birds and the bees

scrumptiousconnoisseurdreamer:

One of my biggest questions is how gods are born in tnlom. 

It’s implied (via Sandy) that they just appear in human families for whatever reason. But how does this work? 

Is she the daughter of a god with a bed-trick like Zeus? Or is it a random recessive trait, meaning all gods are distant descendants of other gods, like a red-head born into a dark-haired family? 

I feel like either explanation would have so many interesting implications. For example, if gods are born via direct lineage, then it adds a sub-textual reason for Monkey’s not-quite-belonging Jade Mountain and the chip on his shoulder about hierarchy among the gods. He’s basically a bastard that no one is copping responsibility for. 

On the other hand, if it is a random trait then maybe gods don’t value genetic ancestry at all and define themselves the same way Jedi do; via teacher-to-student lineage. In which case, the Master was basically Monkey’s father in god-terms and adds a little extra heartbreak to his death and their personal problems leading up to it. 

I just really want to know these things!

the most terrible thing

scrumptiousconnoisseurdreamer:

scrumptiousconnoisseurdreamer:

scrumptiousconnoisseurdreamer:

scrumptiousconnoisseurdreamer:

scrumptiousconnoisseurdreamer:

The New Legends of Monkey fanfic

AO3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15193241/chapters/35236571

A year after leaving with the gods, Tripitaka returns to Pallawa alone. Monica is disturbed by the change in her, but nothing could have prepared her for the truth. 

Featuring: Outsider POV, post-canon fic, Monica being snarky, Tripitaka being angsty, Monkey not helping, inadvisable methods of apology. 

Warnings: WIP. Whole lot of speculation that will almost definitely be jossed if we get a second season (it’s my head-canon and I’m sticking to it though).

– 

Excerpt: 

Perplexed, Monica frowns at her. “Did they find out you were a girl?” She hadn’t thought it would matter, but perhaps gods thought about things differently to humans. 

“They were fine with me being a girl. They asked me to leave because I had no place on the quest.” The girl drops the bread and presses the heels of her hands to her eyes, like a fretful child trying to hold in tears. “I’m not Tripitaka. I never was. The Scholar should have told me – ” She stops, biting her lip. 

“Told you what?” Monica says.

But the girl shakes her head stubbornly. She has the thin, exhausted look of someone on the very edge and unable to go any further without shattering.

And the second chapter is up! 

(Wow, I am flying through this. Totally expected this to take longer. Pat on the back, me.)

Third chapter up!

I meant this to be half of one chapter, but it was getting a bit too long, so what the hell. Posted!

Fourth chapter complete!

This was a beast to finish, but I got there in the end. Still a few chapters to go. 

Fifth chapter up! 

Was meant to be working on an original novella. This happened instead. No, I’m not sorry. 

epileptic trees

scrumptiousconnoisseurdreamer:

tellmeoflegends:

scrumptiousconnoisseurdreamer:

Wrote a whole essay trying to prove that Tripitaka is actually the brand new god of hope…and somehow convinced myself she’s a demon. 

Stupid brain. 

http://fossickbookreviews.blogspot.com.au/2018/03/who-is-tripitaka.html

Very interesting! I’ve always wondered about Tripitaka being more than what she seems, in terms of powers/gifts. She’s pure of heart, which is why she can wield the Crown Sutra. And yes, there’s the argument that she’s lying by pretending to be a boy, but she’s in disguise to save the world, therefore she has good intentions, therefore she’s pure.

As for the power of ‘hope’, this is a very important power. The world hasn’t had strong hope in ages. But it’s still there! Represented by Monica’s small altar, by the small pockets of the Resistance, our young monk. ‘Don’t let hope die’, charges The Scholar. ‘Don’t die’, orders a concerned Monkey as he sits next to an ill Tripitaka.

Could she be a demon? Maybe. But what if she’s a demigod? Her mother mortal, her father not, and who better to raise/train the future hope against the demons than The Scholar? And if she’s to be kept hidden, why not have her ‘disguised’ as just another student, or servant, at the school, learning alongside the boy who /thinks/ he’s to be Tripitaka, when it was her all along?

If it’s this route, it’s very Hercules/Chiron. The wise man teaching the young demigod who is the hope of the world.

Just a thought.

Oh yeah, I’m very into the idea of Tripitaka being more than human. Not a pure god because that creates some plot-holes (if she were a pure god like the others, she’d have been trapped by the Shaman at the Breaking Grounds) but either a demi-god or demon fits in perfectly with the story so far. 

A demi-god, like you said, would be interesting because it would imply that Tripitaka is and always has been the true Tripitaka. I’ve got a post somewhere about how Gaxin could have been a (knowing and consenting) decoy for her, but he and the Scholar died before they could enlighten her to her true destiny. (Though the Scholar might have been trying with his last words, he was just muddled by blood loss and not very clear). 

A demon would be interesting because it would explore the idea of destiny as a choice. As in, Tripitaka actively defying what people think her destiny should be (wreaking despair, destruction and evil upon the world) to be the person she wants to be (a literal figure of hope). It would also present evil as a choice rather than an inherent nature. Ie, Davari could have chosen to be Monkey’s friend for real, but instead he chose to murder the Master and frame him for it, thereby starting a war that killed unknown numbers of people. 

I guess it depends on what kind of story they want to tell going forward. 

phantoms-lair:

blackraspberrybitch:

phantoms-lair:

Is it bad that I’m really starting to get behind the idea of Joker being Bayonetta’s kid? Like she knew with the life she led her son would be in danger, so she had him adopted by a perfectly normal mundane family so he’d be safe.

Fast forward to her running into him in Smash adn realizing somewhere along the line that plan failed utterly.

THIS IS AN AU I CAN GET BEHIND.

“So you tried to protect a woman from an assault, but the attacker was a powerful politician and used his influence to have you arrested for assaulting him.” Bayonetta summarized what she’d been told thus far. She was so proud of him, even though she knew she had no right to feel that way.  “I’m sure your parents were just as furious at him as you.”

“Actually they were more angry at me.” Joker shrugged. ““Bringing dishonor to the family name and all that. If it wasn’t for Sakura-San offering to take me in for my parole they probably would have left me in juvie.”

And for a moment Bayonetta saw red before pushing it down. “Is that a fact. Sounds like you were better off with this Sakura-San then.”

Joker smiled. “He was great. He has a daughter a little younger than me who’s like a sister to me. And I met some of the best friends in the world.” 

He smiled brightly and Bayonetta returned it, but inside she was still seething. She’d made a pact with the Kurusu family. The child they couldn’t have themselves, in return for raising said child with love and care. Turning their back on him like that was a violation of the pact, and that was a dangerous thing to do to a witch.

the-real-seebs:

libraryimagination:

thatjakeperalta:

andhumanslovedstories:

Getting older and then looking at all these teenagers who have to save the world…..why did I ever think that was acceptable……..they’re so young….let Katniss sleep…….let Harry Potter have a normal school year……..Aang is literally 12, I’m twice his age and incapable of 1 percent of his plot duties, these poor children, these poor acne encrusted puberty enduring babies

#honestly!!!#its really disconcerting like… being an adult now and seeing other adults not uh#question this or be uncomfortable with children in these situations#like even fictional ones?#i understand being a kid and not seeing it#but being an adult and looking at a piece of media about like#war or some shit#and being like ‘yeah putting kids in the middle of it is a great idea and message’#nnno??? (via @blazednarancia)

ok but did you forget what being a kid and reading/watching these stories was like? because actual real children do not live lives devoid of violence or responsibility or darkness.

kids have abusive families like Harry and live in poverty like Ron, they live in poverty as part of specific systems designed to keep them keep them there like Katniss, they live in situations that ask way too much of them like Aang and Harry and all of them.

My little sister’s graduating class had a lot of dead parents. There were all kinds of reasons, drug overdose and sudden illness and motorcycle accident and long battle with illness and ’….ehhh probably heart disease? they didn’t do a real autopsy…’. For the long battle with an illness category, Sarah’s mother got cancer not long after giving birth to her much younger sister. Not only did Sarah have to watch her mother slowly lose that battle over the last years of Sarah’s childhood but she had to basically raise that baby because her father was busy trying work and care for their mother. Sarah didn’t have to save the world but you don’t think it didn’t feel like it some times?

It’s like JKR has said, kids don’t hear these stories and suddenly realize monsters are real. They already know. These stories tell you monsters can be defeated. That you can survive. That it might get worse some times but you can win. And yeah it would be nice if in the real world kids never had to do it themselves but that’s just not true.

Harry Potter didn’t make me feel like it was fair or reasonable for teens to save the world, it made me feel less alone in my struggles. Reading about kids fighting the world made me feel like I could make it through too. One of the reasons these stories are so popular is that they give you hope, they give you characters to fight along side during the dark and hard moments in your own life–whether that’s imagining your math test as a Hungarian Horntail you have to get past, or struggling to leave your own abusive family like Harry having to go back to the Dursleys every year, or watching violence and drugs take your friends like the Battle of Hogwarts killed so many.

These stories don’t normalize kids saving the world, they tell kids who already have to that they can survive it.

This response is beautiful and I don’t think I have anything to add.