#it's a very cool name actually. contains multitudes

[yikesy]

I actually love lester's name so much

it's the way apollo(n)'s main cognates seem to be Destroyer (apollymi) and Assembly/City center/Walled fence (apella)

and Lester means "fortified place", "city" or even "camp"

it preserves and remains faithful to one of his meanings

and I can see how zeus arrived to this meaning and where his gross miscalculation was, he wants to defang apollo so he erases the Destroyer, it's meant to "humble" him

but like,, that's exactly who apollo wants to be. someone who builds and preserves, the core of civilization. he destroys too but that's not his preference and zeus cannot see it because he's too tunnel visioned on violence

so like it's like a microcosm of the whole situation, zeus is so scared of apollo's potential for violence that he goes too hard on the other direction and ends up reminding him of his actual core self (bad if you want to opress him!!! self actualization is power in a god's world!!!! you're missing the forest for the trees!!!!!!)

so like, of course apollo accepts the name and reclaims it as his own and makes it a fucking epithet when he starts self actualizing, that's literally what he does every time when in forced proximity to an opposing force, he conquers its concept and takes its name

[westmansion]

THINKING AND THONKING AND HAVING THOUGHTS ABOUT GRIMA AND ROBIN FIRE EMBLmE...........

CURRENTLY IM ONLY MISSING VALENTINES F!ROBIN, GREEN MAGE ROBIN, AND KID F!ROBIN+CHROM BESIDES THE 2 NEW GRIMAS, I JUST GOT EXALT F!ROBIN FOR FREE SO I CAN CHECK HER OFF TOO

BUT ANYWAYs, i have a dream webpage for robin theory page envisioned but still havent made yet rip but its in general my thoughts on how robin and grima coexist in different timelines that the alts introduce alongside the OC-ified units i have in AWIcons order of heroes

FOR M! AND F!ROBIN;; and the robins separate from grima;;;

these are the regular summoned robins, m!robin has been on my main team since launch but i trained f!robin in tandem; to me they were summoned perpetually mid-campaign, what i mean by this is that to me the robins in heroes contain and represent the minds/lives/hearts/whatever of all possible robins going through awakening all at the same time(cause theyre placeholders but more), being in the order of heroes has caused both of them not distress perse but superawareness of being so many people at once, its been a while since i explained it the way i wanted so i might have to rehaul my explanation (i actually attach a concrete good or bad ending to the robins in smash brothers more than i do with the robins here in heroes)

m!robin and f!robin despite enjoying being in the order of heroes feel averse towards other robins but subconsciously, as the robins contain/represent multitudes part of those multitudes from failed campaigns hold ire or jealously for the idea of a good ending, many of them think it wonderful that his campaign went well or even celebrate it, many a many of reactions/feelings/thoughts/pain/hope/etc happening all at once within m! and f!robin that it becomes complicated and overwhelming to be around other robins but the other robins are the only people that understand any of it

at the very very VERY beginning of playing i imagined that robin came here already with grima inside of them due to the fact that i considered robin being summoned here was to represent robin as a whole and one and the same with grima, grima would show itself occasionally but was mostly dormant [i dont remember if i made the post back when the tempest trial was occurring (unless it wasnt a tempest trial i donut remember] where robin was the final boss i considered that the moment that the two became seperate within the order of heroes [also it was around the time where CYL began and you could vote for grima to become their own unit]) here's the only screenshot of that (i called it THE LAST THING YOU SEE BEFORE YOU DIE)

FOR THE OTHER ROBINS AND ALTS;;;

xmas!robin came from a successful campaign and a good ending where ylissee is peaceful, he feels for m! and f!robin as still being the same person but different he has a grasp on the confusion and overwhelm that the two are going through, he doesn't have any ill will in response to them and cares for them, parts of m! and f!robin that are hurting due to failed campaigns or bad endings or despair actually feel comfort around xmas!robin because of just the possibility of hope that comes from his existence (also i accidentally married him to halloween dorcas because i mistapped but i liked it so he stays, i gave him the deer ears accessory so now in my head he a deer-saytr which is cool i too, we oc-ify in this house)

the harpoon!robins (or summer robin, i have 2!!!!!! and theyre bother married to celica :3) also came from varying peaceful endings, one of them were summoned specifically from the summer scramble so its more of a respite than an ending, similar to xmas!robin they understand their plight and exasperation, most of the time they spend exploring the order of heroes to learn more about the campaigns and legacies of the past and are extremely fascinated by the other lords (especially celica :333)

horsegroom robin (that is his name now), the 2 exalt robins, the kid robins, and the other valentines m!robin that i forget is there because he's actually a chrom unit (im sorry outside of his role in awakening's plot i donut care about chrom 😔) i havent thought through everything yet as it was during the years i was falling out of heroes and just wanted to add them to my collection so thats where i can do more thinking

the resplendant robins (which i will never have cause youre nuts if im getting a feh pass) are mysteries and fill all the robins and grima with fear, (i know its liberally just clothes) but to me these robins come from an existence that is unknown to robin and grima as a whole, robin and grima being tied together and being partly the same but different being faced with a 3rd version of themselves goes beyond what they understand at the moment despite wanting to learn more about the order of heros, the replendant robins havent shared what or where theyve come from but feel a curiousness in return but approaching robin doesnt really go anywhere

FOR THE GRIMAS;; their horn positioning has meaning but i dont remember too much of what it was for so im gonna have to rehual it, for the most part the grimas have

1st!grima came from a future where the shepherds failed and robin was taken over but in heroes he reconciled with summoned robin; but the robin 1st!grima inhabits has been deteriorating and just wants comfort before he fades away completely; 1st!grima's appearance is more dragon like due to the deterioration and his horns protrude outwards and walks around haunched over kinda like a raptor

2nd!grma at first kept trying to merge with the summoned robin which caused him to detest 2nd!grima ofc, after a while in the order of heroes tho he eventually grew bored with robin and instead just gives him grief instead cause its funny; the robin 2nd!grima inhabits comes from another failed future where that robin fell into despair due to making too many mistakes which cost the lives of many of the shepherds, he merged with 2nd!grima as punishment and is slowly fading from existence, 2nd!grima influenced caused that robin's body to appear..bigger (idk how to describe it but i can see it in me head, its kinda like a devilman situation) 2nd!grima is also more serpent-like rather than dragon/drake like and his horns appear in the shape of a cobra cape;; he's married to evil celica (the possessed one i just call her that) and "adopted" possessed takumi due to still having robin's human heart (which 2nd!grima used to despise); there was a whole debacle in the order of heroes where 2nd!grima challenged duma for evil celica to have her power to herself rather than be tied to duma's hand;; the summoned robin's at this point has no quarrel with 2nd!grima despite the grief and concern for the robin it inhabits

i dont have a fully finished idea for 3rd!grima anymore because its mostly forgotten lol, i had a dream back in college about a point-n-click heroes game where that grima was the main antagonist, his design was also bat-like which was interesting

f!grima or tarantula grima is tied to my lunatic playthrough in awakening, her design is ofc spider-like and her wings become legs and her horns madibles, the whole motif is that this grima cannot leave her nest and causes despair and the problems for the shepherds through controlling other already in or around house ylissee, (it was during 2014 so bill cipher's saying "i just have to use someone inside (the mystery shack)" was partly and influence), F!grima doesn't technically inhabit a robin as she's the grima that already exists and an entity in awakening, in the playthrough f!grima could posses those who had given up any sort of hope (Lucina became a literal beacon throughout this run) and would target any units who kept spirits high (notably lost stahl, lissa, and giaus in this run);;; in HEROES tho since she was defeated in awakening she usually keeps to herself or at least doesnt challenge robin in any capacity, she "adopted" the grimalings (the darkness morgans that in my mind were summoned from the paralouge chapters) because shes still robin (human heart stuff etc)

f!wolf grima comes from a campaign where robin gave herself up to be a vessel to have access to power, grima in this campaign also never wanted to bring ruin or follow the grimleal's orders and all that so they came to an agreement together, they coexist in the same body, robin's want power wasnt meant for domination either, both robin and grima know theyre capable of the unknowable and want access to it all freely and without any command but their own, currently she rules a realm above the continent and ylisee/valm/pelgia/ferox are at basically a standstill as theyre not sure what to do (also her design is a kitsune to me which is fun), she finds the robins quaint and calls them worms so she can observe them)

m!wolf grima in a similar fashion became grima's vessel for power and knowledge but more in a way of conquest as grima in this world (not necessarily evil) still likes plegia's idea of ruling the continent, also meeting f!wolf grima in the order of heroes gave them both the idea of combining forces to continue this conquest in some sort of future; within the order he's constantly trying to compel the robins to actually realize their full potential (that funney post where that person gets a text from their dad saying "where's you rage!!" or whatever)

(both of the wolf grimas stories are still wips in some cases but i do like the idea of robin being capable of also wanting things, most cases keep robin and benevolent and i agree for the most part but robin is still a neutral party at the beginning that couldve been swayed either way depending on who showed them kindness or understanding first since we see that chrom's family lead their own conquest before awakening, also i think about the possibility of robin maybe enjoying their time in plegia before they lost their memory, maybe not intending to become /evil/ but being raised to be a vessel couldve been luxurious for all we know, i explain this better in morgan's quest)

and finally ulitmate f!grima for me was supposed to be the grima that came from a fell future, married to fell chrom, and all that; the robin in this case did share plegia's belief and fell ylisse from the inside out, she treats being summoned to the order of heroes as a kind of vacation and drives f! and m!robin nuts, she also pities 2nd!grima for succumbing to his human heart, basically the antagonist to all the robins and grimas within the order, this is where my conflicts comes up because "tyrant of despair and ruin" were supposed to be her

WITH THE NEW FANCY GRIMAS once they get here im thinking i can apply their roles to at least the exalt robins or even the kid robins but i would need to go back and read their dialogue and stuff, i enjoy the idea of seeing what robins' life was like as a kid but my backstory for robin is also completely different and will be discussed in my other brain mess called Morgan's Quest but i will have to get back to that later.............

ABOVE ALL im soooooooooo in love with the fact that these grima's are actually beastly and we see the wings and the eyes and AUUUUUUGUHGHJ this is waht ive always wanted since heroes' launch and tie back together how i put together all of my grimas and i NEEEEEED THEM, all of this is just to get this excitement out somewhere and i hate that i cant draw out this stuff or focus enough to make the webpage anger and fury and frustration and all that but also grima ilove grima and robin theyre everything to me ok thats it thnak you

[royboyfanpage]

12 & 13!

!! Thank you for the ask! I couldn't tell which ask game you meant so I'll do both, feel free to ignore the one you didn't ask for :)

If it's for the character ask (Roy, obviously)

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

I think he's always moving. Just absolutely will not be still for more than five minutes. Drumming his fingers on the desk during meetings, pacing around the room when he's waiting for something, tapping his feet whenever music comes on. If Roy's in the room, unless he's trying to be stealthy, you'll know from the sounds of him moving around. He's the first one dancing at parties, he's drumming the beat to We Will Rock You on the table, he's this constant presence that you just can't help but notice because of how much space he takes up without even trying. Also he was one of those "chewing on toothpicks" guys in his Agent Harper days. Everyone thought he was trying to be cool, but in reality he just Loathed that he needed to stand still and be professional so chewing a toothpick was the best alternative.

Also, while he's trained himself out of the habit now, he was absolutely a pencil chewer when he was a teenager. Not all of the pencils he chewed belonged to him.

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

Tbh I can't really see him using emojis in the traditional sense, I don't think he was ever really active on the internet. I think if he did it'd be just thumbs up or thumbs down. But, if he were to use other emojis, I think it'd 100% be like, to tease people. Garth once misclicked and sent 😚 instead of 😊 and Roy now ends every text to Garth with 😚. Alternatively, Mia once sent him this 🐱 emoji and Roy thought it was the dumbest looking cat he's ever seen and now uses it constantly.

If it's the violence one:

12. The unpopular character you actually like and why more people should like them.

I'm struggling to answer this because I don't know how far-reaching the hate actually *is* for a lot of characters and how many haters are just in one small circle 😭 I guess with how rampant New 52 fans are on the site, Ollie's gotta be pretty unpopular just based on them, so I'll go with him. People should like Oliver Queen because he tries *so hard*. Is he perfect? No. He's human. And unlike some other human heroes who shan't be named, he's man enough to change. Some unnamed heroes stick so closely to the beliefs they set out at the start, but Ollie changes and adapts! I mean, he's literally a billionaire-turned-socialist. And a lot of the hate comes from his relationship with Roy, which most of it stems from like 1 panel that's taken out of context and fails to recognise Ollie's character growth. He saw addiction as a moral failing, and then re-evaluated his worldview and changed. And also he is dad <3 second dad ever (his oldest son is the first)

13. Worst blorbofication.

The obvious answer is Roy but yk what I'm gonna go against the expectation because the blorbofied Roy is basically a completely different character to my Roy, and is based in actual comics. I'm gonna go with Dick Grayson. I'm always a little scared to right about him because he contains multitudes and he's honestly one of the most complex and compelling characters in DC. That being said. I hate that fandom has basically boiled him down to "sunshine big brother". Yes, his relationships with the younger Batkids are very sweet, but also Dick Grayson is not a happy man. Dick Grayson is a bit of a bitch sometimes. I'm too tired to look for the panel right now, but there's this one panel in Outsiders (2003) where he goes off on Roy about the similarities between him and Ollie and ends it with "At least he was never a junkie", which was prompted by Roy (rightfully) calling Dick out for being disconnected from the team, I'm pretty sure not visiting Anissa in hospital was one of the things he brought up. A big fanon take I've seen is "When Dick's sad you can never tell because he puts on a smile", and while that may be true in *some* circumstances, it's absolutely not his default. Iirc Outsiders was formed after Donna's death, too, and he's sad, so he pushes everyone away and not in the martyr sense. Anyway Dick Grayson isn't the golden batkid he's the batkid who was crushed under the weight of being Bruce's partner rather than sidekick and forced to grow up too soon.

[the-hs-etaverse]

State of the Etaverse #Last

Hi!

It's been a bit since the last one of these I did. But I figured I'd give you guys one last pre-Housesnared progress update, before I leave for Lent as per usual.

1. I'm sorry. I've been making promises and saying I have stuff planned, but I haven't actually proven it. Half cuz I don't wanna spoil anything, half cuz I'm excited and I wanna talk about this, half cuz my executives are still dysfunctioning. (Yes, that's three halves. I am large; I contain multitudes.)

I was looking at this project Adam Cadre made (he's the guy who runs the Little Lytton contest, and he also made a bunch of interactive fiction. Also, Wikipedia Brown) (the project itself is really cool. It's a graphical representation of how common a given name is in any given generation.), and in one of the notes he tacked on, about why he made the project, he says, quote:

One of the things that always irked me back in my days writing interactive fiction was when people would post, “Hey, everyone, I’m planning to write a game that does such and so!”  Like… cool, so do it.  Don’t write a post telling us about something you haven’t even started.

Which... yeah. It's great to have an idea, and it's great to share it, but it's even better to act on the idea, to make it tangible. (Insert ill-timed and protracted diatribe on the failings of copyright law here.)

Unfortunately, I am prone to Not Get Stuff Done Disease. And that brings me to...

2. The excellent @madam-melon-meow has kindly granted me her assistance in terms of project management and betareading! I met M^3 through a Homestuck fanauthor Discord server she runs (here's the Tumblr), and she mentioned she liked doing project management, and now I'm spamming our DMs with sprite edits and she is being very tolerant of my inanity.

(Please read her things. She is very talented.)

"But why are you doing this, meow (both of you)?" you may be asking. "Why get/be a project manager for a fanventure that's not going to release any time soon?"

3. I'm posting the first pages on April 8th. M^3 is holding me to that, and I'm holding me to that, and the HSFAC is holding me to that, and now I'm having you all hold me to that, and I'm steadily plugging away at getting ready for Housesnared to finally friggin' launch.

It's been four and a half years since I had the initial concept. A little over four years since I started this blog. And I've done nothing but sit on the idea and turn the screw for the past four years.

I have ideas. I think they're cool, and I think you may like them. And I want to share them with you.

Why not start now? The time will pass anyways.

...oh, one more thing. I'm not going to change the blog URL again because I don't wanna break any more links, but now this AU is called the Eta Timeline. Partly because Homestuck works on more of a timeline than universe basis, partly because it just sounds better imho.

Aight, peace!

[blckcndlwx]

I’ve found that I enjoy monster aus and fantasy type settings more and more lately and I’ve been slightly inspired.

Some context first that this is by all accounts a mish mash of different ideas in every single way, I had some old OCs I wanted to revamp and I decided I wanted them to be monsters while putting a fun twist on the usual stuff. Secondary context is that I’m a huge Science nerd and I enjoy reading species studies in that textbook style description so when talking specifically about certain species/races I often use that manner of speaking a bit. Latin, Greek, and Old English are also very prevalent influences in how I go about naming things haha.

I’ve taken to calling this universe ‘Rigor Mortis’ to remind myself that I want there to absolutely be uncanny and eerie elements along with some mildly wholesome ideas. I also just think it’s sounds cool 😎 Pardon me if this is all a lil messy and all over the place 😞

Rigor Mortis is a universe in which the veritable “monsters” of mythology, folklore, and the like are very real and are just as old and prevalent as humankind. Humans of course referred to these creatures as “monsters” for a very long time and though of course there is actual names they have given their kinds the term continued to stick horrendously and the official term is Monstrum when speaking in vagueness of the inhuman.

That being said the power struggle between humankind and monstrum is quite literally ancient. With a variety of Holy Wars being raged as well as retaliatory conquests plaguing the planets history throughout the continents. Eventually though a ceasefire and shaky peace was achieved only barely in the last few decades with multiple civil disputes and arguments of rights for either side still occurring until now. (I wanna say circa the late 1890s early 1900s is about when things get politically stable)

The climate of the interpersonal relationships between humans varies from country to country and can be extreme in its differences. Some countries are responsible for industries like human farms, specialty construction/tailoring, and synthetic nutrition . Simply for the reasons that while there is peace in one particular country it doesn’t change the fact that some monstrum do still require a diet that involves human consumption thus why synthetic means are also being developed, monstrum can also come in such vastly different shapes and sizes there is no way to maintain a standard for ANYTHING so practically everything one owns often is or needs to get specialized.

Humans despite what you may think, are not the majority of the population! In fact Humans are more of a minority (for a multitude of reasons) that only make up about 40% of the planet’s population which does include those contained in the aforementioned farms. Which is not to say that there are not humanoid looking variants of monstrum, the 40% statistic applies to full blooded humans. The numbers having seriously lowered after a boom in monstrum population 😅

Ironically humans, as hilarious as it was to find out after a time, are like O- of the reproductive world of monstrum. They can mix seamlessly with any race of them and the offspring retain a majority of the inhuman traits and very little human ones, a real purists dream. Thus some upper class monstrum who like to stress bloodlines and retain their traits can often pay extensively good money for human aid (willing participants or not) but this fact is also attributed to the influx in monstrum population as more and more cases of interbreeding became slightly more common. To be perfectly honest however humans are largely more common to be fetishized by monstrum than seeking anything romantic

On the subject of reproduction, monstrum are perfectly capable of reproducing within themselves to a degree. These mixed offspring however end up with a strong mixture of both parents and can make for some interesting looking individuals. If a monstrum has fairly mixed heritage, of over 3 specific races, then they’re considered Chimeric! Chimeras themselves don’t fall under the statistics of multiple categories and instead are classified both medically and governmentally by their most prominent race. (Obviously an insectoid can’t reproduce with a lycanthrope or fish person normally, however cases of this and similar situations can be plausible if the parents have just enough human genes to bridge the gap. These individuals are incredibly uncommon but they do exist, as retention of human genes is enormously recessive and take generations of consistent reproduction with humans to acquire them.)

Aside from the 40% of pure humans the remainder 60% of monstrum can be broken down into multiple subsidiary categories. They can be classified based on either the same genus, family, or species classification we may give animals or by specific traits they have in common. (i.e. diet, specific physical features, environment..) but ‘genus’ is the most popular way of classification.

I know I have literally zero followers so nobody else is probably going to read this but me, but I’ve had this sort of open project idea for awhile and figure that here is as good a place as any to write down what I have so far of this universe premise. More posts to come as well detailing actual species/race details

….eventually. Maybe. At some point. If I actually remember to 🥲

[nomaishuttle]

im also physically incapable of not giving my characters bangs and theres a 75% chance theyll cover their eyes bc i find that very cutesy but i fucking. when im drawing Worlds worst friend group i cant have them be like. 3 girlthangs with bangs covering their eyes and then a DOG (actually a demon). so i try 2 give sanctity shorter bangs but it still looks sort of samey and lu and avarice have similar hair textures so them both having bangs in general it gets too samey. so ive started giving avarice a middle part bc also i like seeing her eyes BUT i also drew her eith long bangs 4 so long the middle part feels fake. so

[inthefoxholes]

I completely agree.

I think Solas is one of the big missed opportunities of the game. Overall, there is not much plot - we don’t learn a lot of new things about the world (the opposite is true, it gets flattened), things get less complex (no qunari infighting, no theological discussions in this game!) and less nuanced, companions are badly written - there is really only one main, very straightforward conflict AND IT IS SO BADLY DONE.

Why don’t we learn anything about Elgarnan and I forgot her name? Nothing about their motivation, how they were before, whether they had a genuine vision? They are just mad-bad-evil?

And then Solas. So much potential, like a typical BioWare character. All that banter in inquisition, that showed such a depth of character, playful, insightful, snobbish, inquisitive. And then you learn he’s the fucking DREADWOLF, and suddenly you remember Merrill, who kept cursing the deadwolf, who seemed genuinely afraid of them. And then in trespasser he tries to explain himself, badly and arrogantly, but you learn there’s so much you don’t know, about the Evanuris, the Veil, the Fade. Suddenly, he’s the leader of a popular movement, and elves are disappearing from the cities, which makes him dangerous, but also interesting in a whole other way. Thedas is a sad place at the best of times, maybe revolution is possible? No more plight of the elves, of the mages, of the spirits, of the slaves?

And then comes Veilguard. Solas suddenly works alone, and the only way to get to him - to stop him, this is the only option, there is no possibility to ask him about his plans, his motives - is to awkwardly psychoanalyze him, by watching lame infodumps his memories, and then collectively ponder his regrets. And don’t get me wrong, I actually wanted to know more about Solas, about his regrets concerning the Veil but also the war and the things he felt he had to do. We did not get that, except for the most basic cookie cutter scraps of “he used people as pawns” - did he? Did he always? Under what circumstances? What were his options?

It feels very apropos for this game (not in a good way) that the focus is on analyzing feelings (and how to live with them) instead of actions; Solas could have been so cool, god of lies and freer of slaves, a person containing multitudes, grappling with terrible decisions and the necessary sacrifices and yeah, be changed by this, but no. We get a prison of regret, and Solas perfectly able to kill Mythal in his zealotry, but then be totally reformed by brief contract with rook and see “reason”.

veilguard, i hated it.

So i finally finished veilguard, and guys, what. a. shitshow.

So apart from the fact that it feels like a half-finished game (which it probably is), I mostly hated it on two accounts: 1) the overall lore implications (we knew this from this reddit q&a, but I'm still angry, and I won't stop talking about it) BOTH in regards to previous games and this one and 2) how this was not at all a roleplaying game. (sorry, english is not my first language and I'm tired and enraged)

Let's look a little closer, shall we.

One: The Lore Implications. This pisses me off in two ways:

First, the amateurish attempt at a "clean slate". This is just so insulting. If they wanted to make a game without any of that icky baggage, then the should have chosen a new ip for this. I get that it's complicated after three games with a lot of moving parts, I get that the decision to move away from southern thedas was an attempt to curtail a lot of this, but COME ON. Walls of nonsensical (seriously, they read ai created) text from the inquisitor, that mainly tell you that everything you fought for, all the people, all the places, is gone? And not for effect, not for the story, entirely offscreen and nonsensical, just so the writers don't have to care for this anymore? This does NOT get me invested into the story. No mention of who your Divine is; no mention of who sits on the orleasian throne - and it should matter, shouldn't it, whether or not your EXILED the grey wardens, whether or not you have an elf with a SPY NETWORK close to the orleasian throne, whether or not you DISBANDED the inquisition. All of that does influence what happens on the world state, or at least it should. (And if you want to ignore it, why not do in a way that's less obvious, less bad, why not have your protagonist be someone with no ties to the inquisition, who genuinely does not know whats going on in the south? Why have a world state when you don't want anything to do with it?)

Second, and that's even worse: you cannot take a fully established world, and then alter it to your weird specifications. THE FUCK you mean, there are no slaves in Minrathous, the goddamn slave capital of the world?? Why THE HELL is there a whole questline where we try to find disappeared people, snatched from the street for the ritual, when it should be perfectly possible to buy a few batches of slaves and have them express delivered to your ritual site. (So we can show up and fuck up your slave operation.) But no - I get shamed when I don't save Minrathous?? Well, fuck you, Fenris sends his regards, I hope you all burn.

To this ties the overall simplificaton of the world: Nobody is really bad, just the few super bad guys, but they are so evil as to have no real motiviation, they are basically Thanos or otherwise racist cartoons (totally believable that the Qunari, or a sect thereof, would be on board with mad sorcery). They rest, they are good guys! The pirates are very mindful of cultural heriatages! The crows are just your friendly neighborhood assassins (I remember the stories Zevran told slightly differently), and, as assassins, they naturally wear uniforms, so you see them coming (as do the "secret" "underground" "rebels" from Tevinter). I'm not saying that everyone should be evil, but the fact that whole organisations are presented to us as benefical is so insulting, ESPECIALLY when it was always a point of pride for the Dragon Age franchise that it was morally complicated. There is slavery and poverty and darkspawn. NOPE, you can stand knee deep in blight, not a problem anymore. (if only Carver had known) There is racism against elfs. (well, as the elfs seem to be respnsible for EVERY problem thedas faces, from the veil to the darkspawn, maybe that was precient? - also, always nice to have everything tied in such a neat bow, everything tied to one ONE causality, that makes things really believable and realistic) The Templars are fascists, sure, but abominations are a problem that does not get solved easily. NOPE, not anymore! When before, even a spirit of JUSTICE got corrupted in this world (therby making the valiant and sublte point that abstract concepts rarely hold up well when coming in contact with messy reality), now you can be possessed by a demon of SPITE and HE DOES NOT DO ONE SPITEFUL THING AT ALL. Nice, if only the mages knew that, you just have to accecpt feelings or whatever and then everything's well. SO NEAT!

This brings me to point number two: Why do we play this game? The complex and previously established word is gone; what's left are cartoons thereof. And then, there's not even a hint of role-playing left. Why can't I be mean to Harding?? I loved her in Inquisition, now her overly-girly manner grates on my nerves and I want to be mean to her. I can't, i have to be everyone's friend. In the end, I cannot decide anything, except the slight configuration of the final companion armour (why would I care, I don't know these people, I could not ask them a single question), and some slight cosmetic change regarding Solas - there is not even talk about tearing down the Veil. We've come full circle back to Mass Effect 3 and the groundbreaking decision we get to make is what colour the magic space beam is gonna have. Except, Mass Effect 3 was still a much better game, because you knew your crew - in this game, I have acutally no idea why Rook should lead anybody, why anybody would follow them, and why the literal fate of the world should be in the hands of this bunch of (after 100 hours of gameplay) near strangers. There ARE narrative work-arounds for this kind of shit; the writers just didn't care enough.

There are a hundred more small things I could say about this, about the story (Solas' prison was made of regret and he wanted to put Elgarnan there?? Who feels very good about everything he does?? Is he stupid? And then everyone is so impressed about Rook getting out to quickly, but seriously, what the fuck did Rook have to feel regretful about? They did not get to make a single decision. They did not order anyone to sacrifice themselves; they did not use people, or cities, as pawns in a war or whatever, BECAUSE THIS GAME HAS THE EMOTIONAL DEPTH OF A SMALLISH PUDDLE) and the in-game approach to the player (how often do i have to be told that i need to take care of my companions business?? This got so repetitive and made them seem like imcompetent children. Why wasn't there a better way to make me care, or better yet, trust the player to want to play this game), but I stop now. Fuck Bioware and EA.

[tavina-writes]

Hitting you up because I want to hear more about Emperor Qianlong's art collection! My two big all-consuming hobbies are drawing and reading about history, so I pretty much can't get enough of either topic

OH OH where to BEGIN with Qianlong and his love of the arts???? And also okay he historically is SUCH a funky guy idk where to even begin on how much I love cool and kind of failflop Qianlong facts. If you want to know about his hilarious terrible poetry I leave you with this poem he wrote about cucumbers: 

It is the best ingredient on the plate in Beijing;

I tasted it lately in February, but how can I give it a review?

Weighing down the trellis, and embellishing the fence, it looks so beautiful,

The rural landscape contains true feelings.

No this isn’t any better in Chinese. You can find it and other Qianlong poetry roasts here.

Okay, I don’t know if Qianlong’s art collection/paintings created for him can be contained in a single answer, BUT, I’ll do my best! 

Emperor Qianlong was an avid patron of the arts, and his collection of paintings, jade pieces, and other antiques remain one of the greatest reasons why we still have a lot of the pieces on display around the world today. He was also in the habit of writing on/stamping his personal seal on his favorite paintings and art pieces, and some of these repeatedly viewed paintings (with his notes/thoughts/writings) also preserve great portions of his life, which is a really intimate look into him as a person especially throughout time. We rarely get this sort of information from a ruler since MOST imperial writing has been edited/was meant to present to other people. He also liked to take landscape paintings with him on his travels to compare the landscapes in the paintings to their irl presentation.

His habit of turning his favorite paintings into diaries is NOT a common practice btw, most people didn’t deface the paintings in their collections. (Okay they might put their personal stamp on it to explain that they own it, but WRITING NEW SHIT ON IT? nah.) 

Art historians, btw, have been in argument about his practice of defacing paintings and basically being in conversation with them ON the painting itself, since practically the time he started doing this about if it’s destroying the art or enhancing it somehow. He was just. SUCH a guy. 

(He uh, may also have used coercion, threats, and force to acquire some of these because he was the emperor and he wanted them. This behavior was normal for emperors but his obsession with art and antiques was slightly less normal. Like, this man was IN LOVE with art.) 

The OTHER hilarious thing about Qianlong was that while he LOVED paintings and antiques and poetry and art he uh, well okay see the above roast re his poetry but he wasn’t very good at any of these things per se. (For example, there are multitudes of stories about how he’d get really happy about a certain painting or antique in his collection, only to discover that it was a GREAT forgery or a fake or not actually all that old and oh here’s the actual thing your majesty this is the real one and be SO embarrassed by this new knowledge that he’d just KEEP BOTH and pretend nothing was wrong. Like just WHAT a guy. What a guy lmao.) 

Qianlong also really loved western style paintings and painters. For example, Giuseppe Castiglione was one of his favorite court painters (Chinese Name Lang Shining) and did these two paintings of Emperor Qianlong:

These two paintings are like, some of my favorite things because like, the combination of east and west, and utilization of like, different techniques and perspectives is !!!! in my brain. Like, it’s incredible and I love it so much. 

Qianlong also incorporated a lot of western style architectural elements in his redesign and beautification of Yuanmingyuan and had a REALLY interesting life overall, but this is getting kind of long so 😂I’ll leave off for now. 

Feel free to ask about anything that sounds interesting about this though! I love to ramble. 

[volterran-wine]

Born: June 19th, around 1000 AD in Nicopolis, Byzantine Greece

Turned: Around 1000 AD at the age of 23 by Amun

Gift: Tracking Sense

Joined The Volturi: 1200 AD

Guard placement: Higher Guard

Height: 177cm/5'8

Demetri’s Fancast

-

Zodiac: Gemini (Adaptable, Nervous, Eloquent)

MBTI: ISTP-A: The Virtuoso (Spontaneous, Pragmatic, Confident)

Enneagram: 3w2: The Charmer (Sociable, Adaptable, Driven)

Sexuality: Queer - he does not like labels.

Pronouns: He/Him

𝐅𝐮𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬;

Demetri has many anxieties about love, many.

The Volturi’s resident fashionista

Demetri is afraid of not being enough, and will flaunt the persona he thinks people want to see instead of being genuine.

He has a love for motorcycles, 

Demetri’s favourite place to travel to is the beach, 

He is known for always keeping his cool, but he wasn’t always like that.

Demetri loves dancing and will drag someone into whatever dance he fancies if he is in the mood.

He appreciates style over fashion, not necessarily following trends and instead buys pieces he finds interesting.

His favourite hobby is reading, though he also takes care of a lot of plants in his cluttered quarters.

Demetri speaks Greek, Latin, Italian and English fluently and has a decent grip on the other romance languages. 

Saw Halley’s Comet appear in the sky over The Scottish Highlands in 1835 while chasing a vampire.

Actually has a Goodreads account.

Demetri has a cat named Elizabeth. Whom he stole.

His voice is quite smooth and playful

Loves Vance Joy & Fleetwood Mac

Demetri’s favourite song is ‘Crystal’ by Fleetwood Mac

Spent some time in the court of Henry VIII and met Anne Boleyn 

Cut his hair not too long ago to keep up with the times.

Demetri’s favourite author is Jane Austen.

He is in fact, quite dramatic.

Demetri is Left-Handed

His favourite book is ‘Mansfield Park’ by Jane Austen

𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬;

Demetri and Felix are like brothers In fact, Felix saved him once.

Afton and Demetri actually get along

𝐀𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐝𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬;

Demetri can rarely catch a break when it comes to his love life.

Corin contemplates Boba, Demetri has an idea and The Secretary is absolutely horrified.

𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐅𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬:

And the earth stood still - Demetri has lived a long second life as an immortal. A multitude of dalliances and seductions followed wherever he went. What he did not expect is to run into someone who could mean so much more. With a cacophony of thoughts swirling in his head, what will he do?

Let it Snow! - Demetri is out on a mission with his mate, Christmas is closing in and the tracker finds himself in the mood for some romantic holiday cheer. Whilst heavy snowfall is enough to keep the humans locked up in their houses, it is the perfect guise for vampires to have a bit of fun.

A Very Volturi Christmas Party - In true Volturi fashion the coven is gathered to celebrate Christmas Eve, blood-wine is flowing, music is playing and there is even snow falling from the sky. Follow along as we get a glimpse of the entire coven’s holiday cheer in 8 parts.

Always Forever - Demetri has finally found his mate and accepted them into his heart. Now begins a long journey of healing and unlearning bad coping mechanisms and habits; luckily his mate will be there every step of the way. A story told in 5 parts, showing the deep love and devotion Demetri would develop for a mate. (Coming soon)

𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬;

A Writers Heart

Academia

NSFW Headcanons

Relationship Headcanons

Safe & Sound

Check out all my Demetri Headcanons here.

𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐬;

Moodboards

Demetri’s Playlist

Check out my Demetri Tag if you want all posts containing Demetri (Last Update; 03.05.22)

[ochomachuu]

DO OUR GIRL TODOMATSU PLEASE PLEASDEE

SSKDJFKS SORRY THIS IS SO LATE!!! ILL STILL DO THE REST OF EM. EVENTUALLY.

send me a character: todomatsu!

favorite thing about them: everything

but for real i guess how complex and interesting he is?? like there are so many facets to his personality and so we get so many flavours of totty. hes a sly little bitch, hes a sweetheart, hes a nag, hes a crybaby, hes blunt and callous, hes a goofy mf with a loud ass cackle, hes an angry dude who screams a lot, etc.

like you can probably name a bunch of "contradictory" traits that he can exemplify both of, eg: honest/dishonest, driven/lazy, self-preserving/self-destructive, realist/idealistic, logical/impulsive, sociable/lonely, mean callous bitch/the sweetest baby bro. hes so entertaining to watch and also has a lot of neat tendencies ive only picked up on recently, like apologizing when he doesn't think he did anything wrong, self-destructing for the sake of others, self-destructing for the sake of screwing over others... HE CONTAINS MULTITUDES.

i think when most people think of him, they just think of his cutesy + sly shtick, but by default hes not really like that most of the time. hes just a guy. to me he feels like an actual person, and i find him extremely relatable.

i also love how a lot of his more genuine acts of kindness arent immediately obvious and he doesnt always expect something in return! he is so full of love and care but is also inarguably. bastard. sometimes when he does things from a place of love he’s not kind about it so it doesn’t register as caring, like all the times he nags his bros or tells them an unpleasant truth in a harsh way. my favourite characters are pretty much never the characters that are just nice and sweet, so todomatsu is really really perfect to me because he's a snarky little shit who is crafty and self-serving on the surface, but he also makes me wanna 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 once i start looking deeper into things.

like he actually has a lot of little moments where hes just. a sweetheart? his “evil” moments are very fun and memorable and what made him stand out to me at first but when i rewatch older episodes theres a lot of little things that i hadnt fully appreciated before.

also he is just a funny guy. i love how he is “the smart, manipulative one”, but he has exactly one plan at all times and it doesnt even work out most of the time. he loses his cool extremely easily and proceeds to do impulsive shit, either bc hes panicking or bc he is fucking FUMING.

but when his plans do seem to work out its a treat to watch and i feel very proud. like good for you, you crafty little bastard.

i also respect how practical he is and how he makes an effort to improve himself and climb the social ladder! he hasnt had much success and is still undoubtedly a loser despite his efforts but i respect how he puts himself out there to face rejection. i like to think that his advice about the mixer to oso in s2e7 came from a place of personal experience, like there was a time where he was really really excited and then completely failed, then added that situation to his mental checklist, which is why he told oso what he did. he tried to temper his expectations because of that but he ended up getting hyped up again anyways, and fell flat once again.

anyways he is cute and funny and i just think he’s neat.

least favorite thing about them:

IDK I FEEL LIKE A LOT OF HIS POSES IN GROUP OFFICIAL ART ARE A BIT BORING? like theres a lot where he's just smiling and taking a selfie. i dont think this is actually technically the majority of official art though but its enough to be a Thing.

like hes still cute but it also could be that his vibe from the actual show isn’t reflected too well? idk

(his shimamatsu art is really good to me though, idk whats different about it but a lot of it is really cute and i like it.)

c:

favorite line scene: 

brOTP: THE 🅱enis.

i find it so cute how totty clearly looks up to oso, and finds him reliable in a weird, shitty sort of way. also cyber!!! i feel like he relies on both choro and oso a lot as big bros but in sort of opposite directions, if that makes sense.

beni also has such a fun and varied dynamic. one second totty will be nagging oso like an annoying parent and the next they'll both be goofing off over something INCREDIBLY stupid. also they are mischievous little assholes and very cute and fun to watch.

also i want more totoko and todomatsu interaction i want to see them be friends

random headcanon: (thanks @transtottimi​ for this one hehe) i love the idea that he buys cute drinks and desserts and stuff for the aesthetic but he actually likes black coffee bc he’s an old man on the inside

unpopular opinion: he has a shit sense of self-esteem, he doesn't love himself much, he's just coping.

also dont know that this is an unpopular opinion or just not mentioned a lot, but totty wants to be helpful, just not if it involves physical labour or anything (the pampered little princess). his whole deal is that he wants to succeed first so he can be the one to bring his brothers up with him! hes pretty often one to volunteer ideas and advice to the other five, even if nearly all of his plans fail and his advice is sometimes unwanted, to say the least. (barrage of screenshots incoming:)

and here is him pissing off the others while he thinks he’s being helpful:

favorite picture of them:

ITS HARD TO PICK OF FAVOURITE SO ILL JUST PUT A BUNCH:

[doofnoof]

Hey Bug I read your tag response to the oc post and I have a question you’re not obligated to answer!

Pronouns and gender interest me, especially when people use ones that aren’t the same as/associated with their sex, and I’m curious if there’s a reason why you use both it/its and they/them?

It/its is commonly used to refer to objects, and I’m wondering if you use those pronouns because of that (the association of something outside the binary) or because it’s just gender neutral.

This is very random and I hope I worded it okay :)

I was writing a longer thingie here, but I'm shortening it here because I could talk for Hours about Gender. So. For me, gender was always a prison. I was expected to be a Girl, and as a girl I could really only reach for Second Best most of the time. It sucked.

I finally felt like myself when I made friends (real friends) for the first time in Washington, which was a much more liberal area than where I had been raised. Nobody really bullied me any more, and I finally found someone that made me feel like I didn't have to be afraid to be Myself. Eventually I found out that I liked girls and that it was an okay feeling for someone who was also a girl to have. I made friends with my friend's friends and their younger sibling, who I got along with as a Fellow G1 My Little Pony Fan And Toy Collector.

Something still didn't feel right though. I was finally Myself, but I still woke up every day cursing god that I was a girl and was expected to do and want girl things. It sucked. I didn't wanna be a girl. I didn't wanna be a boy either, I was just trading out glittery pink princess shackles for metallic blue football shackles. Shackles are still Shackles no matter how cool they look, and I'm not one to just go along with what everyone else wants me to do, at the very least I'll fight the whole way.

One day, my friend's younger sibling pipes up in our group chat and says "Hey I'm Nonbinary and use They/Them Pronouns, please call me [Name] instead of [deadname] from here on out." I didn't know what all of these words meant at all. So I messaged them and asked, because what else are ya gonna do?? They filled me in on the whole thing with Gender being a Spectrum, and they were simply choosing No Gender With Left Beef. Once they were done explaining I almost couldn't believe what I'd heard, it was like they'd taken every secret desire in my heart and said "hey this is possible and also super cool and you can do what you want actually." Like it really did just all fit into place for me. A little while later I came out as nonbinary because I didn't wanna steal their thunder but I was 110% ready to be Done with the whole Girl Thing. Didn't decide to go by a different name until I told my mom that I'm nonbinary. She still doesn't get it and won't use the name I've chosen even to this day, but you can't win 'em all, and I'm glad to finally know who I am.

I don't feel a lack of gender though, if anything I feel Almost Too Much Gender. White isn't the absence of color, but it's actually all colors at once. When light shines through a prism, it refracts into a rainbow. That's the closest I can get to explaining my gender. I'm genderfluid, so some days I'm more purple than blue, or more yellow than green, but they're all there in different amounts, you just can't see it unless I shine a light on it, really. They/Them also works because I contain multitudes. It's Great. Gender is a Spectrum and I'm a Rainbow.

Onto the it/it's thing. I've always loved insects and little creatures Too Small and Strange to Put a Gender To, most people can't look at a Roly-Poly and say Oh That's A Girl Insect, they just hold it up on their finger and admire it's cute little antennas. I've Always Fucked Heavily With That. But that's not what fully It/It's'd My Gender. I was at college and having moved to a Much Less Liberal Place Than Washington, there was a group of girls making fun of trans people for Anything They Could Think Of because they're bigoted and slurs are funny or whatever. I mentioned that I'm gay and use they/them pronouns, and cracked a few Tumblr Jokes™ like the good old "I'm about to make your pronouns was/were," and got a few laughs. And then the girl that started this whole mess was uncomfortable that the spotlight wasn't on her anymore and said some unfunny shit like "lol this table's pronouns are it/it's!!! Lmao!!! how ridiculous 😂🤣😂🤣" and I decided then and there that those are gonna be my pronouns. And funny enough, even after I left college, the pronouns stuck, I really like them! They feel comfortable, like the right pronouns for a Bug such as Myself.

My Gender Journey has mostly been stumbling into different Gender Things and trying them on, and if I don't like it then the gender goes back on the rack. If I do I just take it home with me and style it however I please. Gender doesn't have to be a prison!!!! Sometimes it can be your fucking home!!!!!!! It's Great!!!!!!!!

TLDR: friend freed me from gender prison and I found they/them pronouns bc I have lotsa the Gender Fluid in me, someone made fun of it/its pronouns so I decided to make it uncomfortable for them to be transphobic, ended up Liking it/its pronouns.

Can't believe that this is the shortened version of my original post. Thank you for asking Minty!!!!!! This was a fun trip down memory lane :)

[finelinegynandromorph]

Hi hi hi Sage <3 I hope you are well and that your sleep schedule has righted itself since posting the harmony analysis that’s been rattling around in my brain since I read it yesterday— I’ve just been sitting with it like man what detail what consideration what a cool application of your expertise and experience to H’s work.

I was talking with @ialwaysknewyouwerepunk about it and I was like— you know what. I’m just gonna. Send them a little bit of what Ella and I were talking about a little while ago because it’s so much in the same universe and ask— you mentioned in your post you had thoughts on live note changes, specifically in She, and I’d love to hear what you had to say on that if you’re up for it!

Thanks most of all for sharing a little bit of your life— my favorite posts around here are always the ones where you can tell the poster’s really genuinely passionate about what they’re saying, and that certainly applies here <3

hi @laurelier it's so lovely to hear from you and thanks for all of your wonderful thoughts! i had actually been working on a little follow-up post where i shared some of your thoughts from the tags because they were wonderful and have been rattling around in my brain in turn since i read them! your thoughts specifically on falling have also prompted me to start jotting down notes to make a new post on falling specifically lol so thank you so very much for sharing!!

wow, also a huge thanks for sharing this wonderful discussion between you and ella about the interplay between falling and she, gender pain expressed under the guise of a breakup song, what h can and can't express in live performances, and the beautiful discussion of how meaning can surface through a creative process and reflect internal trauma, identity, thoughts, etc. you and ella write about this so eloquently, i'll be going and reblogging this right after responding to you! the last theme in particular is partly what i was trying to convey near the end of my post with regard to intentionality in symbolism, so thank you so much for putting this into words way before i wrote about it!! i also completely and entirely agree that songs can contain multitudes and i think the way that h talks about his songs is totally reflective of that. what i hear you and ella saying in that conversation is something i've definitely found in my own art, where i'll often look back at something i wrote years ago and be like holy shit this expresses a deep-seated thing about me that i didn't even have the words to articulate back when i made it, you know? and i wonder if that might be the case for h too, particularly when i think about gender vibes arising in earlier songs of his.

thank you in turn for sharing in the tags about your own experiences with identity and vocal registers, is it alright with you if i share those reflections in the aforementioned follow-up post? i think they're so powerful and i really really relate to them and would love to write a little bit about what they make me feel!

i would also love to write more about live note changes in she, i was thinking of writing a post specifically about live note changes and gender in harry's performances which would definitely include she, if that sounds interesting?? lol lots of thoughts going around in this brain (but i did sleep much better after getting that post out, ty !! <3)

hope you're well!! <3 <3 <3

btw, is there a name you usually like to use on here/a way that you like to be addressed? i just used your username :)

[wickedpact]

A ranking of all the TTT stories in order of how much I liked them.

(Oh god this is so long)

1 My Mother's Axe

BABY ANDYYYYYYYYYYYY. Honestly this one had the trifecta of developing a character's motivations, developing a character's backstory, & developing their personality. The story starting out with Andy teaching Nile to use the axe was so charming and fun, and you could feel that chemistry they had in Opening Fire, the way they teased and bickered with each other so naturally. I loved the wedge between them on the subject of the axe, how Nile was perhaps a little too young to understand Andy's feelings about whether or not its the 'same' axe. I also love how the axe is obviously the symbol of the franchise and hugely important, but you never get a sense of exactly how important it is to Andy until you read the story.

I love the entire Ship of Theseus theme, and how it feels so natural that for Andy she has to get attached to the idea of things rather than the things themselves because she'll always outlive the things themselves-- the axe is symbolically her mom's axe, even if physically it isn't. And I love how she clearly clings to that concept so tightly. "This is the labrys she held in her hands...." IT GETS ME.

And the fact that this sense of BELONGING, of FAMILY, of CULTURE is so important to Andy that she clings to it (figuratively and literally) with both hands. And of course it's important to her, she spent so long alone that the woman doesn't even remember her birth name. That axe (or the idea of that axe) is all she has left of her mother and that family/culture she was born into.

PLUS on that note I love how Andy doesn't remember if her mom was her actual biological mother, but it doesn't matter to her. This woman was her mother in all the ways that counted. And how her mom BETRAYED AND KILLED Andy but Andy loved her so much that she avenged her and carried her axe for thousands of years. THOUSANDS OF YEARS!!!!!!

I also loved how the story transcends the timeline of the whole franchise and seeing Andy through the years. Loved seeing her with the varying squads and with varying axes. Also baby Andy was so cute. It was cool seeing her so young. like holy fuck. Andromache The Scythian, Immortal Warrior (but smol). Love that.

Also I think this one is one of the few ttt stories that doesn't suffer from length problems.

tldr: goddammit greg you've done it again.

2 Zanzibar and Other Harbors

Zanzibar my beloved. I've said before, but it's downright comedic how little regard there was for Joe and Nicky's character designs in this story. The same person who does the colors for the regular comic did the colors for this one too, and you can tell, every panel of this story was Beautiful.

Ik there was A Lot of criticism of this one (lmao @ how the fandom had no idea what was to come) but I thought a lot of The Discourse was a bit dramatic. I did think Nicky came off as a little oblivious to Joe's feelings in this story, but I've said before, I honestly think that was a 'tone not translating' thing. It felt like Nicky was nagging Joe for [checks notes] saving innocent people, but Joe was so amused by Nicky's complaints I really do think it was supposed to come off as teasing.

Plus I know the 'Joe running off into danger and Nicky reluctantly following' dynamic wasn't popular (I'm a pretty meh on it meself) but I did love how Joe's impulsiveness (if you want to call it that) was interpreted as heroism and not hot-hotheadedness. All of the examples Nicky and Joe talked about included Joe explicitly saving people. (and it also took A Lot for the nazi to actually provoke Joe).

I also feel like their characterization here was closest to the movie canon-- the bit where they hear the woman scream and Joe goes running in to save her while Nicky swoops in on Joe's heels to comfort her while Joe and the nazi were fighting reminds me of the train car scene. Joe had suggested First that they go find Nile because she needed to be protected, and Nicky later added that Nile probably also needed emotional support. Similar reactions.

But it was So Good, the themes of queer community and the enduring nature of queer culture are Not themes you see in media that often and it was such a delight how it was done. Also it's one of the few more modern TTT stories that has a completely valid excuse for taking place when it did. Chef's kiss.

3 Passchendaele

I love the Duality between seeing baby Andy and then seeing Mama Andy in the very next issue. This story doesn't have a ton of meat to it, but the entire concept of Andy adopting a war orphan straight off the battlefield PLUCKS MY TENDER LITTLE HEARTSTRINGS, and I think it's especially poignant for comic!Andy. I think most people wouldn't think twice about movie!Andy doing something like that but comic Andy is so hardened and almost cruel sometimes, and seeing that even for her the world hasn't beaten all of the compassion from her yet is SO!!!!!!! this woman contains MULTITUDES okay, she's violent and angry and tired and Done but she's also so kind and compassionate and THE STRENGTH OF HER!!!!! Also the idea of her and Yitzhak co-raising a kid together is so damn cute. It was #mysterious pre-Yitzhak-story but now it's cute. holy fuck. It's cute.

& the headbonk panel of her and Zeus lives in my heart. anyways.

4 Many Happy Returns

I Know people weren't thrilled about Booker being in this one, but I've developed a pet-peeve about that: this story was *not* booker-centric. Booker only exists in this story to the extent required to explain the importance of the gesture Nile makes towards him. If there was a story about Booker making some grand gesture of kindness to Nile no one would be saying it was Nile-centric. bc it wouldn't be! Booker exists in this story to explore Nile's kindness, its not about him. I saw that a couple times and it bothered me. anyways.

AAAAAAAAAA I loved this one, the art was beautiful, I loved how Andy Nile and Booker were drawn (like their comic selves but.. more looking like actual people). I loved Andy and Nile's Bants, how Andy wanted to jump right in and Do Violence but Nile was basically telling her to hold her horses.

I feel like I'm just repeating the post I made on this story a few days ago, but I LOVED how Nile's plan revolves not around violence or Cool Mercenary Skills but on Nile's own life skills (as she canonly did a lot of minimum wage job-hopping before the marines in comics canon). Her plan used her skills, not the skills of an immortal warrior, and HER SKILLS were in fact more useful for the situation! lov to see Nile's resourcefulness and planning skills.

AND HOW NILE WAS PROBABLY WATCHING BOOKER??? it's so Much bc 1.) nile knew booker A SINGLE DAY and yet he made such an impression on her emotionally that she had to keep an eye on him and 2.) she said in the movie she wanted Booker to get off free with an apology. Yes she's a member of the team but that doesn't mean she's necessarily going to follow orders like a good little soldier. I also love how she convinced Andy to go along with it. her HEART, her KINDNESS, her THOUGHTFULNESS, UGH.

5 The Bear

Honestly I have like no negative things to say about this one other than a.) character design issues which is less about the story itself and is more of a 'tog comic in general' criticism and b.) too short, but it was supposed to be a tease, so.

But I loved Yitzhak, I wasn't expecting to really like him at all but like I said in my other post, he tickled me. I love characters who are Kind™, especially if they have little reason to be so given their backgrounds. Chef's kiss. Lov him.

6 Bonsai Shokunin

I know this one was a little controversial bc of the outsider POV but whenever I see people upset about that they never point out that the Outsider Guy (the samurai) existed as a reflection on Noriko. His ideas are explained in the text to develop hers. The whole story follows how she gave mercy to a scared young man and in response he murdered Noriko, repeatedly! Who gave him the right to inflict such pain and suffering on the world? In his opinion, the lack of response from the gods was his permission. And for Noriko-- over and over again she dies and suffers because she gave mercy, which lines up with her ideas in FM about how it's their fate to rule mortals and if they don't align with that plan/fate/whatever then they suffer. It shows some background to those ideas and how they developed in her mind outside of Ocean Madness™. Additionally, his idea of 'the Gods have done nothing to strike me down so it's fine if I do these things' kind of explains how Noriko may justify her own morally corrupt actions-- she's died so many times and it's never stuck. Maybe if she did die any of those times, or while she was in the water, maybe that would've been a sign she was doing something right, or at least doing something normal. But she hasn't died. Fate isn't done with Noriko yet. And maybe there's a reason for that. In her mind, it's just not a very pleasant reason, is all.

There were things I was kind of meh about tho. I did kind of wish we saw something of Noriko and the team, or smth explaining the way she was before her dip in the pool-- personality, likes dislikes, etc. but it wasn't bad or anything. It was super vague tho, I had to read it a few times before I got what it was going for. Liked the art. Liked the bonsai metaphor. And of course I Respect the decision to use the 1300s (1200s? I don't remember off the top of my head) rather than using the last 200 years.

7 Strong Medicine

Honestly looking back, this one made me kind of sad because both this one and Bonsai Shokunin explored character's ideas on Fate and The Divine and how that intersects with immortality and I totally thought that theme would be continued, especially with Love Letters. But Then It Wasn't™.

Admittedly.... I had to re-read this one to remember most of it. I liked Booker's ideas on God, 'The conductor of the symphony just may not be very good at his trade' but the plot itself was kind of forgettable. Some fuckin cowboys try to kill a doctor (their second) because he couldn't save their sickly brother. Book tries to stop them, gets killed, and then comes back and kills them all before they get the doctor. Alright. I liked the artstyle because the characters were ugly in a similar way that leandro's are, but way more bearable.

I love the Irony of Booker concluding that there is no such thing as fate or destiny and nothing has meaning, AS HE UNKNOWINGLY SAVES MERRICK'S GRANDFATHER FROM BEING KILLED. Booker getting fucked over by life/god/destiny yet again. It also kind of explains about where the fuck hell Merrick's interest in immortal mercenaries even came from.

I originally had this one a lot higher and then I thought about it and moved it down like two spots.

8 Never Gets Old

I liked seeing Booker interact with his kid. And we got a name for the kid! Philippe was a little bitch though, he was a little obnoxious. I liked how Booker was so thrilled to experience a restaurant with his kid (and since we know he was there before, it can be assumed he went with all of his kids and yet he was so charmed each time). It fits with his line to Nicky in the moon landing story about how you don't appreciate beautiful things 'unless you have someone to share them with'. It was charming to see Booker interact with his kid, and to see him so happy. Also lmao @ Booker's big fat Ye Olde Crush on Andy.

However at the same time it was like.. of all the things to write about,,, I guess? Booker's Night Out...... alright. Especially since Book had so many stories.

I don't know, it was alright. The old man killing him really came out of nowhere, (but the 'Salut, asshole!' panel was funny tho).

9 How To Make a Ghost Town

I've hit a point where talking about these stories has gotten less fun. I liked this one but I felt like Achilles getting lynched was not really necessary for a story that was already tragic (a story that already involved Achilles doing a lot of suffering at the hand of bigots). When we first got the blurb for this story I thought it would be about Andy returning to the squad and making friends with Booker after losing Achilles and them butting heads on the idea of family and when to cut off ties. So a little bit of my underwhelmedness about this one might be just my expectations being different.

Honestly I was pretty interested in Andy and Achilles' relationship and I would've liked to see more of them-- like, what was their dynamic like? What did they love about each other?

But anyways Andy leaving and Achilles getting killed anyways feels so pointlessly tragic (which I suppose is the point..... I don't like tragedies) she left to save him and yet people killed him anyway. Meh.

I did love the bits about Andy wanting to have a domestic life (Andy and her multitudes again) and the little detail about how she buried her axe near the road but he buried his guns under his bed-- he was an escaped slave, he never had the luxury of assuredness like Andy did. It was a sad story.

10 Lacus Solitudinis

'You put this one above love letters crim??? how could you???' easy, lmao.

There was stuff in this one I liked. But to talk about stuff I didn't like: (I'll keep it brief, I know ragging on this story has been done time and time again)

UH, setting aside the 6 year cold shoulder between Joe and Nicky, I thought their chosen method of conflict resolution was... bad at best. Nicky's inability to talk about his feelings was also annoying, especially since the entire point of this story is a fight Joe and Nicky had, and yet we don't get both sides to the story, which is...... important? That fact is especially annoying bc in the absence of Nicky explaining his side of the story, it's absolutely a possible (and admittedly probably unintentional) interpretation of the text that we do get that Joe routinely resolves conflict between him and Nicky by simply cutting Nicky out of his life entirely until Nicky just. caves? Even if it takes years?

WHICH i could get into that interpretation and how fucked up i find it. but im not going to. out of restraint.

I don't know, I think there are a lot of interesting ways to go about this conflict but 'Nicky wants to kill a guy and Joe refuses to acknowledge his existence until he stops because he thinks Nicky is too much of a Good Boy to get his hands dirty like that' ('I wont watch as the world turns his (...) compassion into something ugly'. ) wasn't.. how I would've done it. (I mean you know Joe doesn't give a shit about what Nicky is doing in a moral way, because Joe doesn't even care or mention that Booker is killing those cops too. Joe only cares because he doesn't like the idea of Nicky changing in a way he finds undesirable.)

admittedly I've said before, I do like the emphasis Joe's reaction puts on Nicky's kindness. Joe has a complete inability to cope with Nicky simply Not Being Kind. It speaks to the steadiness of Nicky's compassion all those years. but still that fact doesn't make it the conflict feel worth it

hm. I said I would be brief and I wasn't.

oh well. basically I thought there was interesting conflict potential there but it wasn't done the way I would've liked, and the way it was done leaves a lot of disturbing (and again probably unintended) interpretations to lie.

What I did like? Andy and Joe having that pessimist/optimist dynamic. Joe nerding out about science. Andy not being impressed by The Achievements Of Man. I loved Booker needling at Nicky about his outdated slang and also trying to give him Older Brother advice practically in the same breath. I loved Booker giving The Worst relationship advice ever and Nicky being like 'I Will Not Do That, Ever, Thanks.' the family vibes were so good. The Joenicky vibes left a lot to be desired tho.

11 Love Letters

I talked about my problems with Nicky in this story (and Lacus Solitudinis). I don't know, the story isn't bad but I do hold a little bit of a grudge towards it because its very existence begs the existence of a solo Joe story and we didn't get one. If we never got this story, then we could happily count Lacus Solitudinis and Zanzibar as The Joenicky Stories™ and move on with our lives. sigh.

I remember when we first got the blurb for this story I was really curious about why Nicky specifically + the setting, and the answer kind of feels like 'the author had an idea for a story like this and saw ttt as a good enough place to utilize that idea'. Plus I was really underwhelmed by the Romantic Sentiment in the letter. If you look at it line-by-line, the majority of the letter is actually Nicky talking about how lonely and disturbed he is, rather than actual,, yknow,,, Romantic Sentiment. I mean, compare the van speech and this letter and this letter is just kind of meh in comparison. I liked nicky calling joe wise! and I liked the brief sun/moon metaphor! and otherwise it was eh. It didn't even have cute squad banter, which is why Lacus Solitudinis is above this one.

12 An Old Soul

Nun orgy. Nun orgy?????? Nun orgy.......

The whole story felt like a setup to have a nun orgy. Why did Booker have abs? Why did they do that to Andy's nose? ?????? the art was good at least.

nun orgy.

[aotimagines]

Aperture [1]

Hey. Remember when this blog hit 5,000 followers and I mentioned I was going to be writing something self-indulgent? The moment has finally arrived, lol. The idea spiraled way out of control before I could stop myself so here we are. This is probably not what the anon meant when they sent this in, but I couldn’t stop myself from plotting this story out. It’ll probably have around 8-10 chapters and I want to be realistic and say I’ll be able to update frequently, but there are no promises. My goal is for a new chapter every two weeks, but it’ll probably be closer to once a month. It will contain NSFW at some point, so minors do not interact. To the anon who sent this request in almost a year ago, I am so sorry this has taken me this long to write. I apologize and hope that this suffices. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy the first chapter!

“Could you lift your head and look towards the camera, please?”

Your breath was nearly whisked away from your lungs at the sight of your model’s eyes flickering towards you, the intensity swirling behind his irises rooting you to your spot. They reflected the ocean itself—deep, vibrant, and tumultuous just like rolling waves and you felt yourself drowning at sea. You could barely tear your eyes away from his ethereal beauty; from the sharp angle of his jaw, to his sinewy, sun-kissed skin. Each and every ripple of muscle resembled someone akin to a Greek statue over real life and the longer you looked at your model, the more difficult it became to stop your eyes from gazed lower…

Immediately, you brought your camera back up to your eye to conceal your reverie and took another photo, peeling the camera back to examine the frame you had just taken with more intense than you should have. “Great!” Your voice came out rushed and quick—high and pitchy. You wanted to die right then and there on the spot, but you needed to act more professional even if you couldn’t resist the temptation to ogle your client’s perfectly sculpted, perfectly nude body.

It was wrong. It was beyond heinous but, the instant Eren Jaeger walked out to your photoshoot and shed his robe, his stunning looks had been on your mind. As a professional photographer, you had seen your fair share of models, both nude and not, so why were you acting so ridiculous? There was something undeniably electric about Eren and the way he was able to express so much emotion through his eyes alone. After having worked with him for only an hour, you could definitely see why he was scouted to be a model. There was an air of shyness that radiated off him despite the wave of confidence that brimmed so brightly from within. It was cute, which felt foreign and almost like an insult when thinking about the man standing before you.

Still, you needed to maintain your composure and do your job. You could allow yourself to be dazzled by your model for a moment, but now you needed to get back to work. Standing, you exchanged a friendly smile with Eren and motioned to his hands, pointing out, “Do you mind if we get some close-up shots of the watch? I know the campaign said that they wanted a full body shot, but I’d like to give some other options…”

“Sure,” he agreed, his electric gaze never leaving your face even as he held out his wrist and loosened the tension. Immediately, you snapped into your role as the photographer and began taking photos, unaware that you inching several steps closer.

Captivated with the elegance of his long, deft fingers, you became enraptured in your own little world and mindless gave instruction and praise, your prior embarrassment all but gotten. You were unaware of the way Eren’s eyes were glued to your every expression; the way your tongue would push through your lips as you found an angle or shape you liked. As exhilarated as you were to photograph him, Eren was, in kind, just as thrilled to way the way you worked. It was difficult tot keep cool and focus on his job with the way you moved around him, the sheer delight across your face almost tangible. He had been subjected to many photographers, some good and bad, but never…

“Okay!” Your voice dragged him from his thoughts, your lips curved into a soft, gentle smile. “I think we got it? Good work, Eren. You were great.”

“Ah—thanks,” he replied, the fabric of his robe hitting his shoulders before he realized it. One of the assistants must have gotten it for him and it took him all but five seconds to realize that he was still standing before you, naked. His cheeks heated up, a tennis ball lodged in the back of his throat, but he managed to force out, “You were a good photographer. It was, uh…easy to follow your instruction.”

You were positively beaming by the time he glanced at your face, eyes wide and sparkling. “Thank-you! That means a lot, especially since I’m kind of new to working on a professional set and everything.”

“Seriously!” Eren couldn’t believe that he was still continuing the conversation—continuing to praise you, a complete and utter stranger—but here he was. Eren was not the type of person to be physically attracted to anyone right off the bat, but there was something so…mesmerizing about you that he couldn’t bring himself to stop talking. “It was a nice shoot. I didn’t even realize we were here for a couple hours.”

“Me either,” came your confession, camera clutched between your hands. “You take direction really well. Oh!” As if an idea just came to your head, you moved to the monitors behind the lights and popped out your SD card, gently sliding the chip inside the reader. Angling your chin, you glanced up at his features, your eyes shining with complete and utter excitement. “Want to see some of the shots? I usually offer to let the models see so they can view the before and after.”

“Uh…” Eren contemplated it for a moment, his mind very cognizant of the fact that he was still only wearing a robe. You seemed completely oblivious to it, which dashed some of his prior thoughts. A moment passed by until he cracked a smile and moved closer to gaze down at the computer monitor. “Sure. I don’t really get a chance to see what I can improve on, or anything.”

Your fingers clicked open the file folder, pulling up the images you had taken not even ten minutes ago. Scrolling through, your eyes darted from one side of the screen to the other as if making mental notes about which ones you wanted to save for editing, later. “Here—this one is really nice,” you said, double-clicking the image until it was pulled up for Eren to see. Despite his nudity being on full display, Eren couldn’t help but notice how…tasteful it was done. Truly, like mentioned in the job description, his focus was on the multitude of watches adorning his wrist, but there was something else about it that…

It was like you had managed to dig deep inside of him and photograph his soul; his emotions. Everything was displayed in his eyes and it took Eren a second to recognize himself. His silence made you worry, hastily bringing up, “Of course, they will look better with editing in post, but—”

Eren shook his head, cutting off your explanation before you could really begin. “No, it’s—it’s not that! Really, the photos are…” He floundered for the right word to describe what you had created; what you had managed to pull out of him and then captured on film. No other photographer had managed that before, so to see himself like that was a little…

“It’s different,” he concluded, gaze still lingering on the images on the screen. “I’m not used to seeing myself look like that. You’re an amazing photographer and I’m sort of struggling to come up with a better compliment than that.”

Visibly, you relaxed upon hearing his praise, pride swelling inside your chest when you realized that he liked the photos. “It makes it easier when my model is able to pull from within, too,” you countered, finally looking up at him after what felt like an eternity. Eren’s eyes met yours and it was like a magnetic field was drawing you closer to him, but you refrained from your urges and settled for exiting out of the photos. It took everything inside of you to swallow back the attraction and fascination that was bubbling inside of you, which only made you antsy and anxious to begin the editing process.

“Anyways, I should let you get dressed. I’m sure you’re itching to get out of here.”

“Ah, right.” Reluctantly, Eren broke eye contact first and stretched, the fabric of his thin robe inching higher against his toned thighs. You jerked your head away from him to conceal the heat crawling across your cheeks and praised whatever deity above that Eren hadn’t paid any attention to your sudden shy demeanor. He seemed to think to himself for a moment before exhaling deeply and walking off, leaving you to skim through the multitude of images you had taken.

A period of time passed because, the next thing you knew, Eren was back by your side, his silky, chocolate-colored tresses pulled back into a bun that rested at the nape of his neck. Small hairs framed his face, only fanning the fuel to his already handsome, boyish looks. You swallowed thickly and offered a smile, rising from your chair to ask, “You heading out?”

“Yeah, but I actually wanted to ask you something, first…” Eyebrow quirked, you watched Eren rock back and forth on his feet, a nervous energy teeming off of him. While the two of you knew nothing about each other outside of first and last names, you couldn’t help but wonder if this was typical behavior. He seemed to self-assured whenever he spoke. Was there something wrong with the photos after all? Before you could ask, Eren’s hand shot out and encircled around your wrist, preventing you from turning away or moving back to your computer screen. “Listen,” he pressed closer, temporarily catching you off guard with how bold he was being, “there’s a party happening later tonight. I really don’t want to go, but my manager said it’d be good for connections and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me.”

“Why?” The question escaped your mouth before you could process what was happening, confusion written across your features. You didn’t pull away from his touch, however, and repeated after a moment of clarity, “You barely know me, Eren. We’re strangers. Shouldn’t you invite one of your friends?”

Eren fell silent for a moment before an uncharacteristic smirk danced across his lips. There was something fierce about the glimmer in his eyes and his body language exuded an amount of confidence he had only displayed the instant his eyes locked with your camera lens earlier that afternoon. He leaned in closer, studying the way your face heated up, before murmuring in a low tone, “I saw the way you were looking at me, earlier.”

Embarrassed, you averted your eyes to the ground. “I’m—I’m sorry! Really, I sometimes get lost in my work and you are beautiful, so I…got swept away. It was unprofessional and I swear it won’t happen again, if we happen to work together.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t like it.” Eren chuckled, the sound so dizzying that you felt yourself drawn to it—to him—like a moth circling a flame. This was a dangerous game you two were playing and you weren’t sure what kind of out come Eren was looking for. Rather, he released your hand and stepped back, the intensity gone and replaced with a softer, kinder smile. “I liked your photos,” he simply stated, his hand resting against his hip as he continued to stare at you. “And you liked what you were able to get out of me. I just thought it’d be a good opportunity to each to know one another.”

“Professionally?”

“Both,” he easily quipped with a shrug of his shoulders.

You ran a hand through your hair, teeth catching your inner cheek. “I don’t know.”

“How about this.” Eren reached for the sharp on your desk and ripped the cap off with his teeth, balancing the piece of plastic between his two lips. Before you could protest, he grabbed your hand again and began to write numbers into your palm, a string of digits staring back up at you. “When you decide what you want to do, you can text me. Even if you don’t want to go with me, specifically, it’d be a good idea to make connections. You said yourself that you’re new to the industry.”

You had said that, didn’t you? Eren’s number stared up at you, silently replaying your words from earlier like a broken record until a heavy, shaky sigh pulled from your lips. You didn’t know what his intentions were, but you figured that you could worry about that, later. Even if you couldn’t decipher Eren’s true nature, the prospect of getting your name out to more people in the industry was too tempting to ignore. “But what do I wear?” you asked weakly, watching as Eren’s features lit up like a light.

“It’s cocktail, but whatever you have should be fine. I really don’t care about what other people are wearing, either way.”

You couldn’t help but laugh genuinely at this, pointing out with amusement dripping from your tone, “Aren’t you a fashion model? Shouldn’t you care about stuff like that?”

Eren scoffed, lips twisted into a smile. “Nah. That kind of stuff is stupid.”

“But then why…?” You stopped, shook your head, and moved to the desk where your cellphone rested. Holding it up, you tilted your head to the side. “So, I’ll text you? I’ll need an address, you know.”

Eren’s name was being called from across the building—probably whoever he brought with him, you noted—but his eyes still lingered on you even as he began to step away. “It’s for seven-thirty. See you!”

You watched as he jogged away until he was completely out of sight, your heart hammering against your ribs repeatedly. You weren’t sure what the hell had just transpired, but the area where his fingers brushed your skin tingled pleasantly as an aftershock effect.

You were way, way in over your head.

[cincinnatusvirtue]

Historical Architecture: Alhambra, remnants of Islamic Spain.

One of the Iberian Peninsula’s and indeed European history’s more interesting chapters was the period of Islamic rule in the southwestern corner of Europe.  For nearly 800 years there was a presence of Islamic governance in modern day Spain, Portugal and even parts of southern France.  Rarely a unified Muslim state, it went through periods of changing dynasties, conflicts against the Crusading Christian kingdoms in the north known as the Reconquista as well a various civil wars with each other, alternating in competition and alliance with rival Christian powers as well as each other.  Collectively, the name for Islamic Iberia as a geographic entity, period of history and culture was known as “Al-Andalus” which helped give rise to the modern day region of southern Spain “Andalusia”.  

The rise of Islam in Iberia began with the 711 invasion of a mixed Berber  (Amazigh) & Arab force from what is now Morocco into southern Spain.  The Berbers were relatively new converts to Islam having been spread in the last half century across northern Africa. Lead by a Berber by the name of Tariq ibn Ziyad who served on behalf of the Umayyads Caliphate based out of Damascus Syria.  The Umayyads were an Arab dynasty that replaced the Rashidun Caliphate which had formed after the death of the prophet Muhammad.  The Rashiduns were the first Islamic Caliphate and spread across the Middle East & North Africa, the Umayyads became the second such caliphate and expanded their reach to Morocco and subsequently Europe with the invasion of Iberia in 711.  Tariq and his force landed at what is now Gibraltar, with the modern name being a Spanish variation of the Arabic taking its name from Tariq, Gibraltar means “Mountain of Tariq”.

The invasion of the Umayyad overtook the Visigothic Kingdom that ruled over Iberia in the wake of the fall of the Western Roman Empire.  The Visigoths were Germanic tribes who had migrated from northern Europe along with a host of other “barbarian” peoples in the waning days of the Western Roman Empire, this became known as the Age of Migration of the 4th & 5th centuries AD.  Eventually the Western Roman Empire collapsed due to corruption, civil war and relentless waves of migratory peoples overwhelming parts of its territory.  Germans, Celts, Slavs, Avars, Alans & Huns among others.  In Iberia, the Visigoths who had sacked Rome itself but later converted to Christianity largely settled where they established their own kingdom and more or less assimilated with the Latin speaking majority of Roman colonists and Romanized Iberians and Celts who lived in Hispania as the Romans called it.

The Umayyads overran the Visigoths fairly quickly and within less than decade controlled most of the Iberian Peninsula.  The exceptions being parts of the Basque country in the north and the so called Kingdom of the Asturias in northern Spain, protected by mountains.  Here the Visigoths, increasingly Latinized in language and culture formed the first of many Christian kingdoms that ultimately successfully reversed Muslim rule on the peninsula in a slow 800 series of wars called the Reconquista.

Over those centuries numerous Muslim and Christian kingdoms and fiefdoms came and went, the most notable Muslim polity being the Emirate and later Caliphate of Cordoba which ruled from the city of Cordoba which in the Middle Ages was the largest city in all of Europe excepting Constantinople in the Byzantine Empire.  Cordoba held roughly quarter to half a million people at its peak.  It became a center of learning and culture, a true intellectual center in the so called Dark Ages.  Scholars and artisans from the Muslim world and even Christian Europe studied in its libraries and learning institutions and the majority of Iberia’s population some estimates suggest 80% of the population were Muslim or least nominally so.  Muslims in Al-Andalus developed somewhat of a caste among themselves even though religiously they were co-equals.  The ethnic Arabs though not large in the overall population were typically the ruling elite found mostly in cities.  Berbers made up a larger chunk of the populace but ruled more rural areas and finally, European converts to Islam who were both Visigoths & Hispano-Romans made up the majority of the Muslim population, with another sliver being made up of European slaves imported mostly from Eastern Europe and later converted to Islam.  Arabic was the unifying language of governance, business & culture and Islamic law and religion its unifying identity.  Christians & Jews also continued to exist in Al-Andalus and were allowed nominally to practice their religion without interference but they had to pay the jizya, a poll tax for the “protection” of their Muslim rulers, it was also a symbolic subjugation to Muslim rule, a recognition of second class citizenship.  Over time restrictions on Christians and Jews were eased or tightened depending on the changing Muslim rulers and dynasties or their “reconquest” by the encroaching powers of the Christians of the north.

Eventually, the most powerful Christian kingdom in Iberia came to be the Kingdom (Crown) of Castile.  In time, Castile unified the other Christian kingdoms to form modern Spain, Portugal being somewhat separate centuries earlier.  Castile came to rule over much of Spain by the 13th and 14th centuries.  The last independent Muslim state on the entire peninsula was at times Castile’s vassal and enemy obstacle.  The last piece of the Reconquista, the Emirate/Sultanate of Granada (1230-1492). 

The sultanate was founded in the early 13th century by the Nasrid dynasty, an Arab dynasty of somewhat humble origins that established a power base in the southern Iberian city of Granada which still had a majority Muslim population.  Its founder and first sultan, Muhammad I pledged vassalage to Castile’s king Ferdinand III according to Christian sources circa 1245 AD.  Muslim sources frame it differently stating their political understanding was as coequals with certain obligations to both parties.  However, Castile was the more powerful of the two states and Granada always had Castile in its considerations.  Muhammad I in part hoped good relations with Castile would allow Granada its own breathing space to flourish and indeed his dynasty would last for a further 260 years.

Muhammad I of Granada’s legacy wasn’t only the Nasrid dynasty’s political establishment, it was a cultural and architectural blossoming of Islamic culture, the last major flowering on the Iberian peninsula lasting until nearly the 16th century.  Most memorable of Granada’s Islamic past, of the Nasrid dynasty and in part emblematic of Al-Andalus as a whole was the fortified palatial complex first established by Muhammad I, the Alhambra.

The Alhambra means in Arabic “The Red One” named after the sun basked red bricks that made up much of the fortifications.  The Alhambra’s existence spanned the whole Nasrid dynasty’s 260 plus year reign and instead of being one palace was actually a series of additional expanded complexes and fortified walls & watchtowers atop a hillside surrounded by forests.  Unlike other Al-Andalus architecture, it avoided many Byzantine Christian influences in its design and remained very much in line with traditional Arabic and North African influences.  It followed a quadrangular design filled with courtyards, Arabesque columns and motifs.  It contained pleasure gardens filled with fragrant flowers and trees, running water from mountainside streams and springs filtered through a canal system.  Geometric patterns found in tile work amid a multitude colors along with designs to allow sunlight and shadow to play amidst the shifting hours of the day and passageways to allow cooled breezes in the hot climate of southern Spain.

While the Alhambra was captured in 1491 by the besieging Castilian forces its legacy did not end.  It became the new royal palace of Christian Spanish monarchs and remained so for some time afterwards.  By later centuries, it was neglected and abandoned and partially vandalized but by the 19th and into the 20th & 21st centuries it has undergone restoration efforts and become a museum to its place in history.  Not only as a palace for the Spanish monarchs but their Islamic predecessors who established it as their own “paradise on earth”, a reminder to tourists and those with an interest in history that at one time, Islam was the dominant religion and cultural lens of Spain...

[pinkpastels113]

Give Me a Shot

In light of me recently getting my covid shot and @wolvezzz joining us on Tumblr, here’s a little Bechloe one-shot for you all…

(I had to basically rewrite this due to some stupid mistakes I discovered halfway through in the middle of the night, so I am so sorry if some parts do not seem to add up or are too unrealistic. **I tried**)

(Also, let us just assume that the guy that Stacie is talking about is quarantined with his sister, aka no covid.)

Rating: T

Word Count: 2,571

Pairing: Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell

Summary: In which Beca is supposed to get a Covid shot but instead got a dose of something far more nerve-wracking.

End B/C if you squint. One-shot. Fluff? Covid AU.

On ao3 or ff.net or here...

(I have no idea what to put as an excerpt so here we go...)

Beca hands over the clipboard to the lady at the desk and smiles tightly behind her mask in thanks as she receives a post-it note in return. 

“Put this on the chair you’re going to sit in and come back to it once you’re done receiving the shot for the fifteen minute observatory period,” the lady says, bored but polite as she recites the practiced line Beca heard her give to several people before her. 

“Cool. Thanks.” Beca plays with the sticky part of the post-it note in her hands as she walks over to plop down into the plastic chair next to Stacie. 

“I hope we don’t have to wait as long as Amy did when she got her shot last week,” her friend says, rubbing her own post-it note onto the arm of her chair and crossing her legs as she leans back. 

“Fuck yeah. Me too. Amy’s took at least two hours.” Beca copies the taller brunette’s actions and sighs as she tilts her head back, blinking leisurely up at the ceiling. 

Stacie groans. “I will punch someone if we have to wait that long; I’m already hungry as it is.”

Beca snorts, despite being ninety percent sure that her hangry friend will do just that, “Why didn’t you get something to eat sooner?”

Green eyes flit to the side to look at her, “Boy from last night didn’t understand the definition of a one-night stand.”

Of course. Beca rolls her eyes and laughs, the sound muffled behind the piece of fabric covering her mouth, her chest quivering with mirth at the prospect of a guy refusing to accept that his “lucky shot” with her friend was over, “Seriously?”

“Yep.” The mask on Stacie’s face moves in a way that’s a telling of her pursing her lips, her gaze following her hand as fingers trace the unmarked portion of the arm of the chair her wrist is lying on, “He wouldn’t leave even when I told him that I had to go and get myself some breakfast with my mom before meeting with you to get my Covid-19 vaccine, even going as far as to offer to be my personal chauffeur.”

Beca lowers her head from the back of her chair and raises her eyebrows, “Wow. That’s like, a serious guy looking for a serious relationship, dude. Are you sure your friend would be okay with this?”

Stacie had informed her the night before that the brother of one of her most trusted friends would be staying the night with her doing some...choice activities.

“Yeah,” the brunette wrinkles her nose, “I had made sure that both her and her brother knew that I don’t do relationships.” She then brightens, as if suddenly remembering a thought, “Oh, he texted me too.” Stacie turns around and rifles in her purse for her phone, humming in her mouth as she pushes aside the keys and tampons within, and lets out a small noise of triumph as she whips out her device, “Aha.”

Beca chuckles at the scene but leans forward nonetheless, eager to spend the time waiting for her covid vaccine in doing something else besides counting the water spots on the ceiling tiles above her head, “What did he say?”

Stacie unlocks her phone, bouncing slightly in her seat in suppressed excitement as she goes to tap into her messages, “Look.”

Beca doesn’t think she has ever seen anything more desperate and pathetic in her life than the digital text glaring into her face, “Oh my god, he wants to know where you are at and wonders if he can take you out to dinner? Dude.”

Even through the mask Beca can tell that a sly and catlike grin had unfurled across her friend’s lips, followed by a mischievous wink, “Right? I don’t think I’ve ever had someone this desperate for another round right after the one the night before.” She then cocks her head, adding the next words almost as if it’s an afterthought, “And the one the early morning after.”

Beca shakes her head in disbelief, eyes scanning the multitude of text messages subsequent to the one she had just read aloud, “Maybe he just wants to see if last night and early this morning was a fluke.”

Stacie gasps in mock offense, yanking her cellular device away from Beca’s face, “How dare you, Mitchell. The Hunter is never a fluke.”

Beca just shrugs her shoulders in response, shifting her legs to accommodate the position for her to palm her chin.

She blinks innocently up at her.

Stacie narrows her eyes.

“Stacie Conrad?”

Both brunettes whirl around at the mention of the name, Beca taking in the blonde hair and blue scrubs standing at the entrance to the hallway of doctor offices hidden from view, and she sighs as Stacie grins and jumps up, practically skipping over to the woman holding a pen to another wooden clipboard in her hands.

They disappear from sight and Beca turns back around, pouting slightly as she waits for her turn, the foot that isn’t hanging uselessly in the air tapping impatiently on the floor beneath her chair. Just as she is about to delve into a full on sulk, a melodic voice chirps her name.

“Rebeca Mitchell?”

Fiery red hair and bright blue eyes meet her gaze, and Beca’s mouth goes dry as the woman waves cheerily at her, her entire body freezing in her seat as the organ in her chest decidedly unfreezes, and it is not until the cerulean pools has vanished into a blink that she has realized that she has stared too long and should probably get her ass up and over there.

Beca swallows and nods, and almost trips over her feet in the act of standing up without first uncrossing her legs. Blushing furiously and praying that nobody in the vicinity has noticed besides her awkward and idiotic self, she tugs at the hem of her blouse and quickly makes her way over.

“Hi,” the redhead greets, the smile lines on her cheeks creasing prettily as she crosses out her name with a ballpoint pen, “Rebeca Mitchell?”

“Beca,” she says, automatic in her response to the correction of the name that she has loathed since birth, “It’s Beca.”

She looks up at her, and Beca wants to slap herself in her haste to blurt out the two liner that she usually only reserves for people with whom she wants to be casual with, “Beca.”

Her fingers twitch at the way her name sounds rolling through the air in that sweet melodic tune, and she suddenly wants to find out how it sounds like rolling off her tongue, clear and without the obstacles of the stupid masks blocking its way.

Before she could do much more than tip her chin in acknowledgement, the redhead has twirled around in a flurry of red and blue, and Beca is dutifully following her down the hallway into the office attached at the very end. 

At the gesture for her to sit on the stool in front of the wall, Beca sat, and promptly stares as the redhead sets the clipboard on the table before reaching for a pair of new latex gloves, watching the way she snaps them on and pulls a card out of her scrub pocket, drinking in the sight of her tilting her head as she flourishes her pen over the newly revealed card. 

She is so fucking gorgeous.

Beca wishes that she is not in the middle of a fucking pandemic.

“So is that with one C or two C’s?” Her question snaps her out of her daze and Beca has to reluctantly pull her gaze away from the smooth expanse of her neck.

“Oh, um,” she gulps to lubricate her throat, sitting up taller to properly project her voice, hoping upon hope that the louder volume will drown out its slight tremble, “It’s actually Rebeca on paper. With one C.”

An inconspicuous murmur floats into her ears, and if Beca hadn’t known any better, she would’ve described it being accompanied with a teasing smile, “I see.”

Her heart pounds in her chest and it’s a big struggle to refrain from squirming in her stool.

The redhead finishes writing on the card and sets that and the pen aside, before slowly making her way towards her. Beca’s eyes stay determinedly on her face—or more accurately, on what she could make of it—her nerves growing more jittery and jumpy by the second, and she finds herself holding her breath as the redhead comes to a stop, feet away. She nibbles on the inside of her cheek as a gloved hand picks up a small package and tears at the seams, taking out an alcohol wipe and shaking it out, before placing the empty pieces of said package back onto the paper on the exam table from which it came from.

Sneakers step forward and then red hair and blue eyes are inches closer.

“Roll your sleeve up for me, please?” Her voice lilts at the end, Beca’s heart instantly mimicking the gesture, and she fumbles with the sleeve of her blouse on her left arm to comply. 

The redhead leans forward to rub at the uncovered skin with the cold wipe, causing shivers to emanate from the affected area and spread through and around every nerve ending in her entire upper body, and Beca has to clench her hand into a tight fist to hold herself still.

“Relax,” she says, not moving away even as she sets aside the used wipe as well, removing the cap from the needle from which contained the Covid vaccine. “You need to relax, Becs; the muscle will sore if you don’t.”

Beca’s gaze snaps up, sure that the redhead had just uttered a nickname of her already shortened name, but apart from the fact that her blue eyes seemed to twinkle even brighter—a fact that Beca stubbornly gives credit to the fluorescent light from overhead, in addition to their sudden close proximity—her expression betrays nothing.

She heeds the request and unclenches her fist, and as the prickling feeling signalling the intrusion of the vaccine starts from her arm, a glare on the breast pocket of the redhead’s scrubs catches her eye.

Dr. Chloe Beale.

Huh.

Beca grins, elated at the realization that she had just found out the name of the gorgeous woman standing before her.

She sends up a mental thank you to whoever had the intelligence and generosity of coming up with the invention of name tags. 

The prickling sensation resides, and Beca looks over to see that Chloe is done delivering the shot. She makes to lower the sleeve of her blouse, but a gloved hand brushing against her sensitive skin stops her.

“Hold on, I need to give you a Band-Aid.” Despite the blue latex covering her fingertips, Beca can still feel the warmth and tenderness of Chloe’s touch. 

Beca nods, dumbly, as Chloe quickly peels off the ends of the Band-Aid and pastes it carefully over the reddening spot. Gloved hands linger, taking the time to rub out every last inch of the two ends of the patch, fingers wrapping lightly against the circumference of her upper arm, and Beca stares with bated breath, suddenly afraid to look at any place else.

She is glad that she is in the middle of a fucking pandemic.

“There.” It is a soft puff of a sound, and if Beca hadn’t already been so close to her face, hadn’t already been close enough to wish that she had the ability to rip off her mask and smell her undoubtedly sweet and floral perfume, she wouldn’t have heard it. “You’re all set.”

Chloe finally steps away, and Beca wishes that she hadn’t spun around so fast because she is pretty sure that she had just sent her a wink. 

“So, here’s the card that I have filled out for you, and it’s really important that you bring it back when you return for your second dose,” the card that Chloe had written on earlier is handed over, covered in beautiful, curling black ink, “And you should receive a text in the next hour or so telling you when that second dose is going to be.”

“From you?” The words had left Beca’s mouth without her notice or permission, and it was not until an auburn eyebrow had risen into the air in amusement that Beca had realized what she had said.

“Fuck.” 

She covers her face in her hands, only to be embarrassed even further when the evidence of her forgotten boundary scrapes against her palms. She settles for letting out a groan and closing her eyes, laying her elbows onto her thighs and hanging her head in a full manifestation of her humiliation. 

Her body feels like it’s on fire and Beca wants the goddamn ground to open up and swallow her whole. 

Chloe giggles. “Not from me, silly. From the Department of Health of the state.”

Beca is positive that had she whipped her head up any faster, her neck would’ve snapped. Chloe’s laugh is like a drug. “Yeah, sorry. That was not supposed to come out of my mouth.”

Now that is definitely a wink. “What was supposed to come out then?”

Her jaw slackens, and if Fat Amy was there in the room with her, she would’ve made fun of her for looking like a fish. The heat in her cheeks burn hotter and Beca hastily shakes her head, hopping off from the stool, grateful that she had managed not to trip like the time before. The hard cardstock digs into her lines of her palm of her right hand further with each pulse against the side of her neck, and Beca wills her feet to power walk to the exit of the suffocating room lest she makes even more of a complete and awkward idiot out of herself in front of Dr. Chloe Beale.

Fingers tug on her wrist, and then something small is slapped onto her card. “Here,” Chloe looks like she’s chewing on her lip, “You forgot your sticker.”

Confusion furrows her brows, but something in her hisses at her to not to say a word, especially when sparkling blue eyes dart down the hall agitatedly as if its owner knows that she is doing something she’s not supposed to and if she is caught, she is going to be in major trouble.

There seems to not be enough air in the world for her to suck in, and Beca clutches both the sticker and card tightly against the space between her breasts and speeds down the hallway, her converse squeaking against the floor as she spins to beeline the rest of her way into her yellow post-it noted designated chair.

Stacie looks up from her phone from which 14:39 flashes across her screen and moves her foot out of her way so Beca can sit down, “So? How’d it go?”

Beca finally unleashes the death like grip of her hands, the side effect of her recent dose of something far from a vaccination of a worldwide virus causing her temperature to spike and her body to hyperventilate when ten beautifully, flirtatiously, unabashedly, confidently written digits wink at her from the back of the tiny sticker. “Like how it’s supposed to. I got a shot.”

I think this is gonna be my one and only covid related fanfic; it was absolutely exhausting to write, and I am still 98% sure that I haven’t fixed all the mistakes… XD.