#the two concepts can and must coexist

[amiibo-king]

call me unorthodox or whatever but i think. get this. it MIGHT be possible.... to enjoy the barbie movie.... and ALSO acknowledge that it is a 2 hour long ad for mattel. wild i know

[rawliverandgoronspice]

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not sure it's my post to make particularly, but I do fucking hate how the concept of white guilt gets weaponized within white people ingroups to throw at each other in order to goad each other into emotional passivity, detachement and inaction, it's just so extremely not what the concept is about initially and is actually still an extension of white guilt it turns out!!! as it's still reacting to that idea and concerned by trying to sever oneself from its perceived effects, regardless of what those are and what they do and what bigger picture they exist in!!!! anyway.

[jheselbraum]

"Zelda loves Link and is stressing about it because surely Link, hero of Hyrule, her favored knight, appointed for her protection, and her closest companion and confidante, doesn't actually harbor romantic feelings for her. Meanwhile, Link is running around in the background devoting 110% of his being to her and would do anything for her and has actually already confessed, like, five times Zelda just didn't pick up on it because she was overthinking it" and "Link loves Zelda and is stressing about it because surely Zelda, Sage of Time, princess of Hyrule, who must marry royal blood, who lives with Link in his fucking house, who has 10,000 years worth of faith and trust in him, who even as a dragon after she lost her self protected Link, his closest companion and confidante, doesn't actually harbor romantic feelings for him. Meanwhile, Zelda is running around in the background toppling the monarchy and reforging the societal fabric of Hyrule so they can be together. She's also confessed like, five times but Link hasn't picked up on it because he's overthinking it" are two concepts that can coexist

[a-confused-spoon]

Jinx's haircut: how Powder and Ekko's story comes full circle

Hi! So, it appears Jinx will be cutting her hair short in season 2 (which is cool as fuck), and I’ve been seeing a lot of discussion on it, so I wanted to share my two cents 😊

I might refer to Jinx and Powder as if they are different ideantities, but I'm aware that's not how that works; it's just an easier way to express myself. Also english isn't my first language, so apologies for any possible wiritng mistake (this is a bit of a mess 😅)

* deep breath in *

As it has already been pointed out, this choice must have a deeper reason other than esthetic (I've been seeing the phrase "hair holds memories" used a lot), and what's even more interesting is that her new look resembles a lot how she used to look like as a kid; a bit bizarre, given how the entirety of season 1 showed us how Powder and Jinx's coexistence only brings the girl pain. As a matter of fact, the finale makes it clear to us that even she sees these two sides of herself as mutually exclusive.

So why and how exactly would this happen now?

What I keep going back to is the idea that maybe, just maybe, this has to do with her possibly "taking the lead" in Zaun; whether she actively becomes a leader or if she just "leads by example" (therefore passively), it doesn't change the fact that for better or worse she will be depicted as a leading revolutionary figure.

And fair enough: she singlehandedly killed half of the Council, the people who hold decisional power and have contributed to the misery on the other side of the river. After Vender's failed attempt on the bridge and Silco's focus on his own business dealings with Piltover among everything else he did, Jinx's attack on the city - something she does to ultimately solidify her identity as Jinx - opens a door that the Undercity was waiting to be opened for decades.

Here's the thing:

Being Jinx doesn't just mean acting on unbridled rage and being a menace to society; it means being feared by most, if not all, with the only possible exceptions being those who also accepted their inner monster. To put it in Singed's words, "If you take this path, they will despise you".

Being Jinx fundamentally implies loneliness.

Silco was consistently reminding her this: "I am your family; everyone else betrays us" / "Everyone betrays us Jinx! Vander! Her! They will never understand, it's only us".

In the official clip 'Enemy of my enemy' we find out that he only saw her cry twice, the two scenes we also witness as an audience, meaning he didn't see her cry once during the timeskip, and I'm sure it's safe to say that she most definitely did cry a lot given how she goes from episode 3 Powder (scared, couldn't grasp the concept of killing someone, heartbroken by the nickname jinx) to episode 4 Powder (a beast, kills in cold blood, has taken Jinx as her actual name)... it must've been an ugly transition, and it definitely didn't happen overnight; if Silco, who was the closest person she had all that time, didn't see it, then I think it speaks a lot on how alone Jinx really was in her darkest times.

For all the love he had for her, he reinforced this idea of isolation as an unescapable consequence of the right path, and I think this is also reflected in the lair that (supposedly) he found for her, especially when you compare it to the Firelights’ one:

The Firelights (this is important for later) are all about community and sharing joy as well as struggle and pain; they live in a place of healing, filled with life, without a roof so the sunlight can reach them during the day, and at nights living bugs that shine a light of their own fill up the hideout.

Jinx's place is diametrically opposed to this: it’s dark and looks cold, it's completely made of metal, the roof’s blocking any natural light and it hangs above an abyss with no bottom to be seen; the only company she consistently has are the puppets of her dead brothers and the only living thing that knows his way in is the only one that can understand, the only one she can rely on - aka Silco himself.

However, as Jinx herself knows, this may have worked for him, but it wasn't working for her for the longest time: she never stopped yearning for affection, love, friendship- that part of her never really went away; it was only being suppressed, suffocated, maybe unintentionally, and I strongly believe that it only worsen her trauma, and it's one of the things that made her spiral so bad into her depression, to the point of hallucinating.

I think that Silco's line in the baptism scene is particularly relevant here: "You need to let Powder die, so the fear of pain will no longer control you", where the fear of pain would refer to the fear of being on her own, of always failing and disappointing others, of being weak and never satisfying the desires, expectations, hopes that Powder carried within her to be “a valuable member of the team”.

If she lets Powder die (which again, she does in the final episode of season 1), this is no longer a problem: if she doesn't do teams, because teams don't want a jinx to begin with, that fear can't get to her; if she's a solo player, a self-sufficient loose cannon, she won't need to rely on anyone but herself because she's strong on her own and does not need the support of others.

If her power lays in the monster she is, the one everyone condemns her for being, then that childhood wish of hers just isn't a realistic option.

...but then this happens.

We know from the teaser trailer that in the operation Caitlyn's leading, 'finding Jinx' and 'neutralize any agent still loyal to Silco' are separate objectives. Which makes sense, since as far as they know Silco was the leader of a group of people, and now that he's gone Jinx is an individual under her own agency and her own agency alone. If initially she fights by herself, for herself because she can and fuck Piltover, then it all falls in line with what I stated so far.

But then we hear Sevika, who has hated Jinx's guts and who Jinx has hated back since day one, telling her to get the people together, to unite the Undercity as one because she can do that. Mind you, the girl has lived in Zaun all her life, she knows damn well that the end of Piltover is something the entire Undercity has been waiting for (“Imagine what the whole of the Lances could do!” from episode 2); yet despite this she needs to be openly told what is going on, that she’s not sizing the opportunity she’s created. She isn't, cause... her? Leading? A group of people? No. Not after the last time she tried to help, and most importantly, not after everything she learned under Silco.

Jinx can't fathom the idea of herself as a part of a part of a team. How can she? She literally just came to terms with isolation as ever present- and now, for some reason, the people of the city, who always either ran away from her or wanted her gone, are dying their hair blue in her image, trusting her, following her, painting murals of her as the bringer of revolution.

She isn't taking power forcibly like Silco did; she's just doing her thing, her Jinx thing, and Zaun, on its own, is choosing her as the leading figure.

Imagine how frustrating it must be for Jinx to look back and realize that Silco, her father- who has loved her, forgiven her, raised her, called her perfect, defended her, was there for her, saved her, guided her- was wrong, and put her in a condition of never ending existential pain when she could’ve had it differently the entire time; imagine how confusing it must be for her to look back and realize that it never mattered whether or not others understood her, 'cause she wasn't as unlovable or unforgivable as she thought herself to be in the first place, that Silco and Vi were never her only options.

Imagine how painful it must be for her to look back and realize that for all this time she could’ve had friends and be accepted and be trusted and rely on others because she never HAD to be alone.

...keeping this in mind, let's talk about Ekko and the missing flashback from episode 7 for a moment.

Admittedly we don’t have a lot of information, other than it took place not too long after the events of episode 3 (then again, to be fair, we don’t know a lot about their relationship as enemies as well: it’s all between the lines; I surely have my own opinions of how they feel about each other being on the enemy side, but I don’t believe it’s super relevant here). What’s for sure about this flashback is that it was a defining moment in both Ekko and Powder’s journey, especially for the latter. Someone surely died, and it 100% was Powder’s fault. It could be both the result of her very first crisis or her first intentional murder; in both cases it results in her deciding for herself to align with Silco as opposed to her best friend.

The way I like to see it is that, since the trauma was still very fresh, she might have been too scared of the idea of fighting alongside others after what happened last time, and she pushed herself to kill someone on purpose just to push Ekko away and prove a point (Silco’s point). I love the idea of the tragic irony of Ekko being the one person Powder managed to really save, and Powder being the one person Ekko couldn’t.

Personal headcanons aside though, the last part is the most important one here: Ekko couldn’t save Powder from Silco, and by extension everything he represents.

I’d like to point out that one of the most tragic aspects of the two becoming enemies (to me) is that, throughout those years, they reciprocally were the only living person the other shared a past with (well, Vi too, but she was in prison the entire time).

Silco not only takes over by force, he also marks as his all the places of said past: the Last Drop, Vi and Powder’s house… one line that always stuck with me from episode 7 is when Ekko tells Vi “All that’s left is Jinx, and she belongs to Silco”.

Not with Silco; to Silco. As if she too a piece of the past he turned into his property.

It’s like he understands that while yes, Powder made the decision by herself, that she wants to stay with Silco, he also knows that the man is the one to blame for... well, all of it; the kid was there when Silco showed up unprovoked at Benzo’s place, he knows things went downhill from there.

Ekko knows that he is the bigger problem and the bigger enemy. Even Vi, without knowing a thing about the past few years, can tell Silco put some shit into her sister’s head; Ekko can probably guess the same, difference being that Ekko has the responsibility of keeping other people safe, and he can’t risk it all for someone that, while possibly manipulated, ultimately isn’t collaborative. Ekko can’t jeopardize all he’s built and done for his former best friend, no matter how much it hurts him to be her enemy.

Back to season 2.

Like the entire fandom has already pointed out, there’s a 99.9% chance there will be an alliance between them and Jinx, especially when looking at Ekko’s new outfit.

Of course, this will not be immediate: my guess is that while Jinx works alone at the very start Ekko will be with Heimerdinger and following the arrest of the Firelights we see in the trailer maybe there’s a split. And even after Jinx takes charge so to speak, and possibly frees them, among others, from Stillwater, it’s possible there will be (and there should be) stages in the alliance: initial distrust, potential fight within the community- like yeah, let’s not forget what Jinx did to these people.

Even if they do go ahead with it, it is probably out of necessity more than anything else, with not one but two military forces against the whole of the Underground. It’s not like they’d be the most ecstatic faction about it, and the same goes for Ekko, which is why the new look will probably come in later.

But exactly like he could see Powder for a brief second on the bridge clearly enough for him to stop himself from beating her, he will, most definitely, see her again through Jinx's inner turmoil... that, and she also can’t keep her shit together when it comes to what she's feeling, the girl really is an open book.

And yeah, the situation would be pretty emotionally disorienting: she's being as Jinx as ever, but people like her now, which is something she used to want as Powder, who is supposed to be dead, and they're willingly following her like they willingly followed Vander and there's murals of her with him, though she's pursuing what aligns more with Silco's dream, but also turns out Silco was wrong about Powder, who might still be alive deep down- the whole thing is a big big mess.

Despite everything that I said about him, it’s not like Jinx would start to resent Silco. She could never, not after his last words to her. They mean the world to her, he means too much to her, and let’s not forget she probably hear his voice now too, along Mylo’s and Claggor’s; it might even be a calming voice to her, one she’s happy to hear even if she knows he’s not real… which makes it all worse and more painful to deal with.

In this scene from the trailer, it seems like Ekko’s talking to her (some have pointed out the blue hair out of focus). Since this is still the look in season, at this point in time Ekko (and the rest of the Firelights) are not truly committed to this alliance with Jinx, and vice versa, Jinx is still figuring out how to deal with all this unexpected appreciation.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Jinx’s way of dealing with inner conflicts, especially ones that deal with the memories of the past, is that it often leads to disaster. This is a bit of a long shot, but what if the reason Ekko’s so beat up Is because she unintentionally sabotaged one of their own attacks on Piltover? Or perhaps they were caught up in a tough situation because of something she did or didn’t do? My point is that if he really is talking with her while in this condition, she probably is in a similar one.

Regardless, they are on the same side, and they are having a conversation. This is very likely the first time they reach out for each other since the day she chose to not go with him.

And I think it’s believable that of all the people she now has beside her, she’d talk to Ekko: he has this leader stuff already figured out. He has and still is taking care of people and keeping them safe better than she ever will, and on top of that, he still is the only one in Zaun (again, aside from Vi) who has known her since before she was Jinx, and he spared her on the bridge. He’s the perfect person to open up to.

And, get this, not only Ekko understands the pressure of taking the lead: he knows what it means to look back at someone you were fond of and feeling the pain of being wronged by them. He knows what it’s like to look back at old memories of someone you trusted and wonder if all those moments together really were what you thought they were, he knows what it’s like to wish it could all go back like it was, just so that candid version of them you have in your mind can still be true, present and untainted by the ugliness that now ruins all those precious moments.

He knows, 'cause he went through it with her... and now he can finally reach her.

Ekko may have not been able to save her from Silco then, but he can save her from Silco now.

And since he has built a community that grieved together, went through pain and joy together, he simply does what he’s always done with the Firelights. Sharing.

He tells with her what has worked for him: “Sometimes, taking a leap forward means leaving a few things behind”- in the Franch dub he says “leaving a part of oneself behind”- meaning it doesn’t have to be all or nothing: she has the power to choose what to kiss goodbye and what can stay…

…and then she cuts her hair.

I think it’s important to note how these two moments are very similar in setting. I kid you not, the first time I watched the trailer I was convinced this was a scene where Jinx was burning Silco’s body after she killed him- which frankly could still be the case. I’ve also seen discussions being made for the little girl we see in the trailer being burned here, or Sevika, but I don’t think it’s either. Jinx is completely desensitized to death, even when Silco died her makeup isn’t this ruined. My guess is that this is something much deeper:

Jinx never properly grieved the past. Ever. So, maybe, she’s burning the part of herself she’s leaving behind. The hair she cut.

The hair Silco used to braid for her.

These two scenes parallel each other because “nothing ever stays dead”, but Silco must stay dead, for her own sake. For her own happiness: she is leaving him behind for good.

Only after this moment we get the new look for Ekko: he can work with this new Jinx, the one that now knows she can work within a team, even to the point of committing to the outfit (lol).

If in season 1 Jinx accepted her identity as it was defined by Silco, in season 2 she's re-inventing it under her own conditions: she gets to choose what "being Jinx" may or may not include. And it will always include a little bit of Powder.

Thanks for reading! 💚💙

[merakiui]

Hiiii~ Mera! I've wanted to ask you if you by any chance have any Malleus thoughts?? 👀 👉👈

I may have a few hehe!! :D please accept these very assorted Malleus concepts that have been floating around in my brain.

✧ sugar daddy malleus in ancient times in which he’s the mysterious being of the deep, dark forest everyone tells you to stay away from. but that same mysterious being is leaving lustrous gemstones and exquisite pieces of jewelry on your doorstep or at the entrance of the forest for you to take, always even more generous each time. and in return, you must provide him with something of yours (usually he’d like something from your hobbies, whether a poem or a sketch or a wood carving and so on). one day he’ll steal you away, but until then he provides generous sums for you to continue living comfortably. after all, he’s quite entertained with the lovely art you produce! he must know more.

✧ omegaverse in which, by order of lord malleus, guards silver and sebek free you (and plenty others) from an alpha who had been keeping you captive for various reasons. without a place to live or a madol to your name, lord malleus allows you to live within his castle under the condition that you must earn your keep. sebek doesn’t trust you, but silver thinks everyone deserves a fair chance and though it may be dangerous for an unmated omega and an unmated alpha to coexist, especially when said alpha is a very important ruler, you’ve proven to be a very diligent servant to malleus, always so determined to pay him back for his generosity. malleus has grown rather fond of you in the time he’s gradually beginning to know you, and before long he’s inviting you to take a stroll through the palace gardens with him or to join him for evening tea or to accompany him to the grand library so he may find a book he’s been looking to read. and eventually your heat will sneak up on you, and who better to assist you with it than the lord you serve? :)

✧ a very awkward fwb dynamic in which both you and malleus are horribly inexperienced in romance, so your dynamic essentially becomes one of fwb—by which if malleus gifts you a bouquet because you’re his dearest friend (he is madly in love with you) you hurry to return his goodwill with some of your own. there is no sex in this fwb (yet). the two of you are just always trying to return the other’s kindness and are so worried about forgetting to repay favors to one another or else you think it’ll look rude and malleus fears his favorite child of man will become offended. the benefits in this friendship is essentially just lots of courtship gifts that neither of you realize are courtship gifts. both of you are always friend-zoning each other, too. T_T lilia just wants you and malleus to kiss already.

✧ ceo malleus who is very bad at using technology, so you (his secretary) help him out and handle much of the tech work for him. naturally he has to repay you by railing you behind closed doors in his office (and maybe even knocking you up if you’re capable of having children hehe).

✧ you’re making a wish on a star in hopes that the sky above will answer it. but when you wish for a companion/lover/friend/a horned fae prince who is very tall and can sing and is very handsome and keeps a tamagotchi and is also lonely so he needs a friend (this last one is very specific;;;;), you don’t expect said fae to appear and offer companionship. he may or may not have been watching you for months now, waiting for the right moment to appear before you at your windowsill. but when you’ve made such a curious wish, how can he possibly stay hidden any longer? he adores you too much. <3

✧ arranged marriage in which you’re betrothed to malleus in a marriage that’s meant to serve as the first stepping stone in uniting humankind and faekind and putting all previous disagreements to rest. you think you’ll be fine so long as you’re courteous and obedient, but your fiancé seems to like you a little too much. :)

[tanadrin]

Last notes and final thoughts on Creating the Quran:

A text does not become fixed at its first writing; ancient and especially sacred writing remain open and in flux for a considerable period after. Even after it was written down, the Quran was a text "in process."

The rasm (the consonantal "skeleton" of the Quran) does show extraordinary constancy from the time of Abd al-Malik; its vocalization was in dispute for centuries after. But the tremendous fluidity of the oral phase of development did come to an end.

Lol, the name of a scholar cited in this chapter is "Assmann."

Oral tradition can coexist with a written canon for a time: even once the Gospels had been written down, ancient writers rarely cited them word-for-word, often using relatively free transmissions and maintaining the vibracy of oral tradition. A similar process may have been at work around the Quran.

Sometimes searching for an "original text" when it comes to texts like these (including the Gospels, for instance, or the books of the Hebrew Bible) may even be meaningless; the early text-forms are in dialogue with the late oral-forms, and the former are not being produced with the specific end of creating a fixed, canonical text. Concepts like individual authorship, a complete and self-contained textual artifact, and formal publication don't necessarily apply. Canonized texts can start out as essentially aids to memory, or personal notes, that existed to be revised and extended as necessary.

The early regional codices could have grown out of such memoranda, only gradually being reshaped into more complete and polished texts. This would help account for why the Quran often repeats the same tradition in different forms, sometimes with minor differences and sometimes with significant contraditions.

For works like the Gospels, Matthew and Mark might have even been regarded as functionally "the same text" in the same way even very different oral performances of a story can be considered "the same."

The evident parallel traditions in the Quran may derive from the retelling and recomposition of traditions in different communities, or from ongoing revisions to an open text. Many of these parallel traditions are Christian ones, or Jewish ones that seemed to enter the text from Christian sources.

Extensive biographical tradition within Islam around Muhammad in particular; but it's unlikely (for reasons discussed earlier) to be reliable. The small grains of historicity within it are obscured by the narrative that has grown around them.

Some traditions in the Quran appear to originate from before Muhammad's prophetic mission, distinguished by their utter lack of intelligibility for early Muslim commentators. This indicates they were not passed down orally, since they were not altered in ways to make them relevant to the community, and so may have been written down when Muhammad and his earliest followers encountered them.

Bellamy argues there are more than two hundred words in the Quran that later commentators not only didn't understand, but didn't know how to vocalize. These could be the result of copyists' mistakes, but they're present in all Quran manuscripts, and so would have to go back to a single version.

Example: "Yuhanna" ("John") being read as "Yahya," because of the ambiguity between and without consonant-pointing. With just the rasm, Yahya is a perfectly good guess--whoever first read "Yahya" in the passages where it occurs cannot have had an oral tradition preserving the sound of the name, or prior knowledge of John the Baptist, or they would have recognized it on the basis of context.

Surat Quraysh was very opaque to interpreters, who had no better understanding of this sura than we do today; the meaning of the key term "ilaf" seems to be entirely opaque, leading to a wide array of interpretations. Difficult to reconcile this lack of understanding with Muhammad teaching it to his followers.

Final editing of the Quran must have been very conservative to retain these infelicities--typical of scriptural traditions, or at least of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament.

Patricia Crone proposes some parts of the Quran predate Muhammad. Michael Cook says OTOH maybe the materials that make up the Quran didn't become "generally available as scripture" until well after Muhammad's death. Neither supposition is exclusive of the other.

Gerd Puin argues that "every fifth sentence" or so "simply doesn't make sense." Gerald Hawting observes "the text taken on its own is often completely unintelligible, filled with grammatical and logical discontinuities." This puts me in mind with the weird way different sources are jammed together in the Hebrew Bible, sometimes totally muddling narratives that were clear in the original--I don't wonder if part of the problem is that different regional codices, when brought together, were harmonized in a very conservative way that left a lot of contraditions and discontinuities in the text.

Shoemaker thinks the best model is still the one where the Quran is largely rooted in Muhammad's teachings, with the inclusion possibly of some archaic and imperfectly understood textual materials, and with considerable change introduced in the process of transmission before final canonization.

Quran talks about seafaring and fishing familiarly, both things alien to Mecca and Yathrib. Ditto agriculture and vegetation, especially kinds not found even in the Yathrib oasis. Most likely elements that found their way in once the Islamic polity had reached the shores of the Mediterranean.

Similarly out of place geographical references: Sodom and Gomorrah as places passed by daily; as the audience living not far from where Lot once dwelled. Landscape of memory here is focused on Palestine, not Hijaz.

Heavy borrowing of words, including from Syriac and Hebrew, in the language of the Quran, indicating heavy linguistic contact with the Fertile Crescent.

"Vast knowledge of Christian lore" despite no Christian presence in Mecca or Yathrib, in either the Islamic tradition or elsewhere. Quran assumes good knowledge of the Torah and Gospels and many extrabiblical traditions also. The Quran's presentation of many figures from the Hebrew Bible draws specifically on Syriac Christian traditions, and not on Jewish traditions as you might suppose from the traditional account of Jews present in Medina. Its anti-Jewish rhetoric and demonology depend on earlier Christian traditions, and some passages seem to address Christian directly.

Removing Muhammad and the Quran completely from the Hijaz would make it hard to explain why Mecca and Yathrib eventually came to be so important in later tradition. It seems likely that, even though the Holy Land and Jerusalem stood at the center of the imagination of early believers, there was some historical connection to the Hijaz, and only as they began to more self-consciously differentiate themselves from Christians and Jews around them did they shift their focus to this element of their history.

It's not necessary (or tenable) to entirely detach the Quran from the figure of Muhammad. Some material in it almost certainly derives from his prophetic career in Mecca and Medina. In some cases, followers later added blocks of textual material already written down in a religious context somewhere outside the Hijaz, alongside entirely new traditions emerging from cross-cultural contact.

19:22-28 gives a compressed account of the Nativity that is found only in the liturgical practice of a particular Marian shrine just outside Jerusalem, the Kathisma church. This tradition is so obscure it's unlikely it independently made its way to the central Hijaz--it joined the corpus most likely after Muhammad's followers took control of the region, and converted this church into a mosque.

Like almost all other sacred texts of its type, the Quran is not a "book" but a corpus: texts not originally intended to be grouped together, heterogenous in origin and function, and in some cases dependent or independent of one another. Composite, but also composed, i.e., put together intentionally and carefully using techniques from a literate context, with literary polish.

[ruthlesslistener]

Hi hello I have been very obsessed about your concept of territorial gods lately. How far must two (or more) gods' domains/territories overlap in order to actively cause conflict, or at least activate their territorial tendencies?

Heyo, glad to hear that you're stuck with the same brainrot that I gave myself!! The answer here is a mix of two things: personal animosity (ie, Radiance vs Unn), and niche overlap. I tend to take a very biological/ecological role to the gods of Hollow Knight because it's incredibly fun to me, but also because there is a small nugget of merit in the game itself- the major conflict is between two gods of Light, with a minor background turf war happening between Unn and the White Lady, two gods of greenery. In these cases, land = resources such as the density of worshipers, which is important because to an ascended god, receiving tribute is what sustains them and grants them their power + longevity. Essentially, worship = food, so being possessive over the source of your food is what leads to territoriality.

For the Pale King and the Radiance, both gods of Light, whose followers worshiped them as the source of said light, this means that they shared the same religious niche as each other and thus were incapable of coexisting. If a bug prays to the Light, they could mean either the Old Light or the New, so a previously-steady source of worship turned to something more capricious, even though they differ slightly (PK is the moon, Radi is the sun). Neither can or want to share. That's why PK converted the moths to worshiping him even though the territory he physically claimed was below the Radiance's and the people that he came to primarily rule over were the beetle tribe, rather than the moths- he needed to eliminate his competition by weakening her source of power. The ceding of Crystal Peak to Hallownest was something that happened incidentally, but was necessary to fully remove the Radiance from her seat of power and thus eliminate her as competition.

(That's also why I don't believe that the diminished Moth Tribe we see in-game is because of him- that would have been shooting himself in the foot. If worship is what sustains a god, then why willingly destroy your livestock? Radiance seems to have done it out of spite, but that's because the Radiance herself is a very spiteful individual, whereas the Pale King was cold and calculating.)

For Unn and the White Lady, I see it more as a primary vs secondary succession takeover, a ceding of old territory to a new, more powerful god (albeit unwillingly). Both are gods of greenery, but Unn is old and fading, and the White Lady is...well, not exactly new and spry, but she certainly doesn't seem diminished, not by anything other than her grief. They are both nature gods, but there's a slight bit more difference between their realms in that Unn is a god of moss (nonvascular plants) whereas WL is known by the Root, aka vascular plants. That's kind of why I see the White Lady encroaching onto Greenpath as a secondary succession sort of deal- in my headcanon for Hallownest, the first god was the original Shade Lord (or the Void itself, rather), and the caverns themselves were full of the Void Sea. Then, over time, the Sea slowly receded to the Abyss- helped in part by the arrival of the Radiance- and left bare rock caverns behind. Unn took advantage of this bare space to create the Mosskin and start converting the bare rock to verdant greenery via her moss (much like how mosses and lichens irl colonize and break down bare rock for minerals), and then the accumulation of sediment from her centuries as a god allowed for WL and her rooted plants to take hold and start colonizing the space in turn.

As for the Radiance and the Shade Lord- that came about partially because they are fundamental opposites, and partially because the Radiance herself is a very offense-heavy person by nature, as we see from her relentless attacks and willingness to throw hands (lasers?) in-game. Rather than squabbling over resources with another god, like she did with PK, the Void was a threat, a predator of sorts, so she had it and its followers eliminated. Crystal Peaks is as far from the Abyss as physically possible, and the moths seem to have stuck to the surface or near-surface of the caverns, but the mere prescence of the Void itself was enough to threaten her, so burned it away and slaughtered any and all who refused to either swear fealty to her, or continued to worship it. That's why there's so few traces of the Void civilization left, and why the Snail Shamans (who have a connection to void magic) are mostly hidden away, and why the place you can get the Abyss Shriek is full of their carvings + the dreamnail dialogue Our voices will cry out again. She saw a predator near her nest, and so she preemptively destroyed it. Justified, I suppose, but uh, not to that extent.)

(PK clearly didn't have the exact same reservations as the Radiance did, but then again, Soul is not the antithesis to Void the way that Essence seems to be- probably bc of the moon metaphor going on with him vs the Sun vs the Night one that Radi and the vessels have. He can work with the Void, even if its dangerous to him. Though I shall also make the case for him having a scientific curiosity for it which affected how he interacted with it.)

All of these reasons are also why PK and WL can coexist peacefully too- PK is a God of Light and Mind, WL is a God of Root and Life. Their aspects and realms of worship don't conflict with each other- they coexist. So a mutualistic relationship is not only possible, it's beneficial, and that indeed seems to be why they thrived so well pre-fall. It's also why Hallownest (as in, the Hallownest that the Beetle Tribe claimed) was also so big- because those were the territories of two gods merged and working in tandem, rather than guard what they had alone. It's also why other Higher Beings could exist next to PK with relatively little conflict, since he had no interest in their worshipers and they wanted nothing to do with his- though WL ofc had some contesting with Unn.

I will say that in my hcs as well, unascended wyrms are the exception to all of this- they are incredibly territorial because their massive ever-growing bodies are nutrient sinks on both the mortal and spiritual plane. That's why they're incredibly violent interritory altercations, despite the rule of thumb for pretty much all living things being a conflict-avoidance policy if possible: territory wars and/or mating events can also double as a massive food source if they can kill the other god, so fights often rapidly escalate to the death with them because if they can't win a territory, then hey, might as well raid the coop while at it. This isn't something of 100% certainty because if a fight turns bad for them then they WILL disengage to conserve energy (and they usually do their damned best to avoid other wyrms in general), but that isn't something you want to risk. I hc that PK arriving to Hallownest raised a whole bunch of alarm bells in the residant gods up until he killed himself to be reborn anew, which was such an un-wyrmly move that it settled everyone's hackles back down again (bar for Radi, but she never would have been able to coexist with him anyways). And then PK giving up his wyrm form meant that he didn't need to eat practically at all on top of the energy gains he got from worship, so that saved everyone a lot of trouble too.

[hyenahunt]

Obbligato: In Praise of Folly - 3

Writer: Akira

Season: Spring, two years ago

Characters: Nagisa, Hiyori, Ibara

Proofreading: Remi + 310mc (JP) & Skyress (ENG)

Translation: Peace & hyenahunt

Hiyori: Someone like Tatsumi Kazehaya, however, may truly believe in such dreams from the bottom of his heart.

[Read on my blog for the best viewing experience with Oi~ssu ♪]

Nagisa: ... That is true. Tatsumi Kazehaya's ideals of "equality" and "fairness" could never coexist from the very start.

Hiyori: But of course. It seems everyone here is well aware of this fact, so while there is no need to elaborate on it any further, allow me to do so anyway.

The compatibility of equality and fairness, hm? Say we applied such concepts to a foot race — That would mean everyone would start at the same time, and everyone would reach the goal at the same time, yes?

Hiyori: However, each individual has their own differences, or shall I say, their own individual quirks. Be it their athleticism, their stamina, or even simply their condition on that day — everyone is different.

That's why, were this to be held in the usual way a race operates, you would essentially be creating a ranking order amongst them just by making everyone start at the same time.

If there are no external factors that could influence the outcome, then by every right the fastest person would win the race.

And that's essentially natural law, no? The one who ought to win shall be the one to win.

But in ranking each person, you are then creating "inequality".

Though everyone may have a "fair" start, the finish line itself becomes "inequal".

And then if you aim to remove that contradiction and aspire towards "equality" instead, then the "fairness" of it would grow questionable.

The two concepts are simply incompatible. Why, you would be taking the fastest child and binding weights to their legs to force them to slow down.

Or instead, you must have them run a longer distance than anyone else — of course, assuming that everyone is running with all their might, for if not then the end result would not be equal.

In essence, in order for the outcome to be “equal”, then the starting point must be “unfair”.

Nagisa: ... I see. That’s a very clear explanation.

... If you are to seek either “equality” or “fairness”, the opposite will inevitably surface. The two concepts are wholly incompatible.

Ibara: That's right. That is why Mr. Tatsumi Kazehaya's idealistic thoughts were nothing but just that: thoughts.

Oh, certainly no one would disagree with a world where one could be treated as equally as another, while at the same time being fair about it. In fact, I'm sure everyone would be quite happy with it.

However... The truth of the matter is that the world is made up of unique individuals, and so long as that is the case, that ideal is nothing more than a pipe dream.

A heaven, an early paradise, that can only exist as a concept — that truly is something a religious leader would think up.

Nagisa: ......

Ibara: At the same time, I for one have never seen Mr. Tatsumi Kazehaya as someone so foolishly blind to reality.

He's simply someone who's sought to make his dreams come true through pure religious zeal.

Hiyori: That's where he differs from Eichi-kun, isn't it? He used pretty, idealistic words like those to win everyone over, but ultimately they were used simply as a convenient front for what we were actually doing.

Someone like Tatsumi Kazehaya, however, may truly believe in such dreams from the bottom of his heart.

Ibara: That may be true. I believe we all agree on what we just discussed — that “equality” and “fairness” cannot coexist. And for my part, I believe it to be an undeniable truth.

However, there is a way for our reality to come ever closer to that idealistic view.

Mr. Tatsumi Kazehaya has done just that—with the exact conviction that any brave but tragic martyr may have had.

His ideals, if only for a moment, became reality.

Nagisa: ... I thought that such a thing was impossible for humanity, however.

Ibara: It is. That is why, if only for a moment, he must have become "something beyond human comprehension", such as a god or an angel, or perhaps a saint.

Hiyori: Saints, hm? They play a role much like that of myriad gods within polytheistic religions.

While it wouldn't pass within religions that worship a one and absolute God, saints are treated akin to gods, with the only difference from them being that they were once human.

Idolatrous images are made out of them and worshipped, and in turn they grant their worshippers divine protection.

The same can be said about demons. A certain unified church has been filching the various concepts of both saints and demons from other religions to worship them as godlike figures on their own.

Nagisa: ... I agree. A saint is someone who merely fills in the gaps that God cannot reach alone.

Ibara: I have no interest in discussing religion. But it is true that Mr. Tatsumi Kazehaya did something meritable enough for others to call him a saint.

In order to allow the contradiction of "equality" and "fairness" to coexist, there must be something to counteract it: an "exception" to the two.

Mr. Tatsumi Kazehaya himself is that very "exception".

Hiyori: ..Whatever do you mean?

Ibara: To put it simply, the system he established accounts for the equality and fairness of all except himself.

By allowing himself to take on the burden of being treated "unfairly" and "inequal" to those around him, everyone else reaps the benefits of the earthly paradise he sought.

Just as the original saint of Christianity, Jesus Christ, had done so long ago, crucified upon the cross to absolve humanity of their sins.

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[writingquestionsanswered]

Do you have any tips on how to move forward and discard certain plot ideas? I had decide to write a story I had in mind for a long time, but when I actually started planning, I realize most of the ideas I wanted to write can't coexist with each other. Is like I had a lot of concepts that work individually, but when together they contradict each other or it just becomes too much. And I can't decide which one I actually write, especially since I really like those ideas, and I don't think they would work in a different plot, since they are most based to fit a specific character.

Choosing Between Several Ideas Related to One Character

Is it possible these ideas could all be different plots for a series revolving around a single character? If you can find a way to interconnect the plots, it could be a traditional series. But if you can't, you could still do a series of stand alone novels featuring the same character, much like the Hardy Boys, Miss Marple, Sweet Valley High, etc. This kind of fiction can do really well, especially if you do novelette or novella length stories, because there are lots of people who prefer shorter fiction with a novel-breadth story.

If, on the other hand, you feel you must pick one idea and go with it, I would suggest doing two things:

1 - Try to do a paragraph long summary of what would happen in each plot... what would be the conflict? What would be the goal? What would be the story point?

2 - Do a list of pros and cons for each plot... for example: pro - this idea really resonates with me // con - something feels off about this setting to me.

Once you've done this, go through and eliminate the ones where the con list is bigger than the pro list. Then, read through the summaries and eliminate the one that interests you the least. Keep going with that method until you're down to one story. Alternatively, if they all interest you equally, you could eliminate the one with the most cons until you're down to one. If all else fails, you can write them all on a piece of paper and draw one out of a hat. Whatever works! :)

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[jinneu]

maybe it's controversial but.... it really shouldn't be hard to be normal about characters and enjoy media without making a manifesto of only One correct opinion and only One correct interpretation of how things would/must be, when it comes to said characters and/or their interactions— including the way they would act in romantic or platonic relationship (as if it's not a two-way street, which often means taking care of each other in various ways, because that's literally how human relationships work— especially if characters we're talking about are multifaceted and nuanced) and yet here we are.

there's no one(1) correct and ultimate way to interact with characters and fandom.

there's no way we know literally everything about the characters, because we, in fact, don't (screentime, them being fictional, and lol a lot of them are literally 15 and like... a lot of things can change and/or develop over time)

headcanons is something that is present in every fandom, because it's the act of expanding the universe and canon material we already have. and there's nothing wrong with it— same about exploring different concepts and interpretations without taking it to extremes. there's also no need for arguing about what thing is more canon, because there's no such thing unless it's explicitly stated in the show— and even so, in some cases there might be various ways to interpret it, unless it's something very straightworfard, like will's favorite candy being Reese's Pieces.

having headcanons is perfectly okay, but policing and pushing your headcanons/theories/etc onto others is not, no matter how canon one thinks they are. different interpretations can coexist! that's how fandom always worked, it's about fun and creation, not about arguing or trying to be the most correct and supercilious. peace ✌️

[tofuless]

I have a few story concept ideas and need a place to ramble to see what people think of them lol.

Concept 1: a college student is mysteriously turned into an immortal during a near death experience which angers Death himself. However, it turns out the student doesn't want to be immortal, and the two team up to find a way to fix them so that death can claim their soul. Along the way the two bond as they seek out the truth of what happened

Concept 2: (I'm kinda disappointed in Tokyo Debunker so imma do my own dark academy story idea 👿) After an unfortunate series of events, a young individual named Cass finds themselves marked for death by an entity that seeks to consume their soul for more power. They're narrowly rescued from the entity by a mysterious group that call themselves The Drifters before learning there's two sides of reality; the world of fiction and the world of nonfiction, that coexist within the same plane of existence. To ensure the world of fiction doesn’t pose a threat to humanity, The Drifters watch over both worlds, disguising their organization as a prestigious school where they secretly handpick and train new guardians to aid in their endeavor. Cass must now learn to navigate both worlds while balancing classes, and seeking a way to remove the entities mark before it can come back to finish the job.

Concept 3: In a world where monsters secretly walk among humans, a vampire is task with solving a series of bizarre murders occurring all over New York City. With the help of time traveling abilities, they steadily grow closer to the truth, only to learn the culprit isn't as easy to catch as they thought. With the case now shifting from a city to an entire timeline, and history being tampered with, the vampire needs to figure out who to trust and how to fix the timeline before its damage becomes permanent.

Concept 4: The stars have vanished from the sky, plunging the world into darkness. Humanity struggles to adapt and survive as the world slowly dies. A young girl catches sight of a star falling from the sky and rushes to investigate, only to find the last Star, who turns out to be some kind if alien. She learns the stars were actually warriors of an ancient species that were battling a dangerous darkness lurking within space. The darkness was winning, and now the fallen star was the last of his kind. With the darkness now looming over Earth, the girl and the star need to find a way to bring light back to the night sky before all is lost.

[bodyalive]

Understanding MyoFascia

What is MyoFascia?

MyoFascia consists of two main elements:

Myo: means muscle, and means strength tissue.

Fascia: refers to the connective tissue, also known as temporal tissue.

The Key Concepts

Muscles and Fascia:

Contrary to popular belief, muscles do not contract independently; they create tension and the fascia.

Biomechanics:

Biomechanics is an explanation of the musculoskeletal system based on the physics of inert matter of dead tissue. This approach focuses on the structure and mechanical function of bones and muscles as separate and rigid entities.

The Living Tensegrity:

As opposed to traditional biomechanics, living tensegrity explains the forces that must coexist for animated movement to occur in living biological tissues. This concept is based on a dynamic and balanced interaction between the structural elements of the body.

Fasciategrity in Motion:

This term invites to understand the universal forces that are driven by our unique facial matrix. Each individual has a distinct facial configuration that influences the way forces manifest themselves and move throughout the body.

L'Importance du MyoFascia

The concept of MyoFascia is crucial for a holistic understanding of the human body. Rather than viewing muscles and fascias as separate elements, it is essential to view them as an integrated unit where tension and forces are distributed and modified to allow for smooth and coordinated movement.

This perspective can transform our approach to neuromuscular therapy and physical rehabilitation, focusing on restoring balance and functionality to living tissue.

The study of MyoFascia, integrating concepts of living tensegrity and fasciategrity in motion, offers a new dimension to understanding the mechanisms of movement and stability of the human body. It paves the way for innovative therapeutic approaches that take into account the interconnection and interdependence of muscle and facial tissue.

Source: Paul Thornley

[moonsb1996]

How to write convincingly, part 3 TW long post

Okay, now I've compiled some and come to "How to write convincingly" part 3 after we've been complaining since the story. Creating an imaginary world and limits of the characters We come to the big issue after we have ideas and other characters and information that doesn't even go deep into their ancestry. Now comes a matter that is a big problem for every writer.

Who is on the opposite side of who?

What comes after What is the “origin of super hero power” of every living thing in your world? How do governments handle when their power is curtailed by so-called "Superhuman Power" They went to deal with the problem by saying if it was an illness (X-men?) and then pushed until a group of criminals, the "Villains", emerged to demand their rights back. Or not? And then there are groups of vigilantes or "heroes" who come and want to live together with everyone. and cannot accept that there will be a war. From the example above, it can be divided into

1) Old government group who oppose peaceful coexistence Because of the wound People with superhuman powers (villains) harm their own people. and they will be powerless If it weren't for the law Now it's chaotic because Special powers appear that give people more privileges than others because Is it my body or the nature of its expression?

2) Villain: a person who feels dissatisfied with the law or group rule, or a person who feels that If they themselves don't stand up and oppose the injustice of this new breed of human beings like themselves. Their descendants will be the ones to be exterminated. But chose to use the method Respond with violence Because they feel that it is an effective method. Because everyone can turn and look.

3) Hero: A person who wants both people to have special powers. and people without special powers living together which joins hands with those who agree and fight against the two groups above Because to change the world is to "rebuild" it for the better. They, as heroes, cannot create a new government. Must hold hands together Help push for laws for heroes.

okay ! When there are 3 groups above, if followed in MHA, the hero and the new government win the war, the old government disappears, and the villain loses the war. And hide in the shadows blah blah blah (And some people choose to ignore it. Social matters are just black and white.) Okay, let's continue. When the world returns to peace Are there any additional problems?

example

Mutants that do not look like humans. Or have the shape of other living things, thus making the general public, including the beliefs of some groups of people, not liking them. Leading to problems Racist? (I use this word because I think it's more descriptive.) or the concept of superhuman society Does a child not have superpowers = failure? Then they lived together until they became Minority society Then some went to join groups with beliefs. /Weird cult or not? So are there any additional problems that arise from having special powers? For example, do special powers have an effect on The mental image of that person (like a 17 year old girl who is crazy about blood Until you can't tell the difference between desire and love. You know who I'm talking about.) How is the government handling the problem? Or will we let each other go as things happen?

different concepts

War and conflict would not originate without something called I'm not talking about MHA's famous idea of a hero: “To make the words of a beautiful world come true. That's what it takes to be a hero.” (Something like this? I can't remember) and Villain's "I'll destroy everything I don't like" (which didn't help either). What different concepts will there be? If we don't take the big approach Resources of opposing areas According to the principles of war that we often see (such as competing for arable land Compete for opposing territories Until genocide) from the above example can be divided into

1) Hero Government Organization who do not want their own social status and power to be shaken, leading to corruption, cleaning up threats to power Until they are no different from previous government groups that do not want superhumans to have power over them. People who don't have special powers that last longer.

2) Villain who doesn't like the above person. that sees excessive cheating, corruption, and assassination and want to expose it to the people's eyes which includes groups that choose to use violent methods until the state considered it a terrorist organization with another group that is called a terrorist group but emphasizing peaceful methods

2.1) Group A: We're going to plant the bomb here. Or go rob here. cause chaos Or kill the corrupt hero. and expand power Create troops to prepare for war, etc.

2.2) Group B: We love peace, but what should we do? Let people see our actions No matter how corrupt, they can find a way to cover up their own traces. Oh, that's right! We took out their secret information and let trusted journalists announce it. Or release it on online media. Let the people help us.

3) New generation heroes, who are a group of people who really want to be heroes to help people, including helping villains (really good ones) and people in distress so that the dream world becomes TRUE (And finally we know Someone chose their beloved son, Gary Stu, because my beloved had to outshine the MC I created to get people to read my story.)

I want Villain to be saved. I have to find a way down.

When you become a villain When you don't want them to die because your heart grows sad and you like them. When writing for bad people What will you do to make bad people repent? must show their "humanity" with the role of redemption, which together must show that They truly want to atone for their sins (unlike the 17-year-old girl who killed people to become fish and vegetables). And as long as she has the cutest smile in the world, that's enough. P.S. She has to take off her clothes too. With Gary Stu, who has the catchphrase "Die" every time with every character. And someone said that he has "changed", believe mecries ugly ps. Sorry, I have open eyes and still can't see anywhere) Examples that can be thought of

1) Feelings after killing someone The way he acted was so happy that he laughed from his mouth to his ears. Or feeling so guilty that he keeps it in nightmares and sees images of his family. The victim who had killed himself cried over his death.

2) Expression of the opponent's idea of being a good person. What do they (villains) think of their opponent? (Really good hero/Good cop) For example: Me (Villain): I admire you all. But if I don't act now It won't change society right now, or if you (Hero/Good Police) have a problem, I'll help as much as I can.

3) Action goals Which groups are they? For example, corrupt people with clear evidence. or your villains Do you think that killing homeless people and prostitutes = really helping to keep society clean?

4) How do they express themselves to their co-workers/people? For example, people in the group use drugs because they have to. The villain shows that he understands his friend. and help each other find solutions to long-term problems (Chronic drug addiction?) Or friends take drugs because they just want to take it and are not satisfied, even if we are in the same gang. But some actions should have limits.

5) How do they present themselves to outsiders who are also villains but have different ideas? For example, your villain wants to use peaceful methods. And I can't accept the fact that I don't love the other group's friends, or indeed they would be if they weren't my friends. Well, it's not me. Even if the other person doesn't have any bad thoughts towards them (LOV seems to be like this most of the time). Because I don't see how they act except me, me, me)

Because if you can't make a way for the Villains, It would be like slapping one in the face of the reader. And people can die and bring this phrase in my country. “Don't think of becoming a monk. And it will wash away your sins” or Dabi's famous phrase "The past doesn't go away" and I think you know that it includes His father alone oh ! But yes, we didn't see the body. We don't know if he actually killed someone or not. Ps. People deserve to die already! I say this sarcastically because someone actually said this

Let's take an example with my OC character, who is also a villain. A is a twin sister who has a case of serial murder. and imprisoned the boy She was thrown into prison without investigating the case because evidence included a blood-stained knife with fingerprints on it. and the blood of the deceased And there is a picture of her at the latest crime scene. There is no way to escape. But when she went to prison There are people who don't like killing people and use their blood to do evil things, such as stealing IDs and buying illegal things. Intentional murder even if the victim's home contains a baby. But because children are cute I had to suck the blood of a baby to show my love. But! She turned out to be nothing like the information they had heard. For example, "A "would only drink 100 ml. of blood because of the Ministry of Public Health system. Announced to let the people know that People who have special powers from drinking blood must get blood (pig, duck, chicken, cow, etc.) not exceeding 100 ml. because the blood is too salty and will not be good for the digestive system or they will become cannibals. (I can't remember what it's called.) Moreover, it didn't have a blood-crazed state that sucked it to the point of death. Or say I love this person

With B, a twin sister who has the same blood-drinking special power, she likes to walk at night. Secretly stalking boys and girls that you feel attracted to/"like" until you fantasize about a deep relationship without ever having even talked to those girls or boys until you see them with other people. Love/Girlfriend or show love to anyone close to you Instead, I felt that The person you "like" has already cheated on you. I must do whatever it takes. That is, since I can't have him, no one else can. And no one loves him as much as I do. So she took a knife and stabbed him. and sucked his blood until he died. I myself just went to find someone new. If anyone saw her, she would stab the witness to death, splattering blood because the color of blood was very beautiful to her. I use it to bathe with because it's more beautiful than bath salt. And the police are about to arrest her. You have to go kill other people and leave as much evidence as possible. It already has a face that's the same as A. All that's left is just a fingerprint. I erased my fingerprints from the weapon. Then let A be the one to carry it. When A and B have an argument, that's enough. Now she's going to jail for me. And I continued to find people I “liked” to drink blood from.

From the above example, who do you think A and B have a greater chance of redeeming themselves? The answer has to be A, right? But someone/most people will choose B anyway. Why? Because she's a naked girl! yes ! Some people really just choose that, like a psychotic murderer is very handsome/beautiful. I want them to survive. The victims or their families have nothing to do with it, they don't care! He's a psycho but he's cute! I want to vomit Okay, it's starting to get a lot. If I think of anything more, I'll post it in the next episode. Thank you for reading until the end.

Am I able to write this long? Some words will seem strange. English is not my native language.

[108garys]

How I interpret little hope

I believe that all explanations of little hope can coexist and that the different concepts must be stacked in a specific order for it to all work together. I've finally taken the time to type it out as clearly and concisely as I'm able and my hopes are that more people will consider this an option(especially those that wanted more out of the games ending)

as shown, Anthony's trauma is the surface layer and the curse is the foundation, further explanation for each and their specific order undercut

-Cursed souls

The foundation of this idea must be that the curse is real as presented throughout the game and there for the lost souls are denied the peace of an after life and continue to return until the curse is broken

-Reincarnation and bloodlines

The cursed souls return in the descendants the original victims(or the descendants of a close relative), each is a unique individual in their own right but has the soul and blood of the original, the blood of the reincarnated individuals itself ties the supernatural and grounded biological sides together, basically they have the same blood as was spilt during the trials and are doomed to the same fate unless the curse is broken

(side note that each incarnation would have been born regardless of the curse)

-Interdimensional variance and choice

The existence of the curator as the games framing device plays a big part in this idea, he exists outside of space and time and all choices taken in game must be viewed as equally true and so we have larger set events and smaller ones that are equally true but don't change the course of the world or anything like that resulting in sub dimensions

-echos/ghosts

Due to the above it should be considered that the field trip simultaneously did and didn't happen and Anthony and Andrew being in close proximity are considered as both one and two people, the two clashing truths result in a sort of universal dissonance that really sets off things in game as they're presented

-hallucinations and trauma

Of course the way this is structured means that one sub dimension is as the twist states, Anthony and his traumatised mind, whilst I believe that this more complex view means that what he's experiencing is real in a sense that he is experiencing echos from a different timeline(and being legitimately tied to the souls of his loved ones) I also believe that it leaves room for the entirely mundane explanation to be scooped off the top by itself

Thank you for reading I'd love to hear your thoughts, even if it's to say I'm not making sense, I'd be happy to clarify as needed and for an example of this view in action I'd point to my oneshot "ghosts" that was specifically written through the lens of this view

Tagging:

@delurkr @kassiekolchek22 @tatjana-fantasy @blubary @dennisseyebrows @qusok @seraphjewel @ctrvpani. @kindheartedgummybears @lonnitamongus @ultrabananapudding @ivycross @eddie-brii @devilinlittlehope @myscprin

[goldenteaset]

I’m hoping that getting this idea out via headcanons will help keep it at bay for a little while longer. XD Trigun Stampede really grabbed me by the throat with the whole “Knives essentially made a cult for him and Vash, and then with the Freudian womb thing, it’s a sex cult,” so…

(And yet still, even with this concept rife for Plantcest, my love for Legato still won out and Knives became a voyeur instead, XD)

Pairings: Legato/Vash, Knives/Legato

Rating: R18

Tags/Warnings: Dubcon, Ravishment, Sex Pollen, Mating Cycles, Creepy Sex Cult Things, probably OOC

Under the cut!

In July, Vash attempts to strike a deal with Knives: he'll stay with him as long as they can work together to help Plants and humans' coexist.

For plot reasons, Knives okays this, on two conditions: Vash join the Eye of Michael, and Knives' right-hand man, Legato, takes care of him. Attentively.

Vash is too relieved that Knives is even considering this to think of the bigger implications, i.e. why does Knives have a Plant-grafted human on standby? And why is that human so very (very) devoted to them both?

Before he can think things through, he's hustled off to a luxurious-looking wing of Knives' hideout...which is also littered with cameras in places Vash really wishes they weren't. But a deal's a deal, right? He just has to say the right phrases and all will be well, right?

Oh, Vash, you poor sweet summer child...

The first commandment of Millions Knives: the younger Angel is to be treated gently, always.

The second commandment of Millions Knives: the younger Angel is to be wakened by his Head Worshipper with soft caresses and tender words.

The third commandment of Millions Knives: the younger Angel is of unsound mind, and therefore must always be watched over, either by his elder brother or the Head Worshipper.

The fourth commandment of Millions Knives: when the elder Angel "blooms", the younger Angel must be present, and watch his older brother descend upon the blessed Head Worshipper as if he were a throne until the elder's mating instincts are satisfied.

The fifth commandment of Millions Knives: the younger Angel's pleasure must be strung out with great care, without climax if necessary, so as not to shatter his already-fragile mind.

The sixth commandment of Millions Knives: the younger Angel is forbidden to dress himself, nor to wear any (nonlethal if removed) artifact that could shatter this hard-won peace.

The seventh commandment of Millions Knives: when the younger Angel inevitably experiences his first "bloom", it is the Head Worshipper's sacred duty to ensure the younger Angel is attended to until the Head Worshipper or elder Angel deems satisfactory.

...Legato is a devout man who keeps his Master's commandments.

And besides, Vash looks beautiful coated in his own geranium-red pollen, his scarred hips rocking plaintively with Legato's every feathering stroke between his legs.

"Don't be scared, Vash," Master Knives insists through the intercom above their heads. "The first bloom is always the hardest."

Then, firmer, "Legato: savor him with your mouth again, but let him come this time. It's been a long first week, and my baby brother needs to be soothed."

Legato eagerly bends to his task, Vash's cries and nonsensical babbling a hymn to his blessed ears.

[sorrowschengmei]

i believe one thing we don't talk a lot about regarding Xue Yang's heartbreak and trauma is how much his existence is permeated by SHAME

shame is a horrible feeling, it makes us feel denied in our dignity and wholeness, as if being ourselves is a dishonour. he's said to be shameless, and he postures as shameless, ofc, the last thing he wants is to be read as someone who has weakenesses. if he acts enough like an aggressive slut who breaks all taboo, he doesn't need to deal with his core wound, that goes even further than ox cart day.

being on the street brings shame. people deny your humanity, offend you, treat you as if your existence there is a burden. this is not me, this is what people who have dealt with homelessness say. for a-Yang, the wound of shame accompanies him since he was on the street.

and then there's Ox Cart Day... how can i start. the shame of being once young and naive and trusting, vulnerable in front of others, and the lifelong reminder of the day someone just decided you were so lowly your small body still in development wasn't capable of pain or fear.

if you're a-Yang, these feelings become intrusive thoughts and never stop: the shame of begging for food,  the shame of just existing as a small and helpless thing like all human animal cubs, the shame of exposing yourself and trusting people... and of course, the shame of carrying the physical scar of all of this. he likes to show off the glove, but i'm very sure he often looks at it and gets his 'memento mori' moment.

instead of 'remember you too will die', it's 'remember you too can be hurt'

dying is such a simple thing for him, the more he brings death, the more his own death becomes an abstract concept. but he knows how it is to be hurt. he worked his entire life to physically suppress pain, turn his lawless life into strength instead of weakness.

crying is shameful, laughing and taunting while bleeding is powerful.

crying and feeling pain is for the naive and dim-witted 'boy', who doesn't even get the honour of being called Xue Yang in his retellings of his own life.

his life is an eternal escape from the 'boy' and all the shame that comes with being him. the boy is weak, sad, stupid, disabled. Xue Yang is strong, optimistic, smart, and he has a very cool glove he likes to show off. not the same. NEVER the same.

this is why Yi City was so intense for him.

while he was hurt and unconscious. he unvoluntarily became 'the boy' again. and then he wakes up, and the Daozhang, the LAST person he'd ever expect to do so, says with his actions: 'it's okay to be the boy. there's no shame on that.'

thing is, at this point 'the boy' and 'Xue Yang' are almost two different people that cannot coexist.

one likes to tell jokes, sweetly tease everyone around him, perform acts of service for people he loves. the other likes to kill, deceive, control.

one is a real human, the other is the personification of all the shameful words thrown at this real human.

like a thoughtform, they got a life of their own and became a shadowy entity enveloping the core, so tight they almost become one thing.

see, what really awakens Xue Yang's killing intent in Yi city is being called 'disgusting'. i don't which word they use in Chinese but the conotation must be VERY heavy. even in English, it's a trigger word totally tied to the wound of shame.

vomit is disgusting. roaches. trash. if you're a-Yang, growing up with this word means you tie your image, your body, your qi, everything that makes you be you to things like vomit, roaches, trash. everything the Gods gave you is not soft, sweet, loveable, it's DISGUSTING.

and for you this is a fixed reality, after all, sweet kids who deserve to be loved aren't crushed by ox cart wheels.

those wheels ran over trash, dirt, piss, mud, and you, that is not too different from the rest of the list.

and then in his world, the sweet Daozhang is just Chang Ci'an 2.0. it's the self fulfilling prophecy: if you let yourself become the boy again, you'll be hurt again. what is a Xue Yang? i can only see a disgusting street kid there. shame. shame. shame.

but hey, he STILL can be Xue Yang.

so he starts doing what Xue Yang does best: aggression, deceit, ruthlessness. done, safety is back, the boy can cry as much as he wants under the Daozhang's wheels, you are NOT the boy, you're POWERFUL, you CAN'T BE HURT, you CAN'T BE SHAMED. everything is fine, right? it was a bit 'wow' when the Daozhang killed himself, but lol had it coming.

then you realise you're the boy, and this abslutely evil creature called Xue Yang killed the person you loved the most in the world. congratulations, you really became Xue Yang.

and you finally realised the disgusting creature the Daozhang was talking about was him, not you. but now there's no way back, becoming the boy again is impossible, you'll have to live your entire life as Xue Yang, aware of how disgusting you are. shame. shame. SHAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you can delude yourself into anything, you can fantasize about getting the boy back, pretend nothing is happening, pretend you LIKE to be Xue Yang, nothing will ever work.

you're doomed.

Wei Ying&co met a ghost. the real man had been dead for 8 years.