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imagine--if · 2 years

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Riddler Year One #1: My Thoughts

I cannot actually say enough how much I loved this comic 😍 because we get to see the full backstory of Edward and what made him the Riddler, and understand him better! Also, it really links in with The Batman film, what with the mentions of Anikka and everything.

Feel free to comment your own thoughts or tag me in posts you make about the comic!! Aight, so here's my essay for you all - these are my thoughts, so they might not be accurate to other opinions and stuff... please don't come at me 😂:

In The Batman, Edward Nashton mentioned feeling "invisible" and being "nobody" to Batman when they talked in the asylum, but reading the comic, you can really see just how low he thinks of himself and his surroundings. I think the darkness that fills his mind and blurs the background perfectly shows what he's seeing and feeling, and how he panics through the day and night. That's how the comic starts; Edward is overwhelmed by his dark thoughts, and it's also how the comic ends. Gotham City "scares" and "disgusts" him, and it's clear that he wants the happiness and attention everyone else seems to get so easily. Being isolated socially, apart from when he does his puzzles online with his "only friends" takes a toll on his view of himself, since his pleas for such attention only leave him feeling "unwanted," "unnoticed" and even "repulsive."

So when Edward is seen by The Batman when Anikka is attacked, he chooses not to tell his followers "how he looked at him." Batman probably didn't even remember or take much notice of Edward's presence, but since Edward was finally seen, even to that extent, by someone else, especially a vigilante who was unafraid to show Gotham's horridness, it was really special to him. Therefore, he keeps that part of the experience to himself.

The only things that calm Nashton's mind are when he's focusing on work - the numbers - or solving riddles. He's shown listening to some kind of podcast that tells him to shift his focus, something he finds extremely difficult. This is shown through the slightly disturbing illustrations of his daydreams, like the one with the train, and seeing people on the train's faces morph into monstrous expressions. He tells himself repeatedly to "breathe," though his thoughts never really stop plaguing him. At one point, the thought of dying as an unwanted and abandoned orphan makes him physically throw up, and the tangled webs of darkness and monsters' eyes in the room disappear afterwards to be replaced with a sad, clear blue tint to the bathroom.

One thing that really stood out to me is Edward's obsessive, repeated rambles through the phrases he writes again and again in his workbook as if he's trying to convince himself, trying to clear his mind a little by letting as much as he can out on paper. This evidently does nothing, since after he fills a page with "I am enough," Edward ends up scrawling "No you are not," in large letters on the bottom. The same repeated writing style is shown in the movie, where The Batman notices the wall and the plans for the traps. The way they work is written, again and again, filling several pages, which displays his obsessive nature and "meticulousness" over his puzzles, as The Joker commented in the deleted scene. His thoughts of Batman ultimately lead him to slightly change his opinion and comfort himself when he writes over the ramble "You matter" as a speech bubble. This is the same quote Edward wrote on a newspaper featuring Thomas Wayne, though the words mean more coming from The Batman than the late Wayne.

At the KTMJ, when Edward sees a chance to prove himself to his boss after uncovering a money laundering scheme, no one there seems to care, and he is even threatened by his boss in terms of losing his job if he didn't let the subject go. This sign of corruption must have been one of many things that got to Edward and inspired him to become The Riddler. This ultimate rejection from his respected peer also leads Edward to harm himself by burning his hand in boiling soup, wishing that he'd just approached the boss in his office instead of following him to the diner and "creeping him out."

... 😅

So, this is my weird analysis of the comic 😂 I hope you liked it and enjoy reading the comic just as much as I am! It's great to uncover more of his character, since it really helps me write more accurately for him, and I like sticking as close to character as possible for my readers to get into it. If I've got anything wrong (I might have lol) feel free to comment with your views and stuff! I'm always interested and open to new perspectives and ideas. I haven't covered absolutely everything, mostly the thing that stood out to me the most and things I think I understand the best, so if there is anything specific in the comic you want me to talk about or anything, let me know in my inbox!! I'm really into Riddler Year One right now and think everything about it is spot on 💚

Hope you enjoyed reading my rambling attempt at a essay review 🥰️

#riddler year one #edward nashton #paul dano #danonation #the riddler 2022 #riddler comic #dano riddler #riddler #batman riddler #the riddler #edward nygma #dano!riddler #paul dano riddler #paul dano movies #paul dano nation #paul dano characters #comic review #dc comics #dc riddler

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union-rec-studios · 2 years

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HOW TO CHOOSE THE PERFECT ALBUM COVER FOR SONGS

A stunning album cover grabs a music lover's attention. It is a gateway to your music. So, design your album cover effectively.

It's not just the music inside that counts but the artwork on the cover makes the first impression. This is especially true on digital music platforms. When your album artwork stands out, potential fans are most likely to listen to your music.

Album cover art is also an important aspect of music promotion and distribution. Another way to brand yourself is the design you use to present your music. It reflects your style as much as it does your music!

No matter how big or small your audience is, make a powerful visual impact before the first note plays.

Here, let's learn how to choose the perfect album cover.

Know yourself and your audience. When considering how to visually represent your music, take a step back and reflect. What is your name? What vision or ideals do you wish to communicate? What is your audience's opinion of your band? What effect will your album cover have on your work?

You can't create a great cover unless you first answer these questions. Examine the covers of bands you admire or identify with, and solicit feedback from trusted friends and fellow musicians.

1. Go digital

Remember that your fans' first impression of you will often be in the one-inch form of an iTunes image. Check that your album cover is consistent and compelling at both small and large scales.

On a related digital note, while you may believe that liner notes are a relic of the 1990s, don't pass up the opportunity to release a digital booklet - often in the form of a PDF - to enhance your cover and expand on its design.

2. Be minimalist

Sometimes the simplest designs are the most effective, and they are also more memorable. Don't be afraid to select a minimalist layout that will pique the interest of your audience and potential listener. Make sure it fits you before choosing a maximalist album. Keep in mind that you want to select album cover art that accurately represents your band.

3. Use effective text

You'll also need to consider the text and the numerous font options as they have a great impact. How will they manipulate or subvert the image? Will the text be small or large? Will a band photo be covered by it? Will the font have serifs or be sans serif? hand-drawn? Perhaps a signature?

4. Express yourself with colours

One of the best albums (and album covers) of all time, Joni Mitchell's Blue is the ideal illustration of how a single color perfectly complemented the sound and visuals of the piece. Consider how color will affect the mood and tone of your entire album by doing some research on color psychology.

Often colors are linked with specific thoughts and feelings, such as red with passion, green with tranquillity, and white with unbiasedness. Consider the possibility that using color may help you stand out from other one-inch icons on iTunes.

5. Put the details

It's acceptable to get carried away with the design when creating your album cover—it can be a lot of fun! But when your design wears off, make sure to keep in mind the essential album elements that you include, such as band and album name, track list, licensing and legal information, etc.

6. Find the right designer

However, if you doubt your capabilities in selecting the perfect image, color, text, and more, consider hiring a designer who could simplify your life. Professional designers are super capable and experienced in illustration and graphics. They bring your ideas to life in the best possible way. They are most efficient and know perfectly well what will be the best for your album.

Conclusion

A key component of releasing music, gaining fans, reaching new audiences, and advancing your musical career is producing eye-catching album cover art. The requirements of most music retailers and streaming services can be met by following these general guidelines. Produce compelling artwork that will attract viewers and promote your music!

UNION Recording Studio, a professional recording studio, assists you in producing your music by offering several music-related services, such as mixing and mastering audio records. We are here to help your career grow as a musician. Therefore, we also share tips and information from the music industry. If you need, contact us. We are ever ready to help you.

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undyingpriestess · 4 years

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LEVANA MORRIGAN MORELL is 220 YEARS OLD and the COURT NECROMANCER as well as ADVISOR TO THE KING in all matters arcane. Typically, you can see her with haunting the castle halls in IRON CASTS and a CRUTCH wearing BLACK KOHL around her eyes to hide her perpetual dark circles. She uses SHE/HER pronouns.

SKIN AND BONE.

You have not always been power-hungry. In the beginning, when you’re no older than twenty and you struggle to come to terms with your abilities, you are soft around the edges. More willing to concede that your skills are a tool to be used by others and not by yourself. You travel from court to court, king to king, offer your services and abilities and vast knowledge – acquired at the Temple, of course, when the Temple was once secretive – in exchange for safe harbor. Most accept because they are terrified, and you work this terror to your advantage. They might worship necromancy in Tyrholm, but other cities and states are entirely different matters. Across the Sahrnian sea you are almost crucified when you reanimate the queen-consort’s favorite wolfhound. No matter, though. It always ends the same way, and as you grow older, extended your life beyond your years, lose the sensation in your legs and your ability to scream, you realize that there will always be a pattern. A pattern you’ve been missing, apparently, but a pattern nonetheless. Another ruler dies and you set your eyes on Tyrholm with the intention of a new experiment. If they were weak enough, could you orchestrate the fall of of an entire nation through an incompetent king? You think you could, if you chose to. If you chose to, the Undying whispers into your ear at night. Your fingers clutch at the sheets, and when you rise the next morning, you step onto the next ship that will take you and sail.

You arrive two years into King Septimus’ fledgling rule and he is enamored by you, in spite of the hair you’ve allowed to grey at your temples and the serpentine smile you possess. Surely your entrance is a clandestine one, a blessing sent down by the Undying God, he says, and you pat his hand. Reassure him that this is meant to be. It doesn’t take long to persuade him to disavow his former arcane advisor and put you in their place; what you know outweighs the tomes and tales of old. You have firsthand experience, something he delights in at first. But time, much like everything else, passes. You watch as Septimus grows old and fat and feasts and refuses to act but will not abdicate or let go of his rule no matter what words you put in his ear about destiny. You’d been expecting an idiot for a king; most of them were. You hadn’t been expecting someone so stubborn. In recent years your resentment has only fostered. He doesn’t listen to anyone, especially not you, and acts on a whim rather than on information. He possesses a personal spymaster, an assassin, a literal ruler of the high seas, and – most importantly – you. His laziness is beginning to grate on your nerves. You think the time has finally come to topple all the pieces on this particular chessboard over and move along. You’re out of patience.

This skeleton was written by Julie.

FLESH AND BLOOD.

It’s an unfortunate thing, to carry the legacy of a ghost before you’ve even taken your first breath. Her parents were never able to really let go of dead things, though. Their marriage was long dead before they even tried for their first child, the love that they had once had for one another before even that. They held onto their dead ideas and dreams just as they had held onto the memory of their first daughter years after she was buried six feet beneath the dry soil of the summer ground. A famine had swept through their country and Levana’s poor sister had never stood a chance, despite the prayers that had been offered up by the Morrells time and time again. The last vestiges of their hope for something living had been placed on Levana and even when she had been placed into her mother’s arms, howling and red-faced, it hadn’t been enough. Where her sister had been a thing of beauty, she was a shock of white hair and sharp edges – looking like the corpse that her sister very much had been.

The irony of it all was not lost on her. It was perhaps why she had such a wry, dry sense of humor despite how tragic it actually was. In the face of fate’s cruel humor, she couldn’t help but laugh along with it. She still had air in her lungs, a brightness in her eyes and a smile so bright that the moon had no choice but to look on in envy. When her mother would bite and spit at her, she would simply turn her gaze the other way and go out to the fields once more - either to lay in the wheat or lounge upon the back of their old, weary work-horse. As the sun would shine upon her pale, ivory skin she was more than content to let it eat away at her, all too happy to live a life of ease, if it only meant that she not bother the world with her existence and it not bother her with its woes and tragedy. Levana had disappointed her parents enough, there was no need to disappoint the rest of Tyrolhm by imposing her useless heap of skin and bones, her cutting mouth and staunch moralities.

When she wasn’t blissfully sketching away with a bit of charcoal stolen from the hearth or wrestling another bottle out of her father’s hand, she always managed to corral the kids of the neighboring farms into grand, elaborate games. She was always the leader, the one who set the rules, who dictated what was fair and what wasn’t – just as she was always the one to clean up the scrapes and bruises of her comrades, whether they “fight for the king” or not. Even when she ruled with an iron-fist it was clear that she was soft around the edges, forever armed with a warm smile and a bawdy joke that would have made her mother balk and her father grab the broom to smack her with it.

What a lovely childhood she had. She wished she could remember it, now. She wished it had lasted longer.

The days of playing games of mages and holding mock-court were long behind her. The reality of her inability to be anything more than a farmer’s daughter was beginning to make the Morrell household a rather suffocating place to be. Too odd-looking to marry off, not savvy or competent enough to hold the land and keep it to herself. There was no profit to be made in caring for the children of the countryside or teaching the war-ravaged and orphaned creatures how to find joy in capturing the smile of another in charcoal, or coaxing them into sweet sleep with tales of pirates and warrior women. No man wanted a woman so useless. No family wanted to pay a dowry for useless little Levana who could only offer a shining – albeit impish – smile. The only suitor that had come knocking had left in quite a hurry when he realized how strong-headed she could be, how sharp her tongue was and how her eyes seemed to see right through the facade of gentility and courteousness. For the umpteenth time in her life, she had been sent to bed with an empty stomach – though, throughout the night it had been full of laughter at her suitor’s expense.

Not long after, on the night of her 20th birthday, when her parents were ready to sell her to the most ill-reputed house in Tyrolhm that was furthest away, the Undying God decided it was high time that the blessings they had placed upon her be brought into the light – the revelation of her abilities shining unabashedly in the bright, spring sun.

Her little gaggle had all grown and had children of their own or moved to have adventures across the Sahrnian sea. Some of them even became clerics at the Temple, while she was all too content to take each day as it came, toiling away at the dying soil, listening to the bickering of her loveless parents, frequenting the markets and listening to the songs of bards that were passing through. Levana had taught the children of the countryside her games – telling them tales of the glorious adventures she and her friends had when they were in the golden years of their childhood. Wars raged while wielding sticks in the place of swords, and pieces of barks as shields. One of the girls had stumbled into the stream – its waters tumultuous and high from floods that had come from the melting winter snow. The fretful, panicked hands of the small children tugged at her skirt, pulling her from her place beneath the shaded tree, voices high and weeping as they tried to pound life into little Errena’s chest.

That was the first time Levana could recall giving everything.

That was the first time Levana could remember trying.

She remembered peering up through the leaves, watching them sway in the light breeze. Years later, she knew that it was the last time she had ever known the meaning of peace.

Untrained and reckless, she had poisoned the earth that was there – and because it hadn’t been enough, she had poisoned something within herself as well. The grass had grown black beneath her fingers, parched and dry as though it had never known green days. She remembered the cries of horror from the children as they had watched her body bow over little Errana’s, had heard the guttural noises that tore from her lips, the darkness that had been cast over her eyes. If the Undying God were to have had a voice that could be heard, it would have been the very same that poured from her lips as she called Errana’s name from the land of the dead. When she had arisen with the girl’s cold, trembling hand in hers, she looked at the children that stared at her in terror – a weary smile on her lips as she told them to run along and keep this secret between them. There was no need, though; terror was the most effective muzzle.

She packed her bags and made her way to the Temple, leaving the Morrell lands and the Morrell name far behind her. Levana never thought to question why it was so easy for her to leave those ties behind – the land of golden wheat and warm, drowsy memories. She never thought to ruminate on which part of her had died that fateful day when she had exchanged a life of peace for Errana’s beating heart. Levana built her life anew as Morrigan, giving the name at the steps of the Temple, while enlightening them about the tale of a girl once known as Levana. There had been no need, though; it would always be worth it for the lives that she managed to call back from the arms of the Undying God. Her tutelage at the Temple illuminated the path that she had willingly turned a blind eye towards in favor of lazing days spent adventuring under Tyrolhm’s golden sun. Ravenously, she consumed the tomes that they placed in front of her, testing the limits of her power and reflecting on the tolls that they took on her. For one of the orphan girls she resurrected a bird that had been target practice for the impish little boys – and for that she lost her taste.

For a queen’s handmaiden, she had animated the limbs of her poxed brother, and for that she lost the life of the only person she had made there that she could have called friend – a wizened old tutor whose eyes were milky and whose lips carried lines from smiling so often. The years began to bleed into one another, her hunger for knowledge growing as her abilities did until she began to spend restless nights squinting into tomes as the wax of once-tall candles melted into stubs. The coldness of corpses and the silence that they offered became more familiar to her and far more preferable than playing the enigmatic mage at the courts that the Temple recommended she visit. But for many years, she clung to who she remembered herself to be, the charming and vibrant girl that had spent so many days dictating which child would be allowed to be king, who was to be the advisor, the general, the serf, the mistress, and the queen. Her cutting tongue was known to cause riots within courts, stirring subjects with barks of laughter, making handmaidens and queens flush – charming kings and princes and royals alike.

They whispered of her across the lands and the wide, raging sea – the necromancer with silver hair and dark eyes, whose smile you wished to see before you died, whose siren-like voice you heard call you from the embrace of the Undying God.

But just as death and life were inseparable, were one, so too was the love and hatred of those who heard the tales of Morrigan. There were those who sought to control her, just as she had controlled the corpses – shackling her in dungeons until she did their bidding. There were kings and queens who wished to bed her and use her for nothing more, casting her out of their castles mid-winter when they realized she would not. Poisonings and beatings were something she learned to become familiar with (demoness, devil, defiler), prejudice, bigotry, and poverty haunted her as assuredly as her sister’s nearly-forgotten ghost had. And what did the Temple do but preach to her about the practices of her power and her duty to guard wayward kingdoms from their tumultuous, violent ways? What more was she meant to do but bear these burdens and slights, so that they might know she might usher in a new age of peace? In her many travels and over the two centuries that she walked the earth she had lived a number of lives. The mage, the pick-pocket, the farmer’s daughter, the con, the philosopher, the artist, the scholar. Not a single one of them had known peace as intimately as Levana Morrell had.

But she was dead.

Only brought back to life once, in the chamber of a queen she thought she had loved, across the Sarhnian sea who always kept a wolfhound at her side. Morrigan thought she had the heart of a wolfhound too, which made it all the more easy to lay her heart at the queen’s feet. She remembered how she had poured herself into the creature, had harkened for its heart to beat, for its heart to rise. Some nights she can still taste the growl that had torn through her throat – an echo from the wolfhound’s maw. She could still feel how her spine had bent over the limp form, arms twitching, back arching as the creature began to rise to its feet, tongue lolling, eyes black. In restless fits of sleep, her and the hound became one in the same. Sometimes she would wake, touching her teeth, thinking that they might be sharp. Within that week, she had been ushered out of the castle by one of the queen’s advisor, his eyes unable to meet hers as her threw her traveling cloak over her shoulders, shuddering away when his skin had grazed hers, paying no mind to the way he had the guards drag her since her legs didn’t seem to respond and gave way.

When she was returned to the Temple she wept for a fortnight, unable and unwilling to leave her bed. She had given everything and they had taken everything. There was no one but herself to blame – and what was worse, she still craved the power that had poured forth from her. She hadn’t noticed how her legs had failed her, only the way all eyes within the court had looked to her in awe, in terror, in reverence, in horror. In the years that followed, she learned to use her legs once more, the iron casts and crutch aiding her, adding further allure to the century old necromancer whose bright eyes brought corpses to life in the Undying God’s name. She knew what power the whispers of common folk and courtiers had. When she had laid her heart out for the queen consort, something within her had exhaled its final, shuddering breath. Something within her had risen from its ashes and come to life – awakening with a ravenous, insatiable hunger that eclipsed any she had ever known.

In the eyes of the great court, she had seen within them the reflection of the death defier that was whispered about. In them, she had seen the power that she had. She could realign the stars and there was no doubt that they would look at her with that intoxicating concoction of horror and awe. They would have no choice but to do as she wished – and what she wished was for that power to be wielded by her and her alone. To bring about the Golden Age of the world as she would define it.

The woman that stepped into the court of King Septimus was a far cry from the girl that had spent her days lounging beneath the large branches and green leaves of an age-old tree. Her iron casts had echoed as she entered the large, grand doors of the castle and from the moment she laid eyes on Septimus, she saw a future of glory – the Golden Age made incarnate. He was malleable beneath her touch and in the first decade of his rule, she flourished. It was not unlike when she was a child, dictating this and that, her the cutting edge of her words coming off as roguish and charming, refreshing and novel as the entirety of his court leaned in to listen. Morrigan forgot, though, how quickly novelty can wear off and before long the revulsion sets in, her contempt for Septimus beginning to become a nigh-impossible pill to swallow. She thought that perhaps her intuition had failed her, that once again fate, with its cruel humor, hoped to make a mockery of her once more.

The mage with all the power in the world at her fingertips was unable to bring anything more than a handful of decades of tenuous peace, known for nothing but carnage and carnage alone under King Septimus’ rule.

She didn’t even have the ability to laugh, as she once might have been able to. That power had been taken from her, too.

The yawning hunger within her, though, did not balk in the face of kings, though. It recognized neither the limitations of Morrigan’s own body, the intricacies of politics, nor the iron, bloodied fist of Septimus. All it knew was how close she had been to power – fingers outstretched, yearning, reaching, grasping. She remembered the weary faces of the soldiers as they returned from the carnage, how pale and wide-eyed they had been, how their armor had shone, painted with the scarlet blood of the fallen. One soldier’s eyes had lifted to hers and within them, she saw the lifelessness of so many corpses that had been laid, prostrate at her feet before harkening to her call, their once-still hearts beginning to beat something fierce.

If she could not bring them peace with King Septimus then the issue was simple; she did not have enough power to. That made her culpable for this carnage. The sharp-toothed hunger within her stirred, sinking its claws deeper into her as the last vestige of her patience was swallowed whole. She would take the power that was not given to her. She would crown a new king and usher in the Golden Age of peace that she had envisioned, or upturn the board and start this game anew, with the rules dictated by her and her alone.

Her lips had twitched as she recalled a girl, standing atop a rock, dictating to those beneath her the new rules of a new game.

That young girl had been rather good at that.

She would be too.

NOT A SOUL IN SIGHT.

#she has lived for too long | about #LISTEN THE LINKS ARE JUST ILLUSTRATIONS BUT NOT ACCURATE #IT WAS THE BEST I COULD DO

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keow · 3 years

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Hi! This is a weird ask, but would you be willing to post resources/arguments about Christianity being true? Like, were there specific ones that convinced you to convert? I was raised Catholic but didn't really believe it growing up, but would like to have the same feelings about faith and peace that you posted about. I'm in a bit of a bad place right now and would like to go back and deepen my faith but it's hard.

This isn’t a weird ask, don’t worry! I’d love to provide you with some resources :) I’ll try to include both visual and auditory mediums as I don’t know what your learning style is.

I don’t mean to overwhelm you with information, please forgive me if this is too much 😗

I’m going to split this up into different categories of content here, based loosely around my conversion journey—i.e. what I had questions and doubts about. Please remember that faith is a very personal journey and you may have different concerns altogether, but hopefully this will give you a starting point to jump off of.

First: Arguments for the existence of God

Breaking in the Habit - What is God?

The Thomistic Institute on the Five Ways

Pints with Aquinas - Explaining Thomas Aquinas’ Proofs

Pints with Aquinas - The Best Argument for the Existence of God W/ Trent Horn

Lumen - Arguments for the Existence of God (overview)

Subcategory: Near death experiences This is clearly anecdotal evidence and therefore not as strong, but I found reading about near death experiences to be extremely interesting. I liked browsing the NDE subreddit :) The common experience of SOMETHING among those who nearly die is at least indicative of there being more beyond the material realm, and by extension, a God.

Second: Arguments for monotheism

This isn’t a common apologetics issue unless you’re a convert from a polytheistic religion (which I was), so there’s less content on this.

Pints with Aquinas — Aquinas on Why There Can’t Be Many Gods

Jordan Peterson on Monotheism

Third: How reliable are the Gospels? Did Jesus even exist?

Biblical Archeology Society - Did Jesus Exist? Searching for Evidence Beyond the Bible

Pints with Aquinas - Is the New Testament Really Historically Accurate? W/ Trent Horn

The Great Myths - History for Atheists This is a SECULAR website created by an atheist seeking to correct the flaws in his fellow atheists’ arguments. Much to his chagrin, I found the website and now I’m a Christian. Here is their Jesus Mythicism series.

Influence - The Reliability of the Gospels

NAMB - The Historical Reliability of the Gospels

History - The Bible Says Jesus Was Real. What Other Proof Exists?

The Science of Apologetics on the historical accuracy of the Bible

Answers in Genesis - How Do We Know the Bible is True?

Fourth: Was Jesus the prophesied Messiah?

Jews for Jesus - What Proof Do You Have That Jesus is the Messiah?

The Top 40 Messianic Prophecies

Two Messiahs in Judaism: Ben David and Ben Joseph

Be Thinking - Messiah: Jesus, the evidence of history

Fifth: The Resurrection (and the events thereafter)

The Resurrection, Evidence, and the Scientist

William Lane Craig Debates Ben Shapiro about Jesus

Did the Resurrection Really Happen? | William Lane Craig

Capturing Christianity’s interview with Dr. Gary Habermas Short highlight from that video the Science of Apologetics on Evidence for the Resurrection

Links from the bottom of that post: One, two, three, four, five

Sixth: Did Jesus claim to be God? Theology of the Incarnation and the Holy Trinity

The Thomistic Institute on the Trinity: The Triune God (Aquinas 101) The Persons of the Trinity (Aquinas 101)

Breaking in the Habit - Did Jesus Claim to be God?

Trinity explained by CS Lewis: Christian "Trinity" Explained in 3 Minutes The Three-Personal God by C.S. Lewis

Christianity.com - Did Jesus Claim to be God?

Ryan Reeves - The Incarnation and Jesus Christ (In 90 Seconds)

The Thomistic Institute on the Incarnation: The Meaning of the Incarnation (Aquinas 101) Motives of the Incarnation (Aquinas 101)

Bishop Robert Barron - Understanding the Incarnation

Seventh: Miracles and saints just because I personally think they’re really fun!

Lessons from Lourdes: Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette

Pints with Aquinas - Scientific EVIDENCE for Eucharistic Miracles? w/ Fr. Terry Donahue

Actual information on incorruptible saints

Our Lady of Fatima and the Miracle of the Sun

The Shroud of Turin: The Catholic Talk Show Mr. Mythos Lecture on the Shroud

Our Lady of Guadalupe

The miracles of St. Padre Pio

PDFS AND STUFF— Writings of saints, theologians, and apologists.

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

The (searchable!) Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas

Rome Sweet Home by Scott Hahn

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis

Early Christian writings from the Church Fathers

Saints’ Books - A collection of free writings from Catholic saints

St. Augustine of Hippo: On the Trinity Confessions

Miscellaneous favorites:

The Thomistic Institute Ascension Presents Fr. Mike Bible in a Year Podcast The Catholic Talk Show Pints with Aquinas Pints with Aquinas - Apologetics Extravaganza with Trent Horn Capturing Christianity Free Christian Apologetics Resources - Capturing Christianity Bible Illustrated BibleProject Lectures on early & medieval church history by Ryan Reeves Breaking in the Habit / Catholicism in Focus Upon Friar Review Trisagion Films Servus Dei discord server

Apps: Hallow Catena: Bible and Commentaries The Chosen (This is a tv show! It has its own app. It’s really good and accurate to the Gospels.)

My personal tips section :)

While it’s very important to have a logical foundation for religion, PLEASE don’t underestimate the power of simply sitting with God in prayer. That’s the most important thing. I love praying the rosary, practicing lectio divina, praying novenas, reading the psalms, etc. Prayer shouldn’t always be scripted either. The pre-written prayers are helpful for when you aren’t really sure what to say or where to start, but you should speak to God from your heart as much as possible. Sometimes prayer doesn’t even have to be verbal! Sometimes it’s just a state of being.

Music also goes hand in hand with this. Hymns can really help you get into that religious spiritual headspace when you feel disconnected from God. Here’s a channel that posts some good ones. Read the Bible. When in doubt, just read it or listen to someone else read it. It’s truly the inspired Word of God. For a while it was really hard for me to connect with Jesus for some reason, but reading the Gospels has been instrumental in building a stronger relationship with Him. It’s kind of a given but you might have the same blockages as I did.

A good way to learn more about Christianity, the Church, and her saints is to keep track of the Church calendar. For instance, find out what important feast days/holidays are coming up, then research and learn about them around the time that they occur. Okay that’s pretty much it! Feel free to DM me about anything (I love theological discussion). I hope things get better for you--trust that I’ll be praying for you. Have a lovely day!

#yes im pinning this. who’s gonna stop me 😏

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kohiu · 3 years

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Q&A - Let's chat!

Hi, it's Kan. Thank you for everyone who has sent me questions since last week, I am also combining this QnA with questions I've received directly before, so brace yourself!

1. What brushes do you use?

Hi!! I mostly use my custom brushes which can be downloaded from my Clip Page. Or simply search for "kohiu" on Clip Studio Profile, in case the external link doesn't work.

Here is how I've customized my G-Pen brush in Clip Studio Paint.

2. I love your poses and compositions! They're always so dynamic and unique. Do you have any particular thought process when coming up with illustrations?

Thank you! I will just repeat this answer from my fanbox: When it comes to personal illustrations (whether fan art or original), I tend to muse from the music I listened to. Which is why I often include "BGM" in my posts! Even with my Goretober book, I don't want to try too hard to commit to the set prompts. I like to break myself from the conventional illustrations I have to work with on a daily basis.

TL;DR: I'm pretty much anti-boredom.

(11 more questions answered under Read More!)

3. Would you ever consider posting speedpaint videos? How about tutorials?

3a. This is more of a request than a question and I am sorry. If you have the time and do not mind would you mind recording or doing more step by steps of your sketchwork or casual drawings? I really enjoy watching processes and from what Ive seen of yours in the past its very interesting. The way you use fill brushes is really neat. Thank you

3b. not a question but I really love watching that one speedpaint you put on youtube ages back (it was just a white haired person in a tracksuit sitting on the ground) and find it inspiring, i hope you'll make more in the future sjdjshffh or if you have uploaded any other ones in the past, can you link them for us??

Hi!! I thought of just combining these questions into just "timelapse video request", but the messages are so nice... So I have to show them here, so thanks! Though I apologize for the textwall for everyone else though.I managed to spend a day to record, edit and upload this timelapse

and semi-explanatory of the tools I used for the illustration. This video is not a tutorial, nor it should apply to all of my works, so keep that in mind!

youtube

Timelapse Video: https://youtu.be/ch-uPze1CII

(if you're seeing ads in the video, let me know so I can replace the video with no sound instead).

4. How did you get into art?

Playing with crayon pencils, doodling at the back of a receipt papers, you know, kid's stuffs. Otherwise, persistence and stubbornness have led me here now today.

5. What did you major in?

I have a Bachelor of Arts in Language and Linguistics.

6. What are your (art) inspirations?

In my younger years, I was most definitely influenced by manga and video games. By the time I got access to the internet, seeing all the independent creators out there, they definitely influenced me from time to time too.

If you're looking for arts recommendation: Check out AKIRA, I love the way they compromised the calligraphy thick brush into their illustrations.

My only most consistent "inspiration" is music. Even the video games and shows, the sole reason why I was so enamored by them was because of the sound design. As I am reaching my 30s, I am finding more experimental music to listen to everyday.I can recommend a ton. For now, I can't stop binging Kamen Rider Zero-One OSTs.It's on spotify!! Wow!! Please watch this show with me!!

7. Do you have any anatomy resources, figurine/mannequin for drawing recommendation?

I bought this Anatomy-kun and Anatomy-chan series just a few months ago! All four of these costed like $25 from a Chinese storefront. I hope you can find a good price, depends on your local store and such. They help me the most in positioning characters in different perspective and angle!

For Anatomy book, I got this one: Anatomy for the Artists by Sarah Simblet. [Store Link].

I'd say my anatomy observation isn't the most accurate out there. I prefer to draw body parts which are considered attractive to me (yeah).

8. Typically, are you more likely to draw with no idea in mind and have that turn into an illustration, or do you go into illustrations with a goal in mind from the start? which is more enjoyable?

It depends!

In commissions, I'd have first to memorize the information given to me, and then coordinate it into my already prior knowledge of the topic. It's a fun challenge for me to work with external direction!

With personal arts, this is also 50/50 in terms of "go wild" vs "work with intention". I can also definitely change my mind in mid-progress, scrap and redo everything over. Either method requires Patience, I don't see which one is considered more enjoyable to me (laughs).

This is also why I'd have to flat out refuse request commission of my typical "sketch page", or "just a rough sketch!", usually refer to my typical personal doodles. It is difficult to price something that is considerably spontaneous in nature. I don't set any certain standards when doodling for myself too. So um, even if they look "so easy" in the audience's eyes, they're... actually... not easy to make.

TL;DR Sometimes I go head empty no thought AND sometimes I want to draw with a structure.

9. Do you have plans to develop your original stories/ideas into anything?

I don't have any plan to develop my original projects into anything yet. I appreciate there is a tiny crowd that keeps an eye on them though!!

10. I've noticed you disabled most reply/message methods on tumblr and twitter. I assumed you might not like it, or something must've happened to you.

Yeah so basically I just quit social media. I've tried to come up with several explanations (or excuses? (ง ´͈౪`͈)ว ), the only consistent reasons are:

- I have zero energy. - Mental health weird. - Is in constant self-quarantine and not touching as much grass as I should.

Friends would come reach me out to ask "why? what happened?" out of concerns. And it'd be, too incorrect to say "oh no nothing happened!!". But, yeah, apparently, right now, having an offline hobby is actually more emotionally rewarding. Eh, on a side note-

If you're long-term mutual or a friend and would like to keep in touch with me pleaaaaase I'd love to have your discord. Come talk to me!! Kinkshame me!!! Email me!! Go to my email address!! (it's kohiu(@)outlook(dot)com OR contact(@)kohiu(dot)com ) (and YES i have to have to add the (@) and (dot) because I get so much spam mails for the span of 2-3 years, theyre SO BAD).But yeah please don't interact with just my public posts bc 99% I will miss those.

11. Do you post your art right away after completion? Or do you prefer to wait for awhile before posting? (Do you collect your arts from a different times before posting?)

With my years of realizing how I'd notice a million mistakes after posting, I prefer to Not post art after completion anymore.

It took a bit of self-discipline, and a private discord server for me to upload drawings I've finished in real-time. It does help a lot! Especially with large paintings that I cannot finish in one-sitting. I totally recommend you to create some sort of private blog platform in which you can keep in check with your progress. Discord server works for me because of how easily searchable it is. I can organize on-going projects in directory, and when I'm done with them, they can be exported with an app called "ExportChatExporter".

Being able to archive things... feels really good....

As of how I operate now with Patreon, Fanbox and Gumroad ebooks. Yes, I do prefer to post collage of drawings I've completed in different times. And these platforms suit me best. With celebratory (fan) arts, I did have to draw them prior to posting date, and sampled and then scheduled the publishing on different platforms. My apologies if it seemed like I was online when my posts were live (lmao), I only check on my posts once I start to schedule another one again.

12. Are you into any video game lately?

On the top of my head. the games I've managed to finish (last year) were Red Dead Redemption 2, Life is Strange 2, Hades, Obra Dinn, and some [redacted] ero games.

Right now I'm glued to Dont Starve (Together), and slowly going through Blasphemous.

13. Been a long time fan of yours but has there ever been times where you wanted to stop drawing?

I thought a lot about this question, and I don't know how to answer this genuinely without sounding grim.

I always have a difficult relationship with arts. One example was around summer last year, I'd break down crying in front of my friends how I'd like to quit drawing altogether, find a job related to my degree instead. Another example is around earlier this year, I reached out to a complete stranger that... went under really difficult circumstances with their arts. We're friends now!! Although we didn't get to find any solutions to our original problem (laughs).

These days I limit myself to post online, and I may one day stop posting arts altogether. I'm at peace with that idea now, I think.

At the very least, I never run out of things to draw.

Q&A ends here.

Those are all the questions I have gathered!! If you have any more questions uhhh, just email me. I will keep my anonymous google form open for now until I decide to close again. Thank you so much for everyone who have helped me this QnA!! I can now go back to sleep _(:3_|

#QnA #QnA2021

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evilovesyou · 3 years

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SHOW YOUR PROCESS

To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.

RULES - When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag up to 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you'd like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours.

I was tagged by @whatagreatproblemtohave who did a really interesting explanation of her Louis portrait in oil here!

Anni tagged me to show my process on making the dress I’m wearing in this post. Above is a nice BTS picture from the photoshoot I did (not using the actual pictures, but I’m sure if you snoop around a bit you’ll find them on my instagram.) Luckily, I have a million pictures of the process and tumblr won’t let me put them next to each other so they’re all full size. More under the cut.

1. Design

So I made this when I was in the master’s class for costume design and the theme, obviously, was fashion in the rococo era. I made this mood board for it first.

So this was about general shapes, themes, fabrics and colours in a way? Then I did a bunch of quick sketches and sorta settled on this one.

Then I picked fabrics and drew a more detailed sketch.

2. Pattern Cutting / Understructures

Listen. There’s a lot to know about patterns and I really don’t wanna bore anybody, with it all, but I’ll say this: The way this was made is not historically accurate. It’s meant to be a stage costume, so it’s supposed to be as easy to put on and change as possible. (Which in this case is not very ahahah)

-- Underskirt with boning. It’s basically a lot of tunnels on marquisette fabric with metal planchettes inserted (not sure if all the terminology is right in English, sorry if it’s not). All the planchettes are numbered and you have to kind of sand them down so they don’t damage the fabric and then poke holes in them so you can fix them where they need to be.

There’s a bunch of layers on the skirt which I will illustrate with pictures. It’s dacron cotton and black satin. Basically it’s draped, marked, cut and then sewn on by hand.

-- Laced stays. I’m not gonna give a lot of detail with the pattern here because that would really take it too far, but... pictures! The boning is marked in the pattern before it’s transferred to the muslin and this is also done with metal planchettes instead of actual whale bone.

These are the planchettes for the corset and how they are sanded down.

3. Overgraments / Final Touches

Again, I don’t wanna go into too much detail. The next couple pictures how the devant (front part of the dress that peaks out from under the manteau) is made and the beading on the stomacher.

With the patterned fabric I chose, there was a lot of figuring out how the patterns will align and a lot of stitching things together to see if it will work. These are just satisfying to look at.

Here’s me trying on sleeves and hand-applying lace to the back part of the Watteau pleats and the train in the back.

Then there’s hemming and actually hand-sewing the skirt to the corset, which is A LOT, because you have to hold it all in place and get the needle through a lot of layers and it’s really heavy. My fingers still hurt thinking about it. Anyway. After trying this on the other day, I found out that it’s pretty big on me now so if I ever want to wear it again, I should take it in which will be annoying. We’ve reached the end. Goodbye.

Tagging @dependsonwhospitching for this awesome edit!

@londonfoginacup for this drawing and the fic that goes along with it!

@halosboat for this drawing of hariel!

@fallinglikethis on this fic that she co-wrote with @wait4ever!

@so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed for this fic!

#showyourprocess #tags #rococo dress #18th century dress #dressmaking #historical costume #mine #personal

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flyonthewallmedstudent · 3 years

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Vaccine hesitancy..

It's an issue where I am, as well as the rest of the world. And I'm getting tired of the local government ad campaigns getting it wrong. I don't think you need to advertise the fear of COVID or advertise the fact that we have vaccines. What public health really needs to do is address the sensatlonalized reporting of clots. Like that's all I hear now, more than COVID itself, the "Astra Zeneca Clots". The public has a heightened fear of the clots and now we're seeing an over-reaction.

At least do a survey or some research, surely that was done before spending millions on these useless ad's. Ask the public why they're hesitant then do an ad campaign or public health education campaign that directly addresses that.

I'm frustrated with the news too, where nowadays it's about sensationalism over being informative to attract more readers (and thus ad revenue).

Adverse reaction is associated with any medication, be it panadol/acetaminophen or a vaccine.

But how it's currently reported makes it seems like something so rare, is common. When it is not. What it does is it primes us towards cognitive bias. LIke frequency illusion.

Or as VOX illustrates, our brains are wired to overreact to scary stories rather than statistics. Like how we perceive shark attacks as common when it hits the news. Or how "common" terrorism and terrorist attacks are post 9/11, when chances of choking on food and dying of that is higher than dying of a terrorist attack.

With Astra Zeneca, "Clots" may occur in around 4-6 people per million vaccinated. At face value, that seems not so great. But again, it's all about context.

Pregnant women face a 1 in 500 to 1 in 2000 chance of developing a clot. The OCP also increases your risk of clots, although less than actually being pregnant. Combine that with flying and your risks are imminently higher.

Long haul (long distance) flying also causes clots just by flying alone due to the immobility and elevation. That risk is about 1 in 6000. And yet most of us will still board a plane.

So how much risk is 4-6 cases in a million? Much lower than getting a clot from the actual COVID virus, or other severe symptoms that would require a hospital visit or O2. (The actual COVID virus is 10x more likely to give you the same clot that comes up in the news surrounding Astra Zeneca).

I'm not frustrated with the public, just public health and our media, not clarifying this better if their aim is to reduce vaccine hesitancy.

If it doesn't convince everyone to opt for vaccination, that's okay, but it will still appropriately educate those who are on the fence and would actually get vaccinated with clearer information or in consultation with their healthcare providers if they're unsure. Some of my college friends who have PhDs in biology and science are even hesitant about COVID vaccination (but they're not about the flu or childhood vaccines - all of which also carry extremely rare risks for scary sounding diseases).

This a concept I'm borrowing from paediatrician and California Senator Richard Pan, who took on childhood vaccination hesitation which lead to devastating measles outbreaks linked to Disneyland.

Pan knows there are some in the anti-vaccine movement he’ll never win over. “You can listen,” he said. “You respond with the factual information. They don’t accept that. They’re not going to change their minds. The more important thing is communicating to people who genuinely want to understand the issue the reasons why we’re doing the policies that we’re doing and debunking the misinformation that is being put out there. And, most importantly, we need to reach out the parents who have been misled and share with them accurate information.”

What about the Pfizer vaccine? What exceedingly rare ADR is caused by Pfizer? Myocarditis. Inflammation of the heart muscle wall that can cause AMI or heart attack like symptoms, that can cause hospitalization. But that's not as sensationalized as clots. So now western countries are unloading their Astra Zeneca everywhere (mainly the developing world) and doing back orders of Pfizer. Again we're talking, a handful of cases per million. You're much more likely to get myocarditis from a variety of viral illnesses. Including COVID itself.

Anyway, not a vent about the public, just public health and the media for the dropping the ball completely during a pandemic.

#medblrs #medblr

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theonceandfutureking6481 · 3 years

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BBC's Merlin Season 1 Episode 3: The Mark of Nimue Analysis

*SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE SHOW*

First off I always look fondly on this episode, mainly for Morgana being hilarious and epic, I mean she has the best line in the whole episode:

Arthur: You could get hurt

Morgana: So could you.... if you don't get out of my way

This episode is also fun and interesting from the perspectives of plot, characters and themes. Sorry, this is extremely long, I have a lot of opinions about Merlin.

Gwen and Merlin

This episode is in many ways about Gwen and Merlin's friendship, it is the driving force behind all of Merlin's actions within this episode and is the stepping stone for this show considering how to find a balance between acting for the greater good without suggesting that the ends justify the means.

Merlin and Gwen are first off just very sweet, their friendship is really characteristic of this show's representation of friendship overall, just genuine love and consideration for others. It is also self-sacrificing, that's one thing about the relationships in this show they are so self-sacrificing.

When Merlin says to Gwen "I didn't like to see you upset." It reveals a wonderful fact of Merlin's characterisation that I would argue stays consistent for the whole show. His motivation is always grounded in how much he cares for the people around him. He cares deeply about his friends and they are largely his reason for doing the things he does. This line is a wonderful parallel to in season 3 when Merlin decides to let Morgana die (after he accidentally trips her down the stairs), but then in the end he heals her because he couldn't watch everyone's grief. Merlin cannot separate his actions from the people he's doing them for, and he can't stand to see people hurt when he has the power to fix it because the people he loves are his motivation, they are the reason he wants a better world. This show does establish (as I'll discuss further down) that what seems immediately right (healing Gwen's father etc) isn't necessarily the right decision to make for the greater good. This is some ways always questions the validity of Merlin's motivations and his actions, but I'd argue it more seeks to find a balance. Besides a Merlin who didn't act motivated by his love for others is not a Merlin that could have helped Arthur build Camelot.

Medievalism: duty and social obligation

Quick disclaimer cause I'm touching on a more scholarly issue here that I have limited knowledge of, so I will undoubtedly make mistakes and this is my opinion. Everything I write is my opinion, but that's more obvious when I'm commenting on the themes of a fictional world rather than making a comment on actual fields of study which is what I'm doing here.

BBC's Merlin is an example of medievalism, it is an engagement with the medieval era (or ideas/images associated with it) for modern times. I honestly don't know that much about medievalism, or the medieval era, certainly not enough to make an extensive commentary on its representation in Merlin. One thing I would argue is that Merlin's representation of friendship has its roots in idealised views of the virtues of the medieval era. For many people the Middle Ages represents a time of duty and social obligation, this on one hand does lead to a stringent class divide but it also finds its idealisation in the sort of friendship represented by Merlin. The premise in most societies that place great value on social obligation is that the needs of the community outweigh the needs of the individual, that people should sacrifice themselves for the community as a whole. Every society places emphasis on this in different ways and to greater or lesser extents and our view of it as being prevalent in the medieval era is largely an idealisation based in some historical reality but also our own desires about what this era represents. There is a kind of social responsibility in the relationships in Merlin, there is a great emphasis on loyalty which is part of this idealisation. However, Merlin makes it more personal than is often depicted. We idealise social responsibility and obligation, it is often tied into the social roles of people such as loyalty to a king, or paying back debts of honour which is a form of social obligation. Merlin is more about friendship, it takes our idealisation of medieval social obligation and makes it the obligation and loyalty we owe to people who love us and who we love. I will always say that fundamentally Merlin as a show is about love, and it emphasises what we owe to people in our lives in a way I believe echoes idealisation of medieval loyalty.

This idea can also be seen in Arthur's fundamental trust of others, his fundamental assumption that everyone around him is not seeking to harm him, and that people are generally good. This ties a bit into the idea of social obligation. Arthur's idealised world is one in which people have bonds of social obligation towards each other, that people are seeking to act in the interests of the community. It's an idealisation, both of the medieval era but also an idealisation in Arthur's own head of the world he lives in.

Morgana and Gwen

Their relationship is somewhat expanded on in this episode, and they are just so sweet. Gwen gives Morgana flowers to cheer her up and its just lovely. They have a very genuine and close relationship. Morgana also has great respect for Gwen, for the work she does, and she treats her with respect.

Morgana: "If she was a sorceress, why would she kneel on the cold stone floor every morning if she could make these things happen with a snap of her fingers, like an idle king."

Aside from being one of Morgana's many quality burns towards Uther, this also illustrates one of her greatest characteristics, her empathy and genuine respect and admiration for what Gwen does everyday. She doesn't see the class divide in the same way Uther sees it or Arthur pretends to see it.

Also interesting note I heard in a Merlin podcast (I can't remember which episode), it could have been the episode about this episode. It's called Destiny and Chicken (you can listen to it on Spotify and anywhere else you find podcasts- they even did an interview of Bradley James who plays Arthur at one point), and its very good. But, they said something interesting about the paralleling between the relationship between Merlin and Arthur and the relationship between Morgana and Gwen. Both are fundamentally important and genuinely caring relationships for the character. However, for Morgana and Gwen (unlike Merlin and Arthur) the class divide remains much more in place, Gwen treats Morgana like her friend but she also treats her like her mistress in a way Merlin just doesn't with Arthur (especially not so early in the show when he's not so admiring of Arthur). This isn't to say their relationship is bad or has problems, its just different whilst still acting as a parallel. I'm not sure exactly the extent to which I agree or what this says overall in themes but its definitely interesting to think about.

Uther: "A Good and Terrible King."

This episode shows Uther at both his best and his worst which is always fun because Uther is a genuinely interesting character. I got the line from my favourite Merlin fanfiction Coronation by rageprufrock, which you should definitely read, I'll link it down the bottom, it's not too long so you can read it in half an hour. It's a character study of Arthur more than anything else and its amazing, wonderful and deeply poetic. Uther is not a huge part of this fanfic, its about Arthur's character and his relationship with Merlin and his kingdom, I'm not even sure he actually appears. This line though perfectly tapped into how I always felt about Uther so it connected:

"He's been a good and terrible father, a good and terrible king."

I often think in characterising Uther we do tend to villainise him to an extent which I personally don't find accurate. This is obviously just my opinion, and I have a tendency to think the best of people so more intensely negative views of Uther are very jarring for me. He did terrible things and I truly believe he is the ultimate villain of the show but he is very human and he could be a good king and he loved his children more than anything else. We cheapen Merlin's point if we cast Uther as pure evil, everyone is capable of evil just as much as goodness. Uther is the tragedy (like Morgana) of a person who could have been good or at least halfway decent corrupted and destroyed by his own hate and ignorance. That's the point of the parallels between Uther and Morgana, we love Morgana and she was capable of so much good, but she corrupted herself with hate.

Onto this episode, Uther shows both his capability and goodness as a king in this episode as well as his hatred and ignorance. Uther's initial reaction to the fact that the plague is caused by magic is a concern about his own authority, which isn't entirely unfounded, but does reveal a huge priority of his which is control. He fears not being able to control, that's were his cruelty as a father comes from and to some extent his opposition to magic. This does not show Uther in the best light, but his actions later in regards to dealing with the plague show a decent king who cares about his people. This scene in which he tells Arthur to shut off the lower town perfectly illustrates this:

Arthur: But what about the people who live there

Uther: Don't you think I haven't considered it? What else can I do? I have to protect the rest of the city

In this situation Uther is right, there is very little other choice, he's making a hard call but it's one he has to make, and he seems genuinely distressed at having to make it. He does care about his people's well being, and he feels the burden of their protection, he can be a good King. Much of Arthur's story is in breaking away from the legacy of Uther, and rightly so, but Uther also taught him many things and one of those things is the duty Arthur has towards his people, it's a duty he takes even more seriously than Uther, but nonetheless he learnt it from him.

This however, as I've hinted, is not the whole story of this episode, Uther is also shown at his worst, and his worst is his ignorance and prejudice towards magic. He is willing to sacrifice justice and even sacrifices logical thought to his blind persistence that magic is evil.

Arthur: She's right Father. You hear the word magic you no longer listen.

Uther: You saw it for yourself, she used enchantments.

Arthur: Yes, maybe. To save her dying father, that doesn't make her guilty of creating a plague. One's the act of kindness, of love, the other of evil. I don't believe evil's in this girl's heart

Aside from what this says about Arthur. Arthur's comment about Uther hits right to the point of things "you hear the word magic you no longer listen". You no longer listen implies its a choice, and it is. Uther has made the choice for the last 20 years to choose to go on a dogmatic campaign of hate against magic because its easier than considering the alternative, that he was complicit in his wife's death. What Uther says immediately after "there are dark forces threatening this kingdom." is the argument used by so many people throughout history, used to justify so much hate. That there is an evil out there threatening the stability of life, that the world must be controlled and people have to live a certain way or risk destroying their own lives. It's an argument that justifies campaigns of hate and makes them personal to ordinary people who usually wouldn't care, and it is always a lie, that's not how the world works.

This episode thus shows Uther at his best and his worst, both a dutiful king and a stubborn tyrant. It's a tragedy of what he could of been, and shows how twisted up people can become when they justify their decisions with hate and fear.

Arthur

This is the first episode where Arthur really opposes Uther, he directly questions Uther's indiscriminate hatred of magic, and an episode where he realises to an extent he perhaps hadn't before some of the ways in which Uther has failed as a king. He also consciously acts in deception of Uther, because he can see Uther can't see sense. Arthur shows far more nuance of view than Uther does, understanding (even whilst still accepting as he will for a long time that magic is dangerous and it corrupts) that using magic doesn't make you automatically evil. To see the world the way Uther does is a conscious choice, you have to choose to be blind to the virtues of every apparent magic user you come across, you have to believe harmless spells are the signs of greater evil. Arthur is not someone who lets his own cowardice blind himself to reality, and so his worldview can see far more nuance than Uther can.

"One's the act of kindness, of love, the other of evil. I don't believe evil's in this girl's heart."

He further has a very positive view of others, Arthur will always see the good in people and that is a great strength in my view. In a lot of versions of the story Arthur's not just inspiring because he's good but because he assumes others are good too, he trusts people to do the right thing and I do believe that, that can inspire people to do the right thing. It's funny in Merlin Arthur's trust gets betrayed so many times but it never really hardens his heart, he continues to trust people no matter how many times he gets betrayed. This can be seen in his perception of Guinevere here, he will not assume she is evil because she has made a mistake, he can see the virtue in her actions, and he will assume goodness until proven otherwise. Innocent until proven guilty, in other words. It's its own form of justice, a justice Uther is forgetting, its a tenant of many legal systems and its a tenant Arthur clearly supports.

Arthur is also seeing his role as the king of Camelot in creating a Camelot that he would like to live in.

"Yes I am yet to be king, and I don't know what type of king I will be. But I do have a sense of the type of Camelot I would wish to live in. It would be where the punishment fits the crime."

It's not the Camelot he would wish to rule, its the Camelot he would wish to live in. Arthur wants to live in a just world, he wants his people to be treated with justice just as he would like to be treated with justice. This further illustrates that unlike Uther he is not letting anger or ignorance blind him to reality, he wants the world he lives in to be fair without exception.

Finding the Balance between The Greater Good and The Immediate Good

The Greater Good is a tricky concept, you can justify any amount of cruelty if it will lead to good later on, but do the ends justify the means? It's not really a question its ever possible to provide a definitive answer for. It's easy to say that they don't, that you should just do the right thing, the nice thing, the good thing in the moment but actions have consequences and doing the good thing all the time (especially in a position where thousands of lives depend on you) is not usually possible. Merlin tackles this theme, I believe, quite well, trying to find a balance between acting for the greater good and acting with what is immediately good, and this episode is a good example.

In a just and fair world you would be able to do good all the time, but this is not the case for everything, though you should never use the worlds not fair as an argument for not doing good things but I digress. Merlin's decision to save Gwen's father ultimately backfires on Gwen because the world is not fair, the world Uther has created mean even these acts of love are punishable with death. Because, for Uther, magic is magic, and magic is evil. Gaius was, in this situation, ultimately right, Merlin can't always do what is easy and what feels right because the consequences may not be good. In other matters like closing off the lower town, Arthur's initial response is concern for the people who live their, but Uther's right he has to make this one tough decision because otherwise he risks the whole city.

However, Uther's attitude to Gwen (aside from revealing his own stubbornness and prejudice) is an example of the greater good taken too far. He has absolutely no evidence that killing Gwen will stop this plague, but he's making that sacrifice anyway because it might, that is not justice or fair or anything resembling goodness. And he justifies his decisions with what I've already said is an age old argument- "These decisions must be made. There are dark forces threatening this kingdom." This is just another version of any easy choice, acting without regard to the greater good is an easy choice but so is ignoring what is immediately right in pursuit of some ambiguous goodness. He's confusing his own weakness and ignorance for strength.

The point Merlin is, I believe trying to make is that there must be a balance. Sometimes you have to pursue the greater good, but the ends don't really justify the means.

There is a reason Arthur and Merlin will create the Camelot of legend and Uther and Gaius don't, Merlin and Arthur aren't going to sacrifice their own goodness for the sake of the greater good. Merlin for one ensures Arthur never has to, its sad but Merlin in many ways makes the harsh and cruel decisions that Arthur never has to make. However, he also often doesn't make those decisions. He reaches a point where he wants to let people die, but he never actively attempts to kill Morgana or Mordred by himself unless it is an absolute in the moment choice between them and Arthur, and even though there is plenty of moral ambiguity about that and plenty of debates you can have about that. Fundamentally the point remains, Uther would have killed them and that's why he could never be the king Arthur would be or the influence for decency Merlin would be, the ends don't ever entirely justify the means. Besides if Merlin had thought that and killed Mordred and Morgana for their possible futures he would not have been the decent person he was and he could not have helped Arthur build a good Camelot, Camelot would not have existed if Merlin had acted entirely with the greater good in mind to ensure Camelot's future.

Other Stuff

Gwen's scene in the cell is so terribly sad, she's trying to be brave and her final request to Merlin is just so sad, "Remember me." She's so young and its the injustice and cruelty of Uther's kingdom that's condemning her, his own blindness to anything involving magic. We all want to be remembered don't we, especially when you die so young that you've barely had the chance to live. -----Also Guinevere will be remembered, she is a legend so there's something very bittersweet in this. She is not forgotten, then or ever

It's funny watching back to season 1, Merlin spends a lot of the time complaining about how Arthur will never recognise him for who he is. He wants recognition. But by the end of the show, yes of course he'd like recognition but he's learnt to just put up with never getting it. His priorities have changed so much.

There's this thing that happens a lot in season 1 and 2 (and I think a bit in season 3 but its less funny then) where Morgana persuades Arthur to do things by insulting him and its the funniest thing ever, and the first instance of it is here. I like to call these her 'epic sibling powers' cause they are just such siblings and its hilarious every time

"You are one side of the coin, Arthur is the other."- Kilgaharrah--> Just, yes.

Also when Arthur gets Merlin out of when Merlin confesses to being a sorcerer—> he's obviously making stuff up on the spot—> like he might sort of believe it (the stuff about Gwen) but fundamentally he's just trying to protect him without really knowing for sure why Merlin's lying

"One day people won't believe what an idiot you were."- Gaius--> Fun little nod to the audience who know Merlin of legend (as nothing like the BBC Merlin)

Also at this point we don't know why Uther really banned magic so there is an element of moral greyness to it all. We know magic's not evil, we know Uther went too far but at this point there is still a question about 'how too far' did he go?

Coronation by Rageprufrock (seriously read it. It's amazing): https://archiveofourown.org/works/5749

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moonlight--cafe · 3 years

Text

@just-a-random-shawol

Hello again, here is your mixtape ship! Thank you for requesting it, I had a lot of fun doing this one. But I just have to say it now you have such good taste in music, it sounds weird but I felt so at peace with the world listening to your music it just felt so right. Anyways enough of that, onto your ship. I hope you have a good day and I will try and complete the rest of your ships soon.

~SuperM~ Taemin

~General Analysis~

Never have I found a playlist that accurately describes a persons personality, seriously! I know I just did an overall ship for you but I think I’ve come to fully understand who you are as a person thanks to the list of songs you’ve sent me. I know you may have forgotten which songs you mentioned in your request so I’m going to mention them here, it would make much more sense for you to know what songs you sent in.

Heaven- Taemin

Mirage- BTOB 4U

Forbidden Island- Ha Sungwoon

Love Killa- Monsta X

When- Samuel Seo

Memoirs- Gwangil Jo

Life Sucks- HA:TFELT

Circle- Golden

G+Jus Freestyle- Justhis

Now, the fact that you have Heaven on your playlist isn’t what drove me to shipping you with Taemin. Whether you realise it or not there is clear substance to all of these songs, if we temporarily put the addictive flow of the songs aside there is an overarching theme that still connects these songs to one another: Drive. There is an intense amount of passion inserted into the lyrics, it doesn’t matter what the lyrics discuss each artist is reciting them with all their heart and soul. This was the motivation that I needed to choose your couple song, whether you acknowledge it by it’s sexual nature or not it is still holds power.

The idea of ‘Drive’ links back to an aspect of your personality that stuck out to me, you didn’t have to say it but from what I’ve gathered there is an underlying sense of passion that encourages you to explore various aspects of life and death. The theme of this ship was determined by your playlist and your description, the combination of white, grey and black illustrates the emotion present in your playlist and I feel that it is a suitable visualisation of the relationship you would have with Taemin. The theme is essentially my way of saying that you and Taemin would share a very intense relationship, it would be impossible for the two of you to initiate a relationship while remaining half-hearted about the whole situation. Taemin strikes me as a person who takes commitment seriously, he would have to be very desperate for him to have a no-strings-attached type of relationship. If we broke it down to the internal workings of your relationship with him you can see how strong it really is, externally the two of you seem quite mature in the way that you view things and how you come together as one, this results in your relationship appearing elevated above your standard relationship. The relationship just screams god-like, rich in nature and light academia.

White is a colour used a lot in the moodboard, this was purposely done. White is normally given the reputation of being a passive colour that is primarily used for mixing. It is a common colour that isn’t really used for it’s purities unless highlighting or painting on a coloured canvas. In this instance white represents d the deep connection you have with Taemin. You are both insanely godlike in nature, while you both appear to be perfect there is self-realisation in the dark sides of your personalities, you also acknowledge all the wrongdoings that occur outside of the relationship. This doesn’t negatively effect the two of you instead it strengthens what you have, you can’t have light without darkness and through honesty and passion the two of you would come together and create a brilliant world where respect is given to both parties and where the two of you can express all of your creative thoughts and opinions. The world is your canvas and you and Taemin are fellow artists, there is strength in that peaceful analogy.

~Moodboard~

~Your Song~

~Shufflemancy Reading~

Just for your love, yeah, I'll Give you the world Mona Lisa's smile Hey (oh, oh, oh, oh) And I'll do 25 to life If it makes me a king A star in your eyes

Guilty or innocent

My love is infinite, I'm giving it.

#era 1 #kpop ships #kpop matchups #mixtape ships #side a #superm #lee taemin #godly aesthetic #light academia

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thejustmaiden · 4 years

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Just bcos u PERCEIVE SessRin as something that promotes pedophilia and grooming doesn't mean that's how the author portrayed it. It's disappointing to see that antis force such idea, as if they know what's inside Rumiko's mind. It is fine if u find sessrin cringey. Just don't force your idea of pedophilia and grooming as THE CORRECT PORTRAYAL OF SESSRIN.

Hello there, nonnie! You had quite the party in my ask box, I see. Breaking it up in parts may actually help me get to the point and address your concerns swiftly and accordingly. Here goes nothing. 😉

This answer is for your first two asks by the way. Firstly, you're putting words in my mouth because I do not view Rumiko as an author who promotes pedophilia and child grooming and never have. She never once placed an ounce of romance into their scenes. Rin was essentially introduced to serve as a catalyst for Sesshomaru's character growth. That's major in and of itself, which is why I'm not sure why she needs to be the mom on top of all that she's already done for him. It was you, Sessrin shippers, who had to go and make it romantic, not us. It was you who took every innocent scene and turned it into a romantic one. You'll even use some of their scenes as proof they will end up together, then back-pedal later and say those very same scenes weren't romantic in order to protect the sanctity of your ship. I mean, which is it? It can't be both, it's either one or the other.

I repeat, NO we don’t actually think Rumiko wanted to portray this relationship with pedophillic or grooming tendencies. It's you shippers who insist there is no other way for their relationship to evolve, as if you speak on behalf of Rumiko. Your interpretation of Rumiko's work is what implies child grooming; she may not be condoning it but your perspective sure is. You talk down to antis who disagree, because in your opinion, your interpretation is not only superior but already canon in your eyes. You're doing a disservice to this fandom by spreading false information like that when you try to pass it off as official. So if it's anyone that assumes they know what goes on inside Rumiko's head, it's YOU. Somewhere down the road in the (un)foreseeable future, it's you who changes course since remember we were all in agreement at the beginning that their relationship wasn't romantic. So what did I miss? Please break it down for me and explain what exactly influenced you to change your mind, then describe in detail how again this transition in their relationship magically came to be. It's you who came to that decision on your own- nobody helped you get there, and certainly not Rumiko (as you said yourself). The user boycottyashahime put it better than I did, so here is the link to their post. I highly recommend you read it if you haven't already. I urge you to keep an open mind about it while reading, too. You may not like what they have to say, but there's no denying they make excellent points all the same.

I'm pretty sure I catch your drift, but can you clarify if you're referring to historical context or cultural context? I suppose both can be applied here. haha Anyway, from what I gather, you believe that fans should be on board with the idea of Sessrin and at the very least tolerate the pairing. Whether they ship it or not, you believe this simply for the fact that the story takes place in the feudal era and couples with a similar relationship back then were more than acceptable. The thing is, we may be transported to Feudal Japan in this story but we're still taking our modern day morals with us for the trip. I have a whole ass blog dedicated to the significance of fiction in real life (convienently pinned on my page) if you wanna check it out. I also discuss what age-appropriate content is and isn't for Inuyasha viewers in this recent ask here that I find is also pretty relevant to the convo.

Alrighty, moving onto your next point. I can't stress enough to you guys that this isn't a mere Caucasian vs. Non-Caucasian dilemma. I'm a POC, so I ask that you please not presume to know things about me you couldn't possibly know unless we met or I shared it with you. In fact, many of the other antis I frequently chat with are POCs like myself. So for all that's good and holy, please stop ignoring us when we say: THERE ARE FANS IN JAPAN WHO HATE THIS SHIP TOO. THIS ISN'T A DIFFERENCE OF CULTURE, THIS IS A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION (& FACT). It may have not been called child grooming during that time, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't; it just went under a different name, that's literally it.

Let me give you another example. So if I'm watching a movie about WWII in Nazi Germany, am I supposed to sympathize with an SS officer if the story is being narrated from his point of view? Because in his mind and during that time period, his ideology is right. Like a lot of Germany during that war, I rally to support his leader for what is in my opinion a just cause. Tell me, how does context matter in this instance? Does it matter so much so that you would adopt the same ideals just because it was "historically accurate" and you don't see anything wrong with it when you put yourself in their shoes? Does the "it's just fiction" defense come into play here, too?

The illustration I believe you are referring to is the calendar with that one official illustrator for Inuyasha, right? The thing is, an official illustrator doesn’t equal the creator of Inuyasha. They may support the Sessrin ship, but their work has no connection to the Inuyasha series in any way besides the name affiliation. I've heard that the illustrator also included Kagome x Koga art, so should we take that seriously then too? Rumiko never once alluded to a future romance between Sesshomaru and Rin, to which you even (kinda) agreed. She described their relationship as neither parental or romantic, and she added that she even contemplated making Rin a boy at first. Fun facts, y'all!

I've heard about those magazines but they sound fishy to me. Would you mind sending me a link to a reliable source that comes with an English translation? I'd like to emphasize again that illustrators or VAs can do and say as they please, but their opinions are still only opinions at the end of the day. Nothing is set in stone until Rumiko says it is.

For one, I never said my interpretation was the only correct portrayal. That's you putting words in my mouth again. What I did say, however, was that my interpretation was more logical and reasonable than yours based on popular and widely-accepted story patterns found in real life and in fiction. Look this isn't about who's more "correct" or not. You can perceive Sesshomaru and Rin's relationship any damn way you want, BUT what you cannot do is dictate how we react to your depiction of this ship. You can't demand us to view your ship a certain way to fit your preferences. I'm sure all the hate on your ship can be unbearable at times, but that's just the cross you'll have to bear for supporting such a problematic couple. If a large part of any fandom is strongly against a pairing and what it represents, then there's usually a very legitimate reason for that. You may not want to hear this, but certainly you must realize there's some truth to it all. A couple of your fellow shippers have even admitted to me that Sessrin would be wrong IRL. You see what I mean? Even if we find the ship gross, antis don't care if you choose to ship Sessrin. All we care about is you acknowledging that, like IRL, Sessrin potentially poses a lot of problems for young viewers and how they come to make sense of and view similar situations that are borderline grooming or the very thing itself. Teens watching this show are more vulnerable and impressionable, which is why it's crucial to not show relationships like Sessrin in a favorable light. If they're ever put in a situation IRL that resembles Sessrin, they need to be aware and understand that it's not at all normal or healthy for that adult to make a move on them. Let's say Sessrin does go canon, then that would mean Rin had to get pregnant around 14 or 15. Sending that kind of message to an audience made up of mostly teenagers isn't exactly wise if you ask me. Please really think about that and sit with it if you need to.

I'm positive I'm following the same story, thank you very much. Also, how can you be so confident making a statement like that when I have actual Sessrin shippers praising me for making valid points? Sorry to break it to you, but I don't think I'm as lost as you claim me to be or wish that I was.

That's a wrap, peeps!

Read over what I had to say again later and then get back to me if want, but only write me back if you plan to be respectful. Otherwise I will decline to answer. Just keep that in mind. And may I suggest only sending 1 or 2 asks at a time? Please and thank you!

I think I may know exactly who are, nonnie, but I can't say for sure. Besides, it doesn't really matter, as you have a right to stay anonymous if you so wish to. Listen, don't forget you are also more than welcome to interact (but appropriately) on my blogs/asks/etc. If you are who I think you are, then you recently did make a comment on one of them but didn't stick around when I replied back (and for good reason). Finally, if you hope to ever have a real discussion about this topic someday, first put your ego aside and refrain from throwing insults and then I'll hear you out. I have never once put you down in all of our interactions, so there's no need to show up here all riled up and aggravated in the first place. There's also no need to laugh at or mock other's opinions. Don't take jabs and assume I must not know something about Inuyasha just because I don't support your point of view. I may not agree with your opinion, but you don't see me having a condescending air about it.

Apologies if you're not the member I believe you to be, but no offense, you probably still needed to hear all of that too. It's not included here since I answered it immediately, but that final ask you sent me where you got angry and assumed I wasn't going to answer you was totally uncalled for. If you ever hope someday to participate in real discourse with me or any other antis, you should take my advice and seriously chill and learn how to be patient.

Hope this finds you well, nonnie!

#inuyasha #iy #hanyo no yashahime #hny #sessrin #anti sessrin #anonymous asks #answered ask

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subtlereferencetomyinterests · 4 years

Text

Complexities Unknowable Chapter 3

Ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23274334/chapters/57175900

Chapter Two link: https://tha-best-url-evar.tumblr.com/post/614327945408987136/complexities-unknowable-chapter-two

MasterPost

Relationships: Established Relationship Dukeceit, eventual intrualiceit, background analogince.

Warnings: Remus says some things (mentions of biblically accurate angels, gore art description), food mention, mild sleep deprivation, cursing. As always everyone is sympathetic. Roast me if I forgot something.

Word Count: 1,851

Remus was, once again, sitting on the counter in the light side kitchen. It was an ungodly early hour of morning, so the Commons were deserted. He was supposed to be waiting for Morality, according to the spiteful little plot Dee had offered him that he hadn’t listened to all that well, but he surmised it meant he was supposed to fuck with a light side, so… Duh. Of course he was in.

Truth be told, three out of four of the self-proclaimed ‘light sides’ hardly bothered him! They were stuffy prudes, sure, but their insults slid off his back like blood off of steel. As long as he was doing his own thing with Deceit alongside him, everything was fine (he was still pointedly ignoring the existence of another Creativity). But looks like what Deceit wanted to do was torment Patton into, like, repenting? Or something? Like he said, he wasn’t listening.

Anyway! Waiting and watching was what he was doing! And doodling, because sitting still was literally impossible in Remus’ experience. Thankfully, he soon saw the paternal trait springing down the stairs. Straightening his back, The Duke put on his best intimidating face (which he thought looked rather silly, but Deceit assured him was very unsettling). He set down his sketchbook and blurred his edges. It didn’t work very well up here, but it was a little trick that they’d all- Virgil included- learned years ago. Honestly, he just used it to get cheap scares every now and then.

Patton strolled into the kitchen, whistling some jaunty tune and holy shit , Remus had figured it was some shtick, but was he just a cartoon character all of the time ? That was- sure, very adorable- but mostly all the more entertaining to scare!

“What’s up, Dilf!?”

Patton shrieked, nearly dropping a mug. With wide, startled eyes, he found the source of the noise. Said source watched the emotional trait force his expression into something amicable, laughing loudly.

“Um- good morning, Remus! I, uh, didn’t see you there.”

“That was the point, MoMo,” Remus replied, dragging his claws screechingly down the side of a cabinet; Patton winced at the sound.

“Can I help you with anything?” Read: Why are you still here? Sometimes Remus wondered if he was too good at his job!

“Nope! Just enjoying the atmosphere, sketching, terrorizing…” He flipped onto his back, throwing his arm out and presenting his open notebook.

“You draw?” Patton seemed weirdly happy about that fact, managing a more natural smile. Seemed he thought he’d found something to work with, but that was likely to change.

“Of course I do, I am Creativity, after all! Here .” He handed over the sketchbook with a Cheshire smile. The creative trait had ensured it was flipped open to a detailed depiction of a being composed of several flaming rings, all of which absolutely covered with bloodshot eyes. It had an indiscernible amount of wings that could only be counted as ‘too many’. In the center of the rings was a swirling black void (a type of ink that took Remus weeks to conjure properly, thank you very much).

He watched carefully as Patton studied the image, looking bemused.

“It’s an angel!”

That seemed to only confuse the moral side more, making him tilt his head to a few different angles to look at the drawing. But he still didn’t seem upset by it, oddly enough.

“It certainly is an interesting interpretation,” He responded at last, “and all of these little lines must have taken you forever, that’s so impressive!”

Truth be told, they had taken a while, and Remus was very happy that the effort had been noticed- but that wasn’t the point!

“That’s nothing,” he took the sketchbook back from Patton and flipped through more pages. Aha! This would fuck him up, for sure! A full-color illustration of someone hung up on a meat hook, rib cage pried open like a spike trap to reveal very painstakingly rendered organs. He was actually quite proud of this one.

The only response that Patton gave, however, was a slight wrinkling of his nose when he first saw it, followed by more quiet observation.

“What do you think?” Remus prompted, watching as Patton set the drawing back down on the counter and began to assemble things for breakfast, seemingly unaffected.

“I wish I could draw that well, but I’m still not super good at it,” he said admiringly.

“I had to crack open my own ribs to make sure it was accurate, you know!”

Morality yelped at that one- score one for Remus! Finally!

“You wanna see my re-imaginings of my favorite Final Destination deaths? I’ve painted some with real- well, conjured- but real enough blood!”

But Patton didn’t even flinch this time; he looked more determined even!

“Art is a healthy outlet for expressing yourself,” he was almost certainly parroting Logan there, and he even seemed to believe the statement. Perhaps Remus would have to be a little more creative to get more reactions.

. “I agree! I didn’t expect you to have such an open-minded point of view. I’ll be sure you’re the first side to know when I make my next amateur taxidermy sculpture! Emphasis on the amateur!”

“Great!” Patton practically shouted, very stubbornly staring at the stove.

Before Remus had the chance to continue, the distinct sounds of Logan and Roman arguing their way downstairs met his ears, and he cut himself off. That was enough for one day, he decided. And anyhow, he looked forward to trying new ways to bother Patton next morning.

Deceit rose into the shadows of the Light Side commons with a smirk. It was an awful hour of the night, which was part of the plan. Not only was Patton the first awake in the morning, he was also often the last to sleep. Deceit supposed that Logan was looking after Roman and Virgil’s sleep schedules nowadays, which made it much easier to catch the artificial patriarch alone. That isn’t to imply that Dee had been tracking their schedules or anything, but the overwhelming lie that Morality surrounded himself with made him easy to track- especially in the night, when he had to pretend even harder that he was fine without the presence of his little family. Deceit entertained the idea that he should feel bad for the side, and maybe he did somewhere deep down. Deep, deep down. No, further than that.

Regardless of any such feelings, he was here to mess with Patton. Still unnoticed, he watched quietly as his target scrolled through Netflix, illuminated only by the dim glow of the television. The side looked so tired that he could’ve passed as a corpse, but gave a tiny smile after finally selecting whatever it was he was going to watch.

Wait. Wait. He was watching that ?

Deceit stared at the unmistakable green text that was the intro to The Good Place playing across the screen. If there was one thing he was expecting Patton to watch (Cartoons? Friends reruns? Slime videos?), it wasn't his own favorite show.

“Hm.” Deceit hummed.

In response, Patton shrieked and fell halfway off the couch. His head darted around until he finally spotted Deceit, who had slid down to sit on the sofa as well.

“Oh- um- good evening, Deceit! Wow, today is just full of surprises!”

“ Surely you won’t mind if I join you? This is one of my favorite shows, after all.”

Patton fixed his position so that he was no longer partially on the floor and looked the snake up and down. He paused the episode.

“ Really ?”

“Really,” and then, after some trepidation, “Honestly.”

Suddenly, Patton lit up dramatically, a happy smile stretching across his face. Fuck, wrong direction, Deceit wasn’t supposed to be cheering him up!

“I’m surprised that someone like you would like it,” Deceit continued hastily. Patton’s smile fell a little and he tipped his head in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean ,” He lounged back against the couch, “I didn’t think you’d approve of a show where all of the characters are such bad people .”

“What?! The whole point is that they aren’t bad!” Good, Back on track .

“Oh? Then what are they? Last I checked, the main character was very selfish .”

“I- okay, I see what you’re trying to do,” Patton turned to face Deceit entirely, “But they’re- they also-”

“Also what ?” Deceit was also sitting sideways on the couch now, his eyes glinting. He was certain that he’d talked the trait into a corner, which was why he was so utterly unprepared for Patton’s response.

“It’s, like, they all start off not great, but that’s because they were all set up for failure before the afterlife! They had it hard before dying, but when they were finally given the chance to actually get better, then they got better! They aren’t perfect , but they care about each other! And I think it really shows that sometimes, somebody can be wrong over and over and over again, but that doesn’t mean that they’re hopeless, or that they’re a bad friend, or…” He trailed off, looking down at his lap and blinking very quickly. “Or that they’re a bad person.”

Suddenly, Deceit wasn’t that sure that he wanted to see Patton upset anymore.

After a very uncomfortable silence that lasted far too long for his liking, the scaled side realized that he should probably be the one to say something.

“That’s… a very in depth analysis, Morality. I’m inclined to agree with you.”

“Thanks,” Patton replied. When he looked up, his eyes held an odd recognition. It was a look that no Light Side had ever given Deceit, but they gave it to each other plenty of times. The side in question wasn’t sure if he liked it, but he sure knew that he was uncomfortable.

“So… The show…” He prompted.

“Oh, right!”

Patton pressed play.

Deceit had planned on doing some more provoking of Patton as they watched, but he found himself rather caught up in the program. The conversation he did end up making with the other incidentally slipped into chatting about their shared views on the show. It was almost nice. Maybe. Whatever.

After a few episodes, Deceit elected to return home for the night. As he was sinking out, he heard a sleepy voice bidding him farewell.

“G’night, Kiddo.”

He popped up in his bedroom after that, eyes quickly landing on a half-asleep Remus half-watching Saw 4 . The lights were dimmed to a glow, and the TV’s volume was so low that it might have been inaudible to anyone other than the more animalistic sides.

“You didn’t have to wait up for me,” Deceit murmured warmly, sitting beside his fellow Dark side. The trait yawned and rubbed his eyes, instinctively leaning into him.

“Wanted to,” he responded, voice groggy, “How’d it go?”

Deceit snapped his fingers to change into sleep clothes, reaching across Remus to flick off the lamp. As he settled in to semi-watch the movie, fingers automatically moving to card through his partner’s hair, he carefully considered the question.

“Fucking. Weird.”

Chapter 4

Tags: @deceits-left-glove @princemesscharming

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maverick-werewolf · 4 years

Text

Wulfgard: The Hunt Never Ends preview - Samhain

The second of the previews for my upcoming novel, Wulfgard: The Hunt Never Ends!

For more info on the upcoming book, see this post!

Preorder link coming early October (in other words, VERY SOON) - stay tuned! Also stay tuned for some illustration previews next week, as well as more previews of the stories themselves. Enjoy!

This particular preview involves the section entitled Samhain, which is actually where we get Halloween from today! The story includes accurate folklore and a look at what Halloween was like before its modernization (and monetization). If you like historically based ancient and medieval things, and of course folklore and mythology, please be sure to check out my posts on the book and keep an eye out for the pre-order link coming very soon!

(And remember, as a self-published author, every read, like, and reblog I get will be forever sealed away in a special chamber of gratitude in my heart. Seriously. Forever. My eternal gratitude, especially reblogs. I’m not even kidding; it’s so hard to get this stuff out there, so thank you very, very much for any signal boosts!)

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Every year it was the same. Reality itself seemed to thin, wounded by tears in everything that made sense, letting some kind of madness threaten to seep through. A night of whispers, exceptionally vocal ones, and of cold drafts washing over him. Coming seemingly from nowhere, some trying to reach inside. Others were hot instead of cold, touches of fury and pure malevolence. So far, Caiden had always felt them recoil when they clawed in his direction, reeling like something that’d gotten burnt.

To everyone else, it was a time of celebration. They called it Samhain, a time to offer supplication to spirits of various types – and try to ward off the rest. Supposedly, the veil between worlds became unusually thin for just one night, allowing things to cross over.

Caiden had hated it his entire life.

Offerings were left on doorsteps and street corners to keep those spirits appeased. Sometimes people made up a spot at the supper table for a dead relative, just in case their soul showed up for that night to spend time with them. That was, of course, the positive assumption of what any visiting spirit might do.

Bonfires dotted the countryside, sending billowing smoke and crackling embers up into the night. From a high point, it almost looked like the world was on fire. To Caiden, the world felt encased in ice.

...

(Another preview under the cut!)

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

The house itself also stood dark, not a single candle burning inside. Not even an offering at the door, either. Caiden’s scowl wore deeper as he cleared the small porch steps in a single stride and knocked on the flimsy wooden door.

Nothing.

“Miller?” he called, eyes flicking to the nearest window. Shutters open, just a crack. Enough to let in cool night air, and more than enough for anyone inside to hear him clearly.

Still no answer.

Nothing came from inside, either. No feelings, no emotions. If he was home like that villager said, something wasn’t right.

Caiden took a step back and checked up and down the empty street, then turned and took two steps forward – one right into the door, knocking it open with his boot. It’d barely taken any effort, as rickety as the creaking building was. It almost reminded Caiden of his childhood home, before he’d joined the Legion.

And there, in the middle of the floor in the kitchen, lay a body. Motionless – and, Caiden noticed when he stepped closer to inspect it, spotless. No wounds, not even any sign of illness – just a look of shock stuck on the man’s cold, lifeless face.

Exactly like in the last town.

Caiden stood and glanced over a few things in the room, looking for any sign of how or why this could happen. Footsteps came down the street outside. Gwen’s curiosity anxiously nudged its way into the room as she stepped inside to look at him.

He glanced back at her and nodded to the body. “It’s all the same.”

Kiya and Relgar made their way inside after Gwen. The first bringing with her concern and determination, the second a strange calm and resolve, almost like he already knew what to expect here. That made Caiden eye Relgar for a moment before returning his attention to finding any sign of the attacker’s passage.

“This is like the other one you two found?” asked Kiya, kneeling by the corpse to do the same inspection Caiden had moments before.

“Seems to be,” Gwen replied. “We can’t find any reason they’re dead, and he lived on the edge of town, he was quiet, not participating in Samhain…”

Caiden didn’t say a word as he brushed past Gwen on the way out, checking the dirt path just outside the house. No use for him to stand around listening to information he already had. Instead, he went to check around outside the building, and—

Hoof prints.

He saw them now that he wasn’t so focused on the house. With them came a pang of frustration that he’d overlooked them before. They were scorched deep into the dirt: large, round marks, as if the rider had stopped his horse here, near the door, directly facing the cottage.

Fine black and grey ash lined the prints. It smelled as if Caiden stood right by a still-cooling bonfire and not out on a porch, far away from them. The prints turned left, wheeled down the road and toward the south. When he put a finger against one of the scorch marks, it was still warm.

The creature had only recently passed this way.

“It just came through here,” Caiden said as he stood. “It came, stopped, and headed south.”

Gwen was there in an instant, coming out on the narrow porch, Kiya at her back, and Relgar lingering behind the two of them and looking thoughtful.

“Is that ash?” Kiya said, scooping some up to rub between her fingers.

“Could be from one of the bonfires?” Gwen suggested.

Caiden mounted his horse, which Gwen and the others had led along with them when they’d followed. “Don’t think so,” he said. “Not unless the horse walked right through it. The prints are still warm.”

“Hell-steed, perhaps? If it is one, it’s likely t’ be a demon, not a spirit,” Relgar said as he reached an arm up to Kiya, who pulled him up behind her in the saddle of their one large horse.

“Samhain does have a way of drawing out spirits, demon and fay,” Kiya muttered.

“Whatever it is, no one’s seen it,” Caiden said as he turned his horse to lead the way. “They’ve only heard the hooves.”

“So, we know it’s fast,” Gwen added.

Caiden nodded. “C’mon.”

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excuseme-youpretty · 4 years

Text

Anonymous

Pairing: Kim Taehyung & Park Jimin (Platonic soulmates)

Side Pairings: None

Rating: G / Suitable for all audiences

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 1432

Notes: This was supposed to be a neat little warm-up drabble to ease my way into writing. I ended up taking things far too seriously. But look how cute and fluffy it is!

I’m always willing to take requests for little drabbles so feel free to hit up my ask box. This particular drabble idea was requested by @toruhagakure1a ♥ Enjoy!

You don't know his name.

But you know that his face is painfully beautiful. His skin is as rich and dark as your favourite salted caramels, the ones that your beloved Halmeoni would sneak into your palm at the end of her visits because she has always loved your cheeks to be a little bit fuller.

His lips are plump and intricately shaped, with a few moles dotted around the bow of his lips and just underneath a creased lash-line. His smile is broad, as bright a thousand-watt bulb and in the most peculiar rectangular shape. And his eyes are dark, impossibly so, but they gleam with mirth as though he is holding on to a jovial secret which you could only wish to discover.

He exudes a vibrancy which completely belies his status as a brand new student; one who had the misfortune of transferring to one of Seoul's most prestigious highschools part-way through the term.

He is sparkling and enigmatic. And you are completely captivated.

You don't know his name.

But you know that his large ears are far too big for his head. Round, curved and protruding between a curtain of neon-bright tangerine hair. They hold a pair of black geometric earrings, dress code be damned, with a duo of similar violations looped over his index and ring finger, respectively.

With the hemline of his trousers just barely extending past the base of his calves, you can clearly see the mismatched print of his clashing socks. The fit of his jacket is atrocious, practically swallowing his broad shoulders whole. He even has to pitch them close to his jawline to avoid tearing through the material.

He has the presence of someone who abides by spontaneity alone. As though he had chosen to forego a proper uniform fitting in order to succumb to his own chaotic instincts.

Clearly, this student is a man who marches to the beat of his own drum, however wild and unpredictable the percussion may be. And as you run your trembling fingertips back and forth across your silk tie - freshly laundered and pressed that morning - you cannot help but to admire his tenacity.

You don't know his name.

But you know that he has an adorable affinity for tigers. You can see them plastered all over his notebook, some haphazardly doodled with heavy paws and slanted whiskers whilst others are artistic illustrations highlighted by the downstroke of a glitter pen.

They are each surrounded by a bouquet of asymmetric purple hearts, some with anthropomorphic smiles and others containing a single consonant symbolizing victory.

Even as he throws himself down into the vacant desk beside you, taking a little longer than necessary to get settled, you can see his fingertips shading detailed feline features across a blank canvas of lined paper.

He is a man of relentless energy, and the hand which is not preoccupied by his enthusiastic sketching reaches absentmindedly into the pocket of his too-tight jacket to fish free a small tube of lip balm with a red top.

He pops the cap with ease, massaging a film of sweet strawberry over his pout without even glancing up from the intricacy of his artwork. For a single moment, one which seems to linger in the air for far longer than you deem absolutely necessary, you cling to the visual of his petal-pink tongue catching on his smile as though he were savouring the fruity tang of his balm.

Something inside you aches imperceptibly as you watch the strange boy return his lip balm back inside his pocket. Your own plump lips suddenly feel far too dry and in desperate need of nourishment.

You don't know his name.

But the moment that your beloved teacher rises from her desk, her wrinkled hands folded politely in front of her person and her smile incredibly fond, and encourages all students to branch out into pairs for today's science experiment, he leaps toward you as though you have been friends for several millennia.

"Hi!" He exclaims loudly, his voice akin to freshly incinerated gunpowder; a shocking juxtaposition to the childlike innocence of his fine, elven features.

He drags his chair across the floor with unbridled enthusiasm, rickety metal grating shrilly across hardwood floors, until he is comfortably situated right beside you. He is pressed so unbelievably close that you can feel hot, arid heat radiating from the thick of his thigh.

The sensation makes your head spin akin to a catherine wheel balancing precariously on the apex of a toothpick, an uptake of momentum which twirls and twirls until you have to bite your nails into the wood of your desk to keep you from toppling over.

Your pumpkin-haired companion glances at you expectantly. A tinted eyebrow piques high upon his forehead, his lips mirroring that adorable

oblong grin from earlier. And when his dark eyes begin to bubble and froth with the familiar glint of smothered secrets, your fingertips buzz like television static.

If only you had some sort of key in order to better understand him, to decipher the cryptic code nestled inside his iris.

Perhaps then you would be able to accurately deduce whether or not he feels the same magnetic pull within his soul that you do, tugging on your insides like a marionette string from the moment he illuminated your classroom.

You don't know his name.

But the longer you stare at him the quicker your mouth transforms into a sunstroked savanna.

Your naturally rosy cheeks have darkened considerably, lush roses flowering open atop your cheekbones, and a film of mist freckles like dew across your lash-line.

All at once you are struck by how completely out of character the numbness of tongue is.

Your social skills are frequently unparalleled. You can maintain a conversation for hours, effortlessly navigating through a myriad of pleasantries and poorly-conceived jokes with relative ease. You know when to pause and when to listen intently to your conversational partner's statements and questions.

And you really do listen. There is a reason you were voted class president, after all.

But there's just something about this perplexing stranger with the highlighter hair and the boxy smile. Something which has your brainwaves skidding to an unceremonious hault.

Thankfully, he takes notice of your vocal paralysis for long enough to sit upright. He pushes his unfathomably long fingertips through his hair and chuckles sweetly, the sound resonating like heavy rain on asphalt.

"Let me try again. Hi, I'm Taehyung!"

Taehyung. His name is Taehyung.

It takes a minute for you to find your voice. The sobering sting of slanted teeth against your bottom lip is just barely enough to condition you back into proper functionality.

"I… I'm Jimin. Park Jimin." You whisper, your words tasting like dry cotton inside your mouth.

Without a moment of hesitation, Taehyung reaches across your desk and braids his large fingertips between the narrow junctures of your own. His touch is feather light and strangely familiar, like the brush of synthetic fur against your cheek as you huddle a nighttime companion close to your chest. A safety blanket, almost.

Taehyung smothers your petite palm underneath a verifiable blanket of sun-kissed skin and crisp cool rings, guiding your hand to rest against his chestplate.

"Listen here, Jimin-ah." He announces, seemingly unaffected by his use of the honorific. "You and I are gonna be best best best friends, yeah? I can already tell!"

Your soul burns, gasoline and petroleum, a lit fuse sizzling and popping betwixt your veins like a serpent.

Taehyung's eyes are bright and clear, unobfuscated by any traces of doubt or uncertainty. His smile is a concentrated flicker of pure sunlight, his pinky finger extending out toward your own.

That magnetic pull returns to your chest once more, blossoming vibrantly between the perimeters of your ribcage and tugging incessantly until you link your (much smaller) pinky around Taehyung's own.

"Okay." You breathe in a rush, trusting him unconditionally.

You know his name.

But now it is simply not enough.

You long to discover every little detail about him. From the pandora's box of his imperceptible eyes to the reason why his mere presence is enough to trigger aerial somersaults within your heart.

You have a catalogue of questions swirling around inside your brain, your consciousness completely overstimulated, and yet one thought remains at the forefront of your mind; from now on you and Taehyung are a pair, a unit.

Jimin and Taehyung.

Taehyung and Jimin.

Best friends forever; that is what you both pinky promised.

And he can't hide from you now - you know his name.

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jonellemarcello · 4 years

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