heavily on mood swings and ash struggles with both of those constantly, so he was bound to rank very high on neuroticism. i agree with that ranking for the most part and, for anyone who knows ash, i doubt i have to elaborate too much here. wikipedia describes the trait of neuroticism as “the tendency to experience negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety, or depression” which... yeah, have you met ash kwon?
#* | headcanon.#famedtask12#// everyone act shocked at that 100% neuroticism / 2 emotional stability#// me & ash handshake emoji cranking the extraversion down real low and the neuroticism up way high
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001 Papers Please
001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:
i think the ezic are...like, pretty solidly bad. like the phrasing used in their notes is giving me some...really bad nationalism vibes, and idk if im the only one that tasted that? like yeah sure, secret society that's meant to depose of corrupt governments, who hasn't hoped for something like that, but also? bad things happen when there's a power vacuum, and i cant help but wonder what ezic's end goal is.
m. vonel baby!! sir what the FUCK is your damage! you have fifteen minutes of screentime and i wish you had more. honorable mention goes to calensk, WHAT a GUY. i like how his first thing he says is 'I'm getting a bonus and you're not. I'll split the check.' like!!! my MAN!!! and of course sergiu deserves the world. jorji is my bestie- can i not say 'yes' to this question?
Least Favorite character:
Dari Ludum And Simon Wens Die Challenge
5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):
elisa and sergiu, obvi. dimitrionel is VERY fun, but i personally prefer inspectonel because i am gay. calenspector too, because, again, i am gay. and, i love shae and dimitri in a 'very divorced but still elope every other month' kind of way.
Character I find most attractive:
tossup between vonel and calensk. vonel may be a short king but he's got style for days, and calensk is just my type.
Character I would marry:
half the cast has like. canon relations with eachother or someone else in some way, shape, or form, but canon be damned? calensk probably. hes very much a guy after my own heart. second places is, again, m. vonel, but he's basically arstotzkan secret service so i don't know if he's an eligible bachelor or if he's married to his job.
Character I would be best friends with:
jorji my bestie <3 hes my right hand arm man. my everything. my confidant. my best friend. my silly rabbit.
a random thought:
i like how the entire game is like. yeah its a big downer but there's the ability to do good throughout the whole game. its all grays of various shades, but you have two times you can 'mess up' per day- and sometimes just once is all you need to help keep a couple together, or make sure someone can have access to life saving medicine.
An unpopular opinion:
i think the ezic are...like, pretty solidly bad. like the phrasing used in their notes is giving me some...really bad nationalism vibes, and idk if im the only one that tasted that? like yeah sure, secret society that's meant to depose of corrupt governments, who hasn't hoped for something like that, but also? bad things happen when there's a power vaccum, and i cant help but wonder what ezic's end goal is.
My Canon OTP:
its sergiu and elisa, duh. i always, ALWAYS eat that infraction.
My Non-canon OTP:
inspectronel. ill say once more, and for one final time, i am GAY as FUCK
Most Badass Character:
vonel or dimitri. vonel because he just shows up. no fanfare, no introduction, he's THERE. scared the hell out of me. dimitri because he's the only guy with a car you see the entire game, and like. i feel something abt that.
Most Epic Villain:
i mean, who counts? the entrants? the circumstances themselves?? i personally liked the sequence where an undercover moi agent was being followed by an impostor and you had to give them fake documents. i thought that was fun
Pairing I am not a fan of:
i mean im not really a big ship boy here. i guess, inspectormitri? not sure you should get with your boss if he treats you Like That
Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):
none! i think theyre all good
Favourite Friendship:
jorji and the inspector, hands down. like. hes so persistent, and he doesnt have any ill will against you if you let him in when his papers arent fraudulent. he seems friendly.
Character I most identify with:
i mean, we play as the inspector. so i think that would be the correct answer in general.
Character I wish I could be:
i wanna be the guy who writes the truth of arstotzka papers. shit must be wild on the daily in that office
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“I Told Sunset About You” - How did this show make COCONUTS emotional?!
I know some people have already written about this and it has been talked about a lot but I promised @londongirl2001 that I’d write a ‘little’ post on it - this one is for you, love!
I feel like this is a good place to start where coconuts are concerned because not only are they a metaphorical representation of Teh’s developing feelings but also as a characterisation of Oh-aew and a representation of something ‘good’ and full of fortune and luck. When all considered, it’s such a damn clever way to connect all of the above ideas and also to send Teh into such a significant tail spin over a scent, dude ends up almost smothering himself more than once!
Two facts relating to coconuts are established pretty clearly from the outset:
Oh finds the smell of coconuts calming/soothing as his signature scent
Teh hates them, finds the smell gross
The fact they established this ‘conflict’ so early made the progress all the more delightful and painful to watch.
Coconuts representing Oh-aew was a genius move. Many things are used to symbolise Oh in this show but coconuts being his chosen scent, something is decided for himself and is kinda proud of is just so lovely, right? It’s another Oh thing to have a signature scent and to own it so hard. He’s like, yeah, this is my ‘thing’, it’s calming and soothing and I have adopted it as part of who I am. It’s so perfectly HIM and so like him to be so bold in terms of who he is. It’s sweet too because I don’t know about anyone else but throughout the whole show, I felt like Oh would smell lovely… like, it affected me knowing he always smelled of coconuts and now adorable and endearing that must be to people around him. He’s a Phuket boy, always at the beach and the idea he smells of something so connected to that environment made him even more magical to me.
So you have Oh characterised by this soothing, sweet, natural scent and Teh being entirely not into it. Hoon offers him a coconut as a sign of fortune and luck and Teh’s like, nah, GROSS, DISGUSTING, NEVER WOULD I EVER. He physically recoils when he smells Oh’s scented pen and it’s this clear sense of boundary. It’s clever because it’s that boundary that exists in terms of Teh’s head and how he views their connection… he doesn’t really have a sense of romance or ‘feels’ at this point but he still NOTICES. The moment in the evening when he drops Oh off at the pier and Oh teases him with his ‘smell my hair’, it’s this lovely extended metaphor for Oh’s presence being so full on for Teh. We know he feels SOMETHING. He paced the entire restaurant with jitters until Oh arrived and then offered himself and all of his tutoring tools especially for Oh, feeling oh so happy he could be someone special to him… and Oh’s there at the end of the night like ‘remember I smell like coconuts, Teh?”
And I feel we need to take a moment to just bask in the sweetness of Oh’s coconut pen. It’s kind of iconic at this point, right? (Apparently they made it especially for the show and it wasn’t bought so they really did go all out to make Oh the loveliest, didn’t they?)
I love that their tutoring sessions must have been coconut scented with Oh always using his pen and I kinda love that Teh must have got used to it over time as they spent more and more time together… but we get this huge shift in feelings where Teh’s all over the place trying to work out why he wants to be something other than ‘just another friend’ and then once he’s got to grips with that and tried to play matchmaker for Oh and Bas, why he goes a little insane at the idea that Bas is taking away ‘their thing’ and ‘their time’... his poor jumbled up brain can’t work stuff out and then we get the boat scene.
I’ve written about it before but this is my favourite scene in the entire show. I love it SO much for so so many reasons but I, personally, think this is the moment Teh fell in love. It’s the moment when Oh says everything above… and if Teh isn’t able to opem up then Oh reassures him that’s ok too and he’ll try to work him out. For someone like Teh who is just so very internal and confused and scared and knotted up, having someone say that is so precious, so special and you can see how much it affects Teh (his eyes in that gif above break me). I think quite a few things slotted into place in that moment as to why he was going out of his tiny mind a little… and IMMEDIATELY after that, when they’re playfighting we get the “why do you smell so good?” moment with Oh confirming it’s the same smell as always and Teh’s ‘oh shit’ moment right at the end of the episode because the thing that characterises Oh and the thing Teh really DOES NOT like have become something he finds yummy (I love that he uses that word!), stays up late to eat and smother himself with in the dark restaurant… hahahaha. I mean, it’s a sorry sight on one hand but, on the other, it’s so completely sweet. He’s really just smitten and still trying to sort his head out but if it reminds him of Oh, he wants all of it, right now, in any way he can get it. I laugh and smile and want to cuddle him at the end of that scene when you think he’s going to get up after he’s eaten the coconut and he just face plants back into it again. I LOVE HIM. The metaphor is so solidly established as… the distance has gone, Teh is fully in his feelings and poor guy is a mess because of it. It’s why all of his encounters with coconuts when Oh isn’t around are kinda weird and I love him for it…!
So thus begins Teh’s habit of smothering himself in coconut smelling items and after the hammock, after knowing Oh has feelings for him and kinda admitting his own, he’s doing his whole “I don’t know where to put myself or what is happening so I’m going to roll around on my beautiful rug and pace around my room and rub Oh’s Chinese notes all over my face because they smell like him and I want to see him and I’m going insane, help” thing. Which is totally another favourite scene for me…! BK kills those physical moments. Seeing Teh sit there with green ink all over his face like ‘FFS, I’m going mad’ before standing up and walking out of his room with the sole intention of having it in person rather than rubbing stuff all over himself as a replacement, hahahaha.
I love that when Teh has Oh close and don’t need to inhale actual coconut or smother himself with tutoring notes, they SHARE actual coconut juice. That shot of them riding the scooter with them both sharing the coconut juice, this two and fro. To me, it’s like this sense of when they come together, the confusion seems to always stop. By the end of moments where either one is confused or isn’t saying everything… they always manage to get to some conclusion by the end and so there’s no uncertainty, there’s this symbiotic sense of sharing and being together and kinda being a unit. So Teh happily drinking coconut juice and sharing it with Oh is so full of acceptance and closeness, it’s very lovely.
I ADORED that we got to see Oh washing his hair, clearly inhaling the shampoo smell and we got to see that he genuinely DOES find it calming. He clearly has this really soothing bath time and it’s this reminder that he’s actively sure of himself, kind of in control of who he is and how he conducts his life (which is why the red bra scene breaks my heart into pieces every time but that’s for another time)...
The final few moments for the delightful coconut metaphor are, for me, so emotionally laden with the themes of the show, it makes me a little misty eyed but DOESN’T MOST OF THIS SHOW. When we see Teh drive up to Oh as he’s starting his vow, Teh’s sidecar being loaded with a shit ton of coconuts is both beautiful and so symbolic of how he has genuinely changed. He’s no longer hating the smell, he’s not rubbing is all over his face to try to work out his feelings… he’s bringing the coconuts to Oh and doesn’t care at this point. Aside from the fact Teh fills Oh’s rucksack with coconuts - dude has to run far, Teh, what are you doing - there’s thing lovely sense of Teh knowing what they mean to Oh and how soothing and calming they are AND how Hoon told him they represent good fortune and luck. It’s so sweet of Teh, means a lot in the context of their story and is this emotive way for Teh to show how he understands himself so much more and how he can be so much more calm and focused on WHY he’s doing things. He seems so much more confident and in tune in those moments, almost CARING for Oh actively rather than in a chaotic OTT way or accidentally. It’s like he can work himself out now and is able to say ‘this is for you, I know what it means, I think you’ll need it”. AND THEN THEY DRINK IT TOGETHER, in sync and Teh of all people manages to almost flirt!! I know the in sync drinking was intentional from the documentary but I’d LOVE to know why P’Boss did that. For me, it’s this sense of them both being on the same page now… this sense of the fortune and health that the coconut symbolises being present for both of them in their personal growth to have them both together and both embodying this feeling of peace for a while.
And this is where I realise I’ve written an essay about coconuts… but ONCE AGAIN, this show makes everything meaningful and I love it so!
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letting my feelings out bit by bit.