#it's also strange to see a catholic insist upon | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

swap-cult-au · 11 months

Text

MASTERPOST

Basic Info:

This AU is a swap AU to the @cult-au-askblog created by @nashdoesstuff. Here, Killer, a college student under heavy stress, joins a cult that worships the God of Positivity, Dream. Dream finds interest in Killer, and gives more attention to him than any other cultist. Killer blindly follows Dream, thinking that if he is to Believe in the Light, the Light will give back.

CHARACTERS:

BACKGROUND:

Killer grew up in a strict household, and went to catholic schools throughout his teenage years after his parents realized his mental health got progressively worse. During their senior year, they opened up about their feelings and who he felt he was as a person, and his parents despised it. As soon as he turned 18, he was kicked out and told to move in with a friend. This friend committed suicide a year later, and Killer was left with a college dormitory and two annoying [and very flirty] roommates. Throughout freshman year in college, Killer felt hopeless, and nothing he did worked. He wondered what they had done wrong: they believed in Christ for ages (forcefully), given back to his community, helped others- why wouldn't anything good happen with him? One day, while working his second job as a waiter, one of his clients asked him if he was doing okay. Despite Killer's jabs at telling them he was okay, they didn't listen. They insisted he go to a "support group" nearby the forest, alone. Killer was hesitant, but went with it anyways. He had tried everything, what other choice did he have? Upon arrival, this didn't seem like any ordinary group. They all wore the same clothing lined with gold and a strange symbol on their belt. Shortly after, he realized he was brought into a cult's meeting by the leader of it. They told them to not worry, as everything would be okay with some explanation. They worshipped the god named Dream, the God of Positivity, because he supposedly gave his followers lives of peace and happiness. Killer decided to join, reluctant. After his second meeting, a prized possession of his, a knitted scarf, was sacrificed to this god. He also got a tattoo in the form of a star on his right arm. The scary part is, no tattoo gun was used. It was some form of staff, and it radiated energy Killer had never felt before. Since then, he's been hearing and seeing strange things pop up in his room. Turns out, Dream liked him a lot, and wanted to make sure he was "at his happiest." Killer was visited by him every night, and always ended up sleeping with a smile on his face. Maybe this whole cult thing was actually good. He's never felt better. OTHER:

Killer is an AFAB demi-boy who uses He / They pronouns. His friend who committed suicide helped with transition surgery costs. Killer is 5”6. He finds film to be interesting and an escape from the real world. He can just write something down and imagine it being acted out. The three languages he speaks are English, Spanish, and Arabic. He wants to learn more, but can't find the motivation to do so. Killer uses his name to mask their deadname. It was meant to be temporary, but they grew a liking to it. He is gay. Killer's text is in red.

BACKGROUND:

Cross was diagnosed with depression in high school, but later, after many therapy sessions, was rid of it. He was inspired by his counselor to go help other people, so he decided to study psychology to assist others in crisis. Cross met Killer on a forum about film design. Since then, he's been trying to help him, as he's noticed their tired look in appearance and some of the stuff he talks about in DMs. Though, he isn't as worried as they tend to talk about his family a lot. They seem like nice and accepting people!

OTHER

Cross uses He / Him pronouns. Cross' podcast is about real life stories, and how people have overcome tough situations. It's meant to be a podcast on inspiration, and Killer listens to it every time he updates it (mostly just to support him.) Cross is 5”7. Cross is bisexual! He has a bit of a thing for fashion and considered pursuing design for some time before finding the mental health field more interesting. He can sew really well! He has a sewing machine and makes his own clothing often. Despite his age, he's never drunk before and doesn't want to. Cross has dimples! Dream doesn't like Cross all that much. He thinks he should be the only one helping them. Cross' text is in purple.

BACKGROUND:

[short backstory here]

Dream, also known as the God of Positivity, is what appears to many as the bringer of hope. Little do his followers know, there happens to be a bit more to the story...

OTHER INFO:

Dream is genderfluid and uses all pronouns. He dislikes his brother. Dream is 6”4. He loves golden apples. He finds mortals amusing. Literally anything they might do is entertaining to him. His crown floats and the star glows. You'll go blind if you stare at it for over 3 minutes, alongside his eye lights. He dislikes shoes and wears none. His wings are made of light. They are there for show. Dream is polysexual. Dream's text is in yellow.

BACKGROUND:

[Additional info on Nightmare and Dream]

As his brother wreaked havoc on his home, Nightmare, in a last ditch attempt, found an additional tree that contained the blank apples his brother consumed for his power. When he grabbed it, he watched the white fruit turn into a dark, black one. Since it worked for Dream, it should work for him, right? As he ate that singular black apple, it supplied him with the ability to weave the shadows, with the price of one lingering his body. The shadow proved useful, however, but not for long. Dream's strength he had gained from the dozens he consumed overcame the singular one Nightmare ate. He lost the battle, and his home. Nowadays, Nightmare wanders the Realm of the Gods, trying to fix his brother's mess. He tries not to associate himself with the mortal realm as much as he can.

OTHER INFO:

Nightmare uses he/they/it pronouns. He doesn't hate his brother; he's fearful for him. Nightmare is 5”6. He feels pity for every one of Dream's followers, particularly Killer. Nightmare cannot take his scarf off. The Shadow is stuck onto his body, so therefore it's stuck to him. Nightmare's skull has that same dark substance on his hood. His hood is made out of special fabric that transfers the effects to it whenever it is worn. Nightmare wishes for balance once again. He is aroace. The more negativity there is in an area, the more powerful the Shadow becomes. It, however, cannot take control over Nightmare. Every time Nightmare feels strong negativity, dark substance releases from his sockets. Nightmare's text is in blue.

Other characters you may ask are the Leader [Swapped!Nash], Dust, and Horror, alongside Ink. Though, the last three aren't too different from the cult-au-askblog.

QnA:

Q: Can I make fanart?

A: Yes, absolutely! Tag me so I can see it! However, I would rather not see NSFW content. You can make it, but please do not tag me.

DO NOT USE MY CHARACTERS FOR HARMFUL USE.

Q: Will there be a comic?

A: No, sorry. I may write drabbles, though! _

Q: What are the tags for this AU?

A: The tags are #swap!cult au, #swap cult au, or #swap!cult!au.

Of course, the ask box is open for you curious souls out there... go wild y'all.

#undertale multiverse #undertale #undertale au #swap!cult au #swap cult au #swap!cult!au #sc!dream #sc!killer #sc!cross #nash's shenanigans #nashdoesstuff #utmv #cult au #dream sans #killer sans #cross sans #nightmare sans #sc!nightmare

82 notes · View notes

cheerfullycatholic · 4 months

Text

Guilt and Shame

John

Oregon, United States

The long-term effects of forcing two different women to abort babies I created with them did not hit me until many years later. My first wife and I already had two sons before we divorced. I fell into a life of living for myself. I did my visitations and paid my child support, but I lived a life where I was just otherwise having a good time with whomever, wherever, and whenever. Relationships were for pleasure, and I did not want to commit again. Eventually, in two separate relationships about four years apart, I got two other women pregnant. I already had two kids, I told myself. I was never concerned with the women's feelings, neither of which had any other children. These would have been the first and only children for each of these women. That did not matter to me. I did not want to be tied down again, and I certainly did not want the financial responsibility of a third and then a fourth child. All that would do was cut into my good times. So, I convinced both of these women to abort their babies.

For the longest time afterward, I felt no emotions regarding these two abortions. But, as my sons grew up, got married, and had kids of their own, I started seeing children from the perspective of a grandfather. By the time the fifth grand baby came on the scene, I was totally into being an engaged grandpa. Slowly, throughout this transformation, I began to realize the ramifications of my actions some thirty years prior. Not only had I missed out on two additional children, but now I was missing out on potential grandchildren as well. A strange ache began to grow in my heart. I began to feel empty inside. Additionally, I had always been a tightly wound person, and I now found myself becoming increasingly angry at my decisions to kill two children. The more I was around the grandkids, the more regretful I became of causing two of my children to die.

My guilt and shame seemed to have been compounded when I looked back even farther into my past. You see, I had been given up for adoption at birth by my own mother. She already had two sons, and her husband had left her. She and her boys were living with her parents, and her father insisted she not bring another child into their home. She could have chosen abortion, but instead she chose to bear me to life. She gave me the opportunity I could not even consider for two of my own offspring in similar circumstances.

By this time, I was retired and had reconnected with my Catholic faith. Frequently, I would see information on Project Rachel and Rachel's Vineyard Retreats. Eventually, I decided something needed to be done to resolve these inner feelings of regret, shame, guilt and anger. I signed up for a Rachel's Vineyard Retreat close to where I live, and I attended with an open mind.

Through the retreat, I came to understand the causes of my emotions regarding aborting my two children. I also came to understand the profound effect my actions had on the two mothers involved. At the retreat, I saw firsthand how dramatically affected the women were who were sharing their stories and emotions. It finally hit me how cruel, insensitive, and uncaring I had been regarding the feelings of the women I impregnated.

The responsibility for my actions rests solely upon my shoulders, and I willingly accept that. I have vowed to do everything in my power to prevent any of my children and grandchildren from having or participating in an abortion. Additionally, I want to honor the memory of my adoptive parents as best I can by working to be silent no more to the true nature of abortion. It is murder.

LATEST NEWS REPORTS

LATEST BIBLE PROPHECY INTERVIEWS

0 notes

collegeburnoutsuperstar · 4 years

Text

Social Distancing Book Recs

I’ve been getting tons of book recommendations from friends and family to help get through social distancing/self-quarantine, so I thought I should share some of my favorite books with everybody!

Horror/Apocalyptic: *all books are ADULT*

- The Stand by Stephen King “This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death. And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides -- or are chosen” (Goodreads Summary).

- Inferno by Dan Brown “Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon awakens in an Italian hospital, disorientated and with no recollection of the past thirty-six hours, including the origin of the macabre object hidden in his belongings. With a relentless female assassin tailing them through Florence, he and his resourceful doctor, Sienna Brooks, are forced to flee. Embarking on a harrowing journey, they must unravel a series of codes, which are the work of a brilliant scientist whose obsession with the end of the world is matched only by his passion for one of the most influential masterpieces ever written, Dante Alighieri’s The Inferno” (Goodreads Summary).

- World War Z by Max Brooks “The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, form decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years” (Goodreads summary).

- It by Stephen King “It’s a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real... They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But none of them can withstand the force that has drawn them back to Derry to face the nightmare without an end, and the evil without a name” (Goodreads summary).

- The Shining by Stephen King “Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic locations feels ever more remote... and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old” (Goodreads summary).

- House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski “[House of Leaves] focuses on a young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of the impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story -- of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of the unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams” (Goodreads summary).

Comedy:

- Good Omens by Neil Gaimen and Terry Pratchett “People have been predicting the end of the world almost from its very beginning, so it’s only natural to be skeptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day. But what if, for once, the predictions are right, and the apocalypse really is due to arrive next Saturday, just after tea? You could spend the time left drowning your sorrows, giving away all your possessions in preparation for the rapture, or laughing it off as (hopefully) just another hoax. Or you could just try to do something about it. It’s a predicament that Aziraphale, a somewhat fussy angel, and Crowley, a fast-living demon now finds themselves in. They’ve been living amongst Earth’s mortals since The Beginning and, truth be told, have grown rather fond of the lifestyle and, in all honesty, are not actually looking forward to the coming Apocalypse. And then there’s the small matter that someone appears to have misplaced the Antichrist... “ (Goodreads summary).

- Dad Is Fat by Jim Gaffigan *PG-13* Dad is Fat is a comedic memoir that details Jim Gaffigan’s life growing up in a large Catholic family to his experiences as a husband and father (specifically parenting his five young children while living in a tiny walk-up apartment in New York). I highly recommend the audiobook (which is narrated by Jim Gaffigan), my family and I always listen to it during road trips. It never stops being funny.

- Bored of the Rings: A Parody of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings by The Harvard Lampoon *ADULT* “A quest, a war, a ring that would be grounds for calling any wedding off, a king without a kingdom, and a little, furry ‘hero’ named Frito, ready -- or maybe just forced by the wizard of Goodgulf-- to undertake the one mission which can save Lower Middle Earth from enslavement by the evil Sorhed… Luscious Elfmaidens, a roller-skating dragon, ugly plants that can soul-kiss the unwary to death-- these are just some of the ingredients in the wildest, wackiest, most irreverent excursion into fantasy realms that anyone has ever dared to undertake” (Goodreads summary).

Middle-Grade:

- Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan (book 1: The Lightning Thief) “Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can’t seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse - Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy’s mom finds out, she knows it’s time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he’ll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends-- one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena-- Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods” (Goodreads summary).

- The Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan (book 1: The Lost Hero) “Jason has a problem. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up in a bus full of kids on a field trip. Apparently he has a girlfriend named Piper, and a best friend named Leo. They’re all students at a boarding school for ‘bad kids.’ What id Jason do to end up here? And where is here, exactly? Piper has a secret. Her father has been missing for three days, ever since she had that terrifying nightmare about his being in trouble. Piper doesn’t understand her dream, or why her boyfriend suddenly doesn’t recognize her. When a freak storm hits during the school trip, unleashing strange creatures and whisking her, Jason, and Leo away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood, she has a feeling she’s going to find out. Leo has a way with tools. When he sees his cabin at Camp Half-Blood, filled with power tools and machine parts, he feels right at home. But there’s weird stuff, too-- like the curse everyone keeps talking about, and some camper who’s gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist that each of them--including Leo-- is related to a god. Does this have anything to do with Jason’s amnesia, or the fact that Leo keeps seeing ghosts?” (Goodreads summary)

- The Children of the Red King series by Jenny Nimmo (book 1: Midnight for Charlie Bone) “Charlie Bone has a special gift-- he can hear people in photographs talking! The fabulous powers of the Red King were passed down through his descendants, after turning up quite unexpectedly, in someone who had no idea where they came from. This is what happened to Charlie Bone, and to some of the children he met behind the grim, gray walls of Bloor’s Academy. His scheming aunts decide to send him to Bloor’s Academy, a school for geniuses where he uses his grifts to discover the truth despite all the dangers that lie ahead” (Goodreads summary).

- Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements “Bobby Phillips is an average fifteen-year-old boy. Until the morning he wakes up and can’t see himself in the mirror. Not blind, not dreaming. Bobby is just plain invisible... There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to Bobby’s new conditions; even his dad the physicist can’t figure it out. For Bobby that means no school, no friends, no life. He’s a missing person” (Goodreads summary).

Science Fiction:

- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick *Adult* “It was January 2021, and Rick Deckard had a license to kill. Somewhere among the hordes of humans out there, lurked several rogue androids. Deckard’s assignment-- find them and then... ‘retire’ them. Trouble was, the androids all looked exactly like humans, and they didn’t want to be found!” (Goodreads summary).

- Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton * Suitable for Young Adults* “An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them-- for a price. Until something goes wrong...” (Goodreads summary).

Fantasy:

- The Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman *ADULT* (book 1: The Magicians) “Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he’s still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery. He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would. After graduation he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin’s fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart” (Goodreads summary).

- The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater *YA* (book 1: The Raven Boys) “What do you know about Welsh kings?” This incredibly atmospheric story centers on a seemingly random group of teens as they uncover the mysterious and magical secrets of their small Virginia town.

- A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab *Suitable for Young Adults* “Kell is one of the last Antari-- magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black. Kell was raised in Arnes-- Red London-- and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see. After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure. Now perilous magic is afoot, and treacher lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they’ll first need to stay alive” (Goodreads summary).

- The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien *Suitable for middle-grade through adult* “In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord. forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken form him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. When Bilbo reached his eleventy-first birthday he disappeared, bequeathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom” (Goodreads summary).

- The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss *Adult* “Told in Kvothe’s own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen. The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bit to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story” (Goodreads summary).

- The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch *Adult* “An orphan’s life is harsh-- and often short-- in the mysterious island city of Camorr. But youge Locke Lamora dodges death and slavery, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist. As leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentleman Bastards, Loke is soon infamous, fooling even the underworld’s most feared ruler. But in the shadows lurks someone still more ambitious and deadly. Faced with a bloody coup that threatens to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the enemy at his own brutal game-- or die trying” (Goodreads summary).

Fiction:

- The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich *ADULT mystery-thrillers/romance* (book 1: One for the Money) “You’ve lost your job as a department store lingerie buyer, your car’s been repossessed, and most of your furniture and small appliances have been sold off to pay last month’s rent. Now the rent is due again. And you live in New Jersey. What do you do? If you’re Stephanie Plum, you become a bounty hunter. But not just a nickel-and-dime bounty hunter; you go after the big money. That means a cop gone bad. And not just any cop. She goes after Joe Morelli, a disgraced former vice cop who is also the man who took Stephanie’s virginity at age 16 and the wrote details on a bathroom wall. With pride and rent money on the line, Plum plunges headlong into her first case, one that pits her against ruthless adversaries - people who’d rather kill than lose” (Goodreads summary).

- The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown *Adult* “While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, his body covered in baffling symbols. As Langdon and gifted French cryptologist Sophie Neveu sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci-- clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. Even more startling, the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion-- a secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Victory Hugo, and Da Vici-- and he guarded a breathtaking historical secret. Unless Landon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle-- while avoiding the faceless adversary who shadows their every move-- the explosive, ancient truth will be lost forever” (Goodreads summary).

- Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle *Adult* Sherlock Holmes stories are always fun when stuck at home.

- 11/22/63 by Stephen King *Adult* “Life can turn on a dime-- or stumble into the extraordinary, as it does for Jake Epping, a high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine. While grading essays by his GED students, Jake reads a gruesome, enthralling piece penned by janitor Harry Dunning: fifty years ago, Harry somehow survived his father’s sledgehammer slaughter of his entire family, Jake is blown away... but an even more bizarre secret comes to light when Jake’s friend Al, owner of the local diner, enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession-- to prevent the Kennedy assassination. How? By stepping through a portal in the diner’s storeroom, and into the ear of Ike and Elvis, or big American cars, sock hops, and cigarette smoke... Finding himself in warmhearted Jodie, Texas, Jake begins a new life. But all turns in the road lead to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald. The course of history is about to be rewritten... and become heart-stoppingly suspenseful” (Goodreads summary).

Non-Fiction:

- The Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson *Adult* “In 1979 a secret unit was established by the most gifted minds within the U.S. Army. Defying all known accepted military practice-- and indeed, the laws of physics-- they believed that a soldier could adopt a cloak of invisibility, pass cleanly through walls, and, perhaps most chillingly, kill goats just by staring at them. Entrusted with defending America from all known adversaries, they were the First Earth Battalion. And they really weren’t joking. What’s more, they’re back and fighting the War on Terror. With firsthand access to the leading players in the story, Ronson traces the evolution of these bizarre activities over the past three decades and shows how they are alive today within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and in postwar Iraq. Why are they blasting Iraqi prisoners of war with the theme tune to Barney the Purple Dinosaur? Why have 100 debleated goats been secretly placed inside the Special Forces Command Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina? How was the U.S. military associated with the mysterious mass suicide of a strange cult form San Diego? The Men Who Stare at Goats answers these and many more questions” (Goodreads summary).

- Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert *Adult* (I recommend listening to the audiobook, which is narrated by Elizabeth Gilbert) “To recover from [an early midlife crisis, divorce, and depression], Gilbert took a radical step. In order to give herself the time and space to find out who she really was and what she really wanted, she got rid of her belongings, quit her job, and undertook a yearlong journey around the world-- all alone. Eat, Pray, Love is the absorbing chronicle of that year. Her aim was to visit three places where she could examine one aspect of her own nature set against the backdrop of a culture that has traditionally done that one thing very well. In Rome, she studied the art of pleasure, learning to speak Italian and gaining the twenty-three happiest pounds of her life. India was for the art of devotion, and with the help of a native guru and a surprisingly wise cowboy from Texas, she embarked on four uninterrupted months of spiritual exploration. In Bali, she studied the art of balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence. She became the pupil of an elderly medicine man and also fell in love the best way-- unexpectedly” (Goodreads summary).

353 notes · View notes

omgjasminesimone · 4 years

Text

Oceans

Colt x MC

Word Count: ~1,000

A/N: For @rodappreciationweek Colt day. Set about 3 years pre RoD.

Colt’s grandmother pinches his arm, hard, shooting him a look that clearly says ‘put the phone away now.’

Colt sighs, pocketing his cell phone. He slouches in the pew, listening to the priest drone on and on. Man, as much as Salt Lake City, Utah sucks compared to Los Angeles, at least his mom doesn’t force him to go to church.

Colt’s grandmother is very religious. Her family converted to Catholicism during the WWII Japanese American internment. She shows up to mass every Sunday without fail. Sometimes, she goes Wednesday morning too. She always used to drag Colt’s grandfather along when he was alive. The irony of a career criminal attending every Sunday mass seems to be beyond his loving wife.

Her only child, Teppei, is much more hard headed than his father. He refused to go to church after turning 18, but he still lets his mother drag his own progeny along. Teppei has told Colt when he turns 18, he can politely refuse as well.

Colt pulls at his tie uncomfortably. His grandmother also insists one must dress up for church, lest they be disrespectful to God.

Colt mostly checks out, tuning out the sermon. He’s almost dozed off when his grandmother nudges him, once again, as hard as she can.

“Ow obaasan!” Colt complains with an irritated whisper, rubbing his rib.

“Help me up. It’s time for the choir.” Mrs. Kaneko demands.

Colt gets to his feet, and gently pulls his grandmother up to her feet. “Thank you. Here, have some candy.” His grandmother digs into her purse, passing him several peppermint candies as a reward. Colt pops one in his mouth, looking up towards the stage.

“This week, our own Ms. Eleanor Wheeler will be performing a solo.” The priest announces. “As you know, Mrs. Margaret Wheeler has been in and out of the hospital. We ask that you keep her in your prayers.”

Grandma Kaneko crosses herself, murmuring a prayer for the girl’s mother that echoes as other members of the congregation pray aloud.

The priest raises his bowed head after completing his own prayer, gesturing towards the front row. “Ellie, the stage is your’s.”

A girl who looks to be around his age walks up to the stage, lowering the microphone at the altar to her mouth. She’s pretty, Colt notes. Long brown hair, tan skin, and beautiful brown eyes. She’s dressed modestly in a blue dress and white sweater, but he can tell she has a nice figure. But she’s not his type. Colt doesn’t tend to go for the good Catholic girls, much to his grandmother’s dismay.

Ellie clears her throat. She’s clearly nervous, maybe she’s a little shy. She closes her eyes for a moment, seemingly steeling her nerves. After a deep, calming breath, she opens her eyes again and nods resolutely at the pianist.

A slow melody begins to play, and then Ellie begins to sing. Colt isn’t sure what he was expecting her to sound like, but it definitely wasn’t the strong, soulful, and frankly beautiful voice that comes out.

“You call me out upon the waters. The great unknown where feet may fail. And there I find you in the mystery. In oceans deep my faith will stand. I will call upon your name. And keep my eyes above the waves. When oceans rise my soul will rest in your embrace. For I am yours and you are mine.”

The pianist takes over for a little, and Ellie smiles softly as she sways slightly to the music, clearly more comfortable now. Colt is entranced. He feels like this is the closest he’s ever come to a religious experience.

“Your grace abounds in deepest waters. Your sovereign hand will be my guide. Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me, you’ve never failed and you won’t start right now.”

Ellie continues to sing, the choir adding in some backing harmonies now.

“Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders. Let me walk upon the waters, wherever you would call me. Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander, and my faith will be made stronger, in the presence of my savior.”

She starts to tear up as she continues to repeat that stanza, the choir going silent so just her angelic voice fills the church. She’s probably thinking about her sick mother. Colt suddenly has the urge to hug his own mother.

He wants to hug Ellie Wheeler too.

The songs ends, and the congregation applauds heartily. Ellie smiles weakly, wiping away a tear. She rejoins her father at that front pew, and he engulfs her in a warm hug.

Colt spends the rest of church staring at the back of Ellie Wheeler’s head. When church ends, he considers approaching her. He wants to tell her that everything will be alright. He wants to promise to pray for her mother. But she’s bombarded by well wishers, and Colt fights down his urge to join the large crowd gathered around her.

He thinks about Ellie, her mother, and that song all day. He ends up downloading it to his iPod. He heads back to Utah when Spring Break ends a week later, and tries to put his strange obsession with Ellie Wheeler out of his mind.

But when he returns to Los Angeles for the summer, he can’t help but casually ask his grandmother what happened to Mrs. Wheeler. The rush of pain he feels when she informs him Ellie’s mother died is unexpected.

He doesn’t see Ellie in church that summer. Or any other time he’s visiting Los Angeles until he turns 18 and very politely tells obaasan he won’t be attending any more Sunday masses.

...

He immediately recognizes Ellie Wheeler at the sideshow. He still listens to Oceans occasionally, and he always thinks of her when he does. He prefers Ellie’s voice over the actual singer.

She looks insanely out of place, with her Langston College sweatshirt and all. What’s a good Catholic girl like her doing in a place like this?

“You look like you’re in the wrong place, sweetheart.” She turns to look at him, and he’s immediately lost in her brown eyes.

...

A/N: the song Ellie sings is Oceans by Hillsong United. And I’m not even religious but I listen to it all the time because it slaps.

Tags: @brightpinkpeppercorn @choicesarehard @lovehugsandcandy@desireepow-1986 @regina-and-happiness @iplaydrake @choicesgremlin @maxwellsquidsuit @eileendannie @liamzigmichael4ever @ohsnapitzlovehacker @client-327 @cora-nova @umiumichan @angrypainterfarmopera @badchoicesposts @i-only-signed-up-for-fanfiction @sparklinglilac @pixel-thirsty @mskaneko @lovemychoices @akrenich @crispycrunchyleaves

#colt x mc #colt kaneko #rodaw #ride or die #choices fanfiction

58 notes · View notes

scapegrace74-blog · 4 years

Text

Saorsa, Chapter 22

A/N Here is the next installment of Saorsa. At long last, after dragging things out for 21 chapters (21!), I’m finally sending Jamie and Claire on their honeymoon, with all the bow-chicka-wow-wow that implies. Although it’s pretty tame, by my smut standards. Why am I still writing? Go read it!

Rather than link to all previously posted chapters, I’ll just direct those of you wanting to catch up on your Saorsa-reading to my AO3 page, where the fic is posted in its entirety.

Thank you to each of you liking and reblogging! It does my little fanfic writer’s heart good.

The honeymoon was Claire’s idea. After two weeks of painfully polite coexistence in which she felt they were both acting the parts of a newly married couple for an audience of two, she suggested the getaway. Jamie had never heard of such a thing. She insisted time spent cloistered away from their everyday lives was now the norm for newlyweds, and he begrudgingly agreed. They left as soon as Murtagh returned from his visit home to the Isle of Lewis.

Jamie was an uneasy automobile passenger, and he refused to learn how to drive, so it was Claire who navigated onto the ferry that crossed the narrow channel to the Isle of Skye.

“Are you alright?” she asked as Jamie clutched the door handle in a white knuckled grip.

“Aye. Jus’ no’ fond of ships, is all,” he answered, eyes pointed out the windshield as though he could bring the looming island closer with the strength of his stare.

“Just a few more minutes, an duine agam,” she assured, taking his clammy right hand in her left.

“Who’s been teachin’ ye Gàidhlig, Sassenach?” he asked, distracted from imminent sea sickness.

“Murtagh. Just a few words, here and there. I thought it would be useful, so I could speak it to the baby once he or she is born.” As it usually did, her free hand came to rest on the softly rounded swell of her belly when she spoke of her child.

There was silence from the passenger’s seat. She glanced over only to be met by a look of stunning intensity. She felt naked before so much bridled emotion, but she could not break away. The only movement between the two of them was the clenching of a muscle high in his jaw.

“Claire, I…”

Whatever Jamie was about to say, it was interrupted by the shunt of the ferry as it met the shore. They both looked away, and the moment was gone.

The drive to their inn at Dunvegan was shrouded in low-lying clouds. She could just make out the lower slopes of mountains robed in snow. Jamie had once again fallen silent but seemed content to gaze at the passing scenery. She parked carefully on the side of the main road in the tiny village, just two lines of tidy single-story stone cottages, a café and their inn.

Jamie rose awkwardly from the car and stretched before walking to the boot to gather their shared suitcase. As he did, a pair of women exited a nearby cottage, talking in loud, animated voices. He froze, then spun around.

The women turned right at the pavement and continued walking and chatting. Seeing the tall, handsome red-haired man standing near their path, they both uttered a polite “feasgar math” before continuing on their way.

“Feasgar math,” he responded belatedly, bowing slightly at the waist out of habit. He turned around, slack-jawed, as the scene came into sharper focus. The signage above the café and inn was in Gaelic. There were horseshoes hung above every door and tartan decorations festooned a nearby fence. Sheep bleated from the fields beyond. Apart from their car and another parked across the street, nothing in view would have been out of place two centuries before.

She stepped onto the pavement beside Jamie and touched his chest.

“You see? The Highland culture did not die. It fled, far to the north and over the sea, but it survived. Here,” she gestured around them. “And here,” pressing her hand against his breastbone. “It takes something tremendously resilient to face that sort of hardship and endure.”

Jamie’s mouth moved, but no sound came out. She could see that he was struggling against tears.

“Come on. Let’s check into our room, and then you can show me around.”

The matronly innkeeper greeted them in a waterfall of Gaelic, to which Jamie answered in kind. He seemed taller suddenly, although perhaps it was the low, timber-beamed ceiling that made him appear so. She heard him say “Claire Fraser, mo bhean”, while looking at her with pride.

If the innkeeper thought it strange that the tall Scot and his obviously pregnant English wife were making heart-eyes at each other across her lobby, she did not let on. She led them up a steep stairwell into a hallway so low that Jamie had to duck to avoid banging his head. At one end was a gabled room with a merry fire already lit. It wasn’t large, having room for just an immense four-posted bed, two wooden chairs facing the fire, and a window with views across the slate roofs to the slate-grey sea beyond.

Thanking their hostess and promising to come downstairs later for tea, they stood facing each other from across the room with nervous expressions. It was strange. They had shared the laird’s bed chamber in the days since their wedding, but the idea of being alone in this strange room felt more intimate. There were no routines or distractions to mask the fact that they were now man and wife.

Jamie spent an inordinate amount of time placing their luggage on a low stool, and then stared out the window like he was searching for answers.

“Did you want to take a walk down to the castle?” she suggested timidly.

“Aye,” he agreed eagerly. “Tis a braw day for a ramble.”

She glanced at the fine drizzle that had begun to fall, shrugged and grabbed her Macintosh.

Jamie was like a giddy schoolboy upon entering the ancestral seat of Clan MacLeod. The castle itself was not open to visitors, but they had the grounds to themselves. He capered about the battlements, pointing out one feature after another.

“What eejit built those turrets? They’re no’ big enough for a wee lad to enter, ne’er mind a marksman,” he commented, looking up at the main stronghold’s façade.

“I imagine they were added recently, merely for decoration,” she replied, smiling at his outraged tone. “I understand the current Chief Macleod made significant improvements, prior to the war.” Jamie replied with a truly Scottish noise that expressed dubiousness and concession in a single, guttural sound. He spun around, taking in the whole view.

“I always heard it was the bonniest castle in all of Scotland, but I dinna believe it. Now that I see it wi’ my own eyes, weel…” Jamie scuffed his boot on the gritty rock, looking guilty for a moment. “I still prefer Lallybroch, ye ken, but this, this is…” he trailed off, at a loss for words.

Jamie face grew pensive, a deep furrow bisecting his brow.

“What is it?” she asked, stepping closer.

“It’s only… Tormod MacLeod fought on the side of the English at Culloden. I didna ken it at the time, but I read in yer husband’s books that the MacLeod attacked the lands of Jacobite supporters after the Rising, causing much suffering. And yet here their laird abides, twa hundred years on, while the Frasers are nought but names on graves…”

She stepped towards him, wrapping an arm carefully around his broad back.

“Listen to me, James Fraser. You fought bravely for a cause that you believed in, even though you knew the odds were overwhelmingly against you. There is honour in that, and honour is stronger than any castle wall. Also, you are my husband now. I’d thank you to remember that.”

He wrapped an arm around her slim shoulders in return. “Duly noted, Sassenach.”

They stood there in the drizzle, leaning slightly into each other until she interrupted the moment with a vital clarification.

“Oh, and Jamie? I never said that a laird lived in this castle.”

He leaned back to gaze at her face, eyebrows lowered in confusion.

“Flora MacLeod of MacLeod, twenty-eighth clan chief of the MacLeod since her father passed away in 1935.” She grinned smugly, watching the perplexity transform to amazement on his expressive face. He let forth a burst of laughter.

“Dhia, I hope she looks fairer in a kilt than Tormod. That man was a hairy beast.”

After a light meal of crusty bread, sheep’s milk cheese, dried sausage, and tea for Claire (“why do ye English insist on polluting water wi’ wee leaves, Sassenach?”), they retired to their room to warm themselves in front of the fire.

Jamie was quiet again, pulling at his lip as he stared into the flames. She sensed he was working something through in his mind and gave him room for silence. She allowed the warmth and crackling pop of green logs lull her into a state of suspended awareness.

“I havena been entirely truthful wi’ ye, Sassenach, and tis vexing me greatly,” Jamie began without taking his eyes from the fire. Her stomach dropped, trying to imagine what fact was so awful that even his absolute candor bowed to the demand that it remain unspoken.

“When I asked ye tae be my wife, I told ye it was on account of yer bairn, how t’would be… practical for me tae be its Da, and tae help ye in the running of Lallybroch.”

“Yes. I remember,” she said hesitantly. “It’s a little late for second thoughts, Jamie. The Catholic Church isn’t any fonder of divorce than they were two hundred years ago...”

“Ifrinn. That’s no’ what I mean at all. Christ, Claire, would ye let a man speak for once!” He rose and began pacing the small room in tight circles. His speech hurried to catch the cadence of his steps.

“Tis no’ that the reasons I gave were untrue. Tis just that t’werenna the only ones. No’ even the main one. I asked ye tae be marrit, weel, because I wanted tae be yer husband.”

Running out of words, he stopped near the bed and looked at her. At his apparent inability to continue, she ventured, “You are my husband, Jamie. And I’m very grateful for…”

“No’ a husband in body. Only a husband in name.”

“Oh,” she breathed. “Oh!” She felt her cheeks reddening, even warmer than the glow of the fire. “Are you saying that you would want to be a husband… in body… to me?”

“Aye. Och, look at ye, Sassenach. What man wouldna want tae lie wi’ ye? I’m only mortal.”

She tried to imagine how she looked to Jamie. She was wearing a practical cotton dress, cut a little loose to accommodate her expanding waist. Her cheeks were no doubt flushed from the walk in the rain, the fire, and Jamie’s sudden revelation. She was certain her head was surrounded by a veritable Gorgon of curls.

His confession expelled, Jamie was once again able to meet her eyes, and what she saw there ignited a spark inside her that she was certain had been extinguished forever. She rose gracefully and made her way to where he was standing. In her stocking feet, she had to look up into his face. When she did, she felt electricity prickle her skin.

“Well, it is our honeymoon. I suppose it would be the… traditional thing to do.”

Her hand came to rest on Jamie’s damp linen shirt. Underneath, she could feel his heat and the tremor of muscles held tightly in check. A broad palm cupped her hip.

“I dinna mean this verra minute, Claire. Ye can take yer time tae consider. And wi’ the bairn…”

She ignored him, plucking gently at the fabric. “Your shirt is damp. You’ll catch a chill. You should hang it… by the fire…” she finished as he disposed of the offending clothing in a single move. Her hand now was free to rest against bare, gold-hued flesh.

She paced a tight circle around his body, stopping behind him where the firelight and shadows emphasized the lacerated surface of his back. Jamie’s shoulders stopped rising and falling as he held his breath, obviously nervous for his scars to be so closely observed. Before he could comment or grow restive, she pressed a careful kiss along his spine, teasing her fingertips over the sensitive skin of his flank as she completed her turn.

“Yer dress is wet as weel, Sassenach. I wouldna wish ye tae fall ill.” His voice, deep normally, was positively cavernous, pulling her pulse deep into her belly.

She spun away and lifted her hair from her neck, presenting the zipper. After a moment’s pause, Jamie’s fingers fluttered across her nape.

“What do I do?” he asked in an entirely different tone. Gone was his brash confidence, and she reminded herself anew that he was only twenty-two, five years her junior, and came from a world unaffected by modern notions of love or sex. Not wanting to embarrass him by calling attention to his inexperience, real or perceived, she determined that if Jamie was in want of guidance, he’d ask. As he had just done.

“You pull downwards on the little tab. It’s called a zipper,” she whispered back. A metallic tearing noise, and her dress loosened. Moist breath blew against the tiny hairs of her back, causing them to rise in greeting.

“Verra practical wee fastening, Sassenach,” he muttered as the garment cleaved in two, held up by the precarious slopes of her shoulders.

She turned back to him, and the sparks in his eyes rivalled those in the hearth, hot as ingots with a pulsing blue glow. A ratchety breath stuttered from her lungs.

“Ye dinna have tae do this, mo bhean ghaoil. Imma verra patient man. I’ve already bided twa hundred years just tae meet ye.”

Her lips twitched at his beautiful, though not entirely accurate gallantry.

“Mo bhean ghaoil?” she asked as she let first one, then the other shoulder dip. Her dress fell easily to the floor.

“My beautiful wife.” The words withered away to air as the vision of her body unfolded before him. Undulating ribbons of amber and shadow caressed the ivory of her skin, broken by the pale satin of her long line bra and maternity girdle.

“That’s where ye’ve been hiding yer corset,” Jamie muttered, half to himself. They were both drawing hungry lungfuls of breath, the space between them fraught with an oncoming storm.

Very slowly, as though certain she would startle and flee, he raised an outstretched hand until it met her breastbone with the pressure of a feather. She could feel the tremors that shook within him as he dragged each fingertip downward until they gathered in the warm valley between her breasts. The air in the room suddenly felt thick, too heavy to breathe.

Just as it seemed Jamie’s hand was about to venture below the edge of her undergarments, a memory assaulted her addled senses. Jamie, unknown to her as anything other than a mysterious and gravely injured patient, lay sleeping on his side in her room at Lallybroch. He was still fevered, and she had lowered the sheet to his waist, allowing night air to caress his wounded back. The firelight caught the powerful lines of his shoulder and pectorals, lighting each russet hair that bisected his torso so that he glowed like a lazy sunrise. She had been flooded by a sudden desire to know where that trail of hair led.

“It’s my turn,” she asserted, reaching for the belt holding up his trousers.

The buckle clattered to the floor without heed as Jamie pulled her roughly upwards into his descending mouth. It was a kiss without introduction or politeness, a tactical assault on her senses launched through the breach of his open mouth. It bore no relation to the few chaste kisses they had thus far shared as man and wife. She had evidently pushed him past the breaking point of his ingrained courteous behaviour.

They parted, stunned speechless, wet mouths agape. He angrily pushed his trousers past his hips and the two collapsed onto the high mattress in an inelegant flop, limbs battling and grasping anywhere for purchase. Her legs fell open instinctively to cradle the long, muscular arc of his body. A cool button nudged her inner thigh. Calloused hands pushed desperately on the unyielding structure of her girdle. A coarse abrasion between her legs. Heat. And then an urgent plunge, both familiar and foreign.

His forehead was pushed into the pillow above her shoulder. Untutored, laboured grunts echoed in her ears.

“Jamie,” she gasped. “Jamie, you’re crushing me.”

He rose immediately onto his elbows, relieving the grinding pressure on her chest, but seemed unable to halt the tidal surge of his body into hers. In a moment, it was moot. He froze, letting loose a shuddering moan that scaled his spine one vertebra at a time. Collapsing sideways onto his back, his face was a portrait of mute astonishment.

She lay beside him, staring at the beamed ceiling, and tried to gather her thoughts. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t invited this very thing. And while the… encounter had been ephemerally brief, she could not deny that she’d enjoyed it. Enjoyed being the recipient of so much passion, no matter how short-lived.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jamie’s ring finger bouncing, tapping a morse code of disquiet against his chest. Awkwardness was a palpable third presence in the bed between them. She wanted to say something to ease his nerves, but words floated away as she tried to wrangle them into coherent sentences.

“Claire, I… please tell me I didna hurt ye. Ye or the bairn.”

His quiet anguish snapped the cord that had been holding her tongue still in her mouth.

“No. Jamie, of course not. I would have said something, if you had.”

“I didna ken it would be sae… fierce,” he confessed.

That certainly answered her earlier question about his prior experience. She couldn’t help feeling a flutter of… something… deep in her belly at the thought.

“It can be. But my body is designed to protect the baby. It will probably become more awkward, as I grow larger. I’ll tell you, if anything doesn’t feel…nice.”

Jamie rose on an elbow, peering down at her. His face was now alight with novice curiosity.

“Ye liked it then? Men gossip about these things, ye ken, and I had heard that most women dinna like it.”

It was too late, and her nerves were too taxed to launch into a conversation about female sexual pleasure and a man’s role in assuring it. She hazarded it was a better lesson to learn by example, in any event. But she didn’t want him to go to sleep disappointed in himself.

Instead she told him the truth.

“I did like it, Jamie. Very much. I’m tired now, but perhaps in the morning…?”

He grinned like a Cheshire cat. Shucking his trousers carelessly, he splayed naked across the bed with his hands tucked behind his head, looking for all the world like a piece of toppled Grecian statuary. It suddenly hurt to breath. The simmering warmth low in her belly threatened to burst into flame, but she was truly exhausted. What she needed most was sleep.

Turning modestly aside, she unhooked her bra and unzipped her girdle before quickly donning a white nightdress. She could feel Jamie’s eyes run over the bared skin of her back.

“Cuir stad air do cheann, Sassenach,” he said softly as she once again settled beside him.

He lay behind her, fingers trailing through her hair and down her arms like spider webs. She fell asleep to his quiet Gaelic mutterings, a lilting lullaby.

an duine agam - my husband

feasgar math - good afternoon

mo bhean - my wife

mo bhean ghaoil - my beautiful wife

Cuir stad air do cheann - Rest your head

#outlander #my writing

53 notes · View notes

holly-mckenzie · 4 years

Note

1, 2 and 6 for skammaker? <3

Oh my gosh! I started answering this question than accidentally closed my tab...😭 this is why you don’t have a billion tabs open friends and foes ... Okay, to start, I want to say. That I haven’t really thought about the SKAM remakes beyond this post, and I honestly wasn’t expecting an ask. So, yes, I will be making up stuff as I go along, and yes, I will be taking criticism!

1. What country + Language is your SKAM set in?

The countries that I would love to see SKAM remakes in are, but not subjected to. Brasil, Russia, somewhere in the UK (not England, they had Skins), India, the Philippines, Malaysia, and New Zealand. The language would be the national language of the country except for the Malaysian, Indian, and Kiwi remake because than the language would reflect the ethnicity or state the main of the season is from.

2. What is it called? (is it SKAM (insert place), a different word (wtfock, druck) or something else?)

I actually don’t know enough about the cultures/slang of the countries to be able to create a cool/unique name, so most of them would probably just be Skam + The Country. The exception being Brazil and Malaysia. SKAM Brasil = Mó Bafão SKAM Malaysia = Geram Skam NZ = Sweet As

6. Introduce us to your version of Eva?

Okay, I really wish you hadn’t asked for Eva, because I hadn’t thought this far... thus I will be making up stuff as I go along! So, I will only be answering about certain countries... lol.

SKAM India - Anjali

The season starts with Anjali, a native of Kerala who now lives in Bangalore (yes, I was inspired by Bangalore Days) moving in with her Aunt’s family in order to get a new start. Determined to not bring that much attention to herself or her family (again), Anjali just wants to keep her head down. However, when her cousin insists that Anjali make new friends instead of constantly moping about and following him around, Anjali reluctantly agrees to try. When her family throws a huge function (maybe due to a religious holiday or a wedding?) Anjali bumps into the part of the past that she has been trying to hide from. This is where she also meets one of her extended, crazy extended, family’s friend, the beautiful and independent Nana (my version on Noora). Nana’s family is originally from Nagaland, though they have been staying overseas and have just moved to Bangalore, where she will be attending school with Anjali. Anjali is delighted to find herself a friend in Nana and the Girl Gang. However, Anjali is constantly on edge due to the familial pressure that she is receiving (to not bring shame upon the family again) as well as the paranoia that her new friends may find about the incident from her old school and judge her.

Anjali is the second daughter in her family, and so she constantly put in her position where she “needs” to sacrifice her own desires for her family. Before the incident at school, she was a happy-go-lucky, super kind, as well as musically talented. At one point, she used to post videos of herself singing and playing the guitar on YouTube, but it seemed she stopped doing that completely. Anjali’s family is Catholic, though it becomes evident as the season unfolds that Anjali feels some form of resignation about the church and religion, as well as feeling like she is not good enough... It also becomes evident that Anjali feels some form of aversion to her older brother, who her parents praise to no end. As the season unfolds we see how these familial pressures come to head in Anjali’s life and how she deals with them.

* tw for the season : familial pressure + slut-shaming ** additional notes: Anjali is probably attending an all-girls school, where she will meet the girl gang. The “shame” of the season will deal with the fact that Anjali had a secret bf when she lived at home who she had s*x with. However, when her parents and community find out they all have opinions (especially the church), which Anjali thinks is unfair because her bf and also her brother (who also had a gf) are not shamed for their actions. This is why parents send her to live with her aunt’s family.

Geram - Alicia Tan

Alicia Tan is a Chinese-Malaysian girl who is starting school at a new school (due to the fact that things got messy at her old school). As she starts her new school year, Alicia feels lost, very lost. Her parents are never around, and when they are, they criticise her, expect scholastic excellence from her and compare her to her cousins. This doesn’t help Alicia as she tries to transition to attending the all-girls convent school her parents have sent her too with hopes that it will bring a positive change in her life (especially after what happened at her old school). However, Alicia just feels lost, in part, due to the disconnect she feels with her fellow peers for being so white-washed. All Alicia wants to do is keep her head down, listen to her favourite K-Pop artists, and sketch.

However, when her grandma encourages her to make new friends and her parents sign her up for tuition in order to help with her failing grades, Alicia meets a group of girls that actually seem really cool, ones that she can trust. On a whim, Alicia stalks the strange and alluring Nor, the new Malay girl who’s back from living in NZ, and the girls click. This ends with Alicia joining the girls as they join a school club (the drama club?), much to the chagrin of her parents, who want her to stay focused on her school work. Alicia just wants to forget about her past and move on, however, her past keeps on coming back to haunt her and she wonders if things will ever go back to normal.

* tw for the season : mental illness + suicide attempt mention ** additional notes : the “shame” depicted in this season is pressure brought on from her family (to be the perfect daughter) + the fact that she is mentally ill and there was an incident at her previous school. Her parents don’t want that to get out, and blame Alicia’s ex-friend for being a “bad influence”, and Alicia lets them (this is my version of the whole cheating thing).

Mó Bafão - Marie Vitória Silva

The season starts with Marie Vitória Silva entering a new school year in São Paulo, Brazil. Originally from the city of Cuiabá, Marie moved to São Paulo around the age of twelve. Much like Eva, Marie’s parents are divorced and she lives with her mom. Marie feels a lot of pressure from her extended family about the way she dresses, her weight, her hair, her skin etc. She is very self-conscious, which is totally amplified by the fact that her boyfriend (who she spent the “best summer of her life with”) sometimes belittles her. Said boyfriend insists that Marie should go to a party and “have fun”, which Marie does only to feel incredibly self-conscious by the appearance of her ex-friends. However, Marie also meets Grace Lee, the new Coreano-Brasileira (Korean-Brasilian) international transfer student. Marie eventually finds herself befriending a new group of misfit girls, due to the fact that they end up working on a group project together.

Marie Vitória Silva is a young Brasilian girl who doesn’t necessarily fit into Brazils mould of a beautiful young woman. Marie is more on the thick side, with curly hair that she can’t seem to control (unless it's straightened), She is not doing that great at school, and is constantly compared by her family to her more successful cousins. Marie Vitória Silva enjoys watching movies and TV shows and is a pretty important voice within certain Brasilian fandoms. She spends a lot of her time on the internet creating content for said fandoms and prefers that to party and whatnot. However, as the season goes on Marie Vitória Silva starts to come to terms with herself and the things that she enjoys, including finding peace with herself as the way that she is.

* tw for the season : slut shaming + fat shaming ** additional notes : the “shame” depicted in this season is pressure brought on by Brasilian society to look and behave a certain way. Marie feels the pressure to constantly look beautiful and constantly party. Much like the original SKAM series, it will involve the tension between Ingrid and Marie. However, this tension is exemplified by the fact that during her previous year of school, Mó Bafão!Ingrid would pressure Marie Vitória Silva to drink, party, and find a boyfriend, instead of staying home all the time. This led, Marie to go out and party which would eventually lead to the infamous kiss, and Marie being labelled a slut. However, one of the things that the season will touch on is Marie’s introversion and also the fact that she is asexual.

BONUS:

SKAM TURKÏYE : Eda

(Me? Being inspired by the dizis I’m watching? More likely than you think!)

Eda is a young Turkish woman, who’s family is German - Turkish, but decided to move back to Istanbul when she was younger. (This has nothing to do with the fact that I am a complete ho for Serkan Çayoglu, this is straight-up coincidence, don’t @ me). She’s starting a new school year, after spending the best summer of her life with her boyfriend, Can (my version of Jonas). However, Eda feels ostracised at her new school due to the whole Jonas/Ingrid thing. Eda is a total nerd and really loves watching Dizis, which Can totally give her shit for because they are apparently “so dramatic” and “so long”. However, Eda is a total romantic at heart and doesn’t really care. She has difficulty at school due to her dyslexia, which has caused her to be the butt of numerous jokes in her family and accounts for why she isn’t doing great academically. Her parents are together, though they constantly fight, which causes Eda to feel uncomfortable in her own house, accounting for why she spent so much of her summer at Can’s house. The shame that is dealt in this season is about still more or less about slut-shaming, and the isolation that Eda feels before and even when she joins the girl gang. It also has huge and insanely important themes of girls supporting girls. * tw for the season : slut shaming

#skam #skam malaysia #skam brasil #skam bangalore #mywritings #ask me about my version of the noora characters guys #or the sana characters I have a lot to say #asks #bi-amira-naybet

7 notes · View notes

tonystarkbingo · 4 years

Text

Tony Stark Bingo Party Prompt Meme

http://generatorland.com/usergenerator.aspx?id=25057 -- we took tags from this random generator and then made up more detailed prompts from them. These prompts are open use, even if you’re not participating in the bingo, but please tag us if you write one, we’d LOVE to see what you did with it! nonsense + everyone is gay + denial : Tony+harem - Tony, while an incorrigible flirt, does not believe that anyone actually likes him, let alone as many as do. They come up with increasingly ridiculous ideas to ask him out or at least let him know they like him, while he innocently thinks they're all just such awesome friends superpowers + bodice-ripper + sad Stuckony - something set in the Regency(ish) era but with secret superpowers as an added bonus. Let’s of angst over trying to hide their secret powers, and wanting to save people without revealing themselves and also cause they’re gay. clones + nighttime + wishes Coulson/Strange (StrangeAgent? AgentStrange? DrAgent?) - Coulson ends up spending the night in the NY Sanctum. Some of the artifacts happen to be particularly sensitive to subconscious fantasies... and isn't it lucky that cloning himself happens to be one of Strange's powers? cruising + flashbacks + bad boys Winteriron possible future Stuckony - small warning for drinking mention - Tony is driving around to distract himself so he doesn't get drunk. He gets in an accident because he is not actually in a state to drive. The accident is comparatively harmless, the flashback to his convoy being attacked in Afghanistan is less so. When Tony wakes up in the hospital he learns that the person who dragged him from his car to safety is one James "Bucky" Barnes, resident motorbike riding bad boy heartthrob and friend/visitor of Steve "regular ER customer" Rogers, who's his hospital roommate. room service + lifeguards + sharing Tony is a lifeguard who takes his job very seriously. He's attending a convention-slash-training seminar at a posh uptown hotel, but then there's a knock at the door. He opens it to find two room service carts, both with order slips on them that indicate they're actually destined for another room. Rather than call the obviously harried and beleaguered bellboy back, he pushes them down the hall himself and knocks on the door... which is answered by none other than the hot beefcake fellow-lifeguard that's been distracting Tony all day. They end up sharing the enormous amount of food... and then maybe some more. :wink: overthinking + pity sex + customer service Tony just turned 40, he's been friends with Bucky and Nat for forever, and they'd been each other's marriage backups for the longest time, like, if they weren't married at 40, they'd marry whoever wasn't married either in their little trio. Only, two years prior, Buckynat became husband and wife and so he's having a little pity party on his floor at the Tower, drinking virgin mojitos and seriously consider a particular customer service to cheer himself up in one way or another - might as well get an orgasm, as shitty and sad as it may be, it's his birthday ffs - but then Bucky and Nat appear in his elevator, and they pull him off the couch he's been sprawled on for three hours, and Nat is the first to kiss him, and he's too stunned to react much but when he does question wtf is happening, Bucky shushes him and Tony lets him. The next morning he is evidently convinced it was all just pity sex, or a kink of theirs or whatever.... certainly nothing to do with the fact that they've been courting him forever and got tired of waiting for him to step out of ObliviousStarklandia. Of course not. wolves + romantic friendship + wigs Okay, so, someone has been doing an excellent job of hiding his baldness from someone else, with whom he's been in a long term best-friends-but-in-love not-quite-relationship. He's got an elaborate series of wigs, and over the years he's gradually been replacing them with slightly more grey ones so that someone else doesn't realise. Aaaand then someone gets bitten by a werewolf, and when he shifts for the first time he is completely bald and the secret is out. accidental relationship + butt dialing + warlocks Tony Stark is not happy with today's mission, not like there's an occasion to enjoy dealing with magic. But now he's in a relationship with Bucky, which is not bad, that man is gorgeous, but this is not the way. He's ranting about it to Jarvis and doesn't realize that he sat on his phone nor that he dialed the other supersoldier in the team until he hears a muffled laugh beneath him. He's going to kill that warlock smuggling + fear + road-trip okay, a Star Wars AU. Farmboy Peter is fleeing from stormtroopers who found out his parents were Jedi. He runs into smuggler Tony and they take off in Tony's ship for an extended road trip in space. possession + loving marriage + gardens & gardening Pepperony, Morgan insists there's a spirit possessing the garden because she's seen the plants dancing. Turns out they've accidentally created sentient plants and Tony is like nope, call somebody else, I do mechanical engineering and they call Dr. Cho to fix it. The marriage is in there somewhere I promise idiots in love + bonding + resurrection Ironhawk - Clint tries to get Lucky back after he goes over the rainbow bridge, but he can’t actually read latin and ends up bringing back Tony from the 18th century. And poor Tony gets Clint as his guide to the 21st. Shenanigans and eventual fluffy ending improv + cultural appropriation + shield maidens After the Battle of New York, Tony's interviewing Thor about Asguardian tech and learns that they have all kinds of shielding devices, and gets interested in trying to replicate what Thor describes just in case aliens decide to pay a call on Earth again. Thor, for his part, is kinda shocked that Earth doesn't have any such shields, though on the other hand it is Midguard, so. You know. Tony gives it a shot and a couple weeks later he's launching the satellites into orbit for a preliminary test of the shields. He intends to test them with SI tech developed from seized Chitauri tech, but before he can get the chance an alien army shows up, guns blazing and very mad about something. The shields hold, thankfully, and the aliens send a strongly worded letter informing him that he has infringed upon their religious and cultural traditions by putting the Stark logo on them. Their planet was visited centuries ago by time-travelers that greatly influenced their culture, religion, government, etc. These time travelers carried devices with that same Stark Logo on them. The Stark Logo has become a complex cultural symbol over the centuries, and they don't appreciate him using it on war tech, even if on shields. Eventually, they figure out that the time travelers' tech was Tony's tech, and agree to leave in peace, but only after Tony spends a terrifying couple of days trying to improvise his way through a diplomatic disaster with an alien power. vampire family + slapstick + loss WinterIronWidow: So, Natasha's been a vampire for a long time, and she's lonely, so she decides to take on some mates, enter established relationship WinterIron. She vampirises them, which leads to Tony having fits about GARLIC and my god, I'm ITALIAN, you horrible woman! And Bucky's like "I'm... CATHOLIC?? OM-- I can't even say G-- now??" awkwardness + chatting & messaging + shyness Tony doesn't understand why everytime Bucky comes into the lab, Dum-E tends to drop whatever he's holding and go hide in his charging station. Dum-E's always a bit clumsy and silly but this is more than usual and Tony's worried that Dum-E doesn't like Bucky or something like that. Anyway after much discussion, with JARVIS as translator and go-between, it turns out that Dum-E has developed a bit of a crush on Bucky's fancy robotic arm. Which ends up of course being a hilarious & awkward situation for all involved. candles + explosions + blind date tony gets bullied by pepper to go on a blind date to get out of his funk, she insists that this Matt Murdock character is the perfect date and Tony will like him. reluctantly tony goes to fancy restaurant and meets Matt Murdock and they hit it off instantly the little snarky assholes. they have a nice dinner by candle light and it's all going so well up until dessert when they order some kind of chocolate lava cake which was tragically not cooked properly and ends up exploding on both of them and bam they fall in love and live happily ever after skeleton puns + reincarnation + deus ex machina A snap, that was all it took to snuff out something so bright amidst the rubble of what was once New York City, and, with Tony gone for good, the living seem rather, well…dead. Until, one day, someone they all thought long dead returned to them, a blue cube glowing in his grip and a sweet promise of a new beginning dripping from his lips. But of course, no new beginning comes without a price laundry + tenderness + dialogue “I hate laundry,” Morgan declared after trying to refold her sweatshirt for the seventh time. “Me too kiddo,” Tony whispered back, sneaking a glance over his shoulder to Pepper who was putting clothes into the wash. “But that’s why we do it together. It gets done and we don't have to do it alone.” world domination + paranoia + everything hurts Tony knew what was coming, he knew. He’d seen the future and he knew. The Kree were coming - why would no one believe him? Not his husband, not the team, not even his own son. He kept convincing them they had to suit up and defend the planet and Steve and Peter kept telling him that a engineering professor from Cal Tech can’t do that, that this suit he talks about is only in his delusions. But he’s not paranoid. Or crazy. Or any of those other words. He is Iron Man. He just has to convince everyone else. feels + useless lesbians + Santa's workshop Toni doesn’t think anyone could accuse her of overflowing with Christmas spirit. That hasn’t stopped the rest of the Avengers from turning the “festive cheer” dial up to eleven, and Toni thinks she might just have to spend the whole next month hiding in her workshop. (Hey, she let DUM-E wear a Santa hat – that has to count for something.) Too bad Jamie Barnes – cyborg superassassin extraordinaire, Captain America’s best friend, and Toni’s big gay crush – has gotten the exact same idea. Now the rest of the team thinks they’ve got a “thing,” and Toni can’t decide which is worse: putting up with the Avengers’ not-so-subtle attempts at matchmaking, or spending all her time with the woman she loves and who she is absolutely, 100%, totally certain doesn’t reciprocate. Getting through this holiday season without having her heart broken might just take… a Christmas miracle. shapeshifting + secret organizations + nurses “C. Barton - Orderly.” That’s what his tag said. But only a very few people knew exactly what kind of hospital Saint Natalis actually was, and just how busy they could be during the full moon. kissing games + pirates + book stores Tony always thought that the shop had a mind of its own. The books were one thing, whispering their secrets to patrons who managed to find their way to it. Jarvis always did warn him not to touch any of the artifacts. The "DO NOT TOUCH" signs plastered all over the crates. So maybe it was his fault that he managed to summon 'Buccaneer Barnes' after touching the shiny pirate sword. "Let's play a game. If you win, I'll help you put all those runaway monsters that jumped out of the books. If I win, you owe me a kiss. Whatdaya say Stark?"

#TonyStarkBingo2020 #prompt meme #party games

16 notes · View notes

kuriquinn · 5 years

Text

love at first sight isn’t just a cheesy song [one-shot]

General Disclaimer

Rating: PG 13

Author’s Note: I wanted to do something different for “festival”. And since my hometown hosts a huge variety of festivals, I was inspired...also, some of this comes from my own memories at Warped Tour and Osheaga...

Not edited at the moment. I’m thinking I’ll probably edit all of these when I finish the prompts…

⁂ ⁂ ⁂ ⁂ ⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Sasuke does not do people. He doesn’t do loud, or hot either.

Which is why he’s trying to figure out just how his best friend not only convinced him to come with him to a music festival in the middle of the summer. He’s pretty sure there was a “you owe me a favour, remember” and a choice between filling in for Naruto babysitting Kakashi’s demon brood, or this.

In which case, a hellish pit of sweat, marijuana and burning sun is getting off easy.

Still. He’s not happy about it.

And he’s already informed Naruto that as soon as they’ve seen the group he’s here to see, they’re leaving.

“Whatever, I’m only here to see Hinata anyway,” his best friend dismisses, cheeks red and grin wide and Sasuke really just wants to punch him. He’s missing a Star Wars marathon for this…this travesty, where people walk around with way too much eyeliner and—

Does that guy have empty beer cans speared on the points of his mohawk?

But apparently, Naruto’s girlfriend is in a band—and he’s still not sure what he’s having more trouble comprehending, that Naruto of all people is dating or that Hinata is in a band. Because the Hyuga girl is the shiest person Sasuke has ever met in his life and coming from someone as quiet as him and his brother, that says something. The idea of her being up on a stage in front of people just…doesn’t compute.

He has known Naruto and Hinata since they were toddlers, as all their parents were friends from high school (private Catholic school tends to forge two kinds of bonds—either Band of Brothers or Slaughter High, and he’s not entirely sure what his and Naruto’s will be), and Hinata has never been the type for public performances.

“There’s a new girl in her class this year that really brought her out of her shell,” Naruto had explained it. “We can hang around later and meet her, too.”

“No,” Sasuke retorted instantly. “I’m here for one reason only. To pay back that favour, and that involves seeing Hinata’s stupid band play and that’s it. Then we’re going home.”

“Whatever, asshole.”

They head over to the stage where some indie band no one has ever heard of slated to be playing; Hinata’s band is apparently opening not for them, but for their opening act. Which suggests how unknown the group is.

Somehow, Naruto manages to drag them to the absolute front of the crowd, just as the band is coming onstage. There are catcalls and a few cheers—okay, so maybe they already have a bit of a following—as they get settled in with their instruments.

The first thing noticeable about them is they’re all dressed in their school uniforms, all pleated kilts and crisp oxford shirts that are already soaked with sweat from the hot day. There are a few changes that Sasuke knows they’d be getting demerits for if they were at school—ties loose over their shirts, combat boots, studded bracelets, shirts untucked, that sort of thing. There’s a dark haired girl with her hair in two buns arranging herself and her guitar in front of a microphone, while a sharp-faced blond performs final tuning check on her bass. He distantly recognises Ino Yamanaka settling in behind the keyboard, but only because they were in primary school together years ago and her hair is as ridiculously long as it always was.

And there’s Hinata—shuffling quickly and determinedly to the back of the stage where she’s practically hidden by the drumkit.

“Well, that makes more sense,” he mutters, though it’s lost in Naruto’s fervent shout of, “Yeah! You got it, babe!”

Idiot…

Sasuke rolls his eyes, already mentally counting down to the blessed freedom of getting out of this place, which is the point when the final member of the band makes an appearance, and suddenly—

Suddenly he’s having a hard time breathing.

He doubts it’s his asthma since it’s not the familiar fiery burn through his windpipes. It’s more like…he forgets how.

The most noticeable thing about her right away is the vibrant pink hair, short and spikey; the next is her eyes. They’re so green that he can still see them somehow even from where he’s standing. She has a more athletic build than her bandmates, and the pale thighs beneath her short skirt are so muscular Sasuke has to swallow a few times.

She isn’t graceful, though, stumbling across the stage and nearly tripping over the cord for her guitar. Normally he’d scoff at that, but for some reason, something in him finds it…endearing?

There are guffaws from the audience, but when she reaches her microphone she simply flashes them a cheerful, sheepish smile.

“Sorry. Gravity isn’t my friend today,” she says lightly, earning warmer laughter now; with her, not at her. Her voice is soft and filled with humour in a way that doesn’t really fit with the screaming vocals Sasuke’s ears have been assaulted by since showing up here today. “Thanks for coming out today, guys. I know it’s really freaking hot out. If we had a hose, we’d totally use it on you guys today.” Cheers. “Anyway, some of you know us, hopefully, a few of you don’t so we can make a good impression. We’re Bacchikoi Baby and we’ve got you for the next fifteen minutes, so let’s get this thing going!”

Instantly, the music starts up, harsh chords and insistent drumline and an underlying rhythm that is familiar only in the way that most alternative music all sounds the same to him. But then she opens her mouth to sing and Sasuke feels as if someone just stuck a livewire into his spine.

Her voice is low and smooth and changeable, going from smooth molasses to raw, shouting with barely any break. Something in the curl of her words on her tongue, the way sound moves from a hum at the back of her throat into something articulated makes him shiver. He doesn’t know anything about the technicalities of music or singing or voice training, but even he can tell instantly that she’s the talent of this group.

The other instruments are almost token, although he spares a distant thought to Hinata not being bad at the drums (apparently she’s in some kind of zone there), and the setlist itself is nothing special. Pretty much the same as any other angry girl band he’s caught on the radio.

But he try as he might, he can’t block out the singer.

Their first number is a catchy number that has the audience jumping and swaying to the underlying rhythm, and a harsh, angry protest chant that most of them sing along to, and then a slower but no-less commanding power ballad.

The last song is even slower, some kind of medley of Zeppelin’s Gallow’s Pole and another song he’s never heard of but which Naruto tells him is called The Hanging Tree.

“Apparently it’s from a movie,” he says with a shrug (Sasuke can’t actually hear him, but he’s pretty good at reading lips).

The thing starts off almost a cappella, before the dark-haired girl chimes in with the rhythm guitar, and Ino adds a mournful keyboard melody that even Sasuke can’t help his body swaying to. The lead singer’s voice is a haunting monotone almost, which gradually builds and fills with emotion, and then three-quarters of the way through, the song reaches a break, and all the instruments kick in. It’s a near explosion of sound, tempered by the raw emotion in her voice and—

And that’s when their eyes meet.

Sasuke’s mouth goes dry, and her eyes go wide, but she keeps singing—“If we met at midnight, a smile upon your face”—and he has the simultaneously ridiculous and hopeful feeling that she’s singing to him and it’s the kind of thing he’d normally find irritating, but—

His chest feels buoyant like he could punch a comet out of the sky if the opportunity should present itself.

What the hell is happening to me?

Afterward, Sasuke vaguely recalls following Naruto from the crowd once the actual opening act comes out; neither really care to watch them. There are a few people who leave with them.

Sasuke’s brain is flummoxed, trying to understand how another human being could have had such a strange effect on him. She was in front of him for all of fifteen minutes, and he doesn’t even know her name. But he knows her voice somehow harmonizes with the rush of his blood through his veins and heartfelt keening makes a lump of emotion appear at the back of his throat.

If I were anyone else, I’d think this was…but that’s not possible…that sort of thing only happens in the movies…

“I texted Hinata to tell her how awesome they were,” his friend says once they get out of the most densely packed crowd, fingers still flying on his smartphone. “I know you want to get out of here, so I’ll just go see her later.”

Sasuke shifts, not looking at him, and mumbles. “Whatever. Let’s just go see the band.”

Naruto looks surprised, but he’s also not about to look a gift-horse in the mouth. “Alright…”

“And then your favour is paid off,” Sasuke adds if only to keep the other teen from digging deeper.

They head for the side of the stage, where a table has been set up to sell merchandise; a dozen or two audience members are shelling out wads of cash for t-shirts and CDs, but he and Naruto bypass that and head for the back where the girls are downing huge bottles of water. They’re all pink-skinned with sunburn and exertion, clothes sticking to their bodies, but that doesn’t stop Naruto from vaulting forward and kissing his girlfriend.

He bubbles about how amazing her drum solo was, and he knew she had talent, but whoa, and the other bandmates watch, bemused.

Except for her. She’s looking at Sasuke, colours spreading across the bridge of her nose and she has freckles on her nose why is that appealing.

He clears his throat, wanting to say something casual, a less effervescent praise than his idiot best friend, but what comes out is—

“You’re really short.”

On stage, she seemed like a six-foot-tall Amazon, but she doesn’t need to know that. He sort of wants to punch himself in the face, because really?

But she only blinks and then laughs, and it sounds like music. How can laughter sound like music?

“Maybe you’re just unfairly tall,” she suggests, eyes dancing. “I’m Sakura.”

“Sasuke.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Sasuke-kun.”

And girls have been calling him that with irritating familiarity his entire life, but somehow when she says it, his chest warms.

He thinks he goes temporarily deaf for a minute because all other sound in the world goes away or collects around her, and he imagines that for an instant they exist only in a world belonging to the two of them.

Even stranger, she seems to be just as aware of it as he is, because her gaze softens at him as if to say, me too.

Out loud, however, she says, “We were going to go get something to eat and go see some of the other bands.” She glances over at Naruto as he hangs an arm over Hinata’s shoulder. “Did you guys want to come with?”

“Nah, Sasuke doesn’t really like all this stuff,” Naruto answers. “I’m surprised his brain hasn’t spontaneously combusted because of all the people breathing his air.”

Sasuke’s cheeks warm as he glares at his friend.

“It’s fine,” he insists, trying to telepathically promise death and dismemberment if Naruto doesn’t shut the hell up. He flicks his eyes to Sakura, whose head is tilted to one side as if to study him. “I think I saw a food truck at the other end of the venue.”

He points vaguely in that direction.

A beat, and then her entire face lights up with a smile of utter joy.

“Sounds great!” she declares, and before he can really register, she has her hand clasped around his and is pulling him off in the direction he pointed. “Come on! And you can introduce yourself properly on the way!”

And he normally doesn’t like physical contact with people, and it’s really far too hot to be holding hands, especially with a girl he’s only just met. But her fingers fit too well in his, and her grip is strong and comforting, and he just lets her pull him along.

That’s when the utterly absurd thought strikes him that he would follow this girl anywhere.

栗

#sasusaku #ssm19 #ssm19day5 #ssm19d5 #prompt: festival #kuriquinn #one-shot #sakura haruno #sasuke #band au #love at first sight #background naruhina #tenten and temari and ino are around too

133 notes · View notes

tipsycad147 · 4 years

Text

Psychic Curses and Spells that Work

Article about removing curses by Craig Hamilton-Parker.

Since earliest times, people have used ritual and magic to influence the world. The bison drawings from the prehistoric Altamira cave paintings in Spain, dating from 15,000 BC, may have been used in ritual magic to make sure a successful hunt. The principle is that similar things create similar effects–like produces like, or an effect resembles its cause. For example, in black magic, a human being could be cursed to death by spearing a skull with a metal point bearing the name of the intended victim.

This imitation of effects to influence events is called sympathetic magic. Magic also holds that things that have once been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance after the physical contact has been severed. Many magic love spells, for example, require that the magician procure samples of the intended’s hair or fingernails to be used in the ritual or potion. The former principle is called the Law of Similarity, while the latter is the Law of Contagion or Contact.

Burning Effigies

I am writing this particular chapter on November 5, when we in the UK celebrate the ending of the first terrorist attack. Guy Fawkes was a co-conspirator in the “Gunpowder Plot” of 1605 in England. He and his cohorts decided to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London and succeeded in smuggling several barrels of gunpowder into the basement. The plot was thwarted and to this day we celebrate the occasion by setting off fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes.

This is, in fact, a form of sympathetic magic. Burning an effigy helps people to vent their hatred for their enemies in public, but the magician’s “law of similarity” also believes that burning the effigy will bring harm to the person whose image is being burnt. (A few years ago, my sister insisted that we burn an effigy of her ex-partner in place of the “Guy”)

The ritual of effigy-burning has been found in many ancient cultures including that of India, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The Ojibway of the American West would fashion little wooden images of an enemy and burn them while chanting magic spells. Called “the burning of the soul,” this ritual was believed to bring about the enemy’s death.

Then, of course, we have all heard of the voodoo doll, into which pins would be inserted to cause an enemy harm. Voodoo is still largely practised in Haiti; while in New Orleans, rooted in its large slave population mixed with Catholicism, you will find altars set up to protect against hoodoo magic (like voodoo a primarily healing-based practice based on sympathetic magic).

Sympathetic Magic

Sympathetic magic is still with us today in our superstitions and beliefs. How often do we see the American flag or effigies of Uncle Sam being burnt in protests? Burning an effigy is pure sympathetic magic: just as the image suffers, so does the man or nation.

“Holy Trinity, punish him who has done this evil and take him from us by thy great justice, that the sorcerer/sorceress may be anathema and we may be safe. Amen.” Popular Hoodoo Spell to remove a curse (To be spoken while throwing angelica in a southern direction)

Sympathetic magic is not necessarily evil in its intent. For example, voodoo (or more properly “Vodu”) is a religion that is characterised by ceremony, music, dance, and sacrifice, through which participants commune with their ancestors in trance and possession. It has a pantheon of spirits, called ‘Iwa’ that protect areas of life including love, family health, and wealth. Similarly, throughout Europe and America, there is a growing interest in the old religion of Paganism which is trying to cast off the negative witchcraft image given it by Christianity.

The truth is that many ancient magical beliefs may be used for good or ill. For example, returning to the effigy theme, puppet healing is the reverse of effigy burning. Instead of desiring to kill or injure the person whom the puppet represents, the practitioner wishes to help them. Healing given to the puppet is transmitted to the person represented.

Protective Spells

Protective healing spells are cast on the night of a full moon by voodoo sorcerers. In particular, they will make a Paket Kongo to summon the healing spirits. This is an onion-shaped, bright coloured, a cloth-bound package filled with herbs and the powdered flesh of a sacrificed rooster. It is tied around with string seven times and has large feathers sticking out of its top. Similarly, a Catholic may pray in Church with a rosary or a colour healer may “charge” water or a photograph with coloured light (Graphichromotherapy). Clearly, it is the intention of the practitioner that determines whether the results of magic are good or evil.

Voodoo and hoodoo have some interesting methods to protect the soul from harm. For example, if a person believes that they are under a psychic attack, there are a number of remedies that they can use to negate the harm. They may have a feeling that something “out there” is after them or that someone has bad intentions towards them. Similarly, they may feel that this energy has become an “entity” that is causing bad luck or illness. Wiccans generally believe that once you are aware of the curse or negative energy sent towards you, it no longer has power, where followers of voodoo and hoodoo believe that a curse, spell, or “crossing” can only be lifted using specific rituals and techniques.

The Psychology of Spell Casting

Naturally, psychology plays an important part in making a spell work. Just as we can talk ourselves into being ill, we can frighten ourselves into believing that bad luck and illness will befall us. If we believe we are unlucky, we may inevitably attract bad luck into our lives and curses may only succeed because the victim believes in their power.

Most people find out that they are jinxed through word of mouth or when a “friend” tells them that a spell has been put upon them. Let’s face it, people love to gossip and soon the belief in the jinx is reinforced by the community at large. Inevitably, as soon as something untoward happens to the victim, the jinx is to blame. They may lose their keys or a credit card and immediately they remember what the friend told them. And so the cycle of fear begins.

Worse still, a hideous token, gris-gris, amulet, or charm may be posted to them or hung on their door to warn them that magic has been cast. A hoodoo sorcerer may nail a gruesome chicken bone amulet on your front door and cover your steps in blood-red powder. In some countries, it is traditional to spit or blow powder in the victims face while speaking the words of the curse. This shock technique reinforces the power of the curse, taking the victim, as it does, off guard and naturally causes a severe upset.

Curses and a Jinx

REMOVING A CURSE | REMOVING A HEX |

“Protection comes to me this day . This crossed condition goes away. Returning negativity To the one who has crossed me.” –Hoodoo Candle Spell

There are as many ways to remove a curse or spell as there are ways to cast them, and these vary according to the cultural tradition. Remaining with the hoodoo theme, the belief is that curses should be “sent back” to the perpetrator. A popular way of doing this is to scatter Angelica in the direction of the curse, or to the South if the sorcerer is known. Similarly, Five Finger Grass (Cinquefoil) can be stuffed into a drained egg which is then sealed with wax. It is believed in New Orléans that a home with this magical egg in it will be free of jinx and curses.

Followers of hoodoo also like to take special herbal baths made with Dragon’s Blood, Five Finger Grass, Ginger, or Pine and Hyssop to protect them from sorcery. Herbs and special powders are also used by the secret “red sects” from Haiti to induce illness and fear in their victims. One pinch of these secret recipes is said to bring bad luck or illness. Similarly, this tradition holds that herbal baths may be used to combat an evil hex and also to bring luck in love and money.

Bath-time food offerings are made to the spirits of Ezili Freda (love) or Ibo Lele (money) and may include everything from popcorn to the blood of sacrificed animals. (I would try this technique myself, but am concerned that my wife would be a little alarmed to see chicken heads among the talc and soaps.)

REMOVING CURSES

Haitian voodoo has an armoury of amulets, totems, and tools to protect the soul. Malicious spirits are countered using an ason rattle made from a gourd and containing snake vertebrae. Music and dances are used to counterspells, and many of these ceremonies involve Catholic saints in the rituals. Most Haitian altars, in particular, include a mixture of both voodoo and Catholic imagery, with icons of saints placed next to tribal gods. Altars also include magical drawings of “verve” designs, which are made during ceremonies as an aid to draw the protective spirits from their divine homeland to the mortal world.

They look very similar to western protective talismans. But perhaps some of the odd tools of voodoo priests are dolls heads that they squash into bottles to ward off evil spirits and sequined bottles decorated with a skull motif of the Gede spirits (the guardians of the dead and masters of the libido). One strange protective totem, created by Franz Barra, featured a Barbie doll squeezed into a miniature, red-sequined coffin.

The Evil Eye

Voodoo and hoodoo are, of course, not alone in giving strange surreal remedies to protect the soul from curses and spells. Many believe that the soul can be harmed by a jealous stare or envious glance. The eyes are considered “the gateway to the soul” and, in many cultures, the “evil eye” is believed to harm the soul. It is one of the oldest and most culturally prevalent magical beliefs in the world.

The evil eye is believed to cause miscarriage, illness, business failure, marriage breakdown, bad luck, and a great many misfortunes. In addition, anyone, including those who have no special powers, can give the evil eye. Since it happens involuntarily, no one can be certain who or where the evil came from, making this one of the most feared of all magical powers.

People with different colored eyes or eyes set close together or deep in their head were often suspected of having the Evil Eye and were often persecuted as witches from the sixteenth to eighteenth century. In the 1930s, a man from New York earned his living by renting his evil eye to prize-fight managers. He would sit ringside and stare at opposing fighter.

Averting the Evil Eye

There are hundreds of ways to avert the Evil Eye. One of the most immediate techniques, and not recommended for dinner parties, is to spit three times in the eye of the onlooker. Another is to step aside, if someone is staring at you, so letting the negativity pass you by. The Italians wear special amulets of hands making sexually symbolic gestures for protection from the evil eye: called the mano fico (‘fig hand) or the mano corunto (horned hand).

In most cultures, the cure involves a complex series of rituals, which vary around the world. Water, oil, and melted wax often play a part, or the ritual may center on an eye-shaped and liquid-filled natural object such as an egg. Animals that were supposedly affected by the Evil Eye were burned, whereupon the person who had made the curse would suffer the same agony. Similarly, a clay manikin, or witch puppet, made in the likeness of the suspect person with the Evil Eye would be stuck with pins to lift the spell.

Naturally, I have always believed these things to be hocus-pocus; that is, until my Israeli friend brought us a present from his homeland. He knew we had had trouble with a neighbor so gave us an ornate hand in the “stop” gesture with an eye in the palm. “This will avert the evil eye of the bad woman,” he said. “It’s good. Hang it up in the front of your house and you will have no more trouble.” Within three months, the bad neighbor had moved.

Profits of the Prophets

“Praying is like a rocking chair–it’ll give you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere.” — GYPSY ROSE LEE (Rose Louise Hovick, American stripper)

Many claim that sympathetic magic is “mumbo jumbo,” that results can be explained away. This is no doubt true in some instances, but there are also times when such magic appears to have worked. Yes, belief alone may be enough to cure some people or fulfill a spell’s curse. But there are cases on record that contradict that scenario–where people appear to falter even though they are unaware a curse has been placed on them. Nonetheless, common sense is the primary ingredient in spiritual ventures, particularly in relation to magic and the healing arts.

Magic Snake Stone

Some people believe that snake bite calls for treatment by “magic snake stone,” which is, in reality, no more than benzine or a gallstone, having no effect on the venomous bite. Clearly, if a snake-bitten person were to rely on such magic in this instance, consequences could be fatal.

Sadly, charlatans still exist today to take advantage of those who are gullible and superstitious. Often this is the case with those who are upset about the break-up of a relationship: they will do, or pay, anything to get their partner back! A common scam is promising to change your luck by lifting a curse or a jinx or removing “negativity from your aura.”

Through my columns and website, I have received many letters from people frightened by threats of a curse that they are told can only be removed if they pay money. These “psychics” often target people who are already fearful, having met “bad luck” in their lives. The fraud psychic have good observational skills and is able to give the sitter with enough apparent information to convince them that what they say is true. They are alert to facial reactions and bodily gestures, and incorporate feedback information likely mentioned earlier in the sitting or consultation or hinted at in a response.

Once the sitter is hooked with this “cold reading,” the charlatan may offer to change the person’s luck for a price. I know of someone who was quoted $3,000 to have bad luck lifted from their lives. For this fee, the “psychic” would burn a magic candle to clear the misfortune. However, she warned that, as the case was particularly bad, it might be necessary to burn more candles. Of course, this would cause added costs, for the magic candles and her services.

Negative Energy Curses

A real curse is a set of words or a ritual that has been imbued with the negative energy of a thought-form. A curse cannot harm us unless we allow it to, by giving the negative energy an entry point. Certainly, paying money to someone else will not remove negative energy, nor will having rituals performed on your behalf. The key to protection from real curses come from your own refusal to give in to superstition and unfounded fear. Just as money can’t buy you, love, giving money to such people cannot change your luck or make you well again. People often incur such problems when they do not generally take personal responsibility for their lives.

They tend to go to a fortune-teller because they want someone else to make the hard choices for them. It is much easier to blame things outside of ourselves for our troubles. We accuse others, instead of owning up to our own faults. We blame circumstances and people for troubles that are of our own making. And, of course, many of us blame our bad luck on fate. How much better it is to take charge of our own lives! Personal responsibility gives a person self-confidence and a realistic view of circumstances.

The role of the true psychic is to give insight and inspire, not to make decisions for you. A psychic can encourage you, and even empower you to take charge of your destiny. To do something about it! So, take my advice: If you are ever asked for money to remove a curse or a spell, to regain health, to bring back a lover, or to change your luck, leave immediately and don’t look back!

psychics.co.uk/blog/curses-and-spells-that-work/

2 notes · View notes

findmyrupertfriend · 5 years

Photo

Strange Angel - “The Magus” (This is a recap of the 2nd episode of Season 2 of Strange Angel. There are spoilers so proceed with caution!)

The episode begins, as every episode should - with Ernest. Ernest’s hallucinations continue as his hands are engulfed in flames, he stares at them chanting. He’s in the Magus’ chambers; he claims that he knows his true path now and needs the Magus’ help to get there.

There is a shared understanding that what he needs is taboo, “dangerous magic.” The Magus asks Ernest where he’s been, he speaks of his travels out of L.A., to London, and Cairo, Egypt. Last he speaks of Tangier, Morocco - a city run like an Agape, yet he won’t go into details of what happened while there. The mystery of Ernest’s whereabouts deepens. He says what happened there doesn’t matter, but what does matter is what happened to him when he left. He proceeds to disrobe (get the rewind button ready) and displays a full chest of scars, tattoos and several carved markings into his skin.

The next scene is in Jack and Susan’s Agape parlor. The community gathers pensively waiting to see what the Magus has to say about their new guest. Jack and Magus go head to head publicly deciding if Frauder E.D., a.k.a. Dirty Ernie, is able to stay in their home. Understanding that love is the law, Jack obliges.

Jack and Susan in their bedroom discuss Ernest’s stay at their home. Jack is still not bought in that his new guest deserves refuge. Ernest injects a narcotic substance into his arm. His once engulfed hands now extinguished. He lays down on a bed he is too big for and falls into an induced sleep.

It seems that everyday life in the Agape is settling in. Susan’s sister, Patty, explores the grounds with curiosity. Naked chanters echo in the parlor while Susan makes breakfast. She and Magus discuss her sister’s presence and Ernest’s unplanned arrival. There is clear sexual tension between the two as he ties her apron for her.

The next day, Patty joins Jack at work. There seems to be a flirtation between the two of them as well. He asks why she is dressed the way she is, there is a war going on. This lets us know he notices her as a sexual being, something she seems all too fine with.

In the next scene, Richard going to meet Marisol‘s family. He is there to ask her hand in marriage. He seems out of place, and uncomfortable. Their modest home is not what he imagined.

Quickly the scenes shift and we’re back in Magus’ quarters with Ernest. Ernest lies on his back, shirtless, recounting his journey. Ernest tells of his time in the desert. In the flashback we see he looks disheveled, lost both physically and mentally. He went to the desert to seek salvation, he says for three days and three nights “the world was silent, but my mind was as loud as ever” nothing came to him and then on the 4th day, the angel of fire appeared to him. It filled him with power and he knew peace. The help he needs from Magus we now know — he needs to see his angel of fire again. The Magus says Ernest needs to delve further into his memories. As they’re discussing, Magus cuts Ernest’s already abused chest deeply, hoping the pain will draw memories. Ernest moans in pain and eventually stops Magus from continuing the ritual.

We learn that Richard is at Marisol’s house, to ask, as suspected, for her hand in marriage. He’s a little surprised to see that they don’t have any idea of who he is. Instead of a blessing, Marisol‘s father asks Richard for a dowry. It’s apparent Marisol has an estranged relationship with her parents.

Next, Ernest sits in a Catholic confessional and on the other side is Virgil. Ernest is working with Virgil as a spy. Ernest shares that he has been let into the house, and plans on reporting back to Virgil. Virgil lets Ernest know he is expected to deliver info in order to keep the agreement they have in place. Virgil will keep the charges again Ernest dropped if he goes along with the plan.

It’s late at night, and Jack is staring at Aleister Crowley’s portrait. Ernest comes up behind him and the two talk about the last time they saw each other. There is clear tension here but a comfort as well. Ernest lets him know he had no plan on harming him with the plane. He was trying to help him wake up.

The next morning and Richard shows up at Jack’s home. He gets a small insight into what the Agape is like, and judges Jack for it. Jack rushes them off, saying “what he does in his own home is his own business.”

Later that evening, Richard and Marisol are quarreling. He lets her know he met her family — she is outraged. He tells her it was to ask for their blessing. She still argues with him that he should not have reached out to them; there was a reason why she kept her family private from him. She walks out on him.

Jack works late, and Patty saunters up behind him. She reveals to Jack that she came upon the Magus’ recordings of his followers while snooping around the Agape. She recites something only the Magus and Jack would be privy to.

The scene flashes to Jack now listening to said recordings. Patty stands behind him and hands him Ernest’s tape, recorded recently by The Magus. Jack listens to Ernest’s tape where Ernest believes that he, Jack, is involved in Ernest’s liberation, Jack listens intently.

Later that night, Jack comes upon Ernest fixing the broken fountain. Jack engages Ernest in conversation and asks what he meant by “waking up from waking.” Ernest suggests that Jack needs stronger medicine to “wake up.” They head to Ernest’s shed and Ernest injects into Jack's arm the narcotic he himself is hooked on. Jack seems more comfortable in Ernest’s company than we’ve seen him with anyone all episode. The two meld together as Jack confesses “I’ve missed you” to Ernest. Jack drifts off and Ernest breaths him in. Magus enters with a flashlight and Ernest pensively looks up at him.

The next morning Susan dreamily plays “The Rite of Spring” on piano. Magus walks in and sits beside her. He lets her know that tonight they’re going to vote whether Ernest stays in the house or not.

We see Jack at the local diner, sweating out what was put in his body the night before. Jack sees Aleister Crowley at the counter and believes it to be a hallucination, but it is real. Crowley takes a seat opposite Jack, Jack asks why he was there. Crowley wants him to keep a sharp eye on others around him and gives him a private contact. Jack lets Crowley know that his military contacts want to know about Crowley’s whereabouts. Crowley urges him to secrecy, and Jack agrees.

In the second to final scene we see the vote on Ernest’s fate at the Agape. The tables have turned and it seems that Jack and Susan now back Ernie’s stay while Magus gives evidence against him. The vote is final. Ernest is now home at the Parson’s Agape.

Magus goes to Ernest’s room and lets him know he is now an official member of the Agape, but he urges Ernest to confront the truth about who he truly is. He gives him a notebook to write down what happened to him — what he learned while gone. He also insists that Ernest give up the drugs. Ernest unwillingly hands over what he has, claiming “it is the only thing that keeps my anger in check.”

In the final scene of this episode, the Agape (minus Ernest) meet on the lawn and participate in an orgy for the ages. Prior in the episode, we see Jack listening to Susan’s tape recorded by The Magus. He hears that Susan wants to explore, but is afraid that Jack doesn’t want her to. At the orgy, Jack and Susan agree to explore with others in the Agape and the festivities begin. In parallel, Ernest writes in his notebook. Ernest doesn’t write down his experiences for Magus but instead writes notes for Virgil. He lists all members of the Agape and what sets them apart from Virgil’s proper society. Ernest hands over the list to Virgil and Virgil lets him know, its a start but he wants more.

Next week’s preview it seems the tensions between Susan/Magus and Jack/Patty grow stronger, while Jack and Susan seem to drift apart. Ernest delves deeper into the past two years and Virgil’s quest intensifies.

#fmrf #strange angel #season 2 #recap #the magus #by: lizzy

10 notes · View notes

calleo-bricriu · 5 years

Text

Why do I keep doing this?

It’s nearly over, there are fewer than 100 pages left in the horrid thing after this one.

((Oh also, these few chapter contain a hell of a lot of really casual racism mostly against Native Americans and whatever “half-breeds” are, because that’s not specified.))

Okay, chapter 18 starts with finding out that the stroke didn't kill Mother it did, of course, exactly what Mizpra wanted: Left her a mostly paralysed invalid.

Despite that, she's written as still being pretty mentally lucid, just not physically capable of doing much but being propped up in a chair facing a window. Now somehow she's being called "The mother of Leigh" instead of Mrs. Newcomber.

Anyway, she's staring out the window, occasionally being annoyed by the fact that her nurse is a "strange and harsh woman" and how she's a toy of Mizpra's now somehow.

It's also somehow "perverted" of Mizpra to let her mother reminisce about when she was younger but okay.

Watching birds is supposed to make one cry; I'm guessing mabye I watch birds incorrectly because, while interesting, I've never really felt any sort of urge to cry over them.

Mizpra evidently thinks, "partially paralysed from a stroke" means "also deaf" and is now always written shouting right into her mother's ear. Also, she was sick of her mother watching birds because "the mist will soon commence to fall" whatever that means.

Back to insulting Mizpra again, "With her energy, moral palsy, masculine effrontery, and unbridled control of a large fortune, she moved the men and women around her." He's writing that like it's a bad thing.

I mean, it'd be a lot easier to dislike her if he focused on the things she's done rather than the fact that the author just thinks she's a little too "masculine" because, really, by this point we know she stripped down a teenage girl in front of her class to berate her about wearing corsets, married a guy just because he knew how to use a typewriter, and planned her mother's stroke and had the thought of, "It'd be super inconvenient if she dies but whatever, I'll make it work if that happens." You know, legitimate reasons to dislike someone.

"There was not enough of sex instinct in her to enjoy being flattered as a woman," well, who the hell could blame her? Flatter her based on the abilities she's shown, none of which are remotely terrible (by modern standards at any rate).

The author doesn't seem to think highly of women as doctors either because the first one described is, "one of the big-footed, short-haired kind" you know, manly.

Oh, but, "a mild sort of fellow-feeling--not womanly--brought about business arrangements between Mizpra and the female physician."

This is such an exhausting book to read; no wonder so few copies still exist, even in reprint. Normally, I can’t get enough of getting my hands on and reading rare books that only have one or two copies still left anywhere but this? This one is a harsh reminder that some books may actually be better off eventually fading completely from anyone’s memory.

"The older inhabitants of the surrounding country had become interested in Mizpra. The Spaniards, Mexicans, half-breeds, and Indians, all bigoted and ignorant, were now singing her praises." I'm--pretty sure the only bigoted and ignorant one here is the author.

MOVING ON.

Oh look, someone brought her one of her Genius Brother's books: "Insanity in the Adolescent Caused by Religious Rites and Mysticism in the Catholic Church," by Leigh Newcomber, M.D.

There's also a typo in the book that the editor apparently missed, "It had been a distressing day for Mizpra, and she was ugly in mood, and agitated in feeelings."

Feeelings.

""I saw a pretty Indian girl to-day. I'll have as many as--" at this moment the blood rushed to her heavy cheeks and her hands and feet began to feel cold. She grasped the back of a chair to steady herself for a moment, then strode to the bed to throw herself down upon it."

Well, that came out of nowhere. Pun intended.

So now she's going to pretend she's Catholic and devote her time and money to teaching "the Indian and half-breed girls". I'm just going to assume she's moved beyond stabbing sleeping men with scarf pins and is moving on to--that.

Ordinarily, that wouldn't be all that off-putting sounding if not for the use of the term "half-breed" and girls. Girls--that often indicates that they're not adults.

Anyway, she gets a telegram presumably from Rev. Bald indicating he's ruined Leigh's life but, since I've read the previous chapters and the author is about as predictable as the tides, I'm going to assume Leigh sent the telegram and is planning a surprise visit.

Oh look, more casual racism: "An Indian lad, a protege of Father Francisco, arrived at the house with a note from that priest. He was a fine specimen of his race; lithe, bright-eyed, and cunning." He also doesn't like Mizpra, probably because she keeps calling people half-breeds and savages.

Wonderful! He even talks in a perfectly stereotypical racist manner, "Big bone squaw. Too much talk. Want chief."

So, she asks when "the woman" arrived at the priest's house, he answers, "Yes, bad squaw come."

Which makes her angry because he apparently said it in a defiant tone so she grabbed him and demands he explain why she's bad and if he doesn't she'll have him flogged.

I can't exactly parse the racist as hell way he's writing this kid but it seems something to do with an Indian who converts to Catholicism gets salvation?

So Mizpra slaps him because that's a rational reaction but then he keeps talking and I have no idea what the hell is going on, "Indian boy understand. He white squaw no Christ squaw; Indian boy no white papoose. He squaw, look out."

He leaves, no further explanation, time skp three days later from "Rev. Bald" who basically details what Bald had intended to do but ended up getting tag teamed by Leigh and a prostitute. So, definitely Leigh writing that letter. I mean it also said that Mops was poisoned (diphtheria, for the last. fucking. time. infects you; the bacteria can produce toxins, which are what can cause the range of symptoms, some of which can be fatal, so unless you're just injecting the produced C. diphtheriae toxins right into someone, you are not poisoning anyone by exposing them to diphtheria, you are infecting them and I know that seems like semantics but the author is a doctor and should know better than to think infect and poison are the same thing) and died.

Anyway, Mizpra believes the letter is from Rev. Bald, so I'm sure that'll end well for her.

"Mizpra had but one thought, one passion now; that was, to wallow in her perverted pleasures to the saturating point of satiety." All right.

Chapter 19 begins with "The reader has probably already surmised from the letter received by Mizpra that Bald had recovered."

In the sense that he wasn't dead, yeah, I guess.

Leigh told the hospital Bald was hit by a trolley car and Bald is just, "Well, since I can't remember what happened, that must be correct!"

So Leigh shows up the next day because Rev. Bald is his patient and the first thing the author does is write something creepy in the narrative, "Leigh now noticed a distinct refinement in Bald's features. he was pale, and the whilom sensuous lips had lost some of their grossness."

Who--thinks like that? So he sits there watching Bald sleep for awhile then leaves after leaving some magazines and "a basket of luscious fruit".

Weirdo.

Nurse starts in with some story about how Leigh lost his wealth or something, then Leigh shows up again and Bald immediately goes turncoat on Mizpra.

So Leigh decides that Mizpra is "undoubtedly mentally ill" and "he would see her placed where she could no longer do injury to herself o rothers."

And they’re headed to California; of course, Leigh had Bald write the telegram and letter to tell Mizpra her plan went off flawlessly.

Predictable writing.

Leigh insists the issue is that Mizpra is insane, not a criminal, and that she's "not responsible for her actions". I mean, mentally ill or not, she's still responsible for her own actions unless someone else is forcing her hand, which they are not. That's been made clear.

Only about 100 pages left, thank everything.

Now they're talking about one of the other sisters, the older one who married a lawyer. That turned into a rambling story about how the lawyer "misappropriated" funds and somehow that landed them under having to get an allowance from Mizpra.

Chapter 20 appears to be Leigh is Stressed and Wants a Drink.

Manages to get home without doing that and apparently Obera's only method of showing support is to just fling herself around and cry.

"Leigh went to work instantly to eliminate the poison which his faulty nervous system had allowed to accumulate in his body and thus produce a self-intoxication." ...what?

He calls Dr. Bell to come and write something to Bald and Leigh has to be whiny about it, "Well, I don't believe you or any other man can understand what I suffer."

Please stop being 13 at some point, Leigh, you are an adult.

Now he's relating his life to Poe's stories and needs to stop--but I guess this book is where the whole "psychic incubus" thing came from because he's talking about one now.

And that sort of drifted in to him rambling incessantly about Edgar Allen Poe and how Leigh is just like that, only with more friends and less good writing, I guess.

I might have added the last two things.

Dr. Bell insists on heading out to California with Bald and Leigh and that's the end of that chapter.

It was 85% Leigh rambling on about Edgar Allen Poe while saying very little about him and just sort of quoting random bits of his work.

No surprise the author of the book had a weird obsession with the same thing.

#books #hp rp #casual racism #old books #this is still the worst thing I've ever read #and not because it's shocking #because it's just so disjointed and poorly written #and the author is an idiot #it has a typo #it has a legitimate typo #I found a typo in a book from 1901 #and it immediately jumped out AS a typo because #feelings #is not ever spelled feeelings #typos

3 notes · View notes

violethues1993 · 5 years

Text

Zodiac Personality

Sign: Pisces

Description: The Pisces man has the heart of a poet and the soul of a mystic, thanks to his dreamy water sign.

These Neptune-ruled visionaries love to dive deep and are never content to stay in shallow water – emotionally, spiritually, or intellectually. Small talk doesn’t interest them at all, and you’ll find that even upon meeting them for the first time, a Pisces man will ask you penetrating questions about yourself and your life for hours. It may take awhile before you notice that, though they know everything about you, you still know almost nothing about them.

A male Pisces holds his cards very close to his heart – only revealing his true personality to those he feels that he’ll be safe with. It often takes many years to really get to know this guy. He tends to keep his inner circle tight, and though he is friendly and social, only the chosen few will ever get past his internal gauntlet. This is because a Pisces possesses an extreme sensitivity, and everything affects him ten times more intensely than it might with any of the other signs.

Water has no boundaries. It can seep into even the tiniest crack and wreak havoc, melting barriers and dissolving that which was formerly solid. The power of Neptune, god of the sea, is of dissolution – that which seeks oneness. Water is our natural state, from the primordial ooze where we began to form in the amniotic fluid we swam in while within the womb. This is what Pisces energy is all about: fluidity, unity, and returning to our original source.

As the final sign in the zodiac, Pisces people are the most ancient souls, possessing powerful wisdom and often psychic ability to see and feel things beyond what most people can sense or understand.

THE PISCES MAN: LOVE & SEX

A Pisces man in love will give his entire self to his partner, swooning in the dance of two souls merging as one. That’s his aim, to achieve complete harmony and unity as one being with no firm distinctions as to where his identity ends and his partner’s begins. This can be intoxicating to a fellow romantic spirit, but completely overwhelming for those who are looking to date more casually.

Because of this disparity, Pisces men often end up getting hurt and may wear their wounded hearts on their sleeves. It’s easy for them to end up feeling like the victim when their deep feelings aren’t matched, or when their partner suddenly wakes from the consuming spell of singularity to realize they haven’t been home in a week and all their houseplants are dead. It’s tempting to spend all night and day in bed with your Pisces – swimming within their embrace and getting lost in their kisses.

This is what they most desire: for you to forget that the world outside exists, and to give yourself over to love and the vision of indivisibility. When they lose themselves in love or dissolve into a puddle of tears after a major heartbreak, Pisces men may turn to drugs or alcohol to escape from their intense emotions or to numb their pain. Casual drinking or drug use may seem fun or innocent enough at first, but be on the lookout for the psychedelic daydreamer who can’t seem to handle being sober for any aspect of day-to-day life. Often the idyllic otherworlds of their substance-stimulated imaginations are much more attractive to them than the humdrum doldrums of boring old reality.

THE PISCES MAN: HOME & FAMILY

The home of a Pisces man often feels like a magical realm, a hermit’s cave filled with wonders, far removed from the bland settings of the other homes around it. It may look unassuming from the outside, but once within his domain, prepare to be dazzled.

Pisces guys often like to have aquariums or terrariums full of rare fish, frogs, or unusual plant life. They may raise orchids or just enjoy having plants and animals around them. There is artwork everywhere, usually created by him or by dear friends who he loves to support. There is a sacred atmosphere in his space, and a hush in the air that calls for a sense of reverence. You might instinctively bend to take off your shoes when you enter, regardless of whether or not he insists upon it – or feel awkward about using your cellphone inside.

Many Pisces men are extremely sensitive to noise and light pollution, and will often soundproof their homes or block out natural light from the windows, lending further to the sense of being in an insular womb-like cavern, a fairyland away from the normal world. You may lose track of time and forget that there’s even a world outside the beautiful one that he has created.

Some Pisces folks take their protection from polluting forces even further, installing water filters to get rid of contaminants and fluoride, or blocking wi-fi transmissions. Before you accuse him of wearing a tinfoil hat, remember that a Pisces man will pick up on things that other people aren’t aware of, so if it works for him, don’t knock it.

The Pisces dad makes a wonderful, gentle father, who tends to be very permissive, and is not much for disciplining his children or setting clear boundaries or rules.

THE PISCES MAN: WORK & MONEY

Work and career are generally aspects of a Pisces man’s life that (like the rest of him) never conform to typical ideas of what a regular job should be. Often, he will invent a career for himself that you didn’t even know could exist, doing something so intriguing and bizarre that you just want to ask him a million questions about what it’s like to be a poisonous dart frog breeder or private investigator.

These men are rarely happy or successful trying to adhere to a 9-to-5 schedule. More often than not, they prefer to keep odd hours, maybe as serious night owls who would always rather work the graveyard shift. The freedom of being able to create their own way of doing things is essential – because they’re just going to do it anyway.

A Pisces man will have little regard for “rules for the sake of rules,” and will defy everything from dress code to issues on tardiness or taking breaks. Rather than marching to the beat of their own drummer, they tend to undulate vaguely to their own internal clarinet. This may infuriate managers, but if the people in charge of a Pisces can recognize the strange genius of the man they’ve employed and just let him do his thing (rules and regulations be damned), they’ll often be amazed by the results he produces and the inventiveness of his work.

Some structure can be good for a Pisces, who will either start work too late in the day to actually get anything done or else just work nonstop for days on end until he collapses from exhaustion.

Money can be an area of difficulty and strife for your Pisces man, who loves to spend profligately and may find that coins spill out of his hands like water. This Fish needs to learn about saving his dollars away for a rainy day.

THE PISCES MAN: GIFT GUIDE

If you want to buy the perfect gift for a Pisces man, choose something that feels like it has magical powers.

Not just any everyday object will do – it needs to be something that he will feel is imbued with meaning. Usually, a Pisces will not adhere to one mystical path or religion – choosing instead to mix bits of this and that into a hodgepodge of traditions and beliefs that suits him best. “Take what you like and leave the rest” tends to be his philosophy, and he sees all paths as being one anyway, so he has no issues in placing a statue of the Buddha next to a Catholic saint or Pagan goddess image.

A Tibetan relic or a huge chunk of a crystal will probably please him to no end, earning in a place of honor on one of his altars. You might gift him a piece of black tourmaline, obsidian, or shungite, which will protect against negative energy (which he has a tendency toward being open to absorbing).

Jewelry made of these or other semi-precious stones will often appeal, as romantic, emotional Pisces men usually are not uncomfortable exploring their feminine side. They may enjoy wearing perfume or oils and like to always smell delicious. Based on their innate traits. many Pisces men can be fastidious about their personal cleanliness habits and appearance, so scented bath and body products will be appreciated by this water-loving sign.

Birth Date: March 20th, age 733

Description: The astrological sign for those born on March 20th is the Pisces and the astrological symbol is the fish. As a Pisces, you are flexible and open, able to adapt to challenges as they arise. Those who are born under this sign tend to be versatile and unique, curious and intelligent. The birth date range for the Pisces is February 19-March 20. Those born on March 20th may find they also have attributes of the astrological sign following theirs since the dates are so closely coordinated.

FREEDOMS

Those born on March 20th are intelligent and independent. They love the freedom and independence they have in life and love to find adventure. On the other hand, with their intelligence and love of freedom, the Pisces can become withdrawn and lonely. The Pisces with this birth date find themselves on one side or the other of the personality spectrum.

Understanding your feelings as Pisces is a constant challenge. One must balance their need for freedom with their need to be alone. When their freedom is out of alignment, the sense of loneliness may creep up and overtake the Pisces, pushing one towards a depressive state. To combat the sense of loneliness be sure to surround yourself with support when needed, but take time to yourself to regroup and recharge.

PERSONALITY TRAITS

Those born on March 20th are unique, inventive, resourceful and good with money. As an adaptable person, you are able to go with the flow and take whatever challenge the universe brings to you. With this adaptability comes the ability to communicate and accept people from all walks of life and all areas of the world.

Having the ability to adapt to those in nontraditional areas brings a gift to the Pisces in ways of career development, family orientation, and personal happiness. The Pisces may find their future romantic partner, child, business venture, or networking group in another culture or country simply due to their ability to flex and accept.

The Pisces is spontaneous and indulgent, creative and innovative. With the universal strengths in this area, you are able to bring about new ideas to the table at work and home. You are able to find new adventures and spoil yourselves and others in the process. You are able to balance the needs and wants you desire while also bringing up new ways in which to utilize and fund your creative endeavors.

The motto of the Pisces is said to be “I believe”. With this motto, the Pisces is able to love themselves, find strength in their intelligence, and guide others to do the same. Stating “I believe” brings confidence to their leadership abilities while also allowing for room to alter their believes and opinions in the event their perceptions are wrong.

The motto of “I believe” also shows the faith the Pisces places on their value system. Having a belief in their thoughts and actions brings respectability to the actions of those born on March 20th. Declaring their belief is a foundation for their business and family goals and should be honored as such.

Having a strong value system and high intelligence level brings those born on this day to the idea that what they say – goes. How they want a project to be completed is the final say on how the project is completed. Their belief system is the end all-be all of the equation. This matter of thinking can bring the Pisces to be stubborn and conflicting at times. The Pisces can be difficult to bargain with and adapt to when they are always in charge.

Positive traits of those born March 20th:

*Flexible

*Adaptable

*Overcomes challenges

*Strong belief system

*Confident

*Interesting

*Artistic

*Innovative

*Loves nature

*Leader

*Adventurous

*In touch with their emotions

Negative aspects of those born March 20th:

*Can be difficult to change

*Stubborn

*Conflicting

*Over-emotional

*Naïve

*Greedy

*Self-deprecating

*Expect others to have same values

These positive and negative traits can work together to balance out the negative in area that can be socially unacceptable. For example, the confidence and intelligence can be strengthened to balance out tendencies to be self-deprecating or gullible. As a charming person, you can work on not being over emotional or hyper and others will be more likely to trust you and find you interesting rather than flighty.

Utilize the strengths and weaknesses to the best of your ability to understand yourself or someone else born on March 20th. Understanding and accepting the good and bad will help bring a realistic set of expectations to who you spend the bulk of your time with. Either yourself, your coworker, spouse or friend, you are better apt to be cooperative with those who you understand.

HEALTH AND WELLNESS

Those born on March 20th are healthy, active people who love to be fit. Whether running or bike riding, rock climbing or boating, the love of movement and adventure brings a sense of fun to the workout. When you are able to find what you love doing and incorporate this into a fitness routine, you are more likely to remain healthy and happy as you age.

Those born on this day tend to have a strong circulation system. Those born under the Pisces sign can have issues with their feet given their astrological disposition. Fish do not have feet; therefore, their human counterparts have issues with theirs. The lower legs may also have troubles over time. Pay attention to your calves and feet over time and be sure to keep them healthy. Many times, prevention can be the best offset to illness and disability.

Their health is quite good but since Pisces is thought to rule feet, lower limb muscles and blood circulation, they are inclined towards suffering from affections of these areas.

RELATIONSHIPS

As a Pisces, you have personality traits that lead you to attract certain types of people in business, pleasure, and friendship. To attract good quality friends, one must first offer their own good standing friendship and ideals. Developing your personal self into a person who is honest and fair, friendly and of ease will attract friends of good standing.

Friends of the Pisces appreciate your passion and drive. With you in their universe, a sense of adventure and inspiration comes into their life. As a positive influence on others, the Pisces makes the world better for those around them. With your adaptability, you have plenty of new friends and discussion to bring to those around you. As you bring new ideas and activities to those around you, the world expands for everyone.

The Pisces born on March 20th is positive and outgoing. With your joyful disposition, you are able to keep good friends near and enemies at bay. In the working world, your business friends appreciate your positive attitude and abilities. In your realm there is little conflict causing disruptions.

LOVE AND COMPATIBILITY

Those born on March 20th find compatibility with others that are as fun-loving and exciting as they are. The friendly, creative and silly personality of the Pisces attracts many mates, but learning which mate is spiritually aligned in your best interest can help alleviate challenges in the future.

Those born on March 20th may be a bit conservative in some ways, but overall, they are open and engaging to new people. Finding a Pisces and attempting to create a relationship will require you to be practical and unassuming. Doing so will allow the Pisces to breathe and step back to analyze the situation before fully committing.

The Pisces born March 20th is most compatible with people born on the dates of 1, 4, 8, 10, 13, 17, 19, 22, 26, 28, and 31. The Pisces has a great many dates to choose from! Many other signs are not so fortunate. In this case, if the Pisces finds a potential mate born on these dates, rest assured, the spiritual world is offering a sign that this match is blessed by the universe and meant to be.

The compatible zodiac signs with the Pisces are from the element of water. The signs of Cancer and Scorpio are best matched with Pisces due to their similar personalities and life goals. The Cancer and Scorpio are also a bit more aggressive than the Pisces and can offset the relative calm the Pisces may have in situations that call for more fire.

The Pisces seeks a mate and will remain committed and devoted. The Pisces is looking for someone to support and uplift them, making them a better person overall. The mate must add to the life of the Pisces and have a sense of value.

CAREER

Those who are born on this day may find a career in the arts to be their best fit. Having time in the arts allows the Pisces to be fluid and flexible. Remaining still and stagnant is not the way of the fish, and the career flow of those born March 20th is representative of that.

The Pisces may find spiritual and philosophical work to be a good fit for their personality type. Having a flexible yet intelligent frame of mind allows the Pisces to bring a well round sense of thought to the constant demands of spirituality.

As a natural leader, the Pisces would do well directing others in the management field, or working in research. Many Pisces find themselves happy in the medical field due to the demand ever-changing nature of the job. The medical field offers creativity and invention while also having stable and reliable rules. As a social person with charm, you would be a great doctor with perfect bedside manner.

LUCK

Luck falls upon those from the universe and in line with their universal energies. Those born on March 20th can find their lucky day to be Thursday, which is ruled under Jupiter. As a day under Jupiter, this day is seen as bringing wealth and bounty.

Lucky numbers for this sign are 5, 7, 10, 12, 22. These numbers can be found in addresses, phone numbers, and codes throughout your day. Focusing upon these numbers allows you to read into your spiritual connections and follow the lead of the universe.

Turquoise is deemed the lucky color of the Pisces. Perhaps the color is close to that of water and this closeness in color represents a close sense of duplication. The color represents fertility and strength, passion and spirits.

Other lucky colors for the Pisces to rely upon for luck are purple, pink and light green. Wearing these colors bring out the best in you and surrounding your home and work life with these colors allows you to reach your highest potential.

ELEMENTS

Those born on March 20th are born under the element of water. Water provides life, death, hydration, and spirituality. This element brings about the strength and adaptability of your personality and represents your fertility. Fertility is not only for reproducing babies, but for producing life in all areas. For example, starting a business or building a home. The Pisces can bring life into many areas of the world.

The ruling planet of Pisces is Neptune. Neptune rounds out the personality of the Pisces by bringing compassion and empathy. The Pisces can be strong-willed and focused and occasionally lack the sense of taking others into account. The planet Neptune highlights the sensitivity needed in life to balance one’s needs with the rest of the world.

Another aspect of the ruling planet is the need for order and stability. The Pisces born March 20th may be flexible and push through life, but a certain sense of order is also needed for the Pisces to fully develop. The power of Neptune helps bring this ability to the Pisces.

#yamcha #zodiac personality #birthday zodiac #dbz

4 notes · View notes

precaffeinatedsalomon · 5 years

Text

Could You Pass the Brains Please? Western Zombies in Korean Film, Train to Busan (2016)

Could You Pass the Brains, Please?

Western Zombie Mythology Used to Reflect on Eastern Anxieties in Train to Busan (2016)

On April 16, 2014, South Korea suffered the horror of losing over three hundred of its citizens-mostly Middle School aged children- to the neglect of what is now called the Sewol Ferry Disaster. In 2015 the Country fell into a panic as the number of Middle East Respiratory Virus (MERS) outbreak deaths increased while Governmental disclosure on the matter decreased. In 2016, One-fifth of the South Korean population saw the release of its very first zombie film, Train to Busan. This essay argues that Film Director, Yeon Sang Ho appropriated the flexibility for metaphor the Western Zombie Mythology provides to critique Korean society, their government, and reflect on contemporary anxieties.

Though Korean Zombies may be new in the East, from Haiti to Hershel’s Farm the United States has 80 years’ worth of Zombie lore in their popular culture arsenal. In How to Make a Zombie, Frank Swain recounts the first-time zombies entered into consciousness around the world. He explains how in 1889 well respected Harper’s Magazine journalist Lafcadio Hearn went to the Caribbean Islands in search of evidence about rumors of “walking dead” haunting which haunted the islands. When inquiring about zombies to locals, Hearn would get descriptions based on complex Haitian “Vodou tenets” which only confused Hearn, who never got to see one. The descriptions, in essence, boiled down to a “zombie cadaver” being “a physical entity that is living but has not will of its own.” ( Swain 3-7) Hearn’s article on zombies went on to intrigue the colorful William Seabrook, an American writer and explorer, as well as a drunk, sadist, abuser, and experimental cannibal. In 1928, Seabrook traveled to Haiti to investigate the phenomenon. In 1929, he published his findings in what eventually became a best seller book titled The Magic Island. In his book, he describes what he saw when locals took him to visit a sugar plantation: “My first impression of the three supposed zombies, who continued dumbly at work, was that there was something about them unnatural and strange. They were plodding like brutes, like automatons, the eyes were the worst…They were in truth like the eyes of a dead man…the whole face…was vacant, as if there was nothing behind it.” (Swain 8-13) It continues, that while attempting to make conversation with one of the zombies, he was told [blacks’] affairs are not for whites” (Swain 14), a line that would later be used in one the first Hollywood zombies in film rendition.

What Seabrook called zombies, were likely slaves working 18-hour days in sugar plantations during the United States occupation of Haiti. In 1804, Haiti was considered a “threat to imperialism” and was vilified in the Western world after successfully gaining independence from France with a well-staged rebellion. Despite efforts by the Catholic Church to influence Haitian natives, Voodooism was a deeply embedded part of the culture. Because of this in the West, “Voodoo culture was perceived to be a signifier of the country’s savage inferiority” (Crockett)- Anxieties that would later be reflected in film. Haiti’s freedom and independence ended when in 1918 the United States invaded the country in fear of how the political unrest there would affect their business ventures in that country, particularly the Haitian-American Sugar Company (HASCO). Haiti was recolonized until 1934, with what Swain laments as “enduring consequences for the country and its people” (Swain 6-7). Zombie’s origin story becomes important in how they would later become represented in film.

From 1932 to the present; from xenophobia to extremism, zombie representations in film have morphed over time as metaphors to externalize, examine and critique the era’s social anxieties. The Bela Lugosi led, White Zombie (1932), is considered the first full-length zombie film. In it, a man convinces a couple to celebrate their wedding in Haiti. While there, the man uses a Voodoo master to steal the bride away from her fiance and keep her to himself. Unfortunately for him, she turns into an unfeeling person in a zombie-like state. Complaining to the Voodoo master only gets him turned into a zombie himself (IMBD) Luckily, “in the end, the white couple emerges unharmed, and the voodoo master is pushed off a cliff to his death” Though criticized, the film’s success saw a series of similarly plotted and themed films. Such as, In Ouanga (1936), Walked With a Zombie (1943)VOX explains that “until the 1940s, zombies were largely a reflection of the fears of voodooism and blackness.” (Vox) In other words, an externalization of xenophobia and sense of white superiority.

After WWII, from the 1950s to mid-1960s, zombies films like Zombies of the Stratosphere (1952) Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959), The Earth Dies Screaming (1964) were used to represent Cold Ward and Space Race anxieties of the time. However, after 1968 in the midst of the social unrest caused by the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement, zombies would be changed irrevocably.

The modern zombie was born with George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968). Though the word ‘zombie’ is never is used in the film, from this rendition on, Leo Braudy explains how “instead of being an exotic black monster birthed in the Caribbean, [zombies] become an all-embracing metaphor for the unthinking attitudes and blind obedience of an entire society” (107) The time for zombies to aid in the protest of society begins here.

Supporting this notion, Peter Biskind claims that by taking the zombie- a monster, outside the enclosed spaces of personal dwelling and moving them to the “backyard” … horror could reflect upon contemporary life. Furthermore, having a black hero-five months after the death of Martin Luther King Jr.- killed by the sheriff with the excuse that he thought he was monster, “changed the genre into a vehicle for social commentary”. A vehicle that now is being used by South Korea, just as it has been used in the West. Biskind argues, “zombies lend themselves to metaphoric interpretation; they are an all-purpose ‘Them’, with their significance in the eye of the beholder.” ( 77) Meaning that as a new fear arises, the type of zombie we get will change along with it.

From Romero’s Night of the Living Dead monsters are “reawakened by changing cultural circumstances” (Braudy 107). From here on we get the new codes for zombie lore. Such as a never-ending hunger for human flesh, pack mentality and hunting in kind, inability to stop, one bite, one new victim. Dawn of the Dead (1978) has Romero commenting on consumerist culture as raised by a capitalist society. In the era of the ‘80s to early 2000s with fears of epidemics like AIDS, Swine Flu, and Ebola virus, we get the Contagion Zombie. Braudy claims these apocalyptic zombies reflect “an increasingly globalized world in which diseases spread rapidly across continents and populations due to increased commercial contact, ease of transportation, and openness of borders.” (Braudy 107) As expansion from these fears, we get World War Z (2013). This film shows walls as an attempted tool to keep not only zombies, but humans out. A Vox article argues that the scene in which “Jerusalem is besieged by hordes of zombies, which crawl up the walls like a slow-moving bacterial infection. Unlike the creatures of previous films, these migrant zombies move at fast speeds, with a sense of urgency, riffing on our fear of rapid migration rates.” (Crockett)Fear of migration gives us the television series The Walking Dead. Biskind claims, these zombies are a representation of America’s current extremists’ views.

In Peter Biskind’s, The Sky is Falling, he notes that the way monsters and even superheroes are now represented in Films and Television are making “America great for extremism.” The main premise in his boos is that now, instead of the word ‘extremist’ being an insult, it “has become an accolade while ‘mainstream has become ‘lamestream. These extremist notions, he insists it is this extremists’ that have given us Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. Zombies as extremists he continues, “don’t care what we want…Marauding in mobs, they huff and puff until they blow the house down” (Biskind 2, 76). Thus, in addition to representing current extremists’ anxieties in the United States, the post-apocalyptic society currently in vogue also represents a lack of reliable government that is beholden to the people and their interests.

As time passes by, is culture change or change culture? popular culture is regarded tends to be regarded quite poorly as an agent of change, always behind in credited importance to politics or economics, however, Biskind warns, “it’s a mistake to underestimate the power of culture to inflame our emotions. “He states that, despite seeming free and innocent of political ideas, films and TV series are filled with subtle political messages. He concludes, “it’s no exaggeration to say that values, and therefore politics, are embedded in the very fabric of movies. (Biskind 6) The way monsters such as zombies in the film have indexed social change can serve as evidence of how television and film mirror cultural changes.

Watching films or television shows require the conscious effort from the viewer to suspend disbelief. For horror, however, Braudy argues that it goes beyond a simple act of believing what’s on screen, he claims it “goes much deeper, if only for the moment, [you have to believe]in the existence of evil, the possibility for good, and their eternal combat” (Braudy 32) In other words, horror films require more involvement than most other genres.

Before Yeon’s, Train to Busan, there were no zombies in their national folklore. South Koreans have their own monster lore, such as ghosts, goblins, and nine-tailed foxes, but no zombies. However, the West’s zombies film influence and their symbolic traits can be noted in the way the film chose to depict its own zombies. Train, tells the story of a man (Gong Yoo) working as a corporate hedge fund manager, who prefers work above else. He is a neglectful father to his only daughter. In an attempt to make up for missing her birthday, he takes her in a train to the city of Busan to visit her mother. As the doors of the train are about to close, a girl we soon find out is infected, makes it into the train, where chaos occurs as she starts biting people and the contagion spreads.

From this point on it becomes a story of survival and exploration of Korea’s current culture. It is from here on that, the film uses a chimaera of history, codes, and the possibility for social criticism in its zombies and plot devices that Yeon borrows from all the zombie movies from the West and proceeds to break apart, contort, distil, and repurpose to evoke a thought-provoking social commentary in Train.

This LA Times review of the film, support’s this paper’s original claim that South Koreans are using zombies as a metaphor for their social anxieties by stating:

“It's not just the eye-popping visuals and a high-paced monster story that has made "Train" a hit: The movie is also touching a nerve by reflecting the present-day reality of South Korea, an increasingly stratified and competitive a society where many citizens feel elites can't be trusted to lead in times of crisis, and those caught up in the chaos have to fend for themselves. Cine21, one of South Korea's most-read film magazines wrote in a review that "Train" is "motivated by sadness and anger over a situation where the weak cannot be protected." (Browiec)

Two instances which exemplify South Korean’s dissatisfaction with their government are dramatized in Train are, the Sewol Ferry accident and the MERS epidemic. One of the greatest reasons for anger in the Sewol Ferry accident was how easily the children could have been saved if they had not listened to Ferry captain that it would all be alright. This combined with the long Coast Guard response time to come to the rescue and the Captain taking a boat to save himself while the rest drowned seemed like an inconceivable rude awakening to people in that country. Additionally, in the MERS epidemic case, the government failed to notify its citizens of what was happening with the virus, how to prevent it from spreading further, or even what symptoms to look for to get it treated at the hospital.

These moments of shared grief and anger are externalized in Train. In it, we see how the people do not trust the government, quickly set up factions, and it is the elitist corporate man who is willing to use everyone else to save himself at every turn. In a powerful metaphoric moment in the film, this corporate man and similarly minded others, expel from the finally secured train cart the pregnant protagonist- whose husband had fought and died to protect them earlier in the film, two teenagers, the main father and his daughter to a different train cart after they had finally saved themselves from the zombies. They are in essence, being sent to die. In a plot twist, an elderly woman whose sister had already turned into a zombie, disgusted with the mob’s selfish actions opens up the door that had until that moment served as the only protection from the zombie horde. The message of how such attitude and mentality will ultimately lead to collective doom is hard to miss.

It could be claimed that with the success of Train to Busan and its symbolic power, more zombie films and TV shows are being made. In Kingdom (2019) A Netflix original series takes zombies to Korea’s Joseon period, and Train to Busan 2 which is expected to hit theaters next year. Now the question is, just as South Korea learned to express their anxieties from the United States’ example of doing so, will The United States be clever enough to learn from South Korea and learn how to protest against a corrupt government and get rid of an incompetent president.

Works Cited

Biskind, Peter. The Sky is Falling: How Vampires, Zombies, Androids, and Superheroes Made America Great fro Extremism. New York: The New Press, 2018.

Braudy, Leo. Haunted On Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Zombies, and Other Monsters of The Natural and Supernatural Worlds. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2016.

Browiec, Steven. "Korea's Smash Summer Hit Is A Zombie Movie That Strikes a Deep Chord." The Los Angeles Times 16 August 2016. www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-korea-zombie-movie-snap-story.html.

Crockett, Zachary and Zarracina, Javier. How the Zombie Represents America's Deepest Fears. 31 October 2016. www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/10/31/13440402/zombie-political-history.

Swain, Frank. How to Make a Zombie. The Real Life (and Deaths) Science of Renimation and MInd Control. Terragon: OneWorld Publications, 2013.

Train to Busan. Yeon Sang-Ho, et. al. Next Entertainment World, 2013. Netflix.

#train to busan #gong yoo #zombies #haitian vodou #george romero #world war z

4 notes · View notes

acuppellarp · 5 years

Photo

Welcome (back!) to A Cup-pella, Aly! We’re excited to have you and Dani Harper in the game! Please go through the checklist to make sure you’re ready to go and send in your account within the next 24 hours.

OOC INFO

Name + pronouns: Aly + She/Her. Age: 27. Timezone: GMT. Ships: Dani/Chemistry. Anti-Ships: Dani/Forced.

IC INFO

Full Name: Danielle Faith Harper. Face Claim: Demi Lovato. Age/Birthday: 23/July 29th. Occupation: Tattoo Artist at Tattoo Envy, and singer/guitar player for Pamela Lansbury. Personality: Driven, Independent, Loud, Loyal, Playful, Sarcastic, Unique. Hometown: Dallas, Texas. Bio: [ HOMOPHOBIA TW, RELIGION CW ]

There are many things that Michael and Renata Harper should not have done, with the main one being making the decision to have children. The fact that Michael had a son already from his previous, very short-lived marriage but only saw on the occasional weekend should’ve been enough to let anybody know that Michael was not parent material, and his wife was not much better. In fact, scratch that—of the two, Renata was much worse. Both raised in strict Catholic households, the Harper’s had certain ideals they had been raised to uphold, most of them entirely backward and outdated, and all revolving around not only respect but also a large fear of God. These ideals where pushed onto their daughter, the one they had never planned but found themselves conceiving anyway, only a few short months into their new marriage.

Danielle was supposed to be the very epitome of perfect. Like all young girls in their close minded hometown, Danielle would be a pretty little ballerina, would wear beautiful, frilly dresses and would worship the heck out of her Lord above. Unfortunately for the Harper’s, they hadn’t counted on creating a child that would have such a strong sense of freewill right from the off. From the toddler years, Danielle was boisterous and loud, though not exactly badly behaved. She just liked to have fun, and could always be found with a smile on her face, as well as some kind of colored sharpie or leftover food from the bowl she’d dumped over her own head earlier that day. She was every bit the handful her parents had never planned for, and as soon as Danielle was old enough, she was tossed right into classes that would hopefully put her on the right track.

First came etiquette classes. Her etiquette teacher, however, Mrs. Newman, would constantly report back to Michael and Renata to let them know that their daughter refused to follow direction, and would constantly correct her, telling her her name was Dani—a shortened version of her name the youngster gave herself early on, but something her parents flat out refused to address her by. Next were ballet classes, where Dani was expected to perfect her pirouettes alongside all of the other good little girls, but could instead be found in a corner of the room, sliding on her knees and playing air guitar. Nevertheless, her parents persisted, with piano lessons up next. Surprisingly, this was an area in which Dani excelled and showed real potential. Unfortunately for them, she seemed bored with the classical music she learned to play by ear, and would instead bang her hands on the keys in what she stated was a “rock” sound. Her parents were less than impressed.

The Harper’s weren’t exactly poor, nor were they rich. They were an average income family, who provided their daughter with only a handful of toys, all of which were very gender specific. Dani was supposed to play with dolls and tea sets, but instead she’d choose to grab a sharpie or crayon and doodle all over the shiny objects. Her parents insisted it was defiance, and that their daughter was an absolute tearaway, but she wasn’t. Dani’s early interest in making “artwork” was a telltale sign of things to come, though Michael and Renata would never acknowledge that. A redeeming factor for Dani was up front in church choir, where she’d sing her heart out with a beaming smile upon her face. It was evident that she’d been blessed with an angelic voice, one her parents could actually be proud of, but they had no interest in her pursuing a musical path. As long as she could sing in church, that was all they wanted.

By the time Dani reached middle school, music had become incredibly important to her. While she’d been pulled from her ballet classes when it became clear that she had no intentions of following any rules or regulations, Dani continued with her piano classes, and became a very skilled little artist. After only two or three times of hearing it, Dani could play almost any tune by ear, and was even gifted her own keyboard for her thirteenth birthday. Her parents had expected her to use it to practice the songs she’d learn in class, but instead Dani found a better use for it. With a clear gift, Dani had begun writing her own music, and eventually lyrics to go along with it. She’d use her keyboard to bring those new creations to life, and much to her parents dismay they were anything but classical. No surprise, when Dani begged her parents for a guitar the following year, their answer was a loud and firm no, but that wouldn’t stop her.

Not fitting in at all with her family, if Dani was not out with friends, she could be found in her bedroom, either writing music or making detailed pieces of beautiful artwork. Her creations were often kind of weird, definitely not the traditional Mona Lisa style, but they were good, Dani knew they were, and she made sure to save every last one of them in a large folder, which would someday become her portfolio. By high school, Dani’s artwork was not the only weird, unique thing about her; her style became just the same. Refusing with no uncertainty to wear dresses and skirts picked out by her mother, Dani could instead be found wearing skinny jeans, band tees and occasional blazers, one day even coming home with her hair dyed bright pink. It was a temporary dye, but her parents were not at all happy. Dani, of course, thought she looked awesome, and had no intentions of ceasing to express her creativity.

Many things changed for Dani in high school. It was during those years that she got her first job, working at a local diner and making pretty great tips thanks to her chatty, friendly nature. It took her a while, but eventually she’d saved up enough money to purchase a secondhand guitar, which Dani taught herself to play using online tutorials and the help of friends. It became the second instrument that Dani could play by ear, and allowed her to spread her wings as far as her own, original music. It was also during her high school years that Dani begun to explore her sexuality, realizing pretty quickly that she was one hundred percent gay. For such a close minded community, the minds of Dani’s friend group were pretty wide open, so when she confessed to her attraction towards the same sex, most were understanding and accepting. Some started to distance from her a little bit, but if that was how they felt about something as natural as sexuality, then that was fine by her, she didn’t need them.

Despite her bold, fierce personality and matching look, one thing Dani did not dare to do was to tell her parents about her lack of interest in the opposite sex, and the secret remained tucked away for the next few years. It’s strange, really, since Dani was always so open about everything else in her life. For some reason, though, maybe because despite their strange views and warped ideas of life and humanity, they were her parents, Dani didn’t want to lose them. She didn’t want to completely disappoint them, so she was happy with keeping that one part of her life a secret. Just that one thing, though. She refused to remain silent about her music, or her love for art, two paths that Dani would go on to follow in spite of her parents distaste for both.

The fact that they kept trying to force various college choices on her that so did not suit her style was laughable, but not surprising. It was clear that the Harper’s had never really known their daughter, and still had a slight glimmer of hope that she’d turn around one day and tell them her whole life until this point had been a big joke, and she was finally ready to obey their wishes. Of course, that didn’t happen, and amidst applications to the colleges she actually wanted, and the constant push from her parents to do and be something entirely different, Dani snapped. She’d never had a terrible temper, but could definitely stand up for herself if needed. The thing was, she just never bothered when it came to her parents. It seemed she’d spent much too long bottling everything up, though, and it was time for her explosion.

Along with telling them just how bad their parenting skills were, and how unfair it was that they’d never really gotten to know her as her own person and not just the unrealistic idea they’d always had for her, Dani also shrugged off her jacket to show them a tattoo she’d gotten inked on her arm behind their back, and then came the big one: “I’m also pretty fucking gay!” The tattoo unveiling had earned a dramatic gasp from her mother and a disappointed head shake from her father, but the loud and proud statement about her sexuality stunned all three of them to silence. It became very, very clear that Dani had just majorly screwed up, but as she packed her belongings, guitar strap over her shoulder and stormed out of the front door, she couldn’t bring herself to care. Homophobic slurs followed her out the door, which earned a raised middle finger from Dani in response, and after a little couch surfing in the homes of her closest friends, Dani was making her way to New York to begin her freshman year at Barnard College, where she would major in Art and minor in Music.

See, a big focus was always put on Dani’s music, but from the very moment she’d stepped foot into Dallas’ small tattoo studio, Got Ink?, she’d been bitten by the bug, and Dani knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life. She would continue to write and play music, and maybe she’d even try to make it big still, but Dani’s passion was in body art, and in making people feel as great about theirs as she did about hers. Without the worry of her parents finding out, and the fact that she honestly didn’t give a crap if they did, Dani got to work on racking up many a piece of body art once her new life in the city had begun, even landing herself a position as a junior artist at what quickly became her go-to studio, Tattoo Envy. Alongside her classes, Dani learned tattoo artistry from the pros, and was soon inking her very first grapefruit. That was a moment to be proud of.

Of course, out of state college tuition fees, and the fact that the end of her freshman year meant she wouldn’t be living in the college dorms anymore all equated to Dani’s need to find another job. For a junior position, Tattoo Envy actually paid pretty darn well, but Dani needed something more, which is where A Cup-pella came in. She’d worked a diner job before, so knew a position as a barista would be just fine, and she’d been right. Surpassing the kind of tips she’d made back in the diner in Dallas, Dani was able to use the money she made from her two jobs to rent a small apartment, with roommates of course, and even managed to find the time to work on her music, which she would showcase at various open mic nights throughout the city whenever the opportunity to do so arose.

By graduation, Dani truly was thriving. Despite the very thick Texas accent that would always remain, Dani’s life in Dallas was practically forgotten. New York was clearly the place for her. She made new friends, had the chance to express not only her sexuality but also herself and her style, and even joined a band. Remaining loyal to Tattoo Envy, Dani begun to climb the ladder until she was becoming one of their most sought after tattoo artists, despite her young age. With the funds to do so, she even adopted herself a puppy. He’s a total handful, but he’s so freaking worth it. Dani’s life feels like it’s finally what it should be, like everything is finally on track for her. Love isn’t a huge deal to her, but it’s something she quietly would take pleasure in finding. Though her music and beloved tattoo art are keeping her pretty dang busy for now.

Pets: Dani recently rescued a puppy, who she decided to name Drummer, from the local shelter. Drummer is a Yorkshire Terrier bred with a Miniature Poodle, so you can imagine just how tiny he is. Since Drummer is still only a baby, Dani is still working on potty training him, but he’s surprisingly well behaved and, unsurprisingly, very playful. Drummer’s fur is completely black, and he has big dark eyes that he has, of course, already learned how to use for begging. The pup gets along well with people and other animals, and totally has Dani wrapped around his little paw.

EXTRA INFO

[ This is for the masterlist, but also a fun little way to get to know your character! ]

Dani 😎🎸/@inkbydani/description: Singer, songwriter, self taught guitar player, tattoo artist, badass lady-loving sapphic goddess.

Five latest tweets:

@inkbydani: Okay but hear me out… For such a prestigious school, WHY did Horace Green not have ID cards?? #SchoolOfWRONG @inkbydani: Speaking of which, Jack Black is kind of creepy, but I would’ve totally been down for Dewey Finn as a sub. @inkbydani: SOS my dog just tried to eat his potty pad, how does that taste good?? @inkbydani: Songwriting is a total soul soother. #NewSongComingSoon @inkbydani: Imagine being one of those people who has self-control… #YourGirlGotNewInk

#accepted

1 note · View note