#mint rants

[miniminttea]

You know, I don't talk enough about Jay so let's talk about adoption in media and Jay.

(from the perspective of a writing fan who is adopted)

Adoption in media normally follows the same path due to how story writing works. When writing, you typically want to pay off things you set up, and people see adoption as a set up to be payed off with more information about the birth parents or situation of adoption etc.

And herein lies the fundamental flaw with adoption in media. To non adopted people, it's seen as a mystery to be solved.

For real people, that isn't the case. I actually know a bit about my birth parents like my bio mom's name, if I have siblings, why I was put into a children's home/ orphanage. Most adoptee's are lucky to know even half of that. It's not a mystery we get to solve. It's just our truth.

And as someone who has had some of those questions answered? Did if cause some big revelation? No.

I know a bit more about people I never knew. It's like learning a celebrity's favourite ice cream flavour. (obviously I only speak for myself and I'm sure many adopted people would love to know more which is so fair). My point is, adoption is a truth of our pasts that (unless you have trauma or development struggles from it) doesn't actually affect you much day to day. And certainly isn't something I think about often.

Now how is this related to Jay?

Well, Jay Walker is a character who doesn't find out he's adopted until a wish indirectly reveals that he always was. He discovers his father was rich and upon going to the property he's inherited, finds out it's actually Cliff Gordon. Cliff being a famous actor who stars in his favourite movie series based on his favourite comics.

This obviously does focus quite a bit on learning more about his adoption (mainly that it occurred in the first place) but not only does this actually serve the greater story of this season quite well.

The scene, while ever so brief where he's told is done quite well, I feel (though I'm not the best authority on this as I never had a "you're adopted" moment). The way they reasure and hug him. His Mam saying how he was so cute and his Dad saying they gladly raised him as their own and he hopes it doesn't change things. It's nice. It doesn't put pressure on Jay to react a certain way but it assured that he's still their son and they don't love him any less.

It also does something else I quite like. When exploring the new house, Jay finds a whole secret room basically dedicated to Cliff's acting roles and a mirror covered in pictures of himself and some with him and random women. So it seems like maybe he wasn't actually the nicest guy. Possibly self absorbed and a womaniser.

This is only confirmed by the finding of the book "Cliff Gordon's handbook to wooing women", a rather sexist book about attracting women without actually just getting to know them and have them genuinely like the real you.

During this season we get these hints that maybe he wasn't the best guy (although Jay at first is very taken by this guide to making women like you).

This is so important to me. Most adoptees who know their birth parents might know that it's not always sunshine and rainbows. People don't tend to just give up kids for the fun of it. One or both parents could be pretty awful or at least negligent people. In this way, dispite the rather cliché and over the top idea of jay being the bio kid of a famous person already tangentially related to him, I think it works.

Now then through the rest of the season it's mentioned a little like when he shows back up at his old home and his parents help him after mentioning it (which while a little strange, makes sense if they're trying to respect that the adoption is still new information for him) and then get happy when he still calls them his parents.

His dad gives him a great little rousing speech too and are just generally good parents which I like. Don't get me wrong, I know more than anyone that adopted parents aren't always perfect, but it's nice to see they didn't go for the whole "my birth parents are my real ones and they understand me unlike you fakeys" idea which I've genuinely seen enough to consider a trope now.

That basically it for Skybound tho, it isn't very relevant for the climax.

The next season it's really relevant is Prime Empire and MAN. I love this season's message and ending even if it isn't perfect. Jay being a hero who can save the day through words is really admirable and an underappreciated aspect of his character.

I love how he became much more empathetic and actually got more in touch with his feminine side after Skybound (since he lied that's what the book was about).

Also him seeing a situation that triggered his own feelings basically our of nowhere is perfect. He saw himself in Unigami. Someone who didn't know how to act or feel with the information that the person who created him, who was meant to watch over him, had abandoned him. Jay saying how he doesn't know why but what if there's a reason? The tinge of sadness as Unigami asks and Jay doesn't have an answer, because he knows the reason Unigami was abandoned but he might never know why he was left.

It shows how even though it's not a big thing for him, if he thinks about it, in those moments when it does cross his mind, it's upsetting. Maybe he even went to therapy or at least talked to the others based on the way he talks about it?

It's a brief moment of acknowledgement and connection with someone like him and then it's over. It's how being adopted and talking to other adopted people or people who grew up in foster care etc feels. It's this brief understanding of something that doesn't really matter, but is also fundamental to who you are today.

I'm so glad they didn't go with the idea of having Libber (Jay's birth mom) in the season, because I really prefer him not knowing anything about her.

Also the message of the season being basically "it doesn't matter what you come from, you get to choose who you are" is just nice and fitting for the adoption thing.

I'm Irish through and through. No one would question that if they know me. Jay is his parents son through and through. He's become a kind, funny but also verbose individual just like his old folks. He isn't defined by some people who share DNA with him or the situation that led him to being Jay Walker. He's defined by his love of model trains and Fritz Donnegan. He's a person who choose to face his fear and panic constantly as a ninja to help and protect people. If Ed and Edna were his birth parents he'd be the same person, and especially for people adopted young I think that's exactly how it should feel.

Ninjago in general feels very good at doing adopted characters (jay actually being the weakest one but most of my criticism of it is small) and as an adopted person its really refreshing.

Seeing Harumi and Benthomaar and Jay and basically Morro and even Wyldfyre all be adopted and have their own experience and outlook on it is something I haven't seen in any other show and it's amazing.

It's amazing seeing people who love their family like any "normal" family and people who have fair or unfair reasons to struggle with that idea. To see only children and children who feel more like their parent than a blood related sibling. There's just so much nuance to it we don't get to see normally.

This post is already far too long but feel free to add on to this or ask questions about adoption lol

[ishgardian-salt-rock]

FUCK WAIT I GOTTA STOP SENDING ASKS BUT SKULD JUMPSCARE???? SKULD I GOTTA. I GOTTA KNOW.

OKAY. I DONT KNOW WHERE THIS WAS GOING BUT .

In the night, Daybreak Town was downright eerie. It was bad enough in the day, Skuld thought, with the streets so quiet. But at night, it was a ghost town now. So many houses were boarded up, nowadays, streets without a single light. Skuld suppressed a shiver, and kept walking. All the better reason to patrol then. She wasn't sleeping anyway. It was just so quiet...  

i think shes in a horror movie. i dont know what i was going to do to her but theres . something .

[roxasthatisastick]

god, does anyone know what quest number this background appears in for khux? im trying to piece together a full map of daybreak town, but i cant figure out where this one comes from

im guessing its the top of the up staircase off the main plaza, and the right hand path heading to the area we fight nightmare chirithy...but i cant tell

[artbyavasan]

*cracks knuckles* I JUST *punches the wall* really love min yoongi

[kyoifish-catte]

just had someone tell me that thordan extreme requires no planning and honey I will fuckin fight you I have that shit locked down on farm

we wiped the first time, and they replied very condescendingly when I politely suggested something to make the part we wiped to easier to manage. we cleared the second time, but not after having one tank nearly die from poor mitigation, 3 of the 4 dps die at least once, 2 dying twice, 1 dying 3 times (all were to easily manageable aoes), and the other healer dying right as we reached the shitshow that is the heavensward mages and dragoons going aoe happy at the end.

the cherry on top was when I was the only one who didn’t die (except to the wipe), despite not running the trial in literal months and having a mouse that refuses to work half the time.

tl;dr I get salty when people try to tell me I don’t know thordan extreme.

[miniminttea]

A rant about Wyldfyre and her relationship to her culture and family.

So to start off, Wyldfyre is another adopted Ninjago character. She is very close with her family Heatwave and less so with her caregiver bot (possibly because it isn't actually sentient we don't see it much).

From the moment Lloyd finds her, she acts more like a caged dragon than a prisoner and freely shares she was raised by dragons in the wyldness.

Early on in the show this is used more for comedy and to add more distance between her and the other new recruits. It could even be considered annoying at times. Regardless we know for sure that this girl is a dragon and she's trouble.

When we first stary to see her dragon heritage? Background? Show importance to her it's when the ninja train under the dragon masters. She shows an awareness of their language and culture that the others don't.

Egalt who's old and butter and grizzled is disenchanted with human due to past experiences. Understandably he finds this human girl who claims to be a dragon rather infuriating. Plus, she has such a strong personality and he just wants to be left alone.

Through her understanding of dragons, in a way only someone who's lived with and cared for them can, she slowly changes his mind. She has knowledge of a sickness old dragons get and things that help. She speaks of stories about Him and his partner that her family told, and she generally just has a willingness to engage with him to a degree the others wouldn't dare.

She also speaks with Rontu despite not being able to train with her and listens to her advice. When her leg heals she attributes the idea of resting it to Rontu, saying "but when a dragon said it, it was true" or something to that effect.

Then we get a bit of a break from the masters, blood moon bla bla.

Wyldfyre takes a great interest in the city of temples for its focus on the source dragons (dragons in general being the important part) and for its leader, a young man named Roby.

Throughout the arc Wyldfyre mentions her dragon-ness constantly. When introducing herself to Roby she makes a point of explaining her name is a Dragon name but that she is not a dragon, because well they couldn't date if she was. There's probably more I forgor

But at the end of the arc when her and Roby have this cute moment and he leans in for a kiss, Wyldfyre roars and we learn it's a romance roar. Essentially the dragon version of kissing along her tribe. This is the first time we get a serious response to any of her dragon stuff. Normally it's brushed off or treated as a little weird to the rest of the cast. Roby doesn't do that. He hears her explanation and immediately tries to show his affection in the way she's comfortable with. He even asks if he did it right which is cute idk why.

Roby ends up being a good boyfriend to Wyldfyre because in spite of what his uncle believes, he does have a respect for culture and tradition, just, his own brand of it. Roby is a human that Wyldfyre can be a dragon with.

The last major moment of her story with this topic so far, is season 3 part 2 spoilers if you still haven't seen it

The group rush to Egalts death bed. Of course he gives a speech to all the ninja, his students and how they allowed him to die without keeping his dislike of humans, but he specifically talks to Wyldfyre. If it weren't for Arin being gone, Wyldfyre would be the only other person he talked to individually before his death.

And man, you can tell how much this little human dragon girl had an effect on him. He calls her a true dragon, a credit to her tribe. He uses some of his final words to ensure that Wyldfyre knows that he sees her for what she is in her heart. She's a dragon. Coming from someone who only just regained his trust of humans, it's just such a powerful thing for him to say.

Wyldfyre being of two worlds is something the show has woven into its writing in such a subtle but meaningful way. She mirrors struggles of many types of people but most obviously to me, mixed people and those adopted into different cultures.

For people with this split in who they are it can be hard to feel like you are *truly* what you say you are. Wyldfyre isn't human in culture but in race and she isn't dragon in race but culture. It can be hard to feel like you don't actually fit into a community that is important to you. Wyldfyre seems quite confident in her place but still, that confirmation, Egalt saying she's a true dragon is important to her I'm sure.

Then there's the other aspects of her cultural differences from the cast. In western society there's this push or expectation for certain groups to water themselves down for the sake of white people or the majority group of a country. Lots of Asian people can end up with a "white" name to make school and other things easier. Not for them, but for teachers. People can be discouraged from bringing "ethnic" food for lunch to work or school because people can mock or belittle you for it. The list goes on.

Wyldfyre as a character doesn't do this and is never forced to by the heroes of the story. She isn't made fun of for showing her affection differently. Her favourite foods aren't mocked and she's only ASKED if she'd like a bed in the monastery like the others. She's not treated as lesser for having this different culture and in fact it comes in handy sometimes. It's how something like this should be treated by people instead of how it can so often end up being.

Overall her position in the world she lives in is wonderful and manages to feel relatable for many people in similar dynamics. She's a confident character who shares her culture and has it treates with respect. She is a child of two worlds who found her own place in it and has her own story. I love Wyldfyre because none of this is integral to her story in the overall plot. She can still be reckless and fall for Roby and be annoying to the point she gets along with Egalt, but none of that would mean anything to her if she was just another human.

Tldr: Wyldfyre couldn't be replaced with Frak or Sora or Arin because she is the reason her little moments of character mean so much.

(and this is without mentioning her significance to the plot of different seasons and the potential loss of a dragon family member in the past)

Also bro I need her and Lloyd to talk about dragon stuff plzzzzz

[ishgardian-salt-rock]

lets hear it for seifer/roxas doomed yaoi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so last year i started replaying kh2 again. you know, as one does, and you know, id never really thought about seifer too much before, but this time i realized that you can fight him repeatedly in the alleyway.

and then once the thought was in my head (seifer voice) destiny... in that case, let's be friends. i don't feel like cooperating with destiny.

but you know whose the arbiter of fate rn? riku and diz. roxas' destiny is already decided. can seifer truly be enough to turn the tides of fate?

spoiler: its doomed yaoi. he is not

ALSO DID YOU KNOW THERE ARE ONLY FOUR SEIFER&ROXAS FICS ON AO3. OR ONLY FOUR SEIFER/ROXAS. IT IS MY SOLEMN DUTY TO FIX THIS

lil snip of what ive got so far under the cut

They had fought two or three times, already, and the ache was setting into Roxas's arms, just a bit. Any more would probably start affecting his performance in the tournament... if it hadn't already. Hayner would think this was stupid, Roxas thought. Or a betrayal. Willingly spending time with the enemy? Roxas snorted and then scrubbed his face roughly. Seifer wasn't a friend, but Roxas had worse enemies. At least Olette and Pence probably wouldn't care at least, even if they didn't understand. This, whatever it was, in this alley, in this moment, was easy. Cut and dry. If only everything could be like this.

[ishgardian-salt-rock]

tagged by @rarmaster, basically, in spirit

RULES: make a new post with the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous, and tag as many people as you have wips. anyone can send an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and you post a snippet or tell them something about it!

i ALSO have way too many wips to tag that many people, lol

the drafts: - roxas/seifer doomed yaoi - ch2 of looking back, looking forward - al xenoblade customer service fic - noah castle heist fic - ingo goes grocery shopping - kh cowboy au followup ft. even - graha/wol ft. themis and deep discomfort - skuld jumpscare - ffx au fusion - it doesnt technically exist yet but i was just opening this file. phainon/caelus possession au (4.0 edition). look forward to it (?)

theres also a handful that just contain a single sentence which i am... not including

as for tags, well, most people i was gonna include already got tagged so... @breezy-cheezy. yeah thats it. if you wanna do it, just consider urself tagged!!!