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inmyicyworld · 8 months

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Wakanda pt. 2

pt. 1

Summary: Bucky's trigger words are being removed and you finally talk about your feelings.

Word count: 5k.

Warnings: Bucky's trigger words, smut and fluff, a pinch of angst, unprotected sex, oral sex (f receiving), nipple play, size kink?, dirty talk, pet names.

Author's note: so it's the second part of this work. Also, I did some research this time about Bucky's clothes that he was wearing in BP. I read some things about African culture, and I believe that his red piece of clothing is called a shuka. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

Btw, my inbox is open, so y'all can share your ideas or whatever🤍

*English is not my first language, sorry if you find any mistakes*

I posted it again because the first time it didn’t show up in any tags

masterlist my ao3 ko-fi

After that night, you woke up with Bucky holding you tightly to his chest, and it was really one of the best mornings you even had. But unfortunately, Fury called you not so long after because apparently you were the only one who was able to do that mission.

You two didn’t have enough time to talk about whatever happened between you, and after almost the whole month passed by without any contact, you finally got a call from Shuri, who told you that in a couple of days Ayo is going to officially remove trigger words from Bucky, and if everything goes well, he’ll get a new arm and will be a free man.

Sitting in a quinjet a few miles away from Wakanda, you felt nervous as hell. You didn’t know what Bucky felt toward you. Were your feelings mutual? Was it just sex for him? Or maybe he regretted everything and wanted to be your friend again.

Honestly, you wouldn’t be able to handle that. After that night, after you finished your mission and were again alone in your room, the aching feeling in your chest made you want to cry. You wanted Bucky with every piece of your body, and living for a month with a million questions and scenarios was too tough.

When you finally landed, one of the Dora Milages met you to guide you to the place of the ceremony. It was in the woods, far away from the city and anyone’s eyes. At first, you saw Ayo, who only nodded to you with a small smile.

But then your eyes fell on him.

Bucky was already looking at you, and you didn’t quite understand how he felt about your presence. He was sitting near the fire in his usual Wakandian clothes and with a cute messy bun. The fire in front of him danced on his face, and he looked so beautiful but scared and nervous at the same time. It took everything in you not to run closer and hug him.

Bucky couldn’t believe that you were really there. You came to Wakanda for him, to support him in such an important moment, even though you didn’t have to. You looked gorgeous as always, and the soft smile on your face calmed his overthinking mind. Mumbling a quiet “hey” under your breath, you saw the soft smile blossoming on Bucky’s face and his lips slightly moving as he said it back to you

“Are you ready, James?” Ayo interrupted your silent conversation with each other and came close to Bucky.

“Are you sure about this?” Bucky looked at the fire, now feeling scared because of this whole situation again. He couldn’t fight the feeling that there was no chance for him to heal and that the piece of the Winter Soldier was forever immortalized in his brain.

“I won’t let you hurt anyone.” Bucky’s worried eyes slipped back to you for a second, as if the thought of you being there when everything might go wrong scared him the most. He just slightly nodded back to Ayo and took a deep breath.

Honestly, you had never heard or even read Bucky’s trigger words because they created a weird, disgusting feeling in your stomach, so when Ayo started to say them, it sent goosebumps down your spine.

Желание.

Your blood froze in your veins by the way Bucky’s face expression changed. His eyes were glued to one spot, and any piece of that soft and warm look that he had for you disappeared.

Ржа��ый.

Семнадцать.

“This is not gonna work.” His body started to tremble, overwhelmed with the emotions and memories of his past.

Рассвет.

Печь.

Девять.

Bucky’s eyes filled with tears, and he gripped his clothes in his right hand to control his body. You silently cried with him, praying to whoever was up there to let this man be free. You knew that he was strong and that he could fight against people who messed up his head, and seeing that he was not giving up made you feel so warm and proud inside.

Добросердечный.

Возвращение на родину.

Один.

Грузовой вагон.

“You are free.” You deeply inhaled, only then realizing that you had held your breath. Bucky completely broke down with Ayo’s words, looking to the ground with tears running down his face.

Ayo looked at you, and that was everything you needed to rush closer to Bucky. You fell to your knees right on the ground in front of him, wrapping your hands around his shoulders and bringing his head to your neck. He sank into you, crying harder and gripping the back of your shirt with his hand.

“I’m so proud of you. I’m so, so proud of you, James. You did amazing.” Your soothing voice filled his ears while you held him close to you with one hand and rubbed his back with another.

“‘M sorry.” The hot breath touched your neck when Bucky started to mumble and apologize with a shaky voice.

You pushed him back by his shoulders and immediately put your hands on his face when you saw the panic on his face. “No. No, Bucky. There’s nothing to be sorry for, okay? I’m here for you. You are so strong, and I’m so proud that you fought back and got rid of these stupid words. You can live a normal life now, and I’ll be there for you as long as you want me to.” Your fingers wiped the tears, not missing how Bucky leaned into your touch.

“Thank you for coming here. It means everything to me. I missed you so much.” He was clearly unsure whether he should say it or not, but you gave him another soft smile, feeling how the tension left his body a little bit.

“I missed you too, Buck.” Your faces moved closer, eyes glued to each other's lips. Bucky almost kissed you, but this little intimate moment was interrupted by the voice of Wakanda’s princess.

“Sorry to disturb your peace, but me and my brother have a little present here. And I’m not a fan of looking at other people making out, by the way.” Your face got hot when you looked back and saw Shuri, T'Challa, and Dora Milaje all staring at you.

Bucky quickly stood up, helping you get up from your knees and then leaning lower to dust off your knees. He looked back at you with a frown on his cute face, as if only then he realized that you had been standing on the ground this whole time. You only grabbed his right hand and bit your lip, trying to hold on to your growing smile.

You led Bucky closer to everyone, and when two women brought a large vibranium box, put it in front of Bucky, you freed his only arm, putting your left hand on his lower back in a supportive gesture.

“Congratulations, White Wolf.” T’Challa nodded his head, and one of Dora Milaje’s stepped in front of the case and opened it, revealing Bucky’s new arm.

It was truly beautiful. Slik dark vibranium arm with golden pieces.

“It’s completely my design. This arm is much better than the last one; it’s stronger, it has some cool options, and you can take it off whenever you want to. But what is more important is that I worked hard and found a way to connect it to the nerves so you can feel everything. Not as good as the real one, of course, but still.” Shuri said with her hard accent, obviously being really proud of her own masterpiece. You couldn't hold back the tears, overwhelmed with the fact that she made it for Bucky and didn't ask for anything in return.

“I can feel?” Bucky’s voice almost broke, and you came closer, pressing your body against his back. “Thank you. Thank you so much, Shuri. And you too, T’Challa. I can't express how grateful I am that you allowed me to stay in Wakanda and are now giving me this.”

“It’s an honor, Sergeant Barnes. So do you want to try it on?”

Dora Milaje easily lifted what looked like a really heavy arm; Bucky rolled up his clothes, and, with a quick motion, it was connected with his shoulder. He stayed silent for a few seconds as if he were getting used to the feeling, but then he rotated it 360 degrees, and you heard the soft swirling of the plates.

He looked down at his new hand, clenching and unclenching his fist, moving each finger, and you stared at this in awe.

“Can I... hurt someone with it unintentionally?” His eyes quickly shot to you before looking back at Shuri. A smirk appeared on her face, and she exchanged knowing looks with her brother.

“No. Speaking in simple terms, it’s connected to your brain. Like your right arm, the brain just sends electrical impulses there. If you have no intention of doing something, it won’t happen. I promise this.”

“Well, I think we can finish it here. You both can be guests here as long as you want to; our country is always open for you. Have a great night.” T’Challa lowered his head, and you mumbled a little ‘thank you’, and after that, you and Bucky were left alone near the fire.

You felt the tension between you two as you both stayed silent. But what were you doing, for fuck’s sake? It shouldn’t be awkward. You were best friends, and even if you had feelings for him, nothing changed.

“Can you show me?” You stretched your right hand, waiting for Bucky to feel confident enough to allow you to touch his new vibranium arm. He looked at you curiously, with a hint of fear and insecurity. “It’s just me, Buck, remember?”

He deeply inhaled before putting his left hand in yours; his eyes were staring at your face, closely looking at your reaction.

Your hands wrapped around his vibranium wrist, holding it gently and getting used to the feel of the smooth metal. Your right hand went higher to trace golden plates with your fingers, absolutely stunned by their beauty.

“I– I can feel your touch.” Bucky got a lump in his throat because of your gentle movements and how softly you treated him, even though he didn’t deserve it. It wasn’t exactly how he felt with the right hand, but it was something. The thought of finally being able to hold you and hug you sent a warm feeling through his stomach.

“You deserve it, James. I’m so happy for you.” One of your hands flew back to Bucky’s face, and you bit your lip when the feeling of the moment that you two shared before you were disturbed came back to you.

Bucky once again leaned into your touch, showing how much trust he had for you, while his eyes never left your beautiful, lit by the warm light of fire, face. He stepped closer, finally realizing how much he needed to feel you again. Since that day, almost a month ago, he has thought about you non-stop. Even if the rational part of his brain told him that you just couldn’t call or visit him whenever you wanted, he still convinced himself that it meant nothing to you. That it was a mistake, because how could you possibly want him, out of all people?

But now you've come back. You came here again to visit him on such an important day. You supported him, you touched his metal hand without fear, and you were staring at him in that weird way that made Bucky weak in the knees.

He didn’t know what to do or how to talk about that night in his hut, but when he nervously licked his lip and your eyes immediately shot there, Bucky couldn’t think straight anymore.

Before you could even process what was going on, Bucky’s hands were on each side of your face, dragging you higher and closer. His slightly chapped lips attacked yours, moving quickly and almost desperately. You were taken aback, but you didn’t mind, kissing him with no less passion. Your tongues were connected, dancing around each other, making you both moan and trying to get your bodies as close as possible.

It was overwhelming—too hot to handle, actually. If you thought that you just missed Bucky, then during the kiss, your mind and your body screamed for him to take you right on the spot. You needed him closer—on top of you, inside of you.

You suddenly moaned into the kiss, remembering how fucking good it felt to be so full of him. Bucky freed your face, instead finnally gripping your waist and hips, pressing you closer to his hard chest.

“Bucky– James, please, I want you so bad.” You whined, clinging onto his shoulders. He pulled his face away, licking his lips to get more of your taste, and when you locked your eyes again, your body tensed, and you unconsciously started to squeeze around nothing.

You both already looked so messy, with red cheeks and hot skin. Bucky stayed silent for a moment, still getting used to being able to hold you with both arms.

“Are you sure, doll? I don’t want you to regre–”

“No, no, Bucky. I won’t regret it. The last time was the best fucking night of my life. I wish I could stay, but you know that they didn’t allow me. I missed you, and I thought about it so much that it’s embarrassing to admit.” You blurred out. Bucky’s hands tightened around you at your confession, and he nodded more to himself.

“C’mon, my hut is not far away.”

It was really not far away, but still, while Bucky was leading you by your hand, you almost fell. You were just so mesmerized by his strong back that you completely forgot to look under your feet in the almost complete darkness. Bucky’s reflections helped you stay on your feet, and mumbling something like “It’s faster that way, anyway,” he casually lifted you off the ground, making you wrap around him like a koala around the tree. His right arm was under your ass, and the metal one was protectively lying on your waist.

It was so effortless for him, as if your weight was nothing, and it made you even more wet and excited than the kiss.

In just a few minutes, Bucky got to his hut, turning on the small light and closing the door. He dropped you down but didn’t let you go far away.

“You can’t imagine how much I want you, Y/N. Even before our first time. You are so beautiful, so gorgeous, fuck.” He dragged you closer, connecting your foreheads. Your chest felt tight after his words, and you gently rubbed his bearded cheek.

“I want you the same way. Since the day we became friends. I wish you could see yourself the way I do.” You mumbled, not breaking eye contact.

Bucky shook his head, but then leaned closer and connected your lips. It was much softer, without a rush. You both were just enjoying the feeling, happy to be in each other's arms again. You grabbed his clothes, not ending your kiss, and started to go back until you felt the pile of soft blankets on the floor. You then lowered both of your bodies and laid back, so Bucky was now on top of you.

He stopped kissing you and pulled away to look at you.

It was and felt much different than your first time. He was on top of you, holding himself with his left arm near your head. Even if Bucky knew that you truly didn’t care about it, the fact that he was now capable of pleasing you and treating you the way you deserved made him feel a little bit better about himself.

Bucky’s eyes slowly checked your whole body, from your pretty eyes and plump, swollen lips down to the soft skin of your legs. He couldn’t help himself and put his large and warm hand on your left thigh, then traced your whole body as if it were his first time. You were shivering under his eyes and touch, but you still didn’t move and let him do what he needed too.

You understood how hard it was for Bucky to be almost without control the last time you were together. He needed to feel in charge after everything he had gone through, and you didn’t mind letting him do whatever he wanted with you.

“Let me take care of you, doll. Please.” He almost whispered, looking back at your face.

“Do you remember what I told you the last time? You can have me, Bucky.” You put your hands around his body, feeling tensed muscles under his clothes.

I promise that when you get your new arm, I’ll let you fuck me however you want to, okay?

Bucky growled when he remembered the exact words you told him.

He caught your lips in a kiss again, rubbing your thigh with his hand and then getting it higher until it rested on your breast, covered in a bra. His mouth moved lower, slightly pinching and biting the tender skin of your neck and collarbones. At the same time, he dragged the cups of your bra lower, finally getting to your boobs. Two fingers took your sensetive nipple in them, slightly pressing on it and making your body shake. Your fingers slid up on his body until you were able to bury them in the soft brown locks.

“So sensitive, hm?” His hot breath on your chest made you unconsciously nod in agreement, and you could swear that you felt how Bucky’s lips curled up in a smirk. “I need to take it off.”

Suddenly, he was not lying on top of you anymore but sitting in between your legs with both hands on your thighs. He looked flushed and had that kind of shine in his eyes that you had never seen before.

Bucky’s hands moved higher, pulling up the shirt over your head and throwing it somewhere on the floor. Then he looked at your bra, but didn’t do anything.

“You can take it off, Buck. If you remember how to do it, old man.”

The tension in Bucky’s body immediately vanished after your joke, and his brows flew to his hair.

“Well, then you fuck with an old man, sweetheart. And I do remember how to do it.” He proved his point by sliding his hand behind your back and, with one swift motion, unclipping your bra. “Shit, I almost forgot how good they looked.”

His hands hesitated for a few seconds, and when you saw that slightly distant look in his eyes creeping back, you decided to slightly push him.

“Give me your hands, Bucky. Both of them.” He looked at you unsurely but still obeyed your request.

“I’m not sure—”

You completely ignored his words, instead taking both wrists into your hands and placing Bucky’s hands on your boobs. The feeling of cold metal made you hiss, but it felt good against your flushed and sensitive skin.

“Do you remember what Shuri said? You won’t hurt me until it’s your intention. And you don’t want to do it, do you?” You playfully arched an eyebrow, already knowing the answer.

“No, God, no, doll. I would never, I swear.”

“Then I want you to properly touch me with both of your hands and finally take off your damn clothes.”

“You’re hot when you're being bossy.” Following your instructions, he finally gave in and started to play with your hard nipples with his thumbs. His head lowered back to your chest, and then his hot mouth was sucking and gently licking your nipple while the metal hand took care of the other one.

It felt amazing and addictive. You couldn’t control your moans and the way your hips tried to rub onto something, but only met with Bucky’s lower stomach. You were desperate to get more without feeling shame grinding on his torso, and finally, when Bucky was satisfied with giving attention to your boobs, he went lower, kissing your belly down to your shorts.

“Need to taste you, doll. Please let me do it.” You just nodded, and it was everything Bucky needed to quickly drag your shorts and panties down your legs and lay flat on his stomach, trowing your legs over his shoulders.

Your mouth slightly opened at this picture. You would’ve never thought that Bucky Barnes, your best friend and deadliest assassin, would be in between your legs, asking to taste you.

He didn’t hesitate, instantly diving in and licking a long stripe across your folds. You both moaned. Your head fell back, and Bucky gripped your thighs only tighter to hold you close. He was obviously enjoying it himself. You felt it in the way he circled his tongue around your clit, then went lower and put it in you to get every drop of your juice; by the way he was slightly moving your hips, as if he just wanted you to ride his face; and by the way he moaned into your soaking core when your hand slipped into his long hair and gripped them.

Your orgasm came quick and unexpected, washing all over you and making you desperately moan and squeeze your thighs around Bucky’s head. He licked you softly and gently, helping you to go through it but still wanting to taste your sweet cream.

“S’ pretty, baby. Can spend here all fucking day, I swear.” His face and beard looked soaking wet, but he didn’t seem to mind when the self-satisfied grin appeared on his lips.

You thought that you liked him that way. You felt good that you were able to bring it out of him, even for some time. Bucky looked different, as he forgot about everything else in the world and even about things that happened just an hour ago. He looked younger and happier, and you bit your lip to not smile like an idiot.

Bucky moved higher up your body, kissing you again. You moaned into his mouth as soon as you tasted yourself on his lips, while your hands started wandering around his body and trying to feel more bare skin. Finally, you unfastened his belt and were able to take off his red shuka, revealing pretty and tanned skin that you hadn't had a chance to see fully the last time.

He moved away, watching your face while your soft hands touched his skin. You were so delicate, tracing with your fingers from his abs to his left shoulder. Bucky’s body shivered when you finally reached the rough, bumpy skin covered in scars. Besides the Wakandian doctors, you were the first person he allowed to see that, and the fact that your face didn’t show any sign of disgust or fear almost brought Bucky to tears.

“You're really beautiful, Bucky; you know that?” Even in the dark light of the room, you could see the pink flush covering his cheeks. “C’mere, I want you.” You dragged him back on top of you, kissing his soft lips. Bucky finally got rid of his clothes with a free hand, and when you felt the weight of his hard cock on the lower part of your belly, you instantly moaned into the kiss.

Bucky’s flesh hand gripped your thighs, lining his own perfectly that way, so his cock was sliding back and forth on your wet core. You wanted to continue kissing him, but it was hard to concentrate when his tip bumped into your still-sensitive clit every single time.

“B-bucky…”

“Fuck, I missed your moans. Baby—so wet for me, huh? Can just easily slip in…” There were only a few inches between your faces, and your lips were touching with each word, but your head was so light and fuzzy with the stimulation that the only thing that you were able to think of was his dick inside of you.

“Please, Bucky, please, I need you inside.” Your legs wrapped around Bucky’s waist, pulling him closer, and your hands were tightly holding his shoulders.

Bucky bumped his nose into yours in an affectionate way, and the next thing you felt was the way he slowly entered you.

Your eyes rolled back with the loud gasp escaping your mouth. Bucky growled in your neck, settling in and stretching you out so deliciously. His hand probably left fingerprints on your delicate skin, but he just couldn’t control himself with the way your wet pussy was so welcoming and warm around him.

“My good girl. Fuck, I won’t let you leave again; you’re mine now, baby.” Bucky quickly pulled himself together, standing on his knees in between your legs, and finally started moving.

He didn’t hesitate when both of his hands held you tightly in place, so you wouldn’t move with every thrust of Bucky’s hips. He set the perfect steady rhythm, pushing his cock all the way in and then drugging it out so only the tip would stay inside.

You were just a moaning and whining mess, trying to find anything to hold onto. Bucky was standing over you, and as much as you wanted to enjoy his pretty face and perfect body, your eyes were hazy, and you couldn’t really concentrate on anything.

“That’s right, baby. Feel so good ‘round my cock, takin’ me so well, fuck!” A quick look at the place where the two of you connected almost made Bucky instantly cum. You looked much smaller than him; your pussy gripped his cock so hard, and he was basically drenched in your wetness.

Bucky stretched his right arm to squeeze your nipple, and the change in the angle of his body made the base of his cock touch your clit with every thrust. You couldn’t control the volume of your moans when you dug your nails into Bucky’s arm, and your legs started shaking from the coming orgasm.

“Bucky, ah—don’t stop, I’m gonna cum! Please!”

“Cum with me, babydoll, just let it go.” He didn’t stop. He fucked you even harder and faster, moaning your name out loud. You both were in your little bubble, touching each other, scratching and moaning, trying to reach your highs.

It didn’t take you long to fall over the edge. You whined, arching your back from the floor, as your vision became white with a loud noise in your ears. The way you were spasming around him brought Bucky to his final, and not being able to hold himself anymore, he filled you up with his semen, collapsing on top of your body.

You both were quiet for some time—maybe minutes or even hours. Your mind was floating somewhere because the heavy and warm body on top of you made you feel incredibly safe and comfy. Only when Bucky slightly moved away and brushed sweaty baby hairs from your forehead did you open your eyes.

He was flushed and sweaty too, but he had the biggest smile you’ve seen on his face.

Bucky couldn’t help but stare at your pretty face with dreamy eyes. You were so perfect—literally the best human being in the world—and right now you were with him. You accepted everything he had done; you showered him with your attention and your kindness, even before this happened and when you were best friends.

He wondered who you were for him now.

After that, he couldn’t be your friend anymore. Not when he saw you naked, kissed you, or heard you moaning his name. Even if before Bucky tried to silence the voice in his head and lock away his heart, it was impossible to do now. Lost in his head, his mouth finally worked on it’s own, saying things that were created by his stupid brain.

“I love you.”

Bucky froze in your hands, as if he had surprised even himself with those words, but you didn’t let him pull away and become distant again. You grabbed his face and couldn’t hold back your bright smile.

“I love you too, Buck. I’ve been in love with you for so long.” Bucky couldn’t believe his ears and stared at you in pure disbelief.

“I—but I didn’t say anything before because I didn’t want to ruin everything between us.” Your foreheads touched as you both closed your eyes to enjoy each other's presence.

“Well, me too. I guess we’re both just stupid.” You chuckled.

“Yeah, definitely.” Bucky smiled back at you before he closed an inch between your faces and kissed you again. Sweetly and softly, this time showing you all of the emotions that he kept for you.

“So what’s next? What do you want to do? You are free now.” Bucky fell near you on the floor, pulled you closer to his chest, and deeply inhaled.

“I don’t know... I like to be here, but I want to go back to New York, to Brooklyn, and I want to be with you.”

“Then stay in the compound. Stay with us. Stay with me. We can spend a few more days in Wakanda and then go back to New York. I bet that Steve and even Sam miss you.” Your fingers traced the lines on his stomach, and you looked up to see Bucky's reaction to your words.

“Okay, doll. Let’s do it. I'll be happy to do whatever you want to, as long as you're with me.” Bucky kissed the top of your head, tightening his hand around your back, and you nuzzled deeper into his body, finally being happy and calm.

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #james bucky barnes #bucky fic #bucky x female reader #james buchanan barnes #marvel fanfiction #marvel smut #one shot #bucky smut #female reader #bucky barnes smut #marvel mcu

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eldesperadont · 11 months

Text

hello and welcome to the start of my rough Despe/Hiromu recap essay! I'll go over their history in relation to one another. A big reason for this recap is to explain my fascination with the 10+ year long history of these characters, and why I, a queer person, is so drawn to it — this post will include links, spoilers and cover the first 9 years of their careers. If you have corrections or additional infos pls DM me!!

egg, (2010-2012)

Hiromu Takahashi and El Desperado started their pro wrestling training around the same time in NJPWs dojo – both passing NJPW's entry exam in 2009 and training for roughly a year till they officially debuted in 2010.

Desperado in March under his real name, Mikami Kyōsuke, and Hiromu later in August. And here we already have some key moments:

Takahashi's professional debut was a singles match against Mikami. (its on YouTube btw)

Despe's first ever singles victory was defeating Hiromu in said debut match.

Mikami is older and ahead of Takahashi, going on to have an impressive winning record over Hiromu, who only managed to get a sole victory over Despe during their time together as students. (two if you count in a dark match)

Hiromu genuinely struggled a lot as a Young Lion (dojo trainee), having been close to giving up on wrestling if it weren’t for main roster wrestler Tetsuya Naito, who took him under his wing.

So yeah starting off Despe had the upper hand.

This part of their career is the hardest to research given that 1.) the language barrier was way higher a decade ago, 2.) there straight up is barely any footage. So instead, I want to explain the emotional importance of the NJPW dojo background:

The time as Young Lions in NJPW is kayfabe canon. These guys are rivals but also teammates, live and train together, fight with/and each other, cheer each other on in their bouts with the seniors, carry each other to the back when they once again got beaten – these guys are close, they have to, it's them against the world.

And that is the case for pretty much all the homegrown NJPW talent. This system provides feuds with an emotional core; why would someone who was that close be so cruel to each other now? What turns brothers, best friends, partners into enemies? So much room for juicy rivalries with a real weight behind it, after all we watched these guys grow and learn, saw their highs and lows.

Also on a less serious note it's simply amusing to watch old stuff and see two guys that will be bitter rivals, who’s matches will get praise and awards - tag together in mostly fruitless efforts, stumble behind the curtain together and be so clueless about all the greatness they’ll achieve one day thanks to each others hard work.

Young Lions my beloved <3

oceans apart, (2012-2016)

As is custom with most Young Lions both went on excursion: Mikami graduating first, in 2012, and working in Mexico for a year as "Namajague" - Hiromu leaving Japan the year Desperado debuts on the New Japan main roster, in 2014, touring in Mexico and the US as "Kamaitachi" till August 2016.

Both worked in CMLL as heels, as is custom for foreign trainees, starting as masked wrestlers, loosing them in a stipulation match, and also getting their hair shaved at some point.

Here you have unmasked Namajague, who went on to rock a half facepaint look and had half of his hair bleached (in 2014, a trendsetter)

and here you got a young unmasked Kamaitachi (yes he was in a team with Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian in RoH)

These are the years Mikami and Hiromu don’t interact in canon, but in an 2020 interview Desperado confessed that he kept an eye on Takahashi during the latter's excursion, cause of his success in Middle/North America and spectacular matches with Dragon Lee.

Love confessions, (May - June 2018)

Their rivalry was fully rekindled in the “Best of the Super Juniors 25” tournament, so let’s set the scene:

Takahashi’s successful: having won the most important championship for their weight division in his first year on the main roster. He’s beloved by fans and critics and a valuable member of his mentor's faction, Los Ingobernables de Japon.

El Desperado is struggling: unsuccessfully having fought for singles titles several times in the last couple of years. His only championship victories so far having been in the tag division, after joining Suzuki-gun, a shady group that tolerates him, but not without hurdles. The masked man debuted in 2013 as a cheerful honourable guy, but by now he was just a bitter, sinister bastard.

They will have their first singles meeting in 6 years, and their first on the main roster.

They are winking and nodding towards the fact that Desperado already has several wins over the younger guy, but do not address who Despy really is - officially Mikami Kyōsuke hasn’t wrestled in New Japan ever since he left for Mexico.

Leading up to the BOSJ Hiromu made a booklet in which he describes all of his possible opponents, Desperado's page is kept blank at first, but later Takahashi adds “I know who you are, and I hate you.”

Despy wants to impress Hiromu. He was one half of the IWGP Jr. Tag champs at that point and took both belts with him to the ring - he's also wearing a special mask, that is mostly white, a colour Japanese wrestlers tend to only wear on special occasions/in big matches.

A lot has changed since they last fought 1 on 1 - except one thing: Hiromu cannot beat Desperado.

Both didn’t shy away from using dirty tricks, but in the end Despy has the upper hand once more. As his opponent lays defeated in the ring the masked menace has this to say:

(postmatch promo) (the match)

Hiromu will go on to win the tournament and IWGP Jr. Heavyweight belt from Will Ospreay at the 2018 Dominion show, but the loss to his fellow former Young Lion means that the latter has the right to challenge him, and so he does, in this now infamous promo.

please watch the whole thing: link

(funfact, this happened the same night Kenny won the IWGP Heavyweight Title with Ibushi in his corner, the gays were EATING that day, in pride month no less)

Leading up to their confrontation Hiromu would post a video on his twitter playing the 'love me/not' flower game, landing on "he loves me" - which promptly makes him eat the flower in frustration

On the day of their match, June 18 2018, he brings Desperado a present:

A bouquet in a guitar case, a cruel call back to Desperados main roster debut back in early 2014: after Kota Ibushi won the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight belt at Wrestle Kingdom 8 a masked stranger approached the ring with a guitar case, revealing it to carry a bouquet of black roses for the freshly crowned champ (who was a lil confused by the whole situation)

It was the start of Despes unsuccessful run as a face and partnership with Ibushi (which you can read as the first man he tried to pursue).

The masked lad wasn't that fond of Hiromu bringing back old memories.

Their match is an all out war, both using underhanded tactics to keep the other one down, including Hiromu unmasking Despy, who shockingly doesn’t care at all - which is a huge deal, I'm going to quote Japanese NJPW commentator Milano here because he said it best:

“To a masked wrestler that’s your identity. It’s everything. But Desperado has it ripped off and then just puts it on like he was fixing his necktie. He was saying that this very essence of himself wasn’t as important as Hiromu or the belt." (translation by Chris Charlton)

But in the end Hiromu is victorious, finally ending his losing streak. After the match he has some interesting things to say:

(postmatch promo) (the match)

Life’s a b*tch. (mid 2018 - late 2019)

Hiromu's next title defence is in August 2018 in the USA against Dragon Lee, a match I still haven't been able to watch and probably never will. Due to a messed up move from his opponent, Hiromu lands hard on his neck, breaking it in the process. He somehow managed to finish the match but collapsed backstage, immediately being rushed to a hospital.

In the documentary RED HEADED REVIVAL Hiromu shared that he knew right away that something was wrong – he saw his life flash before his eyes and feared that this is the end of his career, but he decided against stopping the fight:

It took Hiromu over a year to fully recover.

That wasn't the only unfortunate incident though: in spring of 2019 Desperado broke his jaw in a deathmatch against his idol Jun Kasai. The timing couldn't have been worse: the highly anticipated BOSJ Tournament for that year being just about to start. Despe had to withdraw mere days before its opening.

Neither of them would make a return till late 2019. And their next actual confrontation wouldn’t be till 2020.

It was a sad time to be a fan of either - with Hiromu we didn't know till his return if he will even be able to wrestle again. And with Despy we had to witness fans being unnecessarily rude to him, ridiculing him about doing a deathmatch in the first place, eventho the injury could have occurred in any type of match. (if I remember correctly, Desperado even deleted his twitter due to the fan backlash)

BUT I'm gonna end this post on a good note:

1.) Despy's return marked the start of a new era for him:

He wasn't gonna apologise, he broke his jaw, so what? Shit happens. He wasn't going to pretend that the situation didn't happen either tho, hell - Despe returned in a shirt covered in blood spots, making direct references to the match he got injured in. (sth he talked about in this video) And his mask? Dons a fractured jawbone now, the cracks filled in with gold - reminiscent of kintsugi, a Japanese method for repairing broken ceramics with a special lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum. The philosophy behind the technique is to recognize the history of the object and to visibly incorporate the repair into the new piece instead of disguising it.

2.) Hiromu wasn't giving up on his way of life either, making a spectacular return - the best was yet to come. Individually and together/against each other.

Stay tuned for the next part, that will absolutely also take me ages to finally put out, I'm apologising in advance,, anyways thx bye!! <3 👹🐱

#el desperado #hiromu takahashi #percht.txt #wrestling thoughts tm #🐱👹#njpw #desperomu #namajague #kamaitachi #mikami kyosuke

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wildglitch · 1 month

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What if Zombies!Spidey x DCU LETS GOOOOOOOOO-

O K-

So, This is the (Probably not the last, don't worry) post with ideas for my What If Zombies!Peter In the DCU AU. This is the post that (Finally) Focuses on the DC side of things. This post Is also going to be mainly focused on Peter and what he's up to cause he's the focus of this AU, but I’m probably gonna make another post with info on the other heroes, so If your interested in that, don't worry cause I am thinking about them (Bucky & Loki = Brainwashed bros)

Its also part 1 of Idk since this post kinda got away from me with its length (oops)

Anyways, without further adieu, let's start :D

-So! starting this off with something fun and not that serious that I just found out. this should have probably gone in the first post but I didn't know this until now so here, a +1 info on “facts about the zombie apocalypse” tm.

Ok, so at this point you know I like to play around with the timeline right? Ok so, I’m researching the dates and events things take place in right? Turns out, the snap happened in either May or June, and one source even said that it happened on May 31. Now, with this in mind and the fact that I said the apocalypse lasted between 7-8 months, what happens if you subtract 8 months from May? You get October. And if you add the date to it? Guys…I accidentally made it that the zombie apocalypse starts on Halloween! That's just insane!

The official timeline now is 8 months of the zombie apocalypse, no more no less, sorry, I don't make the rules :^ (omg I made Antman & the Wasp a halloween movie lmao. It fits)

-Alright so, Peter, Head Scott/w the cloke and T’challa are on a plane on their way to Wakanda when all of a sudden, well, how many of you seen the Young Justice Episode s1e19 Misplaced? (Btw have I talked about how much I love Billy batson? I will one of these days ok, and that's a threat) well anyways

Airplane squad: *”peacefully” traumatized on a plane to Wakanda

Airplane squad: *the people on the plane fucking fazes out of reality leaving him alone to fly the plane*

Peter: *Panik*

Peter: *feels a pull wanting to take him but fighting it off as he tries to fly a fucking plane*

Peter: *also fades out of reality but much later the other and is now falling to certain doom in the middle of the ocean*

Peter: “Oh What the F-”

Ya that-

I mixed aspects of the snap and scene from misplaced as their way of splitting up. And, they did split up. A high speed plane plus the time it took them to disappear firmly separates Peter from the rest of the heros. And thus the adventure commences

-unlike Billy who can fly, Peter falls head first at top speeds and a thousand meters high into the ocean. This can happen a few different ways

1) Peter is stranded, and is found by Young Justice or any superhero team that was passing through the ocean and thinks “Oh shoot, that's a child”. And this is how he ends up with the league. This one is kinda fast and there wouldn't be any identity reveal since at this point this Peter has no concept of such a thing. But a good way to work around this is memory loss. Not really my cup of tea but I can very much see this happening considering how hard he hit his head

2) …So Peter fucking dies-

Listen! I somehow started off with my 2 most opposite extremes of ideas, but hear me out. The fall? It kills him. But lets say that some cult or the league of assassins or some shit find his body, realize he’s a “meta” and decide “Yeah, this is a good revival candidate” And they revive the poor sucker. He is held captive HYDRA style and they try to turn him into a weapon. Obviously, he escapes, set free onto the world with a few months of trauma and a stolen one way ticket anywhere. And that anywhere just so happens to be Gotham. I’ll let your mind take it from there

3) This is the last version of events I’m gonna mention and I think this one is the one I'm sticking with, purely for the comedic potential I can see coming out of this. So Peter fought back the spell right? Well unlike the snap where he was fighting a force of nature were he would not have won, Peter was fighting Loki off, which,

Yeah, so since Loki had to focus on getting that idiot spider child to cooperate, he loses track of everyone else, and all of a sudden, the fuzzy mental image he had of everyone dissipates, and Peters becomes the full focus. This lets him save the kid from the crash, but he now doesn't know where all of the others are, including his brother, and now he can't really get to any of them.

Peter: Fighting off that staticy feeling that's trying to take him

Loki: *Genuinely struggling to get this non magic kid to corporate with him*

Loki: Damnit CHILD! I'm trying to save your worthless life!

Peter: *Legit almost wins and gets left by himself in the zombieland*

Loki: …What did they feed you?

-Peter is saved with a spell that's basically the bubble from steven universe but Loki style. He can breathe just fine, but he can't get out or call for hell. He spends many Hours like this.

-Ok so, Loki is a god. We have established this, I keep mentioning it (sorry) he himself brings this up multiple times. What is something gods tend to have sometimes? Avatars, people who act out their will on Earth. You see where I'm going with this? Since Peter is the only mortal from his world he has access to, and because he is stuck on the watchtower, he decides to make a deal with Peter to make him his Avatar and have him look for the others (Thor). Peter, after having most of the situation explained to him, accepts his offer, with a few conditions here and there that prevent Loki from taking full advantage of him. But at the end of the day, they are both desperate and accept the others' offers and conditions with little fuss.

-Deals and conditions for the avatar contract between Peter and Loki

Loki’s Mission: Find the other mortals and spread chaos as his agent Loki’s Offer: Slight magical aid, “ability boost”, Protection from other magical entities, Godly guide and knowledge and Loki wont force Peter into doing anything too grotesque Loki’s conditions for Peter: He will be able to access anything Peter is seeing and be able to take control of any situation if he sees it fit, he must go on the missions he sends him on, And if the situation ever truly demands it, he will listen to everything Loki tells him to do Peter’s Mission: Finding his friends and finding a cure to his world in this new one as Loki’s Agent. He must also make good impressions on other Magical being in this world as to not shame the god he’s representing Peter Offer: His loyalty and tentative trust, he won't argue too much and will do his absolut best to find Thor. he will Listen to Loki and do what he says Peter’s Conditions for Loki: Will become his Avatar as long as he gets to keep being a hero and doesn't have to hurt or kill people. He will only do a mission once a month, and he will not advertise the Avatar bit. Peter gets free will, He can refuse to do something as long as he isn't demanded of it.

With this, a hand shake, and some blood, The deal is made in the bubble in the middle of the ocean.

-Peter is now Loki’s Avatar, Moonknight style, Yay! They don't really like each other that much due to circumstance but it's fineeeeeee. I did this because 1) I thought of a scenario that didn't really make sense unless Peter was somehow talking to him 2) It’s a little nod to the fact most of the fics have the snapped souls with Peter on his adventure. I thought that this way he can still have his voice in his head , it's not that crowded because it's only one voice, and it's not that Intrusive because Loki isn't going to be with Peter 24/7 only when he needs him, he's using some of his powers, or when he can sense distress or danger coming from Peter- Other than that he's stuck at the watchtower trying to plan his next moves. And 3) Cause the thought came to me and i thought it was fucking Holirouse.

-With Some trickery, Peter sneaks onto a boat and spends his time hidden under the deck pretending and hides like a corner spider the whole trip

-Peter in his, Hasn't been around actual living breathing humans for such a long time, self, breaks down and cries at the docks. Coincidentally, The bats are doing a drug bust there and a wearhouse not 10 feet away from him blows up.

-Peter in his typical fashion, Puts on his mask and runs into the building looking for survivors.

-The bats, not knowing what happened, see’s this costume stranger helping the thugs get away and immediately clocks him as a villain. Opps

-They fight, misunderstandings happen and now, The friendly neighborhood Spider-Man Is on the front page as gothams hottest new Rogue. Well shit

-Peter being the smart guy he is, squats at an unoccupied apartment and claims it as his. Then Loki shows up after weeks of radio silence, takes one look at the place and says, hell nah, and fixes the place up with magic making the place more than livable. With some (probably magical) persuasion, the guy renting out the place actually puts him on the lease with 50 bucks of monthly rent. Does Peter feel guilty…well? Gotta roll with the punches man. Plus, this place looks nice, ignoring his 20 something neighbor that has enough blood on him to turn his white hair dye red that had sent his spider sense. This is fine.

-With some help from the voice in his head and walking through dark alleys at night, he finds a guy that works for immigration and was selling sketchy (But legit) identities. Not really trusting the guy but in desperate need and ID for the lease he was about to sign, He coughs up all the savings he had, took a Photo, and Ben P. Riley was born. He said he didn't trust the guy.

-Peter has decided to go by an alias for a few reasons, like not knowing if there was already another Peter Parker in this reality and not really wanting to risk it or the plain fact that he didn't really trust anyone in this new reality with it (Loki and his magical guidance, he has firmly decided to never give out his name so freely ever again). His name is one of the last things from his past life that he can call his own, And if his “Villainous” identity was revealed as Peter Parker, he didn't know if he could handle it. The most simple reason was that he just missed his family and wanted something in this new life he was making for himself to remind himself of them. Ofcourse, he still added that P in there middle so as to not completely erase himself.

-Peter spends a full month just trying to get used to living in a society again, This causes some problems and misunderstandings.

-After many series of misunderstandings and mishaps, everyone thinking he's evil, Peter decides, YK what's, If I can't beat them, join them. Peter starts going out as the “Villain Spider-Man” doing sketchy shit (normal teenage shit) and causing a commotion in Gotham. Peter counts this as his act of mischief and Loki agrees when he sees the kid sell his own photos to the newspaper. Peter isn't actually doing anything evil, it's just his presence that brings fear. The fact that the bats have caught him breaking into multiple high security facilities doesn't really help his case

-Peter spends his months looking through files and files of info searching for the others, but has just about no luck on anything.

-Peter, forced by a mission, goes undercover in Gotham prep to follow one of Loki’s leads. He doesn't really know what he's doing here, but this Tim guy is pretty nice

-Cause of the amazing pictures he keeps selling to the paper, the company hires him full time as their photographer for special events and even lets him write a few articles when they see the notes he puts next to his pictures that provide contexts and stuff like that. This job opens Peter to search to a whole new horizon.

-With Peter's new job, hes sent to many different cities which introduces him to many different people

-He meets Jimmy Olson on a trip to Metropolis and hits it off pretty well with the older man. Jimmy introduces him to his friends and coworkers Lois and Clark, both of whom are just a delegate. Though that Clark guy as not stopped setting of his spider sense since he met him

-The next place he went to was a city called Fawcett, where he was sent to help with a story with one of the local reporters who was apparently his age.

Boss guy: Ben, meet Billy. You two will be working together on the report for this years summer festival

The two sniff each other out as godly “employees” and exchange numbers. And thus, a friendship was born as Billy decided to keep an eye out for any other reality travelers, and Peter is put as one of his emergency contacts to help him get out of shit since he was “technically 20 according to his ID”

Peter: *Looks at Billy*

Billy: *Looks at ‘Ben’*

*Insert that one Spider-Man meme*

-Peter is also sent to Gothams sister city Bludhaven. Peter,ends up meeting a weird police officer that keeps expecting him to take pictures of the guy. But he's nice enough and bought him a hotdog and a cinnamon roll(even though he now thinks he's allergic to them), so the weird outweighs the good.

-On his trip to Bludhaven, Peter decides to go out as spider-man. Not to cause trouble, but to go sightseeing and swinging without the interference of a bat. He ends up sitting upside down on an old building (like that one Atsv scene) working on some leads he has when all of a sudden, Nightwing appeared right behind him dangling off the side of the building like a mad man giving him a heart attack. Nightwing is about to confront the spider after his sneak attack was caught, but before he does, Peter holds out the cinnamon roll towards the vigilante as a peace offering rushing out the words “Please don't hit me!” and Nightwing just stares. He stares long and hard looking between the treat and the Spider mask. Peter was about to run from them when Nightwing sort of just…sits. Or sits at the best of his abilities with no gravity defying powers. He actually does a pretty good job at it. Nightwing takes to offering with a nod and the 2 just sort of sit there in silence. It's awkward and weird, and quiet but for some reason he doesn't feel as uncomfortable as he thinks he should. Even less when he feels the ringing of his spider senses slowly die down as the minutes pass until it's just a constant hum at the back of his head

-They don't talk after that but from here is a turning point as to how the Bat clan view the spider.

More? Nay I say! (There will be a part 2 to this specific post, but it has gotten too long and I need to go to bed. So hopefully this will do for now :^) Plus this feels like agood stoping point since I feel like that ending would mark the ending to an arc

Please let me know what you think of this AU. I love seeing other people's ideas and thoughts. It fuels me lo

And make sure to keep an eye out for Part 2 of this post.

Later

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sztampok · 12 days

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Hazbin Hotel ~ My random thoughts after watching season 1

I don't know how tumblr works, but I feel the NEED to share some of my inside thoughts with you, so here we go, I hope that somebody will see that

And of course, spoiler warning of season 1 and rumors about 2

Vox and Valentino aka happy, perfect couple NO WAY. I love both of these characters - Vox, because I'm simp of this freakin TV and Val, coz he is very good written villain. In the same time I totally hate Valentino's behavior. He acts like a spoiled child which gets everything that he wants, he treats others like a trash. In my opinion in some scenes it's also shown that he treats Vox like that. I really like the idea of two bad guys being together, but no offense - Valentino seems extremely toxic as a partner. While doing some research I've read about fact that previously they relationship were pictured as typically toxic love. I'm not sure If that was a canon or fanon, so sorry for any misunderstandings (I'm new fan of Hazbin, so I'm not into the full lore yet).

Buut, listen here, wouldn't you like to see more of them together at season 2? What I think is that It would be so amazing (and oddly satysfying) to see this relationship even more toxic. Why? To break it up and let Vox be free from him.

Also, I think that in season 2 Val should be punished for everything that he did to Angel. I would love to see them breaking up, not because of potentially death of Valentino or other things, but because of Vox or some characters trying to help this TV guy. Shooow me Vox escaping from this freak. Okay, okay, Vox isn't pure, I heard rumors about him being one of the main villains (with rest of the Vees) at season 2, but still, toxic relationship is sad : (

And another thing - I don't see them as official partners like two boyfriends, the loved ones. Imo they are totally just hooking up, fwb relationship. But afterall, that sort of Vox's contact with Valentino seems very bad affecting to him.

OK, AND NOW LISTEN, BECAUSE THIS SHIT IS FIRE. I heard theory about Velvette's love potion being made of Valentino saliva. Makes sense? Of course. Val's saliva is clearly red btw, it's visible when he met Charlie and in some more parts. What if Vox's red stripes on his screen are also some part of this potion/Val's saliva? What if this think isn't error on his screen, but hint of being under Val's 'charm'? Okay, I'm done talking shit xD I have no one to share that, so yeah, maybe you will like it. Ohh, and I'm gonna post more if this post will gain your attention I hope that nobody is offended by this. You are Vox x Val shipper? Ok, have fun

#hazbin hotel #vox #hazbin vox #hazbin hotel vox #vees #vox the tv demon #the vees #vox hazbin hotel #valentino #theory #shitpost #thoughts #my thoughts

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tyriq-edits · 2 months

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In the Plain of Nysa (Trigun Greek Mythology AU)

Nicholas D. Wolfwood

Priest of the Twins' Cult

Lives pretty much in the Sanctuary of Nysa by himself but gets occasionally visited by other Members of the Cult, his younger brother Livio or people in need of the Twin Gods' Blessings.

A (Kinda?) normal Priest living in his tiny Sanctuary offside from Civilisation on a small Island in the Aegean sea called Nysa.

His Duties for the most Part consist of Prayers and Sacrifices for the Gods And keeping the Temple and Statue of the Twins clean and occasionally doing a Ritual on thr Request of the odd Visitor.

Did not expect one of the Gods he is serving to be dropped off at his Temple by the goddess Meryl and her Satyr companion Roberto and to be stuck Body-Guarding said God but oh well here he is.

May Or May Not Regret Giving Vash That Short Chiton.

For more Information/lore about this AU just look at the in the plain of Nysa tag on my page or just send me an ask in my inbox.

Also shout out to my best pal Stephan for teaching me how to draw.

Additional Ramblings about the lore and WW’s design under the cut

This is btw what a Penennular Fibula looked like and I only now noticed that WW is wearing it wrong in my drawing 🥲 The needle is supposed to rest on the Bow of the brooch and not in the opening in the middle.

Also this Fanfic takes place approximately around the time of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE), however Penennular Fibula were primarily worn by either Celts and Romans. So as you can tell while I am trying my best with historical research and keeping things somewhat historically accurate, there are still creative liberties being taken for this AU.

As for why this AU and Wolfwood‘s Sanctuary are called "in the Plain of Nysa“: It‘s actually a reference to the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, aka the most complete version of the Myth of Hades and Persephone we have. In this Hymn it says

In other words it was "in the Plain of Nysa“ in which Persephone was kidnapped by Hades. On a fun note, Nysa is actually not a real place anywhere in Greece. It was instead meant to symbolise "a place far away“ the same way we tend to say "in a kingdom far away“ when starting to tell a fairytale. However that did not stop some Ancient Greeks from guessing where Nysa might be located. Some thus point it to be situated somewhere in Macedon or today‘s Balkans, others claimed it was around the area of the Black Sea or…. That Nysa was on the Island Naxos. Which is why in early drafts the Sanctuary was meant to be located on Naxos itself but as I have never been to Naxos in my life it felt disrespectful to the actual people who live there so I just changed it to the Sanctuary of Nysa being on a lone non-existent Island near Naxos instead.

On a smaller note Nysa was also said to have been the Birthplace of Dionysos, with his name meaning "God of Nysa“. In other Stories however Nysa was the name of a mountain on which Dionysus had started his cult.

I am also taking some creative liberties with how Priesthood functioned in ancient Greece. Unlike how it works in Catholicism and other religions, Priests in ancient Greece were not a separate social class. Heck apart from a few Cults and sanctuaries, being a priest was not even seen as a main occupation of job for that reason. And a priest usually wasn‘t chosen by some council, but in many cases you just paid a certain amount of money to become a priest. They did not even have an official attire like catholic or shinto priests do nowadays. However they were still expected to dress somewhat formally compared to WW‘s Exomis, which is basically the ancient greek equivalent of a priest showing up in shorts, flip flops and an old Tshirt.

The Twins Cult in this AU is by the way HEAVILY based on the Eleusinian Mysteries, aka the Mystery Cult dedicated to Demeter and Persephone. I will some day make a post dedicated to them and priesthood in ancient Greece as a whole.

And yes I still fucking hate drawing feet and shoes.

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suitmana · 1 month

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i will be the first to admit that this might be reaching a bit. also discussions of religious concepts in lgts ahead

so catholicism in lgts is explored through the struggles of living in a small catholic town like kieferberg, and literally everything about walpurga, the forest deity turned saint. but imo there's also something to be said about how elise obtains the tender flesh: this might be a reflection of the sacrament of the eucharist as understood during the medieval era.

but what is the eucharist anyway?

in catholic doctrine the eucharist is supposed to be the body of christ manifested through transubstantiation: the transformation of bread and wine into his flesh and blood respectively. this is based on the events of the last supper in the bible, wherein before his death jesus offers his body to his disciples through the bread and wine that they share. thing is, current understanding of transubstantiation is moreso in a metaphysical sense: catholics who do believe in it don’t actually think that they’re eating jesus’ physical body.

that wasn't always the case with medieval catholicism, however. there were theorists like st aquinas and berengar who argued for a metaphysical transubstantiation, but powerful church officials like cardinal humbert (who actually forced berengar to recount his claims) also believed that the faithful partaking in the eucharist were actually eating the literal, physical flesh and blood of jesus. there was quite a bit of concern too because of this: the body of christ, torn apart and chewed on by not just the faithful, but potential sinners?

the average catholic of that time probably didn't care much for the specifics of how transubstantiation worked (either way, the bread is/represents jesus, whether or not that was physical or not), but the point is there was an ongoing debate—if only among high-ranking church officials and theologians—about what the eucharist really was. now keep in mind that aforementioned literal physicality of the eucharist, and how similarly that plays out to the relevant witching hour segments in lgts.

i want to first highlight the scene where the crows in murim's domain rip out parts of elise's hair for the wheat testament:

and the aftermath:

they sure are hungry, huh? and the way they get at elise is pretty violent, judging by her screams and the sounds of tearing flesh. their carnal hunger, expressed through their lines and the violence in how they form the wheat testament from her hair, brings to mind similar fears of an animalistic, near sacrilegious ingestion of a certain sacred body turned bread, only this time realized in a demonic trial. in other words, the entire trial subverts christ's supposed physical presence in the bread. besides, it's stated outright that elise is meant to physically combine a piece of her body—her hair—into that wheat.

she does just that in the windmill:

her hair baked into the (apparently unleavened) bread is the tender flesh that the crows hungered for, that would eventually find its way onto ozzy's table.

so the process of acquiring the tender flesh seems to imitate that transubstantiation in the celebration of the eucharist. if that's the case, i wonder why ozzy and his minions would design them this way…

btw here's my sources for medieval transubstantiation (despite my unhinged rambling i did do a bit of research):

https://www.jstor.org/stable/23964057 (Ego Berengarius by Chadwick, H., 1989)

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/some-later-medieval-theories-of-the-eucharist-9780199658169 (Some Later Medieval Theories of the Eucharist by Adams, M. M., 2010)

#little goody two shoes #lgts #elise lgts #father hans' study #considering that the game takes place from the pov of someone who's not a fan of the church #which considering that it's kieferberg is understandable #it's interesting how readily she throws herself into what's basically a subversion of one of catholicism's most central sacraments #and to her credit she does technically get what she wants #even if it is a monkey's paw #it gives me Feelings #haven't analyzed the sweetest nectar in connection to this yet #but there are some parallels i feel #or similar functions #as the wine accompanying the bread in the eucharist #so the sweetest nectar—which does look like red wine and is made from a mixture of blood and water—accompanies the tender flesh #definitely did not plan on posting this during holy week no not at allllll

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vivalabunbun · 3 months

Note

Hiii Viva~

Hope, you'll take your time to read this. It's not a request of course. I was simply curious about something. To be honest, I've read all your fics and my goodness, they are mind blowing and always make overwhelm with emotions. Specially how you portray Al-Haitham. Every fic of his feels like a fic and a character study all at once.

You know, in your recent fic, I just noticed that you said Alhaitham is a man logic and rationality, which is true. But isn't he from the Haravatat Darshan or a department that has something to do with studying and deciphering various scripts? Like isn't he a linguist? I thought he was a man associated with the humanities stream or something like that if we put it into modern terms. So, the question here is—why portray him as a man of science? Sure, he's a genius and an intellectual person but can a person really be that apt at two different disciplines? For example, I'm a political Science Honours student and honestly....I hate subjects that has anything to do with maths or science in general. 🥲 Does that make sense?

I'm not saying, you can't portray him like that or anything but rather the intent of doing so. And honestly, I think, you yourself are a highly intelligent individual. The way you put tid bits of practical information into the plot of fics says a lot about you, the author as well. I admire that quality and probably would like to know how you do it so effortlessly?

I really hope that I did not come off as criticizing or a dumb person in general. I was just curious and wanted to know. Hope, you'll read this.

Btw, Happy Basant Panchami from India, Viva. Today, we worship the goddess of knowledge, wisdom and arts here. Fun fact, it's actually kinda officially forbidden to study today, you know.

Hope, I didn't rant much....sorry, in advance. 🥲🌹

Arunima~

Hello! this is an interesting ask 🤔

From my understanding, Haravatat focuses on semiotics, which also includes linguistics. Linguistics is a field of science, the scientific study of languages. Because empirical research is involved along with empirical evidence.

Perhaps you were thinking about literature, which is of the humanities and academia. Although of course, there are possible overlaps between linguistics and literature.

Al Haitham liked to read abstruse academic journals from a young age, so I'd like to think tidbits of information from those journals would naturally bury themselves in his thoughts.

His thoughts and ponderings resemble those who have been part of the sciences. Disagree, question, challenge.

Thus, why he's a nerd (affectionate).

But of course, this is all from my perspective, which is different from yours, which is different from the next person.

It's what makes character writing interesting because everyone will view everyone differently.

Thank you for your ask and Happy (belated?) Basant Panchami!

Your ask brought up an interesting thought, why can't people be apt at both humanities and science?

All throughout history humanities and science have helped the other progress. They are not opposites nor should they be. They progress thought, which in turn helps us better understand knowledge and the world around us.

Disagree, question, and challenge the paradigm is how the humanities and science have gotten where they are today, and how they will get to tomorrow.

I'm not an intelligent person, I'm just a curious person. I like reading a wide variety of things from fiction to academic essays, even mathematical theories in textbooks and notes from friends in premed. Because I'm curious about them.

Then I like applying them to what I create because I love creating. Little factoids here and there because I think it's interesting, learning about how things work so I can better draw the things I like.

No one has to be a genius or a prodigy to be apt at both, just be open-minded and willing to look at both. There is also nothing wrong about only liking one or the other.

Let's just not pit them against each other because then it'll just be destructive.

Maybe many have forgotten the symbiotic relationship between humanities and sciences.

#vivaramblings #I am really rambling #tldr: nerd

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agendabymooner · 9 months

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matilda ! max v. x ofc (hearth sister!ofc)

“you showed me a power that is strong enough to bring sun to the darkest days.”

summary: sylvie ford wasn’t fond of the older men who stuck around in her life and those who didn’t even try to be there for her, but she couldn’t speak for him. one thing was clear, though: there’s a silent agreement that they’d take a different route from those who brought nothing but pain into their lives. (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)

content warning: angst angst hurt/comfort, use of explicit language, mentions of emotional traumas, brief description of paternal relationship issues (character’s father and max’s dad), emotional breakdown/crying (max) and support (ofc), “you talk of the pain like it’s no big deal”, christian horner is funny- ofc just hates him but he's cool

note: posting this because i want a lil context for the post after this lmfaoooo. i am sharing my view on max’s relationship with jos based on what i experienced btw— i have problems with paternal figures so 🫡 cheers enjoy xx

masterlist

She never once liked any older men to exist in her life. All but one, but it was mainly because Toto Wolff truly cared for Tilly. Otherwise, older men were the shittiest people to exist and they can choke for all she cares.

The distasteful feeling that she got from knowing Christian Horner had subsided as she continued to work with him and the team. She was outspoken and passionate about what she believed in for that moment. She told him upfront about how she respected him but preferred to keep her personal life separate from her work. She never shared anything about her family. Everyone around them only got the gist of her life, but never did she share to everyone who she was. And with her dislike for her employer, she preferred to keep it that way.

Toto merely earned her respect as he treated their relationship as if there's no man’s land. At least that was what had happened at the beginning, when he and her sister became official.

The end of the term exam ended and coincided with the summer break of the 2015 season. She wondered who he was as a person and had asked her chauffeur to take her to the Mercedes factory. Toto had surprisingly picked her up from the lobby when the receptionist called him about a “college student who would like to get an interview with him” named Sylvie, asking her if she actually needed some help with her research.

To which she replied, “It’s nice to know you’re a considerate man. No, I don’t. I don’t have any paper to write. My term just ended, in fact.”

She then spent her days in the factory with him being stuck on his desk. Oftentimes, she followed him like a duckling and asked him questions left and right about how communications between drivers and the public worked.

It started there and she continued to visit the factory, now gaining a special access ID just in case she wished to barge in to pester the Mercedes staff with questions. Well, not to harass them but rather ask questions or observe here and there should they allow her to sit in.

Now the frown that she etched in her face while she worked became a permanent part of her routine. Christian once joked that she was Toto’s clone, to which her frown deepened in annoyance before she continued to work on whatever task she had in hand.

She wouldn’t admit to Christian that she found it hilarious few hours after because her pride was bigger than her fondness of him.

But she was proud of herself for reaching that phase of mentorship. Toto was the only older man she tolerated. Having to grow up with no father and with only sisters — while both your stepmother and mother coparented — would give you that feeling.

There was just something about father figures that made her feel so little and stupid. Perhaps it was her father’s expectations to make her a prodigal F1 driver — to put the Hearth name back to the motorsports community after being absent from the tracks for thirty years.

Julius wasn’t subtle when he’d put Sylvie in a private schooling program just as she started karting at the age of 5. He’d long given up on Tilly and Stevie, but Sylvie was his star driver. How her mother never got full custody of them, she didn’t know, but she disliked the fact that she had to attend driving classes with her father during his week and somehow still had to take the classes despite not living with him.

She could remember having her piles of books being stored away once after she ended up on the 7th place of their tournament. He said that she didn’t need all of that kind of intelligence and that her education was an easy thing to pursue— it wasn’t a big deal to him. Everything that she wanted, he’d refuse. He wanted her to focus on racing, because the next time she ended up in such a position he’d burn the books. She began to race and fight against other competitors to get a good shot at winning trophies. She became somebody that she didn’t want to be.

Maybe it was his arrogance and greediness that made her think that all fathers were the same. That… or maybe because she’d seen how Max’s father acted towards him after landing on 5th in Monaco. She felt her heart breaking at the sight of a defeated Max. She had seen it all before, but to hear it up close this time— it was even worse. She could feel his heart pounding, his need to clear his head and possibly cry it out— she could feel it. Because she was in that position before, and it takes a traumatized child to know one.

Sure, Sylvie had grown a backbone to tell her father about leaving the academy without his knowledge and had somehow loosened her grip on her own ambitious thoughts, but she didn’t think that she’d witness a version of herself in the form of her best friend. This was what she didn’t see after abandoning her friendship with him. But it wasn’t as if she did it just to spite him.

She merely needed the courage. At some point, Max Verstappen managed to win against his own father — but there was something about the father figures they’ve had in life that were too determined to keep their children on a tight leash.

She pretended as if she didn’t eavesdrop on Jos’ berating and merely gave him a curt nod and a stink eye before she approached Max’s drivers room. She could hear him throwing his bag in rage… then silence.

He was seething in disappointment. He wasn’t disappointed in anyone but himself. And the anger that he had told Sylvie that he needed to sit down for a moment. By himself.

There was just something about their fathers that drove them mad. They’re always too greedy and arrogant, and they both damaged their bloodlines at a young age because of their vile desires and lack of empathy towards others and their own children.

Thankfully, his father had flown back to the Netherlands right after the race. Max, from what Christian had told her (with a sympathetic smile), had retired early to his room instead of partying. Good, she told herself, because he needs someone and some ice cream right now.

Marinara was going to sleep in Stevie’s room tonight. Sylvie was very good at begging until others cave in to her pleading face, and it obviously worked on her older sister too. So after dropping her dog off, her fluffy sandal-cladded feet made their way into another floor and directly to his room.

She patiently waited for him to open the door after knocking, her plaid pajamas hanging on her hips while she wore a blue jumper over her white cropped shirt. She could hear the faint footsteps gradually moving their way to the door. She was met with Max’s reddening eyes just as he swung the door open.

Her hands held a tub of ice cream as she shuddered at the cold water the dripped down her hand, “It’s melting. And there’s less calories on it so you’re not gonna fully ruin your diet.”

He stared at it for a moment, then looked back at her as he stepped aside to let her in.

The night they spent together consisted of watching Miss Congeniality and Easy A (again). While Sylvie laughed along at some jokes, she could hear how he took deep breaths before regaining his composure. It happened every other minute.

She decided to put the ice cream on the table and turned to look at him. He, acting as if he wasn’t grounding himself ten seconds ago, asked her with a croak, “W-what?”

She didn’t answer, observing all of him. His facial features. His surprisingly messy bed hair. His bloodshot eyes. His lips were more plump than usual. His cheeks were tinted pink. She could just tell that he wanted to let it out. But he grew up being told that, “his feelings wouldn’t be a big deal when he’s competing.”

Sylvie pushed her sleeves back and wiped the tear away from his eyes, smiling faintly at him and breathing evenly. She was more grounded than he was, and her simple gestures helped him get back. Somehow.

Then his deep breathing method didn’t work out, now quietly sobbing as Sylvie hugged him on his side, her hand circling his back gently. Sandra Bullock’s voice tampered his sound of defeat, but it wasn’t as if it mattered. He could cry for as long and as loud as he wanted.

She hadn’t even realized how late it was until he fell asleep in her arms, head resting on her chest while she ran her fingers through his hair. She could barely see the digital clock and couldn’t figure out if it said eleven or one, having to squint and adjust a little to look closely.

These days, she has been able to sleep before midnight. After that intimate moment she shared with her best friend, she had been able to close her eyes peacefully. He’ll have to figure out what helps him sleep better. It’ll be easier if he sought help from professionals— that’s what the team was for. He’ll give them success and in exchange, they make things easier for him. Nobody really knew what eased Max off, because he seemed more calmed and relaxed for the past few races. But that was because he knew that she was only a few footsteps away from him.

It was as if they had their little sanctuary that nobody could find. They couldn’t find themselves in the arms of other people, already used to each other’s affection and the solace that came with it. As if it was normal for friends to be this… considerate.

Everyone who knew the two as a pairing would simply laugh when you tell them about the peculiarity of their “friendship.” You would think that they’d have intervened by now, but their relatives and friends merely shrugged it off. They returned to their old routine, except they’ve grown. It was normal for their families to see the two together, much to Max’s father’s dismay, knowing that whatever they may have planned was already thought of and agreed on.

Their closest friends laughed at the thought of their relationship being platonic. What a fucking dream it would be if best friends can just casually buy a house together, or decide to adopt a puppy together (which happens more frequently than not). It would be a wild experience for anyone if their best friends would just platonically steal glances from their other half.

And friends don’t create their own little family like that. Just the two of them, and their dog. They don’t play mum and dad while they’re just “friends.” No friends would silently agree with raising their kids the way their fathers hadn’t treated them before, just to avoid that pain all over again.

So no, if you were to ask anyone who knew them well — they’d say that Mustang and Cadillac being friends would be a load of rubbish. Even the two knew that the thought was ridiculous.

Peering down at the Dutchman, she sighed softly while snores escaped his mouth quietly. His weight on top of her was comforting, immediately lulling her to a dreamless sleep.

They really need to work on not bottling their feelings up.

#formula one fanfiction #formula one fic #formula one imagine #formula one x oc #f1 imagine #f1 fic #f1 fanfic #red bull racing imagine #mv33 imagine #max verstappen x reader #max verstappen imagine #max verstappen fanfic #max verstappen fic #max verstappen #max verstappen au #max verstappen angst #max verstappen fluff #max verstappen x oc #f1 fics

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herotome · 9 months

Text

Finally-official-devlog #112

Also known as FOD112 hi-ho, Wudge here.

Gosh there's just. So much. I'm actually drafting this devlog a few days early so that I'm not suddenly overwhelmed on devlog Tuesday again. But without further ado-

This is the big cheese right here -- each character has their own layer, each character's clothes and expressions have their own layers, and there's a separate layer for the soft orange lighting on top of it all. 😭

On that note, here's most of the individual image files that create the CG with their powers (and my code) combined:

And since this is a cropped version of a BIGGER CG (featuring ALL the love interests sitting together), I had to tinker with the position code a great deal to properly feature these three goons Of course it was worth it of course twas merely at the cost of all my energy and sanity at the prospect of eventually possibly also adding in blinks and expression changes--

Mad props as usual to the sweetwonderfulamazing Remnantation who first completed this CG -checks watch- sometime last year! With some additional edits by me since then~

And, did you happen to notice something new in the lower right?

Tadah... a brand new click-to-continue icon animation! I made (mostly) all by myself! The lil sparkle burst is free from production crate, but I drew the star and added the rotation code... ... Honestly, the hardest and most time-consuming part of this was finalizing the design. Originally I was gonna make it rotate 45 degrees, flip, rotate 45 more degrees, flip, etc-- and messed with that concept for several hours before scrapping it for a simpler, more graceful idea. :| Part of the process, I gots to tell myself, part of the process...

Next up is Jade's powers, as you may have seen in the preview last week. Much like the CTC animation, I did a lot of research on other ideas - various glowing VFX like vertical veins across the cheeks and smoky rising from the eyes, as well as a bigger low opacity character zoom effect - before settling on something simple. Jade's power usage here is... pretty mild in context, and I figure I can always store the more dramatic animations for later in the story.

Here's a still of the effect btw:

Her eyes look like headlights lmaooo. Honk honk!

Do I have more to update with? Believe it or not, yes.

I made some icons, which took a fair amount of trial and error: on the left you'll see an earlier draft, on the right are my more final redesigns from the same day(...night. midnight. I worked on these until midnight).

I had to look up some guidelines because most of my previous icons did NOT look good or legible when sized down to 50x50 pixels. What I learned was, tadah, I had to draw with an unprecedented line width of 200 pixels! (For non-artists: I typically draw with a pen width of 12 pixels at most).

I also studied the icon styles of Persona 5, which saved me a lot of time - they had a cool stylistic choice of diagonally tilted color blocks and thick black outlines.

Here's yet another gif of icons in action...

Did you see them? Did you?? For a split second, in the upper right.... Still gotta adjust some of the text overlap, don't look at that.

Oh and the "How to play" page is brand new. I coded it from scratch... That also took all night...

... Oh. Oh. And remember your MC's phone?

This old thing? Yeah. Visual upgrade:

Also rendered and colored in by Rem <3 Where would I be without them...!

The text, though, can be updated in code!!!! I spliced the phone into layers, with the screen on top and code-generated text just below it, so I can update the caller ID at any point in-game without making any new images.

Took a little while to get it to work... honestly it doesn't look 100% centered... but it's fine. This is fine...

And then... more code. After much tears, blood and strife, I got a musical crossfade to work. It shouldn't have been challenging but it was a nightmare -- when calling the crossfade the second track would either not play at all or its volume wouldn't change and I was starting to develop a preference for eating gravel. But I persisted, found a much simpler code that actually works. After the tearsbloodstrife.

And...... lastly... I simplified this big block of code:

vbox: pos (269, 76) add "sprites/MC/mc[mc_number].png" hbox: if mc_number ==1: text "DEFAULT" style "MC_label_text" elif mc_number ==2: text "LAVENDER" style "MC_label_text" elif mc_number ==3: text "PETUNIA" style "MC_label_text" elif mc_number ==4: text "SUNFLOWER" style "MC_label_text" else: text "TBD" style "MC_label_text"

...(not properly indented bc tumblr is mean 2 me)...

down to these lines, to make my future life easier:

default PrintMC = ["Default", "Lavender", "Petunia", "Sunflower", ""]

text PrintMC[mc_number] style "MC_label_text"

Two!!! lines!!!!!

🎊

Instead of typing out additional if/else lines, I only need to add new names to the PrintMC list. Won't really affect the player at all, but it's a HUGE quality of life update for me!

...Anyway that's it, thank you for checking in. <3

Stay safe and keep warm,

Wudge.

PS screw it I'm gonna queue post this early.

PPS have you listened to our composer's new single yet? No?!?!?!

youtube

Every click, every listen helps, and every song of his is a BOP that deserves recognition!

ok that's all for real now xoxoxo,

wudge (again)

#herotome update #interactive fiction #oelvn #visual novel #otome game #english otome #otome #amare game #amare #amareteabreak #indie otome #indie dev #indie game #Youtube

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funky-lil-ghost · 2 years

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Official™ Hermit Species Classification System

so grian decided that hermits are a species and i said no. no way docm77 and pearlescentmoon are the same species. but like. species is just one level of classification. long story short i gave myself a crash course in taxonomy and spent a whole day making this diagram. (im not a biologist tho, scientists please be nice to me. im just a small boy trying his best)

full explanation under the cut! also this link lets u view the diagram as a webpage

first thing, here's a handy chart of the standard biological classification system (image id in alt text). also btw I took a lot of inspiration from this post when i started figuring out how to apply this system to the hermits

after a lot of trial and error with different sorting criteria, i decided to put the "hermit" classification at family level. it made the most sense to me. also cause. the hhermits they r a family :( they., family . sorry my demons

As a family, the hermits' common traits are as follows from my diagram:

Members of the family parvihabilis have a genetic propensity for hybridization. All of these creatures are hybrids of some kind, although some are morphologically ambiguous and may not display obvious hybrid traits. Additionally, most are smaller than the average humanoid.

Let's break that down.

Hermits are creatures whose genetic makeup is well-suited to hybrid stuff. For this concept, hybridism is uncommon in most humanoids because it causes too many genetic conflicts and just kinda dies off before it even exists. Hermits have uhhhh. squishy genes. They're highly adaptable. This adaptability comes with a few specific characteristics, one of which is reduced size (thanks for that, grian. does it make sense? no clue! fuck it we ball).

I did a bit of research about scientific naming and cobbled together some Latin, hopefully it works lol. The family name parvihabilis should roughly translate to mean small + adaptable.

Next!

There are two genus categories in the parvihabilis family: Aedifex and ingeniator. Aedifex means "builder" and ingeniator means "engineer" (which I have used in place of "redstoner").

The builder and redstoner genera aren't hard and fast "this is what this person does all the time forever" categories, because there are a lot of hermits who work with both. Rather, these terms describe a genetic leaning that usually results in certain specialties.

For example:

Anyone can be a builder, but those of the genus aedifex are genetically predisposed to building-related behaviors. They gather and/or horde various materials, using them to create all kinds of structures. These structures can sometimes be homes for the aedifex, but they often abandon a structure soon after completion. Aedifex are known to be somewhat mysterious, following their instincts to different environments where they become attached to a certain area and set of materials until they feel ready to move on.

Similarly, anyone can learn redstone. However, those of the genus ingeniator have a natural affinity for logic problems and a genetically-wired fascination with redstone as a material. That last part is basically "oooooh Shiny Red Thing! i will put it in my box of Shiny Red Things because it is Shiny and Red". Ingeniator can sometimes become lost in their own contraptions, unaware of time slipping away as they work.

Finally, I put the hermits in species classifications based on whether they display hybrid traits. While all hermits are hybrids, they may not have traits that are obvious or clearly definable. Kinda like superhero universes where everyone has powers, but some people don't know what theirs is because it's some obscure thing like idk. folding sheets quickly.

Hermits are like this in the presentation of their hybrid genetics. Some have obvious traits like wings, glowing eyes, etc. Others do not. The corresponding species names are spectamistus, which should mean "visible mix", and secludimistus, which should mean "hidden mix".

Spectamistus will use their hybrid traits in accordance with their genus: Aedifex spectamistus could include a bird hybrid using their wings to safely build high in the air, a dog hybrid sniffing out the materials they need, etc. Ingeniator spectamistus may use traits such as fire resistance when mining for quartz in the nether, or specialized hearing when testing delicate machinery.

That’s all i got! Hopefully it makes sense, i spent pretty much all day on it lmao.

#hermitcraft #hermitblr #mcyt #mcytblr #hermitcraft 9

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my-mt-heart · 5 months

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I want to address a few things that Norman said in Le Parisien. The article isn't free, and I'm not going to encourage anyone to pay for something they might not like, but if you do want the link, DM me and I'll send it. Thank you to the person who read and translated this:

Defending himself against others trying to throw him under the bus is one thing, but denying all responsibility for the title accomplishes absolutely nothing except further insulting a significant portion of Daryl's fanbase. These fans, specifically Carylers, were all paying close attention when he said the exact opposite on Jimmy Kimmel. Watch at 8:45:

youtube

The video is from late last year. Melissa's negotiations for S2/S3 started last summer and her deal closed at the end of the year per my sources, which means there was (at least) a loose plan to bring her back before S1 started shooting. Norman confirms Pilgrim was a working title at some point, but he doesn’t mention Raise the Dead, which was more than likely planned as the official title of the show while they were shooting between October '22 and February '23.

I bring up the timeline because even if you believe Melissa was always part of the French spinoff, Norman’s other favorite narrative right now, the implication is still this: Norman, AMC, and the other EPs were fully aware that Melissa was coming back when they officially landed on a title excluding her. You could argue Daryl has the most name recognition from being the most marketed character or that his tags on SM have 6 billion views or, hey, let’s make it 6 trillion (how much of that overlaps with Daryl and Carol content btw?), but as we saw, that doesn’t guarantee all those viewers will watch the show, which is how AMC makes money. If there are two leads on the show, naming it after one lead doesn't make any sense from a marketing perspective because AMC is missing out on attracting more audience, promoting two characters and their chemistry instead of just one character.

So. They either manipulated the situation to give Norman and the other EPs what they wanted or, once again, they dismissed Melissa’s/Carol’s vitality to the show. Or both. Regardless, it poses a big problem for me, because Carol's ability to stand her ground against anyone who thinks less of her is what draws me to her character. I can't reconcile that with the obvious tactics Norman and the other EPs use to claim the show for themselves, completely ignoring fans who may be critical, yes, but ultimately just want the story both Daryl and Carol have earned.

Speaking of being ignored, I heard from multiple fans that AMC did in fact send out a survey regarding the title. I can't confirm because I haven't seen the survey myself, but if you're doing market research, you need a target audience, and if you're doing market research on what you know will (eventually) be a Daryl and Carol show, you should probably target Daryl and Carol fans, shippers or otherwise. Not that it's the most appropriate way to choose a title (not even close), but where's my survey? Did any Carylers get to participate? Did anyone bother to check? Because to me, it sounds like the focus group they used for their market research wasn't aimed at their target audience at all. It's possible they did the market research with a sample audience of the flagship show or just Daryl fans who are a percentage of their audience but not all their audience. If they used an audience that incorporated Carylers, Daryl fans and GA — the feedback for that title would've been mixed. If they focused their market research on mostly Carylers, the feedback would've heavily leaned towards having an inclusive title.

So many fans, not just Carylers, hate the title. It's boring, it's offensive, it's pretentious, it's misogynistic, etc. etc. These are fans who want to watch and enjoy the show, who are expected to pay for it, so why don't their opinions carry more weight? Why is there still such a strong disconnect between AMC and Carol/Caryl fans when that's exactly what caused the backlash last year? Why are they not doing everything they can to avoid the same mistakes?

As for this:

Most of it is true except for one important detail. Angela Kang's spinoff was going to be a road show shot and set in the U.S. That's the phone call Norman is alluding to. That's the spinoff Melissa signed on for. To say otherwise makes her look unprofessional and flaky for "dropping out" knowing all along she'd have to relocate, and that's not what happened at all. It's like there's no consideration for his co-workers' images while he's trying to rebuild his own, and that is unprofessional.

To be very clear, this is not meant to be a smear campaign. My intention here is to point out how deceptive the PR/marketing strategies have been and how they're hurting everyone, including Norman. I can't for the life of me see any business sense in repeatedly gaslighting and alienating a profitable fanbase, treating Daryl and Carol fans like they're stupid, or insinuating a Daryl and Carol show can't belong to Daryl and Carol fans. The more Norman talks about the spinoff's inception, the more it ensures people will never trust a single thing that comes out of his mouth ever again, and that sucks because if he just focused on what the audience wants, insisting that Melissa is his equal on the show, talking about the characters in meaningful ways, supporting Daryl's and Carol's relationship, he could sell it easily. Fans should be getting excited for their story, not reliving last year's trauma over and over and over again. Melissa is back and that's exciting, but story still matters. Both on and off screen (precisely why we need someone else on board who can manage all of that really well). I've asked this several times before. I'll keep asking until someone listens. Can we please move the fuck on from the spinoff fiasco?

And change the title.

#caryl #carol peletier #melissa mcbride #darylneedscarol #the book of carol #twd caryl #Youtube

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comradekatara · 1 year

Note

can you please tell us about dr professor sokka phd x 7

this ask inspired me to make a sokkademia tag. peruse at your leisure

sokka brings a certain philosophy professor energy to the physics department and a certain physics professor energy to the engineering department thats got all the students complaining to the dean bc he refuses to grade on a curve.

his standards are extremely high, but the worst part is he’s convinced his standards are like. the bare minimum and everyone’s just too STUPID to meet them.

he’s so divisive as a professor that students get in physical altercations upon debating his reputation. he has clear favorites and speaks to them specifically. the rest he dismisses as stupid and doesn't even bother trying to remember their names. but he respects the students who actually put in the work and they LOVE him and will go to bat for him like their life depended on it, even when faced with a (not uncommon) student who’s like “he told me to drop out,” they’re just like “and? sounds like you should’ve taken his advice.”

when katara learns how sokka treats his students she yells at him for hours. sokka’s just like “sorry but I can’t coddle and befriend my students like you do katara. we’re doing actual work instead of just playing with water” and she nearly kills him.

the university really wants sokka to give huge, accessible lectures that are open to anyone, since it’s great for business for obvious reasons. at first, sokka is just happy that he’s considered worthy of such a position, but he quickly realizes that he hates this setup. and since he basically has unlimited freedom since he’s in no danger of being fired, he’s instead allowed to construct very exclusive seminars in which he personally vets everyone who applies based on vibes.

after sokka starts playing favorites even more explicitly than he already had been, some students protest that sokka is “gatekeeping academia” and “being an intellectual elitist.” sokka’s just like “well that’s rich coming from people born in the upper ring of ba sing se. I invite students from all over the world to my seminars, including women btw.” that shuts them up real quick. (they also start admitting women.)

since sokka’s position as BSSU is basically kuei’s bribe to keep sokka as his advisor despite the fact that sokka cannot stand him, the university has no choice but to let him teach whatever he wants however he wants, since firing him would basically be treason against the earth king. sokka takes advantage of this privilege to the fullest. (and let’s be real. he’s earned it.)

he mainly teaches courses in the physics and engineering departments, but in his classes he discusses everything from art history to epic poetry to ontology. he barely even has a curriculum planned, he basically just talks about whatever he and his students feel like discussing. it’s nice to have a part of his life where he doesn’t need to adhere to a strict schedule. he knows it’s a privilege to not have a syllabus or a defined curriculum in academia, and he makes the most of it. his students know how lucky they are to work with him.

when he admits students into his class, he doesn’t actually care about prerequisites or what field they’re studying. in fact, despite officially teaching physics and engineering, he doesn’t like that most of them walk around with unearned superiority complexes, and is more likely to admit students who actually read and engage with art for pleasure. being "bad at math" is a way less egregious crime than not being curious and open-minded, in his opinion.

sokka doesn’t like giving tests, essays, or psets, since he thinks busywork is a waste of time, and he doesn’t wanna have to grade all that (for the first year, when he was giving lectures, it wasn’t an issue, since he had ta’s, but now that he exclusively does seminars, he has to grade everything himself, which is a fucking pain. he doesn’t have time for that!) so instead he just gives them one big research project with the open-ended prompt of “teach me something new.” nothing is off-limits. the weirder the better.

his students know that he is prone to go on tangents that can take up the entire class time, and it’s really easy to get him going. they’ll spend whole periods listening to him tell them about that time he got stuck in a hole while hunting and thought he was going to die, or debating the merits of airships vs sky bison as transportation.

ba sing se is a very insular city, and in it sokka has a reputation as an elitist, angry curmudgeon who keeps to himself aside from his inexplicable friendships with an elderly tea shop owner and that gloomy girl who sighs a lot. in the southern water tribe, on the other hand, sokka is seen as a goofy extrovert who knows everyone by name and is always looking to help out in any way he can (to the point where his compulsive need to help people is actually a little concerning). everywhere else, sokka’s reputation is generally somewhere in the middle, but these are the two poles. which means that whenever someone from his tribe meets one of his students, they experience this disconnect where they’re both just like “are you sure we both know sokka?? the sokka you’re describing is the same sokka as the one i know??? for real???”

sokka eventually gets sick of spending so much time in ba sing se. he suggests to katara that they should build a university in the south pole so that he can work there. katara’s like “guess what we actually do have a school in the south pole and i happen to teach there, only we don’t study book-learning for eggheads.” sokka reminds katara that the only academic universities in the water tribe are in the north (where they don’t admit women) and immediately katara decides to build a university in the south, and also it was her idea btw.

sokka does a lot of research in bending theory, and he occasionally uses katara’s students to help him with his experiments in hydrodynamics. katara doesn’t like that sokka thinks he can just steal her students like that, so she decides to turn the tables on him, see how he likes it. she finds his least boring looking student to ask out, and they get through a couple dates until katara finds his condescension too unbearable to continue. by the third time he’s told her that the only reason she doesn’t like math is because she doesn’t understand it, katara blurts out “my cat is sick i should go home and check on her bye” and leaves to punch the snow until she feels better. and they didn’t even hook up. what a waste.

toph, on the other hand, hooks up with many of sokka’s students. this is because toph likes women, which comprise a far less insufferable demographic.

no one in the gaang has read sokka’s books. zuko tried, he really did, but it gave him a really bad migraine. no one else even bothered the attempt. azula, mai, and ty lee on the other hand are all like, “you haven’t read it? sokka merely presents a theory of the particle composition of the spirit world via the notion of it as a fifth dimension interposed over space and time. it’s actually quite elementary stuff… that is, if you comprehend the foundations…”

wan shi tong has a few of sokka’s books in his library. the kitsune snuck them in there without his knowledge.

sokka coauthors a lot of his papers with yue, but since they’ve long since agreed that anyone but a select few being aware of their rendezvous in the spirit world is probably not a good idea, yue is happy with being anonymized. after all, the other spirits knowing that she divulged the secrets of their plane to such an insolent mortal would probably ruin her street cred.

sokka doesn’t really get along with the other professors. sure, they’re nice enough for the most part, and he admires their dedication to their fields, but the problem is that for all their knowledge in one extremely specific area of study, they have no actual practical knowledge or any understanding of the real world whatsoever. sometimes sokka will agree to go out with them for drinks, and even though they’re all older than him, he feels like he’s babysitting.

suki doesn’t spend much time in ba sing se, since they both agree that it’s preferable to hang out on kyoshi island or in the southern water tribe, or even the fire nation. but sometimes she’ll come if the earth king is throwing a party or if iroh has invited them for tea (at which point their reunion is extremely dramatic, as always, even if they saw each other just last week). one day the dean pulls sokka aside and is like “just because you’re a special case doesn’t mean you can date students” and sokka’s like “what??? why would i date a student???” and the dean says “well someone informed me that you were kissing a young woman on campus yesterday” and sokka’s like “suki??? you mean my girlfriend suki??? she doesn’t even live in ba sing se.” and the dean is like “nevertheless. you shouldn’t do that. i hear it’s making people jealous.”

#beangods #asks #postwargaang #sokkademia #sokka #katara #katara&sokka #kuei&sokka #sokkaxsuki #sokkaxyue #ugh now i wanna make a similar post but for katara as a teacher #and toph #i guess we already know what suki is like as a teacher lol #i love professors who alienate most of their class the entire semester and make u feel stupid and then u check ur transcript and u got an A #best kind of class. thats sokka

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bottombaron · 7 months

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for some reason every time I tried to add this to the tags of my last post about the Vampiric Transmogrification Ceremony, BUMblr had a fit and wouldn’t show my post in the official tags and I had to delete and re-post it, like, 5 times

most of this stuff I have been sitting on since the finale aired (like the alchemical symbols, thank you FMA), but here's some additional thoughts on my research journey for The Transmogrification Ceremony (part one):

startingggg with...

how Nandor knows how to read and write Ancient Persian Cuneiform…which would have been out of use roughly a THOUSAND YEARS before he was born 👀 👀

(not for the first time I have a very small suspicion of Nandor being older than he says he is…)

and he definitely knows what the basic alchemical symbols are b/c there’s no way he put the accurate corresponding cuneiform letters spelling english words for those elements on top of the symbols by accident!

the fact that the banners are all properly labeled, with the possible exception of one, is quite frankly both Doylistly and Watsonianly amazing

Nandor knowing at least the basics of alchemy isn’t actually that surprising. The Middle East, specifically Bagdad (which is located on the Tigris btw), was the foremost center of cultural and scientific knowledge (including big developments in alchemy) before the Mongols sacked Bagdad 4 years before Nandor would have been born.

Even after the sack, that knowledge and cultural need for learning didn’t just immediately dissipate and it would have still been an important city. Nandor, probably being born into a noble or middle class family, would have been educated in the sciences which would have included Alchemy. and if he wasn’t, as a ruler he would have had access to teachers and books to learn from. Nandor has always been curious, studious, and likes to read.

transmogrification is an actual alchemical term (webster's dictionary quote: transmute implies transforming into a higher element or thing. convert implies a change fitting something for a new or different use or function. transmogrify suggests a strange or preposterous metamorphosis) there's significance that can be read into this as the chosen title of Nandor’s made up ceremony if you’d like (other than it just sounds funny)

I was really impressed that the crew used actual Old Persian Cuneiform instead of the more popular Sumerian or Akkadian Cuneiform. technically Old Persian is just written with cuneiform-style symbols (much like modern Persian using Arabic-style symbols for their alphabet) and isn't cuneiform proper since it has it's own independently developed alphabet

a little disappointed that the cuneiform translated, not into Persian words, but to a rough spelling of English words for the elements already represented by the alchemical symbols (Earth, for example, would be būmiš = 𐏏, and instead here is just the symbols for 'I-A-R-T/th'. there is no 'E' in Old Persian cuneiform so 'I' substitutes)

tho I was delighted by the discovery that the cuneiform on the 'WATER' banner is close enough to اتر or ‘etir’, Persian for ‘ether’, that I don’t care if it’s a coincidence, i’m taking it

and you may be asking yourself if all the other banners just have rough phonic spellings of the elements the banner represents, why can’t ‘A-T-I-R’ (𐎠𐎫𐎡𐎽) just be a funky 'WATER' without the ‘W’? To that I say: yeah, maybe. There isn’t a corresponding cuneiform symbol for ‘W’ in Old Persian and the substitute of ‘I’ for ‘E’ is also used in ‘Earth’, so that isn’t a huge stretch. However, why not then use a ‘V’ 𐎺 or 𐎻, for 'W' instead of leaving the sound out completely?

Personally, I find the fact that the cuneiform translates more cleanly to an actual Persian word, and one that has huge significance to alchemy and the basic elements, too delicious to ignore. Unless wwdits crew clarifies that (which I would go feral for the opportunity to interview for all the little beautiful details and great work that they do), I’m going with the 'WATER' banner having ‘ETHER’ in cuneiform instead

(and yes i’m aware that ‘A-T/th-I-R’ could just be ‘E-T-H-E-R’ on it’s on and have nothing to do with the Persian word ‘e-t-e-r’ but why ruin the fun?)

I'm using a very loose interpretation for Ether = The Soul which also describes it as the 'Fifth Element' (insert Multi-Pass joke here), or quintessence, and kind of develops into a 'heavenly spirit' kind of essence later. Strictly speaking Ether describes a 'void or nothing, is the material that fills the region of the universe beyond the terrestrial space' but describing it as The Force isn't as significant in the wwdits universe than representing Guillermo's soul

in mythology Aether is the 'pure, fresh air that the god's breathed', different from the air mortals breathed. In Greek mythology he is the son of Darkness and Night and is the primordial personification of the bright upper sky. In Orphic cosmogony he was the son of Time and the brother of Chaos, and he was basically pregnant with the Great Cosmic Egg, of which Phanes the 'First Born God of light and goodness' came from

so there's...that

the use of the cuneiform symbol for ‘new word’ ( 𐏐 ) in front of ‘A-T-I-R’ is interesting and i’m not sure of the significance of it. In cuneiform there is no space between words, so each new word is signified by this symbol, but obviously there is no use of the symbol when each banner only has one word each. and there isn’t any other cuneiform symbol that looks like it either (which makes sense since it’s used for clarification not create typos). it’s an interesting little bit that i’m fascinated with

i did check to see if the (𐏐 ) symbol has a phonic sound to it that might have represented the ‘w’ in Water, but found nothing.

my reading is that it’s being used in the spirit of the meaning and is signifying that the following cuneiform is not related to alchemical symbol of water, like the other ones are. which would track if the cuneiform is translated as ‘ether’ instead

Old Persian cuneiform is read left to right like english, unlike modern Persian, that is read right to left. so that originally confused me, especially since I started with 'AIR' which is backwards to begin with lol

the banner for 'AIR' being backwards is literally only noticeable by the cuneiform symbol for A being inverted 𐎠 (it's the last symbol on the right and has the triangle head starting from the right instead of the left). The same symbol is seen in the 'EARTH' banner turned right. There is no symbol in Old Persian cuneiform that would look like that and sure enough, when flipped, the translation only makes sense as 'AIR'.

that was either a mistake by Nandor, the crew. or on purpose by Nandor, the crew. or some combination thereof. (alchemy having significance with things being backwards does not make that choice easy tbh, but what that significance would be if on purpose ??? idk)

if you’re wondering, I did check to see if anyone else had their bondage-rope-capes-things tied into a bow around their necks like Guillermo. from what I can tell only Nadja and Derek do? Nadja has a big lovely bow which would have been tied by her husband and I’m assuming the awkward limp bow Derek wears is tied by himself. everyone else does not have the Shibari rope completely tied around them. i’m assuming there is wire around the collar holding the shape of them. again, looking into that little detail, if we are taking the Suspiria bondage costume more literally, tracks as Nadja has her loving husband Laszlo to tie her in a beautiful piece, and Derek with his s&m collar, is the picture of a sad sub tying himself up because he has no one else to do it for him

Most importantly however, is that Nandor does not have a tied knot, which confirms to me that he dressed himself without any help from Guillermo and that makes me sad. but then also adds significance to Guillermo being tied in so lovingly:

Nandor makes every last detail here about Guillermo and not himself. it’s almost too much, with how selfish Nandor is in the previous seasons. season 4 especially, what with that ‘you have to make everything in my life about you’ line from Guillermo. but here Guillermo is the special one and Nandor makes sure that every single bit of theater is for, and about, him.

the symbols that I think Nandor is referring to when he says he doesn't know what they mean, are the top symbols, which I will be getting to in my part 2 👍

#wwdits #what we do in the shadows #nandor the relentless #nandermo #nandor #have you started to see how i've spent my month post-finale now???

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t-w-i-l-l-e-r · 1 year

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ok so this is probably the only non-reblog tumblr post i’ll ever make in the entirety of my natural life but if the world goes on w/o knowing anything about mirai komachi I will BURST.

Mirai Komachi is this vocaloid (see below) made for the VOCALOID4 engine by Bandai Namco Studios, a Japanese video game development company that is a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Entertainment which ITSELF is a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings ANYWAY

from what i can gather she was kind of an accident? the vocaloid wiki describes her as an “experimental female vocal not originally meant for commercial release” which to me implies “accident”. either way they made this vocaloid n then just. released her. No announcement, no advertising, nothing. “come get y’all orange juice”, Bandai Namco said. And, unsurprisingly, very few people did. mirai komachi is a relatively obscure vocaloid, even (from what i can tell PLZ correct me if i’m wrong) in the jp community and ESPECIALLY in the english community. Minnemi’s “Every VOCALOID Described In One Word” video give mirai komachi the word “who?”. She’s not even mentioned on her parent company’s wikipedia page. only the most completionist of the completionist vocaloid nerds (me) even rly know of her existence, much less her lore.

yeah thats right her lore. this girlie has lore!!! her origin is that this doctor guy named Hakase (yeah they have names n everything) was doing some kind of experiment that got fucked up so explosion BOOM mirai komachi appears (BTW "mirai komachi” is her name. Like, the whole thing. komachi is written in kanji while mirai is written in katakana which implies mirai is the given name and it’s just written in the western order but her website refers to her explicitly as Mirai Komachi and in an email Bandai Namco stated that mirai is neither her given or family name. Technically in most official english source material they refer to her as MiraiKomachi. weird). after she appeared in the explosion she became a researcher at Bandai Namco studios women in stem girlboss. anyway Hakase n these little robots he made r considered her sidekicks n they have a whole lil comic series of their misadventures that I CANNOT find any english translations of and it kills me.

but either way my point is considering her lack of popularity its kind of wild how much content there is of her???? she has a youtube page w/ a bunch of original songs, almost all of which have official english subtitles and are on spotify (which is pretty rare for lesser known vocaloids n if they r there they r certainly hard 2 find). the official MiraiKomachi website is super well made and has a bunch of illustrations, an official mirai komachi 3d model, and the comics i mentioned earlier. she’s been on a bunch of japanese public transport stuff (which isnt that uncommon 4 jp vocaloids) n has this absurd but cute video collaboration with Jammu like. shes there!! shes got stuff!!!

(this whole post is rly just a manifestation of the fact that vocaloid is a very international multilingual community n the nature of very international multilingual communities is every once in a while u will stumble across an aspect of this community that u r theoretically “part of” that is completely in a language that u dont speak or in a physical location that u cannot access n ur just like “huh. there are entire aspects of this thing i care about that i will never fully understand and subcommunities that i will rarely ever interact with even if i spend actual years obsessing over that thing.” this has been existential fandom hour brought to you by staring too long at the vocaloid wikis)

uhhh anyway tl;dr mirai komachi is cute n i wish i could read japanese

#vocaloid #mirai komachi #mirai komachi vocaloid #im no longer down the rabbit hole #the rabbit hole is down me #its in my intestines kicking and screaming #(about vocaloid)#JP AND EN SPEAKING VOCALOID FANS PLZ TRANSLATE MIRAI KOMACHI COMICS #I BEG OF YOU #the music videos on the yt channel r so cute they deserve recognition!!!#i'm doing the work of the capitalists by promoting a character explicitly made to advertise a video game company but...#listen shes CUTE its not my fault #i stayed up kinda late n then woke up n found this in my drafts did i even write this???? no memory

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darkcircles4lyfe · 2 years

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Why Tiger is kind of a big deal, actually

Folks, I have a headache. I just spent the better part of my day doing research, and having even less fun than I expected while doing it. However, coming out the other end of it, I can say this: Tiger, in terms of representation of trans male characters in manga and anime, is practically an anomaly. And we should all be more aware of the weight that carries, not just because it shows how little representation we have, but also because maybe this says something about Horikoshi. Before I get into that, though, some backstory.

Originally, I wanted to do this as quantitatively as possible, show you how much representation there is, where and when and who it comes from, regardless of how subjectively good or bad it is. Basically all I wanted to say was, “look, there isn't much.” But even I didn’t realize just how bad and messy things were going to turn out to be. I’m not going to show you my spreadsheet because it’s a fucking dumpster fire. For starters, there are a lot more instances of trans female characters, some that could be described as non-binary, genderfluid, or otherwise ambiguous, and very few trans male characters. I ended up with a list of about 20 alleged trans male characters, spanning roughly 40 years of Japanese media. (Not exhaustive, especially because not everything is available in English) Of those, some turned out to be inexplicit/vague/unclear, some were tragic, some were demeaning, some were very minor characters, and some belonged to creators and/or stories with exceptionally problematic aspects. Again I’m not gonna show you my spreadsheet because it got messy and subjective and honestly I was so frustrated I kinda lost my patience. In the end, only one survived as a manga I will definitely be seeking out for substantial, gratifying, therapeutic representation of someone like me. That one manga is Boys Run the Riot, by the way. I wish I could say more about it here, but I haven’t read it yet! Anyway, a few more did survived this filtering process excluding the fact that they’re minor characters, and Tiger was one of them. I want to reiterate how utterly abysmally tiny this pool of characters is. But I swear I still want to have some fun with this post, so let’s talk about Tiger, aka Chatora Yawara.

And what’s more fun than calling out our good buddy Mr. CC on his translating bullshit! Yeah! This all started when I was looking back at ch 72 and I realized something didn’t make sense:

Like, what does this even mean? “Genre?” “Wrong??” I can’t even understand what this statement is referring to exactly, just that it sounds bad. Seems very much like something got lost in translation. I unfortunately can’t really do the work myself, especially without access to the original Japanese, but sometimes I like to try to triangulate with multiple translations put together. Btw though, if you have access to the Japanese versions and can/want to translate, please do reach out to me to either confirm or deny all this. For now, here is a side by side comparison of officials (blue) vs. available fanscans (yellow) for Tiger’s introduction:

It’s subtle, but the officials get things a little more muddled. The most glaring difference is that CC has Aizawa refer to the whole hero team as “these ladies,” which sounds very bad! Idk if the original Japanese has any gendered language to justify translating it to “ladies,” but I’m guessing probably not. My interpretation of what went wrong here is that CC thought Horikoshi wanted to make Tiger being trans part of the joke, playing it for shock value, when really what was meant by “wrong gender” was more like “the only Pussycat who isn’t a woman,” and not “wrong” as in “mutilated woman who thinks she’s a man” (yes, transphobes call us that). After all, how would Deku be able to tell Tiger is trans and be shocked about it anyway? The other comments make a lot more sense with the added translator note in the fanscan as well, letting us know that the whole bit is a reference to Billy Blanks. Hence the “wrong genre.” Basically, all put together, the scene is actually just a joke about Tiger being a hard-ass buff dude instead of a cute, fun little kitty. So yeah, this is all fine. Cannot stress enough how refreshing that is after the research hell I went through today.

Now let me get into what takes Tiger from okay to great in terms of representation. I want to underline the seemingly tiny detail that he is 31 years old and has been a part of his team for 12 years, so since they were 19. That likely means they were all friends in high school and had already been planning to work together for years. Perhaps their friendship even dates back before Tiger came out and started transitioning. I mean, imagine young Yawara happily befriending a group of girls (same bro, same) but being uneasy about the fact that the hero agency Ryuko is dreaming of starting is going to have them all themed as catgirls. Like, if he comes out, will he ruin that dream? But no, he cares enough about them and they care enough about him that it makes no difference whatsoever, and he even has fun going along with the theme too. Seriously, the fact that he has a gender-nonconforming style of hero costume is some next level shit.

The other thing that makes him great is he’s just, there. Doing his thing. No one questions him, acts like he’s a fraud, scandalizes or misgenders him. His being trans at all is only mentioned in a quick note next to his sketch page, which is fine by me tbh. Better that than some dramatic reveal. He also doesn’t have any stereotypical traits. I mean, I guess some trans men being gym rats is kind of a stereotype, but not a bad one? It’s more of an actual thing that we can joke about. A negative portrayal I would expect might emphasize a trans man’s “womanly” body, for example, simultaneously fetishizing and mocking it. If anything the fact that Tiger’s body is very masculine suggests he was designed by someone who knows how medical transition works, and the fact that he happily participates in gender-nonconformity suggests he was designed by someone who understands the complexity and diversity of gender presentation. He’s just ya know, casually and quietly one of the most genuine representations of a trans man in manga ever.

Horikoshi does seem to have a way of making even the most minor characters feel real and complex. But with this there’s more to it than that. Trans men fly under the radar constantly. People don’t know shit about us. They forget we even exist. No cishet man who decides on a whim to make up a random trans male character magically gets it right. So lemme just point at Tiger with every ounce of emphasis I can possibly cram into my finger, and look you in the eye with the war-hardened stare of someone who has seen just about goddamn everything: This. Is. Significant. In a world where trans men get next to zero representation, let alone decent representation, this isn’t just good, it’s suspiciously good. Like Horikoshi Knows Things type of good. I hate to go here, but I don’t know how else to articulate this... like, in my spreadsheet elimination, the only examples that fared as well or better than Tiger were written by actual queer people and/or come from stories with more major queer characters. At the very least this means that for a cishet man, Horikoshi is way more knowledgable of lqbtq+ issues than average, and at most…well, you know what I’m getting at. I will also go ahead and say that a character like Tiger could very well be a sign of Horikoshi testing the waters for other more central queer characters in the future, getting a read on his audience, editors, publisher, etc. and how they react to it.

Regardless, I’m writing this post not to speculate, but because I want y’all to be armed with the confidence to say Horikoshi is on your side, and not the side of the ignorant dudes who think bnha is their personal plaything. I’m tired of those people pissing all over this manga like it’s their turf. You know, the kind of people who tell you bnha is a shounen, which means it’s “for boys,” straight, cisgender boys, and you don’t belong here so you should shut up or go read something else. Please take this post as a reminder that you’re not delusional, you do belong here, and you're in good hands with Horikoshi, whether you’re queer yourself or just enjoy a good queer ship/headcanon.

Anyway have a nice rest of your Pride Month everybody <3

^also enjoy this little exchange with class A, it’s very cute

#this post is a long time coming #I'm entering my no-bullshit-tolerance era #chatora yawara #wild wild pussycats #Tiger #trans character #bnha manga #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #bkdk #bakudeku #dkbk #dekubaku #also ps if you've read this far #yes I thought about talking about Magne too #but since I'm not a trans woman I don't want to act like my opinion of her matters much #so I'll just leave it here in case you're wondering #personally I was horrified when she was killed #but that's technically not a crime I guess #she is tragic in much the same way the rest of the main villains are #so it's okay #but y'all deserve better than okay obviously #again it's not really my place #if it’s any consolation #I did see someone suggest Tiger could encounter Magne’s friend at some point #and provide some kind of closure and/or bridge #it’s also possible Hori wanted to do more with Magne but had to cut it due to popularity issues with the villains in general back then #bnha meta #lin speaks

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