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vidavalor · 14 hours

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The Ok Sign's historical ties to Vavooming

When Crowley describes his "hypothetical" (😉) Vavoom scenario in S2, he gesticulates a moving version of the OK hand sign to Aziraphale. The history of this particular gesture is rather interesting... especially when you consider what Crowley is saying when he is choosing to use it.

In modern times, the initial, vertical part of what Crowley is doing while talking about canopies is a sign known as "the OK sign" and, in most places, it is seen as signaling a positive response to something. Even though something that is "okay" is seen as sort of middling-- more "not terrible" than "good"-- the OK hand gesture has a much more positive connotation than the word itself does and generally means that something is excellent. It came to mean that in the United States and many other countries through American political campaigns of the early 19th century. The gesture itself, though, is much, much older than that and can be traced back to ancient Rome and ancient Greece... where it has ties to romantic love.

When painted on vases and the like, the gesture was meant to evoke a kiss through the touching of the tips of the thumb and the index finger. Interesting considering the topic of a vavoomy first kiss in the scene while Crowley is making this gesture, no?

In first century Rome-- a time and place we know to be significant to Crowley and Aziraphale's history-- it was a gesture of assent and if a person made the gesture towards another person in the Greco-Roman world? It was a way of professing romantic love for that person.

While describing a hypothetical scenario for Maggie and Nina that many of us suspect is really a recounting of his and Aziraphale's first kiss, Crowley is gesturing "I love you" to Aziraphale by the social customs of classical antiquity.

There's also a bit of fish, food and Jesus in this as well... so, very Ineffable Husbands. In the modern era, the OK sign is also the gesture used universally by scuba divers to signal that they are feeling good while on a dive. It is also a version of the "chef's kiss"-- the one that is more of an OK sign near the face than kissing the tips of your fingers. In the original version of 'The Prisoner,' the watched prisoners use the OK sign to communicate with each other, which was famously inspired by use of The Sign of the Fish/Jesus Fish as a secret symbol used by early Christians.

The gesture is also used in another unspoken language: Christian monks who took a vow of silence would also use the gesture as a base to indicate other things to communicate-- forming the index finger and thumb into a ring and holding it in front of one's self as Crowley does in this scene would indicate in that language an oblation, or offering, to God.

Crowley then keeps his fingers in the OK position and tips his hand down when he says "together", turning it all into a second gesture-- one that is known as gyan/jnana mudra, which is a hand sign used most frequently in meditation and sometimes in yoga. It is known as the knowledge mudra. Crowley also used it during the Gabriel miracle while Aziraphale used its pair at the same time-- chin mudra-- which is the same gesture, just with the palm facing up, and focuses on similar things.

Both focus on knowledge gained and the calming effects of the unification of the individual soul/ego (represented by the index finger) with the thumb (the supreme soul/paramatman-- the more actualized individual soul made boundless by light and wisdom.) The gesture is done as part of meditation to create a circuit that redirects the prana-- life force/energy-- through the body, alleviating anxiety and calming the mind through a grounding sense of connection, calm and peace.

By connecting the two gestures into one while talking about this canopy scenario, Crowley seems to be connecting the erotic and the spiritual and referencing his millennia-old romantic passion for Aziraphale to Aziraphale by using a gesture for love from antiquity... and that's somehow all before this shows up:

Who knew Richard Curtis films were this hot?

#ineffable husbands #good omens #crowley #aziraphale #aziracrow #good omens 2 #good omens meta

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after-witch · 19 hours

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Surrounded by Hunger [Yandere Mahito x Reader]

Title: Surrounded by Hunger [Yandere Mahito x Reader]

Synopsis: You're an artist, with no muse. Until Mahito shows up on your back porch.

Word count: 3500ish

notes: yandere, mild body horror, reader is a trans male

“I want you to paint me,” Mahito says, with an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face. No smile, no leer today. Just a somber frown as he appears from nowhere--as he often does--and sits himself in front of you.

The cool summer evening air would smell as clean as the breeze, but for the cigarette lazily perched in the ashtray on the edge of the porch.

Smoking. Your one vice. Or is it your eighth? You don’t keep much track of your vices, these days. If you did, you might actually try to quit them. But smoking is one of two current addictions that you can’t fathom letting go of right now.

The other one is sitting next to you.

"Like one of my French girls?” you murmur, lips quirking up.

Mahito tilts his head towards you, still frowning. You wonder, idly, if he has an actual brain inside his skull. Do curses have brains? You’re not sure about the technicalities of how they function, but it’s not something you’d really like to ask Mahito, either.

But it’s like you can see his brain working from the minute movements of his body language. The body is one thing you’re usually good at reading, and you ought to be, considering your career. No one wanted paintings from someone who didn’t understand the basics of body movement.

“Ah,” he says, finally, with a small smile. “Titanic. Directed by James Cameron. 1997.” His smile gets a little perkier. On anyone else, that smile might look deranged. But it suits Mahito, you think.

“I liked the sinking part the best. The way they…” He flicks his fingers in the air, and makes an eerily accurate sound reminiscent of bodies banging against metal parts. “And the frozen baby!” He closes his eyes almost all the way, leaving just enough room for you to see his gaze slide over to you. “Humans do love representing their own misery, don’t they?”

Something squeezes in your chest. It might have been a barb about you and your work; and it might not have been. One of the trickiest things about Mahito was that you could never be sure when he was trying to hurt you, and when he wasn’t.

The worst part was, you knew that it didn’t matter either way. It wasn’t like you’d ever ask him to leave. He knew that, too. Maybe that was the actual worst part.

He doesn’t elaborate on his statement. Instead, he leans his head back, looking at the darkening sky; the deep blue of the evening oozing away to make room for the blacker part of the night. His profile like this is fascinating--the way his hair seems to almost shimmer in the fading light, falling back against the side of his neck.

“Well?” He asks.

You couldn’t say no. You were already imagining ways to capture him, like this. In profile, staring up at the sky with eyes that were anything but human. With a brain that was perhaps not a real brain. With a body he could change at will.

Despite all that, here he is, sitting on your porch, breathing in your cigarette smoke and staring up at the ordinary evening sky.

What does he see that you don’t? That no human does? Why does he even come around you, when he could be off trying to--your brain fumbles for snatches of what he’s told you--battling sorcerers?

Maybe you can capture something of the answer in your painting.

“Okay,” you say, lightly, even though the answer is anything but. “But we have to go inside for the sketch. There’s not enough light out here this late.”

Mahito smiles. In profile, you see only the half of it, the edge of his lips curling, a glimpse of his teeth.

You’ll be up all night sketching, trying to capture this expression.

Your first finished painting of Mahito isn’t all that great. The evening skyline was done from memory because the next few days had been cloudy and they stole the sky’s normal colors away. And no amount of mixing could quite give you the right shade for his hair; you put something new on order, a type of shimmer pigment. That might help for future pieces.

The expression, though. There was something in that. Something not quite human that you managed to capture, although if you had to do it over, you’d reconsider taking your drawing from sketch to painting. The sketch had something raw to it, like Mahito might just turn his head and wink at you.

As an artist, you knew that such a subject was rare. It was not always easy to find inspiration that kept you working almost relentlessly, eager and passionate rather than staring at an empty canvas and willing the world to send something to you.

Mahito was a gift, wasn’t he? To an artist. To someone like you, who needed something to make your work stand out. And it does, here. Mahito looks unusual--striking, beautiful, but with something unpleasant itching to get out from underneath his skin.

But still. It’s flawed.

And that’s not the standard artist humble-brag designed to avoid a reputation of pompous pride. Your paintings, as a whole, just aren’t good enough.

It’s why the galleries rejected you. Why what few connections you had with other painters tended to fade away, becoming more and more untethered as they were invited to galas, as they held openings, as their works went to auction, and you…

You sat on your porch smoking and waiting, heart pacing, for a curse to show up on your door.

Mahito stands in front of the revealed piece, quietly observing it. His fingers reach out and skim the canvas, bumping along a few rough areas of paint. His mouth parts a few times, then closes.

You expect him to be blunt with some kind of critique. He’s never been shy with honesty, no matter how hurtful. It was something you hated and loved all with one confusing, awful sameness.

Instead, his gaze flits over every square of the canvas enough times that sweat begins to bead down the back of your neck. Does he hate it? Is he about to tell you that you’d be better off doing something else, something more ordinary, something more mundane?

No.

What he does is turn his head towards you, slowly, something that is not quite a smile on his face. An expression that makes you think of the back porch, sunsets and cigarette smoke.

“Now do it again.”

You should hate this, really. Someone who sticks around and more or less demands that they be your muse. Most artists purge these types of people from their lives, unwanted flypaper hangers-on who pout and demand to be painted.

But Mahito is your muse, and you don’t hate it, and you don’t think he’s clingy or desperate like others who have found themselves on your back porch before.

He’s your muse simply because he exists. You could not fathom knowing Mahito and not committing him to the canvas. The only shock is that it was his idea, not yours; and maybe, deep down, you were too afraid to ever ask him. In case he said no.

So you draw him, and paint him. He drapes himself over your couch wearing nothing, spreads himself on your bed with winter clothes in the summer heat; perches on the end of the kitchen stool and watches gnats circle a bowl of bananas.

The ideas are his, mostly.

And the pieces are interesting. “Intriguing,” your regular art gallery said, when you submitted the one of Mahito sprawled out in a fuzzy scarf and hat and puffy winter coat while sweat clung to his forehead from the summer afternoon sun.

Interesting, intriguing, a striking model… and yet. They’re still not enough--not enough to get paid. Not enough to get noticed.

Not enough to get you out of bed some days, when all you want to do is smoke lying down and hope the smoke alarm in your bedroom still has low batteries.

This is how Mahito finds you this morning. Half-resting on sore elbows while smoke wafts up to your ceiling, imperceptibly adding to the layers of brown and yellow build up.

“Hey.”

He pokes your nose. You blink, slowly turn your gaze towards him. Then close your eyes and let out another puff of smoke.

“You’re being mopey,” he says, flatly. Not teasing or whining, certainly not with sympathy. Just a matter-of-fact.

The options weigh heavy on your shoulders. It’s not like you two don’t talk about serious things. But God, with Mahito, the roles are reversed between artist and muse. You’re the clingy one, the one desperate to keep him around; afraid that the wrong word or gesture might make him blip out of your life as quickly as he came into it.

Who were you, if you didn’t have Mahito? Just another failing artist who could barely afford their cigarette addiction.

But you trust him. Because he’s here. Because he hasn’t left yet. Because when you’re drawing him and you ask him to lift his arm up, he somehow knows the exact angle you mean, every time. So you lick your lips and look up at him with tired, reddened eyes.

“They’re not enough.” A pause. “The paintings, I mean. No one will buy them.” You drop the rest of your cigarette in the ashtray on your night stand. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

You do know, though. Your paintings aren’t interesting enough anymore. What little buzz you’d generated in your first break onto the scene from your fantastical horror work had long since faded, as had your inspiration for such pieces.

It wasn’t enough to play with color and light, to perfectly capture the sun through an opaque curtain playing on Mahito’s hair while black flies buzzed onto overripe fruit. Of course not. People wanted more. You just weren’t more, now. If you were ever that.

Mahito crawls onto your bed, languid; it’s not the first time he’s been so close, so intimate, but it gives you goosebumps nonetheless. He curls himself behind your back and runs a finger down your arm.

“They like your older work,” he muses. You’ve ranted about this, and he apparently listened, which makes you feel at least a little least sour. “So why don’t you paint like that again?”

So much for feeling a little less sour. You curl inwards, eyes fixated on the dimming red glow of your cigarette in its tray.

Mahito pokes your shoulder. Impatience. You can feel it building in him, in the way his arm muscles tense, just a little. When he gets bored, he sometimes leaves.

You don’t want him to leave, so you force the words out, although you’d rather keep them private. Your mouth feels sticky when you talk, but you press on.

“My old stuff was before…” You know he knows, but you’ve never pinned down a single way to explain it to him. “Before I figured myself out. Before a lot of things, I guess.” Mahito’s hand wraps itself around your stomach, and you reach out to intertwine your fingers. To keep him with you, if such a thing were possible.

“I haven’t had the same type of inspiration in a long time,” you admit. “So I don’t know how to just…” Flashes of your old canvases come to mind. Demons and ghosts and landscapes of terrible beauty. “Get back into that head space.”

There is a stretch of silence that begins to worry you. Maybe you are too boring, maybe you’re whining, maybe whatever this is has run its course and he’ll leave and you’ll have nothing to your name but this empty apartment and your empty life.

But then Mahito grips your shoulder and pushes you firmly, swiftly, onto your back. There’s a dull ache where he touches you and you stare up into his eyes, wide and bright even in the darkness. He’s grinning. He’s grinning, and it’s beautiful and ugly--

And on his side, arms sprout out; some with mouths sporting their own grins. Behind him, arms upon arms, hands upon hands. A grotesque vision come to life in your dim apartment bedroom. You can see it now, on canvas. A creature with greedy hands outstretched to the world, taking what it wants, when it wants.

You can see Mahito, posting, while you furiously work at the easel. You know you’ll work until your hands cramp, desperate enough to capture every microexpression in pencil before it fades.

Mahito, the muse, painted again and again. Until your hands cramp, until your eyes are red and burning.

“Does this inspire you?” he says, a bright giddiness in his tone fading into something lower and warmer as he leans down to capture your lips.

You’re not certain which of you tastes the most of ashes.

The paintings are perfectly grotesque. Inspirational. Disturbing.

“And yet,” the director continues, tapping his pen against his chin, “so life-like. You can hardly tell where the real model ends and your imagination begins.”

Because, of course, humans cannot sprout extra limbs from their sides. Humans cannot stretch their tongues to wrap around their body like a rope. Humans cannot pull open the flesh of their stomachs to reveal what’s inside.

Not without dying, anyway.

You’d almost asked Mahito if that was what curses looked like on the inside--if they had organs, like stomachs and lungs--but thought better of it. Knowing would be worse than pretending.

When you pretend, you can ignore the growing sickness in your stomach as the paintings become worse--and better. As Mahito pushes you farther and farther, and you’re not sure if you want to turn back.

When you pretend, life with Mahito doesn’t seem very fucked up at all.

“Keep it up,” the director tells you, thumbing through the wad of ghastly cash he hands over for your latest piece. It’s enough to pay off your rent and bills and cover cigarettes and booze and some new books for Mahito, though you’re sure he just steals them when he’s not with you.

And you do--keep it up.

Because Mahito wants to, and because despite all the disturbing dreams you begin to have after sessions of drawing and painting, your new works really are better. More visceral and alive; galleries want them.

They want you.

You feel seen, finally, for who you are and what your hands can do--

How could you turn that away?

“I don’t know,” you say, slowly, watching the thing Mahito brought with him writhe on the table.

It was soft and gelatinous, like a blob of moving goo. At first, that’s what you thought it was: something he scooped out of a container at a toy store that sold novelty slimes.

But this wasn’t some gob of bright orange or neon blue with a telltale sticky sheen that told parents that yes, mom and dad, this was going to wind up sticking to the carpet by the end of the day.

This was light beige, with two big black spots that looked a bit like eyes. It was larger than you think a toy slime would have been and it--well it moved. Really moved. Not just from a slight breeze drifting in through the window or due to its own gelatinous nature.

It was--whatever it was--alive.

It had eyes, and perhaps that bit of discolored beige was hair, and that was it. Two eyes, slick, shiny skin, and no mouth at all.

“It’s a statement piece,” Mahito says simply, even happily, as he adjusts the blob to his liking on the table. He tries out a series of poses that you direct with hesitation--looking down at it with his chin resting in his elbow, holding it in his arms like some sort of stuffed bear, endless, restless poses, all punctuated by the strange writhing of the thing.

The two of you finally settle for Mahito looking one way, and the blob--were those its eyes?--face another. A contrast between colors and shapes and Mahito’s lithe form and the writhing blob. But while there is a dim satisfaction in putting Mahito onto the canvas, a sense of self-worth and pride that grows with every stroke, you put off working on the blob until the last possible minute. Your body seems to know why, even if your mind doesn’t.

At the end of the night, you start to ask a question that’s been on your mind the entire evening--

“Mahito?”

But when he turns, a small smile on his face, blob in hand, the words die in your throat.

You say nothing as he leaves. You work a little more on the painting, avoiding half the canvas, not wanting to think about what it was that Mahito brought and why he brought it.

That night, you dream about a garden of squirming, writhing blobs.

Today, Mahito has no mouth.

And today, you’ve decided, that this will be your last Mahito piece. No more. Not a single one. The singular lack of a mouth is not even as horrific as some of the other ways Mahito has posed for you, but somehow, it’s the one that terrifies you the most.

Mahito has no mouth, and you can’t even ask him why.

Mahito has no mouth,

Mahito has no mouth, and he wants you to paint him.

He tells you this, in gestures. Maybe if he was over the top about it--if he was wildly waving his hands, if he made a game of it--then it wouldn’t make you feel so wrong. But he’s slow, methodical. Serious.

It makes your stomach clench on nothing but whisky and overcooked eggs.

But you let him bring out one of your mirrors and set it up in front of a stool so you can paint him, looking at himself in the glass. There’s nothing else you can do but this, you realize; that’s what your life has come to. You are mingling with a curse and he could kill you in a moment if he wanted to--but right now, he wants you to draw him and paint him and put something monumentally distressing on the canvas. And you want to do these things--because he wants you to? Because you know the gallery owner is going to take one look at this last piece and ask you to open your own show? Love or ego or something awful and in-between?

You sketch quickly. It’s the final layers of painting that will take days, you think, if you want this to turn out right. Right now you’re worried about two things: capturing the tones while the light is just right, and how Mahito will react when you tell him you’re done after this.

It’s not like you can tell him now. He can’t even talk.

What is it like, without a mouth? You bring cigarettes to your lips and wonder if he feels jealous of it. Would he get mad, if you told him you needed a drink? A snack? Eating and drinking--curses can do these things, and you’ve seen Mahito do them, but you don’t know how much of it is a want or a need. It’s hard enough to tell the difference with a human.

If you had no mouth, what would you be? Your thoughts flit, briefly and then away again, to the blob. To its eyes. To the way it couldn’t stop moving and Mahito held it like a toy.

You don’t want to think about that.

It would feel wrong to talk while you work on this piece, you decide. Better to save it for when it’s finished. A few days, at most, with Mahito holed up in your bedroom--and no mouth at all.

In these few days, you want to kiss him more than ever. Want to capture the memory of his lips, because surely, he’ll want to leave if you’re done painting him. Done being entertaining.

The thought of kissing the awful, empty space where his mouth should be keeps you from even thinking about it.

It’s your masterpiece. You know this from the moment the last stroke is complete. You’ll never top this work, and some prideful part of you demands that you try, anyway.

Mahito still has no mouth. Even as you pull the drape off the canvas, as he gets close to inspect it.

“Mahito,” you say, suddenly. He doesn’t look at you. That’s better, you think. Makes it easier to stomach what will come next; the inevitable moment where Mahito drops you like an old toy. Usually it’s the other way around, an artist getting bored of its muse and flinging them aside.

But you’re not bored of Mahito. You’re afraid of him. You want him here--but you don’t. It’s a big jumbled mess and maybe it would have been easier if he never showed up on your back porch, if you never saw him at all, if he hadn’t opened up some wound inside you that only he can stitch up.

“Mahito,” you repeat. “I don’t think I can paint you anymore.” Stupid, weasel words. You cringe. “I mean. I don’t want to paint you anymore--after this one.”

Mahito tilts his head, and finally turns his eyes towards you--but still, there’s no mouth, no mouth, no mouth.

After a moment, you continue, mouth dry and sticking. “Did you hear me, I said I--”

Mahito’s hand slaps against your own, hushing you.

“Have you been wondering what it feels like?” It takes a few blearly, confusing moments for you to realize that Mahito is talking not with lips on his face, but on the hand that’s pressed over hours. “To be unable to speak?”

The awful thought hits you. Is your mouth even still there, under Mahito’s hand?

Mahito leans in, and pulls his hand away. Slowly, like he’s revealing a prize .

“I want to paint you now,” he murmurs. He might even be cooing, eyes alight at what he sees as he lifts his hand.

You want to answer him--you want to scream.

But you can’t say a word.

#yandere mahito #mahito x reader #yandere jjk #yandere #afterwitch writes #was the titanic reference necessary? yes. yes it was.

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bcacstuff · 2 days

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I think people will jump and say he’s dating her but the facts are still facts. They haven’t seen each other (that we know of) outside hyrox related stuff. He didn’t go watch her in Birmingham when he was in London for St Patrick’s day, he didn’t go watch her when he had a free day in Paris instead of going to Germany which is a short flight and he was signed up then to. I think he enjoys these competitions and would like to compete but couldn’t this year. I think he is her friend and supports her as friends do. I think they did not stay at the same hotel just as she stayed at a hotel in Glasgow instead of at his house, where he has friends stay all the time. Including female friends like Marina. I truly get a brother sister vibe from what I’ve seen. Men and women can be friends. I’d say they don’t flaunt the friendship because of his crazy fans but they’re not hiding it either, which I think they’d be much more discreet if actually dating. Anyway that’s my take on it as I’m sure you’re getting bombarded with anons. Also I still don’t believe that’s her with him at lunch. But again my take.

Thank you Anon, you're message sums it up in a realistic way which I can agree on. Next to the 3 times they met (that we know of), all the time fitness/Hyrox related, there's a huge list of facts that we know of that just leaves us with the conclusions you made in your post. You didn't even summed up all of them but just a few.

The thing is people go overboard when something fits their narrative, and make much more of it than there really is to see. In this case he's already the 'perfect stepdad' and people jump to the conclusion that he's 'only in London for her'. No idea how they know, they're all not there and he's been so many times to London, a place he lived for years, has many friends there, his agent is there... and I can go on for a while. He has a bank holiday, so not such a surprise he's in London to begin with.

It happens in all fractions however, they all take what fits their narrative, and when it doesn't they're all quick to jump to all the excuses they can think of. The woman is paid, she's a beard, the fan that posted the video is a PR plant, she's a liar. It's actually disgusting how people get attacked. I've felt these attacks myself as well (I just need to look at my inbox). You can see it in the comments of the fan who now also posted her video on IG:

I don't know about you all, but how disgusting are these accusations. (and btw. I do know very well who the cherylecheryl account on IG is, and it isn't the one P always claims it is! Yes I have proof for that).

This doesn't only happen by this account, which is btw. not a shipper (so you make your guess) but I saw similar accusations on shipper blogs as well, amongst others calling her a liar.

I don't know why this is necessary. Why can't we just accept that he's having female friends as well, or can have a lunch near a Hyrox location and then go there to see her race? The same happened so many times in the past as well, whenever I posted a video of him having lunch, or a drink with a female person. A short video, or even just a picture, a moment in time. And people start to argue and fight and call others names and accuse them of all bad things. WHY?

I told you earlier today, it is Liberation Day here in the Netherlands. 79 years ago the Netherlands was freed of the Nazi occupations by the allied forces. Half of the Netherlands was freed a year before, the other half had to endure the hunger winter and another year of oppression since Operation Market Garden failed halfway.

I told you a number of times, I live very close to the German border, it's just a 10 minute walk away. Here in the place we live, our liberation celebration is always shared with our German neighbours. Representatives of the collaborating cross-border organisations and even representatives of the Deutsche Bundestag are invited as speakers. They are always impressed and very grateful to share the celebrations with us Dutch inhabitants of this border village.

The message is always simple, freedom and peace is not a given fact, it's not granted, we have to cherish it, we all have to work on it every day. A line on a map, being an inhabitant of another country doesn't change that. Having another opinion, should not be a reason for hate, violence, aggression. We can have different opinions, we just need to be adult enough to accept it.

I don't want to compare this fandom to the wars and differences in the world, loss of lives and all the grief and terrible, horrible situations people need to survive in. But I do wonder if there can be so much aggression and hate thrown at people over a simple thing like SH having a lunch with a woman, how on earth are we able to make this world a more peaceful place?

Now have a thought about that! Thank you for listening to my TED talk

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dollypopup · 2 days

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I think a lot of people kind of miss the whole point of Polin.

There's conversation now about whether or not Penelope will accept Colin's proposal at the end of episode 4, and the cliffhanger being his infamous 'For God's sake, Penelope, will you marry me or not?' line from the books. And at first, there was all this buzz about how she'll say no and that's the cliffhanger because what if she picks someone else instead? What if he has to spend Part 2 convincing her?

In fairness to the fandom, that was dashed rather quickly. Firstly, we all know she won't say no to continue some semblance of a love triangle, because Debling is the personification of if flour was a spice, and he's not in part 2. Furthermore, it doesn't make much sense to have part 2 be Colin convincing her, when something much more pressing is hanging above them. Because the fandom caught on quickly as to the real conflict:

Does Penelope say yes to Colin, and continue hiding the fact that she's Lady Whistledown? Does she say no out of concern and part 2 is the unveiling? Or does she say no, and confesses?

And I think in our heart of hearts we already know: Penelope will say yes.

And in doing so, she will lie to him. Hide from him. And Lady Whistledown becomes the guillotine over their heads in part 2.

1: Penelope is on a narrative of self growth in Season 3. All leads are, but Penelope's narrative of growth is specifically to come out of the shadows. To be honest and open and brave in the light with nothing but herself and her own voice. And being those things? Yeah, not her strong suit as a character. It's the biggest pitfall she has, and it will not resolve halfway through. Penelope changes her outward appearance, and it still doesn't bring her full peace. Nicola herself has said that. She changes outwardly, but not inwardly, and that's where the real work has to be done. Lady Whistledown is proof that work has not been committed to. She is the manifestation of Penelope's fears of being herself aloud. A literal anonymous persona that can say what she feels she cannot aloud. Lady Whistledown is Penelope hiding, a wallflower in a masquerade mask. She's not going to be brave enough by Episode 4 to tell Colin. That's a whole season long arc. Furthermore

2: We would *all* say yes. All of us. We would all lie and hide in her circumstances. Here is the man she loves, who she has loved for years, coming to her and saying he wants her and cares for her and wants to marry her. She's not putting that in jeopardy. She says no to Debling (thank god, the man's an NPC in every definition of the word, Penelope deserves better) and so her options have narrowed, and really, she only *ever* wanted Colin. He has always been the ultimate desire of her heart. So she says yes to Colin. She wants to and she will. She wants *him*, and now she can have him. And in doing so, she fully solidifies herself as Marina's parallel. WHICH IS THE POINT.

2. a. sidequest: Marina is a vital part of Polin's story, but the fandom has missed that point. Instead of seeing what she as a character was meant to represent in their grand narrative, the fandom has instead demonized her. But in the same way Debling is a plot device to Polin's love story, so was Marina. Now, Marina at least got her own narrative, unlike Debling, who ONLY exists to be a plot point, but this is an analysis of Marina as a player in a narrative that isn't her own. I think Marina is a wonderful character, and I have a lot of sympathy for her, but the fandom saw her and villainized her. Which is SO not the point of her role in Polin's love story. The writers are all but slapping us in the face about that. EVERY character has sympathy for Marina. The narrative wants us to understand she was in difficult circumstances and did what she thought was best as a vulnerable young woman to survive. Which is the same, I imagine, it will do for Penelope in Season 3.

No, Marina's purpose in that particular narrative was to prove who Colin is as a suitor and a potential romantic match. That Colin is warm and open hearted, he is caring and empathetic, he is romantic, and most importantly, Colin is *forgiving*. When he says he would have married Marina regardless of her life altering and reputation ruining secret, that is to set him up for marrying Penelope regardless of her life altering and reputation ruining secret!!! That is the *whole* point!!!

And just like Marina, Penelope hides her truth from him, in fear of losing all that she has. I hope that kind of parallel FINALLY inspires some sympathy in our fandom for both these women, who, in Ruby Barker's wonderful words, are just players in a crappy game.

3: Even in being a sympathetic choice, it is still a cruelty she commits unto Colin. Because up until that point, they really don't owe each other much of anything. Yes, they have a friendship, and that comes with expectations, but in accepting a proposal, she owes him honesty. And she cannot give that to him. Colin lays all his cards down on the table for her to see, and she keeps her own hidden. Just like Shonda said, this becomes a relationship built on the foundation of a lie. It's the cracking open of that lie that finally allows them to be a fully realized couple. Colin loves a version of Penelope that isn't fully real, just like Penelope loved a version of Colin that wasn't fully real. An idealization of their selves. His temper, how he can sometimes say the wrong thing, his jealousy, his bitterness: she does not KNOW these things. But Whistledown unearths them. Just like he doesn't see *her* jealousy and bitterness, her temper, and how SHE can say and do the wrong thing. And, once more, *Whistledown unearths them*. They're not a happy perfect couple by the end of Part 1, because she lies to him. She accepts his proposal, and in doing so, she starts the clock. Tick Tock, how long does it take to tell him?

4: She doesn't tell him. I am fully of the mind that he has to find out on his own that she's LW. Perhaps Eloise sets a time limit for her, that she HAS to tell her brother (she's afraid, of course. what if he's mad? what if he doesn't want to marry her anymore?) (and what of him? what of Colin? does he not deserve to know?), or she'll tell him herself, but Penelope will likely try and then shrink back. She *wants* to tell him. I think that'll be the crux of Part 2. She wants to be honest with him, but she's afraid. So, like most of us when it comes to difficult circumstances, she'll hold off on it. And hold off on it.

Until he finds out on his own.

5: He'll find out on his own. And he will be *brutally betrayed by the news*. Not necessarily that she's LW, though that's a gut punch in and of itself, but more so that she kept it from him. That they've been intimate together, and bare with each other, and that she kept it from him. Keeping it from him as a friend is considerably different than keeping it from him as a lover and a fiance. They will be sharing a life together. A name, a home, and any punishments that befall her. The *Queen of England* is in her pursuit, she is, essentially, tying him to her in all events with the binding of marriage, and he sinks or swims with her. That's a pretty hefty thing to keep from a partner. And on top of it, he'll be hurt by the *lies*. That she could not confide in him. That he told her the truth, but she couldn't tell him the truth, and that will be painful. When it came to marrying Marina, it wasn't the pregnancy, the circumstance itself that he felt was a betrayal, but the lie. Same with Penelope: it isn't that she's Lady Whistledown, it's that she kept it from him. She also slagged him off plenty in it if rumours are anything to go by, and that (SPOILER) at the end of Episode 1, she trash talked him in the article right after they made amends, and is relatively horrified that she wrote it in anger and it was published after everything smoothed over. Even still, she has hurt him with that publication, too. It's a firestorm of things for him to be upset by.

6: And he still marries her. Here is a woman who has arguably hurt him the worst, done a greater harm and insult to him than anyone else, and he chooses to still marry her. Because he's angry, but he loves her. She betrays him and insults him and lies to him, but he loves her. She knew him, got close to him, let him speak to her of things that he would blush to speak to with anyone else (that line from S2 was WILD Colin, I see you, trusting boy), and she slags him off in her public article, and she pretends like she has nothing to hide, and she says yes to him even though she knows he doesn't like LW and that she'll have to tell him eventually, and what does Colin do? He forgives her. He forgives her and he asks her to stay and he loves her. He's jealous of her success, and he's upset that she lied to him, and he absolutely blows up. But after all that facade is stripped away, after all the lies and secrets are flayed aside and they are just Col and Pen, who are imperfect people with a hell of a devotion to each other, they know they're living a really beautiful love story. No pretenses, no pretend, just him, and just her, in the light, holding hands.

Because the whole point of Polin is being seen. Being seen and being accepted. Sometimes, you don't like what you see of a person. Penelope didn't like all she saw of Colin, and Colin won't like all he sees of Penelope, but they come to appreciate those parts of each other because in loving one another, they recognize that these imperfect, unsavory aspects of them make them who they are. And so they come out of it stronger.

So yes, Penelope says yes. Yes, Penelope lies to him. And yes, we'll have debates about it when Part 1 comes out, of 'she would never do that to him!!!' or 'well, she did it for xyz and oueyigohp;wfnd'

but in the end, I think it makes the most sense that she has to make this fuck up (and it is a fuck up, absolutely it is) so that they can grow from it. In the same way he had to fuck up so they can grow from it.

And that's the whole point.

#polin #penelope featherington #colin bridgerton #bridgerton #bridgerton s3 #media comprehension and analysis is alive and well and i'm here to prove that #'but dolly it isn't that deep' IT IS DEEP TO ME!!!! IT IS DEEP IF I WANNA MAKE IT DEEP #and also it is absolutely that deep #polin my beloved #the fandom does a disservice to the beauty of this couple but i see you my darlings I SEE YOU

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noneorother · 2 days

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One sun pun : Gabriel's tomatoes

Hello there tomato-wonderer @scottishmushroom. I saw your post about tomatoes and I come bearing fruit answers! I was also wondering about the tomatoes, and it led me down a spiralling path of tarot cards and visual puns. I'm pretty sure Gabriel's entire entrance scene in season 2 is based on tarot card 19: The Sun. Allow me to explain...

Here is the Sun tarot card in the Rider-Waite deck, which was used as visual inspiration both season's 1 & 2 of GO. Notice anything familiar?

All of the elements of The Sun card are hidden in these opening shots quite cleverly. I am suggesting here that the red banner (that the sun carries on the card) is represented by the spill of red tomatoes because: it's a sun pun! You see tomato in English & French from the Spanish word "Tomate" that took over in the 1850s, but there's also an older expression for tomatoes that was used since it's import to Europe, that is still the origin of the word in Italian : Pomodoro.

In French we used to call it pomme d'or: just like in Italian today, the French (and the normans who were the reigning class in England) would have called it a Golden or Sun Apple, due to it's need for extreme sunshine to grow.

Which is a great callback to Gabriel's character in season one because of this iconic line:

But that's not all: Tomato was also called "Pomme D'amour" or love apple, due to how it looked like a human heart. So Gabriel walking into Soho triggering a spill of bright red sun-apples also has a double meaning as he steps on one : crushing a heart. Still not enough sun for you? Well, there's more! While Gabriel is marching into Soho we get a musical number called "Into Soho" on the Prime video series soundtrack. However, once Gabriel gets to the door and knocks, it quickly switches to a preview of a theme we won't hear until episode 6, when Gabriel opens the fly and remembers : it's a track on disc 2 called "Gabriel Revealed".

Yes, haha they made a secret "Gabriel is naked" joke in the soundtrack when he is revealed. The bonkers part comes when your realize what number the track is in the list....

#good omens 2 #art director talks good omens #good omens meta #go season 2 #go meta #good omens season 2 #good omens season two #good omens #archangel gabriel #tarot cards #tarot #good omens puns #good omens analysis

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cherllyio · 22 hours

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MK’s symbol is an ancient Chinese Diagram (season 5 spoilers)

So, what is this? It sure looks a lot like MK’s symbol, but what is it, and how is it important for season 5?

Well… Because it can be tracked back to the thoughs five colored stones from the new set.

To understand what I mean by this, we first have to look at what this symbol even means which is: “to harbor or protect dualism" ( aka yin and yang”)

The symbol shows this through the black and white pattern throughout it. And with it there is sometimes even a smaller, empty circle in the middle, to show emptiness as the core in Duality.

But that’s not all because this symbol is actually part of something called the Tajitu(太極圖), which is something that is IN Lego Monkie Kid!

(original picture is upright)

More specifically in this scene where MK “opens up his mind”.

The bottom two circles Aline with these two, who symbolize heaven and earth, aka opposites.

And then we have this little star which matches perfectly with the diagram for something called “the five phases”, or as we are going to know them in Lego Monkie kid: Nüwa’s five magical stones.

Just take a look at the set’s vs the five phases! It’s the same! There is even a myth where Nüwa mended the heavens using these five colored stones which symbolized the five phases!

And if continue on to the second last symbol? That’s the top one, which represents “Wuji” or the start of the universe, where MK (or more specifically MKs symbol being underneath.

And even if I’m wrong about MK’s symbol, this right here would be a pretty good replacement! MK symbol then representing him being in the “center” of everything.

But what even is the Tajitu, at its "core"? Well, it represents the "Taji" also meaning “utmost extreme" or “The Supreme Ultimate”. There is a lot to talk about here but to make it simple it is:

“a cosmological state of the universe and its affairs on all levels, involving the interaction of Yin and Yang, the Five Phases and finally, all the concrete things in the universe.” – Wikipedia

Conclusion:

MK is INCREDBLY powerful, and I am just as excited as I am terrified to what all this means for his “fate”.

Fun fact: I made this originally for a theory video about MK’s fate and Nüwa’s goal, so if you are interested go check it out here

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themultifanshipper · 2 days

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Really, even though you were friends, the last thing Logan should be asking the Williams HR representative about, in her office, is sex.

≈1.4k

So yeah, this was probably breaching several clauses in both your contracts.

But Logan came into your office, looking a bit sheepish, and sat down on the grey sofa in the corner without a word. You just stared at him, waiting for him to say something, but he just avoided your gaze.

"What can I do for you Logan?"

He didn't answer, just squinting at the floor, contemplative.

He came into your office quite often. Probably more than was strictly appropriate but after all, you used to be on the media team and had become friends with most of the drivers during your years at williams. Usually Logan and Alex (and occasionally others who "happened to be passing by") would come in for a chat, generally cheerful or angry or sad, depending on the kind of day they were having.

Today however, Logan was fully silent.

"Logan?"

He squinted again, this time at you, trying to figure out how to say what was on his mind.

"Lo, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong"

He took a deep breath before responding.

"So you know I'm a virgin, right?"

You, in fact, did not know that. You didn't think you were that close a friend, although you didn't exactly mind. It was just a bit sudden.

"What?!"

"Well technically I had sex once but it went really badly. And I haven't had any practice since, because I'm scared of picking up girls because I don't know what I'm doing and I'm an F1 driver so I'm supposed to be having loads of sex but imagine I'm really bad and it got out, it would be super embarrassing and I'd have to ask you, my friend, for an NDA about bad sex, which is just another level of weird and I'd hate for you to stop tal-"

"Logan!"

He stopped ranting and looked at you, obviously feeling rather vulnerable.

"Logan... have you just come into my office to tell me you're inexperienced at sex?"

He pursed his lips and frowned.

"Yes"

"Okay.... why?"

"Because I want you to teach me how to pleasure a woman"

He looked you straight in the eyes, with way too much confidence for someone who was suddenly eligible for a lawsuit.

You raised your eyebrows at him. "Logan, couldn't have waited until... oh I don't know, until we weren't in our workplace to ask me for sex?"

"Um... I guess?" He had the audacity to look embarrassed. "I'm sorry if I read this wrong. Do you uhh- not want to?"

You studied him for a second. What the fuck. It wasn't that the idea was unappealing, he was an attractive young driver with probably incredible stamina. Which is why you found the idea of him being inexperienced so odd. And why was he asking you for... guidance? A lesson? It was weird to think of him as anything other than your friend slash coworker Logan, who you had now known for nearly two years.

If someone had told you this morning that this is how your day was going to go, you would have told them to fuck off and gone back to sleep. You realised you must be taking too long to respond when Logan sighed and rubbed his face.

"Okay nevermind, I'm sorry I brought it up, we can just- pretend this conversation never happened"

He sounded almost sad as he got up to leave but stopped as you blurted out "No, wait!"

He stared at you questioningly.

"I'll do it" You sounded breathless "I'll teach you- how to do uhh... sex. With me."

His eyes lit up as he laughed "I hope you'll be more articulate than that "

"Oh fuck off" you hit his shoulder in retaliation "You're the one who looked like you were going to shit a brick when you walked in here!"

"Hey! That's a low blow" He pouted.

The atmosphere became more comfortable with the bickering but there was still an undercurrent of nervousness. He took a couple of steps towards you and leaned in but you stopped him with a hand on his unsurprisingly firm chest.

"You want to do this now?" You hissed "Are you fucking mental?"

He pouted again "why not, the bosses aren't here today, it's just us, and the engineers working on the cars" He wiggled his eyebrows.

Well when you put it that way....

Fuck's sake.

You leaned in slowly, as if aiming for his mouth before swerving at the last second and pecked him on the cheek before whispering in his ear. "Lock the door for me will you, darling?"

His eyes darkened "Yes ma'am" and he turned away to lock the door.

You sat down on the sofa and spread your legs, beckoning him over and silently motioning for him to kneel between them. He did so and put his hands on your thighs, then looked up at you expectantly.

Oh, right. You were supposed to be teaching him.

"Okay so first you're gonna want to get me naked"

He giggled at your obvious statement before hooking his fingers into your waistband. "Sure thing, princess" Pulling them down and off, underwear soon following as he let out a breath, eyes and hands roaming over your newly exposed skin. "Shit, you're already so wet." He looked up at you again.

"Can I?" He asked.

So polite.

"Be my guest" you smiled at him as he lowered his body. He kissed the inside of your thighs, slowly inching towards where you needed him most. When he got there, you let out a strained half-sigh half-moan as he licked a stripe from your taint to your clit. The noise made him look up as he licked his lips, eye contact making you shiver. He then spread your thighs further and immediately buried his face between them like man starved, making a valiant effort to find your clit with his tongue.

"A bit lower- lower- a bit right. Wait no, your right"

He followed your instructions dilligently and when he found it, he sucked on your clit with fervour, which made you gasp and let out a shaky moan. "There, right there." as your right hand weaved itself into his hair.

Eyes on yours, he blinked up at you and you nodded to tell him he was doing a good job. Satisfied, he carried on, closing his eyes in concentration.

You grabbed one of his hands and started licking at his fingers, it startled him a bit and he looked back up at you, still surprisingly efficient with his mouth. The sight was absolutely sinful, blonde hair a mess, eyes blown wide, tongue out, working over your flesh. When you sucked one of his fingers into your mouth, straight down to the knuckle, he groaned, the vibrations making your hips twitch. You slid a second finger into your mouth, then a third, ensuring they were nice and wet, then pulled them out. "You can start putting them inside now".

He put the first one in, reaching so much deeper than you could manage on your own, all the while still lapping at your clit. You were so wet it didn't take long for a second one to join as he pushed them in and out gently.

"Okay now sort of hook them upwards" you showed him the movement with your own hand and he nodded, hooking his fingers and it felt so good you moaned quite loudly, hoping none of the engineers would be passing by your part of the building. He put a third finger in and the stretch was delicious as he pressed upwards again and flattened his tongue over your clit.

You could slowly feel an orgasm building and he felt you clench around his fingers, going slightly faster with both his hand and mouth.

"Oh god whatever you do, do not stop!" You panted above him as he used his other hand to hook a leg over his shoulder and he sat up a bit, changing your position slightly and making his fingers hit even deeper inside you.

"Fuck!" You clenched around his fingers as you came hard and he slowed down, helping you ride it out for a while before you had to physically push him off because he wanted to seemingly carry on forever.

"Geez Lo, give a girl a minute, yeah?" You laughed, a bit out of breath. You felt boneless as Logan started kissing his way up your body and finally sealed his mouth over yours. His face was sticky, and your hands went to his hair and pulled on it, hard, making him groan into the kiss. You pulled his head back and he whined, hips bucking against the sofa, searching for some relief. You lifted an eyebrow at him.

"Please" he panted. You glanced down.

"Need some help down there, soldier?"

He grinned, lopsided. "Sargeant, actually"

Oh yes, you were going to have some fun with this one.

Based on true events that happened to me last week. Only difference is it was in my appartment, and I didn't actually come.

Hope you enjoyed, stay posted for more filth to come!

Do I use too much italics? Probably. Do I care? Not one iota.

#my thots #logan sargeant #logan thots #ls2 #logan sargeant x reader #logan sargeant smut #f1 #formula 1 rpf

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thewertsearch · 3 hours

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JADE: […] you remember the guy who destroyed prospit? JADESPRITE: you want me to fight him??? JADESPRITE: are you crazy? do i look like i am ready to fight anybody???????

I don't know what Jade thought was going to happen when she self-prototyped, but I doubt she was expecting an argument.

Maybe she wanted to possess Jadesprite's body in her sleep, and take the fight to Jack herself - or perhaps she assumed that Jadesprite would share her exact mental state, memories included, and thus automatically agree with her plan.

JADE: there is a lot at stake here! JADESPRITE: woof

JADE: i mean, dont you remember what this was all about? JADE: what you were working for… what WE were working for all those years before you died? JADE: remember what we saw in the clouds, or what the queen told us?

We knew Jade was a frequent visitor to Prospit, but it seems she was particularity close with the White Queen, who was probably the closest thing she had to a parental figure after Grandpa died.

Given her uniquely lonely upbringing, Jade might have spent more time on Prospit than any Player. No wonder she was over-reliant on Skaia's prophecies - she's probably seen thousands come true before her eyes.

JADE: how could you not remember john survived? JADE: we both saw him in a cloud! he was in his dream suit and awake, reading our letter! [...] JADESPRITE: it was all a lie jade. what we saw in the clouds and all that. none of it meant anything

“None of it means anything” is not a particularly encouraging thing to hear from a Sburb Sprite.

I��m starting to wonder if Jadesprite’s mental state is due to more than just trauma and godhood. Has she learned some uncomfortable truths about her existence, out there in the afterlife?

JADE: i just dont know what to think JADE: i guess you are part of me, and you are who i was when i slept JADE: but it makes me sad to think i would act like this

However much Jade might want to deny it, Jadesprite represents a real part of her personality, and she’s not exactly enjoying this look in the mirror. Karkat can relate.

#homestuck liveblog #full liveblog #act 5.2 #3244 #s112

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kangnina · 3 days

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MDNI - Rich!Jungwon 4

Jungwon Masterlist

“Should I be worried?” you say, brushing your hair as you look at Jungwon’s reflection in your vanity mirror. He climbs off the bed and walks up behind you, kissing the top of your head.

“No, having a guard assigned to you is just a standard precautionary measure. Please don’t be afraid, Jagiya,” Jungwon says, rubbing your shoulders.

“Is it because of your dad?” you whisper.

“What? No. I mean… yeah, he’s a pain in my ass but he’s not stupid enough to even think about actually hurting you.” You turn on your stool to face him.

“Jungwon, I know how he feels about me. I’ve seen the news articles. I knew marrying you could cause problems–” He kneels in front of you, tightly holding your hands.

“You are not causing problems! Don’t ever say that to me again. It’s just an adjustment period for everyone. My mom and I are taking care of this situation with Yang International. So please focus on your classes, okay?” He kisses your hands, smiling. You nod your head. He slips his fingers up your bare thigh. Your silk robe falling open to expose your panties. He smirks, dimples on full display. He lifts your leg over his bare shoulder.

“Oh no you don’t, mister. I need sleep. I have two tests in the morning,” you say, pressing your hand to his face to stop him before he dips his head between your legs. He chuckles.

“Just a taste, kitten. A little lick. Please…” he begs. You shake your head. He drops your leg and sighs defeatedly before standing up. “Okay. You’re right. Sleep is important…” He suddenly grabs you, pulling you up and over his shoulder.

“JUNGWON! NO!” You smack his ass with your hand. He smacks your ass in return before throwing you on the bed. You try to crawl away but he grabs your leg, pulling you back. Jungwon climbs on top of you as you giggle. He attacks your face with kisses, grinding his erection against your pussy.

“You can give it to me or I can take it from you. What’s it gonna be?” he says huskily. You push him over, straddling him momentarily before he rolls you over. Too far, too fast and over the edge of the bed. “Oh fuck!” you shout as you both land onto the floor. Banging heads. “Shit baby. I’m sorry. Are you okay?” he reaches for your head and you smack his hand away.

“This is what happens when you get greedy!” you groan, rubbing your head.

—-----------------

“Tell her about the upcoming exhibit,” Jungwon says excitedly as he takes a bite of his eggs. You look at him nervously with big eyes. He nods encouragingly. His mom looks at you expectantly as she takes a sip of her coffee. With all the buzz of the media, the chaos between him and his dad over YI, Jungwon is trying his best to make you feel comfortable in his world. Which meant inviting his mom over for brunch one Saturday. He had a huge smile on his face when he told her that he prepared the meal all by himself. It made you happy, seeing him so happy that he accomplished a simple domestic task.

“Uh, yes. It’s in three weeks. My whole class actually. It’s not just me. But I’ll have to decide which piece I feel truly represents my journey as an artist.” You smile shyly and Jungwon squeezes your hand.

“That sounds lovely. May I attend?” she asks, smiling. You see the uncanny resemblance. Not just the dimples. Everything from her soft eyes to her nose and her genuine smile. Thank god he also inherited her endearing personality.

“Of course, I’ll send you the final details as soon as I know them.”

“You know, the Met Gala is also in a few weeks. We attend it every year. But I know it’s not really one of Jungwon's favorite events to attend. Would you like to accompany me instead?” she asks. Your jaw hits the floor and Jungwon laughs. He tips your chin up to close your mouth.

“I’m pretty sure that’s a ‘yes’, mom.” You nod your head so hard, it just might roll off your neck.

“Wonderful. Finally, someone else in the family who appreciates art as much as I do,” she says with a wink.

@nyfwyeonjun @maymarrylhs @nyxtwixx @ilabjungwon @enha-ism @belowbun @emi-en @mydearestwonnie @woniesprincess04 @snoopypupp @moonlightndaydreams @daydreams-after-dark @wildflowermooon

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ineffable-opinions · 2 days

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"Top", "Bottom" Discussion in Unknown ep. 12

The Office Gossip Scene

Now that the Unknown has resurrected the conversation about gong shou, let’s talk about it. The what and the why, so to say.

I welcome critiques and corrections. So, please feel free to do so.

Scenes and subtitles

The discussion in the episode starts with Wei Qian’s staff gossiping about his relationship with Wei ZhiYuan. One of the staff members comments that Wei Qian is like a little lamb (小绵羊) when it comes to his little brother:

只要遇到他弟弟就像小绵羊

Someone replies with the following idiom:

羊入虎口

(Literally: “a sheep enters a tiger's mouth”)

It means to enter a dangerous situation where one will certainly suffer [Source: Wiktionary].

The female employee (who witnessed their kiss) asks San Pang:

三胖哥谁是羊谁是虎啊 - Who is the lamb (羊; sheep) and who is the tiger (虎)?

This has some employees confused and they ask for an explanation. They receive the following reply:

就是攻跟受的差别啊 – [it means] between them, who is gong and who is shou?

One of the staff members repeats the unfamiliar terms:

攻受 – gong shou

and the fu-nu (腐女; fujoshi) offers an explanation:

好啦姊姊教你们 – let this elder sis explain

老虎看到羊会 – the tiger upon seeing the lamb…

Before she can complete her explanation, Wei Qian moves into the scene accompanied by the growl of a big cat. The gossipers disband.

In the end our fu-nu expresses their support for Wei Qian’s relationship with Wei ZhiYuan. Before she runs off, she throws him the question:

你们谁是攻谁是受啦 – between the two of you, who is gong and who is shou?

In the next shot Wei Qian is alone. He flexes his muscles and comments:

很明显吧 - It's obvious, isn't it?

[END OF SCENE]

Everyone at that office seems pretty close. The staff calls Wei “Qian ge” 谦哥 (first name + brother) and not as “Mr. Wei” (as the English subtitles suggests). Looks like Lao Xiong (emphasis on Lao = old) is the only one who clearly disapproves of such gossipmongering.

Notice how the terms gong and shou were translated directly into top and bottom in English subtitles. While that’s technically correct, there’s some nuance missing.

While there are tongzhi (同志;queer) people who use the terms gong and shou, these are not the most popular terms for top and bottom in the tongzhi community. This series specifically uses the terms gong (攻) and shou (受). Why? We’ll get to that in a minute.

In a BL, being shou means that character is the bottom in that particular ship. That character could be top, bottom, versatile or neither in another ship. A character is a bottom (as we use the term in English) only when that character is an absolute shou (sou uke in Japanese). An absolute shou is invariably shou. No matter which ship he becomes part of and no matter who he is paired with, he will be the shou. Similar difference exists between the terms “top” and “gong”.

English subtitles use ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ from the get-go. There is no need to explain what those terms mean. But that’s not the case with gong shou – only 腐 (fu) people (BL fans) really knows what those terms really mean and thus warrants explanation.

BL literacies

BL is a media genre in itself with different sub-genres, genre conventions and classic works. It sure has a lot of overlap with other genres:

Romance as well as GL – they coevolved. They share mothers and other ancestors.

Queer – Is it really a genre? Even if one were to ignore queer as method in academia, it is still so complex.

Let me quote Taiwanese tongzhi author Chiang-Sheng Kuo:

… what exactly is queer literature? Is it queer literature if queer people like to read it, or is it only queer literature if there are queer characters in the books? Or is it an appendage of the queer movement? If a queer author writes a book without queer characters, does that represent a certain aspect of queer culture?

(You can find the whole interview here.)

Just as danmei (耽美; Chinese BL) has its roots in Japanese BL, so is gong (攻) and shou (受) from seme (攻め) uke (受け).

gong shou aka seme uke dynamics

Mother of BL, Mori Mari, didn’t come up with it, nor did her father Mori Ogai. Both she and her father, among the other dozen tanbi (耽美; same writing as danmei but different readings cause different languages, and different meanings cause different cultures) authors inherited it from authors before them who wrote on contemporaneous and historic Japanese male androphilia.

Spring Pastimes. Miyagawa Isshō, c. 1750 | seme uke dynamics in nanshoku pre-dates BL by hundreds of years.

While there is no dearth of riba (versatile) characters in BL, seme uke dynamics is:

a genre specialty. There are similar words in use in GL as well.

an enduring connection to the past of where BL was born.

remnants of a particular model of queerness; an alternative to LGBTQIA+ form of queerness.

What’s there in the scene

There is something hidden in the euphemistic explanation. On the face of it tiger devouring a lamb would be allusion to tiger gong devouring (topping) lamb shou.

But then tiger is a big cat and lamb is a herbivore. Neko (ネコ), the Japanese queer term for “bottom” means cat (etymology is obscure with this one). The term herbivore (草食) when used to describe a man means that man is masculine in a non-hegemonic way. In the series, Wei Qian embodies the hegemonic masculinity while Wei ZhiYuan is a quintessential grass-eater.

So, the description of lamb being devoured by a tiger would not be associated as simply as with the terms gong and shou especially when it comes from Taiwan which has been historically more connected to Japanese BL than any other BL producers (Sinophone or otherwise). This connection was highlighted during 魏之远 Wei ZhiYuan's naming scene where Le Ge used the borrowed Japanese possessive particle (の; no).

の = 之 (zhī)

The big cat sound effect for Wei Qian in particular adds to this. Wei Qian’s character is best described as a queen shou.

女王受 Queen shou: A shou who is as proud as a queen, and would devour gong. (source)

Wei Qian and Wei ZhiYuan’s ship is best described by Priest (the author of Da Ge, source novel of Unknown):

经典款毒舌女王和屁颠屁颠的忠犬组合 – paring of a classic, sharp-tongued queen and a tail-wagging loyal dog.

BL literacies & Affective learning

BL kind of has its own language (with words like gong shou), which fans use to share ideas and feelings. This secret language is what academics call ‘literacies.’ BL fans are all in on this and have their own ‘ways of behaving, interacting, valuing, thinking, believing, speaking, and often reading and writing’. Through ‘various visual, conceptual and textual literacies’, BL fans weave ‘an intertextual database of narrative and visual tropes which readers draw upon to interpret BL’. BL literacies is learnt through ‘affective hermeneutics – a set way of gaining knowledge through feelings.’ Audience learn BL literacies from BL works ‘which eventually leads to their active engagement’ with other BL fans. (source; Kristine Michelle L. Santos explains it in the context of Japanese BL but it applies to all BL media irrespective of where it is from.)

That scene in Unknown was set up to familiarize audience with BL literacies – not only those specific words but also the larger practice of imagining character pairing and indulging in that imagination. This is evident from the overall jubilant tone of the scene and the camera work. It is a celebration of moe. That is why we have a character who is not only a fu-nu but also willing to be openly fu-nu in that setting, sharing BL literacies and her colleagues interested to learn.

For other examples, check out Thomas Baudinette’s book Boys Love Media in Thailand: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Culture. He has a chapter dedicated to explaining how genre conventions were taught to the early audience of Thai BL through similar scenes.

Why must they do this? Why break the fourth wall like this? To get more people interested in the intricacies of BL and to get them to participate in the culture. BL is created by fu-people and BL literacies are their tools and source of joy. BL must draw in more people to keep BL culture going. Commercialized BL we have today is the result of an affective culture formed over the years. It is built on years of labor of authors and their audience. I mean, look at the Unknown. This BL employs the well-developed Loyal Dog gong x Queen shou dynamics. Apart from that which the series took from the novel, it also drew upon other common BL beats to tease the relationship between Dr. Lin and his senior.

Teaching BL literacies is political. When Mainland Chinese government gets dangai productions to change names and relationships of characters (among other things), it is to prevent live-action audience from discovering BL as a genre with it disruptive potential. It is not only character's names and relationships that are changed. There are entire sub-genres of danmei (such as 高干) that got wiped out by censorship.

When a Taiwanese BL not only retains the character names & relationships and shows relatively explicit intimate scenes but also actively promotes BL literacies, it is an act of resistance. Discussion of gong shou, being genre specialty, manages to do so. Interestingly, they are doing it in an adaptation of a novel by Priest who has a particular reputation with self-censorship. That scene is not part of the source novel.

Heterosexual & gong shou

Association of bottom with the feminine (female or otherwise) has its roots in medicalization (and pathologization) of homosexuality in the west (such as through theories by scientists and doctors like Richard von Krafft-Ebing). This “knowledge” subsequently spread across the globe and was adopted to varying degrees and forms.

Moreover, the terms gong and shou applies to heterosexual pairing too.

BG (boy girl) ships have male gong and female shou

GB (girl boy) ships have female gong and male shou. [If this is interesting unfamiliar territory, check out the series Dong Lan Xue (2023).]

Moreover, if one is willing to look beyond LGBTQIA+ form of queerness (which is born and brought up in America), one can see other queer possibilities. For example, Kothi-Panthi queerness in South Asia which is characterized by explicit presentation of top bottom dynamics. There are very many similar forms of queerness in other parts of Global South.

In many cultures, sexuality doesn’t inform identity but sexual preference does. That’s why is you are to ask a kothi-panthi couple which one of you is the bottom, the kothi would tell you without hesitation: “I am.” Might even asked you in turn, “Couldn’t you tell?” For them, sexual preference (being kothi) rather than sexual orientation takes center stage. This is the inverse of how LGBTQIA+ form of queerness looks at it. While LGBTQIA+ model of queerness focuses on sexual orientation (being pan, ace, gay, etc.) as something that can be freely discussed but sexual preference (top, bottom, versatile, side, etc.) is considered private.

*Just to be clear, “kothi” is a term of self-identification. It means that the person is a bottom. Panthi is not self-identification. That’s how kothi address the men who top them.

While thanks to westernization LGBTQIA+ form of queerness enjoys more visibility, I think it is better to consider it as one type of queerness rather than the only model of queerness. Gong shou dynamics doesn’t fit into LGBTQIA+ form of queerness because it comes from another, much-older nanshoku model of queerness that made its way into Japan from China, hundreds of years ago. Friction between different models of queerness is common where ever they interact. In 1970s, Japan was witness to public debates between a younger, westernized Japanese queer activist Itō Satoru and other Japanese queer activists such as Fushimi Noriaki and Tōgō Ken who were rooted in indigenous tradition of male-male sexuality.

[Itō Satoru’s] insistence on the necessity of adopting western models of gay identity and coming out have brought him into conflict with other activists such as Fushimi Noriaki and veteran campaigner Tōgō Ken.

Interpretation and Orientalism: Outing Japan's Sexual Minorities to the English-Speaking World by Mark McLelland

That’s not much a conclusion but this is already so long. I really hope it gives you something to think about.

If you are interested, here's more.

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bitter-hibiscus · 2 days

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I know I run a fandom blog, but I can't in good consciousness not talk about what's happening in Brazil.

Rio Grande do Sul, my home state, is underwater. The floods are reaching 9 meters in height. Over 74 thousand people are now homeless, and over 300 cities out of the 497 cities in the state are in critical condition. In marginalized cities, the gangs are demanding to be paid to save people. There are 74 confirmed deaths, but that number will grow exponentially once the water is low enough that we can actually see the bodies-- the estimate for right now is over 1000 deaths. This tragedy will become a yearly event because of the utter incompetence of our governor and our president. There are multiple hospitals filled with people who needed to be treated for hypothermia that got flooded and now the patients are stuck inside.

I'll leave below the information to donate money to the government, but if I find any links related to non-profit organizations I will be making other posts about it. If you're American, your donations would be even more important. 5 dollars is equivalent to 20 reais. That's enough to buy someone a meal, or a blanket, or clothes that aren't soaked in dirty river water, or most common medications.

If you have no money at all, please just spread the word. It will encourage other countries to send help our way because Brazil was entirely unprepared for this disaster. Ask your representatives to help us.

Civil Defense - Get updates on the situation

Donation instructions:

Euro Zone: Bank Standard Chartered Bank Frankfurt Swift: SCBLDEFX Account: 007358304

Dollar Zone: Bank Standard Chartered Bank New York Swift: SCBLUS33 Account: 3544032986001

For both cases, you have to inform:

Code IBAN: BR5392702067001000645423206C1

Name: Associação dos Bancos no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul

CNPJ: 92.958.800/0001-38

#global news #brazil #rio grande do sul #donation links #aid #international politics #latin america #important #floods #natural disaster

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raayllum · 2 days

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6x05 Moonless Night Speculation

So 6x05 is called "Moonless Night" and it's ruining my life (affectionate), so let's talk about it.

Seasonal Placement

Something that's worth noting, I think, is that while episode 5 is undoubtedly an important episode in each season, as it marks the official "over halfway point" of the 9-episode assortment, thus far across the series it doesn't tend to hold the most plot compared to episodes occasionally surrounding it. Consider how 2x05-2x06 or 3x04-3x05 are grouped together as little collections, either grinding the plot to a halt to give flashbacks or to see Ezran leave his kingdom crownless and for Rayla and Callum to retrieve Zym from the wily Nyx. Even 4x05 and 5x05 aren't particularly plot heavy episodes, often getting the next segment of the story underway by travelling to a new location or having certain characters / pieces of information reconvene.

What episode five does tend to be are emotional turning points for characters:

1x05: This is the episode that makes the trio Friends, most notably allowing Rayla to open up to the boys about her parents and her fears, and having their togetherness reaffirmed. Unlike in the previous episodes, she's not hopeful or tolerating them anymore, and the boys have seen some of her more consistently good attributes / learning her behaviours too.

2x05: Callum finds the resolve to open the letter from King Harrow and we see where his mother, stepfather, and Viren felt about the mission that ultimately led to tragedy.

3x05: Soren chooses to do the right thing and stand by Ezran, and Callum and Rayla begin their romantic relationship.

4x05: Callum and Rayla deal with the lingering results of their fallout, even as Callum is able to admit that he is happy she's back, and we see how Rayla has become more jaded whereas Soren's gone in the opposite direction.

5x05: The group reconvenes to decide what to do for the rest of the season about Aaravos, leading to an interesting difference between the brothers. This one fits the pattern the least, arguably, but we'll talk a bit more about how S5 breaks patterns in a second.

As of course, TDP doesn't have to follow any previous seasonal notions. In every other season, Callum's arc(s) have always carried over into the season finale in some way—for 1x09 and 2x09, it's his relationship with magic, and for 3x09 and 4x09, it's his relationship with Rayla. Season five subsequently breaks convention as his arc is shored up by the end of 5x08, leaving 5x09 to give more room for Viren and Claudia's emotional arcs as well as a minor beat for Rayla's metaphorical/literal one with water. Season six could break previous patterns even further with 6x05 being a massive turning point.

With all that in mind, let's first examine what the Moon itself represents in TDP, and then what a night being moonless might mean before we get into plot and emotional arc speculation.

What does the Moon Represent in TDP?

One of the things that's nice about a series like TDP that takes its magic so literally is that we do have a handy list of things the Moon represents, at least tangentially. Callum's Spellbook reads, "Illusion, love, charm, private, deep, secrets, manipulation, death, reflection, appearances, and duality." Certainly seems like a very Aaravos-y star adjacent list, don't you think?

And we also get the explanation from Lujanne in 2x01, which is based off Plato's concept of the forms:

The arcanum of the moon is about understanding the relationship between appearances and reality. Most people believe that reality is truth and that appearances are deceiving. But those of us who know the Moon arcanum understand we can only truly know the appearance itself. You can never touch the so-called reality that lies just beyond the reach of your own perception.

For Lujanne, the philosophy behind the arcanum is rooted in the duality of truth vs secrets, appearances (and illusions) stacked against each other, and the nature of reality. However, we see other aspects of the Moon arcanum, such as Moonshadow form, be tethered to something equally involved in duality if perhaps more noteworthy for our purposes (Bloodmoon Huntress):

Moonshadow form is only achieved when we understand the balance between life and death. Balance is weight against weight, and to understand the weight of death, you must feel the weight and value of another's life. Think of those you love, those you hold dear. Now think of the souls who have touched your life. Understand that each time your weapon meets its target, each time we fulfil our duty, the potential for that life to change—to love another—is gone. We may remove hate, but we remove the potential for love as well.

Now, we can see how both of these may overlap with each other later — Harrow had the appearance of someone who posed a risk to the world but no longer did, and the vengeance declared was for an egg that hadn't actually been killed — but we'll get more to the other implications in the following section.

For now, I want to focus on examining the other less 'metaphorical' meanings and look at some of the more literal associations we have with Moons in the text. As we all know, there's been a prevalent light-darkness motif running throughout each season of the show that's only gotten more affirmed — and more linked to Rayla and Callum's relationship — as the show has gone on. (If you want more details, check out this tag.) We see this first hand in 2x02 "Half Moon Lies" where Lujanne also counsels Rayla through some Moon arcanum wisdom about her relationship with Callum:

L: And it is the same with you. There are parts you keep hidden. Real trust is about accepting even the dark parts we will never know.

By resolving to tell Callum about his stepfather's death, Rayla chooses to show her whole face — a full moon, if you will — and it's not the last time truth is associated with light in opposition with darkness either ("I finally see the truth. I find myself here at these horrifying crossroads because I have followed a dark path"). We even see this in the way the framing at the Nexus changes compared to before Callum knows the truth with Claudia, and after when he knows the truth with Rayla, with Rayla being framed in the light. The truth may be ugly, and Harrow's death darkens Callum's life, but just like each girl's hair being white and black at this point, Callum ultimately chooses Rayla when it matters here the most.

It is likewise not surprising that Callum's understanding of the Moon arcanum ("After all, we can only truly know the appearance itself" "Now you're starting to sound like Lujanne") evolves alongside his understanding of Rayla, knowing better how/what she hides in S3 and what's actually going on.

Then season four comes in very heavy handed with making Rayla synonymous with the moon pretty blatantly in a way she hadn't previously been afforded. Just having Callum looking at the moon is meant to represent his love and longing for her, after all, and she's framed as the moon upon her return as well, literally moving from dark (moonshadow form) to light.

This is a sort of association we've only thus far had given to characters like Janai with the sun. And then they have the association drawn through dialogue, too, just in case the Most Obvious Framing Ever wasn't enough.

Okay, so Rayla is a Moonshadow elf who now has the moon as a potential stand-in for her. Shocking, I know. But put a pin in it as we have one other blatant Moon symbolism thing to discuss, and that's Runaan and Ethari.

Now, the moon itself isn't super prevalent for Runaan and Ethari, per se. They're far more associated with circles/cycles (their family, the pendant, the shape of the lotus pond), weapons, and hearts — their goodbye dialogue for example. We do see two heavy Moon associations for them, though, both of which that is particularly apt for today's meta:

It also worth noting, of course, that neither of these things are exclusive either to Ruthari in the text. The notion of "Guiding Moon" and Ruthari's partnership is a consistent parallel to Rayla and Callum's evolving bond, as well as Rayla giving Callum the necklace with the same sentiments that Ethari did upon giving one to both her and Runaan.

With all that symbolism and setup out of the way, let's get into the biggest speculative question we have to try and answer:

Why is it Moonless?

Now, what you might've noticed in all our symbolism and setup is one main commonality: the moon, while tethered to duality, is usually seen as a more positive symbol than not having a moon. Light, or the light side of the moon, is better than the dark side or it being nonexistent. We can already see undercurrents in this given Callum's arc surrounding darkness ("In darkness, gaze upon a fallen star"): light, or the moon, is a Good Thing—most of the time. If you want more discussion on why Light isn't solely good in the series, check out this meta here.

What I'm getting at here is that Moonless Night almost undoubtedly refers to some kind of dark turn or tragedy. The only question is what/which one, and for that, I have three main thoughts:

1) Luna Tenebris

Luna Tenebris was the Queen of the Dragons after Sol Regem was disposed and before Avizandum (+ Zubeia) took over. She was also queen when humans were expelled from Xadia (known as the Judgement of the Half Moon) and mysteriously vanished circa 4x04's flashbacks, leading to chaos:

However, Luna Tenebris' disappearance is far more associated with a red Blood moon which doesn't bode well for the connection between blood-dark-star magic, and is most obviously associated with the Bloodmoon Huntress, Kim'Dael, as she and her kin were hunted under Luna's reign. So I'm not positing that Luna's death for her personally was a moonless night.

But it might be for someone else, who's been forced to live without her, and who vanishes shortly after she does.

Luna Tenebris' presumably 'unsuitable heir' (maybe the wrong kind of archdragon? Arcanum-less?) bears a striking resemblance to the dragon we see Rayla approaching (attacking?) in the S6 clip from the video game trailer:

We know that he's in a snowy place and we also know thanks to released screencap titles that Callum and — more importantly per the screencap above — Rayla are in snowy place from 6x03 "The Frozen Sea" onwards to presumably 6x05 "Moonless Night" at least, given that I can't imagine they'd always be at the infamous Starscraper (6x04) for just an episode. If Luna's heir is not an obstacle in 6x03 on their way to the Starscraper, facing him could be something they have to do — perhaps he's a nuisance to the Celestial elves or holds something they need, like a glowing crystal — in 6x05, as he's the result of well, a Moonless Night.

This is probably the most abstract of the few we have and the most entrenched in Just Plot (at least phrased/pictured as the above). The other two subsequent theories are much more in vein with an episode focus and/or the title maybe having multiple meanings (the above as well as one of the other two we'll detail down below).

2) Moon Fam Release

I'm prepared to eat my words but honestly, "Moonless Night" doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence for it to be a Moon fam heavy episode—at least not in a happy way. For starters, like I said before, there's all the negative associations with being 'moonless'. Even Ethari's vow amounts to "Myself and my love is with you even when there is no light/goodness/hope in your life." That doesn't exactly feel like a reunion vibe given that Runaan being released from the coins is surely something he will ultimately feel positively about.

Ethari's vow to Runaan is going to be harder to uphold if Ethari isn't there for Runaan's release. If Ethari is Runaan's guiding moon and it's a moonless night, then it doesn't seem like Ethari's there. Of course, he could be. I've speculated for a while that 6x02 will feature Rayla and Callum dropping off the Shadowpaw and making a pit stop at the Silvergrove, giving us a chance to catch up with Ethari; perhaps he'll even come along and has been left out of the (admittedly few) screencaps we have of Rayllum approaching the Starscraper for marketing seasonal secrecy purposes.

Another long held theory though is that whatever Callum has to do to ultimately set Runaan (and everyone else) free from the coins will not end well though.

If Ethari is there in 6x05, that makes me think the Moon fam will get out around the halfway point of the episode, they'll have like one (1) very happy scene, and then almost immediately major shit is going to hit the fan that becomes the focus.

Another add on reason is that I think if Moon fam are released and reunited in S6, the plot reasons behind it are 1) to give Callum a motivation to potentially go 'too far' (too fast?) in his quest to release him, and 2) to have Runaan there to encourage Rayla to kill Callum if/when he gets possessed again. There are many other reasons to love Rayla's parents, there are many other reasons to want them around, but from a structural/plot standpoint of being side characters, I do think that's the purpose they're here to serve in s6, with probably having an expanded role in s7.

For example, if we follow along the line of "Moonless Night" being a release episode with the meaning being largely related to Runaan and Ethari > the main characters, that means it would have to be about either how much Runaan missed Ethari in the coin (which we don't need to see to understand the coin is terrible, we know that) or two, Ethari not being there and Runaan not listening to whatever Ethari would want him to do (maybe not being upset with Rayla or angry at Callum?).

I just can't see an episode like "Moonless Night" ending on a good note for anyone while still having the name of the episode be earned unless we entirely go flashback heavy (Aaravos, Rayla's travels or whatever) or the Luna Tenebris heir route.

With that caveat in mind, I want to talk about what is the most likeliest reason behind "Moonless":

3) Aaravos and Callum

As stated before, the character most accordingly associated with the moon is Rayla. This association has become even more literal into arc 1. I think it's the association next to the Luna Tenebris one that makes the most sense.

While I could perhaps see a flashback or expansion on how she felt during her time away featuring into S6, I would question the validity of doing it at a location like the Starscraper where there is so much feasibly else to focus on in a very unique and special location where we're primed to be meeting new characters (possibly friends and foes from the celestial elves), getting lore drops, and stuff focused on Callum and Rayla's present emotional journeys. Something like that would make more sense on the way to the Starscraper where we're just killing travel time, the same way the S2 flashbacks were reserved for the two episodes where the kids are just stuck on a boat, or in S3 on the way to the Storm Spire.

The other thing that's worth noting is the way that Rayla is framed as the Moon in opposition to Aaravos' darkness. Callum worries he's on a dark path and Rayla reminds him that he can choose to take another way. Callum is gazing 'in darkness' at a Fallen Star and Rayla shows up haloed in light to literally turn him away from it. Like in 2x02, she's seen as the more positive, light side of the moon. And we know without a doubt that she will be at the Starscraper alongside her human fella. We know from S2 and S5 that Callum will go to "dark places" in order to help/protect her.

There's a few different ways this could play out. Maybe Rayla goes off on an agreed upon mini-quest to fetch something from Luna Tenebris' nearby heir to help free her parents, leaving Callum worried and alone at the Starscraper, and he's possessed in the interim. Maybe, as noted in Option 2), he frees her parents at great detriment to himself. Maybe she's threatened because the Celestial elves aren't that friendly or serve Aaravos.

If Callum only 'succumbs' to Aaravos' possessive / coercive control — a moonless night is total darkness — then the removal of light would be a reasonable step on the path to getting there. Threatening or fearing the loss of that light ("But the second you see that elf girl in pain, you completely lost yourself") in order to make it disappear, to let a "dark path" overtake Callum? It'd be a tragedy. It'd be moonless — and it would plunge Rayla's life into darkness as well, fearing that she might have to become the assassin both Runaan — as she carries his bow — and Callum — heart vs duty — have asked her to be.

Conclusion

Like I said, I think there are ways to overlap. Both Option #1 and Option #3 could be paired together if the heir puts Rayla at risk in her journey, or Option #2 and Option #3 if freeing the Moon Fam with all the coins' deep blood magic indicators are taken to the forefront (aka the symbol on the coins matching the symbol on Aaravos' book). It could be none of these things.

If 6x06 is indeed "Moment of Truth" as has been speculated, I'll assume de facto that 6x05 ends with Callum being possessed again (although again, the circumstances that lead to said event could take many paths) in order to nudge Rayla's arc ahead (whether Runaan is literally there or not, though I would probably lean towards yes and Option #2 for 6x05). It'll just be go go go plot and drama wise — and no matter what, I can't wait for it.

#tdp #the dragon prince #tdp spoilers #s6 spoilers #6x05 #tdp meta #analysis series #analysis #s6 #sorry in advance ruthari fans i'd love to be wrong #predictions #s6 speculation

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damnfandomproblems · 1 day

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Fandom Problem #4871:

Twitter's weird thinly-veiled hatred for any male bodytype that isn't beefy or muscular, especially twink bodytypes.

"Wah wah you referred to a twink character as a himbo, muh stupid Tumblr definition says a character has to be beefy to be a himbo!111!!!111!!!"

"Wah wah someone called the Genshin male characters Daddies, how dare someone call twinkish non-beefy men Daddies!!11!!!!!!1"

"Wah wah someone drew Pavitr with a slightly slimmer shape, even though the outfits he's wearing are covering his whole body entirely I'm still gonna bitch about twinkification and yaoification and muscle erasure because twinks bad!!!111!!11111!!"

"Wah wah why are there so many black characters that are twinks, I think people are afraid of making black guys muscular because they think that will scare people!!!!!"

"Wah wah Childe's nude concept art showed him as skinny with no muscle, how dare MHY make him skinny give him muscle!!!1111!!!"

"Wah wah why are Genshin fans thirsting over these twinkish male characters, how dare people be horny for non-beefy male bodytypes!1111!11!"

And even worse is that many people do it under they guise of "wanting more body type variety", as if muscular bodytypes haven't been the standard for men for a long time. We all know damn well these people would be dead silent about lack of body diversity if they were active in YA romance book/VN fandoms, where pretty much every male love interest is built like a weightlifter.

Frankly I think these kind of people are just as bad as those weirdo rightwingers who complain about "Wahhh wahhhh the female character isn't wearing revealing clothing and she doesn't have a supermodel hourglass figure therefore it's ugly and bad and oppressing feminine women". You don't care about body diversity, you just have a persecution fetish about people representing body types that don't fit what is considered conventionally attractive.

#ask box submission #fandom problem 4871 #twitter fandom

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jewish-vents · 12 hours

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I went to the Jewish quarter in Toledo today and I really don’t know how to feel. I’m part Sephardi, my ancestors most likely lived here at some point. I went to the Beit Knesset they would have went to, the oldest one in Europe, I think— it’s a museum now. Part of the floor was clearly new, and part of the floor was clearly ancient. I took a picture of the ancient part, the part that my ancestors would have also stepped on. There was a cross right under the two orange windows representing the Ten Commandments that Moshe brought down, and right next to that there were Christian murals of baby angels. It was beautiful, but there was such a tangible sadness to it, deadness, almost, that I couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable. The non Jewish tourists didn’t notice it, and that made me even more uncomfortable

There was a gift shop right next to the Beit Knesset. They were selling menorahs, not chanukias, seven-pronged menorahs— and all I could think of was ‘who is this for? Not for the Jewish tourists who come here, obviously, menorahs are for Beitei Knesset, not for home. Who is this for?’ It felt wrong. Later on, I saw the exact same menorahs in a different shop, a street away. This isn’t Judaica— Judaica isn’t mass produced like that, normally it’s handmade. It’s made with love, with care, it’s made with a Jewish touch. None of the items in this gift shop have a Jewish touch to them. Feeling like I was selling out my people, I bought a couple magen David magnets from there anyway

The Jewish part of Toledo feels… I’m not sure how to say it, but it’s like a remnant. You can tell that there was something before this, but that something is gone, it’s been wiped out. And that something was Jewish. And now it just drifts through this town, like dust, never properly gone but never enough than a vague feeling. And on top of all of that is a thick layer of Catholicism, and the knowledge of the brutality that brought this Jewish cultural centre to decimation

Toledo doesn’t really acknowledge what it did to its Jews. There’s a small square on the wall of a very old house, one that most certainly used to belong to a Jew before, that talks about Shmuel Levi, saying how he would rather have died by torture than become a confessor— they call him Samuel there, though, and I feel kind of stupid for how much I resent that. But that’s it. Instead they’re giving museum tours of the two Beite Knesset that used to exist before they were converted to being churches, and then war rooms, and now attractions. They’re selling Judaica that isn’t Judaica, right next to figures of Yeshu bleeding out on the cross. They’ve got small חי tiles on the corners of the street, but all I can think of is the Jews that were slaughtered in this town by the ancestors of the people who are now living in what were their houses

All I can think of is the pork being sold everywhere, and all the chametz people are eating before the sun sets on the last day of pesach

(sorry for the pretentious poetic language, I’m a writer I can’t help it)

Thank you for sharing this. There is something almost haunting about visiting places that were once Jewish but aren't anymore. I once saw a quote somewhere about how Memory is a sixth sense for Jewish people (I don't remember where I saw it but will try to find it again). Reading this reminded me of that.

I don't have many words of comfort. I actually don't live that far from Toledo. Our shul is tiny, but we have a kosher Torah from the time of the Inquisition. We outlived them.

-🐺

#jewish vents #antisemitism #tw mentions of genocide #jumblr #toledo #am yisrael chai

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midnight---hollow · 1 day

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Ok i need to yap for a second

I love how well written and thought out the ipc is in honkai star rail. I feel in general we dont always get the best discussions about capitalism and giant corps because said giant corps are usually sponsoring or are creating them most of the time so there is usually bias. I just saw some of the boothill story lore leaks and im not gonna talk about them here cus leaks but it gave me real big appreciation for how the ipc is handled.

Im personally a real big fan of complicated situations in my fictional stories. Ever since mob psycho ive gained a new lens of trying to find sympathy and reason for any situation, keeping my own opinions and preferences while still understanding the other side. I feel star rail has done a great job at show casing the many sides of the ipc even if i for one really dont like the ipc and its my least favorite organization

(I feel i should also say this is an opinion piece and im not informed enough on the real life issues as i would like to be. I just want to yap my opinion out and express why i find joy in this and maybe even come back later with more research to make another post but with references and proof to explain why besides what i remember and like. If i do get anything wrong then please inform me cus i would like to learn more about this and plan to)

|Spoilers for basically all the ipc related things in hsr|

I started out hating them cus i just dont like capitalist corps and they just rubbed me the wrong way. When the arum alley event happen i was originally pissed at it because even though it was confirming my beliefs of “big corp bad” it felt cheap and like almost every other story told by a big corp trying to tell us big corps are bad. Yknow the “look at this obviously in the wrong guy dont be like him, look at him get his comeuppances in the end and ignore how we actually are alot more complicated and worse than this super evil and obvious example”

arum alley then did something i didnt expect. It gave nuance to the story. It started out with that obvious example yes but the next one wasnt that obvious, the next part of the event talked about how some workers feel they wont be able to sustain their lives as independent workers and feel they need to work for the big corps for a safe job and it started getting into the logistics of big corp vs independent business. Yeah we where fighting them but there where reasons and concerns and fears to be given. It wasnt just big corp bad it was “yeah big corp bad but here is why and here is also how its good” and it brings up the questions on what can be done so we dont need to rely on big corp

Topaz and her whole arc is another situation i find interesting. Topaz is a character i dont care to much about to be honest but i think she plays a good role in this whole ipc debacle. To me she feels like she represents someone who used the system because they needed to and made it work and flourished in the system. Her planet was basically unlivable and she lived in a capitalist waste that failed. In comes the ipc and they are almost what her world was but better for they offer to help and save them. All they need to do is sign their lives away to join the ipc and they did and their planet flourished because of it. Topaz herself was able to rise the ranks into being a cornerstone. I think her story shows both the light and dark of the ipc because they saved her planet but they only did it because it benefited them, if they didnt sign their lives away it is very likely topaz and everyone on her planet would have suffocated from the toxins and died. They had no choice but to join the system and its stated in game that topaz’s planet is one of the few that where able to be saved.

That’s probably what i like most about the playable ipc characters, it reminds us that these big corps arent just mustache twirling bad guys, it reminds us there are people there just trying to keep going and some of them are genuinely trying to do right and think what they are doing is right. Again topaz for example, she genuinely believes what she was doing was for the good of belabog. She saw a planet so similar to her own and i think she did what she thought was right and tried to help them (i dont think what she did was right but i can see where she comes from in thinking its right) i also think its showing that when she learned their was a way out for belabog that allowed them to not give their lives away to the ipc she gave in and stopped trying to convince them. She risked her own job security to allow them that right and because she didnt force an entire planet of innocent people who just got out of a horrible situation to sign their souls away (including the children mind you) she got demoted. Im not saying that she deserves a pat on the back for doing the bare minimum esp after she tried killing us, she is a rich, a conerstone, owns an exotic pet that she throws into battle and design her gun after, is a high member of said capitalist big corps, im just saying this is a very nuanced and interesting situation that i like to think about because there are so many thoughts and arguments

The whole belabog vs ipc thing was interesting in general for me because i think it was just such a good concept to bring forth the conversation of the goods and bads of big corps. Technically the ipc does have the right to want their century old debt repaid (ignoring the fact we later learned the robots where never used i think idk the end was confusing ngl) yet also at the same time we as people have a hard time siding with them when belabog didnt even know they where in debt because they where so isolated because of the stellaron and they just got out of the stellaron crisis and are trying to make their world habitable and yknow survive. We cant blame them for being unable to pay a humongous debt when these where the same people who stood in awe as march shower them a photo of their planet that she took while on the express. It creates a situation where yeah technically the giant corp has a right to take that money because its theirs but its still feels so cruel to make them have to cough it up right now with only a few days time. Belabog is basically forced to sign that deal because there is no way they could have payed that off they where doomed the moment topaz set foot on the planet. I remember talking to each of the people in belabog and getting their opinions on the matter and constantly having to rethink my stance because there where so many good points for why they should and so many for why they shouldnt. I can go on and on about this but this bit is already to long.

Aventurine!!! Aventurine aventurine oh where to start. Unlike topaz i actually like aventurine alot he is just such a well written character but we arent here to talk about how amazing him and the games writing is we are here to talk about the capitalist cooperation he is a cog in. Aventurine in a sense has a similar story to topaz but its more cruel and less happy. The ipc didnt save him, the ipc what going to arrest him and its thanks to his luck and a deal with the devil (or in this case a bet with a snake) that he was able to become aventurine.

I havent seen the writen stuff for him in his characters story because i dont have him but i will say from what i saw during the main story, something i question alot is what the ipc did during the avgin genocide. This might be a small tangent but the avgins said they had the support of the ipc. What happened that caused for the entire avgin civilization to be wiped out when they had the help of people with better weapons and armor and equipment. Apart of me is nihilistic enough to think the ipc didnt really care for saving the avgins and might have used the katakans attack as a way to know out the two groups that where causing them the most trouble but at the moment i dont know if theres anything supporting this theory so its just a crack theory

Aventurines spot in penacony is again interesting. Penacony is a prison planet of the ipc, that was taken over and turned into a party paradise thanks to the hamrony, family, and a stellaron. Aventurines goal was supposed to be to put penacony back in the ipcs control and to be honest i cant tell if thats his plan or not because of how crazy and confusing the story was (i loved it) but that being said it is another example how how grey ipc is. It isnt just a big bad corp there are people with lives and in avens case, people trying to gain their freedom with any risks necessary. I also think again the ipcs role in penacony is like belabog, very interesting, just for different reasons.

Penacony is based off America and in this case im assuming the ipc is their Britain. I feel like if you ask most people they would say that the ipc is the only group in penacony they hope fails (minus aventurine again i feel everyone wants aven to succeed even if we want ipc to fall) but i think the family being as grey as they are (basically a cult and also a representation of newer day amarica and its “its us or them” mentality in a way. I can make another yap ses about that lmao) adds an air of mystery and confusion on who we want to succeed since they are on two very different sides of the board so if one wins the other loses. It makes it feel like a fight of two big corps against each other and not really knowing who to support. Do you want to support the capitalist or the cult, pick your poison. We need the rest of penacony for me to go more in-depth on my opinion of ipc here and to rant but i can say its already making me question and argue both sides with what we have seen so far

That was fun for me. I havent ranted on tumblr in a long long time but hsr has been my recent hyperfixation and again boothill makes me crazy. While writing this is made me start to think about how much i wanted to talk about the hidden story of immigration i feel penacony is aso trying to tell. I think penacony is handling so many deep and interesting topics and im very excited for the next update. This has made me hyped to talk about the immigration stuff but i want to do reaserch and gain a proper strong stance besides “thats just my opinion.” I think this is an interesting topic and yapping about it made me want to do more reaserch on the topics of capitalism and big corps cus i hate them but i also think its important to know about it and understand there is more to the issue than just stingy old white rich people. I havent even gotten to jade yet. When we learn more about her imma have some words prob

Srry this was long but anyways cant wait till boothill comes out so i can get him and his light cone

#honkai star rail #hsr #hsr ipc #ipc #hsr topaz #hsr aventurine #topaz #aventurine #boothill #midnight rants #long post

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