#STORYLINE: STRIFE!

[cloutchase]

[artofalassa]

| Don't leave me All by myself in this world |

[crownofbegonias]

birds of a feather :)

[silentspectres]

currently taking -1hp psychic damage from hyperfixation

[shallowrambles]

SPN Personalities and foundational attachment ramblings:

Dean is like Mary - Dean's personality is ofc like both parents but very like Mary in terms of his disposition.

But Sam's dreams are like Mary's dreams - Mary’s emotional fantasy mode is to run away from The Life, like Sam wanted to do.

Dean idolizes John's romance - Dean romanticizes staying in the fight (duty) and pining over Loss and Revenge. “You’re acting like dad.” - season 13 Sam post-Cas's death; The mixtape shows that Dean romanticizes his dad’s love story. Probably because it helped him rationalize his dad’s behavior/untreated mental illness. “He’s incredibly broken-hearted. That’s why he’s Like That.”

-- Attachment and family foundations - Good foundation (MARY) - Mary seems to have had a solid foundation in her parents but rejected the family's expectations. Perhaps this is because she felt safe enough to do so? To be continued! I'm not sure how abusive or non-abusive her family was, but her father was seen trying to raise her from the dead pretty far into the Supernatural timeline. I suspect her parents could be tyrannical, but their love was never in doubt. Meh foundation (SAM) - Sam’s foundation was shaky but considerably less shaky than Dean's because Dean acted as a parent. Perhaps Dean's job as a parent mixed with John's lack of scapegoating (Sam was the familial "golden child" as much as he was the cursed child) helped him feel safe enough to rebel? It's possible it's easier for him to rebel against John because Dean is his actual symbolic father instead. Later, around season 8, Sam is so wrapped up in familial obligations that he no longer has the gumption to rebel. Everything has become solely to serve the hunting/family business. This is because he knows Dean will not get out of the business, so he feels that sharing the burden is the only way forward. (Sam is slowly realizing at this point the sacrifices Dean made as an individual, but he still sees Dean as a father that he's disappointing. He thinks sharing the burden will make him more adult and allow his brother a certain amount of renewed freedom. It ofc doesn't. Ironically Sam gets healthy parenting in the following season from CAS of all people! "Nothing is worth losing you." The type of parental support Cas gives Sam he will eventually give to Jack!) Unknown foundation (JOHN) - John's mom Millie seems okay, but his absent father and PTSD from war were definitely affecting his need to exert control on his surroundings. His untreated mental illness seems somewhat separate from his mother and more as a reaction to the world around him. In the prequel, it seems he wasn't so much punished for rebelling as he was getting a sense of control from it. To be continued!

Terrible foundation (DEAN) - Dean had no foundation. (Bobby wasn't enough.) He was expected to BE the foundation for his father and his brother. It was not safe to want things for himself. Everyone else's needs came first. Wanting things and being rebellious were punished with physical abuse and banishment. This haunts Dean in his arrested development throughout his adulthood, poor sense of self-worth, and rejection sensitivity. He wants to hide his entire extended family away in a WWII bunker, for God's sake. Dean tends to look for friends that are willing to share his burdens but not so much that they protect Dean (protecting his family, loved ones, friends is preferred). Dean still rarely wants things for himself. He is comfortable being a friend that is needed (blood donation, for example) but he struggles to let himself NEED anyone. It is THE most terrifying thing for him. Because to have a protector means letting them put themselves in harm's way for him, and he is worthless (see how Mary protects him in later seasons, also all of Cas's arcs). Cas is hard for him because Cas doesn’t actively need care, food, rest, etc. which frustrates his efforts to caretake. Above all, Dean's sense of duty persists.

Totalitarian foundation - Cas had no family, only the faceless service to the 1984-style holy mission. His rebellion was punished by extreme torture and brain damage and culminated in his graphic murder via familial execution. Later, his rebellion (like with John) also becomes a means for him to exert control. He mimicked that which was shown to him as an example: totalitarianism (Godstiel). Later, he reacts to moral injury by rejecting participation altogether (soldier mental illness). Only pretending to be human allows him to partake in rest or enjoyment. Even as a human, he struggles with suicidal pain and not adjusting to "civilian life." (Dean also struggles with dragging Cas back to be a "hunter-in-training" for his own sake...and letting Cas live out his life as a normal human.) Regardless, Cas rejoins the fight on his own. When he does participate again, he defaults to being "of service to the fight," or a weapon of war, or committing cannibalism/war crimes to gain power in order to fight from a position of angelic strength/domination. He prioritizes self-sufficiency and tends to remain distant from the familial homefront. Sense of duty persists.

I guess my point is that it's not just our base personalities that affect how we react to things.

[crylirium]

THERE IS SOMETHING infinitely tragic about zack fair, and i know i am not the first buffoon to come to that conclusion considering he’s a character quite literally created for the catalyst of his death, but like— hear me out.

if you play the original ff7 a certain way, you can bypass his storyline completely. crisis core came out ten years after the original game and yes, we are given his story, but before that all we had was the scraps that could be scrounged up in ff7. he’s a shade. a shadow. a presence in the background. he’s haunting the narrative like no character has ever before, and yet he’s so easy to miss.

imagine it. he is zack fair, SOLDIER first class. a birth and a childhood. parents that loved him. his favorite boots scraped marks into the floor right beneath his mom’s cherry wood chairs. his fingerprints on his sisters’ mirrors and his bookmark snug in between the pages of his grandfather’s books. he taught his younger brothers how to drive their dad’s beat up old truck without it backfiring. he helped his mom with the laundry because she couldn’t quite reach the clothesline. his father called him “son” and “boy” and “kid.” he joined the military at fifteen years old and quickly outranked his peers. he worked with the elite. he made it to first class, and now he’s dead on a cliffside. no grave to bury him in. and the only kid on the goddamn planet who witnessed zack fair fighting to live and succumbing to his death immediately forgets him.

without him and his death, cloud strife does not exist in the form we know him as. zack is cataclysmic, omniscient, an entire universe of untapped potential and yet, AND YET, he exists just for his death. there is no need for the potential of zack fair: living. the importance of his character is in zack fair: dearly dead. imagine it. he exists for the purpose of not existing. he exists to extract all of his potential and purpose and importance just to stuff it all into cloud.

ff7 is cloud strife’s story and zack fair’s grave. it’s always been like this. he cannot exist outside of his own dead body on the cliffside. he’s been dead since the beginning. he’ll always be dead. he’s never going to exist. there’s no moment in time where zack’s importance falls outside of being fucking dead. god i could go crazy.

[huiyi07]

No, cause if you think about it, Kaeya never appears without purpose and intent. You might be like “duh that’s what every character is” but think about Childe, or Jean, Barbara, collei, the list goes on. They always appear with fun, happy reasons behind it, but not Kaeya.

He’s not the only character- Albedo shares this as well with how he mostly only appears to drop some lore bombs about khaenriah and gold and then disappears for another year, but it’s still different for Kaeya. He appears during events not only to give us lore, but always, without fail, to reveal something about himself.

Proof? Okay, the 1.4 windblume festival. Kaeya does a silly little poem class with Venti- surprise, he’s threatening him with a Khaenri’ahn message that says “I will triumph over you” and even when you debunk that, you can still see how Barbatos treats him as his own despite whatever stipulations about his heritage there are. 1.6 midsummer islands- Kaeya and diluc both reminisce their childhood, and it’s the first reveal that shows us just how close they really were. After that, he disappears for while, until boom- hidden strife in 2.8, where we find out the real details of his fight with diluc and how they grew apart- but it’s hinted they still care for each other. It also tells us a little about Kaeya’s lore and family, how they took over as regents, which adds to the real gravity of their fight- telling us he’s not just a poor kid from khaenriah, he’s the last real heir to the throne. After that, winelesefest, where it shows us how Kaeya and Diluc are right now, how theyre obviously missing each other and it’s very obvious that they care for each other deeply. That kinda ties up the whole ragbros story for now, and after that it becomes serious.

He appears again in the Caribert quest for us to find out he’s the heir of the organization of vengeful Khaenri’ahns turned monsters who want to take down the gods. He claims to not be affiliated with them in any way- but it leaves the question in everyone’s minds, “what else is he hiding from us?”

Now, he’s recently appeared once again for the 3.8 summer festival, and it looks really innocent and fun and just another way of showing us how kind he really is, until you realize that Kaeya’s outfit from this version describes how much he really hates the burden on his shoulders and how he wishes he was never forced to be an agent of khaenriah.

If you ask me, we’re past the point of just getting to know Kaeya and who he is on a personality basis, and are now getting into the real gravity of his identity as the last hope of the Khaenri’ahn kingdom. It’s really building up how important he’s going to be to the endgame of the whole archon quest storyline and how much of a key role he will actually play. Man I’m so hyped!!

[pendragonsclotpole]

help, i just got slapped in the face with the existence of WILL. be still my beating heart as i write an essay on this man, will of ealdor

firstly, i adore the silent and implicit trust hidden in the first joke that introduces will’s character. like merlin’s been aware his whole life that if his secret is ever found out, he will be hunted down and persecuted, but here comes will with a jab that they both inherently understand is a joke in the macabre style only true friends can lovingly master. the smile they share almost immediately gives me ned stark and robert baratheon meeting again in the courtyard of winterfell in season one of got. there’s also something so normal in their interaction that speaks of a familiarity borne from their equal status and years of friendship. i know merlin’s friends in camelot tend to skew to the non-royal/non-noble, but when you tally it up, those closest to merlin often hold some title that’s greater than merlin’s role as arthur’s servant. gwaine is a knight implied to be of noble blood; lancelot, percival, and elyan are also knighted and esteemed members of arthur’s court; gwen is the lady morgana’s maid and close companion long before she is ever queen; gaius is a physician and long time member of camelot’s court; morgana before her betrayal is literally uther’s ward. i feel like when placed among them all, merlin has a tendency to fade into the background offscreen. obviously the audience knows how important merlin is to the overall story given how much of the storyline focuses on him, and the characters regularly acknowledge merlin’s importance to them or arthur, but all of them still regard merlin as merlin the servant from camelot and few of them are privy to the plots we as the audience see firsthand. and even when they acknowledge him for his merits, his role as arthur’s close friend and confidante takes precedence. look at leon’s reaction in the later seasons when merlin is bewitched by morgana. merlin literally makes a comment about plotting to kill arthur and leon barely even blinks before quipping back, “driving you mad isn’t he?” or something along those lines. except for a few instances with even fewer characters, they never get a chance to know him as merlin the sorcerer from ealdor.

will does! and more than that, he got to know merlin as he is without arthur. we all hype up their status as magical soulmates but damn if i wasnt living for how jealous of arthur will seemed to be in this episode. call me crazy, but it makes me desperately headcanon a realistic past in ealdor for merlin, full of hardship and strife, but never without it’s moments of happiness. furthermore, will’s lone appearance in season one shines some real light on the unfairness of the fate that has been bestowed on meelin. the moment that will points out why he’s been so obstinate with arthur really strikes a deep chord. sure it could be just jealousy, but more compellingly, i choose to read it as a deep sense of care for merlin. everyone merlin has met within camelot, (or reunited with in the case of his own mother) has continually pushed him closer and closer to arthur. will presents a crucial exception. he knows exactly who merlin was before camelot, and who merlin is completely separate from arthur.

will is staunchly in merlin’s corner, and that position allows him to identify a key characteristic of merlin’s series’ long arc: his complete devotion to arthur. will even points it out himself: merlin could singlehandedly defend their home if he just used the full extent of his power. merlin doesn’t, and actively chooses not to because of his desire to stay close to arthur. it’s such a small moment, but i think it demonstrates how much of merlin’s decisions become motivated by his desire to stay close to arthur and to always put arthur first, even at a detrimental cost to himself. merlin understands and readily accepts arthur as his destiny, but this acceptance does not come about independently, instantly, or of merlin’s own volition. it does so eventually, but initially merlin sticks by arthur’s side because of the encouragement of everyone around him. “arthur needs you, merlin” or “arthur is your destiny, merlin” or “arthur is a good man, merlin. he has the potential to be a great king, he just needs the right people, merlin.” its codependent as hell.

sure, merlin originally does not tell arthur about his magic because they do not know each other and as far as merlin knows revealing his magic would lead to his death, but eventually the reasoning changes and becomes so focused on doing what’s best for arthur. merlin can’t tell arthur because then arthur would have to kill him and then who would look after arthur or ensure his fate? merlin can’t tell arthur because if arthur chooses to defy uther’s law, merlin is then forcing arthur to turn against his father and how could he look after arthur then? merlin can’t tell arthur because another betrayal from magic would ruin everything and truthfully, he wonders how would arthur react? merlin comes to fear what his magic might do to arthur and what it’s reveal might mean for his place in camelot more than the laws of camelot and their verdicts.

by this logic, merlin is a magical solar system orbiting entirely around the celestial body known as arthur pendragon. eventually merlin cared more about his relationship with arthur and what arthur thought about him than his own life. in retrospect, it’s so sad that will died so early on, because it strips merlin of a person solely in his corner. will’s death is the first in the series’ long pattern of loss that merlin endures and that eventually comes to define him because people either find out about his magic and their knowledge is directly tested against his loyalty to arthur, or he cannot allow them to know about his magic because it will unravel his relationship with arthur.

will, freya, balinor, morgana, mordred, arthur.

also the fact that will covered for merlin’s use of magic in his last moments just adds to the tragedy AND the growing pile of moments merlin could have told arthur about his magic but didnt. and also the fact that will literally died to save arthur. like tell me that just doesn’t prove my point. tell me. will never stood a chance. tell me every aspect of merlin’s life does not get consumed by arthur pendragon.

i’m all for merthur being soulmates, but god the original series is rife with the unbalanced mess of merlin being wholeheartedly aware of arthur’s great potential and destiny leading to some intense devotion and faith that yes, arthur earns and pays back in full measure but can never fully reciprocate because he just does not know anything. by the triple goddess, it can get so toxic. i wish will had lived if just for that. and like the jealousy arthur gets whenever merlin has other people. because i 100% live for possessive arthur and protective merlin dynamics.

[punkpandapatrixk]

☕️Soul Story with Your Divine Counterpart ♦︎ Timeless Pick A Card

A long, long, long time ago, in the harmonic realms of Pure Bliss, there was nothing but Dharma. Bored as whoa from a lack of strife, our Souls began to yearn for Drama. In the theatre of the Universe, Game Masters joined forces to create the most hyper-realistic Game of Polarity—of opposites and contrasts. We were told, we would understand Unity better if we could master Duality.

Divine Pairs were invited for the launch of the Game as the unbreakable bond between them was deemed the most powerful, enough to withstand the chaotic nature of Duality and Polarity. In time, we all jumped into the Game expecting all kinds of immersive experiences of playing knaves and heroes, destroyers and builders, enemies and lovers, et cetera, et cetera.

In the beginning, we played amongst many of our own Kind but eventually met those from other harmonics who had later been invited to the Game, too. In a world of illusions… we were dreaming all kinds of events and adventures with our cosmic avatars, and in time, all kinds of storylines intertwined to weave an even bigger cosmic narrative.

We all played for so long we were beginning to forget our true form. Many of us could no longer recognise each other’s Divine Counterparts. A multitude of shape-shifting had caused a distortion in reconnecting to our Original Memory. The game world had now become a second Reality.

🎧Alone Again, Wonderful World by Plastic Tree

🎧I Love You by Off Course

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There is a super special behind-the-story for this PAC on Patreon. If you’re already subscribed, don’t forget to check the full post ^o^v

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Pile 1 – Finally, Happily Ever After with You♥︎

MOVIE: Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)

your Home World – Page of Swords

I have a feeling your Home World (at least one of them that is significant in your current stage of soul evolution) was a relatively new world. You’ve come from a civilisation that prized intellectual pursuits more than anything. Your Kind loved to study; you enjoyed improving your environment and society. Researching plants—understanding them and making chemicals and potions with them—was a pastime of your people. You were working to understand your Planet.

Your Home World had many large, expansive libraries of all the things your people had come to learn. Many people loved to visit the library and read and just have fun studying. You were such big-brained folks. There was no school like we know on Earth. There were academies and laboratories for children to partake in research and new inventions. The weather on your Home World was always pleasantly sunny and you could see buildings that are similar to hot houses on Earth. There were gardens and open fields, of course. Vegs and herbs were your main interest and food was aplenty.

People had roles in society but nobody had any semblance of a concept of what we call ‘jobs’ on Earth. People didn’t work for money. People lived with the joy of knowing that they were alive and that the Planet had provided for them. Your people loved the Planet so much—you appreciated and cherished this new world you were beginning to understand. But… this also meant you didn’t have any concept of conflict, power struggle, and war… You didn’t have a military—never crossed your mind the necessity for such a thing.

And so, when warmongering space invaders attacked your Home World you couldn’t protect yourself.

a promise before birth – 4 of Swords Rx

From the moment the space invaders arrived, it was clear that there was no way your civilisation could stand a chance against the enemy’s warships. The imbalance of military power was too overbearing. You didn’t even have an army, not even a fighter. All you could do was try your best to evacuate your people and escape the Planet. Homes and gardens were destroyed and families were torn apart. Friends and lovers calling out names of lost loved ones. Sisters and mothers shielding children and escaping. Brothers and fathers staying behind to buy time.

This horror was etched in your Soul Memory for a long time. Your heartbreak became a default setting when you chose to be born on Earth. As if, you’d forgotten how it feels like to have peace. But you craved it from the deepest unseen well of your subconscious, and at one point in your soul evolution, you prayed to Infinite Intelligence. You prayed that you could be saved from the looping horror of being trapped in the same scenario of sorrows. You had come to resent the Game.

‘Please, salvage my heart from betrayals, isolation and loneliness.’ Infinite Intelligence heard your plea and whispered: ‘If you could remember your Divine Counterpart, they will remember you, too, and you will be calling out for one another. If you could remember your true form, you will remember what your Divine Counterpart feels (looks) like. And all will be fine in all of the worlds again when you meet.’ And you fell back into slumber to find yourself awake on Earth.

finding each other – 5 of Swords Rx

Earth is a world that is just as war-torn as your Home World, if not a lot worse out here. Being born into a world so reminiscent of all your traumas, navigating Life here has not been easy. As if Infinite Intelligence had played a cruel joke on you. But the truth is, Earth is the perfect place for you right now because by being here you resolve your traumas a lot faster than if you had been born somewhere comparatively better. You are in the midst of recovering from bad dreams of lives lost in wars.

Did it cross your mind that your Divine Counterpart has also been doing the same? You’re not alone. You’re working really hard to purify yourself from all of these bad dreams, bad memories, all so you wouldn’t mistakenly destroy each other when you meet. Infinite Intelligence had arranged for you to face your traumas head on so you wouldn’t have to show your ugly healing to each other. That scenario isn’t for you. Isn’t it so graceful?

Although it’s hard to face your challenges feeling like you’re all alone in the wild wide world, trust me, it’s better to have those quarrels and separations with people who mean little. I can hear a soft voice from the aether saying: ‘You’re… the only reason I’m still breathing… We will meet. When I’m good, I can make everything in your world good!’ So confident. So loving, indeed.

TURNING THE PAGES🔻💜

story behind your Union – Gold Physician (Hippocrates)

the rest of your days – Priestess of Ambition

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Pile 2 – True Calm That Comes Only After the Storms

MOVIE: Grave of the Fireflies & My Neighbor Totoro (both 1988)

your Home World – 8 of Cups

Quite similar to Pile 1, you still carry deep sadness and heavy regrets in your heart that are, truthfully, only remnants of memories from your Home World. Your Home World was quite advanced technologically. Your civilisation depended on the Masculine energy—Yang energy. Societies were run on varying degrees of strictness but the modus operandi was clear: the masculine form and structural ways of running things were favoured.

Obviously, not everybody was happy about that though for a long time, peace was maintained. However, influences from visitors and ambassadors from other civilisations (by comparison they were freer; more fluid) eventually seeped into the consciousness of the main populace, and in time, underground rebellion groups were formed. These alliances were made amongst multiple races of beings that felt they weren’t accepted (or respected enough) by the main races.

Friction began to tear apart the establishment and government officials tried their utmost to crack down dissents. Many went to prison or got killed in the numerous conflicts that were becoming a plague in your Home World. In a last attempt to preserve the codes of freedom, many elders told their young warriors to flee and find refuge in other Worlds that were, hopefully, more balanced in their operation of Yin and Yang.

a promise before birth – 3 of Cups

You left your Home World carrying a promise to come back and make everything better after you’ve learnt enough about the ways of other Worlds. Tears were inevitable but the determination in your heart was solid. You were a new legion of Ambassadors from your own Home World. You didn’t really want to think of yourselves as refugees, after all, many of your Soul Family members were still living alright in your Home World though things were just… a little too unpleasantly unjust.

When you departed your Home World, you created a mirror image of yourself to accompany you across the Multiverse—a divinely ordained Counterpart. This was possible by the grace of the Infinite Intelligence, of course. In the beginning, you went to the same places and learnt similar things. Over time, your understanding of each other’s capabilities became clearer and, with confidence, you decided you would travel separately from now on.

You had this unbreakable bond and an immense capacity for telepathy, so you weren’t the slightest bit worried about losing contact with your Counterpart. You believed that it would be just as easy to call upon each other and reunite as you deemed fit. Alas, your travels brought you to Earth, finally, and things over here were just… slightly over-the-top chaotic for even you to handle. The level of evil on this new World was… NEXT LEVEL.

finding each other – 7 of Pentacles Rx

Crash landing on Earth! Coming here felt like a major accident. Your whole world upside down. The reason being something related to betrayal trauma. To find a World that’s even more polarised than your own; to see a World that operates on the highest level of toxic masculinity; to be in a World this corrupted by its own leaders; needless to say the whole being born thing was traumatising.

The shocks of being born on Earth made it difficult to reconnect with the essence of who you are on a Soul level. Thus you forgot how to contact your Divine Counterpart. You’ve felt like you have so little guidance living Life on Earth. But deep in your psyche, you’ve always known you’re here for something greater than the mundane. You know you don’t belong to this Earth. You’re here on a mission. You want to build something with someone… Someone dear, but you can’t remember.

Can you believe that you and your Divine Counterpart are meant to inspire the dissolution of anger? Yes, this World so deep in the clutches of aggression. You are special Souls who have been ordained to meet on Earth when the time is right to help inspire peace—after all, it is what you seek and Infinite Intelligence is arranging every couple’s rendezvous in the most magnificently mysterious ways. I think your finding each other is just gonna happen naturally by virtue of matching vibrations. So~ Keep focusing on your Life’s mission and just like that~ BOOM! There they are.

TURNING THE PAGES🔻💚

story behind your Union – Green Historian (Herodotus)

the rest of your days – Priestess of Inspiration

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Pile 3 – ‘Kiss You Better; I’m Your Only Other’

MOVIE: Princess Mononoke (1997)

your Home World – 6 of Wands

The Home World that’s currently significant in your soul evolution was a world of glory and magnificence. Your Home World looked nothing like what we know of abundance and celebration on Earth; it was such a rich and happy World. It emanated so much pink, gold, blue, turquoise and soft violet. Back in your Home World, people didn’t even look… humanoid, per se. Your Home World was… fluid. It was a different type of consciousness. Life itself was fluid. Existence was simply flowing with the sweet symphony of the Cosmos.

Your Home World operated on the basis of Love. People were very kind and jolly most of the time. Your people didn’t really understand this whole concept of non-Love. Suffering and terror… what the heck are those? Manipulation and lies… for what? Taking advantage of someone else, murder and theft… but… why? All of those concepts were so foreign yet so fascinating to your people.

When you heard that Earth needed some high-vibe volunteers to ‘raise her vibrations’, actually, not that many people from your Home World were interested LMAO The risks of being separated and forgetting Love sounded not worth a good dime. Your World was so peaceful, loving and fulfilling. But the call from Earth felt a little too urgent! So… Some curious and courageous Souls finally decided to take a test drive. Just a preview. It couldn’t be that bad, you thought.

a promise before birth – King of Wands

With gleeful optimism, you promised people back Home that you would be back with grand stories! Off you and your Soul Mates went to a big academy (on another World) to study and prepare for a reincarnation on Earth. Yup, unlike the other Piles in which they couldn’t help but arrive on Earth, you chose to come here out of genuine curiosity. You were expecting dramatic fun!

You and your Divine Counterpart were giggling with anticipation as you prepared yourselves to dive into the Earth Matrix. You and your Divine Counterpart are powerful Souls; you were confident this Game would be between easy to medium difficulty, although you had been told Earth Game’s level of easy is the equivalent of extra hard anywhere else! Your optimism deafened you to that piece of information🤷🏻‍♀️

You kissed your Divine Counterpart and said, ‘I love you. Let’s find each other quickly in this Game. Let’s have fun and then go back to tell everyone what we’ve seen! It’ll be great!’ Your Divine Counterpart nodded in agreement and waved to all members of your Soul Family and they did the same. With great determination to serve your collective consciousness back Home, you dove into the illusions of Life on Earth🌎

finding each other – 5 of Pentacles

Arriving here, from the moment you were born as a child the world was already chaos. The reality of Earth was too shocking to bear alone. Who would’ve thought the density of Earth would cause you this much pain? Physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, everythingally. You thought, ‘Damn, my training at the academy told me nothing, NOTHING, of this!’ Literally you didn’t expect Earth’s negative polarisation would be THIS fucked up.

For you’ve come from a world of nothing but Love, Life on Earth was soul-shattering to say the least. Many moments you’ve thought it impossible to go back to the frequencies of Love and you became dejected as fuck. But you’ve only forgotten that YOU are Love. You carry the memories of all your collective consciousness that supports your coming here. As long as you tap into this Love deep within yourself, so shall you be reconnected to the essence of who you are on a profound Soul level. There, as well, you will feel the heartbeat of your Divine Counterpart.

For you’ve come from Love, it’s as if your Divine Counterpart had left a piece of their Heart in yours so you never feel alone. You are both a complete whole carrying a piece of each other’s essence everywhere you go—a perfect personification of the Yin-Yang symbolism. You are literally inseparable and have never truly been separated. A piece of your Heart in theirs is always reminding them of their ultimate goal in this incarnation: to find each other, weave stories together, and infuse a piece of yourselves into the collective conscious of Mankind as a token of gratitude—for all the experiences.

TURNING THE PAGES🔻💛

story behind your Union – Red Astronomer (Johannes Kepler)

the rest of your days – Priestess of Illumination

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☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

[PAC Masterlist] [Part 1] [Part 3]

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[justinspoliticalcorner]

Mike Hixenbaugh at NBC News:

METROPOLIS, Ill. — The pastor began his sermon with a warning. Satan was winning territory across America, and now he was coming for their small town on the banks of the Ohio River in southern Illinois. “Evil is moving and motivated,” Brian Anderson told his congregation at Eastland Life Church on the evening of Jan. 13. “And the church is asleep.” But there was still time to fight back, Anderson said. He called on the God-fearing people of Metropolis to meet the enemy where Satan was planning his assault: at their town’s library. A public meeting was scheduled there that Tuesday, and Christians needed to make their voices heard. Otherwise, Anderson said, the library would soon resemble a scene “straight out of Sodom and Gomorrah.” The pastor’s call to action three months ago helped ignite a bitter fight that some locals have described as “a battle for the soul” of Metropolis.

The dispute has pitted the city’s mayor, a member of Eastland Life Church, against his own library board of trustees. It led to the abrupt dismissal of the library director, who accused the board of punishing her for her faith. And last month, it drew scrutiny from the state’s Democratic secretary of state, who said the events in Metropolis “should frighten and insult all Americans who believe in the freedom of speech and in our democracy.” Similar conflicts have rocked towns and suburbs across the country, as some conservatives — convinced that Democrats want to "sexualize" and indoctrinate children — have sought to purge libraries of books featuring LGBTQ characters and storylines. Republican state legislatures have taken up a wave of bills making it easier to remove books and threatening librarians with criminal charges if they allow minors to access titles that include depictions of sex.

To counter this movement, Illinois Democrats last year adopted the first state law in the nation aimed at preventing book bans— which ended up feeding the unrest in Metropolis. Under the law, public libraries can receive state grant funding only if they adhere to the Library Bill of Rights, a set of policies long promoted by the American Library Association to prevent censorship.

Many longtime residents were stunned when these national fissures erupted in Metropolis, a quirky, conservative city of about 6,000 people that has a reputation for welcoming outsiders. Because of its shared name with the fictional city from DC Comics, Metropolis has for the past half century marketed itself as “Superman's hometown.” Tens of thousands of tourists stop off Interstate 24 each year to pose beneath a 15-foot Superman statue at the center of town, to attend the summertime Superman Celebration, or to browse one of the world’s largest collections of Superman paraphernalia at the Super Museum.

“Where heroes and history meet on the shores of the majestic Ohio River,” the visitor’s bureau beckons, “Metropolis offers the best small-town America has to offer.” But lately, the pages of the Metropolis Planet — yes, even the masthead of the local newspaper pays homage to Clark Kent — have been filled with strife. Unlike in comic books and the Bible, the fight in Metropolis doesn’t break along simple ideological lines. Virtually everyone on either side of the conflict identifies as a Christian, and most folks here vote Republican. The real divide is between residents who believe the public library should adhere to their personal religious convictions, and those who argue that it should instead reflect a wide range of ideas and identities.

During his sermon in January and in the months since, Anderson has cast his congregation and their God as righteous defenders of Metropolis — and the Library Bill of Rights and its supporters as forces of evil. If Christians didn’t take a stand, Anderson warned, there would soon be an entire children’s section at the library “dedicated to sexual immorality and perversion.” And before long, he said, the town would be hosting “story hour with some guy that thinks he’s a girl.”

[...] A week later, the board went into a closed session and presented Baxter with an ultimatum: If she wanted to keep her job, she needed to sign a performance improvement plan. It stipulated that she would abide by the Library Bill of Rights, seek state grant funding and discontinue praying aloud with children and other religious activities at the library. Baxter refused to sign and began to criticize the board. Voices were raised, according to three members. After a few minutes, James, the board president, slammed her fist on the table. “This is not up for debate, Rosemary,” she said. “Either sign it, or don’t.” Baxter stood up and left. Minutes later, the board came out of closed session. By a vote of 5-3, they terminated Baxter’s employment. Baxter’s departure left the library in turmoil. Four employees resigned soon after, and the board got to work picking up the pieces.  They brought on a former library employee to serve as interim director and embarked on top-to-bottom reviews of the library’s catalog and finances. “Our focus,” James said, “is making sure our library is strong and healthy and there to serve everyone.” Then, on March 19, the story of Baxter’s firing was picked up by Blaze Media, a national conservative outlet. In a column titled, “A librarian’s faithful service is silenced by a secularist takeover,” conservative talk radio host Steve Deace interviewed Baxter and Anderson and reported that both had come under fire for their Christian beliefs.

Deace presented the local saga as a warning that evil forces were now coming for small-town America and blamed the problems in Metropolis, in part, on “a California transplant who is living with another man,” referring to Loverin, the library board member. Three days later, Metropolis Mayor Don Canada — who in 2021 had appointed Anderson, his pastor, to an open seat on the City Council — took a stand of his own. In letters addressed to James and two other board members, Canada announced that he’d “lost faith in the Board in its current state.” As a result, he was removing James and two others who’d voted to terminate Baxter. 

In Superman's alleged hometown of Metropolis, Illinois, the town has been engulfed with strife over conflicts on the direction of the town's public library, with Eastland Life Church Pastor Brian Anderson leading a war against the library as part of the faux moral panic about LGBTQ+ books that right-wingers falsely claim such books "sexualize" children.

[cloutchase]

STRIFE BATTLECARDS!

(2/2)

[bobbimorses]

Real reasson about Clint and Bobbi's divorce? I tough because Bobbi cheated on him, but not sure

absolutely not! i think that misunderstanding is likely from the end of the mockingbird solo in 2016, which decided to go ahead and try to retcon a very key event. let's get into it...

in west coast avengers, the whole team time travels to the old west. their time machine is broken and can only travel backwards. while trying to time travel back further, the phantom rider punches bobbi and takes her off the machine, separating her from the team (in space and time)

phantom rider takes bobbi to his cave and concocts a drug to convince her she's his wife

eventually, the two-gun kid (cowboy friend of hawkeye) tracks them down and is able to snap bobbi out of her drugged stupor. she realizes the extent of coercion that's occurred. clint is trapped in ancient egypt (and also dying), so he's not around for what comes next; during a showdown with bobbi, phantom rider falls off a ledge.

because fuck this guy, bobbi makes her choice: that is, choose to do nothing.

phantom rider's spirit actually just gets reincarnated when he dies, which bobbi admittedly didn't know about at the time, but fuck that guy.

when clint and bobbi are finally reunited, she doesn't divulge the sexual assault that occurred. several issues later, phantom rider's spirit in the present tells clint bobbi killed him and doesn't say why (bc fuck that guy). in what is notoriously the most dickish response (and writing) possible, clint goes "that's not what he said!!!!!!!" when bobbi tries to tell clint why she let phantom rider drop (bc, again, fuck that guy). and so, a rift is born.

clint's whole motto is "avengers don't kill," so his contentions are: you killed someone, you lied by omission, you betrayed my trust by not telling me. bobbi's are: that doesn't count as killing, that guy was a rapist, you are being a shitty husband. also fuck that guy.

the ensuing issues are a bunch of "pick a side" bullshit with the team and squabbling. which was ridiculous. clint's stance was so ridiculous that while all their acid and strife in west coast avengers continued, clint and bobbi would constantly be trying to reconcile and acting tenderly toward each other in concurrent issues of solo avengers. bc other writers thought "yeah fuck that guy."

so that's why they broke up. but also they didn't bc they got back together? but also they didn't get back together bc that was a skrull. but that wasn't supposed to be a skrull at the time and was only one retroactively. but then they got back together anyway. i digress.

ANYWAYS this brings us to mockingbird #8 (2016), which attempts to retcon all that in a way i can only describe as insulting. first of all, phantom rider's described as an ex of bobbi's, which is a terrible start.

then this happens:

yeah. whether the writer was trying to retcon the reasoning behind the divorce, bobbi having been sexually assaulted, or whatever aspect of the entire storyline, what instead comes across is that the writer decided "woman who survived sexual assault and asserted her agency in letting perpetrator die" should be "so like, bobbi cheated on clint, bc she makes her own decisions!" while we have panels of a man drugging her. ???? the only way you could potentially reconcile this is bobbi is lying to phantom rider to get him to fuck off (bc fuck that guy), but as i mentioned, she also calls him her "ex" in her internal monologue earlier in this very same issue, so that definitely didn't seem to be the writer's intention. sooo. we should all collectively ignore this retcon attempt.

there's also the added complication of whether their divorce was finalized during west coast avengers what with bobbi being presumed dead but then not dead, and then clint actually dying and then undying and then dying and then undying again, bobbi confirming they were divorced in new avengers reunion, but then hawkeye v4 later having clint sign divorce papers...but that's not the crux of the issue at hand. leave that for a wills and trusts probate hypo.

SO in summary: not really. if you found this obnoxiously long, enjoy this even longer text post i once made summarizing their relationship, kind of!

[agirlattea]

Mahoyaku Spell Translations:

- Characters are from the main storyline only (Ms1, Ms1.5/Anni1, Anni2, Ms2, Anni4)

- All translations are my own, but I used google translate to define the Latin words

Sage’s Wizards:

Central Wizards:

- Oz

Spell: Vox Noct

(ヴォクスノク)

Lit. Vokusunoku

Meaning: The Voice of the Night

Vox: Latin word for “voice”

Noct: Lain word for “night”

- Arthur Granvelle

Spell: Pernoctant Nix Zo

(パルノクタン・ニクスジオ)

Lit. Parunokutan Nikusujio

Meaning: I spent a night in the snow with Oz

Pernoctant: Latin for “spend the night”

Nix: Latin word for “Snow”

Zo: Oz backwards

- Cain Knightly

Spell: Gladious Procella

(グラディアス・プロセーラ)

Lit. Guradiasu Purosera

Meaning: Sword Storm or Storm of Swords

Gladious: Latin word for “Sword”

Procella: Latin word for “Storm”

- Riquet Ortiz

Spell: Sanretia Edif

(サンレティア・エディフ)

Lit. Sanretia Edifu

Meaning: Eternal Faith

Sanretia: The Latin word “Aiternus” backwards, which means “eternal”

Edif: The Latin word “Fide” backwards, which means “by faith”

Northern Wizards:

- Snow and White

Spell: Nos Comunia

(ノスコムニア)

Lit. Nosucomunia

Meaning: We are one

Lit. We are common/ we have in common (Common meaning the same, presumably as each other)

Nos: Latin word for “us”

Comunia: Latin word for “common” or “the same”

- Mithra

Spell: Arthim

(アルシム)

Lit. Arushimu

Meaning: Mithra’s name backwards

Arshim: (roughly) ミスラ (Misura) backwards

Mi su ra -> A ru shi m

(Because the romanization of Misura is Mithra, I changed Arsim to Arthim)

- Owen

Spell: Cur Memini

(クーレ・メミニ)

Lit. Kure Memini

Meaning: Why remember? or Why do I remember?

Cur: Latin word for “why”

Memini: Latin for “I remember”

Spell: Quare Morito

(クアーレ・モリト)

Lit. Kuare Morito

Meaning: Why die? or Why did he die?

Quare: Latin word for “why”

Morito: Latin word for “dying”

- Bradley Bain

Spell: Adono Potensum

(アドノポテンスム)

Lit. Adonopotensumu

Meaning: I give power

Adono: Latin for “I give”

Potensum: Latin word for “Powerful”

Eastern Wizards:

- Faust Lavinia

Spell: Satilliuqnart Mul Kred

(サティルクナート・ムルクリード)

Lit. Satirukunato Murukurido

Meaning: Many tranquil beliefs

Satilliuqnart: The Latin word “Tranquillitas”, meaning “Tranquility” backwards

Mul: Latin word for “many”

Kred: Latin for “believe”

- Shino Sherwood

Spell: Matzah Sudipas

(マッツァー・スディーパス)

Lit. Matsa Sudipasu

Meaning: Good bread or Tasty bread

Matzah: A type of unleavened flat bread, part of Jewish cuisine

Sapidus: Latin for “tasty”

- Heathcliff Blanchett

Spell: Repusev Aivurup Sonus

(レプセヴァイヴルプ・スノス)

Lit. Repusevaivurupu Sonusu

Meaning: Dusk and the sound of rainfall

(Heathcliff’s own translation, which can be found Main Story 1, chapter 4.3 In Order to Become a Wizard)

Repusev: Vesuper (vesperi), the Latin word for“evening”, backwards,

Aivurup: Purvia (Pulvia), the Latin word for “rain”, backwards

Sonus: Latin word for “sound”

- Nero Turner

Spell: Adnodus Omnis

(アドノディス・オムニス)

Lit. Adonodisu Omunisu

Meaning: To tie all things together or All things tied together

Adnodus: Latin for “knotted”

Omnis: Latin word for “all”, “every”, or “any”

Western Wizards:

- Shylock Bennet

Spell: In vie belle

(インヴィーベル)

Lit. Inbiviberu

Meaning: There is beauty in strife

In: Latin word for “In/Into/On/Upon”

Vie: From the Latin word “Invitare” which means “To invite/take on a challenge”

Belle: From the Latin word “bella” which means “beauty”

- Murr Hart

Spell: Eanul Lambru

(エアニュー・ランブル)

Lit. Eanyu ranburu

Meaning: Shadow of the Moon or The Moon’s Shadow

Eanul: Lunae (Luna) backwards, means moon in many Latin based languages

Lambru : A rearrangement of the letters in “Umbral”, which relates to the Latin word “umbra” which means “shadow”

- Chloe Collins

Spell: Suisupisibo Voitingok

(スイスピシポ・ヴォイティンゴーク)

Lit. Suisupishibo Voitingoku

Meaning: Obsessive Knowledge

Suispisibo: The Latin word obisipsius, which means “obsessive”, backwards

Voitingok: The Latin word kognitiov, which means “cognition”, backwards

- Rustica Ferch

Spell: Amor Est Viesse

(アモレスト・ヴィエッセ)

Lit. Amoresuto Viese

Meaning: Love is strength

Amor: Latin word for “love”

Est: Latin for “to be” or “is”

Viesse: From the Latin word “vir” which means “strength”

Southern Wizards:

- Figaro Garcia

Spell: Possideo

(ポッシデオ)

Lit. Poshideo

Meaning: I posses or God of the Sea

Possideo: Latin for “I possess”

ALT. Could be a reference to Poseidon, the Greek God of the Sea, as Figaro is associated with the Ocean and has a history with deism

- Rutile Flores

Spell: Ortonik Sutomaoge

(オルトニク・セトマオージェ)

Lit. Orutoniku Setomaojie

Meaning: “A birth to the family” and “remove me” or “I will be removed”

Orto: relating to the Latin word “ortare” which means “birth” or “to create”

Nik: The English word “Kin” which means “family” backwards

Sutoma: “Amotus”, the Latin word for “removed”, backwards

Oge: “Ego”, the Latin word for “I”, backwards

- Lennox Ram

Spell: Fosetao Meiiuvat

(フォーセタオ・メユーヴォ)

Lit. Fosetao Meyuvo

Meaning: It helped me dig or he helped me dig

Fosetao: Latin for “He dug”

Mei: Latin word for “I”

Iuvat: Latin word for “to help”

- Mitile Flores

Spell: Ortonik Celosispilce

(オルトニク・セアルシスピルチェ)

Lit. Orutoniku Searushisupiruche

Meaning: “A birth to the family” and “To hide heaven”

Orto: relating to the Latin word “ortare” which means “birth” or “to create”

Nik: The English word “Kin” which means “family” backwards

Celo: Latin for “to hide” ALT. “heaven”

Sispilce: Latin word “Eclipsis” which means “to hide” or “to suppress”

Supporting Characters:

(In order of appearance):

- Tiletta Flores

Spell: Scintilla

(スキンティッラ)

Lit. Sukintira

Meaning: A fading spark or A faint Presence

Scintilla: Latin word for “Spark” which denotes “a trace of something that barely suggests its presence (According to Cornell Law School’s online definition)”

- Obisius

Spell: Volo Habere

(ヴォロ・ハベーレ)

Lit. Voro Habere

Meaning: I want what is rightfully mine

Volo: The present infinitive of the Latin word “velle” which means to “wish” or to “want”

Habere: The Latin word for “to have”- In Roman law it referred to one’s right to possess something

- Issac

Spell: Anima Vexat

(アニマム・ベクサト)

Lit. Anima Bekusato

Meaning: A Troubled Soul or Troubling a Soul

Anima: The Latin word for one’s “soul/spirit/life”

Vexat: Third person singular present active indicative form of the Latin word “Vexo” which means “to harass, annoy, or trouble”

- Zara

Spell: N/A

- Balthazar

Spell: Mare Praeda

(メア・プラエダ)

Lit. Mea Puraeda

Meaning: Prey of the sea

Mare: Latin word for the sea

Praeda: Latin word for “Prey”

[the-twilight-sword]

Arlecchino, Penguins, and Angels

This theory has a bit of everything.

Naming Parallels

Perinheri- the in-game book confirmed to be related to Arlecchino's past by her 5th character story

Peruere- her birth name

Pers- Freminet's pet penguin's namesake, readable as the in-game book Tales of a Snow-winged Goose. This is based on Mother Goose from our world, which has a harlequin variant. This book also includes a story about a "Princess Marcotte" who is clearly meant to be Clervie.

Le Père- the French word for father

Hleobranto Innamorato & Blade Runner

Hleobranto Innamorato is the other name for the book Perinheri, and seems to be based on our world's Orlando Innamorato and Orlando Furioso books. In volume two of Perinheri, we hear about Hleobrant and his unrequited love for Angelica, which parallels our Orlando books.

This is further corroborated by the local legend Fairy Knight Twins, Angelica and Medoro. In our Orlando, Medoro is the man Angelica ends up with. The achievement for defeating them is called "Tears in the Rain", a reference to the Blade Runner monologue that is repeated in Tales of a Snow-winged Goose with the line "from red giants to white dwarfs, from the shoulder of Orion to the glimmering Tannhauser Gate..."

The central theme of Blade Runner is the divide between the humans and the replicants, something paralleled in Perinheri and Tales of a Snow-winged Goose. In Perinheri, it says that the Crimson Moon dynasty existed before birds split into domestic and wild kindred, and Tales of a Snow-winged Goose says that seagulls split into two races; seagulls, which continue to fly; and auks, which would never take to the skies again. Clearly, the metaphor here is that humans have split into two races.

It wasn't until I watched this video that I began to understand what these parallels might mean for the overarching storyline. Crucially, the replicants are soldiers for an interstellar war designed so that humans don't have to fight.

Angels & Seelies

This is Arlecchino's boss form. Typically, she has just half a wing, but here, she has six. I most frequently see this design being likened to the appearance of a spider (which would match visually with the Black Widow), but I see this has the six wings of a seraph. In Judaism, seraphim are angels associated with fire, constantly burning; seraph means both "burning" and "serpent".

I don't think it's a stretch at this point to say that Seelies are angels. In fact, there are measures to prevent Seelies from falling in love (and having offspring) with humans- why would this be? Perhaps to avoid creating a Nephil, as might happen according the Book of Enoch (which Genshin takes inspiration from). The Earth is understood in Jubilees and Enoch to have been flooded, inp part, for the sins of the Nephilim, which included drinking blood.

Kaeya & the Blessing of the Crimson Moon

Arlecchino can use the blessing of the Crimson Moon's blood, probably due to her lineage. The same goes for Kaeya, who, like Arlecchino, isn't effected by the "curse of wilderness" which Chlothar says turns all but pure-blooded Khaenri'ahns into monsters.

If you read the lore for Arlecchino's weapon, the Crimson Moon Semblance, you will understand the connection. The drinking of wine symbolises receiving the blood, and the blessing, of the Crimson Moon. How does this connect to Kaeya? Recall his father's letter from Hidden Strife. The Alberich clan are connected to the concept of purifying flame, the same concept as purgatory.

The Wagner Section

For me, every great Genshin Impact theory needs a reference to the operas of Wagner. In this case, it's the "Tannhauser gate" line in the Blade Runner monologue, a possible reference to Tannhäuser, the opera. It follows a bard of sorts and his infatuation with Venus and her underground realm "Venusberg". The evening star in our world is in fact not a star at all, but the planet Venus, and is associated with the fallen angel Lucifer (the demon to which the Ars Goetia's Paimon is obedient to). Khaenri'ah, the underground nation with its star motif, seems to reference Venusberg.

[nightdragonvigil]

Call of Duty (Modern Warfare) Fanfiction Real???

Okay, hear me out. I don't play COD nor do I have gaming consoles. But I have friends, and I picked up on COD from them. Eventually, I found the wiki. I've been swearing that I'd put something on this Tumblr and I'm proud to put this on here as my first post. I believe that the game and the storyline had potential. I particularly love what I can get from the bits of storyline on the wiki, and I decided to make my own spinoff of it. If Activision happens to find this post, and you guys don't like it, I don't mind taking it down. I can keep my writing and my ideas to myself. But here it is! I'm particularly proud of this. CW For: - Graphic descriptions of blood and violence - Giant snakes - Disturbing imagery - Descriptions of implied political strife https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dcSNTRhqMKxH6hK8weLsPVh4Nlr7VLz0DDrRTa9nH1I/edit?usp=sharing I hope you enjoy! Some things some users might not pick up on: - The Naga is basically the Hydra of South Asia. It comes from Thailand. They are depicted as snakes with one or multiple heads, or with human upper bodies and snake lower bodies. -"Mudcat" is the colloquial name for a species of fish called the Flathead Catfish. They are bottom feeders and, therefore, do not taste very good. -Yes, you can eat snakes.

[ddarker-dreams]

Nexus Trivia

A/N: to commemorate the final chapter of nexus' main storyline, i wanted to string together some trivia relating to the story/its creation process!

Nexus index.

When planning out this story, I wanted to draw from Greek mythology because I felt some of the motifs/themes would mesh well. Some of the references are more evident than others. These references include:

The planet Eris' name, owing to the goddess of discord/strife.

Ania, Reader's mother, is the personification of ache and anguish.

Chrysus, the spirit of gold.

Caicias, god of the northeast wind.

The quadrant Reader lives in, Thelx, is a shortened version of Thelxinoë. This name is attributed both to a siren and one of the four Titan muses. Charming minds was her area of expertise.

The name of Reader's business, the LOTUS-EATER, is a reference to (surprise) the lotus-eaters mentioned in Homer's Odyssey. An island where people pass their days leisurely in fantasy felt fitting for the Synalink business.

As for Reader/N darling, her motifs draw from the goddess of the soul, Psyche. There's also hints of Persephone in there because well. Blade and his connection to death/his obsession that disturbed Reader's mother parallels Hades and Demeter.

The inspiration for Reader's last name, Phaeales, is a shortened version of Nymphaeales, an order of flowering plants. Lotus' fall under this category. Coincidentally, the name for the largest butterfly family is Nymphalidae. Reader and Psyche are both associated with butterflies/butterfly wings. These shared prefixes went on to form the basis for the humanoid long-life species found on Eris, Nymphalians.

Since there was so much butterfly stuff fluttering about, I was like hey, why not commit to the bit. So some of the areas in Eris are named after flower parts. There's Perianth, the outer part of a flower, and the nectary, which is where, unsurprisingly, nectar is formed.

Nectar guides, the railroad system on Eris, references the special markings on flowers by the same name. Nectar guides are those lil lines that guide pollinators to their pollen and nectar.

Okay enough etymology for now. The one thing I kept from my first outline is Nexus' ending, I changed just about everything else. The ending felt like such a gut punch that I couldn't just change it into a one-shot, it wouldn't hit the same.

There was going to be more philosophy but I spared everyone that. Originally, I associated Blade with determinism, Reader with rational-egoism, Nona with nihility, and Lear with humanism. There's still some traces of this but I toned it down a bit 😭

I didn't spare everyone from Freud though, which might be worse tbh. Reader's character was roughly built around his concept of the ego, Nona, the id, and Lear, the superego.