#i see the books and movies as separate entities kinda

[starrrbakerrr]

Peeta has said many charming things, but this line always has me giggling and kicking my feet. I don’t understand how Katniss was so strong.

Suzanne really decided to create the perfect man: he can bake and paint, he’s charming but not cocky, and is really kind and caring only to then strip and distort his entire personality, thanks suzanne.

I kinda hate how they changed this in the movie. Even in the paragraphs before this they had this flirty banter that was so so good. The movies erased or changed nearly all of their banter though.

But, anyway - Peeta Mellark is the blueprint that no other book boyfriend has lived up to.

[toffeemugg]

i think being a fan of the dry wit and saracasm of the hmc book kinda ruined watching the movie for me because, despite knowing and appreciating that they're two separate entities, i really wish we had a more accurate book-to-screen adaptation of the hmc book. i wanna see sophie and michael freak out over being in a car in ~animation~

[softquietsteadylove]

Hi just a random question who do you think will be the Ghostface in the Eternals without Sprite because she kinda was the Ghostface in the movie💀 if you ever watched Scream.

So, I admit I haven't watched Scream. And I haven't really kept up with other Eternals stuff, like from the comic books or anything. I always think the movies are different enough that they have to be treated like a totally separate entity anyway.

I kind of liked the way they did Sprite's conflict. She obviously was the most internally conflicted besides Ikaris, and that inner struggle she dealt with is more realistic to a very lonely character than a 'superhero'.

Honestly, I would like to see what they do with Eros. Maybe this is personally, but I would love to see him be a more self-driven character, whether that means being a traitor or a sell-out or whatever. I'd rather that than the weird flirting he had going on with Thena at the end of the first movie, at least.

[drorder]

[okay, all of what I have written here was originally written as a Discord message, which I realized had become way too long to be coherent with discord formatting, so part of the way through, ai started writing it like the first draft of an essay. So that’s why the tone is odd at the beginning]

I think… idk. I feel like the NCCTs, as well as CPUK, are part of a kind of modern wave of web-fiction that draws a lot from EXTREMELY quick-witted improv characters, and lots of audience interaction. AND, crucially, use of video games to creat basically live theatre, but in a way that actual live theatre can’t possibly do.

The examples that come to mind are CPUK and NCCTs, as well as Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware, and probably SaltyDKDan’s Friendlocke? (If anyone has more examples, I’d love to have em, just so i can kinda do more meta on this.)

I wouldn’t call it a medium, bc, of the examples I can think of, all the mediums have been different, but this variation seems crucial to the ‘genre’, because for all the examples I can think of, the storytelling can only be possible with that specific medium.

I think another thing that characterizes the genre is a dynamic between the showrunners and the audience. This kind of fiction always has a defined leader(s) , usually the person streaming, GMing, and/or improv-acting as a character outside themselves in the story, who pretty much has the final say on direction of the story.

It also has a wider audience of people who obvi don’t really know the showrunner(s), and so they have a bit of distance and respect there. The audience is not an audience in the way a movie/play audience or reader of a novel would be, since this audience, due to the story being hosted online, can interact and chat with each other, and influence how they see the story.

Idk. I’m just kind of musing here. I’m realizing, as I explore this idea, that in most of this vein of web-fiction I’ve seen, the viewer interaction is pretty minimal. Everyone can interact with each other and basically act as a Greek Chorus, which influences the fiction because, for instance, in a Twitch stream, the live chat and donation messages show up onscreen. However, there’s still a bit of a line dividing the audience from driving the plot the same way the showrunners are: I think the Greek Chorus comparison works very well here.

However, bring this back to NCCT, this line gets broken, a bit, when NCCT2 begins. We become participants and driving forces in the story in a way we wouldnt as a Twitch chat watching CPUK. Interestlingly, tho, there is still a line drawn between us and the fiction, in the form of the Nelson plot-device. We can discuss and Greek-Chorus the story outside Nelson because of the mechanic of the quotation marks, and when we do participate and drive the plot, we aren’t interacting as separate entities with different motives— we are all just a combined, somewhat chaotic voice, which usually has more impact on the story when we are all unified in our aimss.

[At this point, I decided to cut and paste what I’d written into this post. I might come back and redraft this into something more coherent, because I def want to:

- explore more how NCCT varies from this genre I’ve characterized, and therefore make the way I’ve defined the genre more decriptive of CPUK and HLVRAI and Friendlocke, where the audience is more of a greek chorus than participants in the story. I feel like I tried to stretch my original description of the genre too much to fit the NCCTs, and i think i could fix that.

- Explore what kind of people make up the audience, which is def different from the average audience for movies or books, bc this type of fiction is hosted online, in pretty?~ niche circles, with a lot of queer young people, and i think, also neurodivergent people, in the audience. So there’s some exploration and connections to be done there. ]

[majormojarts]

Sorry for the poor quality but I re-watched World War Z today and I want to share some of my favorite moments.

[chaztalk]

Anti: I bet that the movies played a huge influence for you to decide to ship Harmione, huh?

Me: To be honest, yes.

Anti: Aha! I knew i-

Me: Wait, I’m not finished. At first, yes. Last year when I was watching the movies, I did like Harry’s and Hermione’s friendship in the movies. And I became obsessed with the tent dance as well as the song in that scene. After I watched the movies, I searched on YouTube videos about Harry and Hermione as well as the tent dance itself because I wanted to see the comments to see if people agree with me. Now, in this kind of videos you’d find 3 different comments: (1) the ones who like it for what could’ve been, (2) the ones who like it because it’s a cute moment between friends, (3) and the comments that didn’t like it, saying a variation of “it’s not in the books”, “it’s OOC”, “waste of time”, and the “how dare they have fun without Ron” comments. Watching the pro-Harmony analyses, (there aren’t many sadly) there will always be comments on there that will say “the relationship made more sense in the books”. So, I made it a challenge to read the books to see if they were right. After reading the series, I was like “that’s it”? Now, I know the HP series is not known/famous for the romance. But these were preplanned pairings from the beginning of the series, and we didn’t even see how they interact in a specific date. See, that’s my problem why I don’t like the canon pairings. When they become a couple, we don’t see how they interact with each other. Now, on Harmione, their relationship is a bit different than it was in the movies, but not by much in my opinion. It’s different basically because pretty much all of their canon book scenes don’t appear in the movies. At all. The only scene of them that feels true to the books is the OOTP hug at Grimmauld Place. After reading the books, I do like Harmione in the books. But their relationship can only go so far since Romione is the writer’s endgame pairing. But in a world where personal

Wish fulfillment does not apply, I believe that, naturally, Harry and Hermione eventually get together. With all this said, I kinda dislike the movies because they barely show any canonical Harmione scenes in them; I’ll always like them as a separate entity from the books. As for the tent dance, I’m not much of a fan of it anymore. I like it for reason #2 as I mentioned earlier. It’s nothing more than just two friends dancing. I’d happily trade it out with a canonical Harmione scene too. So, here we are now. You asked me a question: did the movies play a major role in your decision in being a Harmione shipper? As I recall, I said “To be honest, yes.” To be honest, yes, but also no. I said yes because the movies technically got me into the fandom, the HP fandom that is. You know who got me into the Harmione fandom? And here’s the kicker… you guys! The YouTube comments saying that the relationships are more well-built than in the movies gave me the courage to read the books, which just made my love for Harmione stronger. I would like to thank you guys for this. Can I-?

Anti: Blocked

[ihopesocomic]

Random Question, sorry if this weird: where did you find the screenshot of that scene in the My Pride original story?

I’ve honestly tried finding the original novel because people were saying how awful things were in it and I got curious. I just like seeing the differences between the original story and the adaption(s). (Side note: I also like collecting books of movie adaption such as Howl’s Moving Castle, The Fairy Tale stories, Dracula, etc. it’s pretty fun seeing the original story and how much has changed. I haven’t gotten the books, yet but I found them and can’t wait to start collecting. My main goal is to find books of movies people didn’t know it were adaptions. :3). While I didn’t find the original story- I did find some differences between the show and book. People were right. 0-0

I heard the creator wants to publish the book- I haven’t heard from a good source so if it’s true, I honestly don’t want to buy it if it does. I was hoping to find the book where it was originally published before it was taken down but it appears I was too late. I did eventually give up- I couldn’t find the original story but what I have found out happens in the book is making me wanting to find it less and less.

Initially, Tribble published bits of the novel here and there as Literature submissions on DA and that's where I found it. The full original novel was published on DA as a pdf. file but she deleted it randomly one day. Presumably because it went into wayyy more detail about the abuse that Hover suffered at Proudmane's hands, which caused a degree of controversy when it was revealed that hints of it would be in the show (like him demanding she have a litter of cubs, despite her being a lesbian). I am not going to publish what she went through on this blog in a million years but all you need to know it's highly violent and disturbing. And it's not an isolated incident either. The way Nothing's mother - who was named Silentspring or something like that in this adaptation - dies was particularly gruesome too.

I actually didn't read the original novel until the concerns you mentioned grew about it and how it formed the basis for an "LGBT+ friendly" show. I figured early on that the show was a separate entity altogether and I wanted to treat it as such. But it didn't make great reading when I finally did get around to reading it. Not because it was badly written - I don't expect a 14-year-old to be Shakespeare - but because of how over-the-top it was in certain areas. And how some hints of this actually made it into the show.

Honestly, if Tribble had been transparent from the start and stated that this was an adult show and didn't present it as a fun, LGBT+ road trip buddy series in the original trailer, I think she would've been fine to adapt it. It's the fact that it being an "adult show" wasn't revealed until AFTER funding was secured and Tribble kinda used the LGBT+ angle to advertise it. It was a good call to make it clear that it was an "adult show" and contained adult themes but 1) the warning came too little, too late and 2) the trigger warnings were mishandled in the most painful and non-professional way imaginable.

There are things you do NOT get creative and fun with and trigger warnings are one of them, folks.

Personally (emphasis on 'personally' here), I didn't get her need to want to adapt it upon reading the original novel but, then again, I think I was pretty biased against the show from the beginning because I loved Cow of the Wild and I kinda knew My Pride was gonna be its death knell. I supported it because I liked Tribble and her work at the time but, yeah, I really wish she'd attempted to revamp or finish Cow of the Wild with the IPF funding instead. That show seemed to have a better sense of identity as it went on and didn't mismanage its themes nearly as bad as My Pride did. With the exception of the Marra and Rune storyline, of course.

As for rumours that she plans to publish the book, I haven't heard anything about that. She is planning on publishing the rest of the show in written form if she can't secure funding for a second season but, again, I don't know how she's gonna go about that.

[moghedien]

Could you recommend some adult sff? Love your blog btw!

Thank you! 

And ok, I could give you better personalized recs if you give me some idea of what you’re looking for or what you like, but I’m gonna give you some general recommendations. Also I only really feel comfortable recommending books that I have personally read, and there are tons more out there than what I have read. If you want to find more, looking at recent Hugo nominations over the past few years might be helpful. Also one of the reasons why I know anything at all about the SFF world is that I’ve been listening to the Sword and Laser podcast for like, a decade. I never really mention that podcast, but its literally why I started reading at all and also they have a pretty active goodreads group as well. 

So recommendations: 

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie: 

This is one of my favorite books period. This is a far future space opera about an artificial intelligence who used to be a spaceship and now is only one human body, and she is ANGRY ABOUT that. I don’t really want to say more than that, but if you like AI shenanigans and being sorta confused as to what is going on the entire time, then this is the book for you! It’s the first book in a completed trilogy.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan: 

Obviously I’m gonna recommend the Wheel of Time. This is the first book in a 14 (actually 15) book series and if you need something to do with the next 1-5 years of your life *motions toward EoTW*. 

So the Eye of the World, I think is uniquely good as a book if you kinda want to get into adult fantasy for a few reasons. For one thing, its kinda considered to be one of those “classics” of the genre but its not too old to be offputting to some readers. It’s a 30 year old book, so its not reflective of the genre now, but you can definitely see its influence all the place, even outside of just books. The Eye of the World specifically, also goes out of its way to make readers comfortable. It leans heavy on Tolkien references and tropes at first without being a straight up copy of Lord of the Rings like some classic fantasy books are. Its done very purposefully, in my opinion, to make the reader feel like they have some idea of what’s going on, and the series quickly drops the Tolkien references as soon as its established itself enough. 

Also the Gandalf parallel for the series is a smol bi lady and there is 24 year old rage healer who wants to fight everyone with her own two fists.So many women to stan. 

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

This is the first book of the Expanse, which is a nearish future space opera that takes place in our solar system. Mars has long ago been colonized and is a completely separate government entity than Earth, and conflict between the two planets has been stirring. The Asteroid Belt has also been colonized and have long been little more than tools of corporations that run their colonies. A group of ice haulers working in the outer planets get in the middle of one of the biggest secrets in the solar system and find themselves in all kinds of trouble. 

I don’t really want to say more than this, but this is probably the only SF series that I actively keep up on when a new book comes out. There are 8 books our currently, and the 9th and final book will be out sometime in the near future. There are also several short stories and novellas set in the world, and there’s a TV show that I really like though I need to catch up on it. 

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Hello, this book comes with content warnings for literally everything, but it is such a good book/trilogy. This is book about a woman trying to find her daughter again in the middle of the apocalypse. Definitely a heavy read but absolutely brilliant. The world has a magic system based on geology and the people that can use that magic....saying they’re discriminated against is an understatement. I don’t want to say much more about it, but if you have any kind of content you can’t read for whatever reason, I’d check before picking this up. This is the first book in a completed trilogy

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

So this isn’t really super SF heavy and is actually sold as a literary book, but it takes place after a flu pandemic has wiped out a large portion of the population...so maybe this is a bad time to read this book, OR its the best time to read it. Depends on how you’re dealing with *motions at the world*

The book flashes back to before and during the pandemic a lot, but is largely about art’s importance and is actually quite optimistic in its messaging, and this is another of my favorite books ever. But yeah, might be a bad time for you to read it of you can’t deal with the content now. 

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon 

I just remembered that this book also has a plague, but its a subplot and not the major thing. So this is a big ol’ chonky standalone book that is high fantasy, deals with multiple cultures having to interact and work together, and has dragons. Also there’s a genunine slow burn f/f romance and *chef’s kiss*. I can’t really say much else, mostly because I struggle to explain this book, but its very good and probably my favorite book from last year. 

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal 

In this house we stan Mary Robinette Kowal, ok? 

So this is a science fiction that is more an alternate history that poses the question, hey, what would have happened if an asteroid slammed into the east coast in 1952 and the world had to scramble to colonize Mars so that everyone didn’t die on earth when the climate got catastrophic, because that’s the inciting action of the book. The main character is a Jewish woman who was a WASP pilot in WW2 and is a computer for the space program when all this happens. The book deals with sexism, and racism, and xenophobia, and all the social issues that are gonna come up with it being set in 1952, but Mary Robinette doesn’t flinch away from addressing social issues in any of her books, even when it makes her main characters look bad. (Also if you like Pride and Prejudice, she has a series that is just Pride and Prejudice with magic and like, yeah, its good). 

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

This is a book which poses a question, what if dragons were like weird animals that were real and an eccentric woman spent her entire life traveling the world to study them and then told the stories of that in her memoirs when she was too old to care about the consequences of publishing all her scandals. That’s what the book is about. This one is probably actually the weakest in the series, just because it deals with so much set up. It’s a great series to get on audio because Kate Reading is a fantastic narrator, and the prose works so well as audio, because it’s just someone telling you her life story. There are five books in the series. 

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

So this is a novella and is the first in the murderbot series. Basically a killer robot gets addicted to television shows and accidentally became sentient. I haven’t read the others in the series, but I really need to reread this one and get to the others. 

Jade City by Fonda Lee

This is a fantasy set in world sorta inspired by the early 1900s but is in a fantasy world. It’s like a mafia movie and kung fu movie had a baby and it was this book. The sequel is out currently, but the third book is set to release next year.

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon 

This is another heavy read. This is a SF story set on a generation ship that has a society very heavily inspired by the antebellum south. There’s class issues, race issues, gender issues, mental health issues. All kinds of things intersecting here. Its fantastic, but a heavy read.

Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

This is another fantasy classic, and is the first of the Farseer Trilogy. The title is sort of also a description of the book, so like. I’m not sure what else I can say. I haven’t read further into the series, but people I trust love it, and honestly I need to reread this and read more of the books. 

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

So if you think that Station Eleven might be a bad book to read at the time, then this is THE WORST POSSIBLE BOOK TO READ RIGHT NOW. Or, maybe the best. Depends on how you cope. This is a book about time travelers based in Oxford and the main character accidentally gets stranded in the past right as the Black Plague is about to hit. And it hits. The book is horrific. The second book in the series is much funnier. This one ain’t funny, but is good. Just, oof. 

Mistborn or Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

So if you want to get into the Cosmere, which is a series of series that interconnect and will ruin your life, then then my personal opinion is to either start with Mistborn or Warbreaker. People might not agree with me, but that’s my personal opinion. 

Warbreaker is currently a standalone (a sequel will come out eventually but its not set up for a sequel so you can 100% read it as a standalone). The magic in this world is based on colors, and the story revolves around two sisters. One of them is betrothed to the horrific God King of their neighboring kingdom. The other sister ends up being sent in her place because their dad hates her. I adore Warbreaker so much. It has it all. Two women discovering their true places on the prep/goth spectrum. Talking swords. Vivenna. Everything you can need right there. 

Mistborn is a trilogy that is very emo and will ruin you. Its about people who swallow metal to get magic powers and live in world where the dark lord won already, so they’re all emo. And that was the worst description of Mistborn I ever could have written, but I find it too funny to change. 

So if you’re interested in the Cosmere, but are afraid to commit long term, pick up Warbreaker. If you want to get into a series right away, pick up Mistborn. 

[iyliss]

Again, ship asks destinyship for @sleepy-space-nerd thanks for letting me share the luv. - How do they fall asleep? Wake up? Any daily rituals? I keep forgetting if i said it or not. But. Edo always sleep the same: go to bed early, wake up early, strict scheduling for a pro. Saiou just never outgrew the habit of sleeping whenever, wherever he could, but also to wake up at any sound or strong light. At first Edo letted him sleep for so much time, then he realized that not only it wasn’t practical, it was also a bit unhealthy. So he started softly waking him up an hour or two after him, so they can drink morning tea together. Also they always fall asleep after saying goodnight and having a point of physical content with each other. Just to be sure they’re there. - How’s their team work? Do they share well? They duelled together!! Not even tag duel they shared one deck and Saiou played it for a turn!! He knows how to play destiny heroes and, considering there are monster spirits and all, that means edo’s card family accepts Saiou!!! - First impression of each other? Was it love at first sight? Edo probably wondered if this wasn’t some angelic apparition or something. Saiou prayed that Edo won’t hate him on sight. - Nicknames? Pet names? Any in-jokes? They put just so much love in how they say each other’s name, they don’t even need any other words. - Any tasks that are always left to one person? They both have their own sensory issues, so like they know what the other can or can’t do. (For exemple, Saiou is always the one to taste a food to see if it’s still good or not, except everything is edible for him). - Do they discuss big issues? Religion? Marriage? Children? Death? As a kid, Saiou was probably the one Edo would go to to ask things when DD is away. For the best and the worst, since Saiou hardly know lots about the world. - What do they do for fun? Do they have a favorite activity or do they like to switch things up? They’re both nerds so they spend a lot of time reading together, watching movie, sometimes playing board games (and even more rarely video games)... Edo draws a lot, Saiou probably writes. They don’t do lots of things directly together (tho they have lots of movie night), but they often spends time doing their own activity next to each other, regularly asking how it’s going and all. - Anything they both dread? The Light. - Do they keep secrets? Lie? Cheat? Edo would never even considering lying to Saiou. Saiou sometimes try, most of the time it’s to not make him anxious, but he’s terrible at it and Edo knows when he’s hiding something. And now, he can also recognize when it’s important enough that he has to insist on knowing, and when he can trusts Saiou. - What would make them break up? Would it be permanent? Either they try going full typical romo relationship and after some time Saiou realize it just feels... wrong. So they go for something a little less classic and more comfortable. Either a brand new evil entity possess Saiou, mess up their relationship. But I guess on that, Edo is starting to know how to deal with it. But in any case I dont think anything can really make them stop having a “very special friendship” as they said in tag force. - Does their work ever interfere with the relationship? Beside the many time they had to refrain the urge to hold each other hands and smile at each other in public because managers and pros don’t Do That, not really. - How do they hug? Kiss? Tease? Flirt? Comfort? Edo oftens play with Saiou’s hands, or hair, and Saiou likes snuggling next to him, most of the time not even consciously. - How do their friends feel about their relationship? Their families? Mizuchi knew before even they did. Judai guessed retrospectively like “oh yeah right now I get what was going on”. And it’s not like they know much people beyond that. - Do they have kids? Grow old together? Split up? I know it’s very sad but uuh them being old and retiring in a cozy lonely house in the forest with cats, and they know they could be separated soon, but they feel good because they never expected to find such peace and live for so long. - Do they finish each other’s sentences? Pick up any phrases or habits from each other? Know when the other is hiding something? There’s one specific face they both do, and they both share the love of extraness and dramatic acting, so kinda. - Do they have any pets? They “have cats” or rather, they always leave food where the neighboorhoud stray cats can come and eat, and they leave lots of toys and nice cat places, so there’s always a cat coming to spend some times at their place. Some of them do stay almost all the time (when they are too old, too young, to weak), and they all have a name. The ritual is that they name on turn, and it’s always a reference to some nerdy litterature/comics book stuff. - Do they bring out the best in each other, or the worst? Do they have a fatal flaw? At first, we could say they brought the worst in each other (Edo being possessive, Saiou passive and unresponding), but then they learned and changed much better people also for each other ♥

[kitsoa]

KHuX- Three Prong Speculation

I am gonna like level so hard into speculation it’s not even gonna be funny. Because I have three interlocking theories on KHuX that I have speculated about before but never gone over the interconnected nature. A lot of this is re-summarizing the speculation posts but it runs on THREE MAIN IDEAS.

Kingdom Hearts is a self-aware story and MoM is the creator of that story. He is not seeing into the future more so as dictating it. 

Ava, understanding some level of malicious manipulation in her master kills Strelitzia and plants an impostor (to be determined who) to thwart the carefully laid plans of MoM.

Ventus, a victim of the system, grows an immensely suppressed darkness that manifests as a split personality that would later be christened Vanitas. This darkness is a Darkling hybrid that then serves to create discord in the Union Leaders and is the intended spark of the rebirth cycle. 

Okay that’s a lot. Let’s dive in.

This story all about traveling around Disney movies and connecting with characters isn’t all that deep. The face value of the plot kinda explains what I see as it’s underlying plot twist. That it seeks to discuss the merits of stories and characters in our lives. Making friends seems to be the premise but it’s not so much making friends as it is understanding and feeling the impact of fictional entities (all of Sora’s friends are characters we’ve met in other fictional contexts)-- but we are observing it through an inside lens: through fictional denizen Sora and his subsidiaries.

The rising conflict within this shadow premise of Kingdom Hearts then ends up being about the regard of fiction and the impact stories have. Their nature. What they are capable of doing and the reason we should or shouldn’t value their creation. 

Enter. The Master of Masters. 

The Author

The theory goes like this. The Book of Prophecies, depicting the story of the entire KH franchise is written by the Master of Masters. A true claim. The Master of Masters is able to do this through a stable time loop device he plants into the narrative known as the Gazing Eye. Everything that keyblade baring the eye witnesses is view by him temporally jam-packed into his understanding to allow him to write the book in his time. 

...A harder claim to verify. 

See we kinda have to take MoM’s word for it here. Sure eyeballs are used for witnessing things and the breadth of his abilities could very well enchant some eye to transmit that view back into the past but… knowing the limitations of the universe with time travel and how seemingly limited an arbitrary eye in a key view would give him… this plot doesn’t actually make any sense. He either is powerful enough not to need an elaborate proxy, or the proxy isn’t expansive enough to warrant the knowledge he knows. 

So let’s call MoM on his bluff. Let’s say he told a half-truth to Luxu. The Gazing Eye is his eye. But it’s simply a live-feed security camera. It’s his viewpoint of events of kingdom hearts outside of the written word.

Leaving us with the question: How did MoM write the Book of Prophecies?

The short answer: The world they live in is fictional and MoM is the actual author. The Book of Prophecies is a book of predictions but a roadmap, a plan. It is the story of the entire multi-verse. It doesn’t happen because MoM saw it happen. It happened because MoM willed it to happen. 

Alright cool. What’s he trying to do? 

Well, let’s do a quick personality analysis of MoM. Quirky and eccentric. He likes to have fun. He pokes fun at serious people and taunts them. He’s a planner, scheming together elaborate roles and procedures for his Foretellers. And he’s inquisitive. He creates the dream eaters and the keyblades. His study is full of notes and beakers and scientific paraphernalia suggesting that there’s a hunger for knowledge and understanding. 

And he dwells in a fictitious world of his creation?

I turn to the flashbacks from the Cornerstones of Rebirth to re-contextualize this scenario. He paints the Keyblade War as a continuous, endless, conflict that cycles-- but I’m convinced he’s speaking figuratively. What he describes in that scene is the premise of all conflict. What he does, is explain his origin story. A boy surrounded by monsters in human guise. Real evil. The real world. And when he realized that evil he ‘created’ the Keyblade War. He saw it and all conflict as this great battle between good and evil. He formed a lens of understanding through this story. The world of Kingdom Hearts was created to rationalize the existence of real evil. 

Of course, as he matures he grows more aware of this process but the disdain for that real evil still exists. He still wants to stop the cycle he’s perceived as evil’s destruction and good’s unrelenting return. He wants to do this… by emulating the process in his own story. He wants to see if it can be done. It’s his curiosity, and perhaps a sick sense of cynicism that it’s even possible. I get serious, jaded-by-humanity evil god vibes. 

So he creates this story and it’s doomed to fall to darkness. It’s fated to fall to darkness not because he saw its fate but because he said so. And he’s gonna rig the resurrection process perhaps to inspire enough gumption in his creations to fight the inevitable fate that he is putting them in, to see if it can be done at all. He wants to learn from them or have his point proven. 

The plan: make the war happen over and over and over again in this little world he created. Set it up so that all the players in-fight and turn to darkness and betray and lose their way and then make it so there are always designated survivors to repeat the process over again. Then sit back and watch. See if they can defy him. See if their actions can change their fate. 

The Pawn

Ava is his pawn. As I state in this speculation post, Ava goes through the motions following the Master’s orders to orchestrate his designated survivors-- the Dandelions. But it’s in her encounter with Luxu that he tells her ‘there is no traitor.’ He reveals that the conflict between the Foretellers is by the Master’s very design meant to sow the tensions of war and trigger the inevitable destruction they so want to avoid. Her denial causes her to strike and ring the bell, therefore becoming the fictitious traitor and making real the inciting lost page. The Master of Master’s point is proven. Ava, performs her role and brings about the destruction. 

But knowing that the Master has orchestrated the Dandelions, she foresees the cycles repeat. The tension sowed in the very structure of the separate unions, in the recreational battles, in the wiped memories. She sees that if there is nothing done, the union leaders will grow wary of each other, the presence of the Book of Prophecy will behave like the lost page, competition and resentment will form and darkness will grow in the hearts of the Dandelions resulting in the same fate. So Ava sets to change this.

She grants the Book of Prophecies to someone other than the Master’s intended recipient. But it doesn’t stop there. Changing the BoP recipient wouldn’t change the fact that the presence of the imbalance of knowledge would incite tension between unions.

No, she plants an impostor as well. And she does this by killing Strelitzia for the greater good. 

She then hides as Darkness and orchestrates their escape from the dataworld. 

Now we must ask. Is this enough to change the fate of this story? 

Short answer: No. 

Long answer: It doesn’t actually matter because it is human nature to destroy. The Darkness will always exist.

The Plot-device

Because I think there was always going to be a planted element of discourse in the leaders. Something intended to destroy the peace of the Dandelion’s world in a different way. And that-- is the Darklings. The creatures of Darkness behave in a 3rd party way when they are symptoms of the story’s context. Keykids falling to their dark jealousy and rage. The competition and fear of their situation. Darkness is inherent. And the darkness of a powerful chosen (keyblade wielders) is an even greater threat. It is the darkness of humanity that drove MoM to this experiment and ultimately the thing that will keep rearing its head should he not meddle. 

And that is why he chose Ventus as a Union Leader.

As I stated in this post, I think there is circumstantial evidence to suggest that Ven’s personality and the hardships of Daybreak Town’s system have caused him to suppress his Darkness and create what is essentially a split personality. Schrodinger's Darkling. I believe Ven was chosen by MoM to ensure the destruction of the Dandelion’s world. 

His capacity for darkness is foreshadowed and eventually spawns a later series antagonist. Ven is used to talk about that duality and the exclusive factors of both natures so it is fitting that he is capitalizes on that poetic message. Darkness is in every heart, even the kindest. The situation and context of the Daybreak town story created him so he is an unavoidable force. The Darklings serve as a plot device to serve in conflict with the key bearers and play the role of fodder in the Master’s grand experiment. 

Conclusion 

So Ava’s actions continue to make her a pawn to fate as her killing of Strelitzia drives a wedge in the Union Leaders. With his darkness suppressed to the point of bursting, the tension will send Ven over the edge and cause him to incite the Keyblade war with his Darkling split personality. This war will reflect the dark versus light fables of old that we hear the Keyblade War described as. Vanitas-- through Ven will toll the bell to start the war again. Fate will be unavoidable. In that struggle, Ava’s actions will have prompted Brain to seek out the next world. The cycle of rebirth will once again happen because of her plot. It was all orchestrated and the Master of Master’s experiment yields no new results. This god will from this have lost hope in the power of fiction to overcome the constant cycle. 

That is until Sora comes to meet him.

[sol1056]

EPs: "we chose Netflix to explore things like sexuality" (nothing was explored or was explicit for even 2 seconds) "when they told us u cant kill Shiro, we knew we could push the reveal 4 later" (so nice of them to admit they stopped our rep just to be able to kill him) "when we found out about byg we knew we coulnt kill Shiro & we thought we'll find rep w another character. Then we learned we could go on w/ Shiro as the rep" (theres ANOTHER REP WE DIDNT GET?? Was it vague then erased? Whatt??)

I think these are two separate issues. One is related to who made VLD, and the other is related to the EPs’ ignorance of characterization. The second overlaps with a bunch of asks I’ve recently gotten about race and representation, so here I’m just keeping it to a general discussion of characterization, with Lance as example. And then about Shiro in particular, how the EPs’ statements reveal their lack of thought.

Behind the cut. 

remember where these people came from

The team behind VLD is almost entirely formerly Nickelodeon. DreamWorks wanted to break into television on a much larger scale, and since they almost always promote from outside the company, they lured over Margie Cohn from her position as a Nick VP. As VP/exec levels tend to do, Cohn brought a bunch of people with her.

One of those was Mark Taylor, who’d been involved in both AtLA and LoK. Taylor, in turn, brought JDS, LM, and I think one or two of the other producers. Taylor also probably brought over Hamilton, Chan, and Hedrick, as known entities with proven track records. 

These are people who — for for the last ten or more years — have swum in Nickelodeon’s considerably more conservative fishbowl. It’s entirely possible (given what people tell me about storylines in HTTYD, and DW’s open support of She-Ra) the former Nickelodeon team automatically downgraded DW’s “go ahead and explore these heavier/darker topics” to mean “maybe kinda mention in passing but don’t be too obvious about it.”  

Now, to be fair, the EPs may have pushed for more LGBT+ rep, and their obstacle might not have been DW, but Taylor. It’d explain how the EPs could praise everyone (read: DreamWorks staff) as supportive, yet allso complain about pushback (read: Taylor’s Nickelodeon-influenced sensibilities). Two different parties were calling the shots. 

It’s also possible what the EPs saw as ‘rep’ was still considerably toned-down from what DW execs (and the VAs) may’ve expected. After all, that one-minute scene in VLD might’ve required an act of god at Nickelodeon. VLD’s staff may have genuinely considered this scene landmark because even that tiny bit was far more than their previous employer would’ve allowed. 

Cue the victory lap and excited chatter, and seeming blindness to Korra being long since surpassed by Steven Universe, Young Justice, Bob’s Burgers, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, RWBY, Rick and Morty, Clarence, BoJack Horseman, Danger & Eggs, Big Mouth, and Summer Camp Island. Remember, it wasn’t until 2016 that Nickelodeon would have a married gay couple (in The Loud House), and they’re not even central characters. The VLD staff may’ve thought itself bold, and unprepared for the reality of modern (non-Nickelodeon) audience expectations. 

No, I don’t think that absolves them. It just seems the most reasonable explanation. That is, short of seeing the EPs as so utterly cynical they’d pump up the audience for what amounted to a nothingburger in light of what else popular media now delivers. 

and then there’s representation

VLD’s troubles can all be traced to one crucial detail: the EPs don’t understand that characters are the bedrock of stories. And as such, there are no shortcuts.

Ever had the misfortune to catch a home decorating show? Here we have a windowless basement: mock up a mantle from polystyrene, paint the walls gray, put up sconces with flickering lightbulbs… it’s still a basement. It’s just now desperately pretending to be something it isn’t. The bones of the structure are undeniably American Suburbia, not generic castle keep, and those bones are integral to how we experience the space.

The average person isn’t trained to be aware of those bones — the underlying architecture — and its subtle impact on our experience, just as most non-storytellers aren’t trained to see how and where and why characters create plot. I guarantee you, though, you will never mistake a late-century Kmart for the Centre Pompidou or the Forbidden City or Mount Vernon. Just as you would never mistake a beginner’s first novel for Lord of the Rings or Left Hand of Darkness. 

That is, the dressed stone isn’t paint and plaster; it’s a core element informing (even dictating) height, width, and depth of a space. Characterization is the same: it must be structural. In turn, characters inform the breadth and depth of the story. If your characterization is shallow, wild swerves and dramatic reveals can make the story fun, but they will never make it deep. 

I empathize with the (hopefully genuine) intent to avoid making Shiro’s sexuality a ‘reveal.’ The unfortunate truth is: waiting 60+ episodes to even mention in passing makes it a reveal. It wasn’t structural, or viewers would’ve been sensing it from the very beginning. 

This isn’t a haircut or a pair of jeans. It’s a person’s identity, and that has crucial impact on hopes, fears, desires, and needs. It doesn’t start only once the audience is let in on the secret; it was always there. It should’ve informed the character’s actions and reactions all along. 

If Lance is Cuban, and the story takes place in a quasi-future America, then to understand Lance’s perspective, we need to ask questions like: is Cuba still under embargo? Is it a free democracy now, or did Lance’s family flee at some point? Is he part of an exchange program, or is there a lottery that let him come to the US for his education? Did he leave his family behind? How young was he, when he left? What was his childhood like, and how does that differ from what he found in America? What was his parents’ relationship like, and how does that influence his expectations for friends and lovers? 

Was he fluent in English when he arrived, or did he only become fluent later? Does his Spanish have a noticeable accent, and if so, has he felt isolated from other Latinx at school? Or is he the only Latino at the Garrison? Is he proud of his heritage, or ashamed of it? Did he get bullied for being foreign, and how did that change what he says/does? Even if America is joyfully multi-cultural, he’d still be an immigrant or foreigner, and that’s a different experience from a non-white community that’s multi-generation American. What was his impression of his new life? What compared favorably (or not) to his childhood? 

It’s not just, “He’s a boy from Cuba.” You have to think about what it means to be ‘from Cuba’ and how this is different from, say, growing up next door to the Garrison (like Pidge probably did). If you put that much thought into it, if you talk to people who’ve lived that experience, if you push yourself to imagine as deeply as you can how Lance’s life would have shaped him? 

By the time you’re done, Lance would never need to say a word. 

His reactions, his assumptions, maybe a few mannerisms, his humor, a few throwaway comments about his family or things he did as a kid — and there would be Cubans in the audience going, “hey, wait a minute, he’s just like my cousin.” Or brother or uncle or friend. By the time someone asks at a panel? Half the audience would be saying, yeah, we were right, Lance is totally Cuban. 

Or you don’t think about it, and you use stereotypes in hopes that’ll do the work for you. As @sjwwerewolf commented:

Man, I’m ready to rant about Voltron. I’m Cuban. Lance, oh boy, Lance. From season 1 on, he has been written as a huge stereotype. The flirtatious, passionate comic relief character who’s dumb. Like. He’s literally Antman’s sidekick. That character. All you need to make him a full caricature is like, “I have a gangster brother.“ 

The stereotype is a shortcut. It’s slapping on behaviors without thought for a real person’s experiences or perspectives. VLD is, sadly, full of them: the Latino (wannabe) lover, the big guy who likes food (with only the slightest twist to have him actually good at cooking), the boyish-girl who’s a brain and likes computers more than people, etc. 

just pull shiro out of a hat

At some point early on, the EPs said (once again in an interview, not in the story) that VLD is a world without homophobia. The story itself contradicts that ideal, or at least, it emphasizes a certain level of heternormativity over an open embrace of diverse relationships. What’s in our face for six seasons is Lance’s lover-boy stereotype, Allura’s attraction to Lotor, Lotor’s attraction to Allura, Matt’s attraction to Allura, and so on… and the closest we get to anything resembling an alternate attraction is one blush from a servant in a flashback, and Kuron’s startled reaction to Keith’s return. 

All VLD had to do was have Hunk mention his moms. Or Coran mention his late husband. Or Lance mention his sister’s wife. Something explicit to offset the heterosexual attractions going on. Frankly, for six seasons it was an open question whether homosexuality even existed in VLD: the absence of a negative is not proof of the presence of a positive. 

That absence means we really have no idea how being queer in VLD’s world would affect a character — and it would, have no doubt. Our sexuality affects every single one of us; it’s just that straight people have the benefit of seeing the roadmap of their sexuality played out in a million books, movies, and television shows. If you haven’t given thought to whether this is also true in your world, then you don’t really know how a character could discover, define, and map their sexuality, or how they’d quantify or qualify relationships that overlap their sexual preferences. You don’t understand the structure. 

That lack of thought means, nine times out of ten, the creator has said to themselves, “it’s easier to just say this character’s experience of their sexuality is exactly like the one I, as a straight person, vaguely recall having (that I never actually had to question because it was already mapped out for me, everywhere I looked).” That’s not a queer character. That’s a character with a label slapped on their forehead that says here be a queer character. It’s paint, because the structure underneath is straight person. 

Which means that of course the EPs could consider making someone else “the rep,” because they really seem to believe this is as easy as removing the label from Shiro’s forehead and sticking it on someone else. And it’s not. People don’t work like that. Sexuality is no more a simple paint-job than race, gender, culture, or dis/ability. Each of these things is etched on our bones, literally or metaphorically, and that changes us all the way through. 

The short version, then, is: no, we wouldn’t have gotten any other rep, just as we haven’t truly gotten any rep as VLD was delivered. Shiro has a label on his forehead, but unless and until the canonical story demonstrates this goes all the way down to his bones… he’s just a straight suburban basement with a mediocre paint job and some fake queer columns.

[thepatchworkcrow]

Witchcraft Asks #1-105

So, just for @dearpenumbra and because I’m wide awake and bored and want to answer them: Here is the list of the 105 witchcraft questions I just finished answering. I answered one each day but feel free to answer them all at once or however you want to do it. Tag your it!

1. Are you solitary or in a coven? I am technically a solitary, though I have friends with whom I occasionally celebrate the sabbats and do other witchy things with.

2. Do you consider yourself Wiccan, Pagan, witch, or other? I use ‘Pagan’, ‘witch’, and ‘Druid’ to describe myself. My path of Druidry is inherently pagan because of its reverence of the earth and all life, and it contains practices that are part of witchcraft.

3. What is your zodiac sign? I am a Cancer!

4. Do you have a Patron God/dess? I do, for sake of Tumblr, I call them The Hunter and The Lady of the Lantern. They’re deities I’ve not found in any mythology- sort of my own unique perspective / interaction with the divine forces of the universe, and so I keep the names I call to them in ritual private.

5. Do you work with a Pantheon? I do work with other deities beyond my patron god and goddess. A lot of them are from the various Celtic pantheons and include: Brighid, Gofannon the Smith, Cerridwen, Mannanan Mac Lir, and Gwyn ap Nudd.

6. Do you use tarot, palmistry, or any other kind of divination? I read tarot, runes, and ogham. I own an agate scrying mirror, but it’s very finnicky and I’d love to learn palmistry some day.

7. What are some of your favorite herbs to use in your practice? (if any) I use sage for cleansing, mugwort for a couple of blends of incense for divination, and lavender to cleansing, peace, intuition, etc.

8. How would you define your craft? It’s a path of Druidry dedicated to the Wylde Hunt.

9. Do you curse? If not, do you accept others who do? I have cursed- only in extreme situations, and the curse I used was aimed more at making the target realize how negative and toxic the bullshit they’ve been spewing/causing is. Sort of a “You’re going to realize the full horror of your actions” kind of a thing.

10. How long have you been practicing? The summer solstice will mark my 13th year.

11. Do you currently or have you ever had any familiars? I have familiar spirits: a black dog that goes by the name Yew, and a raven with a gold stripe on its beak named Gildenbeck. I’ve never had a familiar in the sense of a pet who does witchy stuff with me though.

12. Do you believe in Karma or Reincarnation? I believe in reincarnation and that our cations in one life affect the next. I’ve done  a past life regression before, but that’s a story for a post that isn’t QUITE this long.

13. Do you have a magical name? I used to. I’ve got through a number of them over the years, changing them out as I see fit. My most recent one was actually the name I started this blog under: Brenna Adaira, but I’ve since outgrown it, and don’t really feel the need for one.

14. Are you “out of the broom closet”? Yes. I have been from the very beginning.

15. What was the last spell you performed? Shit. I don’t even remember. I’m not super big on spells. Anything more complex than carving a candle and charging it with intention to leave burn on my altar is usually not something I bother with.

16. Would you consider yourself knowledgeable? This is a silly question. As I’ve been practicing 13 years, and as someone with a bachelor’s degree, I’d say yes. I am knowledgeable about a number of things. However, I recognize there are many things I’m not knowledgeable about and there is always room for growth and learning.

17. Do you write your own spells? Since they’re very slapdash? Yes. They get written as I’m throwing spell components together to just DO THE THING.

18. Do you have a book of shadows? If so, how is it written and/or set up? I have recently started compiling a more formal grimoire of my path and all of its integral components. My working book of shadows however is always a sketchbook that gets carried around with me literally everywhere. It’s got drawings, scribbled poetry, journal entries, cut and pasted pictures, ritual outlines, musings, research notes, etc. and it’s all pretty out of order and chaotic. But I love the freedom of not having to be too careful with how I structure things and just let everything happen organically.

19. Do you worship nature? I do not worship nature. I honor the forces of nature; I treat them with respect and work to do my best to live in harmony with them. We are part of nature, not separate beings.

20. What is your favorite gemstone? Oof. This is a tough one. Moss Agate or Moonstone... but also Citrine and Opal. xD

21. Do you use feathers, claws, fur, pelt, skeletons/bones, or any other animal body part for magical work? I have a pheasant wing fan I use for smoke cleansing. I also have a small set of antlers that I’m still meaning to make into a proper headdress for ritual wear. Right now, they sit with my statute of The Hunter and the rest of my Wylde Hunt stuff.

22. Do you have an altar? Usually, yes. At the moment I don’t because I’ve been sort of in-transit for months. I’m moving back home at the end of the week though, and setting up an altar is the FIRST thing I intend to do.

23. What is your preferred element? Air. I love wind, stars, storms, gentle breezes through the forest, music, singing, the power of words.

24. Do you consider yourself an Alchemist? Not even in the slightest. XD

25. Are you any other type of magical practitioner besides a witch? Already answered above, but I’m a Druid! ^_^

26. What got you interested in witchcraft? I answered this in my previous post.

27. Have you ever performed a spell or ritual with the company of anyone who was not a witch? Yes! We used to frequently invite non-pagan friends to celebrate sabbats with us. One year, we actually erected a Maypole in my backyard and did a maypole dance.

28. Have you ever used ouija? Nope, and I would never. I don’t need it to speak with my guides, I don’t wanna poke at the dead, and I don’t trust them as reliable tools.

29. Do you consider yourself a psychic? I have strong intuition, but I wouldn’t call myself a psychic.

30. Do you have a spirit guide? If so, what is it? I have a couple, but the main one appears to me as a sort of elven / druidic entity (kinda Tolkien elf-ish with the blonde hair and all that). He goes by the name of Brannan and has been sort of my Druid guide both before and during my OBOD studies.

31. What is something you wish someone had told you when you first started? I wish someone had taught me really basic grounding and centering exercises and energy work first. Instead, I jumped right into gods and spells and rituals and all sorts of silliness early on in my path.

32. Do you celebrate the Sabbats? If so which one is your favorite? I haven’t this past year or so because I’ve been trying to get my bearings post-college again. But my favorite is Midsummer. It’s closest to my birthday, marks the anniversary of my dedication to studying witchcraft, and is just always a super heightened time for me spiritually speaking.

33. Would you ever teach witchcraft to your children? Yes. There’s another, longer blog post coming about my thoughts on this, but the short version of it is that I would rather give them some manner of religious context and collection of traditions and heritage than leave them completely on their own to consider the big universal questions religion is supposed to answer.

34. Do you meditate? Not nearly as often as I would like, but at least a couple of times a month.

35. What is your favorite season? Autumn. I love the gloom and the smell of the leaves, and the rain and how windy it gets, and the colors, and of course all of the things like pumpkin spice and Halloween. It’s another time of deep spiritual work for me. This is when the Wylde Hunt rides, and I mark my progress on my path in devotion to them.

36. What is your favorite type of magick to preform? I don’t actually like doing magick other than charging and burning candles. I’m sort of a lazy witch and usually find it more necessary to do inner work to get through a problem than to try and effect change in the world around me.

37. How do you incorporate your spirituality into your daily life? I take actions that align with my spiritual goals: living in harmony with the natural world, creating beautiful things, never stopping my own growth and learning, and compassion for others. I recycle where I can, try to reduce waste and reuse things. I take walks in nature and spend time in the woods. I stay informed so I can vote in ways that put people in power who care about our world. I take time to notice beauty in small places: a bird flying over head, stars in the winter sky, the way the sun is coming in through a window. When all of life is sacred, the spiritual path is not separate from the rest of your life. It becomes the lens through which you frame your life.

38. What is your favorite witchy movie? If I had to choose.... damn. I really can’t. The triad of Hocus Pocus, The Craft, and Practical Magic kinda take that place. I love them all in different ways.

39. What is your favorite witchy book, both fiction and non-fiction. Why? My favorite witchy books... Non-fiction: Living Druidry by Emma Restall-Orr, because it’s a look at Druidry through a Druid’s eyes. It introduces Druid concepts without the formal textbook layout, and I love reading about her experiences. Fiction: The Tree Shepherd’s Daughter and the associated series by Gillian Summers because who wouldn’t love a book about an elf who talks to trees whose day job to hide among humans is to make furniture to sell at Renaissance Festivals? Like... It’s just good, okay?

40. What is the first spell you ever preformed? Successful or not. This got answered in my last post. 

41. What’s the craziest witchcraft-related thing that’s happened to you? And so did this one!

42. What is your favourite type of candle to use? I typically use those cheap chime candles or tealights. They burn down quickly and are easy to get ahold of.

43. What is your favorite witchy tool? I would have to say my drum. I love love love love raising energy with it or doing trance work while drumming.

44. Do you or have you ever made your own witchy tools? All of my wands have been handmade and my altar statues are all sculpted by hand. My ogham staves are handmade, and I’ve made a set of runes in the past, but they weren’t fond of me. XD

45. Have you ever worked with any magical creatures such as the fea or spirits? Ohhhh yes. Lots! The Wylde Hunt is one such example, but I’ve also worked with goblins and other various fae.

46. Do you practice color magic? I use color associations loosely, but don’t adhere to them too much.

47. Do you or have you ever had a witchy teacher or mentor of any kind? I did, sort of. My mom’s best friend was the one who bought me my first tarot deck, taught me how to read, etc. She gave me witchy homework now and then, but it wasn’t really a formal mentorship. She’s like another mother to me though, and I love her lots. <3

48. What is your preferred way of shopping for witchcraft supplies? Unfortunately, my preferred way is no longer possible. My local shop closed down in Feb of 2017 and I have been super sad ever since. I’m still trying to find a suitable alternative.

49. Do you believe in predestination or fate? I believe that we have free will and that the Universe sort of fills in the gaps. I think somethings are sort of “meant” to happen, but I don’t think everything is set in stone.

50. What do you do to reconnect when you are feeling out of touch with your practice? I light candles at my altar and just open myself to the energies, or I go on a walk with my friend, Mark. We always get into super deep conversations that get me back in the vibe.

51. Have you ever had any supernatural experiences? I could fill an ENTIRE post just on this alone, but yes. Plenty.

52. What is your biggest witchy pet peeve? Answered!

53. Do you like incense? If so what’s your favorite scent? I love incense! I tend to burn a lot of Dragon’s Blood, though I’ve recently discovered one called Mountain Heather that I am ALSO in love with.

54. Do you keep a dream journal of any kind? I keep weirdly vivid dreams in the notepad function on my phone. It’s usually right near my pillow and I just tap what I remember in there and try to go back to sleep.

55. What has been your biggest witchcraft disaster? Man, I can’t really think of a time things went horribly wrong to be honest.

56. What has been your biggest witchcraft success? Maintaining my practice and developing it into something uniquely my own.

57. What in your practice do you do that you may feel silly or embarrassed about? I know some people would say having spirit guides and such is silly. There are others who would say that energy work and psychic vampirism and the like are kinda woo-y and weird too.

58. Do you believe that you can be an atheist, Christian, Muslim or some other faith and still be a witch too? Anyone from any religion can be a witch. Witchcraft is a practice, not a religious path. Anyone can learn to raise and manipulate energy regardless of which deity they do/n’t worship.

59. Do you ever feel insecure, unsure or even scared of spell work? I just don’t usually feel a need for it. It’s usually able to be solved by mundane means or by doing inner personal work.

60. Do you ever hold yourself to a standard in your witchcraft that you feel you may never obtain? Don’t we all have perfectly aesthetic rituals that leave us feeling profound as a standard which we don’t ever quite meet? Aren’t we all secretly pining for Tumblr/Instagram worthy altars?

61. What is something witch related that you want right now? I actually really want to get a Tarokka deck, which is a tarot-esque oracle used in the D&D Curse of Strahd campaign. I want them for the campaign, but also to use for actual divination because it sounds like fun to try.

62. What is your rune of choice? I’m very partial to Kenaz (light, illumination, guidance), and Laguz (movement, water travel, magic, intuition).

63. What is your tarot card of choice? The 8 of Cups, The Star, and the 3 of Swords are all sort of cards I look at to determine if I’ll love or hate a deck.

64. Do you use essential oils? If so what is your favorite? I do use some, albeit sparingly. I’m rather fond of patchouli, sage, and a heather one I found.

65. Have you ever taken any kind of witchcraft or pagan courses? I’m currently wrapping up the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids’ Bardic Grade Course.

66. Do you wear pagan jewelry in public? Right now, my everyday necklace is a nine-pointed star which is supposed to represent the 9 sisters of Avalon, of whom Morgan le Fay was one.

67. Have you ever been discriminated against because of your faith or being a witch? Yes. Once, in early high school by a teacher. And once in college by some preppy sorority girl who wandered over to the LGBT clubs’ table at a Campus Life event looking to cause an argument.

68. Do you read or subscribe to any pagan magazines? Not magazines, but I follow a number of blogs both on Tumblr, Patheos, and Wordpress.

69. Do you think it’s important to know the history of paganism and witchcraft? Yes. Absolutely. The Burning Times weren’t about real witches. Modern paganism is not ancient paganism, and the context of myth, traditional practices, etc. are important.

70. What are your favorite things about being a witch? The language and tools I have with which to describe my experiences and think about and interact with the rest of the universe.

71. What are your least favorite things about being a witch? Being a conscious being and co-creator with spirit is freaking hard, yo.

72. Do you listen to any pagan music? If so who is your favorite singer/band? My absolute fave is Damh the Bard, but also give S.J. Tucker and OMNIA a listen. <3

73. Do you celebrate the Esbbats? If so, how? I used to do Dark Moon tea and meditation time with the Dark Goddess. Usually if I do something for any of the moon phases it’s sort of spur of the moment these days.

74. Do you ever work skyclad? I don’t, because I currently lack private space to do so.

75. Do you think witchcraft has improved your life? If so, how? Well, I am an empowered being with knowledge and love of the Universe and the divine connections between us all. I’m also equipped with various techniques for performing inner transformative work as well as affecting change in the world around me. What’s not to love?

76. Where do you draw inspiration from for your practice? My practice is a lot of “Solitary Wicca” meets OBOD druidry, meets a sort of Dragonheart ‘knights of the Old Code’ sort of feel. It’s about nature, creativity, and living honorably.

77. Do you believe in ‘fantasy’ creatures? (Unicorns, fairies, elves, gnomes, ghosts, etc) I do. I don’t believe they exist corporeally in this plane of existence though.

78. What’s your favorite sigil/symbol? I’m not sure I could pick one... but if I had to, I’d say the symbol for Awen.

79. Do you use blood magick in your practice? Why or why not? I’ve used blood in magic exactly twice. Once was in a dedication rite to The Hunter, and the other was to the Wylde Hunt. Both times it was blood from something like a paper cut or popped blister, whatever that was already available. I used it as a potent source of energy but also as a sympathetic tie to myself. Since I was dedicating myself to said entity, using it as a taglock made sense.

80. Could you ever be in a relationship with someone who doesn’t support your practice? Absolutely not. Thank you, next.

81. In what area or subject would you most like your craft to grow? I’m looking to pursue the OBOD’s further courses. I want to become a celebrant for the order and perform marriage, death, etc. rites for others within the order as well as those in the pagan community.

82. What’s your favorite candle scent? Do you use it in your practice? I love candles that smell like mulled spices or coffee or pumpkin. I don’t use them for magic, just for ambiance.

83. Do you have a pre-ritual ritual? (I.e. Something you do before rituals to prepare yourself for them). If so what is it? I ground and center before every ritual. Beyond that, I’m usually doing magic on the fly.

84. What real life witch most inspires your practice? Emma Restall-Orr, whom I’m not sure would identify as a witch. She’s technically a druid and author of various books and I love how gritty and honest and earthy what she shares is.

85. What is your favorite method of communicating with deity? I like to get somewhere quiet, and channel them through sort of automatic writing. I also frequently use visualization / meditation techniques to go to my sacred grove and speak with them there.

86. How do you like to organize all your witchy items and ingredients? What is this... organize you speak of? All spell components are in wee jars in a drawer. xD

87. Do you have any witches in your family that you know of? My mom was a practicing Wiccan when I was little, and my sister has interest in witchcraft.

88. How have you created your path? What is unique about it? Answered in my last post. 

89. Do you feel you have any natural gifts or affinities (premonitions, hearing spirits, etc.) that led you toward the craft? If so what are they? I have a strange knack for vibing with plants/crystals/etc. and just knowing what they can be used for. I’ve also always had the ability to sort of see/hear things not there: spirits, fae, etc.

90. Do you believe you can initiate yourself or do you have to be initiated by another witch or coven? To be initiated implies you are entering into a group. The OBOD gives you the opportunity to initiate yourself if you aren’t close enough to a grove, but the point stands that it’s a ritual given to you by someone else. You can dedicate yourself to a specific path, but initiation implies you’re being included in something you once were not included in.

91. When you first started out in your path what was the first thing or things you bought? I’m pretty sure it was a new tarot deck, tbh. It’s been too long. I don’t remember.

92. What is the most spiritual or magickal place you’ve been? Answered in the last post: but Avebury, England.

93. What’s one piece of advice you’d give someone who is searching for their matron and patron deities? They aren’t necessary for a balanced and successful path. I know it can be weird not having a specific god/ddess but it’s really really really not necessary to find one right away  to be able to have a successful practice.

94. What techniques do you use to ‘get in the zone’ for meditation? I dim the lights, drink some coffee or wine, get somewhere comfy, and put on some quiet music.

95. Did visualization come easily to you or did you have to practice at it? It used to come a lot more easily to me. I realized I was using it as sort of escapism and stopped, and have been building it back again.

96. Do you prefer day or night? Why? I prefer night. Everyone else is asleep and it gives me time and space to think and work on things without being disturbed.

97. What do you think is the best time and place to do spell work? The best time and place is when and where you need it most.

98. How did you feel when you cast your first circle? Did you stumble or did it go smoothly? We forgot to include a means of opening the circle in our first ritual’s notes. So... sort of a stumble.

99. Do you believe witchcraft gets easier with time and practice? Yes... and no. Because with time and practice, you come to find deeper things, and bigger truths. It builds upon itself.

100. Do you believe in many gods or one God with many faces? In my belief system, all gods are separate beings, but all a part of the Great Song of Creation that gives life to the universe.

101. Do you eat meat, eggs and dairy? I do! No restrictive diets here.

102. What is your favorite color and why? I can’t truthfully pick one. I’m fond of burgundy lately.

103. What is the one question you get asked most by non-practitioners or non-pagans? How do you usually respond? “I really like your necklace; what does that symbol mean?” To which I say “I got it at a renaissance festival; it’s supposed to represent the nine sisters of Morgen LeFay.” which seems to be an acceptable response.

104. Which of your five senses would you say is your strongest? Probably my sight.

105. What is a pagan or witchcraft rule that you preach but don’t practice? “Always cast a circle.” I recommend it for new folks, but I rarely ever actually cast one myself.

[fishyselkie]

Good Omens Book and Show

I've been seeing posts about people who are saying that the show of Good Omens does not follow the book in some ways and is a more LGBTQ+ show because of Crowley and Aziraphale. I just kinda wanna say something on that.

I did not read the book series growing up. I didn't know that there was a book until after I watched the show and was on here for fan art and fics. My only exposure to Good Omens was the television show, so I did not have anything to compare it to.

However, I know that a book series would be different from a television/movie. Like with Harry Potter, the movie canon is different than the book canon, so when I write fanfics, I take that into account. The television is a different canon based on the idea that Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett had. The show runners, the show writers, and the actors had some liberties in the way that they wanted to portray the characters in the show.

I LOVE the romantic undertones of Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship. I think it's cute and works based off of the canon that the show has. I get that the book might now have had as much LGBTQ+ themes (if it had any), but that's not a big thing to get upset about.

Sigh

I guess what I want to say is don't be mad or annoyed that the show is more LGBTQ+ than the book. The book and show are separate entities based on the same source material. The show just took a different approach than the book.

(Please don't hate on me because of this)

[dolphiana]

Rant-Review :|

Beware my raaaaant...ye be warned. XP

Soooo, some time ago I read William Joyce's new „Guardians of Childhood“ book about Jack Frost. I had been waiting for it to be released for one whole year and couldn't wait until I finally had it in my hands. Started reading it on the same day, all excited and happy...and couldn't continue after the first 100 pages because just, nope.

I wanted and expected to like it, but it just wasn't possible. With every page my smile transformed more and more into a frown and I wondered wtf was going on.

First, I know Joyce's books are different than the characters in „Rise of the Guardians“, different backstories, looks, etc. To be honest that's why I hadn't read the other books, I fell in love with the characters from the movie and liked them exactly the way they are there. I know the basic plot of the books and I got Joyce's picture book about Jack which he released several years ago. There his backstory was COMPLETELY different already, but at least the happenings after he emerged from the frozen lake stayed the same, so okay, I could live with that.

Now, the main reason I felt fooled with the new book was that the cover clearly showed RotG-Jack, clearly aiming at people who had watched the movie. If there had been a cover in Joyce's style with Jack looking different I would have expected the book to be different as well. And since the book came AFTER the movie I unfortunately expected it to follow the movie plot more.

If you haven't read the other books you have NO idea wtf is going on. It's written in a way that requires the reader to know exactly what happened in the older books. But okay, my fault, didn't read those.

Quick summary before I continue, the book  takes place during the Great Depression in the early 20th century. The final battle against Pitch hasn't been that long ago and he seeks revenge. The guardians and Jack aren't really a team yet and went separate ways. Jack has fought with Sandy in the battle, but as a different entity and was transformed into Jack Frost after he saved his best friend ( and sorta girlfriend ) Katherine from Pitch ( with a kiss of true love, yeah, not cheesy at all ) and she was turned into Mother Goose. They have this weird thing going on where their age changes constantly, from child to young adult, especially fast when they are around each other. At one point they meet and one of them is like 9 while the other one is 20, changing years by the minute.

Jack lives in a huge tree in Central Park, New York ( what was wrong with Burgess? ), where he has a weapon room with a collection of ancient weapons and daggers he created from tears of people he loved. No, I'm not making this up.

His staff also can transform into a bow, which is kinda funny because I had a dream about that and drew it months before the book was released. Heh.

What I really can't get over is that Jack's whole personality was TOTALLY changed! It's one thing to add nuances or extra aspects to a character, but another to completely mess them up.

In the movie Jack has been alone for 300 years because no human could see him, it was a main plot point because he was craving for belief and attention and it made the moment when Jamie finally saw him so heartwarming and intense.

In the book somehow the whole world knows and loves him, he's invited to every party, all women wanna be with him, all men wanna be like him ( yes, seriously, that's what's written in the book ), he's like the partyanimal of old times. Hangs out with Winston Churchill ( ! ) and his awesomeness is admired by the guardians from afar.

But despite being loved by everyone he doesn't keep relationships or friendships up for long and is still feeling lonely. Oh come ON!

Turning RotG-Jack, who has been desperate for friendship and would forever be loyal, into „Everyone knows and loves me, but I don't really care“-book-Jack is the most drastic and horrible change to a character I've ever seen!

And the reason why I stopped reading was because the lovestory between Jack and „Mother Goose“ aka Katherine just got too cheesy. A LOVESTORY! WHY? I'm kinda glad there won't be a sequel of the movie because I'm afraid they might mess it up with a love interest. I was sure Joyce would never do that to his own character, that's why I was even more shocked to read that. He's done everything I feared anyone would do. Katherine is such a Mary Sue, always nice, always sweet, not a single flaw, everyone likes her...Ugh.

The Jack in the book is NOTHING like RotG-Jack. It's a different character and I don't think he's likable at all, more like „WTF is going on with you!?“

There has been so much potential for a book. People fell in love with Jack from the movie, Joyce could have done so much with it. What happened in those 300 years? Jack surely must have met other spirits. What about the blizzard of '68? What did he all experience? What did he all try to be seen by people? Or after the movie, did he get closer to the guardians? How did their relationships improve? How did he manage to be a guardian with new responsibilites? How did other spirits react to that? It could have been such an interesting story that actually makes us get to know Jack better.

I'm grateful he contributed a lot to the movie because I still love it like the first day I watched it, but I'm sorry, the book feels like the alternate universe-fanfiction from a teenage fangirl.

I honestly don't understand any true fan of Jack liking this book because that guy in it, yeah, that's not Jack anymore... :|

*rant over*

[curly-q-reviews]

FLIX FROM THE NET

Bird Box, 2018 (dir. Susanne Bier)

SPOILER WARNING THERE WILL BE SPOILERS DONT READ IF U HAVENT SEEN IT YET AND WANT TO

[TW: SUICIDE, MURDER, VIOLENCE, BLOOD, GORE]

well fuck its been a while!!  happy new year y’all hope u had a Fun and Safe time!!!  i for one was at a party where we started playing Shrek at exactly 10:39 PM to see if Smash Mouth’s hit song I’m a Believer started playing right at midnight and to my utter disbelief and elation it did!!!  move over times square ball drop a new arbitrary way of celebrating the start of a new calendar year is here and it involves a large green monster with a scottish accent who really loves his onions (#me am i right ladies)

WELL ANYWAY heres a fun new series ive been thinking of starting cause ya girl watches a lot of netflix movies and has many opinions about them.  i think i’ll do a separate post about the whole Netflix Original Film trend in general and how its changed the film industry at a later date but since i just watched the above movie not too long ago i wanted to get all my thoughts out there right fuckin now!!

netflix is without a doubt the OG king of streaming services, they were really the first to get the ball rolling and then dozens of other companies scrambled to latch onto this money train while it was rolling on the tracks full steam (or should i say.... stream EL;KGHS;EKFSH; please end me) ahead.  it started out as a rental subscription service where u could pick out three movies at a time to rent and then they were sent to u in the mail (like blockbuster but now you never have to leave your house ever again to get that sweet sweet rental content).  and then the decision was made to actually start online streaming, no physical DVD’s required!  ISNT TECHNOLOGY GREAT

well whoooo boy this shit swept the nation, people couldnt get enough of such a convenient and relatively affordable service and netflix started really raking in the dough.  and at some point they got rich enough to say “hey fuck it!!!  lets make our own movies baby!!!!”  and here we are now with Netflix Original Movies and TV Shows, which means a new player has entered the movie game in a very novel and innovative way.  why pay money for a movie ticket and leave your house to go to a theater when cool new movies are being released on a subscription service u already own to watch movies you already know and enjoy?  and then u can sit butt-ass naked in ur bedroom alone stuffing ur face with cheese puffs like an insatiable cheddar beast and see something new and fun and interesting

ok so.  Bird Box.  here we have a movie based off of a book (so i guess this also counts as a Book Movies review but I DIGRESS) starring hollywood powerhouse sandra bullock, featuring Supreme Lesbian Overlord Sarah Paulson and Resident Crazy Old Man John Malkovich, directed by a relatively unknown but competent female filmmaker Susanne Bier (who also directed Things We Lost in the Fire in 2007, a moving drama starring Halle Berry).  this one definitely has a lot of proimse compared to what netflix has offered so far in terms of their original movies (im gonna get into Dumplin’ at a later date cause jesus christ what a mess) and i went in with pretty high expectations

did it deliver???  well uuhhhh yeah sort of i guess!!  we got some pretty strong performances from our leading lady bullock who really does deliver it every time, a few strong supporting roles like newcomer Trevante Rhodes of Moonlight fame (his energy on screen is just so compelling and soothing), not overly obnoxious child actors which is really all u can ask for, and overall a solid story. 

now heres where i gotta say that i couldnt help comparing this film to another movie of its kind, directed by the notorious M. Night Shyamalan.  y’all remember The Happening?  cause i remember The Happening.  i remember that it was total shit and that the twist was that it was the fucking plants making everyone kill themselves.  the PLANTS.  and i also remember mark wahlbergs dumb-ass confused face that he used in every single shot no matter the context, im AMAZED i remember zoe deschanel in this movie cause she may as well have been one of the killer plants with how little she emoted, and i remember mark wahlberg yelling at a fake office ficus and apparently i was supposed to be scared while watching this clusterfuck. 

the way that this movie was described to me by friends who had seen it before me was basically that Bird Box is a slightly better The Happening, and no truer words have ever been spoken.  we basically have the same premise going on here:  unknown force is causing people to off themselves, our lead(s) have to try and find a way to escape this unknown force without even knowing what it really is, and theres some sort of “sanctuary” they gotta try and get to (which is a common plot point in really all apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic films).  now whereas The Happening’s rules for this scenario make entirely no fucking sense (how in the fuck are u supposed to be able to out-run WIND???), Bird Box has some rules for dealing with this Unknown Thing that make slightly more sense.  when u open ur eyes while outside, the chance of the Thing making u kill urself in some horrific way is extremely high, so wear a blindfold when ur outside and keep all windows covered when ur inside.  makes sense!  thats something i can believe and get behind which makes me more immersed in the story!

unfortunately like The Happening there are still some little things that kinda dont make much sense and take u out of it.  apparently some people when they see this unknown entity dont wanna die, but instead find it absolutely beautiful, which makes them want to make everyone else look at it to see how beautiful it is.  and its insinuated that these people are mentally ill or have some sort of psychiatric issue.  i get that this adds more stakes to the situation and ups the ante, but it doesnt really sit well with me that once again, mentally ill people are the villains in a horror-type story.  and i also dont really understand why theyd then wanna go around and make other people see the thing??  unless the thing has them in a mind-control state or something and is making them do its bidding but that seems kind of a weird thing for an all-powerful evil formless entity to do. 

and that leads me to the next issue i have with Bird Box.  if ur gonna have an apocalyptic scenario where people do something as serious as kill themselves due to an unknown cause, it almost seems a little cliche and cheesy to have it be some sort of mythical celestial god-like or demon-like entity thats doing the damage.  i actually really liked where The Happening was going with its source of all the chaos being something naturally made, like the Earth deploying some sort of self-preservation mechanism or something.  the idea of that to me is actually loads more frightening than some invisible boogeyman that u cant look at.  and then Shamalamadingdong had to go and make it stupid by saying that it was fucking plants trying to kill people by releasing pheromones or some shit.  like why cant we have the best of both of these??  something naturally-occuring that maybe has even happened before in the planets history (maybe it wasnt a meteor that killed off the dinosaurs after all??), that isnt FUCKING PLANTS, and that doesnt do cheesy shit like make ur eyes turn grey and bloodshot and like whisper to u telling u to take ur blindfold off (i swear that happens multiple times it was pretty silly)

thats another thing, this movie’s tone is all over the place.  there are some moments where a more light-hearted tone is needed to break up the tension, for sure, but it almost as if the writing and dialogue werent really taking this serious of a story as seriously as they should have.  weirdly placed jokes are all over the place, there were some moments where the dialogue made me cringe cause it was so awkward.  bullock’s character gets to have some good breakdown moments which help bring the tone to the level of somberness and despair it should be at, but all the other supporting characters dont really get the same space to process whats happening to them, so it kinda comes off like they arent really affected by, say, their wife throwing herself into a burning car right in front of their very eyes. 

overall i’d still say this is a worthwhile watch, especially considering its a netflix movie.  if you’ve ever wanted to see a not-as-horrible version of The Happening that has some deeper metaphorical stuff going on about motherhood and family and shit than this is for you.  the production value is overall pretty solid (though when it comes to cinematography i actually prefer The Happening from an artistic standpoint) and sandra bullock knocks it out of the park.  go check it out if this seems like something thats up ur alley!!

ok bye for now hopefully it doesnt take me six months to write another review but we’ll see!!  my brain is a mystery and time is an illusion HAPPY 20-BI-TEEN Y’ALL

[formerly-rosaline]

About Rose

I’m not sure if I already have one of these, and I can’t find a template to make one, so I’m just gonna shoot my shot and do my best here.

Full name: Rosaline Pearl Sirena Draconus Durant

Time and place of birth: Wednesday, April 1st, 1992 at 3:01am (the witching hour) in the Touro Infirmary Hospital of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Zodiac: Aries sun (fire), Pisces moon (water), Aquarius rising/ascendant (air). Pisces, Aquarius, and Capricorn (earth) dominate her natal chart. Monkey (water). Alder tree. Red hawk/falcon. 

Species explanation and list: Came about through ritual as well as conception originally; her soul collects more species each time she’s born (reincarnated) to non-human souls. Her soul is fragmented, there are more Roses throughout the world of different names. She only inherits certain traits from each species. She is predominantly draconic, sirenic, and succubic. Rose also has some wolf/lycanthrope, vampire (tribrid - blood, energy, and sexual separate from the succubus), banshee, Valkyrie (last life as one), Amazonian, basilisk (possibly only for this life), fairy, human, and possibly more - she doesn’t know everything just yet. Without feeding, her abilities become even more drastically limited. 

Characteristics: Abilities may begin in childhood, but Rose’s memories don’t begin to resurface until teenhood and young adulthood. She may also repress her memories, furthering the process, in attempts at normalcy. Jack of all trades. Artist, but not in the layman usage of the word - dancer, singer, creative writer, musician. STEM major, always good at STEM. Linguaphile; often multilingual. Current fluencies: English and French, with some German, Spanish, Latin, Greek, Korean, and Russian. Much of her interest in languages and ability to learn them rapidly stems from former lives. Very pensive and philosophic, a stoic in the regular sense of the word but an existentialist in practice. 

Favorites: 

Fast food: Whataburger

Ice cream: chocolate chip cookie dough

Sushi: eel

Starburst: pink

Jolly Rancher: blue

Color: every shade of blue

Feature: her eye color

Dish at Olive Garden: The Tour of Italy

Italian dish: Alfredo anything

Asian dish: Japchae

Steak: Medium rare filet mignon

Eggs: over easy

Pizza topping: pineapples

Comfort food: macaroni and cheese

Wine: Riesling

Thanksgiving dish: Stuffing

Ice cream topping: mochi or cookie dough

Alcoholic drink: Scotch

Starbucks drink: Chai latte, affogato

Harry Potter film: Deathly Hallows part 2, but book is Goblet of Fire

Marvel movie: Avengers Infinity War

Beatles Song: Hey Jude

Instrument: drums

Band: Snow Patrol 

Person: George Lewis

One Hit Wonder: Cars by Gary Numan

Beach: Pfeiffer Beach, Los Padres National Forest, California

Animal: goat

Season: fall

Thing about a rainy day: staying in

Flower: Lily. Seriously. Don’t fucking buy her roses, it’s not funny.

Sea creature: her damn self

Winter sport: luge

Fairy tale: Vasilisa the Beautiful 

Eye color: green

Day of the week: Saturday

Way to relax: hot bath

Thing to do: make others smile

Mental disorders: PTSD (doesn’t deal with her past traumas, emotionally detached, dissociates regularly), bipolar disorder. Eating disorders, elaborated on at the end of this post to prevent triggering. Substance abuse disorder (alcoholism and more).

Abilities: generally, able to do much by pure will and thought. “If looks could kill,” incarnate. Some technopathy. Outbursts of preternatural strength. Slight elemental control, minor mind control. Communication with entities beyond the veil despite her attempts to shut them out. Astral projection. 

More abilities and characteristics, positive and negative, by species:

1. Dragon: old soul/wise beyond her years, increased intelligence, heightened senses, increased empathy and strength, stronger persuasion via a golden tongue, foresight or future-delving. Manipulation, word twisting, speaking in riddles. Strong debater. Bloodthirsty. Intensely greedy. Power hungry. Delusions of grandeur. Arrogant. Pansexual. Extroverted. Stubborn and/or hard-headed. So cold you’d bet she’s anemic. Close-minded. TOO LOUD. She wants your heart, but on a GOLDEN platter; she’ll never love you. You are so beneath her, who the fuck do you think you are? Enemy of the siren. Fiercely loyal to those who have earned it. Family is the most important thing. Money can buy happiness, and it has for her. Warmest smile. Tacky bitch. Really good at Words with Friends, Scrabble, fighting you, chess. Wants you to succeed in life, and gives you unsolicited advice on how to do it all the time. Annoying. Always has an upset tummy. Does she have IBS? Beyond the veil: red with orange eyes. Your typical bigass crimson red dragon, will breathe fire on you. Her kind is less prevalent than they once were.

2. Siren: leads people astray readily. Seduction. Outright deception. Enticement and intimidation via a silver tongue. Increased strength and agility. Strong swimmer. Telepathy with other sirens. Enemy of the dragon. Brutal bitch. Savage, almost feral at times. Ambivert. Manipulative. Intensely maternal. Your mom friend to the extreme. Loving. Pansexual. Invasive. Monster. Might eat your liver in the pool. Always too hot. God, that voice, let’s hope you never hear it. Opera. SUSHI!!!!. Friendly, communal even, but only with those she considers family. Too good for pop music unless it’s Ariana Grande; increased hearing, gets audio overload at any normal volume. Subtitles, please. Can’t fucking understand English to save her life. Will teach you sirenic, but you can’t speak it. Whistle notes. LOWER YOUR FUCKING VOICE. Half-naked, huge tits. Firm hugger. Beyond the veil: ugly ass deep sea thing you never want to see, but her Venetian red tail is pretty... Second, translucent eyelid. Sirens of the sea are populating as rampantly as always, given the content of the earth which is saltwater. Avoids all of her kind to protect one she loves.

-Unpopular with both dragons and sirens due to some old war. These two species are most dominant.

3. Succubus: a touch that can manipulate, seduce, control, compel. Feeding, starving. Glamour. Conceited. Preppy bitch. Sarcastic. A gaslighter. Manipulative. Extroverted. PANSEXUAL, literally doesn’t care, will fuck you, don’t let her. Fake. Craves you. Enemy of the siren. She’s that overly sexual friend where you can never really tell whether they’re kidding or really trying something with you, you know? She’ll never tell, either. Got that?? Fear her. Run; she will definitely fuck your brains out and fucking eat you, God she’s fucking starving. RUN. Don’t give her a drink, and so help you if she gets to three or more. There is no God; God is dead, she has killed him, she drained his chi. RUN AWAY: fucking demonic. Don’t let her in. She made sure no one is here to help. Don’t look at them. They won’t help you; they’re under her control. You will be too. Beyond the veil: Horns. Tail. Wings. Greyish-purple all over, even her eyes; looks like a gargoyle. She doesn’t eat enough to pigment, and who cares? Glamour will make her perfect anyway. Finds feeding unethical. Slip-ups happen, though; I’m coming for you.

4. Wolf: increased agility, strength, and durability. Heightened stamina, senes. Increased stamina. Fast healing. Telepathy with other wolves. FIERCELY loyal. Respectful. Hungry. Bloodthirsty. Feral. Beast. Aching in her soul and bones. Titanium. Sushi. Friendly and communal all the time. Pansexual. Major ambivert. Audio overload too. Will cry if someone raises their voice from across a room. You’re too boomy. Stop that. Will kill anyone who makes you shed a tear. Don’t let her. Specifically tell her not to while you are crying. She will do it, I swear. Alpha bitch. Beyond the veil: albino Eurasian wolf, mistaken for an Arctic wolf. Icy grey eyes. Her kind is dead; those eyes show it. What’s an alpha without a pack? Heartbroken. 

5. Valkyrie: Literally wishing to death, has to stop herself from it because it’s so easy. Planting doubt in the minds of the steadfast and resolute. Asexual. Will give you hallucinations. Manipulative. Spooky bitch. Might want you dead, might not. Don’t cross her or she’ll imagine you to eternal slumber. You won’t be in Valhalla, either.

6. Amazonian: Increased strength. Tracker. Skilled with weapons. Will navigate. Misandry. Lesbian. Introverted. Feminist bitch. Will stab you.

7. Banshee: Future-delving. A screech that will drive you mad and physically harm you only when members of inhuman royalty are dying. Introvert. Asexual. Beyond the veil: Blind as a bat, deaf as a white cat. Only sees the astral world in her head. Just looks like herself minus the white eyes. Only brought out by screaming, and terrified the entire time, but can remain after. Will cough or vomit blood for a while after screaming. Can’t control it. Scared bitch. Voice may not return to normal for weeks. Enemy of the siren. Prefers to, and sometimes must remain after screaming, mute. Cannot sign. Can see and feel your energy.

8. Basilisk: Increased ability to intimidate. Muted. Affinity for reptiles. No other abilities or notable change. Beyond the veil: she cannot turn into the giant snake of lore, nor turn to stone. If looks could kill, she would just kinda spook you. Literally just herself. Angry bitch.

9. Fairy: No increased abilities but she’s cuter and has more of a sweet tooth. Vocal change to higher pitch. Please give her Jaffa cakes, hot tea, and head pats. Beyond the veil: a tiny, wingless fairy of greens, golds, and purples. Don’t let the look fool you. Evil bitch. 

10. Vampire: Increased sense of hearing and smell. Bloodlust. Ability to compel. Seduction. Extrovert. Clean freak. If there's no blood on her, it's like she never did it. Feeds on the environment around her, including people, naturally. Constantly tries to keep that shut off. Wants very badly to eat you. Hungry bitch.

Sometimes she wakes up a certain species, sometimes situations or location bring them out. Sometimes the need to feed or emotions will cause certain species to rush to forefront. This is akin to having different personalities, but it’s all her. 

Face Claims: 

-Young Adult (main): Penelope Mitchell, The Vampire Diaries, The Curse of Downers’ Grove, Hemlock Grove.

-Adult: Jennifer Morrison, House, Once Upon a Time, Star Trek.

-Teenage: Jenny Boyd, Legacies, Hex, Viking Quest.

-Child: Emily Alyn Lind, Revenge, Enter the Void, J. Edgar.

Physically in this realm: curly blonde, cornflower-eyed, average height (around 5′6″), girl next door but relatively average appearance, with multiple piercings (nipples, several ear piercings, and belly). Birth mark on the top of her left breast.

TRIGGER WARNING: EATING DISORDERS, SELF HARM:

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She has a highly fluctuating weight (between 114 and 178) due to eating disorders - anorexia nervosa restrict type and bulimia nervosa binge purge type. Sheuses exercise, laxatives, suppositories, etc rather than the usual purging. Faint cut scars adorned her thighs and left wrist; she had them tattooed to cover them but the white lines still showed. There was a flower over the wrist, a portrait of a fox on her right thigh, and a portrait of a Renaissance-era woman on her left. There were cigarette burns inches below the Renaissance woman and the flower tattoo. There was another one midway on her outer right forearm.

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