#that there is no male exclusion version for all magic class

[ladyjuxtaposition]

First time drawing Hubert von Vestra...

Decided to dress him in Gremory attire...

I regret NOTHING!

Speed Paint Video --> https://youtu.be/wx1lUDP3Mmc

#ladyjuxtaposition talks #and draws #hubert von vestra #from #the black eagles #and #fire emblem three houses #and fire emblem three hopes #wearing #gremory #because it is a sin #that there is no male exclusion version for all magic class #if there was #it would have been #grimoire #that would be the perfect class for him #fe3h hubert #hubert #black eagles #fe3h fanart #traditional sketch #ink pens #markers #sketchbook #digital coloring #paint.net #ladyjuxtaposition #art by ladyjuxtaposition #character by nintendo #speedpaint

[sluttyten]

kinda hot though

Yesterday <- || -> Kinktober Masterlist

Day Twenty-Five: Sweat Kink & Public Sex w/ Kun

Words: 3,701

You’re not quite certain when you first realized it was a thing for you. Certainly it wasn’t while you were growing up, not when the boys in class around you reeked of body odor. Not when you were in college either, reporting for the school paper, and the male athletes you interviewed would be drenched with sweat after practice or a workout.

Maybe it was just him, then.

Qian Kun.

There was something magical about his sweat, strange as it may sound.

The first time you met him was when you were covering a piece on the massive NCT 2018 comeback showcase. He was prim and proper, excited and nervous to finally be debuting. He was handsome and cute, and you liked his smile.

Over the next few years, you met him several more times. There were interviews you had with the group, showcases and press conferences. You were happy to land these opportunities, fortunate to get to watch Kun grow not only as a debuted idol, but as a leader, and more importantly as a man. You liked to see how he’d changed each time you met, and each time you found yourself a little more attracted to him.

You built a bit of a camaraderie with Kun (and the other members, too, but mostly with him) over those interviews, and when the day came that you received a job offer from SM Entertainment themselves, you took it.

That they were starting their own magazine should have probably come as a surprise, but it didn’t. They were expanding into yet another form of entertainment, and this one would of course be focused mainly on SM artists. They had top-notch photographers, world-class journalists, editors, social media managers, everything. Somehow, you’d been chosen, possibly because of how closely you’d worked with several of the groups in the past.

Working on this SMagazine (just the working title before the first edition was ever published), you were enjoying yourself.

Basically, the journalists for the magazine were given a fair amount of freedom to decide on their own articles, free roam of the Kwangya building, ample opportunities to interview SM artists, and even decent opportunities to interview artists of other music companies. This was going to be a K-pop focused magazine, but not one filled with gossip and drama. Think of it as the Hallyu version of Rolling Stone, focusing exclusively on the Korean-based music scene, most heavily on the K-pop aspect of that, with a highlight on SM artists.

You took the chance to roam freely around the building, and that is tragically where you awakened the kink you never imagined you would have.

Sweat had always been gross and smelly.

The idea of entering the practice rooms was rather unappealing, but you had plans to write about the long awaited comeback of WayV, and your article writing process was due to begin right there in the practice room.

They were all there, stretching and warming up before practice when you entered the room. Greetings were exchanged, and a simple introduction and explanation about your presence. You take a seat at the back of the room, just observing, working quietly on taking notes. Your eyes follow Kun, and occasionally, you notice him watching you in the mirror as well.

It’s an intense practice. The choreographer pushes them hard, and they all take it well. They only spare you momentary glances before the shirts come off of Ten, YangYang, and Xiaojun. Slowly, the others lose their shirts, all except for Kun. Instead, he gets red-faced, panting as they call for a break. He leans over with his hands on his knees, catching your eye in the mirror.

As the others file out of the room to go use the restroom, to grab something to drink, or to just be free of the room, Kun approaches you.

You can smell his sweat as he sits down beside you, and surprisingly, instead of feeling repulsed, you want to lean in for more.

Kun pats at his forehead with the edge of his sleeve. He just wants to talk about your article, to figure out what exactly the angle you’re working on is, and you do your best to answer him, but that’s difficult when you’re truly so distracted by him, by how handsome he looks right now, by how tantalizingly his sweat mixes with cologne. You can’t look away as a bead of sweat drips down the side of his face.

You can barely compose your thoughts to explain to Kun that you don’t have the idea for your article fully formed yet. The general idea is that it’s about WayV’s comeback, but the exact angle, you’re not positive about.

“Maybe I should write about you.” You face forward, forcing yourself to tear your gaze away from him. “The patient leader. All that you’ve done in preparation for this comeback. Producing music, writing, performing.”

Kun cracks a smile at that, you see it in the mirror. You also see the way that he’s looking at you as he says, “I don’t think I need the ego boost of you writing a whole article just about me.”

“No?”

He leans back now, his shoulder bumping against yours. “No. Though, maybe it wouldn’t be such an ego boost. The others would all rip me a new one about it. Tease me to hell and back.”

“Maybe I’ll just ask you all about that stuff for my own interest then.” You turn your head back to face Kun, and you knew he was sitting close, but it still surprises you how close he is. Close enough that you can see each individual eyelash, his pores, the stubble on his upper lip. “Because I am interested.”

Kun cocks an eyebrow at that. “You are?”

“Very much.” You can’t stop yourself from bringing a hand up, sliding your finger along the side of his face, along the trail left by his sweat.

At that moment, the door into the room bursts open again. You jerk your hand back to your lap, and Kun twitches, his hand slipping over, fingertips brushing your thigh. He looks over towards the door, towards the members that are coming back inside.

“Meet me later. After practice.” Kun murmurs out of the corner of his mouth. “Do you run? I go for a nightly jog; we can talk then about our… interests.”

You nod. “Okay.”

Before their choreographer calls practice back in session, and before any of the others can come over to eavesdrop or interrupt, Kun gives you the location to meet him and the time.

You sit through the rest of their practice, but you can’t focus anymore, and it’s not like there’s a whole lot here to take notes on for the article. It’s mostly you just watching, trying not to just stare at Kun rolling his hips and running around the room sweating.

You excuse yourself a little early, taking the opportunity to go cool off before your jog later.

It’s late when you go meet Kun for the jog. The night is warm and dark, but he smiles brightly when you step up beneath the streetlight where he told you to meet.

“You came.” He pushes away from the streetlight. “Ready?”

Jogging is not something that you regularly do, and you warn Kun of that before you take off.

“We’ll take it slow, then,” he promises.

So, although it’s been a while since you last went for a run, it doesn’t actually take you long to fall into the rhythm of it. Whether or not Kun slows his usual pace to match yours, you don’t know, but he does keep even with you as you run together along the pathways beside the river.

Talking while you jog isn’t very easy, but you both manage. You do actually talk about Kun, what his position as a leader has been like over this temporary inactivity of his unit of NCT. You talk about his skills producing and the other fun things he’s been doing—skydiving and learning to fly a plane among them—as well as him being an advocate for his group.

He asks you questions about yourself too, of course. When your passion for writing began, what kind of places you’ve worked or traveled to for work, your favorite type of thing to write. And more, Kun asks you about you, more personal questions than just about your career.

The warm night air clings a little more once you really get the blood pumping during the jog, and soon you’re feeling quite damp. Perspiration glistens beneath your clothes, not necessarily to the point of actually sweating, but close enough to it that you begin to feel very gross. The same can’t be said for Kun.

When Kun finally stops after about two miles, you slump against the low wall beside him that runs between this path and a street on the other side.

You do your best to catch your breath, and Kun stretches a little, shaking his arms and running his fingers through his hair.

As a car passes by on the street behind you, Kun’s face is illuminated by the beams of its headlights.

He’s so sweaty.

Shiny and dripping. His cheeks are stained pink from the exertion.

Kun straightens up and looks over at you as another car passes by. He’s really sweaty, you watch as a bead runs down alongside his nose to his lips. He licks his lips and wipes at one side of his face.

“Sorry,” he offers you a smile, “I’m all sweaty. Bet you got enough of that earlier, and now I’m subjecting you to it again.”

You shake your head. “It’s alright. I don’t mind.”

In fact you quite like it.

“It’s kinda hot,” You admit, to Kun’s surprise. “Like, everything about you is, but I think I like you sweaty.”

He pushes his fingers through his damp hair again, watching you for a moment before something seemingly clicks, Kun’s mind made up. He reaches over, taking your hand, and he starts walking. “Come with me.”

Kun leads you a bit farther down the running path, to a spot where there are no street lights, just a stretch of darkness, and an even darker spot beneath a walking bridge that crosses over the path.

“Is this what you meant by interested?” Kun asks as he comes to a stop beneath the bridge. “In me? In being with me?”

“I want to have sex with you, if that’s what you’re asking.” You just put it all out there, reaching for his neck, feeling the dampness of his skin against your palm.

Kun just looks right at you, which is something you can feel more than see right now. It’s very dark beneath this walking bridge, hiding you and Kun from sight of any other late night walkers or runners as you lean in, tilting your head to the side.

You’re surprised by your own boldness as you hold out your tongue and lick the side of Kun’s face, from the curve of his jaw up to his hairline, teasing the salty tang of his sweat on your tongue. Kun moans softly, his hands coming around to settle on your waist.

“Gross,” he says, but the whimper and weakness in his voice tells you that he actually likes it.

The taste of Kun’s sweat lingers on your tongue. It’s so warm tonight, the heat penetrating and making the way that your bodies meet feel even hotter. Kun is still sweating, and you feel gross but also incredibly aroused when you bury your nose in his hair and breathe in.

Kun backs you up against the wall of this tunnel beneath the bridge, pinning you between his body and the wall. He turns his head, brushing his lips along your throat, pressing fingers into your hair, dragging your lips down from his forehead to his for the first messy, hot and rushed kiss.

Kissing Kun is great. Your senses are overwhelmed with him. He’s pressed against you in all the right places. His scent is all that fills your nose. The breathy pants and desperate sounds of you kissing paint the night. Kun tastes like sweat and something sweet, like he’d eaten just before he came to meet up for the jog. And when you break the kiss, he’s all you see. Just his warm brown eyes right in front is yours, a bead of sweat making its way down to the bridge of his nose, his lips swollen a tiny bit from the ferocity of kissing him.

You can’t help going back in to kiss him once more, diving into another few moments of heated kissing. When you slide a hand down his back, you can feel the way that Kun’s shirt clings to his sweaty back, and when your fingertips dip down beneath the band of his running shorts, you find it’s like a puddle of sweat. Your fingers spread, slicking his sweat over his skin as your hand explores lower, pushing his shorts down over his ass.

“I wanna have sex, Kun. Need you.” You moan into the kiss, groping his sweaty ass as you lift a leg up to his hip, trying to entice him into fucking you right now.

To your great satisfaction, Kun does exactly that.

He spins you around to face the wall, hands pulling your hips back as he yanks your shorts and underwear down. The fabric pools at your ankles, stretched tight as you spread your legs for Kun to move forward.

His fingers move quickly, sliding right against your entrance. He spits, and you feel the wet heat dripping down to join his fingers, spread around as he uses his spit as lube, pressing the fingers of one hand inside you.

Glancing over your shoulder, you see the shadowy shape of Kun behind you, his hand working over his cock, and you don’t care that you’re not at all prepared to be fucked, you need him inside you now. You reach back, fumbling in the dark as you try to touch his shoulder, instead finding his neck, and you pull him forward against you. His skin is slick beneath your touch, and it’s truly amazing to you that this time yesterday you were basically disgusted by sweat, but there’s just something about Kun that makes you want to drown in his.

His belly and hips and cock press sweaty against your ass, thighs stick against yours, and when his lips meet your neck, all you can do is moan and breathe in the way Kun smells right now. You turn your head to the side, and Kun captures your lips in a kiss, pushing his hips forward against you, grinding against the soft swell of your ass.

You whimper into the kiss, pressing back, wanting and craving and needing more.

Overhead, you hear the rumble and catch a tiny glimmer of light as someone rides a bicycle over the bridge. They pass over you, none the wiser to Kun sliding a hand down over your belly, his hand dipping down to explore between your legs while he continues grinding against your ass. His sticky, sweaty skin clings to yours, some of his sweat dripping over your skin, and you’re going absolutely wild for it, like you feel like you’re losing your mind.

At last when he shifts, pressing his cock down between your cheeks, you moan out so loudly that Kun laughs, covering your mouth with one hand.

“Shh, it’s late but there are still people out.” He leaves the words tucked against the back of your neck. “I’m gonna fuck you now, can you keep quiet?”

That’s not a promise you can make, but you nod regardless. Kun doesn’t move his hand from your mouth, which is wise because as soon as he grinds forward, circling the tip of his cock at your entrance, another whine spills from your tongue. When he actually rolls his hips, his cock sliding right inside you, you swear and reach out for him. One hand covers the hand he’s got over your mouth, the other darts back to hold his hip.

Kun doesn’t go easy on you, and after watching him earlier during their dance practice, you hadn’t wanted him to. You’d seen the powerful snap of his hips reflected in the mirror earlier. You’d imagined on your way home how he would look doing that with you directly in front of him. And now, you’re fortunate enough to be finding out. Asked and answered: fucking fantastic.

The heat of the night grows only more intense and humid there trapped in the space around your bodies. The frenzied activity of Kun’s hips snapping against yours builds the heat both internally and externally, sweat dripping from both of you, the sound of skin on skin echoing off the walls of this short tunnel.

You hear voices carrying on a small breeze, and you know that you should stop, that they might take this path, intending to pass through this tunnel beneath the bridge. You can't get caught with Kun, it would ruin both of you. But you can’t stop either, not now.

Luckily, the voices pass over you, and every time after that that you hear other night walkers or bicyclists, they take the bridge instead of the tunnel beneath. Luckily, Kun’s hand stays firmly over your mouth, muffling all of the sounds you’d falsely promised not to make.

Your heart races as the intensity of the sex rescues it’s peak. You can feel your heartbeat in your bones, in your fingers and your toes. You can barely draw breath because of Kun’s hand clamped over your mouth, and that just raises your pleasure even more, a twisted sense that makes you want to drag his hand down to your throat instead, to feel him choke you as the knot inside your belly finally snaps, your orgasm wracking through you.

Kun follows almost immediately.

He pulls out as you experience the last moments of bliss from your orgasm. Your body clings to him, not wanting to let him go, but then you’re empty, throbbing and pulsing around nothing, just hungry to have his cock in you again.

You spin around and drop to your knees. You ignore the jarring bite of the rocky pathway against your bare knees. All that registers is the slide of Kun’s skin beneath your hands as you grab his hips, the smell of his sweat growing so strong that you feel faint as you bring your mouth to his cock.

Kun can’t see you well in the low light, but he can feel you. The heat of your breath on his cock, the brush of your lips and your tongue as you hold your mouth open.

You feel the movement of his hand over his length, hear the wet sound of him jerking off, and you hear his soft shuddering breaths as he reaches climax.

Kun’s cum lands on your lips, his tip pressed right to the soft skin, spreading like a creamy lip gloss as you reach too for his cock, guiding him into your mouth.

You suck him dry, tongue dipping into the slit as he gushes cum. His hips rock forward, shallow presses of his tip over your tongue to extend his pleasure. You swallow down everything he gives you, savoring the somewhat bitter taste of his cum, the salty taste of his skin on your tongue, and the smell of his sweat when you press yourself as far down on his cock as you can, nose brushing the damp hair at the base of his cock.

You pull off of him gasping for breath, your mouth and chin feeling sticky. Your whole body feels covered in a gross layer of sweat, which is disgusting, but you still feel less grossed-out by Kun. You move in, wiping your face against his sweaty thigh, smearing his cum over his skin, catching your breath while breathing him in.

You lowkey feel like a slut, but it’s okay.

You enjoyed yourself. Kun enjoyed himself.

When you’re back on your feet, he wipes at your mouth and chin, doing his best to clean off the cum before he moves in to kiss you again.

It takes a few more minutes before either of you is ready to pull away from the other.

But this time voices draw near, and you see a flashlight beam cutting through the night, casting shadows on the tunnel wall as they approach.

Quickly, you both pull your shorts back up. Kun takes your hand again, leading you out the other side of the tunnel, away from the people, back along the way that you came.

Your legs feel a tiny bit weak, and you groan as you remember that right now you’re about two miles away from your starting point. And now you still have to run those two miles back.

This is a lot more exercise tonight than you’d originally signed on for.

“Fuck, I don’t know if I’ll make it,” you groan, raking your fingers through your sweaty hair, hoping to tempt a breeze to cool your scalp. There’s no such luck. The night is still and silent now.

“We can do it,” Kun insists. “I promise, it’ll feel so rewarding when we’re finished.”

Two miles. A total of a four mile jog with a break for some intensely hot sex. You do it, but at the finish line, back at the bench beneath the streetlight where you first met Kun tonight, you don’t find a rewarding feeling but rather an overwhelming exhaustion.

“Oh my God,” you groan, slumping down on the bench. Kun collapses beside you as well. It’s too fucking late now, the paths are almost entirely barren. The time on your watch shows it’s nearing three in the morning. As fun as this experience was, you’re absolutely exhausted, and you don’t know if going for a run with Kun again is something that you necessarily need a repeat of.

But the very sweaty athletic sex, that you’ll take another round of, many repeat performances and exhibitions of his stamina.

#Kun smut #nct smut #wayv smut #qian kun #Kun #nct #wayv #yes I would absolutely drink qian Kun’s sweat which is almost where this went before I decided I really didn’t want to write a fic about #drinking an actual glass of Kun’s sweat

[checkoutmybookshelf]

In Defense of Full-Cast Audiobooks

By the time I was teaching Dracula as a PhD student, I was getting *that close* to being done, I was burned out as all hell, and I just could not bring myself to sit down and read the OG vampire book. I tried. It wasn't grabbing me, and there were days I literally could not make my eyes focus on the words on the page. So I didn't bother reading my physical copy. I'm actually not sure I ever opened this book to read it (although I did use it to check stuff in classes, so like having the physical copy was useful).

Instead, I got the full-cast audiobook on the strength of the fact that I liked Tim Curry's voice work on any number of childhood cartoons and Simon Vance's work on the Temeraire audiobooks. I went from being meh to actively antagonistic with this book to absolutely, completely enamoured with it, and I credit the incredible full-cast audio performance with that. Let's talk Dracula and the merits of full-cast audiobooks.

Reading is reading, whether you do it with a physical book, ebook, or audiobook. That's not up for debate. However, amongst audiobook afficionados, there are generally two schools of thought.

Camp one is the "just read it to me" folks, and they tend to prefer a single narrator (although I've met a few who will accept two readers, one male and one female, to do characters of those respective genders. No word on how that works with nonbinary characters, so if you have a preference on that, let us know!). This camp also tends to be on a sliding scale in terms of how much performing they like their one narrator to do. I've known people on the "yes, do all the voices and put some feeling into it" end and the "the narrator should be more or less invisible" end.

Camp two is those who prefer full-cast audiobooks. These tend to read like full-on radio productions, with voice actors for all the main characters, and sometimes music and/or sound effects for emphasis and flavor. I've been in this camp since I was a teenager and discovered the full cast audio versions of Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic books. I was sold. I have them basically memorized at this point. And when I found out that I could get Dracula read this way, I leaped on that with both feet.

The audiobook version of Dracula I listened to was the Audible exclusive full-cast version, and I have to say, I think it worked particularly well for an epistolary novel. You never ever get lost or consfused about who the speaker is when every character has their own unique voice actor (which honestly tends not to be an issue for me, but my students would periodically tell me they had this problem when reading). With some music and performance as well, the story really pops. All the interpersonal relationships between characters get just that much more real, that much more impactful.

The ability to "read" the book on my walks to and from school and on the bus to and from work was a massive plus too, because that was right in the middle of my "I'm working three jobs and getting a PhD and TA-ing simultaneously" phase, so using every scrap of time I could was important to my ability to EVEN. I was in a position to pay for the audiobook, but I also tracked down a single-narrator (probably bootlegged, I genuinely don't know) version on YouTube and made that link available to my students in case they weren't in a position to pay for an audio version. I don't know how many of them used the link, or even took my advice to try aduiobooking it if they were struggling to read the book, but I know that the full-cast audio version was how I got through it and how I really ended up loving the book.

In terms of Dracula itself, I don't have a lot to say other than it really IS that good; it's a classic for a reason. The vampire hunting shenangins are never not fun, and seeing vampires before Anne Rice and Stephanie Meyer got on the scene is fascinating. If anyone out there hasn't experienced Dracula, I strongly recommend reading it in your preferred medium, and Dracula Daily is an option as well that I'm planning to get in on one of these years, because I haven't done that yet and I think that would be a truly fascinating way to engage with the novel.

#dracula #bram stoker #bram stocker's dracula #audiobook #dracula daily #gothic literature #vampire books #yes i know its nosferatu on the cover but you'll have to take that up with penguin

[af1899]

FEH - My themed teams

Themed teams are part of the fun in Fire Emblem Heroes for me, as it's a way to put favorites together and even make a full team with all/some of their variants, while most of my teams are purely technical (i. e.: of a movement type, for a specific event, for lead units friends can use, etc.), I have made 5 themed teams that I keep and love, feel free to check them out right below, along with a few facts about me as a bonus:

She's so precious she has her own team! 💜🥺

One of my biggest favorites and a true sweetheart, I'm fond of both the original design and the revamp on FEH and the Cipher, she's too lovable and wholesome.

Her Fallen alt is indeed a project of mine but not one I use much, once Julia gets a colorless version, I'll replace this alt out in the team.

The best team ever

It includes my three most appreciated characters in the Fire Emblem series as well as Sara who I'm strongly fond of from Thracia 776.

I like green too

I sort of have a knack for this color in long hair, and fortunately, the cast in the series is not short of them. The designs are all beautiful and unique, plus each of them feels rather soothing to look at.

Annand and Erinys are specially noteworthy because they're both sisters actually, and they both are on the good side but only one of them is playable in Genealogy of the Holy War.

Despite Annand being a minor character, I always wanted to play a game in which she's officially playable, and this is one of the good things in Heroes: normally non-playable characters can actually be under your command and this game is free and easy to get around, which is nice.

Annand would probably be the biggest surprise here, I always quite liked her design and strong-willed yet kind personality, not exactly Julia-like though, but she's still a friendly girl. I was happy to see that I.S. remembered her.

The one and only rainbow tome theme so far

For appreciation post detailing why I like her so much, refer to it in here.

This team was made to celebrate her Legendary alt's addition and early acquisition soon after my birthday, as well as the completion of my first full rainbow team with same character.

Did I mention that I love how she smiles?

The sweetest team

I tried to aim for one girl of each color, based on these conditions:

Angelical designs: these girls all inspire calmness and possess a feature that strongly reminds me of angels.

Personality: it's mandatory that they show genuine kindness/tenderness/calmness in some form of another.

Sophia might look like the least fitting member here, and can't blame you if you think that way tbh, it's just that I was in need of a red member so that I didn't have to put OG Julia (because I've already placed a unit of her class) so I went with Sophia to complete the gang.

She's actually a dark magic user and a half-dragon, half-human girl, but she's so calming to look at and talk, showing also a great deal of wisdom, specially to matters related to her homeland in Nabata, Elibe.

Might put Hoshidan Summer Micaiah here later since she seems to fit the concept even better, but Idk for now, I'm happy with the team as it is.

And there's something in common among all of them

Yes, all those teams include only female characters, this is more about me so if you were only interested in the themed teams, don't read any further.

Anyway...

While it could just be said that it's because of natural attraction, that's not exclusively true and I'd like to say there's a deeper reason to it than only that.

Actually, I've always felt like I could overcome more of my own socialization problems Irl, when trying to talk to a girl rather than with a guy, during my studies at both high-school and school, I was often called for by my male classmates for making verbal jokes, and sometimes guys from other grades too (leading me to think they weren't genuine friends and some were rough or too tiresome to interact with). A few of them were actual friends which is nice, and were there for me and viceversa, but oftenmost I found myself more comfortable around girls, and even feeling confident to try to talk to the ones I used to feel shy to approach.

At least, this is how I believe my interest on fictional female character stems from, because I feel a similar sentiment and they often feel more approachable or friendlier than a guy, but this doesn't mean that I will never train a single guy in any given game there are some playable, or refuse the idea of a male-only game if there's fun awaiting, like on Team Fortress 2 which actually seems like fun.

For example, I'm very fond of Leif from Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, to the point I think of him as the best [Lord], and he is. He's not your usual [Lord], because unlike most of them, Leif was forced to flee from his hometown to rescue his closer allegiances (Nanna and Mareeta) from Raydrik's forces and had little resources to obtain and use later in his quest through Thracia (often having to capture enemies and take their possessions), he often had to watch the dire and unfair situation in his homeland, the southern half, suffering due to the infertile lands unlike the north. He's a good guy with a strong heart and disposition to learn new things, specially since he's well aware he's unable to wield the weapon of one of the Twelve Crusaders unlike his sister, who he didn't even know he had. His studious and diligent nature manifests in his promotion in FE4, which is why he becomes such a powerhouse able to use most non-preference weapons.

I also like Lex, he's a friendly guy with a playful and somewhat caring side, teaming up with Azelle since he was worried Azelle went off alone to help Sigurd and they're both quite close friends.

Veld is also kind of interesting, he's the big cheese behind nearly everything evil going on in Thracia, and sadly he's an easy boss, which seems a waste for such epic battle theme:

Eliwood also seems like the kind of guy I'd like and Hector is often fun to interact with, I specially like his dialogues with Oswin, they're real fun. (Oswin for FEH when?)

And I could go on but this is something I wanted to talk about me.

Thank you!

It sure was quite a long post, was it not? But I do hope you've come to enjoy reading it and thanks so much for checking it out!

#feh #fe heroes #fire emblem heroes

[kob131]

Waitwaitwait, can I see that George Washington servant? I've always wanted to see him in canon and I've always had my own ideas about what he should be like too!

Okay then.

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Class: Rider True Name: George Washington Alignment: Neutral Good Gender: Male Religion: America Place of Origin: Popes Creek, Virigina Attribute: Human/(Star) Alternate Servant Classes: Ruler(?)

Parameter: Strength: D Endurance: A+ Agility: C Mana: E Luck: A+ NP: E-EX

Class Skills: Riding C- Rider is often depicted as riding a horse into battle and lived during a time where calvary was common. However this skill is reduced due to the fact that he had his mount shoot out from under him.

Magic Resistance E A standard skill for the Rider Class. However, due to the lack of mystery and magic in Rider’s reigion (as well as certain circumstances regarding his class), the skill is at it’s lowest rank possible.

Personal Skills: Charisma A In life, Rider’s personal charisma and charm allowed him to lead his men into battle time and time again with high morale, even as the odds were always against them. It’s noted that he even once managed to avoid a munity of soldiers when they weren’t given pay. How he is viewed later in history would rank this up to EX but Rider forced this to remain it’s natural rank.

Incitement EX Rider’s speeches and sayings are famous for their ability to move people, being noted as an excellent speaker.

Disengage (Army) A The ability to withdraw from battle or reset the battle. Not only was Rider able to time and time again retreat from battle when things went sour but he also managed to save his men as well despite many disadventagous situations. As such, this skill also extends to his allies as well.

Robust Health A- During his lifetime, Rider survived numerous battles as well as several contradicted diseases like Smallpox. However, the skill is reduced due to his death by the common cold (though not a full rank down due to part of his death being due to drained blood).

Noble Phantasm: The Man Who Founded A Nation, Beloved By All It’s Citizens: Washington Rank: E-EX Type: Anti-Personnel

The embodiment of Rider’s impossible feat at the founding of a certain nation and the subsequent adoration he earned, even in death. Upon this Noble Phantasm’s activation, Rider receives a boost in his skills (excluding Luck and Mana) proportional to the size, wealth and success of his country. Due to said country being regularly considered a superpower, his boosts are quite powerful.

However, it should be noted that Rider dislikes using his Noble Phantasm as he personally believes he did little to establish his country. The Noble Phantasm can even be deployed indefinitely (at the cost of burning through mana at a higher rate) but this function is exclusive to his Ruler version.

Personality: Rider is an ambitious, impatient and even somewhat battle hungry man, eager to prove himself and enjoying the act of battle (especially the sound of bullets). Paradoxically, he holds strict principles to guide him against the vices of his personality and works hard and honestly towards his goals. Due to holding true to his principles during his life, he has gain a large amount of self control. He also does his best to remain humble and down to earth due to the tyrants of his time. He is also very patrotic of his country, a trait that would be inherited by it’s many citizens. And lastly, he is a surprisingly good judge of character and information gatherer.

[fatesdeepdive]

Entry 54: Demigod Shit Magnet

Got a lot of stuff to talk about, no time for intro.

Class Profile - Ninja

The Nohrian thief class and base class of Saizo, Kaze, Kagero, and Asugi. Has good speed and skill and that's about it. Wields shurikens, which make them work best for inflicting debuffs. Also oddly good at mage killing. Oddly enough, the game considers them to be the Hoshido version of a Cavalier. Their first skill, Locktouch, is a utility skill that allows them to open chests and doors without a key. Their second skill, Poison Strike, deals 20% damage to enemies after battle but cannot kill, helping establish their niche of injuring enemies from a distance so stronger units can come in and finish them off. Ninjas can promote to Master Ninjas or Mechanists. I like the Ninja design a lot; the light armor fits well and the scarves, headbands, and arm knife thingies look cool.

Class Profile - Oni Savage

This game’s version of the Barbarian class and Hoshidan rival to the Fighter class. Wields axes, can promote into Oni Chieftain or Blacksmith. Weirdly, Rinkah is the only Oni Savage in the game, making the fact that it has two exclusive promotion classes weird. Oni Savages have great strength, hp, and defense, countered by atrocious luck, skill, and resistance. They can do good damage, assuming they can hit anything, or act as a wall, assuming they don’t die instantly to magic or a crit. Their first skill, Seal Resistance, lowers an enemy’s resistance after combat. I do not know why this was given to this class. Their other skill, Shove, is a utility skill that can be used to move a neighboring unit one space away. I actually like the Oni Savage design, despite it being ripe for fanservice, because the male and female designs are similar. My problem isn’t barbarians being shirtless, it’s when the game does stupid shit like have the female version of a class wear a thong while the male wears pants. The mask and beads worn by generic Oni Savages are also a nice touch.

Class Profile - Monk/Shrine Maiden

This game’s version of the Priest and Cleric classes, Hoshidan versions of the Troubadour class. Sakura and Mitama are Shine Maidens, while Azama is a Monk. Oddly enough, despite this game mostly getting rid of gender-locked classes, these two remain separate. They’re basically the same class, though. Both wield staves, have the same skills, and have good speed, luck and resistance, hampered by awful defense and HP. Oddly, Shrine Maiden has 5% better magic, while Monk instead has 10% better skill. Regardless, the job of these classes is to avoid combat and heal allies using staves. These classes can promote into Onmyojis and either Great Masters or Priestesses. Their first skill, Miracle, gives them a luck-based chance to survive a fatal blow with 1 HP. Their second skill, Rally Luck, boosts the Luck of nearby allies for a few turns. They also secretly have a 10% extra crit evade. I enjoy the simple, modest designs, which fit with the class’s aesthetic. 

Conquest Chapter 8: Cold Reception

As Felicia leads the group to her village, Moron and Silas are separated by a blizzard. Moron faints from the cold and is rescued by Kilma, the Ice Tribe’s leader. Moron begins to introduce himself, but Silas reminds him that they’re here to crush a rebellion. Corrin bemoans the fact that everything is so morally grey. Honestly, I wouldn’t call this route morally grey, so much as it’s the same black and white shit as Birthright with Moron being to stupid to understand he’s on the evil side.

Kilma says he only let Moron into the village because he carries Yato, the sword prophecized to save the world. Kilma introduces Moron to his daughter, Flora. The fact that Flora and Felicia are the daughters of the head of a small country colonized by Nohr is kinda weird. Garon conquered the Ice Tribe, took the daughters captive, and forced them to work as servants for his other kidnapped prince.

Felicia and Elise show up and Elise blurts out that they’re there to suppress Kilma’s rebellion. Elis is an idiot. Flora sounds the alarm and the Ice Tribe rushes in to fight the Nohrians. Flora calls Felicia ignorant and says war is the only language Nohr understands.

This chapter uses the same map as Chapter 17 of Birthright. The gimmick of this chapter is centered on five villages spread around the map. A pair of enemy soldiers will try to go to the villages to summon reinforcements, while the player can visit them to get gold. At the start of turn two, Odin and Niles show up to save us, acting on orders from Leo. Moron has to convince them to not kill everyone brutally, because Odin’s a chunibiyo and Niles is genuinely morally grey.

Odin

Owain from Awakening, now a Dark Mage instead of Myrmidon and pretending to be an evil wizard instead of a legendary hero. He also switches his costume to this tight, garish yellow outfit with a v-neck that stretches to his crotch. I’d complain if it was any character other than Odin; for Odin, it fits. I did like Owain in Awakening, but I will admit his schtick can get old. His personal skill gives him a boosted crit rate when using a named weapon with a name more than 12 letters long, something ridiculous that fits perfectly for a guy obsessed with legendary weapons and powerful spells. Also, he can reclass into a Samurai, a Hoshidan class, which makes sense given his class in Awakening.

Niles

Leo’s other retainer, a sadistic Outlaw. His personal skill, Kidnap, works the same as Orochi’s capture. Conquest is a bit harder than Birthright, though, so I’m afraid I won’t be grabbing another Kenshi. Fun fact, Niles is the only non-promoted bow user in all of Nohr. Niles’s design isn’t half bad; I like the eyepatch, white hair, and hood, although I’d like to note that it’s a bit odd that the sadistic criminal has a noticeably darker skin tone.

Flora apologizes to Moron for standing by her actions, calls Felicia a moron, and tells Jakob she wishes she was meeting him under better circumstances. Felicia’s battle quote with Jakob is especially interesting, confirming she was a hostage and hinting that she has feelings for him. Kilma prays for forgiveness for fighting Felicia and says Moron deceived him.

Moron spares Kilma. In fact, he wins the battle without killing anyone. Somehow. Moron has Elise treat the enemy wounded. Kilma is shocked by Moron’s kindness. Moron negotiates a deal where the Ice Tribe stops rebelling in return for more autonomy, something he has the authority to do that totally won’t be ignored by the child kidnapping mass murderer Garon. Kilma says that Moron might be the legendary hero after all. Flora apologizes for defending her people from an invading army who kidnapped her and her sister as a child and swears fealty to Moron.

So, here’s my problem with Conquest. Nohr is evil. Garon is evil. But Moron is good. So every chapter has him win battles without violence or negotiate people into working with him. Rather than having Moron struggle with his morality, it has him keep his hands clean, even as he conquers neighboring nations for the glory of a brutal dictatorship. It’s idiotic. And it will only get more idiotic as this game goes on. But first, we have some Supports to read.

Support: Corrin/Odin

C: Corrin finds Odin posing. Odin says his stance needs a unique name. Corrin gets annoyed by Odin and walks away.

B: Odin asks Corrin to name his pose. Corrin says they need tome to think of a name.

A: Corrin tries to hide from Odin. Odin tracks them down and annoys Corrin for a while. Eventually, Odin comes up with a dumb name for his pose: Shadow Glitter. Corrin is relieved that they don't have to talk to Odin anymore.

S: Odin asks Corrin to marry him. Corrin gets tired of his long-winded proposal and demands he get to the point. Odin gives a heartfelt proposal and immediately gets back on his bullshit.

Review: Not bad. Odin toes the line between funny and annoying and seeing Corrin get sick of his bullshit is a good dose of realism. This is also one of the only times Corrin isn’t ridiculously friendly. Also, by marrying Odin, Corrin joins yet another royal family.

Support: Elise/Effie

C: Elise asks Effie to go on a walk with her, but Effie is full from eating and asks Elise to roll her like a barrel.

B: Effie uses Elise as a dumbell. The two of them reminisce about how they met: Elise snuck down to the underground and befriended Effie and, when the guards tried to take Elise back, Effie tried to fight em off.

A: Effie talks about how she trained for years to become a castle guard so she could protect Elise.

Review: This is what Corrin and Silas’s relationship should have been. That is, free from dumb bullshit about Corrin having the memory of a goldfish. Lore is always good in Supports and this does a great job establishing Elise and Effie’s friendship, while also having some great comedy bits.

Support: Felicia/Niles

C: Felicia spills some soup on Niles. Niles begins stripping seductively. Felicia offers to take his clothes to the laundry.

B: Felicia offers to give Felicia a special, heavenly dessert. Niles assumes she's coming on to him. Felicia gives Niles a cookie.

A: Niles mocks Felicia for not understanding his double entendres. After finding out about Felicia's childhood as a hostage, he apologizes.

S: Niles proposes.

Review: A fun, kinda dumb comedic Support.

Support: Arthur/Mozu

C: Arthur finds Mozu analyzing the soil around camp. Mozu rambles about how farming is awesome.

B: Arthur helps Mozu plow a field. Mozu corrects his form. A: While Arthur is plowing, a heard of dragons fly over and shit all over him. Mozu is overjoyed because dragon droppings are great fertilizer. Also, I'd like to note a script error in this Support: dragons and wyverns are not the same thing. Wyverns are the mounts with animal-level intelligence, dragons are ancient magic beings that can transform into humans. Unless a flock of demigods flew by to shit on Arthur, the game means wyverns.

S: Arthur proposes by giving Mozu a special flower that is supposed to be planted by a husband and wife. Mozu accepts because Arthur's bad luck is a good source of fertilizer.

Review: The start of this Support is a bit bland, but Arthur getting covered in shit is great.

#fire emblem fates #flora fire emblem #owain fire emblem #odin fire emblem #niles fire emblem #corrin fire emblem #fire emblem conquest #nohr

[chinaberrymahoganytree]

SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

Quoted from "The Epic History of Garden Gnomes From Ancient Rome to Today"(Carrie Cabral Sep 6, 2019)

Garden gnomes. They might be your favorite decoration or your biggest pet peeve. Garden gnomes are small ornamental statues, typically resembling humans. Garden gnomes have been the subject of cultural fixation, reverence, and scorn, but have stayed an essential part of garden decor and more, even as debates raged about their purpose and pranksters tried to snuff them out. No matter what side of the garden gnome debate you’re on, learning the garden gnomes history is fun and enlightening.

What Are Garden Gnomes? Traditional garden gnomes are male and bearded and have pointy hats. Some are depicted participating in leisure activities. Female garden gnomes are less common and usually don’t have beards. Today, garden gnomes can also portray popular figures or stereotypes. Biker gnomes, for example, have the traditional pointy hats and beards but also wear leather vests. There are a lot of ways to be creative with gnomes. They can be depicted doing different activities, and can have signs, plaques, or props to accompany them. Garden gnomes are modeled after gnomes, small, mythical creatures whose folklore arose during the Renaissance in Europe. Gnomes appeared prominently in Romanticist art and fairy tales as humanoid creatures that lived deep in the forest, primarily underground, and resisted contact with humans. In stories, gnomes sometimes protected and guided humans when they did come in contact with them, and sometimes had magical abilities. In some darker fairy tales of the period, gnomes led humans to their demise by tricking them.

The History of Garden Gnomes How did these little guys wind up in gardens, you ask? Well, first we have to take a little step back to ancient Rome, where the history of the garden gnome begins. Garden statues have always been popular. Ancient Romans placed statues of the fertility god Priapus in their gardens, to help the plants grow and flourish. During the Renaissance and the Romantic period, people also placed status in their garden of figures like hunchbacks, which they called "grotesques." Art influenced these decisions, as people modeled their decor after the culture of the day. In the 18th century, people began adding small gnome-like figures made of wood or porcelaininside their homes. They referred to these figures as "gnomes," inspired by fairy tales. In Germany, the fairy tales further inspired the production of the statues, as people conflated the myths and folklore with the figurines. Because the traditional gnome lived in a forest and was associated with the Earth, people began putting the gnomes in their gardens as well. The appearance of garden gnomes varied by region depending on that region's folklore, so the gnomes sometimes appeared jolly, or older and more human depending on the region. Around this time, garden gnomes took off in Europe and were primarily found in the gardens of the wealthy as a symbol of fashion and status.In 1847, Lord Charles Isham brought 21 terracotta garden gnomes to his home in Northamptonshire to be featured in the garden. Only one of the gnomes, nicknamed Lampy, survives to this day and is on display at the estate. Isham effectively brought gnomes to England and made them fashionable for the upper classes, a major turning point in garden gnome history. Sir Frank Crisp owned the second largest collection of garden gnomes in England, and opened his estate up once per week between the years of 1910 and 1919 to the public so people could view his garden and garden gnome collection. As gnome demand grew, manufacturers in Germany flourished. This meant that cheaper options for gnomes were available, and they were also displayed in the gardens of people from all socioeconomic classes.

Garden Gnomes in the 20th Century The aftermath of World War I was particularly hard on Germany, whose garden gnome manufacturers were met with little demand for ceramic figurines and had very little resources. Garden gnome popularity greatly declined at this time, but the history of garden gnomes wasn't over yet. Some garden gnome manufacturers recovered in the 1930s after the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. They found that there was newly renewed interest in garden gnomes, and the appearance of the garden gnomes was "Disneyfied" to reflect the cartoon-like innocence  of the animated dwarves. However, the garden gnome industry declined again during and after World War II, as time and resources were devoted to the war effort. In the 1970s, gnome-makers began producing novelty gnomes, and modeled them after politicians, celebrities, or other popular figures. Gnomes were mass-produced, cheap and readily available. Since they were so cheap and since they were produced in jokey form, they lost a lot of the artistic and whimsical reputation they once had.In the 1990s, garden gnomes re-captured public attention when a group of pranksters in France, called the Garden Gnome Liberation Front, gained fame for stealing gnomes, taking them traveling, and sending pictures back to the owners, or simply taking the gnomes and leaving them in allegedly funny situations for people to find. Often, the garden gnomes are given signs claiming that they wanted freedom, or that they had other motives for "escaping."Some thieves returned the gnomes, and others collected large groups and then set them up in scenes in public spaces. The goal of the GLF was to "free" the gnomes, but many owners of these gnomes were incredibly upset that their gnomes disappeared. Some unofficial gnome liberation groups still operate, though the original group in France was caught and fined.

Gnomes in Pop Culture Yard gnomes have appeared in popular culture regularly over the past few decades, though they don’t necessarily decorate gardens the way they once did. The World of David cartoon aired on Nick Jr. in the 1980s and featured a gnome named David who lived in the forest. The Goosebumps series featured a gnome as a villain in both the book and show, which is a possible pre-requisite to the zombie and horror gnomes that we still see today. Travelocity also used a gnome in their ad campaign starting in the early 2000s, as the gnome traveled the world. This was shortly after their height of the garden gnome liberation thefts, all of which personified the gnomes, showing them with voices and personalities, and going on adventures. This friendly attitude toward garden gnomes had always been there, but the more human the gnomes became, the more actual humans became attached to them. German artist Otto Horl displayed an art installation of 1,250 garden gnomes posing as Nazis in 2009. Though controversial, this did further the viewpoint of lawn gnomes being personified and having a purpose, names, etc. Halloween gnome costumes became popular as people dressed up as gnomes and crossed into other depictions and themes, like Gnome Chomsky, modeled after linguist and philosopher, Noam Chomsky. The Netflix series Trollhunters even includes a character named Gnome Chompsky. Making a costume out of a gnome version of something became popular, and helped repopularize novelty gnomes for a time. The animated movie Gnomeo and Juliet was a take on the classic Romeo and Juliet, and incorporated many Gnome-themes like forests and gardens into the lives of the gnome families.

The Great Garden Gnome Debate Despite their early history as exclusive decorations for the wealthy and powerful, garden gnomes today rarely have the same status and are sometimes even viewed as “tacky.” The Chelsea Flower Show famously banned gnomes until 2013, and permitting them at the show was considered a highly controversial move since it "degraded" the gardens. However, those who complained about the lawn gnomes received significant backlash, and were accused of being snobbish, since garden gnomes are common in middle and working class homes. This debate has been going on for most of the history of garden gnomes, which is part of why gnomes gained and lost popularity repeatedly throughout the years. Also, due to their humanoid appearance, garden gnomes seem to be a target for humans to want to put them in funny situations, like in Travelocity’s ad campaign. Funny videos of gnomes doing human activities like “directing traffic” can sometimes go viral. Today, gnomes are known for being funny rather than dignified. There are still serious collectors of garden gnomes, but they aren't necessarily serious gardeners—hence the view of some gardeners that gnomes are a novelty, not a garden piece. Ultimately, it's up to an individual to decide if they want to include a garden gnome in their home. Some people today make elaborate “fairy gardens” and create a whimsical space in which to place their gnomes. Others add a gnome for a humorous touch. Garden gnomes, however, you feel about them, have long been a part of gardening culture. While gnomes may never have a totally secure place in gardens, they are clearly here to stay and hopefully looking forward to the next step in their colorful lives.

[r-u-in-or-r-u-out]

Pixar’s recent short, Out is the kind of LGBTQ representation we need more of.

Out features “Pixar’s first LGBTQ protagonist”, (Jake Coyle, “With a gay protagonist, Pixar short ‘Out’ makes history”) Greg, who is based on the writer and director, Hunter. 

Hunter’s personal relationship to the narrative is partially what makes this short so groundbreaking in children’s media. For its lack of a strong intersectional approach to discussing multiple identity locations including race, class, and disability, Pixar’s decision to produce and promote Out is emblematic of a shift in social consciousness. It’s not without its issues, but if children are to have any examples of positive LGBTQ+ representation, Out is a good start.

Out features Greg and Manuel, a couple preparing to move from the suburbs to the city, and the story begins with the telltale appearance of a rainbow, wink wink. A pink dog and a purple cat jump out of the rainbow and look through a portal to a middle-class suburban house with a car and a moving van in the driveway. The pair charm the collar of Greg and Manuel’s dog Jim, though the reason is unclear. 

Homodomesticity:

It’s worth noting, Pixar chose the stereotypical white middle-class version of queerness instead of leaning into the already groundbreaking territory. But it is revolutionary in its use of homodomesticity in a children’s story.Steven Edward Duran describes the history of gay domesticity in American media as largely absent until shows like Will & Grace and Ellen came on the scene in the 1990s and early aughts. Homodomesticity is the concept of disrupting “rigid gender identities, heterosexuality, and traditional family values,” by including gay men in pop culture’s domestic and home environments. Queer studies tend to view domesticity as a depoliticizing force, particularly in television and visual media because the association of home and television reinforces the heteronormative social cues presented in the media. While it’s true that Greg and Manuel’s relationship in Out is clearly domestic, it is re-politicized in that the story is geared towards children. The short breaks the ice on a long absence of homodomesticity in Disney and Pixar’s content, sending a message to children that gay men can, and do, have long-term relationships and stable romance.

Post-racialism at work:

Greg is a burly, lumberjack type, white cis male with a thick red beard and red hair. Manuel is also a cisgender man, but any clue as to his cultural background, class, race, or other identities is absent. In the face of Greg’s multiple social locations, the ambiguity of Manuel’s intersectional identity is odd. Greg expresses an intersectional identity: white, gay, and (likely) middle class, while Manuel’s only clear identity-marker is his sexuality. His intersectional identity is effectively erased and boiled down to the singular: gay, a mark of post-racialism that ultimately upholds white dominance and hegemonic systems of power (M. Shane Grant, “We’re All Freaks Together: White Privilege and Mitigation of Queer Community”). This is reinforced by Manuel’s brown skin but otherwise ambiguous racial or cultural identities. Pixar could have expanded the narrative to include more of Manuel’s identity and his role in Greg’s life, but he is instead relegated to the background of Greg’s story. This is likely because Greg is based on the writer’s real-life experience, but it doesn’t mean that Pixar couldn’t have played with the story just a bit.

The photo:

Greg’s boyfriend, Manuel, reveals a framed photo of the two in an intimate embrace. The photo is the pivot point that instigates Greg’s coming-out. The couple discuss the fact that Greg hasn’t come out to his parents yet. Lo and behold, Greg’s parents show up unexpectedly to help with the move. Greg freaks out, photo in hand, shuts the door on his parents, and asks/ forces Manuel to leave out the back door. But as Manuel leaves, he says to Greg, “tell them.”

In choosing to focus on the big reveal of Greg’s sexual orientation, Out reinforces the concept that LGBTQ+ sexuality must be public information in order for characters like Greg to feel authentic (Tracy L. Hawkins, “Coming Out: Challenging Portrayals of Diverse Sexuality”).

White Privilege:

The visual cue of Manuel’s exit out the back door is interesting: Greg isn’t hesitant to tell his parents about the real nature of his relationship with Manuel because he isn’t white, but the move nonetheless serves to privilege whiteness. Kate Sullivan Barak noted in her analysis of Piper Chapman’s white privilege in Orange is the New Black, “conversations about privilege, oppression, and race suffer if this invisibility goes unaddressed” (Feminist Perspectives on “Orange is the New Black”, pg. 48). The invisibility of Greg’s skin color and its associated privileges does go unaddressed. Pixar chooses to focus solely on Greg’s sexual orientation, entrenching the emphasis placed on coming out in pop culture at the exclusion of other relevant conversations in the LGBTQ+ movement.

Mind Swap:

Greg eventually opens the door for his parents after carefully hiding the photo in a stack of books on the coffee table. While considering the weight of his secret, sequestered in his bedroom for a moment, Greg looks deep into Jim’s eyes while holding the magic collar and says, “I wish I was a dog.” In a “Freaky Friday”-esque flash, Jim and Greg’s consciousnesses swap. Several near-discoveries of the photo ensue as Greg-in-Jim’s body attempts to keep the photo hidden and Jim-in-Greg’s body sniffs his dad’s butt and disappears chasing a squirrel. In a surprise twist, Greg’s mom reveals that she knew her son was gay. Not only does she know, but she just wants her son to find a man who loves him and to be happy. Greg’s mom’s response to her son’s sexuality is the reaction we hope for, even if it’s not always realistic.

The story has a happy ending: Jim and Greg successfully mind-swap back, Greg brings Manuel home, and the whole family shares hot cocoa. Yay! 

Purple cat and pink dog share a moment of victory at their successful adventure and return through their rainbow portal.

Conclusion:

I love Out’s positive take on coming out. It’s not a gay story by a straight author seeking to increase the studio’s diversity quota. It’s based on the struggle of a real person. It’s not dressed up in glamour or pretention. The style destigmatizes homosexuality and homodomesticity, confronting the sexual othering that is common in pivotal LGBTQ texts (Brian L. Ott & Robert L Mack, Chapter 9: “Queer Analysis”). Hegemonic power structures do not willingly give ground, particularly when it comes to the social education of children. Pixar’s material is geared towards a young audience, an audience that is often ignored in conversations of representation despite the disproportionate impact that media has on youth. For Pixar’s first LGBTQ protagonist, this is a big step in the right direction.

References:

Barak, S. K. “Jenji Kohan’s Trojan Horse: Subversive Uses of Whiteness”. Feminist Perspectives on Orange is the New Black. Pages 45 - 60.

Coyle, J. “With a gay protagonist, Pixar short ‘Out’ makes history”. https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/with-a-gay-protagonist-pixar-short-out-makes-history/.

Duran, S. E. (2013). Housebroken: Homodomesticity and the Normalization of Queerness in Modern Family (pp. 95-104). In P. Demory & C. Pullen (Eds.), Queer Love in Film and Television: Critical Essays. Palgrave Macmillan.

Grant, S. M. “We’re All Freaks Together: White Privilege and Mitigation of Queer Community”. Queer in the Choir Room: Essays on Gender and Sexuality in Glee. Pages 69 -83. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/osu/reader.action?docID=1819253.

Hawkins, L. T. “Coming Out: Challenging Portrayals of Diverse Sexualities”. Queer in the Choir Room: Essays on Gender and Sexuality in Glee. Pgs. 11 - 23.

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/osu/reader.action?docID=1819253.

Hunter, C. S. (2020). Out [Film]. Pixar Animation Studios & Walk Disney Animation Studios.

Kadi, J. “Homophobic Workers or Elitist Queers?”. Pages 143 - 157.

Mack, B. L. & Ott, L. R. Chapter 9: Queer Analysis in Critical Media Studies.

#queeranalysis WGSS PixarSparkShorts homodomesticity LGBTQ+ queervisibility animation gayromance Disney+

[writingonjorvik]

The New Gang Pitch

Following my narrative arc pitch, I wanted to outline a pitch for the new central character unit around the MC to go with it, since characters can make or break a story.

The Self-Taught Vessel, Allacia Clair

One of the first characters part of this group I would imagine has a bit of a rivalry with the MC about their powers. While she’s also a Vessel (my name for the Aideen’s champion role from my narrative pitch), she didn’t have anyone like the Keepers to teach her about her powers. She has a strong grasp on the “Avatar State” power/connecting to Aideen, her other powers she can’t really control and doesn’t have a good foundation for using her other core abilities. Her arc with the MC includes them learning to work together, possibly coming to a head at some point when it seems to this character that the MC is having no trouble with learning about the “Aideen State” powers.

She should be reckless, her powers manifesting in bursts, kinda like an unbridled Lightning Circle Alex, to show she never learned basic control over her powers. She’s stubborn and resilient, with a bitter sense of respect for the MC. She should be funny in a dry humor sort of way, but heart of gold trope, all the way. Points for her being in her mid to late 20′s, so a little older than the “about to start college” MC to add to that “how can you do this thing I struggled with” arc. Extra, extra points if she’s a POC, because, you know, cannon POC badasses are great.

The Valley Girl Hacker, Brittany Bellwinter

We need a diva in the party, and there’s nothing I love more than the idea of a full blown, bubble gum popping, gag me with a spoon, Silicon Valley girl for that. None of the “I don’t get people” hacker trope. This girl gets people, but is also Elle Woods smart with computers. “You took down entire network of G.E.D. encrypted asset logs.” “What, like it’s hard?” She takes no shit for being the pretty blonde girl, and she works her ass off to pull off her chic cyberpunk style while she takes down an entire DC facility’s security system from the Stablebucks down the street.

She’s open, honest, and direct. Her self-confidence is through the roof, to the point of initial conflict. Her being a vigilante when she meets the MC is a great arc to have them working together, and also establishing people outside the Keepers having an issue with Dark Core. She’s hungry for knowledge though, and her handiness with gadgets can provide SSO with a lot of tools for having ruins being destroyed in story beats without losing the information. But also a problem as she risks her life to get those pictures.

The Heart, Kadin Fairwind

This is the one character I think whose gender is most important to be kept the same. Kadin needs to be masc-presenting, either as an enby person who uses he/him pronouns, or just simply as a male presenting person. This is first and foremost because of the message Kadin can send. If SSO wants to be a story about gender equality, then it needs to also talk about how men relate to “feminine” topics, in particular, being the heart of the group. The Heart of the 5 man band is exclusively reserved for a female in the party, which is why it’s important to have a character like Kadin, who is masc-presenting, be the heart, to subvert that and show other masc-presenting players that you can be masculine and also be an empathetic person that tries to keep your friends together.

Kadin is a big sweetie, possibly physically, who just has a soft-spot for people. But when I say he’s big, I don’t mean Kadin is this doofy gentle giant or some himbo. No, he’s physically built, like a quarterback built, but he’s also very intelligent. Kadin needs to be outwardly very masculine, with an awareness of his strength and how it impacts people around him. He’s smart and observant and is really good on picking up on people’s emotions. He wants to help people, with a passion for being either a counselor or a nurse (specifically a nurse, not a doctor). Possibly with friends who were assholes when they were in school who bullied people, until Kadin decided he didn’t want to do that and wanted to be better aware of how he hurt people and how to make things better.

As much as I’m an advocate for queer & POC rep, I think the best way to do Kadin is just have him as this straight, white guy. I think him just being a hetero-cis dude and becoming aware of his privilege can be such an impactful message, even if the why isn’t ever explicitly said.

The Magic Enthusiast, Nakai “Xen” Seiko

If Kadin is cis, then Xen is one hundred percent they/them non-binary. But also, if Brittany is the tech wiz, then Xen simply wants to be an actual wizard. And not just wishes magic was real kinda wants to be a wizard, legit knows magic is real and can’t figure it out/can’t use it wants to be a wizard. Xen consumes all things magic, which makes them an amazing outside asset to the MC and Allacia, who both can use magic, but don’t always understand magic. Xen gets magic fundamentally as a study, but not always as a practice, which is why they struggle to actually use it. And while I do think they should learn how to use magic, they should by the kind of character who wants to multi-class wizard over and over so they can get every school of magic, not so they can actually get better. It’s Xen’s craving for understanding magic that will be a great tool in learning more about other planes of reality and how they relate to magic.

Xen’s personality is fundamentally at odds. While they come from a very traditional Japanese immigrant family and have a high respect for their culture, they obviously struggle with who they are and how that fits into what they want to do with their life. This is import in particular to me because so many cultures gender magic, with feminine and masculine sources of magic. Xen as a non-binary magic user, like myself, has to struggle with figuring out where those legends come from and breaking down how to feel about that in their own practice, particularly when Aideen is shown has being a very feminine entity. Much like the points before, I don’t think this has to be explicit, but I do think it can be very clearly coded to say that gendering things is often forced. While there are gendered things in nature, like things surrounding baby-making, most things aren’t and just because something is gendered, like Aideen, it doesn’t designate that all things need to be. I think the best way to balance this message is to have Xen has a very comedic person, always telling jokes, even when the timing isn’t always right. They should have an issue with hyperfixating, and I think having them being someone with ADD/ADHD is a great match for their other struggles, getting consumed in their pursuit of magic to the point of it being a hazard too.

The Gentle Giant, Bogga Norsdóttir

If anyone is going to be the brute of this party, it’s going to be Bogga. Bogga is a “I’m going to deadlift a Shire” kinda girl, but she won’t, cause it’s a horse, and why would she scare a horse like that? She’s honestly the simplest concept I have. She’s a gentle giant, though I don’t think she should be “stupid.” I think she should have a simple code of ethics, a very black and white version of right and wrong. It’s simple, you hurt her friends, she fucks you up. I would love too if she’s part Kalter. But yeah, Bogga is kinda the constant rock of the party, and that’s not just cause she’s a solid unit. She’s just reliable, and for that she’s kinda a sounding board for everyone else’s more complicated arcs. The point is that Bogga will always be there to support the party, and she doesn’t really need to grow. She’s got her life figured out, and so she’s just there to help everyone else figure out theirs.

The Returning Soul Rider

If there’s any of these members I’m ok with dropping, it’s this one. Not just cause I can’t decide which one, but also the whole point of the above group is establishing a friend group that the MC chooses through the story and actively recruits, not an existing friend group like the Soul Riders are. Even with the new intro to the Soul Riders they added, there’s never going to be a point where the MC isn’t a fifth wheel to their group, at least for me and I know for a lot of you, particularly as SSL gets more and more removed. The only reason they could even effectively establish their friend group before was because only two of them were friends when Lisa got to Jorvik, and it was Lisa that brought the four of them together. And honestly, I think staying on their story makes if feel more and more to me like we’re cleaning up their mess and undermines the Soul Riders defeating Garnok in SSL. Which ruins their abilities, and it’s just yet another reason we need to move away from them narratively.

Still, that doesn’t mean I think the Soul Riders need to be cut out entirely, but I think we need to relook at the angle that the MC is relating to the Soul Riders. And that means the Soul Riders relooking at themselves, particularly post Garnok, which is also why I think this arc needs to end.

In any case, I’m tied between Alex and Anne. On the one hand, Alex is a fighter and suddenly having no big bad to fight is a hell of a good arc to pitch. I also think her in contrast to Bogga is a great square off. Alex not being ready to be done fighting is a good arc, because she’s always been a fighter. What is she without something to go after now? I think her being afraid of falling back into her old ways now that she doesn’t have a target to hunt down is such an interesting arc to follow.

Anne is another interesting one, because I think with everyone expecting Anne to be consumed with vengeance before Garnok is defeated and her to come out of that, people would expect that after he’s gone, she would be ready to be done and just go back to being a normal girl. But I think that even if Anne gets over her vengeance, she’s the Soul Rider of the Sun Circle. Her powers are to open portals, she’s destined to travel. Anne isn’t going to want to go back. Whether it’s being a dressage master or traveling between planes of reality, Anne is the portal master of the druids. Worse, she was an imprisoned portal master. She’s shouldn’t want to be still ever again.

I’m honestly up in the air on them, and I’m not opposed to both, but I think it should just be one in the main group and another with a side arc we touch in on when we touch base with the other Soul Riders.

And yeah, that’s the pitch.

#sso #star stable #starstable #star stable online #starstableonline #woj writing #woj analysis

[felassan]

Hello, I know you're a really good loremaster, one of the best, so what's the most fitting class if I wanted to roleplay a character as a Chantry Priest? I wanted to import my character from another RPG where they were a healer priest of a monastery but can't make them a Mage in DA because it seems like the nature of metaphysics of the universe conflicts with their character So is a templar-spec nomad in light robed gear or a Rogue like Leliana/Seb more fitting for a Priest? Which is closer? ty!

Hi Nonnie, awsh thanku, that’s v kind of you to say. :) here’s some thoughts for your consideration. cut for length.

in terms of the frames of how classes and class-tropes are in some other similar (fantasy, sword n sorcery, etc) settings, spirit healer mages in DA remind me of classical clerics and the white mage archtype. here’s (spoilers for Tevinter Nights and Blue Wraith at link) a recent post about what we know about how healing magic works in the DA setting, just in case it’s of any interest/use to you.

in terms of mundane healing and non-magical medicine references in the DA settings, the lore has references to “healers”, “surgeons”, “medics”, and “physicians”. there are also midwives, apothecaries, herbalists and alchemists, although it’s unclear if one has to be a mage to brew a straight-up potion-potion. here’s what the DA wiki has to say about medicine/healing arts in Thedas, both magical and mundane. you might be particularly interested in the following:

the only access to any sort of proper care that common people would have is through the Chantry, or one of the Circles of Magi. The visitation of a Circle-approved mage practitioner must be arranged through a Templar. The local chantry provides care for the sick, and members of the clergy may travel to troubled areas in order to provide free relief in the name of charity.

as it pertains to having Chantry clergypeople healing and providing medical care to the sick.

the templars strike me as paladin-esque. what they really do as an Order isn’t really the same, but the basal archtype is there. they are essentially this’s setting’s holy warriors, the crusaders. bear in mind that if you make your character a templar or someone who has the abilities of a templar, they are essentially taking on an addiction to the substance lyrium, which becomes a serious problem for people in the latter stages/grips of the addiction. lyrium withdrawal is unpleasant and comes with significant cravings. over time, users lose their memories and their minds, become paranoid and obsessive, exhibiting dementia-like symptoms, etc. templars in the Order are sworn to protect the world from the dangers of magic, but their primary duties on average usually boil down to acting as jailers to the mages kept in Circles, hunting down escapees, and ‘bringing in’ mages who came into their power outside of the Circle, although there are ofc other duties like guarding Chantries or being the bodyguards of the Divine. mentioning this stuff because it would naturally have an impact on how you play your character. perhaps not the Templar Order stuff if you make someone with templar abilities who isn’t in the Order (see below), but the lyrium stuff definitely. note it is possible to wean off and stop taking lyrium, Cullen can do this according to PC choices in DAI.

there are examples of non-heavy templar armor in the games, like Templar Armor - Light Issue (a medium chestpiece). DAI presents us with red templar enemies who are archers/marksmen. from what I remember they still wear heavy, or at least medium/heavy-looking, armor. they’re deformed by red lyrium so it’s not really a helpful thing to note, but the red templar enemy faction in DAI’s stealth units, Shadows, still look like they’re wearing heavy or heavy-looking armor.

Light Armor tends to be for mages, but not exclusively. when we meet Leliana in DAO, she’s in Chantry robes, which iirc DAO defines as clothing technically (DAO has both LA and clothing as item categories). she wears these when she assists the Warden with the skirmish with soldiers in the Lothering Tavern. (I doubt she didn’t switch to other, more protective gear for the duration of the Fifth Blight though, regardless of player choice here). in the Magi Origin, there’s Lily, a Chanty initiate. she’s a temporary companion/party member and does some fighting. she’s also wearing the robes and the game classes her as a rogue. incidentally she can be equipped with a dagger and a mace.

the actual priesthood of the Chantry is made up entirely of women. men are only allowed to become true priests in the Imperial Chantry, which is the Chantry of Tevinter. in the southern Chantry, the only rank men are allowed to have is Brother. the best example of a Chantry Brother we’ve had as you say is Sebastian. Brother Burkel also springs to mind as a non-companion example. (he doesn’t fight but if you YouTube him you can see how he sounds and what he talks like when he’s speaking to the PC) men are allowed to occupy associated/adjacent roles like chanters and scholars. of particular note here is how the Chantry’s male acolytes, basically an ‘invisible army’, tend to tend to the less spiritual side of things; they keep the Chantry in good repair, fed and see to the physical well-being of their Andrastian charges (tying to the above excerpt about local Chantries and so on caring for the sick, although do note I can easily see female Chantrypeople doing that role too even if they are ‘priestesses’). the exception to this outside of Tevinter would be in post-DAI worldstates where Leliana was made Divine; she opens the priesthood to all genders and races. sth to bear in mind if your imported character is a male and you’re set on the whole priest aspect as opposed to a lower-ranked Brother.

on balance if you wanted to RP as a Chantry clergyperson (bear in mind “Chantry clergyperson” is my phrasing for the ease of this answer and not necessarily a label from the lore) I think the Rogue class angle would be more fitting. there are examples of Chantry clergypeople who are Rogues and fought as such in the lore (Leliana, Sebastian), and I can’t recall examples of templars in light armor or robed gear. A Chantry clergyperson more closely matches the role of a healer priest in a monastery; we can see from the lore there are mundane healing skills/professions and there’s a definite precedent for Chantry clergypeople to be caring for and tending to the sick. You could play the most skilled mundane healer Chantry clergyperson from a particular Chantry - perhaps even a formally trained physician who gave themselves to a life of service in the Chantry - and/or to capture the travelling angle, your character could be one of those clergypeople who travels to troubled areas in order to provide free healing and relief. if you wanted I think you could have them don a more protective form of equipment or a more protective version of Chantry robes for safety when travelling, or if they’re particularly combat-inclined, like Leliana in her mission in DA2, or Leliana’s Sacred Ashes trailer armor, or Lily’s Heroes of Dragon Age appearance.

I feel like if you went for the templar angle it sounds like you’d be leaning away from the heart of your character, which seems to be a healer monk/travelling priest/traveling healer-type deal. templars are sth different. you would also have to explain how a nomad person gained the powers and abilities of a templar, since that’s usually the purview of templars only, and usually requires templar training from the Order, and always the imbibing of lyrium. Alistair was a trainee who left before starting lyrium. him teaching the abilities to Warrior PCs or Warrior PCs reading how to be a templar in a book in DAO, Templar Hawke and Cassandra’s spec being the Templar spec in DAI are more like story/gameplay segregation. Cass is a Seeker of Truth, in truth, for instance, not a templar. it’s a bit more realistic and less handwaved in DAI for the PC at least - Way of the Templar is the sidequest through which the DAI PC gains the spec, and specifies that if you construct a lyrium philter (for the imbibing of lyrium) and “study the methods of the templars” (which = doing a lot of related reading) you can learn the secrets of the spec from someone who knows it or knows about it. on the subject of not being part of the Order, the character Ser is interesting because he knows the physical aspects of being a templar but makes it clear he’s not part of the Order. the abilities of a templar might not necessarily be what you’re looking for either - they’re about dispelling and nullifying magic, inhibiting spellcasting, not healing. usually these abilities are employed to fell demons, abominations and be turned against mages. also bear in mind the templar spec has so far been the purview of the Warrior class. imo a rogue like Leliana or Seb would be closer to what you’re describing, out of the 2 options in your ask.

hope this helps you decide or at least gives you some food for thought :)

@simonjadis has some great input below in the notes: if you’re open to making your character a Tevinter citizen, note that men (if applicable) have access to all levels of rank in the Imperial Chantry, and mages can be part of the clergy (if you decided that in the end being a mage was acceptable in this setting for your char). following on from the mage angle, although not a priest or part of the clergy, you could make a loyalist, faithful Andrastian spirit healer mage. Wynne in DAO is our best example of someone in this position so far.

#dragon age #bioware #mj replies #anonymous #video games #simonjadis

[sharyrazade]

I know what it is I wanted from 3H DLC now (semi-shitpost-in-progress)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying Cindered Shadows immensely, but I know what it was missing. Or rather, what I wanted from IntSys team as far as (minor) content like costumes or items is concerned. These included, but are by no means limited to, by character:

Byleth: Suspenders of Proof: Grants access to the “Ritual of Destruction,” “Form Destroyer,” and “Eternal Waltz” combat arts and a special battle theme against the house leaders

- Suit of Victory: Gift from Edelgard after the timeskip. Grants access to the “Ritual of Destruction,” “Form Destroyer,” and “Eternal Waltz” combat arts and a special battle theme against any named enemy character from the academy phase. Extras include an optional mask and a skirt version for F!Byleth, in addition to Byleth’s idle animations seeming kind of...mildly unhinged with the costume equipped

- The One That Was Promised: Gains one free resurrection from Byleth’s HP reaching zero

Edelgard: Emperor class now includes a complete immunity to fire magic/fire map hazards in exchange for a (n even more pronounced) weakness to blizzard, especially when snowing. Alternate costumes:

- Yulia’s Wilhelm’s Descendant’s Armor: Grants access to the Imperial Slaughter-Celestial Elegy-Ancient Requiem line of combat arts; note that Constance will be EXTREMELY offended if Edelgard has this costume equipped

- Commandant’s Armor: Grants access to the “Brilliant Cataclysm” combat art; note that Yuri will be EXTREMELY offended if Edelgard has this costume equipped

- Or if you want to take magic!Edelgard to its logical extreme, you have the “Fallen Angel A” and “Fallen Angel B” costumes which allows the “Indignation Judgement” combat art. Don’t @sharyrazade at me, her post-timeskip costume is already a fallen angel.

Dimitri: The “Punished Prince” costume doesn’t grant him any particular combat arts, but increases dexterity and speed by +10 and gives enemies a not-insignificant chance to pass him by

Claude: Failnaught now grants access to the “Terminus Pride” combat art. Powers up when Claude has “Foreign Nobleman’s Disguise” or “Foreign Nobleman’s Disguise B” equipped

Hubert: Receives a bonus in every stat against human enemies, but gains a weakness to Children of the Goddess and reptiles in general; turning his non-Fire spells green is optional however. The “Twilight Servant” costume also gives him access to the “Agarazium” and “Leonazium” combat arts

Ferdinand: Noble Knight: Not only gives him a new costume and hairstyle, but access to the “Radiant Dragon Fang” and “Firebird Flight” combat arts. Gets a special battle theme for battling Yuri

Caspar: The “Skull Warrior” costume gives him complete immunity to lightning magic. For real.

Dorothea: Training her in the in the Thief-Assassin line gives her a special costume and dual wielding knife model once she becomes the latter

Dedue: Bobcat’s Duster: Gains complete immunity to non-magic ranged attacks; Dedue will occasionally compliment a powerful opponent as being “pretty good”

Felix: Grants access to the “Rinnegan” combat art

Sylvain: Chosen Garb: Grants access to the “Shining Bind” combat art learned from Seteth; can also get “Sinister Crystal-T” from Edelgard which gives him +10 to all stats but permanently takes up an inventory slot and can’t be removed

Mercedes: Clumsy Devotee: Grants to the “Holy Judgement” combat art; can also get “Sinister Crystal-S” from Edelgard which gives her +10 to all stats but permanently takes up an inventory slot and can’t be removed

Lorenz: Eccentric’s Garb: A regular white dress shirt-black pants combo that grants access to the “Goemon” combat art and raises all of his stats with Ignatz or another art aficionado on the field

Lysithea: The “Mana Mistress” costume allows access to the “Indignation Judgement” combat art. The “Fallen Angel A” and “Fallen Angel B” costumes on Edelgard also respectively halve and double the rate at which she gains support points with Lysithea

Leonie: Green Dragon’s Jacket: A jacket-skirt combo that raises all stats considerably when using greaves or unarmed; grants access to the “Mind Slice” combat art

Seteth: The “Mysterious Mercenary” and “'Traitor’ to Humanity” costumes both give him access to the “Shining Bind” combat art, an affinity for swords and middling magic, and increases all stats by +10 with Flayn on the field

Yuri: Rogue’s Outfit: Grants access to “Savage Wolf Fury” and “Heavenly Bladewing” combat arts. Fuck it, IntSys and Bamco should have just actually given us this costume and dropped the pretense completely

Balthus: Loyal Warrior: Gives Balthus an affinity for axes and heavy armor, along with an exclusive hero’s relic

Constance: Scion of Lanvaldear-Nuevlle: Gives Constance an affinity for bows and access to the combat arts “Astral Rain” and “Noble Roar.” Note: Edelgard will be EXTREMELY offended if Constance has this costume equipped. Fuck it, IntSys and Bamco should have just actually given us this costume and dropped the pretense completely

Hapi: Desert’s Daughter: Gives Hapi an immunity to movement penalties on sand but halves the rate at which she gains support points with male units, Byleth included

#sharyrazade plays #cindered shadows #fire emblem three houses #shitpost #fandom stuff #tales of #tales series #ludger will kresnik #van grants #alexei dinoia #daenerys targaryen #AAAAAAALLLLVIIIIIINNNNNNN #alfred vint svent #severus snape #rose (toz) #revolver ocelot #sasuke uchiha #zelos wilder #kratos aurion #yusuke kitagawa #chie satonaka #yuri lowell #mithos yggdrasill #venom snake #pronyma #ryuji sakamoto #genis sage #ferdinand von aegir #mercedes von martritz #balthus von albrecht

[alternativewinxcontinuity]

I have a question, you already did a list of transformations for fairies, do witches have those types of levels or not? And do male magic user have a list of transformations like different types of wizards? Last thing could you talk about Daphne's fairy circle, the nymphs of magix like who they were powers planet likes and dislikes and how they died. Ps Love your ideas

Despite appearance, the division of Fairies&Witches and Wizards is not a gender based one.

Though female Heroes are more commonly seen, male Fairies&Witches, as well as female Wizards do still occur.

The division between the two classes is based on the type of magical power they wield. Fairies&Witches come from the same Origin and wield Thematic magic which makes them incomparably strong in their native 'elemental' fields, Wizards possess a high level of magic comparable to that of Fairies&Witches but lack the attachment to a specific Aspect of reality that give Fairies&Witches their unique epithets (ie. Fairy of Music, Witch of Storms, etc.)

Further, Wizards are a type of Active magical.

-

While all people of the Magical Dimension have an inherent level of magic, Active magicals are those who spell cast as natural as breathing. When untrained, Active magicals are more likely to have outburst of power when under extreme emotion stress, unless their powers are being restrained by outside influences.

Between the level of 'Inherently magical' and 'Actively magical' lies the 'Intuitively magical', those who have more than an inherent magic, but not enough to suffer magcial outbursts, they are comparable to Earth's psychics, deeply intuitive and empathic.

While Inherents cannot use magic of their own, and must use artefacts or prepared spells, Intuitives can use subtle magic though it takes long periods on intense focus. Intuitives are often drawn to craft based jobs, imbuing their work with low levels of magic that can later be manipulated for specific purposes.

-

Of the four classes of Active magicals, only three have names: Fairy, Witch and Wizard.

These are the classes who train beyond mere control, who learn more than a few basic spells and how to not explode with magic every time they get upset.

Having little to no external display of their power levels or training, Witches and Wizards have titles levels that are acknowledged between the various schools, and are earned by passing 'standard requirements'.

Wizard* Levels:

Initiate, Journeyman, Mage, Paladin, Sage, Sophon**

Witch Levels:

Initiate, Disciple, Sorceress, Striga, Lamia, Custosy**

Most students graduate their schools at Journeyman or Disciple levels, though some students like the Trix or Nabu of Andros readily achieve Mage/Sorceress before graduation.

(Though the classes of Active magicals are not divided by gender but presence or lack of Thematic magic, the high gender ratio causes many gender assigned terms within each class. While variations of the titles crop up, the term Sorcerer can mean either a male witch of sorceress level, or a male wizard of similar power, who has chosen to pursue darker magical pathways. Warlock is almost exclusively used for evil wizards.)

*Within the Class of Wizards there are many different schools who may specialise in specific areas and use unique titles in addition to the standard tiers, just as some planets have their own Wizard specific subcultures and identifying terms or traditions.

**It should be noted, that despite 'academic' opinions, both Wizards and Witches are capable of achieving Guardianship (the level of a Guardian Fairy), though it is very rare, and even rarer is it acknowledged by the general populace of the Magical Dimension.

-

Unlike Witches, whose origins in the Fairy class and their Thematic magic give them the ability to Manifest a basic Form, Wizards have no such ability.

Which is not to say that neither Witch nor Wizard can acquire Manifest forms.

Fairies themselves only have 3 Innate Forms, Forms which they can achieve by themselves no matter where they're from.

Gifted Forms, which are acquired by receiving Blessings or creating Bonds with specific Magical Creatures, can in theory be obtained by any Active Magical.

Who can what Cheat Sheet:

  *Fabula, World of Myth and Legend. Sister World to Mysemne, the World of Memory. While Mysemne is a world of history, and keeps factual historical records of the entire Magical Dimension, Fabula is home to the Story Keepers and the Legends and Myths of the Magical Dimension. Fabula is said to be the home of every work of Fiction in the Magical Dimension.

**Bloomix is an Ancient form that has born several names throughout history, Bloomix being the latest.

(The Astralix & Valdrix are pure Alt Con and do not exist in Canon. Likewise Clariel in the Alt Con is the Founder Fairy of Alfea.)

-

Regardless of what form Active magical can and cannot obtain, Fairies are the only ones who Manifest wings with their Form.

Merfairies are the exception to many of these rules, being a peculiar subsect of Fairy. Some classes, such as Paladin also occasionally possess wings, but these are created through magical study, and are not an inherent ability or Form like Fairy Wings.

Wizards who achieve a high Mage level can manifest magical armour which may appear like a transformation, but is constructed by the Wizard and is the result of intense study and preparation, rather than an innate ability like that of Fairies&Witches.

-

TLDR:

Wizards don't have Basic Forms, but they, like Witches can Theoretically obtain wingless versions of several (Gifted) “Fairy” Forms.

Spoiler Alerts for Alt Con Season 3 may apply to this post.

#Winx #winx club #Winx Alternative Continuity #Winx Alt Con #Winx wizards #Defeated by formating #transformation cheatsheet #I got an Ask! #going to hide because scandle

[randomwordprompts]

If It’s Magic Chapter 8

Daaaaaam, this took forever! Does anyone still care about this story? If so here’s 3k words of plot development(?) Anyways if you wanna be added to my taglist just let me know!

Warnings: Eh, people get punched and they curse. We grown outchea.

Taglist: @storibambino @soufcakmistress @bakarilennox @babygirlofwakanda @wakandas-vibranium @wakandan-flowerz @great-neckpectations @yaachtynoboat711 @oceanscorazon @reaperdeldrunk 

“Daniel, either let me pass or get your ass beat like that big nigga about to get.”

Amira brought her gaze from Daniel to the towering male some feet behind him, keeping a safe distance. Xavier’s eyes widened before he spoke back to her.

“Beat my ass?! Didn’t you do that enough the other day when you busted my lip?” 

She growled at Xavier and went to push past Daniel only to have him hold her back, though with no small amount of difficulty.

“What did you do to me, you piece of shit?!”

“I didn’t DO anything! I’ve been here or in class and actively avoiding your crazy ass for the past two days!!”

Amira stilled in Daniel’s grip and stared at Xavier for a moment before she replied, “Then why the fuck did I hear you calling out for me not 2 hours ago?”

Xavier’s face paled for a moment as he realized something but didn’t say what it was. Amira immediately noticed the change and ducked out of Daniel’s arms to walk towards him, craning her neck to meet his gaze before speaking again.

“What. Did. You. Do.”

“Well, um...I might’ve tried to manifest your aura while I was masturbating,” Xavier rushed out his explanation in one breath but that didn’t stop Amira from hearing exactly what he said.

“PORQUE?!”

Just when Xavier opened his mouth in an attempt to explain further, Daniel burst into laughter from the door that he’d closed during this time.

“Nigga, you did what now? How the hell did that even happen?”

Xavier sighed and tried to be as brief as possible about what was now an embarrassing topic.

Xavier paced his room stressed and hungry, though not for food. Truth be told, he missed Amira. He’d been missing her since she’d first broke things off and after what he’d said to her a few days ago he knew she’d probably never speak to him again. He thought about her lips and how she loved to kiss him, the plushness of her body and she felt like a living marshmallow every time he held her in his arms. How her smile was like the sunshine that chased away the darkness of his thoughts. Before long he began thinking of all the things that drove him crazy about the petite succubus when he remembered something her mother had told them about their bond.

“If one of you reaches out for the other hard enough, you can pull on or manifest the energy of your mate.”

Of course she was referring to if one couldn’t find the other or was missing them, but at this point Xavier was hungry and knew that her aura would be more than enough to satisfy his urges until he found a human to feed from that wasn’t clingy, crazy, or in search of commitment. So he decided to apply that same technique while pleasuring himself and found himself quite surprised with the results. It was like he could hear her in the throes of pleasure, feel her on top of him, and feel himself inside of her. Before he knew it he was moaning her name, urging her to say his. Just when he was about to reach his peak he heard her voice call back to him, his eyes rolling back as he spilled his release into his hand.

“Let me get this straight,” Daniel started. “Y’all can think of each other hard enough to feel and hear the other when you’re not nearby?! I’d like to sign up to be a sex demon today, please.”

Xavier snorted a bit and Amira shot them both a glare before turning to leave, tired of them both.

“Well that was riveting but don’t do again or so help me I will come back here and kill you both.”

“ Both?!” Daniel’s eyes grew wide.

“No witnesses. Nothing personal,” Amira said with a devilish smile.

…

Jason called Amira for the 4th time that night, sighing when he was sent to voicemail yet again. He kept replaying what he said to her in his head and the more he did, the worse he felt. It also took him back to when they first talked about the very thing he threw back in her face.

“So tell me, does being a succubus really mean you’re incapable of monogamy?”

Amira paused her writing and met Jason’s gaze with a raised brow, searching his face for the intention behind the question. Once she realized he was genuinely curious she sighed and pushed her laptop to the side.

“Succubi are just as capable of having monogamous relationships as anyone else. The thing is, our biology causes us to also need to feed off the sexual energy of others. It’s rare, but a succubus sometimes picks a partner that she feeds from exclusively for life. They normally marry but even if they don’t, they still stay together. What you just mentioned is a stereotype made by some white man hundreds of years ago in an attempt to paint us as nothing but sex crazed demons, unworthy of love. Is that how you see me?”

“No, of course not. I think you deserve all the love you can handle..”

They exchanged smiles before Amira leaned over and kissed him sweetly, each time feeling better than the first for him.

…

One Month Later, Halloween

“So is Jason coming tonight?” Lucy asked Amira as they got dressed in their dorm.

Amira smirked as she put on her suit jacket, adjusting her bra so that she didn’t have too much cleavage out or end up with a wardrobe malfunction. Buttoning her jacket she walked over to her dresser and grabbed her blood-red lipstick before she answered.

“Yes, and I have a bad feeling about it. You know Xavier’s going to be there and I don’t need a dick measuring contest at the fundraiser.”

The fundraiser in question was a haunted house and escape room hosted by the BSU to raise money and increase campus involvement. Mostly everyone was involved in some way, with Amira deciding to take on an administrative role and make sure they stayed within their budget while giving a fun night. So far they’d raised almost two-thousand dollars in advance tickets, expecting at least another 500 at the door.

As Amira got ready to tell her roommate what could go wrong her phone rang, signaling a video call from her siblings. After applying a quick coat of her lipstick she answered, grinning when she was met with the faces of her older siblings.

“Well hello, titties!” Francois said with a snicker.

Amira snorted a laugh before shooting back, “You mad you ain’t got these titties, I understand.”

Lucy cackled in the background before leaving the room to get her shoes, leaving the three to talk. Jonathan spoke next.

“You both look like religious spoopy thots, there’s no competition.”

Both Amira and Francois smiled at that before they were interrupted by the familiar stern voice of their father.

“If you three are done, tell your sister that we’re outside.”

Amira chuckled before propping her phone up and checking her hair, curly tresses currently under a straight jet black wig that stopped in the middle of her back. She grabbed her white choker and secured it to her throat, silver cross laying beautifully in the center of her clavicle as she yelled to let Lucy know her family was downstairs waiting. Grabbing her black open-toe stilettos and putting them on, Amira disconnected the call and grabbed her clutch before stepping out of her room.

The rest of the Lectors waited downstairs in the lobby, ready to see their youngest in person. Francois was clad in a slutty nun costume, which was comprised of a black latex bodysuit with a white cross on the chest and matching fake habit adorning their head along with white thigh-high boots while Jonathan was dressed as a possessed catholic bishop. He sported an all-black suit with a black shirt that was open at the top three buttons, revealing more of his pale skin while his hair was dyed black at the roots and red throughout. His belt was cinched around his jacket just enough to reveal his tapered waist, topping the costume off with a red patch on the cuff of his sleeve and a silver cross pendant that stopped just past the fourth button of his shirt. Their parents opted for a classic Dracula and his wives costume, looking as if they stepped out of Bram Stoker’s movie or even the modern version of Van Helsing. When the elevator opened Amira and Lucy stepped out, the former dressed as a priest and the latter as an undead maid since she was going to be in the haunted house. 

Before she could sneak up on them Diana ran over and hugged her daughter with a happy squeal. What followed was more hugs from the rest of her family, a reintroduction to Lucy, and a quick catch-up before they left for the festivities.

…

Once they were at the fundraiser Lucy went into the house with the others so they could get into their designated places before everything opened. Amira was talking with her family when Xavier walked by, offering an awkward wave that was met with an eye roll and Francois flipping him off. He sighed as he made his way into the house, making a mental note to try and talk to Amira soon.

After their parents went to see what else was going on for the night, Amira turned to Francois to say something only to be met with a sight of a man approaching them followed by a loud string of Quebecois curses leaving her oldest brother’s mouth plus a push past her and Jonathan to meet him halfway. She looked at her other brother for a moment before realization dawned on her.

“That’s Felix, isn’t it…”

“Yup.”

“We should probably go over there before Fran strangles him.”

“Probably.”

With that, they followed Francois who was just about to scream at the towering male only stopped by Amira jumping in front of them.

“Oi, you stalking my brother?”

Felix looked down at her, blue eyes meeting brown ones as Francois was behind her stewing.

“Actually, I was invited. Imagine my surprise when a lovely woman told me you all would be here!”

“A woman?! Who-...did she have a Jamaican accent?”

Felix nodded and Amira burst into a fit of laughter as Francois now turned away to find their parents, specifically their mother given how they shrieked for her loud enough to be heard 2 blocks away. Jonathan was laughing with Amira, the two of them wheezing and coughing at this point at the realization that Pauline had tipped Felix off so he’d come. Once they caught their breath Amira took the 6’6 man by the arm and steered him in the direction of where Francois had stormed off to.

“Let’s go big man, I don’t wanna miss this,” she said as the sounds of Francois and Pauline’s voices grew louder, now arguing in full-blown Patois.

...

After finally calming things down between Francois and Pauline, Amira went back to help some of her fellow BSU members do last-minute touches to the vending stands. While she was talking to one of the workers at the popcorn stand she heard another one gasp before pointing towards a figure behind her with a look of pure shock.

“Is that Jason Momoa?!”

Amira chuckled and said goodbye to them before turning to walk towards the man in question with a smile, his werewolf costume obviously not taking much effort.

"How very original, Wolfman. You look good."

"I do, but not nearly as good as you. Are you supposed to be catholic?"

"I'm a priest! Just call me Padre," Amira remarked with a wiggle of her brows.

"Alright you two, keep your hormones in check, there are old people present," Jonathan said just as they were about to kiss, Jason giving a puzzled look to the young male that was flanked by the rest of the family.

At the sight of the six individuals plus Felix he was slightly confused for a moment until his eyes fell to Diana, immediately spotting the resemblance to Amira. Looking back to her he let out "This is your family?" with no small amount of shock.

“Yeah, everyone here is my family except for the tall Black dude. That’s Frankie’s future husband.” Amira remarked with a grin, prompting Felix’s brows to shoot up before he gave a rather sheepish smile. Francois, however, didn’t find the statement amusing.

Jason looked at Amira then her family and back to her, multiple questions swirling in his expression. Amira frowned a bit, sensing his energy shift though he quickly covered it with a nervous smile and a pleasant “nice to meet you all” towards the Lectors.

…

After some light conversation while they waited in line for the haunted house the group of nine were finally at the front getting ready to go in. The person at the door warned them of jumpscares and flashing lights, making sure to emphasize that all the participant’s costumes were well done and that if they can’t handle people jumping out and grabbing them they shouldn’t go in. Everyone agreed that they were fine and began the trek through the darkened hallways, faint screams being heard almost immediately.

While everyone went a bit ahead Jason gently pulled Amira’s arm to keep her behind with him, leaning down to quietly speak to her.

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a blended family?”

“Because my family isn’t blended? And is this really the time to be asking me about this? I think it can wait till after we get out of here,” she replied as they slowly walked through, Amira not being phased when someone dressed as a zombie jumped out and reached for her with a snarl.

Jason looked at her with another question that she quickly answered before it left his lips.

“My father is married to all three of them currently, and each one gave birth to myself and my brothers. Unlike in America, that’s legal up north despite being frowned upon socially.”

“Wait, so...all three of those women agreed to marry your father and live together? You don’t find that a little odd at all?”

Amira stopped in her tracks and turned to face Jason completely, her eyes turned to slits as she squinted up at him.

“What are you getting at, Jason? Just say it.”

“Well, ya know...I’ve seen stories about this kind of stuff. Men that trick women into marrying them and make them dependent on him so that they don’t leave.”

She looked at him as if she wanted to grab him and rip his tongue out of his mouth for even insinuating that her father was holding his wives hostage, but for the sake of not making a scene, she simply turned around and began to walk away.

Jason internally kicked himself and sighed as he watched her walk ahead of him, deciding to give her some space as they continued to go through the house and try not to jump at the people that came out of corners and crevices of the place. As they walked on, he got a little closer to Amira and tried to apologize for what he’d said earlier only to have someone dressed as a zombie pop out and grab at them. Before he could stop himself he punched the person on reflex, making both Amira and her family stop in their tracks as they heard a familiar voice yell out in pain before the person lifted his face and Amira felt her heart sink to her stomach.

“Xavier?!”

“Mira what the hell?! I know I fucked up but could you keep your damn bodyguard away from me??”

Jason stepped in front of her with his chest poked out in a traditional display of male ego, ready to give a rebuttal immediately.

“As her boyfriend, I suggest you back up, kid!”

Xavier looked at him for a moment, a small stream of blood trickling from his nose. He regarded Jason for a moment before pulling his fist back and catching Jason in the jaw, the crack audible enough to elicit a quick “oh shit” from Amira’s siblings in the back. Before she could stop them, they started to swing at each other and fight until they were on the floor nearly wrestling. It wasn’t until Amira yelled loud enough to wake up the dead that they stopped in their tracks.

“Alright, that’s enough! You two are grown-ass men rolling around on the floor in a fucking HAUNTED HOUSE for what?! Me? My honor?? I didn’t ask either one of you to fight for me because I don’t need either one of you dumbasses to do it!!”

They both opened their mouths to speak but were cut off by a small hand held up between them.

“I’m not finished. Now Xavier, you wanna sit here and whine and moan like because you apologized that’s supposed to just get me back or change what the fuck you did. I love you but I don’t just forgive anyone at the drop of a hat and the fact that you thought that would happen is stupid as all hell!”

Jason snorted a bit until she turned to him fully to give her a piece of her mind.

“And as for you bigfoot, you think you’re off the hook?! First, you accuse me of fucking Xavier while we’ve been together when the thought never even crossed my mind. Then, you suggest that because I’m a fucking demon I have no got damn self-control. And after all of that, you suggest to me that my father is some kind of horrible man that has to hold his wives hostage in order to keep them around!”

“Excuse me?!” was the sound that followed Amira’s statement and she looked to her family to find all three of the women in question looking at Jason with no small amount of incredulity. Without another word she shook her head and stepped over the two, moving her family towards the exit, Felix holding Francois back as they yelled and went to lunge at Jason rather violently.

Xavier shook his head and stood up before reaching down and giving Jason a hand up, noting the look of surprise on his face. He wiped the blood from his nose on his sleeve and eyed Jason warily before finally speaking, the pain in his voice clear.

“Listen, Amira is a great person and an amazing partner. I can only hope that one day I’ll earn her trust back but until then make sure she’s happy, yeah?”

“I hear you, bro. Also, I’m sorry about your nose...I swear I was just reacting.”

“Honestly I had it coming so don’t even worry about it. Plus it’s already healed with me not being human and all,” Xavier said with a dry chuckle.

Jason extended his hand for a shake and Xavier accepted, the two coming to a bit of an understanding before Jason would leave to try and catch up to Amira and properly apologize to both her and her family.

#randomwordprompts #my work #Amira & Xavier #the lectors #if it's magic #original characters #my writing

[edgeofisolation]

Slice an Dice: An Acedemic Review of Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film by Carol Clover

Since its induction, horror films are one of the most evocative genres of film of all time. Horror has the power to evoke virtually any emotion out of its viewers. The genre has the power to make its audience feel fear, it can make them feel happiness, it can make them feel empowered, and it can even make them cry. But what is most interesting about the genre, perhaps, is the hidden codes and allegories contained within the film that have a lot to say about the socio-political climate of society at both micro and macro levels, Despite this, prior to the time of the release of Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film, horror had been a grossly understudied subject and when it was studied it had been largely subject to the kinds of scrutiny felt by no other genre of film. In her seminal study of gender in horror films (particularly those taking place from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s), Clover provides a detailed and enlightening analysis of the underlying codes allegories contained in modern horror films as it pertains particularly to gender. She largely does this through the analysis of three subgenres in horror that have a (seemingly) central focus on female characters: the slasher film, the rape-revenge film, and the occult film.

At the heart of the book lies Clover’s central argument. Herein, Clover argues for the reasons why it is that young men – the majority audience of these particular genres – are able to identify with female protagonists in these films despite – and perhaps because of – traditional sentiments around cinema spectatorship of the time largely through the theoretical framework of psychoanalysis.  Though the majority of the book roughly revolves around this argument, Clover does make interesting arguments on gender in horror as a whole, the role it places in spectatorship, and the notably frequent amount of times the genre makes use of dual gaze of the assaultive and reactive gaze where the subject of the gaze (at least temporarily) shifts between men and women. Despite the dominant discourse on horror films at the time which frame the genre as a wholly exploitative and ridiculous display of the worst misogyny has to offer, Clover provides a detailed, convincing argument to the ways in which horror (particularly subgenres covered) both reinforces and disrupts traditional notions of Western cinema spectatorship. Though she does not completely refute arguments made by film theorists and critics alike, Clover does provide at the very least an interesting analysis on the ways gender performs in horror movies and the implications it has on not just its spectators, but society as whole – something that had been scarcely covered prior to the time of its release. Succinctly, Clover is arguing that horror has a lot more to say than its gory exploitative exterior might imply. Through the analysis of multiple prominent (and infamous) films in each subgenre covered and framing it predominantly around a psychoanalytic framework, Clover provides an incredibly insightful – if not noticeably limited by its very theoretical framework – analysis on both women in horror and the men who watch and create them.

The book begins with an introduction that largely serves to form the base of the rest of the book and details not only Clover’s central arguments, but what the book as a whole will seek to uncover. This introduction begins with an analysis of the occult film Carrie. What is interesting about this beyond its analysis is the way in which the framing of this analysis broadly ties in the rest of the book. By giving her own understanding of the film and juxtaposing its seemingly feminist undertones to Stephen King’s (the author of the book version of the film) argument that Carrie herself is meant to be an embodiment of adolescent male anxieties, Clover is able provide a surprisingly apt summary of the entire book that becomes increasingly clearer as the book concludes: young men are able to identify with female protagonists (coined victim-heroes) not despite of their differing genders but because of it – something distinctively rooted in one-sex theory.

The following chapter begins her first subgenre analysis, the slasher film. The chapter opens up with a description and explanation of what a slasher film is, including all its tropes and narrative devices. What is immediately interesting is that Clover uses slasher films that are not incredibly critically acclaimed and are largely dismissed for their brutality and vulgarity (with the exceptions of Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street) that on the base seem superficial and generic on their exteriors (such as her detailed analysis of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), yet, for better or worse, say a lot interiorly. As the chapter progresses what was insightful is her analysis of the Killer and the Final Girl (a term she coined herself). Herein we have Clover describing the Final Girl as the (almost exclusively female) lone survivor of the Killer’s rampage, and the only one able to thwart and defeat the (male) killer (35). Though more prominent in the 1980s than mid-1970s, the Final Girl does so almost entirely on her own where male help is almost useless and entirely disposable – a stark subversion of the traditional cinematic apparatus situating the female as solely a victim and the male as solely heroic (37). More interesting – and a running theme throughout the book – is Clover’s analysis of the gender-swop that takes place here. As the movie progresses, Clover notes the feminization of the Killer (such as a stunted childhood) and the masculinization of the Final Girl (such as her usage of phallocentric tools). Together with the gaze swop from the Killer in the beginning to the Final Girl in the end, genders are swopped psychosexually and where gender now is not contingent on sex and the story becomes explicitly hers (49). The young male viewer is then able to swop identification with the male killer and distinctly towards the female victim-hero (i.e. the audience becomes both victim in the beginning and hero by the end). The story might be hers but it is still expressively male-centred (59).

The second chapter centres on occult films. Beginning much the same as the previous chapter, Clover describes the occult film in detail. On a literal level, Clover describes the Occult film as white science’s battle and submission to black magic. However, as this is distinctly coded through gender, occult films become yet another seemingly subversive narrative account on gender. Here, white science is coded as masculine whereas black magic is coded as feminine (with the exception of priests and children). What stands out as most interesting is then its subtle expression of gender swopping and Clover’s argument that though occult films have women at its core, is still decidedly male-centred – a story about a man in crisis (90). The woman serves as the body and site of black magic due to her femininity being more openness to the penetration of the black magic force (a vessel/accessory), the man serves as the psyche whose story the film is ultimately about. In such, the male, in order to save the female body, must renounce his white science conceptions of rationality (coded as masculine) and become open (coded as feminine) to the ideas and happenings and existence of black magic (99). Through openness the male is able to adopt a ‘good’ masculinity and fully renounce his old cold, distant and closed off ‘bad’ masculinity – if not he is likely to die or lose the woman. For Clover, the nature of the occult film and its psychosexual underpinning leave seemingly feminist readings of the film on hold because it implicitly implies that the creation of the new ‘good’ masculinity comes at expense the female and is still largely male-centric – for the male to more emotionally open, the female must become hysterical (113).

The third chapter introduces the rape-revenge film whereby the story centres on a woman who is brutally raped by one or more men and the similarly brutal revenge she enacts on the men/man involved (and sometimes even those complicit in rape). In a procaqtive study of I Spit on Your Grave and its influencer Deliverance, Clover details the socio-political underpinnings of the rape-revenge that veer away from just gender and incorporate class in its analysis (the only chapter to integrate satisfactory intersectionality). Many rape-revenge films in horror, Clover notes, often occupy on the double axis of male/female and country/city. Succinctly, this entails that these films have an intrinsically class nature to them that is intertwined with its gender-bending. In the rape-revenge film country is coded as masculine and is depicted with the male antagonists where these male country folk are more often than not depicted as poor, highly patriarchal, borderline uncivilised, and live beyond the norms of social law and order; whilst the city is coded as feminine depicted by a (mostly) affluent female protagonist who serves as the films victim-hero and represents civility and capitalist wealth (and exploitation) (144). In such, country men are ideologically positioned as wrong and their act of raping our city female victim-hero is depicted as an inevitable, making the revenge half of the film all the more justifiable. Much like the Final Girl in slasher films, the victim-hero and male antagonists have a gender swap where the men are metaphorically (and sometimes physically) castrated and penetrated by the now masculinized woman (representing psychosexual male anxieties on castration) (159). Rape becomes the problem of the woman to solve on her own and through her masculinization, the story once again appeals to male identification with the female victim-hero where the woman’s brutality is labelled as sweetly justifiable despite his own psychosexual desires/fears on castration and penetration (164).

The final chapter is perhaps the densest in the book that has three distinct but interlinking parts: a critique on film theory and its depiction of horror as solely sadist (i.e. assaultive), an analysis of horror as being both sadist and masochistic (i.e. assaultive and reactive), and the reiteration and settlement of Clover’s central argument. Beginning with an analysis of Peeping Tom, Clover highlights ways in which the film (argued to itself be a critique on cinema) occupies at a level of sadism (Mark Lewis’ murder of the women in front of his camera) and at a level of masochism (Lewis’ own experiences as a child study in front of his Father’s camera and his own eventual suicide) (179). By doing this, Clover argues for the inconsistencies of film theory to wholly regard horror as purely sadistic on the grounds of an assaultive gaze (coded as masculine) and dismissive as one of the vilest forms of modern cinema in its treatment of women. Here, film theory argues that modern cinema looks at women largely through the male gaze where the man serves as the subject, objectifying women by occupying at a level of voyeuristic sadism (the assaultive gaze) with horror being one of the extreme examples of this (206). However, Clover makes an interesting argument that what film theorists ignore, “in the name of feminism,” is that by positioning of horror movie occupying a purely assaultive gaze is to ignore a glaring blind-spot in their argument. Once again bringing forth the subgenre’s described (particularly the rape-revenge film), Clover notes that viewer identification with the victim being one of the tantamount features of the modern horror films, a fact that is heavily exploited by its filmmakers (210). Being that horror’s intention is to cause fear and pain onto its spectators, Clover argues that it is the filmmakers who largely occupy the assaultive gaze whilst the spectators occupy the reactive gaze (but there is an element of the assaultive gaze) which prove its tendency to occupy not simply in the realm of sadism, but of masochism as well despite what common criticism imply (212). Thus in terms of psychosexual fear and desire, the modern horror film, through its exploitation of Freudian notion of ‘feminine masochism’ and the tendency of repetition compulsion in its viewers, is able to locate the (young male) spectator in the reactive gaze (with secondary influences of the assaultive gaze) by aligning his identification with that of the (female) victim(hero) and locating his psychosexual experiences almost firmly is masochism and not simply in sadism as implied by film theorists (222). And it is because of this tendency of feminine masochism that Clover argues answers her overall argument as to why young male spectators would “choose to ‘feel’ fear and pain through the figure of a female – a female, in fact, whose very bodily femaleness is at centre stage” (226).

Clover’s argument, here, is entirely plausible. By positioning horror in the discursive framework of psychoanalysis, Clover is able to sufficiently argue the various ways in which gender plays out in Horror whilst still securely situating it in her initial argument. Though some of her claims would have been dismissible, her extensive use of actual film examples provides a detailed understanding on what Clover is actually trying to say, making the employment of her ‘evidence’ wholly convincing – especially highlighted in her critique of film theory. Lastly, it is interesting the way she positions women in horror. Though there could arguably be a number of feminist undertones in the subgenres described and it is impressive the extent of their subversive natures, they still comes across as heavily male-centric as Clover makes it seem that despite what may seem the story still revolves almost entirely around the experience of it majority audience – young white men.

However, her analysis is not without its faults. Perhaps what strikes as her most glaring problem is her over-usage of her theoretical framework. Though positioning gender psychoanalytically provides at the very least an interesting analysis and heavily influences her argument, Clover’s sole usage of psychoanalysis leaves a few things to be desired. Instead of situating gender in horror under the realms of their social and cultural contexts, Clover misses out a few interesting argument that would add further nuance to her argument(s). For example, in her study of slasher films in the 1980s, by extending her framework to incorporate socio-cultural backgrounds of the time, Trencansky (2001) is able to highlight the many potential allegories within the slasher film (such teenage transgression of neoliberal suburban values marked by the ‘transgressors’ in the film and the ascent to adult agency marked by the Final Girl triumphantly defeating her oppressor) and the analysis of the killer as being an allegory of rebellion gone wrong that is ‘othered’ by society (Trencansky, S., 2001: 68-70)

It should also be mentioned that her use of psychoanalysis itself holds some problems. In essentially trying to identify why it is that young white men are so invested in horror, Clover runs the risk of reducing her audience to a set of more or less fixed characteristics that further homogenizes her study (Tudor, A., 1997: 445). Instead of situation horror in a variety of different fields, and especially by little attention the socio-political climates and context of the period in which these films were made, Clover places a heavy influence on the inner workings of gender and spectatorship whilst largely ignoring any external factors that arguably have just as much impact(Tudor, A., 1997: 452). In the same vein that Clover critiques film theorists through imposing essentialist binaries on horror cinema, Clover runs the risk of reducing a very heterogeneous group to largely homogeneous characteristics. What then becomes interesting is the ways in horror and cinema spectatorship play out when one is to consider not only psychosocial factors that influence the genre and those who watch it, but the socio-political contexts they were made in as well.

As it stands, Clover’s seminal study of gender in horror movie stands as one of the most influential and cited works of the study of horror and spectatorship. Though not without its faults, the book is still able to convincingly argue the interplay and intersections of gender in horror and the broader implications it has on cinema spectatorship. Far from just another critique of horror gratuity, Clover’s book presents itself as an essential read for anyone even vaguely interested by the genre and especially those who study it.

 References:

Clover, C., 1992. Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. United States of America: Princeton University Press.

Trencansky, S. 2001. Final Girls and Terrible Youth: Transgression in 1980s Slasher Horror. Journal of Popular Film and Television. 29(2): 63-73

Tudor, A. 1997. WHY HORROR? THE PECULIAR PLEASURES OF A POPULAR GENRE.

Cultural Studies

. 11(3): 443-463

#horror #gender #review #carol clover #final girls

[cyberkevvideo]

Monster Conversion - Draegloth (3.5 to PF)

Back during the 3.0 and 3.5 days of D&D, there was a creature released in the Forgotten Realms books called the draegloth. They were elite champions created by Lolth to protect the main drow houses. Said to be the outcome due to Lolth and a glaberzu getting together. Half-drow, half-demon. No half-fiend template here. There was also an “abomination” version created from a glaberzu and a drider.

While they were given weapons by the matriarchs of each house, a draegloth was a brutal combatant that preferred to use their teeth and claws. Particularly powerful draegloth were blessed by their deity and were given cleric or favored soul class levels. With Pathfinder 1e, you’d have cleric or oracle levels, with oracles likely being the more predominant class. That said, it’s much more likely that they’d be barbarians. In Pathfinder terms, you could argue that a truly “favored one” would be a barbarian/oracle/rage prophet. Actually, that’d probably be the most frighting outcome.

Most draegloths stand around 8 feet tall and weigh in around 350 lbs. They can be male or female, and like most drow and demons, are typically chaotic evil.

What’s even more interesting is that back when Sean K. Reynolds worked for WotC, he developed a 3PP half-draegloth template that could be on a regular drow or even a drider. Part of the lore was if a draegloth angered or displeased Lolth, they’d be turned into a drider as punishment. So if the monster presented here is too much, then the template is a nice second option. Even though it’s 3.5, it still balances out with some of the templates granted by Pathfinder 1e.

The reason I even bring this up is because of my recent updates with the Throne of Night. Once you’ve been fighting a few dozen drow, you get tired of the same old, same old. This is a nice (optional) change of pace. Gives both the players and GM something more to play with, and add something new to the game. I mean, we already have a drow marilith in Book 4. Why not go even further down the rabbit hole?

Without further ado, the converted draegloth.

Looking into it, there’s actually a few different versions of this monster. The one I’ll be using is the 3.5 Drow of the Underdark version. It’s got a few more abilities, but also their resistances is more balanced for their CR. I always found it odd how these creatures had resistance to all elements at 20. Nothing like making the wizard feel completely useless because they didn’t max out their 5d6 fireball roll.

While the creature does have four arms, only two of them have claws and are used for fighting. The other two are much small and slender. They’re typically used for spellcasting.

Played with the stats some, gave a couple of bonus feats and racial modifiers for skills to boost them up to both a typical CR 5 for Pathfinder and make them equal to the numbers they originally had. Regarding the skill choices, Champions of Ruin did a Savage Species Progression that listed all of their “class skills”, so I went with those. It also gave their additional languages. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much I could do about their damage. Normally, a CR 5 should deal an average of 20 damage per round. This guy will do 26. With Power Attack, he’ll deal even more. I did lower his attack bonus though. Probably won’t help much in the grand scheme of things.

DRAEGLOTH (CR 5; 1,600 XP) CE Large outsider (native) Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +12 DEFENSE AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (+3 Dex, +6 natural, –1 size) hp 57 (6d10+24) Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +5; +2 vs. enchantments Immune poison, sleep effects; Resist acid 10, cold 10, electricity 10, fire 10; SR 16 OFFENSE Speed 30 ft. Melee bite +9 (1d8+4), 2 claws +9 (1d6+4) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Spell-like Abilities (CL 6th, concentration +8) 4/day—darkness 1/day—dancing lights, desecrate, faerie fire, unholy blight (DC 16) OFFENSE Str 18, Dex 17, Con 18, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 15 Base Atk +6; CMB +13; CMD 26 Feats Combat CastingB, Blind-Fight, Cleave, Iron WillB, Power Attack Skills Acrobatics +6 (+17 when jumping), Climb +10, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (planes) +9, Knowledge (religion) +10, Perception +12, Spellcraft +10, Stealth +10, Survival +5; Racial Modifers +2 Perception, +2 Stealth Languages Abyssal, Elven, Undercommon SQ drow blood SPECIAL ABILITIES Drow Blood (Ex) A draegloth is immune to magical sleep effects and gains a +2 racial bonus on its saving throws against enchantment spells. However, it is treated as being both an drow and an evil outsider for the purposes of spells and abilities that rely on creature type. Powerful Leaper (Ex) A draegloth uses it’s Strength to modify Acrobatics checks made to jump, and has a +10 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks made to jump.

A draegloth that gains a higher intelligence has access to the following bonus languages: Aboleth, Aquan, Common, Draconic, Drow Sign Language, Gnome, and Goblin. Originally they had access to the Kuo-toan language, but that’s a D&D exclusive monster. Instead, James Jacobs gave a list of monsters that you can substitute for others. For the kua-toa, he suggested skum, and they know Aboleth. Fitting considering the campaign.

Typical treasure from draegloth is everything their matriarch master gave them. These usually include a necklace of fireballs II, cloak of resistance +1, and ring of protection +1.

If you’re looking to advanced these with class levels, they are combat types. So anything with full BAB would increase the CR by +1 per level, while a cleric, rogue, or wizard would increase the CR by +1 per 2 levels, up to the 6 HD. After that the ratio is 1:1.

A “Favored One” draegloth is typically cleric 7 while an “Overseer” is usually barbarian 3. Both can be found in either breastplate or a chain shirt, generally made of adamantine.

#pathfinder #pathfinder 1e #pathfinder rpg #pathfinder roleplaying game #throne of night #drow campaign #drow elf #drow #dwarf campaign #D&D #dnd #dungeons & dragons #Dungeons and Dragons #underdark campaign #underdark #bestiary #advanced bestiary #monster manual #draegloth #advanced races #conversion #d20 #roleplaying game #darklands #races

[magicalgirlfumiko]

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Sword of Embera: Medus Tenpenny

GENERAL CHARACTER STATISTICS

“Everyone says they love a thief, until they meet a professional one.”

“Pirates are the only ones that understand freedom, unlike those that live in the coastal kingdoms.”

“Freedom? Hahaha. There is no freedom in the seas, only lashings and death. I fight for my men, so they will be free by retiring alive.”

Character Name: 

Medus Tenpenny

Name Meaning: “The Cunning One"

Alias: Pirate King

Gender: Male

Species/Race: Water Tribe, Human

Age: 24

B-Day: 9/22

Zodiac Sign: Virgo

Place of Birth: Chenoa City, The Kingdom of Chenoa

Current Residence: Destruction Reef, Azar

Occupation: Head of the Yellow Brothers Syndicate

School/Grade: Finished college.Family: He considers the Gailsons to be the closest thing he has to a family.Gemstone: Sardonyx

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Height: 6’1”

Hair: Like most of his ocean dwelling tribe; Medus’ hair tone is very dark grey blue color. It is generally kept messy though the bangs rarely go past the base of his neck.

Eyes: Blue

Distinguishing Marks: Only thing that truly stands out about him is that his uniform is tailored differently from the rest of the deck officers.

General Appearance: Medus looks professional and uniformed. Medus is tall with a straight, upright posture. He has a straight, wedge-shaped nose and an extremely large forehead with a high hairline. He displays a lot of emotion in his face and doesn’t attempt hide it when he’s upset or mad.

General Clothing: He wears a red tunic and slacks when off duty. This tunic has gold trim in the center and on the cuffs. When he is on ship and for formal wear, Medus wears a fireman’s style red cap with a brass skull on the brim, a deep red frock that reaches his knees, and a waistcoat that is trimmed in gold. He wears a large ammo belt that allows for him to carry many 120 rounds of ammunition and a place to keep his whip. Medus almost always wears tall boots as a part of his outfits.

Strengths: Medus is capable of breathing underwater since he’s a water faye. He can also turn into a water form for several minutes which means that he can escape many tight jams. Medus is fast, as well. Most of his powers focused on his skills over magic.

Weaknesses: His worrisome nature makes his inclined to worry and this makes Medus is vulnerable to stomach and bowel troubles. He has an esoteric cuisine and as his delicate stomach requires him to be careful about his diet. It is essential that he treat his fascination with exotic food with extreme care. He also likes to smoke to deal with stress.

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS

Allies: Medus prefers his own personal freedom than he cares about the overall balance between good and evil. This is not to say that he doesn’t care about the Category, but he feels that it is too rigid in laws. His closest ally is named Naomi Gailson whom is a no-nonsense female first mate and swordsmen. They’re comrades and close friends. Naomi is the person he trusts the most. And one of the few, if not the only one, he’d give his life for. Medus’ First Mate is named Joel Gailson.

Enemies: Anyone that dares to oppose his freedom of the seas.

Current Goal/Purpose: He is currently trying to seek out the remains of Rane’s Sword of Embera in order to help Rose Gailson create more state of the art airships for his fleet. While he has little love for the Category, they are currently trying to sway them to fight against the invasion of Chenoa by providing him with much needed money.

Aspirations: Stay hidden and be left alone from the outside world. He has no interest in becoming a member of Unit Zero or the Category.

Hobbies: Reading, writing, flower gardening, planning out his meals (though he’s not a very good cook).

Likes: Health foods, Lists, Hygiene, Order, Wholesomeness

Dislikes: Medus dislikes anything that can be hazardous to his health, such as certain foods or being unclean. He also highly dislikes anything he considers sordid; this includes sloppy workers and squalor. The least obvious dislike of his is being uncertain about himself.

Talents: Medus is good with accounting and controlling revenues. This is how he became the overall leader of the Syndicate powers. He worked his way through the system and out moved his rivals. Medus is a skill tactician as well, making his a very dangerous foe when it comes to dealing with battles. In terms of leadership he is an arch perfectionist and conservative. However, all this responsibility irks him. Medus is essentially a tactician, admirable in the attainment of limited objectives.

Inabilities: Medus is extremely fussy and is a worrier. He conceals too much of his emotions, to which he is afraid of giving way because he does not trust others, nor does he have confidence in himself and his judgments when it comes to his personal life. This is because he is conscious of certain shortcomings in himself of worldliness, of practicality, of sophistication and of outgoingness. Medus is overcritical and harsh when it comes to dealing with people he dislikes.

Fears: Facing the reality of his imperfections, being useless and unneeded.

General Personality: Can be viewed as an old maid at times. He is intellectually enquiring, methodical and logical, studious and teachable. He is often defensive about his overall personality and is only open when he chooses to be. Medus has a love for the fine arts and is known to be a member of the University crowds in Chenoa City.

Inner Personality: Medus can be sensible, discreet, well spoken, wise and witty, with a good understanding of other people’s problems which he can tackle with a practicality not always evident in his own personal relationships. He is intellectually enquiring, methodical and logical, studious and teachable. He combines mental ingenuity with the ability to produce a clear analysis of the most complicated problems. He has an excellent eye for detail.

Fondest Memory: Taking Naomi out for dinner.

Biggest Regret: None.

Secret: Medus likes to read trashy novels.

SPECIALTY CHARACTERISTICS

Special Items: Medus is armed with the fastest airship called the Calypso’s Fall in the Category’s entire zone of influence. It is a destroyer-class naval ship that features a solid, smooth, boat-like hull. Its prow is dominated by a large ramming horn. Resting beneath this is the secondary hull, which contains the lift Embera Unit. Extending behind the primary hull is a single thrust vector Embera Unit, looking exactly like an enormous version of Rose’s speed ship main engine. Unlike most of the Category’s engines on their airships, the Embera Units onboard the Calypso-class are powered by exclusively by Embera thrust and not a combination of steam and aether magic. This can be seen with the large “aether ball” towards the front of the ship.

The destroyer’s primary weapons consist of two anti-ship torpedo launches. The short-range weaponry is two trios of small turrets machine guns.

Length: 321ft’ Height: 150’ Maximum Speed: 151.1kt (171 mph) Maximum Armor: 356mm (on broadsides).

Weapons: Medus always carries a short naval cutlass and several pistols in normal pirate fashion. Like the rest of his crew, they rarely rely on using their elemental magic and instead use hybrid technologies in order to overwhelm their foes.

Magic: Ice Blast: Medus can convert the water in the air into ice, therefore allowing his to freeze opponents with blasts of cold air.

HISTORIC BACKGROUND

General History: Medus originally lived like a thug in the capital. He was eventually captured by the police force in the city. He was spared by veteran of the Rothnan War. His name was Joel Gailson. Joel saw much potential in the young Medus and was gave him the offer to stay a minor thief or learn a trade. Medus chose to learn a trade, knowing that the veteran was offering him a chance to escape the slums.

After graduating from the Chenoan Engineering School, Medus decided to get into the world of port trading. Medus spent some time living with Joel and his adopted daughters, Naomi and Rose. This trio became close as family and have been associated ever since. He got bored with port trade and decided to join Joel in the world of piracy. Since then he has gained a vast underworld paramilitary force. This was done through rather obscure means and mostly because of the fact that he’s good at striking fear into the hearts of even the bravest sailors…

Since running the Yellow Brothers, Medus is considered a high ranking member of the Syndicate; which is an international underground mafia. With these two factors, Medus can rest assured that there are very few that can mess with his and his empire. However, Unit Zero has been trying to get his attention of fighting against the invasion of Chenoa. He ponders if this will help him find the remains of the wreck of the Sword of Embera. Whoever controls that machine would be able to retain total control over the heavens.

#old character meme #fxtelism