#and from that the batts were formed

[rhpsdys]

@calamitism​      ♪  ♪  ♪    starter call

             it is pride that fills your chest, an unexpected fondness for the generation that has come after you ;   your heart breaks for what they will never know, the true freedom of using unfettered magic, && yet there is a part of you truly HAPPY that if they had to choose, they settled upon bardic practices, the language && music which has provided your only true comfort over the years. 

“your playing has gotten stronger,” you observe mildly, a slight upturn to your lips. “i’m impressed. not everyone can rock the tambourine.” you wink, arms folded across your chest in contemplative thought. “but i do think you’re ready to expand. have you considered the carillon? the bonesborough bell tower has been silent for years.” there’s a spark in your eyes, an urgency to your voice as the words tumble out, fully formed ideas of next steps. it is as if you are seeing far, far beyond the here && now, the scope so vast it’s overwhelming. “i wonder what would happen if those old bells suddenly started ringing again with the power of bard magic?” 

[villainsandvictimsalliance]

Horikoshi giving hero tropes to the villains is probably my favorite part of bnha.

He presented us with a nervous wreck of a boy at the beginning of the manga. Look, he seemed to say, isn't he creepy? isn't he evil? He met Tomura in his most lanky form. Malnourished, neglected, real dead hands all over his body and blunt nails digging mercilessly in his skin.

Sure, the story paints him as a real villain. He is there to kill kids, after all. He wants to kill the light of the hero society, to spread violence and hatred all around. He's also very very suspicious. You get that feeling that there's more to the story. It's in the way he acts, his desperation. He looks sick. What is he making him so? What is his story?

Tomura is a loser. A failure since the beginning, if you follow the narrative. Characters like Stain, Overhaul and Redestro point it out: Tomura isn't the best strategist per se, they can't understand his reasons to do what he does, there's something wrong with him in villain terms.

That's when the brain starts to pick up the signals and plants the doubt. Many people don't notice it, but something in the story gives away that he is a very special type of villain.

We see him alone in his dark messy room, staring at a screen. We see him drinking alone in a bar as he sits on his misery. Over and over, we see that evil boy and his burdened stance. Only Kurogiri is there. His master only talks to him through some radio. He doesn't mention anyone else. No one else seems to live in that bar but Kurogiri and him.

Back then, when Tomura was all about AFO and All Might and no one else, he felt hollow. Rotten.

We first saw him approach someone for help and some company after the first LOV members were introduced. We meet Toga and Dabi, then Tomura goes to find Deku. Is he still creepy? Yes. Is he still evil? Also. We have Giran talking about Tomura with the fondness you reserve for a spoiled child. The way Kurogiri and Giran talk about it, it's more like Tomura needs to make some friends. He's not used to it, so he's being rude to them.

He's a chosen one reluctant to make friends, since he's used to doing things on his own— or at least with people he didn't care about. Next time we see him, his telling Kurogiri that he doesn't want them to die, he wouldn't sacrifice them for a goal and he actually wants them to succeed. He talks like a leader, he considers them important.

When they show us the LOV around Tomura as he talks to a kidnapped Bakugo, there's something in there already. How they worry when Bakugo hits Tomura and knocks the hand out of his face. They humanize Tomura, which is a lot to say when AFO did everything he could to dehumanize him. They make Tomura be more mature, more responsible and more capable. While AFO paints Tomura as a foolish child that cannot get things right until he's guided there, the LOV trusts Tomura to take care of himself and guide them.

That's when the hero tropes with villains started.

A quick list from the top of my head:

Twice overcame his trauma mid-battle in order to save Toga and then the LOV.

Tomura was tempted by Overhaul to betray the LOV in exchange for power. He pretended to agree, only to backstab Overhaul because Tomura would never forgive those who hurt his friends and would never betray the LOV.

Magne went to attack Overhaul for offending her and her friends, defending their ideals and their right to exist 'til death.

Mr. Compress took the leading role in many dangerous situations to assure that the LOV would get their win, but also to assure they'd make it out alive.

Tomura would forgive people not on his behalf, but for the benefit of the LOV.

Giran refused to sell any info about the LOV and laughed in his captors face because he was not so important to them. Turns out he was bluffing about it being all business, since we know from Twice's flashback that he did it also for the fondness he felt towards the LOV and the LOV went there to rescue him.

The LOV rushing through a battlefield the size of a city while desperately trying to find a way to save Tomura.

Twice and Mr. Compress refusing to leave Tomura fighting Gigantomachia alone and taking the burden of his training with him.

Dabi doing all he could to save Twice and snapping when he realized Twice was dead.

Mr. Compress worried about Toga and her solo mission.

Spinner telling Toga that she needs to come back safe and sound to them.

Tomura refusing to die or give up while the LOV still needs him (to be a hero).

Twice already dead and still moving because he needed to save Toga.

The entire LOV refusing to even consider defeat because they blindly believe that there is no way Tomura can lose.

And there's so much more...

The LOV made Tomura act heroic. They gave him a reason to want to save and protect, instead of just wanting to destroy.

The power of friendship but for evil.

Isn't it the best thing ever?

[cookiepie111]

A Cheap shot, a clean miss!

You get some help in the shooting range. König x black reader. Suggestive. Not proofread.

You're out at a shoot range,a friend told you it's a good way to build up your confidence and good stress relief. So here you are, 15 minutes in and nothing but missed targets and shaking nevers. Everything about this experience was wrong. Arms shaking stretched out in front of you.The gun felt off in your hands, too uncomfortable to hold for too long.

Okay, you needed some pointers, help. This was good, asking someone for help is a step in the right direction, a step to confidence! you reassure yourself, just find an instructor and talk to them! But your movements were small as you looked around.

5 bullets.

5 targets, marked with a bullseye. not a single shot wasted from the person next to you. That's who you needed to ask, if they could teach you to shoot like that, get at least one bullseye, today wouldn't be wasted!

You weren't feeling to confident when you got close to him. Tall, rugid face, eyes cold and empty still staring at the targets, face covered in Scars. Nope, no, this man would kill you if you bothered him.

"it's rude to stare" !? His comment took you by surprise. He's still staring at the bullseye while telling you off.

"I, could you please help me with the shots?" How embarrassing your voice came out weaker than you wanted. This day is going terrible. You came here afer all to build up your confidence, Yet it was slipping away from you.

He barely moved his head to look at you, merely taking you in from the corner of his eye. They wided for just a moment before turning towards you fully. To have this man's full attention was intimidating to say the least. You realise you can't see anything past him. It's not only his impressive form, It's the way he's looking at you like he's sizing you up, figuring out how to best to eat you.

You're wishing now he wouldn't look at you now. you didn't want this man's help anymore, probably kill you... you know what, it's fine he'll say no, and you can go ba-

"Sure"

fuck!?

Is this how it's supposed to be? Is this how you teach a person how to shoot a gun?locking you close to their body? arms over yours?

It's hard to listen to the advice he gives when he moves your legs apart with his knee brushing dangerous close to your heat. Feeling his thigh rest against yours.

He doesn't need to be this close does he? but he's warm and you miss that warmth when his hands move away from yours to turn your body by your hips, positioning you to where you need to be. He gives clear and sharp orders angling his head to look at you when talking. this can't be right he's just manhandled you however he wants and you would be angry with him if your mind wasn't drawing blanks at his touch, if you didn't feel the heat spreading throughout your stomach.

You make your first hit on the board not quite on the target but the best attempt you've made yet. You laugh turning to ask if he saw.

He smiles, giving you squeeze by the hip "Let's hit the target dead on next time."

Oh god, he was getting to you. Red. you're sure you'd be red if you could blush. red as a beet. you're so nervous, sweaty palms and light headed.

You're getting ahead of yourself, surely it wasn't you that caused the bulge in his pants it's just his gun in his pocket yes, a very thick .. gun.. you bit your lip you needed this man desperately.

"How about we get something to eat after-"

"My place-" he didn't even let you finish your sentence and you didn't even batt an eye jumping to say yes the next second.

[justatypicalwizard]

Wants Within | S. Shinazugawa | Chapter 8

✦ Sanemi Shinazugawa x femReader!, college au, reader is adult

✦ Synopsis: You're a college student taking classes with a very strict lecturer- professor Shinazugawa. Because of an unfortunate even you got on his bad side so now you're trying everything to regain in his eyes. Well, you most certainely didn't expect that kind of attention.

✦ Word count: 1,6k

18+, minors do not interact

''Damn, I should probably try this one.'' You pointed your finger at a piece of paper hung on the information board, gaining Ann's attention.

''Hm?'' She mumbled, chewing on a sandwich.

''It's a competition. If I would win inside the university then I could represent us higher.'' You started to explain what you just read.

''Isn't that like... hard to get out of the university level?'' She gave you an open eye look.

''It is. Yet, if I don't try I won't know. What bad could happen from trying?'' You shrugged.

''And what do you need to study?''

''Oh, I'm thinking about this one because it had okay requirements. You don't need to write any test, you actually have to do some research and present the results of something that they called 'an interesting, creative and innovative view of an existing academic work'.''

''So you'll have to rewrite the work?'' Ann questioned you.

''I don't know.''

✦

After filing a form to participate in the competition, you waited to be assigned to a competition group. You were supposed to complete your work with the help of a professor. Looking at the piles of forms that other people brought, you spotted that it was very small. Just a few of them lying sadly on the desk. This was good for you, not many people got interested in this.

What you wanted to achieve is representing the university. This would nearly grant you a scholarship for the next year.Grinning to yourself at your sneaky plan, you took off for your next lecture, feeling that the day would be good.

✦

After a week, you got an answer. Looking at the email you received, you bit your lower lip. You got assigned to the group led by professor Shinazugawa. Group members: 1

So, yet again you may have some alone time with the white haired man. Were you happy? Somehow yes, but on the other hand, crushing on him from your comfortable seat in the classroom was one thing. Spending time alone with him and having those types of thoughts felt uneasy. Will you be able to get rid of them, or will you rub your thumbs together and stutter, thinking about dirty things rather than about science.

Well, one way or the other, you will still proceed with the competition, your horniness can't get in the way of your career.

Finding him sitting in one of the empty lecture rooms, you knocked on the door lightly, only to hear a mumble. He was deep in thoughts, looking at his laptop. These freaking two buttons were unmade. You swear to god, you would grab them and either button them up so that it doesn't distract you or tear them all the way down to finally get what you want to see.

See girl? That's the thought I was telling you about. And you know what? You can't get rid of them no matter how hard you try in front of him.

''Good morning. I'm here to talk with you about the competition on the academic paper interpretation.'' You greeted him with a small smile, walking up to his desk.

He gave you a glance. After recognising you, his face lightened a bit.

''Mhm. Give me a moment, I need to do one thing.'' He went back to his computer, pulling a chair standing next to him and shoving it next to his.

You took the place. Putting your hands on your knees, you realised your legs were just next to his. Of course he was sitting like a king on his throne, claiming his space. Squeezing yourself into the chair, you begged that he would not shift and touch you by chance.

As if the gods were laughing at you, the man put one of his legs on the other one, nearly brushing you. You swiftly dodged that, not wanting to get a critical hit just at the beginning of the battle.

-10 hp

The white haired man put his head on his palm, his hand comfortable on the desk as he bit his lip ever so lightly, focused on the task he was completing.

-50 hp (the enemy was able to distract you)

Shinazugawa bounced his fingers on his chin. You followed his movement with your eyes, realising how well carved his jaw was.

-20 hp (enemie's distraction was unsuccessful)

Groaning quietly he let his hand through the messy, white hair. His voice low and somehow harsh.

-20 hp

Typing something and making the last few clicks, he finally completed whatever he was doing. Pushing his chest into the chairs back, he stretched slightly. The buttons on his white shirt also started to move, tightening up, just as if they wanted to pop out. Shinazugawa took a sip of his black coffee, which made his fully exposed Adam's apple move.

-100 hp

You have died!

Letting out a shaky breath you looked down, fumbling with your fingers. Why is it so hard to keep a hold of your mind sometimes?

''Is something wrong?'' The man's voice tore you out of your dirty thoughts.

''No.'' Back on earth.

''Okay. Then, let's talk about the competition.'' He turned fully your way. ''I've seen your application and I must say I'm impressed. You're really trying at this university.''

His compliment made you smile a little, looking to the side, past him.

''First we need to find an academic paper that covers the required topics and is short enough to be good for this work. That is your first task. I'll tell you where you can look for such things in the library. Pick up a few that you like and we will choose something. Then we will discuss what the paper is about, find the key topics and start to work on them. We will need a bunch of meetings.'' He looked at a piece of paper he had printed out. ''It will mostly be your work, I'm here to coordinate you.''

Nodding your head you took a look at the paper he handed you. It was a plan, everything that he just said plus some details about the topics, requirements and other stuff.

''We need to decide on the first meeting date.'' He took out his phone and swiped through his calendar. ''When are you free.''

Whenever you want.

But you didn't say that. Opening your plan on your own phone, you put it on his desk. Shinazugawa took a quick glance and decided.

''Is Wednesday, six p.m. okay for you?''

''Yes professor.''

''Great. Until then, look through the requirements and find those academic papers.''

✦

Wednesday came far too quick. You found a few interesting works and picked them out of the library. Making your way to Shinazugawas office in the university, you also wanted to stop at the cafe you work in to pick up your charger that you left the other day.

Retrieving it from one of your coworkers you looked at the coffee machine.

''Can I get two coffees? One [your favourite] and one black.'' The girl at the counter nodded and soon you had two coffees in your hands.

Going back to the university, you found his office. It was dark outside the vast windows. Fall would soon merge into winter.

Knocking on his door, you heard a faint 'come in'. Pushing the door, you greeted Shinazugawa and put the coffees on his desk. The white haired man looked at them, a bit shocked, but not too much for it to change his stoic face expression. Not explaining anything, you just took your cup and started to sip on it, taking out all your materials. He also didn't say anything, taking the coffee for himself, which made you smile lightly.

After he took a look at all the works you brought in, the two of you started to discuss them.

''This one may be too hard. Look, it starts off easy but the further you get, the more specific the author is. It may be hard to come up with anything giving the amount of details in this. Here, you have a few topics that you'll have next year and we don;t have enough time to teach you them. This one looks good, you already had all the topics and it leaves a lot of space for further explanation...'' As he was judging the academic papers, he slid his finger on them, showing you the places he was talking about.

''And what about this part, won't it be problematic? The author crealry points out that he sees no further interpretation of this fragment.'' You tried to show him the place where you saw an obstacle but you had to turn the paper around and then around once more, losing the sentence from under your finger.

Shinazugawa looked at you in a bored manner and stretched his hand for a chair. Sliding it closer, he put it on the same side of the large desk that he was sitting at and gave you a meaningful look. Nodding, you stood up and changed places. Only now you spotted how bigger his shoulders were compared to your own. He could tower over you easily.

''Here.'' You pointed out once more.

''Mhm, good suggestion. This might be a problem. We can look for another one.''

Finally, after some time you found the paper that fitted you the best.

''Are you fed up for today?'' The white haired asked you after picking up the rest of the work lying on the desk.

''Not really, I can still do something.'' You answered but at the same time a yawn escaped your lips.

You heard a small laugh out of Shinazugawas lips.

''Yeah, you really look ready to work.'' He gave you a yeastioning look, returning to his usual, judging glare.

''Sorry, that was nothing. I'm serious.''

He took a minute to glance all around your face which made you anxious. Why was he eying you so much?

''Okay then. We can make a rough plan of the work we are going to present.'' he shifted back to the papers like nothing ever happened. 

SERIES MASTERLIST

[dazeddoodles]

The headcanons ✨ (turned into general raeda headcanons whoops)

When the two get married,raine takes eda's surname but also keeps their old surname and thus they become raine whispers clawthorne

The batts members become eda's unofficial adoptive kids after the two adjust with being together again

At home,Raine is the more nurturing type. While you think it may be hard for Raine to keep Eda in line,since they have a functional relationship,all Raine has to do is ask Eda and she'll comply.

Raine sleeps in Eda's nest only to make her happy,they didn't want to at first but ended up getting used to it.

Raine is actually the more responsible one out of the two when it comes to running hexside,we both know that eda would totally join in whatever chaos the kids get into. This is why the hexside students are more afraid of raine than they are of eda.

Raine overworks themself when doing their vice principal duties and Eda makes them take break by literally carrying them to a couch kicking and screaming

Eda has a second attachment for her hook to use when she and Raine are being lovey-dicey (knife kink-)

Eda kisses Raine’s possession scars when they are intimate,as if to kiss and make better and to show they are loved. Eda secretly thinks the scars are roguishly hot, but doesn’t say because of where they came from

Raine likes giving owl themed gifts to eda,even pre epilogue

Eda and raine occasionally go for a fly around the isles once raine gets used to eda's harpy form

Raine has nightmares after Belos’ possession and the collector’s puppet-ing of them. They were aware the entire time, but couldn’t respond to Eda at all. They wake up some nights panicking that it’s happening again,and Eda just holds them

Eda uses her harpy form when the two are getting it on since she knows how much raine loves it based on how they reacted to first seeing it

When Raine was in the emperor's coven they kept track of Eda and made sure she didn't get arrested. Or killed

The Owl Beast sees Raine as its mate and Eda lets the beast come out so that it can cuddle with Raine

Eda tied up her hair because it kept getting in the way whenever she was making out with raine

Eda steals their glasses when they need to go to work so they have to stay until she gives them back (which is immediately, because Raine pouts and Eda gives in to their puppy eyes)

Owlbert and raine's palisman are best friends which is why they often look out for eda/raine when either isn't around to do so, especially during the break up

Eda is ironically the better cook out of the two despite her definitely having a tendency to get "experimental" with cooking,this is why when the two go on dates it's at home with raine enjoying eda's cooking.

Eda just eats the bugs that scare Raine instead of exterminating them

Raine cries reading sad books and Eda doesn't understand but she tries her best to comfort them

Eda's love language is physical touch which is why she absolutely ached for any affection during the break up. The two cuddle a lot post epilogue to make up for this.

Raine has a sweet tooth and eda often makes or buys them pastries/candy as gifts because of this

Raine uses 8 different soaps and eda uses one for everything (like that one 10 in one shampoo meme)

The two never have any biological children,however they do have eda's many adoptive kids and the batts members

Raine has given up on the phrase "let's think about this rationally" post epilogue lol

I LOVE THESE 💕😭

[writing-blocked-me]

Glued to Your Side

CW: Spoilers for everything past season 1, clingy Dazai, little bit of angst, brief mention of Oda, Dazai is so so smart but so so dumb, maybe OOC?, hurt/comfort, bad writing - I can’t write dialogue sorry!

Pairings: Dazai x Reader

Author’s Note: I need to stop writing angst so have a fluff piece!  Or at least what was supposed to be a fluff piece.  It turned more into hurt/comfort tbh.  Also I attempted dialogue for this fic but I am BAD at writing any form of speech so sorry for that.  Not proofread also I was very hungover when I finsihed this lmao.

Also! I have a Masterlist now! It only has like 4 works so far but hopefully that’ll change aha.

Masterlist

Ever since you started working at the ADA, your world had been turned on its head.  There was always some sort of strange job to take, or fight to have with the mafia or some other organisation.  However, there was one fact that remained constant since you had become a detective: Dazai Osamu was a flirt.

You were fine with it, even sometimes enjoying some back and forth banter with the living mummy. It was completely harmless, you knew it wasn't going anywhere so it wouldn't get in the way of your professional career. Plus, you knew you weren't the only one subject to Dazai's affectionate teasing, so you knew there would never be anything romantic between you too, meaning you were free to pursue real romance if you wanted to.

At least that's what you thought.

In the weeks following the batte against the Guild, Dazai had been clingier than usual. He made a point of always keeping some sort physical contact with you, whether it was leaning on you while you were sat on the agency's couch (after he dragged you to sit and do work there instead of your desk), or having you walk shoulder to shoulder when you went on jobs.

You guessed the close eye he had been keeping on you had something to do with meeting Q. You had been the agency member tasked with escorting Haruno and Naomi to safety. While the three of you were on the train, after escaping Lovecraft and Steinbeck, you met the small child named Yumeno. They had seemed like a perfectly normal, sweet little kid. The four of you got along and chatted as you waited to reach your stop. Getting off the train, however, was a different story. When Q bumped into Atsushi and activated his ability, your memories got a little fuzzy. It was like a flip switched in Atsushi as he suddenly became violent, lashing out towards Haruno, Naomi and yourself. You quickly jumped in to protect them, bearing the brunt of the attack and being thrown into the walls of the train station. You'd hit your head pretty badly, so you could not fully register the rest of what happened. You vaguely recalled Dazai rushing in and stopping Q's ability and watching the child wave goodbye as the train carried him off. You passed out shortly afterwards.

According to the others, Atsushi had taken Haruno and Naomi to safety, while Dazai took you straight to Yosano.

After the Guild used Q to attack Yokohama, Dazai had been stuck to you like glue. You hadn't minded, you were used to his antics and affectionate behaviour. But a week passed. Then two weeks and still Dazai was fixed at your side. You had begun to get suspicious. While he was clearly putting effort into appearing as his usual self, it was clear there was something going on. He had started flirting less and less with others, even ceasing his witty back and forths with the waitress at the cafe below the agency offices. He had gradually gotten clingier and clingier too, seeking you out even on days off, to the point where soemtimes you felt as if you were being suffocated.

Everything came to a head when your friends from home were visiting the city. You had planned to meet up with your friends in the shopping district. You had not planned on bumping into Dazai. Wandering through the shopping district, arms linked and laughing at old memories, you didn't even see the bandaged man until you walked straight into him.

“Belladonna! Fancy seeing you here!" Your coworker greeted you, eyes glinting with mischief.

You were sure he was up to something, but you couldn't quite figure it out. One thing you knew though, it was no surprise that he saw you there. You had made it known to the agency how you would be spending the day off.

"Yes, well you did know I was going to be here. I mentioned it yesterday Osamu," you remarked.

Truth be told, you'd been attempting to have a Dazai-free day. He hadn't left your side in a while and you were really in desperate need of some time to collect your thoughts. Due to his attentiveness over the past few weeks, your friendship with Dazai was slowly turning into something more, at least on your end. You were sure it was all in your head though so you needed some time away from him until you could collect yourself and sort your feelings out. His recent actions confused you.

Dazai's smile faltered at the mention of your plans. "Oh, I must have forgotten," he said, his tone uncharacteristically subdued.

You raised an eyebrow at his unusual behavior, but before you could say anything, your friends interrupted.

"Hey, who's your friend?" one of them asked, eyeing Dazai curiously.

"This is my coworker, Dazai Osamu," you introduced him, not noticing the way Dazai's jaw clenched at the mention of "coworker."

Your friends chatted with Dazai for a few minutes before you realised the time and had to rush to your lunch reservations.  Quickly saying goodbye to Dazai, you grabbed your friends and rushed off.

During lunch, your friends regaled you with stories from home, and you laughed and joked with them.  However, your mind was elsewhere, thinking of the strange actions of your fellow detective.  Dazai never forgot anything, you knew that you had mentioned coming out with your friends multiple times too, so what was he doing showing up? It was messing with your head.  At least you’d managed to escape him during lunch.

After saying goodbye to your friends, you decided you needed rest and you went home.  Shutting the door behind you, you dragged yourself over to your coush and toppled onto it, exhausted.  You had barely shut your eyes when you heard a knock at the door.  Opening the door, you came to see a familiar sight.

"Dazai? What are you doing here?" you asked, confused.

"Dropping by to say hello, of course," Dazai replied, strolling past you into the house and settling down on your couch.  “Bella you would not believe the day I’ve had.  First, Kunikida would not stop bugging me about th-”

“Stop.” You cut him off before he could finish his story.  “Osamu, what are you doing here? I mean what are you really doing here?”

His eyes softened at the use of his first name.  “I wanted to see you,” he spoke softly, barely above a whisper, as if he were afraid to let anyone else hear it.

“You see me all the time!” Your frustration started to get to you as you raised your voice.  “You literally saw me just a few hours ago, which, by the way, I know wasn’t a coincidence beacuse I definitely told you I was going out with my friends.”

“Y/N I-” he started, but you quickly shut him down.

“No.  Listen to what I have to say first. I don’t understand Dazai.  What do you want from me? You’ve been glued to my side ever since the battle with the Guild and you’ve been acting weird and I, I don’t know what’s going on but you’re messing with my head.  I was fine before, talking and joking with you, but now you’re just making me so confused and I don’t know what to think anymore.” You ranted and rambled on and on, letting all your thoughts out.  “What’s going on? Please tell me.”

“I’m sorry,” he started, as he watched you fall onto the couch beside him. He knew he had been acting different lately and he knew exactly why.  He couldn’t help himself, after all, he’d come to find he cared for you.  A lot.  Much more than he wanted to for everything that was ever worth wanting was lost the moment he obtained it.  But by God did he want you.  

When Higuchi and Gin lured him away from the station to talk, he had been suspicious.  But as he realised that Q had been unleashed, he felt his stomach drop.  He had never feared for another person so much, not since Oda.  He couldn’t lose you.  But he had been to late to protect you from Q.  So, while he knew he could not have you all to himself, he also decided he would always stay by you to ensure your safety.  You had become his top priority. 

Still, when you confronted him about his change in behaviour, he didn’t know how to respond.  He didn’t want to suffocate you, but he knew he had to protect you.  He couldn’t be with you, but he knew how crushed he would be if you were with someone else and it would no longer be his place to stay by your side.  He did not want to lose you and everything he ever managed to grasp was lost to him.  Hearing your words, he knew you had romantic feelings for him.  And now, as he gazed into your eyes, he was torn between his head and his heart.  

Noticing his silence, you began to speak again.  “This isn’t fair to me you know.  You have to be honset with me.  Just tell me the truth and from there, we’ll figure it out.”  You smiled, gently placing a hand on his shoulder.  He seemed so fragile, so delicate in a way you’d never seen him before.

The reassuring gesture prompted Dazai to once again look to the floor.  He know what you’d probably say, if he was honest with you.  You’d probably tell him it didn’t matter and that you could be together anyway.  Then you would get hurt and he couldn’t have that.  But he didn’t think he could lie to you either, not anymore.  You wouldn’t believe him.  So he chose his words carefully as he turned to you and began explaining.

“I know I've been...clingy, lately. And I'm sorry for that.” He snuck a glance at you, seeing you staring back, listening intently.  “You have to understand that what happened with Q, I just- I just need to make sure you’re safe.”

“I can handle myself.”

“I know, belladonna, I’ve seen you in the field.  But this is something different.  I have to make sure i don’t lose you.  I need to make sure you’re safe because I-” He takes a pause again to collect himself, bracing for what comes next.  “I care about you a lot.  But I can’t be with you.  Everything I ever want, I ever love, is always lost and I can’t have that happen to you.  I tried to stop it, I flirted with others, told myself that it’s no different with you, but it was.  And the thing is, I’ve come to realise, I can’t help the way I feel about you.”

“Dazai-” You spoke, but this time he cut you off.

“Please just let me get this out.” He looked at you once more and you could see the raw emotion in his eyes.  Never had he been so open, so vulnerable. “I can’t help how I feel about you, and I can’t be with you.  Not in the way I want.  But I can protect you.  If I just stay close enough, I can protect you and you won’t have to be hurt.  I know it’s selfish, but it’s the only reason to stay close to you, without ever having to lose you, because you wouldn’t be mine.”

“Osamu-” He noticed you beginning to speak, but continued on, eyes now fixed to the floor.

“I knew what you’d say if I told you this.  I know what you’d probably tell me now if I let you speak.  That it’s not true, right? I can have you and you won’t be lost to me.  Except that it is true.  Everyone I’ve ever held close has been taken from me.  I will not let that happen again.” His tone was filled with conviction as his gaze grew more determined. “I’ve been to lenient, allowing myself to flirt and joke about with you.  It’s selfish of me, to do that to you when we have no future together, but I can never seem to help it when it comes to you.  I’m going to step back now though, let you live your life, find someone who deserves yo-”

“Don’t.” Dazai’s eyes widen as he takes you in.  Your eyes are glazed over, as if tears are about to spill at any moment, lip quivering, but your determination is written all over your face.  “You told me how much you care for me and want to keep me safe, right? Well, I feel the same way about you.” You were in complete disbelief.  How could he be so dumb as to believe you would ever love anyone else?  “You haven’t lost me yet, even though you said you wanted me.  There are some things in this life that we just can’t control, like when it’s time to depart from it.  You may lose some whom you love but that doesn’t mean that everyone else we love will follow the same pattern.” You reached out and grabbed his hands.  “Osamu, have you ever considered that, given that it’s my life, I should be able to decide how to spend it and who I spend it with?”

“Of course I have and you should, but that person can’t-”

“It can be you.  I don’t want to hear anymore of this ‘selfish’ crap about how you want to protect me and love me but can only do it from a safe distance.  I feel safest and happiest when I’m around you.  I feel protected because you’re there.  You’re a fool if you think anyone else is capable of making me feel that way.  Osamu I-” You took a breath, choosing how to word your next sentence carefully.  “Osamu. You are the most intelligent person I know, so I honestly don’t understand why you’re being so stupid right now.”

Dazai let out a shocked laugh at that.  He guessed he deserved the insult.  He guessed he probably deserved a lot worse than a single insult as he remained quiet, head down.

“You’re not being selfish by wanting to be close to me, especially when I want that too.  You are being selfish by keeping me at a distance and I won’t be letting that happen anymore.” At that Dazai lifted his head, turning to you wide eyed. “These feelings go both ways.  The idea of losing you is terrifying to me, just as losing me terrifies you, but we can’t stop loving others just because we’re afraid of loss.  We have to go on.  Maybe one day we might lose each other, but that’s not either of our faults, that is life.  We have to make the best of it by staying together and protecting each other.  The most fulfilling life for me is the one I get to spend with the person I love.” 

Dazai’s hands retracted from yours in one swift motion.  Startled, you jumped back slightly.  Had you said something wrong? Touched a nerve? Had you gone too far when you called him stupid?

“You... love me?” Wait what? Did he hear you right? You loved him? He had assumed you’d had romantic feelings for him, yes, but love?  He hadn’t realised you felt that strongly for him.  He’d assumed you’d easily be able to get over him as long as he distanced himself and he was dead set on keeping that distnce after starting this conversation.  Now, he didn’t think he could.  You loved him.  Him.  After that confession, Dazai lost any resolve he had left. His body moved of its own accord as his hands cupped your face, pulling you towards him.  

His lips met yours in a soft, tender kiss, not at all what you’d imagined your first kiss with him to be like.  It was delicate and gentle, as if he was afraid of breaking you, yet still firm enough that you couldn’t escape his grasp, like he thought you may leave.  You assured him that wasn’t the case by raising your arms to rest around his neck, keeping him close.  As you broke apart for breath, Dazai rested his forehead against yours, keeping you as close as possible.

You stayed like that for while, holding each other, exchanging soft kisses, small reassurances that shared how much you cared for one another.  After that conversation, Dazai could not deny himself of you any longer, he couldn’t push you away, not after feeling your love.  You still had a lot to talk about, but for now, Osamu Dazai was happy to just hold you until you fell asleep in his arms and he could whisper his reply to your confession.

“I love you too.”

[forasgaard]

Salvation

pairing: Neteyam x Reader

warnings: aged up Neteyam, fluff, injury, sickness, smut

summary: With the arrival of the new sky people, an epidemic spread over Pandora and infested many Omatikaya. Even the Sully family wasn't spared. Eva is a healer and tries to develop an antibiotic, with the help of the oldest Sully son. Her sudden feelings for that boy and the spreading of the virus make it even more complicated.

Series Masterlist

Masterlist

Part 1

Pandora.

One of the fourteen moons that cycle the gas planet Polyphemus and home of the Na'vi.

My life there was not that exciting - not until the humans came and until I met Neteyam. Not until the whole clan was endangered.

I was a healer, well I received a training as a doctor in the field of  human medicine with the focus on Na'vi biology.

I came with my parents to Pandora, many years ago. My father was a soldier at the RDA. He died in the battle against the Omatikaya. My Mom was a geologist. She was the sister of Norm Spellman, who came to Pandora to work at the avatar-project with Dr. Augustine.

He was the reason I could begin my training and I even became my own Avatar body. To help Norm. He dived more and more into medicine, the last years and he was glad, I could help him. Doctors that are familiar with the Na'vi biology and physiology were always needed.

"Eva"

A voice let we flinch. I looked up from the touchpad, where I just sorted files and reports. Norm insisted that every note and information we had about the Na'vi biology, was always organised and sorted.

"We have to hurry, an emergency at the Third Plain. I'll explain it on the chopper", Norm said.

Something like that always happened here on Pandora. Precisely since a new devision of human military landed on Pandora a few weeks ago.

Sky Peope, as the Na'vi called them. Since then, there were attacks and battles between the humans and Omatikaya, which led to many injuries and even deaths.

Norm and I lay down in our avatar pods and a few seconds later, I woke up in my second blue body. At the beginning, it seemed to light and not really balanced, but now I liked it more than my human body. It was more athletic and flexible.

We jumped into one of the helicopters and flew over the green treetops of Pandora.

The Third Plain wasn't far from the Home Tree of the Na'vi. We saw some of them on their flying lizards, the Ikrans. Rivers and waterfalls wiggled though the landscape and formed a harsh contrast to the ever-present green of the trees. We saw wonderful animals and plants higher than houses and mountains hovering in the sky. It was breathtaking.

Norm told me what happened: "There was an attack of the Omatikaya. Just at one of the new railroad line. The train derailed and the whole cargo exploded." Norm gazed out of the window, lost in thoughts. "Led by Tokuk Makto."

Toruk Makto. Everyone knew that name: Jake Sully. The paraplegic Marine veteran, who came here instead of his brother and who became one of the Na'vi. Norm had told me everything about him and I even met him a few times.

Sometimes, it was difficult to drew a line between humans and Na'vi. Of course, we supported both the Omatikaya and humans. We were neutral about the Na'vi, especially when some of them were fiends with the natives. Like that one boy Spider. He even was almost one of them. But since the new humans came here, things just got a little more complicated.

"One of the Sully boys got shot in batte", Norm explained. "We have to remove the bullet and stitch up the wound. Nothing complicated but I wanted you to join."

I nodded. Field operations were always exciting.

We landed on a glade where the trees weren't so dense. The village of the Omatikaya was only a short walk away. We walked through the enormous forest and I was amazed by the beautiful nature and life of the Na'vi. We met many natives, who greeted us happily. We weren't foreigners here. Some kids jumped in circled around us and laughed something in their language. I've got lessons in Na'vi for many years and could easily understand them. Speaking was a bit of an issue.

Jake Sully's hut was bigger than the rest - obviously, he was Toruk Makto.

Inside, it was dim and weaved decoration hung from the ceiling.

Jake and his family already awaited us. The leader of the Omatikaya Clan shook our hands and told us briefly what happened. His oldest son, Neteyam got wounded in battle and he now rested on a bed on the floor. His mother Neytiri kneeled next to him and had placed a hand on her son's shoulder. The other three Sully kids sat a few meters away and observed us silently. One of them was Kiri, the girl who visited us often in the lab to see her mother Grace. She smiled at me and I replied that gesture.

Norm sat down next to the boy and began his work. I opened our case and gave him gloves and all the instruments he needed. We worked fast and organised, we had done that like a thousand times.

Neteyam made a grimace when Norm gave him a injection for local anaesthetic. He opened the wound with a scalpel and fished out the bullet with a pincette. Eventually, he stitched up the wound and disinfected it. The whole time, he talked with Jake and Neytiri about the attack and the new human division. I watched over the patient. Neteyam seemed the same age as me. He wore braids like most Omatikaya und had tucked them behind the ears, which twitched uncontrollable.

He hissed when Norm applied the bandage too tightly. His ears flattened like a cat and I could see his pointy fangs. Neytiri grunted an admonishing word at him.

Neteyam seemed to be much like his father. The same high cheekbones decorated his face and stronger muscles showed beneath his blue skin.

"All done", Norm stored his instruments back in the case and shut the lid. He looked at Neteyam. "Next time, you'll be more careful. You were lucky the bullet hit one of your ribs. F few inches further down and it could've gone worse."

Neytiri made a startled noise and Neteyam lowered his head. "Yes, Sir"

His yellow eyes suddenly looked at me and for a second, the time stopped. Did the other Na'vis had the same sparkling in their yellow eyes?

Jake's voice brought me back to the present moment. "Norm, I want you two to take a look at Takyte. She's not feeling well, Mo'at tried everything bit nothing works. We're really worried."

"Yeah, of course. We will do that." Norm got up and cleaned his bloody hand with a cloth.

"C'mon Eva, let's see the next patient!"

Neteyam thanked us und I looked at him one last time as we left the hut. That boy had something, that made me curious about him.

[leiyahime]

Wollefest Leipzig

What a wonderful day yesterday!!

tl;dr: I need more glass jars X'D

And I'm glad there aren's too many festivals a year XD The way to Leipzig was easy, I left waaay too early so I had time to look around! There was an apple (?) orchard on my way and it looked like a sea of white in the morning sun! It was soo beautiful! (No pictures since I went by car)

Then I met my dear friend at the train station and we walked over to the glass hall of the Neue Messe. The nostalgia. And since the book faire was a few weeks ago the glass panels were already cleaned xD

It was nice and spacious. so it was possible to look at everything. And to leave money *coughs* much money! and to talk to the two people from my spinning group who were there at the booth of the German hand spinning guild.

Soo many colours! Soo much beautiful stuff! *.* I could have spent at least another 100€

And the loot:

front: 70% polwarth/15% Tencel/15% silk from friendly sheep

Spindle: suppoted, maple/coloured wood from the same shop

Nalbinding needle made of horn and scissors from die Garnspinnerin

red Wensleydale locks from... idk anymore

below the locks: 40% wool (Falkland, Merino)/20% llama/20%Eri silk/20% baby camel from frau wöllfchen

violet: 25% Suri Alpaca/25% royal baby alpaca/25% Ramie/25% tussah silk, the colourful bag is 100% tussah silk, and a pair of hand carders *.* (not in picture) from stefis wolle

blue batt: 40% angora/40% silk/20% merino, grey batt: 35% angora/35% silk/25% Merino/5% alpaca from Seidenhase

the bag in the back: 100% baby alpaca raw fleece. So now I know my first scouring project xD also can't reconstruct the booth I got this

the cardboard box: DIY kit for a sewing machine pincushion in grey from Hühnerstall kreativ! was alrady considering to get one last year but I ran out of money.

Not in picture: two stitch markers, a brooch in the form of a black sewing machine and a knitting pattern for wrist warmers.

I only wanted to get 500g of fibres bc of space reasons... well... I failed.

When we were done at the festival, we went to the city to get some ramen for lunch/early dinner which was also very delicious. and after that I returned home (Or almost home. There were traffic problems on my way for which I was waaay too tired so I decided to stop at my dad's and tackle the rest of the way this morning.

Now I'm home and can rest a bit before work.

[swsequelsalt]

"Why The Last Jedi Isn't Just Bad - It's Toxic" by M. Krasava

DISCLAIMER: This editorial was originally published on Scavenger's Holocron, a sadly-now-defunct Star Wars news site. I feel like it's a tragedy to have it deleted from the Internet and only accessible to dedicated parties who know about it via the Wayback Machine, so I'm reposting it here as a form of greater preservation/availability.

Currently being regarded as the most controversial Star Wars film to date, fans of the popular franchise seem to have settled into two groups: this is either the best Star Wars film ever made, or the worst. Cinematically speaking, the movie has stunning visuals and a great cast of actors, but that’s not the problem.

The problem is that while The Last Jedi is being branded as the most feminist Star Wars film to date, its “feminism” seems like a cheap marketing ploy to appeal to a wiser audience and downplays some of the key problems within the film itself: it’s built on a foundation of sexism, misogyny, and racism. In other words, if you’re anything other than a white male, this film isn’t made for you.

And director Rian Johnson hasn’t exactly been shy about his opinion regarding the film’s white male villain, Kylo Ren. Rian told Empire Magazine that, “We can all relate to Kylo: to that anger of being in the turmoil of adolescence and figuring out who he’s going to be as a man.”

The only problem is that we can’t. Despite Rian’s insistence that this film is about the “transition from adolescence into adulthood,” Kylo Ren is already a well-established adult with a history of bad choices. We know from the canon Star Wars novel Bloodline, written by Claudia Gray, that Kylo Ren was at least 23 years old when he destroyed Luke’s Academy. At this point, he’s already an adult capable of making his own choices.

The film reveals that the final push towards the “dark side” was when Ben Solo awoke to see Luke standing over him with his lightsaber while he was sleeping. Without considering the possibility of a miscommunication, Ben Solo brought the roof down on the last Jedi, and then systemically went about converting or eliminating the rest of the students in Luke’s school before burning it to the ground. From there it can be presumed that he officially took on the role of Snoke’s apprentice, dubbing himself Kylo Ren as he joined the ranks of the First Order.

The problem is that it doesn’t matter. There’s nothing relateable about being a white adult male who decides to sign up with a Nazi organization and the very premise that we should try to have sympathy for such a character is chilling, especially when you consider that he murdered Han Solo not more than a week prior in film time.

(PUTTING THE REST UNDER A CUT)

But there’s another element to Kylo Ren that makes him harder to relate to. He comes from a place of privilege in society. Ben Solo was born to two war heroes, and while those might be big shoes to fill, there’s nothing that would indicate that Han and Leia were terrible parents to their son. In The Force Awakens, Leia admits that she sent Ben to train with Luke because she feared Snoke’s growing influence on her son (turns out, she had a right to be concerned). In Chuck Wendig’s canon novel, Empire’s End, from the Star Wars: Aftermath series, we see Han excited, if not a little daunted, about the possibility of becoming a father.

In other words, there’s nothing relateable when you think about a wealthy white male growing up sure of his place in the world and deciding to leave it all behind to join a fascist organization.

Compounding on this, there is someone who is relateable: Finn. Finn was not born from a place of privilege. If anything, we still know very little about Finn’s origins aside from the fact that he was abducted from his parents and raised to be a Stormtrooper. Despite years of conditioning and being ranked as the top cadet in his class, Finn was able to maintain his sense of self and when it came down to his first battle, he decided not to shoot and kill an unarmed villager.

This is the character that most people should be able to relate to. Finn is a character that isn’t sure of his place in the world. He grew up with the First Order and left everything that he knew behind him in order to try to do what he thought was right. Although he initially planned to seek a quick exit from the conflict at Maz’s castle, he didn’t hesitate to rejoin the struggle when he discovered that Rey was in danger. Finn spent most of his time in The Force Awakens running away from something – the First Order, from Jakku, from delivering BB-8 to the Resistance, but we see his progression throughout the movie to the point where he risks his life for Rey and helps the Resistance destroy the Starkiller base. At this point, Finn has rightfully earned his status as a hero.

Until The Last Jedi where Finn is again painted as selfish and cowardly, and the film does not shy away from this fact. Initially branded as a traitor by Rose when he tries to get the beacon as far away as possible to prevent Rey from falling into a trap, he is consistently belittled by Rose throughout the film. She consistently calls him cowardly and self-centered, and Finn’s characterization seems to shift in order to fit this description. When Finn is explaining his plan on hyperspace tracking to Poe, he is excited and confident: he can do this. When he gets to Canto Bight, he suddenly regresses, becoming immature and distracted by the glitz and glamour all around him. Finn knows what’s on the line. Rey is on the line. Poe is on the line. The Resistance has less than 24 hours, and yet he suddenly becomes bumbling and distracted.

This becomes Finn’s character throughout the rest of the film. Brash, impulsive, and worse, being frequently portrayed as the butt of everyone’s jokes. When we first see Finn, he is wandering about the halls of the Resistance in nothing but a bacta suit, as if Finn has suddenly forgotten how to care for himself. The film plays into the stereotypes that many people have about black male individuals. Instead of being treated as the hero of the Resistance, Finn is relegated to a comedic side role based on slapstick humor and unfunny comedy that ultimately doesn’t contribute anything to the plot.

In other words, Finn’s side plot reflects the film’s stance of diversity: we’ll wave it in your face for a few minutes before we wave it aside to make way for the two white protagonists. It’s a bold statement, but not untrue. Rian Johnson first joked that it would be “funny” to leave Finn in a coma for the entire film: “We did at some point joke that it would be great to just have him be in a coma for the whole movie and keep cutting back to him.” He explains that each of these cuts back to Finn would have him uttering some nonsense in his unconscious state, and at no point in the entire run time of the movie would the former Stormtrooper wake up. 

When John Boyega first accepted the role of Finn, JJ Abrams told him that he was going to be the new star of Star Wars. Rian Johnson blatantly admitted that it would be “funny” to simply delegate the black lead to the sidelines, where he doesn’t have more than a few scenes of incoherent babbling to serve as comic relief.

Not to mention, it’s Rose who ultimately has to teach Finn about the seedy belly of Canto Bight and how it operates: through slave labor. Another character shouldn’t have to explain to Finn, of all characters, the tortures and ills of slavery. After all, that’s the only life Finn’s known, taken as his family and raised in a life of servitude as a Stormtrooper to the First Order.

The underlying racism in The Last Jedi does not, unfortunately, stop with Finn’s character. We know a lot more about Poe Dameron’s character from the popular Poe Dameron comic series that highlights Poe’s adventures with Black Squadron before they find Lor San Tekka.

In fact, Poe’s arc is highlighted by its racism, as Poe’s character is reduced to a mere stereotype of his ethnicity. From the Before the Awakening, piloting flight logs, and comic series, we have a complete picture of who Poe is as a character. He tells L’ulo, “I’m the best. But you’re the best too” which highlights who he is as a person. He is a gentle soul that sees the best in people, trusting Finn not only to help him escape, but to lower the shields on the Starkiller Base when he said he could. Poe is a genuine nice guy who would give the shirt, er, jacket off their back to help a stranger.

And we see absolutely none of this in The Last Jedi. 

Poe is described as rash, dangerous, and aggressive by Vice Admiral Holdo, played by veteran actress Laura Dern. She’s dismissive of him, and while a part of it does play into more harmful stereotypes that I’ll get into later, in this instance, it’s hard not to. In the opening first scene, Poe is prepared to let everyone, everyone die just to take out a First Order Dreadnought. Even though successful, Poe seems more focused on the success of his mission than the countless deaths of his fellow Resistance fighters.

And that is not who Poe Dameron is. To say so makes a complete mockery of a fantastic character whose character has already been set and esteemed by fans. Changing his character to comply with stereotypes in order to try to advance the plot isn’t “moral ambiguity” or “challenging the character” – it’s just bad writing.

In short, Poe becomes aggressive, dangerous and hotheaded, all to fulfill the stereotypical role that the narrative wants him to play. His character attitudes are changed in order to fulfill a plot device, and that’s the conflict set up between himself and Vice Admiral Holdo.

This conflict is disappointing. It focuses on a female leader putting an aggressive, chauvinistic male in his place. It’s supposed to be empowering, but it’s not, especially when you have to have one character act so differently in order to get to that point. The problem is that the kind of feminism this movie is preaching is white feminism, which is dangerous in and of itself.

But what does white feminism mean in this case? Vice Admiral Holdo, and even Rose, both undermine and belittle Finn and Poe, treating them like children. This concept of infantalization upholds racist stereotypes of black and Latino men being both incompetent and irrational. In Poe’s case, it works to also uplift the alleged moral superiority of white women over people of color. And it’s not feminism.

It’s just disgusting.

Holdo is held up as someone that people in the Resistance are supposed to respect as a leader, and yet she refuses to tell the very people she’s leading what their plan is, citing Poe’s earlier reckless actions as an excuse. Even according to the Navy’s Leadership Principles, keeping your people informed is the second principle on the list. In other words? It’s pretty important. Vice Admiral Holdo’s refusal to do so is driven by petty motives, and while Poe is painted as ridiculous and childish the entire movie, he’s actually proven right when the First Order does the very thing he was afraid they would do.

One of the “lessons” from Poe’s story line is you should always blindly trust authority figures even when they provide no valid reason for doing so, and this is an extremely dangerous and topic example to set, especially in today’s society when people of color are so often made targets of police brutality, which again feeds back into the movie’s underlying theme of systematic racism.

Holdo herself seeks redemption from her mistakes by turning around and ramming her ship through theirs – an admittedly cool move, although it would be cooler had we not seen Admiral Raddus suggest the idea of plowing through a ship no more than a year earlier – and dies so that Leia can explain to Poe that Holdo was a good leader (without really stating how) because she was more concerned with fulfilling the mission without getting credit for it.

The problem with this? It means that Holdo had to die in order for Poe to “understand” what it meant to be a leader. This doesn’t work for two reasons. For one, Poe is a decorated Commander who had already served as a leader in the Republic Navy before joining the Resistance. Painting him as a cocky flyboy with a chip on his shoulder just doesn’t work when it goes against everything we’ve been told about his character. The “lesson” Poe was supposed to learn was one he already knew.

The second problem is that it meant that Holdo had to die in order for Poe to learn this lesson. In other words, we’re back to that age-old trope: a woman had to die in order to advance the plot/characterization of a male character.

And that’s where we get to our final topic: sexism. For a movie that preaches itself as so overtly feminist, it is rich with sexist undertones that are immediately apparent on the surface. Most of these are notably in the interactions between Rey and Kylo Ren, but there’s another character that I wanted to touch upon first. Rose Tico.

Despite Kelly Marie Tran’s boundless enthusiasm for her role, Rose Tico is ultimately underwhelming as a character. Despite mourning the death of her sister, her ultimate presence in the film seemed to be reduced to a girl with a bad crush on Finn.

I’ve already touched upon how poorly Rose treats Finn, but Rose herself seems to have gotten the short end of the stick in terms of the plot. Her character exists only to serve Rian’s image that your heroes aren’t what they seem, tazing Finn when she sees him trying to escape. From then on, Rose’s status seems to be downgraded to “Finn’s crush” as seen in the description of this deleted scene:

Originally, the film spent some more time clarifying the dynamic between Rey and Finn, and further setting up Rose’s crush on the Resistance “hero.” Rose chastises Finn for “pining for Rey,” which Finn quickly denies, claiming that he was “raised to fight” and that he finally found something to fight for in his friend, Rey. “Whatever,” responds Rose with a hint of jealousy.

Rose’s constant nagging of Finn and being catty about Rey enforces a negative female stereotype that has no business in a Hollywood blockbuster that claims to be catered to young girls, especially when it seems that Rose’s role has been reduced to working the love triangle dynamic between Finn and Rey. This seems like it could only lead to a destructive end for the character, especially considering how she attempts to save Finn’s life by almost sacrificing her own at the end of the film. Rose presents us once again with the trope that a female character must sacrifice herself in order to advance the plot of the male character, in this case, to prove her love for him. It’s a frustrating trope, made all the more exhausting when you consider what her role might be in the next film.

If you focus on the look Rey gives Finn putting a blanket over the unconscious Rose, it sets up tension for the next film: assuming Rey and Rose engage in competition for Finn’s attention, putting the two girls at odds with one another.

Because if the sexism in this movie wasn’t blatant enough, that’s just what Star Wars needs: two girls fighting over a guy. While frustrating to watch, it’s also extremely degrading to both characters and reduces both of their arcs into nothing more than instruments to direct the story of a male character.

Hopefully JJ will take the next episode in a different direction, but the damage that has already occurred in this film cannot be understated. There is, unfortunately, a lot of ground to cover regarding Rey’s story, so I’m going to start with the most visually striking one: Rey’s costume.

In The Last Jedi, Rey adopts what has been dubbed her “Jedi Training” outfit, trading out her three signature buns for a simpler hairstyle and trading out her light Jedi garb for a bit of a darker color. It’s a way for Rey to separate herself from the girl we saw crying desperately over her parent’s retreating ship on Jakku, keeping the same appearance a decade later in the hopes that they would come back to recognize her.

Many who speculated that Rey would undergo this physical transition after she discovered the true origin of her parents and worked to free herself of that disappointment found themselves disappointed. Rey didn’t change her clothes and her hair after she learned about her parentage from Kylo Ren, she learned about it after.

Despite being wet from the rain, another reason for this change is that she was shipping herself off in a box to see Kylo Ren, prompting those who want them to be romantically involved to start citing the Snow White parallels. It’s not hard to believe that the reason for this change was to make Rey appear more feminine. With her hair down, she looks more like a girl and less like the hardened warrior who had to fend for herself back on Jakku.

But wait, wouldn’t that mean that Rey’s entire role in the movie basically focused on developing Kylo Ren as a character? It does, and you wouldn’t be wrong to think that way. Even during Rey’s training sessions with Luke, the conversation is always geared back to Kylo Ren in some way, whether it’s Luke talking about his past or Rey assuring Luke that she won’t end up like Kylo. Either way, we hear Kylo’s name spoken more times between them than we actually hear anything about the Jedi or the things that Luke learned about the Force on his travels (say, Pillio, perhaps?)

It becomes clear early on that despite Rian Johnson saying that the film isn’t about what the fans want, that certain scenes were added in to appeal to a certain demographic. For example, Adam Driver’s uncomfortable shirtless scene?

Rian himself says that the scene had a “specific purpose” of creating an increasing feeling of “uncomfortable intimacy.” In other words, Kylo Ren’s shirtless scene is basically synonymous with a dick pic: no one asked for it, but there it is, one of the most subtle forms of sexual harassment. Think about this another way: if Rey’s character was really a boy, would the shirtless scene still be present? Or necessary?

Hint: it’s not.

The fact that Rey’s character only seems to exist to play a role in Kylo’s story is concerning, considering that she is touted as the protagonist of the sequel trilogy. Even though she witnessed him murder Han Solo no more than a few days prior, she becomes emotionally intimate with him pretty quickly, opening up to him about the strange experiences she had in the “dark place” beneath the island.

And therein lies the problem. When they touched hands, Snoke gave her a vision of Kylo Ren turning back to the light side to compel her to rush off to the Supremacy in the hopes that she could turn Kylo Ren back to the light and turn the tide of the war.

There’s only one problem with that.

It’s not her problem.

Rey was a civilian. As Kylo Ren himself told her, “You have no place in this story.” She has no part in the conflict between the First Order and the Resistance, and yet she was swept up in it all the same. It shouldn’t be necessary for her to rush off and turn the tide of the war, and while it fits with the Star Wars theme of how one person can make a difference, the trope that a woman must rush off and sacrifice herself in order to progress a man’s character and offer him redemption has been a long-running frustrating trope. If Rey wants to help the Resistance, that’s her choice, but it shouldn’t be necessary to rush off and try to save the person who kidnapped and abused her.

It’s one of the things that makes any sort of Kylo Ren and Rey team-up so off-putting. In The Force Awakens, he kidnaps her and invades her mind in order to try to find the location of the map. After she escapes, he confronts her in the forest, throwing her into a tree several feet up in the air in a move that could have potentially killed her. Then she wakes up just in time to watch him slice through Finn in a move that could have killed him.

Oh, and did I forget to mention how she watched him murder a defenseless Han Solo right before her eyes only moments before? The man who, as Kylo himself taunted, presented a father figure that she never had?

In other words, Rey has absolutely no reason to trust Kylo Ren. She has no reason to even want him to get redemption. For all of Rian’s talk about how he wanted to keep this film “morally grey,” trying to make a genocidal murderer relateable, or even redeemable, was not a step in the right direction. Wouldn’t it have been more compelling to watch Rey wrestle with the ramifications of eliminating Kylo Ren once and for all? Instead of trying to find redemption for the dark side, wouldn’t it have been far more interesting to explore a situation in which Rey realizes that good people must sometimes do bad things for an overall good to result? 

Perhaps, but that’s not the film we got. Instead we got a team-up between Kylo Ren and Rey where, moments after they work together, their alliance is quickly severed. Rey asks Kylo to call off the attack that is sure to eliminate the Resistance, including Finn. Kylo, however, refuses and tells her to move on and join him in ruling. He tells her, “You come from nothing. You’re nothing. But not to me.”

Fortunately Rey grabs the lightsaber and rejects his offer, and the final scene of her closing the Millennium Falcon doors on him seems to confirm that she has severed her connection for good. The problem? The damage has already been done.

Rian Johnson has already set up the Kylo Ren and Rey dynamic to be potentially romantic, between the shirtless scene, the hand touching scene, to be filled with an uncomfortable kind of sexual tension between the girl that declared to Maz, “I don’t want a part of any of this” and the man that murdered his father.

As troubling as that notion is, it does get worse. Kylo Ren tells Rey, “You come from nothing. You are nothing. But not to me.”

The problem is that Kylo Ren’s frequent gaslighting and emotional manipulation throughout the two films reaches its climax: he has discarded Snoke and wants to use the powerful, yet naive Rey, to further his own power. Still, the sexual if not romantic implications are there, pushed along by a group of shippers that call themselves “Reylos,” who desperately seek for Rey to redeem Kylo through, well, you get the idea.

There are several problems with this. One of the first ones is the fact that Kylo Ren is 32 years old, whereas Rey is only 19. While many are quick to claim that age is just a number, Rey is emotionally immature, having been isolated on Jakku for most of her life. There is absolutely no good reason to try to push her into any sort of relationship with someone who is so destructive, especially when the sole reason for doing so is to help Kylo Ren find redemption.

The line, “You’re nothing…but not to me” is a quote that unfortunately most women have heard far too often. It’s an emotional manipulation tactic in order to try to isolate a woman from her friends and family until she only relies on her abuser for support, and this is exactly what Kylo Ren is trying to do here. With Luke unwilling to teach her, Kylo wants Rey to rely on him, and solely him, so that he can use her power and manipulate her to further his own goals (which is to lead the First Order to…conquer the galaxy? It’s not quite clear.)

It’s a frightening message, especially when you think about who this movie is supposedly marketed to. Think about how many children dressed up as Rey for Halloween. How do we explain to girls that the man who killed Han Solo, the man who emotionally manipulated her and tried to use her just to validate himself, is the person that she should ultimately fall in love with? It paints a dangerous picture that girls internalize before they have enough experience to make their own decisions regarding their own relationships.

Remember Edward Cullen’s creepy manipulation in Twilight? Apparently that’s crept into Star Wars as well.

And this gets to the heart of the overall problem. The Last Jedi is ultimately soaked in sexism, misogyny and racism, and yet Kathleen Kennedy and Bob Iger widely praised the film before its release. How can Kathleen Kennedy, who said that she was proud to have a feminist icon in Rey, be willing to reduce Rey’s entire story to “the love interest?” If the executives and storygroup approved such blatant racism and actively worked to rewrite characters in order to fit their stereotypical narrative, what hope do we have that the next trilogy will be better, especially when they gave Rian Johnson full control over its content?

Rian himself believes that Darth Vader was worse than Kylo Ren, and while that is probably a conversation as controversial as the movie itself, Rian still wholeheartedly believes that despite what happened in The Last Jedi, that Kylo Ren can be redeemed. It shows that the storyline that JJ Abrams set up has been reduced to simply furthering the narrative of the white villain, and the rest of the characters are simply players in his story, which is why they exist as nothing more than stereotypes in Rian Johnson’s version of Star Wars.

And that’s the disappointment. While The Force Awakens received criticism for being too similar to its predecessor, A New Hope, JJ did set up some interesting and mysterious characters. While Captain Phasma’s role was ultimately underwhelming, fans were assured that she would have a much bigger role to play in Rian Johnson’s world.

Unfortunately, we all know how that turned out. 

Phasma’s quick dismissal wasn’t the only disappointment. Snoke was killed off without any satisfying explanation to who he was or even what he wanted the First Order to do. The Knights of Ren, which were mentioned in The Force Awakens and played a role in Rey’s vision, disappeared from the narrative entirely, instead being replaced by Rian’s Praetorian Guards.

For many, Luke Skywalker’s return was the biggest disappointment. Mark has made no secret in recent weeks citing how he didn’t agree with Rian Johnson’s vision of Luke and how he wished George Lucas had directed the sequel trilogy instead, a mere three days before The Last Jedi hit theatres. It fits into Rian Johnson’s grim version of reality: our heroes can be defeated, and idolizing legends is ultimately unsettling and disappointing when faced with reality.

But by disappearing into the Force, did Luke not himself become a legend, the very thing that Rian seems to chide against? The film’s “message” seems to give audiences such mixed signals, it’s not surprising that audiences claim that the film seemed better after a second viewing: basic elements of the plot just doesn’t make sense, like how the First Order has suddenly developed hyperspace tracking despite the film only taking place a few days after the events of The Force Awakens. 

There are other plot holes that point out the flaws in logic in the story: where did Rey learn to swim on Jakku? How can bombers drop bombs in space when there’s no gravity for the bombs to fall? Since space exists in three dimensions, why didn’t the First Order just have a ship drop out into hyperspace in front of the Resistance Star Cruiser and blow it to bits? And why was General Hux, a serious, straight-faced villain in The Force Awakens, who ordered the destruction of the Hosnian System, delegated to a comedic side role who’s only function was to serve as a cheap laugh and be the butt of an awkward your mom joke? Instead of using the antagonism between Kylo Ren and General Hux to show the crumbling of the First Order and how the small band of Resistance heroes we’re left with at the end of the movie might stand a chance against them, it seems that the First Order’s army, which was flowing with Nazi imagery in The Force Awakens has just been reduced to campy slapstick humor.

Despite these obvious problems, the most glaring ones still remain in the fact that Star Wars is a film that claims to market itself to the people it exploits and ultimately rejects. It’s no wonder that merchandise and ticket sales have dropped when the movie is back to focusing on a white male lead, like so many other before it. Kylo Ren tells Rey that you have no part in this story, that she doesn’t belong – something that minorities, women, and the LGBTQ+ community have been hearing their whole lives.

But if this movie isn’t made for these people, then why does Disney keep trying to insist that it is? Most people who have been critical of the film have been met with the chorus of, “You’re just upset that you didn’t get what you wanted” as if it’s somehow wrong to expect more from what you receive. The story was set up so that we would get answers. How someone as powerful as Snoke managed to manipulate Kylo Ren from the womb and grow the First Order from the seeds of the Empire, Phasma’s increased involvement, and especially the question of Rey’s parentage, has been dangled in front of us like a carrot on a stick for the past two years, and it’s ultimately unsatisfying to see all those threads being clipped off and brushed aside with a, “Oh! It didn’t even matter!”

If it didn’t matter, then why feel the need to keep up the secrecy and suspense for two years, when the final product is ultimately disappointing? (Point not withstanding, Kylo Ren tells Rey that Snoke showed him that her parents were buried in a pauper’s grave on Jakku. Why her parents would actually return to Jakku, or whether Snoke was actually telling the truth, is a matter that JJ has yet to resolve.)

It’s not wrong to be a critical consumer of the media that we consume. It’s not wrong to say that we deserve something better. Minorities and women can and should demand to be treated with more respect than they were shown in this film, and the overwhelming amount of racism and misogyny in this film is something that most avid fans of the film have not provided an answer for.

People who claim that The Last Jedi is a good movie, while at the same time acknowledging how deeply misogynistic and racist it is, are contributing to the larger problem we have as a society. It’s saying, “I know it’s racist and misogynistic, but it entertained me, so I’m okay with it.”

It might just be fiction. It might just be a story. But all media we consume influences us, subconsciously or not, in ways that we may not even be aware of. Star Wars may not be real. These characters may not be real.

But it still affects how you feel, and that seems pretty real to me.

[kingedmundsroyalmurder]

Content warning for abelism, both in the language used to refer to a disabled character and also in how said character is treated. Content warning also for Eric being a creep.

Eric returns to the orchard and, now that he has unlocked her backstory, Kilmeny is here! And she doesn't run away this time! He immediately takes advantage of this by invading her personal space!

"Seeing this, he walked slowly towards her, and when he was so close to her that he could hear the nervous flutter of her breath over her parted, trembling lips, he said very gently,

“Do not be afraid of me. I am a friend, and I do not wish to disturb or annoy you in any way.”

She seemed to hesitate a moment. Then she lifted a little slate that hung at her belt, wrote something on it rapidly, and held it out to him. He read, in a small distinctive handwriting,

“I am not afraid of you now. Mother told me that all strange men were very wicked and dangerous, but I do not think you can be. I have thought a great deal about you, and I am sorry I ran away the other night."

Look, this is trying its very hardest to be a meet-cute. Eric is blushing and gentle, Kilmeny is hesitant but interested. Maud is trying so hard to make this chemistry happen.

It is not happening. It is not happening because, as I said before, Eric's charm is entirely ruined by the fact that we are in his head. If we were seeing this through a 3rd party? Could maybe be cute! I mean probably not, because of the aforementioned personal space violation and also the fact that he didn't apologize for scaring her, but it could be if you worked at it hard enough! But Eric's inner monologue is not cute. Eric's inner monologue is consistently condescending at best. We know he doesn't feel bad for scaring her, he feels annoyed at her for being scared. Not cute.

This is cemented by Eric's habit of asking her questions that are actually orders. "Won’t you play for me?" "And now won’t you give me some flowers?" Definitely not cute, sorry.

There is one brief moment where he realizes how not cute this could all get, even if he can only express it via ableism: "The next moment he was angry with himself for his folly. She was, after all, nothing but a child—and a child set apart from her fellow creatures by her sad defect. He must not let himself think nonsense." I would like to think that this is Eric recognizing the power difference between them. I fear it is actually Eric just going, 'she's just a kid, can't marry a kid, not good enough to be a wife yet.'

“Yes, but what I mean is, would you like me better if I could speak like other people?”

My heart is officially broken for Kilmeny and she's only had like three lines. I want to whisk her away from her family and give her some friends who don't tell her she's less than human and fully undesirable because she can't speak.

“No, it does not make any difference in that way, Kilmeny. By the way, do you mind my calling you Kilmeny?”

And Eric is back to being almost charming! I really think that if he'd been whacked on the head by Anne Shirley or equivalent as a kid he would have been redeemable! He's only 24, there's still time to grow as a person! It's just that he really should have done that growing before meeting Kilmeny, for her sake.

"Eric told her of his life, and the life in the great outer world, in which she was girlishly and eagerly interested. She asked him many questions about it—direct and incisive questions which showed that she had already formed decided opinions and views about it. Yet it was plain to be seen that she did not regard it as anything she might ever share herself. Hers was the dispassionate interest with which she might have listened to a tale of the land of fairy or of some great empire long passed away from earth."

So in the Kilmeny poem, one of the things Kilmeny does in fairy land is she observes great dramas being played out in other worlds. She sees a queen brought to her knees by a treacherous lover and she sees great wars and battles. I think this passage is a direct callback to that part of the poem. Kilmeny Gordon is trapped in fairy land, watching mortal dramas play out before her without any ability to interact with them.

Kilmeny vehemently does not want to go out into the world. This makes me question Eric's interpretation of her music earlier. While I know narratively what's going to happen is that under her fear and trauma she really does want to leave and the music was unconsciously expressing that, I would very much like it if Eric had actually just been wrong. She was playing a song and he read into it something that wasn't there. That would be nice.

I don't think we're going to get nice things, alas.

Especially not when we end with this: "Unconsciously and involuntarily he infused so much triumph into the simple monosyllable that even old Robert felt it. Mrs. Williamson, who was cutting bread at the end of the table, laid down her knife and loaf, and looked at the young man with a softly troubled expression in her eyes. She wondered if he had been back to the Connors orchard—and if he could have seen Kilmeny Gordon again." Triumph, is it Eric? You've met the woman your heart yearns for, had a long conversation with her, promised to meet her again tomorrow, and the emotion you are feeling is triumph. That bodes poorly.

[uniquevoidflowers]

Part 1:

___________________________________________________

Part two:

"Extraordinary. My servant was able to defeat the hero yet you took his role and bested me. But this is not the end. My hate never perishes. It is born anew in a cycle with no end. I will rise again. Those like you who share the blood of the goddess...they are eternally bound to this curse. An incarnation of my hatred shall ever follow your kind, dooming them to wander a blood-soaked sea of darkness for all of time."

Zelda's head ached. She had spent so much time trying to figure out a way to stop this curse, or even just help her future selves navigate this. If Link were here he would've told her to take a break a long time ago.

Link.

Link was gone, and because of that, the spirit of the hero will fail to reincarnate, and no chosen hero will stand up to aid the kingdom. Zelda rubbed tears from her eyes and decided she needed to clear her mind. "Are you okay?" Father asked, gently.

"No." She admitted.

She saw the understanding in his eyes. "...Is there anything I can do to help you?" He asked.

"I don't know. Link's...death has had some unforeseen consequences and I don't know how to help the future." Zelda explained, taking a shaky deep breath after.

"I'll look into it. Take a moment to rest." He said and placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

She rubbed more tears from her eyes and nodded. Father sighed and started walking away. Zelda hurried to her room and collapsed on the bed, the blanket rustling and twisting out of its usual shape. "If only you were here, Link." She mumbled, swallowing back sobs. "Or Impa...I could really use her advice right now."

What would Impa say about this? Would she even know how to fix this?

Zelda sighed and curled up in on herself, her thoughts becoming jumbled, mixed with grief and frustration. Suddenly a book fell off of her shelf and made a loud thud on the ground. Zelda crouched and picked up the book. It had a white cover and red text on the front, silver lining the edges, and it was dusty, the pages beginning to tear. She began flipping through it. It seemed to be a book about immortality, or at least something along the lines of it. She gasped, as the wind flipped the pages to a few specific pages, and was taken aback at how dark this book was.

How did it get into the Knight Academy?

The pages talked about turning into an immortal spirit, and the cost of doing so, even turning into an immortal dragon. Suddenly, Zelda got an idea. An awful idea that might just work.

_______________________________________________

Zelda gathered the necessary things and started chanting the words, waiting for anything to happen. She could sense dark magic beginning to appear and the light inside of her screamed and begged for her to stop, find another way, leave. She wasn't going to, though. Once she was finished the chant, black began to fill her vision and darkness seized her body.

....

....

....

Zelda's eyes shot open and she yelped. She saw her hands, they were intangible. She looked down and saw her physical form was lying on the ground and the book had vanished. "I did it." She let the words hang in the air.

[greypetrel]

WIP Wednesday

Tagged by @transprincecaspian, the quickest wip wednesday of the West! (I'm imagining you with a poncho now, jsyk).

Not much drawing-wise this week either, the outfits are consuming my free time very very happily (I still have two asks to go xD). But this one doodle of the Dark Lady AU...

Adar will, actually, stand on the door from 23:30 to wait for their return. The Lady may trust the man, but he doesn't until he'll prove himself to be trustworthy. Adar by name and de facto.

And some piece of writing, Science Bros are up to it again, and they kinda forgot to notify the exact nature of their latest experiment... (RIP poor Lysette, she'll have grey hair)

Life went on, as they all slowly untackled the Emprise. Until a Templar silences someone in the training grounds. For the most remarkable happening in the last weeks, it could have been something way better than that. A loud commotion from one of the fences, light, and that peculiar sensation of cold as the leftover wind reaches the other fence.

Cullen is running, fearing the worse. He knew joint drills were a bad idea, they were too soon, he- - he stops in front of the back fence to assist at Lysette helping a trembling and very pouty Inquisitor up, knees trembling under her and head shaking as she leans in the Templar’s arms. “I told you it was a terrible idea, your Worship!” “Nonsense. Better done here than in batt- Uuuuurgh, down, down, put me down.” The elf gets put down and dry heaves on the sand, back arching up with the gesture. The poor Templar patting her back and a distressed Dorian jumping up and around from a barrier of four Templar shields solidly planted in the ground. It looks under control enough, but as a crowd of curious people is forming around the fence, and just to be sure, Cullen must ask. “Maker’s breath, what’s going on here?” The trio perks up, Lysette jumping back up for a nervous and all too stiff salute, Aisling looking a little green, and Dorian just glancing up at him and going back to his friend. “It’s an experiment, Commander, everything is all right. Lysette was helping us and following my order.” “You ordered her to silence you?” “I didn’t want to, Commander, but the Inquisitor insisted.” Of course she insisted. Of course she did. Cullen sighed, entering the fence and crouching down too. “At rest, knight.” He addresses Lysette, who takes a deep, relieved breath at the lack of scoldings. “Are you fine?” He then asks Aisling, worried. “It’s like my bowels are upside down and…” She raises a hand, trembling, and clumsily snaps her fingers. Beside the clack, nothing at all happens. She does it one and twice more, frowning. “…No, nothing.” “It’ll take half an hour to reappear, it’ll be gradual and I think it won’t be particularly enjoyable.” Cullen sighs, and now both mages are looking at him, puzzled. “Half an hour??” They exclaim, in chorus. “Yes?” Aisling turns to Dorian, frowning with reproach. He perks up, snorting loudly and puffing up his chest. “How was I supposed to know? Templars back home aren’t able to silence at all, how am I supposed to know before Maevaris get us some books, if even there are books?” “You told me ten minutes!” “I said fortisne. It means that maybe but also that I don’t know!” And there they go, starting bickering quickly, to quickly and in a language too mixed to really follow. But if Aisling has the strength for this, she’s not as bad as she could be, even if trying to stand up more than that, crouching on the ground, sends her back down with a grimace. Calmer and reassured that nothing major happened, Cullen, who still can do so, raises up and turns to the fence. “Nothing to see here, get back to work!” Some huffs of protest raise in the air, but everyone slowly starts to disperse back to their respective task. In a minute, there’s more clamour of swords against sword. Not that it makes the science bros stop going back and forth in any way, but it’s something. As for the Commander, tho, he turns to Lysette, still there looking worried between him and the Inquisitor, unsure of what to do. “Can you please explain what’s going on?” “Ah… I understood that it’s for the Emprise du Lion, Commander. They want to see if there’s a way to counteract silencing in a safe and controlled environment, before leaving… Or I think so, they started talking science and I got lost.”

tagging: @melisusthewee @ndostairlyrium @shivunin @zenstrike @rowanisawriter @scribbledquillz @dungeons-and-dragon-age @oxygenforthewicked @rosella-writes @dreadfutures @demandthedoodles @idolsgf § (ignore the tag if you don't want to do it of course! Also good morning to you all!)

[limeflavoredlobotomizer]

Ok, since Luz is officially carving her palisman, I’m going to take this last chance to try to predict what it’s going to be.

So, let’s start with the theories. We’ve got

Luz’s palisman will be a bat

Luz’s palisman will be a bird

Luz’s palisman will be an otter

Luz’s palisman will be a snake

Let’s start with number 1. This is one of the most popular theories, but I honestly can’t find much good evidence for it.

This is pretty much the only evidence I ever see for this theory, and when I looked through the show, I couldn’t find any more. We’ve got Luz’s phone case and tamagotchi avatar, both things she would’ve brought from the human realm, so they wouldn’t really factor into her arc in the Boiling Isles, which is what her palisman should represent, and a scene from a different show.

Most of the theories I’ve seen about this specifically relate to the tamagotchi and the Amphibia scene. Since Amity’s palisman, Ghost, is a white cat and her tamagotchi avatar, it would make sense for Luz’s palisman to be represented by her avatar. However, this doesn’t really seem to hold up. Tamagotchis come from the human realm, so Luz probably had her avatar a long time before the Boiling Isles, and it might just be there because it looks like her phone case, her other main method of communication. Most of this also relates to Lumity-the cat & bat soulmate stuff, the tamagotchis were used in lumity’s first official episode-and Luz’s palisman should really represent her and her growth, not her relationship with Amity. Also, Luz got her phone case before the Boiling Isles, and throughout the series, it’s her only link to her mother, so thematically, a bat would represent the human realm for her.

In addition to this, I think there’s already another pretty major character that a bat palisman makes way more sense for.

Yeah, Raine. Raine is pretty consistently associated with bats. They literally wear a bat mask and their rebellion was called The BATTs. We haven’t seen their palisman yet, but if we do, I think it’s incredibly likely that they’ll be the one with the bat palisman.

Number 2, Luz’s palisman will be a bird. This one is pretty straightforward. The Clawthornes, Luz’s adopted family, all have bird palismen. If Luz gets a bird palisman, that will symbolically make her a Clawthorne. This one feels a little weird because Luz’s arc through the show has been her discovering herself through the Boiling Isles, the Clawthornes, and her relationship with her family. Luz becoming a Clawthorne would disregard her growth with her mother, and I really hope it doesn’t happen.

3, Luz’s palisman will be an otter. This one is based solely on this one scene from Enchanting Grom Fright, and has no other evidence.

It’s a fun theory, but it’s got nothing else going for it. There are no otter motifs, we never see any other otters, and they don’t symbolize anything within the context of the show. The otter suit only appears here, and in a photo later in the episode, and I highly doubt that such a big and important reveal that’s been teased since episode 2 would have this little buildup.

4. Oh, boy this is a big one. Luz’s palisman will be a snake. This is probably the most popular theory, and it’s pretty obvious why. Unlike the otter theory, this one has a ton of evidence. Let’s start at the beginning.

The title card itself. On it, we can pretty obviously see Eda’s staff, with Owlbert in the O, and the last line of the H forming the actual staff. If we look at the rest of the title, we can see the exact same staff shape as the L, only upside down, leading directly to the S. S stands for and looks like a snake. That’s pretty good, but there’s more.

The opening shot of the series, a scene that represents Luz’s weirdness and creativity has a magical snake, that just so happens to be her favorite color, despite the real-world equivalent being regular green.

Speaking of the real-world snakes, they are quite literally the inciting incident that force Camila to send Luz to summer camp, meaning they are pretty much responsible for Luz’s arrival in the Boiling Isles, and the entire show.

In Eda’s fake King backstory, we see a stylized palace watched over by snakes, and, if snakes do indeed symbolize Luz, this would be foreshadowing Luz and King’s relationship throughout the show, as they grow to dare for each other as siblings. I’m not entirely sure where the image of King’s demon encyclopedia from episode 4 comes from, as I got it from @sepublic’s own snake palisman post, but a snake is prominently shown on the cover. This again connects snakes, and therefore Luz to the demon realm and demons, specifically King.

Luz is also seen hissing and otherwise acting like a snake throughout the show. She even thinks her arms are snakes in Eclipse Lake, which is probably just a joke, but does add to the snake imagery we see over and over again.

Luz and magical snakes, specifically Basilisks, also go way back. She fights a Basilisk on her first day at Hexside, her identity is stolen by a Basilisk in Yesterday’s Lie, and by the end of that episode and in Reaching Out, she and said Basilisk, Vee, are basically siblings.

Not only is there a frankly ridiculous amount of evidence for this theory, it also works really well both thematically and narratively. Thematically, snakes symbolize Luz’s creativity and weirdness. She doesn’t fit in in the human realm, and that’s shown by the snakes. She does fit in in the Boiling Isles, which is also shown by the snakes. No one in the Demon Realm ever mentions her snake hissing or thinks it’s weird. Snakes are considered weird, wild, dangerous in the human realm, but they’re completely accepted in the demon realm.

Here I’m going to slip into headcanon for a bit. While I believe that her palisman will be a snake, I believe that it will be a winged snake specifically. One, a winged snake will tie into the winged/bird theme of the Clawthornes, making Luz’s palisman a symbol of herself and both her families. She’s a human, but also a witch. She’s a Noceda, but also a Clawthorne. She’s a snake, but she can still fly.

Secondly, in mythology, a staff with a single snake around it was the symbol of Asclepius, god of healing.

Luz, throughout the show, has healed the Boiling Isles. She’s made Eda a better person, helped King and Hooty, redeemed Amity and Lilith, and is trying to save Hunter. She’s reformed Hexside, saved witches from the Conformatorium, and has been working, at every opportunity, to expose Belos and save the Isles. Her presence has made everyone better; she’s healing the Isles.

I also think it’s incredibly probable that Luz, armed with a symbolic healing staff, will save the witches from their sigils and save everyone.

Still, this is just my theory, and whatever Dana and the crew have planned, I’m sure it’ll be great.

[originalwinnercheesecake]

One more list of backround character palisman choices

Some spoilers for season 3

Pairing palisman to witches has been one of my favorite things to do in The Owl House fandom. I have done about 3 lists so far.  A “first guess list” I did pre-Hunting Palisman (Amity and Mary the sheep horned abmination student were the only ones I got right). Then a list involving the palisman that did not go home with witches in “Hunting Palisman”. My third list was one I did for all the adult characters, based on their personalities and headcannons some of their actor’s had given. Well in honor of Stringbean hatching I want to make a fourth list for all the teenager’s/young adults whom we have not yet seen with palisman.

Amber’s palisman: A fruit bat. I have seen some people in the fandom nickname the youngest of the bard trio “baby bat” due to her ears, fangs, and wings. I love this, so I want to keep that little theme going with her palisman also being a bat. I piked a fruit bat just because I think their little fox-like faces are cute

Derwin’s palisman: A Newt, possibly a firebelly newt for its cool look and rebel sounding name. So I really want the the original 4 BATT’s to all have a different type of animal palisman. Raine’s voice actor already said Raine would have a penguin (a bird), Katya has a herculean beetle (an insect), and above I said Amber would get a fruit bat ( a mammal). Then that means that Derwin should get either a reptile or an amphibian. I am going to reference Amphibia here: I headcannon Derwin as being most intelligent of his trio (Katya being the caring one, and Amber being the brave one) because he wears glasses and his name is super similar/derived from that of a famous scientist.  And in Amphibia the newts were the scholarly race

Blight Twins. Okay so originally I wanted all three of the blight siblings to have cats, with Emira having a black cat and Edric having either a gray one or a tabby. Then that turned into Emira still having a cat but Edric instead having a small dog. But earlier today I saw the tweet that said the writers wanted to give the twins a butterfly and a moth. Which is funny because in my adult witch list I said that if the little brown rat was not Alador’s paliman, then he should have a lunar moth palisman. Now I am just imagining ghost with a gaggle of bugs, rodent’s, and Stringbean, who’s default form is a snake... All animals cats usually try and hunt/catch, but these ones are her family. lol.

Moving on, the person said that the reason we haven’t seen the twins with the two bugs is that they crew cold not decide which twin should get the moth and which twin should get the butterfly. Well choosing to believe them, I can decide: Emira gets the moth. Edric gets the butterfly. Now let’s talk breeds.

Emira Blight: A prometheus moth. It took approximately 5-10 seconds for me to pick this breed of moth for Emira. Prometheus moth’s are brown feathered moths with eye like images painted on to the back of their wings. Emira is such a watchful person. She does so much to try and take care of Ed and Amity. In season 2 she honestly seemed like the closest thing her siblings had to an involved parent. I think it would really cool if she got a prometheus moth that literally had eyes on the back of its wings, and it either followed just behind her or sat on her scalp, and was treated like Emira having eyes in the back of her head.

Edric Blight: A red spotted purple butterfly. They are actually blue with black edges and orange spots. They look kinda like blue Monarch butterflies. In contrast to his sister, just looking through butterfly breeds on google to find him one did nothing but overwhelm me. So to try and cut it down I decided I wanted to give him a blue butterfly, since he has blue magic. There are like 50+ types of blue butterflies, but I found the red spotted purple butterfly petty high on the list and picked it. It has three colors to its wings, just like Ed has three track colors on his school uniform. 2 of its colors even match 2 of Ed’ tracks. So a red spotted purple butterfly is Edric’s butterfly.

Matt Tholomule: a white Rat. So a rat was my original pick for him just because after 1x09 the fandom kept referring to him as “the construction rat”. Now that we have seen more of his skills and personality, the animal just continues to suit him more. Rat’s are, sneaky, good at building, really smart (seriously rats are actually incredibly smart rodents.) and fast little creatures. I say with all the love in the world that  Matt is a rat gremlin. Originally I was going to pick out a breed of rat that was black or dark grey to match Matt’s color scheme better... Then I realized that that would look similar to Micky Mouse. No. Adrian Graye, who was written as a vessel for the creators to express their disgust/frustration for Disney’s producers, is the only character who a Micky Mouse palisman works with. Give Matt a white rat that looks nothing like Micky.

Steve: Hedgehog palisman for Steve. He was on my last list, where I suggested a scorpion palisman. I have since been unsatisfied with that choice and want to change it to a hedgehog (I will give all the Tholomule’s rodent’s). I looked at its meanings and a hedgehog is literally perfect for Steve. A hedgehog is a tough little creature but also non aggressive, so is Steve. Totem wise they are seen as vessels for positivity, and Steve likes to cheer for people. But also a creature who likes peaceful outings. Europeans view them as representations of victory over evil forces, which can be represented with Steve choosing to walk away from the Emperor’s coven when he no longer believed in The Emperor’s rule.

Vee Noceda: A mocking bird. Oh y’all thought I wouldn’t include Luz’s siblings on this list? No chance. I have seen more fan art on Tumblr of Vee with Stringbean than Luz. So many people have been commenting about how the egg hatched into a mythical creature that is so similar to a basilisk, and how flattered Vee will feel when she meets her sister’s new pet. Guys Stringbean is Luz’s. Vee needs her own palisman. I did want to give her something that could learn to mimic other creatures similar to how Vee does. I also thought about birds, because Vee mentions playing with Masha and a flock of birds at camp in one of her letters to Camila. Put both of those concepts together and you get Vee with a little mocking bird palisman.

King Clawthorne: A bunny. He can have one too, once he gets old enough to take care of it. I am sticking with my first idea that once King becomes old enough to outgrow Francois he gets himself a bunny palisman to be his little buddy instead.

The Collector: A multicolored parrot. Yeah if King was going to be on this list then his new baby brother had to be next. Anyone who has watched 3x02 can see how at his core the collector is just a lonely little kid who is afraid of being alone. If you know about Parrots you know that they are long living birds who develop close bonds with their owners to the point where they want to be by their side always. A parrot could spend all day every day playing with the Collector and they would both love it.

Hunter: Well of course the first thing I want to know is if, since he has flapjack’s spirit, can he carve a new palisman body for Flap and put him into it. In “Hunting Palisman’s” Hunter said he wished he could chose his life for himself, and that bonded him to Flapjack. Well in “Thanks to Them” almost everything he said he would like to do with his life involved palisman. He still needs one and there is no room left in the show for him to mourn Flapjack and get to a point where it is believable that he would be ready to get/make a new palisman.

But let’s say that either A.) It is possible for Hunter to carve Flapjack a new body and he carves something other than a cardinal, deciding that both he and Flapjack should have knew looks for their new lives. Or B.) the Owl house gets spin off material and somewhere down the road we get a comic of Hunter going through the process of mourning Flapjack, and coming to terms with what happened. Then eventually getting to a stage where carving a new palisman wouldn't be to painful. I have seen a lot of people suggest a wolf. That good, but I want to suggest on final tribute to his fallen friend’s old forum. A black/dark brown wolf with red feathered wings. Palisman do not have to look exactly like the animals they are based off, and so far canine palisman haven’t. The green skinned fang kid has a unisus wolf, and Jarbo has a unicorn dog. So why should Hunter carve a plain old wolf when he could do a black and red Pegasus wolf?

[ghostxraven]

1, 4, and 12 for jet and 19 & 22 for party

1. Why are they Like That™? What makes them tick ever so slightly off? — Jet Star

jet’s formative years were spent with loving parents in a big community of kids and a few other adults who helped take care of all the motorbabies in the caravan. it takes a village, you know? and that is why jet is…more emotionally balanced? than a lot of other desertborns. her parents gave her a lot of love growing up and made sure they knew they could always come back to them for help even after she found her own crew. that’s what makes jet so open, outgoing, friendly with other ‘joys, which is consequently what led to the fab four forming in the first place!

4. Thoughts on vampires? (not dracs. very different) — Jet Star

weeeell…i think jet is only like…VAGUELY aware of the concept of vampires outside of draculoids. as a concept she’s pretty indifferent to them, i think. jet’s not the type to really think they’re interesting, especially since dracs have sort of warped the idea of vampires and tainted them for ‘joys, particularly desertborns. jet doesn’t really think that blood-sucking creatures of the night are particularly appealing, when it comes to things that may or may not actually exist she’s much more interested in “positive” or benevolent kinds of entities (the Witch and Destroya included). that is, of course, unless we’re talking about very specifically my supernatural creatures AU, in which case “present company excluded” is her stance on things.

12. Who did they have the hardest time trusting from their crew/friends? — Jet Star

HM. that’s a really hard one, because jet is so open and trusting by nature. she’s really willing to extend an open hand and take a chance on folks, hoping that if she shows kindness to people she’ll be repaid in kind by their trust. that being said, i think out of her crew, the person she had the hardest time trusting was actually kobra. party, to jet, was easy to read — they were shy and awkward but weren’t threatening, despite their posturing, and they would just lurk around jet until eventually they got close enough that party started to open up. kobra, however…he was polite enough, but he’s pretty stoic and closed-off. hard to read. he can almost seem emotionless, and even for someone as willing to extend their trust as jet, it was just…really hard for her to get a read on him. obviously they eventually learned to trust each other, to the point where when ghoul started to come around jet had no qualms about trusting him, because kobra vouched for him. but for a while there, when jet had just met party and kobra and obviously didn’t know anything about either of them yet, kobra was definitely a hard nut to crack and that made it take longer for jet to warm up to him.

19. What’s something they’ve never quite got over? — Party Poison

tw for grooming of a minor: party’s supervising ‘crow in the city when they were a scarecrow trainee was korse. they were right at the top of their class, and got “special attention” allegedly because of that. at least, that’s the reason korse told them. they were pretty young — between the ages of eleven and fourteen — and didn’t really realize that what was happening was bad, even. they just thought they were special. it took them until they were already out in the Zones to realize that they had been groomed, and it made them feel…violated. scared. they can put on a brave face, fake a lot of confidence in a firefight, but…they’ll never be over it. and they’ll always be scared of korse, even if they refuse to show it.

22. Do they ever want to return/go to Battery City? If not, is there something that could make them change their mind? — Party Poison

no. party hates the city the most out of everyone in their crew. they hate who they were in the city, they hate the things they were complicit in (and they hate the things that happened to them), and they would never want to return to Batt City, especially once they realized they were nonbinary, and once they’d fallen in love, they were entirely aware of the fact that they would never have been allowed those things if they’d stayed. i honestly don’t think there’s anything that could make them change their mind…i don’t count the underground as “going back to batt city” so i think if worst came to worst they could maybe be convinced to go back to the city in that sense. and of course, they’ve gone back to Batt City to rescue the girl, and to get ghoul back from reconditioning. however, they would never, willingly, return to Battery City as a citizen.

ty for the ask, marz :]

send me killjoys asks HERE

[azure-wolf-227]

TOH Werebeasts AU

It’s basically a Werewolf AU but with more than just Werewolves.

The setting is fantasy medieval/middle ages, with kingdoms, knights and magic. While most of the canon human characters remain as humans, the canon witch/demon characters are either humans or werebeasts depending on what role they play. The witch characters that are now humans still have magic powers, but are called Mages.

Werebeasts are a race of beings that can shift between a humanoid form and beast form. They also have and in-between form that’s mix of their humanoid and beast forms. Werebeasts in their humanoid form are recognized by their pointed ears.

Werebeasts’ are either based on a single animal or are a mix of several. What type of animal or animal-mix the Beast Forms are based on depends on family relations and the Werebeasts’ individuality. For example, all the Clawthornes have bird-based Beast forms, but the type of bird each member is it’s different: Eda - owl, Lilith - raven, Gwen - hawk, Dell - yellow cardinal.

All Werebeasts are quadrupedal in their Beast Forms and somewhat mammalian-like even if their are based on bird, insects, or reptiles. They are also much larger than their animal counterparts, even when the animal is usually small.

Although most Werebeasts are born, humans are capable of becoming Werebeasts by way of a magic ritual. The ritual itself is not common knowledge and many Werebeasts think it’s a legend (it’s not).

Werebeasts are often persecuted by humans, so many of them either live in isolation or try to blend in. There are towns and villages that happily accept Werebeasts living amongst them.

Philip/Belos is a powerful lord who seeks to exterminate all the Werebeasts because his brother fell in love with one. Although he only controls a single region, he has been known to secretly send mercenaries and bounty hunter into ‘Werebeast Friendly’ regions to hunt down any Werebeasts seeking refuge.

Eda's curse in this AU is a condition some Werebeasts have that causes them to suddenly give in to their animal instincts and become feral. The condition is often looked down by other Werebeasts despite it being manageable with the right medication. She lives in a house deep in the woods bordering a Werebeast Friendly town.

King is Beast-Locked, a rare condition that makes him unable to take on a humanoid form so he is locked into the form of a beast - though he can take on an inbetween form. Beast-Locked Werebeasts are also often looked down upon as defective.

Luz is the only apparent survivor of a village that was destroyed in a monster attack; she was found and adopted by Eda. Although Luz starts out as human, she would eventually become a Werebeast.

Raine is Eda’s ex who has been working to save other Werebeasts from being killed. They saved the BATTs (Derwin, Katya, and Amber) after their families got killed, and practically adopted the three. While looking for a new home, they reunite with Eda and join her “pack.” The two eventually rekindle their romance.

Hunter is not a Grimwalker, but rather, a Werebeast and the biological son of Caleb Witterbane and Evelyn Clawthorne (who is Eda’s cousin in this AU). His uncle Philip murdered his parents and kidnapped him when he was a baby. Philip then proceeded to use magic to seal away Hunter’s Beast Form and pass him off as a full-human, lying to Hunter that his parents were killed by Werebeasts. Hunter eventually finds out the truth and unseals his Beast Form.

Here is a list of some of the characters that are Werebeasts and what animal/animal mix they are based on:

Eda is an Own Beast like in canon, though her face in Beast Form is more animalistic.

Raine is a fox/bat hybrid in reference to their fox Palisman and to reference the BATTs.

Luz’s eventual Beast Form is a mix of otter, cat, and snake.

King is an undetermined canine hybrid. Instead of a skull head, the upper part of his head has white fur and his left ear has a the upper half missing.

Amber is a full on Bat Beast because she already had bat traits in canon; Katya is a bat/cat hybrid in reference to her name starting with ‘Kat’ and to reference the CATTs; Derwin is a bat/dog hybrid for not particular reason except that I wanted him to be that.

Amity is a Cat Beast to reference her cat Palisman. She resembles a housecat but is the size of a big cat like a leopard or a lion.

Willow is a Bee Beast, essentially a Bee-version of the Owl Beast. This is a reference to her bee Palisman.

Gus is a Chameleon Beast, in reference to his chameleon Palisman.

Hunter is a red cardinal/wolf hybrid to reference his (first) Palisman and his love of wolves. Evelyn was a Red Cardinal Beast while Caleb was a human who became a Wolf Beast.

Lilith, Gwen, and Dell are bird based beast in reference to their canon Palismen.