anyrchyangel

[anyrchyangel]

This. Everything in this. I’ve read this series so MANY times (i have honestly lost count) and every single time I discover something about the world building that just makes the kind of sense that does.

There is some kind of connection between the Mother sending and Astarael. I just can’t buy into the idea that the sending is a Charter spell that any Charter Mage could cast. The Charter itself was made by the Nine Bright Shiners, the last of which being Astarael. And everything in this series has pointed to almost preordained destiny (things happen at very specific times; family lines are preserved by sheer coincidence; descendants of family lines long lost suddenly appear when needed most; etc.) I very much like the idea that this specific spell can only be cast by an Abhorsen, or one of those who carry the blood of the Charter (or the Five). Specifically because one of the questions the Mother Sending answers is how to get to Abhorsen’s House. A location created by the Wallmakers at the time of the Charter’s Creation (or, concurrently, the time when the Old Kingdom merged with the world Ancelstierre is a part of). Mind you, this location is also where Astarael chose to rest or reside after having chosen to preserve a part of herself. Surely this kind of knowledge can’t be accessible to everyone, otherwise the House wouldn’t still be standing. I simply have to believe that there’s a thread that ties the Mother sending to Astarael and all the similarities OP pointed out make me all but feral.

Stay tuned for my mad hatter theory that Astarael made the River of Death, or maybe even the physical (or quasi physical? As no one enters death corporeally) realm of Death that the Abhorsens and necromancer a traverse.

The Old Kingdom theory I have.

So while re-reading The Old Kingdom Trilogy I noticed something super peculiar!

So in Sabriel (the book), when Sabriel (the character) summons the Mother Sending she wonders if it’s the “very unusual dead spirit of her mother, which was unlikely, or some residual protective magic left by her”. Sabriel even calls the sending “Mother” and is very clearly feminine. 

 She is described as tall pale light, from far away. Closer up, a blurry glowing human shape with its arms outsretched. would answer her questions, protect her while her body was in life. The Mother Sending’s greeting is warm.

Key note that she is described as luminous, shining, bright, etc.

The sending’s last words to Sabriel were “Go with Love- and do not tarry, do not stop, no matter what happens.” 

Sabriel also mentions that her father, Terciel, had taught her how to summon this spirit implying that this spirit is far older and more powerful than him.

Fast forward to Abhorsen, specifically when Sam, Dog, Mogget & Lirael are taking the well to bypass Chlorr.

We’re gonna look at symbolism.

Roses: Love

Rosemary: Rememberance/Remembering

Wells: Femininity/Motherhood/Mothering, Life, Water (also deeply connected with femininity, etc)

Amaranth: Immortality

So in order to open this well, at the Abhorsen’s home, the charter marks say “A breathe or kiss from my children”. This has two meanings.

First is Sam, being LITERALLY the Abhorsen’s child. Even though he is an inheritor of the Wallmakers. 

Second, is being Astarael’s children. In Clariel, the Abhorsen’s are referred to as “Astarael’s Get”, or Astarael’s children. 

Anyways, in the well we see that it has been eroded rather than made. Which is impossible since it would have to have been at different times in different directions. Which sounds eerily similar to the waters of Death. The closer they draw to Astarael’s manifestation, the more the tunnel feels of death. It’s cold, Lirael can sense the water at her ankles.

Astarael in the well is, duh, one of the nine bright shiners. She is described as an impossibly tall woman, head bowed, reaching out her arms to sweep [them] up”. Her domains are time & death. 

I am also curious as to why her knowing self is outside of the charter (The Astarael in the Well) and her unknowing self is in Death as a manifestation to serve the Abhorsen and Charters. We know that even the 9 bright shiners are powerful but it is unconstrained power, as is the nature of free magic.

Anyways, my theory is that the Mother Sending is the Unknowing part of Astarael. The mother sending is docile, is described similarly to other free magic beings. Its voice is crackly, staticky much like Mogget’s. 

Not to mention all the maternal implication of Astarael. Her arms are open, she’s referred to the abhorsen’s children, she has the symbol of love, etc.

but ya! thats my theory! i’d love to hear what yall have to say. I’m also sure this is not very well put together, considering I finished the latter half after taking my trazodone to help me sleep. so, keep this in mind.

 and PLEASE! tag your spoilers!

[anyrchyangel]

all right guys, let’s have a conversation about soulmates

because I’m a nerd who majored in ancient China and still can’t let it go

okay so we all know that wangxian invented romance, but let’s talk a bit more about the iconic dialogue in episode 25:

Lan Wangji: 你把我當成什麼人? / What kind of person do you take me for?

Wei Wuxian: 我曾經把你當做我畢生知己 / I had once thought that, in my lifetime, you would be the one who knew me.

Lan Wangji: 現在仍是 / I still am.

I’ve seen various translations of the phrase “畢生知己” as “lifelong confidante” or “soulmate,” and I’m always so torn because these are both fine translations but like, not quite there

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[anyrchyangel]

been thinking about this for years and can never get it outta my head.. its power… fashion designer sasuke and model naruto sns au 

[anyrchyangel]

writing should be fun.

make oc playlists. spend hours on moodboards that have no purpose. write self-indulgent fluff that’s never going to be published. scribble three lines of poetry in the back of your history notebook. draw fanart of your own characters. write stupid dialogue that your publishers might hate. start new wips that you might never finish but write those three chapters that make you happy because if you don’t write them, who else will?

writing shouldn’t always be about “will publishers like this” or “i have to reach this word count” or “how do i get the most likes”.

have fun with your writing.

[anyrchyangel]

Crazy Rich Uchihas

Chapter 12/20 [gold coins to a cat]

Series Summary:

Naruto and Sasuke have been dating for three years, so when Sasuke asks Naruto to come to Japan with him to attend Itachi’s suspiciously abrupt wedding, Naruto goes without any hesitation. What Naruto quickly learns is that the Uchiha family is the literal definition of old money and family traditions. Naruto isn’t prepared in the slightest for the onslaught about to be unleashed on him as he tries to navigate the subtle machinations of the oldest and most powerful family of Japan. Will their relationship survive the weight of hundreds of years of Uchiha tradition?

Or, alternatively, the Naruto and Crazy Rich Asians crossover that absolutely no one asked for, but I have become completely obsessed with writing.

Read it the latest chapter at: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23039620/chapters/65048701

Follow me on Twitter and harass my dms for updates! :D

[anyrchyangel]

[ Live Example | My AO3 Skins ]

While AO3 has a way to click to see notes at the end, this tutorial is how you can not only have your viewers click to view certain notes, but also click back to where they had been reading before. We don’t even need to use a workskin for this, but just an implementation of simple anchor links. So whether you have a lot of references in your work or just want to let your inner Pratchett* loose, this is how you do it.

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[anyrchyangel]

pixiv ID:1133712

Permission for reposting!

[anyrchyangel]

Your eyes are pretty

[anyrchyangel]

‘he seems happy’

[anyrchyangel]

the most interesting thing I’ve learned from people responding to @ao3commentoftheday is that people don’t know that authors don’t get notifications when people subscribe and they use the subscribe button as like, a Super-Kudos. it’s good to know because I’ve spent way too long pondering subscription counts on oneshots where there really is nowhere else I can take the story in utter bafflement trying to figure out what the people wanted from me, and now I can just take the number as a compliment. the people subscribed to your oneshots don’t literally think there’s a possibility you might add more to it (although hope does spring eternal), they’re just trying to indicate they really loved it.

[anyrchyangel]

“A cockroach.”

Everything is fun until that thing starts to fly.

Keep reading

[anyrchyangel]

I feel SO OLD ;A;

full offense but none of you would have ever survived fanfiction.net in 2009

[anyrchyangel]

Upon his face, two lines of tears were already streaming down from his eyes.

One person. Just one.

Really.

Just one person was enough!

[anyrchyangel]

hokage naruto.

He’s been really nice ( ;ლ;)

[anyrchyangel]

Gay🧑‍💼irl

[anyrchyangel]

Just bunch of sasuke doodles

[anyrchyangel]

For the people who are out there “fighting the good fight” and “trying to make fandom a better place,” I have two important questions for you:

1. Is the author dead? x

2. Is your baby in the bathwater? x

What do I mean by those things? Let’s start with #1. The Death of the Author is a type of literary criticism, the extreme cliff notes version of which is that art exists outside of the creator’s life, personal background, and even intentions. I’m using it slightly differently than Barthes intended, but that’s okay, because the author is dead and I’m interpreting his work through my own lens.

In fandom, the author is dead. In fact, the author was never alive in the first place, not really. The author has only ever been the idea of a person, because unlike published fiction, the only thing we know about a fanfic author is that which they choose to tell us about themselves.

Why is that important?

Because it might not be true. Hell, that happens in real life with published authors, who have SSN’s on file with their publishers, who pay taxes on the works they create and have researchable pasts. If the author of A Million Little Pieces could fake everything, why can’t I? Why can’t you? Why can’t the writer of your favorite fic in the whole wide world?

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: “you can only write about [sensitive subject] if [sensitive subject] has happened to you personally, otherwise you’re a disgusting monster that deserves to die!!” Or maybe “you can only write [x racial or ethnic group] characters if you’re [x racial or ethnic group] otherwise you’re racist/fetishizing/colonizing!”

You can play this game with any sensitive subject you can come up with. I’ve seen them all before, on a sliding scale of slightly chastising to literal death threats.

Now, I could tell you that I’m a white-passing Latina whose grandmother was an anchor baby. I could tell you that I speak only English because my family never taught me to speak Spanish, something which I’ve been told is common in the Cuban community, though I only know my own lived experience. I could tell you that I’m mostly neurotypical. I could tell you that I’m covered in surgical scars. I could tell you lots of things.

Are any of these true? Maybe! I could tell you that my brother has severe mental development problems, so uncommon that they’ve never been properly diagnosed, and that he will live the rest of his life in a group home with 24-hour care. Is that true? Am I allowed to write about families struggling with America’s piss-poor services for the handicapped now?

Am I allowed to write about being Cuban? After all, I did just say that I’m Cuban. But is it true? Can I instead write a character that’s Panamanian? Maybe I really am Panamanian, not Cuban. Maybe I’m both. Maybe I’m neither. Maybe I’m really French Canadian. Should we require people to post regular selfies? I can’t count the number of times I’ve had someone come up to me speaking Arabic, and I’ve been told that I look Syrian. What’s stopping me from making a blog that claims that I am Syrian? Can you even really tell someone’s race and ethnicity from a photo?

Am I allowed to write about being a teenager? Am I allowed to write about being a college student? Am I allowed to write about being an “adulty” adult? Can I write a character who’s 40? 50? 60? How old am I?

All of this is to say: you can’t base what someone is or is not “allowed” to write about on a background that may or may not be real. No matter how good your intentions. And I get it - this usually comes from a place of well-meaning. You’re trying to protect marginalized groups by stopping privileged people from trampling all over experiences that they haven’t suffered. I get that. It’s a very noble thought. But you can’t require a background check for every fic that you don’t like.

If you say “you can only write about rape if you’re a rape victim,” then one of three things will happen:

Real survivors will have to supply intimate details of their own violations to prevent harassment

Real survivors will refuse to engage and will then have to deal with death threats and people telling them to kill themselves for daring to write about their own experiences

People who aren’t survivors will say “yeah sure this happened to me” just to get people to shut up

Has that helped anyone? I mean really - anyone??

So now let’s get to point #2: is your baby in the bathwater?

If your intention is to protect marginalized people from being trampled upon, stop and assess if your boot is the one that’s now stamping on their face. Find your baby! Is your baby in the bathwater? Which is to say: find the goal that you’re advocating for. Now assess. Are you making the problem worse for the people you’re trying to protect? Does that rape victim really feel better, now that you’ve harassed and stalked them in the name of making rape victims feel safe?

Let’s say you read a fic that contains explicit sex between a 16 year old and a 17 year old. Is this okay? Would it be okay if the writer was 15? 16? 17? Should teenagers be barred from writing about their own lives, and should teenagers be banned from exploring sexuality in a fictional bubble, instead of hookup culture? Is it okay for a 20 year old to write about their experiences as a teenager? Is it okay for a 20 year old to write about being raped at a party as a teenager? Is it okay for a 30 year old? How about a 40 year old? Is it okay so long as it isn’t titillating? Is it okay if taking control of the narrative allows the writer to re-conceptualize their trauma as something they have control over? Is it okay if their therapist told them that writing is a safe creative outlet?

Is your author dead?

Is your baby in the bathwater?

Now let’s take a hardline approach: no fanfiction with characters who are under 18 years old. None. Is the 16 year old who really loves Harry Potter and wants to read/write about characters their own age better off? Should they be banned from writing? Should they be forced to exclusively read and write (adult) experiences that they haven’t lived? Will they write about teens anyway? Should they have to share it in secret? Should 16 year olds be ashamed of themselves? Should we just throw in with the evangelicals and say that the only answer is abstinence, both real and fictional?

Let’s say that no rape is allowed in fiction, at all. None. What happens to all the hurt/comfort fics where a character is raped and then receives the support and love that they deserve, slowly heal, and by the end have found themselves again? Are you helping rape victims by banning these stories? Are you helping rape victims by stripping their agency away, by telling them that their wants and their consent doesn’t matter?

Is your baby in the bathwater?

Fandom is currently being split in two: on one side, the people who want to make fandom a “safer” place by any means necessary, even if that means throwing out all of the marginalized groups they say they want to protect - and on the other, people who are saying “if you throw out that bathwater, you’re throwing the baby out too.”

The whole point of fandom is to be able to explore all kinds of ideas from the safety and comfort of a computer screen. You can read/write things that fascinate you, disgust you, titillate you, or make your heart feel warm. This is true of all fiction. People who want to read about rape and incest and extreme violence and torture can go pick up a copy of Game of Thrones from the bookstore whenever they want. Sanitizing fandom just means holding a community of people who are primarily not male, not straight, not cis, or some combination of those three, to higher and stricter standards than straight white cis male authors and creators all over the world.

There is nothing you can find on AO3 that you can’t find in a bookstore. Any teenager can go check out Lolita, or ASOIAF, or Flowers in the Attic, or Stephen King’s It, or Speak, or hundreds of other books that have adult themes or gratuitous violence or graphic sex. The difference is that AO3 has warnings and tags and allows people to interact only with the types of work that they want to, and allows people to curate their experiences.

Are these themes eligible to be explored, but only in the setting of something produced/published? Books, movies, television, studio art, music - all of these fields have huge barriers to entry, and they’re largely controlled by wealthy cishet white men. Is it better to say that only those who have the right connections to “make it” in these industries should be allowed to explore violence or sexuality or any other so-called “adult” theme?

Does banning women from writing MLM erotica make fan culture a better place?

Does banning queer people from writing about queer experiences make fan culture a better place?

Is M/M fic okay, but only if the author is male? What if he’s a transman? What if they’re NB? Who should get to draw those lines? Should TERFs get a vote? What if the author is a woman who feels more comfortable writing from a male character’s perspective because she’s grown up with male stories her whole life, or because she identifies more with male characters? What about all the transmen who discovered themselves, in part, by writing fanfiction, and realized that their desires to write male characters stemmed from something they hadn’t yet realized about themselves?

How can we ever be sure that the author is who they say they are?

Who is allowed to write these stories? How do we enforce it?

Is it better for none of these stories to ever exist at all?

Have you killed your author?

Have you thrown out your baby with the bathwater?