#aka; it represents change and shift

[sihtricfedaraaahvicius]

sooo I will be doing a big update to my masterlist post today, I will split the eras up and give it a clearer overview etc etc, you'll find out. but that means I won't be posting any fics today since it is my birthday, and besides having lowkey plans in the evening, I have an important meeting scheduled in an hour. and I need to do a little Lughnasadh celebration as well! it's a strangely busy day...

anyway here are some edits of my fave boy(s) before I gotta run

[eamour]

thoughts come from feeling.

you may know this or not, but your thoughts do not actually exist individually or on their own. they aren’t the root of your manifestations. your thoughts, if you like it or not, come from one thing: feeling.

a thought's origin.

all of your thoughts come from your feeling. now, you could replace the word "feeling" with "belief" or "state" because every feeling, everything you deem as either true or false represents a state aka an underlying belief.

thoughts of fear, thoughts of exhaustion, thoughts of confusion, thoughts of disappointment — they all come from their associated state. feelings of fear generate thoughts of fear, and so on.

creating, feeling and thinking.

this is how edward summarises it. you create by creating a feeling you would like to feel. then, you feel it. you feel it to be true, to be correct, to be real. and last but not least, thoughts based on that feeling will rise up. the last part is something you don’t even have to control as it happens naturally.

feel first, think later.

it’s never a thought that happens first. this might be a bit difficult to recognise but your feeling happens to occur BEFORE the thoughts you start to think. why is this important? it’s important because this simply means that the thoughts you are thinking have no creative power on their own. they hold no truth as they are what's being created. your thoughts are a creation of FEELING. and you can use that to your advantage!

if your feeling generates thoughts and if your thoughts give evidence to your feeling / state, your thoughts will have to change accordingly if you change your feeling. consequently, once you change your feeling, all thoughts linked to that feeling already exist as well.

thoughts don't matter.

what i'm trying to say is: your thoughts aren’t the ones that manifest. it’s your state, your feeling, your belief, what you know and accept to be true — not what you simply "think" to be true. when you assume, accept, know, believe or feel something to be true, in the end, it’s still a "thought" but a thought you think with conviction.

a change of feeling.

so, how do we change our feeling? we know that it’s not our single thoughts that we need to change but our feeling. how do we do that? we do it by simply feeling what we would want to feel. it sounds too easy but that’s basically everything we need to do. since your thoughts can tell you which state you are in at this given moment and since we think from our feelings, all we can do is to change our feeling.

feel yourself to be who you would want to be. feel yourself to have what you would want to have. bask yourself in the feeling. experience and enjoy feelings of richness, love, peace, success, and more! the moment you focus on feeling what you would want to feel, the moment you make it your goal to aim for the end, that’s when you will naturally generate your desired thoughts.

your mind, your feelings.

again and again, it’s your mind. not mine, only yours. and that’s where the magic happens. you are allowed to feel anything you'd like because your mind is YOUR safe space. no one can harm you there. no one can judge you. truly, try to relax in there. in your mind, it's secure. and it is up to you to what extent you would like to feel confident, happy, beautiful and more.

JUST FEEL IT, DON'T QUESTION OR REASON OR THINK, JUST FEEL. — edward art.

you don’t have to identify with anything you dislike. you can stop being a servant to unfavourable thoughts and no longer serve them. you can shift your feeling and start to feel good about yourself, your reality — everything! you can do it. you don't have to live a fearful, unfulfilling and limiting life.

desirable feelings.

this is probably by far the most important point in this post, also due to personal experience. dear reader, you cannot force yourself to do something you don’t want to do. you cannot commit to something you don’t love. that being said, you cannot feel what you don’t wish to feel.

if you truly want to change self and shift your state, you must find a feeling you deeply desire to feel. a feeling you cannot get tired of easily. a feeling that won’t bore you too quickly. let it be something your wholeheartedly wish to experience in imagination. not just something you kinda wanna feel. that won’t move you, that won’t change you. let it be a feeling you have been craving and longing for.

a new feeling.

once you genuinely start to feel feelings you have always, maybe even desperately wanted to feel, you will start to realise how amazing it is. you will want to do it more. you will naturally want to engage with these feelings and the same way you will naturally start to think desirable thoughts.

with love, ella.

[fantasticalchaos]

Slay the Princess x Ever After High AU

Okay SO— I’ll be quite honest I saw this post thought “hey that kinda reminds me of Slay the Princess— WAIT A SEC”

And here we are! The Elaboration!

Note: the Voices will come in their own post. For now it will be just 3 characters… in a sense: The Narrator, the Princess, and the Player! Contains also my interpretations of the roles. ALSO SPOILERS!!!!!

The Narrator 🪶

As I said in my previous post: Headmaster Milton Grimm would be the Narrator. One reason is that those two give the most gaslighting, gatekeeping and girlbossing characters in their respective series! Not telling everyone the entire story; Keeping them under the wraps and expecting them to follow through with the story/mission. (Milton = Everyone following their prewritten destinies regardless of how horrific and unfair it is. STP Narrator = Follow through with slaying the Princess.)

Second reason is well… spoilerly!

Here’s the rundown for those who don’t know (and mind spoilers)

Originally, the Player/Hero and the Princess were abstract concepts that were once one being. One that is basically the cycle of life and death.

The Princess, who were forced to slay, is the Shifting Mound (aka Shifty for the fans). Shifty is the concept of change, and changes her form to whatever the Player perceives her to be.

Likewise, the Player/Hero is the Long Quiet. The Long Quiet represents stagnation, having everything be alive and remain in its current state. Something that Narrator considers his creation.

The Narrator fears death, which is contained within Shifty. She is not death, but it is contained within her; Death is a natural part of change and life. He also doesn’t like the amount of suffering and chaos that Shifty brings to both him and his world. So, he does everything in his power, and manages to rip apart the two from the cycle… at the cost of his life.

Thus, he trapped the two entities in Construct away from reality, with the Princess as the prisoner (ironically a route you can take with her) and you - the player - the task to finally slay her. In some cases, he’ll even try to take control of you to do complete his dream. Sounds familiar huh? Who else would try to take such drastic measures to ensure it all will work in their favour/plan?

The Princess 👑

The Princess/Shifty… It could be anyone! It’s your choice!

Me personally? My pick would be Raven! Outside of her being my fave, there is a reason why I pick her! Raven’s one of the major characters in the series that challenges destiny!

Both Shifty and Raven wanted to be free! Albeit for different reasons. For Raven, she just wants to be herself and live the way she wants that is not hexpectated from others. Shifty, on the other hand, wants to free herself from the cabin (after being trapped there for so long) and leave.

And while both have their own level of extremities, they will do what they can to reach their goal. (Raven refusing to sign the book, and do little things that are not fit for being the Evil Queen. Shifty… well, let’s say there’s more than how she looks.)

Raven is also a powerful sorcereress in her own right as well! In fact, eventually she gets to overcome the barrier to use her magic for good! Hell, she wasn’t even supposed to use her powers for good; It’s rebelling her role as the Evil Queen! And she only was able to access her magic for good again when she decided to… let’s say sneak up some forbidden books 😉

Also, the Princess is chained to the wall in the cabin when you first encounter her. Who else was chained in a way? Raven, in the reflection at end after taking a peek into her destiny. (Legacy Day)

Scenes that became a core memory for me fr fr number ♾️ (sorry couldn’t help it)

Alternatively, my other pick would be Cerise! Consider it? Cerise is half werewolf, and her parents deviated from the story by falling in love with each other! And they all have to keep it secret lest they get discovered and go poof! And that is dangerous, something that Milton would not approve at all! Again, another individual wayyy stronger than she looks! It’s quite ironic actually… considering her fairytale…

“You’re on a path in the woods. And on that path is a cabin. In that cabin, there is girl in bright red hood. You need to slay her. If you don’t, it will be the end of the world.”

The Player/Hero 🗡️

Again, another one that could be anyone!

For me, it’s Dexter. And, yes I will admit I ship Dexven but I have a legit reason for this lemme cook! Now, we and Dexter himself don’t know his destiny. As in, what his fairytale destiny is; Who and which Prince Charming Dexter is supposed to be. This could work, as the Narrator (Milton) would be giving Dexter his “destiny.”

“Dexter Charming, this is your destiny! Isn’t this what you’ve been wanting to know your entire life once upon a time?”

“Well yeah… but I’m not so sure about—”

“Then I have full faith in you in carrying out your destiny. It is rather important destiny. It is for the greater good for all fairytales”

“But slaying a princess?!? I can’t imagine pulling through that…”

And the conflict with what Dexter knows about being the hero and a Prince Charming???? Yes, he’s supposed to be prince/knight in shining armour and save the day! But slaying a princess to do it??? What??? He’s also taught to save princesses and damsels in distress, not slay them! What will he do?

Additionally, Dexter can also be the Voice of the Hero too! Speaking of which… I will do the Voices in a separate post *rubs hands together with my chef hat* c:

Before we end things here, I will say this:

You don’t have to choose these characters (especially for the Princess and the Player/Hero roles) as there are no wrong choices. No wrong answers. These are my interpretations, and you have your own! This is a love story (au) with any of your EAH ships - and have fun with it! 🤗

[the-modern-typewriter]

Hey, hope you’re having a good day! I love you and your writing and advice, so I wanted to ask if you had any tips for writing a couple falling out of love? I’m having trouble figuring out pacing of these feelings snd events and also if there needs to be more plot because maybe that’s not enough by itself? I’m trying to make the overall feeling very melancholy and hopeless. Anyway thank you!!

Whether there needs to be more plot depends on the specific story you want to tell. Is the couple breaking up part of a story or what the story is about? What theme do you want to convey? You want the ending of the relationship to feel melancholy and hopeless, but is that what you want the overall mood of the story to be as well?

I would say that it can't all be internal narration/monologue. Even if they just exemplify the slow decline of the relationship, concrete plot events and choices need to happen outside of the character's heads. You also need reasons (AKA plot events, whether they are in the story or the past) for the characters to change.

On writing a couple falling out of love, I have questions for you instead of outright tips. This is because my biggest tip is that you need to know your characters and understand the relationship to understand why it's breaking because it's a character driven thing. The reasons for the breaking dictate the pace.

So, consider:

Why did they fall in love in the first place?

What is it that they loved about each other? Once you know this, it is easier to come up with concrete examples that show both this love and also the love fading.

E.g. Character A loves that Character B is very expressive about their feelings. They might be quick to say compliments, or give gifts. The flip side, then, when they fall out of love, is either that Character B has stopped doing that for X reason or that this positive quality also becomes a flaw to Character A because Character B is equally expressive about sharing more critical feelings and it doesn't go down well.

What kind of love is it?

Have they been together a long time? Was it a passionate, short fiery thing? With that in mind, do you WANT the ending of the relationship to be quick or slow?

And why are they falling out of love NOW?

Is it that the feelings themselves have changed? E.g. one character used to love that the other one character took risks, but as they grew older they no longer find it charming? Because Character A no longer wants adventure, they want to settle down. Character goals and wants have changed. Hence, causing conflict in the relationship.

Is it that the circumstances have changed? E.g. Did some big life event happen that changed the relationship? Loss of a job, change in location, illness etc. Hence, causing conflict in the relationship.

Again, what physical and external things can represent the interior shifts in the relationship?

For example, if it is lack of attraction in the relationship, is there another character that one side of the couple has real chemistry with that highlights the loss of chemistry in their existing relationship? In which case, your B plot may be 'will they or will they not have an affair as they grow closer to this other character?'

If it is that one character not putting time/energy into the relationship any more...where is that time/energy going instead and why? What is the new goal? Do you want the reader to root for them to achieve it?

[defectivehero]

setting

Setting the scene is one of the best tools a writer can have, as it allows for the reader to truly feel immersed in the story. But... how can an author set the scene? Is there a foolproof way to immerse the reader? (hint: the answer is no, lol.) Here are some things that help me build background and establish the setting. [as always, there’s no pressure to use any of these tips; writing is a unique process and there’s no “one size fits all” formula for it.]

Ordinary does not have to equal boring. Sometimes, it can be hard to escape the pressure of an interesting, entirely unique setting to provoke a reader’s interest. However, it can be hard to fulfill lofty expectations like those! Furthermore, there is absolutely nothing wrong with ordinary settings. In fact, embracing normality can really enhance a story. Office buildings, schools, grocery stores, gas stations... All of these places may seem ordinary, but that doesn’t mean they're uneventful. In fact, each place comes with its own unique challenges and occurrences, which is really useful for writing! Mundane activities such as purchasing groceries, walking out of a movie theater, and visiting a library for books can all create additional outlets for interaction and occurrence. 

Look to the details. This one is pretty self explanatory and probably something everyone already knew, but I figure it can’t be overstressed. The details really do make a difference! Little things like the way an office worker’s desk looks can reveal a lot about their character. For example, is their workspace cluttered with scattered papers? Or perhaps it’s pristine and looks nearly untouched? Those kinds of mundane things can be utilized to further establish your character’s desires, motivations, personality, etc.! Exploring a character in small, seemingly unimportant ways is pretty enjoyable and a fun exercise to further develop your character-building abilities.  

Utilize weather and climate conditions to add effect. This is another simple way to add some character to a scene! Weather can add symbolism—if a character is feeling melancholy, it may appear gloomy outside—but it can also simply add more detail and further flesh out the scene. Even better, the scene doesn't even have to occur outside! Weather conditions can still be noticeable from inside a building—think of the sound of precipitation, the presence/absence of sunlight, and the way light reflects off of different surfaces!

Embrace change. Sometimes, a story necessitates a return to a setting that already has been introduced. In these moments, it can be helpful to think of any potential changes that may have occurred since the last time the setting was visited. This can manifest in large-scale ways—such as a banker returning to their place of work, only to find that the building has caught fire and is now just a pile of rubble—or small-scale ways—think of a graduated student returning to their elementary school, only to find that it feels much smaller. Simple things can represent far bigger elements of a story—for example, a missing chair can represent a person’s death or foreshadow their future absence... a previously tidied area turning messy can hint at a future conflict... After all, most settings do not remain entirely unchanged. As people come and go, things are left behind, objects are moved/altered, and more!

Think about noise. Different settings will come with different levels of noise, which can also affect character interactions and conversations. If the characters are standing in a library, their voices may shift to hushed whispers. If there’s potential for eavesdropping (aka they're in a public space), there may be different gestures and means of communication. 

©2023, @defectivehero | @defectivevillain, All Rights Reserved. 

sigh. how’s it going, everyone? hope you’re all doing well.

somehow i got the inspiration to write this... let me know if y’all like this kind of content! i'd be happy to write more “writing tips” and things like that (you can send an ask if there’s something specific you’d like to see, too!)

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[wavypotatochips]

Kylian boyfriend possessive smut

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 | 𝐊𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐛𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞 [𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐌𝐔𝐓 𝐍𝐒𝐅𝐖]

𝘗𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴: Kylian Mbappe x Female Reader

𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙮 : In which your boyfriend, Kylian Mbappe, reminds you who you belong to.

Word Count : 1.9K

𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦: Sorry for the long wait!! It always takes me a while to write smut because I don't write smut in public LMFAOO [aka when I am at school] Thank you for requesting and I Hope you like how I represent your idea ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚!!

Site note: final exams have approached so for the next few weeks I may not be able to post as much I'd like too but expect at least once or twice per weekend. It really depends on how much I can do this week because so many requests are smut and it takes me forever to write smut since im still new when it comes to writing it LOLZ (you can still request smut im just saying :3 )

(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ I haven't been able to write as much as I usually do because of finals, and I'm now following up on current requests because I'm a little behind. You can make a request, but please keep in mind that it may take me a week or more to respond. mwah mwah love ya! ♥

You and your boyfriend Kylian are at a fancy event, dressed to the nines and enjoying the ambiance. As you make your way through the crowd, you notice a few glances directed your way, but you pay them no mind. Kylian, however, seems to be picking up on the attention and starts to feel a bit uncomfortable. He leans in close to you and whispers in your ear, “I don't like the way those guys are looking at you. You're mine, and I don't want anyone else checking you out."

His possessiveness and jealousy may have been toxic to other people, but you always found it attractive. You say, "Baby, you know I only have eyes for you," as your cheeks grow darker and you put your palm on his chest. He nods in agreement, but that doesn't imply he enjoys seeing other men eyeball you. Your body, including your contours and face, is all his. He is also not the kind of person who takes pleasure in sharing.

As the night progresses, you and Kylian are having a good time together, and he eventually excuses himself to use the restroom. 

While Kylian is away, you spot a male friend of yours, Alex, across the way. You wave and he makes his way over to you.

"Hey Y/N! I didn't know you were going to be here," Alex greets you with a smile.

"Hey Alex! Yeah, Kylian and I decided to come last minute. How about you?"

"I'm here with some friends. You know how it is," he chuckles.

You both continue to chat and laugh, catching up on each other's lives since you last saw each other. However, as Kylian returns, you notice his demeanor change. He walks towards you both with an intense look in his eyes.

"Hey, sorry I took so long," Kylian says as he reaches you. His gaze shifts to Alex, and his tone becomes tense. "Who's this?"

"Oh, this is Alex. He's a friend of mine from college," you reply, hoping to ease Kylian's jealousy.

Kylian's eyes narrow as he looks between you and Alex. "I see," he says curtly. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Alex. But Y/N and I were just leaving."

Alex nods and backs away, sensing the tension. You watch as he disappears into the crowd before turning to face Kylian, who is still looking at you with a dark expression.

"What was that about?" you ask, trying to understand what set him off.  Kylian grabs your hand and begins to drag you outside in the parking lot.

"I don't like the way he was looking at you and I already gave you a warning when we first arrived here so now I feel as if you need a reminder," Kylian replies, his voice low and tight.

You're doing your best to keep up with him, your breath quickening as your heartbeat pounds loudly from anxiety and excitement. "Kylian, we were just catching up. "He's just a friend," you say, attempting to persuade  him.

Kylian's jaw clenches as he opens the passenger door for you, not answering your initial statement. "Get in there and buckle up."

You sigh slightly as you move into the passenger seat and fasten your seat belt. 

Of course, you obey him and remain quiet. You know you're going to be punished when you get home, and even though you don't like getting punished, you can't help but be excited about what's to come.

As you both drive home, he stays quiet, lost in thought. Upon reaching home, he steps out of the car and walks around to your side, opening the door for you in a chivalrous gesture. Gratefully, you take his hand and he guides you inside your shared abode.

He draws you close after stepping inside, wraps his arms around your waist and pressing you firmly against the door. He presses his lips against yours with delicate desire, savoring the intimate moment. You sigh against his lips, and he inserts his fingers deeper into your hips, prompting you to whine. He lowers his hand, lifts your dress, and begins to stroke you through your panties.  He kisses you once on the lips and then starts kissing you all the way down to your neck. He licks and nibbles on your neck as he continues to play with you through your panties. 

"I think you forgot something, Y/N," he murmurs against your skin before raising his head to speak in your ear and slipping your panties to the side, feeling how wet you are already for him, putting two fingers inside you as he continues, "You are mine."  You gasp at the sensation of fast pleasure, gripping the door knob as your leg trembles slightly. 

“K-Ky-”

"I don't remember ever telling you to talk."

He inserts another finger, causing you to gasp loudly and almost collapse if it weren't for his hand remaining wrapped around your waist. Kylian smirks at your reaction, kissing you on the lips one more time before removing himself from you. "Let's go upstairs to the bedroom."

He smiles at you with desire before grabbing you by the waist and tossing you over his shoulder, prompting you to squeal as he rushes to the bedroom.

Once into the bedroom, he places you on the bed and immediately climbs over you. As he lays in between your legs, your legs are forced to open up. You can feel his bulge against your needy cunt even if he's wearing dress pants. "Y/N, can you feel what you've done to me?" He pulls your hair with his hand, forcing you to look up at him and briefly bites his bottom lip, "You look so pretty underneath me right now," he says seductively. He then presses his lips hungrily against yours. You moan against the kiss that has turned on more than you expected, lust and need coursing through your veins as you crave him. As you open your mouth to let his tongue explore inside, his lips feel so good against yours. You want him to devour you, take hold of you.

He breaks away from the kiss, stepping away from you as he rapidly removes his shirt and undoes his pants. You swiftly remove your dress and bra while lying on the bed. You're still wearing your panties and high heels. As you were going to undo your high heels with the tie leg design, Kylian presses you back on your back, now only in his boxers. "No, leave them on." They look good on you." He smirks as he grabs your thighs and pulls your legs open. He licks his lips at the sight of your crimson lace underwear, which barely cover your cunt. “Look at how wet you are for me, Y/N. Your body knows who owns it,” he traces his finger over your abdomen. “Kylian please,” you beg as you look up at him feeling needy. “Please what?,” he questions as he leans over you, pressing his hard bulge against your panties. “Tell me what you want, Y/N. Use your words.”

“ I want you inside of me. Please, fuck me,” you beg. And that was enough to make Kylian snap.

Kylian gets off of you and stands up at the side of the bed. He slips your panties off and raises one of your legs, allowing it to rest on his shoulder. He pulls his boxers down, letting his aching cock to slam up against his belly button. He grabs it and rubs it along your slit, lubricating it with your fluids. "Let me remind you of who you belong to."

He rams himself into you without spending any more time. You exhale a loud gasp, arching your back against his body as he thrusts in and out of you. As he pushes you down onto him, he has one hand on your waist and the other on your leg. He groans as he sees your boobs bounce up and down, his body becoming even more turned on by the pleasurable expressions on your face. "Remember this the next time a guy tries to talk to you," he moans, thrusting harder into you. Because the sensation is so great, you can barely form words or see straight. Your entire body is on fire, and you feel like crying from how fantastic he is making you feel. "Y/N, tell me who owns you….Who does this pretty pussy belong to?" he demands as he pants. Your head is still on cloud nine, and you can hardly hear him as you grip the covers firmly. The only sounds coming from the bedroom are your pleasurable cries, his moans, and the clapping sound of your bodies colliding with the push. “Say it, Y/N. NOW.”  He removes his hand from your hip and moves down to rub your clit as he continues to thrust, your body trembling from the feeling. “Y-YOU Kylian YOU OWN ME! ONLY YOU!,” you cry out making him groan and continue to fasten his pace. 

 Kylians cock fills you up with ease, due to his large nature, and you loved every single feeling of it. You could tell the feeling was mutual due to the way his jaw was clenching and the groans that would occasionally escape his lips. Only after him continuously thrusting inside of you for a few more seconds, did your body begin to tremble harshly- hinting at an orgasm quickly approaching,” Ky-Kylian Im c-close!” You moan loudly as he pushes your leg down and grabs both of your hips,lifting your body from the bed slightly as he continues to pound your cunt. He groans, “I am too,” and you begin to feel his thrust begin to get a bit sloppy.  As he begins to thrust slower, but making sure to go deep each time causing you to cry out. “You are so gorgeous my love, I love hearing you cry for me. Your body is mine,” He begins to quicken his pace, “You are all mine… only mine,” Kylian cues as he throws his head back, groaning loudly. You continue to moan, “Y-Yes Kylian Im all yours! Only yours!,” you continued to spill out words, not even clearly knowing what you are saying at this point from the euphoric feeling. Kylian moves his hips faster causing his thrust to become harder, causing you to scream his name loudly- not being able to give him a warning and beginning to have an intense orgasm. You are gasping as your thighs begin to shake violently, your pussy squeezing tightly against Kylians cock. He winces from the painful, yet pleasurable feeling before groaning loudly and cumming inside of you as well. He thrusts slowly as he feels the cum shoot out of him, “You are such a good girl for me. MY good girl,” he says with grit teeth. You moan from the feeling, your legs continuing to tremble. You love feeling his cock pump all of his cum in you,after all, you are his.

Once Kylian feels as if he is done, he pants heavily and pulls his cock out of you. He watches as his cum with a mixture of yours oozes out of you, feeling turned on once more from the view. “Fuck…..,” he grumbles as he collapses against you.

You just had the best sex with Kylian….. you can't even feel the heels on your feet right now. You don't even mind that his cum is flowing outside of you. You're exhausted, but you can't help but think about next time, you should intentionally get him mad to feel his possessive sex again. 

[cafecitoeddie]

oooh how do you interpret that sunrise/sun/sunset post??

this post is phenomenal and has sent buddieblr all into a spiral.

OKAY. so take a trip with me. this first picture we originally thought to mean sunrise correct. it’s the start of something new something awakening. remember eddie says to buck "welcome back to the land of the living buck" aka seeing life for what it is right in front of him

HOWEVER. we can also assume since it is at the end of a shift it can be the end of the day the first picture has to be sunset. it’s after their call about eddie bringing him to speak to christopher. the first steps toward buck realizing maybe he has a much stronger place in bucks life the light is fading but the night is young buck is about to embark on something that will change his life. the night bleeds into the days yet to come.

the sun represents the way buck sees eddie. during the basketball game buck is seeing eddie in a whole new light because of his feelings. his unresolved unspecified feelings for his best friend. he’s angry at himself and ends up overreacting in the worst way. he pushes his feelings down but deviates and focuses on tommy who is very much like eddie, could possibly even be like the sun too.

if we’re following the ALTERNATIVE of this the sun again stays very much the same. buck is seeing eddie in a whole new light basked in the suns glow as something so beautiful so bright literally the sun in the sky.

sunset: buck has come to terms with the fact that eddie is everything he's ever been looking for but its too late.. he's happy with tommy and eddie wants nothing to do with him the so light is almost gone and a new day will start. buck will realize fully the weight of all his feelings but he's making peace with that.. a new day.

OR ALTERNATIVELY the last picture is just after a 24 hour shift the intensity of the call still seeping into his bones but eddie is there eddie who is brushing him off because of reasons!!!

buck tries his best to meet eddie’s eyes but eddie isn’t having it. buck just tries so hard because buck needs eddie to look at him he needs it because— oh. eddie.

buck can't he can't possibly no he’s with tommy and eddie wants nothing to do with him but his feelings are so intense. and it's been night time for quite a while now but the sun is coming. except.. the night is always darkest before the dawn, before the feelings realization taking place!!!

(A’s dms need a shoutout because i’M SORRY there were so many messages!!!!!!!!!)

[animeisforanimation]

Dune x Trigun

Is it just me or are there zero (0) crossover fanfics?

And like, probably that’s reasonable as the two desert worlds overlap too much while the narratives do too little. However! If we look beyond the first two novels and delve into the God Emperor with sprinkles of Children the opportunities are infinite:

First of all: plant are derived from sand worms, so the two concepts overlap and mix together.

Vash and Knives are Ghanima and Leto II but with a sprinkle of Alia and Paul and also a twist: Knives DO merge with Vash during one of their confrontations

The rest of their fights / talks are in their mindscape

in his godhood Knives/Vash is not omnipotent, but has immense plant powers, the memories of ancestors get replaced with minds of Zazie (aka plants/worms) and Vash

let me eleborate: KNIVES AS LETO II A GIANT WORM GOD RULER OF THE UNIVERSE but there’s is still Vash in him slowly regaining control like a reverse of baron Vladimir changing Alia.

In trigun turms it’s Noah ark: Knivse’s body has shifted and Vash is under his control (for a time being)

Nicholas is Duncan. Ghola Duncan? Probably (here I can’t but think of Lenipes’ two Wolfwood aka Padre and his clone). Not sure if he should suffer from being a murder, from not being human, being a man out of time or all of the above altogether. God. They fall into each other perfectly!

Milly as knives’s bride Hwi (a perfect understanding person, sunshine incarnate but probably minus her disturbing birth and upbringing? Or at least toned down). She’d kinda be the one to wake Vash (sorry, Meryl, my love! It should be your role, but…)

Meryl is Siona. The Answer to all the questions. The woman so strong willed that she’ll never ever stop chasing the God.

Eye of Michael is Bene Gesserit. (What does it imply? The order is no longer only women? Or Trans Wolfwood and Livio? Dunno)

Roberto is Hvi’s dad whose name I don’t remember but who jumped out of the tower in the most impressive way.

Elindira is Moneo (does this make her Meryl’s parent? I guess? Just for the lol factor)

Legato is just there, I guess. Representing those who believe in the God.

Have you been honest, I love this idea. Am I going to write that? Not really. Maybe just eleborate on the plot? Maybe not even that. But I needed to get that out of my system.

PS - oh. I just realized I got my Knives/Milly into twins/Milly which is weird. But also there is Wolfwood/Meryl and of course Vashwood but Knives is there too (in Dune Leto is OBSESSED with Duncan. Revives the man times and times again even though he tries to kill him all the time)??? God that’s messy xD

[mariacallous]

From the second the message popped up on X, it had a familiar ring. Jools Lebron, the TikTok creator who went viral just a few weeks ago for a post discussing “very demure, very mindful” work looks, was upset that, seemingly, someone had attempted to trademark her viral phrase.

In a since-deleted video, Lebron lamented through tears that her future ability to sell demure-branded merchandise seemed in jeopardy. “I wanted this to do so much for my family, provide for my transition, and I just feel like I dropped the ball,” Lebron said, adding that “someone else has it now, and I don’t even know what I could have done better, because I didn’t have the resources.”

Lebron’s situation is echoed in the story of fellow Chicagoan Peaches Monroee. Back in the summer of 2014, the then-teenager posted a video on TikTok precursor Vine describing her eyebrows as “on fleek.” Her catchphrase caught on everywhere, from Nicki Minaj lyrics to Kim Kardashian posts. #Brands like Taco Bell hopped on the trend; Forever 21 made crop tops. Monroee, aka Kayla Lewis, reaped no rewards. Three years after the trend went viral, she launched a GoFundMe and raised just shy of $17,000, according to the campaign’s page.

Like “on fleek,” “demure” has attracted scores of admirers. Jennifer Lopez. The White House. Kim Kardashian (again). Earthquake survivors. The original video has nearly 50 million views, and Lebron’s follower count is now above 2 million. She appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! while RuPaul was serving as guest host. But her ability to seize her moment of internet fame may not meet exactly the same fate as Lewis’. Despite the fact that a Washington resident named Jefferson A. Bates and the company Do or Drink both filed “demure” applications with the US Patent and Trademark office, Lebron posted a TikTok on Tuesday saying that it’s been “handled.” “Mama got a team now!” she exclaimed, smiling.

Exactly how it got handled is unclear—Bates didn’t respond to an email seeking comment, and representatives for Lebron and Do or Drink didn’t reply, either. Still, the tug-of-war marks something of a shift in how the internet understands the value of trends. Almost as soon as word of the “demure” trademarks surfaced, social media sprung into action decrying the fact that anyone other than Lebron would try to claim the phrase.

One lawyer on TikTok, who uses the handle @bellewoods, did a breakdown explaining that “Jools is going to be just fine” because of the intricacies of how the trademark system in the US works. Another TikTokker claimed to have filed her own trademark application with the intention of transferring ownership to Lebron. (Though, as a Washington Post story this week pointed out, transferring a trademark may not be so easy.) In the comments section of the “handled” TikTok, brands ranging from Ritz Crackers to Zillow weighed in with emoji-strewn affirmations.

All of this underscores that, unlike 10 or 15 years ago, there is now a greater understanding that “content creation is labor,” says Kate Miltner, a lecturer in data, AI, and society at the University of Sheffield’s Information School. “It is time-consuming and often poorly remunerated labor for the most part,” but far more people make entire careers out of being content creators than a decade ago, Miltner adds, “and it feels like an ethics of plagiarism, in addition to trademark/copyright, have come into play.”

Simply put, people get this shit now. A decade after “on fleek,” creators are much smarter when it comes to ownership of their creations. “A series of conversations and discourses about cultural appropriation and where a lot of contemporary (online) language comes from (Black communities, queer communities) have happened since Peaches Monroee,” Miltner says. Lebron may have felt like she dropped the ball because of a lack of resources, but the resources she did have were other creators who knew how to call out what had happened. She also had companies like Netflix, which—perhaps anticipating blowback for just hopping on a viral trend—just asked that Lebron curate a “Very Demure, Very Mindful” list.

Will this happen every time? No. Memes built from everyday language will always be hard to trademark—Miltner cites Fox Media’s unsuccessful attempt to trademark “OK Boomer” as an example. But now that even Hawk Tuah Girl has merch, the possibilities of getting credit for your meme, or even cash, don’t seem as unlikely as they did before. Might your meme get ingested and reinterpreted by an artificial intelligence bot? Yes. Will that bot be able to make a T-shirt? Er, well, that might happen, too. Creators, especially minority creators, will always have to fight to keep control of their works once they’ve been unleashed onto the world. Now, though, they have a few more coaches in their corner.

[saliosis]

your subway order total is $19.21

(extra notes below)

ok, so here's the deal with the slight design change! (i swear, it's cool)

i wanted to make chuck latino because i joked about it once (w/ fred stoller being on handy manny saying "my amigos 😆" and then saying his colors look like the flag of colombia 💀) but it stuck for some reason. to me, it works PERFECTLY.... if becky can be an alien who is

"ambiguously brown"

then why can't a sandwich person like chuck also be brown, yknow 🔥⁉️

(help i keep accidentally latinoifying wg characters--)

chuck? nah. he is now, officially

chuck el sandwichero perverso 🥪🇨🇴‼️🔥

(as they call him in the spanish dub aka chica supersabia)

for starters, i wanted to experiment with changing the type of bread he's based on. i can assume chuck is based on the classic sandwich made up of white bread (...💀) so i wanted to change it up for latino chuck.... yknow... yknow.... yknow.... 🕴️

i'm also just not a fan of plain white bread 🤕 LMFKAJDKSN

i had a couple of options to chose from so i can upgrade his sandwichness™ 💭 but i decided to settle onnnnnnn..........................

funky multigrain bread!! my favorite 🥄🥄‼️ anytime i make a sandwich, i usually reach for this bread... (and when i say "anytime" i mean the times i'm extra and watch a chuck episode while eating a sandwich 💀💀)

i like the idea of chuck having seeds and grains on his face... think of it like moles, freckles, or even acne scars if you will 🤷‍♂️ brent straight-up has seeds on him that represent freckles so why not, right⁉️ we can get creative here w/ it!!

plus- he's so much more bread-like this way

above is a fast doodle, but it is what i ended up sticking with for my design. if you see in the final drawing, i did shift around with some of his costume colors to make it work with the bread type-colors!!

i imagine brent being a variation of bread that looks similar to chuck. that way chuck can be multigrain bread and brent can be another type.

parent who is multigrain bread + parent who is another type of bread = two siblings, each being one of two options of bread because of genes™ (wow. sandwich person science 😍😍🥪🧬 /s)

my two options for brent's bread type? because i will probably never draw that man? either molasses bread (left) or even dark rye (right)?? but i lean towards dark rye brent because that idea seems so scrumptious to me

ngl i have never been too sure what type of bread brent is based on......

the wiki doesn't really help me decide. he has freckles that seem to be like seeds, so that means he's a type of bread that has seeds. but also, not that many seeds.... which is likely an animation thing since animating all those damn seeds must be hard. but idk? but his skin tone is very slightly darker than chuck so that makes me think he isn't white bread based™ (help what am i talking about)

if any bread experts™ out there have some guesses, let me know so we can talk about that more. for some reason, this is really fascinating.

anyways.... latino brent can be real too 🤷‍♂️

um...............

brent 😍🥪🇨🇴🔥‼️

(because i swear to god they just call him brent in the spanish dub instead of his long ass name)

but yeah 👍 that's my little hc-chuck related ramble. i may not talk about him, but i really fuckin love chuck 😭

............ .. . . . ... . .... . .. . ...... . .. ...... ....... .. .. .. .....typing this out has made me realize how much thought, effort, and research i have done all because of a joke i made. a joke i made about a cartoon character from a kids show where we haven't gotten new content in years. and that it's likely that i'm the only person thinking so deeply about a family of sandwiches--

[tomatoland]

This week’s unsolicited take is about the Madonna-Whore Complex and the Internalized Patriarchal lens being applied to Only Friends, a LGBT show.

So the Madonna–Whore complex is a concept that was first introduced by Freud. It represents the dichotomy that there exists Madonnas that have to be either pure and 'virginal' or Whores who are sexual and forthcoming. The two categories are mutually exclusive; a person can never be both. So Madonnas cannot be sexual and Whores cannot be in relationships aka the idea that "you can't make a wife out a ho."

“It's inherently misogynistic in nature and remains prevalent among men towards women, but the Madonna-Mistress complex can be applied across all genders. And while we generally as a society have made great strides in being able to appreciate (wo)men for their multifacetedness, the Madonna-Whore complex can still show up (thanks to years of misogynistic messaging) in people's ways of thinking.” And it’s showing up here in the audience's approach to Only Friends.

Mew is introduced and he gets slotted into the Madonna archetype because we immediately find out that he is a virgin who has never had a boyfriend.

Top & Boston are introduced to us as being sexually active with a history of one-night-stands/short-term entanglements, so they get placed in the Whore archetype camp.

Mew is the Madonna in this analogy and Madonnas cannot express sexual desire, so therefore Mew having sexual knowledge or being flirtatious makes him seem untrustworthy. So many people questioned Mew having sexual knowledge that Jojo and Den had to come onto Twitter to address it. Mew telling Top "no penetration" means he considers everything but penetration to mean he stills considers himself a virgin. But that's a technical virgin, right? So that is suspicious./s

And when he begins to express sexuality, well he's a hypocrite because he thought he was better than everyone for being a virgin. I don’t recall him being ordained as a monk, but I’ll check./s What he actually said was to leave his virginity alone and that he just had never met someone who he had the right chemistry with to have a boyfriend. And actually, he whispers that he is a virgin to Top after he realizes he can’t go through with casual sex. And he whispers it because adult virgins are stigmatized, so are people who don’t drink btw. And as someone who was an actual adult virgin “the everything but” conversation is a legit conversation that takes place.

"A person's sexuality is a sliding scale throughout their life and that the way we express our desires for sexual pleasure publicly and personally can change over time."

Boston has and is still behaving true to type, so as an audience we understand him. He is predictable, he presents to us as we expect.

But Top does not. He is offered sex by Boston, but he wants Mew to be his boyfriend. As a TV trope, Whore archetypes are rarely given a chance to change. So to the audience, it is unfathomable that Top, a Whore archetype, could want to be in a real relationship with Mew, he must just be in it for the sex or he must only want Mew because Mew is a virgin. But hyperfixation on virginity and purity is a wildly heterosexual misogynistic idea that stems from the MWC.

So what if, contrary to what you’ve seen in media or the patriarchal society you’ve been raised in, Top and Mew are more complex than their initially presented archetypes? Food for thought.

“The first and most important step is recognition of MWC in society and media, and from there, a shift in mindset.”

[vickyvicarious]

That morning when she had looked out, her heart had danced at seeing the bright clear lights on the church tower, which foretold a fine and sunny day. This evening—sixteen hours at most had past by—she sat down, too full of sorrow to cry, but with a cold dull pain, which seemed to have pressed the youth and buoyancy out of her heart, never to return. Mr. Henry Lennox’s visit—his offer—was like a dream, a thing beside her actual life. The hard reality was, that her father had so admitted tempting doubts into his mind as to become a schismatic—an outcast; all the changes consequent upon this grouped themselves around that one great blighting fact.

+

If the world was full of perplexing problems she would trust, and only ask to see the one step needful for the hour. Mr. Lennox—his visit, his proposal—the remembrance of which had been so rudely pushed aside by the subsequent events of the day—haunted her dreams that night. He was climbing up some tree of fabulous height to reach the branch whereon was slung her bonnet: he was falling and she was struggling to save him, but held back by some invisible powerful hand. He was dead. And yet, with a shifting of the scene, she was once more in the Harley Street drawing-room, talking to him as of old, and still with a consciousness all the time that she had seen him killed by that terrible fall.

+

Nor was the household in which she lived one that called for much decision. Except in the one grand case of Captain Lennox’s offer, everything went on with the regularity of clockwork. Once a year, there was a long discussion between her aunt and Edith as to whether they should go to the Isle of Wight, abroad, or to Scotland; but at such times Margaret herself was secure of drifting, without any exertion of her own, into the quiet harbour of home. Now, since that day when Mr. Lennox came, and startled her into a decision, every day brought some question, momentous to her, and to those whom she loved, to be settled.

The way Margaret is thinking about Henry's proposal in retrospect is really interesting. Initially it presents itself as a dream - almost a pleasant one in contrast to the "hard reality" of the changes Mr. Hale's choice to leave the Church will bring to her family. But then, despite her not spending much time lingering on it during the day, Margaret's thoughts focus on his proposal again at night. It goes from being like a dream to filling her actual dreams.

The dream is not a pleasant escape from her familial stress. Not really. He's climbing to impossible heights to try and do a kind gesture for her (to express his love) and she's unable to stop him, though it leads to his death. This could be a straight metaphor for their friendship/her view of him 'dying' due to his determination to change it into some grand romance (fabulous height). But then when they shift back to the drawing room and are talking as usual, we see Margaret's longing for that uncomplicated time. This is that escape from familial stress... represented by the society of Mr. Lennox and the place she lived where money and respectability was never an issue for her. But even in this scenario she knows Henry had been killed - AKA, the nonthreatening friend Henry is dead and gone, replaced by her knowledge of him as a man who wanted to love her, who lashed out when she didn't respond well, who became a source of stress rather than any comfort.

But he's still at least not part of this stress which is taking over her life. He's something separate. Or is he? Didn't this all start after his proposal? Margaret seems to waffle back and forth between a kind of nostalgia for what she/they had, guilt at being unable to stop him ruining everything between them, and blaming him not only for that but also for other things getting ruined at the same time. He kept idealizing her home, not taking it seriously as it was; now it's ruined and won't ever be what it was again.

I'm not saying she's consciously doing any of this. But it seems to be going on in the background, a little bit. I think her mixed feelings are going to be pretty interesting when he turns up in the story again. She might welcome him, particularly if he presents himself as trying to renew/deepen their old friendship, because she's already missing what's been lost and I imagine the upcoming culture shock will only exacerbate that. But the base incompatibility remains, as well as her own jumbled resentments towards him, which could result in her getting angry at him with potentially what seems like relatively little provocation.

[saturniandevil]

2024 Important Dates

AKA my notes on The Astrology Forecast's 2024 Year Ahead Forecast, hosted by Chris Brennan and Austin Coppock. After the overview and January forecast, I'll put the rest of the year under a readmore. Overall, this year heralds technological innovations, and is a stepping stone into bigger developments in 2025 and 2026.

Overview

This year would be dramatic on its own, but with bigger shifts ahead in this decade, serves as a preview for even more dramatic changes in 2025 and 2026.

Pluto in Aquarius We only got about 6 weeks of Pluto in Aquarius in 2023, but this is will it where be for most of 2024 and the next 20 years. We're also getting the last of Uranus in Taurus (7-year transit) and Neptune in Pisces (14-year stay). These outer planets are wrapping up while Pluto starts something new.

Austin predicts Pluto in Aquarius will be a relief to those of us who've been suffering from Pluto in Capricorn. Historically, Chris traces the development of gunpowder, its refinement and transmission from China to Europe with Pluto in Aquarius. Warfare changed with these developments, particularly the strategies of siege. We should expect to see new technologies & applications in warfare now, particularly anti-drone weapons and uses of AI. Near-future science fiction stories from 20 years ago will look incredibly familiar, especially the "cyberpunk dystopia" and man-machine interfaces changing significantly. The first paper shop was set up in Baghdad in 793 under Pluto in Aquarius, and this technology spread around the world under different Pluto in Aquarius periods, with wide-ranging effects on mass communication. Technological espionage is also a theme of this placement--think AI uses, and the US trying to compete with Chinese microchips. This will also form an opposition to natal Pluto for baby boomers (1940s-60s), a transit that rarely occurs within a human lifetime. We'll see the culmination of this generation's power in the world, where figures like Biden or Trump or their contemporaries may have one last bid for power before they have to hand it to someone younger.

Chris actually used AI to help summarize his notes on this transit. With Pluto representing transformation and control, and Aquarius indicating the innovator and the rebel, some general themes are:

Major shifts in how technology shapes society, both empowering people and destructively.

Information warfare and control, especially among governments. Monopolies and censorship attempts will increase.*

Technological leaps. Breakthroughs from both internal research and external sources like cultural exchange or encounters with "that which is foreign/alien."

Science vs ethics: moral dilemmas, tension between curiosity & caution

Globalization on edge: the interconnected world may face challenges, but the exchange of information is crucial to progress. World trade and supply chains spanning the globe will change as countries shift certain sectors to more local production.

*history note: Pluto was in Aquarius during the Renaissance & Scientific Revolution, and the Church tried to censor this new information because it posed a threat to Papal power. Monarchs took state power from the church under Pluto in Aquarius, and the French Revolution under this placement showed the bourgeoisie really challenging the nobility under this placement. Most of the US constitution was written under Pluto in Aquarius--in fact the last Pluto in Aquarius period was during the late 18th century, so prepare for those paradigm shifts & revolutions to shift and revolt once again. New developments in physics and cosmology around dark matter and string theory, increased uses of AI, and new space probes may all prove to shake our ideas of where we stand with the rest of the universe.

Saturn conjunct Neptune Saturn prefers structure & the real world, while Neptune is a realm of imagination and illusions. In 2016 these planets squared each other and the political sound byte "fake news" was important. We no longer trust sound and video in addition to images, especially with advances in AI. Previous Saturn-Neptune contacts include the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the HUAC/McCarthy era in the USA. We'll be asking ourselves, "is this real?" We'll need to balance skepticism with imagination.

Another Saturn-Neptune in Pisces theme is pervasive feelings of despair and collective sorrow over water-related disasters, such as tsunamis or the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The first Saturn-Neptune conjunction of the 20th century was 1916-1919: disillusionment, skepticism, muddy trench warfare and chemical weapons. More positively, empathy, compassion, and service can come from those who fight for a better world despite hardships. However, Neptune will conjoin Saturn in Aries as well, which will have a much less compassionate flavor. This upcoming Pisces conjunction occurs right as Neptune is leaving the sign--which Piscean developments will get the Saturn stamp of approval and last beyond this decade? Neptune in Pisces has brought us an increased interest in the occult matters and psychedelics, ranging from tarot and astrology to modern cults to therapeutic uses of hallucinogens. Some of the skepticism we see will be the result of having been burned by Pisces Neptune events. Another related topic is augmented reality displays--Austin predicts that since it's been around for so long, if it doesn't take during Neptune & Saturn in Pisces, it probably won't take at all.

Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Taurus This conjunction goes exact in April. In the material sign of Taurus, what sudden developments (Uranus) is Jupiter enabling? In one such application, AI technologies can help advance the field of materials science by designing new compounds & predicting their uses. There are a lot of technological developments bottlenecked by a single limitation, such as limited battery capacity, which if resolved would prompt an explosion of impressive new technologies. Quantum developments, Heisenberg's additions, different political revolutions, the sexual revolution & the Moon landing were under Jupiter-Uranus alignments, as were some of the earliest biology works in the Renaissance era. April will breakthroughs getting supported and confirmed. These come about every 13 years: in 2010 in Aries, 1990s in Aquarius. In 1941 we saw scientific breakthroughs as well, though Saturn's presence fittingly brought a much darker tone. Which house is Taurus in your chart? This transit can bring sudden insight & broaden your horizons in this area (A/N: timing techniques like progressions, Hellenistic profections, and zodiacal release can help you determine if Taurus will be especially "activated" for you around this time).

On the flipside, take care not to indulge in excessive naivete, uncritical embrace of rule-breaking in the name of progress, or getting caught up in fleeting euphoria. Once Uranus leaves, what will stay? What gets truly confirmed by Jupiter? Austin predicts major developments in cryptocurrency, which was not invented under Uranus in Taurus but did rise to prominence under this transit. Taurus also tells us to appreciate the material comforts, and this conjunction may show us a new approach to appreciating these things (like an AI snuggy that helps you sleep!). The potato chip and chocolate-chip cookie were also invented during Uranus in Taurus. More niche items have become more widely available (lab-grown meat, perhaps?), though food and energies has also become disproportionately more expensive/volatile during this transit. Taurus also signifies nature, botany, and ecology--we may see major developments in response to climate change. This is the last year of Uranus in Taurus--perhaps the cottagecore trend will have its last blows. Uranus in Gemini (A/N: 2025) will have us going back into the mainframe...(organic computers?)

Jupiter in Gemini This transit will be about a year long. Immediately upon entry to this sign Jupiter will trine Pluto, and later in the year he'll square Saturn. This will be a big shift, not just by sign, but because Jupiter goes from cooperating with Saturn to fighting him. Light-footed, fast, clever Gemini Jupiter clashes with deep, slow, heavy Pisces Saturn. Their sextile in January/February indicates the economy will likely seem to move in a good direction as the year begins, but the leviathan in the deep will stop us short.

Notable figures born under Jupiter in Gemini & Saturn in Pisces include Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison, bringing us new communications systems. Bell developed the telephone partially as part of efforts to help his mother and other deaf people, while Edison himself had major hearing issues and focused on visual phenomena. However, we have ethics questions too: Bell had issues patenting the telephone as the same day as another inventor--who got there first? (A/N: many of Edison's patents were invented by others with property rights surrendered to him.) Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails also has these placements, and he's gone from applying electronic music in rock to films in recent decades. Also born under Pisces Saturn & Gemini Jupiter: Moby, Björk, Alfred Pulitzer (known for pioneering both human interest stories and sensationalism).

Other Jupiter in Gemini keywords: speaking many languages, verbosity, versatility & adptability, self-education, many short experiments, and having a knack for or good luck in new machines. However, Jupiter is considered in exile/detriment in Gemini: this light sign may interfere with Jupiter's desire for deeper understanding. The first decan of Gemini is ruled by Jupiter, and the bound of Jupiter is early in the sign as well, (and Jupiter is a triplicity ruler for Gemini!) so we can actually have quite a strong Jupiter in the beginning of this transit. Pluto in Aquarius trines Jupiter at the start of this transit, and Jupiter will gladly go to work for Pluto's agenda. Expect major technology & information related developments in April-May. This also foreshadows Uranus's entry into Gemini, where he'll trine Pluto thrice.

During this time, all the planets in Gemini are also combust (so close to the Sun we can't see them, figuratively getting burned), so beware of burnout. Another Jupiter in Gemini native is Lana Wachowski (one of the creators of The Matrix). Her coming out story also inspired many, and Jupiter in Gemini is a good place for variety in gender expression. Unfortunately, concepts from her movie were also coopted by right-wingers ("redpilled"). Also under this placement is JK Rowling, initially known for writing increasingly verbose fantasy books, though in recent years has focused her resources on stopping the advancement of trans rights. Jupiter in Gemini is fast, but not always ethical.

Eclipses

In April we'll have an eclipse that's visible over much of the United States from Texas to Maine, occurring on an election year. In the Indian dasha system, the US entered a Rahu (North Node)-ruled time period 8 years ago, making it especially sensitive to eclipses. There won't be another total eclipse visible in the US until 2045, marking momentous changes. This is also a continuation of the Libra/Aries eclipse story, most recently from the Libra eclipse in October. In both our personal lives and world events we'll see a turning point in the spring. The eclipses this year are in March-April, and September-October (remember, eclipses always come in twos--one lunar, one solar!). The March/April eclipses will be especially chaotic with Mars-Saturn and Jupiter-Uranus conjunctions affecting the equinox. The fall eclipses will begin shifting towards the Pisces/Virgo axis, and the major renewals will shift focus from one area of our lives to another (check which house(s) contain these signs for you).

Comets 2024 will have two comets that may be visible to the naked eye--both during eclipses! The Pons-Brooks comet will be visible in April around the time of the Aries eclipse (and Jupiter-Uranus & Mars-Saturn conjunctions). This indicates a very important time in world history. The comet, which may become visible as the sky darkens, will pass right by the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction. Chris's ancient sources say whether a comet is a good or bad omen depends on its color, brightness, and visibility once it gets here, but he's hopeful its contact with Jupiter-Uranus will be helpful to us. Austin points out it'll be difficult to distinguish the comet's specific effects from everything else going on at that time. The second comet visits us in October, right before eclipses and the US presidential election. "Hopefully we won't get the Game of Thrones Season 2/War of Five Kings comet," says Austin. Chris is going to publish an episode soon analyzing both ancient sources & doing his own historical research on comets, which have connections to wars, regime changes, and religious or political leaders being born.

Mars Austin points out that there will be consistent stelliums in the first half of the year (visible around the eclipses) before returning to more regular dispersal. Mars is also going to make volatile contacts to outer planets as well, really bringing military connotations, mostly earlier in the year and then picking up again at the end of the year with an opposition to Pluto & a retrograde. In fact, Mars enters Leo, the sign of his upcoming retrograde, 2 days before the US presidential election.

US history & election: Mars goes retrograde in the same sign every 79 years, shifting by about 4 degrees every time. Mars did this same retrograde back in the late 1700s when US states were ratifying the Constitution (Pluto was in Aquarius then like it will be in '24, and some other transits are the same as well). The next recurrence was during the passing of the 14th amendment after the Civil War, an amendment forbidding anyone who led an insurrection from entering office. Most recently Mars retrograded in this cycle in 1945-6, during the end of WW2 and stationing just before the birth of a certain controversial recent president. This upcoming Mars retrograde will occur in the same part of the zodiac as these other events.

Chris usually shies away from predicting election results outright because he considers himself too invested to be objective, but he gives us a rundown. Like 2016 this election occurs under a Saturn-Neptune conjunction, foreshadowing the us of AI in political propaganda. If it does end up being Biden vs Trump, Chris says as of now there are indicators for either side winning. For the past 30 years, every presidential election winner has had an eclipse in one of his angular houses (1/4/7/10) shortly before winning. The Aries/Libra eclipses don't fall in angular houses for either, but the Pisces eclipse in September occurs in Biden's 4th house, and the 10th of his running mate Kamala. In Trump's favor is zodiacal releasing: he's starting a 19-year peak period releasing from spirit (career/aspirations) in 2025 just after the election. (This is one of the things that threw Chris off in the 2016 election, since a president elected for 2 consecutive terms then wouldn't be in office anymore in 2025.) This peak period activates the sign of Leo for him, the first house, and contains his natal Mars, bringing fighting and difficulty to the foreground. (A/N: Mars is also entering Leo around the time of the election, so whether he wins or not, we'll be seeing a lot of him.) That's a basic overview, and Chris will discuss other factors as the year progresses. Austin points out we have a perfect Mars-Pluto opposition the day before the election, and Mars stations in Leo right as the electors meet to officially vote. This election is heavily tied to the Mars retrograde, which continues until a few months into 2025. Pluto will take Mars's significations to bigger extremes as well as hidden power plays. Taking place January 20th at noon, Inauguration Day always takes place at the beginning of Aquarius season with the Sun in the 10th house, but Pluto's going to conjoin the Sun as well this year, which Chris predicts will start a new era of American history. Two of the debates fall on eclipse days, and Chris predicts these will have a dramatic effect on the election. Regardless of specific candidates, we know the US is entering a crucial phase of its history with Uranus entering Gemini (same placement as the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and entering WW2). Austin wonders if the Saturn-Neptune conjunction will delay the rise of historic leadership, as his research so far proved inconclusive.

Month-by-month

January

Mercury stations direct immediately, helping us start things off definitively. Mars in Capricorn colors most of the month. He's very strong & effective in this sign, further supported by a trine from Jupiter in Taurus. With Venus and Mercury copresent Mars in Capricorn, we have an opportunity to practice living how we'd like to before things get crazy. The clichés of "starting your the year off right" are worth following this time around. A Jupiter-Saturn sextile in the first six weeks of the year further supports our efforts to get organized. Take advantage of Jupiter in Taurus to make the growth and expansion you seek permanent. We'll need a set pattern to weather the upcoming storms.

Chris and Leisa's auspicious election for the month is on January 12th, 2023 at 8AM local time with Aquarius rising. This means the Ascendant ruler Saturn receives a helpful sextile from Jupiter (orb of 5 degrees).

After a conjunction with the Sun and the light's ingress into Aquarius, Pluto re-enters that same sign on the 20th, anchoring what's most interesting about February. Chris points out it's exactly one year from the US presidential inauguration and will be an interesting omen.

February

February has a pileup of planets in Aquarius. From the 5th to the 16th, Mercury, Mars, and Venus all conjoin Pluto. This rapid succession of initial conjunctions will start to show us what this new Pluto era will look like for each of the faster planets. We go from having 4-5 planets in Capricorn to having 4-5 in Aquarius through this first half of the year. What does overwhelming weight in these signs look like for you? The Mars-Pluto conjunction on the 14th will be pretty dramatic. This connotes the use of excessive force, and generally will likely show us what kinds of dangers to expect from Pluto in Aquarius. The Venus-Mars conjunction at nearby degrees will connote future relationship patterns.

March

This month marks the beginning of eclipse season as well as a pileup of planets in Pisces. After the equinox, we have an eclipse, making the spring very dramatic. Mars sneaks up to a conjunction with Saturn, who rules the April Libra eclipse, and all the while Mercury is retrograde. We have multiple indicators of major world events here, which Chris compares to early 2020. And if that wasn't enough, we've got a comet! The lunar eclipse in Libra heralds back to its sister eclipse in early October.

April

The Mars-Saturn conjunction will punctuate difficulties of Saturn's transit--the last Mars-Saturn conjunction in Aquarius aligned with the intensifying lockdowns in March-April of 2020. This time the conjunction is in a water sign, so think naval warfare or threats from aquatic creatures. January was a good time to plan; this is not. We'll be adapting to rapid changes and doing what needs to be done. The Aries eclipse will be visible over much of the US, bringing major developments to the nation. Once we get out of eclipse season, we'll have to deal with the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction going exact on the 19th. Chris hopes that this will divide the month in half, from chaotic early on to more hopeful in the second half, especially as Mercury stations direct. Austin is less optimistic, as we'll have Jupiter, Uranus, and Venus all in Taurus. At the end of the month, Mars enters Aries and joins Rahu there, igniting the very point that was just activated by a total eclipse. Regardless, the pace of technology and communications will explode during this month and May.

May

Once Jupiter enters Gemini, lots of other planets follow him to that sign. This has strong implications for the advancements for communications. Austin says the Taurus developments in the early month indicate financial developments before the technological ones. All the planets in Taurus are looking to its ruler Venus for support, but she's combust (close to the Sun & invisible), so we'll feel something missing from our material comforts.

June

The Jupiter-Pluto trine is twofold: Jupiter expands Pluto's Aquarian pursuits, while Pluto exponentially magnifies Jupiter's expansion of communications in Gemini. We get a Sun-Venus cazimi in Gemini, resetting her cycle, with Mercury a few weeks after. Some of the Jupiter-Uranus discoveries and inventions may not be visible until later, as the Gemini planets themselves are invisible & passing through the Sun during these few months. There's a spaceship with recreational implications set to be launched next spring, fitting with the expansion of leisure that Jupiter in Taurus connotes. Mars entering Taurus on the 9th will mellow out for awhile after such intense movements. Saturn's retrograde station in Pisces brings him as close to Neptune as he's gonna get this year.

July

Saturn & Neptune stationing in Pisces blur the lines between what's real and what's not, what's true and what's false... An exlposive, unexpected Mars-Uranus conjunction occurs on the 15th. Furthermore, it's on top of the star Algol, a very ugly configuration that has historically coincided with devastating warfare and weapons. This isn't the tone for all of Mars in Taurus, but it's something to try and steer around if possible. Mars in Gemini brings us to August.

August

Mercury stations retrograde on the 5th, backtracking through both Virgo and Leo. This year Mercury retrogrades occur mainly in fire signs:

Mars in Gemini puts him in contact with Jupiter right as the benefic is squaring Saturn in Pisces; the smaller planet will likely exacerbate these issues. Excessive heat and speed clash against excessive cold and slowness. This is a real slowdown for Jupiter's fun and social trip through Gemini. Mercury stations direct by the end of the month, taking us into September.

September

By this point the planets have stopped moving in a giant pack, spacing out the energies a little. Pluto retrogrades back into Capricorn for the very last time this month; when he enters Aquarius at the end of this year he'll stay there for the next 20 years. Uranus gets as late into Taurus as he's gonna get this year before stationing retrograde as well, trining Pluto within 2 degrees of exactness. Chris charts these planetary contacts over the past few decades:

Uranus conjunct Pluto in the late 1960s saw major social changes as well as the first computer mouse. A sextile in the mid-1990s heralded the emergence of the Internet as we know it. In the early 2010s, smartphones became more and more ubiquitous, and now we're entering the next phase of new widely used technologies. The 2010s also saw revolutionary movements like the Arab Spring, and similar political developments will be foreshadowed around this time.

Mars enters Cancer, the sign where he'll retrograde. It's not very comfortable, but we'll have to get used to it all the same. Notable degrees are the retrograde beginning at 6Leo10 and ending at 17Cancer01:

We also get the first hit of the Pisces eclipse series this month. Though its companion eclipse is back in Libra, the September eclipse is foreshadowing for 2025-6.

October

The height of election season in the US coincides with the height of eclipse season celestially. We'll likely see prominent figures suddenly sink to the bottom or rise to the top around this time--jumping way ahead or falling way behind. Mars enters the shadow of his upcoming retrograde days after the eclipse. It's already hard to see clearly, and the eclipse supercharges all this. The Libra eclipse on the 2nd is the final of its series, wrapping up whatever was initiated in October 2023 (i.e. a new chapter in certain Middle Eastern conflicts). The first lunation free of an eclipse provides no relief, with the Full Moon tightly squaring Mars (♋) and Pluto (♑). This forms a difficult cardinal grand cross with the Sun, Moon, Mars and Pluto. Power plays, manipulation and intrigue abound.

November

Mars enters Leo, the sign of its retrograde, on the 3rd. Although he's in his pre-retrograde shadow period earlier, this ingress will bring it dramatically forward. He opposes Pluto, who's been stationing since mid-October, bringing paranoia, power struggles/plays, obsession & confrontation, and hidden motives or manipulation from behind the scenes. In opposite signs we'll see tension in opposite approaches to things, such as direct power versus hidden agendas, excessive force and even extermination. Mars only needs to win the battle, but Pluto blows things out of proportion. His station on December 6th is notable. The last Mars retrograde in Cancer was in 2007-2008, so look to this time in your life for an idea of what will happen. We can also look to the Mars retrograde in Leo 15 years ago (12/20/2009-3/10/2010). (This retrograde is mostly in Cancer, but stations in Leo). 2 days after Mars enters Leo is election day in the US (Nov. 5th), shining a light on all the controversies.

Venus is way ahead of everyone in Capricorn, while Pluto reenters Aquarius for good (the next 20 years). Mercury also stations retrograde at the end of the month, bringing us to December.

December

Mars stations retrograde right after Mercury's own halfway point through the retrograde, bringing miscommunications into Martial clashes, conflicts, and severing/separation. It's during the height of his retrograde that Mars is at his closest to Earth and is at his brightest for the longest (basically all night every night).

Mars retrograde shows us that no battle plan survives first contact. Excessive heat or conflict will linger for much longer than you expect. Mercury stations direct under a Full Moon on the 15th, and Jupiter squares Saturn exactly on the 24th. Our questions about growth versus boundaries will come back into focus. Meanwhile the rest of Mars retrograde awaits us in 2025, continuing a smoldering conflict into the next year.

[happyk44]

What powers would you give to a child of Thanatos?

I've actually thought about this a lot! Naturally there's some overlap between Thanatos and Hades, but I like to expand it out a little bit to include some extras - such as Hypnos and Thanatos being twins, so some like dream travel would be neat because you just know Hypnos accidentally made Than pass out a lot in their childhood, and Thanatos being Erebus's son so I love the idea of them being granted some shadows/darkness powers as well.

Death touch: being able to kill someone with just a touch

Shadow-travel: bonus from grandpa and grandma

Being able to manipulate darkness/blend into darkness: another bonus from grandpa and grandma, as well as the fact that repears are invisible to the living

Seeing/touching ghosts: obvious, lol, shared with Hermes' kids as a pyschopomp thing

Seeing/sensing morality, aka how close someone is to death, as well as when death occurs

Being able to travel through dreams (albeit with some limitations and struggle)

WINGS!

Look

Maybe not all of them have wings, but some of them do because I would like some of them to be little angels of death like their dad, like maybe it's not a physical limb and it's more of a darkness, shadow thing, but look.

Wings

I would like them to have wings, please, thank you

Remove pain from a person dying - as part of Thanatos oft being considered a personification of peaceful death (compared to the Keres, who represent violent death)

Invoking a fear of death onto other people

Being able to know how or when you will die - as part of Thanatos being loosely associated with Atropos, the member of the Fates who cuts the threads of people's lives: this would be limited in people who are not close to death, as there's always a possiblity that things will change over time, your death will shift, etc, etc, etc

And then ofc there's stuff that, regarding the relationship to death and death-related powers, separates them from children of Hades. Than's kids cannot or have a hard time committing necromancy (bringing people back from the dead, as in skeletons from the ground or summoning ghosts from the underworld) - death is death, bringing things back from the dead, even if those things are still technically dead, doesn't really align. If they can do it, I imagine Hades' kids usually have to teach them how to, which is cute because I like to imagine Hades taught Thanatos similar things.

They cannot see living souls, and cannot manipulate any kind of soul, living or dead (eg. they can't force a ghost who is being a dick to stop being a dick, lol)

While I like to HC both kids as being aware and selfless regarding their own mortality, I think Than's kids have a harder time with the sense of caring for their own mortality because death is something they lowkey crave, in the same way many kids seek out their parents element, and what better way to achieve it then to die.

It's not suicidal, it's just a general passivity to life in general. Again, something Hades' kids and their various cousins help them work through, it usually improves as they grow older and gain more connections to life through other people, experiences, but ages three to seven are very iffy and Thanatos checks in often to make sure they know to not just stand there when a monster is charging at them, or to make one of Hades' kids babysit his little angel and teach them the meaning of "please for the love of all that is holy and unholy, don't stand in the middle of a busy road" and other such important things.

Similarly, it's harder for them to stop an impending death - say, if someone is being attacked and they could, theorectically, stop it from happening while remaining safe themselves, it requires far more mental effort to get into action. It's less that they don't care about the other person, and more that, like their father, they feel beholden to the timing of death. For this, they're not well liked by other demigods, something that Hades' kids intervene on frequently to take on that dislike/disapproval when they can so that their little underlings remain safe from other people's harm/judgment.

There's probably a lot of other potential as well, but I am. Stalling mentally lol, so here we are. I think a big importance, for me anyway, when thinking about Thanatos vs Hades and the related powers between their kids is to consider Thanatos' standing as a personification of death vs a god of death, as well as Hades being the king of the underworld and god of the dead. Hades's kids, theorectically, should have more power/capabilities related to the dead and afterlife, whereas Than's kids should be limited to death. Additionally, viewing Than as more of a reaper can create additional limitations for his kids, either in personality and how they perceive their powers or in the actual powers themselves.

Ofc, other people can have their own opinions and nothing is set in stone, lol. I might change up my opinion on some of this depending on whatever story is pulsating through my brain at any given time. I mean the wings things, lol, I've always been into it, but in the same breath my OC from the jealous!Percy story does not have wings because it slipped my mind as I was writing it 😂😂

Oh! Before I forget, with the Death Touch power - I'm sometimes flippy-floppy on this one depending on the story, but ultimately I think of this as requiring more effort than it would with a child of Hades, or the kids being more resilient to the idea of a single murderous touch because "it's not their time yet", because I interpret Thanatos being a personification god vs a god god as meaning he's more beholden to the timing of death versus being the full causation of it. He doesn't kill people himself, they just die because he's vibing around unchained, ya know?

Non-humans, like plants or monsters, may be easier because those aren't a type of death that Thanatos deals with, you know? He's people only, lol, but, yeah, typically I look at Than's kids as being like "well, yeah, I could kill this guy threatening my life by holding his wrist for a couple of minutes and putting in some efffort, but, eh, it's not his time and it's not like dad goes around stabbing people before their time, so i don't know..."

(Meanwhile the child of Hades that has adopted them is full on freaking out becuase dear gods, stop being so cavilier with your own life, you're not even doing it in a cool way like cliff diving")

[mqole]

hbjhkgvhj ok here are uh. some character designs i did abt a year ago

these are all based on the incredible @kayzero's fic zero win game, which is a rewrite of ztd with akane as the protagonist, and it has possibly THE BEST characterization of akane ive ever read- listen just. just go read it you will be enriched i promise.

im not putting an image description bc i dont know where to start (sorry!!) BUT ill put a bunch of character design notes below the cut for people who are insane like me <3333

ok first of all. i know when i sent these to kay the other day they said there were some details canon to zwg that i missed (akane's lil hoodie pocket, aoi wearing white to contrast junpei's black (which is SO inspired btw.)) so just. PRETEND those are there bc i forgor <3

i spent the most time on sigma, phi, akane, junpei and aoi just because they've had multiple iterations of designs. it was fun to take bits and pieces from each version of them, so thats why they get a feature page

you can see a lot of my little pink notes with criticisms of the ztd designs there. in general, i really dont like the ztd designs, they all feel unnaturally bland to me (although thats probably also the artstyle).

most people whove looked into the colour symbolism in zero escape are probably familiar with the whole red/blue thing: that is, theyre colours representing the morphogenetic field. akane and aoi are the most obvious examples of this. 'aka' means red, and 'ao' means blue. in the first nonary game, akane and clover wear red - the colour for transmitters - and aoi and light wear blue, the colour for recievers. in 999 proper, akane wears purple, to symbolise how she can recieve AND transmit, while junpei wears red and blue by themselves. you can do a whole analysis of these colours and i will not put it here thats a whole SEPERATE post

anyway! the actual designs!! i'll start with sigma. i wanted to reconcile his vlr design with zero ii's design, and initially i planned on giving him a coat, but it didnt really have a nice silhouette, so i ditched that idea. instead, i turned his jumpsuit from vlr into a polo shirt - much like what he has in ztd - and gave him some zero-y accessories: the white turtleneck, the belt and the gloves all come from zero's design. once id included the white turtleneck, making the pants white felt really logical. in character design, its generally best to limit the palette of colours as much as you can, so it was a good excuse to reuse a colour while also paying homage to his ztd design. i also cut his hair bc hes a scientist and he'd do that.

phi's design is a lot more like her vlr one than her ztd design. the blue coat was her hallmark accessory, and im shocked that they ditched it for ztd, so i gave it back - along with her boots and hair accessory. i kept her pants and glasses from ztd, as well as the way the bottom of her shirt is tucked into her pants. they just have a much nicer silhouette to me. between my first pass of colours and my second pass, phi's colours changed the most - i realised i had too many blue guys in the lineup, and wanted to make the colours stand out individually. so i leaned into phi's orange-ness. giving her hair accessory, pants and boots an orange hue instead of a blue one, as well as shifting her coat to a more teal colour really helped make those colours pop.

AKANE MY BESTIE!!!! her design was probably the one i had the most fun with. i basically just took her ztd design and purpled it. I did want to include some more details though - her neck scarf was in both her 999 AND vlr design, so it felt wrong not to include it. i also added some gold highlights to her design, just to complement the purple - her boots are also toned yellow, so it felt fitting. the cut of her sleeves, as well as her hair, felt really natural: i gave her the side ponytail from ztd, while letting more of her hair fall to the side to retain her silhouette from 999. i stole the sleeves wholesale from vlr akane, but can you blame me. look at that robe. its so pretty.

overall i have mixed feelings on ztd junpei as a character, but i think his darker turn is at the very least a fun direction to take him. I do like the jacket he has in his concept art. IT SURE WOULD BE NICE IF THE MODEL ALSO HAD A JACKET. his design went relatively unchanged overall, i basically just retoned his hair, gave him a button-up instead of a t-shirt, and puffered his jacket. the red and blue from his vest in 999 is reused here, but in darker, more muted tones. you can see in the corner of the drawing i played around with swapping the red and blue, but the red focus felt too edgy for junpei. the blue also pops really nicely against his dark clothes, so i kept it.

anyone who has spoken to me for more than ten seconds will know how insane i am about aoi kurashiki i mean come on my name is santa. i think a lot about his two designs: that of the first nonary game and in 999. in the first nonary game he wears a blue scarf, harkening to his role as a reciever, but in 999 he wears monochrome. my personal interpretation of this is that his 999 fit was him purposefully disguising his connection to the morphogenetic field. so post-999, since he doesnt have to worry about that, i gave him his blue back!!! his general fit is the same- his pants and shoes are artistry so obviously i kept those, and i ended up making the rest of his look black to contrast his 999 design. if i were to redesign him now wearing white, id probably go a different direction altogether. that third little drawing ive included has some test outfits for him, carlos, and maria, but i never really went anywhere with them. also i gave him dark roots to show his relation to akane a bit more. and also because i like projecting my roots always grow back SO fast

that brings us to the 4 characters introduced after vlr: carlos, mira, diana, and... maria??? yeah like i said go read zero win game. do it. maria is such a fun character. she was, coincidentally, ALSO the only character where i had to design someone from scratch. you can see i fiddled a little with colour palettes, trying to figure out how to give every character a unique look. diana and carlos' designs actually go almost unchanged here- i think dianas design in particular is actually pretty great, and works as a nice foil to luna in vlr. carlos is just kind of normal. he can have his silly polo shirt.

miras ztd design is. ugh ok look its FINE but i hate the boobie designs in zero escape because they always feel like they were designed seperately from the character. mira in zwg is still a sussy baka, but she's a lot more cordial- i enjoyed seeing her more as a snake lying in the grass. I ended up giving her green because its a fun colour to give characters who youre meant to distrust. SO MANY TIMES reading zwg i was like "oh maybe mira's chill - oh wait maybe shes not - oh wait maybe shes chill again" and i love her for that honestly. she still gets boobies because i love women but i gave her a fun little long sleeved corset top. the amount of skin she shows directly correlates to the amount you should trust her (i am only half joking.)

i wont talk about diana because honestly the only change i made was giving her a little blue strip at the bottom of her skirt, but i'll talk about maria and carlos together. carlos i kept as a little pink boy because i love him and i love pink and listen its my character design ill do what i want. maria in ztd AND in zwg experiences reverie syndrome, which is connected to the morphogenetic field. her and carlos' designs both incorporate red and blue again- (just realised diana also has red and blue. pretend that was intentional) -to show their connection to the field. yes yes i know its pink but listen its red enough. like aoi, i gave maria and carlos both different iterations of their designs. i'm less sold on carlos', but i did actually like the baggier, heavy designs for maria. with those ones she looks more depressed than she does wearing overalls, so im calling that a win. maria's was the design i was least satisfied with overall, but hey i did these like a year and a half ago and ive gotten much better since then soo.

if youve read this far this is once again a reminder to read zero win game by kayzero on ao3

[ghostdrinkssoup]

hi!! I was wondering if you could explain how people break up the seasons of hannibal? I understand 3a/3b but is there a 2a and 2b??? (also I love your blog and analysis’ if you see someone spam liking it’s me sorry😭😭)

aww thank you so much, I’m so glad you like my blog :”)) and no worries, I’d be happy to explain! fair warning though, I’m gonna give you a very detailed answer because I love talking about the nuances of plot and hannibal is so neatly structured it makes me want to devour it <3

so throughout the show the story follows several plot arcs at once (which all constitute the main plot) and because s2 and 3 roughly follow two at a time they’re categorised as either ‘plot arc a’ or ‘plot arc b.’ it’s pretty easy to identify the a/b plots in s3 because they’re so distinct (the florence arc vs the red dragon arc, as you know), plus there’s a big time jump and setting shift.

in s2 it’s a little less clear but still identifiable. s2a follows will’s imprisonment arc which roughly makes up the first half of s2 (I’d say from kaiseki until halfway through yakimono since there’s an odd number of episodes per season) while s2b follows his seduction arc. short-term character goals also change between arcs. for example, in s2a will’s main goal is to prove his innocence, hurt hannibal and escape incarceration, which is resolved once will proves the copycat killer and chesapeake ripper are the same and jack finds miriam alive. however, by resolving the central conflict of s2a will is suddenly faced with new problems/circumstances. thus, in s2b he has a new goal, which is to lure hannibal and assist jack with his capture. this plot thread is resolved in mizumono after hannibal escapes, ending s2b and setting up the central conflict and stakes that underpin s3a (and so on until the main conflict is resolved and the show finishes).

s1 is a little trickier to break up since it doesn’t follow the same structural pattern as s2 and 3. there’s no clear shift mid-season and will’s goal throughout stays the same, which is to find the copycat killer/chesapeake ripper while simultaneously trying to find himself during his sessions with hannibal. i.e no one really says ‘s1a’ and ‘s1b’, it’s all just s1. that being said, I personally have a system of breaking down s1 because I think there are small shifts present throughout the season regardless, even if they’re more minor. this is how I do it:

episodes 1-4 (initial set-up): sets up main themes/concepts the show explores + sets up will’s character by mirroring his psychology with each of the killers (and his foil dynamic with hannibal).

episode 5: transition between initial set up and friendship arc. out of all the killers so far (excluding hobbs) the angel maker reveals the most about will directly.

episodes 6-8 (friendship arc): sets up hannibal and will’s relationship more closely, with specific focus on hannibal’s masks (the psychiatrist vs the chesapeake ripper) and person suit. he destroys the two extremes of his personality (represented by franklyn and tobias) and chooses will despite himself. the rest of the show follows the consequences of this choice.

episode 9: transition between friendship arc and encephalitis arc. after the angel maker, the totem maker (interesting that they’re both “makers”) reveals the most about will directly.

episodes 10-13 (encephalitis arc): end result of everything that’s been built so far, concerning both will and hannibal (as observed through the first two mini arcs, the first focusing on will and the second focusing on hannibal). we look into will’s neuroses and understand his nature, separating him from hobbs, gideon, and georgia (note that the latter two are explored through the water/fire symbols, tying them together). hannibal also becomes semi-aware of the conflict between his need for love and want for control. this could also be described as their mutual “coming to awareness” arcs. by the end, both their s1 person suits (the most “human” aka morally acceptable/meek personas) are destroyed, and we’re left to explore their “monster” sides in s2.

I hope this helps and thanks again for the ask !!