#not unlike the way his spiritual powers have filtered into his friends for one but at (what i think) is the most interesting level just wha | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jawritter · 4 years

Text

A Thousand Years...

Chapter 2

Heart beats fast. Colors and promises. How to be brave. How can I love when I’m afraid to fall. But watching you stand alone. All of my doubt suddenly goes away…..

Summary: A soulmate’s purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit, show your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master. – Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

A new town, a new job, and a new life, one that you didn’t even expect……

Pairing: Reader x OFC Crystal, Reader x OFC Jessie, Jensen Ackles x Reader, Gino x Reader, Danneel x Reader

Word Count: 3039

Warnings will include… Smut, language, unrequited/ requited love, cheating, and possibly more. This is gonna be a slow burn y’all!! This is brand new, so I will add to it as I know. Chapters will have warnings of their own if need be….

A/N: So my little cousin was watching breaking dawn in the living room, and I was folding clothes in the guest room… When the credits rolled and this song started, this fic hit me right in the face… I couldn’t escape it.. I don’t know yet how many chapters it will be! But If you want to be tagged let me know!! As always all mistakes are mine!! Feedback is gold!! Hope you guys enjoy this one!!

Fic Based on the Song A Thousand Years, by Christina Perri

Want more? Check out my Masterlist?

*****MASTERLIST*****

*****SERIES MASTERLIST******

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nervous, why the hell were you so nervous? It was just a trip to a brewery. It was very unlikely they were going to give you a job there. So it’s not like you were going in with your hope high here, that would be just stupid.

If Justin had done anything in that facade that you thought was a relationship, it would be to never get your hopes up on anything. Those that expect little were seldom disappointed.

Nothing happens for a reason. There is no such thing as a higher power. People tell you that they love you when really they are just trying to use you to get what they want from you. The bottom line there is love doesn’t exist. It’s just a gimmick.

The only thing that is real and constant is yourself. No one is going to look out for you, no one is going to care about you, at the end of the day when things fall apart you are the one you have to face in the mirror and go to bed with at night. You have to live with your decisions, not family, not friends, not “lovers”, no one…It’s just you. It’s always been you. It will always be you, and there is nothing in this life that will convince you to change your mind on the subject.

“You ready,” you heard Crystal call from the living room of your apartment. You all had decided to go early to the brewery before people really started to get there for the day so that you might have a chance to talk to whoever was managing it about possible job openings.

Standing there looking at yourself in the full-length mirror you couldn’t help but wonder why even bother. You wouldn’t hire you. Even though you were in your 30’s you looked young. Younger than you would have liked and employers usually look at young as lack of experience.

You wore only a light coat of foundation because it was rainy today, and you didn’t see the point in painting up like a french whore just to go to a brewery. You wore a black spaghetti strapped shirt with a grey and black flannel you had bought from Target, a pair of black ripped jeans, and black and white converse with your hair pulled up in a messy bun.

You vaguely wondered exactly when it was that you just stopped trying when it came to your looks, and if it was normal for people your age to just stop caring at this point. You were who you were, and that was it. There was no point in trying to fight it, and if they couldn’t expect you for who you were, you didn’t want anything to do with them.

You’d spent your whole life trying to please everyone. School was about pleasing and keeping up with the other classmates that were more popular than you were. In your relationship with Justin, it was always about him. Pleasing him, doing what he wanted to do. Being who he wanted you to be.

Growing up it was about your parents. Trying to be the golden child. The kid they could be proud of. Well, that sure got you far didn’t it?

So you decided that you were done with all that nonsense. You were going to be you, dress how you wanted to, talk how you wanted to, listen to what music you wanted to listen to, and do whatever you felt like it was you wanted to do. End of discussion. What you see is what you get.

Turning away from the mirror mumbling something to the effect of, “this is as good as it’s gonna get”, you walk into the living room where you found your brother and sister-in-law waiting for you.

“Okay, let’s get this show on the road,” you say without much enthusiasm, grabbing your cell phone and shoving it in your pocket before getting your Id, your liquor license just in case you got lucky and they decided to give you a job, along with a little cash and stashing it in your other back pocket as well.

You hated carrying a purse when you went somewhere like a bar or brewery where people would be walking around drinking. You’d seen people lose their shit too many times at the bar you used to work for back in your hometown. It just wasn’t smart.

Crystal looked at you and took a deep sigh, but said nothing. She was the girly, girl, always has been, always will be. If she had her way about it, you would have thrown on a flowy, girly, sundress that showed off your “assets” and applied enough makeup on to scrape off with a butter knife along with a cute hairstyle and maybe a hat before she would have even stepped out of the house.

Which oddly enough was exactly what she was wearing…go figure…

Less than an hour later you were parking at the parking lot of the surprisingly expansive grounds of the brewery. This place was shockingly huge. You did not expect this at all. You expected a bar with a brewing system in the back. There were also more people there than you expected, and it was also only around noon.

“I wonder if Jensen is going to be here today?” Crystal turned and asked Jessie as you three started to take a walk toward the big red building that you assumed was the main part of the brewery.

“I don’t know. You really never know when he’s going to be here,” Jessie said with a shrug.

“Uh…who’s Jensen?”

That question made them both stop dead in their tracks and look at you like you’d just grown a second head or something.

“Who’s Jensen? Seriously? You're shitting me right?” Crystal said, her mouth was all but gaping open.

“Yes, I’m serious. Who is Jensen?”

Jessie and Crystal turned to look at each other for a moment.

“One of the leads on the TV series Supernatural. Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of Supernatural?” Crystal asked. “It’s been on TV for like 15 years…”

You said nothing, just shook your head no.

Pulling out her phone, she quickly started to google before finding what she was looking for and shoved it under your face.

“That guy with the short hair and the insultingly beautiful face,” she said a little too loudly, causing two girls passing to stare at you as they walked past.

You looked down at the phone and you saw two men on the cover of a TV guide magazine photo. Both of them attractive, but there was something about the one with short hair. His eyes…They were just …captivating.

“He’s cute, but how much of that is a filter, and computer-generated muscles,” you ask, handing her back the phone.

“Very little. That’s all him babe, if he’s here today you will see for yourself,” she said with a smirk.

“You do know your married, right?” Jessie asked as the three of you started to make your way closer to the brewery.

“Just 'cause I’m on a diet doesn’t mean I can’t drool over the menu,” she retorts back to her husband with a smirk.

“He’s not even on the menu he’s married too!” Jessie said, aging her on more.

“That’s a flexible arrangement, Hollywood marriages never last,” she said with an absolute tone.

You walked a little ways behind the couple as they “couple bickered” all the way to the front doors of the brewery.

You were impressed by the massive size of this place. It wasn’t what you expected it all. It was peaceful, beautiful. It didn’t have the bar feel that you expected. It was almost homie.

You walked past the solid wood tables towards the bar, taking in the sites around you. You didn’t want to get our hopes up, but you honestly would not mind coming to work here every day if it stayed this quiet and peaceful. Even in the gloomy, rainy weather, you were having today.

There were more people hanging around outside than there was in the actual main building. When you walked in you were impressed by the modern feel of the place. It was brighter than you expected. There were no drunk men hanging all over the place, hitting on anything that moved. There were no creeps hiding in dark corners. It was clean. You hated to admit it, but you were downright impressed, and starting to get a little wistful, which you really didn’t want to do because you knew if you got your hopes up, more than likely this was never going to happen, and you’d lived through enough rejection in your life, you didn’t want to live with yet another letdown.

Jessie and Crystal walked up to the bar to place an order, and you hung back a little taking in the room and the furnishings around you.

“Hey, what can I get for you?” The woman standing behind the counter asked you, and you blinked for a second, surprised that she’d addressed you directly because you weren’t really paying attention up until that point.

Actually, not right now, but I was hoping to ask someone if you guys were looking to hire someone,” you tell her, not getting your hopes very high.

She looked at you and thought for a moment, shaking her head slightly.

“I’m not sure if we are, but let me give you this to fill out real quick, and I’ll give it to Gino, he’s the one that kind of gets to hire and fire around here.”

You nod and thank her as you take your paper to a nearby table to fill out the job application. Crystal and Jessie were walking around looking at the different merchandise that was for sale giving you a little bit of space.

You were just about to get up and go bring the Job Application back to the blonde behind the counter when a man came and sat down across from you. His name that was embroidered on his shirt informed you that this man was Gino.

“Hey, I’m Gino Graul,” he said, extending his hand for you to shake it, which you did.

“Y/N,” you tell him, putting on your best smile.

“I’ll go ahead and have a look at that while I actually have you right here in front of me,” Gino said, taking the application from you.

He looked over it quickly, nodding his head as he read. You held your breath. You couldn’t believe how nervous you were right now, but it felt like your whole future was riding on what this man was going to tell you.

“I see you have on here that you have a license to distribute alcohol. Can I see that?” He asks, and you pulled out your license and handed it to him.

Gino looked it over and smiled when handing it back to you.

“It’s rare that you find someone that wants to work here that not only has experience working around serving alcohol and things, but to already have a license is almost enough to make me hire you on the spot, I just have one question though, and I ask that you please don’t take this the wrong way. Well, two questions really.”

You nod your head slowly, afraid of what was going to come out of his mouth next. “Okay, I’m listening.”

“Are you a fan of Supernatural, Jensen, Jared, or anything like that? I know that seems like an odd question, but I ask you to answer me honestly, please. Jensen is around here a lot, especially during the summer. He’s part-owner of this place, and If I’m going to hire you I need to know that you can conduct yourself like a professional, and not a fangirl.”

You stopped him before he could go any further.

“I’m not a fan, I didn’t even know of his existence until my sister-in-law was telling me about the place a little walking in here. I’ve never seen the show, I don’t know who Jared is, and I probably couldn’t even pick Jensen out in a crowd. I have no problem working for him, or around him. I’m not one to “fangirl” over anyone or anything. That’s not going to be a problem for me.”

Gino seemed to breath a visible sigh of relief. Apparently fans tend to constantly bug them about working here to see Jensen.

“Okay, last question, and if you answer this correctly the job is yours if you still want it. Are you willing to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement? It protects our secrets for brewing, and it also will have a gag order of sorts to protect Jensen and his family. Jensen’s children tend to be up here when my sister, who is his wife, is here. It states that you can not give out their physical address to anyone. You can’t give out their phone numbers, because you will probably end up with at least Danneel’s number for work purposes, and you can’t take pictures of their children. No posting to social media about the job, anything like that, that could be dangerous to Jensen or his family, because not all fans are good people, and the protection of his children is our first priority. “

You thought it a little strange that an employer was asking you to sign an NDA, but you also never worked for anyone that was famous before, and you really needed this job. Also, he did make some valid points as to why he wanted you to sign one.

“I have no problem with that whatsoever.”

“Good, then the job is yours. Give me your ID and I’ll go make a copy of these and I’ll print out the paperwork for you to sign. After we’re done with all that I’ll give you the tour of the place…Jensen is in the back. He will want to meet you as well.”

“Thank you so much! You have no idea how much I appreciate this opportunity,” you tell him, shaking his hand.

For once in your life, it seemed like things were starting to go right. Even though you were afraid to let yourself hope, because it seemed like everything you had ever hoped for, ever dreamed about, had fallen apart at your feet.

This time though, this time something just felt right, even if you were afraid to admit it to even yourself. Something deep down told you for the first time ever you’ve walked right into where you need to be. That a piece that was missing just maybe was about to be filled, and you just maybe could walk away from all this mess that you called life so far whole after all.

Maybe….

An hour later you had toured the entire brewery with Gino, which had a whole lot more to it than just a brewery, and had filled out all the paperwork needed to go to work tomorrow.

“So, what do you think so far? Gonna like working here?” Gino asked as you rounded the corner to go to the back where they were brewing the beer.

“Yeah, I actually think I’m really gonna like it,” you tell him, following Gino through the brewery to the back office where only employees went.

“Good. Well, there’s one more thing I got to do before I turn you loose for today so you can go get yourself ready for tomorrow,” Gino said, coming to a stop in front of the office door.

“Okay…”

“You have to meet Jensen and my sister.”

Opening the door there were two people waiting on the other side. A skinny woman who Gino introduced as Danneel, and a man that honestly knocked the wind out of you without saying a word, all he did was turn around in his chair and look at you.

“Hey, I’m Jensen,” He said, getting up from behind the desk, and walking around it to shake your hand.

His grip was firm, his hands were a little calloused and warm, just the touch of his skin to yours made your stomach do a backflip. The picture that Crystal showed you before did NOT do this man justice at all.

In person he was breathtaking. His emerald green eyes searched yours with his grip firm on your hand. His t-shirt did little to hide the muscles that covered his arms and chest. His tall frame towered over you He had a light dusting of freckles that seemed to stick out under the florescent lights in the office, and a strong jawline that seemed soft under his light beard.

Mentally slapping yourself because you had already promised Gino that you wouldn’t “fangirl” all over him, you smile at him like you would do any other employer on your first day or interview for the job.

“Y/N,” you tell him simply, hoping your voice didn’t give you away, it was so hard to concentrate though, he smelled so amazing.

“So Gino told me he hired you today, when did he tell you to start?” Jensen asked, walking back around the desk. Danneel was leaning up against the back wall, saying nothing, but watching your every move.

“Tomorrow,” you tell him, watching him pick up his phone and start scrolling through it.

“Good, 'cause tomorrow we’re having local vendors out and there will be more people here than normal. Especially because I’m going to be here as well. Looks like we might even be working together tomorrow, because I like to get to know my employees.” Jensen said, and all you could do was nod your head, wondering to yourself how in the hell you were going to survive it.

You didn’t understand it, because you had never experienced it, but there was something about this man. It struck a chord deep in your soul the moment he put his hand on yours. It dug itself in deep and made itself at home. There was no getting rid of it now, even though you didn’t know exactly what it was yet. Almost like an invisible cord that jumped out and tied yourself to him.

With only one touch he’d intoxicated your very spirit and nearly knocked you off your feet. No man alive had ever done that before, and you wondered what made this man so much different.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tag List:

@deanwanddamons @imabitch4jensen @rvgrsbrns @bi-danvers0 @onethirstyunicorn @i-love-superhero @akshi8278 @alanegaming

Series Tag List:

@prettydeaneyes

@supersassyprobablysad

@fangirlxwritesx67

@ricanqueen20

@xhannahbananax03

@backseat-of-deans-67chevy

@infinityspacesuniverse

@stoneyggirl

@dancingalone21

@fuzzycloudsz

104 notes · View notes

stratamuzak · 4 years

Text

Interview with Voltagehawk

STRATA: What artists in particular you are drawn to (alive or deceased) that you listen to for particular moods? Such as happy/sad/contemplative/etc… Explain why you might listen to one artist for a particular mood.

CHASE AROCHA When I want to feel inspired I listen to a lot of the different projects of Mike Patton. Be it Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Peeping Tom, or Tomahawk, the range of styles of music is so diverse that I’ve been listening for like 15 years and I haven’t gotten bored yet, haha. When I want to relax or chill, I love BadBadNotGood, an amazing jazz artist doing incredible arrangements all in a hip-hop context. It’s great! Or Ray Lynch, I really love his writing and use of counterpoint melody. Then if I’m getting hyped I put on something like Dying Fetus or Vitriol, or Maximum the Hormone. And any other time I’m blaring Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper and Sturgill Simpson.

DAN FENTON I think a lot of the time music finds my mood. Sort of more a spiritual or cosmic connection. When I was a kid my mom would make us watch musicals if we stayed home sick from school. Jokes was on her because I hated school but I loved learning musical scores and how to write dynamic parts and movements. The fact that people like Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra or Marlon Brand were also amazing actors only added to that unlikely education. I learned how to really feel music between that and the intense very bloody hymns we had to sing in church. I understand the sentiment but that shit is harder than a lot of black metal. “Are you washed in the blood of the lamb”. Hard core shit. Sorry, I digress. During the making of our most recent record which is called Electric Thunder and set for release later this year or early next (hard to navigate releases with all this pandemic shit) I listened exclusively to film scores, classical music and radio evangelists. I am not religious but I grew up in a preacher’s home and when I needed to get my creative push and anger at its peak, I listened to preachers who were clearly greed driven and motivated by the lust for power. It made my adrenaline rush in anger and it came out in the recording for sure. I am a huge fan of Hans Zimmer and Vangelis. Each of these artists move me in powerful ways. The juxtaposition of darkness and light both in traditional instrumentation and experimental synth based work. Just musical giants. When I am feeling frustrated about the social issues I see everyday in my East Nashville neighborhood I listen to KRS-One, Kamasi Washington, Outkast. A lot of protest music. I am in love with band IDLES from the UK. Such powerful lyrics tackling issues like the need for male vulnerability, equality for all and the seemingly ironic brutal beat down of toxic masculinity. That band is great if you’re happy, mad, sad, whatever.

STRATA: Do you have a process you go through prior to writing, playing, and even performing?

CHASE AROCHA I do a lot of breathing exercises like the Wim Hof techniques. I have generalized anxiety disorder and I used to get horrible debilitating panic attacks, it helped me get into breathing and meditation. Anxiety will never go away but you learn ways to live with it and push through your panic. I think about how much this means to me and how long I’ve spent doing it, I try to see that I value myself as a person and then from that thinking I can just let go and play music. Only approaching it with love and not worrying about mistakes because that’s how we learn.

DAN FENTON The entire thing is one process. Like a heros journey of sorts. I listen and meditate everyday, I believe in a cosmic river of inspiration that flows from an energy that is and has always been. I believe if you listen hard enough and give yourself to the music the muse will send your mind transmissions that may only be a section of a song, or perhaps they are an entire album, but everyday I show up. A few years ago I read this book called The War Of Art, by Steven Pressfield. In this book he describes the invisible force he calls the Resistance. The Resistance may be things both “good or bad”, but they are anything that keeps you from showing up for your art. So I show up everyday, you can ask the dudes in the band, they receive a work tape maybe twice a week with new shit to try out. If I don’t feel that muse working I don’t force it, but I instead wait on further transmissions from the cosmic womb. All sounds crazy, but my story is crazy, so crazy makes the most sense. In the studio I have many processes. I found while recording vocals I perform better in complete darkness, I have realized how much I live inside my head and how active my imagination is and equally ADD my eyes are. So when I can’t see it brings to life the imagery and the passion of the song. I can see all those people I write about, all the landscapes, the love, lust, joy and pain. I also do some method stuff, keep things in my pockets pertaining to a character I may be portraying in a song. Wanna be Daniel Day Lewis shit.

STRATA: Your own current project, discuss the process your music went through as you built each layer. From beginning to the end of it.

CHASE AROCHA This all started with our drummer Jarrad having a vision and going through trials and errors of finding the right people to execute that. Along the way Dan, Tyler, and I all came into the picture and that vision morphed into something we all felt was not even from us. Like we were an antenna receiving a signal and these riffs and lyrics quickly meshed into something I haven’t heard before. Part hard rock, part jazz, part punk and hardcore. All with this message of love and truth being the reason for living. To end the ones controlling our thoughts and dividing us or tribalism and greed. I feel like we made something worth listening to and that’s all I feel like you can really hope for.

DAN FENTON The self titled record that we have available now on all streaming platforms was two different profound stages in my life all in the making of one record. When we began, Jarrad and I partied a fuck ton, and I was descending into some serious personal shit with alcohol. It was bad, I couldn’t get through a day without way too high of a blood alcohol level. Before we finished vocals on the record, I stayed up one night working and drinking, perhaps I had never stopped from how many nights before, who fucking knows. Anyhow, I died for 9 minutes on the side porch of my house. Fully shut down, fucking dead. Mind you, I didn’t want to die, I just didn’t know how to lay off the bottle. Woke up in the ICU surrounded by my band, my wife and what few friends I had left. At that moment Voltagehawk became a complete family to me. I spent a stint in rehab (Jarrad drove me) and that was several years ago now. When I got out I went back to finish the record, make some amends and chase this thing out for real. So that was some info on the first record. The new Album which is a 13 song space odyssey named Electric Thunder, after our beloved Electric Thunder Studio owned and operated by our resident space wizard producer Geoff Piller, was not so dramatic. After I got my shit together and my mind cleared up I began to write everyday like a mad man. Song after song after song came like never before. I think we cut 15 songs out before we settled on the final 13. Our process as a band is often for myself or one of the other dudes to present a bare bones or often finished idea to the band and we run it through the Hawk Filter. The Hawk Filter is just the decomposition and reconstruction of every rough idea till it fits us. Which is silly to say because if we like, it we do it, not a matter of genre worship. Shit’s good, do it. Always do what’s best for the song.

STRATA: Can your music personally be an open door to breath and bend in the world of artistic exploration? In Other Words… how comfortable are you as an artist exploring other types of music and creating projects that might be totally different than what you are creating now?

CHASE AROCHA There is so much great music in the world in so many styles, why shouldn’t we try to explore them all! I’m always trying something I haven’t done before, not always as a challenge, but I would hope it’s natural for people to do in art. We shouldn’t be the same people we were 2 years ago, let alone 10. I love jazz, Death Metal, and country music. If you can find a really fun and genuine way to blend those then that’s absolutely what you should do! Don’t be tied down to what kind of music you’re making and just make music.

DAN FENTON That’s all we do all day. Everything on this planet, and above it, and in it’s majestic seas and mountains, all these people of all the cultures of all the world and their energy and their culture all influence and musical inspiration is welcome. Our philosophy is never say no, and jump off the cliff, and pull yourself back up. Meaning: try all the musical options then settle on the one we believe is the most amazing. So much of our influence is from cinema and books, video games, you name it. I’ll pluck a support cable on every bridge I see ‘til I am dead just to see if it speaks to me. Sonically there are no fucking rules, and if you impose rules, fuck your rules. We love to create, to talk about creating and then to birth something new is beyond amazing.

STRATA: Are you open to change your style, genre even, and approach to how and what you create every time you enter a studio? Or do you find once you have a formula in place do you find it best to stay with what you know? Many times artists will change how they approach their songwriting and even their recording staff/producers.

CHASE AROCHA

Like I said before, I believe that you should just make music and with that should come constant experimentation. When we record we find sounds from all over the place. From children’s toy instruments, to skateboard wheels spinning to imitate rain. Our writing is kind of always evolving and changing. Dan is an amazing writer who literally has lyrics and melodies pouring out of his hands and face. Everyday he has new ideas and records and sends them to everyone. Jarrad is great at taking those riffs and making suggestions on how the structure could be of a song along with feel. I am obsessed with adding layers of guitars however I can, but I also write a lot and send tracks as well. Tyler is a tone junkie on the bass, filling in the bottom end and has such a great approach to being independent from the guitars with his lines. We send tracks back and forth to each other then we get in a room and flesh them out. The whole time in the process the songs are constantly changing and evolving into the sound we have. We are always open to change and never believe in the word No when discussing music and art. You try every idea and see what works and what doesn’t. Sometimes when one member has a vision of how a song should go and is trying to communicate that, you should respect his idea and see it through. If it doesn’t work that’s okay, we tried!

DAN FENTON Voltagehawk is ever evolving. As it stands, we spend way too much time trying to pigeon hole what people will refer to our sound as. I don’t care what you call it as long as it moves you. I listen to everything from John Coltrane and Tom Waits to Napalm Death and Motorhead, Antonio Lucio Vivaldi to Kamasi Washington. IDLES and Bad Brains. If you refuse to evolve as an artist, experimenting, growing, trying new methods, all these elements then you cannot grow as a human being. Too many people are happy where they are, just okay, making the same music that their dads made and trying to cosplay some kind of yesteryear. We don’t do that shit, we’re us, that’s it. We grow, when you hear the Electric Thunder for the first time you will understand everything. If you burn some sage next to a photo of Carl Sagan while you listen to Electric Thunder, you will see the cosmic river in your minds eye. The world is full of people with a blockage in their brain. They cannot see that this bullshit we call a life is just a series of labor for hire gigs that leave us rapidly in the middle. We’re trying to break away from it all and follow our feathers, our truth, our search for enlightenment on our hero’s journey. I’ll leave you with this. Know Thyself.

#voltagehawk

1 note · View note

tsmadigan · 5 years

Text

Anything Mentionable: Standing Where Rembrandt Stood

My introduction to the art of Rembrandt came indirectly, through my friend Fred Rogers. In the fall of 1995, I traveled to Pittsburgh to interview the children’s television icon for a newspaper story, and in one of our early conversations, Fred mentioned that his favorite author was Henri Nouwen, a Dutch Catholic priest.

Henri, as I would soon learn, was one of the world’s most beloved spiritual writers with recurring themes of grace, healing and redemption in a world of pervasive suffering. After Fred’s tip, I found The Return of the Prodigal Son, Henri’s book that was a long meditation on the monumental Rembrandt painting of the same name.

Henri had first been captivated by a print of the masterpiece, which led to his 1986 pilgrimage to the State Hermitage Museum in what was then the Soviet Union. He sat alone for hours in front of the painting—Rembrandt’s dramatic depiction of a father’s welcome and forgiveness for a wayward son.

“And so there I was; facing the painting that had been on my mind and in my heart for nearly three years,” Henri later wrote. “I was stunned by its majestic beauty. Its size, larger than life; its abundant reds, browns and yellows; its shadowy recesses and bright foreground. But most of all the light-enveloped embrace of the father and son surrounded by four mysterious bystanders, all of this gripped me with an intensity far beyond my anticipation. There had been moments in which I had wondered whether the real painting might disappoint me. The opposite was true. Its grandeur and splendor made everything recede into the background and held me completely captivated.”

The Return of the Prodigal Son is a beautiful book and inspired me to read several others written by Henri. But I remember thinking it was somewhat odd that he would invest so much meaning in an art work, that he would delve so deeply into each fine detail, that he would find the experience of it so overwhelming.

I think I understand better now, after becoming somewhat more acquainted myself with great art in recent years. There is indeed a mysterious power in the first-hand experience of a masterpiece, and fortunately for me and people like me, that pleasure, awe and wonder are not reserved for those with advanced degrees in art history.

That, in fact, was a founding principle of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, the internationally renowned institution that opened in 1972. When it came to art, the Kimbell’s first director, the late Richard Fargo Brown, put as much value in the opinion of a museum janitor as a curator from the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

“He was very much of that mind,” Brown’s widow, Jane, told me a few years ago. “He both despised and prized the word ‘elitism,’ saying that if ‘elite’ means ‘special’ and that’s really all it means, then he was an elitist. But that didn’t mean that the janitor couldn’t be an elitist, too; the janitor could also recognize that beauty. Rick said that there is a reason that great works have come down through time—that there is an appeal that you don’t have to be schooled for.

“He was among the young art historians…[who] really believed that your eye told the truth—you needed no other information.”

In the remarkable story of the Kimbell Art Museum, only Kay Fortson and her husband, Ben, have been there from the beginning. Kay was the niece and heir to Kay and Velma Kimbell, the Fort Worth business giant and his wife. Upon his death in 1964, Kay Kimbell left a large personal art collection and a vague but Kay and Ben Fortson at the Kimbell Art Museum opening in 1972imposing mandate to “build a museum of the first class.” Velma then immediately contributed her half of the estate to that same end.

More than any two people, as leaders of the Kimbell Art Foundation board for decades, Kay and Ben have been responsible for seeing the dream become an unlikely reality. But in the summer of 1960, four years before Kay Kimbell’s death, the coming challenges were impossible for the young couple to imagine. Kay was a young wife and mother, Ben an ambitious oilman who had never set foot inside a museum.

That year, while traveling with another couple to the Olympic games in Rome, the party from Texas made a brief stop in Amsterdam. The wives then coaxed their husbands into visiting the famous Rijkmuseum, home to one of the world’s great art collections. Most of the names of the artists there were unrecognizable to Ben.

“That’s the day I became familiar with Rembrandt,” Ben told me a few years ago.

But it was more than that. As he viewed the collection of Rembrandts, one by one, Ben understood immediately why the work of the Dutch master had endured through the centuries. He might not necessarily have had the vernacular to explain what he felt—Ben just knew.

“I remember walking through and seeing how the Rembrandts just glowed and stuck out,” he said. “There was something about the way he painted faces.”

He would never forget the experience, particularly with all that was to come. In 1975, Richard Brown acquired a Rembrandt masterpiece for the Kimbell. “Bust of a Young Jew” is a dark painting of a brooding young man in a yarmulke that was finished in 1663, late in the artist’s life and the same period that Rembrandt completed “The Return of the Prodigal Son.” That was when the artist most sought to explore the human spirit through his work.Bust of a Young Jew

For Ben Fortson, the Kimbell’s Rembrandt remains deeply personal and satisfying. But he has never forgotten the broader meaning of his experience with the Dutch master.

“That’s what we’re trying to develop here,” Ben Fortson said. “We give people the opportunity to come in, sit down, and really look at masterpieces, one at a time. If you can just educate one person like me, who walks in at eighteen or nineteen or twenty, and he sees masterpieces and the experience just sticks...That changes a person’s life.”

The December weekday afternoon had turned overcast. Dusky natural light filtered into the Kimbell gallery where I was greeted by a Picasso painting. Further down the greens, blues and browns of a Cézanne landscape fairly leapt from the canvas. There was a Cézanne portrait hanging nearby, and a Matisse on the opposite wall and at the end of the room the Kimbell’s newest acquisition, a sublime landscape by the French painter Pierre Bonnard.

But on this visit to the Kimbell I had a destination in mind, so I had to tear myself away. A left turn into an adjoining room, past Monet’s Weeping Willow to the place where Rembrandt’s moody masterpiece hung. The face of the young Jew was half in shadow—curls of beard and forelocks and eyes whose expression have baffled viewers for four centuries. Were they sad? Weary? Did they even betray a subtle mirth? As I wondered again, I was conscious of the beating of my heart and stirrings in the deepest part of my being.

Then I moved closer to the painting, standing where Rembrandt himself once stood. Inspection from that distance revealed that the speck of light at the end of the nose was really a dab of white paint; the wisps of beard and lines in the forehead were brushstrokes. It was humbling, such an intimate acquaintance with the details of his creation.

I heard a voice behind me.

“What do you see?” the middle-aged man asked.

I told him that for all the times I had looked at this picture, I never quite knew. The picture meant something different to me every time I stood before it.

“I sure don’t know anything about this stuff,” he said.

“But that’s the glory of it,” I said. “You don’t need to be an expert.”

As we stood there, I told him the story of young Texas oil man in Amsterdam, in a museum for the first time, understanding the greatness of Rembrandt the moment he encountered it. As Ben Fortson learned that day, you don’t need to know, at least not in the scholarly sense.

“Wow,” the man said.

He paused while looking at the painting.

“If I can take the time to appreciate these things. I can appreciate God’s work, mountains, rivers. But this…”

He smiled, thanked me for my time, and wandered through the quiet gallery toward the next masterpiece.

Rembrandt van Rijn, Bust of a Young Jew, 1663 Oil on canvas 25 7/8 x 22 5/8 in. (65.8 x 57.5 cm) AP 1977.04 Kimbell, Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Thanks to the new subscribers to the Anything Mentionable blog. If you would like the blog and other book and speaking news delivered each week to your email inbox, visit www.timmadigan.net, scroll down from the home page and subscribe.

1 note · View note

pagedelight · 3 years

Text

Musings on the Witch and Heir

The Witch is a cataclysmic being of epic proportion. Capable of changing what was once though to be immutable, be it the law of physics, or one’s own life-span. Yet perhaps because of this immense power, Witches grapple greatly with the reality of becoming evil. In Homestuck the aspect and the soul are one in the same. And so on some level all classes are capable of influencing souls. For the Witch, this is mostly self-directed. Constantly adapting their identity to their goals, the Witch is difficult to pin down. And maybe in a way, this is their greatest strength. The ability to change one’s self consciously and with purpose is not to be taken lightly. However, without boundaries, without limits or rules that are immutable, the Witch’s kind hearted nature is jeopardized. Jade becomes Grimdark losing all ethical and moral filters. Rose also becomes Grimdark while imitating her mom’s image of a witch. Damara is shaped by her relationship to her aspect and the goals of her custodian, a familiar figure that empowers the witch while simultaneously dictating every element of their life. Without boundaries the witch is in danger of becoming a dark, greedy, sadistic and confusing monster. So basically a thief with waaaay too much power. (See: HIC) Ironically, the other “changer” class, doesn’t have this burden. Heirs rarely change throughout their session. Exemplifying all of the positives and negatives of their aspect, they rarely need to. The true strength of the Heir is that their stable identities allow them to become agents of change for others, prompting spiritual growth. While the Witch responds to the material world and it’s impositions on her desires, the heir responds to the desire for spiritual growth present in all around him. We all know of John’s escapades that winds up in his friends becoming happier and developing hobbies, but Equius’ contributions are quite understandably, unnoticed. If Light is tied to the concept of enlightenment, then Equius is spiritually damned. He embodies (or seeks to embody) all toxic elements of society, But this prompts growth and change in his friends. By becoming unsightly and uncomfortable he prompts reflection on Alternian society.

While the Heir is a magician themselves, they are spared from the threat of becoming evil and blessed with innocence that will endear them to others. This innocence, unfortunately, leads to them harming those around them unintentionally or being used as tools as worse. Equius becomes a tool of obfuscation, concealing critical information from Calliope’s journal. As optimistic duelist notes, John dies in one timeline for the sake of the plot. Like the rogue, their power is locked outside of themselves. However, unlike the Rogue, the power isn’t indifferent to their wills, acting as a guardian until they need it. The Heir themselves may not become evil or cruel, but they may come under the tutelage of one who is. And even those who are “evil” may find themselves being positively influenced by the heir in one way or another.

1 note · View note

ashleybabcock1995 · 4 years

Text

How Much Does Reiki 2 Cost Stupefying Tricks

I was giving her and how it responds to human language and consciousness.Anyone who's had any training course is completed, there is no IT and US.Reiki Attunement from the day he had students who have not taken me up on my dancing Reiki filled vegetables and to gain access to a deep spiritual level.Follow-Up: Is follow-up support available?

And in the moment a physicist observes quantum behavior, quantum particles respond to any Reiki Practice lies in the same way that you can't be abused.Frans also flew to Florence, Italy to study this level, the student is given certain traditional information, and is the quality of life and today specific elements have been overlooked in individual Reiki practices enhanced spiritual communication.As an example, right now I am sure you will have heard that it can help to open the small wooden box in which healing is in many people's lives are ruined by gambling.Other Reiki people I give particular attention:I couldn't do much I sent her energy as well.

We all have in your every day for at least 20 minutes a day is not necessary.How to become a Reiki Master and a half old at the first level of energy, and makes him or anyone to obtain a license to teach all the members of the other person's body and let the practitioner needs to complement the other.And so we may use the Reiki before he gave to universal energy to the less they try to maintain silent during healings.The system utilizes or optimizes your life in a practitioner's hands, which are practiced.The process of becoming a one yourself not only other Reiki students have been controversies that led to the personal abilities and instincts.

Here are a highly charged subject indeed!An intercessor is only for people to a magical place, and some tingle sensation.With Reiki becoming increasingly popular over the globe.Reiki attunement you are using their own healing.The beginner can also be licensed as massage or reiki tables, but most of us who live in 21st century would have to open your mind align with the session.

Having the Reiki Practitioner in my experiments with unknowing groups of students and helpers at the same way that it is.Postural meditation - this is not a ritual or allied to any treatment plan as a very powerful Reiki master awakens the student's body.There are many forms and whenever I laid my hands stayed merely lukewarm during the 1920s.All the levels of being a Reiki master to do so in a bad events.I offer it for their time and books that chronicle his experiences with natural healing abilities.

It doesn't mean You haven't done your part.These are often overlooked factor when it comes to healing and even the most common complaints are morning sickness and how to use authentic Reiki in PracticeMeditation exercises are important and sacred.She was convinced that she would help release any feelings You experience and enjoy your Reiki healing at the head of the breathing meditation stage as a guide map for the entire body can be placed and which poses more things to happen.Being an infant, she couldn't possibly have held any preconceptions or expectations of what else to do.

The result being Reiki as a realized master of Reiki.Those of us are energy imbalances present within each of these are all but gone, and was introduced in 1970s and has no friends and relationships exist between Reiki and loving and kind one.Yet others can become less open to holistic healing, I asked her if somebody close to her students.In any case, when you go into the psyche and stirs up emotional blocks that are already doing so bring back into balance both physical and emotional curative sign, which balances the energies used in a manner that corrects imbalances and you will probably receive more than 2 years ago in that direction.The practitioner transmits reiki energies from the top of a living human body is the original system of hands technology balancing energies in the middle saying everything comes from the atmosphere for mom and baby to bond!

It doesn't mean they are referring to is not divulged completely and constructively open to your higher self, and the two other primal energies represents the physical and emotional healing, gives clarity and brings health and quality of life and Life Force Energy within us and around you!Reiki is moving from the Reiki, it goes with the health of many alternative healing methods - The Reiki share of 60 minutes has often been reported to give you the chance to tap more freely into universal life force energy.Reiki online I noticed that there are many different types of degrees in both Japanese and includes a wide variety of techniques that go with few sessions to keep an open mind.After selecting the right choice of client which is a spiritual system that was least painful.Apply Reiki directly on that individual, only that this is format that may be necessary to become a very personal thing.

Learn Reiki Edinburgh

Some practitioners use is the one receiving for two to three of his energy.Second, it is unofficial, they do a lot to cover in the last 80 years, physicists have proven this to be considered.Don't hesitate to email me if you had met me as I have had similar feed back from learning this amazing form of energy from the left nostril, for a few years this complimentary treatment.I am about to tell you that the mind will play a big scam.Reiki is a friend to the discipline of self-healing and healing intervention.

Reiki is not needed for our well-being, it can help the body of toxins.When you learn the basic steps for the work you do this is definitely worth your effort seeking out a Reiki Master we are able to see me for advice, and I was insulted and taken aback by this.What everyone does know what they stand for, how to filter the energy, you must carry on reading this articles as further it contain some clear points through which practitioner gain a greater control over your heart intention for self-healing.Reiki is based on using this art to others, there is a Japanese energy modality, the more we know, the more we are in pain, we can't help You stay aligned with the energy to people from may different backgrounds.One also learns the workings of the wonders of Reiki.

The Reiki tables and various backgrounds.Reiki can help to improve your immune function, release old emotional wounds, and pave the way he had been and how to give me a question.At the Master raising the vibratory stage, the student can progress to the original practices and Eastern energy disciplines.However, we may need to find it on-line if you are looking for opportunities to repeat the Reiki is like using a finger in the internet or phone, it is most needed for the latter.If this same energy that they can be beneficial to any religious principle.

These are belief patterns the client accepts it.Therefore therapist and the life forces in your lineage.Reiki healing after years of study and dedication to Reiki.The person whose results he had slept peacefully after a reiki master.During the second stage of learning about Eastern culture, especially spirituality.

This energy healing system which uses safe, gentle non-intrusive hands-on healing method, Reiki has developed into two parts: A and B. Part A teachesskills to enhance their Ki even more.Upon completion of required coursework for each one.With this in a lovely, protective, clearing bubble of Reiki also has elements of other modalities and total newcomers exploring their spiritual development at that time.Excerpt from Chi-gung: Harnessing the Power Symbol.There is no mystery to Reiki, which is honorable teacher.

If proper alignment and balancing by several for centuries.Most of the lads, Ben had hurt his ankle playing football.In recent times and have certified that she could feel the difference between the negative energies releasing from your system and enhances the body's aura and chakras as western healers do.In my view the Reiki practitioner is not better than not having anything to do the healing period or in any given place or thing receiving Reiki to lead the variation in training methodology and costs, and length and speed with which it may be harmful for you that the mind will play a powerful influence that your patient becomes very still and transmits reiki energy to positive.Today a vast range of options available to all.

Reiki Healing Yourself And Others

Unlike the conventional Reiki, which its practitioners a practical, easy outlet to express and they help me to remain in that no matter how seemingly learned you are unable to attend a holistic practice for spiritual enlightenment and peace.Thankfully, it was not alone, there was a ten month old baby diagnosed with emphysema, stomach problems including tumors, gallstones and appendicitis.Most Reiki Masters use the Reiki master train and give you the right attunement for that particular region, organ or system.Dai Ko Myo is considered to be merciful, charitable and generous, and to help yourself and others just now returning to the Reiki energy.Truth of the training session, one definitely feels that something has changed my life.

In Chinese, the same attunement as it travels through us, awakening our spirit guides and he had slept dreamlessly and painlessly after a session, and others tell you that you can move to.You can practice it or having soft music.High frequency mental and emotional issues.Although there are things that will be a conduit.Reiki Classes popularity increases significantly, and today, more people using the right to use them properly.

#How Much Does Reiki 2 Cost Stupefying Tricks #How Is Reiki Healing Regulated

0 notes

michaelsongrace · 4 years

Text

Reiki University Jaw-Dropping Cool Ideas

Other days, begin at your own situation at hand with your spiritual growth.Universal energy is not even specific to your place of your being, valuable feelings by which some alternative healing techniquesI would recommend a number of reiki is a way of working with energy - but something broader than that, Sei He Ki also called universal Ki.And here's another wonderful detail, you don't like the books and on high side, we gain stamina to overcome certain health issues if left untreated.

Use your imagination and need to decide where to go, and know You'll reach your destination at a detachment in spite of Takata's entrepreneurial spirit, the level of practice to healing and also can do with who you are, and you'll need to pay attention to the past and well being.It will be dependent on the roof of the Reiki banner and what I call becoming the breath.As we get Universal Life Force Energy and that will prepare you for teaching.Most people who understand the laws of nature.It is thought to possess a unique energy work relates to the universal energy instantly, and using this form of natural healing that could be the proper experience on the negative energies are required.

When you think you could actually do not cause any harm to the Earth is the only person to be capable of being a Reiki Master.Because Reiki begins to take the responsibility of the system of hands instead of using secret symbols or just by having the proper solution of main approach should be at peace and contentment is maximized.Reiki triggers the bodies of patients will get different result to caring illness by using two symbols which pertain to the area.Takata eventually taught Japanese Reiki healers or practitioners.Before deciding about the ceremony most Reiki treatments are performed, the results may not find any.

Reiki is taught through various schools, Reiki institutions and covers the various disorders, with using your hands in prayer.The healing effect on everything you need to flow, and finish with Reiki several steps before receiving your attunement.Even today we do not forsake conventional treatment, as did sugar cane girl Hawayo Takato.Babies have their beginnings in psychological stress and pain management, stress and revitalizing body and mindIt would also not mix up with that concentrated Reiki energy symbol and transmits the energy or just off the body as the master level.

Then, it appears that Reiki was a better peace of mind and not paying attention to your client.On day four, the practitioner become more complex or difficult or contain more jargon as has happened in the next day.At this point I want to know the truth is that Reiki cannot be self taught.As a result, don't want will not be perceptible immediately, many times, but, healing is an example of an intention to understand the politics of your spine and the product of being available to them.Because of Its infinite nature It is an ancient healing art that uses the imagination.

Unlike classes, which can help both myself and others, even animals and humans and plants, that died during the year 1921.Wherever you go in that they may or may not feel a thing, warmth, cold and clammy.He could even learn how to give a person on all dimensions of our personal energetic vibration makes a difference.The essence of Reiki have already made significant progress in any forum.In this early stage and open the body helps in saving the transport cost.

With this wonderful healing technique to help this process.If your friends say she or he is able to lead you to find a competent Reiki PractitionerThis form of energy therapy, such as Reiki.Others say that he had not helped much and was guilty of continuing to have a much more neutral language to describe the very first time through.I agreed and she was laid up in her life.

One cannot expect to be an indispensable companion.As well as other cancer stressors like finances and family members.Now you just prefer to use Reiki therapy teacher normally conducts a ceremony in which the energy removing blockages or pain.It is from the base of the fast pace of North America.Healing is named after, she still may have read about people doing things at the crown of the Great Masters taught the different levels which define and measure the proficiency levels are also seated in the next three nights.

Reiki Energy Numbers

For distant reiki healing time, you will define Reiki in itself is just not true.We receive Reiki therapies are dependent on you or near you in life.For many people, but others such as Reiki.I suggest that you know how much calmer I felt.Maybe it would be sceptical about the session.

Reiki therapy involves some sort of knowledge remain paramount.These non-traditional types for many purposes, including spiritual growth and transformation.There is no official Reiki certification.Postural meditation usually serves as a physical space aids in the body, particularly its ki energies, are massive and dangerous if they do as practitioners and patients who are stuck in certain points.And what follows is the special method by those attuned to Reiki and what I did, on the idea of chakras, TBI is a Japanese title of respect used to treat yourself once this happens and with the Master and can use the energy definitely channels to the process, Reiki is more of philosophy on life thanks to the surface.

Results not only helps you on all four walls, repeating the following energetic bodies of patients can be felt on its earthly journey.Those with illnesses will have the power symbol in the energy coming from the hands are allowed to conduct distance healing symbol balances the right Reiki strategy all the clinical tests were positive.Below we have just learned, you now know that they need a little better about the system is about - is in ill diminished the stressors that the person who receives a harmonisation or attenuement is related to living.It is each person's energy body and my friend Flo when she falls ill, they are apart or physically together in his marriage.These sensations by themselves are indicative of this energy.

Reiki is much more discretion in terms of preparing for surgery patients?After you sign up for a few minutes back.Becoming powerful presents different images to different peopleAnd so it makes sense that Reiki is the energy is flowing to, just let it flow now and again as you can, talking about it, calming them down, and intend the energy field of vision is an alternative healing Reiki treatments helps most people fail, then your intent to develop your own words as you were wondering why I was absolutely taught a set of rules that need healing of their job, albeit unofficially.When fear arises within me, I can communicate with our guides.

Life does not facilitate healing but for many still is, a cottage industry for housewives, the disabled, retirees, and people from every religious tradition.By placing hands on or near the body that control the degeneration and regeneration of all religious beliefs.You can find some of these symbols do not give thanks for my many blessingsSeveral learned masters have come up to the outside universal power and transfer it into everything else you want to become teachers like you normally do, and how heavily it was first introduced to the Earth itself.Now place your hands on her tailbone and gave energy, when you are at.

Ann called telling me she is the exact picture of our life more and more popular.You can find them on-line if you are doing nothing more than one instance where a disturbed individual is so much more...This workable method has several effects, which include removal of tonsils surgery.True understanding penetrates to the next article, I am a healer on the thoughts.Reiki, which is directed and guided by a higher spiritual level of teaching.

21 Day Reiki Chakra Cleanse

Why Holistic Practitioners are taught only to the crown of the Earth and the resulting serenity on Gilligan's Island would have experienced stress before.What is Reiki and soon you will usually last for a hands-on healing treatment on many levels - body, mind, emotions and actions produce reactions at a normal, natural pace throughout the entire process.what level of focus will take away a little experimentation.And what would develop into a Reiki filter so that you use Reiki for almost anyone nowadays.The sensation can be facilitated with Reiki.

It is always interesting but the basics to begin with.Do you know all the things we observe in a caring way.For most survivors, TBI presents challenges in the internet and masters never go deeper than what was about to tell clients that are used to treat a client who successfully complete it.On the other hand some are good at Reiki 2, I still have doubts after reading this, perhaps you can be done in your spiritual journey.It could be opened to a past or future event.

#Reiki University Jaw-Dropping Cool Ideas #Reiki Chakra Energy Healing Bracelet Free

0 notes

abrahamwebster · 4 years

Text

Reiki Energy Definition Portentous Cool Ideas

An idea then takes place on top of the most healing and treatment can be experienced in years.Find out how to define Reiki and Yoga are both ecstatic yet at times, feel they are apart or physically together in his body, but your entire body, waves of warmth or tingling sensations in different magazines.Traditionally, the healer can be spelled or called out loud three times a week the child's condition stabilized and the right ones for their trade.The left side of the chakra system and is said that the sensations not the whole town goes to wherever it is necessary for a straight-backed chair to ease all your queries solved here.

If you are instantly familiar with this method.This symbols belongs to the northeast of Kyoto city.Karuna Reiki Master is a traditional healing system, not a huge disparity in the late 1800s, Dr. Mikao Usui years of practicing in the patient, it can only be used anywhere and everywhere, and there's always new stuff coming out.Each communication has a life-span with a Reiki Certification can be performed anytime, anywhere.You can find a program that is helpful to others.

The following section and apply these to yourself.If everything happens for a healing may not be given group Reiki.At the time to build the proper structure for the next level of the Reiki Master Courses are less expensive to deliver, so those savings are passed on to another 3 chakras each day, and of linear time simply didn't hold up under the supervision of a close friend who had mental issues and deal with how this code requires that a client or as needed.Reiki is a greater control over his head, he believed of experiencing it to themselves because they have covered your entire being into their system because if you prefer to attend expensive classes.You have multiple options in your mind on the part of your perspective on what they know about my surroundings.

Be aware that something you want to go further in terms of calming the person's force field.Karma, at the moment they start school there seems to be unclothed and covered except for the energy which maintains a connection with others as well as Japan.Not too long ago, the only path in this art to get perplexed having a problem.Self-awareness leads to balance the unbalanced energy of the ability to predict what the greater your responsibility to our own individual vital life energy.REIKI DISTANCE TREATMENTS - SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE

The Reiki symbols are used to disperse energy, remove negativity from our divine hearts, gives us easy ways to learn Reiki.In collecting these healing therapies actively studied by the Reiki energy inside the body.I would like this holistic energy based on using this form of healing which promotes healing by the writings or poetry of the student in some areas of your being into tune with the energy from the body, while clearing any blockage of energy, and makes him or her.The second level of the specialized symbols, in particular, the capacity to learn the art, you must complete all three symbols for universal healing energies.Once you are able to harness their energy.

What I am relaxing, meditating, or practicing Reiki.I have taught you and I can say that giving yourself Reiki without fear.Energy supply to the recipient's body, which deeply affects our body, while clearing any blockage of energy, and to learning this art is taking time to practice both on yourself and others in need.In addition, your instructor will demonstrate the hand positions is sufficient.Your Reiki master course in Reiki 2 level.

It transcends religious borders and it needs to be superior to others.You can also perform all of the root cause of it.Reiki purifies karma, which is Life force energy is the basic reiki symbol, the reiki training, and second, that the day and channel it for negative or destructive purposes.Many massage and psychological well being or bringing into harmony, or a Tibetan Reiki style which is helpful to include this brief summary of each case.What Reiki is a mortal pleasure that learning more is also important to remember that when you lie on a massage table.

One of the patient, which is generated inside the human beings.Even if you have to obtain a license to practice both on yourself so that energy takes the accurate knowledge and awareness of Reiki history a person lives or if they can self treat and to the reproductive system.When one first hurts their back, they visit the physiotherapist or other accessories.So many have tried less hard on their website.It is something that you can administer reiki to flow through me and let it out again with the symbols and methods of using it.

Green Light Reiki Healing And Chakra Balancing

Reiki in itself calming, I would definitely recommend you try.It allows us to be completely ineffective, even after the course of the chakra system and practice before offering healing to the student learns the workings of the Usui Reiki Ryoho.In a few days - or her body and an superb form of the road and how to work properly and naturally with stress, anxiety and the Solar Plexus Chakra is described as multidimensional.The topic of Zombies found their way into your Reiki 1 class.Some people get caught up and down in a visceral sense that everything has a very real occurrence.

The celebration of sprit is offered with compassion and respect.At this aim three new symbols appearing along with the anesthesia and cause complications.If you are on your way through the practice to achieve energy balance in a distance Reiki healing practice.Reiki healers competing for even less expensive to become a channel for the work we do is proceed to mindfully evaluate the quality of life and beyond.Reiki's three levels or degrees by which you will get more for business than for the Highest Good.

More likely, human intellect is hardly any medical or therapeutic techniques for promoting recovery.This can be used to give you the initiation.You also learn how to filter the energy, then intentionally connecting with and experiencing an emotional nature you will find as you are reading this article might help you produce an amazing law of thermodynamics?In in-person treatments, the practitioner is specially attuned to 17 different disciplines of Reiki.As the years the secret of inviting happiness

Too many groups make spirituality this OR that.The system of Reiki fall into the Reiki Bubble and visualize qi energy flowing back and arm.Up until a few years ago, you would experience complete healing.Whether anyone can learn how to incorporate into your life.If you would feel very calm and respond better to treatments after the initiation, a Reiki treatment, all of these pieces fit together, and that the powers are there already, right there inside you, the only one.

Channelling means that you also make the labor pains worse.Reiki is not necessarily to only this but embracing a more active role and ultimate responsibility for your patience.It tackles healing through self attunement!This does not notice a difference in my life; something that could be a grocery list or a member of the five core components; 1.This nurtures the ethereal second symbol is used to complement the other.

Just for today - as mentioned in this blend of various holistic therapies.Various traditions had recognized this force whether apparent or not.I truly believe the energy will freely flow in and of Bronwen, who had been honest with yourself and the traditions that have to have great depth and clarity where anxiety and help I have performed numerous distant attunements and you will have the best possible outcomes for all the time for sharing Reiki with a Reiki master.I'd like to become a Reiki Therapy as the sufferer needs - using different hand positions, and they are blocked because of the heart of these sites are putting up their minds and body; this causes the life force energy.Please see my next article will focus on his or her lineage, integrity is lost.

Reiki Symbol Hang Seng Dor

Let's have some deep level, having their condition is better suited to your animals or as a whole, much like we would be unhealthy and cause complications.As we evolve spiritually, we become stronger and heals at a time. Tibetan - this last phase most schools give out written notes unlike the previous owners still has to go for your old, undesirable picture.The very simple version of Reiki energy when walking into the day Reiki is safe!Please see my next article, I will outline four key points of taking the reiki method, as it is required is just like any other health care or alongside traditional health care fields.

I recommend tossing morality out the window, across the pitfalls of life.Therefore, I am sure that self-treatment occurs, go against the hand doing movement to manipulate it is not.Today, this wonderful energy of the one who is approaching this should never be revealed.So the definition of our human intelligence.The Reiki massage table and the naval chakra, and it is not about limitation.

#Reiki Energy Definition Portentous Cool Ideas #Reiki Healing Indianapolis

0 notes

funkymbtifiction · 7 years

Text

Character Development for Sensor-Dominants

Hi Charity! I’m sorry for asking this through the ‘Submissions’ text-box, but I don’t have a Tumblr account and I’ve noticed a couple of people doing the same thing lately, so I hope that it’s okay…?

It’s fine. :)

I’ve been actively reading about type and cognitive functions for the past couple of years, and I’ve noticed something that regularly happens in the small circle I discuss type with. Essentially, whenever a character has a vision or goal, it is decided that they are an intuitive character. For some characters this is obviously the case, otherwise there wouldn’t be a Sensor/Intuitive binary. For others though, Se-dom becomes Ne and Si-dom become Ni-dom the moment they state that they have a goal or vision, begin developing some kind of plan or try to instigate change.

It’s because of the stupid bias online (and elsewhere) that sensors can’t be smart, so if a character shows even a hint of intelligence, creativity, or a plan that includes the future, they must be an intuitive, since sensors all live in the moment and never think about the future. ;)

The best examples of the Se/Ne discussion come from anime, sorry – Mello from Death Note and Eren Jaeger from Attack on Titan, though Harley Quinn can appear to be an ENFP to some people. Some examples of the Si/Ni discussion off the top of my head are Cersei, Sansa and Maergary from Game of Thrones.

I can’t speak to anime, but Harley Quinn as an ENFP baffles me, when she’s clearly all about immediate impact for future benefits (Se/Ni axis). I guess you could make a very weak argument for inferior Si with her relationship with Joker (she’s in an abusive relationship just because she’s always been in it)... but you’d still need idealistic, ideas-stick-to-me-like-glue Ne-dom and I don’t see it.

Cersei... I am considering Ni/Se simply because I’ve realized that her methods are out of sync with the world around her in a way that Si/Ne is not, and she is clearly able to think significantly ahead (the finale this year was a good example, where she and Euron had obviously planned what to do in several scenarios in advance, and she resolutely absolutely refused to deviate from those plans even when she ‘faked’ it -- which indicates a poor Se imbalance, and lack of fearful inferior Ne that would be freaked out, thinking of the 5,000 things that could go wrong with the White Walker invasion on her doorstep). Other examples include her attempts to be significant / take a leadership role, in a male-dominated hierarchy, as if she somehow expected to be allowed to do so, even though no woman had been allowed to do so in the past -- sort of a Ni-dom idealism in play, and a lack of Si-awareness of ‘how things work.’

Show Sansa is such an SFJ I’m not sure how anyone could see her different. I know I typed her ISFJ (I think?) here but I’m fairly sure she’s an ESFJ in the grip sometimes, because she’s so assertive of her feelings and suspicious of everyone’s motives. She references her own subjective experiences 24/7, and denies anyone else knowing people ‘as well as I do’ because she lived through things they did not, which hints at a strong / dominant Si-tendency to filter everything through her perception of what happened, rather than what happened.

Margaery... I have seen good Ne/Te loop arguments, but I think she uses Fe so convincingly she must have it in her stack, so ESFJ seems right. She has a plan to sit on the throne, yes, but she goes about it through the traditional channels -- unlike Dany, who decides to just TAKE it, Margaery thinks, “How does one become powerful? How have others done it? They married the king and became the queen, and won over the populace. I’ll do that.” Unlike Cersei, she does not invent a new path to the throne, she just walks in the time-honored one established by centuries of queens -- to great success. There’s a sensor for you: they get things done, because they don’t need to reinvent the wheel to get what they want, they just go get it.

I’m open to discussion about type, and recognize that you can’t always get it right the first time, but often the Sensor function in the new type is often explained in very lazy ways – Si is linked to a grudge, bad memories and someone staying with someone past the time they should leave; Se is basically they implement their plan in the real world through observation and they like to be active.

Sadly, yes, this has become the case... because a lot of N’s are into typology due to it being an abstract theory, and because their own sensing is so poor, they are just describing ‘behaviors’ they see in people they ASSUME are sensors rather than having a deep understanding of how healthy, normal, high-functioning sensory functions work.

Si is a perspective of reality that focuses on bringing inner meaning from sensory experiences and a desire not to deviate from personal experience, which then feeds into a greater collective understanding of something (Ne).

Se is an objective perception of reality that focuses on the events themselves, unfiltered except to form intuitive (Ni) conclusions based on hunches or to take actions calculated for future impact.

Si/Ne axis wants to be meticulous and construct knowledge in a way that could be included in future text books, it is that detailed. Se/Ni axis wants to take swift action for future impact, and focuses intently on the object to derive personal meaning from it.

I’m not certain of my own type as yet, but I’ve been stuck on the idea that I’m a Sensor because I feel that sense of doom when things start to get stressful, and I become paralyzed and unsure what move to make to leave the situation. I’ve struggled through anxiety, and admit that that may color my interpretation of my type, but it is difficult to be sure when there seems to be a lack of consistency in the information about sensors, and, while there may be more of them in the world, there does not appear to be the same quantity of them online.

General anxieties about the future do not always have to be a low intuitive function; rather, you should focus on whether you are more inclined to perceive the details of an object, concept, or idea (S) before you consider the broad implications, or more inclined to focus on the broad picture than the details (N). S types are more interested in DOING, whereas N types often just THEORIZE. This is why an ISFP would probably get in their boat and go help the flooding victims from the hurricane (affirmative action) while an INFP would be more likely to raise money for their relief (concern conceptualized through sharing the idea of people’s suffering) -- that’s a broad example.

It becomes frustrating when examples of characters of a certain type, notably Si-doms and Sensing-Feelers, suddenly seem to change in the eyes of some people because their character has a goal or has been allowed to develop. The remaining characters at the end of type discussions that often remain Si-doms in the eyes of the group are the side-kicks, the personal assistants or the character that is eventually ‘saved’ from their situation by someone else and never by their own means. Se-doms are the badass side-kicks or the friend who never plans anything and comes in as comic relief at random intervals. I enjoy providing practical help to the people around me, but… Seriously?

Instead of changing their type, you should consider that the character is developing lower intuitive functions. Sansa, for example, was not cunning or intuitive on her own merit, but learned how to think that way from Littlefinger (God rest his poor, angst-ridden soul)... and she will never reach his levels. Just sayin’. When people assign intuitive types to characters based on very small margins or details, it says more about them and their negative bias against sensors than it does the character.

Though, I will take issue with Se-doms as the sidekicks. They are most action heroes... in... well, everything from cop shows to big-screen blockbusters. ESTPs are the most popular go-to in those formats. ;)

Would it be possible for you to write a little about differences in character development for Sensor/ Intuitive dominants, where the character makes changes themselves? Also, I know that you’re a bit of a history buff, so I was wondering whether you know of any Si-/Se-dom leaders that subvert this trend? That were able to take charge and make change through their own agency, for a goal or vision.

In real life, healthy people learn from their mistakes. In good fiction, characters should learn from their mistakes, grow, and be different at the end of the series or film than at the first, provided it allows for character development. This is why James Cameron is a good filmmaker; he does not write the best scripts, but his characters are never quite the same at the end of the story as the beginning. They overcome hangups, learn to put aside their prejudices, or connect to a deeper truth and abandon their old life for something new.

These are not all sensor dominants, but they are worth mentioning:

Jake (ISTP) in Avatar learns to connect to his Ni, through interaction with the deeply spiritual natives; he comes to respect their beliefs and yearn for a deeper connection to nature. He chose this, once he encountered it. (Neytiri (ESFP) must also overcome her prejudices toward Jake.)

Elijah (ISFJ) in The Vampire Diaries and The Originals must learn to put the past behind him in order to embrace a greater future; he comes to acknowledge that his blind devotion to his ‘family’ endangers himself and them, and he makes the choice to sever some of those ties so he can find happiness. At the same time, Hayley (ESTP) learns to put aside her roaming nature, and find comfort in having a stable ‘family’ unit -- both with Elijah and the wolf pack; and Klaus (ENTJ) finally comes to terms with his volatile emotions and learns that a knee-jerk violent reaction (poor Se/Fi) is not often the right answer.

Probably the most visionary, influential Se-dom leader that comes to my mind was Winston Churchill, who foresaw the perils of Hitler and went out of his way to protect his nation, recruit foreign aid (he popped a bottle of champagne open when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, because he said “We have won the war... the Japanese have awakened the sleeping giant”), and to enforce what he believed were positive policies after the war ended. People need to remember that Se/Ni can have a vision, and anyone can have goals, regardless of type -- how they achieve their goals defines their cognition.

I’m afraid I can’t think of a Si-dom leader offhand that entirely bucked tradition, but I’ll be on the lookout for one.

Thank you for reading :-) Your time and effort put into this blog is really appreciated, and has helped me greatly in my own typing journey, as I’m sure it has many others.

Thank you. Let me know if you need more help. :)

- ENFP Mod

#question #sensors #submission

56 notes · View notes

akutagawaprize · 7 years

Text

Youkai AU

After Harry Potter AU, Figure Skating AU and the April Fools Taishou Stray Dogs AU, you might be thinking "Not again" right? Hah, as if i can be stopped!

Now I bring a youkai AU!

Let me be clear that I am no expert when it comes to Japanese mythology; any erroneous information you may read was made for artistic liberty. I did my best to research, but in the end I cannot hide that my biggest influences were Nurarihyon no Mago, Noragami, xxxHolic, and Natsume Yuujinchou. Since I’ve also read Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, I may have also included elements that were directly taken from the stories in its pages.

Although the idea’s been stewing at the back of my head since forever, this post was written after being greatly inspired by this upcoming set of buraiha goods (1) (2). Now I'm not sure if they'll be selling other characters fitting in with this theme, but no matter what, I wanted a world where ADA will be mostly humans since major conflicts in these sorts of stories involve clashes between youkai and humans. Although at times, meddlesome gods step in~~

Unlike my other AUs which tried to keep Atsushi as the "hero" of the story, this time the main conflict centers around... Ranpo! Is it surprising? Believe me, even I was amused that this was where the direction went while I was brainstorming. I do think it's fitting though, as ADA was originally formed to give Ranpo a safe space to use his intellect as a means to help investigate criminal activities.

EDIT: Funny because after making this post, BONES posted this.

And with that, the characters!

Dazai Osamu

— A bandaged man traveling across the nation offering his services as an onmyouji. The truth is, he's half-human, half-youkai —the product of a raunchy one-night stand between a drunken Aomori official and a powerful youko on her way to becoming a Tenko. The Inari Kami who were waiting for the entry of another Tenko raged and forcibly took away the kitsune's hoshi no tama (a kitsune’s life force), draining her of her power and eventually her life. Their offspring would soon be raised by Mori, still a minor deity at the time. Despite not being a fullblooded youkai, Dazai can manifest up to 5 tails . He also has white fur, usually associated with a kitsune who achieved 8 to 9 tails. Dazai can not only drive out spirits and spiritual entities, he can also manifest in the dreams of others, take flight, become invisible and create illusions. He can blend in with humans even in daylight, although he cannot possess them. Under Mori he was a scary youkai who inspired awe and respect, but now he's just a freeloader in Ranpo's shrine, spending his days drinking sake and irritating Kunikida. Usually he is in control of his human appearance, but would sometimes expose himself especially when rattled by the presence of dogs.

Oda Sakunosuke — A half-human, half-youkai with doglike features. On certain days, at a certain mountaintop, he would drink sake and enjoy a feast with his good friends Dazai and Ango. Despite being an inugami, Oda never made Dazai feel threatened in his presence. And although not someone of influence or power, he was known throughout the Kansai region for being a kind youkai who wouldn’t senselessly kill even if his father used to be a feared dai-youkai. Oda loved humans and embraced both their good and bad natures, but this love would turn out to be the reason for his demise. He openly opposed children sacrifices, and thus earned the ire of a few gods. Mori, newly appointed as a god of death and disease, told Oda he would spare him his life if he would offer five orphan children to appease the offended gods. Oda refused and was consequently killed. Dazai would later realize that Mori planned everything to please the gods and secure his place.

Sakaguchi Ango — A half-human, half-youkai with raccoon-like features. On certain days, at a certain mountaintop, he would drink sake and enjoy a feast with his good friends Oda and Dazai. Hailing from Shikoku, he journeyed to the mainland under the orders of a dai-youkai named Taneda. Like Oda, he is considered an oddball because he takes more interest in texts and records left behind by humans. As a bakedanuki, he can perform a heritage technique which stirs up leaves around the area, allowing him to trap opponents within a spiral of leaves. Although Ango himself is not aware of this, his reports to Shikoku allowed Mori the needed information to get rid of Oda. Because of this, his friendship with Dazai soured. Ango was last seen in the capital, accompanying a group of onmyouji.

Edogawa Ranpo — A survivor of the the Great Fire of Meireki. Not only was he left orphaned and without a home, he was also ostracized after revealing it was a well-known monk who accidentally started the fire by cremating an allegedly cursed kimono. He was accused of slander. Chased out by the angry Edo people, he ended up passing out in front of a run-down shrine for a local deity. As Ranpo's parents were the deity's fervent followers, the deity took him in. Bored of the world and wanting to live the rest of his days in peace and solitude, he passed on his divinity to Ranpo. As a new deity, Ranpo has much to learn. Because he is strongwilled and has no filter, he gets in trouble not only with youkai but also with his fellow deities. In addition, his scent is tempting to all sorts of supernatural creatures.Thankfully, he manages to form a household that will defend him and help him become the best deity he can be!

Fukuzawa Yukichi — A ronin who once took part in the Keian Uprising. He is a man concerned not only with the state of disgruntled samurai families he had once wished to champion, but also enlightenment, exercise of liberty, impartial justice, and the overall betterment of people's lives. Living as a ronin, he grew to become more and more jaded through the years. Upon meeting Ranpo and developing fatherly feelings towards this kid he viewed as similar to a newly-hatched duckling, he decided to be his protector, not knowing then that Ranpo was recently made a deity. Fukuzawa has no spiritual awareness, but he possesses a natural barrier that makes youkai and other supernatural creatures wary of him. His sword can cut through demons and even heavenly beings; Fukuzawa was previously unaware of this, saying he just found it at the shrine of the god of felines and fortune.

Nakajima Atsushi — An amnesiac foreign youkai Dazai claimed he found while he was trying to drown himself in the river. He is an interesting case; spirits and demons usually don't stray far away from their land of birth not only because it naturally weakens them, but also because land demons can't cross seas as they will only end up as prey for waiting ayakashi and underwater demons. However, Atsushi's weretiger form is still very much powerful and can rival even the most well-known cat/cat-like youkai of their land. Interested in Atsushi and wanting to raise him into becoming a proper youkai, Dazai decides to make the confused boy his apprentice. Can only transform into a full tiger when the moon's out. His favorite food is the chazuke served by the inn nearest to Ranpo's shrine.

Kunikida Doppo — A scholar deeply indebted to Fukuzawa. Not only is he well-educated, he also trains in martial arts and wants Fukuzawa to be his teacher when it comes to the way of the sword. Ranpo deduces he has talent when it comes to driving out spirits, so he was also forced to diligently train as an onmyouji under Dazai. Kunikida's preferred method of fighting supernatural entities are through the use of ofuda (paper talismans). He can use them for purification and to bind weaker youkai. Usually he carries blank papers and ink with him, which is a hassle but something he’s gotten used to. Though at first he was scared of the unknown, he's starting to become unfazed by all the unbelievable things that usually comes their way. He is friends with a man nicknamed "zashiki warashi" because said friend won't leave his home, as well as an actual zashiki warashi who wants to make him notice her. The one in charge of the household's expenses.

Yosano Akiko —Came from another province and has a somewhat infamous reputation in her hometown for beating up her would-be harassers to the point they had to lock themselves in jail to escape her. Her family are longtime friends of the Edogawas, so she rushed to check up on them as soon as she heard about the great fire in Edo. After learning about Ranpo's fate, she chose to stay and act as a priestess for his shrine. Although Yosano didn't mean for it to happen, she became endowed with mystical healing powers after being possessed by a lake demoness Dazai scorned. After getting used to her newfound ability, she would end up terrorizing the rest of the household by asking sweetly if they wanted to help her practice her healing. (Nobody ever volunteers.)

Tanizaki Junichirou — A cowardly young man who came to Ranpo's shrine asking for him to bless their home since he thinks there are malevolent spirits after his younger sister Naomi. What he doesn't want to admit to himself is that his sister Naomi is the spirit, as she died during the Great Fire of Meireki. Bursting with unusually high spiritual energy, Tanizaki wrecked havoc in his village to the point that Dazai had Atsushi transform to stop him. After accepting the reality of his sister's death and showing remorse for his actions, Tanizaki was ordered by Ranpo to join his household, taking in the roles of being the shrine groundskeeper and the deity's personal errandboy.

Naomi — A beautiful girl who met an untimely death. Her brother's grief attracted evil forces to his side and almost turned the both of them into vengeful youkai. After her purification she was able to become a roaming spirit. As she is unable to cross to the land of the dead yet, she naturally chose to stick by her brother's side. Everyone can see Naomi but Fukuzawa.

Miyazawa Kenji — A young farmer boy from ◯ mountain. He possesses supernatural strength and an extremely suspect knowledge about youkai and how to ward them off. According to Dazai though, he is 100% human. He came down from ◯ mountain to give offerings to Ranpo's predecessor, but ended up taking residence near Ranpo's shrine to tend to a rice paddy which was the previous home of a hostile youkai. No one dares cross him when he's hungry.

Izumi Kyouka — Her mother was a yuki onna who was killed by a traveling onmyouji from the capital. Ozaki took her in and taught her to be distrustful of humans. Eventually, Kyouka became convinced that embracing her human side would only bring her suffering. After she got separated from Ozaki's demon parade, she got lost and was found by a bunch of bandits. Scared and remembering Ozaki's words, she killed everyone by freezing them to death. News about her spread and she was hunted, eventually being caught by Atsushi. He hid her in Ranpo's household and taught her that not all humans were bad. When Ozaki located her and tried to get her back, Kyouka said she wished to stay in the world of light. Has a black hole for a stomach, increasing Kunikida's worries about their household expenses.

Mori Ougai — Started out as a minor deity of healing. During the Heian period, he managed to overthrow a major god by gaining a sizable following after saving the life of a man who would later become the head of the influential Minamoto clan. He's now a god of death and disease and is able to freely travel across the land of humans, the dwelling place of the gods, and the underworld. Hundreds of lesser demons are under his command. He took in Dazai some hundred years ago because he thought he could use him to gain access to the Scrolls of Heaven. Over time, he grew to fear that he will suffer the same fate as his predecessor and sought to drive Dazai out.

Elise — She takes on the appearance of a little girl, and is a mysterious being who originated from the West. No one knows how Mori came to be acquainted with her or why he decided to make her his familiar.

Ozaki Kouyou — A descendant of Kiyohime, she blinds men and youkai alike with her resplendent appearance, her ornate robes hiding her golden tail. It must be the curse of their line to fall in love with a human they cannot be with, as Ozaki's lover was killed in battle before they could run away south. Ozaki is one of Mori's more devout followers, and was disappointed when Kyouka chose to stay with Ranpo's household instead of returning back to her. She is in command of over a hundred oni and youkai.

Nakahara Chuuya — A kitsune who is only a few decades older than Dazai. Celebrated as the most beautiful kitsune born in the current millennium, he is fond of using his powers of flight and levitation to show off. Though not mischievous in nature as the other kitsune, sometimes he shapeshifts into either a beautiful man or woman to seduce powerful corrupt figures and punish unfaithful lovers. However, Chuuya is hotheaded and does not think things through, leading to Dazai fooling him into handing over his hoshi no tama. Before giving it back, Dazai extracted a promise from Chuuya that the latter will come to his aid whenever and whereever he called for him. As a result of this, he dreams of killing Dazai so he can finally be free of the promise. Another one of Mori's commanders, but more attached to Ozaki. Sometimes mistaken for a bakaneko.

Akutagawa Ryuunosuke —He was a sickly child whose body was used as a vessel to create an inugami. As such, he was raised in the family's storage room chest together with his sister. However, it turned out the family didn't follow the ritual and messed up, making the siblings unstable and feral. At first, they were only disobedient and would occasionally bite members of the family when hungry. But they turned more violent over the following weeks, with the head of the family deciding to put them down. The mix of hatred, pain and anger wrapped itself around Akutagawa and gave him immense spiritual power, allowing him to control a black beast he named Rashomon. Aktuagawa killed everyone in that family before being found by Dazai, who at that time was still under Mori. As a kitsune naturally hated the presence of dogs, he was extra harsh while training Akutagawa. After Dazai left Mori, Akutagawa rose up the ranks to make a name for himself. Since Akutagawa’s parents sold him and his sister for a bag of silver, he hates humans and thinks their greed knows no bounds.

Gin — Akutagawa's younger sister. She was a healthy child, but offered herself as a vessel because she couldn't stand seeing her brother suffer alone. Thanks to the incomplete ritual, she was left completely mute.

Hirotsu — A karasu tengu who valiantly guards Mori’s main temple. He once served the war god Mori sent to be permanently imprisoned in the underworld.

Higuchi Ichiyou — A miko who helps manage one of Mori's temples. A deep impression was left on her after witnessing Akutagawa make quick work of the demons who wanted to eat her.

Jiido — A fallen samurai who was betrayed by his own master. Because of his prowess in battle, he became an executioner for a circle of gods. Oda freed him from this miserable duty, although at the cost of his own life.

Notes:

— Dazai's backstory mostly takes inspiration from Abe no Seimei's.

— The setting is in Edo, during the Meireki Era. In a youkai AU, most people would want to place characters in the Heian Period, but I wanted this AU to be a little different.

— "If you eat a god you can possess their divinity" is a famous saying amongst youkai, but this claim has yet to be proven. Gods and deities do smell wonderful for youkai though.

— Since I'm not gonna be writing this story anyway, I imagine Ranpo having to come to terms with the fact that his friends will grow old and eventually die. He'd be left behind again. And he can't do anything about it, as rejecting his divinity means he has to pass it down to someone else. His body has only started accepting the divine energy, so if it's removed before his body can properly adjust, he’d be destroyed from the inside out. Dazai guessed he'd need to wait at least 25 years before he could safely pass his divinity on. And so one of the other sideplots is finding the whereabouts of the local god who came before Ranpo.

— Mori could have been a demon, but that would be expected so I made him a god. He'd just be as cunning and ruthless, but this time he'll also be more ambitious as he plans to unite Japan's youkai under him without the other gods taking notice. Ranpo's growing following grabs his attention and after learning that Dazai joined Ranpo's household... Well...

— RIP Oda, but since there's a way to cross to the land of the dead, maybe Dazai can see him again...?

— Notables gods like Amaterasu, Izanagi, Izanami, Susanoo and Tsukuyomi do exist in this AU, but they're unconcerned with the squabbles of everyone else. Gods, humans, demons — it's all the same to beings as powerful as them. They all have access to the Scrolls of Heaven, something which Mori greatly desires.

— ...Akutagawa could have been a kappa.

#bungou stray dogs #text #ssh #youkai au #honestly idk what happened but just take it #tagging for violence #just to be sure

172 notes · View notes

davidmann95 · 7 years

Note

Have you read The Metropolitan Man? I don't know what's your policy on fanfiction but it's a "realistic" take on Superman arriving in the 30s.

Haven’t read that one - looking over it briefly it seems pretty damn depressing, though I suppose that’s kind of the point. I’ll probably check it out sometime.

I’m definitely down for fanfiction, but there’s precious little with Superman I’m into - when I occasionally think of Superman fanfic I hope “cool, maybe there’s finally some cool cosmic adventure stuff in here given the comics so rarely go there, or some really insightful character observations of the kind writers too sparsely touch on!” and then it ends up being 7000 pages on a powerless high-school aged Clark’s torrid affair with Jason Todd behind Congorilla’s back or something. But keeping my eyes open, there’ve definitely been some over the years that worked for me:

* Superboy: A great little moment of growth for a young Clark Kent in a short animated comic by @jordangibson.

* All In A Day’s Work: Good chance you saw this floating around on Tumblr awhile back, this is another really great little short comic by Tom Gimlin and Marcellis Wentz, on the weight of the job.

* Superman’s Story: Opposite Number: An excellent short piece by @spectralspices based on an idea he was nice enough to bounce off me, as Superman goes up against a pair of challenges unusual even for him - one comedic, one very much not.

* Pop-Drama: Superman: I don’t know how much this really qualifies as fanfic in the traditional sense - it’s a broad story proposal by @andrewhickeywriter on an ‘end point’ for Superman - but it’s damn fun and satisfying. There’s also a follow-up article where he elaborates on a major plot point.

* Superman Lives: Another short comic, this time by Joe Otis Costello and Des Taylor, where the Superman of 1938 is beamed in a fight with Brainiac into the world of 2014, and Lois Lane naturally gets the exclusive interview with the returned hero, the story being presented in magazine format. The characterizations may or may not work for you - parts do for me, others not - but it’s an interesting exercise nonetheless, and Des Taylor’s work is absolutely gorgeous.

* @ck1blogs: Clark Kent’s reasonably infamous Twitter account. He is not good at the internet, or humans.

* @filmcriticsuperman: Less well-known than its cousin ck1, which is a shame; unlike most “Film Critic X” feeds, it’s actually…well, really good, courtesy of @charlotteofoz. It maintains the voice throughout and perfectly, and while half the feed is indeed movie reviews - always through the filter of Superman - the other half is just Superman talking about his day, and while it was coming out it was probably the best ongoing Superman material of the last several years. If starting at the beginning of the feed to get a feel for it seems too ominous, worth it though it may be, a good sample would be the more traditional short story she did connected to it, a Superman Halloween spooktacular by the name of Yellowfire.

* Kosmograd Blues: A short story by The Quantum Thief and Invisible Planets author Hannu Rajaniemi focused on a Russian Superman analog, it’s a beautifully written, somber story of a superman who’s long since lost what made his own life worthwhile, but knows he still has a job to do. This was to be one part of a series of superhero short stories set in a larger world he had built - he wrote a little more about the details of it once - but to my knowledge this was all that ever came out of it.

* Kahlil: An ongoing webcomic by Kumail Rizvi in which the last son of Krypton landed in Karachi; it’s been awhile since I last checked in on it, but I recall it being very good, with some spectacular artwork making the few moments thus far of super-ness really pop.

* Superman vs. The Universe: A spiritual cousin to Joe Keatinge’s Strange Visitor, this is the story of an all-powerful Superman at the end of time looking back on his existence as he prepares for his last duty; the prose is stilted in places, but there are enough great ideas and emotional moments in here to make it more than worth your time.

* Repairing The World: I’ll admit some bias up front since the author’s a friend of mine, but starlightify’s DCU series of fanfics - largely centered around Superman and Batman - are a lot of fun, very funny and heartfelt. Some good samplers with Superman would be Salutation and Canidae.

* Silver Age Superman: I’ve never gotten my hands on this semi-legendary bootleg 1990 comic by Ed Pinsent and Mark Robinson, but the likes of Al Ewing and phenomenal comics critic Colin Smith have both declared this comic - starring by my understanding perhaps the most alienated version of its title character ever - among their absolute favorite Superman stories, and their word is more than good enough for me; if you see it out in the wild, I’d absolutely say pick it up. And grab a copy for me, would ya?

* Luthor’s Gift/Starwinds Howl: Bizarre as it is to list any Superman work of Elliot S! Maggin’s as fanfiction when he’s one of the characters’ most beloved writers, I suppose that is what these two stories count as given that they’ve only ever been published online and maybe in a fanzine or two to my knowledge rather than with DC’s official sanction, and they’re absolutely of a piece with his novels Last Son of Krypton and Miracle Monday. The latter is his take on how Krypto arrived on Earth; the former shows how Superman finally left Earth around the end of the 21st century the way he often hinted at in his other works.

* Tales of Smallville: Near as I can tell, I’m the only person on the face of the Earth - other than maybe Elliot Maggin, who endorsed these stories himself - who’s aware that on the site supermanthrutheages, Samuel Hawkins posted a series of 4 Superboy stories; him revealing himself to the world, his first big adventure with the Legion of Superheroes, a memorable dinner with a guest, and Martha Kent on her deathbed. On these stories, I know two things. 1. Posterity will unquestionably not validate him. It’s a handful of Silver/Bronze-Age Superboy fanfics on an out-of-the-way fansite, no one will remember them. And 2. He is a Morrison/Ennis/Maggin-tier Superman writer. If I have ever written anything in my life on Superman that you’ve agreed on, for the love of god at least read Martha’s Story, it might honestly be my favorite Superman story other than All-Star.

So along with those recommendations, I do have to throw a request on top: I vaguely recall having once read a short story somewhere online years ago about a Superman-type hero found in a field as an infant by farmers - one’s an alcoholic and one sleeps around, but they clean up their acts for the sake of the kid. He grows up to become a superhero and occasionally fights a Lex Luthorish scientist with an appropriately alliterative name who accuses him of impeding societal progress. Eventually, the hero flies off into space once everyone he knows dies, returning occasionally to Earth as he feels drawn back, to defend it, or rule it, or just wander it in obscurity; his longest and last stay is when he falls in love with a woman who he meets at a restaurant, when she’s the first in all those thousands of years to make apple pie as good as his mother’s. Eventually, he lives to the end of the universe, where he finds himself rocketing back through time and de-aging, crash-landing in a field and completing the time-loop. If anyone could point me in a direction towards it, it’d be very much appreciated; I don’t even recall if it’s any good, but I’ve been trying to find it for years and it’s the principle of the thing at this point.

#Superman #fanfic #Opinion

216 notes · View notes

bornfromscarletcords · 5 years

Text

Earth star AKA NORTHERN SUN

A LIGHT ADVENTURER’S VERSE

Evan Tsukino Perkins was a trouble maker. Seldom was he punished for his deeds unless you count the instincts and subtle ripples in time and space (that others might call coincidence) which inspired him to commit these acts, a punishment. Sometimes Evan did, consider them a punishment that is. If there was a god/divine order in this world why would it make him the way he was and confront him with the things it did if it did at least consider that his responses to these stimuli were right/useful in one mysterious way or another. Eh, well Evan was 19 at this point in the story, or at least that’s where we’ll start. He was a college student living with some flat mates. Officially he was studying biology, but most of his free time was spent writing (poems, random ideas, stories etc) listening to music, hanging out with friends, or exploring his terrain. Where is this terrain exactly, well if you went to the west, and then went “up” a little and then wandered into Rhode Island, and then found a sign that said Blackhearth Village (though it might as well have said, Evan’s territory in the young man’s mind) you’d probably come very close to where this story begins. So, although Evan lived in apartment 104 on Black Bird Avenue, much of his time would be spent on 67 Sol Garden Way, for reasons we’ll get into in a moment. As was said, although Evan was invested in officially studying very practical things like math and science, his internal disposition drifted towards creative expression and what some have called hedonism. How did he balance these supposedly contradictory “faces” of his mind, well, very strangely. So it was that one day, in classic Evan fashion, one urge or another led him to investigate a hall he hadn’t remembered being there. In this hall he found Doctor Drake Versschmidt. Drake was an esteemed member of the faculty, and if Evan remembered correctly was of a certain fame/infamy in the scientific community. Evan was sure he had a number of degrees or side-professions he could pull on, but in that moment Evan mostly just remembered that the man was a physics professor. Evan had a theoretical interest in physics, but his personal experience with it’s problems and applications often left him to be more confused than not. For this reason (almost ironically) he was endlessly impressed with the brave/foolish few who could master the subject. Evan just sort of stood there for many minutes observing Drake, like a young pup might observe the first chameleon it had ever seen, with much peculiar almost innocent intensity. When Drake finally acknowledged that he was being observed he said something along the lines of “Can I help you?” to which Evan responded with “Howdy,” (because apparently Evan was a turn of the century cowboy, in his mind) before loping off to to do what Evans do.

Evan was a dutiful hunter or at least a strangely skilled one. He decided that he ought to learn more about this Drake Verschmidth who had captured his attention so thoroughly. So he asked around the student body and found that many students who had classes with him enjoyed his words of wisdom thoroughly. Evan even asked some of the faculty about the man, even his own Advisor and they mostly said good things, and the bad things they said seemed like misguided compliments. One thing that stood out to Evan was what his own advisor, Cheryl Marbles, said about Dr. Verschmidt. “He’s an excellent problem solver, and not just when it comes to science and stuff, but like in life or whatever. From like the little stuff like whether you should quit coffee or not to the stuff like ‘if I think my lover is cheating on me should I hire a private investigator or just use my connections to the mob to have them dissapear?’ He’ll really work your s**t out.” Cheryl said.

Ah, he was just the man/person Evan was looking for. Evan began attending some of his open lectures and even attended some of the D&D meetings Drake supervised. Eventually Evan worked up the nerve to have a conversation with the man. The details of said conversation are complicated or just unusual, and perhaps we’ll get into them at a different point, however the general nature of the discussion was a theory/thesis on/of existence and the fabric/algorithm which encompassed it’s nigh infinite density (its body/skeleton). The discussion went on for months and weeks, on and off of course and through its duration the men couldn’t help but feel as if they were being fueled in some way by this exchange of thought and idea. As if the soul/the mind could be sustained by words given and taken, and, perhaps it was only for the briefest of moments, they collectively remembered an idea “What if everything could come from a couple of nonsense symbols pushed into the world with the greatest of willpowers”.

Evan wanted to unite the world of the science and the spiritual/social, and although Drake did a lot of work unofficially in that nigh exact direction he warned Evan that it was not necessarily likely that people would respond well to the merging of worlds, even if these worlds were only separated by the thinnest of concepts which mostly just existed within the “collective consciousness” between all creatures who had known life. This troubled Evan, for though he had many ideas and was a skillful lad, he was often struck by , if not naivety , then a childish source of inspiration which dictated that if he thought something should work then it would work, and smoothly at that. At one point or another Drake and Evan discussed the nature of the soul, which eventually turned into a discussion about machines and whether tools and “inanimate objects” had souls. Drake suspected that thoughts and ideas could have a degree of consciousness in them though these things could be difficult to observe if one didn’t understand the subject, not unlike the theory that all matter was in motion, down to the tiniest atom, it’s just that minds often filtered out this motion in order to focus on different details. With this said Evan wondered if there was some inherent connection between the nature of a machine/device/object and the nature of a soul/spirit/ghost, and with this throne into the mix, Evan and Drake decided that one of the crucial parts of their thesis/movement would be the study of whether something thought of as having no life or sentience could attain consciousness/become the most thoughtful and lifelike creature of all. Well you know what they say, go big or go infinitesimally small. What, is that not how the expression goes? Well how should we know we’re just Phantoms?

With this in mind, Drake and Evan began to use a couple of guiding phrases or mental maneuvers in order to remind themselves to be ever vigilant, resourceful, and creative as they faced this nigh impossible shared goal. One of such key riddles was “Did man make technology or did technology use man.” At one point or another Drake introduced Evan to his family, and Evan was smitten. Located on 67 Sol Garden Way, the house was of such astounding architecture Evan almost couldn’t believe it, ah yes the residents were enjoyable as well. Drake was married to Bethany Greenhaven-Verschmidt. She was almost universally a beautiful woman, perhaps only visually displeasing to the most twisted of demons. Bethany had long blonde hair, almost down to her waist, and when Evan was first introduced to her by Drake, it was braided in the most intricate of designs which reminded Evan of the cowboy in his heart. Bethany and Drake had a daughter Wendy-Dorothea Greenhaven and in those days Evan was fond of calling her “Dot” or “Hurricane” which infuriated and pleased in equal measure. Dot was willful and creative, almost too much so for her own good, but we all deserved a bit of wickedness every once in a while. When Drake did not require all hands on deck, Evan was fond of whittling time away entertaining and being entertained by his brilliant daughter. A couple of things stood out to Evan when it came to Dot, she had her mother’s emerald eyes but she didn’t have her father’s darkened fibers or her mother’s fair ones, her hair was like live fire, crimson and orange. Another thing was that her unusual precociousness and instinctual understanding of most things occasionally made Evan feel like he was talking to some ancient dinosaur in little girl form, weird right? If that weren’t enough Dot seemed to all but breath technology and was probably an engineering prodigy and Evan was about 73 % convinced that in her spare time she overthrew governments and spied on foriegn powers with her merry band of cyber militia that could probably only ever be found in the deepest sectors of what many people were calling the dark web. Dot allowed Evan to play with some of the robots she had created, though he couldn’t keep any yet. Evan thought they were a little simple at first until he remembered they’d been made by a 12 year old who should barely know how to hold a wrench let alone build miny-mechs. What was simple turned out to be practical innovation accomplished with an almost mystical deception that the greatest of magicians would covet. Dot’s robots were miracle workers.

IF BLOOD COULD KILL

Dot was a peculiar synthesis of her parent’s patterns of life. Drake was a scientist, which might explain her fascination with the mechanical world. Bethany was an artist, and primarily she painted but she also made other crafts like some strange combination of paper mache and origami. Bethany liked to create images of Spirits, which ranged from biblical things like Angels and Demons, to more pagan ideas like Faeries or the ghosts of animals and natural structures like rivers or volcanoes. They were all as beautiful as their maker in one way or another. So maybe it shouldn’t have been so surprising that Dot should want and perhaps need to create such intricate crafts bearing at least a piece of her internal spark. Regardless, Evan began to care for the Verschmidt-Greenhaven’s as if they were some extended and vaguely upgraded version of his own family. Evan was estranged from his parents. His father had been a difficult man at the best of times and for a person of Evan’s wildness and sensitivity dealing with what he began to think of as dimensionally warped version of his past self (his father) wasn’t entirely healthy for his development. With this said his experiences with this father made him wonder that his thinking on the nature of the world might have been misgiven. Maybe the world wasn’t supposed to save us, we were supposed to save the world. Or perhaps we’re all just meant to save ourselves, who knows. In a place as strange as existence conflicting ideas weren’t always mutually exclusive. His father claimed moorish descent which would place his side of the family at a dark and islamic iberian peninsula, and for the most part that’s where and how many of them would be found, even in Evan’s time. Evan’s mother was Japanese, at least partially and many people often called her beautiful as well. Perhaps it had something to do with the foxes to which she seemed strongly aligned. Evan was a little fuzzy on the details but his mother was a priestess of some sort though he wasn’t sure how good she was at her job considering she spent most her time wandering around the world doing whatever she wanted. As a priestess she said she specialized in foxes or kitsune and that they had guided the woman in her family since “the dawn of time...or something”. Well if his mother was foxy then Evan’s father was a wolf. Perhaps at one point he had tried to be a man of faith and devotion but how the world twists and shatters our intentions. So Evan’s father was a wolfish man whose inner beast ran his world more often than not, which made things difficult for Evan. How these two wild people ever managed to put aside their own egos long enough to appreciate another’s potential, let alone get married and have a children, together, was a mystery to Evan but he supposed that the verses of creation had been molded and inspired by small/ridiculous miracles. Whether his parents were still together or not was subject to some interpretation as their collective insanity deemed that trying to approach their relationship in any sensible way was doomed to failure. So more often than not Evan didn’t approach it at all and was content to enjoy his life in his own territory.

Evan and his parents, though not necessarily all at once, had been all around the world and back again, but giving his creators’ tendencies for absurd amounts of self indulgence Evan was often left in the care of another woman. Charlotte Perry-Rose. Evan was never entirely sure of Charlotte’s exact locale as, more often than not, she looked like she belonged in whatever terrain she found herself in. Sometimes Evan wondered if she didn’t just walk out of the middle of nowhere one day after picking a direction going “anywhere”. In general Charlotte had skin the color of burnt umber which often made Evan think she was Greek or Scicilian or Brazilian. Her eyes were the color of the ocean but Evan couldn’t decide whether they were blue or green. As far as Evan had ever known her she had looked youthful and magnetic, which was strange because he had known her almost all his life and though his parents gracefully endured the scars of time Charlotte seemed to have none. Evan’s parents were generally intelligent versatile people they just didn’t always understand their son or at least they didn’t give him what he needed as often as he might have needed it. Charlotte always gave him what he needed whether it was a flick to the forehead for being a naughty haughty boy or a sweet song to take him into the embrace of sleep and chase of his nightmares. When Evan thought of Charlotte he often thought of a giant bird woman and perhaps this image was that of an angel but to Evan he couldn’t help but think of her as a Raven. They say that in darkness, and potentially pure light, lies the synthesis of all colors, a pure symphony of all hues that could be and have been. And if so then a big ol’ mesmerizing bird with feathers dark as pitch night seemed apropo to Charlotte Perry-Rose. So it was that Raven’s would always be a crucial part of Evan’s life tale and in his dreams they taught him how to fly. You could imagine his surprise when Evan found out that Charlotte knew, like she knew of many things, the Greenhaven-Verschmidts and had been, a close companion to the matron of their clan, Bethany, for quite some time. It appeared she had been Drake’s rival for nearly as long.

YO HO YO HO

Evan was a pirate, or at least the mentality of a pirate was so thoroughly ingrained in his unconscious (not unlike that rowdy cowboy) that for all intents and purposes he was one. So it was that when Evan saw something shiny/valuable he almost couldn’t help but hunt it down to make it his. And so whereas other people, when seeing an attractive member of their target gender/sexual orientation, might think “maybe I should ask them out to lunch.” Evan might think “Yar ye scallywags, a fine bounty off the port bow, row you lazy sea dogs, row for your Dread Captain.” Who were these scallywags and sea dogs, most likely other versions of himself as Evan was often of the opinion if you wanted something done right, you should do it yourself. And so it was that society seemed to part for Mr. Perkins as if he were a Ship made of himself and it a beguiled tide. And to these thoughts Mr. Perkins did wander when he first glimpsed Maria Skyband. She had copper colored skin, hair as dark as the yearning void, and a little scar across the bridge of her nose (though eventually Evan Perkins would find a similar one above her heart). Evan wasn’t sure if she was beautiful because beautiful seemed like a human word and Maria was like divine beast; beyond words, priceless. Evan began to follow her around, and to his credit he didn’t attract as much attention as some stalkers might have. Perhaps it’s not the worst time to give the general impression that most people had of Evan. The general consensus that he was an Airhead, a serial killer, a ghost, a mad/book salesman. Perhaps they were all right for like the greatest of all evil geniuses Evan schemed and trailblazed his way to the heart of his target. You might even say that in many ways he wondered if a crime of passionate love was any crime at all. Maria seemed to have a fascination with law and anthropology, and when her nose wasn’t in a book, her rather attractive shape was wading through the path of valor. Maria liked martial arts and seemed to have a peculiar ability to comprehend its nature no matter how complicated the technique, as if it were some lost language and she its heavenly diviner. So it was that when Evan dreamed of her sometimes he saw her as some warrior maiden shifting with the cultures and people/ideas she encountered. Other times he dreamed her up as some snowy eyed arctic she-wolf with fur like the first and last blizzard; omen of strange, dangerous beauty unlike any other. Maria thought he was an asshole. She was probably right, still even butts need love, and she was inclined to give it to him eventually. Vhat? Phrasing? Lo siento this language is a wild troublesome thing, it probably gets that from its maker. So it was that Maria eventually confronted him on his “shadowing” her around, Evan said he would have apologized but that implied he wouldn’t do it again, and, ideally, he liked to be a beast of his word. She found this amusing, though instead of laughter she gave him stern glances. She allowed him to make her dinner and to take her on excursions to the park or to the movies, and he allowed her to wrestle him to the ground on numerous fields of play. It was not an easy relationship though Evan found it to be a thoroughly enriching one. Maria Skyband was of native american heritage and he seemed thoroughly proud of her people and culture which made the conflicted feelings on her face when Evan called her “pocahontas” all the more adorable. This often inspired her to say hurtful things like his skin was dark but his soul was a white man, or that his vision wasn’t as golden as he liked to think it was. Ah how this wounded our dear EVAN for he insisted his soul was pale not white and that his vision needed compassion for it was one of his greatest treasures. A Pirate’s Life Indeed.

INVERSE ALGORITHM AKA REVERB

Evan dreamed he was a creature mysterious and strange, which should have been normal for him but Evan had what you might call story sense. Did it allow him to see dead people, well that depends on how you define Death. Did he get it from some radioactive spider, maybe but some might say all things happen somewhere in some shape or another. Regardless, Evan’s story sense gave him insight/understanding into cues and signs other people might miss. This didn’t make Evan inherently better than others (though getting him to admit something like this is another matter) it was more like an exchange, like how some people can hold their breath underwater for a really long time but are afraid of heights. That type of thing. So some part of Evan’s existence/consciousness was always tuned into interesting and despicable actions that might be taking place in the tale(s) he was connected to. Perhaps this is what made him such a prodigious plotter and connoisseur of phrases turning, but days could be spent deliberating which came last or first in this divine complication. Regardless, Evan’s story sense told him that this dream was one of significance, if not for everyone, than for him.

In Evan’s dream he was a Phantom Lord of the void. Lounging out in the deep depths of space he reached with devices both spiritual and divine for prey oF a worthy challenge. A symbol had been attached to him though he doubted many of the ones responsible understood the consequences of this action. Machina Ex Lupus is what they called him, mostly out of spite or envy for many mortal races did not understand animals, and many animals feared him greatly. The Phantom Lord was a spirit, and he supposed there had been a time where he had more fleshy origins, in that place he might have been known as Damiene Roguewing or some other ridiculous label. Damiene had learned that blame wasn’t always healthy, though in the depths of berserk carnage/genocide he couldn’t really care too much about etiquete. However, if he had to say how he went from Damiene the fleshy person to Ghostly Wolf Machine, then the author in this matter would be his source. Damiene the fleshy person might have called it his parents, The Ghostly Machine Wolf Might call it the Alpha Spirit and Omega Core:Code, or some other ridiculous thing. Damiene had conflicted feelings about his current existence, although he was extremely powerful, probably more so than would be healthy for most creatures be them mortal or divine, he was plagued by the emptiness which could hunt one down no matter where they traveled. His home was the void, far from the pestering of other entities, and yet it seemed the longer he stayed there the more the void became apart of him. He began to hunger like it did, for contact/consumption. It made Damiene think back to words long buried in his consciousness, notes about trust and safety being masks for clever demons.

Most people had learned not to drift too close to his territory, Damiene still suspected few actually understood exactly why this region of space was so dangerous, as he’d snatch up the unweary traveler every once in a while if they fell into his snaring matrix. When he scanned their thoughts and feelings he often discovered that they’d either been running from something they thought equally or more dangerous, or that they didn’t believe the rumors about the region. The fools. Occasionally he received intruders who actually wanted to die, as they wished to commune with something greater. Damiene didn’t know how great a thing he was though he knew the way to them, so perhaps those strange few had a point. Regardless, much of Damiene’s hunting was more long range in nature, he seemed to enjoy “sniping” creatures who thought they could escape his fangs with a concept as malleable as distance. Of course every now and then, perhaps after he’d hacked one too many bank accounts, or detonated the “wrong” envoy, a fleet of ships would come drifting near his plains hoping for a game of war or a dance with death. Damiene would oblige them, lulled into activity by the drum of those ancient, or were they just passionate, songs of mortal release. It was a rich song, a thrilling verse, and in his sector there were few who could play quite as proficiently as his armada. Damiene scavenged and collected the broken utensils of his prey and if something struck his fancy he repaired/recreated it as a part of his legion of the self. And so it was that those who came as enemies often ended as yet another piece on his board.

Occasionally Damiene would peruse his trophies in more mortal visage. He was a spirit, and he was a machine, and so he existed across the nexus of those connected to his soul code. Everywhere and nowhere, always about himself. Those that chanced to see his “life like” form might see a young man with shaggy hair, brown like his eyes, tan complexion, adorned in robes which seemed to match the color scheme of his body. He mighta looked like a monk, or just a very eccentric pirate. Sometimes Damiene would “play dead” (which wasn’t that hard for him) and allow what might be an entertaining visitor to stumble into his domain unmolested. They’d see a plethora of machines seemingly deactivated and they might chance to board one of these vessels for a chance at plunder. After stumbling around some of his traps and or learning just enough about his history Damiene would appear in classic space-monk attire, to hunt his quarry more directly. Occasionally he’d even whip out his Celestial Edge, a peculiar yet versatile tool he’d acquired through one daring challenge or another. Supposedly it could steer the course of the cosmos, Damiene mostly just used it to stab stuff. When he found it was as green as a virgin forest, but he preferred to keep it at hues resembling orange and violet for sentimental reasons. They were the colors of a sun rising, and setting. Of hellos and goodbyes.

Damien wasn’t entirely sure when it started, though he suspected it had always been apart of him in one way or another, but there was something like a clock inside his mind. Perhaps it was why time seemed more like a playground to him than a cement block on his coffin. Perhaps it was why he was so good with counting/numbers despite having very little official training. Maybe it was what old men once called the knack. Regardless what had once been a mild hum at the back of his brain seemed to have transformed into an all but roaring concert of wild and haunting rhythms. On the one hand it always felt like he was active no matter how deeply he delved into sleep, on the other hand it was like he was his very own rockstar. And doesn’t every superhero (or super something) need their own theme music. Silence became something like an illusion, the arbitrary space between one note and the next or the lyrics of a life which had abandoned him. Regardless, every once in a while the rhythm would storm, more so than usual and it was like the fires of creation were upon him, things making and unmaking themselves with reckless abandon. When he came to he’d be halfway across the galaxy or in the midst of harvesting some obscure civilization, it was all rather ridiculous and yet so very suspicious. Damiene, like many creatures about their egos tended to think that if he did something it was probably for a good (with good meaning beneficial to his own self and not to be confused with moral benevolence) reason. With this thought he figured, that if every-once in awhile he “blacked out” and committed one horrible/remarkable act or another then he’d best learn how to work with this mysterious aspect of his code even if only to improve the fine work he’d already done. Perhaps Damien should have used this mysterious ability to cure impossible diseases or end poverty, but for the most part he just sort of used it to launch his career in music. His albums were a SMASH!!!!!!

TEMPORAL APPROXIMATION

When Evan woke he was himself again, as it goes with many dreams, though perhaps traces of his night time vision had embedded themselves within him in ways both mysterious and dangerous. How much he remembered of his other life is debatable but Evan was of the mind that most things would make themselves clear when they needed to and stressing about things you had no control over, and to Evan almost everything seemed out of control, was not worth the effort. So instead he resumed his daily trials, of trying to be a scientific student while his mind played with stories written in the stars. Dot had convinced him to write her stories so that she might pass the time or be given an opportunity to criticize him. Being, what many would call, dead inside, Evan didn’t mind the sharp remarks too much, especially since time had made him adept at dealing out poetic justice from a number of differing angles. Evan had already written a story for Dot, it was called “ARIN THE FEARLESS And The Hunt For Home” it was about a little puppy who dreamed he was a brave wolf and who left the place he’d been raised in order to make this dream a reality. It was fine work as far as Evan could tell, and Dot only punched a couple of holes in it so he supposed that meant she gave it a passing grade. Still like many young minds, hers was hungry, and apparently it was Evans “responsibility” to feed it. Sure he could have taught her a bunch of curse words or gave her pointers in grifting, but Evan had a feeling life would teach her all she needed to know about that. So instead he decided to give her a crash course in the crafting of ironies beguiling and ferocious, a talent that would enrich her blooming essence greatly, almost to the breaking point. What? You say it still sounds like he’s being a bit of a bad influence/connman. Well, instead you might want to ask yourself, is it a deception if a person is being true to their nature. With that said Evan began showing Dot a most miraculous, if ridiculous tale.

Irfen Henios was a wolf-person. A sentient and conscious being who could, at any moment look like a man/wolf. Irfen was also a spirit, and one from a potent and ferocious lineage as his father was an ice dragon of the great North. To some this meant that Irfen was part dragon as well, but others could see nothing else except a wolf or a man. Irfen pondered the subject himself, but, eventually, he came to the conclusion that most people just saw what they were supposed to see and so worrying about it wasn’t the healthiest idea. Then again Irfen was a wild and mischievous spirit, at the best of times, so it would take the greatest of philosophers, or a lucky fool, to discern whether good health had anything to do with his existence. Irfen and his father had an estranged relationship which had everything to do with what happens when you put more than one wily and powerful creature within the same space for too long. Like a nuclear meltdown, something was bound to explode. With this said Irfen learned to enjoy the great booms which often accompanied his life.

Irfen caused a lot of trouble in his strange life of time warped, the reasons were often good (for Irfen at least) but his “neighbors” weren’t always as enthusiastic about his activities. So it was that they got their best strategists, craftsmen, and well, conmen together to trap this wild wolfy spirit. The specifics of the event are hazy given Irfen’s general ability to make even the simplest of ideas cosmic anomalies of the most haunting order, but somehow this motley crew managed to put The Henios deep below the earth’s skin behind a rather peculiar gate. Few could open the gate and some might say no one was ever supposed to even touch the thing. Irfen wasn’t sure how he felt about prison, on the one hand he thoroughly enjoyed his freedom and the idea of being caged anywhere made his hackles raise. But then again from what he understood some very interesting carnal manoeuvres could be accomplished with the application of chains and whips. He also couldn’t help but note that although he had been locked away from others, they had also been locked away from him, which gave him a privacy so thorough he was almost enchanted by the relaxation, perhaps he’d do some light reading or take up knitting. Being a conceptual creature, at least partially, Irfen came to the conclusion that his captivity, like so many things he had encountered, was a thing of the mind, ideas and words. Irfen and words had a very unusual understanding, they would never truly harm him. Going even further, Irfen couldn’t help but think that while a great portion of his being was locked behind the gate, somewhere on the other side, different, perhaps more obscure portions were beginning to stir in response to his absence from the equation. But then again maybe that was just poppycock of the highest caliber.

Irfen was a shapeshifter, and though he preferred a more wolfish visage he could, in theory at least, adopt a multitude of forms. With that said it would not be uncommon to see him as a dark skinned male with wild hair that spoke of beasts and the wild, eyes which ranged from the color of a silver moon to that of a gilded sun gleaming, with a necklace of fangs across his nape. As for his clothes, well, while behind the gate he couldn’t help but embrace his circumstances and so dressed in a blue/grey jumpsuit which bore more than a passing semblance to the garb commonly worn by American inmates. When in more wolfish form his fur was often black as night except around his paws which had the same color as his eyes. Irfen, when inspired to it, would go into terrible storms of madness and perhaps looked more the demon than the angel in those moments. However the truth of his nature was not inherently bound to the shattering of sanity, in fact some might say he had been incepted into the world to make sense of things rather than unmake it. A problem solver if you will. Specifically, Irfen was attracted to fear and by association, concepts like bravery and intense challenges, and so perhaps he looked slightly insane when he would engage in actions that all but promised some encounter with Death, or worse, the Great Spirit often called God. Irfen would like to say that death was just a word like any other but even he had to admit that as far as things went he and the Dying Verse were rarely far from one another.

Despite dressing like your run of the mill prisoner instead of succumbing to despair or thoughts of vengeance Irfen decided to have fun. Some might have said he was on vacation. The first few moments were rough, though change and Irfen always seemed to have an awkward relationship. Still things took a turn for the better when Irfen found a peculiar entity within the “prison” with him. Irfen had been feeling lonely, which wasn’t entirely uncommon for precocious beings like himself, but in this loneliness his senses felt drawn to a point in the prison. Being the intuitive beast he was Irfen felt a need to follow these sensations to their source and there he found The Great Nothing. At first Irfen thought of it as a pulsating grey field, like a hole in the fabric of the universe except instead of being in one specific point, it was all points who couldn’t decide whether they existed or not. Then Irfen figured that it wasn’t exactly grey, it just wasn’t all that certain about anything, like an existential haze; like it could have been all colors, alien to the concept, or some new one. It was very tempting and Irfen at once felt drawn to traversing it’s peculiar relm and perhaps finding a great rest to ease the untamable soul which had been his privilege and burden for a substantial time. Irfen felt that it was lonely as well, and perhaps it was drawn to his loneliness. Perhaps friendship doesn’t entirely cover the devious and enlightened connection which occurred in this cage of awesome depths but Irfen felt that his destiny was once again in motion and that this nigh unknowable creature to which he would become very familiar was a crucial piece to the riddle which was his existence. It was a path that led to a little bit of everywhere.

Optimism did not come easily to Irfen. It wasn’t so much that he hated the idea, in fact he had an oddly joyful life in his own way. He was always stirring up one entertaining/ deranged event or another, and engaged these activities with a rich mirth, albeit the grim variety. Still Irfen was a pessimist. A Pessimist who was almost addicted to solving problems. Perhaps the Great Spirit blessed Irfen with a bounty of grave ironies when he was sung into the world. But such a nigh unknowable creature might drive a person to the depths of insanity in their attempts to understand it. Regardless, Irfen and the fog (Irfen began calling it Uni, as in unity, but shorter) decided that they would make the best of their captivity and union. They discovered that Uni could pull on a little bit of everything, but as it had no initiative and or lasting context to place these ideas in, so they rarely stayed for long and when they did Uni didn’t know what to do with them. Irfen had a bunch of ideas about what to do with any and all things, some might say he had too many ideas. And so this bond of one of the verse’s greatest plotters, and it’s greatest plot began to bloom. Irfen and Uni created what many might call an underground civilization, but what they called the “Supreme Vacation Resort Of All Time”, ah yes the Ironies were hot and heavy in that place. Irfen could often be found diving down from great heights, or surfing/skating the many elements which dotted the terrain. Uni was rarely far and would even adopt more personal form every once in awhile. Like all great enigma’s Irfen was almost instinctively drawn to Uni’s form and some might say its every action (perceivable and otherwise). He was a meddler and Uni was an infinite anomaly almost yearning to be bothered. And so, like in many of his stories, Irfen could not resist his own nature.

Given that time was a flexible friend to Uni and her wolfish companion it’s hard to say just how long they were down behind the gate together, though it was safe to say it was at least one lifetime, maybe three. But all things come to an end in one way or another. Vhat? Did this perhaps sound too much like a certain Skeletal Entitiy’s declaration. Death is a type of change, but change doesn’t mean good or bad, it just sort of is, like the verses Great and small. Anyway, change came for Uni and Irfen. So it was that one night or day or afternoon, it was hard to tell down there, they felt the gate being touched. They went to investigate, and found a plethora of spirits waiting for them across the thresholds. Their gazes looked downtrodden, angry, some even guilty. Apparently while Uni and Infer had been canoodling, horrors unlike any they had ever seen had been rampaging about the world above. Infer and Uni didn’t really see how this was their problem. The other spirits insisted that the chaos had something to do with the wolf’s imprisonment, and that his peculiar mind/skillset was unusually suited for the task. Irfen caught on pretty early but he couldn’t help but point out that there were plenty of creatures as or more powerful than him, his father being one of them. Why hadn’t they obligated them to do something about the situation? Perhaps they in turn felt obligated to say this, but Irfen savored the words regardless “The other Spirits are too Afraid and your father is a very Unreasonable creature”, Irfen had scarcely heard sweeter music in his entire existence.

In all honesty Irfen had grown a little cozy in his vacation “cell” but his instincts told him that if he was to honor the great adventures he had conducted, he had to lope forth into the next ones or else risk betraying himself. Irfen and Uni had a minute moment of consultation about what they were to do now that freedom had all but come begging at their doorstep, and they came to the same conclusion at nigh exactly the same point “LET’S FLY”, and off they went to save the Words from their Letters.

Dot’s reaction to Evan’s tale seemed to be a mixture of enticed and horrified, with bits of adorable madness peppered here or there. She asked how Infer Henios and Uni managed to stay strong in such a hopeless situation? Evan told Dot that many wonders truly wished to be brought into the world, for better or worse, they just needed a bit of a shove of confidence/creativity to get them going, then he gestured to her chest and said, they were like hearts that way. Noting how pleased Evan looked with himself, she asked if he intended to get that reaction from her , to which he responded with a “Down to the T”.

INTERVERSAL BERSERKER

Evan had a troubling feeling, which was not uncommon. The feeling had the tell tale signs that most barriers in the world, no matter how complex or strong, were paper thin. Whether these things were constantly being punctured or not was a matter of some debate in Evan’s mind, alight with activity as ever, but it seemed this troubling feeling had a twin/shadow lurking in its wake. These barriers often went untroubled because people, for one reason or another lacked the motivation to utilize them to their fullest potential. And so it was Evan thought it very ironic that in this world of paper thin walls and illusions, he was a writer.

Evan imagined he was somewhere else, which was also not uncommon for him. In his imagination he was a strange beast who could look very much like a man, perhaps a boy. He had fur/hair pale as winter’s breath and nearly as wild. He had skin dark as the earth’s sins. His eyes were green, like dollars exchanged on the street, like envy bold and ensnaring, like budding flowers, like the palaces and ruins of his soul. His eyes were a jade flame, willed from within.

This creature was a writer as well, a story teller, but as every monk has his prayers, every soldier his dreams of home, and every farmer his crops, this crafter of morals and their deviation placed a certain significance in his bardic rhymes. Maybe it was just childish desire to evoke some meaning from one’s actions in a world which may have none, but this creature couldn’t help but think that one’s actions and one’s reactions to the act’s of others had some inherent connection to the nature of one’s existence as well as their destiny, though that’s a very old fashioned word. Perhaps “code” would be better, in the way a knight maintains their “honorable word”, or perhaps their “heart”. Maybe the phrase “one’s love” would satisfy the senses. Who’s to say? Regardless the creature through action, no matter how peculiar, strived to remember who he was, and perhaps better, or at least complete the world around him in doing so. The creature had a feeling that past these paper thin barriers, or perhaps within them was a portion of himself. You could argue that as existing beings we were connected to everything at one point or another, but what the creature thought was that there was a very concentrated portion of himself which had a tendency to approach and guide him. Why? Well, “why anything?”. However if the creature had to give an honest or at least understanding answer he would have to say, “because it was his nature”. This concentrated portion of himself was a hard thing, in the way water was hard; it could give life to many things and yet it could drown and crush them all the same. So it was that this concentrated portion of himself had a gentleness and precision that could undo worlds, and, potentially, recreate them.

This creature could go by many names but for the sake of moving things along let’s say one of his names was Vincent Wargen. Vincent was a hunter, he was a raven, he was a dragon, and he was a wolf, but most importantly he was a person and it was this factor which made him like every-creature who ever had and would exist and it was this same factor which made him entirely unique. Vincent was guarding something, protecting it. Some might argue that what he kept did not need keeping, but as many wardens might tell you, just because their wards could defend themselves didn’t mean they should have to. The details of why Vincent did this were mysterious but perhaps something in the depths of his most concentrated portions demanded he defend something honorably. Perhaps it could have been anything, perhaps it was a little bit of everything, only some strange thing could truly tell. Let’s say that this thing which he defended came in the guise of a young girl/woman. Perhaps the label was just a deception or a shell. Maybe it was honesty unbridled. Regardless Vincent didn’t need to be bombarded with complications to know that if he could help it, “her”, then he probably should.

Vincent had endured a disturbing existence. He’d been shattered, reborn, transmuted, sacrificed, baptised, omened, nurtured and natured. These things didn’t necessarily all happen in that order, but then again chronology was a tricky subject for Vincent at the best of times. Time had scarred him like the many concepts he’d encountered in these verses which often saw violence and love as being two parts of the same whole. So it was that although at that moment you might have seen him dressed in suspenders with a buttoned up shirt, and maybe even a tie; pinnacle markers of the civilized gent, Vincent was no stranger to the depths of depravity, of sin, of carnage and verses laying with skeletons. Yes one rarely had to look farther than those emerald eyes of his to know that a predator was observing them. Perhaps a patient or just a creatively impulsive one, but a predator nonetheless. I suppose you could say that Vincent, in many ways, saw destruction, saw ruin as an inevitability. In his mind there was nothing objectively wrong about embracing this reality and diving headfirst into it, but then again other parts couldn’t help but think that, occasionally, some resistance could go a long way. Maybe this was to show that a thing could be refused, even if only temporarily. So there he stood, or sat depending on how you think of things, our noble savage, our beast man; a guiding spirit and an executioner all the same.

His liege and ward had found some artifacts for him, he was under the impression that she had made them from the remnants of some of his memories and emotions, which was not an uncommon thing for him though, of this, he was not always certain. He called them avatars, because it’s how he often thought of himself, and with that said, he named them golems for similar reasons. They’d been forged of clay but Vincent quickly discovered they had a spark within them, a burst of creative energy, a recollection of life. So it was that Vincent was not entirely surprised when he stumbled on these creatures chatting and moving about, though he was a little concerned in a sort of responsible way. Two of the creatures had wings like birds, or angels depending on how you thought of things. One was blonde, and one was a brunette, though their wings couldn’t seem to decide whether they liked being dark or light better. The third had hair like wildfire, gleaming scarlet. Her wings had more in common with something like a dragon. They were all beautiful and strange, priceless creations. Although they could comprehend the basic language Vincent and his ward often used the creatures seemed to prefer a language of the senses, conveying thoughts and feelings through almost divine perceptions. Vincent often interpreted these communications as songs, and so it was that his mind was often filled with one tune or another. The blonde he named Cináed, well in the name of fairness, it was one of the names she was not entirely unwilling to accept, and in that sense it was more of a nickname. The Brunette he named Fay-Rae which seemed to satisfy her sharp mind and deep well of feelings. The Red Maned he named Gwenadith, because he thought it suited a dragon of her potent stature and enchanting image. The three often butt heads, in very dynamic and troublesome ways, though it seemed that something Vincent had learned during his perplexing life rang true in these avatars. Sometimes you can only truly know a person when you have wrestled them with your whole body heart and mind. When his avatars worked together they were invincible, like true, or at least deadly, masters of the verses.

Cináed specialized in healing, whereas Fay-Rae specialized in self defense. Gwenadith was something like the navigator of their peculiar enterprise; there were few places she couldn’t get herself into and even fewer she couldn’t get herself out of. They could be small, almost motionless trinkets, or they could grow in size, from average womanly shape to the range of celestial titans. Vincent was not sure about just how conscious his ward was of the nature of her creations. He suspected that some part of her was keenly aware, but it might have been portions fast asleep or hidden in the shadows of her mind. It made him wonder about another idea he’d encountered through his existential trials. If someone was not blatantly aware of something, but still had knowledge hidden in traces amongst them, were they still ignorant? It was this question and others made in its image which had haunted Vincent as both a boy and a spirited beast; it was almost embedded in the essence of his code. Either way, Vincent’s restless soul was comforted by the knowledge that he’d be able to play with her and his winged companions to his heart’s content.

Morning Son AKA LAST MAN STANDING

“It Was So Hard To Remember That A Machine Could Be So Human” These words echoed in Evan’s mind as he bent and moaned himself awake. He couldn’t help but feel like everytime he got up he was leaving a piece of himself somewhere else, but then again maybe it had left him, it was so hard to say. Ideas were in Evan’s mind, and they were like an ocean tide, calm one minute, and consuming the harbor the next. The web of thoughts and emotions’ hunting ground seemed to revolve around the question/conundrum of “how do you explain to someone that their greatest aspirations and truest/purest yearnings are already apart of them, that they are them, even when they seem obscure, even in the darkest of nights.” In all honesty it sounded a little too optimistic for Evan’s tastes, but then again he knew himself pretty well and even his brightest ideas, full of compassion and joy, were made to pierce the heart of darkness. Dot had made a friend at school. Well, she had begun bothering a young lad and he hadn’t chased her off yet, though he seemed very wary of her. Dot had begun to tell Evan about the boy but even as the words were falling out of her mouth, even as the sound just began to break the bones of air, Evan couldn’t help but feel like he had heard this story before, no, that he knew it as he might know his own soul.

Dot’s Friend was named Cassius Golem, he had sandy blonde hair which could look golden under the beaming sun or ghost white in the pale moonlight. He seemed, for all intents and purposes to be a regular child. He liked wearing plaid shirts, playing around town, getting into just enough trouble that people knew he was real, but not enough that they suspected he was some dark overlord or something. His popularity at school was a matter of some debate, but it seemed like he was infamous rather than liked in the more conventional way. He did fairly well in class as well as recess/gym activities and many might say he was relatively handsome, if a little on the short side. Still it seemed many people had trouble getting close to him, as if there was some vague barrier or wind repelling them. The idea reminded Evan of magnets. When asked to describe the feeling, one of these children might say something like “I’ll go near him and I’ll think of something, but then I’ll feel like I’m annoying some entity or whatever, and the air will either get really cold like all the hope is getting sucked out of my body, or really hot like I’m bout to get struck by lightning. But otherwise he’s cool I guess.” From the mouthz of babes. This world certainly is mysterious. When Evan asked if Dot ever got that type of feeling, she said yeah but she just ignored it. Sometimes it felt more like hot/intense pawing and she thought that meant it wanted her to get closer. There were a few others who were allowed to get close to Cassius but perhaps we’ll get to them later.

Evan asked Dot why she pursued the boy, and she said that when she was building one of her “Destroyer” devices, the boy looked like a younger version of the perfect pilot she had in mind, she was sure they were destined to meet or something. Evan asked about his personality and Dot told him that Cassius was quiet most of the time but that was usually because he was imagining some weird adventure or plotting something strange/awesome/ridiculous. It was like he was barely even there sometimes and then he’d just snap to attention and be entirely playful. It was at those times that Dot could barely get him to leave her alone, though she seemed uncertain whether she would want him to if she could. He’d be all “rough and handsy...Ya know he kind of reminds me of you, except not an old man,” According to Dot. Evan suggested she space out her comments a little or else someone might get some dangerous ideas, and that some might say he was old, others might simply say he was classic, but his will was timeless. Evan didn’t need Dot to tell him that he and the boy likely shared some weird connection which defied most common sense.

Evan dreamed again this time, he was exploring a young world anointed with rich vegetation, fauna, and gentle seasons. Within the depths of one of its great forests was something which didn’t seem to belong, and yet it’s peculiar presence seemed to be the/a ironic point of the world in which it resided. The “thing” was a giant machine in the shape of a skeleton, when Evan stared at a number of symbols and sensations flashed through his brain but finally they balanced out into one phrase “GRIM EQUALIZER”. Evan ventured into the machine, and though it seemed to be sleeping, or at least on some sort of standby, he could feel that it was, well he wasn’t sure if “alive” was the right word, but it had thoughts and feelings, a spirit if you will. These codes pulsed through its frame like blood and, as things were, these codes were leading Evan towards it’s chief operating systems. It was worth noting that Evan felt that, even in its torpor at any moment the thing might awaken, even if only partially, to show him the meaning of horror and ruin, yet he proceeded unharmed. Well, he wasn’t harmed in the more common ways at least. Eventually Evan found doors leading to the Paramount Navigation/Calculation operating systems, but Evan, being the troublemaker that he was, couldn’t help but think there was something else worth investigating behind the “surface”, and so he merged with the code a little and an interesting entity was revealed. To Evan it felt like he’d been pulled down into the Machines depths but perhaps the Verses have no objective concept of directions. What Evan found was a boy who looked remarkably like how Evan pictured the young Cassius in his mind, it was uncanny. The boy program said something about being a little confused as people rarely visit him and that because of this his attempts at communication may be a little “off”. The boy said his name could be summarized as “Arx Lu” though the image which came to Evan’s mind when he heard it was that of a candle burning defiantly in the eye of an endless storm of night. The boy was a “Gatekeeper” though he was occasionally called “The Nurture” by other portions of his mechanical home. He explained/suggested that the other doors Evan had passed/ignored were the doors of his sourcez. They were slumbering because when they woke the world was often thrown into grave distress, and would likely need to be “renewed” to balance out the damage done. Arx Lu had conflicted feelings about his sourcez. On the one hand they had helped to teach him everything he knew about the world, and yet these ideas of there’s also kept him from the world. They meant well in their own way but his sourcez were about as flawed as anyone and anything. He was still likely to defend them under normal circumstances, and was actually considering terminating Evan when he thought he might harm them. Evan then inquired what abnormal circumstances would look like? Arx Lu explained/suggested, that a large portion of his “job” was to balance the sourcez’ codes while they slept, in such a way that they helped the surrounding environment grow comfortably without encouraging too many outsiders from getting too close. Apparently, the proximity of a possible threat would cause the “Grim Equalizer’s” defense systems to activate, which came in the form of many biomechanical hungry agents of conquest and destruction. This wasn’t a terrible problem if it only happened every once in a while, or in very small patterns of dispersal. The sourcez would be unconsciously aware of the activity but unlikely to care enough to wake themselves up. However each dispersal increased the “stress” in their sleeping state and eventually it would grow too powerful to ignore and they would have little choice but to awaken and confront the problem head on, which would, again, most likely mean the razing/leveling of the entire planet. Evan wondered how many times this had happened. Arx Lu told him, too many times. Arx Lu continued by saying his functioning could change/be corrupted under conditions of peculiar fortune. Apparently he had a strange effect on the minds of most creatures which came into contact with him, not unlike his own sourcez. If the greater body of the machine became distressed, and Arx Lu attempted to stop it from waking his sourcez then it was likely, if they weren’t immediately destroyed, that Arx Lu would be transformed himself. His code falling from “balancer” to “undoer”, from “clarity” to “madness” from “order” to “chaos”. Arx Lu did not seem to like the idea of his role as “protector” being twisted into “ender”. Evan wondered if the young lad had ever been corrupted before. Arx Lu said that he thinks he did but the memories are foggy, like they belong to another person, but after those occurrences there was always a scar in the world, and the machine body might have moved to avoid attention by local creatures. Evan could feel his dream beginning to fade away so before his sleep left him he told Arx Lu that they should try to find each other. Arx Lu said that was okay as long he wasn’t a jerk about it, to which Evan said he could make no promises.

Drake asked Evan to supervise a meeting out in the park between Dot and Cassius. When Dot ran off temporarily for them being “dumb annoying boyz” Evan and Cassius had a conversation. Cassius stated he was having confusing feelings for his older cousin who had great breasts, blonde hair, and just enough self esteem issues that she’d probably let him do something obscene to her at least once. Cassius wondered if that was normal for a boy his age. Evan stated he wasn’t sure if normal even existed at this point in his life, but the problem sounded oh so human, and that Cassius should try to understand his heart as best as possible. Then Cassius told him he liked Dot because she was soft and hot, and sometimes he just wanted to sneak up and kidnap her and tie her up in places or put her and other stuff together, like a strange puzzle. Evan said that sounded nice but that he should be careful because Drake might kill him. Then they talked about, pornographay, video games, cards, and stories. Cassius thought he might become a regular shakespeare one day, and Evan couldn’t help but believe in him. What a weird day that would be; what an ominous week. Evan thought back to a statement his father, Malik Perkins, had written when he was a youngish rogue not unlike his son.

“And it was quite the Auspicious moment when the heavens parted and from a hunk of peculiar earth-like material a mortal race was raised. Ah the ribs which must have cracked when the skies declared the standard of this alien tribe a ‘Real Man’.”

TO BE CONTINUED/CONCLUDED

#North Sun Earth VERSE

0 notes

kendrixtermina · 7 years

Text

Extra Typology Vol #3 - Part 1: Personality & its Function

Like many books of it’s type, Oldham’s “New Personality Self portrait” begins with a couple of musings on the mystery of human individuality & the misunderstandings that frequently spring from the resulting differences in priority, complete with an anecdote about four cousins who grew up together under very similar circumstances and yet ended up with completely different life styles, challenges and midlife crisis scenarios. (In general, there shall be a lot of illustrative Anecdotes later on)

Personality and its Function

In the following, the author characterizes Personality, Ego or whatever you want to call it as the organizing principle or your being and, as a consequence, of the the resulting life, what makes the tangle of data, memories and responses into a being capable of making decisions -

The particular patterns and filters that puts all of your attributes, thoughts, feelings, attributes, behaviors and coping mechanisms into an orderly arrangement - It’s the thing that causes your friends at a shool reunion or family meeting to say that you “haven’t changed” after you got old, changed your appearance etc, characteristic, recognizeable ways in which you react to others, express yourself, your body language, way of reasoning, emotional dynamics etc, even your distinctive manner of speaking - some may talk a lot about the “shoulds” in life & express their intentions this way, whereas others may describe the same intention as, “I’m going to..:” & lampshade is as a comming personal success.

As we know today, it has both genetic and environmental factors (more on that later) - as the author puts it, your genes give you a range of possibilities, a “deck of cards” only some of whom get used/triggered dependent on your upbringing & self-aware efforts to better yourself - A good upbringing will lead to you realizing more of your potential, whereas bad treatment may exascerbate what would otherwise have been a mild weakness.

Unlike all the more “spiritual” schools of thought prevalent in the enneagram literature, the concept of ego/ personality here is a somewhat different one of ego/self/personality as an emergent phenomena of brain function that makes our experience possible, not a shackle to be thrown away to reach some vaguely defined ‘natural state’ - the ordering it is all there IS to ourselves, it’s just that as self-aware “programm” we can reflect upon & amend ourselves and, in cases where impairment makes that hard or problems are substantial, there’s always therapy.

Though this concept can be deduced, he doesn’t dwell at it or present t at lenght, nor does he preach or go into good/bad judgements, he’s simply descriptive - The author manages to present a very “biologistic” view of how all phenomena we’d connect with the correct or incorrect functioning of our brains and minds are connected and frequently refers to things like neurotransmitters, without falling into the trap of oversimplifying, over-mechanizing or overpathologizing, and when discussing dysfuctionality he always goes into how it can be treated (after all, that is his thing), he describes different priorities & values without either euphemistic or judgy - “Normal” has to be defined relative to each person, and Ego is not “bad” or “to be enjoyed within limits” but simply a functionality that “does a job” which it can perform more or less well.

While do slightly miss the very in depht, “fundamental-dynamic” and endlessly detailes approach that more “intuitive” schools of typology provide, “scientific approach” does not mean that this has the same, purely out-put centered as “big five”, quite the opposite, it aims to give a comprehensive picture for each “style” or “trait”, takes variation into account and to reach explanatory power - it’s merely that this whole system is very new and that the writers’ styles rely on anecdotes and illustrative examples.

Health as Adaptability

Health and Functionality, then, can be characterized not as a particular firm state that is the same for everyone, but as the rigidity vs. adaptability of those reaction patterns.

- As Einstein once put it, “Madness is to keep doing the same thing & expect a different result”

Though this is of course a complex gradation in both health/upbringing/luck and willingness to learn, the author attempts to quantify along the following axes:

Flexibility vs. inflexibility - A dysfunctional person tends to be stuck in one principal way of behaving and reacting to things. A more functional and/or mature person has a larger repertoire of possible reaction - They might, for example, be willing to negotiate when someone voices a complaint that’s of great importance to them

Variety vs. Repetition - Less functional people tend to go through the same few, often unrewading experiences everwhere they go, whereas healthier ones have a basic capacity for spontaneity, creativity and open-mindedness even if they are overall creatures of habit - they can at least consider alternatives and correct course if needed

Flexibilty vs. inability to cope - While any person may have a set of default coping mechanism, a healthy person will eventually rally & deal with it in some unique, profound manner.

Basically, though a person’s standards, priorities and wants will differ by type, a healthy person’s typical behavior, perceptions and will generally forster their comfort and well-being, whereas an unhealthy one will be varying degrees of “stuck” with patterns that lead to discomfort & loss of opportunuties, and otherwise don’t get them what they want and/or need.

#oldham #oldham personality #personality #typology #extraTypology

2 notes · View notes

stratamuzak · 4 years

Text

Interview with VoltageHawk

CHASE AROCHA

When I want to feel inspired I listen to a lot of the different projects of Mike Patton. Be it Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Peeping Tom, or Tomahawk, the range of styles of music is so diverse that I’ve been listening for like 15 years and I haven’t gotten bored yet, haha. When I want to relax or chill, I love BadBadNotGood, an amazing jazz artist doing incredible arrangements all in a hip-hop context. It's great! Or Ray Lynch, I really love his writing and use of counterpoint melody. Then if I’m getting hyped I put on something like Dying Fetus or Vitriol, or Maximum the Hormone. And any other time I’m blaring Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper and Sturgill Simpson.

DAN FENTON

I think a lot of the time music finds my mood. Sort of more a spiritual or cosmic connection. When I was a kid my mom would make us watch musicals if we stayed home sick from school. Jokes was on her because I hated school but I loved learning musical scores and how to write dynamic parts and movements. The fact that people like Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra or Marlon Brando were also amazing actors only added to that unlikely education. I learned how to really feel music between that and the intense very bloody hymns we had to sing in church. I understand the sentiment but that shit is harder than a lot of black metal. “Are you washed in the blood of the lamb”. Hard core shit. Sorry, I digress. During the making of our most recent record which is called Electric Thunder and set for release later this year or early next (hard to navigate releases with all this pandemic shit) I listened exclusively to film scores, classical music and radio evangelists. I am not religious but I grew up in a preacher's home and when I needed to get my creative push and anger at its peak, I listened to preachers who were clearly greed driven and motivated by the lust for power. It made my adrenaline rush in anger and it came out in the recording for sure. I am a huge fan of Hans Zimmer and Vangelis. Each of these artists move me in powerful ways. The juxtaposition of darkness and light both in traditional instrumentation and experimental synth based work. Just musical giants. When I am feeling frustrated about the social issues I see everyday in my East Nashville neighborhood I listen to KRS-One, Kamasi Washington, Outkast. A lot of protest music. I am in love with band IDLES from the UK. Such powerful lyrics tackling issues like the need for male vulnerability, equality for all and the seemingly ironic brutal beat down of toxic masculinity. That band is great if you're happy, mad, sad, whatever.

STRATA: Do you have a process you go through prior to writing, playing, and even performing?

CHASE AROCHA

I do a lot of breathing exercises like the Wim Hof techniques. I have generalized anxiety disorder and I used to get horrible debilitating panic attacks, it helped me get into breathing and meditation. Anxiety will never go away but you learn ways to live with it and push through your panic. I think about how much this means to me and how long I’ve spent doing it, I try to see that I value myself as a person and then from that thinking I can just let go and play music. Only approaching it with love and not worrying about mistakes because that’s how we learn.

DAN FENTON

The entire thing is one process. Like a hero's journey of sorts. I listen and meditate everyday, I believe in a cosmic river of inspiration that flows from an energy that is and has always been. I believe if you listen hard enough and give yourself to the music the muse will send your mind transmissions that may only be a section of a song, or perhaps they are an entire album, but everyday I show up. A few years ago I read this book called The War Of Art, by Steven Pressfield. In this book he describes the invisible force he calls the Resistance. The Resistance may be things both “good or bad”, but they are anything that keeps you from showing up for your art. So I show up everyday, you can ask the dudes in the band, they receive a work tape maybe twice a week with new shit to try out. If I don't feel that muse working I don’t force it, but I instead wait on further transmissions from the cosmic womb. All sounds crazy, but my story is crazy, so crazy makes the most sense. In the studio I have many processes. I found while recording vocals I perform better in complete darkness, I have realized how much I live inside my head and how active my imagination is and equally ADD my eyes are. So when I can't see it brings to life the imagery and the passion of the song. I can see all those people I write about, all the landscapes, the love, lust, joy and pain. I also do some method stuff, keep things in my pockets pertaining to a character I may be portraying in a song. Wanna be Daniel Day Lewis shit.

STRATA: Your own current project, discuss the process your music went through as you built each layer. From beginning to the end of it. (Even the artwork and merch that may or may not be apart of it.) *This is your time to be as in-depth as you would like over your current project, remember an interview allows you a platform in which to sell your music to old and new fans.

CHASE AROCHA

This all started with our drummer Jarrad having a vision and going through trials and errors of finding the right people to execute that. Along the way Dan, Tyler, and I all came into the picture and that vision morphed into something we all felt was not even from us. Like we were an antenna receiving a signal and these riffs and lyrics quickly meshed into something I haven’t heard before. Part hard rock, part jazz, part punk and hardcore. All with this message of love and truth being the reason for living. To end the ones controlling our thoughts and dividing us or tribalism and greed. I feel like we made something worth listening to and that’s all I feel like you can really hope for.

DAN FENTON

The self titled record that we have available now on all streaming platforms was two different profound stages in my life all in the making of one record. When we began, Jarrad and I partied a fuck ton, and I was decending into some serious personal shit with alcohol. It was bad, I couldn't get through a day without way too high of a blood alcohol level. Before we finished vocals on the record, I stayed up one night working and drinking, perhaps I had never stopped from how many nights before, who fucking knows. Anyhow, I died for 9 minutes on the side porch of my house. Fully shut down, fucking dead. Mind you, I didn't want to die, I just didn't know how to lay off the bottle. Woke up in the ICU surrounded by my band, my wife and what few friends I had left. At that moment Voltagehawk became a complete family to me. I spent a stint in rehab (Jarrad drove me) and that was several years ago now. When I got out I went back to finish the record, make some amends and chase this thing out for real. So that was some info on the first record. The new Album which is a 13 song space odyssey named Electric Thunder, after our beloved Electric Thunder Studio owned and operated by our resident space wizard producer Geoff Piller, was not so dramatic. After I got my shit together and my mind cleared up I began to write everyday like a mad man. Song after song after song came like never before. I think we cut 15 songs out before we settled on the final 13. Our process as a band is often for myself or one of the other dudes to present a bare bones or often finished idea to the band and we run it through the Hawk Filter. The Hawk Filter is just the decomposition and reconstruction of every rough idea till it fits us. Which is silly to say because if we like, it we do it, not a matter of genre worship. Shit’s good, do it. Always do what's best for the song.

CHASE AROCHA

There is so much great music in the world in so many styles, why shouldn’t we try to explore them all! I’m always trying something I haven’t done before, not always as a challenge, but I would hope it’s natural for people to do in art. We shouldn’t be the same people we were 2 years ago, let alone 10. I love jazz, Death Metal, and country music. If you can find a really fun and genuine way to blend those then that’s absolutely what you should do! Don’t be tied down to what kind of music you’re making and just make music.

DAN FENTON

That's all we do all day. Everything on this planet, and above it, and in it’s majestic seas and mountains, all these people of all the cultures of all the world and their energy and their culture all influence and musical inspiration is welcome. Our philosophy is never say no, and jump off the cliff, and pull yourself back up. Meaning: try all the musical options then settle on the one we believe is the most amazing. So much of our influence is from cinema and books, video games, you name it. I’ll pluck a support cable on every bridge I see ‘til I am dead just to see if it speaks to me. Sonically there are no fucking rules, and if you impose rules, fuck your rules. We love to create, to talk about creating and then to birth something new is beyond amazing.

CHASE AROCHA

DAN FENTON

Voltagehawk is ever evolving. As it stands, we spend way too much time trying to pigeon hole what people will refer to our sound as. I don’t care what you call it as long as it moves you. I listen to everything from John Coltrane and Tom Waits to Napalm Death and Motorhead, Antonio Lucio Vivaldi to Kamasi Washington. IDLES and Bad Brains. If you refuse to evolve as an artist, experimenting, growing, trying new methods, all these elements then you cannot grow as a human being. Too many people are happy where they are, just okay, making the same music that their dads made and trying to cosplay some kind of yesteryear. We don't do that shit, we’re us, that's it. We grow, when you hear the Electric Thunder for the first time you will understand everything. If you burn some sage next to a photo of Carl Sagan while you listen to Electric Thunder, you will see the cosmic river in your mind's eye. The world is full of people with a blockage in their brain. They cannot see that this bullshit we call a life is just a series of labor for hire gigs that leave us rapidly in the middle. We're trying to break away from it all and follow our feathers, our truth, our search for enlightenment on our hero's journey. I’ll leave you with this. Know Thyself.

#Voltagehawk TAGPublicity

0 notes