#no real bearing on reality’ basically

[fuck-you-showerthoughts]

if it's not rude to say, that sounds like a really interesting way to. have gender? not sure how to phrase it. it sounds kind of overwhelming, but I just flat don't have one unless it's funny and i feel like playing it up for a joke. does yours ever conflict with itself?

I’d say not really but that’s mostly just because I’m both a very ‘one thing at a time’ person (demisexual supremacy) and forever on my “lol whatever” mindset so it’s pretty easy to…..zoom out? Sort of? And be okay with stuff seeming like it’s contradictory because I know I’m not actually a living paradox so it’s fine haha

[cripplecharacters]

The Mask Trope, and Disfiguremisia in Media

[large text: The Mask Trope, and Disfiguremisia in Media]

If you followed this blog for more than like a week, you're probably familiar with “the mask trope” or at least with me complaining about it over and over in perpetuity. But why is it bad and why can't this dude shut up about it?

Let's start with who this trope applies to: characters with facial differences. There is some overlap with blind characters as well; think of the blindfold that is forced on a blind character for no reason. Here is a great explanation of it in this context by blindbeta. It's an excellent post in general, even if your character isn't blind or low vision you should read at least the last few paragraphs.

Here's a good ol’ tired link to what a facial difference is, but to put it simply:

If you have a character, who is a burn survivor or has scars, who wears a mask, this is exactly this trope.

The concept applies to other facial differences as well, but scars and burns are 99% of the representation and “representation” we get, so I'll be using these somewhat interchangeably here.

The mask can be exactly what you think, but it refers to any facial covering that doesn't have a medical purpose. So for example, a CPAP mask doesn't count for this trope, but a Magic Porcelain Mask absolutely does. Bandages do as well. If it covers the part of the face that is “different”, it can be a mask in the context used here.

Eye patches are on thin ice because while they do serve a medical purpose in real life, in 99.9% of media they are used for the same purpose as a mask. It's purely aesthetic.

With that out of the way, let's get into why this trope sucks and find its roots. Because every trope is just a symptom of something, really.

Roughly in order of the least to most important reasons...

Why It Sucks 

[large text: Why It Sucks]

It's overdone. As in — boring. You made your character visibly different, and now they're no longer that. What is the point? Just don't give them the damn scar if you're going to hide it. 

Zero connection with reality. No one does this. I don't even know how to elaborate on this. This doesn't represent anyone because no one does this.

Disability erasure. For the majority of characters with facial differences, their scars or burns somehow don't disable them physically, so the only thing left is the visible part… aaand the mask takes care of it too. Again, what's the point? If you want to make your disabled character abled, then just have them be abled. What is the point of "curing" them other than to make it completely pointless?

Making your readers with facial differences feel straight up bad. I'm gonna be honest! This hurts to see when it's all you get, over and over. Imagine there's this thing that everyone bullied you about, everyone still stares at, that is with you 24/7. Imagine you wanted to see something where people like you aren't treated like a freakshow. Somewhat unrealistic, but imagine that. That kind of world would only exist in fiction, right? So let's look into fiction- oh, none of the positive (or at least not "child-murderer evil") characters look like me. I mean they do, but they don't. They're forced to hide the one thing that connects us. I don't want to hide myself. I don't want to be told over and over that this is what people like me should do. That this is what other people expect so much that it's basically the default way a person with a facial difference can exist. I don't want this.

Perpetuating disfiguremisia. 

"Quick" Disfiguremisia Talk

[large text: "Quick" Disfiguremisia Talk]

It's quick when compared to my average facial difference discussion post, bear with me please.

Disfiguremisia; portmanteau of disfigure from “disfigurement” and -misia, Greek for hatred. 

Also known as discrimination of those mythical horrifically deformed people.

It shows up in fiction all the time; in-universe and in-narrative. Mask trope is one of the most common* representations of it, and it's also a trope that is gaining traction more and more, both in visual art and writing. This is a trope I particularly hate, because it's a blatant symptom of disfiguremisia. It's not hidden and it doesn't try to be. It's a painful remainder that I do not want nor need.

*most common is easily “evil disfigured villain”, just look at any horror media. But that's for another post, if ever.

When you put your character in a mask, it sends a clear message: in your story, facial differences aren't welcome. The world is hostile. Other characters are hostile. The author is, quite possibly, hostile. Maybe consciously, but almost always not, they just don't think that disfiguremisia means anything because it's the default setting. No one wants to see you because your face makes you gross and unsightly. If you have a burn; good luck, but we think you're too ugly to have a face. Have a scar? Too bad, now you don't. Get hidden.

Everything here is a decision that was made by the author. You are the one who makes the world. You are the person who decides if being disabled is acceptable or not there. The story doesn't have a mind of its own, you chose to make it disfiguremisic. 

It doesn't have to be.

Questions to Ask Yourself

[large text: Questions to Ask Yourself]

Since I started talking about facial differences on this blog, I have noticed a very specific trend in how facial differences are treated when compared to other disabilities. A lot of writers and artists are interested in worldbuilding where accessibility is considered, where disabled people are accepted, where neurodivergence is seen as an important part of the human experience, not something “other”. This is amazing, genuinely.

Yet, absolutely no one seems to be interested in a world that is anything but cruel to facial differences. There's no escapist fantasies for us.

You see this over and over, at some point it feels like the same story with different names attached.

The only way a character with a facial difference can exist is to hide it. Otherwise, they are shamed by society. Seen as something gross. I noticed that it really doesn't matter who the character is, facial difference is this great equalizer. Both ancient deities and talking forest cats get treated as the same brand of disgusting thing as long as they're scarred, as long as they had something explode in their face, as long as they've been cursed. They can be accomplished, they can be a badass, they can be the leader of the world, they can kill a dragon, but they cannot, under any circumstances, be allowed to peacefully exist with a facial difference. They have to hide it in the literal sense, or be made to feel that they should. Constantly ashamed, embarrassed that they dare to have a face.

Question one to ask yourself: why is disfiguremisia a part of your story?

I'm part of a few minority groups. I'm an immigrant, I'm disabled, I'm queer. I get enough shit in real life for this so I like to take a break once in a while. I love stories where transphobia isn't a thing. Where xenophobia doesn't come up. But my whole life, I can't seem to find stories that don't spew out disfiguremisia in one way or the other at the first possible opportunity.

Why is disfiguremisia a default part of your worldbuilding? Why can't it be left out? Why in societies with scarred saviors and warriors is there such intense disgust for them? Why can't anyone even just question why this is the state of the world?

Why is disfiguremisia normal in your story?

Question two: do you know enough about disfiguremisia to write about it?

Ask yourself, really. Do you? Writers sometimes ask if or how to portray ableism when they themselves aren't disabled, but no one bothers to wonder if maybe they aren't knowledgeable enough to make half their story about their POV character experiencing disfiguremisia. How much do you know, and from where? Have you read Mikaela Moody or any other advocates’ work around disfiguremisia? Do you understand the way it intersects; with being a trans woman, with being Black? What is your education on this topic?

And for USAmericans... do you know what "Ugly Laws" are, and when they ended?

Question three: what does your story associate with facial difference — and why?

If I had to guess; “shame”, “embarrassment”, “violence”, "disgust", “intimidation”, “trauma”, “guilt”, “evil”, “curse”, “discomfort”, “fear”, or similar would show up. 

Why doesn't it associate it with positive concepts? Why not “hope” or “love” or “pride” or “community”? Why not “soft” or “delicate”? Dare I say, “beauty” or “innocence”? Why not “blessing”? “Acceptance”?

Why not “normal”?

Question four: why did you make the character the way they are? 

Have you considered that there are other things than “horrifically burned for some moral failing” or “most traumatic scenario put to paper”? Why is it always “a tough character with a history of violence” and never “a Disfigured princess”? Why not “a loving parent” or “a fashionable girl”, instead of “the most unkind person you ever met” and “total badass who doesn’t care about anything - other than how scary their facial difference is to these poor ableds”? Don’t endlessly associate us with brutality and suffering. We aren’t violent or manipulative or physically strong or brash or bloodthirsty by default. We can be soft, and frail and gentle and kind - and we can still be proud and unashamed.

Question five: why is your character just… fine with all this?

Can’t they make a community with other people with facial differences and do something about this? Demand the right to exist as disabled and not have to hide their literal face? Why are they cool with being dehumanized and treated with such hatred? Especially if they fall into the "not so soft and kind" category that I just talked about, it seems obvious to me that they would be incredibly and loudly pissed off about being discriminated against over and over... Why can't your character, who is a subject of disfiguremisia, realize that maybe it's disfiguremisia that's the problem, and try to fix it?

Question six: why is your character wearing a mask? 

Usually, there's no reason. Most of the time the author hasn't considered that there even should be one, the character just wears a mask because that's what people with facial differences do in their mind. Most writers aren't interested in this kind of research or even considering it as a thing they should do. The community is unimportant to them, it's not like we are real people who read books. They think they understand, because to them it's not complex, it's not nuanced. It's ugly = bad. Why would you need a reason?

For cases where the reason is stated, I promise, I have heard of every single one. To quote, "to spare others from looking at them". I have read, "content warning: he has burn scars under the mask, he absolutely hates taking it off!", emphasis not mine. Because "he hates the way his skin looks", because "they care for their appearance a lot" (facial differences make you ugly, remember?). My favorite: "only has scars and the mask when he's a villain, not as a hero", just to subtly drive the point home. This isn't the extreme end of the spectrum. Now, imagine being a reader with a facial difference. This is your representation, sitting next to Freddy Krueger and Voldemort.

How do you feel?

F.A.Q. [frequently asked questions]

[large text: F.A.Q. [frequently asked questions]]

As in, answers and “answers” to common arguments or concerns. 

“Actually they want to hide their facial difference” - your character doesn’t have free will. You want them to hide it. Again; why.

“They are hiding it to be more inconspicuous!” - I get that there are elves in their world, but there’s no universe where wearing a mask with eye cutouts on the street is less noticeable than having a scar. Facial differences aren’t open wounds sprinkling with blood, in case that's not clear.

“It’s for other people's comfort” - why are other characters disfiguremisic to this extent? Are they forcing all minorities to stay hidden and out of sight too? That’s a horrible society to exist in.

“They are wearing it for Actual Practical Reason” - cool! I hope that this means you have other characters with facial differences that don’t wear it for any reason.

"It's the character's artistic expression" - I sure hope that there are abled characters with the same kind of expression then.

“They’re ashamed of their face” - and they never have any character development that would make that go away? That's just bad writing. Why are they ashamed in the first place? Why is shame the default stance to have about your own face in your story? I get that you think we should be ashamed and do these ridiculous things, but in real life we just live with it. 

"Now that you say that it is kinda messed up but I'm too far into the story please help" - here you go.

“[some variation of My Character is evil so it's fine/a killer so it fits/just too disgusting to show their disability” - this is the one of the only cases where I’m fine with disability erasure, actually. Please don’t make them have a facial difference. This is the type of harm that real life activists spend years and decades undoing. Disfiguremisia from horror movies released in the 70s is still relevant. It still affects people today.

"But [in-universe explanation why disfiguremisia is cool and fine actually]" - this changes nothing.

Closing Remarks

[large text: Closing Remarks]

I hope that this post explains my thoughts on facial difference representation better. It's a complicated topic, I get it. I'm also aware that this post might come off as harsh (?) but disfiguremisia shouldn't be treated lightly, it shouldn't be a prop. It's real world discrimination with a big chunk of its origins coming out of popular media.

With the asks that have been sent regarding facial differences, I realized that I probably haven't explained what the actual problems are well enough. It's not about some technical definition, or about weird in-universe explanations. It's about categorizing us as some apparently fundamentally different entity that can't possibly be kind and happy, about disfiguremisia so ingrained into our culture that it's apparently impossible to make a world without it; discrimination so deep that it can't be excised, only worked around. But you can get rid of it. You can just not have it there in the first place. Disfiguremisia isn't a fundamental part of how the world works; getting rid of it won't cause it to collapse. Don't portray discrimination as an integral, unquestionable part of the world that has to stay no matter what; whether it's ableism, transphobia, or Islamophobia or anything else. A world without discrimination can exist. If you can't imagine a world without disfiguremisia in fiction... that's bad. Sad, mostly. To me, at least.

Remember, that your readers aren't going to look at Character with a Scar #14673 and think "now I'm going to research how real life people with facial differences live." They won't, there's no inclination for them to do so. If you don't give them a reason, they won't magically start thinking critically about facial differences and disfiguremisia. People like their biases and they like to think that they understand.

And, even if you're explaining it over and over ;-) (winky face) there will still be people who are going to be actively resistant to giving a shit. To try and get the ones who are capable of caring about us, you, as the author, need to first understand disfiguremisia, study Face Equality, think of me as a human being with human emotions who doesn't want to see people like me treated like garbage in every piece of media I look at. There's a place and time for that media, and if you don't actually understand disfiguremisia, you will only perpetuate it; not "subvert" it, not "comment" on it.

I hope this helps :-) (smile emoji. for good measure)

Mod Sasza

[tarot-by-e11e]

PAC: "What do you need to let go of?" (call-out from your guides)

"Once we rid ourselves of the shackles of our own self-imposed limitations, we will be able to soar higher and further than the birds in the sky." - said by me

(reminder: this is for entertainment purposes only. Only take what resonates) Choose with mic will lovingly call you out~

Pile 1:

Pile 1: 8 of Coins, Judgement, 7 of Cups, 3 of Cups

Right off the bat, the first phrase I heard was, “unrealistic high standards”. Oomph. *nervously looking away*

Pile 1, by any chance, are you known as the “resident heartbreaker” in your community because of the trail of broken hearts you leave behind? It’s great to have standards but you need also to remember that nobody’s perfect, not even you dear pile 1.  There’s this journal prompt(?) I’ve encountered before about listing down all the characteristics you want in your ideal partner, then sitting down and reflecting if your ideal would wish to have a partner like you. It’s such a humbling yet eye-opening journal prompt TBH. Don’t expect the best if you won’t show up as the best version of yourself. Like… if you want the best, you have to be the best version of yourself as well.

What you also need to let go of Pile 1 is your hyper-self-awareness. Granted that it’s great knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are but there is such a thing as too much. I heard, “A healthy balance is key” in your case. Sorry for the call out Pile 1 but from the second card as well, your perfectionistic tendencies are slowly making themselves known. You might have these “all-or-nothing” tendencies, like a “black-or-white” mindset sometimes. It seems you have high standards for others and yourself, so you tend to intellectualize your feelings instead of feeling them. Again, apologies for the call-out Pile 1.

The last card feels like a desperation for external validation. Like, you feel you always need someone to impress or win over to feel like you’re good enough. There’s this unworthiness wound that needs to be addressed. Also, chronic people-pleasing tendencies to the point of immediate self-sacrificial tendencies. Pile 1, you need to learn to let go of this unhealthy thirst for external validation. Because the moment you lose your “audience”, you feel lost and listless. You need to remember that you are worthy of love, happiness, and success in life because you exist.

Pile 2:

Pile 2: 2 of Cups, Tower, 10 of Swords, Strength

I’m saying sorry in advance Pile 2 but the first thing I heard was, “You need to learn to be happy alone.” Pile 2 either is the type that can’t stand being single or is a hopeless romantic that has more fictional crushes than actual human relationships. (Apologies to all the romance genre bookworms all over the world). This pile falls under those two categories~

So for the serial daters, it seems that you need to take a bit of a break/pause and assess what do you want in a partner, your non-negotiables and negotiables. You are asked to don’t say to every person that asks you out. Also heard that, don’t date just because you’re bored, lonely, or have a lot of time to spare. Basically, you are called to only get into a relationship for the right reasons.

Now for the hopeless romantic who prefers fictional men to real men, I understand that you might have heard stories or had experiences that made you always choose the bear every single time. Those horror stories are an unfortunate reality for people into men. But I can’t, in my good conscience as having nephews, say that all men are despicable human beings. Granted, not all men but still they’re men. So… what I’m saying here is, that your fictional boyfriends would want you to actually experience happiness through real human interactions too. So yup, keep your guard up to those who wear their red flags with pride, but do try to give a chance to good men out there.

What you also need to let go of Pile 2 is your destructive coping mechanisms whenever you feel triggered by your traumas. Yes, I’m sorry to have it break it to you. You kinda felt this would eventually be mentioned, right? You are aware of your own destructive tendencies when triggered. You are aware that you unintentionally hurt your loved ones whenever they trigger you. And you also know you want to stop hurting people in the process. If therapy is expensive, try searching for somatic exercises and eft tapping. You don’t always have to swallow a pill to get better at managing your anger issues and self-sabotaging tendencies. You just have to give yourself a safe space to be able to honor and validate your feelings/pain/trauma. Treat yourself as gentle and compassionate as possible, like you would a child who’s just learning how to walk and talk.

Lastly, you are called to let go of your arrogance. I’m really sorry for the call-out Pile 2 but the cards have spoken. It’s great to know within yourself that you can walk your talk but you might have the tendency to bulldoze anyone that crosses your path. This might even cause an issue with authority figures. There’s a fine line between arrogance and confidence that you need to learn to master. It’ll help with the harmonious dynamics between you and your coworkers.

Pile 3:

Pile 3: 10 of Wands, 6 of Coins, Queen of Coins, Wheel of Fortune

Pile 3 feels like my burnt-out workaholic pile from the get-go. Being burdened by too much on your plate. Pile 3 might actually tend to take on other people’s problems. I understand you want to help out but you need to understand that you have limits too. You are asked to let go of the burdens that aren’t actually yours to begin with. You’re also asked to reprioritize your needs and responsibilities first before even considering helping someone else with their problems. I kept hearing, “You can’t pour out of an empty cup.”

Why does it feel like Pile 3 is my overly giving and generous pile? Sweetheart, please… I get how you want to help others out and give whenever you can. Just don’t forget to keep some for yourself, okay? I’m not asking you to stop being generous. I’m asking you to discern who genuinely needs your generosity and who is abusing your kind and loving heart. Unfortunately, not everyone deserves you and your generous heart.

Pile 3, your pile really has me crying and whimpering, “Please stop letting people walk all over you.” No wonder y’all are burnt out, you are the most loving, generous, and nurturing souls in the world to the point of being easy prey for abusive, manipulative narcissists. I’m begging you Pile 3, discernment and boundaries. You’re so nurturing and caring to the point of ignoring someone’s red flags. So… you have to actually learn how to have healthy boundaries and practice discernment. Don’t entertain the idea/potential of a person and see them for who they really are.

The last card feels like you need to let go of being too much of a “going with the flow” to the point of not taking charge of your own life, Pile 3. I understand you’re adaptable and know how to roll with the punches, but it also feels like a drifter with no roots. Always letting yourself be carried wherever the wind blows, can be interpreted as letting people dictate how you should live your life. It seems that pile 3 tends to take a passive approach to living your life. I understand that people who are of authority claim they want what’s best for you, but that’s what’s best based on THEIR values and preferences, not YOURS. So… please Pile 3, take the time to figure out what do you actually want to do with your life, in your own way. You are not just someone’s child, not just someone’s sibling/parent, not just someone’s friend/classmate/coworker. You are your own person, with a heart that feels and a mind that can think for themselves.

Pile 4:

Pile 4: 2 of Coins, 6 of Swords, Knight of Swords, Chariot

The first card of Pile 4 feels like you need to let go of only prioritizing your needs while disregarding your desires. It’s great to know how to be practical and resourceful, but you tend to only focus on nurturing the physical and basic needs, you tend to forget your emotional needs too. You tend to forget that you can let yourself enjoy your life while you work hard to provide for yourself and your family. I’m hearing, “self-care” is something you need to prioritize. Don’t just say, “Oh, I can just enjoy the fruits of my labor later” then realize your knees can’t even be stable enough to carry your body to your bathroom. The last I heard from the first card was “Go on a vacation and treat yourself while your body is still able to live and move with ease.”

The next thing you need to let go of is your cut-off game, specifically your tendency to ghost people. It seems that Pile 4 is quite quick to cut people out of your lives without notice. It seems that pile 4 also tends to cut someone out of their life on impulse. Like, no explanation, no notice, no last goodbye. This is giving “ghosting” vibes. It’s like, the person you cut off didn’t even do anything wrong, yet pile 4 while just going ghost without a valid reason. Like, pile 4 may go ghost whenever someone is getting a bit too close to your heart and you tend to run before they even get a chance to offer any friendship/commitment. Pile 4, are you a commitment phobe?

Pile 4, what you need to let go of is your impatience. Not just towards others, but also towards yourself. The littlest inconveniences make you lose your cool quicker than a mic drop. Not everyone is capable of keeping up with your demands and requests, not even you. So please, learn to be more understanding and patient with yourself and other people. I understand that you want to just go-go-go, but you need to know that you shouldn’t bulldoze your way through life. Learn to pace yourself by taking the time to smell the roses. There’s nothing wrong about going after what you want to get done, but you just need to remember that you don’t always do everything perfectly in the first try. You too make mistakes. You too need time to learn from your mistakes and become a better version of yourself. So please, show yourself and others the same compassion and patience you wished someone would give you.

Finally, the last thing pile 4 needs to let go of is “being controlling”. I’m really sorry for this call-out Pile 4 but you must have heard this from someone else before. Just because you know what’s best and know how to do it best, it doesn’t mean you should always take the reins and just control everything and everyone to bend into your will. Your way isn’t the only way to do things. You might be surprised that there are other ways to go about a task with minimal damage and effort. So please, let go of the concept that you have to always take charge and always be the leader.

Thank you for trying out my PAC reading. Feel free to give me a feedback on how your pile resonates with you.

[sehnsuchts-trunken]

Save a Horse, Ride a (Space) Cowboy

tom ryder x reader 2.2k words

summary: Tom in his space cowboy outfit really does something to you. Something that makes you forget about everything else.

tw! almost smut. really basically smut.

(THE PICTURE HAS BEEN UPGRADED YESSSS!!!!! thank you all for bearing with me <3)

masterlist

It's hot. It's unbearably fucking hot. You're sweaty, your shirt is sticking to your back, your sun hat seems to have no effect at all anymore and that Tom is running around right in front of your face in that gods damned space cowboy outfit is not helping at fucking all to cool you down.

Fucking hell.

It's genuinely not funny anymore.

Tom himself had you rubbing your thighs together more than often enough, but with that fucking cowboy hat on too now? Holy shit.

The only good thing about the desert heat is that you can blame the sweaty stickiness you're feeling on the temperature, the sun and the sand. Maybe not how you've soaked through your underwear, but... It's a start, at least. It's probably why Tom hasn't subjected you to one of his scrutinising stares yet - one of those with raised eyebrows and his whole attention focused on you.

You're restless because of the sand. Sweaty because of the sun. Avoiding his gaze because you're so uncomfortable in this blazing hot weather.

...Yeah.

"One more take and we're done", Jody shouts. You can hardly bite back a groan. Wonderful. One more time you'll have to watch Tom run around in that fucking outfit. At this point, it's close to torture. A part of you wants to just dash back to the trailer and take a very, very, very cold shower.

But you can't, this is your job, so you close your lips around the straw sticking out of your water bottle and watch. Watch Tom in that goddamn cowboy hat save his alien princess.

"You're drooling", Venti whispers, startling you so badly you flinch away from her. God, she has a fucking talent for appearing in places she shouldn't be.

"Fuck off", you mutter, your eyes clinging right back to Tom as he wraps his arms around his co-star. Oh, you'd very much like to switch places with her right now - even in this boiling desert hell.

"You know, technically, he's your boss", Venti goes on, entirely undeterred by your not-so workplace friendly language.

"Technically, he's my boyfriend", you bite right back at her, trying hard not to get weak in the knees as the camera zooms in closely on Tom's face, all big eyes and chiseled features appearing on the display next to you. He's fucking marvellous, goddamn him.

You still don't know just how he's your boyfriend. Venti's right - technically, he's your boss. You'd applied as his assistant one day and now here you are, dating the most famous action star of the moment. And he really does have it all: the face, the fame, the green. You're not quite sure he's even real, to be completely honest. A tiny part of you is constantly dreading that when you open your eyes in the morning, it'll turn out he's nothing but a fever dream after all. Or a hallucination. Maybe you're crazy.

"Alright, we got it!", Jody shouts, pulls you from your thoughts - from the way you'd been ogling him - and drags you back to reality. You hadn't even realised you'd started chewing on your lip. "Great shot, really, well done, we're gonna take a break before we shoot the next scene!"

The word break echoes in your mind like a fucking hallelujah. With a start, you rush towards Tom, almost stumbling over your own two feet as you grab his water bottle and hold it out for him.

"Here", you breathe, hoping, praying you don't look as debauched as you feel. Then again, you've sweated through the few layers you're wearing, so you probably do.

"Thanks, love", he smiles, reaches for the bottle and takes a sip. Then he looks you down. And up. And down. And up again. And your hoping, your praying crumbles right down to nothing, because he gives you that very stare you'd been dreading, the one that shoots like x-rays through your body and lays you bare for him. "You feeling good? You look hot."

Fuck, you are hot. Just not because of the blaring sun.

"I'm fine", you lie, even though you can feel your cheeks warm further. Just watching him close up on a screen is already enough to get you wet, but to have him this close up? That's even worse. "Just the temperature, I guess."

You shrug for good measure, but he still doesn't seem all that convinced. He eyes you once more, trailing his gaze down your body, then up again. It's hard to keep upright at this point. God, that outfit he's wearing really does something to you.

"Do you want to eat?", you blurt out, anything to get him to stop scrutinizing you. And to actually do your job. "I could get something from the buffet, take it to the trailer or-"

"I could eat", he interrupts, the corners of his lips tugging up. His sudden grin distracts you. Mindlessly, you nod along.

"Sure, I'll find something you like", you mutter, ready to turn and plunder the buffet table when his hand closes around your arm. Your heels all but dig into the sand below. He really has too much of an effect on you. You could easily slip out of his grip if you wanted, and yet you're frozen in place.

"You know what I'd like right now, baby?", he asks, his voice barely above a whisper as he takes a step closer. Fuck, he's so handsome. "You."

Barely three minutes later, he's got you pressed against the inside of the trailer door, cold metal against scorching skin as you try to catch your breath. You're panting, cheeks surely flashing red, and you'd like to blame that on the sun, on the sand, on the desert - but it's him, it's him, only him. It's him and that goddamn space cowboy outfit they'd put him in.

"Tom", you breathe, your fingers cramped around the collar of his shirt, clenched so tightly that your knuckles have turned white. He's real, he must be. You just can't quite figure out how.

"You good?", he asks, his voice deeper and a little breathy around the edges.

"No", you chuckle truthfully, your fingertips dipping beneath his collar and brushing over his skin instead. Your eyes drag right after them, drinking in the bit of bare chest his costume exposes. And that fucking golden necklace, just dangling from his neck like it's not driving you fucking insane.

"Still because of the heat, baby?", he asks, grinning widely when your eyes flicker back up at his face. His tone borders on mocking. Goddamn.

You should have known.

You should have known that he knows.

Because of course he knows. Of course he'd realised that you'd been fidgety and hot and bothered for entirely different reasons than the rest of the crew. Not because of the sun and sand and desert, but because of him. Because of him and that outfit.

"No", you admit quietly, your eyes dropping back down to his necklace as your fingers work open the first buckle of his vest. There's no way you could possibly lie to him when he's got you this close. "Not because of the heat."

It's honestly a miracle that you can even talk while you're undoing his clothes.

"Oh?", he asks, his hands tightening on your waist as you open his vest and rest your palms against his button-up for just a moment. "Because of what, then?"

You bite down on your lip to keep your grin at bay, even as his thumbs sneak below the hem of your shirt. His fingers graze your skin and, as if he hadn't already done enough to you, shoot sparks right down to your core.

"You", you mutter truthfully, drag your palms up to his collar again and begin loosening the buttons of his shirt. You want your hands on him. You want to finally touch him. You're basically melting for him, melting into him, and you want to get that shirt open now. "And this fucking costume. Space cowboy, who had that idea, anyway?"

Tom chuckles at your sudden honesty.

"Jody", he says, all matter-of-factly as you scoff at him and pop open one button after the other. By now, you can feel yourself dripping down your thighs. You're not sure whether it's sweat or not - you're just sure that you need to touch him and him to touch you. Now. Or you'll end up a puddle on the floor.

"Fucking cheers to Jody", you mutter, tearing his shirt open, steadying your palms against his bare, so very, very bare skin and taking a deep, deep breath in. Fuck. He's gorgeous. Drop-dead fucking gorgeous. All abs and hard muscles, warm and sweaty against your fingertips, so enticing, so inviting. You run your hands up, then down his torso, slowly enough to take in every inch you can touch. You could do this for the rest of your life.

"Didn't think you'd be so into it, baby", he murmurs, his fingers dragging fully beneath your shirt now and trailing over your stomach. Usually, he's got you naked and begging within seconds - but he always does like it just a little too much when you marvel at him this openly. It's an ego boost he doesn't need.

"Fuck, I'm into you", you whisper, your eyes catching on his necklace again. O-fucking-kay. So it's definitely not just him. As if in reflex, your finger hooks into the chain dangling from his neck. God, you've been waiting to do that ever since you'd seen him in this damned outfit for the first time. "But the cowboy hat has its effect."

Tom grins and grabs at your waist, pushes you firmly against the door and fuck, he's hard, he's-

"Just the hat?", he asks as your finger tightens around his necklace, as you tug. Tug him right into you, tug him so close that you can feel his breath on your lips.

"No", you smile, your eyes fluttering shut. "Not just the hat."

And then you pull him in and kiss him.

He's pressed against you, his shirt open, his hands on your waist, and he's all but crowding you against the door. His beard scratches against your skin in such a heavenly way you can hardly keep from pushing back against him. He really shouldn't be such a good kisser, not when he's also that good-looking, that talented, that famous, and that rich. He's truly got it all. And you can't do anything but melt into his arms, melt against his body, melt... quite literally.

"Tom", you moan, barely above a breath as you pull at his necklace and drag your free hand down, down, down to his waistband. Your fingertips catch on the button of his pants. "Fuck me."

He's just pulling his arms away from your waist and grabbing for your thighs, grabbing to wrap your legs around him when there's a sharp knock at the trailer door. You startle so badly you flinch and so does he, stumbling further into the trailer, knocking against each other, tripping over each other, steadying yourselves in just the right moment before the door opens.

Gail.

Standing in the bright light of the sun, her sunglasses high on her nose, her expression nothing short of frantic, one hand on the doorknob and the other curled like she's trying to strangle the fucking air.

"Ryder", she seethes, then pauses and takes a deep breath. You're so shocked you can't do anything but stare at her like a deer caught in headlights. "Take off your fucking mic before you hook up with your girlfriend."

Tom scrambles to pull out the tiny, fuzzy microphone stuck to his vest. He holds it in his hands for one, two seconds, his eyes wide as he stares at it - then he chucks it at Gail, who doesn't even make a move to catch it before it lands on the ground.

Embarassment shoots through your veins, glues you into spot and if you hadn't been flushed, sweaty and trembling already, you surely would be now.

Holy fucking shit.

Tom had been wearing his mic.

He'd been wearing his fucking mic during all of this.

The entire fucking crew had listened in on you and him making out.

Gail turns around and lets the door fall shut, one deafening thump of metal against metal that tears you from your spiralling mind and hurls you straight back to reality.

"Tom", you gasp, balling your hand into a fist and hitting him right in the chest with it. "You didn't take off your fucking mic?"

He doesn't even have the decency to look apologetic as he shrugs. No, there's already a grin licking at his lips again, a grin that tells you he's neither embarrassed nor going to remember taking his mic off the next time.

"I had so much more important things to think about", he chuckles, wraps his arm around your waist and pulls you close again.

He's still half-naked.

You feel your breath hitch.

"Tom", you mutter, your fist resting against his chest. He can't be fucking serious. He cannot be fucking serious. You're burning with embarrassment, petrified with shock - and he's already pulling you in again, his palms rubbing into your back. "You horny bastard."

He's already pressed his lips to yours before you can finish, and despite yourself, you have to grin.

"Promise you'll take your mic off next time", you mumble into him, then you're throwing your arms around his neck and pushing into him.

He's a lost cause. You know that. But it never hurts to try.

[youremyheaven]

Mrigashira: The Price of Speaking The Truth

I have been studying the themes and patterns of Mrigashira nakshatra for a while and I thought it's time I made a post about the same.

The myth associated with Mrigashira involves Daksha, the son of Brahma. Daksha organized a grand Yajna (a ritual) but intentionally avoided inviting his daughter Sati’s husband, Shiva, whom he despised. Sati went to the ritual without Shiva’s consent, where Daksha insulted her and Shiva. Sati couldn’t bear the humiliation and jumped into the sacrificial fire. Upon learning of Sati’s death, Shiva became furious and destroyed Daksha’s yajna. Yagya, the presiding sage, turned into a deer and ran away, but Shiva caught up and killed him. His head became the Mrigashira nakshatra, which symbolizes sacrifice. (there are multiple myths associated with each nakshatra and another myth about Mrigashira involves Rohini, Brahma's favourite daughter leaving heaven to escape Brahma's incestual interest in her and taking the form of a deer on earth)

From this myth, we know that making a sacrifice for doing the right thing is a theme in the lives of these natives (Yagya was only overseeing the ceremony, he did nothing wrong, he never insulted Shiva, he was just doing his job). Another prominent theme is escaping someone's wrath or escaping to seek safety.

The yoni animal of Mrigashira is a serpent.

Serpents feature prominently in many mythologies and are commonly associated with renewal and transformation.

The ouroboros represented in this picture is a serpent eating its own tail. Carl Jung, saw this as a basic mandala of alchemy and said:

"The alchemists, who in their own way knew more about the nature of the individuation process than we moderns do, expressed this paradox through the symbol of the Ouroboros, the snake that eats its own tail. The Ouroboros has been said to have a meaning of infinity or wholeness. In the age-old image of the Ouroboros lies the thought of devouring oneself and turning oneself into a circulatory process, for it was clear to the more astute alchemists that the prima materia of the art was the man himself. The Ouroboros is a dramatic symbol of the integration and assimilation of the opposite, i.e. of the shadow. This 'feedback' process is at the same time a symbol of immortality since it is said of the Ouroboros that he slays himself and brings himself to life, fertilizes himself, and gives birth to himself. He symbolizes the One, who proceeds from the clash of opposites, and he, therefore, constitutes the secret of the prima materia which unquestionably stems from man's unconscious."

It speaks of human nature and how we must consume the opposites within ourselves to integrate into one whole being. Every nakshatra serves a cosmic purpose. Each nakshatra is a journey forward, its every step in the process of discovery. If you look at the standard descriptions of some naks, some are explicitly negative and others are overwhelmingly positive, while this is a simplistic understanding of nakshatras, it does point to how to retain balance in this universe, we need all kinds of energies, light and dark, good and bad, but every nakshatra contains within themselves these opposites, like the yin & yang symbol which shows a balance between two opposites with a portion of the opposite element in each section.

In Taoism, distinctions between good and bad, along with other dichotomous moral judgments, are perceptual, not real; so, the duality of yin and yang is an indivisible whole.

The serpent then can be seen as a representation of the eternal truth of reality, that all is one.

Truth telling is the purpose of the serpent in mythology and this is universally true across mythologies from different parts of the world.

This also seems to be innately tied to the nature of Mrigashira natives who speak their truth or make sacrifices to expose the truth. A simpler manifestation is how blunt and straightforward these natives can be.

Edward Snowden- Mrigashira Stellium in 1h (Sun, Mars & Rahu)

In 2013, Snowden revealed evidence of a shocking global surveillance programme run by the USA’s National Security Agency (NSA) and the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) which have been monitoring the internet and phone activity of hundreds of millions of people across the world.

The Internet itself was allowed to spread at a magnanimous pace and reach people all over the globe because it serves the interests of people in positions of power by allowing them to track and monitor us, inundate us into a permanent state of distraction with ads and useless content, that fill the pockets of the already rich. It wasn't some lucky happenstance incident, the internet exists for a very malicious reason and if you read about reports from the 90s when the internet was still at a nascent stage you would know that many people called out this bs. In an occult sense, the internet is an all-pervading manifestation of Maya or illusion. It wraps itself into our reality and there's no escaping it, it becomes harder and harder to see the truth and most people are so completely immersed in this illusion, believing it to be real.

Like the serpent that lured Eve out of paradise, a Mrigashira native, Snowden became the harbinger of an era where we now know that companies including Facebook, Google and Microsoft were forced to hand over customer data under secret orders from the NSA. And that the NSA recorded, stored and analysed ‘metadata’ relating to every single telephone call and text message transmitted in Mexico, Kenya and the Philippines.

Several major companies including Apple, Google and WhatsApp have improved the default security and encryption provided to users. Greater consumer pressure has pushed the industry to strengthen its approach to protecting users’ privacy.

We know how algorithms work, we know that our user data is being tracked, we know why we see targeted ads. We know that most content out there is an ad in disguise. Still, we have no real choice in the matter (except maybe clicking the "reject all cookies" button lol), we're forced to stay in a state where despite knowing that something is deeply wrong with society we still have to participate in it. This is Rohini, who had to stay with her father Brahma in the celestial heavens even though he made incestual advances towards her.

In Mrigashira, the truth dawns on you and you have no choice but to act. The reason Rohini ruled by the Moon is connected to manipulation is because these natives cannot exit their unideal situations safely, they are forced to stay and to survive, they must manipulate their reality. Their freedom is curbed. Even if irl, there are no restraints, these natives feel restrained within, so leaving isn't an option for them, they stay and make things worse to cope or in hopes of changing things.

Mrigashira is Mars ruled and is the first Mars ruled nakshatra. Mars is all about taking action and marching forward. The truth can set you free only if you let it and Mrigashira natives deeply understand this. They are determined to remove themselves from these circumstances and stand in their truth. It may not always be literal but this pattern of setting boundaries, establishing a distance between what is "false" and what is "true" is deeply tied to the nature of Mrigashira.

Snowden sought asylum in Russia where he lives to this day. Being in exile or having to escape your home is also Mrigashira coded simply because the home is a toxic/unsafe/unhealthy place for the Mrigashira native to be. I have talked about it before but Mrigashira is connected to the story of Rapunzel.

Naomi Klein, Mrigashira Moon is an author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses; support of ecofeminism, organized labour, and leftism; and criticism of corporate globalization, fascism, ecofascism and capitalism.

Her book No Logo which came out in 1999 is a landmark book that exposes the evils of corporate globalization and franchises and how the Global South are being exploited to fatten the pockets of companies in the Global North. It greatly expanded the growing anti-capitalist consciousness and anti-corporate activism in the decades since. Here's a video where she explains her research. Its chilling to think this was made over 2 decades ago considering how all these things still persist in society and now hurt people more than ever.

Honestly, all her books are amazing exposé work and that's on her Mrigashira Moon.

Louis Pasteur- Mrigashira Moon

He was a French chemist, pharmacist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization (named after him). His research in chemistry led to remarkable breakthroughs in the understanding of the causes and prevention of diseases, which laid down the foundations of hygiene, public health and much of modern medicine. Pasteur's works are credited with saving millions of lives through the development of vaccines for rabies and anthrax. 

He was a very controversial figure in his lifetime who was known for deceiving people.

This article explains it well. Here's an excerpt from the article:

"His most famous experiment was on a young boy, Joseph Meister, who had been bitten by a rabid dog and was doomed to death, and whose mother pleaded with Pasteur to treat him. Pasteur reported that he had previously used his rabies vaccine on 50 dogs without a single failure.

Again, the laboratory notebooks show that this account was misleading. Pasteur had tested a vaccine on dogs, but it was prepared by a completely different method than the one he used for the vaccine given to Meister, and he had no conclusive animal results to show that the vaccine worked. But he had guessed right."

Pasteur often lied to get his way and used "deception" to advance his practice. It is ethically questionable for sure but the work he did has helped millions of people and one could say it was all for the greater good.

He disproved the then prevailing notion of spontaneous generation (it was believed that any exposure to air anywhere causes the generation of living organisms) through his experiments and was initially disbelieved and ridiculed until his experiments began to be accepted as true and was recognised by the scientific community.

Mrigashira natives often have a tendency to gauge things or call people out on things even when that thing/person is widely accepted. The native may get flak for it and be shunned for it but eventually their ideas become widely accepted and everyone sees the truth. They may or may not get credit for this. They see the truth before others do.

Aldous Huxley- Mrigashira Rising

He was an author and philosopher who is best known for his novel Brave New World although he has written over 50 books. Brave New World (the title itself is very Mrigashira core, don't you think?)

The idea that government control is dehumanizing is the overarching theme. In Brave New World the government controls every aspect of the citizens' lives. They are created and born in a government lab. They are raised in a government facility while learning society's values.

It was published in 1932 and lets just say that the audience wasn't ready for such an alarming dystopian tale.

A notable critic of Brave New World was the author H.G. Wells, whose 1923 novel Men Like Gods (a book about a man who visits a utopian world and then returns to earth) had been an inspiration of sorts to Huxley, who told a friend in 1931 that he was writing a novel about the “the horror of the Wellsian Utopia and a revolt against it.” Wells said, “A writer of the standing of Aldous Huxley has no right to betray the future as he did in that book.”

H.G Wells was known for his utopian visions that permeated nearly all of his published work. Interestingly, he was a Shravana Rising. The thing is, Wells never used these utopian visions to criticize the reality of the world we live in, it was more of a "look how good things could be ughhh". This once again reflects Moon's nature which is idealistic but not practical or rooted in confronting situations as they are, if you ask them for a solution to the war, they'll say "if only everyone could get along and we could all stop killing each other" instead of saying "the power imbalance between nations is alarming, they create crises in other nations, put puppet governments in place, exploit them for their own benefits and when it no longer serves their interests, leaves the people to deal with the mess themselves". The former is a more emotional response but it also comes down to Lunar nature believing things are that simple, that if everybody could get along, then everything would be okay. its basically not a solution but a nice thought. I have made posts in the past about Moon dominance and manipulation but what i had failed to mention is that the reason Moon dominants resort to manipulation is because they lack the ability to think in concrete, tangible, practical terms since Moon is tied to the emotional mind which is incapable of rationality or logic. They have to manipulate because they do not know how to think critically. Being guided by your emotions is not reliable or healthy which is why Moon dominance often results in toxicity and manipulation as they are emotionally reacting to what is said instead of responding with their mind or logic.

Wells himself later said about his novel Men Like Gods, "It did not horrify or frighten, was not much of a success, and by that time, I had tired of talking in playful parables to a world engaged in destroying itself."

Do you notice how passive his tone is? He speaks as though he is not part of this world and that all he can do is merely observe its self-destruction (if not writing "playful parables" to it lol??). He thought his book was a flop because it did not "horrify" or "frighten" people (implying that, thats what sells) when the reality is that its more effective to read about the horrors prevailing our society that we are ignorant of instead of reading 300 pages about a perfect alternate reality where everything is wonderful. one calls to action, another encourages passive daydreaming. This further differentiates the nature of Mrigashira vs Moon dominant natives (Mrigashira follows Rohini's fall from heaven or realising the truth).

"There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception"- Aldous Huxley, Mrigashira Rising

George Carlin, Moon (conjunct Ketu) in Mrigashira

Here's an excerpt of something he said that has stuck with me and exemplifies the truth telling nature of Mrigashira.

"But there’s a reason. There’s a reason. There’s a reason for this, there’s a reason education SUCKS, and it’s the same reason that it will never, ever, ever be fixed. It’s never gonna get any better. Don’t look for it. Be happy with what you got. Because the owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about the real owners now, the real owners, the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought and paid for the senate, the congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying, lobbying, to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I'll tell you what they don’t want: They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. Thats against their interests. Thats right.

They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table to figure out how badly they’re getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago. They don’t want that. You know what they want? They want obedient workers. Obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it, and now they’re coming for your Social Security money. They want your retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street, and you know something? They’ll get it. They’ll get it all from you, sooner or later, 'cause they own this fucking place. It's a big club, and you ain’t in it. You and I are not in the big club.

And by the way, it's the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head in their media telling you what to believe, what to think and what to buy. The table is tilted folks. The game is rigged, and nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. Good honest hard-working people -- white collar, blue collar, it doesn’t matter what color shirt you have on -- good honest hard-working people continue -- these are people of modest means -- continue to elect these rich cocksuckers who don’t give a fuck about them. They don’t give a fuck about you. They don’t give a fuck about you. They don't care about you at all -- at all -- at all. And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. That's what the owners count on; the fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick that's being jammed up their assholes everyday. Because the owners of this country know the truth: it's called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it."

Mrigashira natives are the most likely to be critical of society, modern living, capitalism etc among other things. They see through to the truth of things and thus feel dissatisfied and disappointed with the world. There is a reason they say "ignorance is bliss", those whose eyes are veiled, can tune out of all this cacophony of living and pretend everything is fine. Mrigashira natives have to live with the weight of knowing.

Jules Verne- Mrigashira Rising

He is widely regarded as the father of science fiction and his works have inspired a generation of scientists like the pioneering submarine designer Simon Lake, Igor Sikorsky who often quoted Verne and cited his Robur the Conqueror as the inspiration for his invention of the first successful helicopter, the rocketry innovators Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert Goddard, and Hermann Oberth are all known to have taken their inspiration from Verne's From the Earth to the Moon.

Edwin Hubble, the American astronomer, was in his youth fascinated by Verne's novels, especially From the Earth to the Moon and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Their influence was so strong that, like Verne, Hubble gave up the career path in law that his father intended for him, setting off instead to pursue his passion for science.

Jules Verne lived in the 19th century (he passed away in 1905, aged 77) but he described technologies that would later be invented (some were directly inspired by what he had written). He had prophetic vision some would say he had described submarines, helicopters, the moon landing, holograms, newscasts, space travel, video conferencing,

“In the Year 2889, instead of being printed, the Earth Chronicle is every morning spoken to subscribers, who, from interesting conversations with reporters, statesmen and scientists, learn the news of the day,”

He even made political observations that have since materialised,

In one of his later works, called The Purchase of the North Pole, an auction is held for rights to the North Pole. The mysterious buyer who wins out over a number of national governments is a private company with a plan to fire off a giant cannon will jolt the planet and change the tilt of Earth’s axis, adjust the length of the days and climates around the earth, and melt the polar ice caps. With the Arctic melted, the execs planned to mine the north pole for coal and make a fortune. This is more or less what is currently happening lol

He invented a new genre to talk about things that did not yet exist. This is tied to Mrigashira's quest for truth and imagining possibilities.

Kanye West, Mrigashira Sun

Do I think Kanye is problematic? Extremely. Do I think he's also telling the truth on some occasions especially when he's trying to expose Hollywood or the system? Yes, I do

This is a bit of a tangent but we have seen time and time again how mental illness has been weaponized against people (ex: Britney Spears) to control them (Mariah Carey also speaks about it in her memoir), I do think a great number of celebrities are victims of this because their management/people in their lives benefit from exploiting them (would it not be vvv scary knowing that your career is what pays the bills of a whole crew of people? they depend on you to live? what if they're greedy or evil? what happens to you then?) so I wholeheartedly believe Kanye when he says "people are trying to conspire against him for telling the truth" (look at how many whistleblowers have been killed and had their deaths written off as suicides).

Sometimes I wonder if he's deliberately ruining his public image so that he just comes across as a crazy guy saying crazy shit that no one takes seriously. This is a safe option for him because if he appeared to be a normal sober serious guy exposing the system he might get killed. Deception is also a huge part of Mrigashira's truth telling.

Who can forget him exposing Taylor on that phone call? lol

Anyway, I want to make it clear that I don't condone or endorse any of Kanye's politics or most of the vile hateful garbage he spews.

Amy Winehouse-Mrigashira Rising

Amy was known for how candid and straightforward she was. If you listen to this song, you can tell how frank and honest the lyrics are?? (its about women who try to score rich men). Amy was always so real and unapologetically herself.

Pamela Anderson, Mrigashira Rising

She's such an icon and such a dignified woman after everything she's been through. She came forward to speak her truth and take control of her narrative. Unfortunately not many women in her position can or will do this. She empowers sooo many others by standing up for herself and speaking her truth.

Mia Khalifa, Ketu in Mrigashira (a lot of people ask me why I include placements other than the big 3 and the reason I use Ketu specifically is because it is a karmic planet and Ketu's position in the birth chart is thought to indicate ties to previous lifetimes. It represents life experiences and knowledge that people may carry from past incarnations. Yes, I am aware that Ketu is a generational planet and people born across the same year have the same Ketu placement but the reason why Ketu placement is significant especially in the charts of accomplished people is because they are channelling the collective unconscious and I believe that in order to receive recognition for the work you do, you have to skilfully channel your Ketu as it represents your latent creativity and potential that connects you to the whole)

whew went off on a tangent 🤪(me with everything i post lmao)

Mia Khalifa has come forward exposing the porn industry and calling out its predatory nature and has candidly spoken about how she was "intimidated" into doing her infamous hijab scene and that her toxic ex husband encouraged her to pursue porn. I hope Mia heals from everything but she's sooo brave for calling out people/society/porn industry on their toxicity, misogyny, double standards when the same men who fap to her porn are the ones calling her a whore (she made a mistake when she was 20 and has been out of the business for 10 years at this point, at what point will we let her move on with her life and shed this image for good?)

Nicole Kidman- Mrigashira Sun

who can forget this iconic interview when Nicole exposed the truth behind her meeting with Jimmy lol, he was so sh00k

She starred in the 2003 movie Dogville where she plays the daughter of a mob boss who runs away because she cannot stand the stuff they do (running away because they can't accept the circumstance they are in is a prominent Mrigashira theme). Its an arthouse film about the nature of evil and it shows how after Nicole's character has run away to Dogville, she has to provide labor for the community in order to be allowed to stay (Mrigashira natives making a "sacrifice") and ultimately towards the end after enduring a lot of abuse, Nicole's character destroys the whole place.

Jim Carrey- Mrigashira Moon

He is hella problematic for sure but he has this existential side to him where he is always dropping truthbombs. Remember this iconic video where he says NYFW is meaningless lmfao

Parveen Babi, Mrigashira Moon

Parveen Babi was a Bollywood superstar in the 70s and 80s. In 1977, she started dating the filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt (he has a reputation for being vile, crass asshole) and he insisted that she go to a psychiatrist following which she was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. I cannot comment on whether or not Miss Babi was misdiagnosed but what is apparent is that her relationship with Bhatt took a severe toll on her mental health, there are tons of people who've said he's kind of a psychopath, so I don't doubt that he may have gaslit and abused Babi to a point where she may have lost her sanity. For the rest of her career she struggled with episodes of debilitating paranoia, delusion and violent aggression. She once even blamed Amitabh Bachchan (the biggest star in India) for being her biggest adversary and claimed that he was trying to kill her (I know this sounds delusional but we do not know what kind of relationship they had with each other or what might have led her to believe that she was in potential danger, its cruel to dismiss everything someone says as "oh but she's mentally ill").

Babi quit acting and was a recluse in her later years. She died alone in her apartment when she was 51 and her body was only found 3 days later. Mahesh Bhatt helped organise her funereal when nobody else stepped forward to even claim her body at the hospital. Her life is a tragedy and a cautionary tale.

Mrigashiras are doubtful of absolutely everything. They do not trust people easy AT ALL. They question absolutely everybody's motive and whilst this can create thought provoking and interesting art and make a person inquisitive, honest etc, it can also be exhausting and draining to constantly be on guard and watch your own back.

“Slowly, one by one, I lost trust in everybody and everything around me,” Babi wrote. “Have you ever wondered what it is like to function in life, distrusting everything and everybody? We trust most of the things and people around us without questioning. We trust the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe...It is impossible to function in life without trusting. And that is precisely what happened to me.”- Parveen Babi

Mrigashira natives are prone to paranoia and feeling unsafe (this ties back to their mythology) and I truly feel for them :(((

Oppenheimer- Mrigashira Rising

Oppenheimer’s infamous meeting with Truman took place in October 1945. It did not go well: Oppenheimer failed to convince the president of the need for international control of atomic energy, while Truman confidently stated the Soviets would never get the bomb. Getting nowhere, Oppenheimer really did confess his guilt over the Manhattan Project, which turned Truman’s stomach.

Oppenheimer's morality is dubious and questionable etc etc but it is known and clear that he felt guilty for the role he played and the destruction that was caused as a direct result of his research. He stood up for what was true, although unsuccessfully.

Khloe Kardashian-Mrigashira Moon

Khloe has always been praised for being "real" and honest. She has opened up about a lot of different things and had this to say about having a baby via surrogacy:

“But a surrogate process – Kim knows – is very hard for me. It’s a mindf***. It is really the weirdest thing,” she bravely shares about her nine-month-old cherub, Tatum. “I do feel less connected. People do say it takes a minute to feel connected but Kim said hers was easy. This is not easy. I definitely was in a state of shock from my entire experience in general,” she said. “I felt really guilty that this woman just had my baby and I take the baby and go to another room and you are separated. It felt like such a transactional experience because it is not about him. I wish someone was honest about surrogacy and the difference of it. But it doesn’t mean it is bad or good. It is just very different.”

Compared to the kind of stuff that all the other Kardash-Jenners say this is a rare and sincere moment of truth telling.

John Cena Mrigashira Moon and Rising

He is known for his honest, humble and sincere personality.

In an interview about the Meltzer rating system, Cena honestly said:

“So how do I put this… I am much more concerned when I perform for WWE in how the audience as a whole feels about my performance rather than one individual trying to grade me in a level of stars. Not that it doesn’t matter, because that is a great way for those to try and get equity and try to get noticed. It’s a great ranking system and I do appreciate it. I’m not knocking critics. I’m just saying my process is to make sure that everyone who paid a ticket had a great night. And if that gets me a zero star match, I still know in my heart of hearts that I entertained my audience that night.”

if you type in John Cena honesty into google so many articles pop up lol, i guess thats a great thing to be known for. Zero bullshit that's Mrigashira for you

I hope this post was interesting and informativexx

thanks for reading<3

[miafeystits]

re: that last poll i reblogged, one of the reasons i find both mpreg & a/b/o fic kind of morbidly fascinating after many years in fandom (despite not liking either) is how these kinds of fic often function as a way of mapping the tropes and gender dynamics of cis/heterosexual romance onto (almost always cis) m/m stories without going so far as to gender-swap either character

like, this is pretty obvious with mpreg centered on cis men, which is often just the application of common pregnancy-related romance tropes to cis m/m couples (note: im excluding depictions of trans masc pregnancy from my discussion here because i just think its a separate convo with its own nuances, and because i think much of the fic im describing here generally draws from ideas about cis men & women without much consideration for transness). however its ESPECIALLY apparent if you look at common a/b/o tropes in m/m fic. namely, the fact that an a/b/o universe is generally a world in which irl gender essentialism and the resulting sexual power dynamics between (cis) men and (cis) women are able to be applied to relationships exclusively between cis men-- with one partner being dominant, often physically stronger and aggressive, and socially privileged for this (perceived or real) biological superiority, and the other partner (who is generally the one able to bear children) being sexually submissive, weaker, and thus socially disadvantaged or oppressed as a consequence.

furthermore, something EXTRA interesting to me is that in this type of fic these power dynamics are very frequently not just social constructs (the way they are in real life-- pls dont misunderstand me and think im saying women are inherently biologically submissive to men irl or something), but rather almost always depicted as a biological reality within the world of the story. this type of au (at least in m/m dominated circles) offers a way of exploring and depicting what are basically misogynistic tropes without ever naming it as misogyny or involving women at any point. and i'm not trying to make a moral judgement here--i just genuinely find it very interesting that one of the main ways that misogynistic sexual dynamics (and, frequently, the violence resulting from such dynamics) gets explored in fandom spaces is through the development of an alternate biological and social reality in which cis men experience a mirror of those power dynamics, often turned up to 11 via in-universe biological essentialism. it strikes me as a way to engage with irl misogyny and its role within relationships with a certain amount of emotional distance, for better or worse. on one hand, it might be used to explore this imbalance of power without ever needing to depict misogynistic violence happening to female characters, but on the other hand also often offers a way to engage with romantic tropes steeped in irl gender essentialism in a way that is justified within the fiction of the universe and therefore do not need to be considered as critically

now i dont think this alone justifies this trope's existence or popularity (i'm sure a large part of its popularity is people just thinking it's hot tbh, which is fine im not here to judge), and honestly i'm not interested in litigating the question of why people write or read this trope in the first place, but i AM continually fascinated by the degree to which heteronormativity is able to influence what are ostensibly depictions of queer relationships

[fairylightsinthemist]

Sleeping with the ‘96 crew in the wilderness preferences

YJ Girls x Fem! Reader

JACKIE TAYLOR

- This girl had you locked down to sleep next to her even on that first night on the forest floor

- She claimed that you were the best to sleep with because you didn’t snore (that bad :p)

- Once the cabin was found and everyone settled, you thought she’d ditch you for Shauna

- But nope, that first night you both were nose to nose beside each other, talking about anything to distract you from the reality of the situation

- Jackie is a restless sleeper, so you often wake up to bruises on your legs. That girls got a mean kick!

- More often than not, you two will stay really close for warmth (or at least that’s what Jackie says ;) )

SHAUNA SHIPMAN

- It wasn’t really on purpose, but you and Shauna just kinda ended up by each other in the cabin on that first night there

- You two weren’t super close before, so you were shocked when in the dead of night you heard a faint whisper .. “Pssst, Y/N.. you up?” And a tapping on your shoulder.

- Eyes shooting open, you slowly turned over and looked at her. “Can we share your blanket please?” Shauna asked.

-Eyebrows furrowed, you sleepily gave her some of your cover. Patting your shoulder awkwardly, Shauna muttered a thank you.

- Now it was an unsaid real that you shared your blanket every night, and it brought you and Shauna closer. :)

TAISSA TURNER

- You didn’t want Taissa sleeping up in the attic alone, call it empathy or whatever, but you just couldn’t let that happen.

- So, there you two were, talking and cutting up half out of fun and half to distract you both from the fact that it was creepy as hell up there.

- At some point you both fell asleep, so when you woke up to find only you there, your heart skipped a beat.

- After scanning the main room for her, you just bit the bullet and went outside with a dim lantern.

- You found her standing there in a daze, and that became the story of how you learned she sleep walks.

- So, soon it became you and her tied together, quite literally, and if it was to make Taissa safer, you didn’t care how many red marks you got. You wanted your friend to be safe.

NATALIE SCATORRCIO

- Natalie was kind of a lone wolf when it came to community or family due to her past, so you often found her up in the middle of the night.

- You had a hard time sleeping, but made it less known to the girls. So when you get up in the middle of the night to stretch your legs, finding Natalie’s eyes looking at you made you jump and quietly yelp.

- She quietly laughed. “Sorry, Y/N. I’m just shocked to see you up, is all.” She quietly whispered. She ushered you over.

-To your surprise, she was calling you over to talk and just hang out. You hadn’t really talked to her much at school, so this was a change of pace for sure.

- Usually on nights, you ended up talking, playing cards in the dark, or just sitting in comfortable uncomfortable silence.

MISTY QUIGLEY

- Everyone thought Misty shouldn’t have even come, and you can’t say that you didn’t think that sometimes, too.

- You were nice to Misty, though, and she took to you because of that.

- On that first night in the cabin, there she was, standing in front of you with blanket and pillow in hand

- You sort of looked annoyed but feigned pleasant surprise and offered the spot beside you to Misty.

- She giddily accepted and made her pallet beside you, getting everything just right.

- She spent basically thirty minutes just talking, but you can’t say that you weren’t completely annoyed. You listened to her, because it seems like no one else did, the way she was talking.

- “Thank you for actually letting me talk, Y/N. I hope I can sleep here every night.” Misty whispered, smiling sweetly in the dark. How could you say no to that face??

- You nodded and turned over, knowing that you weren’t gonna let her sleep anywhere else now. She was your burden to bear. But, you and her would become closer. No worries :D

VAN PALMER

- Van and you were already tight knit on account of you both constantly shooting the shit and cutting up at games and school.

- So, when it came down to sleeping buddies, she claimed you as hers.

- The girls groaned, knowing that you two would be the source of all the giggling all night.

- Van was quiet though, and so were you, but that didn’t mean you were silent all night. Of course you guys talked.

- You would always ask Van to tell you stories before you went to sleep, because she was so good at it. She would often ask you to tell her about your life or favorite things, just to hear you talk.

- She was a sound sleeper, and you appreciated it. The nights felt better with her by your side.

LOTTIE MATTHEWS

- Ohhhh get ready for an off putting night whenever you’re sleeping next to her.

- Lottie hated the cabin, and it made her act strange.

- To try and ease her restlessness, you would often talk. There were times when you were scared of annoying her, but she would always tell you to keep talking. So you did.

- She was a great listener, and you always tried to get to know her better on these talks, but she didn’t really dive into her life.

- Usually the talks lulled her to sleep, and you were happy about that.

- - -

I’m so down to do more characters, but I just did the main ones for now. I hope you all enjoyed!!!!

- A 🩵

[drdemonprince]

I'm a trans guy and tbh I feel like I don't fully understand the transandrophobia debate. Based on my understanding of intersectionality & transfeminism, I think that trans men (largely) experience transphobia and misogyny, while trans women (largely) experience transphobia, misogyny, *and* transmisogyny -- I also think it's necessary to discuss issues that specifically affect men without describing them as forms of oppression or discrimination against men. But that's just accounting for intersecting identities (including both marginalized and privileged identities) rather than only accounting for intersecting oppressions, right? I feel like some people using the term "transandrophobia" either seem to be confusing these two concepts or mistaking gender essentialism for discrimination against men (though some just use it to describe a subset of transphobia rather than an intersection, it seems like). In any case, even though misandry isn't a real systemic issue, I can understand why some people feel like there's missing language or frameworks when it comes to discussing the ways men, and trans men specifically, are treated (and the ways they/we treat each other). I'm not sure what better alternatives are available, but I'm sure some are possible. I'm wondering if I'm misunderstanding something or if you have any other thoughts on this. Thanks!

It sounds like you understand this 1000% better than every sincere transandrophobia poster. Not every unique experience is a locus of oppression that needs a systemic oppression label -- but yeah, of course, it merits being talked about.

For example, lots of trans men have a hard time in coping with the shift from being treated with emotional deference and warmth by strangers, to suddenly being treated quite coldly or even in a mistrustful way by strangers. That is a real, painful experience -- and it's one that is wrapped up in damaging gender norms that do also negatively affect cis men. It's not androphobia, but it is a consequence of sexism and the gender binary that sucks, and it merits speaking about.

Where things get dicey and fucked up is when men (either cis or trans) take a painful experience like that and declare that it means they're actually more oppressed than women.

(And, as Lee ButchAnarchist often points out, women's emotions are even more policed than men -- yes men are denied tenderness and warmth from total strangers, but they are showered in affection and caretaking by the women close to them, and they are allowed rage a whole lot more than women, in general. so it's overly simplistic and sexist to say men are more societally emotionally repressed. this dynamic plays out among trans men too -- we are given a lot more latitude to be emotionally explosive. trans women, meanwhile, are told they're being "scary" if they have any negative emotion. This is all also racialized -- Black people of any gender are basically never afforded the chance to voice negative feelings in public no matter how much they police their tone.)

I think a lot of trans masc people have a sudden rude awakening that being treated as a man can be painful and complicated, and that the gender binary harms everyone, and that there is a social price to pay for the privileges of being deferred to, respected, and so on. They also don't want to acknowledge when they are being respected and deferred to -- owning up to having any male privilege feels dirty and wrong to people, which is silly because it's just a reality, it has no moral bearing on the person experiencing the privilege. And of course it's often an incomplete privilege because of sexism and transphobia. But it still happens. Particularly within trans spaces.

I don't think this conversation will move forward productively until more trans men are capable of acknowledging that many of us have privilege and that we are very capable of hurting other people, being sexist, and speaking over trans women. And that's why we gotta make this transandrophobia stuff just completely socially unacceptable in our spaces. It is exactly the same as being a Men's Rights Activist. There are real men's liberation issues! Any worthwhile feminism will also liberate men! There are lots of aspects of the gender binary and patriarchy that are harmful to men, and that's worth talking about. Same with transphobia. But we can't have that conversation when men commandeer it to talk about how actually women have it better and all that vile shit. That talk is used to silence women, trans and cis alike.

[zalia]

Truth to Power, Chiasmus, and the Final Shape (or, has anyone else noticed we're playing the story backwards?)

Through a set of circumstances, I ended up getting onto an unhinged rambling session at 3am so thanks to my friend who let me (one time when different time zones was actually useful).

Some of this may be a little bit of a reach, but I think it bears out, and i've put the truly out there thoughts at the end.

Contains spoilers for Season of the Wish finale, and basically of Destiny, including the Final Shape trailers and ViDocs.

Okay, lets talk about Truth to Power and Ikora and Arach Jalaal's discussion of it in the Witch Queen CE.

Truth to Power is a lore book from Forsaken and it is... odd to say the least. It starts out as a message from 'Eris' and then cycles through other characters Eris > Medusa > Quria > Dul Incaru > Savathun, and then back again. It includes a 'choose your own adventure' section, a hidden challenge to defeat Shattered Throne solo at light level 999, a hidden note to data miners, and talks a lot about Ahamkara, the Distributary and the Dreaming City, black holes, and Savathun's (potential) plans regarding it. Especially the idea of moving through worlds contained within worlds via black holes.

In the Hidden Dossier decoded from the Witch Queen CE, Ikora and Arach Jalaal discuss this book, it's many readings, and what it might mean.

One thing that comes up is that the story uses a literary device called 'chiasmus'

REY >> JALAAL Look at the structure of the text. At first, Eris is real. Then we learn Eris's voice is a deception by Medusa. Then we learn Medusa is nested inside Quria. Then we learn Quria is a fiction of Dûl Incaru. And at the center, Savathûn reveals herself to be the parent of it all. We are headed inward, as if moving from parent to child universe. Then we proceed in reverse. Savathûn is revealed to be a fiction of Dûl Incaru. Dûl Incaru a simulation by Quria, and so on. So in the end, Truth to Power moves outwards. Just as Savathûn plans to move. In from our universe and out to the Distributary— Or out from our universe to its parent. JALAAL >> REY Oh. I see. I see! A literary structure like that is called a chiasmus, and chiasmus means "crossing point"! Like a wormhole or a portal! It was hidden in plain sight.

They can also be thought of as ring structures. We end at the beginning.

Which incidentally is the tag line for the Akashic Revelation lore from Season of the Deep about a Guardian trying to enter the portal in the Traveller and getting visions of his original human life!

Which will become relevant i swear.

Lots of people have commented about the finale cutscene from Season of the Wish, and how it mirrors Forsaken - with Crow at Cayde's mercy, vs Cayde at Uldren's mercy. And you can kind of look at Crow's story in general as a reflection of Uldren's. Crow resurrected > Imprisoned by Spider > Manipulated by Savathun > Growing into himself and his freedom as a guardian > Reconciliation with Mara > Jumping through a portal to another facet of reality

vs

Uldren following Mara out of the Distributary > the growing distance between him and Mara > Prince of the Awoken, tricking Guardians, visiting the Black Garden > his growing madness leading to his imprisonment in the Prison of Elders and manipulation by Riven (who was controlled by Savathun) > Death

There's another cycle (there are many cycles) I noticed with Saint and Osiris.

Vanguard Commanders > Separation+Exile > Saint's loss of the Light + death > [Sundial Incident] > Osiris' loss of the Light and imprisonment > [Nezarec Tea Incident] > Recovery+being reunited > Vanguard Commanders

We've also had in the ViDoc the mention of receiving the Khvostov because it's the first weapon we ever use in D1, returning to the freeway we were resurrected at, returning to the beginning.

With me so far?

We've ended Season of the Wish with a redux version of the final fight of D1 Vanilla - the destruction of the Black Heart. Symbolically bringing us back to the start of our journey. But if you look at a lot of the themes of recent seasons... we've been travelling backwards loosely through a reflection of D1's storylines.

Season of the Wish/D1 Vanilla

In D1, we are guided to enter the Black Garden and destroy the Black Heart created by the Vex. This is the story where we first encounter Mara and Uldren who send us to get the eye of a Vex Gate Lord to enter the Garden. Which involves us going to the Ishtar Academy on Venus to find out more about the Vex (incidentally this is also where the Vex Citadel is located - something which has been very prominently visible in the Starcrossed Mission).

In Season of the Wish, we are following up work done by Maya Sundaresh and Chioma Esi of the Ishtar Collective on the Veil which was revealed to be what the Black Heart was trying to recreate. We're working with Mara and Crow (and Crow even lampshades the original story in a joke about the eye of a Vex Gate Lord!). Eventually we end up confronting the Vex and destroying a new copy of the Black Heart.

Season of the Witch/The Dark Below

In the Dark Below, we are guided by Eris to stop the resurrection of Crota by disrupting a ritual, and eventually kill him in his Throne World in the Crota's End raid.

In Season of thr Witch, we take part in a ritual to tithe to Eris to help her ascend into becoming the Hive god of vengeance so that she can cut Xivu Arath off from her Throne World

Eris: Crota's soul is banished. You have given me the gift of vengeance. I thank you… - D1

Season of the Deep/The Taken King

I admit that this is out of order and a little more of a stretch, but chiasmus is not necessarily an exact thing and I think the parallels are there.

In The Taken King, we are confronted with Oryx's fleet arriving in the system to get revenge for the killing of Crota. He destroys a large portion of the Awoken Fleet who were there to buy us time, including killing Mara Sov (she had a plan and got better!). We have to pretend to be Ascendant Hive to face him on the Dreadnaught (which is created from the body of one of the Worm Gods) and we take shards of his sword to create our own. Eventually we face him in King's Fall, use his hoarded stolen Light and free it to defeat him.

In Season of the Deep, we have the sudden reappearance of Titan in the system sent by Xivu Arath. We have Sloane who has willingly become half Taken to learn about Xivu's plans and undermine them, and she is supported by Ahsa, one of the proto-worms who is seemingly akin to the Worm Gods (Eris uses her name and the name of her slaughtered family in her ritual in Season of the Witch, alongside the names of the Worm Gods). We save Ahsa, Sloane is possessed briefly by Xivu but recovers. We also enter a pyramid and take a gift of Darkness (Wicked Implement) left to us by Xivu.

Also we have a whole dungeon about the Lucent Hive trying to resurrect Oryx and Xivu's voice memories regarding him and everything about the Hive.

Season of Defiance/House of Wolves

In House of Wolves, Skolas, Kell of Wolves, is freed from his imprisonment by one of the Nine. he declares himself Kell of Kells, frees his followers from the Prison of Elders, attempts to assassinate Mara Sov. Mara, angered by this, gives Guardians the freedom of the Reef to hunt Skolas down as he tries to unite the various houses. He eventually breaks into the Vault of Glass to bring Wolves from the past to aid him. We stop him, capture him, and eventually kill him in the Prison of Elders. This leads to a very slight improvement of relations between the Reef and the City, although the Awoken, barring Petra, are still mainly ambivalent and Mara is absolutely only interested in us as a means to an end.

In Season of Defiance, the Shadow Legion are capturing humans and Eliksni and imprisoning them on the pyramid ships. We are aided in their rescue by Misraaks, once of the House of Wolves (as was his mother) now Kell of Light (and potentially Kell of Kells eventually???), and Mara Sov, who comes to aid us, willingly using her power to let us walk the Ascendant plane in order to rescue our people. It very much solidifies the alliance between the City and the Reef.

So essentially, House of Wolves is former allies of the Reef turning on them to destroy them. Season of Defiance is former enemies banding together to save their people.

Also Taniks is in House of Wolves, and conspicuously mentioned in Season of Defiance.

Lightfall/The Red War

Again, out of order slightly, but the more I think about it, the more I see the parallels.

In the Red War, the Last City is attacked by the Red Legion led by Dominus Ghaul who is obsessed with claiming the Light, and captures the Speaker. The Guardians lose the Light and are driven out of the City. We have to regain our Light abilities from the Shard of the Traveller that we are guided to. The Speaker is killed after admitting the Traveller doesn't speak to him. We go to gather our allies once more, assault the City, fight Ghaul who is then destroyed by the Light when the Traveller awakens. The Black Fleet is shown to activate at the edge of the System.

In Lightfall, we follow Osiris who has had a vision of Neptune. We arrive in Neomuna which is a City under assault from the Shadow Legion led by Calus (who was exiled and deposed by Ghaul). Our Light abilities are suppressed so we have to master Strand which is seemingly a product of the Veil. We gather our allies, including Caiatl who had taken over command after Ghaul's death, and combat the Shadow Legion's assault on Neomuna. We fight and defeat Calus who has been granted Darkness abilities. But the Witness communes with the Veil, damages the Traveller, and most of the Black Fleet leaves the system to enter the Traveller.

Season of the Seraph/Rise of Iron

In Rise of Iron, we're called by Saladin Forge, the last of the Iron Lords, to stop the Eliksni House of Devils from taking control of SIVA, the nanomachine plague which killed the other Iron Lords when they went to seek it to save humanity, because Rasputin got mad that the Traveller resurrected his son as Felwinter. We fight the SIVA animated corpses of some of the Iron Lords and destroy the replication chamber. We fight the Devil Splicers who have been augmented by SIVA.

In Season of the Seraph, we are working to recover a damaged Rasputin and stop Xivu Arath from taking control of Rasputin's Warsat network and weapons. We enter bunkers to recover his data, including returning to Felwinter Peak to recover Felwinter's memories which leads to Rasputin sacrificing himself to save humanity, where before he had sacrificed the Iron Lords for his own selfishness. We also fight Witness animated corpses of Eliksni (the Scorn) and Eliksni Wrathborn infected by Xivu Arath's cryptoliths (which can also infect computer systems). Eramis, once a Baron of the House of Devils has to see and grieve her friends and comrades turned into mindless puppets, as Saladin once had to see the Iron Lords turned into puppets by SIVA.

I think there's also a note to be had about how we're doing these repeats. In D1 the vast majority of the time, we are alone. We are not yet the Young Wolf, the Godslayer, the hero. We are just one random Guardian.

In D1 vanilla, there's no real mission control. You have Elsie Bray tell you to follow a signal and give you some info, but then you are on your own. Mara and Uldren are quite relaxed about potentially getting you killed. In Season of the Wish, we are guided by Osiris and Mara, aided by Crow. We have people with us every step of the way. At this point in D1, Petra was more or less exiled from the Reef. In Season of the Wish, she is one of Mara's greatest supports, and you can hear how much Mara cares about her.

The Dark Below has you guided by an Eris who is alone, untrusted and seen as crazy at best, or a genuine threat to the City at worst. She has nothing in her life but vengeance. In Season of the Witch, we have an Eris who has Ikora and Drifter and Mara there to support her and who trust her. The worry is mostly for her rather than about her.

We have gone from the Last City being a last bastion of humanity with the whole universe against us, to one of two cities, filled with those we had once called enemies.

Conclusion

So yeah, a theory that we're travelling back through our story, a chiasmus (there may well be other parallels in previous seasons too) which is taking us right back to the start of our story.

Except here's the thing... Elsie Bray is the one who starts things off by having us destroy the Black Heart. It's implied to be the major event that changed things. But Elsie's timeloops are stated to always take her back way before our resurrection, to the moment when Cayde becomes Hunter Vanguard.

Well, we're just about to get Cayde back.

So what happens when you reach the beginning/end of the story and yet it continues? We're outside the boundaries of this story now! Off the path we've been following!

But unlike when we were resurrected, alone save for Ghost, when we go into the Pale Heart, we will not be going alone. We've come through the chiasmus and we've done things better, built alliances, made friends, united the Light and the Darkness.

So when we step beyond the boundaries of the storyI would suggest one thing – Guardians make their own fates.

The actual unhinged theorising

So, there was one connection my mind made at like 7am when I briefly woke up after going to bed at 4am. A Chismus is kind of like a labyrinth.

In English, Labyrinth is often synonymous to maze, and it can be! However maze and labyrinth are also used as specialised terms - a maze is a multicursal puzzle with many branching paths, while a labyrinth is unicursal, and has only one winding path to the centre and out again.

You can see them in lots of places, including places of worship where they can represent symbols of pilgrimage, or a path to enlightment/salvation. Walking them can be used as a form of meditation. And historically they've also had sometimes been used as a way to trap evil spirits, or turn away evil.

So a Chiasmus is a ring structure, and you follow it from start to finish then back to start, and a labyrinth is a unicursal winding path that takes you to the centre and then back out again, and the story of Destiny is (loosely) following that structure.

There is one specific labyrinth I think it's worth looking at.

This is a labyrinth carved into the portico of Lucca Cathedral in Italy. The inscription is Latin and translated reads "This is the labyrinth built by Dedalus of Crete; all who entered therein were lost, save Theseus, thanks to Ariadne's thread"

This is the seal for Season of Arrivals... oh hey that... that looks familiar.

This is from the Live Action Witch Queen trailer showing the Cradle on Mars with... oh wait... is that... the same fucking labyrinth?

It crops up in a lot of places in Destiny. You will see it everywhere.

Where am I going with this?

Look at the inscription for the Lucca Cathedral labyrinth: "This is the labyrinth built by Dedalus of Crete; all who entered therein were lost, save Theseus, thanks to Ariadne's thread"

We know the story of Thesus and the Minotaur. He was able to find his way through thanks to a spool of thread given to him by Ariadne (oh hey, guess what subclass we just got in the last expansion...).

Well, Ariadne's Thread is the name for a method of solving puzzles by an exhaustive application of logic to all available routes. Wikipedia says about this method:

At any moment that there is a choice to be made, make one arbitrarily from those not already marked as failures, and follow it logically as far as possible.

If a contradiction results, back up to the last decision made, mark it as a failure, and try another decision at the same point. If no other options exist there, back up to the last place in the record that does have options, mark the failure at that level, and proceed onward.

That sounds kind of Vex-like huh? Or even more specifically... sounds almost like what Elsie Bray has been doing. She is reset each time to the last set point (Cayde becoming Hunter Vanguard), and in each loop she tests paths up until destruction. It's how she comes to realise that she has to be the person who finds stasis first.

Each loop cuts off a branch of the maze, a set of possibilities that do not lead to the right outcome. And cutting off each branch until there is only one path turns it into a labyrinth.

I've thought for a while that it feels like something is iterating, working through every option until all the pieces align and there is only one path. Making sure the chiasmus works.

Piecing together a perfectly constructed bomb to take on the sword, which will detonate into the exact kind of chaos that Guardians are good at.

I apologise for the extreme longness of this post. I really hope it is semi-coherent at least?

[hearts-4-vicky]

can you do quarterback minji x shy cheerleader reader? i literally just thought of this and i think it’s adorable

ty baby<3

warnings: kissing, fluff, swearing…, minji is cringe…(shes a loser to me) kinda short😭and um thats it😜

i only know a few things abt football so 🫠

(not proofread…)

The championship football game was already in its fourth quarter, with 50 seconds on the clock. To say Minji was stressed was a HUGE understatement, being the quarterback was cool and all😵‍💫 but when her team’s losing by 3 points its gonna get to her🥺The pressure was getting wayy too much for her since the school has been winning for 9 consecutive years. If they lose, not only will she be failing her school and her teammates, but also you🥺🥺🥺You were the reason she started playing football in the first place, her good luck charm, her cheerleader 🎀 Co-Captain and one of the flyers (someone thrown and lifted in stunts) in the schools cheer squad, y/n l/n (basic asf but shit thats the only option 😭)

Calling a timeout was the best option, all they needed was one touchdown and boom, win😝 though its gonna be harder since their best wide receiver, Yunjin, had suffered a bad shoulder injury just a few minutes before (idk who to put on this team😭) Minji had no game plan since it all relied on Yunjin’s speed and agility, she needed to think of something😵‍💫 Getting in a circle with her team, she speaks up “Okay guys! Just one more push and we win the whole thing right?” Minji flashes a grin, trying to be optimistic “how are we gonna score? Yunjins out and Yujin can barely run without staring at the cheer captain.. Look! She has heart eyes right now!” Haewon was right, Yujin wasn’t even listening to the team but staring at Wonyoung🥺(i love them) Minji noticed you were there too, talking with wony, laughing at something she said🎀 She unconsciously smiles at you, your smile brought light to the dark skies of the night and your laughter made her feel warm🥺 “Fuck.. I forgot you’re both down bad…” Ryujin mentions, the whole team starting to tease those two😭”Alright alright! Yujin, lets do this for our girlfriends… Everyone make sure no one is guarding her!” “Gotchu bro, but I think we need your pretty girlfriends to cheer us on real quickkk” Yuna pokes both Minji and Yujin🎀 “Suck my- “LETS GO BEARS!” (idk man😭) You and Minji make eye contact, “You got this” is what she reads from your lips. A fire lit in her heart as she saw you throw her a kiss, she’s ready for the game.

“HUT HUT! HIKE!” Minji scans the field for Yujin, seeing her in the open, she throws it to her. Caught it. Yujin sprints with everything she had as both teams were after her. One of the opposing team members came out of no where, making Yujin trip. Minji winces at it, must’ve hurt bad. She only thinks of one think,

We fucked it up. We lost.

“HOLY SHIT I DID IT?!” Yujin’s piercing shout got the attention of everyone, she got the ball past the goal line🙏

The stadium erupted into cheers as people started running to the field to celebrate😍😍😍 You full on SPRINT to see your girlfriend, pushing everyone out of the way (r u the football player now or what😭🙏)

Smiling brightly as you spot each other. Minji throws her helmet to the floor to catch you😵‍💫

“YOU WERE SO GOOD OUT THERE BABY!!!” You said as you jumped into Minjis open arms, kissing her face between every word🥺(me when) “I’m all sweaty babe! hol-“”don’ttt care!” Minji stifles a snort as you pepper her face so more, “couldn’t have done it without you, my sunshine” accepting your soft lips against every inch of her face while spinning you around had you both in your own world🥺🥺🥺 Both of you were giggling like teens in love (duh) as your lipstick stains her still sweaty face😛 you guys are taken back to reality as the school journalists come to interview you guys “Who would like to thank for this win Kim Minji?” the camera pans to you guys, still in her arms as she replies,

“My gorgeous girl right here!!”

you hide your face in her neck, blushing at her words

“And those marks on your face?”

“M-minji wait-“

“Also from this gorgeous girl!”

She’s never seen your face as red as it was before😭

with annyeongz

“but I scored the touchdown…”

“Let them have their moment love”

ive been wantin to write fluff again omg 🙏🙏

im sorry i havent been doing many requests lately, ive gotten a bit busier than usual😭 I need to get my grades up or else im out☹️Ive only been writin for school this week im so sorry if this isnt that good😭😭😭

Im really sorry my loves❤️ Stay safe and love you guys!!

-Vicky💋

[codenamesazanka]

AU where Spinner and Shigaraki both knows Japanese Sign Language. Fragmented excerpts.

•

The moment the Stain cosplayer appeared in the room, Tomura knew there was going to be a problem.

Kurogiri knew this too, which was why he leaned towards Tomura and murmured, “Please allow him a chance.”

“Shut up,” Tomura said. “I know.”

He had decided to use all aspects of Stain - his image, his popularity, his philosophy - for his own ends. That still didn’t mean Tomura liked the guy one bit. That he had to tolerate any mention of Stain made his neck burn harder with the itch, and in assigning the blame to Stain, made him hate the man even more.

The second problem came when the cosplayer stepped up to him, and Tomura spoke.

“Real name?”

It took a moment for the cosplayer to answer. And when he did…

“I’m Spinner!” Spinner jabbed a thumb at himself. “I’m here to make Stain’s dreams a reality. I live according to his will.”

Tomura gave himself a second to suppress the desire to literally kick Spinner out. Loudly, he bit out his question again. “I said, real name.”

“Oh.” Spinner froze, his shoulders lowering slightly. The pomposity was replaced with guardedness. “Iguchi Shuuichi.”

Weird guy, Tomura thought. The way his bravado faded all of a sudden. He already knew Iguchi - Spinner - was going to be an ostentatious pain-in-the-butt, but the act disappeared much too quickly.

“Quir–” Tomura barely finished the word before Spinner spoke again.

“My quirk is… Gecko. I can climb on anything. My hands and feet can stick to basically any surface.” Spinner touched the sword at the back of his waist. “But I know how to use a knife. I can handle myself in a fight.”

Tomura considered this. Judging by the lack of details, what Spinner said about his quirk was probably the full extent of what he could do. Fighting with a knife was insufficient against most Heroes, but not entirely useless - quite a few Heroes suck at close-range combat. Tomura knew better than anyone - be fast, get close, one touch, one stab - and you’ve got a dead man.

Out of nowhere, Spinner started talking again. “Stain was right about false Heroes! There needs to be a purge. All the Heroes who only care about money, about fame, about their image—”

“No one asked,” Tomura growled. “Shut up.”

But Spinner continued, completely ignoring Tomura. “—weeded out for a True Hero Society. I—”

Tomura lost all his patience. He pointed at the door, and only then did Spinner falter and stop. “That’s it. Get out.”

Spinner looked at the Tomura’s hand, then turn to glance at the door. As if there was any ambiguity in Tomura’s order.

“Shigaraki Tomura,” Kurogiri said. “Look at his ears.”

He doesn’t have any, was Tomura’s first thought. Fitting, because nothing seemed to—

Tomura paused.

While ears - probably would be green and scaly like the rest of Spinner? - didn’t exist, there were something like earbuds on both sides of Spinner’s head. His eye-mask nearly hid them away, but something peach-colored did barely poked out from underneath the mask.

“Huh." Tomura understood. But even if he did, did he really want such an annoying guy around? Someone who couldn't be upfront… but did had the guts to still show up.

Making a decision, Tomura mentally reached into the depths of his head, and pulled out a rusty, shaky skill that he hadn’t used in a while. But it should be enough.

『O-I,』 Tomura fingerspelled, and privately enjoyed the way Spinner’s eyes grew wide and round and huge. 『Can you sign?』

Spinner nodded, just a single, slow nod. 『Yes.』

“Good,” Tomura said, giving a shake of his fist in front of his face. “So get out.”

“Shigaraki Tomura,” Kurogiri said, even though the terrified look on Spinner’s face was funny.

“If he needed to use sign language,” Tomura said, translating everything into movements of hands. “He should’ve said so from the start.”

Spinner regained his bearings, and began to sign too. 『I didn’t think…』 He paused, and started over, this time talking as well. “How was I supposed to know?”

“Write it on a piece of paper then,” Tomura snapped. “You’ve been wasting everyone’s time.”

Kurogiri cut in. “If all misunderstandings have been cleared up, then why don’t we start over?”

Spinner averted his eyes, flushing. The scales on his cheeks can apparently turn slightly pink. “Fine.” Then, with the tightest and tiniest of movements, he signed, 『Sorry.』

“Shut up about Stain too,” Tomura warned. Curling his thumb and index finger, he made a sign, tapping his hand against his shoulder thrice.

“Name?”

…

“How?” Spinner said, while he signed the rest of his question. 『How do you know how?』

Tomura ignored it. “So? Are you deaf?”

“…Hard-of-hearing,” Spinner said as he signed, with much reluctance. “It's my quirk. I have trouble with low voices. Men’s voices in general. Sounds that are too soft.”

“Even with hearing aids?”

“They help, but…” Spinner shrugged. “Not much.”

Tomura glanced at the peach-colored hearing aids. Couldn’t even afford to get ones that match his color.

“Did you hear anything I said?”

“A word here and there.” Spinner frowned. “And you have that– mask, so I can’t see your mouth! I couldn’t read you at all!” He gave Kurogiri a brief look, and Tomura remembered that, yeah, Kurogiri didn’t have a visible mouth. Or any facial features besides his wispy eyes.

In that regard, Kurogiri wasn’t unique. There were heteromorphs who just didn’t have mouths or any means to speak, so they became sign language users. But overall, most sign language users were deaf, and wore implants. And the majority weren’t heteromorphs. So speech and speechreading reigned over pure signing.

The sign language officially taught in Japan had existed since the pre-Advent days, and then some. It largely followed spoken grammar and structure, so it wasn’t too hard matching signs to words, though Spinner sometimes skipped over his spoken words, and had a tendency to just trail off halfway as his hands finished the sentence.

Spinner signed with accents, too. Hokkaido signs popped up here and there, but his main accent was from his claws. His signs were careful, reserved, unwilling to take up too much space. The fists he made were loose; it was his claw tips that touched, rather than his fingertips.

Watching those claws was interesting.

“How do you know sign language?” Spinner asked again, though this time his demeanor was more demanding.

“Multilingualism,” Tomura said.

“Are you also–”

“No, I’m not deaf or hard-of-hearing.” Tomura huffed. “Don’t be so surprised. Hearing people can learn it, you know.”

Tomura moved on. “Spinner. Why do you want to join the League of Villains? Nothing about Stain. Why do you want to join?”

Spinner took his time answering. He looked at his hands, as if reading the scales on his palm and claws at his fingertips. Reading the history of his life recorded upon them.

When he finally looked back at Tomura, it was with no uncertainty, and no false front. Only true conviction. Each sign he made was clear, each word he spoke enunciated.

“I want to change the world.”

…

…

…

Five fingers, and anything he touched got decayed. He pinched things as if he was a germaphobe. He held his consoles with his pinkies sticking out. For a firm and tight grip, he doesn’t use his index finger.

Only when Tomura signs, can he make use of all his fingers.

...

...

...

(Spinaraki occurs, as in canon. Fine, also add a bit more spinaraki. Then jumping alllllllll the way to Act III, at Mt. Fuji)

He touched his left hand to the ground, flat with all five fingers, that was all that's needed—and then indulged the whim to use his right hand as well. But only his index finger: touching the ground where the fingers of his left hand are resting. He drew a line outwards, across the cracking earth. The word; the promise, the dream, finally made real.

The horizon.

Spinner, Tomura thought. It’s here.

•

Notes:

All signs that are described are accurate Japanese Sign Language.

The sign Shigaraki uses for 'name' is Kansai dialect.

••• I headcanon Shigaraki having grown up in Kansai - that's where Jaku and the hospital and the Doc is; where there was once also a town named Shigaraki (different characters tho), in the former Koka district (using the same character as AFO's Koga Construction company...).

irl, lizards have a hearing range of 100Hz and 10kHz. Humans have a range of 20Hz and 20kHz. So people can hear a wider range of pitches than lizards - like low voices. Spinner's quirk is Gecko, so...

In this AU, for a few years after being picked up by AFO, Tenko/Tomura continued to be mute due to trauma. So he was taught JSL.

The sign for horizon in JSL

[thepersonperson]

Seeing your latest post. Do you think there is a connection with JJK 0 ending theme? It's title is "Sakayume". It's by King Gnu too.

Believe it or not, someone else in 2022 was intrigued by the JJK 0 ending theme being called Sakayume. Quoting this poster directly:

"逆夢 sakayume Is a dream that contradicts reality. It’s unrealistic meaning that it can’t or won’t happen in real life."

This song is then compared to the anime's ED 2, Cö shu Nie's give it back.

"I feel this song is about 逆夢 sakayume in a sense. The song speaks about “giving back the dream” It’s called “Give it back” and it’s like “give me back the dream” “what happened to rest of the dream and why did I have to wake to reality”  basically it’s longing. It’s longing to go back to the dream and not a reality that contradicts that dream. So when I hear this ED I also think of the movie’s theme song for them which is Sakayume!"

Keep this in the back your mind. It only gets worse from here.

Yuji and Megumi's Character Songs

Recently, I got this in my replies from @mizzi14-blog.

(Here's a link to all the character songs with corresponding videos for listening.)

A translation for Megumi's character song Uchujin's Hakujitsumu (Daydream). From the last stanza:

This is not a song to just forget about the painful past This is a song that confronts the sadness The moon in the night sky waxes and wanes There are no stars in sight. But even in the darkness, tomorrow shines brightly And this is a song I share with you.

In summary, this song is about someone trying to confront their trauma but getting swept up in a daydream with their beloved.

A translation for Yuji's character song Kuchiroro's Itsuka dokoka de (Sometime, Somewhere). From the last stanza:

Nobody knows… Ah. The heart of my real self is so cowardly. I try to scream until I lose my voice. I don’t need anything… I bear a fate I still cannot accept. If I can share my feelings somewhere then I might speak about how my dream continues…

In summary, this song is about someone who feels lonely and isolated dreaming of their ideal world through the pain.

Y'all this diabolical. What the hell.

But wait there's more!

Sukuna mocked Yuji and Megumi's doomed love when he made the Enchain Binding Vow with Yuji using some ridiculous wordplay way back in JJK 11.

Enchain doubles as Megumi Activities. But let's break that down some more. (Unfortunately the Twitter account of the person I referenced may or may not be nuked so here's this screenshot I've doctored.)

So we have the translation of Enchain from 契闊 (Keikatsu), which might be better localized as Separation.

This term comes from a Chinese poem about lovers who are husband and wife in The Book of Odes, Section I (Lessons from the States), Chapter 3 (The Odes of Bei), Poem 31 (Banging the Drum). (Here's a link to the full poem and context of it.)

In summary, it’s about a soldier who is on the brink of death, having lost nearly everything after being abandoned by those in power, lamenting the happiest days of his life with his love are ones he can never get back. (Hey that sounds just like what Sukuna did to Yuji!)

Keikatsu specifically comes from this passage:

“Our vow is beyond death and life”, I and you are together I always remembered. I will hold your hand, And together we grow old.

Too pitiful we are faraway apart, The distance separates us to meet again! Too miserable this takes forever, And it does not let us fulfill our vow!

Keikatsu is used to exemplify how the physical distance between the husband and wife prevents them from fulfilling their wedding vows. And that's just what Keikatsu/Enchain does to Yuji and Megumi, it causes painful separation neither of them wanted.

In Conclusion?

GEGE GREGORY AKUTAMI IS THIS JUST DOOMED YAOI ALL THE WAY DOWN?????? GEGE!!!! ANSWER ME!!!!

[bayleavesfromthevine]

some kn8 ramblings (with a side order of manga spoilers)

i love that (as far as we know) kafka and mina's tragic backstory is "dead cat." we know nothing of their parents, homes, or friends from after the kaiju attack, only that mina's cat died. (obviously, the series isn't over yet, so this could be totally disproven at any point, but bear with me lol.)

i actually find that really refreshing. yes, it's so heartbreaking to lose a pet, but it's not the typical trope of a character's power level correlating to how traumatized they are (ex: family massacres, everyone they've ever loved ending up dead, backstabbing, torture, etc etc). their traumas are grounded in very realistic and relatable circumstances, and i think that goes to show that a character doesn't need these extreme reasons to want to do good and fight the scary monster. mina's cat died in a kaiju attack and she wants to make sure that no one else has to lose their best friend/ball of floof to a kaiju ever again. that is enough of a reason and a noble one at that.

soshiro, as another example, has a complicated relationship with his family, but they aren't dead or rogue. he's not seeking revenge on them, but rather they did not support him when it mattered and made him feel inferior - that is a traumatizing environment to grow up in, and unsupportive parents & sibling favoritism are also SO grounded in reality.

it really makes these characters feel real, and i think it's a powerful thing for a reader who maybe doesn't have the best relationship with their parents/siblings like soshiro, or who has lost a beloved pet like mina, or who doesn't have natural-born talent in a specific field like kafka, to see these characters take those experiences, work through them, find a support system, and overcome them.

(side note: i LOVE to see that soshiro actually went no contact with his brother for past behaviors! that sets such a powerful example to readers that it's okay to cut out people who have made you feel like shit!!)

of course, there are other characters like narumi and reno who have heavier backstories, but i love that their experiences don't automatically turn them into the brooding emo characters who think only of killing kaiju and seeking revenge with zero intentions to form friendships with the people around them.

it's just really nice to see. i feel like in stories that have a large cast, it's easy for a character's backstory to completely shape their personality, rather than being shaped by a multitude of experiences - good and bad - gained throughout life. (in cases like reno and kikoru, we see them grow as people & change their outlooks due to their positive experiences with kafka and the rest of the defense force. that doesn't override their past experiences, but adds layers to who they are overall.)

i see kn8 getting criticized a lot for lacking in depth or themes - and i do think there is a conversation to be had about locating the series' central theme and whether or not it's been clearly communicated (and whether or not that even matters) - but i also think part of that criticism stems from having a fantastical premise (that maybe SHOULD have a little more death, but that's another conversation entirely lol) with deeply grounded characters, a contrast we don't see too much of - especially from series in the battle shonen & shonen-adjacent genres (thinking about shows like naruto, aot, jjk, demon slayer, hell's paradise, etc).

basically, i find it refreshing that kn8 isn't over-traumatizing its characters despite the fact that the premise would allow it lol

[qqueenofhades]

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2024/02/white-house-israel-gaza-palestinian-state/677554/

i think this is a pretty decent article in general, but this is a passage i particularly want to highlight:

"The U.S. can’t force Israel to do anything it regards as anathema to its interests. All Washington can do is lay down its own markers, including open recognition of a Palestinian state and a clear warning to Israel that its rejectionism will do significant damage to bilateral relations. The bear hug of support that Biden has provided for Israel over Gaza, at times with no international backing, cannot be gratis. The U.S. has a right, indeed a responsibility, to demand Israeli cooperation on this indispensable priority. Failing that, Washington will have to reevaluate the merits of America’s special relationship with Israel.

That is unlikely to happen before the U.S. election. But Biden might be more willing to apply the full weight of American influence on Israel if he wins a second term. Historically, second-term presidents—freed from the domestic political constraints of seeking reelection—tend to take on such issues with more determination. And if Biden really believes that U.S. interests—and ultimately Israel’s future—rest on the creation of a Palestinian state and normalization with Saudi Arabia, he could act decisively."

like i can't see any scenario where Biden's re-election would make the current situation worse! idk why it's so hard for some people to get!

I mean... yeah. I literally said the other day that Biden would be much more likely to go MORE left in a second term, because he's always gone more left when he's been pushed before, he wouldn't have to face the general electorate again, and because he's already in such a precarious position right before the election (which again, NETANYAHU KNOWS and is using to his advantage in attempting to get Trump back in). There's also the fact that literally nothing, no cause whatsoever for anyone anywhere, would be helped by Trump being elected instead. But that's apparently "baseless fearmongering" for Online Leftists who resent it when reality intrudes on their glorious revolution fantasies and/or anyone points out the basic real-world consequences of their rhetoric, so...

We've already seen that Biden can be successfully pressured, in four short months, to make drastic changes to decades of long-standing US/Israeli policy. There's no reason except sheer brainrot and terminally online idiocy to think that re-electing him will make the current situation worse (and on the other hand, as noted, many reasons to think that now he will be able to act more forcefully and without the worries of being sabotaged in an election year). Yet for the Schrodinger's Imperialists who think all Western and American influence is Always Bad, but Acktually Good when it relies on being used as magical thinking to instantly solve major global/geopolitical crises with literal millennia of roots and sources, this is just really hard, I guess. GENOCIDE JOE. There, that's easier.

[lucky-clover-gazette]

The Big Picture

(Four Swords Manga Adaptation)

Chapter 6: Stone Arrghus | 5818 words

The gang fights a giant rock. Vio learns something about himself. Shadow tries his best.

Read it on ao3 or under the cut:

As the solar eclipse reaches totality, Stone Arrghus’s power swells. Its form begins to vibrate and expand, unimpeded by the natural light that normally suppresses it. It extends this power to about a dozen nearby rocks, beckoning them to orbit its body.

And then it turns to Shadow Link

“An eclipse?” the shade asks, slaw-jawed as he stares directly at the black sun. Arrghus had only wanted to please his master, back when its thoughts had been simple. But without the sun’s oppressive effects, it has found itself newly enlightened. 

Show me some real power, Shadow Link had told Stone Arrghus. Hell, kill the heroes yourself and Ganon will probably give you my job.

“Master,” it says in an unfamiliar voice. It sounds chilling and monstrous, a far cry from its previous simple repetition.  

Shadow Link turns to face Stone Arrghus, his jaw dropping again at its transformation. “What the—” 

An orbiting stone knocks the shade on the side of his head. Stone Arrghus chuckles as all five feet and two inches of Shadow Link crumble to the ground. 

─────────────────

“Erune… she’s gone!” 

Vio sighs and places down his journal. 

Green’s shouts are clear as day through the window. Clear as… not day. It’s dark outside, Vio realizes, as he gets to his feet. It’s not supposed to be dark. And the shadows beneath the trees, they’re shaped… 

An eclipse, Vio realizes, drawing from his own basic knowledge of natural science. 

“Search the grounds!” Green hollers, as more footsteps pound against the wooden porch. “Look for clues!” 

Vio stretches and grabs his sword. This should be interesting. 

He makes it downstairs, following the same path both Red and Blue appear to have taken to speak with Erune. And there they are, all three of them, on the porch—but Erune is nowhere to be found.

“It’s dark,” Red whimpers at Vio’s arrival.

“I noticed,” he responds. Vio turns to Green. “What happened?” 

“I was right there with her, but then Blue had to pull me away—” 

“Don’t blame me,” Blue huffs. “How was I supposed to know the world was gonna get all freaky?”

And to his credit, Vio can confirm that the world looks rather freaky. It’s not just the eclipse anymore—there’s almost a visual distortion to the town square surrounding them. Ripples in reality itself, dizzying and surreal. 

“It looks like the village,” Vio says, “warped through a bad dream.” 

“Through a nightmare!” exclaims Red. 

Vio narrows his eyes, scanning the area. “It’s a lot like the real thing, but subtly different. Sort of like we are.”

Before they can ponder that notion any further, the heroes are distracted by the sound of laughter. Children’s laughter, echoing through the village, leading back to a group of distant silhouettes. 

“The missing children,” Green says under his breath, and then he’s off. Reluctantly, Vio follows him with the others. Green reaches the children first (“Hey, kid!”), reaches for an oddly stiff arm, and—

“Yes, Mister?” 

Vio stops himself in his tracks. The children’s voices come from painted mouths, belonging to life-sized toys. 

“This is a land with no adults,” the toys say in unison. There’s a stuffed bear, a clown, and a soldier, as well as a brightly-colored toy box beside them. “Just us kids, and we get to play all day long. All play and no work means we’re just like toys.” 

“You never get hungry or tired,” says a different voice, this one much more familiar. “You can play forever. It’s fun!” 

Erune sits against a tree, her eyes vacant and her limbs stiff. She has been transformed into a doll. 

Vio feels sick to his stomach. 

Green draws his sword. “Show yourself, Shadow Link! You’re behind this!” 

A large figure emerges from distant fog, and it is definitely not shaped like Shadow Link. It’s a giant circular rock, with a bloodshot eyeball in the center. Gleefully, it taunts them from… the eye? Is that its mouth too? 

“Shadow Link should be the least of your concerns!” the monster exclaims. “I am your enemy now!” 

“Tell us what happened to Shadow Link,” Green demands. “Is he dead?” 

The monster seems annoyed by the question. “He has been… neutralized.” 

Ah, Vio thinks with mild disappointment. Just unconscious, then. 

Blue raises an eyebrow. “What, did you hit him with a rock or something?” 

The monster does not respond to this question at all, which must mean… 

“Wait, really?” Vio smirks. “That’s all it took?” He imagines that overconfident freak getting knocked out by a paperweight, and he smiles. 

“Guys,” Green scolds his teammates. “Focus.”

And it’s good that he said something, because Vio has just enough time to prevent a small rock from knocking him out too. It clangs against his shield, shaking him where he kneels, and then retreats to its orbit around the monster. There are about a dozen of these smaller rocks at its command, and a single hit to the head could probably take any one of the heroes temporarily out of the fight.

“We’ll never get near the main eye this way,” Vio tells the others, who also kneel behind their shields. He would judge their poor show of heroism, if he wasn’t also doing the same exact thing. 

“Everyone grab a weapon,” Green commands, inching backwards towards the toy box. He pulls out a bright yellow boomerang.“Start with the smaller eyeballs!”

“But they’re just toys,” Blue says, grimacing at the box’s contents. 

Vio is quick to grab the bow and arrows, giving the string an experimental twang. “I’ll take this one,” he announces with a grin. He likes the idea of himself as an archer—Link hadn’t been skilled with a bow, which makes Vio all the more interested in proving himself superior. 

“Oh, I see!” Red exclaims, reaching into the box. He withdraws a slingshot. “Dibs on this!”

Blue shoves him aside and begins rifling through the remaining items. He finds an insect net, some flippers for swimming, and then finally… 

“This’ll do nicely,” he says, raising a gigantic mallet in the air. Vio narrows his eyes at the comparatively small toy box, wondering how the hell the hammer could have fit in the first place. 

His thoughts are interrupted by another volley of flying rocks. 

“Let’s get ‘em,” Green tells the group, throwing his boomerang at the orbiting stones. It targets each of them in an arc, locked onto their precise locations. A hit from the boomerang seems to stun each projectile, keeping it still enough to—

Green slices his Four Sword through one of the tiny rocks. His sword’s blade glows as the two halves drop to the ground. 

Force energy, Vio thinks. Green seems to realize much the same, and begins slashing at several more stunned rocks. Vio has to hand it to him—in this kind of environment, Green really does thrive. Between his stunning-and-slashing and Red’s slingshot volleys, the orbiting rocks don’t stand a chance.

The big eye appears to be reaching the same conclusion, darting frantically between the heroes surrounding it. 

“There’s nowhere left to hide!” Blue taunts, already raising his mallet. The eye begins to tremble—surely not from fear? 

It bursts into gushing tears. While Vio, Blue, and Green are able to sidestep the flood of murky liquid, Red slumps right beneath its torrential downpour. 

“I m-made all those little r-rocks,” the monster sobs, “and now they’re gone!” 

Red sniffs, his hat acting as a sort of umbrella. The rocky tears pool at his feet. “Really?” he asks the creature trying to kill him. “That’s so sad… now you’re making me cry!” 

Vio puts his face in his palm. 

“Huh?” Red gasps “The tears!” Vio watches as the rocky water solidifies around his feet, essentially rooting him where he stands. “They’ve dried like cement!” 

The monster laughs, and rears itself for an attack. “I’ll crush you, hero!” 

It doesn’t get the chance. Vio jumps in front of Red and unleashes an impressive hail of arrows upon the eyeball’s soft flesh. It’s almost like he moves in slow motion, perfectly focused in a way he hardly ever is. There’s just Vio, the target, and his weapon. He has one goal, and he possesses the skill to succeed. 

Take that, Link, Vio finds himself thinking. I’ll do this my way. 

Maybe he might enjoy being a hero, after all. 

“Ow!” the monster actually cries, its eyelids swollen shut. The arrows poke out between them, like really bad artificial lashes. “I can’t see!”

In its confusion, it slams itself down on the same cemented substance keeping Red in place. “I’m free!” Red cheers, as Blue lifts his hammer above his head.

“Look out!” he warns the others, launching himself into the air. “Coming through!”

Vio watches in awe as Blue slams the hammer down onto the stone monster, splitting it right in half. 

And just like that, the monster is slain. They did it, together. 

“Look,” Green says, holding out his hands. “It’s raining force crystals!”

Vio glances up at the eclipsed sky. Well, what do you know. As the others fight over the tinier shards of force, Vio watches carefully for a larger crystal. Just as snowflakes vary in size and shape, these seem to come in varying degrees of power.

He spots his target and catches it effortlessly. 

“Shut up, I fought too!” 

“Guys, can’t we all just share—” 

Behind Vio’s back, someone is definitely punching someone else. He just smirks and studies the giant force gem in his hand. 

“Hey, give it back!”

“Do you wanna die next?” 

What an ugly display. 

Vio smirks and shakes his head, more than satisfied with his own prize. 

─────────────────

Shadow regains consciousness just as the eclipse ends. He grimaces as he gets to his feet, his hand reaching for the welt on his forehead. The shot of soreness at mere contact with the injury makes him hiss. 

The town square is back to normal. The sun shines brightly in the sky. Rock dust formerly known as Stone Arrghus litters the ground. What a fool, Shadow thinks of the creature. Not a very touching remembrance, he knows, but the stony bastard did try to outrank him. 

And the heroes… they must be alive, if Stone Arrghus has fallen. Even in its most powerful state, brought on by the solar eclipse bridging the dark and light worlds, the monster had been no match for its opponents. Shadow is almost grateful for the heroes’ swift defeat of his former servant—after all, he can’t have someone else succeeding where he himself has failed. 

Shadow Link retreats into the darkness from whence he came, slightly battered but not nearly beaten yet. 

─────────────────

The Eastern Temple smells like sandalwood and fresh grass. Vio breathes in deep as Red, Blue, and Green hack away at the crystal containing the Yellow Maiden. The ethereal woman emerges with a bright smile, opening her arms to them all. 

“Link!” she exclaims, which Vio supposes is not an inaccurate thing to call them all. “You must have defeated the terrible monster, Stone Arrghus!”

Green steps forward. “Yes, we did. The Village of the Blue Maiden is now safe.” 

“Do you have a village, too?” Red asks the Yellow Maiden, eyes wide. Blue elbows him. “Sorry.”

She makes a weird face. Clearly it’s a sore subject. But then her eyes land on Green’s sword, and she’s all smiles again. 

“And the Four Sword shines as it did before,” the maiden observes. “But it’s still not powerful enough to defeat Shadow Link.” 

Vio smirks. Maybe a pebble would do the trick.

The Yellow Maiden extends her arms, revealing an object that does actually resemble a pebble. “Please,” she says, “take this Moon Pearl.” The glowing orb floats into Green’s hand (of course), its coloration milky-white with flashes of yellow and blue. “When struck by moonbeams, it opens a gate to the Dark World.” 

Oh, shit, Vio thinks. Now we’re getting somewhere.

“About that,” he says, as Blue rolls his eyes. “When the village was overtaken by evil, and we fought Stone Arrghus… were we in the Dark World?” 

The Yellow Maiden eyes Vio curiously. “Yes, Link, I suppose you were.” 

“It’s Vio.” 

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Green asks Vio, clutching the Moon Pearl in his hand. 

Vio shrugs. “It was just a theory.” He turns back to the Yellow Maiden. “You suppose?”

“You were not fully transported to the Dark World—that would only be possible through a very powerful gateway. At most times, even the Moon Pearl is unable to sustain a connection strong enough to transport a person between the worlds.”

“But it blurs them together,” Vio guesses, remembering the way the town square seemed to fluctuate before his eyes. “It messes with the realities, making it easier for us to comprehend dark forces.” 

“And kick their asses,” adds Blue. 

“Also that.” 

“But we didn’t have the Moon Pearl when we fought Stone Arrghus,” Red says. “How were we able to beat him, then?” 

It’s a good question. Vio tries to answer it for himself. He retraces his steps, placing himself back inside the room with Red and Blue. He’d been writing in his journal about… something… and then there was a rock, and Blue went to heckle Green because he was talking to Erune… but that was all normal. That’s not what made things weird. Things only got really weird when— 

“The eclipse,” Vio realizes aloud. He looks to the Yellow Maiden for confirmation. “It has something to do with the eclipse.” 

She nods. Vio feels smug. 

“During certain solar and lunar events,” the Yellow Maiden explains, “the dark and light worlds blur together. Non-native creatives reach full power, and denizens of both realms can more clearly perceive each other.” 

Vio glances at the Moon Pearl. “And that thing produces the same effect on command, in any conditions.” 

“Exactly, young hero.” 

He sours at the name, but at least she didn’t call him ‘Link again. And actually, you know what—Vio is a hero! He shot that monster in the eyeball, and it was fun!

Blue looks from the pearl in Green’s hand, to the maiden, and then back to the pearl. “Okay, fine, I guess that makes sense.” 

They turns to leave, but Blue isn’t quite finished speaking. “But, like… why does he get it?” 

Vio rolls his eyes. 

─────────────────

Vio finds Red, Blue, and Green outside of the tavern with Erune. After their visit to the Eastern Temple with Stone Arrghus, the heroes had been finally free to enjoy some well-earned sleep. Now, at the break of dawn, they’re just about ready to hit the road again. 

Just about. 

“Has anyone seen my journal?” Vio interrogates the group. “I’ve searched everywhere. It’s gone.” 

Green makes a placating gesture. “Calm down, Vio.” 

Vio grits his teeth, balling his hands into a fists. He is being calm, he’s just—

“Are you suggesting that one of us took it?” Blue asks, roiling his eyes. He’s probably trying to act all cool in front of Erune, that piece of—

“It’s okay, Vio,” Green says, taking him by the arm. “We can get you a new one.” 

Vio rips his arm away. “It was a journal,” he hisses. “You can’t just replace it.” 

And there are things in there I don’t want anyone to see. 

Green sighs. “Okay, Vio. I’m sorry.”

“Stop saying my name!” 

He doesn’t even know where that comes from. Doesn’t he want people to use his name? Green is only trying to help—albeit condescendingly—yet Vio still gives him hell. What is my problem?

“What was even in there,” Blue says, “to get you so riled up?” 

Vio turns to him sharply. Normally his words are quick and clever, but for some reason he feels a need to be cautious around the subject. He has experienced many sensations, since becoming himself—but this kind of shame is something entirely new. 

It was stupid of him, to put anything in writing. His thorough investigations and reflections, things that make him feel vulnerable and raw. Now, they’re just… out there. Somewhere. And he can’t even explain himself, or the things he wrote, and Hylia knows what someone would make of the hero—

“I’m sorry,” Erune tells Vio, glancing up at the room above the tavern. “I keep a diary, too. It would make me very sad to lose it.” 

Vio can’t bring himself to dislike her. He may not be smitten like the others, but he admires her persistence and desire to help the children of her town. It’s his gut impulse to diminish anyone who makes him feel unsure of himself—but just like Red, Erune is simply too earnest to deserve his ire. 

Whatever frustrations Erune represents to Vio, aren’t her fault at all. 

“It’s fine,” he mutters, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ll get a new one.” 

He’ll work through… all of that… as soon as he can put pen to paper again. He’ll figure out his problem. There has to be an answer, and Vio is confident that it lies somewhere within himself. 

He just has to know where to look. 

“Heroes!” calls a new voice from within the tavern. A man, about Arcy’s age, bursts onto the front porch. For one fleeting second Vio thinks he might be holding his journal—but it’s just a box of baked goods. 

“For your travels,” the man says, handing the box over to Green. Then, he turns to Erune. “I hope you know that we’re very proud of you, my dear.” 

She blushes and looks slightly away. “Dad…” 

Something happens in Vio’s heart. Would the Captain even like him, knowing that he’s one of four strangers who replaced his beloved son? 

He shakes his head. Save it for the journal. 

“He’s right,” Vio tells Erune with a smile. “Without your determination to find the true cause of the children’s disappearance, I’m pretty sure everyone would still be trying to break down the knights’ door. You saw past their panic and figured things out for yourself.”

“But I didn’t do anything,” Erune protests. “I just got myself turned into a… well, you saw.” 

“Of course you did stuff!” Red exclaims. “You gave us really important information, even though you were nervous to share it. And you showed us hospitality. Thank you.”

Before Erune or her father can respond, another man bursts onto the porch. He wears an apron covered with various food stains, suggesting to Vio that he must work at the tavern. “I found this,” he says, revealing another object—not Vio’s journal, damn it—from behind his back. 

“Rosie!” Erune exclaims, running over to claim the doll. She kisses its forehead and holds it close to her chest. “Where did you find her?” 

“Behind the tavern,” the man says. “She was resting against a tree. She says she missed you.” 

Vio finds it sweet that he brought the doll to his boss’s daughter. That’s definitely not in his job description. 

“Thought you were too old for such childish things,” Green teases Erune, kind-heartedly.

“Nope!” the young woman chirps with a smile. “And we both are very grateful for your help.” 

She doesn’t seem to be referring to all the heroes. There’s something more to it, Vio thinks, something he isn’t quite catching—but Green appears to understand well enough. He smiles back, a bit of blush spreading onto his cheeks. 

It’s happening again, Vio realizes, as he watches the fond interaction between them. Just like before in the tavern, and when he was talking to Red and Blue… there is just something that Vio doesn’t get, that everybody else somehow naturally does. He can still be a hero without it (which is all he’s been made to do anyway), and he does admittedly tend to overthink, but still— 

“Good find, love,” Erune’s father tells the other man. And then he kisses him on the mouth. 

Vio’s jaw drops. 

Red gasps. “Erune, is that your other dad?” Erune nods, and Red beams. “Hi, Erune’s other dad!” 

Vio desperately searches his memory—Link’s memory, whatever—to try and connect the dots. He remembers two knights in a supply closet, deeply annoyed with Link as he attempted to retrieve a mop. They had been kissing, too. Link hadn’t thought anything of it at the time, but right now Vio… Vio thinks quite a lot of it, actually. 

And then he realizes that he doesn’t have to think at all, because this just makes sense.

Something inside of Vio, in this moment, seems to just fall into place. But it can’t possibly be that easy, right? It doesn’t solve everything inside him, not even close—he’s still missing his journal, and unsure where he belongs, and there is of course the matter of what happens when he outlives his heroic purpose… but this. This, at least, is a start. 

“It’s nice to meet you both,” Vio tells Erune’s dads, standing with better posture than before. Normally he doesn’t care what people think of him, but right now he feels a sudden and irrepressible urge to be understood. 

“Thank you for protecting our daughter,” one of the men tells Vio, reaching for his husband’s hand like it’s a reflex. Vio’s eyes linger on the gesture for perhaps a second too long, and then he looks away. 

“Yes, thank you!” calls another voice from behind Vio. And then there are several more voices, expressing their appreciation. Vio… could get used to this part of heroism. 

Townspeople crowd the main square in droves, eager to see the heroes off on their travels now that they’ve left the inn. Vio watches as the adults of the town keep their children close, visibly shaken by recent events. The children, meanwhile, just smile at Vio, Green, Blue, and Red. Vio wonders if they even remember what happened at all. If he had no concern for social niceties, as opposed to the minimal concern he normally has, he’d probably just ask. 

Erune smiles back at the children and then turns to the other heroes. “I’m glad you visited our village. It was very nice to meet you all.”

“Us too!” chirps Red. 

Blue rubs the back of his neck, trying to be aloof. “I guess it was nice,” he tells Erune, and Vio has to hold back a smirk.

“Thank you for your help,” Vio tells Erune. He extends his hand for a shake. She seems a little bewildered by the gesture, but happily obliges. 

“Oh! And please,” Erune tells the four heroes, “do try to get along. It’s dangerous out there, and you need to look after each other. If I’ve learned something from the past twenty-four hours, it’s that the world is a much scarier place than I ever could have imagined.”

Vio’s smile falters at that. Is Erune, like… okay? 

“We always get along!” Red lies, before Vio can weigh the merits of asking. 

And then Erune’s eyes fall on Green. He steps closer to her, extending a hand—but it’s not exactly professional, like Vio’s had been. It’s more familiar, more natural. Just like Erune’s dads. 

“Looks like this is goodbye,” he tells her, and his words make Vio’s feel… something. Green seems to fully accept the nature of his existence, which includes the inevitability of his own dissolution. That statement, coming from him, carries a surprising amount of darkness—in all likelihood, this really is goodbye. Not just for Green, either, but for them all. 

Vio shakes his head. Save it for the journal. 

“Link,” Erune calls Green, and he doesn’t disagree. 

Save. It. For. The. Journal.

“Yes, Erune?”

She looks away shyly, and then plants a chaste kiss on Green’s cheek. “Safe travels.” 

When she pulls away, Green wears the strangest expression. He blushes and smiles, but there’s something in his eyes… it almost looks like guilt. And Vio supposes that would make sense, if Green views himself as a mere copy of Link—Erune isn’t Zelda, after all. 

Maybe Green should get himself a journal, too. 

─────────────────

The four heroes travel in contented silence as they exit the Eastern region. The weather today is lovely—not too hot, not too cold, with the perfect amount of clouds in the sky—and even though his journal is probably gone forever, Vio can’t bring himself to feel totally rotten. 

And maybe… he doesn’t need to be so evasive about its contents. 

His mind wanders to his conversation with Red and Blue in their room above the tavern. He’d been so hostile towards them, when they spoke about their feelings for Zelda. At the time he couldn’t even imagine why, other than his usual overall sense of contempt, but now… 

“Hey, guys?” Vio hears himself say, his heart pounding in his ears. 

Green stops in his tracks. “Yes, Vio?” 

“I don’t think I like Zelda, in the way Link liked Zelda.” 

Now Red and Blue have stopped walking too. 

“Oh!” Red exclaims, his eyes wide and sympathetic. “That’s sad. Is there anything we can do to help?”

Vio shakes his head. “That’s not what I mean. And it’s not important, not really—“ 

“Does it have something to do with your journal?” Blue groans, his typical bluntness earning Green’s measured disapproval. 

Vio defaults to Red as his primarily point of contact. Red is the kindest of them all, even if he’s a little… simple. If Vio has to make himself vulnerable to someone, it makes the most sense to focus on him. 

“I think I’m like Erune’s dads,” he tells Red, and by extension the rest of the group. “If that makes sense.”

Blue raises an eyebrow. “You want to own a tavern? Sorry, man, but we’re on a mission here.”

Vio pinches the bridge of his nose. “No, that’s not what I—what I mean to say is… the way Link felt about Zelda, and you guys acted around Erune… I’m like that too. Or at least I suspect that I could be, except for me, it’s… different. I don’t think I feel that way about girls.”

Vio watches as Red’s brain works overtime. “But if you don’t feel that way about girls, that means you…” 

Vio nods. “Just like Erune’s dads.” 

The kitchen timer inside Red’s skull finally reaches 0:00. “Oh!” he repeats, this time with a smile. “That’s so sweet!” 

“But how would you even know?” Blue asks, furrowing his brow. “We’ve only been… ourselves… for like a month. And I’m pretty sure we would have noticed, if you were taking detours during our quest to flirt with boys in the woods.” 

Vio isn’t sure how to answer that, because it’s true—he hasn’t kissed a boy, or even met a boy he’s felt specifically drawn to during their travels. Which, to be fair, have been very insular and brief thus far. His most consistent male company has been his current company, and the idea of kissing any of these idiots makes him want to gag. 

But when Vio thinks of the way it made him feel to see Erune’s dads together, or to remember the knights in the closet, or to fluster slightly at the handsome vampire in his book… there’s definitely something happening there. 

“It’s just different,” Red had mused yesterday, “when it’s a boy and a girl, I guess.” 

And Blue had immediately agreed—“It’s only natural that he felt that way.” 

Vio has an idea. “Okay,” he says to Blue, “but have you flirted with any girls on our quest?” 

He scowls, blush flooding his cheeks. “Of course not, we’re on a quest.” 

Vio could easily argue that he has, given the Erune of it all, but that isn’t really the point. “Then how do you know you like them?” 

Blue flounders at that. “I,” he begins to say, but then stops. Vio finds himself smirking, just a little bit. I’m waiting…

He doesn’t have to wait for long. Visibly resigned to his own confusion, Blue meets Vio’s eyes again. “I just do.” 

“Well, so do I,” Vio shrugs. “But about guys instead. Admittedly, I won’t know for sure unless…” his voice tapers off. Unless what?

That, at least, seems to strike a chord with Blue. Maybe he’s more aware of their situation than Vio gave him credit for. “I get it,” Blue tells him. “Not sure why you were so worried about anyone finding out, but it’s cool. Makes sense. Just about as much as the rest of it, anyway.”

“Thanks.” 

“And now that you’ve spoken your truth or whatever, will you stop being such a smug asshole all the time?” 

“Probably not,” Vio admits. “Especially if you’re still going to be a brutish oaf.” 

“Fair enough, I guess,” Blue says, and Vio recognizes it for the acceptance that it is. 

“But I’m still confused,” says Green, scrutinizing Vio like a particularly difficult dungeon puzzle. “Link didn’t like guys.” 

“And we’re not Link,” Vio replies, crossing his arms over his chest. “Funny how that works, huh?” 

Green isn’t laughing.

“Let’s go,” Blue tells them both, glancing further down the path. “We should hit the next town by nightfall.” 

“Great,” Vio and Green say in unison. They regard each other for a moment, and then they look away. 

  ─────────────────

A little further down the path, Red falls back from the others to walk with Vio instead.

“Hi,” Red says in greeting, using a quieter voice than usual. 

Vio gives him a lazy wave. “Hey.”

I think it’s really cool that you know that about yourself. It must have been scary to tell us, with the way Blue and I were talking before.”

“Yeah, well,” Vio shrugs. “Triforce of courage, and all.” 

“Still,” Red insists, meeting his eyes. “I’m sorry that we assumed.”

Vio smiles in a way that he hopes is reassuring. “It’s really okay, Red. You couldn’t have known. I didn’t even know.”

I still don’t know for sure—and if we continue on our quest, I probably never will. 

“And I just wanted to say,” Red continues, even quieter now, “that, well, me too.”

Vio raises an eyebrow. “Really?” 

“Well, kinda. I think I like everyone, not only girls. But I didn’t really notice it, until you shared your thing. So thanks!”

Vio doesn’t know how to respond to that. “You’re welcome?”

His answer seems to satisfy Red just fine, at least for a second. But then he sighs. “You know,” Red says, his volume just above a whisper. “I’m glad that we’re not Link.” He then immediately winces at his own words. “I mean… well. I’m not sure what I mean.”

“That’s okay,” says Vio. 

Red glances at Green, farther up the path with Blue. “Don’t tell the others I said that last part.” 

Vio regards his friend in a slightly new light. “I’m glad we’re not Link too,” he tells him, and means it. “Now let’s go catch up with the group.” 

─────────────────

Shadow wonders how Vaati even writes emails without hands. 

“Stupid windbag,” he mutters, setting his work-issued laptop aside. He crosses his arms over his chest as he leans against a hard stone wall. 

His bedroom in the Tower of Winds is not nearly as glamorous as what he’s seen of Hyrule Castle—but it has walls, a floor, his laptop, and the Dark Mirror. There isn’t much else Shadow actually needs to exist. He’s been created for a very specific purpose, after all. 

One he is currently fumbling spectacularly, apparently, according to his direct supervisor. Vaati had made to sure to end his berating email with a not-so-implicit threat: if Shadow cannot manage to be more present and dedicated to the cause, he will tell Ganon what happened with Stone Arrghus. 

Shadow doesn’t even know what that would mean for him. Would Ganon destroy and replace him, or would he simply punish him for his failure? Either way, he does not intend to find out.

There is another item in his room, newly acquired, that Shadow picks up now. A leather journal, looted from the heroes’ bedroom while they were asleep. Shadow had retreated into the darkness after the eclipse for his own safety, but he’d still been able to return in the darkness of night. 

He supposes he could have hurt the heroes while they were in such vulnerable positions, or try to steal the swords they kept at their bedsides, but he didn’t want to risk alerting them all by waking just one. Even in the darkness, he knows he wouldn’t stand a chance against the four heroes as a team. And honestly, he’d already embarrassed himself enough for one day. 

Shadow sighs as he runs a finger down the journal’s spine. It belongs (belonged) to the purple hero, the one the leader had called ‘unheroic.’ Shadow opens it to the first page and scans a few lines, chuckling at the its owner’s handwriting. The messy scrawl suggests that the purple hero thinks faster than he can physically write. If Shadow didn’t hate him so much, he’d almost find it endearing. 

As Shadow subjects himself to the purple hero’s maladjusted musings, he begins to realize what a powerful weapon this book could be in his hands. Violet Link has recorded everything here—his own weaknesses, gripes with his teammates, their travel plans, even the exact way they power up their swords. There’s some personal nonsense too, but Shadow mostly just brushes over it. Although he does pay close attention to the few times the hero mentions his enemy, the Shadow Link. 

With this much free intel, Shadow can almost forgive the purple hero for calling him a “smarmy self-aggrandizing bastard,” and a “floor-crawling cretin,” and a “raucous magpie,” and—perhaps even most insultingly of all—a “thespian catastrophe.” He’ll show this sour grape that his evil is anything but a performance. The only catastrophe this hero will witness is his own tragic defeat. 

What is my problem?, Violet Link had asked himself on the journal’s most recent page. Such a sad place for the story to end—for him, anyway. Shadow is having a great time. 

He places down the journal and rises to his feet. In front of the Dark Mirror, he frowns at the small welt on his forehead from Arrghus’s well-aimed projectile. 

Shadow Link closes his eyes and pictures the purple hero. When he opens them, he sees Violet Link, and not himself, in the mirror.

“You have no idea,” he tells his reflection, “how spectacularly you’ve failed.” 

Shadow leans down and grabs the journal, displaying it to his mirror image like a prize. “What’s your problem?” he asks Violet Link with a chuckle. “I’ll show you your problem.” 

He restores his own image, wielding the journal of secrets with a devious grin. The welt on his forehead has disappeared completely. 

“Sour grape,” he repeats, tasting the insult on his tongue. Violet Link wishes he was half as clever as his Shadow. 

[2stepadmiral]

So I have some thoughts on tonight‘s episode of acolyte, thoughts that I don’t think are being considered widely enough. The general response seems to be, from what I can tell and what I’ve seen online, that the witches were pretty much just doing their own thing, and the Jedi just showed up and started being assholes, and I’ve kind of got to argue against that.

Now to be fair, the topic of Jedi recruiting children has always been a bit of a problematic thing. From what I can tell, Jedi never just take children from their parents, but they do strongly encourage and probably to some degree manipulate parents to get permission. Definitely problematic. However, the situation with Osha was pretty obviously very different. Osha wasn’t an infant or a young toddler who just found, tested, and then convinced their parents to hand her over. She’s an eight-year-old girl who is visibly uncomfortable with what her parents, sister, and community expect from her.

She has said several times that she doesn’t want to be a witch, and in every instance, her reluctance is casually dismissed. Whether it’s Mae pulling the bossy sibling who knows best routine, Koril trying to aggressively shut down any dissent, or Aniseya affectionately assuring her that she will eventually grow out of her silly individualism, everyone in her immediate vicinity is basically telling her what she wants doesn’t matter. Then, Sol and Indara show up, and one of the first things they do is recognize Osha’s individual wants and encourage her to act on them. Yes, what Osha wants is in line with what they want, and as a child, she doesn’t fully understand what it is that she’s asking for, but they make it clear that the decision is hers, and all they encourage her to really do is to be honest with herself and be brave enough to be honest with everyone else. No one else in her life has ever encouraged her to do so, and there is a degree of child abuse present in that reality.

When the Jedi arrive at their home, there is obvious tension between the witches and the Jedi. Sol might be blatantly prepared for hostility, and Indara definitely had the air of someone who was ready to fight, but generally, the Jedi make an effort at being polite, despite the open hostility and even aggression the witches treat them with. Bear in mind, we don’t yet know the history of this particular group of witches, so whether or not the hostility is justified on either side remains to be seen. We know that the witches have a clear, victimhood mentality, based on the fact that their ceremony starts with a speech about how they’ve been persecuted for this appearance of using dark powers. Again, whether or not their powers are dark, or whether or not they’ve actually been victimized by anyone remains to be seen. They could be witches of Dathomir who were driven off world and legitimately persecuted due to incorrect association with the Nightsisters, or they could actually be Nightsisters or similar dark witch organization who are bitter about having their dark ambitions thwarted.

I’ll wrap it up real quick, basically, the coven, whether or not they are night sisters, is clearly a cult, and possibly a dark side cult that has in history of being up to no good. If that is the case, then the Jedi are probably justified in wanting to keep a close eye on them and being concerned about them training children. And yes, the Jedi have faults, and their recruitment methods are also problematic, but considering that when in their ideal form, the Jedi are truly a force for good in the galaxy that do go through times where they primarily function as tools of the Senate, they are definitively the lesser of two evils here. Especially when the coven is actively engaged in highly controlling behavior towards the children in their care.