#eco living spoilers

[neurotypical-sonic]

if nine and tails ever met. nine would be so angry and full of rage and bitterness and he'd see tails and see a soft naive little kid. maybe he snaps and starts a fight, or something else happens that starts a fight, but nine sees tails fighting, and he sees how efficient and ruthless and passionate he is. and he has to stop and he feels sick and shakey as he is forced to re-evaluate so many things that he whole heartedly believed in as truth. words are hard I'll explain properly when I can ben bothered, I have such a vivid and specific image in my head of this

[zonnemaagd]

Phei of the Wind | Draft 3 Complete

Hiya all~ It's been a while, but today I've finished the third draft of my fantasy novel Phei of the Wind. As many of you know I've been working on this novel for more than twelve years now, and this is the most definitive version I've ever made. It's still going to be revised and worked upon, of course, but most story beats have now been completed. It's composed of 29 chapters with a hefty 109000 words. I'm writing my thesis this semester, and I realised that I was so close to finishing that I couldn't think about anything else. So I went burn-out mode and wrote some 20000 words these two weeks, and now while I'm sitting in my eco-literature class (which is very interesting but my brain is too obsessed to stop writing), I've typed up the last few words.

So for those who have somehow missed me talking about this, it's a story about Phei, a halfling-harpy who lives in a world above the clouds. She is a priestess of sorts, and she notices that the world is slowly growing pale and empty. When she learns of a possible cause she runs away to the world below the clouds, the world where her people exiled themselves from. There she travels across the lands, figuring out not just what's happening to the world, but what happened to her people as well while meeting a cast of eccentric characters.

As in regards to the third draft, the biggest change is the endpoint. The previous draft ended at a point that made sense for a single novel, but would require another novel to tell the whole story. This new draft doesn't stop there. I shuffled around a lot of things and added some 40k words after that point. I wanted Phei's story to be composed of one big book. It doesn't mean that don't want to tell other stories in this world, but Phei's story is done when this book is done.

So what's next? I'm going to go through the entire book once, since I have a pile of notes that I thought of when writing this draft. And then I want to send the book out to a handful of beta readers. I'll send a post out for that tonight or tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled if you're interested in that!

And lastly I'd like to thank you all for your nice comments and support! Every time someone commented something nice about the story it kept me going, so I think it may have taken a lot longer without all of you. <3

I'll leave you with a snippet (picking something that has no spoilers was haaaard), and hope you will all have a wonderful day!

xx

The wind causes Phei to lose her grip on time. Hours blow past as Phei glides, effortless. She knows of birds being able to sleep in the sky, and wonders if her people used to glide in their sleep too. Her dream quickly fades when she dashes to the right again, a sliver of upwards current catching her attention. Agile, yet absent-minded, she crosses past the forests until she can see the sands of Iekin edge towards the mountains, there where the narrow peaks and pillars of Sunde come into view. Without the stormy clouds Phei is able to take in the mountain in its entirety. It is a lonely mountain, imprisoned by the hundreds of spikes surrounding it. The evening sun shines over it, making the golden chains draping down all around the mountain glitter in sinful light. Glistering like that, Phei imagines the mountain as almost peaceful. It shows no sign of the great horrors that have been committed at its feet. It is like a passive observer, nothing more, nothing less.

Taglist, let me know if you want to be added / removed!

@ink-fireplace-coffee | @write-the-stars-and-shadows | @henrike-does-writing-sometimes | @ladywithalamp | @chazzawrites | @writingonesdreams | @generalblizzarddreamer | @peepos-prose | @writing-is-a-martial-art | @dahliaornelas​​ | @ofbloodandflowers | @magic-is-something-we-create | @ettawritesnstudies | @47crayons | @inkflight | @thelaughingstag | @writing-with-l | @immunetoliteraryanalysis​ | @strangerays​ | @luerange​  | @snowinks​ | @the-orangeauthor​ | @waysofink​ | @fablewritten​ | @houndmouthed​ | @midnights-call​ | @phantomnations​ | @teriwrites​

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

Katara Propaganda

"She's smart. She's powerful. She an eco-terrorist. She's got the ability to grow as a person. She's a victim of misogynistic fans who codify her as an annoying bitch (sadly not affectionate) cause she's the "mom character." And that's all she will ever be is "The mom character." She bested Azula and could blood bend your ass but won't cause she's chosen not to be a monster! But she's the annoying mom instead."

"if i have to hear ONE MORE *touches necklace* joke i’m gonna mcfreaking lose it"

"despite being one of the most well-written feminist characters of children’s TV, the fandom decides to define her based on her very realistic 14-year-old girl flaws. Ignoring her complex independent arcs and motivations, people love justifying their hatred towards her based on her one line directed at Sokka that he didn’t love his mother as much as she did. Which, if we’re being nitpicky, isn’t so harsh given that it was Katara who shouldered most of the burden of her death, as well as Sokka’s admittance that he doesn’t even remember his mother. Not to mention that ALL the characters make selfish mistakes given the fact that they’re all aged 12-15??? (Aang hiding Katara and Sokka’s father’s letter, anyone???) She really is an elegant breakthrough of the typical female character molds of “girl who is badass” and “girl with a crush on the mc who sits on the sidelines” and it’s so frustrating to see her get the most hate out of the Gaang"

Yukari Propaganda

"YUKARI PROPAGANDA: SHE IS LITERALLY SO CORRECT ABOUT EVERYTHING. People call her a bitch for uhh [checks notes] having a a brief freak out after she's shown live footage of her father's gruesome death? For [checks notes] accusing Mitsuru of lying to them about important information (which turned out to be COMPLETELY TRUE, by the way, but fans still mock her for this)? For [checks notes one last time] being mean to Junpei, who gives as good as he gets with rude and sometimes sexist comments in response? And even then, several times she apologizes or reassures him that she was just kidding when he seems genuinely upset by her words, so it's not like she isn't compassionate towards him. She is also routinely mocked and villainized for (huge spoilers) wanting to risk it all to attempt to save the protagonist after he passes away saving the world. To be fair, this turns out to have been the wrong choice, but let's be real -- she was a grieving teenager trying to save her friend slash crush. Yes, she was emotionally all over the place during The Answer. Of course she was! THE WORLD ALMOST ENDED AND HER FIRST LOVE HAD TO DIE TO SAVE EVERYONE. LIKE, THAT JUST HAPPENED TO HER. And everyone somehow just expects her to behave perfectly rationally when she's a 17 year old girl who just lost someone important to her and also almost died with the rest of humanity. Girl is traumatized and grieving and all people can do is call her a hysterical bitch or whatever other shit they wanna come up with." (by @ragecndybars)

"she's NOT a bitch she has a hard time opening up to people + she's a 17 year old dealing with grief after one of those people dies leave her alone!!"

[ivaspinoza]

I've never read anything quite like Fever Dream. I couldn't understand a lot of it as I read, although I do understand the characters and plot overall. In each moment, did you understand what was happening? What did you find profound? What did you like best artistically about it, and were there any big philosophical statements?

What a cool, exciting ask! I love this book, I wrote a 6-page essay about it for college at the time and I was never able to read it again because of how strong the experience was for me (I want to preserve the memory).

Latin America's magical realism is not about introducing some fantasy features into the ordinary, is more about the mystical experience of reality itself, the haunting mysteries or inexplicable events of life. They exaggerate the surreal, "magical" aspect to highlight the main issue. I will share more about that in the end.

What I like about Fever Dream the most is its originality. Once you start the book, you have to feel lost. That's the whole point. Schweblin is so bold, she actually doesn't want you to "understand what is going on", she invites you into the MC's feverish dream, and for that to happen you literally have to let go of any expectations and let the story unfold at its own pace. I honestly will recommend this book to any writer who is willing to take the (eco)horror path.

But it's not just about that. Personally, this book got to me because of the "rescue distance" concept — a better translation of the original title. As someone who lost a baby, the whole paranoia that comes from sensing danger, but being blind to it at the same time, drove me almost mad. I ate that book in one afternoon — and I'm a slow reader. Couldn't stop turning pages. It was too similar to my personal experience of foreseeing death, knowing that something was just about to happen, and not being able to avoid it at all. Very cathartic, per se.

But to talk more directly about the book, I will use my own words from a few years back, and if you don't want spoilers, don't read it:

"In the end, the loose thread remains. The feeling of loss is inevitable. All the danger and sense of paranoia culminated in a whirlwind of unstoppable events, engulfing the reader in a tachycardic, spiralling route; and he lands with the certainty that something very important was left behind: the essential and irreplaceable — perhaps, life itself. It's like returning from a trip without your luggage, empty-handed. Maybe this loose thread is the sensation of the entire humanity when confronted with its impotence in the face of a scenario of constant catastrophe, of destruction that disintegrates everything around: the web being woven as one lives, without being able to deviate from the tracks or turn back. The inevitability of evil — are we like Amanda, doing our best to protect those we love, and always losing what matters most? What similarity would we have with David, tying everything in his room (p.136), trying to connect the loose thread of this unreachable distance that can no longer be calculated? He may be trying to connect with what little remains, that which seems solid, in search of connecting then with something familiar; something that sustains a world that seems to be in free fall, heading nowhere. And this world — this same world of mutations, poisoned mist, dead ducks buried in the backyard, of silence that devoured all things, this world of Schweblin's magical realism — this is our own world."

I might upload my reviews and essays one day if I ever have enough energy and time to open a substack or something (they are too long). Latin American literature is fire! I'm glad you have this book a chance :) and thanks again for the ask!

[sarandipitywrites]

DRDW draft 2 update 12/5 (IT'S DONE)

yes, draft 2 of Dead Roots, Dark Water is DONE. all those scattered documents and pictures of handwritten scenes (why did i do that, i should have just typed them out right after writing it, uggghhh) are finally in one, edited, cohesive document.

[image id: a screenshot from a word processor. it reads: "Words: 176,697. Characters: 982,176. Page: 292 of 292. end image id.]

one absurdly long, edited, cohesive document. i didn't mean for it to get this bad i swear, this is fanfic, why did i do this.

and now we're on to draft 3! i'm planning on taking a week or so to work on the plot revision for The Art of Empty Space (and to not stare at this draft for a minute) and then i'll be working on draft 3 for the rest of december. after that, who knows? i want to start redrafting AES in january, but we'll see how badly this sinks its claws into me ;)

short excerpt because... end of the story, basically everything is spoilers. but this part isn't so bad

"And what? You think I could still be a sage?" "Sure, why not? Hey, maybe you could be a dark sage, too. You're probably better with that stuff than anyone else alive, at this point. Is that even a thing? Dark sage?" Jak snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure Samos would be happy about that. His own apprentice, a sage of chaos and entropy." "Fuck yeah, who wouldn't be? I can see it now: Jak Sabo, the first dark eco sage. Samos'll swear you in, teach you the secret handshake and everything. You'll go off and make your home in a shack in Boggy Swamp—" "I have to live in the swamp?" "Uh, yeah? Swamps are hotbeds of chaos and entropy, babe. Keep up. You'll live in the swamp, where only the worthy will find you and seek your teaching. You'll cultivate all these weird, awesome plants. You'll mutate a bunch of swamp rats to do your bidding. We'll never have to sweep the floors, 'cause they'll do it with their little rat-sized brooms—" "You'll be there?" Warmth bloomed in his chest. "Obviously. How else am I supposed to live in your attic?"

general taglist (ask to be added or removed): @innocentlymacabre

DRDW taglist (ask to be added or removed): no one (yet)

[pandasmagorica]

15 Day QL Challenge: Day 6: Fave Line From Your Fave Series

Here's the full list of challenges

This post has spoilers for Not Me.

Okay, fave series is easy. Not Me, hands down, nothing else comes close, not even my number two, Bad Buddy.

But favorite line? That's a tough one. I'm not even sure I remember any of the lines.

Actually, Bad Buddy would be an easy cop-out. "First one to fall in love loses" immediately popped into my head. It's so insanely ridiculous, especially considering PatPran are both already head over heels in love.

But that wasn't the assignment.

I really can't think of any line from Not Me that made my jaw drop.

In this series, White takes the place of his twin brother Black to find out who in Black's gang of eco-activists put Black into a coma.

The scenes where Yok convinces Dan to pose nude for Yok and where Black rescues the gang at the hospital are standouts, but I can't think of any lines that are exciting in the first and Black didn't say anything in the second, he just went full attack mode, so not a line.

There's the scene where White realizes his privilege is pivotal, as is the scene where Yok realizes his actions have impacted his mother's ability to make a living. And the scene where Sean nearly chokes White to death in anger.

It's also great when Sean figures out that "Black" is an impostor. And the follow on drinking game scene where Sean asks "Black" "Do you have a brother?" - hey, I did remember a line - and we know he knows something is up. Actually, "Do you have a brother?" is probably a good runner up.

It's been a while since a rewatch, and I'm not about to binge it today. But my thoughts go to the particularly delicious confrontation scene between Black and Todd, so I'm going to rewatch that.

Actually, before I watch I'm going to guess it will be the line where Todd tells Black to go ahead and shoot Todd. And it's a fave because of what Black does in response.

Okay, let's go find that scene.

Here it is, episode 13 2/4 8:20-13:39. Great scene that totally shows off Gun's and Sing's acting skills and Nuchy's director skills.

Actually, I see I forgot quite a few details of that scene. For example, that Black also tells Todd to kill Black.

So, what's my favorite line from that scene?

The nominations are:

While Todd is holding the gun:

Black: If you want me to yield, shoot. Kill me. Do it like you did before.*

* - Todd beat or had Black beaten into a coma in episode 1, setting the plot in motion

and Todd's reply: If I really could, you wouldn't be standing here.

Black: If you could turn back time, would you kill me and get it over with?

and while Black has recovered the gun:

Black: Should I finish you off right now, Todd?

Todd: Go ahead. If you can.

And the winner is:

Todd: Go ahead. If you can.

I won't spoil what Black does in response. In any case the scene ends here. We don't get to see Black doing what he does and we don't find out what Black did until later.

Hmmm, now that I think about it, I'm going to change my answer. The real winner is:

Sean: Do you have a brother?

[wordsandrobots]

I have just realised that 70% of my 'no you fools*, Yamagi is not sweet, he's a sarcastic little jerk who just happens to get tongue-tied around his dummy of a crush' characterisation comes from two scenes centred on Hush and I find that quite funny for some reason.

*whether I am using 'fools' in the 'gender neutral way of addressing the room ala that joke about Dr Doom' sense or with actual malice depends entirely on which bit of fan-art I've glanced at most recently.

Also, I know I haven't centred it much outside of The Ares Affair owing the the direction the plot went, I need you to know: in my head, Yamagi and Chad being friends is on the one hand rooted in a lot of shared temperament, tea-appreciation and mutual understanding of each other's coping mechanisms, and on the other involves a significant amount of Chad making this face after effortlessly no-selling Yamagi's attempts to snark his way out of admitting how he's really feeling.

Those two can see through each other's bullshit like glass and I find it deeply amusing to put them together.

Eco, meanwhile, basically just trolls Yamagi any chance she gets. Eco is a troll, full stop.

Anyway, I've just had a chance to have all three of them in the same scene and it's gone swimmingly. Oh, you know what, have a mild [subject to editing] spoiler:

“I think,” she says to Yamagi, “you can just go with whatever feels right. Don't over-think it.” “Easy for you to say,” he grumbles, which makes Chad laugh. “Oh, and like you're any better.” “Who was it stayed up to midnight making sure the decorations for Merribit and Kavita coming home from the hospital were perfect?” “You hear this? The king of over-working is lecturing me.” “Yeah, no, I'm not helping fix that glass house.” Eco raises her cup, because she long ago swore to live for those who can't and because it's nice having somebody else there to bully Yamagi for her.

[eshtaresht]

aaaaaaaa this episode.... it caught me off guard, I have lots of feelings and hopefully a couple of coherent thoughts

SPOILERS FOR EP 8 UNDER THE CUT

tbh I'm really excited about the changes (to the manga) they introduced in this episode, I like the direction so far

turns out vash and naï had different abilities from the start, and it's quite likely that vash felt lesser that his twin even during their time with rem (naï says that making food for him is "a waste" and vash uses the same sentiment when he was rescued). I'm guessing that vash's ability is to give away energy (but he's not self sustaining), while knives can only take from others (but he's eco friendly), which was already touched upon in previous iterations, but very briefly

plant lore! one of the things I didn't like about og anime is how vague all the plant stuff was, I had to read the fandom wiki to understand what they were. very based of stampede to go all hard sci-fi on us

the way vash refuses himself basic needs when he feels guilty.... and how this continues well into his adulthood.... his ass is not coping!!!

sequences after the fall were the most emotional, man! my boy vash got so much trauma from seeing all the dead and dying and feeling like it's all his fault... give him a hug now!!!!! but at the same time he actually was complicit and daaamn I can't wait to hear the full story there

idk if I got the vibe right (maybe subs were a bit misleading), but luida made up that rem saved them? it seemed as if she only said it to give vash a reason to live, and it's partially true (rem did try her best to save everyone), but ship three and a bunch of others survived mostly because they were lucky and not because rem managed to break the code. please correct me if I got it wrong. although I kinda dig the idea of vash glorifying rem while she was just as helpless as any other human in this situation

hair darkening confirmed... we were right to be worried all along. it's interesting that even in the earliest flashbacks he already has darkish eyebrows, hmm... what did this kid do? 👀

once again, wish there were more side characters, but luida and brad were pretty wholesome. wonder is they're still alive and how old is vash in this version (probably younger than 100 if luida is alive)

a bit sad that we didn't get to see the gang interacting while vash was blacked out, I was really looking into it. but at least we saw him with that clunky shoulder piece removed. from the teaser it seems like his new hand won't be all that different tho

love all the slutty outfits people were theorising about.... but that turtleneck? yep thats peak slut fashion and transmask swag. nothing will ever top the manga version but I still support it

next episode is gonna kill me.... and something tells me that the time vash spent unconcious is gonna be all the rest he gets. DAMN. still manifesting scar reveal

now to predictions: after ep 6 I thought that we'll visit the seeds ppl this time around and we kinda did, I just didn't expect for a flashback to last a whole episode and more. ep 9 is pretty obvious from the teaser and in 11 vash should already be in july so that the season finale can happen in at least two episodes. then 10 is probably gonna be all about getting to this final destination. could be that the gang gets separated by that time ('cause vash will push them away), but they'll all still be in july when shit hits the fan

[snakegentleman]

TriStamp Spoilers!

Vash just let that man shoot him: it’s a good reminder of how he punishes himself because of his guilt right before the whole Knives confrontation

Wolfwood being so concerned for Vash: the vashwood girlies are being fed this ep!

I like the doctor/Knives both being fleshed out as more eco-fascists than just wanting to wipe out humanity(I haven’t finished trimax yet, so I don’t know Knives’s motivations completely). It’s still terrible and genocidal, but more well rounded motivations are great.

I really hate that Elendira is in a child’s body, this trope is just sort of gross

I’m so excited to see where Meryl’s character arc will go from here! She deserves to go apeshit

Knives is in so much denial about Vash. He’s somewhat right that Vash acts out of guilt, but that doesn’t mean he can’t also love humanity. It’s clear he loves humans from the first minutes of episode 1 when he says hi to all the people in cold sleep. Knives is blinded by the black and white thinking. Humans have to be wiped out for plants to live, Vash has to pick a side. Because if he wasn’t in so much denial, he would have to accept that Vash chose humanity over him alread.

I like that the series also grapples with how Vash’s guilt complex is selfish as much as his actions are admirable. He loves humanity and wants to help everyone on instinct, but he also is selfishly driven by the desire to atone for the crash

I’m so scared for what the next two eps are going to bring

[jak2gooberglub]

JAK X, JAK 3, JAK 2 AND JAK AND DAXTER TPL

HEAD CANNONS AGAIN BC THESE ARE FUN TO THINK OF

⚠️Spoilers obviously⚠️

Looking at jak's new racing outfit in jakX I noticed he doesn't have the same metal ring at his chest like he did in the 3 previous games (ill add photos for proof). That could mean it's his new "racing outfit" but I believe that this is a sign that he's come to terms with being just Jak.

Not Mar, not some fabled hero from the future or the past that liberated haven city, built haven city, the user of eco, the saviour of the world.

No, he is just Jak.

He could have also copied damas's armor by having there be a strap across his chest in his racing outfit, similar to the armor plating that was across damas's chest.

Or it's just a chest strap.

Here's the concept art/ art made officially by naughty dog for jak's outfits as well as damas.

And Jak can no longer harness eco anymore due to the dark eco expirements.

Just because he got the "light balanced within him" from light eco, doesn't mean he's back to his old self, or cured in any way. He still has outbursts of anger and turns into dark Jak, and that was proven in jak 3 after damas died.

If he was normal again, he wouldn't still be using health packs from krimzon guard crates. He'd be able to get green eco from the creatures he fights. If he was able to harness eco he wouldn't still be able to channel dark eco either.

Because if you remember, gul and myia, they couldn't use other types of eco, they had to use a robot to channel eco types.

With dark eco in this series, it's all or nothing it seems.

You might say "but didn't jak use green eco to heal plants in jak 3 in the haven forest?"

And to that I say, he used the zoomer to channel the eco as well as the eco vents.

Let me be clear, in jakX, jak isn't canceling eco to use as weapons himself when racing. It's the car that uses eco for weapons, speed boosts, health ect.

The car is a machine outfitted to use eco and dispurse it through weapons, similar to the guns in jak 2 and 3, those weapons had colors corresponding to the eco that it uses.

The eco was stored in ammunition.

He cannot channel eco anymore. And he must have realized it recently too. He was too busy fighting metal heads and saving haven city more than once to realize his own gifts are gone. And he's stuck with only light and dark eco, one that makes him an angry, sick monster that destroies things, and the other light eco, protects, and heals him from enemies.

In addition to my previous hc that jak cut his hair, he also got rid of the eco harnessing part of his outfit. After damas's death he probably had a mental breakdown, cut/shaved his hair, and changed his look. Around the same time he was getting to legal drinking age in haven city, so I wouldn't be surprised if he's bar hopped a few places, given how much drinking he and daxter are doing in JakX, it's pretty much cannon.

And, since daxter and tess are a couple, daxter wouldn't pay much attention to jak. Not that he does anyway.

In jak x, daxter most likely misses tess so much to where he's drunk, which we see in a lot of cutscenes in jak x, so between racing, nearly dying, fearing for their lives, and heavy drinking, daxter probably wasn't up to talk about his feelings. Regardless, daxter would probably yell and complain like he always does.

He does care for jak, but at the same time, jak is in a better relationship with Kira and has been around her more, so daxter would assume jak is doing fine. When really, he is not.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk/hj

[lies]

tagged by @beliefs... I was supposed to shuffle my on repeat playlist and list the first 10 songs... but I don't use spotify (mostly I listen to youtube or amazon music, plus the occasional downloaded stuff in itunes). so I'm going to fake it and give my off-the-top list of what I think I've been listening to the most lately.

spoiler: I listen to the same things over and over again.

all of lanayah's "I'm Picking Lights in a Field"

a winged victory for the sullen's Boiler Room London Live Show

robin guthrie's Kings Will Be Falling

sigur rós' Átta

spc eco's All of You

pomplamoose's cover of If I Ever Lose My Faith in You

bowery electric's Freedom Fighter

erin bentlage's I Would

joni mitchell's Live at the BBC, September 1970

peter gabriel's cover of Heroes

tagging: @mostlythemarsh, @marjorierose, @jimstares, @witch-of-the-west-country, @sylvia-morris, @anonsally, @kaiyves-backup, @justanoldfashiontumblog, @camillavirgil, @perishedoffits

[drsilverfish]

Avatar: The Way of Water

Kids whose bioluminescent freckles mirror the stars, bonding with four-eyed whales via interspecies linguistics; this is the good Avatar: The Way of Water.

The transposition of US patriarchal family values, like flies in aspic, onto an alien world, in a narrative which is supposed to be a critique of colonialism; this is the bad Avatar: The Way of Water. 

Unfortunately, they are one and the same. 

Major spoilers under the cut for those who haven’t seen James Cameron’s Blue Pandora yet...

Come for the incredible xeno-biology, struggle with the sclerotic storytelling, but understand that this film is an ecological polemic, a deliberative morality tale and a call to arms for Mother Earth. Then, forgive, or don’t forgive, its cheesy and clunky moving parts on that basis. 

Cameron’s Way of Water continues his paen to eco-primitivism on Pandora, where Darwinian Jumblie hunter-gatherers, the Na’vi (blue-green, strong, thin and beautiful, and this time at sea, but definitely not at sea in a sieve) live in ecological and spiritual harmony with their Edenic world.

Human Jake Sully, now permanently inhabiting his Na’vi avatar body, brings his US Marine consciousness with him into his new life. He insists his sons call him, “Sir”, and runs his inter-species family like an Earth military unit. His surname is “sully”, which means to damage the purity or integrity of something.  

Yet again, the Na’vi are being invaded by rapacious Earthlings, this time not focussed on mining unobtamium ore. Turns out liquidised alien whale brain is even more valuable, because, as ambrosia for humans, it stops the ageing process. This amrita (Sanskrit for “immortality”) is the new goal for extractive, intergalactic, US-led militarised capitalism. And Earth is dying (or rather, plainly, has been murdered) so Pandora is now earmarked for permanent colonization. 

There are pools of moral and intellectual curiosity waiting to be gazed upon, amidst the sound and fury of adrenaline-filled punch and peril. 

What is the role of humanity’s scientists and scientific capabilities? 

Sigorney Weaver’s xeno-botanist/ anthropologist, Dr. Grace Augustine, rebelled last time around and joined the Na’vi. Now, her child, Kiri (which means, skin of a tree or fruit, in Maori) has a special spiritual connection to Pandora’s flora and fauna. She was born of Grace’s comatose Na’vi avatar body, and it’s implied that her other parent is the Great Mother Spirit of Pandora herself, Eywa. Grace Augustine is itself a symbolic name, referencing Saint Augustine, who believed that human nature was altered by the prideful “original sin” of Adam and Eve in Eden, and required redemption by the grace of Christ. Pandora IS Eden, and it is here that humanity can (I am guessing) unexpectedly find redemption by learning from the Na’vi, as Grace did; “hope” being the last creature to be set free from the box of horrors that Pandora opens in Greek myth. 

We see the other Na’vi-friendly scientists who stayed behind on Pandora with Grace tell Jake and Neytiri that Kiri (whom they have adopted) has epilepsy and should not be allowed to plug into Eywa again or her seizures could kill her. Here human science attempts to be life-saving, but applies a human lens to a Na’vi context and misreads Kiri by failing to understand her biological embodiment of the Pandoran Mother Spirit.

Finally, we have the scientists who are part of the whaling enterprise which hunts and kills the peaceful, sentient Tulkuns, for money, one of whom remarks that he’s drunk all the time because he doesn’t feel good about what he’s involved in.

So, we see that humanity’s scientific knowledge can be harnessed for ecological good when practised with spiritual reverence for life (Grace), can attempt to be benign but misapply itself by failing to understand cultural difference (the scientists’ diagnosis of Kiri) or can vilely prostitute itself in the service of rapacious capitalism (the xeno-biologist whalers). 

Then we have Spider, the human child of reanimated antagonist Colonel Quaritch. He’s a Mowgli/ Tarzan figure (unfortunately, to a modern eye, that figure feels faintly ridiculous) who has “gone native” and runs around in blue tattoos, dreads and loincloth, spending as much of his time as possible with Jake and Neytiri’s Na’vi kids. 

The Mowgli (Kipling)/ Tarzan (Rice Burroughs) reference isn’t an accident, just as the whale-hunt Moby Dick (Melville) reference isn’t either. These are 19th century (early 20th C in Rice Burroughs’ case) authors who write, in the context of European colonialism, of enchanted (both romanticised and primitivised) encounters with native “others”.  Herein lies one of the difficulties of the Avatar saga. It is intent on critiquing colonialism, but it can’t seem to escape a colonialist narrative framework. Jake Sully was initially constructed as a Hollywood white saviour, someone who miraculously does “native” better than the “natives” themselves, rallying the forest Na’vi to combat victory against his own people, and becoming leader of the tribes as a Toruk Makto (rider of the winged pterydactyl-like apex predator Toruk). 

Ideologically, Avatar: the Way of Water, attempts a bit of a course correct in that Jake steps down as leader and leaves Neytiri’s forest tribe, the Omaticaya, with his family, to try and keep them safe, once they learn Earth invaders have returned and have a bounty on Jake, specifically, as a traitor.  However, Jake becomes instead a “natural” patriarchal leader of his family unit, drilling an, “us Sullies stick together against all” mentality into his kids. The gender politics of the Sullies are subtle, but regressive; we see Jake teaching his son (not his daughters) to hunt, Neytiri (not Jake) preparing family food, Jake telling his eldest son to look out for his siblings, Jake conforting a grieving Neytiri (whose emotions are “wilder” than his). On Pandora, Cameron’s Eden, men are warrior leaders, women are spiritual leaders, everyone is heterosexual, and no one is disabled (indeed in Avatar 2009, Jake “escapes” from his wheelchair-bound disability into his new Na’vi avatar body). This is the eco-primitivist fantasy, which has always had troubling eco-fascist tendencies; ones that go unexamined here.  

On the other hand, we do see Jake and Neytiri’s mixed-race kids experience prejudice for their biological differences, from other Na’vi in the Metkayina (water-living) clan, and struggle for acceptance.

Moreover, Spider, whom Jake and his kids have semi-adopted (but whom, Jake tells us, Neytiri feels prejudiced towards, even knowing Jake once inhabited a human body too) also struggles with outsider status. Spider is another human character (like Jake and Grace before him)  torn between two worlds, and his dilemma is clearly set up to carry great meaning for the next installments of the Avatar saga. He is othered and treated as a hostage by Neytiri against Quaritch Mark 2 (his Na’vi embodied father-clone) and conversely treated with affection by Quaritch 2 himself (on whom Neytiri’s father-blackmail works). Thus, Spider later saves Quaritch 2 (Jake’s main antagonist) from drowning, which he fails to mention that to his adoptive Na’vi family. Spider is thus a child both of two warring fathers, and two warring worlds.

The best elements of the film are clearly those focussed on the Tulkun alien-whales and their symbiotic relationship with the Metkayina. Throughout these, and other (over-long) action fight sequences, it is clear that humans remain the trouble in Pandora’s paradise.

Either Earth must adopt Pandora’s Edenic principles, or Pandora must perish at the hand of Earth’s rapacious ones. This is the choice Cameron seemingly presents us with.  

But, cross-cultural pollination, via inter-breeding and ideas-exchange, have already occurred, and cannot be undone unless all human influence (including Jake, Neytiri and their kids) are erased from Pandora. 

Can there be a third way, for children of both worlds, like Spider and Kiri, neither an eco-fascist Eden, nor an industrial-capitalist wasteland?

For all its (at times excruciating) flaws, I admire Cameron’s attempt to confront us with a global narrative about ecocide, and the corrective need for ecological consciousness, in these times when we are inexorably faced, as a species, with our responsibility for the seismic troubles of climate breakdown and mass extinction which bear down on us (and on our hybrid children, born of nature and technology) in the new century.        

[kleefkruid]

Hi! I am Lora. I live in Belgium. I speak Flemish, which is just Dutch with extra funny words. I'll get into what I'm about and what I post on here. But let me start with a quick summary so you immediately know you're at the right adress or not:

Mental health, mental ilness, D&D, art, biology, bugs, Belgian/european news/politics, queer shit, my cats, my aquarium, school,...

Now, let's get into the details!

What's my identity? I'm very loosy goosy with this. all pronouns are fine, I don't use any gender label, although I've jokingly refered to myself as 'gender disinterested'. I just don't wanna play! Sexuality is ehhh, people. I use bisexual in my daily life bc that is easier. I'm also not monogamous.

What's up with my brain? I'm diagnosed autistic, currently checking for ADHD. I have spend a lot of time in mental hospitals, dealing with depression, generalised and social anxiety, panic attacks, all the classics really. I spend 12 months on a ward that specialises in emotional regulation disorders, where I received dialectical behaviour therapy. I'm only back in 'the real world' for a few months now, so this comes up often. I'm working towards becoming a certified life experience avocate, a sort of middle man between patients and mental health/disabiliy workers. That's why I'm very open about this, but I always want to mention that you don't have to, and that it can make you a target to people who don't mean well.

What do I study? I have a degree in Graphic design, but based on my elective it would be better to say that I have a degree in illustration. I also went to art school in high school so I have a basis in a lot of things, like film, theatre, webdesign and so on. My comics are on instagram (english, Dutch) and in 'my comics' tag I also did 1 year of a biology bachelor and 1 year of social work, because I was a bit lost over the years. Right now I'm about to start a degree in applied psychology.

let's put the rest under a cut!

D&D I've been following Critical role for a long time, just getting into Dimension 20. I tag cr spoilers for anything relatively new, about 3 weeks or so. I usually tag with 'critical role' or 'Dimension 20' and then the name of the campagn so you can block these tags to avoid spoilers for specific campagns. I play myself but I don't have a group currently since I moved and pandemics and hospitals happened. I play a human druid, circle of the moon, who is bug themed. You all have official permission to talk about your PC's to me at all times!

Pets I have two cats, Marcel and Oskar, who are very sweet and very dumb. There's also a couple of strays that live on my roof, mother and daughter who I call Michelle and Kotelet. They continiously broke into my appartment to steal food so I started to socialise them. It's been going pretty well. I have a big planted community aquarium. It's a self cleaning eco system with a side sump. I have Giant danios and golden danios, amano shrimp, a mix of neo caradina shrimp, corydora's, apple snails, malasian trumpet snails and sulawesi snails. I had a giant african landsnail called Gertude, but she passed away very recently. I also have a box of powder orange isopods who used to be in the big terrarium with Gertrude. And a pot of springtails. I'm trying to turn the old terrarium into a paludarium (riparium to be exact) but I'm waiting on the next hyperfocus wave to finish this. All the stuff is currently in boxes in my livingroom, sighhh. Other hobbies man I widly swing from one to the next. Right now I'm doing crepe paper flowers. I do origami and paper crafts. I embroider. I read. I keep up my house plants and a bunch of stuff on my balcony. I cook. I sketch. I like fashion, make up and skin care. I love to research random shit. I've acted in a few things. I have a guitair I can't play. I bookbind.

Dutch - Belgium I sometimes post in Dutch. I will add the relevant translations in the tags. It's mainly regional jokes with other Belgians and Dutch people, so I can't always properly explain. I also blog a bit about local news. Belgian stuff gets tagged as Belgiumposting and everything relating to Europe or the other countries in it gets tagged as Europosting.

[schumiatspa]

Lmaooooo I thought it might be proposal aswell it’ll end up being a eco thing 😭😭

Anon!! I'm so glad that I'm not the only one living a permanent sewis brainrot aksnsk IT WAS SO OBVIOUS C'MON sebastian vettel nervous?? Yeah you bet he is getting down on one knee and giving the love of his life an expensive ring that he hates but he knows that Lewis will just love!! I've been texting my poor and probably not interested sister about how the proposal could go (spoiler: Alonso will shed a tear but will never ever admit it) because I was already thinking about a Sewis proposal in abu dhabi last year (you know, Seb retiring from f1 leaving behind absolute chaos? That's would have been so him) aksjsj so when yesterday I read about Seb's words I thought "The time has finally come!!". Sorry I've got opinions and I don't know who to share them with lmao

(Jokes aside, I'm very curious about what the special event will be, it seems that Seb really cares about this thing so it's gonna be exciting for sure. I reckon it's gonna be an eco thing, I don't think he is gonna announce a comeback - neither as a driver nor as some other role, unless it's something related to the environmental cause like a sustainability advisor? But I don't think he is gonna comeback so soon anyway. If it's something related to rb i'm flying to suzuka and smack him tho).

[arillb]

Fan Gym Leaders

So basically, I'm working on a project regarding my fan pokemon region (Gira) and the process includes creating a badge case. Right now, the portraits for each gym leader are complete!

Left to right, top to bottom, that's the order in which the protagonists fight them and in which I'll talk about them after the cut!

Jada, Normal Type gym leader

She/Her · 45 yo · High school Biology teacher · During the week, she lives in Ribera City for work, during the weekends she lives in Sun Town with her husband's (also a gym leader) family and their children

Jada specializes in normal types, her full team consisting of: Blissey, Dubwool, Snorlax, Braviary, Porigon2 and Ursaluna.

Her gym is integrated into the school she works at, though she only accepts challengers outside of school hours. In her free time, she researches pokemon on her own or with colleagues, including the local Pokemon Professor. She will often use her own pokemon to help illustrate the lesson she’s teaching.

Jett, Steel Type gym leader

She/Her · 19 yo · Guitarrist and Vocalist of her heavy metal band · Lives in Eco City

Jett specializes in steel types, her full team being: Aggron, Corviknight, Aegislash, Lucario, Scizor and Bisharp.

She's sadly a character which I can't reveal much of without spoilers, but what's safe to say is:

She sings and plays guitar for her band the Lone Bar Knights (pls appreciate the pun). They often do gigs at the gym itself and even though they only started recently, they got quite a bit of local popularity and some international fans inside of the heavy metal genre. The other members are: Mia (Bassist · she/her), Alba (Keyboadist · they/them) and Periell (Drummer, he/him).

Two toxtricitys have befriended the band, but none of the members have caught them.

Salix, Fairy Type gym leader

He/Him · 10 yo · Grade school student · Lives in Canopy Town

Salix specializes in fairy types, his full team being: Togekiss, Alcremie, Florges, Hatterene, Sylveon and Gardevoir✨.

He lives with his single mother. They depend of his position as a gym leader to afford living. He studies in the same school in which Jada teaches, just some grades lower than her level. The rest of the league put great effort on him not getting involved with evil team bullshit amongst other things.

Lux, Electric Type gym leader

They/Them · 17 yo · High school student, prepparing to go into engineering · Lives in Newlight City

Lux specializes in electric types, their full team being: Kuxray, Rotom (wash), Toxtricity, Eelektross, Electivire and Magnezone.

They're chronically ill, having trouble breathing, that's why they use a nasal cannula. Their grandfather, Volta, was the previous gym leader of the city, their legal guardian and also the person who they got their electivire from. Both Lux and Volta work to improve the city. They also have an older brother, Andre, who works at the local battle facility, the Battle Stadium. When they can't be at their gym due to their illness, either Volta or Andre cover for them.

Nero, Dark Type gym leader

He/They · 27 yo · [REDACTED] · Lives in Madder City, born and lived in Castelia City until he was 17

Nero specializes in dark types, his full team being: Zoroark, Mandibuzz, Krookodile, Scrafty, Hydreigon and Liepard

They're really fucking secretive, so anything I could say about them is a spoiler. I can reveal this though: His number one hobby is making his zoroark get disguised as him, avoiding interviews and league meetings.

Leau, Water Type gym leader

He/Him · 45 yo · Waterpolo coach · During the week, he lives in Escull City for work, during the weekends he lives in Sun Town with his family

Remember Jada's husband? That's right, here he is!

Leau specializes in water types, his full team being: Pelipper, Lapras, Poliwrath, Swampert, Floatzel and Toxapex

He's a waterpolo coach, his gym being in the same place he works at. He was born without an arm and uses a very colorful prosthetic. he specializes in double battles and last but not least: he has a floatzel themed hoodie.

Nani, Icy Type gym leader

She/Her · 24 yo · Model · Lives in Rosada Town, born in Po Town prior whatever happened for it to be like it is in canon, lived in the Aether house until she was 18

Nani specializes in ice types, her full team being: Vanilluxe, Weavile, Galarian Darmanitan, Frosmoth, Glaceon, Alolan Ninetales

She works as a model and always makes sure that the other members of the league are fashionable, arguing that they should have a good image. Her parents died when she was too young to remember, so she lived in the Aether House (and yes, she knows Acerola and Nanu). She moved to Gira when she was 18 because she found a job as a model and subsequently became a gym leader.

She has no trouble with cold, wearing a crop-top in freezing temperatures. This is unlike her girlfriend Sol, the fire type Elite Four who can't stand the cold in any way.

Last but not least: Alma, Ghost Type gym leader

She/Her · [REDACTED] · Historian and Librarian · Lives in Mitjanit City, born and lived in Snowpoint until 20 years prior to the story

Alma specializes in ghost types, her full team being: Dusknoir✨, Cofagrigus, Sableye, Basculegion, Mismagius and Chandelure.

The final one of the spoiler trinity, but not as bad as the other two. Her gym is the oldest one in the region, being at the top of an equally big (and beautiful) library. Other than taking care of the library, she's also a historian, being really interested in the Hisuan period. Her whole precense is built around a creepy victorian and/or retro aesthetic.

There are definetly false rumours of her being a ghost, which she likes to joke about and tease. Not because they might be true in the slightlest, no, no-

(if you've read all of that. woah. thank you)

[strawberryangel6667]

Can you explain your oc's lore ? I am a little lost :p ( also I love you're artstyle 💖)

hi! okey my history its called Road to aylllu ,his will be long but these are the protagonists : Sinca the dragon , Mary (Maria a normal human) , Charlott Condori and Aklla

The story begins with Charlott rescuing Mary from creatures that strangely want to kill her, so she ends up going to Aklla, a witch who will help her solve the truth about why these creatures attack Maria and they meet Sinca on the way as part of the team. (being this important for the plot later)

Charlott is a 28-year veteran super soldier with a dark city (spoiler she is not human) at the beginning of the story who works with her partner Francesco hunting down dangerous creatures at low prices to help the poorest arcanes (magical creatures) in her community, she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, alcoholism and stroke. drugs a few years ago. She's basically a walking mess running from her past as a child soldier where she went through various abuses.

"My childhood was serene, sad and alone, in the peace of a distant village in the Andes, hidden from the world and the chaos that it brought with it"

Aklla is a persecuted witch/shaman, practically a fucking dangerous eco-terrorist (she is persecuted by the church, various governments and the sub-states where witches rule). She has an extremely calm attitude towards most things and much of her past is unknown as are her goals.

Mary and Sinca are two teenagers who by fate ended up in Charlott's hands, all of them on a journey to stop the monsters that chase Mary and finally rest and maybe finally have a family

Mary grew up in the human city of Lima where she practically lived in extreme poverty with her abusive mother, which is why she has an aggressive attitude towards everyone and everything as a self-defense for the extreme trauma she experienced, she is hyper-independent and very stubborn. Sinca, on the other hand, lived in seclusion as an experiment by the witches' government in the underground city (literally a whole mini-country where witches rule various magical creatures with an iron fist but at least nobody dies of hunger) when he manages to establish relationships With others, he is very passive and shy, he is a sweet, kind and innocent boy who fears the world until he finds his own courage to run away with Mary, Charlott and Aklla, seeking his freedom (becoming a traitor to his homeland in the process).