#greek philosophy shit posts

[moomoocowmaid]

Can you believe my college doesn’t have a Greek Mythology course? I am appalled—what am I to do? Sign up for Intro to Philosophy or Ethics? NUH UH, dawg

Show me to the incestuous murder tree blob knowledge, rn

#greek mythology #greek gods #college #college student #spring semester #ancient greek #philosophy #ethics #end of semester #text post #lol #funny #humor #haha #original post #textpost #shit post #shitpost

[writershapeholeonthedoor]

Why Twilight is better when we make it gay

a overly detailed, totally unecessary, post that wants to prove that Twilight is better when we make it 🏳️‍🌈 GAY 🏳️‍🌈

So, follow along 👇🏻

Esme with This Bella

Kinda of set up the vibes of Carine or something, so I'm all on board with this. You know, this Bella has some serious aspirations in life. She's getting her master's degree, maybe a doctorate even, in Philosophy, Greek Mythology, ancient history, literatute or something oddly specific that takes a full minute to even say it. You know, she's a nerd. Esme loves her for it.

Bella also loves to spend a ridiculous amount of time listening to Esme talk about anything, she also sits in the garden with a book when Esme is arms deep in the dirt, and they for sure spend their days off making food for homeless people or volunteering in shelters or knitting clothes and blankets for donation. Well, Esme does most of the knitting, but Bella has no problem holding the wool for her.

Rosalie with This Bella

Okay, so this Bella is still pretty shy and clumsy, but she has a backbone and knows what she wants. She’s also a flirt, even if a bit awkward because of her shyness. She also has a stack of dad jokes ready to be used and she’s not afraid of doing so. You can’t blame her, she’s just socially weird and she makes jokes when she’s uncomfortable. Which Rosalie gets. She doesn’t hate Bella for no reason at all, as we see in most Rosella’s fics, she’s just determined to keep a safe distance. It all goes to shit, obviously, when Bella starts showing up at her house to work on a school project with Edward.

Bella is a mess around Rosalie. A gay mess. She stumbles over her words and her face is constantly red, but she keeps smiling and she finds Rosalie’s sneers particularly funny. She breaks Rosalie’s walls by not doing anything else, really. She’s just there, and she talks with Rosalie, and she has no problem backing away when Rosalie needs a break.

When they get together, Bella’s favorite activity is to ride in Rosalie’s fancy cars. She’s still scared, but she loves it when Rosalie goes so fast that everything outside is a blur. Sometimes they will ride in complete silence, sometimes there’s song playing, sometimes they start telling stories to each other, sometimes Bella has a whole new stack of dad jokes to tell.

Bella also develops a taste for motorcycles, a passion she’s eager to engage with Jasper. So, every once in a while, Rosalie will be working in the garage under a car and she will hear Bella’s bike pulling outside. She just knows she’s supposed to go there, so she goes and finds Bella waiting for her with a helmet and a bright smile. Rosalie is smitten.

Bella also has a way to make Rosalie feel like she’s the most beautiful woman in the world. She is aware of her beauty, always has and always will be, but she can’t help but feel special when Bella looks at her with those green eyes that kind of makes her forget that the world is fucked up. At least for a while.

They would go off to college together. Rosalie would be getting another engineering degree and Bella would get a bachelor's in Chemistry or Biology, maybe Psychology. She would whine and complain every day, though Rosalie is sure she’s only doing that to piss her off.

And Bella would have to learn to enjoy baseball because Rosalie just loves it.

Alice with This Bella

These two are the only ones I see working with Bella’s personality being the closest to canon. You know, happy little Alice with a slightly depressed Bella, who also has some low self-esteem problems. Bella is aware of her intelligence, though, and she also would impose some clear boundaries, like not sneaking into her room while she was sleeping and making her a part of discussions to make decisions and not just dropping shit at her for her to deal with. Alice has zero problems with her immortality, so she would have no problem turning Bella when the girl felt ready, although she asks Bella to be sure she had experienced everything she wanted as a human beforehand.

In this scenario, Alice doesn’t force Bella to be her personal human Barbie doll. Actually, she steals Bella’s hoodies very often, to the point where the girl has to have a search party in Alice’s gigantic closet one day. One of their favorite thing to do together would be to watch the stars and Alice finds it amusing to come up with fake information about space or fake names for constellations. It took Bella a very long time to notice this and, by the time she did, she had already spread some of it to her friends. They also go to the movies a lot and there’s a lot of dancing in the rain, even if Bella can’t barely keep herself standing.

Alice would be Charlie’s absolute favorite, of course. They would be pals, you know. Charlie would take her fishing one day - when Alice manages to convince him to go somewhere other than La Push - and he would teach her very patiently all he knew.

Tanya with This Bella

This Bella is grumpy. She has a lot of self-derogatory jokes to make, she’s sarcastic and she likes using it as a weapon. Tanya finds it not so amusing, quite concerning actually, but then Bella will flash her with one of her side smiles that makes her knees go ridiculously weak and Tanya will forget what she should be worried about.

Bella moves slowly, very slowly, and her shoulders are a bit drooped as if she can’t hold herself straight. For Tanya, it takes a lot of patience because, even with how much time she had to adjust to humans, she’s not used to spending so much time around one. Especially one that takes so long to get down the stairs for no reason. Tanya is also the most romantic person alive, so Bella needs to be prepared to basically everything.

Tanya is sugar mommy. Bella tries to fight it, but there’s no point. Tanya is always giving her presents, booking tickets, taking her to weekend getaways, and making every single desire come to life. It takes Bella out of balance in the beginning. She doesn’t know how to deal with it, to the point where she asks Irina to help her talk with Tanya to slow down a bit. It helps… until Bella shows a slight interest in something new and things skyrocket again.

They met in college. Tanya is a teacher - not her teacher because that would be too much - and Bella is getting her degree in History or Sociology. Bella can skate, so it’s not uncommon for Tanya’s students to leave her classroom and find Bella leaning against the wall holding her skate under her arm while waiting for her to go get lunch.

Once she turns, Bella goes around feeling very proud of her coven leader wife, but she wants nothing to do with it. She would hate the responsibility of it.

Kate with This Bella

Have you ever heard of a chaotic duo? They’re it.

Bella is all about adventures and trying new things, and Kate is… well, she has zero respect for humans’ mortality, which almost becomes a problem once or twice. Tanya, Carmen and Eleazar had to remind her more than once that humans couldn’t jump from a plane with no parachute, even if Kate was supposed to grab her before hitting the ground. It’s not like she doesn’t care if Bella gets hurt, because she does! Her eyes fill with tears that will never drop every time she sees even a scratch on Bella’s skin - which happens quite a lot - but she hasn’t been human for a long time and it’s easy to forget a few things when she gets excited about something.

They would do everything together and Kate would teach her to do anything she knew, like surf or change a house’s electric system. Eventually, after Bella is turned and good to go, they would totally have one of those handyman services where they would go around town helping people with the most mundane of things like installing a shower, changing the plumbing, changing tires, all of that. They would have fun doing those things and then running as fast as they could to jump off a cliff at the end of the day.

#Twilight #gay twilight #bella swan #esme cullen #rosalie hale #alice cullen #tanya denali #kate denali #bella x rosalie #bella x alice #bella x esme #bella x tanya #bella x kate #kristen stewart

[hoidn]

okay so i watched all eight episodes of 1899 in one go on monday and i cannot stop Having Thoughts. quite honestly it is the most superbly executed narrative i've ever encountered outside of literature. the sheer thematic scope and complexity is breathtaking. THEY WROTE A GREEK TRAGEDY about all my favourite things and it begins with an emily dickinson poem. !!! the universe was aiming its arrow right at my brain with this one.

(so of course it wasn't renewed. given that la révolution also wasn't renewed, i'm forced to conclude that tptb at netflix have something against thoughtful and nuanced excellence in storytelling.)

this is one of those times i especially miss metafandom because i'm sure there've been discussions about everything my brain is yelling at me but how the hell does one find the good shit anymore? or even the bad shit, for that matter. so here you go, tumblr frēonds, have yet another brain dump that nobody asked for or cares about.

a list of topics covered by 1899 that i recall after watching the entire thing once, in no particular order:

the nature of identity

the nature of reality

how grief warps both the self and the perception of reality

the often inexplicable nature of trust

the human brain's capabilities

the inherent untrustworthiness of memory and the irony that it's all we have

explorations of female identity

the many meanings of freedom

communication!! — trying to understand and be understood through barriers of language, of levels of reality, of technology

the destructive nature of religious zealotry (and christianity in general *internal sigh*)

classism

patriarchy

homophobia (both social and internalised)

the beautiful and horrific acts humans will commit in the name of love

the looming shadow of the male authority figure

space as a concept, both literal and psychological: liminal spaces, confinement

'the odyssey', obviously

the trope of the mad woman in the attic (this one gets its own post because I Have A Lot To Say)

now let's talk ancient greek references!

[1] the names of both ships come from ancient greek mythology: prometheus stole fire from the gods to give to humans and was sentenced to eternal punishment; kérberos (or cerberus) was the multi-headed dog who guarded the gates of the underworld to prevent the dead from leaving.

[2] in ancient greek philosophy, there were four classical elements; this concept was taken up in western alchemy, which made a hobby out of giving everything a glyph or symbol. the symbols of the four elements are triangles:

🜂 = fire 🜄 = water 🜁 = air 🜃 = earth

[3] it's been four months since the prometheus went missing. what, i wondered, is the significance of the number 4? in greek numerals 4 is represented as Δ´. oh, look, a triangle. and what's a triangle in three-dimensional space? a pyramid. and what's a pyramid geometrically speaking? a tetrahedron! which has 4 faces and 4 vertices. it's also the smallest possible platonic solid and plato associated it with the element fire. i don't know enough about geometry or philosophy to take these associations any further, but, as shakespeare would say, come the futtock on. this level of detail is RIDICULOUS and EVERYTHING TO ME.

#1899 #1899 netflix #it's not a show it's a FIELD OF STUDY #alas metafandom we knew ye #yes i did quote upstart crow #i regret nothing

[everlastiingiimmortals]

(Some of) The Achievements of Dr. Ratio

And Elaborations on Their Significance: A Review

As transcribed from the Keeping Up with Star Rail video because that shit was hard to read

Medicine: Developed serum for lithogenesis, completely lifting the shadow of the "King of Diseases"

Philosophy: Published What is Knowledge, acclaimed as the "ultimate answer to all 'epistemological' questions."

Natural Theology: Published the work Aeons: A Natural Phenomenon, hailed as the "most sacred prophet of Aeon non-theism."

Mathematics: Published a paper entitled "A Solution to the Marta-Cishian Undirected Connectivity Problem in Metric Spaces," successfully solving three of the "Seven Challenges in Contemporary Mathematics" left by Genius Society #56, Elias Salas.

Physics: Established the Ratio Unified Field Theory, thoroughly elucidating the spaciotemporal discrete structure that was once obscure to humanity.

Computer Science: Published a paper entitled "Existence Proof of the Fyangu Function," opening the doors to solving numerous problems in computer science.

Engineering: Led the research on the Energy Black-Body Radiation Generator, resolving the energy crisis of the century (multiple Amber Eras).

Biology: Published papers on "The Neurobiological Mechanisms of the Nesting Behavior of Witherflies" and "The Metabolism of the Ahriman Archaea." As Genius Society member #55 Yu Qingtu once said, these two papers "accelerated the scientific world's understanding of species evolution by 1000 years."

This sounds like a load of honky, right? Yeah. So let's break it down and address what we can here. Keep in mind that while I am a biologist (officially, in five months) and intimately familiar with evolution and ecology, I know Very Fucking Little about everything else! I am looking into sources while I go through this.

So, the first thing: what is lithogenesis?

Looking into the breakdown of the word, we can split it into its prefix particle and the suffix particle: 'litho' and 'genesis'. The prefix 'litho-' refers to stones, such as in lithiasis, which is the pathological creation of stones (like kidney stones) in the body. -genesis refers, obviously, to the beginning, development, or production of something, such as in osteogenesis, the production of bone. But if lithiasis already exists, then what might lithogenesis mean? Given that it is referred to as the King of Diseases (which is another interesting note), my guess is that it is perhaps a more literal version of scleroderma (an autoimmune disease that causes the skin to thicken and harden), where the skin or other parts of the body literally turns to stone. This is significant for another reason, which is that Ratio is Greek (as well as Roman, but we'll get into the points of his character design with another post). Some of the most famous monsters of Greek mythology are the Gorgons, of which Medusa is the most notorious. What did the Gorgons do? Turn people to stone. I'd like to propose that lithogenesis is perhaps a degenerative disease that previously had no cure in which the body undergoes accelerated petrification caused by a creature not dissimilar to the Gorgon, though I hesitate to suggest that the disease is as fast acting as the Gorgons' stare is.

Second: What is Knowledge and epistemology

I don't have much to say about this one as I am not well versed in philosophy, but a quick google search says that epistemology is "the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion." AKA: What do people know, and how do they know what they know? Further digging says that epistemological debates revolve around four main areas: 1) the analysis of the nature of knowledge, as well as the conditions for belief to constitute as knowledge (truth, reason); 2) sources of knowledge or belief (memory, reason, perception, testimony); 3) the structure of knowledge or belief (foundations of belief vs. coherent justification); 4) skepticism, which basically questions all of that, and the implications for such skepticism. I found this to be neat because this is Ratio's fundamental approach to teaching, and I just thought that was fun. Epistemology has been debated since ancient Greek philosophy, and that tie-in to his entire character was nice.

Third: Aeon non-theism

Now this was real fun to see, and I ended up laughing about it to some friends because from the outside, it looks like Nous' rejection of Ratio left him so petty he became an atheist, and perhaps that is true, but it holds far more significance to his character than that. The Aeons, all of them, are higher-dimensional entities widely worshiped as gods by all sorts of people across the galaxies (also called Gods of the Stars in Chinese), and even the Genius Society treat Nous as a god with more than some level of fanaticism. The Aeons are prayed to, sworn by, given offerings, and bless followers with their powers. It's not hard to see why they are considered gods. Yet Dr. Ratio basically challenges that with a reference to the Aeons as natural phenomena, rather than divine beings. The idea of natural theology in general is interesting, and I guess it has to do with the fact that the Aeons, while perceived as gods, do have direct and tangible impacts and effects on the natural world. I imagine that Dr. Ratio argues that Aeons are the product of an entity (or multiple) embodying a belief, movement, or philosophy to its utter and exhaustive extreme, and that what makes a god is whether or not they are perceived as worthy of worship, yet every single thing in the universe is subject to scrutiny and criticism. Worship introduces blindness, tunnel vision, fanaticism, and ignorance, and erases scrutiny and reason. It is as he says: "the Path of Erudition has neither reason nor logic." As Ratio scrutinizes all things, he therefore worships nothing, thus directly challenging the widespread worship of not just the Aeons, but those they favor and choose to represent them (hi Genius Society ;) ).

Fourth: ....Math.

Again, not much to say here (I don't even know if the problems addressed are mentioned in-game as readables, but I might do some digging tomorrow to find out) but I find it especially significant to point out that he solved problems that even Elias Salas, one of the most famous Genius Society members, did not (or left behind). I need to stress that Ratio is a genius. He is. What gatekeeps him from the Genius Society is not capability, but principle. Elias Salas (along with #22, Aiden) is incredibly unique among the Genius Society members for being someone who actively shared his findings and inventions with the public, handing the rights to the Synesthesia Beacon as well as long-range communications technology to the Intelligentsia Guild. But Ratio's focus is less on the pursuit and breakthrough of uncharted knowledge and more on the sharing and use of knowledge to educate and help others. Though he's certainly made breakthroughs himself, it's clear he does so with the intent of bettering lives, not just because he can. Maybe one could argue that he isn't "genius enough," but really? I just think that he cares too much. This point just goes to show that he is on par with the Geniuses of the Society, and that the existence of said Society introduces elitism into the picture more than the word already does -- hence Ratio's repeated use of the phrase "ivory tower."

Five: ...Physics.

So I did end up looking into unified theories for a more comprehensive understanding of what the fuck was so significant, and this is... admittedly far beyond the scope of anything I comprehend (obviously). But from what I could understand of current theoretical physics is that the unified theory is a goal of modern physicists, some single theory that can be used to marry the concepts of electromagnetism and gravity, as they're currently under two separate theories with no relation to one another. There is no singular, widely agreed upon theory as of right now, while the String Theory (vibrations of one-dimensional "strings" determine the properties of these strings, and each vibrational state corresponds to a particle) is one such attempt to do so it is not without its many criticisms. The idea of a unified theory was one that Einstein himself had tried, even on his deathbed, to formulate, but never managed to solve. It's been almost 70 years since then in our time, yet we can assume from the wording of the achievements that a unified theory that concisely joined forces (gravity) with fields (electromagnetism) was not proposed until Dr. Ratio, or at least was not improved until he posited his theory. ...In normal English: that's fucking huge. Truly, I wish I had more insight into the topic so that I could explain its applications, but I don't. Maybe this will be something I can return to later? I dunno. I'm not a quantum physicist adslkfjhsad

Six: ...Computer Science.

Okay this one actually genuinely holds no substance that I can write about aside from wow did you know Dr. Ratio is a polymath and super smart and cool and-

Seven: Energy crisis and black-body radiation

Back to the interesting things! So, to put it simply, black-body radiation refers to the light (electromagnetic radiation) a black-body emits when it is heated, as higher temperatures mean higher velocity of the charged particles on the surface of the black-body. The thing is that a black-body in the true sense is only a idealized object, not a realized one -- though black holes are predicted to get pretty close as they absorb almost all radiation rather than reflect it. After doing some reading, the reason this is so significant is that most real-world objects are not black-bodies, and thus only radiate a fraction of the energy that they theoretically would if they were black-bodies. Stars and planets are approximated as black-bodies when estimating their surface temperature, so... My guess is that Dr. Ratio was able to manufacture a material as close to a black-body as he possibly could, or discovered a celestial black-body that he could harness the radiation of, and engineered a generator that could use that power as efficiently as possible -- utilizing an isolated vacuum, the amount of radiated energy lost to gas particles or escaping the system would be reduced or near-entirely eliminated, thus providing far more energy than any systems or generators applied today.

Eight: Neurobiology and metabolism.

Now this is more my speed. The relation of neurobiological activity to cognition and behavior is actually specifically my major, but admittedly there is not much I can discuss without a mode of comparison. What are witherflies? What are they related to? How does their nesting behavior differ from that of other species related to them, and why is that significant for the understanding of cognition or their evolution? I could talk at length about sexual selection and intrasexual competition, about wars of attrition and the handicap hypothesis, but without something to compare to it's a bit of a moot point, especially since none of these nesting behaviors are described. Nesting is also very different from courtship, while both can (and do) affect the neurobiology (and physiology!) of both male and female individuals of a species, how and when they do so differs between each scenario. The metabolism of the Ahriman Archaea is an entirely different look into organisms which I find interesting for a different reason: archaea are single-celled organisms that, unlike bacteria, have genes (like us!) and unlike us are capable of utilizing far more energy sources than just organic compounds, such as metal ions or even hydrogen gas. Dr. Ratio's discoveries about the metabolism(s) of the species within the Ahriman Archaea could very well have provided immense insight into the evolution of life in that ecosystem, or whether or not said life can be traced to another galaxy or another point of origin. Another thing that I do want to point to here is the fact that he was acknowledged and praised by Yu Qingtu, someone that Ruan Mei mentions and I believe she considered a friend, or at least someone worthy of admiration.

TLDR: Dr. Ratio is absolutely a big deal and his spite towards the Genius Society is entirely justified, fuck you Screwllum.

#Willow Rambles #//about; (DOCTOR OF TRUTH) #i thought this would be longer than my piece on jy's relation to the aeons but i'm about 150 words short of that one #still sfdlgkjhadslfkjha #THIS TOOK SOOOO LONG

[mooseyspooky]

Moz Solo was already on it @lovely-lady-fox! FamousWhenDead posted the whole thing:

Johnny Marr: How could Meryl Streep agree to be in Mamma Mia?

The guitarist lets us into his cultural life, from his love of David Hockney to making his friends watch a Joan Didion documentary

My favourite piece of music For a long time now, it’s been My Goal’s Beyond by John McLaughlin. Like his work with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, it is in a genre entirely of its own. It’s unquantifiable and makes me feel a certain way, no matter what happens in the outside world.

The lyric I wish I’d written “You’re going to reap just what you sow”, from Perfect Day by Lou Reed.

The instrument I wish I’d learnt Piano. I can play it, but only in amateurish fashion. I should say though there are guitar players who play the piano nicely like Neil Young, Paul McCartney and David Bowie. They play it as a means to an end and do wonderful things with it. But I would like to be a few levels up from there.

The music that cheers me up Any good pop music, which by definition usually means contemporary. There are things from my past that of course make me feel good. But there’s something about hearing music that’s fresh, upbeat and represents the modern world — it makes you feel that everything is OK.

I’m having a fantasy dinner party, I’ll invite these artists and authors Gary Oldman, Muhammad Ali and certainly Marilyn Monroe.

And I’ll put on this music Spirit Power: The Best of Johnny Marr.

Overrated I don’t tend to like shitting on people, but Mamma Mia!, for God’s sake, or We Will Rock You or any of those sorts of musicals. How did it get to that? We’re supposed to go along with the idea that they’re good. What was Meryl Streep thinking she was doing starring in that film, and Julie Walters? What were they thinking? There are a lot of things culturally that we’ve just gone along with and they really must stop.

Underrated

Blindboy Boatclub, the artist and musician from Limerick, is best known as one half of the Irish comedy hip-hop group the Rubberbandits. He’s amazing, has such an interesting way of thinking and also hosts the brilliant series The Blindboy Podcast too. One of the best books I have ever read is his Topographia Hibernica. I can’t recommend him or it enough.

My favourite author

Aldous Huxley. People would assume I’m thinking about Brave New World orThe Doors of Perception, but I’m actually referring to his work after he moved to the United States in the second half of his life. His essays and lectures are even better than his earlier work. I rediscovered him in the Nineties and he is my actual hero. Everything you read of his is an education.

The book I’m reading

Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson. It’s a trip, moving around from style to style. The novel is loosely based on Greek mythology, but set in modern times. It’s relatable and super interesting. PJ Harvey introduced me to Carson, an intriguing cross between an essayist and a poet.

The book I couldn’t finish

The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley. Just couldn’t do it.

The book I’m ashamed I haven’t read Ulysses by James Joyce. It just sounds so hard going. I love the idea of it and feel genuinely bad that I haven’t read it, but I do also feel like I know so much about it already. I admire it enough, without feeling the need to put myself through the hassle of reading it.

My favourite film Sergio Leone’s film Once Upon a Time in America. When it was first released, I went to see it a few times and decided then it was the best thing I’d ever seen. I recently saw The End We Start From, starring Jodie Comer. It’s so good. Amazingly, I came away from it with this feeling of triumph of the human spirit. It says a lot about what it means to be human and what we fundamentally need, which is compassion, connection, love and understanding. And Comer is just so believable in the role.

The box set I’m hooked on I’m rewatching Nurse Jackie. There’s so much good stuff out there that whenever I occasionally revisit old, great stuff, you forget how much it stands up. I like anything Edie Falco is in. I also have just rewatched the documentary Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold. I’ve watched it at least three times and whenever someone comes to my place that hasn’t watched it, I watch it with them.

My favourite TV series It has to be Mad Men. One of my friends is eagle-eyed and noticed that when they put an album on a turntable, it has the correct label from the Sixties. That’s crazy.

The film I walked out on

There are loads, often stuff I take my kids to see and they don’t even notice I’d left. I didn’t enjoy Baby Driver — I didn’t like the music in that at all.

I wasted an evening watching Manchester City play in the Champions League final in 2021.

The last movie that made me cry These days I can cry at almost anything so I can’t remember.

The place I feel happiest Running around Brooklyn, over the Williamsburg Bridge. Or around Portland, Oregon. Whenever I’m at those places, I always run unless I’m injured. I’ve done a lot of things in my life, but nothing quite beats that.

My guiltiest cultural pleasure Cheese and onion pasty, chips and peas. Anybody who says that’s not a culture doesn’t know what they are talking about.

If I could own one painting it would be We Two Boys Together Clinging by David Hockney. Any of his work would be a dream to own. Even the iPad stuff is beautiful. I went to see David Hockney: Bigger and Closer at the Lightroom and it was great.

FamousWhenDead's post of the article

#johnny marr #These days i can cry at almost anything my God johnny just rip my heart out gosh #Sweet soft boy just out here being a part time Philosophy major

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

I saw the anon who sent the link to the post by the burst person that said aang used katara and argued with the anon- but that person is a big example of the weird amount of racism towards tibetan culture in the zk fandom. And I sat this generally, I just mentioned them bc that anon reminded me, but the constant mocking of Aangs culture, from his bald head, to his food, to his beliefs and carefree attitude, is so weird. Because its based on a real culture. The tibetan are a REAL group of people who have been victim to real genocide and it is so weird that zk think it is okay to be blatantly racist towards them just bc they don't like one character.

That's what happens to people that treat shipping like activism. They think "I like this pairing" is the same as "This is being progressive, so not liking it is the same hating minorities" - and by consequences, the rival ship is "bigoted"... so it's totally okay to say actual bigoted stuff to make it look bad.

Plus, I'd say it also connects with the fact that most of the fandom is western - and american - and thus tend to ignore any message that doesn't fit the typical american tropes of dealing with the bad guys: Bombing the shit out of them or shooting everyone in a battle field.

Aang is the protagonist, so naturally he embodies the show's message of "Don't take ANY life. Not an animal, not of a good person, not even of a bad person. To truly end this conflict, the cicle of violence and death needs to be broken." But they are so used to seeing that kind of protagonist eventually "get" that the hollywood, epic battle with nearly everyone dying, is the only way to fix everything... that when it DOESN'T happen they think it's a mistake/wasted opportunity, instead of just a case of "This story has a different philosophy as it's core theme."

And let's not forget the constant "Tibetan Monks = Free Love Hippies." Hence them constantly having bullshit headcanons of "Oh, Aang could never settle down with anyone so he'd inevitably cheat on Katara/never marry her/force her to be in an open relationship." It just never registers to them that they can't just take a real, foreign culture and replace it with some american "equivalent." It's the same reason why so many people think Zeus and Hades are the Greek versions of the christian God and Satan.

I wouldn't be surprised if most of these people don't know ANYTHING about any eastern culture/religion besides just the most stereotypical stuff ever. If they were ever told that these religions have gods whose whole deal is "destruction and death" and they are NOT the bad guys, they'd think you're lying since they think these religions boil down to "Make love not war." If you asked them where Tibet, specifically, is , they likely wouldn't be able to point it out on a map.

Seriously, even ignoring the Zutara aspect, so much of the "criticism" towards Aang comes from people that just not understanding Avatar's message at all, and it pisses me off.

#anti zutara #pro aang #aang deserved better #respect aang or die by my sword

[katinkulta]

ATTENTION!

I'm outing myself as a Kasper Strömman enjoyer

(posted earlier this year. I hope all the Greek people can stay safe rn 🙏)

Translation: Greece in colour[ed pictures], part 1

Greek philosophy

(the fun in this is DOCA, which is a slang word (verb) in Swedish* (spelled doka or dåka), that means to binge drink. It's also used in Finnish and then the infinitive is dokata)

*in Finland specifically

Translation: This e-scooter just warned me about the dangers of 5G and then it told me that NASA faked the moon landing

Translation: A good canal is like Loreen– colourless

The Grand Canal in Venice was coloured Käärijä green

I'll take my canals like my Eurovision winners, thanks

Translation: Loreen car

I appreciate this adaption to the current state of the market

My favourite:

Translation: I've got my hands on "riikka"'s official apology

[image]** SORY

POOP

PE-PE

The next time the assistant should proofread [the text] first

Context: a Finnish politician who currently is a minister was found to have commented racist shit on another politician's blog (back in 2008/9). She refused to apologise at first, but later she "apologised" (i.e. didn't apologise at all)

**it should read: anteeksi [sorry] and pippeli [pee-pee]

Note: Kasper is not a serious person, so these are all jokes and satire

#käärijä #esc 2023 #finnish #translation #politics #I love his shit posting <3 #kasper #katinkulta's original

[tiffanylamps]

Lee Dong Sik does have a type

Hello! I am here to once again harass this tag with my opinions.

I love this complicated character. I just want him to heal and live a happy life. I have so many feelings about him and because of him.

This post is another section of the essay (I have previously mentioned) where I lost all interest in being formal in the slightest. So, this doesn't read as a serious analysis of Dong Sik's character, more of a shit post. But nevertheless, it's written with good intentions and genuine interest. Again, this is an excerpt from a bigger piece, so it feels unfinished that will be the reason.

[Please note that Dong Sik and queer-coding are very intricate topics, I am not able to explore them fully with just this post. also: I use the word queer as an umbrella term when discussing the character's sexuality. It is not meant as an offensive term.]

~ Now that the disclaimers are out of the way, I hope you enjoy this absolute mess

[Previously discussing Joo Won's queer coding] 1 2

Dong Sik on the other hand… There isn’t a big romantically coded scene for him, definitely not along the same lines as Joo Won's scene in the rain. We gain knowledge of Dong Sik’s thoughts and feelings for Joo Won through his facial expressions and actions. We get to see it more often because - despite his tendency to mask his emotions behind the veil of other people's assumptions - he is a lot more forthcoming with his feelings. By nature, Dong Sik is an affectionate person with a lot of love to give. Within the show, he is the main character used as a vassal for the creators to explore the Ancient Greeks’ philosophy of the seven kinds of love. Here’s a quick breakdown of the love in Dong Sik’s life:

Eros: Han Joo Won

Philia: his friendship circle: Ji-Hwa, Jung-Je, Ji-Hoon, Jae-Yi, etc

Storge: his sister, his mother, Kang Min-Jung 

Agape: music, food, nature

Ludus: Han Joo Won, Lee Sang-Yeob

Pragma: what his relationship with Han Joo Won was blossoming into

Philautia: he struggles with this one but we get glimpses of it throughout

(information source: https://www.wellandgood.com/greek-words-for-love/)

Dong Sik is a bit of a tease, in the sense that he enjoys teasing people, and Joo Won is the perfect person for him to do that. I believe he was attracted to Joo Won from the moment he met him- no, from the moment he heard his voice. 

That shot though, jfc. It is very common within visual media to use the suspenseful storytelling tactic of “look! The two main characters have met and this is important- pay attention to this”. The story will stop in its tracks because the two main characters or the two love interests have met for the first time. Their interaction and the importance of this first meeting will be displayed by the characters either:

Stopping what they were doing

Becoming awestruck

The camera lingering on their reaction

Beyond Evil uses all three of these common visual storytelling tactics to tell the audience that this moment is important.

And… Okay… I know everyone stops what they are doing to pay attention to Joo Won’s arrival, as it’s a great way of other-ing him from the first episode… But if we look at it from the perspective of the character, Dong Sik is so affected when he sees Joo Won for the first time that he stops writing his police report. We had just seen how driven and motivated Dong Sik can be, he was going to write up that report and no one could stop him, not even the threat of physical violence could stop him. The fact that Joo Won does cause him to stop could be interpreted as a (very) loose play on the trope of Distracted by Sexy or Love at First Sight. Either way, no one could stop him apart from Joo Won. Through the visual language, this seems to be the creator's way of informing the audience of Joo Won’s immediate effect on Dong Sik’s life.

This sequence also plays on the (debatably) romantic trope of Stalker’s Meet Cute and Weaponized Meet Cute:  “When one party has arranged the "chance" encounter for the purpose of romance, it's a Stalker's Meet Cute. (This is very common.) When it's for dark nefarious purposes (i.e., not romance; usually a crime of some sort), it's Weaponized Meet Cute.” tvtropes.org, Meet Cute.  Joo Won has been "investigating" stalking Dong Sik for the purposes of his investigation. He takes photographs of Dong Sik at his workplace and when he is with his friends. Then purposely gets himself transferred to the same substation to get closer to him. Which signifies from the outset that the nature of their relationship is far from normal.

But it is how Dong Sik reacts to the new Inspector that is very interesting...

During my first watch-through of the show, I missed Dong Sik’s quick off-the-cuff remark of “he’s not my type” when speaking about seeing Joo Won for the first time. Which… okay, firstly, no one asked him. It is the first thing Dong Sik has to say about Joo Won. Also, this kind of language screams romantic undertones. To have a “type” is a phrase often used (in western parts of the world, at least) when describing a person you fancy, i.e find attractive.  It’s an odd thing to say and it could just be a funky translation. But Dong Sik decides to tell his best friends that the “handsome” (as other male characters had already noted), successful, fashionable and so painfully metropolitan new (boy toy) Inspector is not his type… Which begs us to question: why did they use this kind of language? If the creators wanted us to know that Dong Sik and Joo Won weren’t going to get along because they were judging each other, another perfectly non-romantic way of telling us would be for Dong Sik to say: He’s just another Seoul detective. This could then start a quick back-and-forth.  Someone could say: But you were a Seoul detective. Causing Dong Sik to give us a reply along the lines: You know I was never like them. (or something better than that) If the conversation had been structure in this way, the creators would be conveying that there is a distinction between the city police and the police in this small town. Also, it would give us the insight that Dong Sik never felt like he fit in in Seoul and that he has a close connection to his hometown. [not confirmed as true] Instead, we get “he’s not my type”. I believe this is the first time we see Dong Sik’s character being queer-coded. 

“Queer coding is the subtextual coding of a character in media as queer. Though such a character's sexual identity may not be explicitly confirmed within their respective work, a character might be coded as queer through the use of traits and stereotypes recognisable to the audience.” Wikipedia.org, Queer Coding.

This framing, as well as other pieces of information about his character, supports the queer coding theory.

Firstly, let’s take the context into account: Dong Sik is a man in his early forties who has experienced deep trauma. He lives alone, is not married, is not divorced, has male and female platonic friendships and at no point in the show is the history of his love-life explicitly confirmed. The only time in the show that Dong Sik himself talks about anything closely relating to his romantic life - or having a “type” - is when talking about Han Joo Won and talking to Lee Sang Yeob. Any other time Dong Sik’s sexuality or love life is brought up is by other characters, predominately by Joo Won. 

Joo Won isn’t Dong Sik’s type. And perhaps not. Having worked (and lived) in Seoul for many years, Dong Sik has probably met many rich, good-looking, privileged, up-themselves Seoul boys. So, he would know. 

So, if Joo Won isn’t Dong Sik’s type, who is? Do we get examples? 

Yes but very subtly via the process of elimination. Throughout the show, Dong Sik only flirts with men. So that and other factors (which we will discuss later) rule out women as romantic love interests. He only flirts with men. Sometimes he does this because of genuine attraction or because he’s trying to unnerve them. He uses his ambiguous sexuality as a way to make other men uncomfortable when in a sparring match of intellect. The people he flirts with when trying to unnerve are:

Lee Chang Jin

Lim Gyu Seok 

Kang Do Soo (very minorly: the good looks comment in episode 4)

Park Jung Je (very very minorly: although, they have a very complicated/ queer coded relationship) These men often bristle or become uncomfortable when Dong Sik uses this tactic.

Do they have anything in common that could help us decipher if he has a type? Well, not really. They are of all different ages, stature, occupation, personality, looks, statuses, and financial backgrounds. They’re different. The only commonality they share is that at some point, they were getting in Dong Sik’s way. So, he used this proven tactic to deflect their gaze, so he can continue on undetected. 

(what a whore)

There are two other people that Dong Sik flirts with aggressively, either because one) distracts them from the truth and two) because he seems to enjoy it:

Lee Sang Yeob

Han Joo Won

What is interesting about these two characters is that they don’t react the same way the other men do. So, how do they react?

Lee Sang Yeob shows quiet patience and (not unkind) indifference like he is used to it. In the situation they were in, he doesn’t let us know if he likes or dislikes it- there’s just silence. Which, within South Korean media, speaks volumes. 

In South Korean media (like the majority of the world), when the male lead’s sexuality is questioned, it is common (and expected) for them to show disgust or make it into a joke, or both (Vincenzo has two very long scenes where Vincenzo has a paddy about having to pretend to date a man is a great example). Queerness is not treated seriously in the majority of the media. It is shown as something uncomfortable; to be mocked, or as a hurdle in the male lead’s journey. As a whole, it is not something that is explored with sensitivity or sincerity.  (there are obviously exceptions to this "rule". I'm speaking in more generalised tones.)

So, to have two male characters in a car together, and to have one ask the other if they are on a date and the reaction is silence, shows us how Beyond Evil approaches queerness in a very different way from the majority. 

  Dong Sik’s flirtations with Han Joo Won are a little more complicated. At first, Han Joo Won doesn’t seem to understand flirting, full stop. All signs of attraction and affection from anyone make him uncomfortable. But as time passes, he starts to accept it and then even starts to return the attention. Out of all of Dong Sik’s interactions with the people he flirts with, Joo Won is the only one to genuinely flirt back. Not only does he flirt back but he enjoys it, as does Dong Sik. 

Other than this, do Lee Sang Yeob and Han Joo Won have anything else in common? Yes. 

They are both (at one point in time) Dong Sik’s police partner. 

They are the same age and thirteen years younger than Dong Sik.

They went to KNPU and were in the same year. 

They are attractive, successful, from wealthy families, ambitious, stubborn, intelligent, naive; metropolitan (working/living in Seoul), and both are passionate and impulsive: going headfirst into danger. They both act like a “prince” and are “burdens”. 

Later, they both cause Dong Sik unbearable amounts of heartache. 

The most important comparison is that Dong Sik cares about both of them deeply. So, there are two characters Dong Sik flirts with for the sake of flirting. They have similarities that go beyond age, race and gender. Through the process of elimination, we can say with a level of certainty that Dong Sik (on a basic level) does have a “type”.

According to him, Joo Won isn’t it. Personally, I believe that Joo Won was Dong Sik’s “type” the entire time. But because Joo Won is (in the beginning) a stereotype, Dong Sik is put off by his prickish facade. Also, Han Joo Won reminds Dong Sik of Sang Yeob from the get-go, and he doesn’t want to go down that route because it’s a deep trauma for him that he’s not over. 

So, when Dong Sik says something so romantically coded as “he’s not my type”, it shines as false in the most wonderful way. 

[Dong Sik interacting with three younger men. credit: 1, 3]

Dong Sik is... so into Joo Won. As Dong Sik gets to know Joo Won, he becomes interested in this difficult man. Within the context of the thriller-mystery narrative, he decides to use Han Joo Won so he can bring the serial killer to justice. But over time, he starts to genuinely care for him. Which wasn’t the original plan. One could justify this by suggesting that it just proves that Dong Sik is a protector by nature; he cares for those younger than him, and he fears losing people so much that he’ll even care for the little annoying prick that is Han Joo Won. This is true but the thing about Dong Sik is that if he doesn’t want someone in his life, he doesn’t include them, or he waits patiently until he can move on. Joo Won is not one of those people, which is proven by how he displays his feelings throughout the first act. Dong Sik proceeds to provoke, get up in Joo Won’s personal space, tease, flirt with him, actively pull him into his life, actively try to get to know him, and actively care for him, whilst trying to save that boy (toy) from himself and anyone else who may hurt him… And it only intensifies in the second act. He seeks him out and always has a (literal) open door for Joo Won to walk through because, despite the fact that Joo Won can be difficult, Dong Sik enjoys him and wants him in his life. 

The fact that Dong Sik enjoys Joo Won’s personality is shown throughout the first act. Contrary to the fact that Joo Won gives Dong Sik many different reasons for him to run away screaming “red flag”, he does the complete opposite. 

A brief list of just a few examples of Dong Sik enjoying Joo Won:

Episode 1: when he offers Joo Won a handshake and is rejected, calls him a "prince" (or something similar)

Episode 1: smiling when Joo Won is talking about his views on friendship,  then proceeds to tease Jo-Won.

Episode 2: when Joo Won has the same thought as him (going to the shop in the rain scene), Dong Sik watches Joo Won walk away and smiles after Joo Won gazes back at him. 

Episode 2: getting in Joo Won’s personal space (and making eye contact) to ask why Joo Won is “so interested” in him.

Episode 2&3: the entire interrogation scenes: yes, he's annoyed by Joo Won but come on, he's also having so much fun.

Episode 3: After Jung-Je has told Dong Sik that Joo Won knows that he’s put the case files back, Dong Sik is very non-plus about it until Jung-Je tells him that Joo Won laughed “like a madman”. Jung-Je is disturbed by the whole thing, which is a very normal reaction. How does Dong Sik react? He becomes excited, smiles, and then laughs, agreeing to stay at work (despite being traumatised by recent events).

(this look screams: I've got you all figured out.... and in retrospect, I'm like: Oh honey, oh no no no no, JW's better and worse than you think) And so on, and so on...

Dong Sik was attracted to Joo Won from the moment he met him and could see through his pretty rich boy bullshit super quickly. We get to see Dong Sik's good nature and attraction to Joo Won, even from the first episode. There are so many examples (here's one) At the beginning of the series, Joo Won is purposely unlikeable. He doesn’t want to make friends because he’s never had a friend that wanted just him before; they’ve always wanted something else from him. Joo Won doesn’t trust people and doesn’t pick up on the majority of social cues, especially ones of genuine kindness - his lack of experiences and insecurities make him believe that people are being conceited, and by extension trying to control him. Joo Won doesn’t seem to believe that anyone could love or like him for him just being himself. So, he isn’t himself as a way to stop getting hurt. (Dong Sik really doesn’t let him continue that charade) 

Dong Sik’s first act of showing… let’s call it a kindness (if we’re being optimistic) to Joo Won on a personal level is in Episode 1. It is so subtle that it went over my head on my first casual viewing. Dong Sik singles Joo Won out (obviously, Joo Won is the newbie of the substation) and tries to show him that his insecurity of “people only want me because of who my dad is” is not true for Dong Sik; and by extension, Manyang. He does this by not taking Joo Won’s shit, physically touching him, and by actively poking fun at Joo Won’s dad. By saying, “I don’t give a fuck who your dad is or where you come from” in the subtext, he’s trying to tell Joo Won that he’s different (Manyang is different). He’s not going to suck up to him, he’s not going to ask for favours, he just doesn’t care for any of that because he’s not like that. Manyang isn’t like that. From the get-go, Dong Sik is telling Joo Won and the audience that if at any point Dong Sik is kind to Joo Won, it is because it is genuine. And not for any other conceited reason. 

(That is not to say that Dong Sik is always kind… ooooh no, for a lot of the beginning, he isn’t.)

Joo Won found it amusing though…

Despite all of this, despite every reason there is for the two of them to not get on (for Dong Sik to absolutely despise Joo Won), they don't. Far from it. I like to describe their chemistry are magnets and like all magnets, they want to attract. So without rhyme or reason, without their control or common sense, they turn and yield, and allow themselves to attract. [Before I beat the horse dead, here is a link to the rest of this thought process, including some sexy screenshots]

[ I am losing steam here and getting distracted. So, I'll include a brief summary before I go. ]

A brief overview of Dong Sik's interactions with five younger men + one male of the same age:

Lee Sang Yeob: flirts with him, finds him annoying (affectionately), cares a lot for him, gives him heart eyes, nearly (does kill?) kills someone because they murdered him- Touch: his stomach to try to save his life Oh Ji Hoon: teases him, has a laugh with him, protects him and tries to be an older brother/mentor. He sees himself in the younger man- treats him like a much younger brother-  Touch: doesn’t, idk... maybe a brief touch to the shoulder (?) Club man: Is aggressive with him because of the fucked-up shit the guy is doing. But still has a ~certain~ energy with him. Touch: pins him against a wall. Lim Gyu Seok: finds him very annoying, doesn’t like him much but does have odd energy around him- similar to the energy he has with Han Joo Won.  Touch: gets in his personal space and puts his lanyard around him in a very ~certain~ way, holds onto his shoulder- the same he does with HJW. Han Joo Won: flirts with him, bullies him, protects him- he’s in love with him, let’s not pretend.  Touch: all the fucking time mate, loves it. Can only think of two times he stops Joo Won from touching him. 

Bonus:  Park Jung Je: Jung Je grabs Dong Sik’s arm once and it makes Dong Sik super angry. He yanks his arm out of the other’s grip. An odd reaction considering they’re best friends.  Dong Sik treats Joo Won differently only because Joo Won encourages him. It's this battle of ego and wit. They're both trying to be right, (both being dramatic), trying to impress and wanting to impress, wanting to be seen They enjoy being around the other; not being able to stop themselves from caring, flirting, battling, repressing, restraining, fighting, protecting... attracting.

Han Joo Won is very annoying. But Dong Sik likes him so much, he's just his type.

---

Dong Sik's queer coding is not shown through grand gestures or grand romantically-coded scenes. He isn't overly flamboyant or "camp". He only flirts with men and does have a type. There is so much more that could be said about Dong Sik's queer coding. For one, we could talk about the religious symbolism throughout the show and Dong Sik is his most "religious" when he's falling in love with Joo Won. Please remember that this is from a larger piece that focused on the first half of the show, which is why the second act isn't explored.

There is sooo much to say about him. I feel like this overly long post is only scratching the surface and is probably unnecessarily long-winded. But alas, it is how I have chosen to approach it. Thanks for sticking around this long. Ta ta!

#this is a mess!! #beyond evil #jtbc beyond evil #beyond evil analysis #lee dongsik #han juwon #jwds #han joo won #shin ha kyun #beyond evil meta commentary #beyond evil is a romcom part 123344567898765432 #i love him. i don't feel like i've done him justice

[punisheddonjuan]

Re: young men trending increasingly conservative, partially due to the influence of 'manosphere' social media figures. I do not understand the appeal of any of these guys, from Andrew Tate, to the "Fresh and Fit Podcast", Sneako, and in years past RooshV. I'm aware of the sort of grievances, real and imagined, that drive young men to follow these guys, but on the level of aesthetics, personality, content, etc. what is the fucking appeal? I don't get it, but maybe I don't get it because I don't fundamentally hate myself (I frequently hate my life, being exhausted and in pain all day everyday sucks, but I like myself; I'm a cool guy and people have historically enjoyed my company).

Tate can't fucking string a coherent thought together, he just rambles incoherently in his annoying shrill voice, and everything about him is tackier than a Russian oligarch circa 1996. And that Sneako dude is all that but somehow even more pathetic and watered down. None of these guys come off as particularly intelligent despite any boasts or affects that claim the contrary. All the leather bound books and mahogany shelves in the world are not enough to actually make me believe that you've read any of them. I know that they make sets like that for interior decorators.

(My favourite example of this sort of pseudo intellectual posturing was back when RooshV decided he wanted to learn more about Greek philosophy and decided the best way to go about doing this was to read a 19th century translation of Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων and then turn in a blog post that was 95% quotes capped with, "I don't think most men would be rewarded from reading it." Well no shit dumbass, you jumped into a second sophistic doxography that no one ever bothers to actually read in full and then read the whole thing with absolutely no context or having done prior reading. Why would you do that? I was finishing my undergrad at the time and having these idiots trying to co-opt my field of study really irked me, so it was always funny to see them just completely fumble.)

Everything they say is either a lie or just so fucking stupid I really have trouble reconciling their popularity with how seriously they should be taken. I don't get it.

#blog #personal history

[burntambrosias]

about me

hellooo! my name is ambrosia <3 i've never been quite sure about how to structure my intro posts on previous blogs, so i'm just going to list some facts about myself and pray that it's cohesive.

- i'm a genderfluid lesbian

- i go by any pronouns.

- i am a pisces (march!) and an enfp

- i have two cats. their names are venus and selene. i love them to death.

- i love greek mythology and philosophy.

- hades and life is strange are my favorite video games.

- i am an AVID ao3 user. half of my time on my phone is spent reading fanfiction.

- i am an artist!

- i'm always looking for mutuals :)

about my art

- i draw on my phone (lmao)

- i'm almost always open to requests <3 just send me an ask and i'll probably do it. to me, it's a chance to do shit outside of my comfort zone and it keeps me from getting into a massive slump.

- i don't draw nsfw

- i am okay with my stuff being reposted on other sites, but please notify me and give proper credits.

[gutsybitsies]

AITH for murdering someone in cold blood/turning a guy into a spirit and banishing him to the fields of asphodel for eternity because he said something kinda mean to my friend?

From the prompt post

u/cerealisbadactually writes:

I know this sounds bad. I (14M) was on a quest with my friend (16F), along the way we almost died several times, as you do with quests.

Along the way, most of our enemies were monsters, basically non human entities. But when we were almost at the end of our quest, we meet another demigod (M, idk his age) with a grudge against my friend. Apparently he had a grudge against her because she banished him for killing someone in the Legion. (look idk why you romans do what you do, i'm just saying if that person pulled the same shit with greek demigods the price of blood will be paid with blood but whatever not my business).

He overhears my friend confessing something that she had done that would get her in trouble (again, idk what's with you romans because for greeks it would be no big deal), and with romans it would get her killed.

He talks about her death with glee, literally says that he hopes they drown her, and that he's going to expose her secret to the world. That really triggered me, because at that time I had a secret that was exposed with no warning. Did I mention that we were on a quest and had almost died several times? I was tired, spent, and literally fading away, and this person just pushed me over the edge, so apparently something snapped and I banished him into the fields of asphodel as a ghost.

Anyway, I don't think I'm an asshole because I was able to dissolve him into a ghost due to his path actions of oathbreaking. If it was an unfair judgement call, I don't think I could've done it. In my mind, it wasn't as if I stabbed him and he died. I called judgement on him and he had to face justice. Blood for blood, what's the big deal?

The reason I'm asking is because I'm being forced to take a philosophy class at my dad's place and the instructor mentioned this incident as a moral conundrum, that I should've found a more peaceful way to resolve this issue.

So. AITA?

a/n: (only accepting additions through AITA responses)

#pjo #blood of olympus #nico di angelo #reyna avila ramirez arellano #bryce lawrence #pjo aita prompts #ficlet #edited for grammar

[a-route-up-if-i-fall]

assassins creed headcanons

idc how backed these r by actual canon btw. if u have a different view of these characters, that's completely okay. that's great, even. i'm just sharing mine ._.

altaïr is autistic. he fidgets a lot in private/when he's not "working." when he's ab to assassinate someone, he's hyper-focused and gets almost obsessive about every detail. his life as an assassin is his special interest and he has a waxing and waning hyperfixation on greek philosophy, specifically empedocles. he's demisexual and in love w malik. switch but always ends up bottoming.

ezio is obviously a slut. he likes to refer to himself as a playboy, and some ppl see him as a bit of a womaniser, but in reality he is literally out to give ppl a good time. in that way, he is a little whore of a man. pansexual. non committal but deeply loyal to his friends and fellow assassins.

connor likes to pretend he is stoic but i feel as though he is just shy and socially awkward. he desperately wants to understand the templars, but he finds it so difficult to sympathise with them after everything. i hope he kills colonisers for fun.

edward is secretly (or not so much) into men but refuses to admit it. he's a pirate so he knows all ab buggering let's just b honest. jim gave him like the fright of his life bc he thought he might actually be falling for a man so when she told him she was mary, he had mixed emotions. first, disappointed. next, oh thank jaysus i'm straight. that was not something he was ready to confront.

shay is fucking depressed and has issues w moral perfectionism. he wants to be good but wonders how he can b if he remains loyal to the assassins. he's also secretly not sure if the templars are in the right but thinks siding with them is the way to helping the most ppl. ambition is his fatal flaw. he regrets that things w the brotherhood ended as they did.

arno has an addictive personality. canonically, he's struggled w booze and gambling, but i think it's something that he is constantly fighting. he thought he would never be sober again after élise died, but surprisingly he found that drinking didn't bring him any comfort. he was just empty :(( he is also transmasc and i will not be elaborating.

jacob has adhd (though doesn't know the term for it obviously). one way he manages it is through exercise. so whenever he feels especially unfocused or irritable, he just freeruns the rooftops of london or finds someone to train with/fight. i can't help but imagine him as the jocks at school who ARE allies and would do anything to stand up for his queer friends but says problematic shit sometimes bc he just doesn't know the correct terms or anything. (edit: at the time of posting this i didn't know that he is canonically bisexual. as far as i can tell it was only made clear by one post from ubisoft. and i am disappointed in myself for not realising that. i feel like this is a part of a bigger issue of ambiguous queer storytelling especially in video games. it should have been far more explicit imo. but i'm always happy to see more gay rep)

evie wants to travel. she secretly writes poetry and doesn't show it to anyone. she studies latin for fun. she's really really good at maths actually. she was a bit of a snitch as a kid, but then she grew up and learnt it was better to just keep quiet about stuff she wasn't meant to see. she's a simp.

aya/amunet died before bayek. he had to recover her body from the roman hidden ones. he made sure that she had the best embalmers, a lavish burial chamber. and when he died, the community made sure they were buried together. back in the day, the chamber held scrolls that spoke of amun, with images of sekhmet and horus lining the walls. an earthquake left the tomb in the state u see it in in origins. they're buried not far from the necropolis that holds khemu's body.

kassandra loved her immortality initially. she spent her days doing impulsive things just because she could. only they got stale after a while. the fear of being alone for an unknown amount of time overcame her as she started losing people. until we get to valhalla and she learns that maybe it's okay not to be alone always, but feels like she always has to keep moving.

eivor is gender fluid. she eventually loses her eye, like odin, and despises how it makes her look like him. she never had children. ik that she's canonically into men however i feel its more comphet than genuine attraction. she ends up w randvi.

#altair ibn la'ahad #assassin's creed #assassins creed #asscreed #gay assassins #ac1 #assassinscreedseries #ac valhalla #ac2 #ezio auditore da firenze #ezio auditore #ezio trilogy #ac3 #ratonhnhaké:ton #connor kenway #edward kenway #shay cormac #arno dorian #ac unity #jacob frye #evie frye #ac syndicate #ac origins #ac odyssey #bayek of siwa #kassandra of sparta #eivor varinsdóttir #eivor wolfkissed

[doitinanotherlanguage]

July 2023 Wrap-up: 1960s

(You can read more about the challenge on my post introducing the challenge. Basically, Reading Through the Decades is a year-long reading challenge where we read books - and explore other media - from the 1900s to the 2020s, decade-by-decade.)

Super late with the July wrap-up, but here it is at last!

What I Enjoyed This Month

📖 Picnic at Hanging Rock (1967), Joan Lindsay -> In 1900, a group of female students at an Australian girls' boarding school vanish at Hanging Rock while on a Valentine's Day picnic, causing varying effects on the school and local community. -> I watched the fantastic, queer 2018 mini-series (starring Natalie Dormer!) earlier this year and absolutely fell in love! So I knew I had to read the original novel as soon as possible. Since the book is written in the 60s, I decided to read it this month. I might prefer the mini-series (because in it, the themes of queerness are much more explicit and central) but the novel definitely holds its own, too.

🎬 Flickorna (1968; The Girls), dir. Mai Zetterling -> A feminist reinvention of the ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes: Three actresses prepare to go on the road in a theater production of the classic play about women and war. As the women re-assess and deal with the problems in their respective private lives, they recognize the parallels with the play and begin to realize that it is serious - even tragic - after all. -> Very 60s, very awesome. I love watching older movies that centre women and feminist themes. This is definitely a very inventive and experimental - even surrealist - film.

📖 SCUM Manifesto (1967), Valerie Solanas -> A radical feminist manifesto that argues that men have ruined the world, which women have to fix by forming SCUM, an organization dedicated to overthrowing society and eliminating the male sex. The manifesto was little-known until Solanas attempted to murder Andy Warhol in 1968. -> I don't really know what to say about this. Mostly, the manifesto is filled with absurd bullshit - I don't fuck with violence, I emphatically don't think killing is the solution to anything, and radical feminism is definitely not the brand of feminism for me. That said, the manifesto is also hilarious as fuck: the manifesto totally flips the age-old "women are inferior" dynamic from Western, patriarchal philosophy and theory around, so yielding the manifesto up to an interpretation as a delicious satire. (Unfortunately, it seems that Solanas did not write the manifesto for irony and satire's sake.)

🎬 Victim (1961), dir. Basil Dearden -> A British neo-noir suspense film about a closeted lawyer who risks his career to bring a blackmailer to justice. The film is credited as being the first British film to explicitly name homosexuality and deal with it sympathetically. -> I am not the biggest neo-noir fan, but I very much enjoyed this one. I love a good queer classic!

🎬 Midnight Cowboy (1969), dir. John Schlesinger -> A naive hustler travels from Texas to New York City to seek personal fortune, in the process befriending a scrounging, sleazy small-time con man with big dreams. -> Another queer(?) classic! Idk, I really like watching movies about drifters and down-on-their-luck people struggling onwards in life and maybe finding some modicum of companionship in each other.

🎬 Stonewall (1995), dir. Nigel Finch -> A historical comedy-drama film that gives a fictionalized account of the weeks leading up to the Stonewall riots, a seminal event in the modern American gay rights movement. The main story follows a cross-dressing sex worker who meets a young gay man, freshly arrived in NYC. -> There was a horribly disappointing Stonewall movie made more recently in 2015 - forget about that shit and watch this one instead! This film actually centres cross-dressers, trans women, and queer politics while also incorporating humour, a love story, and several lip-synch numbers!

#reading through the decades #booklr #litblr

[goofygooberton]

Aaaaah! The mighty boosh should’ve done an allegory of the cave episode (y’know, the Plato thing). Where Vince and Howard are tied in the cave and the other character in the ep have been in the cave their whole life. And then the plot is them escaping.

Also Diogenes (Greek philosopher guy) needs to be a side character in this. And we need a random celebrity to be one of the people in the cave. Turns out Gary Newman or whoever has only seen shadows his entire life.

Im just saying, guys, Greek philosophy. It’s got some juicy stuff for inspiration.

Oh damn also - an Orpheus and Eurydice style episode (myth about the guy trying to get his wife back from the underworld) where either

a) Howard is trying to save Vince from the land of the dead but Vince keeps on trying to show Howard his sick outfit, and getting offended n insecure when Howard won’t look at him (even though, yknow, if Howard looks back Vince will die again.

b) Vince is saving Howard and Vince has no problem not looking back and tells Howard that he’s not attractive, Howard gets rlly offended and spends a good portion of the journey explaining how good looking he is. Then at some point Vince catches sight of Howard in a reflection or something or maybe he’s already done saving Howard, and he has an “oh shit he hot” moment. It turns out Vince thought Howard was ugly because he has mislabeled a photo with Howard’s name.

Also, this needs to tie into the afterlife introduced in season one with all the Colin’s. Maybe they commandeer a taxi

Hoooo boy this post is way longer than expected.

#the mighty boosh #mighty boosh #vince noir #howard moon #howince #feel free to use these ideas for fan fics #if you do I’d be flattered #and please send em to me so I can read em

[lokisknife]

¶Welcome to New York – Loki Odinson

Summary: Everyone got a red string around their pinky that leads to their soulmate... Well, everyone but Y/N, that got a golden line that goes straight up.

Word count: 4.7k

Warnings: not sticking to cannon; 2012! Loki; cursing; mentions of sickness; me bullying the shit of Loki (I love him that's okay); one sex joke; angst

Author's note: yes I'm naming all of my fanfics after Taylor Swift songs. Yes, I could have named it "invisible string" but it's too obvious. Also the original was just so long (up to 6k words) so I decided to split this in two, so I'm posting it vvvery soon.

Tony's version.

Liked my writing? Consider donating on Ko-fi!

Gif's not mine.

Since the beginning of human life on Earth, there have been records of the existence of invisible strings (at least to the general population regarding the strings of others) that connect two people that are fated to be together. The Mesopotamians, Ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, and many other folks had countless myths that served the purpose of explaining why that happened: some people said that these so-called soulmates were made of the same clay, the same stardust or maybe they were created as one singular soul that got split in two. The skeptics firmly believed that "soulmate strings" could be collective hallucinations induced by pheromones that persisted since prehistory, but the fact that everyone had a special someone was undeniable.

Whatever the reason, everyone in the whole world that ever existed has or had a red string on their pinky finger that led straight to their soulmate. Still, no religion, philosophy, or science could explain why Y/N was different than anyone else. As a kid, every visit to the doctor's office was accompanied by a complaint about their soulmate string that - quoting by the then 6 years old Y/N - "worked wonkily": they have learned about red strings that lead to your future spouse in school, but their own string was golden and pointed straight up, just like a helium balloon. Uncountable health professionals claimed they have never seen something like that, but it shouldn't be a reason to worry: soulmate's strings have never malfunctioned before, so it wasn't possible. Well, they hoped at least.

Not only the doctors but every person Y/N ever encountered commented on the golden circle around their finger (that being the only visible part of the string by third parties) and close friends even joked about their soulmate being a deity or an alien. Y/N always laughed and was considered to be someone with a good sense of humor regarding their own problems, but the truth is that all the remarks about their condition ached like a stab on a previously infected wound. The whispering and bewildered looks people shared when staring at Y/N's hands were a highly effective reminder of the possibility of a loveless life. Sure, they did not have an entirely loveless life: they had friends, family, hobbies, and many sources of joy. But the love they felt for life when looking at a puppy at a park couldn't compare to dancing in the rain with someone you fancy. The love they felt for life when buying pretty flowers for their nightstand was nothing next to cuddling in bed past noon.

Experts didn't have a clue about what was going on with their soulmate or the lack thereof – or even "Schrodinger's soulmate" as Y/N called it – but they couldn't put a stop to their running thoughts. As they spent their whole life thinking about it, they couldn't help but feel special: every single individual had an "other half" but them. Maybe their string pointing to absolutely fucking nowhere was Universe's way of saying "hey Y/N, you don't deserve love, maybe next time!".

Y/N observed their string that pointed at the sky as they walked to work, imagining how it would be to witness life with someone else's eyes. How does the world present itself with a vibrant red string that resembled a treasure map, in which the X represented the most wonderful feeling a human can feel? The girls that shared candies on a bench, the guy that served their coffee, and the receptionist of the building, all of them had the assurance of following a straight path to their lovers if they wished to. They all knew they could be loved and cherished and kissed on the spots they were most insecure about. They knew the person they were destined to spend their whole life with was safe somewhere. But Y/N knew they could marry the atmosphere, for what was possible.

The newly graduated scientist decided to put a stop to their introspections on frivolous matters like love – of course, this being a total facade they presented to people to seem unbothered by it – and focus on their obligations for the day. After spending years burning every single brain cell on difficult equations and acquiring student debt of the size of the moon, one could imagine that being an astrophysicist would be more glamorous: planetariums, telescopes, discovering new galaxies. Sure, someone who works at a fancy university, NASA, or Stark Industries could have all of that, but not Y/N. Don't get me wrong, Y/N was very grateful for their job, but sometimes they wondered if the right choice was made by trading the big companies of space-related technology to learn with the genius Dr. Erik Selvig.

Working with the Swedish scientist promised never-ending knowledge of Einstein-Rosen bridges and many other wonders of theoretical physics. Still, it said expectations were instead met with long lists of required research on nordic myths. Jane and Darcy already explained in detail all their discoveries of the past year when Thor - yes, the god and Foster's boyfriend, as crazy as it may seem - appeared out of nowhere in New Mexico and changed all humanity's knowledge of the universe forever and of course, as someone new on the field, Y/N found it very exciting. Even as a newbie, they were curious and capable as everyone else on the team, so reading borrowed dusty books about old deities felt like a waste of potential.

They trusted the professor with their life, but since the god of thunder made a special appearance on Earth, he has gone a little bit...lunatic, for a lack of better wording that could sugarcoat the actual state of his mind. Working with him on day to day basis made Y/N feel like a coadjuvant on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: in one second the blonde concentratedly wrote equations of the highest difficulty related to multiverse theories on the whiteboard, and in the other, he was shouting nonsense about Asgard, Midgard and hidden knowledge on the old texts; what bring to Y/N and the infinite paper stack on their table.

Okay, to be fair, Y/N would be lying if they said that they absolutely hated this part of the job, as it was much more entertaining than getting hot-headed over seemingly dead-end physics equations. Reading everything from the genesis of Asgard to its imminent end at Ragnarok and every single character that existed in the between, the scientist couldn't help but choose favorites. Their colleagues, Darcy, Selvig, and mostly Jane drooled when talking about Thor, his magic hammer, and long blonde locks. Even though Y/N could feel he was a nice guy and all, their attention was focused on his younger, quieter brother.

The stories put bad lighting on Loki Odinson, describing him as a mischievous, trickster, egocentric person but the feelings transpassed to them was of so much compassion that their heart must as well explode when reading about him. Yes, he was the God of Mischief and was always creating chaos in his realm, but couldn't you understand his motives? Just imagine how it must felt like growing up in his older brother's shadow, with every single person - including your own father - diminishing his achievements to magnify Thor's popularity even more! Well, everyone's entitled to have an opinion, and Y/N thinks raven hair is nicer than golden and magic is more interesting than muscles. Simple as that.

The scientist's head started to pound heavily, their eyes burning holes inside their skull and their stomach was sick to the point it felt like it was turning somersaults, as it always did when they spent way too much time curled over all the parchment covered-in dust obsessing over Loki - disguised by scientific research, of course. The whole week went like this and Y/N always downed some medicine down their throat and continued to work hard, but the migraines were getting stronger every day. Complaining to themselves about how the ache in their temples made it so hard to focus and form coherent trains of thought, they glanced at the clock on the wall. Only one hour and a half left of the work journey, good enough.

They quickly organized their table and talked to Dr. Erik, who, despite his urgency in advancing the research, was very comprehensive. So, work: check. Next step: finding a pharmacy while trying to not throw up from all the pain. Good thing Y/N lives in New York City and there are stores everywhere you set your sight on...and if they couldn't hold back the vomit, it's not like people are going to judge them so much right? C'mon, it's NY, at least it wasn't going to be that unusual of a thing.

As an astrophysicist and Dr. Erik Selvig's favorite intern to pile work on, they didn't have enough time or money to go to the hospital to get every "stupid symptom" checked. Y/N felt like dying, sure, but you and I know that no matter the illness, they would step out of the doctor's office with a flu diagnosis. So the smartest decision is, obviously, to get medicine for all the wrong stuff going on in their body. Only relaxing from all the rush of trying to not puke, faint, or cry from the headache when handing the cashier their debit card, the sight of their own hand hits them like a brick.

How great is the human mind and all of its levels of complexity, its delicate and intricate gears allowing conscient, external responses to subconscious perceptions. The golden thread, the subject of most of their worries that would otherwise be constant in its position, was leading somewhere out of the door. Their heart dropped, focusing on the inviting leaded path, their queasiness becoming just an annoying thought at the back of their mind. The string changing wasn't even an option for them, that being such an impossible scenario that Y/N didn't ever fantasize about it. They always took for a fact that they didn't have a soulmate, so the line basically pulling them towards someone was absolutely dumbfounding.

Tucking the meds under their arm, they ran after the thread feeling like a kid expecting to meet a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Y/N didn't know what to expect: to be honest, they didn't even know if they weren't hallucinating. Did their soulmate string lag all these years? Was their soulmate an older astronaut, who spent all of Y/n's life in space? Or worse, what if their soulmate were just born and they would have to wait decades to meet them? God, that's so weird, they sure fucking expected that they weren't running after a hospital or something like that. Wait, what if their soulmate was dead and some crazy scientist resurrected them?

Their head, still throbbing from the pain, spun in circles just like their thoughts. What if, what if, what if? Just what ifs, no plans, no logic, no focus. Their head was so full of "what ifs" that were no room for other feelings than concern. Having an abnormal soulmate thread resulted in so much pain their whole life but the worries that came with the scenario of finally having someone were nothing that Y/N ever heard of. The path could be leading to an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the creepiest forest to encounter Frankenstein's monster himself, and the only thought crossing their mind would be: does he like me?

Quietly thanking the Universe or whoever was in charge, Y/N sighed in relief when the string pointed to a large crowd on a busy street. It would be awful to find their one when there were dozens of people gathered together, but at least they could be sure that they weren't destined for Michael Myers hiding in the woods. The scientist takes a deep breath in order to calm down their soulmate-induced panic and looks around to form a tactical plan, but instead of locking eyes with a handsome someone, they met terrified looks. No one batted an eye at the astrophysicist, their wide eyes locked on something - or someone - way far ahead of them, their bodies frozen in place, unsure of every movement. New York, the city that never sleeps, whose streets were always booming with movement, fell dead silent. But no, Y/N couldn't call a uber from work and go straight home, they absolutely had to waltz themselves into this mess. Way to go, Y/N, what a great way to read the room.

Even though the little devil at their shoulder begged for them to tiptoe their way out, their feet seemed glued to the floor. They were completely clueless about what was happening and what they could and could not do. C'mon, you're a scientist, you work for one of the smartest men alive, you can work out some solution for this shit. Looking around again, they choose the youngest person in a three-foot circle, praying that this choice reflected a lesser possibility of being ridiculously rude to them - considering that absolutely no one dared utter a word - and nudged at a 17-ish boy's shoulder. Shooting him an apologetic look, Y/N mouthed a "what's happening?".

"I just got here like 10 minutes ago, but at the front is a very creepy weird dude with an even creepier scepter with blue lighting on it and he is shouting at us because he wants to be king or some shit like that. I thought he was just an anime nerd who thinks he is god because he is wearing really weird clothes, but looks like he is using magic to control people? That's all I know". He let it out in only one breath, in a voice barely above a whisper. "I'm so tired of living in New York man, I thought we were done after the Iron Monger/Obadiah Stane mess in 2009. All these weirdos wandering around... If I survive, I'm moving to California".

Y/N answered with a discrete smile. Okay, five minutes ago they were trying to convince themselves that they are smart and capable of making clever decisions but, for the first time in forever, they had hope. What horrible timing to finally meet their soulmate in a hostage situation by a (probably) Reddit user who thinks he is superior because he watched American Psycho a bazillion times and could pull off some magic tricks, and honestly, it's a shame that Y/N didn't give a single fuck to their plans. Their soulmate string was pointing to someone, the weirdo's superiority complex could wait, I guess. Passing through the crowd as they followed the golden path as if they were trying to get the best spot at a Taylor Swift concert at Madison Square Garden, they were increasingly ahead of the crowd. If they did have a soulmate, their soulmate was sure dumb to be that close to the psychopathic geek.

Now, in literally the middle of this mess, Y/N could see the wannabe-villain face and... This is so embarrassing. The teen's description was right but didn't do justice. The man had an unusual style, yes, but in an almost theatrical manner. A golden horned helmet lay on top of his long dark hair and framed his face perfectly, the contrasting colors making the man even paler, contributing to an eerie, power-hungry king look. Even though Y/N never laid eyes on someone like him before, he looked familiar: like an old childhood friend, an actor in a play you once saw, or someone you met in a dream. The type of memory that is stored in the back of your mind you can't quite make it hit the surface. Despite the situation - if you can ignore it - he looked beautiful. His power was mesmerizing and they couldn't look anywhere else. The man didn't sense their stare and continued his speech, which Y/N didn't catch the start of.

"Kneel before me" He shouted, some people in the crowd obeying his command. "Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state?"

The astrophysicist rolled their eyes and stood still on their feet. He was gorgeous, but it's no excuse to kneel... Well, his act was absurd and he didn't pay for dinner beforehand, so at least not tonight. The man up front opened his arms, his big gestures reflecting his big ego.

Y/N felt a slight pull on their string, reminding them that they were there for a reason, they had a purpose to fulfill. They didn't have a clue about how the thread worked, but maybe their soulmate got ahead of them in the crowd and tried to get their attention. Maybe their soulmate wanted Y/N to make the first move, maybe they were in a spot where they couldn't move that much. Jesus, the astrophysicist knew for a fact that purposefully being knee-deep into this shit was a dumb move, but you always could be...dumber, that's the word to describe it. Maybe common sense fell out of their bag at the drug store, being that the last place they have seen it. So, breathing heavily from the anticipation, Y/N squeezed their way closer to the front.

No one in the crowd struggled to maintain them farther away, complying rather quickly with their efforts, keeping their eyes glued to the golden thread afraid if they blinked, it may change again. Searching for their one was the main focus, the only thought on their head, the concentration was so great that Y/N slightly stumbled on their feet when the mass of bodies that prevented them from walking freely disappeared. Nothing obstructed their view, the path was clear. No frightened people, just the granite floor, the man, and the golden string connecting them.

His full image in front of Y/N made everything fall in place, as it is scary as one may think of this situation. A character that fell out of an old book, the raven hair that reflected the light of the buildings around among with his golden horns, the mischief of his eyes, and the scepter holding into what the scientist recognized as the Tesseract not only hinted but confirmed his identity. Loki of Asgard surely wasn't on Earth as part of Odinson's family trip.

They felt stupid. They should have felt this before based on their actions tonight, yes, but they felt stupid. And anxious. And scared, so scared. But, most of all, stupid, because everything seemed so predictable now. Fate, an arch-nemesis, played the game beautifully in leading Y/N in this time and place. Inexplicable hyper fixation on Laufey's son and his story, the pounding head, and the knot on their stomach while even thinking about him this week. Intuition, premonition, gut feeling. The abnormal string was actually pointing to the right place, doing its best to lead to another reality realm. If Y/N's friends had a penny for every time they joked about how one of them was destined to a deity... they would have one penny and a crazy story.

"It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity". Loki didn't seem to notice either the thread or the dumbfounded Y/N.

As soulmate strings, the question "why do humans cry when they feel strong emotions?" has been raised tirelessly from the beginning of time. Even though it's way out of their research field, the subject did also fascinate Y/N, who learned on research that, up to the 1600s, the prevailing theory was that all sentiments heated the heart, consequently generating water vapor that would escape from our eyes. In modern days we know that this belief it's invalid, but they couldn't feel like it didn't have some truth in it. As their eyes watered and their vision became blurry, disappointment, anger, and nonconformity rose in their heart and heated their chest.

On Soulmates 101 you don't really learn what to do in this type of situation. Sure, there are cute stories about soulmates who absolutely hated each other when they met, soulmates who were so different that they both thought that it was a mistake, and so on. But being fated to a God who happens to be enslaving Earth's population as a boost of ego... well, that's a first. Not that Y/N isn't used to having problems about their destiny.

Learning so much about Loki in the past months made them sympathize with him. Understand his motives, understand his personality, and understand his background. Understand, at least to the surface level, who he is. But this is too far. Mischievous tricks and pranks on the Asgardian royal family were a classic move, but this? Plotting a cartoony evil plan to be the king of the world? And all of that on a Friday night when a hot shower and a warm bed are waiting for them back home?

"You were made to be ruled". He went on with his megalomaniacal speech, making a pause and looking around, checking if he got the impact he was waiting for. His vision set a stop on Y/N. Their eyes locked for a beat of time that seemed like an eternity, sharing an unspoken understanding, knowing that wasn't the time or place. His eyes, marked in craziness, soften for a minute. He breathes shakily, fully filling his lungs. As he dry swallows, only the scientist ahead of the crowd gets a glimpse of a frightened, destroyed man. "in the end...you will always...kneel".

Should they do something? Could they do something? But, do what? Was it even logical to scream at the top of their lungs, begging him to stop, like the lame white love interest of an action movie who keeps saying "babe, stop! You're not like this!" in the middle of a fight scene? But who had the power to change his mind if not his soulmate? God, this isn't fair at all. Most people meet their soulmate at 20-something in a coffee shop and spend their whole lives happily together. But here is Y/N, debating internally if they should stop their meant-to-be (whose existence wasn't known up to 40 minutes ago) from being a tyrannical king. Not fair at all.

A sudden loud noise behind their back put a stop to their thoughts, the crowd splitting in half like the red sea in order to let its source walk freely to Loki. Like a god ex machina, red, white, and blue came into their vision: Captain America stood tall and confident, loud footsteps from his heavy boots contrasting with the sepulchral silence. Relief and panic washed over the scientist a the same time, like an electric shock right into their nervous system.

"You know" he annunciated "The last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing".

"The soldier" Loki chuckled, the laugh didn't meet his eyes. Y/N felt like the mass stopped breathing at the same time as an individual living organism. "The man out of time".

"I'm not the one who's out of time".

With that and the aircraft that unexpectedly appeared in the night sky, pointing a machine gun toward Loki, hell breaks loose. The scientist's head spun like it was part of Disney World's Mad Tea Party, the previously quiet and submissive mass of people running around, bumping into their body uncontrollably. Their shoulders ached, but their legs stood glued to the floor like blocks of concrete - Y/N thought they deserved to know what happens to their soulmate after all this time. Police ushered them to run to a safe spot, but their eyes were glued to the fight happening just a few feet away.

Loki shooted a blast of blue lightning from the tesseract at the aircraft, which maneuvered just in time for Captain America to throw his shield at the Asgard prince. Y/N's throat felt tight, wanting to scream "watch out!" but knowing it wasn't the right thing to do. The right thing to do was to run away as soon as the avengers showed up to save the day. The right thing to do was to not follow the golden thread to this mess. The right thing to do was to focus on the job and not spend hours reading about nordic old myths. The right thing to do was to take a better-paying, less interesting workplace. Maybe, the right thing to do was to never leave their bed until soulmates are not real anymore.

The golden thread that linked them together jumped in place with Loki's movements as he battled with Steve Rogers, fists meeting flesh, scepter meeting shield. The metallic sound of the clashing, the grunts, and the screams muffled Y/N's hard breathing, trying to contain their sobs, keeping their tears at bay. The world didn't care about their feelings, didn't care if they would ever get their happily ever after.

Their movements are way too fast and complex for someone out of the fight to comprehend, the violence looking like a choreographed waltz, the sirens sounding like an orchestra. The God of Mischief threw the soldier to the ground, swatting the bright collared shield away. Standing tall over the blonde, he grabbed the scepter tighter, pointing to the sharp end of the blue helmet. Y/N knew Rogers's abilities were extensive and he wasn't a hostage to his gadgets, but it was also part of their knowledge that Loki was a powerful sorcerer. But it was impossible for a newbie astrophysicist to know for a fact who would win in a battle between a deity and an enhanced super-human.

It felt so useless, discussing between doing what is right or doing what feels right when both weren't even an option. They were destined to be together and there was nothing Y/N could do: their presence and the presence of the next person were the same in this situation. The golden line wrapped around their finger stared back at its owner almost in mockery - the couple has never been so close, but the scientist has never been so unhopeful, even when they didn't even know about his existence. They surrendered to the gut-wrenching feeling that rose from the pit of their stomach, spreading like oil on a lake, making everything darker, lifeless, polluted.

The memory of the pull of the string by Loki's gesticulation flashed in Y/N's mind. They had as much understanding on soulmate threads as a kindergarten kid, only knowing the theoric part and having no experience whatsoever, but perhaps, just perhaps, they could do something. Y/N watched attentively, heart in hand. Not what they wanted to do, no, but what they should do. If what they wanted to do was on the table, they would have cried out to the raven-haired man, begging for explanations, the moment they set their eyes on him. But, who cares about what Y/N wanted? They had moral obligations, that sat above everything else.

"Please, let this work" the astrophysicist muttered. They rolled their wrist, grabbing the invisible thread like a rope in a Tug of War game, yanking it down in hopes of controlling the other side's movements like a ventriloquist.

Much to his surprise, Loki's hand falls, the scepter falling on the floor. The Captain didn't demonstrate his confusion at the prince's sudden change of behavior but took advantage of it, getting out of his passive stance and forcing Loki to the ground. Their team got him cornered while a policeman finally lost his patience with Y/N, grabbing them by the waist and forcing them out of the scene. Both were being talked to, but the scientist couldn't discern any words out of the cop's ramble even if their life depended on it.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I had to. I'm so sorry, I didn't want to" Y/N struggled to get the words out, their throat hurt from the contained sobs from before. Now, they didn't have any reasons — or strength — to fight their emotions. They sobbed like a child, the tears feeling like waterfalls, a powerful unstoppable force of nature. They knew that Loki couldn't hear them, but they hoped he could understand their motives.

His ice-blue eyes stared at Y/N, not showing any emotion. Just a stony, indifferent stare.

#fanfiction #imagine #fanfic #mcu fanfic #mcu imagine #mcu fanfiction #marvel fanfic #marvel imagine #marvel fanfiction #loki #loki odinson #loki x reader #loki odinson x reader #loki x you #loki imagine #loki fanfiction #loki fanfic #loki odinson imagine #loki odinson fanfiction #loki odinson fanfic

[archive2394934]

Recently, I talked a lot about the Leviathan and its strange similarities with the MF and things surrounding the MF. SO yes, this is yet another insane mindflayer theory post (Crowd booing, screaming, hissing, throwing objects at me) But since I write my own insane little stories I like to gather up a lot of different sources of inspo for the characters in them and the Leviathan is only one for the MF. I’m NOT gonna get on my greek god shit with you guys-- I mean maybe I will but I’m going to try not to-- but another source of inspo for me with the MF is Khaeos or Chaos. Going back to how I already mentioned the Leviathan is also considered a god of chaos and how all that applies, this is another SOMETHING I think about in regards to the MF and how it might have a vague relation as well.  So heres some fun stuff I’m copy pasting about this that and the other because I am not about to free write all this I just wanna share some shit. 

Chaos was – most Greek cosmologies tell us – the very first of all, the origin of everything, the empty, unfathomable space at the beginning of time. But, it was more than just a gaping void – as its name is usually translated from Ancient Greek. Personified as a female, Chaos was the primal feature of the universe, a shadowy realm of mass and energy from which much of what is powerful (and mostly negative and dark) in the world would stem forth in later genealogies.

With the advent of philosophy, Chaos became more of a concept than a deity, described as “a shapeless heap” and “a rude and undeveloped mass” by the Roman poet Ovid. It was then that it started being associated with notions such as confusion and disorder, out of which the modern English term “chaos” derives. But, by that time, metaphorical imagery succumbed to more rational worldviews, and mythology gave way to religion and science.

Visual similarities: 

An a quote from Stephen Fry because its hot. 

“Was Chaos a god — a divine being — or simply a state of nothingness? Or was Chaos, just as we would use the word today, a kind of terrible mess, like a teenager’s bedroom only worse? Think of Chaos perhaps as a kind of grand cosmic yawn. As in a yawning chasm or a yawning void. Whether Chaos brought life and substance out of nothing or whether Chaos yawned life up or dreamed it up, or conjured it up in some other way, I don’t know. I wasn’t there. Nor were you. And yet in a way we were, because all the bits that make us were there. It is enough to say that the Greeks thought it was Chaos who, with a massive heave, or a great shrug, or hiccup, vomit, or cough, began the long chain of creation that has ended with pelicans and penicillin and toadstools and toads, sea lions, seals, lions, human beings, and daffodils and murder and art and love and confusion and death and madness and biscuits.

Whatever the truth, science today agrees that everything is destined to return to Chaos. It calls this inevitable fate entropy: part of the great cycle from Chaos to order and back again to Chaos. Your trousers began as chaotic atoms that somehow coalesced into matter that ordered itself over eons into a living substance that slowly evolved into a cotton plant that was woven into the handsome stuff that sheathes your lovely legs. In time you will abandon your trousers — not now, I hope — and they will rot down in a landfill or be burned. In either case their matter will at length be set free to become part of the atmosphere of the planet. And when the sun explodes and takes every particle of this world with it, including the ingredients of your trousers, all the constituent atoms will return to cold Chaos. And what is true for your trousers is of course true for you. So the Chaos that began everything is also the Chaos that will end everything.” 

Another “entity” I’ve mentioned before that I take heavy inspo from that I feel like relates heavily to the MF is Azathoth from H.P Lovecraft’s works, which we know the Duffer brothers took reference from so it could be likely that the MF does take inspo from this same place in canon.  

Azathoth is a powerful “outer god” (meaning it exists between dimensions) said to have created the multiverse, the nameless mist, and darkness. Azathoth is so powerful that the “Great Old Ones” can't destroy him, instead they can only put him in a sleep like state. Also due to  Azathoth’s constant “dream-like” state, Azathoth mostly interacts with things in a semi-subconscious, psychic manner. Because of this, it tends to have a “demon servant/messenger”, its own “son”, a fellow ‘outer-god’ who sometimes ALSO manipulates Azathoth in return: 

“August Derleth portrayed Azathoth as being similar to Lucifer from Christian theology, warring against the Elder Gods and being rendered blind and witless by them before being banished from creation by their magic. At some point in the future after the second coming of Nyarlathotep, Azathoth and his armies will return and all of the entire creation will be destroyed.  Despite being mindless, Azathoth does have a will of his own and commands his messenger and avatar, Nyarlathotep.

PLUS  “Nyarlathotep is an evil Outer God who is seen as a shapeshifting agent of madness, chaos and ruin who serves the other Outer Gods, specifically his father, Azathoth, the Blind Idiot God, to whom he is subservient, fulfilling his wishes without question as his messenger and emissary, though he sometimes enjoys manipulating his master.” 

Some assert that the Daemon Sultan was not always an Idiot Chaos; instead, he lost his intellect and body in a great intercosmic battle, in which he may have been thrust entirely outside this dimension. This interpretation is only found within a few works, though. Lovecraft referred to Azathoth in “The Whisperer in Darkness” (1931), where the narrator relates that he “started with loathing when told of the monstrous nuclear chaos beyond angled space which the Necronomicon had mercifully cloaked under the name of Azathoth”. 

How this relates to Vecna and the MF to me? The MF is suggested to have psychically communed with Henry in his childhood and is suggested to be the source of his power and could have possibly subconsciously coached him given Henry suddenly seemed to know things it feels odd for the little boy in the 50s from a seemingly ‘upstanding’ middle-upper class white Christian house hold to be knowing. And I think there could be a parallel here to when Will is possessed by the mindflayer in season 2 and he talks about how he suddenly knows things, things that he didn't know before but he doesn't know how he knows them. I imagine henry encountered a similar phenomenon when he was linked to the mindflayer entity in his childhood, which may have even came with similar visions of it to what Will had. 

Henry is also shown to “shape” the formless chaos of the MF into a more comprehensible and pleasing form, although whether or not this was Henry’s idea exclusively or possibly more subconscious suggestion from the MF isn’t entirely clear given Henry’s weirdly accurate childhood drawing. None the less, Vecna could certainly be seen as the MF’s ‘avatar,’ its right hand, its will, its messenger, its general, the once human intermediary.

On the flip side, the MF being the source of Henry’s power and the “MEANS” for his transformation from human to lich-demi-god and a vehicle for his revenge against the world that wronged him. So in this way their relationship appears as if it could be very much symbiotic and not one sided at all, nor the behavior of a single intelligent consciousness. 

I also think the descriptions of “nuclear” relate to the MF in the sense that its probably likely we can consider the MF as the “center” of the Upside Down and the “hub” of the hive-mind, the central MOST IMPORTANT part of “the group”, forming the basis for its activity and growth, just like an actual nucleus. And IF Henry is the “brain” then I think it can be inferred that the MF is, in this way, “the heart” and both are playing near ‘equal’ roles in the body of the UD and its invasion into Hawkins.  Though I think its also worth taking note of the canon suggestion found in Will’s drawing that the big bad the party are facing off against is a beast with MORE THAN ONE HEAD. The multiple headed hydra dragon. 

And here are some visual similarities between the MF and depictions of  Azathoth which, IMO, are very striking. 

Ronald Shea enters a temple after visiting the forest near Goatswood and discovers a twenty-foot idol that "represented the god Azathoth--Azathoth as he had been before his exile. Outside, It consisted of a bivalvular shell supported on many pairs of flexible legs. From the half-open shell rose several jointed cylinders, tipped with polypous appendages; and in the darkness inside the shell I thought I saw a horrible bestial, mouthless face, with deep-sunk eyes and covered with glistening black hair."

Later Shae sees "something ooze into the corridor--a pale grey shape, expanding and crinkling, which glistened and shook gelatinously as still-moving particles dropped free; but it was only a glimpse"

Some fun trivia about that I think is interesting is this also: Mythos editor Robert M. Price argues that Lovecraft could have combined the biblical names Anathoth (Jeremiah's home town) and Azazel (a desert demon to which the scapegoat was sacrificed - mentioned by Lovecraft in "The Dunwich Horror"). Price also points to the alchemical term "Azoth", which was used in the title of a book by Arthur Edward Waite, the model for the wizard Ephraim Waite in Lovecraft's "The Thing on the Doorstep". Other possible inspirations include the name Thoth, the ancient Egyptian god of wisdom.

More visual similarities FT the “gates” : 

Finally, cool pic of Azathoth devouring the world: 

#henry creel #vecna #001 #william byers #billy hargrove #the mindflayer #byler #stranger things analysis #stranger things theory