#both things can coexist without contradicting each other

[julnites]

Do you have any drawing of your own Spiderman?

I do In fact! I made a spidersona a bit ago and then just touched up the design elements recently. It's mainly inspired by corvids, specifially crows and european magpies!

[nightmares-voicemail]

Introduction

Oh, hey, mortal. So, guess this old thing still works…? Well, congrats. By discovering this interface, you gained the ability to send messages beyond time and space, to the Infinite Cosmos. I advise you to use this power with an adequate level of responsibility.

Or don’t. It doesn’t matter, really. Because of the nature of the Cosmos, each reality contains infinite copies of itself. Even if you somehow end up completely messing up a world by, I don’t know, sending nuclear plans to cavepeople? Who cares, there’s still infinite versions of that world where that never happened. Just please, don’t piss off any Prime Gods. They will get on my case, and while they can’t do anything to me, they love to complain, and I have no interest dealing with them.

Actually wait, I can just make it so that you can’t contact other Prime Gods through this. That should save me some headache.

Anyway. If you REALLY feel like you need an entity with knowledge and power that you won’t be able to comprehend in a billion lifetimes for some chit-chat, you can message me. Make it entertaining and I might answer. Okay, that out of the way, here’s some instructions and basic terms on how to use this thing.

P.S. If you’re about to ask me to save you from some sort of world-shattering disaster, don’t. I’m not your nanny.

P.S.2: I might make an exception if said disaster was caused by me, but do not ask me to fix what other deities messed up. We have a policy of not getting into each other’s business and the only reason I ignore that is if it amuses me. But believe me, your problems are incredibly boring.

Okay, so the rules.

This is an ask/RP blog for my stories and OCs from the Infinite Cosmos setting. That is, basically all my stories and OCs. You can address me with general questions about characters or my writing, or you can address my characters for an in-character response. I might hold on to information about ongoing stories to avoid spoilers, but otherwise I like to rant about my writing so go and give me an excuse to do that if you’re interested.

The Setting

The Infinite Cosmos, most commonly referred as simply the Cosmos by its inhabitants, is a multiverse of multiverses where every possible and impossible version of reality exists somewhere. Some worlds and people are more aware of the other worlds out there than others. Also some worlds exist in other worlds as works of fiction. All my stories, both original and fanfiction, take place in the Cosmos. This is usually not at all important for the stories itself – after all, the Cosmos is infinite and I crafted it with the exact purpose that any kind of fictional world can coexist in it without contradicting each other, but it gives justification for cross references and metajokes which I love to make. (There is a cosmology and backstory I’m working on which I will definitely finish and use in an actual story one day.)

My Stories

Enchant: My current main project. An ongoing series about troubled teens discovering magical powers and turning into superheroes in a fictional modern setting. Updates irregularly with pretty long chapters.

You can always see the darkness: A long series of Deltarune fanfiction that I wrote over the course of a year, eventually turning it into its own AU. It is finished now.

Shuffled Fate: A discontinued isekai story from 2021. A lot of my OCs originate from here. To address the Shuffled Fate-version of any characters, just put “SF!” before their name. Otherwise, the more recent version of the character will answer if there are any.

Reverse Rune: An ongoing Deltarune roleswap AU series. It’s currently on the backburner.

Misplaced Fate: My multifandom-multiverse-crossover project. On the backburner.

Cross-references

I’m a writer with writer friends. Sometimes we get involved in each other’s projects or write fanfiction/recursive fanfiction for them. I have a friend who has a universal adaptor cast of OCs and she also likes to put her friend’s OCs into her stories. We both like crossovers and references. This can lead to shenanigans. If I reference a friend’s story or character, just take it as my headcanon/take on the original like you’d do with any canon fandom characters. Obviously nothing is canon to my friends’ works unless they say so.

Canon Characters

If I ever wrote fanfiction for something, you can send asks or prompts about those stories and characters too, just keep in mind that you’re talking to the character’s version living in my multiverse.

My OCs

Wisp: Okay, so this is not really an OC (man, I’m bad at this aren’t I), it’s just me. The creator of all my works and the narrator of most of them. You can address me in general about my worlds and characters, just keep in mind that I have no idea what I am doing most of the time, I will most likely make up stuff on the fly and might end up contradicting myself. I also use they/them pronouns mostly, it/its fine too until further notice.

Nightmare: He’s a Prime God, that is, he’s one of the “true gods�� of the multiverse, not part of an in-universe pantheon. He can do anything, in theory, and he’s quite determined to see if that’s true in practice too, unlike other deities who usually stick to creating and managing their own worlds. He usually appears as this really tall guy with spiky black hair, long black fingernails, wearing a biker outfit, sunglasses, and oh, he has eight eyes. He also tends to talk in a kind of deep, booming voice that carries the feeling of powerful emphasis for mortal beings. He can be a bit jerkish and full of himself as a side-effect of the whole all-powerful god thing.

“I can hear you; you know.”

Flow: “Uhm, voices in my head… okay, don’t panic, this happened to Natasha too. Wait, that’s not reassuring at all.”

Flow is a guy (gender neutral) who I like to put into situations. They went from being unexpectedly isekaid in Shuffled Fate to being unexpectedly but a bit more willingly becoming a hero in Enchant (those are different canons and even worlds but eh). They’re great at being out of their water, feeling anxious, and serving as a foil to more extravagant characters, which does not mean they can’t be a bit of a mess themself. Also they’re 15 because that’s a great age to have things happen to you.

“Good things?”

:)

“Oh…”

In Enchant, Flow’s heroic identity is Ruthen. If you address Ruthen, they will answer as them, assuming you don’t know their identity.

Natasha: “Oh no, not again.”

“Oh, come on, I know you enjoy making a good show. And now you have an audience!”

“Sigh, fine. Not like I have much choice, you will just keep broadcasting these telepathic messages from other worlds into my head until I answer them, don’t you.”

Excuse Natasha for her mood, she had a rough…

“Life.”

“Lives.”

… existence. She started out as a minor Deltarune OC, then grew into a major antagonist in my fanfiction, then into an Anti-Villain. At some point in 2022 when Kira was looking for friends’ OCs to put them into her MLB fanfic, Maris Stella, I submitted Natasha, somewhat reworking her concept to work better with the different setting. Then, partially inspired by MLB and Maris Stella myself, I started to work on Enchant where Natasha became one of the main protagonists.

Even though she’s got three different versions now, the gist of the character stayed the same. She started out as an orphan living in pretty bad circumstances, being bullied by older kids, got separated from her one (1) friend, then got taken in by a rich widow who turned out to be an abusive jerk. Where the story goes from there is what really differs in the different continuities.

Addressing Natasha generally will get you her Enchant version most of the time – you can address DR!Natasha for her original version from my fanfiction or Maris!Natasha for the version appearing in Maris Stella. Addressing Nocturknight or Sylvana, her heroic alteregos from Enchant and Maris Stella respectively, she will answer as them, assuming you don’t know her civilian identity.

Vess: “…”

These are voice messages. They can’t see you. All they know is that you’re not talking.

“…”

Sigh. Vess grinned threateningly at the audience, showing their inhumanly sharp teeth.

There, happy now?

“Yes.”

Okay, so…

“Wait, are you making fun of me?”

… so Vess was originally my interpretation of the Discarded Vessel from Deltarune for a fanfic I wrote. Then as I kept writing more stuff with them, they kept growing, slowly becoming their own thing. Since I wanted to use them more, I decided to rework their whole background, creating a version with largely the same personality, and keeping and building on the gimmicks I added, for Enchant.

In all their versions, they’re an edgy, angsty, creepy, mostly-humanoid-in-an-uncanny-valley-way straw nihilist creature with artificial origins who will eat anything. That might or might not include you.

“It does.”

By default, Vess’ Enchant version answers the asks. For their original version from my fanfiction, address DR!Vess.

Néne: Néne is a powerful Seer native to Stonecloud Realm (the original setting of Shuffled Fate). She has the ability to see a person’s past and future as a network of branching paths but can’t predict what choices someone will make before they actually make them. Basically imagine what Garnet from Steven Universe had going on, but on a much bigger scale.

“Oh, Garnet? She’s adorable, but if anything, I’d call her a talented guesser rather than an actual Seer. I mean come on, being given false information can confuse her vision. That’s called a prediction, not a prophecy. But she’s a great yoga partner and I got my favorite pancake recipe from her. She’s always welcome at my house.”

Unlike most other Seers who work as spies, strategists, or advisers, Néne uses her power the run a successful restaurant, as she can make anyone’s favorite food, the exact way they like it without ever meeting them before. This, and her “first time free” policy turned Néne’s Dinner Hall a popular tourist spot among the travelers of Stonecloud and sometimes even guests from other worlds pay a visit.

“I saw it too many times, what it does to people if they learn about their possible futures. It paralyzes them with fear, denies them from meaningful choices. Everyone wants something and we all fear failure – but if we start to make our choices based on fixed knowledge of what will get us what we want then our life becomes a complicated choreography and somewhere along the way, we stop being ourselves. A good meal can make so much more good, don’t you think?”

Artemis: “Hi there! If you have some time, come, visit my shop! You don’t need to buy anything, but you might want after checking out our antique wares! For more information visit gwn.herald.con/@ArtemisHolmes and don’t be afraid to leave a like!”

Uhm okay, yes, while Artemis poses as an antique shopkeeper…

“I can assure you, I’m a perfectly ordinary shopkeeper.”

… he’s actually one of the few remaining members of the Order of the Enchanters, guardian of the remaining Enchants and currently in charge of picking human allies in the fight against the Sorcerer. He’s also well over 800 years old and is the spouse of…

Nox: “I don’t trust this at all. We have enough on our plate here, in our world without voices from the Cosmos.”

Rob Nox (Rob is his family name) comes from a long line of soldiers serving the Order. He was about to be an exception, up until his family history quite literally caught up to him. Long before Nox’s birth, his father was afflicted with a magical condition that slowly turned his body into living crystal feeding on his very life-force. Nobody realized the severity of it until it was too late. After his father succumbed to the curse it moved to the next generation – onto Nox. He joined the Order in hopes for retaliation and a cure but only started to care about its mission after meeting a young and idealistic Artemis. Then the Mistfall came.

Narwia: She’s not a cat.

“Wait, that’s it? That’s all you’re going to say about me‽”

It seemed important to you.

“No, you know what I mean, there’s really nothing interesting you can say about me? You did it for all the others!”

Very well, why don’t you go ahead and talk about yourself then?

“Hah! You’d like to know, don’t you?”

Yeah, that’s what I thought. Anyway, Narwia Solena is a felimorph and professional reaper and devil-hunter, working with the Order of the Enchanters on a strictly occasional basis.

She’s also a cat sometimes!

“I’m a felimorph!”

Igne: “Hey! Not sure who you are and how can we talk, but go ahead, ask me anything!”

Igne is one of Flow’s classmates with a passionate personality and wide range of interests. They love martial arts but have a hard time following any actual training because of their wayward nature. They hate bullies and dream about being able to help others but can be a bit reckless at times.

Matis: “Is it really a good idea to give out all this pretty personal information about us to some mysterious voices claiming to be from other worlds? I mean, shouldn’t we be at least a bit suspicious about this?”

Matis is Flow’s other classmate and the best friend of Igne. He’s usually responsible for his age and often acts as the voice of reason besides Igne, however his curiosity and desire to be more proactive and bolder can lead him into dangerous situations as well.

This list is incomplete and will be updated over time, but don’t feel limited by it. You can address any characters who appear in any of my works, whether they’re on the list or not!

[halogenwarrior]

People on this site don't seem to get that these two statements can coexist: things can be disproportionately criticized/judged negatively because it is either more commonly done by or seen stereotypically as more commonly done by women (as compared to things that are equally negative but more common or seen as more common in men), and ALSO, all women aren't inherently predisposed to do/be that thing and you can't just assume a woman is like that, and if the thing is legitimately bad a lot of women might be not doing that for very good reason and under no obligation to do it "for feminism".

Without understanding that you have things like the debate about "people are extra harsh on astrology relative to similarly pseudoscientific but more man-associated things because it's seen as a woman thing"/"but astrology is actually bad for the falsehoods it perpetuates even seen objectively, and as a woman I am not destined to like it or inherently more irrational and predisposed to liking it", actually both are true and they don't contradict each other in any way.

can we please please please learn to differentiate between things that are good but devalued because of their association with women (caring for children, being compassionate), things that are neutral but seen negatively because of their association with women (the colour pink, having long hair), and things that are bad but associated with women because of misogyny (being materialistic, being stupid) because otherwise we’re gonna keep getting takes like “being gender nonconforming is anti feminist” and “not studying for your classes is feminist”

[kob131]

You know ngl, I'd say SMTV is a pretty good SMT to start with for you. You come across as a super lawful leaning guy and SMTV is probably one of two entries that doesn't favor Chaos or Neutral in the over Law in the franchise- iirc some people argue its pretty Law favored too.

... Uh, Avalon buddy?

I agree with you but- This ain't my first SMT game.

SMTIV was my first game. Followed by Devil Survivor, Strange Journey Redux, Nocturne and all the modern Persona games interspersed within along with watching a playthrough of IV: Apocalaypse. Not a surprise given my love of duality and balance.

I'm guessing you just never caught me talking about it before.

But- Yeah I actually really liked the original SMTV's endings. Dazai's actually a great Law protagonist because he brings up a very real question that Chaos and Neutral can't answer: What about the people who need guidance? Who can they turn to?

Neutral would answer that everyone should find their own path but that's of no help to someone who can't make decisions.

And Chaos doesn't give a shit.

This question actually makes Law pretty persuasive without abandoning the alignment's roots in 'safety and order at the cost of freedom' because people like Dazai would thrive under it.

Chaos is pretty interesting here too since it's framed as protecting and prioritizing Japan/the myriad religions of the world, which is normally portrayed as a Neutral thing. But it makes sense, more so for it to be Chaos than Neutral. Because the concepts of freedom vs. safety have existed long before Judo-Christianity and many of these gods also propose their own solutions to that question. Solutions that are mutually exclusive. So, if you make it so all the gods are equally valid- well, people will fight to prove their god is more valid. Happens all the time. So, it makes sense for this idea to be aligned with Chaos because it would be a free for all.

Atsuru could definitely be better developed (which Vengeance has been doing well with) but it does bring up something interesting: how Atsuru firmly sticks by Koshimizu/Tsukiyomi, which is usually a lawful trait.

Neutral...honestly is the weakest endings. Yes, both endings. Yakumo seems like he might have a point about demons using humanity and how human who fall into the temptation are bad. ... But Yakumo is such an asshole. Not to mention unlike Dazai and Atsuru, Yakumo is never shown helping anyone. There's no reason for me to believe he would help an innocent person.

Not to mention his talks of demons and humans being fundamentally incompatible and must be separated are...just stupid in context. Ignore Nuwa, she cares more about humanity than herself. That's not the contradiction. The contradiction is that to assume the throne in any capacity, you MUST be a union of demon and human working as one. The two other candidates in Atsuru/Tsukiyomi and Dazai/Abdiel see each other as partners and equals. Lamhu didn't see Sahori as an equal and he ended up wasting time and dying for it. And throughout the game, you help demons CONSTANTLY and they in turn help you.

I mean fuck, the True Neutral ending requires you to complete the Amanozako, Fionn and Khonsu side quests to get it. Amanozako does nothing but try to help you and sees you as her partner by the end. Fionn attacked you BECAUSE he thought you were a threat to humans and does everything he can to help you. And Khonsu was willing to give up both life and EXISTENCE for Miyazu. By all rights, these guys prove that demons CAN coexist with humans if the whole 'Nahobino' stuff didn't. And yet the ending is all about prioritizing humanity. Something normal for Neutral but like say...Gin's ending in Devil Survivor- you've seen the kinder side of demons so much more.

I kind of see SMTV as analogous to Pokemon SV as both have tried so much to push the boundaries of their respective franchises. Not just in open world gameplay but in their stories, breaking many conventions to try and present new avenues in their stories. It's honestly shocking that Pokemon pulled off the story side better than SMT, since that's usually reversed. But I still really respect SMTV for trying to make things more balanced since the series has an...overwhelming amount of bias for Neutral.

I've heard about the new endings in Vengeance. Particularly that there is no Neutral ending added in. Which sounds nice and kind of similar to Strange Journey. I've heard other things about the endings but I'm gonna save my thoughts until I clear CoV at least once.

[daimonclub]

Self-care quotes

Self-care quotes Self-care quotes, aphorisms and ideas. A collection of quotations by various authors to underline the personal and social importance of self-care strategies. Self-care can be defined as a meaningful gift of self-love and appreciation. It is any activity we do to step back and rejuvenate ourselves mentally, physically, and emotionally. There isn't necessarily a strong contradiction between self-care and caring for others. In fact, they can often complement each other. As a matter of fact Self-care enables you to better care for others: when you prioritize your own well-being, you're better equipped to support and care for others. Just like they say on airplanes, you need to secure your own oxygen mask before assisting others. If you're not taking care of yourself, it can be challenging to be fully present and helpful to others. In fact, if someone cares about themselves, he will try not to take risks and not get hurt, therefore at the same time he will be a more thoughtful, wiser, responsible individual and also more attentive to the needs of others. Self-care fosters empathy: engaging in self-care activities can help you develop a greater sense of empathy and understanding towards others' needs. It can give you insights into the importance of mental and emotional well-being, making you more sensitive to the well-being of those around you. Balancing self-care and caring for others: It's essential to strike a balance between self-care and caring for others. While it's important to prioritize your own needs, it's also vital to be mindful of the needs of those around you. This might involve setting boundaries, practicing effective communication, and finding ways to support others without compromising your own well-being. Mutual support: self-care and caring for others can exist in a reciprocal relationship. Just as you support others, they can support you in your self-care efforts. Building strong relationships based on mutual care and support can enhance both your well-being and the well-being of those around you. Ultimately, self-care and caring for others are not mutually exclusive; they can coexist harmoniously and contribute to a more balanced and fulfilling life.

Self-care fields I feel the capacity to care is the thing which gives life its deepest significance. Pablo Casals Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action. Walter Anderson Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting. William Shakespeare Smile, breathe, and go slowly. Thich Nhat Hanh Self-care means giving yourself permission to pause. Cecilia Tran She believed she could, so she did. R.S. Grey An empty lantern provides no light. Self-care is the fuel that allows your light to shine brightly. Unknown We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. Dolly Parton If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete. Jack Kornfield You have your own life, why waste it on focusing on others. Nitin Namdeo We need to replace your vicious stress cycle with a vicious cycle of self-care. Dr. Sara Gottfried Life should be touched, not strangled. Let it happen at times and at others move forward with it. Ray Bradbury When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life. Jean Shinoda Bolen You can’t always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside. Wayne Dyer

Self-care aphorisms It’s all about finding the calm in the chaos. Donna Karan You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do. Eleanor Roosevelt Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you. Anne Lamott Be you, love you. All ways, always. Alexandra Elle Rest and self-care are so important. When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve others from the overflow. You cannot serve from an empty vessel. Eleanor Brownn When you focus on yourself and love yourself, some relationships have to go. Adrian Michael Doing nothing has become one of the lost luxuries in these hectic times. But doing nothing, even for five minutes, can be rejuvenating. Go for it: You - unplugged. Joan Marques You have your own life, why waste it on focusing on others. Nitin Namdeo Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love. Brené Brown You can’t always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside. Wayne Dyer When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn’t healthy. This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits - anything that kept me small. My judgement called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving. Kim Mcmillen Keep taking time for yourself until you are you again. Lalah Delia When you say ‘yes’ to others make sure you are not saying ‘no’ to yourself. Paulo Coelho Be you, love you. All ways, always? Alexandra Elle When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life. Jean Shinoda Bolen

Self-care explained Self-care is one of the active ways that I love myself. When you can and as you can, in ways that feel loving, make time and space for yourself. Tracee Ellis Ross The challenge is not to be perfect, it is to be whole. Jane Fonda When you focus on yourself and love yourself, some relationships have to go. Adrian Michael It is so important to take time for yourself and find clarity. The most important relationship is the one you have with yourself. Diane Von Furstenberg Self-care is how you take your power back. Lalah Delia Be the love you always hoped for. Juansen Dizon Self-care is never a selfish act - it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others. Parker Palmer Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others. Christopher Germer The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it. Sydney J. Harris Perfection is found in accepting your imperfections. Bridgett Devoue To be a good parent, you need to take care of yourself so that you can have the physical and emotional energy to take care of your family. Michelle Obama Self-care has become a new priority - the revelation that it’s perfectly permissible to listen to your body and do what it needs. Frances Ryan There are days I drop words of comfort on myself like falling leaves and remember that it is enough to be taken care of by myself. Brian Andreas It’s important to have a balance in your life between work and play. Bobby Flay If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete. Jack Kornfield Care is a state in which something does matter; it is the source of human tenderness. Rollo May Rest and self-care are so important. When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve others from the overflow. You cannot serve from an empty vessel. Eleanor Brown Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting. William Shakespeare I have come to believe that caring for myself is not self-indulgent. Caring for myself is an act of survival. Audre Lorde Self-care is a deliberate choice to gift yourself with people, places, things, events, and opportunities that recharge our personal battery and promote whole health, body, mind, and spirit. Laurie Buchanan

Self-care ideas and quotes With every act of self-care, your authentic self gets stronger, and the critical, fearful mind gets weaker. Every act of self-care is a powerful declaration: I am on my side; I am on my side; each day I am more and more on my own side. Susan Weiss Berry It’s not selfish to love yourself, take care of yourself, and to make your happiness a priority. It’s necessary. Mandy Hale Nourishing yourself in a way that helps you blossom in the direction you want to go is attainable, and you are worth the effort. Deborah Day Don’t sacrifice yourself too much, because if you sacrifice too much there’s nothing else you can give, and nobody will care for you. Karl Lagerfeld Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live. Jim Rohn Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. John Lubbock Self-care is so much more than a beauty regimen or an external thing you do. It has to start within your heart to know what you need to navigate your life. A pedicure doesn’t last, but meditating every day does. Carrie-Anne Moss Keep good company, read good books, love good things and cultivate soul and body as faithfully as you can. Louisa May Alcott Invent your world. Surround yourself with people, color, sounds, and work that nourish you. Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens. Louise Hay Go on reading the following article: Self-words quotes and aphorisms, quotations, ideas and thoughts, by famous writers and authors, from Self-Acceptance to Self-Interest Self-words quotes and thoughts, aphorisms and ideas, by famous writers and authors, from Self-Knowledge to Selfishness. Self growth community resources for personal improvement Read the full article

[teenandbeyond]

Hello! I was wondering if you would want to write for Beerus? I was thinking what a courtship would be like between him and a goddess of creation? :) hopefully you're doing well during the midst of everything that's going on in the real world! Best of wishes! -A

Beerus x Goddess of Creation. Reader

I like the alternative idea. Despite this, I plan to make the personality different! Edit: I'm doing okay, just busy with schoolwork. Best wishes to you, too! I hope everyone who reads this is doing well too, or if not, this can cheer you up a little!

Want more from me? Masterlist

☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆

🥢Création et Destruction🥢 (DBS or Dragon ball Super)

Warning(s): Fluff

Although destruction and creation contradict each other in meaning, one can not exist without the other...They must coexist to truly make the universe hold the beauty it possesses.

✨✨✨✨✨

You and Beerus are total opposites.

He destroys.

You create.

He is much more relaxed.

While your shoulders are stiff with responsibility and proper etiquette.

When you met, you hadn't expected him to flirt with you on the spot.

"Huh. My first time meeting the Goddess of Creation, can't believe I've been missing out on such a cute Goddess."

"I—That-that's very unprofessional..."

You didn't understand him. You were taught to always be polite and respectful, to always hold your tongue, to always be professional, and to hold your temper.

He hardly did any of those things.

And he could really test your temper.

He easily broke that elegant, put-together wall you had up.

And he enjoyed every minute of it.

"Why are you taking a nap when you have responsibilities?! That's so improper!...Ahem-"

And with time, he broke you down completely.

Noticing you were always tired and stiff and showing you what's it like to relax.

"Just because we have responsibilities doesn't mean we can't relax once in a while. We have to do this for millenniums, might as well catch a few Z's in between."

He is very protective over you when you do relent and catch a nap, he'd be very tempted to destroy the planet of whoever interrupts you.

And he learned you hadn't really explored planets and introduced you to Earth and its cuisine.

Which really excited you.

"Cute..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

He liked that your presence wasn't rough as his, the feeling of powerful serenity you gave off was attractive to him. You were polite and fluid in movement, yet your power and knowledge were undeniable.

He wanted you.

So he courted you.

And you saw another side of him.

"Flowers?"

"Bulma gave me an earful and said something about them..."

"Let me guess, you weren't really listening?"

"Well...I want to get this right, so, I tried to remember everything I could. She mentioned something called a 'date' that I'm supposed to take you on..."

He was soft and wasn't afraid to show it...to you...

He noticed your hair was always getting in your face, so he got you fancy hair clips to hold the stray hairs away.

When your shoulders got stiff from playing your role, he learned how you give you massages to make you feel better, but not without cracking jokes the whole time.

He attempted to learn how to cook for you...

Well, actually, he wasn't terrible at that. The dishes he could make were just limited.

You liked watching the process, his frustration was adorable.

Cooking for you? Telling you 'good morning' and 'good night'?

He was whipped.

Undoubtedly.

He even lets you pet him, which you'll do if he gets a little riled up.

You save his dignity and refrain from doing it in public (if it's not necessary) since he purrs a deep rumble.

You do things together, like cooking and of course your roles as Gods.

But Beerus's favorite activity to do with you is definitely napping...or maybe eating...both? That's a hard choice for him to make.

You were really good for each other.

He destroyed your walls and the false personality you upheld.

You created a warmth in his heart that he cherished.

People wondered how you worked out so well, you were opposites.

But being opposites brought you together.

So what if he destroys and you create?

Destruction and creation coexisting can make something truly beautiful

And you two love every minute of it

[multigenderswag]

hi! you seem pretty cool and i'm not sure where else to find multigender communities so i'm sorry if this isn't the kind of ask you like to receive, and feel free to ignore or direct me elsewhere, but— i'm pretty sure i'm multigender (male & xenogender(s??)) but i know basically nothing about multigender besides the obvious "multiple genders" part. i tried searching "multigender" into tumblr's search function to learn more but it was mostly discourse posts at the time and i got too scared to try again. i see a lot of multigender posts and i relate to them a lot, except a lot of them are about men who are also women and i'm only half binary (i tend to just say i'm a "non-binary man" because i have non-binary gender(s) and i'm a man and i like the "contradiction").

multigender still feels pretty right for me though and i would like to know more about like... multigender 101 basics essentially? because i don't even know what the multigender flag is (i've seen a few bigender ones but i assume that's different...?)....

i saw on your pinned post that you like to talk about being multigender so if you have anything you want to say or multigender history to bring up, i would love to hear!! anything would help since i'm basically completely new to the concept of the multigender umbrella (?) and would love to have more words to describe my experiences!

either way i hope you have a nice day!!

All asks are asks I like to receive! (Unless they're unfunny hate asks, I don't like those.)

Congrats on the cool gender! Male + xenogender is a very fun combination. Sorry about the discourse when you tried to look into it, though, tumblr is a terrible place.

A majority of multigender content is about male + female multigender identities, and it sucks that other ways of being multigender don't get more visibility, but I'm doing my best & hopefully soon we get more diverse multigender content.

Multigender 101!

At least in my experience, being multigender has largely meant for me that I hate being confined to a single gender, even if I like being that gender. As much as I like being male, I don't want to be solely male. Another big thing for me is that I get dysphoria from one or both of my genders being ignored, even if it's done to validate another one of my genders. I despise being called a "non man," even if it's said in the process of acknowledging me as a genderqueer butch.

On the euphoria side of things, I really like using labels and terms that are seemingly contradictory. "Boygirl" is one of my favorites. I like being two different genders, even if it doesn't make sense to other people. Especially if it doesn't make sense to other people. The more confusing and queer, the better.

My experience obviously isn't universal, but that's how being multigender feels for me, and you might be multigender if you relate.

The multigender flag looks like this:

It's not very commonly used, and I think people tend to go with the flag for their more specific multigender identity (bigender, polygender, pangender, etc), but you wanted to know, so that is the flag.

Transmultiphobia is the word for multigender-specific transphobia, which is unfortunately something I mention a lot on this blog. If you want to learn more about multigender issues without finding hate in the tag, searching transmultiphobia on tumblr might help- to my knowledge, transmultiphobes aren't really aware of the word yet.

As far as multigender history, I'm doing some research on that! It's going kind of slowly, and most of it tends to be very bigender (male/female) focused, but I've posted some of what I've found on this blog under the tag "history," if you want to look through that.

In conclusion, being multigender is incredibly cool and sexy, and your genders can coexist without invalidating each other, and it's fully justified to punch anyone who says differently. Thank you for your time.

I hope you have a nice day too!

[writingwithcolor]

Blending Mythos Respectfully

@sapphicq submitted:

Hi all! I’m trying to write an urban fantasy that explores oppression in a world that is basically the same as ours, except with magic, while incorporating magical systems and mythologies of multiple cultures. I’ve done an okay amount of research on each one that I’d like to include (still need to do more for sure, especially considering how colonization has effected mythologies). However, I’m struggling a bit on how they should coexist, since in the world I’m writing about they’re present and tangible. One example of this is fox spirits in East Asian mythology. Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Chinese mythologies each have a nine-tailed fox, and though my research says that the myth originates from Chinese mythology, it also says that each of the fox spirits carry different connotations of malevolence, benevolence, and how widespread they are, depending on which culture’s mythology is being referred to. 

The same sort of thing has been popping up quite a lot in a lot of my research. I started to wonder if I could explain these similarities within world as “different cultures have come up with different names and customs surrounding the ‘same’ thing,” considering mythology in the real world from an anthropological perspective. However I don’t want to overgeneralize, especially considering that these different mythological figures are meant to be present and tangible. If I went that route, I wouldn���t want to say something like ‘actually, benevolent fox spirits do exist, and Korean mythology about fox spirits is wrong since Kumiho are pretty strictly malevolent,’ which would obviously be an implication. All this to say: do you have any tips for multiple mythos coexisting in a way that respects the various cultures they come from?

Avoid Round Pegs in Square Holes

A mistake you sometimes see Western authors make when dealing with mythology in urban fantasy settings is to confine the universe’s worldbuilding to a particular mythology or force the rules of a single culture’s folklore onto other cultures. For instance, here at WWC, we get a lot of questions asking how to represent supernatural creatures from multiple cultures respectfully alongside fae from Western Europe, and it's fairly obvious that the author plans to treat all supernatural creatures as fae. Urban fantasy based on Greek mythology or Christian mythology often falls into the same trap. 

I think a writer can demonstrate greater creativity by embracing these differences. I think a potential way to deal with contradicting mythos between cultures is to come up with compelling reasons why differences exist. What world-building systems, philosophies and real-life phenomena allow for a framework that explains the simultaneous existence of commonalities and differences? As you know, in anthropology, there are theories that emphasize cultural diffusion as a way to explain similar customs within the same region, but there are also theories that hold that multiple cultures can develop the same traditions and principles independent of each other (See: existence of 0, lost-wax bronze casting, astronomical calendars and the use of wheels). The answers I’ve given are mostly technological. However myths and belief systems serve very real social functions as ways to keep people together and cultivate norms and mores. Lesya expands on the utility of intentional cultural diffusion below.

Similarly, within evolution, there are instances of species having common features because of a shared ancestor, but also instances where species without shared ancestors evolve to have similar features because they exist in the same environment. I believe flippers are examples of both types of evolution in marine animals.  Thus, I think you need to question your assumption that “different cultures have come up with different names and customs surrounding the ‘same’ thing.” As the world is daily proof, they sometimes do, but they also sometimes don’t. 

-Marika

First, props to you for sending us this ask. You have been thinking about this a lot and have done research into building an urban fantasy that doesn’t do the thing of putting all Asians under one umbrella. 

Second, I’m going to agree with Marika here. Rather than go for the generalization route, revel in everyone's differences. It's a way for you to acknowledge the variations in the mythology, that not all have the same origins though there may be some similarities. Instead, they may have reached the same conclusions. My advice for blending mythologies is to lean into it, and not create a homogeneous umbrella. You can make something amazing with that. 

-Jaya

Hybridity Through Diffusion

So a myth originated in China. This does not mean Chinese tellings have the monopoly on what a telling is. Marika and Jaya have gone into a possible solution, here, but what I’m going to examine here is a mental framework that a lot of people get stuck in that is actually ahistorical.

Cultural appropriation as we know it is shockingly recent when it comes to history. In the modern day, ownership boundaries of myths have become very strict because of primarily European colonialism picking and choosing everything it likes about a mythos, and, this is important: not letting up on the oppression of those peoples. There’s also a strong preference to kill those colonialism deems “wrong”, instead of creating a hybrid culture.

Historically, this got a lot more fluid.

What happened historically was primarily cultural diffusion, wherein open trade, intermarriage, and shared borders made it that myths, customs, and cultural practices were (mostly) freely exchanged without massive power imbalances happening, and then modified to fit local beliefs.

Key word: mostly. Because yes sometimes it happened that one place took over another place and imported all of its customs (see: China, Rome, the Mughals), but… often* the ruling power either backed off, was fought of, or otherwise left the region, leaving the common people to do whatever they wanted with the carcass of what had been imposed on them. Or sometimes, even, the imperial forces would actively create a hybridized culture in order to better rule others.

* in places where the ruling power has NOT backed off on oppression and assimilation, even if the colonialism is very old, then this is invalid and the power dynamics of appropriation are still at play.

Because, historically, there was a lot less incentive to simply genocide the peoples you took over (which is what made armies that did destroy all they took over so noteworthy). People were needed to keep providing food and materials, even if the new person got the resulting taxes. 

This meant there were a lot more common people to play with the stuff imported by the imperial culture. And there was a lot more incentive to hybridize your customs to the common people’s customs, leading to the sometimes-hilarious situations like “Rome assigns an equivalence in their pantheon for literally every mythology they encountered, which was a lot.” 

This also explains early Christianization, because it was a lot safer to simply adapt what you already had to make it better for your own ends than curbstomp everything that was “wrong” to your worldview. Ireland’s mythology survives in huge swaths, because it was either Christianized wholesale, or it was about “historical humans” and not fae. Norse mythology was similarly adapted for Christian worldviews, which means we unfortunately have no idea what the pre-Christian myths were.

So instead of thinking in terms of ownership, think instead in terms of diffusion. 

Myths get imported along with food, cloth, or anything else necessary for life. Myths were, historically, a way for people to explain the world around them, both in place of and alongside science. “Ghost marches” are really common, globally, because if you have wind howling in the forest, it’s going to sound like predators, and predators mean go inside and lock the door. Weaving goddesses are also common, because weaving was so necessary to survive the elements.

Sometimes trade relationships soured, and you get bad associations with the imported stuff. Sometimes the relationship stayed great for long enough it got completely adapted. This doesn’t mean any one myth is “right”, nor does it mean you have to erase historical trade links. It just means you look at the historical context, understand that cultural exchange often used to be a lot more two-way than it is in modern appropriation times, and figure out what that means for your worldbuilding.

~ Mod Lesya

[satorugojowidow]

Analysis of episode 152 of Jujutsu Kaisen

spoilers of episode 152

*

*

Why Naoya's death in hands of Maki's mother makes perfect sense

To understand this we have to think about it in two ways: one, is Maki's mother's psychology and the second is the narrative of the story.

Lets start by Maki's mother's psychology:

Maki's Mother is abused woman. She has suffered the abuse of her family during her whole life. And the fact that she seemed okay with it, doesnt mean she was actually okay. Its important to understand that pathriarchy is a cultural system. People is teached that womans are inferior to mens in many ways. Sometime is very subtle, sometimes no.

Maki's mother was raised is a traditional family (we dont know if she was a Zenin by born or just by marriage but she was probably from a traditional family even if she wasn't a Zenin by born). She was teached that her place was behind her husband. She was teached to obey, to be submissive. All those teaching wich are symbolic violence was presented to her as "how things are supposed to be".

It is important to understand that obedience cannot be obtained only through force, that is why violence is legitimized to build a type of subjectivity that recognizes values ​​where there is only violence.

When you teach someone from the very begining that is how things are supposed to be, that being a good wife is the best she can be, that being a good wife mean to obey, you legitimized that symbolic violence as values.

All that combined with the idea of Zenin of who is a worthy member and who is not.

The subjectivity of the woman who is victim of violence tends to interpret the violence that she suffers as her own fault, as that she could not meet the expectations, as that she failed to be a good woman / wife / mother. That is why many times these types of women justify the violence of their husbands.

Violence also works to make the person believe that it is impossible to get out of that situation. That she is very weak or unable to do anything for herself. Violence destroys self-esteem.

Maki's mom's psychology oscillates between these two points. To believe that is how things are supposed to be and believe that she can't do anything to change that.

You can observe some contradiction in both ideas. This is because no subjectivity is a stable framework of ideas that coexist in harmony. There are cracks in them. Questions, conflicts.

You may have believed that you saw a woman absolutely convinced of the legitimacy of the patriarchal structure she was in, but inside there were small cracks, ideas, conflicting feelings.

A woman can live her entire life with these internal conflicts without ever saying something about them, or she can reach a breaking point. There is no general rule for this. It depends on what each person lives and how they react to it.

Maki's mom reached the breaking point. I believe that this happened because of the traumatic experience she had with her daughter and husband dying and seeing her other daughter destroying everything she knew.

This is important, everything she knew was destroyed in the course of a couple of hours or even less. her structures collapsed and her psychology collapsed with them as well.

Maki's mom loved her daughters. The problem was, she was convinced that the problem was Maki's refusal to obey.

You can see how there is a missing line where she ask about her daughters. Gege is very subtle about this

That the problem was Maki's refusal to obey is an idea that underlay Mai when she complains why she did not stay with her if there was only "some chores to do at home".

Mai realizes that the problem isn't Maki's refusal to obey when she realizes that obeying won't save her. She obeyed and was the first to be stabbed. Understand that you cannot live off the goodwill of those who wean you. There was when she understands Maki and decides to sacrifice herself to save her. I elaborate this more in this post.

In the case of the mother, I don't think she is very clear about what she is feeling. She is at a breaking point where nothing makes sense, where everything is lost, where only pain and anger remain. Pain and anger that has been accumulating for years.

Just look her face

She sees in Naoya the representation of all the violence she suffered for years, violence that left her nothing in return. That is why she kills him.

Makes sense? Make absolute sense to me. She is not the first woman or person who is a victim of violence that one day "suddenly" goes crazy and kills her perpetrator.

The narrative of the story.

First i want to express that i dont hate or either dislike Naoya. I dont believe a character should have the same values as me to be a character I like. I think he is a shitty person, but i also believe he is an amazing character. So, please, Naoya simp calm down and dont attack people who are okay with his end saying "you just hate him" wtf

Dont go for the pontential argument line because all well-written characters have potential.

Lets discuss this end without falling in the "you just like him" or "you just hate him"

Naoya is a side-character of Maki's story. As Mai were, about this last statement i have a post.

His tragedy is never to be what he was told he was and to die at the hands of what he most despised.

He was told that he was great, a blessing for the family.

Yet, he funds out that the true blessing is Megumi. Even the father that told him he was great, now reject him for Megumi.

just look his face, he didnt see that comming

The mens he admired the most, the men he want to stand with it, and even be greater. Never even paid him attention.

look how in this panel they arent looking at him, Gege did it on purpose

the girl he despised so much ends up becoming the person who equals Touji. The person who is recognized by Satoru. And ends up being murdered by the woman whose existence he despises to the point of insulting her daughters in her presence. in the same way that he said that women who did not obey should die.

Naoya's ending is almost ironic. It represents how the conservative structures of the jujutsu world are collapsing. It's an ending that not only makes sense, but is representative of a world that is falling apart.

I would love to hear your opinion <3

-------

what if Naoya turns into a VENGEFUL SPIRIT? he died in pure hate

UPDATE

part 2

[lilyginnyblackv2]

I feel like you didn't even read what I wrote. Like, you saw "buffy" + "comics" and then let your dislike for them blind you to the rest of what I said.

I literally stated that the series could remain post-comics without them *having to* incorporate anything really. The comics end in such a blank slate place. They could make a passing mention to one or two things and that would be it. They wouldn't *have to* adapt or incorporate anything for the comics and this series to co-exist with each other is what I was stating here.

It's extremely doable for both post-series content (the comics and the new TV series) to just co-exist with each other. Buffy is going to be a minor character in this new series, so it's easier for them to not have her state anything that contradicts the comics all that much or at all.

That way it won't hurt the delicate sensibilities of all the comic haters, most of whom have never even read the comics themselves or who only read Season 8 (or part of Season 8) and don't have a full picture of the comics.

As for that last statement...that's so odd and so black and white. Adaptations exist. Manga are adapted to anime and live action series all the time. Books are adapted into TV shows and movies. Video games are too. It happens all the time.

I recently just saw a live action Chihayafuru movie was coming out, it takes place 10 years post-manga. Dante's Inferno is fanfic that has inspired and been adapted to various different mediums over the years (the most recent example has its framework being used for Hell in Dead Boy Detectives). Restricting art and media to such ridged framework isn't it, imo. That's limiting creativity and the way that things can be expressed and told.

Edit: Also, I forgot to add this, but using "fanfiction" as a term to put down the comics and its writing is both pretentious and rude. It's rude to fanfic writers and to all of the creatives that worked on the comics. Now back to what I was originally saying.

It's especially odd since, once again, like I mentioned in my post, they wouldn't *have to actually* adapt or acknowledge anything that happens in the comics. I talk about two things I wouldn't mind them retconning or working around if they wanted / brought them up - two things that really don't require any knowledge of the comics to understand - but none of those things even *need to be* mentioned. That's the point.

They'll probably do or say something that will contradict the comics like a minute into the new series, lol, and that would be fine. My post was just stating how it would be super easy for the two pieces of post series content to coexist, and doesn't necessarily have to be an "either/or" situation. Especially since so much time will have passed since the comics ended.

Anyway, I don't have anything more to add to this and I know you disagree with me on this so I'm ending this here and won't be engaging further. Otherwise, I think it will just turn into fandom wank levels of engagement, which I don't care to do. I will be transparent though and mention here that I will be blocking, only because I already see enough Buffy comics hate on the Buffy subreddit and would rather not see it here when I am on Tumblr too. I really like to curate my Tumblr experience. Anyway, that's all. Have a nice day!

Thoughts on the new Buffy series and the comics:

Over on Reddit a lot of people are looking at this new Buffy series and the comics as an "either-or" type of situation rather than a "both can co-exist" situation. Largely this is due to the fact that most Buffy fans haven't actually read the comics (or have only read all or some of Season 8), so they don't even have a clear picture of how the comics end. But it's honestly so easy and doable for this new series to be post-comics, make a small acknowledgement of that in some way (Buffy mentioning that she lived in San Francisco for a little while, etc.), but not require any actual knowledge of the comics in and of themselves. Like, having it so that the stuff in the comics still happened doesn't mean that these things have to be directly adapted or shown in the new series, especially because Buffy's character is going to be a mentor and not the main character in the series.

The Buffy comics seasons ended when Buffy was 30 and this series is taking place with a Buffy that is likely going to be in her 40s. 10 - 15 years is a long enough time for some major changes to have occurred. Given all of the issues with Xander's actor, it's unlikely that his character is going to be present in the series. A lot of people heavily dislike the Dawn and Xander relationship in the comics, but if the series were to introduce Joyce (the daughter of Dawn and Xander in the comics) they could easily either 1. retcon this a bit so Joyce's father is someone else (like a random dude Dawn met at college) or 2 is still Xander's, but have it so that Xander passed away sometime during those 10 - 15 years. Since Buffy isn't going to be a main character, we likely aren't even going to get that much in the way of Dawn anyway, unless they involve Joyce into this (she would be around 15 max in the series if they were to do that, so she would be the teen age range that the series often has the characters start off at).

By the end of Season 11 the supernatural and demon world has gone back to being an underground thing, and by the end of Season 12 Giles is back to being his older self and Buffy is single. Everyone ends the series on fairly good terms too, so it's a fairly easy clean slate to transition from if the series were to take place after it.

There is the whole "Buffy becomes a cop" thing in Season 12, which I hate, so I wouldn't mind if they either retconned that as well or had it where Buffy experienced just how corrupt the system truly was from the inside-out and left. In Season 7 we saw Buffy training and preparing the Potentials with a slightly more grey point of view than Giles and in Season 11 we see Buffy really existing in those grey spaces, so this wouldn't necessarily be new grounds for Buffy in that sense. But we've always seen Buffy touting the idea that dangerous humans should be judged by the police and other human based systems that are in place. An ex-cop Buffy would likely approach this differently as well and train a Slayer with a different mindset in regards to all that, and it would fit in with a lot of the modern day hot topics and discussions surrounding ACAB, police corruption, and police brutality. So I would be down for it.

Of course, at the end of the day I'm not expecting this new series to acknowledge the comics in any way (and that's fine with me), but I do think that this new series and the comics could peacefully co-exist with each other. The series could easily take place after the events of Seasons 8 - 12, and it would be very easy and doable for people with no knowledge of the comics to still enjoy the content. This doesn't necessarily have to be an "either-or" situation. There is so much potential here.

Regardless of what they decide to do with all of that, I'm excited to see what and how this new series will be!

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

I loved the ask about the Volturi (but actually Bella) solving the Kira case! In your answer you talked about how the Death Note and Twilight universes are compatible because the Shinigami don't contradict the preestablished rules of the Twilight universe, and I was wondering what other paranormal/fantasy media you think could be crossed over with Twilight without altering the rules of either universe?

What's Already Been Discussed

Anon's referring to this post. Specifically the first part where I ramble that Shinigami could exist in the Twilight universe and the Volturi in the Death Note universe and both worlds would remain relatively entact.

I have also infamously argued that Harry Potter is a bust, either the wizarding world exists or the Volturi exist, you cannot have both (and my money's on the Twilight vampires).

The demons of The Exorcist I think would work provided they're not common (as they don't seem to be)

The MCU and Pokemon work with some minor changes to the respective universes but are on the whole fairly entact. However, X-Men don't really blend well.

Rather than go through all the media I know, I think it's easier to break down some ground rules of when this occurs and when it does not.

Ground Rules

For a clean crossover we have to look at where the power lies and how that's shaped the respective universe.

The Twilight universe hinges upon the existence of the Volturi. Without the secret, the world as we know it would be very different. We'd be slaves of tyrannical demon kings if not already extinct with vampires eating each other in starvation.

This is not a self-enforcing law of the universe, there's a reason it exists, and clear consequences for those who dare defy it. In other words, for Twilight to be at all similar to what we see in canon we need a) a governing body ensuring the vampires are kept in check and kept secret b) a reason for this governing body to exist.

If there are humans or else creatures populous enough and strong enough to defend themselves, then there's no reason the Volturi would ever have formed, they'd leave defending mankind to these other beings.

Then there's the other issue, if these people are humans, if they're disorganized (or at any point were disorganized/could be made disorganized) it's highly likely they'll simply be turned into vampires and whatever society we would have seen them create (i.e. Harry Potter's wizarding world) simply never comes into existence.

If there's another set of creatures that stalk mankind and devour them then they either must be able and willing to keep the secret themselves, be wiped out by the Volturi, or be at active war with the Volturi.

If you can check all these boxes then your worlds can very easily coexist. If you can only check some then the mesh of the worlds may not have a Volturi, your new people may be under the rule of the Volturi as well, etc. If you can't check many of the boxes it's probably best for a new thought experiment.

i.e. for Harry Potter, without the wizarding world there's no standard education, just very gifted humans who are likely turned very quickly. There's no Hogwarts, no Diagon Alley, no wizard dark lords, and at that point what do you even have left of Harry Potter? For most people, that's not worth a crossover at all as what they really wanted was Edward Cullen attending Hogwarts.

Some More Examples that Do Work Off the Top of My Head

The Revolutionary Girl Utena

Anthy herself is extremely powerful, something no longer quite human, but her world and her gift is very insular. She's a one-off event and something that could have escaped vampire notice.

Star Wars

Star Wars takes place eons ago in a distant galaxy. It has an expansive set of worlds. More, the Force would be something that would make vampirism a thing. The Star Wars world itself would be very different and perhaps face its annihilation as vampirism spreads, but it wouldn't collapse under the weight of Twilight.

Magic Girl Rayearth

We see humans who perhaps have the capability of being gifted summoned to another dimension which does not have vampirism. However, it's entirely possible that the Tokyo Hikaru, Fuu, and Umi are from belongs to the Twilight universe and that they themselves have latent gifts that would have been discovered were they ever turned.

Card Captor Sakura

Sakura and her brother Touya are extremely gifted humans, stupidly so, but through them we see little to no organization among magical users. There's a craft passed down, yes, and Clow Reed's surviving family is a prime example, but it's not as organized as the world of Harry Potter.

More, the cards are only one facet of magic, with many different techniques of how to access it.

Sakura, in her future, may have to look over her shoulder for the Volturi to come a knocking.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Now, the Incubators have a deep hold on mankind and could (and do in some timelines) enable the destruction of mankind if not the world. However, their technology is extremely advanced and their appearances relatively infrequent and innocuous.

Vampires could be a consequence of a wish and regardless are unlikely to be able to see witches and labyrinths. The Incubator bodies are disposable, and killing them would accomplish nothing, and the best the Volturi could hope for is to try to waylay the Incubators before they can make contracts if they're even aware of the Incubators at all.

However, in this case, I think the Incubators win. They would eliminate any threat to their operation before it could organize itself and destroying Twilight vampires is within their realm of capabilities.

Likely, instead, the Volturi would be allowed to organize themselves and keep their own secret and would never be made aware of the magical girl ecosystem that plagues their world.

The Green Mile

John Coeffy is a singular phenomenon and a very gifted human. He easily fits into the Twilight universe.

Frozen

This one... almost works but not quite. Elsa herself is a one-off, extremely gifted, human. However, she would be turned by the Volturi probably during the events of Frozen itself.

As coronated queen/crown princess, Elsa's a very public figure who then very publicly displays her power in front of the entire kingdom. Aro would hear about her, Demetri would easily be able to find her, and Elsa would then be turned and inducted into the Volturi.

Anna is also likely turned in case the bloodline carries strong gifts (whether Anna herself would be gifted or not is up in the air).

Tangled

Similar to the above. Rapunzel after having been found, is relatively known to have her magic hair and healing (and later, per the TV show, dangerous indestructible hair). I imagine she'd be too tempting of a target and would be turned by the Volturi as soon as it's convenient for her to disappear (and given her many adventures this would be sooner rather than later).

[6blackfilin9]

I love your Anko fanart! Tell me, what are your views/headcannons on Anko X Kazuku?

hThank you so much for the ask, finally I can answer it

here is my big thank you for the waitng

In a nutshell, the shipp was created by accident while me and my buddy were working on our first Naruto AU in 2019, where Kakuzu and Deidara survived their shitty plotholes end eventually ended up in Konoha

Yeah

so, the shipp’s birth date is july the 1, 2019

anything like classy, aristocracy kind of tension-filled passionate gothic romance with playful, psychological games & hurt/comfort vibes with slight scent of rivalry is KakuAnko

Basically, they are: a very, very old man with absolutely horrendous background who’s trying to finally have his mother*cking 10 or 30 years of peace, and a rather young lady with a rocky youth who’s being good & noble yet has very strong antihero tendencies

You know, I think they do have potential, since, in fact, they seem to be very similar, at the core

They are both very pragmatic realists, the people of logic and reason, yet if Kakuzu’s irritability doesn’t affect him a tiny bit due to his ideal self-control, Anko’s can lead her to quite bad places, sometimes. They put their interests in the first place, and even though she tries to attach them to Konoha’s, she still has ‘personal’ things (I’ll write ‘bout it lower*). Their mindsets are so complicatedly organized that, at some point & way, it prevents them from having many close people, and makes them very hard to see through and predict

Both of them are very flexible & adaptive, independent individuals with similar outlooks on plenty of things and high intellectual level. They clearly can find plenty of traits that they would highly respect and adore in each other

Here I will speak mostly for “why and how” kind of things, bc both of them are terribly tricky to accurately figure out. But there will be some headcanons too

So, there are still some odds about them, due to the strong difference in their occupation, like, in plenty of cases they are really tricky to be brought together, because:

- Of the job

In original, Anko is a Konoha’s special jounin, and she is very dedicated to serving the country. Independently of whether she likes her job or not (depends on the plot), she orienteers at the people, at society’s gain from her work. So, accordingly, in any other AU her job is somehow connected to civil service, whether it’s something police-like, connected to science, or something like CCG in Tokyo Ghoul

Kakuzu, on the other hand, is a hitman and a persona non grata in literally all the five big countries, Konoha too (which makes it barely possible to bring them together in the original universe without hard complications or heavy drama. But still possible). He orienteers on his own gain alone, but, depending on the job, it can include others’ gain, too.

This detail makes him a saint once he holds supervising position in some company or any high position in the government (the better the working conditions of the staff now- the more money in the prospective), and the sheer nightmare once he has it on the opposite side of the law. Him as a mob boss is a complete different topic for discussion, but to get the point, in this case, the trouble isn’t him increasing the level of criminality (its rather vice-versa), but taking hold of too much control in the high and underground structures. Even as an ordinary hitman he’s rather tricky, since everything depends on the case

In most of the stories, they come to some sort of compromise, and how hard it is to reach it depends on how shitty his job is and how attached they are to each other at the moment

Like, in the above mentioned Shippuden AU and Harry Potter AU (which I also wrote with my buddy) everything went like clockwork, because there they are both more or less on this side of the law, in Tokyo Ghoul AU (which I also wrote with my buddy) it is a bit more complicated, with her being in-law and him being very much outlaw, in the Avatar AU (which I also figured out with my buddy, but we never happened to write it) it is also pretty smooth, with both of them being outlaws and then jumping out to the glory after all the shit is done, but in another Shippuden AU of mine, this all would be just a motherfucking bloody disaster

- Kakuzu is actually a hard nut to get attached to anyone

He lived too long to be truly afraid of anything, though. Its mostly because he doesn’t really need to get attached to or become close with someone to satisfy his need for communication. The man can get along with anyone once he wishes to, he can have countless acquaintances and plenty of buddies, but he doesn’t have many comrades and barely can call anyone a friend. Because he is used to lose everything and everyone he ever had or happened to have, because of his inhumanly lengthened lifespan.

It requires time for him to get used to the person, and then, eventually, in some cases, spend plenty of it to get attached

Plus, for him, due to his profession, each close connection is a really great responsibility for him. In most cases, he’d think twice of weather he is ready to take it or not

Though it of course has the personal factor, too

In Anko’s case, she has a grand privilege by being a very intelligent and keen woman, not just in cognitive plane, but in emotional, too. High emotional intellect is actually a rare trait, so she automatically stands out of the crowd for him. Even though it won’t guarantee his alliance, it will grant her his high respect and some sort of sympathy

- Kakuzu is, technically, an asshole

He does have his moral compass, which includes a great amount of common social morality, but he also has that “I am working” state

Even though Kakusu has a set of professional principles, and he still acts accordingly to what he thinks is right, one and the very same situation can be solved diametrically different once the context changes from working to casual and vice versa

This, and him being very independent and quite antisocial, makes the degree of assholeness depend on various factors

This can lead to major conflicts of interests, and if they are possible to have any compromise or not is strongly attached to the circumstances. After all, both are very, very prideful and dignified people

- In other words, the only major issue for them would be morality questions. It’s possible to make the case acceptable for Anko, since both of them ain’t truly squeaky clean, along with Kakuzu being willing enough to watch his borders

- She is provident and doesn’t really need a lot of money on a daily basis, which is much of a joy to him lol

- *they both seek for the stable ground, first of all

Taking in consideration the life conditions Kakuzu had in his youth (despite war state, he still stably had family, friends, grand respect from everyone, home, warmth and food) and how terribly he was torn out of his secured social environment, I believe what he seeks through all his bounty hunt and other money-connected manipulations is stability. Sustainability he had back then. The only way to have it in the conditions of our existent world order is to have money (and a very good mind and luck)

Anko has indeed much more altruistic motives, yet it’s still not that simple. It seems to be, on the first sight, yet considering the “Orochimaru related cases” and her very wayward behavior toward them, it’s clear she keeps her own motives and needs in mind oh so well. The service she has is very well payed, it allows her to do what she likes or believes is right, and to have the living conditions she finds comfortable. And only here, relying on the made sustainable basis, she does what she does

- Thus, they both illustrate the principle “first help yourself, next help the other” just right

- She knows she can keep an eye on him, yet it’s clear for her that her influence isn’t borderless, as well as telling him off some stuff is kind of a not wise thing to do. So in the majority of cases, she never interferes

- This is not common, yet he can actually change some plans if the situation is serious and the compromise can’t be found. He is that kind of person who works on a further prospective, and in this context, this would be the relationship with his loved one

- While Kakuzu is quite conflicted and has very reserved controversial persona, Anko is both controversial, conflicted, and sort of two-faced, on top of that

She is a very sincere, cheerful and humbly honest human being, yet she has some darker natural traits of her character that became rather strong with age and traumatic experience. Cunningness, guile, ways-depend-on-the-case and a bit of ruthlessness, that is. Moreover, she has some unsolved personal issues, which makes her even more twisted.

Like, remember the time when she confronted Orochimaru during the exam? And Kabuto, on the war? Getting rid of them is indeed beneficial for Konoha, but it’s clear that for her it is personal vendetta in the first place. She wouldn’t have tried to do this alone, otherwise, because these two are rather dangerous ones, to say the least.

She uses greater good to cover her real motives (even though it is not truly complete bullshit), and seems to have a terrible habit to keep silence about really important things, which makes her quite prone to lying, in some cases

And sometimes it very badly pisses Kakuzu off, since it makes her prone to doing useless but dangerous shit too

Yet this not any kind of separate hidden side, it is integrated into her personality, and coexists with her bright one. That’s where her violent humour comes from, for example.

But Kakuzu, on the other side, is completely monolith individual, yet sometimes his mindset can create contradictions when it comes to something important to him. but it's another topic

And seeing these layered constructions, and motives, they can pretty finely predict each other’s behavior. Not super-neatly, but they for sure see the basis. This is what helps Kakuzu to prevent Anko from doing some stupid shit, sometimes

- Anko has a role of an indicator for the people who don’t understand and see the changes in Kakuzu’s mood sometimes, since she usually reacts quite openly. Yet, when she has the same unreadable mask of cold, or one of guile, it’s a nightmare for them

- They prefer the non-verbal way to show their feelings, even though Anko is obviously the more chatty one

- They don’t say things such as “I love you”, or other sensual stuff like that really often, believing it to be some sort of cherished words that shall not be spelled mindlessly

- Anko isn’t majorly into PDA, but she fancies it much more than Kakuzu does. She has her whole moments of studying something with her hands, whether it’s a hand, scar or face. He’s more into passive display of affection, like wrapping an arm over her waist or leaning to her or something of this kind; they can allow themselves to (not sexually) kiss in public though

- She knows he doesn’t like to walk hand in hand due to considering it a youthful thing, so there are times when she intentionally walks holding on to his sleeve; generally they walk separately in order not to bother each other, but sometimes they walk arm in arm (like an old Victorian couple lol)

- Being older and wiser, Kakuzu eventually upholds some kind of mentoring position, yet he never considers himself any kind of a teacher or master to Anko, believing her to have a good head of her own. He is just insightful enough to break something through to her or give a word of advise

- This, combined with his highly powerful demeanor, also makes him have the leading position in their relationship

- Anko respects him much enough to fortify this, entrusting with plenty of life questions (like organizing the family budget), even though they make the majority of decisions together. Mostly because he is truly wise and highly experienced individual.

- This makes him one of the very few people Anko would actually listen to and take their opinion in consideration

- So basically they have equal relationship with some tendency to patriarchal order

- And it is, really, mostly economically-based disbalance, with him earning much more than she does

- Yet they never have any financial-based issues, since both of them keep in mind and respect the contributions of each

- There is major power play here, too. He has the absolute might, she has seduction. Anko loves how he makes her want to submit to him, let him have all the power, so she likes provoking him. And she knows he adores it, loves the subtle control she has over him

- They don’t have conflicts in their everyday life. Each knows how to avoid pissing one another off

- He cherishes her playful demeanor, her intellect. Combined with her cunningness, it allows her to rival him, in social sphere. The way she constructs her phrases, the way she speaks, mimics, moves, how bewitchingly it suits her feminine snaky features makes his blood boil and heart melt

- Both of them, actually, have rather specific kind of dry, dark humour. Kakuzu’s is very cynical, satirical, quite often menacing and subtly demeaning; Anko’s is very sarcastic and quite dirty, even gruesome and rather violent

- Sometimes they “fight” verbally as a form of a play. In some circumstances they may sound pretty vile, so some unobservant people mistake this for display of hate

- In general, Anko is the one to heat things up with her playful demeanor, which can include provocation and rivalry, and Kakuzu is the one to keep this energy in borders, accumulating it up to much more intense states

- They both put the comfort in the first place when it comes to household. Everything must be cozy, useful, silent and super clean

- Yet they are both very unpretentious and modest, really

- She absolutely adores when he is showing his serious, severe side, or powerful demeanor. She finds it incredibly suitable for him. She also likes how his real age is sliding out in this or that way. Like, even though he has rather young face (that of 37-40 y.o.), his eyes give away that he’ve seen oh so much more than it seems; the grumpy noises and grunts he makes, the lazy attitude in movements and the way how rapidly he finds a comfy pose once he has a chance to take a seat

- They are both rather patriotic, yet while in the most stories Anko’s feelings mostly lay towards the country she lives in, Kakuzu’s more often lay towards some places, so called small motherland.

- Kakuzu actually could be a source of deep, strong admiration and delight for her, despite all of his bullshit. The unbreakable will he has, mighty burning heart, all the wisdom, talents and mind. Being sent to fight god damn Hashirama, clearly a genius of his times, financial & management genius at the least. And, still, after all the hard times he’ve been through, he maintained the very strong sense of dignity and nobility, even though slightly twisted due to the profession and abnormal lifespan

- And the very same things can serve as the source for her chagrin: with all those traits, he could have been so much more rather than a criminal. With all the gifts he’ve got, he could have been of great use to society. He’s much easier about this, since his prospective is much wider and embraces decades (and in some universes even centuries) instead of months & years, and he knows that he’d be switching sides throughout his life, being on this and that side of the law, yet he still is a bit uncomfortable once it’s brought up

- They are deeply into science, which makes them atheists. He’s into medicine and human biology, she’s into chemistry and reptilian biology; both of them are nuts for physics, history and psychology

- They solve complicated physical and mathematical problems together time to time. She is the first one to have tea-breaks due to losing her temper over it, he tries to figure things out right until you can sense the smoke coming off his head

- Actually, they do have a stumbling stone aside from job & morality complications. And this is Anko’s attitude towards Orochimaru

What she does is basically ruins her life very-very slowly, maintaining the issues she has and planning to make him pay for all he’s done

Kakuzu knows exactly what is really going on with this attitude and why, but he can’t really do anything about it. Like, he knows he can’t make her change her mind or put something into her head

All he can do is really nothing but try to explain how those things are working, and even this option is basically a landmine field for him. At some level she does understand that he could probably be right, yet she just refuses to go back on her mind. And this is actually really dangerous, so at some moments they can fight quite badly about it

- He’s scared shitless to lose her, though; especially like that, even though he knows clearly that he will, anyway, sooner or later

- he knows that losing loved ones ends up with sheer disaster for him, yet he isn’t afraid to pay such a high price for those six, five or four decades of being with her. Because these decades are that of a paradise ones for him. Wife and family, as well as stable job, incomes and life conditions, are some sort of physical definitions of sustainability he craves. Especially family, yet it’s far ahead to plan

- The fact that he will have to bury her one day makes her rather depressed, as well as the knowledge that the only thing she can really do about it is to try to bring him as much happiness and comfort as possible before she dies

thank you, i'd say more, but it's too much already

[mickstart]

Hi,

I loved your post on respectful rivalries and I think that people confuse toxicity to be a measure of intense competition. On that note, a lot of people say that Vettel and Hamilton only got along once there was no chance of Vettel beating him but I've seen things that contradict that? I'm a newer fan, so I was wondering if you have any thoughts on that particular rivalry?

Hi! Yeah I'm only just realising myself that toxicity being sold as intense competition is exactly why I've not been feeling the "exciting title fight" vibes everyone keeps insisting are there this season! It's very... idk. You can be intensely competitive without your fans believing wholeheartedly that the drivers might hurt each other.

Gonna put some thoughts below the cut because I rambled, sorry!

Anyway, as for Seb v Lewis I'm really sorry but fdsgsdffg I was not actually seriously watching F1 between late 2014 and late 2020! After Michael's accident it was hard to watch it and be reminded of him every week, and then I had to step back after Jules' accident. I watched casually (one or two races, literally) for another year or so but when I moved away from uni I just... let myself stop watching I guess? So I basically completely missed the Seb v Lewis era and my impressions aren't gong to be accurate.

Anyway my vague impression is that Seb and Lewis' rivalry was definitely tense. Until Sunday their Baku incident was one of the most "oh fuck off you can't do that" things I've seen in F1. The difference between this rivalry and that is, imo, Seb and Lewis were both penalised by the stewards when necessary. I think there was a level of trust between them (that Baku almost destroyed but then ended up cementing), and also between each of them and the stewards. That trust is nowhere in this title fight.

And tbh it couldn't be. Seb and Lewis had been racing each other for a decade+ at that point. They did feeder series in a similar era, saw the same standards enforced in F1, went through the same rule changes together. They had both been through title fights where they lost control of the narrative and things went too personal (Mark and Seb, Nico and Lewis.) I think they definitely weren't always besties, but they also could have a civil conversation 75% of the time. It was just competitiveness, not personal like m*x and lewis have become.

If you and a kid from your class get assigned to opposite hockey teams for PE, and you're told there's a reward at the end, you're probably going to compete and get mad at each other in the moment and give it your all. But then when PE is over you have to live with each other in math class and put that behind you. Seb and Lewis were, I think, conscious of that need to coexist peacefully after. You need that self-awareness to have a fun championship fight in any sport. You need to be able to do what Seb did and apologize after Baku.

I have more Thoughts but this is long enough already and they're more general so I guess I'll save them for some sort of end of season round up.

[surviveschool]

good emotional skills to know 4 college but also in general

this is stuff that i’ve found helpful and am in the process of working on. they may not be achievable for you without help and may not work for your specific circumstance, but this is a list of suggestions that you might be able to think about. i am also not a mental health professional so please do feel free to contradict me!!

self soothing.  having a toolbox to take care of yourself by yourself. bc sometimes nobody else is available and you just gotta put some lotion on, listen to a tune, and go to bed early. 

checking in. checking in with yourself to see if you’re okay. knowing how to alter your strategies when your strategies aren’t working. knowing when your strategies aren’t working. this is just taking some time every day to reflect on what goals you didn’t meet and why and what you can do to fix that.

there’s nothing you “should” be doing. if you get caught up thinking “i should be doing x” that’s false! stop that! “should” be doing better implies that you have some obligation to do whatever it is that you “should” be doing. you don’t owe anybody except yourself. analyze why you think you should be doing that thing and change that into.... “i want to be doing x because...” or “doing x will make me happier, because...”. overall, more productive and less self-shamey. 

disconnecting from the crowd. eating in a crowded dining hall can be stressful! knowing how to be alone in a crowd and stay calm is helpful

being okay with being alone.  tbh college is kind of... being alone a lot, in my experience. even though you’re surrounded by people, a lot of time is spent alone. making friends is hard. your friends have different schedules. you’re busy. shit sucks. we make the best of it.

knowing yourself. this relates to a lot of what i’ve already said but like. knowing your emotional state and knowing what helps trick the monkey brain is helpful. stop repressing your feelings, friends.

talking to strangers. ordering from a menu! paying library fines. going to office hours. asking for a cashier at the register if there isn’t one. ya this is hard. ya you gotta expose yourself. sometimes i just try playing a persona. like this isn’t me ordering a sandwich. this is a cool me who knows how to talk to people who is ordering a sandwich.

you don’t have to be friends with your roommates. you just have to live together in a way that doesn’t make you two hate each other. ideally, you two will coexist in a way that doesn’t interfere with the other’s daily life.

give and taking. on the topic of roommates, sometimes your roommate can be a shitty person, but sometimes you are the shitty person! give a little but if they’re negatively impacting your life, communicate.

communicating during disagreements. explain what your emotions are instead of blaming them. “i feel hurt when you...” or “i feel frustrated when” or “i feel unappreciated when.” if things get heated, ask if you both can take a ten minute break and then come back. and don’t bring up disagreements when the other party is preoccupied or going somewhere. you can legitimately schedule a discussion.

it’s okay to apologize. learning to swallow your pride gets easier each time.

knowing that people work differently than you. some people are not gonna click with you and it’s gonna seem like they have this whole brain process up there that is totally unlike yours. and yeah! that’s how it is. and that’s chill if they aren’t hurting anyone else. work with them and be flexible!! 

comforting people. you will probably/definitely see someone cry! hell if i know how to comfort people. someone please help. but some things i’ve learned are: 1) different people need different things. different people need different things! 2) people need different things at different times. 3) you can ask them what they want and it won’t be weird. 4) apparently a lot of people like hugs? but ask. and it’s okay to not want a hug. 5) just show that you care in some way if you don’t know what they need. i used to think that if somebody needed to tell me what they needed it was a sign that i just didn’t know them well enough and we weren’t compatible or i wasn’t being a good friend. that’s fake! friendship isn’t based off of fitting naturally in every way and making an effort to be good for them is important.

knowing it’s okay to not be liked by everyone. it’s okay if strangers think you’re dumb because you said something dumb in public. you know you’re not dumb. it’s okay if not everybody you meet likes you. it’s okay if you do something cringey. everybody has their own shit to deal with and you will not shatter their world.  grow and move on!

forgiving yourself. i’m trying this new thing where when i feel embarrassed about something i say. out loud. “i forgive myself.” and then i just try to grow from that and move on without getting caught in a spiral of shame.

knowing what you need vs what you want and what is better at the time. what you need: a shower. what you want: to not do that. solution: take a shower! or maybe what you actually need is to go to sleep? but guess what. you probably know what is good for you. the hard part is actually doing it.

realize that building habits is less work than discipline. emotional effort is expended every time you have to make yourself do something. just make it part of your routine and you’ll just think it’s normal to do all the good things! like, for example, i’m trying to make it a habit to eat structured meals instead of a “eat when i’m hungry” thing because i know that makes me skip meals, which is bad!

you won’t be able to do everything. forgive yourself for that. write down  things that are top priority and focus on them. everything else is not important right now and you shouldn’t beat yourself up for not being able to do them.

your health is important. i’m not saying health will solve all your problems. it won’t! but health will cause a lot of your problems to go away. because let’s face it. not sleeping causes a lot of problems. 

it’s okay to ask for help. we say this a lot but it’s hard to internalize it. here’s a thought: there’s so much shame and hesitation about asking for help so by doing that you’re actually being proactive (which is respectable) and mature, and therefore... not weak or stupid. ask for help even before you need it! most people love to help others. and especially take advantage of people who are OFFERING help. for example: counselors at school or TAs. it’s literally their job. they want to do it. and if you don’t want to talk to anybody in real life, my inbox is always open.

[mimik-u]

Multitudes

Summary: On the 6,242nd anniversary of Pink Diamond's shattering—nearly a year after the Diamonds discovered the existence of Steven—Yellow Diamond, as she always does, searches for Blue. Pre-movie.

Note: It has been far too long since I've written Bellow Diamond, and I've needed this very story lately—something about allowing yourself to feel your emotions while also continuing to move forward.

AO3

—

It is with a studied rhythm that Homeworld’s twin suns pull each other up through the darkness, blanketing the sky in a soft pink glow as they ascend, going slowly, all gentleness. Yellow Diamond watches the familiar spectacle from her latticed window, hand beneath her chin, mind elsewhere as the fractured light glances off the angular planes of her face.

To a being who has lived ten thousands of years upon years, the emergence and passing of a new cycle is but a blink of the eye, a meaningless unit in the long linearity of her given lifetime. And yet, as she has learned so viscerally in even just the past six thousand years alone, the surest, and perhaps only way to measure time is to judge it by the movements of the other gems around her.

And by other gems, she means Blue Diamond.

For she always means Blue.

Her strength, her weakness, her light, her darkness, her partner, her monomaniac fixation, her fellow goddess, her friend.

(The dichotomies and multitudes of their relationship have always stunned Yellow Diamond at best and scared her at worst.)

For six thousand years, she scheduled her entire existence around knowing exactly where the other matriarch was at all times. In-between court sessions and trials and all of the various other councils Yellow convened alone, she sent Pearls to inform her of where Blue Diamond was and what exactly she was doing. The trail of her mourning was as readily available to her as reports on potassium deposits in faraway colonies.

She learned, intimately, that Blue rotated between haunts every so often like an organic beast migrating between seasons. Each spatial relic of Pink Diamond’s past were but pastures to graze in prolonged misery.

Against her own volition, Yellow came to understand that some cycles, by the sheer fact of what they once were, were harder for Blue Diamond than others.

The anniversary of Pink’s emergence into the world.

The day they decided to bequeath her her own colony.

The remembrance, the haunting, the sadistic exhibition of her shattering.

Before they laid eyes on what they had thought to be her shards, the Diamonds had never truly known pain, the sharp dimensions of it, the astonishing depths. 

When Blue Diamond’s screams rent the air for the first time, the entire Earth seemed to scream with her, wailing an unholy, feral song to which the three deities did not know the lyrics, though they sang along anyway. With their hands outstretched towards the colony Pink Diamond had once called home, they tried to fill in the melody the best that they could.

And they corrupted hundreds upon hundreds of gems.

And they shattered thousands more.

Because they had never lost anything before then.

And they wanted to make someone else and everything else feel the extent of their loss, too.

It is not an excuse.

A justification either.

It is only history, raw and unsanitized.

Yellow Diamond abruptly closes her eyes against the rosy sunrise as though stung, her fingers spidering against her tall nose.

Today would have been the 6,242nd anniversary of the shattering. 

Nearly a year ago, they learned that everything they had ever assumed about their beloved Pink Diamond was a lie—including this very date.

Still, the old memories come unbidden—the shards, the terror, the ungodly screaming. 

And yet, the familiar is now tempered by the newer sensations that have surfaced to foreign planes in her mind ever since she has met, loved, and wanted to do better for Steven Universe: the guilt, the helplessness, the fragility of everything, of it all.

When Yellow Diamond snaps her eyes open again, the images still burn the backs of her retinas, and it all comes together in one jangling, dissonant, clashing symphony—lights and noises, echoes and pale ghosts: the shards, the guilt, the terror, the helplessness, the ungodly screaming, the fragility of everything, of it all.

She is naked.

Fifty foot tall, the fragments of thousands of gems all over her hands, she is exposed.

With a violence that startles Pearl—who’d been running algorithms on her screens—Yellow stands up from her alcove, stretching her long limbs extensively, as though trying to excise something out along with the stiffness, too. 

“Sorry,” she says gruffly, glancing away. (She’s working on it—she is—but apologies still don’t come easily to the matriarch.)  “Just have somewhere I need to be.”

With a few quick taps of a nearby panel, Pearl pulls up and enlarges a video feed of the throne room. A snatch of heavy blue fabric dragging against the floor is all she needs to see.

“... that wouldn’t happen to be the throne room, my—I mean, your—um, Yellow Diamond, would it?” (Pearl is working on it—she is—but thousands of years of ingrained slavery are hard to completely forget, too.)

Relief mixed with gratitude mixed with awkwardness darkens the gold around Yellow Diamond’s sharp cheekbones.

“Thank you, Pearl.” 

A similar blush scribbles itself across the bridge of the smaller gem’s nose. 

“Of course.”

(They’re both working on it—they are—Diamond and Pearl alike, trying to figure out what it means to be companions in Era Three. Equals. Maybe one day, friends, if such an unstudied phenomenon can happen between them after all these unchanging cycles of mastery and slavery.)

(But she wonders to herself—she wonders this every day—is there grace enough in this universe for the Diamonds?)

(Is there such a thing as absolution and reprieve?)

Brow furrowed above her eyes, Yellow finally sweeps out of her chamber, heels clicking reliably against the marble veined floor. 

(She doesn’t know.)

(She isn’t sure she wants to know.)

The passage between her chamber and the throne room is a covered bridge, the path intricately laid, sunlight slanting through the arches and onto her handsome armor in patches. 

She doesn’t stop to look below—doesn’t have time to spare even though she has all the time in the world—but even as she walks, she can hear all the many ways that Homeworld is changing, the echoes of the reforming city drifting up to the palace like sacrificial smoke. There is the humdrum of communication—talking and conversing, snatches of loud laughter. And there is the steady thrum of ship traffic zooming through the brightening sky. 

She knows, without looking, that there are flashing colors and newly constructed infrastructures. Councils are being formed, the judicial system overhauled independently of the Diamonds' oversight. Representatives for the various Gem types are elected fairly and democratically. An economy based on rare rocks—locally sourced from Homeworld’s own Kindergarten—is slowly but surely being constructed by business minded Peridots. Gems from all eras and cuts and cabochons are cohabiting side by side, communing and learning to coexist without prejudice and fear.

Their world, for the first time in millions of cycles, is evolving.

For good and for the best.

With a pang that tightens her diamond as she finally approaches the intricately carved double doors leading into the throne room, Yellow Diamond wonders what it means that she is falling into the same pattern she has threaded year after year for 6,242 years.

Do Diamonds ever change their facets?

Or are their hardnesses immutable, unchanging?

(She wonders—she wonders this every day—if one day the universe will pronounce judgment on the three of them for their crimes against Gemkind?)

(Will doing better be enough to lighten the sentence?)

(Is doing better the same as being better?)

She curls her fingers tightly around one of the quartz handles and pulls outwards, her nerves suddenly electrified as the square of light from the door slowly pools into the throne room and across the floor, inching and seeping until it touches the hem of a heavy, dark robe. 

“Yellow.” Blue Diamond looks up, awed. “You remembered.”

As has been the Diamonds' shared habit lately, she's kneeling in front of the warp pad, cerulean fingers neatly templed on her lap, her posture reminiscent of the weeping statues in the Saturnal Spire, many of them immortalized in prostration. Yellow can see the traces of wetness beneath her grooved eyes, a telltale and familiar sign of what has already passed and what is yet to come. 

“Did you think I would forget?” She asks, immediately loathing that the question sounds so vulnerable and needy, as though she’s dependent—and maybe she is—on a negative answer.

“Truthfully?” 

“Yes”—she interjects impatiently—“I always want to know your truth.”

But, to Yellow’s surprise, Blue laughs quietly, the edges of her plump, blue lifted along the contours of her smile.

“Stars above, you still never wait for someone to finish their thought, do you?” 

“I didn’t intend to interrupt! I just—“

“Yes, I know, Yellow. Come.” Blue Diamond extricates her hands from one another and pats the empty space next to her. “Be with me, please.”

It is an irresistible request, an invitation that Yellow could never refuse (though she has never fully tried). With a few, stiff strides, she join the other matriarch on the floor, sitting crosslegged, even as her armored spine is ramrod straight. 

Appropriately chastised, her cheeks are dark with golden flush.

“Are you happy now?” Yellow mutters beneath her breath.

“Yes,” comes the quiet reply that very nearly paralyzes her. Perhaps realizing this, Blue Diamond extends the same hand she used to gesture towards the floor and places the tips of her fingertips on the spines of Yellow’s gloved knuckles. “I am…. in my own small way—happy and also undeniably sad. It is a curious contradiction.”

“Oh,” Yellow Diamond can only say, swallowing hard. 

“Oh,” Blue Diamond agrees, leaning—softly, very gently—against her, so that their shoulders touch. Her silvery hair falls to the side at the movement, the light from above crowning her head in liquid amber.

In gold.

“I didn’t wish to be alone today,” she admits, frowning, “but for the last six thousand and sundry years, you have unfailingly ensured that I never was alone on this date... even when I thought that I wanted to be, even all the times I pushed you away.”

Yellow‘s breath hitches, shallow of air.

They’ve scarcely talked so openly before, even now, and perhaps especially now that the Diamonds are trying their damnedest to amend the wrongs of their pasts.

Even beyond that, intimacy is hard.

Indeed, it is one of the few lessons that the resilient general has yet to master for all of her focus and control.

She still doesn’t have all the steps in order yet... if there are even quantifiable steps to intimacy at all.

“You pushed me away often,” she finally says, and try though she does, she can’t quite keep an accusatory tone out of her voice. 

(Even if the Diamonds don’t wear their wounds, that doesn’t mean they were never inflicted.)

“I know,” Blue confesses, closing her eyes tightly against what Yellow knows to be a deluge of memories. “I knew all along most likely. I wanted to hurt you as were hurting me. If I could make you feel even a fraction of the misery that I did... if I could make any gems who crossed my path understand... I was quick, injudiciously so, to do as much.”

The matriarch is precise when it comes to identifying and analyzing her own emotions—incisive—another ability which Yellow never quite learned in thousands of millennia.

“We don’t have to talk about this now,” she says quickly, “if it’s too much.”

(It's always too much for Yellow.)

“But I want to.” Blue abruptly opens her eyes, and Yellow is startled to see that they’ve hardened, her expression pinched. “I mean, I suppose I need to... for there is this feeling in my chest, Yellow. It pulses in my very diamond and has expanded with each passing second that I have been up today. And I want to get rid of it—I must.”

Her fingers tense where they rest upon her hand, and the space between palm and knuckles, blue and gold, is electric with energy, pulsating.

The column of Yellow Diamond’s throat is thick, sticky with feeling.

“I have a feeling, too,” she admits, her voice surly. “When I awoke... and recalled what day it was... I couldn’t shake it.”

Blue’s eyes are wide and tired, weary with six thousand cycles of mourning. The carnage is pooled all over her face. It scarred both of them. It nearly maddened White. 

“Name it, Yellow,” she whispers, and it is almost a supplication, desperate and reverent on the Diamond’s lilting tongue. “Please.”

What is there to do but comply?

What stands between her and a handful of words except her own sheathe of an ego of a personality?

Yellow Diamond flinches before she ever opens her mouth, half-hating and entirely fearing what she is about to make their reality.

“I miss her, Blue.”

“And?” Because Blue Diamond knows—she always seems to know—when her sentences are unfinished, when words remain unspoken. 

Yellow’s eyes burn, the leakage threatening to spill out.

“And I feel guilty about it, for missing her now… after what we did to her... after what we have done to so many other gems.”

To ourselves, too.

To each other.

More unspoken aches, though the merciful Blue Diamond is kind enough not to call her out on them.

A single tear glances down her long, oval face, collecting calmly on the point of her chin.

“How can we be moving on,” Yellow continues, wiping roughly at her eyes with her other hand, “if we are here again? The same place we have been every year for the last six thousand years? On the floor, broken. Our world is turning, Blue! Evolving! Transforming! Do we not revolve with it?”

If this is the pattern and the routine to which they inevitably return, does this not mean that they will one day become stagnations and calcifications?

Monuments and monoliths to their own shattered pasts?

What is all their progress, their actions and their actions and their atonements and their actions, if they cannot ever abstain from this vicious ceremony?

Will they still be here, six thousand years more from now, missing a gem who will never come home to them again?

Will there never not be a day when a rosy, pink sky doesn’t evoke her name on their tongues?

Pink Diamond.

She used to sing flowers into full bloom.

When Blue isn’t immediately forthcoming with an answer—her dark lips parted slightly in silence—for the first time in the entirety of her existence, Yellow feels no triumph in being right.

There is no pleasure in the conception and epiphany of their eternal damnation.

There is only acceptance, she thinks, glancing down at the warp pad, dull and empty. 

(Steven hasn’t visited in twenty-one cycles now.)

Stoic and unceasing resignation.

“Yellow Diamond...” A tall hand cups her chin gently and draws the general’s gaze upwards until all the goddess sees is blue. Her eyes. Her complexion. Her alice blue hair. Her lips. Blue Diamond looks at her all over, and there is an ancient sadness engraved in all the geometric lines of her face. “Do you really believe that multiple things cannot be true at the same time?”

“I—“

“No,” Blue cuts her off firmly. “Let me finish, please. We have done horrible things, and we are trying, every day, to do better. We hurt Pink immeasurably... and we are hurt—stars, we will be devastated—by her loss forever. Those sentiments are not mutually exclusive.” Blue’s voice hitches, her warm breath so close that Yellow can feel it on her skin. “They can’t be... or else, what do we have to look forward to for the next thousands of years of our lifetimes? How can we deal with the enormities of our lives if we do not allow our lives to be enormous—both an exemplar and a testament to complexity?”

Yellow stares at her companion incredulously, wanting to believe in the grandiosity of their existences (again) but not quite daring to (as she had once so easily done before).

Dichotomies and multitudes and holistic systems of so many moving, working parts—Yellow Diamond, for all of her intelligence and logic and ratios and statistics, does not know how to compute them. Her morality has always been a straight line that favors extremes, tilting like an unbalanced scale, from one weighted end to the other.

“But you feel it, too,” she argues hoarsely. “You have a feeling in your chest as well.”

Her gaze unwittingly travels down to Blue’s gem, gleaming brightly against her cerulean complexion.

But the other Diamond, fingertips still captured beneath her chin, doesn’t allow the moment to linger, insisting, with a gentle nudge, that Yellow Diamond holds her head up high.

“And so this just means we have a final pair of questions to ask ourselves, yes?” Blue smiles lightly, all tenderness and sadness, all warmth and terrible grief.

Dichotomies and multitudes.

They stun Yellow Diamond, and they perplex her, and they frustrate her to no conceivable end.

Even now, she isn’t sure that she’s following, and yet, as the two of them sit here—linked by touch and millennia and memories—she knows, without ever being able to articulate the sentiment into words that would matter or make sense, she would follow this gem to the ends of their world, conceivable or otherwise.

“What do we do with this feeling now that we have it?" Blue’s smile only deepens, becoming more felt, arctic eyes melting. "And how do we make sure it doesn’t go to waste?”

Her face shines in the brilliance of the warp pad’s newly glowing light.

“Today,” she says, “we allow ourselves to feel the pain of losing Pink... and we play with Steven Universe... and we not only love him, but show him that we do.”

“And tomorrow?” Yellow dares to ask.

A concentrated beam whooshes downwards from the ceiling of the palatial hall.

“Tomorrow”—Blue Diamond squeezes her hand—“we can move forward again... hand in hand.”

There are colonies to continue dismantling and long corroded infrastructure to repair. Homeworld’s grid system needs to be replotted, and a Kindergarten on Iphigenia would be a meaningful location to repurpose as an organic life conservation facility. Transportation services between Homeworld and Earth are still being configured, especially given Earth’s less than spaceship friendly atmospheres and surfaces. Former gem experiments require a delicate unraveling and a reckoning both for Yellow Diamond who ordered them to be carried out in the first place. Blue and White and Yellow Diamond alike, all three of them in harmonious union and sync for the first time in thousands of years, want to build a memorial spire in Sector 9 for the Rose Quartzes to inhabit if they should so choose—a place of rest and healing, circled all throughout with restorative waters.

“I... like the sound of that.” 

The tentative beginnings of hope creep into her low voice.

“I thought you would,” Blue teases as particulate matter and atoms and long reclaimed stardust begin to arrange themselves into the boy named Steven Universe.

“We start now.”

[diariesofthehermit]

Panpsychism and the Combination Problem

I just finished the book "Galileo's Error" by Phillip Goff (a Panpsychist) and, having discovered an entirely new way of thinking about reality, my mind is now aflame with thoughts that I want to share and discussions that I want to have. I am not really creating this thread to discuss the merits of Panpsychism as a whole. For the time being, I am satisfied with it being a coherent theory of reality and that is enough for my present purposes. I am quite willing to accept that consciousness is the intrinsic aspect of matter; I find this both plausible and coherent. What I want to discuss is the problem of complex minds, or how the incredibly simple forms of conscious experience exhibited by fundamental particles collectively form the rich, complex forms of conscious experience within human minds/nervous systems.

There are two possibilities that I will discuss here: IIT (Information Integration Theory) and Constitutive Panpsychism. IIT posits that consciousness naturally rises to the highest level of complexity, or of integrated information. Basically, a fundamental particle represents a fundamental, rudimentary form of experience. It is its own entity. If it becomes a part of a single celled organism, however, then that particle ceases to be conscious in its own right and becomes subsumed into the greater network of integrated information, or consciousness, of the organism. If that single celled organism, say a neuron, is incorporated into a larger network of single celled organisms (for example, a nervous system), then those individual cells cease to be conscious in their own right and become subsumed into the consciousness of the whole multicellular entity. Basically, a + b = c. Two parts come together and cease to be what they were, instead forming something entirely new.

Constitutive Panpsychism, on the other hand, seems to posit that the fundamental particles do not lose their individuality while at the same time combining to form new levels of conscious experience. Constitutive Panpsychism (if I understand it correctly) holds that each neuron is its own loci of subjective experience, and that they combine to form a new loci and a, more complex, form of experience without giving up their individual “minds”. Basically, a + b = ab.

In my view, IIT appears to be the more logical choice, as it seeks to solve the problem of complex consciousness through a fundamental law of nature that requires no further explanation. The simpler solution is generally the better solution. However, in my opinion IIT falls apart when we try to understand what separates one system of information from another, among other things. 

Are organisms fundamentally separate from their environment? Organisms survive by engaging in an almost constant exchange of information with their surroundings. I am equating matter with information because, according to Panpsychism, they are essentially identical (if we understand that any conscious experience involves both a knower [the subject] and the known [the object/information]). Organisms take in information in the form of oxygen, food and water and emit information in the form of waste and heat. Just as a nucleus cannot exist without the cellular whole, an organism cannot exist without its ecosystem. Where does the flow of information end? I do not believe that you will find any sort of “closed” information network in all of nature. 

Therefore the highest level of integrated information should theoretically be the universe itself. According to IIT, we should not be conscious beings ourselves at all, it is only the cosmos that should possess awareness! This, however, is obviously not the case. Therefore IIT cannot by itself be a coherent explanation for the existence of complex minds. 

I think that part of the issue is that we see the mind as a unified entity (c) and not as a combination of various knowledges/experiences (ab). If we look at fundamental particles as units of information/experience, we could compare them to pixels on a screen. The fact that they can combine to form a cohesive and coherent image does not then negate their individual existences. When we look at an image on a monitor, we are not immediately aware of the individual existences of the pixels. As a matter of fact, we may not even be capable of seeing the individual pixels and the whole image at once. Yet both exist. I will touch more on this later.

Another issue, I believe, is that we have not yet fully appreciated what it means to say that consciousness is the intrinsic nature of matter. What’s so exciting to me about this is that this implies that physical properties are not different from mental properties. Emergent physical properties, like the emergent properties of water, must therefore be emergent mental properties as well. Water is composed of two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom. Taken as a whole, a water molecule has physical properties (such as cohesion and adhesion) that the individual atoms do not. If Panpsychism is true, then that means water molecules possess aspects of conscious experience not held by the individual atoms. This wouldn’t make any sense unless water molecules possess a consciousness apart from the individual atoms, which would seem to be in line with IIT. However, the individual atoms within a water molecule still exist. The emergent properties of a water molecule do not “cancel out” the properties of hydrogen or oxygen, and so we cannot really say that either hydrogen or oxygen ceases to exist in a water molecule.

Physically speaking, a water molecule is neither one nor three, but both at the same time. This seems like a contradiction, which would be logically and philosophically impossible, but it is not. It is simply a limitation of ordinary human language. However, if a water molecule is both a single physical entity (one molecule) and three entities (two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom), then in the light of Panpsychism we must also be able to say that it is both one mind (the molecular mind) and also three minds (the atomic minds) at once. Any statement that is true for physical matter must also be true for consciousness, since they are fundamentally identical.

Looking at the universe as being composed of units of information (each fundamental particle being composed of both the knower, or the subject, and the known, or the object/information), we see that complex knowledges are formed on the basis of simpler knowledges that never actually cease to exist. Take the equation 1 + 1 = 2. This is complex knowledge. 1 + 1 = 2 has an emergent meaning that does not exist in any single numeral or symbol within the equation. However, each numeral and symbol within the equation retains its essential, distinct nature apart from that emergent meaning. 

Further, if the physical universe is identical to consciousness, then we may take our cue on the origins of complex forms of consciousness from the origins of complex forms of matter, and this would support combination theory. A river is not identical to a water molecule and a water molecule is not identical to the individual atoms that compose it- but none of these things “cancels out” any of the others. If we can speak of “emergent” forms of matter which do not cancel out their constituents, why can we not do the same for forms of consciousness given the mutual identity of mind and matter? 

The biggest stumbling block to the acceptance of Constitutive Panpsychism, as far as I can tell, is our understanding of our own consciousness, which seems to be unified and not composed of separate parts. Yet we need not see our consciousness in such a way. Buddhism, for example, has long maintained that what we feel is a unified “soul” or “self” is actually a process of interaction between various components (or skandhas) such as forms, sensations, perceptions, mental formations and self-consciousness. Each of these components can be broken down into further components, and in the end we find that the human personality is just a dynamic system of interactions without a unified self. Other cultures, such as the ancient Egyptians, believed in multiple distinct components to the soul (the Ba, the Ka, the Akh etc. for example) that coexisted within a single individual. Medieval European authors often characterized the mind as containing competing psychic forces at odds with one another (such as love and hate, to name an obvious pair). 

If we were to study our own minds, we would find that any moment of experience is really a manifold set of experiences that are both integrated and distinct. I see my keyboard and hear the sound of myself typing in the same single instant, but I do not confuse my sense of sight with my sense of sound. Our experience is emergent and holistic while at the same time containing discrete aspects that do not lose their distinct identities. This is no different from the physical properties of a water molecule or the information contained in the equation 1 +1 = 2. 

In “Galileo’s Error”, the combination problem is stated as such (not verbatim): if five people are in a room and each thought of a single world, no one individual among them would be aware of the whole sentence. That is not strictly true, however. They would be aware of a single sentence as soon as they spoke to one another, or shared information. This is exactly what happens between the neurons in our brains. If enough people get together and form a new system of integrated information, through intimate and regular communication, is a new “overmind” formed? It is possible we would never know, because our consciousnesses would remain our own even as they became aspects of an even larger mind. This is precisely how ancient animists thought, however, when they spoke of the genii of a city or a town. 

What about the system of integrated information that subsumes all other systems within it: the cosmos? Could that be a form of even more complex consciousness? Entirely possible, though once again, we would not inherently be privy to such information as even in a conscious cosmos our own individual minds would remain intact.

 All in all, I do not think we need to resort to IIT to understand complex minds, and I do not think IIT is the simplest solution for the origin of complex minds. Complex minds form when simpler minds interact and share information. Where are those simpler minds? Available and ready for observation in any given moment of our own subjective experiences, if we can analyze the “pixels” which make up our own images of reality.