#character theory: kathryn

[figureofdismay]

honestly, (and I'm sorry to subject hop so wildly here) Janeway's extreme overreaction to Tom's insubordination in 30 Days only really makes to me when recontextualized into a current or former affair AU, with a combination of 'you tried to use my feelings against me for leniency' fear and anger and 'I can't show favouritism because it's too revealing so I'm swinging wildly the other way' fear and guilt.

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

Review: Caesar: Life of a Colossus by Adrian Goldsworthy

This biography of Caesar is an excellent starting point. Goldsworthy is quite reliable on the facts, cites his sources often without getting overly dense, and is usually very good at pointing out gaps and ambiguity in our evidence. He also doesn't fall prey to the common fallacy of assuming Caesar's career and the end of the republic were inevitable.

I do disagree with a few of his interpretations. I think he overstates Cato's commitment to Stoicism, Brutus' nobility of character, Caesar's popularity with the common people in early 44 BCE, and the likelihood of Caesar getting prosecuted in 50 BCE if he'd laid down his imperium. (See my previous post on the "prosecution theory.") I also think the argument that Caesar broke the law as consul in 59 BCE is dubious; on the other hand, I think Caesar's regime as dictator was more corrupt and less effective than Goldsworthy suggests.

A lot of these disagreements come from a book I'm very fond of, Robert Morstein-Marx's Julius Caesar and the Roman People. In many ways JCRP is a response to the "standard" narrative of Caesar outlined by historians and authors like Goldsworthy, and it came out more recently. For Cato the Younger and Brutus, I prefer the biographies by Fred Drogula and Kathryn Tempest respectively.

I must also disagree with Goldsworthy calling Caesar a "patriot" in the epilogue. This is a man who chose his dignitas over the lives of his countrymen and the stability of his country. Even if Caesar enacted some reforms that benefited Rome, when his career was threatened, he put himself first every time.

Even so, I still think that if you want a solid and mostly impartial picture of Caesar's life, Goldsworthy's book is the first one I'd recommend. He gets the overwhelming majority of facts right, as far as I can tell, points out Caesar's positive acts as well as his atrocities, and takes into account the culture and circumstances of Caesar's life.

[brother-emperors]

i think you said in response to a previous ask that octavian and antony are a Worse version of the brutus and cassius gladiator-statesman dynamic, and that octavian and agrippa are a different thing that wasn't relevant at the moment. i was wondering if you meant that octavian and agrippa are a thing outside the gladiator statesman dynamic (and if so, any ideas on why that is?) or that they were a different version of that dynamic?

also, this is the same anon who asked about using some of your quotes in a presentation! it ended up going pretty well considering most people there weren't unwell about dead romans!

octavian and agrippa are thing outside of that dynamic! this is, ofc, a YMMV type of thing, this is very much getting into creative/thematic nonsense that I like to play with as someone who makes comics

but basically the cut off for the statesman-gladiator/politician-warrior dynamic is philippi. things get hazy leading up to philippi because julius caesar has already eroded a core element to rome's structure, which is that it's made HIM the focus point of politics. there is no longer room for horizontal alliances of power amongst men vying for prestige, there is only room for vertical loyalty (so like, a more extreme version of patronage and bossism politics) (and disloyalty! because you get stabbed if you make people unhappy!! you make your body one with the state and people will let you know what they think of you. and the state.)

Antony, Fulvia, and the Ghost of Clodius in 47 BC, Kathryn E Welch

so by the time octavian wins, standing on top of everyone else, the general power structure of rome has changed and it's not going back. it looks the same, and people are going 'nooooo it's still a republic, LOOKS like the republic!' while dragging around decayed corpse, but it's different.

Caligula, Aloys Winterling

octavian and agrippa are co regents, with octavian as the clear head of state and agrippa, who is borderline unwell in his devotion to octavian, and somehow it worked for them. like, for them specifically it balanced out into a partnership.

Ancestor Masks and Aristocratic Power in Roman Culture, Harriet I Flower

in theory, this kind of dynamic (with a domestic politician and a general to enact imperialist policy) would be the blue print that would continue down, and boy did they try. tiberius and sejanus. caligula and macro. good grief. the system of relationships and obligations that allowed this kind of dynamic to show up frequently in the republic falls apart here because power corrupts, baby, and with a state assuming a body, there's no way that power is going distribute itself. everyone is going to want to be that body. except agrippa, who was devoted to octavian, but you can't. replicate that kind of intimacy even if you want to.

so it LOOKS like a statesman-gladiator dynamic, but they're really just co regents in practice, but the actual framework is closer to a king and his knight. they are also. incest adjacent. ground zero for the incest circus that happens later? or maybe something else.

basically the logic for that is the way that octavian kept trying to get agrippa into the family tree to make agrippa his heir prompted this kind of. increasingly more insular behavior. AND THIS TOO

Ancestor Masks and Aristocratic Power in Roman Culture, Harriet I Flower

additionally, I think proximity to octavian-imperial rome dooms a lot of people. agrippa dies before octavian, tiberius' character goes on a definitive downward arc. brother-pairs as rulers, caligula's hellenistic tendencies and the incest allegations with his sisters, the twin-ification of pairs--

Tiberius and the Heavenly Twins, Edward Champlin

--agrippina and nero. Everything Nero Was Doing With Masks And Theater Sure Was Weird. there's a kind of house dynamic going on with imperial rome, but the whole thing is a mouth eating itself. rot. pater patriae. in a permanent state of digestion. etc/

that last one is a thought I'm work shopping, but basically to me all of this is a worse version of the statesman/gladiator dynamic because of the concentration of power.

[hegodamask]

Does anyone want to hear my “Uncle Harlo is Syril’s real Dad” theory?

No? Too bad.

So to begin with, I don’t think Harlo is an uncle to Syril in the traditional sense. He’s not related to the Karns by blood or marriage. From Syril’s dialogue, he seems too distant to be a close relative, with Syril implying he won’t even remember who Eedy is

I realise he’s also taking a jab at Eedy here, but even she reveals Harlo doesn’t keep in touch with them often (”he’ll respect me for having waited so long in asking and being so prudent about it.”) 

We already know Syril has grown up without a Dad. If we go by the backstory Kyle Soller and Kathryn Hunter devised, Eedy’s husband left the family in an “acrimonious, horrible way” early on in Syril’s life.

Without her husband around, Eedy tries to frame Harlo as a replacement father figure for her son, giving him the title of “uncle”, emphasising how important his favour is and his supposed interest in Syril’s career:

But to Syril, Harlo is just as absent as Mr. Karn. He doesn’t understand Syril’s career ambitions, he doesn’t make the effort to speak to Syril directly. As far as Syril’s concerned, he doesn’t know him at all:

Which leads us to wonder, why does someone as influential as Harlo have this detached investment in a guy he barely knows? To a family he’s not particularly close to? What is this “family favour” Eedy is supposedly calling on?

Idk how gospel it is, but Kyle has said in interviews that Syril’s corporate security job was a handout just like his Bureau of Standards one. If uncle Harlo facilitated that position for Syril too, then surely the favour has already been called on?

And this is the basis of my theory: Syril is the child of an affair between Harlo and Eedy. Due to Harlo’s position (and Eedy being married at the time) it’s far too scandalous for him to acknowledge his son, so he keeps his distance. Whenever Eedy calls he lends a hand time and time again, out of a sense of obligation.  

Of course, I don’t think Syril knows any of this. Eedy has always told him Harlo is an “old friend” and because they see so little of each other, he’s never questioned it. I do think Mr. Karn found out and that is why he walked out on the family (yes this sounds like a soap opera, but is Star Wars not just a soap opera in space??) 

I don’t propose any of this will actually be revealed in season 2, but if it is, it could add some very sad context to the relationship between Eedy and Syril. Maybe that’s why she pushes him to succeed so much: so the Karns can prove themselves to people like Harlo who keep them in the shadows. 

I doubt Andor is the type of show to reveal Harlo is actually some major Star Wars character we already know. But if there is any sort of twist coming with him, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was something like this.

[captainimfangirling]

Lisa Frankenstein Review

Really wanted to see this movie because 1) I love the 80s even though I'm not from the 80s, 2) I'm a fan of Kathryn Newton from Supernatural, and 3) love zombie romance (like Warm Bodies).

Overall I thought the movie was ok. I didn't think it was worth going to the theater for (movie tickets cost so much these days plus I take the bus). I think you should wait until it streams and seems like a lot agree because there was only like 5 people in the theater with me and it just came out few days ago.

Cole Spouse's character is my favorite even though he hardly said anything but he was very expressive. I enjoyed the animation in the beginning of the film telling the story of The Creature. It explains why he did what he did.

Warning: Spoilers

The creature knew what it was like falling in love with someone and for that person to not love them back and fall for someone else. When he saw Taffy's car he knew she and Michael were in a relationship and it as going to hurt Lisa like how his past love hurt him. So he took Michael's d*ck because he thought hey I can use this to make Lisa happy when you can't.

Lisa to be was more confusing than the monster. What was the point of having her mother killed by a psycho murderer? Was it to make her desensitized to seeing someone get killed by the creature? It doesn't make sense to me since it only happened once to her. I think it would've been more interesting if she actually did kill her mother and her reaction to seeing people get killed the creature would've made more sense.

One thing I'm disappointed about is that the trailer makes it seem like Lisa was in love with the Creature during the entire movie but really she was in love with Michael. I feel like she started falling for the Creature when she realized how much he loved her. I mean it would've been ok if it didn't feel very sudden.

Also did anyone think the Creature acted too modern? It's not just about him knowing how to drive but he knew about fashion. He's from the Victorian Era, he would've gotten Lisa to put on something that would've covered her ankles not give her black sexy lace outfit.

I hated her step mother but she was right about Lisa being a selfish person. I mean she did go through something traumatic but still she was very self centered. Like when she got mad at Taffy for sleeping with the boy she had a crush on after everything Taffy did for her. I think Taffy would've fought with her mother about putting Lisa in the mental hospital if given the chance. Also Lisa didn't even realize the Creature was in love with her until the very end when she didn't get the man she wanted. She didn't seem to care when the Creature was cried twice (it was the smell of his tears but still). Also she didn't even notice how better looking the creature was getting after he kept getting electrocuted. If she at least said oh you're looking more handsome maybe I can see it has her falling for him.

The last scene was opened ended. I think the Creature killed someone for a tongue so he can speak to Lisa at her grave. She heard him from beyond the grave and decided to come back when lightening stroke her grave (exactly what happened to the Creature in the beginning). So it's his turn to take care of Lisa like she did for him. Another theory is that the Creature became like a mad scientist stealing Lisa's body to electrocute it to bring her back to him. Either way I think they're gonna keep killing and stealing body parts for Lisa because she's the new bride of Frankenstein.

Like I said it's was a fun movie but wait until it's streaming. It actually gave me Totally Killer (from Amazon Video) vibe because that movie was also set in the 80s. Why are new movies set in the 80s? Times are very hard right now (for a while) and people tend to gravitate towards those times when life was simpler and fun. The 80s does look like a lot of fun with all that color and music.

Will it become a cult classic? I have no idea because I don't get why some movies become a cult classic even though they suck.

[burningtacozombie]

‘Cold Case’ Reboot From Creator Meredith Stiehm Eyed By CBS

EXCLUSIVE: After bringing back CSI: Crime Scene Investigation with CSI: Vegas, CBS is looking to revive another Jerry Bruckheimer Television-produced crime procedural from the 2000s. The network is in negotiations with Warner Bros. TV for a reboot of Cold Case, which aired on CBS for seven seasons from 2003-2010, Deadline has learned. The followup comes from the series’ creator/executive producer Meredith Stiehm.

Set 15 years after the original series’ final episode, the untitled Cold Case reboot would follow a new team of tenacious detectives who investigate cold cases across the Southwest.

This is a new location as the original Cold Case was set in Philadelphia. The move would allow the potential new series to introduce a new group of characters as they tackle unsolved homicides.

Stiehm is writing the script. She is executive producing with JBTV’s Jerry Bruckheimer and KristieAnne Reed for WBTV and CBS Studios. Talks between CBS and WBTV have been going on for weeks, and sources stress that the two sides are not close to a deal. Reps for the network and the studios declined comment.

The original series follows Detective Lilly Rush (Kathryn Morris), a homicide detective with the Philadelphia Police Department specializing in cold cases, who was partnered for the majority of the show’s run with Detective Scotty Valens (Danny Pino).

No talent is currently attached to the reboot though I hear Pino has had informal conversations to reprise his fan favorite character Det. Scotty Valens, possibly in a significant way. I hear Morris has not been approached about the reboot but is aware of it and could potentially appear in some (likely limited) capacity to provide additional continuity, having led the original series for seven seasons.

Cold Case‘s main cast also included John Finn, Jeremy Ratchford, Thom Barry and Tracie Thoms.

Before proceeding with talent discussions, WBTV has to close a deal with CBS, which I hear had been a challenge. According to sources, the sticking points include some of the issues that the two sides faced during the renewal negotiations for WBTV’s then-freshman East New York last spring that reportedly contained a request from the network for additional streaming rights.

After months of back-and-forth, those talks fell through. The Cold Case reboot would mark the studio’s first drama sale to CBS since then as the two sides are trying to hammer out a new deal template. (The studio and network have an ongoing relationship on the comedy side through Chuck Lorre’s Big Bang Theory franchise which recently got another offshoot series, Georgie & Mandy, for next season.)

There is no particular rush as CBS’ 2024-25 slate is already stacked with three new drama series, Matlock, pushed due to strike-related delays, NCIS: Origins and Watson.

Since the end of Cold Case after 156 episodes, Stiehm worked as an executive producer on Showtime’s Emmy-winning drama Homeland and also co-developed and executive produced FX’s The Bridge, based on the Danish-Swedish format. She is repped by UTA and attorney Bruce Gellman.

In addition to CSI: Vegas, currently in its third season, JBTV has sophomore CBS drama series Fire Country, which has been renewed for a third season and is eying a potential Sheriff-centered spinoff. The company is repped by CAA.

via Deadline

[art-of-tek]

Some new (very minor) background characters in DS. These are Pike and Zeta's pups; Beta, Delta and Kathryn.

Delta (left) is the smallest and most coyote-looking of the bunch. He is a jokester and doesn't take life too seriously. He was a Hunter.

Kathryn (middle) was average-sized for a wolf, however her ears are slightly bigger than average. She was a prissy Patroller and was named after her late aunt of the same name.

Beta (right) is the biggest of the bunch and a very serious no-nonsense type of canine. The coyote genes really don't show in him at all. His pelt bears a close resemblance to his aunt Kathryn, while his eyes and physique resemble those of his father. He was a Sentry.

All three of them died in the Fading Shadows massacre, alongside their parents. They don't formally appear in book one but they're there.

Also just as a note to confirm that in the DS universe letters from the Greek alphabet are used as names rather than titles like how you see in most wolf media. A wolf can be called "Alpha" or "Beta" or "Omega" etc. but it has nothing to do with their rank or standing within their Pack, as Dark Stones wolf Packs do not operate based on dominance theory.

[ID: Three digitally drawn fullbodies of canine characters. On the left is a coyote-looking blonde-and-cream canine with dark blue eyes in a playful pose. In the middle is a blonde-and-cream coywolf with wolfish features, however her ears are larger than average resembling those of a coyote. She has amber eyes and is in a walking pose. The last character is a large dark brown wolf-looking canine with blue eyes and a snaggletooth. He is in a standing pose with a serious expression. End ID.]

[baylardo]

voyager novel lore that lives in my mind rent free good and bad:::::::::::::::

kathryn gets Basically Killed(?) in String Theory by a nacene thats been posing as her sister phoebe and her final moments before death have her envisioning Chakotays face and she has this internal hmmmm moment of questioning why she's seeing him as a comforting face as opposed to like her father or mark (((((its really awesome please read String Theory ive never felt so fulfilled reading these hegging books lmao)))))))

harry kim's romance life makes me sad and he third wheels b'elanna and tom for a time and eventually he proposes to libby and she declines and also libby breaks up with him and eventualy he gets a new gf nancy and eventually she is revealed to have a terminal illness and also is pregnant and also doesnt want to keep baby and also goes into a coma and also they take the baby out of her and incubate it and also nancy gets healed and chooses to leave harry and their unborn baby lol so harry's left a single dad with barely any ties to earth and thats awesome CHEERS!!!!!

also author oc character alien biology bonds herself to harry's unborn daughter and i feel so normal about that momcore hahahahahahaha rubbing sweat off of my brow shes so not maternal as a character shes a cocky pilot girl i have normal thoughts about her and harry kim together (not canon U___U)

kathryn and phoebe fight a lot during kathryns brief time on earth in Protectors and it sours their relationship and kathryn leaves earth for 3+ years without either one attempting to amend things/apologize and this is all awesome because kathryns already died and come back to life at this point lmao GROW UP

after tom and b'elanna go through this bombastic scheme to lie to their friends and family involving belanna and miral "dying" in order to protect miral from prophecy this is the last straw for julia paris defending/forgiving her son for lying so much so she decides she needs to get custody of their children bc theyre unsafe in their care and b'elanna ends up hating her mother in law for it and tom goes to family law court and tom ends up winning and keeping his kids and its "kids" bc belanna's pregnant with their son at this time anyway they end up naming him MICHAEL which i guess is julia's father's name??? if i remember correctly lmao,,,,,, anyway i thought that was poor taste for the ordeal she put them through for no reason haha

the emh realizes he loves seven but through some long chain of events he has to erase his memories of her and him together (sad) she tries to rebuild their friendship afterwords ;___;

belanna asks kathryn if her and chakotay are ever going to have children and kathryns like "no lmao" and chakotay gets visually sad about it and then its never brought up again *PUNCHES WALL*

theres a scene where kathryn and chakotay skinny dip in an alien planet lake together at night like they slip out to go swim naked together IM FINE IM FINE IM FINE. that book also has chakotay admiring natty kathryn in her element on a planet doing scientific research and yknow just yearning looking at her and thats sooooooo cute

threshold gets mentioned by harry kim in the LAST voyager novel thank you amen

the doctor gets to meet again/interact with/say goodbye to kes in String Theory in a WAAAAAAAAAAY more poignant way. that trilogy is awesome i cant hype it enough LOL. kes also has a baby in that one,,,,,,,,,, and it also goes on to explain Fury,,,,,, and janeway in Night for that matter but thats really my only neg on those books is it gives explanation behind kathryn's melancholy and i thought it was unnecessary and also the books end with kathryn being unable to remember anything from the trilogy and thats cringe to me lmao bc u get a pretty epic JC nugget in the second book (((first bullet lol)))

i love infinity's prism - Places of Exile id recommend reading it if you are me and you love exploration of "JANEWAY GIVES UP" as a plot. :) one of my faves. its short and sweet, you get a JC (unborn) baby with a name and everything please clap. this book got me to actually like neelix/kes lmao A FEAT. i also get to indulge harry/b'elanna, even if its a little Toxic in this one U____U;;;;; kes and neelix have triplets named after characters who die/are dead in the book lol

ONE mirrorverse story for voyager has chakotay as captain and janeway as engineer, they are lovers, janeway ends up being evil and works for belanna (has some very wlw vibes lol) and hates humans. they (JC) end up killing each other. <3 janeway calls chakotay "chuckles" in it. the idea of engineer mean grouchy janeway is so BIOYIOYIOYIONG AWOOOOGA to me.

[kumiaku]

Okay so just a quick theory on how we might team up with each of the harbingers/how they will be playable.

Unlike Hoyo's other games, namely Honkai Star Rail and Honkai Impact 3rd, the characters in Genshin seem to have the need of two things currently - being alive, and being on 'good' terms with the Traveler. And of course being able to control elemental energy.

In order,

Pierro - unlikely to be playable imo, but if so we'd team up to take down celestia and likely convince him to be better in the future / maybe see eye to eye (haha pun)

Capitano - also feel unlikely to be playable (due to mask + rank + build) but am personally hoping he's playable. but likely a mutual understanding via honor / natlan abyss expansion or smth he is released at the same time and works with us in this expedition.

Dottore - unlikely dottore dottore is playable. feel like he'd get a super satisfying death scene w/ collei/diluc/scara/arle involved somehow. most likely diluc imo. but i think one of his segements will be playable, and will be one that defects from the rest and betrays them, more likely a younger segment.

Columbina - unlikely to be playable for a while, but if so i hope she doesn't have one of the seven elements in teyvat and has like a light/imaginary/dark/quantam element, or is pure physical damage somehow. I do think she will be playable, but maybe in later patches of natlan, likely to be very strange and off putting but perhaps never directly against us or for us? maybe also linked to a potential abyssal or dark sea region?

(if hoyo does release both capitano and columbina in the same patch i will cry.)

Arlecchino - Acquired. Will likely have future content in Snezhnaya/Khaenri'ah bcuz of foreshadowing. Also hoping to get more HOTH members in the future.

Pulcinella - feel like he'd be unlikely to be playable, but he also was in the travail trailer. can't imagine him getting along w traveler too well mainly cuz of his actions w the chasm, scara's line, arle's line, n what we've seen of him so far. but maybe, common interest would make him come to our side? he seems very rational - to the point of not being sympathetic at all imo, so maybe?

Scaramouche - Acquired, obv. Hopefully will have more development/roles in the future especially against the fatui. I want to find out if they had some way to bypass the irminsul deletion of his existence.

Sandrone - Okay, going out on a limb here real quick (its not quick). Bcuz all of the Fatui Harbinger's secondary titles (in this case, the marionette) Sandrone is not the feminine looking doll, but rather someone piloting the mech. Imo I think Sandrone is Alain Guillotine who is inside the ruin guard like mech and who made the kathryne's and the doll the mech carries around. I think this also lines up w Childe's voice line of Sandrone bcuz Alain Guillotine is envious of his relationship w his siblings since they are alive (unlike Mary Ann, who looks a suspiciously lot like the doll) and I think Sandrone aka Alain wont be playable but the Doll/Mary Ann will be and her story will be one of her breaking free of Sandrone. Maybe. This could also line up with Scara and Arle's VO's cuz it's stated Sandrone doesn't talk much/isn't really open so I think it is possible they don't know that Sandrone is actually not the doll but the man inside the mech or smth. I have more to this theory, but I might do this later.

Sandrone TLDR - Sandrone Marionette playable, the feminine doll, not the mech. Maybe mech in her attacks, but not the actually character.

La Signora - Look I'm a La Signora hopium believer, have been since the minute she died in 2021 - only way for her to be playable is for her to have a redesign and resurrection in natlan. 🙏 I'm not religious but I am praying for this. To any god who will listen. If not maybe when we 'reweave the threads of all fate' or whatever, we will get the chance to go back in time/partner with her. Maybe we will go back in time to the actual cataclysm - and actually wait there is the pierro and possible capitano connection too.

Pantalone - Due to popularity and build I want to say I feel like he'll be playable. Don't think he's loyal to the Fatui, very much leaning toward him being loyal to himself. Don't think he'd get a vision though, so I'm not sure. Maybe he'll be one who canonically uses a delusion/recieves a vision on screen/or even modified his body w Dottore's help to make him able to use elemental powers. I'd say either Geo or Hydro if so. Geo just fits idk man. As for him partnering with the traveler, I could see it being in snezhnaya as a way to take down the fatui, maybe he will partner w the HOTH or smth and put full support there. Idk he kinda gives me Adventurine vibes w in terms of gambling to get a win. Esp since every voice line mentions he's very ambitious, and arle said he isn't very rational.

Tenth Seat - Currently unknown and being theorized on. Imo most likely to be either a hexenzirkle member, previous seat of our sibling (with the name innamorati, while traditionally as lovers, in this case perhaps referring to platonic love for sibling? or the usual irony in that not loving romantically? so love but not love.) or the Tsaritsa going undercover as the 'Tenth Fatui Harbinger' and still being the Lover since she is pretty likely to be the Goddess of Love.

Tartaglia - Literally came in 1.1, will continue to be relevant in Snezhnaya. His second story quest will feature his family and be all cutesy in the beginning then bring area of the abyss connected to Snezhnaya, maybe. See Skirk too, maybe? Leads into her story quest and event with the region similar to Albedo and Dragonspine events? Maybe Skirk will be released with Hurricane Torilla's second story quest?

Anyway those are some of my convoluted thoughts, gotta go and get ready for work, any comments/reblogs/tags are appreciated bcuz i'd love hear other people's thoughts for future genshin lore theories/speculation.

[agbayani]

( kathryn bernardo , cis woman , she/her ) — the halls of verum academy is home to EVANGELINE ‘ANGEL’ AGBAYANI, the twenty-six year old student of transmutation. listen to the whispers that follow them through the door of the weaponry theory classroom, the ones about silk ribbons meticulously webbed through dark locks, eyes so unattached that they scream about emotions undiscovered, and a heavy burden of the weight of a legacy. once they graduate, their legacy will be one that is adroit and eloquent in nature, but the records will not mention that they are known to be reticent and vindictive, too. they are, after all, the future of verum.

Basics

full name: evangeline luxamana agbayani . nickname: angel . age: 26 . birthday: december 13 . zodiac sun sign: sagittarius . gender + pronouns: she / her . orientation: ???? languages: tagalog , english .

Personality

mbti: entj , the commander . moral alignment: lawful evil . positive traits: adroit , eloquent and intelligent negative traits: reticent , vindictive and detached . khemia: transmutation , currently studying . specific abilities: rare magic , divination / prophetic . character inspirations: katherine pierce - the vampire diaries , fallon carrington - dynasty , blair waldorf - gossip girl & kat stratford - 10 things i hate about you .

Background

twenty-six and a lover of manipulation and getting things she wants . grew up amongst the wealthiest and greediest of people . daughter of a late high up government official and a scholar highly embedded in the growing world of electricity and technology . she's dark and a little morbid but she's also snarky and blunt , she isn't afraid to get her hands dirty yet you'll never know how she actually feels about things . she has immense control of her khemia but her rare magic is something she lacks control in . honestly , she's kind of a bitch .

[ Full Bio ! ]

[figureofdismay]

14, 15, 22 for Janeway

Thanks for the ask! I love talking about Janeway honestly 💜

(For this character ask game!)

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

ooh, fun one! In "modern" Trek times I think of her in what I guess I'd call "Minimalist Lagenlook" with geometric, straight line semi-structured neutrals and jewel tones in natural fibers. Kind of Album de Familia/Le Vestiere De Jeanne/apuntob/etc

But also the Kathryn Janeway-Katharine Hepburn association is strong, so also the crisp, structured suits and coats and determined striding of KH and the contradictions of genius, self-absorbtion, level-headedness, precarious wittiness, and fragility of characters like Tess Harding and Tracy Lord

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

Janeway x Paris! A rare one but one with a lot of subtext over the seasons, and I have a lot of feelings about it. I'm also a bit of a Janeway x Seven enjoyer, and Janeway x Kashyk on the side. (unfortunately J/C is my NOTP which means I keep my distance from a lot of shippy Janeway fandom 💀😅)

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

I love that trope in fics where Kathryn herself thinks she's being the most normal, logical, reasonable person planning to the most responsible thing possible, but actually she's rationalized herself into an absurd corner or course of action and is actually being completely ridiculous or irrational. It's evergreen, and is great played serious for maximum angst but also great played to the comedy side for screwball or jaunty shenanigans.

the thing I don't like is when writer's forget her lighter side, or who try to make her Too Serious And Devoted to have a sense of humour or romantic side -- I know that her characterization got stiffer and stiffer over the years so I understand where it comes from. But even in the second half of the show there were things like the holographic boyfriend and being super psyched to join a racing event with the Delta Flier, etc, so imo she's still got that part of herself all the way through.

[intothewickedwood]

Ruby or Mulan, Maleficent or Cruella, Dragon Queen or Outlaw Queen, Shadow Queen or Regina x Kathryn?

Gaaah! Thank you for the questions! These are challenging, for sure!

Ruby. But it's close! The werewolf thing wins it for me, and also because she was in Season One. I have a lot of Season 1 feelings. And also her friendship with Snow! And "Red-Handed" being one of my favorite episodes. She's a great and tragic character who does her best to help others no matter what she's going through herself.

I do love Mulan a lot, though. I may be in love with both Red and Mulan. Oops! I just wish we'd gotten more of Mulan. I loved her dynamics with every character she interacted with. She's such a badass. Mulan x Aurora x Phillip is one of my favorite ships in the show, and I also wouldn't have said no to Mulan and Ruby ending up together. Mulan deserved better.

Cruella. I agree with you about having a lot of room to explore with Maleficent, as she could have done with a bit more development in the show. I'd have at least loved to have seen more of her relationship with Lily. She was an adorable mom in the one episode we got to see them interact. But Cruella makes me laugh out loud. She has some of the best lines. "Sympathy for the De Vil" is one of my favorite, most unique episodes. She just wants to murder people! Let her have her happy ending, Isaac! xD. I don't know, she's just so fun, but I do still really enjoy Maleficent. I wish they'd explained what the heck happened with her and Aurora's parents. I like to believe she was in love with Briar Rose, and it went terribly wrong.

Definitely Dragon Queen. I've just been having a discussion on a different website about how Robin Hood was possibly evil the whole time. Looking at the evidence, his words don't match up with his actions. If he wants to steal from the rich, why date Regina? His code says he can't divorce his wife, but he'll… let her die instead? In the book, there is a page which shows that when he met Marian, he planned to kidnap her for ransom, yet he tells Will that he tried to steal her horse, didn't because she was poor, and from that day forward, he chose to steal only from the rich and give to the poor. Yet, in "Heart of Gold," we see that he only decides to steal from the rich and give to the poor long after he and Marian are a couple. Not to mention he shot at Regina without hesitation when looking for the Wicked Witch and, knowing at the time that the Wicked Witch had bright red hair, hid in the bushes and aimed his arrow at the back of a clearly dark-haired Regina's head for a good while before making his presence known. It's just a theory, but I do wonder if he had a plot for revenge against her all along, at least at first. I think that would have made him a much more interesting character. Otherwise, I struggle to make sense of why Regina, post formation of the Evil Queen, would want to be with someone like him. She kinda had to change her personality during their interactions just to make it make a little sense. It's just not for me. But power to those who like it, and I may adopt the revenge plot theory as headcanon, which might make me more invested in them.

Dragon Queen, on the other hand, has to be canon, right? I mean, the intensity of the moments when their noses almost touch. I think they should have kissed. There is so much blatant subtext there, and it's so wonderfully gay. Okay, so Regina rode home on a dragon. Okay, girl, I see you. "Are you a bad girl, Regina?" "The worst." I mean, come on! Everything that comes out of their mouths when they interact just screams "we are exes who can't stop flirting with each other." I love it! I wish it was more explicit!

Okay, this last one is really freaking hard. I do love both almost equally, but I've been thinking a lot about Regina x Kathryn lately and their potential, and I just wanna go back to season 1 and make them fall in love. I want the angst post-season 1. I need it! I honestly would have been ecstatic if Regina had ended up with either of them. And it's totally cool that she ended up single at the end. That was a nice way to demonstrate that happy endings/beginnings don't have to involve romantic love. But goddamn, I wish Facilier didn't die. I know love triangles aren't popular, but heck, if they'd brought Facilier in earlier and had a Kathryn/Regina/Facilier love triangle, I would have been very happy. Idk, I love both pairings, but the Kathryn x Regina friends-to-lovers gets me. And we could have gotten so much more Kathryn. *Cries forever*.

[kaedehara--kazuha]

Scaramouche’s possible connections to Gnosticism

Below the cut contains spoilers for the final boss of Persona 5 and potential story spoilers for Genshin Impact up through the version 3.1 trailer. Please note that this is speculation and some or all of it may be proven wrong in later updates. Proceed with caution.

This was originally a reply but I wanted to make it its own post in order to go more in depth.

The long version:

Credit to twitter user Serena11037 for making this side-by-side.

A lot of people, especially Honkai players, have been making Evangelion comparisons upon seeing Scaramouche’s new mecha. However, it bears an uncanny resemblance to Persona 5′s final boss, Jaldabaoth, particularly the shape of the shoulders and torso. Since Genshin Impact is dripping with Gnostic references already - for instance, the seven archons are a reference to a concept called Ogdoad - I did some digging and I found something quite interesting.

To keep it simple, in Gnosticism, the Demiurge (most famously known as Yaldabaoth) is the false god or weak archon (in the 7+1 school of thought Yaldabaoth is the highest or second highest ranking archon) who believes himself to be the true God and creator of the universe whilst he is really the creator of only the material universe and keeps souls trapped in material bodies - Gnosticism makes a distinction between a “creator of the material” and a true Supreme Being, though Gnosticism is not the only place where a demiurgic being appears. In some interpretations he is evil, in others he is merely ignorant or incompetent, unaware of the spiritual plane and truly believing himself to be the Creator. (Those of you who played through Unreconciled Stars may be having little lightbulbs go off right about now.) Genshin Impact does muddy the waters here though, not with him, but with Ei - her relationship to him blends the role of archon and Creator together a bit, since Yaldabaoth is a true archon, if misguided in his actions and beliefs.

However other than this hiccup it seems HYV has done their research. I would specifically like to point to a line from the Apocryphon of John -

“Now the archon who is weak has three names. The first name is Yaltabaoth, the second is Saklas, and the third is Samael. And he is impious in his arrogance which is in him. For he said, 'I am God and there is no other God beside me,' for he is ignorant of his strength, the place from which he had come.”

Yaldabaoth meaning “child of chaos”, Saklas meaning “fool”, Samael meaning “the blind god.”

Scaramouche too has three names. Kunikuzushi (child of chaos who wrought havoc across the country of lightning) Scaramouche (the fool - the Fatuus) [Boss Forme] (the blind god - if they actually call him that I have bragging rights forever, okay?)

This parallels Scaramouche’s revenge quest against Ei perfectly. He falsely believes himself to be the rightful God instead of her and ignorantly believes she discarded him out of malice. (I’ve got Thoughts on what she did and I’m not defending her at all but that’s for another post.) Yaldabaoth is an envious being that tries to limit mankind’s knowledge by forbidding man the fruit of knowledge, not unlike Scaramouche manipulating access to Ei’s gnosis, and traps souls in mortal bodies - which lines up with Nahida being stabbed while possessing Kathryne as well as another theory -

Which is that Dottore’s project is transferring Greater Lord Rukkhadevata’s soul or consciousness into Scaramouche’s body. Dottore’s stated intention is to manufacture an artificial god - a false god, if you will - and Scaramouche, desperate to claim power and that which he sees as his divine birthright, agreed to be a part of it. As both of his currently known names are names of stock characters and neither are his original name (which he’s said to have forgotten long ago) it’s likely he has no sense of self and thus doesn’t care about the possible ramifications of housing another being in his head.

I have no proof of this but I firmly believe his “Your era is coming to an end” line isn’t directed at the people of Sumeru nor at the Traveler - I think that’s directed at the current archons, and specifically I think it’s directed at Ei. His aim is to merge with Greater Lord Rukkhadevata and become the one true God.

Two more little things I want to point out:

1. The underside of his hat has a pattern reminiscent of a halo with eight points, possibly symbolizing both the Ogdoad and his divine origins - his status as a demiurgic being very well explains his horror upon finding out the truth of the celestial plane.

2. The character on his veil is a somewhat stylized version of the kanji for “evil” ( 悪 ) which is also surrounded by that same halo imagery, very blatantly marking himself as the evil god.

The short version: Scaramouche is the Demiurge and I figured this out by playing Persona 5 eight times in a row.

[sixbucks]

A Complete List of the 2023 LAMBDA Literary Awards Winners and Finalists

Congratulations to this years "Lammy" Award winners and finalists! In line with Lambda Literary's mission to advocate for LGBTQ writers, the awards are a way to amplify some of the best writing by queer authors today. More than 1,350 literary works were submitted this year across 25 categories of LGBTQ+ literature, so these books faced some steep competition.

Kick off your own Pride Month Reading Challenge by stocking up on these winning and finalist books! Use promotional code PRIDE23 at check-out to get 20% off these books throughout the month of June.

Bisexual Nonfiction

The Winner: Appropriate Behavior by Maria San Filippo

Finalists:

See why the title essay of this book went viral on the Paris Review website back in 2019.

"The book brings that same frank, funny gaze to bear on a succession of other doomed romances, mining them for complicated truths about how the love stories we inherit, consume and tell come to shape our experience and expectations. Think of it as rehab for road-weary romantics." —The Guardian

Carrying It Forward: Essays from Kistahpinanihk by John Brady McDonald (not carried by Tertulia)

Never Simple: A Memoir by Liz Scheier

Open: An Uncensored Memoir of Love, Liberation, and Non-Monogamy by Rachel Krantz

Lesbian Fiction

The Winner: Gods of Want by K-Ming Chang

Finalists:

Locus Magazine called this finalist for the 2022 National Book Award an "extraordi­nary literate and structurally inventive novel about female sexuality, cruelty, desire, and trauma that echoes the work of Lovecraft and Melville. A book this good, this devas­tating, should factor on all the award lists..."

Big Girl: A Novel by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley

Our Wives Under the Sea: A Novel by Julia Armfield

Gay Fiction

The Winner: The Foghorn Echoes by Danny Ramadan

Finalists:

Author Andrew Sean Greer called this book "Full of joy and righteous anger, sex and straight talk, brilliant storytelling and humor... A spectacularly researched Dickensian tale with vibrant characters and dozens of famous cameos, it is precisely the book we've needed for a long time."

Call Me Cassandra by Marcial Gala

God’s Children Are Little Broken Things by Arinze Ifeakandu

Hugs and Cuddles by João Gilberto Noll

Lesbian Memoir/Biography

The Winner: Lost & Found: A Memoir by Kathryn Schulz

This thriller/sci-fi mash-up was named a best book of the year by NPR.

"In the end, The Paradox Hotel succeeds as both a mystery and as a story involving time travel. Do you want head-spinning theories on the flow of time and what it might do to people and places? You’ll find both in abundance here. But you’ll also find a resourceful, haunted protagonist pushing herself to the limit to uncover the truth behind an impossible case—one that eventually leads her to a conclusion that satisfies both of the genres from which this novel emerged." —Tor.com

Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo

The Circus Infinite by Khan Wong

Bisexual Fiction

The Winner: Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste

Finalists:

Meet Us by the Roaring Sea by Akil Kumarasamy

Mother Ocean Father Nation by Nishant Batsha

Roses, In the Mouth of a Lion by Bushra Rehman

Stories No One Hopes Are about Them by A.J. Bermudez

Transgender Fiction

The Winner: The Call-Out by Cat Fitzpatrick

Finalists:

All the Hometowns You Can’t Stay Away From by Izzy Wasserstein

Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta by James Hannaham

Manywhere by Morgan Thomas

Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane

LGTBQ+ Young Adult

The Winner: The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes

Finalists:

Burn Down, Rise Up by Vincent Tirado

Funny Gyal: My Fight Against Homophobia in Jamaica by Angeline Jackson with Susan McClelland

Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore

The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson

LGTBQ+ Middle Grade

The Winner: Nikhil Out Loud by Maulik Pancholy

Finalists:

Answers In the Pages by David Levithan

Different Kinds of Fruit by Kyle Lukoff

Hazel Hill Is Gonna Win This One by Maggie Horne

The Civil War of Amos Abernathy by Michael Leali

LGTBQ+ Children's Book

The Winner: Mighty Red Riding Hood by Wallace West

Finalists:

A Song for the Unsung: Bayard Rustin by Carol Boston Weatherford and Rob Sanders

Kapaemahu by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson

Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle by Nina LaCour

The Sublime Ms. Stacks by Robb Pearlman

Transgender Nonfiction

The Winner: The Third Person by Emma Grove

Finalists:

Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Kit Heyam

Faltas: Letters to Everyone in My Hometown Who Isn’t My Rapist by Cecilia Gentili

Feral City: On Finding Liberation in Lockdown New York by Jeremiah Moss

The Terrible We: Thinking with Trans Maladjustment by Cameron Awkward-Rich

LGTBQ+ Nonfiction

The Winner: The Black Period: On Personhood, Race, and Origin by Hafizah Augustus Geter

Finalists:

And the Category Is…: Inside New York’s Vogue, House, and Ballroom Community by Ricky Tucker

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler

The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison by Hugh Ryan

Virology: Essays for the Living, the Dead, and the Small Things in Between by Joseph Osmundson

Lesbian Poetry

The Winner: As She Appears by Shelley Wong

Finalists:

Beast at Every Threshold by Natalie Wee

Concentrate by Courtney Faye Taylor

Prelude by Brynne Rebele-Henry

Yearn by Rage Hezekiah

Gay Poetry

The Winner: Some Integrity by Padraig Regan

Finalists:

Alive at the End of the World by Saeed Jones

Brother Sleep by Aldo Amparán

Pleasure by Angelo Nikolopoulos

Super Model Minority by Chris Tse

Bisexual Poetry

The Winner: Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes by Nicky Beer

Finalists:

50 Things Kate Bush Taught Me About the Multiverse by Karyna McGlynn

Dereliction by Gabrielle Octavia Rucker

Indecent Hours by James Fujinami Moore

Meat Lovers by Rebecca Hawkes

Transgender Poetry

The Winner: MissSettl by Kamden Ishmael Hilliard

Finalists:

A Dead Name That Learned How to Live by Golden

A Queen in Bucks County by Kay Gabriel

All the Flowers Kneeling by Paul Tran

Emanations by Prathna Lor

LGTBQ+ Anthology

The Winner: OutWrite: The Speeches That Shaped LGBTQ Literary Culture by Julie R. Enszer and Elena Gross

Finalists:

Queer Nature: A Poetry Anthology edited by Michael Walsh

This Arab is Queer: An Anthology by LGBTQ+ Arab Writers by Elias Jahshan

Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource by and for Transgender Communities Second Edition by Laura Erickson-Schroth

Xenocultivars: Stories of Queer Growth by Isabela Oliveira and Jed Sabin

Gay Memoir/Biography

The Winner: High-Risk Homosexual by Edgar Gomez

Finalists:

All Down Darkness Wide: A Memoir by Seán Hewitt

An Angel in Sodom by Jim Elledge

Boy with the Bullhorn: A Memoir and History of ACT UP New York by Ron Goldberg

I’m Not Broken by Jesse Leon

LGTBQ+ Mystery

The Winner: Dirt Creek: A Novel by Hayley Scrivenor

Finalists:

A Death in Berlin by David C Dawson

And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling

Dead Letters from Paradise by Ann McMan

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen

LGTBQ+ Comics

The Winner: Mamo by Sas Milledge

Finalists:

A Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings: A Graphic Memoir by Will Betke-Brunswick

Gay Giant by Gabriel Ebensperger

Other Ever Afters by Melanie Gillman

The Greatest Thing by Sarah Winifred Searle

Lesbian Romance

The Winner: The Rules of Forever by Nan Campbell

Finalists:

Hard Pressed by Aurora Rey

If I Don’t Ask by E. J. Noyes

Queerly Beloved by Susie Dumond

Southbound and Down by K.B. Draper

Gay Romance

The Winner: I’m So Not Over You by Kosoko Jackson

Finalists:

Forever After by Marie Sinclair (not carried by Tertulia)

Forever, Con Amor by A.M. Johnson

Just One Night by Felice Stevens

Two Tribes by Fearne Hill

LGTBQ+ Romance and Erotica

The Winner: Kiss Her Once For Me: A Novel by Alison Cochrun

Finalists:

A Lady’s Finder by Edie Cay

Loose Lips: A Gay Sea Odyssey by Joseph Brennan

Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner

The Romance Recipe by Ruby Barrett

LGTBQ+ Drama

The Winner: Iphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land) & Antigone: 方 by Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho)

Finalists:

Duecentomila by kai fig taddei

Rock ‘n’ Roll Heretic by Sikivu Hutchinson

The Show on the Roof Book by Tom Ford, Music and Lyrics by Alex Syiek (not carried by Tertulia)

Wolf Play by Hansol Jung, Samuel French

 LGTBQ+ Studies

The Winner: Keeping It Unreal: Black Queer Fantasy and Superhero Comics by Darieck Scott

Finalists:

Lesbian Death: Desire and Danger between Feminist and Queer by Mairead Sullivan

Sissy Insurgencies: A Racial Anatomy of Unfit Manliness by Marlon B. Ross

Surface Relations: Queer Forms of Asian American Inscrutability by Vivian L. Huang

There’s a Disco Ball Between Us: A Theory of Black Gay Life by Jafari S. Allen

[iambic-stan]

last book read + last stethoscope used, part 2

The azaleas are in bloom, so I decided to take book and stethoscope outside for a little shoot. Me and my old phone and general eccentricity were witnessed by several passersby.

The stethoscope: Littmann Classic II SE in what was supposed to be purple but often looks more navy. He was the first Littmann I ever bought; I was 18.

The book: Fruiting Bodies, a collection of short stories by Kathryn Harlan. Lots of realism, some of it magical, and more touches of horror than I anticipated. I'm not much of a horror reader--the title story is straight-up body horror and made me all kinds of uncomfortable. Most of the characters are queer, and there are themes of unrequited love and failure of two people to connect throughout. "Take Only What You Need" was a favorite of mine. It's told by a woman obsessed with her favorite author and the idea that she was secretly a lesbian--a theory supported a great deal by the author's works but not so much by her personal life or interviews. The protagonist becomes obsessed with finding something in the author's personal papers and correspondences to confirm her theory, sometimes to the detriment of the actual relationship she's in with her girlfriend. I couldn't relate to this directly, but (sadly) relate to spending too much time with ghosts. Many queasy moments, but overwhelmingly a beautiful book.

[brightbeautifulthings]

Time Windows by Kathryn Reiss

"She was suddenly no longer sure if she was the observer or if she was the one being observed. Was there another dollhouse in another time? Was someone looking into her bedroom, watching her parents bend over her in concern? Was someone else, in fact, reminded of a seventeenth-century oil painting?"

Year Read: 2022

Rating: 3/5

About: Miranda and her parents have just moved into a big house in a small town. At first reluctant to leave New York City, she's soon captivated by the old house's secrets, particularly the dollhouse in the attic that is its exact miniature replica. She's shocked to discover that by peering through the windows of the dollhouse, she can watch the lives of the house's past inhabitants. But the magic is there for a reason, and Miranda may have been given this gift to stop a decades-old tragedy. Trigger warnings are beneath the cut, since they may include spoilers.

Thoughts: This made me so nostalgic for my elementary school library. I never read Time Windows when I was younger, but I'm guessing there are at least half a dozen magical dollhouse books from the 80s and 90s floating around out there and that almost every fourth-grade girl imprinted on one of them. Mine was When the Dolls Woke by Marjorie Filley Stover, which remains better in my mind, and I'm hesitant to take that theory into practice and ruin a beloved childhood book with current reality. All of that is to say that if you were one of those kids and you're in the mood for a bike ride down memory lane, this book is for you.

It's got some pacing problems, the biggest being that nearly 300 pages is just too long for the kind of story that's being told. A lot of the filler of Miranda's daily life and the repeats of what she sees in the dollhouse could have been streamlined or cut for a tighter story. There's also the problem that watching through a dollhouse is an inherently passive activity. However interesting the events there might be (sometimes they are, sometimes not), by its nature it places Miranda in the role of spectator instead of participant in her own story. There isn't a lot of action to be had inside or outside of the dollhouse.

However, what it does have is character and mystery, and I enjoyed both. Miranda's relationships with her parents are well-developed, and when she finally brings some of the neighbor kids in on the mystery, those add a dimension to the story too. Truly, for most of the book I just wanted to know why she calls her mom "Mither," a question that is never answered. The mystery within the dollhouse is slow to unfold, and it takes a while to discover why what Miranda is watching is even relevant. I enjoyed the little clues and the subtle but powerful ending. There's a horrific image at the heart of this novel, for what's otherwise a very un-scary book. I guessed it before it happened and then was horrified by it anyway, certain that it was much too grim for a children's book, but this is, after all, the genre of The Other Mother and Princess Mombi. That aside, though, it's more of a mystery with a single magical element than it is a horror novel.

Trigger warnings: child death, parent death, dead body (on-page), child abuse (verbal, physical), suffocation, starvation, train wrecks, fire, depression, illness, sexism.