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mikami · 2 years

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-I apologize, this is going to be a long mini rant, but your blog is like a safe haven, and I’m interested in your perspective. What THE HECK happened to Near? This no-nonsense, methodical boy with the sassy smiles and the thrill of the game is one of my favorite manga characters, and the follow-ups just… butchered him. Like, the manga ended on a nice note, he’s L, doing his thing. And then the bonus chapter added literally nothing.

-I wondered if the point was to show that he came into his own as Near!L as he did the most unlike-L!L thing possible, but did we really need that? And then came the one-shot and I fumed. This millennial boy who grew up with the technology doesn’t have plans and contingencies for instances like that, for people being untraceable through the internet? He hasn't evolved? How is this his defeat when he never even tried? And he wanted to MEET this guy? That’s not like Near. That’s MAYBE L. -And it bugs me fiercely that he’s not wearing socks and that he’s ‘mean like the old L.’ And he doesn’t’ smile. Like... How? Why?! I’d thought maybe Obha highlighted his less active approach, but Near DID act when he needed to in DN, he was just passive compared to L and Mello, so that doesn’t make sense, and he was doing fine for a decade anyway. I thought maybe he’s grown bitter but if you’re gonna introduce that, you have to go a bit deeper! -So now I’ve come to think that Obha simply didn’t know how to handle Near and resent it, bc if Near were to be involved, a)he’d solve the case, b)it would detract from Minoru’s ‘phenomenal brilliance’ (like CALM DOWN THERE, NEAR, YOU BEAT KIRA, and you’re so impressed by THIS?). This wasn’t about Near, and so his character got screwed in the process. Same goes for the Task Force, ffs, "oh noes a death note what to do!" Idk.. sth? ANYTHING? End of the mini rant, and thank you for your time <3.

I think Ohba definitely is going with the notion that the impact the Kira case had on Near in the long run is a negative one, yeah.

I'm... pretty neutral on the development myself, but I think the way it is intended to read is something like this:

In the finale, Near realizes with perfect clarity that he himself isn't enough to be L. Previously, he'd been perfectly down to work with Mello but overall thought of himself as up-to-the-task. But realizing that he would have absolutely died without Mello's proactiveness leaves him with a feeling of inadequacy that continues to haunt him.

This shows up in a very minor way at the end of the main manga, when Near is eating chocolate in tribute to Mello - or channeling Mello, maybe? With Mello gone, he has to somehow become both of them to be equal to the position that has been thrust upon him.

And the first oneshot elaborates on this feeling.

It ends on the visual representation of Near feeling overwhelmed by L, in L's shadow, crushed by the burden of his legacy.

Small small Near surrounded by a ton of giant Ls of his own creation, having to be reminded that the name is his own now and that he is allowed to make it so - but Near isn't sure he should. Because being just himself, working his own way, almost lead to disaster.

The warehouse incident has not left him without scars.

And the 2020 oneshot then leans into that perspective on Near even harder - like, as much as I adore the long hair design, I think the intent behind it is to make Near look unkempt and unmotivated.

The idea is that Near has never regained his confidence after the initial Kira case, never had the chance to regain his confidence because there was no comparable case whatsoever - and thus more than being incapable by nature, Near holds himself back out of perceived inadequacy compared to the more active players.

So... like the choice or not, I think it is at least an intentional character progression?

#answers #it makes me kinda sad #near should get fulfillment #and not be crushed by this job he doesnt even like that much

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perperam · 3 years

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OKAY I saw your Instagram post things and I just want to know what are your headcanons for that universe?? Is there any specific AU you imagine the Instagram AUs happening in or do you have specific rules for your own ideal version or

somehow, surprisingly, you're not the only one to ask this !!

okay so funny story at first I literally just drew the instagram things bc I thought yeah harley would be so loved by all of internet generation gen z college kids (as an internet gen z recently graduated undergrad myself)

but then as I made the posts more and more intricate with the comments and stuff it kinda...grew into something bigger? like they actually have a particular AU for them now!! so that's fun

here's what I'm thinkin I want in my social media AU:

world building wise:

neither of them are really "heroes" but they aren't outright supervillains either—like they're anti-heroes that dont give a shit about corporate & capitalist culture

aka they can, have, and will continue to steal from big market names and threaten CEOs, but will also pool money to pay small business and support local folks

much like the vibes of the harley quinn animated series, harley and the rest are literally Just People and go to coffee shops and just hang out in public (the fuck is GCPD gonna do for them drinking coffee, send em to Arkham??)

this makes them really well liked by Gotham's general public

also because ivy has and will kill rapists and bad men on sight and harley has on more than one occasion been linked to crimes where abusers have mysteriously turned up dead or beat to a pulp with a blunt object suspiciously shaped like a bat or sledgehammer

there's this specific tattoo shop harley really likes that she goes to whenever she wants a new piece done, and because of her instagram they've become the most popular place in Gotham, in fact if you go there on any given day you have a 25% chance of seeing harley

also I wasn't kidding when I said harley really would have her own psychiatry clinic and continue to treat people (mostly college kids and criminals) for free because harley says fuck the US health care system and helping others would be really fulfilling to her

harley advertising on her instagram story: hey yall I'll be having a trauma processing session tonight at my clinic please stop by if you want to make an appointment or listen to my lecture

oh also harley has a podcast and the episodes vary from "workout routine" to "breaking the glass ceiling of female supervillains and the male gaze in crime" to "why stealing is sometimes okay" to "studying for the mcat and quick tips" to "perhaps marx was right" to random tangents that go on and on and on

pam on the other hand is not only a feared ex-supervillain but now a revered member of Gotham's city-revitalization planning committee

in between heists for rare floral specimen she plans climate protests and tree-planting events and in general does her damn best to try and bring some sort of green to Gotham in a "legal fashion" (a news source once said this and ivy almost killed the news anchor on the fucking spot from how much rage pumped through her veins in that moment)

characters & dynamics wise:

harley and ivy have been living together and literally married for like, a year now by this point

selina is over so often she might as well be living at their apartment

the gotham city sirens and the batkids are besties!! as they should be (this used to stress bruce out to no end but after the third family dinner dick planned with "aunty harls and pam" he had to eventually give up)

in fact jason and harley often get involved in stupid shenanigans and dick is almost always there with them and literal seconds from being implicated in their scheme somehow

jason is often at harley and ivy’s apartment and can greatly relate to harley in many different ways (from growing up in a crime riddled neighborhood to having intense trauma courtesy of the joker and ivy finds it endearing that he trusts harley enough to let people in (and there is a visible, tangible change in him after he starts getting closer to harley, everyone can feel how much happier he becomes)

harley and ivy are 28 and 32 respectively but because ivy literally has the interests and name of a 90 year old everyone just teases her by calling her "grandma pamela"

the batkids refer to them as aunty harley and aunty (sometimes grandma) ivy and ivy fights every time for a different name but just gave up sometime after tim joined in

ivy and tim get along really well, surprisingly

also alfred literally loves pam because she helps the plants in bruce's neglected green house thrive and ivy really enjoys his company because he's on the same wave length as her and "knows when to shut the fuck up and just bask in the quiet unlike literally all other men"

I think I want babs and dinah to be dating bc have you seen their chemistry and dick and kori to be dating bc again have you seen their chemistry but I'm kinda torn and in between and idk

bud and lou are great cuddle bugs and ivy secretly loves it but pretends she hates it to harley's face bc a girl's gotta save some semblance of dignity right

details:

harley has adhd and you can't convince me, someone with adhd, otherwise

harley has both shitty tattoos that she gets for no other reason other than that it's funny or that she hyperfixates on them super hard for half a second and suddenly there's art on her again and ivy's just ?? when she gets home. she also really meaningful tattoos that she has multiple consultations about

she had two ribcage tattoos before the joker, got three tattoos commemorating him during their (highly abusive) relationship which she immediately covered with new ink upon leaving him, and gets a lot of patchwork style tattoos down her arms and thighs

she has a giant flower tattoo going down her entire spine and it's ivy's favorite thing ever

ivy actually also has a (singular) tattoo and it's a diamond with a stem and leaves as if it were a flower

it's still very much a work in progress but since multiple people have asked me about this I thought I'll dump all my thoughts here

#mryanswers #harley quinn #harlivy

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hitachiinmisadventures · 4 years

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hey how about hcs for the twins as parents (individually)?

also i’m sorry you’re having a bad day :( i hope you feel better soon!

Holy shit you are one of my favorite blogs I think I can die happy now k bye

By individually, you mean each of them as parents right? That’s what I’m going with and I warn you this is going to be a long one

With this, I’m going off the basis that they didn’t grow up basically one of the riches people in Japan as that generally affects how kids our raised and Money Is Literally Power™ in the business world

If I were to keep them rich, chances are they would be away working more often than not (both twins have stated in canon their parents where rarely home). In most, of no all, shows/anime/cartoons I’ve watched and manga I’ve read regarding high-status wealthy families, the child/children grow up being raised by staff and feel alone or forgotten by their parents. Yes they have money, but money isn’t physical affection humans thrive on.

In my college au idea (that I don’t think I ever posted on here...) I stated the headcanon Hikaru had gotten someone pregnant in college. Ngl, I really think this is something that would happen bc he’s never been one to think before he acts.

As for Kaoru, uhhhh he’s the tougher one to put this together for as I’ve never really thought about it for him. He canonically isn’t straight, so for this headcanon we’ll say he’s bi and had a wife first, then a husband

Hikaru upon finding out:

with his first kid, he was utterly terrified the moment she said the words

He was barely an adult and now he was going to be a father the world was against him

The first person he told was (surprisingly) not Kaoru as they were going through a rough spot and not talking to each other

So Mori was the first person he told. It was on the roof of their dorm building at 3 in the morning 15 minutes after Hikaru texted him saying it was urgent and he needed someone to stop him from doing something utterly stupid bc his head was a rushing mess and he had no idea what to do

When Hikaru finally got his head out of his ass and showed up at Kaoru’s dorm a week later (also at 3am, that’s just when this boy has his breakdowns) he broke down and told Kaoru everything. That they we drunk at a party. It was a one night stand. They honestly never expected to have any ties afterwards. And all that was shoved back in his face

He honestly thought (and he thought long and hard about it) about not being in the kid’s life bc he wasn’t ready to be a father

Kaoru knocked some sense into him, figuratively and literally

“Next time, keep it in your damn pants idiot”

Telling his parents was even harder than telling Kaoru. He just called Hikaru and idiot. His father didn’t talk to him for three days. And his mother was torn between being upset or being excited to be a grandmother

He was terrified

But then he heard the heartbeat for the first time

He will never admit it, but he cried

And the sonogram technician told him the we having a girl

A daughter. He was going to have a daughter

He grew more and more excited and less and less terrified

He could do this

Her water broke 6 weeks early and the doctors tried to stop her labor but she was dilating quickly

No he couldn’t do this. He wasn’t ready

Kaoru actually punched him bc Kaoru tends to knock sense into this idiot more than anyone else

“That woman in there is alone which so many strange people with her and the one person who should be in there with her is out here in the waiting room trying to get his shit together. She’s just as terrified as you are, if not more. So take a moment. Get your shit somewhat together. And get in that delivery room”

The waiting consisted of: His parents, her parents, Kaoru, Tamaki, Haruhi, Kyouya, Honey, Mori, Renge, even Kasanoda was there—everyone was ready to meet Baby Girl Hitachiin

Holding his baby girl for the first time was single handedly the best moment of his life

His second kid was planned, he was married by then

His two kids have different mother’s but Hikaru, first baby mama, and step-mother/second baby mama co-parent like goddamn pros)

Hikaru as a father:

He’s a little immature for the longest time and with his daughter he makes a lot of mistakes

His mother is on speed dial and that woman is a saint when it comes to helping

“She has a rash Mom—no I don’t know what kind of rash! That’s why I calling you—no, I’m not sending pictures this time—because it’s down there Mom—a fucking diaper rash?”

He has very little experience and boy does this guy need lots of help

Parenting books, the internet, his mother—he’s using every goddamn resource he can find

Haruhi actually offered to watch his daughter literally any time he needed a babysitter—which brought on many long discussion between the two of them about kids

At one point, Hikaru made in offhand comment to Tamaki about their (Tamaki and Haruhi) future with kids and Haruhi about died on the spot

His kids are 6 yrs apart

By the time his son was born, Hikaru knew what the hell he was doing and totally had everything figured out

quit laughing Kaoru he’s trying his best

His son was named after Kaoru

The differences between how Hikaru raised his kids really show sometimes

With his daughter, he let her get away with a lot more than he should have growing up, he was very lenient and he didn’t quite understand parents aren’t supposed to be their kids’ best friend so she basically got anything she wanted for a long time and that was a hard habit to break for both Hikaru and his daughter

(and considering she was the first kid and between all the hosts and the first grandchild in the family, she was spoiled a lot)

With his son, as his son grew up in a two-parent home with his older sister being at her mom’s 50% of the time, he tried being more strict—he learn his lesson letting his first kid having whatever she wanted—although it was hard as he and his wife weren’t always on the same page when it came to disciplining their son

Hikaru and his wife discussed having another kid, but 2 ended up being plenty (even if the oldest was back and forth between Hikaru and her mother and only spent half the time and every other holiday/birthday with him)

He really is trying his best tho and all he hopes is that his children grow up knowing that

Kaoru upon finding out:

Unlike Hikaru, Kaoru was married for several years before his first kid

They actually tried for a little over 2 yrs to get pregnant with no luck for the longest time—he was beginning to think something was wrong—until Hikaru told him his wife was pregnant, then Kaoru’s wife found out she was pregnant (they were born 3 weeks apart)

Kaoru was super exited for have his first kid

After all, he had all that practice with his niece and his little sister (who was born as they began college)

In all honested, Kaoru was physically and financially prepared for parenthood (buuuut probably not mentally)

His first kid was a boy born at 2 in the morning after 36 hrs of labor, he was exhausted, his wife was exhausted, everyone was getting cranky and Hikaru’s first baby mama made labor look easy and Kaoru was not expecting it to be so bad—or that his wife had such a strong grip on his poor hand—but hot damn holding his son for the first time made everything worth it

I don’t have anything else to add here my brain hurts

Kaoru as a father:

Respectively, Kaoru had more experience with raising kids than his brother did (and he learned a lot from his brother’s mistakes)

Although with all his previous experiences, nothing prepared Kaoru for actually parenthood—it was nothing like watching his niece and little sister

He worked nights for a while so someone would be home with the baby

He didn’t want his son in any kind of childcare facility—nothing against them he swears, he just doesn’t like the idea of someone else taking care of his kid that he doesn’t know

Kaoru and his wife started having problems when their son was around 1-1&1/2yo, but trying staying together for their son’s sake. They ended up divorcing when their son was 5 after Kaoru had fallen out of love with her

Co-parenting wasn’t as easy with Kaoru and his ex-wife as Hikaru and his baby mama made it look (damn Hikaru had to be a pro at this point)

He didn’t get to see his son a lot after the divorce as his ex-wife had custody.

This killed Kaoru. All he wanted was to be there for his son. He grew up with his parents working a lot and being away and he swore he would never let his kid grow up without him around. He ended up only getting his son every other holiday/birthday and during breaks from school

Kaoru treasured every minute of it

Kaoru remarried a few years later and his husband treated his son like he was his own kid any time they had his son

They ended up adopting a little girl (about the time his son was 7 or 8) and a little boy a few years later

Kaoru didn’t really have the best relationship with his oldest until he was in his mid-teens

I know I didn’t stay exactly on task here and I kinda went off and stated headcanons based around their lives as parents rather than how they are as parents and I apologized for that. This was very fun to write for and I enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks for the ask! Sorry it was so long, I’ve been working on this literally since the ask hit my inbox...

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eternitas-archive · 4 years

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Oh one more thing before I leave

It’s just my two cents but I really gotta speak it into the world.

This is gonna be LONG so here have a read more

You all are hypocritical cherry pickers that want fandoms and communities to cater to your interests and morals

And let me tell you honey, that is gonna ruin not only your own experience, but everyone elses.

Lemme adress some things

Why y’all so ready to cry wolf when someone ages up a character?

The discourse is probably as old as this fucking community. It happens every other month and I am sick of it. “If you age up characters you are a pedo uvu sorry I don’t make the rules.” yes you do. You literally made up your own fucking rules about this. “Well you are shipping with a minor!” they’re aged up. “But you still ship with a minor!!”

Okay by that logic, why are we allowing all these other shippers doing their thing? The people that ship with Sans from Undertale that is a skeleton? I mean he is still just a skeleton linking him strongly to the image of death so necrophilia much?

What about the people shipping with inanimate objects? The people shipping with transformers? Those are aliens and or vehicles? Yeah that is mechanophilia.

What about people who ship with f/os that have animalistic features? I mean they are mainly antropomorphic but they still are animals. Beastiality

“No wait that is all dif-”

How about the people shipping with villains and criminals? Clearly that means they endorse that shit irl.

What about the people that ship with people MUUUCH older than them? some millenia or hundreds of years? or just 20? clearly endorse predatory behavior

While we’re at it what’s up with people shipping with divine beings? Angels? Demons? Sounds like blatant blasphemy to me

Do I want you to double down so you can prove yourself right? NO! I want you to understand that you guys are cherry picking and not understanding correlation between topics! Are there legit pedos on tumblr? yes. is it a strangers job to care for all the minors out there? no? If I go into a park it is not my job to hold an eye out for all kids that there are. I am not their parent, guardian or otherwise a person with any responsibility towards them. Same for people on the internet. I will do my shit and keep to myself. and if I happen to enjoy stuff for myself that is my right. Do I halt at a red light bc I want to be a good example for kids so they don’t learn bad behavior? Can I stop every person that crosses a red light and hold them a long ass lecture about how they endorse dangers in the streets? No.

“But there are minors on the internet!” Yes, I am aware, they will always be, always have been, your point?

“We need to make a safe space for the kids!” No we don’t? people need to follow the Terms of Service of a platform and honestly most people that reblog nsfw stuff even clearly state that minors should not interact.

“No like, YOU need to be on your best behavior bc there could be a minor anywhere!”

Since when did I become these minors parent? Since when did someone push these kids into my lap and say “your responsibility now”?

You need to understand that you can’t always just get upset at stuff EXISTING

nsfw fics are usually tagged and marked accordingly, most people that engage in a lot of nsfw stuff usually have “minors don’t interact” on their blog somewhere. Some even BLOCK people that follow them and are clear minors, that’s some DEDICATION.

But I have seen posts catering to FUCKING WRITERS saying “pls keep nsfw out of ur imagines and reader fics :)))) for the minors, otherwise I cant reblog it.” If you want to cater to your minor audience sure, but I can not stress enough how you can not tell others how to run their shit. Yes, you can suggest that to the imagine writers or writers in general but it is their right to say “no I run it like I want to” and proceed with their shit. And there is nothing you can do about it. Besides if minors really want some nsfw, trust me they WILL find it. Should we therefore police everyone and stuck them into horny jail? No.

“haha look at this lame ass adult getting upset they can’t be predatory anymore bc they are being called out on their pedophilia”

Idk how to tell you that it’s none of your fucking buisness what my personal history is and that you have no claim outside of “aging up is pedophilia” but sure go off, bc I am “upset I can not be predatory” anymore and not just outraged people are throwing around unreasonable claims.

Why would I even age up a character if pedophilia is about being into MINORS? Why would I age a character up if the WHOLE THING about pedophilia is that they are kids????

“Okay but then it’s predatory!” There is a point that depictions of an adult dating someione who is “barely legal” normalizes predatory behavior, but honestly, why is that MY responsibility? And who says I age them up to be barely legal? My social media/tumblr/ selfship experience is a very private thing. It’s a very personal thing, so why tf do I need to cater it to people who are NOT ME? When I do that it’s because I want to do it, not because I need to fill some moral obligations. (and yet I can say that YES caring about lgbt, other religious, non white selfshippers and boosting them is something generally people should do)

Like there is a thing about fiction. It doesn’t age like normal people. When I started to love one of my f/os we were the same age. The series eventually ended, it didn’t progress in real time, so I grew up while they stayed their age. And guess what! none of this backstory is any of your god damn buisness!! I don’t OWE it to you as much as writers and others don’t owe their trauma to you just so you can “give them permission” to deal with their trauma through selfshipping or writing. Who do you think you fucking are?

Fiction is not reality. And I am sick being stuck in medevial dark ages europe where people believed everything on a stage to be real life. Where actors were not allowed to exist and the people that did act and depicted a bad guy were generally shunned and hated by everyone bc they didn’t distinguish between fiction and reality.

Does fiction have an effect on reality? Yes. Jaws had repurcussions. Even the german novella “Die Leiden des jungen Werthers” had about a dozen suicides following the lead of the main character. 50 shades had an effect. 13 reasons why had an effect. But that doesn’t mean what you believe it means.

In the end I can not take the role of these minors parents to educate them and look after them. It shouldn’t be my job. And yes there are a lot of scummy adults on the internet. Like a LOT. But you need to understand that the internet will NEVER be a child safe place. And most adults take precautions already!

But fics aren’t for morality lessons. Fics aren’t for sex education. Fics aren’t there to be a fucking HOLY BOOK. Fics are just creative writing. And selfshippers are just there to have a bad time. And if they act out SURE call them out but otherwise just leave them tf alone?

“No no, what you write is what you actively endorse uvu”

Then say good bye to Horror and thriller. Say good by to books involving cheating. Say good bye to books in which anyone ever gets harmed. Say good bye to books ever even mentioning any problematic topic that isn’t 100% uwu pure

“Wait no that is different-”

How is it? Is it only problematic when you get off of it? Is that your argument? Are we going the christian route of condemning being sexually free and enjoying something that is legit a very important thing to a lot of people? (yes to asexuals their LACK of sexual attraction can also be a very important topic bc they have the right to express that without being condemed for not wanting to BONE or not being able to get horny by looking at bodies.)

Yes the over fetishization of certain topics is problematic, yes there is a lot of toxicity when it comes to porn and that shit, but kinks are just kinks.

“So you say pedophilia is just a kink!”

No. Pedophilia is aweful and no child should ever suffer through that sort of exploitation.

“But you say rape is just a kink!”

No. Real life rape is aweful and whoever rapes another human being deserves death full stop.

“You just said-”

YES! I know what I said! A lot of people hate real life stuff that they endorse in fiction. Some people are into pissing and shitting into each other! Some people are into hardcore bondage! And they all have their own histories, their own lifes and it’s their fucking thing? Do I want death on all rapists? Yes. Do I sometimes have questionable fantasies that might involve non con or dubious consent? Yes, so? Do I have my reasons for that? Yes, it’s none of your gd buisness?

It all always boils down to entitlement. Y’all need to understand that you can’t just run around demanding everyone to cater to your bullshit. You can not run around accusing people of pedophilia just because they would like to see themselves date a fictional character, but in their age.

If it makes you uncomfortable then don’t follow and interact with those people but you don’t need to pretend to have some moral high ground so you are the better person. You can just... have dislikes?

Even so, as I make this post I can not speak in broad terms because each case, each person is individual. Maybe some get off on shit and endorse it, how should I know? Maybe someone out there is fighting for not policing and censoring stuff because they actively want more pedo content, I don’t know, I am not the CIA or FBI?

It’s also none of my buisness. Is it aweful that these people exist? yeah. Are they prone to be on tumblr? probably? Are they that selfshipper that ages up their f/o so they can smooch? Unlikely.

People have their reasons. Their backstories, and none of that should have to be layed open just to get a strangers “okay” for shipping with the fictional character that makes them happy.

so uuuh before I leave

tldr: y’all full of shit and aging up is not pedophilia, you are just trying to give yourself some moral highground. you sound like a flatearther lol.

Gates closed, bitches

#and with that I abandon this sideblog for good. gbyeeeeee y'all insufferableeeeeee #except for aurora #she is a sweetheart and i support her

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goddessdoeswitchery · 4 years

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Pillars of Hellenic Polytheism: Technically, the pillars were never actually a “thing”. Unlike then 10 commandments, the pillars were never taught as a set of rules that everyone knew by the name “Pillars of Hellenic Polytheism”, or any variation thereof. What modern day practitioners of Hellenic Polytheism call “The Pillars” were essentially religious and cultural practices that were taught by family and friends via every day practices. The pillars were an essential part of the culture of Ancient Greece, taught to them the same way customs like tipping, saying “bless you” at sneezing, and the now-common practice of wearing a mask everywhere are taught to us today. In recreating Hellenic Polytheism for the modern age, the Pillars grew out of a need for a set of guidelines to help us recreate a very old religion.

First up, Xenia. Xenia means “Guest Friendship” and is a set of rules for when a guest comes calling on your home. This set of rules applies to both the host and guest. It is one of the most sacred rules in Hellenic Polytheism, and features heavily in several myths, as well as the Illiad and the Odyssey. Often times, the myths show what happens when someone fails to follow the rules, and it is never a good thing. Zeus himself, under one of his epithets Zeus Xenios, is the embodiment of the religious obligation of being hospitable as both host and guest. In general, the host was meant to be hospitable. This included providing the guests with food, drink, gifts, protection, and even safe travel to their next destination. The guests were required to not be a burden or a threat, provide news and tales of where they had been, and to reciprocate if the host ever showed up their place. In the Illiad, violation of Xenia led to the Trojan war when Paris, the guest, kidnapped his host’s, Menelaus, daughter. The Achaens were required to avenge this insult, because violating Xenia was a massive insult to Zeus and his authority as Zeus Xenios. In the Odyssey, when the suitors of Penelope begin to eat her out of house and home, they violated Xenia by being a burden to her. They also violate Xenia by being rude their host and the other guests in the home.

But how does someone practice this in the modern world where travel is almost always safe and news is delivered to our home not by bards and guests but by social media and the internet?

Xenia should be a belief that guides us everyday, because everyday we play host or guest in our community. When a friend needs help moving, when a neighbor has lost their animal, when we visit a friend or relative, when we run into an old acquaintance at the store, when we see someone in need, when we run into strangers on the street; anytime you interact with another person, when you visit someone, when you stay at a hotel or AirBNB, even at the voting booth, anytime you deal with someone or have an influence on your community, you have a chance to practice Xenia. Xenia goes beyond the simple rules of guest and host and informs how we interact with everyone everyday, because it is tied to our community, especially with philanthropy.

Let’s break this down bit by bit so you can see good examples of how exactly Xenia can inform each of these interactions. Some of these examples will be simply examples, and some of them will be reflective of real life situations I or others have faced in the last few months.

A few years back, the home I shared with my mom, my sister, and my children caught fire. We were left with very few personal items, and no place to live. My uncle, who lived several hundred miles away, practiced Xenia by offering to pay for the deposit and move in fees for an apartment complex. The community we lived in practiced good Xenia by donating items we badly needed, such as beds, clothing, toys for the kids, and much needed housewares like microwaves, pots and pans, and silverware. Several members of the community organized a drive to help us replace many of the items we lost and guided us to food banks that helped us with electricity deposits and the first few months’ worth of bills. Every person we interacted with practiced Xenia, even if they had no idea that they were doing so at the time.

About 2 years ago, we found a small dog in front of our local grocery store. There was no collar, no chip, and the poor thing was half-starved and filthy. We took it home, cleaned it, cared for it, and then took actions to return the puppy to her rightful owner. We put up signs, made posts on Facebook, called every animal shelter in 80 miles, and searched lost and found pages, groups, and posts on every social media site we could think of. 3 days later, we found the owners, a newlywed couple who had come home to find the front door of their home open and the puppy they had gotten 2 weeks ago gone. When we took care of the animal and made every effort to find her owner, we put into practice the basic principles of Xenia by playing good hosts to the animal in our care. Xenia does not just inform our actions for people, but is also informs how we should treat every living thing.

Now for an example that includes both good and bad xenia, in it’s purest form of being a guest and a host. Say you are visiting family out of town, and you bring a bottle of wine. The wine is a good gift on your part as a guest, and is an example of good xenia. You don’t overstay your welcome, you go home early because you know your hosts have an early morning the next day, you take care to not cause any mess, and you use your manners flawlessly. Then, 2 weeks later, your host pays a visit to you. They bring their spouse and kids along. They fail to bring any gift, allow their kids to eat all the snacks in your cupboard, drink all of your soda that was supposed to last all week, overstay their welcome by sticking around for dinner even when it is obvious that you didn’t plan on having an extra 5 people over for dinner, don’t clean up after their kids or even watch them, and don’t leave until after 10 pm even though you mention time and again that you have to leave at 6 tomorrow morning for an early start to work. Outside of paying a return visit to you, your guests have been a perfect example of how to violate the rules of Xenia at every turn. And we all have one of those friends or family. The ones who never can take a hint and eventually wind up being unwelcome at your house, or any other simply because they’ve violated the rules of Xenia so often.

When we run into strangers or acquaintances, we can practice good Xenia by simply inquiring after them, if they have the time. Simply saying “Hey, how’s it going?” or “How are you?” can go a long way in being an extension of Xenia outside the home. My job has made Xenia a rule of thumb without knowing even know it, by insisting that we Stand, Smile, and Greet every customer, move around the counter to sit with them at a table when taking an application, and take the time to get to know them. We offer small snacks and candies, bottle of water alongside soda and coffee, and as a result, we practice good xenia as a whole throughout the company.

Xenia also intersects with philanthropy when we see someone in need. Donating to food banks, charities that enforce the rules of xenia like homeless shelters, and even engaging in personal donations to those in need are all good way to practice Xenia on a regular basis and literally put your money where your mouth is as a practitioner of Hellenic Polytheism. Even at the voting booth, we can practice Xenia by ensuring that those we vote for uphold those values by supporting immigrants, providing for the homeless, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, and assisting those who need it. By ensuring that we vote for those who practice Xenia every day and put it into policy, we can support our community.

Last, but definitely not least, Xenia guides our relationship with our own gods. The gods give to us every day, and we can reciprocate in kind. We can let our altars serve as their home, ensuring it is clean and kept in good repair. We can make sure we have appropriate offerings (this can even include something as simple as clean water, bread, incense smoke, or a dash of olive oil). We can welcome them to our home with prayers and praises. We can remember that when they come to our altars, they are guests in our home and we must, above all, treat them as such.

In short, Xenia is a practice, a Pillar that informs our every day life. Some extensions of Xenia are called “good manners”, some of them are called “being a good neighbor”, and some are called “being a good citizen”. We all have practiced and expected Xenia as a part of our lives at some point or another. As I mentioned in the beginning of this podcast, Xenia, as a part of the pillars, is not a simple commandment. It is a way of life, expected of us at every turn. It is a pillar, not just of Hellenic Polytheism, but of our lives.

For references, I relied heavily on the Illiad and the Odyssey, both of which I own. I also pulled from Wikipedia, the Xenia comic by Greek Myth Comix, Hellenic Polytheism by Chris Aldridge, Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship, and Mythology of the Greeks: Legends Anterior to and Contemporary with the Trojan War to 1183 BC to the First Olympiad, 776 BC by George Grote.

Thanks for listening to this episode of “Hellenic Polytheism 101”, a short lecture on Xenia as a Pillar of Hellenic Polytheism. For a transcript of this podcast, you can visit goddesssdoeswitchery.tumblr.com, and look for the tag “Hellenic Polytheism 101 transcripts”. There you will find a link to the references, including an amazon link to the books I referenced, outside of the one by George Grote, as it is 164 years old. You can also ask me any questions there. Don’t forget to tune in for the next episode, coming August 23rd, about Kharis.

#hellenic polytheism 101 #hellenic polytheism #podcast #transcript #xenia #pillars of hellenic polythiesm

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5eokjin · 4 years

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Does shipping really cross everything good about a person to you?Isn’t it a little too radical?What if they still love and appreciate ot7 bonds equally but there is ‘some kind of bond in particular close to their heart that it just tended to grew into a ship’?What if it doesn’t have bad intentions?How is y/n different or saying sexual things in tags and why people never talk about how weird this may be?It’s the same with finctional or not otps it happens in imagination what’s so bad about it?

i never said shipping automatically makes you evil? i said being a shipper means you don’t respect bangtan and that’s facts. you can’t claim to “love” and “appreciate” them then still continue to ship after tae very explicitly says not to, that’s not how it works. shippers KNOW their behaviour makes bts uncomfortable, you can’t use the excuse that oh shippers don’t have “bad intentions” if they’re fully aware of the consequences. just look at how those “normal” shippers are always going “make sure you don’t post this on weverse, make sure you don’t tag them”, the fact that they know to censor themselves that way means they already know shipping would gross the boys out but they still do it anyway. i think that’s more than telling of just how much respect they have for them. it’s fine to like the dynamics between certain members more than others but shipping crosses the line. there’s a world of difference between enjoying their dynamics vs constantly insinuating two people you don’t even know are dating. when tae is so fed up with shipping to the point where he’s actually telling you outright not to do it, your response should be to do as he says: stop. the post he replied to was literally so mild, it only said “jungkookie who taehyung loves”, that shit is literally the mildest shippy content you will EVER see and tae still hated it. so why can’t shippers just stop instead of trying to justify it? especially since HE’S the one being shipped against his will for the shipper’s own enjoyment? that’s selfish as fuck, so don’t say shippers love and appreciate bts and have no bad intentions because that’s clearly a lie. is shipping really more important to them than tae’s feelings? or is it because they spent so long seeing bts as just characters for them to ship that they forgot they’re real people with feelings?

and omg… look, i don’t exactly endorse y/n content either but you’re kidding right? y/n, fictional ships are exactly that: fiction. you don’t know bts and they don’t know you, an actual relationship doesn’t exist between them and us. there aren’t actual consequences to that sort of thing though i agree that it’s often very objectifying, but that’s a topic for another time. everything that exist in y/n shit is purely made up. shipping members on the other hand, involves inserting personal agendas and false narratives into a very real relationship between two people with dynamics we’re not privy to beyond what we see on camera. and when shippers analyse interactions and conceive “ship moments”, they manipulate the truth of real events, real feelings, real dynamics we don’t know about. it’s much harder for them to separate reality from fantasies because like i said, it’s a real relationship. which is why so many shippers are “delulu”, because they can so easily fuse their fantasies with reality through shipping. and unlike y/n shit, shipping have actual consequences! so many celebs have spoken up about how shipping ruined friendships and made things awkward and uncomfortable, how it made them reconsider and hold back the way they interact with others to avoid egging on the shippers. this fandom is always celebrating how bangtan’s love for each other is so strong and genuine, do you really wanna risk jeopardizing that just so you can continue to ship? the thing you said about sexual tags too like… i agree we shouldn’t oversexualise them but there’s nothing wrong with sexual attraction, just like how there’s nothing wrong with having a crush and occasionally having thoughts about them that border towards sexual as long as it doesn’t overstep boundaries. shipping, however, is an entirely different thing. you’re falsifying the relationship between two people and putting it on the internet for everyone to see like that’s so violating and perverse????

this reply was way too long bc i’ve been so annoyed at shipping within this fandom for so long (i can’t even imagine how bts must feel like wtf) but i don’t want to hear or talk about it anymore. if even tae himself telling yall to stop isn’t enough, then clearly nothing i say is gonna convince you. maybe you just phrased it wrong (in which case i apologise for misinterpreting your intentions) but i really didn’t appreciate being asked “does shipping really cross everything good about a person to you?”. i NEVER said that and it just feels like you came into my inbox with a victim mindset trying to bait for some twisted reassurance that maybe shipping isn’t that bad so you wouldn’t have to feel guilty idk. anyway i condemn shipping and this is the last time i’m gonna address it.

#moving on!!!!#asks #anon

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lordblackhat · 6 years

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okay, since a nonnie asked, here’s my headcanon background for Demencia! gonna put it beneath a cut, bc it’s.. not short.

first of; she was definitely a human. pretty normal, except how both her parents were heroes. not like, super popular heros, but still known, still powerful- they were busy, and when they weren’t, they were tired and snappy, and Demencia (who was not named Demencia then) pretty quickly learnt to Stay Away.

her parents were heroes, yes, but they weren’t good parents.

they were negligent. too busy with their careers to have time for lil’ baby Dem. so Dem had to take care of herself, all rough and tumble and they weren’t poor, thankfully- so she had food and she had a bed, and she had, cue drumroll, the internet! (yaaay)

so she spent a lot of her time Online. she was kind of too rough and too socially damaged to really fit in- she got into fights and she acted out, and she was, basically, a Problem Child.

so the internet was her safe space. she probably had a deviantART, and read fanfictions, and all that shit, bc, i mean, look at her. but that’s not the important part; the important part was her stumbling across a lil’, very relevant, website.

she found Black Hat Organization’s advertisements. videos. the whole nine yard. and basically, she fell in love.

she watched all of the videos, numerous times. hunted the web for all information she could get her grubby lil’ hands on, and Black Hat became her obsession.

he was the light in her otherwise dark life. her One Happy Thing.

and, rather obviously, her parents did not approve.

as she grew up, got more problematic, they got worse. moved from simply not having time for her to resenting her. to emotionally abusing her.

Demencia hated them. despised them. (and loved them, still, because that’s what you’re supposed to do, right?)

and when her parents learnt she was watching Black Hat’s videos- supporting him, rooting for him, probably buying his shit- they flipped.

how dare she? how dare she go against them, go against what they stand for? so they punished her. took away everything good in her life, and locked her in her room, and hurt her like nothing else before.

and Demencia, hurting and aching and furious, runs away.

rather obviously, she didn’t live in the same town as Black Hat and co. but, she did figure out where they lived- hunted it down and stowed it away, just to know, and where else would she go but to her happy thing?

so she runs away to Black Hat. packs the necessity, and not much else, because it’s not like she had much to treasure. no good memories, nothing physical to hold. just loneliness and pain, and a place in her head where she could be happy.

so, she runs away. and she comes to this dumb, hat-shaped mansion, and unlike literally everyone else, she gets in, because she is nothing if not stubborn.

so she’s in, and she lives in the air vents, like a dumbass, and it lasts for. a bit. not long, but long enough that she gets kind of comfortable. probably steals food from the fridge, and fucks with 5.0.5 and watches Flug tinker and she’s. kind of happy?

and then she gets found out.

gets dragged out of the vents and Flug does not know what to do with this. this thing. living in their vents. because this is a fucking first, okay. this is not normal. people have definitely tried to get in before, but usually they got eaten pretty fucking quickly, or blown up, or set on fire, or whatever- but this person has been here for long enough to make a camp, and to know how to get around, and Flug is baffled.

so he drags her in front of Black Hat.

and Demencia, number one fan, is fucking starstruck, oh my god. she had stayed mostly away from Black Hat, because BH would literally just. know. and she wanted to stay, okay! she wanted to live here, and be happy, and if she had to stay away from her One Good Thing to be even remotely happy, she darn well would!

and Black Hat takes one look at her. scruffy and dusty, and rough around the edge, and he raises an eyebrow at Flug, like, really? your state of the art security system, beaten by this??

(Flug doesn’t know either okay)

and Demencia, literally vibrating where she stands, can’t take it anymore. she bursts, gushes, talks about what a Big Fan she is, and she just goes for it, rambling and gushing and gesturing, and stepping closer and closer, and Black Hat leans back in his chair, kind of weirded out, because this human knows what he’s done, knows what he does, and still they’re? coming closer? and making this weird face at him sdjkgjsdg FlUG???

and Demencia bumps into his desk, stares at him with literal stars in her eyes, and asks if she can stay.

a beat. Black Hat stares at her. Flug is staring at her. 5.0.5 is lowkey glaring because that’s why the paintings kept on being crooked, and they Do Not like her.

and Black Hat goes “no.”

looks over at Flug. gestures to her. “get her out of here.”

and Demencia feels, for a single moment, a crushing despair unlike anything. it is like her life ended, right then and there, like nothing had meaning, like nothing ever would.

and for a moment, she was just gonna let Flug drag her out of there.

for a moment.

and then she realises, no. no way, this is not happening, NO WAY, and she rips her arm out of Flug’s weak grip, steps up to the desk again, and tells Black Hat, evil extraordinary, that she will do anything.

and Black Hat cocks his head. looks at her.

“anything?”

and she curls her hands together, raises her head. burns with that rough and tumble and chaotic feel that always got her so into trouble, and says “anything.”

and Black Hat grins. slow and wicked, and looks at Flug. “you were asking for some new bodies to experiment on, weren’t you?”

and Flug hesitates- he usually experiments on corpses, very rarely live people, but this girl is burning with this. she wants this so badly he can see it under her skin, and he can’t say no.

“i do have a project in mind,” he says, slow and careful, and Demencia grins, nothing but teeth.

“i’ll do it.”

and that’s how Demencia became a part of Black Hat Organization.

and, rather obviously, after that she got turned into the Weird Lizard Lady, and became the Dem we know and love. <3

#villainous

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