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khruschevshoe · 5 months

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OFMD Critique: Mermen, the Gravy Basket, and Cognitive Dissonance

Warning: this is going to be a bit rambly.

So, I can't stop thinking about the end of "The Innkeeper." (OFMD 2x3, if you need the reminder.) About how I have completely different reactions to the final scene of the episode depending on who's POV/plot I'm considering it a part of.

As part of the Stede/Ed plot, and as part of Ed's personal character arc, it's masterful. The cinematography, the swelling music (and music choice, god is "This Woman's Work" a fantastic pick), the acting, the lighting, everything about it is so well done. It's a story about a man who has hit the absolute bottom of a depressive episode because he believes that love is only meant to hurt, that no love can exist without it dying, and who is pulled from the absolute Darkest Night of the Soul by the man who loves him- in the form of a merman. (I'm not going to harp on the symbolism and the perfection of choosing a mermaid, a rainbow, beautiful, queer-as-hell mermaid, as Stede's form here because others have done it so much better than I ever could.)

This final scene is PERFECT for the Stede/Ed plotline. I will give it all the props in the world for its gorgeous portrayal of the healing, divinely-coded power of queer love.

But from the crew's POV? From the end of a plot that was literally about a man spiralling and taking everyone down with him? From the POV of people who were just forced to shoot themselves, to fight to the death, to amputate limbs, who finally got to stand up to their monster after months of fear, of sobbing when Blackbeard couldn't see, of living on a knife's edge because if they put one toe out of line they'll get shot in the leg or pushed off the ship or worse?

I'm not looking at a man's rebirth; I'm looking at a villain's resurrection.

All I can feel is dread on behalf of a crew that literally just admitted to having been "living second to second" for months now. A crew that was ready to die at Zheng Yi Sao's behest because that's what they had been expecting from the man they just had to kill to survive a storm.

I can't ever fully immerse myself in the scene as I did the first time around, because I know how the crew's subplot is going to go. I know that they are going to vote Ed off the ship, finally gaining some agency, and then Stede is going let Ed back on the ship within a day with a slap on the wrist. Ed is going to give an "influencer apology" and that'll be that, because as Archie says, "they just kinda get away with these things." The crew will get no more agency in their own trauma recovery or their reactions to Blackbeard beyond Lucius' (very questionably handled) trauma recovery arc. This season is going to end with a character dying from a random gunshot wound to the side after Ed survived a CANNONBALL TO THE HEAD. (A character who, by the way, Ed put a gun in the hand of and told him to shoot himself. A man who, by the way, Ed shot in the leg, permanently disabling him. A man who, by the way, dies by apologizing to Ed for Ed tormenting him and the rest of the crew for months on end and driving them to the point that they would kill him.)

I try so hard to remain in the emotions I felt watching the merman scene the first time around, the hope I had for the Ed/Stede storyline, the hope I had for all of these characters. What I thought I was looking at was a sign of hope for all of them, the idea that they could all heal from their trauma, that everyone could experience some version of this love (whether romantic, platonic, or otherwise) for themselves.

But instead, the only other character to get a song died by the end of the season without ever getting a chance at a Gravy Basket of their own. And thus, I cannot ever feel what every possible Cinematic Cue in his scene is trying to get me to feel, because it will always, always be tainted by knowing that every one of those beautiful choices have been denied to Izzy, Jim, Archie, and Frenchie when it comes to their recovery arcs strangled before they could ever be completed.

#izzy hands #ed teach critical #ofmd critical #the innkeeper #ofmd season 2 #meta #please forgive me for the rambling nature #ofmd 2x3 #ofmd 2x03 #archie ofmd #lucius spriggs #not tagging this ed bc i don't want to upset the fans #jim jimenez #frenchie ofmd

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jojikawa · 1 year

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Muzan indulging in human pleasures with the divine being, Lilith. 🖤

Muzan x Lilith!reader Headcanons

Synopsis: The Demon King, Muzan, believes that he can find success in defeating all who oppose him, along with the location of blue spider lilies if he summons what is considered to be a goddess among demons. It seems that he doesn’t get what he believes he has bargained for. Warnings: mild season 1/2. season 3-1 spoilers.

⚜️

• Muzan summons you with the souls of the lower moon’s that has died and that he has killed. He knew fully well that he would probably be struck down and that you would ravage the earth in an angry stead as revenge for being (literally) demonized for your femininity…but that outcome was surely better than losing. He was tired of being failed by his own creations for hundreds of years.

• When you appear in your true form, even he is unable to comprehend what’s in front of him. Most mortals, demons, will never be able to wrap their heads around godhood.

• You manifested your physical body, bare and naked, resembling a vulnerable human woman.

“Lilith.” Muzan called sternly, trying to mask his fear of rejection and outright being destroyed. It seemed as though you were trying to get your bearings again. The earth hasn’t been corrupted by your presence since the beginning of time. “(y/n).” You said flatly. “I go by (y/n) now. It’s much cuter.”

You picked yourself up off of the ground, as you had fallen and could not walk when you assumed a more domestic form. “Find me something to wear, child.” You commanded, a small smile gracing your lips.

Were you…ordering Muzan around!?

You took a look around, not at all used to what you were seeing. You were in the “Infinite Castle” but, of course, you didn’t know that. Nearby, you saw an assortment of human-made things. A wooden table decorated with glass bottles, all with unusual shapes. They held clear liquids, red liquids, and a scent that you recognized to be blood. You then noticed that the feeble demon that summoned you had not moved yet.

You strode over to the desk, before reaching for once of the glass containers.

“Don’t touch that-“

Your head snapped over to Muzan. “I won’t repeat myself.” With a close eyed smile, you waved the demon to rid himself of his presence.

• Muzan quickly fetched you a kimono. The best he could find was the one who would wear when he would masquerade as a woman. You didn’t mind. It fit perfectly and smelled pleasant.

• The first thing Muzan asked was if blue spiders lilies could be found and if so, where were they? You didn’t seem obligated to help.

When you heard his question, you froze for a moment. Muzan’s jaw clenched with anticipation as he examined your face. You seemed to be thinking…perhaps some kind of divine knowledge would make his goals much more obtainable.

You giggled sweetly, as you had noticed the man stiffed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Your face. Your tone of voice. Your body language. It looked as if you were…lying to him. It felt as if he were being mocked, laughed at by a woman shaped demon.

• You would make Muzan work for his knowledge. You haven’t indulged in anything mortals had the pleasure of doing all the time. You would make him show you everything he had missed. The new job you had given him could be mistaken as being a lover. He seemed to be the strongest among his kind so you must keep him on a leash.

• You had him style your hair, satisfy your curiosity by answering anything you asked as honestly as he could and participate in any activity you found yourself wanting to do. This went on for a while. Longer than Muzan would admit. It seemed like he really wanted access to your wisdom.

• But you are the first woman. First wife of the first man that started humanity itself before you turned your back on God himself. You knew everything and now you knew Muzan. He was beginning to fall for you. Not many things you “forced” him to do was actually forced. You didn’t always need to order him around for him to do things you wanted.

• It wasn’t long until he introduced you to his subordinates. The “Upper Moons” he called them. They were humans that he turned into demons with his blood. His way of creating demons was like a dollar store version of how you created the first demons. You congratulated him, nonetheless, using your sexuality to make him behave the way you wanted him to.

• When you praised him, you nuzzled into him and rubbed your body on him like a feline in heat. It boosted his ego so much, having such a beautiful manifestation say such good things about him. It didn’t compare to the mortals that would say pleasant things about him.

• And you’ve yet to see him show his anger.

• The day came where he had a meeting with his subjects. They were unable to complete the tasks Muzan had given him. He got so angry that you could see his veins showing through his skin. The castle rumbled as he trembled with fury causing the glass bottles to crack and eventually break. Muzan said that they’re called “beakers.”

• The display gave you a new appreciation for him. He really was the strongest amount his kind.

After the Nakime sent everyone back to their respective places, you felt like it was time you began regulating Muzan’s mood.

He didn’t hear you come up behind him and place a dainty hand on his shoulder. His tense body eased and you felt the anger release from his body. “Muzan…” You called breathlessly. You wrapped your arms around his torso from behind. He let your hands roam his clothed chest before he opened his mouth to speak. He wanted to apologize for acting so indecently in your presence but—

“Muzan-sama~”

He was tall but if you stood on your toes then you could kiss the back of his neck. He thought that maybe this was joke. You were just playing another trick on him because you were bored.

“I’ve never seen a mortal get that angry before.” You laughed to yourself and nuzzled into his back. “I want to indulge in human pleasures now.”

Muzan felt your presence leave from behind him. You then suddenly appeared in front of him. You looked at all of the research he was going on the different types of blood. You felt like it was ultimately worthless. Once you felt like you had seen enough, you turned to him. “Have you ever eaten chocolate strawberries?” You asked innocently. You saw his eyes widen before narrowing sharply. You always framed your harmless questions as if you were finally going to tell him what he wanted.

“I prefer flesh.” Muzan simply replied, adjusting his clothes as you had nearly removed them from your stupid antics. You smiled. “of course you do.” You made a handful of strawberries in a box appear in your hand.

• Muzan had no choice but to let you do what you wanted. He let you feed him strawberries. He didn’t even like strawberries but as long as it brought you joy then he had to comply…even if it meant that your seat was on his lap.

• Your appearance and even your personality matched what he read In ancient texts. Sometimes, his situation didn’t feel real, like he would wake up and probably vow to never sleep again.

• Eventually, he becomes more comfortable with you, almost welcoming when you would come to him for affection. If he were correct, that means that you’ve probably never been with another man since the beginning of humanity. You were needy.

• Sometimes, he would try to get ahead by giving you affection on his own in hopes his ability to act first pleased you. He doted on in a way only a husband could to his wife.

• You make him stop his work to brush your hair and massage your feet.

You were watching him work again. If you weren’t going to be of any use, he might as well continue trying to reach his goals. He was frantic in his work, muttering to himself, getting frustrated and destroying more things when he seemed to reach a dead end. That’s when you would come in and invade his ears with your sweet voice. Your touch would send goosebumps down his body. He felt butterflies whenever you encouraged him to “keep going” or reassuring him that “he’s almost there.”

🔞

• Is unironically obsessed with your body. You can shape shift and look anyway you want but he prefers the body type that you arrived as.

• Believed that this is the one aspect he can have control over in the relationship but even in bed, you still order him around. A part of him doesn’t mind. He almost likes being told what to do because it gives him a sense of purpose. A purpose that differed from being Muzan Kibutsuji.

• He believes he enjoys being a top but that changes when you wrestle him onto the bed and show him something that no woman ever has. He becomes a switch at will after that.

• Has a breeding kink with you. He finds it extremely attractive to be able to have his seed carried by a powerful demoness such as yourself. Gets curious of what a child would look like with you.

#demon slayer x reader #kimetsu no yaiba x reader #muzan kibutsuji #Muzan x reader #kny headcanons #kny x reader #kny #demon slayer headcanons #demon slayer imagines #muzan fluff #Muzan x demon reader

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remidyal · 3 months

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FHJY New Names over-analysis post

We're a few days past an episode that introduced a lot of new npcs and ideas and all, and I figured I'd dig into some of the names and references and all that I noticed to see if any hints might have been snuck in there for the rest of the season.

Interim Emergency Backup Principal Arcturus Grix: A couple of different things in here, but I'll just get what I think is the most likely one out of the way: Arcturus is a star that is part of the constellation Bootes (a herdsman in various myths), and the name translates to 'guardian of the bear'.

Or, perhaps, guardian of the owlbears.

Brennan absolutely seems like someone who would have at some point been way into constellations and their stories so I'd put money on this being an intentional stealth-ish pun.

I think Grix is just supposed to sound machine-y but I might be missing it.

Terpsichore Skullcleaver: Back on the Greek mythology theme, Terpsichore is one of the Greek Muses, and specifically is the Muse of Dance. Obviously a wildly appropriate name for a dance teacher who is hopefully going to actually inspire Fabian.

Skullcleaver presumably means she is of some relation to Katja, of course.

Lucillia Lullaby: I mean, this one is pretty obvious; a Lullaby is a type of song, and from what she saw she seems to be a pretty calming presence to suit attempting to get a toddler to sleep as that song type does. This name was actually, unlike the two above, on the payroll list from freshman year so it's a lot more directly on the nose (because, frankly, Brennan was coming up with like 30 npcs who would probably never appear).

Tiberia Runestaff: Runestaff similarly is just kind of obvious and also was on the freshman year list; Tiberia as a name literally just means born near the river Tiber, and so I think was chosen mostly because it sounds kind of severe and wizard-y.

Yolanda Badgood: Also from the freshman year list, and I suppose it would take someone both bad and good to teach students of both 'good' and 'evil' divinities. Brennan's gotten better at his NPC names over the years, or just it's hard to do a freaking list. I sympathize, as someone who keeps a random name generator tab open while GMing. Also, on a random note, the freshman year list has a driver's ed teacher (one Alphonse Doublefist) and I NEED a scene of Fig having to take driver's ed because she's been driving without a license for two years.

Mazey Phaedra: Mazey is such a groanworthy name for a minotaur-adjacent person that I'm surprised they didn't throw things at him for it; Phaedra is another Greek myth name, this one of the daughter of Minos (of building-the-maze fame) and also a whole other thing we don't have time to get into because it might start Discourse and that probably isn't relevant because it's really just another Minotaur reference.

CUS Dabus: One of the universities Riz looks at, I mostly want to call it out because of being a reference to my personal favorite official DnD setting. It's mentioned as being in the City of Doors, which is the nickname of course of the extra-planar city of Sigil. The Dabus are a race that are the entourage of the mysterious Lady of Pain, the very-definitely-not-a-god who loosely rules over that city. I doubt we ever really visit Sigil, but who knows, we've been to the Nine Hells and the cosmological stuff seems to largely conform to traditional DnD.

#fhjy #fhjy spoilers #mazey phaedra #yolanda badgood #tiberia runestaff #lucille lullaby #terpsichore skullcleaver #interim emergency backup principal grix

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dyns33 · 8 months

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Good Uncles - Sequel

Anti Y/N needs Morpheus' help, because her uncles are stupid

(Good Omens season 2 spoilers)

Y/N and Morpheus loved each other more than anything.

This was what Matthew repeated to himself when the young woman came to see him with her strange request, and especially her comment which could have been taken as an insult in any other circumstances.

But Y/N loved Morpheus, so she certainly hadn't meant to be rude, and Morpheus loved Y/N, so he wouldn't take it badly.

Besides, she wasn't really wrong, even if the raven would deny agreeing with her if the boss asked.

"Since Dream is an idiot who has trouble communicating, I figured he could help me with my family problem, but since he has trouble communicating, I need your help to ask him."

"… Did you just say he was an idiot ?"

"Yes." Y/N said simply, looking at him with a face that said she didn't see the problem. "The worst idiot in the world, just before my uncles. So I need his advice to reconcile them, like they helped us to finally be together."

"… He loves you, but I don't know if he'll be happy with you saying he's an idiot."

"That's not the point. Will you help me ?"

Y/N's family problem seemed simple enough.

Her uncles, two other idiots, were totally in love with each other, without ever admitting it to each other for centuries. Then, one day, one of them decided to be brave, and the other ran away, not knowing how to react to all these feelings. Some sort of break up then, or whatever it was.

In fact, it was more complicated, since one of the uncles was an angel, the other was a demon, they were on opposite sides but kept secretly allying since the beginning of humanity, and now the being of light had had a promotion, forcing him to return up there.

He had suggested to his sidekick that he could come with him, be an angel again, but of course, the demon had categorically refused, suggesting instead that they stay together on Earth, happy and far from the divine and infernal stories.

Then there was a kiss, and the end of the world.

“Well, not literally the end of the world…” sighed Y/N, former antichrist, who had decided not to destroy the universe as Lucifer wished. "But it was still terrible. Aziraphale calls me through the celestial channels, and even though he pretends he's okay, I can clearly see that he's sad. And Crowley… He's devastated ! He really thought that they were going to be together forever. He drinks all the time and hardly leaves the house anymore. I threatened to destroy his car, nothing ! I threatened to destroy his car by driving it and risking having a accident, he destroyed the car."

“He remains sane despite his turmoil.”

"Morpheus, my dear, this doesn't help me. What can I do to make them stop their nonsense and see that they can't live without each other ?"

Dream of the Endless opened his mouth, and closed it almost immediately, after his faithful raven pecked his hand. He turned to Matthew, who was staring at him with a stern look, silently begging him to think before speaking.

"Even though technically no one needs others to live, I know the torment of broken hearts, my younger sister having shown it to me and having experienced it myself. It is difficult to help those who suffer of this pain, especially if they are stubborn by nature, as are angels and demons."

“You who are stubborn by nature, how have you been helped in the past during such difficult moments ?”

"… It takes time. My father doesn't help directly, but he allows the wounds to heal, the memories to be less painful, and to learn from all these experiences. I don't know if you can help your uncles, my love. Your presence and your shoulder are the only things you can offer to them, as well as advices, but whether they decide to follow them is up to them."

"I don't like that answer. It's not a stupid answer."

"I'm not as stupid as you seem to think."

"Obviously. You're only an idiot when it concerns you." Y/N joked, kissing his cheek before he started to pout. "Thank you, Morpheus. I'll try to help them. It's hard to see them like this when they were so happy before."

The dream master didn't like seeing his lover so saddened, but as he had told her, it was not possible to solve her problem as easily as she hoped.

Feelings were complicated, changing, volatile things. They were even more complex for celestial beings, who were not supposed to feel them, or at least not in a repeated or negative way.

Joy mostly, sometimes sadness for others in the case of angels, a lot of anger in the case of demons, but certainly not love.

Crowley and Aziraphale having never done anything like everyone else, they had to test this limit, and it went badly.

It wasn't a surprise, but Morpheus was a little disappointed with how this story turned out. Because it made Y/N suffer, but also because he had been secretly observing the two clandestine friends since the beginning of their romance, waiting to see what would happen, and savoring the demon's dreams and hopes.

A dreaming demon, full of imagination, and defying the infernal authorities. The only one. Of course he was favored by the Lord of Nightmares.

While Y/N tried her best to comfort him on Earth, even though she still had trouble getting him out of his apartment, Dream decided to pay a visit to the Heavenly Kingdom to greet the new manager.

"Your lordship ! What a surprise ! What a joy ! You… Y/N is not in trouble, I would know. I'm keeping an eye on her. Are you still having trouble in hell ? They've been a little panicked since Belzebub left, but we haven't noticed any suspicious activity."

"I have no quarrel with the underworld at this moment, Aziraphale. I have come to see you."

"See us ? As a courtesy call ? Good… Very good." stammered the angel, who was not as stupid as his niece seemed to think either.

“Let’s talk about my brother’s book.”

"No ! I mean… We've had this conversation before, noble dream lord. Although the mighty Destiny knows everything, the divine plan remains ineffable, and we are not supposed to know it. So I do not wish to talk about this subject."

"And I would not force you to do so. But know that no one escapes their destiny, however strange it may seem, unexpected and distant. We can try to flee it, delay it, fear it, but as certain as a kiss, it will happen."

Aziraphale looked at Morpheus without saying anything. He understood the message well, and even though he knew it was a bluff, because no one except Destiny and God knew what was in the book, he wanted to believe what those words meant.

It was scary, it would take time, but his winding path would one day lead him back to Crowley. Something inside him kept repeting it.

"Anyway…" Dream added before leaving. “If that wasn’t the Plan, there’s no stopping my sweet Y/N, or me, who hates seeing her sad.”

That same evening, aften several months, the angel contacted the demon for the first time.

It was complicated, because Crowley remained stubborn, and hurt, but he agreed to listen, a bit satisfied that it was not him who took the first step, feeling considered.

When she asked him if he had anything to do with it, and what he had done, Morpheus replied that he had simply been diplomatic and tactful.

"In other words he scared the cherub. Because fear works well with idiots."

“Matthew, leave us.”

“He was afraid of losing you last time, that’s why he agreed to talk.”

“Get out of my sight, now.”

"Thank you, Dream. Thank you so much." Y/N said, hugging him tenderly.

The problem was not resolved, but after several calls, because the fear of the wrath of Y/N and her lover was less strong than the fear of losing his demon, it was allowed to see the exchanges as a good omen for the future.

#the sandman #morpheus #morpheus x reader #morpheus imagine #morpheus fanfiction #dream of the endless #dream the endless x reader #good omens

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jq37 · 2 months

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I've been following your D20 recaps for a while (they are so much fun!), but Junior Year episode 9 compelled me to create an account for this ask.

Are Jace and Porter both baddies?

Spot got eaten by an owl right before finding Yolanda's body. Yolanda was presumably killed after reporting Kristen's concerns to Jace, and it was established in freshman year that he summons owls. And now the intrepid heroes are digging through the possible path of succession. Maybe he's just bored of doing nothing as the sorcery teacher?

Porter might be a normal shitty teacher, but I'm getting all kinds of bad vibes from his "rage as devotion to doubt" lesson. Maybe doubly so since Brennan brought up the divine taboo of siphoning off worship from one god to empower another? And of course, no word on who his paladin deity is! There may be another connection with Porter being an earth genasi, since Lucy was also a genasi but with giant ancestry.

Plus these were the two teachers talking to Arianwen post-prom, and Porter (knowingly?) infected Ragh with the Kalina plague.

This has gotten away from me. I think I need more yarn for my cork board.

Unrelated, but last thought: Since there's been all the questions about Aguefort by-laws and the literal vs. intended interpretation of the rules, I think it would be funny if Kipperlilly "found" the rogue teacher just by requesting a teacher conference.

First of all, making a Tumblr account just to send this ask? I'm flattered! Thanks for following my recaps!

Now, to your actual question let's talk teachers.

I forgot to put this in my recap but despite the fact that I don't actually have any read on what a motive might be, I did wonder if Jace might worth putting on the suspect list. I mean, he is the last person Yolanda said she was going to talk to before they found her body. And Brennan technically didn't say she wasn't killed by magic, he said there was no magical residue. Sorcerers do metamagic which can change spells and I wonder if Brennan would let something like subtle spell be flavored to not leave magical residue. Absolutely circumstantial and speculative, especially since, as I said before, there's no motive. But it's worth noting and he's def worth looking into/talking to as Yolanda's last mission before she ended up a corpse (RIP). And he did presumably become Principal with Grix gone so movement is happening around him.

(I don't remember the owl thing but that would be a deep pull from Brennan, haha. I got the sense that that was more about just Fig's bad luck but who knows?)

Porter I just talked about in another ask but the genasi thing is an interesting connection. Good spot. My read is that Brennan is playing Porter sincerely but, again, I can def see Brennan leaning into Emily/Fig's last two years of suspicion and making him an integral part of the plot just to pay that off--this is a season of payoffs after all. Either way, just like Jace, he likely has at least some useful info.

Re: Kipperlilly, That would be such a weasel-y way for her to have done that…which makes it entire in character. This is def a loose end I'm very interesting in the Intrepid Heroes following up on so I'm glad Murph/Riz is remembering to roll for it.

Anyway, all good notes! All of it is officially on the board! Can't wait to see what new info we get tomorrow and, now that you have a tumblr count, feel free to stop by my inbox any time :)

#asks #anon #fantasy high #dimension 20 #salmonsandypants

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itsmyfandomandilikeit · 2 months

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An episode of Star Trek Prodigy that I have to assume won't exist

So I've been thinking about how the story could "end". My understanding from official announcements is that season 2 will be the end of this part of the story, and that if the series continues after that, a new arc will start.

So of course I've been trying to figure out how "this part of the story" ends, and I keep getting stuck because the way time travel works in Star Trek is really inconsistent, so it's hard to nail down what's possible. So here's a possible season 2 finale that would get chucked in the writer's room garbage and replaced with something more thematically coherent:

So since I finished season 1 I've been paranoid about what happens to Gwyn if she actually does save Solum from itself. In the 2009 movies, Spock is able to live freely in the Kelvin timeline despite being from somewhere else, but in ENT S3 "E Squared", for example, the main characters meet their grandkids who got thrown back in time to save them, and after the rescue mission is complete, the descendant ship disappears and everyone forgets this happened. It's my understanding that the second type of time travel is more common in TNG than the former.

This concerns me because it could happen to Gwyn.

I mean, she's literally going back in time to stop the thing that caused her to be born. There's two timeline branches, and in one of them, nearly everyone is dead or about to be rescued from it. As far as I can tell, they could evacuate the other timeline and if it collapses on the way out, literally the only casualty would be Gwyn. (other than Ascencia, whom I assume will not be around by the end of the story for other reasons.)

So let's say she does it. She goes to Solum and makes first contact on behalf of the Federation and influences them to make the right choices and there's no civil war!! Good job!! Solum joins the Federation, everyone is happy, and the morning after the papers are signed Dal wakes up in the hammock under the engine of Nandi's ship like nothing ever happened.

He's older than he was the last time he was here, but Nandi doesn't seem to think he ever left. Apparently he's been doing bigger and bigger jobs and has amassed an impressive pile of crap in his corner made of things he took from people some way or another. Behind a panel somewhere he even finds a hidden pile of money, presumably so he could eventually buy his own ship.

He starts to wonder if he dreamed the whole thing, but eventually is able to get to the edge of the quadrant and pick up news from the Federation. Around this time, the Protostar has returned home from its first excursion and Chakotay is about to go right back out. He says he's had all sorts of adventures, including a mention of going through a wormhole and having to find his way back, having met a Federation society from some point in the future.

So, Dal realizes that this is the world in which Solum never goes back in time to save itself because it doesn't need saving. Chakotay is fine, Nandi didn't sell Dal as an "unwanted", Dal became a better con artist and thief. With some heavy research, he's able to find the show where Rok-Tahk used to perform, and ask where she was sold if not to the Diviner. Another mining colony. He doesn't really have enough information to find anybody else, but has to assume they were sold elsewhere, slaves on other colonies throughout the Delta quadrant.

So he goes to Janeway. Explains to her that he's from a timeline where some things were different. Everyone else has forgotten, but because his brain is DNA soup, he's immune to some complicated temporal effects. He has to give Chakotay's command codes to prove he is who he says he is.

The thing is, at this point in the story, Dal knows where Solum is. Season 2 has already happened, Chakotay has been found and rescued, but the Federation hasn't made first contact with them. Dal has a choice.

He isn't trusted, but he could regain the trust he once had. Janeway believes him. He knows an awful lot about her and he's familiar with all the Starfleet regulations a cadet would have had to memorize. He knows the advice she tends to give. Dal could make contact with Solum on behalf of the Federation. He knows where it is. He's the only one.

But how he does it determines how well it goes. He could ensure everything goes over perfectly, and proceed with his life as planned - fighting to get into Starfleet Academy so he can be the captain of a starship, armed with the knowledge of a failed alternate timeline other cadets can't learn from. He might even be able to bring Rok-Tahk with him. Maybe she doesn't like science in this timeline but he can make sure she's okay.

Or, he could screw it up. On purpose. Tell them that the Federation wants them for their superior technology, and that they have to change their ways to fit in. Stoke the fires of civil war, and leave. If he does this, everything goes back to the way it was. Maybe even enter a stable time loop where Gwyn fixes things and Dal screws them up over and over.

I think this is a fun concept to think about but I am 95% sure I'm off the mark about this having anything to do with where the story is going.

See, if Gwyn gets erased from the timeline, she's basically died for her abusive slave-owning father's sins, and while I don't think it's impossible to make that work narratively, I think it would be really difficult. I think what would be most empowering as a story is if she takes up the mantle of saving Solum in a peaceful way and gets to move on with her own life.

Which is why I came across the question of how to save her. I think if given the choice she'd sacrifice herself for Solum. Needs of the many, etc. The show demonstrates that the reason she likes Dal is that he puts her first when no one else does. So it's... workable that Dal would have a hand in figuring out how to keep her from being lost conceptually to the timeline. At the same time, Dal is supposed to be getting better, not worse. Siccing him with the choice of saving his love interest's life / saving his teammates from slavery against upholding Starfleet values is, again, not impossible to make work but really hard without breaking the bounds of moral grayness Dal himself tends to be subjected to.

Finally there's the complicated case of writing about slavery overall. In this story, you would have to do some onscreen math about whether the Delta quadrant is better or worse without the influence of the Diviner. Realistically, everyone would have been sold to a different slaver, but a decrease in the number of penal operations has to mathematically be a good thing. Dal choosing between the two timelines ultimately chooses whether to give the Diviner a pass for his many, many crimes, which is, again, probably out of the scope of this series.

Still, I'm enjoying parts of it as an AU. What would an older Dal look like if he'd eventually become more successful as a protege of Nandi? What would Janeway and Chakotay do in the absence of his capture? How can the story avoid the problem of erasing Gwyn?

Ultimately I think they're going to have to go with the explanation of Spock from the 2009 movies. She exists here, she just does, matter can't be created or destroyed and her matter is standing on the bridge with us.

Still, I'm not sure.

#star trek prodigy

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burinazar · 5 months

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(This post is mostly a direct copy-paste with edits of my twitter thread about the same thing, so you don't need to bother reading it if you've seen that already. Contains spoilers for MiA season 2!)

ahhh. the abyss wiki has one of Irumyuui's occupations listed as this. (Ebil takes 1000hp mental damage and expires)

Now i personally have been known to talk a lot more often about how "made a symbolic religious sacrifice" is what the Ganja and most directly Waz and Vue did to Belaf, but that's because i'm trying to point out something that isn't obvious. Meanwhile i don't usually point out that deification is also what they all did to Irumyuui because, well...duh! This one seems blindingly obvious in being the conclusion the narrative wants us to reach. Elevation, idolatry, cast in the role of savior and praised as a "queen"...for all intents and purposes just another form of dehumanization, if less physical and literal than the other that she suffered.

The sages, and Irumyuui. A prophet and a savior and a sacrifice -- "we sought to become something more than human" -- and, of course, one who was human until the end...

But, to be more precise i think the Three Idiots themselves weren't actually able to find self-deceiving refuge in a view of Iru as a holy savior instead of an exploited child. When Vueko says 'people can get used to anything, even hell', I take it as referring to (among other things) how the rest of the Squad were able to rationalize and live with this. The non-sage Ganja seem a lot more likely to fall into that kind of thinking, from the bits we see -- the taking of the children seems to become a sort of ritual for them.

Vueko and Belaf were never able to think of her as a holy savior for a second, both of them literally tried to kill themselves because they were TOO aware their 'salvation' was not divine providence but the product of making a child (THEIR CHILD!) suffer. And I think Waz is uhh. very realistic about what they were doing. Also, I get the sense that HE didn't view himself as having a 'righteous' heavenly mandate -- while he feels moved by a higher power that 'gathered' them all, i don't at allthink that he would claim moral absolution on those grounds the way religiously or spiritually motivated characters doing bad things in fiction are sometimes seen to do. (Relatedly, I speculate he wouldn't really see it in terms of absolution or culpability at all -- I believe his sense of personal responsibility and free will may be very skewed by his prophet situation, but that's getting into the weeds of Waz speculation that i could write several posts on alone...)

No, I think all three of them understood more clearly than all their followers that Irumyuui was just a child thrust into the role of savior.

Meanwhile the rest of them, the ones we see kneel and pray at various junctures...them... there is a strong sense that the rest -- just as, i suspect, they believed in 'the nameless god' more than the sages actually did -- accepted everything that happened as divine providence. If they thought about Iru's personal suffering at all (and that's quite a big if) they may have regarded it as her preordained role, the reason she was sent to them...

...I really want to know what Pakkoyan thought about this. She's the most demonstrably 'faithful' out of the named characters -- in the anime she's notably the one who assigns a spiritual meaning (absolution and the forgiveness of sin) to the village. That seems pretty clear confirmation to me that she's inclined to buy into the mindset described above. BUT. She is also close to Vueko and must know how Vue was taking it. Does this strike her as contradictory? Does it disturb her that the person she loved was disgusted by what she and the rest of the Ganja saw as holy salvation?

...now that i wrote "she must know how Vue was taking it", i'm wondering if she actually did or not lmao. given that i often picture Pakko having an idealized view of Vueko (the continuity with Vueko's idealized view of Belaf and Belaf's of Wazukyan pleases me) she may not have realized how horribly Vue was doing lol.

Anyway I got a little lost at the end there in Pakkospeculation (listen it's the narrative's fault for barely characterizing her ok) but. Yeah. This is my general view on the in-story deification of Iru and how the sages versus everyone else may have felt on it

#ok heres a long thing no one asked for #i will write the Vueko's Extratextual Relationship to Sex in the Original Manga/Translated Manga/Anime post eventually i swear #the actually useful post that i keep not writing #irumyuui #vueko #belaf #wazukyan #Pakkoyan

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ninthprime · 8 months

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typing out some loose palisade thoughts ive been rotating about the characters…spoilers up through the most recent episode

i’m really obsessed with the a plot team (thisbe, figure, cori) and the dynamic going on there. we have the comparison of figure and thisbe both being used as tools and cori and figure as weapons but i think it’s worth noting thisbe was originally maintained by a divine as part of a colonization effort even if she doesn’t remember that part of her life (which is a parallel to figure’s own memory issues actually). she’s been a weapon too…figure and thisbe have an existing habit of charging into danger together starting from them getting shot in the first arc and cori being insistent on getting stronger could both work with and against that in interesting ways. is cori gonna blame herself if one of them gets hurt? would one of them be reckless to prevent another from dying?

part of the reason i’ve been thinking about it a lot is that if everything doesn’t blow up (🤞🏻) i think we could end this arc with a very different team dynamic. phrygian is pretty likely dead, and i also think routine seems…fairly killable if needed. brnine is hopefully going to live but would be hideously depressed if they lost them i think. i’ve also been thinking that it will be really hard for that crew to leave the sun even if they shut the combustor down…does brnine get taken as a prisoner?* do they end up badly physically injured? in other words i think it’s pretty likely brnine might not be around or able to properly captain after this arc. i think thisbe probably ends up in a leadership position by default which she would have a very rough time adjusting to even though i think she would be good at it.

figure is also going to have a really rough time losing phrygian obviously. figure has a more ideal and put together version of phrygian in his head than actually exists. it happening simultaneously with figure getting a new source of power would throw them into a real identity crisis of trying to be “like phrygian” i think. they feel like they have little connection to their old life and they have literally never been given the ability to define their own personhood. figure has kind of an impulsiveness and anger under the surface that i think could really bubble up with this scenario.

i also believe if the season doesn’t end here then a crown of glass arc is inevitable and i think it would mean so much to the entire a plot team. the figure finally getting to confront clem…cori flirting with this connection to escape her own guilt…thisbe facing her own conflicts with personhood and leadership through trying to help both of them. i need to see it. i need to see thisbe shake clem like a bobblehead.

anyway i think figure and thisbe should have a slumber party on the floor with the plants (neither of them need to sleep they just lie there).

* also someday this might be a fic but you can all have it: i’ve been contemplating some sort of scenario where it becomes public that kalvin brnine saved everyone from the sun exploding and the bilats try to pull a gur sevraq and either try to fake that brnine is on their side or have them prisoner and try to force it into happening. imagine trying to rehabilitate the galaxy’s most famous terrorist. juicy.

#fatt personal tag #palisade spoilers

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franklespine · 6 months

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They really didn't do enough with the sam seeing visions and thinking that they're from God, when really they're from Lucifer plotline in s11, because holy crap that was good. There is something that is just so devastatingly fascinating about sam, desperate to believe in a force greater than himself, and for that force of divine intervention and purity to have chosen him. Then to have these visions show him his deepest and most central traumatic wound, to lead him back towards this suffering. Oh the TURMOIL.

Sam has always craved purity - he has always wanted desperately to belong, to be pure like everyone else. The little kid who thought he could never go on a holy quest because he wasn't clean enough, who went on to find out about the demon blood fed to him when he was an infant and thinking this is the puzzle piece he was missing - this is the answer to why he feels the way he does - he is impure and wretched on a biological level. He is filled with self-doubt in s1-2 as to his powers and what this means for him, clawing at faith (faith in Dean and their policy of saving people as much as faith in a religious sense) to feel stabalised. He is frustrated and angry in s4 at this demon blood in him, the fact that there is something innately evil in him that he can never 'rip out' or 'scrub clean'. Then by the time s8 rolls around he LEAPS at the chance to purify himself. Yeah, cause that's healthy. All of this is to say that when sam gets his first vision after praying in the hospital chapel, he wants so desperately to believe that it is God who has looked down on him and thought him worthy. That, for once, the divine have been the ones to put their faith in him, not the devil.

And then the reveal. It was never God. It was never something holy.

Evil has kept its claws in him since he was six months old and he will never be clean of it. It was the devil all along. This realisation is crushing and I will never get over Sam's face as he realises, wide eyed with shock and horror as a tears spills out of his eye. Devastating.

But yet the deep seeded horror of this plotline is so underexplored. Like, call me biased but I would have really stretched this idea out a few more episodes at LEAST. Place more emphasis on this moral conundrum between wanting to have faith and yet this faith asking you to do something no person should ever go through.

In fact, I loved the first few episodes of s11, they had me on the edge of my seat. The black veined virus thing?? Amazing - I want more. It would have been cool to have seen this be a continuous thing across the whole season. Like if the season slowly devolved into this kind of wrought post-apocalyptic thing. Ik that probably wouldn't work but I would have loved to see it. And creepy baby Amara and that exorcism stuff - so cool. Anyway, this post is kind of a mess, but I just loved how s11 started; the darker tone, the boys completely out of their depth, the idea of this biblical plague that makes people 'unclean, in the biblical sense' - super fun ideas. It's not that I didn't like where s11 ended up, but I just feel like at some point the tone completely changed and it just got a bit... goofy. I blame Lucifer, mainly (and chuck). Every scene with Lucifer and Sam I was pulling my hair out cause WHY IS SAM SO CALM?? This guy literally tortured him for centuries and had him so dreadfully freaked out at the start of the season and now its like yeah whatever. And it's not like I expected it to take centre stage or anything but in theory, the idea that the Winchester's bestest bestie Cas is possessed by Lucifer, who they actually now need to stop Amara should have been some crazy psycho horror shit. Sam should have been seeing Lucifer's mannerisms like second nature, thinking he's going crazy. Dean should be worried that Sam's is going off his rocker and yet also feeling something so fundamentally off with Cas. But they just didn't feel the need to delve into that whatsoever I guess.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I really loved the ideas, particularly surrounding Sam, that were going on at the start of s11. I think using this as a springboard would have been a really interesting exploration of character for him, and Dean too as he is forced to confront how Sam's relationship with faith and purity differs from his own, and then ultimately a revaluation of the way he sees him. I mean, he wasn't exactly supportive once he found out Sam having demon blood had some side effects. Even when he didn't know about Sam drinking demon blood or Ruby, even when Sam was truly just saving people he called him a monster, told him that if he didn't know him, he's want to hunt him. Crazy times.

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burr-ell · 1 year

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Also the whole religion bit of fandom criticism is particularly strange, kinda from both ides of the debate imo. The idea that presenting the prime goods as actually evil and Asmodeus is secretly a good guy, wrongfully accused, is somehow an "establishment" stance, when the actual establishment vs anti-establishment stance is literally baked into the traditional dnd theology in the form of the alignment chart, where the explicitly aren't the same thing as good and evil, but rather co-aligned.

That said, I do find the fact that people default to blaming the "culturally christian atheists" as the once primarily vying against the prime gods being good. Atheism specifically is about not believing in divinity at all, not about the perceived mortality of any excising divinity. I really feel that it comes more from lazy media criticism, believing that the "subversion" inherently makes it more clever, occasional annoying reddit atheist aside. Anyway, sorry for dumping theses in your asks. :V

Nah, you're good anon! This is interesting stuff (and I like getting CR asks :D).

To be clear, the reason that I view the fandom debate as a discussion of establishment vs anti-establishment is that a lot of the "what if gods BAD" ideas are presented with a very Twitter-esque anti-authority burn-it-all-to-the-ground attitude; that is not to say that I actually think that's what the totality of the argument is, just that that tends to be the veneer. (And to be fair, some of my perspective on this is colored by Fire Emblem Three Houses discourse, where this is also usually framed around "the system" when it's usually for the reasons we're discussing, but I don't want the lines to get blurred here.)

So I think a lot of the reason why people making these claims with that attitude aren't engaging with alignment is because there are also gods who are chaotic good or neutral and lawful evil; I think a lot of the criticism of the gods is mostly just like, people being mad at Pelor and projecting that onto all of the pantheon. The notion of this actually, canonically being an establishment vs anti-establishment scenario falls apart because I don't think you can really make a decent case for why Sehanine or Avandra are more "establishment" than the guy who runs a wholeass death city built on rigid laws and power structures. I mean...why, because they're considered Good and Asmodeus is considered Evil? Yeah, that tends to happen when one side fights to preserve life and the other side rules over a plane dedicated to the torture and corruption of mortal souls.

That doesn't necessarily speak to whether or not the Exandrian pantheon playing the tropes straight is a good thing, I'm just saying it shouldn't have been a surprise when Calamity Part 4 dropped. We saw what the Nine Hells are like. We saw what Tharizdun did to Yasha and what its influence did to Cognouza. We been knew.

I think you're correct in that most of this ultimately comes from poor media criticism and wanting the subversion of expectations because it would be cool, but I think it's also because people don't want gods who were occasionally not accommodating to Blorbo Of The Month to be validated as "good". I tend to try to be as inclusive as I can to people who have suffered religious trauma, because I always want to respect and affirm that (especially as a religious person, but also because it's just the right thing to do), but I think it's also true that many people who propagate those ideas are not themselves sufferers of religious trauma but are willing to use that as a shield if it's available. And like, notwithstanding the fact that "the god you thought was good is actually bad" has been done often enough that it's no longer a subversion...guys, don't we have entire seasons of HBO's flagship show and half of a bloated cinematic universe to tell us why we shouldn't just subvert expectations for the hell of it?

And I'm not saying that needing everyone to immediately validate your blorbo and/or ship or else they are badwrongproblematic is a sign of emotional immaturity (it is), but I am saying that this attitude crops up most often in the same college kids whose idea of real activism begins and ends with "burn it all down".

#critical role #cr meta #cr discourse #asks #also stop being mean to pelor that's vex's lightbulb dad :(

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thelongestway · 7 months

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some very sudden and unoriginal Star Trek Prodigy thoughts

do we know from anywhere that the Living Construct was developed by the Vau N'Akat?

because I was just thinking on the thematic parallels of two civilizations suddenly tearing themselves apart. to a point, this could be a product of the Vau N'Akat sense of poetic justice. but I am suddenly not so sure it was. now, I might be deeply misremembering, but I woke at 1 AM to write this, so hear me out.

either the fault lines in Vau N'AKat society need to run deep enough that slight provocation could tear them wide open, or… the Living Construct is neither Vau N'Akat nor Starfleet. Instead, it's entirely its own. Perhaps something of an eldritch opposite to the Borg: an entity which tears apart social connections instead of forging them by force. Most obviously by messing up language; a living punishment for daring to build a Tower of Babel. But perhaps also in more subtle ways?

and who should be able to work on that ship if not people whose existence has hitherto been defined by profound, destructive loneliness? who are always resigned to the possibility that it could, in the end, be their fate?

there is nothing more the Construct can do to those who have lived and breathed loneliness and know it as the baseline norm of existence unless they do something about it with their own hands. Who would it attack? Dal, the only one of his kind, raised by a particularly ruthless Ferengi? Rok-Tahk, perceived as monstrous and dimwitted when she is curious, smart and kind? Zero, who has already lived through being torn away from their people and their link, and has been used as a weapon for who knows how long afterwards? Jankom Pog, alone on a Sleeper ship, with his bitter "if there's one more problem I can't fix, how can I call myself an engineer" and dreams of royalty? Murf, who is too alien to participate in most forms of communication the others form together? The only person who has had even shreds of recent belonging was Gwyndala, and that ended on-screen, with "You chose the ship."

and Janeway. the right way, the wrong way, and the Janeway way, as that recent post said on the insane, warping loneliness of command and loyalty when you're 70k light years away from home (or however long it was). and the Protostar Janeway cannot even rely on her experience being lived.

but the Construct knows Protostar Janeway, and it knows what she misses. so it stays dormant and infects an optimistic Starfleet, used to Community.

In this context, the Construct could easily be the first cause, and at the same time the Vau N'Akat could just as easily have thought it originated from Starfleet. Imagine if the Protostar came in with that weapon embedded in it (from Wormhole shenanigans*), and collectively Chakotay and the Vau N'Akat figured it out too late, at which point the Vau N'Akat decided it was Starfleet's plan all along. Chakotay crashing his ship Prophets knows where makes sense: isolate the isolator. In this case, the Borg being weird about the construct makes sense (need to rewatch), and also Zero being able to just walk out on them. Way less attack surface.

And another thing: the training the Diviner puts Gwyndala through is insane. he wasn't just preparing a wartime interpreter, that'd be a couple of languages plus a Drednok. Teaching a child… Dozens if not hundreds of languages? Why? What past war and experience was he preparing her for? Why make her learn ways of thinking until she could know most of the races in the galaxy blind? Was he ensuring that, no matter what, she could reach someone? Even if everyone else were to be affected - in the land of the blind, the one-eyed lady is queen.

I really, really want to see how season 2 will handle it. and I have faith that they will, and that they will find a new home. we need more linguistics in our science fiction, and even if this theory is totally bonkers, the themes of loneliness, understanding, and literally being able to speak to one another will be there. because the writers are good, and that's what they chose to explore, and showed it like 5 min in of episode 1.

I think Suzette Haden Elgin would've loved Star Trek Prodigy, and that it would be a high compliment.

*crack version: it's a stray Pah-wraith. Instead of "why do you exist here", it goes "you HAVE and WILL ALWAYS exist HERE". The Bajorans were mostly immune to them for the same reason the Prodigy crew is: there is a limit after which loneliness and uncertainty become the default, and then those beings lose their power (and the people thrown into it? die or have the kind of scars we're shown). And also this is how they get Kai Winn - after what, four decades including concentration camps and empty prayer? Took 'em a while EVEN WITH the seeds planted for them by Winn Adami herself!

#star trek prodigy #I had bunched more tags but tumblr glitched #so just #suzette haden elgin #and tomorrow this ate enough sleep already #tl;dr: the living construct is meteion #tl;dr for non-ffxiv people: the living construct has agency #and that agency is used to break down communication on a bigger scale than just translators #star trek prodigy meta #the writers' answer to “make the Borg scary again”

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csolarstorm · 6 months

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Thoughts on Loki, Episode 2-5: Science/Fiction

Can these characters just cool it with the dying metaphors for one second? First we get pruning, which sends people to the end of time, which is basically purgatory. Mobius gets pruned, Loki gets pruned. Sylvie feels left out so she prunes herself.

Now that pruning is old, spaghetti-fying takes its spot this season as the new way to not really die at least not permanently. Not only does p-p-poor Mr. Victor Timely "die" heroically, we can assume everyone else got spaghetti-fied in the explosion of the Temporal Loom. And then when Loki gets the gang back together in Ep. 5, they get noodle-d all over again! Not to mention the poor record store guy, whose first reaction to the incomprensible failure of spactime was to warn and/or protect Sylvie. Aw, what a guy.

I have to confess I still don't understand the Temporal Loom. It's taking raw time and weaving it into timelines, and without it...time falls apart? Without it, time is "raw" and organized time doesn't exist? Okay, then how did the universe work BEFORE the Temporal Loom? Does every universe have a TVA and a Temporal Loom literally creating their timeline? Why does the fabric of spacetime literally depend on Kang? That doesn't seem right.

It would make more sense if "raw" time is still something people can live in, and the Loom was just organizing "raw" time for He Who Remains' timeline. But after Episode 5, it's pretty clear that the literal fate of the multiverse depends on the Temporal Loom working, and I find that a bit ridiculous. Hopefully I'm missing something.

I have a theory about Loki's time jumping. We see him meeting himself at different points in time several times in the show. He really seems fractured, scattered throughout time. What if this is what it's like to be spaghetti? Maybe each of these Lokis are a single noodle of the Loki scattered through time, and each noodles looks like a snapshot of Loki, until they glitch and twist and collapse on themselves, snapping to other times like a noodle attached to another end.

Does this theory affect anything? Absolutely not.

In the next episode, Loki, the fledgling God of Stories, will attempt to rewrite the Temporal Loom explosion so they can save the TVA and all time, always, because apparently the multiverse needs the TVA to function. As he keeps trying, we are sure to see more explosions and more spaghetti before he figures it out. And that leads me to my point:

Dying and being reborn with new knowledge is such an integral theme to Loki. This new Loki is a symbolic reincarnation of the Loki that that Thanos killed. He made friends, learned humility, fell in love, seriously considered questions about the greater good, and then acknowledged his power and responsibility as a voice in the reform of the TVA.

Whenever he experiences metaphorical "death", he learns information that changes his entire paradigm. When he's pruned in the first season, he goes through his own little Divine Comedy. He learns perspective about himself from spending time with his variants. He learns about Alioth, a pivotal piece of the multiversal war. And he meets He Who Remains, who changes his entire perspective on existence.

In Season 2, Loki's rebirth after the explosion of the Temporal Loom shows him his friends and their backstories, what gives them joy and why he wants to save the TVA so badly. With this new understanding of what he really wants, he is able to control his time jumping, as if he's been reborn onto a higher plane.

The fall streaming schedule this year has been a gold mine. There was Gen V, Loki, Rick and Morty (ironically the spaghetti episode is coming up...or is it on purpose...) and now even the return of Invincible. Loki has come really close to the quality of last season, and it does a good job of doing something really different and yet thematically the same to keep a coherent and gripping show.

#Loki #mcu loki #Loki show #Loki series #Loki season two #Loki season 2 #mcu #marvel #marvel mcu

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cityandking · 9 months

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26, 37, 49, 77, 89, + 100 for minah and bran!

thanks tabby!! // 100 warm up questions

26. What would your character say their best trait would be?

MINAH — her flexibility, literal and metaphorical. she's adaptable in more ways than one BRAN — her charm! my darling silver-tongued captain, talking her way in and out of all sorts of trouble

37. What stereotypical role would your character play in a high school AU/if they attended a normal high school? (Nerd, jock, bully, goth, etc.)

MINAH — if you put the wardens in a high school au she'd be a theater kid. probably one of those theater kids who can escape the Theater Kid box (she does band in the off season and like, debate maybe? model UN?) but definitely first and foremost and theater kid BRAN — jock! she's a jock!!! she plays multiple sports (soccer captain bran) and she's on the varsity team(s) and has a letter jacket that she's always lending to sabine. she's one of those kids who refuses to be boxed into any one social group and makes a point to get to know everyone she can

49. What colors are associated with your character?

MINAH — her palette is pretty earthy and warm. golds, reds, burnt orange, brown, umber. white as an accent. also the warden blue & silver look, now. BRAN — blue, tan, brown, silver, gold. y'know, good sandy pirate colors

77. If your character had to multiclass into a class they currently aren’t the next time they level up, what would it be and what reason would they have for doing so?

MINAH — bard 100%. it would align really nicely with her entertainer/actor background, and I think Jack of All Trades, Song of Rest, and Inspiration would all be pretty cool and helpful things that fit with what she's already got going on. (I'd drop three levels into College of Satire for the bonus proficiency/expertise and the Tumbling Fool BA to dash and disengage and halve falling damage.) However! If we assume she can't multiclass into a caster because she's not a mage... Probably fighter. I'd say training with Leo gives her the opportunity to try it on for size. She'd probably go Champion for the 19 crit (double the chance to get sneak attack damage) and either take the Archery fighting style or take Close Quarters Shooter and switch her starting feat. BRAN — rogue is the obvious choice—she's halfway swashbuckler rogue already, and the sneak attack and expertise would be rad (she could be training with middy). alternately, I was seriously considering multiclassing her as a tempest cleric—all that love of the ocean and desire for freedom manifesting itself in literal divine power. sexy. plus I think it's something that would legit unsettle her, which would have been fun to play

89. What is your character’s relationship with magic? Are they scared of it, wish to know more about it, indifferent to it?

MINAH — minah's more chill about magic than your average Thedosian I'd say. she doesn't really understand it, but she's traveled with a couple apostates—it's not unusual for one to hitch a ride with the troupe now and then; for a while they had a fireworks show that was 60% firecrackers and 40% mage—and she's never had an issue with a mage (til now rip). she's also distrustful of Chantry doctrine as a rule, so if they say Magic Is Bad she's like, doubt.jpg. this has, as a rule, really broadened her horizons and acceptance. she's curious about it as a tool—like with cian's weird frozen heart, it's fine so long as it's an item they can use and not like, affecting his brain or whatever (rip, again). honestly she's got enough magic items on her person it would be weird if she weren't cool with magic. she could do without the zombies tho BRAN — it's simply not something bran has ever thought that much about. like yeah it's cool and useful and pretty damn impressive, but she can't do it and she doesn't need to, so it's fine. she feels about it the same way she feels about the gods: like, yeah, obviously they're real and out there, but what does it have to do with her? (she does enjoy using a fun magic item, tho)

100. What, currently, is your character the most curious about?

MINAH — what the fuck is up with this tevinter cult and why is starkhaven so involved in whatever's going on???? BRAN — she was curious about meeting the person who invented guns and finding out about all that! the party was just about to head off on that trip when the campaign got dropped, so I guess she'll live on forever in unsated curiosity (also, more broadly, how she'll be remembered. that's always on her mind)

#minah: cultists? in MY marcher states? it's more likely than you'd think (Classic Kirkwall amirite)#tysm for the multiclass question that's my shit #not me mentally specing minah out as a 17 rogue/3 bard in real time sldkfjdlskjf #minah #branwen #memery

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lananiscorner · 2 years

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The Sandman rewatch - Calliope

So I like to do this thing where, if I didn’t consider a show a complete waste of time and if it does have an actual arc spanning the season, I watch the season twice–once as a binge watch and then once more episode by episode, because it helps me notice things I didn’t notice at first, especially in cases like this where I’m almost entirely unfamiliar with the source material.

I apologize that the second part of this episode is coming so late—I got a new PC and had to set everything up again properly, so I didn’t have time for it until now.

Trigger warnings: mentions of sexual abuse and rape beneath the cut.

Also, lots of swearing because this one… is kind of personal for me.

Well, we’re starting off with a statement that’s very relatable to any writer: the character comes first.

Wow, way to crush the soon-to-be doctor’s writing dreams, Richard.

Yeah, this Erasmus Fry guy is not suspicious and unlikable from the start AT ALL.

Ok, so Erasmus desperately wants a bezoar for it’s detoxing qualities. Can I infer that he’ll be dead soon? Good.

So not only does this old bastard keep a muse locked up against her will—he keeps her locked up in a dusty old storage room. The actual fuck.

Ah, the old “I’ll set you free before I die” promise. Yeah, I don’t think that one’s ever been upheld by anyone.

She is literally |this| close to decking him in the face. I wish she had, but there’s probably some kind of spell preventing her too.

And we can add “victim-blaming coward” to the list of descriptors for her captor. Fuck you, Erasmus Fry.

“But I must say I found force most efficacious.” Holy. Kangaroo. On. A. Pogostick!

Alright, so actual props to the writing team for saying “rape” without saying “rape”, but what the actual fuck… Erasmus deserves whatever nastiness is coming to him.

Oh, and we’re using the “she’s not human, so it’s ok” defense? Fuck you, Erasmus Fry.

That little smirk on Calliope’s face though, when he says that all his work is out of print now. We stan.

“Little cow”? What the actual hell…

Wow, this guy even negs his fellow writer. What a specimen.

Okay, Richard, this is where you say “you know what, I don’t like this, you can go”.

But nooo, instead we’re installing a second lock on the door! That will surely inspire trust and collaboration!

“Do you think you could… help me first?” Dude, you literally just took slave ownership of an immortal being AND INSTALLED A SECOND LOCK ON HER DOOR in a clear sign of your lack of trustworthiness, what the fuck do you think? Do you even have a brain?

Calliope’s not buying it. Good for her.

Blinking Cursor Of The Empty Page is honestly the most relatable character in this so far.

Yeah dude, don’t open Reddit, Twitter or Insta when you’re trying to write. That way lies the devil of distraction. You should know better.

Okay, so, I can’t believe I am writing this, but I will give him credit for making an ATTEMPT at the entire wooing thing at least. Should he have asked her first what “wooing” exactly means for a muse? Yes. But an attempt was made. He gets a D for effort.

“An artist prays to the muses. He offers vows of service and devotion to the goddesses in exchange for divine inspiration.” Memo to myself: build small altar to Calliope.

“You gave Erasmus Fry what he wanted.” DUDE… Which fucking part of of the word “force” do you not understand??

Dude… your lack of creativity and poor financial choices are NOT comparable to decades of captivity and sexual abuse. Get your head out of your fucking arse.

Daaaamn, Calliope all but saying “yeah, I hear you and I’ll help you, just free me”. She is way too good for this dude. I would have been like “fuck off back to your empty pages” already.

And fuck you too, Richard Madoc.

Once again, props to the writer and director for making very clear what’s happening without being gratuitous about it—that fade to black, the sound of the lock, Richard’s half-buttoned shirt and the scratch on his cheek are really all we need.

I love that they are referencing the 3 OG muses here in Calliope’s prayer (meditation, remembrance and song). They are so much less known than the 9 Calliope belongs to.

Oh hey, it’s the fates! Please don’t give her some cryptic bs advice that won’t help her at all. She’s already dealing with enough shit.

Alright, so I know that this exposition dialogue about Calliope’s relationship with Dream is supposed to be very tragic, but imo the real tragedy here is that Calliope and Morpheus had a son and named him… Orpheus. You are a literal muse and the king of dreams! You have literally endless inspiration and THAT is what you name your child? I can’t.

Well, at least the fates were not being super cryptic or vague this time.

“I think it probably speaks to the author’s pretension.” YOOOOOO! Go off, random lady!

“I do tend to regard myself as a feminist writer.” FUCK YOU, RICHARD MADOC!

Okay, but this line hits pretty hard upon rewatch, because in my current active franchise (FE3H), we literally just witnessed two users getting bullied off social media by a bunch of Reddit dudes who use their “defense of a feminist icon character” as a moral shield, painting themselves as feminists while harassing RL people, some of whom are women. Like, this is just so fucking vile.

“From the women in my life.” That’s a very nice way of putting “from the woman I am locking up and raping in the room upstairs”, Richard Madoc. God, I wanna strangle him and Erasmus.

And of course he’s now four successful novels into his career and STILL not letting her go.

“Can you not allow yourself to enjoy our success?” Oh, you mean “can you not allow yourself to enjoy me getting rich off of literally raping you for inspiration?” What a pretentious fucking prick.

That tiny smile of hers when she sees that the sleeping sickness is over and puts 1 and 2 together. <3

Ooh, and it’s the melody of the Dreaming making its comeback as she goes downstairs to look for pen and paper! <3

Bwahahaha, he said the name for her. Congrats, Richard, you just fucked yourself.

Richard about Erasmus: “He was… very kind.” As kind as a chain saw to the nuts, you mean.

Ahahaha, he poisoned himself! Serves him right, old bastard. Good fucking riddance, Erasmus Fry!

Alright, now this scene with Calliope and Dream… this fucking scene. There is so much goodness here, especially if you have personal experience with being an SA survivor, which I unfortunately do, so here’s a numbered list before I start screaming into the void:

Note how Dream, who was imprisoned for longer than Calliope, lost his beloved raven, and then had to deal with Joanna, Lucifer, John Dee, the Corinthian and a fucking Vortex to get any semblance of normalcy back into his life, instantly, and without hesitation, states that he thinks that what Calliope went through was worse. It is SO freaking common for men to not take SA seriously, so to hear someone who’s canonically a bit of an insensitive prick who went through plenty of trauma himself STILL acknowledge it for the absolute fate worse than death that it is is just so… validating? Tearjerkingly heartwarming?

“Comparing our suffering only compounds it.” What a raw line from Calliope! No, we’re not here to play Suffering Olympics. We both went through awful shit. The best we can do is try to move on.

Calliope, who said that she despises Dream, still acknowledging that what he went through was awful and she’s glad he’s free (even though she literally is not, right now). No jealousy, just relief. What a queen.

Calliope to Richard: Please free me? Richard: lol nope. Calliope to Dream: Please inspire him to free me? Dream: All that and more. -- Absolute legend.

Calliope pointing out that no punishment could be enough—and you can see in Dream’s face that she’s got a point that he hadn’t considered, because no matter how awful he thinks Richard treated her, at the end of the day, he knows nothing of her pain, her loss, and vengeance will not bring back what he took from her. I wonder if he thought back to his conversation with Death in that moment—about how all he had been able to think about during his own imprisonment was vengeance, but when he finally got it, it wasn’t satisfying at all.

Calliope: Why? Because I was once yours? Dream: Because he hurt you. -- Do I have to explain this one? Like, honestly, one of the worst things about SA is how demeaned and devalued it can make a person feel, and I could only imagine how sharply Calliope must have felt that, given that neither Erasmus nor Richard considered her worthy of being treated with humanity simply because she is more than human, and here is Dream saying “you are enough—I don’t need a selfish reason to want to hurt the bastard—he hurt YOU, and that’s more than enough.” ;_;

Dream asking PERMISSION from Calliope to let him help her. She is the one who called for him, so one could say consent is implied, but after 60 years of her consent being denied, Dream realizes “implied” no longer cuts it and instead asks for her EXPLICIT consent. With a “please” on top! I’m not sure we’ve even heard him use that word in any other episode. Absolute legend.

That look of ice cold murder when she asks him what he’ll do to Richard. CHILLS!!!

And one final word in this scene: note how Dream does not touch Calliope. They were married once. They had a kid. He’s made it clear he still has feelings for her even though it’s been thousands of years and she said she never wanted to see him again… but he does not touch her. It’s such a small detail, but from the perspective of an SA survivor, that’s HUGE.

I just love every second of this entire fucking scene. Brb, gotta find and murder whoever is cutting onions here.

“Be quiet.” Jesus… Tom Sturridge does “unnervingly polite, tranquil fury” so fucking well!

“I will not call any HUMAN agency.” And that is when it probably dawned on Richard that he had fucked up.

The way Dream rose without blinking when Richard tried to weasel his way out of this—perfection! The sheer disgust with which he spits the word “defiled” (for anyone who hadn’t put 1 and 2 together yet)--sublime!

Dream here with the classical punishments—like, this is the kind of stuff you’d legit see in ancient Greek myth. Oh, you wanna see the future? I’ll let you see the future, but I’ll also make sure no-one will ever believe you. You want ideas? I’ll give you too many to handle.

Calliope’s smile when Richard asks her if she’s giving him nightmares now. <3

That moment when he sees Dream in the audience—perfection.

Okay, but most of his ideas are actually rubbish, which is understandable, give whose brain they are springing from, except maybe for the one of a city where the streets are paved with time. I would read that.

Imagine you’re a woman attending a reading by your favorite author and then he starts scribbling stuff on the walls in blood and talking about how he’s keeping a woman locked up in his mansion—like, at that point I’d just leave. Maybe call 911/equivalent on my way out.

And just when you think Erasmus Fry cannot get any worse since he is… you know… dead for several months at this point, we find out that the book he was particularly proud of and wanted to go back into print, was the one with the byline “She was his muse… and the slave of his lust!” FUCK THIS ASSHOLE!

Awww, Calliope’s back in her normal clothes with her traditional hairdo!

And just in case we think Dream’s thoughtfulness was a fluke, when Calliope says she’ll work to rewrite the laws she was bound by, because neither she nor her sisters had any agency in those, Dream assures her he’ll make sure to make those changes in his realm as well. Legend!

“I will not forgive what he has done, but I must forgive the man. Not for him. For me.” Translation: “I do not want to spend the rest of my eternal life feeling angry and hurt every time I think of this dude—I want him to become worm food like he deserves and let his memory fade into the sunless lands.” Kudos, Calliope.

And again, Dream being like “I don’t get it, I think you’re too nice, but it’s not about me, it’s about YOU and if that’s what you want, sure I’ll let him go”.

Meanwhile, in a nice little parallel, Richard Madoc is STILL not listening to a thing the women in his life are saying (i.e. not bothering to answer Nora’s questions).

Also, on one hand, yes, it’s very… Dream… of Dream, to stop the punishment he inflicted, but to do so in a way that’s even more punishing, but I think there’s another reason he did it too: at the end, Richard doesn’t even remember anymore who the woman he kept locked up was, which means he won’t be able to go after her and try to capture her again, he won’t be able to publicize what he did to her as some kind of vengeful, victim-blaming BS (see Erasmus wanting that one particular book to go back into print), and he won’t be able to try to go after her sisters either. He will no longer be able to reap any further benefit of the “gifts” he already took from her either, because he’s in no further condition to coordinate sequels, adaptations, interviews, whatever. Dream has made sure that Richard no longer has any avenue to hurt Calliope further or get further gains from the hurt he already inflicted.

Dream be like: okay, that was enough of an emotional roller coaster for now—the talk about our dead son will have to wait.

And at the end of it all, it is Calliope who touches him, not the other way around. ;_;

Finally, I love that we end this episode not with Richard or Dream, but with Calliope, happy and free. Perfect place to end it.

#The Sandman #Calliope #episode 11 rewatch #no RIPs this time #just trigger warnings for SA #this episode fucked me up #still love it

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hiswordsarekisses · 10 months

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I pray if you only have time to read one post today, it will be this one.

⚔️📖⚔️

This post may in break some religious glass. If it does, I say ‘GOOD!’

Many may think that I am ‘Anti-Church’ from the things that I post, which is not necessarily the case.

What I am against are the trappings and patterns of Churchianity that can rob millions of the real experience God intended.

THE FACT IS you can attend church for years and years and never be taught ‘how to know’ God’s voice, or ‘how to be led’ by the Holy Spirit, or learn ‘how to evangelize’ a single soul.

But to me the greatest tragedy is to never be taught how to truly connect to God.

Jesus did not die so we would go to church every Sunday. That is not true Christianity.

Jesus died, rose, and sends the Holy Spirit [in order] to restore each one of us back into intimacy with True Love. That’s meant to be a daily experience.

The problem is [a corrupt system]. Just like we see corruption in the medical system, court system, school system and our government. There is a ‘religious system’, set up by men that feeds and supports ‘the system’.

The system needs resources to survive and will always cherry pick scriptures and ‘unspoken laws’ to teach and reinforce the patterns that support its survival.

Sad fact is for those reading their Bibles, they can see, this often looks nothing like we see in the book of Acts.

‘The system’ is designed to make people [pastor dependent], not God dependent.

It preaches on endless biblical topics, but ignores the most critical teaching of ‘how to’ become strongly connected to Jesus, how to hear His voice, be led by the Holy Spirit and enter the daily transformational experience that God intends for each of us.

I would have still been stuck in this system if it wasn’t for crushing trauma and circumstances that forced me to grope for a real Savior.

The Sunday boxed version I was living did not cut through the pain of the dark season I entered in 2011. I needed a real Savior.

No Pastor was there for me, even though I had tithed religiously for 20 years.

To my utter amazement, Jesus showed up. Literally He climbed down into my hopeless dark, broken pit of despair and He took my now full attention tenderly in His hands… and He made me know His voice. He made me know His loving presence. He made me to see how personal [He is] and then He began to walk with me and talk with me and show me amazing inspired visions of what He wanted me to do.

See YOU have a divine purpose that is 100 times more fruitful than 1000 years of Church attendance. That purpose is designed by God for you to walk out on earth ‘with Him’.

If you get this truth it will forever change your life.

God has inspired plans for you to reach the hurting world around you in real tangible ways that go far beyond simply being a greeter at church and a pew warmer.

God has a voice and it sounds and feels like True Love. He wants to take your personal hand and walk with and talk with you personally on a day to day basis.

This is why God has called me to share what He taught me. I created a playlist on YouTube and on our website that is 100% free!

It is designed to help you make the strong connection to God, which is key to your God-born destiny.

All of this being said, I believe in the five-fold ministry, teaching and family style fellowship that truly gets to know and care for one another.

I love to fellowship and break bread with any believer, anywhere and at anytime.

For me personally, I would rather lead someone to the heart of God than to church, any day.

I echo Paul in his letter to Timothy, “The goal of our instruction is the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith.” 1 Timothy 1:5

FINAL THOUGHTS: I am not ‘Anti-[True] Church’, I am PRO [daily] personal connection to the heart of God.

Hope this encourages you!

www.KingsGallery.net

“Restoring intimacy with God”

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