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hanafubukki · 3 months

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White Day with Diasomia

[White Day is when the person who received a gift on Valentine’s Day returns the sentiment one month later.]

Malleus Draconia: He's heard of what White day is from Lilia. He thought about his gift to you. The finest gold necklace adorning your neck would bring him the greatest of joy. It would tell others you were his and his alone, but maybe that would have to wait for another time. He didn't want to scare you off. So, instead, I can see him get you a charm bracelet. The first charm would be of a gargoyle that he had especially made. It's cute and he hopes it makes you think of him. As the years go by, he hopes to add more to it. To symbolize his never ending love for you.

Lilia Vanrouge: You know you should run dearest, don't you? You know Lilia is going to cook you something for White Day. You might as well give up now and wait for your demise. With Lilia, I can see him go many ways when celebrating White Day with you. From the traditional way to the more chaotic ways. In the end, it is all Lilia's way of romancing you. My personal favorite is his old fashion way mixed with modern methods. He gives you letters speaking of his love for you in the cheekiest flirting, but also you find him outside serenading to you at night. Good thing you don't have neighbors.

Silver Vanrouge: Did you ever wonder what it would be like in a Disney movie? Well, now you know. Silver can be both Prince Charming and the Princess. Okay, I'm joking. Kind of. I can see Silver's animal friends coming to you and leading you down a path. No point resisting, they are persistent. At the end of the road, you see Silver asleep on what seems to be a picnic date set up by him. He has a wrapped gift in his hand and a flower crown on his head. It seems so do you if the matching ones placed by his bird friends on top of your head means anything. Now Prince Charming, won't you wake up your Sleeping Beauty?

Sebek Zigvolt: I can see Sebek bringing you flowers and chocolates. He's passionate when it comes to those he cares about. While it might take awhile for you two to become harmonious in your relationship. Never be said that he wouldn't be cute in his way when dating you. Plus, he has hobby of reading. I can bet you he researched way to court you. You have his heart and he's your trusty loyal knight. He knows your niche and wants and he'll be there for you. Does this not speak of the highest regard he has for you?

Happy White Day Everyone 🌷💜🌺

#malleus draconia x reader #lilia vanrouge x reader #sebek zigvolt x reader #twst silver x reader #twst x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #silver vanrouge x reader #twisted wonderland silver #twisted wonderland x you #twst x you #disney twisted wonderland #twst lilia vanrouge #lilia vanrouge #malleus draconia #sebek zigvolt #silver vanrouge #diasomnia #twst fluff

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katyahina · 4 months

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Burial Blade and Blade of Mercy are made out of meteorite, but WHY? Inspiration and context behind them (+ the source of snake infestation)

This one is a reply on ask from @bobbyzombiegg that I decided to put here because I really keep forgetting to use THIS blog for lore and not my personal/shitposts one...

I know, and this is such a good observation! I am glad that you've noticed what else connects Burial Blade and Blade of Mercy! Even better - whereas Burial Blade severs the ties of a person with the Dream, Blade of Mercy, in a way, helps to create it!

The interesting thing about these blades is that, of course, they must have been created before the conception of the Hunter's Dream! It makes it oddly coincidental that both weapons are useful for the cycle of Dream and Hunt, doesn't it? Blade of Mercy is at least believed to contribute to this as of now; the more we hunt the more messengers get added in the Hunter's Dream, so, perhaps, Blade of Mercy is not necessary! My personal interpretation of this is as Paleblood Hunter, our character has the privilege otherwise special for these weapons! Regardless of which weapon they use, they can send those they killed to be messengers (or add them in the cycle of the hunt, like how Henryk or Yamamura will become summonable after we kill them)!

Still, it starts to look like too much was planned ahead? Blade of Mercy said to be made in an old workshop would imply Old Hunters, likely created by Gehrman himself, from the same material as his own weapon! But I think the answer here is that Messengers, something akin to Hunter's Dream and similar weapons existed since Pthumerian times!

Starting with the weapons observation here! Pthumerian Descendant, interestingly, displays the similar style of transforming their blade into two same as how Blade of Mercy does it! Meanwhile, Gehrman's blade is fashioned similarly to Mergo's Wet Nurse's blades! In isolation, I would not think this means anything.. but crows, according to Hunters of Hunters lore, ARE connected with taking the souls and passing them into Dream realm, which is also Nightmare realm!

(Link to my other post explaining why Vilebloods descend from Pthumerians ( x ) in case someone who doesn't know already finds this post)

Wet Nurse herself is very bird-like (crow-like, specifically), and very coincidentally, Baneful Chanters pray to those who "have no blood" as those who'd have enough power to curse the hunters (which is to ensure they go in the Nightmare realm). Wet Nurse not only coincidentally fuels at least one section of Nightmare by nurturing Mergo, the center of it, but also, Nightmare realm has Winter Lanterns whose heads are made of Messengers!

So we have: Wet Nurse already being quite Pthumerian with her accessories and fighting style, Pthumerians and their descendants (down to Cainhurst!) honoring symbolism of crows, Yharnam (a city named after Queen Yharnam, after all) having depiction of BIRD-like Messenger in its oldest part, superstition about crows taking souls of the murdered in Hunter's Dream, people praying to "bloodless ones" to take the souls into Nightmare instead + evidence of it happening with Winter Lanterns.. In my opinion it is fair to assume that the weapons Gehrman created had a pre-existing inspiration and their similarity to pre-existing Pthumerian weapons is not coincidental!

Alright, first - I want a Bloodborne prequel where I could make a Pthumerian Paleblood Hunter. Second, as you can see, concept of the Messengers, the "Hunter" symbol/rune (depiction of the hanged man of course), and even the MOONLIGHT Sword were a thing since Pthumerian times! (It is safe to assume Ludwig found this sword somewhere in the Dungeons, as obtaining Radiant Sword Hunter badge is what lets you buy Tomb Prospector set!)

^ The note already mentioning Laurence associating with Moon Presence, THE Great One of the Hunt and the Dream, is found in Byrgenwerth already! Basically? Without maybe predicting that he would be trapped in the Hunter's Dream one day, Gehrman already knew what he was doing with the weapons.

Conclusion: there was the clear idea in mind! Blade of Mercy, intended to kill people from the start, immortalises the hunters as the HUNTERS and brings them in "Heaven" of Moon Presence, before they turned into beasts, whereas Burial Blade, initially intended for hunting everyone that was no longer human (for example, poor Fish People), ensures they, on the contrary, never go to "Heaven". What later serves to sever a Hunter from the Hunter's Dream initially intended to sever non-humans from it, in a way sentensing them to "Hell". :) Gehrman is a fun person.

+ Also some bonus observations regarding the topic of Yharnamites still continuing Pthumerian traditions, likely brought back because of Byrgenwerth, and then Healing Church, diving into dungeons:

(Context for those that didn't play Bloodborne because Sony hates you and you in particular: both this trap in the dungeons and this bath in Yahar'gul warp you in another area, connected by the circle of candles)

Forbidden Woods, surrounding Byrgenwerth, are full of formations that resemble the Tonsil Stone very much! However, when you examine the woods, you will see that sometimes there are body parts near these "heads"! This could be another case of petrification upon strong arcane impact, similarly to petrified body of Rom near Ebrietas, to petrified bodies of other Kin in Upper Cathedrals covered by fabric, bodies of victims in Yahar'gul, all that!

Were they people living in the woods that started to turn into Kin (like Garden of Eyes that are also found in Byrgenwerth) but didn't live until petrification, or were they baby Great Ones born only to instantly die? I am not sure. Both can work.

But, snakes are an interesting clue here. Besides Forbidden Woods, they are only also found in Hintertombs - a dumping ground for corpses of Pthumeru Ihyll that became venomous! Forgotten Madman, who is a former Choir member as he uses A Call Beyond, is found in these dungeons + getting Cosmic Watcher Badge is what lets you buy Poisonous Knife. Doesn't it look strange for Choir members to pick so much interest in this? Snake infestation might be a strange result of burying cosmic Kin in the ground, a corruption of what would normally be a process of multiple parasites/phantasms settling in a corpse of a cosmic being, OR someone affiliated with one! We do have precedents:

Cosmic creatures, "downgraded" and "filthied", becoming something eartly instead, such as snakes! One of them was able to raise human children (Madaras twins), so sure they are unusual!

So, what I am trying to say is, it is possible that Tonsil Stone is a result of burial of a dead (and rapidly petrifying) cosmic Kin, one that was yet not rotted like what we see in Forbidden Woods! Maybe even more directly so, it is a petrified skull of a cosmic Kin, most likely of Amygdala's kind, and a "meteorite" in the sense of them coming from space! So, creating weapons both of which are connected with burial ritual from the buried Kin is appropriate! This or similar technology maybe also was discovered by Pthumerians long ago, so examining Hintertombs was a great help with figuring what material to use for Burial Blade and Blade of Mercy!

^ These disturbing dead cosmic Kin fetuses are found in Byrgenwerth in two forms: one depicts a petrified corpse, something we already knows happens with Kin, such as Rom and eldrich creatures in Upper Cathedral. Another is dead, rotting, showing horns, and has multiple tiny skulls on its head! The latter one gets my point about corpses of Kin, or maybe anyone touched by Kin, sprouting smaller life forms from within. People infected by snake virus sprout several snakes from their heads, rather than turning into a snake or something!

It is entirely possible that Byrgenwerth used to bury creatures like this in the grounds around the college, and that those gigantic graves in Forbidden Woods were for much larger Great Ones: "Hunt the Great Ones. Hunt the Great Ones." note is found in Byrgenwerth as well! They might have been able to resist the full rotting that results into snakes due to their size and development, hence their graves still show sluggish phantasms. Burying other ones, on the other hand, was a big mistake. Or, should I say.... a GRAVE mista- *gets sniped*

_________________________________

These are my thoughts on the topic! You kinda got two theories at the price of one here, but snake infestation was somewhat relevant in the context of burial and my idea of what IS this "meteorite"! Thank you so much for prompting me to tie this theory together at last!!

#bloodborne #bloodborne theory #gehrman the first hunter #pthumerians #long post #not art #text post #bloodborne reference #screenshots #damn two years later I've found a proper answer on snake infestation situation...#too bad that an ex mutual will never see it now they sent me an ask about it and back then my answer was unsatisfying #why I figure this obvious shit so late..... sigh

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cyphyree · 5 months

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bestie what did you call those fucking parrots??? "bloodthirsty parakeet satirical caricatures of the Mussolini facist regime" like... what?? genuinely confused, could you explain it to me?

Yeah! Tbh I read this post that made the connection, and thought “damn that made sense actually.” They explain it really well:

(Og post for ask context)

To add on:

The parakeets carrying Himi to the great grand uncle were passing through the world of their ancestors and were tearing up about it. It relates to the above post about fascists glorifying the mythic past

The parakeets held up signs with “Duch” when rallying around their king. This might be a reference to the Italian word “Duce” (meaning “duke” or “leader”). Mussolini is known as Il Duce (“The Leader”), and the term is virtually inextricably associated with him

Parakeets symbolize a variety of things, but in this case may symbolize mindless herd mentality

The culture of the parakeets is very militaristic—even the way they walk is a march—as well as nationalistic. It parallels the show of Japanese nationalism at the start of the movie

When Mahito wakes up in the parakeet kitchen, the chef is gleefully preparing to cook him. It’s almost as if he expected Mahito to celebrate the fact too, but regardless the parakeet doesn’t care about the massacre of others because the victims will serve their regime. Someone I know has a more personal reading of this scene, and they connect it to how, historically, oppressors would celebrate their atrocities as some great deed while the oppressed watched and suffered. The parakeets only cared about their own “greater cause”

Ive seen people also say that the parakeets are stand-ins for the Japanese fascists, German fascists, or human fascists in general—but whatever the specifics may be, the parakeets do seem to represent fascism.

Maybe when the parakeets escaped the underworld and turned into normal birds, it’s their wish being fulfilled: they’ve become their ancestors they glorified so much. They returned to the “great mythic past,” but as it turns out, the “great mythic past” is a great big lie, and probably different from the glory they imagined.

Alternatively, they coveted the peace and simplicity of their ancestors, but they were trying to achieve that through violent and militaristic means, and felt justified in doing so

Alternatively, the parakeets like the pelicans were trapped into this fantasy world, and forced to play roles to parallel the wars of humanity. When they finally escaped, both they and Mahito are free to live as themselves in the real world.

Maybe I’m wrong about some details or missed something, but yeah, that’s where “bloodthirsty parakeet satirical et cetera” came from

#the boy and the heron #how do you live #parakeet #parakeet king #spoilers #hayao miyazaki #studio ghibli #ask box #analysis

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lychee-angelica · 1 year

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ashwini nakshatra 🍯

please do not plagiarise or copy my work, thank you my loves

ashwini nakshatra occurs at 0.00° - 13.20° of aries, ruled by ketu and influenced by mars. it is the first nakshatra of the twenty-seven lunar mansions, in a sense marking itself as the original ascendant point. planet sun becomes exalted in ashwini specifically and funnily enough the sun rises on the eastern horizon - where all of our ascendant signs are calculated from. ashwini is the dawn of the sun x

the word ashwini literally means "horse-woman" or "a beautiful stallion". despite the yoni of this nakshatra being a male horse the word ashwini translates to something quite feminine. a horse is the main symbol of this nakshatra, making it very important when understanding the qualities of ashwini. horses are a symbol of good health, vitality, beauty and opulence. the quality of ashwini is light and swift, aligning well with horses characteristically speaking. this nakshatra is fast, powerful, wild yet elegant and graceful.

additionally, the bird that symbolises ashwini nakshatra is an eagle. a bird that represents a kind of fierce beauty, proud independence, freedom and strength.

i would also like to add that just as how not all aries people are the same, not all ashwini people are the same either. the padas distinguish the nakshatra further into fourths. each pada essentially is a sign that planet falls within in our navamsa charts. the pada will indicate certain traits attributed to the sign in our navamsa charts.

ashwini pada 1 falls in aries - lively, pioneering, energetic

ashwini pada 2 falls in taurus - materialism, down to earth

ashwini pada 3 falls in gemini - light-hearted, witty, friendly

ashwini pada 4 falls in cancer - emotional, compassionate

mythological significance 🍯

wife of suyra

the ashvini kumaras are the gods of ashwini, they are twin horse headed deities. their mother was wife of sun, suyra. she had once fled her husband due to his immense heat, taking on the form of a female horse, venturing far away into the woods in order to recuperate. she had casted a shadow of sorts or a clone of herself to take care of her affairs at home. although, suyra eventually figured the reality of the situation, from there he swiftly took form of a horse and ran after her. upon reunion the two made love in their horse forms and the ashvini kumaras were then born.

this story portrays many things, the first being a tendency to run-away from our issues in life whether literally or metaphorically. this can manifest in someone's life through forms of escapism and even deception. although this theme of running away from our problems tends to be for the purpose of regaining our own vitality and peace, finding ourselves once more.

the second key message in the story is that of loyalty and devotion. suyra's wife did not wish to leave his side, she temporarily distanced herself from her husband for her own health and well-being. this is why ashwini individuals tend to remain loyal in love despite their apparent independence, boldness and awareness of their own needs. for this reason, sun becomes exalted in ashwini nakshatra, specifically occurring at 10° of aries - pada four. ashwini pada four resembles the most softest and compassionate side of ashwini as it falls in the sign of cancer in our navamsa charts, this is why suyra thrives best here. ashwini is the true wife of sun.

another note is that suyra's wife married a man of high status, he is literally the hottest. this is why ashwini is often times attributed to opulence and luxury. additionally, horses are symbolic of wealth in society which has been quite a timeless association. although money and fame is not the motive of ashwini women, just a little side note.

miraculous healing

the asvini kumaras are celestial physicians to the gods. there are copious amounts of stories told of the twins performing medical miracles for others. they most notedly cure blindness specifically, but also regenerated the health, well-being, youth and beauty of others. the twins were knowledgeable on the sciences, medicine and art of surgical practice but had a thirst for divine and occult knowledge in order to 'cut to the chase' so to speak with their miracle workings.

the fact that the asvini kumaras primarily cure blindness is quite significant. when we think of eyesight, visible perception and light, suyra's exaltation within ashwini provides deeper reason. ketu on the other hand, resembles a dark force of ultimate nothingness, metaphorical blindness. it is just like to say that our literal pupils are just twin black holes of empty space, with those same eyes all that can be taken in is the immense light of suyra. the story portrays the act of curing blindness as miraculous, meaning attributed to divine working, acknowledging the divinity of our own vitality. in ashwini nakshatra health and well-being is expressed as something divine with a sense of regenerated youth. ashwini individuals are able to peer through beyond the veil so to speak, entwined with the affairs of tangible and internal realties, the seen and unseen.

characteristically the asvini kumaras are painted as youthful and delightful deities, even a mischievous and cunning pair with good intentions. they are interested in the secrets of divinity and are willing to take short cuts or loopholes in order to learn quickly. they are highly compassionate and in tune with the needs of others. ashwini people tend to be very light-hearted and don't take things too seriously. their cunning and intelligent nature ultimately negates any mistaken nativity in their character.

appearance 🍯

when discussing the physical appearance, it is important to note that our other placements will garner influence over the appearance in our charts too - specifically speaking our moon, sun and ascendant. i believe too that first or second house lord placed in ashwini will result similar features.

one of the most notable traits of ashwini women is their lips, they are usually wide, if not they'll be quite moderate in length, along with moderate plumpness. the cheekbones of these women tend to be high set too along with a moderately pointed chin - the face is usually tight in structure despite the overall length. the most common eye shape i have seen with these women is slightly hooded and large eyes, especially with ashwini ascendant and moon. overall these women physically possess a quite youthful and elegant kind of beauty.

suyra ashwini (sun) - gigi hadid & anya taylor-joy

chandra ashwini (moon) - selena gomez & zendaya

personality sun, moon & ascendant 🍯

when either sun, moon or ascendant is placed within ashwini the traits of course become personal. these individuals are independent and bold, they are the types to value their freedom and will prioritise their health and well-being. they have a quite cunning, playful and even mischievous side to them too. they are light-hearted, sweetly-spoken and don't take life too seriously. they are also very loyal and devoted to their loved ones.

people born under ashwini may have a tendency to become quite impatient, they may even speak or walk pretty swiftly too. they may love adrenaline and adventure. these people likely have a thirst for divine and occult knowledge too.

planets in ashwini mercury, venus, mars, jupiter & saturn 🍯

mercury in ashwini people are very friendly and good at communicating with others, most people will often find these individuals highly likeable. they can be quite witty, cunning and have good sense of humour. they are highly intelligent, skilful and have the ability to learn very quickly. they may also speak in a quick yet delightful and persuasive manner.

venus in ashwini people are highly compassionate and devotional lovers. others may perceive them, particularly the women as worthy of a very valuable or even high status partner. there is also something beautiful when it comes to their light-hearted and playful natures - especially when relating to love interests.

mars in ashwini people may be very self-made types, very strong independent streak can be seen. people with this placement can have a very stunning physique too, they may appear very healthy. similar to sun, mars in ashwini can indicate someone who possesses the characteristics of a pioneer or leader.

jupiter in ashwini people may be very intrigued with the bigger, over arching questions in life. they most likely have a thirst for divine and occult knowledge and refreshing perspectives and beliefs. they also tend to grasp these topics quickly, even through some sort of spiritual loophole. they are like pioneers when it comes to spiritual and existential ideology.

saturn in ashwini people may be quite impatient, they can be frustrated when it comes to their karmas and struggles in life. although saturn is not debilitated in ashwini, he still struggles within the sign of aries. unfortunately saturn's slow paced and patient nature is quite uncomfortable within ashwini.

#vedic astrology #astrology #jyotish #sidereal astrology #astrology observations #vedic #sun #ashwini

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plague-of-insomnia · 1 month

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Expansion In Black Butler, Public School Arc Anime: Stained Glass

One of the things that absolutely delights me with the new anime is how they’ve used expansion to bring the world to life. I hope to do more posts on this when I am able to get better screenshots, so for now please accept these poor quality ones I took with my phone.

What is “expansion” in this sense?

Essentially, when you adapt something for the screen, you often have to add stuff to fill space, both in the physical sense of what’s on the screen, but also in terms of time. A scene might work fine on one manga page, but if you kept the view fixed like that for an entire scene in an anime or live action, the audience would quickly lose interest.

The anime has done a good job of expanding to fill these spaces in a way that can be charming and clever.

~#~

Something I noticed while rewatching the episode for the twenty millionth time, I realized that the stained glass window that is featured so prominently in the opening scene has been expanded into something with far more symbolism than the original manga page:

The basic design of the room and window is retained, but far more detail has been added, including the fact that the window has two halves, each with a person depicted on them, and they frame Ciel on both sides.

He’s quite literally trapped in shadow between two people, and to me, this is representative of how he is caught between Sebastian and Undertaker/His twin. (Or perhaps one is meant to be RC and one UT, with Seb the shadow in between.)

But there’s more. The top window has a flower motif, but the central flower looks a lot like a star, or perhaps a lily if it were spread out flat?? Additionally, the four flowers of the Weston houses appear in each corner.

Additionally, the window has distinctive doves above and below the saints. While ofc that is a common animal in Christian iconography, the fact that the reapers use pigeons (doves) to communicate, and the fact that UT is a former reaper, could mean this was a very deliberate choice. Perhaps representing how reapers communicate to their superiors (there are images of a man and woman at the top I assume is meant to represent Jesus and Mary)?

The images of the saints feel very familiar to me, but I’m such a lapsed Catholic that I’ve been struggling to identify them.

I thought perhaps that the one on the left could be Frances of Assisi. He’s the patron saint of animals, and is often associated with birds.

The other, I am really unsure about. I thought about things like St. Paul or Augustine, but those don’t fit.

Perhaps St Lazarus? For those of you unfamiliar with Christian mythos, Lazarus died and came back to life, so he’s associated with resurrection. That would certainly fit kuro and Undertaker, wouldn’t it?

A few depictions of stained glass windows featuring St Frances and St Lazarus:

#black butler #黒執事 #s04e01 #kuroshitsuji season 4 #expansion #ciel phantomhive #anime vs manga #kuro meta #book of weston #catholic iconography #(yes i am aware they’re in england and technically anglican)#screencaps #poi og #mangacap #saint francis of assisi #saint lazarus #symbolism #foreshadowing

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akysi · 2 months

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I've had a few ref sheets in the works lately, and I got another one done today. :D Even after I decided to add her to Columba's pirate crew, I'd been stumped for a LONG while on what direction to actually take with the design in general and FINALLY I have one that I really like, especially after giving her a more harpy-ish treatment to add more variety to the many bird constellations. Pretty proud of the symbol integration on this one too, some are easier than others! She's the first I've fully completed of this group so things are bound to get tweaked later on, but this is a good start.

The name Apus means "without feet", as apparently these birds were once thought to not have any, and I thought that would fit perfectly into a double peg-leg to match the pirate theme. A bird-of-paradise could be any number of species under that name though, so I've incorporated attributes from several here, particularly the sicklebills and the various species that have those distinct tail feathers, of both the long and curly varieties. Colour wise, she predominantly resembles the ribbon-tailed astrapia.

Columba's crew isn't exactly evil per se, but they have lost their way a bit after losing their former captain and their ship. Apus loves combat, not for the sake of the outcome, but for the act of combat itself. If you were to lose your weapon during a fight with her, she'd gladly give you one of hers just to continue it! She'll also use her long talons to fight with, but only if she has no other weapons left. Hope you like her. :) ------- The constellation symbol for Apus was originally designed by Denis Moskowitz and released to the public domain.

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sapphire-weapon · 10 months

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Hi! Sorry if this counts as shitstirring... But you got me thinking... Do you really think that someone really needs to play the games in order to fully understand the story? Or is watching them and reading up on them enough? Thanks, and sorry!!!

Don't be sorry. This is a valid question that deserves an honest answer.

There's nuance to this. This isn't just a simple "yes or no" question.

Do I think that you need to play the games to understand the story? No, I don't. Resident Evil's story is not difficult (though, you'd never know that, looking at the fandom). It's very easy to watch the games and movies, go "ok I got it", and move on.

Do I think that you need to play the games to be considered an authority on the canon? 100%, absolutely. And I'll tell you why.

We spend a lot of time talking about narrative direction and storytelling devices and the use of tropes and cinematography here on this blog, but the one thing that we really need to keep in mind at all times is that Resident Evil is a game first and a story second. This has been the design philosophy since the series's conception. This is why RE4 OG's story was slapped together in three weeks. This is why RE5 was the way that it was. This is why RE7 is what RE7 turned out to be.

The narrative of Resident Evil is not something that exists separately or divorced from its gameplay. In fact, the opposite is true. RE's story is not only influenced by its gameplay, it actually -- in some cases -- is directly written as a result of its gameplay.

I've talked about the story behind RE4's development before, but.

Was RE6's story borderline incomprehensible, and did it jump approximately sixteen sharks? Yes. Was that the main reason why RE6 failed? Absolutely fucking not. Not even close.

RE6 turned out the way that it did because RE6 was developed and released during a time in which the biggest moneymakers in the AAA game space were brown & bloom multiplayer shooters. Capcom wanted in on that gravy train.

RE5 sought to take the award-winning formula that RE4 developed and add a multiplayer element to it in order to initially chase that trend, and RE5 for a very long time was the highest-selling Resident Evil title ever made.

Capcom looked at that and took it to mean that it was RE5's added multiplayer element that made it so successful. They weren't exactly wrong, either. RE5, for a lot of people, was like a version of RE4 that you could play with your friends.

Wesker was not killed in RE5 because Capcom thought it was an appropriate time narratively to kill him. Wesker's death was a symbolic one -- it was the death of the "old" Resident Evil -- the death of the slow, plodding, single player experience that the entire AAA industry had convinced themselves was no longer viable monetarily and not what players wanted. This was especially true for RE, after the unprecedented success of the more action-focused RE4 changed the entire third person shooter genre forever.

By the time we reach RE6, Capcom is all on on this. Three campaigns, all with co-op, all of which play differently. Chris's story is what Chris's story is in RE6 because Capcom knew that most players were probably going to reach for his campaign first, considering he was the protagonist of the most recent release and, therefore, the most recognizable to players who maybe weren't necessarily super familiar with RE. They specifically wanted Chris's campaign to feel like a traditional third person shooter in order to get new players hooked, because Capcom was convinced that that's what a majority of gamers at the time in general wanted.

Leon's story is what Leon's story is in RE6 because it was designed specifically to cater to people who loved RE4 and would reach for him first over Chris. So, they gave Leon a female partner (Helena in place of Ashley) and a slower, more traditional horror setting (while still being action-oriented), and they tried to kill two birds with one stone by having Ada running around and also being the damsel in distress, so to speak, to replicate the "save the princess" plotline from RE4.

But the biggest issue with all of this was that it turned the design philosophy of the game into "how can we sell this?" over trying to just make a good horror game -- and it showed. Capcom cut a hell of a lot of corners in terms of pacing and level design and enemy design and enemy variety in favor of focusing on the combat system (which was never adequately explained and had its nuances lost on approximately 80% of the playerbase), the netcode, and making the game's story as easy to consume and digest as possible while chasing specific market trends.

RE6 didn't go super hard on Aeon because the writing staff was just so ~dedicated to the ship~. RE6 went hard on Aeon because they wanted Leon to look heroic and save the girl just like he did in RE4 but didn't want to create another Ashley after how universally hated she was. Knowing that is how I say so confidently that Remake is retconning Aeon -- it's because the ship itself was never the point. They used it as a gameplay contrivance that they thought would help sell RE6, and it blew up in their faces. So now they're trying something new.

The actual experience of playing Resident Evil 6 was downright miserable to a vast majority of the fanbase because it was a soulless, hackneyed mess that didn't even have the decency to bother giving itself a spooky atmosphere. It was an uninspired series of long hallways filled with bullet sponge enemies and literally nothing else.

So, when the story was stupid and fan favorites like Leon felt like they got screwed over on top of all of that because the same design philosophy of "make this as mass marketable as possible" bled into the story from the gameplay, that was just the shit icing on the shit cake.

People probably would have been much more forgiving of RE6's story if the game design itself was better. Or, conversely, people would've been much more forgiving of RE6's game design if the story was super compelling.

But RE6 was neither.

And so RE7 was Capcom's way of trying to re-learn how to do pacing, level design, and atmosphere. The gameplay was the most important thing. That's why they didn't even bother using the legacy characters and created Ethan and the Bakers. The legacy characters would've been a distraction. They had to fix things one step at a time: gameplay first, story second.

That's why RE7 is RE7 and why we have only seen Leon in CGI movies and not games since 6 (Remakes not withstanding). RE7 fixed the gameplay, and Vendetta, ID, and DI served to reconfigure and redefine Leon's character, and I'm more than sure that they're going to try to finally blend those things together in RE9.

And if you don't play the fucking games, and if you don't fucking understand how the games industry works, you're not going to have any of that fucking context going into your meta analysis.

That's why braindead motherfuckers in this fandom look at that stupid remark made about how the one director thought that Leon and Ashley holding hands during RE4make's gameplay made them look "too close" and they read way too much into it -- it's because the spoken words of the directors are all they have to go off of, and they don't realize what a bad gameplay decision having Leon and Ashley hold hands would have been.

If you don't play the fucking game, you don't know that the half-second it takes for Leon to switch from his knife to his gun can mean the difference between taking a hit or not -- and so you would have no reason to think of how annoying it would be to add yet another half-second delay to Leon drawing his gun if he had to disengage from Ashley first. If you fuck with the normal gameplay loop with something that only happens when Ashley is with you, it will make the player start to resent Ashley, and that's the opposite of what the devs wanted to do -- which is what the fucking conversation in the interview was about in the first place!

That is far more likely the reason why the handholding was cut. And while that decision was being made, it was probably pointed out that having them hold hands made it look like they were on a date -- and that's absolutely not the tone/atmosphere that this game was going for. That is far more likely what was meant by "too close."

It had nothing to do with ensuring that the players perceived Leon and Ashley's relationship as platonic. It had everything to do with tone and atmosphere and the pacing of the normal gameplay loop. It's just that "*juts a thumb in his direction* This guy thought it made them look too close" was a way fucking easier explanation of what they probably thought was a really fucking unimportant anecdote about a character animation that didn't matter.

But if you don't play the games, you won't know that.

If you don't play the games, Word of God is all you have to go on. That's why people who don't play the games insist on all Word of God being explicit canon. It's because they can't use the games themselves as a baseline -- and that gives them a skewed, fucked up perspective of what Resident Evil is trying to do and be and accomplish.

This kind of shit is constantly in my head when I'm writing my meta and trying to predict where a game's story will go next.

I pull my meta directly from the games, because that is what Resident Evil is. It is a series of games that are trying to be good games first and interesting stories second.

And if you don't understand that, you have no business calling yourself an authority on the canon.

#resident evil #meta analysis #sorry for the long rant #but i wanted to be crystal goddamn clear about this #resident evil's story does not exist in a vacuum #and if your intention is to pick it apart and analyze it you need to be starting where the games themselves start #and that's the gameplay

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cocolacola · 1 year

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hellsing pokemon au !!

as promised, im going back to my usual hellsing shenanigans with some pokemon stuff. ive had this in my brain for months but have never gotten around to doing anything with it! my autistic ass has absorbed information about pokemon before i could have normal thought patterns, so hopefully my takes are at least a little satisfying. feel free to interact with ur own thoughts and suggestions!

i provided long explanations of each, but if you dont want to read all that just look at the pictures :P

long post ahead!

note: these aren't definitive teams, just me throwing around ideas. don't take this as the holy grail of headcanons or anything.

seras victoria

boltund would be her first pokemon i think, her main partner from before her work with the organization. togetic is here because idk im a togetic 4lifer and im a kinnie ? it just really made sense to me, just vibes, plus i think she really needed a flying type. may become a togekiss later, that would be cute. umbreon is pip's eevee that she evolved, and blastoise is a gift from walter. i think she needs more red pokemon to match her color palette and vampire vibes so ill probably add to this!

alucard

alucard needs a legendary of course, so darkrai. i think they would be good friends, they give the same "misunderstood tortured soul" vibes. houndoom to represent baskerville, noivern to fit the vampire/bat aesthetic.

and an important distinction:

i think girlycard should have a hisuian sneasel. they're the same critter. two ancient beings.

sir integra

im surprised with how much i struggled with this one. i feel like a fake fan. smh, anyways. sirfetch'd is perfect to me-even the unevolved farfetch'd is super fitting too-but i included the final form for this post. i wanted to stick with galar pokemon, but aegislash is literally a sword. cmon. stoutland is a recommendation from a friend that i 100% agree with. ive always associated her with the serperior line, so snivy was probably her starter. i think that'd be cute. im really open to suggestions on this one because i think she deserves more steel or normal types.

pip bernadotte

this is a big one! there were so many good options with pip... and i didnt even mean to color code it 😅 i wanted him to have an electric type to match seras (to add to the whole rivals-to-lovers aesthetic), so his main partner is raichu! it was between that or mudsdale, who i also really like (and is the only one on this team who cant be found in kalos, haha). i wanted him to have a bird (for the geese) so there's dodrio. scrafty and tauros just fit the vibe perfectly to me-they're sorta like honorable mentions. eevee is originally his but he eventually gives it to seras, who evolves it into umbreon. if pip would have kept it, i think it would have evolved into sylveon (the whole kalos thing).

walter c dornez

some interesting picks for walter. corvisquire is his main guy, his "angel of death", he's raised it from a rookidee since he was a kid. maybe it would evolve into corviknight when he becomes Dark Walter. not sure how that would work. i choose not to think about dark walter. bisharp is there for the steel typing vibes as well as the chess symbolism: it really hits right for me, with walter's arc being about how he's played as a "pawn", in a sort of way. also a nod to a very dear friend of mine who loves walter and the pawniard line respectively. :) now, why leavanny, you ask? it learns string shot, of course! also because id like to think he would raise a sewaddle in his old age to help him with things around the estate.

..aaand im out of room for images in the post! i'll make a part 2 with some bonus thoughts + the iscariot organization if i feel like it. bye for now!

#thank u to @pebblezone for inspiring me to actually post this #anyways i #can u guys tell that i like pip #shakes violently #tried to include some unconventional picks but...#this shows incredible bias to pokemon that i really really like #*looking at tauros and togetic* you wouldnt be here if it weren't for me #hellsing #hellsing ultimate #pokemon au #seras victoria #alucard hellsing #integra hellsing #pip bernadotte #walter c dornez

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90363462 · 2 months

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This Moment to Arise: The Revisionary Genius of Beyoncé’s ‘Blackbird’

By Rob SheffieldMarch 29, 2024

'Cowboy Carter' highlight brings the White Album classic full circle

Beyoncé has so many audacious culture-clash triumphs all over Cowboy Carter. But one of the most stunning moments is also one of the simplest: her version of the Beatles classic “Blackbird.” Paul McCartney wrote the song in the summer of 1968, inspired by the American civil rights movement. All that history is right there in Beyoncé’s version. She keeps the folkie Paul guitar, complete with the squeaks, but adds her heavenly gospel-soul harmonies. What she does with the word “arise” is incredible in itself.

It’s a stroke of Beyoncé’s revisionary genius that brings the story of “Blackbird” full circle. She claims the song as if Paul McCartney wrote it for her. Because, in so many ways, he did.

Paul tells the story of writing it in his 2021 book The Lyrics. “At the time in 1968 when I was writing ‘Blackbird,’” he recalls, “I was very conscious of the terrible racial tensions in the U.S. The year before, 1967, had been a particularly bad year, but 1968 was even worse. The song was written only a few weeks after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. That imagery of the broken wings and the sunken eyes and the general longing for freedom is very much of its moment.”

Paul wrote this song as a dialogue with Black America; Bey’s “Blackbird” is part of that call-and-response, proof that the song always meant exactly what McCartney hoped it would mean. It’s one of the most profound and powerful Beatles covers ever, right up there with Aretha Franklin’s “The Long and Winding Road.”

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“I had in mind a Black woman, rather than a bird,” Paul says of the song in the 1997 book Many Years From Now, by Barry Miles. “Those were the days of the civil rights movement, which all of us cared passionately about, so this was really a song from me to a Black woman, experiencing these problems in the States: ‘Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is hope.’”

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Paul was especially moved by the Little Rock Nine — a group of teenagers, the same age as so many Beatlemaniac fans, who caused a nationwide racist outrage in 1957 when they tried to enroll in an all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to block the kids from setting foot in the school. Writing “Blackbird” in the summer of 1968, with high-profile anti-Black violence in both the U.S. and the U.K., he turned that into the song. “As is often the case with my things, a veiling took place so rather than say ‘Black woman living in Little Rock’ and be very specific, she became a bird, became symbolic, so you could apply it to your particular problem.”

“Blackbird” is a song with a long history in Black music, from reggae (the Paragons’ gorgeous version from 1973) to jazz legends including Ramsey Lewis, Sarah Vaughn, and Cassandra Wilson. No song has a deeper dialogue between the Beatles and the Black America that gave them their voices. Anderson .Paak put his spin on “Blackbird” in 2013, years before he ended up contributing to Paul’s album McCartney 3 Imagined, with his funk remix of “When Winter Comes.” The Beatles’ sidekick Billy Preston, who plays with them all over the Get Back movie, gospelized it in 1972, as the flip side of his Number One hit “Will It Go Round in Circles.” His version is on the superb Ace Records anthology Come Together: Black America Sings the Beatles.

Beyoncé brings all that history to her version. There’s also a Paul-like playful humor in the way she makes a horse the star of her album cover. (Could Chardonneigh be the new Martha?) In other words, she is Macca Fierce.

But most of all, Bey’s version ties in mostdirectly to Sylvester’s disco version of “Blackbird” from 1979, the most outrageous and radical version ever. She evokes this song’s history in queer Black disco culture— connecting it to her whole Renaissance project. Sylvester was the first gay Black pop star who was out of the closet, as far as the public knew. Tragically, he also become one of the first stars to pass in the Eighties AIDs epidemic. But in 1979 he was back in San Francisco as a hometown hero, after breaking big nationwide. “Blackbird” is his falsetto-disco celebration from Living Proof, one of the Seventies’ greatest live albums. He was on top of the world: There was an official “Sylvester Day” in San Francisco, where he received the key to the city from the mayor, who happened to be Diane Feinstein. That night he headlined the War Memorial Opera House, and did the most beautiful “Blackbird” ever heard — until now.

Sylvester claims “Blackbird” for himself and his community. He trades call-and-response vocals (“Y’all ready, girls?”) with his backup singers, eternal disco legends Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes, the Two Tons o’ Fun. (They later blew up as the Weather Girls, belting their classic “It’s Raining Men.”) When they sing “You were only waiting for this moment to arise,” you can feel the whole crowd rise to join them. They’re not hiding out in the shadows anymore. They’re spreading their wings. It’s their night to fly. This is their song, and their moment.

Hearing Beyoncé sing this song now evokes her Uncle Johnny, a member of the queer Black dance culture that Sylvester epitomized, and the guiding spirit of her love letter to that culture, Renaissance. (He died tragically in the same epidemic as Sylvester, 10 years later.) You can hear her “arise” connect with Sylvester’s “arise.” And you can hear her Uncle Johnny in both of them.

Beyoncé has always loved reclaiming rock & roll as Black female performance. It’s one of her artistic passions — check her mind-blowing versions of the Doors’ “Five to One,” Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know,” and even Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire.” She turned the Yeah Yeah Yeahs into “Hold Up.” Long before Stevie Nicks had her grand 2010s comeback, Destiny’s Child got her back on MTV with “Bootylicious.” Most spectacularly, the Lemonade classic “Don’t Hurt Yourself” is Beyoncé channeling Memphis Minnie’s “When the Levee Breaks” through Led Zeppelin, with Jack White wailing on guitar. But “Blackbird” is different, because McCartney wrote the song explicitly about Southern Black women and their struggle through American racism in the 1960s.

The Bey/Paul connections go deep. Bey and Paul were spotted hanging out at Coachella a decade ago; they also worked out together at an L.A. gym. He was visibly having a great time at her 2011 New York residency. He saw the Renaissance World Tour in London last summer — a clip of his dancing went viral — and posed for a memorable photo with Jay-Z, lifting their champagne glasses to toast the Queen. On tour, Bey wore a custom Stella McCartney silver dress and leggings. As Stella said, “It is a life moment to dress someone as iconic and inspiring as Beyoncé — a visionary pioneer, disruptor, and artist who has worked tirelessly to make the world a better place.”

Paul haters might have questioned his sincerity about “Blackbird,” but that just means they weren’t listening. Because this song didn’t happen in a vacuum — it’s part of his lifelong engagement with Black music and Black culture. “Blackbird” was hardly his the only explicitly anti-racist statement on the White Album. “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La Da” is a ska ode to West Indian immigrant family life in England (“Desmond is a very Caribbean name,” he says in the Anthology book) at a time when the right-wing politician Enoch Powell was whipping up racist and anti-immigrant hysteria with his notorious “Rivers of Blood” speech in April 1968. That summer, with high-profile anti-Black violence in both the U.S. and the U.K., “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La Da” was a consciously provocative statement.

He lashed out at Powell even more directly months later in “Commonwealth Song,” which turned into “Get Back.” But in “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” he made these Caribbean immigrants his embodiment of family values — and turned it into an unimpeachably wholesome kiddie singalong. The title phrase came from a Nigerian musician friend in London, the conga player Jimmy Scott. (He later died in suspicious circumstances after being imprisoned by U.K. customs officials.)

When Paul performed in Little Rock in 2016, he met for the first time with Thelma Mothershed Wair and Elizabeth Eckford, two of the Black women who incited so much racist controversy by trying to enter an all-white high school. Meeting these two heroes had a profound impact on him. “Incredible to meet two prisoners of the civil rights movement and inspiration for ‘Blackbird,’” Paul said at the time. “Way back in the Sixties, there was a lot of trouble going on over civil rights, particularly in Little Rock,” he told the crowd that night, introducing the song. “We would notice this on the news back in England. So it’s a really important place for us, because to me, this is where civil rights started.”

But “Blackbird” is also in the tradition of his songs about everyday women and their unseen struggles— “Eleanor Rigby” and “Lady Madonna” with the Beatles, “Another Day” and “Jennie Wren” and “Little Willow” solo. (His empathy for his female characters was always radically different from other male songwriters of his generation, to say the least.)

Bettye LaVette did one of the most emotionally cathartic versions in 2020, a gritty old-school R&B performance at 74, singing the lyrics in the first person. She felt a deep connection as soon as she heard it, saying, ‘‘I wonder if people know he’s talking about a Black woman?’” She made it the centerpiece of her 2020 album, Blackbirds,where all the other songs were popularized by Black women singers — Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Ruth Brown. “It is about the road that I came across on,” she told the crowd at Farm Aid 2021. “This song was written by Mr. Paul McCartney. But it is about me, and them.”

The whole Cowboy Carter is Beyoncé using music as a map of American pop culture, from Willie and Dolly and Linda Martell to the Nancy Sinatra bass line, right up to the great moment when she starts singing the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations.” Since she knows absolutely everything, she might even be consciously evoking the short-lived 1970s sitcomCarter Country, about a Black sheriff coming to a redneck small town in Georgia, from the creators of “What’s Happening!!” and “Sanford & Son.” Never put anything past her. She takes the details seriously.

But as Bey knows full well, the Beatles’ biggest inspiration was always American R&B. As kids in Liverpool, they heard the blues and soul records brought over by U.S. sailors. As John said, “We’d been hearing funky Black music all our lives, while people across Britain and Europe had never heard of it.” But Liverpool had its own racist history. “I was very conscious Liverpool was a slave port,” Paul says in The Lyrics. “And also that it had the first Carribean community in England. So we met a lot of Black guys, particularly in the music world.”

From their earliest days, they played songs by Ray Charles, Smokey Robinson, the Shirelles, Little Willie John, the Marvelettes — always aspiring to live up to that spirit. On their early U.S. tours, they refused to allow segregation at their shows in the South. (McCartney, 1964: “There’s no segregation at concerts at England, and in fact if there was, we wouldn’t play ‘em, you know?”) “Rock & roll is Black,” John told Jet magazine in 1972. “I’ll never stop acknowledging it: Black music is my life.” For both Paul and Ringo, that connection remains at the heart of their music. When Ringo turned 80 a few years ago, he hosted his Big Birthday Special livestream to raise funds for Black Lives Matter. He sat at his drums and told the worldwide audience, “Let’s say it again: Black lives matter! Stand up and make your voice heard!”

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That’s why it meant so much to McCartney — more than any of them — to hear how his African American peers responded. Aretha’s versions of his songs always meant the most to him, because she heard that same Black history in these songs. When he wrote “Let It Be,” he sent her a demo in hopes she’d record it, even though he knew she would sing rings around him. (Her “Let It Be” came out in January 1970 — months before the Beatles version.) She did “The Fool on the Hill,” another song inspired by the civil rights struggle — for years, when Paul did it live, he added a sample of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Most of all, Aretha claimed “The Long and Winding Road,” leaving all other versions (including McCartney’s) in the dust.

For Paul, as with the other Beatles, the connection to Black American music was deep, but it was especially important for him that it to be a two-way dialogue. Beyoncé’s “Blackbird” is one that really completes the song — a profound moment in her history, the Beatles’ history, and this timeless song’s history. In so many ways, “Blackbird” has always been waiting for this moment to arise. And Beyoncé makes the song rise higher than ever before.

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afrenchaugurey · 5 months

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@inastarlesssky so, I tried to make you a little something about the "Twin theory". I didn't dig Internet (esp. Tumblr), I know there are things here, and other reasons for that theory than the ones I'll post here today. These ones are from a chat I had with a friend, I'm so sorry, I'm too tired to make something better.

As I said, I do believe in the "twins theory" in which Tina and Credence are twins, mostly because that would explaine the very deep connection she feels for him, and why she puts her job in jeopardy to help him. More than once.

Don't get me wrong. Tina has a very strong moral compass, but she's also a "rule sticker". I do believe she would help any person in difficulty (especially children, or "outcasts") but I'm not sure she would do THAT MUCH.

She broke the Statute of Secrecy for him, while she didn't for Queenie (Jacob is obliviated, and when he remembers she doesn't approve, even if he makes her sister happy). She OC didn't thought about it when she protected him, but... She did it anyway.

Same, she has been reinstated but she does it again in Paris. Whether it was an official mission or not is unclear (posters said "auror on foreign mission" but ITW said she went rogue to go to Paris), but what is certain is that she doesn't follow the order (again) about Credence.

(I also believe that one of the reasons for Queenie to join grindelwald in COG is to protect Credence)

Then, we have the predictions that I read like that:

A son cruelly banished (Credence)

Despair of the daughter (Queenie)

Return, great avenger

With wings from the water (Tina)

Tina has indeed a strong connection to birds : her house in Ilvermorny (Thunderbird), the MACUSA Phoenix, the owls her grand father used to breed when they were children, all the birds iconography we can see in the Goldstein appartment in FBAWTFT.

If Tina and Credence are twins, we could add the phoenix linked to the Dumbledore family (and I also have a theory about a lineage from Isolt Sayre, which would link her to crows too)

(Just to mention but the thunderbird is usually considered to be an equivalent for the phoenix -but not in FBAWTFT book)

To return to the prediction, Tina is also linked to lot of water symbolism, to begin with Fire in Dark Water.

(and the name Aberforth means "from the river" in gaelic)

In that theory, Tina's given name could be Aster (Esther) and follow the Dumbledores' "A rule".

And, of course, physically she is closer to Credence and Aberforth than she is to Queenie.

Same for her wand that looks like more Credence's or Aberforth than Queenie's.

I also believe that in the death pool the "black wave" wasn't supposed to happen, it was supposed to be a "peaceful death" but something went wrong and that wave represents something that haunts Tina, and that could be Credence's obscurus.

I know, it's one that isn't popular anymore, but I still like it.

>>> I do really think Tina is somewhat "dragged" to Credence, which makes me believe in that theory.

#fantastic beasts #tina goldstein #credence barebone #twin theory #meta

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jubilentj · 8 months

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Okay so I saw the meta post regarding the Metatron, the book of life, and the looping reality. I unfortunately can't find it again quick enough to add this to the post.

Edit: I found it! And added it to the top.

It's not the first post like it and it won't be the last. I admit I'm not the biggest fan of it but it does make good points and is quite convincing except in one regard where it always rubs me the wrong way.

Maggie.

There's a lot of speculation that she isn't real or that she's the Metatrons puppet but I don't believe that to be the case for a couple of reasons.

Number 1 was pointed out by someone on Twitter. The birds on her sweaters are Swallows which have the symbolism of free will.

Number 2 is the spelling mistake. I honestly believe anytime we see a spelling mistake it's actually a show of free will. Muriel said something interesting. That angels don't make mistakes. That to error is to be human.

The first Angels to make mistakes were cast out as Demons and if Satan wasn't trying so hard to emulate God then I believe we would be seeing a very different Hell. But this is a whole tangent on its own.

Back on the subject. In the meta post(s) it also points out the spelling mistake on the wannabe thug in the graveyard. Alluding to them being written in by the Metatron but that doesn't make sense to me. Why would it write in some wannabe thugs and allow Aziraphale to make this phone call to Crowley? Especially if the end goal is to separate them. I would think eliminating moments where Aziraphale and Crowley communicate would be the goal.

Which brings me to my next point. If there's anything that isn't real or is a construct made by the Metatron it's Nina's partner Lindsey. They're just like Heaven and the Book of Life. A constant looming threat in the background. The moment under the awning, that was working, would have been the moment Nina realized that Lindsey has no control over them or figured out that they aren't real. Until the awning broke and they couldn't finish their moment.

Another reason I think Nina is the one being controlled is when Nina and Maggie first interact, Nina recognizes Maggie not as skinny latte but as the record shop owner. It is not until after Gabriel shows up at Aziraphale's shop does she only remember her as skinny latte.

I believe Gabriel was bringing the Book of Life to Aziraphale so that Armageddon part 2 won't happen. What better Angel than the one that thwarted part 1 right? But the box was left outside. And if there's any substance to the theory then the moment the Metatron got its clutches on the book, it was that moment.

Wow, this is longer than I expected. 😅 If you made it through this whole thing thank you for reading.

Edit: I thought of more. There's also the ball. Nina is the only human not affected by it. And why is that? Because she's already being influenced by an Angel

#good Omens meta #good omens #good omens 2 #maggie #good omens spoilers #the Metatron #maggie good omens #nina good omens

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joannasteez · 2 years

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"𝙞𝙢 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪" - 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚

eventual mother’s milk x reader

if this doesn’t get posted now, no one will probably ever see this… hopefully posting it will give me the push to continue, finish and maybe even add more to it than I already have…

‘The Reserve' is an illusion, a vanity shaped dream for the self proclaimed movers and shakers. For those who believe themselves to be more illustrious than their bathroom-in-kitchen apartments allow. But even a partial step into 'The Reserve' would clue in even the naivest of individuals of otherwise, that such claimed glory is really just some poor desperate bastards attempt at a pseudo heaven on earth. 'The Reserve' is ugly, its sunny gold pillars rusted to a seedy brown reeking of greed and low cunning.

And God…

…The walls, old lavish embroidery marred and greyed by nasty streaks of some indiscernible substance. The air is thick as well, but that shouldn't be a surprise, strengthened every minute it seemed by some nose curling pungency. Sweat, alcohol, and the dry crusted salty tears of some long ago killed ambition. The only thing 'The Reserve' is good for is its symbolism, sitting so uncomfortably at the edge of Downtown Brooklyn, it's weak and feeble visage living in the shadow of the city's sacred Vought Tower. Its an unwritten thing, wholly for the sake of sugarcoating ego, a communal experience even, for the drunk regulars and D to Z listing super-abled to stand together in a pathetic formation of reverence from their lowly place to watch The Homelander take to the skies.

You hate 'The Reserve' but you also work at 'The Reserve' because it pays well enough as a side hustle and mixing drinks is great tension relief from a nine to five that consist of talking through the life shattering trauma of being a collateral damage survivor with adolescent youth.

It's quite the shitty silver-lining, having to constantly entertain and serve, pouring into the anger and failure of dozens of overgrown children who lack all charm and the means to be even slightly personable. Who, in the eyes of all that is commercially holy and capitalistic, were just never profitable enough. They were not the proclaimed gods among men they were poisoned and promised to be. They just couldn't fucking hack it. But at least you made enough to cover a months worth of groceries in one night and a steadily growing record collection.

"A double of tha' cheap russian shite you lot water down so much yeah".

Its push and pull, the harsh tugging outward motion of an ocean current , a very visceral spine tingling nagging of something creepy and bitter like disgust or malcontent even. Before the inevitable, gentler pull in of intrigue. Billy Butcher is something of an unstoppable force, a train wreck of anger and charisma swaddled in a harsh cockney accent and even harsher words and deeds. Everything about him is war, all blood and destruction. The cracking of bones and the splitting of deep, and what you thought untouchable, nerve. He's horrible, but then again 'The Reserve' attracts all the ugliness of the city, even when that ugliness is owned by a not so ugly face.

"If it's so shit, why do you always drink it?"

He's smirking that smirk that makes your well crafted, personable, customer service nature quell, shrivel and nearly die. Nothing good ever came of smirks like those, lopsided and daring. "I don't know, something about the little bird who serves it to me. She just makes it all the more delicious".

The most you can muster at the moment is an eye roll, opting to address the rest of the very dangerous bunch. A more genuine smile appearing, warm and delighted.

"Frenchie, always a pleasure, even when you're giving Travis Bickle".

He smiles, amused at the reference. "The pleasure is all mine mon amie".

And then with the excitement of a newly unsheltered child, a woman, cute as a button really, waves your way with dainty but red raw battered knuckles. 'A supe', instinct tells you, but as you smile, waving back with matching enthusiasm, you come to the conclusion that you may be wrong. That the light in her eyes, the unmitigated eagerness of the moment, is far too bright for any super abled person to have so intrinsically.

You'd must've forgotten how odd this bunch truly were, not having seen them for some time, especially now coming to rest a bit of a scrutinizing gaze on the next one.

He's tall and lanky with a forced relaxed disposition about him. He's used to this, places like this, like 'The Reserve', but still the tiniest inconvenience could make his own patience stretch beyond wear and snap. Split and break, and now he's back to where he hates to be, helpless. He reminds you of the kids in the support group, the older ones, still scarred and scared but trying desperately to show otherwise. God its the way he fidgets just the slightest, like he's in his own body but with new skin, trying hard to get comfortable.

"And you must be Butchers newest exploit, please blink twice if you need help", you say.

You're joking, really you are, but you're not. It's something like second nature to dote a bit over the younger ones.

"I- .... ", he's unsure of just how serious you may actually be and its no fault of his own, you've practiced quite the serious face, one of motherly concern that seems to make him repel more than anything. Interesting. "Oh, you're not joking- I", he tries again.

Butcher pats his back. "Thats alright Hughie.... she's just takin the piss is all".

Hughie sighs. Exhausted already, but it's only midnight, and knowing butcher, the night hasn't even started yet. "Can I just get a beer?", he asks, seeming resigned now to whatever will come from now till the end of the night.

"And something sweet for mon coeur please", Frenchie adds.

You crack Hughie's beer open, sliding it to him before pouring out Butcher's double, but you're not so ready to give him his drink. Wary of what even a little dose could do for his destructive nature. "No bullshit tonight, I mean it Butcher", and he's rolling his eyes, like he isn't responsible for generally wreaking havoc wherever he goes. "Last time you were here I had a patron get sent to the ER for head trauma".

His warm fingers slip over your unsure ones, taking hold of the slender glass to knock back the liquid with nothing short of delight. Sarcasm dripping cooly once he's done. "I'll behave mum, I swear".

You take his promise with a grain of salt, opting instead to ignore the beginnings of a new nagging feeling by mixing the sweet citrusy cocktail Frenchie had asked for. This creeping thing though, at the base of your nape felt less like mild disgust and more like an un-quelled curiosity. Eyes darting every so often to the lowly lit entrance before they scattered, with an eager quickness that was rather embarrassing, to the other corners of the establishment. If Butcher and Frenchie were present, and generally tamed from mischief, then he wasn't too far behind right? A balmy rush unfurled its way from your gut to the tips of your ears at the anticipation alone, and you'd be lying if you'd tried to convince yourself you didn't know why. He just had that way about him, and it forcefully lulled you in, a bit straight laced air to him but the sensibility was all there, and not to mention the man was fine as hell-

"He's outside taking a call".

Cleaning cocktail glasses has become a point of interest as you feel The Frenchman's sweet clever eyes nail you to where you stand.

"I don't know what you mean".

He scoffs. "Please, you're not the only one with eyes and good observation skills mon amie".

And he's right, it wouldn't take a genius to realize the very apparent attraction you have for a certain member of the infamous group, but whether he notices it or not is the real issue. You don't have much time to truly mull it over though because he's swaggering through the entrance and up to the bar to meet 'the boys' in a matter of seconds. Those seconds being the duration of time in which you short circuit before pulling it together and crafting the greatest nuanced expression possible. A little nonchalance, followed by well placed hints of allure did the trick in most cases. It made most men hesitate, and Marvin wasn't an exception.

You're cleaning the glasses still with a little less impatience and a little more fluidity. Grace. Eyes traveling up and down the distance of his physique, or of what you can see at least. "Can I get you anything?"

It's appropriate for the moment, but theirs a slight inflection to suggest otherwise.

He clears his throat feeling the burdening gaze of his friends, Butcher and Frenchie specifically, their looks of knowing, and squares away the beginning of a thrumming in his blood.

He looks to Hughie's bottle and gestures toward it. "I'll have what the kid is having".

It stings, and it takes a bit more than usual for him to shake it off. When you hand off the beer without another glance, slipping away to take care of another patron, something in his gut tightens. A bristling of bitter smoldering heat, and Marvin knows what it is, in the safety of his own quiet thoughts he's felt it more times than he can stand to admit. Like that one instance, a rare but vivid moment in his memory, Butcher had said something racy but your usual disgust wasn't there. You'd actually laughed and got all cheesy when Billy slapped on that shit eating grin. It was the same feeling now as it was then, and it was green and ugly, making his jaw tick but its there all the same.

Its only the seriousness of the mission that gets him out of it, that and the beer and he's back to thinking of other things.

Leave it to Frenchie though to reel him right back in.

"So", he starts, "When are you going to take that gigantic stick out of your ass and talk to her eh?"

"I don't know if you're too high off the ket to notice Frenchie but were on the job".

"Fuck you I'm sober". And he'd been sober for months, all the boys knew it, but what would his relationship with Marvin be if they didn't exchange some form of below the belt insult. Frenchie knew better than anyone what inner conflict felt like, how it wore so heavy on the shoulder, in the face of such evident but leery romance. "Mmmm, but play makes working all the more fun no? How long will she give u the eyes before you finally indulge her?"

"I don't know what you're talkin' about".

'Found a little love and thinks he's fucking cupid', Marvin thought. Stealing a swift glance at the bar, at you.

It's Butchers turn then to be annoying, to deliver that shit eating grin he loves so much, the one that irks Marvin to no end, but now more than usual because Butcher's just as quick and discerning as Frenchie. "Frenchies right M, come off it and shag the girl already before she starts givin' another bloke bedroom eyes".

Everyones just so damn rife with suggestions. MM turns to Hughie, whose babysitting his beer rather attentively, as if to avoid the conversation.

"Anything you wanna add? Since everyone thinks their Dr-fucking-Phil".

Hughie sputters a bit. "Uhh, no. What they said"

"Now", Butcher gathers them all, rightly satisfied with making MM uncomfortable. "Look alive boys, our targets are here".

#mother’s milk #mother’s milk x reader #mother’s milk x fem!reader #reader insert #the boys fanfiction #the boys imagine #the boys amazon #the boys season 3 #mm x reader #marvin mother’s milk #joannasteez

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burning-brightly · 1 month

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Anywaaaay, the most important thing to address.

My brand new followers. Gotta remind Lils to do this in parts.

@drcgcnfly - I gueesss you're self-explanatory, Ava. lol. Geez. It's weird talking to Lils to talk at you online. Assuming this isn't just one huge ongoing prank on Lils's part.

@livlaughlovio - So you got introduced as "livio jackass saverem", and I thought it was gonna be awkward cause I thought you were someone Lils didn't like. But when I asked, she seemed confused and said it was actually your name. Sooo I guess I'm so very sorry. Is that Jackass with some sort of weird accent then? Like the name Dumass or something? Or is it that your parents just horribly failed in the naming department? Or is it just an in-joke which I actually suspect. Anyhoop, she says you take care of a lot of kids and run an orphanage, and sometimes some person R goes on the account to talk. She adds that you also like to use a weird symbol that resembles a hat - "a voiced volar impulsive????".

@theurgic-necromancer - Got introduced to me as Sayran, on a mysterious journey to do something underground that involve honest-to-god drow. When I asked what sort of magic you used, she just gave me a confused look. I thought it would've just been what it said on the tin.

Also told me that you lived in a monastery at one point - I'd imagine that'd be stifling with all the rules and crap.

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@creepy-crowleys - Waaaaait. I'm sure Lils mentioned you before. You hung out with her sister a while back with the whole Northern Docks scandal. I knew it as soon as I heard redhead and hung out with Lev, who is a superhero (well more antihero I guess, I don't think you count as a hero if you enjoy beating up people that much). I'm guessing you're a superhero back in your world or something, even if Lils's description doesn't quite seem that way.

Says you live on an island and that you solve supernatural problems for a living. You own a spider and bees and a cat, and you make good peppermint humbugs? Is that even a real thing? She says you like posting stuff of ancient relics and bugs.

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@hulizi - I see Lils write Nata this and Nata that every now and then. It's only now that I realize she's talking about you on this site that I'm still not quite convinced is real. She says you're a mom taking care of kids now, so congratulations - In the spirit of happiness and cooperation, I will make the fervent wish that both of them don't grow up to be like me lol.

She says you do the things that involve money. Which does not really help, cause everything involves money lol. She also says you taught her martial arts too and also sent her gifts like these erasers and colored pencils she likes to use and I suspect must be magical cause she's been using them the entire year. She also showed off a ring that made her hair multicolored which admittedly made me a little jealous lol. BUT YEAH, HELLO.

@unbrcakablc-heart - Welcome to the blog! You got introduced as Vash, guy on a very very long roadtrip with a band of other folk. She says your world is craptacular - okay so Lils is denying that she called your world craptacular and fine she didn't say it, I did. But giant wasteland of a world where there's only tiny pockets of civilization and even less water is definitely worthy of the adjective of craptacular.

She says you have sisters and have also been very helpful in her quest to help out her guardian. And that you try to be kind in an unkind world. Admittedly, I probably would just find some way to scam my opponents to ruin, but I guess I can appreciate people trying to be good. I imagine there's a lot of bullshit that happened in a wasteland world that probably erodes people's trust in each other. So being a relatively stand-up guy means something, probably.

@7wolfmoon - Got introduced as Lark and designated as one of Lils's Minecraft buddies lol. Also heard you like birds and wolves and woodcarving too; I like two of the three with the bigger the better. The third requires too much dexterity for my pitiful hands, but it's cool seeing the wood transform.

She also made an interesting remark about her other Minecraft buddy in regard to you - that you probably would like to fold him up and put him in a trash can, much like Lils's sister does to me whenever I say something she really doesn't like. Wait. Lils can we cut that? Goddamnit.

Also heard that you really really didn't like school at first? But I'm guessing you're okay with it now. That and you don't like worms on a string despite having a picture of a worm on a string? What the hell is a worm on a string?

#post #longpost //#drcgcnfly #livlaughlovio #7wolfmoon #unbrcakablc hcart #creepy crowleys #theurgic-necromancer #(( aeria has no ability to actually see how long her posts actually are lol ))#(( afsdjljasd not sure if Erna is out of commission for the time being DX. ))

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gemsofgreece · 2 years

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Hi! Do you know whereI could buy the fabric used for the belt in the traditional costumes for women? Is it "just" a piece of fabric like a thin scarf or is it more specific? I'm trying to create a traditional costume by myself but I wish to remain true to the original clothings

Hi! This is a really creative and beautiful thing to do!

You can buy traditional fabric belts in traditional Greek workshops (παραδοσιακό εργαστήρι). If you are located in Greece, you can find which one is close to you. If you live in a place with significant Greek diaspora, there will definitely be a workshop around. If not, I assume you must find someone who ships to another country.

If you want to improvise or create one on your own:

The belt depends on the region the costume comes from. Are you decided on which one you are making?

For example, if you are making the Amalia dress (typically the standard National), it takes no belt. I have seen some add one but the original costume does not have a belt. Costumes in many regions have a metal (usually gold plated silver) belt with jewels. This is something that must be ordered from a jewellery workshop, if you go for that level of accuracy. Many others have embroidered aprons. Each region has some standard patterns and colours and it varies between those few.

Not sure but I think women’s traditional clothes don’t have fabric belts very often. I believe there are two types of them though: the ζωνάρι (zonari) and the μαντήλι μέσης (waist scarf). It depends on which one you mean. Zonari is like a long narrow scarf with tussels, usually monochromatic or with discreet classic patterns. There are few colours used in them which sometimes also depend on the region of the costume. Some photos:

As long as you can find or make a similar enough scarf (long and thin enough to be wrapped around the body in a few layers) then it’s fine I believe.

The waist scarf is a scarf seemingly hanging loosely and decorating the skirt. For example, look at the dress of Kythira:

All those scarves were embroidered by the girls themselves and the most elaborate the pattern the more praised the girl was for her skill. I suppose this means it gives you some freedom but I believe it should be a pattern that agrees with Greek folk art and artistic style (flowers, vines, symbols of fertility like the pomegranate, birds, Christian Orthodox symbols etc). Another idea is to simply go for a monochromatic scarf without patterns or some very minimal geometric. For example, if you recreated the Kythirian dress above, you could use a solid gold waist scarf or a burgundy one (slightly different tone than the one used for the skirt and jacket). Or maybe add a thin wave pattern in the perimeter or something. This would be a safe choice.

The things I wouldn’t recommend are:

Adding a fabric belt to a costume that doesn’t actually take one

Going too far with the colours (stick with red, gold, blue, dark green or also yellow, off white and black if confirmed in the original inspiration)

Using a zonari instead of a waist scarf and vice versa

Also going too far with the patterns in a waist scarf. The patterns can be as elaborate as you like but the themes must be familiar to Greek folklore.

Other than that, I think it’s okay to buy or knit just any scarf that generally fits the criteria above.

Anyone else who has more insight, please comment

#greece #historical fashion #traditional clothing #folk clothing #anon #ask #Greek culture

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science-lings · 2 years

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Thundera Plateau and the Sages

First of all, the number of Sages has always been... inconsistent. Sometimes there are three, sometimes there are six, sometimes there are seven, or nine, so the fact that there are only four platforms that correspond to four sages shouldn’t be too crazy of an idea.

Also, the elements that the sages represent are just as inconsistent. In OoT, the sages have dominion over Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, Light, Spirit, and Time(?), but in Wind Waker they add the Sage of Earth and the Sage of Wind. Sometimes they’re just old ghosty guys like in TP where they have no concernable differences.

There’s only one confirmed sage (or I guess the reincarnation of a sage) in botw but we’ll talk about that later.

Let’s just start with the platform on the Zonai-made Plateau. (maybe the sages were a Zonai only thing? or at least very connected to them)

First we have one that is likely meant to represent the Sage of Shadow. Purple is generally the shadow-y color and is the color associated with Impa in OoT, who is the Sage of Shadow. Also the symbol is a big S.

This one seems most likely to be the symbol of the sage of Light. Not only does it look like a light, but it is also yellow. wow, crazy. Interestingly enough, an extremely similar symbol is placed on some big metal blocks found around hyrule, the unbreakable kind used for shrine and sheikah tower quests... how interesting. I don’t know what this means. Maybe the Sage of Light was a sheikah who helped with preparing for the future hero?

It’s not exactly the same but it’s extremely similar. Also the little birds seem to be a connection to the royal family? they like birds a lot.

The green symbol that looks like a leaf symbolizes the Sage of the Forest? fuckin bonkers. Also this is one of the theories I have for which Sage the Lord of the Mountain aka Satori was. I mean, similar to how the great deku tree has his leaf babies, Satori has a bunch of Blupee babies that gather around him. They only appear away from civilization in forests and are modeled after rabbits.

This one is the one that I got stumped on. It doesn’t resemble any previous symbols of sages especially with it’s color. Red is normally associated with fire, but the symbol doesn’t exactly look like fire. So one of my ideas is that it’s supposed to be for the Sage of Spirit, in WW the stained glass thing with Naboru is covered in red, while Darunia who is the Sage of Fire has mostly oranges and browns, Also the symbol for Spirit has a kind of swirly thing going on like this one. It would also complete the opposites also represented in the plateau. There’s Light and Shadow, and Forest (or a symbol of life) and Spirit (associated with death).

I personally think that there were other Sages, their power passed on through blood (or Lava? do Gorons have blood?) Which is where the Champions abilities originate. Revali could have the power of the Sage of Wind, Daruk with the Sage of Fire (or Earth?), Mipha with Water, and Urbosa... There isn’t really a sage associated with lightning. At least that we know of. There are several sages in games like FSA or ST where there are spirit maidens (practically sages) who are just represented with colors and it wouldn’t be crazy to think that one could be the sage of storms or thunder or something.

#this one is kinda rambly but you guys get the point #anyway this is the kind of stuff that im putting in my priestesses au #I think it's cool #botw #botw theory #loz #loz theory #legend of zelda #the legend of zelda #breath of the wild #loz breath of the wild

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