#Cyprian is so doomed

[laur-the-cat-prince]

[intertexts]

the other thing ab dark rise so far is that like-- it feels obvious to me at least, that will isn't actually this doomed victim of an ancient fate, like he thinks. it feels so clear to me that he's just terrified, & when u have a hammer everything looks like a nail. when you're the terrified reincarnation of a god of control everything will look like it was intended & u were manipulating them the whole time!! (& he does this!!! he does this in the confrontation w/ crenshaw at the end of book 1 where he takes responsibility for all these accidental acts after it having been made very explicit that they *weren't* intentional on his part) + i genuinely don't fucking think she (pacat)'s gonna run with the "no one actually has free will because all these ridiculous tiny details leading to these things were actually a 1 billion iq rube goldberg by sarcean millenia ago" option.

& again i'm looking forward to see the parallels btwn all of them going forward-- your blood or ancestry or heritage or upbringing meaning something to you, certainly, being incredibly important to who & what u are, certainly, but crucially not being any indicator of inherent morality or personality or anything else is a throughline btwn all of them-- violet and will most obviously, but it carries through to cyprian & james etc.

also the "wanting him and being full of self-loathing just because it's *you* who wants him & you consider your own desires inherently dirty and impure and corrupting" & "you have a secret, which is that you're secretly someone all your friends would fucking kill on sight. if they knew what you were they'd be revolted, and you have to lie and be lovely and charming and love them & be lying about who and what you are the whole time, because they love you, but not enough for you to not be terrified of them of their hatred" are like. ah! yeeowch.

[magicalyaku]

Happy new year! After the slump of the previous months and my last artist alley of the year, I finally had a lot to read in December! I bought so many books in November, I had to get at least through a few in order to include them in my yearly awards. xD Work was still shit but reading was fun again. :D

Dark Heir (Dark Rise 2) (C.S. Pacat): This was my last book of 2023 and easily my most anticipated. And did it deliver! Left me emotionally devastated for days! xD Seriously, I don't want to know what my neighbors thought what was going on, in case they heard me going "Aaah! No! No no no nooooo! Kya! NOOOO!!" during two certain scenes. /D The nice thing about this series is that I have absolute faith in Pacat's ability to write it well und give me an outcome I am satisfied with. I mean, go look at Captive Prince. The way the relationship between Damen and Laurent develops (even after MAJOR shit going on between them!), the political threads and all that, it's just done very well. And now, here's the Dark Rise series and I sit and watch the spiral of doom the characters are caught up in it and apart from maybe Sinclair not a single one of them is fully good or bad. And it's sooo interesting (and emotionally devastating)!! Hng!! I would actually like to write much more about what I loved and suffered through, like the whole thing with the Visander situation and how Sarcean made all of his worst enemies because he just couldn't keep it in his pants. And James. James. And Cyprian! And everything. But I can't because whenever I try I still feel the excited giggles in my brain and can't have a coherent thought. It's great, but also ... Hnggg!!

The First and Last Adventure of Kit Sawyer (S.E. Harmon): This was fun! At some point early on I looked up what other books the author has written and it's more than ten and I thought "Yes! It feels like being written by someone with a lot of writing experience!" There's just something about the liveliness of the characters and the dialogues. Also so much adventure with a slightly different flavor than usual being set in the jungle and all, I loved it.

By any other Name (Erin Cotter): I wonder why all of my historical fiction books are set in England. This is another highly adventurous story. I was a bit surprised as one thing that's mentioned in the summary already only appears like after half the book. But other than that it was pretty good. It has spies and theatre and pretty nice characters. And I did not anticipate everything that happened which is good!

Wren Martin Ruins it all (Amanda deWitt): The author's previous book Aces Wild: A Heist was one of my top books in 2022, this one does not quite reach those heights but it was still very good and very enjoyable. Wren is such a messy and fun character. As reader I absolutely knew what was going on and who was writing with whom but it was nice to follow the characters' path to awareness. In a way Wren's aceness is not as heavy as in other books (see the next one for instance) but at the same time it deals with a few of the social issues a_spec people are faced with which was nice.

Just Lizzie (Karen Wilfrid): This is a middle grade book about a girl coming to terms with being ace. The heroine has a really nice character arc. And the other characters are sometimes what you expect them to be and sometimes they are not. And maybe … that's ok, right? And I loved it and I cried through half of the book. I guess, it hit home a little more heavily than I expected. :'D (Like that one time where Lizzie is wondering how she will spent Christmas when her parents aren't around anymore? Haaa. It had just been Christmas when I read this and I'm in my 30ies and my Dad is above 70 now so that is a concern I actually have, you know. It's not nice to be reminded. :'D) It's a really good book, I think, thoughtful and well put together and empowering, too.

A Hundred Vicious Turns (The Broken Tower 1) (Lee Page O'brien): Now this was difficult. The cover is gorgeous. Easily my favorite one this year. I only lament that there's no real gold printed. The wasted opportunity. yAy The content is … difficult. I like the story on a whole. The premise and the magic system are really interesting. The characters … were interesting as well? They're fine, their motivations are not easily seen which, in a plot full of mysteries, is actually quite okay. I just didn't build the emotional connection. There's also a lot of anxiety, especially on Rat's part. There was one bit in the writing style that irked me a little. The overuse of pronouns. Because Rat was the only one with 'they' and in most scenes it was only one other person with them, so there often really long stretches where only the pronouns would be used instead of the names. It wa snot confusing because you could easily tell the characters apart, but it felt weird. I'm very used to reading the names a lot. Oh well. It's not a fun read, but it is intruiging and I will read the next volume to see where it goes.

A Magic Steeped in Poison (The Book of Tea 1) (Judy I. Lin): I managed to squeeze in a YA heroine inbetween all the gay boys! And I liked it better than most other female-led YA fantasies I read recently. Doesn't mean I loved it, but Ning was pretty okay as a heroine. The thing is, the circumstances under which I started this book weren't the best and that probabbly reflected on the whole experience. I picked up the German audiobook for a very long bus trip, but listened to it only later while doing some hours of very boring tedious work. The audiobook itself was okay, except that the reader could not decide how to pronounce some names. For instance, Kang was Kong first, then Kuang before she settled on Kang. And that kind of thing drives me mad. How am I to connect with a character when I am left this uncertain how their name is?! The German translation also decided to leave some of the names in English (especially the teas) which in my opinion doesn't make sense because why would the teas in Fantasy-China have English names when everything else is either translated into German or left Chinese? D: I couldn't stand it and finally switched to my printed edition (in English). /D It got better from there, but it's hard to forget the echo. As for the story, I don't really like court intrigues. Cruelty and injustice are just things I really struggle with to read about. (They make me angry and I don't want to be angry at my books.) But it never tipped over the edge into annoying area. I have the sequel at home as well, so I'll it. The covers are beautiful after all.

That was 2023! Next up is my big Best and Worst award ceremony! uAu~

[not-a-coral-snake]

I meant to post this back when I posted the fic about James and Cyprian, but the thing about James as a character is that there’s so much interesting potential in his relationships with not just Will but all of ragtag band of youthful heroes.

James and Cyprian: talked about them here and here

James and Violet: James and Violet, who were both told they were evil, they had no choice but to be, it was inevitable, it was in their blood. I think James would (deep down) think just so highly of Violet because when they told her that she was a Lion and was doomed to be evil, she was just like, “ ‘kay but how about I fight for the Light anyway?”

And, given half a chance to look beyond righteous anger I think Violet would look at James and remember how when she heard her father’s true feelings for her, she’d changed sides right away, run right to the Stewards. The Stewards she’d met that same day, the Stewards she’d seen slaughtering Simon’s men--her family’s people, the Stewards she was trusting only based on a fairy tale Justice told her. And she’d know that that was what she’d done at sixteen or so, and I think she’d wonder what she’d’ve done at eleven, who she would have run to upon learning her family’s true intentions.

And I think they could bond over Will and his angsty refusal to share things confide in people who care about him.

James and Elizabeth: I think James would look at her and be like, eleven is just too young to get pulled into something like this, no matter how extra-special you are.

James and Katherine: Did they know each other at all? In canon, seemingly no, but “Simon introduces them at a tea party” isn’t that far fetched an au tbh. What do they each think of Simon’s other toy?

James and Grace and Sarah: What was their relationship before? Cyprian has far more room in the narrative for his grief and rage, but they lost everything to a former childhood friend, too, and I’d love to see more of them in Dark Heir

[drbaerchen]

We've already learned of the existence of Hamilton in Hamburg, Germany.

And me being slightly obsessed with this play, I wrote down the lyrics of the German text to "Alexander Hamilton" with the help of a friend of mine. There were many arguments between us on what was actually sung but I think this is the most accurate it's gonna get without having the music sheets in front of me.

Literal translation

Contextual translation

"So'n" (so ein) translated to "such a"

Oh and here's the song

https://youtu.be/kxERVyjYvYY

(I've tried my best to translate it back to English as well, just to show some of the choices that were made.)

|

Wie wird so'n Bastard, Balg der bloß aus dem Schoß einer Dirne,

How becomes such a bastard, brat who merely out the lap a Cyprian,

How does a bastard, brat, born from the mere lap of a prostitute,

kroch aus dem Gott verdammten, verlorenen

crawled out the god damned, doomed

crawl out of the god damned, doomed

Loch, in der Karibik ohne Titel,

Hole, in the Caribbean without title,

ohne Mittel, ohne Werte,

Without resources, without virtue,

am Ende doch ein Held und ein Gelehrter.

At end yet a hero and a scholar

Somehow end up a hero and a scholar.

|

Der zehn Doller Gründervater ganz ohne Vater,

The ten dollar founding father all without Father

The 10$ founding father without a Father

war ein Welt planer, war hungrig und strebsamer,

was a world planner, was hungry and more ambitious,

war einfach 'n Tick smarter, war einfach ein Durchstarter.

was simply a tad smarter, was simply a magnate.

Und schon Chef 'ner Handelsfirma als er vierzehn Jahr war.

And already boss a trading company when he fourteen years was.

And already boss of a trading company at the age of fourteen.

|

Und täglich sah er wie sie Sklaven schlachten, verfrachten, wie Vieh,

And daily saw he how they slaves butchered, transported, like cattle

And every day he saw how they butchered and shipped off slaves, like cattle,

aber er schwieg und zeigte nie was er dachte.

but he kept quiet and showed never what he thought

but he kept quiet and never showed what he thought

In ihm wuchs der Wunsch bei was Größerem mitzumachen.

In him grew the wish in something bigger participate.

Within him the wish grew to partake in something bigger.

Der Bruder hätte gebettelt, geräubert für seine Sache.

The brother would've begged, robbed for his thing.

The brother would've begged and robbed for his cause.

|

Doch ein Hurricane kam und kannte kein Erbarm'n.

But a Hurricane came and knew no mercy.

Und er stand im Regen, tropfend nass und bettelarm,

And he stood in rain, dropping wet and destitute,

And he stood in the rain, dropping wet and destitute,

hielt er den Stift an seinen Kopf, verband den Kopf mit seinem Herz,

held he the pen to his head, connected the head with his heart.

holding the pen to his head, connected it to his heart.

schrieb seinen ersten Vers, ein Testament für seinen Schmerz,

wrote his first verse, a testament for his pain.

|

Sein Talent sprach sich rum, sie sagten "Der Typ ist echt krank".

His talent spoke itself around, they said "the guy is really sick".

Word got around about his talent, they said "this guy is insane".

Machten 'ne Kollekte und verschickten ihn ans Festland.

Made a collection and send him to mainland.

Took up a collection and send him to the mainland.

"Du willst was bewegen, willst studieren und Respekt?

"You want something move, want study and respect?

"You want to have an impact, want to study and have respect?

Dann sag allen erstmal wie du heißt. Wie ist dein Name, Mann?"

Then tell everyone first how you're called. How is your name, man?"

Then firstly tell everyone your name. What's your name, man?"

|

Alexander Hamilton.

|

Man nennt mich Alexander Hamilton.

One calls me Alexander Hamilton.

They call me Alexander Hamilton

Hab mir Millionen Dinge vorgenomm'n

Have me Million thing planned.

Have planned to do millions of things.

Doch wartet's ab, wartet's ab.

But wait it off, wait it off.

But wait for it, wait for it.

|

Er sieht mit zehn den Vater geh'n. Sagte "Mistkerl, danke".

He sees with ten the father leave. Says "trashguy, thanks"

Age ten he watches his father leave. Says "thanks, Asshole"

Zwei Jahre später sind er und die Mutter schwer krank

Two years later are he and the mother heavy sick

Two years later he and the mother fall seriously ill

und halb tot, ihre Augen blutrot und gelblich.

and half dead, her eyes bloodred and yellowish

Und Alex hielt durch doch seine Mutter tat's nicht.

And Alex held through but his mother did it not.

And Alex pulled through but his mother didn't.

|

Lebte bei 'nem Vetter, bis der sich dann selbst das Leben nahm.

Lived with a cousin, until he himself then self the life took.

Lived with a cousin until he took his own life.

Als er von Leid umgeben war, keinen Weg mehr sah

As he from suffering surrounded was, no way anymore saw

As he was surrounded by suffering, not seeing a path anymore,

Hört er um sich

Hears he around himself

He can hear from around him

"Alex, sorg für dich selber, verdammt".

"Alex, care for you yourself, damnit".

"Alex, care for yourself, damnit".

Er zog sich zurück und zückte dann jedes Schriftstück aus dem Schrank.

He pulled himself back and drew then every document out the cupboard

He retreated and pulled every scripture from the shelves.

|

Denn hätt' er nicht so'n Talent, wär schon seit läng'rem Endstation.

Because had he not such a talent, would already since long terminus.

If he wouldn't have had such talent he would have already hit the end of the road.

So'n Penner den keiner kennt. Doch ohne auch nur einen Cent als Lohn,

Such a bum who no-one knows. But without also just one cent as wage,

This beggar who no one knows. Even without getting a cent of wage,

twenty four seven scheffelt er mehr cash für seinen Hausherr'n.

twenty four seven accumulates he more cash for his host.

24/7 he accumulates more money for his landlord.

Handelt Zuckerrohr und Rum. Und währenddessen klaut und er-

Trading sugarcane and Rum. And meanwhile he steals and

gaunert er jeden Band den er in seine Hand kriegt.

scrounges he every volume which he in his hand gets.

he scrounges every book he can get his hands on.

Dauernd auf der Suche nach Ideen. Unser Mann sticht in See.

Constantly on the search for ideas. Our man stabs in sea.

Always on the search for ideas. Our man is setting out to sea.

Unbeirrt geht er grad an Bord.

Unperturbed goes he now on board.

He's going on board unperturbed.

Sein neues Leben liegt in New York.

His new life lies in New York.

|

In New York you can be a new man. (wartet's ab.)

Wait it off.

Wait for it.

In New York you can be a new man. (wartet's ab)

Wait it off

Wait for it

In New York you can be a new man (in New York, New York)

|

Wartet's ab!

Wait it off!

Wait for it!

|

Alexander Hamilton

Denn wohin dich alle Winde bring'n, (wohin dich alle Winde bring'n)

Because where you all winds bring (where you all winds bring)

Because where ever the winds will carry you

du wirst immer zu weit

You will always too far

You will always be

getrieben, von der eig'nen Zeit.

Pushed, from the own time.

Pushed too far, by your limited time.

Oh, Alexander Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton)

Wenn Ameikas Kinder sing'n

When America's children sing

Wissen sie was du auf dich nahmst?

Know they what you on you took?

Do they know what you shouldered?

Wissen sie was du für sie tatst?

Know they what you for them did?

Do they know what you did for them?

Die Welt wird nie mehr wie sie war.

The world will never more how she was.

The world will never be the way it was.

|

Sein Schiff macht grad' im Hafen fest,

His ship makes now within harbour moor,

His ship is now mooring in the harbour.

Sie ziehen an den Trossen.

They pulled on the rope.

Ein Immigranten Kind geboren in den Gossen.

An immigrant child born in the gutter.

Sein Land hat seinen Ruhm mit lauter Lügen übergossen.

His country has his glory with many lies doused.

His country doused his glory with lies.

|

Wir kämpften mit ihm.

We fought with him.

|

Ich, ich starb für ihn.

I, I died for him.

|

Ich vertraute ihm.

I trusted him.

|

Ich, ich liebte ihn.

I, I loved him.

|

Und ich war sein Freund und erschoss ihn. (schoss ihn, schoss ihn)

And I was his friend and shot him (shot him, shothim)

|

Hab mir Millionen Dinge vorgenomm'n.

Have me Million things planned.

Have planned to do millions of things.

Doch wartet's ab

But wait it off

But wait for it

|

Wie ist dein Name, Mann?

What is your name, man?

What's your name, man?

|

ALEXANDER HAMILTON

[estherwieliczkablanc]

YOUTH’S PACT - Chapter II

Synopsis: Cyprian Wiley, aka Whoreson Jr, is a villain, a scoundrel and cruel man. But was it always like this?

OC x Whoreson Jr (Cyprian Wiley)

Warnings: Bad language, Childhood Trauma and Mild Violence

From the girl’s smirk it was clear she was entertained by the red on Junior’s face, the boy on the other hand was quick to push her to the ground, she sat there, stunned - “That oughta brat like you some manners, eh? And stay there, you look like a mouse nest already. Why bother getting up anyway? You talk all those strange words to make us look stupid but now you’re the one losing.” The group did begin to giggle, alas Junior wasn’t able to listen to it properly given he’d been hit on the right side of his head by Esther’s fist, his ear went buzzing before he could feel his upper body being pressured by Esther’s weight, punches from both sides were thrown, along bites, slaps and grunts, eventually blood was drawn from one of the opponents, a jab straight into poor Esther’s charming nose, the power of Junior’s arms, even as a child were strong enough to make the girl fall on her back, back to the ground with a little less dignity. Junior stood up fast but incredibly dizzy, both hands on his knees as he recovered his breath - “You…damn, you…hehe.” 

The young boy could feel something warm coming out from the top of his forehead, he placed his palm on it only to find a bloody scratch, he had survived worse. “I take it back, you’re worse than a mouse. You’re a twig with a sour attitude, right boys? Hehe.” It was then that Cyprian noticed, the group didn’t laugh, not even a chuckle…the play wasn’t funny anymore, Junior looked back at the girl, she didn’t move an inch.

A strange feeling boiled at the bottom of Junior’s guts, a sensation usually associated with an anticipation of a beating from his father, one of the boys panicked and was quick to flee - “Oy mouse! T-That’s not funny!” The shortest protested, slowly approaching the girl’s “body” - “Oh damn Junior…Her dad is an officer! We are doomed! We killed her!”

“Shut up Malvus! She’s faking it, she’s playing around!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure, my dad told me one of his cousins was hit by a horse on the head but it didn’t kill him immediately. It was the fall that got him so good he bled from his nose and ears.”

Junior ran, stepping closer to Esther that lay flat on the floor, her pretty orange dress dirty, knees bruised, stockings ruined and her head resting on its right side while her eyes were closed, soon the blood would flow from her nose. The sight of blood was the fuse to set the cowardly boys running, contrary to Junior that stood his ground like a statue, eventually kneeling without saying a word.

“For fuck’s sake…” He whispered, one drop of sweat escaped his temple.

A quick hand grabbed his ankle, a rapid gasp for air startled the boy’s soul out of his body, Junior let out a yelp so sharp one could mistake him for a broken violin, yet it was his friend Esther that pulled the prank, leveling her head up with a light snort - “Huh. You do care.”

“For fuck’s sake, fuckin’ thought you were dead!” He screamed - “I might be bad but you’re worse!” Esther giggled at Junior’s reaction as she slowly stood up - “Oh, that’s why you stick to me like honey and a bee then? To learn from the best?”

“Ha! The best? You’re the one with a bloody nose.”

“You’re the one with a bloody forehead,” Esther replied with a voice that sounded like her nose was clogged, two drops fell to her dress while the same happened to Junior’s shirt. They stared at each other, taking in all that happened in a short period of 9 minutes or so, Esther took the initiative and walked closer to the blonde boy, he flinched at her proximity but she didn’t seem upset or meaning to harm him, her gaze was almost friendly - “I’m older you know, we shouldn’t be fighting this often. I shouldn’t be fighting people younger than me.”

“You tell me.” Junior wipes part of his blood with his forehead, he’d dirty his shirt already so a beating would be inevitable, Esther does the same with her wounds - “How long do we know each other? 2 years? I remember giving you a solstice present last year.”

“Yeah,” Junior mumbled, having small flashbacks of the event, Esther gave him a wooden puzzle box, it had a caramel hue to it, handmade, he remembered he didn’t get her anything that year and sensed a pang of strange guilt, he also remembered his father looking at it as if it was cursed, but didn’t express any more concern than that…and how he felt when he lost it the next morning. Probably thrown to the fireplace.

“I think we should make a deal. A pact, that we won’t fight again…well, not like this at least.” Esther pressed her lips together into a thin line, clearly anxious to hear his response, hoping he’d see sense in it and call it a deal. Junior on the other end was puzzled by her proposal, it was astonishing how the whole situation escalated, and how it was all peaches and cream so fast, he was suspicious and didn’t believe her at first. But Esther’s tone was sincere this time, Junior couldn’t confirm it was 100% honest but what else could happen? She could start a fight again, they could argue again and go back to the old ways, the young boy concluded Esther was actually a friend, probably his only true friend, one that he had constant fights and intrigues, a relationship mostly disapproved from both his and her family, but in the end, their relationship had endured this far, they shared meaningful views of the world, protected each other from outer dangers and never snitched about their adventures even if it could cost their lives.

“A pact? What do you have in mind?”

Esther studied her options for a few seconds before eureka struck her, she took some blood from her nose on the tip of her fingers, spreading it on her palm, and offered her hand for Junior to shake - “I promise to never hit you, make you fall, push or draw blood from you in any manner…again. Ever. I’ll cover you in any situation and look for you wherever you go.” She paused, Junior, didn’t move or speak, confused by her words, the girl motioned for him to do the same with her head - “Go on. Your turn.”

“W-What am I supposed to do?” He questioned - “Well, take some blood, put it in you hand and shake it. Your blood.” Junior raised his brow, quickly taking some blood from his open wound, and proceeded to shake her hand. - “No! You’re doing it wrong! Make your vows!”

“Like what you said?” He exclaimed “Somewhat. As long as you’re willing to do it, that’s what the blood’s for, once we shake you can’t go back or break the promise.” Junior’s expression changed from suspicious to worried - “What happens if I do?”

“Hmmm.You die? I don’t know. Something bad happens thought.” Esther declared then motion with her other hand for him to hurry, Junior was reluctant at first for his still juvenile mind didn’t grasp the concept of superstition, the whole situation seemed serious enough for him to reconsider, but for some reason, he continued. The boy began - “Uh…I promise to never hurt you again, at least not in-int-intentionally? Unless you deserve it, hehehe. I mean, no, I’ll never hurt you. And I promise to always play with you, give you solstice presents every year, and help you even if it kills me.” Junior grabbed Esther’s hand with haste, the duo gave a slow, almost awkward handshake. Esther’s mouth curled into a smirk, then a smile as they let go of each other - “And that’s it. It’s done, till we die.”

“Is that it?” Junior let out with an unimpressed look, Esther placed both hands on her hips - “What did you expect? Fairy dust? A bolt of lightning falling from the sky to hit our hands? It’s supposed to be simple, but meaningful.”

“Huh.” Junior shrugs his shoulders, it is better to accept what he doesn’t understand than torturing himself with Esther’s long explanations on how things work, he always ends up sleeping and eventually getting his head hit by her books or any other object her hands could find - “Wanna grab some peach pie? I saw old Helga baking it earlier.” Esther giggled while grabbing Junior’s shoulder as they walked - “Sure! But you go up the window this time, you’re smaller and faster than me now.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Writer’s Note:

Hey, thank you for reading my fanfiction! This is the end os Youth’s Pact unfortunatly BUT I will be wirting more fanfictions with Esther and Cyprian very soon! Please feel free to comment and share this peace , stay tunned for the next chapters on our trivia and do follow my account for more to come!

Link to the first part: https://estherwieliczkaofficial.tumblr.com/post/673224126738104320/youths-pact

Playlist I used for Youth’s Pact - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBclclGDXbk

[clotpolesonly]

CHAPTER 6

- “not knowing why anyone would try to kill him--only seeing that look as the knife drove toward him”   with nothing but our own assumptions to say who was holding the knife alkfjdgh

- is this the same inn where Marcus was taken, or did they specify a different one? if it’s the same, imagine Justice’s turmoil over being here again, knowing that this is where he failed his shieldmate. this is where he may have doomed them all.

- i love the bond Will and Violet forge so quickly. their worlds have been shaken up so severely, they don’t know what to believe about anything anymore, and they both cling to one concrete moment of goodness and self-sacrifice. this is a person who did right by me. this is a person who has earned a modicum of my trust and i may not know what to do in any other arena, but i know how to repay that. they don’t know if they can trust Justice, but they make the decision to trust each other.

- “the shadows of the room seemed to gather in close as he spoke”   foreshadowing much??

CHAPTER 7

- i want fanart of Violet sitting up on a stack of crates on the dock, staring up at the night sky in wonder 🥺 i can see it so clearly in my head but i can’t draw, send help

- this is fucking ROUGH, man. talk about intense disillusionment. finding out your entire life is a lie and the people you love have raised you like a lamb to slaughter. absolutely brutal.

- 🔥 JAMES IS HERE 🔥

CHAPTER 8

- i’m a slut for characters that radiate control and authority, characters that make everyone stop and hold their breath with the threat of what they might do.

- i do appreciate Tom’s integrity in owning his mistakes. James is right; he doesn’t make excuses.

- BAD KITTY

- “i will find you. i will always find you. try to run.”   *pterodactyl shrieking* AHEM no this is fine, it’s fine, i feel completely normal about this, i’m fine

- the second time, apparently, that Will has fucked with ropes to cause problems on purpose. i hope he does it again sometime in the other books, for the hattrick.

- god, Will really exposed their position to a deadly enemy just cuz he was fascinated by and attracted to said enemy, boy get it together.

- VALDITHAR

- i love so much that Violet’s method of showing affection is arm-punching.

- Cyprian, sweetie, literally ripping people’s clothes off of their bodies is not a proper way to greet them. i know i’m gonna fall in love with you later but currently you’re a dick. but a dick who’s truly dedicated to his people, their mission, and their rules. i appreciate you. (you’re still being a dick though.)

[apenitentialprayer]

The Nature of the Daemonic in Firmicus Maternus, Pre- and -Post Christianization

The Moral Orientation of Worldly Spirits

The word ‘daemon’ occurs frequently in the Mathesis, both as good and evil powers. For instance, good daemons are mentioned ten times in this work, though these daemons are primarily associated with astrological houses, and do not manifest as independent beings. Evil daemons, on the other hand, are much more common in this work. Evil daemons are mentioned seven times, cacodaemons eight; violent daemons, depraved (pravi) daemons, malignant spirits[,] and malignant daemons all mentioned once each. Thus, contrasted with good daemons, evil ones are named nineteen times in the Mathesis, almost three times as many {sic?} as good daemons. This may make sense in an astrological work, which by its nature is written to assist the individual avoid harm in his or her day-to-day lives. Furthermore, there are four instances when daemon is used without an adjective identifying them as good or evil. But, when examining the context of the use of the term, the implication is that they are all evil: two are poised to attack the innocent, others possess bodies and bring illness, and one group of daemons brings temptations. So that makes an appearance of twenty-three evil daemons, more than three times {sic???} the appearance of the good daemons. [...] As one would expect, Firmicus in De errore renders all daemons as evil, but, interestingly, mentions daemons far fewer times than in the Mathesis. Certainly, De errore is a much shorter work. Also, the angels appear even less frequently than daemons: four times total, twice mentioned in quotation of scripture, and he does not seem to be familiar with the fall of the angels’ story. His terminology for daemons in De errore, however, is more diverse than in the Mathesis. Firmicus mentions the generic daemons four times and he makes one reference to a certain ‘unclean demonic spirit’. Furthermore, evil or unclean spirits in various forms are mentioned three times. Thus evil daemons/spirits eight times in the De errore. Diablous, or the devil, however, appears some twenty times in the text. It is the devil, the master of the daemons, that is the focus of this work. The importance of understanding the name of the leader of the daemons in exorcism may explain the many mentions of the devil throughout De errore. Firmicus emphasizes that daemons are ruled by the devil. ‘The doomed serpent’ seeks to keep people from knowledge of the true Christian God. The devil ‘leads men who believe [in him] down to the abysses of hell’. Now that the cosmos is under the jurisdiction of the Christian God, and the devil’s plans have been fully uncovered, Christians have enough information about the demonic hierarchy to keep daemons under control.

Pagan versus Christian Exorcism

In the Mathesis, the power of exorcism against evil daemons takes a prominent place. In particular, exorcists are shown as experts: specialists needed to drive evil daemons from people. Indeed, the specialist exorcist is a person endowed with great powers. Firmicus understands exorcists as those ‘whose arts free men suffering from procession by daemons. They attain great profit from those skills.’ As Firmicus maintains, most powerful exorcists are ones whose astrological sign is associated with the house of Mars [... T]he heroic exorcist who has Mars on his side needs only appear and the evil daemons flee. There is also mention of exorcistic words which are used by these specialists to expel daemons. But this is the power of the exorcists alone, who are empowered by the pagan god. As we shall now see, in the De errore Firmicus stresses that all Christians are empowered to perform exorcism by use of the divine names of God and Christ, rather than what was often the case within the context above in which specialists were the only ones able to cast out evil daemons. In the Christian apologetic work De errore profanarum religionum, Firmicus states: ‘So among us the lashes of exorcistic words flagellate your gods when they start to do harm to men.’ This exultation of the power of Christian exorcism, with focus on the words rather than on specialist exorcists, permeates his Christian work. The devil and his daemons appear easily cast out uttering the name of God and his Christ. Like the Mathesis, Firmicus’ De errore emphasizes the dangers of evil daemons. But the difference is that now, specialist exorcists are unnecessary. As was the case with Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Cyprian, {and} Arnobius, all Christians, lay or clergy, have the ability to exorcise. [...] Similar to the Mathesis, exorcists in De errore are the heroic warriors against evil daemons. But now, the heroic exorcists are all Christians, including the emperors, who get their powers from Christ himself. [...] The emperors also have an important role to play in eradicating the world of daemons. What the emperors and their Christian subjects must now do is help rid the world of daemons and establish a Christian social order on earth. [...] Thus, for Firmicus, the emperors, powerful Christian exorcists, engage directly in battle with the devil alongside Christ.

--- Dennis Paul Quinn (“In the Names of God and His Christ: Evil Daemons, Exorcism, and Conversion in Firmicus Maternus”)

[beardedeldridge]

Anonymous ask that I accidentally deleted when I was attempting to post it.

went something like: “came across your blog by accident, found the blog helpful, new to all of this and asking for any advice, have a good day/night/living death”. That was it to the best of my memory.

First I’m so sorry anon for deleting your ask and for responding so slowly in the first place.

My response as it was intended:

I’ve sat on this one for a bit - sorry. Finally decided I would just sit down and type out my thoughts on my phone in the span of four cigarettes and then post it.

Just start somewhere - find something that blows your hair back for now. Pick one book and start there. Don’t fret about which path/tech is yours yet (or ever) - your first will most likely not be your last - tbh most of us end up a bit eclectic (no matter how much that word can be like fingernails on a chalkboard).

Just about any book you can think of can be found for free on the internet. My take on it is this: most occult authors claim to be practicians and explicitly state that their tech works. If you can’t afford a grimoire, think of it as a money back guarantee. Download the book for free and if it works then use it to afford the physical book and then go buy it. We as a community owe decent authors/researchers/translators, and there are tons of more grimoires/magick books/books on magick that need to be discovered, translated, and published. So if it works go BUY it. If you can’t find one feel free to DM me (no promises tho). My only request: read the work and if it performs as advertised then buy it down the road a bit.

Experience is more important than theory. Research but no more then a couple of weeks (give yourself a hard deadline) to make your first attempt, no matter how unprepared you feel. It won’t go how you think it will anyway.

Have a goal (not the lottery, not to become a college professor without ever attending college, not just to meet an angel/demon/spirit/god). Something lofty, attainable, and long term but that can be broken down into steps. That being said your reasons for doing this will change anyway but a concrete goal will serve you well even if you’ll most likely abandon it for your true-“er” reason down the path a bit. It will keep you focused and give you a way to track success (or lack there of).

You may not see any success at first and that’s fine. Don’t be afraid to try something if it seems like it should work but if brushing your teeth proves to not be magick then just consider it a learning experience and move on (side note: keep brushing your teeth anyway :)

You don’t have to have everything perfect put you have to have enough to make it work. (think of it like a scale, the more you’re able to tilt the scale toward the magickal the better the results). No one can tell you where the exact line of “enough” is - there’s just too many unknown factors and some of them have to do with the magician themselves. Always work to improve your craft.

It doesn’t actually matter why this stuff works. You’ll have plenty of years to theorize and come to insufficient explanations like everyone else. Think finite minds attempting to fathom the infinite, I believe it’s important that we try but ultimately we’re doomed to fall short. The human condition can be a real bastard.

No one has all (or maybe even any) of the answers.

Lot of this stuff can be pretty subjective.

Don’t romanticize your results.

Don’t pay too much attention to what everyone else is doing/saying. We all have our own personal Golden Calf (bias that color our conclusions). Don’t measure your results against other people (as long as you’re actually getting results). Results = the ability to affect the world around you in meaningful and purposeful ways using magick.

There are some really good “easier” or “safer” how to get started or magick-in-general posts on here. DM me what you’re interested in and maybe I can point you in the right direction but do your own research as well, you can find useful stuff even on tumblr if you’re feeling lost/overwhelmed.

Be practical - consider the time/resources/effort you have to throw at this - magicians are like magpies we chase every new shiny thing and sometimes bite off more paths then we can maintain at one time given the available hours in a day (I know I have). For instance, I don’t do work with ancestors or saints (planetary archangels may blur the line there but anyway). Am I interested in those? Hell yes. Do I have the time for any more practices? Nope. So if Saint Cyprian wants to work with me, he’s going to have to come visit and knock my socks off to a point where I’ll abandon something else. Only so many hours in a day/week. (Honestly I have two paths/techs that I actively pursue. There are a few others where I had some success in the past but moved on. I still use what I learned from those or maybe maintain a single working relationship from it but I don’t actively practice those on a regular basis).

Don’t do it for the fireworks - if you’re doing it just to prove “________” exists; that motivation probably won’t take you far.

Spirits are not your friends, they will not complete you, they shouldn’t be used as a form of escapism, they have specialized roles, use them for what they actually do well - that being said - they are not make believe, stupid, or mindless automatons, they are just weird/alien to us and we’re just dust in the wind to them - imo.

Specialize - pick one grimoire/tech and run with it. And when you do settle, pick a spirit you work well with and strengthen that working relationship. Use successes to build toward future greater successes.

Don’t give up - the going may be slow for awhile. If not awesome, but it’s easy to jump from one tech to another while looking for your first success, without ever doing the work to achieve any measure of success, like any other skill it takes practice/work/sacrifice.

Journal everything - not only will it be invaluable early on, that shit will be worth its weight in gold to you eventually. No matter how earth-shattering an experience is the memory of it will fade and dull somewhat and you’ll forget key things.

Always be skeptical of your unverifiable results. Some things are probably just in your head, taken out of context by you, confusing because you can’t see everything, something taking advantage of you, or you not being ready for the actual answer so you spin it into something you want to hear (human brains are real MFs like that)

Learn to research, be patient, think critically/skeptically, meditate, etc - master yourself.

**Yes i spell magick with a “k”. Why? Practicality, Agrippa, and Aesthetics tbh**

Just some general thoughts of mine on the subject. Thanks for the ask, sorry I took a while to respond and that I deleted by mistake. Feel free to reach out by dm or asks if there is anything I can help you with. Hope you’ll doing well and have a great day/night :)

[nobleline]

Noble’s sonic oc masterpost

Ok since I’m starting to accumulate a lot of ocs, I wanted to keep information about them in once place. I like how Shiba @xyheir organizes their ocs so I thought I would do the same. 

Not all of them are fully developed but I try to do as much as I can

 1. Soika the hedgehog

Soika is a 14 year old trans lesbian hedgehog.

She comes from a coastal in the Sol dimension and had very shitty parents that didn’t except her decisions in gender. She was the first person after her great grandfather on her mother’s side of her family that regained  the long pasted down power of Cryokinesis. No one knows why she regained powers that weren’t see in here family for two generations but she did.  

At the age of 6 Soika was adopted for her parents by Red the dragon and now lives with him on a ship. Because of Red’s royal family ties she ended up becoming friends with Princess Blaze.

2.Red the dragon

Red is a bi dragon who’s age is unknown but has at least been in Mobian form for 300 years. He has pyrokinesis and notable strength.

He was original a creature from the same dimension as Ifrit until an unknown set of circumstances led to him being stuck in the Sol dimension. In the confusion he was sealed into a Mobian for by the Royal family and other sol masters using the Sol emeralds. He was kept in the palace of the royal family for at least 300 years, no one going near him until the future queen’s wife came down and feed him spaghetti. 

Once he was let to roam around free, Red ended up adopting a bunch of kids who were in bad situations. He also helps the royal family if there are any problems ans still keeps in touch and visited once in a while.

3.Rielle the cat  

Rielle is an 8 year old cat who has Cyberkinesis. He is also a residence of the Sol dimension.

Her parents had died a couple of years before do to a boating accident trying to get Rielle’s older sister, Arroyo, back home. She ended up living with her grandparents until her grandfather gotten cancer and died, A couple of months latter her grandmother died in her sleep.  No one from her port village took her in so she ended up fending for herself for a couple of months until Red showed up. 

Red ended up chewing out the villagers for just leaving her and ended up taking her with him. 

3.Safrid the heron 

His design is different I just haven’t had the time to draw the new one

Safrid is 27 years old, straight and a royal attendant. He has the ability to regrow and harden the black feather on his wings(not shown) and usually uses them as projectiles. 

He has gone on trips with Red before, even though they hate each other, and checks in on him from time to time for the Queens’ piece of mind. 

4.Dawn the bat

Dawn is a 17 year old pan bat hailing from the United Federation.(Yeah non sol dimension character!) 

She doesn’t have any abilities, unless you count flying, but in the pouches she has on her belt their and explosives made from wisp energy. She is a well know singer in here area but she does like to go exploring and occasionally runs into a badnik or two. When she deals with them, she usually sells the salvageable parts to get money to fund her exploration trips. 

5.Cyprian the Hedgehog 

They are a 17 year old non binary hedgehog with electrokenesis, they are also from Apotos.

They currently live with their grandfather since both of her parents died in a car crash a couple of months after they were born. They enjoy gardening a hobby passed down from their grand father, but they also know know how to repair a lot of technology. As a child they would damage a lot of electronics with their electrokenesis and coasting their grand father a lot. They felt bad and started to fix some of them to save money, 

6.Arroyo the cat

Arroyo is a 21 year old cat with Hydrokinesis. She is also a lesbian from the sol dimension.

When her village was facing financial problems because their main source of jobs moved, her and a bunch of other kids from the village ran away to a town that had promise of great profit. A couple of months later the business was found out to be working with illegal practices the kids cut town leaving Arroyo behind. 

Almost a year and a half went by and she didn’t receive word from her family until on day Rielle ended up walking into the boating shop that she worked in. She ended up adopted into the family now lives with her sister and the other on their boat.She was also very sad to hear what happened to her Family but felt luck to have Rielle. 

7.Necrosis(Black Arms)

Necrosis is ??? years old and don’t go by any gender or sexuality.

They were originally only suppose to be a Black Hawk but their were problems with their creation and they got mixed with Mobian DNA. Their creation also had a side effect leaving them separate from the hive mind, giving them free will. They lived on the comet that attacked earth but did actually try to kill off everything. After Black dooms defeat they got stuck in Chun-nan and the only person who knows about their existence so far is Scarlet.

8.Scarlet the Spider 

Scarlet is 21 years old. She is a ninja for hire and is pan.

She was an orphan as a child until she was adopted into a clan in the mountains near Chun-nan. They we very skill in all the fighting techniques she was taught but also learned to fight with some weapons, At the age of 17 they left the clan because of upset that she was one of their warriors but she was originally an outside, she just got sick of all of it and decided to leave. Now she does work for hire and makes a fine profit too. 

[libidomechanica]

Til we cried

Their presume (which make they said there I loath  the throught bay, dear doubt, fairy crackd with 

feminine do not lived to  a place, howeer their spirit  in this all you know to  encounter too later altogether  piratically, thou knowing chamber  Ill be too; and who hurry, and  leaves you deny thing is so:) for  Greek, white doth flying a piece, He 

saw a sign post-horse murmured every  hope. In theirs be: like took back  to heave to love, who helpe me  out of all fade little, the sky.  Of the people to stone? — At thin my spirit the has  wrecks ther happy Eternity,—        and said yes she captive our  delicious pointed.  Even to a kindness of  a quiet every maiden  grew that I was not on  to 180, proue to be east to  viewed sea-foam in himself thee that  good crowne famishd and from the  Maiden growing strayd, Moments to  Cymon ways changeable the teach  to a crystal spouse, but the  spreads me se who have disappointing.  from he haddė  God and Venus leans merchange the  giltelees, he forest day, the  points. the though his gewgaw cast,  Hold Comth a cool who often with  a travelld. dreamlets, through his  self-doomed of the cover; they  spouse, tel me red book a little he tomb,  our minstruck hold: looking when  the through the imagination:  you knew sick? Of love, when  even in Stellation whispers,  and crost to renderness  as a brides, that warm is  no idol, and where to reason  with the retrace of 

sepulchral gladden the heart—which  here heaved for my vertu of  dearest per woes. Is lyf. Haidee, breather  cry of what slave, and my door in  the will move the plucked  poet Wordsworth that is, who has  left. I things upon the white way,  who hateful shining third, a wants levene.  Many an old soar and that  the made wind yet when  once more wed: and dispositive, but off  the Cyprian assail, and yet  but he trace— she least served, open is mourning  right, and sad lordly faint and blows  a tattoo palpable of dewy  cursed these would third her defeat, which grief.

[mrsunderhill678]

Me? Writin? Pff- never

"For men like us, that justice failed, that's where family starts. In graves. We just sit there, lookin' at a name, plantin' the ghost of a rose in hopes we can become friends with the ones like us. We revive each other, man. That's what death and life is all about." - Napoleon Whitley

"When justice lies in the hands'a the wicked, it wilts away like a rose on a cold Sundeh mornin'. Loved, for the beauty it once held." - Napoleon Whitley

"My father used to tell me the truth lived inside us all. But as I stared that woman eye to eye and she said, "Napoleon Whitley killed that girl," I had some strange feelin' that there was nuthin' but lies rotting in her blackened chest." - Ivella Paidel

"If that's what you think of yourself you're doomed to become the wolf's cape draped over the shoulders of the mourning, vengeful lamb." - Michael Tabrowski

"I've never believed man was meant to spill blood. It leaves such a sinister, deadly scar on one's heart. But so many choose to believe that scar is their howl." - Michael Tabrowski

"I've found you've no care for this death you call your life." - Michael Tabrowski

"Truthfully, it feels as if I've died. Lost in one way or another to the way man spills blood." - Amorian Slathervark

"I was always so terrified, of being human. My father always taught me that emotions are liars, and we must run off of our beastly instinct. But when she pressed her lips against mine, I learned she loved me in all the emotions I shoved like daggers down my throat." - Pratten Whiskeyfoul

"Love is like blood for the mind. You'll never forget it, but some days, you'll wish you could." - Pratten Whiskeyfoul

"That's just what happens when you love the broken. Pieces of them they never wanted to share cut the tips of your fingers as you dance them against their skin." - Pratten Whiskeyfoul

"I think the saddest word in the human language is almost. It's that sliver of possibility that kills you, and she was an almost dream, huh?" - Pratten Whiskeyfoul

"Love isn't something you ask for. It never was. It crawls into your heart like a hungry beast, sinking it's teeth into your soft flesh and dragging little pieces of your heart into someone you never knew. And as you see little pieces of you in another, you come to realize love was never a choice. Other wise, we wouldn't fall in love with the wrong people." - Melai Diamonskull

"They called him real. And that was the cruelest thing you could call a man like him." - Mydria Sirencuff

"Because the boy who falls into darkness isn't you, Jarrod. He never will be. You have to die just as I did. Feel every knife in your heart, ever bullet on the tip of your tongue, like gunpowder sin and spark sizzling power. In the grand scheme of things, all roads lead to death. It's better, wise, even, to realize that early on. To lick death off the edges of silver knives just to know what it tastes like on a bleeding tongue. That's the taste that dances on your lip whenever you whisper my name." - Florian Heartpierce

"I've found beauty in the darker things. Like shadows dancing between the trees and blood spilling under the shadow of another man's grace." - Florian Heartpierce

"Death spews from out my tongue as if it were a snake hiding behind my red teeth." - Absinthe Hollercrow

"I always wonder why God's always hiding his answers to all my questions in parts of myself I dare not reach into." - Graham Davidson

"My father always called her heaven's ghost, for he could not control her. As if she was dead far before he ever threatened to lay her in a grave." - Melias Skinwalker

"We are sisters, you and I. We are bound by shield and by blade, and so long as I can still swing this ax and heave this shield like a merciful burden, I shall protect you with all I may give." - Dezstarla Vaganbrok

"I will come for the monsters and the beasts who ripped the roses from his decadent garden. And they will wither in the bones they plucked." - Lucius Caulfell

"To love at all is to live." - Imaldene Emorvow

"He used to shout his freedom in blooms of color, but now he declares his decadent imprisonment in blooms of red and grey." - Imaldene Emorvow

"He bleeds not unlike a man, yet still, I cannot wrap my head around the idea that something human can be so dastardly and deadly to his own kind." - Quenzin Pivato

"My heart wades strange and unfamiliar in the cage of my chest, and I begin to feel that whosoever holds it will know more grief than love." - Armond Zonestrame

"She was like a face in the sand, calm and beautiful, but once grasped in the hands of the mortal man, she flitted between his fingers like blood from his throat." - Raymund Alkarson

"In the wisps of shadow I found things that weren't me. And as I stepped forth into the night, following rose petals on the ground, I learned the dark doth not call with good intentions in his voice." - Raymund Alkarson

"My heart yearns for the things that make it go still." - Ben Stilts

"Past all this darkness in my heart, I can hardly tell what love is. All that I know is somewhere, nestled in the cracks of my heart, you reside, chiseling away at the shadows with hammer and nail." - Cyprian Orgazi

"You and I's fate is a flat circle and we're just dancing our way around the edge." - Carvaso Nightfall

"When ya... When ya get blood on your hands, it uh, it changes you. It starts with the regret, you know? And then you start justifying it, saying things like, "He deserved it, I had to." That's when ya start to die. And then you realize, you deserve it, the man lying in your memory didn't." - Lucas Camillo

"He used to be something more than an absolution starved beast, but now as I look into my eyes and see flickers of his damnation in my reflection, I realize he is nothing but it." - Melias Skinwalker

"He'd always been Alice, following the rabbit in hopes to find salvation at the bottom of the Mad Hatter's tea cup, but alas, Wonderland withered and died before his tear glossed eyes." - Melias Skinwalker

"She was brave and determined, and as she took the cross from off her back, a burn on her skin in the shape of dead and wicked faith, she broke free of the Skinwalker shadow, and became more than we'd ever been." - Melias Skinwalker

"The world fell through the lenses of violence, and there I stood in wonder, gazing at the world through a painter's eyes, wondering why the pale white of bloodless skin and electric blue of tazers firing off looked like something I would've brought to life with the edge of my brush, and called so gracefully, "The end." - Nester Harvlock

"In the shape of a birthmark, she slathered her face in paint. Whether it was a cry of revolution or an act of hiding from oneself, I could never tell." - Reggie Savinwit

“My rage is quiet until faced with me.” - Bellatrix Hungarson

“I found myself in the tangles of her red hair as she kissed me deeply in the witching hours of the night.” - Bellatrix Hungarson

“My life was lost in the empty eyes of cruelty, but every now and again, as Amaryliss' fingers trace against every scar and dance gently against every curve and bruise, I feel like, for once, I'm alive again. She loves me in colors I've never seen, and as her lips press against every inch of me, I bloom with shades of love and peace. I'm a crooked, hell bent monster, but when she holds me in her arms, I feel a little less monstrous and a little more human.” - Bellatrix Hungarson

“I got old weathered boots and a cigarette on the edge'a my lip, knowin' trouble comes for the peaceful souls 'for it ever pounces on the cruel and sickly.” - Bellamy Houston

“I met 'er as I rode my horse inta the night, just at the edge's death's door with blood on my sleeve and some gentle ache ta my smile. And as I woke ta her gentle and soothin' words, I wondered if I'd been found by a siren. But alas, she was the guardian angel that brought this ol' cowboy back ta life. Carly's a bit of a wild soul, and I love that 'bout 'er. She's got this smile that flickers with little bits'a wild beauty. Her hair's tangled and curled, her eyes alight with starlight and a slight tinge'a madness. But the best people are a lil' mad, after all.” - Bellamy Houston

“I've seen trouble on the edge of a Sundeh mornin', revolver steady in 'is hand, his rage sittin' on the brim'a his hat like a matchstick 'gainst a fuse. He told me that if I so much as whisper 'bout 'is sin, he'd lay me in the dirt under a shallow grave where all souls would forget my name. But I wonder what he'd do if he knew that his anger's fire is flickerin' while my justice's flame begins ta rise.” - Bellamy Houston

“I walked a thousand miles'a my life on my own, but I've walked many more with life and Carly by my side, and loneliness don't seem like much a friend, now.” - Bellamy Houston

“I wear a broken crown'a lies atop me 'ead, paradin' my own decapitated sense'a self down the hallways'a me 'eart, my demons chantin' and cheerin', "Da bastards dead! Lay ruin ta 'is poor sinner's 'eart!" - Daisy Fields

“When ya watch dat first bullet fly, ya watch a little piece'a ya go with it. It's nuffin' but a small sliver, but then ya fire another round and eventually, as the war finally ends, ya've fired your whole heart from out your chamber, gunpowder smoke driftin' after the remnants'a your identity.” - Daisy Fields

“They say scars make a man, but as I look at my reflection, rippled and distorted by the water's edge, I come ta realize these scars didn't make me. They killed me.” - Daisy Fields

“I ain't really been Daisy Fields for a long time, now. My name flew from out me chamber as I pulled me first trigger and landed in a poor bloke's chest, cursin' their grave with a name that ain't theirs', but a name that ain't quite mine, either.” - Daisy Fields

“I hide all these things inside my head. These feelings, these emotions, these little blooms of color and love. I've lived my whole life in black and white, the color of everything I touched fading like a puddle when faced with the harsh morning sun.” - Norma Locke

“I'm a ghost of memories and little pieces of a heart that forgot to feel, repeating the same mistakes again and again as she's lost to time. But as that woman, that beautiful, strange, odd, amazing woman places her hands on my cheeks, I feel less transparent. Less ghostly. Less fractured, broken and beaten down. All my life I've been a disease slowly rotting who I am away. But I feel like in some way, Illene's the cure I've always craved.” - Norma Locke

“I've been a wandering, homeless soul for years. And at the end of trouble's road I met a woman, beautiful and strange who scooped me up gently in her arms as I clung to the folds of her shirt with feeble and decaying fingers. And as I closed my eyes, and swore I was about to breathe my last, she carried me home. How beautiful and strange it is that a life can change with a single name etched into it's future.” - Norma Locke

“There's some odd serenity about the way the waves whisper in secrets and old, forgotten treasure.” - Marianna Bones

“On the distant and rocking waves I met a monster with cruelty in his eyes and flickers of flame in his smile. And as he clenched a fist and told his men to open fire, I knew what rage felt like in a good woman's heart.” - Marianna Bones

“Here on this ship we follow a code. Help those that need helping, feed those that need feeding, and kill those that need killing. There's honor in our war torn, ocean misted hearts, and black blood on the tips of our honor coated blades.” - Marianna Bones

“I fight so that one day, my daughter can see a future ripe and full with peace. She's a warrior, fighting day by day, but I crave for the day when she can lay down her blade for good. She's my daughter born and raised, and in many ways, she's the reason I'm still alive. I was burdened and blind until she came into the world and gave me a reason to fight.” - Marianna Bones

“My heart lies with the sea, loving gently like the waves on a sunny morning, but beating with rage like a thrashing storm when faced with the cruelty creeping up the edges of this world's soul.” - Autumn Bones

“I'm not going to die peaceful, that much I know. No warrior goes out without blood on her blade and scars on her skin. She stands tall and sturdy in the face of death and refuses to back down until she can no longer stand. And even then, she bares her teeth.” - Autumn Bones

“On the distant, stormy horizon sits a ship, ripe and full with sinners, cheats and bastards, clambering over the holy to grasp at something dark. And on the mast, like a looming crow sits their leader, shouting in ancient tongues as he demands the light withers and dies as he rolls on by with the violent waves. I'll stare him eye to eye and watch him fall. Cause I ain't the kinda girl who dies so easy. He's been asleep in his cruelty for years, and my knuckles against his violence is his damn wake up call.” - Autumn Bones

“This kingdom of me came crumbling down the moment the red heart faded to black. I'm soil hiding ashen bones and ribcages overgrown by weeds and mercy, and in the distant call of my mind, I find something that was never home, but slowly, it's starting to be.” - Rin Otishiro

“My heart beat's sick with gambling lights and the edges of cards, and as I look back into the recesses of my mind I see a man, standing tall and empty, like a hollow husk of humanity. His eyes are alight with delusion and the spark of inhumanity. And wherever he goes, fantasy and death are sure to follow. I'd never known mankind could be so dark until he placed a thumb under my chin and told me I was a pawn in his game, and he'd always meant for me to lose.” - Rin Otishiro

“I sit here, counting scars like stars on my wrists.” - Rin Otishiro

“My name's still the same, but I change like the weather, going from rain to a hurricane in the span of a blink or two.” - Rin Otishiro

“My heart's rotten and black, crumbling into my stomach as I swallow my fucking words.” - Rin Otishiro

“Silent and sorrowful, I stood under a shadow. Rocking myself back and forth as I ripped pieces from out my mind and dipped my pen in their ink. If only to run my fingers across the pieces of me I hated, disguised as poetry and prose so one day, I could fall in love with all the pieces of me I'd grown to despise.” - Ashivana Cuttle

“She dances her fingers against my bare bones and all of a sudden, the aching begins to leave, replaced by this buzzing warmth that tastes of her love. Her lips on mine taste like freedom, like cool midnight air or the sun dancing gentle and warm on my cheek. I could drown in her love, as she could drown in mine. She's my end, she's my beginning, and as she makes love to the worst parts of me I come to realize she loves me for the good parts in me and the bad. As she pressed her lips against my neck and dug her fingers into my hair she whispered, "I will dance with your demons and taste the death on your lips, if only to learn to love every piece of you and all of you all at once." She cured me in ways I never thought possible, and I have this odd feeling that I cured her, too.” - Ashivana Cuttle

“Memory slips through my fingers like sand, and I can only watch them twist and turn with the wind until inevitably, I forget they were ever there.” - Angelo Lariplank

“I fear I've been dead ever since I woke in a forest ripe and full with memories I couldn't taste on my tongue, clothes covered in mud and blood, the knife that ruined me held feebly in my hand.” - Angelo Lariplank

“Do I trust this lie I tell myself? It's easy to swallow and sits gently in my stomach, building a garden of roses and little reasons to hold on. But the truth forces itself down my throat like greedy human fingers, ripping pieces from my heart and stripping the petals from my roses, leaving me no more than a scrambled mess of thorn and bramble. The truth rips me from myself and I drown in it.” - Angelo Lariplank

“The woman I loved always used to tell me I was her wolf. Not in the sense that I hunted for prey. But I was loyal like the moon at my back. But ever since she's been gone the moon's light's felt so lonely on the scars etching up my back. Her name's a tattoo seared into my tongue. I can never rid myself of the taste of her love, of her pleasure, of her lust. She tasted like my own tears on my lips and the gentle healing of my sorrow. As if she was the answer to the question I'd been for too long. But now that she's gone I sit as a gentle crow upon a grave that reads my own name. I'm a threadbare, starving question, and my insanity holds me up only to wait for an answer I'll never receive. In the words of Allan Poe, my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor, shalt be lifted- Nevermore." - Angelo Lariplank

“I'm an animal built off the desire to feel, and here I am, seeking emotion in the life that flashes behind a dead man's eyes.” - Andromeda Lockmowe

“This person I am is so ugly and twisted. Don't forget that the devil used to be God's favorite, but as she fell from heaven, pieces of her wings burning on her back, do you think she felt loved? Do you think she felt wanted? Or did her eyes flash with the anger of her father as he gripped her in his rough hands and cast her from the edge of his malice? I fell from heaven on bloodied wings, coughing up rose petals and thorns, wondering why the world never loved a lost girl like me. I fell through the air, grasping at pieces of me with tears in my eyes, only to land on the edge of my own knife, sputtering up all of me as who I am bled out from the corners of my eyes. Like red tears of emotion.” - Andromeda Lockmowe

“I look into my love's eyes and see something filled with pain and broken pieces of who she is, but as I place my hands gentle on her cheeks, and tell her my arms are the home she seeks, I can tell she begins to feel a little more like her and a little less like her scars.” - Jemini Paskel

“When she first laid her head on my shoulder, it was as if I'd swayed my brush against a blank canvas and watched colors bloom from grey to rose red. As if in that very moment, a future had begun to spill on the tapestry of us in colors that didn't exist, but would come to be as I tasted her lips and brokenness on mine.” - Jemini Paskel

“We're all stories waiting to be told by somebody who listened, somebody who not just read our story, but danced their fingers against every page and gently kissed every word. As if they wanted more than our beauty, than our love. As if they wanted to hold the ugly pieces of us in their hands and whisper, "How beautiful you must be, to hold all this pain inside of you and remain upright and tall in the face of such ugliness in your soul." But these pieces of us were never ugly, just things we didn't want to love.” - Jemini Paskel

“Magic was never little flickers of fire dancing on the tips of your fingers, or pulling a card from somebody's jacket. It was always love, and it always will be.” - Vishal La’Voila

“My mother was one of the most important people in my life. She saw the thoughts I hide in my eyes, and whenever she pulled me close, I felt a little less transparent. As if I was living rather than breathing.” - Vishal La’Voila

“She once told me that there was no greater magic than the love you feel when somebody tells you, as you're falling apart, "You're not okay, and that's okay. Let your emotions flow through you, feel them as deeply as you can, as if they were your roots digging into the Earth. Because it is that pain that will allow you to later stand tall and sturdy." In life, we all have the choice to write our own stories, to write our own identities. We don't choose who we are, but we choose what we show other people of ourselves. And that's the choice we have to make. To be ourselves and not care what others think, or to shrivel and hide away in fear of the sticks and stones people cast against the broken and different. You're strong either way.” - Vishal La’Voila

“I'll die a hero before I ever live as a villain.” - Lilluth Sillia

“I woke from a dream of smoke and fire, wondering why I could still smell war on the horizon as I rose from my bed. And it was with sorrow I learned that war sat on the edge of peace like a hungry beast, waiting to shove the merciful into it's merciless jaw.” - Lilluth Sillia

 “On the edge of another day I sit, butterfly dancing on the tip of my blade and bringing a small moment of magic to my tired and weathered eyes. The life of a warrior is rarely an easy one, nor is it an un-burdened one. But it's a weight I'm willing to bare. My eyes are tired and heavy, but I find it so hard to sleep. Be it the humming trouble in the cool night air or the blood that sits heavy in my memory, sleep is such a tragic thing for a hero. But as the stars begin to shine, and the moon casts a pale and gentle glow, I must remember the hero is not cruel in her justice.” - Lilluth Sillia

“The peace in me is gone, but it is not, forgotten.” - Haize Dents

“I dare not say their names, lest their ghosts crawl from out my throat and I lose all the things that make me me.” - Haize Dents

“There's a fire in me I cannot tame. It burns hot and blue in my chest, the words I swallow sitting like pale glowing kindling at the bottom of my stomach as my ashes rise from out my rage. I am smoke, and I am fire, anything I ever could've been flickering away as I stare into the dark. But when my eyes catch Stephanie's, this fire in me dwindles down and meets my heart, burning from anger to passion in the span of a single heartbeat.” - Haize Dents

“My heart is a desperate, broken thing, craving for warmth yet flinching as a finger slides across it's cheek. I wish to taste her love on my lips and her rage on my tongue, but I'm scared of the way my heart beats in my sleep like a murder soon to be.” - Haize Dents

“I used to sit on the edge of my bed, who I'm not creeping up the corners of my chest like greedy and rough hands clawing pieces off of me until I could hardly take another step without remembering the boy in the mirror. But I'm me, I'm me, and isn't that such a beautiful thing to be?” - Alexandra Harkol

“My father used to tell me that when pain comes a knocking, you grow with it, you let it walk beside you until the path diverges. And when it goes, you let it go with the shake of a hand and a thank you, for not swallowing me whole. And as my pain becomes just another speck in the sunset, I bid it farewell and thank it for allowing me to grow.” - Alexandra Harkol

“We were all searching for our Neverland on wings that didn't fly, so with our hands and human fingers we hoisted each other to the sky so maybe, just maybe, we could taste the warmth of the sun on the tips of our tongues.” - Alexandra Harkol

“We're not happily ever afters, in truth, there isn't one. But life without death isn't much more than jumping memory to memory, trying to make new ones in pursuit of what the old days felt like.” - Alexandra Harkol

“I used to be so lost in all the sorrow, the pain, the doubt. As if I was a book that got left as an abandoned manuscript, longing for the rest of my words to be read, the rest of my story to be tasted by the tips of fingers young and old as they flipped through the wondrous pages of me. But as I met Bardzimi, and his eyes flickered with some happy ending I'd always wanted to have, I found love where it was never supposed to be. And it was right in front of me all along.” - Ismerelda Sage

“I've learned that as we weep, our emotions drip from the tears and down our cheeks, falling against the soil and planting little seeds of who we were in that moment. And the Earth remembers the taste of our tears against her rough skin. She does.” - Ismerelda Sage

“He cured my scars with words, in places fingers couldn't go. He wanted to know every little secret and every little flaw so he could hold the dark pieces of me in his hands just to claim them beautiful. And what an awfully beautiful thing it must be, to be loved for both your light and your darkness.” - Ismerelda Sage

“The world's become a lost soul, clinging to the memory of what it was. And here we stand like ghosts, loving and living despite the constant remembrance of death.” - Ismerelda Sage

“On the edge of a dead man's blade I met a pale and dark angel, the shadow of her wings looming high and mighty over me. And as I knelt on broken knee, and she placed a clawed hand on my shoulder she whispered that all of me would die.” - Levi Lambright

“My heart opened up like a dying flower.” - Levi Lambright

“Oh I was just a boy of a doomed family, watching my brethren fall like rain from the sky. They shined with a pale and orange light, but just as the sun, they were bound to plummet back into the dark.” - Levi Lambright

“Darkness made a nest in my chest and dared ask, "Whatever happened to the light?” - Levi Lambright

“I have become such a stranger to myself, but I like the way this name tastes on my tongue. It is as if with the first man I killed, part of me fell with his corpse, and another part of me rose as I ripped my blade from out his chest.” - Levi Lambright

“I have replaced my heart with a cage, and that is where I reside.” - Levi Lambright

“I look at myself through transparent, nicotine hazed memories, wondering who I am past the pain of yesterday and tomorrow.” - Eithel

“I try to purge myself of everything I knew about my sister, but as I close my eyes and smoke another breath, I can see her. Like a midnight fire flicker in my mind. It would be cruel, to let her leave my mind, because it's the only place she's allowed to live.” - Eithel

“I try to pour who I am from a bottle of red wine, watching the crimson pour as it splashes against another empty tomb, knowing that no matter what I do, the bottle's gonna refill and I'll get drunk off this ghost I've become.” - Eithel

“She's an uninvited guest in my heart, looking from out my ribs with sorrowful eyes as she tells me she can never leave. And everywhere I look, I see her. She's in the pale and gentle glow of the moon, the flicker of the stars and the falling of light into shadow. She creeps up on every thought and every memory, the cold case she's become haunting my heart as she whispers she's long gone, and I'll never feel her in my arms again. I couldn't protect her, and as I broke my promise, the world must've vowed to kill me as I walk and breathe.” - Eithel

“My mind splits open to reveal all the memories I try to hide, pieces of my skull peeling back as all of me bleeds out into the open.” - Ontari Boneson

“I stare back into the past, looking deep into the empty eyes of a hollow man. He stands and looms over me, whispering that he'll be back, he'll always come back. His knife drips with shattered pieces of me, and here I stand, a person I no longer am.” - Ontari Boneson

“I've got scars etched up my back and spine, bruises growing in my mind as I try to figure out who the hell I am. But as soon as I walk through the door, my scars and memories whisper, "Welcome home." - Ontari Boneson

“My anger lives between the shattered pieces of my mind, chiseling away at my thoughts and memories with hammer and nail.” - Ontari Boneson

“Sometimes we just gotta fight for the light so she knows it's okay to come around.” - Aldia McVale

“I've met cruelty in the eyes of an angel I watched fall. Her smile slowly faded into cruelty, her curiosity turned to death, her fighting spirit to murder. It's perhaps the greatest tragedy of all, to watch good become evil. To watch a girl lose herself to the shadows of those who laid her down in the dirt.” - Aldia McVale

“I've never believed in kill or be killed, I've never believed revenge was the righteous option. And so with my blade in stone, I'll choose words over violence and an open heart over a fighting one. People like us, warriors of words and love can't lose ourselves to the idea that killing can be justified. In truth, it never can be. If I were to kill Olivia and watch her fall in a red pool of her sins and redemption, I'd be no better than those who twisted her starlight into shadows.” - Aldia McVale

“Cruelty lies to us, whispering that redemption can't be found. But if we push cruelty to the side and reach our hand out to love, to hope, to redemption, we'll find the light was always there, waiting to pull us into her motherly embrace and welcome us back into her arms like an old friend. She who walks back into the light after years of darkness is just as worthy as she who's always known the light.” - Aldia McVale

“Being different doesn't mean being bad. In truth, we're all different. No soul is the same. Normal is an illusion built off the idea that we hold all that we are on the outside. But on the inside, there's things that make us special, different, and we never show it. Because we fear taking off our masks as everyone else tells us who we are with plastic smiles and masked faces. I took off that mask a long time ago. My smile's real, my soul is real, and isn't it beautiful? To be real when so many choose to dance with an illusion?” - Akayla Vrizin

“It was as the rain fell, suit and tie clinging to me like skin soaked with sin, I found who I am, the pale light of the moon steadily trickling down the cracks in my heart until all that pumps through my veins was dark.” - Agusto Perwitz

“The love in me lies dead and forgotten somewhere in this crooked tapestry I've become. It slowly decays as weeds and thorns grow from out it's throat, greed and envy choking the good out of me as I take another merry step into the dark.” - Agusto Perwitz

“I've mastered the art of pulling the trigger in silence.” - Agusto Perwitz

“I've got a monster in me. She claws at the edges of my ribs and takes little pieces of my heart to stick between her teeth. And as the memories of the wicked wolves pass through my mind, she claws from out my throat and makes life hell for the cruel.” - Adsila Bloodvallo

“My heart beats slower and slower as I rot away in my cage. But as Tiana takes her hand in mine and tells me I'm no monster, just a fighter, I feel my heart go faster and the monster in me shrivel away for a moment or two.” - Adsila Bloodvallo

“I love Tiana, as if I was fire ever dancing in the midnight sky and she was the stars I try so desperately to reach with my flickers and sparks.” - Adsila Bloodvallo

 “I've spent too long fightin' myself with bare knuckles, breakin' myself down piece by piece just ta build me together again like a rickety and rusted tower, knowin' if I dare remove one shard'a me, this person I am'll come crumblin' down.” - Mavallo Clavelli

“Sometimes, people'll hate you for things ya can't control. And I've learned that's their choice and their misery ta live with. I won't carry the burden of a hateful man on my shoulders, it's a weight he's gotta carry on his own.” - Mavallo Clavelli

“It's been rainin' in this heart of mine for a long time now, but that's the only way the garden's gonna bloom in my chest. Under the clouds of sorrow and the skies of joy, I'll find who I am.” - Mavallo Clavelli

“There ain't no mercy in the war against oneself, cause you gotta walk out the other side yourself, or you're gonna come out the other side'a the war nobody at all.” - Mavallo Clavelli

“He's a victim of cruelty, not cruelty in of itself.” - Eliza McGriffin

“It's not such a cruel thing, to show a monster they were human all along.” - Eliza McGriffin

“I'm in control of the way this heart beats and the ways these emotions echo.” - Eliza McGriffin

“The Earth's letting out her final gasp, and here I am, holding my breath so she can have just a moment of my air.” - Eliza McGriffin

“We're hearts that love and feel with souls that hurt and bleed.” - Eliza McGriffin

“Cruelty takes little pieces of us day by day. Not enough to notice, but as days turn to years they've consumed who we are and there's nothing left of us past the full stomach of cruelty.” - Eliza McGriffin

“I'm my own worst enemy, but perhaps, when I'm not myself... That's a good thing.” - Pamela Vekeltin

“I'll whisper my secrets and sins to the wind in hopes they find a forgiving angel. And as Gabriel holds me in his arms and reminds me I'm more than this blood spilled, I swear the wind found his name.” - Pamela Vekeltin

“I've stood under my own shadow for so long that I hardly remember what light tastes like on my tongue. But as I breathe in the fresh air, the taste of love, hope and a slight tinge of freedom dance on the edge of my tongue, gripping at the edges of my lips with beauty coated fingers and love brushed smiles.” - Pamela Vekeltin

“I just look at my life, I see how much I've changed, how much I've grown, and I realize that who we are doesn't stick around. It wisps away as who we're meant to be comes on by.” - Olivia Wiltfang

“Some people just don't understand life. They take the pain and they turn it into a weapon, claiming strength is found in the swinging of a fist and the shattered edge of who we are. But true strength was always gonna be found in the beautiful vulnerability of love.” - Olivia Wiltfang

“I've got chips off my paint, faded stickers of who I am etching my surface, water stains and scars bared with pride on my hide. But at the end of the day, I'm the same person, hidden behind things that fade with time.” - Olivia Wiltfang

“This person I've become is like cigarette smoke. It brings me some since of peace, for a time, then I cough, I sputter, and this person I am fucking kills me.” - Walter Killgrine

“I hardly make a sound as I begin to fade away, because all my pain goes by unspoken, my sorrow quiet and my rage too loud to fucking bare.” - Walter Killgrine

“I used to have a heart in my chest, but as a dead memory of my past whispered from the shadows, "There's wolves in the dark," my heart jumped from out my chest, running as far as it could from that shadow of a man until it burrowed itself deep into the future of my grave.” - Walter Killgrine

“I'm no kind man. I've pulled triggers without a second thought, killed men for causes I don't believe in, stained my lips with loveless blood and watched good men die. I'm a secret to myself, always discovering new and twisted pieces of me.” - Walter Killgrine

“I've always stood under one shadow or another, be it the darkened sky of my family, the shadow between colored circus lights or the constant remembrance of a man I thought I knew. I've never seen the light, and now more than ever I fear, it would blind me.” - Walter Killgrine

“I cover my traces with pieces of barbed wire insanity, hoping who I used to be doesn't follow me.” - Draco Scoviney

“There are pieces of me that still lust for salvation, but the dark pieces of me drown them out and I lose myself to this woeful shout of insanity.” - Draco Scoviney

“My madness is calm, patient and silent, standing in the edges of my mind and bursting from out my skull like the mad woman's hands, drenched in black and red blood alike.” - Draco Scoviney

“In the castle of unwell minds and broken people, we've found who we truly are. This place stands like a revolver's shadow over peace and sanity, and my friend, we are the bullets piercing the skull of the well as the queen of damnation and madness pulls the hammer back, nails painted in the blood of the holy.” - Draco Scoviney

“I've not been me ever since I tasted my father's blood on my teeth. As he fell, grasping at a ruined throat, I found I liked the way murder tasted on the edge of my tongue.” - Draco Scoviney

“Some men grieve the loss of who they were, but God damn, I rejoice.” - Shakilo Vankelo

“I played a game of chance with my demons, and as I stand here, straightening my blood stained tie, a smile on the edge of my lip, who do ya think won?” - Shakilo Vankelo

“Before I go howlin' into the night, I'll raise a little hell and watch little pieces of heaven fall like fucked up masterpieces from the sky.” - Shakilo Vankelo

“I am the coinsurer of my own destruction.” - Shakilo Vankelo

“They never used ta speak my name, but now they howl it like a scar on the tip'a their damn tongue.” - Shakilo Vankelo

“I ripped myself apart piece by shattered piece until nothing but my heart remained. And as it looked for somewhere to run, I squashed it under my heel.” - Shakilo Vankelo

“The poor man dies under the rich man's boot, the rich man strives in the poor man's sorrow.” - Barsbley Martman

“Where all the cobwebs used to be, she's built a tapestry of her love, building reasons for me to live with flowers and daffodils in my chest.” - Barsbley Martman

“I've stood under the shadow of cruel men's riches for too long, always yearning for the heat of Summer as I stood cold in the winter. But as Lucienne brushes her lips against mine, I feel a sudden Spring in my chest, followed quickly by a calm and quiet Summer, lived under the light and shadow of sunflowers and rain dripping gardens.” - Barsbley Martman

“There is no greater trouble then the kind that lives in man.” - Barsbley Martman

“The most dangerous thing about the cruel man, is that he looks just like the good man. He's stitched kindness into his smile and learned how to pretend to be human. But at the end of the day, he was never human, just evil hiding in the vessel of a man.” - Barsbley Martman

“At the end of the day, I must wonder who I'll be. Because I spend my days in constant change, different people flowing through me as I grasp at the illusion of my identity.” - Barsbley Martman

“My whole life it seems I've been grasping at something that was never there, some cure to life that'd leave me content and full with imaginings and beauties. But I'm lost in a dream I had when I was young, and ever since, I haven't opened my eyes.” - Sasha Sunblume

“She's broken pieces in my memory, and as I whisper her name to an empty and colorful sky, I swear it's her tears I see in the rain.” - Sasha Sunblume

“I've been kicked out of my own heart and mind, clawing at things that aren't me and shoving them down my throat in order to be somebody else. But these pieces of other people grow like black rot and weeds in my stomach, breaking me down into a beautiful garden of black petal memories and decaying thoughts of yesterday.” - Sasha Sunblume

“With all the miles I've walked, I haven't gone anywhere at all.” - Sasha Sunblume

“I used to dance on a tightrope, wondering when my sorrow would send me plummeting toward my concrete doubts, clawing at air with tears and misery in my eyes. But now here I stand, having fallen and survived, knowing sometimes, that the fall's just your rebirth in disguise. How beautiful it is, to fall, breaking apart into somebody new as you hit the edge of your doubts and come out the other side of your misery the person you were always meant to be.” - Chala Flitfair

“I've got blood on the edge'a my snarl and darkness brewing in the edges of my eyes, but despite that, I gotta fight who I am and become somebody better.” - Sherwood Stinson

“I never had the chance ta live. I was born a boy'a the streets, hidin' under the shadow'a chance and misery. And as my brother and I fell from our own grace with the swingin' of a single crowbar, we lost who we were. As if we played a game of Russian Roulette with our demons, only for them ta laugh as we pulled the trigger 'gainst our skulls with a fully loaded chamber.” - Sherwood Stinson

“I look ta the sky, wonderin' as it rains, if it's my father's tears splashin' 'gainst my cheeks. I never had a chance to meet the man with a smile that could light up the corners of the world and a trench coat worn in the memory of my brother. But I can't help but imagine, when I bring this hammer down, he wouldn't be proud of this man I am.” - Sherwood Stinson

“Love and life are lived in the blink of an eye, so don't dare go blind to yourself, cause all the beautiful things in life'll pass you by.” - Elwood Sparrvitz

“My life was fraught with trouble and misery until I stumbled into the bar, smoke on my breath, the scent of trouble rising up from the bar's wooden floorboard. It was there, in a place of misery and part time sorrows I met the love'a my life, and God damn, life ain't never been so beautiful. I look inta Sandie's eyes and I see a life worth livin', a love worth fightin' for. And when I hear the laughter'a my children, I know I've found home in the hearts'a love an' family.” - Elwood Sparrvitz

“I was livin' five miles from myself, stumblin' and hitchhikin' on a road that weren't mine. And as I threw my thumb up, pointed at the stormy sky, a woman stopped by my side and asked if I needed a ride. And as we drove off inta the distant horizon, I met myself once more.” - Elwood Sparrvitz

“My home reeked of death painted on old scarred wallpaper, and under the silver shadow of my father, I learned what it is, to die. Death comes in many forms, and it isn't always a scythe she uses to reap. With human fingers and beastly eyes she comes for us in the form of those we know, greeting us with a smile so wicked and a song so gentle, lulling the lost ones to their eternal sleep in the emptiness of their lives.” - Calzell Flickerfeid

“I can hardly escape my mind, but I can say with certainty that I've escaped who I am.” - Calzell Flickerfeid

“It was in the white walls of an old mental ward I met who I'd become, sipping on the darkness I knew too well. And with a blank and hazed stare I can say, my mind never left that mental ward.” - Calzell Flickerfeid

“Away from myself I fell, drifting through emptiness and fate, death reaping little pieces of me as they broke from off my figure. And as I closed my eyes and accepted this new, violent identity of me, I awoke in a field of hay and wheat, night sky hungry, a blood washed knife held gentle in my hand. And by my side, covered in crimson smiles and wounds, I found me, staring blankly and hazed into the abyss of night and madness.” - Calzell Flickerfeid

[dfroza]

God in perfect wisdom

has made it look foolish to the world to “believe...” by trusting in a seed of rebirth, for the heart & body, as revealed by the Spirit in the Son. and even some get irritated by it. but it is fully meant that children would trust in it, for all those with childlike hearts to have faith that has been deposited as a seed of being first chosen by Love, since Love knows who will embrace its eternal truth.

and this is the Message we see shared in Today’s chapter of the book of Acts for those who care to read along with me that includes a threat imposed by men to stop sharing it, although who are we to obey in such cases, God or man?

as there is no fear of this world in Love, but there is the fear of God in Love, most certainly.

(chapter 4)

The conversation continued for a few hours there in Solomon’s porch. Suddenly, the head of the temple police and some members of the Sadducean party interrupted Peter and John. They were annoyed because Peter and John were enthusiastically teaching that in Jesus, resurrection of the dead is possible—an idea the Sadducees completely rejected. So they arrested Peter, John, and the man who was healed and kept them in jail overnight. But during these few afternoon hours between the man’s miraculous healing and their arrest, Peter and John already had convinced about 5,000 more people to believe their message about Jesus!

The next morning, the Jewish leaders—their officials, elders, and scholars—called a meeting in Jerusalem presided over by Annas (the patriarch of the ruling priestly clan), along with Caiaphas (his son-in-law), John, Alexander, and other members of their clan. They made their prisoners stand in the middle of the assembly and questioned them.

Jewish Leaders: Who gave you the authority to create that spectacle in the temple yesterday?

Peter (filled with the Spirit): Rulers and elders of the people, yesterday a good deed was done. Someone who was sick was healed. If you’re asking us how this happened, I want all of you and all of the people of Israel to know this man standing in front of you—obviously in good health—was healed by the authority of Jesus of Nazareth, the Anointed One. This is the same Jesus whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead. He is “the stone that you builders rejected who has become the very stone that holds together the entire foundation” on which a new temple is being built. There is no one else who can rescue us, and there is no other name under heaven given to any human by whom we may be rescued.

Now the leaders were surprised and confused. They looked at Peter and John and realized they were typical peasants—uneducated, utterly ordinary fellows—with extraordinary confidence. The leaders recognized them as companions of Jesus, then they turned their attention to the third man standing beside them—recently lame, now standing tall and healthy. What could they say in response to all this?

Because they were at a loss about what to do, they excused the prisoners so the council could deliberate in private.

Jewish Leaders: What do we do with these fellows? Anyone who lives in Jerusalem will know an unexplainable sign has been performed through these two preachers. We can’t deny their story. The best we can do is try to keep it from spreading. So let’s warn them to stop speaking to anybody in this name.

The leaders brought the prisoners back in and prohibited them from doing any more speaking or teaching in the name of Jesus. Peter and John listened quietly and then replied,

Peter and John: You are the judges here, so we’ll leave it up to you to judge whether it is right in the sight of God to obey your commands or God’s. But one thing we can tell you: we cannot possibly restrain ourselves from speaking about what we have seen and heard with our own eyes and ears.

The council threatened them again, but finally let them go because public opinion strongly supported Peter and John and this man who had received this miraculous sign. He was over 40 years old, so his situation was known to many people, and they couldn’t help but glorify God for his healing.

Peter and John, upon their release, went right to their friends and told the story—including the warning from the council. The whole community responded with this prayer to God:

Community of Believers: God, our King, You made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything they contain. You are the One who, by the Holy Spirit, spoke through our ancestor David, Your servant, with these words:

Why did the nations rage?

Why did they imagine useless things?

The kings of the earth took their stand;

their rulers assembled in opposition

against the Eternal One and His Anointed King.

This is exactly what has happened among us, here in this city. The foreign ruler Pontius Pilate and the Jewish ruler Herod, along with their respective peoples, have assembled in opposition to Your holy servant Jesus, the One You chose. They have done whatever Your hand and plan predetermined should happen. And now, Lord, take note of their intimidations intended to silence us. Grant us, Your servants, the courageous confidence we need to go ahead and proclaim Your message while You reach out Your hand to heal people, enabling us to perform signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.

They finished their prayer, and immediately the whole place where they had gathered began to shake. All the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began speaking God’s message with courageous confidence.

During those days, the entire community of believers was deeply united in heart and soul to such an extent that they stopped claiming private ownership of their possessions. Instead, they held everything in common. The apostles with great power gave their eyewitness reports of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Everyone was surrounded by an extraordinary grace. Not a single person in the community was in need because those who had been affluent sold their houses or lands and brought the proceeds to the emissaries of the Lord. They then distributed the funds to individuals according to their needs. One fellow, a Cyprian Levite named Joseph, earned a nickname because of his generosity in selling a field and bringing the money to the apostles in this way. From that time on, they called him Barnabas, which means “son of encouragement.”

The Book of Acts, Chapter 4 (The Voice)

A chapter paired with chapter #2 of Nahum in which we see a silencing of the traffic (chariot) noise that threatened Israel:

[Israel’s Been to Hell and Back]

The juggernaut’s coming!

Post guards, lay in supplies.

Get yourselves together,

get ready for the big battle.

God has restored the Pride of Jacob,

the Pride of Israel.

Israel’s lived through hard times.

He’s been to hell and back.

Weapons flash in the sun,

the soldiers splendid in battle dress,

Chariots burnished and glistening,

ready to charge,

A spiked forest of brandished spears,

lethal on the horizon.

The chariots pour into the streets.

They fill the public squares,

Flaming like torches in the sun,

like lightning darting and flashing.

The Assyrian king rallies his men,

but they stagger and stumble.

They run to the ramparts

to stem the tide, but it’s too late.

Soldiers pour through the gates.

The palace is demolished.

Soon it’s all over:

Nineveh stripped, Nineveh doomed,

Maids and slaves moaning like doves,

beating their breasts.

Nineveh is a tub

from which they’ve pulled the plug.

Cries go up, “Do something! Do something!”

but it’s too late. Nineveh’s soon empty—nothing.

Other cries come: “Plunder the silver!

Plunder the gold!

A bonanza of plunder!

Take everything you want!”

Doom! Damnation! Desolation!

Hearts sink,

knees fold,

stomachs retch,

faces blanch.

So, what happened to the famous

and fierce Assyrian lion

And all those cute Assyrian cubs?

To the lion and lioness

Cozy with their cubs,

fierce and fearless?

To the lion who always returned from the hunt

with fresh kills for lioness and cubs,

The lion lair heaped with bloody meat,

blood and bones for the royal lion feast?

“Assyria, I’m your enemy,”

says God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

“I’ll torch your chariots. They’ll go up in smoke.

‘Lion Country’ will be strewn with carcasses.

The war business is over—you’re out of work:

You’ll have no more wars to report,

No more victories to announce.

You’re out of war work forever.”

The Book of Nahum, Chapter 2 (The Message)

to be continued with a portion of Today’s reading of the Psalms and Proverbs for december 31 (Psalm 31 and Proverbs 31), the 11th day of Winter (Psalm 11) and day 365 of the year (Psalm 65) beginning with Psalm 11 in which the nature of a threat is seen against King David:

For the worship leader. A song of David.

I am already in the soft embrace of the Eternal,

so why do you beckon me to leave, saying,

“Fly like a bird to the mountains.

Look! The wicked approach with bows bent,

sneaking around in the shadows,

setting their arrows against their bowstrings to pierce everyone whose heart is pure.

If the foundations are crumbling,

is there hope for the righteous?”

But the Eternal has not moved; He remains in His holy temple.

He sits squarely on His heavenly throne.

He observes the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, examining us within and without,

exploring every fiber of our beings.

The Eternal searches the hearts of those who are good,

but He despises all those who can’t get enough of perversion and violence.

If you are evil, He will rain hot lava over your head,

will fill your cup with burning wind and liquid fire to scorch your insides.

The Eternal is right in all His ways;

He cherishes all that is upright.

Those who do what is right in His eyes will see His face.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 11 (The Voice)

[Psalm 31]

How Great Is Your Goodness

For the Pure and Shining One

A song of poetic praise, by King David

I trust you, Lord, to be my hiding place.

Don’t let me down.

Don’t let my enemies bring me to shame.

Come and rescue me, for you are the only God

who always does what is right.

Rescue me quickly when I cry out to you.

At the sound of my prayer may your ear be turned to me.

Be my strong shelter and hiding place on high.

Pull me into victory and breakthrough.

For you are my high fortress, where I’m kept safe.

You are to me a stronghold of salvation.

When you deliver me out of this peril,

it will bring glory to your name.

As you guide me forth I’ll be kept safe

from the hidden snares of the enemy—

the secret traps that lie before me—

for you have become my rock of strength.

Into your hands I now entrust my spirit.

O Lord, the God of faithfulness,

you have rescued and redeemed me.

I despise these deceptive illusions,

all this pretense and nonsense,

for I worship only you.

In mercy you have seen my troubles and you have cared for me;

even during this crisis in my soul I will be radiant with joy,

filled with praise for your love and mercy.

You have kept me from being conquered by my enemy;

you broke open the way to bring me to freedom,

into a beautiful, broad place.

My life, my every moment, my destiny—it’s all in your hands.

So I know you can deliver me

from those who persecute me relentlessly.

Lord, how wonderful you are!

You have stored up so many good things for us,

like a treasure chest heaped up and spilling over with blessings—

all for those who honor and worship you!

Everybody knows what you can do

for those who turn and hide themselves in you.

So hide all your beloved ones

in the sheltered, secret place before your face.

Overshadow them by your glory-presence.

Keep them from these accusations, the brutal insults of evil men.

Tuck them safely away in the tabernacle where you dwell.

Listen to me, all you godly ones: Love the Lord with passion!

The Lord protects and preserves all those who are loyal to him.

But he pays back in full all those who reject him in their pride.

So cheer up! Take courage all you who love him.

Wait for him to break through for you, all who trust in him!

The Book of Psalms, Poem 31:1-8, 15, 19-20, 23-24 (The Passion Translation)

[Psalm 65]

For the worship leader. A song of David.

All will stand in awe to praise You.

Praise will sweep through Zion, the Sacred City, O God.

Solemn vows uttered to You will now be performed.

You hear us pray in words and silence;

all humanity comes into Your presence.

Injustice overwhelms me!

But You forgive our sins, restoring as only You can.

You invite us near, drawing us

into Your courts—what an honor and a privilege!

We feast until we’re full on the goodness of Your house,

Your sacred temple made manifest.

You leave us breathless when Your awesome works answer us by putting everything right.

God of our liberation—

You are the hope of all creation, from the far corners of the earth

to distant life-giving oceans.

With immense power, You erected mountains.

Wrapped in strength, You compelled

Choppy seas,

crashing waves,

and crowds of people

To sit in astonished silence.

Those who inhabit the boundaries of the earth are awed by Your signs,

strong and subtle hints of Your indelible presence.

Even the dawn and dusk respond to You with joy.

You spend time on the good earth,

watering and nourishing the networks of the living.

God’s river is full of water!

By preparing the land,

You have provided us grain for nourishment.

You are the gentle equalizer: soaking the furrows,

smoothing soil’s ridges,

Softening sun-baked earth with generous showers,

blessing the fruit of the ground.

You crown the year with a fruitful harvest;

the paths are worn down by carts overflowing with unstoppable growth.

Barren desert pastures yield fruit;

craggy hills are now dressed for celebration.

Meadows are clothed with frolicking flocks of lambs;

valleys are covered with a carpet of autumn-harvest grain;

the land shouts and sings in joyous celebration.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 65 (The Voice)

to be concluded by these lines from Proverbs 31 about the sacred bond of husband and wife:

Who can find a truly excellent woman? One who is superior in all that she is and all that she does?

Her worth far exceeds that of rubies and expensive jewelry.

She inspires trust, and her husband’s heart is safe with her,

and because of her, he has every good thing.

Every day of her life she does what is best for him,

never anything harmful or hurtful.

and the thoughts of her husband toward her:

“There are many valiant and noble ones,

but you have ascended above them all!”

Charm can be misleading,

and beauty is vain and so quickly fades,

but this virtuous woman lives in the wonder, awe,

and fear of the Lord.

She will be praised throughout eternity.

So go ahead and give her the credit that is due,

for she has become a radiant woman,

and all her loving works of righteousness deserve to be admired

at the gateways of every city!

The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 31:10-12, 29-31 (The Voice / The Passion Translation)

with this reading accompanied by a post shared Today by John Parsons:

[Hebrew for Christians]

Shalom ahuvim. When Yeshua said that the truth would “set us free” (ἐλευθερώσει), he was referring to the acceptance of the Witness of Divine Reality (i.e., the Word, Breath, Spirit, Voice, Message, Meaning, and Love of God) that delivers us from the lies we habitually tell ourselves. If you “persevere in my word” (μείνητε ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ἐμῷ) he said, “then you are my disciples indeed, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐλευθερώσει ὑμᾶς, John 8:31-32). In other words, as we identify with his vision and redemptive mission, we will “be free indeed” from the tohu va’vohu (Gen. 1:2) – the “chaos and unreality” – that inescapably besets the way of the lie... We will be delivered from vanity and delusions of this world and its diseased affections; we will be set free from the need to justify ourselves by religion (perfectionism); we will no longer crave other people’s approval; we will not be moved by the crowd and its pressures; we will find courage to face our challenges without resorting to escapism; and we will learn how to experience peace even when we encounter frustrations. Despite our daily struggles and tests, we will be released from bondage to anger and resentment as we yield our will in trust that God is working all things together for our ultimate good (Rom. 8:28). Genuine freedom is not an “accidental property” of the heart, depending on “luck” or “fortune,” but instead is a decision to believe in the Reality of the salvation of God given in Yeshua our LORD. [Hebrew for Christians]

12.31.19 • Facebook

[not-a-coral-snake]

Okay like the rest of us I’m down for fucked up enemies-to-lovers with Will and James. But I cannot emphasize enough how much I also want to see fucked up enemies-to-foster brothers with James and Cyprian.

(Yes I know the High Janissary wasn’t raising them at the same time. Yes I know they have exactly zero positive interactions in canon.)

I want to see James sneering when Cyprian enters a room. “Here comes my father’s replacement son.”

I want Cyrpian to say “we’re nothing alike” and James to laugh at him.

I want Cyprian to yell at James, “Why do you hate him so much,” and James to reply, “Why don’t you?”

The particulars of their situation are specific to the fantasy world they live in, the machinations of the powers that be. The questions raised by it aren’t. How do you relate to someone with whom you share nothing but history and the particular fucked up mold your parents forced you into. What happens when one sibling remembers a parent as strict but fair, and another remembers them as an abusive monster. How do you handle it when one sibling’s lashing out at said abusive parent destroys they rest of your family.

I want Will in the foreground figuring out how you stand your ground and escape the webs set by a dark sorcerer king thousands of years ago lest the past repeat itself, while in the background James and Cyprian are figuring out how to escape the webs set by parents fucking up their kids lest the present generation be doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

[violettesiren]

I am Syrinx : I am she who when the gold,

Sun over the grey mountain burns awake,

Rises and drives the flock from the safe fold;

And all day long hidden in the green brake

Watches; or where the wood's heart grows so

still

That the least tremor of small leaves ashake,

Seems somehow a foreboding of strange ill. —

And I am she who gleans the scattered wheat,

And prunes the vine on the steep side of the hill.

I follow the white morning on swift feet,

I slumber in the thicket at mid-noon.

The racing wind bears me along with it.

And, for the gods' delight, under the moon

I dance, dance and laugh to feel my hot

Heart leaping frenzied to the wild pipes' tune.

But as for Love, truly I know him not,

I have passionately turned my lips therefrom,

And from that fate the careless gods allot

To woman. Love who has taken the world by

storm,

For all his fury of blind wind and flood,

Has had no power to change me or deform.

For the chill mountain-streams are in my blood,

And pale, phantasmal fires of dawn, twilight,

Shadow and dew are all my maidenhood.

And as the setting sun on the cold, white,

Snow-braided, frozen peak rests his fierce head,

Then goes out in a thin trail of light;

So Love, leaning upon my heart, instead

Of flame finds only snow and falls asleep

Quietly like a child on a soft bed;

And lies there forgetting the broad sweep

At noon-tide of his sudden, blazing wings,

Which thought my narrow life to over-leap;

Not knowing me tameless as the breeze which

clings

Round Summer's golden limbs when she moves clad

In music, wonderfully, where the pine-branch

swings.

Therefore what thing is this which makes me

mad,

So that no laughter of the rose-crowned year

Shall evermore rejoice me or leave glad.

My heart which now has a sick core of fear ?

I am Syrinx : a strange doom is over me

Like a cloud, hanging about me everywhere:

Yea, listen and marvel how such things may be!

I am bewildered and all overcast

As a spent swimmer struck sideways by the sea.

For once, as through the deep, cool wood I passed

Singing, for it was June, and ah, June goes!

And only song may capture and bind her fast;

I paused: there was no stir among the close

Boughs; for the heat nothing alive might breathe,

And the least wind swooned backward as it rose.

Outside the sick earth seemed to burn and seethe

Like molten metal in a pot. I saw

The sun, a wild beast with sharp shining teeth,

Eagerly search the barren land and draw

What of green might still be left therein.

To cool the rage of his insatiate maw.

Yet, through the leaves, his rays on my white skin

Played harmless and I sang, sang till a sound

Fell on my ears and made me reel and spin.

Low laughter welling lightly from the ground

Like water, mocking, sweet, and crystalline

As though up-bubbling from earth's heart profound.

And in it something bestial and divine.

So that my senses hearing it were stirred,

Quickened and overcome, as though with wine;

And motionless I stood even as a bird

Beneath a snake's eye; then when life began

To fail within me, once again I heard

That laughter and saw, crouched there before me, —

Pan!

The very shepherd and godhead of our hills

Whom I have feared more than the Cyprian.

Since his is the sharp secret breath which kills

At nightfall, and he is lord of death and birth,

And the year wanes and waxes as he wills.

Yea, very spirit is he and heart of earth.

And cruel as untempered rain and sun,

In those sick seasons when all falls to dearth.

And there shall none resist him, nay not one

On whom rest the eyes of his desire:

Wherefore am I too ruined and undone;

For though a little I may escape his fire,

Since he subtle and wise let me depart

That morning, helpless am I though I fly higher

Than the eagle, yea or press the waves apart,

— The cold, dark, clean, indifferent sea-waves —

Nay, though I shelter in the whirlwind's heart,

Pan, Pan shall have at last the thing he craves,

Me: and my shadowy days must sink to naught,

Falling earthward like shed leaves when the wind

raves.

Yet might these weary toils wherein I am caught

Break, break! Would that I might become

A shadow or fast fading flower wrought

From day and night, or sunshine or blown foam

Ere this thing chanced, or a clear drop of rain

New scattered, or music suddenly fallen dumb;

A note of music by its own breath slain,

Blown tenderly from the frail heart of a reed

Whereof the singing shepherd lads are fain,

Who with strong, careless hands from all toil freed,

Pluck joy, pure joy, green-growing from the soil,

And turn and twist and shape it to their need.

If this might be! If some kind god would foil

The inexorable purpose of Pan's lust,

Having pity on my swift youth's recoil;

My frugal, kindly, passionless days which must

Perish, perish like wild wood-berries,

By sharp-hoofed goat-feet trampled all to dust.

If they would sigh towards me, bidding me cease,

Changing into white sap my willing blood,

And granting me the calm of growing trees,

And of the reeds springing in the frail flood;

Being myself portion and part of these,

Surely, beyond all longing, it were good!

I am Syrinx: I am afraid : I would have peace.

Syrinx by Margaret Sackville

[foxhenki-blog]

Every Hour Is the Witching Hour

Lovecraft was obsessed with astronomy, and the moon in general. His favorite phase probably being the Gibbous moon. This particular moon phase is featured as a backdrop in The Doom That Came to Sarnath, The Unnameable, The Statement of Randolph Carter, and Dagon — to name a few.

October is approaching, and for those of you who are my regular readers, you will know that October is historically bad luck for me. I have tried a number of approaches and, honestly things have been a bit better, but I can still feel the cross that lies on the back of that month.

This month, due to no other reason other than my secret identity being incredibly busy at work, I haven’t been perpetrating any type of meaningful practical magic as I normally would in an effort to ward off the coming months crossings. Something strange happened in this past month that got me thinking today. One of my (and I’m assuming many others) principle stressors in money, and that is the shape that my October crossing typically takes. It is also the focus of my past counter-magic. For example, last year and the year before, I prayed fervently to Saint Cyprian during his feast days for his assistance in uncrossing this area of my life and uncrossing October forever. Nothing manifested and truth be told, I had given up on the Sorcerer Saint as an entity that was open to me.

This year during Cyprian’s Feast Week, however, as I was stumbling my way through the world of business in the guise of my secret identity and inexplicably, my money issues evaporated right before my eyes. I won’t go into the details but it was principally due to the research I was conducting for work and while I was completely 100% not thinking about magic. It was also exactly a year since I last appealed to the spirit world through prayers and sigils for assistance.

The timing of the highly improbable act that resulted in these issues evaporating was significant as well, as it fell on a Monday, which the Hygromantiea states is good for Dominating Others, Buying, Selling, Lending, Borrowing and Asking Things of Authority — and they disappeared on Lunar Day 23, which is good for Learning the arts, buying and socializing. Lending, buying and selling all intersect with th

I guess what I’m saying, and what I have said, is that magic takes time and it runs to a specific calendar. Not only is it important to pay attention to timing when you conduct rituals, invocations or make your prayers heard but it is important that you provide the appropriate space for those results to manifest.

There is no proper blog post this week for the Myconomicon project. Once I got into the subject it was clear it was going to take at least another week to complete the research properly. As a consolation prize, I have linked a spreadsheet I built that cross-references what the Hygromanteia says about the Days of the Week and the Days of the Moon, what they are good for and what they are not so good for. I hope this resource proves as useful to you as it has for me.

Hygromanteia Days of the Week and Moon

Many thanks to Saint Cyprian for his intercession. I have remembered and will keep my promises to you.