#random disclaimer that I am not a Christian

[glassprism]

"Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests!” - Luke 2:9-14

Hugh Panaro and Sara Jean Ford, Broadway 2014

For @vampyrekat and @pureanonofficial

[13a07s]

My Moon

(Tadashi Yamaguchi)

[Artwork is not mine! Credit to craziiwolf]

Requested by: Myself

[Idea inspired by Captain Jack Sparrow]

Word Count: 3,454

Warnings and/or Pre-Notes:

Just Yams being a skeptical but engaged and interested boyfriend of a witch

Wicca Practices

Disclaimer; it's been a hot minute since I was swimming in the world of Wicca so my information might be off from mis-memory and Google being a lair. Please (nicely) correct me on any wrong information

Part two?

———————————————————————

     "Where's my darling little star?"

     My head instantly snaps up from its lying position on my desk, turning toward the classroom door in search of my girlfriend. "Here I am," I call back, Tsukki's snicker following my eagerness. My eyes stay locked on her, getting more excited the closer to me she gets.

     The sound of her jewelry twinkling against each other mixes with the beating of my heart, the anticipation of her short walk from the door to my desk almost killing me. "There's the light in my darkness," she coos, settling next to my desk. The compliment - and just her in general - makes my cheeks heat up, embarrassment from everyone hearing her swirling in my head.

Her hands are in my hair instantly, petting me and adding to the growing embarrassment on my skin. "Good morning, Tsukki," she adds, taking a moment to greet my friend. Tsukki nods his head in acknowledgment.

     "Good morning, my Moon," I greet back, turning in my desk before wrapping my arms around her waist. I tilt my head, dotting her wrist and forearm with kisses.

Public displays of affection only add to my anxieties, but the small touches and kisses make her happy so I try my best to push my worries down. I always try to overcome them so my Moon can be wrapped up in a fraction of the intimacy she's always showering me with.

"Your jewelry is silver today," I point out, glancing over the bracelets my lips tumble over, the rings sliding through my hair, and the silver triangle earrings she has in.

     "Iron and lead, darling," she corrects, her nails gently scratching my scalp. "My horoscope said that my day 'will be made of the light of happiness. Despite the joys of the day, decisional difficulties will arise, turn toward the skies for wisdom'. So, tin for wisdom and lead for grounding to help hold onto my happiness."

     "And the triangles earrings because?"

     "Triangles help manifest a solid foundation and wisdom as well."

     My girlfriend is 'spiritual'. I'm never entirely certain what that means, but I've caught on to some of the things frowned upon in her religious practices. No blowing out candles, don't touch anything left in window sills, and under no circumstances am I allowed to touch anything on the little table with the red cloth.

     The few times I've messed up on the last one, I've been stuck on my knees, asking what she calls a deity for forgiveness. I don't remember what her deity is called or what deity it is. Roman or Greek or maybe one of the Christian ones. I don't know, but I know better than to cross said godly being though. I also know to greet said deity when I enter and leave the room.

     I've also learned a lot of things she does is for a reason, even if I don't understand the reasoning. She wears certain jewelry and colors depending on what she's trying to manifest. Whatever stones or rocks she has in her bag for the day depend on the same thing. Different things she cooks or weird jars she makes or other random things are more manifesting of my Moon.

     I might not understand but I find it interesting. As long as my Moon is happy I don't have an issue with how she chooses to manifest the things she wants for herself and those she cares for.

     "Want to hear your horoscope for the day?" She asks, a hand falling to cup my chin, the other one twirling the ends of my hair.

     My Moon tips my head up, my sight instantly locking on her sprinkling eyes. The feeling of her rings against my jaw is a nice comfort, one I've grown used to. "Of course."

     "You, my passionate Scorpio, will achieve a goal of yours today. Self-doubt will creep in. Don't let it fright you, for the stars are in your favor," she mutters, excitement to see how my day plays out lighting in her eyes.

     I smile up at her, gently squeezing her wrist as my thumb rolls over the pile of veins there. I'll admit some of her weird things and manifesting do come true, but most of the time I believe it's just a coincidence. However, seeing how the loose prediction aligns with my day is always fun. "Well, a goal I have for today is to pass the math test so maybe that'll be my achieved goal."

     "Maybe," my Moon hums, disapproval mixed with it. "My intuition says otherwise but it's your prediction so I guess your intuition is what matters." Her lips press against my hairline, peppering kisses across it before she lets me go.

     Her hands instantly dip into her bag, scrambling around in search of something. My Moon pulls out a small velvet sack, one that I recognize as the bag she uses to store whatever rocks she wants me to carry in my pocket for the day. I can't help but enjoy her excitement as she dumps the rocks out, preparing to give me a lecture on them.

"Alright, today I focused on luck and trying to counteract self-doubt to help you get to your goal," she starts, fingertips toying with the shiny rocks. Instantly, my hand goes out, waiting for her explanation. "Jade for luck," she mutters, placing a pretty green stone in my palm. "Tiger eye for self-esteem, rose quart for self-love - "

"And tourmaline for protection," I butt in, knowing that rock for sure. It's the only one she gives me every day so I've caught on to what it is and what my Moon thinks it does.

"Yes," she giggles, peaking my forehead again, before snatching her shiny stones back. She carefully places them back in their bag before handing it to me. "I hope you achieve one of your big goals today, Tadashi."

"Me too," I murmur, my heart beating a little faster. I know my Moon would support me in anything I decide to do, but it's always nice to hear her so willing to support me. "I'll see you at break?" I ask, my eyes taking a peak at the clock.

"Of course," she chirps, another big smile on her face. "Remember, positive thoughts manifest positive things. Keep your thoughts positive," my Moon reminds me like she does every morning. "Bye, Tadashi! Bye, Tsukki!" She almost sings, another kiss to my head before she floats out the door, off to her classroom. I swear it feels like all the warmth is sucked out of the room with her.

     "Your girlfriend is weird," Tsukki grumbles, rolling his eyes at himself more than me.

     "Like your girlfriend of the week is any better. I swear she's trying to slide you in every time she's near you. You're just jealous I have a smoking hot witchy girlfriend."

     He rolls his eyes again, a soft grin on his face. "Your girlfriend is just average if even that. What do I care if she gives you dumb rocks like a penguin? Or that she says weird spiritual things to you? It's whatever."

     "Sure. It's whatever," I mock, a prideful smile on my face. Tsukki is rarely jealous of me. Most of the time I'm jealous of him, so it's a nice change of pace.

                     ————————————

     My Moon's soft humming filters through the windows, Tsukki and I both looking toward the gym entrance, waiting for her. Some of the other girls are already here; the captain's girlfriend, Kinoshita's girlfriend, and a few of the girls crushing on Tsukki and Kageyama.

     When the humming gets louder, I quickly climb to my feet, making my way to the door. Tsukishima follows me, a few steps behind, and his pace is a lot slower. I recognize the tone as one of the soft lullabies she sings to her plants before bed. It's the one about lavenders and royalty.

When my Moon makes it to the door, her face lights up at the sight of me. "Hello my beautiful star," she coos, stepping forward to wrap her arms around my neck.

"Hi," I whisper, my cheeks heating up from her closeness.

"How was your last class, darling?" She asks, voice soaked in as much admiration as possible. Her arms are loose around me, fingertips barely toying with the cowlick in my hair.

"It was fine," I murmur, my fingers shaky and eyes scurrying around the gym as I rest my hands on her hips. "I'm struggling a bit with the new lesson. It's on trapezoid angles. It's difficult but I'm sure I'll be able to make my way through it."

"I know you will. You're so smart, Tadashi. A little more practice and you'll have it figured out." It feels like I'm melting into a puddle on the floor, my Moon's encouragement and pride in me making my skin sizzle.

My cheeks are stinging from how warm they are and from the grin on my face. This is why she's my Moon because she glows so bright that it makes me shine too. "I made good luck gifts for Tsukki and you," she hums, pulling away from me. "And the team of course, but Tsukki and you have special ones."

     My Moon digs around her bag, pulling out a thick jar no bigger than ten milliliters. Her hands cling to it, shaking a bit as her eyes are caught on the container. "This is the one for your team. I've never done one for multiple people so I'm a bit weary but I'm sure it'll be good enough. I... I, ah... used a yellow candle to seal it for focus and logic and clarity and such. Then... then there's mint - "

     "For protection," I butt in, settling my hands over hers, hoping it'll help calm her down. Mint is my Moon's favorite protection herb because 'it smells the best'.

     "Exactly," she chirps, her eyes settled on me now. "There's chamomile for calm nerves, sage for strength, bay, and rosemary for success, and then stormwater for energy and such. Well, and cause I think it makes it look like a cool globe," she rambles, shaking the jar at the end of her statement.

     A small smile rests on my face as I watch the different herbs float around in the vial. The white petals in the jar dance around with the yellows and greens of the herbs, making the container look like a globe made from a flower field.

     "What did you use to cleanse it?" I ask my usual question. I know it's something my Moon does before every jar of things she makes and it's something she doesn't usually mention, so when I ask about it she tends to get excited. She's always so excited to explain her things to me and I'm always happy to listen to her ramble.

     "Usually I use incense but there's this lullaby called 'Crow's Lullaby' so I cleansed your team's jar with a bell I rang to the rhythm of it."

     That's cute. My little spiritual girlfriend is so adorable and so invested in doing what she believes she can for my team. Tsukki is even touched by the gesture, his arms crossed over his chest, cheeks a bit pink, and eyes looking anywhere except my thrilled Moon.

     "Anyway," she starts, handing me the jar before digging through her bag again. "This one is yours!" She chirps, pulling out a smaller vial, about half the size of the one she made for the team.

     I look over the jar she made me. It's one of about twenty or so I've been given by my Moon. I keep them all unless she takes them back to 'correctly dispose and replace' them.

     There are a lot of things I have or do because of her. One of those things is a little baggy of whatever she has me keep by my bed for 'good dreams'. There's this white solid crystal slab she gave me too that she told me to put the sack on during the day to 'recharge and cleanse' the stones in the tiny satchel my sleep things stay in. Thinking of it now, I haven't had any nightmares since my Moon gave me that baggy.

     "For your jar, I sealed it with an orange candle for confidence. Mint for protection, of course. Then there's flickers of gold for success, black pepper to banish negativity, carnation for strength, cinnamon for luck, and finally, lavender for focus."

     "How'd you cleanse it?" I repeat, taking the small vial from her. I hold it, pressing it between my palms like my Moon has shown me how. As I listen to her answer, I try to manifest like she's been trying to teach me.

     Success and luck for the game. Focus, strength, and no negativity for my mind. Success and luck for the team. Focus, strength, and no negativity for my body. I continuously repeat my wants as I roll the jar between my hands, my focus not fully on the vial like it's supposed to be.

     "Apple Blossom incense, duh. I use Apple Blossom to cleanse everything for you." I know she does. Every witchy spiritual thing she's made me has always smelled like apples.

     My Moon pats my head, plopping a kiss on my cheek before she floats away to give Tsukishima his gift. "Tsukki," she calls, the airiness of her voice gone like it usually is when she speaks to someone who's not me. "Don't think I forgot about you."

"What's the point of giving me a jar of herbs if you made one for the team?" He grumbles, eyes and arms falling the closer my Moon gets to him.

"I have to make sure my boyfriend's boyfriend is taken care of, don't I?" She teases, focusing on her bags again. My Moon dances in her spot, shaking around the jar before holding it out to my friend.

"I'm not Yamaguchi's boyfriend," Tsukki hisses, reluctantly taking the vial. Studying it carefully before his attention falls back down. "What is in this tiny glass?" He asks, shaking it a bit, sights back on the spiritual jar.

My Moon's hands jump up, fixing how my friend is holding his jar. "For your jar, Tsukki, mint again for protection, there's acorn chucks for good luck, borage leaves for strength, lilac for luck, oregano for health since Tadashi says you're fingers get nicked a lot when you block, and sunflower petals for energy. Unlike the others, I sealed it with yellow string to help start the manifesting of a better friendship between us. I'm not used to using string for sealing so be careful shaking it."

Tsukishima doesn't believe any of my Moon's spiritual stuff; even now I can see it in his eyes, but he appreciates the offering. That I can see in the way he obeys her, holding the jar correctly, and the way his cheeks are dusted and huffy from her support of him. His eyes skirt toward me before dropping down again, caught on the vial mixture. "Uh... how'd you clean it?" Tsukki asks, trying to follow my example of the conversation.

"I cleansed it with moon water." My friend's face drops at the answer, his huffiness from not understanding my Moon's rituals and from always wanting answers. "It just felt right using it to cleanse your jar. I'm not sure why but Artemis and Apollo both seemed to agree on it. Let me tell you, it's rare they both answer so I figured they were right."

"Artemis and Apollo... as in... Greek Gods?"

"Ya," my Moon chirps, turning away from my friend. As she walks my way, Tsukki sends me 'she's crazy' eyes, making me grin. "My star," she purrs, her arms settling around my neck again.

     "My pinch server," Coach's voice booms from behind me, startling me and instantly making my cheeks heat with embarrassment.

     "Of course, Ukai-San," my Moon answers, pulling away from me. "I didn't mean to make a ruckus."

     "You didn't. I just don't need Yamaguchi in his head during the practice game. He has a new serve to try and I don't need you psyching him out." I want to crawl into a hole and vanish. I want to crawl into a hole with Tsukki and my Moon, then vanish. This is so embarrassing.

     She giggles, fingertips dancing over mine to take her present for the team from me. "I'm not going to psych him out. I do have a gift for you. Well, you and the team."

     Coach Ukai looks at the vial, confused eyes flickering toward me before he takes it. "This... this a jar of dirt... and water," he mutters, shaking the vial so it swirls like a globe again.

     "Pedals and herbs, actually, but ya."

     Coach looks at her again, slowly blinking as he shakes the jar some more, keeping it constantly on snow globe mode. "Is... the jar of dirt... going to help?" He slowly asks, skeptialness soaked in his words.

     My Moon raises her hand, ready to take the vial from him. "If you don't want it, give it back. I'll dispose of it properly."

     "No," he yelps, holding the present to his chest. "It's the team's jar of dirt now. Sorry, jar of flowers, herbs, and water."

     "Then it helps," she giggles, plopping another kiss on my cheek before she walks away. My eyes trail after my Moon, watching her greet the other girlfriends before settling next to Captain's girlfriend on the floor; the two girls instantly chatting.

     "Your girlfriend," Coach starts, pulling my attention back toward him. "Gave us a jar of dirt."

     "It's... um... a manifestation device for her religion."

     "What might that be?"

     "Wicca," I murmur, eyes cast toward my Moon again. I wonder if she has ever done a love jar or candle on me. Or maybe some other manifestation thing. I should ask after the game.

     "I don't know what that is."

     "Like modern paganism."

     "Like witches?" Coach yelps, clinging to the jar tighter. "Did she curse us? Why'd you piss off a witch?"

     I shake my head at him, a grin painting on my face. "It's a blessing for the team, Coach. She's trying to manifest success and strength and luck and etcetera for us."

     He stays quiet for a moment, the both of us looking at my blinged-out girlfriend. The grey - not silver, as I learned this morning - jewelry looks good on her, but I prefer my Moon decorated in gold jewelry. She insists with the nickname that silver would be better but I still like gold on her wrists more.

     "What am I supposed to do with the jar of dirt or pedals or whatever?"

     "Um... well... I hold my jar between my hands like this, but my Moon says touching it however feels right should work," I start, showing him how I to keep the vial pressed between my palms. "Then she says to just have good thoughts that align with the substances and just do whatever feels right with your hands. I roll the jar as I repeat my thoughts," I finish, twirling the jar between my palms to show him.

     "Am I supposed to do that?"

     I shrug, glancing at my Moon again. She's laughing, head tilted back as she giggles at whatever the third year said to her. "Since it's for the team I'd assume any and all members of the team can use it to manifest if they'd like."

     "What the hell are we supposed to think while we're holding the jar?"

     "Thoughts of calm nerves, strength, and success for ourselves and the team."

     "Then what?"

     "Just keep it under the bench, I guess," I answer, shrugging my shoulders for the millionth time. I'm not the one to be asked these things. "I keep the ones she gives me for about a month before she takes them to do I don't know what and she usually replaces them soon after."

     "If this works you can't break up with her until after the season."

     "I've been with my Moon for almost two years. The only way my terms will let her stop being my girlfriend is when I upgrade her to fiancé."

     "Cute," Coach mumbles, rolling the vial between his hands as I showed him. "Disgusting, but cute. Come on. Let's go do your girlfriend's manifestation thingy before the game starts." My heart skips a beat at Coach Ukai's orders. I don't know how I expected him to respond, but it makes me giddy that he's supporting my girlfriend's rituals. I can't wait to tell my Moon she's glowing for more than just me now.

[flanpucci]

An ASD oriented analysis of the character of Enrico Pucci

Okay guys after letting this draft cook in my notes for months, here it is!!!

I have decided to embark on the journey of listing the reasons why I think Pucci is autistic coded and if he isn’t, he’s written with a pretty good idea of what an autistic person is! Since I'm pinning this, the analysis will be under the cut ↓

I can’t guarantee that my analysis won’t come with a whole lot of general delusion or projecting on my side, so don't hesitate to tell me if you feel some type of way about this. I understand that many of the traits or behaviors i’m gonna talk about are mostly explained by the events happening in canon, but they give him a general super autistic vibe. Disclaimer that I’ve also decided to ignore most acts of murder type violence for this analysis as I think those are more relevant in the context of the story than the character building.

Although not on purpose this analysis is organized almost like diagnosis criteria, so we're going to look into repetitive behavior and interests, communication, aversion to unpredictability and sensory processing etc...! Before we start, I'd like to say once more that I am autistic, my analysis is mine and reflects my opinion only, it's my headcanon and comes with a lot of projecting, so proceed with caution.

Anxiety and counting prime numbers, Repetitive behavior

Counting numbers is a well known technique to stop panic attacks. The reason is that when you panic, your brain’s logical part doesn’t activate. Counting numbers will help you get the logical part of your brain back ‘on’. Simply counting numbers in order or in a simple pattern is too natural, and may not work, so some people will count numbers backwards from 100, count numbers in a non-patterned, random way, or even count prime numbers.

In Pucci’s case he counts primes because they can’t be divided other than by 1 or themselves and are “lonely numbers”. The prime numbers remind him of his own loneliness against adversity, and give him courage. I don’t think a lot of neurotypical people feel personal closeness to something unemotional like a mathematical concept, but I might be wrong. I think what’s interesting to note is that prime numbers are a fixed series of numbers, never changing, offering a great deal of familiarity in repeating them (and also by doing so out loud, in the sound of repeating them). He has also memorized them up to the hundreds, (maybe even thousands iirc?), which shows he has an amazing memory skill, but also that he’s probably counted them a LOT. (Funny anecdote, Oliver Sacks mentions in one of his psychology books a pair of autistic twins that would figure out prime numbers together, and use it as means of communicating and bonding. They were able to produce huge prime numbers without a table!)

It is just something I wanted to point out, but I think it’s funny that a priest wouldn’t recite prayers as a calming mantra, but something very cartesian like mathematics. This furthers the idea that he has a lot of interest and finds a peculiar comfort and understanding of the world in science.

Oh and I think resetting the entire universe for everyone to gain precognition of events COULD be considered as a liking for repetitive things… ! /j

His interests and the random trivia at unexpected times

Pucci seems to be a man of many interests but primarily these are science (especially biology, animals, maths/geometry and physics), Dio’s plan/heaven, christianism, art (paintings). At least that’s what I got from the manga. There aren’t a lot of characters for which you can easily lay out the interests in that manner. The reason for that is that he talks about those all the time! And he always uses metaphors related to what he knows about to explain the world, his intentions, or situations.

• The corridor scene where he meets Jolyne, it’s not like it’s random or out of the blue, but it feels a bit peculiar to bring up this subject in this manner, and Jolyne seems dumbfounded at what he said to her.

• When handcuffed to Jolyne, he starts explaining about the swallows that are prone to accidents to make a parallel between the birds and her own situation.

• References both a politician’s use of subliminal sex and a painting (the “Domine Quo Vadis”) in a dramatic moment where he’s literally ending his brother’s life.

• Seems to be particularly interested in art as shown by the book he was reading when he met Dio (about Fra Filippo Lippi, a painter) and the conversations he has with Dio (once again using art as a metaphor to understand other concepts such as stands, and souls.).

• Of course bringing up the subject of the man eating a mushroom for the first time at the most unstable point of the battle against Jolyne, feels very out of the blue, (but not out of context.)

• When talking to Miraschon, he does a whole bunch of inappropriated stuff lol, doesn’t pay attention to what she says, and starts talking about his own interests/ideas.

This happens again when talking to Donatello Versace, where he's bouncing off questions, not acknowledging the answer right away and coming back to it a little bit later. His train of thought seems to come first, and his communication is not centered around making the other feel like they've been listened to.

Overall he often makes a great point, but sometimes it feels like the context is lacking, like he has had many thoughts before saying the things he says, but we don’t get to hear them, so the conversation topics are a bit unnatural. Plus he generally has a very self-important way to talk and explain things.

Other than that I think his exceptional focus on the same goal and obsessive idea of fate, from childhood and up into late adulthood can be the sign of a truly one track mind, which can be often found in ASD. Could also be noted that a lot of his behavior and actions is copied/referencing Dio, which could be because of Dio’s literal influence (being absorbed by green baby), or an overall tendency to use direct references in speech/behavior.

Self importance and the desire of previsibility

As I just mentioned a little while ago, the Miraschon scene is a scene where he’s info dumping her for at least three pages, on two different subjects, but also not paying attention at what she’s saying. This is not very nice behavior, but it’s very frequent in autistic people too. Being centered on one’s self, and unable to put yourself in another person’s shoes is very characteristic of ASD.

Pucci’s motivation and his ideal of heaven makes a lot of sense from an autistic viewpoint for a number of reasons. The first one being the discomfort caused by the unknown, or at least the fact that he thinks the world would be a better place without unknown events. The desire to know everything in advance and be able to have the time to be prepared for it will resonate with a lot of autistic people, because our brains have so much trouble adjusting to unknown outcomes and situations. I can’t explain it much better, it’s just wiring.

Second reason is Pucci’s overall sense of self importance throughout the part. There are many situations in which he will put himself first, expecting better treatment, straight up explaining that he’s different than other people.

The frog scene is interesting because he tries to weigh logically why his situation is objectively worse than the guard’s, without acknowledging the slightest the guard’s panic when assessing such a stressful situation.

(Pucci thinks the guard takes decision based on logic and not panic, gets frustrated that the guard isn't calm and rational.)

His inability to see things from outside his viewpoint is ultimately what will lead him to try to push his own ideal onto the whole world, always sure inside himself that he’s doing that out of altruism and for the greater good. Of course I think there is a slight disconnect from his inner emotions about what has led him to this point. But for me, this is the truest sign of being unable to understand that other people might see things any other way than he does, but he’s just sure that people don’t understand that it’s for their own good. In a way, his self-centeredness is mostly intellectual and not of intentions. This is something that is often present in people with ASD, because of a lack of (or misplaced/altered) cognitive empathy. People with ASD can have trouble mentalizing other people’s emotions or point of view. It doesn’t mean that they don’t care, don’t respect it, or can’t show support, but they just can’t really understand that another person has another mental space.

Cognitive empathy is described as such :

Identifying and labeling the emotions, connecting feeling to cause, and reading the thoughts and perspective of others. Ability to read nonverbal communication and social context. Ability to read the mental experiences of others.

Pucci will often justify his lack of mind theory by « you just can’t understand it. » : from his view point, being opposed by other people is not due to divergence of opinion (which would mean to accept that other people understand the situation but are in a different mindset), but due to lack of intellectual comprehension. This is why even though very intelligent, it can seem like he’s confused.

Young Pucci and the scenes with Dio

An important thing to note about young Pucci is his inability to break the rule that priests can’t talk about what has been said in confession. He’s not even a priest at that time and the confession was forced on him. These are perfectly good excuses to break the rule, or at least bend it a little, to confront the Weather and then Weather/Perla situation. Hesitation or inability to break the rules, irreasonable attachment to morals and taking irrational decisions because of those despite having great intelligence is a trait that can be found in a lot of autistic people. However, we see that he’s flexible enough to permit that Dio stays in the church basement until the sun sets. In my opinion, he’s quick to give his trust to such a suspicious person as Dio, even when Dio hints that he might be lying. This could be the sign of a little bit of naivety but it's still pretty much normal at a young age.

In the chapters with Dio, we can extract quite a lot of information on Pucci’s communication because it’s the almost only scenes where he’s not in scheming mode, in a pinch, or fighting. Pucci has a very different reaction to meeting Dio, even at a young age, compared to how Avdol or the hunchmen describe their reaction to Dio for example. He’s not shocked or in awe, but not hostile either, which is unusual. Even when he talks about Dio in narration, he has a detached way of calling him beautiful and mysterious, which shows it’s obviously how he feels even though he stays calm at all times in front of Dio, even in dangerous situations.

Dio makes numerous observations about Pucci’s behavior, expression and communication. He seems relaxed and expressive, very different from the rest of what we see of him.

(Pucci 'making a face.')

Another important thing to note is the unusual way he communicates his love to Dio, using very profound words, with a lot of sincerity, without flinching. This genuine confession of a difficult emotion to confess even sets Dio aback.

(Probably having the most fun he’s had in his life here, and is that a smile!?)

Also, parallel play!! They’re shown having bonded profoundly, at the point of hanging out in bed together, but apart from chatting, they don’t really do things together like for example Hermes and Jolyne throw the ball with F.F., they’re doing stuff next to each other (Pucci watches Dio build his boat, and they read lying next to each other.).

(generally also seems kinda bad at picking up subtext)

Two words on sensory perception

(Pucci wondering about how pretty the green baby is, he really wants to know if it's not ugly fr.)

About sensory perception, it’s actually one of the first things I noted when watching the anime especially, he’s very curious about the green baby, and talks to F.F. about it, but as he says himself, he can’t get the “feeling” from a memory disc, and he wants to know how the green baby feels in a sensory kind of way. (Is it soft? is it beautiful?). Of course the many scenes where he purposely mutilates himself without even flinching could indicate that he has a very low perception of physical pain. Both these traits would indicate a very peculiar kind of sensory relationship to the world.

In this scene with Donatello he does state that he has an acute sense of taste, in response to Donatello describing with great precision ingredients in a dish.

(Having a little solo party and dropping trivia again.)

He also seems to feel the music strongly, even though the scene is meant to be comedic, he’s really into it and seems to have some sensory associations (visual/auditory) (also trivia dumping).

Although not directly a sign, the way he asks Dona to test his food because of allergy may also remind of many autistic people who have food allergies and aversions and get people to test food for them before eating.

Body language and facial expression

Pucci has a very specific kind of body posture, especially in the wrists, they’re always limp or twisted in some kind of way, similar to what autistic people might call “T-rex arms”. Araki is very talented at showing detail about characters in the strictly visual part of his drawings, so I think that’s important to note. In terms of facial expression, apart from with Dio, he seems pretty stoic and stern in most situations where he’s not under a lot of stress, almost never laughs or smiles, even in power high situations where other villains usually at least evil laugh for a couple seconds .

(Cute snapped wrist picture collection.)

End note about Weather Report

I just wanted to add a quick word on Weather. Weather Report without his memory disc is also extremely autistic coded. Walking on tip toes, talking in a very low volume not respecting personal space, when he is introduced, he seems super autistic. The reason is the lack of memory disc and consequences of being hung, but I personally think this adds to the overall neurodivergent feel of the manga. I’m also not sure of how much of his backstory was planned at first, and if or not Araki had planned his behavior because of his backstory or not at the point of his introduction scene :3

And there we have it!! I tried not to be too lengthy so I hope you understand my point. I don't think I've seen him being analyzed/hc as autistic a lot, especially compared to characters like Jotaro, but I think he shares some similarities with Kakyoin who is very ND coded too! I would also like to point out that I don't think Araki purposely created a character that reads as autistic, but that he has a very realistic vision of personalities and identities that can lead to this kind of analysis. Also, fun note, Pucci is often typed as INFJ/INTJ and these are prominent personality types in autistic people :3. Anyways, hope you enjoyed, feel free to share your reactions, I'd be glad to hear your thoughts.

NB:

I felt like adding a few to this post so here it is. I would like to say that I think overall Pucci is the most multifaceted, complex character in the series, he has often been described as such, and that’s what makes him the exceptional last boss of the first Jojo era. Many people have had trouble understanding him and Made in Heaven, as can be seen by the numerous amounts of questions on the internet « what did Pucci want to do? » « what is Made in Heaven? » etc. Araki himself said it was very tiring writing such a nuanced villain. I think many of Pucci’s actions and behavior can be attributed to elements in the story narrative, his almost impossible circumstances, and I don’t want to oversimplify, or kick him into a box that might not have been intended at all by Araki. I would also like to add that ASD is a spectrum and one may or may not relate with every trait exposed here, or may find others that I haven’t listed. And it’s always a bit hard categorizing villains as ND because of their reprehensible actions. However I think he is nuanced enough to be considered good rep anyway. But maybe that’s just me fangirling a little too much. In any case, I hope you enjoyed.

Flan, out!!

[vanitythevantropist]

DISCLAIMER: this account is 16+ as it may contain themes that are not suitable for children. Please use caution and always check the trigger warnings. Stay safe❤️

INTRODUCTION POST:

Hi! You may call me Vanity, or Vani, if you want to :3

I’m a 16 year old furry (scaly?) from South Africa! I go by she/her pronouns and am Omnisexual :> I’m a Christian (and also a Satanist) (Shocker, Ik👀)

My disorders consist of; ADHD, autism (ASD), sensory processing disorder (SPD), alexithymia

Over here on this strange lil blog, you’ll find my random thoughts and interactions with other Tumblr peeps, as well as images of my pets! The main part, though, is my art😌 Yeah, I’m a digital artist and am strangely motivated🤣 (My tablet sucks so it takes a while cuz I gotta charge it after an hour-) (Le sigh)

FANDOMS I’M IN:

-How to Train Your Dragon

-Wings of Fire

-Warrior Cats (never read the books lmao)

-Helluva Boss

-My Little Pony (haven’t watched the show lol-)

-Cobra Kai (unironically)

OC STORIES (Named):

-Stones of Gold (original)

-The Underground (fan-story for friend)

-Wings of Fire: the Dragon Pact Chronicles (WoF AU)

-Eternal Twilight (original)

-The Wilds of Pernul (original)

-The Sky of Maroon (original)

-Eyes of Pure Silver (original)

-The Colonies (WC AU)

-The Tempest’s End (original)

-The Divine Deception (original)

-Chasing Echoes (original)

ASKS (n stuff):

Feel free to ask me anything! I’m quite open about anxiety and my disorders, stuff like that :3 The thing you don’t ask are obvious, like sexual things, cuz I’m, y’know, 16💀

BUT! that’s not all!! If you want, you can ask my OCs questions, as well! Whatever you want, really! Want an introduction? Ask em! Wanna ask about their food tastes? Ask em! Wanna know a little more about their toxic ass relationships? Ask em, see if they’ll like that😌 (They probably won’t but you can do it anyway!) (I may or may not draw art for it but probably mostly won’t but hey, who knows?)

TAGS:

-Vanity’s random thoughts; my random thoughts (duh), usually on the shorter end

-Vanity’s ramblings; same as the tag above but *long*

-Vanity’s Lore-dumps; OC lore dumps/info n stuff👀

-Vanity’s lil’ roleplays; Lil roleplays, whether I’m interacting with other people or just posting here :3

-Snake science; ✨Satire Misinformation✨

COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

-“How do you feel about PMs?” Love em! I’m all about chatting with like minded people :D If you wanna drop a compliment, ask about commissions, whatever, feel free!

-“How do you feel about fanart?” I LOVE fanart!! If you wish to draw fanart for me, please make sure to credit the OC/design to me and tag me directly!

-“How do you feel about reposts?” I don’t like reposts. If you want to share my art, please reblog my posts directly. Thank you!

ART REQUESTS:

Status: closed

Terms of request (ToR):

-You may request art through my asks or in private.

-The art requested will be drawn as a simple sketch. I leave the complicated pieces to the commissions!

-I draw; furries, dragons, horses/unicorns/pegasi, dogs, cats, gore (artsy), robots, fanart, OCs

-I don’t draw; humans, fish, complicated designs, nudity, overly suggestive, vehicles, hateful art (homophobia, racism, etc)

COMMISSIONS:

Status: closed

Commission details:

[fitzrove]

Hi, Fitzrove, I wanted to ask you, since you've been to the Perman Production of JCS; could you please tell a bit more about your opinion of the staging (strengths/weaknesses)?

I like your analyses of Elisabeth and would like to hear your opinion on JCS too :)

(On a sidenote - it's been a while since I've seen it - why is Mark cradling Oedo after the torture scene? 👀 I kind of didn't remember Pilates having a moment with Jesus there)

Hii!! Thanks for asking!

Omg disclaimer - my analysis is NOT going to be very good, this is the first JCS production I have ever seen and I first listened to any cast recording (the 2005 one) two hours before going to see it 😂😭

I think strong parts were: costuming (it's a concert but if the budget is limited I'd argue that nice simple "modern" costumes can look better than cheap historical costumes. Loved Marjan in a long flowy red dress, Oedo in all white - with a bloody crucifix shirt at the end - and the priests in black. Only one I'm not sure about is T-shirt mark, that was just kind of weird and was not giving much Pilate...), the torture scene w Oedo standing on a table and being pulled w strings on each arm (the table was like. the only setpiece but worked well esp with his acting), and the way the ensemble used the entire stage space during choreographies etc., and how soloists walked up and down the stage if necessary etc. The only thing that stood out to me as weird was the entire cast sitting down around the table at the beginning/prologue in the last supper position, like just chilling in the background while it was happening, that was a bit weird and awkward to me, like them just Being There not doing anything akdkfkfk.

And with the torture scene - the cradling part is during these lines:

And I thought it was very well done, it could've been more homoerotic though DJKFKFKF but I think it still worked! Was grateful that Mark actually remembered to act during that part 😅😁

Sorry I think this is a very bad reply 😅😁 I simply don't have a lot to compare to since I've only seen this one staging, and I was also struggling to remember what happens next because I'm not a Christian (I mean I am culturally but I left the church as a kid due to lack of belief, and haven't been to church or bible story lessons since age 11...) 😂😭. But overall I think it was an effectively staged concert version, there's no weird random choices happening like in some other concert productions we shan't speak of...

[det2x-fanfic-dump]

HEADCANON: DEMON BROTHERS AS ANGELS (MAMMON)

Lucifer | Mammon | Leviathan | Asmodeus | Beelzebub | Belphegore | Lilith/Satan

This is a reference for my fanfic series. Obey Me kinda gives a vague lore or maybe I just forgot and didn't read it properly. But here's my headcanons and takes on what I imagined the brothers' lives are as angels.

You can also see this as my character analysis lol

Disclaimer: This is inspired from the game and my basic understanding in Theology. I am no expert in Theology and I may be religiously-biased writing this.

WHEN HE WAS AN ANGEL:

Mammon is a giver as an angel, giving emotional and physical support. If MC is out of their therapy duties, he's most likely the subsitute lol

WEAPON OF CHOICE: He is skilled with a SWORD.

Headcanon: Being under Michael's tutelage once, he is introduced in training with a sword. However, as a demon, he sees no use of it since he rely more on magic and deceptions now.

POWER AND ABILITY:

1. Teleportation:

The ability to teleport everywhere between celestial realm and human world. This ability is contrast to Mammon's demon power to summon crows and super speed.

Explanation: Crows are everywhere and super speed is technically teleportation but running.

2. Swordfighting / Protection

He used swords to protect humans from evil spirits. This ability contrasts to Mammon's demon powers to having physical strength in general.

Explanation: He no use swords as demon

3. Protection/ Attraction

The ability to get one's attention, encouragement and unconditional protection. Singing and playing an instrument is the medium. This ability is contrast to Mammon's demon power of giving wealthy luck

Explanation: Giving luck is mostly a granted wish or reward. There's a price to pay. Unconditional protection needs no trade.

RANK AS ANGELS: Stated in Obey Me Wiki, Mammon was an ARCHANGEL.

1. As an archangel, Mammon often went down to the human world to bring the good news to humans and saves them from danger if necessary.

2. He's one of those angels that whispers in your ear guiding you to the right path.

3. He always play with little kids who sees him.

4. Mammon's stories about his job in the human world is what lead to Lilith and Belphie's love and curiosity for humans .

5. Despite being a messenger of god, he still does what normal angels do and that's to interact with random people.

6. The hifher angels finds this a waste of time but lets him cuz he still does his job.

7. Probably the reason why Michael gives Mammon to Luci instead.

RANK: After promoted by Lucifer as a THRONE...'

1. As a Throne, he sings to Father God, bringing peace of minds to humans and angels.

2. He follows Lucifer everywhere he goes like a duckling.

3. He always announces Lucifer's arrival to everyone wherever he goes. Kinda annoying to Lucifer but didn't mind.

4 He is good at playing wind instruments. specifically trumpets.

5. He is a babysitter for human souls residing in the Celestial Realm.

HOW BEING AN ANGEL AFFECTS HIM AS A DEMON:

1. Mammon is cursed by Greed and being very materialistic. This contrast of him being a giver.

2. Mammon still find himself doing things when he was an angel by:

Mammon's overprotectiveness towards his brothers and MC is similar to him guiding humans to what's right.

His carefree attitude and being idiot is his own interpretation of bringing peace of mind to others in a way...IT'S 50-50

3. He still gives life advices to everyone. Even though he has poor use of right words and analogies.

Source of Inspiration/ Origin:

Source: Angeology Wiki / Christian Religion

What is Thrones:

My interpretation: Thrones is the third highest rank of angels. As carriers of the Throne, I imagined these angels to be the ones who announces to the angels that Father God or the other higher ranked angels are coming.

Thrones is one of the ranks that serves Father God directly so assumig they mostly never leave heaven. Since they're the last that belongs to the top hierarchy, they're in charge of taking care of the human souls.

My interpretation: Since Mammon is a pretty ikemen boy, we shall ignore the depicted of old man lol. However, old man is wise hence Mammon can be qualified in giving life advices and stories. If we use this facts to fiction, The so called wheels can be interpreted as the ones that steers or the pilots---a somewhat guide to a certain destination. All eyes are on the Thrones, may it be angels or humans. Thrones are guides to God's way.

What is Archangels:

Source: Patch.com

My interpretation: Archangels are angels sent to Earth to protect humans. Michael is known as the great defender and protector, he has a sword and everything. Hence, Mammon being Michael's disciple first creates Mammon's character of overprotectiveness and caring where he is seen to be most caring to MC. (This is probably my headcanon since this is too much positivity for a demon lol)

[ohbutwheresyourheart]

dante and/or the whole dmc 5 crew for the blorbo meme? :)

oh ho HO thank you for this, I love the DMC gang and don't talk about them enough

disclaimer/note to begin with: they all have pretty privelege and they all need to stop being put in situations, because that's just who they all are as people/chew toys of fate

second disclaimer: I made this post while drinking a big old bottle of beer so if this commentary goes off the rails the further you go down the post then that's why

also I'm putting these under a cut bc this got really long

first up: dante!!!

fewer boxes crossed off than I was expecting but when I sat down and thought about it there were some I couldn't justify, e.g. in my heart I want to believe I can fix him and he needs me but let's be real the only thing that ever had the power to fix Dante is getting his bro back </3

also I say most fandom takes are incorrect bc my main contact with the DMC fandom was back in the day where it was very common to portray Dante as this LOL SO RANDOM horndog (i.e. as if his projected persona was his... actual deep-seated personality) and I am a depression Dante truther. not sure what the current fandom mentality on Dante is, if things have moved on then disregard

next up: nero!!!

gonna be honest, I wasn't too fussed about Nero until DMC 5 and then he quickly leapfrogged into my heart because oh my god this poor, poor, POOR kid. born to be the straight man in a universe of wackos. trying SO HARD to keep this mess of a family on track but if you push him so help him sparda he WILL turn this car around.

I need more Nero. I need more Nero and Kyrie, specifically. I need to see them just living their average everyday lives where Nero slops his way home covered in demon guts and sluices off then puts a load of laundry on and helps Kyrie with dinner.

also hahahahahaa definitely nothing in there about growing up feeling like an outcast so thoroughly one might as well have had a fucked up demon appendage, nope, nothing like that!!!

V aka DOUBLE BINGO

I have a thing for pasty ass dark haired skinny twink vaguely feeble romantic poet creatures okay even though I would get so frustrated the tenth time I asked him a simple question and he replied with a blake quote

but also HE WAS HIS OWN PERSON he was REAL he was ALIVE and now he's NOT because he WASN'T VERGIL, he was HIMSELF, he was HUMAN, and now he's GONE but also he lives on but also V as an individual is GONE but they'll still see glimmers and hints of him in Vergil and be reminded of him but but but (bites fingers and screeches)

THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA

okay so all of my years of fangirling aside I have to be upfront that if I ever met Vergil I would want to tear his smug disdainful face apart with my bare hands in a matter of minutes

HOWEVER in the realm of fandom, the only reason he ranks lower than V is because V exudes that high fructose twink timothee chalamet energy

I cannot fix him. he does not need me. and yet. whomst among the ranks of Vergil fancreatures has not sat up late at night in their early/mid-teens frantically typing barely-disguised self-insert fanfic where we DO fix him, where we are the ONLY ones who can fix him, where we are the Eva to his Sparda, washing away the sins of his past and anointing him with love?

Vergil is the most anti-hero of all time. he has it all. he's a genocidal maniac, except maybe he isn't because maybe the qliphoth was going to grow there anyway and he just got in on the demonic gentrification scheme at the right moment. he literally has an unspeakably tormented and tortured past.

he has mommy issues. he has daddy issues. he has brother issues. he has son issues. he's a weeaboo. he loves poetry. he hates you, both generally and specifically. he has the hauteur and arrogance of christian fifty shades. underneath it all he just wants desperately to be loved and protected. his idea of bonding is a no-holes-barred beatdown.

he has an extremely weird obsession with his brother, whom he hates, but loves, but hates, but loves, but hates, but wants to spend forever with, but hates, but would kill anyone if they tried to hurt him. literally every bad thing he's ever done originally stemmed from the need to be strong enough to protect what he cares about (DANTE) because he can't go through losing his family again.

i love him <3

[thwackamabob]

i am always taken aback by how little we know about the past. yes, we know about kings and battles and what the rich were up to, and where the borders were, but we know nothing about the poor. no one wrote about them, and so they might as well have not existed. this is brought to you by two things: firstly, a tiktok about a survey of random people on the street in london in 1851, asking them about general knowledge, and some specifics of christian theology, pre-public education being A Thing. and whilst generally they knew astonishingly little about everything ("the sun must be nearer, because it's warmer, right?"), in particular their lack of knowledge of christianity (fully not knowing who jesus was, beyond recognising the name) is fascinating to me. we think of the victorian era as being this conservative, god-fearing society, but that's the rich. the lower classes were... something. and we'll never know what that something is.

secondly, cumbric. brythonic languages stopped being spoke by the ruling class in england as early as the 6th century, and the people that continued to use them just sort of... disappeared into the historical record? along with almost all knowledge of what had existed pre-saxon takeover. yet there's evidence of cumbric (the language of northern england and southern scotland pre-anglicisation and pre-gaelicisation (i think i just invented a word) respectively) continuing to be spoken near the scottish border as late as the mid-13th century. that's an entire people who we know nothing of. for 700 years.

finally, irish travellers. we know nothing of how they came to be as a group (beyond genetic testing giving a vague date they diverge from the rest of ireland genetically, that is then contradicted by other evidence (the genetics say 17th century, but there are laws aimed specifically at nomadic peoples (similar to how there were laws aimed specifically at brythonic speaking peoples) that pre-date that (and yes that is basically the only way we know anything about lower classes historically, how they were discriminated against by law, which is fucking depressing), and unlike the britons, they're *still around.* that is a small, resilient ethnic group that is still around today that we have no clue how or when they appeared. that is insane. disclaimer: i am not an expert on any of this please do not blindly believe any of this, *especially* if it is contradicted by someone you know might actually know something. but yeah. i really hope that doesn't happen to us when this all goes kaputt one day. that future historians (excellent now i have both hamilton and enter shikari going round my head as well as the radiohead that was already there. sensible mix of things.) don't only know of the early 21st century through the Trumps, the Musks and the Bezos' of the world.

[scarletspider-lily]

Rules and about me

This blog is meant for anyone to stumble upon, but I still hold firm to my beliefs and won’t censor myself for people. If you take issue with my tone or posts at any time, block me ! ALSO: i queue all my posts so me posting does not mean im online- most of the time i'm not.

I cater to exvangelicals (people who have left evangelical Christianity) first and foremost. I try to open up the convo to other religions, but my personal experiences make me talk about Christianity more.

I do not respect TERFS and radfems, please do not interact :)

This blog is strongly anti censorship and anti purity culture. I don’t get into ship discourse but if you know what I mean and have a problem with this, simply block or DNI

religious people are free to interact with my blog, as I think they can learn about atheist and ex religion viewpoints, but any proselytizing and preaching in the comments will result in a swift block!

atheists who hate religion are valid, but I do not support or encourage anti theist fascism :)

i don’t support islamaphobia, antisemitism, or racism (there is a difference between criticizing religions and partaking in that bigotry)

don’t police my tone, I will criticize and generalize not just christians but other religions frequently here! I’m aware religious people are not a monolith but I would like to avoid having a disclaimer on everything in this blog, when i already clarify and censor myself irl every second of the day.

I talk about other topics here and shout-out queer media and other media often.

if I make a mistake please call me out respectfully. i understand im capable of actually being disrespectful or saying something bigoted.

I dislike the term “culturally Christian” because of how it is used here, and other reasons. If you call me that I’ll still engage with you but don’t expect me to keel to that term politely lmao. Also specify how I am “culturally christian” if you insist on calling me that

VERY IMPORTANT: I reblog posts from random people sometimes as well as people who are controversial on this site for a number of reasons, or are just very well known. I do not agree with everything someone does if I reblog from them. My policy usually is that if I like a post and want it on my blog I’ll reblog.

about me:

I’m a queer Asian American woman in a not so great evangelical household. I'm an atheist who is sort of spiritual (when it comes to nature). This blog exists to call out Christo-fascism/Christian nationalism plaguing America, support atheists and people who left their religions, and for me to be authentic and honest away from prying eyes of people who may know me. I accept asks and confessions, as long as they are not malicious. Currently, I really welcome tips for those in toxic Christian households.

[zucchinibread777books]

ACOTAR Book Review Pt.1

For my first post in my new book blog, I'd like to discuss the book that I was so passionate about I wrote 7 pages on it just for fun. A Court of Thorns and Roses.

Disclaimers: I did not like this book much. There is a difference between good and entertaining, while I found this book a little entertaining I did not think it was particularly good. These are just my opinions, feel free to disagree. This will be long I'm going to break this up over multiple posts, this one will focus on general issues I had with choices in world-building/writing. 1.Point of View. This is something I noticed immediately that became a huge problem in her storytelling. Authors who write in 1st person pov tend to have a very specific reason for doing so, often to create an unreliable narrator so that their bias can be revealed later as impacting the plot. However, it is clear the author did not have a reason for choosing 1st person pov in this book, and a lot of the plot would fit better with 3rd person pov. The random thoughts such as the ones about paintings would have fit better if they weren’t portrayed as her thoughts in the moment, but as a narrator referencing previous themes. It also would have fit better for big reveals such as the one included, because a 3rd person narrator can comment more on how the other characters expressions and movements might hint towards information we don’t know yet. This is a common issue I find in YA. 2. The naming of the characters. Feyre is far too close of a word to Fey/fairies. I understand the pun but realistically the victims of generations of slavery would not name their child after the race of the enslavers. Also Amaranth-a. May not be general knowledge but amaranth is just a basic edible plant, if it were a poisonous plant it would at least be a nod towards her characterization. (Lucien also seems to be a play on Lucifer but I have not confirmed that) 3. The made up religion surrounding the Cauldron. She just replaced god in modern phrases with cauldron and called it a day. Biblical hell still exists in this book (pg 333“go to hell”, pg 235 “the world has gone to Hell”) and the description of the afterlife is eerily similar to Christian heaven. 4. Worldbuilding with creatures. The author created this world where faeries have to be separated from humans due to this treaty they created. Does this apply to all magical creatures, despite faeries being the slave-keepers? She continues to introduce more and more types of faeries, but they do not all follow the laws of the high fae and she doesn’t put much thought into how they work with the world overall. She then introduces this giant worm with teeth later, which is not a faerie and can be killed without the ash wood that only faeries can be killed with. Its introduction is so random and does not fit into this world she built at all. If it is not a faerie, it should also exist in the human realm, thus explaining why Feyre knew it could be killed with materials other than ash wood. Especially as Feyre compares it to normal worms upon figuring out that the mud is actually its waste. 5. The reveal of information. Quite frankly, the way she hinted towards the twist made it feel as though she decided after the main romance plot to add in an entire other plot, and then went back through the book and added a few sentences here and there to make it seem as though it was planned the whole time. Alis’s huge info dump over halfway through the book felt like a poor, unplanned way to put in the information she needed to make this plot work. If this was truly going to be the plan all along it should have happened MUCH sooner, and her getting into the mountain would have been drawn out much longer than being captured immediately. (I am linking an interview at the bottom because the author discusses the fact that she did not plan out the plot and just figured it out as she went. This was clear to me throughout the book and I looked up interviews in the first place to see if she had anything to say about it.)

TLDR: I thought the writing was a bit lazy and poorly planned (not planned at all) https://blog.mugglenet.com/2015/05/author-interview-taking-court-with-sarah-j-maas/

[a-tiny-frog-girl]

greetings

your ghost files au,,,,

do you have any hcs for it, or maybe just general g/t ghoul boy thoughts? :0

- brick

Yes!! Thank you for the ask!!

For the uninitiated, my ghost files au is a g/t story wip I'm currently working on in my free time!! The plot is based off the hc that the reason the ghoul boys are never finding anything is because Shane is actually a very powerful supernatural being himself. The story is basically that Shane is a demon and has to go back to his realm of hell every now and again but this time Ryan follows him. Demons are gigantic compared to humans and that's where the g/t comes from :)

disclaimer: I am not christian and all my knowledge of this sort of thing comes from people retelling me stuff

NOW FOR THE HCS

:readmore:

Shane is a chaos boi. Originally as a young demon he did a lot of crazy stuff (that's why he has so much power today) but kinda settled down over time. He took a trip into the human world to get some ideas and became fascinated at the free will of humans and the absolutely ridiculous things they do with it and decides to protect them as best he can.

Then Shane meets Ryan and he starts spending more time in the human world than in hell because by the gods he thinks he's found the most chaotic human and he is in awe of his new best friend!!

(extra lil secret hc, Ryan causes much random shockwaves of chaos that Shane just takes credit for back in hell. Hell thinks Shane is back to how he used to be when he was younger.)

Shane also has to do a good amount of redirecting the demons' hatred of humans. The demons all think they're better than everyone, especially humans, so fraternizing with them would be a sign of weakness and any crack in the armor can let in a weapon.

So back in hell, Shane has to pretend to be this evil human hating guy to control his underlings while also keeping them from doing anything too shitty.

Some world building: Demons have an incredible amount of power in hell, but a lot less in the human world. Their whole deal is trying to cause as much chaos/harm as they can with only tiny amounts of power and without blowing their cover. They also want to trick as many humans into giving themselves to hell as possible, because then they can mess with that human to the full extent of their power.

Bonus angst: Shane is an immortal being that lives in hell and is best friends with a human that he wants to go to heaven when he dies. The demonic nature of Shane's being constantly flares up and tries to convince him to keep Ryan for himself so they can be best friends for all of eternity, but Shane fights it because he wants better for his buddy.

random hc: hell looks like a giant but otherwise normal office building

Demons are born, not made, so Shane is basically a completely different type of being than Ryan. He doesn't need to eat or sleep, it's more of a habit or an indulgence.

A good amount of the time, a shit ton of immortal beings above Shane's level of power have their eye on Ryan. Shane is aware of this but can't do much about it so he just shields Ryan from what he can.

i.e. Shane and Ryan go to Starbucks together before filming and Shane takes one look at the barista ('s holy glow that only he can see) and goes "Hey Ryan, why don't you wait in the car, this might take a sec."

Ryan thinks he's the most normal guy in the world, but he's consistently being tracked by the most powerful demons AND angels because Shane follows him around like a lost puppy

luckily for Shane, the more powerful a demon/angel, the less they care about the specifics of how things are done. Basically, as long as their side comes out on top, they don't give a shit if one of their guys is being incredibly unconventional. They have more important things to worry about. Shane just has to make sure he doesn't get too high up on the importance list.

[justfuckingnougat]

Passover 5784, 1. Talking About Israel

(Originally posted this to Facebook, realized I could also share it meaningfully here, so catching up with this post)

Disclaimer: This is part of a series of posts on the topic of Israel and Palestine. You are welcome to engage with or share the thoughts expressed herein, however they are ultimately my own personal thoughts and lived experiences and not the word of an expert on this, or really any matter. I speak as a Jew, but neither I nor anyone else can speak on behalf of all Jews. All pictures used as headers are my own, taken in Israel in 2015.

Hello friends, here I am doing another series of posts, I guess this is just how I express myself these days. Passover is upon us and it just feels right to take it as the opportunity to attempt to get out everything that’s been bottled inside under increasing pressure. Part of the struggle in articulating my own thoughts is that they aren’t that cohesive, making a weeklong series of posts on separate but related topics ideal. Passover is also arguably (as most Jewish things are definitively arguable) the most important Jewish holiday, explicitly concerned with identity and liberation and I am sure my voice won’t be the only one peaking up for the occasion.

For the first topic, and the one I’m using as a warm up, I’ve decided that to start talking about Israel, I need to talk about talking about Israel.

A facet of the Jewish experience you rarely hear about is how much people want to talk to you about Israel, even as a small child. You would think this might generally pull one towards being very knowledgeable on the subject, or at least adept in fielding such questions, but for me it was quite the opposite. I think it has to do with context. People don’t ask me about Israel the way they do, say, about languages.

When people asked me about languages it’s because they know I have a degree in linguistics, or are otherwise aware it’s a special interest. The decision is based on knowledge of me as a person, and I can tell when the intent is to either seek my input or to delight me in the telling.

Conversely, when people, especially strangers, ask me about Israel they do it because of a label, an assumption based on my ancestry that I have any insight or interest in uncomfortable questions of a geopolitical and humanitarian nature about a foreign country (I’ll save the topic of heritage and nationhood for another post). They are almost always obviously someone either using me as an excuse to voice an opinion or someone trying to gauge me as a friend or foe.

Not only did these questions make me uncomfortable but, as it turns out, a 12 year old boy from Texas who had barely formed his own political opinions had very little to say on the matter anyways. I didn’t really have much more to say to random kids in high school or when I was 21 in a night club in England and some strangers noticed I was wearing a brimmed hat and have a beard (neither of which had or have anything to do with my Judaism). To date, I can think of only one larger faux pas; when a man, who was my boss at the time, immediately asked me about Jews for Jesus, an appropriative Christian Evangelical missionary movement.

This disinclination hasn’t been helped much by the fact that across the American political spectrum there is now a demand for Jews to pass Israeli loyalty tests. I’ll leave this, as well, to be fleshed out in another more dedicated post, but I’ll end this particular thread with this: it’s not that it’s somehow wrong to ever talk to Jews about Israel, in fact I do think it would be much more wrong to try talking about it without ever seeking a Jewish angle. But it is wrong to assume that someone can, or even wants to talk about Israel just because they are Jewish. It is outright anti-Semitic to demand that Jew tell you their thoughts and allegiances to Israel in any circumstance you would not earnestly demand it of a non-Jew.

Now, if you’ve ever attempted to avoid something most of your life, be it something small or larger, or be it something you do consciously or unconsciously, then you probably already know that this actually results in new and exciting ways for that exact thing to become unavoidable. And so here we are, a lifetime of frustration burst by the pressing weight of ethical need against the therapeutic requirements of my aging psyche. The subsequent articles will probably be more topical, though I can't guarantee they'll all have a cohesive thesis or narrative. As it says in the disclaimer, these are, ultimately, just my thoughts.

[mirandamckenni1]

Liked on YouTube: The Devil Before Christianity | Dark Pages & Eerie Epistles Podcast Ep. 2 || https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkS5mvgRkz8 || Head to https://ift.tt/T8tw01B to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code ladyofthelibrary Support me on Patreon: https://ift.tt/YG8BMHI The Classical Academic: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheClassicalAcademic/ Instagram: https://ift.tt/qKmaJe8 Sign up for my newsletter, Confessions of a Bibliophile: https://ift.tt/aulQx3j Goodreads: https://ift.tt/fXONQ5D Video Request form: https://ift.tt/AQCSzph DISCLAIMER I am just a random student on the internet who loves reading, especially about ancient history and classics. The purpose of my videos is to make classics and ancient history interesting and accessible to everyone. I am not a professional or qualified educator, “expert”, historian or classicist. However, I ensure that all the information I use in my video scripts has been collated from numerous credible sources. Additionally, I am dyslexic, and I will mispronounce words. This does not stem from willful ignorance, and I do make an effort to research how to pronounce words before I start filming, but I often misread my phonetic spelling. In light of this, please do not rely on my video for an authoritative or reliable source of how to pronounce certain words. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 6:27 Who was the Persian Devil? 10:00 Zoroastrianism and Zurvanism 14:00 The Birth of the Devil 16:40 Ahriman and Prince Zahāk 19:34 Conclusion

[keikuri]

TW: rant, suicidal thoughts, intrusive thoughts

disclaimer: SUBLIMINALS, LOA and MANIFESTATION AREN't RUINING MY LIFE. HAVE HAD THESE ISSUES FAR BEFORE I STARTED MANIFESTING. the only reason i am placing this disclaimer is because i know some random anti-loa, shifter, etc is gonna use this as an example.

i am honestly done with this fucking reality i hate EVERYTHING. i would blame it on being a hormonal teenager but i finished puberty five years ago so it's probably not that. i can't stand my mother, my father is slowly getting better, but i still have anxiety and i feel so numb all the time; they keep on taking me to places where they know i'd feel uncomfortable and sometimes mock me for being uncomfortable and tell me i need to toughen up, as if it's not related to sensory issues and other things. the intrusive thoughts have gotten to me and i genuinely want to kill myself and i can't get a therapist and my parent's only reaction/solution is to be christian. subliminals help but only for the duration of when i'm listening to them. otherwise i'm still incredibly suicidal. i can't post anything about this because the only social media they don't follow is my tumblr, and this is the only place where i'm allowed to be myself. I hate how i undermine myself by saying that there are so many other people who deserve help more than i do, because i'm a middle class black person and my parents make decent money. i hate how i can't see myself as better. i hate how i can barely talk to people i like or can be happy for more than 2 days before spiraling into a depression. i have headaches almost every day and i can't do the most basic things, i can't clean my room to the point where it's perfectly clean and when i try to lower the standards so i don't fucking hate myself for not doing it, she gets angry at me. yes i am fine living in a "less messy" space. no i do not like living in a pigsty, i just can't clean as well as you. no it is not a skill issue, because if it was, i'dve been getting better at this over time. i can't stop fidgeting and i keep feeling like i'm not myself anymore because of dysphoria and because of my parents they won't let me transition until i'm out of the house, which means i'll probably feel suicidal until i'm 18.

and now onto the shifting rant

i fucking know why i'm not shifting.

i know that i place my dr on a pedestal.

i know that i don't relax or detatch from worry. i can't relax or detatch from worry. it's really hard for me to not be anxious, especially when i can't stop worrying about whether or not i'm gonna die every day.

i can't stop doubting myself as to when or if my manifestations will come

i know all of this

but i can't get rid of any of it.

i would use subs/manifestation to get rid of all my issues but i can't manifest because of my issues, which literally creates a loop.

i'm probably gonna take a break from subs because my issues aren't getting resolved.

[melodromacy]

[pdude] - i always unintentionally feel like im walking on eggshells talking about christian stuff re: complaining about people putting religion in strange places or getting offended when facts contradict what Popular Bible TikToker says about Forged Biblical Artifact #900. (religious talk and examples below of two things that happened recently)

Like people saying it's an attack on Christians when a person who has studied the bible says that some random book written in modern Assyrian dated to the 19th century states that no, Jesus did not read this book, because it was forged in the 19th century.

Or complaining that it's hard to glean information from a thread about chickens because the person who's treating their injured chicken more-or-less places all of the work on God instead of taking their animal to the vet and treating the heavily injured animal with antibiotics that are easily available on the shelf from farm supply stores.

I am not ragging on the Bible itself. Yes, I know the bible is a translated Torah. I want you to know that I am specifically talking about The Type Of Christians who haven't ever followed a lick of what Jesus ever taught, couldn't tell you a damn thing about what the man taught, believes Jesus was a white man, and thinks Jesus in the modern day would be a woman-hating gun nut who likes Ford pickups.

But I still feel like I have to add giant disclaimers and everything because THIS IS NEVER A RAG AT YOUR RELIGION THIS IS SPECIFICALLY DIRECTED TOWARDS PEOPLE WHO USE THE NAME OF CHRISTIANITY TO HURT AND ABUSE BOTH HUMAN AND ANIMAL.

[writingwithcolor]

Jurassic period alien interacting with key cultures and historical figures in Middle East & Asia throughout history

@ketchupmaster400​ said:

Hello, so my question is for a character I’ve been working on for quite a while but wasn’t sure about a few things. So basically at the beginning of the universe there was this for less being made up of dark matter and dark energy. Long story short it ends up on earth during the Jurassic Period. It has the ability to adapt and assimilate into other life animals except it’s hair is always black and it’s skin is always white and it’s eyes are always red. It lives like this going from animal to animal until it finally becomes human and gains true sentience and self awareness. As a human it lives within the Middle East and Asia wondering around trying to figure out its purpose and meaning. So what I initially wanted to do with it was have small interactions with the dark matter human and other native humans that kinda helped push humanity into the direction it is now. For example, Mehndhi came about when the dark matter human was drawing on their skin because it felt insecure about having such white skin compared to other people. And ancient Indians saw it and thought it was cool so they adopted it and developed it into Mehndi. Minor and small interactions though early history leading to grander events. Like they would be protecting Jerusalem and it’s people agains the Crusaders later on. I also had the idea of the the dark matter human later on interacting with the prophets Jesus Christ and Muhammad. With Jesus they couldn’t understand why he would sacrifice himself even though the people weren’t deserving. And then Jesus taught them that you have to put other before yourself and protecting people is life’s greatest reward. And then with the prophet Muhammad, I had the idea that their interaction was a simple conversation that mirrors the one he had with the angel Jibril, that lead to the principles of Islam. Now with these ideas I understand the great importance of how not to convey Islam and I’ve been doing reasearch, but I am white and I can understand how that may look trying to write about a different religion than my own. So I guess ultimate my question is, is this ok to do? Is it ok to have an alien creature interact with religious people and historical events as important as they were? Like I said I would try to be as accurate and as respectable as possible but I know that Islam can be a touchy subject and the last thing I would want is to disrespect anyone. The main reason I wanted the dark matter being in the Middle East was because I wanted to do something different because so much has been done with European and American stuff I wanted to explore the eastern side of the world because it’s very beau and very rich with so many cultures that I want to try and represent. I’m sorry for the long post but I wanted you guys to fully understand what my idea was. Thank you for your time and hope you stay safe.

Disclaimer:

The consensus from the moderators was that the proposed character and story is disrespectful from multiple cultural perspectives. However, we can’t ignore the reality that this is a commonly deployed trope in many popular science fiction/ thriller narratives. Stories that seek to take religious descriptions of events at face value from an areligious perspective particularly favor this approach. Thus, we have two responses:

Where we explain why we don’t believe this should be attempted.

Where we accept the possibility of our advice being ignored.

1) No - Why You Shouldn’t Do This:

Hi! I’ll give you the short answer first, and then the extended one.

Short answer: no, this is not okay.

Extended answer. I’ll divide it into three parts.

1) Prophet Muhammad as a character:

Almost every aspect of Islam, particularly Allah (and the Qur’an), the Prophet(s) and the companions at the time of Muhammad ﷺ, are strictly kept within the boundaries of real life/reality. I’ll assume this comes from a good place, and I can understand that from one side, but seriously, just avoid it. It is extremely disrespectful and something that is not even up to debate for Muslims to do, let alone for non-Muslims. Using Prophet Muhammad as a character will only bring you problems. There is no issue with mentioning the Prophet during his lifetime when talking about his attributes, personality, sayings or teachings, but in no way, we introduce fictional aspects in a domain that Muslims worked, and still work, hard to keep free from any doubtful event or incident. Let’s call it a closed period: we don’t add anything that was not actually there.

Reiterating then, don’t do this. There is a good reason why Muslims don’t have any pictures of Prophet Muhammad. We know nothing besides what history conveyed from him. 

After this being said, there is another factor you missed – Jesus is also an important figure in Islam and his story from the Islamic perspective differs (a lot) from that of the Christian perspective. And given what you said in your ask, you would be taking the Christian narrative of Jesus. If it was okay to use Prophet Muhammad as a character (reminder: it’s not) and you have had your dark matter human interacting with the biblical Jesus, it will result in a complete mess; you would be conflating two religions.

2) Crusaders and Jerusalem:

You said this dark matter human will be defending Jerusalem against the Crusaders. At first, there is really no problem with this. However, ask yourself: is this interaction a result of your character meeting with both Jesus and Prophet Muhammed? If yes, please refer to the previous point. If not, or even if you just want to maintain this part of the story, your dark matter human can interact with the important historical figures of the time. For example, if you want a Muslim in your story, you can use Salah-Ad-Din Al-Ayoubi (Saladin in the latinized version) that took back Jerusalem during the Third Crusade. Particularly, this crusade has plenty of potential characters. 

Also, featuring Muslim characters post Prophet Muhammad and his companions’ time, is completely fine, just do a thorough research.

 3) Middle Eastern/South Asian settings and Orientalism:

The last point I want to remark is with the setting you chose for your story. Many times, when we explore the SWANA or South Asian regions it’s done through an orientalist lens. Nobody is really safe from falling into orientalism, not even the people from those regions. My suggestion is educating yourself in what orientalism is and how it’s still prevalent in today’s narrative. Research orientalism in entertainment, history... and every other area you can think of. Edward Said coined this term for the first time in history, so he is a good start. There are multiple articles online that touch this subject too. For further information, I defer to middle eastern mods. 

- Asmaa

Racism and Pseudo-Archaeology:

A gigantic, unequivocal and absolute no to all of it, lmao. 

I will stick to the bit about the proposed origin of mehendi in your WIP, it’s the arc I feel I’m qualified to speak on, Asmaa has pretty much touched upon the religious and orientalism complications. 

Let me throw out one more word: pseudoarchaeology. That is, taking the cultural/spiritual/historical legacies of ancient civilizations, primarily when it involves people of colour, and crediting said legacies to be the handiwork of not just your average Outsider/White Saviour but aliens. I’ll need you to think carefully about this: why is it that in so much of media and literature pertaining to the so-called “conspiracy theories” dealing with any kind of extraterrestrial life, it’s always Non-Western civilizations like the Aztec, the ancient Egyptians, the Harappans etc who are targeted? Why is it that the achievements of the non West are so unbelievable that it’s more feasible to construct an idea of non-human, magical beings from another planet who just conveniently swooped in to build our monuments and teach us how to dress and what to believe in? If the answer makes you uncomfortable, it’s because it should: denying the Non-West agency of their own feats is not an innocent exercise in sci-fi worldbuilding, it comes loaded with implications of racial superiority and condescension towards the intellect and prowess of Non-European cultures. 

Now, turning to specifics:

Contrary to what Sarah J. Maas might believe- mehendi designs are neither mundane, purely aesthetic tattoos nor can they be co-opted by random Western fantasy characters. While henna has existed as an art form in various cultures, I’m limiting my answer to the Indian context, (specifying since you mention ancient India). Mehendi is considered one of the tenets of the Solah Shringar- sixteen ceremonial adornments for Hindu brides, one for each phase of the moon, as sanctioned by the Vedic texts. The shade of the mehendi is a signifier for the strength of the matrimonial bond: the darker the former, the stronger the latter. Each of the adornments carries significant cosmological/religious symbolism for Hindus. To put it bluntly, when you claim this to be an invention of the aliens, you are basically taking a very sacred cultural and artistic motif of our religion and going “Well actually….extraterrestrials taught them all this.”

In terms of Ayurveda (Traditional holistic South Asian medicine)  , mehendi was used for its medicinal properties. It works as a cooling agent on the skin and helps to alleviate stress, particularly for the bride-to-be. Not really nice to think that aliens lent us the secrets of Ayurvedic science (pseudoarchaeology all over again). 

I’m just not feeling this arc at all. The closest possible alternative I could see to this is the ancient Indian characters incorporating some specific stylistic motifs in their mehendi in acknowledgement to this entity, in the same vein of characters incorporating motifs of tribute into their armour or house insignia, but even so, I’m not sure how well that would play out. If you do go ahead with this idea, I cannot affirm that it will not receive backlash.

-Mimi

These articles might help:

 Pseudoarchaeology and the Racism Behind Ancient Aliens

A History of Indian Henna (this studies mehendi origins mostly with reference to Mughal history)

Solah Shringar

2) Not Yes, But If Ignoring the Above:

I will be the dissenting voice of “Not No, But Here Are The Big Caveats.” Given that there is no way to make the story you want to tell palatable to certain interpretations of Islam and Christianity, here is my advice if the above arguments did not sufficiently deter you.

1. Admiration ≠ Research: It is not enough to just admire cultures for their richness and beauty. You need to actually do the research and learn about them to determine if the story you want to tell is a good fit for the values and principles these cultures prioritize. You need to understand the significance of historical figures and events to understand the issues with attributing the genesis of certain cultural accomplishments to an otherworldly influence. 1.

2. Give Less Offense When Possible and Think Empathetically: You should try to imagine the mindsets of those you will offend and think about to what degree you can soften or ameliorate certain aspects of your plot, the creature’s characteristics, and the creature’s interactions with historical figures to make your narrative more compatible. There is no point pretending that much of areligious science fiction is incompatible with monotheist, particularly non-henotheistic, religious interpretations as well as the cultural items and rituals derived from those religious interpretations. One can’t take “There is no god, just a lonely alien” and make that compatible with “There is god, and only in this particular circumstance.” Thus:

As stated above by Asmaa and Mimi, there is no escaping the reality the story you propose is offensive to some. Expect their outcry to be directed towards you. Can you tolerate that?

Think about how you would feel if someone made a story where key components of your interpretation of reality are singled out as false. How does this make you feel? Are you comfortable doing that to others?

3. Is Pseudoarchaeology Appropriate Here?: Mimi makes a good point about the racial biases of pseudoarchaeology. Pseudoarchaeology is a particular weakness of Western-centric atheist sci-fi. Your proposed story is the equivalent of a vaguely non-descript Maya/Aztec/Egyptian pyramid or Hindu/ Buddhist-esque statue being the source for a Resident Evil bio weapon/ Predator nest/ Assassin’s Creed Isu relic.

Is this how you wish to draw attention to these cultures you admire? While there is no denying their ubiquity in pop-culture, such plots trivialize broad swathes of non-white history and diminish the accomplishments of associated ethnic groups. The series listed above all lean heavily into these tropes either because the authors couldn’t bother to figure out something more creative or because they are intentionally telling a story the audience isn’t supposed to take seriously.*

More importantly, I detect a lot of sincerity in your ask, so I imagine such trivialization runs counter to your expressed desire to depict Eastern cultures in a positive and accurate manner.

4. Freedom to Write ≠ Freedom from Consequence: Once again, as a reminder, it’s not our job to reassure you as to whether or not what you are proposing is ok. Asmaa and Mimi have put a lot of effort into explaining who you will offend and why.  We are here to provide context, but the person who bears the ultimate responsibility for how you choose to shape this narrative, particularly if you share this story with a wide audience, is you. Speaking as one writer to another, I personally do not have a strong opinion one way or the other, but I think it is important to be face reality head-on.

- Marika.

* This is likely why the AC series always includes that disclaimer stating the games are a product of a multicultural, inter-religious team and why they undermine Western cultures and Western religious interpretations as often (if not moreso) than those for their non-Western counterparts.

Note: Most WWC asks see ~ 5 hours of work from moderators before they go live. Even then, this ask took an unusually long amount of time in terms of research, emotional labor and discussion. If you found this ask (and others) useful, please consider tipping the moderators (link here), Asmaa (coming eventually) and Mimi (here). I also like money - Marika.