#i don't know where i'm going with this

[shu-of-the-wind]

i read somewhere that grey whales can live upwards of 150 years, and that there are likely grey whales out in the oceans today that were alive and saw the massive whale hunts of the 19th century that inspired herman melville's moby dick.

to be clear, i have no idea if this is true. it could just be apocryphal, or something someone made up. but even if it isn't true, i think there's a something to read into that in terms of trauma and repair. if there really are whales on this planet today that are alive after seeing so many other creatures like them slaughtered and dragged out of the water by unknown hands for an unknown purpose, then those whales know the dangers and flee from them even after the people who hunted their kin have been over a hundred years dead. and they taught their calves to flee the same way. and those calves taught their calves.

150 year old whales teaching younger whales who teach younger whales who have no experience with the reasons why they must avoid boats, but know in their blood and bones that their safety relies on it.

something something trauma long outlives the people who inflict it. something something trauma transforms how generations grow.

[voidwelt]

The mispronunciation of Welt's name used to bother me (as it is canonically meant to be based on the German word, so it should be spoken with a harder V sound). I studied German in school, so I had to work myself out of pronouncing it correctly, just so the game pronunciation would stop bothering me.

But as time passes, I sort of come to think, the way the reason for this mispronunciation IRL is the intent being lost in translation (CN doesn't quite have the right syllables for the German pronunciation and EN direction carried this along in HSR), the reason for its mispronunciation in-game could, if you like, also be chalked up to something being lost in translation (in a different way).

I like to imagine Welt Joyce's name is 100% pronounced correctly. (No EN dub exists to prove me wrong). He got the name right from its source, given to him by a German, and mentions as such when he dies, "Welt" for "World" in German. There's no way it's not meant to be pronounced correctly.

When it gets passed down to Yang, the meaning is still there, but the interpretation is muddied through the inherent perception filter of a young person (as is his interpretation of the duty as a whole). He sees Joyce bleed out against the concrete to save a city and he internalises this as the legacy and the "burden" of Welt. The German word becomes a gifted Title that represents protecting the World first and foremost, and then as its bearer takes off to the stars, off of that original world, in an attempt to save others, it's even further divorced from its original language context.

When Welt describes the meaning of his name to Sunday, he's come up with his own, adjusted and extended definition for it. He's expanded onto it with his own thoughts, influenced by the Trailblaze and how many lives he's come into contact with. "Each person is a world unto themselves, with as many possibilities as the distant stars." (paraphrased)

(He also says some stuff about how the Trailblaze doesn't end when you leave the Express, so it really makes me think of how he might think of... Ahem. Anyway, back to topic.)

Ultimately, Welt Joyce and Welt Yang have the same first name/title in text and in writing, but...

If they're pronounced differently, it just goes to show, that no matter how hard Welt (Yang) attempts to personally embody his hero in all that he does, how hard he tries to carry this legacy in its purest form, they're ultimately still different people, with different experiences, with different souls.

Or, I could just be looking too much into a minor flaw in the translation process! Isn't that the fun of thinking too hard about things? Should we run Mr. Yang over with our shared car? We have to do something about this

[mynamewasyou]

i think about a lot of things, especially when it comes to vincent benítez and today it's no different. anyway; vincent who loves to dance. vincent first being taught by the teens from his congregation and then him teaching the children with them. first it was khaliji, then dabke, popularised by the few families who escaped syria and joined his parish. in exchange he tried to teach them tinikling and despite him taking some liberties, it got added to their repertoire too.

and then he left for vatican, the only indication of him going away being him giving the kids the heads up that he might not be able to host their dance get-togethers for quite some time.

i think of him waking up on the second day of his pontiff and realising, that he will never be allowed to dance with them again, not at least for a foreseeable future.

i think of children realising the kind priest who danced with them every wednesday got elected as a pope and i think of the parents having to explain to them, that there will be some changes now. i think about the teens trying to come up with ways to keep their community strong, even without their leader. i think of them taking over the organising, trying to stay strong, as he always taught them.

i think of them taking a photo together sometime later and sending it to him, without a return adress, for they didnt expect a reply.

i think of ray going through the pope's mail and almost casting it aside, but something in the vagueness of the letter, combined with the post stamps indicating it was sent from baghdad, make him open it. he doesn't even have to read the letter - those faces are familiar to him, he sees them every day on the pope's desk, the worn photo of vincent surrounded by the group framed and positioned right beside his monitor.

i think of ray asking lawrence to clear out the evening and the following morning for him, before he hands him the letter - he guesses the older might need that.

i think of him sending sister agnes to him, knowing that only her could probably understand him, as the one who also got plucked out of her home to serve in vatican.

i think of vincent being so bold with everything else, with breaking all the other rules, but the lack of community to dance with is what is slowly killing him inside despite all the other efforts to make him comfortable. i think of all his friends wondering what is wrong, what they could do, but there is nothing - they couldn't just fly him out back home, after all and they couldn't make him feel at home fully either.

idk, just the cruelty of having dance as extention of oneself and having it forcefully taken away

[rhetoricalsoapbox]

Three journals...Bill Cipher is a three sided figure....

[ijustreallylikecaptainamericaok]

That's what it means to be a witch? Killing people to serve your own agenda? No. Not for me.

Are you sure?

I know many are utterly convinced that Billy killed Sharon and that this proves Agatha knows, but I don't buy any of that. Thing is, Billy doesn't have to directly harm anyone for Agatha to say this in an attempt to get under his skin and guilt trip him. Why? Because this whole thing was his idea and already two people are dead.

Now is that an entirely fair framing of all this? No. For one, it removes the agency of the rest of the coven and for another, it removes Agatha's responsibility in gathering the coven in the first place. But obviously, in that moment, Agatha's not trying to be fair. She's lashing out, because she's hurt and angry, understandably so.

[kiwikyuka]

Sometimes I randomly think it's crazy that the price for Al's existence was Ed's alchemy regardless if he still has his Gate. If Roy hadn't snapped him out of his depression, he would not be able to use his alchemy anyways, because he would not have automail hence the gift of clap alchemy being useless.

[queendarlings]

freddie, bursting in: RISE AND SHINE, MOTHERFUCKERS

brian: *drops teapot* fred, it's 1 pm, for fuck's sake

roger: *high-pitched screaming*

john: *asleep on the couch, headphones on*

[mint-ty]

Okay but Jere is very competitive, right? What if he's getting addicted to expanding his boyfriend pokedex? Coming for the really famous guys... hockey legends, presidents, national award athletes, etc etc... That cosy slotting into an armpit and direct eye contact might be intentional idk. Maybe he's doing a checkmark in his mind ✅️

Maybe he also asked Bojan for flirting tips and now Bojči is biting his nails because he misunderstood the intention..

[gravityrises]

Me Stanford Pines

🤝

canonically speaks German

[ldpdluvr]

okay i'm having more femme lesbian louis thoughts i feel like she'd be the type of girl who just doesn't know how beautiful she is, don't get me wrong she knows she's attractive but she doesn't realise just how much of a catch she actually is...like imagine she finally comes to terms with her lesbianism (after repressing her sexuality for years) and wants to start dating so she puts herself out there (not that she has to do much) and to her surprise people come flooding in wanting to take her out, she wouldn't know what to do with all of that or where to start but luckily for her she makes a new butch friend (lestat ofc) who offers to teach her the ropes to lesbian dating 🤓

[viric-dreams]

I'm going to have to play catch up on very specific corners of European history, aren't I? There's some weird intersection here happening between Burgundy and its territory going to the Habsburgs that I do not know quite well enough to do anything interesting with. Though what I can say is that Ockham's family would've been in Iberia in the Last Duchess' time, parallel realities excluded.

[a-funeral-pyre]

If I am not mistaken Tinúviel and Lόmion have the same meaning if taken literally.

Hm.

[annawry]

Loneliness and Love

It’s a strange thing, loneliness. 

It’s a bit like love, Edwin is starting to realize. He loves Charles, he’s in love with Charles, however unrequited. He believes, now, that he can say he loves Crystal as well, although in an entirely different manner. He loved Simon enough to forgive him, and Monty enough to want to be his friend despite the disastrous kiss and hurt feelings. He thinks he loved Niko, if the aching hollow in his chest whenever he thinks of her is anything to go by. All sorts of different loves. All sorts of different ways of feeling it, of receiving it, of sharing it.

There are different ways of feeling lonely, too. The loneliness of feeling as though something was wrong with him; a feeling that kept him at arm's length from all of his peers before his death, an invisible barrier that he couldn’t risk breaching. There’s the loneliness of being with his friends now and feeling the absence of one. There’s a kind of loneliness in being a ghost as well, incorporeal and detached from the world, never quite a part of it. 

And the loneliness of being in love with your best friend. Of standing by his side and knowing that he is the most important person in the world to you, and you to him, but not like that. Of wanting to kiss him, and knowing it wouldn’t be welcome.

At least Edwin can’t say he’s never been kissed now, but he does know the loneliness of that, too. Of never having experienced such a fundamental, foundational part of being alive: being loved romantically, being chosen, being desired. 

Although he supposes he can’t quite say he doesn’t know what that’s like, either. Simon desired him enough to sacrifice him, if ineptly, to a demon. Monty would have chosen him, in defiance of Esther and his entire purpose for existing in a human form. Only Edwin hadn’t wanted any of that, and being wanted by someone he doesn’t want in return is hardly a balm for a heart that yearns to know what it’s like to be in love with someone who is in love with him.

Perhaps that’s why he can’t quite stop thinking about the Cat King. Oh, he’s not foolish enough to think the King is in love with him, or ever would be. But maybe there’s something to be said for shared desire. The Cat King has made it abundantly clear what he wants from Edwin and Edwin can admit, now, that he's more than a little bit attracted to him in return. But what the Cat King offers is carnal pleasure and it’s somewhat ironic that the only kind of reciprocal desiring and desired that Edwin currently has available to him, is the one he can’t physically feel. And he doesn’t think ‘up there’, as Charles had put it, is going to be enough. In fact, he fears it will only make it worse.

But loneliness is a strange thing, and perhaps that is why Edwin finds himself walking the streets of Port Townsend again, having slipped away from their office through a mirror. He has spied more than one cat along his walk, and thinks it won’t be long until he is found.

[justlikeotherchemists]

"Tired of experiencing survivor's guilt. Time to experience survivor's glee."

[ijustreallylikecaptainamericaok]

Like, at least when it comes to my hatred of J*hn W*lker it's obvious that's everything operating as intended, but for some weird reason the M/C/U really wants me to think the former, barely repentant child trafficker is just a goofy teeheehee funnyman and uhh... yeeeah, I dunno, man. It doesn't sit right. And it's not even just the main timeline either, WI? pulled the same shit and on top of that, made Melina either such a non-presence that she could've been replaced by anyone else or the big bad of the Red Room. It's like how WI? also helped in M*rvel's continued attempts to rehabilitate H*nk's image, but bent over backwards to keep Janet fridged at every turn. They'll do the most to prop up shitty men, but the women? Fuck 'em.

[bonehilda-deactivated]

I AM DOING OKAY I AM DOING VERY FINE INDEED IN FACT I AM HAVING A SPLENDID TIME THE WORLD IS A RAINBOW AND I'M ON A SUGAR CLOUD AND THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING THE NICEST GIRL IN TOO-OO-OWN