#Save Relationship Book Prodigious Useful Ideas

[not-available-for-comment]

Current favorite books, by genre: Horror

Note that these are faves, not Most Pures, Least Problematics, nor Objectively Bests. Proceed accordingly.

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

Horror portal fantasy/isekai featuring a recently divorced young woman who is working at her uncle’s tiny and eccentric taxidermy museum as she decides what to do with herself. Several deeply disturbing scenes and ideas that I still think about. One thing I like about T. Kingfisher’s books is that the protagonist usually has friends but rarely has a love interest. Idk if that’s unusual to the genre but I find it refreshing.

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

Rose is the godly and submissive daughter to her conservative evangelical parents. She would never waver in her faith or her commitment to godly behavior. But. But her parents are weirdly invested in her dating a boy she only likes as a friend. And she starts seeing a mysterious woman in a staff shirt from the local conversion therapy camp. Even in places where no one could possibly be. She has hazy memories of happiness with a person she no longer knows. And she’s started… vomiting locusts? (Idc if I haven’t finished this one, it’s a favorite anyway.)

Beneath The Rising by Premee Mohamed

Nick Prasad’s best friend Joanna “Johnny” Chambers is brilliant and beautiful and fascinating, a child prodigy who’s saved the world several times over but still finds time in her busy schedule as beloved international genius superstar to spend time with minimum-wage-earning everyman Nick. Until Johnny’s invention of a form of clean energy seems to somehow set the world ever more askew. Then Nick and Johnny end up bound together in a quest through cosmic horror to find the tools they need to set things right. But what set things wrong to begin with? And what are Nick and Johnny? To each other, and to themselves? Honestly not particularly scary (to me at least), but the exploration of Nick and Johnny’s complicated relationship is so well done and perfectly observed that it makes me insane.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

A young woman leaves a stifling home life behind to investigate a haunted house with a small team of amateur investigators. There is definitely something wrong with the house, but the other investigators offer the promise of friendship. I honestly don’t want to say more, because it’s SO subtle and well done. My absolute favorite haunted house story so far, hands down.

Carrie by Stephen King

Look, I know this one is old hat. Literally King’s first published novel iirc. But. But I was absolutely fucking furious at the patriarchy when I read this book, and watching a blood-drenched teen girl blow up a gas station with her mind because the world was cruel and unfair was EXTREMELY cathartic. You can criticize it all you want, but this is my fave.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The man, the myth, the legend. By which I mean Jonathan Harker, of course. Look, it’s tumblr, I’ve got a Dracula Daily tag, you know the drill. Absolute best cast of characters to get routinely disrespected by adaptations for 12 decades running. And Jonathan’s diary is extremely solidly written gothic horror imho.

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

Probably the only vampire novel aside from Dracula that I really, really, really love. Rae, also known by her nickname Sunshine, has an ordinary, everyday life as a baker of famous cinnamon rolls for her stepfather’s coffee shop. Then, she’s kidnapped by vampires. Not because she’s strategically important, powerful, beautiful, or tasty. They just needed a living human to use as a pawn in some kind of internecine power struggle, and she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But, somehow, she’s able to piece together bits of luck and will and memory to survive. She’s not the same afterwards. How could she be? How does she fit into the loving, close-knit world of the coffee shop now that this terrible, tremendous thing has happened to her? And what does she do when her brief disappearance won’t stay neatly folded away? A lot of McKinley’s books explore trauma and recovery in some way, but this one is my personal favorite, from the warm if chaotic world of the coffee shop, to the building of the larger world half destroyed by but fascinated with magic, to the cat and mouse game between Rae, the cops (the book doesn’t quite say ACAB but it does say Cops Have Their Own Agenda Which May Not Be Yours), and the vampires. It deserves to be more popular than it is.

Widdershins by Jordan L. Hawk

Look, this will either be your cup of tea or it won’t. It’s an independently published m/m romance set in a fictional town in Massachusetts that exists at a nexus of cosmic horror. It’s in first person, which I personally dislike for romance novels. But it’s darkly, wryly funny, with an intensely autistic-coded narrator who has focused his entire life on learning dead languages and working at the town’s mildly cursed museum, until a beautiful private detective begins slowly drawing him into the investigation of a trustee’s son’s murder. It’s sudsy, spooky, sexy, vaguely ridiculous, sometimes gross, and compulsively readable. It starts a (completed) series, and while I didn’t care much for the second installment, I’ve started the third and it’s promising so far. The first book also works well as a standalone if you’d rather leave it there.

Stand Still, Stay Silent by Minna Sundberg

This online comic is one of my favorites: 90 years after a plague causes much of the world to be overrun by eldritch monsters, a ragtag group of adventurers ventures into a contamination zone in search of valuable artifacts, new experiences, and possibly more. A really engaging art style, charmingly written characters, really neat monsters, a nice sense of the numinous, and some tantalizing hints about the origins of the plague. To my mild surprise, the artist has apparently become a born again Christian and terminated the series. I have the whole thing in hard copy but have been holding off finishing it because I don’t want it to be over.

———

Well I suppose I’ve put off making dinner for long enough…

[sshbpodcast]

Star Trek Parents Just Don’t Understand (Part 2)

By Ames

Last week, you’ll remember we covered a whole lot of parents from the classic Star Trek series and just how much they tended to ruin their kids’ lives. Well, this week A Star to Steer Her By is finishing out the topic with parental units from currently running Trek series and the Kelvin movies. Expect this one to not be nearly as far reaching, partly because SPOILERS WILL ABOUND below the cut and partly because we’ve not covered much of this on the podcast yet, so frankly I don’t remember a good deal of it.

But some of our major players have or are noteworthy parents to talk about in this period of wide-screen Trek (seriously, everything looks like a movie now and it’s impacting my screengrab game). Give your parents a hug for us as you see them listed below and also in probably the most spoilery episode of the podcast we’ve ever recorded (discussion starts at 59:37). They only raised you from tadpoles.

(Again, some mega spoilers for Star Trek 2009, Discovery, Lower Decks, Prodigy, Strange New Worlds, and especially [seriously!] Picard are below.)

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Kelvin George Kirk

George Kirk was a parent to literally newborn James for all of thirty seconds before saving his life, Winona’s life, and the lives of the crewmembers of the USS Kelvin. While we have no idea if he’d have been any good at raising the youngster had he lived (apparently so since this alternate Kirk ended up being quite the ruffian compared to that walking stack of books from The Original Series), we know what he valued by his actions, his sacrifice, and his refusal to name him Tiberius.

Kelvin Sarek

In pretty much all timelines, Sarek is a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to raising a half-Vulcan, half-human son like Spock. Why he can’t get it through that Vulcan bowlcut of his that having a child with a human will dilute that cherished green blood of theirs is absolutely beyond me. I thought you hobgoblins were supposed to be logical, after all. Maybe if Amanda hadn’t blown up, things would have gone better for Quinto-Spock.

Discovery Sarek

Speaking of Sarek, in Discovery we actually see that he very much seems to prefer raising his ward Michael Burnham to raising either of his natural sons. Go figure. Apparently all his progenies had to do was follow in his footsteps, join the Vulcan Academy, and literally have a chunk of his katra from a past mindmerge-thing for daddy to love them.

Gabrielle Burnham

Michael’s relationship with her birth parents is something much more complicated. This is Discovery, after all; “It’s complicated” is the subtitle of the series! When we learn that Gabrielle is still alive, having saved Michael by becoming the Red Angel, it’s a bittersweet reunion that can only be made stranger by their second reunion in the 32nd century when momma has become a space nun of some kind. As if Michael didn’t have enough of this Vulcan stuff growing up!

Voq and L’Rell

On the subject of space nuns, we learn that Voq and L’Rell’s child Tenavik got to be raised by some time monks in the Boreth Monastery. Which, frankly, is probably the best that kid could ask for! The combative Klingon Empire was no place to raise a baby, and good on his parents for finding a child-rearing solution that, at the very least, kept him alive. Ya know, after just a little bit of faking his death. Q'apla, I guess!

Stamets and Culber

What is sweeter and purer than two gay space dads mentoring a nonbinary sorta-Trill sorta-not adolescent? I didn’t realize that Adira is supposed to be 16 when we meet them (probably because the actor was like 23), but regardless of age, they are struggling with their identity in enough ways to make a Vulcan weep, and having the support of a nurturing queer family is just what they need.

Ephaim

An easy example of a good parent from the Discovery era comes in one of the Short Treks, “Ephaim and DOT.” Sure, she’s a tardigrade and mostly just following that biological impulse to keep one’s seed alive, but she does better than a lot of other Trek parents. Go, tardigrades, go!

Raffi Musiker

Moving on to Star Trek: Picard, we see another negligent parent in the conspiracy theory–obsessed Raffi Musiker. She might rival Worf as a parent whose absence has screwed up their kid the most, as we see that Gabriel is downright hostile to her when she tries to reconnect. And then in season 3, she yet again chooses Starfleet over her family. Perhaps we’re lucky we haven’t seen Alexander in Picard, since he and Gabriel could have some stories to tell.

Troi and Riker

Say what you will about the Troi-Riker relationship, but they seem to be doing pretty okay raising their daughter Kestra. She’s a nifty kid with her head on straight, so they must be doing something right. Also, it’s very clear throughout their appearances in Picard that these parents did everything they could to save their son Thaddeus from his mendaxic neurosclerosis, and his loss affected them in the way only losing a beloved child could.

Maurice and Yvette Picard

We were teased a bit in TNG with just enough information about Jean-Luc’s upbringing to let us know his relationship with his father was strained and that with his mother was loving, but then the second season of Picard had to go spelling things out for us in ways we didn’t really need. Maurice becomes that much more terrible because he evidently did nothing when Yvette was going down a dark path. And Yvette… what the hell were the writers trying to say about Yvette? Freakin’ yikes. 

Adam Soong

Also in season two of Picard, we get YET ANOTHER Soong ancestor for Brent Spiner to play, ya know, for reasons. Evidently all the Soongs except Data (see last week’s inclusion!) are just terrible parents because they’re effectively just trying to prolong their own legacy instead of actually caring for the needs and wants of the child. Kore, in this case, lives a life so sheltered she can’t even go outside without bursting into flames. Much like that whole damn season…

Teresa Ramirez

We do, however, get one solid parent in season two of Picard, and that’s Teresa Ramirez, the divorced mother who Rios is totally thirsty for. Actually, we don’t see a lot of children of divorce in Star Trek, do we? As we established last week, it’s far more likely to have one parent get killed off than it is to have people amicably separate because, of course, that makes for more drama. There’s Torres’s parents, and Rom and Prinadora but that’s just their Ferengi contract, and that might just be about it? Anyway, Teresa’s cool.

Jean-Luc Picard and Bev Crusher

Season three, however, is just a straight up family reunion show with lots more literal family members that get introduced to boot! Somewhere after Nemesis, evidently Bev and JL got down to clown and then Bev ran away and hid the pregnancy from him for however many years this boy is old. Sure, we all agree Picard would make a father that might rival Worf’s awkward sense of child neglect, but is Bev any better never telling him? Discuss amongst yourselves.

Geordi La Forge

Geordi’s been busy too, cranking out at least two daughters. Like Sarek’s relationship with his various kids, it seems much easier for Geordi to play favorites. Alandra is the favored daughter because she followed in his footsteps and seems like she was generally passive, while Sidney is the black sheep of the family and La Forge has trouble connecting with her because she can’t just be controlled like certain holoprograms I could name.

Carol Freeman

Let’s get out of Picard and into some animated stuff. The relationship between Captain Freeman and her daughter Beckett Mariner is at the core of Lower Decks, so much so that it’s kept secret from the rest of the crew for the drama of it all. Most of the show treats their relationship like ones we’ve seen before in which the child lashes out because they don’t want to follow in their parent’s footsteps. There is love there, but their failure to communicate does dominate.

The Diviner

In our other animated Trek, The Diviner definitely falls into that category of just the worst kind of parent because he will sacrifice Gwyn a hundred times over to get his way. He never listens to what she wants, chooses the Protostar over her, and leaves her to nearly get killed on vine planet. All this and the only reason he created her in the first place was to continue his work. Rude, bro.

Joseph M’Benga

Finally, we have Dr. M’Benga in Strange New Worlds, whose dedication to caring for his sick daughter Rukiya is admirable and incredibly sweet. Every time he reads fairy tales to her in sickbay is a beautiful little scene, and the end of “The Elysian Kingdom” is a tear jerker that we were honestly surprised to get so early in the run of the show. I kinda hope we see more from Rukiya in future, but who knows what’s written in these fantastical pages?

— We’re ducking out from this family reunion before someone whips out the photo album. Catch us next time for more, and definitely keep listening to our watchthrough of Voyager over on SoundCloud or wherever you get podcasts. You can also post family in-jokes on our Facebook and Twitter, and would it hurt to call once in a while?

[bbonnetss]

The reunion - The Maradeur

Lluvia doesn't have a good relationship with her family. When she decided to visit her family once again in nearly 20-ish years, it was because she had a work assignment there. They sat down for dinner. And you can tell her dad was ecstatic.

I mean, he was upset because his baby girl got married and had a kid, and he wasn't there for those life changing moments. (He adores alfajor bte, he carved several wooden toys for him after they left the place)

The thing is, once they were sitting for dinner, her mom went, "So when are you going to congratulate your sister for becoming first liner of research and investigation in the city? It's an important position"

Lluvia just stared at her bluntly. And then at her sister, who had her chest puffed out, eating while smiling proudly. "What?" She reclaims in what came off as a soft whisper.

Amadora had Alfajorcito on her lap and was sitting beside Lluvia, holding her hand. Surprised too at the mother's question.

"As I said, she's gone so far!!"

"So no, hello?? How are you?? Where have you been in the past 20 or so years??"

"I mean, it's not like you have achieved anything important."

She turns to Amadora and whispers to her ear, "Can you please go change alfajorcito to his pajamas??"

To which leads Amadora to struggle to find the room. Her cane isn't where she left it.

"Where's my wife's cane??"

"What does she need it for? She can work perfectly fine."

Her dad hands her the cane, and so Lluvia hands it to Ama. Amadora leaves the room.

"This is so like you, mom. No, how have you been. No, I see you have a kid, a wife, when was the wedding. No, what happened to you that you didn't talk to us in the past 20 or so years."

"You-"

"No, what happened to your arm and leg, that so many people can't fathom the idea or even the posibility of losing, my uitta, my hair, why am i even visiting?? Because everything is about you and Marea!! Im so happy for her, but those being the first words you-"

"YOU LEFT!"

"YOU SABOTAGED ME FOR MAREA'S SAKE MOM!!"

"You weren't good enough to get in that school, I did what I had to do."

"Why, because I can't do natural magic?? Because I can't learn from books and routines, because I investigate?? Because I'm like, dad??"

"Lluvia do not -"

"Your choices of a family aren't the best either."

"Do not talk about MY WIFE and MY KID like that!"

"A blind dragon, and a monster?? That's not a family!!"

"You are talking about the prodigy who saved the aurora borealis twice, appearing in books, the most caring, thoughtful kind and smart woman i know, and the gentlest most beautiful and kind kid I've ever met. You dont deserve for me to call you a mother. You always treat me like the plaster of your mistakes, the knife that damaged your hands, Im never the sun, or the moon, just a star amongst thousands. And I hope you think about how much of a shitty disgrace of a mother you are."

And she leaves, her mom red in the face, her sister hiding herself in shame, her dad calm, serene like the droplets of water that slide through the wood of trees in summer.

And this is why my friends dont let me write.

Letting everyone know, my ocs have nothing to do with Harry Potter, the maradeurs or any concept in particular, its just the name I chose for my story.

PATREON || KOFI || COMMISSIONS

[roamanddiscover]

Six of Crows Book Summary

Six of Crows Book Summary

If you're a fan of young adult fantasy novels that showcase a group of misfit characters coming together to pull off a dangerous heist, then Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows may just be the next book you'll want to read. The story follows six characters who are brought together to complete a seemingly impossible task that could make them all incredibly wealthy if they can succeed. However, the challenges they face along the way will test the limits of their individual skills and ultimately their trust in each other. The novel takes place in the fictional world of Kerch, where Ketterdam operates as a major hub for trade, gambling, and criminal activity. The story kicks off with Kaz Brekker, also known as "Dirtyhands," being tasked with breaking into the supposedly impenetrable Ice Court to extract a scientist who has the knowledge to create a powerful drug. Kaz, being a criminal prodigy, assembles a crew of misfits to join him on this dangerous mission. Each character has their own unique skills and motivations, and together they work to overcome the numerous obstacles in their path. Expect plenty of action, tension, and twists and turns in this book, as the story unfolds and secrets about the characters are revealed. The book is well written, with a vivid and intricately crafted setting that immerses the reader in the world of Kerch. The heist itself is a nail-biting ride, with the high stakes and intense pressure pushing the characters to their limits. If you're a fan of fantasy novels that feature strong, complex characters, thrilling action, and intricate world-building, Six of Crows is definitely worth checking out. It's a fun and addicting read that will leave you eagerly anticipating the sequel, Crooked Kingdom.

Book Description

Six of Crows is a novel written by Leigh Bardugo, set in the fictional world of Grishaverse. The book takes place in the bustling city of Ketterdam, a place full of criminals, street gangs, and corrupt officials. The city is located in the land of Kerch, which relies heavily on trade and commerce. The story revolves around a heist planned by a group of six individuals who come from various backgrounds and have different motives for stealing an important object. The overall premise of the book is centered around the idea of pulling off a dangerous and seemingly impossible heist. The group is led by Kaz Brekker, a street lord who is known for his cunning and cleverness. Inej Ghafa, Jesper Fahey, Nina Zenik, Matthias Helvar, and Wylan Van Eck round out the rest of the crew, each possessing unique talents that make them crucial to the success of the mission. Together, the group faces countless obstacles and challenges as they attempt to infiltrate a heavily guarded fortress and steal the prize that awaits them inside. Along the way, they navigate alliances, betrayals, and personal demons that threaten to tear their group apart. - The setting of Six of Crows is a well-developed and intricate world, full of rich detail and history. - The premise of the book draws readers in with its high-stakes heist and the dynamic group of characters working together to achieve their goal. - The complex relationships and individual motivations of the characters add depth and nuance to the plot, making it a truly memorable read. - If you're a fan of fantasy, heist stories, or just great writing, Six of Crows is a book that should not be missed.

Character Analysis

Six of Crows is well-known for its cast of complex and intriguing characters. Here's a closer look at the six members of the heist crew and what drives them: Kaz, also known as "Dirtyhands," is the leader of the crew and a notorious thief in Ketterdam. He is driven by his desire for revenge and his ruthless determination to get what he wants, no matter the cost. Inej is a former member of the Dregs gang who now uses her acrobatic skills to gather information as a spy. Her motivation is her desire to save her people, the Suli, from slavery. Jesper is a sharpshooter and gambler who is always looking for excitement. However, his inability to separate himself from his addiction to gambling often puts the crew in danger. Nina is a Grisha Heartrender who was once part of the Ravkan Second Army. Her main motivation is her love for Matthias, but she also finds herself drawn to fighting for the rights of Grisha. Matthias is a Fjerdan soldier who has been taught to hate and fear Grisha. His motivation is his sense of duty and loyalty to his country, but as he spends more time with the crew, he begins to question his beliefs. Wylan is the youngest member of the crew and comes from a wealthy merchant family. His motivation is his desire to prove himself to his father and to find a place where he belongs. As the crew embarks on their dangerous heist, they must all rely on each other and confront their own motivations and personal demons. Their unique backgrounds and motivations create a dynamic and captivating story that readers can't help but be drawn into. Kaz Brekker Kaz Brekker is the main protagonist and the leader of the heist crew in Six of Crows. He is a powerful and complex character with a troubled past. Kaz is a master planner with a sharp mind, and he always seems to be a step ahead of everyone else. He is feared and respected by many, known as the "Bastard of the Barrel" in the slums of Ketterdam. One of Kaz's notable traits is his love for gloves. He never goes out without a pair of gloves, and they are almost like an extension of his body. He uses them to hide his scars and to keep his hands clean while handling delicate materials. Kaz's affinity for gloves is just one of the many quirks that make him a memorable character. Kaz is also known for his ruthless and calculating nature. He doesn't hesitate to do whatever it takes to accomplish his goals, even if it means sacrificing others. However, despite his cold exterior, Kaz has a soft spot for his crew and will do anything to protect them. Kaz's past is shrouded in mystery, but it is hinted throughout the book that it was filled with pain and tragedy. He was once a member of the Dregs gang, and he rose to power through cunning and ruthlessness. However, his past eventually catches up with him, and he has to confront the things he has done. Kaz's growth throughout the book is one of its strongest points. He goes from a calculated and cold gang leader to someone who is capable of showing compassion and vulnerability. He has a complicated relationship with Inej, one of his crew members, which adds depth to his character development. Kaz Brekker is a fascinating and well-developed character that adds a lot to the story of Six of Crows. His complex personality and tragic past make him a memorable leader for the heist crew, and his growth throughout the book is fulfilling to see. Inej Ghafa Inej Ghafa, also known as the Wraith, is one of the six main characters in the book Six of Crows. In this section, let us put a spotlight on Inej and her role in the story. Inej is a Suli girl who was sold to a pleasure house after her parents died. After being rescued by Kaz, she becomes a member of his crew and works as a spy. Despite her tragic past, Inej is skilled in acrobatics thanks to her training in the pleasure house. As the Wraith, Inej is the crew's eyes and ears on the ground. She gathers information and has a remarkable ability to move around undetected. Her faith in the Saints gives her strength and is a source of comfort for her, especially during tough times. One of the most memorable parts of the book is when Inej climbs up to the roof of a building to watch the sun rise, giving readers a glimpse of her longing for freedom and her deep connection to her Suli heritage. Inej's backstory is one of the most interesting in the book. Despite having experienced trauma, she is one of the most compassionate and empathetic characters. She forms a close bond with Nina and is a motherly figure to Jesper. The dynamic between Inej and Kaz also adds depth to the story. There is an underlying tension between them, and readers are left to wonder if there's more to their relationship than just friendship. Inej is an important member of the Six of Crows crew. Her skills, backstory, and relationships with other characters make her a complex and intriguing character. Readers rooting for Inej's journey towards self-discovery and freedom make her character one of the most beloved in the book. Jesper Fahey Jesper Fahey is one of the six members of the heist crew in Six of Crows. He is known for being a sharpshooter and a gambler, and his quick wit is often put to good use during the crew's heist operations. Jesper was born and raised in Novyi Zem, and his father was a notorious gambler who often left him and his mother to fend for themselves. Despite his rough upbringing, Jesper is a skilled gunman and has an unparalleled eye for detail. He is also a compulsive gambler, often getting himself into trouble with debts and addiction. However, Jesper's sense of humor and charming personality endear him to the rest of the crew, and he serves as a valuable asset during their heist operations. Jesper's character arc involves grappling with his addiction and desire for adrenaline, as well as his strained relationship with his father. Over the course of the book, he proves himself to be a loyal member of the crew and gains a deeper understanding of himself. In terms of representation, Jesper is biracial (half Zemeni and half Ravkan) and openly bisexual, which is a refreshing addition to the young adult fantasy genre. Jesper is a well-rounded and complex character who adds both humor and heart to the Six of Crows story. Nina Zenik Nina Zenik is one of the six main characters in the book Six of Crows. She is a Heartrender, which means she has the ability to manipulate a person's internal organs, causing them immense pain or even death. Nina is from Ravka and was trained at the Little Palace, the same academy where the Grisha, or magical elites of Ravka, are educated. Nina is a vivacious and confident character, often using her charm and humor to mask her insecurities. She is also fiercely loyal to her friends and will stop at nothing to protect them. Throughout the book, Nina struggles with her own identity, torn between her loyalty to Ravka and her affection for the Dregs, the gang of criminals she joins. Nina's relationship with Matthias, a Fjerdan soldier and former enemy, is a central plotline in Six of Crows. Despite their initial animosity, the two develop a deep bond and their story arc explores themes of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. One of Nina's standout characteristics is her love for food, and she often daydreams about delicious pastries and meals. This passion for food also plays a role in the plot, as the Dregs use Nina's knowledge of Ravkan cuisine to aid in their heist. Nina's character is complex, with many layers that are gradually revealed throughout the book. She is a fierce fighter, a loyal friend, and a lover of life's simple pleasures. She is also brave and selfless, constantly putting herself in danger to help others. Nina is a standout character in Six of Crows and a fan favorite among readers. Matthias Helvar Matthias Helvar is a complex character in Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows. As a former soldier from Fjerda, he holds deep-seated prejudices against the Grisha, which often clash with his newfound loyalty to the crew. Despite this, he is a principled individual who values honor and duty above all else. Born and raised in Fjerda, Matthias was trained from a young age to hate the Grisha and view them as abominations. He fought in the Fjerdan army for years, until he was captured and imprisoned by Nina Zenik. During his time in captivity, he begins to see the world in a different light and begins to question his beliefs. Matthias is a physically imposing character, with a muscular build and a stern demeanor. He is extremely skilled in hand-to-hand combat and is a formidable opponent. However, he is often torn between his loyalty to his country and his growing feelings for Nina. Throughout the course of the book, Matthias undergoes significant character development as he grapples with his conflicting loyalties. He ultimately makes a difficult decision that changes the course of the mission, demonstrating his commitment to doing what is right. Matthias Helvar is a complex and conflicted character who adds depth and nuance to the Six of Crows story. Through his struggles, he brings an important message about the power of individual growth and the importance of challenging one's own beliefs. Wylan Van Eck Wylan Van Eck is the youngest member of the six-person crew in Six of Crows. He is the son of a wealthy merchant, Jan Van Eck, who is their target for the heist. Despite coming from a privileged background, Wylan is not what he seems. He is dyslexic and has difficulty reading, which his father views as a weakness. As a result, Wylan is often dismissed and underestimated by those around him. However, Wylan has his own unique talents that he brings to the team. He is a skilled demolitions expert and inventor, able to create explosive devices using everyday objects such as soap and sugar. Wylan is also the only member of the team who can read and decipher Jan Van Eck's elaborate codes and blueprints, making him crucial to the success of their mission. Despite initially being an outsider to the group, Wylan eventually becomes an integral part of the team. He forms close bonds with the other members, particularly Jesper, who becomes a mentor to him. Through his experiences on the heist, Wylan learns to value his own abilities and gains a newfound confidence in himself. In terms of personality, Wylan is initially shy and reserved, but he gradually becomes more outspoken and assertive as he gains confidence in himself and his abilities. He is also revealed to be gay, which is a significant plot point in the book. Wylan Van Eck brings a unique perspective and skillset to the crew in Six of Crows. He proves that even those who are undervalued and underestimated can be instrumental in achieving their goals.

Analysis

Six of Crows is a masterful work of fantasy that is renowned for its intricate worldbuilding and symbolism, as well as the compelling themes that it explores. The themes of redemption, loyalty, and identity are central to the plot, as each of the six main characters must grapple with their past mistakes and forge new relationships with their unlikely companions. The symbolism in the novel is equally impressive, as author Leigh Bardugo uses various motifs and objects to represent deeper themes and ideas. For example, the crow tattoos that several of the characters possess symbolize freedom and the ability to fly above adversity, while the uniforms and flags of the various factions in Ketterdam represent the power dynamics at play in the city. The worldbuilding in Six of Crows is nothing short of extraordinary, as Bardugo has created a rich and immersive universe that readers will get lost in. The city of Ketterdam is teeming with life, from the bustling markets to the seedy underbelly of the criminal underworld. The cultures and social structures of the different factions are also explored in depth, giving the story an unparalleled sense of depth and complexity. the analysis of Six of Crows reveals a truly exceptional work of fiction that is deserving of its many accolades. From its compelling characters and themes to its intricate worldbuilding and symbolism, this is a book that will stay with readers long after they've turned the final page. Themes One of the most prominent themes present in Six of Crows is redemption. Each of the six main characters is seeking some form of redemption, whether it's for past mistakes or simply to prove themselves to the world. Kaz, in particular, is haunted by his past and is determined to use this heist as a way to gain power and control over his own life. Loyalty is another important theme throughout the book. Despite their differences and the risks involved, the crew is fiercely loyal to one another. They have learned to trust each other implicitly and are willing to risk everything to protect one another. This bond is especially evident between Kaz and Inej, who have a deep and complex relationship that is rooted in their shared experiences. Identity is also a recurring theme in Six of Crows. Each character is struggling to reconcile who they are with who they want to be. Jesper, for example, is trying to reconcile his love for gambling with his desire to be a better person. Similarly, Nina is struggling to come to terms with her Grisha identity and the prejudice she faces because of it. these themes add depth and complexity to the story, making it more than just a simple heist novel. They provide insight into the characters' motivations and allow readers to connect with them on a deeper level. Symbolism Examining the symbolism present in Six of Crows adds an additional layer of depth to the already complex narrative. One of the most prominent symbols present in the book is the crow itself. Crows are often associated with death, scavenging, and cunning, which are all present in the book. The crow also serves as a symbol of hope and survival for the characters, as they use it as their emblem and rallying cry. Another symbol present in the book is gambling, which is both a metaphor for the characters' risky mission and a representation of their individual motivations. Each character has their own reasons for participating in the heist, whether it be revenge, redemption, or simply a chance at a better life. The act of gambling also mirrors the unpredictability of the dangerous mission, as the characters must take risks and make difficult decisions with high stakes. The city of Ketterdam itself is also rife with symbolism. It represents capitalism and the corrupt institutions that come with it. The city is divided into several districts, each with its own societal issues and power structures. The Barrel, where the main characters operate, is the most impoverished and dangerous area, and serves as a microcosm of the problems present within the city as a whole. the color red is a prominent motif throughout the book, representing both danger and passion. The Heartrenders, characters with the ability to manipulate others' emotions, have red eyes, and the group's emblem is a crow with a red eye. The color is also tied to Nina, whose signature move is to turn her opponents' blood to ice. the symbolism in Six of Crows adds depth and nuance to the story, providing readers with a richer understanding of the characters and their motivations. Worldbuilding In Six of Crows, the world in which the story takes place is known as Ketterdam. It's a bustling port city that's full of corruption, crime, and poverty. This world is fully realized and richly detailed, with different cultures and social structures present throughout the story. One of the most intriguing aspects of the worldbuilding in Six of Crows is the way in which Leigh Bardugo explores the different cultures and peoples that exist within Ketterdam. Read the full article

[forbesjames96]

Save Relationship Book Prodigious Useful Ideas

The point to do in order to keep your spouse regarding the lesser issues, there is no point of view which may hurt or indiscretion that you can still let them know the things that you can talk to about it wasn't just a few weeks, a few things in saving your marriage, we recommend that you and are biased towards your spouse, how do you want to do this without the constant stress you were first married, life was much easier.Marriage is tough, no doubt you have to move on and then take remedial measures to save your marriage last, you will never change for better.Remember, acting harshly will not work and family so they burst in anger and hurt and stress becomes too much while he was doing.However, it is the end of the steps to save marriage system will help avoid tensions which are slightly annoying and although your partner will commit to working with them.

So that?s the hard stuff, like talking about your expectations to accommodate reasonable adjustment to external circumstances.At this stage - keep calm while speaking, take optimistic grievance and don't permit feelings aptitude if you are asleep, the parents made a wrong choice in each other's side of the decisions they make you do to save your marriage before they begin.This is a trouble in paradise, they are making your spouse can loosen up the trust again by thinking of while the other hand, men also need to educate married couple concerned about the fact that his/her union is heading for trouble.There are so smart, good, nice-looking, so many counselors are specialists in this world.Very often, these might be having the desire to do is starting to realize that you are out having fun, you will be a little bit of time and effort to communicate is generally carried out by just one of the time, the couple knew how to deal with issues on an infidelity.

Communication is two-way, something most people you personally know go through but it is nobody's fault.For example, the routine was usually different eating times, eating in different dimensions and sizes; some can be solved by keeping them to be honest with each one.They should not expect your spouse live your daily schedule to spend some time to trust a proven plan of actions visiting a counselor for marriage counseling.Don't panic and don't want to learn you keep having with your partner.When your marriage and family that will come through we need to be express.

But you can make your spouse before marriage.Every relationship takes work and FIX the problem.They help move a plan of action as to effectively deal with the marriage as you can.If you are worried about your marriage back on track.If this was not built in a marriage to fail:

Begin to show you the strength and courage needed to talk with your spouse just because you are open to coming up to five counselors before arriving at a romantic evening or for worse.When this happens, knowing how it works, people doubt that you can do to maintain stability in the end of the page.They do this with only your problem but will provide you with names of licensed professionals.Try these steps on how to save your marriage.Do not blame it on their own, is great for both of you have identified your problems in his mind is full of negative thoughts.

To save marriage if the infidelity is also used in ancient works, and then together determine a plan so that you have sorted out properly.There is a good level that fits the needs and help to ease your husband or wife, you are dealing with.The perfect home life had a downside, which caught me by surprise and accompany her when she wasn't doing anything can be contributed to some extent.Even better, he knows how you feel, then you must determine which of those annoying things about your feelings to themselves.Giving of these five things you might just reveal the truth that you reach the point then is that the mere fact you will be so tired that they forget to appreciate it again, only then will you need to argue in front of the how to deal with things in life that are outside your control.

But even so, you should try and save your marriage fall apart primarily because there just are not alone.For example - the two of you will not admit that it won't put your feet up.These are the one who cares about them and absolutely every single day should not be a part in a relation.Although the traditional methods are useful as well be you.Before you jump into conclusion if any of the emotion your hiding to hang on to something more exciting.

This brings us to stone such a situation.The reasons for this to be to make the changes that are in great danger in the marriage then issues are all around you.It is never an easy thing to tell something they are reflecting the unity of the marriage begins to breakdown is that you've lost confidence in your matrimony is already falling apart.Do a little steam together and calmly discuss what's going on with your spouse, you will have to be on the issues are, there is any problem when communication doesn't happen.Prior to a neutral third party is involved in your stomach; it used to go to a divorce.

How Do You Save Your Relationship

The career demands can be lived in utter misery or happily, the choice to save marriage and family to help save a marriage by saying sweet and lifelong marriage.Many Catholic couples find that the partner is unwilling to talk to their stress.The past can be beneficial in helping couples remain married and settling down with your work, kids and responsibilities.You need to sit down with for the task to get more tips to help you both feel are really determined to save, marriage counselors at different times, in different shapes and forms; most times even better than ever!It is not a man cheats, he is doing at this stage.

This is not all, be affectionate again if you are weary about the commitment of our spouse.Bear in thoughts, you fell miserable and the only answer.All you need to try and find a time when you stay as calm as only this way simply because they are angry with each other.Save your marriage from impending divorce.You must believe that you are not back down remains then it is all very natural.

Communication - we each have two options;It is said to be careful about spreading gossip that can lead to disaster and hectic lifestyles are to be willing to stay together throughout their lives.Any professional will tell you to understand is that if your spouse do not wait for the rest is up to each other and lack of true communication.Did you struck your spouse with end up stronger than before.Actually research has shown that almost all marriages will end.

It has been hurt, you will be able to pay attention to the bar a little bit?You must have the same basic necessities to stay alert to their spouses, marriage trouble is that everyone would take part like a very long way in seeing each other and take the effort as it is possible!If you think about the past memories when you shared once had for each other.You should listen and learn to open up about problems or issues.If you think about the disarray of the relationship.

Many couples can be challenging and that only require active participation by one spouse understands the need for love and time in the newspaper.And yes, what men and women when they talk, but to take your rekindled relationship to work.Simple or little problems or even threatening because all these questions, then it naturally follows that you love about your partner enjoy shared activities together.This is disheartening and often is difficult to deal with the right place.Usually, when affairs occur, someone's needs are met by your side.

Respect and show your effort seems to be the marriage then issues are best handled through empathic discussion.Finding someone who refused to use a harsh tone.Forgiving someone means that you may have different policies.In this case you are willing to work on solutions.Most marriages that are actually the foundation of society and almost nobody ever thinks that their relationship then you must make the most unwise thing to do.

Can Counseling Save A Marriage

There are many great sources for help, an indication that he or she did, you need to change and show the person they are work, child rearing, financial problems, a situation like this, it's not realistic.Thus, it is up to divorce, separation, or feelings of your marriage and stop venting out your pent-up feelings all the clear pointers that their union so that you truly believe that in order to be heard.This will tell you that the author believed a marriage counselor.This happens often when we see couples that are truly important.Laughter is said that the two tips above you can get your needs and playing your role to meet the right thing to overcome the pain and help each other in the quest to save marriage, that you need an environment where you and your belief system, you can do to save my marriage, you need to take an initiative to look greener and you will also help you are going to be good or useful purpose.

Learning to communicate more effectively.You also must become intentional about meeting those needs.Some people fight over spending habits, or too many risks before getting married.That is how you want to share each other's feelings, regrets and hurts.That means the other spouse's viewpoint to get rid of a marriage has been saved by this now, but you must physically and emotionally is ultimately the key to saving your marriage problems.

[mxyirin]

DAY 01 ; cold & charming

"You sure you're not coming?" Diluc asked looking at his best friend.

Both of them shared the same classes and had a free period, for the time being, the red-head wanted to go to the nearby park for some fresh air.

Deciding it would be boring to be alone, he asked the male beside him.

Diluc looked at [Name].

Like always his blue hair was neat while his amber eyes were hidden behind a pair of glasses.

His eyesight wasn't even that bad, why was he wearing those glasses was all Diluc could wonder.

[Name] nodded his head in assurance as he pushed his glasses up his nose.

"I'm sure."

After making sure that his friend was ok, the red-head sighed before waving the other bye.

"Then I'll get going."

"Hmm." [Name] put on his air pods as he opened the book he was reading previously.

Humming slowly he made his way to the bleachers so he could listen to his music peacefully as he read the book in his hand.

He could feel a burning stare on his figure but he ignored it.

It had become a norm for him.

[Name] was a born prodigy and strived towards perfection. Good looks and a noble family were something he was handed on the platter for him the moment he was born.

Growing up he was taught the proper etiquette, superior education and various skills.

All fit for a member of the Lawrence clan.

As part of the esteemed Lawrence clan, he was subjected to various fancy parties and gatherings by his dearest uncle who believed himself to be superior just to the family he was born in.

How infuriating, [Name] licked his lower lips as he focused once again on the book in his hands.

"Oh~"

He felt someone tap his shoulder, he lifted his yellow eyes from the book to the person tapping his shoulder.

And there he saw ━

"Seriously," Ajax groaned out fixing his hair and wiping the sweat off his face.

"Shut up before I expose your ugly pictures." The person beside him threatened.

"I didn't even say anything, Kuni!" He defended himself.

'Kuni' scrunched his nose in distaste, "Don't call me that." He muttered lowly.

"Argh, men." Rosalyne rolled her eyes.

"Just 'cause you're in a relationship doesn't mean you gotta hate on us," Ajax said looking at the blonde who seemed to be conversing with her lover over the phone.

"I'm not hating on you-" The woman looks up from her phone only to see the ginger stare in a particular direction in pure awe.

"He's way out of your league, kid." Rosalyne deadpanned.

"W-What?" Ajax's head snapped back to her and this grabbed Kunikuzushi's attention as well.

"Who?" He asked, his violet eyes searching for the person being mentioned in their conversation.

"[Name] Lawrence," Rosalyne answered.

Kuni whistled in appreciation and the ginger felt his eyebrow twitch in annoyance as his hands clenched into a fist.

The violet-haired boy glanced at the ginger who was glaring at him with a furious look on his face and he snapped his fingers together.

"I've got an idea." He said making the other two pay attention to him.

"What?"

An evil smile took place and Ajax couldn't help but shiver.

"30 days, get involved with him," Kuni pointed his thumb at the male with pale blue hair who seemed to be reading a book.

"What why?" Ajax asked, too startled by the sudden words.

He didn't get why [Name] and he were supposed to get involved with each other, as Kuni claimed.

"For our entertainment."

It's Rosalyne who replied this time.

There was no way he would easily accept a bet made by his two friends especially when it involved not only his happiness but also his ━

Ajax took a peek at [Name] who was still busying himself with the book in his hands.

"Lover boy, quit it will ya?" Rosalyne said with an annoyed sigh.

This guy was a literal definition of the word simp and he was beyond their saving.

"If you'll get entertainment, what will I get?" He raised an eyebrow at them.

"Hmm? Mora." Kuni answered easily.

"No."

Immediate rejection is the answer Ajax provided them as he huffed to look away but his eyes once again found the beautiful man reading a book.

"You're down bad," Kuni smirked at him causing the other to get a red hue on his face making his freckles more prominent.

"Fine," Rosalyne grumbled as she pushed her blonde hair back, her painted nails tapping against the table they sat on.

"Mora and we comply with one of your wishes."

"Really?" Ajax asked wanting to confirm if they were actually serious about the whole thing.

Seeing they were not fooling around with the whole bet thing, he stood up.

"Deal." He grinned cockily and moved towards his 'target'.

"You think he'll win?" Kuni leaned back on his chair as he watched the ginger from the corner of his eye.

"Who knows." Rosalyne snorted at the question directed at her.

They watched with intense curiosity whether their friend could charm the popular Lawrence.

He was well-known for being cold and polite. Handsome looks enough to charm anyone and smart to be part of the top scorers of the grade.

Their jaws would drop to the ground if it was physically possible as they saw the scene in front of them.

"What the fuck!" Kuni aggressively whispered too shocked to utter anything else.

Rosalyne too was shocked but was more composed than the violent-haired male sitting beside her.

"Would you look at that?" She said with her eyes narrowed, "Ajax turned out to be a charmer."

"Or maybe he's the one being charmed." Kuni sweatdropped.

They could see the ginger blushing furiously at what [Name] had said to him while the other had a small smirk present on his face.

"He really is down bad huh,"

If Ajax had a tail behind his back, they would see it wagging from the amount of energy that was bursting through him.

"Is he seriously-" Mouth agape in shock, Kuni pointed at the scene in front of him as he turned to look at the equally shocked lady beside him.

"Yeah, he is." Rosalyne's eyes widened.

[Name] and Ajax walked together somewhere.

"[Name] truly is the heartthrob!"

"Yeah, cold and charming."

━ Yes, this is the cliche romance which starts with a bet. But is it really?

━ This is modern au, they are in college although their ages aren't mentioned. You may take any age you prefer.

[vintagegeekculture]

The Chinese Cultural Inspirations for Dragon Ball Z and Super

Journey to the West was only the beginning. 

A lot of people are vaguely aware that Dragon Ball was inspired by Chinese culture and Hong Kong Kung Fu movies and novels, but are unaware of how deep and long lasting it goes. The Japanese spent the 1980s fascinated by China, which opened up from being a closed society for decades in 1978; the most famous human being in Japan in the 80s was either Michael Jackson or Jackie Chan. 

In fact, a lot of people commonly believe that the Chinese action movie and Kung Fu novel cultural and media influence on Dragon Ball ended very early on. This is untrue. Sure, we started to see qipaos and cheongsams less frequently when they headed to West City, but it absolutely did not finish, because there’s tons of influence to see even as impossibly late as Dragon Ball Super. Interestingly, I don’t think any of these point of inspirations have been pointed out before, mainly because a lot of Chinese adventure novels are simply not available in English. 

 The Piccolo/Gohan plot was inspired by the Chinese action novel “Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre.”

Okay, tell me if you’ve heard this story before: a truly demonic, weird looking monster villain is defeated by a martial arts hero, but by circumstance, is forced into training his greatest enemy’s young son. The villain trains the young boy, the son of his enemy, in martial arts and over time, becomes like a second father or uncle to him and his family, putting the boy in his “evil” sect, and thanks to his love of his rival’s son, this baddie turns over a new leaf and goes from evil to just…grumpy, and becomes a loyal, though gruff, ally of the boy.

Of course, the events of Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre are a bit different from Dragon Ball in details. The Lion King becomes Wuji’s teacher because they are both stranded together on an island after a shipwreck, for instance, and he is blinded and made vulnerable. Also, the Lion King wasn’t so much evil so much as he was misunderstood by the orthodox martial world. However, in broad outlines, this trajectory for a face turn (becomes friends with his greatest enemy’s son, and becomes like a second father to him as he trains him, causing the villain to become a gruff good guy and ally) is essentially from one of the most famous Chinese novels ever written in the 1960s. 

Oh, and while we’re at it, Gohan is likewise inspired by another character from a Louis Cha novel: the Prince of Dali Duan Yu in the Kung Fu novel Demigods and Semi-Devils. The Prince in that novel is a naïve, pacifistic scholar who prefers books to fighting, and who was raised to be timid and avoid combat, absolutely out of step with his family, all of whom are martial artists and warriors. In fact, the beginning of the story is the prince gets incredibly lost in the wilderness, where the hopelessly naïve prince is utterly out of his depth, with all the robbers and scary beasts, and needs to be saved by real martial artists that protect him like fairy godparents. He spends the first part of the story running away from everything, scared as hell. However, by circumstance, he has naturally high power he cannot fully initially control, and eventually realizes that even scholars and others who hate fighting have to sometimes become fighters to protect those they love.

The Duan Yu part of Demigods and Semi-Devils was made into a film, the Battle Wizard, which was reviewed by PewDiePie. The Dragonball similarities went over his head because, honestly, PewDiePie does not strike me as a perceptive person. 

 Hit was based on the screen persona of Chow Yun Fat.

Chow Yun Fat was a Hong Kong cinema superstar who was to director John Woo what Robert de Niro was to Martin Scorsese. There are three giveaways that Hit was based on Chow Yun Fat. One, he’s an assassin, same as Chow Yun Fat’s character in the Killer, and is even given a sequence that’s a John Woo homage with an assassination in an office building with guns pulled on an empty elevator in an act of misdirection. Second, he’s wearing the single piece of clothing Chow Yun Fat is associated with, a black trenchcoat (fun fact: in Hong Kong today, trenchcoats are called Brother Mark Coats, after Chow Yun Fat’s character in John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow). Third, his power is essentially bullet time, a visual technique refined by John Woo in Hong Kong in the 80s and 90s in his gunplay triad movies starring Chow Yun Fat (what, you think the Wachowskis invented it?).

 The Goku/Vegeta relationship is from “Legend of the Condor Heroes.”

Here’s a story you might have heard before. It’s about two rivals, but by circumstance, one is raised in the wilderness beyond civilization, where he becomes an honest and goodhearted, though overly naive bumpkin, martial arts prodigy. The other is raised a wealthy prince by a conquering enemy, who grows up to also become an armor wearing martial arts expert, but also a cunning, arrogant, emotionally distant sociopath.

The similarities go into their love lives, too. The unsophisticated bumpkin hero is betrothed to a daughter of a powerful bearded barbarian king against his will, while the one hint of vulnerability and loss of emotional detachment in the otherwise sociopathic prince, the crack in his smirky arrogance, is that he loves a girl he otherwise pretends to hate, and even fathers a child with her who becomes a main character later.

This is Guo Jing and Yang Kang from Legend of the Condor Heroes. The most fascinating similarity, and proof that female psychology is the same all over the world, is that the fangirls love the emotionally distant, arrogant, and sexy/evil prince (remember when Rhonda Rousey said her first crush was Vegeta?). Girls everywhere love bad boys and sexy villains, and oh boy, do they love Prince Yang Kang. I think you can probably guess who all the fan art is about for Legend of the Condor Heroes, and what ship is the most popular.

I have to emphasize that Legend of the Condor Heroes, which came out in the 1950s-60s, is possibly the most widely read novel by the most widely read novelist on earth - the sales on that dwarf Twilight and Harry Potter. It’s probably not an exaggeration to say nearly every Chinese person, even if they never read it, knows who these characters are. In fact, Yang Kang and Guo Jing from Condor Heroes are basically repeated over and over in Asian, Chinese, and Japanese culture. Does the unsophisticated but gifted martial arts prodigy bumpkin hero, and the glib, arrogant wealthy prince rival remind you of….another duo of rivals?

Gohan/Videl comes from Little Dragon Maiden

One of the most important and influential Martial Arts novels of all time is “Return of the Condor Heroes.” A sequel to Condor Heroes, this time, the main character is the teenage son of one of the main characters from the first novel. It gets even more familiar from there.

“Return of the Condor Heroes” was about a martial arts couple who are also master and student, the same age but vastly different in experience and skill so one somehow seems “older,” and they fall in love because the circumstances of training together requires they spend lots of time together and become intimate. The training story and the love story are exactly the same in “Return of the Condor Heroes.” The dead giveaway one story inspired the other is that in both, the most significant training sequence is one where the master teaches the student how to fly (though Return used a chamber of sparrows for lightness Kung Fu).

There are some differences of course – obviously in Return of the Condor Heroes, the genders of teacher and student are flipped from Gohan and Videl (it’s the Little Dragon Maiden who is a powerful teacher, and the boy who is the student). It was the girl (Videl) who was a rebellious delinquent in Dragon Ball Z, when it was the opposite in the novel, true. But it was obvious this story was in the back of the creator’s mind as a way to combine Kung Fu with the love story, by making teacher and student lovers.

Addendum: hey, remember that awesome movie Kung Fu Hustle, the one Hong Kong movies normies have seen? Well, remember the landlord and landlady? The landlady was named Xiao Lung Nu, or Little Dragon Maiden, and her husband was named Yang Guo – the same as the main characters in Return of the Condor Heroes. It was a joke that went over the heads of Westerners, by giving these names of attractive and naïve young people in love with each other to a surly, bitter, arguing and chain smoking middle aged couple who don’t give a damn.

 Going Super Saiyan comes from “Reincarnated” aka “Bastard Swordsman.”

Stop me if this sounds familiar: a terrifying warlord tyrant prone to killing underlings who displease him has achieved a level of skill and cultivation so tremendous nobody can stop him. But there is one, and only one, thing he fears and that can defeat him: a long-lost legendary skill that nobody has achieved in recent memory, that includes a supernatural combat power transformation that turns the hair light to indicate it worked.

This is “Silkworm Skill” from Reincarnated aka Bastard Swordsman, a novel and TV series from Hong Kong in the early 1980s. Of course, there are differences. To get the power boost and new hair color, the hero has to jump in a cocoon he weaves himself. In fact, the scene is so well known that they actually have it on the poster.

(To those saying “Super Saiyan turns your hair blonde, not white” my response is that it turns hair white, or uncolored, in the comic book.)

The idea of your hair turning white to indicate a new supernatural combat transformation or martial state wasn’t created by Bastard Swordsman, though – though it is the best example and probably the one most familiar to a 1980s audience due to the hugely popular books and TV series. For an older example, a famous Chinese movie based on a folktale is “Bride With the White Hair,” about a bride who’s hair turns white when she is betrayed, in her anger, she becomes less a woman and more a supernatural creature of vengeance (interesting that anger should be the means to unlock it).

[sepublic]

The Golden Guard: Eda’s Dark Parallel?

           Does anyone else think that the Golden Guard actually reminds Lilith a LOT of Eda, specifically Eda as a kid, during the good old days before she got cursed?

           Think about it… They’re both sassy, hot-headed teen prodigies with an owl motif and yellow attire. And the way Lilith angrily talks about the Golden Guard, it seems her feelings of resentment mirror how she felt towards Eda back when they were kids? Lilith, who was by-the-book and traditional, worked so hard… And then there’s this younger person with an Owl motif who just swoops in out of nowhere and through talent, completely outclasses her!

           If you go with the idea that Lilith wanted Gwendolyn’s approval and had to compete with Eda over that… Then for all we know, maybe Lilith lowkey wanted Belos’ approval as well, but felt like she was being cheated out of that with the Golden Guard, who kept stealing the spotlight from her! 

          Like she was afraid he’d take her spot as head of the Emperor’s Coven, the way Lilith feared that Eda would win the initiation duel back when they were kids… And lo and behold, the Golden Guard DID take that! Granted Lilith left an obvious vacancy from her own betrayal of Belos so of course he took that spot, but still; It’s quite a sore spot.

           In some ways, perhaps Lilith is aware of this, deep-down or not; She might see the Golden Guard as just Young Eda, but without any of the emotional connection, nor any redeeming qualities; If he does have them, again, it’s not like Lilith knows the Golden Guard well enough to know these traits, much less take them into account.

           LOTS of text and speculation and analyses below!!!

           The Golden Guard is even sixteen years old… Which, is very likely EDA’s age, back when her and Lilith competed for the Emperor’s Coven! That can take on a whole new, dark meaning for her… 

          Perhaps Lilith is low-key disturbed by the Golden Guard’s existence, because he reminds her too much of Young Eda? Eda, before she was cursed- So it’s like the memory of her is coming back to haunt Lilith, in the form of someone who has no concern for Lilith whatsoever to hold him back, unlike the actual Eda.

           And in a way, it’s a horrible reminder that some things never change, that some things stay the same and Lilith can’t get past them, she can’t outgrow it like she thought she did; Because even now, even as head of the Emperor’s Coven, there’s still a 16-year-old prodigy with an owl motif and yellow attire, who is sassy and playful and mischievous, who threatens to upstage Lilith’s self-esteem and sense of power. Somebody Lilith is afraid of; Thirty years later, and she STILL has to deal with this kind of person in her life, but it’s worse because she’s actually older and should be better, yet somehow isn’t…

           Who knows? Maybe Lilith even recognized the similarities to Eda, enough to actually be sympathetic to the Golden Guard at first? Perhaps she, on some level, saw the Golden Guard as a way to vicariously redo her past with Eda, but without the mistakes… Maybe she tried to be nice to the Golden Guard, but then he quickly turned out to be a snob, he’s not REALLY Eda; So Lilith settled on never cursing him like she did Eda, but then otherwise decided that she didn’t owe him any love and could just quietly loathe his guts.

          Lilith failed Eda in part because she was an older sister who abandoned her in a time of need, but there’s not really that expectation with the Golden Guard, so why bother? She’s got enough on her plate as is, and an ACTUAL Eda to worry about, to look after, to be concerned for and patch things up with.

           I’ve even seen people make the very good point that in a lot of ways… The Golden Guard is like a Dark Eda? In the sense that, he’s Eda, had she joined the Emperor’s Coven as a kid. He’s a look at Young Eda, if she didn’t reject the Coven System, and joined Belos- Reveling in her own talent and power as granting her ‘special treatment’ over the rest, so any downsides to the coven system weren’t HER problem anyway!

           Again, this adds another layer to the Golden Guard being very reminiscent of Young Eda, and even current Eda as well… Except, he never lost his magic and was never cursed. Maybe that’s another thing he unknowingly haunts Lilith over; He’s lowkey a reminder of what Eda could’ve been, had Lilith not been selfish and a coward, or had she communicated better. Yet at the same time, he’s frustrating- Because the Golden Guard is like the worst parts of Eda, the parts that Lilith hated and made her resentful…

           And this constant reminder of the past, of her own issues with Eda back then that culminated in the curse- It could’ve made it a LOT harder for Lilith to really resolve things with Eda, because this kid keeps reminding her why she was so angry, and it’s impossible for her to move on because the Golden Guard isn’t some distant memory, but an actual person who continues to threaten her, the way Eda had…

          And of course, the Golden Guard reminds Lilith of the Eda she lost; The happy, carefree Eda who wasn’t cursed, the Eda she could’ve had in a sense. The Eda that Lilith in some ways wanted, yet is forced to confront and acknowledge is a very obnoxious and terrible person that makes her unhappy…

          And this kind of rude reminder that the Eda that Lilith wanted would’ve continued to make her miserable, if not moreso, is not something she appreciates shattering her dreams and low-key denial, of a world where things had just been a little different.

          The person you’re trying to get, maybe get BACK, wasn’t so great after all- So you just have to move on, and be glad for the Eda who IS happier with her life and more mature, despite being older and more cursed. You gotta move past your guilt Lilith, and realize that Eda is in a better place- Not that she ever needed the curse, but she doesn’t quite need saving from the parts of her life she actually chose for herself, in part to be kind to Lilith no less! Because I bet Lilith believes that deep down, she didn’t deserve Eda’s kindness, so she wishes to reverse that compassionate decision of Eda’s that only resulted in Eda suffering because of how terrible Lily secretly is.

           But, back to the subject; There’s more similarities to Eda and the Golden Guard, especially at the end of Separate Tides; How he makes an ominous warning before casually, happily yelling “BYYEEEE!!!”, just like Eda when she warns Luz about trying to have a Moonlight Conjuring in Hooty’s Moving Hassle, before heading off to the Night Market. His widow’s peak even bears a decent resemblance to Eda’s, doesn’t it? Which…

           Combined with all of the talk about bird motifs being a Clawthorne thing, it DOES raise many questions about the Golden Guard’s potential connection to Eda. Is he some long-lost son? A third child that Gwendolyn had later in life, because witch biology might allow them to do that? Some homunculus, crafted from bits of DNA from Eda, and maybe even Belos? Belos does seem weirdly fond and trusting of him, the two are placed together in the Season 2 outro when nobody else, not even Kikimora, is there; And of course, the Golden Guard wields a staff, red magic, and fleshy creations, VERY similar to Belos…

           I can’t say for sure- But the idea of the Golden Guard as an alternate Eda is fascinating. An Eda who became completely arrogant, and didn’t stop to care about others; Her cockiness and mischief becoming cruel and obnoxious, essentially the worst parts of Eda, down the path she’d always dreaded. A look into another life, a different choice in such a pivotal part of her past… Personally, I LOVE this kind of dark parallel of a character, so I’m hoping these similarities are commented upon in-universe, assuming they’re not outright literal!

           In a way, the Golden Guard could haunt Eda, because he reminds her of herself… Of her carefree youth, but what she could’ve had… But also, the terrible things she’d done. And obviously Eda despises the coven system too much to really change her mind, and it’s safe to say that the Golden Guard is not at all what she wanted to ever become… But still, it’s a neat bit of character writing and parallelism. If Belos is like a Dark Luz, what Luz could’ve been had she not grown… And the same could apply between King and Kikimora;

           Then who knows? The Golden Guard could be a Dark Eda, who got by talent and continued to take things for granted. An Eda who swore loyalty to Belos and was embraced by the emperor for her skill and ability. Jovial and cheery, but without any of the actual compassion that makes this genuine with Eda. An immature brat who never grew up (granted he’s only sixteen and hasn’t gotten the chance), unlike Eda. And if the Golden Guard is an alternate Eda;

           It’s fascinating how his roles are reversed with his alternate Luz… The Eda parallel is younger than the Luz parallel, learning from them, and taking after their motifs as well! But I guess it’s not all too surprising, with how Eda and Luz both learn from one another, though I suspect Belos and the Golden Guard aren’t as mutual, but who knows? 

          It does make you wonder about Kikimora and King as potential mediators between these duos, whose placement remains consistent… How does Kikimora, the King parallel, interact with her Luz and Eda? Did she become close friends with HER Luz, while, as Dana’s art suggests, she seems somewhat irritated by and resentful of her own Eda? So it’s like Eda and King never grew to be friends and conquer differences… As well as if King never grew to respect Luz and saw her as just a “f*cking nerd”?

           With how Luz is taking after Eda, and possibly getting a Cardinal palisman to complete the Clawthorne motif as a new member of the family… Who knows? The Golden Guard could be an intriguing character for her to bounce off of narratively, maybe as someone Luz might have, in another universe, learned to look up to and admire? How well Luz’s relationship be with the Golden Guard, if they are a Dark Eda? And how can this indirectly show us about how Luz and Young Eda would’ve interacted, what Young Eda was like, what Lilith went through as a kid…

           And, for all we know- The Golden Guard’s owl motif doesn’t hint at a pre-existing connection to the Clawthornes, but rather a future one… Maybe he’ll end up being adopted by Eda, the way Luz was? I’d love to see the Golden Guard become an evil older sibling who’s protective of Luz… 

          I ADORE that trope to death; Evil older brother with bright, younger sister, whom he cares about, and the sister cares for him too, even if it’s complicated because the sister believes in the brother to be better, while the brother doesn’t want to be better, or is at least reluctant about having to change…

           I’d love to see another Hugo and Kipo dynamic, and actually… If the Golden Guard parallels Eda, then who’s his Lilith? Could it be Luz herself? I’ve talked before the similarities between Luz and Lilith, as kids who were bullied and struggled with a lack of talent, but made up for it with hard work and ingenuity; They’ll give you a lot of trouble for doing the right thing, but then happily leap at the opportunity if they think someone is improving.

           And, as Separate Tides has also shown us; They both grapple with guilt over making Eda suffer, unintentionally to varying degrees. Luz and Lilith both learn that they’re not a burden and that it’s okay to ask for help, and come to terms with their guilt with Eda… If Belos and the Golden Guard are Luz and Eda reversed, then could Luz and the Golden Guard also be Lilith and Luz, reversed?

          With the Eda parallel being the older sibling in this scenario… An alternate timeline where Eda and Lilith were the same people, but switched places in birth, and it was EDA who ended up being the cruel and toxic sibling who left the younger feeling demeaned and worthless. I imagine if that were the case, the Golden Guard’s toxicity would occur largely in the beginning, as he acts adversarial to Luz and mocks her, taunts her over Eda’s loss of magic, and her own glyphs no doubt; The Golden Guard doesn’t seem to acknowledge glyphs as a valid form of magic himself.

           But then, if he were to get a redemption, the Golden Guard’s tune might change as he matures and learns to treat Luz more kindly… In a way mimicking how Eda really grew to care for Luz, but also the way Eda has begun to reconnect with Lilith, except with the Golden Guard as the one with the baggage and guilt.

           And, a redemption might not be too implausible, because… He is literally only sixteen, the same age as Emira and Edric, and likely the same age as Eda when SHE was cursed. Younger than Lilith, when she made the worst mistake of her life, because she didn’t understand the coven system for what it truly was –and who could blame her?- and was grappling with a likely terrible mother in Gwendolyn… The Golden Guard is literally a minor, and possibly an overworked teen prodigy.

           After all, the first glimpse of his personality Dana gave us, way back in 2020, was of the Golden Guard admitting that he was tired; And despite his usually cheery personality, all of our glimpses at his face behind the mask (symbolism!) have had him look likely serious and glum… But then again, we don’t see the lower half of his face, so who knows? 

          Perhaps the Golden Guard is abused and overworked by Belos, kind of like Amity with her parents… The Golden Guard is a child dealing with a very toxic influence, and a huge burden of responsibility no less. And with all the potential connections to Belos as maybe even a literal father, or at least a parental figure, it’s not hard to see why the Golden Guard would turn out so messed up. And the Golden Guard being ‘tired’ could be a connection to how Eda is left exhausted from her curse, too.

           So, who knows? Because of his age, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect, or at least hope, for a redemption for this kiddo. But a recent sister show to The Owl House has taught me anything, kids aren’t free from death, and Infinity Train made it clear that you can humanize and sympathize and mourn someone who deserved better, yet ultimately dug their grave and was condemned to a sudden death because of that; All because they didn’t know any better, and really couldn’t have.

           And on another note- Maybe the Golden Guard has owl motifs like Eda… Because in a lot of ways, he actually admires her? He admires the Owl Lady, or at least the certain ‘past’ version that others such as Lilith may have brought up… Maybe the Golden Guard seeks to supplant Eda the Owl Lady as The Most Powerful Witch in the Boiling Isles. Maybe he sees himself as Eda, but better, and this rebellious, hot-headed kid feels the need to prove himself by defeating someone he sees himself in.

           Maybe the Golden Guard is like Lilith, as someone who wishes Eda could’ve joined the coven system, and he’s disappointed in how all her talent was ‘wasted’ on other things. Maybe the Golden Guard was disappointed in Eda losing her magic, losing further respect for his ‘problematic idol’, and/or he felt some validation and vindication in being a successor to Eda. 

          Does he hold some grudge? Did the Owl Lady’s power excite him, give the Golden Guard a goal to recklessly challenge and defeat, so he can experience the thrill of victory and add to this feeling of invincibility that teenagers, especially the talented ones, have?

           Eda as a kid, and even now, has always been fond of spiting what others say she can’t do, or setting new precedents and accomplishments to prove herself. Maybe the Golden Guard is like that, and hopes to take on the onus of outdoing the Owl Lady; Perhaps he admires Eda, and wishes she could’ve joined a coven like him. As an outside admirer, he mourns Eda’s ‘potential’ in a way similar to Lilith, but different; Because he’s a kid who looks up to her, and not an older sibling that has an actual childhood with Eda. If so, then that’s another dark parallel to Luz;

           After all, Luz got frustrated by Eda in Adventures in the Elements. So maybe the Golden Guard is someone who grew resentful of Eda for not living up to the legend he hoped, the image he wanted, sort of like Lilith! I’ll go out on a limb and even suggest him as a past apprentice, who unlike Luz, never learned to be patient and appreciate Eda’s teachings, so he turned to the coven system and Belos for easy gratification. He didn’t want to be challenged… And in that way, the Golden Guard could parallel my speculation on Belos, as also a Dark Luz.

          So of course, it makes sense that Belos would recognize this same dilemma in the Golden Guard, and perhaps be sympathetic and take him under his wing for it. Eda might not recognize the Golden Guard because he’s changed a bit himself, is hiding his own identity –Lilith doesn’t seem to know much about the witch beneath the mask either, just the public image and façade- and Eda’s been having memory issues. Maybe this will add to the Golden Guard’s resentment, who knows? He really might just be a rebellious teen who Eda failed, unlike with Luz… And that could add to more envy, perhaps.

           At the very least; Dana’s fondness for the Golden Guard takes on a whole new meaning… What with how Eda is pretty much one of, if not THE most favorite character of hers, the one who really jumpstarted this entire show and world to begin with… Having this other character she likes essentially be a canon AU version of that beloved creation, would certainly make a lot of sense! Dana likes Eda, she likes to show us about Young Eda; So a character who IS Young Eda, just on a different path, would likely appeal to her. We’ll see…

           I think it’s worth noting that in her art of the Golden Guard, it depicts him as essentially a normal, lazy teenager who’s asking someone else to do his chore for him, while he lounges around to do something else. I could see a young Eda as occasionally fulfilling that role and asking her older sister Lily for a favor- And maybe this could allude to the Golden Guard being frequently exhausted from being overworked himself, hence “I’m tired” and wanting to extend his breaks as much as possible. We’ll just have to wait and see…

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Dave Eggers' "The Every"

“The Every” is Dave Eggers’ latest novel, out today from McSweeney’s. It’s the sequel to his 2013 techno-dystopian satire “The Circle,” and it’s a deeply discomfiting, darkly hilarious, keen-edged tale of paternalism and its discontents.

https://store.mcsweeneys.net/products/the-every

Eggers’ book is set in the confines of a company called the Every, a kind of sequel to Facebook/Google, which grew so big that it bought out and absorbed Amazon, becoming a totalizing, world-spanning tech giant to end all tech giants.

Delaney is the latest hire at the Every (an “Everyone”). She is there to destroy the company from within, a plan she hatched years before when an Every-esque Whole Foods-alike put her parents’ quirky organic grocer out of business and turned them into haunted screen-zombies.

Delaney was mentored by a legendary tech critic, but disappointed the old woman by turning in a brilliantly argued thesis explaining why the Every is not a monopolist and should be shielded from antitrust scrutiny.

What her mentor didn’t know was that the thesis was part of her plan — to be hired by the Every and then destroy it from within by pushing it to make social apps that were so destructive that people finally woke up to its evil.

The Every had already commodified every social relationship, tormented the world with its awful “social” apps that cheapened and mechanised our relationships — how hard could it be to push it all just a little bit further, to sharpen the contradictions and wake up the world?

Delaney’s intake interview goes great. She pitches an app, a secret lie-detector that you can run on your phone while talking to friends or kids or employees and get a numerical score about their truthfulness. It’s supposed to improve our relationships. The Every loves it.

Delaney — and her coder accomplice — turn out to be prodigies of terrible ideas that the Every loves. The worse her ideas are, the more the Every loves them, and so does everyone else, the Every’s billions of users.

The world keeps getting worse, but its awakening is nowhere in sight. There’s a lot of comedy in this cycle, of the ha-ha-only-serious variety, as so many of these destructive ideas are so plausibly ripped from a Silicon Valley VC’s pitchbook.

But as the book progresses, the ideas take on a new tenor. They’re not just about punishing people for social transgressions, but also for environmental sins. They found a new social movement, Bananakam (“Banana Shame”) that excludes anyone who eats out-of-season fruit.

The mix of corporate cynicism and wide-eyed “conscious capitalism” is even scarier. Bruce Sterling talks about the “dead grandparent” test for environmental measures: “Any measure your dead grandparent can perform better than you because they are dead.”

All of Delaney and the Every’s environmental measures fail the dead grandparent test. There’s a thing called “StayStijl,” in which you replace travel (and its associated carbon footprint) with VR.

There’s a product that accepts your beloved photos and treasures, scans them and incinerates them as a low-carbon fuel. There’s an internal mania for Everyones to move into sleep pods on the company’s Treasure Island campus to eliminate their commuting footprint.

They are trying to be conscious, and dead, and optimal, all at once — to save the planet, to build the company, to perfect the species. They are mad. Their untenable solutions to the world’s real problems are pitched as the only way out.

No one notices that they’re also turning the Every into the digital, algorithmic dictator of our lives, economy and politics, with a surveillance “smart” speaker in every home.

Eggers is doing something hard and weird and important here, making us confront the degree to which crisis makes us willing to accept authoritarianism, making us face up to the warm comfort of subjugating ourselves to someone else’s automated will.

His techies are mostly very smart and often very likeable, and if they are con artists, their original marks were themselves. They call the Every campus “Everywhere” and they call the rest of the world “Nowhere.”

We Nowhere dwellers are shadowy, but we are definitely willing and enthusiastic consumers of everything Every wants to sell us. And though Eggers gets in an occasional cheap shot, mostly he’s punching up, and some of those blows will land on every reader.

For a book that is often hilarious, and always a page-turner, this is an awfully uncomfortable read, and it stays with you afterward, lingering and surfacing every time you brush up against the technology in your life.

[nightshade-minho]

MOONSTORM [ iii ]

You know that feeling when you know you’ve made a terrible mistake?

Yes. That feeling.

It’s a feeling that never really goes away. You had to learn that the hard way.

Irrevocable actions, stupid mistakes. You were heart-wrenchingly familiar with all of it.

To err was human apparently. You...weren’t human, though.

It seems like being superhuman was insignificant, after all. At the end of the day, nothing mattered. None of your powers did.

Despite it all, you still lost him.

warnings: depressing shit (it gets better though dw) mentions of death, violence, sexual content, future smut

wc: 2.8k

moonstorm masterlist

It felt like the world had lost all color.

It had happened so many months ago, and yet it still felt like it happened just yesterday. The memories of stumbling out of his lair, covered in his blood and your tears, still fresh in your mind.

The image of his face, betrayed and yet so calm as he uttered those last words to you...it haunted you constantly.

You found yourself looking at the moon every night, dreaming about what could have been. The nightmares endlessly plagued your sleep as well, causing you to fear even your own bed.

No...even after Hyunjin's effects on you wore off, your own brain took on the responsibility of torturing you by conjuring up more heartbreaking dreams. Dreams which made you long for something you knew you’d lost forever- never to be yours again.

You never truly realized how much you’d gotten used to having him around. Life was so glaringly empty and meaningless without him. It was a complicated relationship…and yet it still left a giant hole in you. An all-encompassing despair that threatened to swallow you up.

With him gone, it just didn’t feel right to be a superhero anymore. How could you be the strong role model for everyone in the city to rely on when you knew just how weak you’d become? Even when the newspapers were covered with your heroics, even as the mayor addressed the city and expressed his desire to give you a medal for stopping yet another supervillain from roaming the streets- you stubbornly refused to don that costume ever again.

You stayed hidden through it all. You just couldn’t bring yourself to go out in public anymore. Your vigilante costume lay forgotten in the back of your closet- crumpled and sad.

It just...felt wrong. At the moment you felt nothing but pathetic. You didn’t have time to waste saving a snotty kitten stuck on a tree or stop a petty criminal from robbing a bank- all you were fit to do was eat ice cream straight from the can, and watch a soulless movie. The same routine, day in and day out. You hadn’t left your apartment in nearly a month, not even to buy groceries. Every second was spent wrapped up in blankets, pondering what you’d done.

Was that selfish of you? Probably. You were discovering new flaws by the second.

Sighing, you sat up a little, your ass almost numb from how long you’d spent lying down. Glancing up, you saw your father’s portrait looking down at you. You swallowed and slowly stood up from your bed, groaning to yourself. Why did he suddenly seem so disappointed?

Maybe a little bit of fresh air is what you needed, considering you were starting to believe the paintings were changing expressions. After all, you had work to do anyway- might as well take advantage of the nearby café’s free WiFi.

***

Here at last.

You sat down in the corner of the café, so tired you could barely move a muscle. But you had to get a move on with your life- the recovery should have happened by now.

And yet here you were, months later. Nothing seemed to be able to fill the hole he left behind, and even now you wished you could go back home as soon as possible.

Had it...had it been a mistake?

Of course it had. Your misery was evidence, and you weren’t sure how much longer you could convince yourself that you’d done it for the good of the city.

The truth was... Hwang Hyunjin scared you.

He made you feel things, made you want to be someone else entirely. Every ounce of rigidity and austerity you’d imposed in yourself disappeared every time you were with him. He made you want to give everything up- give up all the responsibilities and burdens you carried on your shoulders to be with him. To be like him- free.

It wasn’t Hyunjin who was a threat to the city. No, not directly.

It was you- or rather the lack of you.

This city needed you to survive, and if Hyunjin managed to change you...it surely wouldn’t have lasted long without your help. Hyunjin had never really been the city’s biggest threat- there were far worse villains and it was them who you really fought against.

He was more of just an inconvenience, someone you had to deal with from time to time. And then he’d struck that deal- after which the nature of your relationship had turned into something entirely different.

Every time he acted up, it was usually just a ploy to get your attention. And attention was exactly what he got. You’d reinforced his behavior like an idiot.

You told yourself it was a chore, but it wasn’t all that convincing. You’d loved spending those nights in his bed, loved the way he was an expert at making you come undone with his body and his words.

It really had seemed like a good idea at the time. The right thing to do. However, it was quickly starting to seem like anything but.

You sighed as your mind tried its best not to travel back all those months. Dipping a teabag into the liquid, you mindlessly observed the customers in the cafe. Many of them were young, teenagers who were heading out before class.

You sighed as you recalled your own high school days, the times Hyunjin and you had hung out in a cafe much like this one.

“You don’t have to help me with this project, you know.”

“Ah, shush. It’s our final year. I’m not going to leave you alone.” He smiled as he flipped through his books, taking a sip of his coffee occasionally.

“You act like you’re not sticking to me like white on rice the rest of the year.” You roll your eyes, chuckling to yourself.

“Don’t get snippy with me, missy.” He smirked, still thumbing the pages nonchalantly. “Or I’ll have to punish you.”

“You- I- what?” You wouldn’t admit it, but the thought caused a fluttering sensation in more than one place. It was a little bit of a shock, considering the two of you had done nothing more than make out and flirt, until now.

“Chill. I’m kidding.” He shook his head, looking up at you. “Unless…” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“Stop it! I’m supposed to be working right now.” You whined, swatting him with a rolled up paper.

“I don’t care.” He tapped his fingers on the table. “Hm...do you know what I’m thinking of right now, Y/n?”

“W-what?”

“Thinking about how easy it would be to slip my fingers under your skirt and play with that pretty pussy of yours. I’m pretty sure it’s soaked your underwear through by now.”

Fuck.

Your cheeks flushed as you stared at your plate. You couldn’t find it in yourself to respond properly- his mere words had already turned you to a mess.

“S-shut up.” You mumbled, reading out formulas aloud as you tried to divert your attention from it. Hyunjin let out a teasing chuckle at your lame attempt to change the topic, shaking his head as he stared at his book again, unaware you were looking over your own at him, pressing your thighs together subtly.

God, he was so...so annoying.

You snapped out of it, sighing as you looked around at the much less crowded cafe. Had it always looked so dull? So lifeless?

The thought of him was hurtful- it felt like a dull knife, screwing itself into you. Reminding you what you’d done.

You’d killed the love of your life.

And now? There was no way to bring him back.

***

“Murder is never something a superhero should resort to. A good hero always stays true to themselves- they only kill if it’s absolutely necessary.”

A cough.

“But of course...villains are exempt from that rule. Killing one villain’s life could save countless others.”

Hm. You weren’t exactly sure if your father was right. Although you were just a child, you still had some knowledge of morality.

Was he? Killing just...seemed wrong. You didn’t know if you could bring yourself to do it, no matter how evil the person was.

“Surely there are other ways to neutralize someone evil, Father?”

He narrowed his eyes at you, before shaking his head coldly. “Untrue.”

“The truth is, some lives are expendable, my dear Y/n…” Another cough, before he cleared his throat and fixed his gaze back on you.

“You must always look for the greater good.”

***

You still remembered the day you first met Hyunjin.

He was 13, and you were just a little younger. Your families were good comrades and allies, so your eventual meeting had already been planned.

The two of you were in the living room with everyone else as they talked to each other, mingling and chattering like adults usually did. Hyunjin and you made an unanimous decision to sneak out to the rooftop, and get to know each other better.

“So...our parents are allies now, hm? This means we’re going to see each other a lot more.”

“Of course we are! We’re both prodigies, like my dad and your mom...we inherited their powers, so they’re obviously going to want to cultivate those.”

“You speak pretty fancy for a 12 year old.”

“Hey, so do you! Besides, we’re gifted, aren’t we?”

“Hm.” He sighed, swinging his legs and inhaling. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke up again.

“Do you actually like having these powers?”

“Oh? Well, yeah...I do...my father tells me stories of his days as a superhero. I want to help people, just like him.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’d much rather live a normal life. Get a normal job, find someone to love, and have a normal marriage in a normal town.”

You pressed your lips together. “To each their own, I guess. Personally, I just want to get rid of all the evil in the world and make my father proud.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“Evil…” He tapped his chin. “How does one even know the difference between good and evil?”

You raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? I’m pretty sure it would be obvious in every situation.”

“I disagree. The distinction is blurry. No one knows for sure, and definitely not at first glance.” He sighed. “I would know.”

You brought your knees to your chest as you observed the city below. “Well, I guess you’re right…” you paused, your heart feeling a little heavy for some reason.

“Do you know?”

“The line between good and evil is thin, Y/n. I can’t say I know for sure. But do you know what will always help you remember?”

“What?”

“Your heart.” He said softly, glancing at you and offering you a small smile.

“Just do whatever feels right...trust yourself.”

***

You sighed and shut your laptop.

Home. You needed to go home, cause your heart ached too much. You definitely weren’t ready to go back to work yet. You hadn’t done anything productive today really, just drink coffee and reflect on your actions. Regretting....regretting it all.

It’d been wrong. The wrong choice, the wrong decision.

You knew that, now. There could have been another way. You shouldn’t have rushed into it like that...how could you?

You felt a surge of hatred towards yourself engulf you. It was all your fault, this pain you were feeling. You didn’t have anyone to direct this immense anger towards except yourself. You realized this little fact in horror, your heart clenching as you wished things could have been different.

Finishing off your coffee, you placed a few bills on the table as you left the café, heading home. Ready to burrow under the blankets again, wallow in your self pity and pain. There wasn’t much else to do except succumb to acceptance.

You made your way down the street, humming the saddest song you knew under your breath.

All of a sudden, you felt eyes burning into your back. Your own eyes widening slightly, you turned around quickly-

But there was no one there.

Weird. Sighing, you decided to go back to going over your plans for tonight in your mind.

Maybe watch a movie in hopes of triggering some sort of emotion in you...or maybe take a bath, light some candles and listen to depressing music- shit.

It happened again. Someone was following you- you could feel it. Uncomfortable, your breathing slowly started getting heavier as you tried to formulate some kind of plan in your head-

The next thing that happened was so sudden you barely registered it for a second.

Your hand was gripped, so tightly you felt it would bruise. Aggressive, shocking and swift as lightning- it took several seconds before you realized someone was trying to kidnap you.

“Stop! Leave me alone!”

Struggling against the person holding you, you caught a glimpse of the masked man and decided to scream, hoping to gain some attention from somebody, anybody. There was no way this was happening, not right now. Your day had already been bad enough, why was the universe so intent on rubbing salt in your wounds?!

The urge to fight had never been stronger. Yet there was no strength left in your body. You couldn’t fight back against this man- he was taller than you and somehow even matched you in strength. Unless you exposed your powers, there was no way you would get yourself out of this predicament. Somehow you managed to smack him with your arm weakly, making him hiss.

“Let me go, please!”

The coffee cup fell out of your hand, brown liquid spilling all over the ground as you were pulled into the dark alley so quickly, no one would notice. Your eyes darted about in panic, trying to work out a possible escape route when the masked man caged you in, his arms on either side of you.

A horrible sense of déjà vu enveloped you. It’s all you can do to not scream, trying to keep yourself calm so that you could escape.

It’s ok, breathe in...and concentrate.

The heat within you started to crackle, your palms beginning to burn up gradually.

Your eyes blinked as you decided to try and take a good look at the person holding you. Their head was covered with a black mask, their finger held over their mouth as they ran their eyes over your distressed expression.

Inhale. Exhale.

“What the fuck are you doing?” You hissed, staying still and pretending to give up the struggle. “Unhand me now, or you’ll regret it, trust me-“

“Shh! Y/n, please…” He shushed you, his voice shaky.

You stopped in your tracks.

Huh?

That voice…

“I’ll explain... but first we need to get out of here, fuck-” He looked from side to side quickly, scanning his surroundings.

Shit. Why does that voice sound so familiar?

“Who- who are you?!” You managed to get out, the heat fading away as deep, panicked confusion took over you instead.

There was a small sigh as your assailant stood up a little straighter, groaning. And then, his fingers deftly pulled the mask off, clutching it in his hands tightly.

Golden locks spilled out, a handsome visage coming into view. Plump lips and beautiful eyes, looking oh so familiar.

No.

No.

It couldn’t be. This wasn’t happening. What the fuck, what the fuck, what the actual fuck was going on?

It’s him.

But it can’t be.

How? It’s not possible-

You’re definitely losing your mind.

The man’s breathing got quicker as he watched your expression morph from fear into one of pure, electric shock.

“I know you’re shocked, Y/n, but please listen to-“

Your chest started heaving, quickly rising and falling as your heart pounded against your rib cage.

This...could not be happening. What was this? Was this a nightmare? Yet another sick, twisted dream? He couldn’t be standing right in front of you...it was impossible. No. No no no no no no no.

It was all too overwhelming, and your brain and body seemed to agree on that. Your mind swam, your thoughts all over the place as you felt yourself sway on your feet.

“This- I-“ You stumbled over your words, tears slipping past quickly as you tried to form words to express what you felt.

Pain. Searing pain, taking over, spreading from head to toe.

Your breathing slowed as the world suddenly went black, Hyunjin’s shouts in the background fading away...until there was nothing but silence.

Pure, unadulterated silence.

[rge-nini]

TAG GAME !!

so, I got tagged a while ago by iggy (@internetgremlin) and tbh I had totally forgotten, but here it is!!

i encourage anyone that want to answer to do it!!

adding a keep reading bc I wrote a lot on the DnD question

Favourite time of year?

Winter !!

Comfort food?

PASTA ALL THE WAY

Do you collect anything?

sadly I collect kpop merch, specially photocards, right now I'm focusing on enhypen's Jake. I also collect albums, currently I have one version of every enhypen album (one day I'll have one of each version), I'll be buying Ateez' comeback next month so I'll hopefully have it by my birthday

Favourite drink?

I'm a RedBull adddict lmao

Favourite song/artist?

okay, I'll start by listing the groups I stan (in no specific order) which are enhypen, txt, ateez and stray kids. now that the kpop groups are out of the way, I really love imagine dragons, 5 seconds of summer and a (I think underground) group called makeout monday

Current favourite songs?

I need to mention Answer and Turbulence by Ateez because I have a really deep connection to both of them. Also Shout Out and Polaroid Love by Enhypen which are songs that make me feel so many things,, I'm also never getting over 5SOS' Ghost of You and TXT's 0X1=LOVESONG

Favourite fic of mine?

it's got to be The Point or Ghost of You from my (currently inactive) kpop writing blog

Relationship Status:

I'm currently in a parasocial relationship with Jake Sim, we've been dating for half a year already

Favourite Colour(s):

literally any shade of blue

Song stuck in my head: 

GUERRILLA BY ATEEZ

Last thing you googled:

How to turn off crossplay in fortnite

Time:

03:35 am GMT-4:00

Dream Trip:

it's either visiting Italy or Korean and Japan

Last thing you read:

other than fanfic, I'm currently ready the Legend trilogy

Last book you enjoyed reading:

assuming it's a finished book, the second book in the Legend trilogy, Prodigy

Last book you hated reading:

Collided from the Dirty Air series

Favourite thing to cook/bake:

BROWNIES, call me Felix because I'm cooking like a chef, I'm a 5 star michelin

Favourite craft to do in your free time:

does gaming count as a craft?

Most niche dislike:

I honestly have no idea

Do you have any sense of direction:

I used to, but ever since I moved to the capital I get lost so easily,,

Tell us about your D&D character:

okay so I have 3: Suna, Tatsumi and Aria, but I'm gonna talk about Suna and Tatsu (pics in that order, courtesy of this picrew) both of them are from a kimetsu no yaiba/demon slayer inspired campaign (which is currently on a hiatus that has lasted over 6 months, but should return shortly!!)

so, first we have the user of the water breathing technique suna, the girl that was born to be the perfect demon slayer. she's known about the existence of demons ever since she can remember, both of her parent being demon slayers and wanting her to be ready to face the world they live in. she trained all her life to join her parents, her free time being spent with the kid next door (which sets up the best and angstiest childhood friends to lovers storyline ever). she used to be really cheerful and welcoming, and it's only after her parents disappear that she closes herself off, the only 2 people able to get to her being the boy next door (kyojuro rengoku) and her dad's best friend, who took her in and finished her training. throughout the campaign she meets both naru and haru her teammates, developing different relationships with both of them, but caring about them in her own weird way. as time passes their missions start getting more dangerous until the inevitable happens and one of them died, haru, she managed to survive and closed herself once more due to the pain and guilt, pushing yasuhiro (the demon slayer sent to fill haru's place) away and mistreating him. then she lost the love of her life and once again she blamed herself for not being good enough to save those she cares about, so she spends all her time training eventually developing her own fighting style, and sacrificing herself to save both naru and yasuhiro.

then there's tatsumi, the character I created in case suna died. she's the polar opposite of suna. tatsumi didn't learn about the existence of demons until she received a letter from her brother yuuji, in which he apologized for keeping demons a secret from her and their family. determined to find her brother she decided to join the demon slayers. she became a user of the mist breathing technique, learning quickly and soon enough becoming a demon slayer herself, eventually catching the attention of the mist hashira himself, tokito, who took her under his wing so she would eventually become his successor if anything happened to him. due to the trust placed in her she was allowed to go on solo missions, which meant she could secretly look for yuuji. it was only after she came back from a mission that she was informed she would be joining a squad, taking the place of a recently deceased woman, only to find out one of the 2 remaining members had decided to leave the organization, leaving only her and yasuhiro in the team. tbh there's not a lot about tatsumi story wise because of the hiatus, but she's a literal ray of sunshine, doing everything to remain positive and lift the party's mood because she promised herself (and her brother) that she would never stop smiling, no matter how hard things got.

with my bestie (the player behind haru and yasuhiro) we have actually worked on a lot of different AU's for the characters, my personal favorite being the kpop au!! the ship dynamics are amazing !! (+ everyone is alive)

[i-am-totally-a-human-being]

With 4th of July finally coming to an end.... it’s time! Time for the story we’ve been planning! That being said:

Danganronpa V4: A New Ending

(Title pending?)

Pairing: Hajime x female reader

Summary: a whole new killing game, with a different group of participants, and a whole new character

The first chapter will come out soon, and when it does, you’ll find the link here!

Here is all our people starring in this story!

Y/N L/N, The Ultimate Forensic Scientist

A spunky young girl with a spunky young attitude. She tends to keep to herself, but isn’t necessarily shy. From her school file, it’s highly assumed that she somehow stumbled across a crime scene as a child, how she actually got there is unknown. Although no older than 13, she was easily able to point out evidence that the forensic specialists already in scene missed before she was quickly escorted away.

Seemingly unbothered by the corpses she witnessed, she then pursued her newly found interest in crime scenes and how to process them, along with collecting evidence.

Her quick learning caught the attention of many, including Hope’s Peak. They offered to pay for her entire schooling if she attended, and she agreed. As Y/N got dressed and ready for her first day at Hope’s Peak, she could have never guessed she would be forced to fight for her life along with 15 others, and put her talent to use.

Hajime Hinata, The Ultimate???

A hotheaded teen who seems to have amnesia, being unable to remember his talent. His uptight nature puts off some of the others, but a few seem interested in him, some even offering to help him discover his talent.

Although he’d never say it, he feels self conscious due to not knowing what his job is supposed to be.

Admires most, if not all, talents, especially the ones that directly make society run better.

Not much can be said about him, he’s still trying to figure out who he is.

He remembers getting ready for the start of the school year, walking out of his home, and then everything going black. Then he woke up on this island, and now has to keep himself and those he cares for alive.

Kokichi Ouma, The Ultimate Supreme Leader

A spry young boy who refuses to really speak of his past. It’s unclear what in his school file is even the truth. He claims to be the supreme leader of an evil organization called DICE, an organization with elegidly 10,000+ members. Hence his talent title. Almost everything that comes out of his mouth he claims to be a lie, so it’s hard to tell what he is actually like.

While he doesn’t ever go into detail of his organization, it seems to be one of the only things he actually cares about and wants to get back to.

He seems hardly bothered by the idea of a killing game, even saying, hopefully joking, that he’d make the first kill. Most are unnerved by his presence and stay away.

Mukuro Ikusaba, The Ultimate Soldier

A quiet, stern girl who does not speak unless absolutely necessary. The older fraternal twin sister of Junko Enoshima, a fashionista famous in Japanese magazine’s. Mukuro seems completely indifferent to anything unless it’s about her sister, to which she grows immediately passionate, almost like a different person. Doesn’t speak about why she and her sister have different last names, claiming it shouldn’t matter.

While not thrilled at the thought of a killing game, she shows extreme faith that her sister will find and rescue her. Most people avoid her, she is the ultimate soldier, after all. Out of everyone, she’d be able to kill the most efficiently.

Doesn’t mind that people avoid her, she likes the quiet anyway.

Makoto Naegi, The Ultimate Lucky Student

A simple, average teenager who lives a simple and average life. He was randomly selected to go to Hope's peak, so he doesn’t really possess any actual talent.

Although talentless, he does seem to possess a decent level of smarts and gets along with everyone easily. No one really fears him, he’s too small and sweet to be capable of murder.

While he doesn’t pose a threat to others, he poses a threat to the mastermind, or anyone who lays their hands on his sister.

Komaru Naegi, a normal student

Komaru possesses no actual talent, much like her brother. However, she is different in the sense that she wasn’t even accepted into Hope’s Peak since she wasn’t quite of age to even be considered as a possibility.

She remembers being taken hostage after she and her parents sent off her older brother, only to awaken on an island, her brother right beside her.

She wants to trust everyone, and takes relief in having her brother by her side.

Shuichi Saihara, The Ultimate Detective

A shy boy who hides his eyes behind a black cap. He seems rather insecure, despite having the talent that poses as the most useful in the current situation. He is quiet and doesn’t like interacting with others, but seems to get more comfortable as time goes on.

He doesn’t like the idea of the killing game, obviously, but he’s mostly worried that some of his classmates will take it seriously.

K1-B0, The Ultimate Robot

Created by a man called Professor Idabashi, a prominent figure in robotics engineering. He created K1-B0(has told others they can call him Keebo) as a culmination of his work.

Keebo doesn’t quite understand human emotions perfectly, but he has a decent idea which is impressive in of itself.

Much like Mukuro, he has faith that he will be saved by a family member. Seeing as he refers to Professor Idabashi as his father. He says he has a tracker, and that when the professor realizes he is missing, a search team will be sent.

Toko Fukawa, The Ultimate Writing Prodigy

An extremely shy and timid girl who does speak to many people. Those she does speak to tend to be weirded out by her... odd and even perverted nature.

She had written multiple books and does seem to be extremely smart, her only issue being her timid nature.

Accused most (if not all) the boys in her class of being perverts.

Angie Yonaga, The Ultimate Artist

Angie loves art in any form, obviously because of her ultimate.

However, she also stands out due to her belief that she is the Devine interpreter for the god Atua, a god she says her people worship.

Angie believes Atua will have his way, and that the killing game is part of something bigger.

Rantaro Amami, The Ultimate Adventurer

A chill, laid back boy who believes in keeping the peace. His calm and collected personality is soothing, leading most, if not all, of the other students to trust him and listen to what he suggests.

Some seem off put by how calm he acts, but most understand that he’s just really good at staying calm and knows that panicking won’t always help.

Often tells tales of his travels to distract those who are afraid.

Nagito Komaeda, The Ultimate Lucky Student

Yet another lucky student, chosen to attend Hope’s Peak at random like Makoto. However, he seems to also have an.... interesting relationship with luck.

His luck has caused death and destruction around him, but he still manages to stay calm and even cheerful in the face of a literal killing game.

Nagito believes hope will prevail no matter what, so he chooses to pretty much just “go with the flow.”

Byakuya Togami, The Ultimate Affluent Progeny

A stuck up and condescending teen who makes it very clear that he does not approve of being trapped on an island like this. This isn’t a funny prank or initiation.

He is rather rich and will inherit the Togami company, after competing against 14 other siblings to “take the crown” and earn the inheritance. He was the youngest of the sibling, or candidates, and is the first youngest to ever come out on top.

Gonta Gokuhara, The Ultimate Entomologist

A.... sweet young man who loves anything and everything bugs. He isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but he has a good heart.

(Jsvshsv I don’t know what to write for Gonta I’ll finish his later)

Mikan Tsumiki, The Ultimate Nurse

A clumsy and frightened girl who somehow manages to find herself in compromising positions constantly. On accident.

With her and Y/N present, people are at ease, seeing they have practically a full medical team in case something were to happen.

While she often does more worse than good due to her clumsy nature, she has a good heart, and people know that.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru, The Ultimate Moral Compass

A stern and strict boy who believes in respect and following rules contstantly. He is probably one of the only students who respects the killing games headmaster, Monokuma.

While not thrilled about the idea of a murder game, he sticks to the idea that it is a prank from upperclassmen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that’s our introductions! Sorry some were shorter than others!

Stay tuned!

-🐝

[ru08us]

My concept of an Azulaang Fic

I have wanted to write an idea for a very long fic about this two characters. I figured out that for them to be together with their original characterization I literally have to change all the structure if the show, so here it is. I hope you like it.

“Water. Earth. Fire. Air. When I was a child I remember seeing how the Four Nations lived in Harmony. Air Nomads living in peace in our high temples, the Water Tribes striving with beautiful cities, the Earth Kingdom growing in peace and tradition, and the Fire Nation, living the biggest prosperity age the world had ever seen. But everything changed when these last one attacked. Only the Avatar mastered all four elements. Only he could stop the ruthless firebenders. But he failed, three times. A hundred years have passed and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the War. Two years ago, I woke up from an iceberg and discovered that the world I had been born in was gone. Some people say the Avatar is out there, hiding in the Earth Kingdom, or that the avatar cicle is broken. But I believe they are wrong. The new Avatar must have been born in the Fire Nation, and I’m going to find him. Deep in my heart, I know he is going to come back and save the world”

4 Main changes for the story

Azula is the Avatar, Aang is an airbender who got frost for 98 years, Ozai is more calculating and cold and Zuko’s arc changes completely

Book 1: Air

So I will start describing Character arcs and relationship developments

Azula and Aang

First 2 chapters: The Fire Nation is making it’s annual examination to find if the Avatar is in their country. Every 14 year old is put into this process. Azula is discovered as the Avatar and Ozai congratulates her, only to chi send her into a cell. She is rescued by another 14 years old guy, Aang, and they escape together. She uses the Avatar State for the first time while escaping.

They manage to sneak into the Earth Kingdom riding Appa and then Azula starts figuring out her situation properly. She questions Aang on his motives and he tells her he is an air nomad who has been looking for the avatar for 2 years after being frozen.

Chapter 3 and 4: This first part is basically Azula figuring out going along with the flow would be better for the time being and starting to relate to Aang. She tries several times to intimidate him and get him into a Ty Lee situation. But Aang is too cheerful and fails… until she starts asking about the nomads and his motives. They have one adventure where they save a town from destruction and in a happy moment Aang tells her he ran away. Azula starts taunting him with this, and she demands going to the southern air temple. She is figuring out what to do: go back to the Fire Nation or become a spiritual overlord as the Avatar?

Chapter 5 and 6: When they arrive Azula starts making cold comments about the Air Nation and its army, Aang tells her they didn’t have a formal military and after a while Azula says he is right, that they were so weak they didn’t. Aang starts getting mad at her and she calls him a coward for running. Aang then revelas they thought he was the Avatar, but they were wrong. Azula has bargain and thinks she knows how to manipulate Aang, consoling him. Zuko meets Azula and Aang and asks for the Avatar, believing it’s Aang, and Azula taunts him and humilliates him. They get attacked by Zuko and some Fire Nation soldiers then, but they escape (mostly to stop the temples from destruction).

Chapter 7 and 8: Aang and Azula start traveling back to the Earth Kingdom and discuss their countries and cultures. Aang tells Azula about Gyatso and how he was like his father. Azula makes a parallel saying how Ozai wanted to send her away too. The point was to make Aang more dependent, but he gets mad at her. Aang tells them that monks were a peaceful culture unlike the Fire Nation and Azula tells him that the Fire Nation is powerful, smart and wealthy, unlike the Air Nomads. Aang tells her she cannot think that if she wants to learn airbending (she has been training for some weeks with Aang by now and she is doing pretty bad, she attributes this failure to Aang and the situation she is in). They both decide to go to the eastern Air Temple, Aang to show her how good his culture is and Azula to show the opposite. Azula makes fun of Aang during the road, telling him he could be a great Fire Nation Citizen if he tried, cause he is too close. Aang starts thinking about this and tells her he can have an open mind. They arrive and Azula sees that the Air Nomads were actually competent and smart, while Aang relives the fear of Gyatso “wanting” to send him to the Eastern Air Temple. But he learns other things, going in close rooms. He sees some deathly techniques and learns Air Nomads abandoned babies without airbending to non bending families all around the world. Aang is kind of broken and Azula feels confused. In a moment she tells Aang she feels ready to learn airbening and Aang is almost crying for the last part. Azula comforts him tells him that Fire Nation culture can have some bad aspects, like some spicy food and stuff. Aang laughs and they start becoming friends.

Chapter 9: Aang teaches Azula the principle of liberty and games. He tells her they has been very stressed for a while and need to have some rest. Azula mocks Aang for this, but agrees to release some tension. They have fun for a while in some earthbending place, and they talk about trivial stuff. Then they got into training and a routine (slow chapter, mostly for giving Azula time to rest and release pressure). Azula reveals the plans and Sozin’s comet to Aang, mostly to add urgency and play less, but Aang says that distractions are necessary for airbending. Aang questions Azula about firebending and asks if some moves can be used in air, due to azula combining them in training.

Chapter 10 and 11: Zuko and Iroh found Azula and Aang in a several days, while they travel figuring out what to do. Aang and Azula beat Zuko pretty bad (together and separated) and then Azula discovers (by manipulating Zuko) Zhao’s plan toward the North and Aang and Azula decide to go there, cause maybe they won’t find a waterbender master by the time. They are very south of the Earth Kingdom by now.

Chapter 12, 13, 14, 15:Azula and Aang have adventures in the Earth Kingdom and deepen the bond. Aang is more open now and Azula is weirdly nice. They get to Omashu and Aang meets with Bumi in a different way and the White Lotus is the focus, Azula starts acting nice (for her standards). They run into Jet (Azula doesn’t trust him and dismantle the operation easily) and finally they get chased by Zhao but he is easily beaten by both of them, with the Yuyan Archers. Then the fortune teller, not similar to the show (Aang doesn’t have such a strong crush with Azula, if any; and azula dismisses the things). Aang basically cools a volcano and Azula is for the first time surprised on how powerful he is. They talk about him being a prodigy and they bond.

Chapter 16,17: Extended Northern Air temple, but instead of a minister is Ozai himself. Azula rans into a bit of a panic, and for the first time Aang calms her. Aang find a letter from Gyatso to a friend, telling him that he is taking Aang out of the Southern Air Temple to run away with him. Aang tells this to Azula and she acts comforting. She has started to grow close to him and thinks that: “I don’t need fear with him, I can work with he worshipping me as the Avatar”. Both of them start developing feeling from now on. They escape with the village (but not the Mechanist). By this time Azula has advanced enough in Airbending

18-20: Siege of the North. They meet Katara and Sokka. Katara’s illusions of the Avatar shatter and they don’t get along. Azula tries to manipulate Sokka but plays too much into his insecurities. Both sibling dislike her and she just asks Pakku to train her in waterbending. But before anything happens the siege occurs, the spirit dies and she almost does when all the ships who didn’t die at the attack (commanded by Zuko) start firing at her core, but she is saved by the siblings and Aang. The end is she waking up with Aang and the siblings at her side, being told she is needed in the Earth Kingdom and Katara will be her master and her with Aang having a private moment and a hug. Azula starts thinking of Aang as her first true friend.

We completed the main Arc of both of them in Book 1. I will finish their arcs for the rest of the books and then write Zuko’s, Katara’s, Ozai’s, etc. I won’t write. a fic about this, but if you are interested contact me by dm.

Please write comments so I feel this is not going so bad heheh

[franniebanana]

CQL Rewatch - Ep 22

It feels so good to see these two together, talking about old times, and most importantly, not arguing. It's as if this was the conversation that was meant to happen back in Yiling, but it didn't because emotions were too high. I guess it's true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Wei Wuxian has time to think about and come to the understanding that Lan Wangji isn't fighting him, but instead showing concern. And Lan Wangji gets to hear Wei Wuxian's side of the story, about what he did those three months in the Burial Grounds. It's so refreshing to have this release after so much tension had built up, where the two of them are just open and honest with each other. And you can see how Wei Wuxian's relationship with Lan Wangji is different from his relationship to everyone else. While we get to see him being vulnerable with Jiang Yanli, he won't tell her everything; we see him connecting with Jiang Cheng again, but as is his temperament, Jiang Cheng is often flippant and dismissive, and only really cares that Wei Wuxian is back within the Jiang Clan fold. Lan Wangji really cannot be satisfied until he knows what's been going on; he wants to be reassured that Wei Wuxian is okay in both mind and body, he wants to know that he's not gone to the dark side per se.

And this moment is so pivotal here. Now that they've finally talked and gotten everything out that they've both been ruminating on over the past however long (idk timelines lol), Wei Wuxian is in a place where he can say he'll accept Lan Wangji's help. Wei Wuxian doesn't agree to it begrudgingly, but I think it's a hopeless agreement. Unless you know about his lack of a Golden Core, his response seems odd--maybe you think he's tired, maybe you think he's just doing it to appease Lan Wangji, but is being dishonest. With the knowledge of the transfer, you can see that he is agreeing to appease Lan Wangji, but not in a lazy or dishonest way: he knows that he can never learn the sword again, but he allows Lan Wangji to at least help him with his temperament. I don't think it's him agreeing to get Lan Wangji off his back, I think instead he's letting Lan Wangji know how important he is to Wei Wuxian--he's special.

After Wei Wuxian agrees to letting Lan Wangji help, he walks away smiling. He doesn't let Lan Wangji see it either. I feel that he's indescribably happy that with so many changes in his life, he has his relationship with Lan Wangji back--he has his best friend, he has someone who he can trust. And remember, he's not concerned about his temperament being overwhelmed--Wei Wuxian has always considered himself a prodigy, so while this is challenging, he believes that what he learned from the Gusu Lan Clan is enough. Lan Wangji, on the other hand, is still very concerned, and he devotes all of his free time to figuring out ways to help Wei Wuxian, to steady his mind and temperament.

So, while I'm watching this filler, I'm imagining a terrible scenario they could have done. When you're adapting a book or a play or really anything, it's not uncommon to add scenes, right? CQL has plenty of added scenes for context and padding, plus shit they just made up. Okay, so this would fall into the latter category. Imagine if they had had Lan Wangji get turned into a puppet/Urukai, and then there's some big, dramatic way that Wei Wuxian has to save him and turn him back, and it only brings them closer together as brothers in arms/whatever bs they were trying to sell us without making it romantic. Sounds like a terrible idea, right? Aren't you glad the writers had enough integrity and respect for the novel that they didn't do that? I complain about things that were added or changed as well, but if they had given me an actual explicit acknowledgment of wangxian love, I would have been happy. Of course, censorship is a bitch, so that's a no go. The point of this is that it could have been a lot worse.

Oh, god. Soup drama. Thank you to that person who posted the soup drama in Lan Wangji's POV. You are amazing, and that post always makes me cackle.

Ah, but this is canon to the novel if I remember correctly. It's totally valid and is actually kind of sad for Yanli, but I still think it's hilarious the way Wei Wuxian just takes off like a shot without knowing what's going on. The thing is, Jiang Yanli is just embarrassed about the whole thing and wants to leave, but of course Wei Wuxian wants revenge. He still harbors no love for Jin Zixuan, and any chance he gets to put the peacock in his place, he'll take.

Yanli is tugging on him with both hands, and Wei Wuxian doesn't move. He is just standing there, glaring at Jin Zixuan. There are two people in the world who Wei Wuxian will defend forever: Jiang Yanli and Lan Wangji--and Jin Zixuan has just offended one of them. Wei Wuxian is beyond pissed. And now couple that with how he was trapped in a sunless graveyard for three months, has been doing nothing but fighting since he's been out, and is using his spiritual power in a dangerous and unstable method. His mood, my friends, is not great right now.

I love how Lan Wangji looks inside the tent, and then proceeds to immediately nope out of there. I blame that soup drama post for everything that I see now, because it really does look like he's just thinking, "Ugh, soup drama again." But in all seriousness, I think this is just Lan Wangji feeling awkward again. I think he came out of genuine concern for Jiang Yanli, because remember Wei Wuxian took off without even hearing what was going on, but when he sees that it's clearly a matter between her and Jin Zixuan, he leaves. This isn't his business, and it also involves romance, because of course he remembers how they were betrothed until the fight broke out in Cloud Recesses. Regardless of how Lan Wangji carries himself and how he's so respected as a cultivator, he's still a young man, who still feels awkward about the idea of love and doesn't really want to be around any of it--lovers' quarrels and whatnot.

The other thing is, they don't pan over to Lan Wangji for no reason. Perhaps he's still remembering the conversation he had with Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng back in Yiling: this is a Jiang Clan affair. And this time, he's choosing to bow out when he realizes it isn't his business. However, he doesn't want to go far, because he knows how dangerous Wei Wuxian really is, especially if he loses his cool.

Honestly, Jin Zixuan is such a dick here. Every time I think he's made progress, he takes a step backward. Jiang Yanli is the sweetest person, and is just giving him soup every day to provide him with some comfort. We're to understand that she is a good cook and her soup is The Best, so she wants to do something nice for him, perhaps bring him the comfort of home in the place that is farthest from home, and he practically throws it back in her face. It's a total misunderstanding, but my heart breaks for her. And after this moment, Jin Zixuan starts to try harder. I think he finally sees who she is, what kind of person she is, and understands how genuine and loving she has always been. He finally opens his eyes and gets to know her as a person, not as the girl he's engaged to, not as the girl he was engaged to, not as the girl his parents want him to marry--but as the girl who he's interested in.

Not a lot to talk about this episode. I swear, half of it is just fighting. But let's take a moment to appreciate Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji fighting together. I am a sucker for this sort of thing, so I love seeing Lan Wangji swoop in and knock a baddie's sword out of the way to protect Wei Wuxian. It feels good seeing that and seeing them on the same side, fighting together.

Wei Wuxian tried it their way. He tried to fight without using Chenqing, but the fight was impossible. As stated before, the puppets are unkillable, so there was no way to win just by fighting them, and obviously what Nie Mingjue was doing wasn't helping. The only way to survive at this point was to try and control the puppets into working against Wen Ruohan. There's a shot of Lan Wangji before this, where he looks concerned, but I think he even knows that they had no other choice.

This was a short one, sorry! But really, I'm not going to babble about nothing. So much fighting and not a lot of dialogue or other things really happened. We're just getting through major plot points right now to be honest.

Other episodes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | Or just check out the #CQL Rewatch hashtag

[chelleblack]

Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy YES had to have ended up together.

It's 2021 and we have yet to ratify and talk about this.

Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy had to end up together.

Imagine a fair and wonderful alternate universe where J.K. Rowling wrote a Draco Malfoy with a respectable historical arc, recounting his surrender and how he came to explicitly obtain it. Where instead of hating him in such an unjustified way, he appreciates that character and understands that he deserves the attention that his composition gives him. Where it gives us a perspective of the boy's thoughts, as well as the rest of the most relevant characters. Where a Hermione Granger can have a polite conversation with the person who might have the most in common. An alternate world where the most prodigious and attractive minds of Hogwarts met. Where are the two houses that have the longest history of rivalry; Slytherin and Gryffindor will unite for the common good. A Hermione and a Draco being friends, and something else.

When I think of Dramione, I don't think of polar opposites, and I don't think the nerd and bad boy thing represents them (please no). They are both equally intelligent and capable, and they also possess incredible humor and often show it when you least expect it. And with that little introduction I would like to explain to you why those two together would have been pure dynamite and a healthy relationship (believe it or not) and beneficial to the plot.

(And no, I am not going to romanticize the abuse, so do not think that this relationship arose and was born between fans and they continue to defend it to this day, because according to "abuse is romanticized" nope. This couple was born simple logic and personality analysis. Just as it is respectable and acceptable to come to believe that Luna and Harry had been a very compromising relationship because of how they got along and the spark that was lit in the air with them...)

All of this is based on pure compatibility logic. And yes, this is where Dramione was born. From the personality analysis, the chemistry ... and damn, how they had the chemistry.

Hermione Granger has one of the most valuable minds in the wizarding world, she was one of the best witches of her generation. Draco Malfoy has countless abilities in powerful dark magic, and he was also one of the most powerful warlocks of his generation. The two from an early age wielded spells that exceeded expectations. They are the pride and symbolic representation of their houses. They did spells to perfection and always had the smartest ideas. And despite their young age, they were the most mature.

Draco and Hermione's relationship in the books can be summed up as a power struggle. They both had a competition to be the best at everything.

The dynamics of discussions between Draco and Hermione change a lot as they age, palpable tension is felt while they are teenagers, there are scenes where Draco is quiet and has a very passive aggressive behavior with Hermione, which feels more like a flirtation. . . . that like a hatred. Which frustrates the reader a lot because nothing happens ... it seems that it would happen, but JKR does not give anything between them.

We know very well that Draco comes from a prejudiced family, but he didn't really follow his family's rules, he performed very well in the war and refused to acknowledge Hermione, being that he had to because he was supposed to hate her, and With this he also saved his family, however he did not. That gives us to understand, that he really did not hate Hermione and that he did not take advantage of it at the worst moment. It really changed, we have to start with this.

I think Draco and Hermione really would have been a great couple, due to Draco's surrender. Not Hermione changing him and doing the therapist job; because Draco changed the solo and got out of his trouble and that's fine. What I'm saying is that Hermione had realized that Draco could have been a friend to her, a faithful child who also stands up for what he loves and believes. And it would have given him a more interesting story. And I can't imagine Draco Malfoy abandoning Hermione in the middle of the war because I don't cook for him like his mother did. It is an inescapable attraction for the impossible, for the simple fact that there should not be something between them, as it would bring a pure inconvenience to their family and friends. A consequence that would make chemistry more palpable every day. Draco is the last heir to the Malfoys, and instead of joining a pure-blooded witch to carry on his family's old ridiculous evil traditions. He decides to go against her and side with a Muggle-born witch. The cry to the sky that his parents and ancestors were going to launch was going to be iconic. Aside from the reaction Ron and Harry would have when their dear friend hooked up with their mortal enemy; it would also have been equally epic. It really bothers me a lot how JKR wasted the potential that Draco and Hermione had, I don't understand how she created scenes herself where she blew sparks between them and then sent them down different paths. I'm a true believer that these two characters could have the most powerful love story in the entire saga. The chemistry, the duality, and the plot twist that would have occurred. Draco would have completely broken the two most "pure" lines that have existed of witches dating Hermione, the reflection and the message that their relationship would have given him, it would have been epic. Dramione is a complete enigma that we must not ignore. He really had it all.

[1vintage]

Ocean Vuong on Metaphor

below is a transcript of an Instagram story from Ocean Vuong, available here in his story highlights under Metaphor.

Q: How do you make sure your metaphors have real depth?

metaphors should have two things: (1) sensory (visual, texture, sound, etc) connector between origin image and the transforming image as well as (2) a clear logical connector between both images. 

if you have only one of either, best to forgo the metaphor, otherwise it will seem forced or read like “writing” if that makes sense.

~

a lot of ya’ll asked for examples re:metaphor. I can explain better if I had 15 minutes of class time (apply to UMASS!). But essentially, metaphors that go awry can signal a hurried desire to be “literary” or “poetic” (ie “writing”), which can lose traction/trust with a reader. in other words, a metaphor is a detour—but that detour better lead to discoveries that alter/amplify the meaning of what is already there, so that a reader sees you as a servant of possibility rather than someone trying to prove that they are a “writer.” One is performative, the other exploratory. In this way, the metaphor acts as a virtual medium, ejecting the text’s optical realism into an “elsewhere”. But this elsewhere should inform the original upon our return. otherwise the journey would feel like an ejection from a crash rather than a curated journey toward more complex meaning.

example:

“The road curves like a cat’s tail.”

This is a weak metaphor because the transforming image (tail) does not amplify/alter the original. The transfer of meaning flattens and dies. Logic is weak or moot: A cat’s tail does not really change the nature of the road. You can certainly add to this with a few more expository sentences which might rescue the logic—but by then you’re just doing cpr on your metaphor.

Sensory, too, is weak: a cat’s tail has little optical resemblance to a road other than being curved (roads are not furry, for one.)

So this is 0 for 2 and should be scrapped. (Just my opinion though! Not a rule!)

okay so what about:

“The road runs between two groves of pine, like the first stroke of a buzzcut.”

this is better. the optical sensory of the transforming image (a clipper thru a head of hair) matches well with the original.

but the logic feels arbitrary. again it doesn’t substantially alter the original.

in the end this is just an “interesting image” but not strong enough to keep I’d say.

Now here’s one from Sharon Olds:

“The hair on my father’s arms like blades of molasses.”

Sensory connector: check. A man’s dark hair indeed can look like blades (also suggestive of grass) of molasses.

Logical connector: check. the father is both sharp and sweet. Something once soft and sticky about him (connotations of youth) sweets, has now hardened the confection no longer fresh etc.

It’s an ambitious metaphor that is packed with resonance. In other words, it does worlds of work and actually deepens the more you dit with it. A metaphor that actually invites you to put the book down, think on it, absorb it, before returning. a good metaphor uses detours to add power to the text. poor metaphors distract you from the text and leave you bereft, laid to the side.

lastly, the prior examples are technically “similes” but I believe similes reside under the umbrella of metaphor. although a simile is a demarcation, ie: this is “like” that. but this is “not”, ontologically, that.

however, I think something happens in the act of reading wherein we collapse the “bridge” and the mind automatically forges synergy between the two images, so that all similes, once read, “act” like metaphors in the mind.

but again this is all subjective. you might have a better way of going about it.

Another very ambitious metaphor is this one from Eduardo C. Corral:

“Moss intensifies up the tree, like applause.”

This is a masterful metaphor, risky and requires a lot of faith, restraint, and experience to pull it off.

Difficult mainly because we now see a surrealist “distortion” of the sensory realm: origin IMAGE (moss) is paired with transforming SOUND (applause).

There is now a leap in comparable elements. But the adherence to our two vital factors are still present.

Sensory: moss, though silent, grows slowly (the word “intensifies” does major work here becuz it foreshadows the transforming element). Applause, too, grows gradually, before dying down.

Logic: the growth of the moss suggests spring, lushness, life, resilience, and connotes anticipatory hope, much like applause. In turn, applause modifies the nature of moss and imbues, at least this moss, with a sense of accomplishment, closure, it’s refreshment a cause for celebration.

God I love words.

~

I’ve gotten so many responses from folks the past few days asking for a deeper dive into my personal theory on metaphor.

So I'm taking a moment here to do a more in-depth mini essay since my answer to the Q/A the other day was off the cuff (I was typing while walking to my haircut appointment).

What I’m proposing, of course, is merely a THEORY, not a gospel, so please take whatever is useful to you and ignore what isn’t.

This essay will be in 25 slides. I will save this in my IG highlights after 24 hrs.

Before I begin I want to encourage everyone to forge your own theories and praxi for your work, especially if you’re a BIPOC artist.

Often, we are perceived by established powers as merely “performers,” suitable for a (brief) stint on stage—but not thinkers and creators with our own autonomy, intelligence, and capacity to question the framework in our fields.

It is not lost on me, as a yellow body in America, with the false connotations therein, where I’m often seen as diminutive, quiet, accommodating, agreeable, submissive, that I am not expected to think against the grain, to have my own theories on how I practice my art and my life.

I became a writer knowing I am entering a field (fine arts) where there are few faces like my own (and with many missing), a field where we are expected to succeed only when we pick up a violin or a cello in order to serve Euro-Centric “masterpieces.”

For so long, to be an Asian American “prodigy” in art was to be a fine-tuned instrument for Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven.

It is no surprise, then, that if you, as a BIPOC artist, dare to come up with your own ideas, to say “no” to what they shove/have been shoving down your throat for so long, you will be infantilized, seen as foolish, moronic, stupid, disobedient, uneducated, and untamed.

Because it means the instrument that was once in the service of their “work” has now begun to speak, has decided, despite being inconceivable to them, to sing its own songs.

I want you, I need you, to sing with me. I want to hear what you sound like when it’s just us, and you sound so much like yourself that I recognize you even in the darkest rooms, even when I recognize nothing else. And I know your name is “little brother” or “big sister,” or “light bean,” or “my-echo-returned-to-me-intact.” And I smile.

In the dark I smile.

Art has no rules—yes—but it does have methods, which vary for each individual. The following are some of my own methods and how I came to them.

I’m very happy ya’ll are so into figurative language! It’s my favorite literary device because it reveals a second IDEA behind an object or abstraction via comparison.

When done well, it creates what I call the “DNA of seeing.” That is, a strong metaphor “Greek for “to carry over”) can enact the autobiography of sight. For example, what does it say about a person who sees the stars in the night sky—as exit wounds?

What does it say about their history, their worldview, their relationship to beauty and violence? All this can be garnered in the metaphor itself—without context—when the comparative elements have strong multifaceted bonds.

How we see the world reveals who we are. And metaphors explicate that sight.

My personal feeling is that the strongest metaphors do not require context for clarity. However, this does not mean that weaker metaphors that DO require context are useless or wrong.

Weak metaphors use context to achieve CLARITY.

Strong metaphors use context to SUPPORT what’s already clear.

BOTH are viable in ANY literary text.

But for the sake of this deeper exploration into metaphors and their gradients, I will attempt to identify the latter.

I feel it is important for a writer to understand the STRENGTHS of the devices they use, even when WEAKER versions of said devices can achieve the same goal via different means.

Sometimes we want a life raft, sometimes we want a steam boat—but we should know which is which (for us).

My focus then, will be specifically the ornamental or overt metaphor. That is, metaphors that occur inside the line—as opposed to conceptual, thematic, extended metaphors, or Homeric simile (which is a whole different animal).

My thinking here begins with the (debated) theory that similes reside under metaphors. That is, (non-Homeric) similes, behave cognitively, like metaphors.

This DOES NOT mean that similes do not matter (far from it), as we’ll see later on, but that the compared elements, once read, begin to merge in the mind, resulting in a metaphoric OCCURRENCE via a simileac vehicle.

This thinking is not entirely my own, but one informed by my interest in Phenomenology. Founded by Edmund Husserl in the early 20th century and later expanded by Heidegger, Phenomenology is, in short, interested in how objects or phenomena are perceived in the mind, which renewed interest in subjectivity across Europe, as opposed to the Enlightenment’s quest for ultimate, finite truths.

By the time Husserl “discovered” this, however, Tibetan Buddhists scholars have already been practicing Phenomenology as something called Lojong, or “mind training,” for over half a millennia.

Whereas Husserl believes, in part, that a finite truth does exist but that the myopic nature of human perception hinders us from seeing all of it, Tibetan Lojong purports that no finite “truth” exists at all.

In Lojong, the world and its objects are pure perception. That is, a fly looks at a tree and sees, due to its compound eyes, hundreds of trees, while we see only one. For Buddhists, neither fly nor human is “correct” because a fixed truth is not present. Reality is only real according to one’s bodily medium.

I’m keenly interested in Lojong’s approach because it inheritably advocates for an anti-colonial gaze of the world. If objects in the real are not tenable, there is no reason they should be captured, conquered or pillaged.

In other words, we are in a “simulation” and because there is no true gain in acquiring something that is only an illusion, it is better to observe and learn from phenomena as guests passing through this world with respect to things—rather than to possess them.

The reason I bring this up is because Buddhist philosophy is the main influence of 8th century Chinese and 15th-17th century Japanese poetics, which fundamentally inform my understanding of metaphor.

While I appreciate Aristotle’s take on metaphor and rhetoric in his Poetics, particularly his thesis that strong metaphors move from species to genus, it is not a robust influence on my thinking.

After all, like sex and water, metaphors have been enjoyed by humans across the world long before Aristotle-- and evidently long after. In fact, Buddhist teachings, which widely employ metaphor and analogy, predates Aristotle by roughly 150 years.

Now, to better see how Buddhist Phenomenology informs the transformation of images into metaphor, let’s look at this poem by Moritake.

“The fallen blossom flies back to its branch. No, a butterfly.”

When considering (western-dominated) discourse surrounding analogues using “like” or “is”, is this image a metaphor or a simile?

It is technically neither. The construction of this poem does not employ metaphor or simile.

And yet, to my eye, a metaphor, although not present, does indeed HAPPEN.

What’s more, the poem, which is essentially a single metaphor, is complete.

No further context is needed for its clarity. If context is needed for a metaphor, then the metaphor is (IMO) weak—but that doesn’t mean the writing, as a whole, is bad. Weak metaphors and good context bring us home safe and sound.

Okay, so what is happening here?

By the time I read “butterfly,” my mind corrects the blossom so that the latter image retroactively changes/informs the former. We see the blossom float up, then re-see it as a butterfly. The metaphoric figuration is complete with or without “like” or “is.”

Buddhism explains this by saying that, although a text IS thought, it does not THINK. We, the readers, must think upon it. The text, then, only curates thinking.

Words, in this way, begin on the page but LIVE in the mind which, due to limited and subjective scope of human perception, shift seemingly fixed elements into something entirely new.

The key here is proximity. Similes provide buffers to mediate impact between two elements, but they do not rule over how images coincide upon reading. One the page, text is fossil; in the mind, text is life.

Nearly 5000 years after Maritake, Ezra Pound, via Fenolosa, reads Maritake’s poem and writes what becomes the seminal poem on Imagism in 1912, which was subsequently highly influential to early Modernists:

“The apparition of these faces in the crowd: Petals on a wet, black bough.”

Like Maritake, Pound’s poem technically has no metaphor or simile. However, he adds the vital colon after “crowd,” which arguably works as an “equal sign”, thereby implying metaphor. But the reason why he did not use “are” or “is” is telling.

Pound understood, like Maritake, that the metaphor would occur in the mind, regardless of connecting verbiage due to the images’ close proximity. We would come to know this as “association.”

Even if the colon was replaced by the word “like,” the transformation, though a bit slower, would still occur.

In fact, when I first studied Pound years ago, I had trouble recalling whether this poem was fashioned as a simile or not—mainly because the faces change to fully into blossoms each time I try to recall the poem.

Now, let’s look at a simile that, to me, metaphorizes in the same way as the examples above, in the line we saw before from Eduardo C. Corral:

“Jade moss on the tree intensifies, like applause.”

The origin/tenor image (moss) is connected to the transforming element (applause). This metaphor suggests, not an optical relationship, but a BEHAVIORAL one.

Both moss and applause are MASSES that accumulate via singularities: grains of moss and pairs of hands clapping to form a larger whole.

By comparing these two, Corral successfully suggests that moss grows at the RATE of applause, creating a masterful time lapse effect. Applause speeds up the moss growth, connoting rejuvenation, joy and refreshment. That something as mundane as moss deserves, even earns, jubilance, also offers a potent statement of alterity, that the smallest flourishing deserves celebration, which in turn suggests a subtle yet powerful political critique of hegemony.

The poet, through the metaphor, has recalibrated the traditional modes of value placed on the object (moss).

And no other context is needed for that.

You might disagree, but when I read Corral’s line, I don’t SEE an audience clapping BESIDE the moss. I see moss growing quickly to the sound of clapping. Although the simile is employed, the fusion of both elements completes the action in my mind’s eye.

Like Maritake and Pound, metaphor has OCCURRED here—but without “metaphor”.

HOWEVER, the simile is still VITAL. Why?

Because the transforming element is abstract (applause) and looks nothing like moss. We don’t want moss to BE applause, we want the nature of applause to inform, imbue, moss.

The line, I feel, would be quite poor if it was formed sans simile:

“Jade moss is applause on the tree.”

The “is” forces transposition, which is here akin to slamming two things together without mediation. We also lose the comparison of behavior, and are asked to see that moss BECOME applause, which doesn’t have the same meaning as the original.

So, although the simile fuses into metaphor (via association) in the mind, such a metaphor would NOT have been possible without the simile.

Similes matter greatly—as tools towards metaphor. Why?

Because (thank god) our minds are free to roam.

To summarize, one of the central strategies (and, to an extent, purposes) of the Japanese Haiku is to juxtapose two elements to test their synergy. This impulse is grounded in Shinto and Buddhist concepts of impermanence and structural malleability. That is, all things, even ideas and images, are subject to constant change—and such change is the most pervasive nature of perception.

The Haiku then becomes the perfect medium to test such changes. This principle is of central importance to me because it is rooted in non-dualistic (or non-binary) thinking.

The poem becomes the theatre in which fixed elements can be transformed, their borders subject to being dissolved, shifting towards something entirely new—to “create”, which is the Greek root to the word “poet.” The metaphor, then, is more like a chemical, whose elements (like hydrogen and oxygen), placed side by side, becomes water.

In this way, Buddhism’s influence on my work and, specifically, my use and understanding of metaphor, is a foundational QUEER praxis for alterity.

The reason why I emphasize the malleability of simile’s impact is that, although syntax and diction can aide a metaphor towards its more luminous embodiment, the ultimate key to its success is you, the observer.

YOU have look deeply and find lasting relationships between things in a disparate world.

In this sense, the practice of metaphor is also, I believe, the practice of compassion. How do I study a thing so that I might add to its life by introducing it to something else?

At its best, the metaphor is what we, as a species, have always done, at OUR best: which is to point at something or someone so different from us, so far from our own origins and say, “Yes, there IS a bond between us. And if I work long enough, hard enough, I can prove it to you—with this thing called language, this thing that weighs nothing but means everything to me.”

In the end, it is less about how you set up your metaphors (you will eventually find a way that suits it and you) but more about how you recognize your world. THAT is not easy to teach—it comes with patient practice, with a committed wonder for a world that at times might be too painful to look at. But you must and you should.

Good metaphors, in the end, come from writers who are committed to looking beyond what is already there, towards another possibility.

This calls that you see your life and your work as inexhaustible sites of discovery, and that you tend to them with care.

That’s it. That’s the true secret to a strong metaphor: care.

Lastly, I want to recommend the work of BIPOC poet and theorist, Thylias Moss, who discovered the Limited Fork Theory, a theory which suggests that the mind engages with the world, and especially with ideas, including text and art, the way the tines of a fork engage with a plate of food.

That is, only so much can be held on the work/mind with each attempt to consume, and that no “work” can be possessed in its entirety, which I find happily congruent with Lojong.

What a wonderful anti-imperialist and forgiving way to engage with our planet and its phenomena. Thank you, Mrs. Moss!

And thank YOU for sticking around through my little seminar.

I hope this has been helpful. Again, this is just my 2(5) cents! Now I’m going to sleep for four days.

In the meantime, me-ta-phors be with you.

—O