#there's also a Weight of Glory quote in there

[queenlucythevaliant]

Northern Lights

.

I heard a voice that cried, “Balder the Beautiful is dead, is dead!” 

.

Who knows what to call the lonely exhilaration of gazing out into a bright Northern sky? Who can name it? 

Jill could.

It was the same feeling that came to her at the teetering edge of a cliff at the end of the world. The same feeling as when she said her goodbyes to Puddleglum and Scrubb before they freed the prince. It was the same feeling that engulfed her now, sitting in the professor’s library with a volume of poetry before her. 

.

The wild northern wastes were well named: utterly wild, perfectly desolate, and terribly Northern. 

It was lonely there and often cold, but the sky was an endless whorl of gales and gray clouds. The stones were indigo under the pale winter sunlight, and at sunset they glowed a soft gold, as though lit from within. The gorges and moors lay before her, and Jill loved them for their vastness and their distance. Little grew in that country, but that which did was full of vigor. The grass was short and coarse. Every tree was victorious. 

On a still, deep breathing winter night, Jill lay on her back beneath a covering sky. It seemed beautiful to her, rich and strong and glorious. Her eyes drank in the breadth of it until her tears began to blind her. Yet even then, she still couldn’t look away.

She felt bigger here in the wastes, like the landscape. Stronger, wider. The further she walked, the more she felt herself stretch out. One of these days, maybe, she would catch hold of herself at the edge and tug, and Jill Pole would open up clear as the Northern sky. 

.

And through the misty air passed the mournful cry of sunward sailing cranes.

.

The thing that surprised Jill most about the battle with the serpent was this: there wasn’t any yelling. Always, it seemed, whenever she read stories about people fighting with swords, the combatants would let loose some guttural yell before their blows fell. They would scream and writhe in pain as they died. They would shout instructions to their fellows, “Look out!” or “Hit him there!” But the whole affair with the serpent passed with very little noise. 

The poison-green coil constricted around the prince; he raised his arms and got clear, struck the serpent hard, and then Scrubb and Puddleglum dispatched the creature with heavy, hacking blows. The monster died writhing, but not screaming. And then it was over. 

The thing that surprised Jill most about the moments before battle was, of course, the noise. She could hear her own heartbeat in her ears. She couldn’t stop listening to her own breathing. Every footstep rang out like a gong, and any words exchanged rang with a kind of finality that made them sound louder than anything. 

“You are of high courage,” Rilian told her when it was over. 

Yet the thing in Jill’s chest just then didn’t feel like courage. It was a deep breath, a plunge, and a release. It was loud and quiet all at once, till she was standing, blinking in the night air as snowballs whizzed round her, and maybe that was something like courage after all. 

.

And now, there was a stirring in her chest as she reread the words on the page. Sing no more / O ye bards of the North / Of Vikings and of Jarls! / Of the days of the Eld / preserve the freedom only / nor the deeds of blood! 

She thought of grief. Of freedom. 

The lonely ache in her belly grew stronger. She felt herself uplifted into the huge regions of sky that were just beyond those cliffs, weightless as the breath beneath her buoyed her up, further, further…

.

When she saw Caspian up close, Jill thought that he looked like the sort of person who was meant to live in a castle. A silly thought, perhaps, since she knew he was a king– only she wasn’t thinking of Cair Paravel. No, Jill was picturing the ruins of an old British castle she’d visited once on holiday. She still remembered how the stonework had loomed over her, all towering arches and crumbling walls. That was where Caspian seemed to belong. He had an air of ancient tragedy about him. 

When Rilian disappeared, all things had wept but one. The serpent coiled beneath the earth and flicked its forked tongue, spewing poison. 

Now, the king half rose to bless his son. He whispered a few words as he caressed Rilian’s cheek, words meant only for those beloved ears. Jill saw Caspian’s lips move and wondered what a man like that could possibly say, when time ran so short. 

.

They laid him in his ship, with horse and harness, as on a funeral pyre. Odin placed a ring upon his finger, and whispered in his ear.

.

Jill furtively took Myths of the Northmen and held it up to the professor with a question in her eyes. She was still shy around him and Miss Plummer, though she wished she wasn’t. 

“Would you like to take that with you?”

“...Please.”

.

It takes a certain kind of person to be exhilarated by the heights. You’ve got to love vastness more than you fear falling. 

.

They walked to the train station with an autumn wind blowing hard, and though Jill couldn’t fathom why, she turned and saw Lucy grinning, fierce and joyful– grinning and reaching a hand out towards her friend.

Jill reached back and grabbed it. “What will you do, once we’re back in Narnia?” she asked. 

The wind blew harder. The feeling of anticipation grew and grew, until it felt so big that she couldn’t dream of containing it. And there was Lucy, holding Jill’s hand and laughing like it was easy.

.

Preserve the freedom only, not the deeds of blood!

.

The second time Jill went to Narnia, she found herself not at its edge, but at its end. 

The thing about the Norse apocalypse is: it feels believable. It doesn’t reach beyond earth’s horizon to pull down hope beyond hope. It’s only the kind of courage that hopeless humans have: you are going to die, so you might as well die bravely. 

They found the last king of Narnia bound to a tree. His eyes were faintly red from crying, and his wrists and ankles red from the coarseness of his fetters. 

In the Norse myths, Loki broke free of his fetters at the end of the world. He escaped to the helm of a ship made from the fingernails of the dead.

The last king of Narnia fell forward onto the ground when Eustace cut his bonds. Jill crouched down beside him and watched as he rubbed feeling back into his legs. He wasn’t so much older than her, she thought. Jill was sixteen years old; the last king of Narnia could not be older than twenty-two. 

In the myths, the gods were ancient, hewn from the bodies of giants old as the earth. 

Jill put out a hand and helped the last king of Narnia to his feet. Not for the last time, she shivered. Something deep inside her (deeper than her chest, than her heart, than the marrow of her bones, deep as her soul, deeper) was singing an elegy and she didn’t know why, or how, or where it had come from. The king clutching her hand, who could have been her older brother, would have no heir.

Yet when he asked, “Will you come with me?” Jill could only smile. 

“Of course,” she said. “It’s you we’ve come to help.”

.

And the voice forever cried, "Balder the Beautiful is dead, is dead!"

.

“This really is Narnia at last,” murmured Jill. The springtime wood had little in common with the wintry lands she had traveled the last time she was here– but it awakened the same feelings of Northernness in her chest. 

Their party may as well have been the only people in the world, for how isolated their little wooden path seemed. Yet it wasn’t lonely, really, cocooned in all that green with the wind in the leaves and the primroses nodding and blue of the sky peeking through above. 

Jewel told stories about what ordinary life was like when there was peace here. As he spoke, Jill could almost hear the trees' voices speaking out of the living past, whispering, stay, stay. She was caught up to a great height, looking down across a rich, lovely plain full of woods and waters and cornfields, which spread away and away till it got thin and misty from distance. 

“Oh Jewel–” Jill said with a dreamy sigh, “wouldn’t it be lovely if Narnia just went on and on– like what you say it has been?”

She needn’t be a queen, as Susan and Lucy had been, but Jill would’ve liked to stay. She would've liked it all to stay, if it could. She might have been a woodmaid in a place like this: with the turn of the seasons, the swaying trees, swords into plowshares. Oh, if only she could stay!

Ahead, the last king of Narnia was softly singing a marching song. Jill tilted her head back and let warm shafts of sun caress her face. 

.

I saw the pallid corpse of the dead sun borne through the Northern sky.

.

“So,” said the last king of Narnia, “Narnia is no more.”

He tried to send them back. Jill shook her head. It was very loud and very quiet. “No, no, no, we won’t. I don’t care what you say. We’re going to stick by you whatever happens, aren’t we Eustace?”

They couldn’t go back anyway. Neither would they flee, not south across the mountains nor North into the great wide wastes. No, they would stay. They slept in a holly grove on the edge of ruin, waiting for the bonfires to light.

Jill slept fitfully, but in between she dreamed. She was high up in the air, buffeted by clouds and pierced by shafts of silver sunlight. 

.

They all died, in the myths. Jill knew that. It seemed beautiful and brave when she read it in her book, tucked away safe in the Professor’s library. It was terrifying now– and yet it was beautiful and brave still.

The dogs came bounding up, every one of them, running up to the king and his men with their tails wagging. One of them leapt at Jill and licked her face, tongue roughly lapping up the sweat and tears that had dried on her cheeks. 

“Show us how to help, show us how, how, how!” the dogs were barking, almost ebullient in their enthusiasm. Jill bit back a sob. How lovely, she thought. How terribly beautiful. How dreadfully brave. 

.

So perish the old Gods!

.

The white rock gleamed like a moon in the darkness when Jill finally reached it. She ran back to it alone, her hands shaking, while her friends stayed forward with their gleaming swords and Jewel’s indigo horn.

The while rock gleamed like the moon. Jill’s first shot flew wide and landed in the soft grass. But she had another arrow on her string the next instant. It was speed that mattered, not aim. Speed, and turning aside when she cried, so as not to drip tears on her bowstring.

The white rock gleamed. In the myths, a wolf devoured the moon. Peter’s wolf, slain many thousand years ago in this world, opened his jaw wide and darkness fell over everything.

Her next arrow found its mark. After that, she lost track. She pulled, and she prayed that her hands kept still another minute. 

The unique thing–maybe the appealing thing–about the Norse myths, was that they told men to serve gods who were admittedly fighting with their backs to the wall and would certainly be defeated in the end. Jill let loose another arrow, felt the white rock at her back, and she knew that the clawing fear–beauty–bravery deep in her gut was the same feeling that she felt on the heights. The same feeling, but a different face. You’ve got to love vastness more than you fear falling. 

.

“I feel in my bones,” said Poggin, “that we shall all, one by one, pass through that dark door before morning. I can think of a hundred deaths that I would rather have died.”

“It is indeed a grim door,” said Tirian. “It is more like a mouth.” 

“Oh, can’t we do anything to stop it,” said Jill. Better to be dashed to the ground than it was to be devoured. 

“Nay, fair friend,” said Jewel. “It may be for us the door to Aslan’s country and we sup at his table tonight.”

A hand tangled itself in her hair and started to pull. Jill braced herself hard, for a moment, until her strength gave out. She was standing on the edge of a high, Northern cliff. She took another step, and fell.

.

Perhaps when the moment comes, our bite will prove better than our howls. If not, we shall have to confess that two millennia of Christianity have not yet brought us to the level of the Stoics and Vikings. For the worst (according to the flesh) that a Christian need face is to die in Christ and rise in Christ; some were content to die, and not to rise, with Father Odin.

.

The world inside the stable was beautiful. It made Jill’s chest ache in all the loveliest ways. 

.

Build it again, O ye bards, fairer than before!

#okayyyy so #i've been down the tolkien/lewis/norse mythology rabbit hole lately #it's a lot #but i've been picking at this piece in my head for a while now #which is more a rhapsody than anything else #but another for my narnia/classic lit sequence of pieces #the quotes are mostly pulled from Longfellow's Tegners Drapa translation #which Jack discusses in Surprised by Joy as one of the works that inspired feelings of joy and 'Northernness' in his boyhood #there's also a Weight of Glory quote in there #(paraphrased) #and one from the intro to Joy Gresham's book on the 10 Commandments that Jack wrote #(that's that last passage in italics) #i'm not really sure i was trying to make a point with this so much as just. explore that feeling of northernness #bc really northernness is two things #it's joy and exhileration brought on by beauty #and it's that beautiful hopeless courage when faced with unwinnable battles #and i love how intertwined those two things are for lewis #and let's be honest for me too #so that's what this is #hope it holds together okay #narnia #chapter one #night under narnia #dying of thirst #pontifications and creations #leah stories

[cygnusxxii]

:)

#“now i am almost entirely love” and “what you leave behind us not what is engraved in stone tablets but what is woven into the lives of #others” and mostly sheer love and joy and gratitude i am almost bursting at the seams with it all #and somehow it’s manifesting itself as our satb arrangement of ‘somewhere only we know’ being stuck in my head #singing that felt like floating like surrenduring myself utterly to the melody (for once actually the melody? for the altos? what?) and just #floating soaring gliding through the piece #maybe this is a narrow view maybe i shouldn’t indulge this idea but if god exists he is in my high school choral room #our piece in the winter ‘over my head i hear music in the air there must be a god somewhere’ gets it exactly #idr the quote but cs lewis has something in ‘weight of glory’ about spaces where the boundary between us and heaven or us and the divine is #especially thin and i find that often in chorus class but especially in certain chords or fragments #but never did a whole piece feel so glorious that it can only be the presence of god as somewhere only we know #yes god is everywhere god is in the mightiest cathedrals but also (especially?) god is in my high school choral room

[amourdivine]

୨ ♡ ୧ WHAT KIND OF PERSON ARE THEY?   ઉ   PAC

Hello, angels! I hope you're well. I'm bringing in another nosy type of reading. We'll look into who this person really is and if any advice comes up. If you liked this reading, please consider tipping me at @ [email protected] via paypal! xo ♡

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HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR PILE.  take a few deep breaths and look at each picture separately. see which one brings you to a feeling, a place or a memory. take your time and feel free to come back to it later!

amourdivine 2021 - 2024 © do not copy, redistribute or edit my content!

୨୧ PILE ONE

who is this person, deep down? two of cups ✧ the hermit ✧ judgement

This is someone who values meaningful, deep, soulful relationships. They do not crave the buzz of parties or endless chatting with strangers. They don't like small talk. Others may describe this person as an old soul, someone introspective and wise. Their friends turn to them for honest and sensible advice; they may be an older sibling, or someone who's seen as a role model in some type of way.

Unfortunately, this wisdom came at a cost. They have endured a thousand inner deaths in life. This person had to start over many, many times, but they always got back up. As strong as they are also loyal, they're mature and still believe in the magic of being surrounded by good people. Strong Virgo and Scorpio energy, given the cards you got.

It's likely they came from poverty or are enduring a financial loss at this moment in time. Since this person is hardworking and independent, I don't think you have anything to worry about - sadly or not, they're more than used to the weight of their shoulders.

Although they're not expressive with their emotions or thoughts, you can count on this person to be sincere. They seem heavily protected by something greater, something bigger. For most of you, this person is spiritual, but not religious. They're very private and you may have a hard time understanding them or figuring them out.

channeled words & songs: black and white, heavy as led, test of time, a drop of water, night of the soul, life path 7, seek solitude, "i'm always okay", read my mind by the killers, runaway horses, small towns.

quotes that remind me of this person

Tell me, Atlas. What is heavier: The world or its people's hearts? — Darshana Suresh.

I am a forest, and a night of dark trees: but he who is not afraid of my darkness, will find banks full of roses under my cypresses. — Friedrich Nietzsche.

Everywhere I go I find a poet has been there before me. — Sigmund Freud.

୨୧ PILE TWO

who is this person, deep down? five of swords ✧ the world ✧ the moon

Accomplished, but lonely. It's how this person feels as I shuffled. They have seen and known so much, but it came at the cost of their morals. This person holds many secrets - even from themselves. Nothing dark, but they do regret their ways at times. With how competitive and aggressive they can be, it's difficult for them to hold onto anything but their success.

They may be famous or well-known in some way. Renowned. A lawyer, a judge. Someone with a fair share of experience and authority in a certain field. But my God, how their words can hurt. Have you ever heard that the pen is mightier than the sword? Yeah, that's this person.

Even when they bask in the glory of being so accomplished, no one really knows this person. Not even themselves, as I said. They're scared of vulnerability, emotions and intimacy. They're scared of the things the Moon tries to show them: their deepest fears, the nightmares and past traumas they've tried to bury deep down.

Interestingly, despite the cards, I get heavy Aries energy. This person may be an Aries Moon, quite a complex placement to have. They're good at being logical and practical, good at the doing, at the speaking, but they don't have the time for people, for emotions... for friendship or family. Given their history, it's likely they shut themselves off from connections out of fear.

I don't think they're happy. They look happy, they look so beautiful, so otherworldly, but inside of them there's this urge for something else. Something more meaningful.

channeled words & songs: ambitchous, aries, sagittarius, "i want it i got it", "let my money talk", chest pains, life path 8 or 9, neon pink, overprotective, oh no! by marina, terrible love by the national, bank account.

quotes that remind me of this person

I live to succeed, not to please you or anyone else. — Marilyn Monroe.

My worst fear - that's anyone's worst fear - is to lose myself and become an empty person. And that happens a lot when you're very ambitious. — Marina Diamandis.

୨୧ PILE THREE

who is this person, deep down? two of pentacles ✧ the sun ✧ four of pentacles

What an interesting contradiction, it seems. The person on your mind is generous, extroverted and.. quite the busy bee. Their outer persona remind me of J-Hope from BTS, very caring and extroverted - someone who's got an infectious laugh, but despite his bubbly appearance, he's actually very caring and protective.

Although they may seen foolish, this person is anything but. They're quite careful and at times, intense. However, I don't think many people get to see this more serious and protective side of them. They seem guarded for the right reasons, because they know their heart is quite precious and too much of a good thing to be given away so easily.

It's possible they come off as brain-scattered or high maintenance to you, but they're genuine and one of their main purposes in life - whether they know it or not - is to bring joy to others. They're so good at it. It's not a party without this person, with or without alcohol, they know how to lighten up the mood and are an amazing team player.

It feels cheeky too. I think they like the dad jokes, the lighthearted atmosphere, but they know when to be serious. If I am to be honest, this person is an amazing partner (in case you're asking about a romantic interest) and an even more amazing friend. Someone who'll cheer you up and stick by your side through thick and thin. A very dear friend.

channeled words & songs: heart-shaped, light up a joint, weed, recreational drugs, easy breezy, life of the party by shawn mendes, 9 to 5, bisexual, lgbt+, rainbow, friend-shaped, dogs, cats, energetic, rap.

quotes that remind me of this person

The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.— Bob Marley.

You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it. — Robin Williams.

Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always. — Unknown.

୨୧ PILE FOUR

who is this person, deep down? ace of cups ✧ ten of swords ✧ seven of cups ✧ the lovers

I feel like whoever you're asking about is in a brand new mode. They seem to be someone who was previously overburdened by their past. This person is in a major transformative phase, both physically and internally. They have endured so much, it's heartbreaking just thinking about it. I don't think they're very open about it though, at least, they weren't before.

Honestly, this person may have suffered from addiction, major losses or betrayal. They're getting back up after a period of darkness. Spirit's referencing their current phase more so than they actually are, because I believe they haven't yet fully come to really be who they are. They're shedding the person they had become, in order to be who they were meant to be.

They seek a new beginning, new friendships, good, better choices. It seems this path they're on has just begun, so they're a bit.. amazed at the options being offered. Still, this person wants to choose well for themselves and the people they love. They've regained a great love for the world. I feel filled with wonder, with enthusiasm for what's to come. Like anything and everything is possible.

Although they may seem immature, they've seen a lot. They've had to fight to survive through their worst and now, they're learning to let joy and love in. They've come to realize their power, the magic in who they are and learning to accept that this too shall pass. However, this person feels peaceful yet determined, broken yet healing, quite balanced in their aspects. A thinker and a feeler.

channeled words & songs: ego, healing, therapy, six of cups, innocence, yet to come by bts, mbti types, dancing in the dark by bruce springsteen, "a do-over", "maybe", shufflemancy, spiritual, 777, 333, psychedelics, hippie, hologram, offline, nature.

quotes that remind me of this person

I go to seek a Great Perhaps. That's why I'm going. So I don't have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps. — John Green.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. — Steve Jobs.

I’ll rewrite this whole life and this time there’ll be so much love, you won’t be able to see beyond it. — Warsan Shire.

୨୧ PILE FIVE

who is this person, deep down? two of wands ✧ six of wands ✧ page of cups

A courageous, successful individual. This person has a lot of wanderlust. They are in love with life, in love with themselves, in love with the world. They like to be on the move, to party and be around other people they also admire.

However, they have an impulsive, non-committal side to them that is expressed mainly in the way they approach relationships, especially romantic wise. They have a fear of settling, so they're always on the go, on the search for the next best thing in every way. They may move a lot or have a different crush everyday. Although it isn't inherently bad, I think this person may come off as hard to pin down.

In reality, they're enthusiastic and ready to take on the world. They like the spotlight, they have big dreams too. It gives me Leo energy, in the way they love to be praised, to be adored. Depending on who you're asking, this may be polyamorous or they just enjoy being single and free. Many people describe this person as free-spirited and bold.

At times, their words and behaviors get the best of them. They're not good at keeping secrets and may have quite a temper when angered. They mean well, but there's a diva-like side to this person that can be egocentric or immature, since they've got a bit of a one track mind when it comes to their dreams. They're also very beautiful and they know it. It's also quite the ego boost to be around them - they love to give out compliments and flirt.

channeled words & songs: bisexual, "himbo", bucketlist, pinterest, clean girl era, "i want everything", poetry, interlude: shadow by bts, parallel universe, edm, party girl, wild, erratic, center of attention, instagram, social media influencer, blogger, barbie movie, hungry heart by bruce springsteen, rumors by ross lynch (this song started playing after i finished the section above! very relevant).

quotes that remind me of this person

If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I'm neurotic as hell. I'll be flying back and forth between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days. — Sylvia Plath.

I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles. — Audrey Hepburn.

amourdivine 2021 - 2024 © do not copy, redistribute or edit my content!

DISCLAIMER. tarot is a divination tool, it’s not a substitute for medical and professional advice, nor is it meant to be taken as such. i don’t take responsibility for any choice(s) made by you or others regarding my readings. be mindful ♡

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[barbielore]

While browsing for information on a particular Barbie, I was surprised to see Google recommend appending the word "controversy" to my search. The Barbie in question?

Breathe With Me Barbie. Breathe With Me Barbie is part of a range of self-care and wellness Barbies and depicts Barbie in a sukhasana pose, promising "5 guided meditations".

Unsure of where the controversy around this could be going, I clicked through. This seemed to be the root of it.

"Each pose is designed to invoke a Hindu deity in the spirit realm. I have seen children get possessed by demons. ... Satan is after the children. He wants to use them and indoctrinate them for his glory. Then, when he is done, he will destroy them. As your kids grow, they will get rebellious, depressed, and many will be suicidal. You won't understand what's happening as a parent. You must remove all toys and clean your children's room of all demonic attachments."

Various websites from Business Insider to The Christian Post to Newsweek cite Christian influencer (or, in the words of Business Insider, micro-influencer) Yasmeen Suri as being the origin of the claim that this doll is an agent of Satanism.

This would not be the first person to associate yoga with Satanism or possession - exorcist Gabriele Amorth also associated the practice of yoga with increased chance of demonic possession.

I can't find a screenshot of this, though, and all links back to the Facebook post are dead. What I did find though is a Patheos satire article dated shortly before the rest of these articles citing "Jasmine Blades" from Christians Against Eastern Religions as the source of the same quote.

Neither Christians Against Eastern Religions or Jasmine Blades are real, of course, hence their inclusion in a clearly marked satire piece. But I don't know where this leaves real Christian influencer Yasmeen Suri and her alleged (re)posting of the same quote picking up steam a week later. I don't know whether she saw the satire post and reposted the quote, to take it down later once she realised, or whether these articles quoting her as the source are misattributions. I'm leaning to the former, but I'm not actually sure.

There's a Truth or Fiction page debunking this, but what it is debunking is a) whether Breathe With Me Barbie depicts the practice of yoga (it depicts meditation, not yoga), b) whether this was a new doll in 2022 (it was not, it was released in 2020), c) whether yoga is synonymous with Hinduism and d) whether Catholicism or Christianity more generally prohibit or warn against the practice of yoga as a matter of doctrine.

For the record, by the way, there are Barbies that are explicitly depicted as practicing yoga, such as I Can Be... Yoga Teacher Barbie.

Or that appear to depict the practice of yoga on the box art, such as the Made to Move series.

Or dolls such as this Fitness Barbie who is depicted with various fitness equipment such as weights and a hula hoop, as well as a yoga mat.

#barbie #yoga #controversial barbies #hoax #yoga teacher barbie #breathe with me barbie #meditation #fitness #wellness barbie #made to move barbie #gabriele amorth #satanism #religious imagery #religion #suicide mention

[the-crow-binary]

So I bought the CoD mangas in french, just to see the differences the translation had with the english one, and if there was some pearls... well, there was <3 (and also big fails such as a succubus saying that Trevor is Dracula's son LMAO) I don't have the will to follow everything with pictures so it's only going to be english quotes VS the french version I'm sorry lol

Tl;Dr: Isaac and Hector have raw gay sex in the French translation

At the beginning of the first volume, in the english version, Isaac refers to Dracula as "chief our clan of the night". But the french version have him say "master of our dark family" instead, that's cute. <3

English Isaac: Humans shall regret their sins, and the glory of god shall fall to earth. French Isaac: They were promised forgiveness for their sin, but all they got is death. Men will end up disavowing their god

That's RAW. (the french translation had such savage lines I SWEAR)

Also I will refer to "English X" and "French X" to separate the english dialogues VS the french versions, because it's much more simple, and also kinda funny.

English Isaac: I beg of you, grant me the duty to hunt down Belmont. French Isaac: Lord ! Let me prove this Belmont that you are the greatest !

Isaac is as much, if not even more of a simp in french. Good for him. Good for him.

In english, when Dracula talks about Hector's disappearance, and think about the possibility that he might have betrayed him, he says "I hesitate to consider the possibility"

In french, he says "I hope I am mistaken" :) Do with this what you will. :)

English Isaac: F-forgive me, I was out of line... French Isaac: Forgive me, master... I dared doubting you.

As @beevean said: "French W. For the "master" and for Isaac admitting he doubted his Lord... And he was right <3"

At some point, as Isaac is on the hunt for Hector with some dudes, said dudes start talking among themselves in the english version.

"But at a critical time like this... to have us search for someone who might not even be alive ? The count must be mad." "That's true."

Isaac is listening to them, because they're like, right here. But they're not talking to him directly... FRENCH TRANSLATOR DECIDED THEY WERE GOING TO WISH FOR DEATH, THOUGH. By making the dudes directly ask Isaac: "Sir Isaac, don't you think Count Dracula lost his mind ?"

THOSE GUYS HAVE A DEATH WISH I SWEAR. YOU DON'T ASK ISAAC SUCH A QUESTION UNLESS YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR HEAD ROLLING ON THE FLOOR THE VERY NEXT SECOND- On another note, they also refer to Isaac and Hector as "the two wings that leads [their] army". Symbolism <3

On the same page:

English dude: Oh well, it means that the count favored Lord Hector that much... French dude: Hector... He was the Count's protégé, so he-

Do you hear it ? The sound of Isaac's heart breaking under the weight of his inferiority complex ? :) Oh Hector wasn't just "favored", he was Dracula actual protégé. That's worse <3 I love this <3 (for those who didn't read the manga, Isaac gets mad and almost cut the guy's throat for this. Just in case you doubted his inferiority complex <3)

English dude: F- Forgive me... English Isaac: You greenhorns. You can't even sense his presence. French dude: I... I'm sorry... French Isaac: Shut up ! You're nothing but a worthless punk not even capable of feeling an aura !

ISAAC IS SO MAD AND OFFENDED IN FRENCH LMAO

English Isaac: We're going. Hector is not dead. English dude: ! That means.. English Isaac: That's right. He's close. Hector... So after all, he is... French Isaac: We're going ! Hector is not dead ! French dude: ! Do you think he... French Isaac: Yes, he is close. Hector... I tracked you down.

So, in the manga, this is the moment the realisation that Hector is alive and might have betrayed them starts to settle in... And all Isaac can think of is getting to Hector, more than the implication that he is a traitor. He's obsessed. <3

Alright... Hector has a whole speech about strenght. Here how goes the english version:

"Power is absolute. That's right. I used to always believe that. No matter how much I prayed, no matter how much I knelt, God would do nothing for me. In the end, it was about power. Pure power... and when it came to power, there was nothing greater than a demon's power.. Even if it was learned from a demon. Power itself was neither good nor evil... But. But after all, a demon's power is a demon's power. No matter how powerful it is, cursed powers bring nothing but unhappiness. And that is.. the demon's power."

Now, how the french version goes:

"In this world, strenght is power. I've been thinking about this for a while... men can pray with all their spirit, god will never do anything for them. In the end, pure strenght wins. However, there is nothing more powerful than the demon's power. And even if your learned it from the devil... you forgot strenght doesn't know neither good nor bad. So...That I am one of yours or not doesn't matter to me ! The demonic power doesn't make any distinction ! As great as they are... Demonic powers can only bring chaos. This is... The strenght of the devil !"

Do with this what you will. For context, he is in a house rn, with Rosaly, his future love interest, and a little boy, Ted, who asked for his help to kill a werewolf (who went into the house because he was tracking Hector). At the end of the speech, he kills him. Then comes this dialogue:

English Hector: Is this my power that you wanted ? A demon ? French Hector: Was that... the help I begged for ? The help of the Devil ?

Oh yes, Hector asking Ted if this horrible cursed power is what he truly wished for when he pleaded for his help and comparing himself to a demon is great. But Hector talking to himself ? Realising how horrible Dracula's "help" actually was, that he turned him into a monster ? That's the real deal. <3

But this even made Hector's aura known by Isaac and the guys hunting him down with him. In both english and french, the random guys sense it this time (they didn't the first time, only Isaac), as much as they sensed the werewolf dying. They don't want to believe Hector killed him, at first, but then Isaac smirks and says:

English Isaac: It was Hector. French Isaac: I know it's him !

:) And as if French wasn't fruity enough...

English Isaac: Even if you guys can't tell... I can. French Isaac: You, you don't feel anything ! But me, I feel it in the deepest part of my body !

He is literally SO GAY AND I LOVE HIM.

English dude after Isaac slashed one of hem: What are you doing, sir Isaac !? French version: Sir Isaac !!! Have you lost your mind ?!?

French translation doesn't take no shit.

English Isaac There is no need to report... French Isaac: Inform the count ? Pff ! Useless...

I'm sorry but FRENCH ISAAC REALLY WANTS THAT FRENCH HECTOR'S ASS.

Ok so this is the part where we see small Isaac and Julia (because even without a name and a face, I'm still sure it's her), and DAMN

English bapy Julia: Falls English bapy Isaac: What are you doing ? Hurry and get up. English bapy Julia: But I'm so-- English bapy Isaac: We have to hurry. French bapy Julia: Falls French bapy Isaac: What the hell are you doing ?! Get up, come on ! French bapy Julia: Yes but I... French bapy Isaac: Shut up ! We gotta hurry !

FRENCH MADE BABY ISAAC SO MEAN. POOR JULIA. SOBS.

Interesting fact: When a servant comes to teenager!Isaac to tell him that Dracula "summons him to his room", french use the word "chambre". Wich is a word commonly used to refer to the bedroom. :) So he's saying "Count Dracula summons you to his bedroom." :) Mhm. :) Not to mention Hector is already there... So if anyone ships Isaacula or Isaactor or Draactor, that one's for you. <3

Start of the second volume. The french translation is kinda weird. In english, we see (what I assume are) distressed demons' voices, saying Death has been killed and it was the Belmont's fault. They clearly don't like him. And then we see a succubus who says "well, of course, the one coming with Belmont is your son, after all, count.".

But in french... the voices are HAPPY to see Trevor ?? So it seems they're not devils' voices but regular people's ? AND THE SUCCUBUS SAYS "the presence of the Belmont is not surprising, since he is the son of Count Dracula" ???????? Looks the french can't get a W everytime. :(

English Hector: A great many of us will be coming... French Hector: You can be sure he will come !

We're back on Hector, who tells Ted that he has to go to make sure him and Rosaly stay safe. English version refers to the hords of monsters / servants of Dracula that will come (including him in it, because he sees himself as a demon <3). But french Hector doesn't care about them. He only cares about one person, who he knows is on the hunt for him. I guess it's up to the reader to decide if he's thinking of Isaac or Dracula. :)

Then in english, he also says he learned the dark arts in a castle.

"I immersed myself in evil. And I commanded evil. My powers attract the ways of darkness. They are cursed".

While in french, he goes:

"To the east from here, there is a castle where the devil lives. I learned from him. He taught me how to give life to demons."

I just think it's pretty gay nice that he gives credits to Dracula. He almost sounds like he cares about his old mentor... :)

Then comes the Isaactor raw gay sex reunion scene:

English Isaac: I've been wanting to see you, General Hector. French Isaac: I missed you so much, Hector !

FRENCH ISAAC IS LITERALLY SO NOT STRAIGHT I'M OERIGHMSELKGMRESKLGNMSEKLDRNGMN Pretty sure the french translation shipped Isaactor (but also Hecula but also Draactor), because Hector responds with

English Hector: So, they've caught up with me already... Isaac. French Hector: At last, you caught up to me, Isaac !

French Isaac and Hector are so happy to see each other &lt;;3 Kiss with tongue when?

English Isaac (after a little speech to convince Hector to come back): Otherwise... You'll fall victim to my spear right now, Hector. French Isaac: If you refuse... Then you'll be forced to taste the rust of my spear.

Holy FUCK, ISAAC. WAW. That's hot.

English Hector: Ha ha ! You... Did you acquire your powers just so you could become Dracula's pawn ? French Hector: Haha ! I see. So you acquired all this power to become Dracula's pawn, right ?

The change here is pretty subtle, but it makes Hector more agressive and I kinda like it <3 He's like a salty ex lmao

English Hector: I am human. I sought this power so that I could remain human ! Not for anyone's sake ! For me !! For myself !! Not to be the pawn in some ridiculous plot for revenge !! French Hector: I am human ! I wanted these powers to accept myself as a human ! I didn't do it for anyone else ! Only for me ! Got it ?! Unlike you, it wasn't for a stupid and selfish plot for revenge !!

FRENCH HECTOR IS LITERALLY SO RAW.

English Isaac: Damn... You. You dare speak in contempt of your Lord ? French Isaac: That's it ? Are you finished yet ? As you wish ! Let's end it now !

I'm kinda sad we lost the mention of Dracula (because it showed Isaac putting Him over everyone else, himself included), but I'll excuse it because French Isaac was probably so shocked by French Hector's pure rawness <3 (in french, he then says "die!", but in a crude way. it shows how upset he is lol)

And then comes a very interesting part... :)

English Hector: Impossible... does this mean that Belmont has already...? French Hector: No ! Could it be Belmont ?

French so shipped Hecula. Look at how english Hector is shocked to feel the death of Dracula, not because he seemingly cared, but because Dracula is such a powerful being that he thought could not be easily defeated, and it happened so fast, and is the Belmont really that strong ? Did he really get to the Castle so quickly ?

But French Hector literally screams "No !", like he actually cared. Just like a victim of abuse who gets away from their abuser, but still loves them nonetheless. And friendly reminder that the French translation called Hector Dracula's "protégé". <3 I think the french translation shipped Hecula. <3

Anyway, Isaac goes mad, not much interesting fact to note except for some translation fuckery (Hector going "the count fled" instead of "they're out of control" (referring to Isaac's devils) ??? And Isaac "Dracula must lose" instead of "It can't be true, there's no way..." ??? this is an official translation btw, guys), but:

English Isaac: It's your fault, Hector. French Isaac: You are the one responsible for all of this, Hector.

Just a slight difference, but it makes French Isaac look even more salty lol

English Isaac: If... You... hadn't betrayed us... If... You hadn't run away... Then I wouldn't have had to leave count Dracula's side ! If I... If you and I had been there !! Then scum like Belmont would never have...!! Ngh... N- No... That's not it... If I... If I were at his side, at least... why...? why, sir ?! Why ?!! Why can we not even die together ?!! French Isaac: Hector... If you hadn't betrayed us... If you hadn't tried to flee like a coward ! Then I wouldn't have needed to get away from count Dracula ! You and... You and I... And also that Belmont. Us... Kh... Kh... No ! No no ! If I... If I had been by his side.. Dracula and I... why ? Why ? Why ? Why can't I disappear too, by his side ?

I'll let y'all decide wich one is more heartbreaking. <3 (I kinda struggle to properly translate the last french sentence tbh)

English Isaac: Damn you ! You, I will never forgive !! French Isaac: Never ! Never will I ever be able to forgive you !"

Aouch. <3 I don't know why is french making everyone even angrier, but I'm not complaining lmao

Then Isaac says, right before falling off a cliff:

English Isaac: Why...? Why ?! Why ?! Damn you !! French Isaac: Why... Tell me ! Why ! You...

How poetic. English Isaac curses Hector before his fall... Meanwhile French Isaac is only looking for answers. He is so not okay. <3

A bit later on, we see Isaac again, hurt in the forest:

English Isaac: Hector, damn you...! In that moment... Just barely... You missed ! You cut me... But you were being merciful with me !! Generous commander Hector... [The shame of having survived alone... How shall I make you pay for it ?] Hector... You always... You alone always kept yourself looking human ! You possessed more powerful sorcery than I !! And you were able to get closer to count Dracula over me !! You.. French Isaac: Ha... Hector ! During the battle... You only scratched me with the tip of your blade ! You mocked me... Look at how pathetic you made me ! You, the great Hector... [Being the only survivor makes me so pitiful... How do you intend to repay me ?] Hector... Since the beginning, you... you were the only one to act like a human... even though you wielded the satanic powers better than me, and you always were closer to count Dracula than me... You...

Did I say Isaac was not okay ? Every translation included. <3

Anyway, we leave the broken boy to join the healing boy and his future wife. <3

English Hector: You're so very optimistic always... Wait, no, I'm sorry. Why don't you ask me anything ? Didn't that boy tell you anything ? What I did, what I was running away from, how I killed that werewolf ? Who I am, and where I came from... English Rosaly: Your name is Hector. You have pretty silver hair, and you were injured. And you've never done laundry in your life. And you saved Ted and I. That's enough for me. French Hector: Rosaly, you always see the bright side of things, don't you ? I mean... Didn't the young boy tell you anything about me ? Or are you avoiding talking about it ? What I used to do. Who I was running away from and how I killed that werewolf. Who I am and where I came from... French Rosaly: What I know about you ? Your name is Hector, and you are hurt. You never hanged clothes, and you saved Ted and I's lives. All of this is enough for me.

Them. <3 There's a little, painful difference beetween "you are hurt" and "you were injured". Hector sure is hurt, haha ! :D

And now it's Isaac spying on Hector time !

English Isaac: Haha! Don't you seem so very happy... But... Have you not forgotten all about me ? But I've been thinking about you so much everyday since then. French Isaac: Haha ! Oh how happy he looks ! It looks like... It looks like Hector already erased me from his memory... And to say that I think about him all day !

French Isaac is so in love and broken <3

English Isaac: I see. That's right.. You must think I've died ! But I'm alive, all right-- A bit tired, but alive ! I have to teach you. Definitely in a way that'll make you happy. But not yet. First, I have to get a taste of what happiness is for people. That way, it'll be more... fun. Enjoy your temporary moment of peace... Hector. I shall send a gift to a coward such as yourself. You can look forward to it. French Isaac: I see... you are convinced I'm already dead. I might be a bit tired, but I am very much alive ! I will send you signals, and I'm sure you will appreciate it. But not now. First, you have to get a taste of what this famous "happiness" is for people. This way, the follow up will only be more... delightful. Enjoy your little peaceful life ! Hector ! I'm making you a gift that you are never going to forget... you are not going to be disappointed by the journey.

I have no idea what "signals" french Isaac is referring to, but hey, the rest is pretty cool <3 I like that in the french version, he says that HECTOR have to get a taste of what "happiness" is for people. <3 So he can break him harder. :)

There, it's over ! Of course I skipped most of the manga because the differences are not always worth mentioning, when the translations are not just, exactly the same in both languages, but I think I shared the most interesting. <3 I don't know if y'all understand how raw the french is without reading it directly yourself oerighermlgrelmsngmesklng I AM STILL NOT OVER HOW MEAN BABY ISAAC IS.

I hope y'all enjoyed ! I sure did. <3 Y'all feel free to ask questions or clarifications on the french version ! :3

#CoD is peak gay #but the french made it gayer #castlevania #cod manga #hecula #isaactor #isaacula #draactor #(i'm sorry but i had to tag the ships) #vlad dracula tepes #curse of darkness #isaac laforeze #castlevania hector #anyway the 'hector was Dracula's protégé and actually loved him' thing is now canon. the french said so.

[a-thenais]

"I want your name to be whispered and respected, because pronouncing it will be equivalent to pronouncing mine. You will be my eyes, you'll be what I need to hear, you will be my lips and my word.

In the same way you chose to sacrifice yourself for me, I will put my blindest trust in you. Forever.

Do you understand, Asmodeus?"

___________________________

I'm way more active on Instagram (@a.thenais), where, however, I post mainly in Italian, but recently I started translating my contents in English as well...and here's one about my novels' main characters, Lucifer & Asmodeus, who are also in a very complicated relationship.

The quote is the last fundamental interaction that Lucifer and Asmodeus have in "HYBRIS", shortly after the temptation of humanity and shortly after Lucifer, now emptied of all energy and possible euphoria, has realized what will wait for him and all his angels from that moment on: eternal damnation, without exception.

A damnation that however is not of the unluckiest kind as soon as Asmodeus promises to remain at his side, as an adviser, in his path towards what Lucifer calls "glory", but that is nothing but destruction. This promise will be binding on both parties.

Asmodeus has a strong esteem and admiration for Lucifer, often so strong that it could be considered obsession. His actions and decisions are always aimed at him and his goals, but his way of being close to him is typical of an analytical personality: critical and not hesitant to tell him exactly what he thinks. In short, Asmodeus' fidelity is blind in its intensity, but not in its visibly impartial attitudes.

Lucifer’s feelings, however, are much less intelligible and shielded by a strong rejection of vulnerability. There is not enough space to describe his attitudes and all his hypocrisies, but suffice it to say that Asmodeus, rooted in the objectivity of what exists, is the only individual capable of making reality makes sense when it seems to disappear under the weight of Lucifer's illusions.

(Their relationship is an integral part of my novel series, although it is not the main plot point)

I hope y'all liked this post, I'm sorry for any mistake or weirdly phrased sentence, English is not my first language.

See you either here or on instagram! 🐍💜

#angels #lucifer #demons #hell #book #aesthetic #original character #dark academia #oc edit #oc template #graphic #graphic design #gimp edit #dark aesthetic #dark #original charater art #fallen angels #biblically accurate #religious imagery

[booksandchainmail]

3, 4 and 20 for the end-of-year book asks?

3. What were your top five books of the year?

with the caveat that favorites are hard:

Furious Heaven, by Kate Elliott. Alexander the Great in space, nicely hefty space opera/military scifi. I've though about this book more than maybe any non-web serial book in the past couple years. I have a playlist for it. Persephone Lee blorbo of all time. I need to remember to keep reading Kate Elliott, her stuff is mostly intimidatingly long but I've loved every book of hers I've read.

To Shape a Dragon's Breath, by Moniquill Blackgoose. After hatching a dragon, a Native American girl is forced to attend a colonial dragonriders school. This book was so perfectly targeted to me, I'm a sucker for books where people raise dragons. And the worldbuilding! Such an interesting alt-history, and such a fun magic system that is mostly actual chemistry/physics. This is one where I also got really really invested in the side characters, Theod's arc in particular hit me really hard. But it's also great to have a book (not even a super long book!) where I can say things like "I'm interested in the main character's older brother's girlfriends plotline about inventing long-range airships", and have that level of engagement across a wide cast. Also, this book has the perfect title in ways that become clear partway through.

Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. After Earth collapses, it's terraforming experiments live on. The best part of reading for the Hugo awards has been getting to find Adrian Tchaikovsky's work. I love this book (and the series I'm using it as a proxy for) deeply, the kind of science fiction so sweeping and devastating and heartbreakingly compassionate it makes me cry.

The Saint of Bright Doors, by Vajra Chandrasekera. An odd novel about a man who has decided not to be a chosen one. I keep turning this one over in my head, it's a strange book in genre and tone, but I think very effectively. It's not so much of a personal choice as the others on this list, but it had real weight and power to me. One where I posted a bunch of quotes, and have more I want to share.

He Who Drowned the World, by Shelley Parker-Chan. A genderqueer retelling of the founding of the Ming dynasty. The first one is one of my top books of all time, and this was a worthy sequel. Great character work, and great complicated messy relationships and tangled sexuality and gender.

4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

So many good new authors! I listed out twelve who I enjoyed but that didn't seem in the spirit of this question. Moniquill Blackgoose and Vajra Chandrasekera both made it on to my top list with their first books. I'd also add CSE Cooney, both her novel and short fiction are excellent and I love the way she uses language.

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

Probably He Who Drowned the World? I loved the first book so much, this was one of the few books I preordered instead of getting through the library. And I'd say it lived up to it, maybe not quite as good but the first book set such a high bar.

Other choice would be Some Desperate Glory, which I got obsessed with from prerelease material. Unfortunately I overhyped it in my head, it would have had to be hundreds of pages longer to have what I wanted. Even so it was excellent, but I'd like to come back to it with clearer expectations because I think I'd appreciate it more.

#furious heaven #the saint of bright doors #to shape a dragons breath #children of time #he who drowned the world #books

[caiusmajor]

Torvann Lokk & Kar-Gatharr -- Iron Warrior & Word Bearer friendship!

Posting this because it's SO unusual for Iron Warriors or Word Bearers to be allowed to have friends in Black Library novels, never mind to be friends with EACH OTHER. These quotes are all from The Gate of Bones, by Andy Clark, which is sadly the only place these two appear together.

Lokk drove by neural linkage. In Legion days the tank had required a crew of three. Now, he alone was sufficient to man it and fire its weapon. The malevolent spirit that dwelled in Draco­kravgi’s systems, a gift from the gods for his devotion, helped with other tasks. The laser destroyer never failed. Its power couplings never needed replacing. Dracokravgi was loyal and fierce. He thanked Kar-Gatharr for that. Lokk’s hand strayed to the metal disc around his neck, another gift, from an earlier era, pierced at the top for a leather thong he’d replaced a thousand times. The disc was worn paper-thin by millennia of handling, the design on it long gone, though Lokk remembered it clearly: a three-headed serpent, the badge of a warrior lodge long disbanded. It remained the symbol of his brotherhood with Kar-Gatharr, and so he had made it the symbol of the Beasts of Steel. Lokk remembered asking Kar-Gatharr about his own medallion, long ago, when the Word Bearer had been assigned to his Grand Battalion to foster bonds between the Legions. Kar-Gatharr had grinned broadly, and covered his medallion with his hand in a mock display of secrecy. ‘I cannot say,’ he had said. Lokk received his invitation to join the lodge the next day. He and Kar-Gatharr had been friends ever since.

Notable also for the implication that the Lodges were more successful in the Iron Warriors than was suggested in Angel Exterminatus -- perhaps in Grand Batallions further away from the Primarch and the descendants of Olympian nobility, the Lodges were more welcome.

More Lokk & Kar-Gatharr behind cut.

‘This is artful destruction,’ Lokk grunted, scanning his tactical read-out.

He had said as much to Kar-Gatharr days before, as they had stood on the walls above the despoiled Saint’s Gate and stared out over the blasted city. They watched the ongoing battle, listened to the crackle of las-fire, the chatter of autoguns, the thumping of bolters and the roars of the warp-born terrors they had unleashed. Lokk smelled brimstone, blood and smoke. Once, that would have raised real passion. He had felt nothing. ‘This is the Despoiler reaching out,’ Kar-Gatharr had said. ‘He is preparing the way for the end. It is the Warmaster, the true Warmaster, readying himself to do what the pretender Horus failed to achieve. And we, war-brother, are instrumental in it.’ ‘Yes,’ said Lokk. ‘Soon it will be finally over, and we will have played our part, for what little that will contribute.’ He spoke not triumphantly, but wearily. He shifted his weight. His right ankle, boot and greave had fused, giving him a lumbering cripple’s walk. Standing for any time was uncomfortable. He had wanted to see Kar-Gatharr, craved contact with the one being he still held any love for, but his mood had soured, and he had the urge to retreat back to Dracokravgi to brood. ‘You are right to be humble,’ said Kar-Gatharr. ‘We are but the tools of the powers. We are blades to be drawn against the Carrion-Emperor as the Dark Gods see fit. Never set yourself above the gods. As these mortals are nothing to us, we are nothing in the great struggle. We are proud weapons, but weapons are all we are.’ ‘Our purpose is at hand,’ said Lokk, and he could not hide the yearning in his voice. ‘Patience, brother. You are touched by dark majesty. You are on the cusp of glory. Think not of death, but of eternity.’ Lokk smiled his crooked smile, felt the sting of lips tearing from the decayed interior of his helm. ‘I think of nothing else,’ he said. Kar-Gatharr was the only one who could see Lokk’s desperation: the need, the mania even, for the Long War to finally be at an end. ‘Stand firm,’ Kar-Gatharr said, ‘and remain steadfast. I know you wish for release, but the end is not at hand. Your reward is.’

More of them:

‘War-brother? War-brother, it is I.’ ‘Kar-Gatharr?’ Lokk said. He shifted himself. His bones hurt with a fever’s cold. ‘Come out, my brother. Let us speak.’ Lokk was in no mood for conversation, yet something made him get up. ‘A moment,’ he grunted. He yanked at his interface cables. A machine bleeped, as if in pain. He pulled again, and felt the spikes break in the sockets in his armour, obliging him to fish out the spines. What he cast out onto the deck was made of gristle. He made his way out of Dracokravgi, and found Kar-Gatharr waiting, helmless and solemn, a few yards behind the tank. Lokk stopped when he saw his friend. ‘You are changed,’ he said. ‘You will be too, soon, my war-brother,’ said Kar-Gatharr. Lokk limped towards the Dark Apostle. He had not changed physically, yet seemed larger somehow. Once, this would have alarmed Lokk, but he had seen far stranger things in the Long War. ‘Then,’ Lokk said, ‘you have your wish.’ ‘My wish has only ever been to serve the gods,’ said Kar-Gatharr. ‘You have done that well,’ said Lokk. He limped past his friend, and went to a stowage bin on the back of Dracokravgi. It was a simple metal box, surprising by its quotidian nature, when one considered what lived within the tank. From inside, Lokk took out a glass bottle protected in a net of twisted cord. ‘Drink?’ he said. Speaking was becoming more difficult for him. Kar-Gatharr nodded. Lokk thrust the bottle at him, and took off his own helm. It was so hard to remove now. The joins kept sealing over, like fresh skin, and the shape of his face made disentangling himself from it awkward. He took the top off, then removed the distorted mask, tossing both onto the top of his tank. Kar-Gatharr had not seen his war-brother’s true visage in some years, and now he looked in wonder upon the blessings the Dark Gods had bestowed. Lokk stood in discomfort as he looked him over, the bestial lines, his jaw heavy and distorted by the suggestion of tusks, the vestigial horns which jutted from his temples. Below them, Lokk’s eyes were amber, his pupils black slits. There was murder in those eyes.

‘Such fine acolytes we are. Both blessed,’ said Kar-Gatharr. Lokk’s twisted mouth smiled. ‘You perhaps. I bear their blessings with discomfort.’ ‘It is a test, brother,’ said Kar-Gatharr. ‘Pass it and know real reward.’ ‘Like you?’ ‘Not like me,’ said Kar-Gatharr. ‘Better.’ Lokk retrieved the bottle and uncorked it. He handed it back to his friend. Kar-Gatharr drank, pulling a face. ‘What is this?’ ‘No weakling’s wine,’ said Lokk, with a real smile now. ‘Olympian slozo, or at least an approximation of it.’ He took back the bottle and drank long, finishing with a gasp. ‘Burns like I remember.’ ‘It tastes like engine lubricant.’ ‘That may be one ingredient,’ Lokk admitted. ‘It is good to see you. To what do I owe this visit?’ ‘Comradeship,’ said Kar-Gatharr softly. Lokk looked again at his friend, knowing immediately why Kar-Gatharr had come. ‘You have come to say farewell. You think you are going to die.’ ‘We all die, war-brother.’ ‘Don’t give me your priest’s riddles!’ Lokk said angrily. The rush of emotion surprised him. ‘When? When did you know?’ ‘The power I hold within me will consume me.’ ‘Then why take it?’ said Lokk. ‘Why now?’ ‘The weapon. Tenebrus. The war. The Adeptus Custodes are here. They will not be bested by mortal means.’ ‘So? There’s nothing but war,’ said Lokk. ‘What makes this one so special you must surrender your life to it?’ ‘Faith,’ said Kar-Gatharr without hesitation. ‘Matters here must go according to the will of the gods. The Warmaster. Abaddon…’ ‘Ach, Abaddon, another vainglorious fool,’ said Lokk. ‘He’s the same as Horus, a liar who has deceived himself.’ ‘Maybe,’ said Kar-Gatharr. ‘But he will triumph. Victory must be won correctly. It must be done with faith. Abaddon does not honour the gods, not as he should, not yet.’ ‘Nor does my primarch,’ said Lokk. ‘Would you have an eternity of rule by the Lord of Iron?’ ‘I would have no eternity under anyone,’ said Lokk. ‘Then why do you go on?’ said Kar-Gatharr. ‘I don’t know,’ said Lokk. He stoppered the bottle and put it away, his thirst forgotten. ‘Mankind was made to worship, that is Lorgar’s creed. If Abaddon takes the Throne of Terra, insisting on his own supremacy, the gods will destroy him, and mankind will endure a living hell.’ ‘Mankind already endures a living hell, Kar-Gatharr,’ said Lokk. ‘Do not pretend any of us are in this for anything but ourselves. If you taught me one thing, it is that Chaos has no mercy. We have been lied to by everyone. All we can do is fight. That is all there is.’ ‘It is not true. Lorgar had a vision,’ said Kar-Gatharr. ‘Mankind living in harmony with the gods, as supplicants, and willing vessels for their power. All the potential the Emperor sought to deny us, and keep for Himself. When you speak as you do, Torvann, you outline the Emperor’s path, not mine. You have known their gifts. You have lived nine millennia, you have seen things of such sublime glory. Could the boy you were have imagined such a thing? We all have that potential. If the strong are allowed to prosper, humanity will rise to glory, but the gods are fickle, and they must be propitiated. It is the duty of my Legion to make Abaddon see this. It is our duty to make the victory the right one.’ Lokk laughed. ‘You’re all deluded. There is nothing but death and suffering, so it has ever been, so it will ever be. You can’t control Abaddon. You can’t control what manner of victory he will have. You can’t reason with the gods. What is this that we fight for? We were dupes under the Emperor’s banner, under Horus’, and still under Abaddon’s, while the gods laugh all the while.’ ‘Yet the gods honour you,’ Kar-Gatharr said stepping forward. ‘And yet you still dedicate your kills to them. Why, if you are so full of doubt?’ ‘Because there is nothing else,’ said Lokk quietly. He looked around his camp. His men sat by fires, their machines silent, hidden by the walls of a roofless building. It could have been any night in his miserably long life.

Some plot stuff cut. Kar-Gatharr agrees to hide Lokk's Iron Warriors from the enemy.

‘Then consider it done, war-brother.’ Lokk smiled sadly. ‘I remember when you first called me that. Before you came, I was thinking of the night you saved me, do you remember it?’ ‘I do,’ said Kar-Gatharr. ‘That night you pulled my body from that wrecked tank, my brothers slaughtered all around me. I thought I was going to die.’ ‘I knew you were not, though it took me hours to find you.’ ‘Yes,’ said Lokk. ‘You have told me a thousand times you went there because the gods sent you.’ Lokk looked up into his friend’s eyes. They were a solid black now, like those of the Lord of Ravens. There was no escaping what they were – the Space Marines, the primarchs, the powers of the warp – he thought. They were all parts of the same cosmic jest. ‘Is that really true?’ ‘The evidence speaks for itself,’ said Kar-Gatharr. ‘You live.’ ‘No, brother, I mean it, did the gods really send you?’ Kar-Gatharr paused, then he said softly, ‘They aided me, but only because I asked them to.’ They held each other’s eyes a long time, until Lokk broke the silence with a small laugh. ‘There is a primarch coming here. Can you imagine it, after so long?’ ‘It has been ordained. This is the last war.’ The smile faded from Lokk’s deformed lips. ‘You can never understand how much I pray that is true, brother,’ Lokk said. He looked away again. ‘This power you have taken. I know you, Kar-Gatharr. You seek to face things you should not. You will fight the corpse-lord’s lackeys. You should leave. Let us fight again, on other worlds.’ ‘It is my fate,’ said Kar-Gatharr. ‘My story ends here, but do not mourn me, for I go on to greater glory. Hold true to the faith I have given you, Torvann Lokk, and you will know power untold of.’ ‘Another possibility?’ ‘A certainty.’ Kar-Gatharr embraced his friend. ‘Fight well, Torvann. This shall be our last meeting. In honour of our friendship, you shall have your shroud of shadow.’

#gate of bones #andy clark #torvann lokk #kar-gatharr #warhammer 40k #FRIENDS

[aspiringsophrosyne]

The Mighty Nein are getting a series: let's talk about, arguably, the make or break moment of a possible season one.

So, let's talk about some of the things the CRew can do with an animated adaptation of their second group of adventuring, world-saving chucklefucks.

EDIT and NOTE: This is based on the pacing of The Legend of Vox Machina seasons one and two. If we can take it slower with the Nein, all the better; I would love stretching things out so that all this goes down in a possible season two. But this is the set up I see where they go as fast with the Nein as they have with VM.

MAJOR SPOILERS for episode 26 and every episode after of Critical Role Campaign 2. Last chance to turn back if you care about those.

Let's get right to the elephant in the room: Molly's death. This is a bit that's incredibly important to get right because: it was a big moment on stream for both the viewers and the characters, there was a lot more time with Molly in the stream before it happened than we will get in the animated series, and because this moment sets up the endgame.

Matt, Taliesin, and the cartoon CRew may take advantage of the opportunity presented here: to do more with the backstory Matt originally had planned for Molly that he didn't get to use. And there are pros and cons to doing that.

However, we can't know what, if anything, the cartoon CRew will change or add to Molly's story, at least as of now. So just for this thought experiment, we'll assume it will play out more or less the same as it did in Campaign 2. And assuming that...

Structure of Season One:

Here's a place to end season one: Lorenzo's defeat. If you do that, let that be the focus of the last episode and 1-3 before that dealing with Molly's death: the fallout from it, then Cad's and Nila's introductions. For the rest of the season prior? Focus on the group as a whole, particularly on Molly.

While I think everybody needs significant attention in the first season to set up character establishment, future events, future revelations, and future character development, I'd like to focus a little more on Molly in particular at this point in the show; for three reasons: 

He will be out of the story for a long time afterward.

It can make his exit hurt all the more and come as that much more of a shock to show-only fans.

It will make the quotes in Cognouza hold that much more weight if they get enough focus here.

Otherwise, keep the rest of the season comparatively light until Fjord, Jester, and Yasha's abduction. Keep the ominous dreams, but make one significant change: move Caleb's backstory revelation to after their first fight with Lorenzo. Have it still happen in the show when it happens in the stream (while Molly's being the worst roommate ever and dropping that "Long may I reign." quote) so we can keep some of the mood whiplash, but with none of the sound.

Show Beau, Nott, and Caleb sitting around a campfire. Show the ladies reacting to something Caleb's saying, but don't give us any sound. Leave the newbies wondering what the hell is going on, and don't clue them in on what's being said...until later. (This has the added benefit of giving us stream fans narrative blue-balls for a bit.)

After the battle at Glory Run, have Caleb flashback to the night of his backstory reveal; the audience sees the same scene again, but now with sound. Splice it with Nott's talk about surviving vs. living, possibly Beau's eulogy (if you don't want to move that so it's later, with all the Nein together again), and have Caleb deliver the soliloquy he makes in E26 of the stream here, at Molly's makeshift grave, but with some changes.

("Look at this one. He is....was like a walking rainbow, what was this? Why were you with him? It made no sense. He is a circus performer; he isn't going to help you. Was. Wasn't. Couldn't.")

This tells newbies not just that Caleb is about ready to bolt but why, and it makes it that much more of a relief when he doesn't. It also makes the darkness of this season (and by extension, seasons yet to come) hit harder if they hold off on it until here. The CRew can give a false impression of the M9's adventures: that they will be lighter fair than VM's. (After all, until we meet Lorenzo, there won't be a Sun Tree equivalent.) Only to have the first-time viewers realize they're in for something just as nasty, if not more so, than anything VM faced once we get where we're going.

Plus, they can save on animation; they only have to animate a scene they use twice once.

The fights themselves:

None of the fights in the animated adaptation of Critical Role's campaigns will be as long, tense, or stressful as they were in the original stream. Nor should they be. Those fights were sometimes longer than two episodes of TLOVM together at their shortest. That will not work for an animated series; for several reasons.

However, the CRew can pull some tricks to make some fights longer and more suspenseful (or feel longer and more suspenseful) than just a shot-for-shot action-for-action adaptation of them would be.

Let's talk about editing and cutaways.

If any fight should be a little tense, (at least) it should be the battle of Glory Run. We need to make this battle seem longer than it is. To do this: flashbacks and flash-forwards. For this purpose, don't show Molly and Beau's fireside talk ("What's the best lie you ever told?") until now.

When the focus is on Beau or Molly in the fight, show a flashback to that fireside talk. Show these two characters, who have been at each other's throats up to this point, opening up to each other. Starting to see things from the other's point of view. Do this a few times until we've seen the whole talk or as much of it as the show wants to include.

Then, as the fight starts to go south, you flash forward. You show Beau freaking out and Caleb coming up from off-screen: taking her by the shoulders and telling her she has to calm down.

Go back to the fight.

Flash forward, now Nott comes up to the Empire Sibs from off-screen, yelling at both of them, doing terribly at de-escalating things. Everyone's words are getting more indistinct, and the arguing figures fade farther into the background.

Go back to the fight.

Another flash-forward. Now Kegg joins the argument. It's impossible to hear what anybody says now, just that everyone's very worked up. It looks like, in the foreground, there's some splash of vibrant color near the camera, near the ground.

Back to the fight, Molly's knocked on his ass, bloody and beat to shit.

Flash forward. Everyone's still fighting in the background, and the camera focuses on a limp, blood-splattered, lavender hand lying across what is now obviously Molly's coat. The audience is given a second to realize there's no changing what is about to happen/what's already happened; we've been in the room with the body the whole time.

Cut back to the fight. Molly's "With blood." and Lorenzo's final blow. (Possibly, all of Molly's eye tattoos glowing, as if in protest.)

Then cut to black.

In place of similar notes on the final Lorenzo fight, here's all that I know I want right now: to let Yasha, Fjord, and Jester participate. Not much, because they are in bad condition; it should show, but let them get in a few good hits.

Have one of the Nein either accidentally or purposefully destroy a cage with slaves inside during the fight at the nest. The freed people run off, find some keys and start unlocking some cages. This can be something we can cut back and forth to keep this fight slower paced, but don't show the rest of the Nein's escape. Don't let us see them until, at some point, we get an eldritch blast from off screen. Then a healing word or a guiding bolt (Laura's choice) from off screen. Then we hear an unholy scream and see skeletal wings unfolding from the shadows like a spider's legs. Yasha, Fjord, and Jester emerge, all exhausted and beat to shit but determined and angry.

For bonus points, we could cut to them in the trailer, bound and gagged, during the first Lorenzo fight.

..Yeah. More ideas to come, but that's my take on the possible climax of Season One.

#Critical Role #Critical Role Campaign 2 #C2 spoilers #c2e26 spoilers #mollymauk tealeaf #yasha nydoorin #jester lavorre #fjord stone #nott the brave #caleb widogast #beauregard lionett #Matt Mercer #Laura Bailey #Travis Willingham #Taliesin Jaffe #Sam Riegel #Liam O'brien #Ashley Johnson #Marisha Ray #Mighty Nein animated series #the mighty nein #cr2 spoilers #c2e26 #cr2e26 #cr2e26 spoilers #the mighty nein animated #cr spoilers #critical role campaign two #the iron shepherds #m9 animated

[troybeecham]

Today the church honors Sts. Gurias, Samonas, and Habibus, Martyrs.

Orate pro nobis.

Gurias and Samonas suffered during the persecution against Christians under the emperors Diocletian (AD 284-305) and Maximian (AD 305-311). The two friends Gurias and Samonas, preachers of the Word of God, were arrested in the city of Edessa.

The saints refused to offer sacrifice to the gods, and boldly confessed their faith in Christ. For this they were subjected to cruel tortures: they were beaten, hung up by their hands, heavy weights were tied to their feet, and they were cast into a stifling prison.

The martyrs endured everything with firmness and Samonas uttered a prayer to the Lord, which one of the witnesses to their death wrote down: “O Lord my God, against Whose will not a single sparrow falls into the snare. It was You Who made room for David in his sorrow (Ps. 4:1), Who proved the Prophet Daniel stronger than lions (Dan. 6:16-24), and granted a child of Abraham to be victor over torture and flames (Dan. ch. 3, ch. 14). You know also, Lord, the infirmity of our nature, You see the struggle set before us. Our foe strives to snatch us, the work of Your right hand, away from You and to deprive us of the glory which is in You. With Your compassionate eye watching over us, preserve in us the inextinguishable light of Your Commandments. Guide our steps by Your light, and make us worthy of Your Kingdom, for You are blessed unto ages of ages.” By night, they took the martyrs out beyond the city and beheaded them on this day c. AD 306. Christians secretly buried their holy bodies with reverence.

After some years, the last pagan emperor, Licinius (AD 311-324), began a persecution against Christians. Habibus, a deacon of the Church of Edessa whom the emperor ordered to be arrested for his zealous spreading of the true Faith, presented himself before the executioners when he learned they were searching for him. The saint confessed his faith in Christ. During his multiple days of torture, Abibus was subjected to the scourging and having his body raked with iron rakes by five men. When threatened with more gruesome torture by the governor, the saint is quoted as saying: "As a tree that is watered bears fruit, so is my spirit strengthened by torment", frustrated by his powerless efforts, the Governor replied: "Does your faith teach you to hate your own body?", to which Abibus replied: "We do not hate this material body, but we rejoice in the spiritual reality; the suffering of this present time is not worth comparing with the glory that awaits those who embrace Christ." The governor mockingly replied: "Is this suffering you endure glorious?" Abibus responded: "It is not for you to ask questions, for your unbelief is not worthy to hear the answers to them, as the Scripture teaches us: do not cast that which is holy to dogs, nor pearls before swine."

Abibus was sentenced to be burned at the stake. When walking up to the stake, his mother was forced to walk beside him, dressed in all-white as if going to a feast day. He blessed the crowd before him, to which the crowd responded: "Pray for us in the presence of the Lord!" After this exchange, the martyr entered the fire on his own accords. When the fire went out, his mother and relatives found his body unharmed. They buried the martyr next to Saints Gurias and Samonas because they were martyred on the same day though several years apart, and they are commemorated together.

Almighty God, who gave to your servant Gurias, Samonas, and Habibus boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

#father troy beecham #christianity #god #saints #jesus #salvation #peace #faith #martyrs #early church

[tiredassmage]

How do you come up with your various tags for all of tyr’s aus?

-sincerely someone who can’t stop snickering over “self control in locker room showers” every time it sees it

Spotify playlists, for the most part, lol! His overall trooper tag is from the founding song of his playlist, fight club by fitzy! (Thus it also became essentially the title of his playlist.)

And then his outlander tag is a slight alteration to lyrics from Glory by Bastille. In the song, it's "and all their words for glory / well they always sounded empty" but the slight shift to present tense for his tag better represents that such is a realization he's just sort of coming into around the Alliance era. (It's taken root earlier, but its weight as a truth really settles in his chest during that period.)

Ngl, his trooper playlist is probably one of my favorites that I've made. It is still relatively shiny and new, so it's definitely benefitting from age in that respect, but. I have. Just so many feelings about him and this playlist came together kind of along the way, so it was a bit of a journey itself, I guess. ^.^

Some are also quotes from Pinterest boards. I should go back and touch up a few of the others because adding the bracket labels I think is nice for context so I kinda wanna do that for the others now, too. X3

#answered #character playlists #vs: kiss with a fist / self control in locker room showers [trooper!tyr]

[onmywaytofanfic]

Takeo Aburame - Headcannon

Yes, I should have post this last week and this week focus on Zetsu. I also know that I should post more frequently...well....here you have Takeo's headcannons. I am in love with him too, he is just the sweetest of dads although he may seem mean, he is hard to get to know...he is a strawberry pie.

Takeo Aburame

Age: 40 Part I – 43 Part II

Heigh: 2,10 Cm

Weight: 100Kg

Physical appearance: A tall man like his dad with broad shoulders and a gently smile, has a lean complexion that differs from the bulky one that Buna has. He was born without an arm (from the elbow below) it only had a small appendix that looked like a small hand that he could not move. Shibi takes it off during the fight that he had for his son Tatsuma. He has a very long hair that he always keeps in a very tight bun and even sometimes he lets his father do some hairstyle on him, specially if Reina also wants to take part of it. He has never grown up a beard, but he couldn’t even if he wanted, he just has some hair in his chin very lose that he keeps completely shaved. He shaves daily to keep his skin smooth and takes good care of his skin. He has a fit appearance taken after his father in his face, but his body constitution clearly takes up of her mother’s side and grandmother (Aburame grandmother).

Physiological features: He is temperamental, overprotective and has angry issues. Something really seen and proved when someone tries to do something against his family. He may see rude and mean at the beginning, but under all those layers you can meet a very charming guy. He is quite romantic, something that seems to run out in the family, he loves to do little details to his family and those that he considers his friends. He is caring and closer to those that he loves and cares. He hates himself deeply, but he hides it very well, although he won’t confess it but his family, be with them surrounded by their love and caring helps him feeling a little bit better about himself. He loves to read adventure novels and very deep stuff (he would read Berserk, and he would not cry…or sat least he won’t said that).

Logical and analytical, he proved that he was one of the best at his job as a shinobi. However, because of his physical situation his achievements were taken aback or underestimated, something that he is aware of. During his life as an active shinobi for Konoha he had to constantly prove that he was worthy, he could fight, he had ideas, and they were good… his teammates usually took the glory of his ideas. He has this really rude, husk and mean attitude because he has always need to be seen as that in order to not just protect himself but also his family. He is the sweetest being on Earth, although he may try to hide it with his mean approaches and his unfriendly face, a façade that is quickly lifted by his family and friends and nowhere to be seen at home.  

Background: Born out of a night of passion, and since his conception doomed by the hatred of his own mother, he found in his father’s tender arms and the lovely lullaby that his chest made for him some comfort. Buna was always there for him, as best as he could, he can’t say that his father did not raise him with love. He, however, may have return that love in hatred, specially in his younger years when he blamed on his father’s condition his own and how people perceived him.

It took him time to see that the problem wasn’t his father nor him, but how people perceived them, how mistaken they were just because nobody wanted to “waste” more than a couple of minutes to get to know them. He decided to build that hard and solid armour around him, that somehow, she broke. Hana was new in Konoha, he was just a kid too. She came for a far away land, Moon island, she keep talking while he just wanted his solitude and has she would reproach him constantly “feeling sorry for his own ass”. She just thought, and I quote what she said “I just like your smile, silly boy”. He barely smile, he did when he was with his dad or just alone investigating plants, flowers, insects… He had seen that part of him, and he hated her for that. However, he started to encounter her more frequently “Are you stalking me?” “I am trying to be your friend”. Suddenly, he was also curious about this girl. He got to know the wonders of Moon Island, the Uzumaki peculiar traditions, her own mind. He started to fall in love, hard and fast with her.

As it happens with people that are in love and horny, a very unpleasant new hit him, she was pregnant. His reaction was…asking her for well…”Are you serious?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!” “Hana…listen…you do not want another me in this world…You do not want my blood” “I fucking hate you that’s what it is” “Hana” “Listen bastard. I love you. I do dammit…I …. Want this child…If you do not want to do anything with them fine with me but I am not…I am not doing it”

“Hana… you are normal you do not know what it means to be…like me or my father so please reconsider” “I have lived with you, know both of you…and you are ten…a hundred times better than those that you say they are normal. I…’ve never felt so love by anyone normal…” “Hana…” “This child will have that love, even if the rest of the world doesn’t want to give it to them” The child’s name was Tatsuma and he was a prodigy. It would have been something to celebrate, except that he was born in the wrong household, one full of misfits for the whole society, one that nobody didn’t care about, perfect for being taken as a Root agent.

It was so fast, they left him in a kindergarten just for a few hours. He had proved as his young age that he was able to control his bugs, unlike other Aburame kids that need more time to stop having them around their faces or scaping their bodies. He seemed to have grasp a good control over them. Hana went to fetch him and there he was Danzo Shimura. She tried to take his child out of his hands, but the man simply held her hand when she fetched his child’s arm:

– I am glad to inform you, that your child has been chosen as the elite of Konoha

-Shut up! – the woman started to get closer to her child.

- Fool – Danzo kicked her and one of his followers took the child, who in tears started to summon his own beetles towards Danzo, who smile gently back at the child. Small and faithful already to his mother, perfect time to change that mother figure for himself. He could be the perfect bodyguard. That’s how Danzo disappeared in the middle of the street, with a child that wasn’t his own and nobody did anything. After all, he was the shadow Kage, after all he took the kid of that “half-Aburame” who couldn’t even hold a katana as it is supposed to be done. After all, Hana knew, that they were the cockroaches of the clan, the pest, the easy and ready to kill pest of the Aburame.

One thing was the clan treating him as if his life was worthless, another different thing was doing that to his own blood. Takeo had zero doubts, he was ready to kill whoever he encountered. The clan’s council did not bat a lash and send his best man, the head of the clan, their particular dog… Shibi Aburame. He couldn’t do that after all, Takeo was a friend.

It was a very cruel fight, but at the end “Leave…Takeo…you can be free of this…thing” Shibi was right, Shibi did not vanish him from the clan, nor from the village. He was just reduced to be a nomad. Takeo left the village as if he was a new outcast. An outcast for the shinobi world. He decided that as an outcast and he did it…he became a shinobi for hire. Consequently, now he became a shinobi for hire until… Hana had to give birth. She did…. She birthed Reina on a rainy summer night, during a summer storm.

Reina was born in Amegakure. There they spent the first years of his life, then…they move to Otonagakure. There, she learnt more about how to be a ninja, although Takeo and Buna started to help her get a better idea of what the shinobi world was. There he met Kidomaru, well, Reina met him and soon both became like brothers. Soon Takeo and Buna did not doubt about it… they adopted Kidomaru who soon became Reina’s big brother, well, the middle brother.

Likes: He loves reading and writing. Enjoys cooking for his family, he enjoys spent the day in the kitchen and enjoys cooking with his family. He loves also to clean his house; he may be a little bit of a maniac, and everyone knows that if he wants to clean or starts to clean better get out of the way. He also loves fashion; he may look very plain when he dresses up. One of the things that he has always love to do is to prepare the outfits for his family, he loves to make outfits for everyone.

This is a very old drawing of Takeo that I did at the begining of the year.

And here is a quick sketch that I just did.

Hope you like a little bit about my Takeo, he is the best dad, trust me.

#onmywaytofanfic #takeo aburame oc #naruto oc #oc stuff #aburame oc #takeo aburame #aburame clan #headcannons

[starspangledpumpkin]

Challenge tagged to me by @elphabaoftheopera I typically listen to audiobooks these days, having to delivery drive but I've got a fair amount of tree books too so here we go.

#10 Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in the Art Institute of Chicago

- "Impressionism emerged in nineteenth-century France against a background of Romanticism and Realism."

Dry, straight to the point, the pictures are the hook.

#9 Van Gogh and the Olive Groves

- "Van Gogh's paintings of olive groves originated during a turbulent period of his life."

Again, more like a magazine where the words are meant to bring weight to the pictures featured.

#8 Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges

- "A son of the British Empire, Alan Turing's social origins lay just on the borderline between the landed gentry and the commercial classes."

This book is an absolute brick and I appreciate an attempt to bring more flowery language and a hook to any biography. Alan Turing was a real person and his life was complex and fascinating.

#7 Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao @xiranjayzhao

- "The Hunduns were coming."

Sets the scene with a sense of urgency and lets the reader know right off the bat they have a whole new world to learn about.

#6 Rejected Princesses by Jason Porath

- "Staring at you from the opposite page is none other than Khutulun, princess of 10,000 horses, the pride and glory of the Mongol Horde."

Makes me want to know more about Princess Khutulun, the wrestling princess, princess of 10,000 horses. A book that is greatly enhanced by its drawings and an excellent read.

#5 Sin and Syntax | How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose by Constance Hale

- "The French mime Etienne Decroux used to remind his students, 'One pearl is better than a whole necklace of potatoes."

Smack dab in the middle for it's unexpected mention of mimes and potatoes.

#4

by Gahan Wilson (A short story within Unnatural Creatures | stories selected by @neil-gaiman ) - "The first time Reginald Archer saw the thing, it was, in its simplicity absolute."

Fairly simple on it's own but paired with the very noticeable title, it already brings on a sense of "oh no, what's going on here?"

#3 Cartier and Islamic Art in Search of Modernity

- "'Knowledge acquired in a foreign country can be like a motherland, and ignorance can be an exile experienced in one's own land.' These words by Averroes still resonate with us today, nearly nine centuries after the birth of this Muslim philosopher and jurist from Córdoba."

I saw the exhibit and had to buy the book and I really love that they picked this quote to be the first one you read. These specific Islamic pieces that inspired one of the most famous jewelers will be explored thoroughly and their history delved into.

#2 It by Stephen King

- "The terror, which would not end for another twenty-eight years—if it ever did end—began, so far as I know or can tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain."

Tells you outright that the end of this story is not definite and starts with something simple and innocuous to draw you in and find out why exactly a paper boat caused so much terror. (I know it wasn't the boat but it sure does give that impression).

and finally

#1 The Martian by Andy Weir

- "I'm pretty much fucked."

Self-explanatory.

Those are some of my books, I have quite a few biographies and non-fiction, but also a lot of fantasy. Not really much in between. And I tag @willowlark369 , @jetainia , @ayadiefair , @ironicomet , and anyone else who wants to jump in with their own list. And here's the stack of books as proof. Some of them are chonky bois.

#what was weird was that picture of the ink blot kept replacing the other two pictures when I was trying to post

[aphroditephiltatos]

ꕥ Self Care October Challenge ꕥ

[01:03]

2 Peter 3:18

"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen."

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Before continuing, it is worth noting that this blog will never be perfect. I will not show you just the good days or the good moments that I receive, but I'll also show you where I struggled and where I contemplated giving up.

I've struggled with mental illnesses for quite a while now so there more failures than triumphs, and those triumphs usually last longer than those failures even though the failures hurt the most. I'm still learning that those failures are okay because they led to my beautiful triumphs that I shouldn't be casting aside just because they're not as grand as I wanted them to be.

Just to give a brief introduction of the entity behind this blog; I am woman. I would prefer to be called Dai [Day] but if you can only remember me by my username, that is completely okay. I struggle with depression, anxiety, body dysmorphia, suicidal thoughts, self-destructive behaviors, and multiple addictions. I have had PCOS for as long as I can remember, and I am [on the medical scale] a bit on the overweight side. I struggle with hyperpigmentation, excess hair growth, hormonal imbalances, excess weight, and many more symptoms. I am also a born again believer who obviously does not have their life together and is desperately trying to accumulate all the scattered pieces of their soul.

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The goal of this blog is to make an attempt at romanticizing my life as I dearly need it. Since I'm still very young there will be a lot of posts under the #studyblr tags. As I am also a poet and a writer, there will most definitely be excerpts. There will be daily affirmations, lyrics, quotes, bible verses, tips on various topics, rants, vents, etc. This blog will essentially be a reflection of who I am.

The ultimate goal of this blog is remain active for just the month of October, and when that month is done, I'll take it from there.

You're welcome to leave me asks of any kinds, a follow, ideas, etc. I'm open to everyone.

╰┈➤ Dai ❦

༶•┈┈┈┈┈┈୨♡୧┈┈┈┈┈•༶

╰┈➤ Type '#dai reminders' to get my daily affirmations and gentle reminders.

╰┈➤ Type '#daicarehealthtips' to get my physical health tips.

#self care #self care october challenge #self care october #october #autumn #autumn self care #self care challenge #spiritual challenges #mental health challenges #mental health #mentalwellness #spirtuality #spiritalwellness #aphroditephiltatos #romantic academia #romantic academia aesthetic #poetsandwriters #romanticism #romanticize #romanticizing school #romanticizing life #bible verses #personal growth #personal blog #personal #goals #self love #self healing #self help #self improvement

[poetryasreligion]

HEARTBREAK

The first time I reached for stories as conscious scripture was after the end of my first relationship, freshman year of college. The rupture was so intense and all-consuming that I left school for six months. During this period I scrambled for every possible spiritual antidote to the ache that would not leave my chest: I tried meditating and attending Catholic mass, saw a questionable psychic twice, started manifesting on full and new moons, spent $50 on a moss agate crystal necklace. (I also developed an eating disorder that left me hospitalized a year later, but that's a whole other chapter.)

The only lasting salvation for me was stories—songs, poems, movies, long form literature, internet miscellany. Scroll down and you'll find a list of the most important ones.

While I read them, I gave myself permission to live in the words completely. To rest in the soft crook of someone else's life experience that could parallel my own at any serendipitous moment. I'd collect these storytellers' sage reflections like a frenzied squirrel gathers and hoards acorns, repeating quotes like “time heals all wounds” (someone forever ago) and “how empty of me to be so full of you” (Jody Yeary) and "sometimes you get so close to someone you end up on the other side of them" (Richard Siken) until their words turned into my mantras, sacred texts. Something to latch onto while my world eroded.

I once heard that to love is to be changed. Through heartbreak, I want to give us permission to hold onto all of those changes, really feel the weight and texture and temperature of them in our hands. It's painful and it's proof that something real and worthwhile occurred. I give us permission to lean into the ache of another person's absence and fill it with our own words—write a letter we'll never send (at least not now), talk to our friends or the mirror or the sky, document it all for ourselves or maybe someone else who will need a warm jumble of words to wrap themselves up in one day. I give us permission to hold on and accept that some kinds of love we never quite "get over" (and so what if it makes us soft? Isn’t the softness what makes us human? For the record: it’s been 3 years and I still wake up with things to tell you.)

On Sand (pg. 15) by Caroline Cappelletti (poem // time and loss)

The Fist by Derek Walcott (poem // letting go)

The Long and Short of It (hybrid poem/essay // rumination, to be changed)

Excerpt: I’ve been rereading your story. I think it’s about me in a way that might not be flattering, but that’s okay. We dream and dream of being seen as we really are and then finally someone looks at us and sees us truly and we fail to measure up. Anyway: story received, story included. You looked at me long enough to see something mysterioso under all the gruff and bluster. Thanks. Sometimes you get so close to someone you end up on the other side of them.

The Weight of It All (podcast episode // immediate aftermath of a breakup, moments of great comedic relief too)

Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksburg (short story collection // love in all its forms)

The Unsent Project (website // browse unsent messages and submit your own -- beautiful and cathartic)

Good Riddance by Gracie Abrams (album // woodsy breakup rumination from all angles)

History of A Feeling by Madi Diaz (album // parting in its entirety)

Crushing by Julia Jacklin (album // a cpmplete relationship arc)

Playlist by me about being broken up with (compiled over 3yrs!)

How'd you get away? Cause oh, good heavens, we abided by the night But there are darker things than the absence of light And they still creak through our halls

I would build a city out of you and me There would be crime, but still a local grocery If you'd stay

Maggie Rogers, "Blood Ballet" (on playlist)

Playlist by me about being the one to call it off

Playlist by me about reaching for closure and forgiveness

(Bonus: Here and here are poems I've written about my own breakup experiences.)

[lindajenni]

feb 16

familiar friday - weary or not, here i come "and let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." gal 6:9 are you growing weary yet?  the word has warned us that "because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.  matt 23:12  it's alright to get weary in our race.  it is not alright to forfeit the race.  yes, there will be times when the other side seems to be winning.  it is precisely those times when we have to look beyond ourselves to the One who has already won the race.  He has said, "My strength is made perfect in weakness."  2 cor 12:9  believe me, the glory of God will be poured out in these latter days. we do not give up.  we give in.  give into God and let Him have His perfect way.  or, as a friend used to say, "let go and let God".  can it be that we need to come to the end of ourselves to really see the glory of God manifested in us?  often as we go along in this battle, we tend to feel it is us "carrying the load".  IT IS NOT!  He has said, "I also say ... on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."  matt 16:18  the "I" is not us but Him.  "for You have also done all our works in us." isa 26:12 several years ago the Lord gave me a few verses that i would hum in my mind over and over.  perhaps it should have been a song, but alas, in that i failed also.  it goes like this: I'll be with you to keep you in all that you must do. and if you must go through this trial I'll put new strength in you. there remains a sabbath rest that I will lead you to. it's where all your works have ended and My Spirit reigns in you. sometimes we go through a trial because it is of our own making.  He would not have led us there, but our flesh did.  even in those times, He will be there to help pick up the pieces and turn it around for our good and His glory.  that's His promise.  "I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support."  heb 13:5 ampc it is always the "pressing" of thing that produce the greater value, be it olives, grapes or lives.  we must willing submit to the pressing.  we must willing submit to the firing which will bring forth the purest gold. and so, "we are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed — always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body."  2 cor 4:8-9 "therefore we do not lose heart.  even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.  for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.  for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."  2 cor 4:16-18 i have quoted extensively from the bible today.  the beauty and truth of the word of God expresses it better than i ever could.  i can only add my hope that you will endure whatever may be "pressing" you.  be it finances, health, persecutions, lost loved ones, whatever.  our Lord is there for each of us. "Father, give us eyes to see beyond to your intended purpose.  all our trust, hope and faith is in You alone.  'as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.'"  2 cor 1:5  in the name of our Lord Jesus we pray.

#prayer #faith #rapture #jesus #jesus is coming