#but also it was a choice to parallel sun and moon with a couple just saying sun and moon divorced toxic yaoi is worth exploring

[tootiredtocares-blog]

Arnold x dispatch, whatever the fuck edwin had with Henry and William, the parallels with moon and sun toxic yaoi wins again

[alphinias]

TSITP is already laying down the ground for bellyconrad endgame and jeremiah cheating situation. they’re only “winning this season” but the foreshadowing is already there:

1. Belly talking to Conrad and saying “if my dad had cheated on my mom, she probably wouldn’t even care” and Conrad being like “why wouldn’t Laurel have a reaction?” And Belly being “nothing about my dad really excited her”. This goes back to Season 1 and Laurel saying she loved John but it was safe like a “cozy campfire” that would keep her warm at night but never really gave her fireworks. Then she says someone did gave her fireworks once but it would have burned them alive (as Belly and Conrad right now that are dealing with too much and their love is to strong for this). This is Jer = campire Con = fireworks. Belly then asks if it didn’t work out with either, then how does she knows when it’s the right person to which Laurel responds that she’ll know when she wants to be with someone because nothing would matter and it would just feel right.

2. During that phone conversation with Conrad, Belly says “I just can’t imagine marrying some that didn’t give me fireworks. like electric jolts every time i saw them” to which Conrad agrees. That he wouldn’t marry someone that didn’t make him feel electric. Again, referencing Laurel’s conversation with Belly on Season 1.

There’s not reason why that conversation was even in there if it’s not to foreshadow the future. Every line in TV matters. I feel like Belly will be paralleling a lot from her parents relationship with Jeremiah by settling for a sense of blind safety mostly as a cover from Susannah’s death which is why she’s so in denial and holding onto their relationship on book 3. She will be getting into a relationship that doesn’t fully excite her and from Belly’s pov, you can tell her relationship with Jeremiah fully lost it’s spark long before the cheating occurred. One of the reasons I feel like Laurel didn’t want Belly to marry him is because she knew she was going to end up like her. Belly and Jeremiah would’ve ended up divorced for the same reasons Laurel and John did. But not even like 17 years in but way sooner then them.

Also how that Laurel speech is the same episode Jeremiah launches fireworks at Belly and Conrad to stop them from kissing out of spite to just seal the metaphor that Conrad is Belly’s fireworks.

3. After that conversation, Belly tells Conrad about her discovery. She tells him “Did you know Venus is an evening star for 263 days out of the year and then it disappears from the sky for 50 days before returning as a morning star for another 263 days out of the year. And right now it’s an evening star and it’s very bright next to the moon, actually I’m looking at it right now (…) i wish we were looking at it together”. This parallels the quote “For Belly, Conrad is the sun and when the sun comes out, all the stars disappear”. Venus was named after the goddess of love and beauty. And just the whole thing foreshadows that their love might go for a while but will never disappear because it will always return to them.

4. No one mentioned this but when Belly and Jeremiah were in that store picking up the cupcakes on 202, as Jeremiah walks away there’s a frame in front of just Belly in which you can see them selling peaches and pie – and we all know that book 3 bellyconrad scene involving a market and peaches.

5. Just the parallels, the references of their relationship, the song choices for both couples, the infinite necklace, the shirt, the change about Belly losing her virginity to Conrad.

6. Jeremiah referring to BellyConrad as having some “invisible string”. Also, let’s point out how Nikes by Frank Ocean played during a Belly and Jere scene last episode and it basically says “I’m not him but I’ll meant something too”.

7. And just since last season, when Belly and Conrad kissed, the song choice spelled their entire arc and I know it was intentional because it was cut in a way that you could hear: “This love is good this love is bad. This love is alive and back from the death. This hands had to let it go free and this love came back to me.” And “when you're young, you just run. but you come back to what you need”. The original song doesn’t follow that same line but bellyconrad songs are always cut in a way that foreshadows their arc. Just like how the lines used for The Way I Loved You foreshadows Season 2.

8. Conrad saying last episode that he seems himself in Cousins and the beach house in 10 years. That same house being the one he finally confesses to Belly, the one he lives in when they reconnect and the one they end up together and married at.

9. BellyConrad and StevenTaylor are Jenny’s endgames for sure and they’re paralleling each others arcs right now. With Taylor and Belly going onto that journey of wanting to “let go” of their first love only to realize they’re just settling for that type of love that it’s just easier because they are not that invested in it emotionally. It won’t hurt as much if you’re not truly in it. Jenny basically called Steven as “Taylor’s Conrad” so it makes sense why Taylors low key projecting on Belly right now.

Like, it’s not question bellyconrad is endgame. They are being written as the love story of the show and Jeremiah as the person getting in the way of that. “And unnecessary detour” as some reviewer called it. Everyone can see it except jellys that keep making their relationship deeper than it actually is. Jeremiah is clinging to belly as a way to cope with his mother’s death and so is she. And it will come back to bite them.

Couldn’t have said it better myself anon 😂 I don’t have much to add because… yeah. I think you nailed it all.

[linkspooky]

Black Wolf, White Wolf, Megumi and Yuji.

In my last post I mentioned how the white wolf and black wolf are symbolic for the connection between Gojo and Yuji. However, because the students are all parallels for the previous generation (Gojo, Geto and Shoko paralleling Yuji, Megumi and Nobara), the white wolf and black wolf also represents the relationship between Megumi and Yuji. Megumi and Yuji are a pair of opposites, who are complementary to one another. They present themselves as completely different people, but also have far more in common with, and a closer connection to each other than anybody else. 

1. There are Two Wolves Inside of You, One of Them is Gay. 

The white wolf is wholly white except for three black dots on its head, the black wholf wholly black with the exception of three white dots. Each of these supposed opposites black and white have a little bit of each other’s coloring. This is a clear reference to the coloring of the Taijitu symbol.

The yin yang (i.e. taijitu symbol) shows a balance between two opposites with a portion of the opposite element in each section.

Yuji and Megumi are designed as characters to represent this same dualism as a couple. Yuji being associated with the white Yang, and Megumi the black yin.

n Ancient Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (/jɪn/ and /jɑːŋ, jæŋ/; Chinese: 陰陽 yīnyáng, lit. "dark-bright", "negative-positive") is a concept of dualism, describing how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. Yin is the black side, and yang is the white side

The white wolf has a tendency to be associated with Yuji, and the black wolf associated with Megumi. This goes as early back as their first mission together. Immediately after panel where they first disagree with one another on how to save people, and end up confronting each other, the white wolf shikigami is killed permanently. 

In the same mission, Yuji dies. Afterwards, as a consequence for his death the white wolf can never be summoned as a shikigami again, but the black wolf begins to take on a few of the white wolf’s features.

Megumi and Yuji are opposites. Megumi is cold and dispassionate, and entirely selective with his sympathies. Yuji is warm, friendly, and willing to sympathize with almost anybody. They’re also like eac other. Not only that, but they become progressively like each other as the plot goes on. 

The relationship between yin and yang is often described in terms of sunlight playing over a mountain and a valley. Yin (literally the 'shady place' or 'north slope') is the dark area occluded by the mountain's bulk, while yang (literally the "sunny place' or "south slope") is the brightly lit portion. As the sun moves across the sky, yin and yang gradually trade places with each other, revealing what was obscured and obscuring what was revealed.

In other words, just like how the divine black dog now has a piece of the white dog. Megumi and Yuji present themselves to the world as opposites externally, but internally they have a piece of themselves inside each other. Despite being so different they both look at each other and think yeah, that’s the right way people should live instead. 

Megumi and Yuji are inspired by the differences they have with each other. Megumi wants to become a more emotional person to Yuji, true to his feelings and his desire to save others. Yuji wants to learn to think things through like Megumi does. 

There’s also several other ways the two of them compliment each other as a pair. 

Yin is characterized as slow, soft, yielding, diffuse, cold, wet, and passive; and is associated with water, earth, the moon, femininity, and night time.

Yin is associated with femininity. Megumi’s name is specifically a gender neutral name. Megumi himself uses shadow as his Curse Technique. Remember Yang is the sun over the valley, and Yin is the shadows created by that sun. Megumi literally uses those shadows as a form of attack. 

Megumi is also constantly characterized as passive in comparison to Yuji. It is Megumi who lives quietly with his head down, it is Megumi who passively accepts things, Megumi reacts while Yuji acts. Yuji is always running off to save people, and Megumi is the one trying to stop him from hurting himself. Even Gojo points out this passivity as a flaw on Megumi’s part. He spends so much time thinking of others, while Yuji isn’t even thinking of him, he’s swinging for a home run. 

Yang, by contrast, is fast, hard, solid, focused, hot, dry, and active; and is associated with fire, sky, the sun, masculinity and daytime.

Yuji on the other hand is associated with masculinity. Megumi uses the ten shadows, Yuji just punches things. The hypermasculine Todo finds Megumi boring, but warms up to Yuji right away as a brother. Yuji’s even famous for his strength. (There’s also some Tiger and Dragon symbolism going on here, Yuji is known as the Tiger of West Junior High. Geto, who is also his opposite foil is capable of summoning a dragon). 

Yuji is the active character always running off to save someone. He’s the one most determined to get involved while Megumi usually holds back. Once again returning to Gojo, Gojo and Yuji are both similiar because they think the same way about things, they’re always trying to stand out, be the star, because they’re both active. It’s usually Yuji who runs ahead and leaves Megumi behind. 

However, part of the yin / yang dulaity is that as complementary pairs they can also reverse. Strong can become weak. We’re even litereally shown this in the one fight Megumi and Yuji cooperate on during the shibuya arc, they fight someone whose literal curse technique is reversing polarizaiton, making strong attacks weak. 

Strong becomes weak, and weak becomes strong. The yin and yang glady trade places with one another. As a result of the Shibuya arc, we have seen Megumi acting more like Yuji, and Yuji acting more like Megumi. 

In their very first arc, it was Yuji who was active. He let Sukuna rampage in order to save the others, leaving Megumi behind to deal with the fallout. 

In the Shibuya arc this event is paralleled in an opposite way. Yuji becomes more passive, and less self centered. He starts to act more like Megumi. His individual life is less important, than contributing to the whole. In other words, it’s Yuji this time who decides to make the sacrifice bunt. 

While at the same time we see Megumi is pushed to his absolute limit and starts swinging for the stands. It’s Megumi’s choice to summon Mahoraga and let him effectively rampage, at the cost of himself. The kind of wild, self-sacrifice that only Yuji would make. This. 

Mirrors this. 

Not only that but the same way Megumi had to fight against Sukuna in order to try and contain him, this time Sukuna has to fight against Mahoraga in order to stop the exorcising ritual from killing Megumi. 

Megumi and Itadori are not only alike, they’re also becoming more like each other as the story progresses probably out of affection and genuine admiration of one another. Megumi inspires Yuji to become more passive and think things through. Yuji inspires Megumi to become more active towards saving others. Yuji’s thinking has even changed to become more like Megumi’s he calls himself a cog, using the same symbolism Megumi once did. 

They also reflect each others flaws. When they’re alone and apart from each other, both of them becomes way too willing to sacrifice themselves. While at the same time, they both believe the other sacrificing themself is unacceptable. For Yuji, Megumi dying is the worst result. For Megumi, Yuji dying is the worst result. 

Megumi and Yuji want to save each other, but individually they’re too prone to self destruction. However, with all the effort the manga puts into representing both of them as a pair, it leads me to believe that we’re eventually going to see a reconciliation between the two of them. Unlike Gojo and Geto who eventually ended up separating, and becoming incredibly unbalanced as individuals. I believe that Megumi and Yuji will have the opposite results, they’ll be able to find each other again, and find balance in each other. 

[hello-yue-here]

About your atla ship songs, I have a couple of questions (sorry if my phrasing comes out wrong, english isn't my first language and I worry it might across as accidentally defensive): how did you end up with the choices for zukka, jetko and yuekka (note: I haven't seen the great comet, so feel free to obsess over it, I'm intrigued now and the hype is appreciated!)? Sidenote: I think the mailee choice is HILARIOUS and the tokka one just make me sad, I didn't expect to be attacked like this😭

kdjfha;s i love you im gonna obsess SO HARD over great comet now. you may regret this

this is gonna be so long so the rest is under the cut whoops

yuekka: no one else from great comet

where do i even begin. WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN

okay so background information on this show: it's based off of a 76 oages excerpt from war and peace and its centered around a woman named natasha (and this guy pierre but he's irrelevant to this song so we wont worry about him) and natasha's bethrothed is off fighting in the war right now. she hasn't seen him in a while but she is in love with him.

every single lyrics of this song SCREAMS yuekka to me. the innocence and purity of their love. the love at first sight. and even the melancholy ending just- i go apeshit for this song. i love this song so much. and denee benton's voice??? kljsdhflwksugf please listen to this song if you haven't already. listen to the whole show. your life will be changed forever.

onto the lyrics (i stg this is ab to be the whole song whoops)

"the moon"

THOSE ARE THE FIRST WORDS ON THE SONG. natasha and andre (her bethrothed) met underneath the moonlight. Sokka and Yue first spoke to eachother at night and always met each other for their most intimate moments under the moonlight. also yue is LITERALLY the moon so like: right of the bat with those two words it's yuekka.

"and i saw your eyes / and i saw your smile / and the world opened wide"

sokka fell in love with yue the moment he saw her in the canal. she literally enchanted this motherfucker. everything about her made his heart go crazy. and 'the world opened wide' to me is from yue's perspective. Yue had never left the north pole and sokka had seen a good chuck of the world at the point. He took her on appa, he told her about his adventures. he saw the world yue wished to see and you know damn well that Sokka would have done anything to give it to her.

"oh the moon /oh the snow in the moonlight / and your childlike eyes and your distant smile / ill never be this happy again / you and i and no one else"

natasha sings fondly about the moon and the snow, seeing as it was where she fell in love with andre. yue and sokka LITERALLY fell in love in the same place: in the snowy nothern water tribe under the light of the moon. childlike eyes: THEYRE CHILDREN!!! distant smile: this is where it gets a little sad. theyre both children with way too many duties during a world that has known nothing but war for the past century. they want to be happy but yeah, theyre smiles are distant and far away because happiness seems out of reach for them most of the time. i'll never be this happy again: the moments yue and sokka shared together were probably the happiest either of them ever were. they were able to ignore the war and the world in the moments they shared together. and with no one else. no one else would be able to give each other this sense of peace and happiness and love.

"joy and life inside our souls / and no body knows just you and me / it's our secret"

Yue and Sokka had to sneak out in secret at night to go and see each other. Yue and Sokka couldn't be together for real because Yue was already engaged, but they were literally in love so she decided to see him anyways in secret. kasdjfhklasjd im losing my mind over them at this point.

"this winer sky / how can anyone sleep / there was never such a night before / i feel like putting my arms around my knees / and squeezing tight as possible / and flying away"

these are my FAVORITE lines in the entire song. yue and sokka had never felt this strongly about anyone before and that's why they are so drawn to each other. they had never experienced love before and they wanted to hold onto it for as long as they could even though they knew they couldnt. Sokka takes yue up on appa and she is wistful and wishes she could live like he does every day: ie flying away. oh my god these two deserved so much better. so much fucking better.

now for the saddes part. the saddest fucking part.

"maybe he'll come today / maybe he came already / and he's sitting in the drawing room / and i simply forgot"

natasha misses andre so intensely at this point. when i first listened to this show and heard this song i was like "wait a min... is andre like... dead?" and im sure i wasnt the only person who assumed that this was why natasha felt so sad by the end of such a beautiful song. (spoiler alert andre is fine)

but this line really exemplifies how sad natasha is, and hints at the fact that andre may never come back. it implies that their relationship is doomed (at least in my opinion) and that's all yuekka. Sokka misses yue intensely when shes gone. Yue accepted her fate almost immediately but sokka was in denial. he thought there had to be another way. but in the end it wasn't meant to be. and sokka will go on, loving yue, wishing for her back, even though it's not possible.

fuck im gonna cry.

zukka: all i've ever known- hadestown

"i was alone so long / i didn't even know that i was lonely / out in the cold so long / i didnt even know that i was cold"

sokka is from the swt so theres where the cold comes in. also in the gaang (initially) it was just him katara and aang. and katara and aang were much closer to each other than sokka was with aang and the two of them were benders so sokka was kind of an outsider with the two of them. He also represses a lot of his emotions and feels the need to do everything himself so i do see a lot of loneliness in sokka. and the fact that so many people in his life have left him (his mom, yue, his dad, suki briefly, etc...) he is known to keep people at an arms length. i see a lot of loneliness in sokka.

zuko's loneliness is a lot more obvious: he has literally been cast out and abandoned by everyone except iroh. and even then he still feels the need to be alone (remember zuko alone? thought so) these boys look after themselves and push others away and revel in their loneliness in order to keep themselves from getting hurt. at least in my opinion on canon and also some fanon because id be a liar if i said fanon didnt influence how i view ALL my ships (not just zukka)

"all ive ever known is how to hold my own / but now I wanna hold you too"

COME ONE MANNNN, they just wanna hold each other. theyre both very big protectors as well and kljhflkasdhg they wanna protect eachother like kljdhfl im gonna lose it rn.

"You take me in your arms / And suddenly there's sunlight all around me / Everything bright and warm / And shining like it never did before / And for a moment I forget / Just how dark and cold it gets"

SUNLIGHT SYMBOLISM. zuko is literally powered by the sun. i don't think i even NEED to elaborate on this one anymore lol. They find comfort in each other away from all of their trauma. when they're together nothing else matters and i personally love that for them. they both deserve love.

"I knew you before we met / And I don't even know you yet / All I know is your someone I have always known"

these two are extremely similar in canon. many parallels. older brothers overshadowed by their prodigy little sisters. longing to make their fathers proud (granted one dad is good and one is fuckin evil), both are pretty bad with emotions. both are seen protecting others before themselves (sokka protecting suki during the serpant's pass, sokka protecting toph on like multiple occassions, zuko protecting katara in the final agni kai), the list goes on. they know who the other is because they see themselves in the other person. they already know each other because they are each other (in a way, not entirely, but the similarities are strong in my opinion)

"I'm gonna hold you forever / The wind will never change on us / Long as we stay with each other / Then it will always be like this"

i just think this line is so cute and sweet (ignoring all the symbolism and foreshadowing that comes with the last line in the musical itself. im gonna pretend this is nothing but happy) and i think these boys deserve happiness so yeah. this song is zukka to me lol.

jetko: thrill of first love- falsettoes

if you've never listened to this song go an do it now. you will know INSTANTLY that it is jetko because of the dynamics alone. marvin and whizzer are pure jetko and i take no crticisms.

marvin and whizzer are both extremely stubborn, and they don't always get along, and they fight a lot, and they get mad at each other a lot, and they are both passionate as hell, and they will bring this passion into everything. they love each other that is without a doubt, but they arent perfect and they are once again stubborn and determined as fuck.

sound familiar? it's literally jetko.

the lyrics aren't what remind me of jetko, but the dynamic itself. the lyrics are too on the nose for a gay couple in 1970's america so that rlly cant apply to jetko all that much. but the way these two characters bounce off of each other and get annoyed with each other and argue with eachother reminds me of jetko. because let's be honest: these two are the most stubborn characters in the whole show. they will fight for what they believe and it will take literally everything to change their minds.

i love jetko but i think they would have petty arguments all the time and get aggravated by one another so easily. and this is even seen in canon: they work so fucking well together but they did not even HESITATE to fight one another after neither of them would give in and let the fight about whether jet was right or wrong about zuko being a firebender. like i cannot say it enough they are stubborn as fuck.

but underneath all that stubborn pettiness and bickering: marvin and whizzer still love each other. and jet and zuko would still love each other. because even though they are stubborn when it comes to arguments, they are even more stubborn and determined when it comes to each other. these two passionate motherfuckers are in love.

(now when i chose this song i decided to ignore the fact that this song literally spells out the fact that marvin and whizzer's relatinoship is doomed because they literally say passion dies. thats the difference between jetko and whizzer and marvin because i dont think passion dies. i chose this song strictly for the bickering lmao)

and i know you didnt ask about tokka but,,,,

i rlly wanna talk about the tokka one

so im going to

tokka: on my own- les mis

look. i KNOW this song is about unrequited love and i love tokka as a couple but,,, the unrequited love in this song just SCREAMS unrequited tokka to me so thats what i went with.

eponine is a girl who has neglectful parents who lives life by her own rules: toph. eponine is shown to be tough and confident and spunky to others but behind all of that she has emotions, she feels love, she hides her vulnerability so much: toph. she is in love with a guy she cant be with because he loves someone else: TOPH

eponine is toph to a t and toph is eponine to a t. this is not up for debate lmao

"without him i feel his arms around me"

toph is always seen grabbing onto someone (and its almost ALWAYS sokka) when she's somewhere where she can't use her feet to see. FEEL and ARMS cmon. look at it.

"and i know / i know that he is blind"

COME ON. IMAGINE TOPH SINGING THIS LINE. this line is already powerful enough in les mis but having toph, a blind character, sing it just makes the symbolism even deeper. toph sees the potential relationship they could have together. toph sees that sokka is oblivious to this. toph is not blind to the truth or the potention, but sokka is blind to her feelings. im about to lose my mind over this line.

"I love him / But every day I'm learning / All my life / I've only been pretending / Without me / His world will go on turning / A world that's full of happiness / That I have never known"

i need to sit down for a moment. toph grew up in a household where her parents did not understand her. she has learned to hide her true emotions and vulnerabilities from everyone. and its the fact that toph knows that she and sokka will never be together and the fact that she still loves him in spite of that is what makes this even more heartbreaking.

"but only on my own"

TOPH AND EPONINE SWEETIES I LOVE YOU

thank you for indulging my theatre kid nonsense. you are very sweet and kind and lovely and awesome and i hope you have a lovely day bestie :) <3

ask me why i think these songs go with these ships

[cesraeborgia]

Hey! This is a cool thing you're doing and thought I'd ask something!

I feel like ur gonna get asked this a lot but, realistically, what do you think is going to happen with keenler in the upcoming eps? Like obviously we'd love them to happily get together, but this is the Blacklist, and nothing is ever that simple.

Thoughts?

Hey!!! I’m happy to say your my first ask :)) !!!  If you want to chat with me about keenler, my fics, send me prompts, or just say hello!! feel free to drop me an ask here

I had a lot to say so I did a keep reading thing haha. Also, warning, spoilers for the last two eps. 

Personally, I think there’s an extremely interesting dynamic at play here that is similar to when Liz was on the run the first time. I can’t help but draw parallels between Ressler’s interactions with Liz in season 3 and his interactions with her now, and I think that Liz’s plot line this season is going to put her at odds with Ressler both professionally and personally. The fact of the matter is (and this might be a rogue opinion) that in the long run, I don’t see this causing issues for them romantically. The thing about Ressler is that he’s already crossed that line for Liz in the past - when pitted against his job and Liz, the choices he makes always boil down to one thing: whether or not the decision he makes keeps Liz safe. Because Ressler is always acting with Liz’s safety in mind, This might prove to be a problem for Liz, who is used to those who love her (Tom, Reddington) dropping everything on a dime to help her in any situation no matter the cost to her personal safety. This is partially why Ressler was at a crossroads in the last episode: he knew that the path Liz was going down was dangerous, and he was unwilling to help her if it affected her safety in a negative way, or if it contributed to her continued progression down a darkened path, which Ressler does not view to be her destiny, like Reddington does. In keeping with this characterization of Ressler (which, Lord knows if the show will actually do that; they are pretty consistent when it comes to him but still not great) I could see them continuing to work together, even if its not to the result that Liz wants. 

I think that Ressler brings out the best of Liz’s humanity (this is why I always use day/sun imagery when writing Ressler, and night/moon imagery when writing Liz) and that eventually Liz is going to be faced with deciding between embracing Reddington’s idea of her ‘destiny’ or embracing what she wanted her life to be like in the pilot. Obviously, going to war with Reddington posits one end of that spectrum, with exploring her relationship with Ressler being on the other side. 

(Real quick sidebar: I don’t like to describe female characters in relation to male characters; I’m not trying to say that Liz has to decide between the two men, I’m just saying that they symbolically represent the decision she’s going to have to make. If I were less tired I would go on a poststructural feminist rant that would make my dear sweet Judith Butler proud, but, alas, I’m exhausted)

I think that there’s three key things that SHOULD (key word being should, seeing as the writers are who the writers are) be factors in keenler’s progression this season. 

1.) Liz is alone on the run this time. This means that she’s most likely going to turn to Ressler for support, seeing as her sister is gone for the moment being, Tom is dead, her mother is dead, Reddington is pretty much dead to her, and the only person left in her life who she really trusts is Ressler. Now, there could be an interesting plot twist here. (this has been marinating in the back of my mind for the last couple of seasons.) Remember in like season 6 (I want to say??) when Liz let that one blacklister go and was starting to collect names for her own blacklist... let’s just say I wouldn’t be shocked if that plot line was unceremoniously picked up again sometime this season. That might be the only real shot she has at having allies besides Ressler or people who want to see Reddington dead. Ask me more on this later, once I watch the next episode in January haha.

2.) The issue of the taskforce and Reddington. As we can all see, Reddington has no qualms using Ressler as a pawn in his scheme to get to Liz, and I can envision Ressler acting in the role of messenger between the two warring sides during the rest of this season, which would allow for Liz and Ressler to continue to explore their developing relationship within this paradigm. I could also see =, however, Reddington using Ressler to gain an audience with Liz, and or threatening Ressler in order to get Liz to comply. 

In this category there is also the issue of the taskforce itself. As we all know, Cooper was pissed that Ressler had been running off without his knowledge to see Liz, and I can assure you that this is going to cause some problems between the rest of the taskforce and Ressler. (Aram may be a sleeper cell, because it’s Aram, but other than that I can see this getting to be extremely painful for Ressler, Cooper, and Park). I can see Cooper either sidelining Ressler, monitoring his phone, or pairing him off with Park so that she can keep an eye on him, or a combination of all three. I think that this dynamic is where we’re going to see the biggest obstacle to their relationship. 

3.) Finally, the trust issues. I can’t say I’m shocked that the blacklist has never confronted the fact that Ressler is blatantly in love with a woman who continuously lies to him (I love both of them to death, I mean this from a good place) and who has never really shown any signs of remorse about it. Now, while its a good thing that Liz opened up to Ressler later last season, it’s still problematic that she won’t share her cards with him when she knows he won’t be happy about what she’s doing. I personally would love to see Ressler confront her about this (I hope to god he does), but again, this will probably get swept under the rug. I have a lot of problems with this, which is why when I write them, I always try to address the imbalance of power between them and try to put them on a more equal playing field. I would be curious to see how the writers do this (if they decide to). 

I’m sorry that this has turned into a novella-length response, but also I’m not because I have had a lot of this stuff simmering in my brain for the last couple of years. I must also apologize for the random rants in the middle of this - that would be due to my raging ADHD and exhaustion. In conclusion, I would say that I can see keenler happening, however, it is not going to be all sunshine and rainbows, but, rather, a game which may involve using Ressler as bait. 

I hope that answers your question :))

[queenaryastark]

which greek gods would you match asoiaf characters to

Let me start by saying that there is a huge difference between the deities of Greek mythology and the characters in ASOIAF. But here goes:

Catelyn

Demeter, Hera, and Athena

Demeter is an agricultural mother goddess responsible for making the earth bountiful and controlling the seasons. Since the gods were interpreted and worshiped in different ways depending on the region and the time period, there is also a darker version of Demeter that is connected to death. Not only is she responsible for creating life but also for receiving the dead and being a guardian of ghosts. Her most popular myth is of the kidnapping of her daughter Persephone and how in her grief, she didn’t allow the earth to be fertile until her daughter was returned to her. Catelyn’s motherhood and longing for her children is a hugely significant part of her character. In a lot of ways, it drives her choices, both positive and negative. The parallel of her seeking the return of her daughters while Westeros goes from summer to fall to winter is pretty obvious, especially now that she’s become one of the living dead.

Hera is the goddess of women (particularly married women), marriage, family fidelity, and childbirth. She’s most known for her anger and jealousy over her husband’s affairs and illegitimate children, the most mainstream being Heracles. I’m hesitant to compare Catelyn’s treatment of Jon with Hera’s treatment of all the women her husband tricked/coerced/slept with and their children. While Cat undeniably mistreated Jon, it’s not even close to the extent that Hera goes to. What’s similar is her devotion to marriage and family.

Athena may seem like an odd choice for Catelyn since she’s been groomed to fit her cultural’s patriarchal ideal for femininity, though we see her straining against those ideals or even outright discarding them from time to time. Athena is the goddess of warfare, wisdom, women’s crafts and arts, justice, and politics. While she was the goddess of war, she didn’t revel in it like her brother Ares. She was strategic, championing and advising multiple heroes.

Arya

Persephone, Artemis, and  Odysseus 

I have a partly written meta about Arya and Persephone that I will hopefully finish someday. But here are the broad strokes. Persephone is a vegetation goddess of death and rebirth. She descends into the underworld every autumn and ascends into the world in the spring, impacting the changing seasons with her mother. She is both the queen of the underworld and the goddess of spring and vegetation. This duality can be seen very clearly in Arya who is a young girl who counts and collects flowers, tells directions with moss, and loves the outdoors while also being a young girl who descends into the underworld twice so far during her story, first in the war torn Riverlands and again the House of Black and White. All of the death she is witnessing, causing, and giving as a gift of seems to be leading to a significant role in a death worshiping religion. Similarly with Catelyn’s connection to Demeter, Arya actively seeks her to reunite with her mother like Persephone.

Artemis is the goddess of the wild, the hunt, the moon, animals, childbirth, virginity, and protector of young girls. Her statues often depict her wearing chiton that only reaches to her knees, something only men wore, as women wore theirs down to their ankles. Arya loves animals and the outdoors. She is able to tell direction based on moss. During her arc, there are several connections to the moon. Just as Artemis is depicted wearing a short chiton for convenience of movement, Arya also wears pants, typically associated with men in her culture, for convenience. 

Odysseus was a Greek hero known for his cunning who fought in the Trojan War for ten years and spent another ten trying to get home. Like all Greek heroes, he also descended into the underworld. A more detailed essay paralleling Arya with Odysseus can be found here.

Daenerys

Athena and Aphrodite

As already noted above, Athena is the goddess of  warfare, wisdom, women’s crafts and arts, justice, and politics. She is more about strategy and diplomacy than her battle lusting brother, Ares. Athena also created the justice system with a trial and jury. Dany’s story is brimming with politics and diplomacy through all five novels whether she’s with the Dothraki, in Qarth, or dealing with Slaver’s Bay. Not only did we see her waging war and being skilled in strategy, but we see her dealing with the intricate politics of Meereen. She’s also in charge of enforcing justice. 

Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty, pleasure, and sexual passion (usually interpreted as love). Of the Greek goddesses, she had the most sexual autonomy. She is also described as “laughter loving”. Dany is considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world and is hyper-sexualized from her very first chapter and onward. So far in the story, she has had three sexual partners, two of whom were her husbands. But the fact that her lover is the battle loving Daario definitely gives their dynamic an Aphrodite/Ares feel.

Bran

Hermes and Apollo

Hermes is a trickster god who flies on winged sandals. He was the herald of the gods and the god of travelers, thieves, sleep, athletics, shepherds, and trade. He also guided souls to the underworld. He is a god that appears in several myths and seems to get along with most of the other gods. Bran is able to fly through skinchanging winged creatures and is told that he will never walk again, but he will fly. Bran is known as a happy, loving boy who everyone loves. We also have a couple memories of Bran being a trickster, whether its him outsmarting and outrunning the castle guards who are trying to stop him from climbing or if he’s ambushing people with snowballs with Arya. 

Apollo is the god of the sun, archery, prophecy, music, youth, healing, disease, and rationality. As characters, they aren’t that similar in personality. I’m mostly putting Apollo under Bran due to the prophecy and sun aspects of the deity. 

[elrondsscribe]

No ATLA shipping wars, please. There is room for ALL the ships.

So I’m sure anyone who’s been tracking me lately knows that I’ve been all up in Avatar: The Last Airbender ...

And I must say, after checking out the tags, I am TERRIFIED to speak my mind about ANY of the ships I like!! Like, I don’t want to be thought of as a poisonous Supporter Of That Which Is Toxic And Problematic because I did or didn’t gel with one ship or other. Spoilers under the cut.

See, I’m always the kind of fan that nobody likes: I’m the MCU fan that appreciates Steve and Tony; I’m the Star Wars fan that loved all nine Episodes. So when I say that I sail literally all of the ships because all of them hit me in different kinds of feels, well, y’all know to expect this from me.

(I should say at this point that the only thing I’m considering ‘canon’ for the purposes of this conversation is A:TLA; no LoK or comics is relevant here.)

(Also, can I just say what a wonderful change of pace it is to be in a property where, at least in the generation of our ‘mains,’ there seem to be more named, developed female characters??)

So I’m gonna start out with saying: I like the canon pairings as they stand! Kataang, Sukki, and Maiko being the main ones, obvs. However, I also like all kinds of AU pairings too!

Like Zutara - I mean, I can hardly say anything here that ten thousand others haven’t already said better, but their journeys do parallel each other in a lot of significant ways, and I think that, by the end of the show, they do legitimately share enough to have the foundations of a good relationship, if as a fanwriter you wanted to go there. You could make much of the poetry of their differences (”you rise with the moon, and I with the Sun”), and/or really develop their existing ability to safely be the ‘splash zone’ for each other’s turmoil. Besides, I think Katara’s mothering fussbudget energy would be a great thing for Zuko, and there’s a gentleness to her that he’d find healing.

{Now, I’ve seen a lot of comparisons between Zutara and Reylo, made by people who either want to demean or defend both ships. I’ve also seen these comparisons soundly trashed by people who like one, but not both, of these ships. As someone who never has had strong feelings either for or against Reylo, and as someone who loves Zutara but not exclusively, my response to all of that drama is a big old shrug of my shoulders. So don’t come at me screaming about Reylo, either to stan or cancel. Please just don’t.}

Also I don’t know a good way to say this, but you know how some people just can’t seem to resist reading Zuko and/or Sokka as gay? Well, I can’t stop reading Mai as lesbian; I don’t know why.

I don’t know which pairing Taang is. If it’s Aang/Ty Lee, omg yes!! Kill me with all the sparkles and rainbows! I already want to eat them both up. More seriously, I think Aang’s peaceable temperament would be a really welcome change in her life, after Zuko’s turmoil and Mai’s ice and Azula’s, well, Azula-ness. She’d probably just love Aang’s aura :) 

If Taang is Aang/Toph, well, we’ve observed that our flighty lil’ Aangster could use a grouding influence :) I don’t know who on Tumblr pointed it out, but Toph is the last person in the world to fangirl over Aang, which seems to be very good for him, while also not clipping his wings. While I do believe they’d be the kind of couple to quarrel and, at times, drift apart from each other (she’s incredibly rooted while he’s the embodiment of a free-spirit), for some reason I can easily see them finding each other again. There’s a scene in my head, one where an adult Aang is faced with the necessity of a sacrifice play that he might not come back from, and instead of tearfully trying to convince him not to do it, Toph says, “Go get ‘em, Twinkletoes.”

[And if you ship Zutara alongside Aang/Toph, you could have a fanfic where you did a Parallel, with Two Ships Of Opposite-Power-Benders. I’d be a fan!]

Now I’ve seen Sokkla floating around too, and I must say that this intrigues me, especially the way that this ship is connected to ideas about the redemption of Azula. I’ve seen some people being really upset that Azula never got a redemption arc in the show, but c’mon guys. A redemption arc for Azula would have taken a long-ass time - it would’ve been awesome, but it would’ve taken a long-ass time, definitely longer than a fourth season, I think. But if you were going to go with a combination of a redemption arc and a ship for her, Sokka would be a great idea. I don’t think Azula knows what fun and merriment are, and who knows those things better than Sokka?

[Honestly, that’s the thing about shipping Sokka with anyone: he would bring them laughter.]

But enough about the het AU ships, let’s talk about the gay ones!

Zukka would be the most prominent example, of course. The rapport that Zuko develops with Sokka over ‘The Boiling Rock’ is beautiful to behold (jokes about ‘that’s rough, buddy’ aside), and heaven knows Zuko needs someone to teach him how to laugh.

And remember how I said that I somehow can’t see Mai as straight? Well, I also can’t stop shipping her with Azula (don’t know the ship name for this one, but I know it exists). Obviously this ship would have more than an edge of ownership and manipulation about it, but they’re so deadly radiant and it’s like I can’t look away from them.

And Ty Lee is just so adorable and sincere (even with all the buried sadness) that shipping her with almost any of the other girls just makes my heart melt. Especially Katara, who would just cuddle the hell out of her whenever she’s feeling down. Or even Azula, who would totally own and work her but also, like, dazzle her. Main exception being Suki - for some reason, my head goes all kinds of hot, dirty places when I imagine Suki and Ty Lee sparring.

However, all this being said, I still have love for the canon ships that we got.

For example, like I said, I do ship Kataang, and I think together they’re incredibly sweet, but I also think that Katara’s tendency to hover and Aang’s tendency to (literally and metaphorically) fly away from/float above problems would jointly become a not-inconsiderable hurdle in a long-term relationship. Now I’ve observed couples in real life with similar dynamics, and I’ll stick out my neck and say that I consider this a workable hurdle, especially if both Katara and Aang grow in maturity and interpersonal understanding as they get older.

Similarly with Maiko: we see that, where Zuko’s emotions tend to run fire-hot, Mai’s tend to run ice-cold; we saw a clear example of these tendencies really clashing with each other. And Mai’s way of showing Zuko affection does seem to have genuinely perplexed some people who watched the show, to the point that they didn’t read it as affection at all. But again, drawing on what I’be observed, some couples really do develop a ‘love code’ that they understand even if literally no one else does. I don’t see any indication of either Mai or Zuko actually ill-using the other; and I will always stan this line from Mai when she made her big choice: I love Zuko more than I fear you.

As for Sukki - well, you already know. Sokka definitely grew and healed a lot from it, but I don’t think the trauma of being unable to protect Yue is one that will ever truly leave him. And as much as Suki understands him, I do think Sokka’s protectiveness will sometimes grate on her. She’s a motherfucking warrior-chieftain. And yes, this can definitely shape into a relational problem, but not one that can’t be worked around.

So ... TLDR, I love all the ships, and refuse to be part of the anti drama.

[raeynbowboi]

The Other Ships in My Fleet

So, I’ve already made a post talking about how I feel about certain ships in My Hero Academia, and another post about some of my other fandoms. Both posts got a lot of likes and reblogs, so I figured I’d talk about my ships from other fandoms. If this post also gets a lot of positive feedback, I’ll consider starting a second page to post my fan content for all of my fandoms, while still maintaining this one almost exclusively for My Hero Academia and Kiribaku specifically.

Klance (Keith x Lance) Voltron: Legendary Defender

I’m fully aware that this ship is probably not going to happen, but it’s really the only ship in the series that speaks to me. I will not lie, I am a big fan of dark and moody dating happy-go-lucky, and the rivals to friends to lovers element is just icing on the cake. It’s only further helped by Lance being Keith’s second-in-command. They help each other grow, and the trust that forms between them is cute and endearing. They also shared a major element to their characters. Both of them feel out of place, Keith because of his Galra heritage, and Lance because he doesn’t have a niche role.

Rabies/Rae x BB (Raven x Beast Boy) Teen Titans (2003)

While there wasn’t a lot of shipping fodder for these two in the 2003 iteration, the two are a canon couple in most versions of the teen titans, having been married in the comics (more than once, I think) so this is sort of a unique ship in that I ship it across every version of the two characters. Sporting a snarky moody goth and a lovable goofball, their dynamic was like that of an old married couple, or a moody teenager and her annoying little brother. Still, the two were good friends, and even though their personalities were polar opposites of each other, they had a lot of quiet, emotional moments together in the series. Whether you want to read them as friends or potential lovers, I think it’s hard to deny that there was a genuinely nice bond between the pair.

Garnet/Rupphire (Ruby x Sapphire) Steven Universe

As the show’s literal physical manifestation of love and a perfect relationship, it’s hard not to like the relationship between these two adorable lesbians. With the show sometimes being edited to remove the queer elements, it’s absolutely hysterical that they had the two get married in an episode very important to the plot, and put Ruby in the dress so that absolutely nobody could misinterpret her as a male. Editing it would only confuse viewers as to why everybody is in wedding attire, thus taking a very satisfying stance against censors and bigotry. Garnet also marks a first in children’s programming as the first same-sex wedding in a children’s animated show, at least as far as I’m aware.

Pearl x Mystery Girl Steven Unieverse

Although only featured in a single episode and having no dialogue, Mystery Girl (possibly named Sabina) is a very important element to Pearl’s character, being her first step toward moving on from Rose Quartz. There were fans that hoped that Mystery Girl would come back, but even if she doesn’t, she’s still important to Pearl’s character development.

Amedot (Amethyst x Peridot) Steven Universe

I know a lot of people prefer Lapidot, but frankly I find Lapis too selfish and cold-hearted to be ready for a relationship as she currently stands. I find Amethyst to be a better fit for Peridot, since they both share issues with their height. That, and the way the show frames them has romantic comedy tropes interwoven into their scenes. But even if they’re just friends, Amethyst’s approval means so much to Peridot.

Stevonnie (Steven Universe x Connie Maheswaren) Steven Universe

I’m not usually a fan of lead boy dates lead girl ships, as they tend to be very poorly done, and many feel forced, or are just boring and predictable. However, the bond between these two feels very genuine. They don’t feel like a lead boy and lead girl forced into a relationship at all. They come together very naturally, and the show takes its time to build their friendship up slowly. The show remembers that they’re kids first, friends second, jam buds third, and love interests last.

Tomstar (Tom Lucitor x Star Butterfly) Star Vs the Forces of Evil

Considering the show’s themes of monsters, racism, and not judging evil at face value, this ship serves as the most thematically poignant to the narrative that the show is setting up. It also makes Star a stronger parallel to her “evil” great great something grandmother, Eclipsa. Both are monster sympathizers with monster boyfriends. While the blood moon bonds complicate things, I see this ship as the most relevant to the themes and messages the show seems to want to send.

Tomco (Tom Lucitor x Marco Diaz) Star Vs the Forces of Evil

More of a joke/crack ship, I know it’s unlikely, but the entire episode of Friendenemies had romantic comedy written all over it. Between the literal in-universe break-up song to the show’s promotional art being inspired by dime store pulp romance novels fuel the fire that keeps this ship afloat.

Bumblebee/Bumbleby (Blake Belladonna x Yang Xiao Long) RWBY

Partners, teammates, and close friends, the ship really took off starting in season 2 during the episode “Burning the Candle”, as Blake spiraled into self-destructive habits due to obsessing over her problems. Nobody is able to get through to her until Yang comes in to talk to her. She doesn’t lecture her or beg her to stop. She instead forms a bridge of trust by first opening up about a similar situation she’s been in, and how she knows first hand that this sort of spiraling can only have negative impacts. They are shown to be parallels, as both girls are negatively effected by a loved one no longer in their life, and the trust issues that spring from that loved one’s actions. Yang was abandoned by her mother, a problem which she mentions Blake repeated. For Blake, it was the uncertainty of trusting someone’s character, and being afraid of someone slowly turning into someone else. She explicitly states in season 3 that her ex started off a nice guy, like Yang. The first time he hurt someone, there was a reason. There was always an excuse. Until eventually, she became the pardoner. The one excusing his actions. And, she expresses the fear that Yang could be following a similar path. Both girls have been hurt by someone in the past, and both girls are afraid of being hurt the same way again, and inadvertently hurt each other the same way as someone else has. It’s also known that RWBY characters tend to represent or be based on fairy tale characters. Yang is Goldilocks, and Blake is Beauty from Beauty and the Beast. However, based on the lyrics from Red Like Roses “Black the Beast descends from shadows, Yellow Beauty burns gold”, there seems to be an implication that Yang is the Beauty to Blake’s Beast. This is interestingly supported by Blake’s name. Blake is a Celtic name meaning both Black and White, and Belladonna literally means Beautiful Woman in Italian, but is also the name of a very poisonous plant often mistaken for the harmless blueberry. The duality of her name could be pointing to how she plays the dual role of both Beauty and Beast.

Seamonkeys (Sun Wukong x Neptune Vasilias) RWBY

A bit more of a crack ship, these two lovable idiots are far less likely to be canon, but since Sun is Yang’s main competition for Blake’s heart, I have no problem shipping him off elsewhere with his goofy best friend. Although they act more like usual best friends in the canon show, their relationship does have a much gayer tone in the less canon comedy show RWBY Chibi, where Neptune almost seems to act like a jealous clingy girlfriend a lot of the times. I doubt the ship would ever sail, but I mostly ship it because they’re cute together. Although, with season 6 just starting, I got the vibe that Sun was stepping aside to let Bumblebee sail uninhibited. Sun doesn’t really have a third popular ship, it’s just Black Sun and Seamonkeys, so this ship may be gaining validity in the future.

Gumlee (Marshall Lee x Prince Gumball) Adventure Time with Fiona and Cake

The male counterpart to Bubbline (Princess Bubblegum x Marceline), there’s no real difference between the two pairs other than their genders, and Gumball preferring baking while Bubblegum prefers science. Because they are effectively just gender-swapped clones of the canon ship, anything canonical between the girls is also technically canon with these two. It’s not that I don’t like Bubbline, but when given the choice between gay or lesbian versions of a couple, I’m going to be naturally inclined to lean toward the gay version.

Sasunaru/Narusasu (Sasuke Uchiha x Naruto Uzumaki) Naruto

Maybe there’s a cultural aspect I’m unaware of, but it’s a bit of a running gag in the Naruto fanbase at this point that Naruto is obsessed with Sasuke. So much so that he seems to care about him way beyond normal friendship. With how much these two obsess over one another, it’s no surprise why this became such a popular pairing. Their dynamic even dwarfed Hinata’s heartfelt confession of her love during the Pain Invasion Arc, because as soon as that ended, did Naruto go talk to Hinata? No, he immediately started thinking about Sasuke. Hinata definitely got the shaft in part II, which is a shame because I really loved her character.

Bob and Linda Belcher Bob’s Burgers

More of an honorable mention than a full on ship, I wanted to highlight them as one of adult animation’s only married couples that actually still like each other. In the wake of the popularity of the Simpsons, and the cementing of the genre with Family Guy, the stock dynamic of idiot husband and enraged but supportive wife became a recurring trope. Before long, every single animated sitcom-esque family fell into this very annoying cliche. So, finding a couple in adult animation that are not only married but still manage to show they love each other is amazing. Their marriage isn’t on the rocks, they find time to at least try and be romantic, and even when they have bets or are on opposing sides of something, the show never forgets that these two love each other at the end of the day.

Captain Swan (Killian “Hook” Jones x Emma Swan) Once Upon A Time

This relationship between Captain Hook and the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming might sound odd on paper, but this couple is by far one of the healthiest relationships in the series. Both Hook and Emma come from broken lives, and together build themselves up to something stronger. In a melodrama surrounding fairy tales, both characters are surprisingly grounded, realistic, and skeptical cynics, a very stark contrast from the usual wide-eyed lovey-dovey couples Disney is known for. Emma’s tendency to put up walls and Killian’s tendency to always put himself first are both slowly broken down over time as Killian tries to tear down Emma’s walls and get to know her while she works on building a foundation of trust between them. The pairing feels very organic, and they definitely feel like the most realistic couple in the series as they both take turns stumbling and working toward being good for each other.

Rumbelle (Rumplestiltskin x Belle) Once Upon A Time

In the early seasons, this couple was beautiful to watch. I truly loved their chemistry and dynamic, as both of them were given such strong characteristics without simplifying either of them. However, as the show went on, it started to lose that power. The couple started to feel toxic as Belle kept waiting for Rumple to change, and he kept on lying and lying. It even reached a stopping point. A perfect one. Rumple was redeemed. He was a good man again. He could be the man Belle deserved. But instead, he slipped right back into his old ways. It was then that I fell off the band wagon for this ship. I loved it once, until I got sick of watching him hurt her over and over.

Daenerys Targaryen x Khal Drogo Game of Thrones

Although together only for a short while, this power couple won audiences over very quickly, as Drogo’s gruff but passionate affection mixed with Danny’s growing confidence and rise to power made these two iconic.

Renly Baratheon x Ser Loras Tyrell Game of Thrones

Another short-lived relationship, the remarkable thing is that Renly was literally the only character vying for the throne with fully good intentions for the realm. He was concerned with the needs of the people, and was the only morally good candidate in the War of Five Kings. Sadly, the ydidn’t get much screen time, but they were still a strong couple.

Peraltiago (Jake Peralta x Amy Santiago) Brooklyn 99

A rare exception to the don’t force the leads to date rule, the show let them form a bond over time that went from a friendly childish rivalry to a friendly dating rivalry. While each character experiences change and growth, it is not at the expense of their personalities, and the progression feels like it was meant to happen.

[ceescedasticity]

hi!! i just want to say i really love your start again fics, you have a wonderful way with worlds and your worldbuilding/process is so thoughtful, especially the personas! how do you find the personas for each character?

Thank you!

Several ways! 

(Some of this is stuff I’ve talked about before, not sure how much.)

The starting Personas were described as being picaresque heroes (although I think that’s a stretch for some of them), so I started on the wikipedia page linked... although I swear it was longer at the time? Like, I first got to Eulenspiegel following the ‘picaresque’ trail, and it isn’t leading there now... I don’t know. Hmm. Anyway, the wikipedia supply of picaresque characters was unsatisfactory and also almost all male, but I did get Eulenspiegel out of it. Mishima gets Eulenspiegel because of the ‘needling the elite’ theme, Spiegel means mirror which can be linked to the moon which is his arcana, and also I’d decided to give him a navigation Persona and mirror can also be associated with seeing, information.

La Maupin a.k.a. Julie d’Aubigny was a real though much-storied person who I first read about in a tumblr post, and she is just... really obviously good material for a P5 starting Persona. (Honestly I think she’s a better fit for Ann than Carmen is, but then no one asked me.) Before I decided Shiho was getting a Persona, Hifumi was going to get La Maupin, but I think it worked out better this way. La Maupin is Sun, incidentally.

I thiiiiink I found Hangaku looking at legendary Japanese female warriors, because that’s a bit rebellious by itself, and then I found one involved in an actual military revolt, so that worked out well. Hifumi isn’t really particularly traditional, she just... kind of gives that impression anyway? So that worked out well.

Madame Defarge occurred to me for Akechi’s navigational Persona because of the parallels between the characters -- genuine serious life-altering grievance giving rise to irrational pursuit of vengeance and (in the original timeline) massive collateral damage. I didn’t plan ahead of time to have her be the result of Akechi’s developing connection with Haru, but Madame Defarge’s ruthless power behind domestic femininity fits Empress very well, so who knows.

I wanted Akechi to get a Persona with some healing powers and was initially thinking Jekyll (as in Jekyll and Hyde), but decided to leave open the possibility that it has something to do with the connections he’s making and make it a Persona which could conceivably be Priestess. I kicked around the idea of a couple legendary classical female doctors before choosing Medea. I’m really happy with that choice.

Hypatia wasn’t planned very far ahead of time, because I wrote myself into a corner. The connected with Wakaba is scholar in over her head. I almost went with Pandora instead, but decided against it because iirc Pandora was a major antagonist in P1 or something. Might still be Wakaba’s ultimate Persona if we get that far!

...Honestly I think I put way more thought into it than canon does, so. Arguably too much thought into it. But I like the results!

[pennys-th0ughts]

A New Beginning 🌱

– You could have a nice job as a chef ¿you know? – Emilee pointed while cleaning her lips with the napkin after emptying her plate.

I smiled at her compliment and took a sip of water. Lunch went pretty well and after that we had some dessert, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice cream. Once we finished Emilee took a bag and put some fruits and something to drink inside, a light blanket and a couple of cake slices. She picked up her small purse from the couch and looking at me excited, she said:

– Let’s go. There is a nice place I want to take you…

I accepted her proposition asking her to come with me to the hotel to pick up my things first, the check-out will be soon and I didn’t want to raise any suspicions. She agreed, we took a cab and got there before time; I went up and grabbed the rest of my stuff, signed the check-out book and we left. Fortunately my luggage wasn’t big thus it was slightly comfortable to carry so I took it with me to this place Emilee wanted to go since it will spare us the time to go back to her place. We took a bus in the nearest bus stop and headed there, we were fifteen blocks away from that place so the ride would come in handy.

Almost twenty minutes later we were finally there. We got down of the bus and walked looking for a good spot to sit. We were at the Millennium Park and it was really beautiful, there was a fountain and a little pond with a bridge, some ducks were peacefully floating over the clear water and cleaning their feathers while some koi fishes were at the bottom.

– ¿So? – She asked waiting for my opinion about her choice-. ¿Do you like it?

– This place is surprisingly amazing, doll – I finally said caressing one of Emilee’s cheeks-. ¡I love it!

She took the blanket out of her bag and gave it to me so I put it on the grass, we sat down and she placed her purse to a side. I invited her to use my legs as a pillow so she could rest her head; minutes later I was playing with her hair and caressing her forehead. The few times she looked up and fixed her grayish eyes with mine I could appreciate the beauty of them; they seemed to be like two gray glass marbles being pierced by a ray of light. My eyes went from hers to her pink shiny lips and I got tempted to kiss them, she smiled at my uneasiness, sat down on my legs and kissed me out of the blue merging her fingers with my hair.

– I love the coper color of your hair – she said undoing my pony tail once more-. It looks like…

– Fire – we both said at the unison.

Emilee looked at me half puzzled half playful then she just hugged me like a koala bear; I returned the hug pressing her against my body tenderly as if she was made of the most fragile crystal. We spent some minutes that way, in silence, just feeling the warmth of our bodies, the almost palpable beating of our hearts and hiding the feverish passion we were being slaves of. In that precise moment I felt it again and made it all clear, Emilee and I were the same, like the reflection of a broken mirror, like two drops of water crashing against the floor; we were different on the outside but identical on the inside. Our appearances were costumes hiding the true nature of our kind making us blend in so we could survive in a world where there was no place for creatures like us. We were outcasts from a parallel universe where darkness was our light and immortality was our certain fate, where the thirst of blood was imminent and the hunger for human flesh couldn’t be eradicated. The dimension we came from was a vast land of endless chaos, pain and agony but where we could be seeing as the monstrous beings we were. All of that came to my mind as the cold and bitter memories they were.

– Bob… – Emilee brought me back to reality once again-. ¿Are you alright?

– Yes – I lied faking a smile-. I'm sorry, I was…

– You were elsewhere – she interrupted me with a slight but honest smile on her lips-. I know. I felt it too.

My eyes widened and this time I couldn’t hide my bewilderment, Emilee came so close to my face that the tip of our noses were almost touching, and then holding my look, her eyes began changing to their true color. The yellow branching was predominant in her eyes and the orange tones made them look like some kind of sunset. At this point I was even more shocked because she was entrusting me with her most important secret and that made me feel confident about revealing mine. I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed about the bond she was building between us and how strong it was getting the more time passed. I caressed her cheek and kissed her again and when I opened my eyes I showed her what they really looked like, she smiled looking reassured and sat down on the blanket.

– ¿Cake? – She handed me over a slice and took out a bottle of orange juice from the bag.

We ate in silence, enjoying the sweetness of the chocolate cake and the chirping of the birds that sunny afternoon. When we finished eating we decided to take a walk around the park and then the pond. During our walk Emilee hold my hand, she seemed happy and her smile was always present. The feeling blooming inside my chest was awkward but it felt nice, as if a thin ray of sun was finding its way through the deep abyss where my heart was. Knowing I wasn’t the only one of my kind in this world was something good because it would mean we still had the chance to make it ours in time.

The sun was hiding in the distance and a mixture of orange, yellow and violet pastel tones were merging with each other creating some sort of renaissance painting. We were admiring how the sunset was dying and the twilight was opening its eyes once more to a new short life sitting on a bench close to the pond, the dark water was mirroring a full moon as if it had a twin sister ready to come out and play. A cool and soft breeze started to blow; Emilee hadn’t brought any coat so I borrowed her my jacket.

– We should go back, doll – I proposed to her while rubbing her arms to get her warm.

– There is another place I would like to take you, Bob – she smiled shyly-. I promise it won’t take us long and I can assure you, you will like it.

Emilee was aware that that particular smile was enough for me to give in to her ideas and the innocence in her try was adorable. I shook my head laughing and offered her my arm so she could take me to that place.

After being some minutes walking we finally got there. The lights in the park were already on and the buildings surrounding the place were also lit up. When we step on the ground where that huge silver thing was my jaw fall freely, then I heard Emilee’s laughter.

– ¡I knew you would like it! – She said amused seeing my reaction.

– ¿What is this thing supposed to be? – I asked full of curiosity.

– It is what you see – she shrugged her shoulders and hid under the big sculpture-. This giant shiny silver bean was built in the year two thousand four and finished two years later – Emilee told me a little about its history-. The owner of this big “magic” bean was mister Kapoor and he will always be remembered with it. Amazing ¿isn’t it?

My perplexity got even bigger when I got underneath the giant structure with her and looked up; the reflections were repeated many times as if they were lots of galaxies about to be swallowed by the void in the center of this magnificent sculpture. Emilee got close to me, wrapped her arm around my neck and took a picture with her cellphone. She made me run after her a couple of times and when she finally let me catch her I was feeling more amazed than before.

– You look cute with my jacket on.

– ¿Would I look prettier without it? – She asked mischievously winking an eye at me.

My eyes narrowed menacingly and I instinctively bit my lower lip because I knew exactly what she meant by that, she took my hand and we left.

Once the door was locked she slammed me against the wall and kissed me furiously taking my clothes off on the way to her bedroom. We got upstairs tripping on and bumping against almost everything in our path, Emilee closed the door and the show began. I sat down on the edge of the bed and watched her taking her clothes off slowly, as if she was performing some kind of ritual, which was definitely working on me. Once completely out of her vestments, she started a slightly painful but satisfactory metamorphosis. The other three pair of arms got out from her body making their way out of it through her ribs and reaching their natural length. In her face two more eyes began opening, crowning her forehead as if they were amber stones. She didn’t want to lose her human form completely so she stopped half way and bowed at me showing me some of her real features. The soft layer of hair in her six arachnid legs was whitish as the snow and their tips were black like charcoal.

– Your beauty is stunning, doll – I got to say before she shut me up putting one of her silky paws on my mouth.

I let the rest of my limbs come out, but my appearance was very different from hers, my hairs were black and my back and chest were adorned with a big blood red spot, the ends of my legs and my three pair of eyes were also the same color. Back in my world those colors were meant to lure the females into a mating ritual but here they were completely useless.

I grabbed Emilee by the waist and made her lie down; I took some web from my abdomen and tied a pair of her upper legs to the headboard and then her human legs and other pair of arachnid legs to the foot of the bed. I let her human hands free so she could do whatever she wanted to do with them; I figured she would eventually need them, then I began torturing her in a slowly but pleasant way.

The tip of my tongue began tracing an erratic path, starting from her belly button and going up until her already hardened nipples which I kissed and softly bit. My lips played a bit in her neck and she began moaning, my kisses went downhill bumping from one spot to other making Emilee to arch her back like a cat. I hold her wrists above her head and started playing with her pussy already wet; I placed her clit between my fingers and rubbed it gently until she begged me to get inside of her, but I covered her mouth with the palm of my hand and kept playing with her arousal for a couple more minutes, only this time I would rub my pelvis against hers. Emilee’s body was getting really moist because of the sweat and I was having an almost painful boner but I didn’t care, the mixture of pleasure and pain was exciting. I let her hands go and she grabbed my hair pulling it backwards very hard.

– ¿Are you punishing me, princess? – I asked her with a mischievous smile on my lips.

– Yes, I am – she made me bend forward and when I had her mouth close to my ear, she whispered-. You have been a very naughty boy. Now I want you to fuck me really hard, daddy.

She teared apart the knots that tied her ankles and wrapped her human legs around my waist, she plunged her nails in my shoulders and bit my lips possessed by pure lust. The last word whispered by her sinner mouth was all I needed to make her mine over and over again; I was out of control and so was she. We were reaching the highest point of ecstasy and I was at the edge of cumming when she begged me to cum inside of her.

– So, little girl wants daddy’s seed ¿uh? – This time I plunged my claws in her thighs-. She will have it then…

I let myself go and filled her pussy until the bedsheets got wet, both feeling little spasms running all over our satisfied bodies. I lied down next to her and Emilee hugged me with her trembling arms hiding her face in the hollow of my neck. We were exhausted but happy. Sometime soon, Emilee would lay thousands of eggs and our future children would help us rebuild a new world.

I pulled the bedsheets up and covered us, we had a short night ahead but a long life together and we would start living it at the fullest from that very moment…

The End

Enjoy it darling @sunflowerskissed 💕

[windsorgirllove]

An Analysis of the Hargreeves Sibling’s Introduction Montage

The sequence that introduces us to the Hargreeves siblings is fantastic and worthy of in depth analysis. Am I in any way qualified to give that analysis? No! Am I going to do it anyway? Absolutely.

I. Vanya

First of all, let’s talk about our lovely accompaniment for this scene: Vanya. First to appear, last to be introduced, and doesn’t that just say it all. Even as we see her throughout this scene, the focus is on her violin, not on her. We can’t get a good look at her - either she’s in extreme close ups or in wide shots which, combined with the dramatic lighting, make it hard to make her out. The focus on her violin makes sense. Her music is what makes her extraordinary (both before and after she finds out about her powers), so of course her music would be the focal point of her intro, not to mention the fact that she is, as I said, the accompaniment for this sequence. This mirrors her position in the family as well: as the accompaniment, she is setting the tempo for the scene, controlling it in a way, which makes her the most important character in this sequence. But at the same time, most people don’t pay that much attention to the score, usually they are more focused on the visuals (her more ‘interesting’ siblings, in this case), so we also see how she is marginalized by her family. My first time watching it, I didn’t even realize that she was one of the siblings until the end when her title card comes up.

And while we’re talking about Vanya let’s skip to the end real quick and talk about that shot:

Her position is stiff, shoulders tense, which we soon learn is pretty much her default, and she looks almost guilty for playing this beautiful medley. While the lights were out her movements were fluid and graceful, but as soon as they come back on she is back to her unremarkable self. This one shot does a lot to establish her character.

One last Vanya note before we move on: her choice of music. Of course, she doesn’t know that she’s playing along to her and her siblings’ establishing character moments, but let’s pretend for a moment that she does. She’s playing a medley from Phantom of the Opera, which is famous enough that I’m sure no one needs a plot summary, but just incase: a controlling male figure in a young woman’s life tries to make her extraordinary because from his perspective it’s what’s best for her, but really he just ends up traumatizing her. Sound familiar? There’s parallels to both what Reginald did to the children and later what Leonard did to her. (Also I like to imagine if Lindsey Sterling doesn’t exist in this universe that Vanya arranged it herself like. She’s creative! She likes musicals! I’m love her!)

II. Luther

Next up, as Vanya starts to play, we see Luther waking up on the moon (at like 11 pm - like, I’ve had my fair share of depression naps but jesus, buddy). As he’s getting ready, the shot focuses on his back, not showing us his face. These face concealing shots are gonna come up again, so remember that. Focusing on his back also emphasises Luther’s back, sticking it in our mind. His hugeness is emphasised as the most important thing about him - in the rest of the show, his body is the thing that Luther is most self conscious about. Also the shots of him getting ready are mirrored in ep 2, which I think is pretty cool.

Going back to the back shots, most of the siblings are introduced this way - either with the camera to their back or with their face otherwise obscured. This shows how closed off they all are at the beginning of the show. For Luther specifically, he has the shots I’ve previously mentioned, and then in the shot with his name plate, it’s a wide shot:

Even though we can see his face now, it’s still partially obscured by the distance and by his space helmet. We don’t get a good close up shot of his face until later. Also, one more note about the back shots, but in the very first couple of seconds of Luther’s part, what do we see?

Yep, one of the moon reports that is going to cause so much trouble for him in the future. And the most prominent thing we see is the last name - Hargreeves. The first thing we see of Luther is his father’s last name.

And finally, the music. The part of the medley that’s playing during this section is the melody line of the title song “Phantom of the Opera”. There’s only Vanya playing the violin, a single sound, that really emphasises the loneliness of the moon. It also could serve as a connection between Vanya and Luther - they’re both isolated but for different reasons. Plus, Luther gets probably the most recognizable section of the music. It is the title track, and one could argue that that makes it the most important song (one could argue, but I’m sure no one who actually knows the show would, kind of like how Luther thinks he’s more important than the rest of the family).

Also one last thing, I really like the fact that Luther has a little plant in space. It shows his hidden caring nature, and also is just really cute.

III. Diego

As the music kicks in we are introduced to our resident bad boy Diego, breaking bones, cracking skulls, and saving lives, baby B). Diego’s section starts with the part in the song where the electric guitar kicks in in the original show (and the drums and other instruments in the medley start here too). In the original musical, this was a big shift in the genre of opera - it made it more modern. And that fits well with Diego as well, who’s a modern sort of superhero.

Back to the shot composition, we don’t see Diego at first, only the robbers and their victims. The first shot of him is through the window, where he is cloaked in shadows. And even when we see him with his name plate his face is still concealed by his mask (which doesn’t actually cover much but it’s the thought that counts). Again, remember, we’ll come back to this.

Besides that this is the first time we see one of the siblings fighting, which is cool, and also the first use of their powers when Diego pins one of the robbers to the wall with a knife. The last thing that I want to note is the fact that the family Diego is saving is interracial:

It makes me wonder if Diego feels more strongly for interracial families because of his own family. If so, we could also see this intro as symbolic of his desire to save his own family, even though he doesn’t show it. And if not, hey, it’s always cool to see more interracial families on tv.

IV. Allison

Next we see our star Allison walking the red carpet of one of her movie premieres. The music still has the high energy that Diego’s part had, which shows that Allison is a modern woman. It also makes me want more Allison and Diego interactions, we don’t see a lot of them. And again, Allison is first shown from the back:

We see her face pretty quickly after this, though, and it is clear she is loving her life. Or at least she seems like it, since we find out all about her trauma later in the show. She is and actress, and she is acting for the cameras - even here. She’s acting well though, especially considering how overwhelming the paparazzi are.

Allison is also the first and only sibling who’s tattoo you can see in the opening scene, because of her dress. There isn’t much attention drawn to it with the shot composition but it is pretty easy to notice since not a lot of people have tattoos, and it’s the only thing on her arm. Also, her dress with the long train looks kind of like a cape in shots from the back:

And I just think that’s really cool.

V. Klaus

And finally we get to Klaus, and here’s the payoff for all the back shots - throughout his introduction, we never see his back, not once (well, once later on when he does the little heel click after buying drugs, but he started facing the camera, so I’m counting it). The camera is focused on his face from the moment he jumps into frame, and follows it through his whole time checking out of rehab. This sequence is a oner, a shot done in one take, or at least made to look like it was, so the only time we’re not on his face is when we’re in his perspective of the rehab worker. As I said before, the rest of the siblings are introduced with their back to the camera or otherwise obscured because they are hiding their true feelings under a facade. Luther, Diego, and Allison are all trying to pretend everything’s fine. Klaus isn’t trying to pretend, though. He is an open book. And while the fact that he’s given up on even trying to pretend everything is fine is uhhh concerning, the fact that he is so open is a good thing. He’s also the first sibling to speak:

(”Alright? I believe in you.”)

He really isn’t hiding anything from the audience. Right away we get to see his face, hear his voice, and get a sense of what he’s like: Incredibly sarcastic but also kind of sweet.

Klaus’s section also marks the first change in music, from “Phantom of the Opera” to “Angel of Music” (cause he’s an angel). This song is much sweeter and softer than the previous one, and lets us calm down a bit during this sequence.

One last thing to note is that Klaus has his headphones with him in rehab:

Even though they confiscated his capri sun or whatever it was. First of all is that allowed? I thought that rehabs were supposed to confiscate everything, especially things with cords. But second of all the only other time we see him with his headphones is in ep 3 in the bath after his flashback. He uses them to block out the ghosts, so since he has them with him now we can infer that rehab went great and not at all tramatically :)

VI. Reginald’s Death

The last part of the sequence is all the children finding out about Reginald’s death. First is Luther receiving his transmission up on the moon. Luther’s the only one who is told deliberately, most of the others find out by the news. He also has a little chair up there, possibly to watch the sunrise over the Earth like he was talking to Allison about in ep 3. “Angel of Music” is still playing over this bit. Also we finally get a good close up shot of Luther’s face, and judging by the huge beard that’s gone by the funeral he is not taking very good care of himself up there.

Next up Diego learns about it from the tv in the house of the family he’s saving. The music switches to “Think of Me”, a song about longing, and a pretty decent one to learn about your dad’s death to. Also he just leaves the family tied up like Diego. Diego they need help.

Next is Allison, who finds out through probably the worst possible way, by a bunch of paparazzi shouting questions at her about it. I don’t have much to say here expect that that sucks. Poor girl.

After that is Klaus, barely an hour out of rehab and already buying drugs and overdosing. As he walks off with the drugs and it cuts to the ambulance, the music cuts almost abruptly to “Music of the Night”, which kind of matches hilariously with Klaus coming back from the dead. With the way he looks at the tv in confusion and the amount of drugs pumping through him it makes me wonder if he even understood what was going on at that moment.

(Also Klaus kisses his dealer on the cheek and then kisses the drugs and he does something similar the second time we see him getting drugs and there is probably a whole ‘nother post about Klaus and kisses which I am not writing now… yet.)

And last but not least, Vanya. She learns from seeing the newscast through a shop window, in a shot that mirrors her seeing the comics and typewriter in ep 3 when she decided to write her book. Someone else also pointed out that as soon as she learns the news it starts raining, the same way it starts raining when she’s angry in ep 6 and 7, so this could be a latent use of her powers.

And that’s it! I don’t really know how to end this but wow this is really long and also I’d die for these kids. Thank you!

[tracyinpolaroids]

Danger Days

I think discovering the fact that I love My Chemical Romance will come as a surprise to no one. Like a lot of angsty teenagers in the early 2000s, I got hooked when Helena came out. I had just discovered my love for music and my affinity for rock and roll in those years and because I was an Angsty Teenager™, I too went through that phase we all loved to hate—emo.

And how couldn’t I? On top of being, well, highly emotional (Scorpio sun and Cancer moon? Why, yes) the aesthetic was something that appealed to me greatly. I already had the all-black wardrobe down, always putting on black nail polish whenever school would allow it, and I just discovered eyeliner, too. I was even fascinated with dark themes which translated in my art, writing, and general preferences at the time. (Black roses were my flowers of choice at the time, not that I got any from anyone.) It was like I was the template for emo.

Of course that was more than 10 years ago (holy shit), and I had since outgrown the whole emo thing. Or so I thought.

Ever since 2016, I’ve been labelling myself with Sad Girl™, which I think is just another form of Emo Tracy from way back when. Just more grown up and with more grown up problems—yes, heartbreak included. How apt. It wasn’t until sometime late last year that I fully embraced the return of Emo Tracy™, my friends referring to me as such for varied reasons. They even changed my nickname on Messenger to “Emu Girl”, the inside story of which is too stupid to type out and really was just a you-had-to-be-there moment to fully appreciate. But anyway.

Recently, I’ve been listening to single bands on my Spotify for weeks on end. As in I’d only listen to one band. Despite the millions of available music on Spotify and my many playlists, I for some reason felt like listening to just one band at a time. A couple weeks ago, it was Taking Back Sunday. Go figure. But ever since maybe last week, I shifted to MCR, rediscovering my love for the band even though they are no longer. I’m pretty sure it was brought on by my watching Umbrella Academy (which is a fantastic series, by the way), thinking all through out, “Wow, this is so Gerard Way/MCR”.

For the past few days, I’ve had their last album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (what a mouthful, right?) on loop and I feel slightly bad that I hadn’t appreciated it more when it first came out in...2010? But then again, it seems to be the type of album that requires a few listens before you get into it. Understandable; the sound is very different from their first two albums, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge and The Black Parade. When I first listened to Danger Days, I suppose it was just all too unfamiliar to me. I always turned to MCR for when I was feeling those emo feels, and this album was not exactly what I was looking for. It just didn’t help me get those feelings of hurt and pain out the way The Black Parade did, my go-to and favorite MCR album since time immemorial.

But now, I think Danger Days might just be my new favorite. An interesting thought to ponder on: Danger Days is the “happier” MCR album, compared to the themes of Three Cheers and The Black Parade. The transition from album to album is wonderful—from themes of death and sorrow in Three Cheers, struggling and/or dealing with that pain in The Black Parade, to better get-up-and-go feelings in Danger Days, we also have the visual nuances in how Gerard changes with each “phase”. Dark and the epitome of emo (hello, high school Tracy), suddenly with platinum blonde hair and marching band uniforms come The Black Parade, to bright red hair and colorful outfits in Danger Days.

In a way, it’s almost perfect how I got into their last album only recently. Not because of the red hair, haha, but for how it seems a little paralleled with how life has been for me. For a long time, there’s been that struggle with accepting the little “deaths” I’ve had to endure. The difficult thing about being the kind of person I am is I sometimes wallow in my own pain and suffering, which doesn’t really help me or anyone. But I think I’ve finally arrived at a place where I’ve come to terms with a lot of the things I regret and have lost.

One of the things I absolutely loved about Gerard Way was that I learned to accept myself for who I was, in all my strangeness, and that I shouldn’t be afraid to express myself in whatever way I felt I should. That meant being brave enough to be myself even if it meant being weird or unconventional—whether it’s wearing mismatched Chucks, behaving unlike how a 30-year-old lady “should”, or taking inspiration from Mr. Way circa Three Cheers in terms of how I do my makeup.

I can’t believe it took me this long to get here, with my full appreciation of Danger Days and maybe what it represents. But I’m just glad MCR is still here for me, even as a 30-year-old who still likes to belt out Welcome to the Black Parade on karaoke.

If my velocity starts to make you sweat Then just don’t let got And if their heaven ain’t got no vacancy Then we just, then we just, then we just Then we just get up and go!

Planetary [GO!], My Chemical Romance

[whatisonthemoonarchive]

An open letter to In Jin Moon and the Unification Church (2012) by Thomas Cromwell

September 13, 2012

Dear In Jin Moon,

On September 11 this year, as Americans paused to remember the shock and horror of the terror attacks 11 years ago, my son, Tossa, was fired by HSA-UWC. Until a few days ago, you led HSA, and the staff members there are still your loyal followers. Tossa’s firing was accompanied by threats of legal action should he disclose any information about you, your family or your staff. He has also been subjected to blackmail. HSA staffers have threated to reveal ‘personal issues’ that he had shared confidentially and which would be embarrassing if made public unless he leave HSA without saying what he knows about the wrongdoing of your administration.

Tossa has been through many months of internal struggle and anguish over your situation. He has been trained to put his faith in central figures and to look for God’s Will behind Unification Church situations that have all the hallmarks of corruption and abuse. I have heard tapes of you praising him for his devotion and commitment as a staff member. But that was before your behavior became so outrageous that Tossa could no longer stand it and told you directly that he could not agree with your immoral course of action. He was sent home for a month before being fired because your staff closed ranks around you and pilloried him for speaking the truth, instead of joining him in confronting you.

I would imagine quite a few people know that Tossa was fired because he spoke up about his concerns for you and what you were doing. Confronting you was very difficult to do, and brave of him. For someone like Tossa with deep faith in God, TP and the Divine Principle, to confront you as a child of TP over your behavior required enormous courage. His firing was payback, and it speaks volumes about you and the organization you have created to protect yourself rather than to carry out its providential purpose.

Many members know Tossa as a translator for Father. He has often spent whole days doing simultaneous translation from Father’s difficult Korean into English. He has also worked in your office to translate speeches and other UC documents, to help with the education of blessed children, and other tasks.

But that is not the Tossa that I know. To me, he is a beautiful son. His suffering now is hard for me to bear. I find myself weeping for him and for God. I am enraged. I feel like Jacob when Joseph was abused by his brothers. What can a father do? It is not that Tossa has lost a job. (I have often warned him that his devotion to the UC would never be reciprocated, and his pay kept him in virtual poverty anyway.) My sadness and anger are because evil and abusive leadership have once more risen to dominate an organization I served most of my adult life, and people that I care about and love have been deeply hurt.

Let me tell you a few things about the Tossa that I know. His birth in Amman, Jordan seemed something of a miracle to me, at that time a missionary and regional director for the Middle East struggling endlessly to build a foundation for TP in the land of the Patriarchs, of Moses and Jesus. No father could want a better son. Of course he is not perfect, but he was obedient and good. As my missions evolved, he moved with us from Jordan to Cyprus and then Greece. He learned Greek during our first summer in Athens, at age 7. At 10, he came with me to a regional Principle workshop on a mountain in Turkey, where he presented the parallels of history.

At home he always cared for his younger siblings, first Anmar, born in Cyprus, then Alexander and Harmony, born in Athens. He cared for others too, especially children less fortunate than he in being able to learn at school. At 12 I took him to Korea to join the GOP program, designed to help Western BCs learn Korean. I remember sitting on the stairs of the GOP dorm before having to leave him there. I told him if he stayed in the top three of his GOP class that I thought it would be worth my effort to continue supporting him there. He never forgot, and never gave me a reason to bring him home. He finished High School in Korea and went to Sun Moon University.

But he has always been sensitive: caring for others has been an expression of his sensitive heart. (Anyone who has witnessed his infinite patience with his children, including a son with serious disabilities, will know what I mean.) Korean school kids can be mean and bullying, and Tossa always hated that. His treatment by Korean students at SM University became too much for him, so he came to live with me in the US. Later, work with the UC took him back to Korea where he tried to fit in with the Korean UC HQ staff. Eventually, he could not continue there either due to a culture obsessed with position rather than caring and love. He returned to the US, greatly discouraged. Then he went to work for you, In Jin, hopeful at the time that this would finally prove an environment in which TP and the Principle were actually the model and guiding light for work and relationships.

Tossa would never write a public letter like this to you. He is too humble and self-deprecating. He has also been your employee and a faithful UC member. I have no such constraints. You don’t know me, but I can tell you I don’t spend my time in basements writing anonymous blogs critical of the Unification Church. I was born into a strict Bruderhof Community, in England. I had my first encounter with God at age 13, and from that time committed myself to seeking His will for my life. I joined the UC in Washington, DC, in 1969, at age 21. After just a couple of months I moved to New Haven to pioneer the first center in New England. After the first speaking tour by TF, I was sent as a state pioneer to Oklahoma. In 1975 I was one of the 120 US missionaries sent out to the world. I went to Egypt, my first choice when asked. I studied Arabic and Islam, and started a language institute. I was deported twice and imprisoned once. In December 1979 I was appointed the first regional director of the Middle East, and soon after made Cyprus my base. In 1992, I was appointed first continental director for the Middle East and North Africa. In addition to leading the church in that difficult region (some 21 countries), I was founding publisher and editor of the Middle East Times (owned by News World Communications), I organized regional academic conferences for PWPA in the Middle East and for East-West European dialogue in the last years of the Cold War, organized inter-faith conferences with IRF-offshoot organizations, and carried out countless other missions in the region.

In 1999 I resigned my Unification Church responsibilities. I could not go on. What I was preaching and telling others about the Unification path had become too far removed from the reality of an organization riddled with corruption and dishonesty. I also could no longer present myself and my family as a model of what we believed. I came to believe that by staying active in the UC I would actually be contributing to the damage being done to TP’s rightful legacy.

In 2000 Mr. Joo fired me as publisher and editor of the Middle East Times, after 18 years of service. I had opposed the purchase of UPI (after conducting due diligence on its London operation for Mr. Joo) on the basis that I thought it was unjustified to ask members to contribute more money to a venture with such uncertain objectives and of such uncertain value to the providence. Mr. Joo offered to put me in charge of the UPI operation in London, and to combine that with the Middle East Times. It was tempting, but how could I accept a post to run an operation that I had advised against purchasing? Mr. Joo tried blackmail. He told me if I did not accept the UPI job, he would fire me from the Middle East Times. I refused to take the job, and he did fire me, ending all my formal ties with the UC and its projects.

I write all of this because I want you to know that I did not give the best 30 years of my life to an organization that would be run by a leadership as corrupt as yours. And I did not raise my children to live for God and TP so that they could be abused by self-centered and carnal UC leaders, as you and your staff have proved to be.

UC foreign missionaries typically had the benefit of living far from the center of action with its inevitable politics. Occasionally we would come to conferences and training seminars, and we would see changes taking place in the UC, good and bad. For me, my personal relationship with Father was deepened by living and working in very challenging circumstances, and often alone. I had had some difficulty connecting to him when I worked in the US, but I came to understand him better as my own mission overseas unfolded. My personal relationship with him was cemented in a jail cell in Cairo.

But I never understood you children of TP. You were so distant; elevated on pedestals. Sometimes I would hear how difficult your lives had been. That was hard to believe, but I tried. (After all, the lives of Moses and the people of God in the wilderness, of the tribes in Babylon, of Jesus and the early Christians in the Roman Empire, of the Jews in Nazi Germany, of the Cambodians under Pol Pot, of the Russians under Stalin, of Arabs under dictators… those were difficult lives.)

The truth as I see it today is that some of you children of TP, who have received blessings above all others in history, are in fact the most trenchant problem facing the future of the Unification Church. You should be the central people cementing the legacy of TP, but all I see from you is the selfishness and bickering of spoiled brats. You fight over UC assets as if you created them or as if they belonged to you or your family. You spend millions of precious dollars donated by members to fight your legal battles against one another. I had a front row seat as Hyun Jin systematically dismantled The Washington Times simply to spite his siblings and gain leverage for his own ambitions, and despite his knowing the great love and personal investment TP had made to build up that newspaper over decades. I see derisive, often petty, letters go back and forth from one sibling camp to another. It’s truly nauseating.

We are told of the evil Kwak group, as if Hyun Jin was a victim of the diabolical machinations of that once central disciple. But, no, Kwak is not the central problem. Hyun Jin is. Kwak was my central figure for some 20 years. It is clear to me that in the end he was seduced by the lure of wealth and financial security to go against TP. He had bet on Hyun Jin when that son was anointed the fourth Adam. He could not accept the change of providence. He is like your staff members, who now depend on salaries from HSA-UWC. Because of their lack of character and understanding, they go along with your perversion of the Principle and TP’s traditions. They are your enablers, as Kwak is the chief enabler of Hyun Jin.

The arrogance you display is sickening. Do you really think members are so dumb and ignorant of the truth to accept your weird polygamy as a new standard for Unificationism? Do you really think you can continue indefinitely to preach a life of living the Principle while hiding your life of adultery and deception?

The first priesthood God created was that of the Levite Aaron and his four sons. God instructed Moses in how to guide Aaron’s family in these serious responsibilities. Mistakes were to be punished by death, and were. When two of Aaron’s four sons lit incense without permission they were immediately killed by God. Through Moses, God pounded the law into the “stiff-necked” Israelites. Its main tenets are repeated in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, and were repeated again and again by other prophets and patriarchs in the centuries that followed. It is a blunt law. Sins of murder, adultery and homosexual relations are punishable by death. So too are violations of the Sabbath, and a host of other specific infractions of the law. God provided for the Levites through tithes made by members of the other tribes, and when the Israelites entered Canaan the Levites were given 48 cities to reside in but were not given a portion of the land to occupy. (Ephraim and Manassah, the sons of Joseph, were treated as separate tribes and each got land to occupy, bringing the total number of tribal territories to 12.) Meanwhile, the lineage of the messiah ran through the generations of Judah.

Jesus was of Judah, but as Hebrews explains, he was also of the order of Melchizedek. That is, although he was not a Levite, he was chosen by God to teach and save the people. His moral teaching went far beyond the Mosaic Law. He of course condemned sexual immorality, but he went further, warning that adultery of the heart was a sin. He stressed circumcision of the heart, even as Moses had taught the Israelites. TheLevitical class at the time of Jesus did not grasp, or want to obey, this law, as evidenced by their rejection of Jesus.

Paul also stressed the importance of purity to the early Christians. In fact he contradicted the Levites when he preached fervently that anyone who was circumcised in heart could be saved by Christ, whether Jew or Gentile. And he warned the new churches which he founded and nurtured that they should put out of their midst those with uncircumcised hearts who practiced idolatry, sexual immorality and other perversions of the Gospel.

The Unification standard is higher yet. It demands that we not only create within ourselves an uncircumcised heart, but that we cultivate a heart in the image of God’s own infinite heart of love. We are not complete simply by avoiding sin, but only through fulfilling our potential as children of God.

I don’t see this message in your behavior. You are blessed to be in the lineage of TP, but you have not qualified as a priest of the order of Melchizedek. This is because you have not treated your position of leadership as a sacred trust and responsibility, but rather as a birthright. It seems most of your siblings are in the same situation. We all sin, although we were taught that the true children would be sinless. To keep our hearts pure, we have to repent and change. It seems to me that you are unaware of your sin, and your enablers are complicit in maintaining that status quo by failing to challenge you. Instead they join you in the pretense that what you are doing is fine in the sight of God and TP. I don’t think I have ever heard one of you children repenting and asking for forgiveness from God and a membership that you have so often misused and abused. This is why God cannot use you for ultimate good, and for the growth of his church. It is why, too, you are ruining the Unification Church and the legacy of your parents.

It is not for me to judge your personal life, except as it intrudes on your mission as a UC leader, a role model for members, and someone with the power to hurt others, including my son. You should never have accepted the position you hold now, given the confusion in your personal life. And you certainly should have resigned as soon as you realized that your extra-marital affair would produce a child. You may believe that you have a perfectly valid basis for what you have done, but I can’t imagine any reasonable and moral person, let alone any true follower of TP and the Principle, accepting your behavior as consistent with the responsibilities of a UC leader.

I believe it is not entirely coincidental that this situation has blown up just as Father has ended his course on earth. I believe he will be able to do more in the spirit world. Clearly the state of his family was not improving despite all his prayers and efforts. If the central family is divided and corrupt, how will the providence ever advance? Yes, it is that serious.

This crisis has demonstrated that there is no robust, clear, circumcised and unified UC leadership. While an official memo went out announcing your resignation, ‘for health reasons’, unofficial communications explained the truth. What are members in Africa, Asia and Latin America, let alone in the US and America, to believe? Where is the guidance that all members deserve at a time like this?

Again, In Jin, the problem is you. Because you have not repented or apologized, because you have directed your staff to punish those who exposed your sin instead of telling the truth about it, because you and they have spun a webs of lies designed to confuse members about your sin in the name of some Oprahesque theory of love, you will now be responsible for the loss of faith by many good and faithful people, and especially young members trying to find their way in a confusing world of false idols and sin, members who looked up to you as their role model.

I don’t know the members who work with you. But they too have failed the rest of the membership and the institution of the UC itself. How can they stand before a congregation when they have been complicit in your unprincipled duplicity? How can they provide credible advice and guidance to members? How can they claim authority to represent God, TP and the Principle?

I don’t think I am alone among members and others who have dedicated long years to the UC cause who are now shocked and disgusted by what they witness. They too are concerned with the future for the children they raised in the faith and whose spiritual lives are at risk. Many have turned their backs on the UC because of the mismanagement, corruption and outright evil committed by its leaders.

Enough is enough. It is time for you and your errant siblings, along with your enablers and other unclean UC leaders, to step back and listen to the real word of God that can only come through the mouths of those circumcised in heart whom He chooses to be his messengers and representatives. Perhaps the most recently anointed son can save your family and the church. I don’t know. Judah was chosen by God, but when it failed to listen to His commandments, when it persisted in idolatry and corruption despite the warnings of the prophets, it was completely destroyed, as was the temple in Jerusalem. Times have changed but I believe if you do not step aside and allow the UC to be renewed and rebuilt as the real embodiment of God, TP and the Principle, it too will be destroyed and God will find other means, other institutions and other people to represent Him on earth.

May God’s Will be done.

Thomas Cromwell

[witchywitchstudies]

Full Moon Ritual: Wolves Run Together Moon- Sioux

Tarot:

My Cut: The Sun

The Bottom: The Fool

The energy/light colors are red and yellow to orange. The edges of the sun are a dove/bird each. The Fool is a duckling/swanling about to bound down from a branch. The Sun’s colored energy light is beaming the strongest at the center stretching outwards, past the birds into a blue color. The Fool’s energy light is streaming side to side in a light orange yellow color to a dark black bottom- with some yellow and orange scattered throughout.

Vitality and energy of sun essential to supporting journey and leap into unknown— am I ready?

Rune:

“Pronunciation: “PER-thro” Meaning: Lot, Cup, Game Piece,

“For Thorsson, PERTHRO is a rune of the mysteries of fate, the power of the Norns that decides the outcome of runic divinations. It governs the laws of cause and effect (horizontal plane), and of synchronicity (vertical). PERTHRO is at once the well and the cup in which the runes are tossed. It is the power of becoming, consistency and change.-

“He sees PERTHRO as a rune of Mimir, the “embodiment of the self-awareness of the cosmos,” rather than of Urdh, essentially a passive source. Understanding it allows one to work with fate. Aswynn also identifies the rune as Mimir's Well, but for her it is the Womb of Space as well. She sees them both as images for the repository of ancestral memory, the Akashic Records, or the Collective Unconscious. She identifies PERTHRO as “the” rune of fate, and of Frigg as goddess of childbirth and the power behind the Norns. However, there are other interpretations. Osborn and Longland translate the Anglo-Saxon word as “tune,” indicating good cheer, recreation, etc. Peterson feels the rune means something unknown, unrevealed, hidden; a mystery, like the unborn child, that will be revealed in due time. He points out that the old name “Perdhra” could mean “fruit tree” (Oxenstierna 1965) and offers peru, “pear” as a translation, since the pear is a womb-shaped fruit.”

“As a dice cup or a gaming piece, PERTHRO refers to games whose outcome can be taken as symbolic or significant. Like NAUDHIZ, it seems to refer to the workings of wyrd, but where the former may indicate the working out of a terrible purpose, PERTHRO has a much more cheerful aspect. It may involve the fates, but it is not to be taken too seriously (even if this involves the kind of grim humor favored by the Vikings at “moments of exceptional interest”). The warriors who diced in the hall went into battle laughing.”

Taking up the Runes- Diane Paxson - Book

Go into the unknown with humor

Advice Card:

Don’t take anything personally: “Ignore the opinions of others”— whatever they do say think or feel is based on their own specific belief system.

What’s on my mind:

I find the full moon a time of celebration, and a time of giving thanks to everything above and beyond that has helped provide for me, protect me, guide me, give opportunities and love, etc.

Also a time to reflect on what the seeds I planted brought me, and what seeds to plant next- if they should be the same, similar, or completely new.

I am having trouble discerning between my art, feeling art, commission art, business art, marketing art, etc. It all is fun, but some is more fun that others, and I feel I learn more from other projects, even if less fun. And within my own art and what’s popular on social media, there are multitudes of styles and subject matter I learn to play with and discover and feel stuck in. How can I find time to work through the commissions I have asked for, and find time and place for me and my art, Patreon and to be supported in doing only what I want to do with my art? Is that enough?

And the projects I have created for myself and have not completed any of- is it worth my time? Is It of benefit? even if I love and enjoy it, have I put on too much? Will it be too big of a sacrifice to put a pause on it, work hard on it or drop it? What about the ones I find too valuable to give up, how do I kindly put them away if I need to, but hold on? How do I hold on the confidence, happiness and self strength I am discovering through that?

How do I keep in touch with the routine I am enjoying and learning? And keep continuing/adapting it?

It’s also Mercury Retrograde. Time to reflect in this area, fine tune and zoom in on what I want to harvest and create and do with myself and life, and to also wrap up small little projects and pieces I’ve come so close to completing. I’m excited, I know it can be a cautious and dangerous time, but know the reward of riding the waves it offers brings much to the mind, soul and life being lived.

Correspondences this past couple of days: Artemis, bitches, bears, wolves, pandas, raccoons, trickster deities, Norse, Jalepeno, apple, spider, web,

(Wrote. This before. Rune drawing- so weirdly relevant)

As an eclectic witch, my faith system is built upon what I gather. What I deem important or factual is very specific to me, and I understand the possibility and reality of how even those who may say they follow the same faith, do it in a different way than their co-believer.

I find that what I plan or do is not based on astrological timing- aka I don’t plan dates specifically to moon phases or holidays, I just make sure to find the time to celebrate. I don’t avoid plans or things during murcery retrograde- just go with more caution. On the other hand, I probably do avoid buying new electronics and traveling far.

I find that the choices I make in this life and reality tend to funnily line up with astrological events. It’s like parallel river and flow of energy strings along side each other- when doing magic time, it’s “dipping behind the veil’ to the other stream string, and back again into mine carrying the knowledge I was gifted there.

I find that as much as I wish they could be together, they have to run parallel. When the synchronicity of my choices and universal timing line up more and more, becoming bigger than just coincidence, that’s how I know I am living life. Following my faith well. And at my best/having the most fun. As simple as that sounds, it’s as complicated as the possibility of choices laid out before us in a day. Luckily as humans, we have preference and that nails the number down to around 50 instead of a million.

[lykalilydalaguit]

Asynchronous no. 3

1.Alliteration is the repetition of initial sounds in neighboring words.

Example: Fresh fern fronds from the forest

2.Allusion is a figure of speech that quickly stimulates different ideas and associations using only a couple of words, thus making an indirect reference.

Example: Describing someone as an “Adonis” makes an allusion to the handsome young shepherd loved by the goddess of love and beauty herself in the Greek myths.

3.Anaphora is a stylistic device that consists of repeating a sequence of words at the beginning of neighboring clauses to give emphasis.

Example: You are lovely, you are gorgeous, you are pretty, you are glorious, you are, you are, you just are!

4.Anticlimax refers to a figure of speech in which a word is repeated and whose meaning changes in the second instance.

Examples: He got his dignity, his job, and his company car.

In the car crash, she lost her life, her car, and her cell phone.

5.Antiphrasis is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is used to mean the opposite of its normal meaning to create ironic humorous effect.

Example: She is 65 year young.

6.Antithesis is a figure of speech that refers to the juxtaposition of opposing or contrasting ideas. It involves the bringing out of a contrast in the ideas by an obvious contrast in the words, clauses, or sentences within a parallel grammatical structure.

Example: To many choices, too little time.

7.Apostrophe is an exclamatory rhetorical figure of speech in which a speaker or writer breaks off and directs speech to an imaginary person or abstract quality or idea.

Example: Oh, moon! You have seen everything!

8.Assonance is a figure of speech that refers to the repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences.

Example: A certain purple curtain, captain. (note: cer in cetain, pur in purple, and cur in curtain. Also tain in certain, curtain, and captain.)

9.Climax refers to the figure of speech in which words, phrases, or clauses are arranged in order of increasing importance.

Example: Three things will remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

10.Euphemism is a figure of speech used to express a mild, indirect, or vague term to substitute for a harsh, blunt, or offensive term.

Example: saying “passed away” for “died”

Saying “in between jobs” to mean “unemployed”

11.Epigram refers to a concise, witty, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement.

Example: Oscar Wilde’s “I can resist everything but temptation,” or “I am not young enough to know everything.”

12.Epiphora (or epistrophe) is a rhetorical device that consists of repeating a sequence of words at the end of neighboring clauses to give them emphasis.

Example: “…a government of the people, by the people, for the people. (Note: The phrase the people is repeated twice after it was first mentioned.)

13.Hyperbole is a figure of speech that uses exaggeration to created emphasis or effect; it is not meant to be taken literally.

Example: I told you a million times to clean your room.

14.Irony is a figure of speech in which there is a contradiction of expectation between what is said and what is really meant. It is characterized by an incongruity, a contrast, between reality and appearance.

Example: The explanation is as clear as mud.

15.Litotes is a figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.

Example: Instead of saying that someone is “ugly” you can say that someone is “not very pretty.”

Instead of saying that the situation is “bad” you can say that it is “not good”.

16.Merism is a figure of speech by which something is referred to by a conventional phrase that enumerates several of its constituents or traits.

Example: saying “young and old” to refer to the whole population

Saying “flesh and bone” to mean the whole body

17.Metaphor s a figure of speech that makes an implicit , implied or hidden comparison between two things or objects that are poles apart from each other but have some characteristics common between them.

Example: The planet is my playground. The Lord is my shepherd.

18.Metonymy is a figure pf speech in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with the thing or concept.

Examples: Using “Malacaňang” to refer to the president or the government

Saying “a hand” to mean “help”

19.Oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines incongruous or contradictory terms.

Examples: open secret, virtual reality, sacred profanities

20.Personification is a figure of speech in which a human characteristics are attributed to an abstract quality, animal, or inanimate object.

Example: Red punctuates and makes bold statements, says something, and means it like an exclamation point!

21.Simile is a figure of speech directly comparing two unlike things, often introduced the word, like or as.

Examples: A smile as big as the sun. She prays like a mantis.

22.Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole of something is used to represent part of it.

Examples: Sixty hands voted. (The part “hand” is used to refer to the whole person)

The country supported the president. (The word “country” is used to refer to the people.)

23.Understatement is a figure of speech used by its writers or speakers to deliberately make a situation seem less important or serious that it really is.

Examples: A nurse to give an injection saying, “It will sting a bit.”

To describe a disappointing experience, a participant may say, “It was …different.”

LITREADITURE!

Look for literary pieces and take note some lines in it that expresses figures of speech listed below. Write your answers on the space provided. (One example for each)

1.ALLUSION:“Don’t act like a Romeo in front of her.” – “Romeo” is a reference to Shakespeare’s Romeo, a passionate lover of Juliet, in “Romeo and Juliet”.

2.ANAPHORA: Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

3.EUPHEMISM: Antony and Cleopatra (By William Shakespeare), “Royal wench!

She made great Caesar lay his sword to bed.

He plowed her, and she cropped.”

4.EPIGRAM:

“Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put and end to mankind.” – John F. Kennedy.

5.LITOTE: A Tale of a Tub (By Jonathan Swift)

“I am not unaware how the productions of the Grub Street brotherhood have of late years fallen under many prejudices.”

6.METONYMY: “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” (Abraham Lincoln).

7.OXYMORON: “You can’t have more types of fake news than real news.” (Elon Musk)

8.MERISM: "There is a working class—strong and happy—among both rich and poor; there is an idle class—weak, wicked, and miserable—among both rich and poor." (John Ruskin, The Crown of Wild Olive, 1866)

9.ANTITHESIS: Community (By John Donne), “Good we must love, and must hate ill,

For ill is ill, and good good still;

But there are things indifferent,

Which we may neither hate, nor love,

But one, and then another prove,

10.IRONY:The Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum): the characters already have what they are asking for from the wizard

Journal Entry #2

What’s the language of the piece?

Read a literary piece (prose or poetry). Review and examine the language used by the author (Tone, Diction, Style and Figures of Speech). Include photographs to add creativity and visuals in your writing. Your answers must not be less than ten sentences.

Friendship

By : Vener Santos

The poetry that I have chosen is "Friendship" by Vener Santos a Filipino Author his poem "Friendship" is not an ordinary poem about having a friend. This poem talks about Filipinos,in particular. Vener Santos made this poem to all Filipinos to understand what friendship is all about and what Friendship brings to our lives. The diction being used is formal because the words are all written correctly and formally. The tone of the poetry is that the writer is looking forward that everything will grow old but friendship will always remain fresh in our mind and our hearts. The figure of speech used for me is Repitition because of the repeating words to relay a message to a friend and to someone whom you love. This poetry's lesson is we should treasure the friendship we have, death will separate it on earth, but it will reborn in heaven.

[omg-johndel-b-villarin]

ASYNCHRONOUS TASK NO. 3

ACTIVITY 1:

this page by putting an arrow to the object/s. [No need to indicate what type of Figures of Speech they are]                                                                                                                                                                       ��                                                                                                                                                                                          

Notes: Most Commonly Used Figure of Speech

1.     Alliteration is the repetition of initial sounds in neighboring words.

Example: Fresh fern fronds from the forest

2.     Allusion is a figure of speech that quickly stimulates different ideas and associations using only a couple of words, thus making an indirect reference.

Example: Describing someone as an “Adonis” makes an allusion to the handsome young shepherd loved by the goddess of love and beauty herself in the Greek myths.

3.     Anaphora is a stylistic device that consists of repeating a sequence of words at the beginning of neighboring clauses to give emphasis.

Example: You are lovely, you are gorgeous, you are pretty, you are glorious, you are, you are, you just are!

4.     Anticlimax refers to a figure of speech in which a word is repeated and whose meaning changes in the second instance.

Examples: He got his dignity, his job, and his company car.

In the car crash, she lost her life, her car, and her cell phone.

5.     Antiphrasis is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is used to mean the opposite of its normal meaning to create ironic humorous effect.

Example: She is 65 year young.

6.     Antithesis is a figure of speech that refers to the juxtaposition of opposing or contrasting ideas. It involves the bringing out of a contrast in the ideas by an obvious contrast in the words, clauses, or sentences within a parallel grammatical structure.

Example: To many choices, too little time.

7.     Apostrophe is an exclamatory rhetorical figure of speech in which a speaker or writer breaks off and directs speech to an imaginary person or abstract quality or idea.

Example: Oh, moon! You have seen everything!

8.     Assonance is a figure of speech that refers to the repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences.

Example: A certain purple curtain, captain. (note: cer in cetain, pur in purple, and cur in curtain. Also tain in certain, curtain, and captain.)

9.     Climax refers to the figure of speech in which words, phrases, or clauses are arranged in order of increasing importance.

Example: Three things will remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

10.  Euphemism is a figure of speech used to express a mild, indirect, or vague term to substitute for a harsh, blunt, or offensive term.

Example: saying “passed away” for “died”

Saying “in between jobs” to mean “unemployed”

11.  Epigram refers to a concise, witty, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement.

Example: Oscar Wilde’s “I can resist everything but temptation,” or “I am not      young enough to know everything.”

12.  Epiphora (or epistrophe) is a rhetorical device that consists of repeating a sequence of words at the end of neighboring clauses to give them emphasis.

Example: “…a government of the people, by the people, for the people. (Note: The phrase the people is repeated twice after it was first mentioned.)

13.  Hyperbole is a figure of speech that uses exaggeration to created emphasis or effect; it is not meant to be taken literally.

Example: I told you a million times to clean your room.

14.  Irony is a figure of speech in which there is a contradiction of expectation between what is said and what is really meant. It is characterized by an incongruity, a contrast, between reality and appearance.

Example: The explanation is as clear as mud.

15.  Litotes is a figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.

Example: Instead of saying that someone is “ugly” you can say that someone is   “not very pretty.”

Instead of saying that the situation is “bad” you can say that it is “not      good”.

16.  Merism is a figure of speech by which something is referred to by a conventional phrase that enumerates several of its constituents or traits.

Example: saying “young and old” to refer to the whole population

Saying “flesh and bone” to mean the whole body

17.  Metaphor s a figure of speech that makes an implicit , implied or hidden comparison between two things or objects that are poles apart from each other but have some characteristics common between them.

Example: The planet is my playground. The Lord is my shepherd.

18.  Metonymy is a figure pf speech in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with the thing or concept.

Examples: Using “Malacaňang” to refer to the president or the government

Saying “a hand” to mean “help”

19.  Oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines incongruous or contradictory terms.

Examples: open secret, virtual reality, sacred profanities

20.  Personification is a figure of speech in which a human characteristics are attributed to an abstract quality, animal, or inanimate object.

Example: Red punctuates and makes bold statements, says something, and means it like an exclamation point!

21.  Simile is a figure of speech directly comparing two unlike things, often introduced the word, like or as.

Examples: A smile as big as the sun. She prays like a mantis.

22.  Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole of something is used to represent part of it.

Examples: Sixty hands voted. (The part “hand” is used to refer to the whole person)

The country supported the president. (The word “country” is used to refer to                        the people.)

23.  Understatement is a figure of speech used by its writers or speakers to deliberately make a situation seem less important or serious that it really is.

Examples: A nurse to give an injection saying, “It will sting a bit.”

To describe a disappointing experience, a participant may say, “It was …different.”

   ACTIVITY 2:

LITREADITURE!

Look for literary pieces and take note some lines in it that expresses figures of speech listed below. Write your answers on the space provided. (One example for each)

 1.ALLUSION: The Outsiders (1967) by S. E. Hinton

"Ponyboy."

I barely heard him. I came closer and leaned over to hear what he was going to say.

"Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold ... " The pillow seemed to sink a little, and Johnny died.

 2.ANAPHORA: "London," William Blake

In every cry of every Man,

In every infant's cry of fear,

In every voice, in every ban,

The mind-forg'd manacles I hear

 3.EUPHEMISM:Dropping the Euphemism, Bob Hicok

   When I said

   I have to lay you off

  a parallel universe was born

  in his face, one where flesh

   is a loose shirt

   taken to the river and beaten

   against the rocks. Just

   by opening my mouth I destroyed

   his faith.

4.EPIGRAM: Sonnet 76 (By William Shakespeare)

   “So all my best is dressing old words new,

   Spending again what is already spent:

   For as the sun is daily new and old,

   So is my love still telling what is told.”

  5.LITOTES: Fire and Ice (By Robert Frost)

   “Some say the world will end in fire,

   Some say in ice.

   From what I’ve tasted of desire

   I hold with those who favor fire.

   But if I had to perish twice,

   I think I know enough of hate

   To say that for destruction ice

   Is also great

   And would suffice.”

 6.METONYMY: Bartleby the Scrivener (Herman Melville)

   As I afterwards learned, the poor scrivener, when told that he must be conducted to the Tombs, offered not the slightest obstacle, but in his pale, unmoving way, silently acquiesced.

  7.OXYMORON: Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare)

   Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow,

   That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

 8.MERISM: "There is a working class—strong and happy—among both rich and poor; there is an idle class—weak, wicked, and miserable—among both rich and poor." (John Ruskin, The Crown of Wild Olive, 1866)

 9.ANTITHESIS: Community (By John Donne)

   “Good we must love, and must hate ill,

   For ill is ill, and good good still;

   But there are things indifferent,

   Which we may neither hate, nor love,

   But one, and then another prove,

   As we shall find our fancy bent.”

 10.IRONY: The Necklace (Guy de Maupassant)

   “You say that you bought a necklace of diamonds to replace mine?”

   “Yes. You never noticed it, then! They were very like.”

   And she smiled with a joy which was proud and naïve at once.

   Mme. Forestier, strongly moved, took her two hands.

   “Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste. It was worth at most five        hundred francs!”

         JOURNAL WRITING:

Journal Entry #2

What’s the language of the piece?

Read a literary piece (prose or poetry). Review and examine the language used by the author (Tone, Diction, Style and Figures of Speech). Include photographs to add creativity and visuals in your writing. Your answers must not be less than ten sentences.

                                     To an Athlete Dying Young

                                                    Title

                                           A. E. Housman

                                                  Author

A. E. Housman has also include literary devices in his poem in tittled " To an athlete dying young" to express and share his feelings towards the athlete. The literary devices used are: Personification, Assonance, Metaphor, Oxymoron, Consonance, Symbolism, and Enjambment.

 The poem or him shows the run or the cycle of how a man's life goes. The first stanza shows how people (close one) gets happy, great, and proud seeing us fighting to live and achieve our goals. But nothing last forever, time will come and all of these will stop. And all of those who really know, support, and been there for us will also be the one who will march our dead body towards our grave. Even our glory, dreams, achievements, and hardwork will be gone. It stated there that our lives is like how fast a single roses losses its own petals. Our eyes will forever be close it will be dark as a night and there will never be any color. Whole body will be numb nothing to hear, nothing to fell. And only those close ones will remember our name and our deeds. Life is a competition and we should keep running 'til everything stops. Everything has its ending point. It has no exemption and that everyone includes our life.