#i think it may be better to make it its own separate verse...

[voidfragments]

rotating emanator of remembrance!tianwu concepts in my brain

[astromechs]

rebelcaptain + 🤎?

HELLO, i needed softness, so here is some self-indulgent nonsense in my modern au verse (featuring [spoiler!]) from this list (still accepting); also on ao3!

Even if she’s largely had the freedom to make her own schedule for the past ten years or so, Jyn has never really seen a reason to stay in bed longer than absolutely necessary. Call it a habit, call it conditioning, maybe, but lazing around just hasn’t had appeal; she doesn’t sleep well at night, hasn’t since she was a child, so why would she want to waste several good hours of a morning in a place that she finds frustrating more than relaxing? Better not to prolong the inevitable, anyway.

No, she’s never really seen a reason — until now.

Now, as she stirs, warm and comfortable and with her muscles feeling like they’re made of liquid in a good way, as she shifts until she’s nose to nose with Cassian, she fucking gets it; this is a moment she thinks she’d live in forever, if she could, and certainly not in any rush to break it by putting feet to the floor. He’s still asleep, with his jaw relaxed and face free of lines. His hair’s falling over his eyes — which he’s been grumbling about lately, that it’s too long, it’s getting in the way, and it needs to be cut — and in the silence, without that commentary, she’s able to really take it in.

He’s the most beautiful sight she’s ever seen, in any way and in any light, but it’s what’s in front of her now, touched by the first rays of morning sun creeping in through the blinds of the bedroom window nearby, may be her favorite one of all.

After a time, Jyn reaches up, gently brushing the hair from his forehead with her thumb. That makes his eyes flutter open, and a smile settle on his mouth that sends warmth straight to her chest, that has her own mouth reflecting it in an instant. There isn’t much separating them, but it’s still too much, regardless; she pulls him in closer, pressing her mouth to his.

It’s a kiss, just one, that she intends to act on its own, something soft to ease him back into the land of the waking, but he has different plans — which she can’t say she minds in the slightest. One turns to two and then to more, turns to parting her lips under his and letting him in, turns to shifting onto her back and pulling his weight over her so he can kiss her into the mattress until their lungs burn.

His hand slides under her shirt, fingers trailing over her skin and sparking something to life in their wake; in return, her hand that hadn’t left his face finds its way into his hair, tugging until there’s a noise from the back of his throat muffled against her mouth. And —

By the time they break apart, they’re both breathing as hard as they would be if they were in the ring. Whatever cloud of post-sleep haze that had lingered is completely gone now.

So is the soft smile he’d had for her, replaced by the barest hints of a smirk that, combined with a glint in his eye that she’s come to know well, has her dragging her teeth over her bottom lip as an ache of want tugs at her core.

If she had the capacity, she might think that it’s almost embarrassing, how something so fucking small can have such an effect on her; that’s shit for teenagers, not for someone who’s nearing thirty.

But she doesn’t have any thoughts at all as his lips find the base of her jaw and then her throat, her eyes sliding closed. She’s not sure she remembers what having a thought is even like as his hand pushes her shirt up over her stomach, replacing any chill over now-exposed skin with a line of kisses that slowly drift further and further down.

She can only squirm, now, when what she wants is so close but also so far — which earns her a pause and a hand pressed gently, but firmly, to still her; he breathes out a quiet, amused huff, hot against her skin. It’s as if it’s all meant to say one thing: patience.

Bastard.

Even if she rolls her eyes under closed lids, she does comply nevertheless, exhaling a deep breath and willing her whole body, as best she can, to still, because he’ll never let any effort go unrewarded. True to form, finally, his thumb hooks over the waistband of her sleep shorts, and —

There’s a shift of the mattress under them, followed by a loud, near-bloodcurdling — mrowww. In an instant, they both freeze; in the next, she’s vaguely aware of Cassian’s warmth leaving her.

Jyn cracks one eye open, and then the other, to find herself meeting an intent, soul-piercing stare that only a cat can manage.

“Hey, Oscar,” she says, her voice still raspy from sleep, as she props up onto her elbows. “You hungry?”

It’s a stupid question, and Oscar clearly agrees, considering the way he tilts his head as he continues to stare into her eyes. Because of that, because what she’s getting from him seems nearly human, any annoyance she might’ve had at the interruption fades; she snorts, halfway to a laugh, and reaches to scratch him fondly behind the ears.

That doesn’t impress him, and — okay, she can take a hint; with an effort that’s still much slower than she’d like, thanks to her stupid fucking shoulder, she pushes herself up the rest of the way, sliding her legs over toward the edge of the bed and shifting to drop her feet to the floor.

Apparently satisfied by this, Oscar leaps from the bed and trots out of the bedroom doorway toward the hall that leads to the kitchen, his tail sticking straight up.

But before she makes the final move out of bed, there’s warmth, again, at her back that she sinks into. That she can’t help but turn to. One of Cassian’s hands reaches for hers, threading their fingers together; the motion is as soft as his voice when he asks, “To be continued?”

In lieu of an answer, she presses another kiss to his lips; it takes every ounce of willpower she has not to sink into that, too.

Well before she wants, she pulls back, slowly dragging her fingers against his as she breaks from his grip. “I’ll hold you to that, you know.”

His last whisper into her ear lingers over her long after she leaves the room. “I’m counting on it.”

[quitealotofsodapop]

Pspspsps!

Hey, hey!

I don’t remember if this was canon or just fanon, but there was something about Mei and putting trackers on her friends? In the TMKATI-verse, this could be her way of dealing with her parents, to know where her family is. Some keep them on them for her sake.

But what if it those trackers also had cameras and could record sound?

And it recorded the moment Mr. Star Lord of Fire hit Li Jing with his car?

I am only saying this because it would make for Nezhas favorite video clip ever.

And him showing it to Canon!Nezha would be good too. He’d get a human world phone just to have this video with him, I think.

May or may not show it to the rest of the canon group – many reactions ensue, at least a few snickers to a cackle.

But imagine, later – Li Jing for some reason has arrived and has to tell the canon-gang something (can be anything, not important). The Eclipse twins are placed a in a hastily made nest from the scarves/capes and given a phone with a video playing as distraction, while the grown ups deal with that a-hole.

And he’s talking.

And talking.

And talking.

Man’s posturing more than saying the very important thing somebody high up in the Celestial Realm sent him to say. It’s very annoying. The 30 minute video the cubs were watching has ended already and they are now randomly jumping from video to video.

Until the algorithm manages something magical.

The next video they play, is the cucaracha car horn.

It is loud.

Loud that the gang instantly stiffen and desperately stone their expressions to not burst out a laugh.

Probably doesn’t help that the ‘huh’ sound Li Jing made was almost similar to the sound he made when hit with the car.

At least that got him to finish the message and leave.

Cackles ensue. The twins are confused but okay with the hugs baba is giving them.

Mei does in canon have trackers on the rest of the Monkie Kid gang as mentioned in "Noodles or Death", it's how they're able to find out where Pigsy and Tang are; apparently a camera is attached to Tang's glasses.

“I attached cameras to all of you guys a while back. Not so creepy now, is it?” ―Mei

The canon series doesn't really expand upon it much afterwards beyond being an easy way for the crew to find out where Tang and Pigsy went.

[In the TMKATI-verse, this could be her way of dealing with her parents, to know where her family is. Some keep them on them for her sake.]

Oh thats sad af. I love it >:)

Baby Mei def had attachment issues - her dragon parents knew she was the new Ring of Samadhi, and they didn't want to "get too attached" (especially with a warning from Ao Guang about something big going down), and after the whole "batman-ing" happens...

Cue a baby dragon with separation anxiety who screams if she isn't in the presence of at least one of her caretakers. Like she'd start crying if someone went to the bathroom without her.

Mei got better as she got older, but she always had very bad anxiety regarding her family members even as an adult. She started to worry about the ways her adoptive family could be hurt and unable to contact her. An Incident where MK got himself into some hero-nonsense as a kid and couldn't answer his phone for many hours, Mei had a straight up panic attack, worried that her little brother had gotten hurt.

The trackers/cameras came in as a compromise to Mei clinging to MK 24/7 after the incident. It really helped to put her anxiety at ease and allow for her and MK do their own things as teenagers. As someone who grew up with anxiety, its kinda hard to learn to just "go do stuff" on your own.

Pigsy thinks the cameras/trackers are a bit creepy, but Macaque and Wukong are like; "How is it any different from us using our powers to keep tabs on you guys?" Pigsy in turn argues that the monkeys don't have a chance of catching him in the bathroom ("I use Gold Vision all the time during work to see if you're in the can or not."). Eventually the arguments peter off until the adults just agree to keep the trackers on their phones/personal effects.

MK in turn is very meticulous on keeping himself findable for Mei.

MK: *is being kidnapped by Villains of the Week* MK: "I wanna warn you guys, I swallowed an air tag." VOWs: *shared looks of confusion*

And ofc due to at least one family member at a time having a camera on them, especially during missions...

[And it recorded the moment Mr. Star Lord of Fire hit Li Jing with his car?]

Post referencing; Li Jing getting hit by SWK's Lawyer's car XD

XD

You know the kids are watching that on loop, adding sound and video effects until it's like an old youtube poop. Nezha has the video saved in multiple dimensions for a laugh.

[The Eclipse twins are placed a in a hastily made nest from the scarves/capes and given a phone with a video playing as distraction, while the grown ups deal with that a-hole.]

Oh gosh the imagery of two pairs of little glowing eyes peaking out from a scarf/blanket nest is soo cute. Probably the default way the monkey parents know how to keep cubs occupied. X3

I love the idea of the Eclipse twins accidentally startling/embarassing a whole god with the sound of La Cucaracha. You know the Celestial Realm would never let Li Jing live it down, no matter the universe XD

[liuwithheadcanons]

Adoption in Omegaverse

So, I decided to make this post cause I am a Transracial Adoptee and I know omegaverse isn’t irl but it’s very involved in its fantasy sciences

When I talk about ‘adoption,’ I do not mean family adoptions I mean an unrelated person taking care of an unrelated person.  Overall Tw because I will talk about the affects/effects it may have on individuals and also this isn’t a post about a set conclusion. This is me ranting and questioning on how things would go. I also implore and encourage you do to your own research about how adoptions have positive and negative affects/effects on adoptees 

I also want to emphasis you do not have to make adoption bad or negative in your verse. The point of this post is me asking questions as an adoptee myself and how’d it work. 

Questions that I asked myself: When a baby is separated from its mother in real life, that child suffers neurobiological problems. Pit this with omegaverse? I bet that that would be increased by a significant amount.

Why?

Scent.

A wolf pup will look for its mothers scent to help comfort it- that’s just a biological thing pups will do. And if she comes back smelling not correct the pup will then get confused and maybe even ‘aggressive,’

I can see in omegaverse that pups separated at birth and given to another non biological person suffering some amounts of scent confusion. (As in they have no one to really seek that biological scent comfort from and scramble to adapt to that scent but due to the nature of kids being passed around I can see this being difficult for many individuals.) Ofc they can grow out of this- or maybe they don’t, it all depends, just like irl

I also wonder and ask myself will the life of omegaverse with all of its technologies and emphasis on ‘biology,’ will be aware of this and more open. I also wonder of adoption agencies will be less sleezy and exploitative as irl or maybe they’ll be even more exploitive. Saying stuff like how the pup hasn’t had an efficient scent to cling to and thus pulling the heartstrings of parents 

 Now as for adoptive parents: Omegaverse puts a lot of emphasis on pups. Ones that cannot have pups will turn to adoption but as like irl the intent is important: adoptive parents who want a kid more than wanting to help a kid who needs a home are walking red flags. Same with vice versa. (One wanting the picture perfect child and one having a savior complex.) There needs to be a healthy balance

And with all the biological needs and social emphasis on needing pups I feel like humans in a/b/o verse would very much be on the “turned to adoption because we couldn’t have any,”

So case in point: I think adoption in a/b/o would be kinda more fucked up than irl, and just like irl I do think there is a safe and humane way to adopt. (That is a whole other thing that if you need to ask, I can explain.) Our world now just isn’t doing that, and maybe due to the technological advancements that the a/b/o world has they figured out a way to do that already.

How? I don’t know exactly.

I’m sorry of this post was a downer, it was just a post to get people thinking and I am open to answer any questions regarding what I’ve said here 

Also another thing I am not a huge worshiper of biological relationships- even though I acknowledge that adoption has fucked with me, I still love my adopted parents. Even if they could have done better for me.  fuck ‘blood must stick together’ and fuck ‘love is thicker than blood’ - you don’t need to consider either more important. You can have a balance. As long as you’re happy where you are that’s all that matters 

[mizukagami-takamagahara]

Annon-Guy: What's your opinion on the Split Timeline thing introduced in XBLAZE Lost Memories? You know, the idea of the XBLAZE World and the Bloodedge Experience World being seperate from the BlazBlue World and each othe I mean.

This is actually a really fun question, and I’ve been procrastinating on answering it because I have a whole theory related to it but I don’t want to get into it without being able to cite my sources, you know??? Unfortunately today will STILL not be the day I really get into it, because I’ve been in and out of the hospital and still have not found those sources I wanted. Whoops.

But let’s at least get to an initial answer. Usually I hate split timelines in stories; I like consistency and I like making huge conspiracy boards full of connections I’ve noticed. A split timeline is a smart move for writers when a series gets too big; it alleviates the pressure for absolute consistency between different authors. It gives them room to be more creative, to explore more- it also gives them room to make minor mistakes. But like I said, I really really love my concrete consistency. Split timelines kind of take away narrative tension for me, too; I can’t get too excited about what xyz event means for the rest of the series, because it may not have even happened.

Interestingly, I actually really like BB’s split timeline set up. This is a unique case, and I originally didn’t like it, but then I saw a post on… I can’t remember if it was Reddit or Steam or what, I want to find it so I can link back to it and discuss it more in depth. Someone was positing the theory/interpretation that the three separate “timelines” (BB, XBlaze, Bloodedge) actually do occur in one reality.

Remember how at the end of CF, Terumi (and, like, everyone a little bit) was trying to kill Amaterasu to end this world, and create a new one???

Or how Sechs in XBlaze wanted to “return everything to the Seithr,” also ending his world???

In the west, when we hear a story has "multiple timelines" or a "multiverse," we think of stories like Marvel and Homestuck. In these stories, there are infinite worlds operating in their own, separate 'bubbles,' but existing effectively simultaneously.

The post posited that BlazBlue’s setting uses a different interpretation of “multiple timelines/universes,” more rooted in Asian culture. Like concepts of reincarnation or the Hindu Yuga Cycle. In these types of stories, there are many 'worlds'- generally far too many for the human mind to count, but still a finite number. And only one exists at a time. The next is born when the previous dies.

The idea here is that each separate BB-verse setting happens in a linear order, one at a time, going about its own business until the world is ‘ended'- that is, where it dissolves and "returns to the Seithr," the Boundary.

From this, it is recreated and begins again- or the next setting begins. After enough repetitions, certain events may end up drastically different- or someone may manipulate the recreation process to influence the ‘new world.’

This would be Susano'o's plan at the end of CF, and part of the promise that Izanami was selling to everyone during the fight for the Azure.

This would also be what the Origin did to start the C-series, using Amaterasu to influence the world’s next ‘rebirth,’ and then refusing to move on/let anything change.

I wish I could get deeper into this subject, and I hope I do at some point, because it completely changed how I interpret BlazBlue’s setting and several plot points and I really love it. I wish it was a more popular interpretation in the fandom. I’d also like to look deeper into the story to see if I can cite some points that give evidence to this theory.

At some point when I have more energy I'd love to revisit this topic, explaining it better and citing some sources from the BB series that I believe support this interpretation.

For now, what do you all think???

[contractory]

[WORSHIPPING ADEPTI] - "Ah, excuse me," I offer the dark-haired stranger, sidestepping him to allow us both to continue our separate perusals of the incense selection. At a glance, the man himself elicits the thought of an amber mirror, elegant brown and gold meeting together in geometric diamonds and angles. His suit exudes the refinement of an aristocratic businessman, but the pauldron-like shoulderpieces speak of a warrior's experience, and a scale pattern accentuates the tails of his coat. His eyes glow with knowledge, and I can't help wondering, what is it that you know?

"You're a native of Liyue, correct?" I ask. "Would you say that making offerings to the adepti are the most effective way to contact them? I understand they live in seclusion around Jueyun Karst but have been debating the merits of actually venturing out to find them." Ah, before he gets the wrong idea, it would be wise of me to introduce myself. "I'm a scholar from Sumeru, here on a research trip. My name is Alhaitham, and I recently became fascinated in the study of the adeptal arts. I've heard the adepti are highly capable engineersーI would like to engage in an exchange of knowledge with them in the hopes that I might improve my own gadgets."

Such an argument wouldn't be enough for the average Liyuen, what with their worship of the illuminated beasts, and without further elaboration my request is bound to be regarded with suspicion. Still, I hestitate before lifting the comforting weight of my earpieces off my head, to better display them to the man, and retrieve my music player from my pouch. "I designed and built these with the technology we have back home. I can use them to listen to music loaded onto the player, but they also block out noise; I've been thinking of upgrading them. In addition, I've been compiling data for the manufacture of a powered tablet, onto which texts and books can be loaded for easy access, and it would be helpful for taking notes as well. These devices are, and will be, for personal useーI have no interest in making money off of them. They're primarily for my convenience."

... I may have... gone a little overboard with my argument, to a man who likely has no idea how to fulfill my request. I suppose I can't help myself when it comes to my projects, and this man emanates so much Geo authority that he apparently seemed the best person with whom to begin my research. Was Morax a bit like him? "You can tell me if you can't assist me, I won't be offended."

As the thin line of smoke rises slowly into the air, Zhongli's eyes, initially following its trail, are drawn off to the side, as a voice calls out and it becomes clear that it is aimed at him.

"Ah. Good day. That I am," he confirms, before pondering at the question. Its origins puzzle him, initially, but the man is swift to explain and elaborate, and it soon begins to make a lot more sense.

"It is an honor to meet you sir. I am Zhongli, a consultant of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. As someone who handles a variety of rites, I know a thing or two about the Adepti as well." That said, he must, of course, weigh carefully how much he lets go of.

Alhaitham takes the intriguing device off his head to allow Zhongli to better see it, and he indeed examines it with the utmost attention, as he always does when presented with a new piece of information meant specifically for him. The technology is fascinating; reminiscent of Guizhong and Cloud Retainer's works, and yet so very different, as befitting of the inventions brought from another country.

... Speaking of.

"The devices in your possessions are most interesting indeed, and I know tales of a particular Adeptus, known for being well-versed in mechanical arts. She is known as the Cloud Retainer, and her abode is located at Jueyun Karst. I have heard stories of travelers and believers making offerings of food for her by the entrance to her home, and in some cases, she has chosen to reveal herself. So you may have a chance."

He thinks further... He would hate to set the man up for disappointment.

"With that said, I have heard that she has been busy with some travels, recently, so one cannot be certain of her presence at her abode. Rumors and legends say that she even visits Liyue Harbor every once in a while, taking on a human appearance to blend into the crowd. Perhaps she is indeed among us, enjoying the Lantern Rite with the people she protected by Rex Lapis' side."

Hm. This should be good enough.

"I apologize for being unable to provide you with a certain answer." The apology is sincere on his part - alas, he must respect his friendships and his contracts. "But I hope I was able to give you some leads."

[einprotagonist]

Going abroad...

Earlier, we've talked about how there are several dreams that a person carries, it is highly unlikely you don't have more than one dream. Ofcourse, you can rank them in an order where something is more important while others can be just peripheral options in your opinion.

And this blog is about me trying to go abroad, I'd earlier tried to explore options about how I can go study abroad. When I was in 6-7th standard, I'd talk to random people on internet who were from various different countries and I was fascinated with the lifestyle they had while I was proud of how much academically smarter I was when compared to some of older students too. But I wanted to explore, they had places which weren't awfully crowded and they had public facilities which were far better than ours. Yes, every land has it's own shitty side but I am not the one to dig shit when I'm dreaming.

During intermediate, I came to know about SAT exams which must have costed my dad almost 75% of his monthly salary at the time when he had to pay rents of 2 separate stays - me and family, pay for food and what not. We were basically drowning in loans I think but never restricted ourselves from trying to make life big. I gave the exam without much preparation and scores were a little above the average and were just about enough to secure 60-70% scholarship in a few universities in the USA - turns out that even if we were given a 100% scholarship then also my family wouldn't be able to pay for the cost of me living there. I immediately let the thought and dream pack its bag and leave. LOL.

Then in college times I was getting better at Automobile Engineering and was deeply invested into making a career out of it. Europe was a dreamland for cars and once again I started to check where I would be paying the least for education, be allowed for a part time job to pay my own living expenses during the masters degree and things did not fall into place. This time my university grades were not good enough to breeze me through and then pockets were already empty for this sort of arrangement to go ahead with. Plus there was this notion that I can keep trying after getting into job.

Well, 4 years have passed since I graduated and many things have happened, some may be well versed with all of those things but most will never know the complete details until they read about it here in future.

Now after all these years, and all these experiences... I think I want finally want to move out and make new moves. I've evaluated the current situations, the budget and options that are present in front of me. The decision on where to go has been pretty clear after initial analysis - Canada is the only place which checks all my boxes. My plan is to go for an MBA and find myself a job after completion of the course in order to support my family better while live my best life. That is right, I want this for myself more than anyone else. Which is how most of the dreams are I think, other factors like family or future generations will always benefit from the positive outcome.

So.. yeah I have just finished giving the English proficiency tests and it is still a very long way to go. I'd prefer to get admission into one of the renowned colleges and we will find out more in the aftermath.

[squirrelinameatsuit]

UDAD Translations Masterpost

Here’s links to all my “Ulysses Dies at Dawn” translations, as well as additional information that doesn’t pertain to any one song.

Broken Horses

My Name is No-one

Riddle of the Sphinx

Sirens

Favoured Son

Trial by Song

Underworld Blues

Ties that Bind

Torn Suits

Elysian Fields

Translator’s notes:

The character of Ulysses is a bit difficult to render. Firstly, “Ulysses” is a Latin form of the Greek “Odysseus” and, unlike “Ilium,” doesn’t have a dictionary-certified Greek transliteration of its own. To preserve the separation of Ulysses (and Ilium) from the rest of the setting, I’ve come up with “᾽Υλύσσης” to stand for Ylyssēs/Ulysses. My greater concern was one of grammatical gender, however. Ancient Greek makes the tragic and all-too-common mistake of making noun classes based on gender and not anything cool, like whether something is cute or can die. The neuter gender is a bit more concerned with inanimate objects than individuals of indeterminate gender, so I thought it might be a bit rude or simply confusing to use (don’t want a participle to be mistaken as a noun or anything like that). Trying to alternate genders may also run afoul of making the antecedents of adjectives and participles unclear. The solution I have come up with is a poor one: ᾽Υλύσσης declines as a masculine noun in verse (masculine participles can be shorter; words like παῖς—child—always have a feminine meaning if paired with a feminine article but can be gender neutral is paired with a masculine one, though that’s its own deeply rancid can of worms) and a feminine noun in prose. I’m sure there’s a joke about gender roles to be made or an implication to be noticed about using different pronouns in narration than Ulysses uses in monologue. If anyone has a better idea I’d love to hear it. I suppose the title of the album would be “ὁ/ἡ ᾽Υλύσσης τῇ ἕῳ ἀποθνῃσκει.”

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I have only been studying Ancient Greek for a few years, and my reading experience has been much more the textbook than the epic. There’s a whole world of vocabulary and colloquialisms and grammatical constructions that I’m unfamiliar with and which surely would make these translations much smoother. If you know any of that stuff, please tell me! If there’s a word you think would suit a line or a misconjugated verb somewhere or simply a misplaced particle irritating your eye, I will gladly take your suggestions for how to improve it.

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In terms of the prose sections specifically, I don’t know how I would truly go about capturing the tone and style of the narration. As far as I know, there isn’t much preserved of casual spoken Ancient Greek; the closest we might have is plays. I don’t know anything about Modern Greek. I once had dreams of having each character speak in the dialect of the region their myth is set in or originated from, but I don’t know nearly enough for that. Everything instead is largely in Attic Greek, with some vocabulary pulled from all over. I doubt anyone sounds much like a mobster.

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The main dictionaries I referenced were the Woodhouse English-Greek Dictionary and the Perseus Digital Library, with some help from Wiktionary (sometimes you want someone else to decline your aorist passive participles for you).

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I translated all the lines to fit the melodies of the original songs. They tend to run long, since individual words in Greek are usually longer than English ones, but they should fit with a little bit of grease applied (subdivide those notes). A lot of lines have lost details, and I’ve stripped out conjunctions, particles, and articles in a way I imagine is rather appalling, but it should all be reasonably legible. If someone out there wants to translate the songs to fit actual epic meter, that would be incredible, but that someone probably won’t be me.

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I will warn any intrepid singers that some lines only fit if you sing ι/i + another vowel as [j]/y + that vowel. Otherwise, I think you can be rather loose with pronunciation. I’ve drawn the transliterations from the Wikipedia page on Greek transliteration conventions, but I’ve never had much cause to pronounce anything entirely correctly myself. If I really wanted to waste my own time I’d write all instances of θ, φ, and χ as t^h, f^h, and k^h to communicate that they’re aspirated versions of T, P, and K rather than “th,” “f,” and “[actually I don’t think English speakers have much of a consensus on how to ‘mispronounce’ χ].” But if you just want to say “th” and “f,” I promise I won’t manifest physically in your house or anything.

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I haven’t yet done all the narrative songs, and while I’d like to get to those eventually, I don’t have a timetable for that. I’m also interested in doing some translations of HNoC, but I don’t yet have a good dictionary—if anyone’s got links to searchable versions of the D.P. Simpson and John Traupman Latin dictionaries, I would be mildly in your debt.

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Some of the songs have been edited by an acquaintance of mine with a much greater experience in Ancient Greek, if a much smaller passion for filk. His help has been invaluable in my working on this project/understanding what elision is. The vast majority of the work is mine, but some grammatical and vocabular edits were made at his suggestion. “Sirens,” “Trial by Song,” “Elysian Fields,” “Riddle of the Sphinx,” and “Broken Horses,” were all edited thus. Rawdogging the rest of ‘em, though.

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If you have questions about the way a line was translated not addressed in the notes, feel free to ask about it. I only noted what I thought were the most significant details, and I’m sure I missed something fascinating.

[doctorbrown]

Temp rules/guidelines/info while this blog is heavily in the works and I get a carrd going.

First and foremost, Doc does not have a modern verse. I'm using 1920 as his birthdate, as was given in the novelisation, and his 'main' verse, regardless of where and when he time-travels to, will always see him a man of 1985-20XX. Doc's main verse takes place after the trilogy by default and alludes to the fact that he, Clara, Jules, and Verne returned from the 19th century to settle properly in Doc's time.

Not a rule per se, but more of an acknowledgment that while I do enjoy the comics' telling of how Doc & Marty met, I hate that they decided to have Doc be the one to tell Marty to call him by that nickname. No. Absolutely not. Doc would never. Marty, after a few weeks of coming by Doc's place, started calling him that affectionately and he just rolled with it.

Your muse will not automatically know about the DeLorean or that Doc is a time-traveller. It is a secret he goes to great lengths to keep for fear of sparking something catastrophic he can't control and he will not, without reason, clue anyone into the secret of his lab, the Time Train, or the DeLorean. Doc goes to extremes to blend into whatever time period he's visiting. It's not public knowledge. He's not shouting it to the heavens. Hell, he concealed the entire project from Marty until he was ready to reveal it at 0115 that morning. Am I open to muses finding out through whatever might unfold during a thread? Absolutely! Consequences!! But that requires communication.

There may be dark themes present on this blog due to the nature of time-travel, the ripple effect, how easily the trilogy claims that the past (and therefore the future) can be altered (see: Hell Valley timeline, 1985A), Doc's trauma resulting from his actions in the '40s and from time-travelling (the things he's seen, the knowledge of his own death, the times he thought he was going to lose Marty, etc.; there's a lot to unpack) and several arcs in the comics. The films chose to keep things lighter, but I won't be afraid to explore verses / AUs where things take a darker turn. That being said, I will not be writing topics like rape, non-con, sexual / romantic acts of any kind with minors.

I do not and will not, under any circumstances, tolerate romantic ships between Doc & Marty or Doc & any other muse that is not, at the very least, in their forties. In 1985, Doc is sixty-five years old. After the events of BTTF I, when he leaves Marty and Jennifer to travel to the future, he visits the rejuvenation clinic and adds several decades to his life, and though the treatments revitalise him and give him the appearance and constitution of someone in his forties, he is still mentally and emotionally in his sixties. It's not happening.

Romantic shipping is very unlikely to happen on this blog. It's important to note that Doc is not actively looking for a partner, nor for sex, and he's very guarded with his emotions in this area and almost thinks he's better than such base human desires. He is difficult to ship with. Romantically oblivious. For the longest time, he has been content to have it be just him and his dog, then himself, his dog, and Marty, and just be able to focus on his science. If through interactions there ends up being some kind of a spark between muses, I'd be open to chatting and seeing where it goes. Anything of that nature would be its own separate/independent timeline.

I am usually a multi-para to novella length writer and I enjoy plotting. Got an idea? Please come tell me about it! I'll be delighted and eager to jump into something with you.

I love AUs! I love crossovers (BTTF makes this so easy I will BS a way to get him to cross realities too, likely with some malfunctioning flux capacitor shenanigans) and I love interacting with OCs and canons. This blog is multi-verse, private (mutals-only) and semi-selective and I ask that you have visible rules/about/age on your blog. Given the fact I am 30+, I prefer not to interact with anyone under the age of 21.

My name's Red, 30+, I go by any pronouns so just pick whichever one pops into your head first and I'm good with it, I live off coffee and bad decisions, and I just really love sci-fi. And werewolves.

[peach-astrology]

Mercury in the houses

Mercury in the 1st house:

1)Active and flexible in communication and has a cheerful disposition.He is happy to make acquaintances,maintains business and personal connections,easily finds topics for conversation and knows how to joke.

2)I noticed that such people are well versed in the routes of roads and buses.They're good drivers.

3)Bad aspects indicate a gossip and an overly curious person.He is fussy,fickle and hard to concentrate.He talks a lot and does little.They can mess with anyone's brains.

4)The good aspects are indicative of the consistency in the judgments of man.He is very smart,he has a broad outlook,he is an interesting conversationalist.He has many friends who will help him in difficult situations.It is easy for them to express their thoughts both verbally and in writing.

5)Such people are real travel seekers.They have a lot of weird or funny stories.They aren’t boring,but also unsafe.They look younger than their years even without makeup.

Mercury in the 2nd house:

1)Your intelligence is your money.You are eager to learn something new to increase your income.

2)A good position for professions related to constant communication.Such a person knows how to make deals,he knows where it is more profitable and can distinguish a hardworking employee from a lazy one.

3)They are very hard to deceive.Advertising won't make them buy something.They look for practicality and quality in everything.Always carefully study the composition of the product and the reputation of the brand.

4)Bad aspects indicate that it is difficult for a person to choose high-quality products.They may accidentally take expired milk.They have a hard time controlling their spending and want to buy everything.

5)Good aspects point to a person who can wear one thing for years.They have neat shoes.They know the price of each item and appreciate gifts very much.May indicate the needlework.

Mercury in the 3rd house:

1)Mercury is very comfortable here,so a person with this position is very smart,sociable.This is a very good position for scientists,managers and teachers.They like to develop their thinking.They can quickly collect puzzles and solve riddles.

2)This person is very convincing.He is listened to when he expresses his opinion.He is respectful in communication,but can often interrupt the interlocutor and apologize for it lol.

3)He has a good relationship with his siblings.Even if they live separately,they often call or text.Their brothers and sisters could be very interesting or too active.

4)Good aspects indicate the ability to win over.Such people are easy to meet,they have interesting and fun friends(they could have met at school or university).Such a child could start talking earlier,or from the very childhood he talked better than other children.

5)Bad aspects point to a memory problem.They can talk too fast.They have a troubled relationship with relatives.They don't know how to allocate their time.

Mercury in the 4th house:

1)He was able often to visit relatives.His parents instilled a love of reading and learning from childhood.He learned a lot at home.Can be trained independently.

2)He likes to invite guests.This is the same person who was quarantined comfortably.He set up his house in his office and quietly studied,worked or quietly watched series:)

3)Good location for real estate.They can profitably buy a good house,thanks to their friends and acquaintances.A person can work as a realtor.Sometimes I see this situation in people who live with their friends.They like multifunctional furniture,may stick to minimalism in terms of furniture,but they like large rooms.

4)Negative aspects indicate ignorance in your own home.They have frequent disorder, problems with accounts and money.It's hard for them to concentrate on everyday things.

5)The good aspects point to a person who will always help.They are very friendly,respectful even at work and always cooperate.

Mercury in the 5th house:

1)They have a sooooo good sense of humor.They have a pleasant voice that attracts attention.Their sociability is fickle,at some point they are super sociable,and at some point they sit at home and don't talk to anyone.

2)They are very inspiring.If you feel bad and insecure,write to them.They have developed a sense of empathy.

3)Their child will be very curious.It should instill a love of creativity.They will be good parents,because they know how to communicate with children.Perhaps their child will be Gemini or Virgo.

4)The good aspects are indicative of the talent in logical games.They can play chess well, collect a small puzzle,or play monopoly.They love to win and their brain calculates every step to win.

5)Bad aspects can indicate arrogance in a conversation.A person is smart,but tends to underestimate the merits of other people.He becomes too much of a gamble.

Mercury in the 6th house:

1)Very curious in terms of little things.Everywhere he tries to find the reason.His thoughts are logically connected to each other.If you deceive him,it will not end well.

2)A person loves to develop in his profession or hobby.He looks for courses,goes to master classes and reads books.They may not consider themselves professionals,even if they have a lot of experience.

3)Most likely,he is fond of needlework.In any case,he is very neat,if he is taught,he can sew dresses,knit with needles,etc.He treats teachers with respect.

4)Bad aspects can indicate a person's fussiness and nervousness.He is always dissatisfied with his work,too strict with himself and too closely monitors his health and can invent a disease for himself.

5)Good aspects enhance a person's logic.He is better at math.It easily works with information and finds the essence.It is suitable for step-by-step training.May indicate a good memory.

Mercury in the 7th house:

1)Oooh,these people need a lot of relationship talk.They will not throw a tantrum,if they don’t like something,they will calmly tell you this(but you need to look at the sign).

2)They don’t care about the age of the interlocutor.They may have different environments by age.Good organizational skills.He has a lot of ideas and wants to hear everyone's opinion.

3)Negative aspects indicate a problem in the relationship.The person is too critical of the partner.It's like he's speaking a different language to him.It may indicate a divorce.

4)Good aspects indicate the ability to work in a team.The person is very friendly and eager to cooperate,so he has a good reputation and quietly rises up the career ladder.Excellent position for lawyers,salesmen and managers.

5)I find this situation in people whose partners have been introduced by friends;)

Mercury in the 8th house:

1)He's good at keeping secrets.Likes riddles and theories.May be interested in astrology,by the way.He often change the circle of friends.

2)They don't forget their grievances.It is necessary to listen to the inner voice and not give free rein to sarcasm.Often such people are interested in economics,politics and business.

3)Good aspects indicate an internal balance.A person can control their thoughts and feelings.He is able to motivate and support himself.

4)Bad aspects indicate distrust.A person could have an unpleasant experience in communication,so he doesn’t trust even close people.He is afraid of transactions and documents and doesn’t want to spend his money.

5)He seems to feel the mood and thoughts of the interlocutor.He can find information where no one can find it.

Mercury in the 9th house:

1)Such a person will definitely get a good higher education.He is inquisitive,quickly learns information,but can remember for a long time.

2)Any profession suits him.Their thinking is very versatile.This position is often found in the natal charts of writers and poets.

3)Bad aspects indicate a problem with learning.The person is still smart,but he has a problem with self-organization and he always doesn’t have enough time,because of which his health can suffer.

4)Good aspects indicate career advancement through a good education.They may have several degrees or develop and study abroad.They should learn a foreign language for their self-development.

5)He's a very interesting conversationalist.If you talk to him on philosophical topics,you can forget about time.They respect your opinion and listen to you carefully,even during an argument.

Mercury in the 10th house:

1)Simply put,a person can build a good career if they constantly meet and communicate.He needs to develop communication skills.

2)His opinion is highly respected at work,in the family and in friendship.They have authority and demand to be respected(in a good way).They have a good upbringing.

3)Good aspects help a person gain experience and build a good team around the person.That is, they create a favorable environment for its work.Thanks to this, a person can earn more.

4)Bad aspects point to a problem with superiors.They are underestimated by their teachers,their boss is too strict and overbearing,and the person is too self-willed.

5)Your father was on the road most of the time,leaving the house and returning after a while.Either he had a sooooo interesting youth.

Mercury in the 11th house:

1)Huge creative energy that can develop in a good friendly team.A person should find like-minded people for inspiration.

2)Another position indicates an interest in astrology,but the person is suitable from a more logical and practical point of view.Well versed in technology.

3)He understands the interests and needs of different segments of the population and feels the need to help everyone,regardless of their social status,age,nationality and religion.

4)Bad aspects indicate problems with concentration.The person is very absent-minded,he doesn’t know his goals and doesn’t know where to develop.

5)Good aspects indicates a well-developed empathy.A person chooses good people around him.He is kind even to his detractors,which is why they are few.

Mercury in the 12th house:

1)Constant worries,turmoil and stress often lead to serious illnesses.To come back to a state of mental balance,you need to be alone.Silence and solitude in this case are the best medicines.

2)I noticed that they have very developed visual memory.They are easier to remember pictures,people's appearance and events than numbers and names.

3)These people keep a lot of their own and other people's secrets that they will not tell anyone.It is difficult for them to express their opinion,because it isn’t constant and a person can’t formulate it.They need silence to study.

4)Bad aspects indicate shyness in communication and a desire to discuss someone else's life.

5)The good aspects indicate good powers of observation.They see and know how magic tricks are created.They are good at fantasizing and can write fantastic books or novels.

[tagedeszorns]

Titanicus by Dan Abnett

I apologise in advance for my English. It is not my first language and my reading comprehension is unfortunately much better than my speaking comprehension. I ask you to forgive bumpy phrasing and strange expressions!

I finished the novel a few days ago and am very, very pleased. I was well entertained, got the usual Abnett flavour that makes the Warhammer-verse more colourful, and had suspense and adventure.

But of course it doesn't go off completely without friction.

The end seemed rather abrupt to me, some things remained completely unresolved (what will become of Prinzhorn and the crew of the Victrix after the ... differences of opinion? Will someone take care of the remains of this tower? First the leak of the Heresy documents is a civil war thing and suddenly it's enough to say "haha, it was only fake!" and everything is fine again? With two fleets in orbit?) But maybe that will be cleared up in another novel. In any case, I would like to continue following the adventures of Legio Invicta.

And once again Abnett finds it really difficult to include female characters. He clearly tries hard, but doesn't get beyond his usual "diplomat, soldier" and they are also either stereotypical (the emotional Mechanicum woman, the hysterical Famula, the tough-motherly soldier ...) or men with breasts (the young Outland woman got heavy "I don't see gender"-treatment). As far as I can tell, there was not a single woman on any of the Titan crews. No female princeps, moderati or steersman. And that's with over thirty Engines involved. At first I was incredibly positively surprised that there was an Enby character (Sonne), but unfortunately they quickly became "he". Too bad.

But I don't read the Black Library books because I appreciate their authors for their progressive views (I think there's a female author by now, at least that's what I've been told), but because I want to see things explode in the most bombastic, thrilling terms imagineable. Heroic adventures in the grimmest of all the darknesses!

And Abnett delivers that in the best possible way. The description of the engine battles is so wonderful, you can almost feel the earth shaking beneath the god machines. The sequence in which a Titan begins its walk alone gives you goosebumps. You are shown an alien world in which man and machine can no longer be separated at some point - and losing oneself in the depths of a Titan is not a pleasant fate for every Princeps. But each of these men is incredibly proud to be among the best of the best - you can feel it in every sentence. They may belong to the Mechanicum and they may be largely no longer human - but they are something entirely their own. I like that this strangeness is so clear. I'm such a sucker for big machines and Abnett's Titans scratch that itch so good!

Wonderful details like the warhounds getting balance tails and really acting like a hunting pack drew me deep into the action. The glimpse into the heads of the crews was impressive and the strangeness of the Mechanicum was fantastically worked out. The description of the Noosphere was very, very Matrix. I liked it. The Skitarii were also given contour, which for me is often lacking with other authors.

In addition, small, loving details like a glimpse into the shop of a toy maker in the Hive or the confused spirit of an old Moderati make the immersion perfect.

I can also get over the fact that the machines and the staff of the Dark Mechanicum remain pale and do not get beyond the "horrible, completely insane monsters" status. Yes, they are not even allowed to do more than bleat their names like deranged Pokémon. All right, I'll live with that. The loyal engines are all the more colourful for it.

And, of course: Gorge Orwell. That's no typo. 😁

All in all, one of the best Black Library books I've read in a long time. Definitely in my top ten.

Associate Professor Demon Bird Hat says: Five out of five knitting Salamanders' balls of wool.

[stiltonbasket]

Renouncement verse, jc bonds with his niblings. Jc forced on a misadventure with lz and reflects on those 3 months during the war and their changed relationship to each other (reminding him of his other bro in law), possible beginings of friendship? Sect leader yao get reckt? People reminded that wwx is incredibly kind just as he is incredibly badass? Love ur stories! :D

(author’s note: please please reblog if you can, since that’s how we get prompts for future chapters!)

“I want to get out of here,” Lan Wangji growls. “We have been stuck for almost a full shichen.”

“We’re not in any danger,” Jiang Cheng points out, rolling his eyes. The two of them have been stuck in the lair of a spider demon for the last two hours, trapped by its resentful webs even after they gored it through the head and ripped its legs off; but the webs dissipate by themselves about four or five hours after the death of yaoguai that made them, so he and Lan Wangji just have to wait until they can get out. 

Oddly enough, Jiang Cheng had thought that Lan Wangji would be much better at waiting.

“I know we are not in danger,” his brother-in-law hisses—and isn’t that a kicker, knowing that he and Lan Wangji are technically related now. “I have a family to return to. We cannot stay here doing nothing until the webs disappear.”

“If we use our lingli to get ourselves out, we’ll exhaust ourselves, and it’ll take twice as long for you to get back to the Cloud Recesses. Just stay put and stop complaining.”

“If we use our lingli, I will at least be able to get a message to Wei Ying!” Lan Wangji snaps. “The little one may be coming now, for all I know! And Wei Ying will worry, besides!”

“He wasn’t even expecting you back until tomorrow,” Jiang Cheng grumbles, turning his back on him. “It was your idea to come here at night. We were going to speak to the villagers in the afternoon and start work in the morning.”

“That would have kept us away from home for an extra half-day.”

“Believe it or not, the Cloud Recesses can run itself perfectly well without you. Your brother can manage by himself for a night, and so can Wei Wuxian.”

The look Lan Wangji gives him is so poisonous that it would have made the spider yaoguai proud. “What did you say?”

“You heard me,” Jiang Cheng returns, turning back to face Lan Wangji with his arms crossed over his chest. “Stop thinking that something’s going to happen to my brother because you’re not there. He can take care of himself.”

A shadow of mingled grief and anger passes over Lan Wangji’s eyes, and Jiang Cheng tries not to feel guilty at the sight of it. After all, Lan Wangji doesn’t have to say that Wei Ying has been taking care of himself since before the Sunshot Campaign—he was thrown into Luanzung Gang without a golden core to protect him, taught himself resentful cultivation and overthrew Wen Ruohan with it, and then he fled to the Burial Mounds and kept fifty people fed and clothed with his own labor while keeping them safe from the Jins at the same time. 

Wei Wuxian is so used to taking care of himself that he didn’t know how to accept it when his own lawful husband tried to assure him that he no longer had to worry for his future, or the futures of the children they have together. 

“I was already making plans to take myself out of the way after Lan Zhan found someone he really loved,” his brother told him once, after Jiang Cheng received word about the coming baby and flew to the Cloud Recesses to see if it was true. “I was hoping he wouldn’t until Xiao-Yu came of age, but separations do happen in the Cloud Recesses, and you put that divorce clause into our betrothal contract. It’s stupid, but even though I know now that he’s loved me all along, I...I still don’t know how to feel it’s true sometimes.”

“Is he not taking care of you?” Jiang Cheng had demanded, his hackles already rising in fury at the thought of Wei Wuxian’s husband making him feel abandoned. “I’ll have words with him if he is, you—”

“A-Cheng,” Wei Wuxian chided. “It’s not like that.” And then he had gestured around him to the fluffy pillows and blankets layered all over his body and the vials of medicine at the bedside table, before casting a pointed eye at his own reflection in the mirror. “Xichen-ge said that such worries are normal with a child on the way, and I wasn’t so—well, worried—before the autumn. It should pass, and there are healers who train for that sort of thing if it doesn’t.”

That sort of thing might be why Lan Wangji is so desperate to return to Wei Wuxian now, if Jiang Cheng looks a little further than his brother-in-law’s point-blank refusal to let Wei Wuxian out of his sight ever since Mo Xuanyu brought him back to life about a year and a half ago. His brother hasn’t been well lately, what with being kidnapped right before he found out about A-Lan and the stress that the chilly Gusu winter had placed on his coreless body, and he doesn’t exactly have a good track record for keeping out of trouble whenever Lan Wangji is away from him. 

And the last time Lan Wangji was forcibly separated from Wei Wuxian, he and Jiang Cheng spent three months searching for him everywhere from Yunmeng to Qishan, forced into partnership by fear and hope and everything in between, and still half-certain that they would find nothing but a body when their search was over.

“Get Bichen and start chopping,” Jiang Cheng says abruptly, yanking Sandu out of its sheath and wincing as he feels the spiritual drain when it slashes a piece of web in two. “I’ll take the right, you take the front. We should be out in half an hour.”

__

Neither of them have enough lingli to travel back by sword, so they rent a pair of horses from a chain stable-owner and set their course back towards Gusu; the spider yao’s nest was in Moling, and Lan Wangji was obliged to attend to the matter as Excellency, and Jiang Cheng came along because he happened to be visiting the Cloud Recesses. Six hours later, they drop the horses off at the first chain stable they can find, and then they make their way through Caiyi town and up into the mountains. 

“I want to see my brother,” Jiang Cheng grumbles, holding up the package of beef bones he bought on the journey. “You’re taking care of him properly, I know, but—I just want to see him. And my niece.”

Lan Wangji lifts his eyebrow at him, but then his whole face softens as Wei Wuxian comes running down the path with Xiao-Yu in his arms, so delighted to see them both that his face seems to be lit by a tiny sun from within. 

“Lan Zhan!” he calls, leaping into Lan Wangji’s embrace and kissing him until Xiao-Yu starts wriggling in discomfort between them. “How are you, love? You didn’t have any trouble, did you?”

Lan Wangji shakes his head and returns Wei Wuxian’s kisses just as fervently, and then Wei Wuxian turns to Jiang Cheng and beams, hugging him so tightly that the breath flies out of his chest with a gasp.

“Will you stay until tomorrow, Jiang Cheng?” Wei Wuxian asks, taking his hand and wrapping his other arm around Lan Wangji’s waist, while Xiao-Yu scrambles up onto Lan Wangji’s shoulders. “A-Hong just sent word saying that you haven’t had any summons today, so I thought…”

Jiang Cheng nods. He can feel tears pricking at the corners of his eyes at the warmth in his brother’s voice, and the lump in his throat does not leave until much later that evening, when he goes to bed in one of the guest houses and stares up at the ceiling in an effort to fall asleep.

But then Lan Jingyi bursts into his room just before midnight, and drags him out of the guest house and up towards the infirmary. “What’s wrong?” Jiang Cheng demands, the moment he catches his breath. “Wei Wuxian—he’s not—”

“It’s happening!” Jingyi screeches. “Wei-qianbei asked for you, and Zewu-jun’s already started passing him spiritual energy—”

Jiang Cheng nearly faints dead away on the spot when Jingyi finally drags him into the healing ward and shows him to Wei Wuxian’s room. 

He’s about to become a jiujiu again.

[michaelbjorkwrites]

How to craft good figurative writing according to Dead Poets Society

Good figurative writing is electrifying.

It adds beauty and depth to your prose in a way literal language struggles to match.

But the challenge of good figurative language is that it doesn’t come from your head — it comes from your gut.

You don’t sit there and systematically craft metaphors by analyzing and connecting two separate ideas; instead, you let your intuition take the wheel, and you follow it down any and every dimly lit street, until you reach its intended destination.

Sometimes that destination is beautiful and inspiring. Other times (oftentimes) it’s a horrible, ugly place that should never see the light of day.

But the trick is this: to write good, natural figurative language, you need to let your intuition run wild, because for every few bad metaphors you write, a great one will emerge — and that’ll be the spark that brings your image or scene to life.

Nobody illustrates this process better than Mr. Keating in Dead Poets Society.

Empowering your gut to write better figurative language

In the above scene, Todd is the writer, and the class is his inner critic. His writing is stifled by their laughter and judgment, and he’s afraid to follow his gut on strange images, such as “truth like a blanket that always leaves your feet cold.”

But Mr. Keating (Robin Williams, God bless him) pushes Todd to ignore the class, putting a hand over Todd’s eyes and giving commands like, “Don’t think — answer!” and, “Say the first thing that pops into your head, even if it’s total gibberish!” Mr. Keating gives Todd permission to run with the wildest of impulses — and the end result is a fascinating string of figurative language and images, ranging from “sweaty-toothed mad man” to his full elaboration on the blanket of truth.

To write better figurative language, you need to be your own Mr. Keating. You need to give yourself permission to write (and pursue) gibberish, so that something artful and organic may jump out of you.

Here’s some advice on how to make that happen.

1. Start with freewriting

Freewriting is an exercise where you write for a short period of time without a filter, without editing, and without stopping. The goal is to shut down your inner editor and make fresh connections between ideas — which makes it great for figurative writing, especially if you tend to struggle with metaphors and similes. The next time you’re working on a scene, take just 5 minutes to freewrite some relevant similes and metaphors. Most will be nonsensical, but you’ll often come away with at least one great idea.

2. Write similes before metaphors

If your goal is to write metaphors, I suggest you start by writing similes. The word “like” is a helpful bridge, making it easier to form initial connections between unrelated ideas. Then, in revision, you can experiment with deleting the word “like” if you want to double down with a metaphor.

3. Trust the connection is there

When your subconscious makes a connection between two unrelated ideas, know that there is a connection, even if it seems completely random on the surface. Your subconscious wouldn’t have made the connection if there wasn’t something there — you just need to find it. Which brings me to #4.

4. Don’t judge a rabbit hole before diving in

Remember in the scene above how Todd initially shies away from the idea that truth is like “a blanket that leaves your feet cold”? The class laughs, but Mr. Keating encourages Todd to go further, and further, until Todd finally stumbles into a fully-realized simile that silences everyone. Just like the class, you might think your figurative language is dumb at first, but always take a few minutes to go down the rabbit hole and explore its potential.

5. Ask yourself questions

When you’re trying to explore and develop a piece of figurative language, ask yourself questions as Mr. Keating asks Todd:

What do you see? “A mad man.” What kind? “A crazy mad man.” You can do better. “A sweaty-toothed mad man.” Describe what you see. “A sweaty-toothed mad man with a stare that pounds my brain.” That’s excellent. Give him action. “And all the time he’s mumbling.” What’s he mumbling? “Mumbling truth. Truth like a blanket that leaves your feet cold.” Tell me about that blanket. — And so on.

Even if it feels like you’re going in circles, keep riffing and elaborating upon the idea until you land on something that works.

O Captain! My Captain!

To quote Mr. Keating, who in turn quotes Whitman: “The powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”

Whatever your verse, I hope figurative language plays a part.

— — —

Hey there! My name’s Mike, and I’m a writer & copywriter with an MFA in fiction. For more tips on how to hone your craft and nurture meaningful stories, follow my blog.

And thanks to @vilchen​, whose original question about half a year ago prompted this post. This is an updated version of my original answer.

[sprawa-przybyszewskiej]

After @vperyod93's great analysis I couldn't resist making a separate post just to ponder extensively over Fabre's line and what it means when faced with the whole of the play.

We don't see much of Fabre, and cannot treat it as his own thought – he's just there as a part of the The Danton Case's choir, much like in the ancient greek theatre there was one, commenting on the actions of the main heroes. Such is the role of the two camps: the dantonists and the Committee, both offering additional information and commentary, weighing in on how we percieve their main figures.

Fabre in particular hits the nail on the head with his ironic summary of what has transpired. Some of what he says could be ascribed to bitterness – a last quip of an almost dead man – but it underlines the line of action Danton took. Because while we as the readers in our reality know fully well that Danton's actions must eventually take a wrong turn, we as a voiceless, fleshless beings observing the play's universum could potentially anticipate a better move on his part (I meant to say that we read it with a bias, like a historical knowledge, or simply because the title The Danton Case is very telling, but if we take the story completely at face value, it doesn't have to be final and tragic for Danton). He is after all portrayed as a good politician, and while it's not explored, it is also clearly more than a hollow assumption, since he was initially able to fool Robespierre into respecting his unique position. And yet time and time again he refuses to either help himself and his accomplices by many possible means presented to him, or at the very least acknowledge the hard truth that he's lost. He does it, to a degree, in his very last scene, but that's not enough, someone truly well versed in politics would understand much sooner that one will always lose when faced with an opponent who has the whole governemnt and all its tools at his disposal. Those two views we get of him as readers completely clash with one another and when one rules out Przybyszewska's incompetence as a playwright as a possible reason for it (as I will always do), the only acceptable explanation is that he did acknowledge his loss much sooner than we realized, but has decided to go on for the theatrics and for the beauty of it.

I hope that by now I have managed to convince everybody Danton – while impulsive – is hardly an emotional man, but more of a calculating type. And up to a certain point I think he truly did believe not even that a rescue is available and possible, but thet he needs no rescue. The certain point I'm talking about is, more specifically, Act III, Scene 2, and it's just few lines in a middle of it:

As you may see, the English translation didn't fully embody the state Danton is in. The original states clearly: he's scatteringeverywhere like grains of sand, he's meltingonto the floor, his hat is weighinghim down. That is: he is compeltely, fully finished.

If we were watching the play normally in a theatre, it is quite possible this could not go unnoticed, because it has a potential to be stretched out in time, underlined by lighting or music, made significant through other means possible in a realm of visual arts. As it is in a book, it's easy to almost skip past it, as it is bordered by two strong conversations: Danton's fallout with Delacroix and Danton's aggresive and manipulative treatment of Camille – which is another proof that thisis the moment Danton realises how bad his position is in its entirety.

If it weren't so, he wouldn't have pulled Camille alongside to their deaths. Whatever else they thought about him, both Robespierre and Danton agreed that Camille's writing is invaluable and Danton would not part lightly with such a weapon, not under any circumstances, unless he was sure of the tragic turn everything was going to take.

The whole conversation with Camille in Act III is a superb representation of Danton's abilities as a manipulator. I think this is – in his own mind – his last show (he's not thinking, or at least not thinking in any decisive terms, about his futura defense speech), his "going out with a bang". In one word: theatricality. He could go silently, but it's not as beautiful, not as grand, as taking with him everybody who loved him and believed in him. For: if you lose, what was the point? And as aesthetics continues to teach us, "the beauty of it" might be an answer not just in art, but in life as a whole.

Let's examine the conversation Danton and Camille engage in (I reccomend reading the scene beforehand, as quoting it whole here would be too space-consuming). First of all, Danton sets the tone of it in no uncertain terms, and I quite like both the French and English translation in this regard: Vas-y, fais ton numero. All right, you can perform now. Because it will be a performance, but not Camille's – Danton's. (In the original he used a phrase which has the same memaning, but only as one of many, instead of the main one, so it's really less telling on the textual level.) All in all, he also sets the tone by being unnecessarily crude to Camille, who is very visibly upset, and for a good reason. But to Danton, this is only a foundation for mockery. He mocks Camille's speech, his intellect, his character, his felings for Robespierre.

Then the tone shifts somewhat for a short moment. Because if Camille went to Robespierre by himself, it changes a lot; on the one hand, his sudden decisiveness could be an obstacle in ruining him, but on the other hand, Danton sees this as an honorable opening. If Camille took a step such as this one on his own, Danton could let him go. He could let him be free, if he knew Camille was taken care of. Everything in this short moment screams to the audience that Danton still has some small glimpse of humanity left in him, though he already is a man so broken he relies on instincts only out of habit, whose willpower has left him. The body language of the two also signifies a sudden shift in their demeanour, as for once Camille is the one leaning towards Danton, who responds by leaning back. This is the opposite of what is commonly associated with them. But then they return to their normal ways, Camille's naivety pulling Danton out of the daze. And that is another opening, but this time for ruining Camille way more than what was possible before.

As improbable as it sounds, Camille had no idea Robespierre loved him when they spoke (just minutes - ? – before this scene). It is clearly visible to the audience, but not to him, and he only learns of this sudden and all in all good news through Danton, who – apparently – was well aware of the fact for a long time, but who up until now didn't think it prudent to tell Camille, as it could sway him in the wrong direction. He tells him now, becuase it became a useful information, a way to pretend he cares for Camille's wellbeing, while symultaneously depriving him of any real chance of a rescue, and burning his bridges all in one sweep. Now can Danton truly showcase his talent at manipulating people: his voice changes hues almost in every sentece, the many ellipses in the text indicate he talks deliberately and slowly, he is carefully reading Camille to obtain the best results. He's coaxing him, he's telling him harsh truths, he's in full control of the conversation – whenever Camille tries to take action by himself, Danton is already there, with a handy comeback, which forces Camille to reconsider. He acts as the sole keeper of the truth, which is most visible when he responds to Camille's plan of asking for Robespierre's forgiveness with a sentece: He will never forgive you. Says who? Says Danton.

At the end of the conversation, Danton voicelessly laughs after Camille's departure. His eyes however, we are told, are sad. The conversation ended exactly how he wanted it to, but he's no happier for it. Throwing a jewel into the sea might be beautiful, but it will never be joyous. What he did just now what also more than mere waste – it was a bloody offering (as the polish word ofiara means a sacrifice, an offering and a vicitm, it seems to be entirely fitting into this theory).

Now we circle back to the begging. The thread linking the jewel, Danton and Robespierre in my opinion is Camille, or rather the way the other two see him and treat him. Becuase the symbolism there is quite easy to spot: Camille resmebles a jewel in being easy on the eyes, pleasant to be around and innocuos as well as invaluable in his own right. And just as a jewel becomes an ornament to the person wearing it, he became an ornament ot his more powerful friends. The difference between them is of course: Danton throws this jewel out willingly and with a vicious joy, simply to spite others (if he cannot have what he wants, no one else will either). He will justify his actions to some degree, but I don't think he fully believes in these justifications (does he really think he's doing Camille a favour by leading him to a guillotine? I don't think so. The only honesty there is, is that for once he voices the depth of disdain he hoards for Camille). Robespierre is a complete oppiste of it, and we even have a proof – because he has already los Camille once, to Danton. And yet he defended him, in Saint-Just's words: to the point of causing a scandal. Robespierre not only doesn't throw the jewel out, but tries to catch it mid-air and restore. That it doesn't work, is not fully (though it is partially) his fault.

The more general understanding of Fabre's line, namely that it simply describes the characters of Danton and Robespierre as a whole, not just in appliance to their treatment of Camille, at the end of the day comes back to the same thing – pride and a sense of possesing. Danton is too proud to lose, and therefore when it does come to his losing everything, he will make sure it truly is everything. In his own words, he bows to no one whom he considers a lesser-than. Meanwhile, Robespierre (who does consider Danton to be a fool and overall a bad fit in the government) is willing to fall at Danton's feet if it were necessary for the Republic. There isn't much beauty in doing so, which goes to show he doesn't care for it, only for the result. This is partially why he failed at saving Camille, who needed this beauty to accept the olive branch he was being offered, and who could not accept it as it were, bare and cold. Beauty will save the world, though it isn't necessarily what Dostoyevsky had in mind. Robespierre, however, is so thoroughly deprived of the sense of beauty it becomes his undoing, as it is – by proxy – Camille's.

[subbing-for-clones]

The New Apprentice Part 2

Maul x Sith!Reader 

WARNINGS: attempted rape, violence, fluff

Word Count: 2.7k

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                Weeks had passed since you had impressed your master with the taming of two Rancor and the killing of one. It was also the last day you had impressed him. Coming to the realization that you were in fact an incredibly gifted force user, you left much to be desired when it came to your saber skills despite being well versed in hand-to-hand combat and the use of other weapons. He hadn't even trained you himself yet, leaving Savage to help you with the basic forms. You were getting better but your master had told you he wouldn't spar with you until you could best his brother.

    The two of you clashed your weapons together in the morning chill after your daily strength training. You were faster but he was stronger and had more practice. "You're blocking your mind little one," Savage instructed. "Use your foresight." He was heaving and you swore his eyes were clouding. Maul watched with his hands behind his back. Savage's eyes fluttered and he shook his head growling for a moment. He charged you but before he could collide, you stepped to the side, jumping up and giving him a strong spin kick to the head. Your attack was successful to a point, you impaled your foot on one of his horns.

    Not allowing yourself to cry out you took advantage of his stumble and attacked again, kicking him straight in the chest, forcing his body to collapse. He lay still under your foot, the tip of your saber inches from his face. Maul called out to you both.

"Well done. As usual, I have notes but you may congratulate yourself on your first win." Smiling confidently, you sheathed your weapon, removed your foot and extended your hand to the man you had grown close with.

    You and Savage became fast friends, you made him laugh hard with your quick wit and rather goofy sense of humor while he reassured you when you were feeling in over your head. He was much kinder than his appearance led most to believe. This fact alone was proof he had lived a very different life than that of his brother. He smiled up at you with pride as he took your hand but that smile disappeared quickly.

    His pupils dilated, his breath quickened and a deep groan you hadn't heard before erupted from his chest. Grinding his teeth, the grip on your hand tightened. Maul sensed what was going on and quickly strode over. Before he could reach you Savage pulled you down to him. He rolled so you were beneath him, caged by his massive body. You didn't recognize the eyes that he bore into yours. Usually soft and smooth like honey, now burned like hot twin suns.

    Before he could rip away your tunic Maul extended his hand and force pulled you over to him. Savage didn't hesitate to give chase roaring in frustration. Maul defensively wrapped an arm around your waist and twisted his body slightly so he stood between the two of you. He pulled you tightly to him and ignited his weapon to protect you from the monster his brother had become. Maul was fuming, teeth bared and snarling. His grip around you was bruising as if trying to pull you into himself. It was impossible not to smell him, that smokey, woody, sweet musk you had come to secretly favor and be comforted by. Distracted for only a second you snapped out of it. Fear taking over your body again at the sight of Savage who had devolved to an enraged animal.

    These were not the men you had come to know and admire. They were wild beasts. Your master murmured aggressively, "Savage... brother... control yourself." Giving him a chance. Ignoring his brother's warning Savage ignited his own weapon and lunged towards you. Blocking it with ease, Maul relinquished his hold around you and pushed you fully behind him keeping himself between you and Savage.

    You sat in disbelief at the events that unfolded in front of you. The two brothers raged against one another in a flurry of quick blows and ferocious roars. You ran towards the rancor you had ended up keeping and watched the battle from his back. You rubbed his head to sooth your frightened nerves as you took in the battle. Savage was sloppy but powerful and Maul was calculated, trying not to harm his brother permanently. They clashed until Maul landed a blunt blow with the hilt if his saber to Savage's jaw; knocking him unconscious. He wasted no time and hurriedly loaded his form onto the ship before addressing you.

"Stay with your beast, I will return to you before the day is over. Do not leave this place." He shouted, eyes damn near vibrating out of his head with fury. You nodded and watched as he flew off but not up to space rather, over somewhere.

 ~~~~~

      Maul could feel your heart break from the cockpit as he took flight. It was a pain he swore to himself you wouldn't have to feel as his apprentice. Betrayal. Destruction of trust, a pain he had known time and time again. An unnecessary one. He glared at his brother's unconscious body. It wasn't entirely his fault. He had been thrown head first into a powerful heat cycle. It was however his fault that he couldn't control it long enough to tell him so he could get him away from you. He wouldn't have let you spar him if he had known this was coming. An already physical and intimate act fueled his hormones. He cursed himself for putting you in that kind of harm’s way.

    Maul reached his destination. Out of the fog he could see Mother Talzin standing tall, as if awaiting their arrival. He greeted her first as Savage was still unconscious. She extended her arms toward Maul and spoke with an eerie vibrato.

"My son. I see you are in need of some assistance with your brother."

"Yes mother, he is experiencing an unusually brutal cycle and attacked our new companion. May I leave him in your and the sisters’ care."

"But of course. I'm sure there is a sister or two that would accept him in this state."

Nodding, Maul brought out his brother to find one of the pale sisters garbed in red already awaiting them with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"He will be delivered when his time is done." The sister hissed. "I sense this will be a long bout for him." Maul nodded hesitantly and left just as brother was waking up. The last thing he saw was Savage grab the woman before he disappeared.

His brow creased, eager to get back to you and assure himself that you were alright.

    When he arrived back at camp in the forest, he took a deep breath and disembarked. If the circumstances were different, he would have smiled at you. Your rancor was laying down with its enormous head on your legs, growling affectionately. With one hand you stroked what you could reach of its mighty jaw. You had pulled the hem of your master's tunic you still wore over your nose inhaling his scent deeply. You had tried to wash his smell out of it but never could, now you were thankful for that small detail. It comforted you in this moment while you told yourself not to cry. Sith don't cry.

Maul approached you treading lightly not knowing how to breech this conversation.

"My dear..."

   The rancor lifted his head snarling viciously at your master. He raised his brow as you slowly stood and placed both of your hands on the monster's face giving it an affectionate smooch. "Shh shh it's alright my sweet baby Angel." You cooed and hugged the beast you had hilariously named 'Angel'. Well, you and Savage thought it was funny at the time. You frowned at the memory but your tenderness appeased Angel. He laid his head back down and you turned to face your Master with shame. His heart panged as you wouldn't meet his eye for a moment.

"Please Y/N..." he begged. He didn't use your name often, usually referring to you simply as 'apprentice' or the ever-occasional changing pet names in more casual moments.

"That wasn't your fault. I'm sorry Savage attacked you. The nightsisters are taking care of him." You finally met his gaze with a snap at the sound of that. "You left him with them, after what they did to him?" Maul was surprised you came to his brother's defense.

"I assure you he gave no protest." Not realizing that his brother had confided in you. "And that he would rather be with them than to hurt you."

"I'm not ignorant." You interjected. "I read about Dathomirians on the holo-net shortly after coming here. I know he's in his heat cycle I just didn't... I didn't..."

"Expect it to be so violent?" Maul offered.

"Yeah... is it going to be like that every time? Are you going to get like that?" Your fists clenched and tears gathered on the bottom of your lashes but once again you fought them. Maul could feel your rage burning inside you like a furnace. He seethed at the idea of someone taking you like that. Let alone his own brother's intoxicated attempt.

    Maul extended his hand out to you. Remembering how closely he held you. How ruthlessly he defended and protected you, you took his hand and allowed him to pull you closer.

"If you know what the nightsisters did to him then you know he was gruesomely altered against his will... What you witnessed tonight is not how it usually is. It is controllable and I swear on my life I will never harm you in that way. I will separate him from us next time before it takes hold; I promise you. Please believe me."

    You looked into your master's eyes not knowing what to make of the care, of the softness he was showing you. He has never been cruel but ever so distant, professional even. He’s being so kind, so tender with you; his eyes screaming desperately for you to believe him.

"I believe you master."

    With an audible sigh of relief, he looked down and was reminded how you had wounded your foot during your fight. "I think we should take the rest of the day, get some food in you and get that cleaned."

"That sounds good."

    You turned around and limped your way back to a worried Angel, whispering something inaudible to your master's ears. The beast grunted in understanding and gave you a light bump with its head that almost sent you flying but did make you laugh. You watched as he walked off into the forest, disappearing into the fog.

    Maul guided you back to the ship with his hand on your lower back and into the fresher. He sat you down and knelt, taking the ankle of your injured foot delicately in his hand and dabbed a warm wet rag on it. You tried your best to stifle the blush but to no avail. He could feel your pulse quicken but didn't sense that it was fear so he ignored it.

"What was it that you said to the beast?"

Trying to lighten the mood you smiled, "His name is Angel." You stated matter-of-factly. "I could tell he was getting hungry so I told him to go hunt. I'm sure he will be back by morning." Maul contemplated what you said while diligently and softly tending your wound.

"I know I asked you to bring me a rancor but... why do you keep it around?"

    You thought about your answer for a moment because you felt like it would lead to another question. You decided to dive head first into the conversation.

"He's a good boy. When I found him he was in pain. I didn't understand how but I knew the other one caused him distress so to get them both to follow me back here I told them each I'd kill the other. I lied to one and told the truth to my Angel. I didn't 'force tame' them. I connected with them. Now he feels safe around me. Besides," you continued. "I like his company while I meditate."

    Maul thought about what you said and chuckled in a low tone. "For a Sith apprentice you sure do have a soft side. How do you manage that and keep such a strong connection to the darkness?"

    He lifted and examined the rest of your exposed leg to check for any other scratches. Your blush slightly deepened. "I'm not sure you want the answer to that question."

"Well, my curiosity was piqued but now I'm intrigued... Go on."

"I've felt the pull of the dark side of the force as long as I can remember and although my rage and fear did fuel it, so did my love, my determination, and in more ways than one, my utter joy." You paused because Maul had stopped and was looking at you. You continued, "as long as I've been able to feel it, it never felt evil or like hatred. It felt like passion. A blinding, all consuming passion and will to live on so I could feel more of it and everything that came with."

    That was not an answer that Maul had expected but he thought he understood. It was different for him but he accepted your answer and replied, "so that's why the jedi wouldn't take you and possibly why it's so strong within you. Every emotion you have fuels your power whether it's a positive one or a negative one... fascinating." He continued to wrap your foot while you stayed silent. "I'm not sure I've ever done anything kind."

   This statement caused you to burst into laughter. He gave you a confused and inquisitive look. "You do realize that while you say that you're tending my wound despite the fact that I could've done that myself easily. You also... oh I don't know... rescued me from slavery and protected me from Savage during his hormonal rampage. You've been incredibly kind.... at least in my opinion... you make me feel safe master... safer than I have in quite some time..."

Maul silently gulped, fighting the heat that spread across his cheeks. It was the only time in his life he was specifically thankful that his skin was crimson.

      Everything you had said to him that night continued to ring in his mind to the point he was tossing and turning. Knowing he wouldn't find sleep he made his way to the common room for a glass of water. That's where he found you, wrapped in his long black hooded cloak asleep in one of the chairs. He stared at you dumb-founded. Here was this beautiful woman, dressed in his tunic, wearing his cloak because he made her feel safe. Fuck he thought. She probably didn't want to sleep above Savage's bed tonight.

    He tried to think of something to do. He didn't really want to leave you there on the chair so he made a rash decision. He scooped you up into his arms and carried you to his bedroom. His hearts raced when you buried your face into his neck in your sleep. He laid you down as softly as he could and pulled the thin blanket over you.

    He crawled onto his side and lay facing away from you. Unease in his belly, wondering if you'd be angry at his purposeful attempt to be soothing. He closed his eyes and heard your voice in his mind. ‘You saved me... You've been incredibly kind... you make me feel safe.’ He never thought anyone could think like that about him. He rolled over and cautiously snaked his arm around your middle. To his secret delight he felt you wiggle back against him and murmur, "thank you master." Before your slow breathing continued signaling your fast return to sleep.

    Perhaps just for tonight he'd let himself enjoy something. He gripped you tighter and buried his face in your hair. Hoping against hope and all reason that somehow the sun wouldn't rise in the morning and he could stay like this as long as possible.

[fannishcodex]

Interesting meta from cruelfeline and others inspired my idea for a role swap AU where the main swap is between Hordak and Adora! There are other character swaps in the AU too, or swap variations.

Hordak is the latest Prim-Al, a living weapon that a First Ones faction clones over and over again each time one perishes in battle. FO created Prim-Al in response to their magitech AI Light Hope going rogue and constructing her own army of androids she calls the She-Ra. 

More under the cut, including Queen Adora, leader of the Etherian Alliance and stranded android still loyal to her creator, and her discovery of a baby Hordak (Content Warnings: ableism; child abuse; Catra is a villain and completes her transformation into a Shadow Weaver-like figure, and the implications of that):

But first, a little more summed up detail on Prim-Al’s deal, because there’s more to it:

-Hordak’s genetic template is a mysterious Subject A. The FO took preserved samples of Subject A to continually make clones of him for Prim-Al. 

-FO also made a digital copy of Subject A’s mind, a magitech AI named Prime. As a digital clone of an organic mind, much of him acts like an organic mind. Though FO has added some heavy programming and other alterations, they’ve tried to leave much of the organic-based behavior intact for multiple reasons--as an ongoing experiment in digital clones of minds, as an attempt to deter another rogue AI by trying to make this AI more aligned with organics (in contrast, RS!Light Hope was generally not based on an individual’s organic mind, she is not a digital clone like RS!Prime).

(Magitech is what it sounds like--a typically powerful fusion of magic and technology.)

-AI Prime is contained in the RS!Sword of Protection, and is actually the key to its power.

-The clones are actually vessels that channel magitech AI Prime through the sword. When a clone holds the sword, they sync with AI Prime inside, and together they essentially fuse and transform into Prim-Al.

-Prim-Al occurs in two stages. The first stage has some boost in power, some physical changes in body and clothes. The last stage has a greater boost in power and more physical changes--aged up (to a certain point), more muscular, longer hair, clothes, etc.

-AI Prime will only grant power to the clones/can only sync with the clones because they share a blood connection to the organic mind he was based on. This reaction is largely rooted in AI Prime’s magitech nature.

-Despite the death of Subject A, FO was able to preserve his mind and DNA to continue weaponizing him via biological and digital cloning. (The reasons for the FO’s focus on Subject A are also classified, though one can infer that Subject A possessed a power FO wanted to preserve and control....)

-AI Prime/the Sword of Protection is passed down through multiple iterations of Prim-Al.

-One of AI Prime’s functions is to also serve as a living archive of information, and so AI Prime remembers every Prim-Al. He is supposed to have this information available for new clone vessels to access.

-The clones do get names, but as they mature FO generally uses them less and refers to them as Prim-Al more. FO generally mistreat Prim-Al/clone vessels/AI Prime, seeing them as just weapons to keep under control.

FO doesn’t create a clone army because they’re honestly paranoid about creating another powerful enemy; they think that just one Prim-Al under selective limitations will grant them better control and avoid another Light Hope debacle. There are other classified reasons for this too. Also a FO faction created Prim-Al; the entirety of FO are embroiled in a civil war among each other as well as the war with Light Hope and other enemies.

The FO also put limitations on AI Prime for similar reasons, and all the more so because he’s an AI--they don’t want AI Prime to be another rogue AI like Light Hope.

Feel like sharing some design/tone notes:

Besides playing around with fusing traits from both Hordak and Horde Prime, I was also influenced by Link and the Master Sword in Breath of the Wild, as well as the Drifter in Hyper Light Drifter.

(Above: Base Form!RS!Adora is partly a drawover of a show image.)

The She-Ra units are magitech androids with a base form and a more powerful form they can transform into. This transformation is rooted in their magitech nature.

Gonna try to keep these notes on the art as more of a summary for now, and may reveal more specific details about the role swap AU later in separate text posts or even just keep it to later fic--also, still brainstorming, so material in the sketches and the text may change later; and also just felt like this art needed more context/clarification/background info:

(Baby!RS!Hordak is supposed to resemble canon!Imp, thanks to fic from/talking with @revasnaslan​. More info on that is below. Also yes, RS!Adora wrapped baby!RS!Hordak in her cape. :3)

FO preferred raising/training/indoctrinating the Prim-Al clone vessels from infancy, thinking this would give them greater control. They also thought it would make Prim-Al feel even more connected to organics and avoid sympathizing with any rogue AI like Light Hope.

RS!Adora finds the alien baby stranded on Etheria due to a wayward portal (like her situation), and she names him “Hordak” based on the little data she gets from the wrecked escape pod she finds him in. The data had only been text that read “Predecessor: Kadroh,” and she just reversed that name for the boy. RS!Adora names him as part of his paperwork, intending to have him sent to the infirmary with the other orphans, she can’t spend anymore time on him.

RS!Adora fought the Prim-Al before Hordak, but never knew his name was Kadroh. She doesn’t immediately see a resemblance between Hordak and Prim-Al because Hordak is a baby and she’s never really thought about Prim-Al being an organic infant before. Another significant thing is that like in @revasnaslan ‘s Where One Fell-verse fic, infants/children of Hordak’s species start completely blue, and then their faces turn white as they mature; also as @revasnaslan pointed out to me, there’s Imp, baby/child-like clone of Hordak without a white face. So RS!Adora slowly starts seeing the resemblance between Hordak and Prim-Al as Hordak’s growing up and his face starts turning white, and she honestly starts internally freaking out because by this point, between having to provide him medical assistance for his defect and having to spend more time with him than intended and watching him grow up more closely than she planned, RS!Adora is attached enough that the implications of Hordak somehow being the latest Prim-Al is distressing for her and provides a serious conflict with her loyalty to RS!Light Hope...

(Also just feel like saying that while I’m brainstorming that RS!Adora is kind of an android that’s been around for a while/like 1000+ years, I’m more in the camp that thinks that canon Hordak is actually quite young/not centuries old, even though he might have the potential for that/he can get that old later.)

There are more details on how baby RS!Hordak ends up on Etheria and the unique situation behind his birth, but that’s for another text post or fic.

RS!Adora passes herself off as an organic (even a native) while on Etheria. One metal arm is left exposed due to a minor glitch there that messes up the regen protocol for her synthetic skin; she pretends it’s just armor mainly for aesthetic/ceremonial purposes. But this is equivalent to a superficial scar, and it does not hinder or cause RS!Adora any great pain. Before Etheria she was considered one of RS!Light Hope’s perfect androids, and a random portal just plucked her from routine combat duty. (Light Hope didn’t really notice; any missing She-Ra units were assumed to be casualties of battle, and she had plenty more She-Ra units to replace any losses.) 

RS!Catra is a commander in RS!Adora’s Etherian Alliance. RS!Adora and RS!Catra have grown estranged while nominally on the same side. (I’ve been brainstorming RS!Adora/RS!Scorpia down the line after quite a few things go down.)

RS!Catra learned magic in Mystacor and RS!Light Spinner was her most influential mentor. RS!Catra’s specialty was transforming into a large predatory feline and other spells to strengthen her body. (I just keep getting more intrigued by original ‘80s Catra.)

When RS!Light Spinner roped RS!Catra into helping her with the Spell of Obtainment, things turned disastrous. The spell backfire warped RS!Catra, scarring her with a shadowy substance and granting her new shadow-like powers that made her vastly stronger, but the abrupt and traumatic change wrought by magic led to an initial period of insatiability and loss of control that resulted in RS!Catra transforming into an even larger, shadow-constructed feline that killed/devoured Light Spinner and other sorcerers investigating the commotion. RS!Catra flees Mystacor after this and eventually gains control over her new power, but grows more corrupt with it too, and is also left with a new hunger. Years later RS!Catra throws her lot in with the Alliance of monarchs and RS!Adora to solidify/take control of Etheria. (At the moment there’s tentatively another complicating factor with the Spell of Obtainment in this AU, but gonna leave that for another post or fic while I spend more time privately brainstorming it first.)

(Also RS!Catra’s design is very much based on her S3 finale corrupted form because I thought that was neat and that it could work in this AU. I also liked the idea of just using shadow magic to wrap around her and transform her into a large predatory shadow feline as a callback of her original ‘80s incarnation.)

Though RS!Adora is at the head of the Etherian Alliance with RS!Catra as her commander and essentially right hand, most of its high command is made of princesses and other monarchs/nobles who wished to tighten their control over Etheria. However, the Scorpion kingdom, Bright Moon, and Dryl resisted this agenda, and the Alliance considered them enemies and part of the rebels.

RS!Catra actually does just drop RS!Hordak off at the infirmary with the other orphans, complying with RS!Adora’s orders. Despite sensing some strong magic from RS!Hordak, RS!Catra’s content to leave him with the other orphans and just keep an eye on him for now.

(The magic RS!Catra’s sensing from RS!Hordak is something that can only be really triggered once he has the Sword of Protection.)

But when Hordak’s around four years old, his body starts breaking down/his defect becomes apparent. Many in the Alliance give up on the boy’s use as a soldier-in-training (or even use as a servant) and consider casting him out, despite RS!Adora’s insistence that they have enough resources to spare on providing the boy with ongoing medical assistance. (RS!Adora is motivated by a variety of things, including honoring Light Hope’s precept that all creatures have a place under her reign (until she orders otherwise); and at this point RS!Adora still feels some connection to her fellow portal traveler stranded on Etheria and feels compelled to try to help in this situation.) It’s then that RS!Catra steps in and takes in RS!Hordak as her ward. She still thinks he has use (she can still sense great magic from him) and sees this as an opportunity to position herself as the boy’s “savior” and really secure his loyalty.

Though the relationship between RS!Adora and RS!Catra is gradually deteriorating, the nature of RS!Catra’s true motives for taking in RS!Hordak is essentially lost on RS!Adora. While largely everyone in the Alliance had spurned the idea of keeping RS!Hordak around any longer now that he was defective--something RS!Adora found rather discouraging--RS!Catra’s the only one other than RS!Adora to express some interest in the boy. In the face of that much rejection, RS!Adora thinks that if RS!Catra wants to take RS!Hordak as her ward, she should have him.

RS!Adora constructs RS!Hordak’s first set of assistive armor. This eventually includes surgery and giving him ports for a closer/better connection to the armor. RS!Adora continues to treat RS!Hordak and maintain his armor, and helps educate him on how it works when he expresses interest in it and science/technology in general.

RS!Catra is not a good adoptive mother to RS!Hordak. She trains him brutally, pushes him as far as his defect will allow, telling him he needs to work harder to make up for his defect and keep up with everyone else. Her harsh words encourage his self-loathing, and she does aim to break him down to keep him compliant. She’s basically partly swapped with Shadow Weaver in this AU (partly since RS!Light Spinner isn’t really swapped, she’s partially in a “what if she was really on the wrong end of the Spell of Obtainment and was killed by its backfire like those Mystacor sorcerers were,” and also “what if Catra was her student at Mystacor instead of Micah.”)

For a long time RS!Hordak believes he deserves RS!Catra’s harsh treatment, and is afraid that she’ll cast him out if he’s not good enough. He’s aware that there’s no one else in the Alliance that would really take him in. He worries that RS!Adora would just withdraw her mercy and assistance if she realized how weak he really was, so he often tries to hide as much of that as he can from her, including signs of RS!Catra’s abusive treatment. RS!Catra sometimes softens with RS!Hordak--for example, she taught him how to drive a skiff and those were calm lessons, with RS!Catra less demanding and less harsh than when she trains him in combat--but she does not provide him with consistent care and continues to emotionally/verbally/mentally/physically abuse him.   

(Above: Definitely referenced a screenshot from the show. Not pictured: Probably RS!Prime losing his shit immediately after this and cursing RS!Catra out and maybe breaking out a recording of one of RS!Adora’s tongue-lashings to unsettle her.)

RS!Catra is furious when RS!Hordak finally runs away in his teens. Her relationship with him has become somewhat less business and more dangerously personal; she has developed a twisted affection for him as her adopted son, and that makes her reactions even more volatile and harsh when he runs away. RS!Catra does not react well to RS!Hordak’s attempts to escape her.

(When RS!Hordak leaves the Etherian Alliance, he’s a little younger than canon!Adora when she leaves the Etherian Horde due to some reasons that’ll be saved for another text post or fic.)

RS!Hordak isn’t used to getting encouragement from an authority figure/older adult, it always startles him whenever it happens.

(Playing around with role swap AU--also felt like having RS!AI Prime be softer than both canon!Light Hope and canon!Horde Prime, and that’s included him being more supportive/encouraging and even more snarky/playful as another sketch comic indicated above [though part of his humor is just like a result of--he’s pretty old, some inhibitions have just dropped over time and he’s seen quite a few things just repeat over and over, and part of his response to that is to sometimes act more flippant].)

While previous Prim-Al have had some slight variations in appearance depending on the individual clone vessel’s clothing/scars/etc., Hordak’s Prim-Al transformation is the most drastically different. All of his older clone-brothers have had white hair and yellow eyes, and so their Prim-Al transformations have had long white hair and one yellow eye, while the rest turned green and gained visible pupils. Hordak has blue hair and red eyes, and so his Prim-Al transformation reflects that more--the red eye stays, and Prim-Al now has blue hair with a few streaks of white. He has clothes with a primary color scheme of black-and-red instead of black-and-white. Hordak’s Prim-Al is slightly shorter than previous Prim-Al. Hordak’s Prim-Al has more armor, since they shield his defect--which Prim-Al now has since Hordak has it. Due to this, Hordak’s Prim-Al, while gaining a significant boost in power/etc., is typically not as strong as his brothers’ Prim-Al transformations. (However, Hordak’s determination and tolerance for pain is regularly equal to his older brothers’ own determination and tolerance for pain.)

Though the defect remains, the use of AI Prime to trigger the Prim-Al transformation again provides greater power. It also does have some effect on appearance and structure. A closer examination of Prim-Al should show this: Prim-Al looks more like someone recently scarred/mutilated/afflicted with a defect, rather than someone who’s grown up with it. And so, though defective, Prim-Al’s arms look less withered and retain more muscle, and generally look better than Hordak’s usual arms. (And again, they still have a magitech boost going on.)

While FO did program AI Prime to have some regard for the clone vessels, he started caring more than they had planned. AI Prime grew to genuinely care for every clone vessel for Prim-Al, and saw them more as brothers. This now includes Hordak. And though he values his brothers and means well, AI Prime’s cynicism and (remnant) programming can sometimes get in the way of his attempts to help. His own deep-seated trauma can be a factor too. 

With every new clone, AI Prime initially tries to distance himself to avoid further pain, because he grieves the loss of every clone--but he ultimately always admits to seeing them as brothers. (With his long life and the FO and Light Hope and other external factors trapping him in this cycle, AI Prime somewhat copes by comparing the whole thing to the passing of seasons. He’ll be passed down to a new clone-brother, he’ll try to resist caring about the clone-brother, he’ll grow to care about the clone-brother anyway, clone-brother dies, he’s alone until the next clone-brother comes, and then the whole thing starts again.) 

Though AI Prime is a digital clone of Subject A’s mind, he doesn’t have complete access to his mental template’s memories due to FO intervention. The FO also did not tell AI Prime everything.

Yep the LUVD crystal is there, RS!Entrapta should be another sketch post or fic. She’s gone from like the oldest princess to the youngest princess in this AU, and is around the same age as RS!Hordak.

Thanks for checking this out, hope you enjoyed this AU! Hope to have more about this up later.

Forgot to add: Yep RS!Kadroh is that Kadroh, he’s RS!Wrong Hordak in this AU.