#symbolizing her fully realizing that she's still part of her family and how she's the one who brought them together

[deejayponethree]

I still need to do color palettes but for now. Horse moment

#cricket doodles #encanto #encanto mlp au #mlp #my little pony au #mirabel madrigal #luisa madrigal #isabela madrigal #dolores madrigal #camilo madrigal #antonio madrigal #They're alicorns bc their canon magic status makes them unique and that would be hard to communicate if they just got their cutiemarks #Speaking of which they all get their cutiemarks and become alicorns when they open their doors #Which is why Mirabel is an earth pony without a cutiemark for a while #She doesn't become an alicorn at the end of the movie but she does get her candle cutiemark when she puts the knob in the new front door #symbolizing her fully realizing that she's still part of her family and how she's the one who brought them together #Also Mirabel is the only one who wears a skirt which means at first glance you wouldn't be able to tell if she had a cm or not #Which also shows her insecurity #my art #crossover

[transhawks]

I remember that Hori referred to Hawks (and Ochako) being a 'light of hope' in 2021. It's also interesting that it was Hawks who commented on Ofa and how it connects people's hearts. Do you have any thoughts on this?

I think that arc was very dark for Hawks specifically and the anime's rendition of it is very dark. However these chapters... in 323-325 it is a bit different. It's where I think Hori was honest and where I do think Hawks and especially Ochako are at their brightest, narratively. So, uh, to go back to my writing for Graduation Day, I remember debating whether to analyze this scene because I thought it was relevant. I eventually decided that six thousand words is enough and to spare y'all, but let's get into it because I think it confirms my thesis that vulnerability is needed for connection in BNHA.

Ochako's first panels in 324 have her saying, admitting actually, that she cannot reassure people. She acknowledges they're all scared and worried.

This was the best thing she could have done.

The deification of heroes was something that led to the system they have now. Somewhere in the glitz and hero rankings people forgot these are regular people.

We see this repeatedly as an issue of identities - why Toshinori seems a shell of himself outside of All Might, most of Enji's issues boil down to him not knowing how to be Enji versus Endeavor and screwing his family up for it, and Hawks is...well, everything about Hawks is about being a Hero rather than a person, which is why Horikoshi had him kill someone literally named "humanity".

Ochako doesn't allow this to go on. She makes it clear they're all scared, they're all people who want safety, comfort, and want to be clean from mud and dirt, same as any other. It's why she's one of the Savior Kids; she's geared to try and humanize the other side. It's why she's paired with Toga. See below, as she thinks of Toga while giving a speech.

Essentially she reached the people in that crowd by reminding them who Deku is - a kid with way too much on his shoulders, a person just like them. Not a symbol, not a quirk, like AFO is treating him as. A boy. Or "regular high school kid" - yeah, I should have put this in Graduation Day, lol.

Symbols aren't meant to be fragile or have to come out from the rain. Deku does because he's a person.

So what about Hawks?

This isn't the last time Keigo is going make metaphors about One for All. Remember the line so many people read in bad faith about him comparing Endeavor "linking" people together too? He was talking about connection, pure and simple, realizing that much of his own motivations and Inasa's are connected through Endeavor, or their perceptions of him.

Truly, it's just him remarking that seeing society as holistic, as a whole rather than a part, is the key to solving their issue.

I think the emphasis on showing your soul, ugliness and cracks and all is one of the keys to reaching the villains. Something that doesn't position them as moral superiors, which is where Keigo failed drastically with Jin. He didn't give him a good choice at all. He also wasn't willing to be fully vulnerable with him. But I also think there's another dimension to this. More and more I think Horikoshi is actually criticizing individualism and the idea of "the great man". In his depicting of bystander system that has become an issue from society delegating acts of kindness and heroism to an actual career, I think he's critiquing the idea that one person can shoulder that burden.

It shouldn't be a person but a village, so to speak. It says a lot that the characters we know as villains are both seeking connection but also saying, in the depths of despair, that their individual will can change the world.

I still interpret this scene as Dabi deep in denial. Uh oh, he actually FELT something, time to double down and reiterate he doesn't give an actual fuck when truth is he DOES, he just doesn't want to. Otherwise he has to FEEL.

Anyway, the emphasis on the single person and single convinction is another one of those clues I think Horikoshi is leaving us about the "Great Man theory".

The great man theory is a 19th-century approach to the study of history according to which history can be largely explained by the impact of great men, or heroes: highly influential and unique individuals who, due to their natural attributes, such as superior intellect, heroic courage, extraordinary leadership abilities or divine inspiration, have a decisive historical effect.

I remember balking when I read this. Maybe it's because here in the West, there's little uhh agreement over Napoleon being heroic. Maybe it's because my history teachers were unsual but I've never really seen anyone seriously consider Napoleon heroic. There always seemed to be agreement he was a power-mad tyrant who took advantage of the Revolution to enact a military coup and then actual progress made by the Jacobins. So the fact chapter 3 of BNHA has Mic quoting him as a great hero was always weird. At the time of my first read through, I wrote it off as maybe Japan doesn't take this approach to Napoleon and the Revolution. One person's tyrant is another's hero, you know? But more and more I think Horikoshi has been debunking Great Man Theory with his manga. First off the premise of Great Man is usual that the Great Man is born, that his Greatness is congenital. That there's a natural aptitude for greatness, like superior intellect, etc. BNHA is absolutely refuting that, has from the first page. In fact the characters who get into the trap of believing they are born "anything" are shown to be trapped or not in a good way (see Redestro, or see Tomura and Keigo believing they are born to destroy/have dirty wings respectively). So much of who Deku has become is supposed to change this idea of biological predisposition to greatness.

Even Dabi, who has struggled against the circumstances of his birth, falls into the trap of believing some people are born with everything and are born to everything, essentially internalizing the worst of his father's own beliefs.

The story isn't kind to people who give us this rhetoric - that depending on others is wrong, or weakness. It's why Deku had his arc, after all.

Which brings us to my second point - the story isn't the triumph of individuals against evil. It's about people coming together. That's why Ochako and Keigo had their moments of realization in 323-325.

It's not about one person. It's about people.

Lastly, and this is conjecture, but there's a curiosity to the Great Man theory from a cultural standpoint. Now each culture has its Great Man to some extent. I've spoken about how All For One is likely trying to emulate Oda Nobunaga with his Demon Lord talk. But the emphasis on individual actions over collective ones, the commercialization of heroism, and the idea of competition breeding innovations/results are distinctively Western Capitalist ones. And in...a clumsy way, I think Horikoshi has been hinting at this being part of his own criticism.

Did you ever notice how the Japanese anime has them say "Hero/Hiro"? It's an imported word. Japanese has other words that mean hero, like yusha or eiyu, which have different meanings that all relate to the English hero as either a brave person (yusha) or a person of greatness/importance (eiyu). Why then use hiro, a foreign word as the title for this career?

Because the hero system is canonically imported. And so perhaps are the ideals it brought with it.

#asks #bnha meta #hawks #ochako #bnha

[deadboyswalking]

Why The Overhaul Arc Matters

Strap the FUCK in I just realized the actual narrative significance of the Overhaul arc.

Eri-Tomura Parallel

At a surface level, Eri and Tomura have obvious parallels, right?

Visually, they look very similar with light hair and red eyes. Quirk-wise, they both have incredibly powerful, devastating Quirks that caused a fatal accident with their real families.

Eri hated herself because of the poison that Chisaki put in her head. Tomura hates himself for the same reason but with AFO.

They both were groomed to feel fully responsible for their traumatizing childhood accidents and for their only self-worth to be related to being useful towards their manipulative abuser and his goals.

Their parallels have been discussed at length by many people, so I'm not going to go into it except to say: no, they aren't literally blood related like some people argue. I also don't think AFO gave either of them their Quirks. Did AFO give Decay? Analysis Thread

Overhaul-AFO Parallel

That leads me to my next point: Overhaul and All For One are the same character.

As leaders, they prey on vulnerable people and buy their unquestioned loyalty (the Shie Hassaikai, Dr. Garaki, Machia, etc)

They will use these people for their purposes and then discard them at will, without any emotions or ethics to consider.

Their relationship toward their charge is NOT exactly parental. There is zero affection or even pretended affection towards Eri or Tomura and, in fact, others are doing their actual day-to-day care (various Hassaikai members, Kurogiri).

They speak in the same way to and about their charges. "You're a cursed human." "Another death on your hands." "Symbol of Fear" "You have within you the impulse to destroy that even you can't control." A huge part of their abuse is based in manipulating their charges to despise themselves and think they're inherently evil, so said charges give up on being a regular human. Further literary parallel: Claude Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Deku's Connection

AND FINALLY, my point: the Overhaul-Eri situation is directly responsible for Deku's current empathy toward Tomura and drive to save him. When Deku saw AFO take over Tomura and use his body for his own purposes during the war, especially with what he saw in the vestige realm, I think the parallel with Eri clicked.

Tomura is what would've happened to Eri if she hadn't been rescued. I fully think that if Eri had survived to adulthood without being rescued, Overhaul would have groomed her to live entirely for his benefit with full live-or-die loyalty for him (like the rest of the Shie Hassaikai, but stronger due to manipulation from childhood onwards). She would have grown to hate society for not saving her AND for being against Overhaul's goals. I honestly think she would've been even scarier than Tomura since Tomura at least had Kurogiri (who has been show to genuinely care for him on some level) rather than random gangsters as his primary caregiver.

Don't you see? It's all connected to Deku's endgame: pulling Tomura away from AFO and saving someone else who has been damned because of their Quirk and abuser. Of course, saving Tomura, a grown man who has committed A LOT of violence, is going to be much harder than saving a wholly innocent little girl, but the SEED was planted during the Overhaul arc.

I believe this is also WHY Deku chooses to see the Tenko that still lives inside Tomura.

Final Thoughts

This might be super obvious but I'd been scratching my head for MONTHS about how the Overhaul arc is significant to the narrative since the Quirk bullets storyline went nowhere and I'm not a fan of the "Eri rewinds the villains or the whole world!" take. I was so quick to discard the Overhaul arc as unimportant when the bullets didn't impact the story much, but I just completely missed the big picture.

I SAW the Eri-Tomura and Overhaul-AFO parallels but I couldn't quite figure out how the pieces went together beyond the surface parallel of two similarly abused children and two abusers. Understanding this connection also fixes what I had considered to be a huge logical plot hole in the story: why did Deku have a sudden 11th-hour change of heart and shift his focus from defeating Tomura to saving him?

Overhaul-Eri to AFO-Tomura is a direct link for Deku's endgame and the total themes of the story, I just couldn't see it before.

#bnha meta #shigaraki tomura #eri chan #bnha eri #all for one #bnha overhaul #chisaki kai #bnha analysis

[inspectorlyfra]

So, that “Carmilla fixes what’s broken” theory/headcanon, yeah? Let’s play with that a little. Both a literal meaning, and a metaphorical one. Buckle up, let’s go! 

Thanks to his profile on the official website, we know Jonny made up his “backstory” as seen in One-Eyed Jacks. We also know he still did kill his dad, as seen in the “killing your father in an emotionally climactic moment” “you’re projecting again, jonny” exchange in DTTM. I wouldn’t know what the exact words are, I refuse to watch DTTM. Moving on, we don’t actually know how exactly he reached the near-death state necessary for mechanization. Death row? Self-inflicted? A heart attack? Who knows!

Symbolically, though, in the prison interview fiction, he briefly mentions that SA is the one thing Doc Carmilla put off-limits. While this could be a lie, or instead a reference to Carmilla’s parenting (did Jonny ever get time-out?), it pretty steadily points towards some form of morals integrated into the mechanism itself. Backing this up, on his profile again, Jonny says “I’m told I had a good heart, but the Doc dealt with that.” And what organ traditionally is associated with morals? The heart, babey!

Going off of this, I’d say that Jonny’s act of patricide wasn’t premeditated. Back to the “emotionally climactic moment”, and all. However he handled the guilt after he realized what happened, I’d assume that was his downfall.

One headcanon I’ve seen around is that Nastya was born with hemophilia. That’s got the literal ‘broken blood’ out of the way.

As for symbolism, look no further than “Accept the destiny of your blood” as quoted in Cyberian Demons. Nastya knew her family wasn’t great, and she wanted something to be done about that. Their wrongdoings ran in her blood, and she was killed like the rest of them. Clearing her veins set her free.

Ivy’s another tricky one, since we don’t know much about her backstory either. We know that Carmilla made her offer to Ivy in a library she knew by heart, and that’s it.

Going off of her current dissociation from the past thanks to her supercomputer brain, though, I’d guess she had some kind of emotional dysregulation. Trauma, depression, whatever. The dissociation she has now was possibly implemented as a reaction to that. A distance in her own mind, to keep her from getting so overwhelmed.

Thanks to Ashes actually having a backstory song that’s truthful, we know their first death. Smoke inhalation and burns. That, of course, ties into the literal meaning of their lungs.

But lungs aren’t just needed to breathe- you need good lungs to scream. And if Ashes could’ve screamed that night, told the Sevens the truth and exposed Mickey for what he was.. Well, it might not’ve fixed the whole planet, but it would’ve helped.

Brian’s one of two mechs to have the majority of their body be mechanical. His body froze, leaving only his heart intact, yadda yadda.

Going back to the morality idea from Jonny, Brian is a direct parallel to that. Every part of him broke in space except for his heart- his morals. And Carmilla leaned on that with his switch, splitting “morality” into two halves.

A fic I like for this concept that I will promote: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32318977

TS wasn’t made by Carmilla, and its exclusion is fairly self-explanatory for both the literal and figurative, but I’ll go over it quickly anyway. It was made fully clockwork, and only got its autonomy over time. It stole the angel’s voice so that it would have to be heard. 

Tim’s eyes burned out, yes, but he saw countless atrocities over the 3 or 4 years of the war. Replacing his eyes didn’t remove the memories, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

Marius has very little of his pre-mech backstory known! He was a child soldier, and he fought in a giant mecha. That’s about it.

The arm is, arguably, the part of your body that does the most things externally. It types, writes, holds, carries, hits, crushes. And if you’re a soldier, it kills. So when Marius got a shiny new arm and was removed from the environment he grew up in, of course he wanted to be a doctor. He wanted to figure out how to preserve life, not destroy it. Granted, the Mechs don’t need a doctor, but.. I’m sure he had the right idea before the standard desensitization that comes with immortality.

Raphaella’s a complete fucking wild card! Let’s go!

I must of course mention @ladydragonkiller‘s Icarus!Raphaella fic before anything else. Go read it, it’s lovely. https://archiveofourown.org/works/39452052

Whether you subscribe to the “Raphaella gave herself wings” agenda or the “Human carcinization, Raphaella’s species always had wings, but Raphaella’s went wrong somehow” agenda, from my understanding it’s pretty widely agreed on that she mechanized herself.

And whether or not you lean on the Icarus idea, I think the theme of ambition is a strong note. Science is an ambitious field of study! I still like my old idea of a fallen angel interpretation of Raphaella. Regardless of if she was cast out by others or left the nest of her own volition, that ambition and that separation is what cost her her wings.

Making new wings for herself returned her freedom, returned her ambition, returned all of those glorious things. And now, she flies higher than ever before.

And that’s all of them! This wasn’t the most organized, but I had a lotta thoughts I wanted to get down. Wooooo!

#the mechanisms #jonny d'ville #nastya rasputina #ivy alexandria #ashes o'reilly #drumbot brian #the toy soldier #marius von raum #raphaella la cognizi #theory #meta #i guess lmao #no clue if this is a thing everyone Is Aware Of Already #but ehhhh. if it is then oh well #mechs theory

[reccyls]

quick summary of gilbert's proposal event route:

Gilbert just vanished for a day, sending MC and Roderich into a panic, searching the entire castle and even the city for him. When he reappears, MC worriedly asks him where he's been, but Gilbert deflects the question, saying it doesn't really matter. MC is still worried, but internally decides that for now it's okay, since Gilbert appears to be well and it doesn't look like anything happened.

When she wakes up the next day, she's greeted with the sight of a black wedding dress on a mannequin, Gilbert standing right next to her, as he cheerfully proclaims that they're going to get married. While the MC does want to get married someday, she feels uneasy about the situation in a way she can't quite place yet.

Cut to Akatsuki, here in Obsidian for business. Gilbert is asking for MC's hand in marriage from him (though it's less asking, more just declaring), and Akatsuki immediately threatens to kill Gilbert. But basically, Akatsuki says that now isn't an appropriate time for them to be married yet. They don't know each other enough, they can't fully trust each other. And for that reason he won't give his blessing. Why is Gilbert rushing this anyway? The two of them have plenty of time. As Akatsuki speaks, MC realizes what exactly is making her so uneasy about everything.

That night, she goes to see Valter, Gilbert's personal physician. She asks him about Gilbert's disappearance the previous day, but Valter says that he can't talk to her about it. But that reaction is enough for the MC to work out that Gilbert hid away for the day because his health had worsened and he didn't want her to know.

(From here on out it's the premium end from Gilbert's POV as I have not finished the Sweet end yet)

Gilbert catches her as she leaves Valter, scolding her for going to see another man at night. However, MC then talks about how she knows that Gilbert had disappeared because he had gotten sick, and specifically also hid that from her. She says that this is why she doesn't want to get married to him yet; he doesn't fully trust her yet. She knows that she isn't a doctor, that she can't really do anything to help when he gets sick. All she can do is do things like rub his back or be there with him. But in her opinion, that is what true family is: people who will support each other and be there for each other no matter what, and who can trust each other to look after them in their worst moments.

Gilbert thinks that at one point, he thought like that too. During his childhood he had his older brother Albert, and his mother. When he was bedridden and whenever his already poor health took a turn for the worse, at least one of them would be there with him to hold his hand. But Albert and his mother are gone now. There is nobody left for him.

Until the MC is here, offering to be that for him. And Gilbert comes to a realization: he is afraid of her. He is afraid to put that trust in her, and to have her betray him the same way Albert and his mother did: by leaving him or being taken from him. That's why he wanted to rush the marriage: in order to bind her to him and ensure that she would always stay by his side.

MC says that of course she wants to marry Gilbert some day, to officially become part of his family. But they can't do that now, when Gilbert still has these hangups. She understands that Gilbert has lived his whole life in Obsidian palace, where showing any sign of weakness was to invite an opportunity for assassination, and so he doesn't feel safe being weak around anyone anymore. But she is willing to wait for him and with him, for as long as it takes until he can trust her fully with his weakness.

Which is when Gilbert suggests an engagement instead of a marriage, which MC happily agrees to. She does ask for some time before the ceremony in order to prepare a gift for him as well, which turns out to be a necktie embroidered with roses. Gilbert says that ties have a symbolic meaning of binding, and teasingly asks her if it means that she wants to bind him to her. And she says that's exactly what she means. She is binding herself to him as well, her way of saying that she won't leave and she won't die. So he doesn't have to worry about either of those happening.

She also calls him "Gil" at long last, surprising him since she never said it once. Gilber thinks that before, only his family called him that. But up until that point there was nobody left in the world who would call him Gil anymore. So hearing MC call him Gil, the special nickname that he associates with his beloved family... he didn't think that he could ever be so happy.

#ikemen prince #gilbert (ikepri)

[timecma]

i'm curious - when and why did xanthous become your favorite character?

for me it was chapter 8 of atom lol

Oh boy, alright this is where I really start to show my age haha. The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell came out when I was in middle school. One of my friends recommended it to me and I decided to read it because escapism was my only way to cope (😭). Well, when I got to the chapter where it showed the Fairy Council, I immediately was hooked on Xanthous. Solely for the fact that he was the only guy there. It kind of stood out to me because I was also the only guy in a friend group full of girls. Obviously it was because I was gay but that was back when I was still in denial and didn’t understand myself fully.

Well, I hyperfixated on this guy since it just reflected my own kind of situation. Literally like 2012-2013. Back then. Boy howdy, you wouldn’t even believe how I felt when I realized this guy was gay too. Anyway, as the books kept coming out, I kept requesting them from the library, and boom. Xanthous kept showing up. In book 2 he was there. In book 3 he was there. In 4 too for a bit, and then 5 rolled around and we got Conner’s off-brand, straight-coded, adrenaline junkie version (Blaze), and he came back for a bit in book 6. It was crazy. He had been my favorite character since The Wishing Spell. I thought he was going to die in book 6, but he made it out. When I tell you my heart was beating out of my chest you better believe it.

But, then. Then. A Tale of Magic came out. I was in college by then, going through the motions while having thought The Land of Stories was done until the sequel. When I tell you the amount of excitement I got when I saw my favorite character was getting an origin story sent me through the roof, I mean it. By then, Xanthous was a household name. My sister also loves the series and we had collaborated on a piece for the Book Hugger’s Guide—and it got in! (I tell this to everyone since they all get confused, but the name on it is hers because she’s older than me and if you were of a certain age when submitting it then you didn’t have to get parental permission, so she submitted it and you could only get one name on it so here we are. But you might recognize a bit of the anime/manga style that I’ve now expanded upon and improved. That was a reeeeeally long time ago anyway haha. I also did one for the A Tale of Sorcery Zoom Webinar and got it in there too, and I asked my sister if she wanted to help on it a bit, but all she really did was add some sparkles to what I had already done. Nonetheless, she still contributed a bit like she had the first time around. She doesn’t do much with the series anymore these days—but she and I were always kind of a team when it came to art back then.)

Also when I say that Xanthous is a household name, I mean that literally. Anyone who knows me irl knows Xanthous—especially because he now physically exists in my life. When I tell you this man has been the Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime password star I mean it. Literally. It’s always his name prefaced or followed by some random string of numbers and symbols. It’ll always have Xanthous in there somewhere. My whole entire family knows about this guy—that’s how much of my favorite character he is.

When I realized Xanthous was gay and basically had a version of the childhood I did…my world was flipped upside-down. Suddenly I knew wayyy too much about this man. Suddenly his experiences were my own and I felt kind of weird about it, not going to lie. I think it’s cool though how Chris Colfer actually came out and said he was gay and gave him a boyfriend (we also love Elrik in this house). A part of me always kind of…knew? That he was gay?? Like I could sense it with my gaydar through the books and their pages. You can smell it on this guy. You won’t believe how funny it was when I saw he had that crisis in the antique store scene in A Tale of Sorcery. Ah, that brought back memories for me personally. Except I wasn’t in an antique store, I was sitting down with friends at a get together and someone clocked me as gay and I panicked.

Anyway, Xanthous has been my favorite character for many, many, many years. I’ve got old art of him too, but I’m definitely not going to show it because it’s also art I made back when I was in the closet and trying to not let anyone realize I was a boy who liked to kiss boys lol. It’s a bit embarrassing haha.

But yeah! Xanthous’s character has always been a source of…comfort for me. I think he’s super neat and his character has such a wide arc of growth it’s insane. He’s also more complex than the others—not adhering to a specific style of character between the prequel and the main series. He feels more real. More human. More like how I do kind of haha. At first I liked him because I liked the idea that he was kind of like me.

And then he REALLY became kind of like me.

And the rest is history 😁

#the land of stories #a tale of magic #ask me anything #tlos #xanthous #xanthous hayfield #anon ask #anon answered

[stories-and-chaos]

Tarnished pt 9

[Helluva Boss AU where Blitzø’s childhood theft from Stolas’ palace is discovered and major consequences ensue for everyone involved.]

[Part 9/?? Word count: 2632

Cw: trafficking, implied noncon, prostitution]

—————

Roughly a year and a half after her adoption, Loona had mostly gotten used to living in the Pride Ring. She felt comfortable enough to verbally spar with Blitzø and she wasn’t as jumpy when he gave her hugs. She hadn’t told him about Dina though.

She had told Octavia however. Blitzø, once he realized how interested she was in magick, had brought her along to Stolas’ estate for some lessons. The demon prince was starting to teach his daughter and was thrilled to have another pupil. Having an enthusiastic pupil was even better.

Loona and the young owl girl got along famously. Via had heard about the Hellhound from Blitzø beforehand and had been looking forward to meeting the older girl. They had similar tastes in style, music, and general attitude to the trappings of royalty. Loona also had plenty of experience defending another so she could act as Via’s bodyguard if needed.

Via, for her part, had someone female to spend time with other than her mother or the household staff. Oh there were other Goetia her age, but she’d never been close to any of them. She was getting along better with Loona, despite the difference in age and status.

She was naturally curious why her new friend was so driven to learn magick. Octavia had her familial obligation to learn but Loona didn’t. For a while, the hellhound just said she enjoyed learning it. Eventually she trusted Via enough to tell her the full reason.

Via had been distressed and outraged at the treatment her friend had received. When she found out about Dina, she nearly tracked down her father to have him correct the situation, angry tears streaking down her face.

Loona hurriedly stopped her. “Via, I don’t even know where she is! And I don’t want to tell Blitzø about this. If you get your dad, he’ll tell Blitzø.”

Sniffling, Via asked, “Why not? Dad and Blitzy will both help you.” She was still young enough to trust the adults in her life with a lot of things; she hadn’t experienced anything like what Loona had to make her so wary.

“It-It’s complicated V. Please don’t tell your dad?” Loona’s desperate tone got through to the Goetian princess.

“Okay, Lu. But only if you promise to get help if you need it.” The hellhound agreed, reluctantly. From then on the girls practiced in earnest. Loona needed more power for the tracking spell and practice was the best way to get it.

After months of practice, Loona started to see a symbol as she fell asleep. She couldn’t make it out fully but she got the impression of interlocking curved lines in light gold. At first she thought she was imagining things; it only appeared as she was falling asleep after all. But then she started seeing it as she cast spells, like an afterimage from her phone. Am I going crazy?

She didn’t mention it to anyone. She still preferred to keep things close to her chest as much as possible. But she didn’t count on Stolas being observant.

The owl demon noticed Loona shaking her head and rubbing her eyes after every bit of magick during lessons. She’d never done so before but it was becoming more frequent over the past month. He had a suspicion of what was happening, but he’d have to get the stoic girl to talk with him.

His chance came when Stella pulled their daughter away from their lesson to attend some sort of garden party. Octavia rarely went to any of these get-togethers; she despised the stuffiness. After many rounds of discussion, she agreed to attend at most one a month. This one was a bit of a surprise however. Evidently there was a last minute addition to the guest list and whoever it was, Stella was adamant that her daughter meet them.

So before they even opened up the grimoire, Stella whisked Via away to get ready. That left Loona with Stolas in his study. Blitzø was using the time to harangue the mechanic he’d hired to fix his van; the engine was still being a bitch.

“Well then. I suppose that puts covering anything new on hold.” Stolas set his grimoire aside. “Might I have a word with you instead, Loona?” From what he and Blitzø could gather, she was justifiably uneasy with males in authority positions. Up until now, he’d never interacted with her one on one; there had always been his daughter or a member of I.M.P. around as well. But this was best discussed privately.

Loona’s ears laid back, betraying her nerves. Stolas had been unfailingly polite to her thus far. But she’d never been alone with him. “Uhhhh, I guess?” His glowing red eyes, all four of them, examined her from across his desk.

“You’re seeing something strange when you use magick lately. Correct?” She just about jumped out of her skin and her hackles raised. How the fuck had he known that? He looked satisfied and continued. “You started seeing it when you fell asleep. It’s some sort of design, complicated, with a faint glow?” She nodded, eyes wide. “Don’t worry, you’re not going mad and I haven’t read your mind. What you’re seeing is your sigil.”

“My…sigil?” She glanced at the cover of the grimoire, where Stolas’ sigil was embossed. “But I don’t have a sigil, only royal demons…”

Stolas made a humming trill as he laced his hands together. “Oh every demon has a sigil, just like everyone has a name. But most never know theirs; it takes a considerable amount of power for it to be revealed. I started seeing mine when I was a little older than Via. I already knew what it was, of course.” He gave an elegant shrug. “Goetian children have theirs revealed when we’re in the egg. Mine was placed on my grimoire before I even acquired it.” He gestured at the book in question as he watched Loona’s reaction.

The hellhound let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. It wasn’t her imagination and she wasn’t going crazy. “You said it takes a lot of power to see yours right? That means… I am getting better at this?”

He gave a hooting laugh, but it wasn’t a mocking kind. “Oh my yes! ‘Better’ would be an understatement; you’ll rival some of the Goetia at this rate. You have a rare talent for this Loona. What’s more, you have the drive to improve upon that talent.” She blushed deeply and hunched her shoulders at the unexpected praise. He could see the hint of an embarrassed smile however.

“Now, you’ll be glad to know that you won’t be seeing it every time you use a spell forever. It will continue to become clearer as you practice, until it’s revealed fully. At that point, it’s etched into your mind. You’ll never forget what it looks like and you will only see it when you call it up. But!” Loona sat up in surprise. “The only way to get to that point is continued practice. Shall we?”

A few weeks later Loona was able to see her sigil fully for the first time. She had opened a portal to Earth so the imp trio could carry out their next hit. As she closed it, the afterimage she had been seeing became more distinct. As if drawn by a dozen hands, the lines of the symbol filled in rapidly. The last line connected and the entirety flared in her mind before it faded.

Stolas was right; even though she’d only seen it for a second, Loona knew every stroke of her sigil. A series of crescent moons created most of the design centered inside a double ring. Her name was in the border in serif letters. Once she got over her amazement, one thought became all important.

“I can find Dina now.”

————

Loona was sure she had enough power to track her sister in a densely populated city. The issue now was getting there. She knew how to drive at this point and she could probably get Blitzø to let her use the van on a day off.

The van was a disaster on wheels though. At this point everyone but Blitzø agreed it was cursed and not worth the effort to keep fixing. He insisted it just needed a really good tune up and kept trying. Loona was fairly sure it would break down if she tried to drive it to Pentagram City and back.

She knew Pentagram City was her first destination; she’d already tried the tracking spell. One use had confirmed a lot of things. That Dina was alive, somewhere in the Pride Ring, and in the direction of the Pentagram. There was a chance she was in an area on the other side, but Loona didn’t think it was likely. Those demons worked for an Overlord and they were all based in the major Sinner city.

Loona was planning to hire a cab when Via swooped in with her own solution. “You can accompany me on a shopping trip there. Mum keeps telling me to visit the fashion houses. I’ll get dropped off with you as my guard and we activate the spell in the city.” Loona wasn’t one for physical affection but she couldn’t help hugging the younger girl then.

Octavia arranged for them to be chauffeured in her family’s limousine. One the way there, Loona reviewed the spell with her friend to keep her nerves at bay. She had one strand of Dina’s fur taped to a piece of cardstock, carefully tucked into her bag. The spell consumed whatever was used to identify the target. It would then be active for 24 hours. Hopefully they’d locate her sister today. But if not, she didn’t want to waste any strands. The rest were in their envelope in her room.

The cardstock also had her sigil drawn in ink. From what she’d learned with Stolas, adding her sigil to a spell gave it more power. Considering they would have to sift through hundreds of thousands of souls, Loona wanted every advantage she could get.

Stolas had made sure to warn her about using it. Depending on the spell, it could drain her to dangerous levels, especially if she couldn’t stop whatever magick she set in motion. And if anyone managed to learn hers, they could use it to bind her. He reassured her it was unlikely. Information on demon binding was sparse and mostly in the hands of the Goetia, the Sins, or the Morningstars. It was how humans could summon hellborn to the mortal realm, so caution was still called for.

Since Loona had put it on a flammable card attached to the identifying fur, the whole thing should burn together once the tracking was activated. And if not, that’s what lighters were for.

The driver let them out into a plaza bordered by high end boutiques on all sides. Clothes, shoes, jewelry, and a bewildering array of accessories all had shops here. Each one seemed to specialize in an article of fashion; Loona spotted one that only had vermillion gloves on display.

Octavia had been here plenty of times. This was one of Stella’s favorite destinations after all. She went to the least prissy store she knew of and browsed through the black dresses. Dresses, not gowns. It would take an eternity to try on even one of the gowns her mother would approve of. She selected a handful to try on and of course asked her attending hellhound to assist her in the dressing room.

Via tried on her selections while Loona worked her magick, literally. This spell was finicky so Via actually finished before her friend did. She waited patiently until the center of the card erupted in a smokeless blue flame. “Okay, I’ve got it,” Loona said. The whole card hadn’t burned, the outer ring and a few lines of her sigil were still visible. She pocketed the card to burn outside.

Via actually did like two of the dresses she’d tried on; she paid for them and instructed the demon at the register to have them ready for her driver to pick up. That was one perk about being royalty; she didn’t have to carry her own bags if she didn’t want to.

Loona took the lead once outside. The only visible evidence of her spell was a faint blue tint to her white pupils. From her perspective, there was a blue thread from her core into the city. It didn’t follow the streets. It passed right through objects and demons to make a straight line from her.

That meant the two girls often ended up backtracking and examining the street map on their phones. But as they got closer, that blue thread thickened until it was a cord about as wide as the hellhound’s finger. “We’re getting real close V.”

“Oh good. I think my talons are ready to fall off.” They’d been walking most of the day. Even with a break for a quick lunch, this was more than the Goetia was used to. Her friend, on the other claw, seemed tireless. Whether that was part of being a hellhound or the anxiety of the search Via couldn’t tell. “How far do-“ her question was interrupted by her bumping into Loona’s outstretched arm. “Loona? What’s wrong?”

Loona was growling, a deep rumble that shook Via’s bones. “I’m not bringing you in there,” she said, pointing with her chin. The street before them had red bulbs in the streetlights. The neon signs flickering on advertised more forms of sexual activity than the teen had imagined.

Via squawked and covered her eyes with her hands. “Oh, oooh no no no.” She’d been upset for Loona and her sister this whole time. But being here, on the edge of the Red Light District, the reality of the situation was driven home.

Demons, both Sinners and hellborn, started exiting various establishments. Some were heading out into the city, a few stationed themselves at entrances to draw clients in. Loona’s nose twitched and her ears swiveled. All her focus turned to a hellhound that emerged from a door halfway down the street. Via could see the hound had similar lupine traits to Loona, despite being at least a head shorter and slimmer.

The hound stopped a few paces away from the door and went through the same process of detection. She locked eyes with Loona. Before Loona could do anything, the other dashed back inside. “Dina, wait!” she called out, starting to run after the other girl.

“Loona!” Via grabbed onto the arm blocking her way. “Lu, we can’t just run in there! We found her, right? Now we can make a plan!”

Loona shook in place. But she let Octavia pull her to a more savory area of the city. The young owl demon called their ride and did her best to push the hellhound inside. She tried not to think about the tracking thread shrinking back down as they headed back to the palace. Instead she tried to figure out her next step.

She was so off balance that she didn’t realize where Via was hauling her. So when the other girl flung open the doors to her father’s chambers, Loona was just as surprised as the two demons making out on the lounge.

“Via! Whatever prompted this owlette?”

“Hey! You gotta knock Puffball! And you too Loonie!”

“V- V wait-“

“We need to help Loona’s sister, now,” Via declared with more authority than anyone present had ever heard from her before.

Loona buried her face in her hands. Fuck fuck fuuuuuuuuck. Stolas and Blitzø, both only half dressed, stared at their daughters before yelling, “WHAT?!”

<<First <Prev Next>

#helluva fanfiction #helluva boss #helluva au #helluva blitzo #hazbin fanfic #helluva loona #helluva stolas #helluva octavia #loona #blitzo #stolas goetia #octavia #hellaverse #cw trafficking #blitzo x stolas #stolitz #helluva stolitz

[bluegekk0]

How was the King's Soul's Charm broken? Did they break it appart after they divorced? And did Ghost know, that FPK was still alive in the White Palace? Or did they just slap him out of anger and resentment which caused FPK to actually awaken?

Yeah, I think the charm was symbolic of their union and was split in half after they separated. Since it generates soul, I imagine that was the main reason why FPK kept his fragment the entire time. It took him a while to get over the divorce, he felt guilty about it and even considered getting back with WL occasionally, but in moments of clarity he realized what he felt wasn't love, he didn't really miss her that much, and he actually really liked the freedom (not having to constantly dance to her expectations took a lot of stress away from him), so it was just his constant self-doubt speaking. Though despite that, I like to think that the reason why he kept it wasn't purely practical. They separated on good terms, and even though she hurt him a lot and he didn't truly love her, he was still open to the idea of staying on friendly terms. So there was a bit of a sentimental value there as well, but it was still mostly for soul related reasons.

WL was definitely more sentimental about it, she did love him even though she was often unintentionally cruel to him, so it she held onto it for that reason, until she gave it to Ghost. She moved on from the relationship throughout all the years, so at that point it was easier for her to give it away. She still thinks of FPK very fondly, but in all the years of being alone with her own thoughts she realized how selfish she was, how much pain and stress she caused him, and that he deserved better than her. So by the time they reunited, she fully accepted that they would not get back together, and that it was better that way.

This is going slightly offtopic but I'd still like to bring it up here while I'm on the topic of WL. I don't think she's very close friends with FPK these days. There is no hostility between them, they do get along and make an effort to stay in touch. But they both have their own lives now, FPK has his family and WL had her gardens to take care of, so they don't cross paths very often. Plus any conversations between are quite awkward, it's clear that FPK still finds her intimidating and she she still struggles with keeping her self-absorbed tendencies in check and showing more empathy (though she's definitely trying her best). Part of her still loves him, but instead of trying to claim him back for herself, she expresses that love by wishing him the best in his new relationship. And even despite her dislike towards Grimm, she has to admit that FPK seems much happier with him than he ever was with her. Plus, of course, she now knows about FPK's sexuality, so it's not like she even has a chance. But despite all that, she doesn't hold a grudge towards anyone but herself, she deeply regrets treating FPK the way she did, so the best she can do is support him in his new life, and try to become a better person.

---

As for Ghost, I don't think they really paid attention to whether or not FPK was alive. They were only after the charm fragment, nothing else. Maybe they noticed some blood when they struck him, which would suggest that he's still alive, but they left as soon as they got what they were looking for. I don't think they even cared about him enough to feel anger towards him. In their eyes he wasnothing, they didn't consider him their father, he was nothing more than the animals and beasts that got in their way and met their blade. He was on the throne, he held onto the fragment, so they smacked him to make him drop it. He wasn't worthy of any more of their time, they had more important things to do.

#apologies for the wl tangent but i like to talk about her whenever i get a chance #despite how i write her i don't actually hate her as a character #she's not evil she just struggles with empathy quite a lot #but she's trying to become better so i want to mention that whenever i can #if fpk can get a happy ending i think she deserves a chance to be better as well #ask stuff #feral pk au #save #fpk #wl #ghost

[idk-my-aesthetic]

Spy x fam 76 spoilers!

There was so much incredible about this arc, and I want to talk about more of it, but I want to start with Nightfall

I’ll say it again I wasn’t a huge nightfall fan before this arc. I lowkey thought it’d be cute for her to develop a bit of a crush on Yor in a comedic way but besides that didn’t think too much of her

This freaking arc tho??? Oh my g-d???

1) this is just a general statement about the series as a whole but sxf truely is like. Both a love story and a spy thriller. You can’t take away the themes about love (both romantic and platonic) and family without completely compromising the story. It’s just one of the best stories I’ve ever seen with the way the creator weaves in drama and action and the SYMBOLISM. The PARALLELS. Im losing my fucking mind so-

1.1) listen. Listen. I know it sounds like I’m saying nonsense but I cannot express how IMPRESSIVE the story telling here is. Doing this so well is HARD. There’s a reason so many action movies have garbage tacked on romance plots. It takes a lot of different skills to make a good action drama vs a romantic or emotional drama. And this series just does such a good job at having an engaging world, stakes that feel genuinely scary and grounded, and characters that manage to both work as narrative tools while still feeling like real actual multidimensional people.

And that ability to have such incredibly multidimensional characters that still push the narrative is what brings me to Nightfall

2) this was the first time (at least in my opinion) nightfall became more of her own person and not just a token romantic rival to progress Loid and Yors romance. She’s starting to feel more like a real person.

One of the things about her that absolutely jumps out to me is her similarities to Yor. Her willingness to self sacrifice for the people she loves, her sheer power, and most importantly the way she views love

Yor and Fiona both view love as a strength. At the moment Twilight views it as a weakness. He also assumes that’s how the others around him view his attachments, as a form of weakness. Including Nightfall, he assumes she’s going to think him weak and she’s too flustered to correct him

I think there’s two possibilities with what will happen with Nightfall and Twilight.

A) Nightfall is going to help Twilight realize it’s okay to be in love with Yor and to love Anya (because I do think he will begin to view her as a weakness as well). It’s probably going to break her heart but we can already see how much she’s willing to sacrifice for him

(In an ideal world she’d go through a lot of character development, fall in love with Yor as well and then they’d be a throuple, but I am realistic enough to understand that’ll probably never happen and go write my own fic or smthn lol)

B) nightfall becomes a representation of the parts of himself that Loid will eventually sacrifice/turn away from in favor of his family. This is honestly what I was expecting to happen before this arc, especially cus it would be easy to do a mirroring thing with Yor and Yuri. (For the record I don’t think it would be a thing of like fully rejecting their old lives for either Loid or Yor but I also can only predict so much lol).

3) I really really hope nightfall continues to evolve. Yuri as well. As much as it is important to have rival or threat characters like them in this type of stories I feel like their characters have so much potential. But at the same time that’s one of the huge struggles with writing! It’s incredibly difficult to balance the narrative role of a character while still making them feel real. I think they’ve done and incredible job so far and I am curious where they’re going to go with it

#spy x family 86 #spy x family manga #dinner has arrived and I’ve been rambling for an hour I gotta GO

[officecyborg]

I emerge from the Berseria mines covered in blood 96 hours later. What an ending, huh? In the most “Tales of Berseria” move ever, all of the party members’ sendoffs are fantastic except for Velvet’s, which not only fails to stick the landing, but falls down the stairs and tumbles into a clown pie.

Laphicet: I mean yeah, even outside of the prequel connection, the game was building up to him becoming an Empyrean the whole way through. He starts as a character who does exactly as he’s told with no sense of self; his evil friends teach him how to be selfish and thus how to be a person, and he flips this lesson on its head by choosing to stubbornly, “selfishly” give everyone on earth a second chance. A little sad, but fitting.

Rokurou: All the demons on earth are cured, but he chooses not to be? Love that for him. Speaks to both an acceptance of his nature and something like penance for Shigure. And I really like how he’s… almost a folk hero in the epilogue, except you know he’s doing it because he loves murder (and wants Eleanor to train hard enough to strike him down lol).

Eleanor: Eleanor is the Artorius to Laphicet’s Innominat, so it only makes sense that they would end up as an Empyrean and a pseudo-Shepherd. Except crucially, she’s not an actual Shepherd, she’s acting as Eleanor, a person who helps people. She’s grown and moved past the need for an authority figure to tell her right from wrong.

Eizen: His personal plot is quite melancholy and overshadowed by his looming eventual death, but a nice wrap-up nonetheless. Eizen first went out to sea to be alone from everyone; Aifread changed that, but then he disappeared. But by the end, he’s forged true connections with the party, the crew, and other Malakhim like Zaveid and Edna. While he circles around to his original circumstances as the ghost haunting the ship, we know he’s not really “alone”, simply through his changed attitude. The crew can’t see him, but he doesn’t feel separate from them, instead serving as a weird sort of guardian angel.

Magilou: Okay real talk, the one part of Zestiria that made me genuinely emotional was Magilou’s grave. This is a character who was so severely abused that she completely emotionally disengaged. Her catchphrase was “I don’t care.” In the epilogue, she’s back to being one of the few humans who can see spirits, she’s still a wisecracking, wandering sleazebag, but she’s not fortune-telling—she’s writing. You cannot write if you don’t care about anything (I say from experience lol). And now, because Velvet sacrificed herself to save the world, she cares about the entire world and everyone in it, enough to chronicle all the mundane details of their lives. A+, tearing up, no critiques.

And then… Velvet. Geez.

Look, Tales of the Abyss is one of my favourite games. I fully think it’s possible to pull off an ending where the self-destructive protagonist comes to realize they do want to live, after all, just in time to die tragically. But this was not it. I think my extreme dislike of her ending comes down to three factors:

I do not like Laphicet Crowe. Forget the themes for a second—I could buy Velvet, as a character, choosing the “selfish” option at the end, and essentially choosing to go to hell with her brother, mirroring what Celica did for her… if I cared about him at all. But I don’t. They never sold me on Laphi C. being a good kid; he comes off as a surly little misogynist. Velvet can try to find the part of Innominat that’s still her brother if she wants, but I am not convinced.

Okay now stop forgetting the themes. It spits in the face of her character arc. Remember Eizen’s speech about how you don’t have to be biologically related to someone to be family? Remember good-Laphicet’s whole takedown speech about how Velvet doesn’t belong to Innominat? Remember how like three minutes earlier, the comb symbolizing the Crowe siblings’ relationship shattered? It’s over! Laphi C. is dead! She’s not beholden to shit!

Consolation prize heaven sucks. Again, if this was a different game, I might (might) accept the idea of these characters being in hell but getting to live on in a dream world bittersweet. But in this game, idyllic dream worlds are explicitly a form of psychological torture that, again, Velvet specifically had to overcome as part of her character arc. That’s just plain bitter. ):

Oh also it’s just shot in a really creepy way. Come on. That’s creepy. Why did they do that.

It really feels like (and this would be in line with how the games were developed) they had this ending in mind before they came up with the middle of the game, or anything else.

In conclusion, the only ending I acknowledge is this:

#berseria blogging #read this if you like posts that are long as hell

[decamarks]

ok so i'm going through stuff and starting to get a better grasp on some of the things that i missed in Petscop. i'm curious, what's your take on Belle/Tiara? i don't remember if you talked about them in that big essay you posted in feburary because essays like that kind of turn to mush in my brain.

OH BOY belle... yeah i didn't talk about her much (or at all?) in that essay, since it was more broadly about petscop as a series than any individual characters. i might someday write something exploring specific story elements/characters because good god there's a LOT to talk about there, and hopefully i'd be able to write it in a way that isn't as much indefinite word mush to the mind </3 BUT for now i can offer you a short summation of my thoughts.

like all the other characters in petscop, it's honestly kinda hard for me to pin down a singular 'take' on belle, especially considering how the series framing seems intent on kinda... keeping her locked up, so to speak. she's confined to the quitter's room, which directly reflects amber's room as they both bear the same symbol—she's behind some perceptual bars, and you have to blur your eyes to see between them. belle isn't often allowed the spotlight: she talks to paul on the phone, but we can't hear what she says; she has 153,822 hours in the game, practically none of which we get to see... it's important to remember that belle isn't part of the 'family', and the petscop footage we see is being curated by that exact family. what we see certainly isn't the full story.

name/identity alteration being as central to the story as it is, it's probably important to clarify why i'm only referring to 'belle' and not 'tiara'. basically, tiara is not a fully formed identity—she's merely an entity that belle attempted to be reborn into when she was a child, out of external pressure from the family. belle was adopted but unaccepted as herself, so the 'tiara' identity was born out of a need to assimilate, desiring acceptance. rainer is the person who initially attempted to aid in this process, probably the one who suggested it to her due his familiarity with rebirth, but that obviously didn't turn out well. hence the infamous FUCK-FUCK-FUCK save file.

upon realizing how over his head he was, rainer tried to reverse the damage, though his control over the situation was a lot more limited than he wanted it to be. there wasn't anything he could do to make the family accept her, and there wasn't anything he could do to 'fix' her. he definitely seemed frustrated by it—with belle, with himself, with everything else happening around him, really—hence how everything he says in petscop 12 is written with a strange, almost singsong sort of derision towards belle, and, though less directly, himself. this is basically rainer at his lowest, right before his suicide, with many allusions to his forthcoming death written in the same mocking tone.

after rainer's death, belle was left in a sort of liminal state of existence—transitory purgatory. she failed to become tiara because she couldn't finish the process; half-formed, unable to emerge from her 'egg', she sort of became... softlocked. she was clearly still attached to attaining this identity in some way, hence her absurd time spent running petscop starting around 2000, after rainer's death. the game is the last remnant of tiara, and of rainer, so she keeps it close to keep both alive.

while paul and rainer's transformations are sorta linear (care -> paul / daniel -> rainer), belle's process is more like belle -> tiara -> belle. her pressure to assimilate definitely parallels care's story, in which care rejects the identity forced on her (with marvin believing/wanting her to be the reincarnation of lina) and instead becomes paul. but unlike paul, belle never becomes someone else; in the end, she's still belle. comparatively, it almost looks like stagnation—or worse, regression. on further inspection, however, that is anything but the case. as a child, belle sought to become tiara only out of a need to be accepted by her (frankly awful) family. though as we see her in the present, as an adult, she seems quite distant from this identity. paul definitely doesn't refer to belle as tiara; if my memory isn't failing me, i believe paul initially doesn't even make a connection between tiara and belle? if he's unfamiliar with the name, it serves to show that 'tiara' as a concept is very much trapped within the world of the game, stuck in 1996, no longer truly representative of the present in which paul plays the game. belle seems much happier to be part of the 'family' that paul proposes at the end of the soundtrack video, where she's his sister simply because paul loves her no matter who she is—same with the contents of the 'new life letter' written by lina. it's that unconditional acceptance that allows her to be belle, and not tiara. so her process was more like belle -> tiara -> BELLE.

honestly though i don't think i could summarize belle's situation nearly as well as this really good analysis of her. it examines her as a character and her circumstances pretty much exactly how i see it, so i highly recommend reading that if you want to get a better understanding of her.

that being said, if you want MY personal opinion on belle... i simply think she's the best. the fact that paul calls her a puzzle genius and her extensive knowledge of petscop's abstruse features like the phonetic writing system just delights me. i think she'd be insane at tetris. also i think her sprites with the eyes are completely hilarious and the entire scene of her aggressively signaling paul to look right is just like, the best scene in the entire series actually. in conclusion: petscop kid VERY epic.

^ look at her. looking.

#i'm honestly due for another rewatch or something... a few details are definitely slipping my mind here D=< #regardless i'm pretty sure this is all accurate albeit kinda surface level. didn't want to get TOO deep into all the details #mostly for the sake of not exhausting myself LOL. either way i hope this is at least a little elucidating!

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

IZMS: The Social Media Experience 1

Summary:

Across a universe, various social media posts come from a group of siblings and their friends. It tells the story of a young boy and his family, a young boy who will one day become a symbol of hope. AKA: Izuku's dad sucks, he's got a lot of siblings and he likes to tease them online. ON AO3

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Why do Pro-Heroes who have Reddit don’t worry about people finding them?

SecretNoteBook

 For me it’s because I do keep a lot of stuff vague and I actually don’t talk about myself in public. You’d know me since my name is out there but most don’t connect it with my family. My dad’s worthless and his last name doesn’t match mine or most of my half-siblings. 

 It’s really surprising what changing out of your uniform does at times. People just don’t recognize you. So me sitting here behind a screen is just another version of that. I know not a lot of people believe I’m a hero but I don’t mind.

 GreenMightBoy

 It is HILARIOUS how few people realize who you are until you tell them. Remember last week?

  PolkaDotAfro

  HA! Oh god her FACE. Realizing she’s been bragging about dating YOU when you’re right there?

    SecretNotebook

     Yeah that was fun.

-0-

What made you cut your parent off?

 SecretNotebook

 I’ve been very open about this numerous times but my dad is a dick. He’s a populationist, homophobic and generally a jackass. I’m his eldest child and he’s had six/seven more with four other women after my mom. (My latest stepmother is pregnant. Me and the siblings I talk to are betting on WHEN she’s gonna divorce him.)  he dislikes me for being intersex and infertile due to it, and has never made it secret. I was raised by him since I was around four. I went between two stepmoms and then stayed with the first when he left Japan. I barely had contact with him.

 I’m a hero and he loves using that to look good. His fifth wife tried to call me up and I basically ripped apart her worldview of him. She divorced him after that and speaking to my sister and my third stepmom. I’m nice enough just to say: I don’t get along to his business partners. But my dad knew not to push after his that.

 I fully cut him off and threatened to tell his business partners everything when he cut child support in half for my brother. Why? My brother is bisexual. I actually threatened to do it unless the child support went back up anyway. He did and we haven’t spoken since. 

-

GreenMightBoy

 My dad found out I’m bisexual and he cut child support in half which threatened my place in a safe school for my Quirk status. My older brother blackmailed him, and we all cut him off. Though my sister cut him off earlier. She won’t tell us why. 

  PolkaDotAfro

  I never will.

-0-

Siblings of ProHeroes: What is the hardest part?

-

RunnerBoy

 The worry my brother may not come home one day, or I may seen his last fight on the news.

-

PurpleCatBoy

 I have an uncle who’s a hero. Every time I see him on the news I get nervous because of the fight but I also get angry since he has an extreme mutation and he gets a lot of hate due to it.

-

GreenMightBoy

 The thirsty fan girls are going to KILL ME. MY BROTHER ISNT THAT HOT. HE WEARS A MASK. YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN HIS FACE. I HAVE SEEN HIM SHOVE ICE CREAM COVERED IN HOT SAUCE INTO HIS MOUTH. HE IS NOT MARRIAGE MATERIAL

 SecretNotebook

 Wow, thanks bro.

-

PandorasBox

 Whenever I see my elder brother on the news, I worry over his health, if he’s eating enough, if he’d going to get enough rest.

-

PolkaDotAfro

 If I have to stumble upon his fanmail ONE MORE TIME. I DO NOT WANNA READ THAT SHIT BRO. 

 SecretNotebook

 Stop snooping in my apartment.

-0-

Dear Redditors; what is something crazy that you actually did [Serious replies only]

PolkaDotAfro

 I ran away and joined the circus with a guy I met a month before. It’s been nine years and we’re married now.

 SecretNotebook

 You still haven’t given us the full story

  GreenMightBoy

  Tell us already!!

   BlueScars

   How about no?

-0-

Who is who in the superhero fandom

By KissMeYouFool

… on to Reddit, we have three big names. 

SecretNotebook; a proclaimed hero who is just branching out as his own hero after YEARS of being a sidekick. He often is on Reddit giving hints and tips to hero hopefuls while sharing stories of some more vague events. He is open about a lot. Along wth him we have his two siblings: PolkaDotAfro and GreenMightBoy. PolkaDotAfro is a proclaimed circus performer and is married to the Reddit user BlueScars who rarely posts but appears from time to time. GreenMightBoy is a young teen who posts analysis and also taunts his brother along with their sister…

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

This is a story for a bigger universe I have where Izuku's dad was a piece of work and he had a lot of kids. The eldest of these kids is Kamui Woods (SecretNotebook). I didn't want to do a traditional intro to this world and instead came up with this. We have OTHER siblings to, so far an OC named Hana/Hannah (PolkaDotAfro). Izuku (GreenMightBoy) thus has a vastly different upbringing. We have other characters appearing to, a lot being related to heroes in someway. Some may be easily guessed, others less so. Have fun guessing if you want! Those who want to respond as if they are commentators on the media posts in the comments are welcome. I don't plan on this being to long? It's just world building and having fun honestly. But I hope you like!

#bnha #bnha au #many siblings of izuku #izms #izuku's many siblings #izuku midoriya

[spectershaped]

Alrighty, I’m getting closer to the end of the Umineko part 7 manga adaptation (which I’m reading cuz a friend told me it made some things clearer)

OK now it’s become a little clearer, among other things, that Yasuda is what we’d call a system nowadays... it’s kind of super intriguing how “killer has a split personality” would be a deeply disappointing and fairly insulting cliche if the story itself hadn’t put in the work to blur the line between “having a persona that embodies the qualities you aspire to have” and “having headmates as a way of navigating a rather lonely and fraught life”

Genji also really shines quite a bit in part 7 honestly, even if he did kind of instigate this whole business. Having him be wary of Kinzo’s uhhh incestuous fixations and try to get Yasuda out of that whole business at least to some extent showcases a nice side of him that’s not just dutiful in a way that paradoxically feels like an abdication of responsibility, but rather as someone who is keenly aware of and distasteful towards his boss’s (more so than usual) repugnant aspects. Also the moment where he chides one of the ‘nons not for losing their keys but for blaming someone else before even seeing if their own nose is clean is just very charming

Yasuda’s motivations for the whole shebang are still a bit unclear to me because the motives of “the Shannon self is upset at Battler for not even remembering his promise he made so lackadaisically” and “the Beato self ends up fully embracing her role as the witch of Kinzo’s epitaph riddle after discovering Yasuda’s parentage and surrendering to fate” don’t quite seem to touch each other - which I think is what the two Beatos in part 6 were meant to symbolize? And also Beato is embracing that constructed persona but displaying a vastly different disposition when she meets the family in the Ange+Eva timeline? Maybe part 8 is gonna make that a little clearer, but it did bum me out a bit that I felt like I was supposed to understand Beato’s heart alongside Willard but didn’t quite get it :c

(In a way, it’s so funny when you zoom out and realize Yasuda is in this bananas love triangle where they love three different people who are cousins to each other and one of Yasuda’s crushes is basically displaced from an alter/persona into a different one)

#vi liveblogs

[dracharenae]

✹ —  WAY BACK IN 2014 WHEN I FIRST dreamed rhaenys up from the depths of my mind, prying her from the hands of grrm, and more so in 2019 when i started writing for her, i’ve had this reoccurring thought i’ve never been able to fully shake.  the idea of permeance in war, of losses greater than losing people who are loved  . . .  the things soldiers never fully recover from  -  and make no mistake, rhaenys is a soldier and a warrior, and she suffers and loses a great deal when she chooses to fight  . . .  most of it transpires within her own head, within the losses surrounding her, but i’ve always had these little musings and ideas but have never really put them to pen and paper, and yet they never seem to go away  . . .  and three years later, i figured i’d write it down.

       during the episode where rhaegal is shot down by euron fakejoy greyjoy, i had a very specific idea.  now, first, dany would never forget about the iron fleet  -  but for the sake of the scenario, the iron fleet sneak up on them, etc.  -  and rhaenys is atop rhaegal when he goes down  . . .  she survives the fall, but the whole of her right arm is crushed in the fall, shattering the bone  . . .  leading it to be amputated, lest it blacken and rot whilst still attached to her.  rhaenys loses her right arm from the shoulder down, obviously resulting in her being unable to participate in the final battle  . . .  but having to watch daenerys conquer or burn the city from afar.  

       it’s a tremendous loss, one that pushes rhaenys to a new brink of patience and determination, of her having to re-learn how to fight, honestly re-discovering herself  -  faced with these trials and disadvantages, but learning to overcome them  . . .  it teaches her a great deal about herself.  and, strangely enough, the recovery period truly allows her to rest.  rhaenys hasn’t rested since elia died, so it really puts her in a place where she must lay down, must relax, and really face everything she’s endured over the years  . . .  and what comes next.

       another loss i considered was rhaenys losing an eye, like during one of the great battles  -  i.e., the battle at winterfell, the battle of the bastards, when invading king’s landing, etc.  it can be from anyone or anything, really, but rhaenys somehow  -  a stray blade, a purposeful strike  -  receives a blow down her face, which cuts right over one of her eyes  . . .  obviously resulting in its loss.  it’s symbolic for a couple of reasons, as rhaenys detests her targaryen eyes  . . .  detests how they remind her of rhaegar, how she can never meet her own reflection in a mirror without seeing her father  . . .  so losing an eye would be losing a piece of rhaegar, and she’d feel herself bitterly realize how a part of her secretly loved her eyes  -  how she liked being able to see her father, who she genuinely loves and misses, even in spite of his actions, even though she wants nothing more than to hate him  . . .  

       and it could also be a reference to  an eye for an eye makes the world go blind,  referring to rhaenys’ longing and need for bloodshed  . . .  but i refuse to discredit my psychotic murder daughter for her desire for revenge, especially if she manages to actually get justice against the people who wronged her and-or her family.  so, losing an eye would be symbolic in the sense of her father.  and, as stated above, i’ve had this headcanon since 2019, well before i ever read  fire and blood  and watched  hotd,  so i like the inadvertent parallel to aemond targaryen  . . .  especially if i can somehow make rhaenys a kinslayer in the process  -  really tie in that familial parallel tragedy  . . .  young griff where you at.

       anyway, a random headcanon i’ve carried for too many years  . . .  figured it was time to write it down  . . .  i may write more on it later, and go into more detail, but this is it for now.  will i ever get the chance to write such tragic scenarios ? ? ?  possibly  . . .  will i still dream heavily about them and cry ? ? ?  most definitely.

#thєч wíll wrítє stσríєs σf hєr ( headcanons ) #ѕєnd α rαvєn ínѕtєαd ( queue ) #|| i'm exhausted #i cant sleep #i wrote this half awake #but i've carried this for years and *grabby hands* need it #but also rhaenys would never kill dany fyi #if rhae is gonna be a kinslayer #aint gonna be dany #for a number of reasons

[alisondraenvs3000blogposts]

Unit 03: Risk versus Reward in Interpretation

Blog prompt: What role does “privilege” play in nature interpretation? Please include your working definition of privilege.

I am a white women who was born in Canada, which is a very privileged country to live in. I am a person who has been very privileged in life, mainly because my mother was not, and she wanted to provide everything for my sister and me that she never had. I am the daughter of an immigrant; my mother immigrated here when she was nine with her parents. My mother's family was so poor growing up that there was a struggle to have enough money to eat. All my life, I've been reminded of this by everyone on my mom's side of the family, especially my mom and Nuna. The importance of appreciating what's given to you while also respecting the work is needed to have the opportunity. Aside from this, my mom always made sure my sister and I had the opportunity and privilege of taking part in dance, sports, and extracurriculars in general. There was never a worry about food. I may have to pay for tuition, rent, food, etc., but if I have to, I can always ask my parents for money. I have had multiple jobs in my life to raise money for university, and I do not have my own car, but I have never had to worry about taking transit to get to work because my parents go out of their way to drive me there.

In elementary school and high school, I was able to take part in sports and field trips that not everyone may have had the opportunity to do. In elementary school, we would go on camping trips where we spent a week canoeing, kayaking, swimming in the lake, etc., which in itself was a privilege.

There is privilege alone in me being a white woman. Over any minority, especially other minorities that are women, I have privilege. I am also fluent in English, which is a privilege because English is the most spoken language globally.

What role does privilege play in nature interpretation? Privilege impacts overall social awareness and interpretation and therefore influences our experiences. Privilege influences how one interprets nature because it impacts how one views the world around them. The first video found in the Unit 3 text is a great representation of this. It demonstrates how the more privileged a person is, the more of a head start they get in life. In the video, this is demonstrated through a race, and questions on the topic of privilege are asked. Those who have these things in their lives, such as a father figure in their life, could take two steps forward. It is not until the people at the front look back and realize how much there privilege truly benefits them. Whereas the people still standing on the starting line have been fully aware of the disadvantage they have had the entire time. This is also true in terms of nature interpretation and the ability to experience it or not due to social, economic, cultural, etc., restrictions.

Those who are more economically inclined are more privileged to access opportunities in nature than the latter. It is expensive to visit places such as national parks, camps, nature reserves, etc. because gas, a place to stay, food, etc. cost money.

Cultural privilege can impact an overall perception of nature. Different cultures hold different understandings and symbolic views of nature and its elements. Perception impacts nature and interpretation; everyone is privileged to have different views of the world around them.

Additionally to what's mentioned above, privilege can also impact environmental justice, comfort and safety in nature, Advocacy of conservation, etc. Minorities may have a different view on environmental degradation than someone with privilege based on their lived experiences and how disproportionately environmental issues within their community influence them. A prime example of this is indigenous communities in Canada.

Privilege is always important to talk about when it comes to any and all topics. It is the only way we can become fully aware of the reality around us. Change can only come from knowledge, and social awareness can only increase from exposure to how everyone is impacted by this reality. 

#envs3000 #society

[snowymuses]

Name: Y’ukihime Ywons Alias: Crystal Exarch, the Exarch, Ukihime, Uki, Hime Species: Miqo'te Class: Paladin, Scholar, Red Mage, (All Rounder) Height:5'0 Age:24(appearance), ~324 (actual) Birthday: Third Umbral Moon, day 18 Gender: Female Orientation: Panromantic/Bisexual Hometown: Isle of Val, Crystal Tower of the Source Occupation: Caretaker of the Tower, Adventurer

Physical appearance:

A young appearing Miqo’te woman, her hair a mix of blue and red in her youth, the red has faded to a white/pink hue in her age within the tower. Originally her eyes were dual colored, one cyan and the other red, the latter symbolizing her Allagan heritage. After the events with the Crystal Tower and as the Exarch, both of her eyes are red. Small brown markings surround her face and a small ruby adorns her forehead when her face is exposed. Otherwise, she wears a hood to eclipse her face from people, which now has lines of crystallization across it.

Now that she has returned to the Source, she wears her hair in a bun and braid, her face fully exposed, as well as red and black clothing reminiscent of her Exarch robes. (FOR FULL REFERENCE AND A SILLY PICTURE, CLICK HERE)

Personality:

Originally very playful and rebellious, Y’ukihime stood against traditions and took to her own way. However, as the Crystal Exarch, she is very calm, motherly as a figure, and distant most of the time. Pleasant and well spoken, she may seem youthful, but offers an air of wisdom that denotes her age better than her features

Concerned about others, she holds those worries close to her heart and instead offers smiles and conceals things that are problems from others, intending to do much of it herself when it comes to others. She is secretive for the most part, until she feels she is fully able to open up to someone without anything to hide. Even so, she is devoted to the Warrior of Light and the people she has helped shelter with the Tower’s influence.

Story:

Y’ukihime is an AU Exarch, and was once a Warrior of Light, and is connected to my own G’raha Tia. This is a character/verse dependent upon G’raha not becoming the Crystal Exarch.

(TL;DR, they are twins that were separated at birth. Whether this is the case and which one became the Exarch is dependent on partner preference. Typically, I have it where Y’ukihime became the Exarch instead of G’raha.)

Y’ukihime Ywons was born to a Miqo’te woman in the G tribe, at the same time as her twin, G’raha. However, with both sharing a singular Allagan crimson eye, it was said their birth was an ill omen and were to bring destruction should they remain together. She was given to the Y tribe, where a Doman refugee woman had lost her child recently. Named Ukihime, or “Princess of Rain,” from her royal blue hair. Y’ukihime never felt out of place among her family, but upon learning of her adoption, decided to become a Student of Baldesion.

She became highly interested in the Allagan history and Crystal tower. She wanted to investigate things that fascinated her and did not delve into her true family, thinking to look back further than any member of her tribe could live would avoid the burdens. While there, Y’ukihime encountered a young male Miqo’te by the name of G’raha Tia. Although fleeting, their meeting spurred her to have strange visions of a crystal, and from then on could peer into the memories of others. Realizing that she had awakened to the Echo, this set her off to a journey across Eorzea, becoming a person dubbed a Warrior of Light, despite that one had already been found and had aligned themselves with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. Still curious upon the Crystal Tower, she pushed to investigate it with the rest of the team, which had been dubbed NOAH by the selfsame Miqo'te she had met once.

Within the confines of the tower, two people were encountered (Doga and Unei), who confided in Y’ukihime of her linage from the Allagan nobility and her red “Royal eye" and spoke of how her and G'raha Tia were of the same linage, but more so, siblings with equal parts of Allagan blood. Within the tower the Cloud of Darkness reigned, which began to attempt to take over and infect Eoreza. Despite the realization, Y’ukihime pressed on, accepting the bloodline that flowed through her and the companion, whom she now counted as her brother.

Upon the Cloud of Darkness’s defeat, Y’ukihime and the others discovered Doga and Unei intended to remain within the tower to sever the Cloud’s ties to Eorzea and restore balance with their own Allagan blood. Before sending the group off and out of the Tower, the duo infused portions of their blood into Y’ukihime and G'raha to grant them control over the Crystal Tower, allowing them to learn the last will of Salina, an ancient princess who used Allagan technology to infuse her DNA into their ancestor so that her family could restore the Crystal Tower as a beacon of hope.

With the realization that only one of them needed to be with the Tower, both twins knew that the world in it's current state was not sufficiently ready to adapt to the Allagan technology within and did not want both of them to be trapped as Unei and Doga had been for all those years. Refusing for G'raha to join her, Y’ukihime sealed the Crystal Tower with herself inside, intending to guide the Eorzeans once they reached the same technological level as the ancient Allagans, and for G’raha to watch over them until such a time came to pass.

By the time the Crystal Tower reopened two centuries into the future, Y’ukihime became partially fused with the tower to prolong her life as its keeper. She learned of the Eighth Umbral Calamity that claimed the life of the Warrior of Light and the Scions along with the endless conflict that followed. Acting on a hypothesis proposed by Cid, Y’ukihime sent herself and the Crystal Tower to the First sometime after the Flood of Light occurred. Discarding her name and taking on the identity of the Crystal Exarch, Y’ukihime established the Crystarium as a haven for the people impacted by the Flood.

As the condition of the First worsened and finally gaining the ability to do so, Y’ukihime attempted to summon the remaining Warrior of Light to the First via the Calling, but ended up summoning the Scions instead. Due to the time difference, the Scions ended up appearing years apart from each other. Only confiding in Urianger the truth of the calling, and asking him to be her accomplice in a scheme to prevent the Rejoining of the First to the Source, Y’ukihime gave with full knowledge that the negation of the Eighth Umbral Calamity would erase her and send the Scions back to their world fully restored.

When the Warrior of Light finally arrives on the First, Y’ukihime, now known fully as the Crystal Exarch, acted as the Scions’ guide and leader, directing their efforts in defeating the Lightwardens. When the final Lightwarden was defeated, Y’ukihime reveals the true plan: to steal the light that the Warrior had absorbed from the Lightwardens and the transportation of the Crystal Tower and herself to the Dimensional Rift. Trapped there in her state, the light would be expunged and she would die where no one else would be hurt. The plan was thwarted by Emet-Selch, who had figured out her true identity and origin, and captured her.

When the Warrior of Light prepared to battle Emet-Selch, Y’ukihime used her power to summon heroes from other worlds to fight alongside them. After Emet-Selch’s defeat, Y’ukihime returned to the Crystarium, where she reclaimed her old name and continues to aid the Scions in finding a way to return to the Source, with no secrets held back from the Warrior of Light or the Scions.

5.3 Update. Spoilers Ahead!

Discovering that her own blood would be the key to returning the Scions to the source, Y’ukihime went to work straight away by infusing her blood into the Auracite. Making several, including one for herself as a tester, she had full intent to breach the gap between worlds and go to the other side with the others, ensuring the path was safe. However, with Elidibus gaining control of the tower, Y’ukihime did what she could to stop him, but had to protect Beq Lugg and transported them far from the tower.

The course of her work led to most of her body facing crystallization, but she did not have fear. Accompanying the Warrior of Darkness back to the tower even with her crippling form, she managed to hold out until the very end, unleashing an ultimate attack of the aether stored within her body from the Tower to quell Elidibus. This, however, diminished the rest of her life span, and with final movements and offering the copy of her soul and memories to the Warrior of Darkness, her inspiration, she placed herself as a statue atop the tower, as a never ending vigil for the place she had helped cultivate.

Within the Auracite, Y’ukihime witnessed the world of Norvandt beside her friend, and when the time came for her to awaken, it was a slow and painful process. The younger version of herself nearly rejected the memories of the older, but with the help of the Warrior of Light, the two began to meld and once more, Y’ukihime Ywons awoke in the Source.

After many treatments from Krile, her health returned from her slumber, and despite the offer from the Scions to join, Y’ukihime declined, for now. Her desire to journey and seek out new things in the Source, as well as find a way to make a bridge between worlds for all of them to go back and forth through became her top priority.

However, Y’ukihime will always offer her aid to the Scions, but leaves the heavy lifting to G’raha Tia, who desired the position more than she ever could. Verses:

Adventurer/Non Crystal Exarch: Within this verse, Y’ukihime still became a Student of Baldesion, however she did not obtain the Echo when encountering G’raha Tia. Instead, before the Isle of Val vanishes, Y’ukihime had gone on an expedition to Kugane to see how much of could be salvaged of their history from the Garlean Empire. She will still be related to G’raha Tia, at partner’s preference. (Tag: |V: Adventurer|)

#Y'ukihime #Yukihime Bio