#this meta is extremely cursed

[sunnykeysmash]

Starting over

[cereal-oak]

Guys, I think I had the worst idea so far- So... I was fooling around with my artistic liberties (just like any normal artist) and thought of these "human body with semi-realistic animal head" type of character design. Since I currently have a Kirby hyperfixation, my demonic brain thought of the one animal in the main cast it ended up becoming an idea stuck in my head, so I had to draw it. (I am not good at designing gijinka's or humans in general so it ended up looking extremely cursed) (and no, I will not draw gijinkas again.) It's under the cut if you want to see it (enjoy the nightmare fuel ig?)

FOR SOME REASON HE LOOKS LIKE A GOD FROM SOME LEGEND MYTH TALE HELP-

Also randomly thought of a mk design and it looks as cursed-

I had no idea what I was doing, honestly.

[lgbtlunaverse]

What kind of saber is baxia anyway?

I love my bloodthirsty princess of a cursed blade, and in my heart of hearts i am nothing but a sword nerd, so i've been extremely fascinated by Baxia and how we know frustratingly little about what she actually looks like!

I mean, look at bichen, right?

Bichen in the donghua:

Bichen in the drama:

They're clearly not exactly the same. The scabbards are different, and the guards have a different shape. But these are recognizably different iterations on one theme, right? Thin jian with a white grip silver guard, light blue tassel and silver mounting accents on the scabbard.

Now this is baxia in the donghua:

And baxia in the drama:

????????

THAT'S A COMPLTELY DIFFERENT WEAPON

it doesn't stop there either, the audio drama is kind enough to give us ANOTHER COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BAXIA

pretty! But how is that he same sword??

And when we go back to the novel, we get very little information on her appearance other than the fact that her blade is tinted red with all the blood she's absorbed. Which none of these designs incorporate.

This is not a dig on the designs itself, they're all quite gorgeous in their own right and i'm going to spend a while discussing all of them! Because isn't it fascinating how, since we know little about novel baxia beyond "saber" all of these designs ended up so different? What kinds of sabers are these, anyway?

So, a chinese aber, aka a "dao" (刀) just means a sword that has only one cutting side. As opposed to a jian, which has two.

You can see how that leaves a LOT of room for variaton.

I've actually seen some people get confused because Huaisang's saber in the untsmed is thin and quite straight, making it superficially resemble the jian more than drama!baxia, but it is still clearly a saber!

See? only one cutting blade!

This, to me looks a lot like a tang dynasty hengdao

credit to this blog for providing his image and being a great source for all this going forward.

TANGENT: during all this I found out the english wikipedia page for dao is WRONG! Ths is what they about the tang hengdao!

So that sounds like the hengdao was called that during the sui dynasty, but then, after that, started being called a peidao, right?

WRONG

I LOOKED AT THE SOURCE THEY USED AND IT SAYS THIS:

IT WAS CALLED THE PEIDOU UNTIL THE SUI DYNASTY, AT WHICH POINT IT WAS CALLED A HENGDAO. Which would carry over to the Tang dynasty. This was the source wikipedia linked! and it says something else than they say it does!

Anyone know how to edit a wikipedia article?

ANYWAY

BACK TO BAXIA

Since we're already at the drama, let's look at drama baxia: She's also straight! the general term for straight-backed saber is Zhibeidao, but that's a modern collector's term, and doesn't really say anything about which historical kind of saber baxia could be based on. Another meta i found on the drama nie sabers already went on some detail here.

I'm gonna expand on that a little: The kinds of historical straight-backed sabers we see resemble the hengdao a lot more than they do baxia. They don't go to their point as harsly as she does (she's basically a cleaver!) and they're all way skinnier.

No, my personal theory is that instead of being based on any kind of historical sword, drama!baxia is based on a Nandao.

I mean, come on, look at it!

Baxia!

The Nandao... isn't actually a historical sword. It was invented for Wushu forms. There's a really fascinating article about its conception, but that's why the swords in the images look a little thin and flimsy. Wushu swords are very flexible and light, they're dance props, not weapons to fight with. There are actual steel versions of Nandao, but they're recreations of the prop, not the other way around.

So That's one way in which Baxia differes from the Nandao: she's actually a real weapon. The other is that, as you can see above, the nandao has an S-shaped guard. Baxia doesn't. She's also much more elaborately decorated, of course. Because she's a princess.

Now: audio drama baxia!

This is much easier. with that flare at the tip?

Oh baby that's a niuweidao, all the way!

There are more sabers with that kind of curved handle, but the broad tip is really charcteristic of the niuweidao. The Niuweidao is also incredibly poplar in modern media, often portrayed as a historical sword, but it originated i nthe 19th century! And it was actually never used by the military!

That's right, the Niuweidao was pretty much exclusively a civilian weapon! That makes its use here anachronistic, but so is the nandao, and considering that the origin story of the Nie is that they use Dao intead of Jian because their ancestors were butchers, portraying them with a weapon historically reserved for rebels and common people instead of the imperial military is actually very on theme!

Finally, Donghua/Manhua baxia. These two designs are so similar I'm going to treat them as one and the same for now.

Unlike both previous baxias, The long handle makes it clear this baxia is a two-handed weapon, though Nie Mingjue is absolutely strong enough to wield her with one hand anyway. Normal rules don't count for cultivators.

Now, this is where things get tricky, because there are a lot of words for long two-handed sabers. And a lot of them are interchangable! This youtube video about the zhanmadao, one of the possible sabers this baxia could be based on, goes a little into just how confusing this can get. This kind of blade WAS actually in military use for many centuries, making it the most historically accurate of all the baxias. But because of that it also has several names and all of those names can also refer to different kinds of blades depending on what century we're in.

So here's our options: i'm going to dismiss the wodao and miandao, because these were explicitly based on japanese sword design, and as we can see manhua baxia has that very broad tip, so that won't work

(Example of a wodao. According to my sources Miaodao is really just the modern common term for the wodao, and the changdao, and certain kinds of zhanmadao... do you see how quickly this gets confusing?)

Next option: Zhanmadao.

Zhanmadao stands for "horse chopping saber" so... yeah they were anti-cavalry weapons. meant to be able to cut the legs and/or necks of horses. That definitely sounds like a weapon Nie Mingjue would wield. But if you watched that youtube video i linked above, you'll know the standardized Qing dinasty Zhanmadao looked very different from earlier versions. It was inspired by the japanese odachi, and more resembles the miandao than its ealrier heftier counteprarts.

Earlier Ming dynasty Zhanmadao on the other hand were... basically polearms. the great ming military blog spot, another wonderful source, says these are essentially a kind of podao/pudao (朴刀) which looked like this

Now that blade looks a lot like baxia, but the handle is honestly too long. Donghua!baxia straddles the line between sword an polearm a little, but while zhanmadao have been used to refer to both long-handled swords and polerarms, this was undeniably a polearm, not a sword.

If you want to know what researching this was like, I found a picture of this blade on pinterest-- labeled as a "two-handed scimitar"-- and the comment section was filled with people arguing about whether this was a Pudao, Wudao, Zhanmadao, Dadao, Guandao, or a japanese Nagita.

So... that's how it was going. This has kept me up until 2 AM multiple times.

However! Thanks to this article on the great ming military blog I found out there have historically been pudao blades with shorter handles!

Specifically, Ming dynasty military writer Cheng Ziyi created a modified version of the pudao to work with the Dan Fao Fa Xuan technixues-- aka technqiues for a two-handed saber, which would alter heavily influence Miaodao swordmanship-- thereby, as the article points out, essentially merging the cleaver-polearm type Zhanmadao with the later two-handed japanese-inspired design.

This is the illustration for the Wu Bei Yao Lue (武備要略) a Ming dynasty military manual

This blade shape in the illustration doesn't match Baxia exactly, but since it's a lengthened Pudao-like blade and we've seen above that those can match Donghua Baxia's shape, i'm gonna say that calling Baxia a Zhanmadao with a two-handed grip isn't all that innacurate!

However, because all of these terms are so intertwined, there are a dozen other things you could call her that would be about equally correct.

To show that, here's a lightning round of other potential Baxia candidates:

Dadao (大刀)

Which are generally one-handed and too short. However!

Another youtube video i found of someone training with a Zhanmadao that resembles baxia a little also calls it a "shuangshoudai dao" (雙手带 刀) shuangshou means two-handed, and while 雙手带 seems to refer to a longer handled weapon, when looking for a shuangshou dao or shuangshou dadao (双手大刀) we find a lot more baxia-resembling blades like here and here

I also found that, while the cleaver-like Dadao is strictly a product of the 20th centuy, since dadao just means big sword or big knife, it has been used to refer to loads of different weapons! Some people could've called the zhanmadao and pudao "dadao" during the Ming dynasty as well.

Another potential baxia candidate that mandarin mansion classifies as similar to the later dadao (though longer, as seen in the illustration below) is the "Kuanren Piandao"

Which piqued my interest because this diagram classifying different tpye of Dao:

Claims that a Kuanrenbiandao (diferent spelling, same sword) is the same as a modern day Zhanmadao.

(So once again, all of these terms are interchangable)

Another opton Is the Chuanmeidao/Chuanweidao (船尾刀) below you can see a diagram, based on the Qing dynasty green standard army regulation, of blades all officially classified as types of "pudao"

The top middle is the Kuanren Piandao, and bottom left is the Chuanweidao.

Both of these have a lot of baxia-like qualities.

So there you go! live action baxia is based on a Nandao, audio drama baxia is based on a Niuweidao, and Manhua/donghua baxia is some kind of two-handed Zhanmadao/Pudao/Dadao depending on how you want to look at it.

I'm honestly surprised no one has made the creative decision to portray Baxia as a Jiuhuandao, aka 9 ringed broadsword yet.

I mean look at it! Incredibly imposing. Would make for a great Baxia imo. (@ upcoming mdzs manga and mobile game: take notes!)

[utilitycaster]

Interesting to me in looking through a lot of meta this past week that a lot of the people whose meta I find lacking and poorly considered are very, very fixated on intent until suddenly, when convenient, they aren't.

That's the crux of the fandom argument re: Laudna and Orym's encounter; if you discard people who think that doing anything that makes anyone around you uncomfortable makes you a bad person (and you should, online and in life, for they are exhausting and self-obsessed) you're left with people who are trying to prove that Orym is focused on vengeance (intent), and that Laudna didn't mean this because Delilah was in control (intent), but suddenly switch to the idea that Orym hurt Laudna more physically (means) or that he believed that Delilah is a useful weapon in their arsenal (means) when that becomes convenient. And even then, they're not going so far as to say Orym intends ill for Laudna; only that he is willing to risk anything, himself or his friends, in the purpose of defeating the Vanguard.

Means vs. Intent is the core of the argument about the sword: is it cursed? Will it poison the wielder with ill intent? Or is it just a tool? It comes up about the harness too: are Bells Hells just as bad as Ludinus, using the harness he used? Or is it just a tool with a particularly dark history? I think it's the latter, for what it's worth; but interesting that those in the former camp never seem to unpack who is most eager to use it. (Hint: not Orym.)

It's been the core of the Vanguard arguments too; Orym's argument (and Ashton's as well) has always been "the Vanguard's means have always been so brutal and murderous that any potential good intent is drowned out". Any defense of them has necessarily rested, therefore, only on intent, given the indefensible means.

As for whether intention or method matters, I'd say both do; it's highly situational, and it's a balance. Sometimes it's clear cut: I think, for example, the sword is just a sword that's had a string of terrible owners. Sometimes it's far more complicated. But it is extremely telling when people focus on only the intent of their favored characters or factions, and then come for the means of those they wish to argue against. It's a deliberate avoidance of examining the material harm done in favor of arguing that the character or group didn't intend to do harm (while still focusing on the harm that others do), and it's notably been particularly common in the pro-Liliana, pro-Ludinus, and pro-Laudna arguments.

[smilerri]

many thoughts about epic: the musical...

i am once again in the middle of essay writing but plautus is boring and my friend introduced me to this album so u already know I binged the entire thing

(quick warning for spoilers of homer's odyssey? if that's necessary?? man idk whatever)

first thoughts naturally concerned odysseus. i have hated this man with a burning passion ever since I started studying classics - i think he is irredeemably selfish, a liar masquerading as a 'resourceful hero,' and basically just a twat all around. that being said, i respect that epic is not an exact replica. in fact, i like that about it!

readings of odysseus as a loving husband and father, and a man who cares deeply for his crew and fellow warriors is one i would love to see reflected in the source text (though i admit i have only read two different translations so far, so this is subject to change depending on translators choice!), if only because it would be so so refreshing. and epic does that extremely well! i find epic's odysseus to be far more likeable, insofar as he is fueled not by greed for glory (kleos for the nerds out there) but rather the desire to return to his wife and son. (I personally would argue that, while homer's odysseus is indeed fueled by a desire for homecoming (nostos), it is not for the sake of penelope and telemachus, but rather concern over the security of his status and position within the household (oikos))

i also very much enjoy that the love he holds for his family is not an inherently positive trait. in the aeneid, and often in myth, it is achilles' son, neoptolemus/pyrrhus who kills the son of hector and andromache, astyanax by throwing him from the walls of troy - less common, it is odysseus (which i did not know until i googled it just now oops). homer's odysseus does not reject the gods. he is beloved by some, hated by others - he receives their boons and curses as they come. he revels in the attention of the divine, no matter positive or negative, for it is proof of his kleos. epic's odysseus is so much more... human. he doesn't vie for glory that reaches the skies. if anything, he rues it. in the horse and the infant he supplicates himself to (who i assume is) zeus - which is such a loaded act i am genuinely struggling to think of how to articulate it, but boy am I gonna try my darndest.

the act of supplication and guest-friendship (xenia) is a very key theme within the odyssey, and to a point in the iliad also - essentially, if a traveller were to arrive at your doorstep, you were obliged to let them in and provide food, drink, and lodgings to that traveller, no questions asked. in return (because reciprocity is VERY important in homer especially), the guest would provide entertainment, tales of their travels, etc, and would be respectful of their host. the patron of these travellers was zeus. any violation of these terms, on part of the guest or host, would be met with divine scorn. for odysseus to supplicate himself to zeus is therefore meta as hell, but I would instead bring attention to the echoing lyric "hes bringing you down to your knees." 'he,' assumedly, is astyanax. his father, hector, is dead; as is his grandfather, priam, and all of priam's other sons. at this point, one could assume that it is astyanax who is ruling troy, who is now the host of the city that odysseus, a traveller from another land, has entered and ransacked. zeus' 'prophecy' of astyanax growing old and seeking revenge (reciprocity! homeric greece had a 'revenge culture' - essentially 'an eye for an eye' as well as 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours,' though not always so clear-cut), therefore, would be odysseus' punishment for violating the terms of xenia.

supplication, however, is not limited to guest-friendship alone. for example, in odyssey 22, when odysseus slaughters the suitors occupying his home (is that spoilers?), their priest leodes supplicates himself at odysseus' feet, begging to be spared. odysseus takes his head from his neck in an instant. odysseus' kneeling before astyanax, therefore, is no simple act between a guest and his host - perhaps he is begging the infant for mercy, for forgiveness, or perhaps he is positioning himself for punishment; in killing astyanax, odysseus accepts his own death. perhaps this means his fate (which, in case of homeric epic, refers to the time and manner of one's death), or perhaps it is a part of him that has died. in just a man, odysseus asks "when does a man become a monster?" his killing astyanax prevents the boy from ever becoming a man, and spares him from a life fueled only by revenge and the need to regain his glorious birthright, and it turns him into a monster. just as he says he would, he trades in the world where he is 'just a man' for a world where he is a cruel beast, all for sake of his family.

(quick detour but i really like how odysseus' focus is primarily on penelope rather than telemachus. [insert deadbeat dad joke here], but in reality, he doesn't even know the boy. penelope he chose to marry and fall in love with - it's no question that he loves telemachus, but after ten years, it is only natural that he would miss his beautiful, tricky wife with more fervour than the child he never had the chance to love. it shows he is imperfect, even illogical - the son is the father's entire legacy. just as odysseus is 'son of laertes', so will telemachus be 'son of odysseus', the protector of his immortal heroic legacy. yet it is penelope whom odysseus yearns for.)

(another detour but "i'm just a man" is such a juicy lyric, because the entire message of homer's odyssey is that odysseus is not any man - he is a man that the muses deem worthy to inspire great poets to compose epic poems that persist through thousands of years and a million different voices - a hero. but epic's odysseus is not that hero. he is a man, trying to go home, craving comfort and the warmth of the hearth. these 'flaws' humanise him more than homer's odysseus could ever imagine.)

skipping over to polyphemus, odysseus violates xenia once again by killing polyphemus' sheep, albeit unwittingly. homer makes this violation very obvious - odysseus and crew eat polyphemus' cheese and wine while polyphemus tends to his sheep, knowing that the cave is obviously inhabited, and they even wait for polyphemus to return to ask for more. it is worth noting as well that, at this point, odysseus and crew are still jubilant about their victory, and unlike in epic, these 'detours' are purposeful, specifically so that odysseus can scope out the islands for anything of interest he can snatch and add to his spoils of war, adding to his kleos by means of physical wealth (timē) - which makes odysseus' offer of treasure to appease polyphemus all the more baffling in epic. this odysseus is a leader who prioritises the lives of his men over his own kleos, which makes the final lines - "you shall be the final man to die" // "what?" // "watch out!" - all the more heartbreaking. he wants to protect his men, so that they too may return to their families back on ithaca; the prospect of watching them die before his eyes after he already witnessed so many lose their lives in battle must be so utterly terrifying.

polyphemus is so excellently creepy as well! i loved him in the odyssey - this was where I really started to dislike odysseus, actually. he's a cyclops, obviously inhuman, yet he rears sheep and makes cheese and wine and weaves wicker baskets to keep them in, trying to play at humanity. i really did sympathise with him from the first time I read it. epic's polyphemus is similar, so very calm in his anger yet ruthless all the same, and demonstrates great restraint in comparison to his counterpart in the odyssey, who gets filthy drunk after mashing six men dead and allows odysseus+co. to fashion a stake with which to blind him. much of the violence against polyphemus, as well as the violation of xenia in homer's odyssey is 'excused' by the fact that polyphemus is a 'barbarian', to whom concepts of civilised people do not belong.

(very quick detour but polyphemus' first admonishment of odysseus - "you killed my sheep" up to "take from you like you took from me" - makes such heartbreaking parallels to astyanax's murder and the sack of troy. it almost provides a visualisation of the guilt that odysseus must still be battling. i would have loved to have been in his brain when he heard polyphemus say that.)

the mercy odysseus shows polyphemus is particularly interesting - homer's odysseus leaves him alive and tells him his name purely so that his name will spread and his kleos will grow. but epic's odysseus, despite his conviction to kill in survive and to avenge is fallen comrades in remember them, spares him. in part, this is to assure them an escape, so that the cyclops' giant body does not block their exit - but athena's interruption makes clear that this is not all. she criticises him, remarks "he is still a threat until he's dead." no doubt this calls back to zeus' warnings about astyanax, hence his refusal (or inability?) to commit to slaughter. for a homeric greek hero to allow a foe to live on after his allies had been slaughtered is a grave failure of reciprocity, casting shame on both the hero and their enemy. homer's odysseus escapes this with his reputation intact, since as a result polyphemus curses him to face poseidon's wrath - as I mentioned, for a hero, even negative attention from the gods is a good thing as it proves that their reputation/glory is known all over, even in olympus. but, as we have established, epic's odysseus cares not for kleos. the decision to tell polyphemus his name is entirely impulsive and irrational, grieving his comrades, hence athena's outrage.

the relationship between athena and odysseus is founded entirely on the principles they share, described in warrior of the mind (if anyone can lmk whereabouts this song fits in the timeline I will be so grateful, I'm stupid unfortunately :/). they value wisdom, reason, and rationality over brute strength and bloodlust. epic's athena becomes odysseus' patron goddess with the goal to "make a greater tomorrow" and "change the world" - aspirations that are entirely foreign to any homeric god. gods in homer do not care about the wellbeing of humans unless they are directly related to them, and they certainly don't care about the wellness of humanity as a whole. humans are toys and tools of the gods. the amount that athena cares for odysseus, even in the odyssey, is unusual, demonstrative of how much she cares for him, yet epic makes their comradery more obvious, even going as far as to (tentatively) call them friends. my goodbye frames athena's anger as disappointment at an experiment failed - calling back to warrior of the mind, where she claims to have "designed" him - but odysseus' replies to her makes clear that it is far more personal. perhaps, to her, odysseus acting so irrationally is even a betrayal; odysseus is abandoning the principles of reason they both once held and thus is forsaking all that they once shared and that she, as the goddess of wisdom, stands for.

ive always considered athena to be a very interesting goddess. she is a patron of both war, which in homer is only carried out by men, and weaving, the traditional work of women within the household - her very nature is a contradiction of masculine and feminine. although it is ares who is considered the 'black sheep' of the olympians for his brutality in war, epic's portrayal of athena through odysseus' lens paints her as lonely and ostracised - "since you claim you're so much wiser // why's your life spent all alone? // you're alone." It is clear that odysseus here does not view her as his patron at all, rather as a friend - and to that she takes offence, because she is a goddess, eternal and all-powerful. she does not need friendship or comradery; those are mortal concerns alone. personally, I see epic's athena as incredibly insecure. she cuts odysseus off because she cannot bare that a mortal has been able to read her so clearly, to see all the ugly parts of herself that she keeps hidden to retain the facade of the perfect goddess. she knows the paradox within herself - warrior and woman, immortal and alone - and rues that odysseus was able to see it as well. the cruellest part, the most ironic, is that his being able to figure out the true, imperfect nature of a god shows that he has not abandoned the path of the warrior of the mind. in fact, his wisdom extends beyond mortality into the realm of the divine. but athena is blinded by her anger and insecurity, and she says her goodbyes. she disappears from there, only to appear again to try to warn odysseus of his crew opening the bag of winds given to him by aeolus in keep your friends close, once again demonstrating her care for him, despite her anger.

the amount that odysseus cares for his crew is demonstrated time and again throughout the album, yet in the end, he still slowly loses their trust. aeolus' winds are the first sign. his crew betrays his orders upon the first whisper on the wind that he might be keeping treasure from them. the next sign, in puppeteer, is eurylochus' confession upon arrival to aeaea (circe's island), which odysseus brushes off, much as he brushed off eurylochus' concerns in luck runs out. then, in a matter of moments, 600 men are reduced to forty by the wrath of poseidon - which in itself is a significant change. while odysseus in epic is explicitly blamed for failing to kill polyphemus, homer's odysseus takes no responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of his men. it happens when they arrive at telepylos, which, unbeknownst to them, is home to the laestrygonians, a race of cannibalistic giants. odysseus, apparently sensing something off (who tf does he think he is, spiderman?), allows his entire fleet to enter the bay of telepylos while his ship alone remains outside - and when those ships are attacked and trapped, he alone takes his single ship and escapes, allowing twelve ships of men to be ripped apart and eaten by cannibals. an act which he shows no remorse for.

in my interpretation of homer's odyssey, it is this slowly slipping trust that eventually leads to his men ignoring his warnings and feasting on the cows of helios which leads to the deaths of all his remaining crew, including eurylochus and polites (spoilers? idk). so, once epic: the musical catches up to book 12 of the odyssey you WILL be seeing me again I hope ur excited.

there is definitely more i could say here, especially about the circe saga bcs ohhh my god I love circe and I love this circe especially (a female character with actual motive other than being a victim? homer could never) but unfortunately I'm running out of steam and I do in fact have 3 essays due this month (help) so I will probably return to this later !! hopefully its readable bcs I'm not going back to edit any of this ;)

[nelkcats]

Little shock

Every time Danny transforms into Phantom he relives a part of his death, his scars glowing a toxic green while he goes into small spasms; the first time it happened he held back tears to face Lunch Lady.

This caused him to try to stay more permanently in one form or another, usually changing only when he felt safe and out of sight; His friends told him that it wasn't healthy but they weren't the ones who suffered two to three electrocutions per day, Danny wondered if the transformations would ruin his nerve functions or sense of touch in the long run.

When he finally decides to move out after securing Amity and ends up in Gotham he begins to question which way he should stay, after all he's not too rushed to get a title yet. In the end he stayed as Phantom for over a week before deciding to go back being Fenton, unfortunately that transformation happened right in front of Red Hood.

Jason was calmly patrolling his territory when he saw the shiny meta that had settled in Crime Alley that week looking around, he followed him out of curiosity but before he knew it the meta had disappeared and a boy was left trembling and cursing while some Lazarus green scars glowed on his body.

As any sensible person would in such a situation, Jason took one of his pistols and bashed the supposed meta in the head with it; Danny shot him an offended look before trailing off, it was extremely weird waking up to Red Hood offering him some eggs a couple of hours later.

Because yeah, Jason wasn't going to let that obviously sore bat bait stay where B could see him, or where the League of Assassins got a peek so he just took the boy with him, having an excuse to cook was just a bonus.

[messylxve]

ghost spider | cisco ramon x Gn!reader

part one

It was a just another day for Team Flash. One more meta-human captured and one step closer to a safe city. So when the alarm went off for a robbery, they all thought it was nothing more.

“He’s making a run for it Barry,” Cisco warned through the comms system. “You’ll catch him if you cut through the alley on 24th and Charles.”

Doing as Cisco said, he made his way on the street, skidding to a stop when he saw a panicked man rushing down the road. But Barry’s grin was quickly wiped off of his face when the robber was yanked off the street and into the air.

“Oh you robbers make it so easy,” a voice sighed.

Looking up, Barry’s eyes landed on you, hanging upside down so you were eye to eye with the cursing man.

“Who are you,” Barry shouted from his place on the ground.

You looked around the crook, smiling under the mask at the sight of the Flash. “No one of consequence.”

You suddenly flipped in the air, landing on a fire escape above the Flash and leaving the robber hanging. “But you can call me Ghost Spider.”

“Ghost Spider?” He couldn’t help but let out a laugh at the name, but before he could make another comment the sound of a gun firing stopped the both of them.

Barry was quick to rush to your side to stop the bullet, but you too moved fast—dodging the speeding weapon like it was nothing more than a football.

“Hey,” you shouted, turning to the man. “Didn’t anyone teach you fire safety?”

You flung a web out, snatching the firearm from the man, leaving both him and Barry shocked. “You could have killed me,” you pouted.

“W-w,” Barry stammered out, now more intrigued than ever. “What was that?!”

“Nothing of consequence,” you smirked.

“I swear to god,” the robber grumbled. “I’ll kill you both.”

“Blah blah blah,” you mocked, shooting another web to cover his mouth. “No one likes a blabber mouth.”

You turned back to Flash. “I’ll leave him to you. Catch you around Flash.”

Flinging a web at the nearest building, you swung away out of sight, leaving Barry watching you practically fly over Central City in awe.

“Did you see that,” he exclaimed to the very angry robber.

“So are they a meta-human,”Caitlyn asked once Barry returned to S.T.A.R. Labs.

“I think so. I mean they dodged a bullet that they didn’t even see get fired.”

“Wow,” Cisco mused. “And they shot spider-webs from their wrists?”

“Yeah, apparently it’s strong enough that they can hang from it and swing from buildings with it.”

“Woah…it’s a Spider-Man.”

“How do you even know if they’re a man,” Caitlyn questioned.

“Spider-Woman.”

“Actually,” Barry cut in. “Ghost Spider.”

“No,” Cisco exclaimed. “I name things, not you.”

Barry threw up his hands in mock defense. “I didn’t name them, they told me their name. Ghost Spider.”

Cisco frowned. “Hmm, it’s okay. I guess.” In truth he loved it, but he’d never admit it out loud.

That next time you made an appearance with the Flash, it was less than ideal. You had shown up right in time to meet the man in yellow.

To put it lightly, he didn’t appreciate you butting in on his meet with the Flash. You could hold your ground for only so long, but when he dragged you across the wall with his speed and threw you to the concrete ground, you looked worse than battered.

When Barry found you, you were knocked out, covered in blood, and mask in shreds, revealing your face.

His own instincts kicking in, he rushed you to S.T.A.R. Labs.

“Help me,” he panted after speeding into The Cortex with you in his arms.

It was action first and questions later as Caitlyn and Cisco rushed you to their makeshift hospital bed.

Hours later, your condition was finally stabilized, leaving the three to talk in the room over.

“They had 4 broken ribs, major fractures in their skull and will have extreme scarring all over their face.” She shook her head in disbelief. “There was no way they could have come back from that but…they did.”

“I guess that answers our meta-human question,” Cisco whispered.

“Do you know exactly how they were able to survive that, much less stabilize so quickly?”

Caitlyn shook her head. “No. I could run tests, but I wouldn’t want to do that while they’re in such a fragile condition and without them knowing.”

“Extreme cell regeneration.”

Everyone whipped around in shock to see you leaning on the door way; the only sign of damage on you being the discoloration from your scars and the tired expression in your eyes.

“Woah,” Cisco exclaimed. “You should not be up much less even awake.

A tired chuckle left you. “I’m fine.”

“Cisco’s right,” Caitlyn entered. “You shouldn’t be up, it’s extremely dangerous.”

“I promise you, I’m fine. You can check if you’d like.”

Caitlyn gave Cisco and Barry a glance, begging for them to back her up, but sighed when she saw it was fruitless.

“Okay.”

Not too long after the group found themselves looking over your X-rays and brain scans.

“How?”

“Extreme cell regeneration.”

“But on this level,” Cisco asked in amazement, coming in close and touching your cheek, examining your face. “It’s nearly impossible.”

Heat spread up your neck, burning your cheeks and ears as you felt how close he was.

“Shoot sorry, got too excited,” he laughed off, embarrassment settling in on him.

“It’s okay,” you laughed before clearing your throat. “It started a few months ago when your particle accelerator blew up. You see, I’m a biochemist for Mercury Labs and I was studying spiders and their healing capabilities—did you know the silk in a spider could repair human ligaments or—or that sea spiders can regrow entire body parts instead of just limbs.”

“Umm…no,” Barry chuckled lightly.

“Right sorry, besides the point,” you coughed. “I was at the lab late that night, looking over my work and when the incident happened, everything kind of exploded all over me. I woke up feeling normal at first, but everything felt dialed up to 20. I could hear see, and feel everything, a million times better than before. I was stronger, all of my injuries would heal overnight or even in hours. I stuck to walls and I had what I call a 6th sense. It helps me sense danger before it’s there.”

“Like a spidey sense,” Cisco whispered in amazement.

“Yeah,” you smiled, your stomach doing weird flips. “Like a spidey sense.”

[gatorbites-imagines]

Hi, I saw you did a request for Tim Drake during your kinktober list, but like nothing after that.

I was wondering if you could do one where Tim has a crush on the reader, him (the reader) having a demon like mutation. (Basically a Teifling from DND)

The reader looks all intimidating and aloof, however he is very affectionate towards people how are close to him.

I think it would great if Tim tries flirt, but he's so awkward he fucks it up everytime.

I'm sorry if you don't like writing for Tim, you don't have to if that's the case. I just really love the caffeine addicted anxiety bird.

Tim Drake x “Tiefling” male reader

Headcanons

I wish I could say I knew more about Tieflings, but I’ve only played DND very few times, and only had one character who was a Tiefling, so I’m just gonna try my best, hehe.

I was also somewhat inspired by nightcrawler from x-men for this reader :)

I also love Tim, I just haven’t gotten any requests for him before, but he is very much on my list of characters I write fore ^^

You had originally not been a part of the justice league, not even close. You had worked alone most of your life, though to had partnered up his magic users in the past, most notably John Constantine, who after having run-ins with your parents became a common figure in your life.

You were what most called a meta, but in reality, you were actually the child of two very powerful hellish beings. You had been born a human but on your 6th birthday you had mutated into a figure that fit your parentage most.

In the beginning you didn’t know your origin and your birth parents had shunned you. Turns out your hell parents couldn’t carry a child of their own, so they had used magic to have you be born by a couple on earth.

Your earth parents had not been kind when you one day turned blue, grew horns, a tail and other non-human features. They had actually tried to get rid of you because they thought you were cursed.

That was your first meeting with Constantine, after your earth parents had sold you to some less than friendly people who wanted nothing but bad things for you and other meta kids they had stolen or bought.

Apparently multiple kids there had been magic or not even human but of otherworldly descent, so Constantine was the ones to find you.

Apparently, he had recognized some of your features, the curve of your horns, the shade of your blue, the yellow of your eyes and the curve of your tail. He had offered to bring you to your hell parents.

You didn’t understand at the time, but when he brought you to hell and to the two people who had been your less than human parents you couldn’t help but feel relief to some point. You weren’t a monster or a curse and had parents who loved you.

Your hell parents wanted you to be cut off from the human world, but you treasured it even though you had only lived in it for 6 years, so Constantine kept coming around to work as some kind of anchor between you and earth.

He taught you magic and called you Tiefling as a nickname. He even taught you spells that could help you change your appearance to be more human, though your eyes stayed yellow, your ears pointed, and you had sharper canines.

Constantine and your hell parents taught you many things you needed to survive, and you had become very interested in seals, runes and anything like it, becoming quite the expert at a young age.

You were able to create large and confusing seals and summoning circles, and read ancient texts even the older demons couldn’t understand. Your hell parents and Constantine had been quite proud when you one-upped a cocky elder demon in reading and deciphering runes.

Along with runes you had pretty much coined teleportation as one of your quirks. You’d always disappear in a cloud of black smoke, even though you could do it without the effects, it was just funnier this way.

It was because of your extreme skill with runes that you were called to help the Justice League. Apparently, their magisters Zatanna and Dr Fate had found a very extreme summoning circle, the world ending kind, but they couldn’t figure it out.

They had even roped Constantine into trying to decipher it, but they all feared that poking at it would end badly and summon whatever it was made to summon.

In the end Constantine admitted to knowing an expert, and though he hated working with the League he knew this kinda seal couldn’t be left alone, so he contacted you.

The League didn’t really know how to react when Constantine’s contact was someone as young as you, you couldn’t be much older than Red Robin, so anywhere between 18 to your early 20s, if they went off human ages.

Some of course wanted to ask you questions immediately, feeling on edge about a meta or if Constantine was to be believed, demon, in front of them.

Most seemed cautious, and nobody noticed how Tim was having a moment. The moment you stepped out of the portal his heart started doing flips, and if he hadn’t mastered a poker face, he knew he would have been bright red and stuttering already.

Most left you alone as you worked, but Tim couldn’t help but make his way over and try to start a conversation. Kon, Bart and Cassie would later tell him it had been a painful sight.

Tim had tried to casually lean up against the table nearby, but his arm had slipped so he ended up leaning up against the wall instead. Normally you would have been annoyed by being bothered when deciphering, but the flustered hero made your tail wriggle.

Tim stayed around as you worked, at some point becoming a bit more comfortable and the two of you fell into conversation. Though, Tim did still seem quite flustered as he tried to “shoot his shot” as Dick called it, and failed miserably each time.

You couldn’t help but find Red Robin quite charming in his own way though, it was pretty cute to watch him try to flirt even though he seemed to have absolutely no talent in doing so.

When you were finished deciphering and destroying the summoning circle you ended up giving red Robin your phone number, don’t question how it was possible for him to contact you in hell, you didn’t know yourself.

It had been so hard to keep yourself from snickering at how the bottom half of his face had gone beet red and he had started stuttering, clutching onto his phone that you had just put your name into.

After this you started hanging with Tim and his friends some more, also working closer to some of the younger heroes around your own age. You never became an official league member, not wanting to be mixed up in all the weird things they did.

Your hell parents also almost had a fit when they found out you were working with superheroes of the human world, not because they had anything against heroes but because it put you in danger.

All the way through this Tim had tried in different ways to flirt or ask you out, you almost pitied him because it never seemed to work out for him. He always got too flustered and would choke on his words and stutter. It was very cute, but you almost wanted him to be able to finish his request to ask you out.

The other friends of your group started placing bets on just how long it would take Tim to successfully ask you out, you even had some money in the pool.

You couldn’t say you didn’t want Tim to ask you out, as you had very quickly developed feelings for the hero, your tail even going as far as you wrap around the man as if it had a mind of its own.

You had been so embarrassed the first time it happened that you just teleported right back to hell, your face going a darker shade of blue as you blushed. It had ended up with you hiding away in your room, too embarrassed to look at anyone.

You almost threw your hands in the air and cheered as Tim finally seemed to have found a method that worked for him, at least in his own way.

Before, he had tried to go above and beyond to make a display or ask you out in romantic ways, like giving you flowers or something just as romantic, but he had always forgotten what he planned on saying or had started stuttering.

One day he just sat down beside you on the couch, and though he was bright red, simply asked if you would like to go on a date. Nothing complicated or extreme like you had a feeling many had told him to be, it just felt very Tim to just be upfront about it like this.

You had blushed but smiled, your tail coming up to wrap around his waist to pull him closer to you. You of course agreed, and you couldn’t keep you smile off your face for the rest of the week as your tail never seemed to stop wagging.

Tim had gone even redder when you pulled him close, but he had seemed almost over the moon when you agreed on the date, he had to use all his bat training to keep himself from jumping up and celebrating.

After months of failing to flirt and ask you out he had finally done it, now the problem was coming up with a date that wouldn’t leave him stuttering and stumbling like a fool, that was gonna be hard.

[anulithots]

Sometimes I like thinking about JJK as a meta narrative for emotions.

Curses come from negative emotions, those who are easily affected by them are empaths/notice negative emotions easily, can feel emotions strongly, or seem very unaffected by them (and therefore can help others)

THe system promises to rid of negative emotions via power. Power, however, makes you so insensitive to others... but at least now you can get rid of negative emotions.

Therefore justifications! Most have justifications (moral codes).

Gojo is a special case... I'd have to do a deep dive. Itadori's a bit easier. (But overall Gojo is the least forthcoming with his deepest desires and emotions out of the entire JJK cast. ANd the narrative itself reflects it. Gojo in particular never gets a ~deep impactful emotional~ scene where his internal world gets dissected. The closest we get is when Geto dies - where we don't see what he said - and in the airport scene - where... well... I'm going to do another analysis on that because there is a LOT of subtext in that scene.)

SHibuya incident would be an extreme flare up of negative emotions, causing Itadori to blame himself and consider offing himself.

The apathetic and... kind of dull? Vibe of the culling games would reflect how a lot of characters lose hope, Itadori himself being very apathetic at this point.

... I don't have the most developed thoughts about this right now. I'll have to do a few more rereads and overthink a lot more before I can do a full post thing about this.

But in essence:

Some of JJK's storytelling doesn't make narrative sense. This is because of (a) meta narrative and (b) JJK seems to be 'story first, readers second'. The exact opposite of the common storytelling rule of 'readers first'. (And I never agreed with 'readers first' anyways. JJK is amazing for this and all of its infodumps)

Anywhosies, any thoughts on this would be much appreciated! /not forced

@mylee-sketches @bygeto @lmskitty @justrustandstardust

[toastandjamie]

Been thinking about Mat Cauthon again, not an abnormal occurrence, but here’s an essay about him.

I have to cut this up because of the word limit, so here’s part 1

Part 1: How To Traumatize Your Comedic Relief

So like, Mat’s paranoia and trust issues stem entirely from the events of the first book regarding the Shadar Logoth dagger. But like- I wanna talk meta about Mat’s story and the concepts of loss of innocence, the evils of man, and fear of being powerless and how that relates to his character arc and relationships in the story. So let’s put aside the lore explanation of “evil dagger doing evil dagger things”

So when we first meet not just Mat, but all three Ta’veren boys there’s this element of childlike innocence to them. Despite the fact that all three are eighteen at the start of the series, Emmonds Field is so isolated, safe and peaceful that the boys are actively noted as being exceptionally naive to the outside world. They’re practically toddlers being left alone in a grocery store when they get separated from the actual experienced adults. This is a feature not a bug mind you, when it comes to having protagonists to introduce a world to an audience with. Not to mention that sets up all of the Emmonds Fields kids(this is specifically barring Nynaeve) to have a “Loss of Innocence” character arc, and they all do, but what’s interesting is how each character handles this loss and how long it takes for them to accept this reality. Mat is actually the first of them to really experience the effects of this loss of innocence, due to previously mentioned dagger problems, but let’s ignore the curse and talk about what exactly happened in Shadar Logoth that shook Mat’s worldview so badly. Mat does not start the story as the cynical and sarcastic character we all know and love, he’s introduced to us as being genuinely kindhearted and trusting, like I know it’s easy to forget given EVERYTHING Mat does in the later books, but of the three Ta’veren boys he’s the one who trusts Morraine the most in the beginning. He doesn’t question her motives nor does he seem to have any innate hostility towards her being Aes Sedai like Rand does(though his hostility stems from a place of jealousy and protectiveness of Egwene rather than genuine prejudice). The same goes for Thom as well, Mat doesn’t know anything about this person but he trusts these seemingly well intentioned adults intrinsically. The only person Mat seems to even have the slightest hesitation about is Lan and that’s solely because he’s aloof and doesn’t show much emotion, something that Mat finds extremely off-putting as the type of person who always has Big Feelings, and takes a lot of self esteem in his ability to make others laugh. This makes sense, because at this point they’ve not encountered any darkfriends(that they knew of) so currently the only Evil they encountered has been literal shadowspawn monsters. The Emmonds Field kids have never met a person who had genuinely bad intentions, I’ll-tempered like Cenn Buie, or a bit disreputable like the Coplins and Congars but even these people were at their cores Good People. So why WOULD they distrust these people who say they have their best interests at heart. That’s when we get to Shadar Logoth, and Mat as the ADHD icon he is, immediately gets bored and wants to explore the abandoned city. Rand and Perrin, as the two more mature ones both rightfully call this a bad idea since they were told NOT to go exploring by themselves, but Mat only heard “Trolloks can’t come in here so it’s safe” and nothing else so he decides to go anyways. Rand and Perrin tag along mostly to make sure Mat doesn’t get hurt. And who do they meet except the most suspicious man ever who lures them into his white van- I mean treasure room with the promise of candy-I mean treasure. These boys have never heard of stranger danger in there lives and automatically trust this random man who lurks in alleyways. And wouldn’t you know it, but this guy was not trustworthy at all and tries to kill them resulting in the group getting separated.

Here’s the thing, this is the first time in Mat’s life that he’s ever experienced true man made evil. This wasn’t the dark ones doing, Mordreth was just a guy who had genuinely malicious intentions and took advantage of Mat and his friends. This alone is enough to make him cautious but then throughout their entire road trip to Camlyn they are constantly ambushed by dark friends, in fact after Whitebridge they don’t get any direct encounters with Shadowspawn, they see a few myrrdraal hunting them but they avoid them pretty easily, it’s the People that consistently hurt them; and they are EVERYWHERE. Darkfriends are practically popping up at every street corner and they could be literally anyone. Mat tells Rand at one point that he feels like everyone is out to get them and Rand assures him that not everyone is a darkfriend, but at the same time, I can SEE why Mat would come to that conclusion. I mean is it really paranoia if they actually are out to get you? It wasn’t even just darkfriends, which makes it’s objectively worse, throughout their road-trip May and Rand are constantly met with people who are selfish, greedy, rude and sometimes even outright cruel and a lot of them weren’t darkfriends. They interact with Whitecloaks who are supposed to be righteous and good but are just bullies in shiny armor and carrying around swords. They interact with merchants on the road who take active pleasure in nearly taking out Rand’s eye with whip because the two of them walked a little too close to a cart. An innkeeper who purposefully locked them in a small storage closet so that he could rob them in the middle of the night. Rand remains optimistic but by the time they reach Camlyn Mat had become completely pessimistic and despondent. He didn’t trust anyone, he believed wholeheartedly that everyone wanted to hurt him, everyone except of course Rand.

[sabrerine911]

The Barbarian and The Fighter" COLORED (BG3) Featuring Karlach and Galmar (one of my Unholy Trinity) https://www.facebook.com/BorisGrozevArt

(gonna just re paste most of the WIP description)

Gotta say, this pairing is really fun to draw for me. Both veteran warriors, soldiers of wars, both went trough absolutely traumatic events, cursed by the hells. And both soft at their very core.

Its also kinda funny on a meta level. Karlach, is an extremely loved character by the community, so in a a lot of different alternate worlds she ends up with her close lovers or friends on the mission to save her very being. While Galmar on the other hand, he doesnt belong to her realm, and part of his curse basically puts him in the spot to never be able to be in any romantic relationship(will go into more detail later down the line). And while he doesnt know about that side of his curse, his obsession with work and his duty put him in a position where it doesnt matter. So in this case I like to think that Karlach is basically saving his soul, the curse rules work differently here, and she is giving him the greatest blessing of all.

Proper love( from best girl XD )

[sofoulandfairaday]

Also got any sev ones?

If I have any Severus Snape headcanons? I think I might have to put this one under the cut bby, it's going to be loooong. Edit: it got severely out of hand, be warned this is insanely long.

BUT FIRST: this is a very long but extremely well-written meta about the Snapes' peculiar type of poverty that you should all read when you have time. Like, save it for later somewhere or whatever, but seriously. Do yourself a favour.

Some people like to headcanon Remus Lupin (!) as the Hogwarts drug dealer. Nu-uh. That's Snape. Severus, for the right price, can and will provide you with any kind of potion (assuming he can steal the ingredients from the supply closet/his fancy pureblood housemates can get him whatever he needs). See this post.

But it's not just potions. He'll write your essays for money (his prices go up as the years go by, but so does his credibility). Snape is the only reason Avery ever passed 4th year Transfiguration.

Until his 6th/7th year, when he was no longer friends with Lily and started expressing a vocal desire to join the Death Eaters, he wasn't accepted or popular in Slytherin House.

Avery and Mulciber, the only people who could be considered his friends, were still pretty classist and racist towards him and even then he only got to be part of their little circle because he knew more curses when he arrived at Hogwarts than half the kids in seventh year.

You see, he wasn't just a Halfblood (they have those in Slytherin), he was also dirt poor, and pretty rough around the edges. He wasn't refined, he swore like a sailor, he was classless, and “dirty” and had worn-out clothes and second-hand books, he was canonically ugly and twitchy as a child, and Sirius (who is still from the very elegant, very posh Black Family) describes him as a little oddball.

Never mind the suave adult Snape (who is very different in the books and in the movies, anyway). My man Eliza Doolittle-ed himself. He did a Tom Riddle.

But he was powerful enough that the hazing and bullying inside his own House stopped almost immediately when he got there. You despised Snape? Fine. You attacked Snape? Suddenly your pet cat has been poisoned and your kneecaps were jinxed backwards.

Also, Lucius Malfoy promptly singled him out, and while he was still in school (Sev's first and second year) he did what he could to shield him, and to make him just a little more credible and refined in Slytherin. Severus followed him around like a little puppy and definitely acted a bit like an errand boy for him and his friends, which is also part of the reason why Sirius calls him Lucius Malfoy's lapdog in OotP. I wouldn't say they were really friends though. He knew them, and maybe they liked him, but he wasn't their equal.

Unfortunately, the Marauders' bullying only got worse as the years went by, and Lucius had graduated by the time SWM happened (I think that and the Prank were the worst, but I also like the headcanon that they were not. That Snape put that particular memory in the Pensieve because it was the time he lost Lily, not because it was the worst time he was bullied by them. From the way he reacted to their attack, this level of viciousness was probably common. By the way, even if you dislike him as a character, if you deny that what he suffered at the hands of the Marauders was vile, I don't know what to tell you.)

I wouldn't say a good rapport with Narcissa Black - because why would a girl from the upper years hang out with a boy from the first three? - but she would be kind to him, and chat politely sometimes. She was impressed with him - the first Halfblood she had ever given the time of day to.

Do you know who wasn't (lol)? Bellatrix. Who had graduated years before and just could not understand why Narcissa and Lucius would be so fond of this little scrawny upjumped Halfblood.

With the exception of Andromeda (who doesn't know who he is) and Narcissa (who really likes him), all of the Blacks hate Snape. Regulus doesn't hate him per se but thinks him unrefined and overreaching and they also have a bit of a not-so-friendly competition going on even though they come from different years. Sirius and Bella... well, you know. (credit: @hxuse-xf-black, I think this hc is theirs)

One of my favourite headcanons is that the last Black family event Sirius ever attended was Narcissa's wedding (1976) [the last one Andy ever attended was Bellatrix's (1972)]. He was there as the bride's cousin, obviously. But but but. Snivellus Snape was also there, as the groom's best man (alongside Evan Rosier and Rodolphus Lestrange). The two almost get into a Muggle brawl, and an enraged Bellatrix is the one who has to separate them (how dare you try to ruin Cissy's big day?!). She would have happily let them kill each other on any other occasion, but that was her little (only) sister's wedding and she very violently cursed them both.

Started smoking cigarettes when he was young and never really stopped.

What tea does Snape drink?

Bad personal hygiene since he was a boy, especially in his periods of worst depression. Paradoxically, he was at his most groomed during his Death Eater years (1978-1981) because he had to deal daily with the likes of Lucius Malfoy and Rodolphus Lestrange, who might have been domestic terrorists but had standards.

Speaking of which. Bella hates him. I still have to decide how Rodolphus feels about him (Rod definitely defends him when the two of them are having a row, just to piss her off, but I don't know how he actually feels). I think they had slightly different social circles. As Sirius says, they were all - at different points in time - part of a gang of baby Death Eaters in school. But I see Bella & Rod as very close with Rabastan, and Rabastan as very close to Barty (the four of them even tortured the Longbottoms together, which means they definitely talked to each other in the very hectic days after Voldemort's downfall). In my headcanons Barty and Regulus are glued at the hip, so basically that's the five of them already.

It was a period of brilliant students for Hogwarts, nothing like Harry's time. James and Sirius were prodigies, Regulus gives me mad scientist vibes (also, he must have been knowledgeable in the Dark Arts seeing as he figured out about Voldemort's Horcruxes in no time), Barty brought home twelve O.W.L.S. (how?), and Snape was inventing curses.

The latter three were tentative allies in school, but Barty&Reg (who definitely had something going on if you know what I mean), pureblood and proper, with all of the entitlement that must have come from their bloodlines and talent, definitely were not his fans.

No one could understand his fixation with “that Mudblood” (Lily); Lucius was particularly overjoyed when he heard of their falling out. (This came back to bite him in the ass when he was the one who had to physically drag him out of his house, at Spinner's End, after she died and he was determined to rot and kill himself with alcohol.)

Cat person. But never owned any pets because he could not keep one alive. Except of course when he owned a rat... err... I mean, when Peter lived with him.

I am convinced the man took stimulants. Whatever the equivalent of wizard cocaine was (probably a potion he made himself, with minimal comedown and as little side effects on the body as he can), he took. He seems to spend his nights patrolling the corridors and his days teaching, so when does he sleep?

Extremely light sleeper anyway.

Can go without eating for a long time.

He is the personification of self-loathing.

I can see him self-harming in different ways. He denies himself the small pleasures of life, he smokes until his throat burns and his lungs hurt, and insists that he works best without protective gloves (more sensitivity or whatever) which means that his hands are covered in small cuts and stains from corrosive (possibly painful) potions.

Does whatever he can to look as little like his father as possible, whether that be growing a beard, or gaining weight, or cutting his hair.

He maintains that learning Occlumency saved his life. Legilimency is about control, and even that not-so-hidden sadistic part of him, and also the self-protection that comes from knowing your opponent's moves before they can strike. But Occlumency and the sort of meditative bliss that comes from Occluding heavily was an integral part of his transformation, and very definitely helped with the very obvious anxiety that plagued him as a boy. It's yoga + good weed at the same time. That's the feeling.

The Lily thing. Part of it was romantic but in the light I-am-thirteen-and-have-a-crush-on-my-best-friend type of way. He definitely thought he was in love with her when he was sixteen/seventeen, after they had cut ties, and that's how he explained it to Voldemort, too (and that's how Voldemort explains it to Harry - he desired her). But. Truthfully? No. After a while, and especially after her death, it wasn't about the love he felt for her, it was about the debt he owed her. She was the first person to be kind to him, and he betrayed her. Directly caused her death, and sold her to the most evil wizard in history. Whether you love someone romantically or platonically, being responsible for their death, or leaving a child as an orphan takes a toll on your psyche that's almost impossible for me to comprehend or explain. Imagine the level of guilt that he felt. She was his first friend, his first crush, his first everything. And his love for her was the love Dante felt for Beatrice, the love that moves the sun and the other stars. I hate it when they reduce it to “he just wanted to bang Harry's mom haha”.

With that being said, Snily is probably the most boring Severus ship of all.

Never planned for the future. He honestly didn't think he would survive the war; his character is pretty much doomed by the narrative, and I am convinced that the only thing that kept him going was fulfilling his promise to Dumbledore, taking down the Dark Lord. He always thought Voldemort would eventually discover he was a spy and kill him for it. And as sad as it is (and that's why I love those kinds of fanfics!) I cannot see him ever adapting to a post-Voldemort world. It would take a lot of work on himself for him to find peace and I don't think he loved himself enough for that. I don't think he wanted to live.

Also, while I love the fanfics where he eventually makes up with Harry, and they have a civil relationship, I cannot see it happening in canon.

The narrative draws very explicit parallels between Snape and Voldemort, there are so many (but not limited to): the social class they come from, their blood status, the abuse they face as children, this iconic line which is one of my favourites in the whole series: But he was home. Hogwarts was the first and best home he had known. He and Voldemort and Snape, the abandoned boys, had all found home here, the details we can infer of their relationship with Dumbledore when they were still students, the transformation they operated on themselves to become more polished, their interests (both of them invent curses and the like), the way they identify with their mothers' heritages, their dynamic is extremely interesting to me.

My headcanon is that Snape was one of the few people Voldemort actually liked (and perhaps he saw himself in), which would explain why he doesn't heed Bella's advice about him. Of course, it was a very tepid intellectual appreciation (just a tad warmer than his - very cold - expression of regret at having to kill him in the Shrieking Shack), but it was there. I think they had a teacher-student dynamic which doesn't get explored enough but was clearly there: Voldemort teaches Snape how to fly without a broom; he is reportedly the only Death Eater to whom he teaches this. I think Snape was absolutely fascinated with LV in the beginning and climbed through the ranks impressively quickly. Just as rapidly (maybe more) as purebloods Regulus Black (whose cousin was LV's right-hand woman and possible mistress) and Barty Crouch (who would have been an asset seeing his father's position). Keep in mind these guys weren't even 20 years old and had all met Voldemort personally, probably more than once. They would have been part of his inner circle.

I can see Voldemort appreciating Snape's interest in magic, especially his academic interest. I think it's especially fascinating if compared to Voldemort's relationship with Bellatrix (who was the opposite of Snape in every sense): I think someone like Voldemort would be attracted to someone like Bellatrix (rich, pure of blood, self-assured, inhabiting a world built for her, etc.) but on the other hand he would also resent her for these very things that were her prerogative, and not his. On the other hand, Snape would understand him on a personal level, he would simply get some of Voldemort's lived experiences (and personality, let's be real) in a way his other Death Eaters wouldn't. But, because he still represents his past in a way (and hasn't remade himself quite yet), Voldemort would also view him with contempt. (And a great deal of superiority, but he's like that with everyone).

Snape doesn't join the Death Eaters because of the Cause. I can see him hating Muggles and perhaps looking down on Muggle-borns, but I don't think of him as a convinced pureblood elitist in the way the Lestranges and Malfoys were. He joined for power. He wanted revenge, and he wanted to feel powerful and important in a world that would make him feel small (part of the reasoning behind Bellatrix's joining in my headcanons), which makes him much hungrier than his peers, which would make him stand out to Voldemort.

His invention of the Sectumsempra spell and its counter-curse is extremely impressive, even Bella had to recognize this when she found out, and she demanded it be taught to the younger recruits, (but really to herself).

Hates summer like no one else has ever hated summer.

Helped with Draco's conception. I headcanon that Narcissa had fertility problems (this extends, for me, to most women of the Black family) and Severus helped her and Lucius with it. (This hc isn't mine, but I love it to death.)

Any and all silly headcanons about Snape teaching sex ed, dealing with periods, etc give me life. You've all read them though, so I won't repeat them.

Worked as a potioneer for Voldemort too, perhaps alongside someone who was even better than him (older, more knowledgeable). The things he learned turned out to be super useful to him in the future.

His favourite food is fish and chips, or something equally proletarian, like beans on toast... that sort of thing.

Detested living with Pettigrew (and I hc that Voldemort did it as a form of cruel punishment: he's forced to live with - offer shelter to - the man who caused Lily's death).

Because I like angst, I really like the idea that the person he was closest with, in the entirety of the Hogwarts staff (except maybe for Dumbledore) wasn't McGonagall, it was Charity Burbage. I need more fics with an in-depth exploration of their relationship (whether it be romantic or platonic) because it has amazing potential, both for angst and fluff.

Idk how anyone can ship Snily when these two are right there

Also, she would be the second woman Severus loves that Voldemort has killed. This time it's even worse.

I doubt he could ever have had a functioning relationship with her (or any other woman, or person), because what flesh-and-blood woman could ever beat the lamented and idolised spirit of Lily Evans? She would stand no chance. Again, this makes it worse.

I'm going to stop here because this is getting embarrassing. Kudos to you if you got to the end of this.

Headcanons: James | Sirius | Remus | Lily

[chaos0pikachu]

Okay, you've been relogging TharnType gifs (which I appreciate as one of the cursed TharnType's enjoyers, sue me) but where are the hot takes? Where's the meta?! Pikachu, speak, please!

Anon what's this cursed business I enjoy tharntype without shame I don't gaf what the discourse says the show is a bodice ripper mess with some truly genuinely well done char development especially for Thai BLs in 2019/2020

I'd rather watch tharntype again than 2gether or 1000 Stars I said what I said bake that hot take in your pie Ms Lovett

Speaking of tharntype tho I saw this twitter thread talking about it and was like yeah ppl ARE weird about tharntype and some of that weirdness is understandable and some of that weirdness is sus as fuck hot take dos putas

tell me I'm doing "doing being queer wrong" b/c I like some dumbass soap yaoi like baby go outside, knit some mittens for some kittens at least Type has an actual char arc unlike a ton of squeecore BL protagonists hot take tres chepies

look if ppl don't like tharntype idc y'all do you I don't like a lot of popular BLs - wait till the episode on Until We Meet Again drops on the pod lmaoooo - I even GET why ppl don't like the show and I think some of the critiques are valid but god damn some ppl be WEIRD about the show and Mame to the extreme l

ike jfc I saw someone call Mame a bigot for tharntype - but the dude director of the series got absolved he was gucci lol - some of the weirdness just feels less about genuine critique and more Christian rebranded moral high groundness and I have no time for that hot take cuatro

Anyway pour one out for Techno he was the one really suffering in Tharntype my little dude, my funny man, my ever suffering dude

[runabout-river]

Thoughts on JJK chapter 253 (spoilers)

There is so much to say about this chapter, especially about the art direction.

First, a coloured version of Maki's sneak attack against Sukuna this time with Yuji photobombing it

The chapter starts with a flashback that tells us that Kusakabe is the strongest first grade sorcerer outside of the clans. This sets up the end of the chapter and fits with Kusakabe being able to tank Kenjaku's full blast Uzumaki. His specialty is most likely Simple Domain.

Important to note about the flashback: it dates to before the Shibuya incident and mirrors the question of who's the strongest sorcerer. This means that since Gojo's apparent death, we still have not seen him in any normal flashbacks which is extremely strange considering how often we've seen the gang strategize in the timeskip. Suspicious.

Gege made an extremely important artistic choice this chapter: coloring Maki's and Sukuna's faces and bodies in black at various times. This is significant because it underpins Sukuna's excitement and later statement about being given a role (like he mocked Yuki previously) as well as Maki's strength.

The shadows show us who has the upper hand in any given moment, sometimes it's equal, sometimes it's not

Sukuna throws a car and Yuji is not there to see it. But also, how many have caught the detail that Sukuna is still actively bleeding from Maki's wound?

In terms of artistic choices, I don't remember Gege drawing panel constellations like this in the past. Our man's experimenting with new things (other than getting inspired by the anime)

Kusakabe used Nanami's weapon and his 7:3 CT. We still have no explanation on how that weapon came to be but I have a theory on that that I put onto my JJK Meta Analyses on Ao3 if someone wants to check it out.

Even more clever art this chapter: I saw the way the columns were cut but I didn't understand the purpose behind it. Cue Maki a few panels later kicking cut blocks of concrete and rebar at Sukuna.

The narrator puts Kashimo, Yuta and Higuruma into the same category. Kashimo we already saw being at a special grade level, now we can assume that Higuruma with more time would've reached the special grade status as well.

Sukuna is ecstatic and he pulls out his first Black Flash to show that his way of cursed energy is the superior one, something he had to prove for the first time in his life. For a moment he even achieved speed rivaling Maki's.

The BF is shown in 3 panels from 3 angles, showing us the scale of the impact it had. But hold! What did I say about faces drenched in shadow? Maki's face is black again, expressing to us a level of strength even while blasted backwards

Don't forget that BF multiplies your power exponentially but Sukuna already lost most of his CE by this point putting him on Yuta's level. That's still extremely high but the hit wasn't as powerful as it could've been and we're talking about perfected Maki here; someone who isn't bound by fate through CE anymore

Maybe at the end of the manga and when Sukuna potentially dies, he'll think about Maki and her freedom from cursed energy again.

This chapter ends with Kusakabe having to face Sukuna on his own even though he would rather flee but sometimes a man has to stand his ground. Let's see how he, sorcerer without a CT, will hold up against the King of Curses

[lime-bloods]

Not an Enigma, and Certainly Not a Curse: the "Ultimate Self" in Hussie's Own Words

I've found myself, lately, in several conversations in a row where the other guy and myself weren't on the same page about what the Ultimate Self meant; and though I welcome the opportunity for discussion, explaining my position over and over again has cost me minutes of my screen life that I simply won't win back. So this post is a departure from my usual fare in that it's more for my own benefit than that of anybody else.

I've been over Davepeta's "superceding bodyless and timeless persona that crosses the boundaries of paradox space" enough already, so if you're interested in the Ultimate Self as it is in Homestuck, I recommend you read "Homestuck's Gnosticism: The Conflict", and then, if that piques your attention, you continue with the follow-up "The World/The Wheel". For the purposes of this post, though, I want to keep analysis, interpretation and hypothesising to a minimum. As the title indicates, this is the Ultimate Self not as I describe it, or as characters describe it, but - so to speak - straight from the horse's mouth.

In Andrew Hussie's commentary on Homestuck: Book 6, p. 312:

Oftentimes, when characters lose certain qualities that came to define them, there's this sense of liberation they seem to experience. They become a happier, more relieved, easier-going version of themselves. When Aradia ditches a defining quality we came to know her by (being dead), she becomes a much happier and self-actualized Aradia. Sollux also seems to be chilling out now that his defining properties (bifurcation, etc.) have been KO'd. He had a mouth full of gnarly teeth that gave him a wicked lisp (gone), eyes full of nasty laser beams (gone, along with his eyesight), and a brain full of doomsday visions and bipolar disorder (also gone—well, maybe not the bipolar thing, because that's probably not how that works, but whatever). You get more of this kind of thing in even higher degrees with some of the fusion stuff that happens later (Arquius, Davepeta), where characters become almost euphoric versions of themselves for having been completely liberated from certain self-limitations which previously defined them. The concept of an "ultimate self," which appears much later, probably has its roots way back to stuff like this, which got the ball rolling on the idea that a more complete or fulfilled self is one that becomes free from mortal limitations, or the idiosyncrasies which comprise a specific instance of one version of yourself. Hence an ultimate self is an aggregate of someone's full potential. It's not just doing away with negative traits, but summing up all iterations of yourself, including ones without those traits, allowing you to move beyond them. Or maybe more accurately, to view them as insignificant in the grand totality of what a person really is.

Importantly, what Hussie does here is draw the conceptual line from the themes of Acts 1-5 to what are often interpreted by some as radically different, even left-field themes through Act 6. Think of this as an extension of one of Homestuck's meta-themes, where the comic undergoes a series of escalations that take simple conflicts to their logical extremes: we start the story worried about a Reckoning which might destroy the Earth, then end up with the more pressing concern that a Rapture is about to end reality as we know it. The Ultimate Self is the end result of the exact same kind of escalation; where the God Tiers are a method of becoming a better version of oneself by merging with one's "ideal" dream body, the Ultimate Self is the logical conclusion that one can become the best version by unifying with every body.

To draw my own conceptual line back to Homestuck: Book 5, page 409:

This connects to the basic question of whether to embrace the regimentation of a heroic path conveniently laid out for you (the expectation), or to reject it as the shallow and rigid confinement of personal destiny (the deviation). These issues are expressed through the fundamental language of platonic idealism: perfect ideas of things, and then specific, imperfect instances of those ideas, or varied permutations, evolutions, or hacks of those ideas through alchemy. The way Sburb "should" go is an ideal (expectation), but the disastrous, chaotic way it actually goes is an imperfect instance (deviation). An "idea" of a person, such as Rose, along with her regimented heroic quest for growth, and all the great things she might imagine herself to become if she followed it, is an ideal (expectation). The messy, flawed, yet more genuinely human individual she does become resulting from her errant choices and rejection of formalism, is an imperfect instance of an ideal (deviation). What's the bottom line here? This is a lot. I know it's a lot. Homestuck is, in fact, a lot.

I've added some of my own emphasis there again, but that whole extract is worth reading. The reason I bolded that part is because this "Platonic idealism" is something Hussie talks about a lot in his commentary, and I think that commentary is essential reading for anyone who wants to even get their foot in the door on this topic. Again, this is something I've blogged about extensively already, so there's more than just Hussie's word to take for it if you're really interested; but for the sake of this post, I'll finish off with, again, what Hussie himself has to say on the matter, all the way back in Homestuck: Book 1, page 123:

With things like Athenums and Perfectly Generic Objects locked and loaded, Sburb architecture seems to be circling widely around a game abstraction-based systemization of Platonic idealism. Homestuck deals with what I am going to roughly characterize as THEMES.

[indigovigilance]

Aziraphale, Kermit the Frog, and Fraggle Rock

Inspo from @crowleys-hips, images shamelessly ripped from original post:

The costumes and set design in the Book of Job episode were supposedly inspired mostly by The Ten Commandments but I’m ignoring that for right now because this is more fun. Now that I’ve written it, this is actually one of my dark ones.

Ready? Let’s go.

read on Ao3

The Frog Prince

[Source]

Kermit, created in 1955, was originally an abstract character without a defined species. He did not [officially] become a frog until The Frog Prince episode in 1971. At the same time, he gained his pointed collar. Kermit is not the prince in this retelling, but is one of the many frogs, who don’t believe that the Frog Prince is actually human and try to convince the Frog Prince that even if there is a curse, they don’t need to try to break it, being a frog is great!

Sing out for the swamp and sing out for the ooze The life of a frog is the life you should choose Sing out for the mud and sing out for the bog It’s ever so jolly just being a frog We love the old mud hole, we say that we soak The feeling’s so good that we just gotta croak The muck and the mire, the slush and the slime Are the reasons a frog has a wonderful time

It’s a very weird musical number. I have exactly one semester of music theory under my belt but it sounds awfully minor key to me.

It’s very much about bullying someone who doesn’t feel like they belong into conforming. Exchange “frog” for “angel” and we’ve got a pretty on-the-nose parallel story here.

Two Interpretations

First: Aziraphale is a prince among frogs whose unique identity is being ignored. The ones he has turned to for help are ignoring his pleas and insisting that their way is the best way, even though it is clearly not.

Second: Aziraphale is the frog! Kermit gained his collar when he finally began to solidify as a character with a set identity. Both of these themes apply to Aziraphale’s arc in Book of Job.

*topic change*

Jim Henson & Richard Hunt

Coming back to the extreme queer theming of Season 2 (God bless you GO production team) we have a nod to Jim Henson and Richard Hunt. Much like Pterry and the Notorious NRG, both men began their artistic journeys very young. Henson began in high school, where he began developing what would later become the Muppets; he continued his work on puppets on Sesame Street. He is the creator of Kermit the Frog. He’s also well-known for The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, other queer culture mainstays. Some years later, at 18 years old, Richard Hunt shot his shot and asked for a job puppeteering on Sesame Street in 1972; he got it. He would continue to work as a puppeteer with Jim Henson on the Muppets and related works until he died in 1992 at the age of 40 due to complications of AIDS.

Gone But Not Forgotten || Terry Pratchett

If you have not read my meta on Terry Pratchett’s representation in the Final Fifteen, I will link it at the bottom as well and highly suggest you read it. It’s not necessary reading for what comes next, but it is relevant.

Richard Hunt was openly gay and heavily involved in the New York gay community during the AIDS epidemic. He was in a relationship with a painter named Nelson Bird, who died of AIDS related complications in 1985. There is some speculation that Fraggle Rock Season 5 Episode 7 is an artistic representation of Richard Hunt losing his partner. In that episode, Wembley makes a new friend, Mudwell, played by Richard Hunt, that he abruptly loses at the end of the episode following a confession of mutual affection. You can follow the link below to watch the full episode. The final-fifteen parallel content begins at 12:30:

Gone But Not Forgotten (Fraggle Rock S05E07)

The loss is followed by a conversation between two characters that centers around remembering those who have been lost by keeping the things and memories they left behind, and the partner who [survived] goes through rituals of grieving.

If you scrolled past it but would like to read it now, here’s a link to my meta Terry Pratchett’s representation in the Final Fifteen.