#and the reason it’s fallen in popularity here at least is because it’s simply not being translated
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The Alex Kister Situation
Alright; I've been more of a lurker on here for awhile, but for months now--almost a year--I've been a massive fan of the Mandela Catalogue, and this fandom has been a major form of escapism and safety for me. So, I feel the need to say something about the current situation.
To start, I'm putting a link to the document with all of the information about what happened, as it's important to read it and learn about this whole situation in depth:
With that out of the way, I just wanted to share my own personal opinion; personally, Mandela Catalogue has legitimately become my special interest. I have pretty much obsessed over it ever since I first found it, and everything I've written or drawn since then has been to do with it. It's been very important to me, especially due to the community here on tumblr, as this fandom is probably the most supportive and open places on the internet I've found. I feel a lot more connected because of it, and it made me feel comfortable and safe.
I was in a bad mental space today, and when I found out about this, I had a pretty bad breakdown--some might call it an overreaction, but you don't know just how dependent my mental health had become on this series and fandom. (I will be working on avoiding this habit in the future, as it isn't healthy to depend so heavily on one interest)
After reading through the document, and just seeing so many opinions and contributions from others, I am almost certain that these allegations are true. But I always, always listen to all perspectives before making judgement, so I will not be going full "I hate Alex, he's a despicable person!!" before Alex gives his own point of view.
That being said, I do believe Alex has serious issues that he needs to get handled. I am hesitant to call this pedophilia, as from what I've gathered, he didn't seem to have active malicious intent towards minors(correct me if I missed something that said otherwise)--rather, I get the impression that Alex simply doesn't understand boundaries, and genuinely saw his fans as mutuals. He seems to be a person who's manipulative--whether intentionally or not--and his personal relationships, platonic, romantic, or sexual, turn very toxic because of this. So, trying to have personal relationships with fans, people who look up to him and see him in a very different light, results in inevitable toxicity as well.
I get the sense that Alex simply is a young person, struggling with mental health and gender dysphoria, who was thrust into extreme popularity very suddenly, and doesn't have the maturity level to handle it properly. Overall, I do not support him, if he continues to act like this--if he makes genuine, real efforts to deal with his mental health and his unhealthy behaviours, I would respect him for that. I wouldn't look at him quite the same, but as long as someone makes genuine efforts to better themself after doing something wrong, I appreciate and respect that, and may eventually give forgiveness. But, if he doesn't make those efforts, if he continues his patterns and refuses to try and get better, then that is on him and at that point I have lost any and all respect for him. At that point, you are not a good or reasonable person, in my eyes.
Regardless of how things go with Alex himself, though, I want to say...
You do not have to support a creator to enjoy their work!!
I am a huge fan of Danny Phantom, and that show's creator is a genuine piece of shit. Like, a truly despicable human being. That fandom successfully has, just... completely ripped the show and characters from their creator. They have cut him out entirely, nothing he says holds any impact or meaning to them and it hasn't for years. He's seriously fallen off. And it's still a fun, active fandom! The people in there are super neat!!
And, hell, look at the whole mess with J. K. Rowling!! She is an absolutely disgusting person. But so many people grew up with Harry Potter, and still like her stories, without actively supporting her--lots of creators turn out to be really awful people, but that doesn't mean that what they made is automatically awful as well. They still have some kind of creative ability, that happened to produce something that garnered a significant amount of attention.
We don't need Alex to still enjoy the concept, characters, and overall story he's created. We can still make fanworks, still appreciate what it is that drew us to the series in the first place.
Honestly, out of everything that the fallout of this would bring, I was most terrified of the fandom itself dying, as that is what truly matters the most to me. This place, these people are so important to me, and I am so scared of this community falling apart. I've already seen plenty of people stating that they will no longer be associating with TMC, and are just completely distancing themselves from it. It feels like things are already dying and disappearing and it really, really fucking hurts.
I guess what I'm trying to say, is that... if that is your choice, if you truly do not want to associate with TMC anymore whatsoever, then I don't blame you for it. I understand if you can't look at the series the same way after this, and I respect that choice.
But you don't have to, if it still means anything to you. Fandoms are more than just their creators--they're the community that has been built around the work, and this community is possibly the best one I've ever been in. I don't want to see it die. So, just know, that you can still love this fandom, this story, these characters, without supporting Alex. You can still draw the characters, make OCs, write fanfiction, etc. He won't get money from that--only from directly watching his content or buying his merch.
Finally, I'd like to say to go support the victims. They didn't deserve this--no matter what Alex's intentions were. Please support them, and regardless of how this turns out, do not continue actively supporting Alex Kister. I am sure that, whatever his intentions were, he did still harm people and that is not okay.
Also, this is all just my own opinion, based on what I know; I was not in the discord, I don't have Twitter, I don't personally know anyone involved and I have not seen everything regarding the situation as a whole. I simply felt I should state my current opinion, as I'm seeing a lot of people freaking out and spiraling and just leaving the fandom entirely. I wanted to remind people that it's okay to still enjoy this fandom and be a part of it, without Alex. My opinion may change some with new information I find, but overall, I am of the opinion that Alex should not be supported, while the Mandela Catalogue itself can be separated from him and still be enjoyed and appreciated.
And, whatever happens... Adam Murray, Jonah Marshall and Thatcher Davis are officially honorary characters in my stash of little guys. If he's not fit to keep them then they will become my creative outlet instead (and others who love them, obviously). They're very special characters to me, I can't express just how many things I have written and drawn to do with them, and I refuse to give them up.
(another addition, regarding the apparent 'alter egos' Alex apparently had: Possibly consider DID? I know a lot of people with DID will often mistake it for other things, including simply being gender non-conforming, when in actuality they really have alters that just identify differently. Not diagnosing, I don't know enough about him to make any real claims--it was just a thought.)
#mandela catalogue#the mandela catalogue#tmc#tw grooming#tw pedophila mention#This is not meant to spark any sort of controversy.#I just wanted to get my opinion out there bc I feel like I'm gonna explode right now#Will still probably post my art of the characters as I'm proud of it and my art has improved significantly since discovering TMC
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Okay, quick rant-y thing I’ve wanted to get off my chest for a couple weeks now. If fans don’t want Izzy to get a redemption arc that’s a whole other (valid) conversation, but I’ve seen a number of posts framed around the idea that oh sure, it could theoretically happen, yeah I’m completely in support of it… but there just isn’t time, sorry. You can’t do an Izzy redemption arc when he’s a minor character and the focus is on Ed/Stede! Best just let that false hope sail. Now, I have no desire to put words in anyone’s mouth, but the vibe I’ve gotten from these posts as a whole is that fans are searching for an “objective” reason for why improvement can’t occur, rather than simply admitting to a preference, one that, based on tumblr’s community at least, may not be well received. Basically, instead of just saying that they don’t enjoy a popular character and aren’t rooting for a popular potential arc, fans are grabbing at supposedly factual reasons for why that simply can’t occur, thereby positioning themselves as reading the show “properly” and everyone else allowing fandom fantasies to impose on the canon. As is no surprise to anyone who has received anon hate lately, there’s a thread of moral judgement attached to liking the antagonist, but for a while now I’ve seen subtler criticisms couched in this, “Sorry, that’s just not how the story works” veneer.
Except it totally is? How the story works, I mean.
The fandom discourse surrounding Izzy is a whole other thing that’s absolutely worth unpacking, but here I just want to point out that even if these posts are 100% serious, no ulterior motives, fans honestly believe it’s just not possible to do an Izzy redemption arc without irrevocably taking away from more important aspects of OFMD… I don’t think they’re right about that. Because although I’ve been using “redemption arc” for lack of a better term, the reality is that OFMD doesn’t really do arcs of that nature, at least not in the first season. Rather, OFMD does what I’ve come to think of as Bathroom Logic.
We’ve all seen this post, right?
When it’s late, you’re drunk, you’ve encountered a stranger who you’ve suddenly Bonded™ with… yeah, the bathroom feels like a save point. For a brief moment the most complicated shit in your life feels easy; you can solve anything by just taking a breath, saving your progress, and getting on with it. That’s the vibe so much of OFMD has for me, including a scene taking place in an actual bathroom:
Ed: I’m a horrible person with no friends who was just about to kill you :(
Stede: That’s okay! You can just not kill me in the future :)
Ed: Really?
Stede: Really!
Ed: Huh. That was easy
I don’t mean to trivialize Ed’s story because, as one of the characters who has fallen back into his bad behavior, season two is definitely going to explore that further, theoretically giving him more of a traditional arc than what OFMD usually goes for. But that “usually” is the point here. These characters, generally speaking, don’t go through drawn out, nuanced examinations of their flaws, cycling through what we normally think of as redemption arcs: the realization, the angst, making amends, apologizing for their actions, suffering through others’ distrust, taking heroic action, etc. They just function under Bathroom Logic where someone points out with the confidence of a drunk girl at 3:00am, “It’s easy, you can just not do that anymore!” and then they don’t. The only real marker for OFMD “redemption” is ceasing the previous behavior. Once that’s done everyone is happy to welcome the character back into the fold. Ed just has to stop trying to murder Stede during the fuckery. Mary just has to stop trying to murder Stede while he sleeps. Stede just has to stop lying to Mary about what he really wants. I think most fans realize that a “redemption arc” for OFMD does not look like what we’d expect from other media, most notably because I’ve seen little to no expectation for Ed to go through one in regards to Lucius. We all joke about how Lucius will be found alive in the walls, maybe Ed will awkwardly apologize, maybe there will be a joke about Lucius being a little wary of him… but based on the logic of season one, they should get over that murder attempt real damn quick. Do we honestly think Ed is going to have a season long redemption where he overcomes the sin of attempting to kill a beloved character? No, that would change the entire tone of OFMD. Lucius will get over it just like how he got over Jim trying to kill him and locking him in a trunk for an undetermined period of time. One “We want our bodies to be… smaller” scene between Lucius and Ed is all it will take for them to be back in each other’s good graces.
So why would we expect any differently for Izzy?
For me, saying there’s no time for an Izzy redemption arc because we’ve got a main pairing to develop is like saying there’s no time for a Mary redemption arc for the same reason. How did the show cover that when there’s so much else going on? By having her admit to the behavior and Stede forgiving her. That’s it! We’re moving on. Despite being an antagonist, I would fully expect Izzy’s hypothetical redemption to function in a similar way. Maybe he tracks Stede down and bitches about how between him and the Kraken he’s the lesser evil, so just come back already. Maybe shenanigans force them to work together for half an episode and then oh look, they’re kinda friends. Maybe Stede just comes back onto The Revenge and Izzy is relegated to the annoying, but otherwise harmless addition to the crew. There are a hundred possibilities, all of them perfectly capable of happening lightning fast if Jenkins wants because that’s just how OFMD operates. We already saw the seeds for this kind of hand-wavy forgiveness at the end of the season. The crew was ready to kill Izzy. Izzy was ready to be a shit captain to them. How is this resolved? Ed shows up and asks for tea. Boom, conflict forgotten. We’re back to the crew swabbing the deck on Izzy’s orders and him being a little shit as he spits out his drink—Wee John’s discomfort with Izzy and Izzy’s drowning nightmares are shunted off to the realm of fanfiction. OFMD isn’t actually episodic television, but there’s a bit of that vibe where the characters reset to their default dynamics whenever it’s convenient.
If anything, I think fandom tendencies have warped ideas about the type of redemption arc we should expect, rather than the likelihood of getting one at all. Meaning, as mentioned above, fic loves to explore the angsty, hurt/comfort threads embedded within the comedy, stripping the humor away to instead give us that nuanced storytelling spanning novel-length works. Fans might get used to reading 50k stories about how Izzy is forced to painstakingly work through his ship-load of problems and subconsciously come to expect that level of introspection from the canon… when in fact OFMD just isn’t that kind of show. We theorize about the angst potential of Stede turning the “never left” line on Ed and him rejecting the quip with a realistic deconstruction of the harm Stede has done to him, but the reality is this show has treated such quips seriously. Ed is able to leave with Calico Jack, change his mind, come back, and make light of that emotional distress by joking about how it never really happened. It’s over. It’s done. We’re moving onto the romance now! There’s no reason the same logic can’t apply to Izzy. Give him a single line about grudgingly wanting to stick around, trying to apologize, whatever, and we’re good to go. We’re moving onto the friendship/found family now! I mean, obviously I don’t know whether Izzy will get any kind of redemption—the popularity of his character and Con aside, you just never know what Jenkins might decide on—but then none of us can say with any certainty what season two will bring. What I can say with certainty though is that structurally, from a genre perspective, it is 100% possible to get that “arc” without undermining anything else. There’s not a single technical limitation hindering a redemption, least of all time, because OFMD is a show that has embraced characters forgiving one another at rocket speeds.
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Someone on the subreddit made a possible fallen alts post and it legitimately has me question the entire fandom like - a majority of the choices are just "characters who sided against the main characters at some point", like the Birthright characters on Conquest and Conquest characters on Birthright. Like in what way does simply siding against the mc make a character "fallen" or "evil"?? Rhea on CF is also listed even though we have Fallen Rhea from SS!
I saw that one! Just speaking to the games I know I think a lot of them make sense, even if the justifications are just blatantly wrong. The 3H slide is probably the most "I was reaching" one to my eyes. The emblem versions of all the lords are also a biiiiiiit of a stretch until we see actual emblem alts of the characters, IMO.
For Houses/Hopes CF Rhea and AG Edelgard seem like a bit of a stretch just because they'd basically just be the same as their SS Rhea/AM Edelgard counterparts... like I don't see why they'd bother reusing them unless they were really hurting for options (and clearly they aren't, Fates alone could fill like six fallen banners by itself if they wanted).
Fallen!Byleth (not emblem) also seems like a stretch since they're apparently referencing exactly one thirty second cutscene where Sothis is temporarily in control of Byleth's body. Monica seems redundant since her "fallen" form is just Kronya and they've already done Kronya, and Jeritza as a fallen is like... that's just how he is all the time lol, unless there's something in SB that I'm missing. I've already bitched enough about how fallen Marianne is deeply ingrained fanon/headcanon with extremely minimal basis in actual canon.
From the 3H slide I think only Aelfric, Dedue, Miklan, and the Shezes really make sense as options. The former three all have clear human forms that they lose and turn into monsters, and Shez's Arval takeover only lasts for a chapter but I could reasonably see a "what if" scenario kind of like they did with the Corrins not getting their dragonstones.
The Fates slide is kind of "right church, wrong pew" in that most of the characters make sense, but as Heirs of Fate alternatives not BR/CQ alternatives. Every father character features in Heirs of Fate as an Anankos puppet so any of them could technically work for the theme. Similar deal with Mikoto, Arete, and Sumeragi, they all appear as Anankos puppets in Rev.
Gunter would also work, though he's almost definitely not going to be getting any sort of alt because of real world concerns (his JP VA died before FEH even released. All of his JP lines for his base form are recycled from Fates and because of the way Japan does voice acting, we can assume the character is retired from here on out unless they're willing to recycle more lines from Fates). Anakos would also be an obvious pick but IIRC he shared a VA with Gunther (at least partially, he might have had two different VAs one for the human and one for the dragon form or something so the circumstances might be slightly different for him). But I don't blame OP for not necessarily knowing that and they do fit the theme.
I'm not sure what they're referencing with Flora and Rhajat (it's been a hot minute since I replayed Fates) so I hesitate to say they wouldn't work, but idk. I think the only stretch there is Anthony just because no one is gonna pull for a random NPC child and IIRC he's just always like that, he never really "fell".
The Engage slide mostly makes sense actually. The only questionable one is the character who is brainwashed for like one chapter and then is literally fine, but I'm sure if they wind up being popular IS would be willing to do another "what if" type thing for them.
I think for Awakening the OP only pulled out Risen King!Chrom which... honestly I can definitely see. IS considers Cipher ideas fair game for these banners (e.g. F!Ike) and Chrom being a fairly popular main character is definitely going to be considered for a banner carry slot.
I definitely played SoV but only once in 2015 because I didn't like it that much and I literally don't remember enough of it to say if any of those options are bad picks lmao.
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Okay here’s why I like Faouzia and why I think in terms of songwriting she’s fallen off a bit because it’s on my mind.
Faouzia is an AMAZING vocalist. She has a deep and rich voice like raw chocolate. She enunciates her words very well even while singing which is incredibly impressive (if you try real singing you’ll notice). The way she hits notes and her kind of riffs are so clear and pronounced I’m sure one could pick them apart by ear. She’s just amazing at her craft and her songs tend to reflect that by using deep notes and powerful riffs. Or at least they used to.
Unfortunately as Faouzia has gained popularity and evolved with the culture I’ve noticed that her most recent songs aren’t always as good as the old ones. The style of music is very different, her style is very different and her key quality is kind of dampened because of the music style. We focus on a poppy, techno kind of style in instrumental now that isn’t as good as using actual instruments or at least mimicking actual instruments to some degree. I think this shift alters how good her music is because Faouzia is also a musician. These songs don’t seem to be written with the perspective of a musician in mind.
Of course artists go through phases and their art reflects that. I just don’t connect with her recent art like I did her old art. The reason her art has changed isnt really my business. This is simply my perspective and opinion on the matter and honestly if she’s happy? That is all that matters
#this is me slowly realizing that all those random discord rants go here#opinion#this isn’t actually important#faouzia#music#just an observation#singing#old vs new
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Fixing FFXIV : Lifestyle Content
FFXIV is committing to adding more lifestyle content alongside battle content, which I fully support. Endwalker's additions have unfortunately fallen flat. There has only been Island Sanctuary and regular, routine updates to old systems like glamour and housing. I am not including ocean fishing because, despite what at least Crystal ocean fishers think, it forces interdependence and requires knowledge and skills.
Lifestyle content thrives on being social and incredibly low-stakes. The Fêtes from the Ishgard Restoration are fantastic lifestyle content. Bards playing music in Limsa is probably the best lifestyle content that we have in the game right now. It directly influences other peoples' enjoyment of the game, positive or negative. You have an effect on the world whose only consequences are social. In contrast, Island Sanctuary is isolating and only serves as a treadmill for mount reskins. The only effect you can throw out into the world is on yourself, and even then it does not really matter.
So here's some brainstorming I've done to try and help fix FFXIV's current state.
Neighbourhood events
Hot take, but ffxiv's housing system is really boring. I own a medium house, a small house, and an apartment. While the systems and assets for decorating are actually sufficient, it has major problems.
There is no reason to ever visit someone else's house. When you're new at the game, you might invite people over, they might invite you over. You offer or receive faint praise, and then "now what?".
The free-play aspect of it is horrible too. I have visited many venues with my friend, looking for something to fill the time together. Casinos where you say "hit me" every ten minutes (and they get upset if you do anything but), afk dancing arenas where some asshat plugs their boring twitch channel, and restaurants actively hostile to storytelling, where all you can do is order from the menu and leave.
As a result of the previous two, the housing zones themselves are dead and empty. When is the last time you actually met and talked to one of your neighbours? It's an mmo, it's lifestyle content, in theory we are all here to socialise, right?
Neighbourhood events would be map-wide events on a rotating schedule, allowing for different schedules and time zones, similar to fêtes. You would only be allowed to earn rewards in zones where you either own a house or apartment OR your FC does. This would give people a reason to meet their neighbours and appreciate their creativity. Here are a few ideas of how this could work.
Fêtes 2 : Electric Boogaloo : The less interesting idea is to simply copy the formula of fêtes, add lootboxes with cool stuff, achievements for repeated participation, etc. The major drawback behind this is that it only relates to housing via geography, not substance.
Decoration Contests : Give players a reason to redecorate and refresh regularly. Set a weekly or monthly theme that players have to achieve. This can be scored one of two ways. The first is a copy of the Gold Saucer's Fashion Report, automatic scoring based on items placed. This has two main drawbacks : it does not encourage socialising and players will simply optimise the fun out of it like we did with Fashion Report. The second is participant voting. Require participants to register, have a voting day where every participant visits or is led around by the other participants, and every participant votes on every house. This also has some major flaws. It quickly becomes a popularity contest or in-group reinforcement, and any event leading people around needs to be scheduled, which as we all know won't work for everyone. I think that decoration contests are the most interesting path to take, but I cannot think of a way to handle it well.
Trick-or-Treating Events : Not necessarily tied to Halloween, encourage players to go around and meet their neighbours. Give every homeowner a given amount of Currency A that must be distributed to other players in the in the trick-or-treat window or it is lost. Attach it to the guestbook, who cares. Currency B, which you earn after someone distributes Currency A, can be saved and spent on cool stuff and achievements. Distribution can occur one of two ways. Either players visit each home to earn Currency B (which to meaningfully work would require that player to be home), or players distribute Currency A by visiting other players homes whether they are there or not. Put a cap on Currency A distributed from one player to any other one player to prevent 'win trading'.
XYZ Restoration : Probably Garlemald
Low-hanging fruit, they have already done two of these well (Idyllshire, Ishgard), and there was no reason to not have one in Endwalker.
Make the gathering zone the same as the next Eureka-style content, double the content for barely any more resources. Both Eureka and Diadem 3.0 are still abuzz with shout chat at all hours. The Firmament less so, but it certainly was in its heyday.
Shit, we don't even need a separate gathering zone if that's too much work, just put nodes all around Garlemald. They already stuffed an entire imperial continent into one explorable area devoid of anything, they may as well give us something to do in it. Keep the leaderboard system, keep the Skyward Scores, keep the moogle lottery. Why isn't this a thing? No one needs gil in this game, crafting and gathering serves no purpose.
Holiday Events
In my opinion, the holiday events need to be reworked from the ground up. We have been doing the same thing four times a year for the last decade. Cutscene story of mixed quality, maybe a level 1 FATE you have to do once, maybe a level 1 special puzzle instance, get your free glamour and forget this happened.
The problem with this in my opinions is the same as the problem with the battle content in XIV : it is disposable. Ignoring the cutscenes for a moment, some of which are fantastic and memorable, how much event content do you actually have firm memories of? A story to share? I can think of exactly one instance : the first year when they added the jumping puzzle for the Moonfire Faire. It was new, it was fresh, myself and others spent hours climbing it, trying to cheat to the real top, etc. It was a memorable experience because I met people with a common goal, a common struggle that we all endured through for no reward at all, for just a stupid amount of time.
This is a larger topic that I want to talk about later, but the XIV dev team is so afraid of providing the players with pain points. They might push some people away, but are so integral to meaningful interactions. This can be challenging execution, a fight against the RNG, a grind way longer than it has any right to be, competition for the "Come At Me Bro"s in Bozja. Here are some suggestions for holiday events that work to funnel players together either by adding or relieving existing pain points that should be worse than they are.
Disgusting grind : After you complete the event, have an extra reward locked behind a stupid grind. The reward doesn't even have to be cool, it just has to be exclusive (even from the cash shop) and visible. In-group and out-group dynamics will push players to get it. Maybe every mob you kill in your level range has a 0.0000000000001% chance of dropping, maybe completing any FATE gives one of five thousand tickets you can use to buy one, maybe you're given a battlepass that you can trade in for it, maybe in the story a fish ate it, and every big fish you catch has a tiny chance of having it--there are a lot of fish in the sea. Something. Something achievable in the event window if you want it, but only if you are lucky or dedicated.
Content-specific holidays : If you remember from the character creation menu, each of the twelve represent a month on the Eorzean calendar (and ever so coincidentally our calendar). Add an event every month that encourages players to do certain content--the Make It Rain events are a decent example of this. In Nald-Thal's month, crafters get 10% extra exp, levequests give 10% extra gil, and if you do 1,000 crafting levequests you get a super special ring or something. In Thaliak's month, fishing gives bonus exp, there are bonus fish in Ocean Fishing, additional rng on big fish, something. Incentivise us to play regularly. This can also give hyper-casual players a chance to dip their toes into medium difficulty content. Halone could give a real tangible reward (not tomestones) for bringing players without a clear into extreme / savage content.
Other Ideas
Stuff that I think would be good, but I don't really have a way to execute well.
Incentivizing actual RP via a system where session leaders distribute currency to active participants
A tool to create choreography that can be executed on dancers, similar to the bard music system
Art, music, and/or screenshot contests that display in-game per world, with achievements or prizes or something both for winning and participation
Content that must be executed as a Free Company, similar to Diadem 1.0--could be battle content or not--the main thing is to incentivise a close group of friends in an FC, rather than solo FCs or massive ones.
A commissioning board whereby an FC can reward exclusive or even untradeable goods in exchange for tasks (help XYZ through content, gather 1000 oppo-oppo ballsacks)
Devs will never read this, it's in English and also on tumblr, but it's cathartic to get my thoughts out. I'd love to hear other ideas, too.
#ffxiv#final fantasy#final fantasy 14#final fantasy xiv#ff14#brainstorming#lifestyle content#endwalker
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The Rise of the Value Investor
What this means is that since the crash of 2008 and more so in the West, we have been living with low interest rates and in some cases with 0 per cent. Thus, excess capital has had very few safe and decently yielding places to call a home, especially if the owner was looking to make it work. Saving accounts and high-quality fixed income instruments have been typically low yielding and this has steered investors towards other riskier asset classes. Some might say that certain sectors have generally become frothier over this period as they attracted this capital. These sectors might include momentum stocks, growth stocks, pre-IPO deals and the like. A lot of these themes rely on a narrative and the requirement for a number of assumptions to play out, making these types of companies difficult to value and riskier. But these narratives can be convincing, exciting, and popular – for instance tech and fast-growing stocks that will “disrupt” and “change the world”. For the most part, many of these great companies are also generally available at premium prices with the hope that their story will unfold and value will be created. They may even be loss-making.
With value investing, the company’s intrinsic value generally exists, but the market doesn’t recognise it. As long as there is no value trap or miscalculation in its fundamental value, the play is that the market will eventually acknowledge its true value. Value stocks are generally associated with more traditional industries, cash generative or tangible industries, which sadly do not have as exciting stories as their prettier cousins.
However, the relatively smooth economic paradigm that we have been living in has been horribly impacted by a number of events that have knocked both demand and supply– the pandemic, conflict, supply-chain issues, the Fed and by “Dirtiest of all dirty words” – inflation. The last of these is putting pressure on central bankers to increase interest rates.
So why may rising rates lead to the rise in value investing? Here are some thoughts, but as always, I reserve the right to be wrong.
This is because, as rates rise, investors will need to price risk a bit more and they will have alternative, less riskier assets to place their money. It wasn’t that long ago that a savings account in the West used to give 5 per cent interest. Growth stocks also have a longer horizon and a number of assumptions when and whether they will in some cases even become profitable. Thus, with higher rates, they will be more heavily discounted as rates increase.
PE inflation can be evidenced with Apple, a great company with great products. However, if you simply look at the PE ratio, it has received a re-rating. In 2016, it was trading at 10.35x and at the end of 2020, it was 35x. That means even though its performance and earnings have grown, its valuation has increased considerably based on the perception of valuation. Currently, the PE has fallen to 24.5x, but what is to stop it falling further? Why not 20x, why not 15x, where it was as recently as 2019? What about loss-making companies like Zomato, which is valued at 11.8x sales. Why not 10x, why not 5x sales? Where does the buck stop and the penny drop?
Why wouldn’t a value play suffer the same fate? After all, the same investor may take out money from all types of stocks and interest rates impact most companies. The reason that value stocks are less likely to suffer the same fate as their frothier cousins is that their value is more tangible/visible and already exists in many cases. It is supported by an actual cash yield and also their PE ratios can be in the single digits (i.e. relatively cheap). If they were to fall further, the company might be effectively paying you in just a few years to buy their stock. Thus, there is a limit to how low its perception can go and given that the intrinsic value is already higher than the market, the share price may still rise, at least in theory
Views expressed by: Ricky Kirpalani, Lead Sponsor, First Water Capital Fund
To know more information visit to:
https://www.firstwatercap.com/
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My Current Understanding of the Contemporary Philippine Arts 2
(part 1 can be found here: https://thepathofneo-blog.tumblr.com/post/677795175540621312/my-current-understanding-of-the-contemporary)
Chapter 4: Top 3 Artworks by Juan Luna
Una Chula II, 1885
- An artwork created by Juan Luna back in 1885. Based on observation as well as the source, a lower class Madrileña (woman from Madrid) is being portrayed with arms resting on a chair as she sits squarely. As said in the post, it shows that she’s in a pose expressing “almost mannishly exuding sexual confidence and worldliness, holding a lit cigarette between two fingers in a flirtatious way. The burning tip of the cigarette acts as an enhancement to the female’s ‘painted lips’ that supports a ‘slight smile’”. Honestly I do not have much to say other than what has already been stated, but what I can say is that it is quite alluring and impressive to look at, the woman has this tomboy-esque expression that is quite, well flirtatious, not to mention I was kind of surprised that there were tomboys in this time, but if it exists now, it is possible to have existed then, just not as popular probably, either way this was quite an interesting artwork for me which is why this is one of the three artworks I chose to present here
The Partisan Life, 1892
- Also known as Interior d'un Café, or Inside a Café, it is an 1892 oil on canvas painting portraying a café in Paris. It according, again, to the source, portrays a scene with a woman identified as a courtesan or a prostitute representing "fallen womanhood", that was about to rise from a sofa with three men on her right, viewer’s left, side of the portrait. But aside from the source’s observation, I think this also showed how people have or used to have a habit of sexualizing women and seeing it as an insult or form of negativity; seeing it as a form of negativity, just like the source said, even though the people judging don’t even know the full story or well the person they are judging, basically judging a book by the cover rather than the content or the reasoning behind it. For one, sexualizing women (without their consent, to be specific) is wrong in of itself, another to be considering a person “fallen” because of a career choice, one, she or the person portrayed may be doing this unwillingly, or because of her or someone else’s needs, or simply because she wants to, in short, it’s her choice, her life, so instead of judging, people should accept it and if not, move past it instead of hurting that person’s feelings or insulting them. This was just my observation and my opinion, otherwise the painting is quite detailed and well done, it perfectly captures how a café would look like personally, and the artist does a good job at what he wants to portray.
Ensueños de Amor, 1890
- Also called, Daydreams of Love. It is another popular painting, this time of Juan Luna’s wife while sound asleep. I could honestly think of various depictions or understandings of this particular artwork, different types of love, love as admiration, romantic, familial, etc. It could be seen as a yearning or appreciation of whichever love the woman in the painting is feeling. Which I believe is why it’s worthy of being called Daydreams of Love, because just by how joyful or how expressive it seems, it can easily or at least be deducted as such.
Chapter 5: Some of my personal artworks
(it is really not my specialty hahaha)
- My work here indicates a student from past (pre-COVID) to present. A symbol of who I used to be and who I am now. Back then I only used my gadgets (i.e. laptop, cellphone) mainly for games, but now I use them for most of my academic and personal needs. It goes to show how important these gadgets are and how dependent people are when it comes to it. But other than that I’d like to think it shows my and other peoples’ growth as time went by. In the beginning we only focused on fun and games, but now we try to focus on what really matters, whether that be work, talent, skill or something else. It, to me, is a message to appreciate what has happened in the past because it helped lead to the good things you have now, and to also appreciate the choices in the present and hope it leads to a bright future. To learn from the good and the bad of each timeline to improve as time goes on, in short, that, is what this meant when I made these drawings/paintings, and hopefully I can do the same for others
Chapter 6: What kind of Contemporary Art Technique/s I would utilize in making artworks
Considering that I had the time and was or would be good at art, I would probably prefer to do a bit of all three. By doing all three I mean, get objects and materials others would consider useless and reuse, or recycle them, create huge but simplistic shapes and edges, using only what is essential in order to express diverse perspectives in the artwork, in order to form the best work I can muster within a given timeframe and the materials available to me at that moment.
But if I were to only choose one, then it would have to be Found Objects Art. Because being able to make something unique and special out of something considered to be nothing, is how one may see life and ambition, while you would consider it special, others may not, but if you keep at it, and succeed, that means that you have done and created something extraordinary, and that is what matters in the long run. Not to mention that while it may not be as simple as minimalism, all the materials needed are pretty much easily accessible and all you would need is intuition and an idea/s on what and how to create the artwork.
In summary, I would use the Art of Found Objects, while Minimalism may be easy to do, and Large scale is, well, huge, Found Objects means I can create something special, and unique, that can have various meanings and expressions to myself and those who may see said artworks themselves, To me this is why it is the type of art I would use, and why I prefer it in comparison to the others.
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Something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is how similar Nancy and Ace are.
So many popular ships are based on some aspect of being opposite each other (the head and the heart, for instance) and while Nancy and Ace still have plenty of differences, I think what makes their relationship so special is the similarities they share and how they love each other through them.
Nancy and Ace struggle with a number of similar insecurities related to their social relationships. They are both very concerned about their tendencies to hurt the people they care about, even if it’s accidental, and they both have had relationships end because partners leave them behind.
Laura decided to leave Horseshoe Bay behind, leave Ace behind, and though she asked him to come to Paris, I think it was always understood that he never would. The end of his relationship with Amanda was more nuanced than just her leaving, but she did leave him to go to Spain (again, inviting him, but we know that Ace feels tied to HB). The other interesting part of the end of his relationship with Amanda was her comment about him not always being the good guy - despite the fact that ultimately, he did do the right thing by turning in Mr. Bobbsey. He had to make a choice that she couldn’t be okay with (understandably so, in a lot of ways, because it was her father after all).
Nancy has also had her share of relationships end for similar reasons. Her relationship with Nick ended because she wasn’t ready to be open with him, to communicate with him, to be the type of person he thought he wanted a relationship with (I say thought here because there are a lot of similarities between the relationship he had with Nancy and the relationship he now has with George). Owen died tragically, just as they were beginning to get serious. And Gil was a relationship that we know was partially fed by the wraith’s control over Nancy, but it also gave us a look inside Nancy’s mind - it showed us a little bit of what Nancy thinks she might deserve in a partner.
My point with these comparisons is that through all of these relationships, Nancy and Ace have been constants for each other. Even at the very beginning, when Laura left, Ace chose to stay because he felt he had a purpose in Horseshoe Bay, and we later find out that he considers Nancy to be the one who has given him at least some of that purpose.
What’s so interesting to me about their relationship and how they’ve fallen for each other, is that they have fallen for someone who has many of the same tendencies and insecurities, but they love them anyways. They have effectively proven those insecurities wrong, simply by choosing each other.
I’m so excited to see their relationship progress because I think there will eventually be a moment where it clicks that they have chosen each other, consistently and without fail, and I think it will allow for both of them to realize that they can move beyond those fears.
Ace thinks that Nancy makes him want to better, but I think they both make each other better.
These thoughts brought to you by a two hour phone call with Bhargavi (@parkersedith) where we talked nonsensically about Nancy and Ace for the entirety of the call.
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A Rant About Ikesen’s Treatment of Motonari
I’ve been away from tumblr for a while but I had to come back for this.
So something I’ve noticed throughout playing Ikesen is the way that the game is very biased agains Motonari and I think it needs to be addressed because he is the only brown character and his portrayal is full of harmful stereotypes against brown men. I love this game but I haven't seen a single person acknowledge how badly Motonari is treated by the creators and the fandom as a result of that.
Also any racist comments will be blocked.
Possible route spoilers under the cut…
So lets start with the obvious, he is the only dark skinned character in Ikesen and when I first started playing I was so happy about that because finally (regardless of his ethnicity which honestly in this portrayal of him can be up for debate, I HC him as south East Asian) we are getting some representation. Throughout the game though I started noticing a lot of harmful stereotypes being thrown onto him that none of the other characters face.
Both him and Nobunaga are relatively misogynistic, I’m not denying that at all. However the way it is portrayed in their routes is very different. Nobunaga should in fact have sexual harassment charges, yet its romanticized repeatedly throughout his route. Motonari on the other hand treated MC as a possession the same way Nobunaga did, however he is shown as aggressive and scary as opposed to Nobunaga being shown as sexy and romantic.
There is also a difference in their respective CG’s
Motonari’s CG is shown much more threatening and aggressive than Nobunaga’s
That brings me to my next point. Every other antagonist so far is shown to have a gentle and redeemable side. Kenshin threatened to wage war on the whole country while keeping MC locked in a cell yet he is still shown to be gentle and romantic. Kennyo repeatedly kidnaps and threatens MC’s life in other routes yet he is shown as a gentle monk who just wants revenge for his fallen brethren. Why doesn't Motonari get that level of consideration and empathy? Why is he, the only brown man, shown as an aggressive two-dimensional brute in every single route that isn’t his own? And this is a harmful stereotype that shows itself in all kinds of media. Brown men are depicted as predatory and aggressive both in fiction and real life.
This leads me to his ethnicity (I’m only talking about Ikesen’s portrayal of Motonari, I am well aware he was a Japanese warlord irl). In his route there is a part where he is talking about slavery and colonialism. As a South Asian woman I completely understand his perspective and its what got me thinking about this subject in the first place.
This subject is clearly personal to him. These lines, the way he looks as opposed to the other characters, and the fact that he speaks Spanish (around this time period the Philippines were being colonized by Spain), leads me to head cannon him as South East Asian, specifically Filipino. However, historically, Motonari comes from a region of Southern Japan, which is known as Hiroshima today. Cybird meant to market him as Okinawan. A large part of the reason Motonari is being treated this way by Cybird stems from the fact that people from Okinawa face racism from mainland Japan. Considering the fact that this game was made in Japan, and knowing what we know about their history of colonization, racism, and east asian beauty standards revolving around colorism, I am honestly not surprised that Motonari is being portrayed like this.
Until now they just showed his reason for fighting the Oda to be “oh I just want to watch the world burn for no reason”. But no that’s not the reason. These lines. That’s the reason. A lot of the context behind those lines comes from the fact that comes from because people from mainland Japan treated Okinawan people as slaves. He doesn’t want to see another colonizer come into power. Sure he’s a bit of an extremist but historically people who have this ideology have always been portrayed as savage and barbaric and “against the betterment of society” (think Jet from atla or even Malcom x). It’s no different in ikesen. The devs are clearly villainizing this ideology. Let’s not forget the fact that irl Hideyoshi invaded Korea. And the fact that anime and otome games are part of Japan’s way of erasing their war crimes and rebranding themselves to the rest of the world. It’s blatantly obvious here with the way they’re villainizing Motonari for having a perfectly valid reason to fight the Oda. If Japan stays divided they can’t invade and colonize other countries like the Philippines can they? Anti-colonialism = bad.
Lastly I want to talk about how they downplayed his abilities as a leader and a warlord in his own right. In all the other routes he is depicted as less educated and frankly “dumb”, and it shows itself in his speech patterns too. Compared to Nobunaga and Mitsuhide, Motonari’s speech is stereotypically “less educated” and “lower class”. Yet he is just as much of a leader as any of the other warlords. However instead of acknowledging that, the game chooses to focus on his crimes and behavior as a pirate, instead of his role as the head of the Mouri clan.
At one point Kicho even compares his intelligence to a fifth grader which just rubs me the wrong way because lets take a moment to actually look at Motonari’s abilities. He is multilingual, has knowledge of global politics and economics, is an amazing businessman, and extremely analytical. He is literally known as the God of Decit, yet I did not hear that name once until his route came out. His strategies are good enough to be called a god, yet that is completely buried in the other routes in order to simplify his character into a trigger happy psychopath and a violent brute. He is just as smart as Nobunaga yet he is not given the credit he deserves.
Both Motonari and Nobunaga are extremely similar yet because of the horribly biased portrayals, Motonari is one of the least popular characters whereas Nobunaga is the second most popular. It makes me angry to see people in the fandom choosing to blindly hate Motonari without recognizing the fact that this stems from a frankly racist portrayal of an extremely intelligent and powerful character. Although truthfully, I blame the devs because if they had given his character even half the consideration and depth the others got, this would not be the case.
You can disagree with me if you want. I am simply bringing attention to something I haven’t seen being addressed.
I hope in future routes, events, and sequels he is treated better by the devs and and the fandom. Please stop projecting racist stereotypes onto brown men.
#Ikesen#Ikemen sengoku#ikesen motonari#ikemen sengoku motonari#motonari mouri#ikesen nobunga#ikesen mitsuhide#ikesen kenshin#ikesen kennyo#ikesen masamune#ikesen Shingen#ikesen kicho#ikesen keiji#ikesen ieyasu#ikesen mitsunari#ikesen MOTONARI x reader#ikesen yukimura#ikesen sasuke#ikesen mc#ikesen x reader#motonari x reader#otome boys#cybird#ikesen kanetsugu#ikesen yoshimoto#ikesen ranmaru#ikesen kyubei#ikemen sengoku nobunaga#ikesen hideyoshi#motonari's route
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Are there any ways that a religion is meaningfully different from a cult?
Over the years, there have been a number of pundits who've suggested distinctions between cults and religions. These have included:
the amount of real estate they own
the number of followers
the amount of political influence they have
religions are large, popular cults, cults are small, unpopular religions
cults are headed by someone who knows it's a scam; in a religion that person is dead
I think there is a distinction, and I think Steven Hassan's BITE Model of Authoritarian Control is a good way of making this distinction. BITE stands for Behavior, Information, Thought and Emotional Control.
I've posted about this before, but I'll link to the official site as well as my tag.
https://freedomofmind.com/cult-mind-control/bite-model/
https://religion-is-a-mental-illness.tumblr.com/tagged/Steven%20Hassan
https://religion-is-a-mental-illness.tumblr.com/tagged/religion%20vs%20cult
If you look at the methods involved, religions match several of these types of control. but generally don't match all or even most.
Xians, for example, still live in the world and aren't banned from reading non-Xian books, watching non-Xian movies, etc. Mainstream Xians are not (generally) banned from seeing non-Xian doctors or therapists, or using non-Xian medications. Of course, this is not true for all Xian denominations, since many score higher, or even much higher, than others - Jehovah's Witnesses, for example.
On the other hand, Scientology matches super-highly on the BITE Model. I think you could tick just about everything.
I suppose it really comes down to a question of gradation. How many things does it have to match on before you call it a cult? All religions exhibit some of these, and it may be argued that where a religion turns into a cult is a bit indistinct, as it's more of a continuum than a hard category.
The question is whether its effects, intentions and goals are healthy or unhealthy.
From: https://freedomofmind.com/cult-mind-control/influence-continuum/
But I think the distinction, in principle at least, needs to be there if only because cults do not necessarily have to be based on explicitly supernatural or divine claims.
If you look at Alcoholics Anonymous, for example, it matches very highly on the BITE Model. One is supposed to identify oneself as an alcoholic as part of one's identity, there are internal mechanisms for policing each other, people who leave are "fallen," you never "graduate" - that is, you never get to a point where you've mastered the skills to go out on your own and live your life, it's a lifelong commitment.
Wokeness also scores very highly here. Cancel culture, "doing the work," "a lifelong commitment," "no one is ever done," trigger warnings, microaggressions, assumed guilt, redefining words, monitoring, shunning, etc, it's highly and creepily authoritarian.
Which is to say that cults are not necessarily a subset of what we would recognize as a traditional religion. They may have traits that make them pseudo-religious or religious-like, but the BITE model gives us specific methods and behaviors to look for, rather than a vague sense of a group seeming kind of culty, and without getting tied up in a debate over whether a a group is a religion or not.
This also doesn’t mean that we should just refrain from criticizing a religion or denomination simply because it isn’t highly authoritarian/cult-like. Authoritarianism is just one problem. We can reject and criticize even moderate religions or denominations for other reasons. Such as the fact they aren’t true.
#ask#BITE model#Steven Hassan#authoritarianism#authoritarian control#cult#cult vs religion#religion vs cult#religion#jehovah's witnesses#scientology#cult of woke#Alcoholics Anonymous#religion is a mental illness
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Afterthoughts on that last render
It is, isn’t it? And kind of unusual.
Unique among the scepters of the Middle Kingdoms, the White Stave has no role in indicating the royalty of the one who holds it. Rather, what virtue it possesses derives from the royal.
The first White Stave was made from the wood of the tree under which Héalhra Whitemane rested for the last time in human form before taking Fire and immortality (and the demigodhead of the Lion) upon himself in the first Battle of Bluepeak, against the terrible Gnorn. The lady Ambyr, Healhra’s wife, brought a fallen bough of the tree away from the battlefield with her and kept it safe. When she and the people who would become the ancestors of the Arlenes finally found their settling-place by the river Arlid, Ambyr had the straightest part of the bough wrought into a rod bound and capped with silver, as a sign and reminder of the Lion's sacrifice to be borne by all the rulers of Arlen thereafter.
The Stave has worn out many times over the centuries, and been replaced without too much fuss when it does. (Woodworkers and jewelers tasked with the making of a new Stave try to duplicate the previous designs of the carving and the silver binding as closely as possible. But over the centuries various design tweaks have been made... these too without any great fuss.)
The White Stave is more a badge of office than a symbol of royal power. By itself the Stave is far less important than the Throne of Arlen, which is carved of a single great crosscut of the same kind of wood (a variant of olive*, now routinely simply called "whitestave" wood right across the Kingdoms). Yet the Stave is almost always spoken of in the same breath as the Throne—as without being in possession of one of them, and able to sit safely in the other, no one can be said to truly rule Arlen. This is because their paired virtue derives solely from being in the keeping of a rightful ruler who has returned alive from the Nightwalk through Lionhall, bringing away with them the Lion's countenance and His power.
In casual daily usage the ruler may or may not bring the Stave to formal functions such as court-justice, as they choose. The best-known exception to this rule is the Lion’s Days festival, during which the Stave must traditionally be borne to all a King’s, Queen’s or other-gendered Ruler’s** engagements. The Festival being what it is as regards eating and drinking (especially the drinking...), the Stave will routinely be mislaid at least once, with the Ruler being required to ransom it back from the subject who finds it. Sometimes this happens repeatedly, for a whole range of reasons which in short order become the matter of (popular) song in barbershops and winetaverns all across Prydon.
...But beyond that, there is little or no protocol laid out for where the White Stave should spend its time. Some rulers rarely take it out of their quarters in Kynall Castle, leaving the thing on a bookshelf or buried somewhere under paperwork on a table for so long that they can’t remember where they put it, and the next ruler along has to go hunting through their predecessor’s personal effects to turn it up. Others, having been missing the Stave for a while—sometimes a long while—always know exactly where it is even if they rarely produce it in public.
And in the privacy of their chambers some of them may (by other denizens of those chambers) be caught holding it, or touching it, in ways that might confound some of their liege-folk or subjects. ...But what of it? The Lion (our Lady’s love and the peace of the Last Shore be with His noble soul) is far beyond scandal—that being the purview of merely mortal beings. And what others may think is neither here nor there, as long as the Stave rests at last in hands that are worthy of it...
*See the bottom of this article for details.
**The Arlene word ast’raïd for “achieved/approved ruler”, like st’raïd (Throne prince/princess/self-denoted or “seeking” most-senior-child of royalty), is not gendered.
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Let me drive. / JJK
pairing | jungkook x reader
summary | road trip + california + your koo 🥺
genre/warnings | fluff + light smut + established relationship + kinda shy/quiet jungkook
words | 3,522
note | okay so i had this idea almost a year ago and wrote around 5 versions of this since then lol i guess the stuff i write is *already* very chill but i have to say this is the chillest
If you could, you’d freeze this moment. This very moment. Right here, right now. Just as the wind blows on your hair, just as everything around you smells like sand and the sea, just as Jungkook’s smooth driving lulls you to sleep.
You look at him then. Focused on the curves of the road, a small crease in between his eyebrows as he is forced to make a particularly sharp turn. You twist again to look outside the half-opened window and all you can see are the waves coming and going, somehow closer when the car shifts — and it calms you even further.
It’s hard to fight the heaviness of your eyelids, but you’re determined not to miss any second of this. Everything looks perfect, all around you — you can’t take it for granted. You should cherish it, imprint this in your memory, take pictures with Jungkook’s camera now that he’s busy driving and can’t do it himself. It’s within arm’s reach, but you can’t find it in you to grab it.
“You should take a nap,” Jungkook says with an unusual air in his voice. It is deep, but dreamy, and you wonder if you’ve actually fallen asleep. His right hand leaves the steering wheel to lightly touch your thigh. “You didn’t have enough sleep last night.”
“You’ve had just as much as me,” you protest, turning your body to seat properly again and blinking a few times to wake up, eyes opening as wide as possible in between each of them. “Do you think we can stop for a coffee somewhere? I bet you need it too.”
“I’m okay.”
“That’s what you always say.”
You end up convincing Jungkook you should stop somewhere, even if that somewhere is the nearest underwhelming gas station. He takes the opportunity to fill up the tank, later going inside to join you and look for the most appetizing caffeinated drink. It’s not his favorite, and neither is the one in your hands, but it’ll do for now. You take the can out of his long fingers to pay before he has a chance to protest.
“How far away are we now?”
Jungkook’s head tilts as he follows you outside, eyes wrinkling while his brain tries to remember what the GPS said before. “Not much, really. Maybe a little bit over half an hour.”
“Let me drive, then.”
He throws you the keys without thinking twice, but mostly because you know Jungkook wants to take pictures of the road — he’s never been good at hiding things and, with you in particular, there’s no point in trying anymore. He’s been driving since you left this morning and you wonder if you should’ve taken over after Pismo Beach.
Maybe you should have. He looks perfectly content as he sits on the passenger’s side and reaches for the camera not a heartbeat after putting on his seatbelt. That’s when you know you should’ve said something earlier — he’s not going to ask you to drive if he can keep going. It’s the way Jungkook’s mind works: selfless all the time.
That thought melts as soon as you look to your right and he’s pointing the camera at you, bright smile only partially covered by the device in his hands as you hear the shutter. For a second, all you can see is him. Suddenly, all you care about in the world is how you can make that smile last longer.
Is it too greedy to want it forever?
//
The rest of the way to Santa Barbara goes as smoothly as possible. Jungkook is right — it does take a little bit over half an hour to get there and you’re glad it’s early enough for you to explore the city tonight. As you cross what seems to be the main road, filled with life, shops and pretty lights, you and Jungkook make a silent agreement to come back as soon as you drop the bags in the house you’re staying in.
To be honest, Jungkook was excessive when he chose the place. He said he wanted it to be close to the beach, with a pool he could swim in at two in the morning if he wanted to — oh, yes, and private. He repeated that at least three times while you were researching. In the end, the house isn’t as close to the beach as he wished it to be, but he agreed the pool was worth it.
When you land your eyes on it for the first time, you’re sure Jungkook made the right call.
There’s a host there to welcome you and you follow Mrs. Johnson around as she shows you all the little corners of the house. She is surprised to know only two guests are staying when the house could easily fit six, but nods with a warm smile when you mention the pool situation and the way Jungkook’s eyes lighted up when he saw the pictures. You also can’t miss the way he tries to hide himself behind you when you say that or the hand that travels down to your waist. You couldn’t see him, but you bet a thousand dollars a shy smile is in full display — dimples and all.
It only takes a few minutes for you to drag your bags inside, drink a cup of water and leave again. The house isn’t very far from the main road you’ve seen earlier and a walk after a few hours of sitting inside a car sounded like a great idea. Just before leaving, you playfully pull Jungkook’s bucket hat further down as he sits his sunglasses on the bridge of his nose. Then, again, you wish you could freeze the moment, but only if you could attach an audio file with his giggle and that playful stop it with it.
There’s a comfortable warmth from all around you as you walk. The breeze is hot and, although the temperature is bearable, Jungkook’s hand in yours becomes clammy in under five minutes — not that it is enough reason to let it go, it’s just not the most comfortable and definitely not as pleasant as the feeling of his hands intertwined with yours midwinter.
You can tell Jungkook is excited. His feet are light on the scolding asphalt and he’s paying extra attention to every detail his doe-like eyes are able to reach — almost as if he’s also looking to imprint this moment in his brain. In fact, he could be getting help with that by taking pictures, but decides to leave the camera hanging by its strap on his waist for reasons you don’t quite understand. You also don’t ask, too happy to raise questions about anything.
There’s something about this city that makes you feel welcomed. It’s much like the charming towns you’ve visited along the coast ever since leaving the busy San Francisco a couple of days ago, but there’s something particularly special about it. You were expecting it to be filled with tourists enjoying their summer day, streets buzzing with cars and no available parking spots whatsoever only to be met by a steady rhythm of people walking, chatting and passing you by without a second glance. It’s less busy and more easygoing than you anticipated.
Jungkook also seems to notice that.
“I like it here,” he says, echoing your thoughts with ease. Jungkook’s head turns all around, taking it all in before landing his curious eyes on you. “I think this one is my favorite so far.”
You can’t help the snort that leaves your nose. “You’ve said that for every place we’ve been to.”
“Well, every place has been better than the last. What do you want me to say?”
Just as the words leave his lips, the elegant lamps lining the sidewalk come to life. You notice you’re not the only ones with chins up and surprised eyes — suddenly, you can point to every tourist standing within this block as locals move on with their lives as if nothing happened.
“Honestly, how can this not be my favorite so far?” Jungkook asks rhetorically, finally letting go of your hand to reach for his camera. He turns it on without even looking at the device, snapping picture after picture until he’s satisfied with the framing and lighting. “These lights are so pretty…” He comments as he checks his viewfinder. “Let me take one of you just standing there.”
He takes a few steps back to fit you in frame and you hear the shutter many times before he’s back by your side.
“Why don’t we get something to eat?” He suggests, quick to take your hand again as soon as the camera is back to its original place.
“That’d be nice. Craving anything in particular?”
“Food,” he answers simply and with a smile. “Anything you want.”
You end up inside a diner eight minutes from where you were. The reviews online were great and you can see the place is popular by the amount of people sitting when it’s still so early in the night. The sun hasn’t completely set, but you can already feel the temperature drop a little — not too much, you think, to forgo the pool later.
Jungkook eats like he’s been starving the whole day. One entrée isn’t enough for him, so he orders two and you feel like you should save some room for the burger coming in later. His fingers are greasy from all the fried chicken, so are his lips, and you can’t help but smiling fondly at him when he looks up from the bone he just sucked on.
Right then, you wonder how in the world you ended up with him on the other side of the planet — the odds were never in your favor, but everything worked out somehow.
Ending up on the other side of the planet was the easy part.
//
The walk back to the house seems longer. Maybe it’s the weight of all the food in your stomach, maybe you’re finally feeling the need to rest after another busy day driving and seeing new places — maybe it’s both. Jungkook seems to feel it too, lazily swaying your connected (thoroughly cleaned) hands, dragging his feet and showing signs of running low on energy. For a moment, you think it’s possible he forgets about the pool and decides to just go to bed.
However tired, his eyes light up when he sees the pool area like it’s the first time and you have to admit it looks incredible. The water is so still it doesn’t look real and small decorative lamps illuminate it all around, creating a peaceful and inviting atmosphere. You can see how spent Jungkook is by the way his shoulders seem to be leaning forward a bit, but, still, he’s taking off his shirt and mumbling something about changing into a different pair of shorts.
Maybe he’s right. A quick dip in the water might just be the thing to relax your body and prepare it for the best sleep of your life.
Jungkook is already in the water when you come back in a bikini — with his back pressed to the pool, head resting on the edge and hair a wet mess. His eyes may be barely open, but he still sees you and raises a lazy hand out of the water to invite you in.
“It’s surprisingly not cold,” he assures you, a comforting smile on his lips. “Also, it’s not as deep, I’m just not really standing properly.”
A giggle leaves your lips as you move to sit on the edge right next to where he is, carefully letting a foot in to surprisingly — as Jungkook said — not immediately remove it because it’s too cold. You just wanted to sit there for a while getting used to the temperature before committing to a full dip, but he’s not having it.
“Come on,” Jungkook whines a little, clinging onto one of your legs. “We don’t have much time before I fall asleep in the water and drown.” He snorts and you can’t help falling for his shy smile. “I want to hold you in the water while we look at the stars together.”
“We can do that tomorrow if you want,” you suggest, trying not to let his words melt you completely while you move to fix a wet strand of hair in front of his eyes. “We’re staying here for one more night.”
However, in true Jungkook fashion, he doesn’t give up. “But I want it right now.”
And, in true you fashion, you give in to him.
//
The next morning, you wake up with a heavy and warm arm on top of your frame. The heat from Jungkook’s body on your back becomes too much as the hours pass and the room gets hit by an increasingly hotter sun. Unfortunately, it seems like your brain can’t get your limbs to move away from him without regaining consciousness.
It’s past 9 in the morning by the time you stretch an arm towards your phone. Groaning, you try reaching out for the air conditioner remote, but it’s maybe an inch too far. Before you can wiggle out of his grasp, though, you hear a low objection, grunt muffled by your own hair and skin.
Softly, you mutter a few words. “Just a second, Guk, I really need to get that.”
Subconsciously or not, Jungkook eases the grip he has around your middle and you’re finally able to hold the remote in your hands, lowering the temperature and increasing the speed. After the few beeps, a minute passes and you’re taking a deep breath, happy to feel the cool air around your limbs.
“You’re shivering now,” he says, surprising you after a long and comfortable silence. Blindly, he feels around for the white sheets, fixing them on your torso all the way to your chin.
“I’m not shivering,” you assure him, uncovering an arm in a stubborn act. “I have a t-shirt on, it’s fine.”
He hums. “I’ll have you out of that in around thirty minutes. Don’t count on it too much.”
You smile, turning to him, but Jungkook still has his eyes closed. “Doesn’t look like it.”
“I told you: thirty minutes. Don’t rush, we’re on vacation,” he justifies himself, words lazy just like the smirk that appears on his lips. “Let me wake up properly.”
True to his words, you both rest for a little while before Jungkook starts making his move. You would’ve guessed he had fallen back to sleep from how steadily he was breathing just a few seconds ago, but you couldn’t have been more wrong — not when his lips are connected to the column of your throat and you begin to feel the weight of his body on your left side.
Suddenly, your whole world is surrounded by him. All you can feel, see and smell is made of Jungkook, from his hair tickling your face to the firm hand wandering around like it’s discovering your body for the first time. You sigh and moan a little when he marks you particularly hard or when his right hand moves to place your leg around his waist and you just know he’s satisfied. Jungkook lives for that, for knowing he does that to you.
There’s a light and soft laugh coming out of his lips before he turns to the other side of your neck, head stopping midway to plant a chaste and quiet kiss on your lips.
“Promise me we’ll stay inside the whole day.” He’s just slightly out of breath, a feat that doesn’t go unnoticed by you — not after he’s taken care of your left side like that. He’s always so dedicated. “I really don’t want to get out of the house.”
“If you don’t want to.” The words would be perfectly accompanied by a shrug, but his body weight doesn’t let you. It’s just the right amount of pressure to feel him everywhere and, if you paid enough attention, you’d be able to sense his quick heartbeats too. “Yeah, we can stay in.”
“Good.”
You can see his eyes sparkle before he’s too close to focus, head dipping in to take your lips again. This time, however, the kiss is far from pure, delicately but firmly moving to open up your mouth and work restlessly until you’re completely out of breath.
You don’t know exactly when he starts slowly motioning his hips forward, senses overloaded with him everywhere, but you can feel your whole body respond to it. When you sigh yet again and his name comes out in a whimper, hand gripping his neck like your life depends on it, he knows.
“Let’s get you out of this,” he suggests, now a little bit past slightly out of breath as he proceeds to lift the t-shirt up and up until it’s free and thrown somewhere.
You couldn’t check the time then, but, if you could, you’d notice exactly thirty one minutes have passed.
//
“Have you even applied any sunscreen?” You call out from the inside of the house, holding a simple and delicious cup of cold water in your hands.
When you’re thirsty, everything will taste incredible.
“No!” He simply answers, ridding his hair of the excess water. “I’m only staying for twenty minutes while you shower, no need for sunscreen.”
“Yes need for sunscreen,” you disagree, sipping your water one last time before rummaging through your bag in search of the light blue bottle.
You immediately feel it in your skin as soon as you’re not covered by the roof of the house anymore. It is, after all, almost lunch time and the sun is at its peak — beautiful, majestic and burning hot. It only takes a few steps for you to reach the border of the pool and Jungkook gets the message, slowly walking towards you in the water.
“Dry your face and shoulders, please,” you demand at once, throwing him a small towel that was hanging around one of the lounge chairs. Luckily, he’s quick enough to catch it before it falls into the pool.
Still, Jungkook complains quietly. “It’s just twenty minutes, it’s really not a big deal.”
“It’s not a big deal until your cheeks are completely red,” you argue, squeezing a bit of the product on your fingers and soon applying it to his forehead and down his blushed nose. “Look, it’s already rosy from the walk we took. You should’ve asked for the sunscreen earlier.”
“Okay, okay,” he begrudgingly agrees just as he closes his eyes, your hands running close to the eyebrows. “You know what? We should’ve booked this place for one more day.”
“You think so?” You ask, finally bringing your hands back and closing the lid of the sunscreen bottle. “Don’t dip your head in the water for at least a few minutes, please,” you warn.
“Yeah. I mean, we’ve been to LA before, we know how it is. I think I like it here more,” Jungkook explains, swimming backwards towards the middle of the pool. “We’re staying in a hotel for two days before going back home. A hotel doesn’t have this.”
“The hotel has a pool.”
Jungkook rolls his eyes playfully. “You know what I mean. We can’t have this in a hotel.”
“We can just rest for two days,” you suggest. “Wake up and eat and nap and eat and…”
He laughs and twirls in the water. “I hate to interrupt you, but we’ll be late for checkout if you don’t go shower.”
“Right.”
//
There’s something about being on the road with him that brings you nothing but peace. It must be the perfect combination of clear skies, warm winds, the comfortable silence and the freedom of being on the road. Even with a destination in mind, it doesn’t feel like you need to follow it through. You can go anywhere, do anything, stop the car in the middle of nowhere and stare at the sea for an hour if you want to.
It almost makes you feel nostalgic for something that is happening right now.
The road gets busier and busier the closer you get to the city. Around here, you can see the mansions up in the hills, the exclusive restaurants here and there, and the fancy cars accelerating past the maximum speed displayed on the road signs of Malibu. Still, when you slowly press the brakes to stop on a red light, it feels like you’re in your own little world.
It’s always like this. He’s there and, suddenly, it hits. Everything around you melts, there’s nothing else. Sometimes, when Jungkook’s in the room, it almost looks like he shines — to you, there’s a bright, golden aura surrounding him. It’s warm, inviting and irresistible.
Jungkook doesn’t say anything when he sees the corners of your lips tug up without a reason, deciding to just mirror them. Once again, you find yourself wishing you could freeze this moment — this very moment. Just as his smile reaches his sparkling eyes and an airy laugh escapes his lips.
“Baby, the lights have just turned green.”
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#jeon jungkook#jungkook fanfic#jungkook fluff#jungkook imagine#jungkook scenarios#jungkook oneshot#jungkook x you#bts fanfic#bts imagines#jeon jungkook fluff#jungkook smut#yes the smut tag some of you were waiting for but don't get too excited
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Penny Polendina alludes to Astro Boy - and how this allusion foreshadows Penny’s eventual resurrection
Some of you may remember my first post in which I compared Penny and Astro Boy, with a specific focus on the version of Astro from the 2009 3D animated film (if not, you can read it here, but I'll be repeating everything stated there anyway). In the month or two since I first made that post, more and more parallels have start to pop up, with one of those parallels matching one of our most popular theories and foreshadowing Penny's upcoming resurrection.
In order to write this, I went through and watched the entire film, taking notes as I went. I'm not going to include every single detail that I noticed, only the things that seem the most relevant and can be put together in a single post in a comprehensive manner. Believe me when I say that I've thought about this a lot, and the sheer amount of parallels and connections (and the fact that I'm not the only one to notice these connections) has lead me to believe that this has been done intentionally.
With that being said, I'm only going to focus on the Astro Boy film from 2009 - the Astro Boy franchise is massive, going back to the first manga coming out in 1952 with a few different adaptations and reboots with different versions of the story, and I just don't have the time to go through all of those. As such, I'm going to be focusing on the movie, due to the fact that it has the highest amount of parallels to both Penny specifically, and RWBY as a whole.
So, let's get into this.
Worldbuilding
Metro City and the Surface - Atlas and Mantle
One of the reasons I've decided to focus on the film in particular is due to the nature of the film's setting. Astro Boy (2009) takes place in two locations - Metro City, and the Surface.
According to the opening of the film, Metro City was created when the people who would become the founders of the city noticed the world changing for the worse, and responded by taking part of the land and lifting it into the sky, creating a floating city - the opening voiceover refers to it as "an oasis, a floating paradise". Everybody else is left behind on what is referred to as the Surface, left to fend for themselves while the people of Metro City largely ignore their existence.
The parallels to Atlas and Mantle are crystal clear. Atlas and Metro City are both set up as a beautiful city above the clouds, meant to serve as an inspiration for the rest of the world. In reality, it's a place where the rich and privileged can live in comfort while shunning the poor. Meanwhile, down in Mantle/on the Surface, people are suffering and struggling to get by. Additionally, both 'surface' and 'mantle' are words that are associated with the ground.
The Blue Core (and the Red Core) - Penny's soul and Maiden powers.
Another concept that is (as far as my research shows at least) unique to the film is the Blue Core and the Red Core.
The Blue Core is a small sphere that is filled with pure positive energy, referred to as Blue Core Energy. It was created by Dr. Elefun, made from the fragments of a star that no longer exists - meaning that the Blue Core is all that's left, and cannot be recreated. This is reminiscent of how Pietro has no more aura left to spare, and thus is unable to give any more of his soul to Penny like he did the first time she died. In this allusion, the Blue Core is representative of Penny's soul and the power of the Winter Maiden.
When the Blue Core was created, there was also a byproduct - the Red Core. Essentially, it's the same thing as the Blue Core, but with negative energy instead of positive. If the Blue Core and the Red Core make contact, they both die - this is relevant later.
You could compare the Red Core to Watts’ virus, due to the way that it causes a robot to have red eyes and that it coming into contact with the Blue Core destroys them both.
Character Parallels
Before I get into this properly, I wanna give a quick side note. While Astro matches up to Penny perfectly, things get a little bit messier with the others in that we have a case of characters taking on multiple roles. However, this is far from unheard of in RWBY - let's not forget about how Blake represents both Belle and the Beast, Yang is sometimes the Beast to Blake's Belle, and Adam is an amalgamation of every antagonistic force in Beauty and the Beast. It's far from uncommon for a character to allude to multiple characters from the same allusion, or vice versa, which is what we see with some of the characters in this allusion as well.
Astro - Penny Polendina
Unsurprisingly, Astro himself is our parallel to Penny.
After the death of his son Toby, Dr. Tenma rebuilds his son as a robot, using the Blue Core as his energy source. The Blue Core is stated to be unpredictable, and it's this that makes Astro who he is, what makes him unique from every other robot. As stated earlier, the Blue Core represents Penny's soul (and the Winter Maiden powers that are attached to it). When the Blue Core dies - and Astro dies with it - and Dr. Elefun is asked if he can be rebuilt, the answer is 'no' because the Core was unique and can't be remade - just like Penny's soul.
While Astro appears perfectly human on the surface, he's fitted with as much self-defence technology as Tenma could fit in him. The most iconic of these upgrades (and the only one that's consistent across every single version of Astro throughout the franchise) is the rocket boots. He even flies in a very similar way to Penny - pay attention to the posing, especially with the legs.
When Astro starts making friends with humans on the Surface, he conceals the fact that he's a robot, afraid of what they'll think of him when they learn he's not human. This matches up to Penny initially hiding the fact that she's not human, seeing herself as 'not a real girl'.
Astro has two father figures - Dr. Elefun and Dr. Tenma. Similarly, Penny has two father figures - Pietro and Ironwood.
During the climax of the film, Metro City starts to fall out of the sky and back down to the Surface. This is a parallel to two seperate moments in RWBY. The most obvious one is when Atlas is falling onto Mantle after the Staff of Creation is used. However, I think this scene more closely resembles the scene from Amity in which Amity Tower begins to fall.
When Astro sees that Metro City is falling, he immediately flies in to hold it up, despite the incredible strain it puts on him. This is a direct parallel to how Penny flew in to hold up Amity Tower.
Astro pushes himself to the limit when he holds up Metro City, to the point where the flames from his boots burn so brightly that they turn blue - oh hey, doesn't that look familiar?
Astro also demonstrates self-sacrificial tendencies at a few points in the film. When he's captured in order to have his Blue Core taken out and placed into another robot, he simply accepts it, saying that "I think maybe this is what's supposed to happen...this is my destiny". This becomes a lot more interesting when you remember that the Blue Core is representative of Penny's soul and Maiden powers. Astro giving himself up to President Stone (the film's main antagonist who later ends up in a sort of 'fusion' with the Red Core) so that Stone can use the Blue Core could be a reference to the virus making Penny want to give herself up to Ironwood so that he can use her soul to open the vault - especially if we believe that the Red Core is connected to the virus in some way.
Near the end of the film, in the fight against the fusion of President Stone and a giant robot containing the Red Core (it's a long story, I'll get to it later in the post), Astro makes the decision to sacrifice his own life in order to destroy both the Red Core and the Blue Core, saying “this is what I was created for” and saving the lives of everybody else in the process. I doubt I need to explain how "choosing to die in order to protect other people" relates back to Penny in Volume 8.
At the end of the film, and in the rest of the Astro Boy franchise as a whole, Astro takes it upon himself to be the protector of Metro City (and technically the Surface, but since Metro City has fallen, they're not exactly seperate locations anymore...). 'Robotic guardian of a city who's seen as a hero by the people' - you don't get much more obvious of a connection to the Protector of Mantle than that.
Additional details that may not be intentional but I still noticed anyway;
- Dr. Elefun describes as Astro by saying "That robot had more humanity than most of us". At this point, there's been many moments that affirm Penny's humanity - "You have an aura, Penny. A soul. That's who you are - our friend. Not a machine", "Her soul is who she is", the fact that she was able to receive the Maiden powers, all of these moments affirm that Penny has always been just as human as anybody else. This is also contrasted against Ironwood (and, for a while, Winter), who act more machine than human.
- Astro is actually rather heavily trans-coded. Penny is also trans-coded, but this is mostly likely a coincidence that happened as a result of the inherent transness of robots
- Elefun tells Astro that he's "not actually an entirely ordinary boy", which is reminiscent of Ruby describing Penny as "she's...not your typical girl."
- The shape of Penny's bow (the way that it sticks out more on one side while the other side is more vertical) looks similar to the shape of Astro's hair (this one was pointed out to me by @cosmokyrin when I mentioned this theory in the Frosen Steel server)
Dr. Elefun - Pietro Polendina
Dr. Elefun is one of Metro City's top scientists, and one of Astro's father figures. He is soft-spoken and gentle, a dreamer but a genius. In terms of personality alone, he's a pretty good match with Pietro. He's also the one who created the Blue Core, which draws a direct parallel to Pietro creating Penny's soul from part of his.
Dr. Elefun is the first person to truly see Astro as who he truly is. Dr. Tenma expects Astro to be a replacement for Toby, and is disappointed when he isn't. Similarly, everybody else sees Astro as a robot just like any other at first - an advanced robot, but nothing more than a robot. But Dr. Elefun gives him genuine praise, and encourages Astro to live his life and find his place in the world, just like how Pietro tells Penny that he wants to see her live her life.
It's also worth noting that in most other versions of Astro Boy, Elefun takes the role of Astro's primary caregiver after Dr. Tenma no longer wants him.
President Stone - James Ironwood
President Stone is the current political leader of Metro City. For the entire film, his entire focus is on combat and military strength, and on multiple occasions he actively expresses his intention to start a war with the Surface. He believes that the best way to get re-elected is with a show of military force and violence.
His primary goal throughout the film is to have Astro destroyed in order to retrieve the Blue Core and use it for his own gain. This is a direct parallel to Ironwood's goal in Volume 8 - to hunt down Penny and have her use her Maiden power to open the vault, and destroy herself.
Stone wants to use the Blue Core in order to power a specialised combat robot, ironically called the Peacekeeper. When Astro continues to escape his clutches, he decides to use the Red Core to power the Peacekeeper instead, but it doesn't completely go as planned. The Peacekeeper is equipped with what the film calls 'adaptive technology' - it's capable of absorbing anything it makes contact with into its own body.
And I do mean anything
After Stone is absorbed by the Peacekeeper, he's in full control of it - essentially the Peacekeeper is nothing more than a metal outer shell. President Stone has become a fusion of man and machine.
Dr. Tenma - both Pietro Polendina AND James Ironwood (a bit more Pietro than Ironwood but it's worth acknowledging both)
You might notice that while Elefun and Stone do have plenty of references to Pietro and Ironwood respectively, there are gaps where they don't cover every aspect of these characters and/or their dynamic with Penny. This is where Dr. Tenma comes in.
Dr. Tenma is Astro's dad, and the one who built him. He originally created Astro as a sort of 'replacement' for his biological son Toby after he died, giving Astro all of Toby's memories (more on this later). Naturally, this is a very clear connection to Pietro.
Additionally, Dr. Tenma uses the Blue Core - a completely unique, one-of-a-kind technological marvel - in order to power a single small robot that's intended to be nothing more than a replacement for his son, saying "I can't lose him again!". In this moment, Dr. Tenma is so focused on not losing his child that he doesn't acknowledge the big picture.
However, once Dr. Tenma realises that Astro isn't a perfect replica of Toby, but rather his own person, Tenma discards him, not caring if Astro gets destroyed or not. Similarly, when Penny stopped doing what Ironwood wanted her to do, Ironwood stopped caring about her as anything more than a container for the Maiden powers and is perfectly willing to let her die once the vault is opened.
Luckily, Dr. Tenma does have a change of heart, deciding that while Astro isn't Toby, he's still his son. Near the end of the film, Astro is very injured, and Dr. Tenma encourages him to get far away from the danger. However, Astro refuses to back down, instead choosing to sacrifice his life in order to stop President Stone, despite Dr. Tenma begging him not to go. Here, we have yet another parallel to this moment in Amity.
Bonus (aka characters that aren't perfect allusions, but connections do exist)
When Astro ends up on the Surface, he's taken in by a man who calls himself Hamegg. Hamegg ends up being a jerk, and while his personality and actions in the film don't particularly match up with any characters in RWBY, his backstory is a perfect match to Watts - a head scientist in Metro City who was shunned and fired for reasons unknown (Hamegg claims that they were 'intimated by his ideas and talent', but this was when he was trying to impress Astro and he lies a lot anyway, so this could be a complete lie).
On the Surface, Astro befriends four human kids (Cora, Zane, Sludge and Widget) and their robotic dog, Trashcan. While the personalities don't really match up (though Cora, Astro's closest friend, does bear a visual resemblance to Ruby), the idea of a 4-person group + a dog could be a parallel to Team RWBY and Zwei.
Zog is a very old, very large robot that had been 'dead' for several years until Astro found him and revived him by giving him some of his Blue Core Energy. Zog is our allusion to Winter - Astro giving Zog some of his Blue Core energy is a parallel to Penny giving Winter the Maiden powers. Additionally, in The Final Word, Winter explicitly calls herself a machine. While this does have significance on it's own, it could also be a nod to this allusion. That being said, the main connection between Winter and Zog (and possibly the most important part of this post) is based on events that have yet to happen in RWBY canon, and so I'm saving that part for the end of the post.
Story Parallels
Toby's Death
Toby Tenma, Dr. Tenma's biological son, was very similar to Astro in terms of personality (with some key differences), as well as having a strong physical resemblance.
When the Blue Core and the Red Core were first being shown off to President Stone, Toby was accidentally locked behind a sealed off barrier, trapped with the Peacekeeper containing the Red Core. Toby was killed in a blast that completely disintegrated him, leaving nothing but a hat containing a single strand of hair.
This hair is important, because Dr. Tenma used this hair in order to extract Toby's DNA and memories, which he was then able to implant into Astro in order to make him resemble Toby.
This scene is most likely a parallel to Penny's first death in the Vytal Festival. In her first death, Penny's body was destroyed, but her core remained intact. Her core, which contained all of her memories, was the key piece in properly putting her back together without erasing who she used to be. The strand of hair containing Toby's DNA is representative of Penny's core containing her memories.
Additionally, there's the fact that when Toby was rebuilt as Astro, he was given various upgrades to allow him to better hold his own in a fight, with the most obvious behind the ability to fly via rocket boots. Penny received similar upgrades when she was rebuilt as well.
It's worth acknowledging that Toby's death could potentially parallel the moment that Ambrosius separated Penny from her robotic body, with the strand of hair instead being her soul, separated from her dying body and then disintegrating. However, due to the timeline and order of events, I think that Toby's death is more likely to be a parallel to Penny's first death, and her separation from her robot body is instead a parallel to the next scene I'm about to mention.
Momentary Death
When Astro is captured by President Stone and taken back to Metro City, Dr. Tenma actually does remove the Blue Core from his body, which does cause Astro to temporarily die.
Luckily, it only takes a few moments for Dr. Tenma to change his mind and return the Blue Core to Astro, reviving him.
Astro's 'soul' was removed from his body, causing that robotic body to die, even though in the end Astro does survive it. This is reminiscent of Ambrosius removing Penny's soul from her robotic body, letting that body die, while Penny survives.
Zog
I briefly went over Zog earlier, but I wanna go into more in-depth about him, because the parallels between Winter and Zog and the implications of said parallels are the main reason I ultimately decided to make this post.
As I said earlier, Zog is a very old, broken down robot that nobody has been able to revive in years. When Astro finds him, he brings him back to life by giving him some of his Blue Core Energy. Astro essentially gives Zog some of his lifeforce, a part of his soul.
Winter was on the verge of death at Ironwood's hands, but Penny was able to save her by giving her the Maiden powers, and her soul with them.
However, Zog doesn't keep all of the Blue Core Energy Astro gave him all to himself...
Resurrection
As I've mentioned a few times in this post, Astro does die - and I mean properly die, not a death that lasted 2 minutes at the most and had no consequences. Astro sacrifices himself and his Blue Core dies, all in attempts to protect the people of Metro City/the Surface and his friends. Dr. Elefun says that he can't be rebuilt because his Blue Core, his soul, was unique.
But then, Zog comes around. Zog, who is holding onto what is a part of Astro's soul - the only surviving part of Astro's soul. Zog returns some of the Blue Core Energy to Astro, which brings Astro back to life.
So, to recap: Astro gives a part of his lifeforce, part of his soul, to Zog. When Astro dies, Zog gives some of that soul back to Astro in order to revive him.
If you've been looking at the theories regarding Penny and Winter recently, this will sound VERY familiar. While the specifics vary, the essentials of the most popular theory is that Penny transferred her soul to Winter to hold on to along with the Maiden powers, and that somehow, Winter will return that soul to Penny in one way or another (either by putting her into another robotic body, or just somehow extracting her soul and letting it form it's own body again). The fact that this movie has these exact events occurring makes this seem more and more like the most likely route.
If Penny really is an intentional allusion to Astro Boy - which, based on the sheer length of this post, seems pretty damn likely - then the film practically spells it out for us. Winter will give part of her aura, the part that Penny gave her, in order to bring Penny back to life.
thank you for coming to my ted talk
#rwby#penny polendina#rwby v8#rwby theory#rwby volume 8#I've spent the past 2 days working on this#but the amount of parallels is insane#there's lots of bits and pieces I left out too#combine this with Pinocchio's three resurrections and the Narnia/Aslan theory and that's three allusions that foreshadow Penny's return#honestly I was just kinda chilling in my room yesterday when suddenly the scene with Zog came to me and I yelled HOLY SHIT out loud-#-because I realised it was the exact same scenario#there's probably some typos here and i could've included more pictures but like...it's 4am#and this thing is like 4000 words
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Late Beginnings [Ch. 2]
Summary: Macaque’s gotten over the biggest gap on his side of the burnt bridge between him and his broke af relationship with Wukong. Now he’s gotta take an even bigger leap in hopes of getting MK to give him a chance as well.
(Author’s note: DUNNO IF THERE’LL BE MORE BUT WE’LL SEE, FEEL FREE TO SUGGEST STUFF TO PUT IN HERE)
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It should’ve been easy, a kid like MK had a good head on his shoulders, enough to see the good in all besides himself.
It should’ve been easy.
So then why the hell was he still standing on the sidelines mulling over what to say to the kid who was just a few yards away training under the careful eye of his mentor?
What could he say? The same to Wukong? He felt that might be a bit too cliche, even if it had worked.
‘Just barely.’
Mac sighed, brushing his hair back and watching the two practice stillness together, Wukong resting on his tail in a lotus position while MK stood on one foot, straining to keep his posture in check. Even with the staff being used as a counter-balance his muscles flexed against the lack of support in his other leg.
Maybe he could offer him something? Nothing major of course, something innocent but worthwhile and thoughtful. Demon head’s wouldn’t do, the kid had no real use for those, nor would he probably appreciate a trophy that wasn’t his. What did kids even like these days anyways? He thought of toys but, MK was practically a bigger kid than most other cub’s. Most kids like him usually just kept to popular places or their phones…
Decisions decisions…
A small yelp forced him out of his thoughts, his gaze shifting back over to MK who had since fallen back on his butt. Groaning and complaining like usual before Wukong gave him the ol’ ‘keep it up!’ attitude, prompting MK to simply nod and give it another try.
‘Geeze, and I thought my training was harsh. At least I gave him actual critique on his form…’
Then an idea flashed in his mind, popping off like a rocket and he suddenly found himself with something worthwhile.
------~------
“Alright bud, I think that’s enough of that. Why don’t you hit the bench, I need to go check on the kids back inside n’ make sure they haven’t left a mess after that marathon I set up for em.” Wukong claimed, patting MK on the back before turning away. Offering a curt wave as he left, “Call me if you need me!”
“Alright, I will!” MK sighed and made his way over to a makeshift seat, which happened to be nothing more than a split log. And proceeded to take his headband off if not to just drench his hair in some of the water from one of the bottle’s he’d brought along with him. Before guzzling the rest of it down like he hadn’t drank in forever.
“I see he’s been keepin’ you on your toes. Full pun intended.” Mac commented, earning him a startled squeak from MK who had just about spat his drink out when Mac rounded him from behind to sit himself down on the opposing side of the log.
MK had heard a little snippet from MKing about Macaque trying to make amends, he didn’t get the full details but he’d heard enough to know to keep an eye out for the guy. Not that he wasn’t already always on high alert for any suspicious activity.
“Guh- yeah.” MK coughed a little, rubbing his throat a little as he cleared it. “It hasn’t been uh, easy, but I think I’m gettin’ better. Just need to try harder or whatever…”
“Mmm…” Mac let his gaze concentrate on the immortal peach tree Wukong had planted out in the front of his yard, it having long since bloomed and been picked clean.
MK shifted a little under the uncomfortable silence that spread between the two, there wasn’t tension in it per sey, but it was still a lil awkward for him to just outright be chatting it up with the same guy who had once tried to kill him at one point.
“So uh..I was hoping to..make it up to you, what with everything that happened the last time…” Mac’s face squinted a little, his tail irritably swaying behind him, it seemed this was just as awkward for him as it was MK.
“Uhm..okay?..” MK veered a little away from the guy, not too sure how to handle that. “Hey if this is about the whole ‘you trying to kill me thing’ then uh, hey man we’re cool.”
“What? I mean yeah but, it’s more than just that..” Mac fiddled idly with the hem of his cloak, the things color long since having been worn down from the elements. “A lot more…”
“Complicated?” MK quirked a brow at him.
“Yeeaaahh…”
“Heh, been there. Done that.” MK nodded, not that it was anything to be proud of.
“He didn’t tell you?” Mac looked at MK finally with a concerned expression.
“About you and him?? I mean..yeah he told me a lil..mostly just warned me to keep an eye out for you but…” MK rubbed the back of his neck out of nervous habit, shifting under the demon’s gaze.
“Of course he didn’t…” Mac sighed with a frown, “Well, maybe that’s where I can help you out. I know Wukong, he doesn’t exactly give you the full picture so easily, then again he’s never really had a student before either so.”
“So?”
‘So, he won’t just outright give you the benefit of the doubt just like that, especially if you just say you’ll give him whatever advice he wants. He’ll think you’re just trying to pull him from Wukong again or worse.’
“What I mean to say is, if you want to correct your form with that whole balancing thing, you should try putting less focus into just your foot, and put it towards your whole body.” Macaque stated plainly, his gaze shifting away back to the peach tree.
“Oh..uhm..alright?...Thanks???” MK blinked, none too sure what to make of that, but he wasn’t trying to kill him, or hurt his feelings so, maybe that was a good thing??
“Feel free to mention it to him…” Macaque claimed, his gaze softening before he got up finally and began to walk elsewhere.
“h-Wait!” MK called out, standing up right then. To which Macaque of course obliged, though he kept his back facing kid.
“..are you..like...being serious about that whole, ‘making amends’ thing?..” MK squinted at him suspiciously, even if Macaque could lie about his true intentions, MK at least thought it right to ask. Considering everything else…
“Yes.” Mac stated, his tail curling a little behind him.
“Ohkaaay... “ It was still hard to tell but, “Then why’re you trying to?-”
“Because he told me to.” Mac claimed, his head turning just enough to share a glance with the kid. “Don’t get the wrong idea..it was wrong of me, but.”
“Buuut?”
-------~-------
“But whatever you do, you gotta stop lyin’ about the real stuff.”
Mac grunted, that was probably gonna be the hardest trial of his to overcome. For him, lying was basically his day by day means of survival. “I think I’d rather cut my own tongue out at that point an be mute then cut that out.”
The chick shrugged, “Hey, I’m just sayin’. Honesty is the best policy. Even if it hurts to hear it, better said than left for dead. You want em to trust you again? You gotta earn it. A few pretty words ain’t never gonna be enough. You gotta put some effort behind em.”
“Uuuugh.” He rolled his eyes, already regretting having decided to go through with the whole thing. “Fine...but if I get my ass beat because someone couldn’t take the heat, I’ll hunt you down.”
“I’ll take that chance.” The chick smirked.
-------~-------
Macaque sighed, he could already imagine just how easy it’d be to screw up something so casually done by others. Century old lies he’d held onto for most his life being the worst one’s, with how gnarled they were from the many times they’d been knotted by his reasons to keep them from being undone by any means necessary. He’d run from them for such a long time though, enough to the point where he’d finally hit the end of his lead, and now he was forced to look back at the mess he’d caused.
It wasn’t a pretty sight at all.
But that didn’t mean he couldn’t go back and try to fix some of it. Now matter how long it took, little by little. He just had to be careful in doing so or else he’d just get himself wrapped up in knots all over again.
“...I..” Just say it, even if it’s half the truth.
“I didn’t want to see you waste that potential under a guy who wouldn’t appreciate it...” Macaque claimed, his gaze shifting away.
That...was probably the first time MK had ever seen Mac show a genuine side of himself before. Even during training he’d been distant and strict, similar to Wukong but a lot less merciful in a spar. Where with Mac, bruises were lessons learned.
“...Thanks. For the uh..advice I mean.”
Macaque stiffened a little at the response, but he didn’t spoil it for fear of ruining what little ground he had on that bridge.
“Anytime.”
And then he was gone.
#shadowpeaches#LMK#lego monkie kid#Sun Wukong#Macaque#MK#my fics#ayeeeee chaptah 2 baebeeeee#just as messy as the last one#with some sloppy seconds#;'D
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Genshin gods and their connection to demonology and mythology
I’m no expert on demonology nor mythology, simply someone that enjoys both and the connection between them and Genshin Impact. I think that Mihoyo did a splendid job on the choices they made when deciding which demons in The Lesser Key of Solomon to use. Anyways, I hope that you enjoy.
Barbatos
Barbatos in demonology is one of the earls of hell, ruling thirty legions of demons and has four kings as his companions to command his legions. His name seems to derive from Latin 'barbatus', bearded, old man, philosopher. He is the 8th demon in The Lesser Key of Solomon, while Pseudomonarchia Daemonum listed him as the 6th demon.
So far it does not really have anything to do with Genshin, except maybe the fact that Barbatos refers to Morax as old man when his name means old man, so that’s a little ironic.
Barbatos is very known for his command over archery, which is why Barbatos in Genshin uses a bow.
Alright, here is the fun part, Barbatos, unlike some of the other demons in The Lesser Key of Solomon, doesn’t have anything to do with foreign gods. Foreign gods in this case refers to gods not belonging to the Abrahamic religions.
In fact, Barbatos is a fallen angel and was once of the order of the virtues of heaven. This is a delicious piece of irony, given that Barbatos’ godly form greatly resembles an angel.
Barbatos takes upon the name ‘Venti’ as a mortal. The name Venti is most likely Latin instead of Italian. Venti in Latin means wind, and can either refer to the entirety of the four wind gods that serve Aiolos, the Roman Lord of the Winds, whose Greek counterpart is Aeolus or a specific type of wind spirit in Roman mythology, whose Greek counterpart is known as Anemoi Thuellai. The wind spirits are violent storm winds, sons of the monstrous hurricane-giant Typhoeus and were kept locked up in Aiolos’ floating fortress.
The four wind gods that served Aiolos are Aquilo, the north wind, Favonius, the west wind, Notus, the south wind, and Vulturnus, the east wind. Their greek counterparts are Boreas, Zephyrus, Notus and Eurus respectively. I brought this up because of the Knights of Favonius.
Another of the four winds gods appear in Genshin, although this time with a Greek name. Andrius, the Wolf of the North, is also known as Lupus Boreas. Lupus is the Latin term for wolf while Boreas, as stated above, is the Greek god of the north wind. In conclusion, the name Lupus Boreas itself more or less means Wolf of the North.
Morax
Morax in demonology is one of the presidents of hell, ruling thirty legions of demons. His name seems to come from Latin 'morax', that delays, that stops. He is the 21st demon in The Lesser Key of Solomon.
So far, similarly to Barbatos, the only thing that has anything to do with Genshin is his name, mostly because rock is the most likely to be able to endure time.
Morax appears as a great bull with the face of a man, which is interesting in a Chinese context, as Liyue is based on Ancient China. In the Chinese zodiac, an ox has a fixed element, which is earth. The Chinese zodiac sign Ox is disciplined and orderly in his or her thoughts and actions. They are known for the strength of body, mind, and character, and tend to be very conservative. They do well in business, not because of ingenious inventions or clever self-promotion, but by hard work and long hours. Sometimes considered old-fashioned, Chinese Oxen are well-known for their moral fiber. They live by a code that may no longer be popular, but they have a clear sense of what is right and wrong. While others may see them as slow and plodding, inside, they are romantics who want to look at the world as it once was (or at least how they know it was).
This makes the ox a very fitting animal for the Morax we know in Genshin.
Furthermore, another belief for his name is the Egyptian goddess Maat, the goddess of truth, balance, order, harmony, law, morality, and justice. This makes it fitting for the Morax in Genshin in my opinion.
Alright, back to demonology, Morax teaches Astronomy and all other liberal sciences, and gives good and wise familiars that know the virtues of all herbs and precious stones. The precious stones part is fitting for the Morax in Genshin but also the fact that Morax in demonology likes to teach, just like the Morax in Genshin.
Morax descends upon Liyue as a dragon. Dragons in East Asian mythology is commonly associated with good luck, propitiousness, power, and nobleness. In ancient times, only emperors were allowed to use a dragon as a symbol. This is probably used to further reaffirm Morax’s position as the highest of the adepti. The colours used in Morax’s dragon form are simple, brown for the earth and gold for the gold that flows in his veins. Even if he did not create Mora, it is typically said that immortals bleed gold, which is commonly known as ichor.
“The Dragon is believed by the Chinese to present power and valiancy, excellence and determination, dignity and divinity. A dragon is believed to have the powers to overcome obstacles to see success. He is spirited, confident, enthusiastic, intelligent and determined.”
As a mortal, Morax takes the name ‘Zhongli’. Chinese names are a bit more difficult to decipher, compared to Latin names since they depend more of the characters used to make up the name as compared to just the sound of the name. Different characters in Chinese could make the exact same sound but mean very different things. Zhongli’s name in Chinese characters is 钟离, the Zhong in his name means clock while the Li in his name means leave. A interpretation of his name would be off the clock, symbolising his retirement.
His name is likely from a figure in Chinese mythology, 锺离权, Zhongli Quan, one of the Baxian, the Eight Immortals of Daoism. Zhongli Quan is also sometimes known as , 汉锺离, Han Zhongli because he is said to have lived during the Han dynasty. In legend, he wields a large fan which can resurrect the dead and transform stones into silver or gold. The Zhong in his name is actually the same Zhong used in Genshin’s Zhong but in traditional Chinese as opposed to the simplified Chinese used in Genshin.
Baal
Baal in demonology is a Duke of Hell, with 66 legions of demons under his command. His name comes from a Canaan and Mesopotamian god, specifically the god of fertility and storms. The Semitic word Baal means lord or master, and the ancient people believed he was in charge of all of nature and humans. He is the 1st demon in The Lesser Key of Solomon.
Baal in Genshin forms herself as a ruler or lord and master of Inazuma. Unlike Barbatos, who is mostly absent or Morax, who descends once a year, Baal seems to be a god that rules with an iron fist, appropriate for someone whose name means lord or master.
Baal in Genshin claims that her ideal is "nearest unto Heaven," calls her body the "noblest and most eminent of all in this world," and sees her reign as eternal which is again, fitting for someone whose name means lord and master.
Baal in demonology is also commonly associated with Satan or at least as his primary assistant. The arrogance shown in Baal in Genshin is therefore fitting, given that Satan was once Lucifer, the most perfect of angels before he rebelled against God and fell to heaven. He too believed that his ideal was the nearest unto Heaven and that his body is the noblest and most eminent of all in this world. Another interesting factor is that Baal in Genshin believes that humans are not deserving of visions, similar to Satan’s reason for his rebellion against God, for he believed that humans did not deserve God’s love or protection.
Baal as a god was believed to be the "giver of life" and mankind was dependent upon him for providing what was necessary to sustain the farms, flocks and herds. Baal was the god of fertility and storms, it is fitting as storms meant lighting and therefore electricity. In Ugaritic and Hebrew, Baal’s epithet as the storm god was He Who Rides on the Clouds.
The question on how a powerful ruling god, similar to Zeus in Greek mythology, became known as a demon is fairly simple.
“According to the Old Testament, after the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years, they arrived in the fruitful land of Canaan where the prime deity was Baal. Before they entered the Promised Land, the Hebrew people were warned not to worship the pagan gods of Canaan. However, after wandering in the desert for all that time, they weren’t quite sure that their god was the right choice since the Canaanites were living it up on the fertile soil. Many split their allegiance and decided to worship both their god and Baal.”
Many pagan gods were demonised by the Abrahamic religions as the Abrahamic religions did not allow worship of gods that weren't their God. They called it idolatry and deemed it a sin.
Baal’s primary prophet was Jezebel, if you are not familiar with the Abrahamic religions, she is symbolically associated with false prophets. The original Jezebel instituted the worship of Baal and Asherah on a national scale and violently purged the prophets of Yahweh from Israel. Through the centuries, the name Jezebel came to be associated with false prophets. By the early 20th century, it was also associated with fallen or abandoned women. In Christian lore, a comparison to Jezebel suggested that a person was a pagan or an apostate masquerading as a servant of God. By manipulation and seduction, she misled the saints of God into sins of idolatry and sexual immorality. In particular, Christians associated Jezebel with promiscuity. The cosmetics which Jezebel applied before her death also led some Christians to associate makeup with vice.
Personally, given that the records of Jezebel are mostly from Abrahamic religions, I would advise that it be taken with a spoonful of salt. I mentioned Jezebel because she was said to have violently purged the prophets of Yahweh from Israel, similar to how Baal in Genshin purged the vision holders in Inazuma.
#genshin impact#genshin#genshin zhongli#zhongli#genshin morax#genshin venti#genshin barbatos#morax#genshin impact morax#morax genshin impact#morax genshin#venti#barbatos#zhongli genshin impact#zhongli genshin#genshin impact zhongli#genshin impact venti#genshin impact barbatos#venti genshin impact#venti genshin#barbatos genshin impact#barbatos genshin#genshin impact baal#genshin baal#baal#baal genshin impact#baal genshin
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Fallen hard (Sanemi x femReader)
Warnings: none its pure fluff, and well my bad writing and grammar lol
Word count: 2410
Authors note: Okay I got to be honest with you guys. I wrote this back in September or October and posted it on Wattpad, I think (Yes I used to be on wattpad cries) But I really like REALLY wanted to share this on tumblr because its cute and sanemi deserves fluff. I really hope you enjoy it. Im already working on part 2 :)
Sanemi’s POV
,You're going this time right?'' Genya looked up at his brother, eyes full of hope that his brother would go to today's parents' evening. Especially now, that he had a new homeroom teacher. His brother, however, really couldn't care less, he maybe went once a year and that's usually the first and last time a teacher would see or talk to him. Still, he had to go today, Genya wanted him to go.
Yet his Brother's answer was bold and harsh. , And why would I?" Yeah, why would he? Genya started to think of a good reason why it was so important for him to attend today, but all he really could think of was his new teacher and that would certainly not be enough of a good reason for his brother to go. Well, he could at least try and give him this as a good reason to go, but in all honesty, he didn't want to get yelled at.
Sanemi however seemed to notice his brother's nervous behavior. , Just spit it out already.'' he demanded in a sharp tone, staring down at Genya. , W-well... we have a new teacher since last month... and don't you think you should show up? J-just to be polite...'' Genya stuttered, trying to avoid his brother's piercing gaze.
Sanemi just scoffed, trying to get away from this pathetic behavior of his brother. He would not join this damn parent's evening, not even if there was a new homeroom teacher. He already went once a year, wasn't this enough? Of course, the school disagreed with this, but goddamn it this was just a waste of time and that's exactly why he only went once a year. No more.
, Aniki, please... I'll do the dishes for the rest of the month!'' Genya tried again, he had to make his brother go and this was the last thing he could think of that might, just might work as bait on his brother.
Surprisingly, it worked. Sanemi then turned around, looking at his brother as he made another offer. , Two months, and I'll go." This was too good to be true. Genya smiled at his brother as he nodded, agreeing to his brother's offer. , Okay, sounds fair." - , Good. When do I have to be there?'' Sanemi asked. , 8 pm.''
Well and this, this was the reason why Sanemi was now waiting in front of the Classroom. Waiting for his brother's teacher to come out and finally talk to him.
Sanemi sighed in annoyance as he thought about how convincing his little brother was. He should've charged him way more than just two goddamn months, he should've charged him at least a whole damn year. If not even more. Even so, he could not return time and now had to deal with this new teacher of Genya. And if he was honest, he did simply not care about this new teacher. He was already thinking of how great he'd feel when he could finally leave when the door of the classroom suddenly opened and a woman, most definitely younger than him, stood there smiling at him.
, Mr. Shinazugawa, please come in." her voice was soft like a feather, kind of soothing as she said his name, kindly inviting him to enter the classroom. He was shocked, he did not expect his brother to have such a teacher, all day he imagined her to be an old hag, but instead of an old hag, a wonderful young woman was standing in front of him.
, I'm Y/N L/N, nice to meet you." She held out her hand as she introduced herself and waited for him to take her hand for a handshake. And so he did. , Sanemi Shinazugawa, pleased to meet you as well." he coughed out, slowly shaking her hand. God, why was he so nervous all of the sudden? It was just his little brother's stupid teacher.
Yeah, what the actual fuck was he even nervous for?
, I'm glad you had the time to come, Genya was afraid that you might not be able to attend." - , Well.." Sanemi started as he looked in her (e/c) orbs, I guess I was able to take some time.''
Her smile only grew bigger, showing him to take a seat in front of the teacher's desk. , And for that, I am very grateful. There's a lot of stuff I want to talk about.'' She sat down in front of him, going through a pile of paper, probably looking for Genya's folder. , So... what did the idiot do?" Sanemi sighed out, already preparing himself to hear what Genya did wrong and what HE had to pay for. But instead of hearing any complaints, Y/N only chuckled, leaving Sanemi dumbfounded as he watched her with confusion. , Oh he didn't do anything bad. No, indeed he's a very good student! Everyone adores him!" But that, Sanemi didn't hear.
As she started to brabble how great of a student his brother was, all he could do was watch her. Examining her soft features. He was fascinated, nearly hypnotized by her beauty. For once, he was thankful that his brother was so convincing. Sanemi might be harsh, however, he was able to acknowledge a beautiful woman when he sees one. And this woman right in front of him, was out of his league, maybe even out of this world. If he had to describe her beauty, he wouldn't be able to find the perfect word. She was just too pretty, too beautiful, too stunning. Probably even an angel, sent from above. And her soothing voice just fit her beauty so well. God, she was perfect, and for the first time in a while, Sanemi had forgotten how to think properly.
,,-and that's why Genya has already gotten so many good reviews from teachers from all subjects. So- Mr. Shinazugawa?" He suddenly heard her calling for him, snapping out of his thoughts.
Oh god, he was so deep in his thoughts that he even had forgotten to listen. He knew the moment he saw her that he has fallen for her, but ....he didn't know he has fallen that hard., Ah... I'm sorry..." he whispered in an apologetic tone, rubbing the back of his neck. The teacher in front of him however just chuckled again waving her hand, as if she was telling him that there was no reason to apologize. , No worries! But well as I was saying, Genya is a really good student and has gotten many good reviews from all kinds of teachers. Not only that... but his grades are pretty good as well. Almost only A's!" She then handed him a pile of all the grades his little brother has gotten so far, he didn't care, but for the sake of her, he took a good look at all the reviews and grades she has handed him.
He hummed in response, once he looked through all of the stuff, giving her back the paper as he answered. , I have to admit, he isn't that bad." She shook her head and scoffed, taking the papers he was holding. , Please, not that bad? God, he is pretty amazing if you ask me!!" The young woman then leaned in closer, frowning as she looked Sanemi in the eyes. , You should be more proud of him. After all, he told me you are his role model. He looks up to you and thinks you are an amazing big brother." Sanemis eyes widened at the statement, as Y/N slowly leaned back, obviously waiting for him to say something.
He then let out a low laugh, once again not sure what he was supposed to say. , That's... surprising.." The young teacher then slowly shook her head. , Well..." she shortly after said looking back up. , Just remember that he adores you a lot... oh and with that being said... You should read through this. This is just one of Genya's amazing essays he has written." the smile was back on her face, easing the tension between the two adults.
She handed him over an essay his little brother wrote, he knew he was supposed to read through it, but oh god he was just so distracted by her. So he just had to pretend he was reading, while in reality he still tried to get over the beauty of this woman in front of him. He wasn't usually the type to show affection towards anyone, nor fall for someone this easily. But she, for some odd reason, got him all riled up.
, So...?" the younger woman nagged, curious about what Sanemi was going to say. , I'm surprised that my brother is actually this good." She nodded, agreeing with him. , He indeed is very good."
Sanemi had to confess, he hated the way she was praising his brother, for basically everything he did. Of course, she was his teacher and was actually supposed to say these things and yet he felt like she shouldn't praise his brother, but him. Yes, she should praise him, however, she probably knew too little to even be able to praise him. Damn, they have only ever met. So where did this sudden jealousy come from? And why only after they have met? It would've made so much more sense if it happened months after they've met, but now? After literally 10 minutes. Stupid, he thought, that was just stupid.
No, he was stupid.
, Is that all?" Sanemi looked at the small figure in front of him, still, inside he was hoping she wouldn't let him go so easily, that she would keep him here a little longer.
, Hmm... let me think.." she went through her bag, that she had now on her lap, looking for things she still had to mention before she would let him go. , Ah yes.. here." she handed him a few brochures of Universities, smiling at him. , You should start talking with him about applying to a few Universities. Probably these in particular. They'd fit him really well.''
Sanemi grasped the brochures and went through them, just then he noticed those were high qualified Universities. Even the one he went to himself, was listed as well, which made him feel some kind of pride.
, I hope you have realized that those Universities are popular amongst qualified students." - , I know," he answered as he pointed at his former University. , After all, mine is listed as well." Her eyes widened in surprise as she took a glance at where his finger was pointing at. , Tohoku University?" She was amazed, he could see that right away. The way she just looked at the brochure and her tiny hand that was placed right in front of her mouth.
, Yes indeed, but I don't see why my little brother-" she shushed him without hesitation, suddenly standing up and looking him in the eye. , Mr. Shinazugawa, your brother is a smart and a very skilled person! You should encourage him to go to Tohaku University as well!" this time she wasn't saying it to just sound nice, no it was the other way around. She said it because she actually meant it. She was dead serious about this. , Why... just why do you think he is that great?"
She slowly sat down again, a small smile forming on her lips. , Because he's just as great as his bigger brother." Sanemi was shocked, no not shocked but rather.. surprised, yet, she didn't hesitate to add more to this statement of hers. , Now that I've met you, I can totally see the resemblance. He's just like you and I totally see why he has chosen you as his role model."
He was once again astonished. , Has- has he said that?'' She nods, as she watched him. , Yes he did. He has mentioned you a few times. Fact is, he looks up to you, so I've guessed you must be an amazing brother.''
Part of him was embarrassed and wanted to disappear right away, the other part however was full of pride, thanking his brother for talking so highly about him in front of his teacher. The teacher that left him speechless.
So, sanemi smiled a little, looking away und scratching his neck as he did so. , Guess my brother wants to be a Mathematics major as well, huh.'' She hummed in response as she put away his little brother's folder. , Well... I guess we have talked about everything. Is there anything you want to add, or mention?'' Sanemi started to search for something, but obviously, there was nothing he could think about. She had probably mentioned everything she wanted to talk about and he, well he didn't want to attend the parent's evening, to begin with. So, he sighed and shook his head.
There was nothing, and with that disappointment came. He didn't want to go yet, but he couldn't just possibly stay here and talk to her any longer, let alone ask her out. That would probably seem to be very rude. But little did he know, that she just felt the same.
The sudden silence that lingered between him and her, made both of them nervous and uncomfortable.
, Then... I guess there is no reason for me to hold you back any longer.'' she was the first one to break the silence, and oh god he most definitely didn't want to hear these words. And yet, he played it off cool, getting up and marching towards the door. But before he could even reach the door, she suddenly spoke again, stuttering at the beginning. , M-Mr. Shinazugawa?''
Sanemi turned around, glancing at her. He then realized that she seemed... somewhat nervous. But why?
, I know... this is probably inappropriate to ask... but... would you mind joining me for coffee once..?'' Without even thinking, he answered, I would love to.'' and with that, he smiled at her as he exited the room and leaving the young woman perplexed.
Strolling through the building, he realized that there was a stupid little smile plastered across his face. Oh these feelings, so exotic and wild. He was not used to them, but somewhat liked the thrilling feeling.
Falling for someone wasn't even that bad.
#kny#kny x reader#kny sanemi#shinaguzawa sanemi#demon slayer#sanemi x y/n#sanemi x reader#giyuu#fluff#kny fluff
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