#something something parallels something something

[ammckk6262]

Albus i'm sorry....

dear god Albus Potter do you utterly haunt my thoughts

Just… Albus in the cursed child, for as mixed as people seem to be on it… Albus as the certified middle child who doesn’t have the cloak, doesn’t have the map, who doesn’t even have a family name?

Can you imagine little Al (not yet Albus because that’s a name he truly goes by once he has Scorpius) tucking himself into the cracks of the door as he hears his parents talking, hears his dad say it would have been better to know they were having two boys so they could have just called him Sirius

Al, getting teased by his invisible brother, yet seeing so distinctly that his father chose James over him for their family legacy

Al, who grew up on the filtered advice of a distant, out of reach mentor who he could never live up to. Not like James with his fun, his humor, or Lily with her love and her girlhood.

(Albus, who will hear Cedric called the spare and understand far too well what it’s like to be of secondary importance)

Al, who out of all his siblings looks the most like his father, a reflection to every family friend of what harry went through and an eternal reminder to himself and the world that he will always be his father’s legacy (he will look in the mirror for most of his adult life and see his father before he sees himself)

Al, age 11, seeking comfort on the train platform as everything changes around him and getting another lecture about bravery that he doesn’t feel he has

Al becoming Albus on that train, when the boy who would become the most important person in his life actually asks him, asks him what he wants to be called

Albus, under the sorting hat, struggling but thinking about who he wants to be outside of his family’s legacy and getting put in Slytherin for it

Albus, who grew up on war stories and hogwarts hyjinks staying up half his first night because he’s afraid of his peers, but doesn’t want them to know that because he so desperately and conflictingly wants to both fit in and stand out

Albus, who is bad at flying, humiliating himself in front of his peers, because he isn’t harry but isn’t Quidditch player Ginny either… Albus, who all the adults see as Harry’s extension; Albus, who struggles with charms like Lily never will, who can barely make his matchstick silver under the blue eyed portrait in the room, who struggles to parse through the moving and unequal words of wizarding textbooks, who attracts bullies like flies and doesn’t yet have his mother’s hexes to fight back

Albus, struggling to write that first letter home, to tell his parents and little sister that he’s different from them; Albus who doesn’t even get to tell them because James tells them first

Albus, who doesn’t get a green scarf and hat until after the first snow, unable to parse if it’s the color, the fact that he’s the second born, or maybe just that it’s him that made it come later than James’ had

Albus, who goes back home for Christmas and faces his father’s disapproval for befriending a Malfoy, his father’s distrust and attempts to assure his morality for befriending someone harry assumes cruel and antagonistic

Albus, having to hold awkward conversation with Rose and Ron and Hermione, because neither of the kids want their parents to know they’re not talking (they find out eventually, and though they’re nice about it, Albus knows they’ll always put Rose’s feelings first)

Albus, who is suddenly assumed more malicious and problem causing than he ever was before, who suddenly is seen as a prime person to scot the blame off to when things go wrong

Albus, who gets chosen after his sister (“just like her mother!”) during the family quidditch match; who gets meaningful looks from his Uncle Percy; whose Christmas sweaters are no longer red but never green; who suddenly cant seem to talk to his uncle ron anymore, someone who used to understand what it was like to be James’ brother

Albus potter who stradles the line of too Potter for Slytherin and too Slytherin for his family.

Albus Potter, who’s ambition has been squashed out by bullies and disregard and distrust, struggling to find his identity in a house and world that is still in the midst of undoing decades as an indoctrination machine…

[valtsv]

something i think about a lot and don't see discussed often in the silt verses are the narrative foils and parallels shared by the saint electric and VAL, particularly when it comes to their respective endings. a woman sacrificing her humanity in flames and undergoing apotheosis, elevated not merely to sainthood but ascended to godhood, and losing the entirety of herself in the process, becoming a product to be traded and sold, and a woman who sacrificed her humanity to be made into a commodity, a "valuable" weapon, finally rejecting her attempts to claim that same godhood in favour of reclaiming her personhood in a similarly fiery death. the peninsulan propaganda machine's greatest triumph, and its most damning defeat. the beginning and the ending of the same tragic story.

[zombiewheeler]

i find it really interesting that during mike’s love profession to el, he’s not the only person making physical contact with her.

jonathan’s hand is on her shoulder the entire time. THE ENTIRE TIME.

something something mike being paralleled to her brother again, just like the scene when el’s reunion with mike is identical to her reunion with will…

something something m*leven’s Special Moment is (in more ways than one) disrupted by the constant reminders of everyone else’s presence in the room…

[megaeratheefury]

ROOK WEEK 2025 ✧ ismeria mercar design commission by @alamangoes 🥭

first, thank you so much to @rookappreciationweek for organizing this event! 🤩

been super excited for this one because i had the absolute pleasure of finally commissioning a longtime fave filipino artist 💓 actually got this comm back a month ago and been sitting on it while i waited for rook week hahah

i knew forsure that i wanted to infuse ✨filipinality✨ into ismeria's aesthetic while still undeniably placing her in tevinter and giving her her own cunty waist belt. we focused on spanish colonial era fashion influences to parallel ismeria's lived experiences as both ancestrally dalish and culturally tevinter

for this look i initially asked stes for a pamalengke ("for the market"), something she wears when she's off the clock and just one of many in the crowd

even though she's hiding her ears here for imperial reasons tbh i'm so endeared by the headwrap 🥹

[gordon ramsey voice] finally some good fucking lighthouse casuals

if you've read don't get caught, this is what ismeria is wearing at the beginning of the fic 🙂‍↕️

i know everyone is in "casuals" in the lighthouse, but i honestly can't imagine ismeria dressing down too much. she's the leader, she has to command trust and respect, and no one is going to follow someone in pajamas to battle against gods (i also feel like she's just constantly ready to be attacked at the lighthouse/deal with fade chaos so she stays ready in something practical)

the pambahay ("for the house"): this is what she wears when she’s relaxing and can spend the day doing leisure activities like painting and journaling and being loved on by davrin 🥰

yes that top in the final version is sheer teehee

[whencartoonsruletheworld]

Gonna copy-paste what I put into the Dual Process Theory YouTube community post, just in case anyone is blissfully ignorant of what's been going on in the Disney community:

The National Indian Child Welfare Association is an organization working to protect indigenous children and families through education and advocacy on child welfare and kinship rights. The original Lilo & Stitch is very relevant to the ICWA as it shows a US government agent attempting to separate an indigenous woman from her child ward to put her into the care of the state, something that has happened and continues to happen to indigenous children. Nani's "Aloha 'Oe" scene was added as a way to parallel their situation with the colonization of Hawai'i; the original song was written by the last Queen of Hawai'i as the United States forced her to cede her ancestral lands to them, which they then proceeded to colonize and commercialize. Nani is unable to find a job due to the tourism business taking over her land and Lilo is objectified enough to mirror the behavior (taking photos of white tourists rather than white tourists taking photos of her) and gets removed from her traditional dance because of a rich white or white-passing bully.

The original movie is subtle in its messaging but very clear if you know anything about Hawai'ian history, and the movie ending with 'ohana being kept and Nani being able to keep her sister, who she loves, because she now has a support system who can assist her in her own shortcomings is presented as a happy ending for everyone, and the ideal community that we should strive for.

The reboot, if you haven't seen it, has Nani (played by an actress whose mother is a Hawai'i realtor) literally look Lilo in the eye and tell her that 'ohana is a fantasy that can never be reality and that their parents abandoned them by dying. She AND the film see Lilo as a burden on her that is alleviated when she gives up custody and goes to the mainland for college. Why not have her go to a Hawai'ian college, or do classes online while staying with her sister? Because they didn't think about her actually caring for and loving her sister. They thought about how she should go pursue the generic American Dream, and this neurodivergent traumatized child should be passed off to someone else. They literally have an indigenous CPS agent tell her to do this. Her happy ending is giving up custody of her sister to a neighbor and going to a white-dominated university.

Even the non-indigenous characters get removed from the 'ohana, as Jumba is now solely evil and irredeemable and serves as the final antagonist instead of Gantu, which also provides the wonderful(/s) message that criminals cannot be redeemed and government agents are never wrong. The reboot looks at you and tells you that family means nothing and indigenous people should give up their children and culture and assimilate. The director literally said in an interview, "Some people get left behind."

All this to say, we're definitely donating to the NICWA today. They fight to protect the Indian Child Welfare Act that prevents indigenous children from being kidnapped away from their cultures and assist indigenous families in protecting and caring for each other.

Nobody gets left behind.

Happy Stitch Day, everyone donate to the NICWA out of apology that we let the reboot gain any kind of traction

The National Indian Child Welfare Association is an organization working to protect indigenous children and families through education and advocacy on child welfare and kinship rights. Nobody gets left behind.

[dailyralsei]

OKAY I hope you don't mind me going a little nuts in the asks but Ralsei and fire magic is something I've been INSANE about for YEARS

What drives me so incredibly insane about it is just the whole symbology of Fire of something that loves. Fire gives us warmth, it provides light so that we can see, it cooks our food so that it's safe to eat.

But fire is also something that you can never get too close to.

And I just can't help but see Ralsei parallel that as someone who loves Kris and Susie, whose passionate in everything he does, who wants to help and guide. But can't ... Really be there?

Am I just kinda crazy or am I onto something here

oh my god. i gotta make a comic or at least one illustration about this thank you anon

[splinterclan]

Okay, lets just go over this.

Moon is dead. Bess left again due to ‘knowing’ she wasn’t welcome. Elk likely followed her or just ran away in someway. Prairie is not socially observant nor emotionally smart and is/was blaming Bess for her family troubles(which is only half Bess’s fault and she did Try to make right). Ceder has just officially lost half his family and has his heart broken twice full. And then theres Burn, who is caught in the middle.

Theres no fixing the family. Prairie will need to accept her mom wasn’t heartless but also damaged, Moon is Gone plus Elk is likely as good as gone but worse. Ceder and Burn will hopefully get better together but I fear where Prairi’s mind will go and who she may blame next.

Atleast the cousins are doing okay🫠. To be truthful, I can’t see how things could have gone different sadly.

Ah time can fix a lot - there's no way of knowing rn how things will turn out :') Cut Prairie some slack though, she was way closer to Moon than Elk was and is suffering differently from him. (A lot of Elk's grief has manifested in desperately trying to be close to Bess as a way of idk 'replacing' Moon in her goal to find her? Whilst Prairie feels that Bess doesn't deserve to be happy and blames her for Moon's death. And then Bess thinks that the kids will never heal with her around tearing them apart and she just wants to feel better for once/run away from it all)

If it helps everyone tho, I like at least mostly happy endings... eventually! :p

Probably something like "Now we'll be able to move on" or something to that effect? I know when I first wrote the script I had the full sentence in mind but it's been lost now

and there are some parallels in their end results, but they are different in their thoughts/processes. Bess is naturally very selfish, but is trying harder to do what she feels is best and Prairie sees what she's doing alienating Bess as a 'revenge' for Moonpaw's death - she's fueled purely by grief and anger and hasn't been able to see anything beyond that yet.

Yup! she left a few weeks after their warrior ceremony

jsjsjs can you imagine

[destinysbounty]

On the topic of mergeswap AUs, most of the ninja could be shuffled around to different Merge scenarios with equally compelling results, but I maintain that by far the most *interesting* swap would be Lloyd-Zane. That is to say, Lloyd gets put in the coma pod while Zane is left alone in the monastery.

Out of all the post-Merge scenarios, I think Lloyd would most severely be fucked up by completely sleeping through it - he wakes up to find that not only is the world different, but his friends have spent *years* struggling to survive without his help. He's supposed to be their leader, their guide, the chosen savior of prophecy. It's his job to look out for them, isn't it? But he wasn't there. The world fell apart, his team is in shambles, and everyone has suffered innumerable traumas as a result...and he wasn't there for any of it. Knowing Lloyd, the self-imposed guilt would absolutely eat him alive. Also, once again he is chronologically displaced - before it was the age of his mind and body being mismatched, and now he is once again missing several years of his life.

(Also I think it's funny if we put Lloyd in Zane's pod specifically, especially if he's still the Conduit. Because that means he woke up, immediately jumped into the fight against Imperium, and then like 10 minutes later volunteered to take on life-changing god powers from some random talking dragon. All without any context for anything that is going on whatsoever.)

As for Zane...god, where do I even start.

So, putting Zane in the monastery is fascinating for a number of reasons.

Out of everyone on the team, the ones who consistently cope with isolation the worst are Cole and Zane. That's not to say the others enjoy it, per se, but they're all at least able to lock in and get shit done as needed, trauma be damned. But Cole is very community-oriented and comes a bit unglued in the absence of a community to rely on (DotD, s10), and Zane...oh boy.

Zane is usually the one to die, so he is rarely put in a position of grieving the others. His only instances of mourning the absenceof a loved one are:

His father, which happened off-screen so we don't know how he handled that initially (he seems to be okay in s3, but knowing Zane he probably just repressed the feeling and moved on)

Nya in Seabound, which he was so ill-equipped to deal with that he turned off his emotions entirely

Pixal in DR, where he was so unable to handle her absence that he straight up stapled a photo of her to a broom and started talking to it. Also with Kai getting lost in superhell, which we don't really see him grieving over but also we don't see much of that from anyone so uhhh I'm choosing to ignore that for now.

Picture it. Zane, alone in the monastery, with none of his friends around and no way of knowing what happened to them. All he can do is sit and hold vigil in the hopes that they will eventually come back (something something Echo Zane lighthouse parallels). I'm not saying Zane would start taping his friends' photos to random appliances by the end of week 1 and cry over his tenth ice sculpture of Pix by week 2, but uhhhh....actually no that's exactly what I'm saying. Provided he doesn't miraculously find a way to get himself killed while chilling in the monastery, I give him like 6 months before his sanity completely unravels.

Another reason for swapping Zane into Lloyd's spot is that whoever is in the monastery at the start of DR also gets to be the mentor to the new ninja. And that puts Zane in a *very* interesting position.

Zane is, on both a meta and narrative level, a support character. He's your medic, your backup, your HQ, and he can even be your damsel in distress. He's not really a leader by nature, and it is rare for him to take charge or assume a position of authority unless the situation demands it of him. He's generally content to sit back and let everyone else take charge - he let Cole take the lead during the prison break in s4, he's one of the only ones not to express pushback when Lloyd officially becomes the leader, etc.

It's actually a bit odd how rare it is for him to lead, bc it feels like everyone else has way more instances of flexing their leadership skills. Off the top of my head, i can think of exactly three occasions where Zane assumes a position of authority:

For about 10 mins in s5, which ends in him glitching out and talking backwards

In s14 when he became Captain Zane, but that was mostly for comedic effect, and authority goes back to Lloyd and Nya once the situation actually gets serious

In s11 when he became Ice Emperor, but he had to be magically corrupted, mind-wiped, AND gaslit in order for that to even happen.

(You could argue he took charge during the Snake Jaguar incident, but he didn’t take charge of the whole team and also it didn't end well.)

All this to say, Zane doesn't have a positive track record with being in charge. Probably even worse, now that he has all that Ice Emperor baggage to deal with.

So what do you do with a character like that? Naturally, you give him a gaggle of wide-eyed children to look after and tell him to teach them how to be ninja. Lloyd was already hesitant to be their master in canon, but Zane would be even worse.

Furthermore, Zane, uh...doesn't really have many friends outside of the ninja (aside from his falcon, who hasnt existed in the show for years). Cole has the Upply and the Finders, Nya is close to Ronin and became good friends with Bentho, Kai has Skylor and Wyldfyre, Lloyd had the resistance and Akita and now the next-gen kids, Jay started an entire cult in Prime Empire and also seems to be on good terms with Unagami, and even Wu is close to Faith...but who does Zane have outside of the team? Vex, maybe? Possibly Borg, even though that relationship isn't explored onscreen? Sally, who gets one whole episode spotlighting her and Zane before vanishing into obscurity?

This even continues in DR, too. Theres a new cast of characters to befriend and connect with, many of whom share a lot in common with Zane, but he doesn't really interact at length with anyone but his old friends and Frohickey.

True, a lot of that can be blamed on Zane's gradual narrative dehumanization depriving him of meaningful personal connections, but in-universe you could also attribute that to his self worth. Zane is so wrapped up in his belief that he exists to serve and protect, and he is so strongly devoted to the ninja that he can be a bit one-track-minded about it. He loves his family so much that he doesn't have time to care for anyone else in the same way. They are his world, his everything, his life's purpose...without them, he is nothing. Can you say "codependent"?

But now, he's alone in the monastery. He doesn't know if his friends are alive. All he can do is sit and pray and hope they come back to him. And after years of waiting, he crosses paths not with his family, but with two new kids. They want him to teach them to be ninja. But Zane is too afraid - afraid of leaving his post, afraid that being in charge will bring out his inner Ice Emperor...afraid of betraying his family by finding a new one.

He does agree to help them in the end, if only because he exists to protect and they need protection. But the whole time, he is afraid, and anxious, and painfully unsure of himself. But just as he teaches them how to be strong, how to fight, how to be brave and kind and selfless...they teach him how to believe in himself. How to reclaim his sense of identity. How to stand on his own without his friends, and how to make new ones. How to live for his loved ones, rather than dying for them.

(And yeah, okay, a small part of it this is definitely spite for the way he's been unilaterally snubbed by DR canon. I won't deny that)

Personally, if I were to write a mergeswap AU that's probably the direction I'd take. But then again, I might just be on some next-level copium and desperately trying to make Zane actually relevant to DR in some meager way

[blissfullsvn]

bungee

summary. there are two things to know about han taesan. one, han taesan is hard to understand, and two, han taesan does not like you. it turns out that neither of these are particularly true.

pairing. han taesan x reader genre. fluff, college/university!au word count. 1.3k warning. brief mention of drinks being spiked (not from MCs) a/n. in love with the concept of taesan looking so cool but being the most idiotic specimen on earth but even i think he’s questionable here 🧍‍♀️ nonetheless, i hope you enjoy this as much as i did! reblogs are welcomed with open arms :D masterlist

taesan has always been a bit of an enigma.

he dresses like your typical emo skater boy, but is obsessed with chococat. he hates being called a cat, but has all kinds of cat-related accessories for his outfits. he looks like he would never be seen within a five-meter radius of any dessert, but always has five packs of pudding in his bag. 

but above all, what truly confuses you is how he treats you.

for starters, taesan doesn’t like you.

at the very least, he’s uncomfortable around you.

that’s a well-established fact. has been, ever since you started hanging out with jaehyun and naturally integrated with the rest of his group. taesan has always kept his distance with you, even after you’ve grown close enough with everyone else for them to show up at your door unannounced. whenever it comes to you, he’s always chosen to be at the sidelines, walk a few steps behind, pipe up with minimal responses.

but it’s not like you have anything against him for that. you know it’s impossible for everyone to get along, even if it’s within the same friend group—especially when you joined later than everyone else—and it’s not like taesan has ever said or done anything offensive to you; he just . . . tolerates you. 

as easily as your friends welcomed you with open arms, you simply accepted that that’s just how it’ll be between the two of you; floating in parallel orbits without ever reaching each other. and you’re okay with that.

. . . despite your tiny, little crush on him.

you don’t know when it started, but from some moment onwards, you frequently found your eyes drifting towards taesan. on monday, when the lecture is particularly boring; on wednesday, when the lecturer enters ten minutes late; on thursday, when his smile is especially blinding and there are strands of white fur on his black tee.

so, maybe your crush isn’t actually minuscule, and the chances of it being reciprocated are less than zero, but you can live with it. that’s just how taesan is with you.

but that’s also why it’s confusing when taesan does things that are so . . . uncharacteristic.

like when you’re having lunch at the cafeteria, and he casually picks up the banchan on his own tray to replenish yours. or when you let out a whisper that you’re cold, and he’s the first to remove his jacket to drape it over you. or when you once dug through your bag and pockets to find a hair tie before settling with a pen, and from then on you always see him with a hair tie on his wrist.

it’s even more confusing when you stare at him afterwards, equal parts flustered and fluttery, and all he does is look back at you in question, as if asking you “what's up?”, like what he did was nothing out of the ordinary; like it’s something he has no problem doing for you; like it’s something as normal as breathing.

and then, when you’re left to wonder what exactly it means, losing sleep and sanity, taesan would show up the next day, acting as usual—distant, aloof, withdrawn.

as much of a whiplash it is, you can’t say it’s particularly surprising. taesan, in all his enigmatic glory, has always been difficult to understand, to comprehend, to grasp.

but right now, you might be a step closer to figuring him out.

“don’t.” taesan’s hand is around your wrist, grip firm but gentle. he’s huffing a little, hair disheveled. it’s clear he had been running towards you, but you haven’t a single clue why. 

“what . . . are you doing?” you look at your wrist, the way his hand engulfs it entirely, and then to his eyes. his pupils are so deep and dark that you’re drawn in immediately, and it’s then that you realise: you and taesan have never looked at each other face-to-face, this close before.

instead of looking away, which is what you expected and what he would have done, he does something completely uncharacteristic, once again.

for the first time, taesan takes a step inside your orbit.

your breath hitches at the proximity, and you almost want to ask if jaehyun is around the corner, filming this as a poor idea of a prank. but it’s taesan who’s in front of you, and he would never agree to anything like that. especially not when he’s looking at you like . . . that.

it’s so intense that you have to look away, find a spot on the gravel to ground yourself. but that doesn’t last long, because you’re immediately pulled back to him when he speaks, just like a force to a satellite.

“don’t have dinner with him,” he says—commands.

under normal circumstances, you might have butterflies. be thrilled, even. because this implies that he had been thinking about you; that what you do does affect him.

but right now, what you feel is something closer to indignation. you’re all dolled up, ready to meet someone new and have some fun, and hopefully rid yourself of your chronic illness of pining. but then the reason for all this comes and demands like you owe him?

before you can chew him out, taesan speaks again, and all the words on the tip of your tongue immediately melt away.

“he’s a terrible person.” he clenches his jaw. “has a reputation for . . . tampering with people’s drinks.” his grip on you tightens. “and i overheard him offering to take someone else out tomorrow.

“so . . .” he softens, his fingers slackened against your skin, “don’t go out with him.”

“i. . . .” you open your mouth but shut it immediately. this was the last thing you expected him to say when he came up to you, so you’re not entirely sure how to reply. you decide to say the most appropriate thing first: “thank you for telling me.

“but . . .” you continue before he adds anything, “why?”

“why?” taesan repeats, reeling back in surprise. “what do you mean?”

“why . . . did you come all the way here?” you tilt your head in question. “your class just ended, didn’t it? that means you ran all the way from campus to my dorm to tell me this. which i’m super grateful for, of course!” you add quickly. “but i’m just . . . confused.” internally, you wonder when you’re ever not confused by him. “a phone call would have sufficed.”

taesan blinks, as if he hadn’t thought about that.

“oh.” he lets out. “that . . . wasn’t on my mind.” he scratches his nape. “i just wanted to see you.”

you freeze, your brain short-circuiting. it takes a while to recover, but even then, taesan is still looking at you like he hadn’t just spewed out your new sleep-deprivation material, like it’s truly something as normal as breathing for him.

“taesan.” you call out, and the way his thumb brushes your skin in response sends a jolt down your spine. “do you . . .” you pause, rethinking your wording, before deciding on a far safer option. “are we good?”

“huh?” he tilts his head, wondering if you’re making a joke. when he sees that you’re not, he answers definitively. “of course.”

you let out a shaky breath, unconsciously leaning towards him. so . . . you’re good. taesan doesn’t dislike you. that’s good enough—no, way better news than anything.

“okay.” you nod, and a strike of confidence hits you. emboldened by the newfound knowledge, you inch closer. “i’m all dressed up, but i just found out my date is an asshole. what should i do, taesan?”

“huh?” taesan looks flustered, and you revel in that information now that the smokescreen blocking your vision has disappeared. “you . . . can still go out?” his tone is hesitant and clumsy, but nothing short of endearing.

“right.” you nod. “so go out with me, taesan.”

taesan splutters. “w–what?”

“be my date instead, taesan.”

and for the first time, you know what his answer is going to be.

a/n. don’t you just love it when ppl discover communication

© blissfullsvn 2025. All Rights Reserved.

[deepestblue]

it's just...the interconnectedness of taissa and lottie. they canonically wear the same cleats. taissa sleepwalks pre-crash, lottie post-rescue. they're both burdened with the supernatural prior to the wilderness - both forms of sight, a warning in some ways. lottie's visions spill out and have to be dealt with - Tai doesn't tell a single soul about what she sees. It's a terror she has to carry all on her own. I've always thought of other tai as a shield, a crutch, a protective layer of hard skin that kicks in at the point of pain.

there's a familiarity/fluidness (?) in the way that lottie and taissa get at each other? it's so quick, innate -- like a knee jerk reaction.

What if you're wrong? What if there's just nothing?

I don't know. / You do know. / If I'm wrong, I'll die out there.

“I don’t believe in that shit, and neither will you.”

I'm just trying to figure it out / Yeah, maybe you shouldn't.

they're on each other's heels verbally, physically at all times. I think that only comes from a shared and intimate knowledge of each other. how they work, how they think, how to get under each other's skin.

most of their interactions on the show are tactile. pulling each other's arms, bodies, clothing, to steer them to, or away, from something. hurtling their bodies into one another. shoving. pushing. crowding each other's space.

all of taissa + lottie's understandings of each other are underscored by touch. paralleled beginnings. at what points in their shared history did they meet and diverge? whatever the answer, i truly believe they share a deep understanding of one another that maybe surpasses words. it's in the body.

[anonofthemys]

Thinking about Dess being Knight (in some manner) and Kris working with them with the added wrinkle of it being an toxic codependency.

Kris was very close with Dess and looked up to her as a kid (Kris emulates poses the Knight similarly does in the dark world), and would feel horrible for (most likely) partially being responsible for what happened to her. Kris already has issues with self worth and hating themselves, and you add the wrinkle of them being responsible for Dess' "disappearance" and as a result the destruction of the bond between the Dreemurrs and Holidays, and their own family as well. All of these factors make them more willing to promise to agree to whatever plans Knight Dess has instore.

Meanwhile Knight Dess, who has via unknown means been warped into this deformed, titan like THING, with barely a grasp on her old self, is extremely bitter and vindictive. They can't exist in the light world for long, and the only person who knows about her situation is Kris, their old childhood friend who looked up to and admired them.... who was also responsible for what happened to her. So, the Knight would have their own plans, to make a perfect world for her sister Noelle (the cyberworld being made to appeal to her for example), and Kris would be the one to help her do it. The Knight would hold Kris into compliance, with both their promise to them and their guilt over being the cause of the situation in the first place. And Kris would go through with it anyway, not just out of guilt, but out of fear of losing their close friend again. "They owe it to her, after everything they did".

They both are linked with each other and both need each other to make this plan work. The Knight is the closest thing Kris has left of Dess, and is the closest they have to rekindling an old bond, but it comes at the cost of isolating them from their new friendships with Susie and Ralsei. Kris being caught between chasing the past via the Knight and striving for a new future with Susie.

It kind of brings to mind the relationship between Asriel and Chara in Undertale, where Asriel idolized Chara to a codependent extent, where it ultimately led to Chara being a bad influence on Asriel. The Knight and Dess similarly have Chara coding, with the Knight heavily taking motifs from Chara and Dess having knives in her room (both also haunt the narrative in similar ways).

I think there's some interesting merit in Kris and the Knights' dynamic having an air of toxic codependency in a similar vein to Asriel and Chara.

[wisteria-lodge]

What do you think about Draco’s and James’s similarities + differences but opposite treatment in the narrative?

Since Draco does have a full detailed explanation behind his behavior, he was raised to think it’s okay but they should keep up appearances, and he often witnessed others doing it first. James does not have any sort of explanation other than his parents pampered him.

Both said “Think I’d leave, wouldn’t you”. However Draco said it in context of trying to find something to bond with Harry over whereas James just wanted to bully Snape.

In Goblet of Fire, Draco points out how the death eaters could attack Hermione to scare the Trio into leaving him alone, however James actually did what the death eaters and threatened to do worse since he took his frustrations with Lily out on Snape. In Said confrontations, The Trio were the ones who accidentally came across Draco but James approached Snape out of boredom.

Both had prejudiced beliefs but Draco actually gave up his childhood prejudices but we have no proof James did.

While James did help Snape, he was also helping His friends and he went right back to sadisticly bullying and he was the main instigator.

Draco spared his enemies and tried helping them with no ulterior motives and fully expecting to be tortured/killed. While he did go to Harry in the room of requirement, he didn’t actively participate in the attacking, aside from trying to stop Crabbe from attacking the Trio. He also even expresses concern for Harry.

Yet James is somehow seen as more heroic.

James dies, Draco doesn't. It's the Draco vs Regulus framing thing all over again. As far as JKR is concerned, dying heroically just fixes everything, I guess.

A related part of her worldview is that suffering purifies you and makes you a better person. I do think that's the intended purpose of the super deliberate James + Draco parallels ("I think I'd leave, wouldn't you? [if I was sorted into X house]" - is really on the nose.) It's supposed to communicate how Harry would have looked, if he'd grown up like James or Draco. (Wealthy, only child, wizard parents who dote on him and spoil him.) Under difference circumstances, Harry could have had more of an ego, been more entitled, given into the brutal streak that he does have. When we first see school-age James, he's described as "It was as though [Harry] was looking at himself but with deliberate mistakes." That's a very interesting description, and I think ties in nicely to an "alternate universe Harry" reading.

This is also something that seems to have been on Dumbledore's mind. He describes 11-year-old Harry as "You were not a pampered little prince [ie, James], but as normal a boy as I could have hoped under the circumstances. Thus far, my plan was working well."

So: As far as he's concerned, leaving Harry with the Dursleys is not just justified but good, because it's made Harry a better person. Considering that Dumbledore, Snape, Dudley, Ron (arguably Draco) also have personal growth arcs kick-started through suffering... I'd say this is a point of view the text supports overall.

But another thing... is that I've always thought JKR writes friend group dynamics really, really well. They're messy, shifting, warm, tight-knit and complicated. Outside dynamics like class, politics, and discrimination come in, and bounce around in unpredictable ways. Even if there was some way to cleanly add up everyone's 'bullying points' and 'victim points' or whatever, and plug them into some formula, and be able to come out with some definitive statement like "Draco had it worse than Peter" - I wouldn't want to do it. What makes the Harry+Ron+Hermione+Draco dynamic interesting... and what makes the James+Remus+Sirius+Peter+Severus+Lily+Regulus dynamic even *more* interesting... is that basically everyone has an area in which they're powerful or privileged, another area where they're vulnerable or disenfranchised (with the possible exception of James)... and it makes for these fantastically complex character dynamics and vicious cycles.

Because every single one of these characters is written with some degree of ambiguity, (some more than others...) which ones you gravitate towards, and which ones you dislike end up being more of a personal Rorschach test than anything rooted in the books.

Like, I can see from your ask that you're inclined to give Draco a very positive edit. (and I mean, come on, I love Draco too.) You read Draco as vulnerable during the scene where the Golden Trio finds him the woods during the World Cup chaos, and decides to "scare the Trio into leaving him alone." That is absolutely a read that makes sense, but it's one that you're bringing to the book, there's nothing in that scene to suggest that Draco feels threatened. My personal read is that Draco - always squeamish about violence - is actually worried about Hermione on some unexamined level, because everything he says during that scene is advice on how to protect her, just expressed in a really asshole-ish way. But I think the read intended by JKR is - here's Draco, being an asshole, dishing out some exposition.

[doyoulovememrcousineau]

something something carmen not smoking ever in front of sydney because it’s a habit cycle pattern ? from his past that he shares with his family and doesn’t want it to affect her (second hand smoke ???) as an “i don’t want you to get hurt because of me” thing (regardless of whether he hurts her or not) and then on s04ep10 him going from telling her she doesn’t smoke (you are not like me and you shouldn’t be) to telling her not to smoke (don’t try to hurt yourself [the way i do]) to helping her light the cigarette (if this is what you want then sure but this is not what you do) (also a parallel with giving her a whole restaurant that carries decades of trauma) to smoking in front of her (actually doing the thing that he promised her time and time again he wasn’t gonna do aka leaving her alone aka hurting her) to telling her she is not good at smoking (it takes time and practice to get as good as i am hurting myself) and then her response of “im gonna get good” (i am going to become exactly like you). like tell me if im onto something here im so unwell

[deepinthegroves]

Why is it that some people shift in an instant like doesn't even take minutes, they close their eyes and they're in their Dr while some people just end up choosing again and again that yes they're in their Dr but always waking up around those same walls

oh anon, i so get you. i squeeze my eyes shut and whisper "i'm in my dr" over and over again like it's the holy grail... only to wake up to the same ceiling with the exhaustion of "failed" attempts clinging to my eyelids. we just want to go home, so why can't we when so many others do so easily? (or maybe i'm just projecting mb.)

i think what it really comes down to is the fact that we're really used to our cr. we've spent years waking up in parallel realities that are all so similar – the same four walls, the same peeling paint in the corner, the same blanket kicked off the bed, that we grow used to it. we may assume that we are in our dr and persist in it, but we may also subconsciously be expecting to wake up in our cr. (hence that manifesting.)

for awake methods, the same explanation applies too. we open our eyes and see this familiar reality again and again, hence it becomes something your brain expects, despite you already assuming you're in your dr.

the solution for this though is pretty simple once you've identified the problem: just remind yourself that you expect to see your dr; you're there already, why wouldn't you? your brain will get the hang of it eventually (though in my case it pisses me off everytime i shift and my brain goes "that doesn't make sense in your cr!" and i shift back), so be patient, as annoying as that is, because you will shift.

there's also the fact that you should ignore your 3d and continue to assume that you're in your dr (because you are the moment you assume. the 3d is just silly and takes a bit to catch up or wtv.) you're there, you're there, you're there, no matter what that damned wall you see says. don't check your 3d for validation because it's wrong and stupid (unless ofc, it shows your dr) /j. (if you want to work on that, i rec @hrrtshape's de-reactivity to your 3d challenge!)

[kaiasky]

Peter J Carroll is great because like. yknow plenty of new agers love to say "quantum". And he will say something superficially similar and eyeroll-y. And then he tips his hand in a way where you're like oh fuck that's the sort of thing you'd only come up with if you've taken actual science classes.

PETER: There's actually 3 dimensions of time and that's how magic works.

ME: *eyeroll* sure right. let me guess it's like a symbolic cardinal direction/element mapping? if I go time-ana it's water and time-kata is fire? In what sense are these time dimensions and not just "spooky parallel universe dimensions".

PETER: no OBVIOUSLY not. did you learn nothing from relativity?? the thermodynamic arrow of time is in the direction of grad entropy. that gives you a 2d isosurface you can walk along. Obviously. magic is traversing the isosurface.

ME: you fucker. you FUCKER.

PETER: big bang's fake, space and time are both hyperspheres.

ME: I thought too highly of you. redshift. CMB. Entropy. you simply cannot believe in a

PETER: centripetal force.

ME: what. ok--where's the axis? we'd see anisotropy.

PETER: you know how the hairy ball theorem only applies to even dimensional spheres?

ME: you fucker. There's no way that works but fine. what's unfusing helium back into hydrogen??

PETER: neutron stars.

ME: ...

PETER: the law of attraction only works between world-states with the same entropy.

ME: ...

PETER: divination requires you to learn the fact classically at some future time. that's why experiments where they don't tell the diviners the thing after the prediction is made don't work.

ME: ....

PETER: you can shatter glass with your mind.

ME: ......

PETER: I also made a wargame about Napoleonic naval warfare.

ME: :O oh shit really??

like. it's bunk, to be clear, but I remember sitting down to read one of his books expecting woo metaphysics of ohhh ~quantum~ ~poststructuralism~ ~law of attraction~ and getting slapped with a nabla.

What's your take on Chaos magick and its most common practices? Like the really streamlined sygils and stuff. I find the philosophy really interesting also

Chaos Magick is better thought of as a movement than a school of thought imo. Its a trend within a specific era of western esotericism. It has interesting ideas that basically beg elaboration beyond Chaos Magic. So Chaos Magicians rarely stay Chaos Magicians in the long term. They almost always evolve into something else.

[youaremysunshine-court]

youre telling me in the 70s armand psychologically tortured daniel molloy in san francisco while in the 2000s lasher psychologically tortured rowan in new orleans