#I don’t even want to specify which things we have in common

[lieutenant-amuel]

It’s funny how I always assumed that the most “relatable” OC of mine to me was Frida because I basically gave her my personality but now I realize the closest character to me is Emilio.

[annymation]

Reimagining the Characters in Wish

(Part 4- The 7 teens)

Yup, you read that right, I’m rewriting AAAAALL these fellas, or rather, just giving more substance to them because as they were in the movie we barely got CHARACTERS, just a 7 dwarfs reference, heck, I doubt y’all remember their names.

If you’re new here, hi, I’m rewriting all the characters in Wish before I start sharing my rewrite, here’s part 1, part 2 and part 3.

Now you may wonder, why am I even keeping the concept of the 7 teens in my rewrite, when just scrapping them all together would make my life so much easier instead of writing lines of dialogue and character motives to all of them?

Well the answer is that I like to make myself suffer I think they actually have a lot of potential, and I really like their designs.

Sooo lets meet the gang.

Who are the 7 teens?

So in my rewrite, the 7 teens will be a little bit more than just Asha’s best friends. Because each one of them will be the sons and daughters of some members of the royal staff.

I’ll be specifying in this blog the following things about each one of them:

- Their personality.

- Who their parents are.

- How they met Asha.

- What purpose will they serve in the story.

So buckle up because this blog might get a lil bit long hahaha I regret this already.

Dahlia 🍪

- Dahlia is a 17 year old girl, she has mobility issues, so she has to use a crutch to walk.

- She’s very organized and proactive, always doing her best to get things done. She’s often the one who takes the lead when planning things for her friends such as surprise birthday parties or deciding where to hang out (or whatever teenagers did back then aside from dying from the plague).

- She has an habit of making lists with the step by step of everything she has planned, which her friends find pretty amusing. Her ideas always turn out to be a lot of fun, although she really needs to learn how to let go of this need of control and just let things play out naturally.

(She’s kinda like Twilight Sparkle… this will not be the last time I’ll mention a My Little Pony character in this blog)

- Sometimes when things don’t go according to plan or she gets anxious she starts stuttering and replacing words

(much like how Doc from Snow White did constantly, I’m shocked they didn’t reference that once in the movie, it’s such an awkward teenager thing to do)

“Asha! We shook— I mean LOOKED everywhere for you la-last night! Why would you fun- I MEAN RUN away from the hackle like that??”

“… I think you mean castle-“

“YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT”

- But overall she’s a very kind and supportive friend to Asha, something they both have in common is that they enjoy working hard to achieve their goals, even though Dahlia still wants to give her wish for the king.

- I might’ve made her come off as a bit of a control freak but really she’s very easygoing and kind. Even when things don’t go according to plan she knows anything with her friends will be fun and work out in the end.

Even if what doesn’t go according to plan is a heist mission to infiltrate the castle?

She’s the daughter of the royal cooks

- Her mother is the royal baker and her father is the royal lead chef.

- They both work in the castle, and Dahlia sometimes goes with them to lend a hand when they’re short staffed or to learn the family business.

- Dahlia has witnessed first hand how the royal couple can be not so sweet when they’re away from the public eyes:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

King Magnifico: Diner yesterday was absolutely dreadful, what happened? Have I granted your wish to be the greatest chef in the land for nothing?

Dahlia’s father: m-my deepest apologies sire, you see, the queen took all the salt from our storage yesterday to make her potions so-

King Magnifico: Blaming my wife for your incompetence now, I see

Dahlia’s father: n-no! I’d neve-

King Magnifico: If you got no salt, find a work around, I’ll not be accepting any less than the finest meals from you, was I clear? Dismissed.

Dahlia: … Dad, that wasn’t your fault, you can’t let him talk to you like that.

Dahlia’s father: He’s the king, Dahlia, he’s always right. Besides, it’s thanks to him granting my wish that I know how to cook at all, the least I can do is not disappoint him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Because she got to see this behavior, it’s easier for her to believe when Asha tells her the king and queen’s true colors.

- She’s expected to follow her parent’s foot steps, and become a great cook, but all she really knows how to bake is cookies.

- She sees cooking a lot more as a past time than something she’ll be doing for the rest of her life, but she doesn’t want to let her parents down, she keeps trying to develop some interest in cooking, so she can wish to be a great cook once she turns 18

(Just wishing for it without having truly the interest in cooking wouldn’t work, because a wish has to be something that you really want and comes from the bottom of your heart)

She was the first one that met Asha

- Dahlia was helping her mom sell her baking goods to the neighborhood, so she went all by herself with a little cart carrying a bunch of sweets (like a Girl Scout)

- She knocked on Asha’s house and was greeted by lil 6 year old Asha with her grandpa, they bought some sweets, but as she was walking away Asha noticed she was having some trouble carrying the cart while walking with her crutch.

- Asha looked at her grandfather who gave her a reassuring nod.

- Asha offered to help Dahlia carry the cart.

- They talked while they walked door to door for a while, and after there were no more sweets in the cart they went to play together, and that’s how they became best friends.

She will be the leader

- I mentioned briefly in my blog about reimagining Asha that after her grandfather passed away she started living with Dahlia, so they’re basically sisters, and as such, Dahlia is very protective of Asha and becomes increasingly worried when Asha starts acting weird after her meeting with the king and queen, like she’s hiding something… and why the heck she has a friend that dresses up like a prince now?

- There will be a point in the middle of the story where Asha and Aster run away from the kingdom

(for reasons that I really should explain soon because the whole middle chunk of this rewrite is yet to be shared on Tumblr, I’m so sorry, I’ll get to writing it here soon)

- And Asha is seen now as a traitor, so, the 7 teens are conflicted.

- Should they believe their king, who says that Star guy is dangerous and Asha was plotting to betray them? Or should they trust their best friend?

- Dahlia is the first one who rises up saying they should go after Asha and help her, pack their stuff, tell their parents they’re going to make a sleepover or something, and just go to the middle of the woods.

- Everyone is a little unsure at first (specially Gabo and Simon) but after she gives them a little speech and reminds everyone of all the things Asha did for them, they’re convinced to go.

- Once they do find Asha and Aster, she helps a lot when they have to make a plan on how to defeat the royal couple.

Simon 💤

- Simon is a 21 year old young man, the oldest of the group, and since the day he gave way his wish he hasn’t been the same.

- Simon used to be very energetic and hard working, now, he’s in a constant feel of exhaustion that doesn’t go away, no matter how much he sleeps, he doesn’t feel motivated to do anything.

- His friends are very understanding tho and every time they hang out they always bring a pillow in case he needs a nap (which he always does need).

- They assume Simon has been so exhausted since he turned 18 because after that his father has been more demanding of him and his training, we’ll talk more about that later.

- Even tho he’s overwhelmed with sleepiness, Simon is still very protective and caring with his friends, he always tries his best to stay awake when they’re having fun together, he doesn’t want to miss a moment with them.

- He was even more protective before he turned 18 of course, he was like the older brother of the group, but since now he’s way too sleepy to be the voice of reason, that role is now Asha’s, the second oldest.

He’s the son of the captain of the royal guard

- The training I mentioned before was sword fighting, horse walking, navigation, tactics and a bunch of other exhausting things.

- But for whaaaateveeer reason Simon has lost all interest in learning about them since the day he gave away his wish, gosh I wonder what that wish wa— It’s the same that it was in the movie.

- Simon wished to become the next captain of the royal guard, just like his dad, so he can make him proud and protect his friends.

(Omg Simon is Papyrus Undertale confirmed)

- Magnifico is waiting for Simon’s dad to pass away so he can grant Simon’s wish, can’t have 2 captains of the royal guard at the same time, now can he?

- The tragic irony of it all is that a wish that Simon made to make his family proud just made him become an embarrassment to his father, who now doesn’t even try to teach him anything, knowing his son is just gonna fall asleep during his lessons.

- Simon is very distressed by all this, deep down he knows that he might feel this way because, for whatever reason, the king hasn’t granted his wish yet

- Whenever he tries to explain that to his father tho, he just angrily cuts him off for even daring to question or blame the king for his own failures, saying he must always be loyal and thankful to the king… Always.

(His father is mean like that because he wished to be the king’s most trusted and loyal knight so he literally is incapable of questioning Magnifico, even if that means he hurts his son in the process)

- After getting these speeches from his father so many times Simon just accepted that the problem was him, and it definitely wasn’t the king’s fault

- However, Asha did suspect that Simon’s wish wasn’t granted, just like how her grandfather’s wish wasn’t either, she recognized how Simon shared a lot of behavior patterns with her grandfather.

“You know Simon… Maybe you should ask the king if your wish was granted at all, don’t you think? You haven't been acting like yourself for 3 years now”

“What? Oh no no no I… I shouldn’t bother him with something so silly, I mean, of course he granted my wish… And if he didn’t then he must have his reasons and I just gotta wait haha but it doesn’t matter either way, after all I’m totally fine… I’m fine…”

Simon is the only one in the group who has absolutely no criticism about the king.

He was the second one that met Asha

- Simon was 10 when he started training sword fighting on his backyard, he’d use some scare crows as his opponents, and he made some wood swords by himself.

- Asha and Dahlia were hanging out when they saw Simon training, Asha thought it seemed fun so she asked if she could play too.

- Simon really could use some more lively opponents so yeah, why not?

- They played sword fighting the whole afternoon while Dahlia cheered for Asha and joined in the fun too.

- Since then they were very close friends and Simon taught Asha how to properly sword fight during their preteen years… they haven’t done that in a while now.

He’ll be the traitor

- Yup, oh sweet sleepy lil Simon betrays them in my version too, but don’t worry, it’s not just because he wants to get his wish granted like it was in the movie

(because that was a jerk move that made Simon feel very unlikable, like I get it he’s constantly exhausted and depressed and wants it to go away but bruh couldn’t even look guilty when doing it)

- So, like I mentioned, they all go after Asha and Aster in the forest. Simon at first is very resistant and the others even say it’s okay if wants to stay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dahlia: It’s okay Simon, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to.

Gabo: OH SURE! I’m a jerk for calling this a suicide mission, but the strongest and oldest of the group not wanting to go is completely understandable, I see how it is.

Simon: …hmm

Dahlia: Simon’s case is different Gabo, if his dad realizes he’s missing then we might have even more guards on our tail.

Safi: Besides, Simon might be a liability.

Simon:… what’s that supposed to mean?

Safi: Ah… shoot- eh you know like… it’s getting pretty late and you didn’t get a nap this afternoon so—

Gabo: He means we can’t carry you through the woods like a sleeping beauty waiting for a kiss, Simon.

Simon:…

Hal: Wow Gabo, very classy (sarcastic)

Gabo: Hey, just saying what we’re all thinking-

Simon: I’m going.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Simon decides he has to go because someone has to be there to protect his friends, not just from the woods, but most importantly from that star guy the king warned everyone about

- May seem contradictory that Simon believes both in the king and Asha, but truth is that he’s holding up hope that this is all some big misunderstanding and Asha just misunderstood something the king said, or she’s being brainwashed by that star, or anything else.

- He just can’t accept that the king is truly evil.

- So, when they’re packing up their things to go, Simon grabs a little something from his father’s room.

- A magic mirror, used only by the king’s most trusted knights, that gives direct contact to the king's study.

- He planed to just use it in case that they needed help if they found out the star was really harming Asha.

- However, once they did find Asha and Aster, it became undeniably clear that the star wasn’t harmful at all, which left Simon very confused.

“Maybe the book the king read about wishing stars was wrong, I should just explain to him that he made a mistake!”

(Oh poor naive boy)

- After planning how they’d defeat the king and save the wishes, Simon just lied saying he was gonna take a nap behind a tree, and thus, he entered in contact with the king and queen

- Magnifico at first dismisses Simon like he’s just messing with his father’s stuff until Simon mentions he knows where Asha and the star are, that peaks his interest, but he and Amaya disguise their enthusiasm perfectly by pretending to be worried for his safety.

“Oh my, are you alright? Has it done anything to you? Where are you? We can send help immediately”

- He says they’re fine, and tries to explain that maybe the king was wrong about star, and there has been some misunderstanding that lead to Asha thinking they were bad people, if they just talked things out everything would go back to normal.

- Like I mentioned in part 2, one of Magnifico’s abilities is hypnosis through eye contact, so he’s able to make Simon see things his way.

- He manipulates Simon into thinking that the star is tricking all of them to get to the wishes, and the only way for Simon to save them is doing EXACTLY what Magnifico says.

- He asks Simon to tell him what their plans are, so he can stop them from… doing anything they might regret.

- Simon, even under the influence of Magnifico’s power, is still conflicted and asks if his friends will be in trouble after this is all over.

“Trouble? Oh heaves no, dear boy, I wouldn’t dream on letting any harm come to them, trust me, your friends will be perfectly safe… If you do as I say.”

“… “if”?…”

“Enough chit chat, now, what are they plotting exactly? Don’t leave any details”

- Of course, Magnifico also offers to grant Simon's wish if everything goes according to plan, Simon is fully convinced.

- Simon agrees to lock his friends in a room during their invasion to the castle, the king convinced him that's the best way to keep them “safe” (Asha will be locked in a different room tho, for… reasons)

- But once he does lock them up, he hears his friends screaming and arguing with him through the door, eventually he has a change of heart and lets them go, so they can stop the king and queen together.

- Simon first betrayed his friends, but then he betrayed the king, and as he’ll find out in a very painful way… Magnifico really doesn’t like being betrayed.

(See what I did there? That’s a line Magnifico says in the Wish movie hehe… okay moving on)

Gabo 😡

- Gabo is a 17 year old teen, he’s also a little person.

- He’s a menace to society the brutally honest of the group, always with a sarcastic remark on the tip of his tongue, sometimes they’re funny, sometimes they’re way too harsh, but he often apologizes if he goes too far, he doesn’t mean to hurt people, being blunt is just how he expresses himself.

- You may wonder why his friends even hang out with him if he’s so… grumpy all the time, well, his friends understand that he has a lot of pent-up anger inside because of personal stuff, so they try to help him through it.

- He also has a more soft side to him, he can be very wise for his age when his friends need some advice, and he’s always loyal, even when they disagree, he’d go anywhere they go.

- He’s specially loyal and supportive to Asha and most of the time refrains from throwing shade at her, actually he’s mostly just blunt when talking to the guys, he’s a lot more respectful to the girls.

(Ironic considering Grumpy hated Snow White at first just because she was a girl lmao)

He’s the son of a soldier

- His father is just a random soldier, nothing special really.

- However, once when Gabo was a kid, he was visiting the castle with his father and he wanted to explore, so he sneakily grabbed his father’s keys to the dungeons and went to see how was it like, ya know, boys will be boys.

- He got in, and at first there wasn’t nothing out of the ordinary, just your average scary dark and gloomy dungeon… except that by the end of a hall, full of empty jail cells, there was a door.

- And he could hear someone screaming from behind that door, like they were pleading, and he saw light coming from the key hole… It looked like the king’s magic, except it was green instead of blue.

- He tried to use the keys to open it, but none of them worked.

“Ugh why don’t any of these keys work??”

“Because this area is forbidden, little one”

- He turned around quickly to see who was behind him, and there she was, the queen was smiling down at him, a sweet and tender smile, like she wasn’t hearing the sounds of desperate cries coming from behind the door.

“I- sorry your majesty but umm… it sounds like someone is in trouble in there, shouldn't we help?”

- Then he heard the distinct sound of something made of glass breaking, and suddenly… silence, no more crying, no more screaming, and no more light coming from the door.

“I don’t hear anything my sapling, poor thing, you must be imagining things. Now, why don’t you just hurry along back to your father? He’s looking for you… And remember, this is our little secret~”

- And Gabo never told this to anyone, he knows no one would believe him.

(If you’re wondering what was going on behind that door… let’s just say there’s STILL more evil stuff Magnifico does that I couldn’t fit in my blog about the villains, what’s that you ask? *maniacal laugh* I’ll let you guess)

- Gabo always had the feeling that there was something WRONG with Rosas, but he couldn't quite pin point what, and that experience in the dungeon made him start questioning if the smiles he saw plastered on the king and queen's faces everyday were real or fake.

- This feeling that there was something wrong but there was nothing he could do about it made him, for a lack of a better word, grumpy a lot of the time.

- Needles to say, when Asha explained that the king and queen were actually evil, Gabo believed in a heartbeat.

- Because he’s a little person, Gabo is not expected to follow his father’s foot steps, and that makes him furious, because he wishes he could be seen as strong like he sees himself, but he’s constantly underestimated and treated like a kid.

He was the third one to met Asha

- During a kite festival in the kingdom, Dahlia, Simon and Asha were flying their kite when they noticed a boy sitting down on the grass, next to a broken kite.

- The boy looked very grumpy, so Asha tried offering him a hug, Gabo quickly pushed her away, saying he wanted to be left alone.

- Simon and Dahlia suggested they should just leave him be, but Asha insisted they should just give him some time to calm down.

- They sat a little bit far away from Gabo and started to just talk. Gabo appreciated that even though Asha didn’t even know him she was willing to wait for him to get some alone time and try to reach out for him later, most people just walked away when he had his anger episodes.

- After a few minutes, he got up and asked if he could play with them.

He will be the comedy relief, and the straightforward voice of reason

- Comedy relief is also an important role in a story, to alleviate the the tension and just be that one character that gives more contradictory remarks, otherwise everyone just agrees with each other and really where’s the fun in that?

- Also, after they figure out Simon betrayed them, he’d be the one who snaps Simon out of the idea that the king is a good person, throwing some facts to his face and like, not sugarcoating it, just straight up calling Simon out for being a dirty traitor, an awful friend and an absolute idiot, which may seem harsh but was exactly what Simon needed to hear to realize he was making a mistake.

- Like, Simon just opens the door apologizing in the verge of tears while Gabo keeps kicking his leg to let out his anger while everyone else is staring at Simon very disappointedly, comedy gold.

Bazeema 🥰

- Bazeema is 17 years old, who’s very shy.

-In this rewrite she is pretty much the same except for a little design and background change, you see, I found this piece of concept art

- Do you see it? Bazeema seems to be wearing a hijab, I like that, we don’t get enough Muslim representation, so there, Bazeema is Muslim and she wears a hijab now, her religion won’t affect anything in the narrative tho but I just wish they kept this detail in her design.

- Also I’m keeping that gimmick that sometimes she appears out of no where and scared the hell out of Gabo, because yeah I think it has comedic potential.

- She’s a very sweet and gentle girl, very soft spoken and likes to have some alone time once in a while “us introverts need sanctuary” as she said.

(She’s kinda like Fluttershy, see? I told you I’d mention more my little pony characters)

She’s the daughter of the royal gardeners

- Nothing much to it, Bazeema just saw the queen being rude to her mother once because the flowers were red instead of white. So again, when Asha sas the royal couple is evil she believes her just fine.

- Also she knows about a secret passage inside the palace’s garden, in the center of a hedge maze, that leads to inside the castle.

- Specifically to an underground storage room where her parents keep some gardening tools, but, if they can get in there, they might find a way to get inside the castle through the underground.

- She doesn’t mind following her parents footsteps at all, in fact, she loves the idea of just talking to flowers all day.

She’s the fourth one who Asha meets

- When Asha was 10, she and her friends went to watch a kids play telling the story of Rosas, Bazeema was playing the queen.

- But Bazeema got stage fright, and ran to the back of the stage, embarrassed that she forgot her lines

- Asha followed the sound of her crying and reassured her that it was alright and she could take as long as she needed to feel ready, and complemented that she looked beautiful in her Queen’s dress.

- Bazeema really appreciated that, and she went back on stage, although, she tried keeping her eyes closed to not see the crowd.

She’ll give important info on how to get inside the castle

- Like I mentioned before, Bazeema has info on how to get inside the castle through the garden, so she’ll just assist on that part of their plan.

- Also comedic relief, with her gimmick of disappearing then showing up out of nowhere.

Dario 💎

- Dario is 17 years old, and in this rewrite, he’s mute, not deaf tho, just mute, so he communicates through sign language. That’s to reference how Dopey, the dwarf he pays homage to, was also mute.

- I wouldn’t say Dario is dumb in my rewrite, he’s just really easily distracted, sometimes when his friends are talking he’ll just doze off and look at some flowers he finds along the way or collect rocks, and they don’t really mind.

- Dario is very emotionally intelligent tho, and among all the 7 teens, he’s one of the quickest to believe that Asha is innocent (Right after Dahlia)

He’s the son of the royal announcers

- Ya know those people with the big trumpets that give announcements to the kingdom? Yeah that’s what his parents do.

- Due to his disability Dario can’t really become an announcer, at least not a verbal one, he doesn’t really mind tho.

He’s the fifth one that Asha meets

- Asha was 11 when she and her friends met Dario, he was new in their class because he and his parents just moved to Rosas.

- Since he was mute, he had a really hard time making friends, so, Asha and her friends went to the library and found a book teaching about sign language

(I’m not gonna pretend you can actually learn ALL about sign language with just a book, I should know, I had ASL class in college, with a deaf teacher, and even then I don’t know even half of what there is to know, but this is a fantasy, so let’s pretend these kids learned the whole language, because it’s wholesome)

- So they make this effort to communicate with him and that makes Dario really happy, and he quickly joins the group.

He’ll be the silent comedic relief and also help creating a distraction for the king

- Most scenes when everyone is talking and focusing on more serious things, Dario is easily distracted and can be on the background doing the most random things, it’s not that he doesn’t care tho, he’s listening, and sometimes he comes up with creative ideas of his own.

- Also, as the son of the royal announcers, he goes tell them he has seen the star on the north side of the forest, his parents obviously believe him, and announce to the guards and the king, thus they can get inside while Aster distracts Magnifico.

Safi 🤧

- Safi is the youngest in the group, he’s 16 years old, and he has a tendency to sometimes not thinking before he speaks, so he kinda blurts out things that might come off as indelicate, but he never means to be rude. Also he’s allergic to EVERYTHING under the sun, so, of course, he sneezes a lot.

- I gave him this characteristic of blurting out things that he’s not supposed to say because it kinda reminds me of a sneeze, uncontrollable and sometimes inconvenient, but this way it gives him more character.

- Also if it was only Gabo saying inconvenient stuff and everyone else were saints this would be no realistic group of teenagers, teens are relentless when it comes to saying dumb stuff with each other y’all, they just don’t care.

- Safi is also a germophobic, always avoiding situations that might get him sick, like flowers, animals, dust, humidity, flour, the rain-

- And even though he’s terrified of everything that might give him a sneezing fit, his friends are always there to help him get through it.

He’s the son of two members of the cleaning staff

- So, as you can imagine, Safi really doesn’t want to follow his parents career path, with a job that is all about cleaning dust.

- One day, he was asked to help them clean the castle so he could at least try to learn something.

- While he was helping, the king showed up and started complaining with his parents that his study wasn’t clean enough

- While he was busy talking with them, he left something very important lying around.

- Safi saw the king’s magic staff leaning on the wall.

- Safi wanted to get a closer look, so while the king was distracted he approached the staff, but then, he felt it, a sneeze was coming up.

- He tried to hold it in but it was too late, Safi sneeze was so strong the staff got out of balance, and when it was about to hit the ground Magnifico managed to grab it just in time.

- Safi looked relieved and even chuckled to himself thinking the king would do the same. But the expression the king had was something he never seen from him before… Safi saw pure rage.

“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU ALMOST DID? YOU WRETCHED BRAT! YOU COULD’VE ENDED ALL THE MAGIC IN ROSAS! I COULD’VE BEEN RUINED”

- Safi was pressed against a wall apologizing frantically and so were his parents.

- The king took a few deep breaths, and as if nothing happened his expression went back to his usual charismatic smile

“Maybe cleaning duty just isn’t your calling, lad. You’re dismissed from assisting for today, or any other day for that matter.”

- So Safi is not allowed inside the castle anymore.

He was the sixth that Asha met

- Safi was terrified during the festivals celebrating the foundation of Rosas, because the kingdom was decorated completely with, well, roses.

- There were roses everywhere, and he couldn’t stop sneezing with all the pollen in the air.

- Asha and her friends noticed him distressed, and decided to help him by taking Safi away from the kingdom.

- Safi was sad he couldn’t join in the party, but Asha and her friends said they could bring the party to him, so they danced and played instruments all day long.

This boy whose only personality trait was SNEEZING is literally the one who provides the info they need to defeat the villains, no, I’m not joking

- Like I mentioned before, Safi had a interaction with the king where he heard the king say “You could’ve ended all magic in Rosas” but he never understood what Magnifico meant by that.

- It’s not like all the king’s magic is stored in that one staff right?… but what if it is.

- When they’re coming up with a plan to defeat the king, Safi brings up this information, and there you have it, now they know what’s his weakness.

Hal 😄

- Hal is 17 year old, and judging by her earrings that resemble the “Jaaro dibbei” earrings from the Fulani tribe, so with that in mind, in this rewrite she came from Africa but moved to Rosas with her family as a kid.

- Hal is a very extroverted and joyful person, it’s rare to not see her smile, unless the situation really gets serious.

- Shes contagiously optimistic.

- Is often practicing her jokes with her friends, or just throwing some quick witted quips to lighten the mood.

(She’s a lot like Pinkie Pie… All the girls are My Little Pony references)

She’s the daughter of the royal entertainers

- Hal used to practice a lot of juggling and try acrobatics when she was little, but she quickly realized that kind of act wasn’t her calling

- She much prefers telling jokes and funny stories to the king and queen wherever her parents bring her with them to perform

- Hal noticed how the laughs and smiles the king and queen made during her acts always felt kinda forced, like they didn’t mean it.

- However the king would often burst with laughter whenever a performance from her parents went wrong, that always rubbed her the wrong way.

She was the last to met Asha

- When Asha was 13, she and her friends saw Hal practicing juggling near the forest, and she was really struggling with it.

- She told them she was really nervous because she had to be ready to perform for the royal couple in a few days.

- Asha suggested she should try a different kind of act, so she and her friends helped Hal come up with stories to narrate to the king.

- Hal discovered a new passion for story telling, and that became her new act.

She's the one who encourages Aster to confess his feelings

- Our Star Boy wasn’t actually that confident with confessing how he really felt about Asha, after all Aster knew that after granting her wish they would never see each other again, so what was the point in confessing?

- Hal encourages him with her optimism and explains that if he doesn’t tell her he’ll just regret it forever.

- That leads to the “At All Cost” scene

- So thank Hal for playing cupid

- Oh and Bazeema will help encourage Aster too

Final Thoughts

Welp this was a doozy one, but I’m pretty satisfied with how they turned out, everyone now feels like they got something to do and some actual backstories.

The way I’m planning to actually introduce in the story how they all met Asha is through a musical flashback that we see Asha going from a little kid to a teenager, think of it like the UP intro or “Do You Want To Build a Snowman”.

Like the movie would have in the beginning Asha’s grandpa reading to her the story of Rosas and we get a sweet scene of them interacting, then it cuts to this musical sequence (probably with no lyrics like in UP) where we see how Asha met each one of her friends, and also show how as time went on her grandfather grew more and more senile and dependent on her.

The sequence would end with Asha’s grandfather’s passing, and her friends being there to support her. Just like that in a flashback sequence with no dialogue we understand who are Asha’s friends, who was her grandfather, how Asha cares about all of them dearly, and with all that established the story begins.

Like can you imagine that? Introducing why we should care about Asha’s friends by showing to us who they are instead of just telling us and throwing them in the story with no explanation? What a concept, I’m sure glad a certain multibillion company didn’t just waste them…

Anyway, I’ll start actually sharing the chapters of my rewrite here pretty soon, I’m already confident enough to do it!

I was gonna first share a blog about how I’d reimagine Valentino buuuuuut I think it’s gonna be a pretty short blog that I can write later, and I can tell some people really want me to just tell the story already, and I want to start doing it too so let’s gooo!

Thank you so much for reading!

[bakuhatsufallinlove]

Hello, I hope I can ask you this. I was exploring the Jp side of YouTube and watching review and discussion videos on MHA. I found a couple of popular videos on the potential future relationships of all the characters, and as expected, they were all the default m/f pairs. But the comments took me by surprise. Most of them were about “greentea,” obviously, but I could also see comments on very odd pairs like Eri and Deku, Mahoro and Bakugo, and even Eri and Mirio quite frequently! (Even typing it out is making me cringe)😭😭😭 However, I also saw a couple of comments on Bakugo and Deku, but very few, probably 1 out of 100. I’m really curious about how bkdk is perceived by the general Japanese audience, is it even taken seriously? Maybe I just couldn’t find any review videos that even considered them as a pair, but the ones I saw were kinda popular too; they had plenty of views. So yeah, I’d love to know your thoughts on this, again I hope this is ok to ask🥹

Also I just discovered you and I love all your content!😭 I’ve exhausted them haha, thank you so much for your work! Lots of love! 🩷🩷🩷

First off, I want to mention that I have a hitherto unspoken rule to not comment on ships other than bkdk. I know you are asking about bkdk specifically, but the framework of the question brings other things into the discussion, so I want to say this clearly to discourage follow-up questions from others which may be angled toward different ships or ship discourse in general. Bkdk is what I’m here for, so bkdk is what I’m going to talk about.

In regards to your actual question, I’m gonna answer by giving you some information about how fandom works in Japan.

Bkdk is the most popular mha ship in Japan in terms of fanworks, by a wide margin.

Japanese fandom is, compared to English-speaking fandom, heavily centered on fanart. Japan has frequent doujinshi (independently published comic) events where dozens or even hundreds of artists come to distribute their work, and many of these have been going on for decades. It is not hyperbole to say that some kind of doujinshi event, showcasing brand new work, is going on in at least one major city in Japan every single month, and these events are attended by hundreds and sometimes thousands of people. Sometimes there are two or more events in a single month.

To be clear, doujinshi are not only fanworks, which is why I specified “independently published comic.” Lots of doujin are original works, and many now well-known mangaka got their start, gained connections, and built their early fanbase through participating in doujin circles (collaborative groups of artists who create work under the same independent label). My point is that visual art and comics are so huge in Japan it is hard to overstate their prominence in the culture as a whole, let alone fandom culture.

So, fanart and doujin are huge, and among fans who make fanart/doujin, bkdk is wildly popular.

The thing you have to ask yourself is, does fanwork represent general readership? Drawing fanart is the most common way to show your love for a series in Japan, but that definitely doesn’t mean every reader is drawing fanart. In my opinion, fanfic is prominent in USA-centered fandom, but obviously only a fraction of the people who enjoy a series are going to write fanfic for it.

I don’t think we can really quantify the opinions of general readership this way. I mean, when you scroll through the comment section of the same kind of clickbaity, hot-topic videos about anime/manga that English-speaking audiences watch, do you feel like those comments accurately reflects what most people think? I know I don’t. There is always going to be a selection bias, because “people who comment on youtube videos” also only represent a fraction of “people who read mha.”

Japanese fandom is significantly more segmented and considerate of differing tastes than English-speaking fandom.

Japanese fandom is pretty strict with its rules of engagement. Personal privacy and respect for others are very important factors. Artists don’t want to be recognized at their day-job for their R18 doujin. Shippers don’t want their comments or cutesy fanart to be algorithmically-fed to users who have no interest in it. This is seen as polite and correct; it is respectful of the fact that people have different tastes, and not everyone will share yours.

See, Japanese fandom recognizes that the internet constitutes public view.

So fan language is coded: words are spelled slightly differently; characters, events, or ships get unique euphemistic nicknames; words or names are replaced with emojis. All of this is to prevent their stuff from being seen by someone just casually searching “Bakugou.”

You have to be in the know to know how to find stuff. You have to actively search for like-minded fans and curate your space, expanding your circle typically through word of mouth. And you have to abide by the rules, or else everyone is going to think you’re an overbearing jerk and not wanna be around you.

If you are just using google translate on social media posts or videos visibly labeled under the series title, you aren’t going to find much in regards to active shipping. Frankly, you aren’t going to see the whole scope of Japanese bkdk fan activity in any one place using any one method. This is how Japanese fandom is designed, and people work pretty hard to keep it that way.

Japanese fandom does not generally engage from the perspective that their desires will be validated by canon.

This is one of the biggest differences. In English-speaking fandom, you see people argue left and right about what’s going to be canon, who’s the endgame ship, and so on. People are very preoccupied by the idea that their ship has to be “validated,” and this validation comes from the notion that canon will reflect their personal preferences and fulfill their hopes for how the story will go.

This is just not the atmosphere in the vast majority of Japanese fan spaces. Remember how I said that jpn fandom recognizes that people have different tastes? This means people also tend to think that it is rather arrogant and demanding to think that your wishes are the only ones that should come true. It is also disrespectful of the mangaka’s artistic vision and hard-work to expect them to disregard their own desires to satisfy you personally.

So, when you ask, “are bkdk even taken seriously?” the question is built upon the idea that people who enjoy the series expect an outcome catered to their tastes.

As you said, most of the comments were for heterosexual pairings, which are the most obvious to predict considering the endings of other popular series published in Weekly Shonen Jump. Furthermore, Yashahime—sequel anime to shounen manga Inuyasha—confirmed that a character roughly ten years of age later grew up and had children with a (slowly-aging but adult) supernatural being who served as her caretaker and protector.

Maybe the video commenters were reflecting personal interest in those ships, or maybe they were just spit-balling off stuff they'd seen before. I can tell you I haven't really seen fanart for any of that, but I don't go looking for it, and m/f ship spaces will be separate from m/m ship spaces.

Still, it is important to remember that audience expectation is not directly correlated to outcome. When the online Shonen Jump+ manga Blue Flag was first published, the vast majority of readers did not expect that one of the characters in the love triangle would be gay. Hell, they expected it so little that the reveal went viral!

Audience expectation may be interesting to think about, but it is not a prediction method.

To sum it up:

Bkdk is extremely popular, but jpn fandom is very private and structured differently than English-speaking fandom.

Any metric of measurement for reader opinion will have its flaws, and audience expectation is not a foolproof way to gauge real outcome.

Personally, I think we should all take a cue from jpn fandom and just have fun.

I hope that answers your question and gives you some context, anon. Thank you for the kind comments on my work, I really appreciate it. <3

[broomsick]

Hi,

I was wondering if you have any advice for learning to believe that the gods care about us as individuals?

When I see people saying that the gods really don’t care about us in the grand scheme of things, I find that easier to believe than to believe they care about us, which kinda feels .. shit. Although maybe it’s true, I’m not sure.

I honour Loki, but because I find it hard to believe that they care about me at all (especially given I can’t communicate with him – so he can’t tell me if he does or not, and I don’t want to assume), I feel like it puts distance between us on my end.

I apologise if this is a bit heavy or difficult to answer, don’t stress if you can’t, you’re fine to delete it! But if you have any advice, I’d greatly appreciate it.

Hi there! I definitely understand the way you feel, and from time to time, I experience this very same sentiment as well. I think asking oneself this sort of question comes naturally to many of us, because pragmatic thinking could have us believe the divine is somehow too great to care about us measly earthlings.

But let’s break down this idea that’s being spread around pagan social media platforms, according to which the Gods are too busy, too grand, or too powerful to care about their followers. I’ve never been a fan of this sort of over-the-top cynical rhetoric. Still, I think there’s no better way to tackle pragmatic thinking than in a pragmatic way. The way I see it, this perception of the divine stems from a will to fully detach oneself from common monotheistic concepts. The fact is that a lot of neo-pagans, including popular pagan content creators, come from a Christian background. Some of these creators, whether polytheistic, animistic, both, or else, seem very keen on rejecting any spiritual concept or practice deemed monotheistic in nature, such as the idea that the divine can love us. Neo-paganism entails new ideas, and therefore, any perception of the divine that’s akin to that of the big monotheistic religions is either naive, or shows remnants of monotheistic thinking. However, there’s nothing naive about believing that the divine can care about us. I can believe this, just like I can believe that this or that deity presides over this or that matter in life. Belief systems work in a way that allow for specific ideas of the divine to form, and to vary from person to person. And after all,—just as an aside—, if an entity is powerful enough to be considered divine, then they are powerful enough to know about each of their followers, regardless of how many there are. Now, I don’t think there’s any need to specify that polytheism is inherently spiritual. This means that its very foundations are built upon personal gnosis, and belief in concepts that cannot be proven. No such thing as logic regulates matters of spirituality. So why should we, as theists whose beliefs aren’t commanded by any sort of authority or rule set, be so rigidly pragmatic in this case?

In the end, it all comes down to what we personally believe, and what we’ve personally experienced. Who’s to prove that the Gods don’t love us? And if I saw some stranger on social media tell me “hey um, your God doesn’t care about you by the way”, I would think that 1. Me and this person probably don’t even perceive the divine in the same manner at all; 2. Nothing and nobody dictates belief but the believer themselves; and 3. My experience has proven to me that the Gods care for us, and it’s proof enough. But let me elaborate on that matter further.

In most pagan paths, deities embody different natural phenomena and elements of human life. That’s the way the very first forms of polytheism developed. And to me at least, that’s also the way we as pagans experience their presence firsthand. The Gods are all around us: we can see them because we can see forests, seas, storms, fire, rain… And when you see it that way, they are infinitely closer to us than some cynical social media accounts would have us believe. They don’t sit on golden thrones above the clouds, far away from the human condition. Their presence is tightly intertwined with the earth. So why should “the forest, seas, storms” etc etc care for us? Well my friend, have you ever spent time by a river, and felt that it had a soul of its own? Have you ever felt a bond with a specific tree, or got the sense that the storm was alive somehow? That is something I worship as a pagan. And in my personal experience, the God’s burning, all encompassing love can be felt in these sorts of moments. I don’t need for them to tell me directly. It’s like looking into a loved one’s eyes and feeling that they love you, even though not a single word was spoken. I know how difficult it can be to put one’s faith in such a thing, when it’s already hard for us to even communicate with the Gods. That’s why we keep an eye out for signs from them. And even so, we might never truly grasp their thoughts. If anything, that’s something we know for sure about the divine. If you want my opinion, believing that the Gods love us is a perfectly sound choice to make. They send us their blessings in too many ways to count, sometimes in the form of well-needed change, reassurance, comfort… And if you believe that a certain blessing was sent by the Gods, doesn’t that already showcase a certain care? Even for those who see deity worship as purely transactional (an offering for a blessing and vice-versa), the very idea that a deity would send a blessing implies care for the followers who make the offering. And since me, along with innumerable other pagans, have received blessings without necessarily having to ask or perform some sort of huge offering ritual, I’ve naturally decided that the Gods love their followers. Everybody else can feel free to believe what they will, but my faith, intuition and experience have told me so.

Don’t let your mood be undermined by what people say on the internet, but more importantly, don’t let other people dictate what’s true and what’s false about your experience of spirituality. Let yourself believe what you want to believe, there’s nothing wrong with that at all. You don’t owe anybody proof of what you have faith in.

[shenanigans-and-imagines]

My brain is melty but something something “you want to bet on it?” Not exactly astarion and Tav but like. The rest of the camp talking about them?

Feel better soon!

A/N: This was actually a lot of fun! You didn't specify so I decided to go with Ace!Tav AKA Evie for this prompt. Hope that's okay.

Consider this a continuation of this headcanon.

Astarion x Ace!Tav (Evie) Masterlist

“You know what? I don’t think they’re fucking.”

Gale choked on his drink, following Karlach's eye line to a familiar corner.

Astarion and Evie had found their own little piece of no where, as was becoming habit with them at this point in the evening. Astarion had an arm wrapped about them and he whispered something in their ear, causing them to laugh. Astarion answered this with a playful nip of their neck which is right about when Gale averted his eyes. They were entitled to some privacy.

"My ears would beg to differ," he said, dryly. "I swear I didn't get a wink last night."

"Well that's just the thing innit?" Karlach pressed. "I mean, I can understand getting that riled up every now and again, but every night?"

"Astarion is a vampire," Wyll pointed out. "Even a spawn is liable to have higher than average...stamina."

Karlach let out a snort. "You read too much. Besides, even if that was true, doesn't stop E from being human."

"Why though?" Gale said. "What would be the point of pretending engage in such, ah...enthusiastic intercourse? I mean, we all know they're together. Why the extra show?"

"I would not be surprised if Astarion is putting on, as you said, an extra show," Lae'zel said. "He has boasted many times of his prowess in giving carnal pleasure. Not to mention, he likes to make clear what is his. Ravaging sex would accomplish both quite easily."

"Still doesn't explain E's half of all this," Karlach insisted. "It does take at least two, last I checked."

"Trust me, just two is enough," Gale grumbled. "If you want proof for yourself, I am more than happy to switch rooms."

"No good. I'm just below them."

"Oh for Gods' sake!"

"You've been oddly quiet, Shadowheart," Wyll interrupted, giving the cleric an assessing look. "Care you share your thoughts."

Shadowheart shrugged, carefully setting down her glass of wine. "I don't see what more I have to add to the conversation. You all seem set in your opinions."

"And I am curious to hear yours," Wyll pressed.

She rolled her eyes. "I think you all are putting a lot of thought into something that is frankly none of your business."

That got Gale's attention as he turned to her suspiciously. "Do you know something?"

"Nothing of importance. Besides, weren't you the one who said that some personal matters should remain personal?"

"Certainly," Gale said. "But when they are shared so openly, they can hardly be considered wholly personal."

"Well, that clenches it for me," Karlach said. "They're not fucking."

"I would be inclined to disagree, although now, I'm not so sure," Gale said, his brow furrowed in thought.

Lae'zel gave an exasperated huff. "Is it common in this realm to over analysis something as simple as mating?"

"It's extremely common," Wyll said, with a smile. "I take it that means you think they are, mating?"

"Obviously."

"Would you put money on that?" Karlach said.

Lae'zel raised an eyebrow. "A wager?"

"Sure. Ten gold says if we open the door on their room tonight, they're doing something stupid like moving furniture. And if I'm wrong, that's ten gold for you and spit in my eye."

The gith's eyes narrowed, before giving Karlach a stiff nod. "A fair wager. Although, I do not think spitting in your eye in necessary."

"I wouldn't go that far," Wyll said. "Depending what's on the other side of that door, it may be very necessary."

[elliebyrrdwrites]

McGonagall pulls the handful of us 8th year students into her office after dinner. She pulls us aside and tells all eight of us that we’re outcasts. We don’t belong, we don’t fit.

It might not be what she actually says, but it is what I hear and, I always hear the truth.

But she pulls us aside and she says that we no longer fit in the dungeons or the towers high in the sky. She pulls us aside and she lies. And I know she lies because I’m the only returning Slytherin from my year. I could fit anywhere, my one single body fits anywhere. It’s slender, though tall, and I’ve lost so much weight, you could stick me into the cracks between the stones on the floor and I’d sleep better than most.

McGonagall, she pulls us aside and tells us that they’ve taken the old abandoned third floor corridor, on the right hand side of the building, and they’ve rebuilt it. They’ve taken the old, useless, unwanted piece of real estate and they’ve turned it into a temporary holding cell. They’ve filled it with beds, she said, and our very own common room and private bathrooms. But, since there is so few of us, the showers are co-ed and I wonder if she wants us to be fucking instead of studying.

Not that I’d touch any of the students surrounding me.

Because the eight of us, it’s me. And it’s Granger and it’s Longbottom. It’s Lovegood, it’s Dean Thomas and it’s Michael Corner. It’s Hannah Abbot and it’s Zacharias Smith.

It’s going to be all of us, stuffed into a small space, sharing showers and I’m almost certain someone is going to end up slobbing a knob in the showers and I can’t even begin to tell you how much it bothers me to know that it won’t be me.

If I have anything to do with it, it won’t be Granger either.

If I can’t fuck, then neither can she.

I’ve decided that I don’t care about my education. I’m exceptional at magic, I excel in all subjects. I don’t care about politics. I just care about taking that little bit of myself that she stole from me. I care about making her life as miserable as I am. Together, we belong in misery.

So, McGonagall takes us all and she leads us to the third floor corridor that used to be off limits and she opens the door to the right side and unveils something that reminds me of a cheap rendition of my family’s drawing room.

There’s a few couches, a chess set. There’s two tables meant for doing our homework. There’s a window that overlooks the Black Lake.

There’s a fireplace that is already cackling away with burning lumps of wood. Another tree lost to the world, a little less oxygen left for us to breathe.

McGonagall points to the door to the left of the fireplace and she tells us that there’s a there’s a room that way, and another room that way, to the right of the fireplace. Two rooms. Split amongst the eight of us. She tells us that each room connects to a shared lavatory.

This is quite simply the worst.

I’m stuck in another kind of hell. I’ll have to sleep with Longbottom, Thomas, Corner and Smith.

Except, McGonagall doesn’t specify if the girls are separated from the boys. She just tells us to choose wisely and to make the most of the situation, and then she hands us our schedules and sweeps out of the room, leaving all eight of us to stare at one another in horror.

Only, Zacharias Smith is eyeing Granger. He has taken his eyes and he’s running them over her round tits and her indulgent hips. He’s taking his eyes and he thinks he’s going to convince her to bunk with him and I laugh out loud when he opens his mouth, his eyes zoning in on Grangers tits.

They all look at me as if I’ve lost my mind. But Granger won’t look at me. She’s doing that thing again, that dismissive bit that makes me want to slam her against the wall. It makes me want to pull her hair and bite her cheek.

“Which side do you boys want?” She asks. She’s tilting her head and cocking her hip and I get the distinct feeling that every boy in here wants to fuck her raw. I have the feeling that even the girls find her sexy but secretly, they probably hate her.

Of course, I don’t want to fuck her.

The point is, another ant is crawling up my neck and I can’t help the instinct to slap my hand over it, murdering the sacrificial ant. Because, god save the queen and all that shit. I have to remind myself that I am the only wizard in the room who does not want to fuck Hermione Granger.

Her eyes dart over to me. She finally looks at me, her eyebrow lifting as she eyes my neck. It’s probably red from the force of my slap. I wonder if she can see the poor little ant corpse.

Longbottom rubs, anxiously, at the back of his neck and shrugs. “We could flip a coin.”

“Why don’t we look at them before we decide.” Michael Corner suggests with a yawn.

“I doubt they’re much different from each other.” Granger shakes her head. She looks at Abbot and Lovegood and lifts a brow at them. “What do you think?”

Lovegood points to the room on the left side. “Let’s pick this one. It’s closest to the exit.”

“Very well, it’s settled. Good night, boys.” There goes Hermione Granger, bossing everyone around and there goes everyone else. They just take it, they bend over, they lift up their skirts and they just take the big cock she sticks in all of their asses.

“Well,” I begin. “Since it’s near the exit, I think it’s best if we take the room.” I sniff and lift my chin and Granger puts her eyes on me and I leer at her. I leer and I wait for her to bark something, anything at me.

She shrugs and rolls her eyes, instead. “Whatever.” And then she’s walking away, again. She’s taking her eyes and she’s pulling them away from me and again, she leaves me unfulfilled.

She disappears into the room, on the right, and Lovegood and Abbott follow her.

The males all shrug and disappear into the door on the left and I think about sleeping here on the couch.

Instead, I follow and fall into the bed closest to the door. I don’t remove my dirty clothes, I don’t even take off my shoes. I just lay my dirty, sweaty head onto the clean linen and close my eyes.

I don’t know if I sleep or if I have somehow manipulated time.

I open my eyes, like I’ve only just blinked and there’s sunlight streaming in through the window.

There’s a shower running somewhere. I can hear it through the door that separates our room from the girls room.

Three shower stalls. Three sinks. Three doors for private toilets. One urinal tucked into the corner. This is the information I’ve quickly collected when I step into the bathroom. I hang my clothes and scourgify them. Until I can sneak away to the shrieking shack, this is all I have.

The witch taking a shower is Granger. She’s singing a song that sounds like something I might like to wrap around my brain for a moment. She sings like I don’t even exist in the world and it makes my stomach ache. How do I make her respond to me? How do I make things make sense again?

There’s something happening inside of me. It feels like the ants have invaded the bathroom. It feels like they’re all over me, inside of me and it feel like these little ants are full of electricity.

Like they have some sort of power over me. They force me to stand in front of her shower stall in nothing but my boxer briefs and I’ve become glued to the tiled floor.

And the point is, I can’t make myself do anything else. The point is, that when she shuts the water off and pulls the curtain open, already wrapped in a towel, I’m standing right in front of her.

She sucks in a quick, startled breath when she finds me there. Quickly though Granger’s fright vanishes and her eyebrows pull down as she stares at me with something like concern.

Her skin is like a flower with morning dew.

Her hair is piled atop of her head and only the curls that hang limply around her face are damp.

I can’t move. My fingers twitch, like I might reach out and grab her. Like I might press my hand against her shoulder and slam her into the wall. Like I might hide us away and finally hurt her the way I secretly want to.

With my hands, with her skin changing color beneath my fingers. With my mouth, my tongue, my cock.

Wait.

No.

This is Granger, and I hate her.

So, I tell her what I think. “No amount of showering will ever get that dirty blood of yours clean.” I say it but my dick is threatening to tell her something else.

The corner of her mouth lifts, her shoulder mottled with drops of water shrugs.

“Whatever.” She says it and there’s something airy and whimsical about her voice.

And something inside of me reacts. I break.

I break and I can’t help the things I do because it’s just the natural process of things.

When she makes to move past me, I use my body to block her from leaving the shower. A shiver runs up my body, and her big brown-gold topaz eyes widen as my hand wraps around her upper arm. I move her backwards and force her back against the wall. My hand wants to hurt her, it wants her to give me all of her time and all of her attention. If even for just a moment.

Her skin is slick and slippery and suddenly, I’m imagining the space between her thighs.

Now, I know I’m not the man my parents hoped I would be.

I’m something worse, because whatever they raised me to be, doesn’t include imagining my fingers in Hermione Grangers cunt.

But, I need to make her and I belong. We need to go back to where we belong. Together. Or else, what am I? I never belong. Except for when I’m bothering Granger.

“Malfoy,” She gasps out my name and I hold her against the wall while my body closes in on her. My hand is wrapped around her arm and I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.

Her round tits are pressed against my chest and her head is tilted up, staring up at me with caution, with fear.

“Stop dismissing me.” I growl quietly into her face.

She says nothing, and she just stares at me like she can’t decide if I belong. So I move my other hand into her hair at the back of her head and pull. “Did you hear me, Mudblood?”

Her eyes flare. They’re gold and brown and they burn. She’s scowling up at me, fighting the hold I have on her hair. Her bun is coming loose, strands are falling down and framing her panicked and angry face.

Something warm creeps into my chest as she lifts her fist, balled up and angry and she pounds it against my chest. “Fuck you, Malfoy.”

Oh, yes. Fuck, yes.

My body pushes into hers. I’m digging my hips against her and I’m smiling, actually fucking smile. “There she is.” I murmur and she sucks in a tight breath. We’re all too close and it’s a sin, really. It’s a sin to have my cock so close to that warm space between her thighs, but it feels better than insulting her. It feels better than when I told my parents to fuck off after they picked me up from the facility this summer.

She swallows hard. I dig my nose into her temple and breathe her in. Lavender. Damp grass. It’s wonderful. It’s awful. I hate her.

She completes me.

Her angry little face completes this crumbled bit of rock I’m standing on.

“You and I,” I say into her ear. My hand loosens its hold on her hair, and finds its way to her hip. I hold her in place, between me and the wall.

Her breasts are pushing against me, over and over, as she pants. Her breath is coasting against the side of my face.

I want to tell her that we belong at each others throats. That we belong, somehow, together, but also, apart. I want to tell her that I need her. I need her anger and her vitriol.

But none of that comes out.

No, instead, my teeth close over her earlobe. She whimpers and arches her back. And I repeat the words, my tongue snaking against the shell of her ear.

“You and I.” I say it again, like it’s a promise.

My hands detach themselves from her. With one hand holding her towel over her naked body the other shoves at my chest, hard.

“Fuck you.” She hisses again, before I let her past me. She storms out of the shower stall and I hear her bare feet slap against the tiled floor before the door to her room opens and closes behind her.

There’s an ant on my stomach. It dies by the palm of my hand. Another is on my chest, my arm, my face. Slap, slap, slap.

What the fuck is wrong with me? What did I just do?

My fingers dig into my hair and I laugh. I laugh and I feel tears sting the backs of my eyes. I have no idea what I’m doing. But, for the first time in two years, I feel less like a prisoner. For the first time in two years, I feel like the taste of freedom is just near the tip of my tongue.

Who knew it could feel so good?

[netherworldpost]

@cha0tician when I was Evil Supply Co., we had a newspaper for nearly two years.

Physically printed on large paper. It was part of a subscription box — Mister Ghost’s Highly Enviable Monthly Parcel of Simple Yet Amazing Wonderments

(Fun fact I came up with that name at a bar in one go and did not edit it — it was the pure first draft)

This was a 4 page (1 sheet of paper front/back) and folded into 11x14.

Subscription billing services add costs to the already base $0.30 + 2.9% processing of cards (fairly industry standard pricing), making inexpensive products affordable.

Two sheets of letter sized paper and a thin envelope is roughly one ounce, so a newspaper is probably 2 or even 4, driving up postage considerably.

Even printed black and white (instead of color) the pricing was difficult.

Newspaper ages quick (it’s very acidic) so back stock decays fairly rapidly…

…and this one trick (storing bundles of newspaper) is key to driving your studio-mates wild with passion for you!

The problem with having submissions is two fold — ensuring originality (vs stealth plagiarism) and having a clear focus on the stories.

My stories are very focused and narrow… it’s one of the reasons I change/am changing the name of the company.

A lot of people saw ESC and walked in the digital door looking for true crime and/or horror and got queer monster utopia and were disappointed. Which is fair with the name, and so in this second act I want to give a more straightforward “this is who we are and what we do.”

It’s all a really careful balance.

Going back to the pricing a moment — if the retail price is even as high as $5, after processing fees and postage, it’s maybe $0.50/issue profit into the coffers to keep the company going.

Miss one deadline (as a subscription your deadlines are right, and printing takes 1.5 - 3 weeks) and your customer numbers take huge hits.

Complicates the whole thing.

The last few Mister Ghost boxes ran late because of all the above, and timed with an industry decline of subscription boxes, hurt the whole company bad.

Advertising is… tricky. I would have to hire someone to exclusively work on ads.

The alternative I am working on is just having it as an occasional promotion.

That cuts out processing fees and taxes (it actually helps taxes as it’s a marketing deduction).

Just every once in awhile, on a non-specified time scale (alleviating all production deadline issues), printing a small run. “Okay the papers come in today, we have 200, so include them in the next 200 orders.”

It’s tricky (what isn’t!) because it’s not going to be “the next 200 orders get…!” because frantic ordering Creates Problems (I don’t want to tell #201 they should have been faster)

I keep coming back to the ideas of surprise and delight.

You won’t see a gnome every time you go to the forest — you won’t see them hardly ever — but once in awhile you will and then it becomes a truly magical day.

So once in awhile maybe you get a newspaper or a small painting or a foil sticker in your order, or you are a customer who hasn’t ordered for us and I say “hey rather than give Google more cash let’s take a month of ad budget and print glow in the dark stickers and send to people.”

(This is from my business ramble side blog)

I don’t know if “surprise and delight” will be effective marketing.

Maybe it is but it’s too expensive to keep up and it ends up folding the company entirely.

Maybe it’s wildly successful and we continue to survive to make the world weirder.

I want to be honest and open on any public domain research and development rambles that they easily could fail — have a significant chance of it. There are no guarantees, at all, that any of this will work.

It has to be said “the reason these things are not common is because the risk is, to put it mildly, extremely high.”

Without this honesty I am nothing more than a snake oil salesman peddling false hope about making the world a weirder and more fun place.

But what if it does work?

My risk tolerance in business is…

… significant.

This makes me fun to shop with but, hm, complicated, to invest in — which is why i don’t take investors, and when folks kindly offer to toss a few bucks to help us get going, I decline and ask them to shop at an artist store who they have always meant to buy something at but always forget.

I am uncomfortable enough with “we are going to launch.. someday!” — I cannot stand the thought of taking possession of someone’s money without clear lines of “you will get X by Y day.”

All of this is a massive, significant, frequently overwhelming risk.

But.

But!

If it does end up working?

It’s going to be magnificent.

I work on this company because doing this work makes me more “me” than if I didn’t. It’s part of my fabric.

These public domain research and development posts (and future blog versions which can go into more detail) are my way of (hopefully) giving back.

I can’t make a subscription newspaper work but maybe someone else can and then I get to subscribe to it and my world gets weirder because I can read it ;)

But

Whenever I go down these paths

I always want to be very careful and explicit:

Very few things are impossible

Most things are more difficult than they seem

I don’t have all the answers but I might be able to help start the conversations that get someone closer to them

[itsyveinthesky]

Edit: There is now an official English translation of the whole article by Meduza themselves: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/06/03/the-only-thing-worse-than-war-is-losing-one

Meduza is a Russian- and English-language independent news website, headquartered in Riga, Latvia. It was founded in 2014 by a group of former employees of the then-independent Lenta.ru news website.

It asked the readers that supported the war to explalin why.

Sadly the answers paint a very bleak pictures of even young Russians reading independent media.

Some translated statements (feel free to correct if translated wrongly)

Andrey

35 years old, Volgograd

War ends when one side wins. Russia's defeat would mean national humiliation, which cannot be allowed. Consequently, one must win - there is no choice anymore.

Alexei

24 years old, Yakutsk

I do not support the war, but I do not want Russia to lose either.

Pavel

30 years old, Germany

I am angry at both sides of the conflict.

Anonymous reader

38 years old, city not specified

The only thing worse than a war is a lost war. It was an insane mistake to start it, but now it must be won, or else we will have the woe of the defeated. I don't support Putin, damn him.

Anonymous reader

36 years old, Tyumen

I'm not going to pay reparations for the mistakes of others for the next 20 years. No one talks to the losing side.

Nikolai

27 years old, Austria

I think the Western point of view is not quite right and agree with Putin's terminology of a unipolar world with double standards.

Artem

40 years old, Berlin

I have lived in Germany for 20 years and have never seen such propaganda. Western politicians and media have taken an absolutely one-sided position: Russia is the aggressor, Ukraine is a heroic state, Putin is always wrong, everyone looks into Zelensky's mouth.

Ruslan

28 years old, Kazan

I neither support nor condemn Russia for the war. I believe that since Russia started the war, it showed the weakness of its diplomacy and its inability to negotiate with a neighbouring state. However, I also do not support the point of view of those who compare Russia almost to Nazi Germany.

First of all, Ukraine had a choice; it could have reached an agreement with us in the early days of the war before things went too far and met our demands. It would have lost territories, but would have kept itself as a state. Is land more important than human lives? Therefore, Ukraine also bears some of the blame for the lives of those people who died. I am sure that people living in the territories that would have been handed over to Russia would certainly not have made their lives worse. Perhaps somewhere even better.

Sergey

27 years old, Perm

I support the actions of my president and my country. Yes, initially I didn't quite understand the point of this whole "operation", but after a while I saw the Russophobic statements both from Ukraine and from the European Union and the United States. Anyone with critical thinking and at least some common sense understands: Russia is not a "terrorist state", we are only defending our interests and sovereignty. That is why I, like most Russian citizens, fully support the UAS, and if I have to go to war, then I will go.

My personal favourite

Anonymous reader

30 years old, Astana

In a year and a half, [my] authority figures and moral compasses have turned into traitors (who wish harm to the citizens of their country, call for sanctions and do not try to lift them), shameful people (who offer to surrender to mercy and blame themselves), infirmities and liars.

I still believe that Russia got into this war for nothing, very much for nothing. But the way out offered by those [politicians] I [used to] hope for is shameful, painful, humiliating and deceitful. It is better to wait for those who will replace Putin: Russia is full of smart people.

Repenting for three [next] lives, giving up nuclear weapons and paying reparations - thanks, no thanks. I hope that the war will end as soon as possible and that as few people as possible will die in it, both Russian citizens in the first place and citizens of Ukraine, and if I have to go to war, then I will.

[myneurogenderramblings]

So, I want to break down this piece of “art” that I constantly run into when searching for autigender content. I’m doing this because a) I can’t sleep because it’s bothering me so much b) I want to help other autigender people who come across it and are similarly bothered. Break down some of the claims made. So, let’s begin.

First, the artwork itself.

First off, the implication that you’re the only autistic person who gets a say in the validity of the label is kind of weird. Every autistic person is different. “Your” autism isn’t a gender. “My” autism is. Our experiences are different. I know a frequent difficulty for autistic people is understanding that your perspective isn’t universal. So I’m trying to be understanding.

Now, the rant posted along with this piece of art.

You say this is not targeted towards transgender or nonbinary people. But the people you are targeting are literally trans or nonbinary. Autigender is an identity under the nonbinary umbrella. You say that you’re going after people who turn everything into genders. But why is that a bad thing?

Now we have the dictionary definition of autism. Seems somewhat accurate, if a bit dated. And yes, nowhere in the definition of autism is it listed as a gender. But this person appears to have a fundamental misunderstanding of what autigender is. Autigender is not “a gender that literally is autism”, though it can be that for some people. Autigender is a gender that is so fundamentally shaped by someone’s autistic experiences that the two are genuinely impossible to separate.

Yes. And your experiences with autism are perfectly valid. Doesn’t affect your gender? Not even a little bit? That’s all fine and dandy. Just because all autigender people are autistic doesn’t mean all autistic people are autigender. It’s like how all squirrels are mammals but not all mammals are squirrels. Just because your autism and your gender are completely separate doesn’t mean it works like that for other people. Again, I know this is a common trait for autistic people, so I’m trying to cut them some slack. I find it odd that this person felt the need to specify how their autism makes their life worse. Does identifying as autigender somehow erase the struggles autistic people go through? How? Like, I’m genuinely curious. I’m autigender and I would never say that my autism isn’t debilitating at times.

How does autigender existing make fun of your diagnosis? Or imply that autistic people aren’t human beings? The only reason you would think it implies that would be if you don’t see nonbinary people as human beings. Also, “actual” autistic people? I’ve been diagnosed with autism since age 5, and as soon as I discovered the term autigender I instantly fell in love with it. Next, this person, who just stated in their last paragraph that they are a cisgender woman, starts talking about what’s offensive to transgender people. What I find interesting is the fact that autigender people are somehow exempt from all the bad things that happen to transgender people. Someone who seeks out a trans person to commit a hate crime against isn’t going to stop if they see the person wearing an autigender flag pin.

Now we are being sent links to NIMH resources on autism, schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety. There’s this weird assumption that people who use these genders don’t know anything about the condition, which is very odd because these genders are exclusive to those with the condition. Yes, none of the resources talk about how said condition can affect gender. Because someone’s anxiety playing a role in their gender is mostly harmless. These resources are for doctors who need to know how to treat harmful symptoms. Gender identity can become inherently disordered (an example being Transgender-OCD), but for the most part a gender identity being affected by neurodivergence is not something that needs treatment. And once again, a cis woman deciding what constitutes transmisia.

I hope you enjoyed this breakdown. If not, I don’t care. It was cathartic for me and that’s why I made it. Now I should really get to bed.

[minsungchronology]

My Personal Opinions on Minsung's Dynamic (2019)

Disclaimer: I am not trying to pass off my opinions as facts. This is my personal interpretation of what is laid out right in front of us. I could be completely off base because I don’t know these guys personally, so take this with a grain of salt and feel free to disagree!

If 2018 Minsung was “show”, then 2019 Minsung is definitely “tell”.

This year, we get a lot more in-depth information about their dynamic from their own mouths as well as a little bit from the other members.

This year, I feel like all the members (not just Lee Know and Han) have settled more into themselves. You can tell they are more comfortable (and less awkward?) on camera than they were the year prior. Lee Know’s outside-of-the-box personality is more discernible and he’s more inclined to show that side of himself to us, but I think that really peaks in 2020 (Gods Menu era) and onwards.

Han shows a side of himself that I’m pretty sure a lot of fans at that time were very surprised to hear, from someone as seemingly as outgoing as him. He’s the definition of a classic introvert: he doesn’t like crowds, he likes staying home, and he’s very quiet around people he doesn’t know well, even though he’s loud and outgoing around his closest friends and members.

This year, Lee Know and Han finally explain to us why they have so much in common. It explains why they naturally get along well and why they gravitate towards each other. They’re both (+Hyunjin) the “weird” ones of the group, both of them don’t prefer deep conversation, there’s no such thing as awkward silence (haha) between them, they like scary movies, they go to cafes a lot, they eat out a lot together in general, the list goes on.

Though, one thing that really stuck out to me was them saying in their Two Kids Room episode that they both “don’t care about what others think”.

Watching their interactions in subsequent years, I think that’s really interesting to take note of. To me, it explains a lot about their individual personalities, their friendship, the way they act around each other…and their very interesting dynamic that flourishes in 2022/2023.

And that they’re both “in their own world” together: Something that never changed about them.

There’s a bit of push and pull this year. We get to see more of their playful bickering, the slight changes in their friendship. You really get to see multiple sides to it (as shown in One Kids Room). I really enjoyed doing this year (and 2020 which I’m working on) because we get to see the foundation of their friendship (or at least a better glimpse into it).

And there's also a couple of instances where the members tease them. Chan casually telling them to have a good date even though they're in JYP's cafeteria of all places doing a Vlive with fans. And Changbin made it his mission to specify that LK knows Han's sleeping habits during One Kids Room. Man did him so dirty 😭😭

My personal opinion:

At this point, I still believe they are just friends. They literally behave like best friends if you watch them throughout this year.

Lee Know’s actions seem to be way more toned down this year than last year, perhaps putting those feelings on lock or just forcing them away in the back of his mind, as it’s just unrealistic for feelings like that to flourish at a time like this. They’re not as certain with their careers, they’re still rookies, they’re younger, being more careful/experienced on camera, other obvious reasons, etc.

Minus a few isolated incidents, things don’t get eyebrow raising with them until around 2022 IMO.

I’ve personally known and heard of best friend situations where one has a crush/feelings on the other for years, they don’t act on it for a plethora of reasons (i.e: the other does not feel the same way until much later in life or they don’t want to risk ruining their friendship). Sometimes they might even date other people before they figure things out…if they ever figure things out. In my case, the people I knew did end up dating each other after dating other people and are still together to this day.

But there are a few moments where Lee Know “slips”.

-The 1st Anniversary Vlive where they’re dressed up in their Miroh outfits, to the point where Han has to point him back to the camera.

-The "9th" episode with the Han fancam sendsssss me every time CAUSEEEEE…that guy thought he was slick ijbol

-Then the "I.N Hometown" Vlive near the end of the year (this one is so interesting). To my surprise, a lot of people didn’t notice it. At the end of the live when they all get ready to say their goodbye’s, LK places his hand on Han’s leg but immediately clenches his fist after realizing what he did. Han looks at him and LK almost grins at the last second. The group, as a whole, has skinship as their second language (some members to a lesser degree, like I.N). Touches like that to them are innocuous and no one blinks an eye. So LK’s behavior here makes me go 🤨?????

Han I think is not as (reluctant?) as he was last year. He even reciprocates Lee Know’s flirting during the “Stay’s Tell Us What To Do” Vlive and seems almost flustered by it. Then there’s a segment during Weekly Idol where Han freestyle raps and asks LK to be his boyfriend (Freudian slip?) as a way to get LK to choose him over the other members. Again, he’s more difficult to read, but I don’t think he really wants to acknowledge it or even realizes.

In 2020, you’ll see a very interesting change with Han’s behavior. You’ll really start to notice his appreciation of LK’s looks. 😉

[chevelleneech]

This ask isn't meant to downplay jikook enlisting together or anything, I just wanted to share some info given your last post.

To enlist in the companion system, you have to be between the ages of 18-28. This means that by the time the enlisted, only the youngest 3 of bts were eligible. This is just to say that we can't really say whether the other members would have wanted to use this system as it wasn't available to them.

Yes, only two people can apply to go with each other. For bts, that means that only two of the three eligible for the companion system would be able to even apply because you have write down the other person's recruitment number (i.e. you can't make multiple applications and hope you just get one of them, it would disqualify you).

You only have to prove a close relationship with your companion, either friend or relative. You don't need to give a specified reason, like health issues for example, to have a companion. I think the companionship system is actually quite common, just not seen as much among celebrities/idols. Most regular men enter the military quite young, either right out of high school or right out of college, so going with a friend isn't unusual or weird.

All of this to say, I'm not negating the possibility of there being something romantic between jikook, just wanted to demystify some of the ideas about the companion system. After watcher watching the bts enlistment vlog, regardless of romantic relations, I do think jimin and jungkook looked the most wary of enlisting and like they needed the emotional support the most compared to the other members, especially out of the three of them that were eligible to use the companion system.

Hi, anon! I appreciate your message, and appreciate you stating you don’t aim to downplay JM and JK’s choice, but I don’t think you understood what I said in some parts. Mainly the points you brought up, which I acknowledged in my post.

Regarding 1 and 2, I said: “They would have only had to spend 18 months apart, yet they sat down and made the decision to do this together, knowing the older members did not have the option and that Tae would be left unable to apply with either of them once they applied.” — I said that, because I am aware that the older members didn’t have the option, even if they wanted to do it. As well, again, once they chose to apply together, Tae would be excluded.

Earlier in my post, I also said this: “Meaning, having multiple applications seems like a sure fire way of being denied, because you’re no longer asking for a specific person to not do it alone with, but for anyone to help you…” — So, again, while I may not know the deeper details, I am already aware of what is/was unlikely for them.

As for your third point, while I perhaps didn’t word myself in a definitive way, I also brought this up here: “From how I understand it, applicants have to apply at a certain time and with full paperwork as to why they and their buddy should be allowed to enlist together.” — I wasn’t insinuating they’d have to prove mental or physical reasons why they needed a buddy, just that there needed to be time for the paperwork to go through, and the paperwork was required to essentially plead their case, aka prove they’re actually friends and not random people linking up.

So yeah, I don’t want to come across as combative, but you aren’t exactly demystifying anything regarding my post. We’ve said the same things, with the exception that I believe, even while not knowing the extent of their relationship, them enlisting due to potentially being romantically involved makes a lot of sense. I’m not saying they are for certain, just that when looked at from an outside perspective, imo, it makes just as much sense as them simply being the closest two in the group.

As for them possibly just needing that extra support, I also said that. However, at the same time, I don’t think it’s fair to assess their mental health as being more serious than Tae’s. For example, he may have also needed extra support, but JM and JK might have already chosen to apply for the buddy system. So he might not have looked as reserved, because he had no choice but to come across as at the very least, ready to face the inevitable. That’s just an example of course, but I say it, because the idea that Jimin and Jungkook were visibly more bothered, is purely our interpretation of their behavior. Which is fine, but it can’t exactly be an answer, you know? Which is why I also said my curiosity requires releasing fan theories, because we can theorize all day, but that’s not really what I wanted to talk about.

Because if I go there about their mental health, I’d have to also acknowledge how Jimin and JK didn’t seem any more reluctant than Namjoon; who spent months leading up to his enlistment making it clear he was unhappy about it. Who has, since going in, made it clear he is unhappy and fearful of what his future will look like once discharged. So because Jikook haven’t given us any reason to think they are more in need of partnership than Joon, we can’t exactly use that as the most likely reason they chose the buddy program. It’s a sensible theory, and I do think it is valid, but again, it’s not exactly what I was talking about.

My post was purely based on the curiosity of how they came to such a serious decision, because it is serious, for them. Yes, many men go in after high school, but they didn’t. They didn’t jump into service with a friend, they went in a decade later with coworkers. Are BTS best friends? Absolutely, but the only display of “enlisting with a friend”, was Namjoon and Tae, but even they didn’t aim for similar placements as far as we know. And yes, it may be common to use the buddy program, but for a group with a third member who was also eligible, the two of them still chose to apply to go with each other specifically.

So again, I’m not making a statement on their bonds with the other members or insinuating they are romantically involved for sure. I’m just forever intrigued that they likely looked at the fact that one of them enlisting with Tae was an option and that them going by themselves was an option, yet ultimately deciding neither was what they wanted. What they wanted was to do this together, and the “why” of that interests me, regardless of the fact that it’s not something I expect an answer to.

[flatland-a-2024-translation]

Section 11. Concerning our Priests

[Table of Contents]

It’s high time that I move on from these explanations of the things of Flatland and get to the main event of this book, which is my introduction to the mysteries of Space. That is my subject; everything that has come before now is simply the preface.

This is why I cannot take the time to explain to you all the things I assume you are extremely interested in, if I may flatter myself.

For example, I will not be going into detail about how we move around despite our lack of feet, or how we construct our buildings of wood, stone, or brick in place despite our lack of hands and our inability to lay foundations as you in Space do, and the fact that we cannot use gravity the way you can.

I also can’t take the time to explain to you how exactly the rain begins in the spaces between our various zones, so that the northern areas don’t stop moisture from falling to the south.

I do not have time to tell you about the nature of our hills and mines, our trees and vegetables, or our Alphabet and method of writing which has been adapted to fit our linear tablets, or books.

These and a hundred other details of our lives I must skip past, and the only reason I mention them at all now is to make it clear to my Readers that I have not forgotten that these things exist, it’s just that I don’t want to waste your valuable time explaining them all.

But before I can really move on to the true subject of this book, I have no doubt my Readers will be demanding some final knowledge about the pillars that uphold the Constitution of Flatland, the controllers of our conduct and the shapers of our destiny, the objects of universal respect and even worship...Do I need to specify that I mean our Circles, or Priests?

When I call them Priests, I want to make sure you understand that the word for us means more for us than you would define it.

To us, Priests are Administrators of all Business, Art, and Science. They are the Directors of Trade, Commerce, Generalship, Architecture, Engineering, Education, Statesmanship, Legislature, Morality, Theology, and many more. They do no work themselves, but ensure that all work that is done is worth doing.

Although the common idea is that everyone who is called a Circle is a Circle, the better educated Classes know that no Circle is really a Circle, he is just a Polygon with a very large number of very small sides.

As the number of sides increases, a Polygon begins to approximate a Circle, and, when the number of sides becomes high enough -- say for example, three or four hundred – then it becomes extremely difficult for even the most delicate touch to feel any polygonal angles, and they are declared a Circle.

Well, I should really say that it would be difficult, because as I’ve said earlier, Recognition by Feeling is unheard of in the highest classes of society, and to attempt Feel a Circle would be considered the most outrageous of insults.

Refusing to allow himself to be Felt enables a Circle to easily maintain the veil of mystery which he wraps himself in from his earliest childhood, preventing others from knowing the exact measure of his Perimeter or Circumference.

But we can still do our own calculations: With three feet being the average Perimeter for an adult, the math shows that, in a Polygon of three hundred sides, each side will be less than a hundredth of a foot, or just barely a tenth of an inch. In a Polygon of six or seven hundred sides, the sides are hardly larger than the diameter of the head on one of your pins.

For the sake of courtesy, it is always assumed that the current Chief Circle has ten thousand sides.

The rise in social status of Male Children of the Circles is not restricted by the same Law of Nature that limits the lower classes to an increase of on side per generation. If it were, the number of sides in a Circle would simply be a question of family pedigree and basic math.

We would easily know that the 497th descendant of an Equilateral Triangle would be a Polygon with five hundred sides, but this is not the case.

Nature’s Law lays down two new and opposing Laws that apply to the Male Children of Circles:

1.As the number of sides of a Circular father increase, his sons’ numbers of sides will increase drastically.

2. As the number of sides quickly increases, the ability to produce male children decreases just as quickly.

In the home of a Polygon of four of five hundred sides, it is rare to find a son, and that child will never have any brothers. But at the same time, that single son may be born with fifty, or even a hundred more sides than his father has.

Art also steps in alongside Nature to help this process of higher Evolution. Our highest doctors have discovered that the small and still tender sides of a newborn Polygon of the higher classes can be fractured, and his whole frame re-built, with such skill that a Polygon born with two or three hundred sides can sometimes – (but not always, because this surgery comes with serious risk) – can sometimes leap ahead what would have taken two or three hundred generations, and, all at once, double the status of himself and his own future sons.

Many promising infants have been sacrificed in this way. Hardly one out of ten survives. But the parental ambition is so strong among those Polygons who live on the fringe of the Circular class that it is very rare to find a Nobleman who has not placed his first-born son into the Circular Neo-Theraputic Gymnasium before he has reached the age of one month.

One year’s treatment determines success or failure. By that time, the child has, in all probability, added one more tombstone to the fields that crowd the Neo-Theraputic Cemetery. But, on rare occasions, a joyful parade escorts the little one back to his exultant parents, no longer a Polygon, but a Circle, at least as much as anyone can be a Circle.

It only takes a single positive result to convince untold numbers of Polygonal parents to perform their own domestic sacrifices, which almost always end, not in the rare Circular child, but the much more common freshly marked gravestone.

[Table of Contents]

[regallibellbright]

I didn’t think of myself as a huge Sonic the Hedgehog fan growing up - we had the Advance games and played some of the Gamecube and DS ones, though Bro and I weren’t particularly good at any of them, and we watched Sonic X when it was on, but Sonic wasn’t a franchise I’d say I was particularly invested in until I got into the IDW comics (and to a lesser extent the Archie ones, since I haven’t actively read them yet but HAVE seen recaps) through Thanks Ken Penders back in 2020.

However, since I grew up in that post-Adventure era, even if I wasn’t ACTIVELY invested in Sonic and the lore, I did KNOW it. And so I’m always surprised to realize people DON’T know that the edgy black and red rival hedgehog who once had his own game where he had a gun has a canonical backstory in which he was the best friend/adoptive sibling to a terminally ill young girl (her age is never specified in the games but at oldest she’s in her midteens), the granddaughter of the scientist who created him (with the hope of somehow curing her We’re Not Calling It AIDS But It’s AIDS,) and also Dr. Eggman’s cousin. This ends when a thinly-veiled analog to the US military invades the space station he grew up on and murders everyone on it, including said terminally ill young girl, and Shadow only survives because Maria managed to put him in an escape pod where he’d stay in suspended animation for 50 years… after he sees her gunned down in front of him. Eggman and Maria’s grandfather/Shadow’s creator survives the initial massacre so the military unit can use his research, but he tampers with Shadow’s memory and builds a doomsday device in an attempt for revenge, and is ultimately executed. There’s a cutscene in SA2 where we see him just before this occurs. It’s EXACTLY as fucked up as you think. And yes, of course there are cutscenes where we see Maria’s death. Across multiple games, even. I have never played Sonic Adventure 2 but I have seen Maria gunned down plural times.

Which I admit, sounds wild when I put it that way. But because Shadow was a major recurring character and the games I played were in the “we brought him back now let’s give him a purpose” era, his backstory was always brought up and so I always just… consider this common knowledge. Like, yeah, of course one of the most popular characters in the franchise has a backstory involving the military executing all his family. This is in fact why he’s so popular. Everyone likes his edginess and also the genuine tragedy there, and his ultimate choice to be a hero so he can fulfill Maria’s dying wish that he protect the planet she always wanted to see.

So when the Sonic fanbase all LOST OUR COLLECTIVE SHIT at Shadow’s post-credits teaser in the second movie and realized all the pieces are in play for them to accurately adapt his backstory and Adventure 2, it was a genuine shocker to realize that tons of people just… aren’t familiar with the fact that what we’re pushing for, and why a lot of people thought they WOULDN’T go there, is Paramount signing off on a movie that is VEHEMENTLY anti-military and features a terminally ill child gunned down by them before our eyes. They’d better! Like, sorry Maria, I love AUs where you live and get to be more than the Sweet Saintly Dead Girl, but narratively you 1000% have to die. They’ve set things up for this. The Olive Garden guy shares a name and role with a character in the games who’s canonically a survivor of the same event. They have to go here.

Oh, and Sonic gets arrested in the opening sequence to cover for Shadow waking up and escaping their containment, because they can’t find Shadow so let’s blame a hedgehog we CAN find. This doesn’t work and results in one of the most beloved and iconic sequences in the franchise, to the point where I will genuinely think less of everyone involved’s competence if they DON’T in some way bring City Escape into the early marketing for Sonic 3. Like, it is that obvious a choice. Open your first trailer with the shot of him jumping off the helicopter with his makeshift snowboard and the guitar riff and you have guaranteed ticket sales. (Actually USE the song in the trailer and you’ve guaranteed more, the lack of Sonic music in the first two has been a glaring thing and Adventure 2 has two of the most iconic vocal numbers in the series.) I’ve never even played Adventure 2 and I know this. But the flip side of this is that if you DON’T allow this movie to actively criticize the military, you are therefore going to miss several of the most iconic moments of the game you are in some way adapting… and said game is one of the most beloved of the franchise, particularly on the story front. It’s great. I love that we’re here. I love that this apparently WASN’T common enough knowledge that Paramount could be lured into Shadow being staged in to the point that if they go back now, it’s CLEAR the writers and director wanted to go there and weren’t allowed to. And I am LOVING that people are finding this out NOW and then joining us in our “Do it Paramount, don’t be cowards” urging. Welcome to Sonic the Hedgehog! Our lore is weird but delightful.

[lazyeldritchabomination]

Sparrinton Part 2

I need to establish a couple of things. Manly Norrington´s ships and which one he used for pirate hunting.

While the Dauntless is an impressive ship that probably would blow any pirate ship to pieces, it is important to note that she is a warship. The real live inspiration for the Dauntless is the HMS Victory, an enormous 104-gun first-rate ship that could hold 800 men abord. And even thou she is fast and easy to manoeuvre for its size, she wouldn’t have been able to keep up with a pirate ship.

The Dauntless probably would have the same issue but I don’t think James used the Dauntless to hunt pirates and earn his moniker. What is more likely is that he was the captain of the Interceptor and used her to hunt. She would have been perfect for the job. Fast, easy to manoeuvre and it required far less men to operate. My headcanon is that James was given the Interceptor as a captain and was given the Dauntless for his promotion to commodore. Like we saw in the movie he was station as a lieutenant at the Dauntless but she was probably commanded by an admiral until his promotion to commodore.

(If this is specified in the books… I don’t care, I never read them, I probably never will and I do what I want)

Act 2

James now has one year to prove his worth to the navy and all he has is a warship which is to heavy and slow to catch any pirate worth his salt. He needs a plan and he needs one soon. He can´t chase pirates with the Dauntless, but he also doesn´t have intel to set up a trap.

James stays for a couple of weeks in Port Royal to help repair the damages done by the attack of the Black Pearl. He throws himself completely into his work, so that he is too exhausted to think about his empty house. It worries his two lieutenants.

One day when James is at the marketplace (hidden so nobody notices him) and observes the happy bustling in the streets (it fills his bleeding heart with happiness, this is why he joined the navy, to protect these people from the cruel hands of greedy, ruthless men) does he notice an od figure. They look like any common sailor that wander through the crowd unnoticed. But something nags at James, they seem oddly familiar. The figure turns his head slightly and James is struck speechless. That seemingly unremarkable man is Captain Jack Sparrow himself, unnoticed by anybody. Norrington has to marvel at the genius of it. Jack is a man that turns heads, his hair, the coal, his walk, his gestures, everything is overplayed like he´s an actor on a stage. But once you remove all of that you have a perfect disguise. James lets Jack go that day, out of respect for the man and his love for Elzabeth (who the pirate is probably visiting). But if Jack is in port Royal that means the Pearl must be near to and James would like to know where near his port a ship like the pearl can hide.

James finds the ship hidden in an alcove that he was not aware of. In his mind he marks the location of this hiding spot and returns to the fort to continue his work. With an idea sprouting in his head.

[mochibdsm]

on scenes

When it comes to roleplay and kinky sex, coming up with ideas on what to do with your partner can be challenging for a beginner. So many wonderful thoughts are racing through your head at once, and your fantasies are begging to be fulfilled! So, do you have a partner who wants to engage in kinky playtime? Let’s develop some fun scenarios to make exploring BDSM and roleplay easy and fun!

Before you start playing, you should address some safety concerns. Many activities in BDSM have some level of risk for injury or harm, so let’s play safe! The activities you want to do should not surprise your partner, and you should understand what to do and how to keep each other safe while having fun. The last thing you want is a trip to the Emergency Room!

Before you take your clothes off, do these things.

Agree on a safeword.

A safeword is a code word that means "stop, I really mean it." BDSM practitioners often avoid the words "no" or "stop" because of how fun it is to struggle playfully, and it's a common fantasy to say “no: but really want the fun to continue. Because of this, selecting a word that would never appear in the scene as your safeword is a good idea. If there will be gags used, dropping a set of keys, using a dog-training clicker, or ringing a bell are common solutions. Common safe words are “red,” your full name, and “safeword.” But, if you’re new to kinky play if your partner says “no” or “stop,” you should check in and make sure they are doing alright.

Be Prepared.

There’s more to kinky play than there is to sex. Other than consent, which we’ll discuss, you must be a boy scout. Be prepared for those just-in-case moments. Are you going to tie your partner up? Then make sure you have rescue shears to cut them out if needed. Your first aid kit should be stocked and easy access for any cuts, abrasions, or bruising.

Riskier play should first have some practice and education from someone who knows what they are doing. Don’t try to do an activity before you’ve learned all you can about it. You can find BDSM support and munch groups in just about every larger city center. There are online resources you can tap into also.

Negotiate Play and Get Consent.

Talk about what you will do with each other. Ensure you are both on the same page about what you want to do and experience. Everyone should know what risks each activity may present and be okay with those risks. All participants should verbally and enthusiastically consent.

Specify what limits you have and any restrictions that may be for just that playtime. For example, even if you are frequent play partners, let them know if you have a Dr. visit coming and need to avoid marks or have some meeting where you’ll be sitting for a long time, so avoiding a tender bottom might be required.

Planning a BDSM Scene

Planning a BDSM scene is a very individual thing. Many people new to BDSM have trouble planning what they want to do with each other. Start by setting some goals.

How does each participant want to feel?

What sensations do you want to experience?

Why do you want to play together?

What activities do you have in mind?

What is the intent of the scene?

For example, here are some intents you might have:

I want to give/have the biggest orgasm ever.

I want my pleasure to be the focus; they are there simply to serve.

I want us both to experience something we’ve not tried before.

I want to release the stress of the day.

I want to help them relax.

I want to test out a new toy.

I want a playful scene where we both have fun and don’t take it seriously.

Use those goals to sketch out a scene and then gain consent. What can you do to make each person reach their goals for play?

Go slowly. If you’ve never been spanked, don’t start with the heavy wooden paddle and aim for 100 strokes. Use your hand and try to get to 10 strokes. See how that feels before you move on. You can always do more later but can’t take any back.

I use an intensity rating scale when I’m bottoming with someone new. Before play, we agree on a maximum intensity level from 1-10. If I’ve never played with them, I don’t like going over 7. More connection or experience with a person may change that number. As we play the scene, I’ll tell them what number that intensity is as it changes. This way, they can gauge how much force they are using or where my emotional state is.

The whole scene should follow an arc, with a gradual build-up, the occasional dip in action to allow recovery, and leading to a final crescendo with the rougher and more extreme stuff left towards the end when the bottom’s body and mind are in the right place.

Accept that things may not go to plan. Sometimes tangents are nice, and you can get so wrapped up in what you’re doing that you forget to switch to something else, or you need to stop or change things because physical or emotional limits have come up.

Plan to provide aftercare. Aftercare is the act of bringing everyone back to a normal emotional and physical place after playtime. This can include rest, relaxation, connection, first aid, massage, or sex. It’s all personal, and you should negotiate it along with the activities within the scene.

Remember, when building a BDSM scene, there’s only one overriding goal: to have a great time together.

Scene Ideas

There are as many ways to "do" BDSM stuff as there are people, so what you can do is almost limitless. These are just a few ideas to start to bring into your sex life a bit of kink and role play.

Set The Scale

If you are exploring impact play or a new toy, the partner that receives the impact play will announce the pain scale for each strike. This is meant to help both parties learn their limits. The bottom will learn how intense they can tolerate, and the Top will learn how to handle the tool/toy to strike consistently.

The Captured Spy

The partner who plays the spy gets tied to a chair while the captor uses pleasure and pain to pump them for information. You can do this until they are forced to ‘divulge the secret codes’ (their safe word).

The Roadside Police Stop

Dressed as a police officer, pull your partner over and ask to see their license and registration. Maybe they aren’t cooperating or seem suspicious, but you better ask them to step out of the car and handcuff them. Frisk them to make sure they’re not dangerous, and then decide from there whether you need them to get into the backseat of your car.

The Great Escape

Use your best dirty talk and what body movements you can manage while all tied up to convince the stoic guard that you’re innocent(ish)and need to be freed. Of course, you’ll reward them for doing so.

Dirty Dancing

The dancer gets to pick the song they think is the sexiest and show off their moves until their patron gets too handsy. Use something you have around the room or a prop like stockings to keep the patron restrained to their chair, and then they have to struggle against their bonds while the dancer continues their striptease.

The Boss and the Secretary

When one of you plays the boss, the other can be the eager-to-please assistant or even one who has been slacking off terribly; either way, the paperwork has been mounting up for too long, and it’s about time the two of you got down to a bit of long overdue after hours admin.

Teacher and Pupil

One plays the teacher, the other the student. Who gets to be the naughty one is up to you. Is it a teacher that says you have to earn your "A," or a student that wants to get out of staying after class? It’s even more fun with costumes!

Taken by Force

Many scenarios include the submissive being taken by "force." Cheap, disposable clothing can lend a fun air of realism to the scenario that can be torn, sliced, or cut off the submissive.

You don't have to ruin any surprises, but it's nice not to be entirely in the dark, either. After all, this is supposed to be fun, sexy, and hot!

No matter what sort of fun you get up to, whether you choose one of these scenarios or your own, you'll learn a lot about what you are interested in, what turns out to be hot in reality, and what doesn't. It's all a learning experience that should fulfill you and add spice to your life!

[sociallyanxious-eros]

The Inevitable Entrance of Bigots into the Pagan Community

Did you know that one of the philosophical basis of Fascism is the idealization of the past and the rejection of anything considered modern?

Before explaining and showing all of that, I want to make clear my intentions with this post. I was doing small research about what the witch community was up to these days, the discussions being made, the conflict of ideas, and stuff like that, so I ended in a text explaining the differences between Revivalists, Neopagans, and Reconstructionists. I won’t be explaining each one here, I will focus more on Reconstructionists because this one is where things can get tricky. For instance, reconstructionists try to revive and bring back ancient religions as closely as possible and emulate them as close as possible. 

When I read about this I thought to myself “Wait, why does it look like Fascism?��, but, as always with that stuff, we need to check the context, so I went after and discover that: it is Fascism, except when it isn’t. So I’m writing this to help people identify when it is Fascism and when it isn’t, and also to people be careful when they’re writing about these topics.

So let's start with the more obvious things, why the eagerness to bring back ancient religion could be a Fascist sign? To answer that I’ll bring some historical facts.

First of all, I’m talking about Fascism as an ideology, as a movement, I’m not referring to types of fascism here, like Italian fascism, nazi fascism (German), or Integralismo (Brazil), each fascism has its types of characteristics because of the country and political scenario it was trying to be applied, however, Fascism (with capital F) has its own basis, 2 of these are:

Chauvinism - the belief that your nation/race is superior and/or more virtuous and, therefore, should be the only one to exist

Conservatism - a political philosophy that seeks to preserve and promote traditional values

I only mentioned the 2 that are important to what I’m talking about here, but know that there is more, also, Conservatism wasn’t a main topic of Fascism until the 20th Century, which means, is a Neo-Fascist thing, however, Conservatism is exactly what attracts so many bigots to ancient religions.

Also, there are people who are conservatives but aren’t fascists, however, they’re both bigots so doesn’t really matter here. 

But, let me make this very clear, enjoying and/or liking ancient religions does not mean someone is a fascist, so let me talk about the context and other signs:

Someone is spreading fascist/conservative ideology if:

They say modern society has degenerated

They say ancient culture/values/religion are the truthful Western culture

They idealize the past and call it “golden times”

They’ll say ancient art was beautiful and compromised with beauty, while modern art is ugly and/or disgusting

They’ll say they came to help restore good Western Culture

They talk a lot about Western culture and how it has lost its meaning

They love to hate modern art and call it degenerate

They’ll use the word “degenerate”

Someone just like ancient history/culture and is not a bigot if:

They have no problem with any modern religions/cultures

They’ll talk about other cultures without criticizing them to value the “golden ancient time”

They don’t idealize the past as a peak of society's values

They don’t try forcibly to bring back the past to the detriment of existing cultures

They don’t call modern art/culture degenerate just because they think ancient art it’s really the valuable one

You must have noticed that I used the term “ancient culture” or even “the past”, but didn’t specify which one. This is because each Fascism movement and even each conservative has a different ancient culture/religion to idealize. Neo-nazis, for example, have already appropriated Vikings runes, and celtic symbols, like the Black Sun, it’s common to see nazis create this idealization of the Viking man as if it was the best and only example of true masculinity. Here in Brazil, fascist movements like Bolsonarismo, idealized the period of 1964 to 1985, the period of the military dictatorship.

However, is important to say, that when a bigot is just conservative they’ll probably idealize Christianity and/or the crusades, if they’re fascist, but don’t rely on a specific segment, they’ll probably idealize ancient Roman and/or Greek mythology.

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Now I’ll bring some examples of clear Fascist ideology being spread that sometimes people won’t notice:

These types of profiles:

These types of posts: (notice the way of saying that “art used to be good”)

The vaporwave aesthetic as a whole:

These types of memes:

The idea that Western society has lost its meaning and “degenerated” because of [insert oppressed group here] is Fascism 101, babes.

The rejection of Modern Art

I’ll open this last topic just to talk about art a little bit more because one of the best examples of fascism rejecting “modernity” is the demonization of modern art. In 1937 the nazi party organized in Germany the exhibition “Degenerate Art Exhibition”, just by the name I think you know what it’s about. It was just pieces of art considered “degenerated” or “garbage”. Some of the works there, as expected, were just pieces made by jewish, roma artists, or anyone that was being killed by this disgusting government. Others were just Expressionism art, or any other piece that didn’t fit the “beauty” criteria this absurd ideology was so obsessed about.

Conclusions

As I said at the beginning of this post, my intention with this isn't to point fingers or to call anyone a fascist/conservative, I want people to easily identify when the text they’re reading is just conservative/fascist garbage, and be careful to not spread this discourse even more.

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Resources

Wikipedia Pages:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerate_Art_exhibition Degenerate Art Exhibition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism Conservatism

Documents/Texts:

https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/ADL%20Hate%20on%20Display%20Printable_0.pdf Hate on Display: Hate Symbols Database (notice how many occult runes and sigils were appropriated from ancient religions)

Videos:

https://youtu.be/Sx4BVGPkdzk How to Recognize a Fascist by ContraPoints

https://youtu.be/v5DqmTtCPiQ Who’s Afraid of Modern Art: Vandalism, Video Games and Fascism by Jacob Geller

https://youtu.be/T6EOVCYx7mY Is Art Meaningless? by Philosophy Tube (if you want to know some fun things about art)

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Special Section to Brazilians

https://youtu.be/3qNmIXaFSr8 Integralismo, estudo de caso sobre o fenômeno fascista por História Pública (tenho algumas discordâncias com ele, mas esse v��deo é bom)