hey i'm back to clear things up, i was just so quick to get my thoughts out i didn't think to properly explain them
i wanted joel to seem more dramatic was what i meant. yell leave and then turn his head to the side bc he can't look at her go, or smtn like that. idk maybe i'm too hung op on this i'll rewatch the ep tmrw to see if i still feel the same
i liked the funnier in her head line too, but the fake bite was soo cute
ok fedra time this is gonna be a long one lol. i totally got what why ellie was saying those things, it's more so about the "rules" of the show. yk how every piece of media has it's own rules about the world and how the ppl in it are allowed to function. ex if someone other than the main cast shows altruistic intentions they're hiding something (spn), everyone lies for their own benefit to some degree (house md), the people can't rule themselves (got) etc. the rules of tlou (so far at least) are that there can't be an uprising without one firm hand who has clear and realistic end goals which happen to coincide with the morals of the writers. no one firm hand and no realistic goals means the fireflies are idealistic and ineffective. the morals don't coincide with the writers and no clear end goal means kc is brutal and senseless. it's not so much about these specific groups, but what they stand for. further examples for the fact that the people can't rule themselves. (ps jackson has council representatives which is called council communism and again proves the point that in the world of tlou there need to be people who make decisions for the majority)
i totally got the type of crush you were explaining for riley, i was just lacking the feeling like the actress was actually about to blush and then try to hide it and then lovingly look back etc. idk this one is really personal i think
sorry this was so long and i also hope this doesn't come off as me arguing i'm really happy just to be sharing my thought with you <3 excited for next week!
i think it's just up to personal interpretation! maybe i'm just not looking into it hard enough, but i felt that since this is a TV show, they can only focus on a few characters at a time. even if they wanted to show us a positive society without any sort of leader, it would be difficult to follow the story if we were bouncing around through a whole bunch of people, each with their own lives and ideas about the world they live in. it's a cool idea that i would happily watch, but it wouldn't fit with the (mostly) linear story they're trying to tell here. like, it was much easier for them to give maria this sorta-leader role because then she can be used for plot purposes and exposition about jackson. and there's always going to be some element of politics involved in apocalypse stories, but tbh covid has jaded me because i saw so much selfishness and greed arise from that, to the point where i'm burnt out and uninterested in the government systems and i'm much more concerned with the individual stories within. i probably should care more considering this show is so popular and definitely has an impact, but.... idk. maybe someday i'll rewatch and skip all the emotional scenes so i can focus on the rest of the show's message!
i think where we differ is that i like a more subtle type of acting. overacting is much more egregious to me than underacting. if joel had been sobbing or screaming his head off i would've been like.... 🤨 also it's worth pointing out that riley is a bit older than ellie and she's getting ready to do this very adult thing (essentially being deployed for war), so she's not in the same headspace as ellie is for most of the night. ellie is excited that her best friend just came back into her life, she's doing all these incredible fun things, and she's got butterflies in her tummy ;-; but riley knows what this night is really about. she's just trying to give ellie a good time, she's not focused on her own feelings yet. if everything had gone as planned, riley would've walked ellie back to the dorm, left boston, and then probably would break down and feel all her feelings when she's alone. i don't think she ever expected ellie to kiss her or for their relationship to go past friendship, so she didn't even bother getting hopeful about it. it's possible that i'm projecting a lot onto riley because this is exactly how i act when i'm interested in someone lol. sometimes i over-correct so hard that it seems like i don't like you at all, let alone feel romantic feelings towards you 😭
but either way i love talking about tlou in any capacity so please always feel free to share your thoughts!!!
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JUNGIAN TYPOLOGY POST #17: PULLING TYPINGS OFF THE INTERNET-THEY DON'T PROPERLY REPRESENT JUNG'S FUNCTIONS
Hello, everyone, I pulled a bunch of typings people did in a Jung MBTI group out of the group, and I'm actually going to talk about how these typings do not correctly represent Jung's functions, although that's what the people in this group *claim* to be using.
First , we will start with a typing somebody submitted to the group last Tuesday:
So, I know this one guy from school, and I've known him for a bit. Over time I've unconsciously paid attention to his personality, (like everyone does) and I want to try typing him so here goes: Part 1
1. His demeanor can change quite a bit: one on hand, he can be very funny, extroverted, and the "life of the party." However, he's also seen to be quiet, contemplative, timid, and kind of unaware (which makes him seem stupid) but he's not. He just looks like that because (his words here): he's just thinking about something. What he thinks about, I have no idea 😕 He doesn't say.
(1.1) (Not as important, but many people have said that he looks either: sad, angry, or scared) when asked about this, he says that he's not, and honestly doesn't pay attention to something like that
2. When talking to him, he has a nice demeanor, (is never rude from what I've seen) though sometimes he does talk with apathy or seems confused. Like he's piecing the puzzle together in his head in real time. He'll say something like, "Wait, but this doesn't..." or "I thought that..." When angry, he usually talks in a biting, sharp, subtly angry tone. I think he does this because he might accidentally snap and get very loud 😬 . Which is weird, because everyone thinks he sounds angry (but he isn't actually angry at all, he's just pointing out something, or arguing his point)
(2.1) Also, he has a hard time to understand subtle hints at times, or when people are joking. It's not serious at all, like it doesn't hinder him at all, but it is something interesting I've found out about him
(2.2) He does get VERY expressive at times, mainly when it's something he dislikes or something that doesn't make sense to him. He'll say it's stupid, and why do people do it like that, when they could do it like *that* (which is something he suggested) and how his idea is better. He usually gets very expressive about stuff that makes stuff "harder" or "complicated" and wants to make it more convenient
(2.3) Sometimes, he'll point out how something will look like something else, and they're surprisingly accurate. Like **surprisingly** accurate. Like how did you think of that? Other times I don't get it, and others don't. He tries explaining it, but it doesn't work 😢 boohoo.
3. As for whether he's more T or F. I'm not sure. On the surface, he seems more T than F, definitely. He's the type of guy to focus on a single question for an ungodly amount of time, only skipping to the next question when staying on the question isn't going anywhere. He's been called blunt by others before, which he can be, but from what I see, I think he just doesn't care. Like he'll try to work with someone, and he definitely can, he doesn't have any problem with anyone, but he does get pretty exhausted when he is dealing with feelings. When it comes to dealing with emotional situations, he is very tense, like he freezes up. After practice I overheard one of the coaches talking with another coach? official? idk?
saying "he wants to learn everything immediately." that might be an indicator of being a dominant melancholic. Like he wants to be perfect. Or maybe that's dominant choleric, like the drive or determination to achieve.
(3.1) Why I think he might be an F: he does quietly look around for whether it is ok to do something, and doesn't seem blunt when talking others and doesn't like seeing others down, (yet I do remember him saying that he isn't as blunt because he doesn't want to deal with arguments about it, and would rather have it over with than to deal with the emotional outburst)
4. I think he's more P than J, but idk. He does his work on his own, and will do what he needs to without supervision. But he can be pretty spontaneous. Some examples are opening a car door while the car is on the road, driving, and another car is coming in our direction. All because someone said that someone has to get out the car (it was pretty packed tbf)
His demeanor can change quite a bit: one on hand, he can be very funny, extroverted, and the "life of the party." However, he's also seen to be quiet, contemplative, timid, and kind of unaware (which makes him seem stupid) but he's not. He just looks like that because (his words here): he's just thinking about something. What he thinks about, I have no idea 😕 He doesn't say.
I could get somewhat of a typing from this, but not a complete one. If I had been doing this typing, I would have asked the person who submitted it a few key things:
1. Why did the person do xyz? Motives are very important pieces of knowledge to do a correct typing.
2. Was this person in a traumatic/abusive situation at home? This is an important question to ask in most typology groups, because they usually use some mood-based typology in their typing process. I don't, so I normally don't ask people that, but this group does, so if I were using their typing methods, this *is* something I would ask. Traumatic and abusive situations in the home definitely affect people's demeanor
3. Does he prefer xyz over abc? If his situation were different, would he still prefer xyz over abc? As I've mentioned several times in this blog, knowing a person's priorities of the 4 different foci essentially hands you the hierarchy of their conscious functions on a silver platter. Knowing a person's first and second priority in the foci can immediately tell you what the person's dominant and auxiliary functions are. With the information provided here, all I could really determine for sure is that this person is a sensor. The fact that it was mentioned that this person gets along well with others made me think the person is also a feeler. There was a remark that mentioned this guy preferred interacting with nature over interacting with people. That suggests S1, F2; or S1, T2. In these examples, the person preferred feeling and thinking about equally. So, without any further information, my tentative type for this person would be xSFP (preferring F>T) or Sx (instead of Se or Si, because we don't have enough information to know the attitude of the conscious). Here, however, were the responses of this group that *claims * to use Jung's functions. After each, I'll tell you what's wrong abou what they say. And I'm not necessarily saying these people mistyped him. They might have the right type, and just got lucky. More information being provided could back up their type claims, but with only the information provided, their typings were questionable at best, and here's why:
first impression off the bat is ISTP<:catthunk:1016670968770461706>
This is questionable at best, because as I just stated above, there was not enough information provided to definitely type this person as an ISTP. The only definitive things at all in the description above are S1 and an undifferentiated aux
"(2.2) He does get VERY expressive at times, mainly when it's something he dislikes or something that doesn't make sense to him. He'll say it's stupid, and why do people do it like that, when they could do it like that (which is something he suggested) and how his idea is better. He usually gets very expressive about stuff that makes stuff "harder" or "complicated" and wants to make it more convenient"
this strikes me as ISTP's pragmatism, and exhibits a melancholic correction of processes (ST)the external sanguine plus the Fe3 could be the culprit of his expressivity
To the person above, I would hate to say it, but first of all , if you read Jung, you would definitely know unconscious Fe is not about positive expressivity. Jung, in fact, defines unconscious Fe here:
Second that Kiersey Temperament +Berens Communication Style = Greek Temperament is nothing but ****, and any good typist knows that
"His demeanor can change quite a bit: one on hand, he can be very funny, extroverted, and the "life of the party." However, he's also seen to be quiet, contemplative, timid, and kind of unaware (which makes him seem stupid) but he's not. He just looks like that because (his words here): he's just thinking about something. What he thinks about, I have no idea 😕 He doesn't say."
that first part, like I said before, would be related to /sanguine and Fe3. that other part can sound like either phlegmatic or melancholic, but im def leaning towards melancholic
also the not expressing what hes thinking strikes me as identity without expression lol
Once again, Fe3 has nothing to do with positive expression. Jung says in many places that x3 is thae auxiliary of x4. What does that imply? That the unconscious functions have at best , neutral, and at worst, negative, connotations with them. Alternating between funny, extroverted and life of the party; and quiet, contemplative and timid; would be because of a *conscious* feeling function, not an unconscious one. Notice how after reading the exact same paragraph, I determined this person to have *conscious* feeling.
Also , this particular group associates Ti with self identity 🤔 Jung's definition of Ti has nothing to do with self identity, and if you actually read Psychological Types, you find if there *is* a function that has anything to do with self identity, it's *Fi*, not Ti.
same with this. I think I knew a different IS(T)P who just seemed completely immune to his environment. Would hang out in winter weather with like just a sweater and seem totally normal. It was almost surreal at times
Then there's this person, talking about an "SP" trait as if it's exclusive to ISTPs, and thankfully, someone else in the group was at least able to see this error and correct the person:
perhaps this is an Si1 thing, cus I kinda relate to this as well
Now that I read it, they aren't fully correct. To the person directly above, that's S1, not Si1.
And after I remembered that if Jung has a function that that anything to do with self-identity, it is Fi; I think I'm wrong. There was enough information provided to type this person. He's not an ISTP, by the way. His SOJT type is Se (preferring F>T), and his closest MBTI would be ESFP. Sorry, you guys. 🤣😂😆 I'm going to post this in my server . If anyone reads this here, or in my server, and sees any other misrepresentations of Jung, other than the ones I've already pointed out, please point them out , and let's discuss. I'd like my readers to learn Jung well enough to recognize typology errors like these, and I'd like to get better at recognizing them too 👍🤞✌️
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So you want to write an autistic character
So I watched the trailer for Sia’s movie just to see if it really was that bad. Spoiler alert: Yes it is. It made me feel like Sia was making fun of me for two and a half minutes. But it also made me really fucking angry because there’s not autism representation to begin with, and most of what we do have isn’t really that great, which is what drove me to make this post. I don’t have many followers so even if like 3 people see this, then at least that’s 3 people who have seen this.
What would I like to see less of
Literally incapable of detecting sarcasm: “Wait,” you say, “But Starfast, there are autistic people out there who are like this!” Sure, there might be, but for me personally detecting sarcasm is a lot less difficult than literally every autistic character has made it out to be. Yes, there are times where it goes right over my head but those times are usually when there’s not enough context for me to figure out whether the person is being sarcastic or not. Some of us actually are able to tell when you’re being sarcastic, it usually depends on context.
The “Sheldon Cooper”: Autism is really diverse and yet I feel like 99% of autistic characters are basically all just carbon copies of Sheldon Cooper from BBT. They’re maybe overly formal, blunt, or have a hard time picking up social cues. And while these are all things that are commonly associated with autism (although this type of character rarely shows any major downsides to having autism, more on that later), like I said earlier, autism is different for everyone. Not all of us are going to feel represented by this type of character. Honestly I don’t even relate to a lot of autistic characters because they just keep reusing the same autistic stock characters and that’s really disheartening to me. It’s almost like they’re not making autistic characters for autistic people.
The Burden: This probably doesn’t need to be explained that much but it was the one thing that really pissed me off about S**’s movie. In the trailer, I really got the very distinct impression that the older sister saw Music as a burden. Her life was just oh so difficult because she had this autistic sister. No one wants to be thought of that way. And idk if you neurotypicals know this but autistic people have feelings and we hear it loud and clear when you say these kinds of things and it hurts.
Using autism as a punchline: I think it’s fine to have an autistic character to provide comic relief, BUT! if your comic relief involves laughing at an autistic character’s very autistic behaviour then you’re doing it wrong. This kind of goes back to my first point- the reason why I hate seeing the “incapable of detecting sarcasm” character is because it’s almost exclusively played for laughs. Please stop making fun of us.
What would I like to see more of
Diversity: I feel like this doesn’t really need much explaining. Autism can affect anyone regardless of age, race, gender, sexuality, etc. And yet most autistic characters I’ve encountered are straight white guys. Let’s see more girls, more POCs, more LGBT+ who are autistic.
Obvious drawbacks/struggles: When I talked about the Sheldon Cooper-type character I mentioned that this type of character doesn’t really seem to face many challenges that are directly related to autism. What I mean by this is that sometimes they’ll maybe just miss the odd social cue and it’s kinda embarrassing but it rarely gets worse than that. An autistic character is going to face challenges that a neurotypical won’t ever have to deal with and if you don’t acknowledge that then you’re not really properly portraying an autistic character. Show more autistic characters struggling to make friends, having meltdowns or experiencing sensory overload, having a hard time articulating themselves. The list goes on, honestly.
Actually saying it: Have you ever seen it where there’s a certain character and a bunch of people go “hey, that character seems like they could be [insert literally any minority] and then the creator goes “Oh, yeah that’s totally what I intended!” I personally don’t really like this, because it feels kind of disingenuous. If you’re going to write an autistic character, it would be nice to have that brought up within the story. Autism isn’t a dirty word, you’re allowed to say it. The only exception I can think of would be if you’re writing a historical fiction or some other setting where autism hasn’t been recognized but most examples I can think of don’t fall into that category whoop there it is.
Literally just anything that isn’t a stereotype. This seems to be setting the bar pretty low, but it still needs to be said. Autism looks different for everyone and just because someone doesn’t fit the mold for a stereotypical autistic person doesn’t mean they’re not autistic. No one wants to be represented by a stereotype.
“I’m not autistic but I want to write an autistic character. Can I do that?”
I can’t speak for the entire autistic community when I answer this but my opinion is yes, it’s ok provided that you’re being respectful and doing research beyond reading symptoms off of WebMD. That being said, here’s my final advice:
Listen and talk to autistic people: If you’re not listening to the group you’re trying to represent then you’re not doing a good job. There are lots of people here out there who would be willing to answer your questions or be a sensitivity reader. There’s a lot of people here on tumblr who are willing to answer your questions (you can even ask me, but I’m just one person and I don’t have all the answers. I’d recommend talking to multiple people).
Autism Speaks is not your friend: There’s been a lot of talk about why this organization sucks, but it mostly boils down to trying to end autism and not actually helping us. So make sure you’re steering clear of them while you’re doing your research.
Reddit and Quora are actually great resources: Reason being is that these kinds of sites will give you lots of first hand information about being autistic, and that’s the best kind of information to have, usually. Most sites will just list symptoms, but the right reddit/quora thread will provide more insight about how these symptoms affect their daily life. Additionally, you’ll have multiple people offering their own views and since autism is so different for everyone it’s good to have more than one person’s opinion (psst... this tip works for writing other minority characters too!)
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You ever notice how similar Xie Wang and Han Ying’s stories and character arcs are?
A warning here that this contains spoilers for all of Word of Honor/Shan He Ling. Stop reading now, I reference a ton of shit.
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I was actually discussing a couple fic ideas with a friend a few weeks ago, and I got to wondering after thinking about those parallels I could see -
Does Han Ying x Xie Wang exist as a ship?? Is that a thing?? That exists?? Can it please exist??
It has so much potential. There's so many narrative parallels with these two characters.
They're two people who deserved better than their respective endings, who never got what they wanted, because of the manipulation of men who wanted power and would stop at nothing to get it (Jin Wang and Zhao Jing). The manipulation of those who saw them as less then what they were.
They also have similarities in their relationships with their "mentor figures" - Han Ying and Zhou Zishu, and Xie Wang and Zhao Jing. They have quite a lot of differences too, enough that their lives parallel each other instead of mirror, and I just think that their personal experiences could make for a very compelling storyline if these two were to interact. It would be an interesting road to a development of a potential relationship, and moreover an opportunity for both of them to learn from the other and heal.
And real talk? I just want the both of them to be happy tbh (and of course that obviously doesn't need to involve a romantic relationship - I just have no self control. I'd be just as ecstatic about a really good friendship though).
I also know they never interact in the drama - but then again these two are also literally dead in the drama. Reality is what you make it 🤣🤣. And considering how close the Scorpion was working with Tian Chuang - honestly I'm pretty sure you can't really say they haven't met either.
So anyways, I guess reasons why I think this would be a good ship dynamic:
First of all, their relations with their mentors and how it's similar to each other and also not. The resulting potential for mutual support:
Han Ying's dearest wish is to be a disciple of Zhou Zishu's, as he says plainly in that one episode.
The thing is, there could be quite a lot of subtext taken from that - I've read interpretations that he's in love with Zhou Zishu, or at least has romantic feelings for him - a strong crush possibly - which I can plausibly see (I can also see it just being platonic, which I will talk about later). But yeah, a romantic interpretation just because of how strong his devotion towards Zhou Zishu is. The wistful looks?????
In that kind of situation, IF the romantic feelings are two-sided instead of one-sided - which I would like to go on the record and say that with Han Ying and Zhou Zishu, I don't believe it is - and as a result actually becomes something, that type of relationship would not be the most healthy, because there's a very strong imbalance of power. Even if the mentor figure genuinely cares and actively minds the mentee's feelings - the mentee still undeniably has that level of hero worship - it won't ever be equal. We can see that already in Han Ying's case, Zhou Zishu repeatedly tells him to stop treating him with so much formality because he's not the leader anymore and yet Han Ying still remains deferential.
In that interpretation, if that were the case of it being two sided - Han Ying would have quite a lot of similarity of experience to Xie Wang's relation to Zhao Jing -
And here I can talk about how Xie Wang and Zhao Jing's relationship is uh. Kinda sus tbh. Like. That doesn't look like a healthy or platonic father-son relationship and it gives me the creeps. In Xie Wang and Zhao Jing's relationship, I'm more inclined to believe there's some semi-incestous yifu fucking going on than anything platonic, there's just so many sus moments - and if I'm not mistaken they dubbed over a line in the show where it was basically stated plainly that it's not a platonic relationship. Or at least - Xie Wang doesn't view Zhao Jing platonically (and I don't believe Zhao Jing discourages it at all, if anything he actively encourages and guides it to make Xie Wang dependent on him). So we got another setup where it's potentially one sided romantic feelings/hero worship. Or maybe two sided for them, who knows.
But the thing is, while I talked about unhealthy romantic relationships in my section about Han Ying, a fundamental difference between Xie Wang and Han Ying's relationships with their mentors is that Zhou Zishu's relationship with Han Ying would be a lot healthier. A LOT healthier. So much fucking healthier, I cannot emphasis that enough. And that's mostly because their relationship is not two-sided, and because he sees Han Ying as a person.
He cares about Han Ying a lot but not as anything beyond platonic - he views him as a student and a subordinate and protects him as such. Han Ying on the other hand could have romantic feelings for Zhou Zishu. Not in love per se, it feels to me like it could be a mix of a really strong crush with really strong hero worship. I don't think Han Ying truly knows Zhou Zishu's other aspects of personality (yet?? I guess because if we're gonna hypothetically bring both Han Ying and Xie Wang back to life he probably will eventually get to know Zhou Zishu properly), because I doubt he ever showed anything beyond his stern assassin leader type of persona to his subordinates. He was likely caring yes, but in a way that keeps people at a distance. So, a mentor-mentee type of relationship where Han Ying could be crushing quite hard on Zhou Zishu. But still a healthy one, as Zhou Zishu, one - doesn't intend to pursue a romantic relationship with Han Ying - and moreover, although might know about his feelings, or his devotion at least(tbh you'd have to be blind not to), he treats them, and him, with respect. He doesn't try and manipulate Han Ying, or use his emotions for his own purposes. He sees Han Ying as his own person. His affection and regards towards Han Ying remains unconditional, even if Han Ying messes up or doesn't follow instructions. Instructions that, btw, repeatedly try to keep Han Ying out of the line of fire, and makes it clear that Han Ying is to put himself first.
Everything Zhao Jing does however is solely to cripple Xie Wang and make him wholly dependent on him. He's been grooming Xie Wang from such a young age, and his positive regard and care is ALWAYS conditional. As soon as Xie Wang messes up, he takes it away as punishment, and because of how Zhao Jing's made himself the center of Xie Wang's world, that action is devastating to him. He subtly encourages and toys with Xie Wang's regard for him for his own purposes, he tries to make Xie Wang jealous so he works twice as hard to earn back Zhao Jing's attention. And as we see with his intention to eventually discard Xie Wang as soon as he is no longer useful - he doesn't view Xie Wang as a person. He's merely another tool in his arsenal.
The reason why I wrote such a long ass analysis about the similarities and differences between Xie Wang and Han Ying's relationships is because as I mentioned before, one reason I think this would be a pretty interesting ship and dynamic is how these two could help each other. At first, it might be more Han Ying helping Xie Wang.
Xie Wang hasn't ever experienced what a proper and healthy guardian type relationship is like, or even what it means for someone to choose him first. He's a victim of abuse, and should he manage to survive the avalanche at the end of the show, there is potential for him to start to undo all the damage that Zhao Jing has inflicted on him all those years, especially if the man is truly no longer around. And I think Han Ying would be in a very good position to offer him support in that journey. Moreover, if Han Ying has had an experience similar to that, it could be the reason he would want to offer support to Xie Wang. He's experienced a lot of what Xie Wang has experienced, but he's also seen what it is for someone to genuinely care about him, and as a result likely has a more healthy view on that type of relationship. They're similar enough for Xie Wang to potentially not want to push Han Ying away if he ever offers his help, but also dissimilar enough that Han Ying could offer new avenues of thought.
At the same time, if you just read Han Ying and Zhou Zishu's relationship as a really strong type of hero worship, this dynamic could make sense too. Han Ying clearly looks up to Zhou Zishu quite a lot, and on top of that, Zhou Zishu in a way represents everything Han Ying has wanted and couldn't have - aka a family and a mentor figure and a home to call his own. Regardless of if it's purely platonic or not, it's still an infinitely healthier relationship, a parallel to Xie Wang's experience, so the potential of the offer of support remains the same.
Second of all, similarity in origin and life experiences, which is a small thing tbh but still an important thing:
Han Ying is someone I don't know a lot of background on tbh - I presume he doesn't have a family anymore, and somehow ended up in the Window of Heaven. I've read fics where Zhou Zishu was the one to save him at some point and offer him a position in the assassin group, and I'm inclined to take that as a plausible head canon (unless it's actually canon, idk I haven't read tyk yet).
So, in bare bones, he's an orphan who is taken in by a mentor figure, and becomes a high ranking member of an assassin group.
Xie Wang is also someone who no longer has a family - we don't know that much about his background either, but I presume he was happened upon by Zhao Jing in some way - I'm not sure at what age tbh, is it assumed that he was raised by him?? Or maybe in teenage years??
Whatever it happens to be, Xie Wang was taken in, maybe even "saved" by (although if you ask me, he'd be better off without) Zhao Jing.
So in essence it is the same thing as Han Ying's experiences, an orphan who is taken in by a mentor figure, and becomes a high ranking (or the leader of) an assassin group.
And not only that, as I mentioned from the beginning, these two both realize and know, eventually, that they’re being used by men who are desperate for power (Jin Wang, Zhao Jing).
I mention this actually as just an extension of my first point, because while I mentioned that Han Ying very obviously can support Xie Wang in that particular “past grooming and abuse” aspect, there are probably still many hidden traumas and scars for these two from the lives they’ve both lead. Their similar experiences lead to similar choices which helped shape who they are, and as a result, I think these two could truly understand each other and where they’re coming from.
Their personalities would fit pretty well with each other. I think:
I don’t know if my interpretation on how these two are is accurate tbh, so feel free to let me know if you think it’s out of character.
To me, Han Ying seems like someone who would be pretty calm around the people he cares about; responsible, smart, eager to learn, with a steady sort of presence. He seems like someone who would wear their heart on their sleeve around people he trusts too, but not in any overtly obvious way. I think the reason why I get that impression is that, upon rewatch, I could plainly see his worry about Zhou Zishu in episode one, but when I first started the show, I somehow missed it entirely. Han Ying also didn’t show any qualms about admitting to Chengling that he wants to be Zhou Zishu’s disciple - which can be a very personal piece of info. The way he was around Zhou Zishu, and Wen Kexing also gave off an air of innocent eagerness to do well in his accomplishments and for approval. I’m not saying he’s always like this, because I’m rather certain he has a darker side too - as we see with all the characters, no one is without their traumas and no one is without artifice or without complexity. They’re all grey moral in a very human way, and Han Ying is no different. We’ve seen before too that once he’s got his game face on, the man is pretty competent and also ruthless (his conversation with Gao Chong for example) - I don’t think he could be any less if he’s that high up in the Tianchuang hierarchy. But at the same time I can also see him being a bit of a very subtle disaster (almost?? Slightly dorky??) in certain situations, and we can see that kind of peek through when Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing hijacked his kidnapping attempt and he was kind of like uhh. Okay so, I’m in a choke hold, I think that might be my former commander, so like. Let them go. It’s actually really funny cause while Wen Kexing was telling Gao Chong and Chengling to hurry up and leave, I swear you could see Han Ying contemplating his entire life.
The face of a man confuzzled.
Xie Wang on the other hand, is someone that’s more impulsive, liable to push or be mischievous, less of a steady personality and more like - for lack of better word - an absolute gremlin. A pretty murderous one. It’s a bit hard to tell all aspects of how Xie Wang is tbh, since he has many different mannerisms while talking to different people. With Zhao Jing he has a very subservient, almost dutiful, childlike and innocent air about him, and a sort of. Sa jiao (撒娇) type of demeanor. He craves approval from Zhao Jing, and is just generally very baby around him, and I’m really not sure how much of that is how he actually is and how much of that is him learning that this is the best way to get Zhao Jing’s attention. And tbh I don’t think all of that is grooming, I think Xie Wang probably does have the potential to be as soft or as innocently childlike and happy with others he cares about (just hopefully in a lot healthier way). I think we see his soft side a little with Qianqiao when he gives her the cure. Despite that though, we can still see other aspects of him surface. He makes suggestions and pushes when he thinks Zhao Jing’s refusals are unreasonable, he just goes and does his own thing sometimes (um usually murderous things. Like when he killed Song Huai Ren and told Zhao Jing he’s a traitor). He’s mischievous about some of his actions (after literally stabbing a man, ‘what? he said I should kill him if I have the ability’). He’s a lot more obviously gritty and aggressive and morally grey than Han Ying appears, which I think adds dimension to his character when added in with everything else. He’s also very smart, competent, ruthless - obviously since he runs the Scorpion, but he’s surprisingly fair and almost? Honourable? In certain aspects? And like Han Ying, he does somewhat wear his heart on his sleeve, retains that eagerness to do well and is somehow not as jaded as he could be, as he still finds the capacity to eventually care for a stranger (Liu Qianqiao).
I may be oversimplifying how these two could be, but with their personality types I think they have a lot of potential both in a romantic relationship or as close friends. And in a way that at first glance would probably be puzzling - how in the hell did these two become friends/get together (lmao you’ll see Han Ying in his rather sensible disciple robes and then Xie Wang is just there in his braids, dramatic black outfits, winged eyeliner, etc. 🤣🤣😅😅) but on closer thought, makes sense. Han Ying could be a more steadying presence for Xie Wang, and Xie Wang in turn could help him loosen up a bit more. (That’s kind of oversimplifying it but it’s 5 am where I am rn and I’m too tired to elaborate) I also believe Xie Wang might push Han Ying to be more ambitious, be able to do things for himself more - because Xie Wang went through a process of, everything I do is for someone else, until I realized they were using me, and now I’m going to do it for myself. In that way they could potentially push each other to higher heights in what they do, and they are pretty similar in ideology and morals and previous actions. They both have blood on their hands, and they’re not afraid to be ruthless or do what’s necessary to get the job done. They have their traumas, their complexities and an understanding of what it’s like to put on masks for different people.
The potential for found family. All the found family. Gimme:
This one I feel like is more obvious and changes some things about canon, but the timeline I imagine for if Xie Wang x Han Ying would be a plausible ship is one where Han Ying survives the stealing of the fake glazed armour incident and becomes one of the disciples of Siji (second disciple of the sixth generation????). Everything else would likely proceed in a very similar way (although in this au in my mind Gu Xiang and Cao Weining are alive). And then during the avalanche incident, with WenZhou trapped in the armoury, Xie Wang ends up surviving and they end up finding him somehow.
Whether or not it’d be out of character for WenZhou to save him I think could be explored, but the bottom line is that eventually they would probably take him back to Siji. There, whether him meeting Han Ying goes smoothly or not is up to interpretation - I very much doubt it would be an amiable meeting tbh - in fact I fully imagine it to be antagonistic af at first, considering what opposing groups they used to be a part of and the knowledge of how deadly the other can be - trust would be hard to come by, which makes a slow development all the more interesting. And moreover them becoming friends or dating would likely help Xie Wang into the dynamic at Siji because now there’s a more tangible connection between him and the place, and I can see while he’s getting to know all the people of Siji, eventually thinking of them as family as well. And Han Ying in turn gets another person who cares about him, and for him to care about.
I’ll be honest here and say that I don’t particularly care at this point how realistic or in character it all would be - I need found family in my life I have no self control. Xie Wang and Han Ying my beloveds needs all the good things.
Another possible meeting is just Han Ying being sent to negotiate with the Scorpions instead of Duan Pengju (is that how it went? I’ll admit I’m a little fuzzy on plot points here) and meeting each other that way. There could be moments of understanding while working together, an inevitable kinda separation, and eventually seeing each other again at Siji, after all the shitshow is over. The development could continue from there.
The closer age gap:
I’d like to preface this part with a disclaimer that I’m not trying to bash any other ships that are out there, this is actually just entirely my personal preference.
I don’t really like big age gaps in my ships unless their both established adults - for example in their 30's 40's, even 50's. Even if one of them remains young in body, it’s just not a dynamic I generally like. The most popular ship that comes to mind here is Ye Baiyi x Xie Wang - and all the more power to you if you do ship it tbh, I can see it being really adorable and healing for the both of them, especially since Ye Baiyi never really gets a happy ending either (and he absolutely deserves one 😤😤😤) - but that as a ship dynamic is personally not for me, especially after Xie Wang’s kinda hinted relationship with another man that’s also older than him. Ye Baiyi obviously is ten million times the man Zhao Jing could ever be, and it would be an infinitely healthier relationship anyway, but yeah the age gap thing is just my personal bias.
So I don’t know, I appreciate that Han Ying and Xie Wang are both closer in age to each other. I know there aren’t confirmed ages (I think?) but if I had to take a guess, I’d say I think both of them are probably in their early to mid twenties.
Anyways, it’s literally 5:43 am now where I am, so I think I’m gonna end this way too long post and pass out. Honestly, I’m not even sure if this thing is coherent anymore, I’m half delirious with exhaustion while writing this. I might possibly write a fic or do something about this Xie Wang x Han Ying ship, I might not, but I just wanted to get it out there. It’s a cute idea.
Oh god my eyeballs are burning. Cheers, goodnight.
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Please do more of the writing head canons. It’s really interesting to see other people’s ideas on the topic, so if you can be bothered, I would highly appreciate more, thanks bye <3
Y’all don’t know how happy I am to talk about these headcanons, they are my babies and I love them so much :’) thanks for asking g <3
Handwriting Headcanons
Same dynamic as before, try to guess whose handwriting it is before reading and tell me how many you got right! <3
You can find the first post here (no need to check it tho)
Quick disclaimer: halfway through making my initial notes, I remembered I had one (1) single lesson of graphology in my applied linguistics class, but that was a year ago and some information might be off. I just thought it was neat to include.
Another quick disclaimer: I don’t know much about Hylian, but I like to think it has a similar stroke system to Japanese, so the pressure and accuracy of your strokes play a major role in your handwriting (among other things, ofc.) so there are some parts where I focus more on that
(First Row, from left to right)
Sky
Our first boy is mother hen! Believe it or not, he has the prettiest handwriting out of all of them! Sky: probably has nice, even elegant handwriting because Sun forced him to practice when they were little. In the end, that paid off because his handwriting is the prettiest one. There’s no pressure, but he is confident in what he writes that his lines aren’t thin. Mistakes? what is that? this boy has impeccable grammar and spelling. No mechanic errors to be found in his letters!
I’d like to think that many of Hyrule’s classic/staple poems were originally written by the firt king aka sky child. Like, imagine, after a retiring from being a Person of Power (as the first ruler), Sky finds comfort in the arts: revisits his old woodcarvings and starts writing poetry about the world he still doesn’t fully understand. wowie. tldr: sky writes poetry and you can pry it from my cold dead hands.
This is what one of his letters would look like:
Next one is the one and only, our Hero of Time
2. Time
I’ll die on the “Time didn’t know how to read and write” hill. His handwriting is simple, not pretty but not messy. It has some grammar and spelling mistakes here and there. Can become unreadable if writing in a hurry, he sorts of forgets spaces between words are a thing/letters have different sizes and lowercase letters end up the same size as capital letters. I’m not saying he sometimes forgets to write articles: he just doesn’t want to. Honestly, he just has this dad-neat handwriting. He is a gentle dad and writes like a dad, if he puts too much pressure onto the paper, his handwriting become too sharp/angle-ish and ends up looking ugly. And as much as he would like to not care about it, in the end he does (:
Malon taught him how to write and it was quite the experience. At first he didn’t want to because he was ‘too old’ to learn and it was torture at first, but now look at him devouring his cowboy novels.
A chunk of his handwriting:
*sniff* such a dad quote.
3. my mansss, your 4x1 deal at Target: Four
Look, my boy is patient! He could do some nice and fancy lettering if he wanted to. He was taught that handwriting and spelling said a whole lot about him as a person, you know, like a first impression kinda thing; so he always proof reads more than twice before sending a letter. Super rare grammar mistakes.
The faster he writes, the more slant his writing becomes. Under stress/ when not sure how to write things down, run-on sentences are everywhere and his handwriting is inconsistent in general (I don’t headcanon each part of him having completely different handwriting because handwriting becomes muscle memory over time. It’s just slightly different variations of the same, like idk Vio’s handwriting is neater than Green’s and Red writes hearts instead of any dot/circle and no, I do not take constructive criticism on that, jk i do.) Adding on to each of the colours’ handwriting, I’d think Red and Green write with words slanted to the right( inclined), Vio is a mix of the opposite, so reclined and straight, and my mans blue a true neutral writes straight (kinda like Time’s).
The logic behind this is that inclined writing supposedly means honesty and need for giving (and getting) affection; reclined means, as you can probably imagine, defensiveness and repression of true feelings, but also shows great concentration; straight handwriting means self-control, observation and reflection as well as distrust and indifference. But as complete being (tm), Four just writes as in the image example which is not too straight and not too inclined, and I believe that’s a good middle for him
HOWEVER, if I’m feeling in the mood for crack, I totally accept this boy to have the ugliest, chicken scratches-looking handwriting! :’D It’s just funny to think that someone like him, who has to be precise and careful in his work, can't write neatly to save his life.
One of his letters would look like this:
Also I just LOVE how his hero titles look in this font ksksks
and that’s
(Middle row, from left to right)
4.- Mister Bunny Boy - Legend
His uncle taught him how to write. I’d call his handwriting pretty and neat at a first glance, but he presses too hard on the paper, most of the time staining the back or the following page. Sometimes will retrace some words if he doesn’t like how it looks (which only makes it messier). According to my notes, a thick or strong handwriting represents determination/commitment.
As I also headcanon him to know many languages, mechanical errors are more present than grammar ones; that is, weird capitalisation of words. Punctuation is somewhere in between; uses too many commas when he should just cut the sentence. he mixes punctuation from two languages or more in writing when too distracted (or too focused, because, well, pressure.); when he writes for himself, he has almost no problem following said language’s punctuation rules. Also, this is just polyglot culture, and I’m projecting a bit, but when he forgets a word in the language he’s writing, he just replaces it with its equivalent in another language because we don’t care about fluency, but rather functionality. in this household (more on that in my language hc, ksksks).
An example of his writing:
so powerful
4.- Mr. Wolfman, howl me a song - Twilight
I don’t have much for him because 1) I don’t think he writes a lot and 2) he is a hands-on/visual learner, I’ll die by that. He only learnt how to write because Ulli insisted it was important and he was not about to disrespect his momma; he IS That Guy, but doesn’t really write enough to have neat handwriting.
Many people seem to overlook the fact that his house is filled with books and write him as completely illiterate (which if not explored properly, ends up feeling a bit disrespectful and full of prejudice, but go off I guess; and that’s on my core Headcanons for Twi); however, he sticks to simple sentences. Knowing how to read and understanding a text is different from knowing how to write them. Like, when we would see a semicolon and understand its position in the text, but didn’t understand the nature of it. Is this clear? idk i’m sorry. So yeah, boy reads a lot, writes very little.
As for his Actual Handwriting, as opposed to Legend, his handwriting is thiccc but not because he presses into the paper; he is just that messy, he has no sense of ink-flow-control, he does what he can with what he has. To the untrained eye, his handwriting illegible letters like v, n, u are very similar; when he makes notes for himself he does it in the form of doodles or small ‘icons’. But! He reads a lot, so he rarely makes spelling mistakes (: he is your go-to guy when you don’t know how to write a word.
An example of his writing:
He keeps a journal, sue me.
3. My first born- Warrior
Okay, first off... I accept this is completely biased. I saw the idea and said “That’s True”. If you haven’t, please read Effective Communication; or The Lack of Thereof by htruona, a fic where the boys reflect on the language barriers between them. It’s incredibly funny and probably what made me start making these silly notes. So, if you’ve read that fic, you know where I’m going.
My man, Warrior, can’t fucking write. I mean, he physically can, but it’s very bad. Here’s the reason for it, tho, and it’s not his fault: Technically, he knew how to write alright but he joined the military and whatever note he had to write had to be concise or in the worst case coded. He mixes capital and lowercase letters. If we consider that he joined the military at around 15, his handwriting and grammar had yet to continue developing. Just think about how after summer break, your handwriting was always slightly worse than before because you didn’t write for an entire month. Now think what 2 years can do to that. Hmm, not cool, dude. He makes quick notes, when writing he’s all gotta go fast. he is the lighting mcqueen of writing; good for emergency messages, not ideal for love letters. His punctuation also suffered a lot, he only know full stops and commas and hardly uses them. A sentence for him is either one word or fifty without a single comma, no inbetween.
His hero title and an example of his writing.
(Bottom row, or what I like to call “fuck cursive” row)
7.- Magic man - Hyrule
I’m basic and I do agree with the popular headcanon of he not knowing how to write because well, y’all know his Hyrule. He only knows how to write his name because that’s important, same with numbers. I don’t see why would he write/read except checking the roadsigns. (he can even use this as an excuse for getting lost frequently; he thought it said something different.) But I do think that because his habitual reading consists of roadsigns, his ‘punctuation’ is weird af and places full stops/points/periods at the same level of his words and his commas/question/exclamation marks below them. Yk, creative license. Sadly, I don’t have much about my magic hands man so here’s what his writing would look like if he actually wrote a paragraph:
Man, I love Hyrule.
8.- Man, I don’t understand this boy - Wild
Cursive? ain’t nobody have the time for that. He woke up and had to save the world in his underwear while not knowing how to read nor write. He learnt during his journey and was taught by multiple people from different regions, that explains his inconsistent spelling of things and names for them. So Wild knows language variations for many items and uses them interchangeably (even if they aren’t exactly the same). Another headcanon related to writing/language skills that I’ve been thinking about is that if the shrine was able to cause amnesia, I’m sure there were other areas in the brain affected which leads us to language disorders such as agraphia and aphasia. But that’s a story for another day ksksksk
An example of his writing (after relearning)
9.- The best of sons - Wind
I don’t have much for him and that makes me sad. Look, he’s a kid, doing kid things like stabbing dudes on the head. This boy was taught cursive by his grandma, but could never do it and no one needs it anyway. His handwriting is good enough for his pirate life, Tetra is the one to handle Official stuff, he just gotta sign. Spelling and grammar mistakes abound. He is still relatively young and can correct his handwriting if he desires. But same as Wild, with how many times he’s been thrown out and hit his head, I’m starting to consider some language disorder for him as well.
An example of his writing:
aaand that’s it.
Thanks, y’all for showing interest in this silly thing uwu it was fun to finally talk about this. If you ever want to discuss ideas/headcanons(especially if they are related to language and culture), I’m your person (: I’m always happy to hear new headcanons. Feel free to add anything to this post either in a reply or in a reblog, I’d love to hear from y’all <3<3
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Want to start off by saying that I love your mind! I was hoping to get your opinion on: what is it in jackunzel that makes it feel so right?
EDIT: changed a few things ehe
ngl i found this challenging cus it made me think of how the answer would vary per person (yeah i went there idk why sdjkknds) so lemme get logical for a sec here haha
what exactly is the definition of “feel right”?
to make someone feel relaxed and comfortable, as merriam-webster states
simple as that, right? but wait there’s more
what makes something/someone go under that category?
now from there it expands because there are so many ways of answering that with everyone having different opinions and mindsets.
fair warning before we push on, this is going to get messy (like a word vomit) with how i’m just going to pour out everything i can think off, but just know i really like this question hence the, uh, mess? lmao
so back to your question, what is it in jackunzel that makes it feel so right?
in one POV, it could be because of how rapunzel and jack represent the sun and the moon respectively, making them two contrasting sides who shouldn’t collide and yet, against all odds and opposing forces that would come between them, they did.
and we can bet on the fact that they fought hard/struggled for it, depending on how fanfic writers play with it (reminds of this sun/moon au that sold me to this trope lmao).
just because others said it’s impossible or it’s against whatever, why should they listen to the “norm?” what even is considered “normal,” when the two can explore so much more of what they could be missing from life after stepping out of others’ shadows?
i just love sun/moon dynamics. i’m obsessed lmao i read the ones below somewhere and idk where but it’s been living in my head rent free and i can’t escape it tho feel free to correct me about any of these symbol topic!
like the Sun, thoughtful and full of energy to share with everyone, is connected with one’s self and known to, yeah, radiate warmth or light. it also symbolizes firmness, strength and power. oh and life too i guess?
while the Moon, subtle but full of mysteries and wonders, can also get emotional and sway others to be more nurturing. cus like it also symbolizes calmness, beauty, and nurture. plus eternity and enlightenment?
the list goes on if we head into more of what it both symbolize, but when these two celestial bodies get together, masculine and feminine energies unite. the Sun gives out life, while the Moon cultivates it.
i have no idea where i’m going but moving on
maybe it’s that taste of rebellion with going against the authorities/society/rules/of what has always been set to find out who they’re meant to be or, y’know, finding their identity without the shackles of others (like jack learning he has the potential to be a guardian and embracing it in his own time, and rapunzel realizing she’s the lost princess and works hard to be a good one),
or there’s something about the mystery that follows the other because they’ve never met anyone quite like them (like exploring a world they’ve never set foot on),
or finding all the good and bad in each other and in their differences, but still loving the other for who they are,
or what one lacks the other makes up for it and vice versa. with or without them realizing they can help each other grow to be a better version of themselves.
opposites attract who are bound to be full of surprises.
but on the contrary, they could also be two peas of a pod. aight this definitely goes against what i said above with all the opposites and stuff, but hear me out.
while they grew up and learned how to cope with life differently, they somehow still share the same sentiments when it comes to, for example, reaching their goals.
they have their own way to go about it, sure, but my point is they can reach a common ground better together compared when they’re with others.
like rapunzel with the lanterns, and jack with his memories. at first, one hesitated and wavered, while the other disagreed and pulled away. it was only after they saw a chance/realized this was it that they agreed in a heartbeat
they ultimately made the choice of diving in head first regardless of their initial thoughts in the first place. kinda like the moment they realized they can be a step closer to what they’ve been yearning for their whole life
bam, out of the way, they’re coming through lmao
not only that, but they can also be soft, gentle, understanding despite rapunzel’s spontaneuosness and jack’s mischievousness. we’ve seen them interacting with children and they’re so good at lifting their spirits up to have some fun and that there will always be a tomorrow.
and with their peers too. rapunzel lights up even the darkest of rooms, may it be like fireworks to bring joy or a campfire to warm one’s heart. jack meanwhile keeps things light when everyone else feels tense, easing others to relax and remember there’s always a way out
don’t forget the way they both sacrifice themselves for who they care for. like, they just do that, putting others first before them. that scene of saving eugene and baby tooth aaahhhhdjhdskdjkbkfjdkjf
and when everything comes crashing down and the world feels heavy on their shoulders, they both know they’re not alone with the other there for them.
maybe it’s the mutual understanding they have for each other after opening up, and finding a friend/partner/home through the connection they made together,
or they could be a push and pull that leads them to showing an unexpected side of the other, but in reality they always had it in them and all they needed was someone to show the way,
or how they complement each other, but they’re not two halves of a whole, no, rather they’re already whole themselves and they only reminded each other that they are,
or it’s simply because they don’t feel the need to put up walls or anything of the likes, because they know that no matter what they’ll be accepted for who they are.
opposites who have so much more in common than they originally thought
in another POV it could be because of how they give such partners in crime vibe. lowkey or highkey, take your pick. nothing would stop them from moving forward to a new tomorrow, or honestly whatever it is they put their minds to.
and i am here for that
like i said in one of my posts, “They were a magnet for trouble, with the Sun being a free-spirited and vivacious fellow, and with the Moon’s knack for mischief and being a rebel without cause.”
while both are adventurous, ready to explore whatever is out there, all the while just wanting to have some fun, they still balance each other out.
with jack usually ready to do what he needs/wants to do (which helps rapunzel to trust her gut and take the risk. that he’ll be there for her whenever she’s ready to step out of her comfort zone and jump away from her tower)
and with rapunzel knowing how to handle sticky situations properly (which reminds jack that not everything has to be done harshly and abruptly. that while freezing someone could be fun, it won’t solve things in the long run)
am i making sense? idek but you’re stuck with me lol but before i forget and i can’t believe i just remembered now. the way they can help fill in on what the other is missing
rapunzel wants to see the world, what goes out there, with the people, society, and history i feel. and jack can take her to wherever she wants to go. hell, he’ll even surprise her and bring her to places he’d think she’ll like.
with his experiences, he’s bound to have an endless list of plans for them to go through and it’s no surprise that she’ll love it, and (him) his gesture, nonetheless
jack wants to be noticed by others, to be seen and heard for who he is. and rapunzel is such a welcoming person that she accepts him wholeheartedly. give him the love he was deprived of for years.
reassure him that even he has a place to call home because why would he be excluded from that? he deserves it just as much as she and everyone else does
also i like to think they brainstorm ideas together
maybe it’s how they’re both game for an adventure, sudden or not, and this makes it easy for them to team up together and take on the world
or the feeling of familiarity as they click and everything flows naturally to them, where nothing is forced or uncomfortable between them
or how it’s like they can hold on to each other, knowing the other won’t let go no matter what because they’ll always have each other through the ups and downs
or it’s in their shared smiles, mischievous sparks in their eyes, moving together to the music of their synchronized heartbeats, as they step forward to the vast unknown
finding the ‘one’ who understands them inside out that they feel at home with them
i’ve said so many things and threw out so many brain rot, but what exactly is my final answer?
it’s simple: who knows? now before you toss me aside, and i hope not lmao, lemme just say even with that kind of final verdict, you can still find beauty in it.
you see, there’s so much more to explore and delve into with jackunzel because of their potential, that i don’t want to make a set answer for your question. i’d rather much help you, and anyone else wondering, to come to an answer yourself and maybe even share/discuss it with others.
i’m running out of brain juice, but i at least hope this helped satisfy your curiosity behind your question since this is all i can give… for now, maybe? who knows lmao
tho i’ll be honest and admit i based these on how i feel about jackunzel. so if ever someone else out there wants to add more points they thought of, feel free to add on this
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GRATITUDE & ATTITUDE — THANKSGIVING WITH RAPPER!JAKE HEADCANONS.
anonymous asked: what would rapper jake be like at Thanksgiving?
warnings: confused canadian tries to understand american thanksgiving, multiple mentions of food/eating, daddy kink, brief mentions of smut (as usual).
notes: i apologize if i’m not representing thanksgiving properly, i tried to do as much research as possible though! for those who don’t have this holiday/don’t associate with the religious aspects of it (like me!), this is pretty much focused on family gatherings and food, so you’re good! i found the gifs in a gif hunt and idk who made them, i’m sorry i can’t credit the creators. i was listening to mirrorball by taylor swift and glee’s let’s have a kiki/turkey lurkey so... yeah don’t vibe with me this time! happy thanksgiving to everyone who celebrate it! <3
food. this holiday was about food and nobody could tell rapper!jake otherwise.
the mountain of grocery bags and produce in the kitchen proved his point. he was determined to turn into all of those friendly people he watched on food network. you know, the kind eyed grandmas and the men with funky glasses? he even got an aprin. and new oven mits in which his hands actually fit. he had all of the recipes printed out on paper, then taped on the cabinets’ doors. he had the biggest smile on his face.
“when we’ll have kids, imma cook them yummy dinners every night.” he greeted you with this promise when you walked in the kitchen, rubbing your tired eyes.
you checked the clock on the microwave. it was 8: 20 am.
jake caught up on your confusion. “i waited in the parking lot to be the first person there as they open, ordered all the food online last night when you were sleeping. i picked up a cute table center piece on my way back. isn’t it lovely?”
lovely. that’s not a word he used often.who was this man and where was your boyfriend?
you turned your head and found a very autumn looking arrangement of candles and wood and other golden elements. you nodded slowly, approving of his choice.
you turned your heels, ready to go back to bed and ignore the upcoming chaos in the kitchen as lil chef jakey-jake was about to cook for an entire army.
“don’t you wanna be a good girl and help daddy cook for your parents?”
soon enough you two were wearing matching aprins, you had jake’s hands printed in flour on your butt as he fed you slices of apple while putting the pie together.
it was barely two in the afternoon and everything was ready or finishing to cook. jake made sure to let you taste test everything. he didn’t want you to be too full, so he let you snack on some froot loops around lunch time. he couldn’t deal with a hangry hostess, tonight was too special for that!
you started to yawn and get cranky and quite frankly, he was not doing any better.
“let’s nap before we feast like royalty” he suggested.
you cleaned the kitchen at the speed of lightning.
jake grabbed your hand and pulled you upstairs. he tucked you in. you spooned him, hiding your hands under his t-shirt to keep them warm as you too quickly fell asleep. he was too exhausted to laugh at your cold fingers toasting against his skin.
the alarm ran so loud that jake jumped off the bed (he caught himself before falling on the floor).
“wake up, buttercup.”
you earned a kiss on your temple, basically the only corner of skin exposed from under the blankets.
you growled in response, missing the warmth of his body.
“oh, is that so? you’re not gonna let daddy make you feel good in the shower?”
won’t you look at that, your pyjama was tossed on the floor, steam was leaving the glass shower and your back was pressed against the tiles as jake held you up and fucked into you, slow and deep.
“stuffin’ you up so good” jake laughed, as both of you were close to your release.
you exploded in laughter, jake echoing your gleeful giggles. he went to rub your sensitive clit and a few seconds later, you were screaming out his name.
the two of you got dressed. he wore a black shirt. you wore something that matched. you put on light makeup and perfume as jake watched your reflection on the steamy mirror, his arms wrapped around your waist.
“tonight is going to be perfect.” you reassure him, making him grin.
the door bell rang and jake ran down the stairs. he let you fix his rebellious collar and press a kiss on the tip of his nose.
the door slammed open. “mom, dad! so good to see you!” jake greeted your parents, remembering how you introduced them to him the first time.
another wave of laughter. jake noticed that you had the same happy wrinkles at the corner of your eyes as your mother. he loved that new detail about you.
“gather around, the food is ready!” jake said and your mom offered to help him serve the plates. he accepted, thankful for an extra pair of hands.
the table was quickly covered with mashed potatoes, chicken (he didn’t want to roast a whole turkey for the four of you), roasted veggies, salad, gravy, bread and basically everything you could think of (he kept the froot loops on the counter in case you didn’t like his newfound recipes).
jake buttered a slice of bread for you, earning a smile from your father.
you gave him a bite of stuffing and the two of you laughed at his cheesy dirty talk from earlier.
jake leaned closer to your ear, when your parents discussed some encounter with wild turkeys they had on their way home. it was picturesque, but jake’s words snapped you out of this reverie.
“all the food is good, but your pussy’s still my favourite flavour.”
you choked on your sip of hot apple cider for a quick second.
this man had no shame.
rapper!jake started to talk to your dad about the hockey season. and to your mom about the carrot cake recipe he found that he wanted to make with her.
you blinked away a happy tear.
the rest of thanksgiving dinner went smoothly. you guys went to watch television, some old scenes of charlie brown were playing. jake switched to music instead, the smooth jazz of louis armstrong brought your dad to invite you for a slow dance around living room. jake did the same with your mother.
eventually, you tried to switch partners and your dad ended up dancing with jake. they both went all in, suddenly thinking they were in a royal ballroom.
it was after the four of you stopped laughing that your mother suggested they drove back home.
it had started to snow outside, pretty hard.
“why don’t you stay? we have a guest room.”
the we made you feel all happy inside. it was jake’s house, he worked so hard to afford it. yet, he considered it yours too.
“we don’t want to bother the lovebirds!” your mom tried to deny the invitation.
“family is never a reason to be bothered.”
these words came from jake.
the same jake who, not too long ago, didn’t even speak to his own family. he didn’t want to have anything to do with them.
the same jake who was about to break down at the thought of meeting your parents.
the same jake who thought would never have a family of his own.
your parents smiled and thanked the both of you.
jake gave your dad some merch and sweatpants for sleep wear. your mom took your favourite pyjama set.
they were fast asleep.
and you thought jake would be too, after such an exhausting day of running around.
“what are you thinking about, my love?” you asked.
jake shrugged, moving his arm so you could snuggle up against him. you rested your head on his naked chest. the beat of his heart was peaceful, almost enchanting.it was your favourite musi.
“we didn’t say what we were thankful for.” he remembered the essential tradition of thanksgiving.
“then say it now.” you chuckled softly.
“i’m thankful for you,” he poked your nose, making you scrunch it adorably. “thankful i get to see you smile, get to hug you and kiss you, get to sing to you until you sleep...”
he kept going with millions of other details.
“i’m thankful for the wonderful human that you are, jacob.”
strangely, he was both tearing up and getting a boner at the same time. you can’t blame him, there’s something very hot about being open and vulnerable.
you moved on top of him, trailing kisses on his jawline and neck, on that sweet spot that drove him wild right under his ear. you painted his collarbone with more kisses.
your pace slowed down, your body was falling against his.
he wrapped his arms around you, making sure you were safe and sound as he heard you snoring slightly.
he laughed through his nose, not bothering to turn the lamp off.
he opened his mouth one last time that evening, to whisper those three magical words:
“i love you.”
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Please don't take this the wrong way, but you realize that this show is explicitly about the poor, Midwestern white male experience? They lack privilege on multiple levels which the show explores (sa m the janitor, Dean the grunt), and all of the queer issues stem almost directly from the poor white male's low level of self determination/ agency or the perception thereof I'm a poor whitish person from a similar area, and it feels unique to see a poor white show that isn't Roseanne.
Hi nonnie,
I have a lot of things to say in response to your message — which does display ignorance of societal organization across systemic racial lines — but without creating a huge extensive post, here are some crucial points to consider:
- The “poor Midwestern white male experience” does NOT discount the insulated bubble of white privilege that Sam and Dean Winchester occupy, and neither is Supernatural immune from racist narratives and/or racist character implementation (especially ‘cause SPN has predominantly white production crew/writers around the table. Again, any literary narrative or script they conceive can and most likely will be influenced by internalized unconscious white dominance —> white-painted narratives perceived by POC viewers. I mean, scour this blog/google ‘Supernatural and racism’ and you’ll get the picture.)
- Additionally, stating that the show is “explicitly about” the poor Midwestern white male experience is false. Yes, you’re a poor white person from a similar area, and so you believe that, as a white person, the show’s premise reflects your experience. However, your statement doesn’t represent reality. The racial blind spot here is: media consumption by (realities of) white people will not equate to media consumption by (realities of) POC.
As I said here, we cannot talk about other systemic forces like socioeconomic class without addressing race. Race is inherently interweaved into other structural dimensions. It’s why BIPOC (Black Indigenous POC) + POC are: statistically paid less than white employees, unequally treated in terms of job capability, encounter unconscious bias across the hiring market, struggle to find jobs, unable to afford three-story suburban houses, and can never seem to find favour no matter how hard we work.
Reni Eddo-Lodge reiterates what white privilege is. When we say ‘white privilege’, we aren’t referring to white people always having it easy, or living in the lap of material wealth (but economic race disparities are instrinsically linked to material wealth), or lacking suffering, or living in poverty.
White privilege: the unearned set of societal benefits, advantages, and positive attitudes/behaviours bestowed upon white people solely because they are white (because of the pale/white colour of their skin). Claiming that Sam and Dean “lack privilege on multiple levels” perpetuates the continuous erasure of the POC reality, as well as intersectional BI+POC realities (being PoC, queer, and disabled, etc). What’s our reality? We actually lack privilege on multiple levels because of the colour of our skin. Your claim could imply that white privilege isn’t a thing, but it is. Think of white privilege as the air we breathe: it’s there, and we’re surrounded by it, and we breathe it in, yet because air is mostly invisible, some people aren’t always aware of it until you tell ‘em “Hey dude, did you know you’re inhaling oxygen?” The answer would be: “Obviously. Idk why you’re pointing that out - I already know that. You saying I’m dumb?” (lol not too far off from white defensiveness, right?) White people are so used to their privilege that they feel weird, ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘unsafe’ once people of colour point out their privilege. They subconsciously (and consciously) refuse to lose their place at the top. They’ll be offended.
To address your message, specifically — Sam and Dean hold white privilege as white men despite being poor. This is an uncomfortable fact that white SPN audiences must acknowledge.
If translated into real life, Sam and Dean will walk inside a bar and not be suspected of crime at first glance. They won’t look suspicious. They won’t get physically assaulted, shot at, killed, and/or lynched, both by police and fellow white men. They can speak, eat, and behave however they please without getting kicked out. They’ll chase after people they wanna bang or make inappropriate moves without being accused of sexual harrassment; BI+POC are typically falsely accused. (*Bonus Salt incoming* Sam and Dean won’t die permanently on their own show. The BI+PoC allies they have are often killed off to forward their plot and channel white manpain, then embody racist narrative tropes. As an Asian, Kevin Tran’s Stereotypical-Asian presence upset me, and his death further hurt my sensibilities. It did not shock me at all to see yet another Asian character killed off. Again, I must mention the horrible Asian-fetishist-exotificating Busty Asian Beauties, as well. Heck, S8 episode title “What’s Up Tiger Mommy?” was blatantly racist that I can’t believe no one demanded they change the episode premise + Kevin and Linda Tran’s characterizations. JUST KIDDING, of course I know why no one emphasized the issue - there are barely any BI+PoC in the writer’s room. This is why hiring us must become important).
Unfortunately - and unlike your opinion - Supernatural is not “unique” for us BI+PoC fans. It’s a show manned by predominantly white cast/crew that centralizes two white men and their respective narrow realities. We don’t live in a bubble. We’re everywhere. Depict us properly, with cultural/racial sensitivity, in entertainment, media, art forms, and more. Acknowledge our lack of privilege on multiple levels.
We live within a society set up for people of colour to fail. Whiteness is the default, and the privilege intrinsically linked to that ensconces an entire array of political, social, cultural and economic structures advantaging white people while disadvantaging People of Colour.
You’re a poor white person. I’m not, and the likelihood of the white poor person being given an opportunity to escape poverty is statistically MUCH, MUCH higher than the likelihood of poor POC to escape poverty.
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*vigilantes ch. ~64 and main manga ch. ~255 spoilers*
although idk if these are really spoilers if these chapters came out a couple years ago! anime-only fans beware. anyway here’s my extremely long rant about the obvious, not trying to explain anything- i gotta yell!
so that vigilantes arc destroyed me! i’m not good at immediately putting thoughts about media into coherent points but i’m just so sad :( first of all after catching up with the main manga, shirakumo, despite being technically dead during his introduction, rocketed up to one of my favorite if not my favorite character. aizawa is also up there for me- he was first introduced as this strict teacher who seemed to psychologically torment his students for the fun of it, or at least for some yet unknown ulterior motive. but we now know that, while still kinda harsh, he does this to give his students that lead-dropping-in-the-pit-of-your-stomach rush in order to push them to succeed (or something like that?). he truly cares about his students and their growth which has been demonstrated multiple clear times. but what drives him to be like this??
shirakumo!! his actions today are a clear answer to the pushes shirakumo gave him back when they were students. they’re so obviously influenced by shirakumo that they’re almost literally answers. the main chapters are a little foggy because i speedread them at 3 am, but i just caught up with vigilantes.
at the start, aizawa sees himself as someone who’s constantly just behind and will stay there as everyone moves on. he trudges into class drenched after leaving the kitten behind and he’s super emo about it. meanwhile, shirakumo literally flies through the window, also drenched, saved not only the kitten but aizawa’s umbrella, and manages to put on this cheery (albeit borderline explicit) show about it. it’s a CLEAR contrast between the two and aizawa goes as far to say that he hasn’t reached his “true self yet” while he looks at shirakumo and then says that he starts to change.
as if it’s not enough for aizawa to beat himself up mentally, his classmates bring him down for not having a “heroic” enough quirk. shirakumo is constantly stepping in to bring him back up, even during real work study stuff, and goes as far to lend him a pair of his goggles so that his eyes become more useful. this becomes a stronger bonding point between aizawa, shirakumo, and hizaishi for them to start looking to the future together. while wearing those goggles, which are protecting his sight from the strong winds on the roof, he stares into the sky, feeling like he’s getting swept into the future like the clouds in the wind. (also the clouds as a metaphor. damn)
and then we come to the last fight. everyone that aizawa looks up to is crushed in the wake of the villain, and he’s the last one standing. there’s a group of children to protect, and he’s panicking and drowning in his overthinking. the way he’s given a huge panel to himself only to be visually overwhelmed by his thought bubbles stood out to me. and then the thing that snaps him out is shirakumo’s voice cheering him on. it’s a bunch of simple praise, but it means everything in the situation. the friend who’s been pulling him up no matter how hopeless or apathetic aizawa feels is of course the one to spur him into action in a life-or-death situation. aizawa realizes he’s gotta fight immediately, and even reminds himself of exactly what shirakumo told him- that his quirk IS useful and levels the playing field.
i was already kinda spoiled for this part since i read the main manga first, but hearing shirakumo’s cheering the entire time while aizawa is absolutely toiling to defeat this huge villain would have been touching regardless. and when he lands in triumph, hurting but victorious, he screams for his friend to hear that he did it!! but then you see this joy start to like. rot away as soon as it pans to kayama and hizaishi. it’s raining again (THE CLOUDS AS A METAPHOR! DAMN!). shirakumo’s corpse is lying feet away from him, staining the medics’ sheet with blood. i don’t have much to say about this part, it was just a lot for me to process!! also i’m still not entirely sure about the way his speaker works so i might be wrong here, but did he really spend his dying moments with a traumatic head injury cheering on his friend to not only beat the immediate danger, but to self-realization?? or maybe it was prerecorded? idk but either way, truly a hero.
aizawa and hizaishi are left standing in the rain because once again, “it fits the mood.” so obviously there’s the callback to when aizawa first said that when he comes to class after leaving the kitten and i have yet to fully comprehend it because i have no braincells for interpreting media. i guess maybe it’s like- aizawa at first felt terrible for not being able to save even a kitten while being enrolled in the most prestigious hero course in the country. getting drenched while settling with (what he considers to be) a cowardly measure is the icing to the cake for his self-hatred. it’s the classic “this might as well happen” scenario to get soaked by random rain or a car splashing you with a puddle on a bad morning. rain is sad. but in comes shirakumo, equally drenched but still the bright light that he is. he’s also done everything aizawa couldn’t but wanted to and more in this situation. he could do it not just because of his storing quirk, but because he held the life of someone who needed saving more important than the school rules. this decorum lets the kitten slide as it makes itself at home in the classroom. the rain stops soon after. but then you have shirakumo’s death. once again, aizawa, and even hizaishi, who’s usually always upbeat (almost every panel of him was just him screaming YEAHHHHH. plz give him more dialogue) both agree that the pouring rain fits the mood. this also brings us back to the present that preceded the flashback- koichi just rescued a cat and a child from a villain with aizawa’s help, and now they’re standing under an awning to escape the rain. this situation is literally almost exactly what happened at the beginning of the flashback which is why i guess it brought it on, but it’s interesting to see what changed- aizawa is the one who’s learned from this situation and teaching the student the meaning of responsibility (using an abandoned cat as an example, no less), and they’re all properly shielded from the elements this time. i guess the conclusion (that could be totally wrong) i’m coming to is that the rain sort of represents the adversaries aizawa faces in life- his self-deprecation, those that don’t believe in him, his personal failures that he has been facing lately. shirakumo has always been there to guide him past it, and once he lifts up aizawa nothing can shake him again. but now that he’s definitively gone, it’s back to haunt him for this one last moment of sheer grief. it’s only this one moment though, as aizawa clearly uses this moment to move on and better himself not just for his sake, but for everyone counting on him. he’s escaped the rain.
it’s so clear how this manifests in the main manga and i’m so happy vigilantes was able to spin out such a good backstory and explanation for his actions!! one of the most immediate ways we see his ideals stand out is his taking in of shinsou as his apprentice from general studies. it’s absolutely because he sees himself in this boy. he has a quirk that’s seemingly useless once you get into combat and everyone thinks he’s a creep for it. more people might even wary around shinsou than aizawa’s case. during the a vs. b practice fights, shinsou explains what he did wrong, clearly upset at himself for not doing enough. aizawa immediately pulls himself up, reminding him that in order to achieve what he just said, he’d have to be a pro, and that what he managed was more than enough. these parallels between aizawa and shinsou are definitely hinted at in the main story, like when midoriya underestimate’s his prowess in combat at usj, but with the vigilantes arc everything is so much clearer. in the main manga, we get a direct reference of aizawa’s expulsion rate in relation to how it helps students grow when they face “’death’” as he’s interrogating kurogiri. though dramatic, i feel like it has to be linked to the dire situation aizawa faced when the pro heros and shirakumo got knocked out during that one fight because of its placement in the chapter. he understands better than most in the story that a lot of times pushes, whether big or small, are needed to grow. he wants to be to his students what shirakumo was to him.
OK EDIT because i didn’t realize there was more to the arc after 64 lol. so obviously after shirakumo dies aizawa’s and hizaishi’s dreams of starting a triple hero agency have been dashed. aizawa seems to distance himself from hizaishi, or at least they’re on uneasy speaking terms. he’s coping by training super hard and is bent on going solo after graduation, the opposite of what they had all planned. but this time, he has conviction on what he’s going to do with himself, and that’s great! he learns that you have to be there for yourself in life. there’s a small montage leading from graduation to where is now in vigilantes and it’s been hard, but he’s been making it. still a lone wolf as ever, aside from the pushes from kayama to become teachers with her and hizaishi at ua. he thinks doing that would be a stupid choice for him, he’s been alone this whole time and doesn’t work well with others (anymore, he thinks). but now that he’s in the cafe with everyone, he changes seeing everyone fawn over the cat but their new dreams of being a popular cat cafe.
the impact of seeing their newfound hope brings him back to another flashback of the rooftop trio, and THE PARALLELS!!! of them also dreaming to start their hero agency based on their first rescue of sushi the cat. back in the present, aizawa, who’s been spacing off, suddenly realizes the sky and his mind have cleared (THE CLOUDS KEEP COMING BACK AS A METAPHOR!!! if this happens in the main story i’ll cry). i’m still not 100% sure of what exactly makes the dots connect for him, but it’s been hinted through the flashbacks and his reactions to the rescued cat that he’s actually a good teacher himself, though he had been mainly shown to have learned from others around him. he drilled husbandry requirements into shirakumo and interrogated koichi about responsibility as if they were second nature. i think aizawa realized that he’s actually always had a soft spot for watching people grow and do good things and wants to be a part of facilitating that. or at least because he wasn’t able to accomplish doing good with his friends originally, he wants to help other accomplish the goal he couldn’t. also the fact that kayama still sends him updates on sushi isn’t just really nice of her, but it’s also another representation of how aizawa’s convictions he developed as a student still drive him to do what he does today.
MY MAIN POINT IS: aizawa really loves shirakumo. to have so much of his character based in the lessons he purposefully or inadvertently taught him is an amazing testament to that appreciation. aizawa never emotes except for the occasional creepy smile when he psychologically toys with 1a, but the emotion he displayed during the interrogation really caught me by surprise. the apathetic emo character suddenly being truly happy or sad is a cliche but this panel right fucking here was so powerful to me:
yeah his eyes are always bloodshot as a trademark to his quirk, but the emotional EXHAUSTION written on his face is so starkly different than his usual boredom. this feeling that horikoshi illustrates in two small panels is so human that it’s instantly recognizable deep in our hearts. we’ve all been in those heavy and direly serious moments that wrack our mental and emotional fortitudes, where the only response manageable without hideously breaking down is some subtle motion of the hand or crinkle of the face. we all know what this means without understanding the japanese onomatopoeia or needing additional dialogue. before i read vigilantes, i still immediately understood what this man meant to aizawa. and that’s why i love shirakumo so much!! we all know at least a little how aizawa used to feel as a student, and to have someone constantly pushing you and acting as such a light in your moments of darkness is something so incredibly special. i really hope they’re able to get him out of his nomu state so those three can finally become heros together :’)
god!!!!!!!!!!
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hi! i would love to read a seer of space analysis 🥺 thank you!
Hey anon!! thanxx for the ask!! Here’s what I’ve got for our second Space player, the…
Title: Seer of Space
Title Breakdown: One who passively understands [teaches, is taught by, studies, interprets] Space [physical space, expansiveness, beginnings, growth/birth]
Role in the Session: The last class we covered was the Witch of Space; here we have the opposite Class of the same aspect. This is also, I believe, the first Passive Class we’ve covered here, so before I begin my analysis proper, I think I’ll duck into a brief tangent re: my take on the Active-Passive dichotomy. There are a couple of contending fanon interpretations here – basically, one school suggests that the Active classes control or otherwise directly exert an effect upon their Aspect, while the Passive classes subtly influence and are themselves influenced by their Aspect. The other school posits that while both Active and Passive classes can interact with their Aspect in both Active and Passive modalities, what truly distinguishes them is that Active classes utilize their talents for their own purposes, while Passive classes utilize them for the benefit of others, or even in service to the Aspect itself. I think both schools of thought contain a grain of truth, and since I’ve yet to propound my Unified Theory of the Active-Passive Dichotomy for the moment we’ll focus on the distinction between this particular Passive Class and its Active counterpart, the Mage. The way I would describe the dichotomy between the two Understanding classes is that while a Mage experiences their Aspect firsthand, and ultimately leverages their experience for control or influence, the Seer is instead taught of their Aspect through and intermediary, and ultimately carries that education on to others.
Seers often take on a sort of “prophetic” role when it comes to their Aspect and their Session in general, preferring to, at least at first, “commune” with their Aspect from the sidelines and convey their knowledge to their team. However, the Seer of Space is, by virtue of their Aspect, bound to play at least one critical “active” role – that of course being the breeding of the Genesis Frog and the creation of the new universe at the game’s end. This grand goal parallels one of Space’s broader themes – birth, creation, and expansiveness. The Seer of Space will, as their title suggests, have a unique ability to see across vast distances, which will eventually develop into an ability to see through the veil of Time itself to witness the inception of things. The downside of the Seer’s clarity of vision is an increased susceptibility to the whims and wiles of their Aspect, which can, if not properly managed by the Seer and their team, develop into disillusionment with their Aspect and ultimately role inversion (a process that is never exactly a good sign for a session when it happens to any player, but which for the Space player could well lead to the Session’s doom. A healthy Seer will allow their Aspect to work through them while refusing to allow its currents to erode the Seer’s independent sense of self.
In addition to the all-important task of frog-breeding, the Seer of Space will also likely be called to serve as a “grounding force” within their session. They’ll allow their companions to “see…the beginning” of things, and in so doing (hopefully) call their companions’ minds back to their true purpose, reminding them of where they’ve started no matter how far they come. By drawing this through-line from the session’s start across its winding course, the Seer of Space will be able to “zoom out” and see the game in bloom, both demonstrating how much has been accomplished and how much remains to be done. Seers and Active roles tend to mutually benefit one another, and a Seer of Space could be the kind of grounding influence a volatile role like a Knight of Rage might be. Also, because of the sort of natural progression from Space to Life (with Space representing birth and Life representing Youth/Growth), a Seer of Space could work in tandem with a Witch of Life to restore and rebuild in the aftermath of some catastrophe, with the Seer acting as the architect and the Witch as the builder.
Opposite Role: The Witch of Time (interestingly also a canon role, although not nearly as well-developed of one). The Witch of Time ranks right up there with the Prince of Rage and Thief of Hope for “most radically Active roll”, while the Seer of Space probably falls somewhere near the opposite end of that spectrum. Because of this, there’s going to be real conflict should the two ever meet; of the two, I’d place my bets on the Witch initiating this conflict. The Witch of Time is almost certainly going to have Big Plans and Grand Schemes, which Plans & Schemes are unlikely to develop in synch with the interests of the team as a whole. The Seer may well struggle to get the big-picture (of winning the game and creating a new world, presumably) across to rather single-minded Witch, and because of the difference in their fundamental view of the Universe (Time viewing it as a chain or system of discrete moments, Space viewing it as a self-encompassing totality) there probably won’t ever be straightforward communication on these lines. However, when it comes to communication there’s nothing I’d really put beyond the capacity of a well-developed Seer – it’s just that in this particular case, with such polar opposites, it’s likely to be a difficult task regardless.
God Tier Powers
Seers aren’t usually as big on the “flashy powers” thing, but here’s a few concepts…
Telemetric Chains: While holding an object, the Seer can, visually or through another sense, perceive the object’s journey through Space from its creation to its inception. They’re unlikely to be able to scan through this journey frame by frame, as it were – rather, they get a zoomed-out image of the object’s entire path, from raw material to finished work to the various changes-of-hands it went through before it finally met the Seer’s. It’s possible that, with some effort, this could be used on people, but that might be veering dangerously close to Time’s domain.
Palantir: The Seer will almost certainly acquire the ability to “see through Space” – it’s right there in the title. While there are many forms that vision at a distance might take, considering Space’s intrinsic physicality and the other powers on this list, I like the idea of a Seer of Space’s being able to see through the eyes of an object they’ve touched, wherever it happens to be at its present moment, and ultimately stretching beyond that location in a radius limited only by the Seer’s focus and determination. Once the object has been destroyed, or fundamentally changed, it goes dark; similarly, the Seer’s vision can only transcend physical boundaries, and won’t be able to see across timelines, beyond death, or into the Furthest Ring. Nonetheless, a canny Seer is bound to find all sorts of potential uses for this sort of thing, as a Seer needs their knowledge like a Knight needs their sword.
Perceive Potential: This power functions as an inverse or corollary to Telemetric Chains, sort of. Although it doesn’t allow the Seer to see the object’s future, it does allow them to see the broad-spectrum of potential future forms the object might take. The spectrum would be limited to forms that the object might be induced to take by ordinary means; as it doesn’t actually include any portion of the timeline other than the present moment within its scope, it’s functionally limited to divining the forms an object might take by way of alchemy or ordinary craftsmanship. This ability would become especially beneficial in the realm of literal architecture or engineering, as with the ability to see so many possibilities laid out before them, a Seer could divine the most efficient construction for a particular set of circumstances rather quickly.
Personality: A Seer of Space will manifest both a Seer’s introspection / contemplativeness and a Space player’s overflowing, if somewhat unfocused, creativity. I could see the Seer of Space drifting in the direction of yr typical hippie / stoner stereotype, but this obviously isn’t a necessity, just an image that came to mind. They might also be the sort to sketch out countless diagrams for projects – sculptures, structures, machines – that they’re unlikely to have gotten around to actually constructing just yet, and it’s hard to imagine their room not being scattered with something. The Seer might have a great many interests about which they’re passionate, and into which they’ve invested a great deal of research, accumulated over the course of their life. While they won’t focus on these interests for very long, they’ll never forget any of them, drifting back and forth as they feel so guided.
The Seer’s interpersonal relationships are unlikely to be especially fraught, but also unlikely to be especially lively – they’ll have friends with whom they’re open, and close, but they’ll probably tend towards introversion, preferring to ensconce themselves in their various ideas and imaginings than tie themselves too closely to any particular person (or notion thereof).
Songs: A couple that came to mind…
Moon Over Goldsboro, our Mountain Goats song for the analysis ;3 (It’s big sad but idk I just got some Seer vibes from it, and I imagine object correlatives would be Space players’ jam lyrics-wise)
Telescope by Cage the Elephant
I hope you enjoyed this analysis; I wrote Just A Bit more than I was planning too, so I hope it didn’t drag on too long. As always if u have any questions please do ask!! Asks and requests remain open :3
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Anonymous asked:
Hello. How to be a well-known and well-liked person at work?
Why do you want to know? What is your underlying motivation? When you approach personal learning and development without a clear or authentic intention, you are liable to stumble badly and get unpleasant results. Your question includes a lot of confused thinking, which is a major part of the problem.
I used to think that knowledge and working hard are the only things necessary for success at work. I haven't had a career yet. but I hear from others that other factors and office politics are also involved. Good comunication and social skills, being liked by coworkers and bosses for example. There are people who join a workplace/college and after a short time, they know almost everyone and everyone knows them, trusts and loves them. Bosses like and respect them, don't want replace them, etc.
You seem to “think” a lot of things. And to what end exactly? Do you enjoy “thinking” yourself into a pit of worry? You don’t possess any meaningful experience, yet you still claim to “know” things based only on some imaginings and secondhand information. This kind of speculation is problematic, a bad cognitive habit that should be stopped, because it is counter-productive to learning and growth. You are misinterpreting the few facts that you’re hearing. Yes, it is a fact that some people are good at socializing, but what does that mean for YOU? Does it mean that you have to be just like them? Yes, good social skills are required to succeed in some work environments? But all of them? Don’t jump to conclusions so quickly. You can’t seem to tell the difference between a fact and your own faulty interpretations of the fact.
Do you believe that you can become a good footballer by listening to people talk about how to play or describe their impressions of a few matches they watched? Secondhand information is subjective and anecdotal. You take the few facts that were presented and then you stitch together an elaborate narrative of some abstract “workplace” that you believe represents ultimate reality. This is very poor reasoning. In the end, you construct a very distorted view of the world and become blinded by faulty or oversimplified beliefs about how the world works. All this before having even stepped out the door, so to speak.
While I like to have that, I don't have the energy or skills for that as an introvert. I don't know how to start a good conversation or get people to like me, trust me and open up to me. I would naturally want to get the job done and go home. I'm not really interested in people's lives. meeting with more than seven people or going somewhere crowded gives me social anxiety and sensory overload. and Idk what is ok to say/ask in convos. Idk if I should be friendly or professional with bosses, supervisors and coworkers. or what behavior is ok or too much.
If you want to learn, then learn. There are lots of resources available out there. If you don't want to learn, then don't. It's your choice to make, as it's your life to live. DO YOU OR DO YOU NOT WANT TO LEARN? I can’t help you if you are stuck in contradiction and talking out of both sides of your mouth, saying that you both want but don’t want (i.e. unaware of who you really are or what you really want). How are you ever going to get motivated when you can’t commit to any particular desire/goal/direction?
If you suffer from severe social anxiety, get professional help for it. Social skills can be learned, just like learning how to play football by actually playing it though hours of practice. If you want to learn any worthwhile skill, you must put in time and effort to study and practice repeatedly, to get better gradually - it is certainly tiring - no pain, no gain. Is feeling “tired” the end of the world? You seem to believe that it is for some strange reason, which means that you’re not willing to put in the work? If you’re not willing to work hard, that is the end of the story.
So I just stay safe, overly formal, independent and polite. I prefer to be alone. During long hours of college or socializing, I stay quiet and anxious, get headaches and feel dizzy/confused. And I'm not on any social media because I don't care about the pictures people post about family, pets, celebs. I'm also not assertive and I'm afraid of drama or ppl hurting/using me.
"Stay safe" is the key phrase. Generally speaking, an excessive desire for safety is rooted in emotional problems, often stemming from painful memories and/or traumatic experiences. Until you resolve the emotional problems that keep you stuck and resistant against venturing outside your comfort zone, you won’t be able to grow as a person. The heavier the emotional baggage you’re unconsciously dragging around, the more “tiring” the learning process is, because there are too many self-inflicted psychological obstacles holding you back.
Instead of facing up to your emotional problems, you’d rather entertain useless speculation about imaginary workplaces and people you haven’t met yet, making yourself more and more scared (in order to justify isolation)? It’s quite easy to speculate and imagine all the possible threats out there in the world. It’s hard to examine the reality of how much you fear being hurt and how the fear twists your perception of reality. You keep taking the easy road and then wonder why you never get anywhere. DO YOU OR DO YOU NOT WANT TO CHANGE? Once again, I can’t help you if you are stuck in contradiction and talking out of both sides of your mouth, saying that you both like and don’t like how you are (i.e. unaware of who you really are or what you really want). I only help people who are fully committed to change.
I already know the consequences of being the way I am.
I’d argue that you don't understand - another example of thinking that you “know” when you really don’t. You've emphasized that you prefer to be alone, which means that you LIKE the consequences - your feelings tell the true story. You don't perceive the consequences as being negative, so why would you change your behavior? If you like isolation, isolate. Why not just “be yourself” and live the life that you want? Who says that you have to be anything but what you are? Why do you even care about any of this “social” stuff (that you also claim to not care about)? Why pressure yourself to be something that you’re not? If you put the pressure on yourself, then you take it off at any time.
But “being yourself”, if you’re doing it properly, won’t lead you into an unhealthy tertiary loop, so you’re not doing it properly, are you? If you’re not ready to leave your loop, don’t. Keep pretending that you’re “staying true” to your antisocial self, keep enjoying the safety of isolation, until you can’t live in denial anymore. That’s how most people have to play out their tertiary loop.
One day, when you’ve had enough, you may realize that your desire for isolation isn’t actually “staying true” to who you are and what you want. One day, you may realize that “staying true to yourself” was just an excuse, that you don’t really know yourself at all, and that your self-image has been nothing but a twisted little ball of fear all along. In other words, right now, your idea of “being yourself” is actually just being a scared little puppy that hides from every loud noise - is this what you really are and want to be? Is there nothing more to you than fear? Do you want to spend your entire life under the spell of the irrational fears you have conjured up to protect your comfort zone?
I need your help. How can I develop interest in people? How can I have more energy to socialize? How can I gain social skills and get people to like me, trust me, open up with me and let me in? (without being fake or pushy?).
Very simple: You have to care about more than just yourself and your own safety and comfort. But this is impossible if you leave your fear unaddressed and it continues to hijack your whole mindset. When you live in fear, you are all too willing to believe that people are bad and the world is terrible (based on selective evidence gathering), only looking out for yourself and your own feelings, which, in the end, amounts to starting every relationship in an extreme state of defensiveness and self-centeredness. A person needs to know you to like you, and how would they know you when you are emotionally closed-off and obviously hostile to their advances, when all you show them is coldness? A positive relationship should be built through the connection of two open and trusting hearts. Cynicism about people or society is merely a convenient cover that allows fearful or helpless people to feel safe/superior, but only in their own mind. Living in a coffin, worrying or complaining about the outside world without ever venturing out, is surely safe emotionally. But nothing ever happens there, does it? You’ve put yourself in there because you’re scared, which means that it’s up to you to own your fear and step out anyway.
How can I maintain relationships?
By putting in the time and effort to build your social skills and learn through firsthand relationship experiences. By taking the time to care about something other than yourself. Even psychopaths manage to care about the people closest to them. Is the problem that you can’t care or that you won’t care? If it’s a problem of won’t, why won’t you?
Relationship skills aren’t something that can be summarized in one paragraph, especially if you have a lot of dysfunctional relationship habits to unlearn. I've already recommended many relevant books on the resources list. Are you a good learner? From what you’ve said, I suspect that you have trouble learning or accepting advice because you always think that you know better and/or have an excuse ready to rebut good advice? If you’re serious about learning, then devote yourself fully to studying and practicing.
How can I learn office politics? How can I make my bosses like/trust me without seeming fake?
"Office politics" is not what you believe it is - dismantle your faulty fearful beliefs. Every workplace is just a group of people, made up of various individuals, some of them not too different from you. The quality of a group depends on the quality of the individuals and what they contribute to it collectively, and this varies quite widely from group to group and the size of it. If you contribute negativity, you influence others to be negative. If you contribute positivity, you influence others to be positive. But you don’t care about how you affect others because you don’t even recognize that you have any power to affect anything due to your fear, passivity, and helplessness. All you care about is whether you get paid? Work has no other benefit or purpose besides monetary compensation?
Some of the surest signs of having poor social skills include:
mindreading: presuming to know what people think/feel with little to no evidence; grossly misinterpreting people’s intentions/behavior due to fear, insecurity, anxiety, or overactive imagination
prejudice: making blanket/overgeneralized judgments about individuals, groups, or society based on very selective “facts” or superficial characteristics; unable to treat people as individuals to be dealt with in an adaptable case-by-case basis
self-centeredness: compulsively resorting to inauthentic and/or defensive behavior to manipulate social situations for personal reward/comfort; unable to understand situations from other people’s point of view
You suffer all three problems. You are quick to assume that people have ill-intentions. You like to divide people up into these or those “kinds” of people. You only care about people in terms of whether they make you feel good/bad and inexplicably refuse to care about their perspective.
A healthy relationship should be mutually satisfying in order to establish a sense of connectedness. A healthy relationship should be mutually beneficial in order to establish a sense of equality. A healthy relationship should include mutual caring and sharing in order to establish intimacy. Why would anyone want to enter a relationship with you if you make them feel uneasy, unsatisfied, and uncared for? Would you want to enter a relationship with you? If you’re a terrible friend, you’ll feel undeserving of friendship, because, deep down, you believe that you don’t deserve any kindness for never giving any kindness to anyone. If you want good friendships, you must first be a good friend. If you’re not willing to open up emotionally to care for people, that is the end of the story.
How can I make sure people don't see me as a good target to hurt, use or gossip about?
What is the source of your paranoia? Why is your first stance towards the social world one of negativity, fear, mistrust, suspicion, attack-and-defense? If you’ve been hurt before and that’s why you’re scared, then address that problem. Serious questions: Have you ever known LOVE? Have you ever known a caring, supportive, empathetic, and intimate relationship with someone? If you haven’t, for whatever reason, then you have a lot to learn about relationships. But going around pretending that you already know how people are (out to get you) and how the social world works (to victimize you) is not going to help you learn. You won’t learn if you already presume to know.
I haven't had a job yet. but I'm honestly afraid of having a career for these reasons.
You can’t prepare for every situation in life. No amount of mental preparation is going to eliminate your fear when the fear itself is always left unaddressed. Go out into the world, live your life, learn from your experiences. That's how life goes. But you don't want to live in real life, do you? You prefer living in your own imagination, pretending to know what the world is like without proper breadth of experience?
"Afraid" is the key word. Are you really ready to confront your fear? I don't think you are yet because you are still talking about how nice it is to be safely protected by tertiary loop. No one can force you to let go of your faulty beliefs when you depend on them so much for safety. You overthink and overanalyze, speculate and imagine, turn human beings into abstractions, convince yourself that you “know” when you really don’t... all for what? It is all a defense mechanism that keeps you trapped within yourself, ruminating in circles. It's all just meant to hide the fact that you are afraid, helpless, and willfully ignorant (in twisting the facts). The solution to fear is to actively confront it. The solution to helplessness is mastering the appropriate social and emotional skills. The solution to willful ignorance is humility: let go of what you think you know so that you can finally start to learn fresh.
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A Plea for Some Non-Cringe Native American Representation
There’s something that has bothered me for a real long time, and I haven’t said anything because it didn’t really feel like my place to say it. But if pasty white folks across the country will insist on continuing to make these books and comics and movies, then I guess this pasty white girl can make a plea to do it better.
So. Here’s the deal. Native American representation in fiction sucks.
We’re going to talk about why, and then talk about some ways you can do it better. And it’s going to take a while, so join me under the cut.
PROBLEM #1: Erasure
The first problem with First Nations people being represented in fiction is that it, uh...doesn’t happen very often. It’s pretty rare for a show or movie or book to have a Native character, and even rarer for that character to exist without being a vehicle/mouthpiece for some kind of hamfisted message.
And, of course, Native characters who do show up in movies are sometimes played by non-Native actors, which is just. Um.
somebody fucking kill me I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.
PROBLEM #2: The Same Stock Character Over and Over and Over
There’s this weird thing where TV shows have A Very Special Native American Episode(tm) where a Native American character shows up in a storyline designed to, idk, provide a tidy outlet for the viewer’s white guilt or something. I see this a lot in superhero stories for...some reason:
Batman and Chief Screaming Eagle (ok, it was the 1960s, surely things have gotten better right? oh...) who’s butting heads with a villain over a bad contract for, uh, the chief’s ancestral lands
There was the Buffy episode “Pangs” where a Chumash vengeance spirit is the villain-of-the day after being disturbed by some construction (and this is honestly one of the better treatments of the premise, at least the episode is well-written)
There was the Smallville episode with Kyla Willowbrook, the Kawatche Skinwalker (I know, I know) who for bonus points dies tragically in Clark’s arms (I KNOW) and who was deeply concerned with...with some construction...disturbing her sacred homesite...(this is starting to sound familiar)
And then there was The Flash episode where Barry is forced to fight with the complicated-yet-tragically-evil Native American activist woman whose crimes involve stealing cultural artifacts that belong to to the museum (yes I’m screaming) and also murdering people...y’know, for vengeance and stuff.
I could keep going but I really don’t think I have to. When your only representation of a culture is a character (frequently a smoking-hot member of the opposite sex to the hero) who is an ambiguous villain who is motivated by vengeance and/or justice over having their land/cultural artifacts disturbed, and who has a valid claim but is really going about it in the wrong way and whose tragic death and/or defeat really gives the white character something complex to think about for two seconds.... well. That’s more than a little racist.
PROBLEM #3: These Are Not Your Stories to Tell
You know what white people love doing?
They love appropriating Native culture! Seriously! They love it! And who can blame them, really? Native people have so much rich symbolism and mythology and cool clothes and neat aesthetics. Painted war ponies and buckskin dresses and shapeshifters and monsters, oh my! Indian burial grounds and vengeful spirits (oh for fuck sake enough with the vengeful Indian trope)
But here’s the deal:
The mythology you’re borrowing from belongs to a group of people who are still alive and sometimes practicing the religion you’re liberally reinterpreting
There is no such thing as a “Native American” myth. You’re talking about literally hundreds of different tribes who are culturally distinct from one another and have their own complex histories of interaction, diplomacy, war, friendship, etc. with one another for centuries before white folk got here. You erase all of that when you treat Native culture as a grab-bag of cool things you can mix and match to your liking.
Maybe, just a thought, stop it with the oppression narratives about activists and/or vengeful spirits who are real threatened by white people disturbing their homes? It’s not that there isn’t a lot to unpack in that -- I mean, white people really did conduct mass genocide against a race of people, for starters -- it’s just that this isn’t really your oppression narrative to tell.
It seems to me that folks writing about Native Americans don’t actually have any idea what Native people are like? They either think of them as anachronistic figures, an extinct and ancient group, or they think of them as people really hung up on their cultural past. Because maybe people can’t think of anything to do with a Native character other than use it as a vocal mouthpiece of one very specific part of their cultural oppression.
But please. Please stop. That is every bit as stupid and racist as making a Black character who only talks about slavery, or a Jewish character who only talks about the Holocaust, or giving all of your gay characters AIDS.
So what do you do instead?
Writing Native Characters in a Way That Does Not Suck - A Quick Primer
I can’t write a definitive guide on writing good Native representation, because there is no such guide, and if there were it would take a whole book probably, and I am not in any way even remotely an authority.
But I can give you some pointers that will help you.
(And to be honest, Native representation is so awful that the bar here is really super low, even just attempting a tiny bit is a really welcome breath of fresh air)
Choose a Tribe
Step one: Figure out what kind of Native people you’re writing about.
Because, as previously noted, Native People Are Not A Monoculture.
How do you pick a tribe? Well, start with geography. Where do you want the story to take place? Obviously people move around, so you can find folks outside of their ancestral lands, but they all started someplace, and a lot of people live where their parents and grandparents and cousins all live.
So where does your story take place? Pick a spot. Then find out what tribes live in that region. It’s not a secret. There are maps:
(Source: http://www.emersonkent.com/map_archive/native_american_tribes_map.htm)
Or maybe you want to go about this in a different way. Maybe you have a specific story idea in mind and you want to write it in a way that would be accurate and respectful. Cool! A good first step on that is to figure out what tribe actually does the thing you’re wanting to write about.
Skinwalkers, for example, originate in the Navajo Nation (Dine` people), although there are related myths from surrounding tribes in the area.
If you’re writing a story about Wendigo, then you should know those myths originate with the Algonquin people of Quebec and Ontario.
If you’re writing something with spiritually significant buffalo, you should probably choose a culture that actually interacted with buffalo -- ie, a Plains Indian tribe like the Lakota-Sioux people.
And so on and so forth.
(Note that this is only the first step. You still have to do a lot of research after this to be sure you’re doing everything properly and respectfully. And, y’know, maybe reconsider if you actually want to tell a story respecting that mythology, or if you just want to sound cool and exotic)
Also, personal preference: Please don’t make your characters Cherokee if you’re just going for “character with Native ancestry.” Please choose a different tribe. For a lot of complicated (and sometimes surprisingly racist) reasons, white people have been claiming Cherokee heritage for a long time, and even when it’s true, it feels cheap and cringey in fiction. If you want to tell a story about the Trail of Tears or something set in Tahlequa, Oklahoma, great! Write Cherokee characters! But if you just want a Native American character for other reasons...pick a different tribe.
Choose a Name
Fun fact: Modern Native people that you meet out on the street don’t have names like “Stands With Fists” or “Running Bear.”
If you have an impulse to name your character any kind of descriptive “adjective + animal” name...just don’t. Please. And don’t go to BehindTheName or some other random site to pick out something that “sounds” Native.
Names in other cultures are tricky. Some (but not all!) Native people may have a cultural tradition of having multiple names, including naming ceremonies (often as a rite of passage in adolescence). Some tribes have clan names. Everybody’s different. But these special names are culturally sensitive, often sacred, and are not a thing readily accessible to white people. White folks spent centuries trying to wipe out Indigenous people’s belief systems; they deserve to have some things kept private and sacred.
So what I’m getting at here is that white writers really, really should not touch on the “Indian naming ceremony” trope at all if they can help it, because it’s gonna be real hard to get the details right, and getting the details wrong is going to make you sound like an ignorant racist. And most of the time, it’s not really that important to a story.
Most contemporary Native people have regular English names. They may also have tribal names and clan names (that they may or may not share with outsiders). But lots of tribal members don’t, and that doesn’t make them any less Native.
My recommendation for naming your Native characters? Find real people from the time period, tribe, and region you’re writing in. Find a phone book or newspaper from a town on or near a reservation for your chosen tribe. Look at names of participants in powwows. Look at the sports rosters for Native schools. Look at historical records like census data from the year you’re writing about. Don’t just make things up.
** One Note: You know how “black” names are a thing? You encounter a similar sort of thing in some contemporary Native Americans. I grew up with a lot of kids who had “weird” names like Kirby, Sheriden, Baskerville, Sterling and Precious. (and by “weird” I mean “names middle-class white people don’t tend to use”). There’s also a lot of black-sounding names in Native populations. There’s some complex reasons behind this, and a lot of sociology of naming, and I won’t spend too much time on it right now but just...so you know. It’s a thing.
Write a Human Being
This really is the biggest thing, and it’s true of every writing you do, all the time, no matter what: Write a real person and not a caricature.
Native people are people first. Their cultural heritage affects them the way anyone else’s culture does. The things they eat, wear, do, believe, the stories they know, etc. are all affected. But Native people don’t have a responsibility to be walking representatives of their tribes. And they definitely shouldn’t be a vessel for white guilt.
(Fun fact: “Iron Eyes Cody,” maybe best known for the “Crying Indian” role in a commercial about pollution, was an Italian-American born Espera Oscar de Corti)
Here’s a really, really good article I found while working on this rant that might be of interest to you as wellas you set out on this quest: https://mashable.com/2015/03/24/american-indians-tv/
I still have so much to say on this topic, and maybe I’ll write more in the future, but this is already very long so I’ll stop. I hope this has been at least a little bit helpful for y’all. Go forth and write non-terrible characters, I beg of you.
*Disclaimer: I am not a Native person and do not claim any special knowledge or ownership of Native culture, and I beg you to please listen to Native voices when possible in your creative endeavors. I’m just a gal who happened to have spent most of my life living near reservations and growing up around Native people and having Native friends and being taught about historical cultures by my mother who has a degree in Southwest Studies and has done a lot of formal and informal research due to her own interests in the topic.
If you found this article helpful at all, please consider dropping a tip in my tip jar.
I also have a book coming out! You can pre-order it now! It features a main character of mixed heritage, New Mexico reservation border towns, and zombies trying to get by like everybody else.
Pre-Order now on B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/river-of-souls-t-l-bodine/1131956124
Or on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/River-Souls-T-L-Bodine/dp/1950305015
Or from the publisher: http://journalstone.com/bookstore/river-of-souls/?fbclid=IwAR14Qna5tMgWBV0We2uGSLreBkmyvZ5SoDAzPQpTKeFn4JR4PWSyKGl0VEo
Or add it to your Goodreads library: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46183381-river-of-souls
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@impatentpending @reddstardust @sher-soc-the-famder @blazingstarininkydarkness @mariniacipher @theotherella @notveryglittery(peeps who wanted to be tagged in this! sorry cj idk why it won’t let me tag you)
Platonic roceit high school au where they start off as rivals that slowly turns into best friends because of a common enemy (the school board threatening to cut the theater program)
It starts off with Roman being his natural dramatic self on and off the stage and for some reason, Roman's loud, charismatic self just... grates on Deceit's nerves
Like God what does this pompous ass know about theater? What does he know about living for the role he's in, about inserting himself so deep into character that he becomes the character until he's off the stage.
What does Roman know and why the hell is he so much better? it just irritates the hell out of Deceit, the jealousy he feels
One day, when Roman is talking loudly with his friends who aren’t in theater but band (Patton), art club (Virgil), and the robotics club (Logan), Deceit makes a snide, passive aggressive remark about Roman being a traitor to the theater program by mingling outside of the group. it pisses Roman off and the rivalry starts hot and strong.
Over the months of lets say sophomore year they're always at each others throats, getting along only when their characters call for it on stage and it drives everyone else in the department nuts because during the rehearsals they're fighting, making crude comments and mean insults rather than practicing and the quality of their acting goes down because of it.
One day a representative of the board of directors watches their worst performance yet and... silence. deceit knows they were there, he heard the theater teacher talking about it with the principal in the hallway during his free period. roman doesn't and remains oblivious to the danger they're in.
Until Mr. Octavius (cause why not name October that) gathers the theater club together a week later and says, with a solemn look, that the club is getting cut from funding and the next year drama will no longer be available.
Deceit and Roman both are pretty heartbroken at the news, but Roman refuses to give up the idea of "saving" the club and it drives Deceit mad. what can they do to change the mind of the board of directors? They're just kids! and one day, after hearing Roman plot with his friends, he snaps the same question, going on about how it was all their fault because Roman was too arrogant to see past his rivalry to actually work together
roman ignores the indignant rage at having the blame pinned on him for a moment because deceit is crying and, though he knows he'll refuse to admit it, he wants to help
"Then lets both work together. Make this club so good, so amazing at what we do that the next time some board of whatsits member comes down to watch, they HAVE to keep the club."
Deceit is shocked into silence before quickly frowning. “What do you propose we do that will make them actually come and visit again, then?”
Roman shrugged, getting up and beaming at his rival. “First we’ve gotta improve our acting skills and working together skills before we worry about getting their attention again.”
Deceit, still shocked, just nods and Roman’s grin grows. Behind him, Deceit sees his friends roll their eyes affectionately at Roman’s determination.
It’s hard for them at first, Deceit wanting to try but struggling to because he’s so used to working against Roman that working with him was just... difficult.
But he did his best, barring the sassy insults because keeping Deceit from calling Roman the queen of the castle was like keeping an ostrich from trying to mate with humans. Necessary but difficult and not most bothered.
After a particularly nasty insult (that Deceit actually felt kind of bad for letting slip), Roman snapped.
“What is your issue, Hamlie! I’ve been doing my best to get along with you, trying to fix our mistake and yet you can’t seem to make the same effort!”
Deceit flinched at the nickname, scowling. “As if you’re blameless, Turkey,” he muttered, crossing his arms.
Roman gasped at that. “You take that back!”
Deceit blinked, his arms dropping to his sides.
“You understood that insult? I thought you were an idiot.”
Scoffing, it was Roman’s turn to cross his arms. “As if I haven’t studied various stories like that. Greek and Roman history and religion? My favorite things to research.”
Okay... maybe Deceit underestimated him just a tad.
“Alright, fine. I’ll... try harder to get along with you.”
Roman frowned. “You haven’t answered my question.”
“What question?”
“What is your issue, Nagini.”
Deceit sighed, looking out at the seats of the theater, both being on the school stage right now to practice extra for the next show.
“I’m...” Deceit grit his teeth, grinding them together, “I’m jealous. Of you.”
Roman was quiet, so he continued.
“You’re talented. Better than me at getting into character, figuring out how they would act and speak. You learn the character and then you become the character and I’m always just slightly to the left of where I need to be, never really sticking the landing of who I need to be and it’s infuriating because it doesn’t even look like you try.”
More silence.
“Well, it’s not like I don’t work it at... I try just as hard as everyone else.”
Deceit finally looked back to Roman to see him... blushing? and not looking at him.
“Listen you want my advice? It’s the little things that matter. I put a lot of thought in the characters I play. Where did they grow up? How did they grow up? What drives them, their goals? It’s... a lot of work. I usually practice with Patton a lot to get a better understanding of what they’re like.”
Deceit sighed, running a hand through his hair, his hat tossed to the side with his coat so he wouldn’t feel too hot under the stage lights.
“Alright, enough with the mushy stuff, let’s get back to work.”
Roman grinned and nodded.
After that they did work a lot better together, Deceit having a new respect for Roman after learning just how much effort he puts into his work.
It wasn’t long until the first performance where they actually worked together came and passed, the show being such a success they actually felt ready to talk to the principal about convincing the representative to come back and see them in action.
Skeptical, the principal agreed to try, but made no promises.
They did their best to practice for the next performance but the hope and dread that they had swirling in their heads was distracting.
One day when they were taking break in Roman’s room, Deceit spinning in Roman’s desk chair while Roman laid on his bed, Roman spoke up.
“What if they say no?”
Deceit stopped, raising an eyebrow at Roman. “What if they don’t?”
Roman raised up on his elbows, frowning at Deceit. “No, you don’t... Deceit what if they say no.”
Deceit tilted his head, fidgeting with his hands in his jacket pockets.
“Then we’ll petition for the drama club to be reopened next year.”
Roman sat up properly now so he could chew on a fingernail. “And if that doesn’t work?”
Deceit hummed. “We’ll keep trying. What’s wrong, Roman, you don’t seem the type to lose hope.”
Roman puffed up his chest. “I’m not! I just... I’m worried. Theater is what I want to do with my life, if I don’t have my high school years to refine my skill and get scholarships to a college with an amazing theater program, what am I going to do?”
Both brows raised, Deceit leaned forward to get a better look at Roman.
After a moment of silence, he nodded. “You’ll find another way. You’re a fighter Roman, I doubt you’ll stop until you’ve exhausted every option and then some.”
Roman stared at Deceit, brow furrowed before suddenly grinning.
“You’ve grown soft.”
Deceit glared, grabbing a pencil from the desk and throwing at a laughing Roman.
The Board of Directors agree to send another representative, and Roman hugs a blushing Deceit so hard at that news he lets out a squeak.
They practice together even more, Roman and Deceit both surprising the rest of the club when Roman breaks character to make Deceit actually start laughing (well, snickering is a more accurate descriptor).
After a nasty stumble of lines on Deceit’s end that sends Roman into a fit of laughter while Deceit can’t resist the grin at making the other laugh, he suddenly realizes that... shit he thinks of Roman as a friend now.
He enjoys Roman’s company, even seeking it out when he knows he’s not going to be with his other friends, loves to make the other laugh so hard he lets out an ugly snort.
It’s... nice to have a friend that isn’t Remus, honestly.
With that realization, Deceit works harder to get better, not only for the sake of the club but also to make his new friend proud of his progress.
They managed to put on the best performance they could have, and the school gets to keep the drama club.
Deceit is so happy, he actually laughs out loud in genuine joy, turning to Roman with a wide grin, having that same smile returned to him it’s... exhilarating.
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The Bowers Gang: Ship #6 - Henry Bowers
Request: Hey! Congrats on 200 followers, you deserve it! Idk if i'm late to the party but if i'm on time can I get a ship? I'm kinda short, blue hair, my outfits mostly consist of leather jackets, vans or docs and red lipstick, I live for plaid pattern skirts and fishnets, I also wear a black bandana as headband a lot, I have a few tattoos (bands and horror movie themed/related) ya girl's also a slut for sunglasses hahah, heart shaped, cat eye, clout glasses that -fun- style, I love going to concerts and I'm a very artsy gal, I love painting on stuff, mostly jackets and clothes in general. I'm terrified of the dark and fights, seeing and listening to people argue/yell triggers my anxiety so that's also a big ass no from me hahah, I love standing up for what I believe in and would do anything to protect my friends and loved ones. I'm kind of a quiet person but when you get to know me nothing will make me shut up hahaha and if you are really important to me i'll basically shower you with love and affection, i'm a hugger lol, I'd like to be paired with Henry pls? 🖤
You were originally slotted to be Patrick’s girl just based off of your physical appearance
He stalked you for weeks on end (and low-key still tries to snake you from Henry on the daily), but was eventually forced to tone it down after Henry officially “claimed” you as his own
The kids of Derry High School don’t understand how you guys are together at all
You’re literally such a ray of sunshine (both physically and personality-wise), and Henry is such a fucking thunderstorm that it doesn’t make any logical sense at first glance
Or second glance
... But that thunderstorm loves his blue-haired ray of sunshine (even if he’s too straight-up menacing to admit it)
He stole your black bandana from you the first time you had sex (it’s now the black bandana he wears on his wrist 24/7)
He gave you the stud from his ear (and pushed it through your un-pierced lobe himself) because he couldn’t walk around representing you if you weren’t representing him
... Somehow got a new stud for himself before school even started the next day, but you’ve never wanted to hear the cringe-inducing story behind that
Initially found it weird that you paint stuff on clothes, but eventually asked you to paint “Bowers” on the back of all his jerseys (3 total)
He hasn’t noticed it yet, but you also painted a small heart on one just above the “s”
He’s going to kill you when he notices it
Just be aware
Holds your hand whenever you, he, and the guys walk around town at night, because he knows that you spook easily
But always wants you close to him regardless, because he knows Patrick well enough not to trust him in the slightest
... Which he shouldn’t, because Patrick is dying to get a taste of them fishnetssss
You constantly hit Henry up with tattoo ideas that you think would look good on him
He rolls his eyes like he thinks you’re being stupid, but he lets you draw them on him to see what they’d look like, because he’s genuinely interested (like the undercover nerd he is)
It’s so adorable, oh my god
He just sits there quietly like a docile, innocent creature and watches intently as you create art on his body
He spit-washes the “tattoos” off almost immediately, but that’s just because he doesn’t want Hockstetter to see (because he’d know how much Henry must friggin’ love you)
Not gonna’ lie, though, some aspects of this relationship will be really tough for you
Henry is a very angry person, and yelling is just a part of his basic existence, so get your anxiety prepared
He never tries to trigger you on purpose, but you definitely witness a lot of his snapping at/arguing with the guys, and it can get you feeling a little uneasy
Tends to try to comfort you in little ways when he notices you’re getting anxious though (after he’s done being furious, of course)
Sometimes puts a hand on your lower back, kisses your forehead really quickly (and semi-roughly, because Bowers), etc.
Basically just to give you a signal that it’s okay in as imperceptible a way as possible
Generally tries not to have another outburst for the rest of the day when he feels like he’s made you nervous once already, because he truly doesn’t want to be like his Father where you’re concerned (i.e. he doesn’t want you to feel like you have to walk on eggshells around him)
However, the worst incident you ever had was the first time you were present when Henry and the guys were screwing around with someone
You couldn’t take the intensity of seeing Henry “in his element” (aka: screaming like an animal in someone’s face), and watching the guys shed blood in such horribly violent ways
It really made you rethink some things about hanging out with them for a while (especially with Patrick, who enjoyed the pain too much), and it threatened your relationship with Henry for a short time
For that reason though, you being with the gang is a signal that no attacks are ‘bout to happen, because Henry isn’t about that life in front of you anymore
All the kids in Derry breath a little easier when they see your tiny blue head in the middle of the group of boys, because they know all ass whoopings will cease until further notice
Also Henry loves it when you give him kisses before class, because that means he gets to walk into the classroom with a big-ass lipstick stain on his cheek (which feeds into his god-like bad boy image)
Stole a pair of Gretta Keene’s flower-rimmed sunglasses off her desk and gave them to you because he legitimately doesn’t care about how rude that is
... But he wouldn’t admit it to you even after Gretta tried to fight you to get them back
You’re the reason this boy learns how to properly receive a hug
He tenses up every single time you give him one for the entire first year, but eventually gets the hang of hugging back and putting some feeling into it
Mostly because you and Belch were the ultimate hug-buddies (how could you not be when you both love hugs?) and he got tired of seeing Belch be really good at it while he was sucking hard
Legitimately one of the most light-hearted, positive relationships that Henry ever experiences
You’re so opposite from each other that you’re a perfect fit, and you make that boy happy ‘til the cows come home (and even beyond that)
This was actually a trip to write, so I ship you guys hard
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Realm of the Elderlings Ask Meme Thing
Created by @hermitknut and brought back by @elderling-magic
Thanks @blackandwhitemotley for tagging me :) this is gonna be unnecessarily long because I’m a messy bitch with too many feelings and not enough brain cells
Favourite RotE Book: God it’s impossible to choose properly so let’s just go with the one that always gives me flashbacks when I see it on my bookshelf: Golden Fool
Why: I was already deeply obsessed at this point and had laughed, cried and panicked countless times throughout the series BUT Golden Fool stands out because of the Fitz/Fool confrontation which all but gave me a panic attack. Sure, I’ve been overly invested in book characters my whole life but the fact I was like physically fuckin sweating just because these guys were having a verbal fight, which had nothing to do with the actual plot, is fuckin wild my dude. Also despite my distress I was thrilled in a way because I never expected Robin to address the homoerotic tension in the actual text - and I was even more impressed that she makes the Fool the winner in this fight. You feel for him (ouch!!!!!!!!) but he gets the last word and the whole time you’re on his side and wishing Fitz would just keep his goddamn mouth shut (unless he’s gonna use it to kiss the Fool). She makes you empathise with the Fool without compromising his dignity, without making him a pathetic pining gay stereotype. He is hurt, he is human, but Fitz is the fool in this exchange (forgive the unintentional pun). It’s crazy how this one scene defines this whole huge book for me but it overwhelmingly does. Man it fucked me up.
Top Three Favourite Characters: I’m excluding Fitz, the Fool and Nighteyes cos that’s just a given honestly and there are too many incredible characters to choose from. Also I’m going to choose three characters I think are exceptional on a technical level since that’s the easiest way for me to pick a few out.
1. Burrich - Forever fascinating to me because I disagree with him probably more often than not AND YET I love him so much. It’s seriously like I have the same relationship with him that Fitz does - and/or the same relationship many of us have with father figures. That weird thing where you can fundamentally disagree on some pretty important stuff, and he makes a lot of mistakes and probably irrevocably fucked you up in a lot of ways but you can’t help but love him because you know he’s not doing anything from a place of malice or pettiness or selfishness. He simply knows what he believes and is righteous to a fault. He’s always doing his best - whatever that looks like to him. There are so many things he says or does that make me amazed that I don’t hate him. I think in another series he is the kind of character I would hate. The fact that Robin makes me love him - and conflicted about that love - is a marvel.
2. Malta - I won’t harp on about this too much because we all know the deal. Malta’s early POVs were a tween nightmare. I had to skim them because they were so viscerally irritating. I guess it’s a huge testament to the writing that it really did feel like you were stuck in a tween girl’s head; the problem is that is the worst hell imaginable. It’s an even greater testament to the writing that, through some of the most masterful character development I have ever witnessed, you actually end up loving this girl.
3. Kennit - He’s such a monster that I hate actually saying he’s one of my favourite characters but it’s true. Especially from a writing perspective; it’s fucking witchcraft how Robin has you judging everyone around Kennit for falling for his charms even while you are in some way charmed by him. He’s intelligent, charismatic, enigmatic. You know he’s not a good person yet you enjoy spending time with him, you’re kind of rooting for him just because he’s interesting and you want to see what he’s going to do next. You even know - the narration straight up tells you - that most of his successes are down to pure dumb luck yet we still kind of buy into this persona of his. Absolutely brilliant writing. Not to mention his backstory, which is so tragic and compelling, and manages to explain his actions without excusing them. Without a doubt one of my top five favourite villains of all time.
Top Three Least Favourite Characters: Okay so again going for the writing angle; characters I just felt weren’t handled all that well on a technical level. Keep in mind that this is suuuuuper subjective. Also I can only think of two.
1. Molly - I’ve seen a lot of people assume that people who dislike her feel that way because she “gets in the way” of Fitz/Fool but that’s not true for me. I’ll try and keep this shortish because I have way too many feelings about this topic lol. Having read the whole series I wouldn’t change anything, but for a long time I really felt like the story would have been better if she wasn’t in it, or especially if she had not come back after Assassin’s Quest. Maybe that’s harsh, but I honestly just generally dislike the whole “first love, last love” trope (and in my personal experience have found it v toxic). I never found her character particularly engaging, but by the end of Farseer I had made my peace with her role in Fitz’s story; the way I saw it, she represented the life Fitz wanted but could never have. Of course you could argue then that it makes sense for Fitz to get her back once he is allowed to have a window of normal life - and that would be true EXCEPT the whole reason I saw her as a symbol and not a real love interest was because their relationship was TERRIBLE. It was seriously toxic and literally based on lies. I really felt what would have been healthy for Fitz at the end of Tawny Man would have been to find peace in realising that Molly was his past, not his future, and that what they’d had was teenage lust and not the stuff of soulmates. I don’t like the implication that Fitz was right to idealise this tumultuous, dishonest, immature relationship he had as a teenager all these years. Honestly this is why I was FURIOUS when I finished Fool’s Fate lol, even though I knew this wasn’t the ultimate ending. Now that I know where Robin went with this and that Fitz wasn’t really fulfilled in his life with Molly I don’t mind it as much but I still don’t love it. There was never enough of an honest, genuine, selfless connection established between the two of them for it to feel like anything other than an unhealthy fixation that Fitz projected all his unattainable fantasies onto. He never seemed to see Molly as a fully realised person which made it hard for me to do so. Also seriously, if I had been pining after my high school fling for the last ten years everyone would agree that the best thing for me would be to move on, not get back together with them. I’m not saying Fitz didn’t deserve his little bracket of peaceful years, but it just didn’t have to be with Molly. Sometimes not getting what you thought you wanted is the happy ending - I guess it’s just really jarring in a series that’s generally so subversive to get a standard fantasy trope like this. I really truly was shocked when Fitz got his feelings back from the stone dragon and his realisation was not “Molly is kind of just a girl I used to know a long time ago and our paths have long since diverged” but “yes no actually that girl I haven’t talked to in over a decade is my soulmate” like, wig in the worst way. ALSO SHE WAS FUCKING HIS DAD ALL THAT TIME. SHE BORE HIS DAD CHILDREN. HIS DAD HAD TO DIE SO THEY COULD BE TOGETHER. BRUH. Seriously it did feel like Burrich was sacrificed solely so these two little shits could get back together, and again, that was so infuriating and so not like these books. This and Burrich not being canonically in love w Chivalry are the only two points I actually get riled up about from a writing/critical perspective lol, every other flaw and quirk in this series I will absolutely pardon but for some reason these just get to me dude.
2. Starling - Promise this one is simpler lol. I always found Starling quite irritating “as a person” but didn’t mind her as a character. What I didn’t love was the way her lifestyle (promiscuity, independence, nomadic etc.) was kind of justified when it didn’t need to be, with the typical explanation that she’s only like this because she can’t have kids. It just felt really unnecessary, and it was even worse when she did get pregnant and basically just became a completely different person. But I’m generally touchy when it comes to female characters and fertility/pregnancy storylines as I just feel like they’re rarely done well. And I just really don’t like it when infertility is implied as a justification for character traits (usually traditionally male traits) that don’t need justifying.
Favourite Ship (of the floating kind): Paragon of course, we love a problematic fave.
Top Three Favourite Ships (of the people kind): Fitz/Fool, Sedric/Carson, Althea/Brashen (the only heteros whomst deserve rights)
Would you rather be Witted or Skilled: Honestly wouldn’t want either but if I had to choose I guess the Wit? I’d much rather be inside an animal’s head than another human’s no thanks bb
If you were Witted, what animal would you bond with?: If I’m still living in my current situation in this hypothetical then I guess a house cat. If I really get to go wild then I am absolutely bonding with a big cat, like a tiger or a panther IMAGINE THE SNUGGLES.
Would you rather live in the Outislands, the Mountain Kingdom, the Six Duchies, Bingtown, the Rain Wilds, Kelsingra, Jamaillia, the Pirate Isles, or Fool’s Homeland?: Dude I am so bad at visualising locations so idk lol, I guess queer utopia Kelsingra although obviously it has its drawbacks.
How were you introduced to the books? My mum had been telling me for years that if I liked A Song of Ice and Fire I would like Realm of the Elderlings. I was putting it off because there are so many books and I also knew how much she loved them so I was worried I wouldn’t like them and she’d be let down. But I eventually got so close to rereading ASOIAF (which I swore I wouldn’t do til Winds of Winter is released) that I decided to finally give RotE a go in its stead.
Share a quote you love: I don’t have a book on me rn but that part in Fool’s Errand when Fitz is talking about how the Fool has wandered into the place he’s been living for years and immediately, effortlessly made it a home is TENDERNESS BEYOND COMPARE ARE YOU KIDDING.
Tagging: if you see this and haven’t done it yet, consider yourself tagged!
Take the thing, copy and paste it into your own post, tag it “elderlings” and then tag as many people as you can that you know in the fandom.
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RvB17 Episode 1 Review: A Sitch in Time
Anyone else getting Kim Possible flashbacks from that title? Just me? Meh, that’s expected. Anyways! Intro!
Red vs Blue Season 17... holy Hell, Season 17. How many shows make it this far guys? Not many. Even though I've only been watching for two years now, seeing how far the show has come... it's crazy. Yet it's been such a fun ride and I am not ready for it to end anytime soon. So, after a long wait and one Hell of a cliffhanger to end S16 on, we are finally here my friends. S16 had... many reactions. But I can safely say that I loved every single moment of it. Yes even Gus as a cyclops, I loved it (eventually). So with that, and a change in staff structure with Jason Weight writing solo and Josh Ornelas and Austin Clark directing, can S17 hit the mark for fans? Well, after eight months of waiting, it's time to find out.
Overview
So to briefly recap, all of time has been broken and our boys have been sent back to the beginning of the series. Which is where we begin as we cut to what would be Season 1 Episode 3 when Donut first arrived at the canyon, only they are now using Halo 1 (I assume the PC version) instead of Halo 2 Anniversary. We start going through the beats of the episode with Grif and Simmons pointing out Donut's Red Armor... but Grif stops due to the deja vu hitting him again, and same with Simmons. The Blues are not much better, with Tucker confused at how “Church” knows Caboose's name when Caboose never said it. “Church” walks off... revealing the truth: it is Genkins possessing Church.
Genkins arrives at Chrovos' domain, where he finds the gears broken, Donut knocked out, and both the Time Gun and The Hammer discarded. Genkins promptly tosses away The Hammer before facing Chrovos, who is in a Monitor body as the Cosmic Powers are. So... Chrovos is an AI then? So due to complications (aka Donut), the plan did not quite go as intended. So Chrovos is having Genkins go through time to fix that problem. The problem? We'll go into it soon enough. For now, Genkins points out how it's hard to make out Chrovos' actions when they’re an orb and after going through a few changes, they settle on a female body that looks similar to Kalirama's model, but all black. They are also now voiced by Lee Eddy, who previously played 479er and is the voice of Gwen in Camp Camp. Nice.
Donut wakes up, with Genkins promptly shooting at him. Since the firewall is still up, Donut isn't harmed but Genkins wanted to vent. He proceeds to compliment Donut on fulfilling his role, even calling him a fellow relative, before leaving through a portal to continue with his shenanigans. It is at this point that Donut sees that Chrovos is freed, and they make it clear that Donut will pay for his actions by his friends suffering. Donut points out that there's no reason as they are now free... but when he steps forward, a barrier comes over the Time God. As it turns out, while Donut couldn't fully prevent Chrovos form escaping, he DID still manage to increase the prison enough to keep them contained. That's our boy!
Unfortunately, Chrovos's new plan is already in motion. Along the barrier is a large crack. Donut finds out that the guys saved Wash, but due to it they caused the paradox and now time is cracking apart. Which if you recall, paradoxes are exactly what Chrovos needs to break the prison fully. You see, the Reds and Blues history together was the back-swing to The Hammer's blow, and is now in a type of buffer period where new timelines are being formed, paradoxes following. This is why they have Genkins going through time, to create the paradoxes as he promptly does by stopping Sheila in Season 1 without Church getting killed. Genkins can also possess any type of AI figure in these timelines, hence why he is able to pose as Church.
Already cracks are forming along the singularity that represents the solid timeline. One has Tucker step up as a leader much earlier, only to die as a result. Another has Caboose on Red Team. More cracks are forming, and soon enough will form to break Chrovos free. So why are they telling Donut all of this? Because they know that he'll try to stop it and even encourages him to do so. He can possess his own incarnations in these timelines, but by doing so and by trying to bring his friends to their senses, he'll cause even more paradoxes and therefore make the job all the easier. Even after hearing this, Donut refuses to let the Time God screw with his friends like this. He goes into the portal, Chrovos wishing him luck, and our intro credits play with Donut being flung through time.
My friends, Red vs Blue: Singularity has begun.
Review
Hmm... there's a word that I want to use to describe my feelings. I apologize as it is a short word, but one that properly conveys my current emotional state. So... here it goes:
AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!
HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS! I LOVED IT! I LOVED IT SO MUCH!
Okay, okay. So honestly there's not too much to digest. Which is honestly fine. This is the first episode and after last year, they really need to explain things so that we would know what we're in for. It's an exposition episode, but a good one. The episode wastes no time at all. We see the guys current situation, find out what happened at the end of S16, establish what the focus of the season will be, and get the ball rolling at the end. It goes from one beat to the next, but without feeling rushed or boring. It was all very welcome information and had the weight of S16's finale to help carry it. We were already invested, so no need to hold back.
This also gives what's probably our first solid viewing of Chrovos. And let me say... I love them. I mean I hate them, as well as Genkins, for reasons but you can TELL that they are relishing their roles. Chrovos comes across as a serious, but quirky individual. Impatient, but also calm and very much in control. They have the intimidating present, but like with the Cosmic Powers they have these comedic traits that make them more entertaining and fun to watch. Same with Genkins, who continues to be a delight. I may hate the bastard for 'killing Huggins' (STILL IN DENIAL) but man he is just SO MUCH FN. His line about Tucker's heterosexuality was by far the best line in the episode. Nd the fact that he can possess any AI figures in the past, like Church? Yeah... that is both genius and terrifying. Helps that Ricco Fajardo and Lee Eddy are clearly having so much fun in these roles XD
So... timelines... holy Hell. I think we all kind of expected alternate timelines, but IDT that ANY of us predicted this. The Reds and Blues are reliving their past as Genkins changes thing up from the main timeline, or the Singularity as it were. Which leaves us with a buffer period as the chain of paradoxes keeps shattering the already weakened timeline. And all of it makes sense. The Reds and Blues history was used as the backswing and they were the ones who caused the paradox so it makes sense that this would be used to further shatter the prison. It explains why we got the paradox explanation last season as now all of the scenarios (Closed Loop, Multiverse, Stable Timeline) are all in effect. Since Donut was in Chrovos' domain, he wasn't affected and is the only one who has a chance in fixing all of this. It all lines up and promises us a lot of insanity, hilarity, and pain.
Speaking of Donut... oh Lord Donut. This is very much going to be his season. He was so great in this episode too. He's still a dimwit, but he's still fun and understands that shit is going down. It's really nice to see him get frustrated about time travel cause honestly? It DOES suck. But yeah he talks back against Chrovos, is still funny and gullible, and he is more than ready to do whatever he can to save his friends. Yeah, he understands the consequences, but screw it. He cares about his friends and he isn't going to let Chrovos get away with making them suffer to get free. He doesn't hesitate at all when Chrovos brings the option of going through the portal up. Is he going to succeed? Well... he's not going to have an easy time going about it, that's for sure. He's probably gonna go through a LOT of Hell. But hey, I'm rooting for him! Two years ago, when I first got into RvB, I would have NEVER said that I am all for Protagonist Donut. But damn it all, I AM ALL FOR IT!!! Also, Dan Godwin (who absolutely killed it in this episode) got top billing. Bless.
The direction of this episode was really well done. The effects are all super good. I mean just watch the credits sequence. The bluish-red mist, the character's appearing when their VA's name appears, Donut bein sent through the portal, it all looks amazing. The machinima was also really good and honestly, using the old Halo's is a MUCH better option than using Halo 2 Anniversary. It connects us more to those events since we recognize the settings and models much better in the past engines. Might also explain why we're only getting 12 episodes because going back and forth between engines had to have been pure murder on the machinimators. The camera work was also excellent, like Donut's first-person perspective when he wakes up. No real animation outside the credits, but honestly the effects were more than enough to keep things interesting. Very solid job by the RvB team.
Alright, we have our beginning... so what's gonna happen now? Honestly, it's hard to tell. We're probably going to spend the first half going through some notable RvB moments, exploring the new timelines, and Donut hopefully managing to get a few of the guys back to their senses. Honestly? There are a LOT of possibilities for how this season can go down. Moments to revisit, old characters to see again, SO MANY POSSIBILITIES. IDK where Jason is going to lead us, but I can safely say that I'm invested.
Final Thoughts
This was a solid start to the season! It wastes no time in getting us into the swing of things but still takes time to inform us of all we need to know and let the characters be characters. As I said, I already love Chrovos far more than I did last season. It perfectly sets up our main plot, and all that's left to do now is see where it leads us. 11 episodes to go people. Let's make them count.
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