#been a while since i went on a rant

[averysjameson]

idk but saying jennifer lynn barnes sucks at writing romance because your ship wasn't canon is beyond hilarious to me like okay???? HAHHAHAHA. everyone has their own preferences of course but the vehement hatred for jlb and the belittlement of her writing on booktok and bookstagram (sometimes on here) has been ASTOUNDING.

a note about the "poorly done romance/love triangle" in tig: jlb never said it was going to be "even". no one ever said that. personally pioneering the idea that one character was "not given a chance" does not make it a poorly written love triangle or a poorly written romance. in love triangles, there is usually ALWAYS one option who is simply NOT a real option. look me in the eye and tell me characters jeremiah fisher, aspen in the selection series, gale hawthorne, adam kent, jacob black, and i'm sorry but grayson hawthorne amongst a myriad of others were actual contenders for the main character. if you believed they are/wanted them to be, that's great! but all of these characters are in well known love triangles and at the end of the day, books with love triangles WILL sell because they generate conversation and hype around the book. it is a marketing tactic and you are NEVER promised equal opportunity from both love interests. you losing the love triangle or that you believe there is wasted potential doesn't mean bad writing has occurred. also, for the love of god, while you are supposed to relate to a character, you are not the main character!! belly, america, katniss, juliette, avery, what have you, all chose based on who they are as characters. and also, female characters don't have to "experience" both love interests to make a decision. if they want to, that's totally fine, but specifically about avery bc this is what this blog is all about, she absolutely knows what she's "missing out" on with grayson and she doesn't care. shipping averygrayson just blatantly feels like ignoring avery's wants and needs.

anyway, if you want to call jlb's writing poorly done bc you didn't get your way, that's totally fine. you are entitled to your own opinion. it's just funny that you say that bc had grayson and avery been randomly thrown together in the epilogue of tfg or something, i have a feeling you wouldn't be of this opinion.

tldr; love triangles are a marketing tactic and you are neither entitled to a win nor is is poorly done/executed if you lose. love triangles, more often than not, have a clear winner from the beginning (coughcough "see? you're already his") but the debate and drama of another character sells the book.

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

TAWERET

I WANT TO TALK ABOUT TAWERET! 

I’ve been putting this off for a while and I need to discuss Taweret! Let’s go! 

So who is Taweret. (Disclaimer: I am not an expert on Egyptology or mythology in relation, I’ve only done a little research). 

Taweret is a goddess that gained increasing power and placement throughout Ancient history. 

She is described as having the head of a Hippopotamus, arms/paws of a lion, and tail and legs of a crocodile. 

That is one strong and fierce combination. They looked around Egypt and went, “What is the scariest things we have out here?” 

So what is her place? Fertility and Rejuvenation (Goddess of pure water from the nile). Okay, They loved that shit back then. Makes sense. 

Oh, and Protector of Women and Children. 

It was common to find pictures of her around the homes of new born babies and young children. She was painted on their cups and plates, had little statues placed near their cribs. 

She was fierce and terrifying. She was meant to protect the children from illness and ill intent. She was motherly and protective. She kept harm from them and the family. It was believed that if you raised a hand to your child or wife, you would face Taweret. 

So what DOES happen in the afterlife? Where does Taweret fall into play? 

When you died, you came before a series of judges who would ask you questions. (Book of the Dead was an instruction manual filled with how you were supposed to answer these questions, as well as spells to help keep you true). 

Once you answered the questions your heart was weighed against the feather of Ma’at. If your scales did not balance, you were fed to Ammit. If your scales are balanced, you would be welcomed to the afterlife by Osiris. 

In the afterlife, you were given a plot of land to do with as you wished and expected to maintain it. It was filled with abundance and everything you could need to be happy and good of heart (including worship of the gods). It was supposed to reflect the world that they had left behind (hence taking all your things with you in death that brought you joy in life). 

So what place did Taweret have in the afterlife? 

Taweret held the role of funerary deity. She was in charge of rebirth and passing into the afterlife. She became the center of homes in the New Kingdom, becoming related to life-giving regeneration, rebirth, and purifying. 

At times, she was seen as the opposite of Ammit, who was the devourer of the impure soul and path to darkness. Taweret was nourishment and aid to those in need. 

SO WHY WAS SHE ON THE BOAT?! 

So in the Moon Knight show, the ways of the old world have fallen into the past and current gods/goddesses just kinda watch and don’t do anything. MANY of the old gods/goddesses are imprisoned for not following the rules one way or another. Others are banished (Khonshu). 

It’s easy to believe that with important gods being banished/imprisoned, their duties had to be filled by others. It’s easy to think that the one that was supposed to be on the boat got themselves imprisoned and the next closest thing was tossed into the job with a little guide book. 

She has a guide book with a speech and rules. She doesn’t really seem to be familiar with her role or how to carry it out. Or perhaps, she isn’t familiar with D.I.D situations. A soul arrives and she expects one and is met with two. Do the rules still apply? Does she still do the same thing? Will she blow them up when she tries to remove their hearts or are they going to be fine? 

Marc does not understand Egyptian Mythology. At all. This boy be skating by with “Egypt for dummies” folded up in his back pocket with the first page highlighted and then he figured he’d get around to reading the rest later.  

As Avatar to Khonshu, he’s tossed into an afterlife not meant for him and an afterlife he does not understand. 

What is more, Marc is so estranged from his own culture and religion that he is in spiritual distress. He knows what is supposed to happen. What he was told and taught to happen. 

And here he is faced with a situation he doesn’t understand in the slightest. This further highlights how lost Marc is. He is so hurt and broken up inside that he believes that he isn’t even worthy of his own Jewishness. 

He killed people. He did terrible things. He was beaten and blamed for the death of his brother. He was taught to hate his life and himself. He tried to take his own life most likely more than once. He wasn’t even worthy of death as Khonshu kept bringing him back. 

This brings us to Steven. Emotional protector and Spiritual protector. Steven not only understands what death means in relation to his Judaism, but he knows Egyptology. He KNOWS the gods and goddesses. He knows the book of the dead forward and backwards. He’s probably read it in three different languages. 

So when Taweret shows up, how does Steven explain who she is to Marc? 

“This is Taweret, goddess of women and children!” 

That’s an interesting breakdown for all that Taweret does. Especially with all that Steven knows she does. And she is kind and gentle with them. She gives them chances, tries to welcome them, even fights for them. She even reaches out to Layla on their behalf. 

One has to wonder if she learned their story and, though she did not understand it, she felt for them. A child that needed help and protection and did not receive it. 

Is it possible that out of all the gods, one that was most fitting for them was sent to be their guide on the boat? 

Is it possible that Steven, the protector, was the one that somehow chose the one to greet and ultimately judge them? 

If Ammit was a representation of their mother, then is it not fitting that Taweret, the one of purity and rebirth and protection, would be the one to meet them? 

Now as others have pointed out, this is not where they are supposed to be. There is no representation of ‘heaven’ meant for them and the notion of Steven being left behind healing Marc is a pretty bad one. 

With Jeremy Slater writing, it was a rough go of what happened. However, I choose to see where Diab, who is NOT Christian (as far as I am aware please correct me if I am mistaken) took us visually. He isn’t Jewish either, but he is Egyptian and telling an Egyptian story. 

At this point, they are dead and they are trapped in an afterlife that isn’t theirs and doesn’t make sense to them culturally. Marc my sweet idiot man takes ‘Field of reeds’ literally. 

Much like Vallhalla’s field of wheat, it is a large quiet peaceful afterlife filled with joy, celebration, and life. Even on the ancestral plane with Black Panther, it is a beautiful place but there is MORE there. So much more. 

Marc just finds himself in an empty field. Just a big ‘ol field full of nothing. Because he does not understand where he is! 

“Okay, I’m supposed to go somewhere peaceful in a field.” And it’s beautiful, and it is peaceful, but it’s very literal. 

And Taweret is just like, alright. I saw your life and it was full of rage and violence and hate and pain. This must be what you want I guess? Isn’t it nice? It’s pretty quiet and alone here. You must have wanted to be alone because of the whole D.I.D thing I guess? 

She doesn’t really understand what’s going on either. This isn’t really it, but this is the first time she’s really come across this situation. 

Taweret: Your heart is full. Your journey is over.

Marc: It's so... quiet.

Taweret: The peace you've always wanted but never had. You're manifesting it. No danger. No loneliness or hurt.

Marc: What about Steven?

Taweret: He's gone, Marc. The Duat has him. Please enjoy your peace.

Marc: We need to go back for him.

Taweret: It doesn't work like that. Leave here, and you can't return. Anyway, you don't need him anymore, Marc.

Marc: So I get to go on to eternal peace, and he just... stays lost in the sand forever? No, I'm not good with that.

It isn’t full. We can see it. He’s clutching it and it looks empty. And Marc knows this is not it. There is no Hell in his belief. He just sees Steven as being trapped somewhere he isn’t supposed to be. It’s Marc’s nature to help people. And Steven helped him. Steven protected him. 

So yeah, it’s been covered before. He leaves. There are whole metas out there (Love you @fdelopera ) about this part and I recommend you go look up the Jewish perspective because it’s beautiful. 

But I want to focus again on Taweret. 

Marc goes back, the heart glows pure and true and full with Steven there to help fill it, and Osiris opens the gate back. 

But she isn’t done. 

One of the rituals of funerary rites is to replace the heart with a golden scarab with a spell written across it that helps to guide the soul while they are being judged. It helps keep them true and pure. Keeps them a good person. 

Taweret sends a Scarab to save them and fight along them. A protector of women and children to shield them. 

So why was Taweret on the boat? Do you think Steven had anything to do with it? Do you think Marc subconsciously knew what he needed as a child? Someone to save them? Do you think she just so happened to have gotten the job as a toss up and then saw two small boys in need of help? 

She could have just judged them right then and there and tossed them off. She didn’t have to give them time. 

Do you think she knew the whole time that Marc needed to make that choice to go back? That he would always have made that choice? That it was Steven that needed to know that Marc would come back for him? That Steven needed to find his own purpose as the protector? 

[claitea]

porygonhd by @startistdoodles, a few doodles complete with gen 5 styled sprites!

[autistic-shaiapouf]

Hey folks! I'm in the very fortunate position of being able to see some doctors for some longstanding issues and would love to be able to have a little extra income while I'm being absolutely decimated financially 🥲

I'm pretty flexible with what I'll do art-wise and am most responsive to specific dictation so I can provide exactly what you want! I'm also willing to be a little flexible on prices for backgrounds, just discuss what you'd like and let you know where you stand 👍

DMs are always open for questions and inquiries!

[agustdiv1ne]

all i've learned from this submersible situation is that u could never pay me enough to step foot into the ocean

[lifeofmarvvel]

I can't focus for the life of me and I have an in person final in just over an hour, a presentation I need to finish making by Monday at 8am to give later that day, a take home final due on Tuesday, and another final I haven't begun to study for yet gahhhhhhhh

[thethingything]

we have a dentist appointment tomorrow and on the plus side we're not really anxious about the appointment itself because the dentist was so nice last time and actually took our medical trauma into account.

unfortunately though we do have to have anaesthetic which makes us feel like shit for at least the rest of the day, and no matter how considerate the dentist is, having a medical professional touch us at all does still trigger certain trauma and then I end up having a bunch of panic attacks at some point within the next few days and it's a really shit time. I really don't wanna have to deal with that and the concept of it is making me nauseous

[salamie-baby]

I find it interesting how I draw a brown wolfdog to represent myself when my artistic desires are particularly therianthropic that day but in the Two instances I've had of a significant mental shift since my reawakening in September the mental image that has appeared in my mind has been of one that is black

[twistedapple]

The Perfume Rant - update

Hello everybody!

I am glad people have been enjoying my perfume rant about Raphael.

Based on some reactions about it, I decided to go for Astarion. It is shorter this time around because I skipped the technical explanations, so if you want them, please refer to the linked post above.

Like the previous Perfume Rant, Astarion's post will be up at 2am CET/8pm ET/9am SGT.

Don't hesitate to interact by reblogging and leaving replies! I had a good time checking what everybody had to say on the first rant, so I'm open for yet another lovely time with you all!

[rangertessadarling]

hi so um is my whole day ruined by the fact that i got a presale code for Taylor's concert but Ticketmaster kept crashing, so i was in the queue all day, and i never even got to the front of the line. but now they're saying there are limited seats, so i probably won't get tickets at all??

is my whole week truly ruined by that?

yes, it absolutely is.

[jihyolesbian]

ok why is she texting paragraphs in the groupchat that "we need to start cleaning the kitchen more" like girl be real. you know i deep clean it myself every 2-3weeks but it's a big kitchen and multiple people use it i can only do so much

[caffeine-high]

been keeping track of when my ears stop working and what's happening at those times but i still can't figure out any pattern and i hate it

like, yes i have just accepted that every once in a while one or both of my ears stop and that's just gonna be a part of me, my hearing was already fucked up anyway but at least i know where those problems come from (except for the tinnitus, but ait)

I am glad it's not happening at an increasing rate or anything, but it has been happening abt once a week for over three years now and i still dont know anything about it

[im-still-watching-anime]

my favorite part of watching older anime series is when you get to the episode where they finally update the aspect ratio to fit more modern wide screens because it makes me feel like i travelled back in time because i see it and go :0!!! holy shit!!! look at how big that screen is!! despite most things i watch already having a modern widescreen aspect ratio

[sabinamaurer632]

My brain is running circles in my skull trying to catch its stem. While screaming that at least half of the main Pokémon villains are nerds.

[watcher-ofthe-sky]

life really has been lately:

[somelazyassartist]

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